Wan Hao @ Singapore Marriott

It's one of the whatsapp discussion on where to have dinner. I am sure many of us have many whatsapp groups. This was the in-laws group where it was the MIL's birthday dinner. It was a few days of messaging and in the end, we decided Wan Hao.

Wan Hao because MIL loves the Peking Duck there. It's going to be a birthday treat and we thought we will go to somewhere she loves.


Roast Peking Duck served with Traditional Chinese Crepe

It was only 4 of us, and the lady in charge says half is enough. ;-)



Who doesn't like Peking Duck? What a nice arrangement they have plated it.

The wife's favourite place for Peking Duck like her mum. Both of them have similar taste. I prefer the Impertial Treasure Super Peking Duck! 



A peep into what's inside. Dough Skin, Duck Skin, Hoisin Sauce, Julienned Scallions and Cucumbers. So simple yet so satisfying.

KopiKosongGirl and I will always remember that we flew off to Beijing and stayed on China soil for only 48 hours. Spending Valentine's Day having Peking Ducks at 2 different restaurants. We love the 8-12 kinds of condiments that goes with the duck there!


Spanish Iberico Pork Char Siu

If you want to try one of the finest Char Siu in town, it's probably here. Char Siu made from Spanish Iberico Pork. The texture is not the usual char siu you get. It has a nice crunchy texture and Iberico pork does not need any more flavouring to make it better.

The portions are not huge. The price of this meat itself is expensive. I am salivating looking at the picture now. I can remember the taste coming back, just can't describe it fully! hehe...

(This used to be only sold during CNY, but Wan Hao has made them available daily now. )


Pan-fried Beef Tenderloin with Japanese wasabi accompanied by chilled fresh pear marinated with sour plum

I can't remember if they stated how many grams of tenderloin in the menu, but it was very delicious. No need to cut up your steak and just pick the beef chunks up using your chopsticks and nibble them. Great with rice.

The pear that was marinated with sour plum was nice though. Not a person who really likes sour plum stuff, but it was a nice crunchy fruit to eat with the beef. The 2 ladies love them, so did FIL.


Braised Chinese Cabbage with Conpoy

Lovely vegetable dish. If you have not slurp up your rice, this sauce over the rice will make you polish it all off!


Stir Fried E-Fu Noodles with Duck

We had the rest of the duck cooked with noodles. We were quite surprised, we had so much duck meat in the noodles! Delicious stuff!

Birthday noodles! We all love E-Fu noodles and with the duck it was an additional bonus to it.


Chilled Lemongrass Jelly served with Lemon Sherbet and Fresh Fruits

We were full, but mouth still wanting to have things to bite, so we ordered 2 desserts to share.
The Chilled Lemongrass Jelly served with Lemon Sherbet and Fresh Fruits had very contrasting flavours in 1 bowl. Sweetness from the lemongrass jelly and the super sour lemon sherbet.

We really like how sour the lemon sherbet was!
(Yes, we realise both my family and wife's family drink lemon juice without sugar to keep 'healthy' !)


Crispy Red Bean Pancake

The other dessert we shared, the Crispy Red Bean Pancake. We had to wait a while, but it was worth the wait. Nice, fragrant and hot pancake.

It was a nice and enjoyable birthday dinner we had. If you are one of those who likes good service, the wait staff ratio here is still good. You get attended to quickly.  You should have a reservation if you are coming. It's quite popular!


Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant
Singapore Marriott Hotel
320 Orchard Road
3rd Floor
Singapore 238865

Tel: +65 6831 4605

Hours:
Lunch - 11.00am to 3.00pm, Daily
Dinner - 6.00pm to 10.00pm, Sundays to Thursdays / 6.00pm to 11.00pm, Fridays & Saturdays

Brunch at Da Paolo BistroBar, Rochester Park

The wife loves weekend brunches. Some weeks we go for brunches together, on other weeks, she meets up with her other friends from secondary school, her Bible Study girls, etc. They leave their husbands and boyfriends at home so that they have their own personal time. Sometimes to compare how *ahem* their partners are, sometimes to complain how horrible they are.

We used to complain that some friends after getting attached totally forget about their old friends. So we still meet up with old friends. Don't you all have friends that don't meet up after being attached?

This was an invited lunch. A lunch where we were left on ourselves to enjoy the brunch, but the tab picked up by the restaurant.



It was a nice cool Sunday the week we had the brunch. We finished church and off we went to have brunch.



Chef Andrea Scarpa's Da Paolo BistroBar is now offering Sunday Brunch from 11 AM to 3 PM every Sunday (but of course!).

The wife and I remembered that I nearly choked Chef Andrea with sugar in the Bosch Dream Kitchen Episode 4 that I participated a few months ago. Chef Andrea was not around that Sunday we were there though.


(you can click on the photo to view a bigger version of it)

So how does it work? The menu above, pick any options the SIMPLY BREAKFAST or MAINS section and you get to enjoy two hours of free flow champagne (Loius Roederer Premiere Brut Reims) for $70 or prosecco (Tenuta Setten DOC Treviso) for $40 and a complimentary coffee, tea or soft drink.



This was the Prosecco that we had.



Oh.. what a coincidence that we met MissTamChiak there with her partner.
We decided to double date and both sat on the same table.


Persimmon Salad ($24)

We thought we will share a salad so that we won't be too full to eat our mains.
Quite an interesting mix of greens, blanched baby leeks, manchego cheese, persimmons, pine nuts and San Daniele Parma Ham.

The wife has more ideas for her salads. She will add persimmons to her salads next time.


From the MAINS section, we had:


Grilled Wagyu Beef Burger ($31)



It's Wagyu Beef Patty that's being wrapped around by Parma Ham with Porcini Mayo, Caramelised Onions and Brie in a Foccacia Bun. I like!



Wagyu would be wasted if you cook it more than this.
Droolsome!



These potato wedges were so crispy and addictive.


Crab Tagliatelle ($28)

If you like some homemade tagliatelle, this version  is with crab meat and tomato cream sauce with some thyme. The thing about home made pasta is that it absorbs the taste better.

How clever of them to put the crab shell on top. Looks pretty doesn't it?


From the SIMPLY BREAKFAST section, we had: 


Baked Gorgonzola Eggs ($26)

As they serve you, a small whiff of truffle oil lingers into your nose. For some it's heaven, I know someone who absolutely love truffle oil. Presented like a flower that's blomming, it does look impressive visually.



Inside the blooming flower made of Ham are organic eggs and gorgonzola cheese above a bed of baby spinach. Topped with black truffle and dash of truffle oil.

Break the poached egg and the orange yolk goes well with the grilled bread.


Bistro Breakfast ($32)

For those who loves a hearty breakfast. Everything you wanted in a big breakfast, you have it here. I think they should put a calorie counter on the menu! Most people will ignore and calories and just go ahead and eat it!



It consists of mixed mushrooms, crispy potato stuffed with white beans, 2 poached organic eggs, pork sausages, bacon and some greens.



This was the area we were sitting. Open air area that's shaded. Behind us was lush greens.



In front of us was the main building that you see in the first photo above.
Love these old black and white houses.



There's also an area where you can just have drinks and chill during Brunch or on selected weekday evenings. Three new permanent resident DJs, Stephen Day, Aveneesh and Debbie Chia will entertain you.



A nice place with lots of greens behind!



The kitchen that all the food was prepared in a next building we could see where we were sitting.

Service was good when we arrive at around noon. As more people started streaming in, it was a tad slower in the kitchen side. It took more than half hour before our mains were served. Service staff was good though. Nowadays with the labour crunch, we got to bear with it. (or just come earlier!)


Da Paolo BistroBar
3 Rochester Park
Singapore 139214

Tel: +65 6774 5537

Hours:
Monday to Saturday, 11.30am – 2.30pm (Lunch), 5.30pm – 10.30pm (Dinner)
Sunday and Public Holidays, 11am to 3pm (Brunch), 5pm – 10pm (Dinner)

Bar Lounge Hours:
Monday to Friday: 5.30pm – 11.30pm
Saturday, Sunday, Public Holidays: 2pm – 11.30pm

Ju Shin Jung @ West Coast Highway

This was a lunch outing with colleagues at Ju Shin Jung along West Coast Highway. Someone in our lunch group wanted to have Korean. That someone was actually thinking of Banchans rather than having the main meals.

We somehow thought of Ju Shin Jung that we all have not gone together as a group for some time. We all hop into a colleague's MPV and off we went for lunch.



The moment all the banchans came out, all of us, (especially the guy who was thinking of banchans) was so happy!



We were also served some pumpkin paste/mousse that was quite sweet tasting.



All of us settled for our own portions of the set lunch that's quite affordable.

Everyone thought we wanted some extra meat, so we ordered a spicy chicken on hot plate. It's spicy but very shiok to eat! What was interesting is that they had raisins on the chicken.



A few of us had the Saba Fish set.
Crispy fish on a bed of shredded cabbage. I could eat up everything because it was nice and crispy.



If you have been colleague for so long, you can actually guess what others will be eating. We all guess the Short Rib Beef Soup for 'old cat'. We were right. He ordered this and he says it used to be better but it's still good.



A few colleagues also had the dolsot bibimbap.
Prepare to sweat it out, because as you eat, you feel the heat from the stone. Our colleague eating this was sweating!



Don't put all the chilli paste in if you don't want to suffer the consequences of spiciness. It would be double heat. From the chilli paste and the hot stone.



The soup for those who did not order soup dishes. We did not like it. We prefer the beef rib soup that we 'helped ourselves' from 'old cat'. LOL



When we are with colleagues, we always behave like kids. We love to play with this.
The expandable hand tower. Add some water and it expands. The middle one had a few drops of water and it expanded.

Yup, parents with kids will save theirs to bring back and amuse their kids. I am sure we all have loving parents as colleagues who have to think of ways to entertain their kids 24x7!



Our meal ended with heart-shape watermelons.
It was a nice re-visit to Ju Shin Jung during lunch time.

The food's still good, service during lunch time was good too, still adequately staffed so you don't need to wait long for someone to get to you. Most of all, the lunch pricing of set meals less than $15 is still making us happy.


Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ
27 West Coast Highway
#01-18
Singapore 117867

Tel: 6464 0872
Web: www.jushinjung.com