Nickypoo finally took me out for my birthday dinner last Friday but it’s not like he put in much effort. I decided on the restaurant and made the reservations, all he had to do was foot the bill.
We landed up at Taste Paradise in Mosque Street, somewhere I had been meaning to try but it was actually 4th choice on my list. Couldn’t get reservations at Valentino’s, Restaurant Ember or Flutes at the Fort…that’s what we get for being last minute.
But it was a pleasant dinner nonetheless, there were so many dishes I wanted to try and we ended up over-ordering thinking that the portions would be small which resulted in the cancellation of a stewed mee poh dish towards the end, and ‘tapau-ing’ the sweet and sour pork Nick ordered.
I took pictures of the dishes as they arrived but the lighting was insufficient. Now I can’t remember what exactly we ordered but there was the XO carrot cake, scallop and mango roll, deep fried eggplant with pork floss, prawns with curry sauce, baked cod with honey, sweet and sour pork and lobster ramen. I also had a crab duo appetizer that I absolutely loved and dessert was mango cream with pomelo and coconut ice cream. Mmmmm, coconut.
The carrot cake tasted like those you get at dim sum restaurants, just stir fried with eggs and bean sprouts. It was soft and chewy and not too oily. At $7 for a small plate, it was the most expensive carrot cake I’ve had but well worth it I suppose!
The scallop and mango rolls were crumbed and deep fried, there were 5 pieces and they were quite filling. I ended up just scooping out the mango and scallop bits from the rolls, because eating the skins would have been too filling. Nick isn’t a scallop fan but he enjoyed this dish surprisingly.
The deep fried eggplant was a disappointment compared with a similar dish I just had at Kam Boat the previous week. The version here was thinly sliced so at each bite, one tasted more batter than eggplant. Will pass on this next time.
The cod was forgettable, it was too sweet and overcooked for my liking although the portion was generous for $8. However, the prawns were a hit. Similar in crunchy texture to the prawns with wasabi mayonnaise that is popular in Chinese restaurants here, this version was laced with a hint of curry paste. The flavour was very subtle yet familiar…tasted like Ma’s fish curry!
The lobster ramen was so-so, the noodles looked more like ee-fu noodles instead of ramen. At first bite the noodles tasted rather plain, just spicy, but after biting into the half-lobster and then back into the noodles, somehow it tasted better.
My absolute favourite dish of the night though was my crab appetizer duo. There was a chilled swimmer crab leg salad with bamboo shoots and some kind of crunchy black fungus, dressed with a creamy sauce that I detected some wasabi in. This was accompanied by chopped up bits of a crab claw and diced vegetables coated in salted egg yolk. Loved the powdery texture of the salted egg yolk on the crab and even though this dish came early, I saved a portion till the end so I could finish off my meal with it.
The dessert presentation was a little drama, my mango puree with pomelo and coconut ice cream arrived in a conical glass resting inside another glass filled with dried ice. Stupid waiter faced the smoke right in my face when he placed the dish down but he was forgiven when I took a bite of the coconut ice cream, which was rich, creamy and tasted home made. I luuuuurve coconut ice cream!
The bill came out to about $150, which was reasonable considering the number of dishes we had. There are other things on the menu I want to try, will definitely go back before the year is out!
We landed up at Taste Paradise in Mosque Street, somewhere I had been meaning to try but it was actually 4th choice on my list. Couldn’t get reservations at Valentino’s, Restaurant Ember or Flutes at the Fort…that’s what we get for being last minute.
But it was a pleasant dinner nonetheless, there were so many dishes I wanted to try and we ended up over-ordering thinking that the portions would be small which resulted in the cancellation of a stewed mee poh dish towards the end, and ‘tapau-ing’ the sweet and sour pork Nick ordered.
I took pictures of the dishes as they arrived but the lighting was insufficient. Now I can’t remember what exactly we ordered but there was the XO carrot cake, scallop and mango roll, deep fried eggplant with pork floss, prawns with curry sauce, baked cod with honey, sweet and sour pork and lobster ramen. I also had a crab duo appetizer that I absolutely loved and dessert was mango cream with pomelo and coconut ice cream. Mmmmm, coconut.
The carrot cake tasted like those you get at dim sum restaurants, just stir fried with eggs and bean sprouts. It was soft and chewy and not too oily. At $7 for a small plate, it was the most expensive carrot cake I’ve had but well worth it I suppose!
The scallop and mango rolls were crumbed and deep fried, there were 5 pieces and they were quite filling. I ended up just scooping out the mango and scallop bits from the rolls, because eating the skins would have been too filling. Nick isn’t a scallop fan but he enjoyed this dish surprisingly.
The deep fried eggplant was a disappointment compared with a similar dish I just had at Kam Boat the previous week. The version here was thinly sliced so at each bite, one tasted more batter than eggplant. Will pass on this next time.
The cod was forgettable, it was too sweet and overcooked for my liking although the portion was generous for $8. However, the prawns were a hit. Similar in crunchy texture to the prawns with wasabi mayonnaise that is popular in Chinese restaurants here, this version was laced with a hint of curry paste. The flavour was very subtle yet familiar…tasted like Ma’s fish curry!
The lobster ramen was so-so, the noodles looked more like ee-fu noodles instead of ramen. At first bite the noodles tasted rather plain, just spicy, but after biting into the half-lobster and then back into the noodles, somehow it tasted better.
My absolute favourite dish of the night though was my crab appetizer duo. There was a chilled swimmer crab leg salad with bamboo shoots and some kind of crunchy black fungus, dressed with a creamy sauce that I detected some wasabi in. This was accompanied by chopped up bits of a crab claw and diced vegetables coated in salted egg yolk. Loved the powdery texture of the salted egg yolk on the crab and even though this dish came early, I saved a portion till the end so I could finish off my meal with it.
The dessert presentation was a little drama, my mango puree with pomelo and coconut ice cream arrived in a conical glass resting inside another glass filled with dried ice. Stupid waiter faced the smoke right in my face when he placed the dish down but he was forgiven when I took a bite of the coconut ice cream, which was rich, creamy and tasted home made. I luuuuurve coconut ice cream!
The bill came out to about $150, which was reasonable considering the number of dishes we had. There are other things on the menu I want to try, will definitely go back before the year is out!
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