Fosters Restaurant

My friends and I used to meet regularly for afternoon tea at Fosters when it was still located at the basement of Palais Renaissance... but since the restaurant moved to Holland Village, I've only had tea there once, so I wanted to try out this place again...

The Devonshire Cream Tea (served from 3 - 6pm daily) is great value for money. For $10.50++, you get two scones, two finger sandwiches, a slice of cake and your choice of tea or coffee.


I love the scones here... they are more cakey than what scones are supposed to be but goes so perfectly with the homemade strawberry preserves and fresh cream. The cake is usually banana cake which I'm not terribly fond of and normally give it away... and I remember the finger sandwiches being much better but it's still good.

Unless you're planning to skip dinner, I suggest sharing this with someone - it's just the right portion for two. The couple at the next table ordered one set each and were totally struggling to finish it.

The cozy ambience and comfy armchairs make it the perfect place for having traditional English tea-time snack and whiling away a lazy afternoon...


Fosters Restaurant
277 Holland Avenue
S278994
Tel : 6466 8939
www.fosters-restaurant.com

Grains

S and I were trying to think of what new restaurant to try at the new(ish) shopping centre, The Central... when I remembered reading a glowing review on this place on ieatishootipost... so we decided to try it out.

The layout of this place is a bit odd - the restaurant is split into two sections with a public walkway going right through it. Not that much traffic going through, but maybe that was because we were there on a weekday night. I know I would stare at what people were eating if I was walking through... not sure the 'open' concept is the best idea.

Everything on the menu sounded interesting but we decided to try some of the dishes recommended by ieatishootipost.

We started the meal with the Chicken & Ginseng Clear Broth in Yunnan Steam-Pot $5++ -


It was a nice way to start the meal - hot soup is always so comforting...

One of the house specialities here is the Spinach Tofu with Shimeiji Mushroom & Dried Scallop $8++. I love tofu and mushrooms so this was a must-try :


They apparently make their own tofu here using organic soy beans, but we were not particularly impressed by the taste or texture of the tofu. One would have thought that the combination of the fried tofu and the scallop and mushroom sauce would have that extra oomph but this dish turned out surprisingly unexciting. Also didn't help that it was just lukewarm when it came, like it had been sitting out in the open for a while already...

ieatishootipost described the Crispy Sea Perch as his "best fish discovery of the year" so it was the first thing we looked out for on the menu... we only remembered it was sea perch so ordered the closest thing on the menu : Fried Sea Perch in Thai Sauce $12++ -


This turned out to be pretty disappointing - there was lots of batter and just a bit of fish, and the fish didn't even taste all that fresh. I think we ordered a different dish from what ieat raved about, but still, it left me quite unimpressed.

Wanting to try something from the dim sum menu, we again went with ieat's recommendations and ordered the Fresh Scallop with Mashed Yam Dumpling $3.50++ :


I've never been a very big fan of yam so normally avoid ordering woo kok (yam dumpling)... but I thought it would be good to try something different. It tasted pretty ok, loved the fact that there was a whole piece of scallop, but felt that each piece was too small.

We were too lazy to adjourn somewhere else for dessert, so just stayed put. I tried the (no big surprise) Peanut Ball with Floral Wine $4++ :


The food here is pretty mediocre... don't think I'll be back here again, unless everywhere else in Central is totally packed.


Grains
6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#02-92 The Central
S059817
Tel : 6534 7707
www.grains.com.sg

LingZhi Vegetarian Restaurant

I wasn't terribly impressed the first time I went to Lingzhi but I decided to give it a second try recently when I heard they had a lunch buffet for just S$20.80++ (minimum 2 diners).

The buffet during lunch is actually a Dim Sum & Mushroom Hot Pot Buffet. For dim sum, there are over 20 types of Dim Sum... ranging from those in the baskets (steamed and very healthy) -




to those from the main buffet table, mainly fried and unhealthy... but so much tastier :) -


Loved the Char Siew So (in the middle of the bottom plate) - the pastry was flaky and the filling delicious.

For the Hot Pot, you get your choice of soups and we went with the clear soup and Tom Yum :


There must have been at least a dozen types of mushrooms available! Of course I had to have plenty of my favourite enoki mushrooms :) Had quite a few mushrooms that I've never had before too. The Tom Yum soup was surprisingly spicy and had a very authentic Thai flavour to it. I wanted it as a contrast to the clear soup and it turned out perfect.

There were some other random dishes including rojak and vegetable curry but I was way too stuffed to really enjoy it...

Not too stuffed to have dessert though :) There was a sea coconut cold dessert and guilingao which I was not really interested in, but I had to try the mochi looking thing –


It was not bad but I only had space in my stomach for two pieces.

I loved the variety of mushrooms and dim sum and find the buffet is quite good value. Think I'll be back to try some dishes from the a la carte menu...


Lingzhi Vegetarian Restaurant
7-10 Amoy Street
#01-01 Far East Square
S049949 Tel : 6538 2992
www.tunglok.com

The Garden Slug

Tucked away in a quiet neighbourhood in East Coast is this simple little cafe. They have a brunch menu and I was totally tempted to have "All Day Breakfast" which I pretty much have if it's on the menu. But in the spirit of trying new things, I forced myself to order something different...

And ended up having the Orange-glazed Pan-seared Buttermilk Chicken
Tender (boneless chicken glazed with a light, citrusy sauce) $13.90 -


Which was pretty ok but something about pan-fried chicken just gives me the impression of diet food - way too healthy. The mash was yummy though.

We had Bruschetta $4.50 to share -


And Auds had the Brazilian Lamb Chop (Marinated in wine & garlic, served with chunky mint pesto sauce) $16.90 -


Her exact words about it are "I finished them but I wouldn't remember them enough to want to go back again."

The food is pretty average, but prices are reasonable, and it's a nice place to chill and and spend a lazy weekend. A bit out of the way for me, but the Easterners might want to check out this place.


The Garden Slug
55 LOrong L Telok Kurau
#01-59/61 S425500
Tel : 6346 0504
www.thegardenslug.com

Bao Today

Had lunch with Karen M at the Raffles Place area and she suggested trying out this new place. Luckily she got there early and started queuing for a seat first...

We decided to just order dim sum and skip the rice or noodle dishes - which we later regretted coz some of the noodles look really yummy.


The Mango and Prawn Roll $2.80 was a late order but was one of the better dishes we had. It's mango and prawns wrapped in chee cheong fun...


The Bean Sheet Shrimp Roll $2.80 was ok but unspectacular.


No way I can have dim sum without trying the Fish Roe and Pork Siew Mai $3.50 :) It was just ok too...

The other dim sum must-have for me is Deep-fried Radish Cake $2.80 -


We also tried some of their more unusual dishes : Black Sesame Bun $2.20 -


It wasn't totally filled with sesame paste as I was expecting but it was good! Sweet but not overly so.

Feeling particularly adventurous we tried the Deer Meat Bun $3.50 -


But it was pretty disappointing - there was so much pepper in the deer meat filling that you could not taste anything else.

Decent dim sum at reasonable prices. The branch here is newly open hence the queue, but the branches at Marina Square, Vivocity and United Square are less crowded. For takeaway, try the kiosk at the Tangs Basement.


Bao Today
1 Raffles Place
#01-09A OUB Centre
S048616

Michelangelo's

S wanted to meet for lunch one day and we decided to try out the set lunch at Michealangelo's since there was a one-for-one offer with American Express credit cards.

The set lunch started with Mushroom Soup -


For the Main Course, there was a choice of either the Pasta, which S had :


or Grilled Bratwurst Sausages with Baby Potatoes, which I had -


It was a pretty decent-sized serving - I hate having heavy snooze-inducing lunches :)

And for dessert - a pretty nondescript scoop of ice-cream and a cup of tea :


The normal price of the set lunch is $28+++, but with the one-for-one offer with American Express credit card, it comes up to about $17 each - which is a real bargain... Take advantage of this promotion if you have an American Express credit card!


Michelangelo's
60 Jalan Merah Saga
#01-60 Chip Bee Garden
Singapore 278124
Tel: 6475 9069
www.michelangelos.com.sg