Pre-haze days: Dian Xiao Er@Vivo City

A long overdue post about Father's Day - the day before the haze hit Singapore big time. Now that the skies look clearer, we are back to pre-haze days which will hopefully last... Back to Father's Day dinner which was at Dian Xiao Er at Vivo City.

 

 

Waiting for our turn to be seated. Long queue. Singaporeans love ducks, I guess :P



Watching the chefs in action while waiting... Quite smart to entertain customers so they forget about the waiting time (for a while....)

 

Kang Kong with Fermented Bean Curd. Nice change from the usual Kang Kong with Belanchan.

 

We ordered 2 types of ducks - Ten Wonder Duck (above) and Ginseng Duck (below). Former was sweet while latter had a bitter after taste. Nice as usual :)





Seafood Fish Maw. Tasted like Shark's Fin :) The dishes were served so fast that I didn't have time to finish this till the end!

Yam Ring Delight.

 

Wheatgrass Tofu - healthy...

Frog Legs with Onion - medium was too small and not enough to go around! All-time/people favourite as usual - should have ordered a large portion.  



 Dessert after dinner at a Hong Kong Dessert Store in the basement - a variety of sweet treats from SS :) Thank you!

 

 

 

So that was a few Sundays ago... And for the last few weekends, I continued to brunch and shop - enjoyed some of the new places I explored and also quite happy with some of my GSS buys :) Got to tell to find time to update you more this weekend...

St. Marc Cafe@Vivo City

The warm weekend must have been the prelude to the hazy Monday and week ahead... and it made me crave for sundae! And St. Marc Cafe at Vivo City came to mind :) 



 

CHOCOCRO - Yummy! There are also many other pastry that looks delicious at the self-serve counter. Still warm by the time we bite into it :)

St. Marc Café is always so crowded. There is no queue system so people just stand around (and stare) for seats :) Reminds me of lunch time in CBD.



Queue for food... Thought the POP (Point of Purchase) was quite strong :) Almost tempted to order more :P



Highlight of the day! Kyoto Delight - indeed a delight on a warm day!!! Sundae with a scoop of green tea ice cream, red bean paste, mochi... We also discovered corn-flakes at the bottom! Yummy! :P

Will definitely be popping by St. Marc Café again to try more pastries and sundaes, if we can find seats. Till then! :)

jones the grocer @ Ion Orchard

Had an awesome outing at Ion Orchard on Saturday. This kind of marked the start of my GSS (Great Singapore Sales) journey :P Lovely way to start. With brunch at jones the grocer.




The Ion Orchard café is the latest jones the grocer in Singapore. Spotted people waiting for it to open at 9plus :) Love the futuristic ceiling at Ion :)



Gourmet food for everyday living :) Reminds me of Sydney although I have never been to the jones the grocer there... I guess I miss Sydney...

Bigger than the one at Mandarin Gallery where I usually go. The groceries on display seem to shine!!!



Open kitchen concept...



Flat white. Good coffee. Dark coffee cup on dark coffee table = Coffee floats in the air...



Big breakfast! Too big in fact :P Found it a bit too healthy. The hash brown tasted like it was fried in extra virgin olive oil...I like the scrambled eggs on sour toast, tomatoes, heaps of Bacon (which I cannot finish) and mushroom though...Wrong order perhaps?

My brunch. No better way to start the day. Really. Gave me tons of energy which lasted me in Orchard till 9pm!

The place started to fill up by the time I finished. Think I prefer the one at Mandarin Gallery which is brighter and transparent - the glass walls allow for people watching which is more interesting. It has been a while since I brunched in a shopping mall too, so I feel some claustrophobic. Too used to the neighbourhood in the backyard feel, I guess :)

And ending off with my first GSS 2013 purchase :)  What was yours?

Started on my GSS shopping a bit late. But I only felt the urge to shop now...Perhaps I should blog about my GSS loot (not that I expected much. haha). Retail therapy feels great (especially after a crazy week at work) and the GSS gives you no reasons to say no! So start shopping this weekend, everyone! And don't forget to start with brunch, wherever you are! :)

One of the best things about working late...

One of the best things about working late...Is the beautiful night scene of the marina bay.
There are several ways I get to and fro work, and walking by the bay is one.

***

It has been about 6 weeks since I started working again. A recent chat with the intern sitting next to me has been flashing in my mind for a few days. Her dream (kind of) is to be a host of travel programmes (like Discovery, quote unquote her). And I said it's good!

It's funny because we better articulate dreams when we were younger. Now when people asked me what is my dream, it is tough to talk about it. I wanted to be a news anchor when I was young. It made me decided to study communication studies. Then in the course of it all, I realised that it is not so easy to be one. So I chose what I am doing now because it is the closest thing next to it (or rather the closest thing  I could do). It's funny because reality/life kind of took our dreams away...

Forty Hands, Keong Saik Snacks and Stranger's Reunion

Hello June! And what better way is there to start the middle of the year than brunch and meeting up with friends over one/some? :)

First stop was to Forty Hands at Yong Siak Street. I have been thinking of brunching there for a long time. Somehow I didn't. And so Grace and I went last Saturday, after I completed a leisure 20 laps at the nearby public pool (skipping the swim today though, my lazy bones tell me to go for a massage and some shopping! :)) Both of us like Forty Hands, and I guess it was a good place for us to catch-up as we haven't met for since Good Friday. And happy birthday, babe!



My ice latte. Grace had ice mocha. Great choices as it was such a HOT day!

I like the coffee. In some cafes, ice coffee tend to dilute after a while but I thought this was quite consistent over the 2 hours I sipped at it. These days, I seem to like taking pictures from the top.



Counter at Forty Hands. The café is really quaint, a bit cramped perhaps. The chap next table kept bumping into Grace and he kind of apologised before he left. LOL.



Egg Benefits. Heard mixed reviews about it. But I like it because it was not too overwhelming in terms of proportion and the hollandaise sauce. Guess it was just RIGHT after a swim :) And well, the retro plates can survive knocks, see? No one can complain about the chips :P

Next stop and first stop last Sunday : Yong Saik Snacks at Yong Saik Street. It was a bit high-brow, I thought. And not really the kind of casual brunch I prefer. Food was good, pricey though. OK overall - you get what you pay right? :) Was there with Chris and MQ, a day which started rather dramatically but I shouldn't say more ;-)



Nice vintage decorations. It was empty when we reached shortly after 11am. So we could take pictures to our hearts' content. Haha.



Kind of open kitchen concept - we could see the chefs preparing food for us. I bet this converts to a bar counter at night because I heard there is a hidden bar somewhere - where? behind? :P

 

We didn't follow the menu from start to finish . LOL. Started with the second course. Fried snapper fish n’ duck fat chips. Mushy peas. Tartar sauce.



Veal sweetbread & pork pie. Onion gravy. Came with Foie Gras too. Yummy :) De Ja Vu - My French food meals continue. We ordered Skinny Fries too! 

Seared scallop. With crispy lamb balls?

Last stop of the weekend - Stranger's Reunion at Kampong Bahru. Heard that the neighbouring cafes - OKB (One Kampong Bahru) and Chef Icon - are nice. So this might be a good area to explore if you are thinking of CAFE HOPPING! By the way, I like the coffee at Highlanders just down the stretch of shop houses :P



Nice Decorations too. More down to earth. Homely. White roses, anyone? :)



The Macha Red Bean cake was quite unique.



Good service. Really attentive when it comes to topping up water. And so we left a small tip.



Another angle of Stranger's Reunion. Pretty meaningful name, is it not? When it comes to enjoying coffee and cake with people you do not know in the same abode again and again?



I forgot what tea MQ ordered. I had a ice mocha. Chris had a ice chocolate. HOT day too :P

So here is me, blogging about last weekend this weekend. Not sure if you know, I write for a living (kind of). But nothing is as enjoyable writing for you (and me) in my Long Vacation blog :)

Douter Coffee@Marina Bay Financial Centre

Not sure about you, but sometimes I just feel like having lunch alone. And I did that last Thursday at Douter Coffee at Marina Bay Financial Centre.



Douter Coffee is bigger than it looks on the outside. Not crowded before 12noon, so quite a cosy place to lunch alone.



Honey Sugar to go with the ice tea. Nice.



Avocado & Shrimp sandwich. Bread is nicely toasted. Like the mashed eggs in the sandwich. Felt more like a Shrimp & Egg sandwich :P

The wall can dance - watch the video if you don't believe me. This kept me well-entertained throughout lunch :)

 

 

Have a great work week ahead, everyone!

Nam Nam Noodle Bar@Raffles City

Finally tried the Vietnamese cuisine at Nam Nam Noodle Bar last Sunday... XF, GT and I went to the one at Raffles City. I spotted one at Wheelock Place too. Of course it cannot be compared to the authentic cousins in Ho Chi Min City (how time flies - was in Saigon around this time last year). OK price for OK food at a restaurant setting - maybe I didn't order the right stuff like pho ;)

 

Southern rolls. Fresh :) I'm going to try the fried rolls next time!

XF has Diet Coke which cost more than the Vietnamese ice coffee! Gosh! But it came in a nice vintage mug :) So much for packaging. LOL. The ice coffee with condensed milk was good! At $2.50, I say yes to more coffee anytime.



The mousetail noodle soup I ordered. Nice in a weird way - there were fish balls, pork trotter, pork ribs etc in the soup... 

GT's order - dry beef stewed noodle... she said it has shrunk in size...



XF's version - q style egg noodle....

As I blogged, I am reminded of the Vietnamese food stall at Lau Pa Sat and missed the vermicelli with pork slices and fried roll... Cheap and good - $4-5. Definitely going to pop by one day during lunch-time since my office is nearby (10 minutes walk away). Will post a picture if I do go. Do check it out if you are in the area! :)