Menya Shinchan ramen

Wee How brought me to this super ulu restaurant in Robertson Quay. He found this restaurant online and people said that the location was difficult to find and this proved to be true. We had to ask a few people before we found this restaurant at a corner of Robertson Quay.

As i wanted to try their specialty, Wee How tried the dipping ramen which was also recommended online. He told me that the noodle was home-made by the owner and i think it must be true. The noodle was thick unlike the usual ramen that i ate. I dun really like the soup base of the dipping ramen though.

But i really like what i ordered. I was in shocked when it was served in front of me. The bowl of ramen was in jumbo super huge size. And when i stirred it, i realised there was a huge portion of cabbages and bean sprouts. I think people who love vegetables will surely love this bowl of ramen. And i like the soup based too. The pork and egg was flavourful and of course, i added extra portion of pork and the noodle didnt come with egg so i ordered egg too. It also used the handmade ramen that was found in Wee How's dipping ramen. I think i won't mind coming here again even though the location was really ulu.

Marutama ramen

This ramen restaurant has branches in Liang Court and Central. It used to have very long queue when it first open in Central but recently i realised the queue is getting shorter and shorter.

I tried the grilled pork recommended by the waiter and it was really nice, crispy and tender. We also ordered their specialty ramen (non spicy) which has a chicken stock base unlike the usual pork stock base which we usually eat. The taste was refreshing and the noodle was thin and springy. Their egg cost additional money if you want to add but garlic chips were free. Overall, i think i won't mind eating this for a change in future.

Santuoka Ramen

This restaurant has branches in Central and Cuppage. I tried the one in Cuppage coz of the good reviews and also recommendations by my friends.

If you ordered their sets, they come with both ramen and rice for you to try. So you will have the best of both worlds.

Of course, we tried their speciality pork ($9) since this is what they famous for. But i find that it was too salty. But Racheal like it though. Maybe due to the juiciness of the pork.

Here are some of the sets that we tried that day.

Fried Ebi Set with Ramen ($22) -

Char Siu Rice with Ramen ($17.50) -

Salmon Rice with Ramen ($19.50) -

All are interesting and you can definitely share the set if you are a small eater. And we tried the soup based (shio flavor) recommended by the waitress. It is definitely a nice soup and we like the melting egg yolk ($1 per egg)!

Macau & Shenzhen 2010

Macau

Day 1

Took the midnight flight by Jetstar Asia to Macau which cost me $277. Erm.. actually more than that coz i cancelled my previous flight due to Minzhen's wedding and Retrolicious.

When i reached Macau, we took a cab to Metropole Hotel. I wanted to leave my luggage there

till i checked in but the hotel didnt allow me to do so.

Dun understand why their service was so bad. I tried the same thing in Tokyo and the hotel very kind-heartedly took care of my luggage and even let me checked in earlier. What a vast difference.

I had no choice but to pay for another day's room rate to check in earlier. After checking in, i realised the info in internet cheated me. It stated that the hotel had paid internet but the receptionist told me that there was none and advised me to go Macdonald instead. When we reached Macdonald, the wifi signal was too weak for me to surf internet and do my work. Thus we went to walk around the casinos' area. Our hotel location was very good. The tourist attractions and casinos were all within walking distance.

Day 2

In the morning, we lost our way quite a bit when we went for breakfast. We passed by their local market which really looked like our wet market. Fortunately, we accidentally bumped into the Portuguese cafe which i wanted to try too. So we ate the baked chicken rice for lunch instead. We waited quite some time for the rice and i saw the lady frying the rice, cleaning the chicken to stuff the fried rice inside. After microwaving the chicken, she fried it before serving to us. Sylvia said it tasted like tomato rice.

Actually, the Macau Dollar was weak but we couldn't change Macau Dollar in Singapore. We had no choice but to use Hong Kong Dollar. They accepted Hong Kong Dollar and Ren Min Bi there but the exchange rate was 1:1. It was disadvantage to us but we had no other choice.

After this, we went to He Lan Yuan and visited a free exhibition that used chinese words for painting.

Next, we managed to find our way to the Guia Fortress after a long walk. It was a pretty and quiet place. A japanese uncle even thought that we were japanese and took picture of us while i was eating my bread at the entrance before i left.

For snack, we went to Xin Jiao to try the pork bun recommended by my guidebook. It was inside an ulu corner and we made 3 circles in order to find it. The bun was hot and soft with melting butter and juicy pork. The uncle was very friendly too. He told me that i should go Zhuhai and if i want to go Shenzhen, i should go to the border gate to take bus so that it will be cheaper.

After that, we walked for a while and suddenly realised that we have reached the ruins of St Paul's. A lot of people were climbing the bridge but there wasn't anything interesting up there. We headed to the shopping street after this. I like the shopping area there. Very interesting. I bought the famous cookies and egg wraps according to famous brands recommended by my guidebook. I wasn't a fan of almonds and egg wraps but i bought them for my family and colleagues. Further up was the Leal Square and i really like the buildings there. The historical buildings were tourist attactions and also shopping areas for us. Very pretty and interesting.

For dinner, i ate a very yummy dumplings soup which was a famous shop in Macau. After dinner, we walked a super long distance to the Macau Tower. But it was too dark for Sylvia to try her bungee jump. As we had nothing to do, we headed to makan supper at a restaurant near our hotel. The pork porridge was yummy even without eating the ingredients. No wonder it was recommended by so many celebrities.

That night, we decided to stay another 2 nights in our hotel. Dunno why the hotel suddenly decided to give me breakfast coupons. Their breakfast had very yummy porridge and i looked forward to it every morning.

Day 3

We went to the Sands to see whether it was the same as the one in Singapore. But i never been to the one in Singapore so i couldnt tell the difference. The Sands was very posh and they served mineral water and orange juice to the people in the casino. They also offered free buses every 10 mins to various areas such as Venetian, Ferry and Border Gate.

We took the free bus to Venetian. I really like this casino. Very italian and no wonder "Boys over Flowers" used this as their film site.

Coz Chris, our musical site designer, introduced me to watch the House of Dancing Water, i went to City of Dreams to purchase tickets. But all the tickets were sold out so we had no choice but to go walk around Hard Rock Hotel instead.

This part of Macau was not as developed as the other part but it was slowly developing with a lot of interesting casinos in the building process. Using Sylvia's Iphone application, we managed to find the crab porridge which i wanted to try. It was recommended by Alam Tam and other TVB artistes. Very yummy. But the crab was too small for me.

Next, i went to buy some souvenirs along the street. I even bought a postcard to send to myself using the postbox there. The stamp was actually more expensive than the postcard. $4 airmail stamp for a $3 postcard.

Wanted to try the popular muffins but the shop was not opened yet. But i bumped into the pudding shop that was recommended by My Star Tour Guide. Sylvia tried the durian one and the taste was quite strong.

After this, we crossed the road to eat the shark fins noodle which was another recommended eatery. I like the soup noodle and the shark fins balls. Very interesting idea.

While trying to find our way back, we accidentally found the pork bun coffee shop recommended by My Star Tour Guide. It was right next to the museum. And coincidentally, it was 3pm. The timing that they started selling the freshly baked buns. The french loaf was a bit hard for my liking but the pork was yummy. Maybe next time i should eat the pork chop noodle instead. I saw a lot of people eating the noodles.

Next, we took bus 33 for $4.20 from the primary school bus stop opposite the pork bun coffeeshop back to our hotel coz i needed to charge my camera battery and Sylvia didnt bring her spare camera battery too.

From the hotel, we turned left to walk across the junction and turned right to walk to the bus stop so as to take bus 3A for $3.20 to go to the Fisherman Wharf. After walking for so long the day before, we have decided to take bus whenever we could. Fisherman Wharf was a very quiet tourist attraction. Almost everything was under renovation. All we could do was to take photos of the architectures. We got so bored that we decided to take the free bus from the Sands back to the Venetian again.

For dinner, we went to try the fried bitter gourd egg recommended by Cai Lan. The waitress there was so rude to us. She must be thinking that we were some China girls who dunno how to speak cantonese. I was totally upset with her for the entire meal. She just couldn't reply my questions in a nice way. Luckily, the young cashier, who looked like he was the son of the restaurant's boss, was a friendly guy. He would come and help me when he thought that i needed some help and nobody seem to react upon it. The meal was so not satisfying, especially when the fish soup was full of bones. Sian.

Day 4

After breakfast in the hotel, we went to find the famous egg tarts which was very near our hotel. But it was in a corner which was so difficult to find. I doubt we would find it without my map. Margaret's Cafe sold the egg tart for $8 each. It was stated in my guidebook that it was the originator of the KFC egg tart recipe.

Margaret's english was very good. I managed to talk to her while i ordered my drinks in English. I think she was trying to help her cashier to answer my questions. The signboard was in English so i forgot to say in Mandarin when ordering. I think their egg tarts were really good. I dun eat egg tarts but i finished mine without having to struggle.

By the time we went back to the hotel, we decided to check out and took the free bus to the ferry terminal. Actually, we should have checked the ferry timing. We waited quite a while for the next ferry. The ferry took us 1 hour to reach Shekou which was the ferry terminal at Shenzhen.

Shenzhen

Day 1

When we reached Shenzhen, a lot of cab drivers approached us to ask whether we want to take cab. But i worried that we would get cheated so i didnt agree. Instead, I asked around and took the bus 113 at the left hand side for $5. It took us almost an hour before we reached Novotel Hotel. But the bad news was that it was under renovation when we reached! With no other choices, i went to ask around whether there was any hotel nearby which had internet facility. I really need internet so that i could check Aaron's number and also look for another hotel to stay. I tried to ask a few policemen but they acted so strangely that we felt that they might be

some bad guys. In the end, we didnt trust them and went to ask somebody else instead. Finally, we went to a budget hotel called 7 Days Inn. When we got there by cab, a guy was arguing with a policeman and the receptionist regarding his lost of IC. So scary but we have no other choice but to stay 1 night there. It was a decent hotel just that the entrance was really scary. We had to passed by a dark hole which had leaking ceiling and uneven wet floor.

After surfing net for quite some time, we finally decided to go Dongmen. By the time we reached there, all the shops were closed so we didnt have the chance to go anywhere. Our dinner there tasted quite awful too. It was salty and with a lot of bones.

I suggested to go to the Book City after that coz it was quite late and i couldn't think of anywhere else to go. When we reached the Book City, there was an Er Hu performance with Music Vox setting. It was so interesting that i recorded it down for my CO. I wanted to ask them to do similar performance in future.

Oh ya, i was very impressed by the Book City. It had a huge segment on Music books. So many scores selling at so low prices. I think my CO would go crazy if they see this. I wanted to buy something for them but i was too confused. Dunno which one they like so i decided not to buy. Next time must bring them to China. Anyway, i bought my limited edition Summer Desires, Magic book and Health book. So happy!

Day 2

The next day, we checked in to the Shanghai Hotel which i found in internet. It looked very posh and we liked it a lot. Aaron kept asking me to change to the hotel nearer to his house but i refused coz it was too troublesome and i dunno whether his hotel would be better than mine. To play safe, it was better to stay put.

For lunch, we went to eat the Pizza Hut near the train station. It was a posh restaurant and the waitresses were all wearing halloween costumes. We ordered the 2 person set lunch. Mine was quite nice but the portion was too big for us.

After lunch, we went to Luohu Commercial City coz Sylvia's friend recommended that place for shopping. But i didnt really like that place. Too messy. A lot of people tried to sell us fake branded stuff. We met Sylvia's uncle at a golf shop there and he bought golf gloves for us. The shop assistant recommended him a place to buy fake Ipad for $600. But we just reached there so we didn't follow him there.

Coz I wanted to meet Aaron for dinner, we went to the Window of the World after our Luohu trip. The place was near his working place so it would be more convenient for us to meet. But by the time we reached there, it was turning dark soon. We only had time to take a few photos. We queued for an hour before we took the super popular ride "Flying over America". Luckily, we sat at the last row. It was the highest among all the seats. The ride was so much more

interesting than the 4D ride that i took at the Singapore Discovery Centre. The sky turned dark

around 6pm but we wanted to watch the musical at 7.30pm. So we stayed on.

Nothing to do so we walked around to had a taste of the Halloween atmosphere. It was really scary coz the park was empty and the lightings plus eerie sounds made the park super scary. I told Sylvia that i didnt want to join the halloween party after the musical. It would be too scary for me. But after the 1 hour interesting musical revolving around different famous love stories from various countries, i decided to go for the halloween party. I saw a lot of people going so in order not to miss the fun, i decided to brave myself to go. We went to a lot of huanted houses. Very interesting but there were too many people. I didnt feel scared at all. By the time we finished with the halloween party, it was too late for us to meet Aaron. We ate at the KFC outside the theme park instead.

Day 3

Today, we met Aaron for lunch and went to Dongmen after that. I love that place. Coz i bought a lot of cute stationery there and did my manicure for only $10. Coz they were too tired, Aaron suggested to go for tea at Da Jia Le. I love the bun there. Aaron said it was very famous in Hong Kong and wondered why i didnt eat it when i was at Hong Kong previously.

At night, Aaron brought us to his area and did our foot massage there. After the "too soft" massage, we went to eat the fish pot recommended by Aaron. It stated that the fish and ingredients had some nutritional effects. But the queue was very long, we needed to wait till 10pm or 11pm for our turn. As we have nothing to do while waiting, we went to visit the flea market next to it. The flea market was very interesting, i bought some pouches and notebooks for my colleagues. So pretty. Sylvia also bought a car model for her friend.

After the dinner, we went to a pub on a ship which was recommended by Aaron. It was a nice place which i think was super suitable for gatherings.

Day 4

We went to the Library, Concert Hall and Museum in the morning. The statues at the Concert Hall were very pretty and i liked it a lot. There were also free performances near the area of the Concert Hall. After that, we went to the Museum to visit the free exhibition. The exhibition theme was Bing Ma Yong from Wu Xi. There were some other history exhibitions too but we didnt have the time to visit every single one. We rushed back to check out and went to Aaron's

house to put our luggages coz his house was near to the ferry terminal.

After that, we went to Ajisen to have our lunch and went to Carrefour to buy my tibits and instant noodles. Btw, i was super happy to find my favourite instant noodle there. It is no longer selling in Singapore. Before going back to collect our luggage, we went to eat desserts at Man Ji. Coz Sylvia never been to Hong Kong, we wanted to let her try the Hong Kong desserts.

We took the last ferry back to Macau. My luggage was super heavy and there were a lot of steps. Luckily, the guys working there were very helpful. They helped me whenever they felt that i couldn't manage. I was so lucky.

After we reached Macau, we wanted to go Casino to play a few games. So we took the free shuttle bus to Lisboa Casino but the Lisboa Casino didnt allow me to bring in my luggage. We had no choice but to walk around. Btw, while we were walking around in the casino, we saw a lot of super good figure girls who looked really indecent. I think they were having "business" there.

While waiting for our flight timing, we decided to go and eat my prawn paste noodles to kill some time. After makaning, we still had too much time, so we went to the Leal Square to use internet and bought more local tibits before we go to the airport to continue our internet surfing.

Conclusion - I love Macau and Shenzhen. I think i will go back again soon.

Wanderers in Tokyo

Just watched the show 仁心侠旅. A lot of feelings thus must write a blog on it.

During my last trip to Tokyo, I saw a lot of guys sleeping at the train stations. I always thought that these people were just waiting for the next train tomorrow coz they have missed their last train. But in fact, they were actually homeless wanderers who were jobless for years. Due to the high living standard in Tokyo, they do not have savings thus they could not afford to rent rooms when they do not have income. When they do not have address, it is difficult for them to find a job. Due to their pride and difficulties to find jobs at their hometown, some of them refused to return to their hometown. They stayed at the train stations every night. Some of the wanderers built canvas shelters near parks or canals as their temporary homes. Just like scene in the show, 20^th Century Boys.

These wanderers don’t accept interviews from their local TV shows but for overseas interviews, some of them wouldn’t mind. In the show, they just mentioned that they are being retrenched and some indicated that their companies folded down and they could not find jobs since then. They don’t beg for money. Some of them would pick empty cans after the last train left. The empty cans could be sold at $1.90 per kg.

In the 1990s, the Japanese government wanted to build underground subway thus chased the wanderers away. Many Japanese pitied them and started a riot with the police force. A volunteer group was then started up to help these wanderers. They would cook and distribute packed lunch or dinner for the wanderers every week etc. The volunteer group will also distribute leaflets for them to tell them where they could seek help.

During the meal distribution, the wanderers would offer their help to pack and would not snatch the food when the volunteers haven’t finished packing all the packets. They would throw the boxes back to the rubbish bags after they finished their meals. This is usually the only meal that they eat for the day.

Another group is a half volunteer group that published magazine, The Big Issue. This magazine company allows wanderers to buy the magazines at half price and sell off to public to earn money. They also allow the wanderers to write articles to include in the magazine or photocopy their article to insert inside the magazine.

The show also interviewed a Japanese guy who is an England graduate who quitted his high pay job to work in a company that buy old washing machines, clean them and sell to wanderers at a low price. He also lived with some of the wanderers in a small house and helped to do their funerals when they passed away. He said that he does not need a lot of money but he is happy that he is helping wanderers to have a better life.

Actually it is really sad to see these wanderers. They do not have family to care for them and talk to them. They are really lonely and poor. The worst kind of poor is not when you do not have money to buy food or clothes. The worst kind of poor is when you are lonely with nobody to talk to and nobody to care and concern about you.

LG F1 Singtel Promotion

I was so lucky today that i must write it down in my blog.

Today i went down to Inuovi to collect the stuff that i have reserved. Dunno why, I received a free cheek rouge when the brochure indicated that only the first 10 customers would get it. Today was the 3rd and the last day so i thought i won't get it. But maybe i was the first to call to reserve, even though i haven't paid for it, they gave me the free gift.

The 2nd lucky thing was when i walked to the Esplanade MRT, a girl passed me a brochure on a LG handphone promotion. I was thinking that since i was on my way back to Compasspoint to buy handphone for my dad, why not i just walk back and buy at Suntec. I might be able to get some F1 freebies if i am lucky. So i walked all the way back again to Suntec.

Guess what? I won a pair of 3-day F1 grandstand tickets at the lucky draw! The guy was just trying to explain what i could win in the lucky draw. He told me that if i got a ball with red mark, i will win some F1 tickets. Then the next moment, i took up a ball with red mark from the box. The guy was shocked and turned to ask his supervisor. The supervisor told me that i have won the top prize. It was the only top prize in the box and the rest of the prizes were all F1 umbrellas. The customers behind me kept saying that i was very lucky and everyone kept congratulating me. Wow!

For this promotion, i got $80 off and only paid $8 for a LG phone that look like Iphone 4. Then I was given a F1 umbrella, a F1 keychain, a pair of F1 walkabout tickets worth $216, a F1 drawstring bag, a F1 polo tee, a F1 silver formal pen and a F1 cap! Of course, most important of all, I won a pair of Grandstand F1 tickets that cost $1196! What a day! I think i can go buy 4D. Lol

Tomo Izakaya

Saw this restaurant in magazine and it mentioned that many japanese like this restaurant located in Esplanade.

Hon Choo ordered the egg sushi to try and it tasted normal. Sweet taste but nothing special.

Hwee Hoon ordered this egg salad with japanese sauce. The ladies love it due to the special taste of the sauce.

We also ordered the tofu, grilled chicken wings, fried vegetables and grilled pepperoni. All tasted like those that i have eaten in the other japanese restaurants.

As the magazine mentioned that the braised pork was very nice, i ordered the braised pork ribs to try. The waitress told me that the pork belly and pork ribs have the same taste thus i didn't order the pork belly. The soft bone ribs were nice and sweet. Like all other japanese pork dishes, it was tender and didn't taste very oily. But u really have to eat it with rice. It will make your meal more satisfying.

RamenPlay by BreadTalk

Tried this at Resort World. Ordered their specialty ramen - Sanpou Tonkotsu Ramen. Besides the braised egg, there were also braised pork cheek, pork belly in char siew sauce and pork belly in special sauce. Everything was nice but it just tasted like any other ramen. Nothing special to attract me to go back again for this.

Racheal suggested to try the gyoza and i really love their gyoza. It was so juicy inside the crispy skin. There was also a credit card promotion thus we were given 3 RamenPlay Dango, dressed in takoyaki style. It was grilled chicken balls and you really could taste the meat. Unlike those frozen meatballs, i totally like these meaty balls.

KPO Cafe Bar

Went to the KPO Cafe Bar near the Orchard Central. We ordered the KPO Ribs and Calamaris to share. The ribs was juicy and tender. I like it but i love the chips more. It was crispy and special compared to the other restaurants which would normally served with fries or baked potato. The calamaries were quite normal though.

When Racheal reached, she ordered the softshell crab pasta. It was totally awful. Dry and weird taste. The ladies didn't like the crab as well. They think that it was too salty.

For dessert, we ordered Da Bomb. The chocolate cake was covered with warm chocolate sauce which was not too sweet. But the ladies felt that the raspberry filling was too little. It was very nice for me though. I am not a fan of rashberry.

Singapore Youth Olympic Games 2010

Today is finally the last day of our Singapore Youth Olympic Games. I totally enjoyed this period.

Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame

As TP was the North East Celebration Site for Torch Relay, it was an eye opener for me. If we were not involved, i don't think i will even watch it. Though i was quite sad that i couldn't attend the talk by Hossan Leong and i couldn't go over to the Bedok Reservoir, I totally could feel the excitement of Hwee Hoon and Haroz as the Torch Bearer. Hwee Hoon told me that she never felt so important in her life before. So touching.

Oh yes, i was happy to watch Monster performing right in front of me. And i totally love our emcees - Joan, Benjamin and Denis. They were doing their job so well and making my job felt a lot easier.

Opening Ceremony

Due to the fact that TP provided some volunteers for the rehearsals, I got tickets to watch the 1st rehearsal with Sylvia. It was really a very messy rehearsal. The lights, video, screen, music and setting were all not ready. I was so scared that it might be like that till the actual day.

One thing interesting about the Opening was that Jean and TPDE dancers were performing for the Opening Ceremony! Coz Ryan choreographed the dance and asked for volunteers to perform, a lot of TPDE dancers were involved. Jean offered her complimentary tickets for the last rehearsal to me. I wasn't keen at the first place but she told me that it was nicer and with fireworks so i decided to attend another time. Oh ya, I met my CO alumni, Shiyun on both rehearsals. She was the usher with her twin sister. Anyway, this rehearsal was really so much better though there were still some minor mistakes.

And i must said that i was totally surprise when i watched it on TV. It looked so much better on TV and i was thinking whether it was due to the filming angles. Fadly told me that he was the one doing the live video directing. Wow! But i think it just happened. Usually the actual performance always surpassed the rehearsal greatly.

Oh yes, i was impressed by the last part too. I never seen the dragonboat and the lighting of cauldron during rehearsal before. It was really amazing. No wonder the organiser wanted to keep it a secret.

Due to this Opening Ceremony, Meiqi was even featured in the newspaper. Heehee. More exposure than Foong coz Foong only appeared 3 times on TV.

Volleyball @ Toa Payoh Stadium

I was so enthusiastic in watching the games that i've gotten Hwee Hoon, Wee How and Darren to watch the prelims. Coz all the tickets were sold out, we queued outside from 9.30am until 10.45am before we got in to watch the 10am game. The rule was such that if people with ticket did not turn up, we would be able to buy tickets and get in. There were some issues among our group on that day but nothing affect the exciting games that we have watched. The Russian and Cuba teams were impressive. Very powerful strikes. We even waited outside to take photos with the Russian team. They were all so friendly!

Btw, from these matches, i realised that it might not be worth it to buy ticket to watch the girls playing. I almost fall asleep when they were playing. Heehee. But anyway, the ticket was really cheap. Only $10 and you could watch all the 4 matches on that day from morning till night. What's more was that a prepaid card was given to you so that you could take buses and MRT for free. Such a great offer!

Closing Ceremony

Just watched the ceremony on TV and i saw the O Crew dancing. Gin's hairstyle was really cool. I think short hair looked great on her. Jean told me that Ryan was the Merly mascot. No wonder Hwee Hoon felt that the mascots looked so bubbly this round. Heehee.

But I wonder why the TV always didn't have subtitle to indicate who the people were and what were the song titles. We really wanted to know that song title. It was such a nice song and i couldn't find it anywhere online too.

Conclusion

Singapore impressed me by winning some bronze and silver medals. I am so proud that we did so well even though we are such a small country with not many talents as compared to huge countries like China. I was like following most of the matches that we took part in. Nice!

Anyway, to commemorate this event, i even bought key chains and pins as souvenirs. Wanted to help Sheena to buy the Merly stuffed toy but it was sold out everywhere. I think many people were as enthu as me. Lol

Skinny Pizza @ Wheelock Place

This was a upmarket pizza restaurant which was featured by some magazines. The price range was considered at the higher end compared to our normal pizza restaurants.

I ordered the mushroom soup as the starter. It had such a strong mushroom taste that i couldn't finish the soup after a few spoons of it. But if you like the raw mushroom taste, i think you will be a big fan of this soup. My friends totally love it. We also ordered the french fries and fried sweet potato fries as side dishes. The sweet potato was special but i think it could taste better. It was too sweet and soggy.

They offered a very special variety of pizzas which you don't normally see in pizza restaurants.

Their pizza skin was very thin and crispy. It tasted like cracker more than pizza skin. I tried the meatball with spaghetti kind of tomato base. They gave a very generous portion of vegetable on top of all the pizzas. But my friends didn't like the bitter taste of the vegetables. I quite like this though. At least, you know you are having a balance meal with the huge portion of vegetables. For my pizza, there was a lot of meatballs and slices of raw cheese. It was my cup of tea.

I tried Hwee Hoon's mushroom pizza and it was weird for me too. The mushroom was sticky and has very strong mushroom taste. I think 1 slice was still ok for me but i won't eat the whole pizza with this filling on top.

Next, I tried the blueberry with turkey ham which was ordered by Cat. The blueberry sauce was sweet and tasted strange with turkey ham. I had to take out the sauce when i ate it. But if you like blueberry, this should be the kind of pizza that you like. I like the turkey ham though. The serving of ham was generous too.

Sheena ordered the ratatouille pizza which had a lot of vegetables. I am not keen with prickles kind of vegetables so i totally cannot remembered the taste of it.

Overall, it was kind of interesting to try this place if you are a pizza fan.

Tampopo @ Takashimaya

This was one of the pioneer ramen restaurants in Singapore. I tried it for the first time at the branch at Takashimaya basement. Never went to the main one at Liang Court before. Compared to Ippudo and Nantsuttei, the queue at Tampopo was short. I like Tampopo due to the fact that when you cut open the egg, the egg yolk melted out. Tasted really nice with the yummy soup base. Btw, the menu mentioned that they are using black pig. But isn't all japanese ramen restaurants use black pig?

Racheal tried the butter flavoured ramen. I don't really like it coz of the strong butter taste. Everything was so buttery after the butter melted into the soup. Tasted so weird.

We ordered the Unagi Rice Roll and Pork Cutlet (black pig) as side dishes. The Unagi Rice Roll was a disappointment. Totally not nice. It was very bland with not much filling inside. If you just like to eat rice, then maybe you will like this rice roll. As for the pork cutlet, it was nothing special. But if you want to add variety to your noodles, i think it will be a good choice to order that.

Nantsuttei @ Parco MBS

I read about this restaurant in magazine. The chef was a very famous celebrity and appeared in most of the food related shows in Japan. When the restaurant opened in Singapore, the media from Japan came all the way to Singapore to cover this news. He was the chef who invented this black based sesame soup.

The whole Parco was very quiet but the queue in front of this restaurant was long.

Their serving for noodles and meat was very generous. I didn't have to order extra ingredients and meat. I like the one that i ordered. The noodle was springy type of japanese ramen and the soup base was nice. Not very strong sesame taste. I think it was also one of the few ramen stores that gave you seaweed. If you like seaweed, you must definitely try this restaurant.

But Racheal didn't really like hers coz she felt that the meat taste was too strong for her and she didn't really like pork. Plus, she didn't like the fact that the egg yolk won't melt when you cut open.

Btw, their extra serving of bean sprouts was very big portion. It will come in a bowl and not added to your bowl of noodles.

We also ordered the gyoza as side dish but it didn't taste very nice. I think the noodles are still their best food in the menu.

Pasta Stylo @ City Square

Due to Angie's suggestion, we tried this new pasta restaurant at the City Square Mall. I like the decoration of the restaurant. You can view the kitchen through a photo frame deco which was a see thru glass. Very nice concept with very elegant cushion seats at the front area. Very classy feel with latin dance kind of deco. I like the uniform too coz the waiters all wearing fedora.

They have very special flavours for their pasta variety that you probably can't find it elsewhere. That day, i tried the pad thai pasta and a more common meatball pasta. They have crab pasta too which i saw quite a number of the costumers having it but it was too troublesome for me to eat crab there so i didn't wish to order at all.

Btw, they offered me their membership card after we paid our meal. Maybe it was a new opening promotion. If you intend to go the City Square Mall, then I think it is worth trying.

Ippudo Ramen @ Mandarin Gallery

The review of this restaurant was very good. That's why no matter what time i go, the queue is always very long. You will have to wait almost an hour and sometimes even more than that.

Another interesting observation was that there were a lot of japanese men eating alone there. I think it must be really good and taste really local for them to queue so long for it even though they were eating alone.

Most of the waiters there were japanese and they usually communicate with the costumers in japanese. This was quite difficult for me coz i have returned everything that i have learnt back to the lecturer so usually i would just smile and pretend that i understand. lol

I tried 3 of their specialties - Shiromaru Classic with Chasu, Akamaru Modern with Egg and Kyushu Miso with Tokotsu.

The classic one was a bit bland if you eat with other flavours. But quite a number of them actually ordered this.

For me, I preferred the Akamaru one. It is pork stock boiled with

red miso and a dash of black garlic oil. I am not a fan of miso but this is really yummy. I like the taste of this soup base. More flavourful. Noodles are ultra thin and flat, a Hakata specialty.

Their noodles are usually quite small portion but they allow you to order another bowl of noodles ($2 I think) if you have sufficient soup left. You can top up your ingredients (such as pork for $3 and egg for $2) too. For me, their ingredients were really too little so i usually will add the chasu aka pork.

If you use a certain credit card to pay, you will be able to get free green tea ice cream. Cannot remember which credit card, most probably is OCBC. But the friendly waiters will be happy to advise you on this.

Actually I have eaten Ippudo ramen in Hokkaido but i dunno whether it was due to 心里作用，i just didn't think that it was as delicious as the one that i have eaten in Hokkaido. I remembered the pork melted in my mouth and the soup was the most delicious one that i have tasted. Was it due to the ingredients in Singapore or was it just me? But it is still definitely one of the best ramen in Singapore!

Kluang - TP Alumni Trip

It was raining cats and dogs last Sat morning. I was supposed to meet the rest at 6am in TP. As my house is just a road across the bus stop, i thought i could dash across without having to bring umbrella to Malaysia. But the rain was really heavy. Even though i was under the shelter, the rain splashed inside as though there was no shelter. I was shivering and could not move an inch. In the end, i had to brave myself and dashed across the road so that i won't be late. When i was on the bus, i couldn't stop shivering on my seat. But a group of old ladies boarded the bus and i had no choice but to stand up and offered my seat. So awful.. I had to stand and shiver all the way to Tampines. After i reached Sheena's house bus stop, i had to withstand the cold wind and rain for more than 30 mins before bus no 15 finally arrived. Luckily, the bus we catered was late too so the group was still waiting at TP. What a disaster morning!

As there was jam at the expressway, we thought we will definitely be late for the train. Luckily, we reached just on the dot. We took bus no 160 in Woodland and walked over to the train station at JB to take the 9am train to Kluang. It was RM17 i think. But the train was late and would only reach at 10am. Thus I went over to City Square to buy breakfast with Weilin, Wanting and Eng Chun (the CO gang). I tried the kuan lao mee but totally not nice. But the bee hoon that Weilin bought was totally awesome. I should eat that next time. It was also cheaper than my RM4 noodle.

We have 53 people travelling thus the whole train cabin was our people. It was fun and a lot of them kept taking pics at the train station. We reached Kluang around lunch time thus Yeuan Huei took us to eat at Lau Pa Sat. Mok (Cindy's cousin - a local) said that the coffee there is the nicest coffee in Kluang. I tried Wanton Noodle, Hao Fun and toasted bread there. Everything was cheap but ordinary. I love the toasted bread though. The kaya was yummy and the butter melted in the hot crispy toast. Lovely!

Yeuan Huei took us to the Honeyland to buy nonya kweh, cakes, egg tarts etc. As i went there before, i didnt eat anything there this time. I am not a fan of egg tarts. But Darren gave me his green tea egg tart so i tried it for the first time. It had a strong green tea taste but i still don't like egg tarts.

After the tea break at the Honeyland, we went to purchase the coffee powder and tau sa piah. Both shops were introduced by Channel 8 many years ago. I bought the coffee powder previously and my parents hated it thus i didnt dare to buy this time. It was cheap and many of my colleagues love it. I guess different people have different taste. But the tau sa piah (salty version) was fantastic. It was nice and fresh with super low price of RM2.80 per roll of 5. My parents and colleagues love this.

On our way to the hotel, Sheena bought a very nice and cheap hula hoop at a cane shop for RM12. She was very pleased with it coz it was cheaper than what her sister paid for in Singapore. I was influenced by her so i bought one of a lower quality but of the same price in Kluang Mall when we went shopping on the next day.

We checked into the Ailang Hotel which was opposite Kluang Parade. The room was around RM60 per night. It was clean and comfortable but there was no lift and breakfast provided. Try to ask for lower floor if your luggage is heavy or if you are not the type who love stairs.

We gathered at the lobby after a short rest and headed to the Gunung Lambak. We had to take a bus trip that cost RM1 and walked quite a distance to the entrance of the mountain. There was a lot of monkeys there. The climb was not an easy one thus when i reached the mid-hill, i told Sheena that i rather stayed there to play with the squirrels. But Sheena very keen to climb so i had to climb too. It was frightening as the terrains was high and uneven. We have to keep using ropes and trees. People in front and behind me kept felling down so i was extremely careful when walking. I kept thinking how am i going to climb down after reaching the peak. Scary. When i finally reached the peak, they told me that a local told them there was another easy way down at the other side of the peak. Thus we tried that road. It was really easier than the previous road but it was slippery due to the rain in the morning. As usual, i was extremely slow so as to make sure i won't slip and fall down. Due to my carefulness, i reached the entrance safely without any injury. Btw, i must thank the guys in front and behind me. They were very nice and offered help whenever they saw me struggling. Actually i was lucky, there was 2 groups behind us and we waited quite some time for them especially the last group. The 2nd last group was lost and luckily they met a jogger and led them back to the correct path. Paul was with the last group trying his best to help the girls. The forest was in total darkness when they were walking down. We almost wanted to call the police after an hour of wait. Next time, i think we should ask everyone to bring a torch. Or maybe this should be done in the morning instead of afternoon.

Mok's mum was extremely friendly. She came out to look for us and brought us to the bus stop so that we won't lost our way. I like her. Very nice and friendly lady. By the time, we went back for dinner, it was almost 9pm.

As everyone was hungry, we proceeded to eat our dinner at the food street opposite our hotel in our smelly clothes. I tried the Mee Hoon Kuey and Pig Trotter with Yam Rice. It tasted ordinary but the price was really cheap. Sheena let me tried her dumpling and i didnt like it too. The flour was too thick and the soup had very strong ginger taste. But the satay that Yeuan Huei bought was nice. Not much fats and they were very generous with their satay sauce.

Before we headed to watch midnight show, we went back for a shower and a short nap. I was so sleepy that i even thought of giving up watching the movie. But i have paid for it thus i decided to go even though the movie cost only RM9. The popcorns combo was cheap too. Only RM8 with 2 mineral water and 1 medium popcorns. I love the movie too. The 32 of us watched Inception together. As we were really tired, many fell asleep in the cinema. The CO gang went karaoke and they said it was cheap and good too. Maybe i should try it next time.

By the time we reached the hotel, it was around 3 plus and we had to wake up at 6am to go wet market. Tiring.

The next morning, we took bus to the Kluang Baru area. By the time we reached, Mok told us we were late as many stuff was sold out. I tried the big pao, peanut pancake, peanut muah chee or dumpling at the market. Yeuan Huei bought durians for Sheena and gang to try. They also bought dragon fruits and honey sugar. Sheena, Yeuan Huei and myself went to the hawker stalls to eat breakfast and i tried the fried mee with egg. I like the mee but not the bee hoon. There wasnt any other side dish for me to purchase. Maybe next time i should eat with the yong tau foo with this mee. After breakfast, Mok told us she hasnt had her breakfast yet thus i went to eat the famous Botak Curry Mee opposite the basketball court with her. It was yummy. I love it but a bit too spicy.

Next, Sheena and myself went to Kluang Mall to try and find shoes to replace our damage shoes. But we couldn't find anything there. Luckily Sheena found her favourite organic rice there so one objective was met. We also went to massage at the building opposite Kluang Mall. I did the 1 hour foot massage for RM30. So cheap! We met the others there too and they were doing the body massage. After massage, we went for lunch at the wanton mee coffeeshop near the Bat Town. It was introduced by Mok and i think it was quite nice. But i dunno why all the wanton in Kluang didnt taste as nice as Singapore ones. It was all very small without not much meat inside.

After lunch, Sheena went to pluck her eye brows at Kluang Parade. It was only RM6. Why everything was so cheap in Kluang? When we headed back to the hotel to meet the group, i saw Dominic's girlfriend and she told me the spectacles and contact lens were all half price of Singapore. So i went to the shop beside our hotel to buy contact lens even though i am not short sighted. Heehee.

While waiting for the 4pm 5 Stars tour bus back to Singapore, i went to buy my favourite Marybrown chicken wing. I dunno why this time it didnt taste as nice as the KL one. Regret.

Conclusion, we love this trip and my SAA colleagues want me to bring them there. Planning one soon..