Paradise Dynasty

 Had dinner tonight at Paradise Dynasty at Orchard ION and was lucky the queue wasn't terrible. The restaurant was rather large and dressed to opulence. Despite the hype and crowd, food wasn't fantastic although very reasonably priced. These pictures were taken with my iPhone and I'm very impressed by the instagram filters.

 The signature dynasty xiao long bao in 8 flavours. The foie gras (brown) worked the best although it would probably work better if it's filled with mince duck instead. Truffle (black) was a let down. It was neither pungent nor sulphurous. Ginseng (green) was weird and cheese (yellow) just tasted cheap.

 Double boiled chicken soup. Really basic and average.

 Jing Jiang Rou Si (shredded pork in sweet peking sauce). Again, this is incomparable to the amazing ones I've tried and could do with more condiments.

 Picked cabbage and vegetables. No comments. x_x

Crispy pork ribs. Tasty but a little too dry.

 I realised how negative I have been in this review. The food isn't that bad, but given all the hype and publicity, I was expecting a lot more from them. I'd definitely return to try their other dishes since it is reasonable but only if there's not a queue.

Charly T's Roast Chicken

Had dinner at Charly T's today and finally got a chance to try their roast chicken. I must say serving roast chicken in a restaurant is probably a safe bet as there is no way you can go wrong with it. As long as the chicken is fully cooked, no one's gonna complain. However, you can make your chicken stand out against a flock by throwing in a few little extras, like the many different sauces and sides you can choose at Charly T's. I chose the Chermoula and Kampong Amber sauce and found them to be rather impressive and chockful of flavour.

The corn salad I had as my side was a little let down. It was drowning in cinnamon which was a little off when everything else was savoury. Chips were crisp and tasty and served in a rather big portion.

 The mood of the restaurant was nice and tastefully decorated but they can certainly improve on the service. You'd have to order and pay at the counter so if you get stuck behind someone indecisive, it wouldn't be a great start. I've been here thrice, and three times, the waiter forgot either my sugar syrup or straw for the iced tea.