Swatow's Dim Sum Yum Cha Time

It's been a couple of years since I last came to Swatow Restaurant here at Toa Payoh for their dim sum buffet. 

Why it's taken so long, I don't know, I guess we went elsewhere, but today, this afternoon we came back here for their afternoon dim sum, and can I say how glad I am sometimes that there're things in life which actually do remain the same? 

It's not just the sense of being familiar.

It's the understanding that one's life might go through ups and downs and that you might experience stuff which you dont want to put into memory, but step into a place like Swatow Seafood, and you're reminded once again just why things like habits and tradition are important. 

The reception area of Swatow hasn't changed.

The chairs, and the wall decor- great for family portraits- are still there, as are the tables and chairs in the dining space. 

What's slightly different, however, is the seasonal decoration that they now have. 

I was delighted, and quietly impressed, by the sight of cozy Christmas table decor right in the middle of their self-service tables. It added a whole lot of charm to their regular style of chinoiserie decor. 

One of the very first plates to arrive at our table this afternoon was the complimentary abalone. 

Good or not, I'm not sure- inexperienced me doesn't know how to tell- but the sauce was nice, the abalone had that distinctive chew, and it made for a great appetizer before the dim sum uncle came rolling with the cart. 

There were a lot of offerings from the steamed side. 

Besides the cheong fun with selections of prawn or char siew, there were char siew baos, siew mais, crystal baos, har gows, xiao long baos, and the like. 

It was quite fun to hear the staff rattling off whatever they had in their trolley whilst taking each basket up and showing its contents to you. 

So well did they do the introductions that they made it impossible to reject them, and you felt literally guilty if you had to do so. 

But because one cannot possibly have everything, we took one plate of cheong fun, one basket of salted egg lava buns (the buns themselves were green in color, don't ask me why), two baskets of xiao long baos, one basket of siew mais, one basket of har gows, and one basket of lotus leaf rice. 

I liked the xiao long baos. 

They might not be the same texture as some that I've eaten elsewhere, but the skin was thick and chewy the way I liked it, the little blob of broth was warm and rich when it burst inside my mouth, and the meat- tender and soft- gave me a cozy, melty sort of chew. 

The lava buns were just as good.

Better yet if eaten warm. 

Then there were the siew mais and har gows, both of which have always been favorites of mine when it comes to dim sum. 

I tend to go for siew mais more than har gows but the gentleman was recommending it so enthusiastically I got a basket, and so, besides the warm, comforting bite of the siew mais, there were three prawns nestling inside the pouch of the har gows too. 

Whilst working through our basket of lotus leaf rice- there were two pieces, if I'm not wrong- back came the trolley, and this time we took a serving of char siew baos, and another two baskets of xiao long baos. 

Having glutinous rice and char siew baos might seem like an odd combination to have, but to my surprise both went together very well. 

I liked peeling the lotus leaf off away from the steamed rice. 

I also liked how the rice- with its piece of mushroom and lap cheong and a bit of meat- didn't sit heavily on the stomach, and so didn't take away the joy of fluffy, warm char siew bao.

I ate two baos, finished up my basket of three xiao long baos, then went to the middle of the restaurant where some of the other offerings were. 

They've changed a little how they serve the food here. 

Where at one time they might have brought the fried stuff over to your table, now they pile it all together in a serving tray buffet style and you go pick out whatever you want. 

It's quite a good idea, actually. 

Because now you don't have to finish three egg tarts (of one plate serving) if you don't want to. You can have one, or four, up to you. Neither will you be wasting the entire plate if you try something new and realize it's not your taste. 

What's more, it isn't just the fried stuff they have there. 

On one side there was braised meat (if I'm not wrong), then there was chili crab sauce and fried mantous. On the other side there was porridge of pork and century egg, then a pot of soup. Further on still there was a tray of whatever fried stuff the staff had brought out from the kitchen, and then opposite that, the egg tarts, the char siew sous, the radish cakes, the puddings, and the jellies. 

Then there was a chiller with ice cream. 

I ladled my friend and I a bowl of porridge each (scooping out as much century egg and pork as it were possible), and can I say  that whilst I liked the egg and the century egg and the pork very much, the Cantonese in me loved the thick, near-gooey texture of the porridge even more?

If there's anything, this porridge will be what I'll go for the next time I come here again. 

I'll go for the egg tarts too. 

And if these cute little spring-roll sweet potato bites are brought out, I'll be helping myself to them the same way I helped myself to them this time round. 

Because, yes, I fell in love with the contrasting flavors of sweet and salty, I fell in love with the natural sweetness of the root vegetable, and I got into the light crunch taste of the crispy batter.

Christmas @ OSCARS

Sometime during the middle of December last year a friend asked me if I were okay to do an early Christmas celebration and go have dinner at OSCARS in Conrad Centennial Hotel. 

At first I wondered if it were a tad too early, if the Christmas foods from their F&B had been brought out, or if it might be better to wait till a few days before Christmas Day.

But I like OSCARS, I like the ambience and the food, so we went.

And as soon as I did, I found out we weren't late one bit at all.  

Christmas in the hospitality sector begins early- no less that of a five star hotel under the Hilton Family group- and I was greeted by the sight of this giant-sized teddy bear plopped right in front of their signature teddy-bear Christmas tree. 

If I had been delighted by the sight of this very unusual tree, I became especially charmed by the presence of the little one at my table in the restaurant itself.

No bears on this one, but there were tiny gold ribbons, and the tree became a bit of a focal point during the time we were there.

You know, on the way here, I had been quietly wondering if the usual Christmas favorites would be out on the counters.

To my delight, they were! 

I mean, you can call me picky, but really, this season wouldn't quite feel the same if the regular favorites weren't there, so a great thing it was today that besides the roast beef and the lamb, there was honey baked ham, grilled pineapple, one big fish of a salmon, and a whole turkey. 

Not that I went for the meats straight away though. 

Instead, I went for salmon sashimi.

One whole plate of it.

Salmon sashimi is one of my favorite ways to start any buffet. 

Brightly colored, cold, fresh and appetizing, it makes for an excellent meal opener when eaten dipped in soy sauce and wasabi. 

Together my friend and I worked through this one plate, then back it was to the buffet counter, for oysters this time. 

I think we worked through at least three plates of these freshly shucked mollusks.  

But we aren't complaining. 

These oysters were precisely what my friend had come to this buffet for. 

Of course, it wasn't just about the fresh seafood and the sashimi.

Amongst some of the other dishes that I got this evening there was a bit of beef, a bit of the ham, and a few pieces of turkey. The honey baked ham gave me Christmasy feels whilst the beef and turkey made me feel like I were somewhere else instead of  here. Why, exactly, I don't know, but beef with cranberry sauce (or some other sweet sauce) just hits different compared to mint jelly or mushroom sauce.

The one thing I loved about the food here were the sides. 

Don't laugh.

OSCARS does a selection of very good sides. 

Right by the roast beef and the honey baked ham were pots of roasted vegetables that included broccoli, eggplant, tomatoes and a host of other vegetables. Near to it there was pasta, there was squash, Brussel sprouts, and mashed potato. 

At first I thought of trying the Brussel sprouts- they had done them in some sort of a sweet honey sauce which I found rather interesting- but then I changed my mind and instead helped myself to a bit of the pasta and a good portion of the truffle oil mashed potato. Then because I thought I ought to have a bit of vegetable thrown in, I crossed to where the salad counter was and got me a couple of cherry tomatoes.

After that I walked around a bit, first taking a look at the salads, the cold cuts, the cheese and crackers, the fruits, then hopping over the Asian section where there was an offering of fried noodles (something like Yi-Mian), stir-fried vegetables, chicken done in a slight Sichuan style, and fish chunks done the Chinese way steamed in clear, soup-like gravy. 

At one end of the row there were the soups. 

At the other end there were the breads and the buns and the butter. 

Back at the table I helped myself to our second plate of oysters, then I had another serving of mashed potato and pasta, plus a taco because I got interested in the guacamole avocado filling, the meat (I now cannot remember what it was) and the cheese. 

And then because I thought I ought to have a wee bit of vegetable, I got a couple of cherry tomatoes from the salad section again.

I was getting a little bit full by this time but then my friend told me about the noodle station at the alfresco side, so I went and got myself a bowl of laksa- with extra quail eggs on special request, and which the chef gladly obliged.

Up came the third plate of oysters afterwards which I had initially thought was too much and impossible to finish but surprisingly wasnt. 

Perhaps oysters don't fill one up the same way prawns and crayfish lobsters do. 

It was time for dessert by the time we finished, and after a bit of green tea to wash all the mains down, we went and got ourselves some cake, some tiramisu, some custard pudding, some little Christmas cookies- I love the cinnamon icing ones- and a waffle- without the ice cream. 

Thinking about it now I wish I had gotten the ice cream. 

Here at OSCARS they do it gelato style with a couple of fascinating flavors. 

But because ice cream really fills one up and this evening I wanted cake more than I wanted ice cream so I got myself a nice little piece of crispy waffle drizzled with some maple syrup, and a tiny little serving of apple crumble pie instead.  

New Year's @ Donergy

So I'm finding this a little hard to believe, but in looking over my selection of pictures for 2024, these are the only pictures of Donergy that I have for the year. 

Goodness gracious me. 

I'm surprised. 

I had thought that we'd gone there more often. 

How is it that for the entire year I only had a meal there twice, and no more else? 

How is it that, despite me being in the Suntec City-Marina Square area a good amount of time, I haven't had a meal there as often as I wish I could? 

I guess one doesn't really feel it on the day to day. 

Life is such that you just go with the flow, and you don't think about it until one day when you suddenly feel like having Turkish food and you realize you haven't been to this place here at Millennia Walk for a very long time. 

There're a lot of places to be had for Turkish food. 

Whether you be at Kampong Glam, whether you be at Orchard, or whether you even be here in the Suntec area, there's Turkish food to be found.

But I like Donergy. 

Yes, it might not be the kind of place to entertain guests or have a business-type of meal, but it is the kind of place where you can have a casual meal between friends and family or by yourself without having to worry about elaborate cutlery and crockery and needing to look learned. 

This is the kind of place where you can wander in without knowing a single thing about Turkish cuisine and the down-to-earth staff will happily explain it to you. 

If you don't speak English, no worries, they speak Mandarin too. 

There's a lot to be had here at Donergy, by the way. 

Offhand I don't remember their menu very well but they've got all of what I call casual Turkish casual fare where some have become favorite dishes of mine, and I never have to think too hard what it is I want to have. 

There've been days where I've had the Chicken Kebab Wrap which is this huge piece of thin leavened flatbread stuffed to the brim with vegetables and chicken so much so that it's an art to eat the whole wrap without dropping any of the vegetables, or the meat. 

I've never quite succeeded. 

Besides the Wrap, there've also been days that I've had the Beef or Chicken Tombik where I find myself wondering whether I should eat the burger-like sandwich (actually a bun-shaped pita) in one bite or if I should separate the bun from the meat and eat them by themselves. 

But it's the Plate that I have most of the time.

I don't know what the name of this Plate actually is, but it's got a heap of buttered pilaf, a mountain of doner beef kebab, and a even larger heap of lettuce, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions and little cubes of fresh cucumber mixed all in between. 

Shall I say it's a favorite? 

Yes.

But I like to think of it more as a familiar go-to than a favorite. 

After all I think I like Spinach Pide (Turkish flatbread baked with spinach and cheese) as much as I like the Tombik and the Wrap and the Rice. 

One dish that I always try to order, however, is the Lentil Soup. 

I've had it before- at other places- but for some reason they don't charm me the same as this one here. 

Don't ask me what the difference is- maybe it's the salt, maybe it's the oil, maybe it's the spice- but I love the taste, I love the color, and I love how the little bits of beans (I think they're chickpeas) linger on the tongue, granting you a light feel of puree-like mush in each mouthful. 

I'm so glad we've managed to have the soup both times that we were here at Donergy in 2024. 

More than that, though I'm glad that for New Year's Eve we managed to have one of my new favorite desserts- the Kunefe. 

I hope I'll get to have more of it in 2025. 

Not merely for the fact that I do need some sugar in my life. 

But also for the fact that crispy, shredded, spun-together semolina dough layered with cheese, topped with a generous scattering of pistachios, quartered, and served in a sweet syrup of what looks like evaporated milk (or is it some sort of a light cream) is very difficult to resist. 

The Armoury Steak (Buffet)

One afternoon a friend of mine asked if I wanted to try this never-had-before steak place in Orchard Central. 

Admittedly I was a little surprised.

Surprised not by the suggestion that we have steak for dinner- my friend loves his beef- but by the fact that there was a steakhouse bar in this shopping mall on Orchard Road.

I had not known. 

But, yes, there was. 

Armoury Steaks & Craft Beer Bar sits on the 11th floor of Orchard Central, and although it may seem kind of quiet- the location not being on the main footfall area- the place is spacious, has a charming sort of ruddy country- wine cellar decor, and which makes it great for dinner and drinks with friends. 

It's the kind of place you go to when you have a dinner party or are celebrating a birthday. 

It's also the kind of place you go to when you want to organize networking sessions and can book half the place down. 

They've got a great view of Orchard Road, by the way, and if I'm not wrong, there was space for some sort of a live singing session. 

We were here for their Steak Buffet. 

Rated as the best steak buffet, and the longest running one in town, the menu offered diners interesting selections you otherwise might not expect. 

It was the kind of menu where you were recommended to have either an open mind, or to be clear what it was you wanted. 

I don't know what exactly it is that diners come expecting. 

Could it be that they were hoping for more variations of different cuts of meat?

Could it be that perhaps they hoped for selections of pork and chicken and venison and fish beyond the offerings of (mostly) beef? 

Maybe it is so that different palates and different dining habits have different expectations. 

To come for the steak buffet here at Armoury means you must be ready to have meat, meat, meat, and lots of it. 

Doesn't matter whether you're particular about the kind of meat there is, you just have to be mindful and in the here for it. 

Because, really, that's the main of what they offer.

There were Free Flow Steak Cuts.

There were Unlimited Meats. 

And there were Unlimited Buffet Bar Platter and Sides. 

For the Steak Cuts you could order as much Ribeye or Striploin as you liked. The weight of each serving was 150gms, and I think it had been anticipated that each diner would probably order one of each because whilst 150gms a ribeye or striploin might be considered too little, 300gms combined together would be more than enough. 

That didn't mean you couldn't have as much of Popcorn Chicken, Oven Baked Dory or BBQ Pork Belly either. 

I'm pretty sure there would have been tables who ordered a plate of each- just for the fun of it, or there might be tables (like us) who decided we'd skip the popcorn chicken and the dory and just go straight for the pork belly. 

It wasn't too bad. 

A tad on the oily side for some, maybe, but the portion was generous, the meat was well prepared, not very very salty, and had just the right amount of fat in each slice. One must have this hot when the plate arrives at your table though. It feels different on the palate after it turns cold. 

I guess that's the challenge when everything comes to you at the same time. 

You don't know in what order exactly you're supposed to have your food.

Should you have the steaks first or should you finish up this plate first or should you have both at the same time?

Etiquette demands that you finish one plate before going for the other, so that's what I did, alternating between my Steak Cut (mine was the Striploin) and this plate of pork belly where I ate each slice slowly. 

In between these two plates there were the Bar Platter and Sides. 

You've got quite a couple of choices here when it comes to the sides, by the way. 

Expect some variety of East-West fusion here, where, besides the Western usuals of Greens, Tater Tots, Buttered Corn and Fries, there's Mantou. 

We decided on Tater Tots and Buttered Corn. 

My friend likes Tater Tots. 

I like Buttered Corn. 

And even though we considered having a plate of fries, Tater Tots are nicer to eat and harder to find, so we got two of those instead. 

Come to think of it, a part of me thinks we should have gotten the Mantou.

Maybe it would feel a little out of place, like who eats Mantou with Steak, but there was the Pork Belly, and, who knows, I might have been able to make a fusion Kong Bak Bao out of it. 

Perhaps I will.

When I go back there next time. 

Canton Paradise's Dim Sum

Would you believe me if I told you this is my third attempt trying to write this post? 

Long has it been that I've not been able to get into the flow of things, and yet, here i am, trying to write this post for the third time. 

As if I haven't written about eating dim sum before. 

It's quite dumb, to be honest. 

But I guess there're moments in life where your thoughts just don't flow. 

Or maybe they do flow, but they're distracted here, there, everywhere, until you clap over your ears a pair of Bluetooth headphones, and... the words flow again. 

It would be less of an eye-roll if I were writing a paper or some sort of email or some sort of theoretical argument. 

But I'm writing about a dim sum meal that I had at Canton Paradise a while ago. 

How boggling can it be? 

Maybe it's because I don't know where exactly to start. 

Maybe it's because I don't know whether I should write about each new favorite one by one, or plonk the pictures all down and let the words flow. 

Perhaps I'll try the latter. 

Don't laugh. 

Sometimes it works. 

Sometimes a picture speaks more than words, and right now it's very much applicable. 

If you're wondering why all these dishes seem so varied, well, that's the charm of their weekday dim sum menu.

You have the favorites that everyone likes, but they also do have dishes which you possibly may or may not find elsewhere.

I've since learnt that there's always something new to discover, and life is such that you sometimes end up discovering dishes that previously you didn't think you'd eat, but you now do. 

Like the dish I call Dumplings in Spicy Mala Chili Oil. 

At another time you would not see me have something this oily and spicy.

But we probably needed a heavy nudge that afternoon, and so decided to give this a try. 

I don't know the name of this dish on the menu but really that's what it is- four dumplings sitting in a pool of Mala numbing chili oil.

My friend got a kick out of the Mala.

I, on the other hand, fell in love with the smooth silkiness of the dumpling skin, the slight tender chew of the meat, the way the dumpling slid so easily down my throat, and the perfect size of each dumpling that made eating it so comfortable and so easy. 

Amongst the orders that afternoon there were our favorites. 

Like the Steamed Char Siew Baos that were warm, fluffy and full of chunky char siew pieces smothered entirely in sweet, red-colored sauce. 

Like the Cheong Funs that we had both the char siew and the ones with some sort of a deep fried crisp youtiao inside. Cheong Funs might be considered regular dim sum fare to most of us- we can order them from the coffee shop steamers- but here the rice roll itself wrap was really thin. 

I liked the one with the crisp youtiao. 

Each piece gave off a satisfying crunch. 

Besides that, we also tried their Fried Spring Rolls. 

I'm not sure if there were meant to be anything special about it- if there were anything I might have missed it out. To me they were typical with the turnips and everything stuffed into it, but they were very well fried. Every bite was hot and crisp and crunchy and, best part, even after a while, the Spring Rolls didn't hold any aftertaste of soggy oversoaked oil. 

We also had the Charcoal Egg Tarts, the Char Siew Sous, the Crispy Tofu, and this one other dish that I call Truffle Mushroom Crystal Baos. 

Out of all these it were the Crispy Tofu and the Truffle Mushroom that we found ourselves liking. 

Not that we didn't appreciate the Char Siew Sous- these triangular shaped babies were chock full with little chunks of meat in the sweet char siew sauce and there was even that slight burnt taste on the pastry.

But the Crispy Tofu had all these super cute cubes of tofu lightly coated with (something) skillfully fried to such an extent that the outside was a distinct crisp whilst the inside was soft and mushy. There seemed to be a faint scattering of salt or some sort of seasoning over the tofu as well so it didn't taste as plain as you imagined a dish like this might be. 

As for the Truffle Mushroom Crystal Bao, well, the first thing that surprised me was just how well the mushroom had been finely chopped. I had honestly been expecting an entire piece of mushroom whole inside the crystal skin of the bao, so imagine how glad I was when at first bite all these little bits of mushroom flowed out from the bao and into my mouth. 

Easy to eat, full of taste, this at once became a new favorite of mine. 

I'll be sure to order these Crystal skin baos again the next time I'm at Canton Paradise. 

I'll also be sure to study the menu better and try some new dishes.

They are, after all, delicious, geriatric-friendly (a fact I appreciate), warm to the heart, and make for a great meal to enjoy when you're needing one. 

Xin Wang's Scrambled Egg Rice

It was a poster at the front of the cafe-restaurant in Suntec City that attracted my attention. 

Xing Wang hasn't had much of a good deal in recent years so I didn't want to miss this one out. 

Plus there was a drink. 

Xin Wang is probably one of the few places on this island that still wields a cha chaan teng vibe. There used to be more, but there're way fewer now. Also, I'm not really sure what defines a cha chaan teng- you'll only know after you step in- and Xin Wang, with her decor, her brightly colored furniture, her lights, her big picture menu and her layout, grants you a hint of that vibe. 

Her menu, by the way, is quite elaborate. 

I always find it very difficult to make up my mind when I'm there. 

Sometimes I want to have the baked rice.

Other times I want to have the curry chicken. 

Or the appetizers. 

They're a place that has dim sum, but then there's plenty of Rice dishes, including fried rice and the like, then there're also Noodles in the form of soup and fried, and bites that range from the big to the small. On one side of the menu you've got the Baked Rice and the Western offerings of Chicken Chop, and Steak, and Fish & Chips but on the other side you've got Century Egg Porridge, or Thick Toast served with butter and honey, and French Toast as well. 

Their desserts, if I'm not wrong, might not be so plentiful- probably a few selections of three or four- but they've got quite a huge offering of drinks. 

Most of the time I tend to go for the Papaya Soup Bee Hoon with Chicken Chop, but today I had been intrigued by the new introductory dish of Scrambled Egg Rice with Fish, so that's what I ordered. 

It might look like a simple dish, but the egg is smooth, almost silky, it's soft and tasty and clean-tasting, and because there's literally no sauce (I think you're supposed to ask for some) you can taste the full flavors of the egg, the rice, the little leaves of cabbage at the side, and the fish. 

I was actually rather glad that the Kopi-C got served first. 

After a long day, to have this cup of semi-sweet thick coffee calmed me down and I found myself being able to enjoy the meal better. 

Maybe next time I'll mush up the egg with the rice, eat it together, and see how it tastes like. 

But I know I'll stick with ordering the fish over the chicken and the beef. 

Their fish might not be very thick, chonky pieces, and they might not be as soft as other fish slices elsewhere might be, but, contrary to what I was afraid of, the fish was fresh enough, they've got enough taste to it, and even the slight saltiness of the fish works well with the rice and the egg and the whole combination of it. 

Yum Cha @ Yum Cha

We hadn't been to Yum Cha in what was I think the longest time ever, so, yes, glad I was when told that this afternoon we would be having high tea buffet there. 

Yum Cha has been, to me, one of three places that automatically come to mind whenever I think of having dim sum on the island. That doesn't mean that I don't like the others. It just means that I tend to be more selective than I used to be.

That being said, I'm quite happy with a char siew bao from the coffee shop. 

Or a lor mai kai. 

Perhaps that's why a buffet like this makes a special occasion for me. 

Amongst some of our regular favorites there were a couple of new dishes on the menu this time, so we decided we'd give them a try. 

One of the new dishes was this little basket of spinach skin-wrapped siew mais. To be honest it was really like the regular siew mais that we always order, except that instead of the yellow skin surrounding the meat, you get green colored skin instead. I'm not sure if I could taste the spinach (maybe someone with more sensitive taste buds would be able to) but the color definitely zhnged up the regular siew mais a little bit. 

The other dish that we thought was unusual were these tangerine shaped balls. 

At first I'd thought they were sweet potato balls- I mean, from the looks of it they seemed to be like those deep-fried snack balls that are popular in Taiwan and Thailand and on the island you can go to Maxwell Market to buy. 

But as it turned out (if I'm not wrong) they were cuttlefish balls. 

Now, how they managed to coat, and make these balls such a cheerful shade of orange, I don't know, but they were pretty to look at, and nice to eat. 

There was, too, this basket of little pieces that were what I used to call 'Money Bag' when a child. A 'Money Bag' is called simply because it looks like one, and basically is a piece of pastry wrapped around a ball of meat, tied with a tiny little bit of pandan leaf strip, then deep fried. 

There were also a couple of other unusual dishes that we ordered this afternoon.

There was a basket of charcoal black truffle har gow that looked like had been sprinkled with gold dust. I'm not sure what the charcoal black does, but there was a slight hint of truffle in the skin, and it went very well with the prawn inside.

There was a basket of siew mais that I thought had been fried with the same kind of batter that were on the yew kok yam puffs, and which were really nice tasting. 

And then there was the basket of deep fried puffs that had been wrapped in the sort of pastry that falls like snowflakes every time you take a bite, and which you have to afterwards scoop up with a spoon.

I don't think we ordered very much after that, save for this little plate of fried carrot radish cake that, done this way, turned out to be hot and crisp and crunchy both inside and out.