Asia Grand Restaurant

Supposed to treat the department when Gabriel left the ship.  Somehow it ended up being his birthday treat and thankfully I was invited.  It is supposed to be their usual clique outing, so yah guys, thanks for inviting me again.


The little dynamite, Gabriel, is just like a Duracell Bunny. Never stops in doing whatever is expected of him.  And always striving to do more.  Like the whole department, he is someone you can trust that the task entrusted to him will be done. And be done well. We can learn a lot about commitment and perfection from this man.  He is short (literally) but stands tall for what he does. Thanks for the memories Dude.


On to the food.


Even though Mr Pancakes had walked past Asia Grand quite a number of times but never had the impetus to go in to dine.  And Terence did claim that "it's my recommendation, sure good one.", so I was really looking forward to this dinner. And of course to meeting the birthday boy himself.


Apparently this is not the first time that the clique had visited this place. And some of the good stuff they had previous were ordered again.


The condiment served was this mixture of bell peppers and cucumber with vinegar , sugar and some chilli.  The taste was rather refreshing and readies us for the food that is to come served later.


First up was the Peking Duck (SGD30). *promotion item

The roasted duck was skinned right next to our table and wrapped in crepe, with the usual roast duck sauce and either cucumber sticks or a sprig of spring onion. (and some on Ron request, no-veg.)


The skin was crispy, tasty and strikes a real good balance with the crepe and sauce.  The cucumber/spring onion gave a refreshing edge to the palate.

Next up is the soup.  The group was so blown away by it the other time that they had to order this again.  The double boiled soup of the day ($36) comes served separately with its contents on a plate and the soup in a clay soup pot.  The ingredients used were corn, carrot, green carrot, chicken feet and pork ribs.  The soup was thick and very flavourful.  This large serving easily feeds 2-3 soup bowls for each of us.


The mains is next:

From left to right: Wasabi Prawns (SGD39), Deep-fried Soon Hock in sweet and sour sauce (SGD67.50, 750g), Three Egg Spinach(SGD24), Fried Rice with Duck Meat (from Peking Duck) (SGD15)


The Wasabi Prawns were great! Crunchy to bite into and the wasabi mayonnaise wasn't overpowering.  In fact, it lifted the freshness of the prawns.  The deep fried Soon Hock was a bit too over-fried with some parts of the meat dried up.  The sauce was wonderfully done and was a great match with the fish. A very good fish with tender and white meat.
Mr Pancakes is not a fan of the 3-Egg Spinach (salted egg, century egg and egg) but the one that is served here is delicately balanced.  And not full of MSG as some places serves it.  The freshness of the eggs combined with the spinach cooked in (chicken?) broth was a good last dish to wash down all the oil.


The fried rice with duck meat just tasted like any fried rice.  Mr Pancakes was intrigued by the fried noodles with XO sauce that you can use the duck meat with.  May give it a go on the next visit.


And yes, happy birthday to you, Gab.

Overall a good meal and reasonable price, considering the location at the heart of town. Total spending was SGD252.80 for 6 grown men.


UOB and AMEX cardholders enjoy 10% off total bill, before service charge and GST.

Asia Grand Restaurant
331 North Bridge Road
#01-02 Odeon Towers
Tel : 6-887-0010








oh yah. We saw Dawn Yeoh with her family(?)/friends.  Nice.  No pictures though. People eating don't disturb la. :)

Ramen Santouka

Managed to arrange a last minute meet up with Mr FE for lunch today. After talking to Mr Nurse about Japanese cuisine the day before and food in general two days before, I have this craving for the ramen @ The Central. I decided, might as well, as I need to get some ingredients from Meidi-ya for Mr K's birthday lunch.

Met and catch up a bit with Mr FE. We been friends like for about 14 years now and even though we would like to meet up more often than what we are doing now, it is always amazing to be able to just share your thoughts and in general just talk cock.

So, we (actually I told Mr FE about my craving and he gamely obliged to accompany me to satisfy it) headed straight to Ramen Santouka @ The Central which is near Mr Fe's workplace. Amazingly it is the only few outlets without a lunch special. (Billy Bombers was calling out to me, but I was dead focused on getting my ramen.)

I did not bring a camera with me, and had to borrow these photos from other websites.

Mr FE ordered the Char-Siu kara-miso ramen. And of course, I dived my spoon into his soup, even before he touched it. Disappointedly, it did not excite my palate.

This is taken from [here] and shows the char siu ramen with miso soup. The kara-miso is slightly red in colour and has the chilli fragrance. It is however, NOT spicy at all.

[photo from here]

Mr Pancakes on the other hand ordered the pork-cheeks special (Yokusen Toroniku) with the miso-soup. The pork cheeks were FANTASTIC. Tender with the right amount of fats. It also tastes superb with the condiments and the miso soup. However, it is a tad too salty for Mr Pancakes' taste. This goes to the miso soup too.

Mr Pancakes shared his tasting notes with Mr Nurse and 'complained' that the stuff were good but a tad too salty. Mr Nurse's reply was, "Well, ramen is supposed to be flavourful. You will know when you go Japan." Ha. oh well. I will stick to soba noodles then!

Will order the shio-soup and the chicken karaage as recommended by Mr Nurse.

Total bill came up to $44 which was quite decent. Though a tad too salty, a satisfying lunch nonetheless.

The Central, #02-76 (near Billy Bombers/ below Ma Maison)

6 Eu Tong Seng Street

+65-6224-0668