Go Thai @ Great World City

Go Thai, the thai spinoff of The Asian Kitchen is somehow always packed with cinema-goers which led me to think; mediocre food. The Asian Kitchen was average and pricey so I certainly was not expecting much from Go Thai.



Filled with hungry eaters.



Grilled Lemongrass Pork Chop ($6.50)

It could have been the hunger, the pork chop was finger licking good! Grilled T-Bone pork chop was so meaty and juicy...no fats nor tendons..scattered with crushed peanuts...double yums!



Thai Fishcakes ($6.20)

I found the fishcakes slightly too soft and lacking in bounce but otherwise tasty. I adored the pickled salad that came with the sides, sour-sweet-spicy flavours that teased and tickled the tastebuds.


Omelette Kuay Teow ($8.50)

The least palatable of the lot, just soup kuay teow with diced prawns in an omelette.

Service was brisk and friendly. In this case, the sides were more outstanding than the mains...it's affordable thai fare but not authentic.

Go Thai
#03-31
Great World City

Izakaya Nijumaru @ Cuppage Plaza

The gf has patronized this for the last 15 years and is a fortnight regular..so much so the auntie waitress playfully chided her for not calling to make reservations. That speaks volumes and I tagged along on this Japanese encounter. They used to occupy half the floor with sections to accomodate smokers but it is just one shopspace smaller now, but still as large.



The menu although not entirely in Japanese was romanized that means you must at least have some knowledge of Japanese food i.e. Tonkatsu, Nimono...etc. There is not English translation below as like most other Japanese restaurants.



Counter bar seats next to the chef!



The whole place adorned with white paper lanterns.



We started the meal with a yakitori order, grilled mushrooms that sounds and probably looks oh-so-ordinary. These are no pushovers, grilled so fragrantly the mushrooms are well flavoured.



Chicken balls with a side of mustard, reminded me of Tori-QQ somehow.



Asparagus wrapped with bacon, yums!



Potato salad, potatoes mashed and embedded with potato cubes...somehow it just tasted so good.



Four orders of bento sets, we made an attempt on a variety of meats. Each arrived with an appetizer, miso soup and seaweed flavoured rice.



Beef cubes that were slightly tough but otherwise flavourful, loved the sauce!



Braised fish with tofu; I loved this! The fish meat was cooked to the right doneness, sauce was slightly sweet but overall very light on the palette!


The appetizer that tasted like the chinese fungus, not too bad!



Yummy rice that you cannot stop after a mouthful.



Rosu pork!



Tender pork breaded so lightly, fried food that never tasted so guiltless...it has not toppled Tonkichi's crown as yet but pretty good!

$99 for 4 pax, I found it a steal for quality of food even though I reeked of my food stepping out of the place and our order of rice balls was forgotten. I doubt I had the space to accomodate another mouthful either. The service rendered was quite alright though the servers are mostly chinese aunties.

Cuppage Plaza is one corner of Orchard that I have overlooked in all the foodie conquests and I am so regreting I did not discover this food gem earlier, well better late than never! I'm sure at least...no more Sakae from now on!

Izakaya Nijumaru
Cuppage Plaza #02-10/12

New Harbour Cafe and Bar @ Tanjong Pagar

It's one of those lunch appointments that drag quite a bit as I'm busy filling in or lending a listening ear to the miserable..Harbour Cafe was my choice of place for that. It is usually quite packed over lunch, so do drop by early if not make reservations in advance.

I headed for the set lunch priced at $14.90. (If I'm not wrong!)



Warm chewy bun with iced tea.



Tomato-based seafood soup with chunks of prawns, clams and squid..slurpilicious! This tasty broth surprised me as I was totally expecting minestrone or the equivalent.



Breaded Herb Fish and Chips. The herb breaded batter was delicious..so much so I could not resist polishing off all the crumbs. Personally I do not fancy batter that does not stick onto the fish meat...a certain emptiness about the fried meat so as much as possible I stick to breaded fish fillets. Harbour Cafe's rendition of it was good, not too oily, crunchy and well..delish! Adored the thick cut fries as well.

Service is prompt and decent...will be back when the fish and chip craving beckons! It's one of those places that cater to the evening crowd for drinks..almost like Harry's only less hyped up and better food!

New Harbour Cafe and Bar
114 Tanjong Pagar

Crab Buffet @ Global Kitchen, Pan Pacific

Doesn't this ring a bell?

Been there before...

Alright, Global Kitchen at Pan Pac for seconds...

Crab buffet...attack!

The main lure.



In its raw form.



All set to tackle.



For the first time, I started off with mains first, forgoing the starters and appetizers...heading straight to the crustaceans! In fact, it was the focus for most of the diners who charged to the table with much gusto, the orderly queue was ignored.

Braised Ee Fu with Crabmeat

Limp bland noodles with shredded crabmeat.



Crab Black Bean and Peppers



Indian Crab



Black Pepper Crab


Crab with Green Curry and Kaffir Lime



Tomato and Chilli Crab



Baked Crab

Was more of a stuffed crab meatball with vermicilli.

Deepfried Baby Crab Crab cake with sweet corn

8 types of crab dishes that graphically looks thereabout..taste wise, minor differences largely because the taste is not strong, more of a "touch and go" taste. The crabs used are probably Flower Crabs, the meat lacking in bite...soft and mushy. I'm not a huge crab fan but at least I can tell if the crabs are fresh! Those served certainly did not taste fresh. I was expecting Sri Lankan crabs, red and fiery looking and sizable! The crabs were not stuffed with meat as desired and portions wise, it seemed that each crab was chopped into two. Of the range, my favourite goes to Indian crab, did not know that dry crabs tasted good too. Crab cake was like a commercial meatball..now I get the fuss about Morton's Jumbo Crabcake.

I requested for a bowl of lemon water to cleanse the hands, even additional tools to crack open the claws had to be requested...which puts Swissotel's Market Plaza Cafe and Ritz's Greenhouse in good light. Both places had them placed very thoughfully on the table. The amusing bit came when the waiter was confused with my request, almost as if it sounded strange requesting for them. Is it not logical for a crab buffet?




Crab Bisque

Compared to its crab counterparts, the soup version was tastier though lacking in crab meat. Bread was slightly tough too.

Basmati Rice

Gave this a pass.



Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding

Ordinary roast beef with loads of tendons which I'm not a fan of. The Yorkshire pudding was a stiff and dense baked item which I could not bare to eat more than a mouthful.



Salmon Filet

Overcooked.

Potato Gratin

I actually liked this! The finely shredded potato with cream sauce and melted cheese, albeit simple...it outshone the rest of its modern contemporaries.

Beef Filet

Slightly overcooked.

Chicken Sausage

You can taste nuts from this heavily blended meat sausage, maybe just the cheese.

Creamed vegetables

Wholesome goodness.



Oden

A major surprise to find this dish in the Japanese section of a buffet, usually the spread is limited to Cha Soba, Sushi, Tempura and Sashimi. This is a Japanese winter dish, consisting of daikon radish, konnyaku and processed fishcakes cooked in soy flavoured dashi broth. My first attempt and I found it on the bland side.

Teriyaki Chicken

Tasty!

Tempura (Vegetables/Prawns)

The crispy crust was addictive but when left too long, they ended up chewy. The prawns are quite fresh!

Sushi

Not too bad.



Salad Bar (Caesar, Chick Peas, Potato Bacon, Chicken Celery)

Usual normal tasting salads.

Assorted smoked salmon

They had more than one type up for selection but I cannot quite tell the difference.

Pepperoni/Smoked Sausages

Interesting for me, the western take on chinese preserved sausages which had a slight smoky taste.

Seafood (Mussels/Prawns)

These were snapped up so fast, the hotel did not bother replenishing.



Pasta Live Station

Choice of cream sauce or tomato based pasta with bell peppers

We attempted at least 6 plates of pasta, each plate differing in taste from the other but do request for "milkier and spicier" to get the best taste. The cream pasta fared better than the tomato base. Simple ingredients but when cooked just right, it is delicious!

Noodle Station
Mee Soup

Made no attempt.




Selection of cheeses and preserved fruit

Nothing goes in between my stinky cheese and I.



Opera
Cheesecake
Mango Mousse
Strawberry Mousse
Berry cake

Of the lot, the berry cake's the best. The mousse cakes are too light, cheesecake too dense..



Tapioca Kuehs

Not too bad but on the hard side.

Lapis cake

Fragrant yet dry cakes.

Agar agar

Nothing interesting.



Bread and Butter Pudding

I wish these were kept in a warmer of some sort, the cold puddings paired with vanilla bean sauce was not too bad, just a little dry.



Apricot Tart

Pretty alright with more cake than tart.

Ice-cream (Chocolate/Vanilla)

Magnolia. Icecream. 'Nuff said.

Oreo Cheese

I found the balance of cheese and oreo slightly tipped to the cheesy side, a little too heavy for a dessert on a buffet table.



Fruits!



Opera
Chocolate Eclair
Fondue
Moist Chocolate Cake

The chocoaddict did not unrevel any mystery of all the chocolate desserts, the chocolate cake was the best of the lot that was overly exposed, given the layout of the dessert station.



Eggtarts

Regular bakery fare, flaky crust with custard.

Yet another average buffet by Global Kitchen. Service was slightly intrusive with the overly polite waiter who appeared every now and then and in a half bow asked "May I clear your plates."

Crab Dinner Nights
$58++
Fridays & Saturdays only

Global Kitchen
Pan Pacific Hotel

The Mussel Guys @ Vivocity

The visit to Brussels sparked off the search for yummy mussels and The Mussel Guys popped to mind. To be honest, I once thought of them as the eatery with the "cheezy name". It was just one of those weekend dinners that I wasted no time picking and choosing a place to eat at the expense of snaking queues.



As expected, packed. The place smelt of hotplates made it smell like a foodcourt.



Spicy Mussels 350gsm $17.50

I wanted a fair comparison of the spicy mussels from Brussels Sprouts and The Mussel Guys. There was a promotion, buy 350gsm mussels and get 170gsm free!



The spicy mussles is a signature. Gravy is on the sweet side but retaining the slight spiciness. It is not over the top spicy like Brussels but mussels used in TMG are the green shelled ones and had a slight fishy taste. Mussel wise, juicy and plump shellfish which I found tantalizing.



Complimentary Baked Cheese Mussels

This fared better than the spicy mussels, the baked cheese had a chewy creamy texture.

Set Meal Pan Grilled Chicken & Chipolata Sausages ($15.90++)



Mushroom soup that was a thick salty soup, no mushrooms in sight, not even shaved ones. The garlic bread was neither crispy nor chewy.



For the longest time I feel Chipolata sausages are not the best sausages to eat and once again, I was proven right. Tasteless mash of meat of which you cannot taste nor discern. The grilled chicken was just alright, overall the only worthwhile portion of the dish lies in the buttery mashed potato with root vegetables.



Cookie and cream ice-cream that was o-r-d-i-n-a-r-y.

So here is the showdown,

Brussels' mussels are slightly better in quality, nary the fishyness though the mussels are slightly smaller than the greenlipped ones used in TMG.

Brussels' mussels come with delish freeflow fries.

Of the two, Brussels' is definitely a better bargain!

The Mussel Guys
Vivocity