chocolates @ Paragon

found a new spot in Paragon selling a pretty good selection of sweet desserts and chocolates. the place "Canele" is located @ B1, next to Crabtree & Evelyn. their chocolates are mainly dark bitter ones which is GOOD since these little "devils" with high cocoa contents (70% and above) are considered to be of LESS fat content which in other words, is lots healthier (less guilt for every bite?!) and so, my FAV :P



being my 1st visit, i couldn't resist trying their Tiramisu (my all time FAV cake.. hahaha) however, the result was not exactly up to my expectation. perhaps Tiramisu is not their top notch best seller. i saw many other selection of cakes available however those were not my 1st choice. the sponge cake was alrite but there was not much taste of liquor as expected in any Tiramisu cake.



ambience is good with soft lighting and nice jazz music to sooth the mind. their staff's friendly however, i do feel that they are kinda slow in serving up our order. to be fair, i will make a mental note to try something chocolate-y next time before making a comment.



PLUS point for my virgin visit to "Canele" ~ i saw "Chen Han Wei" in person. hahaha. couldn't recognize him at 1st glance but he's tall and doesn't look as skinny as we thought on TV. not bad looking lah~!

overall yummy level: 2 kisses
(based on my order of Tiramisu cake)
overall price level: 1 money bag
(based on what's been ordered / price per pax)

1827 Thai Restaurant at Arts House, Old Parliament Lane

Had our company CNY dinner @ 1827 Thai Restaurant at the Arts House on Old Parliament Lane.

This is considered one of the pricey places that we don't normally go so when we get a chance, a review is definitely necessary! :)

Nice atmosphere and those who is going to the Arts House for the first time, i would recommend that you walk walk around the Arts House (they have a shop on level 1 and sometimes art shows on the 2nd level) to get a sense of the 'arty' air.

We were seated outside (rather than inside) since there were not really anyone so we had the whole veranda to ourselves which is nice.


HOW TO ORDER!

Boss advised that ordering a-la-cart is rather ex at 1827 so its best to go for the 4 course meal priced @ $40 per person.

We can choose any appetizer on the menu, any soup, any main course etc etc which is definitely a better deal then a-la-cart!




SOUPS

1. Tom Yum Soup with Prawn

Started off with my favourite Tom Yum soup of cos!

Taste rather spicy (without taking the cut chilli, i hear that if you eat the cut chilli, it will be very spicy), although soup is clear, taste was good! Not so sour, not so thick etc, just nice!




2. Fish Maw Soup

My colleague had this fish maw soup which she said tasted good.








APPETIZERS

1. Fresh Maguro Tuna Served Rare
with mint & sweet basil in rice paper roll

Appearance was great, though wasn't very impressed with this dish. A bit bland and i didn't know there were tuna inside at all, tasted all vegetables (the carrot mainly).

Would not recommend to try unless you like something light.




2. Home Cured Salmon
with Coriander, spicy pomelo salad, lemon dressing

mmm... this one is tasty!

Salmon was fresh and having it with pomelo and a bit of lemon was interesting and added a bit of fun into eating salmon.

A must try for salmon lovers!



3. Grilled Chicken Satay
with Thai peanut sauce

This is good, chicken was well grilled.

A can try!






4. Sugar Cane Prawn
with plum sauce

Well, everyone at the table likes this dish apparently, the prawns were minced and mix with some other ingredient i think, not the usual fried prawn by itself and just wrap around the sugar cane.

Interesting, unique preparation and according to my boss, its a must try!



MAIN COURSE

1. Grilled Black Cod

Cod was fresh though serving was a bit small (may be little for guys). I thought that the cod was pretty bland which luckily they had some kind of thai sauce (which was not spicy) together with it so it doesn't taste as bland.

Think for those who wants a simple and healthy dish, this will be good for you.


2. Ribeye Steak - served well done

My colleague had this and she said it was good!








3. Crayfish Curry

This was ordered by my boss's mum. Looks nice and according to her, it tasted good.








DESSERTS

1. Tapioca with coconut milk

Typically Thai dessert, tasted good, at least the coconut milk was fresh and not salty nor too sweet.







2. Fried Banana with ice cream

Didn't really tried this dish, my boss was too full to have this by the time it came and not much comments was made on this for thos who tried.

I wasn't a fan of bananas so i skipped this dish!




3. Mango with glutinous rice

Boss's mum had this dish and seriously, i can't remember what she said about this dish. Anyway, all dishes at 1827 had a standard so it all taste nice, none was really bad to the extend that the price was not justifiable.





4. Pandan Tiramisu

Hehe... i ordered this... thought that it sounds the most interesting on the menu.

Cake and pudding like combined dessert with sago and coconut milk... interesting combination and it was pretty nice. Though i thought the sesame biscuit wasn't very good and didn't go well with the pandan tiramisu. I would rather just take the panda tiramisu by itself.

Overall rating

Yum level: 4 kisses
$ level: 4 money bags per pax


Note to Drivers: there are not many parking lots here (beside Victoria theatre) so you may have to park at Raffles Place or boat quay and walk over. The best is to just grab a cab ba.

QQ noodle @ Jia Xiang

gracie's favourite dish is Abalone noodle - i tried it and i liked it, YUMMYZ!

Jia Xiang Kuching's noodle is similar to our maggie mee in terms of outlook, very Q in texture and comes with a few different choices to choose from (with prawn, chicken curry, with wanton fried or soup etc). however, i feel that its BEST when served dry.



branch: Vivo City B2-38
(there are other branches located in Singapore)


Abalone, wanton, prawn noodle
their signature dish 招牌面 – with sweet seafood like abalone and very fresh prawns. not to mention their “crunchy” fried wanton. add on alittle of their chilli to increase the spicy-ness, very tasty *yummy*


Wanton, prawn noodle
can't say more about their noodles but you've just gotta try it yourself ~ 'm missing it already!

both soups from your choice of DRY noodles were great but too SMALL ...
feedback: can we have bigger bowls next time *hinting the boss~!*


Curry chicken noodle
very spicy gravy ~ thick and not those diluted kids that we sometimes find in the markets. worth a try if you're a fan for hot stuff. chicken parts served was tender.


Fried Wanton dumplings
being greedy hence ordered an extra bowl of fried wanton to share among the gang. crunchy SMALL bites they were ~ skin was so thin and crispy that with every bite, you can hear it go *cruch crunch*
comparing the fried dumplings VS soup based ones ---> i would prefer the latter. much beta in taste! try it yourself ~!

overall yummy level: 3.5 - 4 kisses
overall price level: 2 money bags per pax

Tim Sum @ Geylang Lor 17

it has been a long time since my last visit to "Wen Dao Shi" 揾到食, located at Geylang Lor 17. their standard somewhat remains the same which is really good for all people who lurve good food ~!



our orders for that day


"Char Siew Bao"
BBQ sweet pork that's really juicy and succulent. you MUST remember to eat it HOT if you're ordering this dish.


"Fu Pi prawns"
deep fried tofu skin wrapped with prawns. very QQ prawns that's fresh and yummy!


"Sweet & Sour fish maw"
deep fried fish maw that's really crunchy - served with garlic, abit of lime, chilli and spring onion. you MUST consume this within minutes when served to enjoy the BEST taste of this dish!


"Chicken wing"
was coughing hence i skipped the chicken however my kakis were telling me that they tasted OK. perhaps will give it a try the next time i'm there :)


"Steamed Garlic Crab"
one of our favourite seafood --- CRABS! simply cannot resist (well, considering it being a long time since we go for CRAB feast ~ haha), even if it means eating it outside the comfort of our homes! we ordered one, filled with tons of garlic and the meat was fresh. cheap too. only SGD 6 per plate!



if you're there, you can also try their silver fish porridge (ordered by our neighbour at the next table) which looked really good. their home cooked barley (with winter melon) drink was good too!



overall yummy level: 4 kisses
overall price level: 2 money bags
(based on what's been ordered / price per pax)

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