Many years back when I first visited The Line, it was priced at a premium. Lunch or dinner, it was one of the most expensive buffets in town. Things have changed somewhat, Their frequent promotions means, well, it’s not difficult to find yourself at a $29 lunch buffet like I did. (Besides that, buffets at other hotels have steadily increased in price too, so now The Line’s not considered terribly pricey.)

I used to look forward very much to visiting The Line. It’s premium dining. But my last visit has changed my mind somewhat. Their buffets are getting far too popular. Too many people. Too long queues to get food.

Like, for example, the queue at the oyster counter was just impossibly long and slow moving. I looked at the counter several times and gave up joining the line because, well, I didn’t want to spend my lunch time standing in a queue. Despite there being at least 2 chefs there shucking the oysters, they just weren’t fast enough to cope with the throngs of people waiting in line.

There was a similarly long queue at the Japanese counter. The queue was for the sashimi which is sliced on-the-spot.

I begun to wonder if they called the restaurant “The Line” because, well, there are meant to have long queues.

Anyhow, I did get around to have a small serving of fresh oysters. Sadly, I think the quality has declined. I don’t know how exactly to describe it, except that it simply didn’t taste good.

I wonder if this has become a case of over-popularity leading to decreasing value. It’s probably still pretty worthwhile for $29. But if I had to pay the full price, I would be very dissatisfied.

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Yes, unless, of course, you take advantage of some great promotion. Our Dim Sum a la carte buffet lunch costs just $48 nett per pax ($24 nett for children).

(Okay, in case you get all excited about heading down to Hai Tien Lo right away, you need to know that they are closed until August this year, as part of the Pan Pacific Hotel’s “transformation”. Check back with them again in August.)

The view out of the window is awesome.

Looks gloomy? Well, a thunderstorm was brewing. Midway through our lunch, visibility was so bad that Raffles City had completely disappeared. It felt so good to be indoors, enjoying lunch, when it is pouring as bad as it did that afternoon.

Here’s a glimpse at the menu. Click to zoom in to read the text.

There’s quite a bit of limitations in the food selection. For example, you can only choose two types of appetizers per table, and just a single serving each. There are, however, other sections in the menu where you can have unlimited servings.

The dim sum is prepared only when you order them, so it does take some time for your order to be served. This is unlike mass-prepared dim sum places where everything is ready to be served instantly.

So, while we were waiting for our food, we satisfied our hunger with walnuts and hae bee hiam. They were both very good.

Our orders came, and we promptly dug in. We were hungry. Look at the food that we had. Everything was good, everything was freshly prepared.

Of course, we did like some dishes more than others. My personal favourites are:

• Fried Prawn tossed in Wasabi Mayonnaise
• Hot & Sour Seafood Soup
• Sauteed sliced Black Skin Pig with assorted Bell Pepper in Teriyaki Sauce
• Braised Beef Brisket with Dried Scallop & Mushroom

Service at Hai Tien Lo was impeccable. As a premium fine-dining restaurant, I’d expect that.

If you’re thinking of visiting, remember they’re closed these couple of months. Check back again in August 2012.

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EAT is a mini restaurant concept brand owned by the Fei Siong Group. The first outlet I knew about was the one at Rail Mall. I’m not sure if that was their first, but this one has been there for quite a number of years.

Apart from their noodle fare, they also serve a variety of sides like fried crispy chicken wings, many types of fish/prawn/crabmeat/sotong balls, ngoh hiong, and beancurd rolls.

Have a look at the menu, if you’re interested to know all they have to offer. (Click on the image to view the full-sized photo in order to make out the words.)

My favourite is the laksa, followed closely by the minced pork noodles, both pictured below. They taste pretty good.

Yes, you get to choose to have “hum” (i.e. cockles) or not in your laksa. I’ll always have that; laksa is not complete without those cockles.

The crispy chicken wings are pretty good too, although I didn’t order it this time around to get a photo for this post.

EAT is a self-serve restaurant, so you just place your order at the counter, pay, collect your food, and sit yourself at the table. They are reasonably fast, just like what you’d expect from your neighbourhood hawker stall.

In case you’re wondering, EAT does stand for something – Endearing Authentic food with a traditional Taste.

Some of EAT’s outlets are 24 hours, like the one located at Rail Mall. So if it is past midnight and you’re hungry for some local noodle fare, this is one place you can head to.

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Paddy’s not a regular type of food court stall. It occupies a much bigger area, maybe about 3 times the size of the typical stalls. It’s prices are also way above the typical food court price, even compared with those serving western fares. It’s still very reasonably priced, though. It’s sort of like Aston Express. It also serves desserts and starters, so you can enjoy a full multi-course western meal like what you’d get from a restaurant. Just that it’s located in a food court, and you sit in the common food court seating area.

There are many items on the menu, like steaks, sandwiches, wraps, etc. The Fish & Chips is definitely one of the highlights. The Fish & Chips pictured here is actually from the kid’s meal. (Yup, we were having some bunch-time snacks.)

It tastes really good. Fresh, done just right. If you’re afraid of fish with fishy taste, this one doesn’t taste fishy.

Here’s the mushroom soup. It’s pretty good too!

Food court fares can taste great too!

Apart from Fish & Company and the Manhattan Fish Market, I’d also recommend Fisherios, located at Ngee Ann City Basement 2, in the area in front of Cold Storage supermarket.

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This is actually the 2nd time I stepped into the 313@Somerset restaurant. The first time I went there, I didn’t actually eat anything. You see, my little baby Vanessa was with me then, and she somehow got terrified by the sheep and cow figures on the stairs down to the basement.  She was so upset about them that we could not have dinner at Marche.

If you’re not familiar with Marche, here’s how it works. At the entrance, they issue each diner a “credit card”. Once inside, you find yourself a table (or they might help you find one during peak hours). Then, you make your way around the “market place”, where stalls are lined up offering a variety of foods, desserts and drinks. It’s like you’re walking in a French street market. See something you like? “Buy” if with the card you got at the entrance. Bring your food back to your table and enjoy. You pay up as you leave the restaurant.

What’s nice about this street market concept is that you get to see all the foods being prepared at the stalls. You get to see and small the aromas of whatever other people are ordering. It sure beats reading from a menu or looking at pictures in it.

That’s a sampling of what we had! The cheese sausage was really nice, our kids love it so much we had to go back for a 2nd order. The chocolate mousse was also delicious (not pictured above), another item that we had a 2nd order.

Marche is now child-friendly too (at least for the 313@Somerset one), because there’s a nice children’s play area. Great fun for the kids, I’m sure. Better yet if there could be more seating around this area so that parents can dine and keep a watch on their kids at the same time.

This is pretty much about the same Marche I first stepped into when they originally opened at Hereen. The children’s play area is a nice improvement. Food quality hasn’t deteriorated, and that’s the most important thing.

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In case you’ve not heard, McDonald’s has brought back their Double McSpicy burger and Spicy Nuggets. It’s a seasonal item, so don’t delay too long. Too bad there is no discount promotion with these items. It’s the same goodness as it was ever before – I just headed down to a nearby McDonald’s restaurant to sink my teeth into them!

People who don’t like spicy: Erm, you don’t know what you’re missing!

Here’s my Double McSpicy… after having taken one bite out of it:

This is the Spicy Nuggets:

Enjoy the spicy goodness!

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It looks like it’s popular with many other families too, including some folks who look like they came over after their morning walk at the Botanic Gardens nearby. There’s also Cedele in another part of the basement, but this La Tanglin Boulangeries cafe is usually more crowded.

The cafe serves breakfast sets, soups, and a variety of sandwiches and salads. They are quite reasonably priced too. The breakfast sets cost $6.90, which includes mains, sides, eggs and drinks. The sets are pretty yummy.

Another good option to try, which is rather value-for-money too, is their soups. At $4.90, you get to choose from a variety of soups (a few choices each day), and they come with free-flow bread. Try their mushroom soup.

The soup and bread combination can be quite filling! It’s a good alternative to the breakfast sets. There are a few choices of breads, and I usually ask for butter as well.

The coffee’s pretty good too! Sometimes, when I’m not hungry, but just need a place to sit and, well, keep myself occupied with my iPad, I’ll order a cup of coffee and settle down in one of their sofas.

The cafe sells breads, pastries, cakes and… doughnuts. The doughnuts are yummy. My kids’ favourites too.

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If you’ve tried preparing MILO yourself, you’ll know that you need to dissolve the MILO mix into hot, or at least warm, water. If you’re happy with hot MILO, that’s all fine and dandy. But what if you prefer ice cold MILO? Well, the standard MILO won’t dissolve in cold water. So, you use hot water first, then either put your drink into the refrigerator/freezer and wait a long while, or you mix in cold water or put in some ice cubes. None of these are really ideal.

What about having instant ice cold MILO?

Now, what if you could now dissolve the MILO mix directly into ice cold water? Well, that’s exactly what the new MILO Easy Cool is all about. Just empty a sachet of MILO Easy Cool into a glass of ice cold water, mix, and you’re done. Instant ice cold MILO. Really really cool!

See how the MILO dissolves so readily when I simply pour the sachet into the cold water. However, you really still do need to vigorously shake the bottle to properly dissolve every last bit of MILO.

There’s also a convenient shaker bottle available to “Pour, Shake, and Be Cool”. Just fill up the bottle with ice cold water to the line indicated on the side, add two sachets of MILO Easy Cool, shake, and you’re done. Sit back and enjoy your bottle of ice cold MILO.

MILO Easy Cool retails for $6.30 for a packet of 15 sachets, and is available at all leading supermarkets and hypermarkets.

From now till 28 February 2012, you can also win some exciting prizes such as an iPad 2 and Sony PS Vita in the MILO Easy Cool Facebook contest when you submit a video demonstrating “It’s easy to be cool – When you know how”. Checkout www.facebook.com/milosingapore and click on the MILO Easy Cool tab.

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16th December 2011 was the date of ieatishootipost’s AGM (Annual General Makan). It’s their 2nd Crab Fest, and the highlight of this dinner, held at Chin Huat Live Seafood at Sunset Way, was the 5 crabs and 1 lobster dish. The Wife signed us up for the makan fest. This is the first makan outing I’ve been to with ieatishootipost, and it also isn’t the usual kind of blogger makan outing. I’ve been so looking forward to this makan since, after all, ieatishootipost is pretty famous and has a big following.

It was a wet evening, raining much of that afternoon. But we did get to the restaurant on time. Located at Clementi Street 12, the neighbourhood is also known as Sunset Way and received some media attention a year or two ago as a nice chillout dining venue away from the usual city crowds.

Here’s a rundown of the menu for the night:

1. Teochew Sri Lanka Cold Crab
2. Alaskan King Crab Steamed with Wine
3. Stir Fried Boston Lobster in Superior Broth
4. Chilled Vegetables in Wasabi Sauce
5. Golden Sauce Sri Lanka Mud Crabs
6. Black Pepper Dungeness Crab
7. Crab Meat Ee-Fu Noodles
8. Dessert

The food was, my brutally honest truth, below expectations. Maybe it’s because it has been hyped up so much that we were expecting nothing less than the most heavenly feast. Or maybe there really are pretty good crabs elsewhere too. But overall they were satisfying. Plenty of crabs and lobster to feed and satisfy us. At $60 a pax for dinner, it’s a pretty good value too.

I understand there was something like 20 tables at this makan outing. It must be quite a challenge for the kitchen staff at Chin Huat to serve up such massive quantities of food while still maintaining quality.

This Teochew Sri Lanka Cold Crab was our first dish.

The Alaskan King Crab Steamed with Wine below is probably my favourite for the night.

Here’s the Stir Fried Boston Lobster in Superior Broth.

The Chilled Vegetables in Wasabi Sauce was like an intermission in our crab and lobster fest.

The Golden Sauce Sri Lanka Mud Crabs came next.

The Black Pepper Dungeness Crab dish was our last main crab dish (apart from the crab noodles).

Carbo dish of the night, Crab Meat Ee-Fu Noodles.

We didn’t stay for desserts. Stomachs were filled, and we wanted to go pick up the kids before heading home.

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Cafe Cartel has been around for many years. I’ve been a frequent customer in the past, lesser so in the recent years. Reasonable food and service for the price we’re paying. I like their bread, and eating it with olive oil, and having the bread free flow was something nice. In the past, my wife had an encounter where they simply could not get the doneness of the meat correct. That was just that one time. We would look past that and visit the restaurant again.

This visit, however, I’ve got more to complain. There is free flow coffee for breakfast. Do you know, it took them a whole 25 minutes to bring me that one cup of coffee? I don’t think I’m demanding too much, but I was rather annoyed that the coffee had to take such an eternity to arrive. Furthermore, it had arrived last, when we were almost done with our breakfast. So much for free flow… I didn’t need refills anymore.

We wanted to order an extra hash brown. This was not an item of its own on the menu. The order taker told us she would find out the cost and let us know about it. Well, apparently the extra hash brown was served together with one of our breakfast sets. She hadn’t bothered to tell us she had placed the order, and she hadn’t told us the price.

I had also noticed, while waiting for the various items we ordered to arrive, how slow some of the staff were working. There was a table next to us that needed clearing. Someone had already cleared it partially, and when this other staff arrived, there was just one plate left on the table. She was so slow fixing up the table, she literally took 2 or 3 minutes to fix up a table that only had just one plate left to be cleared!

So, my eyes wandered off and noticed the queue forming outside the restaurant. How interesting… the queue had formed despite there being plenty of tables inside the restaurant. I guess the staff were simply too slow!

I was planning to tell the cashier about my feedback when I got up to pay. Along the way, I realized… one of the hyper-inefficient staff, whom I was going to complain about, was a “supervisor”. The cashier’s rank was “crew”. Not such a good idea perhaps.

Overall, well, there’s nothing really wrong with the food. Service, however, has plenty of room for improvement.

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