Tong Le Private Dining @ OUE Tower

After a cool S$4.5 million renovation, the rotating restaurant along Singapore's Marina Bay waterfront has reopened to the public.



Tung Lok, one of the more well-known Chinese restaurant group in Singapore, has opened it's first ever premium Chinese restaurant in the tower - Tong Le Private Dining.



What's special about this restaurant is that it has invited Shinji Kanesaka, who operates the reknowned sushi restaurant in Raffles Hotel, to open a "restaurant-in-a-restaurant" here. So diners can order anything they want from both Tong Le and Shinji.



The view here offers one of the richest perspective of the bay. As the restaurant rotates one round every 2 hours, sometimes you will see other office workers hard at work, and sometimes people doing Yoga across the street at Ocean Financial Tower. But most of the time, the view is the beautiful Marina Bay waterfront. The restaurant offers set meals and limited number of ala-carte dishes. We went through the list and selected the Treasure Set (S$380++ per person)



You will feel like an Emperor when the service staff brings out the Imperial Four Combination Platter. Those who watch Chinese historical dramas will remember that the Emperor always eat from plates which are higher than normal. Her, we have (clockwise from left) Radish with XO Sauce, Seasoned Chiku Chips, Crispy Fried Fish with Spicy Sauce, and Deep Fried Century Egg with Cucumbers and Vinegar.



We were served this complimentary mocktail (made with Honeydew and Cherries) by our friendly manager when we were earlier waiting for them to clear a table for us. Turn out that the "manager" is actually the COO of Tung Lok Group, and he was there to make sure everything went smoothly.



From Shinji - Premium Nigiri Sushi (9 pieces) - S$130. Well, the sushi was good, and the seafood were very fresh.



Next up is the Braised Superlative Shark's Fin 干烧大鲍翅 served with Yunan Ham. No salt was added and the savoury taste came from premium Yunan Ham. The top grade shark's fin was really crunchy and had a yummy texture.



The fins were served with a stock cooked with Yunan Ham with no salt added.



At this point of our meal, our window rotated just above Shenton Way.



I really enjoyed the Quick-fried fillet of "Su Mei" with Fungus and Chives. The fish slices were fresh and were skillfully pan fried with chives.



To cleanse the palate, we were served the chef's homemade sorbet - It contained bits of lychee, lime and mint. And it was served in a special dry ice holder too.



Next up, we were served Braised KohYong Dried Abalone (15 Head) 许榕15头溏心干鲍 - Suppose to be the best abalone in the market now, the 15 head abalone had an intense taste to every bite. It was very tender when I sliced the abalone into small pieces.



Torbreck boutique wine from South Australia



Another well-liked dish at our table was the Pan-fried Kagoshima Wagyu with Fleur de Sel. the beef had great marbling and a caramelized outer crust. Served with Pinot Noir from Central Otago, New Zealand.



The final dish before our dessert - Sea Urchin Rice with Fatty Tuna and Japanese Leek. the seafood were all sourced from Japan, and when you mix everything together, you get this rich seafood delicacy. For the rice, there is a perfect ratio of the rice with the vinegar. The freshly grated wasabi also lends a good kick to my nostril



Dessert was equally extravagant - Bird's Nest served with Homemade Cream of Almond, Pumpkin and Double-boiled Ginseng with Dried Longan. My favourite "dipping sauce" for the bird's nest is the Pumpkin.



Ended our meal on a sweet note with the 2010 M. Chapoutier moscato dessert wine (S$78 for half bottle)

Do note that if you are coming here, reservations is a must as they do not accept walk-in customers. And during the first 15 days of the Lunar New Year, a special menu will be served. After that, the menu changes every 2 days.


Tong Le Private Dining
OUE Tower, Level 4 & 5
60 Collyer Quay
TEL: 6634 3233

Azur @ Crowne Plaza Hotel

Most people would have know that our airport has quite a number of restaurants and eateries catering for the general public, but not many know about the restaurants within the airport hotel.



The Crowne Plaza Hotel in the airport houses a few restaurants, and one of its biggest one which serves daily buffet is Azur. Besides buffet, Azur also serves ala carte orders.



Iced water is available here for all diners.



Had a bowl of Cream of Tomato Soup (S$12). It's served pipping hot, but it's a bit acidic and sourish. Hence those who are used to the sweeter version of tomato soup might not be used to this version.



Together with the soup, a bread basket is also served. One of their more interesting bread is the one with olives.



When dining at hotel cafes in Singapore, I usually like to order Nasi Goreng Istimewa (S$18). Hotels usually serve pretty good Nasi Goreng, and the fried rice will always come with a few sticks of satay, achar, prawn crackers and sunny side egg. I find the standard of fried rice here to be pretty good.



Another surprise hit was their Wanton Noodles (S$18). It's done Hong Kong + Malaysian style without the Singaporean ketchup base. The noodles was cooked to perfection.



Ended our dinner with Apple & Banana Strudel (S$14).


Azur
75 Airport Boulevard,
2nd Floor
Crowne Plaza Hotel
(Next to Changi Airport T3)

Tung Lok Signatures @ Changi City Point (Part 1)

With the opening of Changi City Point, workers working in Changi Business Park now has even more F&B choices.



Tung Lok Signatures, which serves most of Tung Lok's well known dishes, has opened a restaurant in the new shopping mall.



Not every Chinese restaurant in Singapore offers goose, so when we saw that Tung Lok Signatures is offering Roasted Goose (S$35), we decided to try a portion. The skin of the roasted goose was crispy and not too oily. But there was not much meat inside as compared to roast duck.



To accompany our white rice, we ordered this Stewed Fish (S$16.80 per person). We like how the fish is stewed till it absorbs most of the gravy.



Another seafood dish we ordered was the Baked Prawn Steak with White wine and herbs on momotaro tomato (S$10.80 per person). The sweetness of both the prawn and momotaro tomato was brought out by the white wine sauce. Worth a try if you like prawns.



Whether or not a Century Egg (S$8.00) is good or not usually depends on how good the "yolk" is. If the yolk remains creamy while the egg "white" is cooked, then it is said that it is a good century egg.



Last but not least, a big order of Braised Fresh Shark's Fins with Ham in spicy pigeon stock served in hot stone pot (S$45 per person). The soup was served pipping hot to us, and we like the intense pigeon stock and the texture of the shark's fins.



Ended the meal with a complimentary serving of Tung Lok's fresh fruit juice served in test tubes.


Tung Lok Signatures
5 Changi Business Park Central 1,
#01-26/27
Changi City Point

Kenny Rogers Roasters @ Great World City

A quick dinner at Kenny Rogers Roasters on Sunday night.



Kenny Rogers has been in Singapore since the 90s, and after almost 20 years, Singaporeans still regard Kenny Rogers as one of the better place for their roast chickens and corn muffins.



Their signature corn muffins is one of their best sides in the menu. Crisp on the outside while fluffy in the inside, there are bits of corns inside. Very addictive.



Ordered a IBC Root Beer to wash down all the meat that is coming right up.



One full roast chicken. The chicken was tender and quite big. The menu said that the chicken and ribs were enough for 2, but I think it is more suitable for 4 diners.



The 4 sides which came with the meal. The mashed potato was the best. The coleslaw had a stong spring onion taste which I did not like. Find the standards of the Macaroni & Cheese had gone down.



Ribs were tender and flavourful. And was pretty meaty too.


Kenny Rogers Roasters
1 Kim Seng Promenade,
#01-06
Great World City

House, Barracks and Camp @ Dempsey Road

House at Dempsey is one of our favourite place to laze around during the weekends with their never ending brunch and laid back atmosphere.



We were there during the last week of December, and they still have these toy soldiers decos.



On their tables, there were adverts about their special Tau Sar Pau (Pow?), and 8 Days magazine even rated it as the best in Singapore. This warrants an order from us.



The Tau Sar Pao (S$2.50 each) is quite huge, almost like palm size. Upon further probing, we found out that their Tau Sar Pau is actually outsourced from another factory in Singapore! Anyone knows which one is it?



And indeed, it's one of the better ones we had for a long time. The skin was light and fluffy, while the tau sar filings were not too sweet.



They were having this promotion for Apple Cider (S$25 for 1 bottle). It was quite a large bottle, enough for 4 diners. The cider was crisp and refreshing, and especially welcome with fried food.



We ordered a variety of mains. First was the Moroccan Spiced Baby Chicken (S$25) - Half baby chicken marinated with Moroccan spices with tomato-berry chutney, with yam crisps, sauteed fennel and baby bok choy. The chicken meat was tender, but what we really like are the yam crisps. It's much better than your run of the mill french fries.



A must order at House is their signature Old Fashioned American Sliders (S$23) - Pair of mini burgers served with sweet potato fries and truffle fries. I upgraded the truffle fries (S$2 more) to a larger portion. Somehow, the quality of the truffle fries went down since my previous visit. But at least the sweet potato fries were still good. The mini burgers were good on its own, and I requested for the basic tomato onion toppings.



Beside the "ang mor" version of their sliders, House also introduced our Asian version: Asian Sliders (S$22) - It's our very own Kong Ba Pau (Steam buns with braised pork). The pork was tender, but had too much spices. And we find the braised pork a bit too oily.



Skinny Pizza, which is also run by them, offers their pizza here too. The Ahi Taki Pizza (S$27) - Pizza with sauteed tuna chunks with pistachio, avocado and herb-roasted tomatoes, has one of the juciest tuna chunks. Unlike the usual dry and flaky tuna we are used to, theirs is made from fresh tuna. The crust is very crispy, almost like soda crackers.



Ended our brunch with a Warm Strawberry Shortcake (S$9.50 per piece) with Vanilla Bean Sauce, which is another of their signature.


House, Barracks and Camp
8D Dempsey Road,
#01-01 to 06
Tanglin Village