A Laid-back Sunday

Gal ordered a new toy online and the parcel finally arrived. The Recesky Twin Lens Reflex Camera cost less than $40. But not too sure if it will produce the same results as the Blackbird's, as the Blackbird easily cost more than $150.

Perhaps this is the fun part of it, assembling the camera right from scratch. I have always love assembling things, from model cars to Gundam Robots. The estimated time for assembling was 1hr, but i took more than that. Unclear instructions and wrong labelling of the parts mainly attribute to the long assembling time.

Completed at last !!!

Hmmm.... does she really like to take photos with it? It looks more like an accessory on her instead =p After dinner, all of us headed to the airport to send her bro off for overseas training in India. Poor him, gotta spend the next 5 weeks in India, and separated from his gf. Jia you and hope these 5 wks pass quickly !!

The First Meeting, @ Royal China

It seems so strange. Though me and my gal has been together for 5 yrs plus, our parents have never met before ! Yap, not even once. Hence, i decided to arrange a Brunch for all of us to get together, and formally introduce them to each other. Juz feel a meeting is necessary between both of them now that our ROM is around the corner.=p

Royal China is our choice for brunch, a nice place for such occasion.

Love the interior design of the restaurant. The blue and white concept kinda similar to the Tiffany and Co. Feel. According to the reviews online, it is one of the best Dim Sum place with great ambience and it's kind to ya wallet, a plus point !

As it is a very popular place for dim sum, especially for families during the wkends, do make reservations early. It has two seatings for the Ala Carte Dim Sum.

The first dish that arrived ! Both our parents chose the Century Egg with Lean Meat porridge while my gal and I ordered the Fish Porridge. We were surprised that we were only given pepper for our porridge. After having a slip, we knew why there wasn't soy sauce around, cos it taste salty enough.

The carrot cakes were quite nice too, and not too oily and greasy

Har Gao (Shrimp Dumpling) is a must for any dim sum. The Har Gao here is very fresh, and the skin is very thin and translucent.

Another dish not to be missed, Siew Mai.
The Siew Mai here is very big and served pipping hot.

The Steamed Layered Cakes. For people who prefer strong flavors, you may wanna give this a miss. It taste pretty plain, or "healthy", but my gal likes it.

The nice Char Siew Bao ! I love the char siew inside as it is not dry nor greasy. Too eager to have a bite that i forgot to peel it open to take a shot ! =p

A group photo finally

Can anyone imagine having yam and scallop serve together? I love yam, and i love scallop, but putting them together in a single dish? I have my doubts till i have a bite of this. It's simply amazing how the yam can blend with the scallop to give a wonderful taste. And look at the size of the scallops! They are certainly generous.

The Special Chee Cheong Fan, where one can taste 3 different types of fillings inside. There are char siew, prawns and scallops ! Yummy Yummy !

And our last dish, the Char Siew Su. Forgot to snap the char siew inside too =p It is nice and tasty !

One last shot before we end the day. I'm sure this is the first of the many meetings ahead ! =) This is our first dim sum trip. We will wanna try Cherry Garden or Yan Ting too someday.

A Ramen Affair @ Daikokuya

Gal had cravings for ramen and suggested Daikokuya @ Raffles City. I have never been to this ramen place before, wonder how would it be like......

having a hard time choosing her ramen ...
and somehow a serious look =p

My Miso Ramen !! It comes with an egg, cha siew, some corn and a nice miso-based soup! To me, a tasty tamago is very impt ! Here, the egg was quite soft and the yolk was not thoroughly cooked, which was a plus point. The char siew was quite soft and tender, but still pale in comparison with the one from Marutama.

Gal's Spicy Miso Ramen. Everything was the same as mine, except for the spicy miso soup. Thumbs up ! Gal like her ramen too =)

We have tried 5 restaurants that specialise in ramen and decided to rank them accordingly to our preference. Here's gal's choice:

1st - Marutama Ramen
2nd - Daikokuya
3rd - Tampopo
4th - Santouka Ramen
5th - Ken's Noodle House

Gal says: "Marutama still tops the list due to its eggs and the char siew that literally melts in the mouth. A close match between Tampopo and Santouka as both are not really nice, especially the eggs. Maybe we ordered the wrong thing. Ken's Noodle house? I dun like the noodle."

And my choice?

1st - Marutama Ramen
2nd - Daikokuya
3rd - Santouka Ramen
4th - Ken's Noodle House
5th - Tampopo

Marutama Ramen still top my list. Daikokuya was second mainly due to its tamago and char siew, which is much better then the remaining outlets. As for why Tampopo came in last? Maybe I ordered the wrong ramen. I ordered the Tonkatsu Ramen, which has a strong Pig taste, something that I dun like. And I gotta pay $2 for a tamago, which was quite blend and the yolk was over-cooked.

By the way, we have yet to make a trip to Ippudo Ramen. Hmm......

A shot for my gal...
Her latest whatsap background.....

Brunch at Choupinette

This year, Valentine's Day falls on a Monday. Hence we decided have a mini celebration over the wkend. Initially wanted a dinner @ Choupinette, but they only serve dinner from Tuesday to Saturday. Therefore, decided to settle for a brunch @ Choupinette having seen gd reviews about their brunch and the place seems nice and cosy from online photos. One bad thing though, no reservations is allowed.

Reached there ard 12 plus in the afternoon and the place was packed as expected. The gd news was there's only one couple in front of us, and the wait was not long.

A nice sugar holder.....
but the ambience wasn't as good as what i thought it would be....

gal likes this plate ....

enjoying our drinks from our breakfast set ....
gal with her grapefruit juice & me with my orange juice ....

This place seems to be a favorite among the expats. There were only 2 local couples in the restaurant, that was including us. Expect the place to be cosy and nice, but it turn out to be quite noisy, with people speaking quite loudly. Not a place for special occasions. I wonder would it be different at night.

Here comes our breakfast !!! Gal chose the "ChouChou's Set", which consist of Grilled Hot Sandwich with Chicken, a cup of Grapefruit Juice, and 4 Macaroons. Well, you have a choice of the mains, juices or hot beverages, and desserts, all for only $23 +

I ordered the "Eggs Royal's Set", which includes Eggs on toast with Smoked Salmon & Hollandaise sauce, with a fruit juice & any hot drink.

Here comes my Eggs Benedicts with Smoked Salmon !!! The dish looks simple and I was a little disappointed at first. However to my surprise, it taste quite nice. The smoked salmon was salty and fresh, and the hollandaise sauce was good ! To make a dish that looks simple but yet taste good is tough ! Could score better with nice presentation though. =p

Gal's Sandwich was also good. Nice melted cheese that doesn't overpower the taste of the chicken. The bread was crispy on the surface, and yet not very dry. Gal like the salad too, cause it was very heathy. Doesn't seems to have much dressing yet it has a sweet and sour taste. But I'm not really a fan of salad, i prefer meat! =p

The main element of a good egg benedict is nevertheless, the egg itself ! Nice big bouncy eggs cooked to perfection! The poached eggs are so delicately done that a thin film of egg white barely cover the yolk. A soft cut across the yolk and it will ooze out. No sight of any cooked yolk. Slurp Slurp !!

The coffee was a disappointment as it was quite bland ....

Our macaroons .....
I think I still prefer Canele's macaroons =p

Ordered 2 cakes/tarts on top of our breakfast set. A simple yet delicious custard & raspberry cake, Millefeuille Framboise. Not too sweet nor dry. However, eating this cake can be quite messy as it crumples easily.

The Tarte au Citron, aka Lemon Meringue tart. This looks nice but it's not to my liking. The top layer of the tart was very sweet. Yes, when I say very sweet, it's REALLY very sweet. The top layer of meringue was quite thick and i could taste coarse sugar in it. Not too sure if it's meant to be like this or the baker did not blend it thoroughly enough.

And the tart at the bottom was very very sour to me! After taking 2 bites of it, I could not carry on eating. =s

The dinner menu.....
May come back for its dinner =p

After the heavy brunch, head to MBS for a little walk. Past by River Ang Bao too along the way to the Esplanade but nothing much too. After a mere 2-3 hrs break for our stomach, we were beginning to think about our dinner! =p

CNY Visitings

Brought my bulky camera out but seems like nothing for me to shoot. When we reached my aunty's place, my mum suddenly ask me help my dad and her to take a photo. Too bad, no passer-by in sight to seek help for a family photo.

my dad seems to be holding his breath here to tuck in his stomach !! =p

my bro and sis with my mum .....

and finally my mum and I ....

Do we look alike ??
Somehow I look kinda tired here ....
This yr's CNY seems to be pretty boring.....