Dim Sum at Shang Palace 香宫

23rd Oct 09

Shang Palace showcases a range of delicate cantonese cuisine in an exquisite ambiance of rich Chinese heritage. With the "38 and loving it" promotion going on, Shang Palace is on our first to try list out of the 4 restaurants but it's rather difficult to get weekends reservation. Since I'm on leave last Friday so I made plan to bring my aunt to have a dim sum lunch there. Manage to get a reservation at 11.30am. We went with high expectation especially after reading so many good reviews about them and we were not disappointed, indeed we enjoyed the food and services very much. Already making plans to revisit them again since the promotion will be up to Apr 2010. When I was editing and drafting this post then I realised that the 4 of us actually ate a lot that day! Luckily, it didn't burn a hole in my pocket after the 38% discount. A real good deal! This is a very long post so please tolerate with my badly taken photos as the lighting was really very dim ...

Crispy Roasted Pork - S$12.00++

The roast pork skin was thin and crispy. Taste even better with the mustard sauce.

Steamed Scallop Dumplings - S$9.00++ (4pcs)

The combination is quite fusion to me, something difference but was nice. Seaweed wrapped with prawns and top with sliced scallop & crab meat. Very lightly seasoned which enable you to taste the freshness and sweetness of the seafood.

Steamed Har Kow - S$6.00++ (4pcs)

Incredible and very well done! So far I think is the best har gow that I have eaten. The skin was very skillfully done as it's thin & chewy yet still able to maintain it's shape even when we picked it up with the chopstick. Must try!

La Mian Seafood Rolls - S$4.80++

A chef recommendation but not good enough to impress. The seafood mixtures tasted almost similar to the scallop dumplings wrapped with la mian to steam and serve w/black vinegar dressing. The vinegar was too overpowering and all I can taste is the sourness. Not very well received by all of us.

Spicy Pork Dumplings - S$6.80++

Another chef recommended dish but this was absolutely yummy and appetising. The pork dumpling was so "Q", even soaking in the spicy vinegar sauce for awhile it didn't turn mushy. The sauce was well flavoured and the vinegar was not too overpowering that we still can taste the flavour of the pork. This is also a must try if you like stuff with vinegar.

Steamed Four Treasure Roll - S$6.80++

Fancy name for steamed rice roll with 3 types of fillings - char siew, prawns & dried scallop. Very generous with the fillings and rather unique to use dried scallop instead of the fresh scallop but the skin was too thick for my liking. Anyway, it's still a decent dish to try and good value too as the rolls were quite big.

Steamed Chicken Feet in Black Pepper Sauce - S$4.50++

Expected taste so nothing special and not the best one around.

Bean Curb Skin Prawn Rolls - S$6.00 (4pcs)

A standard dim sum dish we must have and no surprise too. Very nicely done and surprisingly not oily.

Deep Fried Crispy White Bait - S$8.00++

One of our fav dish to order too but the portion was rather small but a bit oily too though was very crispy.

Eggplant w/Miso Sauce - S$10.00

Very fusion too and ordered by aunt. She love miso so wanted to know how the miso was done. She think was quite nice but we think it was not very fantastic. The miso sauce was too starchy and a bit sweet. The eggplant was quite bland too.

Fried Shanghai La Mian w/Vegetables - S$18.00++

The noodles tasted like udon but more chewy and thinner. Very nicely fried with good "wok hei" but just a bit oily.

Steamed Salted Egg Yolk Bun - S$6.00++ (4pcs)

Wow these golden buns were absolutely gorgeous and not many restaurant served this.

Has to be very careful when eating this as it was piping hot. The molten custard will start oozing out with a bite. Very yummy and I like it very much especially so when it was not overly sweet.

Mini Egg Tarts - S$6.40++ (4pcs)

The pastry was very light and the custard was moist and silky. It will be perfect if the pastry was more crispy.

Durian Pastry - S$9.00++

The pastry was so flaky and literally melt in the mouth with oozing warm durian puree. A very nice dessert to complete a satisfying meal.

Avocado Sago w/Vanilla Ice Cream - S$9.00++

A cold and refreshing dessert to clear the palate after such a heavy lunch. The avocado sago cream was light and complimented well with the vanilla ice cream.

Wolfberry Longan Red Date Tea - S$8.00++
Chinese Tea/Water - S$2.00++/pax

A very enjoyable and satisfying lunch of fine dim sums. We were pleased with the service and noticed that all of them are bilingual even the china staffs speak pretty decent English too.

Shang Palace
Shangri-La Hotel Singapore
Lobby level, Tower Wing
22 Orange Grove Road
Singapore258350
Tel: 6213 4473

Operating Hours
Lunch : 11:30 am - 2:30 pm (Monday to Friday)
Lunch : 10:30 am - 2:30 pm (Saturday, Sunday and public holidays)
Dinner : 6:30 - 10:30 pm

Valerie's Cookies Workshop @ 22.10.09

Baking cookies used to be one of my favourite hobbies when I'm not so into baking cakes. I love to collect good chocolate chips cookie recipe though I do have some nice recipes but still hoping for better ones that are super crunchy and rich flavor like Famous Amos cookies. So I was overjoyed when I knew that Valerie will be having cookie class in October at The Serangoon CC. Her classes are very popular and always full so I was lucky to register early for it.

The chocolate chip & pecan cookies are addictively yummy and almost 80% tasted liked Famous Amos but was a bit sweet for me. Going to try baking them at home this weekend.

This was a chewy cookies w/white chocolate chips, raisin, cranberries & oatmeal. It was not bad but I still prefer cookies to be crunchy instead.

Our take home samples in nice cartoon bags.

Login OnePA or Email: valbakes@yahoo.com.sg for workshops schedules.

The Rose Veranda

18th Oct 2009

Shangri-La Hotel is celebrating it's 38th birthday. To commemorate this special occasion, from 22nd Sep 09 to 22nd Apr 10, diners can enjoy 38% discount off food bill at The Line, The Veranda, Nadaman and Shang Palace.

In order to enjoy this promotion with some term & conditions tagged. Online reservation up to 38 days in advance is required and allotment is at 38% of each restaurant seating capacity. Each reservation is for a maximum of 8 people. This promotion is named as "38 and loving it".

That's a rather attractive offer that we will not want to miss! Log in here to make reservation. In the weeks to come, we are going to take up this promotion and try out three of the restaurants at Shangri-La. The first one we went to was High tea buffet at The Rose Veranda last Sunday.

The Rose Veranda offers a range of 102 premium tea blends and a few selection of coffee free flow for the high tea buffet. It featured a choice of international and local delights. Weekend high tea is served in 2 seatings and we went for the 2nd seating from 3pm to 6pm.

The spread was rather limited but maybe for high tea considered not too bad as there was roast lamb leg, sushi & sashimi.l However most of the items I tried was not very nice except for the
quiche, durian cake & tiramisu. With the '38" promotion on, we only need to pay about S$27.00 per pax (UP S$36.00++) which was still value for money as the drinks were free flow and the ambience was very good. To compare, I still prefer L'espresso's high tea even though it offers just english high-tea spread.

The Tea & Sweet Dessert

The Savoury

The High-Tea Spread

The Rose Veranda
Shangri-La Hotel
Mezzanine Level, Tower Wing
22 Orange Grove Road
Singapore 258350
Tel: 62134486
Check out: Indulgence 2009 or Hot Deals for details

Weekend homemade pizzas

17th Oct 09

After attending Valerie's Pizza workshop, I can't wait to make it at home for my family to try. I really like the fillings though the dough was a bit soft. So I tried using Daniel Tay's pizza dough and Valerie's pizza filling. This was also my first time making pizza from scratch at home. I used fresh basil instead of dried type and zucchini. I'm glad all turned out quite well and was well received.

Vegetarian Pizza

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Verdict from my family - Very good!

Nice Pasta Sauce by House

Recently I bought 2 packs of instant pasta sauce by House (products of Japan) and was quite surprise that it tasted so good. It was so convenient for those who don't know how to cook and wanted some quick & easy meal at home. Just have to stir in some cooked pasta into the sauce and heat it through. You will be able to enjoy a nice meal in less than 15 mins. I tried the cream and bolognese sauce, both were nice. Definitely going to stock up a few packs if I happen to pass by Japanese supermarket.

The cream sauce was very tasty with acceptable creaminess and there's bits of ham in the sauce. You can by all means add some bacon in. I just spinkled some ready bacon bits and parmesan cheese on top.

This was even more yummy than the cream sauce. I added some sauteed sausages to cook it with the pasta and sauce. When it's done, top with some pizza plus cheese and baked for a few mins till the cheese melted and brown. Serve immediately. It was so good and I finished every bits of it.

Hokkaido Fish Market

16th Oct 09

I was doing some groceries shopping at Square 2 last Friday and happened to pass by this shop selling sushi, sashimi & various Japanese products. They usually has promotion after 7pm at the takeaway counter. Saw this pack of Salmon Maru looked so fresh and really can't resist the temptation but to grab a pack home even though aunt already cooked our dinner. Furthermore was at 30% discount so only cost me $4.05 (UP: S$5.80).

Salmon Maru

My favourite part of salmon - Salmon belly wrap with sushi rice mix w/roe and top with Japanese mayo and salmon roe.

Hokkaido Fish Market
10 Sinran Road
Square 2 #04-74/75
Singapore 307506
Tel: 63977001
Fax: 63977002

Won a Ben & Jerry iPhone cover!

I won a limited edition Ben & Jerry iPhone Cover from Camemberu. Thanks Camemberu for mailing it to me.

I happened to be the 1st 10 to leave a comment at her blog to entitle to this giveaway! And, I'm the 1st one to do so...hahaha! So lucky me! I happened to be online when she posted it on her blog. By the way, I don't have a iPhone but getting one soon when M1 launching it in Dec 09. Looking forward to using the cover.

Valerie's Pizza Workshop

15th Oct 09

Attended a pizza workshop last Thur at The Serangoon CC by Valerie. I liked both flavour and the thin crust though it's not easy to get it crispy with our normal conventional oven. I had tried making it at home over the weekend and my family love it especially the BBQ chicken filling was really good.

A Very nice combination of vegetables which include asparagus, eggplant & fresh button mushroom.

The BBQ chicken was very tasty!

Login OnePA or Email: valbakes@yahoo.com.sg for workshops schedules.

Valerie's Banana & Walnut Muffins

14th Oct 09

With balance banana from making Win's Bd cake, I finished it off by baking some Banana & Walnut Muffins. Valerie's recipe called for buttermilk but I substituted it with yogurt and it's still turned out well.

Banana & Walnut Muffins (Valerie's)