Bosses (VivoCity)

About a year ago, TV was showing how good their fried durian puff were and finally I went to this restaurant to try it out.

It was very very disappointing. The durian puffs were thick and cold with little durian puree. The almond white dessert was watery and lack of strong almond taste.

I will only give review for the durian puffs coz that was what made me visit the restaurant and made me feel cheated by them.

 

 

this was my 2nd time at bosses. the first time was a farewell lunch my now ex-colleagues treated me to.

the second time, i brought my parents here for dim sum.

honestly, i am not too sure why some reviews gave this place such bad ratings. i actually found the food pretty good. the menus were not chained to the tables like one reviewer mentioned. neither did the service staff tell me "one pot, refill water 3 times only". in fact, my pot of tea with filled with water more than 3 times!

i particularly like the custard buns made with salted eggs. i found it rather costly tho. for 3 small buns, it cost $5.50. i couldnt bring myself to order another helping!

we also tried the eel with glutinuous rice shu mai, braised chicken feet and century egg with lean meat porridge. i think we had other stuff but i guess if i cant remember what i had, they probably arent worth mentioning.

i found the porridge a little too salty although my mom thought it was delicious. and we all agreed the eel with glutinuous rice shu mai was unique and fragrant.

if you do visit, please dont give the custarn bun and the eel with glutinuous rice shu mai a miss. i think they are a must try!

We frequent this restaurant for dinner and find that the quality is pretty consistent.

As usual, we will start with the Smoked Duck Breast Salad (上海熏鸭胸沙律).  It beats having the usual broccoli & scallop or stir-fry seasonal vegetables.  The dressing is very light and wonderfully refreshing especially with the sweet chilled mango pieces.

Another item that we would always have is the Claypot Frog Legs with Braised Tofu and Pork Belly (豆根燒腩田鸡煲).  I do not generally like the taste (smell) of braised tofu but the chef at Bosses did a great job;  it is very flavourful in this combination. Fantastic dish to go with rice or porridge!

On the days that we feel like having congee, we would order the Fresh Garoupa Congee (深海龙趸粥).  We like the smooth consistency of the congee and the freshness of the fish slices - better than Crystal Jade's (Holland V and Ngee Ann City).  I like it that the crispy fritters and shredded lettuce is served separately. 
 
The Pomelo Mango Cream with Nata de Coco (椰果杨枝金露) is always a good choice to have for dessert; refreshing and the mango cream is rich, unlike the watered down, weak mango cream we had at Pioneer Restaurant (Safra Mt Faber).

We also had the Flowy Custard Bun (招牌流沙包) on our last visit on 11Jan.  I do not generally have bun as I do not like the soggy texture of the inside of bun with meat stuffing.  However, I do like this salted egg custard bun very much.  The many times that we had it, it has always been superb! I've always warned first timer dining with us about the hot creamy salted egg custard and that they shouldn't simply pop the bun into the mouth.  It's unfortunate that a fellow HGW member had a bad experience with this menu item being that the custard were not hot when served.  Our servings have always been consistent, the texture of the bun and the creamy salted egg custard were hot and very tasty.

Lately, I've been trying to recover from the hundred day cough (百日咳) and was advised by the doctor to avoid deep fried stuff.  Thus, we declined the snacks as it looked like some deep fried crispy fish skin.   On two occasions, they had charged us for the snacks.  So, do check your bill when it's presented.  And if you do not want the snacks, do advise the waiting staff accordingly.  We do not mind being charged for the towels ($0.60) although tea ought to be complimentary or at least not at $1.80 per pax.

dim sum is not nice and price is expensive....
last time have 50% promotion, maybe can consider to come...
now only 30% off, is not worth anymore

mouth kitchen has cheaper and nicer dim sum

and they dun allow to take their food picture.
now everywhere can take picture, why are they so afraid people taking picture of their food?

Bosses, the outlook of this restaurant had so much promise to be honest. It looked so cooL. With the awesome view towards Sentosa, one would have thought even the simplest food would make this restaurant a hit!

I was walking around Vivo and noticed, a good deal, S$9.80 for black pepper crab. Now thats cheap! I decided to book a table and head down for dinner on Wednesday. To cut things short it became a disaster.

First the starters:
- Tea + Mushroom crackers.
I thought this had a unique touch to it. Never seen such a combination. It wasn't too bad, good start~

Next Seafood Mui Fan:
Man do they taste before serving? The sauce was really tasty and all, but woah it was salty! I thought I was the only one, but my wifey confirmed it. Disappointed I asked the waitress if it was served that way she say yes its meant to be salty. But i guess its not for me.

Order Mei Cai Kou Rou~~
To be honest I thought this would be the salty dish. However, it wasn't in fact, the tenderness of the pork made it taste real good. I was surprised to be honest. The mei cai didn't really bring the great smell and taste to the table though. Well cooked but underseasoned. What a wierd restaurant, a dish meant to be salty not salty, and the not too salty one, VERY salty.

Having eaten all that, my next order was supposed to be a "crowd favourite" Hot Custard Puff. The looks was alright. But when u bite into it... WHAT A DISASTER. THE CUSTARD WAS COLD! Out of 4, only 1 had a warm filling. It wasn't steamed cohesively or something! Can u imagine biting into a hot pastry with cool filling inside!? Thats so inappropriate! Disappointed I called the waitress, she told me she doesn't know whats happening in the kitchen. And thats the end of the topic.

I really wanted to cancel my last order of Durian Puff. At first I ordered the fried one, but they told i needed to wait 25mins. What kind of food needs 25mins to fry!?!? Nonsensical! I took the cold one.. Nothing special. I would have rather paid S$1.50 for those People's Park D24 pan cakes, than S$6 for this. Disappointing. I paid and I knew I won't be coming back again.

F/B: 3
Ambience: 7.5
Value: 4
Service: 5

*They're having 30% off dim sum from Mon - Sat 2.30pm - 5.30 pm. Prices listed are discounted*

Signature Custard Bun ($3.50)
Salted egg custard oozing out with each bite. We thought it was good initially but somehow the bun was sticky and we felt it was a chore eating this bun after a while.
(A: The salted custard was not too bad but it would be better if the bun is softer and more fluffy)
(J: The texture of this oozy custard was a little too 'sandy' for my liking. Please pardon me for my choice of word lol but i prefer smooth sweet eggy/milky custard... Plus i find it too salty & feel rather satiated after eating just 1 bun...)

A's & J's rating: 3.5/5

Egg Custard Tart ($2.80)
Unattractive as it seemed but this egg tart was so crispy and fluffy! Egg custard was sweet with a faint taste of milk. Unlike the traditional egg tart which tasted more eggy.
A's & J's rating: 4.25/5

Fish & Tofu Siu Mai ($3.36)
This definitely did not look a bit like any other siu mai at all. Seemed more like steamed meat with prawn bits. It was the gravy that made this dish special. Salty yet sweet gravy reminded us of Japanese soy sauce. The prawn bits were indeed fresh and crunchy but we could barely detect any trace of fish.

A's rating: 3.75/5, J's rating: 3/5

Crispy Mango Salad Prawn ($4.76)
Crispy batter with fresh translucent prawns embedded within it. However, it was a little oily and the mango wasn't sweet at all. It was sour.

A's rating: 3.5/5, J's rating: 3/5

Red Bean Pancake ($4.20)
We felt the pancake was too greasy for our liking. The pancake was thick and gooey, with uneven distribution of red bean paste. Too little by the side and too much spread in the center of the pancake.

A's & J's rating: 3/5

For the price you pay at Bosses without the dim sum high tea promo, we feel that you can enjoy better dim sum at Royal China which is even cheaper. Having said so, once in Bosses is enough. And we're on the search for the best custard bun!

For full write up, visit http://sistafood.blogspot.com/2009/09/bosses-lao-da-want-dim-sum.html

The ambience was black, black, black. Stylo and modern, fitting of their Mafia name.

Service staff was also decent. Knew their job and the food well enough.

Food.
When I looked at the menu, I was quite shocked. It charges pretty high. We kind of ended up eating things that could be gotten at Crystal Jade, except for some items.

Roasted Duck was recommended to us. One of the best I've eaten. Very fragant, crispy, juicy. Though I think some people dislike the duck to be shredded to pieces, rather had them whole. I didn't mind so much about that though.

Xiao Long Bao was pretty good too. The stock was flavourful and still trapped inside the skin.

Ate a couple of random dian xin. All were cooked pretty nicely. Quite impressed. Usually restaurants will serve some failed products.

Had fried rice with something else added into it (Friend called it, no idea what the name was) but it tasted fantastic. But for those we prefer a lighter fried rice, this is not one for you. It was bursting with strong flavours.


Overall, I think the food is quite fantastic, but the prices are just... unbelievable.

I went there 2 times, once for dim sum, another time for dinner.

Both visit did not impress me at all.

I remembered ordering a soy sauce chicken wings which is on their recommended list. It turn out tasting like plate of chicken dipped in soy sauce, microwaved. YUCKS.

When I told the servers about my unhappiness, all they did was to nod their head

The only thing I like about the place is the ice-water.

guess the food wasnt tasty to us so it was kinda expensive.
we ordered
- lobster bisque with xiaolongbao (the soup is quite nice. with 1 pc of lobster meat only. the xiaolongbao was hot. but the xiaolongbao juice + the lobster bisque somehow felt like a forced combi. quite pricey at $12/bowl)
- chilli crab sauce prawn (difficult to eat as the prawns were not shelled. the sauce was too corn-starchy. not flavourful. it didnt make me want to eat more fried mantou which is my fave.)
- fried eel strips. (they were TOO SWEET. its like eating candy. its very crispy and addictive but too sweet.)
- appetiser some noodle like kway teow served with cucumber, cold dish & sesame oil dressing. (this dish is not too bad but maybe lighten on the sesame oil. too much made it oily & heavy)
- lion head meatballs. (the meatballs are too fatty. the sauce not flavourful and again too much corn-starch. just didnt have the feeling of wanting to eat more.)
- Bosses special fried noodles. (thin noodles with duck meat & veggies. very oily. my BF loves noodles but he hardly took seconds. even though i washed mine down with tea, it was too oily.)
the service and the ambience is OK. but the food, although the portions are OK, were too oily for us and we didnt enjoy it. one of those meals we left alot of food behind. we try not to waste but in this instance, our bellies couldnt take the oily food anymore.
being OCBC card members, they had free durian puffs for us since we spent over $80. but i only ate one. the whole thing was just cream with tiny bit of durian paste in the centre. they could just do without the cream and just leave it with the durian paste. the cream just ruined the whole thing making it overtly sinful without good taste or reason.
the decor is slick - black concept. the nice view of the sentosa area waterfront couldnt mask the poor quality of the food. for this price, we should have gone to tung lok signatures or crystal jade since the whole menu somewhat copies them.
dont think we'll be back here for dinner again.

Damages incurred by the end of a Fathers’ Day Dinner?? A whooping SGD 103.00!! How so?? Coz Fathers’ Day being a really special day in the calendar, neither credit card discount could be used nor special cheapo dishes could be ordered, thus the ultimate result?? A really painful pocket!!! *sobs*

But then again, Fathers’ Day is a once a year event, so in honour and appreciation of what our fathers have done for all of us throughout our entire lives, how much harm can that amount do?? But being Singaporeans, we complain at just about anything and everything. =D

Having not made a reservation for Fathers’ Day, I was really lucky to be able to get a last-minute dinner reservation at Bosses, a place which I have wanted to try for the longest of time. Since the family was a little hungry and wanted to avoid the real celebration crowd, we had dinner at 5.30pm.

To kick off the whole dinner, we first had a piping hot dish of Three Cup Chicken Claypot (SGD 14.00), which had a really generous portion of chicken pieces in there. Although I still do not have the slightest idea of its cooking methodology, but given its portion and taste, it was definitely worth the amount paid for. =)

Next up, we had Braised Tofu with Shimeji & Spinach (SGD 16.00) and I was seriously won over. I really love the tofu for its slightly fried surface on the outside but its softness and smoothness on the inside. Coupled with the thick gravy, accompanied with shimeji mushroom and spinach leaves, it was really yummy!!! But to prevent coagulation of the gravy, it was necessary for one to finish this dish early, to really appreciate its taste. =)

We got ourselves a Stir-fry Prawns in XO Sauce (SGD 22.00), whereby Mum was trying to explain to me, how XO sauce exactly did taste like. The prawns were succulent and crunchy (so that was a plus with me), but the XO sauce made it a little oily, so maybe it might not be such a good recommendation for people who are health-conscious.

I ordered a starter – Crispy Cuttlefish with Garlic & Spices (SGD 12.00), thinking that it would be the first dish served, but in the end, it was the last dish. By then, my family was pretty stuffed and unfortunately, this dish was quite a disappointment. For the price, we were served with deep-fried cuttlefish’s tentacles and some strips had actually more flour than meat. =( In the end, we had to get the service crew to pack this dish up, so that we could bring it home for supper.

The staple for the evening was XO Sauce & Seafood Fried Rice (SGD 14.00), which saw generous portions of seafood tossed and fried together with the rice!! =) Really fragrant and tasty. Hmm, I don’t know how else to describe the dish but just that I enjoyed it a lot!!

Bosses has a pretty attentive service crew and really hospitable as well, especially since mine was a last minute reservation, the reservation team did their best to allocate a table with a good view of the Now-Under-Construction Sentosa, but was well into the restaurant, away from the shopping crowd at Vivocity. Unfortunately the crew was also well-trained in advising its customers not to take photos of the restaurant’s dishes, thus there were no photos to boost of for its dishes. =(

Yet worthy of mention, was the interior design of the restaurant. Black walls with red lanterns and the service crew was dressed in black high-collared tops. And black tables with high-backed black chairs. All these definitely reminded me much of the triad societies back in all the 1930s films of the Shanghainese society. A good role-play on the name of the restaurant!!

I hope to be able to return soon to give the dim-sum menu, as well as the daily cheapo dishes a try too, coz they really look pretty appetizing. And coming back on a normal non-celebration weekday or weekend will definitely do my pocket some good, as OCBC offers a 10% discount off the bill. =)