Arteastiq @ Level 4 Mandarin Gallery
I was invited recently via Kozine to check out this place called Arteastiq… It is pronouced as Art- Tea- Stiq as in Artistic but with the Tea as the main focus. Reason is, this little haven in the middle of Orchard Road serves unique tea flavours as well as alcoholic ones! It’s totally new to my Editor and me so we were pretty curious about the tasting session.
The little cafe is located on level 4 of Mandarin Gallery, just in front of the escalator. It’s within an exquisite furniture store, MARXX, which not many of us can afford… Sobs… But for those who wants to live differently, this is the place to go. They do interior designing as well. I was so enthralled by the furnitures and accessories that I forgot why I was there for… haha… check out the layout of the store below:
Signage and promotion... which I'll tell you about it later. ;P
The entrance is straight ahead... check out the accessories...
Mirror on the left
Then to the right, you see a full island kitchen which I long desire... sigh...
Bird cages... No these are not for sale... Or are they?
Shot from where I sit... a few more random shots coming up... just love the 'santuary' feel
Greenery on my right
Greenery on my left
and Takashimaya is errr... on top?
While we wait patiently for the guys to prepare our tasting subjects... hehe
First up... Lychee Tea! This was served cold... Nice lychee taste and not too sweet... - S$11.00
Pear Tea - Light pear fragrance and not so sweet also. They will provide a shot glass of sugar solution but there is rose fragrance in it, might change the taste of the pear tea. - S$11.00
Eh... what's this?
French Kiss! It actually Chicken Consommé! Yes they have light snacks served here as well. This broth takes 3 days to make and you can really taste the essence of the chicken inside! Very very yummy! - S$5.90
French Rose Tea - For the flower tea lovers... Love the fragrance, goes very well with the syrup. - S$11.00
Hot Naked Tops - Topshell with chilled mango achar... Like the Thai Somtam. Very nice but a little spicy. - S$7.90
Whiskey Chocolate! S$14.00
This is how we do it... hehe... light up the sugar cube which was coated by whiskey!
Then let it melt for a while before pouring in the heated whiskey and melted dark chocolate below... then you stir it well and then let the taste explode in your mouth! Very nice blend of whisky and dark chocolate... very good mix! Yums!
This biscuit is very brittle... some like it dipped in the whiskey chocolate drink!
Choya Sour Plum Tea - Ladies favourite! Very light alcohol tea which a nice sour plum taste. Served cold - S$14.00
Cointreau Menta Lemongrass Tea - Light alcohol with a tinge of lemongrass flavour inside. Very refreshing! - S$14.00
Trinity - 3 choices of samplers. Seen here are Upstream, Knight Without Armour and Lust/Caution. See menu for description. 
- S$8.90
Crispy wraps with Smoked Turkey Ham - It's actually prata with the fillings. Quite good. - S$5.90
Crispy Wraps With Homely Curry Chicken. This one is nice! - S$5.90
Crispy Wraps With Chicken Floss - Ok only. Like our bread wrap with floss lor. Maybe the one with Wagyu beef slices will be a lot nicer but didn't get to try. - S$5.90
Eve (10-11cm diameter) - Orange cake which was delivered personally by the boss the following day because it was out of stock. Cake textured is nice and firm. I imagine going well with teas. But the orange slices on top made the top part of the cake a little soggy. Maybe when eaten at the cafe will be better? - S$8.00
Adam (same size as Eve) - Apple slices filled the top of the cake. A lot nicer than Eve and not soggy. - S$8.00
After Dark Promotion for weekdays - Mandarin Gallery can get quite quiet during weekdays hence this will spruce up the crowd at the cafe!
Afternoon Tea Treats! This is a great deal actually. Go try it and you will love it.
Rating: 5/5. Ambience, food, drinks are all nice. Great place for catching up with friends or shopaholics to relax those feet!
Taste: Very nice and refreshing.
Portion: Average. The teas have bigger servings than the snacks though.
Price: Quite good pricing. Below hotel prices and around regular cafe prices for such a location and ambience.
RTE: Yeah definitely. Nice place to catch up with friends or have my afternoon meetings. But the car park at Mandarin Hotel is a killer… Had to pay $16.00 for like 2 hours +?!??!! So maybe have to find other alternatives for parking.
Location: 333A Orchard Road #04-14/15 Mandarin Gallery Singapore 238897. For reservations, please call 6235 8370. You can also join their fan page at http://www.facebook.com/ArteastiqSingapore
Lei Garden @ CHIJMES
Was invited for a press lunch the other day at Lei Garden @ CHIJMES. As we all might know that Lei Garden group of restaurants started from Hong Kong and expanded to Singapore and China. Of late, I’ve been reading a lot of complains and bad reviews online about their service and food at the outlet at Orchard Shoppping Centre. Hence this invitation came timely to taste t for myself.
Lei Garden @ CHIJMES underwent a brand new S$5m renovation and to top it off, another S$2m was spent on furnishings. The whole restaurant has a very Victorian (On Victoria Street!) ambience and very relaxing and comfy while you dine on their revamped menu! Check them out below:
Private Dining Suites. Check out the Victorian paintings on the wall matched with the lovely furnishings. Open Hall Dining - Dining in comfort
Open Hall Dining
Reception Counter - Every ready waiting attendants are always there to open the doors for you. Stairs leading up to the private dining suites
Nostalgic pictures of the old towns all around Singapore.
Press lunch menu
My cuppa orange juice with very nice table floral deco in the background
A special concoction of grape juice, lemon, lime and something else... sour is the word but interesting though.
Speech given by the Chairman of Lei Garden Restaurant Group, Mr SK Chan
The meaning of 2 pairs of chopsticks. The outer pair is for taking food from the dishes from the centre of the table. The inner ones are used for your personal consumption. I suspect the ends are gold plated... and yes, pretty heavy...
Appetisers (From left to right) - Sea Blubber in vinegar sauce and sesame sauce, Chilled Sea Whelk with wasabi and sour sauce, Beancurd with seaweed and Chilled shredded Chicken in spicy sauce. Very good, but they are not good measures of what is to come next...
Double Boiled Dried Abalone With Fish MAw In Deluxe Clear Soup - When I first sipped the soup, I almost shouted WAH LAU!!!! It's really damn good and the whole piece of abalone made it better! ;P I emptied the whole mini claypot of soup...but of course. Other stuff found in the soup - Sea Cucumber, Fish Maw & Cordycep!
Live Alaskan King Crab - Steamed Crab with chinese wine and Baked Claw with salt and butter. A lot of people thought the one on the right is You Tiao... When bite down, the shell of the crab will shock them... hehe
The steamed portion of the crab. Yummy!
The baked part... It was nice but portion is a little though.
To prove that it's LIVE, they brought out the crab model...
Stir Fried Shark's Fin with Fresh Crab Meat Served With Superior Stock - Portioning for this one is a lot. The art of eating this is to put the fin on the spoon, then dip it into the soup stock that comes with it, and then put the whole spoon in your mouth... It's a total different dining experience... very very tasty.
Braised Sea Whelk With Abalone Sauce - Instead of the usual abalone, the chefs tried on this sea whelk braised to perfect tenderness, topped with thick abalone sauce. Big portion but it's so good that anyone would finish it.
Steamed Sea Grouper Fillet With Preserved Vegetable and Egg White - The fish is really tender, not fishy, fresh tasting, topped with 'Chye Por' and finely shredded ginger. Lovely. The egg white at the bottom, is so well done, I thought it was soya bean curd! Very interesting dish and kids now will take fish because of the egg white 'pudding'!
Braised Ox Tongue With Red Wine - At first, I thought this is a deep fried dish with the deep fried netting. But I was wrong...
There it is... very tender and didn't feel like the tongue...
Poached 2 Kinds of Veg with Drumstick & Silver Mushroom. The white pieces are beancurds. Very nice as they are made in-house.
Dessert - Deep Fried Pastry with Fresh Crab Meat, Bacon & Onion in Black Pepper and Soft Pastry with Strawberry Paste. Both desserts are really nice...
Chilled Guava Juice With Water Chestnut Cubes - This dessert is so refreshing! The fragrance from the young guavas make this dessert a popular one!
Fresh Fruits Platter ended our exquisite lunch.
Followed by a shot of pure lemon juice which is good for digestion and detoxification.
Bidding our farewells to the man who hosted us to such a priviledge lunch.
A signage shot before I left.
Rating: 5/5. After trying the food and experiencing the service, I realise that we can only believe 50% of the feedbacks you read online. the other 50% is to try it for yourself. As competition is tough out there among restaurants and eateries, there are many malicious people who would just wanna bring you down just because of 1 bad experience. I felt the staff eager to please and serve while I was there, nothing fake.
Portion: Portioning is good throughout except the Alaskan Crab… I reckon it’s expensive.
Taste: One of the freshest tasting food I’ve ever tried. MSG very minimal ‘cos you won’t feel thirsty after that. Food quality is excellent. Soup stocks are made daily from 5am.
RTE: If I’m feeling rich, I definitely would!!!
Location: 30 Victoria Street #01-24 CHIJMES
CANTON-i @ ION ORCHARD
So last week, I was asked by a friend to go for some food tasting at Canton-i located at ION Orchard. I was pretty excited ‘cos it was my first time to ION since it’s opening dunno when. 
It was raining super heavily that day and I was late for half an hour. But was warmly greeted by the Ops Mgr there together with some media people. The Ops Mgr asked us what do we want to try, I told her that we’ll leave it to her to select the famous dishes for us.
Shot from outside the restaurant
Cashier Counter
Very beautiful fabric for the walls
As we proceeded to the VIP section, we felt the place ambience was really nice and comfy.
VIP Section
The first items to come were the drinks. I was told that 2 of their drinks are pretty hot selling.
Lemon Grass Drink - Extremely refreshing!
Dragon Fruit Drink. Very very refreshing and lumps of the dragon fruit bits can be tasted with every sip.
Then comes the food!!! Yummy!
3 Combinations of Roast Meat ($23.80) - Excellent + Succullent. All very well roasted and the duck is specially roasted in imported Apple wood. Love it!
See for yourself...
Fried Chives With Dried Prawns & Crispy Cuttlefish - All time favourites with all ages. The taste is really exquisite. Try it to know.
Steamed Piggy Bun With Red Bean Paste ($3.00 for 2pcs)- A sure winner with all kids. Filling is not so sweet also.
Steamed Pork & Shrimp Dumplings ($4.80 for 4 pcs) - Filled with loads of meat and a piece of fresh shrimp on top, this is a regular favourite for all customers. I thought minced meat was used 'cos so tender but when you bite off, you can see the meat inside is actually diced. Very tender and juicy!
Egg Tarts - These egg tarts are so flaky on the crust and soft on the insides, you just can't stop at one!
Egg Custard Buns (Nai Wang Bao) - Thought I'd feature this too 'cos of the attractiveness of the colours. One would have thought it's yam paste bun or something like that but when you tear it down in the middle...
it looks like this... Becareful of the overflowing egg custard in there...
Wan Ton Noodles ($5.80 small) - The noodles are manufactured in house and imported to Singapore. Very springy with every bite and the Wan Tons have about 3 shrimps in the on average.
Ginger Juice Milk Pudding - Texture is just right. Soft and slightly curdy but melts in your mouth. That's the way this milk pudding should be made.
Before we left, I had to shoot the row of roasted meats for me to remember! ;P
Roast meats......
- And of course, the extremely expensive roasting over from Australia that made the roasting so perfect.
Rating: 4.5/5
Service: Was very good but if could be because their Operations Manager was sitting with us. But nevertheless, it was not that fake which you can tell easily.
Taste: Very good for all that I’ve featured.
Portion: Adequate.
Pricing: Reasonable considering the extremely prime location and the air flown chefs.
RTE: Whenever I feel like a dose of the roast meats again…
Location: 2 Orchard Turn, #03-14 ION Orchard, Singapore 238801. Tel: 65098368
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