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Saturday, 2 June 2012
Zheng Swee Kee Chicken Rice, 25 Seah Street, #01-01 Singapore
When my folks were in Singapore for a holiday, they mentioned a chicken rice place which was highly recommended by their friend. Said friend, being Malaysian and all, clearly knows a lot about good food, so instead of tossing the suggestion into the Bin of Rubbish Food Suggestions, we decided to check it out.
Not much was given as a guideline – the chicken rice shop by Raffles Hotel.
So, I put those exact words into Google and out came pictures of the place shown above. Must be famous then if those words alone could generate that many hits of the one place?
Chicken rice condiments – Garlic chilli sauce, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce
You gotta have the chilli sauce with the rice. Sod the chicken. Who needs chicken. It’s the rice I’m most interested in.
And of course, with most Hainanese chicken rice, you have to have the ginger mixed in with the chilli sauce and dark soy sauce.
So we ordered the Hainanese steamed chicken to have with the rice. Not my choice of chicken, to be honest, as I prefer roasted chicken which has less pink meat. When it comes to chicken, I’ve never really learned to eat anything other than the white meat. I mean, I’ve kinda stretched to the wings and that, but still can’t actually eat drumsticks and the lot. My folks enjoyed this quite a bit, saying that the chicken was tender and firm (organic chicken, if I’m not mistaken).
Oh uh huh yes this was what I came for. The rice. Not any common rice, but the flavoured chicken-rice rice. It tastes so fragrant, and each grain sits comfortably on its own. I just absolutely so love chicken-rice rice. This did not disappoint. In fact, it possible is one of the top three nicest chicken-rice rice I’ve ever had.
Thai-styled Kerabu Jelly Fish
Because I don’t like the chicken, and because the rice was just too good to not be accompanied by anything else, I decided to order something which would really offset the taste of the rice. This sour, sweet, tangy and spicy dish with a slight lemongrass tinge of crunchy jelly fish was an excellent choice to accompany the rice. Enjoyable and definitely something to be ordered again.
Definitely gonna make another visit to this place.
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
Todai International Buffet, Marina Bay Sands Shoppes, Singapore
So the other day, when I was sitting around trying to come up with a Good Food Itinerary, I trawled the web for a good place to eat at on Christmas Day. The criteria wasn't that difficult - as long as it served turkey, had a good atmosphere, and could provide us with the Very Full feeling commonly associated with this time of the year, that would be sufficient.
Marina Bay Sands Shoppes - coming down escalator
There are SO many food blogs in Singapore, it's unreal.
Oh well - here's another one to add to the pile then.
Anyway, a quick search on the food blogs revealed that the Todai Buffet was quite seafood-oriented and as the pictures alone made me kinda hungry, I decided that we were going to have Christmas Dinner there.
Just in case you wanted to know when you're at the restaurant
Still kinda unsure how this is pronounced.
In the festive mood
I started sending links and pictures from other blogs to hubsy, getting him prepared for the feast that awaited. We almost trained for it like a professional athlete would - no effort was spared.
The placemat which is also helpfully a map of the restaurant
When Christmas Day came, and when all the festivities had been enjoyed, we ate a small lunch at a nearby food court (Kopitiam just for own reference) and made our way to the mall nice and early (around 45 minutes early).
As the place was still closed (4.15pm not usually being a popular time for dinner), we had a stroll around the mall and went back to the restaurant at around 4.45pm only to find this ...
Everyone is hungry
Yes, for those of you who are considering going to this place, they operate a registration process (even when you've booked) where by the lady at the counter gives you this handwritten piece of paper with your name and reservation time on it. With the table number also included on the piece of paper, that is your ticket to ...
Ready, steady, go
Food!
(Maybe) Korean stars on the wall of fame
From the ocean
See food
As with all professional buffet wrestlers, I usually zone straight in on the seafood section. I'm sure everyone does that too ... come on, admit it.
Not zoning in on seafood specifically, but zoning in on what you think is the best value for money.
Twenty of these in my tummy
Alaskan Crab Legs
These were so fresh. Todai provides pairs of scissors with which to eat the crabs and you could literally pull out the entire piece of crab meat from the shell if cut correctly.
Nice to meat you
Definitely 'happy day' with this amount of beef
Have a nice day (before)
Had a nice day (after)
Brazilian Churrasco section
We mostly spent our time here. All the meat you could want in one sitting.
Mushrooms, pineapples, sausages, chicken wings and beef
Pork belly before being cooked
Beefy goodness
Really liked these mushrooms - couldn't quite get the name but they were fabulous
The sushi and sashimi section
My favourite - squid sushi - so fresh and chewy
Sweet octopus
Boiled prawn with crabstick salad - really liked this
Each thickly sliced piece was just what amazing sashimi should be
The cooked food section
Korean beef bulgogi
Duck and peach which was so tender - who knew peaches went so well with duck
Grilled Japanese fish on sticks
Korean kimchi section
Grilled gyoza
Not sure what this was but took a picture so I posted this anyway
Christmas Day Specials
Roasted suckling pig
Because we were dining there on Christmas Day, there were several special items on offer for the occasion. First up was the suckling pig which was gone in mere minutes. Everytime they took out a pig, there was a queue and within minutes it was pretty much gone again.
We had a few pieces and the conclusion was that the skin was very chewy while there wasn't anything overwhelming about the meat itself.
Lobster in the gobster
The other special of the day was the lobster. Served directly to the table, we really enjoyed these little critters.
Down in one
The meat detached itself neatly in one swift forkful, and even when eaten cold, the lobster was very juicy, delightfully crunchy and fresh. The garlic herbed butter went brilliantly with the lobster, as it usually does.
A plateful of smiles
I could get used to eating like this everyday
And something for afters
Strawberry mousse
Todai seem to promote their Korean strawberries quite a bit. A lot of the dishes (even savoury ones) were cooked with some strawberry in them. Guess I never knew Korean strawberries were famous but they sure were sweet.
More?
Possibly the best waffles in a buffet. Ever.
When we took some waffles and drizzled them with maple syrup and some vanilla ice-cream, we didn't think that it'd be any good. We just wanted to give it a try since I like waffles anyway. So we were nicely surprised when each mouthful of waffles was so airy, light, yet lovely and buttery - going so well with the maple syrup.
Surfing?
The above-mentioned Korean strawberries
And when all has been eaten and done ...
Waitress refilling the buffet for the next session at 8pm
Ho ho ... wait a sec while I adjust my beard
This Santa was hilarious. He went round each table just kinda saying hi to everyone, but by the time he got to our table, his hat was falling off and so was his beard and hair. Pretty much the complete ensemble was falling off bit by bit, so the other pictures we took of him were just hair and a red outfit.
View of Marina Bay Sands hotel
I took about 380 photos during that dinner, and obviously couldn't post them ALL up here (couldn't say I didn't try though) so for those of you who really, really like looking at pictures of food, here's a link to the full Flickr set (click here).
We all enjoyed our Christmas dinner here, and if you like your seafood and meat (plus all the other items on offer), you'll probably like Todai buffet. The stuff served up were fresh, things were replenished quite frequently, and the selection of drinks (cold and hot, but all non-alcoholic) was above average. Quality AND quantity.
Useful information: Everything you need to know on their website.
But just for you ...
Location: #b2-01 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, 2 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018972
Pricing:
