Cove99 is conveniently located right beside the Tanjong Pagar MRT station. The 3-month old live seafood restaurant serves contemporary Cantonese cuisine by award-winning Chef Pang Seng Hai with 22 years of cooking experience.
Photos by Florence of Make Your Calories Count
IF YOU are looking for a place to host your auspicious reunion dinner with your family or simply a celebrating lunch with your colleagues, Cove99 Live Seafood Restaurant will not let you down. Chef Pang Seng Hai upholds a philosophy in harmonizing textures and flavours using the freshest ingredients. I really looked forward to trying his innovative creations curated with seafood elements for Lunar New Year menus.
Contemporary Cantonese cuisine in modern Chinese interior decor: With two private partitioned areas, the 120-seat restaurant offers guests exclusivity for special functions.
Spotted lots of live geoducks, alaska king crab and boston lobsters swimming around in the tanks!
Cove99 Premium Treasure Pot Pencai | Small S$199++ | Large S$388++Pencai (Poon Choi in Cantonese), a traditional dish originating from Hong Kong village '香港围村', a dish that I almost have every CNY when I was in Hong Kong. The proper way to consume it is to eat layer by layer from top, usually dried and rare ingredients are placed on the upper part, for appearance purpose as well as while other ingredients at the bottom of the basin can absorb the sauce well.
This splendid sumptuous goodness comprises of 11 ingredients including abalone, sea cucumber, scallop, prawn, dried oyster, pork trotter, giant mushroom '花菇', black moss (fat choy in Cantonese sounds like 发财', meaning to strike a fortune) and homemade dace fishball, braised in a collagen-rich superior golden broth.
This splendid sumptuous goodness comprises of 11 ingredients including abalone, sea cucumber, scallop, prawn, dried oyster, pork trotter, giant mushroom '花菇', black moss (fat choy in Cantonese sounds like 发财', meaning to strike a fortune) and homemade dace fishball, braised in a collagen-rich superior golden broth.
I couldn't say no to this salivating dish with most of the ingredients soaking up the savoury, fragrant sauce which was a healthier twist from the oyster sauce that is normally used.
Every bite was pleasure. What I loved most were the well-marinated homemade dace fishball, crunchy giant mushroom and the full of flavour bean curd that was hidden underneath.
The only drawback was that the abalone was slightly overcooked, which made it hard to chew.
Premium Treasure Pot Pencai is available for takeaway together with this brocade thermal carrier.Cove 99 also offers three CNY set menus including Prosperity Set Menu [seven course menu for 6 persons] starting from S$399++. Visit their website for more details.
Here are some highlights of their CNY menus!
Yusheng with Geoduck, Salmon Sashimi, Baby Abalone, Truffle and Gold Flakes | S$199.90++The yusheng above is the largest the restaurant can offer to accommodate 10 persons, other options with smaller portions include Small Yusheng with Salmon Sashimi for S$39.90++ and Large for S$69.90++, as well as Yusheng with Geoduck and Salmon Sashimi for S$109.90++.
Luxurious ingredients and colourful thinly sliced vegetables were artistically plated, splendid enough to wow everyone at the table. The yusheng embodied a good balance of sweet flavours and crunchy texture, I liked that crunchy geoduck sashimi and fragrant bitter black truffle were contained to differentiate itself from the normal yusheng.
While the price is on the higher end, it was certainly value for money given the quality and quantity of the prized ingredients used!
Scallop and Dried Oyster Golden BagBroccoli was centred and surrounded by 10 golden tofu skin bags stuffed with dried oyster, topped with diced scallops and black moss. The exquisite handwork of these little bags should be well appreciated, bite it with just a mouthful, the rich flavour obtained from the gravy would burst with happiness.
Braised Boston Lobster with TruffleDeliberately assembled and plated as a whole lobster, the succulent flesh was braised with truffle. While fragrant, I was expecting a stronger punch of truffle flavour. The fresh lobster was however cooked to perfection which carried a natural sweetness and a subtle crunch. To accommodate the business lunch crowd, peeling service is available so you keep your hands (and clothes) clean!
There was another dish that was worth a shout-out - Wok Tossed Golden Seafood Fried Rice! While this sounds like an easy dish, the technique of frying a good fried rice with enough wok hei is never an easy task to conquer. This plate of fried rice immediately won my stomach over with its fragrance, crispy texture and bountiful ingredients with each mouthful!
Double Boiled Hashima with Red DatesAn innocent looking dessert but one which would make you fall in love upon the first sip. A candle was placed below to keep the dessert warm but the gratifying factor lies in the dessert not being overly sweet with its coconut milk base. I would however prefer more hashima '雪蛤' in it and there were no red dates in my bowl of sweet soup.
Yuzu Soda
It's best to use this refreshing drink to rinse off the heavy after-taste resulted from the flavourful dishes.
Many people will fall in love with this restaurant as it provides business-friendly features such as wall sockets for diner’s plug-in needs, free wifi and a smartphone charging station.
Family-friendly features such as sturdy high-chairs, diaper changing table and wheelchair accessible restroom are also available.
With its exceptional customer service, it certainly won't be my last time visiting this welcoming restaurant, perhaps to try the other signature dishes next!
Note: Orders and reservations for the CNY feasting are available from now till 5 March 2015.
Currently, they have promotions with OCBC credit cards:
1. CNY Set Menu
Complimentary Wok-fried Kurobuta Pork Cube in Sliced Garlic (valued at $38++) with any order of Abundance Set Menu Complimentary Stir-fried Beef Cube in Terriyaki Sauce Topped with Dried Bonito Flakes (valued at $44++) with any order of Opulence Set Menu
2. Yusheng
10% off Yusheng (Not valid for small Yusheng with Salmon Sashimi)
3. Pencai
Complimentary Yusheng with Salmon Sashimi with every Pencai purchased
Overall Verdict: 8.0 /10
Cove99
72 Peck Seah St
Tanjong Pagar
Singapore
+65 6224 0991
P.S. Photos were taken with D750, with thanks to Nikon Singapore!
P.P.S. Special thanks to Evelyn for the invite and Cove99 for having us!