Oriole Cafe @ Pan Pacific Service Suites

It's been a while since my last post. Nothing worth blogging about, I guess. LOL.
Until Ali's birthday (belated) celebration last Sun at Oriole Café. Thought it's not as crowded as it was before, probably because there are so many coffee places sprouting up island-wide! But still nice. And nicer, because it is not so crowded. Haha.



Thought I will try the competition coffee - Citrus Sin! Quite interesting - imagine coffee and orange. Bitter-sweet. And strong.

And our various choices for breakfast! we all used to be so excited about big breakfast but now... the fad seems to have faded. So I ordered French toast with bacon (top)!



Sharing the basket of fish and chips which I like! :) Not the usual brunch, I reckon.

So happy belated birthday - and we know the birthday girl is happy! Because it was preparations for her wedding after brunch where we gathered at the groom's place to go through the programme - amazing how much efforts people put into their wedding preparations these days. Well, it's (one of) the biggest events of a lifetime, I guess :) And the 'sisters' also discussed our plans to test the love of the groom (and his brothers) for gate-crashing. Haha. We'll see how things turn out. Till that post! Cheers! :)

Saturday@Tanjong Pagar - Nail, Ramen, Coffee

What a blissful Saturday :) Started on a good note when I left office before 6pm yesterday! What an achievement - quote unquote MQ :) Went for manicure/pedicure at Envy Nail Lounge, ramen at Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King and coffee at Kiasu Espresso...

Envy Nail Lounge

It's been a long time since my last classic manicure/pedicure. Time to give my feet and hands a treat, hence bought this deal ($22) from alldealsasia. Topped up $7 for a spearmint scrub so the one-hour treatment cost $29...

Been a while since my last visit to Tanjong Pagar, and my first time to Peck Seah Street...

Didn't know my slot at 11am was the first and I was early. Shop was not opened yet :/

Quite cosy.



Nice place. Therapists were a bit unfriendly at the beginning (maybe it was too early). However they were not pushy when they tried to promote their package - $38 per session (for 10 sessions).

Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King

 

Decided to try the ramen  at Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King at Orchid Hotel since I am in the area. There was a queue! The teppanyaki restaurant next door seems to be popular too...

 







Tried the original special (with seaweed and egg) - you can choose thickness of soup base, hardness of noodles etc. Order came quickly as I asked for normal for everything.

Free boiled and spicy beansprout to go with the ramen. Plus points for tissue :)

Grind the sesame and add it as a topping to bring out the flavour of the soup...

Didn't try the boiled eggs though - brown ones for low cholesterol and white ones for normal cholesterol.

Close-up. Did enjoyed my lunch - maximum marginal utility :)

No frills shop. Authentic yah?

Nice wall paper :) Going to try the green tea cola next time. Maybe for dinner.



Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King 

Kiasu Espresso

Kiasu Espresso finally! Heard it's good and wanted to visit for a while but was lazy to make a special trip...


Took a 5-minutes walk to Kiasu Espresso at 100 AM.

Quiet on a Saturday morning.

Had a ice cappuccino as it was a hot and humid day. Thought my new manicured nude nails look good with the coffee, I thought :P Coffee was ok. Did enjoyed reading up on Bangkok trip over coffee :)

Here's a peek at my newly pedicured nude nails too! LOL. I love this pair of Vinci sandals I got from City Square JB last year! Picture taken at Neil Road where I saw so many people queuing outside Strangers' Reunion!

Decided to walk home passing by Duxton (perhaps a place to look for my house next year?)  and Neil Road on the way...Still  enjoying my Saturday... Hope you are too...

Tim Ho Wan

Tim Ho Wan, finally! Was there with I at 10am today and queued for 50 minutes before we were seated :/
Did enjoy the Dim Sum - hot and tasty, I say. Queue moved faster than expected and the wait was quite pleasant (time flies when you are chatting with a friend, I guess).

Waiting to be seated at Tim Ho Wan. My friend commented that it is more like a café than a dim sum restaurant!

I like it - the egg white and prawn went very well with the wrap! Was piping hot when served - nice!



Wanted to snap a shot to show you how it is different from the usual spring roll but I think I failed. Imagine spring roll filled with egg white!

Steamed egg cake - one of the 4 heavenly kings at Tim Ho Wan (means highly recommended/popular). I like it too - the brown sugar kind of melt in my mouth. LOL.

 

See how soft and fluffy it is! Must try! Taste good when hot and also good after a while :)



Another heavenly heaven - Baked Bun with BBQ Pork! The baked bun makes it different from the usual char siew bao.

 

A peek into the crispy bun with pork (char siew)!



Another heavenly king - Panned Fried Turnip Cake. Nothing special - it was moist and I could taste shreds of turnip....



Cold Tonic Medlar and Osamanthus Cake - nice way to round up a round of piping hot dim sum! It's good too! :)

Have yet to try the last Heavenly King - vermicelli roll with pork liver, so I'm gonna do that next time. LOL. I say go and try THW, if you haven't! Just learnt a new branch has opened at Toa Payoh, so I reckon that should disperse the crowd at Plaza Singapura...

It's good to be blogging again, after a while :) Haven't had a great time in September, so I really hope that THW (which means good luck in Cantonese) will rub some luck off me  :)

Food@Marina Bay Link Mall

Here's a peek at the food I had at Marina Bay Link Mall in August :)



Big Breakfast lunch at Cedele. Not as deli as the weekend brunches but definitely value for money. Thanks to DBS Indulge, it was one-for-one  so we paid about $7 each!

 

Went to Din Tai Fung for dinner before Phantom of the Opera. Delicious pork dumplings (top) and pork + vegetable dumplings (bottom). Had the latter for the first time and I think it tasted healthier. Haha. Yummy dumplings! Looking forward to Taiwan trip in November where I planned to try some dumplings shops! :)

Beautiful MBS at night. Not edible but still looks mouth-watering. LOL.

At the Tuck Shop! Ice Lemon Tea has been a while....
 

Chicken Hor Fun at Tuck Shop. Small. But looks good. LOL.

 

Last but not least, Earl Grey Tiramisu from Glaze. Delightfully received by the birthday girl and family. Happy 18, SS! :)

Happy Weekend! May you have a FULLfilling one :)

慢活 l Pies & Coffee

八月十八日，艳阳高照

好久没有用华语blog 了。
慢活是我最近上网时看到的。慢活应该是指慢慢地活，不被时间环境限制吧。
慢活人人向往，但在生活步伐如此快的都市，可能慢活吗？
即时在旅行时，也未必能够慢活。赶飞机，赶火车，赶巴士。赶导览，赶开幕，赶关门。
赶赶赶。有时我们觉得旅行就是慢活，但有时我们只是重演了办公室里的快活。　
我想，要学习慢活就应该从生活开始。我真的很想学习慢活，从这一刻开始慢慢地活。

今天本想九点起身去游泳。结果九点半才醒来。吃吃早餐，看看报纸，十点半才出发。游呀游就午时了。本来想去tiong bahru一带吃brunch，却临时改变主意，去了rochester mall pies & coffee。一来，还没去过那。二来，觉得那会清幽些。就这样游游永，喝喝茶，吃吃派，看看杂志报纸过了几个小时。
我不知道这算不算慢活，但我好像慢慢地活过来了。也许这才是慢活的定义。



Pies & Coffee at Rochester Mall, next to The Star Vista, is such a sanctuary! There were so few people around, contrary to what I thought...

My simple yet yummy lunch - lamb shank pie and yuzu tea.



The last time I had lamb meat was at Sydney where I had a lamb burger... Some of my friends don't like lamb meat because of the 'smell' it exudes. But I like it - it's what made lamb meat special, right? Very tender and savoury. I did not try the other pies, which I will (soon, I hope). But I'm quite sure the other pies taste equally good!



Hot yuzu tea. I wanted to order an ice honey yuzu tea but I guess I did not order the correct item. Quite interesting - not sure if yuzu is a spice, but as tea leaves, the spice flavour was quite strong. Maybe I should have ordered a coffee, since the café is Pies & Coffee. LOL.

Listening to the fountain, facing the colonial building that houses Starbucks. And quite devoid of a crowd. What a sanctuary!

There's indoor seating too for those who need the air con. Go for the outdoor, I say. It's really quite windy and with the sound of the fountain in the background, it was quite therapeutic. And guess what? I spot some power outlets along the wall, so this could be a good place to surf the net and blog. LOL

Found the Piettiquete in the Pies & Coffee website so funny! I just ate it - I'm so unpiettiquete! LOL.

 

For those who do not understand what I posted in Chinese, it was about slowing down in life. And I really felt that Pies & Coffee helped me to slow down today :) The popular cafes are really crowded these days, so if you are looking for a quiet place to chill, do check it out :)

PS: Trying to upload a short video of the café so you get what I mean about the place being a sanctuary :) Stay tuned!

Jewel Coffee & The Providore

Jewel Coffee

 

Been wanting to try the coffee at Jewel Coffee for while...But didn't really want to go back to CBD on weekend. Haha. 

Met J for lunch at Sumo Salad (a few shops away) and then had coffee and cake at Jewel... We met at about 12.15pm and I was surprised the stretch was very quiet compared to nearby Asia Square and Lau Pat Sat! Now I know where I can go for a quiet lunch :P and Sumo Salad is really nice and fresh!



Coffee was good! And we had a choice to 2 types of coffee beans (cannot recall) but we chose the one that sound milder :)



The flourless orange cake was not bad too...Talking about flourless cake, I miss the flourless chocolate cake at Kith Café which is really nice! :)

The Providore

 

I suggested brunch at The Providore at Mandarin Gallery, and so we met after my haircut and her yoga :) Ambiance was clean and neat, I thought. Kind of modern zen feel. Not sure you get what I mean. LOL

 

There was a short queue. Here's a peek from the queue :)

The tea selection sounds quite exotic. Will try the tea next time :)



Bar counter.

 

Reception.

 

Menu hanging at the door.

 

I like the white tiles and wood furniture :)

 

And the white/green flora - can anyone tell me what they are? :)



I's choice.

My choice. Kind of boring, huh?

 

Cappuccino to round up brunch. Three's a company? LOL.

 

And a very nice Red Velvet cake! Creamy and moist!

Been a while since I FIKA! Can't wait to do it again soon :)