03 JAN 2010
Brought Brother up to the top of our world (Pinnacle@Duxton)… to have a walk-around… and was greeted by this dramatic sunset… Simply breadth-taking!!
18 DEC 2009
D-Day… Key Collection… But before that, we have to survive the Isetan private sale!!
If there’s a sale to save up for, it got to be this huge sale!! It starts at 8:30 am, I thought we were Kiasu to be there before 8:00 am… but the queue was already TOO LONG. Now I am wondering… what time does one have to get there to be FIRST in the queue… Hmmm…
We were focused. Very focused… and in 2 hours, we managed to go through three waves of buying and got all that we wanted to get from Isetan with at least an overall saving of 50% regular retail price. I even managed to get a DKNY pants for $30 (less than 10% original price) and two DKNY long sleeved Tee for $10 each…
Rushed home and rush to HDB hub for our appointment at 1 pm. Went through all the paperworks… and we were off to our new place… Pinnacle @ Duxton.
The place was small. Can’t expect too much from 91 sqm… Decided we may have to do some hacking. I guess we will let our ID propose some ideas on our next meeting. After he left, we checked for defects. There were some minor ones, but nothing as drastic as what some owners reported.
Aunt and Uncle came over for a brief visit, and everyone including wifey thought the unit was handed over to us in a decent condition… If we aren’t too picky, I think we can even start renovating immediately! But we decide to go ahead with the defect clearing and was told it may take up to 3 weeks! Will be looking forward for the day renovation starts!
16 DEC 2009
Finally found the time to make my way up to the Sky Garden of our future home…
The Sky Garden on the 50th Floor… Now isn’t this a pretty sight…
13 DEC 2009
Ever since my last blog a few months back sometime in mid-Aug, I have been busy… VERY busy… Busy looking for a better job (AUG-SEPT)… It was a rather harrowing period. Thankfully, I found a better position, and I was busy handing over (Early OCT), Once I took up my new appointment, I was again busy… busy getting up to speed with my current research job and concurrently getting myself eye-deep with renovation stuffs…
Now, everything is beginning to fall into place… and I will slowly back-blog (if I have the time). For now, a few 3-D rendering from my Interior Designer to share… and I thought it’d make a worthy post for my return to blogging…
Well, the meeting with my ID was excellent… Just need to sort out the overall color scheme and then look at his detailed drawing… But most importantly, we can hardly wait for 18 DEC 2009 where we will be taking possession!! It is going to be a long week!!
20 AUG 2009
It is kind of worrying waking up one morning to see a friend’s facebook link saying how a Stanford PhD, with 16 years of research experience in IMCB (A*Star) ended up deciding to drive a cab… Though many application letters and CVs were submitted to universities, government agencies, and private companies, it appeared that very few responded. Those that did never materialised into anything positive… Dr Cai Ming Jie’s blog of a Singapore Taxi Driver’s Diary can be read here…
Many left comments with words of encouragement and advice. Some left down emails with offers of possible job opportunity… A few dissed and jested… But what really intrigued me, or rather enlighten me were some of the very revealing comments posted within and on some other online forum… Indeed food for thoughts since I walk a very similar Post-doctoral research path… and I have to agree that a research is indeed unstable as it is contract based… I think I better get my international licence converted to a Singaporean one just in case…
01 AUG 2009
Continuing our exploration of ION Orchard, we came across the newly opened pretty-in-pink Canton-i. We browsed through their menu and found their price to be quite acceptable… considering the all-out-no-expense-spared decoration of the restaurant in white and pink… It really looked and felt very impressive to me and we decided to try it out…
25 JUL 2009
Exploration of the new in-place in town – Orchard Ion… can be rather harrowing, especially with an endurance shopper like Wifey… Even though it was only 30 minutes into the excursion, I felt the need for sustenance…
A strategic right turn coming out of Miu Miu brought us towards Bally which is just opposite Gusttimo and I refuse to budge until I was fed something sweet – and a kiss is not enough!!…
Gusttimo is rather classy with the high ceiling and the huge chandelier… The staffs are patient, polite and cheery… There was a queue by the Gelato counter probably due to indecisiveness of the patrons with the flavours and the availability of tasters – Imagine each indecisive patron (including myself) test-tasting at least 2 to 3 flavours before deciding… I actually saw someone with 6+ tasting spoons!! The flavours available (list here) are quite extensive, with the majority in the cream family (96% fat free). There were also gelato of the fruit and yogurt family (zero fat).
19 JUL 2009
Stepped into Big O Cafe & Restaurant for an afternoon tea after walking around town with Wifey & Mom… I was lured in by their display of cakes…
18 JUL 2009
Received a promotional email regarding Central Food Festival which is held in collaboration with Singapore Tourism Board… One of the featured restaurant: Seoul Yummy, had a fantastic looking mixed Hot Stone pot rice on it… and that got me drooling… *slurp* After successfully selling the idea of Korean food to Wifey, we head down to The Central to check out some of the promotions Seoul Yummy and the rest of the restaurants in The Central are running…
17 JUL 2009 – [INVITED SESSION]
Whole Earth… a rather Zen name… was somehow associated with organic food when I first heard about it… Well, thanks to the invite from HGW, I soon realise that it’s a Vegetarian restaurant that serves Peranakan-Thai food…
Located just a stone throw away from Tanjong Pagah MRT Station, it is not too difficult to find… Even though Whole Earth recently moved to the current location at Peck Seah Street, a healthy lunch crowd was there when I arrived for the food tasting session…
15 JUL 2009
Ever since my first visit to Sage (exactly 2 months from today), I wanted to bring Wifey along to this wonderful restaurant to experience their Executive Set Lunches… and specially their exceptional Truffle-infused Scrambled Eggs…
That day finally arrive… We took a day off to run some errands… Even though the timing was a little tight, I made sure we lunched at Sage… I even called in a day before to make sure the truffle infused scrambled eggs were available for us during lunch – The side of truffle-infused scrambled egg normally comes together with their Mushroom Cuppacino during dinner…
12 JUL 2009
Whilst waiting for Wifey’s as she pamper herself and her hair at Shunji Matsuo, I strolled around Paragon. Walking towards Lawry’s, I saw an eye catching brochure… “Afternoon Indulgence… Only at Lawry’s“!!
Served daily between 2.30 pm to 5.00 pm, a choice of 1 Savory and 1 Sweet cost $12.00 per person!! That also include a choice of Italian Coffee, Assorted Tea, Soft drinks or Juices!! For the full Afternoon Indulgence menu, click here… “Whoa” was my initial thought and with that, I found our afternoon tea destination for the day! I reported back to Wifey of my find and she was delighted… So, Lawry’s, here we come!!
11 JUL 2009
As a belated birthday dinner celebration with some of my aunts and uncle, we went to Soup Restaurant @ Compass Point… Well, I am not exactly a herbal soup person, so Wifey & I have yet step into any of the Soup Restaurants since our return to Singapore… Then again, after such a heavy durian afternoon tea break, why not have some soup and something light!
11 JUL 2009
Wifey’s recent purchase in DFS Galleria got us a $50.oo discount voucher for any of the F&B chain by Goodwood Park Hotel… and that brought us to Deli… What better chance to try out one of the 50 yummiest cakes in Singapore – the durian mousse cake…
We were pretty much mesmerised by the wide selection of goodies… with many durian as well as non-durian cakes, puffs and tarts… After some feverish calculations, we decided on a whole range items, paid up and headed to grandma’s for a little afternoon delight!
05 JUL 2009
It has been 368 days since my last visit… Finally get the chance to bring Wifey to Royal China… I called in advance to reserve a table of 2… Once arrived, we were quickly shown our seats… Once seated, we ordered some Chinese Tea ($2.00 each)… After looking through their main and dim sum menus, we decided to go for the dim sum as they were quite well priced considering a classy restaurant like Royal China…
05 JUL 2009
Orchard Central… a new mall… which means its a place to explore! Then again, all malls are more or less similar in one way or another… After a couple of hours wondering through Orchard Central level by level, we came across Fruit Paradise… The place was packed… and looking at the tarts on display I guess I know why… Even the fake ‘look-alike’ tarts, so typical of the Japanese, looked delicious! After a minute of “hmmmm”… “should we”… “maybe”… we decided to go in for a pit-stop! The tarts just looked so darn good…
Thanks to the invite from HGW, we approached Zento @ Dempsey, highly charged with keen anticipation for the food tasting session. One may ask… Why the anticipation? Well, Zento’s Chef Gunawan Wibisono did a stint under Iron Chef America – Masaharu Morimoto (perhaps better known as the third Iron Chef Japanese on the show Iron Chef)… We followed the earlier Iron Chef series when we were in Australia, and were constantly fascinated & enticed by some of the mouth-watering themed-creations produced… To have the opportunity to experience contemporary Japanese cuisine created by someone trained under a creative Chef with such credential… Need I say more?
28 JUN 2009
After a not so satisfying dim sum session yesterday, Wifey jumped at the thought of my random suggestion of having another dim sumsession today when we walked passed Imperial Treasure Nan Bei Restaurant whilst hunting for our next meal… I was like… “Huh?! dim sum a.g.a.i.n….?! Seriously!??” Oh well, whatever that keeps Wifey happy!
27 JUN 2009
Asia Grand… a place we planned to have some dim sum since the beginning of the month, but had to for-go due to a nasty non-H1N1 flu-ish bug… followed by some last minutes errands… and a severe hangover…
Today… YES!!… Today is the day… we are all set for dim sum at Asia Grand, and no nasty H1N1 or any amount of binge drinking is going to stop us now!! I was actually looking forward for this dim sum session as I have heard good things said about the dim sum and dinner here coming from various friends and relatives…
23 JUN 2009
After reading about Bergs Burgers, which basically stemmed from 2 Aussie’s ideology of finding the perfect burgers, I got a feeling that wifey and I may just like this burger joint!! Since I’m on leave, we decided to head down Far East Square for some Aussie-styled burgers for dinner…
22 JUN 2009
After watching this Korean series about food yesterday, we got this crazy craving for some KimChi… and decided on the Korean restaurant in Fusionopolis…
21 JUN 2009
Been reading quite a few reviews about Cugini @ HGW and have always wanted to try the place out… Finally found the opportunity to have a little romantic dinner at Cugini with wifey… Apparently, Cugini serves Southern Italian cuisine focused mainly on the region of Sicily & Sardinia… and it was an interesting night… specially the Cugini Special we ordered…
17 JUN 2009
Shinobu Dining is located on the 4th storey of PSA Building. Apparently, it current name was changed from Yuzu-Shimizu Japanese Restaurant… Anyway, thanks to Dave for this introduction to Shinobu Dining… Frankly speaking and like many hidden eateries out there, I will have never known of its existence otherwise!
14 JUN 2009
As wifey was feeling unwell, we went for a simple dinner nearby… Its the first time we try this relatively new-ish economic rice /Teo Chew porridge stall which is housed within the coffee-shop by the name of Peking Room…
13 JUN 2009
Smoochies Bistro and Bar… Took some food photos for their current menu today. The presentation of the spread was simply awesome… Smoochies Bistro and Bar is now on Facebook… Become a fan to receive updates on up-coming events and current promotions. Check out pictures of some of the scrumptious selections on their current menu there too… Enjoy some soothing live music every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in their alfresco garden area…
Read my previous reviews on Smoochies here & here… Five items high on my recommendation list: Smoochies Crispy Chicken Wings, Beef Carpaccio in a Soy-Foie Gras Truffle Dressing, Any of their Pizzas with extra cheese, Baked Pork Ribs, and their Honey-Soya Chilean Cod!
Smoochies may be hard to find if you are unfamiliar with the area… However, you can call 62767337 for direction and for reservations… Enjoy!
Address:
991B Alexandra Road, #01-10, Singapore
After my initial visit to Cha Cha Cha with Dave, I know I have to bring wifey her for the chips, the salsa, and the fajitas…. I know wifey is really craving for some of the simple things we could get in Australia which actually include cheap snack food like corn chips and salsa sauce that are so readily available in Australia’s supermarket.
07 JUN 2009
Decided to grab a simple, hasty, & early dinner at Sakae Sushi (Compass Point) before the crowd comes in. Seems like the business here is always pretty darn good as evident by the constant long queue I observed every other week that I am in Compass Point visiting Grandma…
We went in at around 5:30 pm and the place was already 75% filled!! We were seated in a corner and were soon forgotten… It took some effort to catch the attention of the busy staffs… The place was rather noisy, but that totally due to the family seated adjacent to us… A family of 6 include 3 hyper-active kids… :groan:
31 MAY 2009
After reading a comment about Marmalade Pantry’s sticky date toffee pudding, I knew I have to try it for myself… Even though I felt a little under the weather, I dragged wifey along for this food escapade… to Palais Renaissance… to Marmalade Pantry.
24 MAY 2009
Wifey has been craving for a decent sticky date pudding for sometime now… She kept going on about that sticky date pudding we fell in love with in Melbourne… So one of my mini-quest is to find her a replacement or something close… That quest has been a measly failure until I chanced upon ‘Chalk‘… Some of the HGW reviews I read of this restaurant seem promising…
17 MAY 2009
Had a simple lunch at Teahouse, The Asian Kitchen… The size of this joint is rather small, and the place was pretty packed… with many staffs buzzing around… Thankfully, we managed to get a seat…
16 MAY 2009
Been a while since we last had Korean food… Happen to came across an advertiser of HGW (Your Woul) with somewhat believable reviews and decided to try it out with wifey…
The closest MRT was Novena, and its a 5 mins walk to Goldhill Centre. However, “Your Woul” was rather hard to find as we were unfamiliar with the area… After asking around, we managed to reach our destination.
Prologue:
I have always been very curious about what lies behind the frosted glass doors of Sage, the Restaurant everytime I walked pass… To me, the simplicity of its exterior gives it a sense of solitariness… exclusiveness… Its a place we would never have ventured in by ourselves…
The introduction to Sage came over a casual meal with Dave which really stemmed from a candid discussion about the Duck Confit served in another restaurant… He highly recommended that we try the Duck Confit at Sage, and suggested Sage’s Executive Set Lunch… We set a day, a time, and I awaited with rather high expectation…
10 MAY 2009
Initially, we thought of having a Mother’s Day meal with some of our relatives, but alas, it did not happen… So, at the last minute, Bro managed to make a reservation at Thai Express in West Coast Plaza…
08 MAY 2009
Dim and dusky, the mood changes as we stepped into Café de Amigo… The weariness that accumulated over the long week slowly eased away as we enjoyed the soothing, refreshing and classy live Jazzy 2-piece performance.
Looking through the menu, I get the feeling that any affair @ Café De Amigo will not be merciful to the wallet…
First up, thanks to Panarai for the invitation which prompted us to revisit Absolute Haven and sample their new weekend brunch (Sat – Sun, between 11:30 am to 3:30 pm). This weekend brunch is really a semi-buffet, with an evolving Buffet menu of over 20 items (that I counted… yes I can count…), and includes a choice of scrambled or fried egg, a selection of 5 mains and 2 desserts…
19 APR 2009
Dim-Sum time at Shang Palace on Sunday with Bro & his family. Wifey missed out due to work… yes… on a Sunday…
We came in for their first-seating (10:30 am) without any reservation and was fortunate enough to get a seat. Apparently, there’s an early bird discount of 30% if you settle the bill before 12:00 pm. I guess its good to be an early-bird…
18 APR 2009
Wifey has been working too hard during her peak period. We decided that she has to pamper herself with a decent breakfast before going to work this Saturday… With that, we headed down to a French Cafe we walked pass a few days ago, Choupinette, for brekkie…
Thanks to the invite from the guys of HGW, we headed to Go-India @ VivoCity on the eve of Good Friday. (Seem like they are in the process of revamping their website…) Anyway, this is actually one of many restaurants I wanted to visit, but kept missing out time and again for one reason or another…
05 APR 2009
Walked pass a rather new outlet ‘Yoshimaru Ramen Bar‘ yesterday and decided to give it a go today. Apparently, Yoshimaru originates from Hakata, Kyushu, and Hakata Ramen is a distinctive ultra thin ramen served in a rich tonkotsu (pork bones) broth. Their menu is not as extensive as some of the bigger Ramen chains, so it is easy to decide what to go for.
04 APR 2009
Went for a family dinner @ Crystal Jade Kitchen… Finding a parking spot in Holland Village on a Sat evening is impossible… By the time I parked, the family’s already seated. Crystal Jade Kitchen was perpetually busy… Service was competent initially until they completely forgotten one of our order… Food wise was not spectacular, but decent enough.
29 MAR 2009
We went down to Dian Xiao Er (DXE) @ West Coast Plaza for a simple meal with the family.
Like all DXE in Singapore, the decor is similar, rustic woody. The only difference is that it did not seem to be as crowded as the other DXE branches…
21 MAR 2009
I was quite excited to try out the dinner buffet of Plaza Market Café @ Fairmont Singapore. Well, it’s a freebie as part of the Feed @ Raffles Gourmet Card I purchased recently. However, after reading several dismal reviews on the place, I made my reservation and went down to the place with no expectation.
17 Mar 2009
After the initial Food Tasting at Smoochies, we returned for a nice dinner on a Sat evening (28 FEB 2009) and tried out their 2 & 3 course Set-lunches (17 MAR 2009)
Smoochies really provide a nice environment to hang out and relax… It’s a very cosy place especially with the evergreen 80’s & 90’s music running in the background. Then again, there weren’t any live band when we visited. So if you want a peaceful, quiet, romantic setting, Smoochies (no live band nights) is a great choice. The staffs are always nice, positive and cheery. One of them even remembered me!
14 FEB 2009
Backlog – We were down in Raffles City on Valentine’s Day and decided to stop by The Soup Spoon for a quick light lunch. Prices of the soups ranged from $5.60 to $6.90 (Regular) and $6.80 to $8.20 (Grande). As we were not that hungry, we thought of just sharing a large soup with a combo meal by adding $3.80 for an iced tea and a half-sandwich. I was tempted by their warm naans and ordered a serving of those as well.
08 MAR 2009
When bro first told me (a few days back) about this pretty decent chicken rice place in Jalan Rumah Tinggi… I was like… “Huh? Where’s that?”… Next question naturally was “Decent? Sure or not?”… I knew I have to give it a shot… Why? because I love my chicken rice!!
It was actually a relatively long drive up towards Jalan Rumah Tinggi… and on this Sunday afternoon, all other shops were closed except Fook Seng GoldenHill Chicken Rice. Whats really surprising to me was… there were actually quite alot of patrons there! A good sign! Also, they are actually online and you can read all about Fook Seng GoldenHill Chicken Rice here… In their website, the claim to be ‘probably the best chicken rice in Singapore’ can be seen… Well, I shall will not draw that conclusion here…
06 MAR 2009 – [INVITED SESSION]
Thanks to the invite by the dudes from HGW, we made a trip down towards the Eastern side of the island… to a restaurant with an interesting name: Naïve. This place is not too hard to find if you know the area. It has an address relatively easy to remember: 99, East Coast Road. There are ample parking spots (IF you know where), and it is more accessible via Bus compared to MRT. To make our life easier, we took a Cab from Eunos MRT (cab fare was less then $6.00 at peak hour).
The name of the restaurant is indeed intruiging… Naïve. It made more sense after Restaurant owner & host for the night Phyllis explained the concept behind the name: Simplicity of nature // absence of artificality… which is very well reflected by the decor of Naïve, as well as the plant-based ingredients (no meat, no seafood, no eggs, no onion, no garlic & no MSG). Initially, I thought the name “Naïve” was created as a cheeky jest – ‘Don’t be naive! vegetarian food can be good too! ‘
22 FEB 2009
We reached BBQ Chicken @ West Coast Plaza a little over 2:00 pm. Initially, I thought we missed the set lunch promotion, but the manager was kind enough to extend the set lunch which supposingly ended at 2:00pm. Each set lunch included a soup, a main dish, a drink and a single scoop of ice-cream.
21 FEB 2009
Lunch unlimited… @ 7atenine was a rather wondrous experience… Basically, you get to stuff yourself silly with the chef’s masterful creations that is not just enticing to the palate, but also pleasing to the eye. This is not your typical buffet, and there are over 20 different tapas on the menus. Alas, we did not get to try all of them. On this trip, we managed 16 (by my count) and we were pretty full by then. I did not agree with all the dishes, but for $37++, I think it is well worth the money!
I came across several reviews on Pâtisserie Glacé recently, and it got my sweet tooth buzzing… For someone in the process of re-familiarising Singapore, I actually thought Chinatown Plaza to be somewhere near Chinatown Point… I went in blind on my first attempt to find Glacé, end up getting frustrated and gave up looking!
Armed with the relevant information, I fared better on my second attempt. I managed to find the place after a short walk from Tanjong Pagar MRT, though it may be closer walking from Outram Park MRT.
13 FEB 2009
Walking around Raffles City, I was looking to use my newly acquired Feed@Raffles card… Basically, holder of Feed@Raffles card can split the bill by ½ in some of the restaurants within Raffles City. SzeChuan Kitchen (四川小厨) is one of those restaurant.
… for a Conference… Going to be exciting!!
Alas its in the middle of renovation, but on the bright side, I may just return to a ready-to-move-in place!!
Missing Wifey already though…