I had this plan for my "other" home. After much discussion when this plan was introduced, we decided to sign up since the mobile phones, telephone lines and internet were all under Singnet anyway.
We did save a lot in the long run... but...
Setting up triggered a lot of problems and we were without our phone lines and internet for 2 weeks. The MIO box gave quite a bit of problems. The repairman had to come 3-4 times and we had the box changed twice. We live in a private estate and were told that things will be fine in our particular estate. After the initial hiccups we were finally able to use the phone lines and the internet.
BTW you have to purchase a different kind of phone to be used with the MIO system.
Once we started to use it, we noticed that at times the phone doesn't detect the incoming call. Everything is working (when the repairman came to test it) but it just doesn't ring every single time we call. It would miss a couple of times. And there would be quite a bit of static on the line, which disrupts the call.
It could possibly be a line connection thing but Singtel should also be responsible for checking our lines when we had them install the system. I guess this one might take some time to settle.
FYI, Maxonline cannot be installed in my estate, according to their customer service rep.
smudgersaid: wow, i didn't encounter such probs. the phone is diff meh? i used my old phone oso can.. 21 May 2008 at 4:22 pm
ladyironchefsaid: hahaha! i was lazy to bundle everything together, but i guess it do saves in the long run. have to wait for my current contract to run out first then 21 May 2008 at 8:30 pm
Bobosaid: I don't know. the person told us that we have to change to the wireless phone thing to enjoy the full benefits of the system... urgh. 22 May 2008 at 8:29 am
maliquesaid: is MIO still buggy? 18 Jun 2008 at 12:38 pm
spen88said: After I subscribe to mio TV, I encountered a lot of temp disconnection during the show, really spoilt my mode ... 19 Jul 2008 at 10:51 pm
shanisaid: seems like they're trying to make you spend more money thats bad 08 Sep 2008 at 9:33 pm
I love the National Museum and the romantic-ness of it all. To be very honest, I didn't really know about Chef Chan until my little Birdie friend told me. All to happy to have a chance to dine at the charming Museum, I jumped at this chance.
Arriving at the place, I wasn't disappointed by the place! I love the entire atmosphere. Chef Chan was tucked away in an obscure corner of the museum, but the restaurant was very appropriately designed. The entire oriental theme was soothing and not overly gaudy, which was often so with Chinese restaurants.
What we had that night:
Melon Strips Enlivened with Orange Juice You know the F&N Orange squash we used to drink during CNY? It tastes like that... with lots of crunch. I liked it but I didn't think I would have something like this in this restaurant. I'd have to agree with the rest that this was easy to make at home. But I guess it's a reasonable starter.
Prawn Balls Stuffed with Pate and Wine I could taste neither pate nor wine. We only had one ball each and mind you, it wasn't very big. It was salty and that was the only obvious taste I could get from the ball. The only thing it reminded me of was those balls you could microwave once you take them out from the freezer.
Stir Fried Shark’s Fin with Eggs, Bean Sprouts and Spring Onion Served in Lettuce Leaves Someone said it looked like a whole lot of Tunghoon. There was some shark's fin I guess and a mix of everything else. This dish was lightly flavoured and I liked it pretty much. But the cabbage I had below was a bit thick and had a contrasting bitter taste to the salad sitting on it. So I refused to eat it after a few bites.
Steamed Lobster with Garlic You could SMELL the garlic from a distance. Everyone had one half of the lobster which was a nice serving to have. Mine wasn't so covered in garlic so I was pretty happy with it. The lobster was pretty fresh I guess but the garlic really burned in my middle when I'd finished it.
Steamed Sliced Garoupa in Village Style I had 2-3 pieces of this (unlike some people). The fish bits had a nice texture but the gravy that came with it was horrid. It's was sickeningly sticky which made me baulk at the first taste. I rubbed it off at the side of the dish so that I didn't have to eat too much of it. Relatively acceptable dish I guess... They need to do something about the gravy.
Sauteed Vegetable with Shredded Mushroom A dish you can definitely find at your neighbourhood Chze Char stall.
Chef Chan’s Famous Crispy Roast Chicken This is a YUMMY! I loved this one. The skin was crisp and I ate it too, despite being the sort who usually peels it off. The meat was very tasty on its own. I liked the texture (cos I got the part I wanted) This was definitely the winning dish of the night that kept everyone very quiet.
Papaya with White Fungus & Herbal Jelly with Glutinous Rice & Mango Mistake Mistake Mistake. The texture of the glutinous rice did not go well with the Guilingao! Terrible... it took me a few tries before I figured I had to eat all the glutinous rice first then have the mango and the herbal jelly together. Any other way just made me quite sick really.
We chalked up a bill of about $860, which works out to be about $96 per person. It would have been more expensive but thanks to someone's credit card, we had a discount.
I wouldn't say this is below average... in actual fact I didn't think that the food "sucked". It was below expectations, thanks to its price. But it's not terrible food. Just expensive average food I guess. The chicken saved it from a 2-star.
Singapore Airlines... one of the brands our country is identified with all the time in many countries all over the world.
I had the chance to travel on it *again* recently and was very satisfied. The flight I was on, was quite empty so my friend and I got a free seat between the two of us so we had plenty of space to move about in.
Boarding the plane we were nicely greeted and the blankets and pillows were already waiting patiently on our seats for us. The stewardess and stewards were eloquent enough and didn't bother passengers unneccessarily. And even when some of the passengers across the aisle made some irritating demands, the service didn't falter.
The flight was turbulent at a few points but I think it was thanks to the cloudy situation. The take off and landing was smooth which was great.
Definitely very satisfied with it but they ARE expensive. Luckily I didn't pay for this trip. haha :)
feizhusaid: I like SQ because of my custom meals. Leg space is actually smaller then the european airlines but got inflight entertainment. 12 May 2008 at 8:50 pm
Bobosaid: mm my colleague liked the inflight too. but I din watch it at all. haha :) 12 May 2008 at 9:47 pm
Lucardiasaid: Cool. Haha, didn't know you could review the airlines as well. lol 12 May 2008 at 9:57 pm
Polarbearsaid: FZ is the fussy eater. Hee.... look out for mine review as well. 12 May 2008 at 10:02 pm
feizhusaid: I flying swiss air next week!! 12 May 2008 at 10:34 pm
Bobosaid: hahah dun make a fuss there too :P waiting for yours PB :) 13 May 2008 at 3:49 pm
yonghweefoosaid: I think the leg room is sufficient on Economy Class. Maybe I don't need to move around too much.. 27 May 2008 at 6:39 pm
Bobosaid: Hi yhf, think you're commenting on Lu's review? :) 28 May 2008 at 7:37 am
samantha_yeisaid: Recently they have change their meal tray. I would say is much better where they have some non-sticky surface. And they pork noddle is getting nicer! 09 Jun 2008 at 11:25 pm
Bobosaid: On the contrary, I like the sticky tray 10 Jun 2008 at 10:10 am
I was excited when a friend asked me along to the new Persimmon opened by the same people from Epicurious. We had such a nice time at Epi that I was pretty sure that Persimmon would be good too! So despite my busy schedule I went down with my friend for the food-tasting session.
Armed with a street directory and a good navigator (moi) we managed to find the carpark behind the Link Hotel. By the way, I found Link Hotel quite interesting and am really thinking of giving it a try. But the parking was $4 per entry in an open air carpark which I found quite a rip-off. But this is the nearest carpark so there isn't much of a choice.
One wouldn't be able to miss Persimmon with its bright orange lights standing tall just outside of it.
After much discussion on how to take a good photo of the front of the restaurant, we finally stepped into the place, greeted by Helena, one of the owners. She introduced us to the rest of the crowd for the evening who were all very friendly people and got us some wine before seating us at this long table meant for large groups.
The black and white tiled flooring and the coffeeshop table and chairs gave it a local feel. But the modern white finishings of the counter and the sides complemented it nicely. I loved the antique-looking sofa sets and the live orchids which gave the place an artsy touch. Old Chinese tunes and jazz helped me relax here.
Food we had:
Mushroom and Sesame Shooter First up was this warm soup in a little glass. I loved the taste and thickness of it. We were told that there was some alcohol in it... but honestly? I couldn't taste it and was happy with that.
Tunghoon Salad with Crabcake This was served with scallop and the presentation was very nice. The Tunghoon had a sourish-spicy taste to it and I liked it very very much! I think it would be better with some cashew bits in it but then that would be very common in Thai salad dishes I guess. As for the crabcake, I would have liked it with more flavour as it was a little bland next to the salad.
Fried Kwayteow served with Wagyu Beef I wanted to write Char Kuay Teow... but then, it wasn't quite that either. I generally try not to eat both CKT and Beef actually. But I did like this version of CKT. It was still oily nonetheless (what is CKT without oil?!) but it did seem healthier somewhat. The noodles were not flimsy and drenched in oil like the hawker centre types but they still have some bite in them. But it was a little too salty but not over the top. I did enjoy the beef though, despite trying to stay away from it. But it was really good, very flavourful and the beansprouts that came with it gave the dish some crunch.
Fisherman's Pie This version had laksa swimming below the puff pastry. The puff pastry is nice but it would have been better with some butter as my friend suggested. I think it would have made it softer and more "fluffy". I wasn't really too concerned that it didn't puff up but I think some softness was missing. I liked the gravy mostly but not quite for drinking though. The ingredients were pretty much what you would expect and they tasted ok. But the potato had probably been floating inside for sometime and its texture was a little too soft.
Pineapple Tart For the first time, I had a giant pineapple tart for dessert. The top has your usual pineapple ring which I wasn't a fan of as it was a little sourish and hard to chew. Beneath it was sweet caramelised pineapple which was very tasty, especially when eaten with the crust! I loved the crust and tried to finish everything but I couldn't as I was too full.
I can't give a pricing for the items I had as I was there for food-tasting. But I took a glance at the menu and the prices are more or less like those in a cafe with mains going in the $20 range.
Not to mention, we took a surprise visit into THE KITCHEN! Helena was so nice to bring us around and show us different sections of the place and we soon realised how much effort was put into planning and designing a place like this! She also showed us a speciall little room that can seat 8 people. It's very cosy and there isn't a minimum spending amount before you can use the room!
ladyironchefsaid: pity i missed this one, got invitation from helena too but couldn't made it. sounds great, will look to visit them soon. haha! yr review is super fast, last night go den up liao 01 May 2008 at 6:56 pm
Bobosaid: Pls do. :) Great place! 01 May 2008 at 7:41 pm
Jeslyn Teesaid: sounds great and it seems like the price range is affordable too~ 01 May 2008 at 9:04 pm
Bobosaid: Yup it's quite affordable! 01 May 2008 at 9:14 pm
fin1710said: hope can do there :D 30 Jun 2008 at 5:58 pm
Bobosaid: haha Ask me ask me if you go! :) 30 Jun 2008 at 10:29 pm
We did save a lot in the long run... but...
Setting up triggered a lot of problems and we were without our phone lines and internet for 2 weeks. The MIO box gave quite a bit of problems. The repairman had to come 3-4 times and we had the box changed twice. We live in a private estate and were told that things will be fine in our particular estate. After the initial hiccups we were finally able to use the phone lines and the internet.
BTW you have to purchase a different kind of phone to be used with the MIO system.
Once we started to use it, we noticed that at times the phone doesn't detect the incoming call. Everything is working (when the repairman came to test it) but it just doesn't ring every single time we call. It would miss a couple of times. And there would be quite a bit of static on the line, which disrupts the call.
It could possibly be a line connection thing but Singtel should also be responsible for checking our lines when we had them install the system. I guess this one might take some time to settle.
FYI, Maxonline cannot be installed in my estate, according to their customer service rep.
smudger said: ladyironchef said: Bobo said: - 3 more comments »
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!wow, i didn't encounter such probs. the phone is diff meh? i used my old phone oso can..
21 May 2008 at 4:22 pm
hahaha! i was lazy to bundle everything together, but i guess it do saves in the long run. have to wait for my current contract to run out first then
21 May 2008 at 8:30 pm
I don't know. the person told us that we have to change to the wireless phone thing to enjoy the full benefits of the system... urgh.
22 May 2008 at 8:29 am
Arriving at the place, I wasn't disappointed by the place! I love the entire atmosphere. Chef Chan was tucked away in an obscure corner of the museum, but the restaurant was very appropriately designed. The entire oriental theme was soothing and not overly gaudy, which was often so with Chinese restaurants.
What we had that night:
Melon Strips Enlivened with Orange Juice
You know the F&N Orange squash we used to drink during CNY? It tastes like that... with lots of crunch. I liked it but I didn't think I would have something like this in this restaurant. I'd have to agree with the rest that this was easy to make at home. But I guess it's a reasonable starter.
Prawn Balls Stuffed with Pate and Wine
I could taste neither pate nor wine. We only had one ball each and mind you, it wasn't very big. It was salty and that was the only obvious taste I could get from the ball. The only thing it reminded me of was those balls you could microwave once you take them out from the freezer.
Stir Fried Shark’s Fin with Eggs, Bean Sprouts and Spring Onion Served in Lettuce Leaves
Someone said it looked like a whole lot of Tunghoon. There was some shark's fin I guess and a mix of everything else. This dish was lightly flavoured and I liked it pretty much. But the cabbage I had below was a bit thick and had a contrasting bitter taste to the salad sitting on it. So I refused to eat it after a few bites.
Steamed Lobster with Garlic
You could SMELL the garlic from a distance. Everyone had one half of the lobster which was a nice serving to have. Mine wasn't so covered in garlic so I was pretty happy with it. The lobster was pretty fresh I guess but the garlic really burned in my middle when I'd finished it.
Steamed Sliced Garoupa in Village Style
I had 2-3 pieces of this (unlike some people). The fish bits had a nice texture but the gravy that came with it was horrid. It's was sickeningly sticky which made me baulk at the first taste. I rubbed it off at the side of the dish so that I didn't have to eat too much of it. Relatively acceptable dish I guess... They need to do something about the gravy.
Sauteed Vegetable with Shredded Mushroom A dish you can definitely find at your neighbourhood Chze Char stall.
Chef Chan’s Famous Crispy Roast Chicken
This is a YUMMY! I loved this one. The skin was crisp and I ate it too, despite being the sort who usually peels it off. The meat was very tasty on its own. I liked the texture (cos I got the part I wanted) This was definitely the winning dish of the night that kept everyone very quiet.
Papaya with White Fungus & Herbal Jelly with Glutinous Rice & Mango
Mistake Mistake Mistake. The texture of the glutinous rice did not go well with the Guilingao! Terrible... it took me a few tries before I figured I had to eat all the glutinous rice first then have the mango and the herbal jelly together. Any other way just made me quite sick really.
We chalked up a bill of about $860, which works out to be about $96 per person. It would have been more expensive but thanks to someone's credit card, we had a discount.
I wouldn't say this is below average... in actual fact I didn't think that the food "sucked". It was below expectations, thanks to its price. But it's not terrible food. Just expensive average food I guess. The chicken saved it from a 2-star.
Jeslyn Tee said: Bobo said: His Food Blog said:
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!Hmm ... but but~ its still ex! Which credit card for the discount?
14 May 2008 at 10:39 pm
ehh UOB Signature I think. Citibank also have... I think la.
15 May 2008 at 9:15 am
Below expectations = not value for money = fail
15 May 2008 at 9:31 am
I had the chance to travel on it *again* recently and was very satisfied. The flight I was on, was quite empty so my friend and I got a free seat between the two of us so we had plenty of space to move about in.
Boarding the plane we were nicely greeted and the blankets and pillows were already waiting patiently on our seats for us. The stewardess and stewards were eloquent enough and didn't bother passengers unneccessarily. And even when some of the passengers across the aisle made some irritating demands, the service didn't falter.
The flight was turbulent at a few points but I think it was thanks to the cloudy situation. The take off and landing was smooth which was great.
Definitely very satisfied with it but they ARE expensive. Luckily I didn't pay for this trip. haha :)
feizhu said: Bobo said: Lucardia said: - 7 more comments »
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!I like SQ because of my custom meals. Leg space is actually smaller then the european airlines but got inflight entertainment.
12 May 2008 at 8:50 pm
mm my colleague liked the inflight too. but I din watch it at all. haha :)
12 May 2008 at 9:47 pm
Cool. Haha, didn't know you could review the airlines as well. lol
12 May 2008 at 9:57 pm
Armed with a street directory and a good navigator (moi) we managed to find the carpark behind the Link Hotel. By the way, I found Link Hotel quite interesting and am really thinking of giving it a try. But the parking was $4 per entry in an open air carpark which I found quite a rip-off. But this is the nearest carpark so there isn't much of a choice.
One wouldn't be able to miss Persimmon with its bright orange lights standing tall just outside of it.
After much discussion on how to take a good photo of the front of the restaurant, we finally stepped into the place, greeted by Helena, one of the owners. She introduced us to the rest of the crowd for the evening who were all very friendly people and got us some wine before seating us at this long table meant for large groups.
The black and white tiled flooring and the coffeeshop table and chairs gave it a local feel. But the modern white finishings of the counter and the sides complemented it nicely. I loved the antique-looking sofa sets and the live orchids which gave the place an artsy touch. Old Chinese tunes and jazz helped me relax here.
Food we had:
Mushroom and Sesame Shooter
First up was this warm soup in a little glass. I loved the taste and thickness of it. We were told that there was some alcohol in it... but honestly? I couldn't taste it and was happy with that.
Tunghoon Salad with Crabcake
This was served with scallop and the presentation was very nice. The Tunghoon had a sourish-spicy taste to it and I liked it very very much! I think it would be better with some cashew bits in it but then that would be very common in Thai salad dishes I guess. As for the crabcake, I would have liked it with more flavour as it was a little bland next to the salad.
Fried Kwayteow served with Wagyu Beef
I wanted to write Char Kuay Teow... but then, it wasn't quite that either. I generally try not to eat both CKT and Beef actually. But I did like this version of CKT. It was still oily nonetheless (what is CKT without oil?!) but it did seem healthier somewhat. The noodles were not flimsy and drenched in oil like the hawker centre types but they still have some bite in them. But it was a little too salty but not over the top. I did enjoy the beef though, despite trying to stay away from it. But it was really good, very flavourful and the beansprouts that came with it gave the dish some crunch.
Fisherman's Pie
This version had laksa swimming below the puff pastry. The puff pastry is nice but it would have been better with some butter as my friend suggested. I think it would have made it softer and more "fluffy". I wasn't really too concerned that it didn't puff up but I think some softness was missing. I liked the gravy mostly but not quite for drinking though. The ingredients were pretty much what you would expect and they tasted ok. But the potato had probably been floating inside for sometime and its texture was a little too soft.
Pineapple Tart
For the first time, I had a giant pineapple tart for dessert. The top has your usual pineapple ring which I wasn't a fan of as it was a little sourish and hard to chew. Beneath it was sweet caramelised pineapple which was very tasty, especially when eaten with the crust! I loved the crust and tried to finish everything but I couldn't as I was too full.
I can't give a pricing for the items I had as I was there for food-tasting. But I took a glance at the menu and the prices are more or less like those in a cafe with mains going in the $20 range.
Not to mention, we took a surprise visit into THE KITCHEN! Helena was so nice to bring us around and show us different sections of the place and we soon realised how much effort was put into planning and designing a place like this! She also showed us a speciall little room that can seat 8 people. It's very cosy and there isn't a minimum spending amount before you can use the room!
Definitely worth another visit!
For more pictures, go to my blog
ladyironchef said: Bobo said: Jeslyn Tee said: - 3 more comments »
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!pity i missed this one, got invitation from helena too but couldn't made it. sounds great, will look to visit them soon. haha! yr review is super fast, last night go den up liao
01 May 2008 at 6:56 pm
Pls do. :) Great place!
01 May 2008 at 7:41 pm
sounds great and it seems like the price range is affordable too~
01 May 2008 at 9:04 pm