Xian La Dao [Closed]

Xian La Dao is stationed conveniently at the 3 level of the Grandstand, dishing out authentic Chinese fare to satisfy the cravings. They were officially launched in August 2014 and marketing responses has been seen good based on the statistics seen on the our local deal portals.

Restaurant area is spacious, catering outdoor and indoor dining experience with its interior design as chick and modern. Though Grandstand maybe a tad inaccessible, the management had catered free bus services at pickup points and for those who drive, free parking is available.

Environment

Besides owning this business, it was said that the pretty lady boss has a number of manicure outlets. In conjunction to her business, Xian La Dao has a cozy corner for diners right to polish up their nails at free of charge anytime during their meals. This manicure salon is right at the smack of their entrance, so guys and girls don't forget to pamper yourself!

Claim your complimentary gelish manicure session here

Another point that drew our attention was its counter located right in the middle of the restaurant. Amazed by their wide varieties (which is more than 20 kinds) of condiments neatly spreaded on the counter top.

Condiments counter

Exotic sauces like beef sauce, fermented bean curd sauce, their home blended garden sauce, chicken powder and even gourmet powder made up part of the starring moments.

So let's pick a bowl and mix your selection in.

Exotic Sauces

Let's tickle our taste buds for their signature Si chuan soup base for a savoury satisfaction! We have the Yuan Yang Pot filled with Hot Spicy and Mushroom Pot. With its impressive myriad of soup bases and condiments, its hard not to dig in fast!

Yuan Yang Pot Consisting Hot Spicy Pot and Mushroom Pot - $18

 For a start, there are some ready to eat food on the counter too. Beverages like Lime and water chestnut are free flowing.

Temperature of the hot pot is adjustable with the use of the controller attach to every table.

Ready to eat food and adjustment for the hot pot

Another bonus is that each diner is entitled to a piece of baby abalone. However, if you want additional, there will be a top up of $3 each. We were advised to cook them in the boiling pot for 2 minutes to achieve the "q" and chewy texture! Remember to time it with your stopwatch!

Baby Abalone - $3 each

Soon, our platter of chilled baby abalones were all up in our stomachs, leaving those shiny empty shells. Ah ha! Now you see it, now you don't!

Now you see it now you don't

Moving into the the seafood portion, it excites me further! With its freshness quality, there was nothing I could do to hold back my appetite.We had the live prawns ($4 / $8), Fish Maw ($4 / $8), US Scallop ($9 / $18) and even the red grouper ($28).

Seafood - yummilicious!

Beside the seafood temptations, we got to enjoy a good spread of premium meat selection featuring Short ribs ($9 / $18) and Kurobuta Pork ($8 / $16). Another W-O-W for the night.

We had the Japanese Curry Bun ($3 / $6), Beancurd skin ($1) and Lettuce ($6) into the pot too!

Meat and Others

Angus beef ($19 / $38) was deliciously shaved and rolled up, a dip into the pot about 30 second would have it well done! Sauces like their homemade garden sauce are perfect to go with this!

Mutton slice ($9 / $18) and handmade pork balls ($6 / $12) are also part of the feast.

To strike a balance from the carnivorous feast, we had their special produced Cheese Bun ($3 /$6) and Pumpkin pies ($5) for snacks. These golden fried lovely little pumpkins were the eye candies, not only were they crispy on the outside, the fillings were delightful, reminding me of a taste close to a "Nian Gao" but in a less sweeter version.

And most importantly the greens that we can never go without, Tang O ($6) - A chinese steamboat will not be considered as a complete meal without one. 

Snack, meat and vegetables

 Service was impeccable with duty staff topping up our beverages and clearing our plates promptly, attending to our needs.  It was also our honour to be served by the boss. And with one of the moments showing his expertise squeezing the shrimp glue to the boiling pot!

Homemade Shrimp Glue - $9 / $18

It was an pleasant experience to enjoy such scrumptious steamboat meal in a relaxing environment. On top of that with its freshness quality and family friendly dining atmosphere of round tables catering up to 12 diners, it does also make a perfect spot for group gatherings indeed.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Xian La Dao
Location: The Grandstand, 200 Turf Club Road #03-08/09 Singapore 287994

Teddy & Me

Fans of Rowan Atkinson, actor of the British comedy Series Mr Bean is now able to enjoy snacks and beverages at Marina Square's Teddy & Me, a themed cafe conceptualized after Mr Bean and his favourite bear.

Teddy & Me

And just right above the cupboard at the entrance, we are greeted a warm welcome by his Teddy which has its head pops out of the suitcase!

Teddy in the Suitcase

And with just a few steps into the cafe, there is this Gigantic red British Telephone Booth, also with his teddy hanging at the door, making up part of its theme.

Red British Telephone Booth

With its theme revolving around Mr Bean and his teddy, every menu has been chained to its little bear.

Mr Bean's Bear

The 4 pages menu was colorful offering light snacks, desserts as well as beverages.

Menu

Apart from enjoying the food and its themed environment, customers can also surf the internet with iPads provided at each table or even charge their phones at the counter too. What's more the series of his comedies are available in the devices too.

Mr Bean's Theme

Ipad and its menu

With numerous displays at different spots in the cafe, it does work out like a mini Mr Bean Museum with collectables and his displays. "selfies" or even "wefies" are often seen taken. It is rather narrow  in the cafe and moving about the aisles isnt a simple task, do be careful when taking pictures.

Selfies or Wefies corner

Well crafted in delicate thin layers with light fresh cream sandwich between them. The taste was refreshing at a perfect sweetness with chocolate rice and stars topped the rainbow cake.

Beantastic Rainbow Mille Crepe  - $8.80

The presentation is such a charm! Really "Beantastic" and irresistible!

Chocolate Rice and Stars

Rich in chocolate and cream, this cup of ice blended beverage is definitely a cooler to the soaring sunny day.

Chocolate Milk Shake with cream - $7

We wanted to have a taste of its ice cream so we ordered its mini waffle with a choice of the ice cream. Sweet Corn Caramel blends in well the thick and fluffy mini waffle with a British flag featuring Mr Bean face piercing through the dessert.

Mini Waffle + Any Choice of 1 x Classic Ice Cream - $5.80

Yummy Waffles

Simply love its decor as it sure induces some fond memories of the childhood. It is also a good spot to replay the comedies and watch them on the comfortable couches. However, due to such cosy and tech gadgets equipped environment, customers tend to occupy the seats a little longer even after they are done up with their snacking thus leaving incoming diners waiting in the queue. This place is recommended for families, couples and groups who wants to relax and get some inspiration over such ambiance.

Environment

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Teddy & Me
Location: Marina Square, 6 Raffles Boulevard #02-207A Singapore 039594

Ryoshi Sushi Ikeikemaru

Ryoshi Sushi make up one of the Japanese restaurants in Westgate, located side by side to restaurants serving identical cuisine in level 3.

Ryoshi Sushi Ikeikemaru

Interior of Ryoshi Sushi Ikeikemaru has a very modern appearance of a typical Japanese restaurant with conveyor belt in the middle filled with dishes of freshly prepared sushi .

Interior

With such a system in the middle of the restaurant it took up a big area leaving the sides seats to diners of a bigger group.  However, if you prepare not to be dining at the sushi counters, you can still choose to have the seats on the sides.

Conveyor Sushi Belt

Interior has also  brought some Japanese culture with the use of drawnup fishes on its wall and wooden like fore ceiling.
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Decorations

Menu

Having Ipad ordering isn't the norm nowadays. Even in Ryoshi Sushi Ikeikemaru, we can order our items through the electronic devices and even call our bills via the application on the device. However if you still want some personal touch, their friendly staff are at very good assistance and all ready to take our orders.

Ipad Ordering

Part of their promotion, we had an assortment of sushi set that comes at an offer pricing with a main bowl of noodles. Sushi were fresh and helpers were fast in serving. On a side note, there is an option for consumers to inside / exclude wasabi in their sushi, which I think is very good. And those who want to have more, each table are readily equipped with a box of wasabi.

Sushi Set - $6.80

Sushi selections like Nama Sakura Ebi which is also known as the raw cherry shrimps are available.

Nama Sakura Ebi - Raw Cherryshrimp - $5.80

It was rather special to see such unification, meatballs with sushi. Each sushi has two halves of the meatball coated with sweet teriyaki sauce with mayonnaise sauce topping up its taste. Either the teriyaki sauce had superseded the meatball taste or it was too bland. However, I still find the plate rather unique out of so many Japanese restaurants I went.

Teriyaki Meatball - $5.40

Initially I thought I had ordered some fried mushroom till I recalled that I had actually ordered a deep fried octopus. Well, these octopus were thinly battered and fried to golden brown in color, good that they were crispy on the outside and chewy in the inside.

Madako Karaage (Deep Fried Octopus) - $8.60

Also, not too greasy!



Udon with Sea lettuce may sounds plain and boring. However, it was not what I had thought and instead, the bowl of of noodles was appetizing. The perception of thick noodles with a few pieces of seaweed was immediately thrown away when I had my first mouthful.

Aosanori Udon (Udon with Sea Lettuce) - $9.60

Udon was slim and smooth, accompanied but the natural sweetness of the Sea lettuce with a little saltiness. Though the soup base was hot and we could still feel the heat emitting, it was very inviting - we could not stop at just one scoop but a few scoops.

Sea Lettuce

A fusion of the french dessert, Mille Crepe in the Japanese Flavours of Macha and red bean. Though it tasted semi sweet and rather delighting after a meal, I still find that the cake was a tad dry, perhaps a little more moisture on in it would have make it a perfect choice!

Mille Crepe with Matcha and Red Bean - $6.80

Ryoshi Sushi Ikeikemaru is reasonably price and service orientated. If you are a fan of Itacho Sushi, you may like them too.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Ryoshi Sushi Ikeikemaru
Location: Westgate, 3 Gateway Drive #03-05 Singapore 608532

White Rose Cafe

By word of mouth, I heard that they had launched a menu of the Treasured Flavours of Singapore, featuring Singapore's iconic dishes at York Hotel's White Rose Cafe and with tantalizing tastes in the local specialties from different ethnic groups.

White Rose Cafe, York Hotel

Its chick and elegant design makes the dining environment classy, relaxing to dine in. To add on, their hospitality is great, service staff  are attentive and polite.

Interior

Menu

While waiting for the dishes to be served, we had a plate of crispy and airy light papadum to munch on. These are complimentary from White Rose Cafe.

Crispy papadum

The Fish Head Curry is the key dishes out of its delectable menu, featuring Singapore's iconic favourites. The fish head was large serving 4 to 7 persons. It was steamed and come with a mildly spiced curry gravy. The use of its tamarind had make the dish very appetizing. Other like tomatoes, lady fingers, sliced onions and fresh chillies were added. Try getting the half size portion if you are dining for about 2 to 3 persons.

Fish Head Curry - $42 (Whole)

Simply love the sweet infused and heady scent of curry yet not overpowering taste over the tender meat of the fish. If you dont take too spicy stuff, dont worry, this dish is mild on heat.

Whole Fish Head

Ink were not too overpowering - at least still able to see the white area of the squids. They were poached simmered in their smoky spicy ink gravy with fresh green and red chillies, onions as well as garlic. The chewiness of the squid were just too perfect to be mentioned.

Black Ink Sotong (Squid) - $13

How can the main dishes go without a plate of fragrant rice? That will be a waste on the fish head curry gravy! Apart having such scrumptious gravy on the fluffy white rice, the plain white rice does not seem to be plain anymore paired with the local delicious "azar" with a circular banana leave as its base.

Plain Rice - $3

Another signature dessert, Chendol. Served in the cup filled of chilled coconut milk, green jelly, red beans and palm sugar.

Chendol - $9

Leaving rooms for dessert is definitely a right choice made. Such cooling and traditional sweet dessert can never be missed. Can be served hot or cold, the bowl of cheng Tng comes with a ball of finely shaved ice, filled with fried longans, persimmon, gingko nuts, a handful of lotus seeds, "Pang Da Hai" (Malva nuts) and strips of jelly. The sweetness level is mild in the longan flavoured soup.

Cheng Tng - $9

Overall, I'm quite impressed by their Fish Head Curry. Taking into the consideration of its location, the quality and taste of food, the price isn't too exorbitant and still within the acceptable limit.

Rating: 3.5 /5

White Rose Cafe
Location: York Hotel, 21 Mount Elizabeth Singapore 228516
Phone: +65 6830 1156
Operating Hours:  6.00am - 11.00pm
Website