[Here is the photostream of Ho Chi Minh City 2015, for those who prefer pictures to tell a story. 🙂]
Simple breakfast
Tickets to War Remnants Museum
After a very sumptuous breakfast at the hotel, we made our way to the War Remnants Museum and spent the remaining morning there.
This is a museum on the Vietnam War, and it is a rather emotional exhibition to us, and it serves to remind us of the cruelty of war and the selfishness of people.
Beautiful latte art
We were in the area again and wondering what’s new for dinner. And as usual, I noticed some gorgeous waffles photos on Instagram, and checked that a new cafe has just opened along Kim Keat Road, near to Balestier-Whampoa area. This is just at the end of the road from Wheeler’s Yard!
Nestled within Hanson Court (a block of revamped studio apartments), Regroup x Scoop Therapy is a duel Cafe & Ice Cream Bar concept, which is also the 3rd branch from the very popular Group Therapy Coffee. The entire cafe is behind a glass wall and the glassed space welcomes much natural sunlight and the whimsical décor within complements the colourfulness of their homemade ice cream. There are a couple of alfresco seats but I seriously doubt anyone would want to sit so near the road.
Beautiful place!
Ms J promised to take us to this secret tea place for a 3-course tea sampling course ($45 nett per pax) and we had been so looking forward to it! We were surprised to be able to find such a peaceful sanctuary right smack in the middle of town 🙂
It was a 5 to 10 minute walk from Somerset MRT, and luckily, J had sent us a picture of the door without signage so that we knew exactly where to look for!
After pressing the bell (actually, we should have pressed the button of the intercom instead), we were welcomed to the lovely tea place!
It was huge with 3 floors and mezzanine floors, with private rooms and common rooms. After removing our shoes, we walked in and were greeted huge goldfishes swimming in the indoor pond!
Happy couple!
Another day, another breakfast decision. We Googled for a nearby breakfast place and The Regency Café (opened since 1946) seemed like a good option for some classic, traditional full English breakfast! It was voted as the fifth best restaurant in London by users of the website Yelp in 2013, and was included in the list of the top five less expensive places to eat in the UK.
But we have read many reviews about poor service, so we were also prepared to go elsewhere if things didn’t work out. Getting shouted at early in the morning is not the best way to start the day! (Apparently, the procedure of the day is to order your food at the counter first before you find a seat, or you will be shouted at!)
It was an easy 10-15min walk from our hotel and we managed to arrive close to 9am, and it was almost full, with only a couple of empty tables.
Note: Hang Out Cafe has ceased operations at this location, and relocated to NAFA.
Bombastic Egg
You may have heard that the Burpz Cafe that used to be near our house has changed management and renamed themselves to Hang Out Cafe. They have been quite on the ball and changing/adding menu items regularly. So on this quiet night when I do not know where or what to have dinner, I just strolled myself to here and decided to park here and nua…
I saw the board displaying the Savoury Waffle and wanted to try but it was only available at breakfast and tea time. However the owner was quite flexible and said that the kitchen would be able to prepare for me, if I wanted to try it. So I ordered that (not knowing exactly what is the savoury part) and ordered the Bombastic Egg ($8) as well.
One of the more popular foods at the Changi Village Food Centre would be the nasi lemak (Malay coconut milk rice) and there are many stalls selling that. During our stay in Changi Village, we tried 2 of the more popular stalls – International Nasi Lemak and Mizzy Corner Nasi Lemak.
We ordered the same ingredients (egg, ikan bilis, otah) so that we can compare. Honestly, we couldn’t really tell which one was better, and we very much preferred the Nasi Lemak Kukus at Upper Thomson, haha!
Of note, at Mizzy Corner, it would be better to order the chicken, egg and ikan bilis set ($3.50) because almost all the sets were $3.50 (egg, ikan bilis with another item), but ala-carte chicken wings actually cost 50 cents more, so it was more value-for-money.
International Nasi Lemak
Mizzy Corner Nasi Lemak
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Industrial look
Reflections
Since we were already nearby at the Flee Away Cafe, we decided to drop by Rouse too! We couldn’t get a proper table, so ended up at the long table by the mirror wall. It was initially kind of strange to be staring at oneself so up close and personal, but very soon we were having a lot of fun taking selfies!!
After a slow walk…
We were up early and took a slow walk (part of our new exercise regime) to Bishan Park!
It was a leisurely 40-min walk and at the end of it, we decided to go to GRUB (again!!) for breakfast today!
As we arrived shortly after it was opened for the day, we didn’t have to queue (or use the unique queue system which they shared with Wild Honey), yeah!
Big banners
We wanted to try our luck at Teppei because I was attending a course nearby but the queue was incredible! And the place is ridiculously small, and with a waiting list of at least 4 months (and the impossibility of getting through the phone once the reservation starts), I am guessing it will probably be in our next life that we get to dine at Teppei. … provided there’s a Teppei in our next life, that is…
So we looked around the corner and here is Gyoza King! The big banners are really very inviting and since there is no queue, we decided this would be a gyoza night!
This is one of the 5 Ramen Keisuke Tokyo outlets, the others being:
The alphabet chairs!
Self-labelled napkins
We have heard so much about this ‘One Man’ that we must come! This is a specialty coffee concept store that that focuses on the art of the espresso and shares the space with Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar. It brews coffee and all-day breakfast until 5pm and hands the store over to Crust Pizza for them to serve up think-crust pizza. How cool is that?
Eat.Eat.Walk.Walk . 吃吃走走 