Prive (Keppel Bay)

April's wedding was the loveliest ever; full of love and praise and a very intimate gathering. It felt like a walk down memory lane meeting the sc girls and my rj friends - mutual frens/scholars/ac/yll frens from Aprils side. Was such a difficult find for the church too and from one of the small junctions i incidentally bumped into tracy!! who was a help with the directions too;difficult to miss a hot babe really!

after the wedding headed to meet S; we met at Starbucks Holland V where i had my first try of the chai tea latte which really really reminded me of grandma's soup seriously. We headed to Prive (Keppel Bay) and had desserts- a little disappointed the other desserts/bar food was not available as we were eyeing the profiteroles/caramel and banana pudding/mini trio of burgers/mini baits- yeah just about all the snacks in the world; in the end had to settle for the cakes and milkshakes.

After stopping him from the beer we had the Kahlau Milkshake to share (cos I tried Baileys before and it rox) - this one is less mild compared to Baileys but still an alcoholic milky yumms. A tad diluted tho, somehow this didnt give much of a kick compared to Baileys. Either my tastebuds have desensitized (!) or its just a weaker version of its other alcoholic cousin.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Cake was a recommendation from Mich so I tried it - its a really dense chocolate cake with a peanut butter layer and a meringue- it was quite a good cake for those fond of dense cakes;but it was not as memorable as the Blackforest cupcake - wow this was an interesting fella! Soaked cherries amidst loose sponge and topped with whipped cream its alcoholic component was not to be trifled with;light but just nice for a mini. All their cupcakes look like mini crumbles and I really wanna try them all!

Guess that'll be for another time when I yearn for a night breeze and chillin with house music again. Hope that area won't be boarded up so much again; and Prive closes so early now!! last order at 1130pm and close by 1230am; vehicles not allowed to come in after that too. Really a nice breezy chill quiet place tho;it must be one of my favouritest place to zone out.

7th Storey Restaurant

It was a Sunday well spent at Jasmine's sister's Jean's wedding at Marina Barrage (though the parking was a nighmare at the start with a foul mouth of a errant driver). It was a lovely venue (though it was sweltering!). It was such a blessed weekend with a birthday and a wedding !
Children were horsing around in the fountain behind the stage ;P congrats to Jean and Hansel!

Dinner was at the 7th Storey Restaurant (Marina Barrage). We were the lucky group that got to sit in the restaurant instead of the al fresco buffet lol . Dinner started with the Sharks fin soup.
Love the plump scallops inside here... Abalone and Vegetables in braised sauce which was really yummy...

Loved the steamed fish too!

Ate way too much chicken so much so that the table was cheering me on to finish up the latter when the dessert was inaccessible to me... Jas was a lil chez off that it was supposed to fried chicken (which was yummier) hence the haggling post dinner ;P i don't mind, chicken in any form is yummy.

Stayed on with Jas towards the end when i got endowed with a bottle of wine !! thanks babe and congrats once again to Jean!

Keisuke Tokyo

Met up with Carol, Shuwan and Pam at Keisuke Tokyo (9 Raffles Boulevard #P3-02 Parco Marina Bay, Millenia Walk) - Was the earliest and was awaiting the arrival of the 3 dames; we settled down for dinner till we realised that my cam was gone!!! and the whole meal was extremely settling as I gobbled down my hei mee to rush back to Awfully chocolate to get it back (thank god I didnt drop it in Zouk watching the World Cup). Nonetheless, tried to be composed but super distracted. In any case during this rushed meal (I had the original) I really enjoyed the aroma of the soup - a tad oily, but I loved the firm chewy noodles. A little strange to have chicken meat in a strong prawn broth but nonetheless very enjoyable and I will return for the crab ramen (which was launched days after my visit). Photo courtesy of Carol's iphone with thanks muchos!

En Dining

What a round about we went for my bd; cabbed to Lynda's ($29.50 no less) before home, then it was a round about thru Cathy and its musuem (no tix to toy story) and we intended to head to Marina Bay but it was the dreaded NDP (btw, its possible to watch fireworks from the higher floors of shaggh) meant the entire stretch thru Raffles Hotel was closed so we ended up heading thru Beach Road seeing the huge line up of tanks and engines ready for its annual display of glory. Luckily with Life in hands we rushed towards Kallang Leisure Park where front row seats for Toy Story 3 awaited us. First row strategy - sit by the side so the angle of elevation is not as impossibe. Met daddos and mom at Coronation (cos PIE beats the NDP jam anytime) for En Dining (Crown Plaza, Bukit Timah Road)- a repeat visit for me.

Deep fried shrimp - love these crispy morsels.
Grilled Tuna - these were tender and i love tuna in everything else but its raw version - when its doused in some source and gently grilled the tuna fishiness is rid.

Beef carpacio - full portion. Love the general portions of the raw beef and this doesnt disappoint - had the half portion the previous time I was here for all myself!
Wafu steak - chunks of tender grilled reds its was really goood!! Medium rare interiors was yumms.
Mixed Sashimi salad - think we were more busy with the roe than the raws.

Salmon mixed platter - too little for too much!

Unagi - fleshy and chunky is a new favourite for meis.

Salmon Roe pasta - salty and fun to eat with the roe bits.

Salmon Zosui for grandma.

Chocolate Ecstasy Cake ordered from Lynda Leong's Bakery - Andrew's sister. I sampled her Chocolate Rum cake before in year 3-4 for Michelle Ang's bd and Hwee Ying ordered the cake from her- it was so fudgy and good. This cake is a chocolate meringue cake - and Lynda said there was rum within the meringue - she kindly agreed to add rum ++ and add nuts to the cake as well (i'm a fan of both). Loved the great balance between fudge and sponge and meringue. She gave me samples for her brownies and pound cake too - I must say that the cab ride to the east (to her place) was 1/2 the price of the cake but totally worth the ride.

Olio Dome

Beetroot and Mushroom Salad

Sambal Crayfish and Crabmeat Claw pasta

Lamb

It was the week before my leave - and for my birthday treat, Carol and I wanted to try Bacchus at Dempsey but I was early and I rounded block 7 but couldnt find the place. Ended up with either Culina/Margaritas/Olio and settled for the latter.

I remembered Dome (Dempsey) to be immensely popular with my frens in sec sch (i remember the suntec/borders one) but somehow I never got down to eating the food there. There was a slight gush about it when it re opened again (i think there was a short hiatus) and I was quite excited to try the pasta there.

We started with the Mushroom salad - loaded with chunks of beetroot and sundried tomatoes (and i mean, lots!).

I had the sambal crabmeat claw and crayfish pasta- and I loved how sweet and spicy this was. The sauce was simply not enough to douse all the pasta and meat into...would love to ' jia tang' or add soup, in the chinese saying. Kels will rem how I always liked to eat soup to my fish soup.

Carol had the lamb but I think it was a little too small for her... lambs are just too skinny though they are tasty, hence my preference for lamb burgers. Cant go way off with a lamb patty (volume wise).

The fulfillment from a job after a pinnacle may not be enough should we not have the mindset or satisfaction we derive from our clients. Fulfillment may have to be sought in thereafter from other aspects, therein lies the importance of family and self contentment in improving the quality of one's living in more means than material.

Gattopardo

Bread basket

Seafood stew
Angel hair pasta with Roe and Sea Urchin

Squid ink pasta with fried eggplant and swordfish

Bruchatta Cheese Ravioli with asparagus and watercress

Chongs came over to SGH and from KPT we departed to Gattopardo (this vs Cuban at Customs) but we're glad we took the drive to Fort Canning. Amidst lovely shrubs, we made our way from the empty carpark down to The Legends where Gattopardo (11 Canning Walk Fort Canning Park) is. The restaurant is in an uncompleted Hotel Fort Canning, a very quaint place that is still undergoing renovation. Chongs says its a lovely place but creepy...

When we entered the restaurant at 645 pm it was empty and for a moment the restaurant belonged to us; it had a very intimate setting. Unlike Gunther's now the catches of the day are on the display at the bar counter (altho the table next to ours had the catch brought to them).

Firstly the bread - love the soft fluffy herb slice, whilst the thin crisps of flat bread was a little to spicy for Chongs. And when we asked for butter it was the hardest slab of butter ever but it melted in my mouth.

We had the seafood stew to share - came with chunks of fish and mussels and bamboo clams (which wasnt popular with Chongs so i had both). Loved how the broth didnt have a lobster bisque kinda flavour - it was light and tasted of saffron - but it was a wonderful combi with the seafood, complementing the flavours. We both loved it and dunked our bread into it.

Next came the 2 pastas we ordered - the Squid ink pasta (which Chongs was so gian to try after hearing about the Skinny Pizza that I tried) had a queer herby/sour taste so we sent it back to the kitchen. As the noodles sat longer on my sharing plate Chongs felt it had a more sickly greyish colour instead of a deadly staining jetblack colour lol.

Angel hair pasta with roe and sea urchin was fantastic! It had a cheesy taste, and salty and loved the consistency of the pasta.

We traded the squid ink pasta with the one we originally wanted to try - the Buratta Cheese Ravioli with Crab meat sauce, asparagus and water cress. This was a gross green - but turned out to be so very delicious. We were quite sure that we will miss our meats so so much in this dish, but its such a rich dish with shreds of crab meat, the taste was quite phenomenal. And i loved the cheese within esp.. very moreish.

We love travelling on our own so so much tho C dislikes the feeling of homecoming (but I do). Cant wait for my next leave so we can do a trip tog!

Brussel Sprouts

Its the end of the month (July) and handover took loonnng after the reg's meeting and the exit thereafter. Pek came back after her post call to meet us at 73 and we were waiting for them till past 7pm (a ridiculous for dim), when we then set off to Brussel Sprouts (Robertson Quay) courtesy of Norene.

We had an al fresco table for all of us, and it was packed. Presoccer time I suppose.

Everyone loves the cheese platter, crackers and fruits. Love the soft smelly cheeses!

Tempura prawns were not coated with crispy batter as I'd have liked

These portabello mushrooms were Norene's favourite.

Mussels in Lobster Bisque was the favourite of the night - everyone was scooping it out, and eventually I was dunking my fries into the broth. Yummms. Almost wanted to ask the chef to add pasta into the broth and re cook the whole lot (or jia1 mian4, as the Chinese calls it.). Greg's dare.
Mussels in white wine was the closet drinker's favourite lol

Gratinated Mussels were also very cheesy and yummy!

Between Yiks and me we polished 4 buckets of thick cut fries . Its FREE FLOW!

Wanted to head down to Laurent's but it was a workday and every one was to shag to stay any further so off we dispersed. Gonna miss the banter and imitation of the king of hid rejections so much! no more specific tables/lifts/columns anymore hahahaha.

Relish

Todays Monday and cos Sunday turned out to be too much of a goner for me, I met Carol today to celebrate her bd, and cos we were intending to go somewhere nearby James we asked him too.

So after dropping car off at J's I started my way down bt timah, cos My Little Spanish Place was closed on a monday, the Swiss butchery next to Coro was closed, Roast by La Petit Cuisine closed down, Tierney's Cafe was not really appetisingly inducing, so we ended at Relish ( Level 2, Cluny Court) (after simply bread was not so enticing too!) . I last came here 2 years ago with Z and I'm glad I made it back for a re visit!

Firstly - more burgers on the menu! There is also a new lamb burger - previously it was a lamb patty in a wrap.

Secondly there are fries with burger now - it used to be only hand cut chips (the type in potato chips- served at burger bench and bar).

Thirdly - the pasta menu is much more expensive! there was a hebi pasta that sounded interesting.

Fourthly, the desserts has also expanded!

I feel like im sounding like SKC..

My Beef burger with Poached Peer and Blue Cheese. Awesomeness all in one - i must say that its one of the most interesting burgers i've had - sweet salty and ...... pungent. Yummingly pungent.

Carol's Black cod burger. Huge chunk of breaded fish fillet it was quite a tender meaty one.

Wild Rocket burger - James'. I had this once two years back, and again at Relish with Kelly last year and its still as good a burger as ever.

Quite interesting cos we had two teachers behind us as well, pouring out similar woes!

I had to run to Liana's house to pick up my convo stuff whilst Carol had to run to get dad too. Cant wait for my treat back =)

Huber's Butchery, Artisteq

It was a day when I slept in but Chongs was restless to go after her unaccountable post mort meeting with kdr so we went off for brunch at Dempsey. Sadly House doesnt offer brunch on weekdays (it was a bright cheery Tuesday morning) and so we circled around. There's a new section at Dempsey and we happened to spot these two interesting cars.

So after almost exiting Dempsey, we spotted Huber's Butchery (Dempsey) and so we decided to take a chance. Im glad we did!

Gnocchi in Blue cheese is one big artery clumping chunk of happiness. Extremely dense pasta loaded chunk in smooth cheese, it was yumms!

My veal stew - was extremely tender and delicious. I substituted the mash with fries. Signature fries in fact but they tasted like macs actually.

Xue's beef burger. Equally good burger. Expected since its essentially a butchery so meats were extremely fresh.

This place is extremely pocket friendly but be prepared to sit in the heat.

The cow basks in heat the whole day long...

We browsed around Mandarin Gallery before the movie Monga and found this eerily amusing..

Popped by at Artisteq (Mandarin Gallery)... We really had too much time before Monga but we are not complaining...

We had an ice coffee with the dark chocolate icecream and we LOVED the ice cream! really dark and dense and delicious.

Iced Earl grey tea with ginger ice cream - this was less impressive than the one above. We wished more of the ice creams were available- we would have loved to try the vanilla champagne ice cream.

Monga is a smashing movie - i just love how colourful the characters and background is- the underworld is amazing, the dynamics of it. I also love how aggressive yet hilarious the hokkien language is. Esp now that i utilise it at work so often =P I shall rent it for home, i bet gran will love the movie loads!

The Queen and Mangosteen, Awfully Chocolate

Was going to sch to submit and picked chongs up from sch to head to Vivo. Our options were the tapas at Spruce (lunch weekdays only sigh), the sushi at Klee, or the very noisy Vivo which has the Cellar Door.
We went all the way to vivo to find that the Cellar Door (Vivocity) there has no lamb burger that i wanted to try!! Should have not been so lazy and checked that place out whilst it was still at Bt Timah.
So we ended at the bar seats at The Queen and Mangosteen (Vivocity Level one). And our strategic spot right in front of the tv was in vain cos it switched off 5 min into the game =/...
Still the breeze and sights were good, and of cos, we had another sighting we wanted to tag too =P okay shan't be evil haha.

What did us in ( I mean, led us into the restaurant) was the fries in curry crab dip. Oh well, nothing beats Yella Fellas!! as you can tell we had plenty of bar food. no drinks, just bar food.

Crabcakes doused in a very yummy fruit sauce. Chongs says the crab cakes don't beat those she had in the states. Oh i'd have loved to try those authentic meaty ones.

Bread with Shredded Duck dip - its dunked in plenty of mayo and our neurons got challenged cos it tasted so much like tuna somehow. Had to remind ourselves in between conversation it was duck not tuna.

A sighting before we left (not sure if we were heard!), we left for Toys R US to get cel's bd pressies. We had fun with the boing hammer, and rockhard jewel disney box, before we settle for those lovelies for cel. Really hope she likes it (tho our ultimate sofa will be her wedding gift!)

That bar food was nothing, so we went to have round 2 - desserts. Found Awfully Chocolate (L1, Vivocity) to be fully refurbished, with so much more to offer. We tried the Cold Poached Chocolate - basically it was truffle chocolate and cream shaped on a cold pan, topped with alot of cream and a flavour of your choice- here it is butterscotch. There were other alcoholic flavours but they were not available that night.

Had the Hei icecream which is as good as ever. Chongs had hyperglycemia halfway so i ate her scoop and most of the cold poached chocolate. I'm not complaining haha. She needs her dose of fries stat..

Anyway cos I left my cam here and i didnt realise till dinner at Keisuke the next day (when I was gonna use it to take of my ramen =P), had to rush here stat after Keisuke's dinner. No fun worrying about where it was esp being scared that it was lost in zouk where we went later on.

We walked to GV but no luck with shows (only nightmare on elm st no way), walked to St James but it was dead, hence we headed to Velvet which had a SATC event, and with our reds we were catching the match and were around Mambo/Phu for awhile when the sleepyness set in. Guess I deserved what I deserved towards the end of the week despite a great call on fri (3 admissions!!1 c/s only!!1 gxm!! no port c/s!!). Weekend was concuss time. Next week lagi concuss...such is the life!