Strategically located straight outside Outram Park MRT, Grand Mandarina (previously known as Grand Mandarin) is an up-and-rising restaurant that specialises in Chinese fine dining. It incorporates traditional Cantonese cuisine alongside a fine balance of contemporary fusions, merging art and food in unison.
The interiors of the double-storey Grand Mandarina are decked with classic furniture and chandeliers, set aside walls of glossy black - pretty much one would expect from a high-end Chinese restaurant. The 160-seater restaurant also features two VIP rooms at the upper floor with minimal purchases. Perhaps, the most intriguing art-piece was the Empurau fish (also known as 忘不了), a sea-creature so elegant and prized. In fact, it is one of the most expensive freshwater fish in the world. Oh, and the reason I used the word "was", because it is for sale, with a hefty prize tag of approximately S$800/kg. Definitely not for a poor undergraduate like yours truly.