26 Feb 2012 - Birthday dinner at The Square, Furama Riverfront

Chanced upon the 1-for-1 promotion and managed to get a reservation. The regular price was $55++/pax, sounded like quite a spike from the previous pricing.


It was a rude start on arrival. The attendant at the counter produced a pissed mien, probably because their check-in interrupted her flipping of some pages. She showed them to their table anyway, seated by the window. Would have been a reasonable view, had it not been blocked by the conical roof of the lobby.

The Chinese waitresses had higher standard of service. One of them saw that they were eating crabs, and brought them some crab scissors, claw crackers and a bowl of water with lemon slices. Nice touch. They would also ask if plates could be cleared before picking them up.

As the crowd started to come in, manpower seemed to be reallocated. The new batch of attendants cleared plates from the table without asking, prompt service, but not very polite huh.

Let's get to the food...

Seafood counter first, as always.


First blood. Didn't like that the restaurant removed the claws away from the "arms". But the quality of the crab meat was much better than the one he had at Straits Cafe, Hotel Rendezvous (early February 2012). Prawns were ice cold and tasty. They noticed that the restaurant did not serve oysters on a weekend dinner this day.


They had Belgian mussels though, and these tasted sweet and more tender than the ones at Straits Cafe. Sashimi though laid out for self-service, was also well-cut and neatly arranged.


Various salads. The buns were too oily to his liking, but she would go on and have a few more later.


Chilli crabs didn't appeal to him initially, as he felt that mud-crab meat would not be as enjoyable. The restaurant shone again, not too sure how they did it, but the meat was sweet, totally unlike the mushy ones he had in recent. Prawns however, were mushy, so he preferred the cold prawns.


Lamb with mint sauce. Lots of fat to be cut out, but the meat was tender and with no hint of gaminess.


Fried kuay tiao (flat noodles), chicken and more fried buns...


From the roasted meat section, quite a mess. The chef was quite polite though, guess he had too much on his hands, time-slicing between cooking pasting, chopping up meat and probably some other stuff.


He liked the peach pudding best. But because it was very sweet, you'd probably be overwhelmed after having 2 of it.


Check out that strawberry throwing its weight on the thin slice of toffee cake.


Creme brulee, looks quite the mashed up affair, but he just couldn't stop eating.


Almost forgot, the restaurant had good ice cream. Especially liked the creamy durian, and tangy mango flavours.

Reflections in the window when night came.


Asked for the bill, and the Chinese waitress patiently spoke about the various promotions with different payment modes. Well-equipped. Service standards of such levels have been a scarcity.

It had to end on a sour note though. On their way out, they met the same attendant who showed them their table, and she was still producing sulk on her face.

2 Jan 2012 - First Poly-mates Dinner of 2012

Happy New Year's to one and all. Wishing everyone happiness and good health.

Monday was a holiday, and they all met up for the first gathering in 2012. It was arranged as The House of Robert Timms, Wheelock Place, because one of them worked there.

Another frappe for her, Macadamia Nut. $7.20++.


Mussels for him, $18.50++. Ordered the spicy chilli version, and the sauce was a delectable dip for the accompanying sticks of bread (he would have 3 servings). Mussels were soft and tender, you could "chew" them with your tongue.


One stick had gone missing... oh yes, and a pint of Victoria Bitter for $12++. Forgot about the picture though.


Braised Kangaroo Loin for her, $26.90++. Got it over crocodile meat, as it sounded like a safer bet. Like the fat-less version of beef. She wasn't too used to it though.


Crocodile Casserole for the brave Jinenji. $23.80++. Not too sure what it tasted like, will fill in his comments once he has them.


Bacon and Mushroom Fettucine, $18.50++. Shared by one loving couple. Probably should try sharing food next time, cut down on spending, and cut down on weight gain.


She scrutinized the cake menu...


... and the Oreo Dream Bar had her give in to her sweet tooth. $4.50++.


Chocolate Brownie Stack of one of the wives. $6.90++. Sinfully fudgey.


A treat from one of the ex-classmates. How do you share 5 cakes amongst 14 people...


So many other dishes got left out, he needs to find his passion for photography again. Images had been her responsibility in recent, he only afforded his time to the eat.

06 Mar 2011 - Grandma's Birthday Lunch et al.

Grandma's 84th birthday lunch was held at Gim Tin Grassroots' as usual.

Their table opted for the a la carte buffet, where you can only order once per dish. Around 20 selections, excluding 5 starters. Let's go straight to the pictures...

Smooth and succulent soy sauce chicken, and lean barbecued pork. Could have done with more chicken, his favourite meat.


Then came salad prawns, not as cold as he would have liked. Enjoyed the honeydew and melon chunks though.


Took a photograph of the chinese tea while waiting for the rest of the dishes to be served. The color turned lighter with each refill.


Next to arrive was the fried Soon Hock (Marbled Goby). This was gone in no time, tells you how well-received it was huh.


Steamed Tilapia that still had some redness in the bone, and also had a muddy taste. Didn't really like this one.


Nonya-inspired stuff. Kueh Pieti cup with seafood filling of stir-fried prawns, conpoy and egg white.


There were a whole lot more, but the glutton bug kicked in again. Too engrossed with eating to take pictures.

Later on, they would go to town. Bought his first bottle of vitaminwater from Carrefour. $1.65.


The missus made some noise throughout the trip and got to buy 2 pairs of shoes. Debt dollars added *cash register sound clip*

Felt tired and was about to leave for home when she spotted Ji De Chi (JDC) dessert shop. Thinking about the durian ice shavings had them walking in half-consciously. He wanted to get durian again, but she wanted to try other flavours, and settled for mango ice shaving, $5. This serving here seemed smaller as compared to the one at Liang Seah Street. However, the place is bigger and it's probably a little more comfortable.


Weird sequence, but after their dessert, he wanted to have dinner. She claimed that she didn't want to eat, so he thought of going home for instant noodles (with the current damages in mind). But they still ended up at Pastamania. Small portions coming up...

Mussels and clams for her $9.90, no match for the cream based one from Grill and Pasta at Sembawang Hill Food Centre. Should re-visit some time soon...


Turkey bacon aglio olio for him, $7.60. Not too sure if the garlic wasn't enough, or it was not done well, felt that it lacked the fragrance and spiciness.


Makes him want to buy some spaghetti and try cooking aglio olio next weekend. Or maybe he should just stick to visiting Grill and Pasta...

19 Dec 2010 - Universal Studios Singapore

She could finally visit the castle at Universal Studios Singapore!


The first ride that they took was "Revenge of the Mummy". Bad choice, he ended up with a headache and she took quite a bit of time to recover. So they walked around a bit and took photographs with the random stars appearing on the street.

Had fast food for late lunch at Friar's... just one beef mince wrap, some potatoes and a drink. Unfortunately, only managed to take a photograph of the window in low lighting.


After roaming the park for one whole day, legs were aching and stomachs were grumbling. She suggested dining at The Mussel Guys. Though he had 2 bad experiences at the Vivo City branch, he was starving, no more energy to think up of another place.

Blue mussels - got 2 pots, 500g and 350g. They were so hungry that they almost finished the soup in the pots. Some of the mussels seemed to have gone bad though, maybe a bad harvest.


Her steak and prawn set - 140g done medium well, accompanied by a grilled prawn, broccoli and mashed potato. At least not something that had gone bad.

dining at orchard central 30 Jan 2010

she wanted to try thai food since she thought she could already handle spicy stuff

headed to orchard central and checked out the directory, before proceeding to check out levels 7 and 8. the outdoor escalator ride up 3 levels was super scary for him, got him all tensed up and sweating by the time they reached solid ground. anyway, back to the main story.

central thai was having a 1 for 1 promo, so they decided to dine there. ready to order, he raised his hand and signalled to a skinhead staff on 2 different occasions. both times, the skinhead saw him but ignored him totally, and moved to stand outside the restaurant. however, when the sexily dressed lady at the next table requested for drinks, tissue papers, skinhead responded very swiftly. wow for service. not for slighting customers.

seafood pad thai $9.90++


green curry beef $9.90++ - thick and very flavorsome curry, made them neglect the pad thai altogether.


time for the bill, $11.65, and the waitress told them that credit payment was only available for $20 and above, and that they didn't accept NETS. had to go all the way down to the ground floor from the 8th level because he didn't have enough cash on hand. it was a bad experience overall, especially with skinhead, will not go back again.

proceeded to the mussel guys next door to complete formalities for dinner. service was much better than the one at vivo city, and they had 1 for 1 mussels for any credit card. ordered belgian mussels and baked cheese mussels on her request.

baked cheese mussels - tough and chewy, not as good as the juicy ones he had at hong kong buffet, lawton, oklahoma, united states. haha.


his preference of picture, as opposed to hers just above


belgian mussels - pot was smaller than the one at vivo city, but the mussels were still delicious. tender and sweet, finished this up with satisfaction before chewing on the baked mussels.


total damage was $30.45...

a month in lawton, oklahoma, united states

here comes a compilation of 1 month's worth of food. messy! are you ready for it?

dating a month back, he crossed the pacific towards his destination in around 36 hours. boarded 4 flights. Singapore to Tokyo for a stopover, Tokyo to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Dallas, and finally, Dallas to Oklahoma City. not forgetting the near 2 hours truck-ride to his hotel in Lawton. imagine how tiring that was, and you'll probably forgive him for having only 1 decent picture of his inflight meal.

poached egg with cheese, hashbrowns, sausage and a cherry tomato. very yummy.
there were japanese selection available too, and he enjoyed soba the most. unfortunately, there are no pictures of the above said.


one fine day when they could eat out for lunch, they went for Burger King. their burgers are still very much large, and drinks in the US restaurants and eateries seem to be free flow. at least for where he was.
USD4.99 for this tax-free BK Big Fish meal. yummy.


on another not so fine night where they had to return to discuss some issues into the night, they decided to pamper themselves with a good meal of lobsters. the name says it all, Red Lobster.


as always, he goes for the ultimate value + yummy meal. ultimate feast, USD 22.99 (exclusive of taxes and tips)


garden salad for him, with yummy croutons. j was saying this was a separate charge of the meal, that nearly made the salad unpalatable.


j's order of steamed 1 1/4 pound lobster. lobster's really red huh. cost around USD 24.


here comes his ultimate feast, snow crab legs, scampi shrimp, some kind of breaded shrimp, lobster tail and mashed potato. crab legs and the lobster tail tasted a bit tough. enjoyed the texture of the mashed potato, where you could still bite chunks of potatoes in the mash, and also liked the garlic aroma of the scampi shrimp. jy, however, found it too salty and left it very much untouched afterwards.


close up of the scampi shrimp. butter, garlic, herb. mmm...


Pusan Korean buffet
they would drive by this road on their way to work, and opted for lunch on a day they were tight on time, since it was the nearest.
USD6.95 for lunch (excluding taxes and tips)


rice, comfort food for some of his colleagues. variety was quite limited, but it was a good meal, considering that it was buffet for a lesser price than some other fast food restaurants. the kimchi and the bulgogi were especially good.


Wok N Roll chinese express
one of the haunts for bargain eats. look at the mountain of fried rice, cost around USD 6 and can feed 2-3 mouths. the one on the right is the Wok-N-Roll Special Combo, cost around USD 6 too, and consists of shrimps, beef, chicken, pork, and they always ask for it to be whipped up extra spicy. there was one fella who ate it and starting sweating all over his face in 13 degrees celsius.


Hong Kong Buffet
all time favourite. lunch for USD6.99 and dinner for less than USD 10 (weekday prices).
wide spread of food, sushi, western, mongolian, chinese, salads, good quality creamy ice-cream, etc. they seem to have braised mussels for lunch, and for dinner, wow, snow crab legs, cheese baked mussels and oysters. super duper yummy.


first meal at HK Buffet was lunch. took some spring rolls, fried dumplings, cheese baked potato and some spicy baby crawfish.


gh's mountain of prawns. he never fails to take this mountain whenever they are there.


second helping, braised pork, mussels, sushi, fried chicken wing, boiled egg half and cheese baked potato again.


not forgetting the mongolian barbeque! grab your spread of meat, pork, chicken, beef, throw in some peppers, top with large amounts of garlic in oil and some chilli paste. then wait and watch the chef bbq you a yummy plate of food!


dinner time, cheese baked mussels, snow crab legs and honey pork ribs. super yummy. gh probably had 1 dozen of the mussels.


close up of the yummy mussels. fresh and succulent.


Golden Corral - serves western style buffet. cost around USD13 for dinner with free flow lemon soda.


mushrooms, thinking of them makes him drool while typing. they serve large chunks of pork ribs, what is shown is about a quarter, special request.


next up, Furr's Fresh Buffet. has the largest spread of salad of all other eateries they've been to. cost around USD7 for lunch

mix of salad


grilled fish on the left, you can see the grill lines. slightly bitter and smokey taste.
pork carving in the middle, laden with a good layer of fats. when he went for returns, all that were left was the lean portion.
some kind of taco-like wrap on the right.


canned dinners - on days when they work really late and no more restaurants are open. left, USD1, right, USD0.80. very salty, but saves money and keeps you filled.


Taco Bell - first time he has ever eaten this, even though he has it back home. got a USD6 taco black box, 2 crunchy tacos and 1 soft taco.

a close up of one of the crunchy taco


breakfast of bagel, egg slices and meat patties.