Oktoberfest 2012 at Clark Quay!

I'm kinda late in blogging about the Oktoberfest which I had attended last Saturday with Yin Mei. I was abit lazy to get out of my house that day but I thought that it would be wasted to spend my weekends at home. So I still went out anyway hoping to soak myself into the Oktoberfest atmosphere at Clark Quay. I didn't regret my decision. =)

The event was held at the foundation area of Clark Quay. Long tables were placed in the middle with different kinds of booths ranging from food to games surrounding the area. There was even live band playing songs to heighten the atmosphere. I think this is a good idea as it allows anyone from anywhere to just come in and join the fun like a family.

Got ourselves a cup of beer for $14 each.

Live band playing

I quite like this picture. hehe

Bought some sausages to share

Some cup tower game.

Yin Mei scooping madly for prize. lols

Yin Mei and this Caucasian lady were focused on scooping coloured chips which represent different prizes. There was a part where both of them saw a coloured chip and were fighting madly for it. Yin Mei went to the extent of using her hand to snatch the chip! LOLS! My first time seeing Yin Mei being so competitive. Her hardwork paid off, she won herself a $10 voucher from HOOTERS. Now we know why she has so many vouchers to use. hahaha.

Free balloons to take

The Oktoberfest was indeed a fun and eye-opening experience for me. This is one of the reason why I love Singapore as we are living in a multi-cultural/nationality country, we can get to enjoy and experience different festivals from various cultures and countries.

I am going to Universal Studios for Halloween later!! So pumped up to get myself haunt by the "ghosts"!! Gonna get my camera fully charged and hopefully I will be able to come up with a really interesting blog post for it. Stay tuned! =D

Leo's Birthday Celebration Part 2: Charlie Brown Cafe

Had another birthday celebration for Leo because Xiu Xuan couldn't make it for the previous one. The woe of having common friends. You'll have to attend more than one birthday celebration for the same person with different cliques of friends. So I've researched a few restaurants and Xiu Xuan chose this, Charlie Brown Cafe. I wonder whose birthday are we celebrating. lols.

If you haven't notice it, it is located at 313@somerset. Just use the exit beside Marche and you'll be able to see the cafe. Unfortunately, the cafe has no air-con since it is located outdoor but still not too bad as there are fans on the ceiling. 

One thing good about this cafe, NO SERVICE CHARGE!

Nice cartoon on the wall but thanks to my shaky hands, the picture is so blur.

Cute snoopy at the entrance

 Cartoon characters on the ceiling at well.

Also, different cartoon characters on each and every tables.

Fish & Chips - $13.80

Crispy fried fish fillet, served with tartar sauce, fries and fresh greens.

This taste like the normal fish & chips. Nothing special.

Crispy Fish Sandwich - $14.80

Golden fried with cream cheese, tartar sauce, tomatoes and crisp lettuce between foccacia, served with fries.

The bread was not bad, crispy and soft at the same time. However, the fish was disappointing. It wasn't as crispy as its name implies. The fish fillet is like those frozen fillets that you buy from supermarket. I prefer the fish&chip to this.

Hawaiian Pizza - $12.80

Juicy turkey ham and chunky pineapple on a tomato base, topped with mozzarella.

The pizza taste okay only, not as tasty as Pizzahut's one in my opinion. Most importantly, there was too little pineapple chunks!

While eating, suddenly there was water splashing over to our table from no where. Not till the extent of making us wet but like droplets of rain. We were like wtf. I looked around searching for the source of the water and realized the water came from the building beside us which was having construction work. 

Leo immediately asked the waiter over and demanded for the pizza to be changed to a new one. Fyi, we only ate one slice of the pizza and can't possibly eat the rest as we don't know how dirty the water was. Luckily the waiter agreed to do so and said that it was the first time such thing happened. See how lucky we were~. 

Snoopy's Chocolate - $9.80

Chocolates flakes wrapped in crepe served with a scoop of ice-cream.

After changing our seats, Xiu Xuan and I insisted to order a dessert to share. Look at the snoopy face on the crepe, so cute!! This was probably my favourite dish among all not because the it tasted exceptionally good, just that the rest were kind of disappointing. lols. At least I like the ice-cream, there was alot of cookies in it!

Xiu Xuan and I

With the birthday boy

Overall i think the cafe is just average. Nothing impressive unless you are a fan of theme cafe or you are looking for some affordable cafes at Orchard.

Charlie Brown Cafe

313 Orchard Road, #01-25/25A (Discovery Walk)

Singapore 238895Tel: +65 6836 5344  

Fax: +65 6547 4735

It was a little bit spoil mood for Xiu Xuan and I because there we were so happily celebrating his birthday for him, he kept emo about his work.We ended up chilling at the park near his house for a drink as he wanted to drink and drown his sorrows. But I was more moody because I've got eight mosquito bites on my legs! Damn it.

The 22 year old whisky

Ok, one thing good about drinking at Leo's house downstairs rather than some pubs as its free of charge! lols. The bottle was already a 12 years old one when Leo bought it in 2003 and kept it for another 10 years. So I supposed that makes it a 22 year old. Tried a small sip without mixer and it was fierce. One sip down and I could feel my throat burning. That's totally a different burning sensation from what I've tried in the past. Even Leo can't take it. So this is really some good stuff! 

But of course we didn't finish it because Xiu Xuan didn't want to drink much and it would be too wasteful as we are just blind drinkers. Meaning got alcohol just drink, how many years old don't matter to us. LOLS! I believe alot of people are in the same category as us lor! Shall leave it to those who can truly appreciate it. Anyway, alcohol plus the pizza we took away from Charlie Brown Cafe, makes it an awesome supper! 

Leo's Birthday Celebration Part 1: Han Mi Korean Restaurant

I was invited by Leo to his birthday celebration. As it was kinda last minute and he wanted to keep things simple, he chose to have dinner at Han Mi Korean Restaurant, located at opposite Bukit Timah Shopping Centre.

As usual, most of the people were late therefore, those who reached first got the privilege to order the food we like. Daphne was damn funny, when she reached, she laughed and said,

Daphne: “Eh leo, I bought a $30+ cake for you!”

Leo: “Really ah?! Then where is the cake?”

Daphne: “I don’t know where I misplaced it! When I alighted the bus then I realized the cake was not with me. Lols! Sorry la, just take it as we’ve eaten the cake.”

 Leo: "............................"

Poor Leo, I could imagine the Gwang Soo song playing at the background. Lololol.

Free side-dishes

I like the ikan billis and mash potato!

Rice Cake

The sauce was sweet with a tinge of spiciness. As for the rice cakes, they were really firm and chewy. I would prefer it to be a bit softer. Quite tasty!

Seafood Pancake

There wasn’t a lot of seafood on the pancake, only a few small prawns on top of it. But I quite like it because I don’t like seafood. Save the trouble of picking them out one by one. Haha. The pancake was soft yet crispy at the same time. Taste great when it’s warm!

Beef and Mushroom Stew

I’ve never tried beef before because I always feel that it has this beef smell. My friends kept asking me to try it as they said beef is the tastiest meat among all. As I don’t want them to change their beloved beef to another dish, I promised that I would give it a try.

Surprisingly, the beef taste pretty good. Don’t even have the beef smell that I’ve always imagined. The meat taste tender and sweet for my liking. I don’t know if the sweetness came from the beef itself or the soup. 

Kimchi Soup

It taste really good! Major Love! Although I was sweating due to the spiciness of the Kimchi, I can’t stop asking for more. Especially when you mix it with rice, its WOOOHHHH~~ I liked this more than the beef and mushroom stew.

Pork Belly

For this dish, only 3 long slices of pork belly is given and it costs around $18. You can cut the pork belly to any sizes you want and bbq it the way you wanted it to be done. If there isn't alot of people in the restaurant,  you can even request the waiter/waitress to cook it for you. They would serve the lettuce and chilli-bean-like-paste as well. I’ve always seen in Korean dramas where couples will do a lettuce wrap and feed each other. It looked so tasty! Finally got my chance to do the same thing, just that I did all the wrapping and feeding myself. Forever alone x100000.

Total bill was around $126 equally divided among 6 person. I will definitely make another visit again!! I love the food there and they serve really authentic Korean cuisine!

Han Mi Korean Restaurant

16 Cheong Chin Nam Road, Singapore 599740

Tel: 64657806, 81834939

Second round was at a wine shop(beside coffeebean I think) at Railmall. Opened a bottle of red wine to chill. Good life huh~

brothers 交杯酒.

Do I look classy? lols!

Leo

No big cake, a small cake also not bad right

Happy Birthday Buddy!!

Forgot to take a group photo! Glad to attend this small gathering. Managed to catch up with some people whom I've not meet in a few years. =)

Au Chocolat @ Marina Bay Sands

Last friday was a memorable day for me, the day where I changed my status from student to a degree holder. Even till now, I still cannot believe the results I've got. Totally way better than I had expected. Too emotional that one drop of tear rolled down my cheek. Only one. I am quite a tough person and it's not easy to make me cry, so that one drop of tear really meant alot. haha. Ok, I'm going to stop rattling about results now. Gonna be humble! =)

To celebrate this joyous occasion, Yin Mei and I decided to go Au Chocolat at Marina Bay Sands for dinner. It is a French-inspired concept store and I am quite surprised that it is a local brand! This concept store is separated into two sections, a bistro dinning area and a retail store. I totally loved the concept of the store. So colorful and it felt like we were at some western country.

The dinning area.

Beautiful painting on the ceiling.

There is even a cute toy train moving around the ceiling!

The menu.

Creamy Irish Chocolate - $12

A beautifully blended black Ceylon tea with hints of Irish cream & chocolate.

By looking at the name, I thought it would be chocolate, like milky brown chocolate drink. I even thought they served the wrong tea. lols. Didn't add sugar as we wanted to fully appreciate its original taste. It was exactly what was described on the menu, a hint of cream and chocolate. It don't taste bad at all, just abit funny that you can taste the chocolate aroma but you can't see the chocolate. Am I making any sense here? lols, forget it.

Duck Confit - $27

A popular classic with an Au Chocolat twist, pan-roasted duck thigh served with potato mash, a white wine poached pear & topped off with a tangy chocolate orange sauce.

Couldn't decide which picture to upload, so I uploaded two with different angle to let you see the ingredients used in this dish. Just by looking at the pictures make me feels hungry! When I first saw this dish and its description where chocolate sauce is used, I immediately knew this was the dish I'm gonna try. How many main-dish can you find using chocolate sauce? Its something special! 

This dish didn't disappoint me. The duck skin was super crispy!! Like KFC's crispy fried chicken skin just that it wasn't that floury. I loved crispy skin! As for the duck meat, it was tender and juicy. You can easily tear the meat without worrying that it might ended up flying out of the plate. lols. As the for chocolate sauce, it totally taste good with the mash potato.

Personally, I find the duck meat abit salty and the white wine poached pear abit too sweet. Other than that, this dish was just perfect. I think I might order this again the next time I visit again!

Wild Forest Mushrooms - $25

A combination of forest gems simmered in a rich creamy stew, tossed with chopped camembert & fresh parsley.

At first Yin Mei wanted Roast Chicken but they ran out of it or something, so she ended up choosing this as the waiter was waiting at our table and she was pai sae to keep him waiting for too long. Yin Mei said that this tasted better than Full house Cafe's. Of course it has to be better, just look at the price!

Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Crepe - $18

Succulent chicken fillet served with sautéed mushrooms, bacon, garlic & sour cream.

There are a few variety of savoury and sweet crepes for you to choose from. We chose this to share. Yin Mei said it taste good whereas I think it was just average. Probably nothing taste great after eating my duck confit. haha. 

The happy girls.

Our bill.

Each of us paid around $48. I think it was quite expensive considering that we were both jobless. We only depended on our humble allowance to survive. I kept telling myself, "This is a happy occasion. This is a happy ocasion.".

$3 voucher.

We were given $3 voucher to use at the retail section and it could only be used on the date of issue. What a smart strategy to get customers to spend money at the retail section!

The retail section.

Lovely cupcakes.

Colorful Candies.

One T-shirt cost $30+. I wonder who will buy.

Some mini chocolates.

Mini caramel chocolate.

Used the voucher on ice-cream!

Used the voucher on a small cup of tangerine dark chocolate ice-cream. There was even a few pieces of tangerine. Taste not bad. Price aside, I think Au Chocolat is really worth visiting. They have a wide variety of food to choose from. Like crepes, all-day breakfast, eggs dishes, burgers & sandwiches, pastas, finger food, chocolate drinks etc. Totally spoiled for choice! There are so many dishes I want to try if not for stomach and pocket constraints. I wanna go again!

Au Chocolat Pte Ltd. 

Marina Bay Sands, 

Bay Level L1-03

2 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018956 

Bistro +65 6688 7227 

Confiserie+65 6688 7557