Open Door Policy

Hello (:

A couple of weekends ago, we went to Open Door Policy for a late lunch. Actually, how we ended up at that place was pretty much a matter of... fate? We were looking for a place that opened till 3pm at least because we could only meet at 2pm. Since most places close at 2.30pm after lunch and ODP was one of the cafes that wasn't too faraway that opened past 2.30pm, we decided to give it a go (after all, they were supposedly famous for their ODP burger!)

Okay this is kind of a downer because I had typed an entire post but somehow there was a glitch so it didn't get posted.. and I'm not about to re-blog so I shall just post photos taken by my iPhone of the food we had that day (:

On the whole the food was pretty good but we felt that the dishes were overpriced. The souffle was probably the only thing worth mentioning because it was possibly the best souffle that I've had in my life. I'm not a souffle person and personally I don't like eating souffles so I think my liking of ODP'S Pistachio Souffle says a lot (:

Alright I'm dead beat so I'm going to log off now (: Happy weekend!

Summer Palace

Hello!

The long weekend is drawing to an end and as reluctant as I am to return to reality, I am equally grateful for the few days of respite from work. I actually had the luxury of catching up on sleep on Wednesday night and I felt as good as new on Thursday when I went to Summer Palace at the Regent Hotel for a dimsum lunch! (:

I first read about Summer Palace when my good friend showed me their special National Day dimsum menu and needless to say, the patriot in me was all game for a National Day dimsum lunch! Hur Hur.  

We arrived at noon and the restaurant was pretty empty, but not for long. The place soon filled up with families and couples all gathering to eat their way into the long weekend! (:

The table decor was simple and nice (: I liked that we were seated at a big table so that we could shift our food about and not have to worry about the lack of space.

I am not sure if the attempt was deliberate (I'd like to think so) but the staff at Summer Palace actually took effort to make sure your dim sum dishes gets served one after the other so that you won't be too overwhelmed by having many steaming hot dishes laid out in front of you. I'm not sure about you but I often feel very stressed by the thought of food cooling down right before my very eyes and not tasting as good as they should be so this arrangement was perfect, except that I wouldn't mind if the transition were a tad faster so that there will be fewer mini pockets of empty table time.

Before I go on, I'd like to say that I forgot to get the receipt so I've no idea how much these individual items cost but the entire meal came up to about $70, which is pretty decent in our humble opinion (: We chose to have 'ala carte' for all our dishes and the portion sizes were reduced to suit 2 people so we were nicely filled up and were not bursting at the seams so all was well and good.

We were presented with cold long beans as starters. Since we were both quite hungry when we arrived at Summer Palace, we were more than happy to eat this all up!

The first item that was served was the fried yam puff with seafood and it was a welcome change from the fried yam puff with meat that are usually served at other restaurants because this means that I can eat the entire puff for once without having to dig the meat out! Yipee! (: These were pretty good but nothing spectacular.

Then came the dainty lobster and prawn steamed dumpling if I'm not wrong. They look so pretty! (: They tasted okay but I felt that the prawn was a tad too hard.

Perhaps the most unique steamed glutinous rice that I've had because it came with a piece of abalone on the top! (: I felt that the abalone was a nice touch because it went well with the rice (:

And THE STAR of the meal finally arrived! THIS is the reason why I actually decided to lunch at Summer Palace - they were serving National Day Special Chilli Crab Baos! Oooh la la. The filling was slightly spicy but it was good! I felt so happy after eating this because it made me feel so accomplished! Heh.

Their mango and prawn fritters were SUPERB. Thankfully my good friend decided to opt for the full size (i.e. a serving of 3 pieces instead of 2) so we could have 1.5 pieces each! They are definitely a MUST try! (:

Then came the pan-fried duck meat sesame flat bun? Haha I actually have no idea what this is called and I only know that there is duck as filling. It was so-so.

And how can I ever get enough of my favourite salted egg yolk custard bun! It was made to perfection! I frankly think that this is one of the better salted egg yolk custard buns that I've had.. will go back for more in future! (:

Finally, we ended our meal with two cold desserts, both equally good and yummy (: They weren't special or spectacular but they did their job of delivering a sweet and fitting end to the first glorious meal of the long weekend.

Yup that's all for now (: Have to prep for school tomorrow! Till the next post! (:

Goodwood Park Hotel Durian Fiesta Dessert Buffet

Hello (:

I've been terribly busy and there's barely enough time to do all that needs to be done so I think I'll be more realistic and try to blog once a week instead of the usual two for this semester.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Goodwook Park Hotel for their Durian Fiesta Dessert Buffet and I left feeling full and satiated! (: You must understand that I've been wanting to try this durian buffet for years but somehow I always end up missing this every single year.. until this year! Am so happy that I finally got to try it and it completely met my expectations! (:

We chose to have a 4 course selection ($44.80++) and one durian dessert buffet ($33.80++). The 4 course selection comes with durian dessert buffet too so both of us could enjoy the huge dessert spread! 

The other three courses that came with the four course set were: the gado-gado, which was so-so,

the bak kut teh soup and rice, which was unexpectedly out of this world (I would totally go back just for this!) and 

a plate of char kway teow, which was also pretty good!

I've concluded that The Coffee Lounge serves pretty awesome Asian food and I'd go back again when I feel like having some good quality Asian food in a comfortable setting.

Alright, here's what we had for desserts! Almost everything was wonderful and I can't get enough of the durian desserts plus the bread and butter pudding! Yumyum! So here are some photos of what we had that day:

We obviously haven't poured our tea because we decided to let the tea bag soak in the water for a while longer since we like stronger tea. I also learnt a new thing that day: you can add a slice of lemon to your warm tea to give it a refreshing zingy taste! Oooh. I've never tried it before till that day and I like it very much! (: Shall do that again in future.

Alright that is all for today. It's time for bed (: Goodnight!

Kim's Family

Hello! (:

It's been way too long since I last blogged and frankly I'm a little bothered by it =| I try to comfort myself by telling myself that my Instagram account is well and alive (especially during weekends) but I will definitely come back here (or at least try very hard to) to continue blogging (: It's therapeutic in some ways.. to be able to record the places that I've been to.

So a couple of weeks ago, we decided to go to the nearby Kim's Family Restaurant for lunch and it was as nice as the previous visit because the place wasn't too crowded. This time, we ordered just enough food so we didn't have to try too hard to finish our food, which is great because I don't really like to waste food unless absolutely necessary.

Really love how they serve these appetizers almost immediately upon arrival. One shocking realisation we had that day was that Kim's now charges for these "open food"! All these appetizers, which used to come free, now cost $25! =S Isn't that a lot? Gah. Guess they have to find some way to keep their business alive!

The soft beancurd kimchi soup ($15) was wonderful because though it looks very spicy, it is actually quite alright.. and that, coming from a person who can't really handle spicy food very well, means that the soup's spiciness is really manageable! (: I like that there were huge blocks of soft beancurd in the soup! (: Ate them all up!

Another staple dish that I'll gladly order over and over again is the Chives Pancake ($14). Truth be told, I was first exposed to chives when my family used to go to Chinatown to eat jiao zi at the People's Park Food Centre and I'd always thought that it's an odd vegetable because I can't really figure out how I feel about its taste and texture. I guess it goes well with the starch that makes up most of the pancake and I like how it is cooked this way! (:

The new dish that we tried that day was the Korean Glass Noodles ($15), which at first glance looks like rice vermicelli but it actually isn't because it is slightly thicker and smoother. This dish tastes like another Chinese dish that I know except that there is more noodles than vegetables here, and that the sauce is actually sweet-ish! Glad we got to try this dish! (:

The meal ended with the usual servings of slices of oranges and tiny cups of cinnamon tea (: Kim's is definitely one of my shortlisted restaurants near my home that I wouldn't mind going when I don't wish to travel to town for a meal (:

Alright that is all. Have a great week ahead everyone! (:

Sunday Remix Brunch at The Kitchen Table

Hello!

The weekend is finally here! (:  It has been quite a long & trying week for me and though things weren't completely fine nor did plans fall perfectly into place, I'm thankful for the things that went well and am looking forward to just taking this weekend to do what matters most.

Last weekend, we decided to travel to W Hotel Sentosa to have a very late brunch at The Kitchen Table! It was my first time visiting W Hotel and I was pretty excited to see what it is like. Truth be told, I kind of expected it to be a chi chi type of hotel where people go to be seen and I was a bit afraid that the atmosphere/ feel of The Kitchen Table wouldn't be to my liking but I guess I'll never know till I go so I went ahead (:

Fortunately, the ambience of The Kitchen Table was nothing like I had imagined it to be! It was rather chillax and I felt comfortable dining there (: I appreciated the rather colourful and beach-resort-like interior decoration, high ceilings and natural light coming from outside. I almost wish I was on a beach holiday. 

There is quite a lot of food to eat at Sunday Remix Brunch as both The Kitchen Table and Skirt are opened for this brunch. We went for the non-alcoholic brunch which costs $108++/pax and it came with free flow soft drinks/ juices/ tea/ coffee (: 

Here are some photos of the food we had that day:  

 I wasn't in a tea/ coffee mood so I requested for hot chocolate and they served it to me! (: (: (: It was good! 

On the whole, the food is relatively good and I think it is definitely more worth it if you like meat and seafood (: I really loved some of the items in their dessert section (e.g. brownie, their fruit cup, the chocolate fondue) but the rest were okay-good for me.

One of the nicest things that happened after our long brunch was that we went for a relatively long walk around the area and I was quite fascinated by the fact that an entire neighbourhood has been created at that little corner of tiny Sentosa. I felt like I was walking in the set of Stepford Wives! It was great to be able to take in new sights (of places and things that I'll never dream of owning in my life) and it felt like I was once again discovering new places in Singapore. Really miss those more-carefree days where I could go on self-organised excursions every other week.

Alright that's all for today (: Have a good rest of the weekend! (:

Cupcakes from Charlotte Grace

A box of cute and yummy cupcakes to ease everyone back to school (: Life's always more bearable with some sugar and love.