Malacca

 

Been to Malacca thrice - twice for department trips. Guess the proximity of Malacca from Singapore makes for a good (but exhausting) one day trip.

Always new things to discover - didn't remember Hard Rock Café when I was at Jonker Street 2 years back and it seems like there are more cafes sprouting up in the area. So I might just make a trip there again this year (and perhaps include Port Dickson as part of the itinerary) since I have leave to clear :) We'll see...

 Jonker Street - Jonker 88

 

 

Realised that Jonker Street in the day is a bit different than night. We tried the Chendol and Laksa at Jonker 88 which is quite famous. There are other local food to try too but we were full. LOL.

Yummy Chendol - we tried three types! :)

And Gula Melaka goodness in all three!

Always like the shop houses in Jonker Street. Let's feast in the courtyard!

Laksa - a mixture of coconut and Assam. It's nice but the concoction might be a bit powerful for weak stomachs...

Earlier posts about Malacca:

My Golden Half - Roll 2

Laidback Malacca

 

City Square, Johor Bahru

 

And yes, we visited City Square again! And had the Taiwanese food again at Taiwan Nostalgia Café!

 

 

 

From top left/clockwise: Oyster Mee Sua, San Bei Chicken, Fruit/Flower tea...

 

 And dinner at Old Town White Coffee before we headed back to Singapore.

 

 

Didn't knew there is a tea-time set that you can order - comprises of a smaller portion of the main course and a drink. Value for money, I say!

 



New addition to City Square. Food court with interesting designs :)



And many new cafes too - always reasons to cross the causeway, I guess :)

 

Earlier posts on visits to City Square, Johor Bahru:

Across the causeway again

Marching on - JanuarIED

 

Across the causeway again

Besides shopping (the cost is slightly cheaper compared to Singapore and some brands are not available here), one of the best things about going across the causeway to City Square JB is value for money food. This time, we had lunch and dinner at Arashi Shabu Shabu and Taiwan Nostalgia Café.

Arashi Shabu Shabu (Basement 1)



Japanese hot pot! The 3 of us ordered 2 sets - milk broth (yummy!) and spicy Sichuan broth (spicy!) which came with ingredients such as vegetables, bean curds, fish balls and meat etc.



We chose Chicken and Pork Shoulder as part of the set and also ordered lamb as an add-on.



You can also choose a carbo item for each set - we ordered rice and noodle.

 



So this was our very sumptuous lunch which cost RM73.20 (about 35SGD) and our mother thought it would cost us at least 100SGD! Value of money, right? :P

Taiwan Nostalgia Café (Level 3)



After a few hours of shopping, we were undecided if we should have dinner before going home. We did - no prize for guessing right :P We decided on Taiwanese food. This was the Minced Meat Rice (鲁肉饭). I like it. Reminds me of the ones I had in Taiwan.



Must drink in Taiwanese café! :P Pearl Milk Tea (珍珠奶茶).



Lattea Green Tea (绿濭茶) - it's green tea topped with sea salt cream.



Crispy Salt Chicken (盐酥鸡). It was OK. Served hot which makes it nice.



My mother's choice - Taiwan Omelet (台式蛋饼). Something different from what we will order usually. Total damage was RM33.55 (about 16SGD).

For me, visiting Johor Bahru (JB) is like a short vacation without the bells and whistles. It's funny but I do feel relaxed and that I am on a vacation even though JB is only 90minutes away from Singapore. Being on foreign land always has that effect on me :)

I'm sure many Singaporeans are familiar about how to get to JB from Singapore. If you are visiting Singapore and would like to take a day trip to JB, you can take bus 170 from Kranji MRT station. Just follow the crowd and you will get there somehow :)

Marched!

March marched past in interview rooms and cafes. It kind of happened this way because I try to encourage myself with a treat after an interview session :) Was also a good opportunity to explore my backyard and visited so many places in Singapore for the first time!

Sunny day at Jalan Kayu! My first time there on my way to Seletar. It was 1 March, I remember. Gosh - this must have been the beginning of sunny spring in Singapore.

Létoile. Read about the cafe online and decided to check it out on my way back from Seletar since it is on the Northeast Line at Farrer Park. Quiet place to chill.  

Ice Latte (my angel on such a scorching day!) and salmon bagel (yummy - and reminded me of the bagel I had in Copenhagen!).

Explored Tiong Bahru, my neighbourhood which I shared in wordpress here.



And visited Drips Café (click the link for more!)...This is what I call domestic travel :P

Lunch of flat white and almond croissant at Tiong Bahru Bakery at Raffles City in-between interviews. Phew!

 

Lee's Taiwanese (click the link for more) for dinner...

Followed by ice-cream at The Daily Scoop (click the link for more)!

 

Highlander - funny how I took so long to visit this café just a bus stop or two away from where I stay. Nice coffee and carrot cake at reasonable prices! Will try to blog about it later.

At Johor Bahru, City Square again. This time with my mum! She got these local cake (kueh) the moment she arrived at the City Square. Will try to blog about it later too. Opps!

Went to Ikea and Anchor Point which was featured recently for its outlets. Will try to blog about it later too. Sorry.

Met KW and GT for brunch at Food For Thought at Botanic Gardens. Not a great choice because of the hot weather. Good to meet KW and his baby son AW though :) Will try to blog about it later too. Sorry. Sorry.

Cycled from East Coast Park to Changi Beach Park. Awesome exercise! Read all about it here!

And this sort of marked the end of March 2013. How times fly! The first quarter of the year is over just like that. Really glad that April is here and looking forward to the Sydney trip and taking on new challenges soon :) Thanks for marching with me!

It's time to look forward to Italy

Will be in rome in a week's time. Have not been able to blog during a vacation before, so I'm going to try it this time ( we're going to have free wi-fi in some of our hotels anyway). It's going to be a long vacation, so it will be nice to write a bit...

Before that, here are some photos of a family trip to Johor last December and we took the train from Tanjong Pagar Train Station before it becomes history... It was a very enjoyable ride. Hope to have an opportunity to do this again before July and the train station moves to Woodlands.