Belated birthday lunch at Marina Mandarin's Aquamarine

Celebrated Easter and my belated birthday at Marina Mandarin's Aquamarine. The fiance and I also took this chance to take a look around the hotel as Marina Mandarin is one of my choices for our wedding banquet. 

But that's another story. For now, let us focus on Aquamarine. One thing awesome about Aquamarine is their huge variety of food and the best part is, it's HALAL. 

Well, I'm not a muslim but I thought that will be an awesome fact as the variety is really, really fabulous. Take a look at the photos. 

Boston Lobster

Alaskan Crab Legs and Sea Whelks

Seared Tuna

Smoked Salmon

Mussels

                                     

A whole wheel of Parmesan Cheese

As it is Easter, they had Easter Themed Desserts 

Peach Mousse Cake.. too pretty to cut but some sadist cut off the bunny's face when I came back to look at it. :( 

Look at all the kuehs

Macaroons? Check, Tarts? Check. Fruits? Check.

Seabass

Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding

Yogurt Ice cream dispensing machine with a tree of ice cream cones. 

 The buffet also had fresh sashimi, sushi, local delights like chicken rice, indian food like curry, pasta, chicken kebab, steak, mashed pumpkin, lamb.. and the list goes on.. there were so much food that I gave up taking photos. Definitely worth a try.

As this is Easter, they also had a clown walking around making balloons for the restaurant patrons.

My mom told him it was my birthday, so he asked me what I wanted. I requested for a crown.

My aunt went "Why not a tiara?" I told her "A tiara means I'm still secondary to the king, hence I would rather ask for a crown." I'm such a realist. LOL.

Anyway he made me a crown, which I made my fiance wear.

Look at his unhappy face, he's worried that it will mess up his hair. *roll eyes*

The clown then asked me what else I wanted. I requested for a cat. And he made me.... a Hello Kitty. I'm sorry, but what is it with people assuming I might like Hello Kitty?! I know a lot of girls/women like Hello Kitty (god forbid, I can never understand the reason why) but I am one of the very rare few that can't stand it. In fact, I'm still smarting over the fact that my dad swapped my Zoukout EZ Link card for a My Melody one.. I was like "NOOOOO, WHY MY MELODY, I WANT MY ZOUKOUT CARD..." T____T I decided to just be grateful that he had the thoughtful intention to change my EZ card for me because he was worried my Zoukout one might be expiring.

Anyway I guess the clown meant well, so I'm grateful for the Hello Kitty balloon. Also took my nephew's balloons for the below photo... just for fun.

Me with my balloons

There was also an Easter egg hunt outside the restaurant. The clown dude went to change to an Easter Bunny costume and asked us to go out to hunt for the eggs. Well, it's mainly for kids but as my nephew and cousin are both below 1 year old... I was nominated to help them to 'hunt' for the egg. Felt pretty bad finding the eggs so quickly while the kids below 13 are searching desperately for the eggs. I found two and offered one to a boy hunting near me but he rejected me and said he wanna find one himself. Fine. So I gave one to my nephew and one to my cousin.

Overall, it was an awesome meal and an awesome Easter experience at Aquamarine. Felt like I was below 13 again in Primary School hunting for eggs during Easter. Miss the experience. Glad to have relived it again before I get married next year. Now that's one item off my imaginary bucket list.

Annyeong haseyo Hansang Korean Restaurant!

Front of the restaurant at Turf City..
 that's my sister photobombing unintentionally. 

 Dad decided to drive the six of us down to Turf City to try the jjajangmyun which my sister absolutely SWEARS by at Hansang Korean Restaurant. It is righhhhhttttt at the end of Turf City.. kind of like a standalone restaurant except that it is still linked to Turf City.

The interior

 I walked in and the first thing I saw was the minimart. There is a minimart that takes up a small area of the property selling....... Korean snacks, instant noodles...basically Korean stuff. Then to the right, it's the dining area and I must say it IS huge. Looks like it can seat more than a hundred people plus they have private dining rooms as well.

My dad got down to ordering and the food came quite quickly. The first to come was some roast pork belly dish. I forgot it's name, but the pork was very, very tender. It fell apart when I picked it up with my steel chopsticks. Taste wise, considering the fact that they barely put any seasonings (or so I presume from the taste), I'm surprised it doesn't taste bland. It has this mild sweetness to the meat.

Next came the Jajangmyun. It's basically noodles in black bean sauce.. sounds gross but it tastes DAMN GOOD. I was slurping onto the noodles like a child.. but I feel no shame because it is so good. Definitely a must try.

Jajangmyun

 The seafood stew consisted of squid, prawns, flower crab, mushrooms, carrots, cabbage and well, as you can see, A LOT OF THINGS. But maybe it's just me, I find the soup too crabby for my liking. It is sweet yes, you can taste the freshness of the crab, yes.. everything in this stew is fresh, yes..but... it's just not my cup of tea.

Seafood Stew

 The ginseng chicken came next and it is pretty swell. Chicken meat falls off the bones nicely, meat is very tender (this is coming from someone who always only eats the chicken breast which is the toughest part of the chicken). The ginseng taste is just right.. I have tried some soup where the ginseng taste it's sooooo overpowering it kind of tastes gross, but this is nicely balanced.

Ginseng Chicken

 Now it's time for me to be bias, the Sweet Potato Noodles or Japchae is so so delicious. I love the sweet aftertaste that seeps into your tastebuds after the noodles slide down your throat. It is a dish that must be tried!

Sweet potato noodle

 The vegetable pancake came and I love the thick and tender consistency of the pancake. Some Korean places, the pancake is so soft that it falls apart when you pick it some, some it's quite tough to bite into.. it's hard to find one where they can properly balance it. This pancake is tough and crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. You can properly pick it up and it doesn't fall apart. Definitely a must try.

Vegetable Pancake

We ordered a grilled mackerel as well, which is very fresh (didn't manage to take a photo of it). Otherwise as mackerels go, it's ok. Below is the list of orders for 6 people. Total bill was about $170+. 

The entire list of orders

 And to end off this post, here's a photo of my new bob haircut today. Finally got my ass to the hairdresser to get my messy hair cut and tided up!

Reflecting on my awesome Saturday.

I just had the best Saturday for 2014...for now.

Saturday my dad, siblings and I went for lunch at Sushi Goshin by Akashi at Suntec City (#02-389/390/91/92, Suntec City Mall, 3 Temasek Boulevard).

The interesting thing about this place was that you can order directly from an ipad.

Their Nigirizushi are priced at one piece. Yes, you've read it correctly. ONE PIECE. Not a pair or a plate like many places. The only exceptions are their maki.

I noticed a few interesting flavours on their menu. We ordered a pair consisting of foie gras, unagi, squid and I forgot the last flavour. The four of us proceeded to share it.

The foie gras sushi went first. Despite the fact that it costs $4 per piece, it is one of the most orgasmic thing I have ever eaten in my life. The foie gras was grilled so tenderly that the meat immediately melts into your tongue and seeps into the rice... giving it this rich and creamy flavour. If I ever become a millionaire, I'll probably order this piece by the truckloads.

The unagi and squid tasted fresh. Which is expected, nothing to shout about other than the fact that when I go into a japanese restaurant I must have unagi. The other flavour which I think it's swordfish has a nice chewy flavour to it, but it is not something I am in a hurry to order again.

Next came the unagi maki. As I've mentioned before, I must have unagi. Ingredients were fresh, otherwise, it's unagi maki. I'm biased towards unagi so I have no complaints about this dish either.

Finally, my main course came, cha soba with tempura. The set costs $16 and it consists of tempura, cha soba, watermelon and a salad.

The tempura consists of two prawns, eggplant, sweet potato and a ladyfinger. It was crispy, not too oily and the batter literally melts in your mouth when you put it in the sauce. The cha soba tasted really refreshing especially after soaking it into the sauce mixed with spring onions and raw quail's egg.

I didn't manage to take photos of my siblings and father's meals.

Total bill for four lunch sets and three side dishes including drinks costs about $120+.

After that I went to meet up with one group of friends for high tea before heading over to FT Island's 6th Anniversary concert. My bias is obviously Lee Hong Ki, whom I think have the most amazing vocals.

Look at all the Primadonnas (including myself) going nuts when they finished their encore. Didn't get to take photos at all with my camera which I smuggled in because the guards and ushers were really on the ball. When I try to snap a photo of the stage itself with my handphone camera, they already came to stop me. Sigh. This is the only shot I have managed to snap.

Overall, the concert was definitely worth it. No choreographed dancing nor extravagant costume changes, stage lightings or set design. Just the band members in tee shirts and jeans with their instruments, raw vocals and charisma... only pausing for a sip of water or to have small talk with us (despite being breathless from jumping about and singing).

If you have never heard of FT Island, do listen to their music. It's something quite unique, especially Lee Hong Ki's soulful vocals.

I had a really awesome Saturday and I'm grateful for it.

Virgin Entry: Equarius Hotel Ocean Suites stay and Sam Leong's Forest lunch.

Hello, I've been intending to start a new blog again as my iPhone and Instagram have been flooded with photos of the places I have been dining at and I am more than happy to share where I have been to. I mean good things always have to be shared right? So.... I finally got my lazy bum to start writing something. 

This staycation took place around the 4th of August 2013. My boyfriend's family booked the Ocean Suite at Equarius Hotel at Resorts World Sentosa just for one night. If you are wondering, WHY one night? Well.. it may be because it costs a bomb? (Around SGD 1500 a night) So a night was good enough for me. 

So why is it called the Ocean Suite? Because it is located at the other end of the S.E.A Oceanarium. We had to go to Equarius Hotel where a hotel buggy drove us into the.......... underground carpark. Yes, you heard me right, the underground carpark of Equarius Hotel. Then the buggy stops right outside Cat Coral's Ocean Restuarant. Adjacent to it is the entrance to the Ocean Suites.

Not exactly glamorous here.... but ok given how Singapore is so small.. I guess I can empathize? Upon entering the place, we are greeted by a flight of stairs going up to our left and right in front of us is the bedroom with the ocean view. Before we get to that part, let's talk about what's upstairs first. 

Upstairs is the 'living room' area. Judging by the sounds beyond the wall, I can safely guess that we are located right behind the Adventure Cove. In the living room area, there's a sofa that can be transformed into a queen size bed. When we arrived, there's a plate of Equarius Hotel's sweets on the table for us consisting of two caramel macaroons, white chocolate and milk chocolate almonds. This was a PLUS point because I'm a self-confessed chocoholic. 

   

There's also a bowl of complimentary fruits. 

So my boyfriend, his brother and I went to use the jacuzzi outdoors. There was a iPod port for us to charge and blast our iPod in the living room but it was pretty pointless as we found out the jacuzzi drowns out the music. 

Photo of my boyfriend and I. HAHA So lovey dovey it's kind gross. Sorry for tainting your eyes. 

After that we cleaned up and went downstairs to enjoy the view of the ocean.  One big problem I noticed was that Ocean Suite view is too close to the S.E.A Oceanarium. We can actually see camera lights flashing across us and faintly see the outlines of the Ocean Restaurant to our left. So I guess the tourists across us can see us faintly? Kind of makes you paranoid since you can see their camera lights flashing.. But as mentioned before, Singapore is small, so what to do? The only thing that made this tolerable was that after 6pm, when the S.E.A Oceanarium closes it doors to the public, then it becomes really therapeutic and breathtaking.... we can see the little baby rays swimming close to us.

My boyfriend's brother and father enjoying the close encounters. Though Equarius Hotel is quite far from the main Resorts World cluster, we didn't find that depressing because we ended up staring at the fishes for hours and hours. I even managed to do my yoga routine in front of the window.

And to make things better, we had a tray of chocolates. MORE CHOCOLATES! YAY!

Close ups of the eagle rays and the little school of fishes swimming under them for free food and protection from predators. At 10.30pm, the lights in the oceanarium goes off. It's also a cue for us to go to sleep.

The next morning, my boyfriend and I woke up to this view. If only I can wake up like this EVERY SINGLE DAY! It will be fantabulous! 

And then a school of fishes swam close to the window before we got ready for lunch at Sam Leong's Forest.

I love how his menu have the Autumn/ Winter version. Very creative.

We got a complimentary starter which was really refreshing. It's some kind if cold tomato with iced fruit juice with a leaf of mint on top.. I'll give this 4/5 because it's quite unique but a little sour.. and because it's complimentary, it's serving size is tiny. I ordered the Autumn Set Lunch.

Above: Pan-seared Chicken Breast with herbs and apple salad. Minimal, healthy and delicious. I literally wiped the plate clean with my fork. Rating: 5/5

My main which is the Wok-Fried Japanese Pearl Rice with Squid Ink accompanied with Seared Hokkaido Scallop came next. I found the presentation really interesting. If I didn't know better, I'll think it's some kind of odd birthday cake. The 'candle' stuck above is actually leek. The fried rice.. I suspect the squid ink was infused into it because it didn't stain the fork or my teeth. It wasn't oily and the scallop was perfectly seared. This is definitely a dish I can get addicted to. 5/5 for this!

The last dish which is the Forest Delight.. well, let's just say I was a bit annoyed with the waiter when I was ordering this. I asked him what is the Forest Delight? The waiter told me it was dessert. It took every ounce of self control not to roll my eyes at him. Yes, I know it is DESSERT. I want to know WHAT exactly it is? Anyway, I found out for myself when the dessert was served to me. It's coconut pudding with aloe vera and orange popping candy. Yes, you did not read this wrong. The chef put popping candy into the dessert! I could hear the candy crackling in the coconut husk.

Close up of the dessert. It's good! The sweetness of the aloe vera cubes, combined with the crackling of the candy and the somewhat neutral taste of the coconut pudding makes a pretty good marriage of ingredients. A really interesting taste. Rating: 4/5

Alas, all good things must come to an end. Have to bid farewell to the Ocean Suite. It's definitely an experience worth spending over a thousand for.. after all.. like what teenagers say lately.. YOLO.