Seasonal Taste @ The Westin Singapore, The Great Thai Feast.

It has been some time since the wife and I dined here. We first dine here when we saw the opening specials of Westin Singapore and booked a room for a short staycation. (Time passes so quickly as they are now 3 years old!)

We wondered into Seasonal Taste because there was nothing really opened at Asia Square at that time. During the weekends the restaurants at Asia Square were all closed then. We decided to have the a la carte items during lunch and they were good. All the Westins around the world has this healthy menu. Healthy yet tasty menu.

For dinner, we had dinner one night at Cook and Brew and another night at Seasonal Taste. We had their buffet then and somehow we never came back. If you watched enough restaurants reality TV, you know why you shouldn't come during the early days of opening. LOL.

We are back this time and this was an invite from the hotel and was also an unhosted tasting. You just dine like a regular guest, they foot the bill. If we liked it, we write about it. We were seated near a table of 4 hungry ladies, a couple on a date and a table of 8 businessmen on company dinner.

For 2 weeks till 31 July, they are having The Great Thai Feast.



If you are a SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest, not Sarong Party Girl lah...) member (which is free by the way, and I have it since 2003), you get a discount of 20% plus Starpoints for future hotel stay redemption.



One of the highlights of the Thai Feast is the Kor Moo Yang (Marinated Grilled Pork Neck). Yes, it's the fatty and muscled meat part of the oink oink animal and is used in Thai and Chinese cooking for melt in the mouth dishes. I am sure if you have been to Thailand, you have bought them to snack like me.

The dipping sauce Jim Jaew is an addictive sauce accompanies this dish. I drizzled it for most of the things I ate!



Another highlight of the Thai Feast is the Tom Yum Gung. Prepare to "cough /choke" on your first mouth. Recover from it and you will want more. I know my stomach, so I shared a bowl with the Mrs. If I have more of it, the body will tell me!

The table next to us really loved it from their chatter.  It's sometimes a joy to watch other people eat right? "Eavesdropping" on people who talk loudly and enjoying and laughing silently with and also at them. 



Marry a partner who peels prawns, and she will dish a bowl to share and then peel it for you as well.



Papaya salad - the 'live' station that has the chef pound your salad in the Clay Kruk mortar and wooden pestle. Do you think the clay mortar bruise the Som Tams and Nam Priks gentler so they are better flavoured?

It's recommended to eat it with the Grilled Pork Neck, fresh prawns and/or salted egg.



Pad Thai! There was once when a few of us visited Bangkok, we were on a Pad Thai discovery. We ordered and tasted Pad Thai from so many places, from streets carts and small eateries, chain restaurants and higher end establishments. We discovered that where the locals eat, the noodles are QQ / al dente. If it's a place where tourists go, it's soft like how we normally get in Thai restaurants here. I wonder if my observation was correct.

Well, this Thai Chef prepares it the QQ way here. Your parents might say it's undercook haha! A good thing about a buffet is you can add as much peanuts or chilli flakes or lime on it.

Many people will avoid the raw bean spouts and chives right?



I had many rounds from this station. Skewered meats, chicken wings and roast chicken with that dipping sauce that is addictive. 



I have a confession. I mostly skipped this station. Too much veggies for a pig out night.
I only took the Nam Prik for the veggies and used it for some rounds of cold seafood and meats.



Not Oysters Kilpatrick, but grilled oysters with Red Curry and Green Curry. 
I think they have this for those who don't like freshly shucked oysters! Somehow they tasted so good. 



The main staples of the Seasonal Taste buffet - Canadian Lobsters, freshly shucked oysters. (also mussels, prawns, scallops). For the Thai Feast, they have in addition to the usual dips and sauces, Thai sauces and dips.

This was the Mrs. She always love her lobsters and oysters.



This is my plate. I prefer Lobsters and Prawns. I had them with Jim Jaew.

Oh, if you like Pork Skin/Rind, they have a bag at the salad table and it disappears quickly. If you see it when you walk past, grab some and then top it with the spicy spreads. That's why there is pork rind on my seafood.



They have a quite a few Thai based desserts too. The colourful Khanom Luk Chup, it's mung bean filling inside the colourful outer layer. Like Ang Ku Kueh! 

They also have some Thai Pumpkin Custard which disappeared quite quickly! When I wanted to taste it, it's gone!



I had Khao Niew Ma Muang (Mango Sticky Rice), I know many people love this, but I am one who don't appreciate it. I like my Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce eaten with a scoop of Dark Chocolate Gelato, so good. I had a few more scoops of blood orange sorbet, mango sorbet and avocado gelato.

A photo posted by Philip Lim (@keropokman) on Jul 27, 2016 at 5:38am PDT

I had 6 helping of this addictive Cha Yen (Thai Milk Tea), made from black tea infused with condensed milk. The hungry ladies beside us, they were also thirsty! Instead of these small mugs that is placed at the dessert table, they used their big iced water glasses from their table to fill it up! That good! I think I haven't had anything with condensed milk for a long time that's why!
(Warning, very sweet! Thai style sweet, which I think some people can't take it.)

If you consider this for dinner this week if you are planning for some Thai food. On a Wednesday night, it was quite filled up.


Seasonal Taste
The Westin Singapore
Level 32,
12 Marina View,
Asia Square Tower 2
Singapore 018961

Tel: +65 6922 6968
Email: seasonaltastes.singapore@westin.com
Web: www.thewestinsingapore.com/seasonaltastes

The Oyster Festival @ Greenwood Fish Market and Bistro

Are you an oyster lover?

If you are, you probably have heard of Greenwood Fish Market. It's where you can get the freshest and most variety of oysters and at almost wholesale prices. It's not too late to find out if you don't know about this place. This has been the secret hide out for those who live along Bukit Timah and Dunearn Roads.

From 23 June to 27 July 2014, they are having their Oyster Festival. This is their third year organising it and the season is just right because the seas are still cold in the northern hemisphere. Cold water is where you can harvest good oysters. At the same time, the southern hemisphere is already in the winter season. It's the time of the year where we in Singapore can get the best of both hemisphere.



Look at the prices above and you know it's quite a steal and probably the best prices you can find in Singapore. Remember that it's all fresh live oysters and not frozen ones.

I got the privilege to listen and dine with Mr David Lee of Greenwood Fish Market, a veteran in seafood in Singapore. It was a wonderful experience as he shares about his knowledge of fresh seafood especially oysters. It opened my eyes about oysters - how to look at oysters, how to pick a good one, how to test if it's alive, how to eat it correctly.



There were 5 of us at the dining table at the cosy Greenwood Bistro. David was explaining the finer details of oysters eating and also about the wine they sell here at Greenwood Fish Market. His son Alan, was busy in the kitchen preparing the oysters and also other food for us. He comes out once in a while to check how are things and also explain the cooking methods.

I know there are fans of different kinds of oysters out there. Everyone have their own taste and likings. So we were glad to have a quick lessons about oysters. There is no best oysters to eat. Just the right season and the ones that fits your taste buds.

Here's the start of our experience, from the first platter:


Mary Points - British Columbia, Canada.

Canadian oysters are usually bigger in size, i.e. more fleshy. They are also less briny (salty).
The shells outside are not as pretty as Australian ones. It depends on your preferences. There are people who loves Canadian ones.

$4 each during the Oyster Festival


Coromandel Bay - Southern part of the North Island of New Zealand.

New Zealand is near the Antarctica and the water is really cold and clean. So oysters are of very good quality generally. The cold weather season (which happens now) is when oysters fatten up. The sea water is extremely salty here, so the oysters are also very briny. It has a smaller flesh size than the earlier Canadian ones. They taste nicer the Canadian ones to me.

$4 each during the Oyster Festival

David showed us this particular one that is spawning. It's when oysters are what many people call 'milky'. This is when the oysters are reproducing. After spawning then the oysters become skinny. So some people love the milky ones, and some like the skinny ones. It's when you have them.


Coffin Bay - South Australia

From the Canadian, New Zealand and Australian oysters on this platter, the Aussie ones are the tastiest to us. The characteristic of this South Australian species is the perfect shape of the shell. It has a nice deep cup and the perfect ones are when the oysters are fuller and plumper and slightly overfills the shell. Another characteristic is the very clean shell. Its shell is almost without any barnacles too.

The southern seas are very salty, so these oysters have a very salty taste to it too.
$4 each during the Oyster Festival 

Tip for picking and eating good oysters: 

• the oysters must be alive! Do a simple test! (read below on how to test it)
• the oysters must be from a reputable source. Some countries have oyster farms beside latrines.
• the oysters must not be washed with water. The tap water some places use (even hotels) will wash away the original taste and gives it a slight tap water taste. 
• the oysters is best eaten as it is, without anything else, especially Tabasco. A drop or two of lemon get rids of the 'fishy' smell for some people. 
• the inside of the oyster shell must be perfectly smooth and whitish. This means the oysters are not 'diseased'.

And we moved on to the second platter:




The second round of oysters for us. David also sells around 150 labels of wine here at the bistro. One criteria he has from his supplier is that they must not be supermarket brands. If you want to buy wines, this place might be your next destination too. He told us his mark up and we are so surprised he only makes so little out of selling the wine. If you dine in the mark up is also not high. Come and see it for yourself.

Back to oysters, he has 20 types of oysters at any time and he supplies it to many restaurants, clubs and hotels in Singapore. There are 4 shipments weekly. So much oysters come in through them that it is astonishing. (maybe to me lah, because the numbers shock me, the wife who is an oyster fan would love to hear about this!)

Tip to you all out there:
If you come on Tuesday nights, order a main meal and you can order oysters at $1.50! Yes, fresh live oysters. They have stocks coming in and Tuesday nights are when customers help to clear stock for them!

Tauton Bay - Boston, USA.

These oysters are huge too, similar to the Canadian ones, but you can see there is an 'arch' to the shell. This is for those who love big fat oysters. Chinese restaurants love them because they can steam them, but that to some is a waste of good oysters. Everyone has their taste and preference. There's no right and wrong.

It's not as salty as the Aussie or NZ ones to us, it was a nice change from the saltier ones.
$6 each during the Oyster Festival


Fine de Claire - Marennes Oléron - France

I got interested when we were told about how they are produced and when I got home, I did more research. 'Fine' means 'slender' and 'Claire' means 'ponds', or more specifically salt marsh ponds. After reading about it, I will term them as pamper little oysters.

These oysters are pampered with their own minimum amount of space to grow. They have a maximum number of neighbours for each square meter that they live in. They grow in ponds that are well protected and the salinity of the water is well controlled. They will all grow up looking the perfect shape and taste that everyone will like. Ahem, sound like modern Singapore kids?

Of course these tasted perfect. It has the nice texture, the taste, the shape, etc. These are popular in several hotels in Singapore too.

$5 (Fine de Claire) each during the Oyster Festival
$6 (Fine de Claire Special) each during the Oyster Festival


Tsarskaya - Brittany, France.

The tastiest oysters we had for the meal. These are the Tsarskaya oysters from Brittany, France. You can just do a search for it and you can read all about it. The cream of the crop for now. It really is very nice from the 6 oysters that we tasted. With the explanation from David and the bottle of NZ white that we had, it was quite an indulgence. Yes, as some on the table exclaimed, this is So Good!

$7 each during the Oyster Festival 

You can read all the flavour profiles online or at the tags. I am not an oyster expert, so these flavour profiles described I can't really taste all of it. My tongue has not eaten enough variety to claim I know everything. I am glad I had help from the expert teaching me things oysters. I am learning.

So how do we test if an oyster is well and alive?

Use the tip of the mini fork that comes served with the oyster and touch the sides or tips of the oysters. If it's alive it will twitch. For some really active ones, it moves! The moving tells you that it is a live oysters and its safe to eat. Never ever eat dead oysters!

Many years ago, I attended a talk by a top French chef in uni and he said the French only use a drop or two of lemon to test if the oyster is alive. A live oyster will move when a drop of lemon is dripped onto it. He also said no other things to go with your oysters. Eat it as it is.


Baron Point - Vancouver, Canada 

Our conversation some how moved to huge oysters and we found out that they have huge ones here too. David then asked Alan to bring out some bigger ones. We were impressed. Huge! (I know some of you are oysters fans and have seen bigger ones, I am just a novice and want to learn more)

Ahem.... as we were dining with a lady from American Express Singapore, we took a photo of the oyster with an Amex card to compare the size. Now take out your Amex and compare the size! 

By the way....

• American Express Platinum Credit Card members enjoy 20% off oysters from the ala carte menu at the Greenwood Fish Bistro under the Platinum Private Deals.
• Lucky Draw Promotion (exclusively for Platinum Card Members): From now till 9 Nov 2014, American Express Platinum Credit Card members can also stand the chance to be one of 5 lucky winners every day to win S$100 worth of dining vouchers (TungLok dining vouchers for Monday to Saturday draws and Fairmont dining vouchers for Sunday draws). Every receipt above S$50 earns the card member one chance to win.  Chances are doubled when the card member spends S$50 or more in a single receipt at any The Far Card or Palate establishment.

Another Baron Point oyster, which is even bigger than the earlier one. The Ezlink transport card is there for comparison.

$7 each during the Oyster Festival 

What if I am not an oyster person?

If you are not really interested in oysters, here are more temptation for you. If you like smoked salmon, smoked trout or smoked kampachi, they have it here and they smoked them in house. Alan is really proud of his smoked produce. As Alan brought out this platter, the aroma of the Californian Apple wood just fills the air. It's so aromatic that we can't wait to try it. 

For those who smoke things at home, they have their own smoker flew in. I didn't get to see it, but maybe one day I might ask permission to see it.


The cold smoked salmon. 

They import lots of good and fresh salmon so they smoked them themselves. It has been smoked at 26c for I can't remember how long. They also use less salt as they don't expect people to keep it for long. It would be wallop up! It would probably be gone by 2-3 days if you buy them. It is really that good. As it's not that salty, you can't help eating more.

There's a cafe in town that does roaring business by preparing food that's uses their smoked salmon. For confidentially sake, it's not disclosed which cafe source from them. 

The Hot Smoked Trout 

If you like trout, this is their hot smoked trout. It's smoked at 84c. Again, I don't know the timing that they smoked it for. Home smoking enthusiast should know. I can't pick up this hobby as the ladies at home always remind me that we live in a flat, not a landed 5 storey place where you can store everything. 

The texture is just nice for my liking. It's firm, yet when you cut it with your fork, it breaks nicely, and not crumble. It's also not too salty, and it will suit most Singaporeans taste buds. 

The Hot Smoked Kampachi.

This is also hot smoked at 84c. Another divine fish. I was telling the wife about it and she said, she and her friends used to come here when they were younger for their seafood binch and she can imagine the freshness of it when I talk about freshness.

In conclusion.....

It's been a salivating post for me as I typed this. If you are looking for some fresh oysters, come during the Oyster Festival. If not, the best days if you are interested in the best price for oysters is to book a place for their Tuesday night $1.50 oysters. Yes, you have to order a main dish first to get the deal. 

Come on Thursdays if you want the most variety, that's when the various shipments arrive and ready for sale.  If you like lobsters, come on Mondays! That's when they have lobsters specials and I was told it's really a good deal.

We were told some who have come for the oysters festival last 2 weeks have made bookings for the remaining next 2 weeks. Oysters fans are fanatical people ya?

Greenwood Fish Market and Bistro.

34 and 38 Greenwood Avenue

Singapore 289236

Tel: +65 6467 4950

Web: www.fishshop.com.sg

Hours: Open daily.
Fish Market and Wine Shop: 11 am to 10.30 pm

Bistro and Oyster Bar: 12 noon to 10.30 pm

Crab in da Bag @ Big Splash

If you are a seafood fan, have you heard or been to 'Crab in da Bag' at Big Splash?
It's a Southern Louisiana style seafood restaurant but with a local twist that has just opened at East Coast Park. 

The concept here is quite interesting. You eat from the table! The food is served in plastic bags!
From that you could have guessed that you will be using your hands/fingers to eat!

Ordering is simple too.
Choose your seafood, choose add-ons, choose your seasoning, choose your spice level and that's it.



The star dish of most tables here is the Caboodle Boil. More of that later in the post.
It's so memorable that I have to put that photo right on top!

This place opened its door in early September and it has been very popular. You are advised to make reservations especially if you are coming on weekends.

The owners love the atmosphere of seafood restaurants in California where diners eat off the table in big groups. They also rip and tear plastic bundles and so they want to bring this experience to Singapore. The tables are lined with white waxed paper, so the food doesn't seep through.



The seafood that you ordered will be cooked and then placed in food safe plastic bags then mixed with the special sauces. The sauces might be familiar with locals as it's of Asian flavours.

The serving staff will bring the 'bag' to your table and help you open it.



This was a bag of prawns in Caboodle Mix ($20). A signature sauce made with a combination of local and cajun spices, lots of garlic and butter! It's a very addictive sauce. I love the amount of garlic that they put inside. 



More prawns! Prawns lovers would not run out of the different kind of flavours you can have your prawns cooked.

The main sauces that you can choose with your seafood here are:
- Ultimate Curry: it's a kind of Northern Malaysian Curry. (Think sambal stingray and not curry chicken)
- Caboodle Mix: combination of local and Cajun spices, garlic and butter.
- Mum's Special: Sauteed onion rings and garlic in savoury, sweet and sour brown sauce.



The bag of clams ($13) in Ultimate Curry was delicious, order some rice to mop up the sauces. Since there's no cutlery, I used the clam shells to scoop up my rice. LOL



The sides of Crinkled Cauliflower ($8) was also very delicious. It's not the usual white caulis that we are familiar with, it's darkish. Try it, you might get addicted to it too! The crispy baby squids are also quite tasty.


Now to show you the Caboodle Boil ($299).

It's good for 6 guys/gals. It has 6 Mini Lobsters, 2 Sri Lankan Crabs, 500gm of King Crab Legs, 500gm Yabbies, 500gm Prawns, 500gm Clams, Sausages, Corn and Potatoes boiled in a blend of herbs and local spices.

I managed to take a short video of it. You can see how big the pot is. Yes, everyone gets excited when it's served on the table.



The seafood are already very delicious on its own. Try it on its own or dip it in some dipping sauces that is provided. (The dipping sauces are: Exotic Soy Dip, Green Bird Dip, Zesty Mayo Dip).



Another view of the spread! Take your time to eat!
Probably a meal that no one will be fiddling with their mobile phones and every will have saucy fingers!



The mini lobsters... 
Squeeze more lemons on it if you want. I did on my seafood.



I think it's trying to tell me, eat me, don't let me die in vain!



It's interesting to find sausages in the mix. I love sausages so am quite happy to find it inside thought it might be weird. It's gonna be messy, so they give all diners a big plastic bib, like how my fellow dining companion is wearing above.



Some super old style desserts that I was told many familiars prepared. Not in my family. We have our different kinds of homestyle desserts.

A very interesting concept, something new in Singapore and suitable for families or big groups. Add this to your big group gathering places. Going in bigger groups enables you to order more things too and also more people to split the bill. LOL

A very special thanks to Amanda who invited us over for dinner here.


Crab in da Bag
902 East Coast Parkway
Big Splash Block D
#01-25
Singapore 449874

Tel: 6440 0083 (Call to make reservations and/or advanced bookings for The Caboodle Boil)

Hours:
Tues – Fri 4PM – 12AM (Last order: 11.30PM)
PHs, Sat, Sun 12PM – 12AM (Last order: 11.30PM)

Black Pepper Crabs @ Eng Seng Restaurant

Two weeks ago, we met up with a friend who recently moved to Joo Chiat from KL. When we visit KL, he used to take us around to 'makan' there. Since he's based here now, it's our turn to bring him around.

Staying near to Eng Seng, he passes the shop daily on his way to work and back. As a workaholic who leaves early for work and comes back late at night, he probably did not realise the crowd during the opening hours.

It's difficult to dine alone there, so we met up with him on a weekend with other common friends to have some delicious black pepper crabs!

If you read about this place, you got to 'book' your crabs (can't book tables by the way). The dear wife was a bit 'kiasu' and called them up 3 days in advance to book crabs. She was told off! If you are coming on Saturday, please only call after 3 pm on Saturday! We booked our crabs after 3 pm as told.

Oh well, our plans that day changed and we were going around eating that day. Around 4:30pm, everyone felt hungry and decided we should just have an early dinner instead. Lo and behold, when you are there early, there were no crowds! The big glass tank is full of crabs, you can choose your own crabs too!

(Hint, go early! Around 5 to 5.30 pm, you don't need to bother call to book anything!)


Fried You Tiao with Sotong Meat. ($8)

If you are having dinner there, you would realise that 90% of the people here have the same dishes! During dinner, we look around and saw same dishes on almost all tables!

For those who love some fried food, the fried dough fritter was nice. Crispy and crunchy with some soft cuttlefish meat stuffed in it.  Some of us thought the mayo was a bit too much on top. They should have served the mayo on the sides instead of dribbling all over it.



Hong Kong Kai Lan ($10)

The veggies were nicely stir fried, cooked and yet still crunchy. We found it a tad too salty though.




Mee Goreng ($7)

Oh, the Mee Goreng is another dish that almost every table orders.. It's delicious. Not too wet, nor too dry, it will probably suits most people's taste buds. Spicy but not too hot, it smells so good when it was served to our table. Prawns were bouncy and there was quite a few of it too.

(Looking at the prices now while blogging, it's more worth it to eat the Mee Goreng than the vegetables which is very little in quantity and not as satisfying as the spicy carbo noodles. LOL)



Black Pepper Crabs ($90)

We had 5 of us, and we ordered 3 crabs to share. If you are a super crab lover, you probably can have 1 each. The crabs that day was medium in size. It was enough for us as it was already the 5th meal for the day!

Ahh... the crabs here are as tasty as we last tried it. Peppery, sweetish, sticky! Many people rank the black pepper crabs here as the best on this island. The sauce was so addictive. It's nice with the You Tiao too by the way!




One of our friend was such a neat eater! She flipped over the big crab shell and slowly filled it with the other smaller bits as she ate. If you eat your crabs slow and eat every bit of it, there's very little leftover shells! When it's all done, she covered it up with another shell. So cute, that I have to take a photo of it!

The food is served rather quickly after ordering which is good. Would love to go back for more black pepper crabs and mee goreng.  The person on the phone might not be very courteous, but the chubby lady who goes around the table taking order is a very nice lady!

There's GST payable here, you will notice it in the bill. Our whole meal was $116.50 with the taxes included.  Eng Seng is the name of the coffeeshop. The stall selling the crabs etc is called First Grade Seafood Palace. What a nice name eh!


First Grade Seafood Palace
Eng Seng Restaurant
247-249 Joo Chiat Place
(Near to Malacca Hotel)
Singapore 427935

Tel: 6440 5560

Hours: around 4.30 to around 8.00 pm (earlier when the crabs are sold out)

Forture Restaurant @ Bukit Timah Road

It was one of the weekends that we had a big family gathering. We initially wanted to try Violet Oon's Kitchen but we forgot to book! We live nearby so we thought we could just go over and hopefully grab a table. Looks like we had no luck! The place was fully booked and to get a table will take like over an hour.

We were too hungry to wait for an hour and so we decided to eat next door. The good old zhi char place, Forture Restaurant that has been around for the longest time. (We never bothered to ask why it's Forture and not Fortune) People do complain about this place, but we never encountered anything bad here. I guess you need to be tactful.

It's not like they know who we are. We are just regular paying customers, but we got our aunt who is super (what you call) 'auntie' that can tame any one into obedience. Knowing a few dialects is good as she is always like instant friends with anyone that she speaks to!

It was a Sunday afternoon and it's their less busy time. The chef who don't really smile, recommended that we try some of his signature dishes. I don't know why, but he walked past and we answered us.


Monkey Head Mushrooms with Baby Bak Choy (Xiao Bai Cai) $18. As usual, we don't expect beautifully 'manicured' vegetables here. They are known to be quite 'rough' in the presentation skills.  Nevertheless, they tasted really good. Quick high heat wok stir fry vegetables always taste good.


One of the popular dishes is "Herbal Chicken" ($15). Wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil. The chicken has been steamed till it's so tender and the herbal soup so aromatic. Our cousin loves this dish and she will soak up all the soup!

We have stopped eating things cooked in plastic, but once in a while, we try it if it's their signature dish. ;-)


The chef told aunt this was a special dish. Homemade Pumpkin Tofu. $10.  We were wondering how it will turn out. Pumpkin mashed and mixed into tofu? It turned out to be homemade tofu that has been deep fried with pumpkin sauce and mushroom over it.

We were not really impressed because it turned out so simple. It's tasty and that's probably all about it.


This vegetables we tried it somewhere before and can't really remember where. Green Dragon Vegetables. (Qing Long Cai). $18

It's like chives, but yet still does not smell or taste like it. It's slightly crunchy. They fried it with some bean sprouts. I like it. It's something that you can nibble non stop just with plain rice!



Another chef specialty that he only prepares for the weekend.  Crispy Duck (Xiang Shu Ya) $18

Fragrant and crispy, we thought of Crispy Duck that's famous in London's Chinatown! This version does not have the meat 'pulled' and also not wrapped in mini pancakes. Maybe I should bring my MIL who loves duck here to try this.

80% of the people on the table likes it, probably except me. I don't like deep fried duck. I like braised duck! (or maybe Peking Duck!) If it's shredded with some sauce and crispy cucumbers, I would have loved it. :-)



We had a fish too. Thai Style Fish Head $20. Not the Thai Style that we thought it would be. I guess we have Thai Chilli Sauce implanted in our head when we see anything Thai Style.

This is Thai Style Curry. It's deliciously sour. A little like Thai Red Curry, only more sour and appetizing! The fish was really tender so it was quite a delight. 'Guarantee with a chop' to make you finish your whole bowl of rice!


The latest craze in Singapore is anything salted egg! Their Salted Egg Prawns $30. Prawns that were quite big and deep fried till very crispy that you can even eat the heads and chew on it.  It was really fragrant and yummy.

A place that isn't too expensive. All of the above for $135.90 for 8 persons.
If you prefer the air con, there's also an air-con section in the restaurant.


Oh ya, the drinks people and the food people don't seem to see eye-to-eye. If you want to order drinks, order from the drinks person. For food, order with the food person, they won't bother to pass message. It's one of the quirks. If you understand their 'culture' here, you won't wait in vain and get angry. 


Forture Seafood Steamboat
887 Bukit Timah Road
Singapore 279896

Business Hours: 11 am to 2.30 pm, 5 pm to 11.30 pm daily.
Tel: 6469 5957 / 6463 0479