Had my 2005 Christmas Eve dinner with family at Cafe Brio (Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore). This is the first time in many years that my family did not have Christmas Eve Dinner at the Shangri-La Hotel. There are two main reasons for this: the first being that the price for Christmas Eve dinner at The Line has gone up to S$178, more than double of previous year's price, and the second being that the Christmas Even dinner at the function hall of Shangri-La, though at a less pricey S$88, has its food placed along corridors, which makes walking very difficult, and experience we had in 2004.
So we decided to give Cafe Brio a try this year, which costs S$88 with free flow of Champaign. We did not expect much, and was pleasantly surprised. The spread was of quality, with lobsters, foie gras, beef Wellington, sashimi, turkey, ham, BBQ, rotiprata, murtabak, and much more, including a sumptious dessert. The service level is also very good. I think we have just found ourselves a good alternative to Shangri-La for our futuer Christmas Eve dinners.
Just got back from dinner with family at Pantai Seafood Restaurant (#03-05 Turf City, 200 Turf Club Road, Singapore 287994). We came across a promotion in the papers for set dinner for six at S$150, with a complimentary bottle of red wine. So we decided to try it out. The dinner comprises the following dishes:
(1) Cucumber and turnip salad in yam bowl, which I didn't try but which my parents said was alright, except that the yam bowl was made with cheap vermicelli and was so tough it could not be eaten.
(2) Thai-style claypot sharksfin, which has no trace of sharksfin with only a miserable piece of crabmeat.
(3) Steamed live Canadian oyster in garlic, which is the best dish of the night. The oysters were plump and juicy even after steaming. The garlic complimented very well.
(4) Steamed Patin (or silver catfish) Nonya style, which is nice and tender.
(5) Crispy fragrant duck, which is dry and uninteresting.
(6) Butter prawns, which is not what we expected. Instead of the usual deep fried prawns and perhaps some sprinkling of cereals, Pantai's version of butter prawns was wet, cooked in a buttery sauce, and came in a claypot. Surprisingly, this dish turned out rather delicious.
(7) Crab in salted egg, which is always good. I had liked this supposedly Shanghai style of cooking way before it became popular in Singapore. It seems that salted egg gives a nice fragrance to anything that it is cooked with. My favourite being prawns.
(8) Kailan with deep fried silver fish and cuttlefish, which is average.
(9) Braised yee fu noodels, which is a dish difficult to go wrong.
(10) Red bean paste with sesame dumpling, which is also just average.
The complimentary red wine is a 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. Overall, I would rate this restaurant as average.