Why start your weekend feasting on a Saturday when you can start on Friday with Citibank Gourmet Pleasures TGIF Specials?
On this food trial, we bring you to four restaurants where you can enjoy a free signature dish with your Citi Card on Fridays!
Let the feasting begin!
Greenhouse at Dusit Thani Laguna Singapore
For our first stop, we visit Greenhouse at Dusit Thani Laguna Singapore which is not only green on the inside, but also surrounded by greens on the outside. The dome that looks out to the golf course will no doubt remind you of Gardens by the Bay and the lush greenery within is reminiscent of Jewel at Changi Airport.
It’s an all-day dining restaurant featuring five open kitchens where you can experience Thai, Cantonese, Mediterranean, Punjab Tandoori and Japanese cuisines.
We were suitably impressed with the quality of the Thai food which is to be expected of the Dusit Thani group. The Tom Yum Goong which comes with big head river prawns, full of rich tomalley and a very well balanced Tom Yum soup just goes to show why Tom Yum soup is often touted as one of the world’s most famous soups.
We tried food from the Japanese, Chinese and Mediterranean stations and they are very good in general, but we really feel that the location and setting is what really sets this place apart, making it a place for destination dining … as well as for the Thai food.
If you have not been to Laguna National Golf Resort Club recently, you might be surprised to see the clubhouse has now been refurbished and extended with a futuristic looking 198-room luxury hotel under the Dusit Thani brand! If you happen to be in the East and looking for a laid-back place to eat, this would be the hidden gem you are looking for.
The Friday signature dish giveaway here is the Khao Niao Mamuang (Thai Mango Sticky Rice) that is served with three different coloured sticky rice – Black Bean, Pandan and Blue Pea. While we would have liked the rice to be fluffier like Leslie’s Mango Sticky Rice recipe, we like the fact that they bothered to add little crunchy bits of yellow mung bean on top. Overall, it is a very nice dessert and the pretty plating makes for a lovely instagram post.
CITI Gourmet Pleasures TGIF Specials:
Free Thai Mango Sticky Rice with a minimum spend of $80 nett
Valid: Every Friday until 27 May 2022
Find out more about this Citi Gourmet Pleasures Dining Deal.
Greenhouse Dusit Thani Laguna
11 Laguna Golf Green, Singapore 488047
Website & Reservations
Breakfast:
Weekdays: 06:30 – 10:00; Weekends: 06:30 – 10:30
Lunch:
Monday to Saturday: 12:00 – 14:30
Sunday Brunch: 12:00 – 15:00
Dinner:
Daily: 18:00 – 21:30
Akira Back at JW Marriott Singapore South Beach
What kind of dishes can you expect when you have a Michelin Starred Korean American, Modern Japanese Chef? Well, you don’t have to stretch your imagination too much. All you need to do is to head down to Akira Back at JW Marriott Singapore South Beach.
The chic modern Japanese restaurant serves food that titillates the senses without making you regret that you have eaten too much. Chef Akira likes to say that it is food that make you leave the restaurant still feeling sexy. That isn’t a way of saying that the portions are so small that you won’t feel full after the meal, but, that it would be a meal where you can savour the flavour without too much carbs and fats to fill you up quickly.
Chef Akira himself may not be at the restaurant itself but his creative dishes are very well executed by the Chef de Cuisine – Chef Tomoyuki Kiga and his team.
We really enjoyed the AB Tuna Pizza, AB Wagyu Tacos and slow-cooked short ribs (48 hrs “Sanchoku” Short Ribs) and left the place with the mission of coming back to experience the other dishes in the menu. The dishes were very creative and thoughtfully constructed and we left the restaurant feeling satisfied yet still sexy!
At Akira Back, you get to choose between the AB Tuna Pizza or Rock Shrimp Tempura for the Friday signature dish giveaway. While both are delicious, we have a slight preference for the Tuna Pizza for the wonderful balance of textures and flavours you get from a perfectly sliced piece of maguro laid on a well pressed crispy tortilla with umami sauce in between.
CITI Gourmet Pleasures TGIF Specials:
Free AB Tuna Pizza or Rock Shrimp Tempura with a minimum spend of $60 nett
Valid: Every Friday until 27 May 2022
Find out more about this Citi Gourmet Pleasures Dining Deal.
Akira Back : JW Marriott Singapore South Beach
30 Beach Road, Level B1M, Singapore 189763
Call +65 6818 1914 or email [email protected] for reservations.
Lunch:
Mon-Sun – 12pm – 2:30pm
Dinner:
Sun-Thurs: 6pm – 10pm
Fri – Sat: 6pm – 10:30pm
Crystal Jade Golden Palace at Paragon
With 22 outlets in Singapore, one may wonder what makes Crystal Jade Golden Palace so special? Well, in short, it is one of three fine-dining restaurants and is the only one awarded a Michelin Star.
Aptly located at the fifth level of the Paragon, it serves, ostensibly the Paragon of Cantonese cuisine. We didn’t quite experience a full Chinese banquet as our limited time only allowed us to try their classic Teochew Four Delight Appetiser Platter, Angel Hair Pasta with Seafood & Black Truffle and Double-boiled Morel Mushroom Soup served in a coconut. The angel hair pasta was very good, though I questioned why the chef would have used angel hair pasta rather than a mee sua which is similar in texture and flavour.
The Teochew Four Delight Appetiser Platter features sauteed scallops that are specially sourced from Australia due to their sweetness and tender slices of Teochew braised American duck. American duck is used for the right balance of fat and meat. The two deep-fried rolls (Crab and Prawns) were nice but felt a little repetitive.
The star for us at Crystal Jade has always been the Crispy Crackling Pork Belly. It had been the inspiration for me (Leslie) to come up with my recipe for roast pork and it is still a joy to eat. So glad that they are giving it away on a Friday when you dine with your Citi Card.
CITI Gourmet Pleasures TGIF Specials:
Free Crispy Crackling Pork Belly with a minimum spend of $78
Valid: Every Friday until 27 May 2022
This offer is available at participating Crystal Jade restaurants! Find out more about this Citi Gourmet Pleasures Dining Deal.
Crystal Jade Golden Palace
290 Orchard Rd, #05 – 22, Singapore 238859
Website | Tel: 6734 6866 or 9177 2091
Mon-Fri: 11:30am – 3pm, 6pm – 10:30pm
Sat: 11am – 3pm, 6pm – 10:30pm
Sun & PH: 10:30am – 3pm, 6pm – 10:30pm
Paradise Dynasty
Xiao Long Bao is one of those dishes whose rise in popularity was tracked in my blog. Its popularity began to surge in 2007 and I even conducted a survey of how our fans like to eat their Xiao Long Bao at the time!
XLB and its accompanying Shanghainese cuisine is now firmly entrenched in our local culture, as is Sichuanese cuisine which also features significantly in the menu at Paradise Dynasty.
The four dishes featured here are the signature dishes of Paradise Dynasty. We like the fact that though the restaurant looks more expensive than it actually is! Most of the dishes are actually below $20 and quite a few are below $10.
We were surprised at first that a humble vegetable dish like Si Ji Dou (translated as four seasons bean) would be featured as a signature dish. But, after tasting it, we quickly realized why. The stir-fried French Bean is sweet and crunchy and the minced pork with preserved olive vegetable is so tasty, it’s sure to get those chopsticks coming back for more.
The Xiao Long Bao and Fried Rice with Crispy Pork Chop were both very good. Overall, we like how you can get these Shanghainese “staples” and enjoy a spicy kick with their Sichuanese Cuisine here at Paradise Dynasty!
CITI Gourmet Pleasures TGIF Specials:
Free Original Xiao Long Bao (10 pcs) with a minimum spend of $70
Valid: Every Friday until 29 April 2022
This offer is available at all participating Paradise Dynasty restaurants! Find out more about this Citi Gourmet Pleasures Dining Deal.
Paradise Dynasty at PLQ
10 Paya Lebar, Paya Lebar Quarter Mall #03-08, Singapore 409057
Website | Tel: +65 6971 6575
Mon to Fri 11.00am – 10.00pm
Sat, Sun & PH 10.30am -10.00pm
To uncover CITI Gourmet Pleasures TGIF specials and daily dining offers, click here.
Happy Fridays and Happy Feasting!
Disclosure: This post is written in collaboration with CITI Gourmet Pleasures
