profile i'm a girl who have stepped into the unknown called work and decided that schooling is better. i also have a propensity to go crazy over fried chicken wings and simply love to squeeze and over-feed my obese hamsters. my blog is a mode for expressing my love for food, movies, travel and shopping! contact qiuuing@gmail.com email me if you don't feel comfortable leaving a tag :) Lijit Search tagboard resolutions for 2011 exercise once a week start saving more than half of my salary every month find a boyfriend (added by lily) shopping list 2011 lancome flextencils basic black pumps one whole set of nail art (pedicure) a car (!!!) reads friends adrienne bren bobby cheeks farah ivy jeannie sharon sijing vic other blogs beatrice tan camemberu grocery list ieatishootipost sixpegs sparklette recommended shops accessories ivbelongings mykillerheels mysummerdiary mytreasurest clothes hervelvetvase lollyrouge loveandbravery lovebonito myspringfling missypixie modparade robotninjas trooops vaingloriousyou food cupcake divinity food infinity mad baker periwinkle bake shop others concierge.sg iconceptz snugg the little happyshop uniquegrabs whimsnfancies toys an ufo-catcher addict's woes lain lain plushie paradise previous entries by post
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 Friday, November 20, 2009 @ 09:06
tao's with the lims had dinner with sis, ym and ys at tao's, which is located at pomo (previously known as paradiz centre). i expected with a name like tao's, the restaurant would be serving chinese food, however, throughout the whole evening, the courses seemed to alternate between chinese, japanese and western. quite confusing. when we finally managed to locate the restaurant based on the address and impressions from the pictures on their official website, we were kind of baffled. the pictures of the restaurant looked so brightly lit and classy, but when we got there, it was cramp, tightly sandwiched between neighbouring outlets.   similar to the concept at dozo (you may view my posts on dozo, here, here and here), sister restaurant to tao's, it's a one price, one menu, many selections kind of thing. you pay $19.80++ and $29.80++ for lunch and dinner respectively. six courses for lunch and seven courses for dinner. we chose our courses based on reviews online and recommendations by the waiter.    after taking our orders, the waiter brought over some orange (non-alcoholic) shooters. it basically tasted like orange syrup with water served with crushed ice. prefer dozo's mango sorbet one, you can savour the real fruit. but the orange drink did serve its purpose of quenching our taste and stimulating our taste buds for the meal ahead. starter  bacon and mushroom gratin. this is probably the only dish the whole night to wow me. it's creamy but not too milky. although i don't eat mushrooms, the mushrooms were chopped into tiny bits, so i didn't really noticed any strong mushroom taste. i polished off the dish in just a few bites.  toasted bread. this was super yummy! the bread was warm, soft inside and crisp outside. you can choose to have it with the gratin or just have it on its own. it's sweet and good just by itself. salads  smoked salmon salad, not on the menu online. the guys found the serving small, too little vegetables and salmon.  we girls had the farm boy splendor. it was basically cold sliced chicken, with cabbage, orange, raisins and sesame vinaigrette. doesn't sound delicious, but the combination actually worked. the orange added tanginess and the raisins a hint of sweetness. extra course  grilled oyster mushrooms. this is the additional course that separates lunch and dinner. there is no choice for this course. i didn't have the mushrooms but the other three found it interesting. they liked the top part of the mushroom but not the stalk because it was quite hard. beverage  ym and i had iced summer peach tea while ys and sis had iced rose apple tea. both were sweat and flavourful! they had bits of fruits in the tea, hence the small fork provided. but it would have been better if they had less ice. soups  fish soup. don't you just love their presentation? cute little japanese style teapot and voila! soup comes out instead of tea. the soup is slightly salty, but i love salty food so it was good for me. there was a slight miso taste, which just lends authenticity to the teapot.  shark-fin melon herbal soup. when i read online reviews, many mentioned there was no shark-fin. some people just don't get it. it is shark-fin melon and not shark-fin plus melon. my sis thinks it tasted just like my fish soup and there was no herbal taste as was advertised. main courses  spicy stingray. the portion was huge! and when the waiter said it's spicy, it really was flaming hot! at first the sambal seemed harmless, then as you start eating, it just hit you. was so big and spicy i had to give half to ym.  grilled snapper with japanese sauce. the fish was fresh and the sauce went really well with the snapper. nothing really outstanding about this dish, it's just something safe.  tao's oven-baked steak, served with mushroom sauce. i didn't get to try it. ys ordered medium, but it was almost well done. similar to the stingray, it was quite large. desserts  brownie ala mode. unappetising. didn't even look tasty. the brownie was tiny and very mushy and didn't even taste like brownie at all!  creme brulee. another disappointing dessert. creme brulee should be served so high. and sugar wasn't even caramalised on top and after recently having the fabulous creme brulee at les bouchons rive gauche, this was totally horrible.  tiramisu. notice most of the desserts are western? i expected more oriental variations like mango sago or guilin gao. the tiramisu was only average. again, another safe dish.  final verdict? after reading so many good reviews, i had high hopes for a good meal. but, while the service was good and there were many variety, the quality of the food was substandard. i felt that my reaction might be based on my previous experiences at dozo. would i find the food good if i tried tao's before dozo? i'm not sure. but i'm happy my mum's bringing me to dozo tomorrow for lunch! |