Li Xin Teochew Fishball Noodle

Not knowing what to get at Ion food court, I called my mum, "What should I eat at ION?" Without hesitating, she replied "Get the fishball noodles. Fishballs very big." Indeed, this recommendation could not have been better. The queue was long and only got longer.

I ordered the Fishball Soup ($5.50). I am not really a fishball persons and I absolutely refuse to eat fishballs that they sell in the supermarkets because they taste horrible. The fishballs here are handmade and are incredibly bouncy and delicious. Considering the number and size of the fishballs, I would gladly pay $5.50 for this. My only regret eating this bowl of fishball kway teow soup was when there was nothing left to eat. Pair this with the chilli and it makes a perfect meal.

Lixin Teochew Fishball Noodle
ION Orchard
2 Orchard Turn
#B2-62

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Nara Thai

Many foodies were excited when they heard that Nara Thai Cuisine was coming to the Singapore shores. Afterall, this is a place which was voted Thailand's best restaurant since 2007.  

Starting from the entrance of Nara Thai, you will realise that many of the servers are Thai- we knew we were going to have polite service that day. 

We tried the Hors d'oeuvre Nara ($17.90). This is a platter for those who want to try everything but don't want to eat too much of everything, consisting of Thai fish cake, pandan chicken and satay (you can opt for either chicken or pork). The fish cake was a little hard, the pandan chicken was aromatic and nicely charred while staying juicy, the satay was ordinary, the pomelo salad was basically pomelo and cashew nuts with a drizzle of what I believe was fish sauce.

The Pad Thai Phu Nim ($15.90) was pad thai with soft shell crab. The soft shell crab was a little oily and the flavours of the pad thai was pretty standard.

The Kuey Tiew Kom Yum Kung ($14.90) was spicy but it hasn't quite reached the level of Aroy-Dee. This was spicy with a hint of milkiness. The prawns were gigantic and were chewy.

I would say that it's pretty average fare here and that I would opt for the cheaper option of places like Ah Loy Thai anytime. Service was good.

Nara Thai Restaurant
ION Orchard
2 Orchard Turn
#B3-21
Tel: 6 634 5787 

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Ichiban Boshi (VivoCity)

We stood at the directory with all the food listings before a consensus was finally made to go to Ichiban Boshi. It was full packed at dinner time so we waited for more than 40 minutes to get in. 

I have to say I'm impressed at how affordable their meals are!

I ordered a Business Wazen Set ($16.90). The chanwamushi had a nice stock and was so smooth and slurp-worthy! Something that happened to me in 2013 was a trip to Japan- and that changed my entire perspective on raw food. The salmon was chewy and fresh. Not a fan of the taste of the mackerel though. Tempura- impossible to go wrong with that.

A really good option for Japanese food without breaking the bank. Service was average.

Ichiban Boshi
VivoCity
1 Harbourfront Walk
#B2-07/09
Tel No. 6376 8318 

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Epilogue Cafe

Ever since Borders closed down, a little bit of me died inside- I no longer go to brick and mortar bookshops. Instead, I order books online. 

I stepped foot into Prologue today for the first time since it was established - they are now having a sale, and are rather secretive about whether it's a closing down sale.  

In any case, please read the small print carefully before you rush down to the bookstore. It's 30% only if you buy at least four books and the categories don't overlap. Therefore you won't enjoy the discount if you buy two children books and two adult books- you will only enjoy 20% for each category (20% for 2 books or more). 

Also, the supposed $16 voucher that you will get if you spend minimum $80- one is a $8 voucher for books which can only be used after 19 July. The other is a $8 voucher for the Epilogue Cafe, provided you buy a regular price sandwich and a beverage. They don't state all of these! 

That said, Epilogue Cafe is a nice place to hang out. No crazy crowds, reasonably priced food, nice views and good food! 

I ordered a Sauteed Portabello Mushroom Sandwich ($10). I used to love the Portabello Mushroom Burgers at Cheesecake Factory until one day, I realised to my horror that they removed it from the menu. So, it was very comforting when I got to eat a decent portabello mushroom sandwich here.

The bread was lightly buttered and the sauteed mushrooms were moist and full of garlicky flavour. Pity though they were a little salty. The accompanying sides were a salad and what i think is BBQ Lays potato chips. I know this is a very bad reason, but the fact that they actually used Lays and not some crappy potato chip might have added some points to the meal. 

I also tried a bit of the Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich- the meat was well marinated and tender.

We didn't try any of the desserts because they didn't look worthy of our calories. If you spend $25 and above in a single receipt, you get to choose a free book from the shelf in the cafe. Since I didn't spot anything interesting on the shelf, I decided not to order something just so I could hit $25. Popular members enjoy a discount as well. 

A nice place to chill out with some decent food! 

Epilogue café @ ION Orchard 

2 Orchard Turn #04-16 

Tel No: 6 465 1477 

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Taste Paradise

Honestly, why settle for mediocre dim sum when there are such good dim sum places here? Two of my favourite places to have good dimsum are: Crystal Jade and the newly discovered Taste Paradise. There used to be another place that I really liked- Neptune, but it has unfortunately closed down.

This place is a good place to refresh your Chinese history. There were paintings of Chinese emperors hung in the restaurant. As you ate, all you saw was: 赵匡胤，李世民 etc. Their little teapot also caused a mini ruckus at our table because well, it was a special teapot!

We ordered many dim sum dishes, and not all of which are appearing in this post, because I was busy eating, more than pressing the shutter button.

The usual suspects were the har gow (shrimp dumpling) and siew mai. The prawns were fresh and the skin of the har gow was thin. I love those thin skins, because it's like this that you can really taste the prawn!

There was also the chee cheong fun. I preferred the prawn chee cheong fun to the scallop one, because I couldn't really taste the scallop in the chee cheong fun. i.e. they must have been really small, because all I knew I was eating was the skin of the chee cheong fun.

Oh these lovely char siew sou. My sister goes gaga over those char siew sou at crystal jade. The ones at Taste Paradise are smaller- but somehow I prefer these! Sweet charsiew, filled in the crispy crust. om nom nom.

And then, there's my favourite egg tarts. Before we reached, my sister made a point to remind us to order the egg tarts. Seriously, why wouldn't anybody love these egg tarts? These little egg tarts and their buttery pastry, served piping hot. These little jewels are expensive though- $1.20 per small piece!

We also ordered xiaolongbaos, pumpkin 锅饼, the deep fried mango roll, custard bun, mango pudding and the aloe vera with lime dessert (along with dry ice).

The xiaolongbaos were filled with soupy goodness, and the deep fried mango roll was filled with lots and lots and lots of mayo with mango and prawns. I didn't eat the custard buns because they didn't really appeal to me, but apparently it tastes really good!

Good dimsum is worth a go, even though it may not come as cheap as many other places.

Update (17 Dec 2011): You might want to visit Canton Paradise, part of the Paradise Group, and newly opened at 112 Katong.

Taste Paradise Ion Orchard

2 Orchard Turn
#04-07 ION Orchard

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