Shisen Hanten @ Mandarin Hotel (Restaurant Week)

Been busy with school and been lazy to write, but it's finally time for another Restaurant Week review; this time at Shisen Hanten, a restaurant specialising in Chinese cuisine despite having a Japanese sounding name. The restaurant is located on the 35th floor of Mandarin Hotel, and boasts an uncommon high-ground view of the surrounding landscape. The table my party of 4 got was quite quaint, although our window view was a bit lackluster, as we were facing the wrong side (the Orchard side would probably look a lot better). The night view is supposed to be pretty good, so be sure to make a reservation for a slightly later timing if you're celebrating a special occasion. 

The Restaurant Week dinner set was $55++ per person (although the Restaurant Week website listed it as 58++) and drinks was not included. Water, however, was $2++ per pax so watch out for that.

BBQ Platter (Jellyfish, Roasted Pork, Roasted Duck)

Portion-size was pretty small, but it was still acceptable for an appetiser. The jellyfish and duck was pretty average. The pork was the best, although the meat turned out pretty cold. (although the skin was still crisp)

Double-boiled conch in chicken stock

Quite a tasty soup, although the highlight was the conch. The flesh tastes a lot like abalone, plus it turned out less rubbery. Pretty good.

Sea Perch Fillet

The "staple" meat for the set, this sea perch was pretty good. The light soya sauce complemented the fried fillet well. Cod would have suited the style of cooking better, but hey, as a fish-person I give this a thumbs-up.

Stir Fried Prawns with Chili Sauce

This was basically prawns with chili crab sauce. Now, I'm not usually a fan of chili crab due to the sauce, but the recipe for this was really good. The sauce was mildly sweet and more savory overall. The prawns were pretty big and definitely fresh and succulent. I surprisingly found this dish more unique than the sea perch.

Signature Mapo Toufu (wasn't part of the set)

One of my party members requested for a change of the earlier prawns due to the allergy. The captain kindly replaced it with two portions of their Signature Mapo Tofu along with their Hokkaido Rice (not pictured). This is the signature dish of the restaurant's founder/original chef who was an Iron Chef trained in Japan so as expected, it was pretty good. The tofu was tender and was comfortably spiced and not spicy. The dish was well complemented with the short grain rice.

Alaskan king crab noodles in superior soup

The "filler" of the meal, this dish was rather odd as there was a sharp sour taste in the soup. I couldn't identify the exact ingredient but it killed the taste of this otherwise rather light dish.

Chilled mango puree with sago, pomelo and lime sherbet

The dessert's portion size was pretty big and the sherbet was particularly refreshing. The mango puree however, could have been slightly thicker but that's probably my preference. Quite a good way to end off the meal.

General comments:
This was a pretty worthwhile Restaurant Week meal at $55++ although tea should be included as well (as seen with other Restaurant Week restaurants such as Cassia). Plus, the $2++ per pax for normal water was too high. The total bill for 4 ppl came up to $268, with complimentary parking ticket  ($3 off) was given.

Overall I enjoyed this meal as the food was refined and the portion sizes were satisfactory. However, the ambiance and service made the experience even better. The ambiance of Shisen Hanten is pretty grand, with the many chandeliers dangling from the ceiling (as seen below) and the decent window view (try to get the side facing Orchard Road!). Service was particularly good and I want to commend the captain who offered to replace one person's prawn dish (due to an allergy) with two portions of their Signature Mapo Toufu. 

Ignore the random people in the background and enjoy the chandeliers

UNA @ One Rochester (Buona Vista)

 UNA is a Spanish restaurant located near Rochester Mall in Buona Vista in a little "village" of mid to high end restaurants. The ambience of the place is quite quaint as the restaurant is a colonial house with plenty of garden space and outside seating.

Normal bread (complimentary)

Starters: "Generic" Bread
I didn't know that they were serving complimentary bread, otherwise I may not have ordered the Pan con tomate. However, the complimentary bread were of different shapes and sizes, including bread sticks. Most were lightly toasted and was served with olive oil. A pretty good starter, and the bread is refillable.


Price: Complimentary

Pan con tomate

Pan con tomate (Lightly toasted bread with fresh tomatoes & herbs)

The main difference between this and the one above is the tomato "sauce" and the type of bread. This bread is crispier and tastes lighter (not a bad thing). But the highlight is the "sauce" which is not overly thick and provides a comforting "cold" that contrasts well with the warm bread. The tomato is light on the flavoring and is mainly there for the texture.


Price: $11

Pimentos de padron (Sweet Spanish peppers – fried & sprinkled with sea salt)

Quite a good starter if you like vegetables. The crunchiness of the lightly grilled pepper and the sprinkled salt makes this a must-try.


Price: $15

Grilled octopus (Smoky tender grilled octopus on a bed of ratte potatoes with paprika) 

The octopus reminded me of a more tender (and less chewy) abalone. Quite a unique taste. While the octopus was nice to eat and I would recommend ordering this, be warned that this dish's portion is ridiculously small and its price is on the high side. 

Price: $32

Suckling Pig

Suckling Pig (Crispy roast suckling pig served with mashed potatoes & quince jelly)

The skin was exceptionally crispy while the meat was very tender. Portion size is decent (the picture doesn't do it much justice). This is better than My Little Spanish Place's suckling pig.


Price: $38

Pluma Iberica

Pluma Ibérica (Grilled pluma Ibérico pork with a smoky sweet marinade)

It's supposed to be pork but it tasted more like those overly tenderized (and fake-tasting) beef. But to be fair, it was because I didn't like the sweet marinade. I would definitely recommend the suckling pig over this.

Rating: $40

Pluma Iberiuca (left) Pluma Iberica (right)

 Grilled whole sea bass (sea bass slow-grilled with a dry rub of sea salt, garlic, shallots, lemon & green chilli)

The "highlight" of my meal. The sea bass was supposed to be like a baked sea salt type dish but unfortunately it it was uneven salted at certain parts. However, this was compensated by the crisp of the fish skin.  I like eating fish and I would recommend this for anyone with similar taste. This particular fish unfortunately had a fishy smell, but nonetheless was overall still enjoyable.

Price: $55

 Pork belly chop with charred rosemary (Pork belly slow-braised till tender & smoky)

Please don't order this unless you enjoy overly fat meat.

Price: $33

House wine:
The wine glass and the amount of wine given is extremely small. I do not recommend it given its price unless you truly love wine.

Price: $15

Churros & chocolat (Crispy churros with dark chocolate sauce & light honey ice cream)

I've tried quite a few churros in Singapore and this has quite good presentation. Hopefully taste-wise it was quite underwhelming as the inside of the churros were slightly uncooked. The ice-cream and chocolate dip helped mitigate this though. Maybe this batch just happened to be slightly under-cooked.

Price: $14

Overall rating: 7.5/10

Overall UNA is quite a chill place to have a meal and the ambiance is particularly good for dinner. Quality of the food is generally quite good and is representative of Spanish cuisine. However, prices of the dishes are on the high end and the portion sizes are generally quite small.

Summer Palace @ Regent Singapore (Hotel)

This will be a short post about Summer Palace's weekend lunch set @$56 per pax (min 4 people). This meal is very filling and considered value for money, as I was already full by the time the first 5 dim sum dishes were served. The food is of good quality, especially the prawns and fish. If you do decide to go for this set, be prepared to eat a lot!

Rating: 8/10

Sauteed Mushroom

Wasabi Prawn

Dim sum dishes

Fried Asparagus with XO sauce

Soup of the day

Steamed Soon Hock

Chicken tart with abalone

Roasted Meat Platter

Ee Fu Noodle

Hot Almond Cream with Tong Yuan

Bedrock Bar & Grill @ Somerset

Wow, a one year break of not writing. Guess I'm back?


Bedrock Bar & Grill (Somerset)

As part of my birthday meals, I went for Bedrock's 3 course lunch set (starter, main, and dessert), as seen below

With a party of 4, we went for 2 steaks and 2 seafood/poultry mains.

 Let's begin with the Starters:

 House Cured Salmon

Quite "pretty" for a starter. It's basically smoked salmon, which turned out pretty good. The portion size is about 3 fairly large slices, embellished with pickled radish and caperberries. The sharpness of the pickles helped to balance out the slightly over-salted salmon. Overall, a decent starter.


Rating: 7.5/10

 Char-grilled Baby Gem
Basically a garden salad, and I would consider it the most "normal" but satisfying of the three starters. I liked this dish because it didn't have the "generic" thick cream salad dressings. But of course, that's a personal preference.




Rating: 8/10

 Classic Lobster Bisque
Perhaps the dish that a lot of people may opt for because of the lobster tag in the name. But being bisque, it's more suitable for people who prefer a "soupier" starter. I found this dish slightly overwhelming especially with the sour cream mixed with the bisque. I would recommend it if you are fond of the lobster taste. Not so much for me though.



Rating: 7/10


Moving on to the Mains:

Woodfire-grilled Sirloin

 Perhaps this was what I was most hyped up about. As usual, I had my steak cooked medium rare. The portion size was decent, especially with a serving of mashed potato (not pictured). Taste was average, while the steak was moderately tender. The steak came with bernaise sauce. I felt that the sharpness of the vinegar complimented the somewhat "conservatively" seasoned grilled steak. However, others felt that the sauce ruined the purity of the steak. The mashed potato was average at best, particular because of the Worcestershire Sauce. Overall this steak was decent, but nothing to write home about.

Rating: 7.5/10

Confit Cornfed Chicken 

An overall good choice for non-beef eaters. The roasted chicken was rather tender and respectfully salted and was well-accompanied by a sausage and egg. I didn't particular find the chicken appealing to me because I prefer beef and I'm still having bad memories of an overdose of cafeteria roasted chicken when travelling in Spain. However, this chicken is definitely more tender than a cafeteria's standard.

Rating: 7.5/10 (if I didn't have bad memories of roasted chicken), otherwise 7/10 due to personal experiences.

 Baked Baramundi Fillet

Another good alternative for non-beef eaters. This dish's presentation is pretty good. Portion size is also good. I've no real criticisms of this dish. The fish was succulent and the salt seasoning was just right. But then again, I'm a fish lover who doesn't enjoy food that is overly seasoned.

Rating: 7.5/10

Wood-grilled Veal Chop
Texture-wise, veal is naturally more tender than normal steak. This was the same case, when compared with the steak mentioned earlier. I felt this veal chop was more appetising as well. However, the actual meat portion was smaller than the steak above but was well-complimented by the big tomatos and fries. However, I must point out that the veal was served to me rare when I asked for medium rare, and as a result the fries turned cold.

Rating: 8/10





Finally, the Desserts:

Toffee Pudding (with Gingernut Icecream), White Chocolate Eclair and Chocolate Tart (from left, clockwise)

The Toffee Pudding was quite well-done and the gingernut icecream complimented the taste and texture of the pudding. The Chocolate Eclair was frozen and was reminiscent of an ice cream cake. Pretty good when it melts in your mouth. The Chocolate Tart was more subtle (and less frozen), but was overall quite good.

Rating: 7.5 for all 3. Basically down to personal preference.

Overall, although Bedrock Bar & Grill didn't impress me with their service (the veal was supposed to be cooked medium rare but it turned out rare; and the waitress looked depressed half the time), the experience was still quite good. Don't get me wrong, the service is still considered average by Singapore standards. Food-wise is average as well, and the pricing is on the high side ($58++ for the steak and $38++ for the seafood and poultry). But I felt the meal overall met my expectations, partially because the 3 courses made the experience last longer. (it was my birthday meal so I wanted a longer meal). 

Overall rating: 7.5/10, 7/10 because the higher price should warrant better than average food.