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Thursday 31 March 2016

Spicy Thai - Thai Cafe

Date: 22.03.2016


HAPPINESS was being invited for a food tasting at one of my favorite thai restaurant ^.^

Click HERE for previous blog post.

Spicy Thai - Thai Cafe has launched some new dishes, so we go!

Typical scenario of food tasting, heeheehee....

Tom Yum Seafood Fried Rice  S$6.00 (per serving for 1 pax)
 Fried rice is simple yet always tacky.  Too hard and grainy if under cook, too soggy of over cook.  And this is PERFECT!  No worries, not spicy at all, nice staple for the whole family young or old! 

Stir-fry Fish Maw, Crab Meat & Bean Sprouts S$18.00
Looks very much like fried kuey teow.   But instead of kuey teow, fish maw is used.   Cut into small pieces, bouncy to chew, bursting with flavors.

Fish Maw Crab Meat Abalone Soup in Coconut S$28.00
This can be share with 2 to 3 pax.  With expensive seafood within the thai coconut, it's a mini Buddha Jumps Over the Wall in thai style.  We normally find coconut flesh in desserts but in this savory soup, it's included and blends in magically.  It's something new and interesting to me.  This thick and rich soup is very enjoyable and pretty affordable I would say.

BBQ Japanese Squid with roe sauce (seasonal price)
Squids are imported from Japan, they are sooooooooo SWEET and JUICY!!  Roe is added in the savory dip sauce, you either like it or hate it, just like oysters.

Hommok (Thai style otah) S$18.00

Soft otah with lots of seafood hidden within, distinctive coconut taste, mild spiciness.  Photogenic and tasty!

Stir Fry Basil, Minced Chicken & Long Beans S$10.00
A simple dish but will make you fetch another bowl of rice.

Deep Fried Kang Kong with special sauce S$10.00
Had tried this before, it's still good!  Crunchy kang kong, you will love it as much as potato chips.  Serve with special chilli dip sauce.

Lala Bee Hoon S$18.00
Spicy Thai - Thai is really good at this dish.  The pepperish broth is fully infused into fresh clams and bee hoon, highly addictive!

BBQ Pork Belly S$18.00
For those who enjoys the bursting sensation of fats together with slightly charred crisp of lean meat.  Cholesterol just need to be forgotten when this plate is serve.

Deep Fried Sea Bass with Mango Salad (seasonal price)
Sea bass is deep fried to perfect golden brown, taste good even on it own.  The sweet and sour mango salad that came with the fish is saliva inducing even by looking at it.   After the rest of the table gotten their share, I buay pai seh, took the whole head to suck and nibble >.<  Very unglam, but very shiok, yummy big time.  I can't help turning myself into a cat when I see a fish, heehee....

Thai Curry Crab (seasonal price)
From a cat, I turn into a monster when I see crab!!!  Thick thai curry and egg sauce is finger licking good!  Delicious!  Personally would like it to be more spicy.  Still, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, rather than having the same chilli or black pepper crab.

Make space for thai desserts!
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From the left: Red Ruby S$4.00, Mango Sticky Rice S$8.00, Tapioca with coconut milk S$4.00
Skip soft drinks, enjoy thai drinks!
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Thai Ice Tea S$2.50 and
Thai Ice Lemongrass drink S$2.00

Spicy Thai - Thai Cafe operates like a zhi char but in thai style.  It's one of the best place for gatherings especially in big groups.  Besides thai dishes, they serves mookata too.  You may read about it HERE.  Do pop by and you will not be disappointed!



SPICY THAI - THAI CAFE
115 Aljunied Avenue 2 #01-35
Singapore 380115
Tel: 6747 8558





Wednesday 23 March 2016

Gills N Shells at Boss Hotel



Was invited to a food tasting at Hotel Boss which was 5 mins walk from Lavender MRT station.

I was very surprised by the hotel's posh lobby, as in I didn't expect to see such a big hotel in sub-urban area.

Here's Gills N Shells, a newly open restaurant and bar.

Outdoor dinning area has got what my friend call "fairy lights" on the ceiling (really quite romantic at night) and indoor seatings overlooking the kitchen and bar with a selection of beer and liquor.

VAL D'OCA Moscato Dolce S$42.90

This came before the dishes, I was having a sore throat so I gobbled down the entire glass as I had mistaken it as some sparkling juice or something >.<  It was a instant relieve to my miserable throat though.

This straw yellow color grape wine is sweet with aromatic flavor, low alcohol content 6.5%, however was enough to set me high without being entirely drunk.

Fresh oysters to start the dinner *smiling and swaying from left to right*

Oysters
2pcs - S$8.90, half dozen - S$22.90, 1 dozen - S$39.90
Nobody needs tobasco sauce when the oysters are serve with classic mignonette sauce and green chilli marmalade.

If raw food is too "adventurous" for you, baked version is available at the same price.
Photo credit Gills and Shells
Baked oysters with Bacon Cheese with Herbs Tomato Sauce or Chef's Specialty Sauce!

Gills & Shells Crab Cakes S$12.90
We smell this before it arrived at our table, 香到.....  Breaded minced crab fat patties deep fried to perfect gold served with green salad and sour sauce.  Melt in your mouth is the description for it's soft texture.

Truffle Fries S$10.90
Chunky fries with generous loads of truffle oil.

Clams & Mussels S$15.90
If you like shells, this is a MUST ORDER!
This dish comes with 2 choices of broth base:
1) smoky herb tomato garlic sauce
or
2) spicy white wine clear broth with herbs, garlic, onions and chilli
We choose the second.  The broth was flavorful with distinctive white wine.  Served with focaccia toast which are freshly baked from the kitchen.  I can't decide which is better, the shells or the bread :P~~  Both won my taste buds and heart.

Wild Mushroom Soup S$6.90

Drizzled with truffle oil, mushrooms were cut into small tiny cubes making soup slurping very fun.  As in you can't just drink the soup like water, you need to chew onto the bouncy little mushroom cubes every spoonful.  This is another dish served with in-house fresh focaccia toast, I can't stress how much I love the toast.....

Crab Meat Pasta S$18.90
Pasta in cream and cheese sauce, upgraded with chunky juicy crab meat and wild fungi.

Lobster Roll S$24.90
Succulent lobster roll meat tossed in chef's specially sauce.

Truffled Infused Cod Fish S$24.90
Cod pan seared then baked to perfection.  The topping?  It's chinese preserved turnip, our term: cai po菜脯.

Australian Prime Rib Eye (220g) S$25.90
This huge but thin beef slab came looking like a pork chop lolxx...

A bit of the outer portion were well done, while the rest was in wonderful pink.  Beef was very tender, it's effortless to cut it, that means: MELT IN YOUR MOUTH.
After all these years, I finally found an affordable and delicious steak.

Tiramisu S$10.90
My all time favorite dessert.

Brownie with Ice Cream S$10.90
Another eye pleasing as well as delicious dessert for a sweet complete to the dinner.

Also, more Moscato.
Throughout the night, I was giggling more than a sane person due to the influence of Moscato.  But the above food photos proved that I wasn't drunk, heeheehee.....

The relaxing ambience makes it a great place to chill with friends.  Gonna visit again, but this time a date with le hubby.... dinning with "fairy lights" above us awwww.......


Gills N Shells
500 Jalan Sultan #01-19
Hotel Boss
Singapore 199020
Tel: 6493 2238

Opening hours: 3pm - 1am
www.gillsnshells.com.sg
www.facebook.com/gillsnshells

Saturday 19 March 2016

My Winter Vacation Part 7 - Volga Manor 伏尔加庄园



Part 1 click HERE
Part 2 click HERE
Part 3 click HERE
Part 4 click HERE
Part 5 click HERE
Part 6 click  HERE


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Destination:  HeiLongJiang (黑龙江), China

Duration: 23 - 30 Dec 2015 (8 days)

Mode of travel: Package with Chan Brothers Travel

Flight: Air China  (via Beijing)

Damage: S$1,878/pax, Tour Guide Tip: RMB200  Local Guide Tip: S$16, other compulsory/optional tours: RMB1,420 (slit throat + heart bleed)

Currency: RMB (we rough divide by 4.5 to convert to S$)

Time Difference:  Same as Singapore

Weather: -22 to -30°C




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28.12.2015



Leaving fairy tale land Snow Village.

Part of me was reluctant while the other part wanted very much to escape from the cold.  Why cold and beauty comes in one package >.<  But I know for sure, I can boast about this unique experience for the rest of my life lolxx.....

Breakfast before setting off.

Gantry like our MRT to enter into the restaurant, amusing lolxx..



Some stir fried dishes to go with porridge, rice or steam buns.
 One whole stretch of trays right?  But actually the trays were repeated dishes with about 6 choices only.

Squeezed into this little bus which drove us out to our big coach.

They don't allow outside buses to park at Snow Village, which I don't understand why.

We spend the rest of the morning travelling on coach...
and sleeping (with triple chin >.<)

Woke up, eat again, lolxx.. 
Looked more like a canteen than a restaurant.

It was boring.
Was craving for all sorts of food except for chinese food: ramen, pasta, ribeye steak, roti prata oh gosh......

After lunch, just a short journey, we reached Volga Manor.  We dumped our luggage in the room and dashed out before the sky turned dark at 4pm.

Volga Manor 伏尔加庄园
Chenggaozi Town, Xiangfang District, Harbin 150039, China.

Volga Manor covers 600,000m2, featuring Russian-style buildings which makes one forget that it's China.  Scrolling down, you will agree that this is a MUST VISIT in Harbin.

St Nicholas Cathedral is one of the attraction.

We found a cuter attraction inside.   According to our tour guide, this is a wild cat from the forest.
But it was very gentle, and crazy fluffy.

The interior has many intricate facades and paintings, photo not well taken >.<

The sun was setting, beautiful but damn it.

 Cos' not all places got street lights, it's not possible to explore when it gets dark, so we had to hurry.  Half running made me felt warm which was great, minus the breathless part.

Every single corner of Volga Manor is photo worth.


Souvenir shop aka "thaw station".


Found another wild cat.

Carried this beautiful big fluffy ball.

That romantic feel.... like one of those beautiful scene in movie...

Snow was thick, my boots entire sunk in.


This building is called Pushkin Salon, is not a salon but a museum.  It named after a Russian writer/poet call Alexander Pushkin.





Fairy tale house.

Enjoying the sight of snow, I think this garden must be very beautiful too in spring.

Another fairy tale house, in PINK!!


Imagine how far I had walked run to take this pic of the 2 fairy tale houses.
No idea what's inside the yellow and pink.


Very busy taking pictures, one spot with different angles lolxx....
  
  
Then, I saw something and screamed until I startled my tour mates...
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BAYMAX!!!
I was jumping and running around the snow Baymax, if I have a tail, I'll be wagging it like hell, omg....  Soooooo CUTE, I died....

I wanted to hug it but cannot hug finish; want to jump on it but scared to ruin it; want to sit on it but it was too slippery.

It took me a while to calm down to have this decent pic taken, heeheehee...
Photo credit: Snap Snap

So yes, the whole world now knows I LOVE BAYMAX!  I am sorry Garfield and Tweety Bird, you all have to be past tense already.

Volga Manor is really beautiful....


Spot snow Baymax's little back view here.



Mini ice building.  Called it mini cos' in the next day back to Harbin's Ice Sculpture Festival Exhibition, what we saw was many times taller and larger than this.  I mean it.


These are not all, will load up more photos of Volga Manor in Part 8.