On the eve of Christmas

Hi all! I know i haven't been updating this blog as frequently as it's the festive season. I've been going out a lot, eating a lot and shopping a lot that i hardly have the time to look through the photos and write a blog post. Thankfully, i have some spare time now to blog as i'm only meeting Gabriel in the evening.

So on 23rd of December, Gabriel and i decided to check out the Christmas Wonderland at Gardens by the Bay. Before that, we headed to Koh Grill & Sushi Bar for their Shiok Maki (1st generation). This sushi consisted of aburi salmon on the top and avocado and grilled eel on the inside. 

The place was very crowded that day and unfortunately, they missed out on our order. So we had to wait 30 minutes just for this plate of sushi. Well, i guess it wasn't too bad because we had a lot of time to spare but can you imagine if we were rushed for time? 

The service was really poor too and the Shiok Maki didn't meet our expectations. It was prepared poorly. The avocados were of different sizes; some big some small. The salmon sashimi was also of different sizes? Really disappointed considering that we went all the way to Wisma Atria just to have this. Perhaps the quality of the sushi would have been better on a less crowded day.

Shiok Maki ($18) 

We then headed to Gardens by the Bay and the lights were so pretty! The picture below shows the Supertree Grove at night! It's so beautiful and we actually wanted to go to the top of it but the queue was too crazily long.

Supertree Grove

We then headed to the Christmas Wonderland and the lights are so beautiful too!

The structure you see above is actually like a dome where you could go inside to take photos. We did go inside but it was way too muddy as it just rained. There was no grass inside too because everyone had trampled on it and all the grass had died. The worst part was that it smelt of fertilizer so it wasn't a very pleasant experience inside.

On the bridge connecting Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay

We headed back to Marina Bay Sands after our little expedition at Gardens by the Bay. We didn't know that there's actually a bridge connecting Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands! Initially while heading to Gardens by the Bay, we took this really long route by walking from Bayfront MRT to Gardens by the Bay. We didn't know we could cut through Marina Bay Sands!

Marina Bay Sands

We were feeling really sweaty after Gardens by the Bay so we decided to head to TWG Tea Salon and Boutique for a nice refreshing dessert and drink.

Passionfruit tea ($11)

Chocolate fudge ($12)

The passionfruit tea was really refreshing and good, but i wouldn't order it again as it is so expensive. The chocolate fudge was really normal too but it looks so pretty on the plate anyway.

Gabriel's family always celebrates Christmas during Christmas eve and they'll usually have catered food. Two years ago, Gab invited me to his Christmas party and that was where i actually started to get to know him better.

Two years ago at Gab's house with some of our favourite friends from law school

Putting this picture here just for memory's sake. :')

This year, we didn't invite anyone so it was just a family dinner with Gab's family. We had ordered most of the food from Putien, while the turkey was from Cedele.

Salad prepared by Gab's sister

Bee Hoon from Putien

Fried Tempura Prawns

Turkey from Cedele

Turkey stuffing and sauce

This stuffing is the bomb. It's seriously too good! It consists of potatoes, mushrooms and it's very well seasoned with herbs. This is my favourite and i could eat a whole tub of this! The cedele turkey is really good and definitely worth getting!

The food on Christmas eve was really so good, all thanks to Gabriel's mum who had prepared everything!

Cycling at East Coast Park

Last Friday, Gabriel and I went cycling at East Coast Park. There are many things to do at East Coast Park and i have blogged about it here: http://doriateo.blogspot.sg/2014/07/east-coast-park-memories.html

East Coast Park holds many wonderful memories for me. It's also the place where my relationship with Gabriel was finally official.

Along our way to East Coast Park, the weather was so good and we decided to take some photos.

We then headed to the rental shop to rent two bikes! It's my first time cycling after almost a decade and i'm very thankful that i have Gabriel to teach me how to cycle again! Thankfully, i managed to remember how to cycle quickly.

We took many photos along our cycling route. We cycled at about 5pm and the view was just gorgeous.

All these photos were taken at East Coast Park. It looks like a different place doesn't it?

The sun was starting to set and we just had to capture the beautiful sunset.

Psalm 19:1The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of His hands. 

How we celebrated our first anniversary

Me and Gabriel celebrated our first anniversary at The Lighthouse Restaurant. I was introduced to this place by my cousin. Surprisingly, when we reached The Lighthouse, we realized that it had won numerous awards. 

The view on the way to the Lighthouse

I can easily say that this is the best restaurant i have been too. It comes with a heavy price tag though but for the ambience and good food, why not?

I was very intrigued because we first had to proceed to the 8th floor of The Fullerton Hotel and then take a another private lift that leads all the way to the doorsteps of this restaurant. The Lighthouse is an extremely exclusive place and a perfect choice for an intimate dinner.

Since it was still early, we decided to explore their rooftop bar as well. It is just right above The Lighthouse and the setting of it is extremely casual. Think, alfresco. 

Going up the staircase which leads to the rooftop bar

View from the rooftop bar

The view is absolutely gorgeous. You get a perfect view of the whole Marina Bay. The weather was especially good that day too and it was in the evening so that was a cool breeze that was blowing. And Gabriel is holding the book he made for me. :)

What i wore

This is one of the rare few times i actually doll up. I stole my mum's pearl necklace for this date and paired it with pearl earrings too. I think dolling up is the best part about going on dates… well of course the good food that comes with it too. :P

Our view at the table was perfect too. You can request to choose a seat near the window, which is what we did. It was a good choice because we got to see the sun setting down and the night view was simply breathtaking.

Moscato Wines ($18/glass)

Gabriel and I are avid fans of wines and we had chosen Moscato wine to pair with our meal. At first, we were rather disappointed that we were served with a 2009 bottle of wine. We would have very much preferred an older bottle of wine for the price we were paying. But after drinking the wine, we had absolutely no qualms. The wine was superb. Probably the best wine i have ever tasted.

We were served with bread to start off our meal. There isn't anything special about the bread, then again it's complimentary so i'm not complaining.

Lighthouse Signature Antipasti Platter ($29)

This is a definite must try. If i were to visit this place again, i would definitely order this. It comes with a whole range of all the antipasti they offer. I like the idea of it because you get a whole variety of everything.

It came with their Fritto Misto, a  crispy fried seafood with smoked pepper sauce. I thought that this was alright, nothing special so i would not recommend ordering it.

Next up, we tried their L'insalata Misticanza. The grilled vegetables and marinated tomatoes in balsamic dressing was nothing more than normal. You should give this a miss.

We also tried their Burrata, an imported buffalo burrata with tomatoes and sweet basil and extra vigil olive oil. This is worth ordering. The taste is really light so you need not worry if you don't like the taste of cheese because it tasted nothing like that. The cheese was of excellent quality and well mixed with fresh cream.

Their Capaccio is probably one of the best appetizer that we had. The thin sliced beef tenderloin was perfect and it melted in my mouth. The wild mushrooms, roasted pepper with rocket which accompanied this dish was a good combination too.

We also had a taste of their Astice, which consisted of sweet marine lobster with roasted peppers and basil. The lobster was really fresh but nothing spectacular or mind blowing about it.

My favorite out of all was their Prosciutto, the 18 months langhirano aged ham with smoked scamorza cheese and preserved eggplants. It was a bit on the salty side but the flavors was perfect, especially if you have the ham together with the smoked cheese. It is absolutely mind blowing and quite like nothing i have every tasted before. Probably the best dish i have ever tried.

Clockwise (from top left), their menu special crabmeat pasta,  Deliza Al Tartufo and the complimentary chocolate cake we received
The light was getting dim because the sun had set and i did not bring a good camera that day. So the quality of the photos isn't that good and that's why i had combined all the pictures into a collage!

The pictures certainly don't do justice to the food. For our mains, we had ordered their crabmeat pasta (which was their special deal of the month). I don't think you can get this on the menu anymore but it's a good thing because i thought this didn't quite make my expectations. The Bruno's crabmeat pasta was so much better, and so much more affordable.

The Deliza Al Tartufo is a must try though! Its a mini ravioli with truffle and mascarpone cheese inside. The sauce is a thick truffle based sauce too. It's perfect. The exterior is soft but not soggy, neither is it as hard as al dente pastas. The moment you taste the ravioli and bite into it, everything just crumbles and melts inside your mouth. What's more, the interior consists of a warm, smooth and good stuffing of flavored mascarpone cheese. It's the most perfect pasta i have ever tried.

Unfortunately, the only draw back of this pasta is its prize. For 6 of those mini raviolis, i paid a hefty cost of $28. But trust me, you won't regret it. It's the best thing i've ever tried!

Later towards the end of our dinner, we were surprised with a complimentary cake! It was so sweet of the staff and it really made our night. It was a huge slice too and probably caused around $15? The service i must say is fantastic! The service staff were all patient, gave good recommendations and fast with their service. The moment we finished one dish, they would clear our tables and serve the next dish immediately while it was still piping hot.

I would definitely recommend The Lighthouse for a special celebration. Gabriel and I have even made it a personal commitment to visit this place again for every anniversary together. But since this place it just too good, we'll probably be heading back there again this December after our exams. I'll definitely update this post with much better pictures then!

Birthday celebration at The Clifford Pier!

I shall make an effort to blog more since i'm slightly less busy! I really want to have a collection of all my memories in this blog! Gab's birthday was about two weeks ago! Although it was his birthday, he still took the effort to fetch me around. Heh, i'm really so blessed.

Since i had booked our dinner date at 7pm, we had quite a bit of time to spare before that. We decided to head to our favourite ice cream place at Tom's Palette! We love Tom's Palette so much because their ice cream is SO creamy. They have so many different unique flavors too. This time, we opted for their salted egg yolk and milk flavor. It costs a total of about $5-$6 for two scoops of ice cream! I thought it was quite worth it!

Happy with our ice cream at Tom's Palette!

Then we headed to The Clifford Pier at The Fullerton Bay Hotel. We've walked past Fullerton Bay Hotel so many times but we never didn't know that this was actually Fullerton Bay Hotel. It's so beautiful and the decoration is so luxurious.

I like how their decorations are so symmetrical. It just makes everything look so elegant!

At 7pm, we headed to The Clifford Pier. It was a Saturday night but surprisingly, it wasn't crowded at all. In fact, it was very quiet and perfect for a romantic dinner.

Me anxiously waiting for our food to arrive. (Gab insisted on taking a photo)

We ordered three dishes. The portions weren't really that big so thank goodness we didn't over order. We opted for their lobster roll, carrot cake and rickshaw noodles.

Two Generation Rickshaw Noodles ($18)

I thought this was not bad! It's very unique, richly flavored dry noodles in pork broth. The sous-vide egg was perfect too and Gabriel loved it! It also came with very light and refreshing soup. For the price, i thought that it was worth a try!

Fried Carrot Cake ($16)

Unfortunately, the carrot cake only came in black sauce and there was no option for the white version. I thought for the price, this isn't really worth it. There portions of the egg were not generous. I thought i could easily get this (or even a better version of this) for $4 or $5 dollars at a hawker centre.

The Pier Lobster Roll ($29)

Gabriel really enjoyed the bread that came with this. It was soft and piping hot. It was also very well buttered. This was my favourite dish! The lobster was so fresh and juicy! They were also very generous with their servings of lobster. To top it all of, this lobster roll was accompanied with a good portion of truffle fries.

Gabriel with his Rickshaw Noodles

I can't believe how i managed to wolf down all that food.

Although the food at The Clifford Pier wasn't that mind-blowing, they certainly had some good dishes like the Rickshaw Noodles and Lobster Roll. I guess for the price, it was quite value for money, considering the fact that they had quite decent food. Furthermore, the ambience was superb. There was even a live band playing some oldie songs.

This really just sums up how we celebrated Gab's birthday! It wasn't anything fanciful but what was most important was the company we had in each other.

If you'll like to visit any of the places i have mentioned, here are the addresses!

Tom's Palette
100 Beach Road
#01-25 Shaw Tower S(189702)
Tel: 62965239

The Clifford Pier
The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore
80 Collyer Quay S(049326)
Tel: 65975266