Travel

ファーマーズマーケット@国連大学前 Farmer’s Market at UNU @Shibuya

2015-11-29 13.53.422015-11-29 14.14.04For this trip, we were searching for special events in Tokyo and found that there was a regular weekend farmer’s market at United Nations University.

Hubby was very excited about this, and so we planned to go there for lunch. We had initially thought that we would be snacking there, but it turned out that there was actually an entire section devoted to food, with food trucks, proper tables and seats 😀

We tried:

  • Tomato Ketchup Omu Rice Set (¥800) from 東京オムレツ: This was a hearty portion of omu rice and vegetables. The omulette was fluffy and the tomato fried rice inside was flavourful.
  • Bacon and Egg Pancake (¥450) from Betty’s Pancake: This was a surprised find! The soft and fluffy pancake covered a huge piece of tender bacon, egg mayo and green vegetable to make a very delicious mouthful!

We were pleasantly surprised by the good quality of the food here! Hope that we will have a chance to re-visit next time to try out the other food trucks 🙂

Contact:

  • Location: 5-53-70 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tōkyō-to 150-0001, Japan 〒150-00001 東京都渋谷区神宮前5–53–70 国際連合大学前広場
  • Nearest Station: JR Shibuya Station 渋谷駅
  • Direction: From JR Shibuya Station take the exit towards Aoyama Dori and walk along Aoyam Dori until you reach UNU.
  • Website: www.farmersmarkets.jp
  • Hrs: 10am – 4pm (Sat-Sun)
Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Tokyo | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

なんつッ亭・品達店 Nantsuttei Shinatatsu @Shinagawa

2015-11-28 19.32.14We finally made our last trip of 2015 to the Land of the Rising Sun! And this time we started from Tokyo!

Our first real meal in Tokyo was at Shinagawa. We met JL, who recently started working in Tokyo. Funny that we always meet up when we are out of Singapore… 😛

Anyway, she used the powerful Google Maps to navigate our way to the Shinatatsu Ramen Street 品川駅前「麺達七人衆 品達」. This is an area below the railway tracks of JR Shinagawa Station 品川駅 which has a collection of 7 ramen shops. And Nantsuttei is the first one as you walked into the area (and incidentally one of the only two that were still operating, the others were closed for renovations because of some construction going on at the railway tracks).

Nantsuttei started from Kanagawa and has now quite a number of branches in Tokyo, Thailand and Singapore too (Orchard Central). There is quite a following for its celebrity founder Ichirô Furuya, and judging from the queue that we were seeing at the Shinatatsu branch, this was the ramen for us!

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Categories: Dinner, Tokyo | Tags: , | 2 Comments

Phuket 2015 Itinerary

2015-11-08 15.11.35We got off to a great start at Changi Airport, thanks to the complimentary 2-hour airport lounge access by Far East Organisation, after our recent stayacation with them at Orchard Parade Hotel. As we did not have any check-in luggage and had done our online check-in, we were able to go straight to the document check counter to obtain a printed boarding pass (not sure why we were unable to print it ourselves). Anyway, this queue was very short and definitely much faster! With more than 3 hours prior to flight departure, we happily went in search of the lounge!

Located one floor above and opposite gate C1, it was quiet and relatively empty. One could choose the seats near the viewing gallery, a more private rest corner with reclining arm chairs, or even a room to snooze in. There were also shower facilities. We rested a while in the comfortable arm chairs, before moving out for an early lunch, as well as reading of newspapers and magazines. There were plenty of food and drinks available, and we especially enjoyed the ramen, laksa, char kway tiao and cookies.

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Categories: Phuket, Thailand, Travel | Tags: | Leave a comment

Thiwsoen Seafood Restaurant @Mai Khao

2015-11-10 20.50.58Located about 10-minute walk away from Marriott Vacation Club Resort and Spa, we read about its relatively good food in Tripadvisor and decided to go explore!

From the main entrance of the resort, we made a right turn and pretty much just followed the road and then a right turn at the junction and just continued to walk and walk. The sun was setting as we strolled, aand it was all dark by the time we arrived at the rows of stalls. We did not really check out the rest of the stalls, but made our way somewhere just past the middle to Thiwsoen.

We were given seats at a little hut, and a basin of water and insect repellent arrived at our table, how thoughtful! Without the insect repellent, we would have been covered with bites.

Food prices were comparable to Kin Dee, and we decided to sample a few dishes:

  • Shrimp Cake (200B): Soft and slightly fluffy, the fried shrimp cakes were not dense like the crab cakes that we had at Kin Dee. The batter had plenty of shrimp bits and was yummy!
  • Fried Morning Glory (100B): Quite standard stir fry Kang Kong with bean paste, that was abit too salty.
  • Hor Mok Steamed Seafood with Curry Paste in Coconut (280B): A form of Thai curry fish custard, this was the winner of the night. It was super fragrant, and the shrimps, crab claws and squids were very fresh and sweet. Scrapping off the coconut flesh and eating with the slightly sweet and spicy curry was a bonus!

Overall, it was quite a lovely meal, minus the mosquitoes, and the cute little boy running all over taking orders and serving food gave this little family-run eatery a even more welcoming feel, and we left the place happily, with our phone flashlights on, as we made our way back along the now almost-dark roads.

Contact:

  • Location: Mai Khao, Thalang District, Phuket, Thailand
  • Hrs: Dinner hours
Categories: Dinner, Phuket, Thailand, Travel | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Kin Dee Restaurant @Mai Khao

So we went on a short vacation (again), after hubby finished his BIG project of the year! This time we went Phuket on accepting an invite from my friend from Marriott Vacation Club!

We took a 25-minute stroll from Marriott Vacation Club to this highly recommended restaurant outside the resort. It was a fairly straight forward route, just turn left upon exiting the main gates, and follow the road till we reached the main road. From there, we turned left again and continue to walk till we past by a tiny local shop. Right across it was an air-conditioned mini-mart, with a small road leading inwards to Kin Dee Restaurant.

We were glad that we made it in time, because barely 10 minutes after we were seated, it started to rain! We enjoyed the food so much that we decided to order in the next day. They deliver directly and free to the resort (we just need to meet them at the gates), and it costs the same as eating in. No additional tax or service charge, making this a cheaper alternative to food within the resort. We did find that food quality dropped for delivery, e.g. fried stuff were no longer as crispy or hot, so a bit of walking is still highly recommended! Or you could pay 500B for a return trip with the local taxi, inclusive of the driver’s waiting time. Not very worth in our opinion, since it was just a 6 minute ride.

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Categories: Dinner, Phuket, Thailand, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Malacca 2015 Day 3

2015-10-11 10.41.00Today is check-out day. We had a simple breakfast at hotel, and went back to the Jonker area. There was a flea market and we had fun looking at stuff from the olden days.

2015-10-11 11.15.53We stopped by for coffee at Calanthe Art Cafe where coffee from 18 Malaysia states were on display, with the staff suggesting that mummy try the Perlis Kopi (RM4.25 + 6% GST), as she preferred something more milky, while hubby was so feeling so hot, so he went for cold Caffe latte (RM 9.35+). Daddy settled for green apple juice (RM7.25+), and I wanted the apple aloe vera (RM5.15+).

2015-10-11 12.57.17It was back to hotel for a quick lunch at Coffeevine in Hatten Hotel. Our KKKL coach was scheduled to leave at 2pm, but we were told to be at the pick up point by 1.30pm. It came promptly at 1:30pm and we reached the drop-off point in Singapore (near Hotel V at Lavender instead of Textile Centre) by 6.10pm. And our short vacation has ended. 🙂

Useful Links:

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Malacca 2015 Day 2

2015-10-10 10.37.102015-10-10 11.03.15We took our time in the morning and had a late breakfast at the hotel.

After that, a slow stroll brought us to St Paul’s Hill, and A’ Famosa Fort.

We continued to stroll to the famous landmark of Melaka, Christ Church Melaka before making our way back for lunch at Restoran Nyonya Makko!

We had heard good reviews of Amy Heritage Nyonya Cuisine which is just behind Hatten Hotel but we were not able to get reservations (it’s very very popular!). So we settled for Makko which is also near the hotel and we had been here 5 years ago.

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Categories: Malacca, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Malacca 2015 Day 1

2015-10-10 10.32.32-2We did a short getaway over the weekend to Malacca with my parents over the weekend.

Malacca has lots to offer but our last trip was more than 5 years ago. So we were quite lucky and thankful to have taken Luxury Coach because a guide was on board to share much about Malacca and its attractions when we were en route after Woodlands Checkout to Malacca. That helped to frame our expectations and refreshed some of our memories of the beautiful place.

While the speed of eating was definitely slower this time, we still managed to try a few things 😀

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Categories: Malacca, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Staycation 2015 @Orchard Road

It was a very festive long weekend for us, and we decided to do a staycation for our celebrations 🙂

Hubby was on Far East Hospitality mailing list and they sent him a birthday deal which upgraded us to a Club Room with club privileges (at deluxe room price) and lots of freebies (like 2hrs lounge usage at Changi Airport which could come in handy for our trips later in the year!!). Being on the club level means we can enjoy the Club Lounge which serves breakfast, afternoon snacks, pre-dinner snacks and unlimited coffee and tea! We literally just sat in the lounge most of the time since the PSI was climbing like no one’s business (until MOE had to declare no-school on Friday!).

Day 1 (24 Sep): Check in at Orchard Parade Hotel, went for complimentary hop-on-and-off ride, went Everton Park (Batterworks and Just Want Coffee), lunch at Teng Bespoke Japanese Vegetarian Dining @Sunshine Plaza, tea break at Curious Platette @Prinsep Street, visit to National Museum, nua at Club Lounge in hotel, dinner at Akanoya Robatayaki.

Day 2 (25 Sep): Woke up late and had breakfast in hotel, lunch at I Want My Noodle, nua at Club Lounge in hotel, attend Wedding Dinner in Tunglok Signatures

Day 3 (26 Sep): Woke up late and had breakfast in hotel, check-out at 4pm

Useful Links:

  • Orchard Parade Hotel: Not bad a location for staycation. And the club level provides a very nice environment to escape from the haze!
Categories: Central, Singapore, Travel | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Taipei 2015 Itinerary

This was a super impromptu trip as hubby realized that his KrisFlyer miles were expiring soon and we needed to redeem! But we didn’t have enough mileage to go anywhere far, so we settled for a redemption of a one way ticket and purchasing a budget airline ticket for the other way… And so, we ended up going to Taipei!

We touched down at 桃園國際機場 Taoyuan International Airport T1 around 05:45 and made our way to T2 to get our SIM card… And we were lost again! So for the record:

  • At T1, after clearing immigration, follow sign boards to take lift to 3F to take Skytrain to T2. This will lead you to Departure Hall.
  • 中華電信 Chunghwa Telecom is a booth located in front of Row 14, next to the entrance/exit to the airport.

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Categories: Taiwan, Travel | Tags: | 1 Comment

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