[Media Invite] Dinner at The Seasons (四季风光) @ Holland Village

275 Holland Avenue, Singapore 278992

Tel: 6463 6568

Website: http://www.theseasons.com.sg

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theseasonssg/posts/206474923100769

Reservations: http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/the-seasons-ghim-moh-holland

Located conveniently at Holland Village area is a cosy restaurant run by a young gentleman from Hainan, China, serving up healthy and surprisingly tasty Coconut Soup Steamboat as well as Japanese-style grilled food at none other than The Seasons.

Service crew was attentive and friendly so it added to the enjoyment of dining here. Ambience was cosy and ordering was done via tablets on the table.

We started with Purple Sweet Potato Cheese Balls (SGD$8.00) with a very appealing spherical form coated in deep purple; bursting open to fill the palate with sweetness and oozed melted cheese. This kind of set the standard for more mouth-watering food to come.

The Fried Squid (SGD$8.00) was crispy and umami, easy on the tongue but torturous on the mind (as one craves it for days afterwards).  It was not greasy at all which also scored points pretty well.

Then we moved on to the huge pot of pure Coconut Juice steamed as soup base, tossed with coconut flesh, wolf berries, red dates and tender chicken meat for extra flavouring. This was our Bamboo Fungus Coconut Chicken Pot (SGD$32.80). If we had any doubts about the broth at all, they dissipated the moment we tried the first sip- sweet, pleasing and light; reaping in all the health benefits of coconut such as hydration and electrolytes. Even the chicken used to cook with the soup retained its tenderness.

The tray of ingredients for us consisted Wagyu Beef Slices, Special Selection Pork Shoulder, Sliced Pork Belly, an assortment of Vegetables, Beancurd, Bamboo Pith, Chicken and Cheese Tofu. Meat was succulent and vegetables were fresh.

We also tried the Signature Laamei Rice (SGD$5.00) cooked with preserved (waxed) pork aka lup cheong and mushroom dices.  The result was fragrant and redolent of its sweet, earthly ingredients. This dish is usually served in a claypot.

For dessert, we had the Hainanese Coconut Rice (SGD$8.00) - soft, sweet glutinous rice served in coconut husks, embedded with coconut flesh, red dates and lotus seeds. This was special and heart-warming.

Drinks to conclude - there were Grapefruit Peach Tea (SGD$4.50), Salted Green Tea with Lime (SGD$4.50),  and Lime Peach Tea (SGD$4.50) for us.

Overall, I enjoyed the meal very much and look forward to telling my friends and family about this coconut soup steamboat - healthy and tasty totally. Thank you The Seasons for hosting us and thank you Hungrygowhere for the invite.

Dinner at Hua Ting Steamboat at Claymore Connect @ Orchard Hotel

442 Orchard Road, #01-08 Mezzanine Level, Claymore Connect @ Orchard Hotel, Singapore 238879

Tel: 6739 6628

Website: https://www.millenniumhotels.com/en/singapore/orchard-hotel-singapore/hua-ting-steamboat/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hua-Ting-Steamboat/1643066159274455

Located at the new wing is Orchard Hotel is an elegant-looking Chinese steamboat restaurant, Hua Ting Steamboat, under the Millemium Hotels group. This is not to be confused with the Hua Ting Cantonese restaurant located in the same hotel.

Hua Ting Steamboat Restaurant offers an array of live seafood in its aquariums and serves up a large variety of delicious Cantonese-style quality, unique broths made from scratch daily. The settings is sophisticated, donned in Chinese decor, and comfortable. Private dining rooms are available for large groups. Service surpasses excellence, with rapt attentiveness and efficiency being at the very heart of it.

The restaurant also prepares a good assortment of own-made sauces and dips, leaving us spoilt for choice. I carefully selected only the ground chilli powder and sambal paste, as I am usually not a dips person.

Pots of Chinese Tea were also served, in gorgeous tea-ware. Some of us enjoyed glasses of Red Wine to enhance the dining experience, perfect for celebratory events.

They had a very good selection of different steamboat soup broths - divided into steamboat broths, Chef's Creations broths, hotpot broths and Yuan Yang (duo) broths. We were a large group of about 10 persons, so we shared 3 types of broths.

The Superior Fish Soup with Winter Melon and Conpoy (dried scallops), (SGD$34.00), was from the Chef's Creations list, and is easily one of their signatures. Identified by a large, jagged-edged winter melon in the middle of the rippling clear soup, this soup was simply brimming with luscious flavour of its superior ingredients.

From the Yuan Yang selections (SGD$26.00 for 2 soups), we chose Sichuan (Sze-chuan) styled Mala Seaweed Soup with Beansprouts and Shark's Bone Cartilage Soup with Fresh Beancurd Sheets -the former was spicy, flaming the palate up deliciously whereas the latter soup base was more saccharine in taste; the 2 of them made for a good contrast.

Plates of Crispy Fish Skin (SGD$4.00 for half / SGD$8.00 for full) started us on the meal, utterly addictive and appetite-whetting - shattering wonderfully in the mouth.

We also had an assortment of lots of smaller items including those from the Hand Made category - starting with Fresh Bean Curd Sheets (SGD$3.00 for half / SGD$6.00 for full), Bean Curd Sheets stuffed with Salted Egg Yolk (SGD$6.00 for half / SGD$12.00 for full), Tau Pok Stuffed with Fish Paste (SGD$7.00 for half / SGD$14.00 for full), Fresh Prawn Dumplings (SGD$8.00 for half / SGD$16.00 for full), and Luncheon Meat (SGD$3.00 for half / SGD$6.00 for full).

Vegetables consisted of Enoki Mushroom (SGD$4.00 for half / SGD$8.00 for full), Shimeiji Mushroom (SGD$4.00 for half / SGD$8.00 for full), Tianjin Cabbage (SGD$3.00 for half / SGD$6.00 for full), Baby Spinach (SGD$3.00 for half / SGD$6.00 for full), Tong Hao (SGD$3.00 for half / SGD$6.00 for full) also known as Chrysanthemum Coronarium, and Lettuce (SGD$3.00 for half / SGD$6.00 for full).

Seafood items comprised Japanese Fresh Scallops (SGD$13.00 for half / SGD$26.00 for full), Fresh Shrimp Pasta Ball stuffed with Minced Pork and Chinese Rice Wine (SGD$8.00 for half / SGD$16.00 for full), Dace Fish Paste Ball stuffed with Preserved Tangerine Peel (SGD$6.00 for half / SGD$12.00 for full), Fresh Squid (SGD$6.00 for half / SGD$12.00 for full), Sliced King Garoupa (SGD$13.00 for half / SGD$26.00 for full), and Prawns (SGD$8.00).

Finally, the meat items, which we had the most, I believe - Fresh Pig's Intestines (SGD$5.00 for half / SGD$10.00 for full), Fresh Sliced Chicken (SGD$5.00 for half / SGD$10.00 for full), Fresh Sliced Pork Neck (SGD$6.00 for half / SGD$12.00 for full), US Kurobuta Pork (SGD$6.00 for half / SGD$12.00 for full), US Kurobuta Pork Belly (SGD$7.00 for half / SGD$14.00 for full), Minced Pork Meatball with Water Chestnut (SGD$7.00 for half / SGD$14.00 for full), Sliced US Angus Beef (SGD$12.00 for half / SGD$24.00 for full) and US Prime Beef Rolled with Enoki Mushrooms (SGD$14.00 for half / SGD$28.00 for full).

We ended the extremely enjoyable meal with Seasonal Mixed Fruit Platter (SGD$6.00), made up of colorful fresh cut fruits such as grapes, rock melon, dragonfruit and water-melon served on a bed of ice, juicy and sweet.

It was a fabulous dining experience here from start to finish, from service to quality of food items as well as ambience. We would be happy to return for more, or just to enjoy some of these unique handmade delicacies again.

[Media Invite] Dinner at Just Steam (纯蒸) Restaurant @ Bugis

776 North Bridge Road, Kampong Glam Conservation Area, Singapore 198744

Tel:  6291 1358

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juststeamsg

Reservations: http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/just-steam-bugis-beach-road

Opening Hours: 5pm to 4am (weekdays) / Lunchtime onwards for weekends

Just Steam, as its name implies, is a newly-opened Chinese restaurant focusing on steamed food through a new concept that allows for communal "steamboat" dining style using a steamers on each table. The brightly-lit, air-conditioned restaurant opened in November 2016 but the owners have been in the restaurant business for many years; so if you are worried about experience, fret not.

I was honoured to be invited for a tasting session at Just Steam with representatives from Hungrygowhere as well as other familiar reviewers / bloggers. Tricia hosted us; she and her team were very helpful in explaining the dining concept and menu to us. Steaming is a very healthy way of cooking as it retains nutrients, colours and flavours without the use of oil, bringing to us enjoyable and nutritious meals easily.

Besides delicious, fresh-quality steamed seafood, Just Steam also does normal soup-pot Steamboat late at night, so that patrons could have some delicious soup after late-night drinking sessions or work. Versatility is also exercised when someone requires cooked dishes or vegetarian meals, etc, embracing the true spirit of a creative business owner.

Needless to say, service here was first rate, with polite staff coming to our assistance very efficiently but not being intrusive at all. They insisted on helping whenever we steamed a new round of food, because the glass lids were very heavy to contain the steam in. Plates were cleared and changed on a regular basis, ensuring that we had clean tableware to use at all times.

Menu-wise, one could choose to order a la carte or from their seafood sets. The sets range from SGD$99.00 to SGD$299.00, depending on the number of pax and types of seafood. There is also an array of homemade sauces and dips for diners to enhance flavors of food with. Drinks comprised of an assortment of juices, herbal teas, fresh coconuts, and wine!

We started with Signature Pork Knuckle Bee Hoon (SGD$8.00 for small / SGD$12.00 for medium / SGD$16.00 for large), a dish that looks deceptively simple but harbors the taste of familiar homely goodness, riveting the palate to the deliciousness of the red braised pork knuckle.

Next, Fresh Oysters (SGD$6.50 each) and Scallops (SGD$12.00) led the start of our steamy dinner. The heat from the steam diffused through the seafood and they simmered in their own juices. The cooking time was between 2 to 4 minutes, rather precise, and the results? Soft, sweet and scrumptious seafood that left everyone scrambling for more.

Lobsters (SGD$45.00) went into the steamer next, turning red as the famous saying goes. Steaming did bring out the natural sweetness of lobster flesh and its juices, but retained springiness in texture excellently. Forget about other condiments or dips, and savour the freshness on its own.

Following that, we loaded the Sea Bass (SGD$25.00) and Clams (SGD$12.00), the recommended steam time was 4 to 5 minutes. The clams were so juicy and yummy eaten this way, one could easily pop them into the mouths one after another. As for the Sea Bass, it was thoughtfully deboned, so it made for efficient dining (thank you Chef) - the flesh was melty but the flavour a little light, so here was where dips and sauces came in handy.

What awaited us next was a nice bamboo basket of Crabs (SGD$21.00) atop Glutinous Rice (SGD$6.00) to be steamed. Glutinous Rice was mixed with Chinese BBQ Pork (aka "Lup Cheong") and mushroom, redolent with the aroma of both. The shells of the crab were cracked to facilitate our extraction of the sweet, juicy, fresh crab meat.

Following that, we had strips of Bacon Pork Belly (SGD$8.00) - pretty tender, cooked with Mushroom * Pork Meat Balls (SGD$10.00). I enjoyed the earthly fragrance of the succulent pork meat balls with their bouncy texture.

Vegetables such as Cabbage (SGD$5.00), Enoki Mushrooms (SGD$5.00), King Trumpet Mushrooms (SGD$5.00), Sweet Corn (SGD$5.00) and Purple Sweet Potato (SGD$6.00) - the latter also known as "Okinawa Sweet Potato" or "Japanese Sweet Potato" offered a refreshing balance to the meal.

Finally, we got to eat the Dried Shrimp Congee (SGD$5.00), which I would happily dub the "Seafood Congee" - it was cooking in the pot directly below the Steamer all this while. After 1 to 2 hours of cooking and soaking up the juices from the seafood, the Congee was undoubtedly one of the tastiest I have ever tried. To add on to that, an egg and spring onions were beaten in and stirred to add further enhancements to the delicious Congee. Even though we were very full, the pot was Congee was duly finished simply because it was irresistible.

One of the best meals we've had in a while, and definitely the most scrumptious healthy meal I have ever had so far, Just Steam is highly recommended and worth revisits for sure. Thank you Tricia and team for the fabulous hosting, and thank you Hungrygowhere for the invite.