Gratin with Scallop and Prawn

Gratin with Scallop and Prawn (S$13.90)

Presentation
The gratin comes in a big nice bowl. The gratin is fully covered under the cream and cheese. The huge prawns and scallop can be seen protruding out from the cheese.

Taste
The gratin is very creamy and cheesy. It is similar to pizza with the strands of melted cheese when the gratin is scooped out from the bowl. The cream taste covers the taste of the shell pasta. The prawn and scallop is very fresh and together with the cream which has the sweetness of onions, makes this gratin, quite a wonderful dish. Even though i don't take onions, which is a nemesis of mine, I was not resisting this dish after i found that there were onion strips in the cream. There is totally no onion taste but the sweetness of onions.

Rating
Presentation: 3.5/5
Taste: 3.5/5
Value for Money: 3/5

RECOMMENDED

Location
Ma Maison Restaurant, Singapore
Bugis Junction

Read other reviews of Ma Maison here.
Chef Pizza

Fusion Pizza: Western Chef Pizza Japanese Style

Chef Pizza (S$13.50)

Presentation
The chef pizza is a very small size, about 7 to 8 inches in diameter. It comes in a thin metal 'pan'which has a interesting handle.

Taste
The crust is thin but however it is not crispy. Even though the pizza is quite cheesy, ie there are a lot of cheese, it is not salty. The toppings on the pizza, mainly mushroom, is not enough. It feels more like eating pieces of mushrooms with lots of cheese and a not so crispy crust.

Rating
Presentation: 2/5
Taste: 2/5
Value for Money: 2/5

NOT RECOMMENDED

Location:
Ma Maison Restaurant, Singapore
Bugis Junction

Read other reviews of Ma Maison here
Gratin with Prawn and Scallop

Midori: Japanese Green Tea Sponge Cake

Midori
Matcha Sponge and Azuki Bean Compote layers in Yuzu infused Bavarois

Presentation
This cake has 5 layers. The top layer is yuzu bavarois, followed by the matcha sponge cake. The 4th layer is the Azuki bean layer. Topped with a green tea macaron and backed with a thin white choc piece on the outer portion.

Taste
The 1st bite into this cake gave me a refreshing feeling. The yuzu is of a sweet nature and blends well with the matcha sponge cake. The Azuki layers with the bean gave the cake some texture and is actually quite smooth. Contradicting textures but its nice.
The taste of each layer is very bland, so bland that each layer is almost tasteless. However if you put all the 5 layers together, this is where the miracle comes. The refreshing yuzu sensation will be dancing on your palate. There are also yuzu sacs in the bavarois.
Even though this is the second piece of cake that i had, the citrus taste whets your appetite and makes it easy for the cake to be taken. However I wish that they would complement the cake with a bit more citrus taste.

The tea that was ordered goes very well with this cake. A little description on the tea - Miraculous Mandrain: A melange of warm rich black tea blended with the fresh tartness of normandy apples and notes of caramel. A youth tea of delight.
The taste of the apple from this tea is almost infused into the cake when they mixed on the palate. I wonder if this Miraculous Mandrain tea is specially made for this Midori cake.


Ratings
Presentation: 2.5/5
Taste: 4.5/5
Value for money: 4/5
The best cake that i had taken from 1-Caramel. Both legs and hands up for this cake. Highly Recommended.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Location
1-Caramel.
Read other reviews of 1-Caramel here.
Banana Cream Pie
Other Cakes

Banana Cream Pie

Banana Cream Pie
Crispy table tart with almond frangipane filling topped with a layer of light pastry cream and fresh banana chunks

 
Presentation
The top layer is banana custard, with banana fruit chunks in between the sweet bottom crust layer. There is also a sweetened white cream covering the outer circumference of the pie.

Taste
The bottom crust is sweet but not too hard. The top layer of the custard gives the whole pie a very nice and smooth texture. The bottom crust gives it a good support, which is of mixed texture. The banana fruit is however not to my liking as it lacks the solid feel to it. However towards the end of the dessert, the sweetness starts to overwhelm you.
Overall it is a good dessert to end your meal with.

Ratings
Presentation: 3.5/5
Taste: 3.5/5
Value for money: 2.5/5

RECOMMENDED

Location
1-Caramel. Read the other reviews of 1-Caramel here. 

Xi Men Ding Taiwan Cuisine

Me and my wife were wandering around the Vivocity Shopping Mall looking for some food after our shopping. We were rather familiar with the restaurants in Vivocity. One of the newer restaurants that were opened is this one that serves Taiwanese Cuisine.

The restaurant looks ok and the food picture looks ok too. We had been to Taiwan and decided to give this restaurant a try since both of us love taiwanese food. Table was easily available as there wasnt much of a crowd.

Looking thru the menu, the items were mostly taiwanese style food. We ordered 4 dishes, of which 1 is a snack, 1 is a soup and 2 normal dishes.

Snack: Taiwanese Fried Beancurd (S$7.50)
This dish is a whole beancurd, cut into small pieces and fried. Chilli sauce and a mixture of salt and pepper comes as a dip for the fried beancurd. The fried beancurd itself is tasteless. The texture of the beancurd is coarse, both the crust and the inside.
The salt pepper mixture is for the dipping of the beancurd, but even with that mixture, the taste just doesnt blend in. With a direct comparison with Crystal Jade's salt pepper tofu, this fried beancurd simply does not make the grade.

NOT RECOMMENDED

Soup: Clam Soup (S$6.00)
The soup is ordered based on per pax and it is a lucky thing that we only ordered 1 bowl. The soup taste a tad slight salty and the taste of the clams was simply too strong. There were quite a number of small clams in the soup.

NOT RECOMMENDED

Main Dish: Radish and Egg Pancake (S$10.00)
This is a simple dish. Basically it is chopped radish fried with eggs and nothing could go wrong with this. It must be said that though the taste is also slightly bland, the fried egg is very thick, about 1 inch in thickness. The radish adds a slightly sweet taste to the egg. The egg is fried till golden brown, but while the outer layer of the fried egg is crispy, the inner egg layer is soft.

RECOMMENDED

Main Dish: Sanbei Chicken with Basil (S$17.90)
This is a very common dish in Taiwan and is actually not difficult to cook. This dish is also the signature dish of the restaurant. Though its the signature dish, the dish is actually not much any different from those that you can find from the receipe books. In short, the dish did not create a sanbei chicken dish that is unique to itself. However the taste is still acceptable.

RECOMMENDED

Overall Rating
Presentation: 2.5/5
Taste: 1/5
Value for money: 1/5
This is not a restaurant that I will visit again. It would not be too far fetch to say that if they do not improve on their food, very soon a new food establishment would be opening in that spot instead.

NOT RECOMMENDED