Seafood Paradise

An evening retreat saw the directorate make its way to the Singapore Flyer, where many of us experienced our maiden flight on-board the giant observation wheel. With our "VIP Signature Cocktail Flight" passes, we were given "full VIP treatment" (which really means a short wait at the lounge and an escorted walk to the capsule) as well as a "unique cocktail" (very much a mocktail, to the dismay of many colleagues) to savour during our short, thirty-minute ride.


I can't say I found the ride particularly exciting, but maybe it's just because I'm too familiar with the sights of Singapore. I suppose it was the view of the gentle sunset upon the city's skyscrapers that made the ride somewhat worthwhile, a pretty and even calming scene indeed that no camera can really capture in its entirety.


Dinner at Seafood Paradise was nothing impressive really, but at least I had the good company of my colleagues to thank for. I think many of the dishes here have been somewhat diluted in their flavours to cater to the tourists, which made quite a few of us feel that there was "something missing" in them. If I had to make a quick comparison, a quick thought from the tip of my fingers, I would say a place like Mellben serves up way better dishes than Seafood Paradise. I must add that I like the tea here though, nicely flavoured and aromatic Rose Tea to accompany the meal. Call me conventional, but it's always tea for me for such Chinese-themed dinners rather than wines or beers.

Steamed Scottish Bamboo Clam
With Golden Mushroom and Minced Garlic


The bamboo clams were an interesting sight to behold, but truth be told, they tasted more like scallops to me. Very strong hint of garlic, but it clears up your airwaves and gets your appetite going.

Braised Whole Baby Shark's Fin Broth
With Crab Roe and Dried Scallop


This soup appears to promise much more than it can deliver - on taste it was terribly ordinary and some even described it as tasteless or flat. Wasteful use of the endangered species then.

Steamed Live Seabass "Medan" Style


The seabass was fresh and tasted sweet on its own. The "Medan" style sauce was a mix of sweet, sour and spicy, but I personally didn't like it that much. I would prefer a simple deep-fried fish actually, but that's just me.

Boiled Live Ocean Prawns


Prawns, like the fish, were fresh. Only problem is that this dish turned out to be as monotonous as the shark's fin soup.

Renowned Crispy Roast Chicken


The roast chicken was not too bad actually, and I remember the skin to be as crisp as it would be for roast ducks. The meat wasn't too dry, so that's good too.

Imperial Spare Ribs with Mocha Sauce


Or otherwise better known as "coffee pork ribs". No idea how these tasted, but the colleagues were rolling off various other places that serve good coffee ribs so I gather these didn't quite make the mark.

There were also some E-fu noodles and simple desserts (the all typical almond jelly with longan) to round off this "Corporate Value Set Menu", but these were at best predictable and ordinary.

Chilli Crabs


A staple at every seafood dinner surely. Both of our tables had two large servings of chilli crabs (with accompanying deep-fried mantou buns) to make sure our dinner was complete. I can't say the chilli crabs were fantastic; in fact it was the most "touristic" (for the lack of a better word or description) of the dishes we had for the night, in large part because it wasn't as spicy as many of us would have liked it to be. Gravy could have been a bit smoother and less clumpy too.

Service
Good. Language barrier though.

Price
$398++ for the corporate set menu
$100++ for each large serving of chilli crabs

Place
Singapore Flyer, #01-01.

Pictures taken with the Canon Ixus 80 IS.