Ishi Mura (Japanese Foodstreet) @ City Square Mall

Not really recommending this as the dining experience wasn't good at all. To start off, you must be prepared to join the long queue if you reach there around noon. When we reached, my parents were already there at the queue.  Reason for the long queue?  There is an opening promotion now and it is only $12 nett for buffet.  Sounds good right?  However, be prepared to go only for quantity and not quality food here.

My first plate of food...

Hubby took so many sushi...

Parents preparing the steamboat

Saw these funny guys and we were wondering whether they were helping to promote City Square Mall....

Oh... They were from "Brands"

ALIVE Gallery @ Downtown East, Dinner at Lemongrass

Met up with the gals today at Downtown East to visit the Alive Gallery which will be ending on 3 Oct.  With MOE pass, we paid $11 each (Minimum purchase:  4) instead of the usual price at $17.  Actually, for teachers, we could have gone for this exhibition free during the Teachers' Day week but we missed it due to our busy schedule.  For NTUC club members, you will get to enjoy a few dollars off too.

While waiting for Ruijun, the 3 of us took some photos outside the exhibition halls.

 Mona Lisa waving at us :)

Lijuan saw the following painting and an idea struck her.  She asked Shili to pose like the lady in green.  Haha...

After visiting the exhibition, we got to realize that the lady in green was not pregnant as what we had thought.  In fact, they were having their wedding ceremony being witnessed by the person in the mirror.  Oops!  We had interpreted the painting wrongly.

The "Alive" journey started off with some ancient Egyptian drawings on papyrus including animations and ended with some abstract art.  Of course, in between, there are many interesting paintings/ art exhibits with detailed explanations.  I had learnt many valuable lessons along the way :)

Somewhere near to the entrance, there is a 3D show on Apollos, Hermes, Venus and Nike.  We wore the 3D glasses and saw the 4 gods/ goddesses came to life and interacting with one another.  Oh yah, the brand "Nike" and "Hermes" are the names of gods.  Venus is a goddess associated with beauty and love.  In the show, she claimed that she had the perfect waist to hip ratio at 1: 1.168

I am sure many of you had seen the interactive Mona Lisa from the news.  All you need to do is to ask her questions and she will answer accordingly.  We were wondering whether there was a person behind the painting who was doing all the answering of the questions.

There is also this 'Spot the Meaning' game using the Netherlandish Proverbs painting.  This one was rather interesting and the kids as well as adults will like it.

Another highlight is Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" where all the characters in the painting also come "alive"!  Also not forgetting Michelangelo's "The Sistine Chapel Ceiling Fresco".

No photography and videography is allowed except for the following 2 photo-taking points.  Anyway, I had forgotten to bring my camera and all photos here were taken with Iphone which explains why the photos are so pixelated in dim light condition.

 Both Ruijun and I wore green top today! and shorts!  Haha..

I am in the "painting"!

Van Gogh's "Cafe Terrace at Night"

Another framed "painting" with Shili and myself inside, and 2 other kids at the back

The exhibition was rather interesting but I thought it may be a bit too high level for kids although many of the paintings come with explanation/ animations.

After spending almost 2 hours at the exhibition, we decided to have our dinner together at Lemongrass Restaurant.  The 4 of us all ordered warm lemongrass drink.

Pomelo Salad

Seafood Tom Yam Soup

Pandan Chicken

Pineapple Rice (Small)

Sliced fish with Mango

Another happy day spent with good friends :)

Charlie Brown Cafe (Hong Kong)

I love to go to theme-based restaurant especially when I can take tonnes of photos there. After the visit to Modern Toilet restaurant, I was left a bit disappointed with the food. Nevertheless, this didn't stop me to venture into another theme-based restaurant - Charlie Brown Cafe!! Love Snoopy and his gang! The last 3 days in Hong Kong was pretty very much relaxed as I didn't really have any fixed itinerary. Read about Charlie Brown Cafe from a forum and thought that it would be good to start off the day with a good breakfast there :)  It was not really easy for me to find this cafe, ended up with a lot of walking.

Cheeky Snoopy...

Not much crowd when I reached the place, probably because it was a weekday morning.... found a cosy place to sit...

While waiting for my food, took a self-portrait with my Iphone :P

  

You may want to grab some of Snoopy's mechandize here! 

Before I left the cafe, I took a photo with Charlie Brown :)

Crystal Jade Ala-Carte Steamboat Buffet @ Tampines Mall

A weekday dinner with my colleagues. Their buffet starts at 5.30pm. We reached there before at around 5.15pm and the staff didn't allow us to go in. At 5.25pm, we asked again whether we could just go in and sit down first. The answer was "No" again. Must wait till 5.30pm sharp. :(

Finally, at 5.30pm SHARP, we were allowed to go into the restaurant.  There were 5 types of soup base for us to choose from.  We chose the pork bone soup and another type of soup with century egg in it.  The stock for these 2 types of soup is basically the same.

There is also a sauce corner for you to mix and match your favourite sauces together.  They have their speciality sauce, sesame sauce, belachan chili sauce and some other condiments like garlic, oil etc.

Each customer will be given 100g of fresh prawns, roughly 3 prawns.  I heard that different branches of Crystal Jade will serve different items for their buffet.  If I am not wrong, I heard from one of my colleagues that the one at Holland Village served "Xiao Long Bao" and another branch got Peking Duck skin.

Price is rather reasonable based on Crystal Jade standard.  Drinks is also free-flow.  I had the "Lingzhi Plum drink".  It tasted bitter and yucky at first, but after a few sips, it didn't seem too bad and moreover, it will help to aid in digestion.

I like their meat dumplings best.  The liver, however was too thickly sliced so I didn't take much of it.

Crystal Jade Tampines Mall

4 Tampines Central 5
#B1-11,
Tampines Mall
Singapore 529510
Tel: 6788 0633  (They don't accept reservation for buffet)

Trip to Taipa, Venetian

From Ah Ma temple, took bus 11 to Taipa. Taipa is linked to Macau by a bridge. Reached Taipa around 6plus and many food stalls along the streets were already closed.  This time round, I didn't miss the bus stop although the bus driver was super unfriendly and refused to entertain anyone. I got to ask the passengers on the bus where I should alight. After dinner, I walked quite a distance to Venetian Casino. Haha.... made a boo-boo here. Saw a building that look quite grand and thought that was Venetian. Later then realized that building partly under construction, cannot be Venetian. Didn't go to the casino but the interior of Venetian was really very nice. The lady who was paddling for the gondola could really sing very well and her singing filled up the whole hall, very European feel.

Alighted at this ulu bus-stop where it is surrounded by a few food streets.  However, when I reached there, many shops and eateries were closed, not too sure why.  Business too good?

The restaurant named after the elephant.... Far back is a casino which I thought it was Venetian at first :D

Walking down the food street to find a good decent place for dinner.

Decided to settle at this one as it was not too crowded

Cafe E.S.KIMO

My water-melon juice came with a nice curvy straw

Ordered tomato baked rice with pork cutlet

After dinner, the sky turned dark already.  I quickly find my way to the Venetian.

Caught a glimpse of Venetian Casino already, within walking distance.  Yeh!

Walk-through in Venetian

I love this shot best... like the artificial sky

The food court in Venetian, got quite a good variety but I am not too sure about their pricing.

Sneak shot of the Casino as I was travelling down the escalator

Think there are more than 10 branches of this shop in Macau...

I bought mine from here... :)

Took the free shuttle service from Venetian to the pier