Ban Leong Wah Seafood Restaurant (17th Feb 2009)

When friends are in town... they would want to try some famous "Singapore" food. The main thing would be chilli crabs... or crabs of some sort. As my makan kakis are into crabs, so we try to get the better ones in town for my friends.


This was recommended after some rejected my recommendation of another place.

Prawn paste chicken

Baby squid

Butter prawn

Sambal Potato leaves

Herbal Frog leg soup

Chilli Crab

Black pepper crabs

These are the dishes we had. I would not highly recommend this place to my friend. I have another place which I prefer to go to. Why? I didn't like the crabs. I didn't think the crabs were the best in town. But a meal is best only with good company. I think the company was what made this meal great.

Ah Chew Dessert (17th Feb 2009)

Glass Jelly with lychee

Mango sago & pomelo

Water Chestnut with egg

This place has one of the longer history of serving Cantonese or Hong Kong dessert in Singapore. A Long Long time ago, I remembered going for steamboat and coming here for dessert afterwards... it started from a one man show to this about 10 other chinese nationalities staff. Maybe I am rather old fashioned and prefer the idea that my desserts are being prepared by a person who want to do a good job than a group of people doing it as a job. I realized that the standard had dropped quite a bit and oso no longer as good as before. I am looking for better dessert places now. :)

Au Petit Salut French Restaurant (17th Feb 2009)

I love having meals with friends. Friends who know the importance of sitting down, having a good meal and good conversations. Might be a conversation which could be meaningless to the rest of the world, yet be a topic of interest for me and them. It is not the results of the conversation that matter, it is just the plain chatting, discovering another point of view, which might be or not be agreeable to one self.

If you do want to have such a moment with some friends, I think Au Petit Salut might be one of the choice, however, do make sure you get a corner seat, or an outdoor seat if the weather is good.

The start of a wonderful meal starts with a peek into the daily offerings...

Bread basket
I was so busy shooting... that the bread became cold when we started eating it.... so the service staff were nice enough to get us another warm portion :)

Oyster

I can't say too much about it, but my friends did enjoy them. I wasn't in the mood for oysters that day.... so I had missed out on something good.

Bisque de homard

Lobster bisque with tarragon and lobster ravioli

This was nice... why do i think it is nice? hahah cause I finished it :p

I am not a cook, I would not know what was in it... other than the obvious ones, which was written in the menu.. lobster and tarragon :P

Foie gras de canard poele au vinaigre de Xeres

Pan seared duck foie gras served with baby spinach, red onions and Xeres vinegar

I like the red onions and the Xeres vinegar and mix with a bit of the baby spinach, I am crying for another serving of this wonderful prepared foie gras. And YES I do think force feeding to get this foie gras is a bad thing, so i always TRY to say a prayer for the poor duckie when i consumed the liver... though... I might had forgotten to do it when I was having its leg...

Salade de gourmande au homard, anguille fumee et St- Jacques

Cold seafood platter with lobster. smoked eel and grilled scallops, mesclun salad with basil dressing (I think we got salmon tartare instead of scallop.... )

I can't say there was anything special about it... Maybe there are just too much vegetables in it... I know it's a salad dish... but I am just so much a vegetable hater that the sight of a few leaves laying on each other just put me sooo off a dish.

Cuisse de canard confite

Crispy french duck leg confit with green lentils stew and yellow frisee salad with walnut dressing

okie... so this is the other part of the duck we had. It is, I felt, been cooked too long. I find it rather dry and hard. So I would say this duck had given its leg for a unworthy cause. I would not order this dish again, just so no ducks would have to give up their legs for it. (Hey, it might not be in good humor for any animal lovers. But in the frist place, it's my opinon! so I guess anyone who doesn't think it's funny... too bad. Move along! )

Filet de boeuf a l'echallotes

Pan seared beef tenderloin (150 gm) served with shallots and garlic confit, mashed potato

We definitely love this dish. As I had not have any good time with red meat, my tiny bite of it gave me the impression that this tenderloin was done the way we wanted it to be. Excellent dish indeed.

Filet de daurade Royale de l'Atlantique au four

Oven baked Atlantic royal seabream served with ratatouille and tomato coulis

Fish! I so do like fish dishes. I think this seabream is indeed a great piece of meat :D. Along with the ratouille and tomato coulis, it had made to the only dish I would order for my main, should i come back again. However, I do detect some bitterness around the tummy area, though it's a good dish, I definitely think it could make some improvements. (did I mention I am not a good cook??)

Selection de fromages affines Francaise, pain aux noix et salade

Selection of matured French farm cheeses served with walnut bread and salad

Not the best selection of cheeses... could have easily given a miss. However the bread was excellent :P I won't mind packing some of the walnut bread for my cheese parties.

Fondant chaud au chocolat

Warm melted 70% dark chocolate cake served with chocolate sorbet

Chocolate... I, who can't resist chocolate... find this dark chocolate cake which had chocolate sauce oozing from the inside, fantastically amusing. I do enjoy the taste of it. I didn't won't say this is on the top top of my chocolate list. Nothing can replace my current love for peanut butter chocolate :p

Mignonettes au pain d'epices et abricots, glace macadamia

Mini gingerbread filled with apricot jam and served with macadamia nut ice cream

okie... I don't like ginger. I don't like gingerbread. I do not like the tiniest bite of the gingerbread I tried. But I like the ice cream! :P hehe so if u are a fan of gingerbread, I think it would be a good dessert to order. If not.... you can always ask them for more ice cream without the gingerbread. However, you might not get your wish.

The service here was great and indeed a, I felt, a worthy meal to have at this excellent restaurant. However.... I think the fact that it is not a HUGE stadium sized place, it would be good if you are able to get a cosy corner... or an outdoor table. The fact that it is such a worthy lunch, alot of business people head there for their client meetings, which is great business for the resturant, but a lousy deal for me. I just want to have a nice place to take a break from the stressful world and I definitely do not like working lunch... much less other ppl's working lunch. And yes I am shamelessly listening into their conversations... not because I want to, it just because the sounds are bouncing off the walls/glasses of the restaurant.

Hi! James from DXS Bank. It is great meeting you that day.

Tong Heng (15th Feb 2009)

Tong Heng would be the place I would always go for, if I have craving for egg tarts. I only discovered this place... less than a decade ago. Why? Cause a decade ago, I still think Macdonald's is THE Gourmet food. The only excuse I can only give was... "Hey! I was a growing kid... and being a student in my days doesn't pay much! "

Egg tarts

Though they might not be piping hot, but they were still good :P I wish i am good enough a writer to tell you how the custard and crust taste... but I guess I did not leave all my student traits in the good old days... I am still not able to write well to save my life.

Chicken Curry puff and Char Siew (Barbecued Pork) Crispy Pastry

Although i am not a fan of their Char Siew (BBQ) crispy pastry, I looooooooove their chicken curry puff. BTW if u are thinking that chicken curry meant it would be spicy, u can't be more wrong. It was sweet and savoury like a meat pie. :D

This was the 2nd time I came within 2 weeks to this same outlet. I do think that with different people handling the making of each different batches, the taste would be different. I only made such discovery, just because the time between the 2 visits were so short.

Like the signboard... maybe time had passed. Things would never be the same as they were before. Before they changed their ways of making their traditional egg tarts, I think I better start finding another bakery for my egg tarts.

7atenine (15th Feb 2009)

It was a hot and hot day! :P We were so glad to get out of the heat... so we basically had to have so much drinks in a row, just to cool down before starting on our meal.

Itchy Lips

I love the touch of orange drink mix that was at the bottom of the spoon, added an unqiue touch to this dish. But we didn't like the 2nd order of it, which didn't have any of those orange drink mix powder... instead more salt was added... :p




Anchovies with mozarella
One of my favorite dish :D

Gazpacho (Spainish cold tomato soup)
The greenish thing in the nice package was an herbal ice cube. It's special cause I rarely see it done with a nice green ice cube... but then I still prefer the previous way of serving with the nice shiso leaf tempura :D And also the bits and pieces of pepper in there... yucks. I think I prefer the soup plain with the tempura.

Parma Ham with melon



Sauerkraut Salmon roll
I do not like this too much. I like the look of it, but the taste is not quite my cup of tea. I didn't like the sauerkraut, actually I never did like sauerkraut before.

Beef roll on stone

Squid ink risotto
I always like Risotto, and sometimes chefs don't do it well. But this was okay.... I think having a whole squid does put a nice touch to the whole look of it.

Teriyaki Cod fish with pumpkin with cumin puree
I like the puree.. I think this place does such good puree of anything :D hehehe I think I will eat almost anything that's puree at this place.

Parma Ham Spaghetti

Chicken Croquettes

Sirloin Steak with Mash potato

Pork sirloins with baby potatoes



Chocolate Brownie

Natte Fresca

Churros

I been to this place so many times in the past 2 months... I just tot that I shouldn't be repeating myself too often on the different types of food. :P So i am just going to leave these pictures... if u really need to know how the food taste and if it is worth going... just look at the frequency of my visits :p

Till we meet again...