Teahouse, The Asian Kitchen

252 North Bridge Road

#B1-15 Raffles City Shopping Centre

Singapore 179103

Tel: 63364838

March 02, 2007

Imperial Herbal Restaurant & Tcafe

1 Harbourfront Walk
Vivo City #03-08
Singapore 098585
Tel: 63370491

November 08, 2006

Imperial Herbal is always mistaken as part of Imperial Treasure Group. Pls note that they have no relations at all. And coz of this, read from the papers, Crystal Jade purposely opened an outlet at Vivo City as they heard rumours that Imperial Treasure, their greatest competitor is opening an outlet at Vivo too. But to their dismay, it was all the wrong info.

Imperial Herbal Restaurant has been quite famous in the late 90's, when it was previously located in Metropole Hotel near Seah St. People patronize here frequently for the healing powers of the food served here, which are enriched with herbs and other secret ingredients prescribed by a trained Chinese herbalist.

The herbalist, who is also trained in Western medicine, will ask for the symptoms of what ails you and take your pulse. He is in-house every day from 6.30pm-9.30pm. It is always good to call ahead for reservation as this place is always packed due to the Herbalist's presence, the greatest attraction. When you leave, present him with a small 'ang pao' - a gift of cash in a red envelope.

My first visit here was a treat given by my colleagues, as a reward for our hard work on some projects. Sadly, I got this chance to fill in as my GM wasn't free that day. Wait... I did create an email address for them :).

Anyway, this rejuvenating place is designed with a mixture of modern and traditional look. Strong aroma of herbs surround us as soon as we stepped in which reminds me of the chinese herb store; too bad the herbalist wasn't on duty that day.

We ordered the Spare Ribs in Flower Sauce(must try), Braised Seaweed Beancurd with Mushrooms, Stir Fried Vegetables with Chinese Wolfberries, Cauliflower with Fresh Scallop Paste, Siao Long bao, Guo Tia, and Brewed Pear for Dessert. For each of the dishes that were served, the manager gave brief explanations on the food attributes to our health.

You definitely have to try their traditional soup. It ranges from Double Boiled Ginseng Chicken, Cordyceps, Porkribs and even Buddha Jump Over the Wall. I had the Brazilian Mushroom Soup and it tasted very good.

Their pricing is on the average scale. Food portions wise, those served per pax are small :p, but I'll definitely give them thumbs up for their professional explanations. Overall the food was good, but it could be too healthy for my likings.

I would like to thank my colleagues for this treat! Thanks, Ms Wang, Teri and Lai Lee!! *Hopefully the for next visit, I could get the Herbalist to diagnose my health.

Rating: 6/10

Dian Xiao Er

Marina Square
#02-203/204
(opposite Giant Hypermarket)
Tel: 6337 1928

June 27, 2006

Ever wonder why this new eatery is always so packed with people and extraordinary long queue whom are willing to wait for hours just to get in to eat? Coz this place serves damn good food.

We are very lucky today as hardly any queue due to ending dinner time on a weekday. So manage to get a seat in less than 15 mins. We eagerly made our order so that they can serve the dishes faster. We chose their set meal as it includes their famous herbal duck with other great side dishes, more worth it.

They serve us the soup first, the lady introduce it as "Shang Sheng Bu Lao" soup, we burst out laughing at this crappy name. But the soup don't taste crappy at all, in fact, very delicious. Then came their tofu which is extremely good which very good base gravy, yummy.

Then came the highlight which is the herbal duck, a bit miserable on the portion, but the herbal sauce compensates this flaw. Yummylicious. Duck Meat is tender too, but not boneless ah. The kai lan served is quite simple, nothing to boost about.

Lastly, is their dessert. Simple sea coconut just taste so good with a familar weird flavour. Why is that so? Coz they replaced the syrup with sprite. Blends in perfect.

After this whole dinner, for the past few days, we still kept thinking of the food. How wonderful.

Rating: 7.5/10


**New Outlet At Vivo City**

Founder Bak Kut Teh Restaurant

347 Balestier Road
Singapore 329777
Tel: 63526192

May 27, 2006

Located along the competitive street famous for Bak Kut Teh, here lies a very popular stall often patronise by celebrities.

Meow's mum bought the whole family here for dinner. Business is damn good, crowded inside, long queue outside. We only manage to get seats after queueing for quite some time.

Once you step in, you can see lots of celebrities photos (eg Fann Wong, Fiona Xie, S.H.E, Energy...all the cmi ppl) fully placed on all sides of the wall, with lots of thumbs up sign. As meow's mum has eaten here before, she began placing her orders.

Food were served really fast. We has the usual bak kut teh items like the spare ribs & organs soup, pig trotters, tau kee, you tiao & kiam cai. It looks good only rather than taste.

Something must be wrong with those ppl's tastebud with all the thumbs up. Everything is so ordinary, nothing makes us go "WOW". The soup is over congested with pepper that makes you choke & cough, only plus point is the tender meat. The kiam cai is not kiam enough with lots of garlic & oil. Pig trotter is packed with lean meat.

Haiz, so disappointing. Not worth queueing. We have definitely eaten better ones else where.

Rating: 4/10

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao

Various Outlets:
Takashimaya / J8 / Great World City / Jurong Point ...

Crystal Jade has a series of Restaurants ranging from very expensive Palace to affordable La Mian. It has always been a very popular dining choice among singaporeans due to conveniency and consistent acceptable food.

I do not really like their crystal jade kitchen, would prefer this La Mian Xiao Long Bao outlet. Their dishes like cold dish, meats & veg tasted good but at times, too heavy on salt. As for their La Mian and Xiao Long Bao, i think they have yet to surpass Din Tai Feng's culinary skills. It is too big and the flour skin layer is too thick, yet it breaks easily.

But they do try very hard to come up with creative dishes like Hotplate Xiao Long Bao, looks nice, taste dry.

It is still a good dining experience everytime.

Rating: 7/10

Din Tai Feng

Outlets:
Paragon Basement / Wisma L3 / J8 L1

Din Tai Feng, my favourite eating place as i adore dumplings. They bring in the best of Taiwan's dishes . Of coz, their main focus would definitely be the Xiao Long Bao.....yummy.

Their first outlet is at paragon and ever since they started this biz in sg, their queue is forever very long. And just like visiting doctors, you are given queue no and shall await your no to be flashed on their electronic waiting board. After which, they expand a few more outlets and biz is still as good elsewhere.

The design of this restaurant is not very comfy, very plain-looking with all the pale color wooden chairs and tables. Only the one at wisma uses a different design concept, more posh looking with dark colors.

Their selection of food ranges from starters, main course to dessert, but not much varieties. But at least, i never get bored of their food as they are very light and healthy. They introduce a new type of Crab Meat Xiao Long Bao which tasted not too bad, but their original traditional Xiao Long Bao is the best. Thin skin wrapped over tender meat, and in it is filled with sweet meat juice (soup). Add a bit of vinegar + ginger slices, you will just feel so "XIN FU".

And another fav dish would be the Egg Fried Rice. Fragrant, clear looking rice but not oily nor too salty, I can have this every day. And lately, they have introduce 2 new dessert, the almond & mango pudding. You definitely have to try this too. The almond pudding just melts in your mouth and the base sweet drink of the mango pudding is so nice, though i find their portion a bit too little for a big stomach like mine.

Final Verdict: You just have to make a visit here.

Rating: 8/10