Asian Kitchen @ Vivocity

I was at Vivocity and wanted a quick dinner and Asian Kitchen was not that crowded. I don't eat there that often and decided to try the fried chicken chop fried rice and hot and sour soup. The fried rice was good. The fried chicken chop was average. The hot and sour soup over the rice made it even tastier.
I didn't realize it was such a big bowl of soup. It was good. I like it. Not too spicy and not too sour. Just right :)

Lunch @ Hediard

We went to Hediard again to try the set lunch which is only available on weekdays. This time I managed to get a picture of the storefront. The red and black is just such classic color combination.
The menu which is simple and filled with extremely delicious fare.

The restaurant dining area. The other side is the gourmet fine food and gift section.

Another view of the interior with its wooden furniture and red and black color theme.
I ordered the savory set lunch which includes a soup, sandwich and drink. I chose to have a glass of rose. That was good. There is something quite decadent about drinking during the day?
The day's soup was French Onion soup and it was simply the best French Onion soup I ever had. It was not extremely salty like other places and I love how the piece of bread was covered with cheese. The soup was flavorful and filled with pieces of soft, almost caramelized onions. Simply lip-smacking delicious.

My friends ordered the tartine of the day which was grilled chicken over a piece of bread topped with tomatoes. It was pretty good too.
I decided to go traditional and ordered the Croque' Ferdinand which was grilled bread with Parma ham and Gruyere cheese and mornay sauce. I love it! The salad was also crisp and refreshing.
Another friend ordered the sweet and savory set which gives a choice of dessert instead of the soup or salad starter. She ordered the moelleux chocolate with vanilla anglaise. That is the lava chocolate cake with vanilla custard sauce. I tried a bit and while it was good, I think there are other places which also serve a pretty mean molten chocolate cake.
We decided to order the Hediard blend coffee and these were served to us. Squares of chocolates, sugar sachets and madeleines. The madeleine was not very nice. I felt it was too tough, not soft at all.
The Hediard blend coffee was really robust and good. Instant caffeine jolt to the system.

Kate Spade - Emerald Bag

I didn't get a Kate Spade paper bag as the big one was all out. Instead I was given the generic Takashimaya paper bag. So the dust bag will have to do.
My very first emerald calf leather bag - the New Canaan Small Malcolm. Taken with flash so it looked super bright green. I went to Kate Spade intending to check out the gold name card holder which I have been eyeing for the longest time, and then I went to buy the bag instead :p
Taken without flash. I love how the leather is soft enough to be slouchy and yet still retains its shape. I quite like the boxy look and it is definitely roomy enough for me to dump things inside. Besides the leather, the hardware is actually 14-karat gold plated :p
And I love the polka dot interior. It is so cute! It would be even better if the cotton twill lining is pink instead of navy blue. I guess I shall have to learn how to take care of this bag and not really throw it around and to really make use of the dustbag too.

Crystal Jade @ Liang Seah Street

We wanted something light for dinner and decided to try the Crystal Jade Hong Kong Cafe at Liang Seah Street. It was always quite empty during lunch but dinner was crowded.

We ordered the fried chicken wing, fried carrot cake and the salted chicken rice to share. It was a good thing cos the chicken rice portion was pretty big. The chicken was ok, not too tough or tender, just average. Lots of breast meat but somehow we couldn't really taste any saltiness at all though the rice was very flavorful.

I love the fried carrot cake. Cripsy outside and so super soft inside. The fried chicken wing was pretty good once you got over the herby taste. I think they added oregano or basil to the crumb mix. The iced milk tea which I ordered was awful, our own local style or thai ice milk tea was way much better. The avocado shake which my friend had was so-so only too.

Service was the typical over zealous style where they tried to remove the plates asap. There was still some rice in the pot when they thought we were done and took it away. We couldn't be bother to recall it back but it was definitely annoying.

The noise level was high with the chatter of all the diners. This would not be ideal for a first date or when you want some peace and quiet.

Location:
Crystal Jade Hong Kong Cafe
1 Liang Seah Street #01-12

Cycling at East Coast Park

I have not been to East Coast Park in a few or several months? It seemed like there were some changes to the coastline. While cycling towards the Fort Road area, at one patch, it seemed like the trees were chopped or damaged. Then we also saw the Woodball competition. Quite interesting, looks like croquet.
Me on a bike. I have not cycled in a long long long while. It has always been cycling in the gym :p But cycling is one thing which you will never forget, pretty much like swimming? I still remember the days of the bicycle being our mode of transportation in Oakville. You are pretty much out of the loop if you don't cycle as everyone cycled everywhere. No one drove over there then and no one took the bus either. How's that for a healthy peer pressure?
Me and HZ. Don't we still look pretty alike? Hahaha. The teacher(s) used to mix us up in secondary school. "Blur" teachers :p We were pretty crazy to cycle in mid-day. 1230 to 130pm. It was with much appreciation to enter Starbucks with its cool aircon at full blast. Cold drinks, cool air = heaven ;)

Carl's Jr @ Big Splash

I was quite amazed at the changes at the Big Splash area. It has been so long since I last went to that area, must be years before the renovation. There are so many new eateries and food joints at Big Splash now. It was also a horror looking for a parking lot too. Why are people at East Coast in the late morning? Lol, I would thought people would go to the beach in the late afternoon when the sun is not so strong.

I saw Carl's Jr and was tempted by the burger. It has been a few months since I last had it. Almost half a year :p I ordered the guacamole bacon burger, the one which contains over 1000 calories! So I usually would only order that if I am sharing it or if it is in the morning. Then to make myself feel better, I also ordered a side salad. Hahahaha.

My huge huge meal for brunch. My excuse is also that I would be cycling later, so burning off those calories.
The side garden salad. Crisp, greens with shredded cheese which tasted very synthetic. I didn't like that. I also regretted adding in the balsamic vinaigrette right into the salad. I usually prefer to have the dressing on the side as I like the fresh clean taste of the greens. The multigrain garlic croutons were surprising good. I am usually not a fan of it.
I think the burger patty has shrunk now? I used to remember how big the entire thing was.
It was still a big and thick bun, but not so for the filling. I guess this will always happen in Singapore or Asia. It would never be the same portion as you get in the States or Canada. But I still love the freshly brewed iced tea where you can sweeten it yourself. Reminded me of in Houston, Texas where the tea is always unsweetened.

Cheesy Spicy Tuna Noodle

This looked really ugly but also very yummy! Hahaha. Don't you find that sometimes ugly looking food actually tastes pretty awesome?

Took this with flash. I couldn't decide on which pic represents the food best, so 2 pics there are.

This was such a last minute thing, kinda scouring the fridge and pantry for food and decided to just make my old staple standby.

Ingredients:
cooked shells (not enough to combat the spicyness, so added linguine and cooked again :p)
1 can Ayam brand chili tuna (must include the chili oil as that gives the spicyness, the whole chili itself does not give the spicyness at all - I have experimented with it many times)
1 can chicken mushroom soup
1/3 cream cheese with chives (this is something new)
some milk
1/2 chopped onion
frozen corn kernels

Method:
Mix them all together and place in oven to bake for 15mins at 180c heat.

It would be nicer if I still have some mini portobello mushrooms and some greens in it too. I usually like to add peas and finely chopped celery too and sprinkle with crushed crackers or cheese on top.

The cream cheese made the noodle very rich and creamy as if it was a carbonara type of pasta dish. I like it! I may use cream cheese in future instead of using shredded cheddar or mozzarella and stirring into the pasta.

This dish is very spicy but not as bad as the one which I made last year where I used 2 cans of chili tuna. But I may want to tweak this further by maybe using half the chili oil so that people who do not like the fiery hot sensation can enjoy it better too. Back to the drawing board :p

Art Installation

I saw this at the National Museum when I was there in January this year, so I am not sure if this is still there. Isn't that cute? The head of the seal popping up amidst the greenery. This was just above the stairs leading to a gallery on the 2nd or 3rd level.

But the bottom is a bit disturbing. You get to see the body of the seal hanging in the middle when you are walking up or down the stairs.

Here is the sign with more description on the art installation :)

Soup Spoon - Chicken Cacciatore with Portobello and Sage

I decided to redeem my soupaholic card for a free soup and I chose the chicken cacciatore with portobello and sage. I wanted a hearty soup with lots of chunky vegetables and this filled the tummy.

My usual order is the clam chowder which is one of the best I ever had. Smooth, rich and creamy clam chowder full of goodies.

The chicken cacciatore was pretty good with the tangy tomato based stew with pieces of chicken and veggies. The server added a small dollop of sour cream which gave another dimension to the taste. I was a bit disappointed with the sour cream portion as it was so tiny. Plus it was a bit chunky too, not meltingly soft like at Shaslik where they were very generous with the sour cream.

Description from soup spoon website:
Cacciatore is a traditional Italian hunter style stew. Marinated chicken braised with country vegetables, this stew is substantial, lavish and amply flavored with tomatoes, mustard and parmesan cheese. Portobello mushrooms, bursting with the essence of red wine added an intense earthy flavor and meaty chew whereas sage gives a mellow woodsy flavor. Truly a hunter’s fare.

Rive Gauche Cakes

I was craving for cakes after watching Made of Honor and saw the leads eating cakes at a wedding. Hahaha. How easy it is to be enticed by what you see. It is true for other food blogs too, especially those who take very good pictures. Mine are just point and shoot, the garden variety :p So I decided to pop by Rive Gauche at Plaza Singapura outlet to check out what they have. I mean, I rather eat good cakes than to just randomly buy from other places. I have always like Rive Gauche, particularly the Guanaja.

The Guanaja is bittersweet chocolate mousse and ganache with crispy biscuit for the base. It is one of my fave chocolate cakes. Just too bad there was no individual slice available. I bought the mango and coco espresso. I was a bit disappointed with the plain white box, maybe I am too much into packaging now. But for such nice cakes, it makes sense to invest in their own boxes. Rive Gauche is under the Pokka Group, which also owns Tonkichi and Pasta Cafe.

The coco espresso is pretty good too. Oreo biscuit bottom with a layer of ganache, 2 layers of flourless sponges with coffee syrup and a layer of coffee mousse and chocolate mousse topped off with vanilla cream. Yummy!

The mango cake is a bestseller. Mango mousse between 2 layers of sponges and slices of mango. It was light and not super sweet, plus the mango slices made it all the more delicious.

Oyster Mee Sua @ Plaza Singapura

I actually wanted to buy lobster bisque from Saybons but it was sold out. So I decided to get the oyster mee sua from the stall in the basement of Plaza Singapura. It has been more than half a year since I last had this. Or has it been a year now? Besides Shih Lin Taiwanese snack food, there is this outlet which I can never recall the name. I only recognize it based on its yellow signboard and packaging.
It was good. A delicate balance of the cilantro, vinegar, fried shallots and chili gave the umami factor which makes you want to slurp it all up. I like it for a light and satisfying meal.

Kway Chap @ Cineleisure Food Court

This is the most generous food court kway chap I have ever had. It has been about a couple of years (I think) since I last ate at the Kway Chap stall at Cineleisure food court and it is still as good as ever.

I usually order kway chap without any meat or the innards as I still am not a pork person. I will just say anything except the meat/innards when placing my order. It came with fish cake, peanuts, beancurd, egg and tau pok. I thought that was quite a lot of ingredients and had many pieces too. All these for $4.

At other places, I usually get just 4 types - the above minus the peanuts. I love the sweet taste of the peanuts. I also like the mei cai which some outlet will include instead of other stuff. I like the tau pok too. In fact, I like everything in a kway chap, except the meat/innards :p

Wasabi Bistro @ Mandarin Oriental

After much waiting and planning, we finally made it to Wasabi Bistro at Mandarin Oriental. It is pretty hard to get everyone together, and in the end only 5 of us could make it. Yuzu soy sauce - a specialty which apparently is only available at Wasabi Bistro.

The yuzu zest really made a difference to the soy sauce. The heady fragrance of the citrusy fruit mixed with the saltiness of soy sauce gave a subtle light taste to the sushi. The Japanese chef came out to dispense the yuzu zest in our soy sauce.
Sashimi for 2-3 persons. Basically I only like salmon and tuna sashimi, the others were ok. We ordered another plate of that. In the end, we decided to just get another order of the sashimi but only salmon :)
Ahi Fillet - seared tuna topped with bonito flakes and some other stuff. This was good too, not overcooked at all.

Dynamite roll - this was spicy even though we requested for medium in the range of spiciness. It was spicy without the dip which reminded us of the chicken rice chili sauce.
I forgot the name of this signature dish. It is something mama roll. Basically it is california roll topped with unagi. Somehow the piece I took didn't really have that much avocado in it.

The signature dish - Kumi's No 1. It is so good that each diner is only allowed 1 order of it.
When you cut it open. Full of crab meat, avocado and what not encased in a creamy sauce. It was super yummy! But it can get a bit jelak after a while.

My fave dish - Australian beef tenderloin in teriyaki sauce. This was medium rare and there was not a hint of blood or pinkiness at all. I like that. The meat was tender and yet has a light beefy taste to it.
Fried oyster roll. This was a disappointment. Not as good as I thought it would be. Then again, maybe by then we were a bit stuffed from the other dishes. We finished almost everthing except this. Left 2 pieces.

Rainbow roll. We ordered 2 of this. I think because we have 5 persons, the portions looked like usual restaurant portion. 1 person's portion is actually 3 pieces of sushi. It was chockful of crabmeat too. Hmmm...somehow I think Sushi Tei rainbow roll is better even though there was not so much of the crabmeat. Or maybe it was because I only had 2-3 pieces in our 2 orders of it :p

Roasted duck - it was ok. Look at the layer of fat :p I'm not really a duck person, so can't really comment much on it.
Another signature dish - scallop on rice. I forgot the name but basically it has scallops and some other seafood? over rice and topped with the same creamy sauce.
It was pretty good too, good thing we shared the dish. It would be too much for 1 or 2 persons.
Zaru soba. I didn't try this but it sure looked good. I had the miso soup which was quite normal.
Garlic fried rice - this was really good! Fragrant and fried so right. All 5 of us shared this and it was just the correct portion for us to get a taste of it.

Shrimp tempura - it went by the number of pieces you requested. Not bad.
One thing which puzzled me was how the plates, cups and bowls did not match at all. Some of us were given the typical Japanese porcelain cups and I got the clear glass for my green tea. And some friends were served iced water in the usual tall glass and some were given goblets. I wonder if it was intentional or they ran out of matching cups, plates and bowls.

We did hear 2 crashes in the 2.5 hours we were there. They were very strict about the last order. Last order is now at 2pm as the restaurant is opened till 230pm, even on a Sunday. The website is not updated.
Black seasame ice cream. Also very nice.
Green tea ice cream - I love this. Creamy green tea taste in a milky smooth texture.The matcha something dessert. Lol. I am bad with remembering the names. Red bean with green tea mochi. This went very well with the green tea ice cream.

The fruit platter for 1 person. Looked nice.

We didn't realize the portion for the dessert was so tiny and since they took a long time to serve desserts, by the time it came, last order was already over, so we couldn't order more ice cream of the red bean thing. We actually ordered dessert around 145pm, the desserts came around 210pm or so.

So one thing to note is that you need to order everything at one shot. Don't wait to see how the portion is, cos they typically take about 20-30mins for the food to be served. And they do know how to judge the portion for your group. The only items we had 2 orders of were the sashimi, beef and rainbow rolls. So actually we only had like 1 piece each of each sushi, tempura, duck, beef for each plate they served us.

But we were still stuffed. This is not a all you can eat buffet type. Instead you pay for good quality Japanese food and get to try many different things too. Some of the other desserts were not available and another signature dish - something papaya.

Service wise, it was hit and miss. It was good when I first went in and I was one of the first few customers but when it started to get busy (not full house, but maybe 80%), the service was almost non-existant. We had to request for water, tea to be topped up. Food took a "long" time to arrive. Good thing we had good company to tide us over. But one thing impressed me, they do remembered what you have ordered. So maybe they were shorthanded in the kitchen?

At the end of the meal, when most guests have left, the wait staff was pretty obliging and patient in helping us take group pictures. I have always like the service at Mandarin Oriental, so I am not particularly annoyed when water and tea was not topped up promptly.

Location:

Wasabi Bistro

Mandarin Oriental, Level 4

Tel: 6885 3091

Price: $58++, top up $55 for champagne brunch