The King Louis

Kh had a very stressful week so I treated him to The King Louis. We were at Vivocity and didn't know what to eat, so we thought we would give this a try.

This Knight's Platter cost me $58 (after ++). First impression, upon looking at it, WOW. Second impression, upon having my first bite, hmm not bad. Then it goes downhill from there.

The meat platter was the cheapest and it comes with (They can give it fancy names, but I'm just gonna put it in my words.) chicken cutlet, grilled pork steak, grilled beef steak, chicken skewers, salad, potato wedges, and fruit skewers dusted with cinnamon powder. The best stuff? Unfortunately, also the easiest to cook, chicken cutlet. The rest were simply mediocre. Now, why would I go to a restaurant and pay $58 for something I can easily cook myself?

Sure it's nice to have a castle theme restaurant with a view overlooking Sentosa, beautiful furniture (we suspect that they retained pretty much of Hog's Breathe Cafe's furniture), some Orlando Bloom knight movie on TV... I just hated the loud noisy music that takes away all the cosiness the restaurant has to offer.

It amazes me how we can easily splurge $60 on a restaurant meal and yet bargain so hard for a $2 t-shirt in Cambodia. "It's all about relativity," Kh explains.

Verdict:
Food- 5/10
Service- 6.5/10
Ambience- 6.5/10
Price- 7/10

Total: 6/10

27 Klicks

Jack came over to Kh's house today for another board game maranthon with us. Unfortunately, this time, we're really really sick of our current collection of board games. After 1 round of Cities & Knights, we decided to join Kh's sis and her friend Steed for cycling.

All 5 of us did 27km of cycling today. It was crazy. I mean 27 klicks is not a big deal, but we had bike seats which were practically like wooden planks. Our groins ached so much to the point that they got numb, and you can totally feel warm blood flowing down there everytime you stand up.

After about 22km...
Kh's sis: If given $100 now, would you cycle up and down that long stretch of road again? (approx. 10km)
Jack: 不要，我还要生孩子的。

LOL.

Lesson learnt: Don't stinge on renting bikes!

After more than 27km of chionging, our legs were really wobbly. It's like how after rollerblading, you still feel like you're walking on wheels. Except that for cycling, you could fall down from all the wobbliness. Kh, being his ultra-annoying self, was nonetheless the first to knee-jerk me.

After which, we headed to Sembawang for the peh bee hoon. Jack and Steed ordered gonggongs which we thought were really disgusting.

Kh's sis: They don't even look nice!
Jack:  They don't have to look nice. You're gonna be eating them, not dating them.

Lol. Hilarious.

Overall a really fun day minus the groin aches. =X

My 23rd Birthday (Part 2)

Boss treated me to lunch at the tim sum restaurant at Centre Stage. Wah... always walk pass want to try but never try. Now I finally got my chance.

It was my 10th day at work, so I wouldn't expect anybody to know it was my birthday. So when Angela called me to go lunch with her, I was thinking what was the occasion. You know, you don't usually lunch with bosses.

Me: So what's the occasion?
Boss: Isn't it your birthday?
Me: !! Let me go get my camera!

So there. If I hadn't asked her, I wouldn't have these photos...

As usual, she ordered A LOT. And I really mean A LOT. For all 4 of us in the T&C merchandising dept.

xiao long bao. nice!

some egg white thingy. super nice! taste like shark's fin.

spicy and sour la mian

nian gao

bamboo shoots

gui lin gao

dunno wat is this. not bad. think got a bit of tau sa inside.

woohoo! $50 Marina Square voucher.

Later on, when I returned to office, I got a few birthday wishes from colleagues in other dept. Like woah, how did they know? And also a birthday card from John Little, signed off by the HR manager and my manager, Angela. Mum says,"Wah your staff welfare not bad ah?" Hehe.

After work, Kh brought me to this French restaurant at Berjaya Hotel. Think it's somewhere near Duxton Road?? The food is not bad but wayy too pricey.

French bread with olive oil and olives! We so DID NOT eat the olives.

My very tiny piece of grilled salmon with leek and potatoes in parsley sauce.

Think it's $32++.

The salmon is so-so. But very fresh. And I must say that leek never tasted this good.

Kh's tiny piece of beef tenderloin. Fresh and juicy. Think it's $38++.

We would've liked it better if the portion was bigger. Wasn't very filling. Went to Maxwell to share a bowl of fish porridge after that. =.= But overall, good place, good ambience, good service. The waiters are very knowledgeable. They definitely know their wine, their beef, and their Frenchy ingredients. But this is definitely not for the budget-conscious.

Dinner at Dragon Phoenix restaurant the following weekend with my family.

The food is okay. Certain dishes quite nice. But the service needs to be improved not because they serve too slow, but because they served TOO FAST (hence I did not manage to take photos). Hmm.. felt like we were being chased away. $168++ for a table of 6.

Got another $150 Capitaland shopping vouchers from mum and sisters. Woah, $200 of vouchers with my soon-to-be-arrived Robinsons Group staff card? Shopping frenzy!

Just a random photo of Rachel... hehe.

And she's wearing the "Too Cool For School" overall I bought for her. Hehe. Ain't she adorable?

Kh's Bdae

This was more than 3 weeks ago... >_<"

When to Xi Yan with his family after JBP outing, and North Border on his actual day-19th June. =)

Xi Yan near Duxton Road

Food: 8.5/10

Service: 8.5/10

Ambience: 8/10 (the place is nice and quiet, decorated with many art pieces, but the temperature is too warm for comfort.)

Price: 7/10 ($55/person for this 7 course set meal!)

Posh private dining restaurant.

Only got 6 tables and they only take in reservations. No walk-in.

The menu even has your name printed on it.

don't underestimate this plain looking ginseng red date and chicken soup

green house tomatoes in wasabi sesame sauce

picked from the finest giant japanese tomatoes- also the chef's speciality. My favourite dish in the menu. yum!

seared prime ribeye with sichuan sauce

pregnant woman's stir fried rice

pork & crab roe lion's head in consomme

stir fried spinach with fresh chinese yam

chef's tofu ice cream on pandan rice with coconut cream

North Border at Rochester Park
Food: 7/10
Service: 6.5/10
Ambience: 6/10 (what could have been nice ambience is ruined by the poor lightning-only 1 candle to light our table =.= -and mosquitoes)
Price: 6.5/10 (Approx $40/main course after ++. Not exactly what I'm willing to pay for something of this quality.)

Complementary Tortilla Chips w/ Salsa

at least this is fresh from the oven

Babyback pork ribs

not bad... but i won't say it's fantastic. probably just better than Cafe Cartel's St Louis ribs

Jumbo prawns and tenderloin in wild mushroom sauce

Jumbo prawns were not so jumbo after all. But the sauce on it was nice. Kh was NOT happy that the waiter didn't bother to ask how he likes his beef to be done.

shirley temple

apple crumble in vanilla ice cream

Sadly, the vanilla ice cream tastes like cheapo Cremo's.

Life

I think I have absolutely no life, yet too much life at the same time. If that makes any sense.

Finished watching half a season of Leverage and 1 whole season of 24 in 5 days. =.=

Look I even spotted an error!

A crew member was holding what looks like a camera. Can even see his elbow and knee. =.=


Went to JB the other day and got a pretty good deal. 30RM for 2 t-shirts! That's about S$6.30 each!

Body Shop at City Square was having a 70% sale so Kh and I got ourselves a 400ml Mango Shower Gel at S$10 each!!!

Diesel, B.U.M, and Union Bay jeans were also going at 70%-50% off.

And I had an embarrassing moment. Kh and I were at J.CO looking at the peeps behind the glass panel making donuts. Then I saw one guy throwing a donut at another guy.

Me: How can they throw the donut?! So wasted!
Kh: Shhh! Don't say so loud, they can hear you!
Me: *Looks up and realise that everyone inside is laughing at me*
Me: Ok let's get out of here.

This is what happens when you hang out with loud friends. Was calling MC on the phone the other day...

Me: Hey I need your address to fill in the referral part of my resume.
MC: OK! 17 J***** ********! Oops I said too loud. (talking really loudly)
Me: -_-"
MC: Now everyone knows where I stay. (still talking loudly)
Me: -_-""
MC: OK... now they are looking at me... !! (yup still loud)
Me: -_-""""


Went to Illuma for the first time the other day and trust me, you DO NOT wanna drive there. The carpark sucks!

(You know how Illuma means to give out light. How ironic cos some of the restaurants there had a blackout. =.= )

So anyways, we went to Xin Cafe to have dinner.

Ordered the Chef's Recommendation, Li Wan Porridge. English description says pork porridge but picture does not seem like it. Asked the waitress what is actually inside and she told me there is pork and "white strips". What the heck is "white strips"? Turned out that the "white strips" are actually FISH MAW which made up 70% of the ingredients. The "pork" was char siew cut into tiny bits. -_-"

The Xiao Long Baos were not bad though.

Kh and I concluded that Vivocity will remain as our favourite haunt.