tamago.sg: 2006-11-12

Getaway at Aloha Changi

We're finally setting foot in the chalet-cum-BBQ which was planned way back in July. Aloha Changi is no stranger to us, for we had stayed over at Chalet D as recently as early this year.

The chalet offers 4 bedrooms with air-conditioning on an upper floor, regardless of whether it's a bungalow or the 6 terrace units facing the main road.

A view of the common living area downstairs, which is not air-conditioned. A dining table and kitchens are also provided.

However, the first 2 days of the chalet, only 4 people have came and gone on different occasions as many of us have started working and aren't free to come down, unlike last year. And we didn't have internet nor gaming console, so we could only drown ourselves in DVD and TV without perfect reception.

So little shoes! :-(

Menotti desserts

Menotti Italian Cafe
Address: 252 North Bridge Road, #01-17 Raffles City Shopping Centre. (Near Bakerzin/DBS Bank/Raffles Hotel)
Opening Hours: 8am to 11pm daily, extended till midnight on friday and saturday nights.
Tel: 63339366

Tiramisu.

Domou (mascarpone & spicy cream with olive oil sugar dough).

Preziosa (milk chocolate cream with aromatic currant coulis & soft macaron).

Dinner @ Azhang Restaurant

Azhang Food & Beverages
Address: 6 Mohamed Sultan Road, 238956
Opening Hours: Lunch from 12noon to 2pm daily, dinner from 6.30pm to 10pm daily.
Tel: 68363436

There were a lot of praises being sung in local forums about a restaurant which garnered a sizeable clientele in Joo Chiat in a year and a half, before being made to move, at short notice, to a more central location at Mohd Sultan in May this year.

The decor is largely European-based, and is accompanied by soothing music for a good dining experience.

Our bottle of wine came at $68+++.

One of the top recommendations, freshly roasted corn salad, was indeed appetizing and a must-eat starter for those who hadn't.

The combo platter, which consists of a slice of salmon belly, 4 prawns, a lamb and beef skewer, squid and tandoori chicken, served with pilaf rice, was a collection of the main dishes Azhang can offer on their regular menu, minus the steak. Pilaf rice is served for all the dishes, which I personally find, as a rice-eater, very tasty and appetizing.

The portions offered in sampling sizes is good for 4, but we felt the food was merely palatable. The chicken tandoori was kind of burnt, the salmon belly was alright, the shrimps were good, the squid was nice to chew on.

All in all, the meal for the night was not satisfying, but it was not entirely gone as there were also gems in it. However, for a restaurant that was widely recommended by foodies all over, our group of 8 unanimously felt that it was somewhat disappointing at the end of our 2-hour experience.

The bill for the night came up to almost $300. Price guide: a combo platter and a main dish shared among 4 persons would set you back by about $32, and a bottle of wine would add another $20 per pax to your bill.

SingTel's offers free Outdoor Wireless Surf for the month of November

Users of SingTel's Outdoor Wireless Surf hotspot service will not only be waived charges for the month of November, they will also be put on priority list to sign up for Wireless@SG in December.

Japanese Kitchen @ NUS

Address: Japanese Kitchen, Techno Edge FC, Engineering Drive 2
Opening hours: Mondays to Saturdays only, 10.30am to 3.30pm (closes after lunch on Saturdays).
During term holidays, only lunch is served on weekdays.
Price: $3.50 per bowl of don or udon plus miso soup, $3.90 per set of main dish, don, coleslaw and miso soup.

Eating here regularly since 2003, this is only the second time I'm blogging it down. This Japanese stall, located at Techno Edge FC (or Engineering/SDE canteen), is one of the two more popular stalls here, the other being the adjacent Western food stall, both attracting snaking queues during lunch hour.

Shots of the salmon don, which comes with shredded pickles and teriyaki sauce.

A380 lands in Singapore again!

Returning to Changi for the third time yesterday morning, it's getting harder to get pictures of it. The viewing mall at T1 is already closed, and T2 could not offer much, and comes with tinted glass which blocks out sunlight and probably blurring everything else worthy of making good shots.

I returned to Changi Beach this morning to catch it depart at 7am, but catching landings are easier than snapping it down while taking off at a higher altitude. But we were there to take farewell shots, though it'll touch down again briefly on Thursday on transit back the Airbus base to Toulouse, France.

Eelingo Coffee

Eelingo Coffee Kiosk
Address: 50 Market St, #03-29 Golden Shoe Car Park & Market St FC
Tel: 8113 3144
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm daily.
Price: Around $3 per cup. Click for menu

Also in Market Street Food Centre is a new start-up set up by Miss Ong Ee Ling. Their stall, which sells quality specialty coffee in a food centre setting with matching prices, quickly caught on with the office crowd and was even featured on television.

I had a satisfying cup of Iced Coffee with Hazelnut, served by friendly baristas with a personal touch. This should give the multinational coffee chains like Starbucks and The Coffee Bean a run for their money.

Don & Set Japanese Stall

Address: 50 Market St, #03-19 Golden Shoe Car Park & Market St FC
Tel: 9385 7353
Opening hours: Mondays to Fridays only, 10am to 7pm.
Price: $3.50 to $7.50 per pax.

I went to Market Street Food Centre wanting to get a taste of japanese salmon don, yet not willing to travel to NUS where they serve really great salmon don.

This was where I used to have hectic lunches when I met up with Jolene over lunch in CBD, and its queues were one of the longest, and we're just talking about takeaway orders.... it seemed popular with the office workers in the area.

They also do takeaway deliveries, though I don't expect it to be faster than collecting your orders during peak hours.

The salmon cutlets, mixed with the egg katsu-style, was tasty. The miso soup didn't taste authentic though, but sweeter than what you normally get. Nice hawker fare we have here.

PM Lee: GST to be raised to 7%

After all the work to make one-cent coins redundant, they've made themselves redundant by putting them back into circulation, and negating the Progress Package in the process.

GST to be raised to 7%: PM Lee
13 November 2006 1832 hrs (SST) 1032 hrs (GMT)

SINGAPORE: The Goods and Services Tax will be increased to 7 percent, up from 5 percent presently - this was announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Parliament on Monday.

Mr Lee said more details will be given in next year's Budget Speech which has been scheduled for 15 February.

The Prime Minister made the announcement when responding to the issues raised by MPs over 4 days of debate - among them the widening income gap in Singapore as a result of globalisation.

Stressing that globalisation is here to stay, and Singaporeans will have to deal with its impact, Mr Lee said this is something that could strain the country's social compact, and this is why it is essential that there will be a whole set of measures to tilt playing field in favour of lower income group.

Adding that the GST increase will help finance enhanced social safety nets to help this group, Mr Lee said it was better to raise the GST when the economy is doing well. - CNA /dt

Link

Singapore is famous once again!

Singapore is making waves in the news worldwide again! This time round, it concerns the decision to bring to court a 17-year-old polytechnic student Garyl Tan Jia Luo because his neighbour complained that Garyl is piggybacking on his wireless network installed at his home in an Upper Thomson estate.

In other news, Singaporeans got together to commemorate Good Neighbour Day today.

EDMW outing to Astons Specialties

Astons Specialties
Address: 119 East Coast Rd.
Tel: 9147 4627
Opening hours: Daily from 12noon to 1am, till 3am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Price: Below $20 per pax incl. sides and drinks (see main course menu below)

Rght after the EDMW makan trip to 挽到食, we spared no time in paving the way for another makan outing trip, this time to the makan heartland of Katong for a steak meal at Astons.

Even though it was raining and drizzling throughout the evening, that didn't dampen the spirits of the 16 people who eventually turned up (2 absentees) as we have been waiting to try it for so long! Most of us ordered something different from each other, interestingly, and one decided to take the plunge and eat the Wagyu Beef, which costs double the price of steaks.

The food and the ambience was great, and we were surprised to find out that not only were the prices economical for the quality of the food served, there were also no additional charges or taxes. Thumbs up!

Half of the people stayed behind for a K singing session till midnight, where we also played cards, had fun with my Nikon D50 and tried to outdo the adjoining room with wild renditions of Hokkien techno numbers and stuff like that. Lol.

Pics....