Etna (East Coast) is the 3rd restaurant from this Italian chain. It opened just down the road from the busier section of Siglap just weeks ago. Fresh from my great experience at de Parma, I was game to try another Italian place so rallied people for a Sunday Lunch.
Stepping into the place, I found it dim but still comfortable. There was enough lighting for us to take photos. The seats were comfortable and the tables were comfortably spaced for people to move about.
The staff were friendly and warm. But it was a tad difficult to get their attention at times. Not to mention, our food arrived before our drinks. There was also one part which I felt really strange. We were asking for recommendations. The response we got was... "We are relatively new so there aren't any real chef recommendations. But if you really really want, then I think this one. " and the assistant manager proceeds to point to the most expensive pasta on the menu. I thought that was a really odd thing to say.
The complimentary bread served was a little too dry and hard.
Food Ordered: Bruschetta Etna Toasted Bread with 4 different toppings I was a little surprised when the dish came but I guess I should have expected it from the description. I thought that it would be a mixture of the 4 toppings on each and not 4 different toasts. The toppings on one or two of them didn't look too fresh. I picked one, the one with mushy green/orange vege and ate it. Well the toppings were ok. The bread was a little too hard and chewy though. Much like the complimentary bread.
Insalata di Gamberi Rocket salad with prawns, dressed with extra virgin olive oil This was really nice. I like Rocket and this came in a tasty dressing and the prawns were really fresh.
Quattro Stagioni Tomato, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, artichokes, cooked ham, olives No complaints about this pizza. The size was ok, the toppings were sufficient. But the base was thicker than the usual thin ones Italian places served but I'm alright with that.
Bistecca al Gorgonzola Grilled rib-eye steak with gorgonzola cheese in a light cream sauce I downright disliked this dish. The sauce had a very weird milky taste to it. I hate milk and this one really reeked. I only took one small bite and refused to try any more. Moreover it was very rare, the inside was really really red. The portion was very small too. Well maybe that part's a blessing in disguise.
Taglierini al Pesto di Bronte Homemade pasta in a Sicilian pesto sauce (with pistachio from Bronte in Sicily) Plain pasta in cream with nothing else. I'd expected the pasta to be superb to make up for the fact that it didn't have additional ingredients, but it wasn't, which kinda upsetted me. But this was average I guess, until you see its price tag.
Torta al Cioccolato Chocolate cake I love chocolate cakes and I guess because of that, this one really disappointed. It wasn't rich and moist like a chocolate cake should be. It was really dry and crumbly for the wrong reasons.
Tiramisu al Pistacchio Tiramisu with pistachio flavour (from Bronte in Sicily) This one does taste a little like Tiramisu, but where's the pistacchio? The colour looked the part but the taste wasn't there.
Panna Cotta Etna I think.... the red stuff on top was raspberry. The texture was a little weird but this was alright I guess.
The bill came up to about $160 for the 5 of us, including 3 drinks. Not all minuses... but I think it'll be a long time before I'm back. (Perhaps never.)
Popped by with Claudia, LIC and Tamago a few weeks (months) ago.. It's my first time at a Tong Shui place despite it having a few outlets at other places.
I loved the decor of the place. The bright colours are so cheery and yet go so well. The places has some of those crockery from old days and the furniture was basically in that style too. The lady who greeted us at the door was nice and polite and showed us to our seat. There weren't many people that night as it was a weekday I guess.
As we were already full, we ordered a dessert to share and it was the Tutti Frutti Summit at $11.90.
I felt that only the Mango was nice enough and that was the first one to finish too. The rest of it, the strawberry and the kiwi flavours were just too weird. The kiwi didn't taste like kiwi at all and I kept feeling as if it had a rubbery smell to it. The strawberry one was the sort with some milk in it and it's just not nice.
Nonetheless there were lots of other things on the menu and I think i would go back to try the others.
I had been on the hunt for jeans for a long long time and went through all my usual places with no luck. I chanced upon Gap and walked right in, not feeling too lucky.
When I went in, the place was organised and it was easy to locate the section I wanted. But that was where I started to get confused. Jeans of different styles were stacked together and they were not arranged according the size. Also there were very few jeans on display, forcing one to unfold the neatly stacked piles.
If there were a store assistant to offer help immediately it wouldn't have been a problem. But the staff were chatting loudly across the store, stacking already neat piles.
The styles were confusing. There were the usual bottleg, flare, straight cut, skinnies... but there were also variations to these with a whole host of descriptions under each heading.
After muddling around for about 20 minutes, I finally got someone to help me and he asked me what size I wanted. Here came an even bigger problem.... The sizes read like 1P, 2, 3... etc... HUH? I asked him what waist size would each of these equate to and he couldn't give me a clear answer. He said something like this is in between 25 and 27 (isn't that 26?) and this is between 27 and 29... THAT got me really confused... anyway I later figured I'm size 1.
I tried on a few pairs and finally found my dream pair. I paid for it. It cost me $75 after a 40% discount. I brought it home, only to realise that my hands turned blue after touching them for a while... the dye was coming off on my hands. I thought that a few washes would solve the problem.. well it's been 3 5 washes and the colour still runs.
I do like the style of the clothing... but they are really a tad too ex for the minimal design.
My first trip back in Serangoon Gardens. I haven't been here for the last ten years. So many things have changed and many had remained. I found myself on the doorstep of this quaint little Italian restaurant. My friend and I were curious about it and decided that this would be our dinner place that Thursday evening.
Being a weekday evening, I guess it's perfectly understandable why it wasn't crowded. About 4-5 other tables were occupied while we were there. They have a seating area of about 40, including the two tables outside. They have soft warm lighting and earthy tones to create a cosy ambience. It has nice interior decor really.
The staff was warm and friendly. My friend came a little later than me. So the staff talked to me a bit, introducing the restaurant and telling me about the background of it,which was nice.
Food ordered: Funchi Triffolati al Moda Dello Chef - $12.90 Portobello Mushroom garnished with grilled bell peppers, sun dried tomatoes & olives with de Parma's house dressings. I love mushrooms and I'm so glad this dish didn't disappoint. I love the juiciness of the mushrooms as I bit down into it. In fact I loved it so much I was clearly happy to have more than my share. haha I also enjoyed eating it with the bell peppers.
Calzone (Folded Pizza) - $24.90 This Neapolitan speciality is filled with ham, bacon, onions, mushrooms, capsicums & smoked cheddar cheese. This folded pizza was pretty huge, so it sort of justified the price. Inside was filled with plenty of warm ingredients. It would have been more delicious if it were piping hot but then it would have been difficult to eat. So it's good as it is, just one gripe... the outer covering was a little too hard and we had to put quite a bit of effort into cutting it up. Good exercise.
Fileto Di Mento - $32.90 Air-flown, grain-fed beef tenderloin drizzled in red wine sauce & served with Portobello Mushrooms & sauteed vegetables. Let me say this for the record: I'm not a beef person. In fact I don't like beef, but only started eating it when I joined Yebber. Even so I only take one small slice to try each time. But this one? It was fantastic. Yummilicious! The meat wasn't tough and hard to chew. It was tender and the meat was well marinated. But the mushroom that came with it was visibly squashed and shrunken, though it still tasted nice with the sauce they had.
Chocolate Fondant Break the hard crust outside and the chocolate inside flows out nicely. A chocolate addict, I'd say this fondant is good! Not the best but certainly very good.
Tiramisu I think I was a tad biased when I had this Tiramisu. The last 4 Tiramisus I had simply didn't taste like Tiramisus... so when I had this one, I had the words "FINALLY...." going in my head. Nicely done with a tinge of liquor which my companion insisted didn't exist.
The total damage for two of us was $105. Good food, nice ambience, good service. It does seem a little ex but I think it was well worth it. TRY TRY TRY!
The Mint Museum! TP's right, most people might think that this is a place to display MONEY! haha But it isn't!
My first trip there was with another guide, Randolph and we had the privilege of having him to two of us only.. he patiently answered all our questions and we took a 2 hour tour!! We scrutinized the toys and he threw plenty of interesting facts at us... We saw Batman, Superman, Felix, Mickey, Star Wars. There were toys we knew and grew up with and stuff we just didn't know anything about.
My second trip there was with the other Yebbers in a Safra event. There was a small tea reception in the museum itself. The food was prepared by the cafe in the basement of the building. The food was acceptable for a buffet-style like that I guess. I think we need to try out the cafe to really know.
Richard was the guide of the day and he's also the curator of the museum. As the tour was scheduled to last only 45 minutes, he talked really fast but still managed to squeeze in plenty of facts.
One major flaw with the museum though. Touring the museum is not the same without a guide. Yet they only provide guides for larger groups. So maybe a guidebook or more details about the toys should be put up so that people can read and understand more about the toys.
I had the chance to visit Bosses this CNY season and was glad to finally try this place out after reading FZ's review.
I liked the decor and the ambience of the place a lot. It was mostly done up in black and they had booth seats lining up the sides. They had nice spinning lanterns down the centre of the restaurant. The squarish black tables had little drawers which had the menus in them. This caused us some confusion as we were given the seasonal menu on the table and were clueless about the daily one in the drawer until I discovered it much much later. The server didn't point that out when we asked if there were other dishes so that was a minus really.
We wanted to order stuff to share... but with the limited choices, we picked one-dish stuff instead.
Food Ordered: 川湖辣子 - Fried Chicken with Chilli When this dish arrived, we were stunned. My friend commented that it was pretty hard to find the chicken bits. We did in the end, and counted 12 small pieces. Nonetheless, it was very tasty. The chilli taste is not just on the exterior of the chicken but it's in the meat too.
云吞鸡拉面汤- Wanton Chicken Noodles This was mine. It came in a very nice bowl with two sides which was interesting. My noodles were in the larger section and the tasty soup and wanton was in the other. This soup is the sort where they cook with plenty of meat so that they needn't add in MSG (not too much anyway). I finished the soup totally. The chicken was marinated and not just the plain chicken slices you would usually find. Very tasty dish but the quantity was really really small, since even I, a small-eater, didn't find it quite enough.
秘制牛白腩拉面汤- Beef Noodles My companion thought that the noodles was fine but the beef had a lot of fatty bits in them and some parts were so bad it was hardly edible. He also finished it in a jiffy since the serving was small.
鲜虾海鲜拉面汤 - Seafood Noodles The friend who had this felt that the taste was good and the seafood was fresh. The soup base was tasty but again, a small serving.
香港腊味红米饭 - Rice dish This was fried rice wrapped in a leaf. It came really later, after two reminders and when everyone else had finished their food. The texture of it was good and the rice was tasty. But there isn't any special ingredient in it which made it feel like stuff you can get from any Zhi Char stall.
The bill came up to about $90 for the 4 of us, including a pot of Jasmine Tea. Expensive really considering that we ordered four small servings of one-dish meals and one side to share. I was quite undecided as to what rating to give, since I felt that the quality of the food was pretty good. The service was really bad and need a lot of improvement though. Hmm a 2.5?
** My apologies for not knowing the English names.
Blooie’s Roadhouse is this little bar and grill tucked away in Jalan Tua Kong, a ten minute walk from East Coast Road. Despite its location, there were quite a number of tables filled when we arrived that Thursday night. There's a pool table inside and 2 televisions which I'm sure would be showing EPL matches when they were played. It looks like the regular pub with the ultra dim lighting and dark wood decor, so I was surprised when it did have a few mains available.
We wanted to sit inside that day but there wasn't any space at first. So we tried to make do with the tables which could only seat 4 people ( there were 5 of us). That particular table had only 3 chairs and the two staff who were "tending" to us just stared at us and the chairs. They were smiling... but they weren't getting us chairs. We dragged the chairs over ourselves. Minutes after we were seated, a table was available inside and we moved in.
We then ordered:
Blooie's Special Fries (2 servings) How special were they? nada. You could choose between having them topped with cheese or chilli & cheese. There was some seasoning on the fat fries but they just tasted like salt anyway. Not as special as we had hoped definitely. BBQ chicken wings These were small and very oily. So much so that I didn't want them at all. My friends had trouble finishing the few pieces given so I really doubt its taste.
A Mountain of Onion Rings (1 serving) ... I think they should change it to... a HILL of Onion rings. Again, it's very very oily. I had a few and was sick of it after.
All that plus, some drinks, cost the 5 of us $80 . Unless you can drag me kicking and screaming, I don't think I would be back. The only reason why it's not a one-star is that there was parking and the people were quite friendly still. I didn't try the mains too so I'm not going to be unfair by giving it a one star.
My colleagues and I often wondered about Chin Lee which is situated at the void deck of an HDB flat. Mind you, this isn’t any simply furnished restaurant. It’s nicely decorated like any Chinese restaurant you find in the shopping centers though it’s a little old. It’s usually crowded and more so during CNY season. Fuelling our curiosity, we just had to try this Teochew Restaurant out. We made reservations two days before and the people there also called a few hours before dinner to confirm the reservation which was really nice.
We were given a table outside, under the shelter. The staff working there are mainly middle-aged ladies who took special care of my friend’s baby by asking her if there was enough space or if the baby needed anything. They also took special care whilst carrying things near the baby, which was really sweet.
We took our time ordering. There wasn’t a lot of variety but it wasn’t really hard to order. We had small servings of every dish we ordered as we weren’t very hungry.
Food ordered: Raw Fish Salad – Yu Sheng ($28) This is the necessary dish of the evening isn’t it? It wasn’t done in the usual style. There weren’t any of the crispy bits and we were quite surprised. The lady who served it did managed to say the well wishes though claiming at first that she was unsure. This was truly a healthy salad for the sweet sauce wasn’t overly sweet and was the watery sort not the sticky one. There was certainly a lot of vegetables… but it wasn’t quite worth the price since it was so full of vegetables. But well, it’s for the season so that was alright.
Pork Ribs ($15) This was delicious. I’m not a pork-lover and I still liked the sauce that this was made with. Initially when it arrived, I was a little upset with the quantity. But after opening the foil which was used to keep it warm, I found that it was enough to go around. The meat was pretty lean so my initial fears of fatty meat went unfounded.
Black Peppered Deer Meat ($20) The presentation of this dish wasn’t good. The first few slices were very nice after that it got a bit too sweet for me. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable dish.
Stir fried Vegetables ($8) Nothing special about this dish, we chose Kai Lan – Mustard greens for this. Beancurd (I can’t remember the exact name) ($9) This was the most delicious for that night. I certainly didn’t regret ordering this ominously looking toufu. It came topped with savoury meat and some crisps, which I couldn’t figure out. But the combined taste earned everyone’s nod.
Yam Paste with Gingko Nuts (Or Ni) ($3.50 – 1 serving) This came in a large modern looking lopsided bowl… with a small dollop right in the centre. When it came, everyone was stunned for the quantity was really little. But it was the thick sticky sort that I liked, compared to some watery versions some places have. When we were done with it, we were thankful that it didn’t come in a larger quantity for we could not have finished it. Cheng Teng ($3.50 – 1 serving) $3.50 for Cheng Teng? I was a little apprehensive when my friend ordered this. Luckily it came with plenty of ingredients in it so it’s not that bad.
The total, including tea and towels was $111 for the 5 of us. There’s no GST nor service charge for this place, which is a plus. The service was very good. The quantity is a little small for the prices however I would try to come back again with my family. J Worth a try.
They have a great variety, catering to men, women and even children. They sell tops, bottoms, accessories, swimwear and even knickers. There's even baby clothing! The clothing is also not overly expensive. A dress can cost about USD $19-$39 which I do think is quite reasonable.
Their website is easy to navigate and most of the time it's quick to load.
The tops are long and made of pretty good quality. After numerous washes, they still retain their shape. I've quite a few pieces from them and the colour doesn't run in the wash, which is one of the best things clothes can be isn't it?
Shipping is $5 flat for all addresses in USA. So it'll be great for you if you happen to have a friend in USA right now. But they do not ship internationally at the moment.
Wing Kee is a popular stall selling Ipoh Horfun and Ba Chor Mee in the Changi Village Food Centre. It is the one with the red signboard and has been there for a long time, way before its rival sprung up next to it.
Well-known in the area, they have served many soldiers at the nearby camps well by providing a delivery service to the camps. Although they often have a queue in front of their stall, but they are fast and the customers don't have to queue very long. Also, they've not gotten my orders before, despite the large volume and the numerous times I've been there.
Food I always order: Chicken Cutlet Hor Fun / Mee ($3) YUMMY! My favourite food. I would prefer this to any posh restaurant fare any day. The crisp chicken pieces are delicious. The sauce is very tasty too and the serving is pretty reasonable.
Ba Chor Mee ($3) Lots of minced meat in this dish unlike the tiny portions of meat found in other places. Even the meatball is handmade and more chewy with no fatty bits.
My only grievance is that the stalls in the area produce a lot of smoke which makes me gag when I'm in the food centre. My eyes tear occasionally too so it's a little irritating. but I'm willing to put up with that little discomfort. a MUST TRY!
1=SGD 0.0587
Etna (East Coast) is the 3rd restaurant from this Italian chain. It opened just down the road from the busier section of Siglap just weeks ago. Fresh from my great experience at de Parma, I was game to try another Italian place so rallied people for a Sunday Lunch.
Stepping into the place, I found it dim but still comfortable. There was enough lighting for us to take photos. The seats were comfortable and the tables were comfortably spaced for people to move about.
The staff were friendly and warm. But it was a tad difficult to get their attention at times. Not to mention, our food arrived before our drinks. There was also one part which I felt really strange. We were asking for recommendations. The response we got was... "We are relatively new so there aren't any real chef recommendations. But if you really really want, then I think this one. " and the assistant manager proceeds to point to the most expensive pasta on the menu. I thought that was a really odd thing to say.
The complimentary bread served was a little too dry and hard.
Food Ordered:
Bruschetta Etna
Toasted Bread with 4 different toppings
I was a little surprised when the dish came but I guess I should have expected it from the description. I thought that it would be a mixture of the 4 toppings on each and not 4 different toasts. The toppings on one or two of them didn't look too fresh. I picked one, the one with mushy green/orange vege and ate it. Well the toppings were ok. The bread was a little too hard and chewy though. Much like the complimentary bread.
Insalata di Gamberi
Rocket salad with prawns, dressed with extra virgin olive oil
This was really nice. I like Rocket and this came in a tasty dressing and the prawns were really fresh.
Quattro Stagioni
Tomato, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, artichokes, cooked ham, olives
No complaints about this pizza. The size was ok, the toppings were sufficient. But the base was thicker than the usual thin ones Italian places served but I'm alright with that.
Bistecca al Gorgonzola
Grilled rib-eye steak with gorgonzola cheese in a light cream sauce
I downright disliked this dish. The sauce had a very weird milky taste to it. I hate milk and this one really reeked. I only took one small bite and refused to try any more. Moreover it was very rare, the inside was really really red. The portion was very small too. Well maybe that part's a blessing in disguise.
Taglierini al Pesto di Bronte
Homemade pasta in a Sicilian pesto sauce (with pistachio from Bronte in Sicily)
Plain pasta in cream with nothing else. I'd expected the pasta to be superb to make up for the fact that it didn't have additional ingredients, but it wasn't, which kinda upsetted me. But this was average I guess, until you see its price tag.
Torta al Cioccolato
Chocolate cake
I love chocolate cakes and I guess because of that, this one really disappointed. It wasn't rich and moist like a chocolate cake should be. It was really dry and crumbly for the wrong reasons.
Tiramisu al Pistacchio
Tiramisu with pistachio flavour (from Bronte in Sicily)
This one does taste a little like Tiramisu, but where's the pistacchio? The colour looked the part but the taste wasn't there.
Panna Cotta Etna
I think.... the red stuff on top was raspberry. The texture was a little weird but this was alright I guess.
The bill came up to about $160 for the 5 of us, including 3 drinks. Not all minuses... but I think it'll be a long time before I'm back. (Perhaps never.)
Rating given:
Popped by with Claudia, LIC and Tamago a few weeks (months) ago.. It's my first time at a Tong Shui place despite it having a few outlets at other places.
I loved the decor of the place. The bright colours are so cheery and yet go so well. The places has some of those crockery from old days and the furniture was basically in that style too. The lady who greeted us at the door was nice and polite and showed us to our seat. There weren't many people that night as it was a weekday I guess.
As we were already full, we ordered a dessert to share and it was the Tutti Frutti Summit at $11.90.
I felt that only the Mango was nice enough and that was the first one to finish too. The rest of it, the strawberry and the kiwi flavours were just too weird. The kiwi didn't taste like kiwi at all and I kept feeling as if it had a rubbery smell to it. The strawberry one was the sort with some milk in it and it's just not nice.
Nonetheless there were lots of other things on the menu and I think i would go back to try the others.
Rating given:
I had been on the hunt for jeans for a long long time and went through all my usual places with no luck. I chanced upon Gap and walked right in, not feeling too lucky.
When I went in, the place was organised and it was easy to locate the section I wanted. But that was where I started to get confused. Jeans of different styles were stacked together and they were not arranged according the size. Also there were very few jeans on display, forcing one to unfold the neatly stacked piles.
If there were a store assistant to offer help immediately it wouldn't have been a problem. But the staff were chatting loudly across the store, stacking already neat piles.
The styles were confusing. There were the usual bottleg, flare, straight cut, skinnies... but there were also variations to these with a whole host of descriptions under each heading.
After muddling around for about 20 minutes, I finally got someone to help me and he asked me what size I wanted. Here came an even bigger problem.... The sizes read like 1P, 2, 3... etc... HUH? I asked him what waist size would each of these equate to and he couldn't give me a clear answer. He said something like this is in between 25 and 27 (isn't that 26?) and this is between 27 and 29... THAT got me really confused... anyway I later figured I'm size 1.
I tried on a few pairs and finally found my dream pair. I paid for it. It cost me $75 after a 40% discount. I brought it home, only to realise that my hands turned blue after touching them for a while... the dye was coming off on my hands. I thought that a few washes would solve the problem.. well it's been 3 5 washes and the colour still runs.
I do like the style of the clothing... but they are really a tad too ex for the minimal design.
Rating given:
My first trip back in Serangoon Gardens. I haven't been here for the last ten years. So many things have changed and many had remained. I found myself on the doorstep of this quaint little Italian restaurant. My friend and I were curious about it and decided that this would be our dinner place that Thursday evening.
Being a weekday evening, I guess it's perfectly understandable why it wasn't crowded. About 4-5 other tables were occupied while we were there. They have a seating area of about 40, including the two tables outside. They have soft warm lighting and earthy tones to create a cosy ambience. It has nice interior decor really.
The staff was warm and friendly. My friend came a little later than me. So the staff talked to me a bit, introducing the restaurant and telling me about the background of it,which was nice.
Food ordered:
Funchi Triffolati al Moda Dello Chef - $12.90
Portobello Mushroom garnished with grilled bell peppers, sun dried tomatoes & olives with de Parma's house dressings.
I love mushrooms and I'm so glad this dish didn't disappoint. I love the juiciness of the mushrooms as I bit down into it. In fact I loved it so much I was clearly happy to have more than my share. haha I also enjoyed eating it with the bell peppers.
Calzone (Folded Pizza) - $24.90
This Neapolitan speciality is filled with ham, bacon, onions, mushrooms, capsicums & smoked cheddar cheese.
This folded pizza was pretty huge, so it sort of justified the price. Inside was filled with plenty of warm ingredients. It would have been more delicious if it were piping hot but then it would have been difficult to eat. So it's good as it is, just one gripe... the outer covering was a little too hard and we had to put quite a bit of effort into cutting it up. Good exercise.
Fileto Di Mento - $32.90
Air-flown, grain-fed beef tenderloin drizzled in red wine sauce & served with Portobello Mushrooms & sauteed vegetables.
Let me say this for the record: I'm not a beef person. In fact I don't like beef, but only started eating it when I joined Yebber. Even so I only take one small slice to try each time. But this one? It was fantastic. Yummilicious! The meat wasn't tough and hard to chew. It was tender and the meat was well marinated. But the mushroom that came with it was visibly squashed and shrunken, though it still tasted nice with the sauce they had.
Chocolate Fondant
Break the hard crust outside and the chocolate inside flows out nicely. A chocolate addict, I'd say this fondant is good! Not the best but certainly very good.
Tiramisu
I think I was a tad biased when I had this Tiramisu. The last 4 Tiramisus I had simply didn't taste like Tiramisus... so when I had this one, I had the words "FINALLY...." going in my head. Nicely done with a tinge of liquor which my companion insisted didn't exist.
The total damage for two of us was $105. Good food, nice ambience, good service. It does seem a little ex but I think it was well worth it. TRY TRY TRY!
Rating given:
The Mint Museum! TP's right, most people might think that this is a place to display MONEY! haha But it isn't!
My first trip there was with another guide, Randolph and we had the privilege of having him to two of us only.. he patiently answered all our questions and we took a 2 hour tour!! We scrutinized the toys and he threw plenty of interesting facts at us... We saw Batman, Superman, Felix, Mickey, Star Wars. There were toys we knew and grew up with and stuff we just didn't know anything about.
My second trip there was with the other Yebbers in a Safra event. There was a small tea reception in the museum itself. The food was prepared by the cafe in the basement of the building. The food was acceptable for a buffet-style like that I guess. I think we need to try out the cafe to really know.
Richard was the guide of the day and he's also the curator of the museum. As the tour was scheduled to last only 45 minutes, he talked really fast but still managed to squeeze in plenty of facts.
One major flaw with the museum though. Touring the museum is not the same without a guide. Yet they only provide guides for larger groups. So maybe a guidebook or more details about the toys should be put up so that people can read and understand more about the toys.
Rating given:
I had the chance to visit Bosses this CNY season and was glad to finally try this place out after reading FZ's review.
I liked the decor and the ambience of the place a lot. It was mostly done up in black and they had booth seats lining up the sides. They had nice spinning lanterns down the centre of the restaurant. The squarish black tables had little drawers which had the menus in them. This caused us some confusion as we were given the seasonal menu on the table and were clueless about the daily one in the drawer until I discovered it much much later. The server didn't point that out when we asked if there were other dishes so that was a minus really.
We wanted to order stuff to share... but with the limited choices, we picked one-dish stuff instead.
Food Ordered:
川湖辣子 - Fried Chicken with Chilli
When this dish arrived, we were stunned. My friend commented that it was pretty hard to find the chicken bits. We did in the end, and counted 12 small pieces. Nonetheless, it was very tasty. The chilli taste is not just on the exterior of the chicken but it's in the meat too.
云吞鸡拉面汤- Wanton Chicken Noodles
This was mine. It came in a very nice bowl with two sides which was interesting. My noodles were in the larger section and the tasty soup and wanton was in the other. This soup is the sort where they cook with plenty of meat so that they needn't add in MSG (not too much anyway). I finished the soup totally. The chicken was marinated and not just the plain chicken slices you would usually find. Very tasty dish but the quantity was really really small, since even I, a small-eater, didn't find it quite enough.
秘制牛白腩拉面汤- Beef Noodles
My companion thought that the noodles was fine but the beef had a lot of fatty bits in them and some parts were so bad it was hardly edible. He also finished it in a jiffy since the serving was small.
鲜虾海鲜拉面汤 - Seafood Noodles
The friend who had this felt that the taste was good and the seafood was fresh. The soup base was tasty but again, a small serving.
香港腊味红米饭 - Rice dish
This was fried rice wrapped in a leaf. It came really later, after two reminders and when everyone else had finished their food. The texture of it was good and the rice was tasty. But there isn't any special ingredient in it which made it feel like stuff you can get from any Zhi Char stall.
The bill came up to about $90 for the 4 of us, including a pot of Jasmine Tea. Expensive really considering that we ordered four small servings of one-dish meals and one side to share. I was quite undecided as to what rating to give, since I felt that the quality of the food was pretty good. The service was really bad and need a lot of improvement though. Hmm a 2.5?
** My apologies for not knowing the English names.
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Blooie’s Roadhouse is this little bar and grill tucked away in Jalan Tua Kong, a ten minute walk from East Coast Road. Despite its location, there were quite a number of tables filled when we arrived that Thursday night. There's a pool table inside and 2 televisions which I'm sure would be showing EPL matches when they were played. It looks like the regular pub with the ultra dim lighting and dark wood decor, so I was surprised when it did have a few mains available.
We wanted to sit inside that day but there wasn't any space at first. So we tried to make do with the tables which could only seat 4 people ( there were 5 of us). That particular table had only 3 chairs and the two staff who were "tending" to us just stared at us and the chairs. They were smiling... but they weren't getting us chairs. We dragged the chairs over ourselves. Minutes after we were seated, a table was available inside and we moved in.
We then ordered:
Blooie's Special Fries (2 servings)
How special were they? nada. You could choose between having them topped with cheese or chilli & cheese. There was some seasoning on the fat fries but they just tasted like salt anyway. Not as special as we had hoped definitely.
BBQ chicken wings
These were small and very oily. So much so that I didn't want them at all. My friends had trouble finishing the few pieces given so I really doubt its taste.
A Mountain of Onion Rings (1 serving)
... I think they should change it to... a HILL of Onion rings. Again, it's very very oily. I had a few and was sick of it after.
All that plus, some drinks, cost the 5 of us $80 . Unless you can drag me kicking and screaming, I don't think I would be back. The only reason why it's not a one-star is that there was parking and the people were quite friendly still. I didn't try the mains too so I'm not going to be unfair by giving it a one star.
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My colleagues and I often wondered about Chin Lee which is situated at the void deck of an HDB flat. Mind you, this isn’t any simply furnished restaurant. It’s nicely decorated like any Chinese restaurant you find in the shopping centers though it’s a little old. It’s usually crowded and more so during CNY season. Fuelling our curiosity, we just had to try this Teochew Restaurant out. We made reservations two days before and the people there also called a few hours before dinner to confirm the reservation which was really nice.
We were given a table outside, under the shelter. The staff working there are mainly middle-aged ladies who took special care of my friend’s baby by asking her if there was enough space or if the baby needed anything. They also took special care whilst carrying things near the baby, which was really sweet.
We took our time ordering. There wasn’t a lot of variety but it wasn’t really hard to order. We had small servings of every dish we ordered as we weren’t very hungry.
Food ordered:
Raw Fish Salad – Yu Sheng ($28)
This is the necessary dish of the evening isn’t it? It wasn’t done in the usual style. There weren’t any of the crispy bits and we were quite surprised. The lady who served it did managed to say the well wishes though claiming at first that she was unsure. This was truly a healthy salad for the sweet sauce wasn’t overly sweet and was the watery sort not the sticky one. There was certainly a lot of vegetables… but it wasn’t quite worth the price since it was so full of vegetables. But well, it’s for the season so that was alright.
Pork Ribs ($15)
This was delicious. I’m not a pork-lover and I still liked the sauce that this was made with. Initially when it arrived, I was a little upset with the quantity. But after opening the foil which was used to keep it warm, I found that it was enough to go around. The meat was pretty lean so my initial fears of fatty meat went unfounded.
Black Peppered Deer Meat ($20)
The presentation of this dish wasn’t good. The first few slices were very nice after that it got a bit too sweet for me. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable dish.
Stir fried Vegetables ($8)
Nothing special about this dish, we chose Kai Lan – Mustard greens for this.
Beancurd (I can’t remember the exact name) ($9)
This was the most delicious for that night. I certainly didn’t regret ordering this ominously looking toufu. It came topped with savoury meat and some crisps, which I couldn’t figure out. But the combined taste earned everyone’s nod.
Yam Paste with Gingko Nuts (Or Ni) ($3.50 – 1 serving)
This came in a large modern looking lopsided bowl… with a small dollop right in the centre. When it came, everyone was stunned for the quantity was really little. But it was the thick sticky sort that I liked, compared to some watery versions some places have. When we were done with it, we were thankful that it didn’t come in a larger quantity for we could not have finished it.
Cheng Teng ($3.50 – 1 serving)
$3.50 for Cheng Teng? I was a little apprehensive when my friend ordered this. Luckily it came with plenty of ingredients in it so it’s not that bad.
The total, including tea and towels was $111 for the 5 of us. There’s no GST nor service charge for this place, which is a plus. The service was very good. The quantity is a little small for the prices however I would try to come back again with my family. J Worth a try.
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Simply put, I love Old Navy!
They have a great variety, catering to men, women and even children. They sell tops, bottoms, accessories, swimwear and even knickers. There's even baby clothing! The clothing is also not overly expensive. A dress can cost about USD $19-$39 which I do think is quite reasonable.
Their website is easy to navigate and most of the time it's quick to load.
The tops are long and made of pretty good quality. After numerous washes, they still retain their shape. I've quite a few pieces from them and the colour doesn't run in the wash, which is one of the best things clothes can be isn't it?
Shipping is $5 flat for all addresses in USA. So it'll be great for you if you happen to have a friend in USA right now. But they do not ship internationally at the moment.
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Wing Kee is a popular stall selling Ipoh Horfun and Ba Chor Mee in the Changi Village Food Centre. It is the one with the red signboard and has been there for a long time, way before its rival sprung up next to it.
Well-known in the area, they have served many soldiers at the nearby camps well by providing a delivery service to the camps. Although they often have a queue in front of their stall, but they are fast and the customers don't have to queue very long. Also, they've not gotten my orders before, despite the large volume and the numerous times I've been there.
Food I always order:
Chicken Cutlet Hor Fun / Mee ($3)
YUMMY! My favourite food. I would prefer this to any posh restaurant fare any day. The crisp chicken pieces are delicious. The sauce is very tasty too and the serving is pretty reasonable.
Ba Chor Mee ($3)
Lots of minced meat in this dish unlike the tiny portions of meat found in other places. Even the meatball is handmade and more chewy with no fatty bits.
My only grievance is that the stalls in the area produce a lot of smoke which makes me gag when I'm in the food centre. My eyes tear occasionally too so it's a little irritating. but I'm willing to put up with that little discomfort.
a MUST TRY!
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