"Bao Today" again @ 313 Somerset

It was one of my special off-day from work and I decided to book an appointment for my facial at Orchard Central.  My original facial outlet was at Simei Eastpoint but the shopping mall closed down already and the new outlet will be at Tampines Mall.  For these two months, while the new outlet at Tampines is still under renovation, I am entitled to go to their Orchard branch for facial.

Before my facial, I had a light lunch at Bao Today.  It was barely a week since I had "Bao Today" but my previous visit was at their Marina Square branch.  As I was dining alone, I only ordered two dishes.  The sesame paste bun and the mango roll with red bean paste.

 I felt that the sesame paste was a bit dry so I didn't really like it.  Next time, just stick to the Liu Sha Bao.

 After lunch, I went shopping at Uniqlo at 313 too.  The service from the staff at Uniqlo 313 was the friendliest that I had ever encountered. 

Facial at Chrysalis Spa

 

The room is so much bigger than that from Eastpoint and still have a bathtub with Jacuzzi in the room.

 I decided to make another appointment here before the Tampines outlet is ready.

Have you had your "Bao Today"? 包今天 @ Marina Square

A weekend dinner with hubby.  We reached the shopping mall at around 5.30pm and started hunting for food first since we didn't really have a proper lunch in the afternoon.  At only 5.30pm, the restaurant was almost full but fortunately there was no queue yet.  With a mentality of a typical Singaporean, a restaurant with a crowd or long queue must be good, we decided to dine here instead of the Jiaxiang Kolo Mee restaurant opposite, which had only a few tables filled up.  Frankly speaking, I didn't come with a lot of expectation.  Although the restaurant has been around for so many years, this was actually the first time I was trying out the food here!  We got a table outside the restaurant, near John Little.

Since we were here at this restaurant, where the name includes "Bao" (Bun), we both felt that we might as well order some buns to try since they should be the restaurants' specialty.  I looked through their menu and they have quite a variety of interesting bao that I have not seen before.  For instance, the open-faced buns (Half a Bun).  When we were still flipping the menu, deciding what to order, suddenly one of the service staff put a glass of grass jelly drink loudly on our table and walked off.  I got a rude shock and also puzzled at the kind of attitude of the staff.  Fortunately, the other staff who served us were quite alright and even apologized to us.

  

Open-Faced Buns

Steamed Creamy Custard Buns

The buns had a tint of pandan fragrance too!

Beancurd Roll

 Cripsy Prawn Roll

 Glutinous Rice wrapped in Pandan Leaf

Probably we came with low expectation, we felt that the dim sum served here was rather good.  Thus, I would like to come back again to try their other dim sum!

Oh yah... I also want to mention that their fruit drink was not worth the price tag.  I ordered passionfruit drink and it was just concentrated fruit drink and tasted terrible.  Thus, next time when I am back, I will just order their milk tea.

Bao Today 包今天
6 Raffles Boulevard
#02-234 to 236 Marina Square
Tel: 63362237

Yum Cha on Mothers' Day @ Chinatown

Sis-in-law organized a family meal on Mothers' Day morning.  She suggested going to "Da Dong Fatty Weng Restaurant" but only when she reached there, she realized that the restaurant was closed for renovation.  Thus, while we were still looking for a carpark lot, sis-in-law and her hubby went to look for another restaurant.  They settled at "Yum Cha".  At around 9.30am, the queue wasn't that long and they managed to get a table even before we found a carpark lot.

 We only ordered dim sum as it was still early in the morning, we didn't want to go on heavy stuff.  Moreover, hubby and myself got to rush over to another Mothers' Day lunch almost immediately after this meal.  Did you spot some black dim sum here?  

Closer look.. They were Squid Ink Dumplings.  Tastewise, they didn't taste really very different from the normal siew mai.  The squid ink simply just added a splash of black to these dumplings, making them looked more unique.

 Mother-in-law enjoyed all these chicken's claws by herself.

 I quite liked this one - Lotus Leaf Glutinous Rice.  The rice was fragrant and soft, and blended well with the meat within.  Do give this a try if you have a chance to dine here.

As the restaurant was very crowded, it was quite difficult to get the push-trolleys' aunties attention.  Some of them were being "hijacked" at certain tables and I didn't manage to get my order of the sesame mango fritters.  Argh...  

Overall, the dim sum were quite ok, but probably due to the crowd, service was rather slow  However, I won't blame them as I could see that they were trying their best to serve us our orders.  At least, they refilled our tea frequently.  After we left the restaurant around 11am, there was a horrendous long queue at the entrance.  We counted ourselves lucky that we didn't need to queue by arriving early in the morning.

Do you like to dine out on Mothers' Day?  For me, if I have a choice, I would gladly choose any other normal day to give my mum a treat.

Yum Cha
20 Trengganu Street, #02-01, Chinatown,
Singapore 058479
Phone: 6372 1717
Website: http://www.yumcha.com.sg/

Dim Sum Buffet @ Jade 玉楼, The Fullerton Hotel

My Multiply friend, Hazel had helped to coordinate this makan session on our Multiply facebook group.  This was the second time I met Hazel and her son, Warren in person.  The first time was at Warren's first year birthday party at their home.  For this session, I also met 2 new friends, Connie and her hubby.  We had dim sum buffet from 1.45pm to 3.30pm (second seating).  The buffet cost $33++ each pax.

Happy to know that I am not the only one who loves to take photos of food :)  I sat close to Pauline and Sam, and every dish that was served must come to us for photoshoot first before going round the table.  Haha...

We were slightly early and had to wait exactly 1.45pm before we could enter the restaurant.

The interior of the restaurant

Table setting

Each of us was entitled to one serving of the soup.  They used to have shark fin's soup but I believe they had revamped the menu.  I had the seafood soup instead,

These pear-shaped dim sums were actually cheese dumplings.

Steamed Crystal Shrimp Dumpling

I found the skin of the dumpling a bit too thick.

Deep fried yam dumpling

with truffle inside?

The Xiao Long Bao was just those normal ones, without the foie gras.  The mini-abalone siew mai was also replaced with crab roes siew mai.  *Disappointed*

The following 2 items had my vote.  The mini egg tarts and the BBQ pork pastries.

Deep-fried Prawns Coated with Wasabi Mayo

Warning!  Do not put the whole prawn into your mouth, think they put a lot of wasabi to go with it!

Roasted pork

Steamed Chicken Feet with Oyster Sauce

Pan-Fried Shrimp Bean Curd Roll

Braised Pork Knuckle

Pan-fried Minced Pork and Chives “Guo Tie Dumpling”

My friend, Sam said even you didn't want to eat this, you also had to order it for photoshoot.  Indeed, this dish was visually pleasing, adopting the "sail" shape.

Custard Buns.  I didn't try this as they didn't look really appealing.

Crispy Honey Vinaigrette Sliced Sea Bass

This was very appetizing but too bad, it came a bit too late as they had forgotten my order.

Hor Fun

Pan-fried carrot cake.  I was too full to try this out.

Desserts

Group photo

After the heavy meal, I took a walk to the Esplanade, and to the Raffles City before heading home.

I guess the buffet was more worthwhile before the menu was revamped, with shark's fins, fois gras, mini-abalone etc.  Anyway, thanks Hazel for coordinating this makan session.  It was good to have a good feast with everyone.  

Jade Restaurant

1 Fullerton Square

Ground Floor, Fullerton Hotel

Singapore 049178

Weekend Dim Sum Brunch Buffet,
11.30am till 1.15pm and 1.45pm till 3.30pm ($33.00++ per person)