Paradise Dynasty & The Last Tycoon

Paradise dynasty is quite a popular Chinese restaurant, under the Paradise Group. It serves common Shanghainese cuisine such at Xiao Long Bao and La Mian.

We went to the branch at Ion, reached there at about 6pm and they were already giving out queue numbers. I walked around for a while and came back to realize that I've missed my number, so we had to wait for a while more.

The interior looks pretty posh for a restaurant that offer reasonable food prices. The decorations were very suited to the name of the restaurant. Seating capacity was very large, with both indoor and outdoor seats for you to choose from. I also like that the kitchen is surrounded by glass so that we can see what is going on in there!

Of course, we ought to order the famous Rainbow Xiao Long Bao - Original, Ginseng, Foie Gras, Black Truffles, Szechuan, Cheese, Garlic, Crab Roe.

I personally think the original one is still the best. If I were to choose one among the 'special' flavours, it would be crab roe. I like anything that has the seafood, fishy taste. Garlic flavour was really overpowering. Szechuan was the worst flavour. The rest are not here nor there. The flavours were not to distinct to taste it at one bite but it doesn't shield the xiao long baos' taste as well.

Ohh yes, I also like that the Xiao Long Baos were seated on a piece of white cloth cos that makes it easier to take them without tearing the skin!

La Mian in Pork Bone Soup with Sliced Pork Belly.

Though I prefer japanese ramen, this is quite good for a chinese la mian! The soup is quite flavourful and you could taste that there were some good ingredients used to brew it. 

The pork belly is great as well! Well-cooked, flavourful, good texture

Zha Jiang Mian was not too bad. Definitely better than Crystal Jade's one though.

This place is great for a quick restaurant dinner, family fare etc.. Or some chinese dian xin or xiao chi, at reasonable prices! Service was prompt even though it was thoroughly packed (the queue outside is never ending). There were many staff around and it wasn't difficult to get their attention. I'm looking forward to try their other dishes!

Paradise Dynasty (ION Orchard)

2 Orchard Turn

ION Orchard #04-12A Singapore 238801

Tel: +65 6509 9118

N and I caught The Last Tycoon also. I always loved such Hong Kong shows and I'm still pretty frustrated that I have not watched Cold War!

The show is amazing. A great cast of actors and settings. A show that revolves love, loyalty, triads.

Even N that do not really enjoy chinese shows said that it was good :D

Bidding woes

The semester started few weeks ago, badly.. With the bidding war and trying to fix my timetable in a way that I would maximize my mornings and make my afternoons as free as possible in order to slot in tuition lessons. Also, I will be going overseas for two weeks and I do not want to miss lessons as much as possible so, lots of planning goes into my timetable!

Talking about the bidding war, I got out bidden for all the rounds and I was stressed about it. To customize my timetable to my desired means that there are very limited modules that I can choose from. That means if I don't get those that I want, I have to suck thumb and take other modules and end up with a less than perfect timetable.

One thing that I cannot fathom is why does the bidding eat into the school term.

Which means to say, if you have not gotten your module before school starts, you'll probably miss the lesson.. Unless you attend them on your own will (which is what I did)

So I had two more modules to go, and had to submit appeal for it. By the way, we were told that appeal results will be out earliest by end of week 2, which is quite late considering that tutorial starts in week 3 and the fact that after you've successfully gotten the module, u need to register for tutorial, buy textbooks etc..

Thankfully I have gotten both of them quite soon after I submitted and managed to settle down by the end of week 2.

God bless me this semester! It's gonna be tough but I hope it will be a fulfilling one! :D

Tonkotsu King (Ramen Keisuke)

One of the three ramen restaurants in Singapore owned by Keisuke Takada. I've not tried any of them and of course, the first one ought to be Tonkotsu.

All 3 restaurants serve ramen in different soup bases and obviously this one, Tonkotsu King, serves a pork bone soup base. The queue was about 20mins on a Monday night.

First, we got to grind the sesame seeds, which will then be added to the ramen. It brings out the flavour of the soup.

There are 3 main ramen. Normal, with Black Oil, with Red Oil.

I went for the one with Black Oil.

You can choose the ingredients that you want too. I selected all ingredients.

If the egg is added to the ramen bowl, I will always remove it asap so that it doesn't over cook.

This egg is AMAZINGGGG just typing this makes me feel so hungry.

The exterior colour is quite light, but it is so well flavoured, even the yolk is tasty. Of course, the consistency is perfect.

Complimentary bean sprouts and hard boiled eggs (not the flavoured ones) are provided. I enjoyed the bean sprouts.

While the black oil does give the soup a different taste, I preferred the original one which N ordered. The black oil does not enhance the taste of the ramen as compared to Nantsuttei's . It could be that the oil is not roast garlic oil? I ended up scooping the oil out and I did not finish the soup (which I usually do when I like the ramen). Eventually I drank lots of N's soup. 

The cha shu was slightly thicker than normal, but not as thick as Baikohken's. The taste was similar though.. Not very well marinated. 

Tonkotsu King (Ramen Keisuke)

1 Tras Street

Orchid Hotel #01-19

Tel: +65 6636 0855

NeLi's Ice Cream

On a random weekday night, I had craving for some ice cream so N and I decided to head down to Upper Thomson. We've tried Salted Caramel, Udders, Scoopz.... So the next shop that I wanted to try was Neli's! (:

The shop is just opposite Salted Caramel and Udders.

The shop is travel-themed, and the interior is a beautiful light blue shade.

There is a section that has travelogues. These books are for customers to pen down their travel experiences according to the various continents.

There is even a bookshelf loaded with travel guides!

We sampled several flavours and had quite a hard time deciding. 

I like that their Vanilla ice cream is spotted with traces of vanilla beans.

Stout Chocolate was quite shiok.

Other refreshing flavours that I've tasted are Pear Sorbet and Chrysanthemum Sorbet

Eventually, we went for Horlicks and Chocolate Banana on Waffles, with both maple and chocolate syrup.

I really like their waffles. In my opinion, their waffles taste nicer than Udders'!

Flavours wise, not very creative.. But I think it's not bad a place for a quick ice cream treat! (:

NeLi's Ice Cream

233 Upper Thomson Road

Singapore 574364

Tel: +65 6452 2410

Quilting Workshop with Sarah's Loft!

Last weekend, I was very lucky to be selected to attend workshop with Sarah from Sarah's Loft!

It was a Quilting workshop, organised by Swarovski Elements, held at Sculpture Square.

Check out their website!

 http://www.create-your-style.com

Anyway, I didn't knew that place existed. It looks quite run down from the outside but the interior was totally different!

While waiting for the workshop to start...

Instructions, which looked pretty confusing at first.

Tools that we were given! Every one has a different piece of cloth and I didn't realise until I sat down at the seat. I decided not to change though cos mine looked pretty nice!

Measuring the cloth, 3 inches from the middle of the triangle tip

Mark the cloth with a crayon and pin with a round head pin. And sew along the markings.

We had some lunch before we continued...

All the beautiful and creative items.

Sarah's creations

Here is Part II!

Flip the cloth over, sew the two flaps at the bottom and attach the inner triangle to the base of the bag by sewing a few stitch. This will will make it stand. Sew one round around the top of the bag to act as a rim, so that you can thread the drawstring across. (:

 Last step: Bling-ing it!

Swarovski Elements were so generous to provide us with such a wide range of stones for us to pick from!

These are hotfix, which means you can apply heat and stick them on!

My final product! It looks so much prettier in real life!

I chose a square shaped with a slight yellowish tone and surrounded it with light blue and emerald tiny stones.

For the sides, i used a round clear bead and a heart shaped bead, also with a slight yellowish tone. 

I think it looks special and the colours matches the fabric! *self-praise*

I enjoyed myself during the whole workshop even though it was a longggg 5hours. Felt such a sense of achievement to be able to sew and create my own, unique pouch!

Thank you Nuffnang and Swarovski Elements for giving me an opportunity to participate in this workshop.

Thank you to Sing Mui Heng Pte Ltd for the generous sponsor of all the sewing tools! Do visit them at Textile Centre or People's Park Centre 

Wooloomooloo Steakhouse

This is probably the most amazing restaurant that I've ever dined in. I've never had meals at atas restaurants overseas and I wonder what are their service standards like but Wooloomooloo's was mind-blowing.

The waitresses were on their toes man. Super alert that when N accidentally raised his hand, they came over.  They constantly topped up our water and checked if the food is ok.

We ordered a few dishes that were recommended by various food bloggers but we gave the side dishes a miss. To our surprise, the manager (I suppose he is) brought mashed potatoes and sautéed mushrooms for us and told us to try it as they were his favourites!

This fridge has a lot of meat and it is super cold! It looks freaky.. like some scene in SAW?

 A wine cabinet!

Complimentary bread. It was so nice and fluffy and they were so generous to give the whole loaf! We had to take away and they were so kind to pack it nicely in a box, with a fabric bag carrier!

Tuna and Crab Tartare. Has a layer of avocado and diced oranges. We don't really know how to appreciate this dish but the oranges gave it a refreshing taste!

Lobster Bisque. The soup is really gao and there was a huge chunk of lobster meat!

Sauces to go with the meat. Peppercorn is my favourite! The mushroom and red wine sauce were good as well!

My filet mignon, in medium rare. Tender and juicy.

It was a thick and huge chunk of meat and the consistency in done-ness was throughout the whole piece of meat. Impressive

N's Wooloomooloo steak also in medium rare. The outer rims was slightly more done than medium rare but it was fine. Just a speck of imperfection. The manager insisted on changing for us but rejected.

Creamy mashed potato.

Sautéed Mushrooms

Warm Chocolate Cake. We didn't want to order cos we were damn full after all the food already. But I insisted, die die must try this. Just nice, we were told that it takes 17minutes to be done. Got time for a breather (:

Oozing goodness

Wonderful service, nice ambience, great steak. What else could one ask for?

Wooloomooloo Steakhouse

2 Stamford Road

Swissotel The Stamford Level 3

Tel: +65 63380261

USS!

N and I were super blessed during the last week of December.  We got free tickets to USS as well!

It was our second time there.. First time was in 2011, with my family (which was also a free visit)

We were there at about 10.30am and it was mad crowded that day!

Betty Boop is such a bimbo!

New ride coming up!

 This time round, we took quite a few kiddy rides that we skipped on our previous visit .

This is my favourite photo man. Look at N's epic face!

Ohh yes, the transformers ride was damn good! We were so looking forward to it and it was totally beyond our expectation. The effects were impressive!

Cheers!

Cindy