Amara Hotel Lunar New Year [Media Tasting]

Chinese New Year is a week away, so it’s time to kick start on the catch-ups and gatherings. And, what’s a better way to do them than over good food and drinks? :)

Amara Hotel is ready for a prosperous Lunar New Year with its festive menu and buffets done up for the Year of the Pig.

Eight Treasures Prosperity Yu Sheng $88++ Small / $118++ Large

First thought of Amara Hotel’s Yu Sheng is that, the in-house sauce is more savoury than the usual sweet ones. There’re are generous toppings of abalone slices, salmon sashimi, jellyfish, salmon caviar, fish roe and fried fish skin (yay) that gives the whole yu sheng various levels of texture.

Not surprisingly, the yu sheng is endearingly done in the shape of a pig to celebrate the Year of the Pig.

Braised Pumpkin Soup with Superior Fish Maw

As simple as it may look, this is one of my favourite item from the dinner. The sweetness and creaminess of the pumpkin perfectly contrasted by dried scallops, fish maw and mushrooms. It is a very comforting broth that feels healthy and yet, effectively whets our appetite. 

Soy Baked Sea Perch with Spinach in Bonito Sauce

This is definitely the favourite of the crowd. It got everyone at the table finding out more about sea perch (bite-size fact, it’s from the same family as the cod fish but less oily and thus able to retain any gravy better!)

Braised Pork Ribs in Black Beer

Pork lovers get to try a new creation of Amara’s - Braised Pork Ribs in Black Beer. The pork ribs are certainly very tender and the sauce is unique, though not much of beer taste? Let me know if it’s just me!

Beijing Duck $68++ ala carte

One of the highlight of the dinner was a live station where the peking duck is skillfully carved. Each piece of crispy duck skin and meat is then wrapped with the crepe, cucumber and leek. Of cos, not forgetting a dash of sweet sauce to elevate the taste.

Fragrant Rice with Chinese Sausage and Mushroom

This looks rather unassuming but it came out great in the mouth! Best complemented by Amara Hotel’s Sichuan Style Wok-fried Chicken with Dried Red Chilli (Mala Chicken).

Dessert Buffet

Consisting of some all-time favourites such as the New York Cheesecake, Lychee Charlotte Cake, nonya kuehs, and tartlets, there are also special Chinese New Year cakes as such the Gold Ingot Fruit Cake ($78, 1kg) and Cherry Blossom Sugee Cake ($68, 900g).

The cherry blossoms on the sugee cake is one of the prettiest decor I’ve ever had on a  cake and overall, the fondant isn’t overwhelming thick or sweet, perfect!

More details of Amara Hotel's dining options here:

Thanying | Silk Road

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Amara Hotel

165 Tanjong Pagar Road Singapore 088539

+65 68792607

Breakfast: 6.30am – 10.30am daily

Lunch: 12pm – 2.30pm (Monday to Friday)

High Tea: 12pm – 2.30pm and 3pm – 5pm (Saturday and Sunday)

Cha Thai

I have been hoping to try Cha Thai for the longest time. This rather new restaurant doesn’t just serve authentic Thai food, they are bringing to us fine Thai. 

At Cha Thai, you can often see its Founder, Permsiri Sirijindapan, also affectionately known as Leah, rolling up her sleeves and working her wok magic in the kitchen, whipping up Thai cuisine from the central region we all love. This certainly makes Cha Thai quite a newfound treasure and dining pleasure.

Most of us see Thai food as generally street food that comes at affordable prices. Cha Thai is more than that with Leah’s strong culinary passion got her admitted to schools in France and Thailand, which explains why she is able to  marry the best of East and West, adapting the West’s technology while keeping to the East’s traditions, to bring Thai food to another level. “Thai food is just like food from any other culture. In Japanese food, we have the street food, as well as the finer quality food. In Chinese food, likewise. Even Western food, we have street food or fast food and fine dining. Thai food is not just about street food”, said Leah. “The quality of Cha Thai’s food is the result of premium quality ingredients, along with traditional (not authentic) recipes cooked with modern techniques, to bring out another dimension in the taste of Thai, so our customers experience the best of Fine Thai Food”, Leah shared.

At Cha Thai, there is one thing you will definitely notice - the portions are so large you should always come with friends. It is in the Thai’s tradition and culture to gather, and therefore, their food always comes in portions large enough for sharing. Food always tastes the best in good company.

Besides the large serving portions, Leah insists on great quality ingredients. Seafood is sourced locally from kelongs for freshness. Meat is sous vide to achieve tenderness. Dips, curries, pastes, sauces, gravy, milk teas, refreshing drinks and all are made from scratch as well. 

The Smoothies are $4.50 each. Cold and hot drinks are at $2.90.

Cha Thai Signatures

Creamy Crab Roll $15

Deep dried spring roll sticks served with crab cream sauce made of finger roots herbs, and the fragrance of the crab cream sauce tastes like Thai laksa in a creamy state.

Crispy Prawn Cake $15

Deep fried thick juicy prawn cakes made with tiger prawns (not the usual shrimps used by many), served with sweet plum sauce

Lemongrass Prawn Salad $28

Not your normal salad, this is savoury yet refreshing at the same time!


Another 'salad' - Pomelo Salad

Signature Tiger Prawn ‘Panang’ Curry $28

Thai saffron curry with tiger prawns and juicy sweet lychees, glazed with coconut cream

Sauteed Kai Lan with Roasted Pork $16

Stir fry baby kai lan with sous vide roasted pork, garlic and oyster sauce

Garlic Chicken with Bird’s Chilli $18

Tom Yum Vegetarian Dumplings $18



I don't usually take vegetarian dishes specially, but this is one I wouldn't mind going for!

Simmered Pork $22

Simmered pork knuckle with kai lan, pork knuckle is super tender from 14 hours of sous vide, served with fresh chilli sauce made of fermented chilli sauce 

Premium Giant Tiger Prawns Claypot Glass Noodles $159 / Tiger Prawns Claypot Glass Noodles $55 (for 4 pax) (giant tiger prawn is about 35-40cm)

Thai baked claypot prawn tang hoon seasoned with spices, ginger, pepper and spring onions. Savour the good quality tang hoon which should be QQ in texture, not soggy.

Pad Thai $22

Charcoal Toast $8

Adapted from Cha Thai’s signature toast, Charcoal kaya toast is even fluffier and softer, paired with kaya dip. The orange dip at the background is milk tea flavour, which is good as well! Absolutely my favourite! Please go and try it for yourselves!

Coming to the desserts which sadly, I couldn't stomach much after the heavy dinner.

Emerald Jade (green ruby) $8

Red Ruby $8

Red Ruby with pandan fragrance fresh coconut milk

Sweet Corn Herbal Jelly $8

If you are looking for an enjoyable fine Thai meal of high quality, Cha Thai is certainly the right place for you :)

Cha Thai

80 Telok Ayer Street #01-01 Singapore 048466

Tel: 6636 3696

www.chathaisg.com

www.facebook.com/chathaisg

www.instagram.com/chathaisg

Food for Thought @ Botanical Gardens

Was at the botanical gardens for a stroll one afternoon, so we decided to pay a visit to ‘Food for Thought’, nestled amongst the luxuriant greenery of Singapore's most historical garden park.

What I discovered online was, Food For Thought is about transforming community spaces & bringing people together to enjoy Good Food for a Good Cause – the 4 partners of this cafe possess passion for helping the underprivileged. Food for Thought is their second project (First project being School of Thought, a tuition centre) and this project channels part of the proceeds to fund education costs for the needy students.

Food for Thought smartly placed itself in the tranquility of nature, providing the perfect atmosphere for an ideal getaway from city life. The restaurant is designed in such a way to resemble a greenhouse with streaming skylight in the day and soothing greeneries around the place. Do give it a visit and be enthralled :)

Service-wise - we did not require much assistance to be honest, so I do not have comments on it. The good thing I could mention is that there’s no service charge :p On that, no GST as well. I like such clear-cut, definite pricings.
In addition, the pricings have definitely retained the essence and spirit of not ‘paying a lot for very little’ - $3 for a coffee and so on, you get the drift ;)

Slow roasted pulled pork burger $9

With sweet potato chunks, pork crackling, homemade barbecue sauce.

A succulent burger with shredded pork that had been slow roasted and melts in your mouth. Accompanied by the freshest lettuces and overflowing with flavourful caramelized BBQ sauce, this item is a hit!

Grapefruit lychee sage soda $7

This is a must-have drink! It is such a refreshing combination and is great for chilling out for non-alcoholic drinkers.
The lychees were huge and juicy, and remained surprisingly flavourful despite having soaked in the soda for a while. This makes the grapefruit taste less distinctive in comparison.

Full Works breakfast $22

Scrambled eggs, bacon, butter toast, hash browns, roasted tomato salad, chicken sausage and garlic mushrooms

From the photo, you can see how generous the breakfast serving is. My favourite out of the lot would be the sauteed mushrooms that were so juicy and palatable.

Runner-up would be the cute balls of potato hash browns that were fried to a perfect crisp, with a beautiful shade of golden brown. Also, they were not too oily as well.

The bread was also well-toasted, and I enjoyed the entire meal very much.

Food for Thought @ Botanical Gardens

1 Cluny Road, 

Tanglin Gate, #B1-00, S259569 

Number

+65 6479 1080

Opening Hours

Mon  -  Sun 8am to 9pm 

(Last orders at 8.30pm)

http://www.foodforthought.com.sg/