Got engaged and turned a year older!

Wow, so fast time has passed.

It's been almost one year since I have last blogged due to a lot of stuff happening.

My boyfriend proposed to me at Resorts World Hotel Micheal last year in October 2014. It was completely unexpected.. so unexpected to the point that no photos were taken other than the photo of the engagement ring itself.

 But that was in October. Let's focus on now. So on Friday it was my birthday and he took me to Platypus Kitchen in Bugis Junction for my birthday dinner. I wanted to go there because I heard they have revamped their menu.

We ordered one dinner set and their signature Crustacean Bowl.

The dinner set came with their lobster bisque consisting of potatoes, actual lobster chunk and cheese. What do we think of it? Well we literally licked the bowl when we finished it because it was so delicious!

Lobster Bisque

 As a part of the dinner set, the main course is the truffles mac and cheese. LOOK AT THE TRUFFLES. You can't go wrong with cheese and truffles, I tell ya! The fiance loved it so much he wolfed it down so quickly.

Truffles Mac & Cheese

 My main course which I ordered ala-carte was their much raved about Crustacean Bowl. It consists of lobster, umi (sea urchin), cavier, honey and cheese with japanese rice. My verdict? I LOVE IT. The harmony of ingredients were so orgasmic. The saltiness of the cavier complements the sweet honeyed lobster/umi meat and the cheese adds a touch of creaminess to the entire dish. My fiance who is usually biased towards his beloved mac and cheese actually proclaimed that this dish is so good he should have ordered it instead of the mac and cheese.

The legendary Crustacean Bowl

 The final dish, my impromptu birthday cake. The TRIPLE CHOCOLATE CAKE. Look at how pretty it is. Such a waste to eat it. But to be honest, out of all the dish, this tasted pretty..... alright. I guess because we had too much awesome ingredients before this and you can't go wrong with chocolate.

The total cost for the two of us was about $67+ (we ordered a drink too) which was pretty good considering the quality of the ingredients! This place is definitely a must try if you are on a 'budget' but you are craving for 'atas' food like caviar, lobsters and truffles.

Staycation at MBS for our Anniversary

My boyfriend decided to surprise me with a one night staycation at MBS. So I gave him a challenge when I made my way there after work.. he is to order room service and order what he thinks I will like... 

When the food came.. guess what? He got it! 

I was surprised because I rarely eat codfish in front of him because it's always out of our budget.... yet he got it right! This is despite the fact that there's also chicken breast meat and salmon on the menu which I liked too. 

Anyway if you ever stay at MBS and order their room service, please do! The quality is there. The codfish is fresh, blends well with the soy sauce. I lapped up everything on my plate. 

Soy Codfish $40

 The mashed potatoes that came with it was fantabulous as well. Food was served hot.

Codfish came with mashed potatoes with scallions

Buttered mashed potatoes that came with the steak

Boyfriend's order of Steak $65

 After that, he said I can go down to SweetSpot and have whatever I want since he knows I'm a huge fan of desserts.

Sweetspot is located at the lobby of Tower 3 of MBS, exactly outside the lift lobby.

Though this place is considered quite expensive by normal standards, it is something you will have to try once in your life.... I mean LOOK AT THE STUFF.

Macaroons galore. 

How pretty the cakes looks!

Even their pastry looks drool worthy.

And their mini cakes.

 The Oreosaurus caught my eye. As a kid, I always wanted to be a paleontologist.. but I live in Singapore.. to put it bluntly.. Singapore DIG WHAT? Can you imagine me going "Hello, can I have a permit to dig up Wisma Atria because I think there might be fossils there?" Nope.

So my dreams of becoming a paleontologist and an archeologists (I had very weird aspirations as a child...just attracted to dead fossilised things for some reason)........had to be perished because of geographical location. (Singapore had this historical stone called the Singapore Stone but during our colonised days.. the British went and blew it up... and due to land scarcity.. what is there to excavate here? HONESTLY?)

Anyway, that aside, OF COURSE I HAVE TO TRY THE OREOSAURUS. It sounds badass!

ROAR ROAR DINOSAUR.

 And so it came... and it looked pretty sad... but who cares.. it's delicious!

Oreosaurus

 The boyfriend also got me a pound cake filled with choco balls. For $14, it was pretty filling.. I cut it into 7 slices for us to share.

Overall, the staycation was pretty swell.. enjoyed eating all the good food! Happy!

Leong Yeow Chicken Rice at Waterloo Center

Every time I walk past this place, I'll always see a long queue.. so that must mean that it's either very good or very cheap. One fine day, I saw a relatively short queue, I decided to give it a try. 

$3.80

 It costs me $3.80 for the set above which is fairly standard price.. so does this mean that it's very good?

I requested for the breast meat and well, you can see it's quite juicy and succulent. Bit into it and felt that it's quite tender, juicy and not at all dry. 

The rice though, I felt it was a disappointment. I felt it wasn't fragrant enough.. in fact I felt it was pretty bland. The chili though it's amazing! Quite spicy. I'm not quite sure what's the hype about though..probably the chicken meat and the chili? But I'll probably not be so eager to come back and try this again unless I have nothing else to eat around here....

Nutella Crepe Cake... IT ACTUALLY EXISTS!?

Went to meet my boyfriend, his brother and his god sister for a late lunch. Decided to go to Everything With Fries (EWF) at Orchard Central. I was so hungry that I actually forgot to take a photo of The Slider meal ($11.90) I had at EWF. I had the burger with sour cream and onion fries. To be honest, I am quite disappointed with the Slider. It is basically minced... like really MINCED beef with cheese, mushroom and puny bits of bacon. That is it. It wasn't even a proper beef patty. It's a pity I forgot to take a photo of it so you guys can see just how sad it is.. it really can't be considered a burger if it is not in meat patty form.. it's like a sandwich. The sour cream and onion fries are basically shoe string fries drenched in sour cream and onion powder ala McDonald's Shaker Fries style. Overall, the set meal I had was nothing to shout about.... until we topped up $5 for the legend.............................wait for it......................dary Nutella Crepe Cake!

YES. IT ACTUALLY EXISTS! (EWF also serves Nutella Tart but seriously the crepe cake looks way more epic.)

JUST LOOK AT IT. Lay upon layer of crepe with hazelnut cream and nutella drizzled all over it. I tell you, it's a culinary work of art. If I know I will not be hailed off to IMH for evaluation over my mental health, I will definitely go on my knees to worship this dessert. It tastes as good as it looks. Imagine slicing the cake, layer upon layer of hazelnut cream (I reckon from the taste) oozing along with the fork and when it's in your mouth, the cream, crepe layer and the nutella (inside and outside the cake) melts together in an unholy matrimony of sweetness. If this is a prize for winning the Hunger Games, I will definitely volunteer as tribute.    

Nutella Mille Crepe

 After that, I went window shopping around Orchard Road to purge my body of the sin of eating the Nutella Crepe cake. I like to tell myself that to make myself feel better after having such an orgasmic dessert. About 6pm, my dad called and asked me if I'm around town and whether I wanna join him for lunch. Being the glutton that I am... I agreed.

I met him at Gyoza no Ohsho (5 Koek Road #01-10, Cuppage Plaza S228796).

It's a little ramen place that looks like one of those zhi-char stores.. except.. it serves ramen. Not zhi-char. Ok that came off as pretty OBVIOUS... but moving on.

The prices as you can see on the menu is pretty much the same as any ramen franchise in Singapore. The only difference is the environment. The waitress does not give a shit about something called personal space. This is understandable because it IS a small store. Basically, she will march up to you, ask how many people and cram you guys into whatever space she can find to maximize the use of the space the store has to offer.

It's weird if you are not used to it. But being Singapore where we are targeting to hit 6.9 million human beings, you jolly well get used to it.... and since I can't help but pack myself into the MRT every morning at 8 am to get my ass to work so I can have income to continue my gluttony ways... I am fine with the way she seats people. Just pointing this out to people who cannot stand eating at crowded places.
 

The first dish we had was the pan-fried gyoza. For crying out loud, the place is called Gyoza no Ohsho. So if we don't order Gyoza, which is their trademark dish.. I might as well just go elsewhere to eat. Anyway, the gyoza was served pipping hot, they do not serve the traditional dark vinegar and ginger that we Chinese are used to dipping our dumpling (chinese version of Gyoza) in. What they have is white vinegar. So there was this moment of awkwardness where we poured the bottle with the dark sauce which turned out to be soy sauce not vinegar, then pour another bottle which looked like red vinegar but it turned out to be chili oil only to succeed when we poured the bottle with the transparent liquid which turned out to be white vinegar. We finally got down to tasting the gyoza. First thing I noticed.. it's oily. The positive thing about this was the skin of the gyoza, springy and crispy. The fillings were pretty disappointing.

Pan-fried Gyoza

 The salad came next. I'm very anal about the way ramen stores serve their eggs. If the egg is completely hardboiled, I'll say they fail at making the perfect ramen egg. The egg on this salad passed. Hard on the outside but soft yet not too runny on the inside. Great job. The salad is fresh, but the sauce overpowered the vegetables. The potato salad was ok. They didn't put in mayonnaise or anything funky into it. Salad overall is ok.

Salad

 Next came the Kanitamago, crab meat with eggs. I expected it to be like the oyakodon style of cooking but it ended up in omelette form. I was quite disappointed. The crab meat was actually shredded crab sticks.. lots and lots of it. Which is fine considering the price of this dish. The only complaint I have of this is that the sauce is wayyyy too sweet. Overpowering the omelette completely.

Kanitama

 My dad had the Tamago Ramen. He always comes here for their ramen so I guess it's pretty good? I'll make a mental note to try it the next time.

Tamago Ramen

 The only dish I really liked was the tori karaage. Can't go wrong with this dish. We also ordered a bottle of green tea each.

Tori Karaage

Total damage for my dad and I was SGD$43. I guess this place is pretty ok to come by if you want something quick and fuss-free. The service is brisk and people come and go fairly quickly. Quality of food wise, I guess it's ok? Just keep your expectations to a minimum because what you pay for is what you will get. Personally for me, I will only pop by here if I have a craving for their Tori Karaage.   

April Fool's Day Catch Up

Someone should just give Google a medal for the best ever April Fool's Day prank. 

Basically Google released a video saying whoever catches all 150 Pokemon on the Google Maps App may stand a chance be a Pokemon Master and join the Google team as one of their designated Pokemon Master. Of course, it's a joke on their part, but what I didn't expect was that you can really 'capture' Pokemon on the Google Maps App. I ended up getting so hooked, 'travelling' from Tokyo to Tarzania obsessively hunting for Pokemon. 

I bet you are wondering, if you know it's a joke, why are you still obsessed with trying to catch them all? 

BECAUSE I AM LIVING MY CHILDHOOD DREAM OF BECOMING A POKEMON MASTER. DUH. 

My work day that day was bloody unproductive. And I love how Google placed Pikachu on the Tokyo Tower (Channeling electricity for the whole of Tokyo, well played) or Tyranitar in Pompei / Tokyo (Godzilla reference, get it?) and even included the legendary Mew as the 151 Pokemon. It's just awesome. Who cares if it's a bloody joke? I was given a day to live out my childhood dream from my office desk, I'm bloody taking it. So thank you Google, for giving me this opportunity to live my childhood dream. 

Caught all 150.. couldn't find Mew though.. T__T

Ok now back to the main point of this post. My April Fool's Day catch up. I met up with my pole mates to celebrate my belated birthday and another person's birthday. We headed down after work to November 8 Coffee and Company at 11, Sin Ming Road #01-30 Thomson V Two S(575629). 

It's actually a pretty well hidden place. I have been going to Thomson for Scoopz, Fatboys, Ne Li's Ice Cream and Rochor Beancurd like forever and always thought that Thomson V was like just a residential area. So imagine my surprise when I realised there were a few eateries and stuff in there!

The ambiance is pretty hip, I love the decors and all that.. it feels like I can just kick off my shoes, unhook my bra and just lie down on the couch and read a book. But of course, I can't do that unless I want to be arrested for indecency. They do take reservations by the way.. so when we were seated at our table, I was quite amused with their decor.

I mean look at it.. an origami flower in a pot filled with coffee beans? How cute is that?

I ordered their Chicken Breast Steak $16 which comes with bacon and cheese on top served with vegetables with passion fruit sauce at the side. I like chicken breast meat but some places cook it way too dry? Over at November 8, it's not too dry and the marriage between the cheese and bacon just makes it taste swell. The passion fruit sauce is unique but I feel it goes better with the carrots than with the chicken. Maybe I'm just not used to it? It's definitely a dish I will order again though because it has all my favorite things in it. (I always avoid most of the vegetables when I order dishes like this but they have carrots and mushroom which is my favorite!)

We ordered the Strawberry Waffles $10 to share and we picked the rainbow ice cream to go with it. Basically the rainbow ice cream tasted like the Paddlepop one. Nothing particularly special. But the waffles were well done! Very crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. The strawberries were fresh! The total damage for me was $18.50 (since we shared the waffle, the four of us split it.. it was $2.50 per person) no GST. The price is pretty fair.

The service was also good. My friend wanted a skinny latte which they didn't have skim milk for.. and the waiting staff specially ran out to buy a bottle of skim milk back just to make it for her. Good service I must say! The food was also cooked fresh so expect an adequate amount of time waiting because they only have one person cooking from what I see. So be patient when you are there ordering! Music is also not too loud and we had quite a good catching up session there. Definitely a good place to go and chill out with your friends if you are in the Thomson area!

Good times at Waterloo Times

Family took me to this place located at Waterloo Center near a food court. Entering this place was quite an experience as it's a relatively small shop. I'm guess they can seat like 20-25 people? 

 We ordered the salad which looks pretty decent. If my memory serves me right it costs below $10 which is not too shabby considering the portion served.

 I ordered their steak and first thing's first, the taste.. of it was cooked just about right. Medium well.. as I have asked for. The black pepper sauce (the orange sauce) was exquisite. It had a creamy taste with a mild peppery aftertaste. Definitely something different.

 It came with the mashed potato served separately and I must say.. it is addictive and you can tell it is made fresh. Not like some places where the mashed potatoes are made from the powdered packets.

 My mom had the salmon aglio olio. LOOK AT IT.

 My dad had the lamb chops..

 And the seafood pasta.

 We had strawberry shortcake which costs $6.

 Close up of the adorable ladybug biscuit.

 And the chocolate tart which is also $6.

Definitely a place worth coming back to as the food is delicious and the price is pretty alright! 

Blk 261 Waterloo Street
#01-24 Waterloo Center

Singapore 180261

Burger Joint: Bear Bites.... no seriously that is the name of the place.

I love food. So when I'm free, I'll google for places to go and places to eat? This place popped up on some of the famous food blogs around Singapore. I dragged my boyfriend down with me to try out this place as it looks super kawaii (cute in Japanese) and innovative. 

See? I told you that's the name of the place. Bear Bites. It's located in between Scape and Cineleisure. It's not that hard to spot because it looks like some kind of hut.

For the reallllyyyy lazy bums who do not want to experience the thrill in searching for a new place, here's a photo of the store front. I'm a little disappointed that there's no mascot bear at the cashier, that will make this place epic.

Unlike other burger joints, Bear Bites served two types of meat. Chicken karaage (or Fried Chicken fillet) and Oishii Fish (or delicious Fish). That's it. No black pepper spicy chicken, grilled chicken.. nope, none of that marketing bull. In that case, it makes you wonder, so what is the selling point of this place? Definitely not the cheese fries (just add $1.00 to the burger combo meal). 

 It's the BURGER BUN! PAWS! Hold up! What do you mean by that? (See what I did there? Hehe.)
IT'S THE BURGER BUN! It's in the shape of a bear paw. Super cute. It's the size of my hand and it comes in different colors! From the squid ink infused black bun to the seasonal strawberry pink bun. Pick your bun, your meat, your sauce and whether you want it in a combo meal deal or not. Simple as that.

 I had the oatmeal bun... talk about trying to ease my diet plan guilt trip by ordering that with fried chicken fillet. Well, to be fair, at least the burger bun is STEAMED. So it's less fattening right? The burger was drenched in cheese sauce, the oily fillet was absorbed by the vegetables and the steam bun.. Quite nice and to be completely biased.. I LOVE THE PRESENTATION! So I'll give this joint 3.5/5.. mainly because of the unique burger bun concepts. If only they offer more variety of meat....

In total, I paid $8.80 for the meal. Definitely a good place for the budget conscious and for those who wants to try something out of the ordinary.