Melben Seafood – Claypot Crab Bee Hoon a must try!

As crab enthusiasts, my family and I decided to head to Melben Seafood (Ang Mo Kio). As this place is known for crabs, we decided to order only crabs - Claypot Crab Bee Hoon, Black Pepper, Creamy Butter and Salted Egg crabs. The other dishes are common to what we may find at Zhi Char stores and they are not cheap to start with.

The specialty had to be Claypot Crab Bee Hoon! The crabs served in this style were the freshest among the lot. It was further enhanced by the richness of the stock. This is a must try. When orders are taken, they would usually ask if you like a top up of soup and bee hoon. This may not be necessary especially if you have other dishes. The other thing is that the extra Bee Hoon are usually tougher and dry. So they do not necessarily add on to the dining experience.

It would also be good to try the creamy butter crabs! The sauce is appetizing to start with. As the name would suggest, the taste was rich. Besides that, it also goes well with rice!

 Black pepper crabs were delightful as well.

Salted egg crabs were a little overdone though. We would have ordered it to be done in another style.

Prior to the visit, we were mentally prepared for long queues. A word about queue. We reached at 7pm on a weekday evening. The queue was already quite a sight! After about more than an hour, we were finally seated. It was another hour of wait before the crabs were served. Unanimously we concluded we should head to this restaurant after 9pm in the future.


What are some of your favorites?

Melben Seafood
233 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3
Tel: 65 6285 6762

Wild Honey - Most talked about breakfast or brunch destination?

If you have asked anyone for recommendation for weekend brunch, the name Wild Honey, is likely to pop up. At the same time, you may be cautioned to the possibility of queues between 1.5 to 2 hours!

Visited this restaurant at 11-ish on a Saturday morning. In fact it's just a little earlier than the supposed lunch hour. We were told we have to wait at least 1.5 hour and we would be given a call when it's nearing our queue. The plus point of the wait is that you could spend it by checking out tue malls in the vicinity. 

After we were called, there was still a substantial period of wait as the earlier diners exit from the restaurant.

Typically you will crowd around the board or iPad to read/see the food descriptions. Orders are also made there and then.

The ambience of the restaurant is probably one of the draws for the crowd. It is indeed a place to laze around for weekend brunch.

Cosy Setting

Magazine Stand

The scone, coupled with refreshing jam and butter, left more than an impression! I think it could be considered a must-try. We were just a little puzzled why it was not served with clotted cheese.

Awesome scone!

We had a combination of the following breakfast sets:

Scandinavian - Grilled fresh Norwegian salmon

Breakfast Set

Egg Benedict

The bread is toasted to a fine quality. To the extent that it was still crispy whether you have it at the start or towards the end of the meal. The other commendable point would have to be the scrambled eggs. They are watery and a lil milky at the same time!

It's worth having a try to determine if this place is for you! My friends and I found that its slightly overrated and prices are also on the higher end.  Don't forget the scones or bread if you do pop by.


Wild Honey
Mandarin Gallery
333 Orchard Road
Singapore 238897
Tel: 6235 3900
http://www.wildhoney.com.sg

Jang Shou Korean BBQ at Esplanade

Parked along the Makansutra street at the Esplanade area, Jang Shou Korean BBQ is a restaurant teeming with people!

As with most Korean restaurants, you will find a slew of side dishes to tempt the palates.

One can't miss out on the kimchi after coming all the way.

The chilled salad, coupled with a reddish orange dressing, was simply refreshing. It also clears and make way for the BBQ items.

For the BBQ,there is a wide range of meat to choose from. The perk of dining at Jang Shou is that the staff would BBQ the items for you. It's indeed a luxury for you are able to simply chat away with your dinner mates.

Besides having the BBQ option,diners could order cooked items. The seafood pancake was quite good though they missed out on the order. If you are into vegetables,this may be something you don't want to miss.

The Kim Chi Hotpot brimmed with ingredients such as mushroom,spinach,pork slices and white cabbage. It was piping hot and ideal for soup lovers.

It's ideal to make reservations before visiting!

Jang Shou Korean BBQ

8 Raffles Avenue, #01-13B

Esplanade Mall
Tel: 63378880

Website: http://www.colours.com.sg/jangshou.htm

Cedele Bakery - Destination for cakes

We celebrated a friend’s birthday in church today and the cake is from none other than Cedele Bakery. It has almost become the default place I go to for cakes.

The cakes are priced slightly higher than normal bakeries (e.g. BreadTalk and the likes). At the same time, it is more affordable than cakes from Canele and Patissier.

The birthday girl had a Chocolate Truffle Cake (SGD43.80). It was awesome. The dark chocolate cake was rich and most of us were enjoying the texture of the cake. If only it was colder though!

On some previous occasions, I ordered

Apple Nut Cheesecake - As you start on the cake, you would not miss the ting of cinnamon. I like it how you could taste the chunks of apples.

Chocolate Banana Espresso Cake - Although I am not a coffee person, I found the cake to be a little electric. Perhaps it is to do with the combination of chocolate and espresso. The caramelized banans and waluts added much flavour too.

Read more about the cakes at the site for Cedele.
Cedele Bakery
#01-01/02 Novena Square
Tel:  65 6258 5991
Website: http://www.cedeledepot.com/

Lao Beijing 老北京食堂 - Northern Chinese fare at Novena

Lao Beijing (老北京食堂), under the Tung Lok group, serves Northern Chinese fare. Have visited this place for a set meal in 2008. It was quite a pleasant experience so I was all for it when my family suggested that place.

Besides, Tung Lok has been having a series of promotions by vouchers! If you spend up to 50, 100 or 200 on ala carte items, you could enjoy 50% discount respectively! 

The best dish has got to be Soon Hock (SGD48.00). It was of supreme freshness. The sauce also goes very well with the fish.

Shanbei Chicken (SGD12.00) was served in a claypot. Shanbei chicken has also been one of my favourite dishes. So I was glad to find it on the menu. I find that it can be stronger in the taste.

The portion of Beijing Duck (SGD24.00) was quite generous. The wrap for Beijing Duck was rather unique and it is probably made of eggs.

Pork Shank (SGD22.00) was quite well braised. Worth a go at it.

The other dishes were rather mediorce:

Mushroom with Broccoli (SGD16.00)

Egg Skin Beancurd (SGD12.00)

Jelly Fish (SGD4.00)

Shark’s Fin (SGD28.00) was a disappointment. The way it is served does not make it easy to eat either. The stock was average too. Quite a boo hoo.  

We ordered two sets of Xiaolong Bao (SGD8.00). Little did we know that there were 8 Baos in a set. We were surprised how the waitress did not advise us against it.

When we tried to order the desserts, quite a number of items were out of stock. So we only ordered Mango Sago Pomelo (SGD5.00) and Herbally Jelly (SGD5.00).

The former was a let down and the sago was not even well cooked. The herbal jelly on other hand was quite good apparently.

Lao Beijing 老北京食堂
238 Thomson Road #02-11/12
Novena Square
Singapore 307683
Tel: 65 6358 4466
Website: www.laobeijing.com.sg/

Cedele Depot - More than just cakes

Cedele Depot is not just a place for cakes. They are also serve a range of main courses, pastas, pancakes, breakfast sets, sandwiches and greens!

I was delighted when I had a go at the food in the cafes. The portions were relatively large. The dishes were prepared in a healthy manner. My friends and I found the taste rather exceptional.

My personal favorite is Chicken Portobello sandwich (SGD14.80). You get to choose the choice of bread. This sandwich goes exceptionally well with walnut bread. However, the walnut bread is always not available at the chain at Wheelock. The sandwich is packed with generous portions of Chicken and Portobello. Yum! An extra incentive for mushroom fans.

The wild blueberry pancakes (SGD12.90) was also delightful. There were three pancakes in all, proving to be too much for lunch! The soft pancakes were littered with bits of blueberry. Definitely a good to try for pancakes fanatics.

Rosemary Sea Salt (SGD21.90) was one of the other dishes we ordered. It must have tasted good with potato slices!

If you like a quick look at the menu, here it is!  

Cedele Depot
501 Orchard Road
#03-14 Wheelock Place
Singapore 238880
Tel: 6732 8520
Website: http://www.cedeledepot.com/

Theme restaurants in Hong Kong - Modern Toilet and Charlie Brown

Out of novelty I decided to check out two theme restaurants.

Modern Toilet originates from Taiwan and is located at Mongkok.

One can't miss the toilet concept at all! From the restaurant fittings to the cutlery to the names of the food. It is everywhere!

Given the concept it would naturally attract many youngsters. So it maybe good to be early.

It may be very interesting on the onset. But it becomes a little sick after a while. Imagine drinking from a glass urinal.

The food served is rather mediocre.

This is probably a place where you wil visit once and that is it.

Charlie Brown cafe is a neat setup located at a few busy districts.

Would be good if you are a Snoopy or Charlie Brown fan.

If you've guessed it already they serve the western fare. Can't quite remember the taste of the food.Here is a snapshot:

But the theme is probably more interesting than the food is!


Modern Toilet
240-244 Portland Street Room 3B,
Mongkok
Website: http://www.moderntoilet.com.tw/en/index.asp
Tel: +852 2308 1166


Charlie Brown
G/F-1/F, Kok Pah Mansion,
58-60 Cameron Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2366 6315