Cz'Zar @ Great World City

Cz'Zar is also one of my family's favourite family restaurant. The decor and ambience are cozy and relaxing. We can reserve a round table to sit 10pax/12pax. The prices are reasonable and the food is tasty and fresh. Basically, it is a zi char restaurant run by R E & S Enterprises Pte Ltd, who also manages the Ichiban Boshi and Ichiban Sushi group. We ordered the famous claypot curry fish head which is super yummy. The curry is really thick and creamy. It is quite spicy so we did not let the kids try. 

Claypot Curry Fish Head

Next, we had the crispy tofu. The tofu are minced and marinated. They are so crispy and yet non-oily. A hot favourite with both the kids and adults.

Crispy tofu with salad cream

For the meat dish, we ordered braised pork with mushrooms. Perhaps I am not a big fan of pork belly but I find this dish very ordinary. But the mushrooms are really tender.

Braised pork with Mushrooms

For veg, we ordered the stir-fry longbeans with minced pork. The longbeans are really crispy and blend really well with the minced pork. Another hot favourite with the kids and adults. 

Stir-fry Long beans with Minced Pork

We ordered another meat dish as the Herbal Emperor Chicken is also the restaurant's signature dish. The chicken is so tender and filled with herbs. You can also drink the tasty herbal soup base.

Herbal Emperor Chicken

We were quite full by the time the Tofu with Seafood on hotplate arrived. This is an ideal dish for the kids as it's not spicy and the kids like the eggs. It's also quite average in taste. We did ordered the double-boiled soup but I've forgotten to take a pix. However, I still prefer the double-boiled soup from Soup Restaurant. To be honest, I like my food to be piping hot as I find food taste better when they're served straight from the stove. Cold hot just doesn't appeal to me. How about you? Do you like your food to be served warm?

Tofu with Seafood on Hotplate

Food: Excellent

Ambiance: Good

Service: Excellent

Price range: $25/pax

Cz'Zar
Great World City #01-37

Tel: 6836-2520

Chinese Box @ Cluny Road

We had another family gathering at Chinese Box recently. The restaurant is owned by the same group of people who operate Black Angus. So the restaurant is situated on the ground floor of Blk 1D. Besides set menus, the restaurant also offer simple meals like dumpling noodles, fried rice and porridge. Since we have 10pax, we ordered the set menu. The place is nicely decorated with a small private room.

The salad prawn is nicely prepared with a dash of salad cream.. It's not over-fried and the prawns are really fresh.

Salad prawns

The next dish is the prawn rolls. It is very tasty and crispy. They go well with the sweet sauce. Yummy!

Prawn rolls

This is actually a banned food item in our family but we make an exception this time. The Shark Fins Soup is not too salty and starchy. The texture is just nice with plenty pieces of shark fins. 

This is the restaurant signature dish. The Roast Duck is roasted to perfection. The skin is really crispy and the meat very tender.  Another signature dish is the Beijing Duck.Will try next time.

Chinese Box Signature Roast Duck

The next dish is the Fried Crispy Chicken in special sauce. The kids enjoyed this dish as it is very tasty. However, I find the special saude a bit too sweet for my liking.

The next dish is Poached spinach with Conpoy (dried scallops). Maybe they should reduce the oyster sauce, this dish is also very salty. Sound the alarm! We better request for the chef to reduce or cut down on the salt.

The next dish is Deep Fried Soon Hock Fish. The fish is very fresh so it should be steamed instead of fried. The chef sliced up the fish so it actually curved up when it's fried. "Look! The fish is dancing!" exclaimed the kids! 

The Seafood Fried Rice is very tasty and fragrant. This is the Cantonese-style fried rice with kai lang and plenty of spring onions. My daughter even had second helping!

The dessert is actually Mango with Sago but my family changed it to Teochew Oh Nee (yam paste dessert). The paste is not so sweet and very smooth. We enjoyed the food and the quiet ambience there.

Food: Excellent

Ambiance: Good

Service: Good

Price: $35/pax

Chinese Box

Blk 1D Cluny Road, Inside NUS Bukit Timah Campus,

Singapore‎ 259600
Tel: 6219 7877‎

Ben & Jerry's Ranch House

This is another nice family restaurant to go for lunch and tea. This Ben & Jerry's outlet is decorated differently from the rest. It's like a ranch and you can enjoy the swing if you're dining outside. It is located at Dempsey Hill and the best part is the FREE parking! However, it gets crowded during the weekends. My kids love to select and eat their fav ice-cream here!

The kids prefer their ice-cream to be served on a wafer cup! Yummy! You can also select your own toppings but my kids prefer it "original"!

If you don't like ice-cream, you can try their signature choc mud cake. It's super yummy that I don't mind having another piece! (Then spend another 2 hours in the gym!)

For snacks, you can try their hamburgers or sandwiches. It's good that they served corn chips rather than fries. It's a good place to meet up with friends during weekends.

Food:  Good
Ambiance: Good
Service: Good
Price range: $15/pax

Ben & Jerry's Ranch House
Blk 8 Dempsey Road
#01-14 S247696
Tel: 6473-3231

Dian Xiao Er ~ 店小二

Dian Xiao Er is another nice family restaurant. They have outlets all over Singapore but we went to the West Coast Plaza outlet. Their food really taste like home-cooked food, meaning that they don't use MSG for their seasoning. I also like the decoration in the restaurant. It makes you feel like you are dining in a traditional shophouse in China.

We ordered the Family Set Menu for 9 pax. The highlight of the list is the Duck Roasted with Angelica Herb. It is so crispy, yet tender and very fragrant. However, if you don't like the taste of Angelica Herb then you should not order this dish. Angelica is a good tonic herb for women and children and elderly, it is said to strengthen the heart and nourish the blood. This set menu also include the double-boiled soup. We had louts root soup.

Duck Roasted with Angelica Herb

The fish slices are marinated with soya sauce and seasme oil. The fish slices have been deboned so it's easier for the kids to eat them.

HK Style Steamed Fish Slices

The veg dish is a bit disappointing. I find that the veg doesn't go well with the lime sauce. They should just stir fry with minced garlic and soya sauce.

Baby Kai-Lan with salted fish & lime

The next veg dish is tasty and crunchy. I like to eat crunchy broccoli. The assorted mushrooms are nice and tasty.

Braised Assorted Mushroom with Broccoli

The prawn dish is a bit spicy so the kids didn't try. The prawns are big and fresh but you must get your hands dirtied in order to peel-off the shells. So I decided to skip this dish!

Prawn baked with butter & black peopper sauce

Everyone enjoyed this dish as the spare ribs are so tender. The sauce is also very tasty.

Mongolian Spare Ribs

We ordered another meat dish as this is the restaurant's signature dish. "Dong Po" pork is actually pork belly braised till very tender. Being health-conscious, we decided to cut away the fatty portion so we are only left with half the meat to eat.

"Dong Po" Pork

This is doesn't include dessert. By then, we were too full to order any desserts. They have other set menus  and prices are based on 2 pax to 10pax. We enjoyed our simple family meal. As the saying goes,"A family that eats together, stays together." I really appreciate all these family gatherings and meals.

Food: Good

Service: Good

Ambiance: Good

Price: $23/pax

Lei Garden Restaurant @ CHIJMES

It has been ages since we went Lei Garden Restaurant for a meal. So recently, our family decided to dine there and celebrate a family member's birthday. It was indeed the right decision! Lei Garden is simply superb! The quality of the food, ambience, service and dining experience are beyond description! It was a sumptuous dinner! Lei Garden has really set the standard for my family! It would be almost impossible for the other Chinese restaurants to match up to them.

However, please be prepared to pay premium for the Seafood & Lobster Set Menu. But you can be assured of the tastiest quality food. The seafood are simply fresh and delicious. I once saw Jackie Chan dining there with his Singapore friends. It's also very crowded daily so do make your reservations early. It was fully-booked when we were there. It's an ideal place for businessmen to entertain their clients and also very popular with Japanese tourists.

We were given a private room on the 2nd level. Room 1 has an English-style theme. The waitress informed us that the other rooms have different decor theme. Anyway, I like this theme, it's very classic and relaxing. Noticed the 2 pairs of chopsticks? One pair is for you to serve your guests and the other pair is for your own use. So don't get them mixed up!

Execlusive Private VIP Room

To start-off the dinner, we were served fresh honeydew juice and 3 appetizer. I like the honey walnut the best. It's really tasty and nice. Do you know that walnuts are good for your brain? It's not because it's shaped like the brain but rather it contains high nutritional value.

 Deep-fried Walnut coated with Honey Deepfried Crispy Silver Fish

Spicy Preserved Vegetable

We ordered additional dish, Lei Garden's signature roast pork. I usually don't fancy roast pork but the roast pork here are roasted to perfection. It's so tender and yet crispy. It costs $13++ for 9 pieces. Even the kids enjoyed them.

Crispy Roast Pork

The next dish is the Peking Duck. Also not my favourite dish but the duck is roasted to perfection so I really enjoyed it.

Peking Duck

The Sharkfins Soup is very tasty with generous ingredients like crab meat, fish maws, scallops and plenty of shark fins. I don't mind having second serving but then I remembered those poor sharks who died in the sea after their fins were sliced out.

Braised Shark's Fins Soup

I think this is my favourite dish for the night. I was surprised that the restaurant served us 2 garuopa as each fish would usually cost at least $80. I prefer the red garuopa as the meat is more tender. The fish is so fresh that it tasted like they were just caught from the sea! No fishy taste at all! Super yummy!

Steamed Garuopa in Light Soya Sauce

The next dish is also Lei Garden's signature dish. The baked lobster with crispy noodle was simply delicious. The lobster portion is also very generous. Personally, I prefer the noodles to have more gravy.

Baked Live Lobster served on Crispy Noodle

Braised Wa Wa Cabbage with Garden Green Topped

The vegetable dish is quite normal and a bit too salty. This is the only dish that we couldn't finsihed. We were very full by then.

Have you heard or tasted black pig? This is the first time that I have tasted kurobuta pork. It is very tender and tasted like the beef slices used for sabu sabu. The sauce is also very tasty. Kurobuta pork is very popular in Japan.

Panfried Kurobuta Pork with Home-Made Sauce

Information on Kurobuta Pork
Kurobuta Pork is the most highly prized pork in Japan and comes from the ancient breed of pig known as Black Berkshire. The meat from the pure oriental strains of Black Berkshire, found in Japan, is regarded as the highest quality pork in the world.

We were so full by the time they served this dish so we requested for a small bowl and packet the rest to bring home. The rice is really fragrant with the lotus leaf and very tasty.

Fried Rice with Duck Meat Wrapped in Lotus Leaf

For desserts, we were served 3 different types of dessets. The red dates rice cake is really unqiue. The double-boiled papaya is to nourish the lungs and beautify your complexion. A birthday meal is not complete without the longevity buns. The steamed buns are really soft and the lotus seed paste is simply delicious.

Our family really enjoyed this delicious meal and it was an unforgettable experience for us. The dishes were served with 10-15 mins break in between so it was very relaxing and not rushed through. We will definitely dine there again! Their service is very good and they will make sure that they change a new plate before the next the dish arrives. The captain will also check with us regularly on the taste of the food. I jokingly told my male colleague that this is the place to go if he wants to impress his future mother-in-law!

Red Dates Rice Cake

Double-boiled papaya with Almonds

Longevity Buns 寿桃 (Peach Buns)

Food: Excellent

Ambience: Excellent

Service: Excellent

Price range: S$100/pax

Lei Garden Chinese Restaurant

30 Victoria Street

#01-24 CHIJMES

Tel : 6339-3822

Operating Hours

Lunch: 11:30am - 3:00pm

Dinner: 6:00pm - 11:00pm

Yummy Food in Kota Kinabalu!

We recently went for a short trip to Sabah (Kota Kinabalu) as the June school holidays were coming to an end. It's not your usual sightseeing and shopping type of holidays. For this trip, we trekked, snorkeled, did sea-walking and rode through the waves of South China Sea! We would have scaled Mt Kinabalu but the kids and us were not fit enough. I've heard so much about Sabah vegetables (local ferns) so I bought a few bunches back to Singapore to try. It's crunchy and you are supposed to cook with belacan (prawn paste) or minched garlic. Very high in fibre. All of us love it!

For breakfast, the kids have toast and eggs in the hotel. They like their Milo Latte! So creamy! However, a few of us rather try the delicious localfare for breakfast!

A local friend recommended us to a newly-renovated coffeeshop along Gaya Street. They served chicken kolo mee and the famous Sabah Laksa. For RM5.00, the portion and ingredients were quite huge. The Sabah Laksa taste quite similar to the Singapore Laksa. The soup base is sweet and creamy. They also added a lot of shredded turnips ("mang kuang") to create the crunchy feel. Personally, I still prefer the Kuching Laksa which is full of herbs and spices.

Chicken Kolo Mee

Sabah Laksa Sayur Manis (a.k.a "Sabah vegetables")

A nice and kind friend drove us to a coffeeshop that is situated outside KK city. We tried to handmade crispy fishcake fried with dried beancurd sheet. Simply so fresh and delicious!

Crispy Fishcake

This coffeeshop is famous for their fish noodle soup. You can opt for a variety of ingredients like fish slices, fish head, fish cheeks, fish maws, fish cakes .... etc. Alternatively, you can order what you like. So I ordered fish slices and fish maws as I prefer these ingredients. The soup base is unique. It's sour and hot (full of tomatoes & ginger). The garoupa fish slices are so fresh and tasty. It's definitely a very healthy and delicious breakfast!

Fish slices and fish maws noodle soup

We joined a Day Tour to Mt Kinabalu Park as it was 2-hr drive from the city. This Set Lunch was arranged by the tour agency. We had fried rice, mixed veg, black pepper chicken, sweet & sour fish, salad prawns and sweet corn soup. Simple and yet delicious! Taste just like home-cook food. Yummy!

For breakfast, we went to a coffeeshop opposite our hotel. I just ordered beehoon soup and they served it with egg-roll fishcake, meat balls, pork slices, liver, intestine and wanton. The soup is very tasty and they don't use MSG. Go early as the coffeeshop is popular and filled with customers.

If you prefer the dried version, you can order the kolo mee. The noodles are so nice that you don't need to add chilli sauce.

This coffeeshop is directly opposite Jesselton Hotel. Highly recommended by food bloggers and the locals. They are only opened from 5:30pm-11pm.

The name Bak Kut Teh literally translates ‘pork bone tea’. A bowl of meaty pork ribs in a herbs and spices soup base. We ordered other side dishes like liver, dried tofu and yu tiao (yu zah kuey). The soup base is peppery but so tasty that I had Bak Kut Teh for dinner and supper!