Birthday 2010Gave him a morning sms to check out the area where he kept Xbox..
Planted something there few days back for him.
Just a small one =)
After the much hype about us taking leave..
He took the whole day off while I took half the day.
*****
It was a week day and beyond lunch hours..
We thought we could give Wild Honey a try..
The lady said we were second in list..
I told her I did not want the counter seats.
But after forty minutes
We saw three empty tables and more than 5 groups of guests entered the eating area..
We began to feel the frustrations..
The lady asked if we wanted the counter seats and she would change for us if there are seats..
Big sighz..
We decided to pop over Ngee Ann City for Coffee Club..
As we were about to enter Coffee Club without a queue even though the cafe was packed,
The lady finally called me.
Forget it.
Wild Honey spoilt it for me the second time.
Funny how we were just talking about restaurants losing their business due to long queues..
How much more business they could have made if they solve the space constraint.
And honestly speaking,
The queue there wasnt even that long.
*****
Coffee Club @ Ngee Ann CityOne of our frequent hang outs
Never fail to impress never let us down.
They consistently improve on their menu..
Two mains two desserts and a cup of banana butterscotch latte..
Total bill came up to $50 plus..
(Definitely a better deal to Wild Honey)
The thing about celebrating dear's birthday..
There is always this light hearted mood cos Xmas is approaching..
Feels good =)
*****
Took leave on a Friday to meet the bestie for some serious Birkram work out, hi-tea and then shopping at Far East.
A typical line up of activities in a typical urban city.
Right after the session that stretched our muscles to the limits..
We proceeded wobbly to Mandarin Gallery for hi tea.
A really artsy place that is well hidden behind the furniture retail floor.
The one of its kind fruit teas came first..
Interesting tea wares, interesting presentation.
The teas were so fragrant, but tea made us even hungrier..
And finally after what felt like 82345678 years..
It was hard for us to concentrate on taking pictures..
Hi tea was supposed to be enjoyed and savoured slowly..
We were trying damn hard to eat slowly..
The apple cake was awesome..
The ham was damn good and the smoked salmon satisfied our sodium craving..
*****
Right after Far East..
The four of us met up for dinner.
Thanks to Suki's recommendation..
Around De World - A Pasta Affair
This was a reasonably priced hidden gem along Liang Seah street.
Localised pasta, generous servings.
Really awesome eclectic tastes.
This is a looong overdue post..
*****
Looooong overdue post.
Spruce squared with the gang.
Food was..
Okie.
Perhaps I could not really get used to the heaviness of Italian cuisine..
With fried carbs, starch, cheese, thick sauces, meat and more meat..
Yummy on the first few mouthfuls, then gradually got sick of them.
Not a matter of poor culinary skills..
It's just preferences.
I loved the desserts though..
No matter how stuffed I felt, there is always room for desserts.
And these were good enough to wash the meaty taste away..
Putting the meal aside..
What are we to do without the fun of these people?
It was Pail's birthday..
And Yan and Odin got something for both Suki and Pail that got us curling in stitches.
What "appropriate" gifts!
*****
Three weeks later..
We went back to Spruce to try its brunch.
This time round, it was Suki's birthday..
While waiting for the food..
I phones still never fail to amaze us..
Brunch was only slightly better than dinner.
All's well till I forgot there was goat cheese in the dish I ordered.
It had that pungent smell and taste that totally sucked in the oesophagus in a nauseating manner and revoked my entire appetite =(
Maybe because of the wide spread of brunch menus springing up all over the place..
We got really spoilt.
With choices come critical and fussy ratings..
Nothing can beat the poached eggs from Prive and Wild Honey =p
On a side note,
I was terribly disappointed with Spruce service.
Both Suki and I called to make reservations on separate occasions.
And both of us were told that they have this complimentary brownie for birthday occasions.
For the first occasion, that did not materialize for Pail.
For the second occasion, Suki was sitting right beside me.
So I had a little difficulty to ask the service staff for the brownie.
But when I finally did manage to speak to one,
She actually told me that she was not aware of this and had to ask her colleague for help.
And we waited.
The same service staff walked past our table many times.
I tried to get her attention again but she ignored us.
So help never came.
They should never have told us there is a complimentary brownie for birthday occasions during reservations if they cannot remember and deliver.
Heck those brownies..
We were really excited to present Suki with her present.
Took quite a number of phone calls and a few shops to finally found it for her.
The pure white was either OOS, or the last piece snapped up..
Getting exactly what she loves and wants without her jolting down a wish list definitely feels better than hitting the jackpot..
Hurhurhur..
Shalt end the post with a group photo =)
*****
It was cold..
We walked down the peaceful and quiet streets.
Holidays are never dampened, no matter how freezing the weather was.
In fact, the colder the better.
As we walked back to the ryokan..
We were starving.
Perhaps it was the weather
Perhaps it was the long walk
Or perhaps it was the good mood that whet up the appetite.
We saw this random ramen shop out of nowhere.
With a poster that flutter in the wind..
I was reluctant to go in at first.
I was looking for...soba.
Not a ramen fan at that point in time..
But this authentic shop was one that was infused with a deep Japanese culture.
And we would not miss it in the world.
I took a sip of the soup..
And started digging into the curly noodles, slurping noisily.
My my my..
The perfect soup warmed the whole of me..
That feeling, that sensation, that ambience.*****
Back in SG,
We have been trying to search for that similar ramen experience.
Nothing was close.
Sometimes the soup was right, but the noodle was not.
Sometimes the noodle was right, but the soup was pure oily sodium torture.
And most of the time,
After a full local ramen meal..
I often felt like a walking MSG mascot.
One fine day,
Because of some detouring and we did not manage to do what we need to do..
We ended up at Suntec.
After pondering what on earth to eat for dinner..
I asked if he wanted to try out Sapporo Ramen which I came across while randomly surfing net.
Located at a secluded corner of Suntec Tower 4 (near Carrefour), we popped in without much expectations.
The interior was very plain.
White walls brown wooden benches.
No fancy deco.
Even the menu holds only ramen and a few sides.
Shin-Sapporo RamenMenu features four common ramen soup bases - miso (traditional mix of fermented soybean pastes), tonkotsu (rich creamy porkbone broth), shoyu and shio (the Shoyu and Shio soup bases both contain seafood and pork broth) and it also boasts a variety of of noodles which are made fresh daily.
The noodles were not perfect
But all the soups were pretty close to the authentic Hokkaido ones =)
So close we have already dined there twice.
And of course,
The best of the menu has to be..
Hurhurhur..
*****
