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

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

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

Bedrock

Have you ever passed by this restaurant whenever you walk from 313 to H&M and hoping that you will try it one day?

Yes, yes and yes for me. And my kind BFF brought me there!

Look so posh and romantic right?! It is not very expensive and the ambience is quite romantic..slightly quiet and dim inside. Everyone looks pretty :)

Because of the dim environment, my photos didn't do any justice, but I still want to share my experience there with you just in case you are keen to try out.

 A big piece of pig leg welcomed me...love it!

The ambience romantic right? When I walked in, I couldn't help myself from straightening my back and walking in gracefully, this place just looked high class...

The staff there were very helpful and approachable too..great service. Don't be shy to ask if you are not sure about the menu..

 On the house..I love to rub the garlic on my bread and sandwich the entire garlic clove!
 

If you do not like sour or dry wine, then this suits you. It's called Baby Doll on the menu at $15 per glass. Do try it!

Super fresh oysters..I swear that I've never had such fresh oysters before..forgot the price but if you love oysters, you should try it. It's juicy and smooth, with a hint of the sea...hmmmmmm..just a few drops of lemon and it can rock your mouth..

Bedrock smoked tomato soup ($14). They didn't joke about the tomato being smoked ok...kind of sour for me but my tomato-lover BFF liked it..

 

Bedrock mac n cheese ($18). This was highly recommended by the staff and it was really good! They included blue cheese and other cheeses into the soft macaroni..feels like home when I put a spoonful into my mouth..no other words can describe it other than "I'm home"...

Black Angus Striploin ($69)
Ok, I'm really sorry that this picture turned out to look like a black and white photo..my camera does not perform well under low light condition. Tried editing it the best I could without distorting it but failed. The steak was really big and thick, slightly dry but I guess it was because of the thickness. But hey, you will feel so sinful if it was greasy right?

Medium rare was really medium rare, nice....if you have eaten many steaks in your life, you should have the experience that it is either under or overcooked..but here they are professionals.

  

Finally, Creme Brulee! I like the caramelized skin but I tried to stop myself from finishing the cream with espresso kahlua because I was so full already! 

Warning: You can either starve yourself for 2 days to come here or you bring a friend along 'cause the portion served is quite large.

So here are my views:

Ambience 3.5/5
Food 3.5/5
Service 3.5/5
Price AffordableToilet Availability 2/5 (sharing with the restaurant next door)

Address:
96 Somerset Road, #01-05 Pan Pacific Serviced Suites, Singapore 238163 

Telephone:
6238 0054

Check out their website at http://www.bedrock.com.sg/index.html for nicer photos..

Until next time...

xoxo

Hong Kong Day 9 and 10

The last 2 days in HK were really nothing other than family days. We took our own sweet time waking up, showering, drinking Ah Huat coffee (yes we brought our own instant coffee to HK), watching abit local news...and left the hotel at 3pm. We didn't hunt for new food place, instead we ate at either the hotel restaurant or at the cafe opposite hotel with the comfort food. Nothing new.

Hong Kong Day 9

We went to Tsim Sha Tsui again as Dad hasn't go there for a long time...

The place as usual, very crowded and noisy..there was also bbq squid smell lingering in the air..

At the iSQUARE shopping mall, Dad bought me and mom watches! Yay!! But later on I also bought a silky night shirt for him that cost almost SGD100. My Dad is indeed a great businessman.

 

Time for dinner, and we continued our steamboat dinner at another famous steamboat restaurant near our hotel.

 Every table had its own tray of sauces..

This restaurant is famous for its beef, they are good, no doubt about it. Just that we wouldn't eat alot because of the price per plate. And also our vegetable that they put on someone else's table, the waitress just took from that table and gave it to us?!?! Naturally, I rejected that vegetable and asked for another kind of veg, in HK manner. wahahaha...

Hong Kong Day 10

It's the last day in HK! I felt abit relief that I can finally go home to see my furry kids. My Dad also going back to his workplace so we briefly had dim sum lunch in the hotel restaurant and we went separate ways. My Mom really loved the bread that I bought near the hotel so we decided to visit it again to buy more to eat on the plane. This bakery is originated from Taiwan and doing big...

Can you imagine they even release the schedule of the different bread taken off the oven? That shows how desirable the bread are! One good thing, they allow tasting of the individual bread for newbies to try!

They are so soft and yummy, not too sweet or not having fake flavour.. We ended up with 6 and ate our way back to SG. Hope they will open a few branches in SG, I will sure patronize them every week!

At around 5pm, we arrived at the airport to check in our luggage and do some duty free shopping.

One thing to remind you if you are coming back from HK, remember to check with the staff whether your gate is at the other terminal as you need to take the sky train there. This takes time if you intend to do shopping before boarding your plane. I've heard a friend of mine ever missed her flight because they were late already and didn't know they need to take this sky train to other side for their gate. So be alert.

Dinner time! We decided to have Itacho Sushi to avoid crowd. If you have been following my blog, you should have read the entry about it and I really like their food. Their good standards remain in HK too. Great dinner before the horrible flight food..

Please do not mistaken the green cat-poo-look-alike thing on my plate, they are pickles...

And Tada! My trip to HK has ended. Took some time to adapt my real life in SG and bearing the heat here but it is still better.

Happy National Day Singapore.

xoxo