USA (Orlando - Bahamas) Itinerary Day 8 - Keke's Breakfast Cafe, Royal Caribbean Cruise to Bahamas

BAHAMAS! It was pure happiness on the Royal Caribbean Cruise to Bahamas. A relaxing contrast to the hustle and bustle in New York City and the theme parks in Orlando. We were blessed with perfect weather on the cruise, good food, a well-equipped gym, poolside fun, and lots of opportunities to relax on the Bahamas islands. 

We started Day 8 with breakfast at Keke's in Orlando which was so hearty and delicious. Stef found this place through some random Googling and we drove over for our breakfast before our long drive to Port Canaveral. The portions were huge, we totally over-ordered, but we managed to finish most of it! Truly an American breakfast.

After more than an hour drive along the highway, we reached Port Canaveral, returned the rental car, and checked into the Royal Caribbean Cruise (Enchantment of the Seas).

We figured we would hardly be in the room (which certainly turned out to be true) so we picked the cheapest room category without windows. The room was small, but it was clean and tidy so it was good for us. 

After checking into our rooms, we went to the top deck to enjoy the sun, the strong sea breeze, and the clear blue cloudless sky. I felt so insanely happy at that moment.

As the afternoon wore on, the blustering wind turned chilly so Zg and I decided to hide indoors in the gym which had such a splendid view. I cycled on the stationary bike overlooking the endless sea and watched as the sun edged into the horizon.

After washing up, we headed to the main Dining Room for our dinner at our allocated time slot. The three-course dinner was served in a formal setting and we were seated with an American family. We soon realised that we would sit with them at the same table for all our dinners on the cruise. It was interesting and we had a chat with them while waiting for our food to be served. Food was great, way better than what I expected, but I had trouble finishing all three courses. Frankly, the Asian appetite cannot rival the American. 

Service was great but they do take a while to serve and we found ourselves nodding away at the table from the lack of sleep so we returned back to our rooms after dinner to repay our immense sleep debt.

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15

Bao Makers and AEIOU cafe, Lavender

Dinner after work with Stef! Picked Bao Makers from the Entertainer App and met at the cozy little restaurant one night after work. The place was not too crowded on a weekday night even though we came in without reservations. Settled down in a corner table and started flipping through the menu excitedly. 

Truffle fries ($5 as an extra to the bao). I could smell the fragrance of truffle oil from the bowl of truffle fries across the aisle without even looking in that direction. It was really so fragrant! I would highly suggest this as a side to the baos. We also had the house salad ($2) as a side to add some veggies into our meal. 

Chilli Crab Bao ($5.80 each). They were very generous with the crab meat - just look at all the crab meat stuffed into the bao! The weird thing about this dish which we found out pretty soon was the bowl of chilli sauce. The depth of the bowl meant that it was virtually impossible to dip my bao into the chilli sauce. I just cannot fit the bao into the bowl to reach the sauce at the bottom. We resorted to pouring the sauce out of the bowl onto our bao (and dripping it everywhere) and using our fork to smear the sauce evenly on our bao.

Salted Egg Shrimp ($5.80 each). As usual, I love everything salted egg so this was a winner for me! I love the juicy crunchy prawns and that thick savoury salted egg sauce.

We left Bao Makers and headed to AEIOU around the corner. There are loads of cafes in this area and I have tried most of them but I have never tried AEIOU before. It was a very interesting cafe and I totally could not tell that it was a cafe from the exterior. Housed in what looked like a hardware shop, AEIOU was quiet, peaceful and serene when we entered. There was a small cake counter at the front with shelves selling various merchandise. The tables and stools were all different! Some tables were traditional wrought iron tables with a glass top (like this one) and others resembled an old-fashioned sewing machine! Very interesting. We had a tiramisu which was served in a Grey Goose bottle and a pot of green tea. 

Both Bao Makers and AEIOU Cafe are easily accessible from Lavender MRT. 

Was a great evening catching up on life, work, and all sorts of random things in general. Till the next dinner! :)

The Bao Makers

78 Horne Road 

Monday to Friday                    12pm to 10pm

Saturday/Public Holidays        11am to 10pm

Sunday                                     11am to 6pm

Phone: 6291 2330

Aeiou Cafe

111 King George's Ave, 208559

Phone:6291 2698

USA (Orlando) Itinerary Day 7 - Disney Magic Kingdom

Slept in a little more today so we only reached Magic Kingdom at about 8 am or 9 am. The car park was huge and we had to take a tram to the monorail station before hopping on the monorail to Magic Kingdom. The place was crazy crowded with kids and families but the experience was still magical. Disney always has the power to make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Fastpass at Magic Kingdom worked differently from Tokyo's and Hong Kong's Disneyland. In Magic Kingdom, you could make Fastpass reservations online prior to arriving at the park and making more reservations after you arrive at the park. With the Fastpass system, we managed to ride on almost all the rides at Magic Kingdom with reasonable waiting times.

But frankly, rides were not the highlight at Magic Kingdom for me. I was there for the feeling of being a child all over again, looking at grand castles, delightful parades and beautiful fireworks.

Cinderella Castle.

An ice cream in the shape of a Mickey Mouse was exactly what we needed to counter the heat.

Rapunzel Castle.

Festival of Fantasy Parade! I LOVED IT.

Fireworks at the Wishes Night-time Spectacular. I love the fireworks but the reality of watching the show was much more challenging. We were squashed in front of the Cinderella Castle with tonnes of people and when the show ended, everybody wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. It was almost frightening. People were shoving, pushing, fighting their way out of the square and when I stopped to look at the map at the side of the square, I was scolded unceremoniously (to which I pretended I did not know English and continued looking at the map HAHA. Perks of being Asian). Someone needs to tell me where all these people are rushing to. 

But still, it was a magical day and a magical night. For each time I am at Disney, I must remember that all these beautiful things started with a mouse. 

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15

Artichoke

This one is a major throwback to last year's Christmas oops!

Our usual Christmas gathering was at Artichoke this year. It is heartening to meet these folks every now and then amidst our busy schedules. It is not easy setting aside a date where all (or most) of us are free and it is always fun to meet up, have a good laugh, and spend the evening with friends I had known for more than a decade. 

Spent the day walking around Bugis with the boyfriend and reached Artichoke early before the restaurant opened so I sat outside and snapped some pictures of the nice outdoor area. We sat indoors though, because we were not too fond of the warm humid weather outdoors. 

We started the meal with hummus ($8), babaganoush ($8) which was smoked egg plant, yoghurt and pomegranate, and ebiko ($8) which was fish roe dip with cherry tomatoes and shrimp. The dips went well with the pita bread.

Housemade Feta Burrata ($24) - creamy salty cheese, bread, dirty tomato salad. This was not bad but not really my kind of thing, I guess.

Kuku Sabzi ($20) - persian egg fritata with cheese, spinach, coriander and pomegranate. Another interesting dish!

Char-grilled Pork belly ($28). This was the bomb for me! Well-marinated, juicy chunks of tender pork belly.

Smoked chicken maryland ($30). This was not bad but definitely not as good as the pork belly!

Washing everything down with a bottle of Little Creatures, lots of laughter and catching up about life was a great way to spend Saturday night. Till the next time!

161 Middle Road Singapore 188978

63366949

Fat Cow

Extremely belated post dug up from the deep dark corner of my draft folder...

Started the year right with the boyfriend, Stef and King indulging in my boyfriend's favourite food: BEEF! Fat Cow is a Japanese steak place, well-known for their good but pricey beef dishes. Thankfully their lunch sets were more affordable so we came during lunch on a rainy Saturday afternoon. The set lunch menu is below. 

Stef called to make a reservation but it was really quite empty when we came. The boyfriend and I were early because we wanted to take a walk in the area but I was lazy to explore in the rain, so I nudged us both into the restaurant and managed to get our table earlier. We kind of concluded that people probably abandoned their reservations due to the rain. In any case, do make a reservation before coming down! I think the place can get quite crowded. 

The set lunch came with a salad, miso soup, chawanmushi and dessert. I love the chawanmushi!

The boyfriend's happy bowl of Fat Cow Donburi with charcoal grilled wagyu beef and onsen egg ($39).

I don't take beef so I was the only one who opted for a non-beef dish in a Japanese steak place haha! My Negitoro Don ($35) was surprisingly fresh and sweet for a beef place.

We left when the restaurant was closing after their lunch shift and went down to the car park together. We separated, went to get our cars, but somehow wound up near each other again after the boyfriend and I decided to take a stroll to Tanglin Mall and stopped abruptly on our way out of the car park. So we all hopped out of our cars, took a short walk to Tanglin Mall, and walked around the quiet mall (there is really nothing there). Was a good Saturday afternoon! 

#01-01/02, Camden Medical Centre, 1 Orchard Boulevard, 248649

Daily: 12:00 - 15:00

Daily: 18:00 - 23:00

BAR opens Mon-Sun (17:00-00:00)

+65 68846884

USA (Orlando) Itinerary Day 6 - Universal Studios Orlando, Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley, Hogwarts Express

Second day of Universal Studios Orlando! We tried to wake up early today too but we really could not drag ourselves out of bed before dawn after an entire day of walking around Universal Studios yesterday. We granted ourselves a little more time today and only reached the Universal Studio's car park at sunrise after grabbing breakfast at Walmart. I know this sounds ridiculous, like somehow being at the park at the crack of dawn was considered "late", but the crowd was really formidable. In fact, by the time we reached the entrance to Diagon Alley, there was a long queue of like 50 people waiting to enter Diagon Alley! What sorcery is this. The wait for the Gringotts ride was almost an hour even though it was only the morning! To sum it all up, if you intend to take the Harry Potter rides, be prepared to drag your ass there as early as possible or be prepared to queue for a very long time. 

Walmart. Still dark outside but dawn was creeping up on us. The Walmart was huge. If there is one thing I love so much about Florida (aside from the warmer weather and sunny days) is the sprawling grounds with large squat buildings, huge car parks, and a complete absence of skyscrapers. Coming from land scarce Singapore, it was so refreshing to see so much land, large squat buildings, and car parks that could spread out to the size of two soccer fields. 

Sunrise from the car park at Universal Studios.

DIAGON ALLEY!

The dragon on top of the Gringotts spits fire at random times of the day. Or at least I think it was random since there did not seem to be a particular schedule to witness the fire-spitting. Zg did some research and read that the dragon would growl for a few moments before spitting fire. So when the growls started, we dashed out and planted ourselves beneath the dragon for this shot. Perfect!

The Gringotts ride itself was amazing and I actually liked it better than the Forbidden Journey ride. The wait for the ride was incredibly long and the queue took us through the opulent main lobby where we watched the goblins working hard behind the counters. After a few more turns, we reached the mine carts and boarded one. It really felt like I was zooming around inside Gringotts and being part of all the action. So exciting!

Had butter beer ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and picked the souvenir cup so that I could bring it home. 

We also bought some souvenir coins from the Gringotts Exchange where we changed our muggle money for Gringotts coins.

Aside from the Owl Post which really amused me, the other highlight of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter had to be Hogwarts Express. We liked it so much that we took it so many times from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley and back to Hogsmeade. You should do it both ways because the image you see from the "windows" differs depending on the direction of travel!

Another interesting part of Diagon Alley was Knockturn Alley which, true to its dark nature, was dark, gloomy and chilly throughout the day despite the bright sunshine outside. There were also more "magical spells" in Diagon Alley as compared to Hogsmeade and interesting potions sold on the stands. 

I love both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley and would strongly recommend the park-to-park tickets so that you could hop on and experience the Hogwarts Express. If I really had to pick one favourite, I would pick Diagon Alley because of the intricate details of Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley, Gringotts and all the other shops and stands. Hogsmeade was beautiful and delightful as well, but Diagon Alley was the one which stole my heart.

Going around the wall from Diagon Alley, we emerge in London where the Knight Bus was. 

On the second day in Universal Studios, we went back to Avanti Resort for a rest in the afternoon before heading back to Universal Studios for the nighttime parades. We tried to swim in the resort's pool but it was overrun with kids so we gave up and decided to rest on the deck chairs instead. After some lazing around, we drove to the Orlando Premium Outlet for a quick walk before driving back to Universal Studios. The parade was underwhelming (Disney certainly does better parades and shows!) but Diagon Alley at night with a fire-spitting dragon was amazing. 

The rides in Universal Studios were world-class and I loved every moment in both parks. Very glad that we were blessed with great weather, clear blue skies and warm sun on both days at Universal Studios!

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15 here!

Two Chefs Eating Place, Commonwealth

Totally ignored this blog again. My backlog of draft posts is growing, and seriously, consistency is non-existent here. OH WELL. My bad but I was really working my butt off at work before I left for my 10 days break in Japan for my very first hanami!! The sakura was seriously too beautiful. When I finally get around to it, I shall do my travel posts for the places to view sakura in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka!

But anyway, here is one of my super outdated drafts.

To mark the start of the new year and to have an early birthday meal with my mum, we drove to Commonwealth for some zi char on a lazy Sunday evening. My mum found Two Chefs while searching online for zi char places and wanted to try it so we came here. She even took down a list of recommended food items so we knew what we wanted to order even before we sat down. I called to reserve a table for 4 earlier in the week and was quite thankful that I did because there was a crowd even at 5:30 pm. Unbelievable. 

The simple menu.

Drunken cockles ($7) with a dash of soya sauce, chilli slices, garlic bits and spring onions. Very nice and refreshing! This dish was served cold.

Salted egg chicken. I love anything salted egg so it came as no surprise that I was really fond of the flavour of this dish. The chicken was a little on the dry side, though.

Herbal chicken soup. I could not find this on the menu for some reason, or maybe I was just flipping through too quickly. But in any case, the waitress knew what we were talking about when we asked for herbal chicken so I guess it might be one of those off-the-menu special items? The herbal soup was very good though the chicken was also a little on the dry side.

Vegetable with eggs, salted egg and century egg ($8). Simple, homely dish.

Butter Pork Ribs ($8). What sorcery is this! I was totally expecting pork ribs sitting in a plate of thick butter sauce yet we were greeted by this mountain of white powder. I haven't quite figured out whether it was powdered Parmesan cheese or milk powder, but it certainly was not butter. The pork ribs were yummy and well-marinated but I cannot stop wondering where the butter went. 

Beancurd with golden mushroom ($8). Another simple homely dish.

Very simple zi char dishes at an affordable price. I would not say it deserves the large crowd gathered around the store on a weekend and we would not be driving to Commonwealth just for this anytime soon. But if you are staying nearby and would like some comfort zi char food, Two Chefs might just be the place for you. Personally, I also prefer zi char with more wok hei in the Cantonese style which might also be part of the reason I am not super fond of this place. 

 #01-129, 116 Commonwealth Crescent, 140116

Mon: 17:00 - 23:30

Tue - Sun: 11:30 - 14:30

Tue - Sun: 17:00 - 23:30

Closed on Every Last Mon of the Month

+65 64725361