L's Birthday with Little Part 1 cafe & Habitat Coffee

And so, L's Birthday is finally here! After her big party at Hard Rock Hotel, we decided to tone down and have a cozy dinner plus coffee after that so I googled and decided to surprise her with this cafe that exudes the "home" feeling. From the food to the decor to the the service, it just feels like a home away from home. They also have this shelf that is filled with 2nd hand books which you may borrow to browse, very ideal for a quiet dinner with a book as a companion!

Yes, I'm almost ALWAYS hungry lol, love this!

This is their buffalo wings, they have various flavours suited to your liking, we chose the spicy ones and it was slightly spicy with a tinge of sour, it makes a good appetizer.

Fish and Mussel Stew - this just feels like a honest to goodness homecooked meal. However, I couldn't help but think that it would be much better if served with a crusty garlic bread. That would be perfection!

The Birthday girl :)

Next up, after our small dinner, haha we didn't order much as we were saving our tummies for coffee and dessert at Habitat Coffee :)

Dark Chocolate Molten with Sea salt Ice Cream - This must be one of the best creation of all desserts, a dark chocalate cake that's flowing with goodness from within and paired with the smooth and yummy ice cream! Thank you to the very nice barista for helping me with this wonderful surprise :)

Yes, it's Mocha again for us, maybe the coffee here is not suited for us as we prefer a smoother finish and less bitter. If you like a slightly more bitter aftertaste in your coffee, please be sure to come here to try their coffee!

The Happy Girl :)

Yes, that's the very nice Barista that helped me and also, the outlook of the cafe :)

And so the night ended with very satisfied tummies, till next time.

Hangout #1: Little Part 1 Cafe
Operating Hours: Sun - Thurs:  12.00pm - 10.00pm
                             Fri & Sat:  12.00pm - 12.00am
                            Tues - Fri: Shop is closed from 3.00pm - 5.30pm
                            (Closed on Mondays)
Address: 15 Jasmine Road Singapore 576584
Tel No: 6451 7553
Find them HERE


Hangout #2: Habitat Coffee
Operating Hours: Tues - Fri: 11.00am - 10.30pm
                             Sat & Sun: 10.30am - 10.30pm
                            (Closed on Mondays)
Address: 223 Upper Thomson Road Singapore 574355
Tel No: 6456 2567
Find them HERE

Uncle Leong Seafood

September is a highly exciting month as it's L's Birthday and also one of my bestie's wedding. This time round, L's friend decided to treat us to Uncle Leong Seafood @ Punggol for her birthday. I've been here multiple times but I've never thought to blog about it, so here it is, what we ate that day.

Chilli Crab - the sauce at Uncle Leong's has always been one of my favourite version of Chilli Crab in Singapore. It is neither too sweet nor too spicy and it goes way too well with the fried bun aka mantou (馒头), this is of course, a MUST TRY.

Tofu Prawn - This dish is slightly a little too tomato-ish for my liking, but still goes well with rice.

Crab Bee Hoon - this must be one of the best dishes in Uncle Leong because I never fail to order this whenever I'm here. It is ESPECIALLY good when you eat it on a rainy day, the steaming hot milky soup with the bee hoon and the sweetness of the crab, OMG lah! 

Stir Fry Nai Bai with Garlic - This is usually my alternative when they don't sell Baby Kailan. 

Sambal Kangkong - Spicy and stir fry just right, it's fragrant and crunchy!

This place is THE place if you ever feel like having good crabs!

Just a heads up, reservations are available on all weekdays. Reservations strictly before 6pm and after 8pm on weekends and eves of & Public Holidays.


Hangout: Uncle Leong Seafood @ Punggol 
Operating Hours: 4.30pm - 11.30pm daily
Address: Tebing Lane, #01-03, Punggol East, Singapore 828835
Tel No:  6441 1848
Find them HERE

Maison Ikkoku and the ridiculous Naan craving

And so, F1 weekend was extremely crowded with tourists from all over and we decided to hang out at the fringe of the town area. This time round, we had to satisfy my ridiculous craving for Naan, it's starting to get on my nerves haha cos I can't seem to satisfy that particular craving this month. 

Initially, we wanted to go Zam Zam but didn't see any Naan on their menu, so we walked a little further down and there's Al-Tasneem with Naan! We were too hungry to think much of it so up we went, there was a 2nd floor seating with aircon though not much, but still it was better than nothing.

There were 5 of us so we could order a little bit more to share yay! :)

Teh Tarik ($1.20) - I personally love my Teh Tarik not too sweet and this was good!

L ordered tandoori chicken with Naan set ($6.50), haha she was influenced by my ridiculous craving as well :p

Here's my Butter Chicken with Naan set ($7.50). The butter chicken was creamy but not overpowering, I love how the spicyness comes later after you have tasted the flavour of the food. Love this!

This was shared among us, the mutton murtabak ($5) was an unusually big portion, very value for money! 

The mutton bone soup ($6) was kinda lacking in flavour, me thinks it's a waste of calories.

The awesome company who gave in to my Naan craving :) 

That's J from the left, then E, then IR and then L on the right. I am obviously behind the camera lol.

So after having an awesome dinner, we decided to end the night with awesome desserts too. Since it was really an almost impossible task to find a parking lot around this area, I suggested going to Maison Ikkoku (walking distance away) after reading several reviews on it, not to mention it's on my never ending cafe list for the longest time lol.

They have this special 2nd Anniversary All Benedict Menu which looks really interesting, I'm a Benedict person, OF COURSE it will look interesting to me!

In whichever cafe that we go to, L ALWAYS orders Cafe Mocha ($7), I swear she's going to conquer every Cafe Mocha available in Singapore someday lol! On a not so serious note, this cafe mocha is a little expensive but given the area and the quality, it's still passable. I'm not really a coffee person, so the caffeine taste was a little too strong for me. L doesn't really like it either.

My usual Lemon Chamomile Tea ($5), fragrant and smooth, definitely my all time favourite type of tea.

The cute swan latte art on this Flat White ($5) is quite impressive, well at least to me. IR and E ordered this and commented that it's smooth but lacks the WOW factor.

J had her English Breakfast Tea ($5).

S'more Pie ($7) is good for sharing. Let me explain. Unless you are a self confessed dark chocolate addict, you will probably have to share this with another. The burnt marshmallow on top was a really nice combination with the dark chocolate tart and the biscuit crumbles in between. The dark chocolate will tend to be increasingly overwhelming after a while. That is why this needs to be shared so that it remains a fond memory.

Special request of L, this Tiramisu ($8) is homemade and has a strong alcohol taste. 

Remember to have a coffee break, whenever and wherever.

On the 2nd level, from 11am - 8pm it's a retail space (SALE!!) but after 8pm it's converted into a bar, which looks really cool as we walked up the stairs to check it out. The bartender was beckoning us in but it was running late so we gave it a miss. 

What's left to do after having alcoholic desserts and dark chocolate? Cam whore of course! 

That's E trying to convince people to have a coffee break, I'm pretty sure it's going to be infused with alcohol with that "slutty" wannabe face of hers lol.

And so, today has been a fulfilling journey of calories and here's J and E trying to be my emo models and me trying to take artistic pictures with my iPhone 4. When am I ever gonna learn that it's not going to work?! *rolls eyes*

Till next time.

Hangout #1: Al-Tasneem 

Operating Hours: 8.00am - 11.00pm daily

Address: 709 North Bridge Rd Singapore 198681

Tel No: 6291 1781 / 6298 2047

Hangout #2: Maison Ikkoku

Operating Hours: Mon-Thur: 9.00am - 9.00pm

                             Fri-Sat: 9.00am - 11.00pm

                             Sun: 9.00am - 7.00pm

Address: 20 Kandahar Street Singapore 198885

Tel No: 6294 0078

Facebook: Maison Ikkoku Facebook

Greenhouse buffet @ Ritz Carlton

F1 is here again this weekend, with road closures and special discounts everywhere, I couldn't miss out on the special offer that I happen to come across this year! It's Greenhouse @ Ritz Carlton which I heard and read so much about and decided to seize this opportunity.

This special offer is actually a tier discount for the week of F1 (16th September - 23rd September) and it works like this:

Multiple-Tier Dining Offer Advance Reservation

• Five or more days advanced booking – 50% direct discount off buffet dinner 

• Four days advanced booking – 40% direct discount off buffet dinner 

• Three days advanced booking – 30% direct discount off buffet dinner 

• Two days advanced booking – 20% direct discount off buffet dinner 

• One day advanced booking – 10% direct discount off buffet dinner

After reading this on the forum, I sent an email to reserve a table for Le Girlfriend (her name's L by the way) and myself IMMEDIATELY. How can we even think of missing this chance, so we decided to make it our Anniversary dinner :) And yes, we got 50% direct discount, we are lucky bitches aren't we? :D

Without further ado, I shall let the pictures do the talking for a bit:

The heavenly sight that greets you when you enter the restaurant. 

The cold seafood section. 

The oysters were freshly shucked to order, but then again, there was already a queue forming before the oysters were out. I bet the chef must be trying his best to shuck as many as possible with so many eyes on him lol. They were really fresh though, the prawns were very fresh and cooked just right as well. The clams and mussels were equally good as well.

L having doubts in the first place and then decided she enjoyed the fresh prawns after all, she has this ridiculously high standard when it comes to prawns at buffet.

From left, clockwise: Salmon with Saffron Cream Sauce, Salad with Smoked Salmon and Cold cut and lastly, Teriyaki Chicken. 

The Salmon was overcooked and the sauce was lacking, the salad was nothing out of the extraordinary. However, the Teriyaki chicken was marinated well and had a nice touch of Japanese Bonito flakes in them, which gives it an extra boost in my opinion.

From left, clockwise: Butter Chicken, Naan and the Curry Vegetable

Japanese Ramen from the Live cooking station.

The soup was flavourful and sweet, but unfortunately, the noodles were too soft for my liking and the bamboo shoots had an overwhelming smell.

Laksa from the Live cooking station.

This Laksa surprised me with it being so good that L went for second and third helpings. 

Sweet and Sour Prawn, and yes they are quite huge.

The prawns didn't really absorb the sauce but the prawns made up for it in size.

Japanese Soba Noodles.

This wasn't too good, cold noodles became warm noodles as the sauce was warm from leaving out for a long period of time.

Black Pepper Crabs.

I was kinda upset when I saw that it was empty when I went past it the 1st time round. Thankfully, L's sharp eyes caught them refilling it awhile later and voila! we both satisfied our crab cravings. This dish was really good with the black pepper sauce being just nice and addictive, not too spicy that we can't continue with second helpings. I believe this was one of the dishes that I enjoyed tremendously!

That kinda ended my night at Greenhouse, before you wonder, yes I did try the desserts but it wasn't that good enough to mention.

All in all, it was worth it because of the 50% discount but it depends if you are willing to brave the public transport and inconvenience of all the road closures and what not. For me, it's good enough to just try it once and leave it at that :)

Price: $88++ (50% off or less for F1 Special from 16th - 23rd September 2013)

Address: 7 Raffles Avenue, #03-00, The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore

Telephone: 6434 5288

Opening Hours: 12pm – 2.30pm (Lunch Buffet); 6.30pm – 10.30pm (Dinner Buffet); 12pm – 3.30pm (Sunday Brunch Buffet)

Cafe Galilee @ Ang Mo Kio Library

After a fruitful session of getting a bridesmaid dress for one of my best friend, Jeslyn's, upcoming wedding on 28th September, I headed down to Cafe Galilee at Ang Mo Kio Library.

Since I would have to wait for Le BFF (let's call her J) for a minimum of 2 hours since I have totally no idea exactly what time she is going to finish work, I then decided to head to the said cafe for a drink and a snack before my face falls flat on the book while reading :)

This is the Mocha Latte ($4.80), the coffee taste doesn't really linger in your mouth and the chocolate taste is not prominent enough.

The chicken chunks ($3.80) are quite value for money, there are about 7 pieces. It was juicy and fried, just right with a little crispiness on the outside. I believe this is great comfort food for the many students that are busy mugging away for exams here. 

J arrived while I was absorbed in one of the latest Tess Gerritsen thriller books (if you love gore and excitement and what not, you absolutely have to read one of her books). Anyway, I digress haha so here's what she ordered.

Iced chocolate ($4.60) which is too milky and lacks the oomph for the chocolate.

The drumlets ($3.80), another comfort food. I prefer the chicken chunks more than the drumlets, the outside has some charred bits and it's totally dry inside. 

The food was a 50-50 experience for us but the catching up over the food was worth much more. So, if you feel like having a lazy afternoon, either having some alone time with a book by your side or doing some catching up with friends with affordable comfort food, this might just be the place for you! 

There's an extra reason to head to the library now :p

Some of the outlets that you can pop by:

Woodlands Regional Library
900 South Woodlands Drive
Woodlands Civic Centre, #01-03
Singapore 730900

Jurong Regional Library
21 Jurong East Central 1
Singapore 609732

Ang Mo Kio Public Library
4300 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6
Singapore 569842

Bishan Public Library
5 Bishan Place, #01-01, Singapore 579841

Marine Parade Public Library
Marine Parade Community Building
278 Marine Parade Road
#01-02 Singapore 449282

Queenstown Public Library
53 Margaret Drive
Singapore 149297

Opening Hours: 10:00 am - 9:00 pm