Monthly Archives: April 2014

Cebu: #2.1 Oslob Whale Watching, Tumalog Water Falls

We set off early, signed up with this agency, at 4 am with minimal sleep
As part of the package we signed up for, breakfast and lunch will be provided.

what was really interesting was as we were arriving to the whale shark watching place, Ā the roosters from each house were crowing away one after another ..
a real interesting sight/ sound indeed šŸ™‚

So we were brought to eat breakfast

_MG_6584 _MG_6583

Mango and Sticky Purple Rice

Mango and Sticky Purple Rice

Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate ( Super thick really tasted like melted chocolate)

After we had our fills, we are going to whale watch!!!

Instructions

Instructions

Amazing

Amazing

What is on the surface

What is on the surface

nice :)

nice šŸ™‚

Beneath the water

Beneath the water

majestic

majestic

We then headed back to shore and had lunch (as part of the package)

abodo chicken

abodo chicken

Grilled Fish

Grilled Fish

Grilled Pork Loin

Grilled Pork Loin

Vinega-ed Tuna Salad [ pronnounced as "tinny lau"]

Vinega-ed Tuna Salad [ pronnounced as “tinny lau”]

Spicy Chicken Soup

Spicy Chicken Soup

Following this, we went toĀ Tumalog Falls
If we had to describe this place, it would be like those period Chinese paintingĀ setting just right infront of us.
There were swallows that were flying around in circles,
writing and my pictures (taken by the tour guide) does not do justice to this place really ..
If Ā you do get the chance (I am not so much a nature lover) really have to go

Tumalog Fall

Tumalog Fall

Double Rainbow sighted

Double Rainbow sighted

Bye Tumalog Falls and Oslob Beach :( Till the next time

Bye Tumalog Falls and Oslob Beach šŸ˜¦ Till the next time

This package was really comprehensive~ Other than the guide being very young,
the whole tour was really fun and interesting!
Food was also agreeable ( nice introduction to Filipino food)

Verdcit: 2/2 will go back to this place

Cebu: #1 Zubuchon

Our impromptu trip to Cebu.

If not for a classmate that graciously took time to help us get around, including bringing us to experience local things,
we would not have made it down.

Day #1: Lunch at Zubuchon
As recommended by our dear friend, (later found out that its the famous one that Anthony Bourdain went to:

Piggy Pigg Pig

Piggy Pigg Pig

Souvenirs??

Souvenirs??

Vinegar, Soy Sauce and Red Chilli oil.

Vinegar, Soy Sauce and Red Chilli oil.

Lechon with bones

Lechon with bones

Close up

Close up

Refreshing popular Cucumber apple tasting drink

Refreshing popular Cucumber apple tasting drink

Grilled Squid stuffed with pork and Salted Vegetable

Grilled Squid stuffed with pork and Salted Vegetable

Kang Kong fried in Pork skin/meat

Kang Kong fried in Pork skin/meat

 

Verdict: 2/2 of us will definitely want to come back here to eat this!
The dishes were really special! Especially the Squid!!! The drink was really unique as well and refreshing.. washed down the oiliness from the dishes šŸ™‚

Zubuchon
One Mango Mall / Escario Central /Islands Stay Hotel MactanĀ |Mango Avenue,
Cebu City,Ā Philippines

 

We then headed down to Crowne Plaza to Ā ..
Zip line and do some range shooting

Crowne Regency

Crowne Regency

Spectacular View

Spectacular View

Zip Line

Zip Line

up up and Awayyyy

up up and Awayyyy

Shooting

Shooting

Followed one of the recommendation for this ..
and this is one of the worst meal we had on the trip

Fish @ moon cafe

Fish @ moon cafe

Chicken

Chicken

Verdict: 2/2 of us will never return.
My friend who love savoury food, and super high tolerance for salty food ( not to the extent of dipping already salted fries with salt but just a notch lower), even she couldn’t take the saltiness of her fish.
This was really bad.

Mooon Cafe
The Terraces, Ayala Center
Cebu City Philippines

 

La Pettite Cuisine

Before my friend started his work,
he and I decided to check out this place

Starters : Bread

Starters : Bread

Sirloin Steak

Sirloin Steak

Foe Gras

Foe Gras

Duck Confit

Duck Confit

Verdict: 2/2 of us will return
Food is reasonably priced and taste wise is pretty good. Feels very no frills and simple home cooked French food.
Everything executed well.

La Pettie CuisineĀ 
Serene Center,
10 Jalan Serene,
Singapore 258748

Though for him, the portions were too small .. ahhaa he got hungry after that and went for a pizza down at Da palos ( which he said was still alright but not a die die must go back)

 

Smoked Salmon Pizza

Smoked Salmon Pizza

Da Paolo La Terrazza
44 Jalan Merah Saga
#01-56
Chip Bee Gardens
SingaporeĀ 

 

 

Ronin

Decided to check out this place

A hidden gem around the corner!
Becareful if you walk past it, you might just end up missing it :p

Scrambled Eggs with Home Made Sour Dough (+) Portobello Mushrooms and (+) Pork Sausage

Scrambled Eggs with Home Made Sour Dough (+) Portobello Mushrooms and (+) Pork Sausage

Hot and Cold Wicked (Mint Mocha)

Hot and Cold Wicked (Mint Mocha)

Dirty Ronin Sandwhich (Spicy Italian Sauage and Egg in Ciabatta bread)

Dirty Ronin Sandwich (Spicy Italian Sausage and Egg in Ciabatta bread)

 

Verdict: 2/3 of us will return.

1) Scrambled Eggs were fluffy yet moist and ‘thick’ (does sound weird that both adjectives are placed together)
2) wicked drink -> hmm personally for me, abit too much of the peppermint taste that I can’t taste the balance of the choc and latte
3) Dirty Ronin -> well.. it does look simple and something that you can make at home, but what was the difference was the bread. My friend liked it much

Service here is one of the kind -> no menus and the waitress will come by your table and recite the whole menu for you. We were waving for the attention of one of them, when she missed us and got reprimanded in front of us by her boss. They take service here very seriously and really make the effort to please every customer.

** it does get crowded lunch time/ 2-ish … adding on that the place is pretty small and narrow.. fyi

Ronin
17 Hong Kong Street
Singapore 059660

 

Black Ball

I have been obsessively crazy over this dessert
Black Ball

Signature : Grass Jelly, Red Bean, Sweet Potato ball, Yam Ball, Yam. Sweet Potato and Pearl

Signature : Grass Jelly, Red Bean, Sweet Potato ball, Yam Ball, Yam. Sweet Potato and Pearl

Signature with Creamer

Signature with Creamer

 

Verdict: 1/1 of me will totally return

What is so special about this? that was the first thought that I had when my friends were raving about it.
1) I realised the grass jelly ( well chin chow) was very different from the Singapore Hawker centers/ super market kind. This grass jelly was really chewy? and not jelly like texture did not have as strong a taste as the local ones here (not also saying that the local ones here are super strongly “Chinese Medicine Centered, pretty mild actually to me)
2) maybe being a sucker for yam related desserts, at first, the yam ball/ sweet potato ball was like a.. to describe it is pearl mixed with the real yam .. same with the sweet potato ball .. Ā its bait weird but acquired i would say
3) I always say I want to try the other bubble tea but always end up eating the signature :p

Blackball
http://www.blackball.com.sg/#nav_outlets

Shinkansen Salad

Decided to check out this new salad place

how rare is it that they put hamachi (yellow tail) into salads??

So how this works is, you get to choose your size, base, extra toppings and sauce

Hamachi Sashimi Salad

Hamachi Sashimi Salad

Salmon Sashimi based salad

Salmon Sashimi based salad

 

Verdict: 2/2 of us will never return

1) Hamachi was fishy (felt like they left there for too long kind a fishy)
2) Salmon was also just average honestly

We were disappointed.
Although this was priced slightly higher than average salads, we didn’t feel like we got our bang for the buck.

*Classified under vegetarian because there are just non-meat options for vegetarians šŸ™‚

Shinkansen Sushi
Ocean Financial Centre,
10 Collyer Quay
#B1-08
Singapore, 049315

 

Eggs & Berries

Wanted a little change of environment
decided to go on to explore the west side Ā šŸ™‚

It was too hot so we decided on this place

Italia Eggs Benedict Doppie

Italia Eggs Benedict Doppie

Avacado Shake

Avocado Shake

Blue Berry Shake

Blue Berry Shake

Griiled Chicken Tigh

Grilled Chicken Tigh

 

Verdict : 05/2 of us will return.
1) the drinks : was just horrible. Ā Although the colour on the surface looked like it was really rich, the milk was more overpowering than the actual fruit itself.
2) Mains were slightly ordinary. It was good but not so much a definitely die I want to come back IMMEDIATELY .

Eggs and Berries
3 Gateway Drive
#02-06 Westgate Mall
Singapore 608532

Crab Party

Met up with Classmates for a mini “crab party” at Crab party

We ordered:

Special wild vegetable with Kailan

Special wild vegetable with Kailan

Chilli Crab

Chilli Crab

Black Pepper Crab

Black Pepper Crab

Salted Egg Yolk Crab

Salted Egg Yolk Crab

Crab Bee Hoon Soup

Crab Bee Hoon Soup

 

Verdict: 9/9 of us will return!!!

I think my favourite was still the Crab Bee Hoon Soup and the Chilli Crab.
1) Soup was not too rich and thick and had a little burnt taste to it. Comparable to Melben ( Not recommended for takeaways)
2) Chilli Crab Sauce was not watery and quite flavourful šŸ™‚
3) Highly Recommended especially if you have a big group and looking for an air-conditioned round table Zhi Char restaurant šŸ™‚
4) Would want to come back to try their other Crab dishes

Crab Party
100 Yio Chu Kang Rd,
Singapore 545576

Hashida Sushi

I can’t believe IĀ totally forgot to blog about this place!
ok if you have been quite an avid follower of this site, you probably realise that
I LOVE SUSHI
from Japan to Singapore Ā šŸ™‚

My bro kindly bought us this meal at his favourite sushi shop:
Hashida Sushi

Entrance

Entrance

We went for the lunch set menu ($250)

This is what they served that we thoroughly enjoyed

#1: Appetizer You Dou Fu

#1: Appetizer You Dou Fu

Close up of Appetizer

Close up of Appetizer

#2: Grilled Octopus, Fish Eggs, Yam, Tamago Yaki

#2: Grilled Octopus, Fish Eggs, Yam, Tamago Yaki

#3: Shirako chawanmushi (Sperm Steam Egg)

#3: Shirako chawanmushi (Sperm Steam Egg)

Close up of Chawanmushi

Close up of Chawanmushi

#4: Assorted Sashimi [Gin Meidai (golden eyed sea bream) Tako (Octopus from Hokkaido), Clam, Vinegared Mackerel,

#4: Assorted Sashimi [Gin Meidai (golden eyed sea bream) Tako (Octopus from Hokkaido), Clam, Vinegared Mackerel,

Close up of assorted Sashimi

Close up of assorted Sashimi

#5: Back of Kinki Fish and Seasonal Mushroom

#5: Back of Kinki Fish and Seasonal Mushroom

Close up of back of Kinki fish

Close up of back of Kinki fish

Following this, the assorted sushi that we have been surprised with:

#6: Sea Bream Sushi

#6: Sea Bream Sushi

#7: Rock Fish Sushi

#7: Rock Fish Sushi

#8: Aburi Sea Pearch Sushi

#8: Aburi Sea Pearch Sushi

#9: Otoro Sushi

#9: Otoro Sushi

and of course, not forgetting:

#6: Uni (sea urchin) and Tobiko (fish role) rice

#6: Uni (sea urchin) and Tobiko (fish role) rice

#7: Clam Miso Soup

#7: Clam Miso Soup

#10: Pickled Raddish (chu toro and Otoro) and Shiso leaf maki

#10: Pickled Raddish (chu toro and Otoro) and Shiso leaf maki

He was really in a good mood, so he told us we could have a last round of sushi of our choice:

My siblings went for the prawn and because I don’t eat prawns, I had:

Pinnidae (Pen Shell - a kind of clam) Sushi

Pinnidae (Pen Shell – a kind of clam) Sushi

Ebi(Prawn) Sushi

Ebi(Prawn) Sushi

Followed on by dessert:

Melon and Strawberry

Melon and Strawberry

 

Verdict: 3/3 of us will definitely return

1) We came here for lunch. There are 3 more comparatively affordable set for lunch ($80,$120,$250). We went with the $250My bro mention the difference between the $120 and $250 was the sashimi platter, and perhaps the last round of sushi that we could order*
2) Disclaimer: we had more sushis in between, such as the Ā Chu Toro Sashimi Sushi, Buri ( The bigger version of Hamachi (yellow tail), Gin Meishi Belly Sashimi Sushi [I was too busy stuffing my face that I forgot to take a picture of those exotic fish sashimi sushis]
3) Totally understand why Japanese take their sushi with so much pride and seriousness. There is so much thought that goes through each dish that is presented, from the rice to the type of dish that it is presented in. All produces are flown in form different parts of Japan!
4) The whole overall dinning experience was just amazing. Feel free to ask chef where he got the fish from (he will also care to explain where he got it from, and how his bidding went in the tokyo fish market) and he will kindly tell you which seasons your favourite fish would be in. He even showed us his prized Tobiko(flying fish roe)

Tobiko

Tobiko

 

Hashida Sushi
333A Orchard Road
#02-37 Mandarin Gallery
SingaporeĀ 238897