Saturday 28 September 2013

1 Market by Chef Wan

Muslim friends, this is the place to gather and eat some Halal cuisine buffet opened by celebrity chef, Chef Wan. It is conveniently located at Plaza Singapura #04-45, which is at the extended block if you have not visited Plaza Singapura for over a year.

I went there for lunch and it was quite packed already! They do allow reservation, so remember to call them if you are going in a big group.



The price ranges from $21 to $39 for adult, weekday, weekend, lunch and dinner prices are different so do check out the price first.



This is Chef Wan if you want to know. His daughter is a celebrity too.

The place was decorated in Indonesian style, very kampong and cozy yet sophisticated. They had LCD screens that were shows on how Batik is made...I felt like I was in Indonesia or Malaysia already.




Sorry about the bad photo quality. I was taking them in a hurry with my old iphone because everyone was anxious to eat...you know, people eating buffet are like that.

There were a wide selection for you to choose from. There were mee robus, satay, bbqs, cold seafood, cooked food, crackers, sushi and sashimi, soups, desserts and so on. It's kind of international yet Indonesian style. You can also let the waiter know you are vegetarian and they will serve you with all the customized vegetarian dishes to your table.



Desserts. They have waffles, tarts, puddings, sago, cakes etc...diet crashers.

I think the food were not that bad, the seafood was not extremely fresh but edible, the salmon soup was good, sashimi was ok, bbq meat was so-so...everything wasn't that bad. I think most importantly when it comes to buffet, you have good company to talk to and eat with edible food, I'm happy already.

Overall, here are my views:
Ambience 2.5/5
Food 2.5/5
Service 2.5/5
Price Slightly steep
Toilet Availability 0/5 (please use Plaza Singapura's toilets)

Check out his facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/1marketbychefwan
 
xoxo

Saturday 21 September 2013

National Museum of Singapore - Absolut Vodka, Princely Treasures from the house of Liechtenstein

I've been to our National Museum many times, mostly were to see what exhibits were held and also to enjoy the beautiful architecture of the building. If you haven't been to the museum since your primary school excursion days, do pop by, it's really classy. Couple about to wed, you can consider taking your pre-wedding photos here too...of course, at an affordable price.

The reason I need to blog this is because of Absolut Vodka and Princely Treasures from the house of Liechtenstein exhibitions. These are rare! What I know is Princely Treasures has 9 more days before it ends, so if you like European arts and paintings, don't miss this chance. Otherwise you may need to fly to Liechtenstein to see the actual exhibition.

 National Museum is conveniently located near Dhoby Ghaut MRT.


Shopping!


Ok before we start a brief visual tour of the absolut vodka exhibition, kudos to these 4 men. They are the contributors of these rare collection. Thank you guys. Don't drink too much.


Let's begin to savour the silent treatment of vodka.....



 Do I see a halo or is it just the after-effect of vodka?
This is fun. It's called Canvas Symphony. Just pop into any of the 4 booth and place the bottle into any holes to create the rhythm and eventually the music. You can change the beat of drums, guitar etc.



Behold. What you are about to see are extremely rare bottles that can come with a street value of up to $15,000, that only a handful of people have seen in person. "Regarded as the Holy Grail in any collector's cabinet, these bottles are lusted by many, yet owned and jealously guarded by the elite few."


Ok I cannot let you see more. You should go and take a look in person!

See the bottles from small to large?

Next! Princely treasures!
In short, these are just a small portion of the arts collected by the Prince of Liechtenstein and his ancestors. They even have the paintings of his ancestors! How fun! Can you imagine you have that in your house/palace? But I think ours maybe from some Qing dynasty or something if we really had them....errr...abit creepy.


You can do your own painting here. They even provide subjects, paper and color pencils. Do it to impress your date! But must make sure you really can draw ok..


 I can also be "civilized" to appreciate the painting. Thanks buddy for this picture.

 Pretty daughters...fair and curvy.

Oh this is fun. It can be wound up and move around the guests. Whoever it stops at has to drink from it. It will often spill onto the guest's clothes and cause embarrassment and of course laughters. It's a game anyway, take it easy.


 Guided tour to explain every details of the collections. I missed it.

Do you recognize Jesus and Mother Mary in this painting? This painting was acquired in 1710! Perfect condition. Even our photos can turn yellow after 20 years..

This is one of my favorites..nice-figured fair girls in soft fluffy dress..The painter really brought out every details of the fabrics and foldings.

 Want to know the story behind this painting?
"Judith and Holofernes are figures in the Old Testament Apocrypha. Judith was a rich, beautiful widow, who has viewed as a heroine and a symbol of the Jews' struggle against their old oppressors, the Assyrians. When Holofernes, chief general of King Nebuchadnezzar, attached the Jewish city Bethulia, Judith tried to save the people by entering the enemy camp with her maid. Holofernes was overcome by her charms and kept her in his camp for a banquet. When he got drunk, Judith took his sword and severed his head. Her maid placed it in a bag and they left the camp before the body of the general was discovered. Without their general, the Assyrians fled and Bethulia was saved."

Hmm...how did she charm him? ....



There was an orchestra  playing there on that Saturday! I thought it was the background music but it's real! Feel so high-class. But well, all these paintings are collected by Prince right...have to be high class.


So what are you waiting for? Singapore citizens are entry-free to most of the exhibits! Princely Treasures ticket is only $10, if you have NTUC card you can even waive it off! So just go! There are other permanent exhibits like Singapore history too.

Check out their website at http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/ or their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/National.Museum.of.Singapore

Next time, 1 Market by Chef Wan.

xoxo

Saturday 14 September 2013

First Love Patisserie, Part II - Blueberry

Before blogging about National Museum, I have to tell you about this new flavour of First Love Patisserie's Hokkaido Mille Crepe first. Because it tastes soooo nice!

If you have not read about my first entry of First Love Patisserie, do go there and have a look. The original flavour, which is Vanilla, really soothed my senses and touched my heart. The creamy and not too sweet milk being layered in between the layers of crepes...OMG...I really want it again! I want to feel the happiness of my first love again!


 First Love Patisserie is located at ION Orchard level B4, very humble and simple store..

There are many other flavours available for your selection and the price is affordable..you don't have to travel to Hokkaido just to eat this and you still feel contented...remember, they allow sampling.


The Blueberry flavour was launched on 7 Sept, just a few days ago. And I couldn't help myself but have to get a piece yesterday.

Look at the Blueberry jam on top of the cake..it does not taste artificial at all. I personally do not like common jam but this is my favourite already! The blueberry taste is so rich but not tongue-numbing sweet, and it's really compatible with the mille crepe..give me the feeling of fun yet innocent part of love..it is really hard to describe..I just could not stop eating the slice, with my bare hands!

Just by looking at the thick milk cream oozed out makes me crave for it again. You see the way the blueberry jam merges with the cream and crepe...Seriously I think I will buy it again later.

Just for information, do bring it out of the fridge to defreeze it for about 5 to 10mins before you eat. If you placed it in the freezer, then defreeze for at least half an hour to 45mins and it will be perfect...However if you ordered the whole cake in advance, try to leave it outside for at least 2-3 hours because it is really hard. I guess they placed it in the freezer since morning when they made it for me. Other than that, First Love Patisserie is my favourite cake.

So girls and boys, do try it! Get other flavours too to recall the different tastes of love. 

xoxo

Sunday 8 September 2013

Old Hong Kong Kitchen

We were supposed to dine at Old Hong Kong Essence at Oasia Hotel but they were renovating, so we went to Old Hong Kong Kitchen instead which is just nearby, hoping that Essence's coupon could be used at Kitchen since they belong to the same group - Old Hong Kong Group.


See! I didn't bluff you! They are supposed to be a group, so the coupon at Old Hong Kong Essence (which is under renovation) should be able to be used in Old Hong Kong Kitchen right?

BUT when I approached Kitchen with the coupon, they pushed to one another to verify, and finally one woman came and pointed out rudely (like I do not know how to read) that the coupon was not for Kitchen so will not be recognized. So everyone, they are, virtually only, a group.

After this minor humiliation, I rather wait for my friends at KFC downstairs with a diet pepsi than to wait inside this restaurant with unfriendly waitresses.


It wasn't full house on a Thursday night. However according to my friend, this place will be packed during weekends..I don't understand why.


This restaurant has buffet steamboat and normal dishes. Steamboat ingredients are normal cheap ingredients like luncheon meat and hotdogs etc..it will be better if you get the coupon from groupon or deal.com, otherwise it will cost around $26 before GST. Not worth it.

So we decided to order normal dishes, and managed to order 4 dishes after slight verbal conflicts again..goodness..even though Hong Kong people can be tactless, they are professional at work. Unlike these people in Old Hong Kong Kitchen. They preferred to gossip with one another than to serve you.

Conpoy and Crab Meat with Egg White. There was totally no layer in this dish..the texture was very clear, egg white was egg white, crab meat was crab meat..I didn't get the "eh?" kind of feeling. Quite salty and the appearance wasn't appealing. Looked like mucus.

 Plain fried Cai Xin. Salty and quite oily. Really plain.

Stewed chicken with spicy sauce. Don't worry, it is not spicy at all, not even a hint. Most meat were chicken breast, the sauce was slightly sweet.

Baked Cod Fish with Fantastic Sauce. I thought this dish could finally wow me but after I put a piece into my mouth, the onlyv words in my mind were "what's so fantastic about this dish??" It was just abit sour, abit sweet, abit smokey...luckily it was cod fish which texture was good enough already so even though it was not fantastic, it was still edible.

Overall the cost for the whole dinner would be more than $90 if we didn't have Kitchen's 1-for-1 coupon. Gosh...the service was bad, the food was so-so and there wasn't much of ambiance. If I go there again, the possible reason will be I have too much money to spend and I totally have no idea where to spend them.

So here are my views:
Ambience 1.5/5
Food 2.5/5
Service 1/5
Price Affordable but I can eat the same kind of standard at coffee shop
Toilet Availability 0/5 (please use Novena Square 2's toilets)

Check out their website at http://www.oldhongkong.com.sg/ 

Next, National Museum!

xoxo