[Media Tasting] Tea Valley at Downtown East

About Tea Valley

"Tea Valley is a family-friendly restaurant chain serving Taiwanese food based on age-old recipes. It offers one of the most comprehensive and affordable menus of authentic Taiwanese hot dishes, steamboats, finger foods, teas and desserts in Singapore. It is today listed on the Singapore Food Map and the Singapore Best Food Online Directory. It has won numerous awards including Singapore's Best Food as well as the Best Culinary Skills awards in the bubble tea and snack food category, Lawrence Lim, Winner of Singapore's Entrepreneurs' Award 2014, helms the company."

Director of Tea Valley, Mr Lawrence Lim, wanted to bring value to his diners and believe that good food should be enjoyed by one and all at affordable prices. With that, we get to enjoy yummy Taiwanese food anytime here in Singapore! When i visited the restaurant 2 weeks ago, Mr Lawrence Lim also shared with us that the restaurant's named 'Tea Valley' because the business started out with selling only Taiwanese tea-based drinks. Its amazing how the far the business has come!

Tea Valley at Downtown East is the very first outlet opened. It has more than 19 choices of mains and snacks including thick toasts. Apart from these, it has eight ranges of hot and cold beverages in 40 different flavors, made from high quality tea leaves that come all the way from Taiwan! Diners can pair their meals with special teas such as Rose Honey Tea, Lotus Leaf Hawthorn Tea, Longjing Eight Treasures Tea, milk shakes, blended ice drinks, bubble milk teas,and desserts like tropical and exotic fruit snow ices.

The items in their menu are relatively wallet-friendly too!

Loyal diners of Tea Valley at Downtown East who have patronised the outlet for the last 17 years enjoyed the variety of food and drinks so much that they requested for an outlet near where they work. Tea Valley at Chevron House was thus opened a year ago in the CBD next to the Raffles Place MRT station.

The other two outlets are POMO (express counter) and The Central. (The menu differs slightly from outlet to outlet.)

Hot Rose Honey Tea - served in beautiful glass tea pot and cup. This cup of tea is very soothing to drink before and after meal with lightly flavoured sweet aroma of rose petals.

Rose Tea itself brings a lot of health benefits including reducing menstrual pain for females, improving skin, boosting immune system, sore throat remedy, digestive aid, weight loss!

Jasmine Passion Tea (with white pearls) - Well-balanced, sweet flavoured tea-based drink.

- Honey Lemon Tea (with white pearls) - for a more refreshing tea-based drink!

Jasmine Milk Tea (with white pearls) - Milk Tea from Tea Valley is a little different as theirs is less creamy yet still offers a sweet flavour and is pretty special!

Tea Valley has been awarded Singapore's Best Food as well as the Best Culinary Skills awards in the bubble tea and snack food category.

Crispy Salted Chicken - is one of my favourite snack from Tea Valley! Enjoy the crunchiness to the last bite!

Fried Enoki Mushroom - is very addictive too! So crunchy!

Deep Fried Cuttlefish - Another crispy snack in the menu! Cuttlefish lover will surely love this!

Sesame Chicken - This is the next best dish served during my visit! Tender chicken slices infused in the perfectly-cooked rich, flavourful broth! Simply delicious!

Hot and Sour Noodle - Well-cooked noodles in hot and sour broth with delicate tofu pieces and sprinkle of fresh spring onion. A wholesome of many rip-roaring flavours mixed together – sour, sweet, and spicy!

Mini Seafood Steamboat (with Teriyaki Chicken - optional) - Sweetly Savoury Teriyaki Chicken is sure to keep one's appetite going! The seafood soup was really good too where there is corn, prawns and other mixed vegetables in it! I personally love the flavour a lot! (Steamboat is only available at Tea Valley, Downtown East)

Overall a really hearty meal for me at Tea Valley! Thank you Mr Lawrence Lim and the media team for the wonderful session!

For more information on Tea Valley and their on-going promotions, do check out their website: http://teavalley.com.sg/.

[Food Tasting] Dining experience at PerBacco

Among the many restaurants in 20 Craig Road located at Tanjong Pagar, i was invited to try out PerBacco Enoteca con Cucina. ‘PerBacco’ refers to Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and this Italian restaurant offers authentic, top-notch Italian bar and dining experience with a wide selection of wines available in store. Yes, both a bar and a restaurant, its cosy ambience makes it an ideal place for dinner date, group gathering or even just a place for some pre-dinner drinks where patrons can chill in.

Interestingly use of crates which adds to the warm, rustic feel and a representation of the wide selection of alcoholic drinks they offers, especially fine Italian wines!

I sat infront of the bar counter while waiting for the rest of the group to arrive and ordered a glass of sweet lime juice for myself. Their lime juice tasted so good i got Tracy and Jon to order one glass each for themselves too!

A spacious restaurant it is, with a 35 seating bar area and a 45 seating dining area. In between the two area is the restaurant's Enomatic machine which keeps the wine fresh and allows it to offer 8 bottles of premium house pours. As such, the restaurant is able to offer its Domenico Barolo, Frescobaldi, Kerlann Pinot Noir and Cesare Amarone by the glass at attractive prices!

More wines display at the back of the restaurant..

 Beautiful setting..

As soon as we settled down to begin our meal, a glass of white Italian wine was served to each of us to pair with our food. We were then given a few dishes from the menu to try. =)

The serving started off with Antipasti which means "before the meal", following the traditional first course of a formal Italian meal.

Crocchette al Granchio (S$12) - Crab Meat Crocchette with Spicy Tuna Sauce. The texture and portion was just right in my opinion. Nothing bad about this dish because i personally love Crab meat and Tuna even though it wasn't as spicy as i thought it will be. Loving the plating of this dish.

Strudel di Verdure e Fonduta di Formaggio (S$18) - Grilled Vegetables & Mozzarella Strudel with Cheese Fondue. It has a puff-like taste with a good amount of fillings, creating no space inbetween the pastry and the stuffing.

Frittelle Soffici e Involtini al Prosciutto e Scamorza ($18) - Smoked Scamorza Cheese Wrapped with Italian ham and soft Fritters. Overall a tasty dish! Besides, no one will turn away from Fritters and melted Cheese wrapped in Italian ham! =)

Moving on to the Pastas..

Linguine alla Carbonara di Astice (S$28) - Linguine with Lobster and Egg Yolk Cream Sauce. A comforting dish with soft linguine and and tender, fresh lobster meat.

Gnocchi di Patata con Coda di Manzo Brasata e Tartufo (S$28) - Potato Gnocchi with Braised Oxtail and Truffle Essence. It was my first time eating Gnocchi and it does took me awhile to get used to the interesting texture ( soft and chewy) and taste (fairly bland) of it. The truffle was mild but what i like most in this dish was the savoury and tender braised Oxtail!

Next comes the mains!

Guanciale di Vitello Brasato al Vino Rosso (S$34) - Braised Veal Cheek in red wine with Cannellini Beans. The braised Veal Cheek is incredibly tender and flavorful!

Dentice al Forno con Sugo di Pomodorini e Burrata (S$32) - Oven Baked Red Snapper Fillet, Cherry Tomato Sauce and Fresh Burrata. The fish served was nicely cooked and delicious! Loving the sauce too!

And ends off with yummy desserts!

Cheesecake alla Ricotta e Pesche Sciroppate (S$14) - Ricotta Cheese Tart with Peach Compote. I love the ultra thick, rich, and smooth their Cheesecake was!

Pannacotta alle Nocciole Caramellate (S$12) - Caramelized Hazelnuts Pannacotta. A wonderful choice to end the session having this! Totally divine of sweet, rich and smooth Pannacotta in every spoon! Those on top tasted much like caramelized popcorn! (Panna cotta is 'cooked cream' in Italian)

The session ended really well! Many thanks to Shaun, Elaine and the friendly restaurant owner, Tony for the warm invite! It was very nice to have meet them all! (Group photos credits to Derrick)

For more information about PerBacco, do check out;

PerBacco's Website: http://www.perbacco.sg/
PerBacco's Address: 20 Craig Road, 01-03, Singapore 089692
PerBacco's Tel: +65 6635 7130
PerBacco's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/www.perbacco.sg/

PerBacco's Opening Hours:
Mondays: 5:30pm - 10pm
Tuesday to Saturday: 12pm-2.30 pm 5pm–10pm

Road Trip to JB!

Went on a 2D1N stay in Johor Bahru (JB) with the loveliest bunch of friends - Jessie, Jas Jas, Shu Qing and Kelvin, 2 weeks ago in February! Kelvin (Jessie's boyfriend), being the only guy in the group took the wheels and guided us on where to hunt for entertainment and good food!

The couple picked us up at bus stop nearest to Lavendar MRT station (Still feeling guilty for being late for the meet up..) and drove us all into JB. Luckily for us, the traffic in between the journey was rather smooth. =)

Checked into Hotel Austin Paradise (http://www.hotelaustinparadise.com/) as soon as we reached!

A decent, comfortable and clean hotel to stay in.. Loving their huge arm chair in the lobby area!

We booked two rooms, both on level 3.

Then drove over to Auntie Lim's Cafe (https://www.facebook.com/AuntieLimCafe/) that serves a variety of asian and western comfort food for our late lunch.

The Menu..

I wanted something soupy for my stomach so i ordered fish soup but their orders were so much more tasty!

Favourite side dish among all - Crispy Chives Pancakes! *Yums!*

Then over to Blackball for desserts..

Thank you Kelvin for the above satisfying treats!!

We continued to explore the srrounding area where there are shops such as 100 Yen Shop (Originally from Japan), KIODA (Korea's lifestyle goods), and other interesting eateries.

I bought Lego Batman figuring from 100 Yen Shop for my brother and also bought a few face masks, hair accessories, and body lotion from KIODA.

And shopping continues at Tesco Extra Tebrau City and Aeon Tebrau City Shopping Centre..

Shopping time!!



The driver says it is safer to park here than the multi-storeys carpark..

We were looking for family Karaoke and came across deCast Family KTV located in Mount Austin (https://www.facebook.com/decastfamilyktv) which was a really good option with spacious themed room at very low rate! So, we booked a 3-hrs session from 10pm to 1am at 29RM per pax for the mini room with unlimited free flow of non-alcoholic drinks (Saturday evening's rate)! I think the room can fit as many as 6 people!

Honey lemon tasted good but their mains in their food menu.. was just some ready-to-eat meals. So we concluded that we can only go for their drinks and finger food if we come back again next time!

3 hours of singing ended real fast.. we then head over to have Roti Canai for supper before heading back to our hotel. =)

Sleepwear for the night..

Selfies..



Jasmine gave us animal masks to put on! Never knew it can be this fun doing character masks together. =)

I posted a video of us on Instagram..

Cat mask on me..

Woke up fresh and early the next day!

Went to Big Bowl for breakfast.. Ordered their Nasi Lemak and it was so good! *Yums!*

Very soon, it's time to check out!

For Lunch - we settled at Ichiban Ramen at Aeon Tebrau City. All of us had Japanese Curry. The Curry was rather sweet but still alright for me.

We made another round of shopping before going back home. This time, we covered SportsDirect.com where most sports related items are on sales! I got a Puma sports bra for 79RM!

Thank you Jasmine for these items she got back from her Shanghai business trip! =)

And thank you to this group of lovelies who made the trip a wonderful one! Much love and misses!

Till our next trip together~