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! :)