Monday 26 January 2009

Kong Hei Fatt Choy !

26 January 2009

Today is the first day of the first moon in the lunar calendar and we (chinese) celebrate our New Year. This year is the Year of the Ox and I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy, prosperous, healthy Year of the Ox !! Moo Moo !!

Friday 9 January 2009

Singapore - Day Two

01 January 2009
We start the day by having a quick breakfast at the hotel before heading off to Vivo City to meet our friend (from KL)!







After Vivo City, we took a cab to meet up with our friend (from last night) for Teochew food.

Teochew Restaurant Huat Kee
74 Amoy Street
Singapore 069893
Telephone number : (65) 6423 4747






Our friend brought her own sake for us to try too !


Female Crab (its roe is a darker orange hue)


Male Crab (its roe is a light yellow hue)


This is a Steamed Patin Fish dish!


Fried Kuey Teow That was a very satisfying lunch we had. The crabs were really great, meat was sweet, so much roe .... slurrp!

Walked around the area for a bit then we headed off to Orchard Road. We had decided that we would walk a bit then have dinner there and after that we'd walk along the road to look at the Christmas decorations and lights before they are taken down!
Still feeling rather full from lunch, we opted for Japanese food.
Restaurant Hoshigaoka
Shaw House Branch
350 Orchard Road
Level 4 Isetan Scotts
Singapore 238868
Telephone number : (65) 6734 9725








The food here was just so-so, nothing to shout about. I prefer our Rakuzen anytime !

Singapore - Day One

31 December 2008

Have not been to Singapore for quite a while, so we decided to say goodbye to 2008 by checking out the Christmas lights and to welcome the New Year with fireworks in Singapore. Decided to take a flight instead of driving, after all we have not been to Changi airport since its new terminals were open ! We have a friend who is working in Singapore and she has always asked us to go there so that she could bring us around for good food. It just so happens that one of our friends from KL was going to Singapore too! We decided to meet up once there !

I wanted to make sure that I got to see the famed Christmas decoration at Orchard Road and also the fireworks at the Marina. After thinking through for a very long time, we decided that we'd book a room at the Marina Mandarin so taht we could be nearer the fireworks.

We arrived Singapore at about 11.30am and proceeded to the hotel. The rooms were not available for checking in yet so they brought us to the Executive Club lounge while we waited. We were pretty hungry and luckily there was some food/snacks at the lounge. Here's what we had for brunch.

BRUNCH


When our room was ready, we were informed and then we proceeded to check in ! The fruits were courtesy of the hotel !
Well, just having snacks and fruits won't be enough to fill our really big stomachs, so we headed over to Marina Square in search for food.
LUNCH/TEA
Imperial Treasure





Our friend in Singapore had wanted to bring us to this steakhouse for quite a while and since we were in Singapore for the New Year, she made sure we wouldn't give this place a miss ! Luckily she made reservations for dinner as it was New Years' Eve (31 December 2008). Found out later that there were two sessions for dinner that night, one at 5.30pm and the next at 8.30pm. Its kind of like the reunion dinner hours at the restaurants back in KL !

DINNER
Morton's
Mandarin Oriental Singapore
Fourth Storey
5 Raffles Avenue Marina Square
Singapore 039797
Telephone number : (65) 6339-3740

Anyway, we met up before 5.30 and headed over to the restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. When we arrived at the restaurant, there were about 2 tables seated already. We went to our tables and were seated and then our 'server' for the day came and 'presented' us with the types of steaks, lobsters, fish and vegetables that we could have and also made some recommendations. He was really good and we found out later that he was from Ampang, Kuala Lumpur !! Well, we made our orders and then were served their 'house' bread.

He did mention also that the servings were quite large so I decided not to eat too much of the bread !


The presentation trolley !



Next up, we ordered some wine to go with our food.

Ta-da! Here it is ! Our first dish at Morton's. The Morton's Prime Ocean Platter and it consists of 4 different types of items.

1) Baked Sea Scallops Wrapped in Bacon
2) Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes
3) Oysters Rockefeller
4) Colossal Shrimp Alexander

With the dish were 3 types of sauces to go with items 1, 2 and 4. We had fresh lemon to go with the oysters !

1) White Wine Butter Sauce - to go with the shrimp
2) Apricot Chutney - to go with the scallops
3) Mustard Mayo - to go with the crab cake

I particularly liked the White Wine Butter Sauce so I saved a little for my steak !! Our friend loved the crab cakes and I, the scallops! They were delicious and very fresh. Slurppp



After the starters, our main dish, I mean dishes came. We ordered 2 different types of steaks to be shared among the 3 of us, plus a side dish of asparagus ! (we need a balanced meal, no ?)

Notice the sizes of the steaks ? Luckily we did the right thing, deciding to share !

Then our 'server' came with the tray of desserts. They all look so deeeelicious but we just couldn't put so much food in anymore ! We decided on his recommendation of the Hot Chocolate Cake to be shared, of course!
It is called the Hot Chocolate Cake because there is soft, flowy, HOT chocolate inside the cake ! Once you cut it open the chocolate oozes out ! Yummy !

We all really felt like going to bed right after the meal, feeling so contented ! We made our way back to the hotel and chatted till we really couldn't stay awake anymore. Our friend left for home and I went out to do a little shopping before the year was over. Came back to the room, had a little rest and we made our way to Marina Square in time for the countdown to the New Year.