Delicious and healthy. Together at last!

Did you know?

Seafood is a good source of proteins, vitamins and minerals.
Seafood is heart healthy. It reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Seafood boosts brain power. It contributes to neurological development in infants.
Seafood is low in saturated fat and high in Omega3 fatty acids.
Seafood Increases HDL (good) cholesterol.
Seafood helps build muscles and tissues.
Seafood contributes to vision development and nerve growth in the retina

Not to mention the huge variety available, the endless preparation styles, and its accessibilty anywhere in the world! What are we waiting for?

Avid seafood lovers, Just-Eat-Lah and KitCat sniffed out a relatively newcomer to the scene for our SIX dinner in July. Cove99, located on Peck Seah Street, opened in 2014. And judging from the crowd on this weekday evening, I’d say its pretty popular.

This evening’s Menu

Shark's bone cartilage soup with grouper — Shark’s bone cartilage soup with grouper

Live bamboo clam, steamed in garlic and baked with prawn roe

Stir fried venison in yellow mustard sauce

Baked Sri Lanka crab in white sauce (salted egg)

Braised Boston lobster in superior broth with vermicelli

Reviews

All scorings based on individual's opinions — All scorings based on individual’s opinions

Just-Eat-Lah says…

(1) Venue 5.5- It’s not a dive lah!!! Much room for improvement for an up-market Chinese restaurant, at least with the prices it charges.. WRT the decor of the restaurant and it’s “private rooms” – made up of segregated panels between spaces, the restaurant is going to find it hard-pressed for Chinese towkays looking to impress their clients with a trip to an up-market restaurant serving top-of-the- line Chinese cuisine. (2) Taste 7.5- Shark Cartilage Soup with Grouper Slices – Flavorful and fresh ingredients. A good start to the meal. Bamboo Clam – Dual-cooked but mentaiko-anything will do it for me. Venison – Save the $$. Lobster Vermicelli – While not big on lobster, the vermicelli’s WOK-HEI blew me away! Rarely able to find a restaurant’s chef willing to spend the extra time required to fry the carbo till the quintessential element of zi-char is incorporated in the dishes. De-shelled Chilly Crab – Novelty serving-method akin to scooping from a bowl of thick broth of the infamous dish. Salted-egg Crab – Battered done like no other!! Finger-licking good. Durian dessert – Best durian-anything to neutralize the heavy seafood palate. (3) Service 6.5- Enthusiastic staff even though it is suspected that they are somewhat new to the job or the restaurant’s servings. The flow seemed to be missing.. (4) Value 6- Generous portions and mostly tasty dishes..but there seemed to be a time, not too long ago, when all the above could’ve been had for about Sgd80 instead of the Sgd125/pax.

KitCat says

(1) Venue 4.0- Ordinary Chinese restaurant decor, nothing fanciful. Pte room was partition by Chinese painted screen. Tableware was modern and impressive in comparison to the decor. (2)Taste 8- Good presentation and quality of food👍, I especially like the shark cartilage soup with grouper slices. Its light and rich with flavour, the way they serve the soup also enhance this dish. The Sri Lankan chilli crab was nicely done in Singapore style without lots of tomato sauce. The best part its deshelled and you can savour it without getting your hands dirtied. The salted egg crab was the best I’ve tried, very tasty and meat is fresh and juicy. Its fried till the shells are so crispy and its not soggy at all! You can even eat the crab shell coz the sauce are nicely glued to it. Lobster with the vermicelli was good especially the vermicelli with a lot of 锅气. The Venison can pass off. The durian pudding for finale was the best, it’s light texture, flavorful taste made with good quality durians cleans your palate after a heavy meal. (3) Service 7- Attentive service, staffs were polite and had a positive attitude which enhance my dining experience. (4) Value 6.5- The food portions were generous, no corkage charge for wines we bring. All for $125/pax for 7 course seafood dinner is reasonable in S’pore.

Will-I-Ham says…

(1) Place 4.0 – Atmosphere is somewhat tired and boring, with very little invested (if any) into design and decor. One would have expected something a little more plush or chic for a restaurant that offers fine dining. (2) Taste 7.8 – The fine presentation and good quality of the dishes made up well for poor aesthetics. Ingredients used were fresh and well cooked, and the chef did a decent job in designing each dish to optimize our culinary experience. I especially liked the baked Sri Lanka crab in white sauce which was so tasty I found myself gnawing on the shell. The chilled durian pudding dessert was also spectacular as it was likely made with generous portions of high quality durians, mixed together with pudding gelatin, the taste and texture was simply amazing, maybe even better than eating an actual durian from the shell (3) Service 7.2 – Service was surprisingly good, as the staff were attentive and polite throughout the evening, and careful to time each course with just the right amount of interval. (4) Value 6.0 – @$125/pax for a tasty 7-course fine-dining meal + free corkage in Singapore would normally be a decent price, however the unimpressive decor made the experience less valuable as it would definitely not be an environment set to wow your VIP guests.

G.licious says…

(1)Venue 4.2- Brightly lit, noisy and casual. A big hall with lanterns and oriental screens erected to make “private rooms”. Not fancy least fine dining but one can see the effort/ attention put in, especially in the private room where there’re gilded screen partitions, wall calligraphy art, table cloths & modern white chinaware. Chef’s creative plating noticeable. Though did not impress, I appreciated the effort. (2) Taste 6.5- Shark cartilage soup- clean, light yet flavorful, sliced fish was boringly plain albeit fresh. Bamboo clams 2 styles- a tired recipe (both styles). Venison – don’t need to order again 😐. One reason I hardly crave for crab is the amount of work I have to put in. So DE-SHELLED chilli crab seriously is the best part for moi! Thick, rich, creamy with a good spicy kick to it. Perfect with the buns it came with. Ideally, all the crab I eat should be served this way! Baked Sri Lankan crab- great flavor and culinary displayed here! The crunchy layer of salted egg glaze on each piece of crab is tasty and unique… Love the crunch too! Meat is succulent, fat and fresh! (I did secretly wished it was de-shelled!!) The braised lobster was lacklustre.. But the vermicelli was well flambé! The durian pudding is light but robust in flavour, texture and bite! Excellent! (3) Service 6- Attentive, friendly and smiley server. Untypical of a typical Chinese restaurant! (4) Value 5- At $125/pax (w/o wine), it isn’t overtly expensive considering the sheer abundance of food served. But only half e menu warrants a higher price tag. Definitely more value for money if it came with the wine!

Tutu Kueh says…

(1) Venue 4- No effort made at all with interior. (2) Taste 7- Dishes were rich and flavourful. Salted egg york Crabs were magnificent and well plated. Generous portions of tastiness and durian dessert was delightful. (3) Service 6.5 (4) Value 6.5- Service staff were very friendly and overall experience value for money. Will certainly recommend to family members.

Tonguerchi says…

(1) Venue 4.5- Typical Chinese restaurant in need of a visual makeover. Oriental screens offered us ‘private’ dining which seemed more befitting of a selfie backdrop. Nothing grand at all. (2) Taste: 7.2- I loved the rich creamy shark cartilage soup that transported me into some kind of ethereal majestic dynasty. Then the bamboo clams snapped me down from the heavenly kitchens and the venison dropped me back to earth with my nose in the dirt. But thankfully, for the first time, eating the chili crab made me feel grand and glamorous! It came sans shell and individually plated; classy and kick-ass tasty. Salted egg crab was crispy crazy yummy. Lobster noodle looked like it tasted; a little dry and tired like my face. But dessert made me crack a smile again. Durian pudding fit for a princess. So fine and delectable. I would have walloped another two. (3) Service 7- I loved them chattering and laughing at all our jokes, standing around waiting for our oohs and aahs and prompting for reactions when we fell silent. (4) Value 6- Good portions and good value. BYOB and give your tongue the full rein of above average flavours. I’d go again and bring family and close friends.

For those of us who enjoy seafood, what a big plus that they’re in fact food that’s good for us! Another great evening! Til the next dinner, go on and have some fish!