Sze Hwa Ba Kut Teh

Was at kulai on a visit to my relative's place, had to go up early in the morning so that we won't be caught in the jam, and since we are there early, cousin brought us to this coffee shop kind of place for ba kut teh, yes for breakfast.

Salted vegetable is something you must get to eat with your ba kut teh, the one they have here is normal, nothing too special.
Ba kut teh.. fantastic, in singapore we usually get the very pepperish soup, and you can feel the spicy sensation after drinking the soup. over here at sze hwa, the soup is not pepperish at all, it has a nice herbal taste to it, i just love it!! the meat was really tender too, according to them, the meat taste good becasue it's fresh pork meat, not frozen one like we have in singapore, frozen meat can never achieve such standards.
You cha kuey is a must for me, i love to soak the you cha kuey in the soup before eating it, i myself can finish 2 bowl of this!!

But one thing i dun really like is their pig organs, they seemed to be a little overcooked, cos the kidney and liver were both quite tough. so if you happen to be there, just order the ba kut teh.. this meal for 7 person cost around rm$80. you decide for yourself if it's cheap of expensive.

address: Kulai, Johor, Malaysia (Do not know exact address)
contact:
ambience: 6
taste: 8
service: 7
value for money: 7
overall rating: very tasty, but not as cheap as expected

Lemongrass

Crackers with spicy chilli dip. crackers are normal, friends say that the dip is nice, but i dun really like it, i took the crackers without the sauce.

Pineapple rice, this item was normal. nothing different from the ones at other thai restaurants.
Pomelo salad. this is fantastic. i think i can go back to lemongrass just to eat the salad. the pomelo is rally sweet, the sauce is sour and spicy, just love all the different tastes mix into one.
Steam fish with lime, very refreshing way of cooking fish because of the lime. but one sad thing is that the fish is not fresh, and the meat was quite tough. this dish will be very good if the fish was good.
Green cury with prawn, this one is good, not too thick, very nice with plain rice.
Beancurd with crab meat. normal dish, nothing special in terms of taste.
Garlic fried chicken. i love garlic so initially i felt that this dish was quite nice, but after a while, the garlic tasted very bitter, i'm not too sure if it's supposed to be like that or there might be a way to fry the garlic so that it's not that bitter

Forgotten to take photo of the entrance of the restaurant.. but it's quite obvious wen you get to the 5th floor of heeren. can check out the other lemongrass branches here

address: 260 Orchard Road, #05-02A The Heeren
contact: 67361998
ambience: 7
taste: 7
service: 7
value for money: 6
overall rating: Food not bad, but quite expensive.

Ambush

This is an interesting place, they serve italian food like pasta and risotto, but it's in a food court, at basement 2 of takashimaya shopping centre, you just had to queue up and order and the staffs will arrange seats for you.

Their kitchen is the open concept kind, you can actually stand in front of the galss panel and see how the chefs are whipping up the dishes, i find this quite stressful from the chefs..

Appetizer platter consisting of cheese stick, calamari and fried prawns... totally not worth the price, looks like stuffs you can get from the supermarket and deep fry it yourself at home.. please do not order this

Mushroom soup with garlic bread. the bread was good, they use foccacia for the garlic bread.. the soup was uite tasteless though.

Baked risotto with cod fish, the fish was quite good, but the rice was too watery and the cheese didn't taste good, portion is quite huge, a little too much for 1 person.

Baked risotto with sausage, ham and i think it was bacon. nothing special, i could only finish half of it.

Japanese baby scallop penne in cream sauce with prawn roe. the pasta was not bad, the sauce was interesting and tasty. i should have ordered pasta instead or rice..

Generally i wasn't impressed with the food, i might go again to try out the pasta, this meal for 3 (soup an garlic bread for all) person costs $52, you decided for yourself if it's expensive. portion is large though

address: Takashimaya food court #B2-04-2-1
contact:
ambience: 4
taste: 6
service: 6
value for money: 5
overall rating: not expensive, but the food is not great too

Thai Accent

Was walking at vivo, looking for a place to eat and we came across this thai restaurant, i have never seen it, so we decided to give it a try.

Phad thai noodles with chicken. the noodle tasted alright, but it was a little too dry and sticky, the chicken was quite badly done, i think it was deep fried then stri fried, it made the chicken pieces very tough, it's like eating reheated overnight chicken. I think this plate ast around $14.

Thai mango salad that cost $10. not a large serving, taste wise passable, but not fantastic.

Plain drinking water are chargable at 30 cents (refillable)

The place is quite big, lots of seats and it has a nice view of the sea facing sentosa.

address: #02-145/146, Vivo City
contact: 63769282
ambience: 7
taste: 6
service: 7
value for money: 5
overall rating: Food is not that great considering the price.

Botan Japanese Restaurant

A small scale restaurant in far east square, the place is not very big, so remember to call up for reservation if you want to dine there. I heard it's always packed during weekdays for lunch.
Very cosy interior, jap decor, makes you feel quite warm having jap food there. staffs are quite friendly, and you need really patient staffs because someone like me will ask quite a lot about the food items because the menu doesn't say much. and everytime i was there, the staff never fail to please me with their patience. thier sets are quite worth it, i feel that the portion is too large for 1 person, so 2 person can actually share 1 set and order a couple side dishes.

My favourite, the cold soba with tempura set.

Special order, not in the menu, chicken with ginger and spring onion, this taste very chinese style.

I dunno how to name this, also a special order, spcifically ask them to make this cos i like this kind of egg. but realised that all the sets come with it... should have ordered something else.

If i didn't remember wrongly this is the botan set. very comprehensive set, sashimi, sushi, tempura etc etc...

The chef, i think he's a japanese, cos he was talking to a few customers in jap.. and for the japanese to visit this palce, i would think it means that they feel that the food here is authentic right?.. go try it.. and taste it for yourself..

address: 36-37 Pekin Street (Far East Square)
contact: 65364404
ambience: 8
taste: 7
service: 7
value for money: 7
overall rating: Large servings, order different sets to share.

Gyu Kaku

Gyu Kaku is located in Chijmes, if you go in from the main entrance where the driveway is, it's on the left side. This restaurant serves japanese bbq food. initially i thought that most of the food are cooked bbq style, like yakitori and grilled meat etc.. later i realised that every table has a charcoal grill and you get to bbq the food yourself.
Horenso salad, with spinach and mushroom, drizzled with japanese sesame sauce. very simple dish, but the taste is wonderful. a must have before the meat dishes..

Pork, i'm not sure if there's a special name for this pork. this pork is sliced very thinly and thus it cooks quite fast and won't get too tough.

Wagyu tongue, this item is something i have never had in my life, i tried a piece, the texture of it is a little chewy a little bouncy, a little like pigs liver, i dun really like that texture, but the rest of the guys loved this ...

Wagyu special plate, with meat from different parts of the cow. initially it looks scary, cos it quite bloody, but after cooking, it's really very good, esp with the dipping sauce provided.

Foil items, like prawns, scallops, butter potatoes and squids. the scallop tastes a little funny, like not very fresh, but the rest were just fabulous, esp the squid, the garlic and the squid tasted very well together, the prawns were large and fresh. the potatoes turned out a liitle charred, and the charred portion tasted very good with the butter. Because the items are all wrapped in the foil, and we are not good in cooking at all, we didn't know how long to leave the items on the grill, there was a staff attached to our table and he took note of all the timings of the items on the grill and removed them at the right time, thus all the food were cooked for just the right amount of time.

Beef fillet sizzling on the charcoal grill, the fire was strong, the meat cooks really fast, you just need to flip it over after a while and wait a while before you can have nicely barbequed beef in your mouth.. just pick it up with your chopsticks, dip it in the sauce and eat it!! this way of eating is really shoik.
As you bbq, there wil be bits of the meat stuck to the grill, a good service they provide is to change the metal grill regularly, so you always have clean non stick grill to bbq your meat.

Generally, the experience dining here was veryvery good, the food was near perfect. service is very good, i like the way they attach a staff to serve a few neibouring table, that staff knows very clearly what was ordered, how were the items cooked, and made sure things are cook just nicely. ambience was very cozy, one thing is that because everyone is doing barbeque, you leave the place with some smell on your clothes, not very strong though, cos they did install ventilation fans around the grills to prevent the smoke from filling up the place.

I think this is the best review i have given on this blog so far. i really feel that this is a wonderful place for a nice dinner with a group of friends, in fact it's a nice place for a dinner for 2 too.. check out their website..

address: 30 Victoria Street, #01-01/03 Chijmes
contact: 63334001
ambience: 8
taste: 9
service: 9
value for money: 8
overall rating: Very good food, Very friendly staffs, Cosy environment, it all comes with a price. approx $80 - $100 per pax. Must visit if it's within your budget

Va Va Voom Cafe

A small but cosy cafe serving vietnamese food along seah street right opposite raffles hotel. the place is suitable for a gathering of small groups cos the place is not very big, they have sofa low seating areas too.

I didn't really look at the menu cos i always order beef soup noodle when i'm having viet food, here are the food we ordered

Morning glory salad with chicken. i'm not sure if the green stuff is raw kangkong, the dressing is quite sour and taste a little like plum sauce, a very interesting salad and it taste very good.

Stirfried beef noodles, it's a dry noodle that comes with this sour sauce, that i suspect is similar to the one they have on the salad, you decided for yourself how much of the sauce you wanna put in or maybe you'll prefer it without the sauce. interesting item, i have never tried something like that.

Beef soup noodle. the usual pho that you get at viet restaurants. the beef here is really nice and tender, gotta be the best pho i had as long as i can remember. love the mint leaves together with the soup and the noodle. wonderful..
Lemongrass chicken rice. the chicken is fried with with crushed lemongrass, again it's a taste that i never tried before, the taste was good, but i felt that the chicken is a little dry and tough.

It's a nice place with good food, definitely worth going down for a meal.. do check it out.

address: 36 Seah Street
contact: 63361248
ambience: 7
taste: 7
service: 6
value for money: 7
overall rating: quite good food, nice cosy cafe