Palate Pleasers N Tummy Teasers
Makan Post-it (9) - Time to get Tarty!
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock all this while, you’d have known/noticed two spanking new malls in town (which, going by papilles definition, equates to that stretch of road from Palais Renaissance to Prego’s). Sure, new shops excite me, but what mattered most were the eateries these malls hosted; new foodie ventures are always welcome 
Papilles have been wanting to give this cafe a try since it hit our shores in the early part of the year, but were deterred by its location (i.e. at a far corner of our island, where there’s nothing much else to entice). Good thing the people behind this cafe had the business sense to plonk an outlet smack in the heart of town (though the same can’t be said of its location in the mall 
).
Enough with the mystery, here’s what I’m talking about:
Possibly the priciest fruit tarts ($7.80 per slice) papilles ever had:
As you can tell, these are bad stuff for weight watchers (I’ll dare say whipped cream makes up a good 70% of their tarts 
) Definitely yummy, loved the tart base and how their tarts weren’t cloyingly sweet; they could be a bit more generous with the fruits though. Afterall, they’re supposed to be the Fruit Paradise 
P.S. Do try their range of Gryphon Teas ($3 a pot with every tart purchased)! Light, floral or fruity (depending on your choice of tea), the subtle waft of fragrance every time you lift the cup to your lips, is reason enough to pop by 
Fruit Paradise
#05-51/52 Orchard Central
Call 6509 9920 for reservation of whole tarts.
5-Course Seafood Set Lunch for 2 at $40!
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Sounds too good to be true? Well, experience has taught papilles that in the world of marketing gimmicks, it most certainly IS too good to be true! 
Perhaps just not in a way one would traditionally come to expect. The Seafood Set Lunch at Long Beach King Seafood in Kallang was going at $39.80++ per pax, with a 1-for-1 promo daily, weekends inclusive. No fine prints, though they pegged it to a Citibank/Amex card promotion (i.e. you gotta make payment using the aforementioned cards).
The catch to this “good deal” came in the form of its food. Nothing one can detect visually (as you’ll soon discover looking at the pictures); quality taste-wise was seriously compromised, ironically, with their seafood dishes 
What papilles thought was to be a good start to the entire 5-course:
Starter (left to right): Jellyfish wrapped in Zucchini & Scallop encased in Yam (Deep-fried)
One of the few dishes in the course that scored both on presentation, as well as taste. I liked the scallop-yam combination - soft and mushy on the inside, crisp on the outside; kinda like a mini yam-basket dish
But it all went downhill from here…
Butter-Cereal Lobster (Halved)
From the tasteless, soggy butter-cereal garnish to the stale flesh of the crustacean (there wasn’t even much of that hidden within that shell), nothing went well for this dish. Papilles swore we could taste the freshness of the ocean murkiness of the fish tank in each bite 
A stir-fry dish of vegetable stems? ‘Nuff said
Crab Vermicelli in Claypot
Once again, the crab meat tasted stale and came off the shell easily in tiny shreds (a telling sign of how long this crab’s been alive before it went into that claypot). Appears they don’t handle crustaceans very well here; so much for being a “King Seafood” restaurant.
Dessert did do something to lift papilles’ mood at the end of the meal, if only barely:
Nothing remarkable, but at least they didn’t mess this up The total bill came up to $53.44 for 2 (inclusive of 2 drinks and 2 wet towels). A value-for-money dining experience? We’ll leave it to you guys to be the judge.
Long Beach King Seafood Pte Ltd
Next to Kallang Park McDonald
