The Bar at Morton's, Ice Cream Gallery

Cel and Fly organised this get together for the Martini hour at the Bar at Morton's (Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Level 4) and the very same day Rous asked me to go for another cocktail hour somewhere else but all of us all got together here in the end.

Whats funny is that the original people who were supposed to come (eventually it got postponed to Thursday sorry for that inconvenience babes!) were one hour late - so from 5-6pm, the impromptu folks happily had their fair share of steak sandwiches... Rous was the earliest (I think she's only ever early for this kinda food offer) followed by Nat and Marcus. Poor Huilin was waiting at Marina Square for Fly and Cel so finally at 6pm we all assembled in the very crowded bar. It was quite full house!

For those of you not in the know, the Bar at Morton's has free flow steak sandwiches served butler style with every order of the following marinis at $11.95: Cosmopolitan, Appletini, Lychee Martini and Chocolate Martini. The martini hours are from 5-7pm on weekdays. No reservations here - you must come at 5pm to secure your table!

My lychee martini...now when I've this drink I think of the lychee martini icecream at Seventh Heaven..
Rou's Chocolate Martini... the alcohol is quite strong and there are many many chocolate flakes inside its quite fun to fish them out with your straw! I had this when I came here the first time some time ago.

Nat's Cosmopolitan..

Marcus' Appletini...around the rim of the martini glass is a layer of cinammon powder and I'm quite sure you can tell he managed a sip before I shot this..

I think I must have had 8 of these fillet mignon steak sandwiches - the meat is quite inconsistently done though, some are well done like above and some are bloody medium rare...but we enjoyed them nonetheless - what we don't like is if the chunk of bread is thicker than the bread and is lathered with too much mayo!

I must say all of us were very excited when the waitress brings a tray of the sandwiches up to the bar! All bracing for the reach towards the sandwiches lol it was quite funny, our expressions will totally change and we'd stop short our conversations - yar you can feel the greed. There was this instance we wiped out the entire tray (there were 7 of us) leaving just one sandwich behind - and the strange waitress brought the tray to the next table and when the 2 guys asked her if they'll be bringing more she actually told them to split the sandwich into half...hilarious..

Rous wanted to drag us to the other cocktail place but Fly, Nat and I wanted icecream so between Udders, Seventh Heaven and Ice cream Gallery (Valley Point) it was the latter we chose , more for the convenience than anything else..

I sampled the flavours at the Ice cream gallery outlet in the East before but Kelly and I were totally turned off by the rude service there we crossed the road to have Cheng Tng at Yue Lai Xiang instead...Here the service is nothing but great though. The 2 girls that served us were extremely friendly.

This shop is much bigger than the East outlet, with ample seating. They also serve savoury food as well. The previous time I sampled the Whisky Prune and I really liked it so I was sure I was gonna eat it.

The lychee was weak though (maybe the lychee martini at Morton's did me in....) and the other alcoholic flavours here didn't strke a cord with us - Strawberry Champagne tasted like a normal strawberry sorbet, and the Kirsch Cherry was a little too light..

Everyone liked the Honey Nut (which is quite nougety) but I still liked my whisky prune.. I think it is the best alcoholic flavour they have.

On this side, the Earl Grey and Fig was very good. The sea salt caramel cant beat Tom's! And we eventually chose the D24 of cos, which they are famous for and B recommended it to me a long time back (but I never got the chance to try it till now)

Earl Grey and Fig, Belgian Chocolate, Sea Salt Caramel and Roasted Nut

The Earl Grey and Fig was the best of the lot, it is so rare to find tea in your ice cream, let alone Fig! The subtle sweetness of the bits of fig tasted oh so good with the earl grey.

Similarly, I liked the bits of roasted nut inside the Sea Salt Caramel icecream (which Tom's doesnt have). Anything with nuts, I like! I love the aroma of the roasted nuts.

And the Belgian Chocolate was good as well - if you like it dark, you will like this.

Honey Nut,D24 Durian, Plum Whisky

We started eating the D24 first cos we were scared that it will melt and contaminate the whole tub - it is really quite good! and not very smelly and contaminating...it is almost as good as eating the durian itself..although I think the MaoShanWang at Udders is more potent...

Nat and I liked the Plum Whisky most. The whisky is quite strong and there are bits of fruit in it as well.

As I said, the Honey Nut was nougaty..its like having toblerone icecream..not bad if you like sweet milky icecream..

Everyone really really liked Ice Cream Gallery and they were all glad I dragged them here.

After that we rushed all the way to Cineleisure wanting to catch Benjamin Button/Slumdog/The Wrestler - no we're not Oscar junkies - but guess which we caught in the end...

No its not Button..we watched the Wrestler and I think it is an awesome show if you can stomach the gore... it depicts the isolation of someone when he devotes his life to his passion - Wrestling consumed his life and burns all the other bridges - it was as if, he can't function in the real, mundane human world away from the glorified world of wrestling. He couldnt fight for the love of his daughter and the love for his life the way he fought in the ring. I think Mickey Rourke was a really strong contender for the Oscars - pity for the loss.

Molly Malone's Irish Pub, Ji De Chi, Tong Shui Cafe

B and I wanted to try many places at Circular Road and we ended up at this irish pub called Molly Malone's (56 Circular Road) most famous for their beer battered fish and chips. It attracts a mixture of expats and locals and at that time we went the happy hour was still on going and the pub was packed.

Molly Malone's has two levels - the second floor was packed and really quite noisy. The first floor has many sections - we sat in this room and it was much quieter. There is another area with the bar and a smoking section further in, segregated by closed doors. The crowd also spills over to the tables outside, most of them expats armed with a mug of beer.

B had a mug of beer (I cant remember the exact breed) and it was quite good =)

Beer battered fish and chips, $17

I think the portion justifies the price - you get five palm sized fish and plenty of thick cut fries. The fish is really very tender and freshly fried! Pity though it doesn't come wrapped in newspapers, British style. We don't see any vinegar too but I suppose you can always request. But we thought everything here was really good, and not too oily as well.

Funny thing is, the extra tartare sauce we requested looked very different from the tartare sauce here- in terms of texture and colour...strange indeed. It tasted more like mayo...hmmmm..

Calgary Stampede Burger $16

Oh this burger was really quite good. The patty was one of the beefiest I've tasted - we asked for medium well. The cheese though, seems more to be lathered on the top (yummy,toasted, sesame coated) bread and not on the meat itself, and that top bread (which we ate separately) tasted like very good cheese toast! I really like this burger!

Note that last order for food is 1030pm, and there is no service charge here, tips are to the patron's discretion.

After that B and I took a long long stroll down to Liang Seah Street for desserts (actually we wanted to go Tom's Palette but it was closed by the time we rolled there). I've tried Ah Chew's numerous times so we decided to go to Ji De Chi (Liang Seah Street).

Ji De Chi has a really huge menu and has many many types of Durian dessert whereas Ah Chew doesn't have durian in their desserts. In Ji De Chi, there is durian rice rolls, durian baked rolls, durian puree in their steamed milk, on its own....even the shop itself has a durian fragrance (or pungence, whichever side of the field you are on).

Steamed milk Egg white

I wanted to try the JiDeChi's version of this dessert and I felt the texture was rougher than Ah Chew's steamed milk with egg. The milk taste is also rather strong here.. I prefer the smoother Ah Chew's one.

Durian Puree with sago $6

We were debating between this durian puree or the steamed milk egg white with the addition of the durian puree (actually we wanted both). But luckily we ordered the steamed milk egg white on its own because this particular durian puree tasted funny and we sent it back. There was too much of foul stuff to stomach so there was no way we could eat it.

Sweet Heart

So we wanted to replace the durian dessert with a mango dessert and we were persuaded by the waitress to try this instead of the usual mango pomelo sago (which comes with a scoop of icecream). What is different is that this dessert has milk in it and is quite sweet. There is mango puree and real mango pieces and plenty of sago and pomelo sacs - it feels like a mango milkshake with plenty of extra ingredients. I don't like sour mangoes so I thought this dessert was quite nice.

Sesame paste and walnut paste

The walnut paste is very very good! I prefer the sesame paste at Ah Chew's though I think it is more fragrant. The pastes here are very smooth.

Baked Durian Puff $8.50

This took 20 minutes to bake and after that nasty Durian Puree we wanted to cancel our order but we didn't (cos I thought baked durian shouldnt taste that bad). I think this particular batch of durian paste isn't too fresh.. but this puff is rather interesting it feels like a dessert sushi roll..check out whats inside...

The durian paste was not that sweet or fresh but still edible - from left to right, there is actually a crumbly butter cake, sesame seeds, then the durian paste! all wrapped up with an extremely fluffy pastry roll. We had fun dissecting the innards... and it was quite tasty if only the durian paste was fresher.

Then we trotted to the nearby Tong Shui Cafe (Liang Seah Street) cos I was craving for the Thick Durian Toast that Chong and I had a few nights back for supper.

Thick Durian Toast

I pointed to the exact same picture as I did with Chong on the bestseller menu but I realise what Chong and I had a few nights ago was the Durian French Toast (which is in their regular menu)- No wonder the bread then was slightly salty and crispy. If you just order the thick durian toast (like this particular one) the bread is just.....well.....alot of white plain fluffy bread. You must go for the FRENCH TOAST! (It's about one buck more)- That is really very very good.

B says the durian tastes like a durian-kaya concoction while Chong says that its like a caramel - kaya concoction. It is really quite sweet and runny and oh so very yummy for a supper.

Remember, its the Thick Durian French Toast!

Creperie Entre-nous, Out of the Pan, East Coast Park and Changi village

Today was the Chan Brothers Travel Fair and Kelly and I thought we could snag a good deal for our flights so we met and planned for a leisurely lunch at Cityhall. Parked at Shaw Leisure Gallery and cos Tom's Palette is closed on Sundays (bah!) I had to settle for the green tea ice cream from Mr Bean(Shaw Leisure Gallery) cos it was really such a hot day!!..

Green tea icecream $2.20

I felt like I was taken for a ride cos the green tea is so subtle I feel like I'm eating a green coloured original soya ice cream! Which cost 50% more! The last time I'm eating you!

And once again, like Marcus' homemade green tea icecream, the colour of this icecream blends right into my blog background...

The night before I met Michelle at 2am dessert bar and I told her I needed brunch places and she suggested Pump Room but that'd be for another Sunday when I don't have to do errands. She joined us for crepes at Creperie Entre-nous (27, Seah Street, #01-01Tel: 6333-4671) instead.

I've been wanting to try this quaint French creperie since I read about it on atetoomuch and it came out in the Cheap and Good section on Life! before but somehow I never got the chance till now. Cheap and good recommended Stephane's favourite and moines.

There are 2 set menus - $20 set menu you can choose from these savoury crepes and you get a salad and a soft drink thrown in, the $28 set menu gets you the savoury crepe, salad/soup of the day, a dessert crepe and a drink.

The savoury crepes here are called galettes, which are only cooked on one side, and are made with organic buckwheat flour. Their sweet crepes, on the other hand, are the regular wheat flour ones hence the difference in colour and texture. The galettes tend to be more crisp and the wheat flour ones are slightly more chewy.

avocado/cream/garlic/tomato $12

Michelle is quite a fan of avocado so she quite liked this. I like avocado only if its mashed up (think milkshake, icecream) so I thought the creamy avocado went very well with the crisp buckwheat crepe.

egg/emmenthel cheese $13.50

The red haired waitress(whom i think is a co-owner!) asked if we wanted the egg to be done sunnyside up (the way the French do it) or scrambled and we requested for scrambled. This was so so, the cheese was rather bland - Kelly said she had to keep adding salt and it tasted better. Well, I like anything with cheese though some meat will be great! After a while I felt like I was eating ang moh thosai.

Stephane's favourite $16.60 chicken, caramelised onions,french mustard

This was the hot favourite - the chicken was fantastic and had this smokey flavour! Reminded me of the tea-smoked chicken sandwich I had at the Moomba tuckshop. The caramelised onions were really sweet and flavourful too. At first we hesitated about this cos we thought chicken will taste weird in a crepe but luckily we went for it cos it was my favourite. This comes with a salad which has a similar french mustard. Ooh the french mustard was good - fragrant and nutty.

entre nous $7

with home made salted caramel

Oh this was a fantastic dessert crepe and Michelle said she was gonna try making her own salted caramel after this. It was plain, sweet, but very good. You can buy the home made caramel - I think it is $14 for a jar. Michelle and I were fantasising over adding the sea salt caramel icecream from Tom's Palette yums.

Mich left home (to go and sleep tsk tsk) so Kelly and I ventured onto humanjamland at the crowded Chan Brothers Travel Fair. We took a queue number and there were 120 people in front of us so of cos off we were to afternoon tea.. waffles at Out of the pan (basement, Raffles City)! Actually we wanted to go Ji De Chi but it was too far away and it was too hot so we decided to take the air con route and eat at an air con place =P

We were perched up on very high bar seats and this is really the place for being people-watched (NOT people watch we were staring at the fountain the whole time) it is inevitable that the people on the elevator will spy on you cos Krithika saw us and said hello! Not a good idea if you don't want your gluttony for all to see..

Fresh Berries $13.50

with vanilla bean icecream

This waffle is made of whole wheat and is really quite bready - with a slight crisp at the edges. It is dusted all over with sugar and we thought that there was cinammon in the batter as well. It was alright, I guess - especially with the ice cream - although we preferred the fluffier waffle at Shokudo. The strawberries were extremely fresh and sweet and crunchy!

We totally missed the point of the dessert - if you scroll up again to the previous photo you'd realise the whole time we were staring at the backside of this pretty heart shaped chocolate - well not like the waiter had any aesthetic sense either to place the dessert the right way! Seems logical being the love cynics we are, turning our backs on it.

I think the Chocolate waffles sound damn good I feel like going back to try it...the only thing that deterred me was the orange sorbet that came with it I hate anything with orange in it!

Guess what, when I went back to the travel fair after our long long leisurely dessert, there were still 20 people ahead of me! No one entertains your enquiries till you get a queue number! Of cos I gave up (and Kelly left for tuition) so I also left to meet my friends at East Coast.

Thanks to Fiona, I chalked up enough exercise credits for the year! I met Fiona, Sheryl, Kristanto, Tian, and an Egyptian exchange student at East Coast (none of them are in this photo these are some random girls) ..while the rest cycled, I was the lone soul who bladed (cos I cant stand the pain that comes with cycling for more than 45 minutes). Our starting point was Burger King (where I conveniently parked thank god for the lot =p) and end point? Changi Village. I had no idea how impossible it could be on my tiny wheels. Ignorance is indeed bliss, cos I am sure not that ambitious and I don't overestimate my stamina.

It was just about this point at the cable skiing place that the cyclists zoomed off and I was off to chase them =)

Of cos I did pass by rustling bushes which do scare me..
I like this particular turn to Changi Beach..

This stretch parallel to the runway of Changi Airport is an assault to the senses: tiring to conquer, reeks of engine oil, and loud departing and arriving planes..the road went on and on! But I must say I did enjoy the solitude and quietness of the long straight route.
Sun was setting soon, must kuai kuai go to Changi Village before it gets dark. I love the gorgeous rays and I was glad throughout the whole route, the sun was facing my back so it wasnt so glaring!

See how fast the sun is setting?? This was from Changi beach - and there are many planes descending here. Gorgeous background, I loved this place. This was my first time here - I bladed the previous long long stretch before but I didn't complete the whole stretch (so I didnt know it leads to here) as my cyclist friends decided to turn back to return the rented bicycles. But today, my brave friends decided to go all the way to Changi Village and I must perserve!

No guesses, guys, which area I zoomed by...

Super rustic and enjoying the simple pleasures in life

The planes were actually heading towards us inland to land in the air port and it was coolbeans watching the planes appear from the horizon...

After XXXX km and XXXXXXX hours I finally reached Changi Village Hawker centre, where Zhenjin, Jerry and Rou An joined us (smart to miss the cycling =P). Casualty: badly scratched phone that took the fall for me sigh Rous is right skin heals but metal doesnt!!! Thanks Rou An for ferrying my slippers when I was stranded at the Changi Village carpark despite your sprained ankle.

I desperately needed hydration and glucose I was super hypoglycemic and dehydrated. I actually drank a whole 1 litre bottle, and I wolfed down this fantastic dessert that I remembered reading about from nevertrustascrawnyfoodie..not sure if its the same stall (honestly anything sweet from anywhere will do during desperate moments) so I just tried Fu Xiang Hot&Cold drinks..well at least I tried to get the stall right I went to call Michelle (and she wasnt sleeping =P)

The longan red tea jelly with evaporated milk!

Longan red tea jelly with evaporated milk, $2

Actually I gobbled most of it down cos I was so hypoglycemic anything vaguely sweet will taste good. But it is very good, the jelly wobbly and slippery, drizzled with evaporated milk all over and the longans were very crunchy. When the ice melted towards the end the whole concoction of milk-longan juice-red tea colouring was fantastically sweet and yummy.

Funny what intensive exercise does to you...you cant stomach anything heavy or oily or meaty after that! I couldnt take the satay nor the noodles after that and Rous say that its cos all the blood has been diverted from the GIT to the other parts of my body which need the oxygen more....

Besides the Hokkien mee and charkway teow that the girls shared, Wills had meepok and the rest had nasi lemak from this International Food stall (genuine) with the insanely long queue.
I think the fried stuff are good but the rice from Selera Nasi Lemak at Adam Food Centre is still better and fluffier. Here the rice was rather dry and didn't taste of much.

Fly, Will and Rou then drove back to ECP to get Will's van to ferry ALL the bicycles back cos we finished dinner at 845pm and it was quite impossible to cycle all the way back and make it to the shop's closing time at 945pm. To get here, we started at 5.15pm and I reached at around 745pm and they prob earlier.

The worse thing was they got lost on the way to ECP so it took them more than an hour to go to ECP and come back so we were running late - AND the receipt for the bicycle had NO contact number but luckily they called us back (to remind us of the penalty friggin ex at $3 for half an hour when it was not a clause in the receipt!!!!)

After getting all the bikes in, Rous Jerry and I stayed with Sheryl to wait for her parents and Jerry fetched us all back - quite an eventful night - had to scurry back so Rous and Kristanto could exchange back their phones, and my bladder was BURSTING from that 1 litre of water (and I didnt wanna use the Changi Village hawker centre toilet) so had to hurry rush back to Burger King but the toilet was on a damn ulu second floor and it was already 1045pm I didnt wanna kena peeping tom so I had to speed to Macs to the toilet then had a second pseudo scare with the lost camera when I came home so sorry frightened Jerry and Rou an and Zhenjin with my moment of panic! All my food photos!!!!!!! I was really scared that the camera popped out of the boot cos there were many many humps along the road of East Coast Park and very dark very hard to see!

Blah the worse thing was the next day I woke up to find the $54 deal from JetstarAsia has vanished! Heck, SIA here I come! Travel fairs, never again!