Author: Beatrice

Sukhothai Kitchen @ Bugis

Published by Beatrice

We have passed by Sukhothai Kitchen @ Bugis in an unassuming coffee shop at the back of Bugis Street a few times and it was usually crowded so we decided to give it to try. Compared to Nana Thai at Far Fast Plaza, I find Sukhothai much more authentic and value for money. The Fried Minced Pork with Basil Leaf ($8), dished to me by an authentic Thai lady, was spicy at the right levels, with strong basil kick with every bite. Loved it! The Tom Yum Soup Seafood ($5) is a big portion, spicy and sour to the right extent. Flavour wise, this tom yum is very close to the tom yums in Bangkok. We also had the Minced Prawn Omelette ($8), which we kind of gobbled up without shooting. Very affordable and tasty meal at the end of a work day. We will be back next time we have a Thai food craving! — Sukhothai Kitchen @ Bugis Address: 52 Queen Street, Singapore 188539 Opening Hours: Everyday, 11:30 am – 10:30 pm Phone: 8141 …

Nana Thai Restaurant @ Far East Plaza

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After an awesome trekking trip to Nepal, we went to Far East Plaza to get my beauty fix and decided to try Nana Thai Restaurant, which is different from the one at Golden Mile. The Curry Fish Head ($28) is one of their signature dishes. It’s only one side of the fish head, but it has lots of ingredients like daopok and crispy dried bean curd skin. While the fish was very fresh, but the sauce was too coconuty for me. Still prefer the curry fish at Novena Peranakan Cuisine. Since the restaurant is Thai, also tried the Tom Yum Soup with Chicken ($10). Didn’t taste very authentic to me but spicy and sour enough. This store is more like local Singaporean tze char than Thai store. The Sambal Kangkong ($8) was very nice with mini prawn shrimps. My favorite dish! Claypot Beef Rice ($7.50) was good value and tasty, with soft and tender beef. Second favourite dish, though it tasted very Chinese and not Thai. A little pricey for tze char, but good spicy …

Saboten Signature @ Changi Airport Terminal 1

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When we first saw “voted top 7 in the world in 2013” sign outside of Signature Saboten, I thought it was a marketing gimmick. But I’m really glad we tried Saboten as it turned out pretty exquisite! We had sets ranging from $20-30, including salmon and pork. All the sets come with free flow cabbage, rice and miso soup (which had real pork inside!!) My set was the Signature combo ($30) that came with a 150g Pork tonkatsu, small tenderloin, small croquette and small side salad. The tonkatsu, though fried deeply, was juicy and soft. Glad for this surprise find. Probably the best and most exquisite tonkatsu in Singapore. — Saboten Signature @ Changi Airport Terminal 1 Address: #03-21, View Mall Central, Terminal 1 Changi Airport Phone: 62149504 Hours: Daily, 07:00 – 23:00

Taiwan: Taroko National Park 太魯閣國家公園 Lodging/Hotel – Leader Village 立德布洛灣山月村 (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

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We tried 2 different hotels within Taroko National Park 太魯閣國家公園. The first night was spent at Leader Village 立德布洛灣山月村. From the stay, I learnt that there are mainly 2 types of tribes – 1 in the mountains and 1 on flat lands/sea (like Amei tribe), and Bruwan (布洛灣), meaning “echo,” used to be a tribal village of the Taroko mountain tribe aborigines. The rooms were fairly basic, reflective of its tribal village roots and did not have heating. However, thankfully, they had a heating pad on bed so we didn’t freeze in the wintry mountains. Leader Village 立德布洛灣山月村 gives a good flavour of traditional tribal village experience, with nightly cultural dance shows. Also, one wakes to an amazing mountaineous view with Taroko National Park. Tip: to eat breakfast, you have to greet the staff with “Maluku”, which means good morning in their tribal language! Full sets of posts that might be useful for your Taipei planning: Wu Fen Pu (五分埔) Shopping and Rao He Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市) Xi Men Ding (西門町) Shi Lin Night Market (士林夜市) Taipei 101, Christmas Illuminations, 大佳河濱公園 …

Taiwan: Taroko National Park 太魯閣國家公園 Taroko Gorge (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

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While Mr Lu does the cross Taiwan mountain tours, his friend, Mr Li does 1 day tours within Taroko National Park which we decided to engage after the good experience with Mr Lu.  Mr Li, a 65-year-old retiree, is a photography enthusiast and will tell you the best angles/light to get the best scenic shots in the National Park. If I had to rank the attractions within Taroko National Park, this would be the must-see order in case you had limited time within the park. 1) My favourite has to be the Swallow Grotto Trail. When we were planning the trip, I had problem locating THE “Taroko Gorge” because I thought it could only be viewed from 1 location. Only after I experienced the whole park, I realized the gorge runs through the whole National Park. Having said that, I think the view of the Taroko Gorge from the Swallow Grotto Trail is the most majestic. The mountain slopes plunge sharply into a V at the gorge, which has clear blue waters flowing through. The limestone …

Wheeler’s Yard @ Lorong Ampas

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Wheeler’s Yard looks out of spacious Melbourne, but can be found in our backyard along Balestier Road. Wheeler’s Yard – The Bicycle Atelier, as its names suggest,  is a workshop space for urban bikes, with even handmade frames from talented mastercraftsmen. They also have a small but extremely cute selection of kid’s bikes. Wheeler’s Yard – Exterior Shots: Wheeler’s Yard – Interior Shots: The Flat White ($5) was decent, more on the milky side. And their cups are so prettily branded! They also serve some beers, and N had his usual Asahi ($8). The cafe is still new (<1 month old when we visited), so they are running on a manual ordering system e.g. they will call out your number and you run into their counter to collect the food. The menu is also fairly straightforward. Between 4 of us, we tried the most popular mains. Decent coffee and food – my personal favourite was the Steak sandwich, but such a pretty spacious place to hangout just next to the Park Connector. I would go back again just …

A for Arbite @ Aliwal Street

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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 …

Taiwan: Alishan 阿里山 – Fen Qi Hu 奮起湖 and 53.1 Homestay Min Su 民宿 (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

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From Taipei, we took the High Speed Rail (HSR) to Chiayi to get to Alishan (阿里山). We chose 53.1 Homestay Min Su (民宿) from very good online reviews on its location, friendliness of hosts and cleanliness.  53.1 Homestay Min Su (民宿) arranged a taxi for us (NTD$2000, SGD80+) which picked us up from the Chiayi HSR station to bring us to Fen Qi Hu (奮起湖, also spelled at Fen Chi Hu) and then drive us to 53.1 at Alishan. Including the stop at Fen Qi Hu, the total journey was ~3.5 hours. For those we are prone to motion sickness like me, tip: I highly recommend you to take motion sickness pills and sit at the front of the taxi. The ride is windy and quite bumpy! Fenqihu (奮起湖) has a long history that can be traced back to 100+ years before the opening of the Alishan Forest Railways in 1912.  As I learnt from the official Alishan site, Fenqihu is surrounded by mountains on three sides and with the ground low and flat, it looks like a bamboo …

Taiwan: Alishan 阿里山, Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 , Cing Jing 清境, Taroko National Park 太魯閣國家公園 (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

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After 2 good days at 53.1 Min Su in Alishan, it was time to do the long 8 hour route to Taroko National Park. If you ever want to take this route, we highly recommend our driver, Mr Lu (Contact number:  +886928569081), who is a robust, healthy 68-year-old grandfather retiree. He is enthusiastic and friendly, suggests locations for us to take photos, suggests and helps us take “jumping” shots, feeds us fruits and slows down because I am car sick and tells me his life stories to distract me from my motion sickness. He is also very knowledgable about Taiwan’s history, economy and details of the various tourist sites so he made the entire day tour much more educational. First up, after leaving Alishan at 830am, 2 hours later, we stopped by the Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) to take the obligatory shot with the “Sun Moon Lake” Stone Carving.  The lake view against the mountains and clouds is beautiful but I felt the entire Sun Moon Lake area has become quite commercial and touristy, with a lot …

Taiwan: Alishan Main Attraction – Alishan National Scenic Area 阿里山國家風景區 (Taiwan Travel Review Series)

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The very first tip before I start on the attractions is that up this peak at Alishan’s Main attraction – Alishan National Scenic Area (阿里山國家風景區)is much colder than the base of the mountain. We dressed for the 10 to 15 degC we were experiencing at 53.1 Minsu, which is just 1 hour away from the peak, but the temperature was only 4 degC up at the peak, so do pad up before heading up! Good thing there are a lot of good hotpot stalls so we ate our fill to fuel up, and walked around a lot to warm ourselves up!   The traditional train ride at Alishan was slow, historic and enjoyable. Tip: take to Zhaoping Station (Rather than the more popular Sacred Tree station 神木車站 ) and walk from Zhaoping 沼平車站 because there will be a lot more downslope walking than an uphill climb! The most popular site is the Sacred Tree, which has since collapsed. But the trunk remains, giving a glimpse of the tree’s majestic breadth when it was still alive.