Wandering Fel

Showing posts with label Harbourfront MRT. Show all posts

Singapore Food Log: Churros Night at Chulove Cafe, Vivo City

Flavorful long churros from Chulove Cafe

Mini churros with dark chocolate sauce from Chulove Cafe

Pistachio long churros from Chulove Cafe

I initiated to spend Friday night at Vivo City thinking to take pictures of those cute Tsum Tsum mid-autumn lanterns. But I did not know school holiday break has started and hence, Vivo City was swarmed with people, mostly families with kids. I don’t like super crowded areas and squeezing my way in with I don’t know how many other people kinda made me lose interest to check the cute lanterns. So I ended up chilling with my TGIF buddy at the new cafe in Vivo City, Chulove Cafe.

The “chu” part of chulove seems to refer to Churros instead of kissing sound. And just like what the name refers, Chulove Cafe sells churros, cakes and drinks (coffee/ tea). I skip the drinks part because there’s no way I’m consuming caffeine at 8PM+. I will end up like an owl cuckoo-ing for the whole night until morning. There are three types of churros offered by Chulove Cafe: one is mini churros in a cup, the other two are round and long churros. Round churros kinda look like a donut made from churros while long churros is one straight long stick of churros. Both long and round churros are laced with sauce and toppings. The starting price of the churros seem to be 3 SGD.

We tried a big cup of mini churros with dark chocolate sauce and one long Pistachio churros for our first visit to Chulove Cafe. The long pistachio churros is immediately served but since it has been laid at the display counter for I don’t know how long, the churros become a bit hard and cold. Meanwhile the mini churros need a bit of a waiting time before you can collect them at the counter. However, they taste nicer because they are fresh from the fryer. I prefer the mini churros to the long churros just because of the hot/ cold comparison I suppose but it’s important to eat churros fresh. I suppose Chulove Cafe will give people more option to rest their tired legs after wandering around Vivo City carrying their shopping bags.

Chulove Cafe has replaced the now defunct Serenity. But since it sells churros which is a popular Spanish dessert, probably both F&B outlets are owned by the same people. Hope they can last in the fierce F&B competition in Singapore.

"Rain came pouring down when I was drowning. That's when I could finally breathe."

Actually, stratch that. I am still drowning this week and tomorrow is only Wednesday. Oh dear me. I wonder when I could finally breathe. Probably never in this kind of job I'm doing. When times are hard, it's time to hang out with your friends outside office so that you can listen to new perspective or even, venting about what's going on in your office since it's supposedly safer to vent to someone who's not working with you.

I had to go all the way to Harbourfront though because my lunch buddy today is working at Harbourfront Centre. Thanks goodness for the MRT seriously.

Singapore Eats: Lunching at Starbucks, Harbourfront Centre

Our main objective for lunch time is to get the one-for-one drink deal from Starbucks. However, since Starbucks is so gonna be crowded if we went there after our meal somewhere else, we decided to just had our lunch at Starbucks too. Yup, don't you know that Starbucks has ventured out to lunch menu? The lunch food selection is not much though at the Harbourfront Centre branch. In fact, I kinda think that the mushroom chicken wrap is the most interesting lunch dish this branch has. Taste-wise, they are not bad since the staff heated them up but they will be even better with some sauce I think.

Of course, I had no complains about my Java Chip Frappucino since I am a frappe drinker. Normal coffee is too strong for me. And I don't plan to increase my tolerance level toward caffeine either.

Java chip frappucino at Starbucks Singapore

Despite being a tough day, I received a nice surprise at home the same day. This is the first time I have received a birthday card sent by the church I had been attending for the past few years. Whoa, they must have checked the birthday date of their congregation (who become members I suppose) diligently. I appreciate the gesture, praise the Lord!

On the way home, I picked up Udders ice cream in a small tub. I did not know Udders has ventured out into convenience store. I usually go for the alcohol flavor but this time around, I was quite curious with the earl grey taste.

It does not taste as good as the alcohol flavour though. It's kinda too bitter for my liking since I am quite a sweettooth. I should have probably stuck to my first choice, Rum and Raisin. Lesson learnt. Hahaha.

Good morning world! I just saw a news that makes me grin like small kid. Liverpool won the match against Tottenham 2-0 last night. This is despite my super low faith in them winning the match. Hahaha. And why is this so important? Because I can't stand someone teasing me that Man Utd is gonna be on top of Liverpool in the Premier League table (although it may happen since their points difference is so tiny). Oh well, we live for another week, my dear Liverpool! YNWA! Muahahahahah.

Okay, enough about football stuff (to be honest, I do not even have any means to watch the match. Sadz!). My BFF and I were thinking of eating "healthier" last Friday night simply because she wants to fit back into her old jeans while I just had too much things to eat for lunch (since the Boss' treating and all). But the idea of eating a big plate of salad at Toss & Turn was not really appealing to me for a Friday night so we changed our original venue to Bakerzin instead.

I don't think we have so many Bakerzin outlets nowadays. In fact, I only know that Bakerzin has an outlet in Vivo City in Singapore. Not sure about other shopping malls. The restaurant is pretty bright and cozy and it was not too crowded for a Friday night. But it can be very very cold due to the super powerful air conditioning.

Bakerzin outlet at Vivo City Harbourfront

I'm quite surprised that Bakerzin has also embraced the idea of special menu for Chinese New Year since they offer mainly Western dishes. Kudos for them for being creative. But we did not order any of this special dish though.

Spring CNY festive menu from Bakerzin Vivo City

BFF's healthy eating plan continued so we ordered a plate of Pearl Barley Salad (SGD 12.50). This is the first time I see barley in my salad. So far, I have only seen them in my drink. Hahaha. The salad use tuna as its main protein and pesto dressing. It feels light as a whole and hence, I hope it is considered healthy. Not bad indeed from a perspective of non-salad eater. LOL.

However, despite our plan to eat healthier, both of us know there is no way that a plate of salad is enough for our tummy. So we ordered another dish to go with the salad, the Chicken Mayo Sandwich (SGD 11.90). The word "mayo" has deemed this dish to be not so healthy. But without the addition of mayo, I don't think the sandwich will taste as good as it is currently. The dilemma of eating clean and healthy.

Chicken mayo sandwich from Bakerzin Vivo City

Bakerzin is currently having promotion for its latest cake addition, the Decadent Chocolate. It only costs SGD 4.50 which is like way cheaper than Bakerzin's usual price-tag for its cakes (around SGD 7+ on average). I love chocolate so there's nothing bad I can say about this chocolate cake which thankfully not so sweet. I suppose we really had a well-balanced diet just now at Bakerzin with a combination of salad, sandwich and a moist chocolate cake.

Chocolate decadence cake from Bakerzin at Vivo City

Bakerzin is located at:

1 Harbourfront Walk, #01-207

Vivo City

Opening hours:

Daily 10AM - 10PM

It has been a pretty rough Thursday but yeah, I made it peeps! I have to resort to Gong Cha's caramel milk tea for a dose of happiness but other the unfortunate 1 kg weight gain (probably due to the Gong Cha drug plus Tai Cheong's egg tart), I'm glad I manage to go through Thursday. Thanks God indeed.

If you are looking for a place to chill tomorrow after work (yaassssss Friday is just around the corner), you may want to consider coming to the Wine Company at Sentosa Boardwalk. Especially if you can come out of office before 7PM.

Singapore Eats: The Wine Company, Sentosa Boardwalk

The easiest way to reach the Wine Company is by coming through Vivo City. You can make your way to the entrance/exit door from Vivo City to Sentosa Boardwalk between Brotzeit and Barrio by MexOut. If you want to sit inside, you have to make a reservation though. We did not make one last time and hence, we settled for an al fresco table.

If sunset-watching is your favourite pastime, you should opt for an al-fresco table really. You will be able to enjoy this view right across your table. I do not have so many opportunities to catch sunset in Singapore (thanks 9-to-not-6 job!), so I really enjoy lazing around while waiting for the sun to set. The last time I have this opportunity is 2 months ago when I travelled to Bali. That lovely island.

Sunset view at Sentosa Boardwalk Harbourfront

What to order when you are in the Wine Company? Of course, the wines. You can laugh at me and my dining buddy but initially we planned to make it a "clean" dinner. Like no-alcohol kind of clean. What a joke, right? Hahaha. Obviously both of us failed our own plan and ended up with a glass of Infusion (Anniston pomegranate & rose, Western cape) and Sparkling (Riebeek Cellars Sparkling Brut NV, Swartland). Each glass of 150ml wine costs SGD 9.90++.

Sparkling wine and moscato at the Wine Company

Since the atmosphere and the weather were quite cool and cozy that night, we decided to have our dinner here. We ordered three food from the menu. The first one is the salt & pepper squid (SGD 9.90) which is a kind of dish that cannot and should not go wrong at all since you just need to season the squid, batter them and fry them to wonderful crisp. Hahaha.

Fried calamari from the Wine Company at Sentosa Boardwalk

The next bite that we ordered is a classic Singaporean dish, Crabmeat Chunks. The crabmeat soupy sauce has the taste of sweet and sour compared to the chili crab taste but nonetheless, it still goes well with the fried mantou (i.e. the two golden fried buns). This has been my favourite dish back then in my younger days whenever we came to Hard Rock cafe to listen to a live band. Omg, the day where my money crash and burn seems to be just yesterday. Hahaha.

Chili crab mantou from the Wine Company at Sentosa Boardwalk

The last dish that we ordered is actually a kinda wake-up dish from the alcohol that we have been consuming because it has coffee taste. Yep, it is a coffee-rubbed spareribs (SGD 22.90). I personally find the coffee taste a bit too strong to my liking but my dining buddy find it to be okay. Hmm, I wonder if my tastebud does not really go well with caffeine.

Coffee Pork Ribs from the Wine Company at Sentosa Boardwalk

The Wine Company is situated at:

6 Sentosa Gateway

Sentosa Boardwalk

Opening times:

Monday - Thursday: 5PM - Midnight

Friday, Saturday, Eve of Public Holiday: 5PM - 2AM Sunday, Public Holiday: 5PM - 1AM

Aloha! How has everyone Sunday been? Some personal revelation to start with. The pastor has touched a topic of thanksgiving today and the message kinda slapped me in the face because I have been, well, complaining for a while now about my life in general. I suppose I have not been giving thanks enough and probably by doing that, I could have a new perspective of life.

To be honest with you, being grateful is easier done when you have a fully fed tummy (for a start, be grateful that you can enjoy eating, a lot of people is starving in this world). Fully inspired by the message, my Sunday date (Sun-date) and I proceeded to Mak's Noodle (yesh, the famous wanton noodle from Hong Kong) in Vivo City. This is the third branch of Mak's Noodle in Singapore. The first and second are located in Centrepoint (Somerset) and Westgate (Jurong East).

I ordered dumpling while Sun-date ordered wanton to go with our noodles. As you can see, the portion is leaning toward to the word "small". But I heard Mak's Noodle at Hong Kong has the same serving portion so this is probably the best portion to enjoy wanton noodle?

Dumpling and Wanton Soup from Mak's Noodle

The whole meal for one person looks like this. Pretty humble I must say but I think just enough to feed ladies (and kids?). I wonder if the uncles who dine besides us are full from eating their noodles. Hahaha.

Dumpling Noodle from Mak's Noodle Vivo City

Taste-wise, I really enjoy the salty and springy thin noodle. The oyster sauce is amazing and I wish Mak's Noodle is not that stingy with the sauce.

Dry noodle with oyster sauce from Mak's Noodle

The dumpling soup is not bad but it does not wow me as much as the noodle was. A lot of people think that the price-tag set by Mak's Noodle is pretty steep considering the small portion that the restaurant serves. I suppose I kinda agree with this sentiment because the whole meal costs me SGD 10-ish. Considering the cost of living in Singapore, I guess we have to live by this price tag for the days to come.