All posts tagged: Must Try

Taiwan: Taroko National Park 太魯閣國家公園 Lodging/Hotel – Silks Place 太鲁阁晶英酒店 (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

Silks Place 太鲁阁晶英酒店 in Taroko National Park 太魯閣國家公園 was the most amazing stay experience. Even our local guide said it had the best hotel in the area, and it was not difficult to see why.  Our “Honeymoon Package Studio Room” package for 1 night included: ‧ ‧ ‧ ‧ ‧ ‧ ‧ ‧ ‧ ‧ ‧ ‧ ‧ ‧ The Complimentary Service at The Retreat Lounge The Silks Place Breakfast The Afternoon Tea  (PM 15:00 ~ 18:00) The evening Red wine white wine (PM 17:00 ~ PM18:00) The Indoor Parking The Indoor and Outdoor Swimming Pool The Tennis, The Kid’s Club-Playground The Yoga & The Fitness Room The Wireless Internet at Retreat Lounge The Round Trip from Airport or Train Station The Half Day Tour The Daily Fresh Fruits The Daily Newspaper The Mini Bar The Evening Turndown Service Silks Place was built to truly wow and relax. While the hotel looks simple from outside, but beautiful, grand reception. After we reach the reception, we are first brought to the Retreat Room for snacks and drinks (free flow red and white wine!) …

A for Arbite @ Aliwal Street

I tried A for Arbite at Serangoon Gardens when they were very new before. And to be honest, it was quite forgettable other than its ambience. However, A for Arbite @ Aliwal Street truly surprised me. I ended up loving the pastas! They allowed for simple beer tasting of the 3 craft beers – palm beer, trippel, brown and N went for a pint of palm beer ($9) in the end, which was light yet flavourful. We had the Beef Tataki ($13) that was a tad small, but fresh and exquisite tasting meat. N tried the Squid Ink Pasta ($26) with Seafood, and the pasta was handmade cooked al dente. I had the Tri Pepper Spaghettini with Crab Meat ($27) and I loved the mix of peppers!! L had the “B for breakfast” ($20) which comprised spicy sausage, nice scrambled eggs and  beans. I would most definitely be back for their pastas. YUM! Well-done! Plus there is a collection of great coffee places nearby like espressoLab and Symmetry to pick up a good cuppa after. Tip: there is a …

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay @ Royal Hospital Road, London, UK

In winter of 2012, I had the opportunity to visit the UK and try the famous Restaurant Gordon Ramsay @ Royal Hospital Road, which is a 3 Michelin stars restaurant established in 1998. The restaurant is very small and intimate, and they are VERY strict on their dress code for the men, so please ensure no t-shirt or slippers or you will be denied entry! After more than 1 year, the amazing presentation AND flavours of the dishes still linger in my memory. One of the best meals of my life, comparable to Sushi Saito in Tokyo!

Sushi Saito @ Tokyo, Japan

Sushi Saito ranks in the tops of my favourite meals in my lifetime so far, alongside L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Taipei and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London. Sushi Saito is a three Michelin star Japanese cuisine restaurant known for its sushi. It is quite hard to locate, hence I have attached a map below. It is in a very unassuming building right opposite the American Embassy, but the hunt is worth it! Unfortunately, because this meal is >2 years ago, I cannot remember all the details of the dishes, but the freshness of the seafood and their perfect balance with the amount of rice lingers in my mind till today. There were 2 lunch sets – 12 pieces or 18 pieces. You only pick the number of pieces and not the individual type of sushi. Ok, and wait for this…… this tuna belly was so fatty and soft, it tasted almost like red meat. AMAZING. I still remember how it tasted till today after >2 years! 🙂 It isn’t easy to make a reservation as …

Maya Ubud Resort and Spa @ Ubud, Bali

I visited Maya Ubud Resort and Spa in Bali back in 2010, and it remains one of my favourite tropical resorts in Asia. This was recommended by my ex-boss who is Indonesian, and since he is local, I booked Maya Ubud without researching much, and it was a very good recommendation indeed! I had an enjoyable relaxing stay with Miss A, and fond memories of the resort still lingering after almost 4 years. It was also the first time I went to Bali not for the beach, but for mountains and scenery. The Spa (Spa at Maya) is possibly the MOST relaxing spa I have ever gone to in my life. Maya Ubud is ~1 hour from Bali’s  international airport. It only has 108 luxury guestrooms and private pool villas on many hectares of land, with a river running through the resort, so it is extremely private, quiet and picturesque. We stayed in the lowest tier room  in Maya Ubud  (Superior Room) and it was already very comfortable. The room was ~40 square meters, with 2 single beds, …

Nylon Coffee @ Everton

I should have started this blog a long time ago when Nylon first opened and when they were still hipster. I dare say they started the Everton Trail. Now they are so crowded that they are almost mainstream! Nonetheless, one of our favourite coffees in Singapore, we love the coffee and the 2 bosses – D and JM =) For those who may not be aware, NYLON = New York and London, because D and JM spent time in both cities and loved the coffee and culture and hence incorporated the 2 cities into their brand name. This couple is the most passionate and involved people I know in the coffee business. They travel to faraway remote places to visit farms and cooperatives to actually see the beans they are buying. They try to understand from their peers the entire journey that the coffee takes –  harvesting,  processing of coffee cherries, the transportation process of the coffees. They talk and spew all their knowledge to their customers who are interested to learn. Just to be clear, …

NOX – Dine in the Dark @ Beach Road

We decided to celebrate our 100th days of marriage at NOX Restaurant, which is Singapore’s version of dining in darkness. On top of it potentially being an interesting experience, we also wanted to do our little bit to help with the visually impaired in Singapore. As NOX website describes, we are constantly having sensory stimulation. Especially in our modern fast paced environment, our senses are nearly overwhelmed, always having new news to look at, new information to feed into our brains, new people to talk to. So the concept of NOX – Dine in the Dark, is to compel us to be more conscious of our remaining senses since we cannot see, thus heightening our ability to smell, feel and taste! As NOX describes, the experience is to “temporarily surrender one of your dominant senses, sight, in exchange for enhancing the other four, allowing you to completely re-evaluate your perception of the world around you”. When you first enter the restaurant on the first floor, the host will brief on all the necessary logistics – …

Brawn and Brains Cafe

Another off the beaten track, oh-no-my-gps-said-i-arrived-but-i-still-can’t-see-it cafe! So, first tip: for drivers, turn into the sports complex! Its there! Or if missed it, just turn left into Guillemard Crescent, and there are parking lots in front of the condominium called Cosmo. Very unassuming small cafe that sits only less than 15 people, which is also why they don’t allow reservations. We were greeted by friendly young server, who reminds me of local celebrity, Lim Peifen. Through our conversation, I learnt that the cafe is named Brawn and Brains because this cafe is in the same building as the rock climbing wall and tuition centre. How quaint! We tried both kinds of open face sandwiches – bacon molten egg and salmon. Both for $7. The Grilled Bacon open face sandwich, served with mozzarella, mixed greens, rocket, cherry tomatoes and a single molten egg. I really enjoyed the crispy bacon with melting yolk texture! The Salmon open face sandwich, on the other hand, is served with cottage cheese, rocket and cherry tomatoes, also served with a single molten …

Bread King Bakery @ Serangoon Gardens

I must admit when we first reached the Bread King, I was very skeptical of the food quality. Bread King is set inside Burghley Squash and Tennis centre set deep in Serangoon Gardens on a one way street, with a small shop front and aluminium metal tables and chairs. It doesn’t look anything like any of the hipster cafes we were used to visiting on Sundays. But I began to feel more assured when the smell of freshly baked cake reached me, and seeing families around enjoying their food helped. Fragrant freshly baked pastries We were soon greeted by Pedro, the ‘angmoh’ featured on all Bread King collaterals, who offered us 2 options: 1) regular sandwiches or 2) bread basket served with salad, burrata cheese and ham. Since there was 3 of us, we decided to go for the bread basket and I am really glad we did! The Bread basket ($12) comprises French baguettes and Pedro’s signature sour dough. The Burrata Salad Platter ($25) had an uncut beautiful slab of Burrata cheese shipped directly from …

Keng Eng Kee Seafood Restaurant 琼荣记海鲜 @ Alexandra Village – Tzechar Review

Food Quality: 8/10 Value for money: 9/10 (4 of us ate for $50!) Service: 8/10 (Food served in <5mins!) Parents-in-law are finally back in town so we went to try out this tzechar place new to us. This is a very clean coffee shop that spans across 2 blocks. One section has air-conditioning and the other which we sat in is the al-fresco coffee shop style.  This restaurant is also known for its Salted Egg Yolk Crab, but we wanted something simple, so we went for the below dishes which were overall flavourful and very good value for money. Definitely good for bringing parents and grandparents for a family meal. 1) My favourite in this meal – Mingzhu Roll (明珠卷) This is their signature dishes and it is really unique. It comprises salted egg yolk, mushrooms, ham and prawn nicely blended and fried in beancurd skin. It’s richly flavoured and oily, as you can imagine, so I started to “jelat” after 1 piece though it is very tasty. The lady ordering was smart enough to ask …