Singapore Eats: Cocotto, Far East Square

Despite the morning madness, I really like working in Raffles Place. The choices for lunch is a lot. Way more than last time, when I was working in Orchard. In particular, I really like wandering around Far East Square. So many things to try and for today's lunch menu with a colleague-slash-buddy, we tried Cocotto.

Cocotto is a Japanese Fusion Restaurant and it serves lunch menu at the usual lunch hour. However, it also offers ala-carte items for lunch crowd. We were kinda more interested in the rice pilaf. 

My colleague/ buddy ordered Cocotto Curry Pilaf, a curry-based rice dish.

While I ordered Cocotto De Omuraisu, a tomato-based rice dish.

The pilaf costs 10 each. Not a bad lunch deal considering that affordable lunch is getting lesser and lesser in the CBD area. =(

Get the best hotel deals at Raffles Place here

Singapore Eats: Alt. Pizza, Suntec City

You ain't gonna run out of options of eating pizza in Singapore. Basically you can easily buy from one slice of pizza to a pan of pizza. Awesome, right? Everyone's needs are covered in Singapore.

But today, I am not alone (#finallynotforeveralone) so we can try out another pizza joint in Suntec City, Alt. Pizza.

Alt Pizza offers freedom for its customers to DIY their pizzas. But if you are the dunno-what-make-a-good-pizza bunch, you can always order their signature pizzas. Less decision-making required. 

We are the latter bunch so we ordered Alt. Pizza's signature pizzas. Crabby Ninja and Free Bird (if I am not mistaken). 

The Crabby Ninja. 

and the Free Bird.

Alt. Pizza had one for one promotion when we ate there. So happy! Both pizzas taste not bad, the pizza texture is more on the thin and crusty type compared to the thick side. Alt. Pizza is located at the al fresco area of Suntec City. If you are lost, you just need to find which Suntec City's entrance is directly facing Millenia Walk. 

Fel's Diary: Fel is kinda lonely

...and then she starts watching other people's kids on The Return of Superman. Minguk is so cute!!

So at this age, I still love reading manga, watching anime and now, watching other people's kids. So much for adulthood.

Well, that's me! =P

"I am proud to be myself."

Fel's Diary: Fel and an unexpected piece of chocolate

I'm moving soon so I must clear the small fridge in my room. And the fastest thing to clear the fridge is by...consuming whatever things inside. Especially when it's chocolate. A hidden chocolate bar! Yum! 

I always feel kinda annoyed when I have to pack and move my things to new place. Especially, when it's rented place which means I have to incur another agent fee. Blah. Blah. 

Still dreaming of having my own place here. 

One day. For sure. 

#faith #keeponbelieving

Singapore Eats: Coco Ichibanya, 313 Somerset

Recently there are more and more famous Japanese restaurant franchise popping up in Singapore. In terms of Japanese curry, there are two names worth mentioned. One is CoCo Ichibanya while the other one is Ginza Bairin. 

CoCo offers a set menu which consists of a drink, a bowl of salad and the curry rice. Since it was my first try, I decided to get a set meal. Iced lemon tea is my choice of drink. 

The greens are served with sesame sauce. I love sesame sauce. This makes me wonder is sesame sauce is fattening because whatever I love to eat is usually fattening. #sadworld

I ordered a cheese pork katsu curry rice. You can choose the spicy level of the curry sauce and the quantity of the rice. But do note that you must top up if you want to upsize the rice or want to increase the spicy level of the sauce. Boo~~

My dinner companion chose chicken karage omelet curry rice. The curry sauce is the same for both dishes so I guess it's a matter of choosing what would you like to have with the curry sauce. 

CoCo Ichibanya has expanded to a few locations all around Singapore. The one I ate is located at basement level of 313 Somerset. There are another branches located at Bugis+ and The Star Vista. 

Macau Travel: Hotel Lobby, The Venetian Macao Resort

First, I am so sorry that I only do a hotel review as far as its lobby because well, I did not have budget to spend the night at The Venetian when I visited Macau. #moneynotenough

But anyway, maybe the grand lobby alone is enough to pique your interest to stay in the Venetian? For a start, the lobby is so grand, it can be considered one of the grandest hotel lobbies I've ever seen (okay, I guess the fact that I stayed mostly in budget hotel kind make this easily..the grandest). =P

If you look up, you will see the details of the painting on the ceiling. Looks like we are in some kind of an imperial palace, right?

At the end of the long hall, there lies the symbol of the Venetian Resort. It kinda looks like some kind of grail. Do I watch too many anime lately? =P (re: Fate Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works)

A cute mascot (related to water preservation movement I think) was busy doing photo-shoot and shaking hands with kids. 

I heard the room size is very spacious and some of my friends and relatives who had spent the night before mentioned about the good review (lucky them!). If you are interested to find out more about the hotel, you can check the reviews at Tripadvisor here.

Singapore Eats: Aussie Roll, Chevron House

Rice roll is like the best thing to have when you are in a hurry. And it's not difficult to make one since you basically just need to roll the rice together with the ingredients and the seaweed. I guess that's the reason why Aussie Roll's business is thriving right at the basement level of Chevron House.

Aussie Roll offers so many type of rice rolls. It caters for both non-vegetarian and vegetarian customers.

On my first try, I bought salmon avocado roll and tuna avocado roll. Both are yummy! =)

On my second try, I realised that Aussie Roll has 3 for 2 promotion every night which starts after 6pm. This round I tried the salmon cream cheese, chili calamari and fried ebi roll. All the rice rolls are nice. 

One roll costs around S$2.6 to S$2.80 depends on the filling. They have several tables and seats so customers can opt for dine in if they prefer to. 

Fel's Diary: Fel has lost all hopes

I totally cannot deal with those people without common sense especially when they start asking me some questions. Oh my gawd. 

“Common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it.” 

― René Descartes

Macau Eats: Hong Kong Noodle, The Venetian Food Court

The Venetian food court sells a variety of food from all over the countries. It even sells chicken rice, I am not kidding you.

The food court area is very big so finding seats here is usually not an issue. 

We definitely gave chicken rice a pass in Macau (of course, right?) and opted for Macau dish Hong Kong noodle. Ironic, much? Haha. 

Since there were three of us, we ordered three types of Hong Kong noodles. The first one is the chili prawn noodles.

Prawn wantons soup noodle. 

Minced meat and mushroom noodles. I like this one the best because the other two taste pretty bland while this one at least..has the taste of the sauce. XD

There are so many food offered at the food court. If you stay a few nights at the Venetian, you will have more time to try other food in the food court or in the restaurants in the Venetian.

Fel's Diary: Fel decided to keep going forward

...simply because I have no other option than keep on believing in my dream and moving on with my life. After all dreams don't turn to dust unless you decided to burn the dreams. 

"Sometimes it's difficult but you have to keep moving."

Cheers to all our dreams! 

Singapore Cafe: Criollo Cocoa Cafe, Orchard Gateway

I had an agreement with a friend to keep on trying new cafe every time we have chance to catch up with each other (she's a busy person while I, on the other hand, merely keep socialising at minimum level..uhm..). #ansos

So, on this day where I have the energy (and the willingness) to socialise, we went to Orchard Gateway and tried a hidden cafe there called Criollo Cocoa Cafe.

The cafe is kinda hidden because it is located right below the connecting bridge between Orchard Gateway and the other side of the building. Okay, I don't know if the connecting bridge has been opened to public yet. 

We ordered fried calamari to share as an appetiser. I realised our appetiser is usually either calamari or truffle fries. XD

I tried the chicken pomodoro spaghetti. I had a bit of difficulty recognising the chicken pieces because they are exceptionally chopped and hidden under the pasta. 

My friend ordered chicken chop served with fries. The chicken chop tastes better than the pomodoro pasta. 

The atmosphere of the cafe is quite nice but the quality of the food is so-so. Well, if you are tired from shopping around Orchard area and want to sit down and relax, you can consider coming to Criollo Cocoa Cafe. We have not had the chance to try their drinks too. Maybe next time. 

Get the best hotel deals at Orchard Road here

Singapore Eats: Bangkok Jam, Wheelock Place

Finding a table to have dinner at Orchard area on a Saturday evening can be a daunting place. Being very familiar to this fact, my friend and I decided to try our luck to have dinner at anywhere in Wheelock Place. Imagine how happy we were when we saw so many empty seats at Bangkok Jam.

Despite a lot of sayings about empty seats means bad business means yucky food, we decided to just go for it as we were too tired and hungry to queue for a table. Bangkok Jam offers variety of Thai food. Its food menu is kinda similar to Thai Express. 

I needed carbo that night so I tried Bangkok Jam's tom yum seafood fried rice. I like it because Bangkok Jam is not stingy on the amount of seafood it puts in the fried rice. 

My friend tried the green curry chicken. It is a tad oily but taste-wise, it's pretty good. 

As usual, a long chit chat between girls must be accompanied by a dessert to share amongst us. It's something that looks and tastes like baked pineapple tarts served together with a scoop of coconut ice cream. The stick is cinnamon and it's for decoration only I guess (initially I thought it was a chocolate roll). XD

Bangkok Jam has a number of stores in Singapore. Other than Wheelock Place,  you can find Bangkok Jam at Plaza Singapura, Bugis Junction, and Great World City. 

Get the best hotel deals at Orchard Road here

Macau Travel: The Venetian Macao

A luxury hotel, a casino and a shopping mall combined into a resort called the Venetian Macao. The Venetian Macao is owned by the Las Vegas Sands, a big and famous casino operator in Las Vegas.

The Venetian Macao Resort is big. Very big. One of its distinct characteristics is that the ceiling is painted just like the sky. The idea is to give visitors a feeling that they are walking outside under the blue sky but they are actually inside the resort. I hope you get what I am trying to say here. Hahaha.

The canal bridge inside the resort. Visitors can pay for a gondola ride throughout the canal built inside the Venetian Macao. But if you want to do that, you better be ready to queue. When I was there, the waiting time is approximately 3 hours. Gosh! 

There are a number of shops located inside the resort. One of the shops sells Hello Kitty related items e.g. clothes, accessories, etc. If Kitty is not your cup of tea, no worry, there are a lot of stores which you can explore inside the resort. 

Fel's Diary: Fel is enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon

I will move next week so this is the last time I can enjoy a lazy Sunday afternoon at my current rented room. 

I don't like moving from one rented room to another (both mentally and monetarily exhausting). But this kind of thing is not within my control as I don't have my own house in this tiny island. 

Dreaming of having my own place where I can call it home in the future. If I'm still here, though. 

"Keep moving forward. It's the way to live life."

- Leo Martin Ganace

Fel's Diary: Fel is listening to the rhythm of the rain

而我聽見 下雨的聲音

I heard the rhythm of the rain

想起你用唇語 說愛情

and thought of the love you expressed with your lips

- Jay Chou

Macau Eats: Portuguese Egg Tarts, Senado Square

If you are an egg-tart lover, Macau is your paradise. Para-para-paradise!!! #okayIshouldstoplisteningtoColdplay

There are a lot of egg tarts stall along the way from Senado Square to the Ruins of St Paul's. The above stall has a smiley egg tart as its logo so we were kinda curious. And decided to try it. 

We also bought lemon tea because the weather was damn hot that day. 

I can't really differentiate egg tarts but I can say the egg tarts sold in Macau are way better than normal egg tarts sold in Singapore. I wonder if it's because the egg tarts are baked Portuguese syle? 

Fel's Diary: Fel is woken up with sheet marks on her cheek

I could not help to fall asleep again because Saturday is the only day I can fall back to sleep a lot of times. Zzz. 

"Why don't we sleep all day sleep all day?"

- Jason Mraz