Serenity Spanish Bar & Restaurant

So I saw this promotion on Serenity's Roasted Suckling Pig, however when I got there, I was quite shock at how expensive it cost. In order not to waste the trip, me and my girlfriend decided to order something else.

Sangria De Original (White Wine) $16

Comments: A nice refreshing drink with its fruity flavor

Salteado De Setas $12.80

Comments: The mushrooms tasted not bad as an appetizer. But after eating too much of it plain, it gets boring. 

Codillo De Cerdo $45.80

Comments: We decided to go for the pork knuckle. The dish is enough to feed 2. Crisp on the outside, soft and tender on the outside. Add some mustard and their chilli and it tastes really nice. Normally for German, they would give sauerkraut, but here they gave mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes were nice too, to say the least. Overall it was a nice dish.

Overall Review: A place with really nice ambience, with live band playing nice music. Nice food and nice cocktails. However, I felt their prices were a bit on the high side. Maybe it's because of Vivocity's rental. However, the place was quite packed.

Website: Serenity Spanish Bar & Restaurant

Facebook: Like them here.

Details of the place: Opening Hours

Li Bai

Located in Sheraton Towers is this award-winning restaurant: Li Bai. They serve really good dim sum, however the pricing is a bit steep, considering its location to be in a 5-star hotel. Below are a few dishes ordered while I had lunch there with my family one afternoon.

Tapioca Chips

Comments: Their appetizer dish, nice crispy chips.

Foie Gras

Comments: Cooked really nicely. Melt in your mouth and nicely marinated.

Pork Bun With Crispy Skin 3 for $4.80

Comments: Comparable to Tim Ho Wan's bao, but theirs had more filling.

Steamed Chicken Feet in Special Sauce $4.20

Comments: Delicious, well marinated and cooked nicely. Has a sweet taste and melt in your mouth feeling when chewing on it.

Steamed Scallops Dumplings 3 for $6.60

Comments: Not bad, sweet tasting and nice.

Steamed Rice Rolls with Shrimp $6.80

Comments: The skin is silky smooth, the prawns are big and fresh. Could not ask for more.

Steamed Rice Rolls with Char Siew $6.80

Comments: Skip this, just go for the prawns, unless of course you prefer char siew

Steamed Pork Buns 3 for $4.80

Comments: Normal tasting

Deep-fried Soft-shell Crab with Salt and Pepper $12

Comments: Quite oily and a bit burnt. A bit expensive at $12.

Deep-fried Crispy Goose Rolls $8

Comments: This was really nice. Worth the order. Crispy with nice fillings

Deep-fried Crispy Prawn with Mango 3 for $6.90

Comments: Not bad, a favorite dish that's why we ordered it. 

Steamed Crystal Dumplings with Mixed Vegetables $4.80

Comments: Did not really like it, maybe because the mixture of vegetable fillings was quite contrasting.

Steamed Chicken "Siew Mai" with Fish Roe 4 for $6.80

Comments: Normal. The scallop dumplings tasted better

Steamed Pork Ribs in Black Bean Sauce $4.20

Comments: The meat was quite tough. A bit disappointed

Deep-fried Crispy Scallop Rolls 3 for $6.60

Comments: This dish is REALLY REALLY REALLY NICE. A must order. Not expensive but JUST NICE!

Baked Canadian Cod with Ophiopogon Root and Honey $15

Comments: The dish is simply Amazing. The fish is cooked perfectly with that honey glazed taste. You don't even have to bite it. It just melts.

Braised Spinach Beancurd with Golden Mushrooms and Conpoy $8

Comments: So-so dish. Order only if you like beancurd

"Forgot what's the name of this dish

Comments: Nice dish with fresh and delicious fish.

Steamed Stuffed Fish Maw with Shrimps Paste $10

Comments: Don't waste your money ordering this. Nothing special and not much taste even with the sauce.

Overall Review: Nice food overall but expensive. Nice ambience too.

Website: Li Bai Restuarant

Details of the place can be found in their website.

Lu Gang Xiao Zhen by The Asian Kitchen

As a roast pork lover, I was intrigued to try out this place when I saw a picture of their roast pork on their menu. The review is below. Also found out that this place is also mostly Taiwan food therefore went to try it out. Have a read below on the dishes I had. Sorry I don't have most of the prices for the dish because I misplaced the receipt and their website is quite lousy because their menu do not have the prices to the dish and they do not have pictures of their dishes.

Village Tofu

Comments:  The starch is slightly salty and thick but you can't go wrong with tofu. It still taste nice but the portion is quite small. Serving it in a claypot also keeps the dish warm.

Fried Glass Noodles

Comments: Quite a refreshing and nice dish. Easy to eat but not much ingredients in it.

Oyster Mee Sua $8.90

Comments: Quite salty and not quite the same as those in Taiwan. A very small portion for $8.90. Not worth it

Guitar Duck and Roast Pork Combo

Comments: The meat is slightly fat, moist but the skin of both the duck and the pork could be more crispy.

Crispy Duck Roll

Comments: This is quite good although could be quite filling. The duck inside is moist and soft and the roll is crisp.

Prawn Paste Chicken

Comments: Normal. Chicken was quite tender

Lemon Sliced Fish

Comments: The fish was fresh and the lemon gives a nice citrus taste to the dish.

Overall Review: In all honesty, this place is a nice cosy place to have dinner, but the downside of having it in ION Orchard means that during dinner time there would be this never-ending queue, plus the dishes would be expensive and their serving really small. The food is not that fantastic to die for also. There are other places that money could be more well spent. Their website is also not done up properly. So I'm not really gonna recommend this place to my readers out there.

Details of the place: 2 Orchard Turn #B3-22 Ion Orchard

Ayam Penyet RIA

There are many Ayam Penyet restaurants in Lucky Plaza. It's like a Monopoly. Ayam Penyet, also known as smashed crispy chicken is one of my favourite malay dishes. Sadly this ayam penyet restaurant I went to did not taste as good.

Ice Campur $3.50

Happy Soda $2.10

Comments: Tastes like Bandung and 7-up

Kerupuk $1.50

Comments: Can never go wrong with Kerupuk

Baby Squid $7

Comments: The squid really small and quite hard, more crumbs than squid.

Fried Promfret $6.90

Comments: Felt that the fish was really dry. It it was fried better, the inside would be moist and soft, while the outside would be crispy.

Ayam Penyet $6.90

Comments: Even with a drumstick/thigh, it could not save the dish. The chicken was so dry, probably over-cooked. The tofu was not that great too.

Overall review:  Although the restaurant was quite full during dinner time, I feel the food there is not that nice, plus it's kinda over-priced. A nice ayam penyet is one that I've eaten almost every week when I was working in NUH. It's the stall in the kent-ridge wing kopitiam. A side-note, the chilli here is REALLY SPICY. So eat with care.

Details of the place: 

304 Orchard Road

#01-45, #04-25/26 Lucky Plaza

Tel: +65 6235 6390