Prive Brunch

Post very good call (on a Friday moreover!), and even after scavenging dim's free fri lunch, Irene and I popped by to her house to change (cos I only had scrubs........) and visit her huge rabbit before we headed to Prive (Keppel Bay). It was so very luxurious cos there were no collapses that night (only a fever party) and just many other small passives that I ended up doing. I conclude the best breakfast predawn is still icecream (x2, cos post dinner -indian food - we had x1, then supper the mos bought magnum minis).

We shared the Malted Maltasers milkshake which had bits of blended maltesers chocolate shells within. It had an alcoholic tinge as well; but Irene kept saying there was a residual banana taste. Oh noes I hate bananas i don't acknowledge that.

Eggs royale - super luxurious; the brunch items are exactly the same as those at Cafe Hacienda (recognise these, Kels?) but somehow post call these tasted so so much better. Lovely hollandaise sauce that looks nicely melted/toasted edges over the eggs and salmon and muffin. It tastes as good as it looks.

Pancakes - again similar to the ones at Cafe Hacienda. I found the pancakes a little too baked and plain for my liking but Irene really liked it. She loved the complex flavours from the apple/coconut compote to the light whipped butter and maple syrup. I prefer my pancakes a little more toasty and crisp at the edges. These tastes more like plain cakes.

But anyhow, we loved the fact that we could vegetate in Prive (thanks to the rest of t3 and to xh for printing my mc ;P) and just waste the entire aftern there and watching the types of ppl who could also afford wasting a nice cloudy Friday afternoon away. Even the stroll around the island just felt so liberating. Every moment off work is a moment to be relished esp with great company ;) never felt this so acutely during my student days....

Book Cafe

Pancakes

French Toast

My first active call ie noobs abt passive clerking (so ended up clerking 2+1 to irene for tpy) and a bgit turned svt sent my day into a whirlwind settling him and admissions was crazyyyy too at ae. when we finally settled down to have dinner at midnight (garlic mushroom chicken from spize takeaway is mudder awesome omg one huge huge huge slab of chicken + mash potatoes) and the discovery of the stash of the sweet crackers in the gs cupboard more than made up for the diluted milo. Super good memories of that very one night at that office with irene (with our reg + bespectacled cmh being mistaken for pt very unfortunate). Unfortunately after a catnap, a code happened and it became downhill again with cor's case (it was H vs cor's) while everyone else was rounding. missed MM's at 69 too. Back was eventually too dead still to join halfway. Eventually slept thru bf (but a bf set for me with thanks !!) and mopped up the others before we scurried to Book Cafe with a quickie lunch before it was home (for irene -before she went to prepare for congress - and me )

Book cafe (Robertson Quay) was quite packed (and I saw Weiting - stylish woman was difficult to miss and she gamely passed me her design mag with thanks!) and loads of comfy sofas donned the place (it looks too inviting, esp post call).

Pancakes and French Toast for everyone to share. Ended up dissecting it to bits to distribute. French toast is very very yummy ! Crisp and buttery.My scrambled eggs set was really simple and sparse - but I must say each individual section of it was very delicious on its own (but the servings should at least x 2). The hashbrown was the best - it was really crisp and batter really crumbly - and the eggs really creamy, going well with the salmon.

On the other hand, jt's omelette was stuffed with loadsa goodies! cheese and meat and She was one happy tropper.

Xing's Eggs Ben which she never fails to order everyone (I realise that subsequently....)

M's Turkey Ham, Avocado and Egg white sandwich. I guess cos of the connotation of the egg white this sounds absolutely healthy but in an interesting way.

We were really waiting longs for our food -and then the pancakes and french toast came. Then the rest and finally dukie's pasta (the only one pasta in the whole group of breakfasts). Basically the chillax place was wasted on us cos we were so nervous the entire time re who in the world was gonna round and our hearts palpitated everytime there was a call. But for me and Irene, hearts were much lighter as we gave the rest a lift back, and her a lift back to her bed and finally to mine ;) sleeping till a Friday is most shiok!

Seventh heaven

Final day with sips and after a long long day of 8! electives we finally managed to exit and lounged in the room before zipping off to 63 (cos we totally forgot about the list), and finally, with xh in krith's car and yx in mine we went to Seventh Heaven (Raeburn Park, Marketing Institute of Singapore), with the help of yx's google maps. Totally need gps to come here cos its so damn out of the way.

And we had a near scare cos the nearby restaurant was closed. And Seventh Heaven was empty, too!

It was kinda like ice cream for dinner cos of xh's vascular buffet lunch and my super duper late lunch. Thank goodness for compulsory breakfasts these days...

We chose The Matrix ; the 12 samplers - its quite worth it, for huge scoops in cupcake trays; this features their bestsellers so we asked so which flavours will these be? and the waiter then said, oh actually, all our flavours are bestsellers.....doh....we managed to charm him to include the following: - Chocolate whiskey, blackforest, Rum and Raisin, Peanut butter, Seasalt and caramel, Milo Dinosaur, Lychee Martini, Chocolate and Carbanet. The other flavours as a surprise : - matcha, 2 sorbets (that none of us liked), black sesame.

My favourite was the Chocolate Whiskey (though after a while, it seemed to have clearly separated); other favourites were the lychee martini (they always get it right here) and Peanut butter.

Should have seen our faces when this tray came; our faces totally lit up!!

And they wanted to challenge me to the Holy Grail; 30 scoops of ice cream in 25 minutes and its on the house.......

We wanted to move on to have cakes too but they ran out.....really wanted to try A Very Tall Cake (Peanut butter and chocolate!) Looks like a great excuse to visit. Esp the discovery of the ice cream tray; gosh gonna be dreaming of that during calls. So we had the waffle with french vanilla ice cream (the ice cream is the highlight, actually); which we're not gonna miss cos 1. its not warm; 2. its got a cookie-biscuit like texture, very unlike your regular crisp/dense waffles elsewhere. Love the crisp waffles loads I must have it soon (you hear, Kels?)

Much angst about previous teams (xh and krith's about the songs they had to sing om); its really so nice to bump into fellow batchmates along the way and have spontaenous lunches/coffees/icecream outings like these. Such is a perk with having college mates as colleagues!

Boomerang, Laurent's

It was a chillaxing sat with th and rc rding; while i covered 58 +outliers (it was quite a morning walkabout!!), it went quite smooth with us having k+t post round still. After very min change, we eventually deliberated abt plan b in the ho room, and scurried into a cab after the almost encounter with couple...we took the leap of faith down to Boomerang (60 Robertson Quay, 01-15, The Quayside). It was as if we were running away from the parking mata with us hiding behind large menus ;P Everything sounds great in the breakfast menus, and I spied the huge huge sharing platters (esp the Mezze ones). Sounds good for a return visit the next time round.

This place is by the river, but I initially got a little lost cos I had to roundabout Epicurious (very very packed place for brunch) and Da Mario's before I headed further downwards. Love the spacious indoors and outdoor areas too. The decor was also super interesting (look upwards at the lights).

Rancheroos - this reminded me so so so much of the breakfast we had in HK remember Kelly?? the 24 hour breakfast place in HK near the clubbin district. This was mexican style with deep fried tortillas (tastes very much like curry puff pastries), deep refried beans, with a dash of scrambled eggs and avocado (which xh loved).

Poached eggs with toast, mushrooms, and tomatoes. The toast was especially chewy and very delish with the light whipped butter.

But of cos poached eggs always tasted better with a dash of hollandaise sauce like in Xh's Eggs Ben (second in our second outing). Love the fried potatoes by the side too.
Sticky date pudding with vanilla ice cream. This was a very neat sticky date pudding; tasted healthy actually. Not sinfully drowning in caramel or as moist as I'd have liked. Its almost cake like.

While Yx went to follow her original plan to meet sister, xh and i crawled over to Laurent's Cafe (The Pier@ Robertson) to continue our dessert trail. Obviously the sticky date didnt spike a high enough sugar rush. We settled for this chocolate/hazelnut cake as we waited for the chocolate souffle (xh actually wanted the choc tart but this is the one of the last cakes in Laurent's I havent got to try ;p) If you like the crisp hazelnut base thats always at the base of chocolate cakes then you'd love this cos there's a substantial portion of this as compared to the chocolate ganache layer. If not, stick to Pure or chocolate tart.

A whiff of the chocolate souffle; and the crackling of the crust as we tucked into the souffle; and the savouring of the bitter sweet fluid innards of this lovely chocolate souffle. We swopped the raspberry sorbet for vanilla - extremely good contrast of hot and cold;crisp and fluid (add the warm vanilla milk concentrate into the souffle), love this so very much.

We just lazed the whole aftern at Laurent's browsing copies of herworld (4 of them, in total lol) and realising the food recommendations there were actually good, talking about our dream travel places and the journey thru med and how we got here, where we'd eventually head to. It felt quite unreal to be just soaking in the chocolate air (and moreover, sunday getting off lol) and looking back on an awesome week of two brunches, icecream outings, and even a jap buffet. i think the fact that people lose wt in gs (maybe in certain teams!)is a myth;our bosses eats loads and there's always a time for breakfast/feasts/drinks. Always.

Kith Cafe

Wild Berries and Cornflake milkshake
Big breakfast - toast, scrambled eggs, grilled tomatoes, chicken and mushrooms

Toasties - Tuna, Chedder, Green apple

Sweet Brioche - with yoghurt and strawberries

A sunday I had to work meant I missed a chance to go out with Grans but it turned out just fine cos I had a perfect Sunday brunch lounging at Kith Cafe (Watermark @ Robertson Quay) with Wansze.

We planned for Mimolette (and wans booked on Sat) but doh perfect 10 being perfect 10 it was booked for a private event prob a wedding. And cos Wans had to meet a friend at Great World we decided to meet at Robertson Quay. She came to pick me up(already feeling very bored!! at 11am !!) and we left for Robertson, parking at Watermark right next to a Lambo and Porche no less ;P

We managed to find the cafe by a little corner in the Watermark Condo and found the corridor to be bustling with people digging into their very delicious looking breakfast sets. We chose aircon over ventilation (for the interiors were very poorly ventilated and we came out smelling of our own food and toast and eggs) . There're only two tables inside - there's a long high bar table (of which, many single customers perched themselves atop to enjoy their good food in blissful solitude ;)), and the lower bench seats which had lotsa European/Japanese mags stuffed beneath to browse. Plenty of hippies around the alfresco area facing the river; some people just chilling with a book. Extremely chill vibe love love it.

All the items were on the blackboard for you to browse; there were breakfast sets/sandwiches/toasties/milkshakes/teas and coffees galore.#

Started off with a very yummy Wild Berries and Cornflakes milkshake - the drink sounded like a blended breakfast in itself - its a little like nestum in yoghurt. Very yummy especially in the initial sips when the cornflakes was still crunchy before it soaked up all the moisture from the milkshake. Kels will be proud of me for choosing this drink! Wansze had her coffee fix. Shall bring her to Shots for our next brunch date (maybe Mimolette first......heh).

Big breakfast - we substituted certain items and ended up yummy toast (really chewy breads), scrambled eggs, grilled tomatoes (with speckles of pepper), chicken and mushroom. Wished there were more of the creamy scrambled eggs! It was a splendid spread.

Toasties next - Tuna, Chedder and Green apple; I half thought the green apple would be in the toastie but it was actually a side - this reminds me plenty of the resus dog aunties yummy toasties.

We ended off with the Brioche with Strawberry in Yoghurt. The sweet bread had a super yummy crust and fluffy interior, perfect for dipping into the yoghurt. Dipping bread into yoghurt is the first for me and might be a start to a new habit;) for now the habit is to dip my daily kaya toast into eggs.

Wansze was piping full of stories of t3 and full of anticipation to return back to gs ;) miss her loads too and wished we had better fate in getting similar hospital postings! She gave me a lift to great world (on her way to watch a movie) and i just browsed at GWC before taking the shuttle to orchard to pick up number2s of bakuman and les gouttes. Am seriously contemplating getting the kino card alr since im starting on numerous series(es) of mangas. So far my stack of other novels are awaiting, and The Passage too (reading it in bits).

Kith Cafe has been the start of my NUMEROUS brunches at Robertson Quay. Get the breakfast ball rolling ;)

Procacci

Day before this Saturday I was post call and went brunch with Irene at Prive so after that zonked out for 20 hours non stop (thanks wansze for postponing brunch to Sunday ;)) and just lazed the entire sat away reading my thurs-fri stacks of newspapers and my new found love for manga (actually, its re-ignited since those slam dunk/prince of tennis days). Reading both Oisinbo and Les Gouttes de Dieu (about Red Wine). Moving onto Bakuman about the life of a comic artist - got attracted to it cos its by the same manga artist who wrote Death Note. Mostly started on #1 of Bakuman on the train ride on the way to Procacci (Collyer Quay, Customs House). Prob get lost trying to find parking then get slaughtered by the parking fee so of cos took the train (but then again, regretted it after cos...read on). Was waayy early shoulda just picked up my reserved book too. After Chongs finally met me at Raffles Place, we too got lost on the other side of the road (no way to cross) and an uber uber ex taxi ride ($10 = ERP +CBD + peak hour + 5min ride) we finally got there. See shoulda driven. Anw. Its super pretty!! Lighted up so prettily next to the Fullerton Bay Hotel (which is really quaint too). Sigh such a quiet chill place to be at, away from the messy crowds else where (and nearby too....). Love love it. Thanks Chongs for booking (tho it was alfresco, heh). Shoulda seen my look when we didnt get an indoor seat. But must admit - view was dropdead gorgeous, and it was quiet, save for the bunch of noisy young hotties behind us - it was a night when a girl dined alone, another girl was alone till her bunch of babes bombed, but mostly, relished the quiet and the peace. It made up for the humid night. The night breeze was quite therapeutic, actually. LOVE the bread basket. I ate tons of the crisp thin chewy foccacia - of which there are two breeds - the above mentioned and the puffier cousin (looks whiter) of it. If you eat the foccacia straight from the oven it tastes exactly like the crispy Thasevi prata. Yummmms. Italian prata. Dipped into the olive oil and the mashed up olives- Chongs especially loved it. The bread was so tasty on its own and in olive I didnt have to ask for my usual butter.

Beef Carpaccio with truffle oil and arugula leaves - Chongs loved it to bits but I think the beef slices were way too thin for my liking. Would rather have the thickness of En Dining's Carpaccio!

This is what Chongs had her mind and heart and stomach on before she came here : Chilled Pasta with Truffle Oil and Caviar. Firm to bite and doused in plenty of truffle oil and salty bits of Caviar, we were happy troppers. Couldnt figure out what the other black specks were though. Just very very delicious. Chilled pasta tastes soooo good.

Porcini Risotto with truffle oil - couldnt taste much of the truffle oil here (actually, not at all). But no matter what im still a big fan of risotto - the mushrooms here I must say melt in your mouth. They have the most amazing smooth texture ever, in contrast with the firm grains of risotto. Good stuff too.

We strolled all the way round Marina to Marina Bay Sands where we enjoyed the breeze and the mist of the outdoor displays - many interesting ornaments and structures on the stroll on the way there. We browsed thru the shops (which closed at 12mn!! on fri and sat), gawked at people peering down (and still bucked the trend, lol), got excited about the crowded dessert/coffee shop which we realised was, bean, dohhh. And set our heart on our new hobby of booking hotel stays esp boutique ones when the moolah rolls in. Can't wait for that infinity pool date ;)

We then emerged full circle at Esplanade - wanted to Orgo but (as I thought) only standing space only, and a almost to Pump Room, but I gave up on nearing the cab stand and seeing my 77. It was a killjoy - but work on Sunday IS indeed a killjoy. While Chongs gets pampered at B, I shall get the other extreme. Lol at least a good Sunday brunch with Wans awaits !

District 10

Crunchy bread sticks. Fun to much on.
Duck Confit

Wagyu Meat Balls with Penne

Florentine Truffle Pizza MAD LOVE!

Yesterday met peck - had to go to her 76 to see a uro overflow (which, urti + no hd bed= eventual postpone.......for the second) - and a near scare about my steth. poor Pek had to wait since 5pm for me to end - tho everyone exited early these new cases just always pop up at exits. But in the end we managed to zoom down despite bad cte jam and losing each other (and the long way to the uturn at lavender!!) to have dinner at District 10 (10 Winstedt Road #01-17). belongs to the Bonta group so lookin forward to good italian stuff but turns out most food was fusion.

Tucked away at old Monk's Hill Secondary - i loved the vibe of this place. Has a huge al fresco area and an equally lovely indoor restaurant which had a woody interior and a blackboard on it scrawled the daily specials. Love the casual laid back vibe of the place. Their specials are a must try - all very old school on the blackboard within the restaurant.

Pecks did some reading up of the place (heh, now all my friends do......) and said the duck confit was supposedly good so we ordered that. The duck confit was done a little differently from what I had at La Petit Cuisine - duck confit stewed in its own fat. Here it seems like it was deep fried and was quite a salt bomb. Otherwise very tender and fell apart quite easily.

The wagyu beef penne was also quite satisfying comfort food.Typically I'm not quite a fan of tomato based pastas (cream ones are just too good to pass on for tomato ones) but I must say that this is going to change my mind cos the sauce was just so rich and full of herbs. The wagyu beef balls were also kickass. Packed with meaty goodness.

But the bomb was the FLORENTINE TRUFFLE PIZZA. Gosh a taste of this (actually, even a whiff of this) and we were in truffle heaven - slivers and ribbons of crisp pasta (yeah it was a super Carb indulgence) atop cheesy truffled chewy pizza base - this pizza was huge and we ate all but 2 slices left to tabao for breakfast. It was that good. 3 slices each. Possibly the best ever truffle in a dish I had (and I never thought truffle could taste THIS good in pizza). I was quite blown away.

We were two happy girls that night ;) trailed me back to Newton before we had to wake up early again cm. Sigh love my comfort Italian food so so much. Cant wait for Italy come December ;)

Everything with fries, Overeasy

It was Friday of our third week at U and fly and i were supposed to join the team for drinks later. Apparently team runs every week compulsory by prof but omg no way am i gonna be tortured physically any further!! besides it rained out the entire day and we're always swarmed with changes.

Fly and I took off to meet cel, lin, chongs at Everything with Fries (Holland Village). Parking was a nightmare as testified by Fly. We were real lucky to get a lot and i was super scared I'll bang my dads car. Precious +++ (the car, and the carpark lot).

Since I tried the lamb burger before i went for the Breaded salmon and sour cream skinny fries. Love the top crispy fried to perfection layer of skin and the oily salmon. Should have gone for double portion of fries instead of the limp coleslaw cos I ended up eating Chong's double portion (so yeah, had triple portion).

Cel, Fly and Lin's Lamb burger.

Chiara's sandwich with the thick cut curry fries and skinny sour cream fries of which I ate it all up for her. i conclude the CURRY flavour is the yummiest!!! when its chunky too.
Nutella tart - my second time having it, still not too convinced by its chocolateness.
Chongs think it looks like siew mai and pau. Its the banana butterscotch pudding.

Over to Overeasy (One Fullerton) , but needed a nap in the car till 1040pm. Met Chongs at the lobby who was waiting for Lin comin in the car and finally Cel before we managed to get a long lounge seat. Subsequently A and M joined us with another, plus Cels colleague plus marcus/rous/nat from clarke quay and a post call very hungry rous. we saw lotsa familiar peeps from d to the juniors to sx. Hmmms.

wings for M.

gave up on the haystack fries with parmesan which seems to be perpetually soggy.whatever happened to the wonderful ones I had it the first time round!! But i was still eating these after the triple portion of fries. sigh kels its your fries infection.

The original nachos came first which I sent back to the kitchen cos I love love love the Farmers style nachos!! Love everything in here. the guacomole, salsa, sourcream, EGGS , PASTA, cheese - the ones in caps you don't get in most nachos. omg im so hungry thinking about it now i feel like having the ones at Cafe Iguana the huge one.

The Disgruntled Chef, CM-PB

Crispy Lamb Short Ribs
Crayfish Mac and Cheese

Camembert Cheese Fondue with Toasted bread and Apple sauce

Truffle Fries

Oyster and Lamb Sausages

Roasted Miso Cod

The lovely lovely band on Wednesday at CM-PB

Jillian's beer and my Choyu Martini at CM-PB

Had an excellent excellent dinner at The Disgruntled Chef (26 B Dempsey) with Jills. Picked her from Outram and w/o internet (to locate the place and get the add/tel) and my last min off drain plus d/c from 64 meant unable to leave stat again! But we were circling around and somehow managed to stumble upon it. Its right next to Tawadang (which we parked right in front of!!) and a very subtle stylish sign to indicate we were on our way to a very delish meal ;)

The menu was simple - food items was kept to a page long and was divided into the Big plates and the Small plates (which was very much more extensive). The Big plates didnt appeal much to us but the small plates did (and it helped that the small plate names were atop while the big plates ones were like by the way at the bottom) - We jumped at the Mac and Cheese almost immediately, and the Chunky truffle fries while the others took a bit of deliberation hmmm mmmms. (Kels, Michelle, Cel, if you're reading this you must def go try!). All plates are meant for sharing. Love the ambience here - its semi formal and since all plates are for sharing it breaks away from the fine dining individual portion/multi course format that I'm not a fan of.

We enjoyed the Lamb short ribs which came first the most. The crisp layer of skin plus the melted fats were just amazing - the skin was fried to a crisp and marinated with herbs and spices. And nothing beats holding up the rib bone and eating it right off (like a satay;)).

The mac and cheese came next - and this one was a little unique as it came with chunks of crayfish. Loved the gratinated bits right atop and the creamy cheeses of mozarella and chedder. Very similar to Spruce's and Overeasy's except for the crayfish bit.

The camembert cheese fondue came with lovely toasted bread and a sweet (paradoxically) green apple sauce. They melted the entire chunk of cheese and it was fun dipping the bread right into the melted camembert. It is quite queer though, to dip the bread into the cheese then into the apple sauce and have it altogether. Its quite a clash of tastes. its better to dip into the cheese OR the apple sauce individually.

The lovely truffle fries was Jillian's favourite. very strong truffle aroma rivalling House's.

Jills also had the fresh oyster - not a fan of these shell fishes - and on the same platter there were 2 mini lamb sausages (otherwise it must have been quite strange to just serve the oyster alone - these were complimentary). I took 1 of them and it had this sour twang ....quite strange.

Another strange sour after taste came from the roasted miso cod. It was not the overpowering miso- a pity tho, the texture of the fish was really smooth and melt in your mouth.

We then headed to CM-PB(Blk 7 Dempsey Road #01-05) after that (jillian had stomach for drinks but of cos im always in the mood for icecream). I'm glad we tried out a new place today cos I just found a new neighbourhood joint which plays great live music. Its a two girl band with one of them sounding like M2m (not their image though, thankfully) and whipping out a violin in the midst of the song too. It had a very chill vibe, perfect for good conversation and good drinks - Jillian's beer (very smooth according to this beer lover - took a sip and could stand no more!)and my Choyu Martini (think it'll be Kelly's favourite - plum+++). Love the potency of my martini ;) No chocolate teas and no coffees after 10pm though, baad for drivers. Love this place to bits. Will be back to try their regular food and bar snacks. Chongs I hope you're reading this cos this will be next on our bar food trail(and also, their signature mojitos) ;)

Nando's

Finally met up with Kels and mood was uber good cos we were finally going to inception long after the mishap the previous posting. There was a 830 pm showing at Filmgarde and we were so going to make it!! thanks kels for looking me up at 55;)

Never saw a more pri sch like decoration before! jam ++ at chinatown.

More annoying was the erp $2 at chinatown + $1.50 at cityhall plus ANOTHER $2 when I exited past Iluma intending to u turn into Bugis junction but the bugis junction car park was full &^#%$^#%( and there was no indication at the carpark entrance so had to crawl in and out and still landed up at Iluma (couldnt filter to left initially). The ERP was more ex than the car park itself.

Note to self: iluma has another mind numbing spiral to climb.

So had to get Kels to queue at Nando's (Level 1, Bugis Junction) and I to get the movie tix. There were loadsa queuers at Nando's and luckily some folks gave up. Never been so happy to see couples leave the restaurant. And no way were we sitting next to the queue where people will be hovering over us.

Many many sauces of which at first I declared not going near the garlic sauce -but it turned out to be the nicest. There was also the peri peri sauce and the extra hot peri peri sauce.

Our drinks of Cold, Rooibos tea, with mint and a stalk of lemongrass and Crimson Cola.

Peri Peri platter - I suggest you just go for the quarters/half chicks. These tiny bits of chicken were just too dried out. The nicest part of the platter was prob the warm pita bread and the hummus dip.

Our yummers half chicken and chips/potato salad. Super succulent and thoroughly marinated. I took the half of this (ie a quarter) with the thigh and the drumstick and i loved how tender the meat was. Kels thought it was saltish plus all the sauces were salty too so after a while there was not much differentiation. Well, tasty meat is tasty meat to me. Its good on its own.

I realise after this dish that I'm only a fan of hot fried/grilled potatoes. Not cold potato salad.

We scurried off to watch Inception after this. Filmgarde starts on time (and I think its also cos its ending its run ald......) so we were slightly late ish. Time check : 7.30pm start queueing at Nando's; 7.45pm get seats, order; 8pm food comes; gobble up till 8.25ish go for movie at 830pm...last bits of pita bread were stuffed in before we hurried over!! thank god nando's is located just below the linkway to Iluma.

I relate well to Inception cos I'm the sorta person who dreams loads (esp during my double digit sleep time). It'll be coolbeans to keep a dream diary - usu the dreams get retained for minutes after i wake up and becomes too insignificant to retain any further. But of cos the layering and complexity of Inception doesnt ever beat my simple dreams (or nightmares of still being at work and hearing my phone ring).

Bosses, Vivocity

Fried fish skin

Wasabi Century egg rolls

Crystal vegeterian dumplings

Frog leg porridge

Salted egg custard buns

Chee cheong fan stuffed with Fried beancurd and prawn

Got up early on a gloomy Sunday morning and boy was I glad to send grann to church. It was also the start of the month so birthdays were celebrated with a huge yummy walnut cake and yam cake (tastes like home made....) and the class after was conducted by a microb prof who teaches my (ex)fac. Talking about the closeness and how I was clinging onto gran must have been pretty obvious, as well as bringing up the issues of again deriving satisfaction of my line's pay (pittance) vs job satisfaction of others.

Thanks to Kelly who helped me source for the no, we booked a place at Bosses (level one, Vivocity) at 130pm. I first heard this place from Pam who told me this place is....fierce. An all black area with staff black dress code (but not too black faced =P). Eventually promotions like their 50 % off during weekday dim sums came and went. We chose an area facing Sentosa tho the staff very considerately told us that area is a little noisy. Well...everywhere was noisy.

Started off with the fried fish skin appetiser that reminded me of the amazing hotpot at the Little Sheep Hotpot in Hong Kong - once you place this into the pot...it expands and some parts of it still maintains their crispness ! But in this local context....we just dipped it into our porridge ;)

The first dish was the cold wasabi century egg roll. It is quite an ingenious dish cos I quite like century egg and a slice of ginger together - and the wasabi mayo+ cucumber just reminds me of wasabi prawns. Plus the skin of the roll is so super smooth it was really interesting.

Next came the crystal vegeterian mushroom dumplings which had skin a tad too thick. Better off at Crystal Jade's.

Frog leg porridge was sweet and yummy but I think the ones I had at upper bt timah/mt emily area was much better cos of the kungbao sauce! This one was down to the goodness of the stock plus the meat only no sauce needed.

Custard/Salted egg Buns came next and I was full of anticipation!! (cos i came here mainly for this). Have never eaten such a liquidified core (hence need to be careful not to be scorched and not to let it all drip into you) before and it was sweet a moment and salty from the salted egg the next - it was such a delicious little bun!!

By the time the chee cheong fan came we were stuffed. But this is twist to the rendition of the you tiao chee cheong fan - it was a fried bean curd wrapped around a prawn, and a layer of chee cheong fan covers it all. grann found this a little too salty (the fried bean curd was too salty and too difficult to tear apart) but I just thought it was such a refreshing change to the youtiao version (tho I miss that version too).

After lunch while killing time to catch the 330pm show Sandcastle, we strolled on the upper levels of Vivocity and browsed through Daiso (surprised grandma hasnt been at the upper floors despite being at Vivocity before lol). We then walked around the Level 3 open space and just spaced out looking at the sea and looking at people space out too. We sat around the Level one open area too and just chilled under the trees and watch the Star Cruise ship loading and just enjoying the sea breeze. So chill right!! Such time is precious with the grand dame. (but super happy cos my next month weekends are untouched so i can have more of such lunches with her!!! ;)) The movie itself was heartwarming and such a local flavour and im glad grandma enjoyed it. As much as it deals with the very local issues of history, NS, young romances, old age, sickness - it captures such moments beautifully. Really worth a breather away from the usual suspects of our very familiar local directors.