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PREGO @ FAIRMONT HOTEL: Kid-Friendly Restaurants, Orchard Road, Singapore

July 4, 2014 / Food Reviews, Orchard Road, Singapore / 1 Comment

Prego at the Fairmont Hotel throws an all out fabulous Sunday brunch buffet, with a selection of food wide enough to knock your socks off, and with food quality that will keep you coming back for more.

Located in the ground floor of Fairmont Hotel, the Italian restaurant is spacious and sunlit, decked out in honeyed warm woods and red sofas. From the Italian proscuitto and sausages draped from the awnings, to the Parmesan wheels, the restaurant gives off a warm vibe, helped along by their ever-friendly and helpful staff.

The buffet spread itself is enough to fill you right up. There is a large selection of fresh seafood, Italian antipasti that looks like it all came straight from the farmers market, salads, Italian breads, pizza, cheeses, and a dizzying array of delicious desserts.

What’s pictured below is a small section of what’s available!

Their fresh seafood is, well, fresh. SUPER fresh. If you’re into your raw foods, this is it.

I ended up eating three plates (!) worth of the fresh seafood below, because it was just that good. The oysters were plump, fresh, and deliciously briny. The raw salmon sashimi was so good that Hunter was eating up slice after slice au naturale – no soy sauce needed because of the sweetness of the salmon came through.

This is another plate of mine, which had an amazing beef carpaccio (on the left) and an equally stunning parma ham (on the right) and melon (bottom) combination. Wrap the parma ham around the melon and you have yourself an explosion of salty and sweet – PARTY IN MY MOUTH!

And let’s not forget fresh mozarella (I think?) with basil and drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar… mmm… I went back for two more portions of this.

Carter went to town on the Italian breads there. We also requested for some bread sticks, and our waiter kindly obliged. The kids were in seventh heaven!

And then there are the mains. They are ordered off a one-sheet paper menu that boasts around 40 (!!!) items, and are cooked to order. We could pick as many as we wanted, and they all arrived swiftly.

The Linguini, crabmeat, baby spinach, seafood cream sauce actually leaned more on the tomato-based side than cream. Perhaps that’s a good thing, because it didn’t get too rich and heavy on the palate. The chunks of crab was studded through the dish and the sauce was a potent (and very tasty) bisque.

The Roast leg of lamb, white bean caponata came sliced, making it easy for those of you that don’t like bone in your meat. The lamb was tender and could be cut with a fork, and it was paired well with the reduction.

The star dish of their mains, however, was the Oven roasted barramundi filet, cherry tomatoes, capers, black olives. This was…. SUBLIME. The fish was so perfectly cooked that it was fork-tender and meltingly soft. The sweetness of the fish really came through, and it was so moist and succulent. The kids adored this and polished off the whole dish.

The Flambeed prawns, creamy garlic sauce (mostly eaten because I wasn’t quick enough to snap the photo) featured very fresh and springy prawns, which were drizzled with a tasty garlic sauce. However, sauce aside, the prawns themselves weren’t flambeed or charred enough, so they looked (and tasted) almost like boiled prawns. A shame, because just a little more flambee would have meant the prawns would have a lovely smoked flavour.

The part that thrilled the kids most was a balloon man that came around making complimentary balloon animals for everyone! Hunter’s was a monkey in a tree, and Carter’s a giraffe.

We’ve never been to a restaurant that had a balloon artist on-house to entertain the kids, so this was a HUGE plus in our book!

This, below, is my dessert plate. I only picked out about half the selection on this plate. The variety was impressive! My favourite, by far, was the Torta Della Nonna, which is that large slice of chocolate cake on my plate. But, unlike a regular chocolate cake, this one was exceedingly moist and soft. It was dense, without being too ‘heavy’. And it was DELICIOUS.

They also have these apple donuts rolled in cinnamon sugar. They were quite the hit!

The buffet lunch comes with a cup of coffee. I had a cappuccino, which lacked oomph but it was passable.

Their vanilla milkshake, on the other hand, was a stunner. Freshly whipped up, it was deliciously creamy and with lots of ice cream swirled in. A hit with adults and kids!

Prego’s buffet lunch runs from 12:30 – 3:00PM every Sunday.
Price: S$68++ (Adult), S$34++ (Child)
S$78++ with a glass of wine from the wine trolley or free flow of non-alcoholic drinks
S$98++ with free flow of wine

Last Bite: Prego offers a buffet brunch that is well worth it, especially for big eaters. The balloon artist was a hit with the kids!

Highchairs: Yes
Easy access: Yes
Change tables: Yes
Kids’ menu: No

Prego
Level 1, Fairmont Singapore
80 Bras Basah Road
Singapore 189560
Phone: 6431 6156
Prices: $$$$
Hours:

How To Survive (And Enjoy) Disneyland USA With A Toddler

July 1, 2014 / Articles, Disney Travel, Disneyland, Singapore / 0 comment

Planning a trip to kiddy heaven, otherwise known as Disneyland?

Read all about one of our editor’s trip to Disneyland in California, with a 2.5 year old active toddler in tow! You’ll find helpful information, as well as useful tips and hints on how to escape with your sanity intact.

Have fun!

How To Survive (And Enjoy) Disneyland With A Toddler

June 30, 2014 / California, Disney Travel, Disneyland, Sydney Food, Theme Parks, Travel, USA / 16 Comments

We recently did the unthinkable — Disneyland with our 2.5 year old. And you know what? It was awesome. Hectic, crazy and overwhelming, but also totally magical. We had the benefit of the amazing Gina of In The Mouse House to book and organise the trip for us, and help us enjoy an easy and fun family vacation. We had so much fun that I wanted to share my top tips (a lot of these are thanks to Gina!) for getting the most out of Disneyland with a toddler.

1. Book a hotel near Disneyland. It does NOT have to be a Disney hotel. They are a lot pricier, and there are so many other budget but good quality hotels literally right across the road from the hotel entrance. We stayed at the Carousel Inn and Suites for a fraction of the cost and could not have been happier with our decision. Note: We did not use the pool, only because we didn’t have time in our schedule. If you’re traveling with older kids, choose a hotel like the Howard Johnson, which is a budget hotel with an amazing pirate ship playground in their pool.

2. Have a Disney vacation planner like Gina book the trip for you. Gina, as an authorised Disneyland travel agent, booked our hotel, park tickets, character dining (and could have booked more, like flights, if we’d needed it) at no cost to us. She also wrote us a day-by-day itinerary of how to best manage Disneyland with a toddler. For people who haven’t been before and have no knowledge of which rides are suitable and popular for different ages, this is an absolute must to take the stress out of each day.

3. Plan your time of year wisely. We went just before peak season, and every day the parks were absolutely jam packed with people by midday. Do not, unless you are totally insane, go during high season. Disneyland has a page on their site with details on the best times of year to go.

4. Plan each day. Our itinerary took the work out of it for me, and meant that we already knew which rides were suitable for our toddler, and in which order we should hit them up before the crows got too bad. E’s favorites were Cars Land in California Adventure Park (particularly the life-sized and moving Lightening McQueen and Mater) and Fantasyland in Disneyland. Her absolute favorite rides were the spinning tea cups and flying Dumbo. She wasn’t a fan of any ride that went through tunnels as she thought they were scary. High and fast spinning things, no problem.

5. Alternate lining up and riding with your partner. As the day went on and the crowds grew, there were huge lines for every ride. If your toddler is like mine, you’ll want to have one person lining up for the next ride while the other person is taking the child on the previous ride.

6. Arrive super early. You’ll enjoy the park the most even though it might be hard to fathom getting up that early for a theme park. How early? If you buy a three-day park pass, you get one “magic morning” included, where you get to enter the park an hour before the rest of the general public. The days we went, opening time was 8am, and magic hour was 7am. Before entering the park you need to go through security and line up in front of the turn styles, so arrive even earlier – at least 15 minutes if not half an hour earlier, especially for your magic morning hour. Seeing the park with almost no-one in it is eerie and peaceful at the same time. And yes, the only time in your parenting life you will refer to 7am as the “magical hour”.

7. Want to meet Anna and Elsa? They’re the current hot ticket, and we used our magic morning hour to arrive at the park at 6:30am and line up at the turn styles so that at 7am when the gates opened, were were able to walk (ok, run) to their “house” in Fantasyland and be first in line to meet them. Anna and Elsa were thankfully punctual and greeted guests from 7:05am, which meant that by 7:10am, we had met them and were on to the rides, while the queue behind us was already massive. Without a strategy like this, you will wait around two hours to meet Anna and Elsa.

8. Book character dining if your kid absolutely HAS to meet certain characters. We had dinner at Ariel’s Grotto and met all of the Disney princesses. We also breakfasted with Minnie and friends. It was such a wonderful experience for little E to meet her favourite characters in a setting like this — no lining up, just casual chatting and playing with the characters. It’s worth noting here that the character interactions were beyond my expectations. You expect the staff to be good with kids, but they were not just good, they were exceptional. E froze up each time she saw one of her favorites come to life, and every single character took the time to chat with her and draw her out of her shell by asking her cute questions about her outfit, or a toy she was holding. It was the best three days of her life thus far.

9. Eat early or late. The best times to eat at a Disney restaurant are before 11am or after 2pm. During the middle of the day they get quite busy. The food at all the restaurants is pretty average, so I would also suggest bringing your own food if possible.

10. Take a break during the day. After your early morning, get your hand stamped and leave for a break or nap during the middle of the day.

11. Make time for the parade. It’s magical for kids to see (Gina advised us that near the It’s A Small World ride was a great vantage point for the parade, and she was totally right!). Disney has just added a Frozen float to the parade, so if you didn’t get a chance to meet Anna and Elsa (or didn’t fancy the line/early morning) you can still see them in the parade.

12. Use the “ride swap” for any rides you want to do that your kid is too small for. This means getting a fast pass when you get to the park (which tells you what time to return so you don’t have to line up), then, after you return during your time slot, one of you collects a ride swap from the attendants at the front of the queue and has the ride, while the other watches the child (our favorite was the Indiana Jones ride). Afterwards, the person who rides gives the ride swap pass to the other adult, who can then jump the queue. Yippee! Note: We tried to do to do this for the Star Tours ride, but when Alec got to the front and asked for the pass, they’d run out, so this is not a fool-proof plan.

13. Plan to spend one day at California Adventure Park and at least one at Disneyland. We didn’t do the park hopper tickets as we thought E was too little (and we were right! One park was enough per day for her.), but we did allow for two days in Disneyland so we could watch all the shows, take breaks, meet the characters, and not feel rushed. This was a great plan as we felt like we were able to see everything without rushing around like crazy.

14. Watch the shows! The calibre of the Disney performers is so high. Even the short musical performances are performed by extremely talented staff. Our particular favorites were the Aladdin mini show and the new Mickey and the Magical map show which featured several of the Disney princesses.

14. Get a PhotoPass when you enter a park. There are photographers all over the park who will take your photo with characters or in front of scenic points like the castle. Each time you’re getting a photo taken by one of the Disney photographers, if you give them your pass, all of your photos will be collected in the one place to buy at the end of your trip. They’re expensive, but if you use them a lot it’s worth the money to get your whole family in every picture.

15. Bring or hire a stroller. There’s a lot of walking and having the stroller gives kids a resting place throughout the day. You can park strollers out the front of the rides so no need to worry about where to leave it.

16. Feel the magic. The only way to really enjoy Disneyland is to ditch your usual cynicism and enjoy the best showmanship on the planet. Disney puts on a performance like absolutely no other — something even non-Disney-lovers like my husband can appreciate if they want to.

PS: Want help planning your Disneyland or Disneyworld adventure? Contact Gina via her website.

BWMB RECOMMENDS: Jan & Elly pop-up

June 29, 2014 / BWMB Recommends, Singapore / 0 comment

Here we are at Food For Thought at the Botanic Gardens…. all ready to rock ‘n’ roll for a pop up class with Jan & Elly English Langauge School!

My kids were waaaay below the age (and intelligence) limit to truly benefit and understand what was going on, so they spent a lot of the time wandering around like renegade machines. But, Hunter did cotton on to it near the end, so whew!

This particular session focused on Phonics, and the ‘lesson’ was run outdoors and with loads of fun and games, so all the kids there were so engaged!

There was a phonics game where the kids would hop to each box, and match the letters together to form short words. You can see here that the kids all obediently lined up… except mine….

Finally, it was playground time. Which was exactly what Hunter was dying for! But, it’s not free play. The kids went up one by one, and when they went down the slide, they had to grab a flash card and match it up.

And so here’s my little 3 year old, the youngest and smallest of the whole lot!

Being the youngest didn’t deter him, he GRABBED that flash card with gusto and RACED over to go match it!

I was pretty floored when he matched his up correctly. It wasn’t a fluke either, cos he went to check a few matches before picking the correct one.

I’ll be honest here though…. pretty sure he can’t actually read the actual word he had (“frog”). Just that he can visually match up the alphabets! A tricksie one, this is!

All done, he sat himself down in the line by himself, feeling all chuffed 😉

YAY FOR PHONICS!

It’s made me realise how quickly kids can learn when they’re having fun. I’d even wager they learn better (and enjoy it more) when they learn in a play-based environment versus a sterile one where they sit at a desk and study. I wish there were more of these play-based outdoor classes around!

The Jan & Elly school focuses on showing children that learning is lots of fun, with interactive games that involve lots of motion and engagement.

TOBY’S ESTATE: Kid-Friendly Cafes, River Valley, Singapore

June 23, 2014 / Food Reviews, River Valley, Singapore / 0 comment

I hear Toby’s Estate is packed to the brim (and with a queue outside) on weekends, but I’ve only been there a couple of times on weekday mornings, so it’s always been only half-full for me. The space features a large communal table and kids toys are strewn around, so it’s great for keeping kids occupied whilst you wait for your food.

The staff is always friendly, and food arrives swiftly. The menu isn’t huge, but they seem to nail it.

Their Cappucino ($5) is perfection in a cup. It’s presented beautifully, and I noted the foam has zero bubbles. Simply sublime.

I was tremendously impressed with their Eggs Regal – poached barn laid eggs, Toby’s gravlax on brioche, tzaziky, mesclun side, tomato in a vine hollandaise sauce, dill ($21.90). The price point is high, considering Toby’s Estate is presented as a casual cafe, but this dish is EXCELLENT.

The eggs are poached to perfection, yielding a rich and bright yellow yolk. The hollandaise sauce is flavourful but not too salty, and the fluffy-as-a-cloud brioche has a subtle sweetness that brings out the saltiness of the salmon gravlax. The tzaziky (yogurt and cucumber dip) was a little random, and was left largely untouched.

Last Bite: Toby’s Estate nails their coffee-brewing technique, serving cups of beautifully crafted coffee. However, we were also impressed with their food, the Eggs Royal were fantastic!

Highchairs: Yes
Easy access: Yes
Change tables: No
Kids’ menu: No

Toby’s Estate
8 Rodyk Street
#01-03/04 Singapore
Phone: 6636 7629
Prices: $$$
Hours: 7.30am – 6pm

LENU TAIWAN BEEF NOODLE BAR: Kid-Friendly Restaurants, Harbourfront, Singapore

June 20, 2014 / Food Reviews, Harbourfront, Singapore / 1 Comment

I love myself a hot bowl of noodles, and am always on the search for a good one. This one at Vivocity, called LeNu Taiwan Beef Noodle Bar, has made my list!

Owned by the Paradise Group, LeNu is relatively quiet on weekdays, which makes it a peaceful place to have a quick lunch when you have kids in tow. Service is very efficient, and food arrives within minutes after you make and pay for your order at the counter.

The menu is very straightforward:

Pick your soup base
Pick your noodles
Pick your meat

I’ve tried almost the whole range – and they’re all delicious!

LeNu have a secret Beef Dipping Sauce that is delicious. I dunk my beef in the sauce, smother it, and gobble it right up!

This is the thin noodles, with Beef Brisket. I was impressed by how soft and tender the beef brisket is, and there was very little fat or ‘weird bits’ through it.

And the broth, oooo!! It’s watery yet tastes full of richness. It may be a tad salty for some, but it suited me just fine. Both my kids slurp up the soup as-is.

This is what the broad noodles look like, with the original soup base and beef brisket. I’m not as fussed with this, as I don’t like thick/fat noodles, but the others liked it!

My personal favourite, the rice noodles! It’s not as thin and, well, rice-tasting, as Vietnamese rice noodles. It’s delicious though, with a lovely bite and slight chewiness. The Sliced beef was incredibly tender, with a sweetness to the beef. Loved it!

Last Bite: LeNu Taiwan Beef Noodle Bar serves an incredibly tasty bowl of noodles at reasonable prices. We loved the beef brisket rice noodles!

Highchairs: Yes
Easy access: Yes
Change tables: Yes (in the mall)
Kids’ menu: No

LeNu Taiwan Beef Noodle Bar
Vivocity
1 Harbourfront Walk
#02-91/92/93
Singapore 098585
Phone: 6376 9039
Prices: $$
Hours:

FORTY HANDS: Kid-Friendly Cafes, Tiong Bahru, Singapore

June 17, 2014 / Food Reviews, Singapore, Tiong Bahru / 1 Comment

I’ll be frank. I don’t actually think Forty Hands is thaaaat kid-friendly a cafe. It’s a typical hipster cafe, pretty cramped, and with lots of sharp table edges. However, I realise this cafe is ‘hot’ with… well, just about every coffee drinker out there, and I always see people with babies and young kids here. So I guess it somehow works!

Their Latte ($5) is a serious work of art and, yes, is delightful. The beans are from Common Man Coffee Roasters and the flavour is full bodied with zero bitterness.

I was charmed by the cutely-named Ang Mo Classic Gourmet Dog – organic pork sausage, gherkins, melted cheese, mustard, red carrot ketchup ($13). This is an upscale version of the traditional hotdog. I was delighted with the artisan bun, which was fluffy and soft, with the right amount of ‘give’ with every bite. The sausage was fat and juicy, and not too overly salty. However, it was the relish that did it for me – it gave the whole hot dog a burst of flavour and made it well worth the money.

The Truffle mushroom toastie ($12.50) sounded pretty plain on the menu, and also arrived looking rather uneventful. That said, the mushrooms were beautifully cooked to juicy perfection, and with a bright burst of truffle. The toastie bread was thin and crisp, and paired well with the mushrooms and rocket leaves.

Last Bite: Forty Hands serve simple but delicious food, but it’s their hot coffee that really stands out. We loved our latte art!

Highchairs: Yes
Easy access: Yes
Change tables: No
Kids’ menu: No

Forty Hands
78 Yong Siak Street #01-12
Singapore 163078
Phone: 6225 8545
Prices: $$
Hours: Tue – Sun: 8:00 am – 7:00 pm

NASSIM HILL BAKERY: Kid-Friendly Cafes, Orchard Road, Singapore

June 9, 2014 / Food Reviews, Orchard Road, Singapore / 0 comment

I hold a soft spot for Nassim Hill Bakery, and always leave the place so impressed and eager to return. It’s along Orchard Road (right where the Tanglin post office building is), yet very quiet on weekdays and not packed out on weekends. I fear Orchard Road, and malls in general, on weekends. I can’t handle crowds, and a really packed out cafe makes me anxious. With two young kids in tow, we also don’t have the option or luxury to sit around waiting for food and jostle with everyone else.

Nassim Hill Bakery is centraly located, yet makes for a wonderful and relaxed brunch spot. The area is spacious, the staff are friendly, and the food is excellent.

The menu is pretty extensive, but be warned that the Breakfast and Lunch menus are mutually exclusive – the latter kicking in only at 11AM. I wish the dishes were just part of one menu, because the Breakfast options are limited to eggs, eggs and more eggs.

Nassim Hill Bakery do a lovely and smooth coffee, albeit with woeful latte ‘art’. I have never had a chance to try the biscotti, because my kids always pinch it straight off my saucer!

The complimentary bread basket (served with the Breakfast menu items, I believe), is a stunner. All the breads are baked fresh that morning within the premises, and it shows. The breads are all exceedingly soft and fluffy, with a beautiful aroma. A HUGE hit with the kids, being the carboholics that they are!

My interest was piqued by the sound of the Spicy Huevos Benedict. The two poached eggs oozed perfectly, and the seared Spanish chorizo slices added a lovely saltiness to the dish, which was paired well against the subtle flavour of the freshly baked ciabatta.

The only woeful item was the jalapeños guacamole, which was shockingly bad. It was basically mashed avocado, but the avocado was clearly ‘off’. It was brown, mushy, and had the weird brown ‘wormy’ bits all through it. It was absolutely inedible, and very obviously looked disastrous to the naked eye – so I was totally shocked they actually allowed this out of the kitchen (pretty shameful).

Nassim Hill Bakery’s rendition of the Chilli crab pasta ($16/$25) is a stunner, and easily the best crab pasta I’ve had in Singapore.. and possibly one of my favourite overall pastas. Yes, it’s spicy, but it’s worth it. The sauce is spot on, tasty and creamy, and studded with generous amounts of crab meat. It was fantastic and a must-order.

Equally impressive was their Hot Reuben – corned beef with melted emmental, sauerkraut, onions and russian dressing on signature asahi kuronama beer bread ($18). The saltiness of the corned beef went very well with the melted cheese, but was not overly salty. The beef was extremely tender, and came in a generous portion. In fact, the whole sandwich is actually pretty big. Small eaters can easily share one of these sandwiches between two people.

It comes with a side of garden salad, though I’d have also loved to have seen it served with a side of fries as well.

I’d actually ordered the Granola & Berries Parfait for Carter, but I ended up eating quite a lot of this, surprisingly! I generally dislike this sort of breakfast (too healthy, too boring, too fruity), and don’t like fruit in my meals. But I was surprised to find myself liking this, and kept going back for more with my spoon!

The crunchy granola paired well with the smooth yogurt, and the berries and raisins dotted through were sweet. It was very nice all mixed up together, and Carter gave this the thumbs up too.

Last Bite: Nassim Hill Bakery is the place to go to if you want a relaxed cafe right on Orchard Road. Their food is excellent, as is the coffee, but it’s their freshly baked breads (also available to bring home) that wow!

Highchairs: Yes
Easy access: Yes
Change tables: Yes (in mall)
Kids’ menu: No

Nassim Hill Bakery
56 Tanglin Road #01-03
Singapore 247964
Phone: 6835 1128
Prices: $$
Hours: Tue – Sun: 8:00 am – 8:00 pm

COMMUNE BISTRO @ PHOENIX PARK: Kid-Friendly Cafes, Tanglin, Singapore

June 7, 2014 / Food Reviews, Singapore, Tanglin / 1 Comment

Spacious, airy, and not too crowded, Commune Bistro is an excellent choice for parents that want a quiet brunch and lots of space for their child. Service is attentive and food arrives swiftly, a huge bonus in our book.

Look carefully for the non-descript entrance, or you’ll walk straight past without noticing! Parking is free and available just outside the building.

I was particularly entranced with the clean palette of neutrals used to decorate the place. Everything is orderly and decor is carefully arranged. Check out the beautiful (and giant!) vase of flowers by the front door.

Our Iced lattes ($7) arrived in tall glasses and were very soothing on a hot day. The coffee, however, could have been a little more fragrant and stronger.

If you want to be wow’d, make sure you order the Baked camembert with brandy & maple syrup, almond slices, pear ($11.50). It’s outstanding and a must-order if you’re into your cheese. A whole wheel of Camembert comes surrounded by thinly sliced pear (that was super sweet!) and a scattering of almonds. The brandy & maple syrup sounded very interesting, and whilst it lent a sweetness to the dish, wasn’t particularly stand-out.

A scoop of oozing cheese, plonked on a pear slice, and scattered with some almond slices? Talk about a luscious brunch!

We were equally impressed with the Pink carbonara pasta with prawns, scallops, bacon, cream and splash of tomato jus ($22.50). The pasta was presented with FAT, juicy prawns, and gigantic tender scallops. The seafood was full of springiness and freshness, and was complimented well with the subtle flavour of the tomato-cream sauce. Delicious.

The Beef pho ($20.50) was less impressive compared to the former two dishes. It arrived looking very legit, with a plate piled with condiments and a big bowl brimming with beef, noodles and soup. However, the soup was relatively bland (it didn’t pack that rich broth punch we love), and the beef was not that fragrant. It was an “okay” dish, but not a must-order. Especially factoring in the price…

Last Bite: Commune Bistro boasts an airy ambience and a neutral decor. We were particularly delighted with the Western dishes on their menu!

Highchairs: Yes
Easy access: Yes
Change tables: No
Kids’ menu: No

Commune Bistro
308 Tanglin Road, Phoenix Park
Singapore 247974
Phone: 6235 9008
Prices: $$$
Hours:
Mon – Fri: 8:00 am – 8:00 pm
Sat – Sun: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

TUNG LOK SIGNATURES: Kid-Friendly Restaurants, Harbourfront, Singapore

June 3, 2014 / Food Reviews, Harbourfront, Singapore / 1 Comment

We’ve been to Tung Lok Signatures at Vivocity a few times, and each time, have left really impressed.

Service is prompt and attentive, the restaurant is brightly lit with sunshine streaming in, and their yum cha dishes are fantastic. They’re especially patient with the kids, and are quick to bring out kids cutlery without being asked to.

Their dim sum baskets range from $4-$5, which is pretty reasonable. The kids will pretty much eat everything at Tung Lok Signatures, save the spicy stuff. We usually order a storm of dim sum baskets, but I only managed to take photos of a handful – it’s all snapped up too quickly most of the time!

The char siew bao is a favourite of my kids’. The bun is fluffy and soft, and the BBQ pork meat encased inside is not too sweet, so I’m happy to give them the entire thing to eat.

I’m not sure what the correct Chinese name for this is, so I simply call this the crispy yam yumcha dish. The swirls on the outside make this a very pretty dish to look at, and is conveniently bite-sized for little fingers.

I thought this bowl of noodles with fish puffs was a bit strange, but my kids lapped it all up, so I’d order it again next time for them! The silky noodles come in a fine broth, and the soft airy puffs fascinate the kids. It’s a pretty plain dish, but it’s satisfying.

I adore their spicy dumplings. The tender pork dumplings are juicy and moist, and generously laced with minced garlic and chillis. Admittedly, I push the chili aside (I’m a bit weak and can’t hold my spice), but the soy sauce mixture they come sitting in is spicy enough for my taste buds and gives the dumplings a real kick of flavour. It’s a must-order dish for me!

No yum cha lunch is complete without liu sha bao, otherwise known as Salted egg yolk and custard buns. I only recently discovered that these buns exist, and have been ordering them at every single yum cha joint around Singapore. They’re AMAZING!!!

And this is what’s inside. Molten, gooey, creamy custard mixed with egg yolk. It sounds like an odd combination if you’ve never had them before, but it works oh-so-well. It’s the perfect mix of sweet and salty, and I haven’t met anyone that doesn’t like them (except those that are health conscious, because these babies pack serious calories!).

Last Bite: Tung Lok Signatures can always be counted on for excellent yum cha and attentive service. Their spicy dumplings are a winner!

Highchairs: Yes
Easy access: Yes
Change tables: Yes (in the mall)
Kids’ menu: No

Tung Lok Signatures
#01-57, VivoCity
1 HarbourFront Walk
Phone: 6376 9555
Prices: $$$
Hours:
Mon – Sat: 11:30 – 15:00
Sun & PH: 11:00 – 15:30
Daily: 18:00 – 22:30