Imperial Herbal Restaurant & Tcafe

7 September 2008 :: Sunday :: Dinner
Vivocity is home to numerous restaurants, many of which provide a scenic view of the sea. A wide variety of restaurants are available, from the economical Chicken Rice Shop to the higher end Tung Lok Signature for those with refined taste-buds.

Of all the restaurants, Imperial Herbal Restaurant stands out for providing healthy and exotic cuisine. Scorpions, crocodile meat and ‘Hai Tang Lang’ (loosely translated as Sea Praying Mantis), Imperial Herbal is definitely not for the weak-hearted.

I’ve been here once. Funny thing is, I don’t have much recollection of the food. I do remember the scallops being wonderful and the Sea Praying Mantis (whatever this is) looking all cockcroachy and disgusting (at least to me).  

Brief Description:

Imperial Herbal prides itself in providing a unique dining experience where a resident herbalist is on hand to provide the best recommendations for adding the ideal herbs to the meal. Dishes are infused with chinese herbs to improve health and excite taste-buds. What’s interesting is also the cushion seats which are shaped as a palm.

Review

Enough of the weird food, we (4 of us) stuck to the normal food. 

1) Beggar’s Chicken. This seems to be one of the more popular dishes. First impression is that the chicken is well cooked in a herb infused gravy, which is good, considering the amount of nourishment I need to cope with my hectic work life.  As like most herbal chickens, the meat is well-cooked and easy to tear. Though a fair amount of herbs have been added, there isn’t a strong herbal smell. The meat is average but the gravy is wonderful. Point to note, the gravy goes well with plain rice. Nothing to shout about though.

2) Glazed Scallops. The scallops are served in a potato (I think) basket, with seaweed and savory sauce. This is the second time I’m enjoying this and it’s still as good as I remembered. The scallops and tangy and the seaweed is crisp and tasty. Definately a must try.

3) Fried Fish with ‘Rose’ Petals. When the dish was served, we realised….. that there are no rose petals?! After clarification, we are told that they have replaced rose petals with lily bulbs as rose leaves a bitter taste. Other ingredients include kiwi and celery. In all, the dish leaves a refreshing taste, with the kiwi providing the fresh sweet-sourish taste with the lily providing the fragrance. Definitely worth a try.

4) Yam Mooncake. The pastry mooncake comes with/without york. The price difference is a mere S$0.50.  The flaky exterior complements the smooth fragrant yam. While not exquisite, the mooncake is worth a try. Do note that purchase of mooncakes is solely by cash terms only.

5) Lycee Black Tea. No Chinese dinner should go without Chinese tea. We had the lycee black tea, which is fragrant yet provides a relatively strong after-taste. 

In all, after a 15% discount with Amex, the bill comes to about S$25/pax. Price-wise, it’s quite worth it. However, the service was quite bad. We had to constantly wave our hands to catch the attention of the service staff. To be fair, we were seated quite near to the entrance, but I firmly believe that no decent restaurant should allow their guests to be flapping their hands like a headless chicken just to ask for a refill of the tea. While the food was definitely above average, the same cannot be said about the service. Disappointing.

Ratings

Food : 3.5/5
Ambiance : 3.0/5
Service : 2.5/5
Value: 3.0/5
RTE (Return to eat) : Not anytime soon

Details

1 Harbourfront Walk
#03-08 VivoCity
Mon-Fri: 11.30am – 2.30pm, 6pm – 10.30pm
Sat & Sun: 11.30am – 11pm 

Cathay Restuarant

02 August 2008 :: Saturday :: Dinner

Brief Description:

Located on the 2nd floor of The Cathay, once renowed as the finest Chinese restaurant in Singapore in the 1940s, Cathay Restaurant serves Chinese food since it reopened in 2007.

Review

I’ve been hearing reviews from some that the food here is delicately prepared and delicious, yet affordable.  After hearing about the 1-for-1 set menus, I decided to pay a visit to it with my gf’s family. Although it was a Saturday night, the restaurnat was relatively quiet… probably around 60% full at most. We were seated quite quickly but was disappointed that the waitress did not bother asking us for our tea preference after seating us. Hmm… poor service to be expected? After waiting for 5 mins, we decided to stop waiting and request for the tea menu. Tea choices are nothing spectacular, and consists of the usual Pu’er, Oolong and Jasmine.  We were only give the ala carte menu. Only after asking about the 1-for-1 promotion (a large sign was displayed outside the restaurant) were we given the menus.  We went for the special set, which includes a pair of Cathay movie tickets.

Food took around 20 minutes to arrive. Food was served abruptly without much explaination. The good point is that the waitresses do take note of when to serve the dishes.

First up, 1) Double boiled Shark Cartilage with Winter Melon. The soup looks watery but leaves a thick aftertaste. The soup was average at most. In fact, the majority of the family members left the soup unfinished.

2) Fried prawns with Wasabi Sauce in Golden Bow.  Since I don’t enjoy wasabi, I was apprehensive about the dish. I was plesantly surprised at how the wasabi sauce tasted. The sauce is especially mayonaise mixed with wasabi. The prawns were fried right and wasn’t dry. The sauce went well with the prawns, but sadly, the golden bowl was a disappointed.  It was just a flour mixture fried to the shape of a bowl. It was tasteless and felt plasticly.

3) Steamed Pa Ting fish with Black Fungus & Bamboo Shoots. This was probabably the best dish of the day. The fish was fresh and the sauce was well prepared.

Additional Braised beancurd, Black mushroom & Vegetables. This was an ala carte order as we realised that the portions were small and unlikely to be sufficient. The dish was delicious and though on the costly side ($14 for a small portion of vegetables?), was quite well received.

4) Pork Chop with Brocolli. It was quite surprising when the waitress started laying knives and forks on the table. I mean, we did think that we ordered a Chinese dinner set. Hmm… The pork chop was a bit overcooked and the brocolli was too salty. I was the only one at the table to have managed to finish this.

5) Fried Udon with special sauce. By now, everyone was looking forward to the final dish (not in a good sense I’m afraid).  This was a pretty average dish, like most of the preceeding dishes.

6) Yam ice-cream with almond and pumpkin sauce. Nothing to shout about, although the pumpkin sauce went quite well with the yam.

Total – $46/pax after 1-for-1 promo.

Ratings

Food : 3/5
Ambiance : 3/5
Service : 3.5/5
Value: 3/5
RTE (Return to eat) : Probably Not

Details

2 Handy Road
#02-01, The Cathay
Singapore 229233

Weekdays & Saturday : 11.30am – 3.00pm & 6.00pm – 10.30pm
Sundays : 10.00am – 3.00pm & 6.00pm – 10.30pm

Man Fu Yuan

28 July 2008 :: Monday :: Dinner

This evening, I brought my family to Hotel Intercontinental Singapore – Man Fu Yuan Restaurant. It was for a birthday dinner and the decision was made after consultation with one of the more popular foodie websites in Singapore -> HungryGoWhere. (http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/man_fu_yuan/)

Brief Description:
Man Fu Yuan serves sumptous Cantonese cuisine in a spacious setting. With well-set tables, delicate dinnerware and attentive staff, it was a pleasant dining experience.

Review

True to expectations, being a Monday night, there wasn’t a crowd. Well, still, to be sure, I made a reservation. By observing the dressing of the diners, I was already forewarned that the food isn’t going to be cheap. Since it was the first visit, I opted for the easy way out by ordering the set dinner.

I had to wait around 15 mins before the first dish came out. However, subsequent dishes were out fairly quick and it is obvious that the staff pays close attention to the diners to only serve subsequent courses only after you are done with the current.

I picked Shui Xian (aka Water Fairy) Chinese tea. Though more expensive than your average Chinese tea at local Chinese resturants (cost me $20 per pot), it was well worth a price.  Shui Xian tea is variation of the strong and full-bodied Oolong, but with a refreshing floral aftertaste. The delicate aftertaste also indicates that it is an above-average variant.

1) First up, the slicked pork, spiced jellyfish and duck. The pork was well cooked and went well with the plum sauce. The jellyfish is chewy but not tough. The duck was excellent.. if only they gave more than a slice for each person.

2) The sharks fin soup was average. The portion is quite large, but then again, serves more in filling up the stomach then satisfying the taste buds. To be fair to them, I haven’t been able to experience satisfactory sharks fin soup from other restaurants in quite a while either.

3) The soon hock was very well done. It was fried to just the right crisp. I was initially worried that the salted fish may overwhelm the dish, but I was pleasantly surprised that the proportion was just right. In fact, I would rate it was the best dish of the day. I suppose I would enjoy it even more if I wasn’t feeling a little filled up by the earlier soup.

4) The prawns were sauteed with garlic. Though the ingredients were simple, the chef’s skill shined through. The prawns were tangy and you could savor the wonderful sauce with each bite,.

5) The braised toufu with xiao bai cai was a bit disappointing, considering how impressed we have been with the earlier 2 dishes. While it didn’t taste bad, it was distinctly average.

6) The fruits took quite a while to arrive. It was a pleasant surprise to see that they were sliced papaya, manago, cherries and rambutan. I was expecting to see the usual apple, orange and watermelon. The fruits were all sweet and fresh, bring a wonderful closure to the meal.

The bill came to about $58/pax. Luckily, there was a promotion for UOB credit cards. After the 25% discount, the final bill was $44.60/pax. All in all, a satisfying meal. With the discount, it really was quite worth it.

Ratings

Food : 4/5
Ambiance : 3.5/5
Service : 4.5/5
Value: 4/5
RTE (Return to eat) : Yes

Details

2nd Floor,
80 Middle Road,
Intercontinental Hotel
Singapore 188966
+65 68251062

Daily: 11.30am – 3.00pm & 6.00pm – 10.30pm