Pique Nique [Closed]

As we walked passed Pique Nique, we were attracted by its quaint shop front and its unique name that  rhymes with "Picnic". It's casual and cosy environment had given us another reason to dine there after a hectic day.

 

Settings of Pique Nique had given us a homely feel with bricks foliage. With a huge tree rooted in the middle of the cafe and next to it was a shipping container painted in lime green . With many wires from the lamp hanging above the table, this modern industrial dining concept was rather eye catching as we entered the restaurant and totally follow suits to the current renovation trends. Not only that, this particular dining area was decorated with grass carpet and had brought out the feel of having a picnic.

Industrial Concepts

I was in the mood for greens that night and ordered Cajun Chicken Salad. Portion was big, consisting of fresh leaves, including my favourite wild roquette, tomatoes, slices of hard boiled egg, shredded cheddar sprinkled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It was also served with Zesty Citrus Dressing and was kind of refreshing!

Cost: $12.80

Under the All Day Breakfast Menu, Long Island Breakfast includes 2 fried eggs, with grilled bacon, pork sausages, grilled tomato, baked beans.
Cost: $15.80

The Big Breakfast Burger looks appetizing to munch on especially! Served with juiciest beef patty, bacon, egg, grilled tomamto, cheese, lettuce and sauteed onion. Yums!
Cost: $14.00

Pique Nique
Location: JCube, 2 Jurong East Central 1 #01-08, Singapore 609731

Royal China Gathering

Walked up the flight of colonial stairs of our majestic Raffles Hotel and it will bring you to the sign of Royal China's Signboard. Their Chinese name, 皇朝 (Huang Chao), was rather suggestive and immediately links one mind to some Atas Dining back in the era of those Emperors Dynasty.

Up from the stairs of Raffles Hotel

Standing guard with 2 auspicious lions in front of the country theme white doors with glass grids entrance gave us a mixed feelings of both a modern yet traditional as beliefs of a Chinese Custom were well displayed in there.

Main Entrance

The interior had caught us in surprise as one would have never expected it's theme color as the modern Tiffany blue in a traditional Chinese / Cantonese Restuarant. Color Settings were elegant, calming and comfortable with white colors blending in. Chinese Music in the background was slow, outdated (Songs famous in the early late 70s, early 80s) but soothing to ears.

Tiffany Blue Settings

All tables were prepared with folded Napkin on the side plate with complete set of dining utensils. Frankly speaking, it was our first gathering in a restaurant besides our friend's wedding ceremony and I must praised my pal as she had made perfect choice on this location especially as the place was rather quiet and central to all of us. Moreover, everyone's voice on the round table can be heard clearly.

Dining Set

We had chosen the easiest way out and took up one of their Menus for 10 persons.

Our First dish was none other than the Barbecued Peking Duck with Caviar & Homemade Pancake,  one of Royal China's hot item in the menu. Handled by 2 lady servers, with one skinning the blistered looking Peking Duck while the other busying preparing the Pancake by the side of our table.

Server Slicing Off the Peking Duck's Skin

Looking Serious!

Well Done! With the expert trained servers, our dish was prepared in no time.

Skinned!

Comes in a plate of 20 pancake cakes accompanied by their sweet black sauce, each of us get to enjoy 2 pieces of it. The pancake itself was doughy with flour particles on it and wasn't that favorable. Luckily, it packed an aromatic duck flavour under its wrap and this unique taste had superseded the "powdery" feeling of the dish.

Homemade Panacake

Every pancake comes with a rectangular piece of delicious and crispy Peking duck skin. Flipped open its case and add the sweet black peking duck sauce to suit one's taste. On top of that, add the given Caviar (Black Fish Roes) and here you go! Enjoy these crispy and gritty texture on your taste buds!

Inside of Homemade Pancake

Braised Shark's Fin with Fresh Crab Meat and Shredded Chicken in "Tan Jia" Style was the 2nd of our courses just like any other traditional Chinese wedding which cannot be skipped! :) Pumpkin was used with a fantastic harmony generous portions of crab meat and sharks fin.

Shark's Fin

The 3rd dish, Sauteed Scallop & Asparagus in Homemade XO Chilli Sauce. This is the point when the standards gradually went downhill. No doubt that the dish packed with crunchiness from the stalks of the asparagus & red capsicums, food was more towards a salty side.

Vegetables

Poached "Soon Hock" in Chef's Creation with Crispy Beancurd and Black Fungus was almost tasteless. All of us on the table would prefer Soon Hock fish to be served in steamed style as this would probably brings out the freshness a fish.

If you ever wonder where did the peking duck meat went to, Stir-Fried Diced Duck Meat with Diced Vegetable Served in Iceberg Lettuce is where we can find them. Their idea of having the meat diced with capsicums, chestnuts and celery with Chinese parsley as garnishing had bought me over. This dish packs a crunch especially if you hand held them and consume with the lettuce. Yums!
The only let down I would say its that, it abit salty.

So where did the duck meat went to?

Braised Homemade Beancurd with Mushroom in Abalone Sauce was salty just like other dishes. However, the vegetables were soft and easy to chew at. The abalone sauce was a perfect marriage to the beancurd and mushroom. Love the 2 textures of the beancurd - Fragile & Wobbly in the inside and protected by the brownish firm skin on its outside.



Baked Seafood fried rice wrapped in lotus leaf was divided equally into smaller bowls by the attentive servers, each bowl of fried rice had it grains packed with smoked smell. It tasted close to any Zi Char Stall's fried rice. Nothing to shout at.

Fried Rice

Last on the menu: Chilled fresh mango juice with sago and pomelo. I would say it's milky and refreshing with diced mango included, not the best but pretty decent to sum up the meal for the night.

Desserts

Perhaps there were more misses than hits but this place serves a good location for big group gathering if you want a quiet surrounding especially nearing the weekend. Service was better than average with attentive servers who refill our cups of tea promptly even after payment were made. Hygiene and serving standards were well maintained as every side plate was exchanged for each course.

Total Cost: $538++ for 10 Persons (Menu A)
(+) Enjoy discount with OCBC credit card

10 Persons Menu

Royal China
Location:  Raffles Hotel Arcade, Raffles hotel,328 North Bridge Road, #03-09, Singapore 188719

Your Roast Duck & Char Siew Fix

Awarded and patronized by a number of celebrities over the years, Hua Fong Kee has its level of reputation in Toa Payoh's area. Hua Fong kee Roasted Duck is a business setup by a husband and wife, Mr Johnny Teo and Ms Jessie Sim with 3 outlets in TPY (Toa Payoh). The reason to their success is their legendary sauce that comes in every dish, noodles or rice.

Ordered their Roasted Duck and Char Siew Noodles over dinner to satisfy our Roasted Fix meanwhile trying out 2 kinds of roasted delights from the stall.
Cost: S$3.30 / bowl

Roasted Duck and Char Siew Noodles

Cant take your eyes off the bowl of savoury duck meat over the Hong Kong Style Noodles? Why not head down to Toa Payoh and witness these juicy and tender Roasted duck meat covered by a thin cripsy skin. I bet it will tickle your taste buds as soon as you have a bite of it.

Roasted Duck Noodle

The thinly sliced Char Siew comes in dark brown color has little or no fat seen. Together with its special chilli and special sauce from the springy fine Hong Kong noodles, the dish tastes awesome!

Char Siew noodles

Even the bowl of soup is good. Rich in flavour with herbs and tastes abit peppery.

Soup!

If you are searching for a plate of roasted goodies, do drop by Hua Fong Kee!

Hua Fong Kee Roasted Duck
Location: Blk 128 Lorong 1 Toa Payoh #01-811, Singapore 310128

Birthday Treat to Pal

The newly opened JEM shopping mall is a food heaven and since my friend's birthday is around the corner, I had decided to give her a treat.

Don't get deceived by the empty queue outside the restaurant. Although I'm second on the queue, the waiting time was rather long as they were full house. When we were first in the queue, we were given a menu each and invited into the restaurant's waiting area.

Menu

3 different kinds of treats on a platter consisting, calamari, soft shell crab and mozzarella cheese stick served with its homemade tartar and Neapolitan sauce for dipping. I was rather surprised to see such small serving. Overall, I will only give 6/10 marks as I find their batter are not well coated hence, it drops off easily and makes it difficult to handle while dipping them in the sauce. 

Primo Combo $14.50

Out of these three pasta dishes, I will give my vote to this! Lemon butter sauce with bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms paired together with a bed of creamy spaghetti and chicken meat.

Chicken Scallopini $17.50

One of the best sellers in its Spaghetti section, this dish is filled with little neck clams with hints of garlic, red cut chilli, parsley and white wine. Though taste and presentation is vastly different from the previous pasta, it showcases one of the many ways spaghetti can be served.

Spaghetti Vongole $19.80

Voted as the best seller under its Mama's Specialties' section, the oven baked lobster and crispy fried chicken is served with cream sauce and spaghetti.

Lobster and Chicken Combo $29.00

 

The only dish that we order that doesn't comes with pasta. Listed under its Papa's Specialties' section, these grilled thin pork chops are served with little roasted pipping hot skin potatoes and Italian vegetables. The pasta sauce that comes with it are overpowering and if having pork chops alone, it tastes bland. More room for improvement!

Pork Chop $19.50

The combination blends of basil, mint leaves and mango juice forms the puree. Comes in a small cup, it doesn't taste good as expected. Some say it tastes like toothpaste though and I find that mango taste is minimal.

Mango Herb Tango $6.00

Missing the tiramisu we had in Italy earlier this year, we got ourselves desserts. The spongy cake with mascarpone and zabaglione cheese sprinkled with flavours of espresso and coco powder. The picture of the cake in the menu is different from the real thing.

Tiramisu $6.95

Served with vanilla ice cream on the top and hot fudge. The brownie with nuts are perfect for serving. Just be careful that the plate is hot.

Chocolate Brownie $6.95

Left - Raspberry Soda and to the right, Peach Soda

Sodas $4.50 / Cup

The total damage to my pocket is S$136.60 for 4 pax after a 15% discount for OCBC credit card holders.

My Total Damage

Spageddies
Location: Jem, 50 Jurong Gateway Road #01-05, 608549

Al Mahboob Indian Rojak

So much of recent news and hearsay about Al Mahboob Indian Rojak's reopening, I had finally stepped into their new location and had a real time feel of the place. Ah, at least I'm up to date by now. In case you might have gone back to their original unit, please do not be surprised that the place is actually deserted now with all furnishing torn down. All you have to do is to walk down along the walkways of the S11 building and you will find the big signage of Al Mahboob's.

Al Mahboob Rojak Restaurant Pte Ltd

As you pulled opened the glass door, enjoyed a clean and new environment of Al Mahboob with its new furnishing with many pairs of wavy mirrors on its wall, what's more, they have a wash area for customers to wash their hands before and after meal.

Dining Environment

The place was divided into 3 counters, Rojak Stall, Cooked Food & Beverages Counter.

Stalls

Served by a friendly guy (known to be the brother of Al Mahboob's boss) who was quite chatty at the beverage counter and could handle mandarin as well as Hokkien during our conversations.  Bought 2 cups of Tea Tarik ($1.50 each) and a cup of cold Holicks at $1.20. With all his jokes and laughters, it made time passes easier while waiting for him to prepare the drinks as well as our rojak.

Holicks Ice

Ordering Rojak is faster than before, I confirmed that its 3 to 4 times faster! In the past, I had to wait up to an hour for a plate of rojak and keep returning to its stall to check the status but its only 15 minutes now. To make life easier, they had implemented the numbering system whereby customers were all given a number slip after choosing the Rojak items. Numbering display was installed at both the stalls front and the dining area.

Rojak Feast

We had chosen 12 items, from prawn crackers to jagung (sweet corn) dough balls, prawn fritters and assorted items that were available at the time of visit. Customers turnover rate was fast, that describes the time interval of how Mahboob topped up its Rojak items. They were freshly prepared when I ordered them.
Cost: $14

Heap of Rojak!

Next, the rojak sauce! I drank 3 bowls of them. Yap, you did not read wrongly. The sauce was indeed highly addictive - orange-red looking sauce had a nice balance of sweet, spicy and flavorful taste which turned me so "thirsty". I made sure that every item dipped in was thoroughly coated and drenched with sauce dripping down as I pulled myself over for the food. :P

Rojak Sauce

Seriously Good Stuff! If you have a craving for something red or even on Indian Rojak, Al Mahboob is definitely worth traveling even from the west to Tampines to satisfy your hunger!


Rating: 4 / 5

Al Mahboob Rojak Restaurant Pte Ltd
Location: S11 Food Court, Blk 506 Tampines Ave 4, 520506

Your Home Style Zi Char

Try walking along Level One Of IMM Building and one would find ourselves as if we are winding the clock back into the 60s of Singapore. With the nostalgic design of POT LUCK with its old Chinatown Settings, I bet that one can never gave a miss to this. Moreover its uniqueness had drawn many attention towards its shop, pondering what cooking in their pots by having such a quirky name? 

POT LUCK

Pillar in front of the shop was eye-catching with its oscillating barber poles and Neon lighting. It's hard to walk pass without turning our head towards that direction.

 Colorful Lightings

Enjoy a twist in the time machine as we walked into the rustic environment of POT LUCK accompanied by their 'Tao Jie' or 'Mah Jie'. Settings were authentic with formica chairs and tables arranged in the dining area. Into the shop and by the sides, customers get to experience the old looking stretch of shops with Peranakan tilings. The entire area was as good as those olden days that we had seen on the TV.

 Chinatown Setting

Copies of newspaper was placed on the table. Wait, do not mistaken these copies as the daily newspaper. The piece of thin and flimsy paper is where we get to choose our food from - the menu.

 Menu

A condiments rack was prepared on every table with ordering slips. The ordering system goes like this: Filled up the slip, proceed to the cashier for payment and wait to be served by Ah Huat, their 'rickshaw boy' or even Ali their 'Satay Man'. POT LUCK had also introduced the free flow of drinks (hot / cold) at $2.80 each, as well as rice at $1.50 per pax, these can be self help at the self-service station together with the cutlery.

 Condiments

Look at the corner of the dining table. Your table is specially "CHOPE!" by one of their crews (Ali, Ah Huat, Ah Foong,, Tao jie, Mah Jie or Muthu). Looks Cute right?

 Your Seat is Chope!

Dishes were quick to served and whipped out from the kitchen. Sizzling hot pot of Ginger Spring Onion Beef slices were tender, well marinated and fragrant.
Cost: $8.90

Ginger Spring Onion Beef

Taste the Claypot Cabbage with Mushroom! Simply brought me back to the good old days! The cabbages were sweet & half braised, therefore one can actually enjoy the best of both world, a crunchy & soft bite. Though a simple dish, it was made different by using better quality mushrooms.
Cost: $5.60

 Claypot Cabbage with Mushroom

Searching for the "Wok hei" tastes of from a Claypot Hor Fun? Yes, Potluck Hor Fun did have the Charred smell but it was not that intensive as I would have thought. Standard is abit higher than average and would serve as a great replacement to the plain white rice.
Cost: $5.90

Claypot Hor Fun

Whet my appetite! Prawn Paste Chicken (4 pieces of winglets) were well marinated and very crispy. Yums!
Cost: $7.90

 Prawn Paste Chicken

I'm quite comfortable with the amount paid. As compared to a normal Zi Char Stall, some of the prices are on pile while some of them were about the same. Factor in its service and air conditioned environment, having Zi Char in Pot Luck isn't a bad choice either.

 Dinner Spendings

Side Notes:
(1) 10% of Service Charge is not required.
(2) Be careful & Keep your hands away from the burning hot claypot, I'm scalded and it had left an ugly mark on my hand. :(