Wandering Fel

Despite having speciality in matcha, Tsujiri also has other flavour-based desserts such as sesame and houjicha (i.e. Charcoal roasted green tea and hence the brown color). My matcha-drinking buddy and I are weak towards cakes and rolls so you can imagine what's gonna happen to both of us when we face this kind of cake display. 

But first, let us start the night chat by putting order on the matcha drinks. Tsujiri offers both hot and cold matcha drinks and apparently there is a wide variety of matcha available from O-matcha (pure green tea), matcha latte, and ice blended matcha. There is also a combination of matcha drink and soft serve ice cream oh my gawd, imagine how good it tastes. Since I was still feeling the heat of the dance floor, I decided to go for the Omatcha Milk Ice Blended in medium size (SGD 5.80). 

Matcha-drinking buddy prefers her drink to be hot so she had hot Omatcha cream latte in medium size (SGD 5.80). When other people cheers each other by drinking alcohol, we cheers each other by drinking this sweet green liquid. But, we don't care we love it. 

Oh right, I have forgotten about the cake for a while but obviously we ain't gonna go without the cakes. Since our drinks are green, we wanted to eat something that has no green for our cake. So here is the sesame cream roll served with cream and red bean. Despite the cream, the roll cake taste light and not so sweet. We like it. 

Tsujiri is located at: 

176 Orchard Road, Level 1

Centrepoint

(Nearest MRT: Somerset)

Opening hours:

Daily 11AM to 10PM

The minimum amount that you have to pay for the trial classes is SGD 50 for 2 classes though. I had thought that it was expensive until I realise that one normal class can cost around SGD 40. Hmm, seems too ex for my budget but let's see why my colleague is so addicted to this exercise. First of all, since it's a cycling class and nowadays, the latest bicycles have special clip on function on the pedals, so you have to wear special shoes which sole can be clipped on to the pedals. I am never good with any sports which require a certain degree of technology so it took me a while to try to clip my shoes to the pedals. The friendly staff who's manning the front desk helped me out with the setting of the bikes and that includes clipping on the shoes. 

Overall, while the music used for the exercise is fun to listen to while cycling and there's certain part where you feel like you are cycling on tour with a wolf pack, I find the whole package for the normal classes (the non-trial classes) too expensive as I am already a member of Fitness First. I should just join RPM classes in the gym since I had paid for the membership anyway. 

After cycling through the dark (yea, the class is quite dim, a bit wasted when the instructor is cute), it's time to reward myself with good food and great company of a friend. We went to Orchard Gateway to try out Kanshoku Ramen Bar which supposedly sells a nice dry Truffle ramen. But we opted for pork-based soup ramen, the Signature Kanshoku Ramen (SGD 13.90) in the end because we were curious how do 8-hours boiled broth and 4-hours marinated pork taste. 

We also ordered fried gyoza (SGD 5.90) to share between the two of us. Everything's fried taste good. Really.

After our ramen meal, as usual there is always room for dessert. Dinner buddy wanted to try out Chimney Cake Soft Serve and I was lost when she told me about this dessert stall named Chimney which is located at *Scape in Somerset. 

Chimney basically offers cinnamon-coated pastry filled with soft serve ice cream. There is, however, savory option available too. Since I was in the mood for sweet stuff, I proceeded to order Chimney Cake with Soft Serve (SGD 4.50) and choose vanilla ice cream for the soft serve. While it looks good when it's just served, you have to eat this dessert fast before the ice cream starts to melt and dripping from the bottom of the pastry (which has hole). It was a big sweet mess when I realise the ice cream has started to melt but otherwise, the dessert taste quite good and filling too. I won't eat this for a date though especially when I just started dating. Hahaha. 

Kanshoku Ramen Bar is located at: 

277 Orchard Road #01-06

Orchard Gateway 

Opening hours:

Daily 11AM - 10PM

Chimney is located at:

2 Orchard Link #02-02

*SCAPE

Opening hours:

Monday to Friday 11AM - 9PM

Saturday and Sunday 11AM - 3PM, 5PM - 10PM

She did take a while to ponder on what to eat though. By the time she finally reached a decision, I was nearly falling asleep (ok, I admit I exaggerated a bit). We ordered a bowl of vegetables soup noodle to share and oh boy, it does look super healthy and...bland. As what I expect it to be, the vegetables soup noodle is really...bland. At least, we were forced to eat healthier in a way.  

But obviously we did not order the noodle only, we got two other dishes for ourselves, one is the glutinous rice dumpling. This is quite unique although it is basically just dumpling skin filled with glutinous rice and meat as fillings. Not bad though, at least it has taste. 

And the next dish on our table is definitely the best for our tastebud because it involves fried stuff i.e. Fried Shanghai Buns which are filled with meat obviously. Yummy. 

Not satisfied with the noodle, we continued our Chinese foodie day by making ourselves comfortable at one traditional dessert stall at basement level of Chinatown Point, Mei Heong Yuen Dessert. 

I only find this dessert in Singapore so far and it is called Water Chestnut Sweet Soup. It's sweet and it tastes refreshing on a hot day (I ordered the cold soup). It does not feel too heavy either so yeah, all is well. Yum!

Yechun Tea House is located at: 

133 New Bridge Road

#01-44 Chinatown Point 

Yayoi specialises in "Teishoku" which means Japanese set meal. The set meal usually comes with soup, rice and pickles. The concept of Teishoku originated from the set meal served at Zen temples in Japan and it then spread into most Japanese restaurants and cafeterias in the modern days. This explains why every Teishoku in Yayoi came with this bowl of veggies (there's another one for pickles). 

A bowl of rice (which you can choose whether you want to eat white or mixed grain rice). The rice served at Yayoi is free flow but I am not quite sure if that's limited to the white rice only. If you'd like to eat healthier, I personally do find the mixed grain rice to be quite good. 

The set meal which I took picture earlier belongs to my rice-loving lunch buddy and her Chicken Teriyaki Teishoku does look so yummy. Although it kinda confuses me why chicken teriyaki is served with mayonnaise which is usually served with chicken karage instead. But who am I to question this concept? Hahaha. 

Meanwhile, I chose the Saba Teishoku. I kinda regret ordering saba fish though because its smell lingers until the end of office hour. Thankfully there is no important meeting or discussion happening after the lunch. Next time, I should probably just stick to Salmon Teishoku instead. 

Oh right, if you don't know what kind of fish Saba is, it is actually mackerel. It's very popular fish served in both Japanese and Korean restaurants. However, I heard story about Saba being the popular choice of fish amongst the poor during the historical period in both countries though. Not sure how true is that story. Hahaha. 

Yayoi is located at: 

9 Raffles Boulevard #01-03/04/05

Millenia Walk 

Opening hours: 

Daily 11AM - 9.30PM

The blue kitchenwares are so pretty to look at. A lot of the tour participants were quite curious about this shop so we all went inside together to check the shop out. 

If you are a kitchenware collectors, you will love this shop. The shop has so many cute and unique design of kitchenwares from mugs. 

I freaking love this design of the plates and bowls. Feels like buying them but then again, I won't really use them since I live alone in Singapore. 

Since Christmas was just around the corner back then, there are a lot of Christmas trees decorations made from porcelain. Not sure if you want to hang these on your trees but they do make a good decoration on the table. 

Warsawa plates anyone? 

My mum ended up buying a few fridge magnets to complete her collection and a few keychains while I bought nothing, as usual. Oh well, lets continue on with our wandering then to the shop which is just opposite the souvenir shop. The shop is called Cukrowa Sowa and it has display of big lollipops. Oh my gawd. 

Cukrowa Sowa is a candy shop and it sure makes the girls in the tour filled with excitement. The concept of the candy shop kinda reminded me of Sticky in Singapore. You could see how the candies were made inside the shop. 

A happy me with the lollipops. 

Hmm, the pricing guide for the lollipops is kinda confusing because I did not understand Polish. Hahaha. 

We ended up buying the Piggy lollipop for 7 Zlotis. Oink! 

Warsaw has a long and turbulent history but the city has survived the past by keep on rebuilding and reinventing and now it is a city filled a cultural diversity. Well, looking at Ichiban Sushi in Warsaw kinda prove the "cultural diversity" part of the city I suppose. The restaurant looks way simpler than the restaurant sharing the same name in Singapore though. 

While we were on the bus, we could already see a lot of amazing architectures which have survived dark past such the World Wars, etc. Although the building may have been rebuilt, it is nice to see that the original design of the architecture is maintained by the city. For instance, the Grand Theatre that we were passing by here was bombed in World War II and the rebuilt and reopened in the year 1965 after having been closed for over twenty years. It was one of the best equipped state-of-the-art theatres in Europe and it was the largest theatre in the world when it's just reopened in 1965. 

Few minutes later, our tour bus dropped us at the entrance of the Warsaw Old Town, the Castle Square. The red building that we immediately saw upon coming down from the bus is the Royal Castle. It is a castle residency which used to serve throughout the centuries as the official residency of the Polish monarchs. So yeah, this is where the personal offices of the king and the administrative offices of the Royal Court of Poland were located from the 16th century until the Partitions of Poland. The Royal Castle was not exempted from destruction by the city's dark past though as it was looted and burned down by the Nazi Germans back in 1939. It was then rebuilt and reconstructed (thanks God!) and it became UNESCO World Heritage Site together with the Warsaw Old Town in 1980. 

Located right outside the Royal Castle is the popular meeting place for tourists and local in Warsaw, the Castle Square. It features the landmark Sigismund's Column to the south-west and is surrounded by historic townhouses. 

The historic townhouses nowadays used as office buildings, residential and restaurants/ shops. I am quite familiar with this kind of concept because I used to play at my friend's house in England and the concept of her house is quite similar to this townhouse in Warsaw. The ground floor of the house often consists of shops and other businesses like cafe or restaurant while the upper floors are apartments. 

Here I am posing in front of one of the most famous landmarks in Warsaw, the Sigismund's Column. The column and statue commemorate King Sigismund III Vasa, who in the year 1956 had moved Poland's capital from Krakow to Warsaw. The king is dressed in armor and carries a cross in one hand and wields a sword in the other. 

Another pic of me getting so excited to wander around the Old Town of Warsaw in front the Church of St Martin. The church played an important role as the fort of the resistance for the opposition in the year 1970s and 1980s.

The terraced house in Warsaw all looks pretty similar but they are painted in different color which complement each other and give the overall vibe of an European old town. It feels really good and awesome to wander around in this kind of environment. Maybe this is how European tourist feels when they wander around Singapore alley which has shophouses on the right and left side like Haji Lane. Hahaha. 

Plenty of souvenir shops and restaurants if you have time to see, you may want to check them out one by one. 

Tengawa Hokkaido White Curry only serves three kind of dishes and all come with the Hokkaido white curry. So you better eat any one of the ebi fry, the hamburg (which I think is pork) and chicken katsu. 

All sets come with chawanmushi and miso soup. 

There is a jar of vegetables on each table and a note saying that customers can request for more rice or miso soup if they want to. The vegetables are of course free to consume as well. 

We decided to share one set each since the only difference between each set is just the main dish served with the rice and white curry. This is the crunchy chicken katsu white curry (SGD 15.80). Since white curry supposedly originated from Hokkaido, I kinda expect them to have a quite strong milky taste and creamy texture. While the white curry sauce served by Tengawa Hokkaido White Curry is creamy, it lacks oomph. Up to the point my dining buddy said that it tastes bland. The chicken katsu is nicely fried though. 

The white curry served for the Hamburg (SGD 15.80) is the same as the one served for the chicken katsu. Hamburg is one of those dishes that I don't think you will get wrong so yeah the hamburg is okay. The restaurant got more crowded around 7-ish but I am not sure how long they can last with only three dishes on the menu. 

Tengawa Hokkaido White Curry is located at: 

Millenia Walk #02-16

9 Raffles Boulevard

Nearest MRT: Promenade MRT

Opening hours:

Daily 11.30AM to 10PM