Singapore Food

Visited Singapore back in February for a short one night trip. There is never enough time for me to spend in Singapore. However, I get to meet with some of my high school friends and tried out new food. :) 

Food #1 - Restaurant: PS.Cafe at Paragon

Address: 290 Orchard Rd, #03-41/44 Paragon, Singapore 238859

Having brunch seems like an 'in' thing in Singapore. Just that brunch will cost you about SGD$30++/person - overpriced :X. But hey, you still gotta try them. We tried P.S Cafe in Paragon. P.S Cafe is known for their truffled fries. The portion is HUGE - you can share that among 4 people. I ordered the - BRIOCHE & PORTOBELLO STACK (with poached eggs, avocado, smoked turkey, brie cheese, roast tomatoes & rocket; drizzled with a balsamic-prune vinaigrette). Honestly, I prefer Wild Honey to P.S Cafe. P.S Cafe is an average brunch place. Or maybe the ones we ordered are a.v.e.r.a.g.e... 

TRUFFLED Fries

BRIOCHE & PORTOBELLO STACK

 Food #2 - Tatsuya

Address: 22 Scotts Road, Goodwood Park Hotel, Singapore 228221

This is where we went for dinner. My friend had to make the reservation one week in advance since it is only a 22 seats in the bar kind of restaurant. This restaurant is known of their fresh sashimi and so that's what we tried!  Definitely one of the best sashimi in Singapore. I have to try Aoki's sashimi and see if it tastes better. So we ordered fresh sashimi (fresh sashimi that melts in your mouth. yummm). The grilled eel tastes average. They still have the bones in it. On the other hand, the codfish is soft and sweet and yumilicious. They cooked it with the right amount of heat. 

 

Sashimi Set

Grilled Eel

Codfish

Salmon Sashimi

 Food #3 - Jian Bo Shui Kueh

Address: Tiong Bahru Market & Food Centre. 30 Seng Poh Road  #02-05. Singapore 168898

This is one of my favorite childhood snack. I never know what this exactly made up of, but it's too good that you can ignore that fact. I call it Chwee Kueh and this is sold in 4/6/8 pieces. You can order it more if you want. This is my first time trying out from this stall, the ones i usually get is from Bedok Bus Stop Station Hawker Center.  I would say that the white thing is made out of radish while the small dark brown pieces are chye poh (salted turnip filling). This freshly made Chwee Kueh was soft and firm while the chye poh smells fragrant. 

Food #3 - Sugarcane drink

This is also one of my favorite drinks - The all natural without sugar Sugarcane Juice. Yumm. You always feel so refreshed after drinking this. 

Food #3 - Rochor Original Beancurd

Address: 2 Short St S188211

Soyabean drink is my #1 favorite drink. It's been my favorite since I was a kid. Loveeeee soya beancurd too - basically loving anything to do with soya bean. I couldnt drink the soyabean anymore because I was too full from all the food we ate (yes all of the above food mentioned are eaten in a day). We decided to get the beancurd and saved it for tomorrow. This was my first time trying out Rochor Original Beancurd. Definitely one of the best in town - soft and sweet and melts in your mouth. You can still taste the freshness of the beancurd. Will come back the next time I visit Singapore. ;)  

With Lots of Love, 
Claraaaa <3

Sapphire Princess Cruise

Last month, my dad decided to bring my grandma to Sapphire Princess Cruise to spend quality time together. Nobody except me wanted to accompany them (taking every opportunity to travel and explore the world ;) ) 

This was a 4 days 3 nights roundtrip from Singapore. The cruise also stopped by Penang & Port Klang on 2nd and 3rd day respectively. I would say that 80% of the guests are either family or those 50 years and older. I DO NOT see that many young adults. 

So here's a glimpse of what Sapphire Princess looks like on the inside. 

There are over 1,000 guest cabins and of which are:

- 28 Suites with private balconies 

- 2 Family suites with interconnecting cabins 

- 186 Mini-suites with private balconies

- 522 Balcony cabins - Square footage

- 216 Ocean view cabins - Square footage

- 366 Inside cabins - Square footage

Before entering the ship, each guest will be given a cruise card that he/she has to bring everywhere he/she goes. Guests will have to turn in their passports to the crew members and this card serves as their form of ID.  Any type of payments will be paid via this card. No cash or credit card is needed inside the cruise. You will only need the credit card on the last day when checking out to pay all of the payments credited to the personal cruise card. The type of card will be given depending on the type of deck rooms you choose. 

We got a free upgrade to balcony cabin. With that, we are allowed to eat almost anywhere and anytime we want. "Ocean view" & "Inside" cabins are given a specific time for dinner, with the exception of buffet meals.    

Here is the view of our room. Each room is assigned with a personal housekeeper. It was nice to have a personal housekeeper (even though it's being shared among other rooms) because service becomes more efficient. 

Below is our balcony view. You can sit outside and just watch the endless water while listening to your favorite music; Or even take a nap (that's what I did). I love the sea because looking at them just give you much tranquility. 

Two of my favorite places inside the ship are the indoor & outdoor swimming pools. The indoor pool is a great place to swim and avoid getting tanned. You can definitely see more caucasians suntanning in the outdoor arena while the Asians stay indoor to  swim and relax. 

 

 

There is another pool area at the very top of the cruise. This is not a really popular place for the Asians because the pools are under direct sunlight. Only the Caucasians are inside the pool getting themselves tanned. However, this would be a really nice place to chill and relax during sunset or slightly after sunrise. 

The cruise ship is very family oriented. They have basketball court and games for kids too. 

Below is the supposedly club area. This is only open after 10pm and available for those 18 years and older. It looks like a pretty decent place. 

The Sanctuary is a private area only for adult. I guess this is where people can go to if they want to have their ultimate 'me time' without any noise disturbance. There is also an entrance fee of USD$20.

It was a good getaway weekend. 4 days 3 nights might be a little too long for me because there's nothing much you can do here except to relax and eat. Eating and relaxing make you FAT. 

With Lots of Love,
Claraaaa <3

CHINESE NEW YEAR !

Olaaaa~

It been 7 years since I celebrated Chinese New Year in Asia. It's been MORE than 10 years since I went back to Dad's hometown -> Sukabumi. Sukabumi is about 80 kilometers away from Jakarta. However, driving there will take us about 4-8 hours depending on the traffic.

TRAIN RIDE

We decided to try out the train from Bogor to Sukabumi. It takes about 2 hours and costs only 50,000 IDR/person for the executive seat. It is my first time ever taking a train in Indonesia. Bogor train station was tiny -> it's probably 15 meters in length and 10 meters wide. I was surprised that the train leaves and arrives on time. That doesnt happen often in our culture. The only downside would be that the entire train ride was shaky. You dont really feel safe traveling in it. But thankfully, we arrived in Sukabumi in one piece. 

Bogor Train Station

The train from Bogor to Sukabumi 

Inside the train - executive seating is clean and big. There's enough space at the top to place your hand carry luggage. 

Inside the train

Much to my surprise, Sukabumi train station is better than Bogor's - bigger and there are plenty of seats available.  

Sukabumi Train Station 

Sukabumi Train Station 

Sukabumi Train Station 

LATE LUNCH @ BUBUR AYAM BUNUT

Our first stop in Sukabumi is at "BUBUR AYAM BUNUT". Sukabumi is a small town and it will take you less than 15 min to go everywhere and anywhere. 

I remembered eating this porridge 10 years back and it still taste so yummy. Indonesian porridge is different from others. Indonesian porridge is very thick (not watery like Hong Kong congee) and flavorful. You will have shredded chicken, fried shallots and prawn crackers as toppings. Dark soy sauce will be available if you want the porridge to taste sweeter. Mix it altogether and baaam -> Indonesian yummiest chicken porridge. :)

Indonesian Chicken Porridge

Indonesian Chicken Porridge

HOTEL @ MAXONE

This is where we stayed for the night. As you can see from the pictures below, it is a decent hotel. The employees provide exceptional service. Hotel rooms are clean and bigger than I imagined. This will be our go to hotel whenever we are back in Sukabumi.

Hotel Lobby

Family room

Shower Room

Swimming pool in the hotel lobby

Hotel Lobby

 CHINESE NEW YEAR EVE DINNER

It is a Chinese tradition to have a family/reunion dinner the day before Chinese New Year. That said, we went to gramps house to have dinner with them and our uncle's family. It was an extremely filling dinner because there's just that many good food and I cant stop eating. 

In our Indonesian Chinese culture, noodles & fish is a MUST have for reunion dinner. The long noodle strips is a symbol of longevity. The mandarin word for 'fish' (yú) 鱼 and the word 余 (yú), meaning 'extra' or 'surplus' are identical and this have made fish an indispensable component for CNY eve.

Lastly, we need to have leftovers on our plates so that we will have "slightly more than what we need and will never experience shortage in financial matters, but also in other aspects, such as health, friendship, etc." 

Noodles that represent longetivity

Pine-seed with coconut meat and juice as one of our desserts! 

These are traditional indonesia cakes. We called them 'kueh basah'  aka 'wet cakes' because you will have to eat them within few days otherwise it will go bad. These are moist/sticky cakes. 

 CHINESE NEW YEAR

The day of Chinese New Year - we were to wear new set of clothes and visit relatives to wish them for good fortune in the new year. Married couples will have to give red packets to singles as a symbol of sending good wishes and luck. 

We started our day with eating chicken soup with vermicelli, mushroom and egg for good luck and longevity. You will need to brew the chicken to make the stock really flavorful and this usually takes hours. Yummmm~

This is my grandma's homemade Kueh Lapis - layered cake. SO YUMMY~~ Kueh lapis is one of my favorite indonesian cakes. It is easy to make but takes a long time since you can to make it per layer. 

Our last meal of the day before heading back to Jakarta is "SOTO MIE AGIH". It is a pork sparerib noodle soup topped tripes, fried pork fats & fried green onions (it is the black stutfs at the top). Extremely fatty, high in cholesterol and yet so goooood. However, I remembered it tasting much better 10 years ago than now. The one we had is salty and you can taste the MSG. but it's still GOOOOD~

That marked the end of my Chinese New Year trip to Sukabumi. 1 night is enough because there's nothing much you can do in the small town. 

Have a wonderful CHINESE NEW YEAR !

With Lots of Love,

Claraaaa <3