Don's (Your Personal Pie Club)

Don's was introduced to me recently by my gf after she bought me one to enjoy at my leisure. They tout themselves as being the one stop solution for chicken pies and have been around for quite a long time and currently have quite about 4 outlets selling their products. Is it good enough to warrant another purchase though? Read on.

Address: 20 Cross Street, #01-34/35/36, China Square Central, Singapore 048422

Contact: 63274344

Website: http://www.donpieclub.com.sg/

Don's Your Personal Pie Club

Interior

A Slice of the Pie ($16.50)

Another Look

I've always liked chicken pies but struggled to find one thats dependable or remotely worth a mention to recommend. Well, i guess the search is over for now. We actually bought the pie on take away on Friday night and ate it over the weekend as breakfast after heating it in the oven. What can i say? Its delicious.
The crust is of medium thickness, which means it feels just right without making you feel like you just paid for flour instead of a pie. It was also fragrant and very appetising, and thats only talking about the crust. The next thing you notice about the pie is how heavy it is. For something that small, its actually quite surprising how much weight it packs. And it is so because of the thick stuffings and ingredients they used for the pie.
For the ingredients, they used chicken meat, egg, potato, corn, green pea, mushroom, celery, peppercorn and spices and everything is halal so our Malay friends can have a slice of the pie (pun intended) and eat it as well. Everything in it tastes authentic and fresh which makes it definitely worth the price.

Overall Score: 7.5/10

Last Word:
Try it to see if it is indeed worthwhile of being a pie specialist. Try it and let me know if you feel otherwise or if you know of anywhere better, but whatever your reason, try it!
To Christine, thank you for introducing this to me. Its indeed very good. :)

Hai Tien Lo Part 3

On my father's birthday, we decided to bring him somewhere he's been pining to visit ever since i introduced the place to him from my food exploits. And since he prefers normal zhi ca Chinese food to Italian, French or even Western cuisine, there was really only one place to bring him for dinner. The only problem was that this time, we were on a budget. You can view my previous visits here and here.

Address: 37th Floor, Pan Pacific Hotel

Contact: 68268338

Once again HTL

Their Latest Accolade

Random Shot

I believe if you have been reading my blogs, you'll realise i have been here quite a few times already so its a given that the location and place is great. The food is also of a certain standard. I'll jump right into the food then.

Peking Duck Meat ($68)

Peking Duck Skin with Crackers and Pancake

Peking duck, what else hasn't been said of it? The skin is thin and has minimal fat as usual with all the usual crispiness and taste it always held. The only complaint i had was the small portion of spring onions and cucumber for the skin but i believe its possible to ask for more. The duck meat is as good as ever with it tasting sweet, tender and succulent all the way to the last piece. A classic that doesn't get old. My younger sister commented that the authentic China version still tasted better though.

HTL Signature Beancurd ($24)

The Hai Tien Lo bean curd is different yet again. To date, i've tasted 3 versions of the same dish. The first was the best with seaweed, the second was normal without any differing factors while this time, it was covered in sesame seed and fried with chilli instead. This version was pretty good with it being spicy while retaining most of its previous traits. The bean curd is as smooth and soft as ever but strangely, i prefer the nonya bean curd i had in Pow Sing Restaurant instead.

Garlic Prawn ($36)

Big, succulent and absolutely juicy. The prawns still do not disappoint but as usual, there just isn't enough to go around. Don't get me wrong, we each had 2 prawns each but thats still not enough, such is the draw of this dish.

Kai Lan With Preserved Vegetable ($18)

Surprisingly salty. The preserved vegetable and soy sauce base further pushed the boundaries of saltiness but thankfully did not exceed by too much as the kai lan managed to balance it somehow. Crunchy and fresh, this would have went well with rice.

Fish paste noodles in fish maw soup ($28)

Pardon the blurry picture but i deleted the actual clear picture accidentally. Anyway, there's not much to say except that this was way too salty. The fish paste noodles are as chewy, springy and tasty as ever but the fish maw base was a tad too much. Even the fresh fish pieces and mushrooms couldn't save the noodles. A surprising disappointment.

Vegetarian Set Meal ($45)
Spring Rolls and Dumplings

Assorted Herb Soup

"Abalone" and vegetables with deep fried "wanton"

"Coconut fried rice"

Mango Pudding

The vegetarian meal is surprisingly varied and value for money. My mom had all the items so i can say if they were good but general consensus from her is that it tasted very good. So you'll have to take her word for it.

Bill

The final bill came up to $257.76 for 6 people. Which is quite a steep amount but overall still within the acceptable range.

Overall Score: 6.75/10

Last Word:
To be honest, the 'safe' items i ordered were as tasty as ever but the other trial items turned out less glamorous and less satisfying in general. So its important to only order the good things you've seen from the previous posts to get the most out of it. The day still went fairly well despite minor food hitches and the overall quality and location made up for much of the disappointment. The vegetarian set meal was pretty worth it as well. In conclusion, i'll still be back for another meal, and soon, since i need to use up my complimentary lobster voucher. :P