River Palace (14th feb 2009)

A Korean Friend, after several years of luring him with food photographs, came to Singapore for a visit. Trying to squeeze everything in a few days is indeed difficult. : )

So we went to some places... and this is one of them. River Palace... I did not think that I had chose this because I thought highly of the food. But rather it came recommended by some people.

Stewed peanuts and Chinese tea...

So here are the food we had tried...

Chilled par-boiled chicken in chinese wine

This was okay. I didn't think the chinese wine taste was strong enough.

And it's not better than those normal hainanese chicken in some hawker centres.

Combination of sliced duck with crispy beancurd skin wrapped in egg pancake

This was good. I enjoyed the crispy beancurd skin, add an additional crunch to it.

Belly of pork Roll with minced garlic sauce

Because of the frist glance, there wasn't much fat to it... I didn't want to waste my tummy space to try it.

Crab meat fried egg white with lettuce wraps

This was different from what I had expected. But it was good enough for me to order another.

Braised sharks fin soup with "Four treasures"

Maybe the reason why we only had a portion per person was it just wasn't good enough.

Braised Pig trotter "mama style"

Well.... I am thankful that they did not say it is in "MissyGlutton's mama style" cause it wasn't good. The vinegar wasn't enough, it's more like half a bottle was used, when one bottle is needed.

Steamed prawns

The prawns were fresh... and nothing is left to be said.

Sauteed beef steak in spicy and sour sauce served on sizzling plate

nope for me... :p I did not like this dish.

Smoked Boneless chicken with Po Lei tea leaves

I doubt the chicken died of lung cancer... cause i felt it did not smoke enough!

Sweet and sour pork with pineapple

Can be better....

Poached spinach with assorted eggs

One of the worst poached spinach with assorted eggs dish i had ever try....

Sauteed fresh scallops with asparagus and pine nuts

The scallops weren't up to my standards...

I guess... sometimes you have to try all the different kinds of food enough to know what u like.
On Valentine day... with a group of friends.... I had indeed made a right choice to go to this restaurant. I think it would be an experience not to be repeated, just because I would not willing do it again.

On another note... I am slightly buried with other things in life at the moment... apologies to people who might be hoping for new entries from me..... I will try harder ....

Crystal Jade Dining IN @ VivoCity (25th Jan 2009)

Reunion dinners are all about coming together as a family, frist to have good food, second to gather to spread and share all the news among relatives who rarely get together often. On this day, our choice was Crystal Jade Dining in VivoCity. I admit that this is my frist time going there. Might be the fact that I am not really into Chinese food, which I been having for the most part of my life. People had been raving about this place to me, that's for sure.


Reaching there on time, and having my table and cup of tea ready was already a postive point.

My Cup of tea....

"Fatt Choy" Salmon Raw fish yu sheng (鸿运发财三文鱼生)

I am not a big fan of yu sheng. I do not like raw vegetable too much.... unless it's drenched in thousand island sauce, which i had not been doing too often. I, would too often, pick out the raw salmon or any raw sashimi anything to eat, leaving the veggies for the people who enjoy them.
What I really enjoy about this dish is...

tossing the yusheng, shouting out the good blessings and enjoying a mini food fight!!! :p

Suckling pig combinaion platter (乳猪烧味拼盘)

I only noticed that BBQ roasted pork has fat in them!!! *yummy* I don't like lean pork, duck or chicken. So, to me, I like it cause there is fat in the bbq pork.

Braised shark's fin with conpoy and crab meat (发财蟹肉干贝生翅)

*sigh* I might had been influenced by people who are against shark fin eating... this shark fin soup was not that great. I didn't detect any fins, conpoy or crab meat. But I did think that the chef was quite generous with flour. This soup was too starchy for my liking, so I added at least 2 tablespoons of vinegar into it, before I finished half a bowl of it.

Braised baby abalone with dried oyster and black moss (发财好市鲍鱼仔)

I like! I like abalone, I LIKE dried oyster and I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE black moss!!! I LOVE this dish... other than that cabbage at the bottom. Hahaha As I am seated in a table with people (young kids) who doesn't really think that dried oysters or abalone were treasures, I actually finished more than half of the dish myself... of course, I had to put up with the "eeee" and "yucks, you are eating hair" remarks left, right and front! BUT for one of my loves in life, I would willingly put up with those remarks. :D

The abalones were nice and chewy, the oysters were not fishy and well cooked *yummy* I am already drooling, just thinking about them. Mixed with a bit of moss... GIVE ME MORE ALREADY!!!

Crispy Salted Chicken (脆皮盐香鸡)

The skin of this chicken was good. As most of the people sharing the table were quite filled up, I was able to tear off the skins of most of the pieces and have them as it is. *glee* This chicken was cooked well, but as it was (to me) too hastily chopped up and arranged. It had lost alot of points due to its untidy presentation.

Sea Perch serve in Two ways (鲈鱼二味)

Sauted sliced sea Perch & Deep fried fish belly with pepper and salt

I like this dish. The salty taste of the sea perch was good. I think the sprinkle of the seaweed, fried onions and pine nuts were good additions to this dish. I prefer the deep fried fish belly with pepper and salt more than the sauteed slices.


Fried rice with Seafood and diced chicken served in Lotus leaf (团圆荷叶饭)

I think the rice were pretty hard... I picked out the seafood and corn to eat. Was there diced chicken? I didn't notice lor. I don't think there is any chicken in it.

Therefore I assumed my chicken went out playing and forgot to clock in for its execution slot, hence the lack of chicken in my fried rice.

Chilled Mango Cream with Sago and Pomelo (杨枝甘露)

I always prefer to have a sweet ending to my meal. This is slightly sour, but it's the right taste. Lack of sago and mango bits did not take much away from this dessert.

I absolutely dreaded going for reunion dinner.... I do not like going for rush meals... Rushing thru meals made me moody! and easier to be unhappy about the situation and oso even more picky about food. We were told we had only one hour to eat this meal, so basically rushed thru the meal. When we were told that we were able to stay beyond the time slot, I slowed down my eating and was able to enjoy the food slowly.

I think in situation like these, whereby one had to rush thru meals and try to stay as happy as one can be, especially in front of elders, service staffs are very important. I am very happy that there is a lady staff by the name of Xiao Yan (from Shang Dong, China), and her manager Grace, had made my meal very pleasant, comfortable and entertaining.

Great job, Grace and Xiao Yan.

(年年有餘)Abundance menu for Flickr Food bloggers (07 Jan 2009)

Once again, Flickr Singapore and Yan Ting of St Regis had organized a Food Blogger outing for flickr users who also blog about food... hahaha and if you do read my previous posts, that's one of the reasons why I started this blog.

The Table setting :)

The 7 years old Pu-Er tea
:) I am not a big fan of chinese tea.... mainly because my family esp my dad loves Chinese tea. BUT this Pu er tea is light and because it's also freshly brewed so it doesn't have the bitter taste of being left too long.

豐味芋頭糕 & 富贵萝卜糕
It's the fried taro cake and the fried radish cake. I actually like both of them, maybe it's because I am a big fan of baby food, I never did like my food too hard. We were given two small tasting pieces and oso with a bit of hot bean sauce. *yummy*

Chef's chan special recipe XO sauce
As I grew older, I start to dislike spiciness. If it doesn't help in the dish, I think less of it would help. Esp with this XO sauce. I only took a bit of it, but I didn't like the very spicy taste. I couldn't enjoy all the ingredients in it, cause I was busy putting out the fire in my mouth.

吉慶滿門
Prosperity Yu Sheng with Salmon.
I am not a big fan of yu sheng, just because I am not a big fan of vegetables in any forms. I would only have that, just for the fun of tossing and trying to outsay everyone else the blessings for the new year!! :P and of course the little cracker bits and .... the salmon!!! ( I should stop using so much !!!, cause someone actually said I used too much of it.) Anyway, this was said to be lighter in taste, compared to the usual ones out there. We were told that it was a fruit mixture. I don't actually remember the fruits that were in it. But it's LIGHT, and you will have to take my words for it.




I do think the salmon used in this dish could be slightly better and the portions be bigger. Or whoever ordered, might need to get extra portions of salmon.

Woooo another favorite part of the yu sheng... the fried crackers!! :P toss more TOSS MORE!!! and these are supposed to represent gold. :)

Then we have the tossing and oso the saying of blessings for the new year! :) The best part of this dish is this!

川流不息 (三宝炖鲍翅)
Double-boiled shark's fin with three treasures (shiitake mushroom, bamboo pith, and dried scallop).
I like shark! I like shark's fin! I don't think it's wrong to have shark's fin. I will not purposely ordered it, but I would not reject it when it's placed in front of me. And when this is placed in front of me, I couldn't help but want to taste the soup frist (that's after all the molests from my camera). I always know that shark's fin has no taste to it. I think the soup made my day, I always like soup, and not the ingredients in it. I know there are 3 treasures... but i did not have much of any impressions of them. But the soup is something to die for. *slurpS*

褔满人间 (发財金嚎配黃焖豆根鲍片)
Prosperity oyster with braised sliced abalone.
I love almost every items in this dish, from the 发菜 black hairlike moss (which is too little :P), the spinach, the abalone slice and most most most of all the semi dried oyster. This is the dish I would definitely come back for.




富如東海 (淸蒸東星班配鮮虾腊味糯米飯)
Wok-fried glutinous rice with wind-dried sausages, and steamed coral trout "tong sing" grouper
I like steamed fish, mainly because it would give me the best idea if the fish is fresh or slightly under the weather. I find this piece of fish slightly tougher than what I usually like for a fish.
BUT I love the glutinous rice that come with it and the different types of sausages, the usual lean chinese sausages and the liver (blood) sausages... they are both soooo delicious. I do not usually finish my rice, fortunately I was given a smaller portion and I was able to enjoy it totally.

*yummy*

By the end of this dish... I was ready to surrender :P the food were quite good and generous in their portions as well.

年年纳褔 (脆皮年糕配百年鸿運)
Traditional Azuki Bean Paste with Crispy Glutinous Rice Cake
I do not like red bean... I do not care for citrus peel, even though it's as old as I am. NO no no!
But I do have to try it, and it was quite good. Maybe if they do not put in the citrus peel, I might enjoy it better.

The snacks that came along with this bean paste were good. They are the deep fried sesame seed ball (金银满屋笑口枣), the deep fried dumpling filled with peanuts and sesame seeds (心想事成角仔), Crispy Glutinous rice cake and Crystal water chestnut cake. I thought the rice cake dipped in "what tasted to me similar to goreng pisang batter " tasted fantastic. It's not sticky sweet, just soft inside and crispy outside *yummy*, well the cripsy water chestnut cake tasted good too. I like the deep fried sesame seed ball (金银满屋笑口枣), hehe maybe it's the cantonese name "smiling mouth joe" but it was nice. :)

九鱼献瑞年糕
Nine Fish Year Cake
The Manager of Yan Ting, Danny, brought this out just to tempt us .... It has been a few days since we went to the event and I am still thinking about this year cake. I am so tempted to go down to Yan Ting one of these days to stock up on my new year goodies, after tasting some of them during this meal.

I am very biased, esp if I have great services. :) I think the food in Yan Ting is quite good and their services are even better. A great place to go to, similar to the great meal I had.

Many thanks for the team at St Regis Singapore, their PR company and Flickr Singapore for giving me this great opporunity to try the fantastic food.