Confinement Food Review (Trial Meal): Tian Wei Signature and Natal Essentials

As mentioned in my previous post about confinement tingkat meals, it’s best to order and try out the trial meals of different caterers. My confinement food review only serves to help you in shortlisting the caterers. What works for one mummy might not be suitable for you. I have tried the trial meals of Tian Wei Signature, The Natal Kitchen and Thomson Medical Center. I didn’t try other trial meals because I had a biasness towards one caterer already. Moreover, the trial meals don’t come cheap and I don’t really know how to distinguish what’s good or not except for the taste – and that’s based on one meal.

Do read the ‘confinement tingkat meals‘ post if you are still undecided on whether to order these meals and are looking for a list of popular caterers.


Tian Wei Signature


Pricing

  • 28 Days Dinner and Lunch – S$1688 (Early Bird Discount – S$128)
  • Trial Meal – S$30

www.tianweisignature.com/confinement-meal-booking

First Impression

When Tian Wei Signature (“Tian Wei”) first started out, they were giving out free trial meals to garner reviews. So my hubby and I signed up for it and got two trial meals in return! What’s more, if you write a review for them, they will send you another round of their signature dishes. All in all, we got three deliveries from them.

The first and third delivery we received were in bento packaging and looked appetising. However the 2nd delivery for the confinement meal set is in normal microwavable boxes.

Each of the confinement meal set comprises of one meat, one vegetable, one bowl of soup, one portion of brown rice (糙米饭) and two cups of Longan red date tea (龙眼红枣茶).

The delivery timings are different each time and it could come early as 4+pm. This is not good because I don’t know when they will be coming and the food will not be as hot and fresh. I’ll have to heat up again during dinner time. But I guess that’s what happen with most tingkat services.

Confinement Food Review

Review

(Top left in picture) My husband was amazed by how delicious the food looked and salivated the moment he saw it. On the other hand, I was skeptical because I am not a big fan of pig’s trotters. But turned out, the black vinegar trotters was good!! Also I wasn’t too thrilled with the brown rice but it’s cooked so well, I finished it unknowingly. The vegetables came with mini scallops which was a good addition. The chicken soup was a bit oily though. Oh, not to forget, the red dates longan tea is not bland but sweet and tasty. 🙂

(Top right in picture) For the 2nd confinement meal set we received, the food didn’t taste as good. It was still delicious but not aa memorable as the first. The brown rice is still as good though.

One lady (in a mummy’s WhatsApp group I joined) emailed Tianwei asking them about the lack of ginger taste in their meals. This was Tian Wei’s reply: “We aim to serve creative and exciting confinement meals for mothers, therefore we use ginger juice in all stir fried veggies. This is so that the ginger flavor won’t be overpowering as some mothers prefer not to have strong ginger taste. Rest assure, you are still getting all the nutrients from the ginger.” 

(Bottom two of picture) Tian Wei delivered two sets of their signature dishes – one fusion, and the other more traditional Chinese. We also received two bowls of soup. It’s my first time trying Quinoa/millet rice and surprisingly it tasted really good. The salmon dish was also nice, especially with the sauce provided.

In the end, I did try Tian Wei’s 14-day lunch, see review at ‘Tian Wei Signature Review (14-Day Lunch).


The Natal Kitchen [PERMANENTLY CLOSED]


Pricing

  • 28 Days Dinner and Lunch – S$1680
  • Trial Meal – S$30

www.thenatalkitchen.com.sg/product-category/price-order

Natal Kitchen

First Impression

Firstly, do not confuse The Natal Kitchen with Natal Essentials, another confinement caterer. 🙂

The usual price for a trial meal is S$30, however I got this meal delivered at S$20 because I told them I will be featuring them on this blog. They were quick to respond and this is a good sign of communication.

The food came in sealed bento packaging and the rice in another separate container. I was quite impressed that the Longan red date tea came in a bottle.

The confinement meal set comprises of one meat, one vegetable, soup, rice and a bottle of Longan red date tea (龙眼红枣茶).

Before delivery, they emailed me their menu and also the delivery timing. This is good because it gives me a heads up on when to expect them. Their delivery window was small too and they came about dinner time, 6 to 6:30pm.

Natal Essentials

Review

Their menu delivered that day was: Herbal chicken, sharp spinach with silver fish, yuzhu longan pork rib soup and sesame oil fried rice. Fried rice was delivered that day because it was a Wednesday. On other days, the rice alternate between brown and white rice. Not that I mind the fried rice, because it tasted really good! But it only comes once a week in Wednesday.

The trial meal from Natal Kitchen was not bad in taste, though it’s 7.5/10 as compared to Tianwei’s 8.5/10. I am usually not a veggie person, but their vegetables are quite palatable. Oh and there’s strong ginger taste in their food.

Some mummies prefer the longan red date teas from The Natal Kitchen, but personally we think Tianwei’s tea was sweeter and hence nicer for us.


Verdict


I think The Natal Kitchen is on par with Tian Wei Signature – each has its own pros and cons. But in the end my heart went out to Thomson Medical Confinement Food (under ThomsonBaby). But if I didn’t sign up with ThomsonBaby, which one would I have chosen?

I almost ordered from Tian Wei because the meals are unique from the other caterers and tasted good. However, it feels more like a delicious and atas tingkat meal rather than a healthy confinement meal for the mummy. Even though Tian Wei tasted nicer, I might have gone for The Natal Kitchen because of the ginger and the more traditional confinement menu.

Nevertheless, Tian Wei’s signature dishes were what made me consider ordering their 14-day lunch (review) after my first month of confinement with TMC. I don’t need a strict traditional menu but healthy meals to eat after the first month.

While TMC has TCM doctors to curate their food menu, Tian Wei has also assured that their head chef has carefully planned out their food menu to provide sufficient nutritional values for confinement mothers to recuperate. You can take a look at the menus of the different caterers and decide for yourself what suits your needs the most.

p.s You might also want to sign up for Prepacked Confinement Herbs.

Have you tried the trial meals of the different caterers? What are your thoughts? Feel free to share your confinement food reviews below. 



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