Xing Chen Pork Ribs Soup At Vivo City Food Court

It was Alan and Karine 's daughter 1st month celebration. ( so fast, their baby 1st month old already) We went over to his place for buffet in the afternoon before going down to Vivo City in the evening.

Last Sunday, before we went to watch 2012, we had dinner at Vivo City Food Court.. ( We wanted to try Jpot but it was fully booked again, then we tried the Steamboat buffet besides Daiso,also full house..)

Anyway, we tried this Xing Chen Pork Ribs Soup and was disappointed .. The main dish which was the pork ribs soup was not impressive, considering that it cost $7.50 for such a small bowl ( we actually ordered the premium pork ribs, the normal one cost $6..but the pork ribs like look small to me too), we did not even ask for extra soup! The braised peanuts were ok, even the barley drink also not homemade, its made using barley syrup..

I much prefer Balestier pork ribs soup to this ... This one just cannot make it in my own opinion. This will be my first and last time eating pork ribs soup from this stall. The total bill came up to $16.20 ( still got GST), for a bowl of pork ribs, 3 small side dishes, 2 bowls of rice, and a cup of barley drink made from syrup. I think there are better choices at the food court!

Madam Saigon & TCC

12th July - I went to Bugis to celebrate Huizhen and Ah Guan 's birthday. Initially we had wanted to go to the Turkish restaurant at Shaw Towers but it was closed, so my friends decided to have Vietnamese food at madam Saigon along Liang Street Street.. My first time eating at Madam Saigon.. I would not say the good is any fantastic, just quite average for me.. what disappoint me was the Vietnamese flat white noodles, because they served us normal local thin kuay teow.. !! plus the manager or the boss's service was kind of bad.. When he served us our main courses, one of my friends asked the manager or the boss to take the empty appetizer plate away, and he immediately told my friend, he only got 2 hands!! (why cant he politely say ok, wait a minute!, instead of saying he got 2 hands) .. and he even asked me not to take any photographs half way through.. ( Maybe he don't want me to publish photos to say how bad the food was or he thought I am a spy!!!)

Here are some pictures I managed to snap (before the manager asked me not to take any photograph):

This combination platter ( for 5-6 pax) cost $29.90







This is the beef balls and sliced beef noodles I shared with Ashley...

Vietnam prawn noodles, dry type..

As it was afternoon, most of us were quite full and so did not order alot, in fact most of us shared our main dishes (the noodles).. there were 10 of us and the bill was around $120, no credit card discount or whatever..

Verdict: I find the food just average, nothing special.. plus the service of the boss or manager is quite bad( like ya ya papaya) .. I will not revisit again! ( I have tried nicer Vietnam food before)..

• If the food is just average, with bad service, I will not revisit, plus help to spread the bad words to my friends. ( for example, Madam Saigon at liang Seah Street)
• If the food is very bad, very worst, ( even with great service), I will also not revisit, plus help to spread the bad words around to my friends so that they wont waste money to eat awful food)
• if the food is nice, with great service, I will definitely revisit and recommend my friends there. ( such as With A Pinch of Salt)
• However, if the food is super nice, make me to heaven type, even with bad service, I will confirm revisit and I will spread the good words to my friends ( but will warn them about the bad service in advance) ..One such example is The Yong Tau Foo at Ang Mo Kio Central Hawker Centre.

After our meal at Madam Saigon, we crossed over to the dessert shop and have some desserts and ate the durian birthday cake bought from Angie the Choice...before george, shuyun, yuhui, mike and ah guan left..

So left with Chandy, Sulynn, Huizhen, Ashley and me and we went over to Bugis Village to walk walk, then went to TCC to have drinks and eat again.. the 5 of us shared these 2 dishes.. Yummy! ( cant remember the names, the 1st one is Lasagne)..both these 2 dishes were on the same page of the menu, $16 and $16.50 each.

Happy birthday to Ah Guan and Huizhen.. Hope you 2 have a wonderful time!

Astons @ 312 Balestier Road

1st July 2009, I went to Tuckshoppe Coffeeshop at 312 Balestier Road to eat Astons for the first time.. (This coffeeshop has nice toasted wholemeal peanut bread, I still remember Tiphanie recommended to this bread and brought me my first Tuckshoppe toasted wholemeal peanut bread) .. I went there a few months ago with a friend to eat the wholemeal peanut toast.. but a few days back, I went there to eat Astons.. I know there is Astons at Serangoon Garden but I never tried that before..

Anyway, it was my first time eating at Astons..

Here were what we ordered:

Each main dish is served with 2 sides ( think there were more than 10 selections of hot/cold sides to choose) .. but end up we ordered mashed potatoes, onion rings and garden salad. there were other sides such as french fries, corn, coleslaw, etc..

Anyway I ate the grilled fish with herbs, the fish was cannot make it, not fresh plus too peppery..think the cook must have put lots of pepper to cover the smell... the lemon lime chicken was nice.. The side dishes were ok, ... just that the grilled fish quite terrible.. I will not order their grilled fish again!

There is another coffee shop further down the road ( nearer to the tau sar bing shops side) which served quite nice western food at a much cheaper price. Sometimes I will go there to eat ...

Ryoichi @ Marina Square Centre Stage

They also have set dinner for $8.60 or $8.80++.. This was one of the worst Unagi I have eaten, I even ate a few bones... but according to ling, she said unagi bones are soft bones, the same as ikan bilis's bones.. so it should be ok ..

The miso soup also cannot make it.. think the salad, rice, ice cream and rice still ok... think I made the wrong choice, should have ordered their popular choice..

My total bill came up to $7.75 including 10% service charge and 7% GST.