"Zhou’s Kitchen is a casual Chinese dining concept, catering to the palates and pockets of diners from all walks of life. 周 (Zhou) is the family name of Andrew Tjioe, TungLok Group’s founder and Executive Chairman, and Zhou’s Kitchen as the name suggests, offers all-time Chinese favourites, as well as well-loved private recipes of the Zhou family. Definitely the place for the discerning and time-starved local diners."
Even though I usually don't take porks, I liked the way the pork shank was cooked. The meat was juicy and tender. There was no porky taste. The sauce was light and not starchy. It went very well with the fried and steamed buns. The pickled vegetables were very appetising. Ginseng Chrysanthemum tea served complimented the dish well.
The meat were swiftly and skilfully removed from its bones.
2. SPRING JuChunYuan 聚春园
"Since 1865, “JuChunYuan” has stood for the finest in Fuzhou cuisine. The famous “Buddha Jumps Over the Wall” was birthed in JuChunYuan restaurant in 1876 and has continued to set the standard for fine Chinese restaurants around the world. Now, SPRING JuChunYuan is the only restaurant in Singapore that exclusively serves traditional Min cuisine and carries the remarkable legacy of the original JuChunYuan Fuzhou restaurant."
This is the delicacy of the whole feast! Each of us were served a bowl of their famous Buddha jumps over the wall. Four days effort just to prepare the soup. A 8-year-old Fujian wine was part of the ingredients in the final preparation. The dish is being steamed, not cooked over fire, to retain the right concentration of the soup. Actually, I don't really fancy the wine in soup, therefore, I didn't finish the soup even though I would like to!
Our individual portion of the delicacy.
The noodles were specially imported from overseas. It was only slightly thicker than my hair strand! It tasted good even though it was a bit dry. I liked it better with their special sauce which added a slight sweet flavour to the noodles. The sauce was made using red vinegar wine, garlic and sugar. The vinegar taste was not signicant, instead, garlic dominated the sweet sauce.
3. Garuda Padang Cuisine
"Garuda, established in 1976, is the most successful and one of the largest Padang Cuisine restaurant chains in Indonesia. Today, in a partnership with TungLok Group, Garuda in Singapore is the only franchised Padang Cuisine restaurant outside Indonesia, offering nothing but the most authentic fare at three locations."
Fried Chicken with Blue Ginger Floss - $5.30++
We were served with Lime Soda. In such a hot weather, this really was refreshing and cooling! The impression I have about fried chicken is usually dry. However, I can't say so for this fried chicken! If I can even say that the chicken breast meat I had was juicy and tender, you can be assured it'll be equally good about drumsticks or chicken thighs! The blue ginger floss was very tasty, crispy and salty. They were deep fried, but it wasn't that oily as in, you can feel the oil oozing out in the mouth! I love the blue ginger floss so much I just finished them all!
Yummy fried chicken breast with crispy blue ginger floss
4. Shin Kushiya
"Shin Kushiya was established in October 2006 to introduce the Kushiyaki dining concept. ‘Kushiyaki’ is the Japanese term for ‘Charcoal-grilled skewers’. At Shin Kushiya, the freshest meat, seafood and vegetables are arranged artfully on bamboo skewers and grilled with care over Bincho charcoal from Japan to provide a crisp smokiness while sealing the natural flavours within. Paired with freshly-ground sea salt, cracked black pepper and homemade tare sauce, Kushiyaki is a simple and satisfying pleasure."
The chef hard at work, grillling the kushiyaki for us
This had to be my favourite drink for the day! Yuzu fruit was added to the cooler, gave it a good stir and you can feel the hint of sourness from the yuzu blended into the sweetness of the soda. Without hesitation, I scooped up the yuzu fruit and ate them! (Don't waste it!)
I liked the tomato maki even though it was wrapped in thin pork meat. The warmth and sweetness of the cherry tomato that exploded in the mouth gave the palate a wonderful sensation! The ebi maki (prawn) was very fresh and juicy. The black pepper yakitori was also juicy and full of coarse black peppers! There were also plum salt and curry salt to complement the kushiyakis. However, the kushiyakis were already so good on its own, you won't want to dip them in anything!
The rich and creamy black sesame compliments the charcoal grilled skewers very much! The thick black sesame paste at the side was so good on its own, although it was supposed to be a dip for our ice cream! Two thumbs up for this wonderful rich black sesame ice cream!
5. Mont Calzone Pizza & Pasta
"Enjoy hearty Italian cuisine at reasonable prices in this cosy and laid-back pizzeria. Popular dishes include Fried Calamari, Polpa di Granchio (crab meat pasta) and Rucola Mozzarella Pizza. Be sure to leave room for their homemade tiramisu, a scrumptious Italian dessert not to be missed. All pizza selections can be made into calzone."
Pizzas & Pastas
You'll be spoilt for choice with their variety of pizza and pastas! The quality of the ingredients used were fresh and of high standard.
As I was already filled all up, I decided just to go for two pizzas and give the carbos a miss! The pizza's thin crust were crispy. The toppings were quite generous as there were lots of salad and pieces of thick smoked salmon on the smoked salmon pizza! The black truffle "dots" were flavourful on its own. However, when eaten with the crust, the flavour was very faint.
6. Mirchi – Taste of India
"Mirchi –Taste of India offers an extensive range of delectable and authentic Northern Indian cuisine, with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes to choose from. Favourite specialties include “Tandoori Non-Vegetarian Kebab Platter” an assortment of fish tikka, chicken tikka, seekh kebab and prawns spiced with tandoori masala. “Kadhai Prawn”, marinated prawns with capsicum in onion & tomato gravy. “Rogan Josh”, a traditional lamb curry, an all time favourite from Kashmir. Also, not to be missed is the selection of chicken, lamb, seafood and vegetable Biryani served with Raita."
Mango Lassi
Mango Lassi had to be the one drink you order from a North India cuisine! We were fortunate to be served this popular drink before our meal. The mango lassi was a bit sourish, wasn't overly sweet, and the mango wasn't too strong. However, it was pretty light and I like the taste nevertheless.
All the bloggers unanimously agreed that the seekh kebab, which was made up of lamb, was a bit dry and too spicy. Otherwise, their tikkas tasted really good. The kind of charred taste on the meat was nice. The spices on the tikka were not overly strong. Dip them in the mint sauce tasted even better! I should have secretly ask them to serve their naans too!
Full serving platter
Our sampling platter - a very good & generous portion!
Overall rating: 4/5
7. Hock Lam Beef
"Hock Lam Beef has been serving the highest quality Teochew beef kway teow in Singapore. The business spans over 98 years, across 4 generations of the Tan family, and is run today by the original founder’s great-grandchild. Till today, they prepare everything, from the 24-hour boiled gourmet soup with herb base to the homemade 13-ingredient chilli sauce, by hand in-house."
The third generation of the Tan family, and the boss of the group. He is being supported in his business by his daughter, Tina.
Third generation boss...
His daughter Tina on the right. David (I don't know who he is) on the left, who gave us a history and brief of the place
Original Mixed Beef Kway Teow with soup.
The herb base soup was very tasty and flavourful. The beef briskets were freed from "fishy" smell and were very soft. Except for the noodles, all the ingredients were prepared freshly and within the shops. Even the chilli taste fresh and nice too. The shredded "kiam chye" added a little crunchiness and saltiness to the noodles' taste. This used to be my favourite noodles, until I decided to forgo eating beef!
Overall rating: 4/5
8. Oni Cupcakes
"This boutique cupcake bakery uses only the finest quality ingredients, their top-selling cupcakes include Chocolate Lover (Valrhona dark chocolate), Mango Tango (Valrhona chocolate cake with Mango butter cream), along with specialty cupcakes like Healthy Bunny (carrot cake with cream cheese frosting) and The King (Mao Shan Wang durian). With a wide range of flavours, designs and sizes, their custom-made cupcakes will delight both adults and kids."
Assorted Mini Cupcakes
Even though the cupcakes were moist, the buttercream were too rich. Fortunately, it was only a mini cupcake, therefore, eating the buttercream wasn't too guilty. I also tried the chocolate lover. The dark chocolate cream is nice though.
Don't you just love the high-class feeling from the lighting above?
Overall rating: 3.5/5
My favourite amongst the places had to be.... Shin Kushiya!! Actually I've been to the branch in Vivo City, and I like it very much!
I really had a lot of fun feasting, and getting to know other bloggers. Through my conversation with them, I realised that, most of them, or all of them, were actually much younger than me! They must be the Y-generation bloggers!
Thanks to Janet Ong and Alvin Lim from OMY for inviting me to this wonderful event! I don't know how they got my name, but it doesn't matter anyway! Thank you, omy!
By the way, please vote for me in omy, 5 lucky voters will also be chosen to win a $50 voucher! Contest will close on 8 August 2011!
Don't forget to check out the "Let the feast begin" promotions!
Check out the OMY's blog post, and its vodcast.
Check out the OMY's blog post, and its vodcast.
