Thursday 3 July 2014

[CLOSED] Grand Mandarina – Grand Cantonese Fine Dining

Update: Effective from Dec 2014, Grand Mandarin will be known as Grand Mandarina

Grand Mandarin
This food review was based on invitation hosted by Grand Mandarin and Hungry Go Where.


Grand Mandarin a fine dining Chinese Restaurant that is just open for business. Actually, it started operation in mid May 2014. Located at New Bridge road just before entrance to the MRT station, this restaurant is accessible not only by public transport, there is also public parking lot beside the building.

In case you are wondering, Grand Mandarin is not related to the Mandarin Hotel Group, however it is the brainchild of a group of high flyer foodies from the financial industry, answering the calling for their love of food.

Honey Glazed BBQ Pork Loin (Char Siew) 

We begin the tasting with Crispy Roast Pork & Honey Glazed BBQ Pork Loin (Char Siew) as appetizer. The roast pork is has a crispy yet light skin texture, well seasoned and tender and juicy meat. It is neither too fatty or too skinny. Very addictive indeed. The Char Siew is sweet, with a good caramelisation on the outside and the meat that just melts in your mouth. Yum Yum.

Crispy Roast Pork

For Entrée, Grand Mandarin 4 Happiness Combination. Consist of Honey Glazed BBQ Pork Loin (Char Siew), Prawn with Orange Zest Sauce, Fried Soft Shell Crab with Chicken Floss & Curry Leaves; and Soya Poached Foie Gras with 20 year “Shao Xin” Wine Jelly.

 Grand Mandarin 4 Happiness Combination

The Foie Gras texture is dense and velvety. The taste is very smooth and coated with Shao Xin wine jelly and with a hint of premium grade soya sauce. While the prawn is fresh and crunchy, serve with a creamy and tangy orange sauce. Fried soft shell crab is crispy and coated with chicken floss. The curry flavour help to remove any unwanted taste from the crab.

Fried Soft Shell Crab
 with Chicken Floss & Curry Leaves

Double Boiled Soup with Sea Cucumber, American Ginseng and Mushroom follow next. The soup is clear with a clean taste. Although the flavour a bit subtle, you can still taste the essence of the ginseng, sea cucumber and mushrooms in the soup.

Double Boiled Soup with Sea Cucumber,
American Ginseng and Mushroom

The Sea Cucumber

Sanbei Cod Fish with Spring Onion, Chilli and Thai Sweet Sauce. Plating of this dish is just beautiful. Red colour fried basket made from flour become the bowl for the dish and also to give the crispy texture. You can feel the omega in the cod fish, although the san bei sauce is slightly on the strong side, you can still taste the fish.

Sanbei Cod Fish

For meat dish, Stir-Fried Wagyu Beef Cubes with Red Wine and Black Pepper. Again, the plating itself looks delicious. The wagyu beef is tender and juicy with nice marbling, but I personally feel the red wine and black pepper sauce are a bit over-powering the natural taste of beef.

Stir-Fried Wagyu Beef Cubes with Red Wine and Black Pepper

For Carbo, we tried two dishes. One is Pork Neck stir-fried with Korean Glass Noodle and Fried Rice with Egg White and Dried Scallops. My vote goes to the stir-fried glass noodle. The noodle is very springy, crunchy and the pork neck is very tender. The taste and flavour is just right. The fried rice has a lighter and subtle taste, allowing the dried scallops to stand out. It is best to eat it with the sambal. (For those who know me, you know that I do not mix my food with chilli and sambal. However for this occasion, I actually put a little sambal in my fried rice to taste it out as LD is not around to provide her opinion :))

Pork Neck stir-fried with Korean Glass Noodle

Fried Rice with Egg White and Dried Scallops
With Sambal in the background

Chilled Green Apple Jelly Served in Dragon Fruit provide a refreshing finale. It is cold, light, refreshing and healthy. Yum Yum.

Chilled Green Apple Jelly Served in Dragon Fruit 

The ambiance of this restaurant are elegant and posh. It is well design and incorporate a unique chandeliers (Apologies no picture as they were function on the first floor). Grand Mandarin occupied the first and second floor of Thye Shan Mansion and they also cater for corporate function as the first and second floor are linked with video feed.

The Setting

Empurau Fish 
Overall, Grand Mandarin do provide you with a Grand dining experience. Currently they are also serving the famous Empurau Fish. The fishes are brought in from the wilderness of Sarawak, Malaysia. So if you are looking for a new Chinese fine dining location, give Grand Mandarin a try. Kudos to Grand Mandarin and Hungry Go Where for the tasting invitation. Cheers!!

Food: 8.5/10
Value: n/a
Service: n/a
Ambiance: 8.5/10
Budget per Person: $51 & Above

Grand Mandarina
325 New Bridge Road
#01/02-00. Thye Shan Mansion
Singapore 088760

T: +65 6222 3355
OH:
Mon - Fri: 11.30 - 14.30, 18.30 - 22.00
Sat - Sun: 11.00 - 14.30, 18.30 - 22.00


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