Mar 31, 2014

Swensen's @ Bukit Panjang Plaza


Finally the young colleagues of mine who are the central region residents and are reluctant to come to Bukit Panjang agreed to have a dinner gathering in this relatively remote suburb of Singapore, on a location rotational basis.

Out of these 6 GRDP Trainees, 1 buyer and 1 Enterprise Excellence Business Leader a.k.a Blackbelt, three including me stay in Bukit Panjang - substantial enough to hold a monthly or bimonthly dinner gathering here in Bukit Panjang, right? But indeed, its inaccessibility to most of the places is a minus.

Coincidentally, it's the last day to flash the Swensen's $35 discount voucher before it expires. You get $35 off for every $70 spent, so if you spent $140, you'll get $70 off.

It was rather disappointing at the beginning, when we realized we had to make reservation which we didn't and we're told that we had to wait for an hour. Apparently, some Swensen's outlets require reservation being made while some don't, as I remember the one at Bugis Junction doesn't accept reservation, so make sure you call to inquire before that.
Fortunately, we saw a table of 6 and were allowed to enter after arguing that we could squeeze (sometimes I just wonder why are the attendant not able to accommodate to circumstances -_-).


Fish & Chips @ $15.50


Breaded Chicken @ $15.50


Teriyaki Chicken Pasta @ $16.90


Crispy Cornflake Chicken @ $15.50
5 of us ordered this, how about that?


Regular Earthquake @ $20.20
Erm... I forgot which flavors we picked, but anyway, you may pick any 8 scoops of your choice from the menu

The bill total was $97.57 after a $70 discount, so it's $12.20 per person, bloooooody cheap.



"武吉班讓是個山明水秀的好地方" - Javin Tham
That's what I kept iterating that day...


1 Jelebu Road, #03-04,
Bukit Panjang Plaza
Opening hours: 10.30am-10.30pm
Tel: 6892 0319


Javin Tham A master's degree graduate in engineering, a musician at heart, loves playing with soft toys.

Mar 30, 2014

Ramen Kagetsu Arashi @ The Star Vista


A lunch gathering with my young and energetic colleagues at Ramen Kagetsu Arashi らあめん花月嵐 @ The Star Vista after Sunday church service.

Tasty and steamy is the soup, getting longer and longer was the queue (sorry, very bad rhyming). :D

(To those who know the Japanese language) 'ramen' is usually 「ラーメン」 or 「らーめん」 in Japanese, and it's my first time seeing 'ramen' as 「らあめん」 where 「あ」 is used as the (ちょう)(おん) (long syllable).


Ginjiro Ramen 豚そば銀次郎らあめん @ $13.90
A harmonious blend of dried bonito (a kind of fish) & pork bones


(Right) Arashi Genkotsu Ramen 嵐げんこつらあめん @ $12.90
(Left) Arashi Genkotsu Sio Ramen 嵐げんこつらあめん(塩) @ $12.90
It should be 'Shio' instead or 'Sio', which means salt.


Arashi Toripaitan Ramen 嵐鶏白湯らあめん @ $13.90


1 Vista Exchange Green
#01-41, The Star Vista
Singapore 138617

Javin Tham A master's degree graduate in engineering, a musician at heart, loves playing with soft toys.

Mar 23, 2014

Johor, Malaysia


At 7:30am on a Sunday morning, we departed from Kranji MRT Station by Bus 170 towards Johor Bahru.
As there were exactly 7 of us, we rented a 7 seater car for the entire day at RM280, Joe the driver and Clarissa the navigator (thank you all). On top of that, we spent another RM57.36 for petrol and RM20 for topping up the Touch 'n Go smart card for crossing toll plazas.

Highlights:

  1. Breakfast @ Restaurant Chang Man 常滿
  2. Kota Tinggi Waterfall
  3. Lunch @ Kiang Kee Bak Kut Teh 強記肉骨茶
  4. Johor Premium Outlets
  5. Dinner @ Restoran Todak (Orang Asli) 旗魚海番村


Breakfast @ Restaurant Chang Man 常滿
9:00am to 9:50am





Read more:
Restaurant Chang Man 常滿 @ Johor Bahru

24G, Jalan Bestari 5/2, Taman Nusa Bestari,
81300 Skudai, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.


It comes to a total of RM112.30 (RM16.04/person).


Random enough, our next destination was the unplanned - Kota Tinggi Waterfall, situated 50km away from our breakfast place (about an hour drive).


See, our entertainer was happy... and a lot of noise was expected from her along the way... XD


Kota Tinggi Waterfall
11:00am to 12:00pm

5 of us are Malaysians while 2 are Singaporeans, by speaking Malay language and having faked that everyone in the car is Malaysian, we paid the local rate of RM7.50 per person, and RM3.00 for parking.

With a bit of walking and slight trekking, it didn't take long to reach the end of trail, with a tiny pool of semi-trapped reservoir from the upstream.





My tripod simply just saved the day! We wouldn't have had such a number of gorgeous group photos without it. :)
And it wasn't a bad decision at all - RM7.50 to embrace this delicate piece of nature, apart from the burning hot sun.

Javin Tham A master's degree graduate in engineering, a musician at heart, loves playing with soft toys.

Restoran Todak (Orang Asli) 旗魚海番村 @ Johor Bahru


This is the final highlight of our day trip to Johor from Singapore.

Do read my day trip to Johor blog entry for the entire itinerary.

We reached the restaurant at 6:30pm for dinner and I'm seriously thankful of that as we got to enjoy the gorgeous sea view (Johor Strait) and golden sunset as we're sitting at one of the tables on the outside wooden dock. Be sure to reach there before sunset if you'd like to have your delicious food accompanied by the glamorous scenery.

We initially ordered chilli crabs, which in the end informed that they ran out of the cheapest ones (< RM100/serving) and they're left with the more expensive ones (> RM100/serving), and so we replaced that with Indonesian Curry Prawns.






Superb view isn't it?
Sembawang Shipyard (Singapore) is located right across the strait and is completely visible from the restaurant (provided the haze doesn't come), so you're literally dining in a country watching at another country.


Satay @ RM17.00


Japanese Escargot 日本螺 @ RM22.50 (RM45/kg)
This dish tastes abnormal to us though.


Mussels 大頭 @ RM24.00


Vegetables @ RM18.00


Indonesian Curry Prawns 印尼咖哩蝦 @ RM50.00 (RM100/kg)
Curry doesn't usually favour me, but this butter curry on the contrary is savoury to the extent that it could be literally drunk like soup.


Bun 饅頭 @ RM1.00/pcs
And how can enjoy the curry to the max without these crisp buns?


Red Snapper 紅雞 @ RM51.00 (RM60.00/kg)


Fried Cuttlefish 炸蘇冬 @ RM26.00

The total bill was RM248.60 (RM35.51/person).


Restoran Todak (Orang Asli) 旗魚海番村
No 1 Kampung Orang Asli, Telok Jawa, Masai
81750 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.


Javin Tham A master's degree graduate in engineering, a musician at heart, loves playing with soft toys.