As the time nears to the day my cells aging another year, I decided to congratulate myself for crossing a milestone. Once every 10 years.

I'm generally thrifty by nature and agonize over spending SGD100. Ahh, tis' the life of a bachelorette (a better word than being called a spinster) living in one of the most expensive cities in the world with too many commitments.


The check-in manager kindly informed me that I could mingle with the other in-house guests at cocktail hour at 6pm. Complimentary wines, juices, coffee, tea and light snacks would be served. Perhaps I looked like a sad case, holidaying on my own.

My room was on the ground floor. I really liked my room (except for the see-through toilets) with the high ceilings with verdant green tones.

My dark green room

 I wished I had a verandah to open out to but my windows opened to gardeners working on the lawn in some corner of the building.

Kept my verandah closed. Could hear them moving the lawn right outside.

The room comes with a Nespresso machine (yay!), TwG tea, touch panel controls for lighting, curtains and aircon. (took me a while to figure these out) and complimentary wi-fi. The downside to the room was that the Bowers & Wilkins iPod docking station did not work. After fiddling with it, and worrying that I might short-circuit the blasted device, I decided to charge my iPod the usual way.

Room control for the aircon and lighting

One thing that struck me as odd was that I was faced with transparent toilet and bathroom. Luckily I had the room to myself. I don't know how couples would feel looking at their other halves doing a No.2 right in front of them. How is that supposed to be romantic?

The door slides either way. So you cannot take a shower AND take a leak at the same time. ALERT: This is definitely not a room for friends nor family! I am still not quite sure why couples would like this.

 If you really need to take a shower, there is a tub right outside the "toilet". It's built facing the room's TV, so I guess a lil' movie while you soak? It seems like good idea but it fell a little short for me. I lurve bath tubs. Used to use them as swimming pools during my kindy days. With this bath tub, you can reenact any chick flick scene where you soak with a champagne in hand.

But... *gasp* the horrors! Where are are my freakin' bath salts?! It's such a nice tub with absent bath salts. So for all those planning to stay at Hotel Fort Canning, bring your own bath salts if you want to soak up the chichiness. Psst... Muji sells them in little packs.

Before dinner, I walked around the park enjoying the setting sun. It gets pretty quiet towards the end of the day(if there are no events going on) so I would suggest not to wander around too late.

Pool next to Glass House

Sunset from the patio

Gothic Gates

In Fort Canning Park

Dinner at Gattopardo Italian Restaurant by myself with a glass of wine. I think some diners there thought I was a person nursing a broken heart with alcohol or something. I didn't take any photos for dinner as I did not want to draw too much attention to myself. Being away from documenting your food is good, you get to really focus and enjoy it instead of wondering which angle would make the ravioli look better. It was way too dark for the photos anyway.

I returned to my room for a night of Discovery channel marathon and tea. Midnight came and passed. Did I feel different? Nope but the stillness of the night on this bustling tiny island gave me time to think about days to come.

If you want a tranquil break from it all but still remain down the road from the shopping? Try a night at Hotel Fort Canning. It's good for self-contemplation too.

Fax: +65 6338 8915
Price: $$$
Website:http://www.hfcsingapore.com/

It was ironic that we came to enjoy coffee but it ended up as a career counselling session. Exchanging war stories, seeking advice on how to handle difficult situations, self-reflection, reasons why we were driven to make a particular decision.

Heavy conversations wound around our hearts. Sometimes it felt like our load were lightened, and at other times, it settled into the pits of our stomach. Hugging our dessert plates and quickly cooling coffee, we used the food and caffeine as excuse to switch topics or to find out how another was doing.

SC's craving for a pecan pie led us here. By the way how do you pronounce pecan? Do you pronounce it as pee-caan, pee-kan or peh-kan? I pronounce it as a "peh-kan".

We usually sojourn together to a cafe after group events. Since the others were wondering where to go for dessert, we invited them along on our journey. Group Therapy is located on the 2nd floor or 1st floor (if you are Malaysian or other nationalities who count the ground level floor as G). You have to climb up a flight of stairs - watch out for the rickety one - and push over the wooden door to a counter with bikes propped up against it.

There is not much seating on premise. A long table towards the window, some couches about, its a space to soak in some rays or just lounge and read. The limited seating also means that some may be put off by the wait of inconsiderate cafe patrons.

Sights in and out of the cafe No one had a critic about the coffee. It was one of the better tastings ones around with their pretty coffee art. Flavourful with a tinge of bittersweet after taste. Since we were here for therapy, sweets tend to be the comfort food for most people. We ordered a few to go around. I would say it's comfort food from elevated sugar levels. The Belgian waffle, topped off with a scoop of ice cream, almonds and berries was quite nice as it came out hot from the waffle maker. The slightly firm yet spongy waffle was a favourite with everyone. I hate waffles that get soggy immediately after serving. bleragh... The pecan pie and key lime crumb cake were good as well. The pecan pie wasn't too sweet and pecan lovers would be ever thankful to Group Therapy for the generous pecans topping off the pie. I wasn't too sure about the Caramel Granny Smith Apple Pie though. The oaty looking covering and sweetness made it the last of the desserts to go.  If you are an Ernest Hemingway fan, you'd have some expectations towards Key Lime Pie. It was a key lime crumb cake here but the focal point of any key lime is always the lime curd. Group Therapy prepares a pretty decent key lime cake which went fabulous with their roasted coffee. If you are reading this post Group Therapy owners, perhaps you can offer an option of meringue or vanilla ice cream with the cake? SC and I also ordered truffled ravioli to share as I still couldn't eat much due to my jaw. Based on my previous experience with truffle oil, its either the you get something good, or something totally stinky. Luck favours those who are down. The ravioli was stuffed with truffles and porcini mushrooms. The watery tomato paste and parmesan cheese brought the whole dish together by tempering the oil. This place calls for a second visit. It wouldn't be a bad idea to spend Friday evenings reading a book alone with ravioli and a cup of hot flat white. Group Therapy  Address: 49 Duxton Rd, 089513 Tel: +65 6222 2554 Opening Hours: Monday closed, Tues - Thurs (11am-6pm), Friday - Saturday (11am-11pm),                        Sun & PH (10am-6pm) Website: http://www.gtcoffee.com/ Price: $$

I think I need to buy a lottery ticket.

2 days consecutively in a Mini. 2 different Minis owned by 2 different people, mind you.
My colleagues and I were doing some work near Jurong West and by the time we were done, it was nearing lunch.

Mid-week. Stress. Lack of sleep. Blinking light of Energy Level *imagines Ultraman*.

 Plus, we got into the office really early that morning to prepare for a 9.30am meeting.

Someone came up with the bright idea of joyriding back to the office. As we were near the farmlands, the joyride in the Mini lead us through back roads, vegetable and ornamental fishes farms. I never knew that ornamental fish was such a lucrative industry in Singapore until I saw the land size for the fishes.Tanks and tanks of wide eyed gaping mouthed koi!

Feeling the need to consume organically, we went for Petals and Leaves Bistro. The bistro is part of Garden Asia who specialize in providing flowers, organic props and lighting for events.Our designated driver vouched for the place as having pretty good food this far out west and has previously made multiple trips there with his family.


The bistro is also a watering hold after it turns dark. I'm not sure if this is the place that mosquitoes for Happy Hour from the alchohol laced blood coursing through your veins. With the wide open spaces, I saw that the bistro advertised their premises for team bonding events, seminars, press launches and filmings.

The bathroom is a little iffy though. I felt like I was back in the kampung, with its dankness and dim lights.
We grabbed a spot next to the pond with curious hungry fish poking their mouths out of the water hoping to catch whatever we may drop. The fish stalked me as I moved around the pond. Does a fish know when it is full? Or they go on eating until they expire from a full stomach?

The menu has a pretty good spread of affordable local, local fusion and western meals. For some strange reason we all had a craving for noodles . I went with the black pepper steak on hor fun. When my friend's mee goreng arrived, it smelled really good. The bistro used pasta instead of the usual mee hoon. Our stomachs were starting to growl. Then we noticed something strange. There was an unusually long wait between the dishes. Jer made the comment that maybe there is only one dishes were being cooked seperately. At first we laughed. As the minutes ticked by and dishes coming out at a slow rate, one by one, we started to pay attention to the sounds in the kitchen.

After every dish, we could hear the wok being fired again.Sounds of spatula against metal. Jer was right! My other colleague was almost done with her meal by the time mine came. I'm not sure if it was because we were the only ones around at that time of day or they just didn't want to wash too many utensils.

Black pepper steak with horfun

The food was pretty good. You can taste the "wok hei" or lit. wok breath. It means that the distinct taste your food will absorb when seared at high heat. With the food being yummy, I could forgive the same wok for 3 plates of noodles.

My beef was done well, and it wasn't tough. The vegetables, needless to say, were crunchy and fresh. Portions? Awesome! I could go back for seconds if it wasn't for the possibility that a long wait would be in store for me.

Latte which tastes as good as the boho places in town

If you are ever at Sg. Buloh wetlands, cross the street to Petals and Leaves for good food and coffee. Just hope that they use more than 1 wok.

Fax: 65 6793 651
Price: $-$$
Website:http://www.gardenasia.com/2010/templates/homepage.php

Everyone knows the Novena Square 2 has turned into a mini K-town. With its Korean hair salons to a shop selling only dubbuki, you can get your fix of Korean fashion in a quieter setting, compared to the crazily crowded Tanjung Pagar. *S & I got turned away from a restaurant on a Friday night and we were starving
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻*

For me, my main reason of venturing to Square 2 is budae jjigae or army stew. It's a no brainer dish where you throw whatever processed meat you can find, kimchi, tofu, instant noodles, gochujang (red pepper paste) and vegetables into a pot and let it cook. It's best taken on a cold rainy day. Like getting hot curry-flavoured Maggi mee tambah mata kerbau from mamak after getting caught in the rain.

I get my fix of Budae Jjigae "명물찌개" from Seoul Yummy. It's minimalistic decoration makes a diner focus on what's important and that's the food. Some parts of the restaurant is segregated into booths while the rest are in an open area.

Every main course comes with banchan or side dishes. The banchan usually changes depending what's available. I should store some banchan in my fridge since my housemates has taken up eating kimchi with everything lately.



Anyway back to the star of the post. Budae Jjigae's roots lie in the days where warring and post-war Korea used handouts or left overs from the U.S army bases to make this stew. It's a whatever goes sort of stew that you could make if you rifled through leftovers in your kitchen. The budae jjigae set comes with 2 sides (apart from banchan ), rice, and a dessert, of your choice. You can choose between the seafood or meat version of the dish. Did I mention that they serve roasted rice tea and its refillable?


Don't be turned off by the price of each set (SGD49.90++ for 2 pax). The portions of budae jjigae here is enough to feed 3 grown adults! Just order an extra rice and the 3rd person is good to go.

Apart from it being a meal you can share with your friends and family, I like that there are side dishes apart from the usual banchan. I always go for the panjeon :)  It's a smaller portion than the ala carte version but it's hard to finish once all that soup is in your tummy. Not into white rice? Seoul Yummy serves wild rice! It's part of their values to eat healthier. Most of their grilled stuff are cooked with water instead of oil. 

Panjeon and wild rice

I have been there 3 times for budae jjigae. I think I'll keep going back for more. 

Blogging about food always makes me hungry and its raining...hmmm

Seoul Yummy
Address: No. 10 Sinaran Drive, Square 2 #03-68, SG 307506
Tel: +6563976939
Opening Hours: 11am - 11pm
Website:http://www.seoulyummy.com.sg/index.htm

I blame SC for his lame pirate jokes.

Objective:
To find brunch near the "kitchen" for lunch.

Qualifying factors:
1. It was noon
2. I haven't had anything since ingesting alcohol the night before
3. We had the car
4. A place to buy ice-cream and cones for dessert
5. It's been awhile since we had a brunch meal
6. It was going to rain, AGAIN!

That is how we ended up at Arbite.

Unusual for a cafe, Arbite (pronounced as "ahr-bahyt") is located on the second floor along the commercial road of Serangoon Gardens. After climbing a flight of stairs, a customer is greeted with minimalistic brown and white decor. I felt like I walked into a party held at my friend's Melbourne studio. The floor space wasn't very wide so your personal space could feel a little invaded.
Arbite lives by the code to bring quality food without hefty price tags. I could see many residents flip-flopping in for food, with their cut off jeans and neighborhood tees. Without the fancy decor, overheads could be kept low (which then wouldn't cut into their running costs) and this translates into affordable food.

We couldn't hang around for long so this was a in and our brunch.

SC's lifeline - his gadgets

I went with Eggs Benedict. I always have a thing for the perfect poached egg. It has to be runny on the inside  but a cooked egg white to hold everything in until the fork pricks it for the cascade of yellowy yumminess. Ahh, the odes I could write to yummy eggs.

Arbite's Egg Benedict dish made the eggs just the way I like them. The brioche was good for soaking up the yolk but the sweetness in the bread got to me after a while. In the end I just ate the eggs with ham and left the bread on the side of my plate. Sweet bread and rich yolk? Not my preference.

Eggs Benedict before and after deflation

SC had the Smoked Salmon Smorgasbord. We were disappointed at the portion as we have encountered other places with a similar price point but had a few more pieces of salmon. He mentioned that it was a little salty for his taste. I am not sure what was added or maybe he had one caper one too many.

As for the serving staff, the "chi" of the particular day was not in alignment with the cosmos.They were flippant towards us as showed us our table and served us our orders. Maybe they were  harried due to the full house. Benefit of doubt given. We shall see during my next visit for pasta.

Personnel aside, it was an affordable brunch with a cosy setting which one could return for.

Arbite's wall hangings

PS: They do takeaway service as well. Not recommended for pasta unless you like your pasta all stuck together after it cools

Arbite
Address: 66 Serangoon Garden Way, Singapore 555962
Tel: +65 62870430
Website:  http://arbite.com.sg/home-s.php
Opening Hours: 11.30am - 3.00pm; 6.00pm - 10.30pm (Tues-Sat)
                         11.00am - 10.30pm (Sat-Sun)
                         Closed on Mondays
Getting there: Take MRT to Lorong Chuan (Circle Line) ► take bus 166 ► Alight at Serangoon Garden Circus roundabout near Chomp Chomp

I'm SC's first non-family passenger in his new ride! Considering that he has not driven in the past few years, I was wondering if anything will mar our concert night. With my past experience with pre-concert meals and  SC's slightly rusty driving skills, one has to forgive my ominousity.

Relish at 3pm on a rainy afternoon

Spam spaghettini

Medium rare beef steak with wilted spinach and potato wedges

Latte was drinkable

It's Chinese New Year withdrawal.

Considering that Chinese New Year is coming to an end (it was the 14th day yesterday) and that everyone will be back into their serious overworked lives with endless hounding, SkyC and I decided to end it off with drinks and a toast to the Snake Year.

That's how we ended up at Tanuki Raw, Orchard Central.

Happy hour menu

Tanuki was set up by the same people behind Standing Sushi Bar so at least you know your fish is treated right. This place reminded me of oysters bars you would see in the States where one just kept eating oysters,  with bibs tied around their necks and loud slurping. Well... there are no bibs and slurping here. Just alcohol and oysters.

It's SkyC's second time here and he has been trying to get me to come with for some time. For happy hour, the prices for selected drinks and food were pretty darn decent!

We each went with a martini - a vodka martini for him and a lychee martini for me at SGD10 each. I took a sip. Hey, it's pretty good. We sat at the smoking area, even though neither of us smoked, to get a view of Orchard Road.

Ok, my handphone camera is quite bad :(

Next came the main performer or should I say main performers of Tanuki's happy hour. Oysters... freshly shucked with Tabasco sauce and lemon, set on ice.  The icing on the cake? It's SGD1 each. Yup, you read that right SGD1 each. The only catch to this discounted dish is that we are limited to 24 oysters. We did just that.

SkyC's better smartphone

After having 12 oysters per person, we were getting quite sick of the briny taste. We washed it down with our remaining vodka and went on to order karage, sashimi and misubi. By now you would know that Tanuki serves modern slightly fusioned Japanese food.

Musubi! Everything tastes better with luncheon meat

At the end of the meal, we sat quietly, enjoying the night scene as our meal made its way down our digestive tract. The bill came up to slightly under SGD100.

I would say that Tanuki is great for happy hour but the non Happy Hour dishes may be a little pricy for some for the portion size. Probably a return trip will be made for a lychee martini one day. When things start to look dreary at the office and I just need a short time out on a Friday evening.

Tanuki Raw
Address: 181 Orchard Road, #02-03 Orchard Central, Singapore  238896
Tel : (+65)6636 5949
Web: www.tanukibar.com
Email: tanuki@tanukibar.com
Happy Hour: 5pm-8pm daily 
Opening Hours: 11.30am - 10.30pm
Price: $$

I can't quite remember how did we end up at Cups & Canvas.

Blanc Bacon

Lasagna