Makan makan at Orchard Road- the Marmalade Pantry (part 2)

After enjoying a few musical performance at the Great Christmas village, it's teatime!

The Marmalade Pantry.
ION Orchard 2 Orchard Turn, #03-22, Singapore 238801
Opens daily 10am to 10pm
Website http://themarmaladepantry.com.sg

As with everywhere else, when there's a queue, it immediately spells good food. We waited for about half an hour to get a table and another half an hour for the food. But this was fine because we were too absorbed catching up.

Lala clams vorgole. Lala, anchovies, chilli and garlic all in harmonious combination.

Arrabiata. Penne with grilled aubergine, feta cheese in a spicy tomato sauce.

Egg white omelette. Topped with feta cheese, spinach and tomato concasse, mixed mushrooms.

Truffle fries with shavings of parmesan cheese and chopped parsley. Always taste amazing when there's truffle.

Chocolate mudslide with gooey orange marmalade filling, hazelnut feulettine, vanilla with chocolate butter cream.

Red velvet cupcake with hazelnut spread filling and cream cheese frosting. Both are just the right amount of sweetness. Even baby Bing couldn't stop eating.

Fairly impressed with the quality of food but just slighty disappointed by the poor attitude of a certain waiter. Therefore, the verdict is 7/10.

Makan makan at Orchard Road-Real Food (part 1)

Our mission visiting Singapore during this short weekend is to meet up with friends. Therefore, we organised a nonstop eating marathon.

First stop at Real Food.
181 Orchard Road, #02-16 to 19 Orchard Central, Singapore 238896
Opens daily 10am to 8.45pm
Website http://www.realfoodgrocer.com

One of my childhood friends is an avid vegetarian. I love fresh fruits and vegetables as well. 

Real Food serves fresh produce cooked in traditional ways to nourish the body and soul. Low salt, low sugar and no MSG even in their sauce.

Totally love the lifestyle decoration. One can easily spend the whole afternoon sipping coffee and reading books.

Besides serving hot food, they also sell vegetarian products. One can choose total vegan options, that's without garlic and eggs. We prefer to order their usual menu. 

Spaghetti bolognaise with vegetarian balls. Love how strong the garlic smell is. Balls are crunchy yet moist inside and well seasoned.

Mushroom burger. Patty so well done that a non vegetarian like me took an instant liking to it. Pineapple slice used to replace cheese. Sides- baked beans and salad dressed with sesame sauce.

Vegetarian burger with patty made from a variety of barley and grains-goes really well with the mustard. Sides- potato wedges, baked vegetables.

Enjoy all these vegetarian goodness with a strong cuppa of cappuccino.

Will definitely revisit if I crave for vegetarian food. Our verdict 8/10!

Like all these food? Try it out and let me know what do you think. Don't forget to support by following me, liking and commenting my post! Stay tuned for part 2.

Day trip at Orchard Road Singapore- logistics and sights

It's that time of the year again! The festive season is just around the corner. Despite living in/next to Singapore for a third of my life, I have never visited Orchard Road during Christmas. It's definitely worth the visit.

We drove down from kuantan to jb, parked our car at my Aunty's house. Grabbed causeway link to Tuas second link from Giant Nusa Bestari. Check their website for route timetable and stops. Service is frequent and cheap at RM5 per person.

We cleared the Malaysian immigration in a jiffy. One can then catch any causeway link buses (which are plenty) to the Singapore second link arrival hall. It's extremely crowded as we happened to arrive together with buses of tourists. Instead of giving out arrival cards, they were hidden in a corner and only given upon request. 

Waited for slightly more than an hour to clear the custom. Equally horrendous traffic going into the CIQ building but exiting to Jurong East MRT was smooth. One can choose to board any causeway link buses depending on your desired destination and fee paid.

From Jurong East MRT, we hopped onto the green line all the way to Bedok where we will be staying over at our aunt's place. That's about an hour of training. Because of the delay during immigration clearance, we bumped into the after work traffic. Ended up sitting on the MRT floor with baby Bing fast asleep. After a simple dinner, we called it a day.

This is the SMRT map. Very well planned and easily accessible. Remember to get an ‌Ezlink card cost SGD5 each. It expires after 5 years but can be exchanged and renewed at SGD3.

Convenient- for the stretch of Orchard Road itself, one can get off the Somerset station to reach 313 Somerset/orchard central.Get off at Orchard road if you want to get to Ion Orchard. Easy peasy.

Christmas decoration outside Orchard Central.

Learn how to Love by Post. Get some freebies and a chance to dine for free after some serious Christmas shopping.

We walked from somerset station to orchard station to enjoy the Christmas atmosphere. Will talk about food outing at Orchard in the next post.

The whole stretch of Christmas lights along the road.

White themed Christmas village at Ngee Ann city. Lots of food booths to celebrate this Christmas while enjoying the performance on stage from 3pm onwards everyday.

Baby Bing loves the reindeer hat- crafted by daddy and mommy at the kids play station.

Get on the sleigh to join Santa in this season of gifting just outside Orchard Gateway.

Not sure about what to buy? Don't worry, Orchard Road has this covered. Ultimate tips about gifts for him or her.

Counting down to Christmas!

Wishing tree. May your wish comes true this Christmas.

Just can't get enough taking photos of the Christmas deco.

Our trip back to Malaysia was much smoother and faster even though we could not go through the Autogate because baby Bing was with us. The only change was taking causeway link at Queens Street instead and getting off at JB central due to scheduled train service on Sunday.

Stay tuned to read about our foodie adventure at Orchard Road!

Mini reunion @Senibong cove JB

Yay! Finally get to go on a holiday again. This time round we want to visit family and friends from Johore and Singapore area. First stop is meeting up with our uni mate at Senibong Cove in JB.

Photo courtesy of Google

Senibong Cove
N-01, Blok N, Pinggiran Senibong
No. 1 Persiaran Senibong
Teluk Senibong
81750 Masai, Johor
Malaysia

Our first time here. It's an integrated residential area with multiple dining options from Chinese, Japanese to western.

Now, Senibong Cove also has their own private jetty for yatch lovers. Hoping I can afford one sometime in the future :p

Fairly romantic ambience. We were lucky enough that the rain had stopped so we could enjoy our dinner alfresco.

The restaurants are located just by the piers and one can enjoy the scenic skyline while dining. The kids had fun running along the corridor and getting to know each other.

Delicious 8 seafood restaurant

6, Persiaran Senibong
Opens daily from 12pm to 12am
Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/delicious8seafood/

We arrived slightly earlier comparing to the dinner crowd so food was served fairly quick.

A tofu dish is essential when you have toddlers dining together. This is their 2 way tofu. One side with deep fried plain tofu dressed with Thai sweet chilli sauce; the other fried seafood tofu with a generous mayonnaise topping. Just lightly seasoned and we like it that way because baby Bing doesn't like strong flavors.

Stir fry long beans with minced chicken. And there I naively think that we only get this type of long bean at Bukit Tinggi area in Pahang.

Stir fry pork with onions and capsicums. Meat is tender, juicy and just cooked. Just hope the portion could be bigger though. Beautifully plated and decorated with fresh flowers.

Prawn curry. Fresh and juicy. Goes really well with the fried buns. And this strongly resembles coconut prawn curry in kuantan! Rice ended up soaked in the curry sauce because it's that yummy.

After dinner, we decided to fill out our dessert stomach.

Vanilla Bean Coffee & Patisserie
G-08, BLOK B, PANGSAPURI PINGGIRAN AIR, 2, Persiaran Senibong
Opens daily 9am-10pm
Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/my.vanillabean/

We were there from 8 to 9pm. What's great is that it's not crowded and they are kids friendly. Look at the boxes of toys they sourced from IKEA.

Yummy croissant on display.

Tempting banana cake slices in the glass container.

The chocolate banana tart tastes as appealing as the one on display. 

Would be better if the chocolate can be stronger in flavor and bananas more ripe and sweet. The dusting makes the tart looks so Christmassy.

Classic cheesecake. It is as classic as it looks. The cheese is light textured and not so heavy.

Have a sip of cappuccino to wake up the senses! There's no such thing as no coffee after dinner in fear of insomnia for coffee lovers.

Or else have a glass of iced chocolate if you don't feel like having coffee.

Even better try this rich butter scotch hot chocolate. So creamy that you will finish every drop and ask for more.

These two eateries are unique in different ways but we will definitely come back again especially for gatherings and for the ambience. Just the price range is on the expensive side.

We rate it 7.5/10!

The online shopping craze continues with Lazada

I have always been a fan of online shopping. Since my student days, I have been actively buying from eBay in Australia. It's been at least a good 7 years I have been buying from lazada and even the postman knows me quite well by now.

My very first online shopping was small electronic items such as ear phones and USB cables. At that point online shopping wasn't that popular and widely known yet. The delivery was fast and items were received in great conditions.

Subsequently, I started to buy more expensive items. From household products to baby diapers, lazada has lots to offer. For the past few years, I have been getting my new mobile phones from lazada as well.

Online shopping provides lots of convenience. Due to the nature of my work, I pretty much have to do everything on the go. I also love the ability to compare prices between sellers and to read the reviews for items I haven't had time to research about.

For the Online Revolution sales that started since 11 November till 14 December, I have already ordered for these 5 items. And within 3 working days, I have already received 4 out of 5 of the items. In pristine condition. All after a few mouse clicks.

Hurry up before the sales ends!