The boy and i are true Easties and these days we spend most of our weekends closer to home. I'm always in town these days because of Yoga and i get sick of hanging out in town. It is especially bad on weekends especially these couple of weekends due to the festivities. To keep me occupied, S has been keeping track of new dining establishments in the area, so he does the finding and me the eating. :)

The Coastal Settlement is a 2 month old dining space hidden behind Hendon Camp and just opposite the old Changi Hospital. We have run down this road several times before and it's a really quiet place. Nice to see some new developments in the area. Suppose the rent is really cheap because a space like that at Dempsey or Town would cost a bomb. I like that it has lotsa outdoor space for chilling out. Pretty much like Skyve but more old fashioned. 

The alfresco seating at the back and around the restaurant as shown in the picture below. TCS really need to do something about the mosquitoes though. Just walking from the nearby carpark down this path and to the entrance, i was planted with 4 big kisses and they kept me occupied the entire evening. The 50cent sized bites are still swollen now. Slap on the repellant and enjoy the nature outdoors, it's quite relaxing when you are not scratching like a monkey.

The space is really interesting. I was overwhelmed by the different sights and contrasting textures- Steel columns, shelves and bars against exposed brick walls. The somewhat industrial look is softened by plush cushions on wooden frames and one feels comfortable whiling the day away. And it's perfectly fine because there is simply so much space!

The first thing that caught my eye was the main display of an eclectic mix of old furniture, memorabilia from the old days, flipping blocks, metal pots and potties..

There are also 4 Vespas sitting on the shelves! 

TCS is a great place for hanging out with friends and you can tell that by their table arrangements. How so? Most of the tables are huge with chairs for groups of at least 4 and more. There are bar seats, dining seats, round tables, rectangle tables, stools seating, sofa seating and so on. No matter the size of the group and regardless of your seating preference, you'll find something that fits here.

I 

I love how they section the restaurant into different areas. This feels more like a pub with bar stools. A live band was playing when i was there during the weekend. Old melodies and soulful singing by a group of uncles. They are not fantastic but somehow it's very atmospheric. 

My favorite space in the restaurant. Cosy and relaxing. I love how there's plenty of natural light filtering in through the floor to ceiling glass panels.

The bar is also pretty cool. They have this blue Eiffel Beer Tower for their beers. Not sure if you can purchase it for home use though. Would love to have one even though i don't drink beer. I suppose Sangria could work fine too. Hmm.. Sangria Tower.. Yums.

Now onto the food. For starters we had the Portobello fries (S$14). It's a bread crumbled Portobello slices served with a truffle mayonnaise. Sounds good? It tastes even better than truffle fries because of the added moisture from the mushroom. Add a little of that homemade chili and the dish is even more perfect.

There's a selection of Chinese main courses like Beef Horfun, Char Kway Teow, Nasi Lemak and Crayfish Laksa? That was alongside English dishes such as Rib eye with Rosti, Roasted Chicken and Fish and Chips. If i wanted Chinese i would have gone to Changi Village. Anyways.. we ordered the Char grilled Wagyu Beef and Mushroom pizza (S$23).

Nicely grilled juicy chunks of beef slices with sweet caramelized onion, sauteed mushrooms on a white wine reduction cream sauce and baked with Mozzarella and Cheddar cheese. Each mouthful was an explosion of tastes. The sweetness of the onion, smokiness of the beef and saltiness from the cheese give the dish a multitude of sensations. 

Even though it's a thin crust, it's not the same as the crispy Skinny pizza cracker sort. This has more bite to it and you would have to chew a bit. This is really heavenly!

A meal is never complete without desserts and the waffles blew our minds (S$14). The presentation is really pretty and once again it delighted our tastebuds. Light, crispy and salty waffles (yes salty. Very nice though!), fresh creme with sweet banana and raspberries (they ran out of strawberries) and maple syrup with a side of bitter sweet dark chocolate ice cream with a thinly sliced biscotti, cookie crumbs and dark chocolate. I was just grinning and nodding my head the whole time.

This is definitely my new favorite Eastie hangout apart from Lots. No more traveling to PS cafe for desserts anymore (unless i'm in town). I hope they don't close shop anytime soon because it is indeed quite out of the way. Please support them because the food is really good and i wanna continue hanging out here! :)) They have All Day Breakfast too! I'm so going back! Comes highly recommended by me (if that means something. haha.)

The Coastal Settlement
200 Netheravon Road
Tel: +65 6475 0200
Daily: 10.30am - 12am (Last food order at 10pm)

Another weekend, another brunch. It's like i overcompensate for the lack of nice food during the week (not entirely true as well because the friends and i like to go for nice lunches as well). Anyway, to make up for forgetting about my birthday (and i gave him hell for that), my childhood friend Bernie treated me to brunch as part of his apology package (shall remind him of part 2 soon). He wanted somewhere with no queue and suggested Epicurious at the Quayside. 

I have passed by Epicurious many a times when i head over to Robertson Quay for brunch/tea/dinner. Still my favorite weekend hangout spot! Anyway Epicurious always seems pretty crowded to me but i have never given a thought about trying their food (heard that it's not fantastic). Still, it draws a regular crowd on weekends and weekdays alike so i guess there's something about it that keeps it going? 

What works

The food wasn't too bad. I had the Breakfast burrito ($14.90) which came with home fried fries and salsa. The salsa was tangy and refreshing but it was a really small portion. I took little bites of the tomato bits.   

The inside was a moist and running scrambled egg centre with diced tomatoes and tiny morsels of chorizo and well mixed with melted cheese. I really like the wetness of the dish. Nice blend of textures- the creaminess of the egg, slight pull from the cheese and chewiness from the chorizo. The amount of chorizo is pathetic though. Everything was held nicely together in the flour tortilla which didn't break despite the moisture from the eggs. I think this dish isn't too badly executed and i sure wouldn't mind having it again, this time with an extra side of sausages (i'm such a carnivore).

What's average

Bernie had the baked eggs with ham, oven baked with cheese on top. My first reaction to the eggs was that it was really oily! I could see a layer of oil on the top and in the dish as well. That said, the cheese was a savory complement to the plain eggs. I think Pamplemousse at Dempsey does a better baked eggs (that has foie gras and truffle oil in it). Really small portion again but somehow we were both pretty satisfied (amount-wise) after brunch.

What's bad

The coffee. We had the iced mocha which IMO is the worst mocha i've had in a while. The chocolate didn't melt and was separated from the milk coffee. It was like drinking floated bits of waxy chocolate after a while. That was $6 for a hot mocha and another additional buck for the ice. I've paid less for better at Lots. What's worse was that it gave me a terrible caffeine headache with the lousy beans. With so many good coffee places around the area e.g. Kith, Toby's, Dimbulah and Smitten, Epicurious should really up their game. Or at least cater better coffee from their neighbors. 

I may give it another shot, for the food if not the coffee. Afterall it's a nice place to chill out on good weather days. The indoor seating kinda smells of food and outdoor is kinda warm. Nevertheless, Epicurious is a good spot for people watching and chilling. The food is well.. something to keep you occupied while you catch up with friends.

Epicurious
60 Robertson Quay #01-02, The Quayside
Tel: +65 6734 7720
Tue-Fri: 11.30am - 2.30pm, 5.30pm - 9.30pm
Weekends: 9am - 9.30pm (breakfast till 5pm)

Finally done with my birthday week posts and i should finish up my Vietnam posts. Shall skip to the Pray part since there obviously has been too much eating these couple of weeks.

Pray is about Yoga, just like in the book. I started doing yoga more regularly in December after signing up with Real Yoga. I've tried a few popular yoga places such as Pure and True but they do not challenge me at all. Bikram was a whole ballgame altogether, the heat was unbelievaby unbearable. Real gave me the best workout and had me aching for days after the first few sessions. I'm a sucker for punishment so Real suits me perfectly. It's a boot camp there i swear.

I started yoga because i wanted a more toned and stronger body. Running 6km a couple of times a week and playing hockey now and then weren't enough somehow. Besides, i was feeling the impact from these high intensive cardio workouts, i didn't want knee replacements too soon. I never thought much about yoga, i never considered it exercise (i still don't really). I thought that people who replace exercise with yoga completely are idiots and people who use yoga for weight loss are morons (i still believe in the latter). Some of my opinions changed (some were reinforced) after i tried some classes at Real. While i was flexible enough, some of my muscles were absolutely trembling in certain poses because i haven't used them at all in years. My thin arms (even though i have biceps) were useless when it comes to doing push ups. The day after my first yoga class, i woke up feeling like a train wreck/ road kill. I was aching every inch of my body but i felt really good. That was when i decided to give Yoga a shot, to make myself stronger physically.

The 15 days before my Vietnam trip was spent mostly at Real. I did 1 to 2 sessions a day. The boy set a goal for me- to get a better bod for my beach trip. If you are wondering "what better bod?", let me tell you a fact, no girl is happy with her body. I may look skinny but really the fat parts are all well hidden (simply because i know how to dress well to hide my flaws). Friends know that i'm not happy with my hips and thighs. I inherited that from my mum (darn!). S knows better. It's something that i struggle with and running long d didn't help either. And guess what? Yoga helped. I swear my legs are a significant bit slimmer and firmer than before. Yay! The agony from staying in the various chair and balancing poses have paid off.

Yoga wasn't just good for my body, i feel that it has helped me calm my mind a lot. I left all my troubles and worries behind as i enter the studio each time. I feel happier and more positive and stronger in facing any challenges. The world is bigger than the little lives we live, our problems insignificant compared to many so why sweat the little things? I'm not sure if my friends understood when i say "Yoga makes me happy", i'm not sure if i really understand why either. It may not be Yoga, it may be something else. I think we all need to find the thing that makes us happy and that is yoga for me right now. What is the thing that make you happy? Go figure.

Anyway, i was so hooked on yoga i decided to just bring my yoga gear and maybe do some yoga in Saigon while i'm holidaying. Yes i'm a nut case. Saigon Yoga was recommended by Lonely Planet but it is quite out of the way (i live in district 1) so i kinda gave up on that. It was by pure coincidence that i found Soham Yoga. I guess it's all part of a greater plan that i ended up there and met the people i did.

Perhaps everything is based on fate and destiny. The things we experience, the people we meet, the challenges we face. I suppose everything has a purpose, be it a good or bad experience. From every exchange we take something away from it, we learn, we grow, we see things differently, we mature.

Life is full of possibilities. Expand yours to the fullest. That's the only way it should be. Otherwise, you'll shrink to nothingness.

I've known The Stupidgirl since i was 13 and since then i've been dishing all sorts of advice to her, be it school, work, relationships, fashion and the list goes on. I always felt like the older one in this relationship even though she's the older hag. I think she's one of the few who takes all my abuse (i always meant it in a good and positive way) and in return i put up with her naivety haha. She's my stupid BFF and what's birthday week without her in the picture right? Hugs.

I think there may be a running theme to my birthday celebration with the Stupidgirl because we had steamboat last year as well (at Imperial Treasures Steamboat @TOS). Since then, i've discovered another steamboat place which is way better and that is Jpot at Vivocity. It is the same style of steamboat as Imperial Treasure's which has the funny dips. 

There is only 1 way to have steamboat and that is in the comfort of an air-conditioned restaurant, with fresh seafood and quality meat, attentive servers and ala carte style. The Marina steamboat days are long behind us. Please do not ask me out for steamboat buffet at Bugis or anything similar to that thanks. I'm not being atas, it's just that comfort is more my style.

Any meal with the Stupidgirl is bound to end up with us over-ordering and then over-eating. She insisted on having the dinner set (we chose Set B $78++ for 2 person) because she wanted the seafood platter (live prawns, sliced red grouper, cuttlefish, scallops, hand made prawn and fish balls, har gau and siew mai) which costs $32 on its own. The set is kinda what you see in the above picture and comes with 2 different meat items. We went with Beef Short Rib and Marinated Pork (both my favorites). There's also a choice of deep fried specialty (fried beancurd skin/fried fish skin), a vegetable platter and noodles/rice together with our choice of broth (the Jpot superior broth is the best!) Sounds like a lot already? Indeed! But that didn't stop her from ordering MORE! 

Our Steamboat set.

Really tender and well marinated pork. I would pick this over the chicken or beef. A small quail egg is provided and i would crack it over the pork before throwing the meat into the soup.

Our Seafood & Dim sum platter. Only the freshest ingredients from the Jumbo people who know their seafood. I'm so glad they kinda killed the prawns before serving to us. IT served us jumping prawns on skewers. So torturous to watch them and then kill them ourselves. Really sweet and crunchy fresh prawns. Great scallops. Everything was just so perfect. 

Beef Short Rib, thinly sliced, cooked Shabu-shabu style. Just look at the marvelous marbling on the meat. Perfect mix of fat and meat. Good thing Stupidgirl doesn't take beef so i had the entire plate to myself!

Side order of Jumbo Pork Ball, freshly made and mixed with herbs like chinese parsley (yucks) but somehow it tasted pretty good after boiling in the broth. You can make many little pork balls from the mother of all pork balls.

Side order of Fish noodle. This is a novelty i guess but it's not fantastic. I find the 'noodle' too fluffy and airy and you don't taste much of the paste. It's kinda like eating marshmallow.

Other than these, we also ordered fish maw, sliced Kurobuta pork and tau pok. Madness.

And this has got to be the reason why i love JPOT and IT so much- fried beancurd skin. We first had it at IT and the restaurant manager taught us how to eat it the right way (i think it's a shanghainese thing?)
Step 1: Pick up the roll and quickly dip a part of it into the hot soup (for 1 second).

Step 2: Dip it into the special sauce which has a soy sauce based (follow instructions at sauce table).

Step 3: Devour it!

Happy me! This is an orgasm of flavors and textures. I'm salivating just thinking of it.. Drools.

Playing with food as usual. Kids, do not learn from me. I'm just trying to make sure we finish all the veggies. I'm the uh.. Veggie fairy?

The 2 gluttons of the day. We ate like there's no tomorrow. The other patrons probably thought we were having some buffet. Dinner was a 2.5h long affair. When the restaurant manager handed us our bill, he was shocked. He couldn't believe that we ordered that much food and we actually finished almost all of it. And the madness continued after dinner when the stupidgirl said she wanted desserts......

And we ended up at Swensens for their Earthquake! She simply refused to let me order anything else and demanded that i help her finish the ice cream. :((

The funny girl was quite demanding when the waiter forgot to give me my candle. She suddenly marched to the counter when the ice cream came without it and got them to change it. I was quite surprised by that move.

The ice cream that killed us but was so sinfully awesome. Brought back fond memories of younger days when we would stuff ourselves on ice cream and not give a shit about calories. Sigh.
The night did not end there. We went for karaoke together for the first time. Mind you i was still coughing and croaking and by the end of the night/morning, my voice was practically gone. It was quite an experience for the both of us. It's amazing how much noise and laughter 2 girls can generate. :) So yeah, the big bang to the birthday week, spent with one of my bestest friend.

Thanks to all the wonderful and awesome friends who remembered this important day. I really appreciate all the emails from overseas and different timezones, all the messages on facebook and WhatsApp and sms and calls.. I love you guys. Thanks for making this an awesome birthday! 

JPOT by Jumbo Seafood
1 HarbourFront Walk, #01-53
Vivocity Lobby F
Tel: +65 6273 3536
Daily: 12pm - 3pm, 6pm - 11pm
Weekends and PH: 12pm - 11pm

The best presents are the ones we give ourselves. We know perfectly what we want and love so why not just get it for ourselves instead of wishing and hoping that someone else would get it for you? Trust me, surprises never work very well and more often that not it disappoints. 

So a new bag for my birthday! I know i haven't gotten down to revealing the other bags that i own. I intended to showcase my blue series in December but the traveling was kinda disruptive to the writing. In fact, I actually got myself another EOY present in Dec (obviously another bag). It's a ocean blue "something". Suspense! That post would be up soon.

Anyway.. thanks to my buddy BG, who happened to sneak off to London town in Dec, i managed to lay my hands on this lovely baby! He felt absolutely tortured stepping into Selfridges and swore never to buy another bag for me. :P 

Revealing the lovely lady inside..

Tada! And it is the Contenitori Piatti Soft Matelasse Clutch in Cammeo. It's a lovely nude shade with some pink/lilac undertone. Perfect casual clutch for me, though my friends think it is suitable for evenings/dinner dates and partying?? Not sure about the latter because i surely don't want spills on this baby. It measures about 24cm x 16cm with a maximum width of about 3cm and has a detachable handle (not shown in the picture). Roomy enough for my daily essentials- phone, cards, wristlet, keys, gloss. I suppose i can fit my sunnies in as well.

Makes a really good CNY bag for all my red packets! Whee!

Fell in love the colour while bag shopping at MM prior to S's Munich trip. I was all set on getting the mini Coffer in Cammeo but it was OOS. That was when i bought my Ametiste BV as a replacement. I had other opportunities after to get the coffer but i didn't. I chose the ocean blue "something" over it again in Dec. I guess that meant something, i wasn't really into the Coffer afterall. 

The coffer is a nice bag to have. Very ladylike. The mini size is perfect for me and it is rather versatile (i was trying hard to convince myself) but somehow Miu Miu seems too common a brand to have? It doesn't really have a style of it's own and somehow the feminine look doesn't sit well with me. I like bags with a little edge to it, hence Balenciaga, Alexander Wang, Alexander McQueen are my all time favorites. I saw a number of people toting it but it was the Vitello shiny calfskin which i abhor, the finishing makes the bag look so cheap. However, the matte lambskin one is so luxe i just wanna hug it to sleep. Lambskin ftw! So yea.. that was my main struggle when i told S to go ahead with searching for this bag. 

But honestly, look at how cute this is. They had a turqoise/teal one as well which would make a good casual bag for the weekends but it looks like something from Marc Jacobs. For something that costs S$2.5-2.6k, it should not look like MJ. That's the reason why i said MM doesn't really have a style of its own.

I guess the main reason why i wanted the coffer was because of the colour. Cammeo is such a lovely nude and every girl needs a nude bag of some sort in her bag collection (i'm also implying that every girl should have a bag collection. Haha). So when i saw the clutch i was wondering if they would come in Cammeo and i asked B to check out the London stores and they do! It's not even available online then. So yay me! 

Can't wait to take her out soon. Some problems with the hook because you obviously can't trust boys to get something right. The handle is at the Sg store for repairs (great after care service!) but it's fine because i wouldn't really be using it. 

Loving my birthday week! Which is gonna end tomorrow! :( 1 more post to conclude the birthday week and then it's back to growing up. :(( 

After the 'light' lunch at Hanayoshi, the 2 skinnyfat girls proceeded to Flor Pattisserie for desserts. I think we chose to dine at the Duxton area with desserts in mind. How typical of us. :) 

I've been meaning to try the desserts at Flor. The first time was when W and I were at Group Therapy but we were too stuffed to even think about desserts. The second time was with S and he asked if I wanted desserts for lunch but we had some last minute engagement so that didn't work out either. 

I was surprised to see how small the space is. Some tables and chairs to accommodate 6 and another 3 stools along a small bar counter. Outside the shop, there're dining space for another 8 perhaps? I reckon it's more of a bakery for cakes to go. But anyway we decided to camp there for a while to enjoy the cakes.  

Birthday selection! I wanted a light and cool dessert and the green tea mousse cake with green tea jelly (The Vert) seemed like the perfect remedy to my throat. The other dessert we chose was the mille-feuille with chestnut paste (Waguri Millefeuille).

Z asked for a candle to go with the cake. The cake is so wobbly, the candle could hardly stand on it.

Can't wait to dig in! Anticipation!! No birthday song from Z because she claims she can't sing. BOO. Anyway 1 thing i love about birthdays is the wish-making part. So the more cakes the better. HA.

"This year, i wanna look younger, prettier but wiser. I wish for stability and balance, maturity and strength. Let it be a better year for my bag collection and may i lay hands on the AMQ that catches my eye and... ok maybe just that all my wishes will come true. 1 wish. Not very greedy right? :P"

NOW POOF!

The green tea cake is very light and this is very typical of Japanese cakes. I love the Japanese cheesecake with that cow logo on it. I can finish at least half a cake in a sitting (i swear it). It doesn't feel sinful at all. Every mouthful simply disappears into a fragrant mix that glides down your throat. It feels like a dream because you're not sure if you really did eat it at all. 

The matcha is strong but not overpowering and the green tea sponge cake was also very airy and moist. I like the green tea jelly which sits on top of the cake. It adds an additional dimension to the creamy texture, kinda chewy but not much? Flor uses the Kyoto-uji matcha for the pristine flavor and aroma and it's a damn good choice.

The Waguri millefeuille was also very nice. Same quality to the sponge cake. I would reckon that their toufu chiffon cake would have the same texture. Z had it before and said that it's pretty good but pricey for a chiffon cake ($13.80 for 1 if i didn't remember wrongly). There's a nice mix of custard and cream with the puff pastry.

Typically, a mille-feuille would have 3 layers of pastry and 2 layers of creme but this only has 2 layers of pastry. I'm not too picky about stuff like that. I personally thought this has a nice pastry to cream/cake ratio. Any more and i would feel like i'm trying to sandpaper the insides of the throat.

Pastry was well done, has a nice bite to it and wasn't at all moist or flat from the creme. The chestnut paste goes down really easy. I've tried several chestnut based desserts such as the Mont Blanc from Antoinette but they are kinda dense and dry as compared to Flor's. Z and i had a discussion about the chestnuts that were used to made these desserts and if they differ from those we typically see at the night markets. Think it's the same?

Anyhoo, the cakes didn't even take up much space in our tummies and we ordered their iced cheese tarts. They have quite a couple of flavors e.g. orange chocolate, caramel, green tea with yuzu and a couple of others. It has an almond cookie base and is filled with a lightly salted cream cheese filling (Flor's signature) and goes for $3.20 a pop. 

I would liken the experience to what eating dry ice would be. It simply sublimes in the mouth and vaporizes. Imagine cheese that does that? It absolutely defies logic but it's really interesting. I was confused and surprised for a bit on my first mouth. We had the caramel one and it wasn't too sweet (which is great). Go try it for yourself. 

Explored the area a bit after desserts and saw all the restaurants that i've been wanting to try. Can't wait to head back soon. Now who needs a dinner date? :)

Flor Patisserie

#01-01, 2 Duxton Hill

Tel: +65 6223 8628
Mon to Sat: 11am - 7pm, Cafe: 11am - 6pm
Sun & PH: 11am - 6pm, Cafe: 11am - 5pm

Also available at Takashimaya Food Hall, Basement 2
Tel: +65 6737 1789
Daily: 10am - 9pm