ShabuSAI

Causeway Point at Woodlands has finally finished renovation! Not sure since when it was done but it has become really shopping friendly already, unlike last time when they were still work in progress, even the waitresses were grumpy and I didn't enjoy a simple pasta from Pastamania there. Now it has good air ventilation, cool air-con and spacious walking area..not difficult at all to locate any shop you want, as long as you know which floor it is at.

After my driving lesson at Bukit Batok Driving Centre, my darling dated me to catch up over dinner at Causeway Point. We wanted to dine at Paradise Dynasty but we were sooo hungry we could eat a cow, so we decided to eat steamboat buffet! Japanese Style.

 

The restaurant is quite big for just steamboat and it was almost full house! They have 5 soup bases (which only 2 appeals to us), we chose Terkiyaki and Spicy. The Teriyaki soup base was too sweet for us, so we ended up attacking the Spicy one..actually after 1-2hrs of dipping meat and veg into the spicy base, it started to taste abit odd too..

This is their veg bar, there are different kind of mushrooms, veg, minced meat in bamboo, crab sticks, fish balls...I didn't see clams and seafood though. Opposite this veg bar is sauce bar..they got all kind of japanese sauce, rice and miso soup.

 This is the drink bar and ice cream machine. 

Meats are free flow but you can't grab them yourselves over the counter, you have to tell the waitress to bring specific meat to you. This is chicken slices..soo thin you can almost see the tray, fast cooking and smooth texture.

 Pork facing you, beef slices behind. The first 2 trays of meat were nice and thin, the trays after that not as good..but still edible la..

So that's it, healthy japanese steamboat! We had alooooot of veg, really filled our stomach up so quickly.. It is really a good place for gathering and lovey dovey to knock chopsticks in the pot.

Here are my views:

Ambience 2.5/5
Food 2.5/5 (cook yourself so I don't see there is any skill from chefs needed except for the soup)
Service 2.5/5 (serve yourself at the counter unless you need the meat)
Price Affordable ($14.99++ to 24.99++)
Toilet Availability 0/5 (please use Causeway Point's toilets)

Address:

#05-14.15 Causeway Point 1 Woodlands Square, Singapore, Singapore 738099

Telephone: 6462 1557

Opening hours: Mon - Sun: 11:30 am - 10:00 pm  
 

Check out their facebook fanpage at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shabusai-Singapore/264011333721833

Next, is 4Fingers crispy chicken really that nice that you need to queue for 15 minutes?! Staytuned.

xoxo 

River Safari

Finally, I've waited long enough for the soft opening of River Safari, Asia's first and only river theme wildlife park..it is just next to the Singapore Zoo, very convenient. Just take Mrt to Ang Mo Kio station, go to bus interchange to take bus 138 and it will send you to the doorstep in comfort.

I feel like I'm growing with the zoo, just that she is growing better and I'm growing older..haha..I fell in love with the zoo when I was 4 since the day my dad brought me to ride a white horse that was 3 times my height..now kids ride pony instead of horse in the zoo, and the last time I saw my white horse was 5-6 years ago in Children's World before they renovated..my white horse was sooo old and weak then, felt sad to part with him soon..why do I had to study so long to get to work and then could afford to go to zoo more often to see him?sigh...

Anyway, I'm glad that Singapore Zoo has delivered her new baby, River Safari. Although it was a soft launch and a lot of exhibits will not be ready, I went on the very first day it opened, 3rd of April 2013. I tried my best to reach there by 9am opening time but I overslept :p I read that River Safari gave 5 of those visitors who waited for the gate to open a River Safari membership..I was half hour late for it..so disappointed..I think I deserve the membership because I'm a true fan of Singapore Zoo! I visit the zoo at least 3 times a year! I can tour the zoo without a map at all!

River Safari consists of animals that live in and along the following rivers:

• Mississippi River
• Congo River
• River Nile
• Ganges River
• Murray River
• Mekong River
• Yangtze River

I was sooo excited to see the famous Mekong River where they have many legendary huge catfish! I always watch Jeremy Wade's River Monster in Animal Planet, he caught all giants of the rivers like tigerfish, alligator gar, catfish, piranha, sting ray....

So here we go! To the River Safari!

"Your journey starts here"

 There are fishes on the floor!

There are fishes on the ceiling!

Colourful map. Sad to say, the boat ride is not ready until later this year, which means most exhibitions on the top right are not opened :(

Alligator snapping turtle, my favourite fierce turtle..look like prehistorical creature..

Mississippi Paddlefish..it opens its mouth wide to suck up all the food like whale shark.

Ferocious tiger fish..this is like a baby, you should see the one Jeremy Wade caught..

Big right?! 

Alligator gar

Mekong fish tank! Nice and big, full of catfish!

Cute cute alligator..smiling face

Pandastic! I'm here again! But the cashier told me Jia Jia is abit stressed out and shy so she will not behave normally..

Who so fluffy playing behind the tree?

Red pandas! So cute!!!!!!!!!

They keep chasing each other around the woods..you see the tail, so fluffy I can die!!

Naughty face

Jia Jia sleeping..I hope she's ok..

Kai Kai as usual, not shy and loves to poise..the National Geographic channel will show the breeding project of Kai Kai and Jia Jia this Sunday at 9pm called "Panda's Wild Move"! Do catch if you are free.

One thing I love about the zoo is they never forget to let visitors to enjoy the scenery while walking around the place or when taking a rest..

Cute cute squirrel monkey..they used to be outside of Fragile Forest in the zoo. Love their yellow socks

Then there is another air-con place with tanks again! So exciting! What are there this time?!

Cute otter! I remember there is one called Pedro which used to be the mascot of zoo for awhile..

So this is the tank full of Dugong (Manetee) in Amazon flooded forest. There are actually also Piranha tank, electric eel etc but I hate to take pictures of fast swimmers in dark tank..

Finally, it's the end of the River Safari so far..not many things, I didn't get to see Beavers, Jaguar, Anteater, Tapir etc..I will come back again when they have "hard opening" :) I'm still loyal to the zoo one...please give me free membership leh....

Ok, it was sooooo warm and humid, I can't help but to spend a bit to drink in their River Safari Tea House just at the entrance/exit. What would be the theme of the tea house?

Chinese theme! 

When I entered, the place was playing chinese orchestra music from Wong Fei Hong's movie..so cute.

I ordered ice kopi at $4.80..super big cup and sweet...ohhhh..love it..

And we tried their Hainanese Curry Chicken at $11.90. Great taste too, we finished the gravy until the last drop...

Overall for this soft opening, I enjoyed the less crowded atmosphere, although there are school children visiting at the same time which was super noisy and annoying, they should be educated to love animals and protect the nature. I hope they did learn something there. 

Just a suggestion, I hope River Safari can put more fans to cool down visitors and maybe more sitting areas and vending machines. It's getting really warm..

Can't wait for River Safari to open officially! Keep up the good work!

Check out their beautiful website at http://riversafari.com.sg/

I previously also blogged about Singapore Zoo with Panda, in case you have missed it.

Yours faithful fan who hope to get a free zoo/night safari/river safari membership.

xoxo

Bangkok Jam

Bangkok! Reminded me of friendly locals, rich culture, good food, warm weather, cheap clothes and nail works..people who went there will love to go back again soon!

And someone dares to open a restaurant called Bangkok Jam! I came across a poster pasted on a pillar of Wheelock Place basement. It only stated the unit number, so I was wondering if it is located in ION or Wheelock Place. I tried my luck at Wheelock and there you have it..

If we entered the restaurant 30 minutes later, we had to queue and starve and drool while watching people drink tom yum...

 New coasters that I almost wanted to bring home..the good guy on my shoulder told me not to..

 The place has black theme, waiters are wearing all black too. At 6-ish pm, the place was almost packed already!

 Colorful menu..love it..

Without hesitating, we ordered Seafood Clear Tom Yum (poh tak talay), Seafood Phad Thai (phad thai talay) and Stir-fried Minced Chicken with Basil (prad kra prow gai). Simple dishes yet traditional and will test the skills of the chef..

While waiting, my migraine was building up by the noise level circulated in the restaurant..it was almost packed (not yet fully packed) but not sure whether it was because of the low ceiling or the interior design that reflected the noises to me..it was no good..I can hear every word from people sitting around the corners, made me abit agitated. So I kept calling the waiters to pour me ice water to calm me down..and you know what? Bangkok Jam bothered to put in apple and strawberry in their ice water! So far I only experienced a piece of lemon or lime but never apple and strawberry..so refreshing..

Another thing I've noticed was the waiters were really patient with us even though they were short handed..great! I love restaurants with polite and patient waiters. They showed the spirit of Bangkok!

While struggling between the torment of noise and the enjoyment of slightly flavored ice water, our food arrived!

Stir-fried Minced Chicken with Basil ($11.90)

This looks sooooo goood right? It was good indeed..the price is slightly steep for bah chor (minced meat) rice if you must compare the ingredients but it is really a skill to be able to bring out the taste of long beans, basil and chicken, unlike other common stir fried food which has no layers of taste. Made me feel that my rice wasn't enough to enjoy the chicken..

 Seafood Clear Tom Yum ($7.90)

Arghh...this Tom Yum...the bowl was small and it was designed with slanted top..so it was not very friendly for lovey dovey who want to share the soup..design of the bowl aside, the Tom Yum was not really clear as you can see from the picture..haha..my "clear standard" is like Thai Express kind of clear..it was not sour or hot enough, just mild with Tom Yum flavour..and the squid tasted muddy..no idea what was wrong..

Seafood Phad Thai ($11.90)

Their Phad Thai passed our standards..not too sweet and really reminded us of Bangkok..Alightly greasy but still alright. You can give it a try. 

Overall, I appreciated the waiters' effort to keep up with the demands, although they made some mistake and added the next table's extra rice into my bill. I will patronize the place again during non-peak hour when there is lesser noise.

Here are my views:

Ambience 2.5/5
Food 3/5
Service 3/5
Price Affordable
Toilet Availability 0/5 (please use Wheelock Place's toilets)

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

Next, River Safari soft opening!

xoxo