I Miss Taiwan

Hey you! It's another week of test and assignment hence the hiatus. Sorry! Anway, I will try to blog about the trip to Taiwan (I miss that place, alot) but let me first show you some of the OOTD pictures when I was there. 

Heads up first, though it rained everyday, it didn't stop us from travelling around and the cold was bearable. Probably cause I had some 'training' on tolerating the cold before I left for Taiwan (: 

28Nov, was the night we flew off via Scoot at 1255 -Midnight flight. 

I wore: white Cotton on spaghetti underneath, a sheer white top and cotton on's leggings. Note that CO stuff are really thin! I had a black zara cardigan on and a Harry potter gryffindor scarf, on flight.

The boyf wore: Fred Perry long sleeves, CO's cargo pants and brought along a NUM jacket which he didn't use until we reahed Taipei 101.

Thats us at Taipei 101. We were pretty tired by this time, around 12pm. 

29 Nov, was the 2nd day there. Headed to Jinguashi, Jiufen and Shifen.

I wore:  OSF kitten pullover with Uniqlo's heat-tech long sleeve underneath. Leather shorts with leggings 

The boyf wore: Cotton On checkered long sleeves and jeans

30Nov: Shopping at Zhong Xiao Fuxing SOGO instead of the planned Yehliu Gepark cause it was pouring pretty heavily. Xinbeitou for hotspring and Shilin Nightmarket

I wore: Uniqlo's heat-tech underneath, thin girl top, floral shorts from JB, H&M leggings and Fred Perry shoes.

1 Dec: Taipei Zoo

I wore: Promod leather jacket, aztec bodycon dress, H&M Leggings, boots.

2 Dec: Last day, at TY Airport.

I wore: Cotton on floral romper, H&M Leggings, promod leather jacket

The boyf wore: Fred Perry checkered short sleeve and Jeans

I'll be back for a more detailed post on the trip! Gonna do up my assignment now!
Oh, and don't you feel all lazy and jolly because Christmas is coming?! (:

Busy Bee

Been really busy ever since school started. Hence, the hiatus.

Last week, I attended a church wedding - No, there wasn't the classic wedding song when the bride walked down - and it was touching to see the couple exchanged their vows.

I'm a crybaby.
1) When my friend got married, I was so happy for them deep down that I had to hold back my tears during the dinner. This time was no exception! -.-
2)When my friend left for UK, I cried like mad the first time and had to hold back my tears on the second occasion. FML seriously.
3) The recent 855 (starhub cable tv channel) drama - On Call36, was so touching I cried straight for a few episodes

Here's a pic of my ootd for the church wedding:

 This is the ootd for the second night (hotel banquet @ Swissotel, The Stamford)

Let me show you some snippets of the dishes served at the banquet dinner

 Lobster - Save the sharks! - enoki mushroom and prawn broth

 Cold Plate

 Asparagus w Scallops - oh gosh! can die right now.

 Broccoli w Abalone which I didn't eat.

Now for the scenic view from the 64th storey!

How pretty is that? Even though it looks too commercialised with buildings everywhere. But oh wells! Singapore ya? (:

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Let me end this post with a fat cat I chanced upon at Gim Moh last Sunday! Seriously sleepy and tired, I guess? It didn't bother to wake up even when passerby walked past it.

Meow!

xoxo

Thai Express Bistro @ Tamp1 Review

Tampines 1 #04-09
Opening hrs: 11.30am - 10 pm
Tel: 6786 0998

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The Thai Express Bistro in Tampines1 occupy 2 levels and we had the upper deck. Don't be afraid that service will be slow because a server will be stationed at the second level when there are customers dining in. He doesn't leave the level until everyone leaves. Most importantly, food serve will still be slightly hot because the dishes take an elevator to reach the upper deck!

See what I mean? (:

Anyhoos, we dine in on a Sunday night, table for 5. Service was good and we had a really wonderful Thai dinner. Ordered 5 mains, 2 sides and 1 dessert.

1)Stir Fried Beef w steamed Thai Hom Mali Rice 
Beef was thinly sliced which was pretty good to chew on and it's a lil on the spicy side which is good for me. 

2) Khao Phat Gai Ob Nam Peng (Fried rice w honey chicken and egg) $9.90

This is definitely recommended for kids. When the food arrived, I was momentarily stunned by the portion. Afterall, it did mention in the menu 'recommend for kids'. That aside, The honey chicken was nicely done, nice subtle sweetness. 

3) Khao Kluk Kapi Talay (Fried rice w seafood w shrimp paste) $9.90

Fried rice was fragrant and the shrimp paste was a lil on the watery side. When ordering this dish, I had the perception that the shrimp paste will be fried together with the rice (like tom yam fried rice?) but it came on the side, which can also be a good thing, just incase certain individuals do not like it and would rather not have it together with the rice.

4) Rad Na Tom Yum (Tom Yam Hor Fun w seafood) $11.90

This is DA BOMB/MUST TRY. I fell in love with this main when I tried it for the first time. Don't be deceive by the clear sticky broth because, it is spicy (alil IMHO, I love spicy dishes). What I felt could be better was the hor fun. It wasn't browned but was white in colour which reminds me of Shan Lou and that's not my kind of food. Really delicious, pls order this when you're at Thai Express. They added mushrooms, fish, sotong, prawns which was oh-so fresh, vegs, carrots etc. 

5) Poo Phat Pong Kari (Steamed Thai Hom Mali Rice w soft shell crab, egg and onion curry) $11.90

I wonder if this is the raved soft shell main or it's the other one. Anyway, Thai Express is quite famous not only for their dessert (coming right up) but also for their soft shell crab! So I ordered this for the Ol'man and he almost licked the plate clean. Hot steamy rice with onion curry, and soft shell crab? Can die in peace now. Really appetizing and was also tasty!

Side Dishes
1) KangKong

Even though the sauce may appear to look on the spicy side, it wasn't sambal spicy because there was sweetness to it. Mother says they probably add honey or sugar. I love this - because it's sweet. Veg was fresh. If you want the bbq kinda Sambal Kang Kong, don't order this. Go Chomps!

2) Kanom Pang Na Kung (Prawn Toast) $7.90

Another MUST TRY/LOVE IT dish. Eat it with the sweet chilli provided. Definite worth the money dish though it's only a serving of 4 slices of prawn toast. Minimum bread and prawn chunks. Sooo goood! 

Dessert
1) Khao Niao Mamuang (Sweet glutinous rice w fresh mango and coconut milk) $6.50
I always ask if this is still available whenever I have a table. A couple of times they said it was sold out and I had to order something else which was also good but seriously, when you have Thai food, you'll order this dessert isn't it?


This was served warm and the glutinous rice was soft that it breaks off easily using the fork. The mango was alil sour to taste but it's all well when you have abit of the cream and glutinous rice with it, altogether in a mouth. Thumbs up!

The manager who served us (2nd pic on this post) was friendly, polite and fast! When the dessert took awhile to reach us, he made an effort to rush the kitchen even though we didn't mind the 'slowness' because we were happily chatting and resting our already full stomach. (:

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Here's one of my OOTD during the weekend.
Cotton on white basic top, Pattern shorts from shop at NEX, Perlini(?) red bag & a vintage watch from market stall.

Have a great mid week! Till then!

Brotzeit @ Somerset 313 Review.

When I say Pork Knuckle / Pig trotters, bet you'll go 'eeee, so fat!' That's a really typical response from a young adult, especially females. On the other side of the spectrum, adults with age would probably go 'wahhh, hao chi hao chi (nice to eat, delicious)'. So what about your opinion on Beer? Is it very uncle-kopitiam to you? Or is it something cool-chillax? How about having both together? What would you say? Will you give it a shot? If your answer is yes, then you can consider trying Brozeit - German Bier Bar & Restaurant.

A simple review on their Pork Knuckle - which they are quite famous for and of course, the Lager (:

According to their menu, there is a Pork Knuckle Platter which serves 4 - 5 people, costing about $88 where there is the knuckle, sausage platter, pork schnitzels & two sides to choose from. IMHO, don't order this unless your friends have really huge appetite because it can feed more than what it recommends. I've seen a table with 5 people who had this and couldn't finish. Why waste the money and besides, paying extra $52 for the sausage platter and pork schnitzels? Not worth.

I ordered the Pork Knuckle (same size as the platter for 5) for only $36 which came with 2 sides - potato salad and braised white german cabbage and a beer brown sauce. Very tasty indeed. What surprises me was that it isn't fattening to feel even after eating the crispy skin! Portion is definitely big enough for sharing. 2 OL order this and had to takeaway the remaining meat.

 Look at the amount of meat! Seriously, there was minimum fats in the knuckle. The meat was tender and definitely not tough and it goes very well with the sauce provided.

 We also ordered the Spicy Chicken Sausage platter $16.50 also with sides of potato salad and braised white cabbage. Side mention on the potato salad, it was really interesting because I tasted vinegar in it. Wasn't over-whelming but enough to perk your taste buds (:

 It was a mild spicy and tasted like any other sausage to me. Nothing to raved much about. Could order this if you're afraid the Pork knuckle will not be filling for 3.

Of course, the Brother and I had a beer each. He had the Bayrischer Longdrink $9.50 for 0.3L. Basically it's Lager with vodka and lime. Tasted really good, subtle lime taste and the lager was pretty thin in flavour. I, on the other hand had the Radler (aka Cyclist) - Lager with lemonade for $8.50 for 0.3L as well. Tasted a lil different from my last drink at Raffles, maybe they gave me the wrong drink or it was suppose to be my brother's and it ended on my side. Anycase, this lager had a stronger taste which was fine and was slightly gassy.

Our bill total up to $88 and we were really full! Now you know why I said it isn't worth to order the Pork Knuckle platter? Note that we even had drinks. Go do the calculations if you had the platter and beers. So if you're in a big group, be prepared to spend at least $100 and above.

The ambience there was pretty good and you get to people watch! The layout of tables are pretty close to one another - only single file allow in walking and in one direction. No 2 way! When we got our seats, the servers kept pushing us to order even though, we were still waiting for another to reach. Didn't really like that 'pushing'. They were pretty efficient in clearing the plates and asking if we needed refills for beer. Servers were well manner and friendly too.

Brotzeit has several outlets in Singapore: Vivocity, Raffles City & 313 @ Somerset. I've been to the ones at Raffles City Shopping Centre and 313 which left relatively good impression. 

Here's what I wore ystd to town, #ootd

Weekend Feast, Lil India

Once again, we've hit the weekend end - Sunday before bracing the week with Monday, again - and the old man has decided to bring me to lil India for breakfast. Actually, he has been talking about wanting to head down 2 weeks back but because of my sick bug, I kept holding it back.

I've been to Lil India a couple of times, but have never sat down to dine. Really glad my father introduced this stall to me because the food is good and price is really reasonable. The stall owners are from Pakistan hence they're fairer and the accent is not as tongue rolling as the Indians from India(?).

Head down to the Tekka Hawker Centre - it's the only hawker centre there, along the main rd - and walk straight into the midst of all the stalls. You'll see lots of malay and indian stalls selling really mouthwatering food in huge amounts and of course, there are a few selections of chinese stalls.

This was our breakfast. A total of 9 Nanns, 2 curry, 1 Tanduri chicken at $25 for 5 people which averages out to be only $5/person and you get to have your carbs,  protein and fats (:  I was so full I nearly puked. That aside, we also ordered 4 Teh Tarik and 1 Coffee Chino.

The chicken curry had relatively huge chicken meat which was really fresh, and the mutton curry had lots of meat! Tanduri chicken though may look dry, but seriously, looks are deceiving. It was tender and juicy! I wrap the nann ard it, like a wrap. The Plain Nann (bottom pic) had a tinge of saltiness to it while the buttered (top left) was well, to me it just looked oily and I only had a bit of it. Not one of my favourite - butter stuff. Do try their garlic nann (top right) because it was really good and tasty but not too overwhelming.

This is the stall where we ordered from. The buttered chicken wasn't ready when we arrived there - about 9+am? Sad. Really wanted to try it. Next time perhaps? It faces the other side of the hawker, mainly the 'chinese stalls' and it's neighbour is one long queueing prata shop. Won't be hard to find where.

Besides eating at Lil India, the old man also brought us ard the vicinity for a walk. So many green vegetables and spices to look at. Felt like a tourist!

Look at the greens.. oh gosh! 

A really old tree. They say such trees with the 'hairs' have spirits living in there or something along those lines. 

When in Lil India, don't forget to get yourself a Henna! It's a temporary tattoo. 

In the Indian culture, they do it on the hands, foot and on the spot in between your brows. But in the modernised world, I now see people doing henna on their backs, side of their neck etc which is also really cool IMO. I don't know what's the purpose of the henna except beautifying? but I really like it and have been getting henna once in awhile. Prices can range from $5 - $15 depending on the complexity of the pattern/design. Of course, the more traditional patterns are more expensive to do because it takes a longer time for the artist to draw it out. When the henna paste hardens, be sure to leave it on for at least 2 - 3 hrs before washing off and though at first, it may seem like its very light in colour, fear not, the colour will darken by the hour. Really like my design and I can't stop looking at my feet. HAHAHA. 

This was the stall I visited, in the building directly opposite the hawker centre and they have lots of designs! like 4 files of it! Decided to do on my foot and this pattern cost $10. Too expensive? Think it this way, henna tattoo last for a week and well, it's really a cultural thing so if you wanna basked in the Indian culture, just try it! Afterall, it's temporary - fades off within a week or so. 

I really enjoyed the time spent in Lil India though it was only a mere few hrs. I ate, walked, smelled spices and did henna, all together with my family.  What an experience! Nowadays, we hardly spend time with our family so why don't you use this chance and have a family get together?

Side note, it'll be better to visit Lil India in the day during the weekends because in the night, it's where all the workers will hang out and you'll be overwhelmed by them. Lil India is Orchard rd to them. 

Have a great week ahead.