Davyd's Review on AIWO Restaurant

I had lunch at AIWO Restaurant again today (my second visit), but this time with Francesca, as she wanted to try the food here since she was absent in the recent FCAS Food Trip to this place. The last time I came here, I ordered the OMEGA TREAT Set Meal, which I really loved it to bits! This time, AIWO is having a 1-For-1 Lunch Promotion... all the better!

As I was extremely hungry, instead of having 1 main course per person, we ordered double the portion - that means 4 main courses! We ordered 1 Atlantic Seabass, 1 Cod Steak marinated with sea salt, lemon parsley and olive oil, 1 Lemon Chicken Tenders and Rosemary with Crunchy Iceberg, Peppers and Sesame Dressing (Crepe), and 1 Stuffed Chicken Marinated with Lemon, Rosemary and Grilled. Man, was I so full after eating all of that!

Francesca absolutely loved the food. I was very impressd with the quality of the food served - the fish meat was especially tender, and although healthy ingredients were used to prepare the food (which supposedly means less tasty?), the flavours were not compromised at all. However, I didn't really fancy the Crepe dish (not much of a fan), and the chicken used to fill the Crepe was chicken breast meat (I'm more of a drummer). As for the pricing, it is good value if you go now during their 1-for-1 Lunch Promotion, but rather steep if you're thinking of having a feast. AIWO should reduce its prices for its Set Menu, and drop its prices for its A-La-Carte Menu by a few dollars, to make it better value for money.

From this experience, I am of the opinion that AIWO does its fish dishes exceptionally well, and I will recommend anyone who comes here to try them. Overall, I will give this restaurant 7.5 stars out of 10, and I will definitely come back here again. Well done!

Article written by Davyd Chong.

To find out more about AIWO Restaurant, click here.
For another review by AsiaOne Wine & Dine, click here.

Address: Raffles City Shopping Centre, 252 North Bridge Road, #02-20
Contact: 67377597, Operating Hours: 11.30am - 2.30pm (Lunch) & 5.30pm - 10.00pm (Dinner)

Chalet cum BBQ @ Costa Sands, Downtown East

Today, we organised a chalet cum BBQ at Costa Sands, Downtown East. I was very pleased with the event as we saw the largest turn-out for FCAS so far of about 18 people, and almost everyone was involved in helping out with the BBQ.

Anqi, Shuling, and Shuqin helped to buy, marinate, and bring the chicken wings. Zhizhong and Qiuling helped to buy the disposable cups and plates, sausages, and hot dog buns. Angeline and Ian helped to buy the BBQ netting and charcoal, and Ian single-handedly set up a whole BBQ pit himself! Angeline also helped collect the money from almost everyone. Shawn and Clara even added some variety to the food by buying marshmallows to BBQ! Indeed, everyone played a part in making this event possible - all of you contributed in one way or another.

We even had our very own informal Awards Presentation Ceremony! These Certificates of Membership were personally designed and printed by me, and the nice paper was selected by Francesca. I hope all of you liked it! Here are some pictures taken at the BBQ:

Although nobody stayed overnight at the chalet (as most had to work or attend class the next day), it was indeed a memorable and heartwarming night as all of us caught up and got to know one another better. We even played some games like 'Grabble' and 'Settlers'! May FCAS continue to grow, relationships within the society continue to blossom, and may future events be as successful as this one!

Article written by Davyd Chong.

To view more photos for this occasion, click here.
To learn how to play 'Grabble', click here.
To learn how to play 'Settlers of Catan', click here.

Singapore's Mega World Food Fair 2006

Singapore's Mega World Food Fair 2006 was held from the 6th - 10th September 2006, at the Singapore Expo, Hall 5. Organised by Eastern Directories Ptd Ltd, the 5 days showcased an extensive line-up of the latest food and beverage products from all over the world, ranging from Asian food to Japanese, Thai, German and our very own local favourites! There were more than 150 stalls present at the gala event, and it sure was a 'gastronomical adventure' for both Francesca and I.

However, we felt that the quality of food served were not up to our expectations, and most of the food we tasted were disappointing. Take for example, our local favourite "Sharks' Fin Soup"; stalls promoting this delicacy had it served filled with "glue" rather than sharks' fin (or at least crab meat!). There were also huge queues for this meat filled "Man Tou", which I didn't even think was fantastic at all. We also waited about half an hour for deep fried chicken drumstick from the same stall, where the staff cooked extremely slowly, taking their own sweet time. Many people seemed rather annoyed, and we suspect that it was a deliberate attempt by the stall to create a long queue.

I attend such Food Fairs almost every year, but was so disappointed as I could not find my favourite "Malaysian Otah"! This Otah is fried with onions on a hot pan, tastes really spicy hot, and is served on banana leaf, but all I saw there today were the usual Otah which could be found almost anywhere along the roadside. But special commendation goes to the stall "Chun Man Yuan", whose Chicken Satays and Otah were delectably good, and which we subsequently catered for our BBQ later on at night. Everyone agreed that the food was superb!

Overall, this year's Food Fair was rather disappointing, and I feel that the Hall was flooded with more stalls serving healthy living foods, ginseng, tit-bits, desserts, and wheat grass (though I did enjoy drinking it). The organisers should invite more restaurants and hawker centres to showcase their foods, and restrict the number of stalls serving packaged products.

Article written by Davyd Chong.

For more information on the event, click here.

To cater food from Chun Man Yuan Food Industries Pte Ltd, click here.

China Food at Geylang?

Geylang is mainly known for 2 things- being the red light district of Singapore and having lots of good food. Here's a 'foodie' recommendation:

Location: Geylang Lor 8 Opposite You Tiao Da Wang (Yong He Dou Jiang) - Next to the restaurant selling Frog's Legs Porridge. By the way, the Frog's Legs Porridge are famous and tastes superb too!

Name of restaurant: Zhong Hua Mei Shi Guan (I think that's how you pronounce it).

Type of food: Original Chinese Food from different parts of China.

Specialty:
1. The Original Chinese 'Kebabs', Yang Rou Chuan, and the BBQed corn 'chao yu mi'.
2. The Dong Gu Rou Shi Chao Mian (i.e. mushroom fried noodles).
3. The soups are good too.
4. Imported Beer that you hardly find anywhere else - Harbin Beer @ $6 per Big bottle which is really cheap for beer that size. I don't usually like beer, but Harbin is quite light, so I like it.

Price range: A little more expensive than your coffeeshop's wanton mee or chicken rice but definitely cheaper than GRAZE (which we went previously)! $6-$10 depending on whether there's beer. The soft drinks are expensive, I usually buy my drinks from the nearby 7/11.

Customer Service: Good. they cater to your every need.

Ambience: Your standard coffeeshop ambience. You know Geylang, so lower your standards when you dine here! There're no rats or cockroaches scurrying around, but don't expect much.

I've brought about 8 people there to eat, and ALL of them have good comments/feedback. If you've been to China and you miss the food there, this is almost the real thing. The cooks, waiters and waitresses are all from China.

Article written by Daniel Ho.

To find out what others have to say about Good Food in Geylang, click here.
To find out more about Harbin Beer, click here and here.
For some insider tips on Geylang by Virtual Tourist, click here.