The Orange Lantern

While exploring the revamped IMM, it had given me a handful of surprises with bigger shop spaces and more selection of retails as well as eateries. We spotted The Orange Lantern at the 2nd level and was attracted to the Vietnamese Cuisine. We know of The Orange Lantern years back through the outlet in Harbour Front.

Interior was pretty modern with food furnishings, bamboos decorations and of course you will notice the lanterns hanging as part of their decorations living up to its business name sake.

Interior

Ordering was made easier with the use of Ipad which is secured to the dining table. However, the hard copy of the menu is still available if you are keen on it. We had the set menu for 2 at $39 which allows us to have a choice of appetizer, 2 main courses and choice of 2 drinks from the drink list.

Ipad Ordering

Drinks

This is a total new drink to me. The Penny wort leaves were blended into sweet and refreshing juice giving out its natural dark green color. They have the advantages of being anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and aids in improving your memory.

Penny Wort Juice - $3.90

While my dining partner was a little bit more traditional here, following the vietnamese way enjoying dripping imported vietnamese coffee with sweetener milk. Coffee can be served hot or cold at your choice.

Vietnamese Black Coffee - $4.90

Appetizer

Making a choice between salad or spring rolls, we enjoyed the superior combination of their spring rolls platter which includes, their delicious Rice Paper Rolls, Imperial Rolls and Spring Rolls. 2 kinds of dipping sauce were given too.

Spring Roll Platter

As I seldom have fried spring rolls from the Vietnamese Cuisine, I find that their Imperial Rolls were not too oily, best of all was a good texture, lending a good crispy bite as we sunk our teeth in.

Spring Rolls

Mains

If you know me well, Vietnamese Cuisine simply means a bowl of Pho and good summer rolls, thus this is something I will not skip for sure. Soup is tasty but not the best I had so far in Singapore. It has a mixture of sliced beef, beef brisket and beef balls with their silky Vietnamese rice noodle.

Special Beef Noodle Soup - $11.90

Rice Vermicelli without soup was something we seldom order. The grilled beef was beautifully marinated with lemongrass and together served with fresh lettuce, spring rolls, bean sprouts, basil leaves, cucumber and their own special Vietnamese nuoc mam (dipping sauce).

Grilled Beef & Fried Spring Rolls with Rice Vermicelli

A little good news to Muslim pals who want to enjoy Vietnamese meal ~ The Orange Lantern is Halal Certified. Overall experience was pleasant with friendly service and efficient serving.

Rating: 3 / 5

The Orange Lantern
Location: IMM Building 2 Jurong East St 21 #02-52

Waffletown

Passing by the stretch of eateries along Bukit Timah Road, we finally decided to give waffletown a visit!

Waffletown

The interior kind of remind me to the my younger days in the 80s where parents brought me to fast food. Chairs and tables were affixed to the ground, simple furnishing without being too fanciful unlike what you can see in most cafe nowadays. There isn't any theme here and the atmosphere and surroundings give a feel of "family style".

Interior

Having fried chicken in Waffletown? Wait, I'm a little confused here... Aren't they famous for waffles only? Well, in fact both fried chicken and waffles are the must try over here. To make it a meal, the 3 Pcs Chicken comes with 2 sides like coleslaw and mash potatoes as well as a cup of soft drink.

3 Pcs Meal - $10.50

The deep fried chicken were not very oily and tasted good. This reminds me of having Chic-A-Boo but of course the portion here and pricing cannot be compared.

Close up on the fried chicken

The black pepper chicken chop meal has 3 sides and we had wedges, mashed potatoes and cocktail salad. Chicken Chop was tender with black pepper sauce moderately covering its surface area.

Black Pepper Chicken Chop Meal - $8.60

It tasted just like any old school chicken chop and was not too greasy. Good to know that the black pepper they did here was not too overpowering too!

Black Pepper Chicken Chop

Waffle Ala Mode is served with a scoop of ice cream and 1 topping of your choice. In this case we had black berries, rum and raisin ice cream with whipped cream over the Belgium Waffle. The Belgium Waffle was more of those "ready-to-eat" kind which can be bought off the shelf. Nevertheless, it was still crispy and goes very well with my scoop of ice cream and black berry topping. Ice cream sweetness was moderate and best of the topping is that you can actually get a bite of the fruit without feeling its too artificial.

Waffle Ala Mode - $6.20

Waffletown is a good place to hangout with friends or with family for Waffles, Burgers or Fried Chicken. Chicken portion may be smaller here but still worth the try!

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Waffletown
Location: Balmoral Plaza, 271 Bukit Timah Road #01-08 Singapore 259708

Azur Restaurant

Travelling to Changi for dining is quite an uncommon task that we will do in our checklist. If not for the pair of winning weekdays dining tickets to Azur Restaurant in Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, we would not have been here for a buffet and travelling extremely far end to the East from West (where we are residing).

Azur

Conveniently located at level 2 of Crowne Plaza, Azur Restaurant's winning award buffet offers an extensive range of Asian and Western fare both suitable for locals and foreigners.

Romantic Walkways

This 150 Seating restaurant has a beautiful interior with ceramic tiles in Ultramarine and black.

Dining Atmosphere

Quality and standard of food was above average and with good services rendered. Food were constantly topped up when it is almost finished in the heating pot. Variety may be limited over here as compared to the larger scale buffet in Singapore but I felt that the spread was already very decent.

Roasted Gammon Ham

Enjoy a bowl of Asian Favourites, Salted Vegetable Tofu Soup. Salt was well balance by the natural sweetness from the meat as well as carrot. You can never go wrong by starting off your meal with this as it's quite appetizing. 

Salted Vegetables Tofu Soup

With Asian Soup around, they also catered in the westernized flavoured soup like the Cream of Cauliflower with bacon. Yummy, but take note that if you are still planning to have more food from your buffet, take this in sparingly as its quite "stomach occupying".

Soup

Local delights including our Fried Hokkien Mee was part of the buffet. It was not to my liking with its over-moist noodles and the lack of the prawn oomph, it tasted nothing close to an usual plate of Hawker Hokkien Mee.

Carbonara with Penne was cook to the correct texture and was not too bad.

Mixing the Pasta with Local Fried Hokkien Mee

Western food range from Pasta, Ham, mashed Potatoes and other baked food items.

Mashed Potato, Pasta, Ham and Squid

Enjoy a good mix of Asian delicacies which includes Japanese Sushi, Inaris and even some sweet & Sour meat.

Asian Delights

You can also get to enjoy small bites like Fried Spring Rolls. Prawns on the other hand was freshly steamed in scallions.

Local

Tempura

Bursting full of Barbequed Flavours, with meat generously coated in its sauce. The pork easily fell off the ribs with slightest pressure and I simply love its tenderness too!

BBQ Pork Ribs

The crayfishes were easily depleted as soon as it comes out of the kitchen. It's such a common sight of our local culture "kisuism" in place, seeing our fellow Singaporeans cleared the full load of crayfish tray immediately after they were placed on the buffet counter.

Crayfish

Besides feeling happy with its crayfish, we were please to enjoy the big chunky sea bass that was pan-seared. I love the part where its skin was charred and giving the crispy bite.

Seabass

I'm not a Red Velvet person and I wasn't too keen and felt its topping was kind of cloying.

Red Velvet Cake

The petite desserts were so lovely that makes me unbearable to have them eaten up. Little puffs and mango pudding were good!

Desserts

Yam and vanilla ice cream did not go well as expectation. Vanilla was more towards a sour taste while Yam Ice Cream had an overpowering coconut milk taste.

Desserts

It has been a while since I had my last buffet. Though variety range may be a lacking here but food were definitely decent, despite visiting them on a weekday. Atmosphere of dining is worth your consideration too!

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Azur Restaurant
Location: Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, 75 Airport Boulevard Level 2 Singapore 819664
Website

Pao Xiang Bah Kut Teh String Tied Meat

Taking over the previous 24 hours Hainanese Curry Rice, we are rather surprise to see Pao Xiang Bah Kut Teh joining the row of eatery in The Rail Mall. If you have been to Malaysia Boleh in Jurong Point, Pao Xiang Bah Kut Teh should be of no stranger to you.

Shop front of Pao Xiang

It was a quiet night at almost their closing hours that we went in to check out. Pao Xiang Bah Kut Teh emphasized in string-tied meat technique which is believed to lower the cholesterol content and help in boosting the herbs flavours in Bah Kut Teh broth.

Menu

 Environment is nothing special with simple and straight forward furnishings around. However the environment brings closeness to people with the round table settings, encouraging family and friends to gather and building bond.

Environment

You Tiao, also known as fried dough stick is one of my favourites in a Bah Kut Teh meal. Their dough stick is short and comes in a cute pair which make it easier for consumers to handle as they dipped them into the mouth watering bowl of herbal broth.

You Tiao - $1.60

To maintain its broth warm, they practise serving bowls of Bah Kut Teh under the buring heat. Though it is good that the bowl is shallow and gets heated up easily, as a soup lover, I find that its at disadvantage to me as I finish up the soup rather quickly and requires a top up.

Burning Heat

The good thing about the topping up the broth is that they are never dilute and still bringing out the authentic taste of Bah Kut Teh. We can tell that the intestine had been thoroughly handled as there is no odd smell in it.

Intestine Bak Kut Teh - $6.80

Spare Ribs on the other hand was great! At a slightest pressure, you can remove the meat from the bones easily not mentioning that they had cooked them into the correct tenderness too!

Spare Ribs Bak Kut Teh - $6.80

I prefer dark soup in Bah Kut Teh than white ones and I find that the flavour of soup is better than the usual ones maintaining a good standard of herbal taste without being too overpowering.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Bao Xiang Bak Kut TEh String Tied Meat
Location: The Rail Mall, 444 Upper Bukit Timah Road Singapore 678066

Yee Shun Dairy Company

We chanced by Yee Shun Dairy Company during one of our night walks along the street near to our accommodation and all of us decided that we should give it a try before heading down to Australian Dairy Company for a comparison.

Yee Shun Dairy Company

For those who have been to Hong Kong, Yee Shun Dairy Company may be of no stranger to you. They are just another common Hong kong breakfast place similar to the trade of Australian Dairy Company of Hong Kong just that they have more outlets.

Yee Shun Milk Company

Looking through the chiller near right outside its doorsteps, we get to see bowls and bowls of chilled Steamed milk, in convenient take away boxes too.

Steamed Milk in Chiller

There are a few kinds of steam milk available on top of the original steamed milk like, coffee, red bean, lotus nut, ginger juice etc. Patrons can choose to have it hot or chilled.

Chilling

Interior of Yee Shun Dairy Company was quite modern, different from the usual run down Cha Chang Teng we visited. Walkways in this outlet is spacious and we do not have to worry about banging into others while walking along the aisles.

Interior

Finally, we all had our first taste of steamed milk! I got myself a warm portion and was pleased with the taste. It tasted of warm milk but in a pudding form and was not too sweet for consumption. Having a weak tummy during the first few days of my trip, this warm bowl of milk pudding did magic to my stomach. Nevertheless, the chilled version was just as good but for such a cooling weather in Hong Kong, I still prefer a warm bowl of Yee Shun Milk Pudding like this. 

Steamed Milk - 32 HKD

Yee Shun Dairy Company
Location: 246-248 Sai Yeung Choi St S, Mong Kok, Hong Kong

Charlie Brown Cafe

The craze about snoopy has come back again and yes recently I had watched the Charlie Brown movie and it had kind of encourage me to visit their theme Cafe in Cineleisure after such a long long time. For those who are unaware, there are two Charlie Brown Cafes in Singapore and the other one is located in One KM Mall.

Charlie Brown Cafe

Charlie Brown Cafe in Cineleisure is located at 4th Storey in one corner. Be greeted by the simple and cool looking snoopy in its shades at the doors.

Snoopy

Hospitality from Charlie Brown Cafe is not too bad as you are greeted by snoopy and charlie brown with a menu in his sincere look.

Charlie Brown with Menu

In its theme cafe, you get to watch their cartoon programs from the television, plush on the sofa, and you can even enjoy kinds Charlie Brown related toys, stationery off their display shelf.

Snoopy and Charlie Brown! Take a Selfie Here!

Shelf

If you notice, you will see Charlie Brown's face right at the doorstep on the cement screed flooring.

Charlie Brown at the entrance.

The best thing about chicken wings is that they have to be served hot, golden on the outside and juicy on the inside. The signature wings fit all of that.

Signature Charlie Wings - $10.80

Nothing beats my all time favourite choice of Pizza for I'm an absolute Hawaiian Lover. Just right that their Hawaiian Pizza is one of their recommendations. Its thin crunchy crust was baked to perfect edges, charred and spreaded with juicyturkey hams, pineapple cubes on a tomato base mixed with mozzarella cheese. Yum Yum!

Hawaiian Pizza - $12.80

Crepe on the other hand was quite normal, folded with nutella chocolate wrapped inside and served with a scoopy of cookies & cream ice cream.

Snoopy's Chocolate - $9.80

The crepe for this had snoopy drawn out of their chocolate powder. 

Crepe

Overall, it was quite entertaining dinning in a Theme Cafe like this. I don't mind coming back again for their mains.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Charlie Brown
Location: Cathay Cineleisure Orchard, 8 Grange Road #04-01 Singapore 239695