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!

Sunday at Sushi Tei

We headed to Sushi Tei (East Coast) today. It was a good day today because this date was largely sponsored by gab's mum… hahaha.

The Sushi Tei outlet at East Coast. (Gabriel can be seen it in the background)

The interior of Sushi Tei (East Coast)

We're a big fan of Sushi Tei. We like Megumi at Upper East Coast a lot too and these are the two main places where we get our japanese fix.

We've always been ordering the dragon roll sushi but unfortunately, it was sold out today. We decided to go for Aburi roll and Dai Dai roll for our mains. Gabriel's mum had her favourite cha soba with grilled salmon.

We started off with some cold green tea. The cold green tea is really refreshing and the best part of it is that it's free! You don't have to pay an additional cost for it!

Cold green tea

We also had their salad for appetizer. It was their Kani Avocado salad. This is a must try if you're a fan of salads! Their crabstick is made up of real crab! The avocado slices were generous. It was really fresh and soft too.

Kani Avocado Salad ($9.80)

For this salad, you get to choose what dressing you want. We want for their traditional classic house dressing. I suggest getting it too because it feels really light unlike the other mayo based sauces. It certainly doesn't taste like those japanese salad dressings you can get off the supermarket. I thought their house dressing consisted of a good mix of sesame and miso.

Salmon Aburi Roll ($12.80)

We then had the Salmon Aburi roll next. I love the salmon a lot! It really melts in your mouth. Within the sushi roll is avocado and crab meat! It's a perfect mix.

We then tried their Dai Dai roll. It is our first time trying it! Surprisingly, this seems to be quite a popular dish!

Dai Dai Roll ($12.80)

It comes with some sashimi on the top with mango, crab meat inside. They had also nicely accompanied this dish with a mix of wasabi mayo and spicy mayo.

I thought that the mango seemed to be a bit out of place though. Everything was salty and having the mango made my sushi both sweet and salty, which i didn't really like. Gabriel thought that it was an refreshing change though. He really enjoyed this sushi and thought that the mango mix was a good idea. He thought that the fusion cuisine idea made the sushi a bit more "atas". Hahaha.

Cha Soba with Grilled Salmon ($11.80)

Gabriel's mum had the cha soba with grilled salmon. The cha soba was above average. The noodles was soft but we felt that the cha soba was not cold enough. We personally like our cha soba really cold. Nonetheless, it is salvaged by the very excellent dipping sauce that came with it. The salmon was very fresh as well and cooked to perfection. This is a meal if you're feeling health conscious and would like to opt for something low on the calories

Overall, i thought that Sushi Tei never fails if you're looking for good sushi especially. It's a bit pricey, but reasonable compared to other sushi/japanese places i've visited.

This sums up our Sunday. I have to get back to work but i promise i'll update this space consistently!

Sushi Tei
Big Splash
902 East Coast Parkway
#01-06 Blk B
Singapore 449874
Tel: 63487077

UPDATED: http://doriateo.blogspot.sg/2014/12/food-updates-more-sushi-tei-and-more.html

Saturdate at Royals!

Today was a really wonderful day. The weather isn't so hot anymore now that we've hit the rainy season. I really love this time of the year. It reminds me that Christmas is coming and i'm so excited for it!

Me and Gab headed to Royals along Upper East Coast for dinner today. We really love this place a lot. It's a nice little cafe. Its value for money too, however unfortunately the serving sizes are much smaller than before. Nonetheless, it's still good food!

Since Christmas is coming, they had already decorated the interior of the place with Christmas decorations!

My date who refused to take a proper picture

We eventually settled for our favourite Mee Siam and Pulled Beef Sandwich. For the Mee Siam, we ordered it as a set so it came with a dessert and drink.

They have all day breakfast as part of their menu too!

Royals is well known for its Mee Siam and Nasi Lemak! A lot of people come here to try it. Plus the prices are super value for money! But of course, it comes with GST and service charge. If you're craving for any of these foods or asian cuisine, this would definitely be a good bet!

It's interesting they have an all day breakfast too. I wouldn't suggest it. Personally, i've tried their scrambled eggs but i wasn't a fan of it. It was too buttery for my liking!

Pulled Beef Brisket and Swiss Cheese Sandwich

I love this. The pulled beef brisket is so well marinated and it is so lean! This is definitely something you should order if you're health conscious and craving for western food. They are very generous with their swiss cheese too so that's a plus. The salad is tossed in vinaigrette. It comes with potato chips but you can opt to change it for mash potato with no additional cost.

Their mash potato is so creamy and good! Sometimes i just order it alone. I just can't get enough of it!

Signature Nyonya Mee Siam

You might be worried that the Mee Siam is too spicy. It isn't! In fact even if your spice intolerant, you can give this a go! Gab is really spice intolerant but he managed to finish this. It only has a tinge of spice.

This Mee Siam is very rich in flavor, probably easily one of the best Mee Siams i have ever tried. It comes with a hard boiled egg, about 5 prawns and a generous serving of tau pok and beans sprout.
It's really perfect. You definitely have to try it!

Flat White

Since we ordered their Mee Siam as a set, it came with an additional drink and dessert. We chose their coffee and a brownie for dessert. Their coffee was surprisingly good too! It did not leave a sour aftertaste like most bad coffees do. In fact, i actually thought this coffee reminded me of Dimbulah's. Creamy and good.

Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream

Well, i thought that wasn't anything special about their dessert. It was just mediocre. The brownie was moist and good, but the serving size was way too small. If you want a proper dessert, this doesn't quite fix it.

In all, the Mee Siam which came in a set costs $13.50. The Pulled Beef Sandwich costs $13.50 as well. I wouldn't recommend getting the Mee Siam as a set since the dessert wasn't value for money in my opinion. If you get it alone without the set, it costs $5.90. It's really not worth it to pay and additional $8 just for the coffee and dessert.

Royals also sells a selection of bread. I myself brought back two cinnamon buns for $3! You can order their cakes too. If you're thinking of having a party, you can check out their mini bites too! You can also book the place for a private event (i.e. 21st birthday party) in the afternoon.

The Royals Cafe

19 Upper East Coast Road, Crescendo Building

Singapore 455209

Tel. 64456457

Food For Thought @ Queen Street

I just went to the Food For Thought outlet at Queen Street today. It's the outlet near Singapore Art Museum.

I remember this place used to be the express version of Food For Thought? They used to only sell burgers and they didn't sell their famous full works breakfast. Now they have included their normal menu at this outlet plus the burgers that they used to sell.

My favourite half works at the Food For Thought outlet at National Museum

Caught eating in action!

The Food For Thought outlet at Queen Street is very different in terms of ambience as compared to the National Museum one. There didn't seem to be much air conditioning at the Queen Street outlet. They had installed fans though but i still felt a bit hot. It's a high ceiling concept too.

The half works/ full works breakfast is always my usual, so this time i decided to try something different! Me and Gabriel opted for their burgers this time since the Food For Thought outlet we normally visit at the National Museum doesn't sell these burgers.

I opted for their slow roasted pulled pork burger. So did Gabriel.

Slow Roasted Pulled Pork Burger

The pulled pork was seasoned with BBQ sauce. It wasn't dry at all. In fact it was very moist so that's a thumbs up for me. There were some bits of fried sweet potato too so i thought that it was a really interesting twist! If you love your veggies, you'll like this burger too. They have a good mix of lettuce and carrots. It was accompanied with some scrambled eggs too. It tastes really good, and what's more i thought that it was a really healthy burger! Definitely for the health conscious.

You can order this burger with a side of fries or salad or fried sunny side up, but you'll have to pay an additional cost of $3 for it.

It costs $9 in total, which i thought was so overpriced for a small burger. I doubt you'll be full from it, because i wasn't. So although it tastes really good, i thought it wasn't value for money. It'll be so much better if i had stuck to my basic works/house works/ full works breakfast at Food For Thought. Personally, i thought that their breakfast menu was still a better choice!

Food For Thought
(Near Singapore Art Museum)
8 Queen Street
Singapore 188535
Tel: 63380837

UPDATED: http://doriateo.blogspot.sg/2014/12/food-updates-more-sushi-tei-and-more.html

Japanese Food Craze at Daikokuya & Standing Sushi Bar

Gab and I have been going to Japanese restaurants lately! Just last saturday we went to Daikokuya at Raffles City  (大黑屋) to try out their ramen.

Tsukemen

I ordered their tsukemen and i thought the portion was too small. (I eat a lot for a girl)

It was not too bad but I felt that their broth was a little on the salty side. But the broth was well boiled apart from the saltiness of it.

The noodles was PERFECT. It wasn't too soft or too hard and I really liked the texture of it. Probably the best ramen noodles i ever had! I like it that the broth came separately, so i could choose how much i broth i needed to go with my noodles… and i could save on some calories too. heh. Oh. and it came with a lemon, which i didn't use because i didn't know how it was supposed to go with my meal.

Stamina Miso Ramen

Gabriel had their stamina miso ramen. It was one of their chef recommendations. Unlike my order, his portion was way too much (although the bowl looks pretty small).  It was quite a decent ramen, though not the best we tried. The only good part of this ramen was the japanese egg which was very well done. The consistency was just right, not too cooked and not to raw for my liking. It was also well marinated with the sauce.

We spent about $15 per pax. It's quite reasonable since most other ramen places offer the same amount for a bowl of noodles.

Dakikoyuka
#B1-13 Raffles City Shopping Centre
252 North Bridge Road
Tel: 63367456

Yesterday we went to Standing Sushi Bar as well. We've really been crazy over trying out new Japanese restaurants lately. I love japanese food! It always seems so much healthier.

It's good to go to Standing Sushi Bar especially when they have discounts. We ordered their salmon sashimi and it was only $3 for 5 pieces of it! We order sushi rice ($3.50 for a bowl of rice) to go together with our sashimi as well.

25 pieces of salmon sashimi!

Look at all that glorious sashimi! :O The cut was so much better and thicker than other places selling the $1.50 sushi like Sushi Express and Nihon Mura. I thought it was decent, though i have tried extremely good sashimi which melts in your mouth. But for the price, i could definitely make do with the sashimi from Standing Sushi Bar!

Stuffing my face silly with sashimi

I look terrible in the photos because i had just finished a three hour class. Which explains my hair. And my tired face.

We were so full, happy and satisfied after that. We paid $25.90 in total for 25 slices of salmon sashimi and 2 bowls of rice.

Standing Sushi Bar
8 Queen Street
s(188535)
Tel: 6333 1335
(It's near the Singapore Art Museum.)

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

East Coast Park Memories

It's been way too long since i last blogged and the bf has been reminding me to blog all our happy memories so we can remember them!

We've been spending so much time at East Coast Park since it's really near Gab's place.

East Coast Park is such a significant place for us because of all our memories there.

I've been there for runs, picnics and who can forget the feast at the East Coast Park Lagoon?

There are so many things to do at East Coast Park!

1. We brought the silly dog, Cutie, to the beach

Cutie's first time at the beach and he was so intrigued by the sea. We tried to drag him into the waters but he was too scared of the sea.

He refused to leave and i had to carry him all the way from the beach to the pavement.

The sun was setting and we had to bid our goodbyes to the beach. Cutie's sooo adorable right? He's really our little baby!

2. We had a picnic by the beach

We prepared a salad, hamburgers and i bought a banana pie for me and Gab to enjoy by the beach! We went in the evening so it was nice watching the sun set. It was also really breezy too! It was such a perfect date. Of course, my date was even more perfect! :P

Gab took this pic on the way to our picnic spot! The sun was setting already and it was like a race to beat time.

The food we prepared! Gab had prepared the salad while i made the hamburgers!

For the salad, we marinated the chicken with taco sauce bought from NTUC, garlic and ginger. Gab fried it with a bit of milk and it turned out really wonderful! The hamburgers were really easy to prepare! I just bought the muffin bread from Cold Storage and layered the burger with cheese and ham.

Me at the picnic spot!

This was our view. :)

We ended the day with a glass of Moscato at home. It was really good because the wine tasted so sweet! 

3. Feast at the Lagoon

We always end up over ordering whenever we're at the Lagoon! The food here never ever disappoints!

We really really love the food their fried carrot cake! I think the Lagoon sells one of the best fried carrot cake we've ever had!

Some of the food we've tried on one of our dates!

Alright so this sums up my post! ECP really holds so many dear memories! I am looking forward to more ECP dates in the future. :)