Something different from the usual Swensen's outlet. Earle serves a finer menu and yet have their famous sundaes and fish and chips.
Went to Earle at Vivo almost everytime we were there for dinner. What we enjoyed most is the salad bar that comes with all main course order. Not alot of variety but enough to make you want to have more than just one serving.
If you're there with a friend, try their Cioppino. Yummy sauce and fresh crayfish. Sure to fill 2 hungry tummies. If you're not into sharing, and can't decide whether to take the chicken or the seafood, give Surf & Turf a try. Chicken breast meat, fresh prawn and fresh crayfish grilled to perfection! The thought of it now just make me want to have it now!
So if you're down at Vivo and don't know where to makan, try Earle Swensen's.
Updated 23 September 2007 I returned today with a few yebbers for lunch. After reading their menu for 30mins (while waiting), I decided to try their lobster. There were 2 options, the grilled or the baked. When I saw my order, I was rather upset and thought I should have taken the baked lobster instead. The lobster looked white and there's no sign of grilling done. Tasted it and ya, definetly not grilled. Or maybe they did for like 5 seconds? It's more boiled than grilled.
This time round, the quality of the food dropped. Wasn't just my own opinion, but the others there with me also mentioned that the food isn't good. Quite disappointed with my visit this time round. Might give this place a miss the next time I'm at Vivo. Hence, I'm re-rating Earle Swnsen's.
This shop is located at quite a large white building just beside Katong Mall. The interior of the shop gives a very old school feeling with pictures of people from the 70s or so. I didn’t think the environment suited the “hong kong” style very much, you know the kind where they have those couches and stools around round tables. Ok obviously I’ve watched too much tv. Nonetheless, it was not too bad a place. Plain and simple.
Initially, I thought that this place had quite poor service as the staffs seemed quite unfriendly and had this whole I-can’t-care-less attitude. But I changed my opinion about them after an incident.
I ordered a sour plum drink. From the picture on the menu, I thought it would purely be sour plum with soda water or non-carbonated water. However, when the drink was served, I was shocked that it had this herbal medicine taste in it and didn’t like the drink at all. I called for the waitress to clarify with her if they made any mistakes in my order or if I made a mistake myself, and surprisingly, when the waitress heard that I didn’t like my drink, she offered to change the drink for me without hesitation. Such service is something you don’t see in most places in Singapore, especially when the reason for a change was because I didn’t like the drink.
I also tried their Mapo tofu. It was both spicy and sweet, but I really liked it as the taste doesn’t clash and the tofu was not too soft. It was easy to pick up and it had a very soft texture in your mouth that stayed there for awhile, and not melt before you even get to taste it. It did not have a very strong taste as though a lot of MSG was added in either. Plus, it looked good! I think presentation of food is important as it makes it look more appetizing (though of course it’s until you’ve tasted it then do you know whether it’s nice or not.)
All was good, but the baked rice with fish fillet was kind of below expectations. I felt that there weren’t enough cheese and the fish fillet was really tough and hard to chew. However, there definitely are many more popular recommended dishes that I didn’t get a chance to try in a day. Thus, this place should not be judged just because of this dish.
After a meal, there’s always the DESSERT! Try their dessert! The famous hong kong Yang Zhi Gan Lu (kind of like mango sago dessert, but it has pomelo bits too.) tastes really good with the smooth mango juice base and sweet mango cubes and pomelo bits. It tastes much better than one that I tried in hong kong before!
I walked by this shop and was attracted by the interesting lampshade at the glass window. I went in to take a look, as I was hoping to look for a rug for my own room. However, I had no idea that the things there were on the higher end as they were imported from Europe and were designer items. And, being a student, many would not bother to entertain me. nonetheless, the salesperson in the shop did not think that showing me around was a waste of time. Also, he took quite a few catalogues and spent quite some time introducing some suitable items which I might like.
I feel such service should be exercised in all shops where sales people do not serve only those who look like they can afford.
I was glad to be at the Fashion Fusion on Saturday! I got myself a lovely pair of earrings from amongtheflower.com stall. I thought the earrings there, on the whole, were really pretty and exquisite. I had quite a hard time deciding on one!
Do visit their website. I'm sure you'll find something you like, just like I did! (:
This is THE place to get all your scrapbooking and paper supplies! They have the largest collection of materials such as pattern papers, tools and embellishments. The largest scrapbooking store in Asia I think.
The staff are all very friendly and helpful. Always willing to give a helping hand. For mummys out there, they can help look after your kids while you shop too! (Well, this one depends on the crowd lah. If its very busy day, try to understand.)
They have very cool workshops too! Learn to scrapbook and create pretty handmade albums and cards.
If you're around Plaza Singapura, check out their store!
I was just at Tony Roma’s yesterday. I thought it was some must-go place but I was so wrong. I ordered a ribeye steak. From past experience, beefs that are well done are too tough and hard to chew. So I decided to have my steak done medium. The steak comes along with 2 side dishes, and I chose a Caesar salad and a baked potato. The Caesar salad had a dressing with a sour taste and the steak was really hard to chew like it was over done.
But the sampler appetizer was not bad. The cheese sticks were quite nice and the cheese had this nice chewy taste. The fire wings were kind of hard to chew too, like the steak, but I thought the sweet and spicy sauce was not bad. The sampler went well with the various cream and sauce provided.
But on the whole, I wouldn’t really recommend this place to people. Even though there’s always a long queue, I find that it’s not worth the time queuing and the food is not worth the money. The service there is not very good either. Apart from taking your orders and serving your food as soon as possible, any other requests made my customers do not seemed to be their priority.
I was just at the night safari on Thursday. I was quite excited to go there, as it was my first time and I’ve waited really long for the day. However, I was quite turned off by the long bus ride to the safari from Ang Mo Kio Interchange which was so packed. It was made worse as it was the after-work hour where traffic was heavier and there were more people on the bus. But you can’t help it since the safari opens only at 6, so people normally make their way there during the peak hour.
After arriving, I walked in to the safari to purchase my tickets and get ready to go around the place. One thing I thought wasn’t too good about the place was the fact that it was hard to get around on your own. There weren’t clear signs of where to go to buy your tickets the moment you stepped in (though, of course, when you see the queues at counters you’ll definitely go there. But they have an information counter or something, where there are quite a number of people. And so, initially, I almost mistook that for the counter.
At night safari, tram rides have one optional stop at the east lodge house before it reaches the final destination. One thing I feel that the safari could do to improve on the situation is to have either empty trams approaching the east lodge house to pick passengers up, or to have partially empty trams once every few trams. This suggestion is due to the fact that there are many passengers queuing to get on the tram, but each time, there are very few who get off the tram, thus not many people can board the tram from east lodge.
Apart from these, I feel that the night safari would be a good place to go as it allows us to see the animals in a different “ambience”. In addition, the staffs working there are really friendly and seem very enthusiastic despite it being the night, and it kind of makes it better after a long day, and some people may feel tired already. Also, I think the Creature of the Night show would definitely be worth your time.
Cafe Cartel has been in Siglap for a long time... 6-7 years maybe. It's a permanent fixture now. They've recently adopted a 10% service charge (across all outlets) and started to serve the customer, instead of having the customer go pay at the counter. (I prefer the old system actually)
These are my usual orders: Pork Ribs, Chicken Lasagna, Aloha Soda.
I love the Aloha Soda. But well it's the only drink which has remained constant. Due to the change of servers all the time, the blended drinks tend to taste different every time my friend orders them.
The food portions have gotten a little smaller. But still sufficient for one person. The fries that come with the Pork Ribs... have been reduced to about less than 20 bits. But it's the kind I like the fat sort.
The cakes are pretty good. They go half price after 9 every night so that's a good thing if you love cakes.
All in all, I still frequent the place, but it's not really worth the price. 2 people for about $30 ...
Giraffe is situated at Istana Park, right opposite Plaza Singapura. It's a glass building amongst all the greenery. Needless to say it has fantastic ambience with great music playing, perfect for a romantic meal or a chill-out with friends.
The first level is the bar with wine, spirits and some finger food. From what I know, the drinks are fine, but don't get the finger food.
Head to the second floor for the dining area. The servers are all smiley and look welcoming. There are seats inside and outside so you can choose. They have some sofa seats and regular dining ones. :)
They basically serve up international cuisine. We picked quite a bit and enjoyed all. Food was a tad oily for my taste. But they change their menu so couldn't get the exact names of the dishes we had anymore. In the middle of our meal, we decided to change to indoor seats... This was the only glitch in the meal where the servers took very long to respond to us and to help us move in. Other than that, all was fine.
We spent about $40 for the 2 of us so that's pretty regular. :) Good Stuff
1=SGD 0.0587
Something different from the usual Swensen's outlet. Earle serves a finer menu and yet have their famous sundaes and fish and chips.
Went to Earle at Vivo almost everytime we were there for dinner. What we enjoyed most is the salad bar that comes with all main course order. Not alot of variety but enough to make you want to have more than just one serving.
If you're there with a friend, try their Cioppino. Yummy sauce and fresh crayfish. Sure to fill 2 hungry tummies. If you're not into sharing, and can't decide whether to take the chicken or the seafood, give Surf & Turf a try. Chicken breast meat, fresh prawn and fresh crayfish grilled to perfection! The thought of it now just make me want to have it now!
So if you're down at Vivo and don't know where to makan, try Earle Swensen's.
Updated 23 September 2007
I returned today with a few yebbers for lunch. After reading their menu for 30mins (while waiting), I decided to try their lobster. There were 2 options, the grilled or the baked. When I saw my order, I was rather upset and thought I should have taken the baked lobster instead. The lobster looked white and there's no sign of grilling done. Tasted it and ya, definetly not grilled. Or maybe they did for like 5 seconds? It's more boiled than grilled.
This time round, the quality of the food dropped. Wasn't just my own opinion, but the others there with me also mentioned that the food isn't good. Quite disappointed with my visit this time round. Might give this place a miss the next time I'm at Vivo. Hence, I'm re-rating Earle Swnsen's.
Rating given:
This shop is located at quite a large white building just beside Katong Mall. The interior of the shop gives a very old school feeling with pictures of people from the 70s or so. I didn’t think the environment suited the “hong kong” style very much, you know the kind where they have those couches and stools around round tables. Ok obviously I’ve watched too much tv. Nonetheless, it was not too bad a place. Plain and simple.
Initially, I thought that this place had quite poor service as the staffs seemed quite unfriendly and had this whole I-can’t-care-less attitude. But I changed my opinion about them after an incident.
I ordered a sour plum drink. From the picture on the menu, I thought it would purely be sour plum with soda water or non-carbonated water. However, when the drink was served, I was shocked that it had this herbal medicine taste in it and didn’t like the drink at all. I called for the waitress to clarify with her if they made any mistakes in my order or if I made a mistake myself, and surprisingly, when the waitress heard that I didn’t like my drink, she offered to change the drink for me without hesitation. Such service is something you don’t see in most places in Singapore, especially when the reason for a change was because I didn’t like the drink.
I also tried their Mapo tofu. It was both spicy and sweet, but I really liked it as the taste doesn’t clash and the tofu was not too soft. It was easy to pick up and it had a very soft texture in your mouth that stayed there for awhile, and not melt before you even get to taste it. It did not have a very strong taste as though a lot of MSG was added in either. Plus, it looked good! I think presentation of food is important as it makes it look more appetizing (though of course it’s until you’ve tasted it then do you know whether it’s nice or not.)
All was good, but the baked rice with fish fillet was kind of below expectations. I felt that there weren’t enough cheese and the fish fillet was really tough and hard to chew. However, there definitely are many more popular recommended dishes that I didn’t get a chance to try in a day. Thus, this place should not be judged just because of this dish.
After a meal, there’s always the DESSERT! Try their dessert! The famous hong kong Yang Zhi Gan Lu (kind of like mango sago dessert, but it has pomelo bits too.) tastes really good with the smooth mango juice base and sweet mango cubes and pomelo bits. It tastes much better than one that I tried in hong kong before!
Worth a try!
Rating given:
I walked by this shop and was attracted by the interesting lampshade at the glass window. I went in to take a look, as I was hoping to look for a rug for my own room. However, I had no idea that the things there were on the higher end as they were imported from Europe and were designer items. And, being a student, many would not bother to entertain me. nonetheless, the salesperson in the shop did not think that showing me around was a waste of time. Also, he took quite a few catalogues and spent quite some time introducing some suitable items which I might like.
I feel such service should be exercised in all shops where sales people do not serve only those who look like they can afford.
Rating given:
I was glad to be at the Fashion Fusion on Saturday! I got myself a lovely pair of earrings from amongtheflower.com stall. I thought the earrings there, on the whole, were really pretty and exquisite. I had quite a hard time deciding on one!
Do visit their website. I'm sure you'll find something you like, just like I did! (:
Rating given:
Great place to check out on Sundays. This Flea Market has been around for many years. (It was previously at Clarke Quay if I'm not wrong.)
What you'll find there?
Collectors items, Toys, Vintage stuff, Second-hand stuff, Fashion accessories, bags and many many interesting finds.
Do give this place a go if you've got no where to shop on Sunday.
Nearest MRT station: Chinatown or Raffles Place
Updated 7 September 2008
I was back again recently and took a video of what you will usually find at China Square Central Flea Market.
Rating given:
This is THE place to get all your scrapbooking and paper supplies! They have the largest collection of materials such as pattern papers, tools and embellishments. The largest scrapbooking store in Asia I think.
The staff are all very friendly and helpful. Always willing to give a helping hand. For mummys out there, they can help look after your kids while you shop too! (Well, this one depends on the crowd lah. If its very busy day, try to understand.)
They have very cool workshops too! Learn to scrapbook and create pretty handmade albums and cards.
If you're around Plaza Singapura, check out their store!
Rating given:
Best Ribs in America! But not best steak..
I was just at Tony Roma’s yesterday. I thought it was some must-go place but I was so wrong. I ordered a ribeye steak. From past experience, beefs that are well done are too tough and hard to chew. So I decided to have my steak done medium. The steak comes along with 2 side dishes, and I chose a Caesar salad and a baked potato. The Caesar salad had a dressing with a sour taste and the steak was really hard to chew like it was over done.
But the sampler appetizer was not bad. The cheese sticks were quite nice and the cheese had this nice chewy taste. The fire wings were kind of hard to chew too, like the steak, but I thought the sweet and spicy sauce was not bad. The sampler went well with the various cream and sauce provided.
But on the whole, I wouldn’t really recommend this place to people. Even though there’s always a long queue, I find that it’s not worth the time queuing and the food is not worth the money. The service there is not very good either. Apart from taking your orders and serving your food as soon as possible, any other requests made my customers do not seemed to be their priority.
Rating given:
I was just at the night safari on Thursday. I was quite excited to go there, as it was my first time and I’ve waited really long for the day. However, I was quite turned off by the long bus ride to the safari from Ang Mo Kio Interchange which was so packed. It was made worse as it was the after-work hour where traffic was heavier and there were more people on the bus. But you can’t help it since the safari opens only at 6, so people normally make their way there during the peak hour.
After arriving, I walked in to the safari to purchase my tickets and get ready to go around the place. One thing I thought wasn’t too good about the place was the fact that it was hard to get around on your own. There weren’t clear signs of where to go to buy your tickets the moment you stepped in (though, of course, when you see the queues at counters you’ll definitely go there. But they have an information counter or something, where there are quite a number of people. And so, initially, I almost mistook that for the counter.
At night safari, tram rides have one optional stop at the east lodge house before it reaches the final destination. One thing I feel that the safari could do to improve on the situation is to have either empty trams approaching the east lodge house to pick passengers up, or to have partially empty trams once every few trams. This suggestion is due to the fact that there are many passengers queuing to get on the tram, but each time, there are very few who get off the tram, thus not many people can board the tram from east lodge.
Apart from these, I feel that the night safari would be a good place to go as it allows us to see the animals in a different “ambience”. In addition, the staffs working there are really friendly and seem very enthusiastic despite it being the night, and it kind of makes it better after a long day, and some people may feel tired already. Also, I think the Creature of the Night show would definitely be worth your time.
Rating given:
Cafe Cartel has been in Siglap for a long time... 6-7 years maybe. It's a permanent fixture now. They've recently adopted a 10% service charge (across all outlets) and started to serve the customer, instead of having the customer go pay at the counter. (I prefer the old system actually)
These are my usual orders: Pork Ribs, Chicken Lasagna, Aloha Soda.
I love the Aloha Soda. But well it's the only drink which has remained constant. Due to the change of servers all the time, the blended drinks tend to taste different every time my friend orders them.
The food portions have gotten a little smaller. But still sufficient for one person. The fries that come with the Pork Ribs... have been reduced to about less than 20 bits. But it's the kind I like the fat sort.
The cakes are pretty good. They go half price after 9 every night so that's a good thing if you love cakes.
All in all, I still frequent the place, but it's not really worth the price. 2 people for about $30 ...
Rating given:
Giraffe is situated at Istana Park, right opposite Plaza Singapura. It's a glass building amongst all the greenery. Needless to say it has fantastic ambience with great music playing, perfect for a romantic meal or a chill-out with friends.
The first level is the bar with wine, spirits and some finger food. From what I know, the drinks are fine, but don't get the finger food.
Head to the second floor for the dining area. The servers are all smiley and look welcoming. There are seats inside and outside so you can choose. They have some sofa seats and regular dining ones. :)
They basically serve up international cuisine. We picked quite a bit and enjoyed all. Food was a tad oily for my taste. But they change their menu so couldn't get the exact names of the dishes we had anymore. In the middle of our meal, we decided to change to indoor seats... This was the only glitch in the meal where the servers took very long to respond to us and to help us move in. Other than that, all was fine.
We spent about $40 for the 2 of us so that's pretty regular. :) Good Stuff
Rating given: