Assembly Ground, The Cathay

It is probably the in thing now to have a cafe attached to your boutique and generally just channeling the hipster vibe everywhere. The hipster vibe was definitely there at the Assembly Ground but sigh, the food was truly not up to scratch. We had the Entertainer App (thank god!) so it was one-for-one for the mains. An obligatory hipster picture of an empty chair hurhur.

Truffle Fries ($12) was probably the only thing at Assembly Ground which I found satisfactory but still not fantastic.

The Grilled Portobello Burger ($20) came with portobello, mushroom jerky, cheese and spiced fries. This was extremely sweet for some reason. I was not expecting a sweet burger and was completely caught off guard.

Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Pasta ($19) in cream sauce. The cream was very heavy yet bland so I had a very bad pasta dish. I was just fighting to keep the pasta down and I gave up after a while. Also, $19 for a few thin slices of smoked salmon and some diced asparagus was really steep. Thank god for the Entertainer App again.

Nope, not returning. Not even if I have the Entertainer App. 

#01-22 The Cathay

2 Handy Road

Kaiserhaus, Capitol Piazza

Merry Christmas! And here I go with my meek attempt to clear my backlog of drafts. I still haven't written anything new on this blog in possibly 4 to 5 months! Omg. But I will get down to it soon. Hopefully.

The weather was cold and dreary one day and we decided that we needed some comfort food for lunch. Lynda suggested the new Kaiserhaus at Capitol Piazza which served Austrian food and we thought why not and went in. 

Situated opposite the famous Dazzling Cafe, Kaiserhaus is on the second floor so you have to take the escalator up. Not the easiest to find and certainly easy to miss but you are rewarded with a nice view from the balcony when you reach Kaiserhaus.

The decoration at Kaiserhaus is grand and opulent with plush red arm chairs and a dining area bathed in a warm orange hue. The place retained a grand curved staircase which is no doubt a fixture from the old Capitol Theatre. 

I had the set lunch and picked the Fish Skewer as my main. The thick mushroom soup and fresh seafood on the skewer were so good!

We also ordered a Austrian Pork Cheese Sausage ($19.50) to share and it was seriously, the best. I would highly recommend the Pork Sausage when you are at Kaiserhaus. Delicious chewy pork with cheese which oozes out when you cut into the sausage. Omg, this was just too good.

Amanda and I came back another day a few weeks later for yet another comfort lunch and ordered the Crispy Chicken Salad ($19.50) and the Hungarian Paprika Chicken Sauage ($18). The salad is HUGE. Like, I have never ever felt this full sharing a salad with a friend. They are very generous with the greens and check out the large slabs of crispy fried chicken. I would not dare say that this was healthy as a salad but it was definitely yummy. The Chicken Sausage was not as good as the Pork Sausage as the chicken meat tasted quite ordinary but the sweet sauerkraut tasted a lot like salsa!

The soundtrack at Kaiserhaus is prefect. Acoustic covers of popular tracks. I love the vibe at Kaiserhaus, sitting on the balcony, looking down at the steady stream of people filing in and out of Capitol Piazza, sunshine lighting up the place and happy laughter with friends from the office. This is a good place to be.

Address: 17 Stamford Rd, #02-06 and #03-06 Capitol, 178907

Phone:6377 0013

Monday to Sunday: 10:30 am to 12 midnight

Pince and Pints, Duxton

I have been completely missing in action on this blog and I have sooooo many outdated draft posts in my blogger that are just sitting there waiting for me to post them. But frankly, I have been so busy recently that I can't even find time to click the publish button on blogger, much less blog about anything new. I have a bunch of pictures in my computer and in my phone that are also waiting for me to do something about them. But all I really want to do is crawl into bed, curl up, listen to some music and read a book. Or sleep. Sleep sounds like an incredibly rare commodity these days. So here goes one of the very outdated posts that I pulled out from my draft folder and clicked publish. To demonstrate just how outdated this post is, my boyfriend's birthday was in July. Omg. That's almost 4 months ago.

Visited Pince and Pints for the boyfriend's birthday because we miss New York's lobster rolls so much! We came right after work in high spirits and there were hardly any other customers around (thank goodness!). I heard that there were insane long queues when Pince and Pints first opened and I am not sure if that is still the case. But thankfully, we need not queue that evening and were ushered in quickly to a seat at the back.

Service feels... like New York. The casual greetings, the friendly banter, the waiters behaving more like friends than the usual distant staff. The menu was simple and essentially consisted of 3 items: Live Whole Lobster (Grilled or Steamed), Lobster Roll, and Chilli Lobster. All 3 items are priced at $58 each and each dish comes with approximately 600g of lobster. We chose a Grilled Whole Lobster and a Lobster Roll.

The Lobster Roll was yums! Big chunky fresh lobster meat in a light fluffy roll. I still miss Luke Lobster Roll in New York but this is about as good as it gets in Singapore. I know I should not compare but omg, the Lobster Rolls in Singapore are so expensive! I can get a similar roll for about a third of the price in New York.

The Grilled Whole Lobster felt way more substantial and worth the price. A large lobster sliced into half and served with salad and straight cut fries. I love the huge piece of fresh lobster meat which could be torn away from the shell easily. So sweet and juicy!

And here we are enjoying the time together, digging into fresh lobster meat and having a good laugh together. That night reminded me of the good times we had in USA with Stef and King, the fun, the cold, the adventure. I am thankful for the years we had together and the years to come and I am glad that we have spent many birthdays together, celebrating the wrinkles and laugh lines we have accumulated. To a brighter, better year ahead! :)

32-33 Duxton Rd, 089496

62257558

Opening Hours. Mon - Fri : 5pm - 11pm (Dinner Only) Sat & PH : 12pm - 11pm (All Day) Open on Public Holidays Last Order for Kitchen 10pm. No reservations.

Botanic Gardens and Earth Jar Treasure Herbal Soup, Sin Ming

Went along with my parents to visit the Botanic Gardens one Sunday afternoon. It was so relaxing to walk along winding paths which cut through lots of beautiful greenery, watch families laze on blankets set on the grass, kids kicking a ball around, and happy happy sounds in the large garden. It reminded me of Central Park, just much hotter and way more humid. Free entry into the National Orchid Garden where so many beautiful species of orchids were on display but it was so crowded in there! I prefer the luscious greenery in other parts of the Botanic Gardens instead. 

I don't remember hanging out with my family in Botanic Gardens when I was a kid. It was a lifestyle that we had neither the luxury nor the time to adopt. My growing years were dotted with memories of my dad working long hours to make ends meet and all of us struggling in one way or another. It is heartening that as my brother and I grew up, my parents could take time off to go to places they do not usually go (with me tagging along) and spend time together. 

It was almost dinnertime by the time we were done strolling through the park and my dad suggested heading to Sin Ming for herbal soup and zichar. The Earth Jar Treasure Herbal Soup is a small shop housed in a coffee shop on the ground floor of a long HDB block. They had a wide selection of herbal soup and some zi char dishes. We picked the lotus pork rib soup, stir-fried potato leaves, beansprouts and sambal sotong.

I am a huge fan of herbal soup and the one at Earth Jar was awesome! The ingredients were stuffed inside a porous bag so that they will not drift around in the soup. This solves the problem of having to sieve out the dregs of the soup. So thoughtful! The soup was thick and flavorful. 

The stir-fried dishes had good wok hei and I love their sambal!

Truth be told, the selection of stir-fried dishes was limited and there was not much to choose from. But the thick soup, hearty stir-fried dishes and homely taste more than made up for the lack of choice. After all, what is the use of variety if nothing hits the mark right?

We went over to Udders where I hopped off and bought some ice cream for my parents and myself! It was a good good Sunday :)

It was not easy to get here and I can foresee that I won't be back unless I get a car or someone offers to drive me. But if you stay in the area, do visit!

#01-244 77 Eating House
22 Sin Min Road
9383 1864

祸福相依

大学时曾听教授提到，老子说：“祸兮福之所倚，福兮祸之所伏”。二十来岁的我还年少无知，并不完全明白教授之意。五年后的我在这社会打转了一会儿，终于明白了。祸福相依啊。这是多么玄妙的道理。你看似跌到谷底，却原来谷底有黄金。你的努力被他人夺取，但其实那是个不定时的炸弹，恰好引爆时离你远远的。是人的聪慧，是命，还是轮回循环？可能这一辈子也不会有所答案。但我确实明白了，不到最后一步棋，谁也说不准。

Hoshino Coffee, Capitol Piazza

Capitol Piazza is the spanking new mall across the street from Raffles City Shopping Centre. It is a stone throw away from office and we head there whenever we feel like treating ourselves to something nice. The boutiques are generally upscale and not many people actually do their shopping there (or at least that is what I observe from the days and nights I walk through Capitol Piazza to get to and from office).One of the best kept secrets of Capitol Piazza, however, has to be a llao llao outlet without any queue! Omg yes, you read that right, no queue. I love it to bits. I walk over for my lunchtime froyo treat and get myself a petit llao whenever I feel like I need a froyo. There is also Kaiserhaus which serves delicious Austrian fare. 

There is also a Hoshino Coffee in Capitol Piazza and that was where we went for lunch one day for our girly chat session.

I had the Seafood Pasta which was really good! Portions were big and hearty, pasta was al dente, seafood was fresh and the thick tomato base was awesome. Pick this if you prefer strong tastes and something heavy on your palette.

The Hoshino Spaghetti ($14) comes with veggies, sausages, shimeiji, poached egg and al dente spaghetti tossed in a light sauce. I personally prefer the Seafood Pasta but you should definitely go for the Hoshino Spaghetti if you are fond of the Aglio Olio style pasta. 

Pancake Souffle with a side of soft serve. I really really like this! It was fluffy yet thick and went super well with honey and soft serve. 

The Matcha Souffle was much softer and kind of mushy on the inside. I prefer the Pancake Souffle for its chewy texture but I have a friend who is really in love with the soft mushy texture of the Matcha Souffle!

The Hoshino Blend coffee was one of the best black coffee I have ever tried. I am not usually fond of black coffee (I prefer my coffee with milk hence the usual flat whites) but was told that I should definitely try the coffee without milk first before adding some if I wish. I ended up finishing my cup without milk! It was fragrant yet subtly sweet at the same time. The coffee was rather acidic though which was not too good for my stomach.

I returned on other days with some old friends as well as my division and tried the Pancake Souffle with Chocolate Banana and Pancake Souffle with fruits. Both were very good! I have to say, though, that Hoshino's soft serve seems to be consistently in a half-melted state. Or maybe the Pancake Souffle was left sitting out in the open for a while before serving.

Hoshino is a good Japanese cafe with awesome pasta dishes, good coffee, and fantastic desserts. It is a place where you can visit for a full meal followed by desserts or just for desserts after a meal elsewhere. The service crew can be rather stubborn (refusing to provide chocolate sauce for our matcha souffle even if we were willing to pay for it), perhaps for the good of the food. Otherwise, service was decent. I have returned numerous times since the first time I tried Hoshino and I think I will continue to return!

#B2-55 Capitol Piazza (they have other outlets at Plaza Singapura and Suntec)

63845131

Bedrock Bar and Grill

Used the Entertainer App and brought the boyfriend to Bedrock Bar and Grill for a pre-birthday dinner! It was essentially just a reason for me to bring him to try something different and (hopefully) yummy. The low tables at the back of the restaurant were full so we were ushered to a high table in front of the bar.

Bedrock Smoked Tomato Soup ($16). Delicious tomato soup with a distinctive smokey flavour. The server was so kind to arrange for the soup to be separated when he heard that we were sharing.

Chopped Steak Burger ($38). Prime beef, bacon, fried egg, mustard barbecue sauce, oak-smoked aged cheddar and fries. The boyfriend thought the beef burger was good but not as good as those he tried in New York. But I guess it is tough to beat the beef in US!

Applewood Grilled Chicken ($38). Boneless baby chicken, roasted celeriac, and white truffle butter. The white truffle butter (that slab you see sitting on the chicken) was very interesting and fragrant. However, the chicken was a little dry at some parts. It is incredibly tough to find good tender grilled chicken!

The service at Bedrock Bar and Grill was attentive and prompt. I have nothing but praise for the crew at Bedrock. Food-wise, there were hits and misses but really nothing much to scream about. I will come back using the Entertainer App but it is unlikely that I will make an effort to return to Bedrock Bar and Grill just for the food. I feel almost bad for saying this but ah, wonderful service sadly does not make up for mediocre food.

#01-05 Pan Pacific Service Suites (beside Somerset 313, exit through the door next to Marche)
62380054
12:00 to 3:00 pm, 6:30 pm to 12 am

Creamier, Toa Payoh

Super yummy and fluffy waffles, good ice cream (I had the pistachio which was so fragrant!) and great company! The ice-cream parlour was a little small and crowded, there were limited tables and seats and it felt like everyone was smashed together in that enclosed area. BUT. The fantastic waffles and good ice cream definitely made up for it. I will be back!

128 Lorong 1 Toa Payoh

USA (New York City) Itinerary - Day 1: Grand Central Terminal, St Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller and the Print Restaurant

I made a trip to USA with Zg, Stef and King in April this year. We spent a couple of days in New York, flew to Orlando for our amazing adventure in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios and Disney's Magic Kingdom, sailed to Bahamas on a Royal Caribbean Cruise before ending our trip in exciting New York City. 

It was very much an adventure; one of the longest trips I had taken so far with some of the best travelling buddies ever. Stef and King did much of the planning while Zg and I tagged along happily. I have to say I have the lowest utility out of the four since I can neither drive (I have a licence but it is seriously just a card) nor navigate. My biggest achievement was possibly instagramming the most during the trip which is... not the most useful skill. So, thank you for being patient, kind, adventurous, and so much fun to be around for 2 weeks despite the cold, the rain and the lack of sleep.

So here we go with Day 1!

We walked from our apartment at Kips Bay to mid town.

Chipotle for lunch. Burritos!

Grand Central Terminal. I love the architecture in this place. Intricate carvings, high ceiling, cavernous corridors, antiquated ticketing counters, chandeliers. The terminal basks in a warm orange glow with a sprawling Apple shop overlooking the hustle and bustle in the central atrium. Everybody is on the move here, striding purposefully in all directions, which makes one feel almost guilty to stop.

Rockefeller. Flags from all countries unfurled and fluttering in the wind. The weather was generally gloomy and foggy when we were in New York with only one day of bright sunny weather. We tried to get tickets to Top of the Rock on that day but the queue was frighteningly long! Lesson learnt. Despite all that was said online about it being unnecessary to book tickets to the Rock in advance, please do. 

St Patrick's Cathedral along Fifth Avenue. Despite the large number of tourists inside the cathedral, it was remarkably quiet and the tourists generally do not enter the pews. 

Dinner at Print Restaurant in the Ink48 Hotel in Hell's Kitchen. Lovely neighborhood which is close to all the crazy action in the city, but quiet enough for you to think. Stef made a reservation online and we were ushered to our table quickly. I ordered the Grilled Black Sea Bass which came with leeks, potatoes, shrimp, manila clams, roasted tomatoes, chorizo, saffron broth and cilantro. The grilled black sea bass was very fresh and well-grilled and I love the succulent and juicy prawns and clams. The broth was yummy too. That said, the food was not mind-blowing. Print Restaurant came highly recommended online with several websites claiming that it was one of the best restaurants in New York City. Perhaps because we were starting to feel the exhaustion from our 24 hour flight and all that walking around mid-town in the day, the food, whilst good, did not live up to the hype. 

We had drinks at The Press Lounge (rooftop bar at Ink 48 Hotel) which I would not recommend.

Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15 are up!