Had Christmas Eve Dinner with family at Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore (22 Orange Grove Road, Singapore 258350). The Christmas Even Dinner was usually held in the Garden Cafe, but this year the Garden Cafe was under renovation and Dinner venue was spreaded among three function rooms, with the inter-room space decorated to be a Christmas Village, and lined with food.

The spread of the food this year was not as great as in previous years. You get roast turkey, honey baked ham, grilled lobsters, grilled fish, steamed red grouper (or garoupa), duck, veal, roast lamb, a Japanese corner with sushi, sashimi (salmon and tuna only), and tempura, an Indian corner with naan, vegetable curry, and lamb curry, fried rice, fried noodles, and desserts which comprise mainly different forms of log cakes. The selection of fruits are disappointing. The after-meal muchies include roast chestnuts, gingerbread man, cotton candy, caramel nuts, and crab apples dipped in caramel and chocolate.

The price this year is S$78+++ per person.

I intend to give this place a miss next year.

Had lunch with XQ at 五芳斋 (平江区太监弄1号) last weekend while in Suzhou (苏州), China. I was looking for "raw-fried dumpling" (生煎馒头) along Guanqian Street (观前街) but couldn't find any. So we finally settled at 五芳斋 for lunch, since the restaurant looked descent, and there were qutie a number of patrons inside.

We had xiao long bao (小笼包) and spicy salt ribs (椒盐排条). I have always liked the Suzhou version of xiao long bao, compared to the Shanghai (上海) version, and the one served at 五芳斋 is no exception. The spicy salt ribs are also quite good, being very tender.

Watch out for the drinks though -- they are pretty expensive (by Chinese standard). XQ had a can of coconut juice that retailed for 2 RMB at supermarkets but cost 6 RMB here.

Had lunch with XQ at 好人民间小吃. This is a chain of restaurants operating in Suzhou (苏州), China. We went to the branch at Guanqian Street (观前街). As the name suggests, the restaurant serves mainly dim sum and noodles. As we were not very hungry, we ordered only the fried milk (脆炸鲜奶) and meat dumplings (烧卖). I like the fried milk better, although it is a little oily. It is crispy on the outside but smooth and soft on the inside. The milk is really is sweet milk curd. The meat dumplings on the other hand does not taste good.

Stayed at Tianhong Plaza Hotel (天鸿科园大酒店) (25 Zhi Chun Road, Hai Dian District, Beijing, China) on my visit to Beijing (北京), China. KY booked me into this hotel as it is near Tsinghua University (清华大学), where I was visiting.

Tianhong Plaza Hotel is a 4-star hotel managed by Radisson Hotels and Resorts, and is located in the "Silicon Valley" of Beijing. It is close to the top two universities in China, namely Tsinghua University and Peking University (北京大学). Amenities around the hotel is good, with restaurants and supermarkets close by.

The rooms are clean and well-appointed, comparable to those you find in a 4-star hotel in western cities. But the heater doesn't seem to work too well. The best feature I find is that the rooms come with free broadband Internet access, and is in fact where I'm blogging from right now.

Service is friendly, although it can be slow at times.

Overall, I would stay in this hotel again if I'm visiting Tsinghua University in the future.

Had lunch with XQ today at 微山湖人家鱼馆 (2 Zhi Chun Road, Hai Dian District, Beijing (北京), China). The food was horrible. We ordered sliced fish with lily, General Tsao's chicken, and fried beef udon. The udon was too salty; in fact, very very salty. The chicken was practically swimming in a pool of oil. The sliced fish is the only dish edible.

I had ordered General Tsao's chicken because it was one of the best Chinese dishes I had tasted in Canada when I was a student at the University of Waterloo. YM and I are still reminiscing about this dish to this day. But alas, the General Tsao's chicken I had at 微山湖人家鱼馆 was nothing compared to that. What a disappointment! I could cook better!

Avoid this restaurant!

Blogging from my hotel room. Just reached Beijing (北京), China, after a 11.5-hour train ride from Suzhou (苏州), and checked into a hotel. Now going to take some good rest before my 2pm meeting at Tsinghua University (清华大学).

Currently blogging from Suzhou (苏州), China. Will be travelling to Beijing (北京) from Suzhou (苏州) in about 3 hours' time for a visit to Tsinghua University (清华大学).

Had dinner with XQ, SS and wife, BZ and wife, and AR last Tuesday at Scusa, InterContinental MidPlaza (Jalan Jend. Sudirman Kav. 10-11, Jakarta, Indonesia 10220). This is an Italian restaurant that is designed to impress with its sleek and luxurious look. We had a private room on the upper floor of the restaurant.

BZ had told me that he liked the foie gras (goose liver) at Scusa. BZ is French, so I trusted him and followed him to order the foie gras for appetizer. I also ordered a char-grilled filet mignon (done medium) as main course.

The foie gras turned out to be very good indeed. The filet mignon was also done perfectly, tender and juicy on the inside, but crispy and smoky on the outside. I like the way Scusa serves the sauce in a separate dish, so that it doesn't spoil the texture of the meat.

XQ had mushroom soup as appetizer and a mixed seafood grill comprising half a lobster, scallops, prawns, and fish as main course. She liked the mushroom soup but was disappointed with the seafood grill.

To accompany all these wonderful food was a bottle of Chianti Classico and the excellent company!

Oh yes, one more thing! Don't miss out on the bread that was served with the appetizers. The bread comes in a cup and is filled with cheese on the inside! Break it open and enjoy!

Stayed at Aryaduta Hotel, Jakarta on my trip to Jakarta, Indonesia earlier in the week. This is a 5-star hotel managed by Hyatt International. The hotel is located near the National Monument and minutes from the business districts of Jalan Thamrin and Jalan Sudirman. But in Jakarta, you always have to be careful since "minutes away" can become "hours away" without notice and without reason.

I stayed on the Regency Club floor which has rather nicely appointed rooms, although I find the bathroom a little cramped. Otherwise, everything was to expectation.

Complimentary breakfast was at JP Bistro which has the usual American breakfast spread.

I'm on my way to Jakarta, Indonesia for business right now, and blogging this from Singapore's Changi International Airport. Ciao!

Had dinner with family at Blooie's Roadhouse Restaurant (49 Jalan Tua Kong, Singapore 457249) tonight. YM recommended me this restaurant sometime ago but I didn't thought of trying until recently when I came across their branch at Science Park 2 and was impressed with the ambience.

But Blooie's at Jalan Tua Kong, Siglap, is a different matter. The waitresses were without smiles. We ordered some BBQ ribs, a BLT (Bacon-Lettuce-Tomato) sandwich, a pumpkin soup, and fish and chips. All of them were ordinary. The ribs were tough and had crushed bits of bones on the meat. I had a hard time spitting out the bone bits. The BBQ sauce was also nothing to shout about.

The service was rather inattentive and the manager actually apologized after knowing my frustration. At least the manager bothered to find out the unhappiness of his customers.

Had dinner with family at Royal China At Raffles (1 Beach Road, #03-09 Raffles Hotel, Singapore 189673) last night. This is a Chinese restaurant that was opened in 2003 by Royal China, a top international Chinese restaurant operator based in London. In its place used to be The Empress, which I wasn't too impressed. But Royal China is distinctively different.

We had crispy duck as appetizer, scallop and seafood soup, seafood wrap, champagne prawns, stir-fried asparagus with garoupa filet, deep-fried monkey-head mushrooms with walnuts, and seafood noodles. All of the dishes was very well done. I especially like the champagne prawns, which taste richly of champagne. However, my sister find the amount of alcohol too high.

As dessert, we had deep-fried ice cream, milk pudding, almond milk double-boiled in young coconut, and hasma double-boiled in young coconut. My dad liked the deep-fried ice cream and I find the almond milk in young coconut nice. My mom found the hasma in coconut a little bland though.

The ambience of Royal China At Raffles is cosy and plush, with a wood-finished interior. The service is also friend and out-to-please, although the waitresses can be a little inattentive at times, but nothing that can't be put right with a wave of hand.

I should point out that the service is also made more efficient through the use of wireless technology. The waitresses could communicate with the kitchen through wireless microphones and headsets, and thereby eliminating the need to walk to the kitchen for clarifications and minimizing the time taken to respond to guests.

Royal China At Raffles has certainly left a good impression.

Had lunch with XQ at Au Petit Salut French Restaurant (Blk 44 Jalan Merah Saga, #01-54, Singapore 278116). We took the set lunch which was really value-for-money at S$22. The set lunch includes an appetizer, a main course, a dessert and coffee or tea. We had tiger prawns salad and baked escargot (snails) in garlic butter for appetizer, catch of the day (salmon) and stuffed turkey as main course, and souffle and pear tart for dessert. All the dishes were rather well done.

On a separate occasion, I had lunch with TY and tried their mushroom soup and pan-fried foie gras (goose liver). The mushroom soup is ordinary, but the goose liver is quite good.

The service is very courteous and attentive without being over-bearing.

Nice!

Had dinner with SS and WG at Fatty's Wing Seong Restaurant (60 Albert St, #01-33 Albert Complex, Singapore 189969) last Friday evening. We had butter prawns, pork ribs in sweet and sour sauce, claypot bean curd, and stir-fried bean sprouts. What a disappointment it was! The food is worse than what I would ordinarily get at coffee shops. The cereal in the butter prawns are soggy with oil, instead of being crispy. The bean sprouts and bean curd all tasteless. The pork ribs are just average. Avoid this place at all cost!

Had lunch with family at Simbashi Soba (290 Orchard Road, #B1-41 Paragon, Singapore) on Saturday. We didn't plan on having lunch there, but I couldn't resist after seeing the chef making soba noodles right in front of us. You can see the entire process of soba making, from grinding of buckwheat, through dough kneading, to hand-cutting the noodles with a big cleaver.

And the food was not to disappoint. I ordered a set lunch, which came with cold soba noodles, tempura snow crab, grilled omelette, grilled mackerel, and salmon sashimi. All of them were good, but I liked the soba noodles and snow crab best. The crab is sweet and succulent, and the soba is done al dente, with a good bite.