Manchu Wok (New York, USA)

Manchu Wok @ Rockefeller Center
30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112, USA, +1 (218) 586-2638

Located in the basement of the Rockefeller Center, New York, this "restaurant" can be a little hard to find. In fact, it technically isn't really even a restaurant. It's more of like a take-out counter with a few tables. The good thing about Manchu Wok is that you get free samples! Somewhat like taste-testing ice cream flavours (pardon the mix of British and American English in this post) before you decide what flavour you want.

It is essentially what Singaporeans know as "Mixed Vegetable Rice Stall" in hawker centres and food courts. You basically look at what meats and vegetables are available though a glass and then tell the staff what you want and they'll put it on a plate and charge you accordingly. For my case, it was rice with two sides.

Nothing to wow about the presentation - it is basically a take-out but I got a tray so I could dine in at one of the tables. The service is great and the place is generally clean. The staff are mostly Chinese and they converse among themselves in Cantonese (a Chinese dialect) but are able to communicate to customers in Chinese-accented English.

There's my meal - Rice with 2 sides (meat & prawns). The vegetables are part of the prawn dish. The serving portion isn't exactly generous but it isn't too bad either. Taste was authentic as far as Chinese food in New York goes. All in, the meal was around US$10 which is not a bad deal considering it's location. I'd definitely recommend this place to anyone craving Chinese food in New York (:

Pizza Hut (Siglap)

Pizza Hut Restaurant
889/891 East Coast Road, Singapore 459092
Open 11am to 10pm daily - No contact number listed


Trip to Pizza Hut for dinner (a very late dinner..) on 13th March 2010 at 9:23 PM. Somehow the soup of the day seems to always be Cream of Mushroom.. Anyway, now they have some "must smile and greet customer" policy so all the staff seem like they're happy people (: most of them at least.

Anyway, we ordered a thin crust hawaiian pizza without pineapples =X as well as one chicken ole baked rice without capsicums =X with 10 pieces of sweet & spicy drumlets, 1 loaf of garlic bread, and a complete meal combo (1 soup of the day and a cooler drink of our choice - green apple)

First to come was the cooler and soup...

of course this photo was taken before stirring the green apple at the bottom to mix with what seems like sprite or 7up above it. The overall combination was nice and it wasn't overly gassy. But other than that it was a normal drink. High sugar content for sure.

The soup was better than we had expected. (Our last trip to this same outlet resulted in a diluted soup that was bland) This time, the soup was acceptably thick (: we finished the whole bowl. Although the number of mushrooms in the soup was a little.. little. I counted 3 tiny slices of a tiny button mushroom. which means we got about 1/4 of a button mushroom since it was sliced up. Not even one whole mushroom.

Sweet and spicy drumlets x10! This is a standard product of Pizza Hut and therefore I'm sure I don't really need to explain the taste. It's amazing how restaurant chains like this and McDonald's can achieve such a high consistency in taste. No matter where and when you order a plate of sweet and spicy drumlets from Pizza Hut, it always tastes the same - delicious and addictive. Which gets me wondering.. What do they put in these drumlets? It's oily, sweet, and spicy taste all at the same time is to be expected.

Chicken Ole Baked Rice! (without capsicums) - Another amazingly consistent taste from Pizza Hut. Creamy, cheesy, and a good balance of ingredients. The only downside is that the grains of rice at the bottom usually seems too dry and hard. However, mixing it up well usually solves that problem (:

This pizza was almost missing from the table... It was the last to arrive, after the waitress asked us whether any item has not arrived. I assumed they knew what was left so I said the hawaiian thin crust pizza. Apparently it seems they only prepared the pizza after I said that - without checking the original order slip which should have indicated without pineapples. Therefore, the pizza came with pineapples - which isn't a big deal but we highlighted it anyway that the order was wrong. The waitress simply smiled and took the pizza back. She came back sashaying happily and said she finished helping us take out the pineapple chunks. I would consider that great service as long as you're not one of those that demands for the kitchen to rebake a new pizza. The only thing was that she missed out one chunk. Lol.

In my opinion, the thin crust pizza is nicer than the regular pan pizza. Simply because the thin crust pizza has a better ingredients to dough/flour ratio. The pan pizza makes me feel like i'm eating bread. The baking was very even, which means the pizza was nice (:

We were SOOO FULL after everything. In the end we had 2 slices of pizza left over that the wait staff packed for us to take away. The final bill!

NYDC (New York Dessert Cafe)

NYDC @ Wheelock Place
501 Orchard Road, #02-19 Wheelock Place, Tel: +65 6736 3253

These were taken at NYDC @ Wheelock Place - BEFORE the recent renovation and facelift. Therefore, I will not be posting my review for this food outlet at this time. I will try to arrange a new review since they've updated their menu as well. Enjoy the photos (: By the way, the mudpie is the best! Sinful.

Alright, so there you go. The last photo shows the mudpie I was talking about. It's essentially an ice cream cake. DELICIOUS.

The Cafe' Cartel (The Café Cartel) @ Upper East Coast

907 Upper East Coast Road, #01-02, Springvale, T: 64499789

Right, so here's a new review... It's actually delayed (by a lot) because I didn't have much access to my computer... In fact I'm not at mine right now but that's besides the point. This meal was eaten on 11th Dec 2009 (Last year! as of now. lols)

Anyway, this is my first time at the "refurbished" and "revamped" cafe cartel and it does seem much neater and "cleaner" in a sense but I suppose if you give it a few months it will probably return back to what I was used to (bread crumbs stuck in corners of the sofa that nobody ever clears etc.) We shall see.

On to the food! The menu was "updated" as well, along with other major changes. Firstly, NO MORE FREE FLOW OF BREAD! Sadly, that was what I was there for. Things took a turn for confusion after this. The menu indicates that you'd get a serving of a side salad and bread with every main course ordered. Elsewhere in the menu, the same bread is sold as an a la carte item as well. An inquiry with a waiter regarding the discontinued free flow of bread gave me the impression that I would be getting an extra serving of bread with every main course ordered as part of their "promotion" (in his words).

Unfortunately, this didn't happen. Only 2 servings of bread were served with 2 main courses. There was no "promotion". The waiter was referring to the side salad and bread served with every main course - which is serving fries with fish & chips - it's a given! So much for the promotion. The manager initially refused to budge on the matter but gave in eventually and we were given the extra 2 servings of bread. What a breadloaf of confusion.

Sadly, the bread was unremarkable and I'd have preferred the bread offered before the revamp.

The photo of the left is that of the side salad. Her immediate reaction was like "What is this? Chopped Vegetables Ah? Do I look Like A Rabbit?"

It felt like KFC's coleslaw - poured out on a white plate. It doesn't seem fresh either. So much for the side dishes.

Onwards! TO THE MAIN DISHES!

Item 992 : Sizzling Dory Fish & Cripsy Soft Shell Crab

In one word? OILY. In fact, all the items tasted like they were dropped into a deep fryer and served. When it comes to cripsy soft shell crabs, I think I'd go back to the specialty Japanese Restaurants for that. It was so hard to taste any crab at all amid the oil and the everything the crab was suffering in. The fish wasn't any better. Either it was too bland and tasteless, or the oil was too overpowering. Perhaps both.

Item 996 : Sizzling Grilled Dory Fish & Spaghetti in Mushroom Sauce

This item was slightly better than 992 - Perhaps redeemed by the mushroom's natural strong taste and aroma to cover the bad stuff. It was, however, oily to me as well.

Another new change is that the food was served on a hot plate - Much like Jack's Place's steaks. Other than for presentation, i don't see how it helps in the taste at all.

Last but not least, we cannot forget dessert. Here, Cafe Cartel seems to have redeemed itself.

Item 195 : Crème Brûlée (Creme Brulee)

This was the star performer! It wasn't served in a regular white ceramic but a in a simple aluminium base - but that didn't matter. Personally I prefer a harder crust on the surface, but the inside was damn nice. Somewhat like a cold egg pudding. Sweeteningly sweet. Luckily the vanilla ice cream wasn't as sweet or I'd be having sugar overload. It tasted great. Not the best, but great nonetheless.

The Final Bill:

S$44.95 in total. Breakdowns above. Oh and for the record, the manager gave us a pair of their lovely little piggy soft toys. I honestly have no idea whether it was a store promo, card promo, or just CSR (Customer Service Recovery) but it made us all feel better so everything's fine and sunshine after the rain and yada yada (: But if I go back again, it'll probably be just for the dessert.

Merry Christmas!

VIG EATS dot BLOGSPOT dot COM

would like to wish everyone a

SPARKLING MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Yaki Yaki Bo, Jurong Point, Shokutsu 10

#B1-52, Jurong Point, Tel 67920583

As you can see, there are no photos =( except for this receipt. Apologies as this was an unscheduled meal and the camera wasn't with me during the meal. However, I can describe this in one word anyway. DELICIOUS. It's basically a teppan yaki restaurant, under the RE & S group (which owns ichiban boshi/sushi etc.).

I can't find much fault with the food except that the distinction between Tamago (Egg) Rice and Garlic Rice is quite misleading. If you like garlic rice and you like egg as well, go with the tamago rice. Reason? Their tamago rice is actually garlic rice, WITH EGG! -_-

Oh and they serve prawn balls and octopus balls (the puri puri prawn and tasty tako) too, which are not exactly remarkable but are at least above average (: The prawn balls do not come with bonito flakes by default so you'd have to make a special request, which I did and they did put it in for me, albeit forgetting to do so at first.

Overall, I think I'd go back there again for the food, and perhaps some photos. If I can stomach the price again.

Waffle Factory

#B1-03, Singapore Post Centre (Paya Lebar MRT)

This is a post from memory, as the visit to this place was a long long time ago. As you can see, I ate the chocolate and honey stars waffle. I cannot recall the price. However, the food was average at best, with nothing to rave about. The only thing that makes this stall stand out from the others is the variety of fillings you get to choose from for your waffles. The seating space was extremely limited though, as the stall is a rather small one. In my opinion, it is NOT worth it to try this out. There are better waffles out there.