Dinner @ Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck Restaurant

September 26, 2017 in Chinese

When 2 people happened to recommend Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck over a course of 2 weeks, that was a sign that I had better check out the restaurant. And the opportunity came when my colleagues and I were to arrange a get-together, and the cuisine had to be Chinese for the uncle colleague in the group. Keke. Thus, with everyone’s consensus, reservation was made for 5 for a weekday dinner.

Located conveniently in Paragon, one need not worry about finding parking lot if one chose to drove. Instead, one just need to worry about the expensive parking fee. zZZz.

And from the menu (pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11), my colleagues and I ordered:-


1) Fried century egg with shrimp paste, $12 (above) – This was like the Chinese’s version of scotch egg. Pretty good.


2) Chinese yam with blueberries sauce, $12 (above) – Served as a cold dish, this unfortunately tasted weird. We couldn’t make out of the unique combination.

3) Fried squid with pepper & salt, $12 (above)


4) Barbecue pork with honey sauce, $27 (medium) (above)

5) Stewed pork collar & lettuce with shrimp sauce in claypot, $20 (small) (above)


  

6) Braised spinach beancurd with assorted mushrooms, $20 (small) (above)

7) Steamed turbot fish with superior soy sauce, $15/100g (above)

8) Beijing style roasted duck, $88 (whole):-

  
  

(A) Style #1 (above) – Wrapped with pancake. Advanced order is required for this dish. And unknown to me, the chef actually stationed himself near our table to skin the roasted duck. I didn’t know because the action took place behind me. Sob! And it’s weird that we specially came for the duck dish but we were not too impressed by it. Uncle colleague said the meat texture felt slightly powdery.

(B) Style #2 (above) – And we chose to have the remaining meat fried with e-fu noodles.


  

9) Double boiled fish maw soup with shark’s cartilage, $30 (above) – One of my must orders at Chinese restaurant is double boiled soup. And I went with the fish maw soup as it’s also the restaurant’s signature dish. And the soup was thick and rich with a generous amount of ingredients. Really good. Strongly recommended.

10) Double boiled hashima with lotus seed, $10 (above)

Although we weren’t impressed by every dishes, it was a satisfying dinner for us at Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck Restaurant. Though I would strongly encourage one to look at the ‘advanced order menu’ before making reservation; There were a few dishes (like the charcoal grilled quail and crispy chicken stuffed with glutinous rice) which interested me but we couldn’t order as advanced order was required. Sob.

IMPERIAL TREASURE SUPER PEKING DUCK RESTAURANT
2 Orchard Turn, ION Orchard, #03-05, Singapore
6732 7838, Website
Overall: 7.5
Opening hours:-
Food/Beverage: 8
Mon – Fri : 11:30 – 14:45 (Lunch)
Ambience: 8
Sat : 11:00 – 14:45 (Lunch)
Value: 7
Sun : 10:30 – 14:45 (Lunch)
Service: 7
Mon – Sun : 18:00 – 22:00 (Dinner)

Dinner @ Iggy’s [Revisit]

July 24, 2017 in European

Having seen many food posts of Iggy’s bar menu on instagram (yes, the power of social media), reservation was made for a Friday evening. And we gave 3 weeks’ notice, but that’s only because my IGGF (InstaGram GirlFriend)’s and my schedules kept clashing. To secure our reservation, the restaurant requested for my credit card details.

And it was very timely that my IGGF and I were to have dinner on the immediate night after Michelin Guide Singapore announced Iggy’s was awarded 1 Michelin star for 2017. Hee.

Located in Hilton Hotel, it’s a 8 to 10 minutes walk from Orchard MRT station. It being a revisit, I noticed Iggy’s has changed their entrance from being centre of the wall to the side with their recent renovation. And in my opinion, I felt that was a good move because with their old entrance, it was difficult to locate the door when there’re events in the ballrooms as people would crowd in the lobby and block the view of Iggy’s entrance. Yes, Iggy’s shared the floor with a few ballrooms.

My IGGF and I arrived punctually at 7pm. However, the staff accidentally seated us at the main dining area although I mentioned in my email that we were making reservation for their gastro-bar menu. As the dinner menu (pages 1, 2) differed from the bar menu, we were re-led to the bar counter.

And from the bar menu, my IGGF and I ordered:-


1) Eggs & eggs (2 pcs), $39 (above) – 63C egg, truffle potato “espuma” and kaluga queen caviar.


  

2) Pintoxos, (4 pcs), $26 (above) – Pickled kohada “escalivada” on toast.


  

3) Sardine on ohba leaf, Complimentary (above) – Sardine from Scotland, topped with ponzu sauce and salmon roe (ikura). We were surprised when head chef Aitor Jeronimo Orive personally presented this. “On the house,” he said. Awww. Such a lovely gesture! And this was so good. My IGGF and I agreed this should be put on the menu.


  

4) Croquette (4 pcs), Complimentary (above) – And it’s stated on the menu that the croquette, which cost $16, were made with jamon iberico filling. As we really wanted to try this, my IGGF and I enquired if it was possible to do 2 pieces without the jamon iberico since my IGGF don’t take pork. Unfortunately, the waiting staff checked with the kitchen and informed us that it was not possible as the filling were pre-made. However, imagine our confused but happy faces when the staff came up with croquette and informed us that the kitchen had specially prepared 2 pieces with mushroom filling and 2 pieces with shrimp filling. We were further surprised to learn that it was (again) on the house when we were making payment. Although we didn’t get to try the original flavour, I certainly recommend ordering this! Fried to perfection; Crisp exterior with creamy interior.


5) Ceviche, $28 (above) – Oyster, finger lime, shallots and lemon snow.

6) Tomato Garden, $18 (above) – Heirloom tomato, cucumber and basil.

  

7) Fish tacos, $22 (above) – Mackerel, chipotle emulsion, avocado mousse, skate and sambal, red onions.

8) 2017 Iggy’s burger (2 pcs) (above) – Toriyama wagyu, onion & epoisse, amelia tomato. Now… It’s probably a known fact that I don’t take beef. But having heard much about their burger, I really wanted to try. And we were definitely 2 very happy and satisfied diners because we were informed the kitchen could do 1 pork burger (above, left) and 1 beef burger (above, right) for us. Yeah! And this was so good. We were each raving about our burgers. The pork fillet was thick and juicy. But what I really loved about it was the steamed brioche bun used. So soft and fluffy!

9) Capellini, $34 (above) – Sakura ebi, lobster oil and kombu, sorrel. In 2 serving sizes ($26 and $34), we went with the bigger portion of course. Keke.

10) Watermelon, $10 (above) – Palette of scented compressed watermelon. I won’t deny we were a little disappointed to see a very simple plating of 4 watermelon cubes on our respective plates. But it become an interesting experience when we were told the pieces were flavoured with mint, shiso, basil and gin lime respectively and my IGGF and I tried to identify the flavour to each piece.

11) French toast, $14 (above) – Bourbon ice cream.


12) Petit fours, Complimentary (above) – Green tea macaron, coconut truffle, kiwi bon bon and white-chocolate-soursop popsicle.

My IGGF and I were very impressed with dinner. Although we were only having the bar menu, our dining experience certainly wasn’t any less stellar than the dinner menu’s. Every dish was so good! If it wasn’t for our dietary restriction (of no beef and pork), we probably would have gone on to try every dish on the menu!

Iggy’s? I would definitely recommend them. And if one can’t make it in the evening, one could consider their lunch menu (pages 1, 2) instead!

IGGY’S
581 Orchard Road, The Hilton Hotel, Level 3, Singapore
6732 2234, Website
Overall: 8
Opening hours:-
Food/Beverage: 8
Tues – Sat : 12:00 – 13:30 (Lunch Seating)
Ambience: 7
Tues – Sat : 19:00 – 21:30 (Dinner Seating)
Value: 8
* Closed on Mon, Sun
Service: 8

UPDATE: Restaurant was awarded 1 Michelin star by Michelin Guide Singapore 2018.

Dinner @ Aoki Restaurant [Revisit]

July 14, 2017 in Japanese

It has been a while since I last dined at a sushi restaurant (in Singapore). But afraid to be disappointed by new places, I decided to return to restaurants which I previously dined at.

And it was through Aoki’s website that I learnt the restaurant was in the midst of renovation and was scheduled for re-opening in mid June 2017. Perfect! That would be akin to eating at a new restaurant although it really wasn’t. Haha.

Reservation was made for a weekday dinner. And as per my previous dining experience at Aoki, I requested for chef-owner Kunio Aoki.

My friend and I arrived a little late for our reserved time of 8.30pm. At 8.40pm, the restaurant called which I quickly updated we were making our way down from the carpark. Oops. And as requested, we sat at head chef Aoki san’s end of the counter.

While most sushi-yas are increasing their prices, I was surprised to see friendlier prices on Aoki’s omakase sets. During my last lunch at Aoki, omakase was priced at $200. But this now cost $125 instead on their current lunch menu. Wow.

And from the dinner menu (pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) which included seasonal menu (pages 1, 2), my friend and I ordered:-

1) Omakase course, $200 comprised of:-

(A) Pre-appetiser, $7 (above) – Otoshi. A cold dish of cooked tuna.

(B) Appetiser #1 (above)

(C) Appetiser #2 (above)

(D) Appetiser #3 (above)

(E) Sashimi #1 (above)

(F) Sashimi #2 (above)


(G) Soup dish (above)

(H) Grilled dish (above)

(I) Tempura (above)

  
  
  
  

(J) Sushi (above)

(K) Miso soup (above)

(L) Dessert (above)

2) Thin sliced white fish sashimi with truffles, $115 (above) – Not too sure where the extra $5 came from since the menu stated the dish cost $110. So I am guessing head chef Aoki san may have adjusted the portion and included an additional slice to allow my friend and I to have 3 slices each. I think. And for me, this was always a ‘must order’ dish.

It was a nice dinner at Aoki. I wouldn’t say it was fantastic as the food served were ‘safe dishes’. But for the amount we were paying, the omakase course was value-for-money. The only gripe I had was no introduction of the dishes were given. Except for the obvious (dishes) like marinated tuna (zuke maguro) sushi, my friend and I didn’t know what we were eating. And compared to the new decor of black-gold wallpaper against the brown furniture, I actually preferred the previous decor of Aoki which was more Japanese.

AOKI RESTAURANT
1 Scotts Road, Shaw Centre, #01-17, Singapore
6333 8015, Website
Overall: 8
Opening hours:-
Food/Beverage: 8
Mon – Sat : 12:00 – 15:00 (Lunch)
Ambience: 8
Mon – Sat : 18:30 – 23:00 (Dinner)
Value: 8
* Closed on Sun
Service: 7