Met up with ShaXiaoMei and JS last last Sunday Night (18 May 2008).
Met up at cine to have dinner. We waited for JS until very hungry. I had craving for Korean food but no nice Korean food nearby (the Heeren one close le. *sad sad*) then I was sooo hungry that I guess any nice food also can lah. We end up choosing this place call Shokudo. They serve Japanese Pasta and Pizza. No one in our group tried the Pizza though..
Because of some glitch in their network or something, somehow everyone's orders didn't get the kitchen. So, we had to wait somemore for our order!!! faints...
hahas.. Hubby's food came first..
First photo is his Pasta. Looks better in life lah, because I'm a lazy and lousy photographer, anyhow snap snap snap.. so look like plastic right? hees..
Second photo is Sha Xiao Mei and my Ice Lemon Tea.. :)
The ILT not sweet one.. need to add the syrup then nice.
Third photo is the Yummylishes seaweed wages! I love love love love it. :)
Fourth photo is my beef duno what Pasta! hees.. I like it simple simple de..
Fifth photo is Chocolate ice-cream wafer. Four of us share 1 desert! Don't know if it's because we share or what.. it's very very yummy. :)
一人一半 感情不散 一人一素故 感情才會久
Just like that, we spent about 2 hours at Shokudo.
Price wise abit expensive loh. but they got student pasta. :)
Pitting itself against the likes of Borders and Popular book store. Kino emerged and created its own niche by positioning itself as a place where you can practically find everything you require in the shop.
Spanning almost an entire section of Ngee Ann City, Kino has a selection that rivals and even supersedes most Singapore bookstores. Its collection ranges from fiction, non fiction, magazines, Japanese books, travelling books, cooking, photography, children's books, self improvement, religious, philosophy, business etc etc. In simple terms, basically, theres a huge selection and it just keeps getting bigger.
The reason i patronize the place is because of the ease in locating a few select books which are elusive elsewhere. For example, the Sandman comics, Alastair Reynold novels, Philosophy arguments and traveling books. Its "ease" that is the key word here. Because "price" is definitely a little on the high side.
No matter, the place is comfortable for book junkies like myself to spend entire days just standing around, reading and buying that elusive title for pleasure. A good place for a good read.
Buses buses buses. Where in the world would we be without them? They ferry us to work and ferry us home. Comes at a pretty regular timing and gets the job done. Now, there are even more reasons to take the bus since the price of oil is increasing like the end of the world is coming and the gov is helping out by imposing more fines on an already crowded road so that buses now have the power of the right of way during peak hours. So we should all switch to using buses and ditch our cars......or should we?
Now, i'll take my stand and say my answer is no. I'll be basing my idea on the bus service 27 that goes from Hougang to Changi Airport and back.
Reasons are as follows:
1: Buses do not come at regular intervals. We've heard this countless times and the morning working adult population who needs to get to work at a certain time have definitely felt this. Regardless of the implementations of rules and fines, buses simply still come late. Of course, we've seen the compaign they ran about "unseen reasons" behind the lateness but honestly, poor planning is as much a factor. 27 is not a new service, in fact, its been ongoing for 8 years at least and still no improvement is seen. Buses are still packed and still late.
2: Buses with huge traffic do not get upgrade to double decks. Same problem, bad planning. 27 has a big enough traffic to at least warrant a double deck bus for its services. This kills 2 birds with one stone since it'll allow people to board faster with its bigger capacity and thus will not delay the bus journey. However, till now, it is still not done. The reasoning continues to elude me as to why there's no upgrade.
3: Space is simply not sufficient and squeezing with a whole bunch of people simply isn't a great feeling. Especially since i'm paying close to $2 to go on a journey to work, at least i expect a little space to breathe and hopefully sit down. Somehow, paying to be packed like sardines does not entice me one bit.
4: With company comes inconsiderate people and to keep it short, they irritate the hell out of me.
In its defense, i do not blame the bus drivers although sometimes, i do need to. (Try being 30 minutes late for an important meeting because the driver insists on driving 30km/h on an EMPTY road and you'll get the idea). Otherwise, they are not to blame. The planning department is the problem. They need to wake up and smell the thorns. We're all a part of the system, make life better for us all eh?
K box buffets are generally a hit or miss thing since first of all, the company specializes in nothing but offering rooms for the general public to scream their lungs out. And secondly, all casual outlets i've been to thus far have only offered fried items for their meals. So what do you get from the buffet anyway?
Quite a bit actually, the one i've been to serves a variety of salads, fish balls, sotong balls, squid, pasta, fried chicken wings, chawan mushi, soba, cakes, pastries and a myriad of items for the customer who selects the option for buffet and a room. All in all, choices number between the figure of 20-30 items for the choosing.
Food quality is sketchy at best since none of the items stood out enough to be remembered and none of the food was bad enough to warrant a complaint.
However, i'd still prefered if they had a package for free flow of drinks since thats exactly what clients really need for their 4 hour long screaming session. Removing the throat killing plate of nuts and replacing it with cooling items would be a good idea too.
Last word, if i had to pay for the meal at K box. I wouldn't visit again. Thats pretty much what you need to know.
Taking a ride on Singapore Airlines is akin to being treated at a posh restaurant. Expensive and sometimes good.
Rides on the planes vary greatly in comfort, entertainment and space when you factor in the choices and different kinds of seating arrangements which you are provided with. Add to the fact that they also provide online check in services and a world famous service standard and there's just a lot of expectations for the Airlines to fulfil.
Personally, i've taken many rides on the airlines due to good fortune and thus far, i'd say there are still areas for improvement at this point.
Service itself is across the board good with the ability and flexibility for the customer to choose and request for even the most mundane things like special food choices and seating arrangements.
The plane itself however, differs greatly on which flight you catch on the way back. First class seats and service ranks up there with the best and if you are fortunate enough to be allowed the side seat in the captains room, the view isn't really magnificent unless during the take offs and the landing sessions. Captains i've met thus far are very chatty individuals however.
For first class/business class seats, the amount of leg room and comfort is generous and the seats padding is also thicker and softer for maximum comfort. For the economy class seats, taking the Boeing series as a gauge, they can range from being extremely cramped to being mildly accomodating depending on your luck. Personally, i'd go for the isle seats along the center and hope that the flight puts me on a Boeing 747 for reasonable comfort.
Flights by SIA are also smoother by far to its competitors whereby i've had a really bad experience of hitting an air pocket and having the stewards and stewardesses flung to the ceiling with some injuries.
All in all, flying with SIA have been pleasant but the seats can do with a little more space for economy. Otherwise, i'd still say its a good way to fly.
Heard many good things about Santouka or らーめん 山頭火 since its opening at Central a couple of months back so popped by for dinner one weekend. Santouka originates from Hokkaido and has a chain of about 50 stores in Japan. Their shio (salted) ramen has been praised by many as one of the best around.
Hidden in an obscure corner of Central just behind Grains, Santouka occupies a small dining area which overlooks Clarke Quay and the river. Sitting capacity probably peaks at about 30 pax so queues are a common sight. Just for the record, I had to wait for a good 25 mins for a table at 745pm on a Saturday evening.
Char Siew Rice Shio - This came as a set consisting of char siew rice, char siew ramen (shio) and an egg. Honestly, the ramen looked like instant noodles to me but thankfully, it tasted a whole lot better - springy and light. The milky pork base broth was rather rich and intense in flavour and had a very distinctive pork taste. Not that its really a good thing though because it made me nauseous after a while. The char siew slices were a little too soft for my liking and it didn't help that they were salty.
The char siew rice was average, but at least the rice helped to neutralise the saltiness of the char siew. As for the egg, I've never eaten such stuff before but I didn't quite take to it as the texture of the egg white was a little jelly like, which turned me off.
Toro Niku Shio Ramen - Toro Niku is precious cheek meat from a pig and is said to have the right amount of fat and tenderness. I agree to a certain extent. Right amount of fat, yes. Tenderness, a little too tender if you ask me. And it was plain salty which made me uneasy after a while. It definitely didn't help that the broth was rich. Salty and milky equals a recipe for nausea, for me at least. As with the char siew shio ramen, the ramen itself was springy and light.
Tokusen Toroniku - This was a side order of the beef cheek, which did seem like a mistake after all. A little too tender and salty, just like the ones that came with the Toro Niku Shio Ramen. And $8 for 6 slices of meat isn't exactly value for money honestly.
Dinner for 2 came up to a nice round figure of $50 and we walked out feeling nauseous. That's too much milky and salty stuff for you. In all fairness, the ramen was actually very decent but I still prefer Tampopo's rendition, if anything, for the pork. For me, once is enough. I really don't fancy queuing up for 30 mins just to have a go at Santouka again.
Singapore Airlines is truly a great way to fly! I agree with Feizhu that they offer excellent in-flight entertainment. I commute to Australia pretty often over the past few yrs and compared to Qantas, their movies and games on offering are very good.
Although leg space is always a problem for me in budget flight, it is not same for me in SQ. One thing I particularly look forward to when I board SQ each time is that they dished out local newspaper on board - TNA and ST!!! Oh and not forgetting local delights like Mee Goreng for return flight.
Sad to say, standard of the Singapore Girl has fallen over the years from looks to service - Blah - but nevertheless they are still a looker compared to the aunties in BA.
Singapore airlines ranks first in my choice of airlines partially because I'm Singaporean! However there's more to Singapore airlines than blind patriotism. Its one of the few airlines that offer inflight entertainment consisting of dozens of movies and games which is guaranteed to occupy you even for the longest of journeys (I used to commute between Canada and Singapore - a 17 hr journey!) Service is decent but leg space loses out to other European/American airlines. I Like the fact that I can custom my meals as well. But do note that it costs quite a bit more than other airlines.
Been there a few times. The place is gigantic. The aisles are arranged in systematically and the items easy to grab. It isn't too crowded on weekday evenings.
I found the cashier queue too long to wait. Even with the express checkout line, I see trolleys filled to the brim queuing up at the express checkout lines.
Not all the stuff sold are cheaper than other supermarkets either.
After living around the area for ages, this is the first time that I visited Bliss restaurant over at Punggol Park.
The restaurant is hidden by trees thus it is kind of hard to spot when you are driving.
There is nothing really to shout about on the food. The usual American food. Stuff like Chicken, Lamb, Steak, French Fries, Oyster, Mussel etc.
They have a good selection of wine and beer though. 4 - 5 pages of them. This is something new to me.
As the place is quite small and near to the heartland, it is pack when I arrive around 8pm.
I ordered their special for the evening. Beef fillet with asparagus and mushroom. It turns out to be a finger dish. Nothing much to comment about the food since I did not order their main course.
I would definitely go back and try out their menu. The price is still quite acceptable in my opinion.
1=SGD 0.0587
Met up with ShaXiaoMei and JS last last Sunday Night (18 May 2008).
Met up at cine to have dinner. We waited for JS until very hungry. I had craving for Korean food but no nice Korean food nearby (the Heeren one close le. *sad sad*) then I was sooo hungry that I guess any nice food also can lah. We end up choosing this place call Shokudo. They serve Japanese Pasta and Pizza. No one in our group tried the Pizza though..
Because of some glitch in their network or something, somehow everyone's orders didn't get the kitchen. So, we had to wait somemore for our order!!! faints...
hahas.. Hubby's food came first..
First photo is his Pasta. Looks better in life lah, because I'm a lazy and lousy photographer, anyhow snap snap snap.. so look like plastic right? hees..
Second photo is Sha Xiao Mei and my Ice Lemon Tea.. :)
The ILT not sweet one.. need to add the syrup then nice.
Third photo is the Yummylishes seaweed wages! I love love love love it. :)
Fourth photo is my beef duno what Pasta! hees.. I like it simple simple de..
Fifth photo is Chocolate ice-cream wafer. Four of us share 1 desert! Don't know if it's because we share or what.. it's very very yummy. :)
一人一半 感情不散 一人一素故 感情才會久
Just like that, we spent about 2 hours at Shokudo.
Price wise abit expensive loh. but they got student pasta. :)
Rating given:
Kinokuniya is an interesting bookshop of sorts.
Pitting itself against the likes of Borders and Popular book store. Kino emerged and created its own niche by positioning itself as a place where you can practically find everything you require in the shop.
Spanning almost an entire section of Ngee Ann City, Kino has a selection that rivals and even supersedes most Singapore bookstores. Its collection ranges from fiction, non fiction, magazines, Japanese books, travelling books, cooking, photography, children's books, self improvement, religious, philosophy, business etc etc. In simple terms, basically, theres a huge selection and it just keeps getting bigger.
The reason i patronize the place is because of the ease in locating a few select books which are elusive elsewhere. For example, the Sandman comics, Alastair Reynold novels, Philosophy arguments and traveling books. Its "ease" that is the key word here. Because "price" is definitely a little on the high side.
No matter, the place is comfortable for book junkies like myself to spend entire days just standing around, reading and buying that elusive title for pleasure. A good place for a good read.
Rating given:
Buses buses buses. Where in the world would we be without them?
They ferry us to work and ferry us home. Comes at a pretty regular timing and gets the job done. Now, there are even more reasons to take the bus since the price of oil is increasing like the end of the world is coming and the gov is helping out by imposing more fines on an already crowded road so that buses now have the power of the right of way during peak hours. So we should all switch to using buses and ditch our cars......or should we?
Now, i'll take my stand and say my answer is no. I'll be basing my idea on the bus service 27 that goes from Hougang to Changi Airport and back.
Reasons are as follows:
1: Buses do not come at regular intervals.
We've heard this countless times and the morning working adult population who needs to get to work at a certain time have definitely felt this. Regardless of the implementations of rules and fines, buses simply still come late. Of course, we've seen the compaign they ran about "unseen reasons" behind the lateness but honestly, poor planning is as much a factor. 27 is not a new service, in fact, its been ongoing for 8 years at least and still no improvement is seen. Buses are still packed and still late.
2: Buses with huge traffic do not get upgrade to double decks.
Same problem, bad planning. 27 has a big enough traffic to at least warrant a double deck bus for its services. This kills 2 birds with one stone since it'll allow people to board faster with its bigger capacity and thus will not delay the bus journey. However, till now, it is still not done. The reasoning continues to elude me as to why there's no upgrade.
3: Space is simply not sufficient and squeezing with a whole bunch of people simply isn't a great feeling. Especially since i'm paying close to $2 to go on a journey to work, at least i expect a little space to breathe and hopefully sit down. Somehow, paying to be packed like sardines does not entice me one bit.
4: With company comes inconsiderate people and to keep it short, they irritate the hell out of me.
In its defense, i do not blame the bus drivers although sometimes, i do need to. (Try being 30 minutes late for an important meeting because the driver insists on driving 30km/h on an EMPTY road and you'll get the idea). Otherwise, they are not to blame. The planning department is the problem. They need to wake up and smell the thorns. We're all a part of the system, make life better for us all eh?
Rating given:
K box buffets are generally a hit or miss thing since first of all, the company specializes in nothing but offering rooms for the general public to scream their lungs out. And secondly, all casual outlets i've been to thus far have only offered fried items for their meals. So what do you get from the buffet anyway?
Quite a bit actually, the one i've been to serves a variety of salads, fish balls, sotong balls, squid, pasta, fried chicken wings, chawan mushi, soba, cakes, pastries and a myriad of items for the customer who selects the option for buffet and a room. All in all, choices number between the figure of 20-30 items for the choosing.
Food quality is sketchy at best since none of the items stood out enough to be remembered and none of the food was bad enough to warrant a complaint.
However, i'd still prefered if they had a package for free flow of drinks since thats exactly what clients really need for their 4 hour long screaming session. Removing the throat killing plate of nuts and replacing it with cooling items would be a good idea too.
Last word, if i had to pay for the meal at K box. I wouldn't visit again. Thats pretty much what you need to know.
Rating given:
Taking a ride on Singapore Airlines is akin to being treated at a posh restaurant. Expensive and sometimes good.
Rides on the planes vary greatly in comfort, entertainment and space when you factor in the choices and different kinds of seating arrangements which you are provided with. Add to the fact that they also provide online check in services and a world famous service standard and there's just a lot of expectations for the Airlines to fulfil.
Personally, i've taken many rides on the airlines due to good fortune and thus far, i'd say there are still areas for improvement at this point.
Service itself is across the board good with the ability and flexibility for the customer to choose and request for even the most mundane things like special food choices and seating arrangements.
The plane itself however, differs greatly on which flight you catch on the way back. First class seats and service ranks up there with the best and if you are fortunate enough to be allowed the side seat in the captains room, the view isn't really magnificent unless during the take offs and the landing sessions. Captains i've met thus far are very chatty individuals however.
For first class/business class seats, the amount of leg room and comfort is generous and the seats padding is also thicker and softer for maximum comfort. For the economy class seats, taking the Boeing series as a gauge, they can range from being extremely cramped to being mildly accomodating depending on your luck. Personally, i'd go for the isle seats along the center and hope that the flight puts me on a Boeing 747 for reasonable comfort.
Flights by SIA are also smoother by far to its competitors whereby i've had a really bad experience of hitting an air pocket and having the stewards and stewardesses flung to the ceiling with some injuries.
All in all, flying with SIA have been pleasant but the seats can do with a little more space for economy. Otherwise, i'd still say its a good way to fly.
Rating given:
Heard many good things about Santouka or らーめん 山頭火 since its opening at Central a couple of months back so popped by for dinner one weekend. Santouka originates from Hokkaido and has a chain of about 50 stores in Japan. Their shio (salted) ramen has been praised by many as one of the best around.
Hidden in an obscure corner of Central just behind Grains, Santouka occupies a small dining area which overlooks Clarke Quay and the river. Sitting capacity probably peaks at about 30 pax so queues are a common sight. Just for the record, I had to wait for a good 25 mins for a table at 745pm on a Saturday evening.
Char Siew Rice Shio - This came as a set consisting of char siew rice, char siew ramen (shio) and an egg. Honestly, the ramen looked like instant noodles to me but thankfully, it tasted a whole lot better - springy and light. The milky pork base broth was rather rich and intense in flavour and had a very distinctive pork taste. Not that its really a good thing though because it made me nauseous after a while. The char siew slices were a little too soft for my liking and it didn't help that they were salty.
The char siew rice was average, but at least the rice helped to neutralise the saltiness of the char siew. As for the egg, I've never eaten such stuff before but I didn't quite take to it as the texture of the egg white was a little jelly like, which turned me off.
Toro Niku Shio Ramen - Toro Niku is precious cheek meat from a pig and is said to have the right amount of fat and tenderness. I agree to a certain extent. Right amount of fat, yes. Tenderness, a little too tender if you ask me. And it was plain salty which made me uneasy after a while. It definitely didn't help that the broth was rich. Salty and milky equals a recipe for nausea, for me at least. As with the char siew shio ramen, the ramen itself was springy and light.
Tokusen Toroniku - This was a side order of the beef cheek, which did seem like a mistake after all. A little too tender and salty, just like the ones that came with the Toro Niku Shio Ramen. And $8 for 6 slices of meat isn't exactly value for money honestly.
Dinner for 2 came up to a nice round figure of $50 and we walked out feeling nauseous. That's too much milky and salty stuff for you. In all fairness, the ramen was actually very decent but I still prefer Tampopo's rendition, if anything, for the pork. For me, once is enough. I really don't fancy queuing up for 30 mins just to have a go at Santouka again.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Singapore Airlines is truly a great way to fly! I agree with Feizhu that they offer excellent in-flight entertainment. I commute to Australia pretty often over the past few yrs and compared to Qantas, their movies and games on offering are very good.
Although leg space is always a problem for me in budget flight, it is not same for me in SQ. One thing I particularly look forward to when I board SQ each time is that they dished out local newspaper on board - TNA and ST!!! Oh and not forgetting local delights like Mee Goreng for return flight.
Sad to say, standard of the Singapore Girl has fallen over the years from looks to service - Blah - but nevertheless they are still a looker compared to the aunties in BA.
Rating given:
Singapore airlines ranks first in my choice of airlines partially because I'm Singaporean! However there's more to Singapore airlines than blind patriotism. Its one of the few airlines that offer inflight entertainment consisting of dozens of movies and games which is guaranteed to occupy you even for the longest of journeys (I used to commute between Canada and Singapore - a 17 hr journey!)
Service is decent but leg space loses out to other European/American airlines. I Like the fact that I can custom my meals as well.
But do note that it costs quite a bit more than other airlines.
Rating given:
Been there a few times. The place is gigantic. The aisles are arranged in systematically and the items easy to grab. It isn't too crowded on weekday evenings.
I found the cashier queue too long to wait. Even with the express checkout line, I see trolleys filled to the brim queuing up at the express checkout lines.
Not all the stuff sold are cheaper than other supermarkets either.
Rating given:
After living around the area for ages, this is the first time that I visited Bliss restaurant over at Punggol Park.
The restaurant is hidden by trees thus it is kind of hard to spot when you are driving.
There is nothing really to shout about on the food. The usual American food. Stuff like Chicken, Lamb, Steak, French Fries, Oyster, Mussel etc.
They have a good selection of wine and beer though. 4 - 5 pages of them. This is something new to me.
As the place is quite small and near to the heartland, it is pack when I arrive around 8pm.
I ordered their special for the evening. Beef fillet with asparagus and mushroom. It turns out to be a finger dish. Nothing much to comment about the food since I did not order their main course.
I would definitely go back and try out their menu. The price is still quite acceptable in my opinion.
Rating given: