My getaway from Singapore - Bali 2013 Prelude

Finally settled down from my 2 getaway trips from Singapore - First to Bali in late Oct and a relatively trip to Taiwan in Nov. Here's the prelude to the Bali trip while trying to sort out the photos I have took. And before that, I am now thinking and looking into a third and final trip for 2013, that is to Perth. May my wish come true!

Bali (24 -27 Oct)

Cheap tickets and the desire to travel out of Singapore as soon as my hectic work schedule slows down was the pushing factor for this trip. Tigerairway was having their promotion during April and the deal went as low as around SGD150 for a trip to Bali, but without any check in luggage. Going to a Beach and relaxing trip does not require check in luggage was the thought for me then. I notified a couple of friends on this deal and 3 of them agreed on the trip. Out of the 3, 2 know each other and I thought why not. Travelling is all about meeting new people and therefore the 4 of us confirmed. But I guess, 6 months was too far stretch for one of us and she pulled out in the end. Nonetheless, the 3 of us went ahead for an adventurous instead of a chillax trip. We booked day trip out of Seminyak for the 3 days. For night life lovers, I guessed Seminyak would be good. For shopping and chillax lovers, Kuta would be great as recommended by the guide. For people like us who like nature, Ubud would be good as less travelling time to the destination. As for us, we booked our hotel - Sense Bali Hotel - without doing much research and confirming our itinerary. Thus, our travelling time was quite long. But nonetheless, we took the time to rest and relax. 

Day 1: 

We reached Bali at around noon and we took the time to relax after checking in - Walked to the Seminyak Square for meal and to the Bintang Supermarket to stock up. 

Day 2:

Booked the Bali Eco Cycling trip which brought us to Penelokan (Kintamani) for breakfast with stunning view overlooking the active volcano, Mt. Batur and its crater lake. Then off to start off our cycling trip where we will pass by Balinese plantation, travelling through lush forested areas, plantations, small villages and lush rice paddy panoramas, including a visit to a Balinese home/compound. Pretty nice relaxing day trip where tourists get to see the other side of Bali. No worries if you do not know how to cycle. Go for a tandem bike or just hop on to their van. 

Day 3:

Booked a private car which brought us to Water Rafting at Ayung river, Ubud Monkey Forest and Tanah Lot for Sunset. Supposedly there was a guide to bring us round and the duty of a guide was supposedly to inform us of the place. But he was not doing much but to bring us to the destination, dropped us off and picked us up again. I guess, we could just pay less for a driver. Nonetheless, we did enjoy ourselves that day.

Day 4:

The highlight of the trip was here. We woke up at 1am to prepare for our Mt Batur volcano sunrise trek. Amazing trip which only 3 of us went with a private guide. The couple who was supposed to join us backed out int he end. A 3 hours trek up but the fabulous sunrise blew our tiredness off. Totally worth the lack of sleep, the treks for it.

Day 4 was the last day in Bali. And I guess the next time I am back in Bali, it would definitely for some other volcano sunrise trek.

Till I blog on a more detailed Bali trip with more photos, here is the summary of the beautiful Bali, captured by your truly.  

Bali Beauty

Poulet - Raffles City

Meeting up with Random Friends to celebrate the youngest's birthday. Should be done in December but two of us will be away in Vancouver. Thus, we brought forward the celebration, especially when we last met up in September. 

Decided to patronize Poulet, a casual French restaurant, by the Thai Express group, at Raffles City. Been wanting to visit it since I heard quite good comments about the place. We had to queue for half an hour or so in order to get a seat and while eating, the queue never stopped till after nine plus. Good food but though not really that fantastic that I will be queuing half hour for it. 

Poulet

As a potato lover, french fries is the best starter for me. I would also try to order a share of french fries whenever possible. Huge chunky fries was great at Poulet. Complementary it was the chili sauce. Normal chili sauce which we can buy it off shelf . We could not understand why the service crew gave us such a small portion which we eventually asked for the 5th serving. Come on, looking at the serving of the fries, would really recommend them to fill it up to the brim instead of 1/5 of the saucer. This does not make sense! 

French Fries

Next up the table is the restaurant’s star dish - Poulet Rôti (roast chicken). The both of us shared the whole chicken. The portion was just nice and my friend was looking for the wing. She couldn't find it and I did not take note of the wings when eating. Seems weird, where are the wings? Anyway, the Mushroom Sauce complimented the tender meat. But towards the end, I got a bit sick of the sauce and dipped the chili sauce instead. Not sure if we did not enjoy the sauce or they really served the chicken with a lot of sauce - when we finished the chicken, there was still a lot of sauce leftover. But for around 30 dollars, personally I do not find this dish worth. Still, go ahead and order as this is, after all, my personal preference. 

Poulet Rôti (roast chicken)

Off to Mr Punch rooftop pub at Seah Street. Nice place to chillax as there was not many people there. Recommend to go!

Hairy Crab meal at Mouth Restaurant（地茂馆）

Sister's treat to Mouth Restaurant (地茂馆) for the Hairy Crab set meal. Initially she had a date with her friend but her friend was busy with work. Thus, I got a free meal from Sister as she had craving for Hairy Crab since long. 

If I remembered correctly, this is a November promotion and for $30++, you get to eat - 

1) Double Herbal Boiled Conch meat with Black Chicken Soup

2) Steamed Hairy Crab Meat Dumpling

3) Steamed Hairy Crab

4) Crispy Noodle with Chicken & Egg 

5) Ginger Tea with glutinous rice ball 

Not a bad combination but to a dim sum restaurant, it is quite a must to order Liu Sha Bun (流沙包). It is actually salted egg custard filling. Nice way to start the dinner as it took quite a while to serve the dishes though we had made reservations. Nonetheless, the bun was great. The first bite and the salted egg filling was oozing out. Yummy is the word to describe it despite the fact that I had 2 ulcers sitting at the top and bottom of the left side of the mouth.

Liu Sha Bun (流沙包）

The dishes did not arrive in order. We had the Steamed Hairy Crab Meat Dumpling served first. It tasted like normal xiao long bao (小笼包) and I did not taste any crab meat. Could it be the mixture of the meat that stole away the crab meat taste? I was not sure about it and seriously, before I looked carefully at the menu, I really thought I was eating the normal dumpling. What a waste that was!

Steamed Hairy Crab Meat Dumpling

Next up was the Double Herbal Boiled Conch meat with Black Chicken Soup - served pipping hot. I liked this soup. The chicken meat was tender and the soup was tasty. Get a chance and try the herbal soup in the restaurant, I think it is worth the price!

Double Herbal Boiled Counch meat with Black Chicken Soup

Next up is the highlight of the meal - Steamed Hairy Crab. The service crew helped to de-shell the crab first and removed the innards. Initially we thought that she will help to de-shell and gave us the meat. But fat hope. We needed to put in effort in order to enjoy the crab.

I took nearly half hour to forty-five minutes to finish the whole crab. As small as it was, it really needed time and patience to eat crab. I guess the smaller it was, the harder to do it. As the crab was steamed, we could taste the freshness of the crab - Nice. Best food is one that we can taste the original taste - No sauce, no nothing, just the meat.

Steamed Hairy Crab

Sis was complaining that the crab was small and she was not full. She was still suggesting to head to Chinatown for second round. But next dish up was the crispy noodle. The order of food was like that of a wedding banquet where the staple food was served well before the desserts. They did not take note that I was still enjoying my crab and served the noodle. Thus, by the time I get to the noodle, it was no longer crispy and had become soggy. Nonetheless, the noodle finally gave sis and me the full feeling.

Crispy Noodle with Chicken & Egg

Last dish of the meal was the Ginger Tea with glutinous rice ball. Oh crap, personally I do not like Ginger Tea. The glutinous rice ball was sesame and it tasted quite good for dessert. I really could not complete the tea, not that I was really full, but the taste was too strong for me. Ginger tea is good for health or whatever purpose, thanks but no thanks. Maybe the restaurant could give some options to desserts. That would be fantastic!

Ginger Tea with glutinous rice ball

A nice meal with a nice ambiance. The meal I took more than one hour to complete. Not fine dining but savouring on crabs really needs time and patience. The restaurant was not crowded and their service crew were very attentive to us - making it a point to refill our teacup, clearing the plates the soonest we finished the dish. A bit stressful for me as it seemed that someone was staring at you while you ate. Quite a nice place to have dinner. They have a branch at China Square and another at Plaza Singapura. Go for the outlet at China Square as it is less crowded. 

22 Cross St,
Singapore 048421

DIY Pedicure

Bought this Juicy Cocktail Polish from Etude House quite some time ago. Love the orange glittery feel. However, I had only used it once during the Chinese New Year. I can't really paint well with my left hand, thus, I can only do Pedicure on my own. 

Juicy Cocktail from Etude House

Here we go, here's my newly painted nails. By right, we should be painting Bottle 1 on the whole nail, followed by Bottle 2 on the upper half and lastly Bottle 3 on the upper quarter of the nails. But I decided to follow suit only for the big toe. For the rest of the toes, I did a random polishing. Can't really see it clearly from the photo though. 

Nonetheless, I love my toe nails now!

Covet London Nail Colours

Free express manicure - Covet London Nail Colours - at Tangs. 

New colour to welcome the weekend. I think this colour goes well with short nails. I love free manicure as my manicure always does not last for more than 3 days. I need to be more lady-like, I guess!

TCC, once again!

Three months in a row and I'm back at TCC for lunch again. This time round, I went to the Wisma Outlet. The ambiance was quite good but the service crew was not very alert. I waited for five minutes before someone noticed me at the entrance.

I had Pasta in August, Main Course in September and thus, for the month of October, I am going to try the Sandwiches. But just bread for lunch, not that. I ordered the New England Clam Chowder to start off the lunch. S$10 for the soup, not worth but with the 50% discount, I found the price reasonable. The soup was not very creamy or thick but it tasted good. There were not many clams served, many around five. The garlic bread was nice but I wished it was served warm. The soup was overall flavourful with the clams, potato cubes and chicken ham. 

New England Clam Chowder

Next up was the Cheeso Portobello Sandwich served with greens and potato chips. The problem I always have with sandwich or burger is that I need to 'dismantle' them in order to cut and eat them. Same goes to today's snadwich. The pan-fried portobello steak with cheddar and parmesan cheese was flavorful. I liked it. The turkish bread was cripsy and it went well with the portobello. The Teriyaki glaze and Japanese mayo was a bit too much for the dish. It was the first time I had sandwich at TCC, a good choice, I must say. The greens was there to make the dish more healthy but with the potato chips, my friends said otherwise. But lighted salted chips won't do much harm, don't you agree?

Cheeso Portobello Sandwich

To end off the meal, we had coffee instead of desserts. Well, I'm out with the small eaters so no choice. A decent hazelnut latte with caramel and chocolate bits. Love it. But actually, I quite missed their Osmanthus latte (I hope I mentioned the right drink at the right place).

Caramel Hazelnut Latte 

That's all for TCC. I hope I won't step into TCC till Year 2014! 

Lok Lok - Malaysian Local Delights @ Tanjong Katong

Three years ago, I was in Malacca and I heard about this Satay Celup. I had wanted to try it but I read about them reusing the pot gravy - that is for the whole night, they will just replenish the gravy instead of changing a new pot for the new customers. Oh man, my friend backed out on this food trail and till now, I have not tried this yet.

Sometime back this year, my friend, Cutie Wc whatsapp-ed me a picture showing "Malaysian Local Delights" with many satay sticks. I thought she went Malaysia for a food trail but to my surprise, she was having loklok in Singapore!!! But I wasn't in the mood for food back then and this shop slowly faded away. until recently, I decided to find some unique food to bring cuzzie around and this shop suddenly reappeared and off we went. Pretty excited  for the both of us as it is something different from the usual steamboat that we have.

When we reached around 1pm for lunch on a Friday, to my horror, there was no one in the shop eating the steamboat. We were quite upset that we travelled all the way just to find it closed. So I decided to ask about the opening hours for dinner such that we can come back later. Pretty surprised that the person at the counter says the steamboat buffet is on and led us to a table. We were the ONLY customers in the shop. As cool as it could be, it was quite boring as food is supposedly to be shared by many people. But well, it was a Friday afternoon and people had to work, unlike us. 

So apparently, there are two prices - S$24.80 for Monday-Thursday and S$26.80 for Friday-Sunday. The person explained that there is a 10% discount at this timing as the food range is limited. Well, there are more choices for dinner crowd, I guess.  

For around $24 per pax, I won't say it is cheap but the idea is refreshing enough for us to go try it! We were counting that if 1 stick of food is worth 50 cents, we would have to eat at least 50 sticks to make the money worth. By the way, the price includes free-flow drinks. 

For the sauce, we chose the satay sauce and the penang prawn soup base. The Penang Prawn soup is slightly spicy and the satay sauce tasted great.

The soup base

The food are all placed in the fridge and you can just take them from it. It is slightly different from the normal buffet places where the food are placed in open air. But it was tiring to open the door just to grab some food. I guess you can take a lot at one good - helps to save the environment.

Raw Food in the Fridge

I did not take many photos of the food, was busy eating instead of snapping. Here are some of the food I took - Pork Slice, Small intestine, Meat balls etc. There are also beef, vegetables and those yong tau food ingredients. By the way, the boss told us to cook the raw food using the soup base instead of the satay sauce. This is because the satay sauce is only lukewarm and could not really cook the food. Thus, we put the food into the penang prawn soup base, cooked them and dipped them into the satay sauce.

The Raw Food

Okay, have you tried Prawns in Satay sauce before? This is cool. Nice innovation to cook the prawns. And the prawns are fresh and we can easily peel off the shell. Not much of a hassle to eat prawns. But I guess we can first cooked the prawns, shell it before dipping into the satay sauce. In this way, our hands will not have satay sauce. I loved the prawns and I had quite a couple of them.

Prawns

Here's some of the other food I ate. My cuzzie was saying that they all looked the same once we dipped them into the satay sauce. I was wondering why I did not try the original flavour before dipping them into satay sauce.

Some other cooked food

Here's my achievement at the end of the feast - 63 sticks of food. VERY FULL!

My achievements

For the innovative idea of satay steamboat, I definitely recommend this place. But would I come again? Maybe not in near future!

Malaysian Local Delights
224 Tanjong Katong Road

Hainanese Curry Rice @ Beo Crescent

After watching Eric Khoo's new film about Dementia and Hainanese Curry Ric - Recipe (回味) on Sunday night, I had a craving for Hainanese Curry Rice. I always hear people raved about the curry rice that is situated in the neighbourhood of Beo Crescent. It is relative near to my place but with no direct bus, I seldom travel near there.

But with the craving and that the place is near, I decided to 'walk out of my comfort zone' to visit the place. For about 20 minutes walk or so, I finally reached Beo Crescent and trust me, you can easily spot the curry rice shop by looking out for a long queue forming outside a coffee shop. The old school stall has no sign board and everyone calls it the Beo Crescent Curry rice. It is a really small coffee shop with tables and chairs outside the shop. Strangely, I guess due to its own structure, there is no seat inside the coffee shop. 

I queued for almost 30 minutes before I placed my order. I might be stupid to be queuing with the lunch crowd. As I was alone and I could not see any available table, I decided to takeaway the food. (better than looking lost with the plate of food and searching for a table)

Their famous pork chops are on the must-try item and the person in front of me ordered S$5 for eat in and another S$5 for takeaway. Anyway, I ordered their pork chop, with the cabbage and a fried egg. I reckoned that being alone, we can never try many dishes. I better gathered my family again for good food soon. 

I thought with me packing my food, the Pork Chop will lose the crispiness as it will be dipped in the curry gravy curry for long. But to my surprise, the thin sliced pork chops were still crispy when I had them. It was like eating Keropok. The curry gravy was nice and complemented the Pork Chop very well. Love it! Here's a picture of my food, I'm sorry that this picture did not bring justice to the good food. 

Crispy Pork Chop

No Name Hainanese Curry Rice
Blk 40 Beo Crescent

TCC - The Connoisseur Concerto @ Orchard Ion

Amused by the number of friends that own the TCC card. 50% off the payment once again. This time round, I decided to look at the main course instead of the pasta. Can't imagine myself having to eat a big plate of pasta again. Looking through the menu, my friend realised that TCC does not have many dishes with the icon "Chef recommendations" and many of the "NEW" items have existed long ago. Our guess is that they do not update and reprint their menu. And this will also mean that they do not have new dishes for a long time.  

After pondering, the sides of the main dishes caught my attention - onion-roasted potatoes, lotus root slices and broccolini. So my choice for the day was Pan-seared Chicken Breast with Shogayaki Sauce. 

Found the Shogayaki sauce too salty for my tongue - does not like it. The chicken breast was not well marinated but the edamame cream proved to be special. Luckily the sides did not fail me. The lotus root slices are crunchy and the potatoes are soft. Good!

Pan-seared Chicken Breast

We ordered the Shrooms Bite as snack to share. It is definitely cooked when ordered as they were served real hot. So be mindful and do not put the entire piece into your mouth. The pastry was puffy and the mushrooms are great. 

Shrooms Bites

Complete the meal with my drink. This round, I ordered the Honey Citrus Fizz. It is soda that is mixed with orange, mango and honey. A fruity and thirst-quenching drink, feel so great after eating the salty sauce. 

Honey Citrus Fizz

ION Orchard
2 Orchard Turn #B2-49 

Homecook Japanese Chicken Curry Rice

Cooking day when I decided to take a break from work. As sis has some leftover japanese curry cubes, I decided to cook Japanese Curry Rice. Simple recipe to follow:

Ingredients:

1/2 tablespoon  olive oil

1/2 onions, diced - you can add more if you like onions, original recipe recommends 2 medium onions

2 medium potatoes, cubed

1 carrots, cubed - original recipe mentioned 2

Some Rice cakes (optional)

Chicken, pork or beef, cubed - I just prepared the quantity that I think we will finish - original recipe says 250g

700ml water

60g curry roux brick, mild

60g curry roux brick, hot

Ingredients - Carrot, Potato, Rice Cakes

Chicken 

Directions:

1. Heat the pot for a while and add olive oil and fry the onions until they are fragrant (2 minutes or so)

2. Add the potatoes, carrots, rice cakes and meat and continue to stir fry until the meat is cooked (about 5 minutes)

3. Add water and bring the mixture to a boil before cooking it on medium heat for about 20 minutes or when the meat is tender.

4. Remove the pot from the flame and add the curry roux bricks and stir until the curry is well mixed.

5. Stew the curry over low heat until it thickens (about 15-20 minutes)

And after an hour or so, here's our very own Japanese Chicken Curry Rice. Yummy!

Our very own Japanese Chicken Curry Rice

Basically, you can add in other ingredients that you like and create your own version of curry rice. For example, eggplants, broccoli, or even seafood. But do take note about the cooking time just in case some ingredients get cooked faster than the others. Manage your timing well and you can really enjoy cooking and of course, the end product - your yummy food!

Brunch @ W39 Bistro & Bakery

Read about W39 Bistro & Bakery over the internet but find it too far to visit just to have brunch. Not sure if it was a blessing or bad luck that I need to work on Sunday at Clementi area. I just have to say that fate brought me to this cozy home-style bistro.

The place is not very big and was pretty crowded when I reached. Luckily I got a table quick enough. Here's the breakfast menu that is available only on weekends and public holidays, from opening till 3pm. The hearty breakfast grabbed my attention. 

Breakfast menu

While waiting for my food, I took a photo of this cakes & pastries corner of the shop. Cakes, my favourite but as I was alone, my stomach could not afford extra space to have one. I shall be back to try out their cakes, they look good!

Cakes & Pastries Corner

Here's my Hearty Breakfast which consists of Eggs, Mushrooms, Tomatos, Bacon, Sausage, Greens and Toast. A big portion, totally worth the price. Let me start off with the Toast. It is evenly toasted - soft and easy to chew. The butter and jam complemented it well though it tasted great alone or with the egg yolk. As for the tomato, it was well grilled but a pity, there was only one tomato on the plate. The sauteed mushrooms was great. I loved the bacon the most. They tasted great. Unfortunately, the egg yolks were a bit well done but overall, this breakfast was fantastic. Oh, I think you can decide on the type of eggs you like - I saw someone ordering scrambled eggs.  

Hearty Breakfast

If you are thinking of going in a group, I reckon that you call to make reservation before popping by. This is to avoid disappointment. Will be back to try out their mains and especially the CAKES!

39 Jalan Mas Puteh, (Off West Coast Road)
Singapore 12863

Cafe Siem Reap by IndoChine @ Holland Village

Another Birthday, another gathering. This round, we headed to Holland Village as per the Birthday girl's instruction. As she IS always the earliest, she decided to just chillax at Cafe Siem Reap by IndoChine. They have this 1-for-1 beer promotion and I guess this really attracts her. 

Besides the beer, we had a fair share of Vietnamese food at this cafe. As weird as it seems, Cafe Siem Reap selling Vietnamese food. And with the food, I missed my days in Ho Chi Minh. The days without my phone, the days where I could rest and relax, eat and drink. Those days are coming, I can see the lights at the end of the year-long journey.

As Random A is a vegetarian, we order the Goi Cuon Chay - Vegetarian Fresh Rice Paper Rolls as the starters while waiting for the rest of the people to join us. Rice Paper Rolls with beer, great combination. The food was served promptly and I think I took more time trying to get the attention of the service crews to take order. How irony was that.  Anyway, the fresh rice paper rolls was nice. I seldom see this dish in Singapore and the last time I ate it was in HCM itself. This roll was filled with with lettuce, bean sprouts, chives, mint leaves and rice vermicelli accompanied with a traditional Siêm Rêap sauce. Refreshing taste with the mint lingering around the mouth. DO remember to dip the sauce as it will bring out the flavour - a little spicy but nice. Otherwise, the roll is quite bland. For those who do not just want vegetables, there is also the rice paper roll with prawns. 

Goi Cuon Chay - Vegetarian Fresh Rice

I need meat and thus, I went on to order the Com Suon - Vietnamese Pork Chop with Rice Steamed jasmine rice served with special marinated pork chop and a sunny side up egg, accompanied with a sweet Siêm Rêap fish sauce. 

The jasmine rice is really great and it went well with the pork chop. The pork chop was well marinated. The fish sauce was a great creation and it brought back memories. The portion was just nice and I enjoyed this dish alot. 

Com Suon - Vietnamese Pork Chop with Rice

Next up was the Banh Xeo - Vietnamese Pancakes - bean sprouts, onion, carrot, black mushroom and yellow beans, stuffed in a crispy Vietnamese pancake served with fresh lettuce, full - flavoured mint and coriander leaves coated in a traditional tangy sauce. That's the description in the menu with no mention of meat but hey there, there was minced meat. If you like vegetables, do try this. While the vegetables was fresh, the pancake neturalised the taste. 

Banh Xeo - Vietnamese Pancakes

Last dish of the day is definitely dessert - Sticky Rice with Mango. It is actually Sticky rice with coconut milk and fresh mango.

The sticky rice is just nice, not too dry and the coconut milk complements it. The fresh mango is really fresh and sweet. Loved it.

Sticky Rice with Mango

Not a crowded place but I reckoned could be that it was a Monday night. The service crew should improve on their service and be more attentive. Otherwise, this is a great place to hang out.

Holland Village,
44 Lorong Mambong

Apollo Fresh Cockle Fried Kway Teow @ Marine Parade Food Centre

A trip to the east for a healthy evening - cycling trip at East Coast Park for a prelude with my Bali-trip-mates. After the hour of cycling, we decided to walk to Marine Parade Food Centre for dinner. 

The food centre is pretty crowded and most of the stalls are still open. So many choices and guess what, I ended up choosing a sinful dish - Fried Kway Teow. Had been thinking of eating it since a lunch date and finally I got to eat it. 

The only Fried Kway Teow stall that I noticed and there was only one person in the queue. Got in the queue behind her and within minutes, order was taken and the dish was presented to me. Self Service like all other stalls, I obediently took the plate and walked to my table.  

A very basic dish with the very traditional ingredients like cockles, bean sprouts and sausage. The kway teow was not too dry like those I ate before - it is more 'watery' but great. Unlike some stalls, there was no fishcake. Though greasy, you will not grew tired of it. Definitely worth the indulgence in this "high-calorie'' local delight, especially after the cycling exercise. 

Fresh Cockle Fried Kway Teow

Marine Parade Food Centre
#01-174

S(he)Brews Cafe @ Queenstown Community Centre

Around the old town in Queenstown for work and decided to head to s(he)Brews cafe at Queenstown Community Centre for lunch. I got to know about this cafe through a friend's Facebook. 

A small cafe I have to say, sitting at the corner of the Community Centre - Seats are limited. I arrived at around one plus on Tuesday and the place wasn't packed. I think the words 'Savour LIFE' painted on the words. 

S(he)Brews

We got to order our food from the counter and when the food is ready, they will shout out the order and a number from the receipt. You really need to listen hard if you are seated far from the corner or if the place is crowded or noisy. I wondered if they will soon issue a buzzer for the collection of food. 

I looked at the set menu and I chose the Nonya Laksa with a cup of Long Black. At the price of $8.90, I got the main course, a hot drink and a dessert of the day. If you choose to have the cold drink, the price is at $7.90. The ala carte for the main course is set at $5.60. So I guess it is more worth to get the set. 

This is the first time I ordered Long Black and I like the after-taste bitterness. A nice cup of hot coffee on a rainy day. 

Long Black

The Nonya Laksa is awesome too. The cafe is generous in their portion. In a bowl of Laksa, there are mussels, prawns, half of half-boiled egg, tau pok, fishcakes and fishballs. Totally worth the price we paid for it. The gravy was not very spicy and the ingredients are fresh. And though I mentioned it is a self service cafe, I guess there wasn't a big crowd that a service crew 'served' the laksa to my table. Totally love his ''extra-mile'' service. 

Nonya Laksa

I collected the dessert - Lemon Square - from the counter after my food. Half the size of what they sell  off the shelf but the size is just nice as a after lunch dessert. The crust at the bottom was a bit hard but overall, this Lemon Square is nice. Lingering lemon taste after the Laksa gave me a refreshing feeling.

Lemon Square

I have to say, everything is self service in this cafe. From the ordering of food, to collection to taking the utensils and finally the return of the utensils. That's the reason why we do not need to pay service charge. I don't mind, do you?

365 Commonwealth Avenue
Queenstown Community Centre

Seoul Hotpot at Harbourfront Centre

Affordable Korean fare, you can try out Seoul Garden Hotpot. It is not the usual Seoul Garden's buffet-style steamboat plus grilled spread. The place serves Korean fare ranging from Bibimbap, Korean Hotpot, hotplates and side dishes. For each main dish you order, you can top-up to make it a set meal.

For dinner, just top up $5 and you would get an additional White Fungus sweet soup, a side dish (mid-joint wings/Fried Oyster mushrooms/Cold Tofu/Chicken Nuggets) and Pickle-of-the-day. You can check out the 

Menu here. 

We proceeded with our orders and here's how the dishes arrived. 

First, we were served the White Fungus Sweet Soup which I thought was supposedly the desserts as it was served cold. My friends and I were puzzled over it but we just went ahead to have a taste of the soup. It tasted quite nice but to start a meal with this was not my desired choice. It would have be great if it was served last so that we can 'wash down' the dinner. 

White Fungus sweet soup

Next came the marinated sliced chicken. We ordered this hotplate dish to share and to try out their hotplate. This dish was delicious - Chicken was tender and the mushrooms went well with the dish.

Marinated Sliced Chicken

Then came the Pickles of the day. Spicy side dish and it really opened up our appetite. Not refillable though. 

Pickles 

Then they served the side dish that came with the side: The Korean Cold Tofu was normal - The seaweed went soggy with the sauce but it was refreshing to eat something cold since we were having hotpot.

The fried oyster mushrooms was not up to my expectation. A bit oily and not that crispy. It came in quite a big piece and I thought they could have cut it into smaller size for easy biting.

Cold Tofu

Fried Oyster Mushrooms

The last to arrive was actually our main dish. We úpgrade' our plain rice to Kimgaru Rice at an additional $1. This seaweed flavoured rice was nice and it really complemented the Hotpot.  

Kimgaru Rice

Finally, here's my main course for the night - Premium Seafood hotpot - scallops, clams and mock abalone slices. You can choose from two soup base - Kimchi or Miso. I chose the Miso Soup Base as I had too much Kimchi for the past month. 

This Hotpot was nice. It was really served hot and they were generous in the portion. For the price of $15.90, we could actually had fresh scallops and clams. The hotpot was totally worth the price. The miso soup was not salty that you need to gaggle cups of water after drinking it.  

Premium Seafood Hotpot

The generous portion definitely justifies the price. What's more, it is halal-certified. So we can meet anyone there for a feast. 

1 Maritime Square #02-03/04
HarbourFront Centre

L'Espresso High Tea Buffet @ Goodwood Park

It was just a random gathering with a friend whom I have not met for quite some time. Not knowing where to go, she suggested L'Espresso High Tea Buffet @ Goodwood Park. Not a bad idea for a chit chat and chillax gathering. We can eat and catch up with each other's life, a great way to bond over food. 

At L'Espresso High Tea Buffet, each diner is entitled to two choices of beverages. The variety of choices was not that bad and the list consists of teas — black, green, herbal, and fruit teas — coffees and espresso-based drinks, hot chocolate, hot milk, and also iced beverages like iced mocha and iced lemon tea.

Since it was high tea, I decided to choose TEA for my first drink - Rosehips with Hibiscus Flowers tea. A special tea with lingering taste of sourness. A refreshing hot drink to start off my High Tea. Look at the cups - the prints is so pretty. 

Rosehip with Hibiscus Flowers Tea 

I wasn't expecting much from a High Tea Buffet but was totally surprised with the wide variety of pastries and sandwiches they've got there. I guess if you do not like bread, this buffet is certainly a no-no for you. 

The long food counter started off with the Croissants, Sandwiches and Canapes. Here are some of the variety I got for myself. 

The croissants is very crispy and soft, totally a must try for this buffet.The chicken crepes was nice too. Despite being a cold dish, the chicken was tender. The salmon canapes was marvelous - Salmon being fresh and the beetroot mousse totally complements the whole taste.

Assorted Croissant, sandwich... 

For salmon lovers, the Smoked salmon is a must try as well. I ate it with the mini bagel. More of the canapes which they name it  open faced sandwich. The toppings of salmon, prawn and tuna were really fresh. 

More of the food

Scones came into different flavour and I got the plain scones to go with the jam. The scone is not too buttery nor is it too dry. The texture of the scone was great and is perfect with some butter or jam. The baked pork meatloaf went well with the french loaf. A hot dish that was kept warm throughout the buffet. 

Scones

Hot savouries was next. The fried finger food was a change from eating bread and flour. The crispy chicken was like the popcorn chicken from KFC (quoted from my friend after she ate it). The fried finger food was just normal. 

Finger Food

If you love cakes, I think you will love this buffet. There are quite a number of varieties to choose from. Here are those that I took to try out. The size of the cakes was totally just nice that I can actually tried most of the cakes on the trays. 

The white chocolate dome cake was special. Sweet on the outer layer and when you ate it, the cake was actually coffee taste. I think coffee lovers will love this. I think there is this cherry cake that you can eat bites of cherries in every bites - giving you a crunchy feel when eating it. The cheese brownie was quite special and the cheese taste was not that strong. There was also this Earl Grey cake where the Earl Grey taste will linger around your tongue after you ate it. The green tea lime cake was refreshing and nice. 

Cakes

Last but not least, here comes the chocolate fondue and fruits to end off the day. 

Chocolate Fondue

After all the eating, we ordered a Ice Mocha to end off the buffet. A worthy buffet if you are into bread and cakes.

L’Espresso
Goodwood Park Hotel
22 Scotts Road