Manhattan Fish Market: 1 For 1 Fish 'n Chips Cherry Snapper (till 26 Jan 2014)

Source: Manhattan Fish Market

Manhattan Fish Market: 1 For 1 Fish 'n Chips Cherry Snapper (till 26 Jan 2014)

- Valid till 26 Jan 2014 (excluding eve of and PH)
- Flash this coupon before ordering

Swee Choon Dim Sum Restaurant (Jalan Besar)

Swee Choon Dim Sum Restaurant in operation for more than 50 years is a well-known dim sum restaurant which is extremely popular among Singaporeans and tourist. It has been featured on many newspapers, magazines as well as food shows. Unlike most other dim sum restaurants, Swee Choon's operating hours are from 6pm to 6am catering ensuring that Singaporeans have an extra option for supper and are well-fed throughout the night. Lucky for us, now we can all have dim sum even at midnight or in the wee hours of the morning! 

Swee Choon located at Jalan Besar opposite Berseh Food Centre is so popular that it occupy 5 units of shophouses along this stretch of road. It is in the between both Farrer Park and Lavendar MRT stations, a good 10 to 15 minutes walk away from either stations.

Occupying 5 units, Swee Choon offers both alfresco dining and air-conditioned (indoor) dining. In addition, it has a unit which cater only to walk-in customers who order takeaways. 

As we already knew that there would be a long queue if we arrived late, we made it a point to arrive at 630pm on a Friday for dinner. Luckily for us, we got the last available table at the indoor (air-conditioned) dining area. 

Menu

Menu

Menu

The menu with the prices. As you can see, Swee Choon offers a wide variety of Hong Kong and Shanghai dim sum, and local zi char dishes. 

Chrysantheum Tea $1.30 per pax

For drinks, we ordered their Chrysantheum Tea which cost $1.30 per pax. It was served in a metal pot and is refillable. They mixed the tea bags themselves. The Chrysantheum Tea was quite good as it was light, refreshing, fragrant and help to wash down the grease. 

Century Egg Porridge $2.50

The Century Egg Porridge $2.50 was served in a small bowl. It was decent, but not the best. There were chunks of century egg and chicken meat in it. 

Mee Suah Kueh $2

Swee Choon's signature Mee Suah Kueh $2; deep-fried vermicelli cake (mee sua) which can only be found at Swee Choon. Show this kueh to anyone and they would associate it with Swee Choon. Almost every table ordered this. I thought that this was unique and not bad. But  I will not rate it as a die die must try as the standard seemed to be inconsistent and it was a little too greasy. One of the kueh could have been fried a little longer. The texture was unique. Crisp, rough texture on the outside while the interior was moist. 

Fried Golden Doufu (Tofu) $3.50

This Fried Golden Doufu (Tofu) $3.50 was surprisingly good. Despite the simplicity, it was well executed. The tofu was fried till it was crispy on the outside. The addition of the pork floss at the top was the icing on the cake.

Carrot Cake $2

The Carrot Cake $2 was not bad too. There were a good mix of radish, dried shrimps and chinese sauages in it. It was also a little too greasy. 

Pan Fried Pork Dumpling $4

The Pan Fried Pork Dumpling $4 was pan fried till it was so crispy. In addition, they were so generous fillings. Dipping it into the vinegar along with slices of ginger made this just so delectable. 

Beancurd Prawn Roll $2.80

The Beancurd Prawn Roll $2.80 with minced meat and prawns in it was ordinary.

Steamed Pork Ribs $2.50

The Steamed Pork Ribs $2.50 was a let down. The part of the pork served was not pork rib and it was either too fatty or was all bones.

Overall, Swee Choon Dim Sum Restaurant is worth a try. There were hits and misses in the dishes we ordered. Service wise, despite the restaurant being full, the staff were efficient. It was easy getting the attention of the staff. Do note that this restaurant only accepts cash or nets. They do not accept credit card. Also, they do not take any reservation. 

As we left Swee Choon Dim Sum Restaurant at close to 8pm, we saw a queue! It was very thoughtful of the restaurant owner to provide chairs outside. If you are planning to visit this restaurant during dinner time, do remember to come early. 

Swee Choon Dim Sum Restaurant (Jalan Besar)
183/ 185/ 187/ 189/ 191 Jalan Besar
Singapore 208882
Tel: 62257788
Opening Hours: Monday to Sunday 6 pm - 6 am 
                          Close on Tuesday
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Danro Japanese Hot Pot Buffet (Serangoon NEX)

Being a fan of steamboat cuisines, I just had to check out Danro Japanese Hot Pot Buffet. Danro Japanese Hot Pot Buffet opened by Ministry of Food (MOF). Although Japanese hot pot buffet is not new in Singapore, Danro is the first to offer eight broths (soup base) from different regions of Japan.

The prices range from $17.90++ for weekday lunch to $25.90++ for weekend dinner (for adults).

Left to right: Chicken & Milk Broth, Chicken Spicy Broth

Customers can choose up to 2 different soup base in 1 pot. We chose the Chicken & Milk Broth from Asuka Nabe and Chicken Spicy Broth from Danro Nabe. Now's the best time to taste the original taste of the soup as the refills would dilute your soup base (will explain more on that further down the post).

Handmade Kiritanpo

Danro Japanese Hot Pot comes with handmade Kiritanpo. However, this is limited to one per person. The Kiritanpo, a specialty dish of Akita Prefecture is essentially grilled rice skewer. Japanese cooked rice are pounded until they are mashed before being hand formed into cylinders around wooden skewers. They are then lightly brushed with special sweet sauce or miso for flavour before being toasted over an open fire. The Kiritanpo can either be eaten on its own or dipped into the hot pot.

Soup Refill Station

There was a Soup Refill Station, an innovative way to cut down on the manpower and increase productivity. There were small pots of Chicken or Wafu soup in it which customers could get anytime. These soup were a 'one soup fits all solution'. Since both our soup were chicken broths, we had to use the chicken soup refill. Even when e were to ask a serving for a refill, they used just chicken soup for both our soup bases. The problem with this was that it resulted in a diluted and not as fragrant soup base compared to when we just started.

Hence, our Chicken & Milk Broth became less milky and less fragrant while our Chicken Spicy Broth became less spicy. In addition, there was no attempt to stock up the soup refill station. Midway into our meals, there were no more pots of soup at that station as the were too few staff and these staff were all busy clearing the tables.

Condiments and sauce dips

A wide variety of condiments and sauce dips.

Onsen Egg

The Japanese Onsen Egg in light soy sauce was very well executed. Not only did it looked good, it also tasted good too. I liked it so much that I went for an additional helping of it.

Left to right: Japanese potato salad, Somen with soba sauce

The Japanese potato salad and Somen with soba sauce were quite decent too.

Sushi

There's a wide variety of food available ranging from Sushi, Bak Kut Teh, Japanese Yong Tau Foo, Cooked food and the typical steamboat ingredients such as corn, meat, seafood, vegetables.

Left to right: Bak Kut Teh, Japanese Yong Tau Foo

Left to right: Homemade Hot Dishes and Vegetables

Left to right: Seafood, shabu shabu beef and pork slices

The seafood corner was just average. The clams and prawns were not fresh especially the latter which stuck to its shell and meat was not firm. The shabu shabu beef and pork slices fared much better. We ate so many plates of it.

It was easy to control the temperature of the hot pot with the electric induction cooker.

Desserts and cakes

Left to right: Drinks, Soft Serve Ice cream

The DIY Soft Serve Ice Cream was fantastic. Its the same as what you get when you order ice cream dishes in MOF. Even though we were very full, we still went for this and it was oh just so shiok! There's always room for dessert! 

Although there were hits and misses (seafood was not fresh, one size fits all soup for refills, service), Danro Japanese Hot Pot Buffet is really value for money! I certainly enjoyed most of the food here. 

Danro Japanese Hot Pot Buffet (Serangoon NEX)

#02-04/06 Serangoon NEX

23 Serangoon Central

Singapore 556083

Tel: 6634 4608
Opening Hours: Mon to Fri: 11:30 am - 3:30 pm, 5:30 pm - 10:00 pm
                          Sat to Sun: 11:30 am - 3:30 pm, 5:00 pm - 10:30 pm

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