Artichoke

This one is a major throwback to last year's Christmas oops!

Our usual Christmas gathering was at Artichoke this year. It is heartening to meet these folks every now and then amidst our busy schedules. It is not easy setting aside a date where all (or most) of us are free and it is always fun to meet up, have a good laugh, and spend the evening with friends I had known for more than a decade. 

Spent the day walking around Bugis with the boyfriend and reached Artichoke early before the restaurant opened so I sat outside and snapped some pictures of the nice outdoor area. We sat indoors though, because we were not too fond of the warm humid weather outdoors. 

We started the meal with hummus ($8), babaganoush ($8) which was smoked egg plant, yoghurt and pomegranate, and ebiko ($8) which was fish roe dip with cherry tomatoes and shrimp. The dips went well with the pita bread.

Housemade Feta Burrata ($24) - creamy salty cheese, bread, dirty tomato salad. This was not bad but not really my kind of thing, I guess.

Kuku Sabzi ($20) - persian egg fritata with cheese, spinach, coriander and pomegranate. Another interesting dish!

Char-grilled Pork belly ($28). This was the bomb for me! Well-marinated, juicy chunks of tender pork belly.

Smoked chicken maryland ($30). This was not bad but definitely not as good as the pork belly!

Washing everything down with a bottle of Little Creatures, lots of laughter and catching up about life was a great way to spend Saturday night. Till the next time!

161 Middle Road Singapore 188978

63366949

Fat Cow

Extremely belated post dug up from the deep dark corner of my draft folder...

Started the year right with the boyfriend, Stef and King indulging in my boyfriend's favourite food: BEEF! Fat Cow is a Japanese steak place, well-known for their good but pricey beef dishes. Thankfully their lunch sets were more affordable so we came during lunch on a rainy Saturday afternoon. The set lunch menu is below. 

Stef called to make a reservation but it was really quite empty when we came. The boyfriend and I were early because we wanted to take a walk in the area but I was lazy to explore in the rain, so I nudged us both into the restaurant and managed to get our table earlier. We kind of concluded that people probably abandoned their reservations due to the rain. In any case, do make a reservation before coming down! I think the place can get quite crowded. 

The set lunch came with a salad, miso soup, chawanmushi and dessert. I love the chawanmushi!

The boyfriend's happy bowl of Fat Cow Donburi with charcoal grilled wagyu beef and onsen egg ($39).

I don't take beef so I was the only one who opted for a non-beef dish in a Japanese steak place haha! My Negitoro Don ($35) was surprisingly fresh and sweet for a beef place.

We left when the restaurant was closing after their lunch shift and went down to the car park together. We separated, went to get our cars, but somehow wound up near each other again after the boyfriend and I decided to take a stroll to Tanglin Mall and stopped abruptly on our way out of the car park. So we all hopped out of our cars, took a short walk to Tanglin Mall, and walked around the quiet mall (there is really nothing there). Was a good Saturday afternoon! 

#01-01/02, Camden Medical Centre, 1 Orchard Boulevard, 248649

Daily: 12:00 - 15:00

Daily: 18:00 - 23:00

BAR opens Mon-Sun (17:00-00:00)

+65 68846884

USA (Orlando) Itinerary Day 6 - Universal Studios Orlando, Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley, Hogwarts Express

Second day of Universal Studios Orlando! We tried to wake up early today too but we really could not drag ourselves out of bed before dawn after an entire day of walking around Universal Studios yesterday. We granted ourselves a little more time today and only reached the Universal Studio's car park at sunrise after grabbing breakfast at Walmart. I know this sounds ridiculous, like somehow being at the park at the crack of dawn was considered "late", but the crowd was really formidable. In fact, by the time we reached the entrance to Diagon Alley, there was a long queue of like 50 people waiting to enter Diagon Alley! What sorcery is this. The wait for the Gringotts ride was almost an hour even though it was only the morning! To sum it all up, if you intend to take the Harry Potter rides, be prepared to drag your ass there as early as possible or be prepared to queue for a very long time. 

Walmart. Still dark outside but dawn was creeping up on us. The Walmart was huge. If there is one thing I love so much about Florida (aside from the warmer weather and sunny days) is the sprawling grounds with large squat buildings, huge car parks, and a complete absence of skyscrapers. Coming from land scarce Singapore, it was so refreshing to see so much land, large squat buildings, and car parks that could spread out to the size of two soccer fields. 

Sunrise from the car park at Universal Studios.

DIAGON ALLEY!

The dragon on top of the Gringotts spits fire at random times of the day. Or at least I think it was random since there did not seem to be a particular schedule to witness the fire-spitting. Zg did some research and read that the dragon would growl for a few moments before spitting fire. So when the growls started, we dashed out and planted ourselves beneath the dragon for this shot. Perfect!

The Gringotts ride itself was amazing and I actually liked it better than the Forbidden Journey ride. The wait for the ride was incredibly long and the queue took us through the opulent main lobby where we watched the goblins working hard behind the counters. After a few more turns, we reached the mine carts and boarded one. It really felt like I was zooming around inside Gringotts and being part of all the action. So exciting!

Had butter beer ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and picked the souvenir cup so that I could bring it home. 

We also bought some souvenir coins from the Gringotts Exchange where we changed our muggle money for Gringotts coins.

Aside from the Owl Post which really amused me, the other highlight of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter had to be Hogwarts Express. We liked it so much that we took it so many times from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley and back to Hogsmeade. You should do it both ways because the image you see from the "windows" differs depending on the direction of travel!

Another interesting part of Diagon Alley was Knockturn Alley which, true to its dark nature, was dark, gloomy and chilly throughout the day despite the bright sunshine outside. There were also more "magical spells" in Diagon Alley as compared to Hogsmeade and interesting potions sold on the stands. 

I love both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley and would strongly recommend the park-to-park tickets so that you could hop on and experience the Hogwarts Express. If I really had to pick one favourite, I would pick Diagon Alley because of the intricate details of Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley, Gringotts and all the other shops and stands. Hogsmeade was beautiful and delightful as well, but Diagon Alley was the one which stole my heart.

Going around the wall from Diagon Alley, we emerge in London where the Knight Bus was. 

On the second day in Universal Studios, we went back to Avanti Resort for a rest in the afternoon before heading back to Universal Studios for the nighttime parades. We tried to swim in the resort's pool but it was overrun with kids so we gave up and decided to rest on the deck chairs instead. After some lazing around, we drove to the Orlando Premium Outlet for a quick walk before driving back to Universal Studios. The parade was underwhelming (Disney certainly does better parades and shows!) but Diagon Alley at night with a fire-spitting dragon was amazing. 

The rides in Universal Studios were world-class and I loved every moment in both parks. Very glad that we were blessed with great weather, clear blue skies and warm sun on both days at Universal Studios!

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15 here!

Two Chefs Eating Place, Commonwealth

Totally ignored this blog again. My backlog of draft posts is growing, and seriously, consistency is non-existent here. OH WELL. My bad but I was really working my butt off at work before I left for my 10 days break in Japan for my very first hanami!! The sakura was seriously too beautiful. When I finally get around to it, I shall do my travel posts for the places to view sakura in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka!

But anyway, here is one of my super outdated drafts.

To mark the start of the new year and to have an early birthday meal with my mum, we drove to Commonwealth for some zi char on a lazy Sunday evening. My mum found Two Chefs while searching online for zi char places and wanted to try it so we came here. She even took down a list of recommended food items so we knew what we wanted to order even before we sat down. I called to reserve a table for 4 earlier in the week and was quite thankful that I did because there was a crowd even at 5:30 pm. Unbelievable. 

The simple menu.

Drunken cockles ($7) with a dash of soya sauce, chilli slices, garlic bits and spring onions. Very nice and refreshing! This dish was served cold.

Salted egg chicken. I love anything salted egg so it came as no surprise that I was really fond of the flavour of this dish. The chicken was a little on the dry side, though.

Herbal chicken soup. I could not find this on the menu for some reason, or maybe I was just flipping through too quickly. But in any case, the waitress knew what we were talking about when we asked for herbal chicken so I guess it might be one of those off-the-menu special items? The herbal soup was very good though the chicken was also a little on the dry side.

Vegetable with eggs, salted egg and century egg ($8). Simple, homely dish.

Butter Pork Ribs ($8). What sorcery is this! I was totally expecting pork ribs sitting in a plate of thick butter sauce yet we were greeted by this mountain of white powder. I haven't quite figured out whether it was powdered Parmesan cheese or milk powder, but it certainly was not butter. The pork ribs were yummy and well-marinated but I cannot stop wondering where the butter went. 

Beancurd with golden mushroom ($8). Another simple homely dish.

Very simple zi char dishes at an affordable price. I would not say it deserves the large crowd gathered around the store on a weekend and we would not be driving to Commonwealth just for this anytime soon. But if you are staying nearby and would like some comfort zi char food, Two Chefs might just be the place for you. Personally, I also prefer zi char with more wok hei in the Cantonese style which might also be part of the reason I am not super fond of this place. 

 #01-129, 116 Commonwealth Crescent, 140116

Mon: 17:00 - 23:30

Tue - Sun: 11:30 - 14:30

Tue - Sun: 17:00 - 23:30

Closed on Every Last Mon of the Month

+65 64725361