Xing Hua Lou at Heartland Mall Kovan

Xing Hua Lou is a newly opened restaurant at the humble Heartland Mall at Kovan.  When I dined there on 18 Sep 2018, their credit card POS machine had not even arrived, only cash and NETs payment were available.  The cashier told me that the credit card POS machine would only come the next day.

The interior design is simple but elegant.  The size of the restaurant is quite small, mostly 2 or 4-person tables, with a few big round tables for bigger parties.

Pork Belly with Garlic, $9.90+

We ordered pork belly with garlic as out appetizer.  The way they make this dish is different from others.  You can hardly see any garlic in the plate, but when you pick up a slice of the pork belly, the taste of garlic is obviously there.  I suspect they soak the cooked pork belly into a garlic sauce.  The overall taste of this dish is good, especially if you wrap the pork belly around a slice of cucumber.  Cucumber is fresh and light in taste, matched with the stronger flavored pork belly, in particular the fat portion, it is a pleasant combination.

Spinach in Supreme Soup (Small), $10.90+

The spinach in supreme soup is good too.  The best part of course is the supreme soup.  It is rich in flavor, and importantly, fresh.

Fried Xing Hua Vermicelli (Medium), $16.90+ 

While at Xing Hua Lou, you just can't not to order fried Xing Hua vermicelli.  Xing Hua (兴化) is a small place in the city of Pu Tian in Fujian Province, China.  Their vermicelli is famous for being the thinnest vermicelli, and it is naturally sun-dried, compared with machine-dried.  Once you mention Xing Hua, people naturally will think of Xing Hua vermicelli.

The vermicelli here is fried with a lot of ingredients, including prawns, vegetables, mushrooms, eggs, etc.  The medium portion is actually quite big, even for two guys.  If you order some other dishes, you may consider ordering just a small portion.  The taste is not bad.

Chinese Cabbage with Tofu and Lala Soup, $16.90+

Last but not least, we also ordered a pot of Chinese cabbage with tofu and lala (cockles) soup.  A big pot of milky soup arrived at our table, and the smell spread all around.  I, in general, don't like to have lala, or anything to do with lala, as it might not be fresh, and prone to cause diarrhea or food poisoning.  Luckily, the lalas in this restaurant are mostly fresh.  The soup is super tasty, with the sweetness of the lala, and the Chinese cabbage.

Overall, it is a satisfying meal at a reasonable price. In total we paid $64 for the two of us, with very full stomach.

Japan Gourmet Hall SORA at Changi Airport T2

SORA, the Japan Gourmet Hall at Changi Airport's Terminal 2, is a new entry to the Singapore food scene, and it is the first time the Japanese brought this concept of eatery outside of Japan. 

Basically it is a conclave of well-known Japanese food stalls, each serving in a fast food style.  At the entrance, you will be given a number plate, and you show the stall handlers your number when you order your food.  And you pay your bill at the cashier presenting the number plate.  If you lose it, too bad, you will be given a penalty of $100!

My friend was attracted by this Okonomiyaki stall, so we decided to give it a try.  What is Okonomiyaki?  According to Wiki, here is:

Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き o-konomi-yaki) ( listen (help·info)) is a Japanese savory pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "how you like" or "what you like", and yaki meaning "grill". 

And then I ordered a 'Modan'.  What is a 'modan'?  Wiki explains again:

When served with a layer of fried noodles (either yakisoba or udon), the resulting dish is called modan-yaki (モダン焼き), the name of which may be derived from the English word "modern" or as a contraction of mori dakusan (盛りだくさん), meaning "a lot" or "piled high" signifying the volume of food from having both noodles and okonomiyaki.

Mixed Modan, $22,00

My modan came with a thick layer of sauce on the top, followed by another thick layer of fried noodles, then at the bottom, vegetables and meat. 

This 2nd photo should give you a better view of the dish.  Plenty of noodles and vegetables.  The portion was big enough for a hungry man.  The sauce was quite strong in flavor and a bit salty.  The noodle was thick and very filling.  The texture was good though, bouncy. 

Drinks can be ordered separately from the bar.  Seating is very much like a Hong Kong Chaan Chan Teng.  Everything is self-serviced. 

Overall, the food here is decent, the price is more on the high side.  It is more suitable for business people on a business trip, and wanted a quick meal.  

Peach Garden at Miramar Hotel

This is the 4th time we came to this place for their ala-carte lunch buffet, which is having a 50% discount.

We came pretty early, just at the very minute that they opened for business.  The menu was already on the table for us to place our order.  Sorry the menu in the picture is a bit dirty, as I took this after we started eating and obviously we accidentally dirtied the menu on the table.  Anyway, you can take a look at the menu for what they have in offer.

When we arrived, the place was still pretty empty, but it was Teacher's Day, so later on, almost 80% of the tables were filled.  As a result, the time it took for the dishes to come was a bit longer too.

Deep-fried Fish Skin with Salty Egg Yoke

We ordered the deep-fried fish skin with salty egg yoke as our appetizer.  It was good.  The fish skin was very crispy, but not very salty.

For the rest, just take a look at the pictures.  A picture is worth a thousand words.

Roast Pork 

Jelly Fish

Deep-fried Soon-Hock Fish

Prawns

Braised Beef Brisket with Raddish

Steamed Pa-Ting Fish

Chilled Osmanthus Jelly

All the food was very good.  The prawns were fresh, the Pa-Ting fish is worth special mention.  It was cooked perfectly, and suits the Cantonese taste buds.  The portion for the braised beef brisket was quite small, but we were thankful, as we specially requested to have a small portion.

The staff there were friendly, although it was a very busy day for them.

The cost was about $40/pax.  I think it is very good value for such a sumptuous ala-carte Cantonese lunch buffet.   And that's why it was already our 4th visit here.