Father's Day Dinner @ ChongQing Hot Pot

Happy Father's Day
to all fathers in the world!

Rating: ★★★

Went for a dinner celebration at ChongQing Hot Pot in Tanglin Shopping Centre!

Not bad at the start, it really has the 麻辣 ("numbing spicy") taste to it!

And look at all the ingredients we have! All included in the buffet. Approx. $38 per person, comes with desserts (eg. sticky rice cake, water chestnut jelly, ice-cream) and some special snacks (eg. spring roll, dumplings, 1-slice abalone and salmon)!

One complaint:
The place is quite small and cramped, and the soup base is bit too salty. I didn't get to enjoy the soup in the end. :\

Just Noodles @ Suntec

Simply cheap and yummy :)

Rating: ★★★

[prologue]
So I thought I could grab some ice-cream waffles at Gelare (Tuesday's 1/2 price offer) then head to a Singtel store to fix my mobile plan upgrades...

Happily cabbed to Suntec (bearing $2 ERP cost), found out that Gelare is closed from June 16-18, and realized that the Singtel stores there are only "dealers" NOT "Hello Singtel". Change of plans. So what's for dinner instead?
[/prologue]

Came to Just Noodles in B1 - the fountain area. If you've never heard of this name, Just Acia might just ring a bell to you. (There's a huge chain at the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station..) The food may not look very appetizing at first, but don't run! If you are not so picky, this restaurant will serve you the best food at the best bargain!

1) Great value.
Free Flows!! If you love free flow drinks, how about some free flow ice-cream!? XD It's self-service, like the drinks, with 6 flavors to choose from. Definitely try mango and vanilla! Be surprised, they don't taste as cheap as they appear to be. Set meals include both free flow drinks & ice-cream. For ala-carte, you can also add $2.75 for the free flow offer. Entrees range from $6-$18 approx; side dishes from $1-$6 approx.

2) Decent food.
If the ice-cream is good, the entrees can't be too bad right? A mixture of korean, japanese, and some chinese style, their kimchi soup is actually much better than those you can get at food courts. Although not the highest quality, it's definitely good enough considering how much you are paying for. Also try their Unagi Kabayaki and prawn rolls!

3) Fast service.
It's really a come, eat, and go place. Well maybe stay longer for the ice-cream :p but guaranteed low waiting times. Since drinks and desserts are self-served, it helps with reduced serving time too. You can change to a different drink and a different flavor of ice-cream anytime you want.

I would definitely go there again. :)

Read more reviews here.

Dinner @ Manhattan Fish Market

(Another overdue post. ><; Actual day: June 2 - the night I bought my Monopoly Deal.) Rating: ★★★★

This was my first time at Manhattan Fish Market. Not bad!

Soup of the day was Seafood Chowder. My only complain was too much of tomato taste (bit sour) for my preference. I would try their Cream of Mushroom or Clam Chowder on next visit.

I ordered black pepper grilled salmon with chips. Salmon was fresh and the fries were tasty too. Anyways, I felt this was a little too expensive or "not worth it" (~$18) when I saw wx's platter for 1 below...

His plate was that much fuller than mine - 2 jumbo prawns and a catch of the day, dora fish, plus both fries and baked rice! Only $3 more (~$21)

On second thought, I should have ordered baked rice - which tasted a bit like the garlic rice from Sakae Teppanyaki. I even DIY-ed and added more garlic to make it "asian"! :D

Where to find crispy waffles in Singapore?

Rating: ★★★

Yum yum yum. Went to West Coast Plaza with my family and found this great waffle place:

the Waffle Place Cottage!

Ordered strawberry ice-cream at Qiqi's request (I was sharing it with her). $6.80 for single scoop. Wanted to add strawberries, but was told that they ran out of them (there's a Cold Storage right downstairs you know!) >

• West Coast Plaza, #02-27
• Suntec City Mall, MY PLAYground, #03-05G/071A
• SMU, School of Economics & Social Science, #01-74
  

Their website is in the making.. Hope to see their menu and pictures of their delicious waffles soon!! XD

I recommended Gelare's waffles to @nikipaniki sometime last month. Personally, I prefer the Gelare's waffle type - the softer and fluffier kind, or if you still remember, the A&W waffles kind.

There are 4 Gelare locations in town:

• Citylink Mall, #B1-26B
• Far East Plaza, #01-23
• Plaza Singapura, #05-20
• Suntec City Mall, #02-084
  

Visit their website for a full list of outlets in Singapore.

And while surfing their website...

Look what I found!
TUESDAY! That's tomorrow!!! :D

Cupcakes Night!

Here's a recommended weekend activity for families with kids:

Note: These were decorated by my sis and niece.

BAKE YOUR OWN CUPCAKES!

My 3-year old niece enjoyed it. It's almost like playing Cooking Mama on Wii or the iPhone!
Instructions were very simple from a children's cookbook. (I'll add the recipe next time)

*imagine the missing cupcakes recipe*

Ta-da! Yummy cupcakes, but a little plain eh? Here comes the fun part of decorating your cupcakes!
The cookbook featured really cute ideas using marshmallows to turn your cupcakes into sheeps and pigs. We skipped that part because it would only make my niece even more hyper than she usually is. Lets make our own icing first. :)

*icing recipe in the works*

Add a bit of coloring! We had pink and green.

A DIY icing bag!

Look at all the cupcakes I decorated!
And the adults (me, sis and mom) decided to have a cupcakes deco competition. Each of us submitted 2 cupcake designs. Judges were my 2nd sis and bro-in-law.

I was proud of my Doraemon idea. But nobody picked it! T_T
My other design (face with spectacles) was more successful, nominated twice. No one knows about this but guess what? It's a face of wx's.

:)