Jin Shan Lou @ MBS Hotel Lobby 2

1. San Bei Ji 三杯鸡 | 2. Deep Fried Prawns in Blackberry Honey Mayonnaise | 3. Seafood Soup Served in Pumpkin

Jin Shan Lou serves a mixture of authentic Catonese, Hunan and Sichuan dishes, and is a restaurant that is usually overlooked unless you're a guest at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.  They have a good variety of dishes, including soup, for those looking for a dose of comfort food. 

We had 2 of their signature dishes and they were both indeed very savoury! We really liked the Deep fried prawns in  blackberry honey mayonnaise sauce topped with almond - very interesting, and the sweetness of the sauce was not overpowering. The pumpkin seafood soup came with a generous serving of chopped seafood bits (prawns, sliced abalone, fish maw, dried and fresh scallops) that added to the sweetness of the pumpkin. Very yummy! It really does whet your appetite. The chicken in the San Bei Ji, or 3 cup chicken, was very soft as well. If you're a garlic lover, you wouldn't want to miss the whole garlic that has been simmered and infused with the taste of the 3 different types of sauces in this dish.

Other dishes worth a try: Cod Fish in Jin Shan Special Sauce, Siew Mai with Abalone and Pork Slices with Garlic.

Yu Restaurant at MBS

On the last day of the lunar new year, or yuan xiao as it's called, we had our family dinner at Yu Restaurant located at MBS. This is a another Chinese restaurant we frequent pretty often. The decor itself is a little weird to me - a little dark and modern, yet retains a chinese influence.

Picked A up and got to the restaurant too early. Here she is chomping on "snacks" (fried fish skin) while waiting for the rest to arrive. Super greedy!

Annie deciding the menu for the night.

Started with Peking Duck. They cut and wrap it up in front of you. I don't really think it adds to the experience of eating it, but I still like knowing that the duck is freshly cooked and served. Overall not too bad, but the skin of the roll was a little thick.

Bamboo Clams cooked with garlic. This was pretty good, and I especially like the flavour the garlic gives to the tang hoon.

Saw the Abalone being promoted and got 2 to share. Got the cheapest ones at SGD $68 a piece and I really liked it. It was soft and chewy, and very tasty as well. Not fishy at all.

There was only black pepper beef on the menu, so we requested for beef fried with ginger and spring onions. In the end, we were still served the black pepper one. The beef was tender and the black pepper was not overwhelming. Think the chef got the heat of the wok just right.

I was so busy eating because we ordered so much food and also because the food was being brought out faster than we could eat that I didn't manage to get that many pictures of the kids.

Here's B watching a video of A swaying to the rollie pollie. He seems a little lost though haha.

Next up, Salted Egg Yolk Prawns. I like this dish in general. Not much comments for this, just how you would expect it to taste.

The fish was disappointing. The thing about fish is it has to be fresh, and you can't cook it for too long but it's hard to estimate and it is very unforgiving even when you overcook it for just a short while. The meat was hard and overcooked.

The kid's amused with a giant ingot at the restaurant.

I wasn't exaggerating when I said we ordered a lot of food! Our 7th dish - Honey Pork Ribs.

The pork was soft and didn't have too much fat, but the sauce itself was a little too sweet. 

Tofu was smooth and perfect for the kids. Only complaint is that the skin was a little too "rough".

I'm thinking this is Kai Lan? I am not a very veg person, especially so if the stem is long and thick because I hate how I can't bite a portion without bits of it still hanging outside my mouth. That small mount of fried veg is crisp and tasty, a little like fried seaweed.

And our final dish! The Noodles fried with Duck meat. By then I was too full already so the noodles was only passable. Plus the meat was a little dry.

With the food aside, I managed to get some photos of the family.

Greedy A looking on as glutTAN popo is caught giving B sweets!

glutTAN gong gong with his sam seng granddaughter.

I like how in the left photo all the grown ups are talking to B.

Us, missing Jane who's away.

Of the many times I've been there, the food has always been okay, but was the best during this visit. They are used to serving large groups so you don't have to wait, and as a Chinese restaurant, generally have a high noise tolerance. The staff are friendly too, coming over to chat with you before the rest of the group arrives, and to play with the children. I guess it's welcoming and food is pretty good too. Do try it when you next go to MBS.

DB Bistro Moderne

Lunch venue for the day: DB Bistro Moderne - A contemporary French-American restaurant, it tweaks traditional French dishes to fit the American market. Hmm I know.. Another restaurant at Marina Bay Sands. Well, to be honest, I am a little sick of the place, but it's a pretty convenient place for us in terms of distance, parking and well.. space.

Overall food was not bad, but service was a little slow, needed a couple of reminders for our forgotten orders.

First up, introducing our new "reviewer" - glutTAN baby no. 1 Barnaby!  - He takes his role very seriously. 

I love this photo of him! He did end up drawing all over my book though, but cute nonetheless.

For appetizers, we ordered Royal Oysters that cost an exorbitant $9SGD a piece!  Poor fatty was a little left out again cause she can't have any. 

The oysters tasted pretty nice on first taste, but left a bad after taste - slightly metallic and unpleasant. It could be that we ordered the wrong type but generally we prefer the creamy oysters.

 Jason was our photographer for the day! There are no pictures of him so click here if you want to put a face to him. 

He had the Homemade Potato Gnocchi ($34SGD) for his main.

Braised Endive, Fourme D'Ambert, Baby Spinach, Walnuts

"The serving is miserably small for a main. Delectable by itself, but hardly complimentary to the sauce that accompanies." It looked so small I wondered if it was an appetizer. Guys should never order this as a main!

glutTAN No. 4 Jane had a medium rare Steak Minute ($26SGD).

Sunny side up egg, Breakfast Potatoes, Sauce au Polvre 

 "A small piece tends to cook more quickly and so it wasn't as tender but it was nicely grilled and the meat was flavourful. It came with a nice aroma and was accompanied with a tasty sauce. A nice surprise was the diced accompanying potatoes bites - soft and moist on the inside. Sunny side up had a nice runny yolk too. Not bad."

Personally, as compared to the meat from Steak Frites (photo is missing! Think in the chaos we left it out), the meat tasted better, but wasn't as tender and meaty. The steak that came with my medium rare order was pink on the inside and very juicy and tender, though a little too much salt was added. Comes with fries that did not disappoint - crisp and yummy!

Barney was getting a little impatient because he couldn't eat his fries.

 glutTAN No. 1+1 Teng Chuan (B's Dad) had The Original bd Burger ($38SGD)

Sirloin burger filled with braised short ribs & Foie gras, served on a Parmesan bun.

"A decent dish, but a tad dry. I liked the short-rib stuffing, but pretty stingy with the foie gras. Bun was nice too."

glutTAN gong gong had The Frenchie Burger ($26SGD) - pic on left

Beef patty topped with confit pork belly, caramelized onions, Morbier cheese, Arugula, Cornichons. Served on a black pepper bun.

Hmm.. shall ask him what he thought abt it later.

Butternut Squash Soup ($15SGD)

Cranberry Coulis, Pumpkin Oil

The soup was creamy, sweet and wasn't too thick. Came with small pumpkin bits that Jane likes. Got a thumbs up from glutTAN 1+1 too!

 

glutTAN po po and glutTAN No.1 Adelene had Poached Eggs Benedict ($24SGD)

Ham, spinach, Hollandaise sauce, English muffin

"It was good, the accompanying potato bites were tasty. Though the hollandaise sauce is a little on the salty side."

The kids usually get a little restless and this is when we try to finish up asap and take turns to feed/entertain them/take them for walks.

The ever patient glutTAN No.3 feeding B while he's engrossed with the iphone.

glutTAN No. 2 Soo Lin had both the Lobster Salad and Fried Eggs Lyonnaises.

Lobster Salad ($36SGD)

Avocado, Endive, Grape Tomatoes, Green beans, Artichoke Hearts, Pesto dressing

"Not impressed, it looks a lot better than it taste. A little stingy with the Lobster."

Fried Eggs Lyonnaises ($21SGD)

Duck confit, Potatoes, Mushrooms, Mesclun Salad

"If you are a duck lover, you will love this, it's rich and flavourful. All the ingredients came very well together, though it got a little jelat after a while." 

All of us at the table. Everyone seems to be busy with something.

Pot De Yogurt ($15SGD)

Homemade Yogurt, Mixed Berries, Beignets

 "Comes with 2 ball doughnuts with a bit of raspberry sauce. Doughnut balls were not too sweet, just right. The yogurt taste good, like Meiji Vanilla yogurt."

Annie seems a little confused, probably cause she's never eaten doughnuts before. 

Well... she doesn't know what she's missing out on.

 Cute snippets of the kids.


With love from the Tan Family.

Till our next adventure!