Casually shopping around bugis village the other day after stopping by KFC for a quick yummilicious lunch, I passby this shop that made me walk in for a quick tour and I found some great bargains here.
Tightly stacked with a narrow walkway among portions and portions of basics such as t-shirts, blouse, shirts, polo shirts, pants, shorts, skirts, dresses hanged in top and bottom layers... I should say some of these clothings have got pretty good quality and I suspected them to be rejects, however, they looked pretty fine to me and the price is extremely economical. You can find all sorts of colours, materials, sizes and designs in non-conherent state, so its more or less a pick the one you think looked good and manage a good bargain kind of thing.
I managed to get:
White basic tee - $7 Various coloured razor backs - $5 - $7 Black Shorts- $7 Pencil Skirt - $10
T-Shirts for children - $3 - $7
I almost got: Really cool Sweater - $20 but i couldn't find a good fitting one.
So if you happen to be around that area, this is a good place to browse as I think they carry rejects and left-overs or odd sizes for a few australian and US brands.. I think i saw something that might be from GAP.... Its fun.... and basics are basics.... Should not pay a hefty price tag for a basic t-shirt or whatever
Was doing my weekend shopping while i came across these delightful snacks that come in the shape of fishes.
Yes fishes... or more like a giant fish made with savory Japanese pancake mix pregnant with delectable fillings. They do have many flavors to choose from like chocolate, green tea, red bean and Cheese.
After investigating with my keen eye.. I've decided on the Cheese Melt flavoured FISH... and I waited as I watched the lady pour the mixture into what looked like fish template pans... that could possible house 5 fishes on one side. While the mixture sizzle away... you could smell the wonderful aroma of the batter in the air... She later drop a few cubes of cheese into the almost formed fish shaped crust and covered the 2 sides so that the filling is wrapped tightly within.. After about 2 mins, my fish is ready to have...
The other helpful aunty actually asked me if I wanted my fish clean or with the crispy sides... I opted for the crispy sides and it looks like fins to me... The Fins were really crispy and nice and as I sink my teeth into the piping hot fish.. the smoking cheese filling oozes out! I should say this makes a great walk about snack...
Its healthy, low in salt and oil, extremely delicious, easy to munch on and is not messy. I would definitely try it again as it simply taste sooo good.... Maybe another flavour next time :)
Popped by Canton Paradise @ I12 Katong one weekday afternoon for some dim sum to chase away the weekday blues. I honestly would have preferred Wah Lok but didn't quite fancy jostling with the CBD crowd and it definitely helped that the porridge at Canton Paradise had a certain allure. Just for the record, as at time of writing, I've been to Canton Paradise a total of 9 times in 3 months, but this is probably going to be my only post on Canton Paradise (I am usually too famished during lunch to bother taking photos). And yes, I'm that crazy about dim sum.
The place is huge and sports a rather "ancient Chinese" decor with its uneven brick walls and wooden decorative panels. If you can stand the cold air conditioning, ask for a booth seat (2-4 pax) because the other tables are spaced a tad too close for comfortable conversation.
BBQ Combination - We had the combination platter of BBQ pork belly with honey sauce and roasted pork, of which the former was sinfully better with a high fat to meat ratio and smothered in gooey honey marinade. I personally like to eat the BBQ pork belly with the salted peanuts that are served alongside. Makes for a nice contrast in both areas of taste and texture. Unfortunately, the BBQ pork's skin wasn't crisp enough and I think they need to add in a wee bit more salt for flavouring.
Steamed Cheong Fun with BBQ Pork - The cheong fun featured translucent but rather limp skin with a reasonable amount of BBQ pork filling. Decent but no great shakes. And remember to eat immediately when served, lest it turns cold and clammy.
Steamed Prawn Dumplings - Fresh, crunchy prawns coupled with translucent but mildly elastic skin. Pretty decent.
Steamed Pork Dumplings - The "porkyness" of the siew mai wasn't too overwhelming and the fat to lean meat ratio was reasonable. As with most dim sum items, eat them while they are hot.
Century Egg Porridge with Lean Meat - I personally think the porridge, especially the 皮蛋瘦肉粥, at Canton Paradise is quite good and this is one of the main reasons why I keep coming back. Consistently sticky with visible rice grains and a subtle, savoury aftertaste. And that's coming from someone who doesn't take century egg. The meatball porridge is nice as well but a little on the bland side.
Baked BBQ Honey Pork Bun - This is reminiscent of the one I had at Tim Ho Wan in HK. Unfortunately, the standards did not quite match up. For starters, the base was overly oily and the BBQ pork wasn't gooey enough. Decent but try the real thing from Tim Ho Wan when it opens in Singapore!
If my memory serves me correct, the bill for this lunch came up to around $50, which is pretty much the range you pay for decent quality dim sum these days. However the staff did seem a little overwhelmed with the place running at almost full capacity, which naturally led to slower service and forgotten requests.
Perfect Cafe to hang out with friends. Situated in the middle of nowhere, right in front of the entrance to ISETAN, this cafe serves one of the best baked seafood chowder I've ever eaten.
A Korean chain that serves french deli and cafe all day main courses dressed in a Blue NEON signboard and plush leather chairs studded with diamonds. One cannot but be enthralled by the scent of freshly baked bread and cute tiny milk bottles of flavored puddings. The interior deco resembles a posh classique cafe and the neatly dressed chef looking stuffs are friendly and quick to take your orders. Though you have to chop (reserve) your own seats, its completely free seating which is quite a downside for me as its always so packed with people, the staff are quick to pack up the left overs from the previous user for you. Be sure to also pop into the queue for all the savoury baked products you would like to order and for beverages, you also order from the same queue at the cashiers.
They have 3 places where you can order food. First at the milk pudding sector, then at the bakery cashier and another cashier is situated behind where the cold salad and delectable healthy looking sandwiches resides. You may also order hot main courses at this counter.
Baked Seafood Chowder: I simply love this on a bread, the soup is extremely tasty and creamy and you also get a full sized prawn. Though the bread is a little hard, I love to scrap the inside of the bread that is infused with the soup.. YOU MUST TRY THIS (5/5)
Korea's Power Garlic: This is a full sized baguette that is infused with garlic baked till crispy and soft on the inside. It goes will with anything, soup, on its own... The best Garlic Baguette I've ever tried (5/5)
Royal Pudding: This tasted a little Penna Cotta, I had the original flavor and loved the soft texture. The little bottles with cover that came with it is extremely lovely. Its not too sweet, just the right balance of milk and hint of caramel. (4/5)
Layered Cake: This resembles the milli cake that is Ow-So-Famous, however I find it not exceptionally delectable. The layers of crepe and cream is light and yummy. The cake is not as heavy as some other may thought and I could taste the cream and crepe properly balanced. (3/5)
I still find it a little more pricey though the setting as a cafe and location could justify for the price however the FIND YOUR OWN SEAT makes me kinda feel i'm in coffee bean or starbucks. The beverages are also priced a little high I feel but the food is delicious!
Since it is double yebber dollars month, then I would try to relive my memories of cathay pacific flights. I took CX Flights to HongKong, Japan and Taiwan before and most of the CX flights from Singapore to other countries you have to transit in HongKong and boy the hongkong international airport is crowded. My last trip to taiwan on CX flight, we are actually delayed for about 45 mins hovering in the air atop the airport unable to land due to congestion of airspace. Upon landing we are being whisked off in a taxi way bus to the terminal while we are being whisked off again by running staffs so that we can catch the next transiting flight to taiwan. It was fun but could be stressful as we are about to miss our connecting flight.
I love CX flights because the flight schedule from SG to HK has many choices of preferred timings and you can also choose to visit HK before or after your destination of choice. The flight is pretty fairly priced if you book early and during promotions. Service is okay and the food served decent portion and quality. Not extremely nice but its still nice to have warm food onboard. Sometimes i find the prices cheaper then low cost flights... during some promotions.. Hard to imagine right. It minimal on flight service as compared to other airlines but as i say decently valued...
One thing i learnt after booking a few flights is that booking direct from the CX airline webpage is not necessarily the cheapest, you may consult other online flight booking systems such as misa travel or etc before making your booking to avoid disappointment of finding out its cheaper somewhere else.
My final verdict, Its value for money and good swift service just hate the congestion at the HK airport that mostly causes some delays.... Love to be ontime most of the time :)
If you are looking for some really good flight deals, then you should subscribe to tiger airway's newsletters... They do have some really good deals coming up. Can you imagine that, I've actually ever got $28 flights to malaysia and sometime ago $48 flight to phuket... Its cheap, service is pretty good and love the in-flight entertainment (the other low cost flight travellers).
Though its low-cost travelling, you could also make yourself more pampered by the few upgrade options available.
1) Opt for check-in luggage: In this way you need not hurl your overly sized luggage up the flight (be it walkway or a staircase). Trying to put an overly huge cabin luggage in the overhead cabin compartment is a tedious thing. Besides having to watch the other commuters angry faces for hitting them while you try to carry your luggage overhead, also face the angry fumes of your neighbours for taking too much space or squashing their cabin luggages.
2)Order in advance your on-flight meals or purchase on flight meals to avoid strange looks given when you bring your home-packed sandwich out to eat. Or having to secretly consume your packed of prepacked home baked nuts. I mean on tiger, i've ever seen one guy took out his bak guar (pork jerkies) to eat.... and the air-crew giving the other crew a funny look while exclaiming : WAH! BAK GUAR leh!
3) Upgrade to a premium seat near the emergency exit is great for tiger flights as you really do get some good leg space.... even if somebody near the window needs to go.... You just simply shift your leg a little.. Thats pretty convenient...
4) Purchase the Board ME First option to fly past the queues of eager boarding guest that is snaking in the queue way before time. Though the waiting area is usually well ventilated with plenty of space, because its low-cost, people tends to want to board quickly to make sure they get their cabin luggage space.
5) Bring along your ipods, ipads and entertainment.. As it does get a little noisy from excited passengers and the staff will do nothing to keep the noise down.. so to have a more pleasant journey.. PLUG IT IN!
6) Always choose a seat near the toilet if not near the entrance. Because on small flights there is only 2 loos and on a longer distance flights you might get 6... but the toilets are pathetic so drink more water before boarding.. make sure you dry yourself before you get on and only start drinking nearing the end of the flight so that you can use the loos at the airport itself. I personally find the cabin toilets on the tiger flight pretty ill-kept, ill-stocked and not a very pleasant experience.
For good and cheap flights, tiger is the way to fly.. If its gonna be just an hour or two.. why not take the economical way to fly :)
Love the neatly packed shelves and fresh fruits and vegetables on display in this cold storage outlet. It is not the biggest outlet as yet but its big and well organised. You can find everything you need for your household use as well as snacks and beverages.
I was glad to be able to find some really exotic stuffs like sea-salt with grinder and some hard to find cereal brands here in cold-storage. Love the spacious setting and brigt lightings that made browsing so enjoyable.
Though not many staff is on duty, it is easy to find your way around via the category notices on each shelf. If you are looking for something aromatic, you could try to follow your nose. Besides carrying a great variety and interesting brands of food and beverages, they also do have some hard to find brands for detergents as well as their home brand items. Some of Cold Storage's Home brand items "First Choice" are of pretty good quality and extremely economical.
I love their home brand tissue packs and their wardrobe fresheners the best.. They are of good quality, long lasting and good value. So if you happen to past by, go on in and take alook.. Enjoy the great environment and pick something along the way to check-out. Everybody can find something interesting at the supermarket.
Popped by &Made by Bruno Menard for brunch one late Saturday morning since we were in the area. Read pretty good reviews about it and coupled with the fact that it is 3 Michelin Starred Chef Bruno Menard's (owner of the now defunct 3 star L'Osier in Tokyo) first restaurant in Singapore under his own name, we were pretty psyched about dining there.
&Made occupies one corner of the ground floor at Pacific Plaza and has a rather quirky (a cross between a typical 80's video game and Alice in wonderland) feel to it. Seating capacity isn't extensive, probably about 60 pax or so and the best pick seems to be that of the booth seats if you have no more than 4 pax. Interestingly, with all the hype surrounding the restaurant, it was practically empty, save for 2 tables.
The 'B' Burger - The 'B' Burger was a tad tinier than expected whilst the patty, though done a perfect medium well, came across as tender but a little dry. The onion confit atop also proved a little overwhelming and I could hardly make out any beefy taste from the patty. I did like the bread though, soft and lightly toasted. For sides, the truffle fries ( $3) was definitely a good choice, lightly salted with the strong fragrance of truffle oil. Overall still a pretty decent burger.
Viking Toastoo - It's the first time I'm seeing a Toastoo on a menu and apparently it is a new generation sandwich made with French buckwheat crepes (according to the menu). The viking version spotted smoked salmon, cream cheese, curry and broccoli, which sounded really interesting. Alas, it was nothing out of the ordinary. The sandwich had a crisp exterior with a stuffing of salmon (couldn't taste the smokiness unfortunately) and broccoli. The curry taste was hardly existent and honestly, the whole sandwich tasted healthily (probably due to all the broccoli) normal.
Lollipop Waffle - One of the rather quirky desserts on offer at &Made, the lollipop waffle. In actual fact, it is nothing more than a waffle cooked in a huge lollipop mold and served on a stick with 3 cylindrical containers of white, dark chocolate and caramel sauce respectively. But I did appreciate the visual creativity and the dessert looked almost too good to be eaten. However, the waffle did seem a little limp but credit goes to the consistency in cooking and the crisp edges. Not something I would personally order again for dessert though.
Hot Caramel Lava Cake - This, in my humble opinion, is the star of the entire evening, the pièce de résistance, if you may. Warm, not cloyingly sweet caramel oozing out of a fissure in the soft shell and served with a scoop of salted caramel ice cream coated with crispy flakes. Simply decadent! If you like your chocolate fondants, you should definitely try this.
The both of us literally stuffed ourselves and even had 2 smoothies to round up the meal, all at a cost of about $95. Cheap? Definitely not. The prices of individual items aren't really expensive per se but add everything up and the bill can be a tad alarming. After all, food quality is only slightly above average at best, save for the caramel lava cake. Service wasn't quite up to scratch with periods of inattentiveness.
To sum up, I think &Made offers a decent meal proposition in a nice setting but lacks actual finesse in its food (bar desserts) and service can definitely be improved.
I was invited for a pig-out evening by the 8March Girls (三八妇女）at Chizo Zanmai and I'm glad I made it there... The location of the entrance is pretty tricky to find, though there are 2 entrances, it is not obvious yet if you know where it is, its convenient from the train stations or Bus Stop and to the restrooms. The main entrance is situated outside the building just next to CHILLIs, and pretty near to the busstop however it is at the direction towards the river bank. There you find a good display of all the buffet items available, prices and opening hours... take the escalator to the second level and a glass double door meets you with a huge array of buffet favourites.... The other entrance is via the corridor to the restroom on level 2... You just have to press on past the rest room and you will find a side entrance to the left.
As you enter you will see a cashier to the left, you are to pay first before you eat... which is good because that way, they cannot charge you for wastage.. Ooopss.... but with the food so delicious, I don't think we would waste any... The beauty of going for a buffet is to be able to savour the delicious display before your eyes, taste various types of food and gorge yourself silly with the ones you like best... Always take for yourself only as your friends wants to take the dishes they like too and not have to try to finish the food you take that they don't like.
Its true... they do have more than 100 items though i find the selection for the sashimi and sushi lacking, however the other stuffs are great. I also find many unique dishes available like Hina-Chirashi Sushi which is salmon sashimi with other fresh ingredients on a square bowl of sushi rice. The portion is not big and its lovely to look at and extremely yummy.. I've had 2 of these. The Radish and Oyster Hot pot is a mix of thick musky soup with many oysters in a great pot. You could pick up a smaller pot with the heater candle at the bottom and fill it up with the items you like for the huge pot. They also have interesting stuffs like the crab tofu which taste so crabby and matcha tofu which have a unque tea taste which i couldn't really put a finger to it. The tempura counter is also filled with different types of deep fried stuffs like the regular prawn, chicken, squid and also tako balls, seafood pancakes and some really interesting japanese fried noodles.
The Salmon counter is interesting too with various type of salmon dishes like raw, smoked, sliced and mixed into a salad... They have also traditional stir fried japanese dishes like braised pork, gyoza, chawamushi, miso soup.... However I was so intense on the salad, salmon & tempura counter.. I hadn't had much of the stir-fry counter... All I had was some gyoza and Miso soup.. which i find tasty and gyoza yummy... the gyoza filling is pretty crabby/prawny and substantial.
I love the varieties of desserts available... delectable to the eye and memorable to taste... As such, I left half my tummy for this.... I've tried almost 80% of all the dessert available.
Macha Jelly in a cup: Yummy and green tea-ie.. with droplets of red beans to sweeten the deal.
Coffee Jelly in a cup: Extremely bitter... but unique
Panna Cotta (Soya): LOVE IT... milky, creamy, tasty and have a great texture
Green Tea Tiramisu: Creamy, balanced, good sweetness and could taste the main flavours.
Strawberry roll: Dry and Sloppish... Normal cake
Chocolate Cake: Creamy and normal
Self-served vanilla ice-cream - Good range of toppings available.. ice cream is of a good sweetness and strong vanilla scent. Good creamy texture and easy to dispense.
The price is pretty reasonable for weekday dinner.. It cost me less than $36 per pax... for this huge array of buffet spread including free-flow drinks (6 types of juices, soft drinks, hot green tea and 5 selection on the coffee machine). They have many tables and seats available, love the huge glass windows where we can see the traffic below, high ceiling makes it airy and comfortable for chit-chat and some promotions for students and senior citizens above 60....
Its a great place and very worth the amount spent for a better than normal food quality and ambiance with a large spread of dishes in a scenic location... This is one of the few buffet places that after one visit, I will want to go again shortly.... Great experience :)
We booked a trip for 2 to Hainan Island last year for our parents at the Travel Fair, Chan Brother's counter. Well I should say that the male staff that served us is pretty friendly and overly chatty. He provided sound travel advises and is pretty clear about the package coverage, however while we are deciding on the package he insisted we also take the travel insurance that they also carry on top of the yearly travel insurance my parents already got.
We are glad that we received a few free gifts that came with the payment, some toys, 2 foldable duffle bag and 2 sets of travel sized first aid kit plus a chance for lucky draw in which we had to wait for a couple of hours and halfway through waiting, we decided to give up as its too tiring. All is well until 2 weeks before the travel date that the agency called us up to inform us that the group we travel with has insufficient participants as such we must push back the date to 2 weeks later or we could get our money back. We have decided to get the refund as a change of date is inconvenient.
The refund is prompt however we lost the travel insurance as it is non-refundable due to certain circumstances that we had difficulty comprehending. As we are glad to be able to get the bulk of the money back, which took a few days to process, we let the matter go amiably so as not to complicate the gift to our parents. We then decided to get another tour package from another travel agency and apparently this other agency offers similar itinerary and hotel quality yet a lower price and can confirm the trip almost immediately...
We were glad that we managed to get the trip to go as planned and my parents enjoyed it pretty much... However we are now careful not to make purchase at travel fairs as the administration is complicated and confirmations unreliable.
1=SGD 0.0587
Casually shopping around bugis village the other day after stopping by KFC for a quick yummilicious lunch, I passby this shop that made me walk in for a quick tour and I found some great bargains here.
Tightly stacked with a narrow walkway among portions and portions of basics such as t-shirts, blouse, shirts, polo shirts, pants, shorts, skirts, dresses hanged in top and bottom layers... I should say some of these clothings have got pretty good quality and I suspected them to be rejects, however, they looked pretty fine to me and the price is extremely economical. You can find all sorts of colours, materials, sizes and designs in non-conherent state, so its more or less a pick the one you think looked good and manage a good bargain kind of thing.
I managed to get:
White basic tee - $7
Various coloured razor backs - $5 - $7
Black Shorts- $7
Pencil Skirt - $10
T-Shirts for children - $3 - $7
I almost got:
Really cool Sweater - $20 but i couldn't find a good fitting one.
So if you happen to be around that area, this is a good place to browse as I think they carry rejects and left-overs or odd sizes for a few australian and US brands.. I think i saw something that might be from GAP.... Its fun.... and basics are basics.... Should not pay a hefty price tag for a basic t-shirt or whatever
Rating given:
Was doing my weekend shopping while i came across these delightful snacks that come in the shape of fishes.
Yes fishes... or more like a giant fish made with savory Japanese pancake mix pregnant with delectable fillings. They do have many flavors to choose from like chocolate, green tea, red bean and Cheese.
After investigating with my keen eye.. I've decided on the Cheese Melt flavoured FISH... and I waited as I watched the lady pour the mixture into what looked like fish template pans... that could possible house 5 fishes on one side. While the mixture sizzle away... you could smell the wonderful aroma of the batter in the air... She later drop a few cubes of cheese into the almost formed fish shaped crust and covered the 2 sides so that the filling is wrapped tightly within.. After about 2 mins, my fish is ready to have...
The other helpful aunty actually asked me if I wanted my fish clean or with the crispy sides... I opted for the crispy sides and it looks like fins to me... The Fins were really crispy and nice and as I sink my teeth into the piping hot fish.. the smoking cheese filling oozes out! I should say this makes a great walk about snack...
Its healthy, low in salt and oil, extremely delicious, easy to munch on and is not messy. I would definitely try it again as it simply taste sooo good.... Maybe another flavour next time :)
Rating given:
Popped by Canton Paradise @ I12 Katong one weekday afternoon for some dim sum to chase away the weekday blues. I honestly would have preferred Wah Lok but didn't quite fancy jostling with the CBD crowd and it definitely helped that the porridge at Canton Paradise had a certain allure. Just for the record, as at time of writing, I've been to Canton Paradise a total of 9 times in 3 months, but this is probably going to be my only post on Canton Paradise (I am usually too famished during lunch to bother taking photos). And yes, I'm that crazy about dim sum.
The place is huge and sports a rather "ancient Chinese" decor with its uneven brick walls and wooden decorative panels. If you can stand the cold air conditioning, ask for a booth seat (2-4 pax) because the other tables are spaced a tad too close for comfortable conversation.
BBQ Combination - We had the combination platter of BBQ pork belly with honey sauce and roasted pork, of which the former was sinfully better with a high fat to meat ratio and smothered in gooey honey marinade. I personally like to eat the BBQ pork belly with the salted peanuts that are served alongside. Makes for a nice contrast in both areas of taste and texture. Unfortunately, the BBQ pork's skin wasn't crisp enough and I think they need to add in a wee bit more salt for flavouring.
Steamed Cheong Fun with BBQ Pork - The cheong fun featured translucent but rather limp skin with a reasonable amount of BBQ pork filling. Decent but no great shakes. And remember to eat immediately when served, lest it turns cold and clammy.
Steamed Prawn Dumplings - Fresh, crunchy prawns coupled with translucent but mildly elastic skin. Pretty decent.
Steamed Pork Dumplings - The "porkyness" of the siew mai wasn't too overwhelming and the fat to lean meat ratio was reasonable. As with most dim sum items, eat them while they are hot.
Century Egg Porridge with Lean Meat - I personally think the porridge, especially the 皮蛋瘦肉粥, at Canton Paradise is quite good and this is one of the main reasons why I keep coming back. Consistently sticky with visible rice grains and a subtle, savoury aftertaste. And that's coming from someone who doesn't take century egg. The meatball porridge is nice as well but a little on the bland side.
Baked BBQ Honey Pork Bun - This is reminiscent of the one I had at Tim Ho Wan in HK. Unfortunately, the standards did not quite match up. For starters, the base was overly oily and the BBQ pork wasn't gooey enough. Decent but try the real thing from Tim Ho Wan when it opens in Singapore!
If my memory serves me correct, the bill for this lunch came up to around $50, which is pretty much the range you pay for decent quality dim sum these days. However the staff did seem a little overwhelmed with the place running at almost full capacity, which naturally led to slower service and forgotten requests.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Perfect Cafe to hang out with friends. Situated in the middle of nowhere, right in front of the entrance to ISETAN, this cafe serves one of the best baked seafood chowder I've ever eaten.
A Korean chain that serves french deli and cafe all day main courses dressed in a Blue NEON signboard and plush leather chairs studded with diamonds. One cannot but be enthralled by the scent of freshly baked bread and cute tiny milk bottles of flavored puddings. The interior deco resembles a posh classique cafe and the neatly dressed chef looking stuffs are friendly and quick to take your orders. Though you have to chop (reserve) your own seats, its completely free seating which is quite a downside for me as its always so packed with people, the staff are quick to pack up the left overs from the previous user for you. Be sure to also pop into the queue for all the savoury baked products you would like to order and for beverages, you also order from the same queue at the cashiers.
They have 3 places where you can order food. First at the milk pudding sector, then at the bakery cashier and another cashier is situated behind where the cold salad and delectable healthy looking sandwiches resides. You may also order hot main courses at this counter.
Baked Seafood Chowder: I simply love this on a bread, the soup is extremely tasty and creamy and you also get a full sized prawn. Though the bread is a little hard, I love to scrap the inside of the bread that is infused with the soup.. YOU MUST TRY THIS (5/5)
Korea's Power Garlic: This is a full sized baguette that is infused with garlic baked till crispy and soft on the inside. It goes will with anything, soup, on its own... The best Garlic Baguette I've ever tried (5/5)
Royal Pudding: This tasted a little Penna Cotta, I had the original flavor and loved the soft texture. The little bottles with cover that came with it is extremely lovely. Its not too sweet, just the right balance of milk and hint of caramel. (4/5)
Layered Cake: This resembles the milli cake that is Ow-So-Famous, however I find it not exceptionally delectable. The layers of crepe and cream is light and yummy. The cake is not as heavy as some other may thought and I could taste the cream and crepe properly balanced. (3/5)
My Verdict:
Location: (4/5)
Ambiance: (4/5)
Service: (4/5)
Food: (4.5/5)
Price: (3/5)
I still find it a little more pricey though the setting as a cafe and location could justify for the price however the FIND YOUR OWN SEAT makes me kinda feel i'm in coffee bean or starbucks. The beverages are also priced a little high I feel but the food is delicious!
Rating given:
Since it is double yebber dollars month, then I would try to relive my memories of cathay pacific flights. I took CX Flights to HongKong, Japan and Taiwan before and most of the CX flights from Singapore to other countries you have to transit in HongKong and boy the hongkong international airport is crowded. My last trip to taiwan on CX flight, we are actually delayed for about 45 mins hovering in the air atop the airport unable to land due to congestion of airspace. Upon landing we are being whisked off in a taxi way bus to the terminal while we are being whisked off again by running staffs so that we can catch the next transiting flight to taiwan. It was fun but could be stressful as we are about to miss our connecting flight.
I love CX flights because the flight schedule from SG to HK has many choices of preferred timings and you can also choose to visit HK before or after your destination of choice. The flight is pretty fairly priced if you book early and during promotions. Service is okay and the food served decent portion and quality. Not extremely nice but its still nice to have warm food onboard. Sometimes i find the prices cheaper then low cost flights... during some promotions.. Hard to imagine right. It minimal on flight service as compared to other airlines but as i say decently valued...
One thing i learnt after booking a few flights is that booking direct from the CX airline webpage is not necessarily the cheapest, you may consult other online flight booking systems such as misa travel or etc before making your booking to avoid disappointment of finding out its cheaper somewhere else.
My final verdict, Its value for money and good swift service just hate the congestion at the HK airport that mostly causes some delays.... Love to be ontime most of the time :)
Rating given:
If you are looking for some really good flight deals, then you should subscribe to tiger airway's newsletters... They do have some really good deals coming up. Can you imagine that, I've actually ever got $28 flights to malaysia and sometime ago $48 flight to phuket... Its cheap, service is pretty good and love the in-flight entertainment (the other low cost flight travellers).
Though its low-cost travelling, you could also make yourself more pampered by the few upgrade options available.
1) Opt for check-in luggage: In this way you need not hurl your overly sized luggage up the flight (be it walkway or a staircase). Trying to put an overly huge cabin luggage in the overhead cabin compartment is a tedious thing. Besides having to watch the other commuters angry faces for hitting them while you try to carry your luggage overhead, also face the angry fumes of your neighbours for taking too much space or squashing their cabin luggages.
2)Order in advance your on-flight meals or purchase on flight meals to avoid strange looks given when you bring your home-packed sandwich out to eat. Or having to secretly consume your packed of prepacked home baked nuts. I mean on tiger, i've ever seen one guy took out his bak guar (pork jerkies) to eat.... and the air-crew giving the other crew a funny look while exclaiming : WAH! BAK GUAR leh!
3) Upgrade to a premium seat near the emergency exit is great for tiger flights as you really do get some good leg space.... even if somebody near the window needs to go.... You just simply shift your leg a little.. Thats pretty convenient...
4) Purchase the Board ME First option to fly past the queues of eager boarding guest that is snaking in the queue way before time. Though the waiting area is usually well ventilated with plenty of space, because its low-cost, people tends to want to board quickly to make sure they get their cabin luggage space.
5) Bring along your ipods, ipads and entertainment.. As it does get a little noisy from excited passengers and the staff will do nothing to keep the noise down.. so to have a more pleasant journey.. PLUG IT IN!
6) Always choose a seat near the toilet if not near the entrance. Because on small flights there is only 2 loos and on a longer distance flights you might get 6... but the toilets are pathetic so drink more water before boarding.. make sure you dry yourself before you get on and only start drinking nearing the end of the flight so that you can use the loos at the airport itself. I personally find the cabin toilets on the tiger flight pretty ill-kept, ill-stocked and not a very pleasant experience.
For good and cheap flights, tiger is the way to fly.. If its gonna be just an hour or two.. why not take the economical way to fly :)
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Love the neatly packed shelves and fresh fruits and vegetables on display in this cold storage outlet. It is not the biggest outlet as yet but its big and well organised. You can find everything you need for your household use as well as snacks and beverages.
I was glad to be able to find some really exotic stuffs like sea-salt with grinder and some hard to find cereal brands here in cold-storage. Love the spacious setting and brigt lightings that made browsing so enjoyable.
Though not many staff is on duty, it is easy to find your way around via the category notices on each shelf. If you are looking for something aromatic, you could try to follow your nose. Besides carrying a great variety and interesting brands of food and beverages, they also do have some hard to find brands for detergents as well as their home brand items. Some of Cold Storage's Home brand items "First Choice" are of pretty good quality and extremely economical.
I love their home brand tissue packs and their wardrobe fresheners the best.. They are of good quality, long lasting and good value. So if you happen to past by, go on in and take alook.. Enjoy the great environment and pick something along the way to check-out. Everybody can find something interesting at the supermarket.
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Popped by &Made by Bruno Menard for brunch one late Saturday morning since we were in the area. Read pretty good reviews about it and coupled with the fact that it is 3 Michelin Starred Chef Bruno Menard's (owner of the now defunct 3 star L'Osier in Tokyo) first restaurant in Singapore under his own name, we were pretty psyched about dining there.
&Made occupies one corner of the ground floor at Pacific Plaza and has a rather quirky (a cross between a typical 80's video game and Alice in wonderland) feel to it. Seating capacity isn't extensive, probably about 60 pax or so and the best pick seems to be that of the booth seats if you have no more than 4 pax. Interestingly, with all the hype surrounding the restaurant, it was practically empty, save for 2 tables.
The 'B' Burger - The 'B' Burger was a tad tinier than expected whilst the patty, though done a perfect medium well, came across as tender but a little dry. The onion confit atop also proved a little overwhelming and I could hardly make out any beefy taste from the patty. I did like the bread though, soft and lightly toasted. For sides, the truffle fries ( $3) was definitely a good choice, lightly salted with the strong fragrance of truffle oil. Overall still a pretty decent burger.
Viking Toastoo - It's the first time I'm seeing a Toastoo on a menu and apparently it is a new generation sandwich made with French buckwheat crepes (according to the menu). The viking version spotted smoked salmon, cream cheese, curry and broccoli, which sounded really interesting. Alas, it was nothing out of the ordinary. The sandwich had a crisp exterior with a stuffing of salmon (couldn't taste the smokiness unfortunately) and broccoli. The curry taste was hardly existent and honestly, the whole sandwich tasted healthily (probably due to all the broccoli) normal.
Lollipop Waffle - One of the rather quirky desserts on offer at &Made, the lollipop waffle. In actual fact, it is nothing more than a waffle cooked in a huge lollipop mold and served on a stick with 3 cylindrical containers of white, dark chocolate and caramel sauce respectively. But I did appreciate the visual creativity and the dessert looked almost too good to be eaten. However, the waffle did seem a little limp but credit goes to the consistency in cooking and the crisp edges. Not something I would personally order again for dessert though.
Hot Caramel Lava Cake - This, in my humble opinion, is the star of the entire evening, the pièce de résistance, if you may. Warm, not cloyingly sweet caramel oozing out of a fissure in the soft shell and served with a scoop of salted caramel ice cream coated with crispy flakes. Simply decadent! If you like your chocolate fondants, you should definitely try this.
The both of us literally stuffed ourselves and even had 2 smoothies to round up the meal, all at a cost of about $95. Cheap? Definitely not. The prices of individual items aren't really expensive per se but add everything up and the bill can be a tad alarming. After all, food quality is only slightly above average at best, save for the caramel lava cake. Service wasn't quite up to scratch with periods of inattentiveness.
To sum up, I think &Made offers a decent meal proposition in a nice setting but lacks actual finesse in its food (bar desserts) and service can definitely be improved.
See my pictures here.
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I was invited for a pig-out evening by the 8March Girls (三八妇女）at Chizo Zanmai and I'm glad I made it there... The location of the entrance is pretty tricky to find, though there are 2 entrances, it is not obvious yet if you know where it is, its convenient from the train stations or Bus Stop and to the restrooms. The main entrance is situated outside the building just next to CHILLIs, and pretty near to the busstop however it is at the direction towards the river bank. There you find a good display of all the buffet items available, prices and opening hours... take the escalator to the second level and a glass double door meets you with a huge array of buffet favourites.... The other entrance is via the corridor to the restroom on level 2... You just have to press on past the rest room and you will find a side entrance to the left.
As you enter you will see a cashier to the left, you are to pay first before you eat... which is good because that way, they cannot charge you for wastage.. Ooopss.... but with the food so delicious, I don't think we would waste any... The beauty of going for a buffet is to be able to savour the delicious display before your eyes, taste various types of food and gorge yourself silly with the ones you like best... Always take for yourself only as your friends wants to take the dishes they like too and not have to try to finish the food you take that they don't like.
Its true... they do have more than 100 items though i find the selection for the sashimi and sushi lacking, however the other stuffs are great. I also find many unique dishes available like Hina-Chirashi Sushi which is salmon sashimi with other fresh ingredients on a square bowl of sushi rice. The portion is not big and its lovely to look at and extremely yummy.. I've had 2 of these. The Radish and Oyster Hot pot is a mix of thick musky soup with many oysters in a great pot. You could pick up a smaller pot with the heater candle at the bottom and fill it up with the items you like for the huge pot. They also have interesting stuffs like the crab tofu which taste so crabby and matcha tofu which have a unque tea taste which i couldn't really put a finger to it. The tempura counter is also filled with different types of deep fried stuffs like the regular prawn, chicken, squid and also tako balls, seafood pancakes and some really interesting japanese fried noodles.
The Salmon counter is interesting too with various type of salmon dishes like raw, smoked, sliced and mixed into a salad... They have also traditional stir fried japanese dishes like braised pork, gyoza, chawamushi, miso soup.... However I was so intense on the salad, salmon & tempura counter.. I hadn't had much of the stir-fry counter... All I had was some gyoza and Miso soup.. which i find tasty and gyoza yummy... the gyoza filling is pretty crabby/prawny and substantial.
I love the varieties of desserts available... delectable to the eye and memorable to taste... As such, I left half my tummy for this.... I've tried almost 80% of all the dessert available.
Macha Jelly in a cup: Yummy and green tea-ie.. with droplets of red beans to sweeten the deal.
Coffee Jelly in a cup: Extremely bitter... but unique
Panna Cotta (Soya): LOVE IT... milky, creamy, tasty and have a great texture
Green Tea Tiramisu: Creamy, balanced, good sweetness and could taste the main flavours.
Strawberry roll: Dry and Sloppish... Normal cake
Chocolate Cake: Creamy and normal
Self-served vanilla ice-cream - Good range of toppings available.. ice cream is of a good sweetness and strong vanilla scent. Good creamy texture and easy to dispense.
The price is pretty reasonable for weekday dinner.. It cost me less than $36 per pax... for this huge array of buffet spread including free-flow drinks (6 types of juices, soft drinks, hot green tea and 5 selection on the coffee machine). They have many tables and seats available, love the huge glass windows where we can see the traffic below, high ceiling makes it airy and comfortable for chit-chat and some promotions for students and senior citizens above 60....
Its a great place and very worth the amount spent for a better than normal food quality and ambiance with a large spread of dishes in a scenic location... This is one of the few buffet places that after one visit, I will want to go again shortly.... Great experience :)
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We booked a trip for 2 to Hainan Island last year for our parents at the Travel Fair, Chan Brother's counter. Well I should say that the male staff that served us is pretty friendly and overly chatty. He provided sound travel advises and is pretty clear about the package coverage, however while we are deciding on the package he insisted we also take the travel insurance that they also carry on top of the yearly travel insurance my parents already got.
We are glad that we received a few free gifts that came with the payment, some toys, 2 foldable duffle bag and 2 sets of travel sized first aid kit plus a chance for lucky draw in which we had to wait for a couple of hours and halfway through waiting, we decided to give up as its too tiring. All is well until 2 weeks before the travel date that the agency called us up to inform us that the group we travel with has insufficient participants as such we must push back the date to 2 weeks later or we could get our money back. We have decided to get the refund as a change of date is inconvenient.
The refund is prompt however we lost the travel insurance as it is non-refundable due to certain circumstances that we had difficulty comprehending. As we are glad to be able to get the bulk of the money back, which took a few days to process, we let the matter go amiably so as not to complicate the gift to our parents. We then decided to get another tour package from another travel agency and apparently this other agency offers similar itinerary and hotel quality yet a lower price and can confirm the trip almost immediately...
We were glad that we managed to get the trip to go as planned and my parents enjoyed it pretty much... However we are now careful not to make purchase at travel fairs as the administration is complicated and confirmations unreliable.
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