One day in 大阪 Osaka, Japan

Posted on 2 September 2017 by lendeliz

IMG20170902134333We are back in Japan!

This trip happened because the promotion for 15% off Krisflyer miles for online redemption was ending (boo SQ!), and we wanted to use up our miles (and the discount) 😛

When we started our planning, we had great ambition to cover lots of places, so we decided to fly in to Osaka and fly out from Fukuoka. And to travel leisurely in between so as to cover the whole stretch of Wakayama, Shikoku, Kyushu and not have to backtrack in order to fly back. But as the planning went, we thought we were too ambitious and reduced our ambitions to just Kyushu. 😛

We were scheduled to fly in and reach Osaka like 9:35pm, so we had planned to quickly go through immigration and dashed to take the train to hotel. We planned to stay two nights in Osaka, and only spent 1 Saturday to explore Osaka since we had been here before.

Therefore, we went to the areas within walking distance of one another, where good food and shopping were concentrated at (as well as the crowds!).

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Categories: Japan, Osaka, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Hyde & Co @North Bridge Road

Posted on 24 June 2017 by lendeliz

2017-06-24 12.44.522017-06-24 12.26.12Our second stop today was the nearby Hyde & Co for lunch.

This was a small but popular cafe, and was almost full house at 1pm!

  • The Bomb ($13.90 for half portion): We liked that there was half portions (4 pieces) available. The prawns were fresh, and the chye poh (pickled radish) omelette as pizza topping was definitely something interesting, but the samba chinchalok spread was too spicy for us, and the pizza base was too hard. Also, our pizza was kinda burnt.
  • Hyde’s Chilli Crab Pasta ($22.90): There was a generous amount of Blue Swimmer crab meat, and the spicy Arrabiata sauce had sufficient kick without being overly spicy. It complemented the linguine well, and we enjoyed the pasta very much.
  • My Fair Lady ($6.50): We requested for the iced tea to be without sugar. The iced Earl Grey Tea with milk was light with a hint of rose. Quite lovely.

Note: Wi-Fi and water (including hot water!) is available for free.

Contact:

  • Location: 785 North Bridge Road S(198753)
  • Website: www.hydeandco.com.sg (Facebook)
  • Hrs: 12pm – 6pm (Sun-Mon), 12pm – 10:30pm (Wed-Sat)
Categories: Central, Intro, Lunch | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Tolido’s Espresso Nook @Crawford Lane

Posted on 24 June 2017 by lendeliz

2017-06-24 10.19.41We were in the area to collect hubby’s passport and the queue at Tai Hwa looked scary 😮

A quick Google Search showed a promising cafe nearby and we decided to check it out instead.

2017-06-24 10.21.59A nice cosy little cafe, it started to get really busy at around 10:30am. Luckily, we stepped in just a few minutes earlier, and were able to get our seats and place our orders quickly.

  • Sea salt spiced Chai latte ($6.50 nett) : After the initial light saltiness, the first sip was actually quite sweet and milky, before the spice settled in and started swirling all over. I liked the layers of taste!
  • Skinny latte ($5.50): With beans from Yahava, hubby is a happy man. He felt that this was a slightly watered down version of the one he usually has at Yahava, but still pretty good 🙂
  • The ultimate combo ($12): Perfect for sharing as we wanted a light bite, the 2 pancakes were fluffy and quite light.  The cheese sausage was awesome and really cheesy, without being overly salty.

Wi-Fi and water is available for free. Also,  there was a cute cat inside cafe!

Contact:

  • Location: 462 Crawford Lane #01-63 S(190462)
  • Website: www.facebook.com/tolidosnook
  • Hrs: 8am – 6:30pm (Tue-Fri), 9am – 6:30pm (Sat-Sun)
Categories: Breakfast, Central | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Day trip to Johor Bahru, Malaysia by Public Transport

Posted on 16 June 2017 by lendeliz

IMG_3082

Despite being so near to Johor Bahru, hubby and I had never venture there together before, firstly because of the fear of weekend crowds, and secondly, we always thought that we would need a car to travel within JB. However, for some unknown reasons, people around us had been talking about JB recently, and encouraging us to go on a weekday. So when Ms. K suggested going to JB together via public transport and exploring the area within walking distance of City Square, we readily agreed!

Here was our day trip itinerary:

Notes:

Categories: Johor, Malaysia, Travel | Tags: | 1 Comment

Cafes within walking distance from City Square @Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Posted on 16 June 2017 by lendeliz

There are quite a few cafes within walking distance from Johor Bahru City Square, and we tried 2 during our trip.

Faculty of Caffeine

Our first stop of the trip was to chill 😛 We shared a Waffle with Japanese Curry Soft Shell Crab (RM28.90 + 10% service charge + 6% GST as of  Jun 2017), and tried a hot Latte (RM10++), Iced Apple Lemon (RM12++) and Iced Apple Pear (RM12++).

The waffle was pretty normal, but the soft shell crab was really salty 😮

Drinks-wise, the latte was not bad, and the juices were freshly squeezed and refreshing 🙂

Note: Free WiFi was available.

Contact:

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Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Johor, Malaysia, Travel | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Restoran Ya Wang 鸭皇药材烧腊大王 @Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Posted on 16 June 2017 by lendeliz

We ventured to Johor Bahru by bus today!

Lunch was at this popular restaurant, and we made it a point to arrive before 11.30am. It was actually getting crowded already 😮 We quickly got ourselves seated and got some recommendations from the staff on what to eat 🙂

  • 碳烤药材鸭 Herbal Roast Duck (RM22 nett): Apparently this place acted as consultant for the chain 店小二 Dian Xiao Er in Singapore, and we thought the roast ducks were pretty comparable, i.e. tender and juicy!
  • 叉烧烧肉 Honey BBQ Pork & Roast Pork (RM20): We definitely preferred the roast pork with its crispy skin 🙂 We would have preferred BBQ pork with a bit more fats 😛
  • 亚叁妮罗红 Assam Red Tilapia (RM30): This was the clear winner of all the items that we tried! The fish was really fresh, and the assam gravy was oh-so-addictive 😀 I think this was a Today’s Special and not in the menu.
  • 奶白菜 Taiwan White Cabbage (RM18): Pretty standard plate of vegetable, to make us feel less guilty about the sinful lunch, haha 😛
  • 海燕窝 Sea Birdnest drink (RM6.50): We were curious about what 海燕窝 was, and it turned out to be rather crunchy and jelly-like. The drink was perhaps a bit more like 糖水 (sweet soup dessert), and it was quite nice.

Overall, a very enjoyable meal 🙂

Note: Above prices included 6% GST.

Contact:
Categories: Johor, Lunch, Malaysia, Travel | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

한국 South Korea 韓國 Itinerary 2017

Posted on 12 April 2017 by lendeliz

IMG_2009We were all very interested in seeing cherry blossoms, and while hubby had seen the beautiful blooms many years ago in Japan, the rest of us have only seen them online and on TV shows. Initially, we intended to fly into Japan first before travelling to South Korea (the flowers started blooming earlier in certain parts of Japan, and the variety of flowers were different), but the exorbitant air fares made us decide to go for a less ambitious trip 😛

We read about the largest cherry blossom festival in 진해 Jinhae 镇海, and decided that we would focus on 부산 Busan 釜山, and 서울 Seoul 首爾, while keeping things flexible in Busan so that we could go for a day trip to Jinhae, when the cherry trees were in full bloom.

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Cafes in Busan and Seoul, South Korea

Posted on 11 April 2017 by lendeliz

We had been to quite a few cafes during this trip, sometimes just to get breakfast for the next morning, and sometimes, we needed caffeine. And our favourite place gotta be…

카반커피 Kavan Coffee

IMG_2385IMG_2384Of worthy mention is this place, where we had the best Cafe Latte (₩3,000) of this trip. Strong, yet smooth, it had that oomph at the very first sip 🙂

The Green Tea Latte  (₩3,500) here was pretty good too.

There are 2 outlets, and the one we visited was near 서면역 Seomyeon Station 西面站 (check out the location map in their website). Do give it a try if you visit Busan!

Website: www.kavancoffee.com (Facebook)

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Categories: Busan, Coffee/Tea Break, Seoul, South Korea, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment

애성회관 곰탕 (Aeseong Hoegwan Gomtang) Aseong Hall Beef Soup @Seoul, South Korea

Posted on 11 April 2017 by lendeliz

IMG_2760We wanted to grab some dinner prior to making our way to the airport, and once again, we went to the nearby 애성회관 곰탕 (Aeseong Hoegwan Gomtang) Aseong Hall Beef Soup, recommended by the hotel.

We got ourselves some 곰탕 (Gomtang) Beef Soup 牛肉湯 (₩8,000 (S), ₩10,000 (L)).

Simple, and super delicious, the beef slices were thick, tender, and flavourful.

We recommend getting the big bowl for the extra beef! The noodles quantity seemed to be the same, and they were worth slurping too. The soup was served warm (not piping hot), and it was very flavourful too.

What a delicious meal to end our trip with 🙂

Contact:

  • Location: 서울특별시 중구 남대문로5길 23 세창빌딩 Seochang Building, 5 Road, 23 Namdaemunro, Jung-gu, Seoul
  • Website: www.facebook.com/pages/애성회관/492191597564040
  • Directions: See directions here. Take Exit 7 of 시청역 City Hall Station 市廳站 (Subway Line 1/2, Station Number 132/201) and walk around 5 mins.
  • Hrs: 10am – 9pm (Mon-Fri), 10am – 8pm (Sat)
Categories: Dinner, Seoul, South Korea | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

덕수궁 Deoksugung Palace 德壽宮 @Seoul, South Korea

Posted on 11 April 2017 by lendeliz

IMG_2727Our last day in Seoul, and we thought to just hang around near our hotel.

We wanted to check out the stone-wall road of 덕수궁 Deoksugung Palace 德壽宮, but as we were walking towards the palace, we heard drums going off…

Imagine our excitement when we saw the Changing of the Royal Guards Ceremony in front of 대한문 Daehanmun Gate 大漢門 so close to the streets (and traffic lights)!

Too bad it was nearing the end already, so we decided to go ahead with admiring the stone walls, and finding a cafe to chill, while we waited for the 15:30 Changing of the Royal Guards Ceremony to begin.

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Categories: Seoul, South Korea, Travel | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

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