High-Tea at Zhou's Kitchen

One annoying practice of Chinese restaurant that they charges wet Towels, table Pickles and Chinese Tea to your meal; even when you are on a Buffet Menu or Set Menu!?

Western Restaurants will give you Napkins, Complimentary Bread and Warm Water, all charges included.

So for this $12.80++ Weekday High Tea Buffet at Copperdome Anchorpoint, prepare to fork out another $3 for the Crackers served, right after you are seated.

Hot Appetiser - "Fujian" Style Meat Roll.

Cold Appetiser - Century Egg with Young Cucumber.

Cold Appetiser - Sliced Pork Trotter with Jelly Fish

Deep-Fried Prawn Paste Chicken.

Soup - "Xing Hua" Wanton Soup

Dim Sum - Pan-Fried Chive Dumpling with Chicken

Dim Sum - Mini Egg Tart (Only the crust is nice)

Dim Sum - Har Gow (Skin was too soft, mushy texture)

Dim Sum - Siew Mai (Super Saltish, we left 2 untouched)

Malay Fried Noodles (Gooey & oily)

Ok, let's just say the entrees on their High Tea Menu here were NOT worth coming for. I did not have reason to stuff myself silly cos there isn't any food worth my doing that.

Hawker food stalls can give a better rendition of the dishes here. This was such a disappointing experience from Tung Lok Group.

We had almost everything on the menu and what was of acceptable standards were pictured; with comments for some others.

Dessert of Bitter Herbal Jelly 龟苓膏 was good at least, for washing down the revolting aftertaste. I hate to comment negatively on food... :(

Food standards aside, if you divide the amount you spent over the number of dishes you could order here; it's less than $2 per dish (for 2 dining person) ;)

Pasta Red Wine

I have stocks to clear from my food rack, Milk, French Red Wine (we don't fancy the taste) and a can of peeled Tomato.

Browsing through on-line recipes, i found this from the Cooking blog of The Pioneer Woman. It's a superb blog with beautiful pictures of every cooking step!

I didn't follow through though. For my above, i skipped the Parmesan Cheese and replaced the Vodka with Red Wine and thick Cream with Milk.

Don't do like me, my Pasta was too bland. I ended up adding Tomato Ketchup to jazz up the dish, which then tasted quite nice actually :)

This was a separate creation for Mom as her current course of Chinese medication ordered isolation from Wine, Pepper and Chili.

And similar to my previous, Ketchup was added to enliven it :)

Mocha Ice Blended

Singapore has been experiencing early morning Thunderstorms yet super Sunny afternoons for a few days running already. Rather peculiar weather condition here.

To beat the heat, I planned to try my hands on some homemade Ice-cream. But the lack of Cream in my recipe results in a more icy mixture than creamy.

Innovating, i added Milk to my failed Ice-cream creation which in turn, gave us a surprising near Gloria Jean's Chiller Ice Blended!

If you are interested in creating Ice Blended beverage without the Blender or Food Processor, try this.

Ingredients: 400ml Milk, 2 Tsp Sugar, 3-in-1 Instant Coffee Mix.

1. Mix all ingredients till the Sugar and Coffee Mix dissolved.
2. Refrigerate them in a tight Tupperware box for 8hrs.
3. When it's ready to be serve, add in Milk flavor of your choice.

For my above, i've added in crushed Chocolate bar to create a Coffee-with-Chocolate dessert of more texture. An upgrade to Milkshake, you could add in scoops of Ice Cream too. Yum.

焱全 Yan Chuan Roaster

Whole Roasted Duck ($13.90)

Definitely not a Johnson Duck; this is so much flavorful and meatier. The roasted duck secretes an enticing Barbecue Smoky sense and I can't wait but bite into the first drumstick i laid my hands on.

The order comes with condiment of BBQ sauce and Chili paste you would agree with.

I had cooked some rice to go with this roast as Mom is away with brother on a 3-days-2-nights cruise to the Pulau Rendang.

This shop is a wholesaler at Blk 507 Jurong West St 52 #01-164; call them at 6565-0330 for advance order.

Prices here are most reasonable and cheap yet never compromising on food standards. Our Clan's highly favored stall to tapau for family gatherings and special occasions.

You would love their crackling Roasted Pork and Char Siew (both at $20 per Kg) too.

新雅 Singa Courtesy Lion

Remember Singa? Our Courtesy Lion since 1982!

I love the look of this friendly Lion and could draw this mascot of the Singapore Courtesy Campaign with my eyes closed. Having been taught to in my young schooling days.

Each time while drawing, in my little mind, i've always wondered why he is not wearing a Shorts :))

This year, we see him in 3D and clothed in Shorts & T-Shirt of various designs.

There are 6 of the brothers at the bus-stop of Fort Canning Hill, reminding commuters of Courtesy Act whilst traveling on public transport.

Our fast paced society for intense pursuit of economic advancement had us behaving dehumanising sometimes. Smiley Singa served as a cheery reminder to us then, and i hope he is here to stay.

Hooters Singapore

We were at Hooters to enjoy their limited $10 set Lunch Special for Clarke Quay Lunchtime promotion till end August 2009.

While we don't expect much for a $10++ set, its fun dining environment prompted us for a visit.

Important: For indoor dining, opt for a seating towards the end of the restaurant; away from their open kitchen. You would thank me for this :)

And enjoy live ESPN action on their wall-mounted big screen plasma.

It's rare for set lunches to include both drinks and Coffee/Tea option. They do here, and it's Big Gulp sized! Our choice of Root Beer & Iced Lemon Tea.

Soup of the Day (Mushroom), with toasted Garlic Bread.

NZ Sirloin Steak

The Steak was well grilled to Ric's requested medium-rare, and served with Black Peppercorn Sauce.

Minty Lamb Chop

I can't detect any traces of Mint in this dish, but the Red Wine sauce that goes with the dish is evident.

First to strike me was the rather pungent taste commonly associated with Mutton but after a little getting used to, i'm happily devouring my little Lamb.

Coffee & Creme

Ice-cream of the Day, Yam Flavor

I like the fact that the main courses are served with generous helping of Garden Salad (with dressing option) and Curly Fries.

And we were certainly in relax and fun dining mood with shapely skimpy dressed Hooters Girls up & about; there's lots of teasing Ric with. On a separate note, be warned to keep your fickle boyfriend away :)

Their $10++ set Lunch with 10 Main Choices would have us returning.