Well firstly, I cant really eat chickens in Singapore because of their high hormonal content, so usually I avoid them.
but I always made exceptions at Arnold’s
their whole spring chicken at 9.90 is big enough for 2 plus their potato platter is me and MrK favourite weekend meal, accompanied by some shopping at the blogshops’ haunt City Plaza.
I think what is special about them is they have a bit of garlic on the recipe and their stuff is really crispy and nice, I especially love the potato skin in the potato platter. With the cheese, it was sinful but heavenly
Lots of beautiful ppl dressed in cheap stuff and looks very good, and that brings me back to new year resolutions no 1. Next time I WILL take pictures of them, well best of luck for their blogshops
anyway here is pictures
This was their 3-piece chicken meal, more expensive than the spring chicken meal n so not worth it, not as nice, and comes with sides that i dun really fancy like mashed potato and coleslaw
Their flagship outlet in city plaza, small place and can get very crowded during meal times.
They also have another outlet at Hougang Green shopping centre, i have been there, quality was kept constant, and an express outlet at Pasir Ris Park.
a few months ago, we went to swisshotel the stamford to enjoy the 1-for-1 semi-buffet lunch at swisshotel the stamford. it is called semi-buffet because only salad and desserts were free-flow and the main courses are one time order only
anyway lets get on with pictures
the place is very spacious, located on the second floor of Raffles City Shopping centre but it is connected to the hotel and it is one of the F n B place that belongs to the hotel
their place is very spacious but due to the specialty swiss stuff they served, not many people patronise this place.
our table with nice red accents
we ordered some local drinks, i think for him is some lime juice while ordered wintermelon tea
selection of salads,quite wide-range and they have my favourite corn salads
some beef soup, very very strong smell of beef, its really terrible
picture of the middle buffet area and the huge decors around the room
my main course, sausage with potato gratin, quite good, i like it
his main course was fish, it was also good and fresh. though it tasted a bit plain
their desserts was also good and chocolatey and run out fast and they do not replace promptly esp near the end of buffet hours, very disappointing!!
so overall, with 1-for-1 promo it was quite worth it, though you dont have to order drinks, plain water is served and it was better than the drinks, they have huge selection of cheese to so if u r a fan, it becomes even more worth it.
Modesto’s my fave italian restaurant (for now!, cos I think their standards dropping and their pasta is not as good as other’s but definitely way way way better than the overpriced Prego)
they have 3 branches, recently gave away a 30% discount voucher
so yeah vivocity’s one as usual not valid on sat and sunday
so we went to the orchard’s branch, parking was easy just next door at Forum so it was quite affordable as they charged a standard rate after 6 pm
anyway, still love the tiramisu and love the ambience , it was quite packed too but not full, so i dun really know why they need to give out discounts?
well its good for me!
first up is the TS lunch at Hyatt, Straits Kitchen
as the name suggest, it serves food from the region such as chinese food like laksa, chicken rice, stir-fried vegetables
Indian food like curries, briyani etc
local delights like popiah, rojak, gado-gado
nonya food like otah, rendang
drinks are also quite varied from orange juice, guava, sour plum, bandung etc better than most buffet already which usually only give water or worse, did not serve any drinks like Casa do Churrassco at East Coast (never going back there!! even if they have 1-for-1 promotion)
desserts are heavenly especially their ice cream, although there are only 5 flavours, all of them are worth trying especially mango, soursop and durian. other desserts such as ice kachang, goreng pisang and others are also very good
but i only go there because its free and i get to get off work earlier
for fun, i prefer my own team high-tea buffet at Royal plaza on Scotts, we are given private dining area, variety wise, it was quite comparable with some japanese and middle eastern selection.
there is chocolate fondue and fruits given are quite high class such as guava and grapes.
anyway more so because the “old” IA students are back and we played games together, even though it was just simple games, everyone enjoyed themselves very much and this morning, everyone like thanked me for organising it? when i did not do much except to explain some of the games and hold the DARE bucket.
anyway no pictures cos its work related
so bottomline: both buffet places are quite good and worth the money (cos i get it for free??)
Hyatt Straits Kitchen Lunch : $42++
Carousel, Royal Plaza on Scotts: $28 ++ (warning, no parking coupons given and parking can cost more than 8 bucks ($4 for first hour)
as some of you might notice, fig and olive also has a branch in vivocity, everyone (ok maybe NUS peeps only) favourite mall. but I have never eaten there cos the prices are not too friendly
but this time it was a farewell lunch for one of my colleague so we didnt really have a say plus being in a team, full of international people from all over the world we need to get some vegetarian, kosher, halal and so on…
anyway i ordered their speciality, maghribi chicken with olive rice
but to me they just taste so so, service was also lacking, like top up for drinks was lacking, no one bothers to explain the menu and so on, maybe because we are a big group, but definitely not going back there, cos the food do not taste special at all
Some afternoons ago, when MrK was feeling hungry and had time to left office early, we had a late lunch at this small place in sunset way.
Believe it or not, even though we passed by sunset way every day on our way to work/school, I never step in there and even after this visit, I still dunno where the varieties of new hip places are located cos I only saw hawker centre nearby this daily scoop place.
Luckily this place is very easy to find , from the road leading to Bukit timah, just take a turn into sunset way and there it is.
we had their curry set which is the curry and a small scoop of ice cream and soft drink for about $8 plus
curry taste like those instant curry, so nothing to shout about
and I get their double scoop $4.50 i think
the best thing is their varieties are unique though not all are available
THE daily scoop website has more description on all their flavours
I think we tried most of the chocolate based stuff, and it was ok.
overall it was a nice place to chill out with ice cream though their place is really small, not like the famous Island Creamery in Bukit Timah.
yeah they also do cakes but we did not try any
not really worth a visit unless u r in the vicinity
I did not try the Lychee Martini, but one place in Singapore with superb Lychee Martini Ice cream is Seventh Heaven,
i DID not take a picture during my visit there because I was not very serious about blogging and documenting experiences at that time
I stay on the other end of the island, so I did not visit the new Tampines one till about two weeks ago.
I bought some stuff from the hyped up UNIQLO, but i find their jeans does not suit my thunder thighs and a lot of them are too low waisted. I wonder why the queue for it is still so long. yeah I agree that their stuff is quite good quality but their stuff are not cheap either.
Other shop that interest me is the bread shop opposite the sake shop, I cannot remember the name already because by the time we went back there, it was already closed so I cannot vouch for the taste. All in all, nothing new about Tampines one I feel, just uniqlo and the same old shops are around.
but This is my first time eating at sushi tei, and I LOVE IT. I think its the best jap food I eat before.
just yesterday, I ate at Ichiban Boshi in Great World city, but their sushi is just normal and other things also taste normal.Thus I never do a review about Ichiban Boshi
well sushi tei in tampines one has 2 storeys, we are quite lucky to be seated in the quiet corner in the second storeys, away from the hustle and bustle of a busy Jap restaurant (always busy, not sure why Singapore is so fascinated with Japanese food, it was not the case in Indonesia, in fact my family do not really fancy Japanese food except for my sister as her BF is a jap food lover and he is always recommending me many jap places when I am back) but thats a story for another time when I am more free to do restaurant review for Jakarta’s food!
anyway we love sushi tei so much we decided to make the card (membership card of some sort, costs $80 but gives u back in the forms of vouchers and discounts)
anyway we shall let the pictures do the talking yeah
our table and the very nice romantic lighting, I really like the ambiance in this restaurant.
Assorted Salmon Sushi all very good and fresh
Lobster sushi, taste really good and crunchy
Curry rice, it was quite small serving of the meat, so this one a little bit not value for money, I guess we should order their sushi as our carbo when we eat there again
supposedly this is the paper hotpot, but I am not complaining, a big bowl of everything which always warms me and makes me feel healthier eating so much vegetables??
the bill for all the food comes up to around $55, quite reasonable I feel?
yesterday also spent the same amount at ichiban, though more filling, I feel like the quality at sushi tei is way better, and they have another branch at Paragon, Takashimaya, and Vivocity (should be the outlet I will visit the most often)
Mcdonald’s Cinnamon melt $2.50
very very sweet, strong cinnamon smell but not cinnamon taste
On the afternoon of my Penang trip, I had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. This is only my second meal at Hard Rock cafe. Due to their global presence, to me they have this overpriced air around them.
The first time I had a Hard Rock Cafe meal is at KL Bukit Bintang. But I have no memory of it except that it was just normal western food and that its expensive.
well, actually we have many choices for lunch that day, initially I thought that MrK wanted to have lunch at Popeye’s, our favourite Chicken joint. but he said that can be had anytime since they are not at the transit area.
So we wanted to eat at the new T3, so we walked there. on 3rd level near the movie theatre supposedly had Gelare’ Cafe something we never had before, but we walked up and down that alley all we see is like Lerky Thai, Prima Taste, Ajisen, all the normal usual stuff. wasted quite alot of time
so we headed downstairs n saw Hard Rock Cafe with all their guitars and merchandise (yes they sell merchandise too, changi airport specials.)and this big poster saying 3 course lunch at 12.50 nett. so, thats even cheaper than then the food like Burger King upstairs. So we asked about soup of the day, and dessert of the day cos we dun want any scoop of ice cream crap as dessert.
anyway their answers were satisfactory so we had lunch there.
BTW, Tuesday is their steak day (one of the most anticipated) and Thursday is baby ribs day.
when I was there it was breaded fish day.
Service was excellent. the right course come at the right time.
The soup of the day is Corn Cream, I love it the cream not too thick, and I am a Corn lover so yeah.
WE also ordered an appetiser, potato skin, it was alright but it was filling. so we had no space for gelare but
the food was wonderful
and especially dessert, yeah I am a sucker for sweet things. Its blackforest cake and its really nice!
the bill come up to about 50 dollars but I think its quite good considering the food quality. I love their fries too. and we changed the drink to a Celine Ice TEA. and it taste really good.
well pictures for ya.
final verdict: Recommended, now i gotta see if the one in town also has the same good deal, cos I heard there is credit card promos too.
I have more post of my short adventure in T3 coming up soon.
After last night usual Malay/Chinese fare,
we should eat Indian food today, we have it for brunch!
at the famous KAPITAN claypot briyani place. Ask any local about the best Indian food, their answer will be little India (DUH! in singapore too right, race course road for the best Indian FOOD) and then of course, we ask where in little India, and most will point you towards Kapitan
Here is their outlook, right in the corner from Little India,
probably because its easy to find, bright big red signboard (No one wants their guests to be stranded and hungry, as the saying goes, a hungry man is an angry man!) and of course they serve good food! and Look at their extensive menu!
actually we wanted to try their prata/roti canai as the Malaysians called it (supposedly very good) but they run out already and will only start making again at 4pm
so we just “settled” with their Tandoori set and of course their claypot briyani!
total bill (RM18.7) inclusive of Ice TEH (tea with milk and brown sugar, taste very refreshing ) and the traditional Mango LASSI
The food here is absolutely SUPERB! I will return again for their prata and more claypot briyani, it was simply the best briyani I have eaten, and usually briyani gives me stomachache, ever since secondary school I avoid eating briyani, but this one is served with grilled chicken, so the taste was different and the rice in claypot is absolutely flavourful
the Tandoori set also good, the chicken is full of flavour, moist and tender! and their bread, taste as good as the bread I ate at Prego!, with the curry or the sauce given, they are just fantastic
Definitely 5 stars for food!
after the satisfying brunch, we walked round little india a bit more.
Little India in Penang is not as happening as the one in Singapore, just the blaring Bollywood music indicate you r indeed in Little india, the usual Jasmine and spices smell is not as obvious. In fact, the streets are quite empty, perhaps its still early in the morning.
but of course, there is the street hawkers peddling the usual mind boggling varieties of Vadai, and other Indian snacks
after all the food, we walked over to the Goddess of Mercy temple. this temple, not to be confused with the Kuan Yin temple or the Kek Lok Si, which also worship Kuan Yin (Goddess of Mercy), yes Penang has many Kuan Yin temples, but this one near Little India is particularly special, it was mainly dedicated to the Goddess of Sea “Ma Chor Poh” as well as Kuan Yin
more information, you can read here.
as its quite a special place, many people can be seen praying here!
MrK haggling for the best jossticks, and then praying!
More pictures of the temple
It was a particularly Hot DAY! all the josssticks burning just adds to the temperature, so we need to cool and just across the road, we find this, Da Jie Desserthouse
I had the See KoR Thng (similar to Chng Thng) , MrK the Cendol! (RM 5)
Of course we walked further, along the way is whole road full of money changers, everyone in Jln Masjid Kapitan Keling is a money changer, AWESOME!, there is at least 100+ money changers in that road alone, not counting the ones in inner alleys ( I spot several)
and One cant miss the building in which the road is named after, the Masjid Kapitan Keling (Masjid=Mosque in Malay).
this building is Persian inspired, and the huge clock tower is awe inspiring, and I am sure when it was prayer time, it will be filled with people, luckily we are there on Thursday and not Friday!
I shall end the post here, it is getting too long
well one last look at the mosque, from another angle
