Marmalade Pantry

When we're bored, too uninspired to think of more new food places to go to or feeling too unadventurous (and too stingy to waste calories on bad food) to try new places, we go to my favourite tea time places, Marmalade Pantry.


Which is probably the only store in Palais Renissance that we can afford.


Tried the Butternut Pumpkin and Sweet Potato soup. It's was a nice bright healthy beta-carotene orange (good for health!) but then I can't really taste the sweet potato, cos the pumpkin taste is quite strong. It's served with a slice of this cheese bread, which is extremely crispy on the outside, and yet as soft and fluffy as cotton wool on the inside.
Next was the entree which was Grilled Pesto Chicken with Butternut pumpkin in Wholemeal wrap.
It's served with vegetable chips and rocket salad.

The grilled chicken is extremely tender and well marinated, and the butternut pumpkin is sweet and frim, but not soggy. It comes with a cream sauce.
Next, we had 2 scoops of ice cream ($7). Honey and Date, and vanilla.Comes in a super huge cup!

The Honey and Date was especially memorable. The dates were very sweet but not overwhelming, but overall, the ice cream was of an average sweetness (don't need to worry too much about getting diabetes :P). The honey left a pleasant aftertaste. This is my brother who is attacking his ice cream. He claims that no one can take photos of the Queen while she's eating (is tt true??) so i'm not allowed to take picture of him eating either (don't really see the link here... do you?)

This is the Lemon Tart - it's the best Lemon tart that I've tasted before (but I haven't tasted many lemon tarts) I think this wil be on my favourite dessert list from now on! It's soft, not soggy, not those gelatinous kind (which I don't like).
It's served with traffic light colours - red yellow and blue! and has a little ring of strawberries and raspberry sauce around it :D

It's dying to be eaten

And the inside - a few slices of strawberries. The tart is really good - not too buttery, yet a bit crumbly and not soggy. I think it'll be even nicer if they served it with vanilla icecream :) you can top up a scoop of vanilla icecream (i think it's about $3.50?? to top up)

Crystal Jade Kitchen - Takeaway

When we're too lazy to go out and too cheapo to pay service charge, my family da paus from Crystal Jade Kitchen. Da pau-ing food from restaurants is one of the most economical discoveries we made last year. Instead of going to Holland V (the nearest Crystal Jade), wasting time competing with the dinner crowd for a parking space, wasting time queueing up for a table, wasting time waiting for the food etc we simply give crystal jade a call and place our order, wait abot half an hour for the food to be prepared and then pick it up.

Best of all, we don't even have to pay the 10% restaurant service charge. Or for the greasy peanuts and wet towels (which does add up to the cost)
It's not like you're paying for the ambience (it's so noisy and cramped inside the restaurant) when you go to Crystal Jade anyway.
So, in other words, take away is cheaper and since we live so nearby, the food is still nice and warm and not soggy. My favourite dish from Crystal Jade is the Prawn and Egg Hor Fun. I have no idea how Crystal Jade makes their prawns so juicy, until the prawn juices explode when you bite down! And the noodles have the oily wok taste too! I used to be crazy over the san lau ( or issit lou?) hor fun (the dry, white one with fish slices and beansprouts) till I ate this.
Dian Xin - below is 3 servings of Siew Mai, 3 servings of Har Gau and 2 servings of char siew pau
Nice and fresh har gau

Siew Mai - My favourite dian xin :D i like the yellow skin and mushroom inside. The Crystal jade ones arent too fatty so i like them.
Sheng Mian
Still reasonably crispy even though we brought it home.

Lychee Porridge

Dunno why they call it lychee porridge. There isn't any lychee inside. Just cuttlefish, and fish maw i think? And topped with peanuts and you tiao. I like how Crystal jade makes their porridge it's very tasty (even the plain one) must be some secret sauce inside.

And lastly, my favourite, Mango Pudding.
This is my tower of mango pudding.Pour in the evaporated milk (must be kept seperate cos the mango pudding will absorb the evaporated milk_

The Line - Shangrila

There's something about buffets that makes it so enticing - even though you pay so much more, for food which probably isn't worth your money, the idea of stuffing yourself silly and eating anything you want in any amount is so delectable that there are just so many buffet restaurants around. Going to a buffet is exciting - I think it's the primitive instinct of hunting your own food - going around the various tables and gathering food, and yet it's like a game where you must prioritize and compartmentalise your stomach so that you can try a bit of everything, and even more of what you like.

My family is very anti-buffet - they don't believe in eating buffets cos you can get better quality food for the same price elsewhere, and get it served right to your table too. So my spectrum for buffets is very limited. Furthermore, they think that it's unhealthy gorging on so much food.

But my take on the buffet is different - it's the dining pleasure, the happyfying thoughts of eating as much as you want - and all for the same price, as well as the thrill of exploring the buffet counters that makes it worth the money. It's not so much the amount that you ate, whether you have "eaten your money's worth" but the experience that makes it worth it.


I said that if I passed my pros and didn't get a viva or supps, I would bring the very helpful Annalisa to The Line, Singapore's largest buffet. I've heard about it so many times but didn't go there cos the prices are pretty steep, and there wasn't an occasion for such steep prices. .That is, till now. The title says it all -I passed :D

Results were out on 4th May. The night before, I was super hoping I won't get supps and that Annalisa better wear a big shirt just incase I really didn't get supps.
This is the escalator that leads down to the line.

Went there at about 630pm and it was pretty empty still, though it was much much more crowded later.

And now, I shall begin typing about my journey through The Line:

There are super alot of food stations - Seafood Bar, Salad Bar, Japanese section,Italian food station (Pizza, pasta, baked eggplant/lasagne etc), International Food, Roast Beef and Roasted Vegetables (including a Yorkshire Pudding which i didn't have enough space to try), Chinese food, Indian food, Local food, Roast meats (Chinese style), and Three dessert stations.

Seafood Bar
There was this very nice seafood bar which had oysters (super fresh yumyum!), scallops, crayfish, prawns, shellfish(dunno what kind though - it's in between the prawn and scallop in the picture) and lobster on a bed of ice. Including the very nice orange coloured cocktail sauce.

Japanese Counter

They have lots of sashimi (salmon, tuna, octopus, squid, hamachi) and sushi (including handrolls) and small cups of various seafoods.
International Food and Chinese Food
What i ate (clockwise) was a bit of the dian xin, fish maw soup, roasted zucchini, butternut pumpkin, dory, salmon with spinach, duck with caramalized turnip, sweet and sour pork.

They also had White Asparagus soup which tasted very interesting.

Indian Food and Local Cusine
Satay, butter chicken, Lamb Masala, some indian vegetable curry, tandoori lamb (very nice!)
Dessert Counter
This is one of the three dessert counters - super alot of desserts to try - I didn't manage to try most of them cos I was getting full!
From left to right: Chocolate chip magdeline with chocolate (which is really nice and thick), Raspberry Jelly with white wine jelly topping, Chocolate MousseTiramisu (very nice!) and panna cotta
Chocolate Crepe with different sauces - Strawberry, blueberry, cherry and pineapple cinnamon.
The last dessert station is an icecream parlor with green tea, vanilla, chocolate, mango sorbet, coconut etc ice cream. You can choose any toppings you want from nuts, wafers, cookies, oreo bits, gummy bears, pocky sticks and lots of other sweets :D

Didn't eat as much as i wanted - maybe it's because i didn't fast (like i usually do before buffets( and i was so stressed earlier while waiting for the results or the lack of sleep :( i would like to have tried more of the Italian station (pinched a bit of annalisa's pizza)

The happy girl who got a treat - like striking lottery liddat

Thanks to Annalisa that I can blog this cos if not, i'll be sadly studying and missing out on my much needed june break!

Thanks for helping my pathetic brain in memorising all the microb, for the nonsensical mnemonics (Can C I D Handcuff Immature Innocent Girls, Georgia Lee Will Keep MEnDing Eczema, Some Men Never Enjoy Paying Huge Amounts of Cash), testing and testing me random things, listening to me whine and complain everyday!

The Line (Shangrila Hotel)

Tel 62134275

Price for dinner buffet for 2 people - $158 nett (includes all the taxes). Price for passing Pros - Priceless

HSBC Card holders get 15% discount.

Azabu Sabo Desserts 2

I think this dessert is called Zen - It's red beans, mochi (glutinous rice balls) and Green Tea Ice Cream from Hokkaido.
Btw, my fave green tea ice cream is this one :D

Soft ice cream (super alot of ice cream) with a sweet potato cake below. The sweet potato is steaming hot and the ice cream has green tea sauce. It's really delicious - my 2nd fave dessert from azabu sabo.

However, since they're so generous with the ice cream, it tends to form a minature leaning tower of pisa cos the base is so hot and it keeps melting - so must eat it quickly quickly!

Mango Milkshake - it's very very very creamy and very very very thick and it's really too much to drink by yourself! but it's fun to attempt it... The mango taste is really strong - and they use ice cream for the milkshake base.
Azabu sabo was having a seasonal promotion and there was this new dessert called "Hokkaido Balls" It's these fried cake/ balls with ice cream and red bean, with a lovely buttery sauce base. I think it's like home-made butterscotch?. It comes with vanilla ice cream (from Hokkaido of course) and the vanilla ice cream is really full of vanilla beans :D

Mochi and red beanNice vanilla beans :D it's one of the more expensive herb/ingredient or whatever in the world . Yum yum. and you can see a little bit of the butterscotch sauce at the bottom.

Fried Ban Mian - Dover Hawker Centre

Went to dover hawker centre on monday for lunch. There's quite alot of parking spaces even with the lunch crowd (not very crowded anyway). The boneless chicken rice there is supposed to be very famous - not bad but i like the ghim moh one better... But it's really cheap only 2 bucks and there is quite alot of meat.

Anyway, since i don't really like rice, i decided to try the ban mian (i like the mee hoon kuey cos i can use a spoon to eat it - and i won't need to use chopsticks cos my noodles will keep slipping out and splashing about). Ban Mian is one of my more favourite dishes to eat in a hawker centre cos i like how the noodles taste fresh and i think they don't add in preservatives (not like the yellow wax/colouring in the yellow noodles). And the soup is full of flavour cos they use ikan bilis for the soup base.

This stall has ban mian with a twist - they have 'Dry Ban Mian', which is actually the normal ban mian noodles, but then it's stir fried with cabbage, minced pork and crab sticks, along with a large helping of fried ikan bilis and shallots.

It's not too oily (not oozing with oil like most fried noodles) , no wok (tze char) taste and it's seasoned lightly with some sauce.

It comes with a bowl of soup (the same soup base as the normal soup ban mian) which has lots of dark green vegetables and a bit of minced pork.

Dried ban mian costs about $3 or $3.50 (i can't really rememver though)

Astons Specialities

Went to Astons at Katong on Labour Day. Highly recommended by Annalisa and the ieatishootipost (www.ieatishootipost.blogspot.com). It was opposite Katong Mall, and since it was Labour Day, we decided to have dinner early - at 530pm to beat the dinner crowd (which was really really long).

Astons is a restaurant that serves western food and has 'Quality and Value for Money'. It has a restaurant style service, and a mid-class restaurant ambience (less noisy and cramped compared to Crystal Jade too) with quick and efficient service.

The food prices are one of the best around - $5.90 for a chicken chop, about $12 for the cheapest steak (and a good size for the price too). The menu prices is the price that you pay - there aren't any hidden costs anywhere which will set you back quite a bit.

Tried the Cream of Mushroom Soup ($2.50) which had a good amount of mushroom, nice and creamy, and not too watery or lumpy. It comes with 2 slices of garlic bread which is lightly toasted and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They were warm when served too, and not burnt either.The mains include Steak (speciality here - most people come here to eat steak), chicken chop, fish, lamb chop, honey pork ribs etc. The main courses come with 2 side dishes, which you can select - Hot side dishes include Mashed Potato, Baked Potato with butter, Baked Beans, Corn Cob, french fries etc. Cold side dishes are garden salad, coleslaw, pasta salad etc

I tried the double chicken chop - which essentially is like a normal chicken chop - just that they give you 2 pieces of chicken (quite big) thigh (boneless too). You can choose different flavours for the 2 pieces of chicken. There is normal grilled chicken, teriyaki, black pepper, hickory sauce (bbq) etc. A sincle chicken chop costs a mere $5.60 and a double chicken chop costs $9.90.

I tried the black pepper and hickory chicken chops. The black pepper sauce was just the right consistency, not to watery but not lumpy or too thick either. I really enjoyed the hickory chicken chop - it tastes like bbq sauce, but is more tangy. The chicken steaks were juicy and cooked just right - very satisfying.

The coleslaw was very good -the vegetables were crisp and fresh and the dressing was very tasty.

They have lots of beef - the normal sirloin, ribeyes, all the way to wagyu beef ($38??) for people who are feeling indulgent.
Steak (duno what cut though)
Rib eye steak
Another steak (don't know the cut either :( )

Yilin is eating her steak happily

The service was very good, especially for the price you are paying - and no service charge either! GST is also included in the prices - and no hidden cost for irritating things like bread (or peanuts for a chinese restaurant equivalent) or wet towels (not provided, but won't you rather save your like 30 cents before gst and service charge?)They don't serve water, but then plain water is charged at 30 cents, and the drinks are at a very reasonable price - $1.20 for soft drinks, $1.80 for iced lemon tea, $2.20 for a bottle of snapple. This is very unlike other money grabbing restaurants which overcharge - $5 for a 500ml of evian, and that is before gst and service charge too.


The very low prices did not compromise the service either.
The waiter serving us was very efficient, and even though we were sitting at the corner table we weren't ignored. In fact, he checked on our table periodically to see if we needed anything. THe service was warm and friendly, and the waiters were helpful. While ordering, the cashier explained what the different sauces tasted like, and took the initiative the recommend the popular dishes.

Overall, the dining experience was very pleasant, and for the price that you are paying, you're getting a really good deal. Really no compromise on quality, quantity or service. If I lived in the east, which i unfortunately do not, i would surely go back often. But since i don't, I will STILL go back. However, do be prepared to que if you go during the peak dinner times - the dining area is quite small and they do not take phone reservations.

Astons Specialities (Opposite Katong Mall)
119 East Coast Rd Singapore 428806
Email astonsoon@yahoo.com.sg