Monday, 30 July 2012

July Updates!

30 July 2012

The lacking of updates on this little space are mainly due to my computer which was never recovered from the virus attack since two months back.  And since then my files and folders in my c:\drive are always gone and missing from desktop.  The month of July was terrible.  It was down like every other day.  IT guys in Germany were doing backup, scanning infected files from server, reinstalling my files and I am doing Windows installation every now and then (so pro already!)...  This is taking alot of my time in waiting and waiting... lotsa work to catch up too.  #paininmyass

So, this is completely fix last Friday (HOPEFULLY. FINALLY.) and here I'll give a short update on what's eating over the last weekend before Auggy (Month of August lah...) is here!

After Jess's much rave about cakes and desserts from The Wok & Barrel, we finally get to try them last Friday.  It was a hawaker fare with a mod of twist.  We were so looking forward to the desserts while the mains are being served.  +HEHE+  OK.  I am going to be a lazy bum-ing today.  I'll redirect reading of reviews to Giselle's Closet where Jess made the full review from her first visit to the restaurant.  Then I can has lesser texts to type...  :P

Happy hour promo; Pizza at $5.90 with every order of beer / atas Nasi Lemak / Tried the Chocolate Stout Cake w/Vanilla Ice-cream, Puloh Hitam Cake with Gula Melaka Butterscotch & homemade Coconut Ice-cream and their legendary Chendol "神抖"! / Impromtu waffles date on a lazy Saturday night! / Bananarama > I've got my waffles fix!  YAY!


Met up my folks for dinner last evening at the newly opened (a month ago!) Paradise-chains of restaurant at Compasspoint Mall > Canton Paradise!  Finally some nice and decent restaurants added to the F&B list in the mall!  (... wondering why Ajisen can survire there for so long!)  It was super long Q when we were there to take 'Q number' at 5.20pm!  They served canto-styled dishes like roast meats, dim sum, porridge, noodles, soups and desserts.  The meal was yummy... even the bowls of plain rice tasted so delicious!  I loved my dessert > some aloe vera thingy!  We saw alot of orders of BBQ honey pork bun and custard buns but we were too full to try them.  Moma bestest-ed.  She signed me up for their 'membership card' thingy after much sales-talk from the cashier (She paid lah... and I get it for FREE!) and we'll have discounts in our next visits for one year... we'll be back to try out more dishes/bites!  ++SLURPED with excitment!++


Fwoah.  It is kinda norm to have a kopi-session/dessert after a meal (be it with family or friends)... and the next thing we know, we had an hour long kopi-session at Ya Kun right after dinner!  The whole session was all about beanie bag chairs!

ah Thiang thought that this might interest my aunt to buy one for her new house.  We had a good 30mins or more researching and discussing on the type of beanie bag chairs available, price from different online stores and styles that we can turned the chair to!  My aunt is so interested that she already taken down the address of the showroom and so going down to try all the types of design before she decides if she will get one for her new house today!  Popa also a fan of beanie bag chairs (we used to have two back then when we're still staying in Bedok)... maybe I can get one for him too!  Now, ah Thiang has been trying his luck for the longest time to have one in the room too... well, let's see...  LOL!  #eyesbeamed

Sunday, 15 July 2012

Jessie's Birthday!

15 July 2012

Was unwell for almost the WHOLE week.  MC-ed.  An undigestive gastric, vomitted at least three times... then cold with fever, later suspected case of dengue fever and went blood test and result was negative (PHEW!).  Doctor recommended that I should start on my antibotics for a course of 5-days after the results showed that my white cells are seriously infected.  At least for now, I am on the road to recovery...  *body-ache-ING*  Not much of updates for this week but some overdue highlights from last Sunday's adventure!

We celebrated Jessie's birthday!  祝Yeo-嫂福入东海,寿比南山!(this was meant to be updated last week. hee. same lah, huart ah!!!)  I decided on the venue which was Dean & Deluca, located at Orchard Central.  A newly open cafe (in fact it was very popular among the States)... we had brunch date after their church service.  It was a brunch-treat for Jessie.  #You'rewelcome  Had a long wait and we are required to queue again to order our food.  Well, ah Thiang is now so against brunch-out after my recommendations to trying all the cafes that received good reviews.  To him, they were only boo-boo... over-rated and over-priced for some poached eggs with bread.

Long Q outside Dean & Deluca / ah Thiang testing out the honey samples killing his boredom / Cam-whore before it's our turn to order FOOD! / We started off with desserts then mains >_<" / The 'petrol-smelling' Portobello Cheesesteak Burger


After brunch, we had an impromptu adventure to the zoo >>> YES.  Night Safari!  Birthday gal gets free entry.  Booo!!!  (Ok lah, we also free entry... ah Thiang used his points to redeem the entry tickets.  Heh).  It was our first time to Night Safari!  Invited mom-in-law as senior citizens gets half-priced!  Oh oh, Yeo also has a 30% discount too!  Everyone was so happy.  The whole adventure was so 'tiam- tiam'... we got to the zoo early and have a quick bite before the gates opens at 7pm sharp and left the zoo after hoping the last tram ride at 11.30pm!  See, tiam anot?  LOL!  Who says no one goes zoo on Sundays?!?!

We ended the night having a mid-night dinner at Upper Thomson Road and hit the sack at 2am!  No. More. Such Sunday adventure.  Everyone of us had a 'hangover'.  But it was an enjoyable one.  :)

At the entrance / Getting our tickets at the counter!!! / Quick bite at Bongo / Birthday gal with her special zoo badge! / Fire spitting performance / the correct marking of "Zebra-crossing" / Creatures of the Night show which scared the hell out of my mom-in-law & Jessie! / Final shot of us at the last tram ride!



Friday, 6 July 2012

SIN/VN/SIN - Day 6

06 July 2012

Quick post before I can finally shut down my computer and go home!  ah Thiang, Popa & Moma is coming to fetch me tomorrow.  YAY!

Managed to try another new deli, a little cosy yet 'French' feel cafe for lunch before heading down to the exhibition hall for tear down.  I must say, I love their deco.  So much warmth.  I like.  One of a better Vietnamese milk coffee I had (kinda taste like milo! must be the aftermath from the lousy coffee I had at MOF that made my tastebud no functioning properly!)!

A wrap-up dinner with the local team at the BBQ garden restaurant diagonally opposite my hotel.  It was a pouring cats and dogs night and I am so worried that my BBQ date with the guys will not happen.  Hey, I was wrong.  They have a huge tentage and everyone was happily BBQ-ing under the shelter on a rainy day!  I smelt like a mobile-BBQ pit when I got back to my room.  #sleepwithwethairagain

Paris Deli for lunch / Just can't get enough of those baguettes! / Wrap-up dinner at Barbecue Garden!


So glad that I came for this one-week 'assignment' in Saigon.  I get to try many many new eatries (some are must-try or strongly recommended by bloggers/websites etc which I have not done so for my past trips) and I am so going home with a happy tum tum!  #simplepleasures

Wooo... the guys are having TGIF fun time without the ladies!  >_<

Paris Deli
Saigon Centre
65 Le Loi, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Barbecue Garden
diagonally opposite Norfolk Hotel
135A Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Thursday, 5 July 2012

SIN/VN/SIN - Day 4 & 5

05 July 2012

There is nothing much for me to explore city of Saigon after being here for like the fourth or fifth time... other than daily trips visiting my booth and back to hotel to catch up some work, I also googled on some nice food places to try.  Why I no find out the nice places to eat when ah Thiang and I first came to Ho Chi Minh City?  :(

Planned to go Zan Z Bar for one of my lunches but when I got there, the exterior did not attract me to go in and I continued to walk down the street and stumbled upon Al Fresco (which is also in my to-visit list) and tried their famous baby back ribs.  I must say they are as good as Tony Romas'!

As I was saying, I must eat ice-cream right... so I googled again and found Fanny Ice-Cream and MOF... since SG has MOF and I make my way down to Fanny.  This place is so so SO nice.  So much prettier than the normal ice-cream shops in SG.  I think I will come back the 2nd or 3rd time before I leave.  Know what, I have actually asked 3 person on the street on how-to-get-there!  And when I reached there, I was like "tiew... " I could have cut from this street to that street and so on...  Now I am much clever now...  I know exactly which street can led to which shop/restaurant from which junction.  #pattingmyhead

Saw that there was a Japanese BBQ located next to Saigon Square... and decided to have it for dinner.  Seating arrangement was similar in the usual Japanese restaurant, you get roller blinds as partition from the guest next seat and a personal BBQ stove.  Food was meh and only realized that I have not eaten rice since the day I got here!  Gah.  So much meaty mains like steak, ribs, roti and such...  Oh boy, go back home must turbo detox liao.

MOF in Ho Chi Minh City is slightly different from the one in SG.  They no serve Korean food like bimbimbak in their menu.  Had some udon tonkatsu set and garlic fried rice.  Don't judge me.  Who say I am a small eater?  I am just a hungry SG woman who is having a very late lunch based on SG timing.  LOL!  Btw, the Vietnamese milk coffee here sucks.  NOT. COMING. BACK.

I also visited Black Cat restaurant, which was featured on CNN.com as one of the top 10 must-eat in the world!  I love their wallpapers especially the one has many many giantic baguettes in the restaurant (I even get the staff to take a photo for me!).  LOL!  They are famous for their jumbo-sized burgers (do you realized that there is no McDees in HCMC...?  if you need a burger fix, then try here...  I am not a small eater but this is way too big for me to digest.  :P).  Their burger size is as BIG as Yeo's face (汉堡大过大男生!)... proofs of pictures are all over the restaurant's wall, no bluff!


Tomorrow will be my last night in Ho Chi Minh City... I hope I can find at least one more new food places to feast before heading to rainy Singapore (why you no rain when I'm back home?!?!)!  Boooo...  I missed my ah Thiang!

Al Fresco
27 Dong Du, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Fanny Ice Cream
on side of Sun Wah Building, middle part of Pasteur and Nguyen Hue Street
29-31 Ton That Thiep Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Uraetei BBQ Japan
next to Saigon Square
69-71 Nam Ki Khoi Nghia Street, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

MOF Japanese Sweets & Coffee
30 Le Loi Avenue (Pasteur Street), District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Black Cat Restaurant
13 Phan Vat Dat, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Tuesday, 3 July 2012

SIN/VN/SIN - Day 2 & 3

03 July 2012

My day 3 in Saigon... and food hunt continues!

Lemongrass Restaurant > vietnamese cuisine (been here a couple of times from my past trips...) / Phuc Long Coffee & Tea House > coffee and garlic break! / Line Journee a Paris > French patisserie like macarons and my baguette!


Passed by some ice-cream shops whenever I am out for my food hunt... but the weather has not been so kind... (raining heavily on and off under HOT sun!) so not feelin brave to beat the coldness under such weather.  Told ah Thiang & Yeos' of my ice-cream crave and instead of comforting words, the gang sent me photo of them yum seng-ing their ice-cream!  (thanks ah...)  Think once the weather gets better tomorrow or the day after, I'll show them my winning shot of my ice-cream!  #BLEH  #mustwin

Lemongrass Restaurant
4 Nguyen Thiep, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Phuc Long Coffee & Tea House
Crescent Mall
101 Ton Dat Tien Avenue PMH, Tan Phu W, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City

Line Journee A Paris
near Ban Thanh Market
234 Le Thanh Toh, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Sunday, 1 July 2012

SIN/VN/SIN - Day 1

01 July 2012

Hello to second-half of 2012!  My one week stint in Saigon starts today!

Checked into Norfolk Hotel and did a quick lunch at the restaurant, located level in the hotel before heading to SECC for setup day 1...  Everything from the toast garlic bread, oxtail soup and the steak was GOOD!  Happy tum tum and I am off to work... a short setup day as part of the stuffs weren't delivered and have to wait for tomorrow... but we managed to setup the 'main' feature at the booth.  :)  Hopefully tomorrow will complete by lunch and I can get back to hotel and do my reporting...

Dinner was adventurous.  Jessie says go Saigon must eat French food.  So I googled where to have French food nearby or within District 1 to try the recommended restaurants.  Unfortunately the first choice wasn't open so I got the taxi uncle to drive me to the next destination (didn't I say I am adventurous?  never did I ever just take a taxi and drove to find food... it's all walking within distance from my hotel lor...).  Food was OK.  I didn't quite enjoy one of the starter, foie gras... too ger-liat for me and I am too full to even have the desserts served.  Tomorrow will try some local pho instead...  I forsee-ed meaty meaty meals ahead...  LOL!

Did not managed to find any massage parlour nearby... next to-do tasks on the list!  Must be CHEAP, clean and good!  :)

Norfolk Hotel / Corso Steakhouse & Bar / L'entete French Restaurant > set meal at VND900,000!


Corso Steakhouse & Bar
Norfolk Hotel
117 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

L'entete
139 Nguyen Thai Binh, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City