Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Watami Japanese Casual Restaurant @ Raffles City Shopping Centre

Momo and I was suppose to meet our relatives for lunch on Sunday but there was a fund raising event by the kids in church. We bought a $10 voucher to help them in their fund raising. With the vouchers, we bought lots of sausages, fried balls, cakes. Tempted by the snacks, we ate them all! Oops, how are we going to have lunch after?

Our lunch venue was Raffles City Shopping Centre because we wanted to pick up goods that we bought from the Robinsons sale a few days before. We asked our relatives where shall we meet for lunch? Japanese was suggested and it was probably a blessing in disguise! It's where we can share food and not order so much.

We over ordered again! Here's some of the food we really liked.

Watami

The watami salad has always been our favourite. After pouring the mayo sauce over it, it gives the salad a nice sticky texture and taste really good!


Watami

These wraps are tasty. We initially thought we ordered bacon something, but it's skewered beef. Outer layer was nice. Inside is more wet.


Watami

The sashimi bowl.


Watami

This flat pizza was really tasty. I think it's the Wafu Pizza.
It was not dry, the ingredients and sauce made is dry, but the crust below was crispy. Nice.


Watami

Some globs or sashimi and rice. Pretty good too.


Watami

A hot pot for those who needs to eat hot food.
The broth at the end was so tasty! The more it boils, the thicker and tasty it became.

We also had the crispy potato which was the fries. It became soggy quite fast though, but it came with two types of sauces that was addictive though. (We though, smuggle McD's fries in and eat with their sauce. haha)

The place is still quite pleasant to dine at. The menu have been updated and serves things a little different from our last trip. They still 'kneel' beside you to take orders. But catching their attention is a bit challenging in this branch because of the design. Once they see you, they are quite pleasant.


Watami Japanese Casual Restaurant @ Raffles City Branch
252 North Bridge Road, #B1-06/07,
Raffles City Shopping Centre,
Singapore 179103

Tel: 6336 2425
Hours 11.30am to 10pm

Monday, August 29, 2011

Mooncakes by Jewels Artisan Chocolate

Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

Our doorbell sounded and there's a guy outside with a nice little paper bag delivering a box of mooncakes to us! It's delivery from one of our top 5 places for macarons in Singapore.

Mooncakes by Jewels Artisan Chocolate

A surprise from Jewels Artisan Chocolate.
It's not macarons this time, but Snow-Skin mooncakes!

A semi 3D style light green box was inside the package and in it there's 3 icy jewels!


3 cute little mooncakes from Jewels Artisan Chocolate

The kind folks from Jewels Artisan Chocolate and Siriusart sent me 3 types of mooncakes to sample.

3 cute little mooncakes from Jewels Artisan Chocolate

Hand made by the artisans from Jewels, these cold delights comes in limited quantity.

These mini snow skin mooncakes comes in boxes of 8 mooncakes, and prices are between $52.80 to $56.80. They have the traditional baked ones as well.



Now for the taste test:

Mini Snow-Skin Mooncake with Salted Caramel Truffle

Mini Snow-Skin Mooncake with Salted Caramel Truffle - $52.80 for a box of 8.

A ball of chocolate crust with salted caramel truffle inside, tasting slightly salty and sweet at the same time. The filling is smooth and velvety on the tongue.


Mini Snow-Skin Mooncake with Champagne Ganache Truffle

Mini Snow-Skin Mooncake with Champagne Ganache Truffle - $53.80 for a box of 8.

A white chocolate ball with champagne ganache inside. It's a low sugar recipe, so it does not taste so sweet. When you open the package, a nice fragrance banana and champagne smell tempts you to want to pop it in your mouth!


Mini Snow-Skin Mooncake with Korean Black Garlic

Mini Snow-Skin Mooncake with Korean Black Garlic - $56.80 for a box of 8.

This sure is unique! Jewels have been making korean black garlic macarons, and now they have added it into their mooncakes as well. Black garlic has 10 times more anti-oxidants than normal garlic.

Garlic lovers and garlic PRE-lovers might want to taste it. It smells of garlic, but not a whiff of the pungent smell like fresh garlic. In fact, you don't really smell it from your nose, you can taste it on your tongue when you pop the mooncakes in. The black garlic has a sweetish and yet a slight vinegarish taste, a bit like pickled radish in korean banchans.


Jewels Artisan Chocolate

You can get these delicacies from now till 11 September 2011.
You can email them at sales@jewels.com.sg or call them at +65 6509 8998

If you want to grab it right now, make your way to:

Jewels artisan chocolate
Orchard Central
181 Orchard Road, #02-31/32.

Takashimaya Square
Basement 2 Ngee Ann City
391 Orchard Road.

Entertainment Centre Atrium (In front of Carrefour)
Suntec City Mall,
3 Temasek Boulevard.

If you want to view promotions of some offers, go to
http://www.facebook.com/Jewels.artisan.chocolate

Staycation: Quincy Hotel Singapore @ Mount Elizabeth, off Orchard Road

Fancy a staycation in Singapore? Staycation seems to be getting popular for many people here in Singapore. Every now and then, you hear of people having staycations in one of the hotels or resorts here in Singapore. Being a tourist in your own country can quite fun!

The wife and I got invited to have a vacation in Singapore, courtesy of The Quincy Hotel. (Arranged by Far East Hospitality and Dice Studio)

The Quincy Hotel? Where's that?
It's a boutique hotel by the Far East Hospitality Group and it's located at Mount Elizabeth, just a few minutes walk from Paragon Shopping Center at Orchard Road! It has been rated the Trendiest Hotel in Asia and Seventh in the World by the 2011 TripAdvisor Travelers Choice Awards!

Let me share with you what Momo and I think of this hotel.
The hotel stay will costs $318++ a night. The unique thing about this hotel is that the price includes EVERYTHING! Yes, things that other hotels will charge you extras for, it's all included in the price.
For example, the following are all included:
  • Yoga or baking class and movie night by the pool (Registration required. Subject to availability.)

  • Daily buffet breakfast, set lunch & dinner

  • Unlimited broadband Internet access

  • Local telephone calls

  • Complimentary cocktails from 6pm to 8pm nightly

  • Complimentary minibar, replenished daily

  • Complimentary bottle of red wine

  • All day coffee and tea

  • Late check-out till 3pm (Subject to availability)

  • T&C apply


*** THE ROOM ***

Quincy Hotel - Room

Momo and I checked in The Quincy Hotel on Friday, 19 August and stayed for a night.
We had our luggage all packed and went checked in to the hotel right after work!
We stayed in the Studio Room. (There's Deluxe Studio, that includes Nespresso machine as well).

That's the bed we slept on. A King size bed and 400-thread-count sheets. Yes, they were comfortable. Down feather pillows with micro fibre pillows as well. We had a good night sleep.


Quincy Hotel - Room

If you are into gadgetry like me, you will like this place. iPod/iPhone chargers,  a huge flat screen TV and guess what? Automated blinds in the room! What you see is the day curtains. There is a total black out blind that comes all the way down behind the day curtains with a push of a button by the bed side!


Quincy Hotel - Room

Many hotels are having the 'transparent' or 'see thru' bathroom design, and Quincy has it too!
For couples, this can be quite ahem 'interesting'! You can lie on the bed and watch your partner shower.

Quincy Hotel - Room

The view from inside the bathroom out. You might feel like a fish in an aquarium!


Quincy Hotel - Room

I like the WC! It's a modern toilet from Toto! They were really quite comfortable to sit on!
Yup, it comes with a bidet. :-)

Quincy Hotel - Room

Oh yes, they use Morton Brown bath amenities here.

The Morton Brown bar soaps and shower gel's excellent! Nice fragrance and non drying too.
(Momo and I think the shampoo's no good though, it dries out the hair, so BYO shampoo!)


Quincy Hotel - Room

The mini bar was stocked with beer, pepsico's softdrinks and yeo's packet drinks.
It's all included in the price and replenished daily. Drink them all!

Quincy Hotel - Room

When we travel, we usually don't touch the snacks and drinks because it costs a bomb to have them.
But here, just eat and drink!


*** DINNER ***

The room rates includes 3 meals. Our first meal after we checked in was dinner on the 1st level.  The food's prepared by the chef from Modesto's if I remember correctly.

Quincy Hotel - Dinner

Dinner was a set dinner. We order the mains that we wanted from the menu.
Momo had the spaghetti.

Quincy Hotel - DinnerQuincy Hotel - Dinner

I had Curry Chicken and Rice. We both ordered from the Today's Special section. The chicken curry was more delicious than the spaghetti. ;-) But we spied at other table's steak! They looked even better!


Quincy Hotel - DinnerQuincy Hotel - Dinner

There's free flow of soup and also a slice of a slice of delicious Tiramisu to end the meal.

Since it's so near Paragon, Momo and I strolled down to Paragon after dinner. Oh no, the wife saw  shoes on sale and bought a pair. Come to think of it, that money spent on shoes would have been air fare if we travelled overseas!


*** YOGA ***

The next morning at 8 AM, I went for the Yoga workout. Stretching and breathing exercise so early in the morning. On vacation, I don't usually wake up so early, but some exercise will do me some good!

I don't have any photos as I was exercising!
But you can see the photos here by the 'official photographers' ;-)


*** BREAKFAST ***

After some exercise, I was really hungry and with the rest of the people who exercised, I ate quite a bit! It's a buffet breakfast. Not a huge spread, but there's enough variety to stuff you up!


Quincy Hotel - BreakfastQuincy Hotel - Breakfast

Had eggs, hash brown, sausage, pork bacon, and fried rice too! I saw some pastries and took a chocolate roll and a croissant.


Quincy Hotel - BreakfastQuincy Hotel - Breakfast

Picked a few items from the salad / cold meats / cheese section. Can you imagine I ate some roti prata after eating the more western cheese and hams? The prata was really crispy and delicious though!


Quincy Hotel - BreakfastQuincy Hotel - Breakfast

I wanted to try more stuff, and had some porridge. I did not have the cereals though. I stole a snap from someone else's breakfast! More photos of the juices, buffet tables on my Flickr album.


*** NAP and EXERCISE ***

Oh too much food made me really sleepy! I went to have a nap a short while after breakfast!

Quincy Hotel - Gym and Pool 

Around noon, the wife said, she's going to exercise. She has missed her gym sessions earlier that week and after all those food, it's time to burn them off. OK, I joined her at the gym upstairs.


Quincy Hotel - Gym and PoolQuincy Hotel - Gym and Pool 

Beside the gym, there's a swimming pool too!
If you like water, swim! Look how cool the pool is!


*** LUNCH ***

Quincy Hotel - Lunch

We had a late lunch because we went to exercise. So after exercising, we tried to have a healthier meal.
Eating salad alone will be too extreme right? There's free flow of salad.

As it was a set lunch, just order the mains. The drinks, sides and ice cream are all free flow!

Quincy Hotel - Lunch

Momo had the Club Sandwich. Looks good ya!
It tasted as good as it looks too!

Quincy Hotel - LunchQuincy Hotel - Lunch

That's the complete plating of the order on the left. On the right, is showing you what's inside. Chicken Sausages.


Quincy Hotel - Lunch

I had the beef burger. I saw a few persons around me order it too!
It's not huge, but it's big enough for me. The potato wedges were really nice!



*** BAKING LESSON ***

For the package that they are offering now, you can either choose a Yoga Session or a Baking Class for the staycation.

Quincy Hotel - Baking Class

Our baking instructor, Zeti A David! She has a shop along Shenton area I think.
She's taught us how to make cup cakes!

I heard on some weeks they will be making Tiramisu. There were mamy couples and families at the session, and it is quite fun! We made everything from scratch!

Quincy Hotel - Baking ClassQuincy Hotel - Baking Class

Sugar, Butter and Eggs. We had to cream them first. Oh, it was a big workout! We were just given whisk and not the electrical ones! We had to beat till it was creamy. Hard work!

Oops, who was the silly person who put the whole egg without cracking into the mixing bowl?!

Quincy Hotel - Baking ClassQuincy Hotel - Baking Class

After creaming it with all our might, the instructor finally said OK to consistency of our mixture. We added in the flour and cocoa powder and folded the ingredients till they combined. Next was to put them into cupcake holders! It's that simple!

Quincy Hotel - Baking ClassQuincy Hotel - Baking Class

Our instructor putting our cupcakes into the oven. Just like on TV, while our cupcakes are in the oven, cool down ones appeared! It was decorating time!

Quincy Hotel - Baking Class

We enjoyed decorating. We had a few designs and since we had time, we took 4 extra cupcakes to decorate. We called it the Presidential cupcakes! When we showed the cupcake to friends who happen to visit our home when we got back, they wanted to throw away 3 of the cupcakes above! It's just cupcakes! Many people are very very serious about the Presidential Elections!

After baking, we checked out and went home. We still kind of miss the short little staycation we had. It's been about a week and we still have good memories of it.

Do you want to enjoy an all-inclusive staycation at The Quincy Hotel for only $318++?
You can fill up this form below provided by the hotel and get a free upgrade to the Deluxe Studio. (We stayed in the 'normal' Studio) The hotel will get in touch with you within 2 working days.

If you can't see the form below, click here:  http://bit.ly/nPBn0Z
Have a great stay!

For more information about Quincy Hotel, you can surf on to: http://www.quincy.com.sg

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Sunday, August 28, 2011

Woorinara Korean Restaurant @ Lorong Kilat / Upper Bukit Timah

Last week, we were at home, deciding what to have for dinner. The ladies at home were left to decide. There were so many choices and the ladies finally decided on Korean and then narrow it down to Korean Fried Chicken.

We did not want to travel too far because we were already quite hungry! So off we went to Woorinara because we like the crispy fried chicken here. That place is also usually not very busy.

Woorinara

They don't have the best selection and varieties in the banchans. It's still decent and edible.
Simple stuff. We ate it all up anyway. Kimchi's nice though.


Woorinara

The Fried Chicken! Crispy and crunchy skin fried chicken always delight us!
It was good that the pieces we ate were also moist. 

We had Honey Soy this time. The sauce is kinda addictive! Sweetish and saltish thick sauce that was dribbled over the chicken.

We controlled ourselves by not ordering the whole chicken. Half a fried chicken for 3 persons already have enough calories! Not having too much also prevents us from getting sick of it. :-)



Woorinara

We wanted to have something else as well, so we had the hot plate spicy pork.

Yes, it's very oily but because of the oil, the meat was sizzlingly delicious! The ladies were comparing it to another Korean place that uses very little oil and use water to cook them. This is more fragrant but oily!

We also ordered a beef bibimbap (photo was too blur) and ate it with the pork.
It was a satisfying, oily and calorie ladden dinner!


Usually this place is not busy, but because of the group by coupon offer this place is having, we realised this place is suddenly so busy! So we had to wait longer than usual for our food.

Woori-Nara Korean Restaurant
19 Lorong Kilat
#01-02
Singapore 598120

Tel: 6464 9282