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After collecting our Standard Chartered Marathon race pack from Expo earlier this afternoon, we were deciding a dinner place to start our carbo-loading session. While we were excited about the upcoming 42km (painful) run, we were looking forward to the makan session a whole lot more! After some deliberation, we settled for Lavender Food Square as it had been a long while since my last visit!

Kok Kee Wanton Mee (国记云吞面) - S$4/-


Patrons of this food centre would be familiar with this wonton mee stall that perpetually has a long queue. Spotting a five men queue, I simply had to join the bandwagon and succumb to being the classic 'Food Nazi' - poor customer service but supposedly good food.

Offered in two sizes, we went for the smaller portion which came at S$4 while the larger was S$5. To be honest, I thought that was rather exorbitant, considering the amount of food served; two wantons, six thin slices of char siew and few strands of greens.

While I felt that the price was not proportionate to the serving size, the wantons were well marinated and flavourful. What scored points was the al dente noodles which were bouncy and springy. What I particularly fancied was the mildly sweet sauce that the grumpy uncle poured on the noodles which made all the difference. The char siew however was dry and while we liked that it was thinly sliced, the much desired savoury taste was sorely lacking. I would also have preferred a stronger punch with the chilli sauce, which seemed too watery for my liking.

Verdict: 7.5/10

Verdict: 6.5/10

對這碟服務員推介的海鮮墨汁飯十分失望，跟我在 Fandango 嚐過的有挺大的出入。海鮮雖新鮮，但海鮮蝦湯不夠香濃，墨汁不多所以未能覆蓋整碟的飯粒。

TAPAGRIA

尖沙咀彌敦道100號

The ONE 18樓

http://www.tapagria.hk

For those who work around the vicinity of Raffles Place would be familiar with Botan Japanese. Conveniently located at Peking Street or Far East Square, it was with some asking around that we eventually found the place, discreetly tucked away while being surrounded by the buzz during lunch time.

Upon reading some good reviews about the place, I decided to make an advance booking the evening before. When we arrived at the restaurant, we were warmly greeted by the servers who promptly showed us to our table which was neatly prepared with the menu laid before us.

We had barely five minutes to go through the menu before the enthusiastic waitress came over to take our orders and we had to send her away. While I understand that high turnaround of tables is desired especially during peak lunch time, it would actually be ideal if diners have the luxury of enjoying a slightly relaxed meal without being pressured to place their orders.

The menu consists of the usual lunch sets, sashimi platter, ala carte dishes such as karage and maki rolls. Spoilt for choice and not the best performer when it comes to making food decisions, we both decided to take the easy option of lunch sets.

Unagi set (S$25/++)


Each of the lunch sets comes complete with an appetiser of marinated fish niblets, serving of sashimi, chawanmushi (steamed egg custard), bowl of rice, miso soup, potato and chicken cutlet. Not forgetting two slices of orange, of course.


The sashimi was almost melt-in-your-mouth quality with the tuna and salmon being the more impressive protein. We would have preferred it better if the serving portion for the sashimi was slightly more generous but the plus of having the lunch set was that you could have a taste of all the various types of culinary techniques that the chef has to offer.

The cutlet dishes were also above average in standard and the marinade had a good touch of salinity. Chawanmushi was also silky smooth and you could taste the shiitake mushroom in whole which was firm and complemented the texture well.

Moving on to my selected main of unagi (grilled eel), it was smooth, soft and had a beautiful coating of that unami sauce that would make you go oomph. Overall, the dishes suited my palate and the hot tea surely complemented my lunch.

My only complaint was I felt excessively thirsty after the meal when I returned to office. Not sure if it was the unagi or the miso soup but that certainly made me revise my verdict and it suffered some penalty points.

Tempura sashimi set (S$28/++)

The only distinct difference with my dining companion's lunch set was his tempura in place of my unagi. It was crispy and the batter coating the prawns and vegetables was light, without giving an overly greasy touch.

Fans of desserts and cakes should be familiar with the name Patisserie G, which opened in November last year at Millenia Walk. Helmed by chef Gwen Lim, whose passion and appetite for quality desserts are inspired around the world from various chefs, she aspires to share what she loves to eat with her customers.

We ordered several cakes and had them on the go since we did not want to wait for a table and all the cakes arrived safely intact as the staffs took the extra effort to tape the serving cardboard for the cakes firmly to the box.

The G Spot (S$9/-)

Known for its signature controversially named dessert, "The G Spot", it seemed too good to pass. With an impeccably smooth and glossed surface, the dark chocolate mousse with chocolate meringue sits on a chocolate hazelnut praline crunch. Slicing through the cake reveals a rather messy picture but it definitely overwhelmed us in terms of taste, flavours and texture. The melt-in-your-mouth mousse was perfectly complemented by the crunch of the hazelnut pieces. The richness of the quality dark chocolate used also meant that it could be a little satiating on one's appetite so we would surely recommend pairing with some tea or coffee or have this to share.



The G-Crunch (S$3.50/-)


Labelled "Special of the Day", the G-Crunch brought back fond memories of those sweetened toasts that one can expect to find in bakeries. The thick toasts were baked to golden brown perfection with a nice crust and icing. There was a subtle hint of honey and a strong fragrance of butter with each tasteful bite.