Mouth Restaurant 地茂馆

Here I am at the newly opened Mouth Restaurant at Plaza Singapura! I've been wanting to try the dim sum over here and the opportunity came when I bought the deal voucher (:

Har Gao

The har gao's skin wasn't thick. It was just nice. Prawns were crunchy and juicy.

The steamed BBQ pork bun looks light and fluffy and it really is!

The beautiful bloom resembles a huat kueh. I don't fancy steamed buns than have a layer of skin on the outside and I will always peel it off before eating.

The char siew filling was pretty good, not too sweet and not too starchy as well.

Fried Prawn Dumplings (明虾饺)

This was okay, there was not strong "kee" taste and it goes well with the mayonnaise

Fried Beancurd Skin Roll a.k.a Tau Kee (腐皮卷)

I like the tau kee here! As you can see, the skin is not those that is slightly translucent. It it fried till almost opaque. With a light, extremely crispy outer skin and juicy inner fillings.. Thumbs up

Fried Chee Cheong Fun 

I ordered this by mistake. I wanted to order the normal, steamed chee cheong fun but I ticked this instead.

This is the usual, fried X.O carrot cake, except that it uses chee cheong fun.

I thought it could have been better if more chai poh (preserved turnip) was added.

Siew Mai (烧卖)

The siew mai is average, pretty much the same as other restaurants' of similar price range that I've tasted.

The size is a plus point though.

Braised Ee-fu Noodles

Again, the usual Ee-fu noodles that are usually served in chinese restaurants and wedding dinners.

I love ee-fu noodles and this was just as enjoyable as most that I've eaten.

Xiao Long Bao

Amazed by the size! The Xiao Long Baos are really huge and look at the amount of soup/juice contained within each of them!

Baked Liu Sha Bao

This was probably the best dish that afternoon. It totally blew me away.

The baked crust is sweet and thing, with a little bit of crisp (think of those Fried Man Tous that goes together with Chilli Crab). Once you sink your teeth into the bun, the molten, liquid egg yolk flows out.

Not for the faint hearted and those in poor health. 

The menu is pretty expansive and I most common dim sum dishes are available.
The restaurant is clean and conducive,  pretty spacious and welcoming. I went on a weekday during high tea hours so there wasn't any crowd, thus I cannot comment on the service during peak hours. The price is a little bit high but the food is reasonable for that. One thing that I would like to mention is that, I'm abit uncertain whether the prawns are fresh or frozen. They do not really taste like fresh ones yet they're not like frozen ones.. Somewhere in between..

NanXiang Steamed Bun Restaurant

I bought vouchers for a buffet at Nan Xiang restaurant at bugis. Yes, buffet again..

Luckily my weight remained constant.

Here are photos of some of the food we've eaten!

 Sheng Jian Bao (Pan-fried bun)

Stir-fried duck meat (forgot the exact name)

Sweet and sour pork.

Ming Xia Jiao (Deep fried prawn dumpling)

Drunken chicken

Pork Ribs

Of course, we ordered other food as well.. Siew Mai, Har Gow, Xiao Long Bao etc..

The food came in pretty big portion for two for a buffet. Sweet and sour pork and pork ribs were starchy. It's very "gor gor",  I have no idea why..

Alot of the steamed dim sum like har gow and xiao long bao have quite thick skin and the prawns tasted like crystal prawns. 

The two dishes that won us over was the duck meat and this Shanghai stir fried noodle.

We ordered these two dishes twice despite being damn full.

The duck meat was tasty and well-cooked, and the meat doesn't get stucked in your teeth when bitten.

The fried noodle uses la mian, which gives a chewy texture. If i'm not wrong, they fried it with XO sauce.

Dim sum wasn't fantastic although they specialise in it (I think?). I feel that the ala carte dishes were better.

The voucher cost $17.40 per person for weekday high tea, 3-5pm, excluding GST.

Our bill was about $23 per person after including GST and I would say for the variety, it was worth it.

One bad experience with a staff. I called in to make a reservation a day before. It was the longest time I've ever taken to get my reservation done =.=

A woman with China accent picked up. I said I wanted to make a reservation, she said hold on. Okay, so in the background I heard her settling bill with a customer. I'm fine with it..

After about 3-4 mins, she came back and said in Mandarin "you want to make a reservation? wait a while".

So I waited again and this time round, I heard her talking and laughing to her colleague in the background. Waited for another 2-3 mins and she finally came back to take down my reservation. 

Oh yes, and the standard was quite inconsistent. The 1st round of our orders tasted better than the 2nd round, when the crowd came in.

Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant @ Bugis

200 Victoria Street #02-53 Bugis Junction S(188021)

Tel: +65 6835 7577

Ending off with my lovely chiffon fabric ear stud!

Royal China

Last Thursday, I finally had a chance to go our with Reg for lunch. It was a birthday (super belated one) treat from me and knowing that she like dim sum, I decided to bring her to Royal China! N and I went there in April this year and it did not disappoint! I was there early and had to wait for a while because parking was very expensive and she had some difficulty in find a place to park.

 Beautiful colonial inspired exterior..

Baked Char Siew Puff

 Thin, fluffy and buttery crust with a flavourful char siew filling in its core... Yummy!

 Har Gow.

Generous filling of fresh succulent prawns. Skin was pretty thin! But it wasn't something that wow-ed me.

 Love the Siew Mai! I really dislike low quality siew mai that contains minced meat/lots of fats.

This is really good. Addition of a wolfberry and a stalk of parsley made it stand out (:

 Pan-fried XO Carrot Cake. I'm quite impressed by the fact that the carrot cake is not plain carrot cake. When bite through the cubes, you could actually find mushroom and minced meat. However, I still prefer Canton-i's version. Probably because I couldn't taste any chai poh in this.

 Liu Sha Bao was a disappointment. The buns were not very fluffy and the taste wasn't very distinct. Maybe because it was infused with mango flavour? But I couldn't taste it despite it being mentioned in the menu ):

 A really interested dish! Superior soup with a mega huge dumpling. The dumpling is really special. Wrapped with thin skin, it has crabmeat, scallop and many more ingredients as filling!

 Smooth, velvety chee cheong fun (3 fillings- scallop, char siew, prawn) that glides down your throat

 The egg tarts were good! I like it that it is puny (;

Deep-fried Beancurd Skin. Dou kee is quite and some don't have impressive filling. This one is good!

Very unique dessert here.. Apple Jelly, with aloe vera (and some other fruits if I remember correctly). The cashew nuts gave the dessert a really special taste and crunch! Thumbs up!

Avocado puree with pearl in coconut, with a scoop of chocolate ice cream.

While avocado and chocolate is quite a common combination. Bringing in the coconut as a third party is unusual. The avocado puree is very smooth and creamy. I thought the coconut is quite a calafare and complicates it without giving it anything special. Just the puree and chocolate ice cream is nice enough!

We spent about $89 in total.

Updated on 17th May 2013

I went there for the 3rd time and these are some new dishes that I've tried:

Roasted Pork (烧肉) a.k.a Shio Bak

The roasted pork is fantastic. Crispy skin, yet not overly salty. On top of that, the pork has a thinner layer of fat, makes it less jelat and you can just enjoy the pork at ease :D

The peanuts were gently fried (or roasted?) and the fragrance is at its optimum. 

Scallop Dumpling 

I was wondering why did I not order this dish the previous few times I visited this place. It probably did not stand out as a dish to order. But, as a scallop lover, I like this dish for the freshness of the scallop as well as the bits of caviar on it.

Egg Tart

These dainty egg tarts are so mini and so cute! The crust is light and flaky, but I would prefer the filling to be softer and smoother.

Steamed Pork Ribs

Most meh-ish dish =.= Don't waste the money

Sliced Fish Congee

My friend wanted a staple dish, if not I would give this a miss. The porridge is no doubt smooth and creamy, but at the same time, it was pretty grainy. It tasted quite plain and there were only a few slices of fish. The biscuits (similar to those found on Yu Sheng) did not do a favour for the porridge as well.

Though the food was good, I am really turned off by their service. Even after reservation, we had to wait for like 15-20 mins to get seated (when there were some big empty tables around). I guess they just did not want to utilize the big table for only 2 people. In addition, my friend had a stroller. The staff gave us such a squeezy table. Difficult to get staff's attention. 

Placed order at 2pm.... At 2.20, the food is not here..and guess what, a waitress came to us an said "Our last order is at 2.30, is there anything you wish to add on?" (in Mandarin) I looked at her and said "None of our dishes are served yet and now you asked me for last order?!"

In my mind I was thinking "How would I know if I would be able to finish the food I ordered and whether I needed to order more dishes?!" Yes, I do understand that they have to settle the accounts and close the register etc...But, the fact is that their service is slow, yet even before any food is served, you are asked to place your last order, I find that very annoying.

Turning 21

There is no particular meaning to the name "drunkene". I wanted to use "drunkened" as it was my previous blog's name. I deleted the blog and couldn't reuse the name ):

The first half of 2012 saw the start of my second semester in NUS and I am glad that my grades maintained despite the fact that I was very lost and couldn't catch up with work. 

Then dear was enlisted as a recruit, which was quite a tough time not being able to see him for so long.

We were just not used to it.

2012 is also an interesting year as many of my friends turn 21, which means there are many birthday parties to attend, many presents to buy, a lot of money to spend etc..

I celebrated Eve's birthday, which was held in HomeTeamNS-JOM @ Balestier. It was in some kind of zi char restaurant. Food is in house and it was pretty good for a buffet! (:

Eve and I. Bought her a Guy Laroche wallet in Fuchsia.

And there was Sok's birthday, which was also in March..

Then, it was my birthday, in April! 

I did not hold any celebration, just the two of us.

He booked a room in Marina Mandarin and we had a stay over that night.

We had dinner at YhingThai Palace, and it was totallly awesome.

Probably the most authentic thai restaurant you can find in Singapore.

Taste wise, I personally feel it is as close to Thai as you can get here.

Clockwise from left: Fried Stuffed Chicken Wing (must-try), Steamed Prawn, Tom Yum Seafood, 

Pad Thai,  Chicken wrapped in pandan leaves

Total bill was $90+, close to a hundred.

No doubt the price is high, but it is worth it.

Yhingthai Palace
36 Purvis Street #01-04
Singapore 188613

Tel: 6337 1161

We then went to chill at a bar at Millenia Walk to catch Arsenal's match!

Walked around to check out the pubs there but this is the only place that shows the Arsenal match.

The other bars were showing the other match which was not the one that we wanted to watch.

Lychee Martini

After the match, we went back to the hotel. Chilled and watched TV for a while and we decided to bathe.

D called the concierge to ask for extra towel and toiletries. But nobody came after so long.

I was wondering if they did not want to serve us because we're Singaporeans. 

Anyway, I was bathing and D went to get ice for drinks.

Okay, so I came out of the bathroom, packed stuff and the doorbell rang.

And there he was, standing outside with my birthday cake

 Red Velvet Cake from Room for Desserts. Macaroons bought by him from Canele

That was my present, from Love&Co. 

The next day, we had dinner at Raffles Hotel.

At first, I thought he was gonna bring me to have some steak..

But I was wronggggggg...

 It was Royal China's dim sum! Highly raved place for dim sum, and it lived up to its expectations.

Be ready to queue for a while despite having reservations. Yes, it was awesome!!!

Chee Cheong Fun that is smooth, thin that melts in your mouth and glides down your throat. 

Siew mai was slightly above average, but the pastries were good!

In June, we celebrated Jiaxin's birthday!

 We bought her a pyjamas set with leopard prints pants and bedroom slippers and made her walk around her living room, doing "Rawrrrrr"

 I will blog about our Klang trip in Jan and Bangkok trip in June! (: