Thai Accent in VivoCity

We went to VivoCity to watch the German film - Rabbit Without Ears - and had an early dinner at Thai Accent. We shared the appetizer plate which included the fish cake, spring roll, prawn rolls, fried dumplings and papaya (or was it mango) salad. It was not too bad, not something I would always want to order.

C ordered the pineapple fried rice. The sunlight was very strong then, casting shadows and brightness over her plate.

D ordered some fried rice with prawns or something. Don't remember what it was. Looked a bit plain, right?

I had the beef noodles. It was not too bad. I think only the basil chicken rice and tom yum soup are good at Thai Accent.

The Thai iced coffee. Somehow the Thai style iced tea and coffee always tasted very good.

China Glaza Sleigh Ride

China Glaze came up with a collection containing 3 colors - Ruby Pumps, Emerald Sparkle and Tinsel - called Sleigh Ride.

It is so christmassy with the green, red and silver sparkly colors. D managed to get all three while the colors were sold out in some places. They looked so amazing together. And yes, I just had to do the vain thing of painting the three colors on my tips :p

Aren't the colors gorgeous? Deep sparkling green with bright shimmery red and the silvery light color as contrast.

Anna Sui Beauty Set

I passed by the Anna Sui promotion counter set up in the middle of the Beauty Section of Takashimaya a few weeks ago and I tried not to be tempted by its packaging and products. But finally during the 10% off for Taka card members, I walked past again and this time I actually stopped and looked in detail what was on offer.

There were a few different sets and I finally decided on the beauty tray coffret set as I have been wanting one to organize my items on the dresser.

It came in a nice black box which we requested for. I can use the box to keep other stuff too.
What it contained - beauty tray, lipgloss, mirror and a pouch.

Close up view with flash. I was a bit disappointed when I found out the beauty tray was red. I had expected the black tray as that was shown at the promotion area. I guessed that explained why the box was red too.

I love the hand held mirror too. The pouch was not too bad and the lipgloss was a color which was use-able. Some sets contained items which you would not buy at all. I love Anna Sui packaging, more than Paul & Joe as I prefer the purple and black color theme :)

Empire Cafe @ Raffles Hotel

LG has been raving about the nasi lemak at Empire Cafe at Raffles Hotel and I finally got the chance to try it a couple of weeks ago.

I got my colleague to have lunch with me over there as I was not in the mood to eat at the food court. Plus the FAR card helped to ease the monetary pinch. For the 2 dishes we ordered, it came to less than $10 each :)

The nasi lemak came with otak, 2 pieces of fried fish, egg, ikan bilis, peanuts and fried drumstick over coconut rice. It was decent.
I had the nasi goreng in the end as it was too spicy for my colleague. The keropok was not crispy enough. Achar was nice. The satay meat was quite tender and the peanut sauce was nice. The drumstick was the best. Hot crispy skin and tender warm meat inside.

We were stuffed after that. Empire Cafe was very crowded during lunch time. That was quite surprisingly as I would not expect a hotel cafe to be full of people actually. I guess the food was good enough to draw people to dine there daily at all hours :)

Hyatt Mezza Tea Again

LG loved the oysters and prawns so much from our previous visit to Mezza Tea at Hyatt that she asked to go again before the year is out. So off we went over the weekend to Hyatt for the brunch/tea.

The spread was basically the same as before with minor changes such as Christmas desserts and different flavored ice creams and kacang puteh nuts and soup.
The dessert table near our table. We were given the same table as before. I still did not try the chocolate fountain. I think I am off chocolate fountain for now.

Gorgeous sweet strawberries. The fruits were very yummy. The mangoes were so sweet, likewise for the melons.

The christmas log cake and a mango cake thing. There were stollen too.

My first real plate of food :p Half a dozen oysters and the prawns and egg sandwich. This was good.

2nd plate filled with prawns, mussels and smoked salmon bagel. The bagel was very hard and dry, so I didn't finish that. I also took a bowl of mushroom soup but it was awful, not much taste at all. Not as good as previously which had more taste and was creamier.

My 3rd plate of food - seafood fried rice, roasted veggies and more prawns. I had a total of a dozen prawns and 9 oysters :) Nice.

Cappuccino to end the meal. It went well with desserts. I had this and iced tea and Shanghai Rose tea, plus carrot orange juice for my beverage.

Ladies who lunch (but only on a Saturday :p). D canceled last minute and I had to scramble to get another person. Thank God J was available and could make it. Make new friends :)

The 1st dessert of the day besides the fruits - chocolate ice cream and salted caramel ice cream with the log cake and stollen. I didn't like the heavy cream for the log cake or the stollen.

The salted caramel ice cream was so good I went to get another scoop with the whisky chestnut ice cream which was equally yummy. The mango cake was not too bad and the strawberry cheesecake was nice too. Didn't finish either of them. I liked the 2nd batch of the bread and butter pudding which was not as eggy as the 1st batch which J took.

It was a satisfying meal. Not too heavy with all the meat and starch found in the usual buffets.

View from Mt Faber

This is Singapore with its numerous high-rise flats. A view from Mount Faber. I didn't realize they have done up the place very well. Smooth even walkways and even a fake merlion at the top of Mount Faber too.

Anyplace with tourists attract vendors. There are ladies with saris for tourist to wear and take pictures of for a fee.

View from City Space

Whenever I went to the Equinox Complex, it was always to New Asia bar and that was only because we knew someone working there and we were there to support him :p

Other times it would be at Introbar for a drink or at JAAN for a meal. So this was the first time I actually went to City Space for a drink.
Singapore Slings for us. I liked how they lined the floor to ceiling windows with tables and chairs to face the window so we got to enjoy the view. Their version of the Singapore Sling was a bit stronger than the original over at Raffles Hotel's Long Bar.

My camera did not do justice to the actual view. The night view of the city sky line was pretty with the lights dotting the buildings. This was the only clear shot which actually showed something recognizable. Riverside Point where Cafe Iguana was. I need to go there again for yummy quesadillas and burritos.

Location:
City Space, Equinox Complex
Level 70, Swissotel the Stamford

Merrill Lynch - Not Totally Gone

We all know that Merrill Lynch has been bought over by the Bank of America. I don't really follow the financial news so I am not sure if the office in Singapore has shut down completely.
Anyway, I saw the Merrill Lynch sign up on a rooftop of a building when I was in the cable car from Sentosa to Mount Faber.

It is supposed to be hidden from public view (unless you get an aerial view like I did). I guess they have no idea what to do with the sign?

The things you can find up on roof tops.

Coach Leah Wristlet

A little something which I picked up over at Takashimaya during the additional 10% off for card members.

Maybe I was wearing black that day but when the metallic gold wristlet is foiled against the black, it looked incredible :p This will be perfect for dinner or night out when you do not need to carry a bag. Just your essentials and you are on your way.

The color will fade or peel as it is metallic leather so just have to be ultra careful with it.

Nail Polishes - OPI & China Glaze

My new nail polishes from China Glaze and OPI. Or what is it about women and shopping? There never seemed to be enough shoes, bags, clothes, makeup and accessories or little cute things.

I am in a purple and green mood, rather I want to have dark colored polishes which are not the usual browns or deep reds or blackish colors.

From left to right:

China Glaze Coconut Kiss

China Glaze Gussied Up Green

China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic

China Glaze LOL

OPI Glamour Game

OPI Brand New Skates

OPI Play Till Midnight

So far I have only tried CG Gussied Up Green which was a beautiful deep forest green, similar to OPI Jasper Jade which I always wanted but is no longer available. OPI Glamour Game was a lovely neutral which is not loud and is good for daily wear.

Wellness Village - Updated Thoughts

I have a spa package at Wellness Village over at the Pan Pacific Marina outlet. It was good when they first started but no longer. The last few visits left much to be desired. It is hard to get an appointment now, I usually have to make it a couple of weeks in advance.

Now since I have a bath treatment i.e. I can have a milk bath or flower bath or whatever they have for the jacuzzi tub, I have been trying to utilize it. Somehow the staff at Wellness Village would always try to prevent me from using it.

I am starting to suspect it is because the jacuzzi tub is located in the one and only couple's room, so priority is always given to couples. The last reason given was that the jacuzzi was not in working order, that the water was cold and not heated.

But before that, I saw a couple went into the room. When I insisted it was fine with cold water, the consultant said the tub was really not working and was being repaired. It would take about 3 months to fix it. That is quite ridiculous, isn't it? And she tried to get me to move over to their other outlet at Marina Square Shopping Centre itself. Hello? I was already at Pan Pacific Hotel and you wanted me to walk over to the mall just to accommodate your inefficient booking of appointments?

You are operating in a 5-star hotel, where your customers are hotel guests or spa package holders or walk-ins, and you can allow your jacuzzi tub to be out of order for 3 months? A treatment in the tub based on the a la carte menu is about $65 or more.

I finally decided to just forgo the bath treatment (I have four of that in my package and I have yet to use one) and just have my regular body scrub and massage. But I was made to wait for another 10 minutes or more.

It was really annoying as I was early for my appointment, and they made me wait for about 30 minutes (excluding my early arrival time). I usually plan my day, so I have something on every other hour or so, and so I get irritated when my schedule is being messed up.

Bottom line: Do not sign up for any spa package at Wellness Village. A friend went to the outlet in Chinatown and also complained that the service over there was really bad.

And due to customers' abuse of using the hotel's facilities such as the swimming pool and gym where they bring their entire family or group of friends, the hotel has restricted spa-goers to using the facilities. That was the selling point for me when I signed up for the package in the first place.

Gap Tie-Neck Top

I hardly buy clothes from Gap, be it in Singapore or overseas as somehow the fit is not right for me. Plus the cost is usually astronomically high in Singapore that it makes more sense to buy online or something.

I was pretty surprised to find a top which was reasonably priced i.e. below $50 :p With the 30% off right now and an additional 10% off with UOB credit card, it was not too bad. I love the satin tie neck and the soft cotton modal material which fitted well and did not cling to the body. I like it so much that I actually got them in both purple and black.

After checking out the website, I found out this is going for US$28, and after the discount I had, I paid less than what it would have been. Not a bad deal at all :)

Kylie X 2008 Concert - 25 November

I was fortunate to have someone take me to Kylie X 2008 concert in Singapore about two Tuesdays ago. Such a short period of time and yet so much things happened since. It was almost full house. We were only let in at 8pm, the time the concert was to start. Obviously it would not be starting on time. This was taken around 810pm. There were not that many people yet as probably they were stuck outside trying to get in. I was at the East Entrance (apparently a few friends were also at the concert and at the East Entrance with 1 over at the North Entrance) Terrace block.

At 840pm, it was getting filled up now. There were more empty seats in the Arena block which was where the most expensive tickets were ($550 a piece!). While waiting for the concert to start, music was played to pump up the audience. The line for the ladies was unbelievably long! People were just milling around, waiting.

Cheers resounded when the camera panned onto three men in drag - Ivan Heng & company. Dressed like showgirls, I didn't really know who they were. Lol. But the two men in skirts next to me sure did. It drove home the fact that Kylie's music was like the anthem in gay clubs.

It finally started around 9pm. Making use of a big screen to complement the actions and dance on stage and two smaller screens to show what was happening on stage.

There she was. Alas, my camera did not have long range zoom. This was the best I could take.

I found the screens to be quite tiny to show the action on stage. Maybe it was also because I was seated higher up midway through the block. Or I need a new camera with better zoom as I saw another concert goer taking pictures with the zoom function and captured Kylie perfectly, as if she was standing right in front of her.

I enjoyed the concert - it was really a show production with the five costumes change (cheerleader with footballers, nautical theme, coachmen and society in the 19th Century...). After attending the last few concerts where music or the band was the focus, with hardly any costume change or drama, Kylie was refreshing for me :p

It was hard to believe she has been performing for 20 years. That was a whole lot of material she had to work with. She started off with the songs from the 2000 era, including "Can't Get You Outta My Head" delighting the crowd. This was the song which enabled her to break into the American market. Thus I forgot that AM hardly knew the other songs (being a Canadian et al) and basically spent the night observing the crowd which was whooping it up.

I kinda stopped following Kylie's music for a while (basically when I was living in Canada) and only started again after 2000 but I only know the songs which were played over the radio. So half the time I had no idea what songs she was singing. Lol. She interacted with the audience a lot, which was a nice touch.

It ended at 1015pm or so which was so soon. Guess I was used to the long concert by The Cure who played for 3 hours (and we left after 2 hours plus :p) and Manic Street Preachers. After a pretty long applause for an encore, Kylie obliged and sang another set of 2-3 songs. Asked for more encore and again she came back on stage. The 2nd encore was less prepared but it was nevertheless good. She finally ended with "I Should Be So Lucky" at around 1050pm.

Wonderful show. So different from the very first concert I attended which was Jason Donovan back in 1990. More glitz and drama.

Manic Street Preachers - 24 November

D asked me to go to Manic Street Preachers concert at Fort Canning Park as P could not make it. I didn't know much of Manic Street Preachers songs at all. Hahahahaha. I guess I am pretty much a pop music person or at least a Top 40 music listener. The days of me being passionate about all the bands, singers and songs and knowing every single details of them were long gone.

I only knew 2 songs. I didn't know the title for one song but the other was a cover of Rihanna's umbrella. And a few people actually opened their brollies and bopped along to the music. Sweet!

Not too bad, eh? The zoom to get a pic of the stage made it seemed like I was near. But we actually sat on the steps of the Sun-Rice building. There was a beer tent and Botak Jones stall selling mini burgers and cajun hot dog. The mini burger which was a decent regular size was awesome! Juicy beef patty with buttered toasted buns. Yummy! The hot dog which I shared with D was good but not as good as the burger.

I can't wait for the town Botak Jones to open so I can try the food from its outlet. Those in the suburbs are too inconvenient for me to get to.

Mezza Tea @ Hyatt Mezza 9

There is a new tea buffet over at Hyatt, well, at least it is pretty new to me. It is only available on Saturday from 12noon to 4pm or 5pm. It is called MezzaTea as the spread is certainly not huge. The food was of excellent quality though. Only 2 sections are used for the MezzaTea buffet, the rest of the restaurant would be based on a la carte menu. The table seating seemed to be better for 2 diners than for groups.

Basically you get the desserts with its tiny bite size portions, cold seafood, 1 type of sushi, cheeses, bread, salads, fried rice, 2 types of mini sandwiches and fresh juices. No meat like the usual buffet. You could also change your beverage which was a nice touch. There was a decent selection of tea and coffee, plus chocolate.

The girls were late (as usual....I should start telling them an earlier timing now :p) and as I was starving (it was close to 1pm and I had not had anything since waking up at 8am or so), I started on the fruits first. They were super sweet. I am not a big fan of cantaloupe as it was usually very hard and bland-ish. But those served were not too hard, just nice, and were juicy sweet. The mango was very ripe and soft. The strawberries were not too tart either. I think I am over the chocolate fountain thing as now I hardly dip anything into it :p

The tea I ordered was shanghai rose (or something with rose) and that was softly fragrant with a tinge of rosiness. Not too strong. A nice mild tea. It was not served in a pot but in a cup, which was probably why you could change your drink after that. The service staff was also very good and paid attention to the diners. A waiter offered to serve the iced chocolate which T ordered in a smaller glass (the usual size was huge!) as he probably knew we would want space to try other drinks. That was very thoughtful of him.

My cold plate - oysters which were shucked in front of you. Lots of prawns which were very sweet and juicy too. The mussels were also fresh and sweet. Very nice. There were a few types of sauces to go with the seafood.

My cappuccino which I requested after 2 cups of tea. Somehow I always liked to have coffee to finish off a meal.

The plate which finished me off. The grilled veggies were nice. The fried rice was a bit hard as it was nearer to the bottom of the pot so it was not nice. The spring roll was average only. More prawns.

California roll sushi which was pretty decent and more oysters. This was the first time I actually had mostly prawns and oysters. L had 10 oysters and 10 prawns. Amazing, huh? We finally figured out it was probably because there were no meat or the usual hot food, so we stuffed outselves with the prawns and oysters. So it is only good if you like seafood and desserts for this buffet spread :p

The mushroom soup was so so so good. Rich and creamy from the butter. The shellfish salad was pretty alright too. The smoked salmon mini bagel and tuna mini brioche sandwiches were good too.

Bread and butter pudding from the dessert spread. It was soft and fluffy and tasty.

More dessert at the bar. The ice cream was also part of the spread. 10 different types of ice cream and sorbet. The staff will scoop for you which was nice. Less messy. There was also kacang putih which I didn't take. I tried it from C, but it was super sweet with the sugar coating.

The rose macaroons. Yummy and very sweet. Hahahaha. I think all the desserts are made from lots of sugar.

Close up of the macaroon. It melts in your mouth and disintegrates into pieces. So eat it fast. One way to combat the sweetness was to have it with the light whipped cream.

Pistacho and rum chestnut ice cream. The pistacho had an almond taste to it though and the rum chestnut or was it whisky chestnut was the winner of the day. Light nutty taste with a tinge of alcohol to it.

I liked the white cake which had a very soft and light sponge with the whipped cream and raspberries. The chocolate cake was good too. I was too full to finish the desserts by then. Good thing T & I always shared our desserts now. Spread the calories around :p

T took the sorbet which I had a taste from. The strawberry sorbet was tangy refreshing. The other one was not as good. Can't remember what it is now.

For a "light" meal of seafood and dessert, MezzaTea would be a good choice for an afternoon of girl talk with the girls :) Men may not like this place as it may not be filling for them with the limited choices of carbs and meat.