@ Tendon Ginza Itsuki

A Saturday night dinner with E and W at Tendon Ginza Itsuki, Tanjong Pagar. I have always wanted to visit this tempura donburi or tendon restaurant after news of its opening. Guess I wasn't the only one as we waited patiently in the alley for close to 40 minutes. Meanwhile, our orders of special tendon were taken while we queued. The only other dish on the menu was the vegetable tendon. Finally, it's our turn and we were greeted enthusiastically by the service staffs.

Cooking the fresh ingredients right in front of the customers

Chawanmushi
(Silky smooth and full of ingredients)

As soon as we were seated, our first dish of chawanmushi arrived. Do not underestimate this dish as other restaurants have failed to execute. The chawanmushi at Ginza Itsuki was silky smooth and hidden with ingredients such as chicken, prawn and almond. The best chawanmushi I have eaten so far.

Special Tendon - $13.90++
(What a beauty. It's super delicious.)

And finally the main dish arrived. Lots of photo taking to capture this painstakingly-arranged beauty. There's 2 prawns, 2 chicken breasts, 2 long beans, 1 shiitake mushroom, 1 pumpkin, 1 baby corn and a hidden fried egg. Such a great combination of fresh ingredients which retained their natural sweetness after the frying. The tempura batter was very light and not oily at all. I must say that the chicken breasts was surprisingly tender.  

Very tender chicken breast

Look at that yolk

The fried egg was a great surprise and even more so when the golden yolk spread beautifully over the rice. And that's the good thing about sitting at the counter which allowed the customers to watch how the food was prepared. For this fried egg, the chefs cracked soft-boiled eggs onto a ladle and quickly fry it in the hot oil. So much dedication for a fried egg.

Thank you for the meal

Gochisousama deshita or thank you for the meal. Ginza Itsuki met all my expectations and I will certainly be back.

@ Whisk and Paddle

Whisk and Paddle, a cafe by the river at Punggol Waterway, is an oasis to escape from the heat and enjoy with your friends. A good place to escape to.

Lychee Mint Cooler ($6.90)

Punggol Cycling

Singaporeans often complain that there is a lack of activities in Singapore other than the usual eating and movie-watching. How about exploring one of the many green areas such as cycling around Punggol Settlement. There is plenty to offer to relax the body and mind. Plus, it is a cheap and healthy activity.  

Punggol Cycling

Instagram Tree

Chilling away

@ White Restaurant, Punggol Settlement

We were at Punggol Settlement for lunch and White Restaurant was the only one with a queue. That was certainly a tell-tale sign of good food and there we were. Not a moment too soon as they closes around 2pm. We got a couple of dishes to share but most of them were pretty average. However, you must get their signature white beehoon. The thin strands of noodles soaked up the umami of the egg and seafood stock. The seafood of squid and prawn were fresh and plenty as well. Definitely lived up to their name.

Japanese curry

Rilakkuma became a cat

Selamat Hari Raya

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all. Captured some of the good foods from the Geylang Serai Bazaar. Lots of people and lots of fun.

Why my bento so ugly

Inspired to make my own bento but it turned out to be a rabbit monster.

@ 4Fingers

R and I were walking around Changi Airport Terminal 3 looking for food and decided to satisfy ourselves with 4Fingers. What I like about the 4Fingers branch at the airport is that the place is spacious and the service is fast. We didn't have to queue for long before getting our hands on the irresistible chicken. Certainly a plus point. The drumlets were extra crunchy and I had to control myself from ordering more. The chicken is definitely the star because the fries were rather lacklustre.

Niece's First Month

An extravagant sweet treat

Enjoying the wonderful food by the pool

Happy 15 Birthday

Happy 15 birthday! Not to me, but to my organisation. It was a birthday bash held at Universal Studios Singapore exclusively to my company. Buffet dinner was included and the food by RWS was really good. Most importantly, we were treated to the thrill rides without the queue. You could even conquer Battlestar Galactica as many times as you like. How awesome was that.

Happy 15 Birthday

Fireworks, a perfect way to celebrate a birthday and also a wonderful way to round up the June holidays. Such an experience couldn't have come cheap but it's gestures like these that made the people really happy and looking forward to the many years ahead.

@ Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King

Met with H and the married S for dinner at Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King, Paya Lebar. Similar to other Keisuke branches, there were free flow of hard-boiled eggs and spiced beansprouts. My tonkotsu king came with yummy stir fried pork and a dependable slice of charshu. Comforting and reliable.

@ Old Street Bak Kut Teh

We had our father's day meal at Old Street Bak Kut Teh, Westgate. The queue was long and we waited for close to 30 minutes. Luckily, the service was fast and I liked how we could use the tablet to view and order our food. In all, we ordered the normal pork ribs soup, the premium pork ribs soup, pig trotters, beancurd skin and fried dough fritters. Dad said that the premium pork ribs were delicious. We ordered another serving of the crispy dough fritters which went really well with the slightly salty pork broth, and finally cleansing our palate with the fragrant tea.  

Happy Dumpling Festival 2015

Gundam in Singapore

Gundam

It's not Odaiba, Tokyo but Takashimaya, Singapore. Not much gimmicks but still exciting.

@ Sushi Tei, Takashimaya

Sushi Tei at Takashimaya after our failed attempt at Hai Di Lao. I ordered Unagi Hitsumabushi in remembrance of the good one I had in Tokyo, while R had a salmon don. Among ourselves, we got the Golden roll and Lobster roll. Perhaps I came with too high an expectation, but the food did not impress. The unagi rice was not as fragrant and the golden roll was a tad dry. Sadly, the service was sub par for a Japanese restaurant.

Queuing for Hai Di Lao

Snacks while waiting

Long queue

Hai Di Lao has been in Singapore for awhile but R and I had yet to patronise it. As it's for R's birthday treat, we decided to try out Hai Di Lao at 313, Somerset. It was 7pm dinner time when we started queueing and we were already 200 people behind. We could not believe the queue and decided to wait. Hai Di Lao is known for its service and sure enough, we were provided with snacks and drinks while waiting. I heard that you could even book for a nail polish too. After waiting for 30 minutes, not even the snacks could satisfy us and thus, we left defeated.

Note to self, remember to make a reservation before going.

@ Din Tai Fung

A long overdue meetup with J, S and E at Din Tai Fung, our trusted choice for good food and wonderful night.

@ Peperoni Pizza, Suntec City

Peperoni Pizza

A long queue formed outside Peperoni Pizza at Suntec City during dinner time. Being the typical Singaporean, we  were curious and decided to join the queue. While waiting, we could look into the open kitchen where the chefs were spreading the various ingredients onto the pizza and putting the pizza into the wood fire oven. Simple and efficient. It wasn't a long wait before we were shown to our seats. After a quick order, our huge pizza arrived. Huge was an understatement as the three of us (E, W and myself) almost couldn't finish it.

My opinion of the food. The huge pizza was definitely fun and great for sharing. However, they could be more generous with the tomato base which would have pique our appetite. Also , service could have be much better.

@ Sing Yi Seafood Garden

We went to JP house for housewarming and decided to try out this zichar place at Yishun industrial street.

Chef's recommended chicken
(Good but could be crispier)

Spinach with three eggs
(Didn't expect to be so soupy but nice broth)

Mix of fried duck and thai style tofu
(Surprisingly light) 

Mongolian pork
(Tough meat in bbq sauce)

Sambal kangkong
(Not enough sambal)

@ Wen Dou Sek

My department welfare event brought us to Wen Dou Sek, Geylang. Coincidentally or not, the shop number is 126 which rhymes with its shop name in Cantonese. More than 40 of us turned up and we almost occupied the entire restaurant.

Fried rice
(Average)

Lor mee
(The noodles with the crispy ikan bilis can be addictive)

Xiao long bao
(Soupless but still tasty)

Banana fritters
(Not oily at all)

Charsiew cheong fun
(Served piping hot with an addictive sauce)

Liu sha bao
(More like custard bun)

Prawn fritter
(Slightly smaller; average)

King siew mai
(Plump and juicy; highly recommended)

Overall, the food was decent and these were only some of their very extensive menu. Might return to try their crab beehoon and softshell crab.

Stir Fry

@ Roosevelt Cafe

Enjoying good food with prompt service in a spacious place.

@ Sho Teppan

Sirloin

I wanted to try something different and we ended up at Sho Teppan, Raffles City. There were lots of people, probably attracted by novelty of cooking for yourself. Well, I cannot fathom that since I would rather cook at home or pay for others to cook for me. Food wise, they were salty and monotonous, perhaps due to the set that I ordered.

Happy Vesak Day

Staycation at Grand Copthorne Waterfront

Courtesy to S & C, I was able to have a short staycation at Grand Copthorne Waterfront hotel.





Twin Room - Comfy with all the services

The twin room that I had really made my day. The beds were so comfortable that I almost wanted to spend my whole stay with them. You could even request for extra pillows or blankets.   

Overlooking the river



If you manage to get a room on the high level floors, you will be overseeing the Singapore river. A really impressive view in my opinion.

Executive lounge

Breakfast buffet at Café Brio

Breakfast at Café Brio is complimentary with the hotel stay and the breakfast timing is until 1030 hours. However, try not to turn up at the later hours like myself as I had to queue for 15 minutes before getting a table. Café Brio offers a decent breakfast spread from the standard Western and Chinese to Indian and even Japanese. There is also an egg corner where you can request for freshly made sunny side-up, omelette or scrambled eggs. I was glad with the quality of the food. 

Gym

Post-breakfast and you can probably work it out at the well-equipped gym on level 6.

Tennis court

Or sign up for some tennis at the tennis court (level 6). During my stay, there were kids from sanwa tennis academy having their lesson.

Swimming Pool

Or you can just end up like me, chilling away my life by the swimming pool.