Afternoon tea @ Pollen

Had a relaxing afternoon tea session with girl friend at Pollen. Had always wanted to visit but it does not seems to appeal to many whom I know 😕. Probably it gave the impression that dining here is very expensive which indeed is but I personally felt it is still affordable for afternoon tea. The price ($38++/pax) we paid includes complementary access to the flower dome. For afternoon tea, guests are sitted at the Pollen Terrace where you can view the main attraction of the Flower dome from.

These are some options for the tea set

With coffee/ tea - $38++

Free-flow coffee/tea - +$5

With glass of white peach Bellini - $50

With free-flow Prosecco (two hours) - $78

We opt for the free-flow coffee/tea. There are only 5 organic tea to select from (Earl grey, English breakfast, Chamomile, Sweet ginger, Red berries). For coffee, there are 7 (Espresso, Macchiato, Long black, Flat white, Cappuccino, Latte, Caramel latte)

These are the savouries served: (Clockwise) Chicken and mushroom tart, Egg and watercress sandwich, Squid ink crackers, Multigrain with smoked salmon and avocado, Beef caramelised onion and cumin croquettes and Beetroot hummus with feta and sesame

All are nice and different from what we usually had for high tea. Nothing to complain 😋

This beetroot hummus with feta and sesame is surprisingly good. Feels healthy eating it 😄

Almond and grape gazpacho is part of the savouries. It is a cold soup. Never thought of such combination and it taste really good. 

Sweets served: Clotted cream, Fruity jam, Chocolate marshmallow tart, Coffee macaron, Mandarin choux, Peanut and currant financier, Earl grey lemon cake

 Orange and white chocolate scones

The sweets are not as good as the savouries or rather, there was not much surprise as it is just normal sweets served during high tea.

Overall, I will visit again but not near future and if there is a change in menu. Love the ambiance here, very good for couples, girls date and when the weather is hot 😄

So we walk around flower dome after the tea. Isn't it relaxing? 😃

Lunch @ Alexandra Village Food Centre

Recently have been addicted to food at Alexandra Village Food Centre. 😁

For two consecutives days, I had these 小笼包 and 红油抄手 from stall #01-56 (上海拉面小笼包). The 小笼包 taste is sweeter than the usual ones we ate at Crystal Jade and Ding Tai Fung but still good. For 红油抄手, I can never forget the silky smooth dumpling skin. It is so silky that you can swallow it without chewing if not careful. The sauce is not as spicy but still a good combination although I prefer it to be more spicy. But definitely, I will return for more 😋 Oh! And it is very affordable, at $4.50 each.

This is another stall that I love 😍. Seafood soup from 炎记海鲜汤. It is along the same side as the claypot laksa. They have three kinds of soup - Seafood ($6/$8/$10), Crayfish seafood ($10/$12/$14), Red grouper seafood ($12/$14). I had tried seafood and red grouper. Would prefer the red grouper compared to dory fish used in normal seafood soup. There are different pricing for additional ingredients (La La - $2, Fish maw - $2), so you can add what you like. Soup is very tasty which I like but for some may feel it is too salty after finishing.

8-course Omakase @ Cast Iron

Saw from Facebook on the promotion for the 8-course Omakase at Cast Iron. Usual price is $128++ but paid only $68++ for the promotion when I make reservation through HungryGoWhere.

As I did not have the chance to try omakase during my japan trip in May because it is always fully booked, I was really excited when I saw this promotion 😏 Omakase is generally quite expensive as it depend a lot on chef's skills and creativity in preparing the dishes based on the ingredients that they have or the freshest ingredient they have at that time.

I was the first customer when I reached the restaurant. The nearest MRT will be Bugis station. It is located at the beehive-looking building. The restaurant looks really atas (means high end) and when I looked through the normal menu, the price is also atas 😂

So they start off with serving hot tea and followed by first dish. Each dish was served only after I am done with the current one. The turnaround time for each dish to be served is not consistent. I saw that some customers were served faster and slower.

There was no specific name to each dish but it was mentioned that the 8-course consists of appetizer, sashimi, deep fried item, seafood, grilled item, sushi, soup and dessert.

Appetizer: Contain scallop, fish roe, seaweed. Sauce is just nice with some hint of wasabi.

Sashimi: Can't really name the fishes but there was tuna and scallop. All are fresh 👍

Deep fried item: This dish took the longest to be served but the result was unexpected. Not sure is it because I am hungry but this dish really surprised me and I really like it but one serving is enough as it is quite filling. It consist of mashed potato with crispy crust around it and the seasoning is tasty and just right. So simple but yet tasty. In fact, most dishes are done just nice in all aspect.

Seafood: Consist of cod fish and fried kale. While kale is fried, it is not too oily and it feels like dried seaweed snack. But since cod fish already taste buttery, I would prefer the kale to be done differently to make it more balance.

Grilled item: Grilled quail is served. As this is quail, there was not much meat and the sauce is abit too bitter for me. The doneness of the quail is just nice and juicy.

Sushi: What can I say?? As good as what I had in japan 👍 😋

Just that I was puzzled why the honey cake was served together.

Soup: This seems like a sour plum soup. I would say this was the dish that I least enjoyed as it is too sour for my liking. It feels like a sour water than a soup to me. There was just one taste which is sour.

Dessert: Never expect fresh grapes will be served for dessert. I would think this is the japanese grapes that usually sold at Japanese supermart. It was so juicy and the sweetness is grapy (like the Hi-chew grape candy). Appreciated that they peeled off the skin as it may affect the taste of the grapes. 👍

Will I visit again? The dishes are of high quality, so do expect to pay more. But with promotion like this, I would definitely visit again as the experience of having omakase is different.