Ah Yat Abalone Restaurant - Bugis

Location: Hotel Grand Pacific #01-06, 101 Victoria Street, 188018 (Opposite of Bras Basah complex)

My friend and I bought the Groupon deal which cost $45 for 2 pax (Weekday Lunch buffet) inclusive of GST.  (but excludes the order of peanuts, towel and Chinese tea) 

Important things to take note: 

1) Leftover food is chargeable at $5 per 100g and no takeaways are allowed.

2) Reservation is required 

3) Groupon mobile verification is required before the start of buffet

3) Additional payment of $10 nett for peanuts, towel and Chinese tea even if you don't want it.

When we arrived at the place, we were guided to the upper level of the restaurant for the buffet.

Buffet starts 11.15am - 3pm (last order at 2.30pm) We arrived at 11.30am on a Wednesday in the restaurant and there weren't a soul to be found. (except the servers) The crowd started pouring in later around 1230pm.

Peanuts, a pot of tea and wet towels. ( We chose Pu Er Tea)

After all the charges, it cost $27.50 nett per pax for a weekday lunch buffet. We chose from the list of items available on the green sheet and passed it to the server.

Century Egg and Pork Congee

Starting with a bowl of hot porridge to warm up the stomach. This is a small bowl, like those soup bowls from the hawker centres. It is actually better that one not to have all the carbs filling up the stomach. Pretty average tasting though.

Deep-fried Crispy Dumpling with Salad

One of my favourites. Big juicy prawns with hot crispy skin dipped in mayonnaise. Highly recommended.

"Ah Yat" Steamed Shrimp Dumpling

This taste like the usual Har Gow I always have. Big prawns.

Steamed Crystal Dumpling With Chives

The glutinous skin is a little too thick for me but still hot and juicy. Love the chives.

Steamed Custard and Salted Egg Buns

This is a must try. Very rich and well balanced salted egg custard. Not too sweet nor salty and the buns are soft and fluffy. Sadly, I only ate one basket of buns because it fills me up too much.

Steamed Dumpling in Chilli Oil

Loved these babies. The chilli oil is good.

Steamed BBQ Pork Bun - Char Siew Bao

Ordinary Char Siew Bao with thick skin. Very filling.

Baked Mini Egg Tart

The crust is too thick, soft and tasteless. Egg custard filling tasted more like sugar. A big nono for me. 

Steamed Rice Sheet Roll with Shrimp - Chee Cheong Fun

I think Ah Yat really serves good prawns. Anything with prawn in it is good here. Smooth Chee Cheong Fun with appetizing sauce.

Steamed Fish Roe Siew Mai

Finally a decent Siew Mai with real filling! I really dislike Siew Mai with minced up fillings with unidentifiable taste. Fresh chunks of prawn and pork within so it is really worth the try.

Steamed Pork Ribs With Black Bean Sauce

Pork ribs are served with chunks of yam. 

Steamed ShangHai Dumpling

This basket of Xiao Long Bao is disappointing. The pork filling is mushy and watery. Why would you place a slice of carrot under it? Maybe it is just me but I tasted better from Canton Paradise so this is not that fantastic at all.

To sum it up, I think the dim sum buffet is value for money only if you can eat a lot to make your $27.50 worthwhile. Servers are pretty friendly and efficient. (maybe because we were the first) I'll definitely recommend trying the Deep-fried Crispy Dumpling, Salted Egg Custard Bun and Steamed Fish Roe Siew Mai.

Amirah's Grill @ Bugis

My very first time trying out Mediterranean food in a restaurant. I usually get my kebab along the streets. This place is located in one of the night spots in Singapore. Pretty lively here with a lot of foreigners and locals to be seen chilling. 

Amirah Grill's is located along the Bussorah Street. A 10-15 minutes walk from the Bugis MRT station, exit B. 

Address: No. 14 Bussorah Street, Singapore (199435)

For more information, you can check out their website. There is a map available on their site to locate their restaurant.

Turkish Kebab Set - $21.90

The rice is well cooked, not too moist nor too dry. The aroma of the spices filled my mouth as I chewed on the grains. Chicken Kebab was tender and juicy. However, the gravy was a tad too watery and the chicken tasted a little bland for me. I was hoping for a stronger flavour to them.  Carrots and cauliflower were the usual stir fry.

The portion looks small but it is definitely filling. Overall it tasted good.

Sharwama - $14.90 

It is my first time trying a beef Sharwama with hummus dip and some french fries. I absolutely love hummus - I think it goes well with everything, especially fries. The beef was a little too dry and hard to chew. I don't know how it is supposed to taste like maybe it was meant to be like that, I don't know.

 Cairo Fresh Lemon Juice - $4.60

Fancy name but it just tasted like lemonade to me.

Amirah's Grill is a double storey restaurant so we had some fun exploring upstairs. You can see they served buffet but the food seemed a little cold so we decided not to have them. 

Nice ambiance, great for family and friends gathering.

Slouching on the couch and staring at the ceiling. It was so cosy I nearly fell asleep.

Looking down on the streets.

Overall, I think Amirah's Grill serves decent food so if you like to have some Mediterranean food, you can give it a go. Excellent ambiance, a good place to chill on a friday night. Prices are slightly expensive but value for money for the exoticness of food and great ambience. Food took a while to serve, around 10-20 minutes. (Depending on the crowd ) 

PS: If possible, get your seats on level 2 as the air-con is cooler and it is more cosy upstairs.

Confused cook? @ Arab Street

Chilling out with my friends at Arab Street.

Location: 25 Arab Street, Singapore, Singapore 199724

It was still under renovation when we were there. I love the paintings on the wall and their effort to promote local art. We do have amazing artist in this country and they need to be heard.  It was rather dimly lit in the cosy cafe so the following pictures were edited for clarity (Sorry for the noise, I have to push for the brightness).

Wanton prawn - $10 (5's) This is a must try appetizer. It has boiled eggs and prawn and pineapple bits in it it. I love how the different texture of the ingredients topped with mayonnaise stuffed into the crispy cup of wanton skin. 

Really creamy and appetizing.

Next up, Fish N Chips - $12

Crispy golden brown fish fillet. The fish fillet is very tender and fresh. It breaks easily so it is really easy to cut. I love the crispy fries too. They have a cup of wasabi mayo sauce that is not too strong and it goes really well with the fries.

It goes well with the salsa sides too, which is kinda sour.

Gammon Ham Steak - $16 This is the new dish that they have. French beans, tomatoes, lettuce, pineapple, egg, and ham. The ham taste like vegetarian meat to me so I don't really fancy it. My friends like it though. The poached egg is good. The portion of this dish is not filling so you might want to order a few more sides.

The pineapple is sandwich between the egg and ham. I really can't describe the taste of the sauce but it is kinda sweet. The waitress mentioned that it is a secret recipe.

This is the chicken confit. I forgot the price but I think it is around $16. The chicken is very juicy and tender. Starchy sauce and marinated sauce. My favourite main dish.

I don't thick you can see it but the orange stuff is mashed sweet potatoes. Very delicious.

Crackling pork belly - $18 If you order this, be prepared for a long wait of 30mins. The pork is slowly toasted. I love the large fresh scallops. This rice is sweet with pear bits and raisin. The skin of the pork is very tough and is very very hard to chew. The meat on the other hand is springy.

A little research on the internet shows that the pork belly is 92% fats and 8% protein. For me, I think this pork belly is more like 40% fat and 60% meat, which isn't that bad. Still you might want to remove some of the fat layers.

Chocolate mouuse - $6.80 The portion is very small, placed in a champagne coupe but it is very savory. Thick and slightly bitter cocoa goes really well with the strawberries. If it cost $2, I would order 10 cups of this delicious gooey sweetness.

Panna Cotta - Around $12. I really love this italian dessert. It looks like caramel pudding but the texture is completely different. This is thick gelatin custard that is really creamy and is perfect with the caramel sauce. Must try dessert.

Rating: 4.2/5

Overall this is a really great place to go to! Great ambiance, the waitresses are very friendly and the best part is there are no service charge nor gst. The only complain I have is that the portions of some dishes are a little too small. 

Seoul Garden @ Bugis

Buffets are the best for people with a huge stomach but there's a price to pay with this awesome spread: the feeling of queasiness in your stomach after you try to stuff it to the brim.

Price: Student $14 (Weekdays only)
Have to make full advantage of the prices while I'm still a student.

First of all, it's a halal outlet so they don't serve pork. With that in mind, I consider that they have quite a variety of meat choices. marinated bulgogi beef, slices of beef, teriyaki chicken, curry chicken, chunks of fish... The meat are really fresh. Good deal for meat eaters. They also have fishballs and all kinds of other balls to choose from.

On the other hand, the vegetables choices are really pathethic. Pepper, carrots, chilli, lettuce and bitter gourd. Sorry veggie eaters. This will be a disappointment.

They offer other vegetables like kimchi and spinach. This two dishes tasted surprisingly good! The kimchi is well fermented and the spinach tasted like seaweed.

My friend and I ordered the Tom Yam soup base which is really well seasoned. The spiciness and the sourness is well balanced. Drop an egg in this goodness! It taste heavenly!

I really like the big chunk of fish! Very fresh and tender. The teriyaki chicken is my favourite! Sweet teriyaki sauce which are cut in strips. Really tender and very well marinated. The bulgogi beefis a little chewy but nonetheless well seasoned.

They do have cooked food but the variety is pathetic as well. Like spaghetti, french fries and one or two other fried stuff.

Last but not least the desert part. I really like the idea of making your own shaved ice. They have a good variety of toppings and syrup to go with your own ice kachang. The nata de coco, peach bits and atap seeds are really yummy. I didn't really like the texture of the shaved ice. It is rather coarse.

The ice cream tasted like the usual king's ice cream. They have some variety: yam, cookies and cream, chocolate, peppermint, raspberry and corn. Not that bad. They offer toppings like rainbows, raisins and nuts.

I added some nuts to mine.

Overall, I find the food pretty good. I was rather hungry when I was there so maybe it contributed to the like factor. The ambience is good and it is air conditioned. It's a weekday so it isn't that crowded. The food is very hygienic and the servers are friendly. Quite a good experience.



Rating: 4 stars! For the price it's good.