Meatsmith, Telok Ayer

The first post on Meatsmith is so long overdue that I actually managed to return for a second time.

FIRST TRIP

After a run from the office to Marina Bay and a slow jog/walk back, I replenished my body with all the calories burnt during the run at Meatsmith. Meatsmith was on the Entertainer App so we had 1 for 1 on the mains which was perfect! We ordered some sides and dessert which was honestly way too much for both of us but well, we were greedy. 

Crispy pork rinds. Omg this was so sinful but SO GOOD. Crispy, delicious, not oily, not greasy and so fragrant!

Pulled Pork Sandwich ($17). This was recommended by a friend and I found it good, but not incredible. 

I can't remember what this was called anymore, but I vaguely remember that it tasted pretty much like sausages with salsa on a bed of mash. Good but not fantastic either. 

The Garlic Bread ($6) was very yums! Thick, fragrant and very savoury.

Had the apple crumble for dessert. The apple crumble was very unique because it came like a pastry in a bowl with a thick crust on top and chunks of sweet apple soaked in sweet syrup below. I prefer my apple crumble with crunchier apple bits but Meatsmith's apple crumble came with soft mushy apple slices (which is probably how everybody likes it). It was served very very hot though which meant my ice cream melted extremely quickly. 

SECOND TRIP

I could be dreaming but the menu looks a little different.

Went for the pork rinds again!

1/2 Smoked Chicken ($22). Pretty decent, but still a weak competitor to the ribs.

1/2 Pork Spare Ribs ($25) were absolutely awesome. They were totally fall-off-the-bone tender! Also ordered Cauliflower ($11) which was a delightful mix of grilled cauliflower and Bacon Mac & Cheese ($10). 

A Brownie with Coconut Ice Cream ($8) to end off the meal!

167/168 Telok Ayer Street
+65 6221 2262
Monday to Saturdays: 830 am till late
Closed on Sundays

USA Itinerary Day 10 - Bahamas on Royal Carribean cruise: Cococay, Bahamas

Took the tender boat to Cococay, Bahamas which is Royal Carribean's private island. Cococay was incredibly beautiful. Powdery white sands, extremely clear waters, strong gusts of wind, and watching stingrays! Such a lovely enjoyable day in Cococay.

After getting off the tender boat, we were greeted by Cococay's version of Straw Market, just that this was a colourful assortment of outdoor stalls selling shirts, hats, swim wear and a bunch of random stuff.

The first section of the beach nearest the tender boats was very crowded. I guess nobody wanted to venture far and just wanted to settle down at the nearest beach chair. 

We decided to walk on some more and after rounding a bend, we finally reached the Bare Foot Beach where there was less people, the water was clearer and the sand was a perfect powdery white. The water was calm and peaceful so we could walk out slowly and watch stingrays. There was hardly any waves, unlike the rough waters at Cabbage Beach in Paradise Island. I could soak peacefully in the waters and enjoy the sun on my face. 

Lunch was barbecued and grilled meats near the tender boats and food was pretty good. After lunch, we settled down on the stretch of beach closest to the tender boats and I started to read while Zg had a nap. Stef and King went to swim. It was obvious which was the more active couple haha!

Returned to the cruise at around 4 pm and had a short nap. The service crew and chef did a little performance during dinner and they totally deserved our applause for the wonderful food and service every night at the dining room! Drank our bottle of red wine and went to sleep as the ship rocked crazily on the way back to Port Canaveral. 

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15

Top 1 Hand Made Noodle, Beauty World

Amanda's strong recommendation and totally worth my while trudging here on our spanking new Downtown Line! I tried this ban mian store a long while ago but soon forgot about it because, seriously, Upper Bukit Timah is way too far for me. But things changed with the new Downtown Line and finally I get some accessible public transport to this area. 

Top 1 Hand Made Noodle is located at the hawker centre on the 4th floor of Beauty World Centre. I tried the dry la mian with abalone slices on my first trip. This was super yummy and I love the dark sauce! Even though I know that a crazy amount of unhealthy dark sauce went into the noodles, I dug in happily because it was just so yummy. The la mian was also the right amount of QQ.

Had another opportunity to eat Top 1 again the next week because I had a meeting in the area. This time I had the soup mee hoon kueh with abalone slices and meat balls. I really really like the soup! Their mee hoon kueh was thinly sliced, almost like the kway in kway chap, and could be slurped down easily. Totally unlike the usual thick slabs in ban mian stores. 

So awesome. My first bowl was over lunch on a Saturday afternoon and the queue was quite long. We ordered, paid, took a queue number, and found a table nearby. When our number flashed on the digital board, we went over to pick up our bowls of delicious noodles. My second bowl was over dinner on a dreary weekday evening. The queue was much shorter and I did not have to take a queue number. I ordered, paid, and just stood around until my bowl was ready. Some types of noodles were selling out fast and I was lucky enough to get the second to last bowl of mee hoon kueh! The uncle behind me had to settle for ban mian oops.

#04-44 Beauty World Centre

144 Upper Bukit Timah Road

588177

+6584488450

USA Itinerary Day 9 - Bahamas, Nassau on Royal Caribbean cruise: Senor Frogs,Junkanoo Beach, Cabbage Beach

It was a bright sunny day with clear blue skies and strong winds. We docked at Nassau, Bahamas and realised immediately that the difference between Caribbean beaches and Asian beaches was that the former lacked the humidity which characterized the latter. The sea breeze in Bahamas was cold and we did not feel sweaty or sticky on the beach. 

We left the cruise to explore Nassau, Bahamas. We did some research before our trip and read that Nassau had a pretty scary reputation, especially in the Over-the-Hill areas where violent crimes happened frequently. The general advice for tourists was to stick to areas near the port or travel across the bridge into Paradise Island. 

We spent the afternoon at Senor Frogs which served awesome cocktails and had an infectious happy party vibe. Certainly no better way to enjoy the perfect weather than with a delicious cocktail and catchy music!

After all the drinks and snacks, we continued walking into the downtown area along the coast. We explored the Straw Market which resembled an indoor pasar malam with little stores selling various handcrafted goods. It was dark inside, warm and surprisingly humid. I read some online stories about how tourists could be robbed inside the Straw Market but we were thankfully safe. These handcrafted goods were extraordinarily expensive though, totally targeting the American tourists, so we left after strolling through the market without buying any. After exiting, we went down the road towards Junkanoo Beach and popped by various souvenir shops along the way. 

I also observed a number of rather odd things in this part of Nassau. I did not see many locals along the street, aside from the ones in the shops and Straw Market. The street was pretty isolated and only a handful of vehicles went around. The whole place was geared towards the tourists from the cruise and the shops were shuttered once tourists began returning to the cruise. Many shops were selling Cuban cigars and lots of touts were prowling the street pestering tourists to buy the cigars. And by pestering, I really mean that. A young tout followed us for like 5 minutes asking us to buy cigars and refused to leave.

Junkanoo Beach was crowded with tourists so we hopped onto a taxi and headed to Cabbage Beach in Paradise Island. Cabbage Beach was nice with its powdery white sand and the long stretch of sand meant that tourists were evenly distributed and not lumped together as with Junkanoo. Waves were very strong here though and I was repeatedly washed ashore when I attempted to soak in the waters. We eventually gave up and decided to rest on the sand, listening to our ipod and drifting off to sleep. I read a little, wrote some post cards, and had a fantastic relaxing late afternoon. 

Took the taxi ($4 per pax) back to the port and ran up to the top deck of the cruise just in time for this magnificent sunset. The only other sunset which could rival this was in Boracay. Nowhere else comes close.

We washed up and headed to the main dining room for formal night, basically a night where everybody dressed up and ate yummy food. We obviously did not have enough space in our luggage to bring nice dresses or suits so we did the best we could, but everybody else was dressed to kill. The food was great as usual.

After our dinner, we went back to our room to drink our moscato (we were allowed to bring two bottles of wine on the cruise each) before checking out the poolside party. The poolside party was incredibly tame and child-friendly, not the clubbing sort, and everybody was line dancing to pop music under the starry night. Ok not our cup of tea, so we left for the Viking Crown Lounge hoping for some clubbing atmosphere but nope, it was dead, there were only 10 people in there and the dance floor was empty. 

Eventually we brought our Pinot to the poolside to enjoy the relatively better music and played ping pong. Playing ping pong with alcohol in our systems had to be the most hilarious thing on earth. It was so exciting because the ball flew everywhere and we could hardly get it across the net to the other side and I recall the guys did a lot of running to retrieve the balls. Party music ended at 1 am so we returned to our room, went over to Stef and King's side to drink prosecco, watch anime, laugh loudly at ridiculous things, and listen to ipod music. Woohoo! Was a great time.

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15

Drury Lane

Brunch with Stef one sunday morning at Drury Lane! It has been so long since we last met up for a lazy Sunday brunch and I am so glad we found time to hit Drury Lane together! It was a great catch up in a nice cozy little cafe over yummy food and fragrant coffee.

Drury Lane is in a two storey shop house and we ascended to the second level for some comfy booth seats near the window. The morning sun was streaming in and the place felt so comfortable!

Banana bread to start the brunch. Very fragrant and soft.

I had my usual flat white for a perk-me-up. I managed to cut back on caffeine intake for a long long while but recently, I began to inch right back into indulging in coffee and tea daily.  

Squid Ink Laksa pasta with grilled prawns and smoked duck. This was so good! Or maybe I just love laksa sauce with pasta generally. I could not stop eating this dish! The prawns were also deliciously crunchy and everything went super well with that nice poached egg.

We also had the Salmon Baked Eggs which was not too bad too, with baked beans, cheese, eggs and thick slices of smoked salmon. I like this but my heart was stolen by the Squid Ink Laksa Pasta.

94 Tanjong Pagar Road
Singapore 088515
62226698