PastaMania, Cathay Cineleisure

PastaMania is Halal..

I held a farewell lunch for my temp staff with my team at PastaMania at Cathay Cineleisure. I chose this place as one of us is a Muslim and I already ran out of ideas where to bring my team for Halal lunch next time. Sigh..

This was their menu. They were 3 types of Combos to choose. Their full Combo Set A comes with Soup of the day, Garlic Bread and a drink.

The Toasted Garlic Bread was not bad and crispy but slightly oily. It could be due to the generous garlic butter spread. – 7/10.


Since there were six of us, I ordered additional BBQ Chicken Wings for all of us. The Chicken wings were disappointing. The texture was tough and lack of flavor. Worst, they had a strong frozen smell. – 2/10.


My main is Spicy Crayfish Spaghetti. – 5/10.
It was sweet and not spicy enough. The crayfish was mushy.



Total bill came to $99.20. I don’t find it value for money.



Overall Verdict: 4/10

I will still give this place a chance if I have craving for pasta and am looking for a cheaper version.


Address:
PastaMania - Cathay Cineleisure Branch
8 Grange Road
#02-23
Cathay Cineleisure Orchard
Singapore 239695

Tel: 6737 1379

Operating Hours:
Sun-Thu: 10.30am - 10.30pm
Fri-Sat: 10.30am - 3.00am

Vegetarian Food Stall, Takashimaya Basement 2 Food Court

Disappointed Vegetarian food..

My expectation for vegetarian food is always not as high as non-vegetarian food as I understand that limited ingredients were used in cooking vegetarian food. However I feel that the taste must at least meet the basic requirement. In this case, I was quite disappointed. Perhaps I chose the wrong food dishes to go with rice.

This was my vegetarian rice for lunch. It was such a big pack topped with green vegetables, stir-fried pumpkin and curry cabbage. The dishes were tasteless, especially the curry cabbage which was also very oily. They were not even salty nor sweet nor sour. I wonder if they ran out of salt or sugar that day or the chef forgot to add taste to the dishes?





Overall Verdict: 2/10

Perhaps I will try their other dishes next time.


Address:
Vegetarian Food Stall
Takashimaya Basement 2 Food Court

Qiu Lian Ban Mian 秋莲版面, T3 Basement 2 Food Court

My favourite Qiu Lian handmade noodles, 秋莲版面..

I tried many handmade noodles from different stalls but still find Qiu Lian Ban Mian is the best and tastier among those which I have tried.

It was dinner time and the queue at the Changi Airport Qiu Lian Ban Mian stall was getting longer. Luckily, I have already bought mine.


This is the standard Qiu Lian Mee Hoon Kueh (面粉果) in soup. It consisted of Mee Hoon Kueh (squared), minced pork, Ikan Bilis (Anchovies), green vegetable, and fried onion slice that added fragrant & flavour to the soup.

Verdict: 8/10


This bowl of Mee Hoon Kueh looks very big, isn’t it? Actually, the portion was just nice for a person’s meal. The portion looked huge could be because of the soup. I supposed more soups are used to cook the mee hoon kueh to prevent the soup becoming too thick and chalky.

The soup was slightly sweet and not salty. I believe not much MSG was added as the latter will make one become thirsty easily and this did not happen to me. The minced pork was pre-marinated before it was added to the soup. It tasted a little salty but I like the taste. I would have given it 9/10 if minced lean pork was used instead of fatty pork.



Address:
Qiu Lian Ban Mian 秋莲版面
Food Court
Changi Airport Terminal 3
Basement Level 2

Vegetarian Health Food 老友记素食(斋), Albert Centre Temporary Market (Cooked Food Area)

Another Good and Nice Vegetarian Food Stall at Albert Centre Temporary Market at Bugis..

This Vegetarian Food stall is also located at Albert Centre Temporary Market. It faces directly opposite to the other Vegetarian Food Stall #01-03 (3 dishes + rice = $2).

This stall offers many selections of dishes and also individual orders such as Vegetarian Popiah, Chinese Rojak, Fried Rice, Hor Fun, etc..


Their vegetarian dishes look very attractive. They have Vegetarian Satays too..

I went Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple yesterday and bought this pack of Vegetarian rice for lunch. I chose stir-fried broccoli & califlower, stir-fried pumpkin and sweet sour mixed mock meat & sausages. The vegetarian sausage was good. I guess the filling was made of mashed yam, etc.

This afternoon, I went Bugis again to buy this vegetarian food again. I ordered the same dishes again but this time I choose sambal long bean instead of broccoli and califlower. The vegetarian sambal tasted like the sambal dried prawns. Mmmm... Thumbs up..

Address:
Vegetarian Health Food 老友记素食(斋)
Albert Centre Temporary Market (Cooked Food Area)
160 Queen Street
#01-22
Singapore 188555

Operating Hours:
Daily 6am - 9pm
Closed on every Lunar 2nd and 16th.

Granny's Pancake, Albert Centre Temporary Market (Cooked Food Area)

Vegetarian Mee Chiang Kueh/Mee Jian Kuih (Pancakes) at Bugis..

I came across this Granny’s Pancake stall when I went to pack my lunch at the Albert Centre Temporary Food Centre (Bugis) today. Its Mee Chiang Kuehs are vegetarians - do not contain egg.

This stall was manned by two Aunties and it offers 3 types of fillings – Red Bean, Peanuts and Coconut. They were so generous with fillings that I cannot resist myself from buying.


I bought three pieces of Mee Chiang Kuehs: two with Peanut fillings and one with coconut fillings. Three pieces cost $2 only.

1. Mee Chiang Kueh with coconut fillings - 9/10.
The coconut filling is fragrant, moist and sweet.


2. Mee Chiang Kueh with Peanut filling - 9/10.
The filling is a mixture of coarse peanuts & fine sugar.


The Mee Chiang Kueh texture was so soft and moist. Even after leaving them in the lunch box for few hours, it remained soft.

According to the Aunties, they have other outlets at Whampoa, Toa Payoh, Tampines, Ang Mo Kio, Bedok and many more. However, they do not have a namecard, else I would have gotten one from them and list out all their outlet locations.


Address:
Granny's Pancake
Albert Centre Temporary Market (Cooked Food Area)
160 Queen Street
#01-01
Singapore 188555

Operating Hours:
Daily 7am - 6pm

Paragon Breadtalk Silver, Orchard - 2nd visit

Cute Cream Cheese Cranberry Mini Toast..

I went back Paragon Breadtalk Silver again. This time, I bought their Cream Cheese Cranberry Mini Toast at $3.80. It consisted of 8 mini buns. The bun texture was different from the usual bigger version which is flat.

Cream Cheese Cranberry Mini Toast - 8/10

The bun was so soft and light. The dried cranberries added sweetness to the bun. The cream cheese filling was not too sweet. Overall combination was food.

I am begining to love the bread from Paragon Breadtalk Silver at Orchard. Being a bread-lover, these breads really makes up my day..


Address:
Paragon BreadTalk Silver
290 Orchard Rd
#B1-11/12 Paragon
Singapore 238859

Tel 6733 4434

Teck Kee Wanton Mee, Zion Road

Special Wanton Mee with roasted chicken..

Came across this Teck Kee Wanton Mee Coffeeshop several times but do not have a chance to try it yet. It was only last Sat after knocking off from work, I went there for late lunch. This was the last plate of Wanton Mee for the day becos the stall was closing. I'm so fortunate..

This Wanton Mee is very special. Is it Hong Kong style?

It consists of:

1. Mee - Tastes like egg noodle. Very QQ and nice but the sauce tastes like those black soya chicken sauce. It is quite watery. It will taste better if the sauce can be improved.

2. Char Siew Pork - Colour is unattractive. It is neither brown, black nor red. It's pink! Seems that the colour has faded. Char Siew needs to be improved too.

3. Roasted Chicken - Was given the chicken thigh. Chicken piece is tender but already turns cold. Perhaps it is already coming to the closing.

4. Deep Fried Wanton - The filling is made of fish paste? Doesn't taste like pork. It is not crispy anymore.

5. Wanton in soup - Wanton is ordinary but the soup is nice :)

Below is the enlarged photo of this special Teck Kee Wanton Mee.

This Wanton Mee costs $4. Considering the ingredients and sides given, it is value for money.

Perhaps I should come here again in the morning when all the ingredients are still fresh.

Thought of trying the Xin Fei Fei Wanton Mee inside the Zion Riverside Food Centre too for comparison but the stall auntie said it is not ready yet. Thought the stall is 24-hour?

Verdict - 6/10

Address:
Teck Kee Wanton Mee

56 Zion Road

Teck Kee Coffeeshop

Singapore 247781

Paragon BreadTalk Silver, Orchard

Not the usual Breadtalk outlets..

This was my first time patronising BreadTalk Silver at Paragon. I passed by this outlet many times previously but never thought of going in to look or buy their bread. It could be because I had been to many of their outlets before and find their breads similar to one another.

BreadTalk Silver is very different from other BreadTalk outlets. Other than their signature and usual breads and buns, it also has many European style buns and breads which others do not have.

These two were what I bought that day.

1. French Raisin - 8/10
A kind of french loaf stuffed with generous raisins. It is one of my favourites. Mmmm..

2. Hokkaido Honey Beans (Azuki beans) - 7/10
Hard bun stuffed with Azuki beans. The beans were sweet and it added flavour to the plain hard bun.




I will go back again to buy other types of bun next time..


Address:
Paragon BreadTalk Silver
290 Orchard Rd
#B1-11/12 Paragon
Singapore 238859

Tel 6733 4434

Imperial Treasure Cantonese Cuisine Dim Sum 御宝轩世界城点心, Great World City

Very very good Dim Sum!

It was a last minute decision to go for Dim Sum at Imperial Treasure Cantonese Cuisine on a Sunday morning. I made the reservation for two persons at 11.30am as this is their usual opening hours. When we walked pass the restaurant around 11am, we realized that it is already opened. Hence, we walked in to try our luck since we were 30mins earlier.

All rooms and tables were actually fully booked. Luckily, the captain reviewed their reservation list again and finally gave us an available room instead of the usual dining area.

This room was in fact meant for 6 persons.

Sesame Coated Walnut – We were firstly served with this nibble that whetted my appetite. Sweet and crunchy. Yummy..

Our orders.

1. Chee Cheong Fun with Fresh Prawn 鲜虾猪肠粉– 8/10
The roll was soft but not mushy. The prawn is big, fresh and crunchy. Marvellous… However, the sauce was a bit more salty than others. Overall, it was still very good.

2. Har Gow 虾饺 – 7/10
Steamed shrimp dumpling – The filling consisted of prawn in cubes and water chestnut chunk. Not too bad.

3. Siew Mai 烧卖 – 8/10

It may look ordinary but… cut it up and see yourself…

A big prawn was stuffed in it. The proportion of prawn was more than the minced pork. Prawn-lovers, you will love it, just like me…

4. Chicken/Phoenix Claws风爪 – 8/10

Very tender and soft but not flavourful enough. The seasoning was ok but could be due to that marinating time may be too short. That’s why the seasoning flavour was not absorbed by the claws. But it was still very nice. Mmmmm.. It would be even best if more pepper is added to the seasonings.

5. Char Siew Pau 叉烧包 – 9/10
One of my favourites. It was so soft, light and fluffy. The Pau skin was kind of chiffon cake texture. I like the top of the pau being torn off, revealing the char siew filling inside.

The filling oozed out when I tore it open. The char siew was in cubes, not minced and this is exactly what I like. Pork fats can be easily found and removed. Not sure if I am lucky or the chef did not include much fats as the char siew filling.

6. Mini Egg Tarts 迷你蛋挞 – 7/10
It was nicely baked. The egg custard filling was very smooth but a little too sweet. The crust was so flaky, fluffy and buttery. Go for it!

7. Almond Milk with egg white蛋白杏仁奶 – 7/10
It’s awesome! Healthy too! So smooth and not too sweet.

8. Po Lo Bun菠萝包 – 7/10

The filling was generous. The Po lo skin was not too oily nor too sweet. Overall, the taste is just nice.

The big sliced char siew pork was revealed.

The Dim Sum at Imperial Treasure were really very good and tasty.

After trying many Dim Sums from different places such as Hai Tien Lo at Pan Pacific, Wah Lok at Carlton, Peach Garden at OCBC Centre, Tung Lok at Arena Country Club, Shang Palace at Shangri La, Golden Peony at Conrad, Crystal Jade at various outlets, Red Star at Havelock, etc.., I still find that most of the Dim Sums at Imperial Treasure are up to my expectations.

I strongly recommend this place to everyone.

Address:
Imperial Treasure Cantonese Cuisine 御宝轩世界城
1 Kim Seng Promenade
#02-06
Great World City
Singapore 237994

Tel: 6732 2232

Operating Hours:
Mon-Sat: 11.30am - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10.30pm
Sun & Public Holiday: 10.30am - 2.30pm, 6pm - 10.30pm

Pioneer Wharf, Jurong Point

Value for money..

Compared the prices to those Hotel restaurants, the Dim Sum pricing in this restaurant is considered cheap.

The Hay Bee Hiam is good. I can feel the hay bee chunk and it is not too oily nor spicy.

1. Char Siew Bao - 6/10
I like the char siew filling as it is not minced so that I can take out whatever fats I can find inside. Wonder if the char siew has been marinated long enough as there is a slight pork smell.


2. Har Gow - 6/10
So so only. The skin too thick for me.


3. Siew Mai - 7/10
This is good as it tastes a bit salty. Seems as if salty fish is added into it. I would recommend this.

4. Chee Cheong Fun with fresh prawns - 6/10

The skin is too thick but the sauce is good.

5. Chicken Feet in bean sauce - 6/10

It will be good if the chicken feet is soft and tender enough.

6. Mini Egg Tarts - 7/10

This mini thing is so wonderful. The crust is super thin and the filling is not too sweet.

7. Pork Century egg congee - 5/10
The congee is too plain and ordinary.

8. "Fen Guo" in Teochew Style - 5/10
I supposed that the skin is made a kind of starch which I don't really fancy. The filling is quite tasteless too.

Overall - Food is above average and is value for money..

Address:

Pioneer Wharf

1 Jurong West Central 2

#B1-45/46

Jurong Point Shopping Centre

Singapore 648886

Tel: 6861 6833

Operating Hours:

Lunch: 11am - 3pm

Dinner: 5.30pm - 10pm