Yun Nans at Jewel Changi Airport

Yun Nans 云海肴 is a Chinese restaurant from China specialized in Yunnan cuisine.  This one at Jewel Changi Airport is their first foray into an overseas market.  Their dinner starts at 5pm, we arrived a bit earlier at about 4.50pm on a normal Sunday, there was already a small queue at the entrance.  At 5pm sharp we were ushered into the restaurant. 

The restaurant is not very big, the number of seats is quite limited, so if you want to secure a table, the only trick is to go there early.  The interior design is simple, bright and pleasant, nothing fancy, but comfortable. 

Yunnan Classic Steam Pot Chicken Soup, $23.90++

Their signature dish is the Yunnan steam port chicken soup.  What it is different from other chicken soup is the way it is cooked, and the pot used.  Do you notice there is a 'chimney' in the middle of the pot?  Yes, that's the key.  The chicken is placed in the pot, without adding any water.  Then the entire pot is placed on top of boiling water, and the water steam will come in from the 'chimney' and becomes your soup.  This is also an ingenious way of doing water desalination! 

I like the chicken soup very much.  It is clear, and sweet!  The essence of chicken all goes into the soup.  However, the chicken itself, is quite dry and a bit tasteless.  Overall, I will give a score of 9/10 for this dish, and it is a must try here. 

Truffle Rice Noodles, $13.90++

We also ordered their truffle rice noodles (黑松露虾汤米线).  The soup was excellent.  Very thick in the flavor of prawns, great.  The noodle itself was a bit over-cooked though.  Overall, I will give it a score of 7/10.

Grilled Seabass, $22.90++

My friend recommended the grilled seabass, it is his most favourite.  The seabass was perfectly grilled, a flower pepper was generously spread on top.  At this point, I must be a bit critical about their service, or the service of one waitress.  She took our order, knowing we already ordered a chicken soup and a rice noodle with plenty of soup, she still pushed us to order drinks.  And she didn't tell us for the grilled fish, we had the choice of how spice it should be.  It is a waitress with Malaysian Chinese accent. 

Ok, back to the fish.  The flower pepper makes the whole fish only have one and only one taste - spicy.  It is perfect for people who like spicy food, but unfortunately not for me. 

All in all, we spent $100 for two persons.  It is not too expensive, the food is decent.  I will definitely go back for that pot of chicken soup, it is just too good to forget. 

Nanjing Impressions Plaza Singapura

Previously, I visited Nanjing Impressions in Guangzhou (you can find the post here), as they also opened a branch here at Plaza Singapura back in 2017, I decided to give it a try. 

The Plaza Singapura branch is located on the 4th floor of Plaza Sing Annex, directly opposite Ya Kun Toast.  It has the same design as its Guangzhou branch, with a very traditional Chinese concept. 

Once you step into the restaurant, you feel like you have time-travelled back to Qinhuai River, Nanjing in ancient China.  The place is illuminated with yellow lanterns, each lantern bears the name of a dish on their menu.  The background music is Qinhuai Xiaoqu (秦淮小曲), it is a kind of Chinese opera popular in Nanjing, very soft and tender.  Qinhuai River and Qinhuai Xiaoqu were made famous by a Tang Dynasty poet, Du Mu (杜牧), in his poem Berthing at Night Along Qinhuai River.

泊 秦 淮

杜 牧

烟笼寒水月笼沙，夜泊秦淮近酒家。

商女不知亡国恨，隔江犹唱后庭花。

Literally, the poem means: 

In a foggy night, my boat berthed along Qinhuai River near the drinking places.  The resident singers  didn't care about the sadness that their home country had been annexed, they were still singing the song Backyard Flower. 

I don't know what Backyard Flower is in botanic terms, but it is a form of poetry invented by the last Emperor of the Chen Dynasty, which was annexed by Sui Dynasty. 

Ok, enough history stuff, back to the modern restaurant.  At first, I thought the Qinhuai Xiaoqu was from some recording, but hell no, there was actually a stage at the very back of the restaurant and a team were singing live! 

I ordered quite a bit of food, for one person, as I wanted to try as many as possible, but mostly were small portions. 

Wanton in Supreme Chicken Broth, $4.80++

I didn't have any expectation for the wanton with chicken broth.  It is such a common dish, but then it kind of exceeded my expectation.  The wanton skin was very smooth, and filling was fresh.  The Supreme chicken broth also lived up to its name.  I must give a thumbs up for this dish.

Celestial roast duck dumplings (left), $4.80++, Steamed shrimp and silky gourd dumpling, $5.80++

The celestial roast duck dumpling was kind of a strange combination.  The dumplings were steamed, usually steamed food goes for its freshness, and exhibits the ingredients original taste, but in this case, the filling was actually roast duck meat.  The fillings gave out a roast fragrance, there was quite a clash of tastes.  You should give it a try, it is unique.  But don't blame it if you don't like it. 

The steamed shrimp and silky gourd dumplings were average.  Somehow, it didn't bring out the freshness of the shrimps, nor the silky gourd.  I could only tell one flavor - salty. 

Braised Pig Trotters, $5.80++

The braised pig trotters should be a very 'safe' dish, as even the normal coffee shop stalls can turn up with finger-licking pig trotters.  Hell no, the pig trotters here were a failure.  The skin was hard, and the worse was I felt something spiky on the skin.  Go figure what it could be.  Take my advice, don't order this at this place. 

Imperial Scholar Spring Roll, $5.80++

The spring roll was ok, but it was a bit too salty to my taste, and a bit too oily. 

If you want to have a bit more privacy, you can reserve one of those individual rooms.  It is quite nice for a few friends gathering together to chitchat. 

Will I go back to Nanjing Impression again?  Yes, definitely, but not so much for their food, but for that atmosphere, that feel of traveling back in time. 

Nanjing Impressions Guangzhou China

Nanjing Impressions, or 南京大排档 in Chinese, is located in a modern shopping mall in Guangzhou's busy and up-class Tiyu Xi Lu (体育西路), the country's most busy metro interchange.  The mall is ultra modern, but once you step into Nanjing Impressions, it feels like you have been transported back in time to the era of end of Qing Dynasty, and the beginning of Republic of China. 

The interior design is of the Qin-huai (秦淮) style, after Nanjing's famous Qin-huai River, a go-to place for night entertainment in the early 1900s.  Records of Qin-opera, a form of opera popular in Zhejiang Province and Jiangsu Province, is being played as the background music. 

Braised Duck, CNY29.00

Nanjing is famous for its Xiaochi, small bites.  The concept is like the Spanish tapas, snacks for you to have wide selections of food to enhance your taste buds but not too heavy for the stomach, and perfect as companions for the rice wine. 

The first one that came was braised duck.  It is a cold dish.  The duck drumstick is first braised till tender, then chilled to retain all that collagen.  It is actually crunchy, with a hint of Huadiao, a popular Chinese rice wine. 

Lion's Head, CNY 28.00

 Next was stewed Lion's Head.  Lion's Head?  Are you sure?  Don't worry, it is not the real Lion, nor its head.  Lion's Head is just a name for the dish.  It is actually stewed meat ball, a really big meat ball.  The chef mixes minced pork, fresh mushroom and some other ingredients together and makes it into a giant meat ball.  Then this meat ball is slowly stewed to cooked.  The meat is very tender.  It breaks into small pieces easily in your mouth.  It is a dish that is very suitable for people who have problems with their teeth, and senior citizens. 

家传云斗煮干丝, CNY28.00

The next dish is a bit hard to translate the name into English, but it is their signature dish.  Looking at the picture, you might think that it is vermicelli or noodles in that pot of soup.  No, you are wrong.  It is actually tofu skin sliced into small slices to make it look like vermicelli.  And then it is served with a very thick stock.  The tofu skin is excellent, I must say.  Unlike noodle's softness, or vermicelli's smoothness, the tofu skin offers its unique texture.  It is crunchy, yet the texture is more rough.  It gives sparks upon your tongue.  However, I didn't like the stock, way too salty for my liking. 

We ordered some other dishes, but I am not able to cover them all here.  Overall, it was a very pleasant experience.  Good food, accompanied by that feel of transporting back in time. 

Don't get upset if you think Nanjing Impressions is only available in China, it actually has a branch right in the busy Orchard Road in Singapore.  I have not given it a try yet, but hopefully I will do that soon.

Grillmarket Reykjavik Iceland

Grillmarkadurinn, which means Grillmarket in English, is a restaurant located in the center of Iceland's capital city of Reykjavik.  It doesn't have a street front, but behind another restaurant, so you have to walk behind the other restaurant to get to Grillmarket. 

We were there at 5.30pm, when the restaurant just opened for dinner service, as we didn't make a reservation before hand.  The place was quite empty at that time.  The atmosphere of the place was very cosy.  Warm lights dominate the place, very comforting in a cold winter evening. 

As a norm, bread and cheese were served as the 'capitol'.  The cheese was definitely worth mentioning.  They served 3 types of cheese:  cheese with sea salt, cheese with yogurt, and cheese with Iceland's iconic lava salt.  This experience was really unique for me.  First time having cheese with yogurt, which offered a layered sensation to the taste buds.  The black lava salt was less salty than your normal salt.  The waitress was kind to explain to us the difference between the different types of cheese. 

Whale Meat Steak, ~USD69.00

The 'exotic' dish we ordered to share was the whale meat steak.  It looked very much like your normal beef steak, but the texture was quite different.  It was very tender, and the texture was fine and smooth, a quality that beef steaks don't possess.  The cuisine here was a bit of fusion, providing soy sauce and wasabi as condiments.  Personally, I prefer to eat it as is, without any additional foreign taste to the very fine flavor of the whale.  It is a must-try if you visit this restaurant. 

Lamb Fillet, ~USD60.00

Main course was lamb fillet.  Lamb cooked to medium well, and served together with some preserved vegetables.  The fillet was a bit on the tough side for me, and the preserved vegetable was a bit too salty.  Maybe it was due to the local taste and weather. 

The staff there were very friendly and service was prompt.  Overall experience was excellent.  Price-wise it was a bit on the high side, but hey, it is Iceland.

Pura Brasa at Tanjong Pagar Center

Pura Brasa is a new restaurant in the new Tanjong Pagar Center.  New in the sense that it is there for only about a year or so.  The interior is cosy, with all the warm lights around, it is very suitable for a couple of friends to sit down, chit chat over some Spanish food and a pint of beer.

I was there on a Saturday night, about 6pm.  The place was still quite empty, but after around 7.30pm, the place was almost full.  Groups of friends and some big families came here for their weekend gatherings.

Estreella Beer, 1-for-1 at $15.00++

They had this Estrella beer promotion, if you order a pint, you get another pint free.  It was perfect for friends gathering.   The beer was light, and smooth.  Even under Singapore's hot weather, it didn't turn bitter.  Thumbs up for the beer!

Charcoal Rice Paella, $36.00++

We ordered the charcoal rice paella to share for the two of us.  I asked the waitress about the portion, she assured me that portion was meant for two to share.  When the paella came, the portion was really small.  It looked quite a lot from the picture, but the rice was just a thin layer.  Probably the waitress meant was for two small eaters to share, not two pigs like us....haha....

In terms of ingredients, there were 3 prawns, 3 mussels, and some peas, tomatoes slices, etc.  The rice was cooked to the Spanish standard, which means it was wet, but the core of the rice grain was still hard.  I was sure I didn't have a blocked nose that day, but the rice didn't have any seafood smell.  It probably was a good thing.  And it was not salty!  But somehow this paella tasted very plain, but lacked the punch it should have.

If you are going to order many other dishes, then you can just order 1 paella to share for two; otherwise, better get one for one person only, especially for guys.

Grilled Iberico Secreto, $35.00++

On recommendation from some local food blog, we also ordered the grilled Iberico secreto.  The meat is from the armpit area of the pig so it is supposed to be very good.  Indeed, the meat was pretty tender, with lots of juice (fat).  The fragrance of the fat makes this dish almost irresistible.  However, they probably used sea salt as the seasoning for the meat, so it was on the salty side of the taste scale.

Overall, I think the food is decent, but tend to lack of some wow factor.  The beer is good, if I go there again, I will go there for the beer.

By the way, this restaurant is from a Spanish restaurant chain that seems like to be quite well-known.

Best Hotdog in Town Reykjavik Iceland

Hot dog to me is very much part of American culture, so I heard that the best hot dog in the world is from Iceland, I must give it a try.  The hot dog stand is called Baejarins Beztu Pylsur in Icelandic language, which means "Best Hot Dog in Town" in English.

The place is not so easy to find, hidden in the labyrinth of buildings near the harbour area of Reykjavik.  The stand is really small, as you can see from the photo above.  It is just a tiny stall, and some benches and stand-up tables around the stand for people to enjoy the hot dog. 

When we got there, there was a small queue of customers queuing for the food.  And a group of tourists probably on a gourmet tour just arrived and elongated the queue almost immediately. 

We got our hot dog in about 10 minutes, and voila, here it is.  A piece of sausage sandwiched in a piece of bread, covered by 3 types of condiments of ketchup, mustard sauce and remoulade.  Underneath the sausage, there are some chopped onions to provide some sense of spiciness.  Having plenty of sheep in the country, the sausage used is made from lamb, instead of the normal stuff.  It is less salty, more flavors. 

Overall the hot dog is nice to eat, especially in a cold cold place like winter Reykjavik.  However, it is just a hot dog, may be it has some variations and special flavors, but it is still just a hot dog.  I am neither a hot dog expert nor a fan, so I can't really proclaim it is the best, I can only say it is edible food, good for a hungry stomach for sure.  

The Lazy Garden at City Square Mall

The Lazy Garden is a new comer at the City Square Mall dining scene.  Currently it offers a main course 1-for-1 promotion.  You need to order 2 drinks to enjoy this promotion.  There is a 1-for-1 for their dim sum too, but it is only limited to weekdays 2.30pm to 5.30pm.

Hot Chrysanthemum Tea, $3.50+

We ordered two hot chrysanthemum tea to enjoy the 1-for-1 main course promotion.  The tea came with the real dry chrysanthemum, not just some artificial flavoring, it was a surprise to me.  Although the tea was from the tea bag, the real chrysanthemum was a plus point.

Prawn Rice Roll, $4.90+

Crystal Vegetarian Pau, $3.90+

We ordered some dim sum as appetizer as well, although we didn't enjoy the 1-for-1 promotion.  The Crystal vegetarian pau was not bad.  The filling was mostly carrots and radish slices.  It wasn't greasy, and had a pleasant vegetable taste.

The prawn rice roll, or chee cheong fun, was ok, but the portion seemed to be quite small.  The prawns they used most probably were those deep frozen prawns so it wasn't the most fresh you could find.

Unagi Claypot Rice, $18.90+

Unagi claypot rice was our main order.  My friend and I both ordered this as our main, so for this dish, we kind of enjoyed a 50% discount.  The dish was simple, a piece of unagi on top of plain rice.  The unagi piece was thin, and of course can't compared with those from Man Man or Uya.  The whole dish was all right, but tended to be rather plain.

The service was ok, and the dinning environment was cosy, felt a bit like in Malaysia though.

Just in case you were not aware, actually they offer western cuisine such as pasta, steaks, etc.  It is quite a fusion restaurant, not just Chinese.  I didn't try their western dishes, so I can't comment on them.