It’s quite pricey by Taiwanese standards (NT$950 – SG$42 for adult / NT$450 for kids 110-140cm and NT100 for 90-110cm) but the selection was really grand when we were there (lots of seafood choices!) and the staff was really alert and quick, so you never have to sit around waiting for food to be replenished. Here’s the pricing and the 12 different types of soup base you can choose from:

We chose the signature mala and scallop + seafood broth for the twin pot. Oh and I saw the next table being served lobsters because it’s someone’s birthday, no harm asking if you’re celebrating a birthday that day!

芝麻醬 + coriander is life!!!!!! Love the condiments station.

And the kids went cray-cray with the fridge FULL OF DRINKS and milk tea, and ice-cream and cake and a nice assortment of fruits. Yes, there’s beer too:

The restaurant was REALLY crowded for a 4pm seating (that was the only timing we could get today even though we made reservations 2 weeks ago). The kids had instant noodles (but of course) with fish and meat, plus chocolate milk tea, ice cream cones and rainbow cake. I had a couple of yummy craquelin cream puffs that were really good! That said, we probably would stick to 新馬辣 next time for a cheaper price and very similar satisfaction index. Still good to try at least once!

This restaurant is CASH ONLY as of June 2023. If you’re from Singapore like us, read this post to find out how to withdraw money from Taiwan ATMs at no foreign transaction fees. Use my referral code D1ZTJ2N1 to get $10 Fairprice vouchers.

Check out my other Taiwan travel posts and follow my Facebook and Instagram for my travel tales!

What we did in Taipei with kids: Day 3 & 4 – Taipei Children’s Amusement Park, Danshui, Kura Sushi | Read the post

What we did in Taipei with kids: Day 2 – Indoor Playground, Ximending, King Food Hotpot, Carrefour | Read the post

What we did in Taipei with kids: Day 1 – Greenworld Ecological Farm, Roader’s Plus Hotel, Shilin Night Market | Read the post

What we did in Yilan with kids: 4D3N itinerary | Read the post

What we did in Taichung and Miaoli with kids: 3D2N itinerary | Read the post

Roaders Plus Hotel Taipei reivew – a playground for the kids | Read the post

Red Lantern Yilan 紅樓: Sensational Roasted Duck Nigiri! | Read the post

How to withdraw money from Taiwan ATMs at no foreign transaction fees | Read the post

The post 皇家帝國麻辣火鍋吃到飽 Taipei King Food Spicy Hot Pot review appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

No, this REALLY is it! PARKROYAL on Kitchener Road’s Weekend Seafood Buffet is back with the freshest catches and DIY mocktail bar at Spice Brasserie – bigger and better than before!

The buffet’s lunch selection boasts unlimited servings of restaurant signatures including Fried Slipper Lobster Black Bean Sauce and Chili Crab with Mantou, and an expanded dinner menu features their fiery Black Pepper Crab and the creamiest Salted Egg Crab, along with crowd favourite Oatmeal Prawns with Curry Leaves.

Personal Verdict: I LOVE the Salted Egg Crabs, the husband’s choice was the Black Pepper Crabs, and Cbb had a great time feasting on the keropok (there are so many versions – best if dipped in the belacan!) LOL

What else did we like? The hamachi and swordfish sashimi (they’re great quality), steamed whole seabass HK style, the traditional Indian line-up, the innovative DIY mocktail bar and the DURIAN PENGAT with sticky rice! I’ll let the pictures do the talking. At such reasonable pricing, it’s a must-go! See pricing information below.

Pricing

Oh Crab, It’s Back! Seafood Buffet is available for lunch on Saturdays and Sundays (SG$48/adult and SG$24/child) and dinner on Fridays to Sundays (SG$58/adult and SG$29/child) from now till 16 August 2019. *Not applicable for lunch on Father’s Day, Sunday 16 June 2019. Prices are subject to GST and service charge.

Spice Brasserie

Weekend Seafood Lunch: 12nn to 2.30pm
Weekend Seafood Dinner: 6pm to 10pm
Address: 161 Kitchener Road, Lobby Level
Phone: +65 64283160

For detailed prices and terms and conditions, please visit http://www.parkroyalhotels.com/kitchener

This was an invited tasting but all opinions are my own.

The post Oh Crab, It’s Back! At PARKROYAL on Kitchener Road – Review appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Ok, so this post is for the late bloomers. What? There’s nothing wrong with being a late bloomer okay? We just like to take things slow and have no urgency to “keep up” with the rest of the world okayyy? Yeah, this coming from someone who just stepped foot into Tim Ho Wan for the first time since it landed in Singapore this April.

We wanted to catch Thor at 12.55pm at Plaza Sing, then come out to a late lunch at 3+. We thought the queue wouldn’t be so bad at that time. We were right, technically. The queue wasn’t as bad as compared to the lunch time queue which stretched all the way out the PS entrance, but we were still at the end of a double snaking line. At 3pm on a Monday afternoon. (<== this is a fragment. I had a hard time typing it. Do not copy. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, congratulations, you live a much better life because you’re not infected with the dreaded disease which is “grammar Nazism” which plagues thousands of unfortunate human beings each year. ==> This is a potential run-on. Do not copy. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, congratulations, you live a much better life because you’re not infected with the dreaded disease which is “grammar Nazism” which plagues thousands of unfortunate human beings each year.)

My real personality is coming out. I am not really just a housewife who cooks! I told you I had a past life, right? Did you believe me then? No? Ok la ok la, I’m joking. I am just a housewife who cooks. By the way, “just” and “housewife” should never appear in the same sentence because there is NO SUCH THING as “just a housewife”. This in itself is a major oxymoron. A housewife is very 神圣 ok? Your mother never tell you? (Sorry, I’ll try to stuff my alter ego back in the closet after this post. She’s running a bit loose right now.)

What was I saying? Oh, Tim Ho Wan. Almost forgot.

So we got in line at 3pm and waited 45 minutes before we had our table. The picture above shows what the sitting looks like. I know you came from Hong Kong but really need to make it so squeezy like cha chan teng style not? I didn’t mind la, actually. #justsaying. I love Hong Kong. Whenever I eat at cha chan tengs I purposely squeeze with other people even though there are empty seats available. They don’t even bat an eyelid. (this story is unreal. but I really love Hong Kong!) Ok, so what did we order?

The first item that arrived was the Baked Buns with BBQ Pork ($4.50 for 3). This is pretty unique.. like char siew polo bun but not like char siew polo bun. It was warm and crispy and so fluffy soft at the same time. How is this even possible? It kinda reminded me of Roti Mum. (I chose to link Roti Mum because although it is a knock off, it is local and I love IMM.)

The char siew was sliced in a decent size and not in super huge chunks like 人肉叉烧包。Jason ranked it his #1 choice out of the 7 items we ordered.

The second item was the Congee with Lean Pork, Century Egg & Salted Egg ($5.50). I thought the addition of salted egg was a bit strange. It came chockful of ingredients but became watery too soon. Jason raved about it and ranked it his #2 favourite, but I was not a fan.

Then came the Glutinous Rice Dumpling ($5). I think they should rename it Lotus Leaf Rice because it caused alot of confusion for my brain. The English name made me think it was bak chang while the Chinese name 古法糯米鸡 had me convinced it was lor mai kai and should have come in aluminium packaging. It came with generous pieces of tender chicken, a lonesome piece of mushroom, and a stuffed liver (?) sausage which was also in our Ibu Oka Babi Guling rice in Bali. I liked it the same way I like the $2.50 version from the coffeeshop downstairs my house.

And all of a sudden, my world started to whiz by as the rest of our orders arrived at the same time. The Steamed Egg Cake ($3.80) was my favourite of the lot. I rank it #1 out of every item! The cake was soft and airy, the gula meleka flavour was subtle but rich once you allow it to merge with your palate, the serving was quite generous, and the colour I like! What a genius item. Absolutely loved this.

The Pan Fried Fried Carrot Cake ($4.50 for 3 pcs) was also okay and I felt it was a tad oily. I would have liked it more if it was just a little bit more crispy at the edges, but that’s just me. This is one of Tim Ho Wan’s “Heavenly Kings” along with the char siew buns and steamed cake and I struggle to understand why. It was good, but not outstanding.

We also ordered Vermicelli Roll with Shrimp ($5.50), which came with the elusive yellow chives! Now I know why I can’t get yellow chives. They all go to Hong Kong. This dish was very, very good. The shrimps were crunchy and firm; the flour rolls soft but not overly so. The soy sauce was perfect and wasn’t too heavy, and the sweet yellow chives made all the difference.  I even dunked the Fried Beancurd Skin with Shrimp ($5.50 for 3 pcs) into the soy sauce. The combination went even better than the suggested Worcestershire sauce combi. I think they should get married, these two.

One notable mention: the service was excellent. The queue was moving like well-oiled machinery, the food was served quickly, Jason’s Chinese tea refilled constantly, and the service was prompt and always delivered with a smile. It was a great meal if just for the service alone. The bill came up to $42.61 including 1 refillable Chinese tea and 1 cold barley drink. I would rank my favourite in this order:

#1- Steamed Egg Cake ($3.80)
#2- Vermicelli Roll with Shrimp ($5.50)
#3- Baked Buns with BBQ Pork ($4.50 for 3)
#4. Fried Beancurd Skin with Shrimp ($5.50 for 3 pcs)
#5. Glutinous Rice Dumpling ($5)
#6. Pan Fried Fried Carrot Cake ($4.50 for 3 pcs)
#7. Congee with Lean Pork, Century Egg & Salted Egg ($5.50)

The queue was almost ending (about 10 people in line) when we finished our meal at about 4.30pm. Moral of the story: go at 4+ if you don’t want to queue for too long. We thought we could get away with less queuing at 3pm but 45 minutes isn’t what I would call a short wait. Would I go down to Tim Ho Wan specifically again? I think not, but if I was in the area and the waiting time was acceptable (10-15 minutes), I would get in line just for the 马来糕 and 鲜虾肠, and probably try the beef balls! Remember to dunk the fried beancurd skin into the vermicelli roll soy sauce. Thank me later!

Tim Ho Wan

Plaza Singapura
68 Orchard Road #01-29A
Singapore 238839

ERA Centre
450 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh
#02-02
Singapore 319394

Opening Hours:
10.00am – 10.00pm
09.00am – 10.00pm (Weekend and PH)

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