Author: Beatrice

NOX – Dine in the Dark @ Beach Road

Published by Beatrice

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 – …

Cad Café @ Kampong Glam

Published by Beatrice

Cad Café is a new coffee joint opened for just 3 months, set in extremely hipster Haji Lane! You will walk through a sea of graffiti walls to get to Cad Café! It is  a very small café that can seat less than 20 people in total. Extremely artistic and grungy interiors, Cad Cafe has some good hand drawn paintings hanging for sale. I personally think they blend the décor perfectly with the Haji Lane esoteric atmosphere. It is a rushed breakfast coffee grab, so we tried the Flat White and Ice Coffee. They are using beans from Toby’s Estate, and I must say the coffee is better than I expected (7.5/10)! The Flat White ($5) is medium bodied – quite viscous. It is bitter and only slightly acidic, but is well balanced with the milk, with strong aroma. The Ice Coffee ($4.50) is not too acidic and had quite a long lingering taste. There are tourists sitting around chatting, and given the vibrancy of the café, if I was on a holiday, it would be a …

Cafe Melba @ Goodman Arts Centre

Published by Beatrice

We were looking for dog-friendly cafe after bringing my fluff to NEX, and Cafe Melba Cafe came to mind. Given that it was only a replacement Public Holiday on a Monday (half the people I know were still working), Melba Cafe was relatively crowded. By the way, I suspected and later confirmed that Melba stands for Melbourne (MELB) and Asia (A), so the food is supposed to be Asian interpretations of Australasian dishes. We sat outdoor where it was cosy but also quite warm, and my dog was happily pampered by the children around. We had the Haddock and Chips ($24), Crayfish Linguine ($27)and Chili Crab Calzone ($22). All 3 of us enjoyed the food! The Crayfish Linguine  is cooked Al Dente, and the crayfish bisque was absorbed well into the linguine, giving the pasta a juicy texture. At the same time, the red peppers complemented the roasted crayfish, while the rocket gave the dish a bitter after taste. Complex dish with a Western-Asian blend indeed. The Chili Crab Calzone is like Cheese Prata with Chili Crab, angmoh style; crab meat, egg, …

Butter Studio @ Jalan Besar

Published by Beatrice

After a disappointment along the Jalan Besar trail with Tiramisu Hero, I was a little sceptical to try another new Butter Studio Bakery. I was wondering if it was just another nicely decorated Hipster Bakery with no real substance. But Butter Studio caught my eye from across the road when I was having lunch at the Jalan Besar Food centre (which, btw, has very nice Pahang “sashimi” for $3 at the congee shop), and we decided to cross the road to try Butter Studio out. One is welcomed into the shop house by a tent over grass turf and outdoor table made from stacked up pallets. It is an easy to do set up for people to hang out outdoors. The layout of the cakes and cupcakes is very welcoming at the entrance. There are also very ornate articles like a bicycle outdoors with nice flowers in the front basket. Definitely good impressions from the decoration effort! I am welcomed by rows of interesting cakes, cupcakes, food and tarts on the left when I enter the …

Hong Sheng Restaurant Tzechar @ Toa Payoh

Published by Beatrice

I have been eating this Hong Sheng Tzechar at Toa Payoh Lorong 1 for many years, it almost feels weird to be blogging it only now. I have read various reviews online that say the general flavour of the dishes at Hong Sheng lacks the umami oomph compared to other Tzechar stalls. I have to agree that Hong Sheng food tastes very cosy home cooked style, where there is less salt and MSG. For example, even the tofu, they do not use the stronger tasting egg tofu, but the more authentic white tofu. The soup is also slightly bland. So if you are looking for the strong outstanding flavours in every dish, this is not the place for you. Despite some of the not so good reviews online, be prepared to wait at Hong Sheng. If you don’t arrive by 530pm, the typical waiting time will be at least 1 hour!, so tip is to reach by 530 latest, especially if you have many pax. Tip: They are known for their Horfun, which is wrapped in …

Yellowstone National Park @ Wyoming, Montana, Idado USA

Published by Beatrice

I had the privilege of working at Yellowstone National Park over 1 summer in 2005. And yes, the Park is so big, it spans 3 states. Always told myself I would want to post some photos up some day, so here are some of my favourites! A pity I was a really lousy photographer back then but thank God the places are so scenic, the shots turned out not too bad anyway. Oh, and I finally got Eatprayflying Facebook Page up! If you are into shorter content and snippets, you can like Eatprayflying on FB!  

Lai Huat Seafood Restaurant Tzechar @ Jalan Besar

Published by Beatrice

Having passed Lai Huat Seafood Restaurant many times and seeing so many celebrity photos and endorsements on its walls, we finally went to check it out to satisfy my curiosity! The service is not great. I got dissed trying to change tables because they initially sat us at the back, near the wall with lizards constantly invading our personal space. The wait is also incredibly long; we waited about 45 minutes for our first dish to be served. I guess they can afford the far-from-ideal service time, thanks to their good publicity over the years. Thankfully, the food was worth the wait. We tried their signature dish – Sambal Balachan Fried Fish. This is quite a killer combo of fried and spice kick in my taste buds on the first bite. Fish was crunchy with every bite! However, tip is to order a fish for 2, to share for 3 people or more. Two of us “jelat” after 80% of the fish as the dish is really oily and rich tasting. The other dishes were good …

Jalan Sultan Prawn Noodles @ Kallang

Published by Beatrice

One of my favourite prawn noodles in Singapore is Jalan Sultan Prawn Noodles! This prawn mee was introduced by my mum who packed it home for me when I was sick and eating it actually perked me up! So I made a trip down over a weekend to check it out. Jalan Sultan Prawn Noodles is a typical Singaporean alfresco coffee shop. So tip: is to go on cooling day or pack home to eat. We felt baked on a sunny day and with the tentage keeping the heat in the alley. My personal favorite is the King Prawn Pork Rib Beehoon Soup ($8) after trying different prawn sizes, soup/dry. But even if you were to opt for regular prawn ($5), they use the same soup base brewed in prawn shells that make it really strong flavored and delicious! Their pork ribs are also tender without being over fatty. Most of the time, I get chunks of meat in the soup as well. Sometimes when I eat pork ribs prawn mee in other parts of Singapore, I get …

Redeemed Relationships

Published by Beatrice

“Many of us do not enjoy the liberation of redeemed relationships because we are faking peace with one another because we lack the courage and conviction to expose our chronic condition of sin in our troubled relationships, marriages, families and, even, our Christian fellowships.” — Pastor Chris Chia Been reflecting on this point since Paul Tripp’s talk last week on how our Christian walks are all a community project. Of course, Pastor Chris has, as usual, summarized my thoughts more elegantly – we are sinful and need a trusted community to continually point out our sins and help us grow in godliness. It is ironic how we all know we need to be humble, yet, it’s so difficult to take feedback on our sins and opportunities. Even in secular work places, people generally agree that arrogance stands in the way of change that brings about growth and improvement. I, too, as a perfectionist-in-reform find it difficult to take feedback, especially when delivered harshly. I often brood over what people say to me for days even …

Sala Khaoyai (II)

Published by Beatrice

Have already said a lot in my first instalment on Sala Khaoyai, this instalment will be about the Deluxe Balcony Room which we stayed for Night 2 and 3, as well as the fantastic food at Sala Khaoyai Restaurant. The deluxe balcony room is much more modern than the villa. I love the black interior and sunk-in bathtub. This would be a nice design for a bachelor(ette) pad; just put in a PC for gaming and it would be a perfect pad already. Sala has a good restaurant. They serve good porridge and sandwiches at breakfast, and good Thai and western food through the day. Tip: Try the peanut butter banana smoothie as a dessert, chilling out at the sundeck….heavenly! We also tried their North Thailand cuisine special set menu. It was an interesting experience as we have never been to North of Thailand and there are subtle differences versus the usual Thai food we are used to. For example, they serve papaya salad with crabs, and generally, all the dishes are much more spicy than average …