Sunday, April 22, 2012

In Zurich

I've just landed in Zurich a couple of hours ago.

This is the first time I'm in Switzerland. This is a country I've always wanted to visit and I'm really glad to be able to come this year, before we both get quite busy..

I've not seen anything apart from the way from the airport to the hotel and although the weather is gloomy, I hope it'd be a good 2 weeks ahead!

It's now time for a nap before I hop out for the day...

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Breakfast at Wimbly Lu

I find myself visiting Wimbly Lu more and more often for breakfast.

I like the waffles there, of course, but the real reason for the frequent visits is convenience. This restaurant is really close to our church and hence we often end up there on a Sunday morning for breakfast.

Apart from the waffles, there isn't very much else I like to eat at Wimbly Lu.

When I'm not in a waffles mood, I'd opt for hash browns, which is served in an interesting manner - in a dim sum basket. Hash brown and ketchup is not exactly a healthy breakfast combo, but then, it's a pretty yummy one.


I must say though that the root beer float at Wimbly Lu is really good. It actually exceeded my expectations by quite a lot. Of course, root beer float isn't really something one ought to have for breakfast but when they come in a frosted glass, with homemade ice-cream and icy root beer, it's hard to say no.




The hot chocolate is also very good at times. "At times" because I distinctly remember having it on a separate occassion and not thinking it was as good. But during my last visit to Wimbly Lu, I thought it was very well made - dark and rich with melted marshmellows and shaved chocolate, it is the ultimate breakfast drink.


So if you happen to pass by Wimbly Lu, apart from waffles, you know what you can order!

Wimbly Lu
Address: 15-2 Jalan Riang
Tel: +65 6289 1489

Monday, April 16, 2012

Duck at Bayswater

I have a bag from Mulberry called the Bayswater.

It's only after having that bag that I realised Bayswater is the name of a tube station in London. Bayswater is an area of west London in the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

And Bayswater is famous for delicious roasted duck!

There are 2 famous stores in Bayswater - Four Seasons Duck and Gold Mine. Both are Chinese restaurant, selling mostly Cantonese food. Many in will direct you to one of the 2 restaurants for Peking Duck or Crispy Aromatic Duck.

During my last trip to London, I went to Gold Mine because a colleague said that the original chef from Four Seasons has gone to Gold Mine.

So we decided to brave the cold one weekend in London and travelled all the way to western London for some Chinese food.

We ordered the famous Crispy Aromatic Duck, Cantonese roast duck, fried beef kway teow, tofu and vegetables.

The food was good, although I've had much better duck (See this post on my favourite Peking duck from Dadong in Beijing).

But I must say the overall quality was very good and it's amazing how good Chinese food taste after a whole week of cold sandwiches and salads..



Sunday, April 8, 2012

Bird's Nest in a Bottle


I've been having a bottle of these almost every morning for the past few weeks.

Since her retirement last December, my family has benefiting from plenty of home cooked food.

My mum have been making lots of bird's nest for me. She'd make a batch of four to five servings and then put them into little jam bottles so that I can refrigerate them. Then, I'd have one every morning for breakfast.

Bird's nest (燕窝) literally translates to "swallow's nest". These are harvested from swifts' nests - which are made of their saliva and whilst it sounds really gross, bird's nest is a delicacy highly valued by Chinese. It is often cooked as a kind of sweet dessert and has a gelatinous texture.

Bird's nest is believed to be useful in maintaining youthfulness and enhancing complexion. It also supposedly stimulates the appetite and aids in digestion, and is supposedly high in proteins and nutrients to help speed up recovery from chronic illnesses.  It is considered a very good tonic for women.

I usually do not like tonics of any sort. But my mum's version of bird's nest is slightly sweet and is a dessert I like a lot. Tonic or not, this is something I don't mind having it often.

And of course, I don't mind anything that supposedly helps with my complexion too!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

High Tea at 10 Scotts

I went for high tea last Friday with a friend at 10 Scotts in Grand Hyatt.

This place is relatively new, and the restaurant felt like someone's very well decorated dining room. It had a very homely, yet very sophisticated feel to it.

The restaurant wasn't big at all, but all the tables were filled up during at tea time.

It was a high tea buffet, and we were served a tray of savoury goodies, which was refillable, and then informed that the main course for the day was chicken curry with pilaf rice and that there were salads, desserts, fruit and cheese at the buffet table. The buffet also came with coffee, tea or fresh juices.

I liked most of the food in the tray - the sandwiches were pretty decent, but my favourites were the very fresh and yummy crab cakes and the crispy curry puff. Happy and I had second servings of both.

My highlight of the high tea though, were the scones. The scones were really really good.

I mean really good. They were fluffy and melt in your mouth. And they were offered to us fresh out of the oven whilst they are still warm which made them even better.

These scones also came with very wonderful cream and a deliciously tart homemade raspberry jam. They offered homemade kaya as well with the scones, although I preferred them with the cream and jam. It had a very rich vanilla taste and I just could not help smearing the scones with a very generous helping of the cream.

Previously, my favourite scones have been the Buttermilk Scones that The Husband baked. My current favourite scones are these melt-in-your-mouth ones from 10 Scotts.

The staff were friendly and very efficient - constantly offering second and third helpings. It was a pity that I don't have such a great appetite recently.. but even then, I had a lot of good food that day.

I thought that the high-tea experience at 10 Scotts was a great one and I'd definitely be back again. Even if only for those scones.

The weekdays high tea costs $38++. In the weekends, you pay $48++. This high tea also comes with an option for free flow champagne for about S$30 more.



10 Scotts
Grand Hyatt hotel
Add: 10 Scotts Rd (where else?)
Click here to make a reservation

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Marina Bay Area

The very photogenic Marina Bay Sands

Although I work nearby to the Marina Bay area, I never fully realised how beautiful the area is until I was walking towards One Fullerton from Esplanade area yesterday as the sun was setting.

Here are are some pictures taken using my iPhone. I used Instagram and selected a slightly "vintage" effect for these pictures.

Singapore flyer and one of my favourite hotels in Singapore - Mandarin Oriental 
(I might be biased because that's where we had our wedding banquet..)

The Merlion and hordes of tourists..

I had a fairly busy but fun long weekend - starting with a day of shopping and high-tea with a friend on Friday. Some parts of Saturday and today was spent bringing a Taiwanese friend around town.

I'm not really sure if I'm ready for work tomorrow yet!