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Showing posts from April, 2016

Treasured Flavours Buffet Lunch at York Hotel Orchard

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3 years. That's how long it took for me to finally find the one. That one and only Curry Fish Head that I can say I totally love! You see, aside from the famous Hainanese Chicken Rice and Chili Crab, one thing that everyone has to try when in Singapore is a huge claypot of Curry Fish Head . It's such a yummy dish to share with a big group where everyone gets to have a plate of rice and you should scoop up big amounts of curry sauce and that big slice of fish meat to enjoy. My first taste of Curry Fish Head was when I went out for lunch with my colleagues. We had a really spicy one and it didn't help that we were dining at an al fresco zi char place so I ended up burning my tongue and sweating like crazy all throughout the meal. It sure was a fiery experience and it took me while before I got the courage to try it again. More tries after that and I still couldn't get myself to enjoy more than one serving as it was just too spicy. A few weeks ago, I had lunch with ...

Brunch at Mr and Mrs. Maxwell at Ann Siang Road

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For the past 3 years here in Singapore , Paul and I found ourselves a "family" who has been our biggest support unit when we were adjusting to our new lives here. You may have noticed that I would mentioned them once in a while under the initials -- C , I and O . From day 1 they warmly welcomed us to our shared flat and they would generously offer tips and advices on just about anything and everything about the Lion City. From sharing their go-to places for brunch to helping us determine which credit card to go for and how to use it wisely. We quickly hit it off so well that 3 years pretty much flew by so fast. As with anything in life, change in inevitable. Life has to continuously progress and for Paul and I, we felt that it was time to say good bye to our comfort zone and to take another step up. We decided to move out. As much as we love being in the company of C, I and O , we knew that it was high time for us to seriously gain more independence and to acquire more re...

Founder Bak Kut Teh at Hotel Boss in Lavender

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Let me ask you this: If there's one thing that truly represents Singapore cooking, what would it be? To be really honest, I have yet to really thing hard in order to answer that but I guess the most obvious one would be the Hainanese Chicken Rice. Then again, it is Hainanese  and not purely Singaporean so could it be the Char Kuey Teow? Not really sure. I would also say maybe Laksa but I'm not sure where this yummy bowl of noodles originated from in order for me to confidently say it could be "the one". If you know the answer or you have a couple of guesses too, please feel free to comment below.  Remember my childhood story about the time that my family and I would always have bowls of bak kut teh whenever we're here in Singapore for a vacation? For some reason, my parents would have it in the morning so we'd be slurping up spoonfuls of pork-based broth early in the morning. Needless to say, bak kut teh holds a special place in my heart as it brings...

Rise and Shine at Torch Restaurant in Greenhills

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I have this group of friends since high school whom I hang out with regularly. Well, I don't get to see them as often as I used to do when Paul and I were still based in Manila but I'm happy to be able to keep in close touch with them whenever we're back home. Given all our busy schedules, we would meet up during breakfast and with that, the "Breakfast Club" was born.  For our most recent get-together, we had breakfast/brunch at our favorite go-to place -- Torch Restaurant in Greenhills . We all live within the same vicinity so Greenhills has been our usual choice whenever we choose where to eat out. Luckily, Torch Restaurant  serves good breakfast and our friend M loves their coffee too.  The choices are quite interesting. It's your typical Filipino -silog (sinangag and itlog) but with a modern twist. Take for example Paul's U.S. Angus Beef Tapa . This showcases Torch's interesting take on the traditional tapsilog wherein they made use of t...

Friday Favorites : Allerines Premium Tea

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Let me start a new weekly series called Friday Favorites . This is when I will share one of my newest food discoveries which has eventually became a favorite of mine. It may be one or two dishes, a new or old restaurant, a grocery find or whatever that I may happen to stumble upon in the coming days, weeks and months to come. To kick this off, let me share with you a secret that I've been keeping for the past 4 months. As much as I love coffee, I actually love tea more. In fact, I've been drinking tea for as long as I can remember starting with the least caffeinated ones like Chrysanthemum Tea to the rather deep and hard core ones like Pu er Tea. I take tea after a meal, when I'm sleepy, when I want to relax or pretty much whenever I feel like it. That said, my office cabinet and kitchen shelf at home are always well-stocked with boxes and cans of tea!  Last Christmas, my colleague C gave me a pretty box filled with bags of assorted tea flavors from Allerines Prem...

Chir Chir Fusion Chicken Factory at Chinatown Point #chirchirsg

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How many ways can you cook a chicken? Apparently, in Chir Chir Fusion Chicken Factory , there's more than the usual deep-fry, pan-fry, saute, boil, steam, roast, grill and even the fancy sous vide. In fact, they boast of having over 20 variations of fried and roasted chicken cooked and served in so many ways that I don't think it's possible to have exactly the same things every time you visit. After their grand opening at 313 Somerset  last year, they've expanded to two more locations namely Bedok Point and the latest outlet in Chinatown Point . I was so excited for this particular visit because of three main things -- I've been wanting to try Chir Chir Fusion Chicken Factory  since I heard about its opening last year but I never really got around to visiting their 313 Somerset branch, Chinatown Point  is so near my workplace so that means more lunch out options and lastly, they recently launched this mouthwatering Honey Butter Chicken  and being a huge fan of...

Som Tam : Modern Thai Fusion at Orchard Central

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Among the numerous malls along Orchard Road, one of my favorites is the 3 adjacent malls near the Somerset MRT Stations. These are -- Orchard Central, Orchard Gateway and 313 Somerset . All three malls exudes this very fun, casual and youthful vibe plus the fact that there are a lot of interesting food options and some of which have quickly became my favorites. Enter Som Tam , a 6-month old restaurant that specializes in modern Thai fusion cuisine. It's located at the 8th floor of Orchard Central  which can easily be accessed be one of the elevators in the mall. I'm totally loving the white, clean, minimalistic look and feel of the restaurant. Price points are very reasonable as most of the menu items are below S$15 and the serving was good for sharing making it a good choice for couples or group dinner outs. Our meal started with a salad called Som Tam  (S$6.80), the restaurant's namesake. This is their house specialty and it's hard not to see why. It's th...

Get Crabby : Ramen Keisuke Kani King at Orchard Cineleisure

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Chef Keisuke did it again!  After winning our hearts with his mouth-watering ramen varieties , gyoza rice sets and the best tendon in town , he's currently on a roll opening two new ramen stores one after the other. The first specializes in ramen with lobster broth which I heard is pretty good. There's always a long queue as the it's strategically located in Clarke Quay thus catering to the party-going, late night crowd. I should schedule a visit to that outlet soon but I'll probably let the queue die down or go at a very off-peak time. Meanwhile, Paul and I decided to try his second outlet, Ramen Keisuke Kani King  which is located at the ground floor of Orchard Cineleisure in Somerset. It just so happen that we were in the area one Saturday so we decided to go check it out. Luckily, we got there when the queue was still very short so it only took us 20 minutes waiting time. Don't worry though as the system is very efficient but you just have to make sure t...

Family Getaway : Wilson's Place Tagaytay

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I've probably mentioned a couple of times before how much my family loves...as in LOVESSSS Tagaytay City . Growing up, we would frequently drive up to spend a night or two here. In fact, my parents love it so much that they've been talking about investing in a small lot there to turn it into our family weekend home doubled as their mini herb garden. Well, I do hope we can make that a reality for them someday. At the moment though, we would constantly keep ourselves updated on possible hotel accommodations in the area. Recently, I chanced upon Wilson's Place  after browsing through a couple of my fellow bloggers' pages. Wilson's Place is a family home turned into a Bed & Breakfast place in Tagaytay. The location is not really so central but it's a quick drive in from the main road provided you do not get lost. We relied mostly on Waze all throughout out trip. So, during the Christmas - New Year break, we decided to head to Tagaytay with Kong Kong and A-I...

All-New Melt Cafe at Mandarin Oriental Singapore

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One of my favorite hotel buffet restaurants in Singapore has just gotten a makeover and we were all so excited about it! I love it so much that I think I've blogged about it multiple times before, yet I always look forward to any opportunity to go back and have a meal at  Melt Cafe in Mandarin Oriental Singapore. I can never have enough of its wide-variety of dishes and I feel that they have one of the best, top-quality Indian selections among most hotel buffets. So, when we found out that they did a bit of "re-formatting", I initially asked "Why?!" You see, I always believe in the saying: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"  and to me, there's definitely nothing "broke" about Melt Cafe . Then again, it's always good to do a bit of refreshing once in a while, right? So, a month ago, I visited the new Melt Cafe with fellow bloggers and we feasted on their newest menu line-up. Instead of writing lengthily about it, let me take...

In Pursuit of Happiness with I See I See in 313 Somerset, Singapore

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"Happiness is a state of mind. It's just according to the way you look at things." - Walt Disney Lately, my positive and generally happy disposition are being put to the test by various stress factors around me and I have to admit that there are just days when I feel like I'm going to crack and allow myself to suck in the negativity. Thankfully though, I got friends and family around to remind me to keep on floating and to just let things be. It's not easy, I tell you. This week has really been a challenging one but you know what?! I am very optimistic that the weekend will bring a better vibe and the coming week will be a good one. So on the way home today, I started thinking about happiness . It's then that I was reminded of this quote above which came from the man who has brought so much happiness to millions billions of people in this world.... me included. Happiness is indeed a state of mind . It's really up to you whether or not you want to be...