The Oasis - Taiwanese porridge

Most people might have visited The Oasis when it's at Kallang. Its been relocated to a park opposite HDB hub/bus interchange. Taiwanese porridge is the anchor of the restaurant.

With a group of six others,we decided to check it out on a Saturday evening. I didn't expect that it would be that packed especially when it was about 8pm. 

 

It's especially a good day for some hot porridge. The porridge is littered with pieces of sweet potatoes.

 

We also ordered some of the famous dishes. The following are almost standard dishes seen on most tables:

Diners get to enjoy 10% discount with Standard Chartered/UOB credit cards.

The Oasis

303 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh

Tel: 6346 4418

Jia Wei Chinese Restaurant - Fine Dim Sum

The hidden gem at Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel is none other than Jia Wei Chinese Restaurant. The dim sum was a delight and pleasant treat for the palate. 

My family arrived shortly after eleven. We were the first patrons in the restaurant. It was a bliss as compared to the environment in most Chinese dim sum restaurants on a Sunday morning.The deco and ambience was simplistic yet classic at the same time. 

We’ve a variety of dim sum and most are slightly above average. It is really the taste and freshness of the food items that keeps us wanting more! My favourites are the beancurd skin, char siew pastry tarts and the sweet xiao long baos! 

One of the highlights was the Beijing Duck. A whole duck would cost SGD60 while a half would cost SGD32. Although it looked small, but the texture of the skin was just optimal! Coupled with the skin and sweet sauce, how could anyone give it a miss? It was not just the experience of eating the skin. The meat (served as a dish and together with ee fu noodles) was smashing too! So you could safely assume that there were no left overs. 

How could we miss out on desserts! Most of the desserts are in the range of SGD8. The most commendable dessert is probably the yam paste with corn. It is actually bo bo cha cha. 

Ready to give it a try?

Jia Wei Chinese Restaurant

50 East Coast Road 2F

Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel

Tel: 65 6340 5678

Soon Heng Rojak at Gourmet Paradise - Rojak with perpetual queues

If you're looking for rojak at Toa Payoh area, you got to head to Gourmet Paradise at Toa Payoh Hub. There is a store with perpetual queues. It's none other than Soon Heng Rojak! One has to wait for 20 to 30 minutes to get their craving satisfied! 

Why is it so popular? I can think of 3 reasons:

• Usage of fresh ingredients
• Generous serving of good quality peanuts
• Tasty paste

Have you tried other nice tasting rojaks? Feel free to suggest!

Soon Heng Rojak

Gourmet Paradise Food Court

480 Lor 6 Toa Payoh #B1-23

HDB Hub Toa Payoh

The magic number for Shangri La is 39!

There is another series of promotions for the dining places over at Shangri La. This is exciting as I went for “Flash Your Age” Promotion last year. We brought our grandmother along and we enjoyed a whopping 80% discount! You may want to check out the pictures here!

The magic number 39 has to do with the history of the hotel. You could enjoy up to 39% discount offfood bill and for housepour wines, beer and soft drinks at The Line, Shang Palace, Nadaman and The Rose Veranda. The challenge is you need to make your reservations up to 39 days in advance to enjoy the discount! Apparently 39% of the seating capacity at each restaurant is set aside for this promos.

Itching to have a go? Start planning when you're heading down to Shangri La. They have a guide on when you should make your booking! It should be hassle free then. Do remember to make your reservation in time!

Crystal Jade Shanghai Restaurant

As we had a family friend who is visiting, my auntie suggested that we should bring her to Crystal Jade at Airport Terminal 3. The restaurant is located on the third level at Terminal 2.

Our order was based on the ala carte menu. It was kind of the usual Chinese food fare:

Some of the dishes were kind of interesting. Firstly, they actually added macadamia nuts to gong bao chicken. Such an inclusion is neat for it goes very well with the dish.

 

Another surprising find is prata within a Chinese restaurant. You get a generous serving of prate that is quite different from the usual Indian prata. Besides being crisp, you find small bits of (cong) in it. It was well liked by all. Even my grandma loves it!

This may be suitable for family get togethers. But it’s not as though the food brilliant. It may just be a good place to check out if you intend to dine at airport.

Crystal Jade Shanghai Restaurant

Changi Airport T3

Mezzanine Level

Departure / Check In Hall Central

Tel: 65 6241 8468

Weekend Breakfast at Swensen’s

Have you always thought of Swensen’s as a place for ice cream? Perhaps a place where you can do lunch or dinner as well? They actually serve breakfast on weekends from 8am to 11am!

I’ve had a go at the Swensen’s over at Seng Kang some months back. This time round, I went with 2 friends after sending a friend off at the airport. The prices are pretty decent as most of the sets are in the range of 7 to 10 SGD. The sets comes with freshly brewed coffee/tea and a juice.

If you like to spend a leisurely Sat/Sun, head over to Swensen’s.

Swensen’s
Changi Airport T2
Mezzanine Level
Arrival Hall North
Website: http://www.swensens.com.sg
Tel: 65 6542 8219

Aerin’s - Dining by the fountain

The newly renovated Aerin’s is back in service! It is tucked away at basement level 1 of Raffles City Shopping Center. Have been looking to patron Aerin’s again as it is one of my fav restaurants.

The layout of the restaurant remains largely the same. The fountain still provides the serene feel I really enjoy.

We ordered a range of dishes to try! For a healthy start, the pumpkin salad was a delight. The cheese bits in the salad added some flavours to the salad! A friend even said that she is going to recreate this salad.

We also had calamari as a side. It came with a refreshing dip.

The main dishes arrived shortly. We had a combination of fish (Seabass and Snapper), Rosemary chicken and duck.

Our only complaint was that the chicken and duck were slightly too tough.

Glad that my friend enjoyed the eating experience. And we had to give a go at the desserts. Chocolate molten was very well done. It could help if one is feeling slightly depressed or tired from work.

Had a first shot at Pavlova. The passion fruit sorbet was way too sour. Makes you cringe a little each time you have a bite. The combination with whipped cream renders the dessert a little too sweet.

Aerin’s
252 North Bridge Road

Raffles City Shopping Centre

B1-11/12

Singapore 179103

Tel: 6337 2231

Website: http://www.aerins.com.sg/