P.S. I am in a nice Cafe

PS Cafe, a chain that has multiple branches across Singapore, is a place that serves comtemparary food with a nice ambience. The branch that i went to was in Palais Shopping Centre. Though it is located inside a shopping centre, it provides both indoor and outdoor dining.

The cafe is setup to be as those during the british colony period, with the furniture as such. It can be easily forgotten that this place is actually inside a shopping centre along orchard road.

The cafe offers a wide spectrum of items, ranging from salad to burgers to stew to curry. The desserts offered are also very impressive. The moment you step into the cafe, you can see all the cakes being lined up on round plates that are placed above the counter. The size of the cake is also quite huge as compared to those coffee places.

As i reached the cafe during their tea break, the range of items that were provide was not as much as during their lunch and dinner. I had just ordered 3 items: Caesars salad, Earl Grey Tea and Chocolate Crunch Doorstop Cake.


Food
Caesars Salad (S$18.00)

Presentation
The caesars salad comes in a huge bowl, which surprises me. It was totally out of my expectation that the salad would be that huge. The bowl of salad comes with poached egg, smoked crispy bacon, baby coz, croutons and shaved parmesan cheese, mixed together with the caesar salad dressing.

Taste
The leaves of the salad are quite huge, making it difficult to put into the mouth. The leaves had to be cut into bite size using the knife provided. The salad is just like any caesar salad and there is nothing too special about it. For the price of S$18.00, it is not really worth the price.

Not Recommended Dish


Chocolate Crunch Doorstop Cake (S$15.90)

Presentation
As if this 3 inch tall, gigantic choc cake is not sinful enough, it comes together with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The cake consist of 3 layers, the bottom being chocolate cake base and the middle layer is walnut and peacan mixed in caramel. The top most layer is chocolate mousse with chocolate malt balls on the top.

Taste
If you take the 3 layers all at 1 go, it will warrant a butter of chocolate swimming in your mouth. The walnut gives a unique twist to the caramel , reducing the caramel taste. This dessert is a very filling dessert, with richness in chocolate taste.
Chocolate lovers will simply adore this dessert. It all choc, choc and more choc. The vanilla ice cream helps little to give additional flavour to the cake. In fact the vanilla ice cream melted after i had only finished 3/4 of the cake.
This cake is so filling that i am not able to finish the cake and i only had just a tea and a salad before attempting this cake.

Recommended Dish (for Choc Lovers only)


PS Cafe Service
I would be giving mixed reviews to the way that customers are treated. Firstly, when i arrived at the cafe, which is at about tea time, there wasn't any waitress standing to check guests in. The counter staff did see me but they are busy with they preparation work and only smiled back at me. It would have been better had they called out to the other available staff to attend to me. I had been standing there for about 5 minutes before a waitress came, only with a phone in hand, taking the reservation, i presume. I had to wait for about another 3 minutes before i was attended.
Finally gotten my seat and my order for warm water was missed out, and i had to request for it again before the waitress says that she had forgotten about it.
While these 2 incidents reflected rather negatively, the same waitress knowing what i had ordered and upon me finishing my salad, replaced my utensils for me so that when my dessert comes, i can start eating it. At least this brings back some positive light to their service.

PS Cafe Cleanliness
I would not consider the cafe to be very cleanliness conscious even though their utensils, cutleries and were sparkling clean. The staff were actually sweeping the floor while guests were still eating. One thing that the staff didnt notice is that the place where they were sweeping actually had air current that is leading into the cafe. Even though the place is air conditioned, little dust particles that are everywhere were stirred and could possibly land onto customers food.
It is good to keep the floor clean but not when customers are still eating and with the air current bringing dust to customers food.

Rating
Presentation: 3.5/5
Taste: 3.5/5
Service: 3/5
Cleanliness: 3/5
Value for money: 2.5/5
If i were to be back to the cafe, i would be going back because of the cakes. They look really tempting. The ambience is also a good place for friends to chat and hang out with each other.

++Recommended++ (only for the cakes)

Having Tea to rest and soothe the soul

Next to Raffles Hotel, situated along Seah Street, is a cafe that serves Tea. Tea drinking in Singapore is quite common and there are quite some places serving tea. I just happen to catch this on TV and do a search on the internet for the address. Though I wanted to go and drink so tea, i was also having fear of not knowing how to appreciate the tea and the art of tea drinking, still i made up my mind to go and try it out.

As i saw from the TV, the owner acquires the her tea leaves from Taiwan and only picks the best for her customers and even the food was prepared with intricate attention to the details. This sure sounds good, especially when it is broadcasted on national tv.

The cafe is located on the second level of the shop houses. Once you enter the main door, the is a flight of stairs leading up to the 2nd level. The decoration along this part of the cafe is simple yet bring a sense of class to the whole area. It's just like entering a museum. Once you enter entrance door closes, you can feel a sense of serenity. A total change of ambience and surroundings. Since there are no waitress waiting to serve you at the bottom of the stairs, the only way is to go up. If it is the 1st visit, the customer may walk very carefully so as not to disturb the peaceful surroundings. It is quite an experience!

As you travel up the stairs, you can hear the faint jazzy music playing. Upon coming up the flight of stairs, you will see their 'kitchen' where the waitress prepare the tea and the food. Though being a chinese tea cafe, the waitresses converse to you in English, so dont be startled if they reply in english when you talk to them in chinese.

The place was overall a rather small cosy area, if you compared to those TCC, starbucks outlet. The ambience and surroundings extends that of the entrance to the main cafe area. You can really feel very comfortable, and it is just like going back to a very cosy and comfortable home. This is where things seems to be separated from the real world of hustle and bustle. I would say it is an ideal place to sit and wait for the world to go by, while reading a book and enjoying tea. One thing though is that the number of tables are limited.

The tea varieties are not really a lot, but they do serve tea from the main stream asia countries like Taiwan, China, Japan. They also server some english teas. There are some finger food and japanese pastries, but choices are limited.


Food
4 Seasons tea, 四季茶 (Complimentary Sample)

This tea was served as a sample and comes complimentary from the cafe.

Presentation:
The tea was served in a beautiful glassware. The workmanship of the glassware can be considered to be very good. With this type of glassware, you would not expect it to be chinese tea, but they served their sample of the 4 seasons tea.

Taste: The tea is rather fragrant. It is a light tea, that can be said to belong to the class as jasmine.


Japanese Tea - Gyokuro, 玉露 (S$15.00)

Presentation:
The tea comes in a nice oblong porcelain tray, with the different utensils placed appropriately. The tea consist of the tea, a few hard candies, and a piece of sweet tangerine japanese jelly.
The set comes with the necessary cups and utensils to pour and filter the tea leaves from the tea. It may seem overwhelming at first, but a it all falls into place after looking at each cup. The tea leaves are placed in the brown porcelin cup. Pour the hot water into this container to let the taste of the tea leaves spread into the water. Once the tea is ready, place the wooden filter over the white cup and pour the tea there to cool it off a little. Then once ready to drink pour it into the cup and drink it.

Taste:
The tea taste bitter or rather 甘 at the very 1st moment it touches the palate. Eating the sweet tangerine jelly will offset the bitter taste. However the bitter taste is also the essence of the tea. After a few sip of the tea, when the palate, got used to the bitterness, the tea proves to be a fantastic liquid. The tea plus the soft easy listening music soothes the body and relaxes the soul.

Recommended Dish


Chinese Herbal Tea Egg, 茶叶蛋 (S$3.50)

Presentation:
The tea egg comes in a small teadrop bowl that is just sufficient to hold the egg with some tea sauce. Using pure white utensils, the egg is presented in a simple yet elegant layout.

Taste:
This is not the typical tea egg which taste full of herbal medicine. The egg yoke is half cooked and is similar to those Hokaido type of eggs, where the yoke has texture that is buttery.
The sauce is sweet and salty at the same time, and has a slightly tea fragrance. However the sauce is meant to be taken together with the egg, else the sauce is simply too salty on its own.

Recommended Dish

Tea Wings (S$5.00)

Presentation:
Similarly to the tea eggs, the presentation is very plain, with just the wings and a little decoration. The wings were sprinkled with a pinch of salt and pepper. This also acts as part of the decoration, in addition to bringing out the flavour.

Taste:
The wings taste similar to soy sauce chicken wings, but without the soy sauce. I could not find any fragrant taste of tea. This could possibly due to a short time in marination of the wings. The wings still contains some frozen taste, which is very much evident near the bone.

Not Recommended Dish

Tea Cafe's Service
Though the service that the waitress gave was quite good, but i believe that the service can be improved. One such example, would be that they can make recommendations to guests on what type of tea would be good, since the menu only provides the name of the tea. It would be difficult for a customer to choose what type of tea to go for.
The waitresses could also be more attentive, as in my case where some of the tea overflows to the table, and while some waitresses walked pass to serve other customers, they did not notice that the existing customers require services other than refilling the water in the glass kettle.

Tea Cafe Cleanliness
Overall, good cleanliness for all their utensils.

Ratings
Presentation: 4.5/5
Taste: 4.5/5
Service: 4/5
Cleanliness: 4.5/5
Value for Money: 3.5/5
This is a good place to bring along a book to rest for the weekend. Just staying there for 3 hours would be sufficient to soothe and relax yourself. It is an experience to tasting the other tea while enjoying your favourite book with some light music playing the background. I will be back to rest my tired soul.

Recommended

The Queen wants a Mangosteen

Queen and Mangosteen, has a huge impressive board just outside of their restaurant. I was attracted by this board when they were first opened. They do have quite a impressive entrance. In fact i was awed by it.

Queen and Mangosteen offers both indoor and alfresco dining. The ambience was quite cosy. The usage of quite warm lightings let the diners free themselves and can talk more freely.


Food
Roasted Rack of Lamb with Rosemary Potatoes, Grilled Asparagus and Mint Yoghurt (S$35 inclusive of a Straits Beer)

Presentation:
The dish has been arranged very nicely and it definitely looks to be waiting for me to jump in to start eating. It looks so appetising. The lamb that i ordered was to be done medium rare and it retains the pinkish colour of the meat when it was sliced. There were also grounded pepper which i believe was sprinkled on top by the waitress before serving to me.

Taste:
First, the lamb was medium rare and the meat was tender on the outside while juicy on the inside. The meat itself is already full of flavours, even without the mint yoghurt. The medium rare was done just nice. The amount of fats is also just nice in proportion. The gamy taste of the lamb has been successfully removed, and only a little can be tasted at the fats portion.
The asparagus is young and so it has the sweetness, is soft and retains a little of the crunchiness. The asparagus is boiled and so the freshness is maintained. I would say that even for one that do not like asparagus, such as I, has also finished them.
As for the potatoes, there is only a tint of the rosemary taste. However, the potatoes had the taste of burnt spices, which i believe, comes from the rosemary.
It can be said that this dish is a really good dish and i enjoyed it very much. A highly recommended dish, if only they do not let the rosemary get burnt.


Service Attitude
The staff were very friendly and they also gave recommendations. The waitress that took my order even told me that for one of the dish, i will have to do the de-shelling of crayfish, and all thanks to her, that i ordered the rack of lamb. She even took the initiative to put together the beer that i ordered into a set which will save me some money. Kudos to the service.

Cleanliness
There wasnt much that i can complain about the cleanliness as i was seated at the bar counter and was able to see the bartender prepare and serve the drinks. The seat given to me was clean and all was good.

Ratings
Presentation: 4/5
Taste: 4/5 (0.5 deducted for the burnt smell)
Service: 4/5
Cleanliness: 4/5
Value for money: 3/5
This is a good place to chill out, even if not going for the food. There are quite a few strength of beer to choose from, while not discounting the other alcoholic drinks, including wines. The cosy ambience allows patrons to really let down their hair and enjoy the night.

Recommended

Want my Signature? asked Tung Lok.

Tung Lok Signatures, situated @ Vivocity, is one restaurant that i wanted to visit for some time, but has always been pushed back. Finally, I get a chance to do so with my family one fine Sunday.

From the outside, Tung Lok Signatures gives potential diners a very clean and white impression. The contemporary design of the restaurant together with the white colour furnitures makes the restaurant quite classy.

It must be said that their menu has a lot of items and the pictures of the dishes really look very very appetising. In fact most of the items that we ordered were mostly influenced by the pictures.

Food

Chill Sliced Pork Shank with Spicy Sauce, 口水分蹄 (S$7)

Presentation:

The chilled shank comes in a very nicely stacked manner with the sauce and the spring onions on top of it.

Taste:

There is a very strong garlic taste in the sauce and since sauce is placed on top of the shanks, the shanks taste totally of garlic, which i am not a fan of. Overall the taste of the shanks are salty if taken together with the sauce. If taken on itself, the shanks still taste relatively refreshing.

For garlics haters, DO NOT go for this dish, else be prepared to dip the shank in water before putting it into your mouth.

Duck Tongue XO Chilli (S$10)

Presentation:

The tongues were served in a rectangular dish with the tongues placed diagonally across. Not much decoration were done to the dish.

Taste:

The tongue is a little spicy which comes from the XO Chilli sauce. This dish is overall very salty. Maybe this dish is an appetiser, which is why a little saltish taste will bring your taste buds alive. However, it is too overly salty. Though salty, the meat on the tongue is quite fresh.


Exotic Curry Prawns (S$26)

Presentation:
The prawn curry is served in a claypot. The curry is a bit too watery. This dish is served together with some deep fried buns, which are golden brown in colour.

Taste:
The prawns are very fresh. As for the curry, it is not thick and the flavours are quite bland, even though the prawns essence were already in the curry. The essence is precisely why the curry taste a little weird. Furthermore, the curry is not spicy. I still prefer the traditional thick chicken curry.
I would not recommend this dish if you are looking for some spicy food, and if you are craving for prawns, there are other better prawn dishes i believe.


Steamed Beancurd, 千叶豆腐 (S$20)

Presentation:

This is the most beautiful dish among all those that we had ordered. The beancurd was beautifully sliced and arranged very nicely in a circle. Each slice of tofu can be said to be almost equal in thickness. I must say the cutting skill is impressive.
In the middle were some ham, capsican and chinese mushrooms. Together with the sauce, it gives a very pleasant presentation.

Taste:
If presentation is just all for a dish, it would have scored distinction. The taste of the dish can be said to be represented by the 3 Kingdoms, where each taste does not integrate. The tofu taste is simply plain. The ham and ingredients in the middle have each of their own individual taste and all do not gel together.
This is a good dish to impress guest visually, but do note that the taste is just as normal as some junior chef mixing some random ingredients together.


The Eight Treasures, 田翠八景 (S$22)

Presentation:
Stir-fried vegetables with a big piece of curd skin served in a dish. This dish has asparagus, ginko nuts, lili buds, mushrooms, lotus roots and black fungus. The ingredients are stir-fired together and once scooped up from the wok, had a little soy sauce poured over them. The colour is very nice and the whole dish looks very appetising.

Taste:
This dish of vegetables, especially the lili buds, gave a fresh and light taste to the palate. The asparagus and mushrooms are very fresh and is nicely cooked. Though nicely cooked, in chinese stir-fried, what must be achieved is the 锅气, but this is what i found lacking. Furthermore, towards the end of the dish, the whole dish becomes salty due to the soy sauce at the bottom of the plate.



Steamed Angle Luffa with deep fried Cuttlefish (S$18)

Presentation:
The dish comes with the steam angle luffa acting as the base for the fried-cuttlefish, and with some sprinkled spring onions on the top. The cuttlefish is deep fried till the outer crust is golden brown. The vibrant green luffa at the base, makes the dish looks delicious.

Taste:
The cuttlefish i must say is really tasty, with the crust being crispy. The angle luffa taste quite raw, even though the gourd has been cooked till quite soft. The sauce is able to partially cover the gourd's raw taste but once it is chewed further, the rawness starts to flow in all directions on the palate.
I would not recommend this dish unless you can take really raw vegetables. I hope that they would just allow ordering of the cuttlefish.


Mango Mousse (S$8)

Presentation:
Tung Lok Signature's mango mousse is not the typical mousse that are served in other restaurants. The mousse were filled into starch rice layers. There is also a piece of mango fruit in between the layers.

Taste:
Biting into the piece, there is a feeling of eating rice dumplings, except the filling is mango mousse with mango fruits. There are not enough mousse as the filling and the fruit took the centerstage. It would be better know as rice dumpling with mango fruit fillings. Though i find that this dessert lacks of the mousse, it is a very good breath cleanser, as the tastebuds feels very refreshed after the this dessert.


Tung Lok Signature's Service Attitude:
The front desk waitress were relatively courteous to the potential diners. Besides the courtesy, nothing exceptionally good can be said. The captain seems to be turning a dead ear to us when we called out to her. The rice took ages to come and only arrived after we make the 2nd order. The waitress that took our order also left us hanging in mid air when we had not finished ordering.

Tung Lok Signature's Cleanliness:
The place is very clean, and it takes effort to maintain the cleanliness since all their furnitures are white in colour. One ungraceful thing that i saw is that the waitress are placing the dirty and used glasses on the bar front, which can be seen from the main entrance. The glasses were placed in such obvious area that we thought those dirty glasses were to be served to customers. This is one area i believe can be improved.

Ratings
Presentation: 4/5
Taste: 2/5
Service: 1.5/5
Cleanliness: 3/5
Value for Money: 1.5/5
If looks are all that matters, this is definitely one restaurant that is worth visiting. However given that a few paces down the shopping mall is Crystal Jade, Tung Lok will have to make vast improvement to their food and service, as they definitely lose out to Crystal Jade. Even on price, both are comparative, so why would i spend the same amount on a bad service restaurant with unpleasant food.