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New Ubin Seafood
New Ubin Seafood, as the name suggests originated from Pulau Ubin. It is nonetheless most fondly remembered by most of us as a Zi Char coffeeshop serving Kampung styled seafood at the Sin Ming Industrial estate. By then, the dishes they served had bordered on the alternative, with their Black Angus rib-eye steak served with 'Heart Attack' fried rice being one of their signatures. there was also an air of haughtiness back in the day at Sin Ming, a typical sign of coffeeshop popularity.
Fast-forward to today, New Ubin is pretty much evolved into a seafood restaurant. They have 3 outlets in prime locations and the one at Zhongshan Park where we visited is actually located within Ramada Hotel by the Wyndham Group. fully ready with a big team of service crew, the outfit looked ready to tackle the mother's day crowd. we were greeted with excellent service, air-conditioned comfort and a menu carrying the familiar favourites. 
we had this Crispy Pork Jowl for starters, which was essentially deep fried pork chop finely sliced and served with a special Miso-Gula Melaka sauce. this way of serving up pork chops really reminded me of a childhood dish our grandmother used to prepare at home, though the slices served here were not exactly very crispy as its name suggested. it was a pretty small serving and we lapped it all up anyway. 
moving on to the main event of the evening, we ordered a large claypot of Fish Head Curry. This is done traditional style complete with half a fish-head, lady's finger, eggplant and cabbage served up in a large pot of assam styled curry. the dish was extremely flavourful and went very well with rice, probably able to give other popular fish-head curry stores a good run for their money. 
we also went for New Ubin's Hokkien Mee Special, one of the specialties here for that Zi Char experience. it's basically the same thing, stir-fried prawn noodles with pork, squid, clams and some lard. they just did it really creamy with a thick prawn & pork broth, and the wok-hey that comes with it was excellent. in all, New Ubin still retained the spirit of their brand, the signature dishes are on point but they now bring with them a more upscale dining experience. Of course, with the change food prices would inevitably inch upwards as well. That said, they have upped their service and its still one of the places to go for great Zi Char. New Ubin Seafood (Zhongshan Park) 16 Ah Hood Road Singapore 329982 Opening Hours Daily: 11 am to 3 pm; 5.30 pm to 10 pm delicious traditional flavors, sometimes with an innovative, always delicious twist.. The Connoisseur Concerto (TCC)
it is rather unconventional that we talk about a restaurant chain store in our posts, but a recent birthday treat promotion special brought us to visit The Connoisseur Concerto (formerly known as The Coffee Connoisseur) for the first time in a very long time. The chain has been around since 2003 and has several outlets islandwide. Despite the name change, its bright yellow TCC logo is still very recognizable, and our visit turned out to be a pleasant surprise because there was a wide selection of pretty good food. this probably explains the restaurant's popularity till today.
TCC today has moved beyond just being a coffee place. In fact, we inferred that the name change was probably the chain's move towards being a bistro or a restaurant serving a much broader range of food. we also noticed several reviews mentioning that the store changes their menu quite periodically and it seems like the focus now is towards fusion food with a European twist. coffees are still available, but there are a much wider variety of ice-blended or mocktail drinks that go pretty well on the camera too. Members enjoy 50% off their total bill for their first visit and 30% off their next visit on their birthday month (which explained why we were there)... 
their carb meals are quite interesting these days. We tried the Scallop & baby crayfish baked rice which was really quite good. generous portions of scallops and crayfish bits, served with Shimeiji mushrooms and mixed into a very cheesy plate of Japanese rice, turns out to be a very fragrant dish. this is one of TCC's best sellers and we hope that it would stay on their menu because it was definitely worth another go. 
the spaghetti dishes here were not bad as well. we went for the Baby crayfish spaghetti which again had ample servings of crayfish, wasabi tobiko and normal roe tobiko, a very unique crispy crumbed poached egg mixed with spaghetti in tomato cream sauce. it had the right mix of flavour and spice, with portions that make for a very filling meal. Another pasta dish worth checking out was the Clam & Hotate Mentaiko Spaghetti which is essentially pasta with lots of Hotate clams, seaweed, runny egg served with spaghetti in Mentaiko sauce. this is new on the menu and we found the aroma very appetizing. 
another thing to note is TCC's shift towards healthier food choices. branded as an Omega 3 boost, this Grilled Salmon with Shiro Miso cream comes with a combination of healthy greens and proteins. It comes complete with a grilled Norwegian salmon in Shiro Miso cream, salad, Onsen egg and even with a choice of red Quinoa or brown rice. They also have a locally inspired chicken Rendang version but this certainly looks alot more guilt-free. The coffee at TCC is still good, but more Instagrammable versions such as the Ice-Blue Latte has been created. we enjoyed our visit to TCC very much, and this unexpected trip there has given us alot of new perspective to this household name. We certainly recommend TCC for gatherings and family outings. 
The Connoisseur Concerto (TCC) 2 Orchard Turn #B2-49 ION Orchard, S238801 (amongst many other outlets) Opening Hours Daily: 10 am to 10 pm where beauty and sophistication of art blends with chic elegance... Labels: #bakedrice, #coffeeplace, #crayfishspaghetti, #icebluelatte, #ionorchard, #singaporerestaurantchain, #TCC, #theconnoisseurconcerto |
..ThE lEgEnD..
Last Movie: Ad Astra
Golden Village, Singpost Centre 
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