Happy Birthday, Mummy!

Brought the whole family out for dinner to celebrate Mummy's birthday. Dad felt like having vegetarian so we decided to try Classic Lao Di Fang Vegetarian Restaurant, located in Park Mall.

Address

Classic Lao Di Fang Vegetarian Restaurant

9 Penang Road #B1-12, Park Mall, Singapore 238459

You have a choice of buffet or ala-carte style, we decided on ala-carte as we weren't that hungry:

• Special mushroom soup  (S$13.80)
• Mango prawn roll            (S$16.80)
• French Bean                    (S$9.80)
• Stir fried sambal fish       (S$18.80)
• Chrysanthemum tea x 4   (S$8)
• Rice x 4                            (S$6)

Total: S$81.85 after service charge (No GST)

Verdict: 

• Soup was good and filled with lots of mushrooms and had a nice herbal taste to it
• The sambal fish was awesome, the sambal was aromatic, adequate spiciness and the texture of the "fish" was convincingly real, a MUST-TRY! But you have to eat it while it's hot or else it won't be that shiok
• You can't go wrong with french beans
• As for the mango-prawn, texture was very prawn-like, A pretty decent dish :) 
• Chrysanthemum tea was super diluted and expensive, should have ordered the organic juice instead
• Overall the portion is just right for 4 pax 
• Service was prompt and the restaurant was really clean 

PetiteFreckles ♥

Pune Retreat, India

Just got back from a 6 days retreat trip to India with J and my parents which was organized by the Centre of Inner Studies (CIS), Singapore. CIS was established in 2006 and is affiliated to the World Pranic Healing Foundation in Manila. They are a non-profit organization which teaches pranic healing with proven scientific approach (a “no-touch, no-drug” energy based healing modality). And the best thing is that it is not linked to any religion. 

The trip to India was a real eye-opener, we thoroughly enjoyed the process and food. And it was seriously therapeutic, love the peace and quietness over there :D We arrived in Mumbai and took a 6 hours bus ride to a mountain in Pune. We passed by many slums and it was really sad to see the living conditions of the people. The weather was slightly chilly at night (around 10degrees I think) and in the afternoon it's really warm. 

Indian Vegetarian food on board Jet Airways

Passing a town on the way to the mountain

And I have to say that I had the most memorable trip of my life- I have a terrible case of acrophobia but because of my 'itchy backside' (nothing literal), I decided to give mountain hiking a go. With only a torchlight, we took off at 5.30am in pitch darkness, it was really scary for me especially with my wild imagination and any lack of concentration can send me rolling off the mountain because it was pretty steep. The hike up and down took about 4 hours and throughout the journey, I was like tearing non-stop and kept saying "OMG i'm gonna fall off!" and didn't want to move, haha that was how bad my phobia was. But I'm so glad that I managed to conquer the mountain and to have J next to me ;D

Sorry didn't have much photos of the trip.

On the way to the airport, we stopped by a mall to take a look and to do some quick shopping :)

PetiteFreckles ♥

Restoran Hua Mui: Hainanese Chicken Chop

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

 

Few weeks back, J's mum suggested to have lunch at Hua Mui and told me that they are known to serve one of the best Hainanese chicken chop in Johor!

 

So here goes..

 

Restoran Hua Mui 华美茶餐室 is located near City Square Mall:

131 Jalan Trus, Bandar Johor Bahru, 80000 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

Opening Hours: 7.30am to 9.30pm

 

 

 

J's family ordered the famous chicken chop and I ordered the fish and chips to have more variety. If i'm not wrong, it costs about RM$12 for the chicken and RM$13 for the fish, both served with green peas, potatoes and tomatoes. The fish and chicken was sufficiently juicy and the batter was thin and crispy too, really not bad! :) Oh I love the gravy, next time I will ask for more of it haha.  

 

Verdict: 3.8/5.0

 

PetiteFreckles ♥

Meet the In-laws Session!!

*nervous* Finally the day for both our parents to meet has arrived. After sourcing high and low for a venue, we settled for Whole Earth as my parents happened to be Vegetarian for that day and we wanted a informal yet cozy place to dine.

 

Whole Earth is one of the more well-known vegetarian restaurants in Singapore, they serve modern Peranakan-Thai vegetarian cuisine and they are located at:

76 Peck Seah St

Singapore 079331

Tanjong Pagar MRT exit A

Tel No: 63233308

Daily Opening Hours: 11.30am to 3pm and 5.30pm to 9.30pm

 

You can check out www.wholeearth.com.sg for their extensive menu. As they are highly popular, it is advisable to make a reservation before heading down.

There were 7 of us and we ordered:

1 Cold yuzu orange (S$4.50 each)

6 Lemongrass drink (S$5.50 each)

6 Brown / white rices (S$2 each)

Medium steam jade wrap (S$19)

Thai mango tamarind fish (S$18)

5 spice nhor hiang roll (S$12)

Oatmeal tofu with curry leaves (S$15)

Penang rendang (S$19)

 

Total bill: S$149.85 after Svc charge & GST

 

The oatmeal tofu with curry leaves and penang rendang are two of their Top 12 dishes. We felt that the price was slightly expensive especially $2 for white rice, but we were highly satisfied with the food quality that we swear that we will be back for more especially the penang rendang, super yums! :D The tamarind fish wasn't my cup of tea as it was really sour in my opinion, my tolerance for sour food is really low so I won't be a good judge for that dish but the family said it was nice haha.  

 

The restaurant was bustling with people and the staff were very polite and efficient :) recommended for any gathering. Except for meet the in-laws session hahaha, because they only had long tables so it was a little tough to talk and hear the conversation at the other end. J and I weren't able to hear what my parents request for, for the guo da li items and pin jin (dowry) and was worried if his parents are ok with the requests and all. But we could see them laughing and chatting so we assumed all was fine and focus on our food haha.

 

At the end of the lunch meet, my parents actually told me that they did not request any pin jin and table money from J or his parents but 四点金 (si dian jin) is a must because we are Teochew and about 10 boxes of cakes for our relatives. Hiphip hurray to my parents for loving us and understanding that couples nowadays need the angbao money received from guests to offset the banquet costs :) I'm feeling truly blessed. And I'm glad our parents seem to have gotten on fine :)

 

Credits: Photos taken and edited by Sis

 

PetiteFreckles ♥

Wedding Venue Confirmed: Marina Bay Sands

Last but not least, MBS!

Address: 10 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018972

In the midst of a desperate search for a wedding venue in Singapore, I chanced upon MBS' brochure while clearing my room. We actually went to check out their wedding show earlier in the year and liked it a lot but didn't think much about it because the price for Saturday was slightly out of our budget (that was before we decided to have 2 wedding receptions). And lo and behold, few months back we decided to have 2 separate receptions and the Singapore reception so happened to fall on a Sunday! Since Sunday's dinner price was within our budget, I quickly contacted MBS and made an arrangment for a discussion before deciding whether to sign the package.

Aih Kim, our wedding coordinator responded promptly and after meeting up with her, we made a few enquiries before signing up on the spot. We also chose the Simpor Junior Ballroom on the 4th floor with the reception area overlooking the promenade. Nice!

2015 Weekend Wedding Dinner:

Saturday- $1388/ $1588 ++ per table of 10 persons

Sunday- $1288/ $1588 ++ per table of 10 persons

  

Pros:

• Awesome bridal suite (based on photos on their website haha)
• Accessible via Promenade MRT
• Good reception size, especially the 4th Level that overlooks the promenade
• Arrangements for changing room to be very near the ballroom
• Pillarless for all ballrooms
• Flexible and prompt wedding coordinator
• Acceptably nice themes
• Wedding invitation cards includes printing

Cons:

• Low ceiling
• Require quite abit of walking from MRT to convention and from the hotel room
• Expensive parking
• Not many nice wedding favours to choose from
• $8K for deposit

 

 

After signing up, they had a wedding show 2 months later, so we decided to go down and take a look at the venue again :)

 

 

So there you have it, our wedding venue have been selected. Awesome much! One more worry settled :D

 

PetiteFreckles ♥

Selection of Wedding Venue: Swissotel The Stamford



My friend had her wedding at Swissotel and the food wasn't bad with no complains so we decided to head down to their wedding show to check out the venue and packages.

 

Address: 2 Stamford Road, Singapore 178882

 

They have banquet halls that can cater to the following numbers:

• Fairmont (min. 100 tables, max. 190 tables),
• Canning (min. 70 tables, max. 100 tables),
• Padang (min. 35 tables, max. 48 tables),
• Stamford  (min. 45 tables, max. 60 tables) and
• Atrium (min. 20 tables, 30 tables max).

2015 Weekend Wedding Dinner:

Saturday- $1238/ $1638 ++ per table of 10 persons

Sunday- $1188/ $1638 ++  per table of 10 persons

 

 

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

  

  

Pros:

• Awesome bridal suite
• Centrally located - near City Hall MRT and shopping malls
• Good reception size
• Pillarless and high ceiling for most of the ballrooms
• Unique wedding favours
• Ice sculpture with salad dips
• Generally nice themes

Cons:

• Average service from service staff
• Low ceiling for the smaller ballroom

Reason for not selecting: Due to overwhelming response, there wasn't any available ballrooms for our big day :( So they recommended Equinox which was very nice but wasn't able to cater to our table requirement. So we had to search for other venues -.-

 

PetiteFreckles ♥