Lighthouse Bistro

Came to Lighthouse Bistro with Chloe, Alex and Ed. They started in 2013 and have recently moved to lavender.

I like their knife, looks unique. On the other hand, I dislike their menu. It's quite disorganized to me. On one side you have the appetizer and the next you suddenly have mocktails and cocktails and then back to food again and finally back to beverages.

Tiger Fish & Fries ($19)- Our signature pairing of pacific sea bass and a tiger beer batter, deep fried and served with straight-cut nori potato fries, accompanied with orange mayo  & greens. The batter was perfectly crispy and you could taste the tiger beer. Could not really taste the seaweed in the fries. The orange mayo was nice, citrus-y and creamy which went well with the fries and fish.

Salted Chocolate & Caramel ($13)- A biscuit base of french chocolate, topped with seventy-two percent cocoa chocolate mousse & creamy caramel, garnished with cookie crumble & garden berries. I love caramel so I liked the topped layer the most which is the caramel. It was sweet and caramel-like. Following that was a dark chocolate mousse. The biscuit base and cookie crumble helped add texture to the dish and the berries helped gave it the acidity and freshness. One thing I was disappointed about was the fact that I couldn't tell that it was salted chocolate.

Rate:
Tiger Fish & Fries: 6/10 ☺
Salted Chocolate & Caramel: 7/10 ☺

Sukho Thai (China Square Central)

Finally got to go out with GF after a suppppeeeeer long time. We were around the area cause we just went to Sia Huat and we were super hungry. We saw this shop, Sukho Thai and decided to eat here.

Red Tom Yum Seafood with Rice/Noodle ($6.90). Like I said we were really hungry so some rice got eaten before I took the photo. We got the red tom yum cause the chef said it was the spiciest one. The soup was quite good, slightly spicy, tangy and sweet with taste of seafood.

Thai Basil Chicken Rice ($5.90). Basil chicken is one of my favorite Thai dish. I was a little disappointed with it as it the sauce tasted very Chinese-like. Other then that it was not bad.

Mango Glutinous Rice ($6.00). We were really lucky. It was the last mango that the shop had available. Hot sticky rice topped with chilled sliced mangoes and drizzled with coconut milk, another one of my favorites. The plain glutinous was really hot (not kidding) and it went well with the sweet coconut milk and the firm, fresh and sweet mango.

Rate:
Red Tom Yum Seafood with Rice: 6.5/10 ☺
Thai Basil Chicken Rice: 6/10 ☺
Mango Glutinous Rice: 8/10 ☺

49 Seats (Bugis+)

Went to 49 Seats with Zq after our visit to the museum.

49 Seats offers Western Fusion food in a casual seating environment. Orders and payments are made at the cashier.

 Ice Lemon Tea ($3) and Coke Zero ($3). I liked that they came in tin cans. Looks unique.

Cream of Mushroom Soup ($5.90). Hot creamy mushroom-y soup with bits of mushroom and a slice of garlic bread at the side. The bread was nice, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

Prawn Fritters ($9.90). (Frozen) Prawns in a crispy and tasty batter that are deep fried to perfection. 

Tom Yum Seafood Pasta ($14.90). Creamy, slightly spicy (tom yum- like) sauce with al dente pasta and prawns, mussel and clams. Did not like the taste of the sauce. It had some elements of a tom yum but yet it felt like there were too much seasoning inside, that my tongue could not handle.
Old Fashioned Fish and Chips with Tom Yum Sauce ($16.90) with Garden Salad, Fries and sauce on the side. Plain tasting fish in a crispy batter with fries that are not so salty and a salad with a creamy sweet (maybe thousand island) sauce and two halves of a cherry tomato. The sauce tasted much saltier then the seafood pasta sauce, without the creaminess. In the sauce there were mussel and prawns as well. Both zq and I agree that the fish tasted better without the sauce and could use maybe tartar sauce or maybe salt to help elevate the dish. But dipping the fries with the sauce was not bad.

We also got to see some fireworks after our dinner. Zq took pictures while I took a video of it.

Rate:
Cream of Mushroom Soup: 6.5/10 ☺

Prawn Fritters: 6.5/10 ☺

Tom Yum Seafood Pasta: 5.5/10 ☺

Old Fashioned Fish and Chips with Tom Yum Sauce: 5.5/10 ☺

Army Museum | Singapore Discovery Centre

Yesterday was Singapore's birthday. Happy 50th Birthday!

I went to the Army Museum with ZQ cause she is in love with the army and is aspiring to be a solider. We went in the afternoon with the free transport. Since we made our way at around 11am the train was not crowded.

On the way to the army museum we saw this which I thought was quite cool. There's a description of what it is next to it.

We went to take pictures with the army vehicles. It was quite fun. We also played around with their mini Standard Operation Course, trying out their balance beam, low wall etc... It was like a playground for us.

Since we were there we went to make our own solider at the solider craft section for kids. It was easy peasy, the hard part was slotting the paper into the gap to fix. After that we went for the 4D movie with the two big tanks and a helicopter before heading to the shooting gallery for our free try. Zq and I got to try both the M16 and SAR 23. It was lots of fun (since I won twice against zq).

Next we went to the Singapore Discovery Centre. There was an event going on, which is still ongoing. Basically everyone gets a 'passport' and the objective is to collect all the stamps to get a prize. The first three stamps are outside the museum while the other five are located inside the museum.

Zq and I managed to collect all 8 stamps, which was quite fun. We went through the entire building and discover a lot of things about Singapore while we were finding the chop stations. We also tried out some of their educational game machines.

At the end we each collected our tote bag which say ' SHIOK TO BE SINGAPOREAN'. I agree. Free entry and free gifts. 

We also got quite hungry so we bought hot dogs ($2.50). We regretted putting so much condiment. In the end it felt like we were eating mustard bun instead of hot dog bun ): 

Overall I had more fun then I had expected. Apparently going to a museum can be quite a fun enriching way to spend my time.

One Ice Cafe

Discover One Ice Cafe while I was walking around JCube.

Every table has their menu. After ordering they give a device to let you know when to collect your food.

Patbingsu ($6.80)- Shaved Milk Ice, Azuki Beans, Almond, Cornflakes, Rice Cake, Jelly, Vanilla Ice Cream. Ice were very fine and very slight milky yet sweet. Beans were sweet but wished they were softer. Dind't find any almond in it. Cornflakes is a good add on, provided lots of crunch. For the rice cake, they made it themselves. I think they made it using the muah chee recipe. It was chewy. (Actually I ordered this flavor as it had rice cake in it) Jelly was plain so I think it was there to add texture. Vanilla ice cream was sweet but after a while I wasn't sure which was sweeter. The ice cream or the shaved ice.

Rate:
Patbingsu: 6.5/10 ☺

Koji Sushi Bar

Came to Koji Sushi Bar with gf for lunch. Koji Sushi bar is a casual place to dine with most diners at the sushi counter seats. The have a small, simple menu that actually covers a wide range of food (or at least food that I would try).

Yuzu tea ($3) and Matcha latte ($5). The yuzu tea was your average yuzu that you get everywhere. Citrus-y, slight bitterness and sweetness. The matcha latte is actually unsweetened matcha with milk which is good since some people would like it without sugar. The gave a bottle of sugar which gf added quite a lot since she felt it needed it to be balanced.

Beancurd with Century Egg ($4). The beancurd was like chawamushi, soft and silky. Topped with a delicious century egg yolk  mixture, springy century egg bits and tobiko.

All donburi and sushi set comes with soup and salad. The salad with the tangy, sweet and fishy dressing was a nice start. The soup was clear, hot and flavourful.

Salmon Avocado Tartare Rice Bowl ($17). Creamy avocado and fresh raw salmon tossed in some sort of dressing with wasabi on the side. Gf really liked it since she loves salmon but the wasabi was quite spicy.

Sashimi Rice Bowl ($17) with Uni (+$9). There were small chunks of a number of sashimi like salmon, swordfish and yellowtail. There were also jellyfish strips, tempura bits, ikura and uni on top. Having the sashimi in small chunks instead of slices were good as you could taste more of the sashimi flavour. The crunchy jellyfish added a nice springy texture while the tempura bits gava it some crunch. The uni was really nice. Fresh, sweet and had a taste of the sea.

Gf and I really enjoyed our meal here and might come back again soon.

Rate:
Yuzu tea: 6/10 ☺
Matcha latte: 6.5/10 ☺
Beancurd with Century Egg: 7/10 ☺
Salmon Avocado Tartare Rice Bowl: 7/10 ☺
Sashimi Rice Bowl with Uni: 7.5/10 ☺

Cafe Insadong

Came to Cafe Insadong with gf. This cafe is quite unique as it is not only offers dessert but art and elegani as well.

Injeolmi Toast with Ice Cream ($6). After my first encounter with injeolmi I began to fall in love with it. So when I saw that they had injeolmi toast I knew I had to order it. For ice cream there were a few selection- vanilla, chocolate, matcha(+$0.50), salted caramel(+$0.50) and a few others that I can't recall. Being a salted caramel lover it was no hassle picking my ice cream flavor. Two pieces of toast with gooey rice cake in the middle, dusted with soy powder, topped with salted caramel ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce and almond flakes. To be honest, it was a little disappointing. The salted caramel did not taste salted nor caramel-like. It was a little sticky in texture and maybe tasted a little like butterscotch? The toast with the rice cake was too chewy for me as well.

Red bean and Sweet Potato Patbingsu ($9). The shaved ice was really fine. Much more then the one I had at Bing Go Jung which were like the ones you get in your usual Ice Kachang. Somehow I didn't really like the sweet potato which felt quite heavy maybe because its a starch.I think this bingsu was a little sweet for me and gf. What I like here was the mochi.

Overall, I really like the presentation of the food. The service staff was also quite friendly when we asked for recommendation.

Rate:
Injeolmi Toast with Ice Cream: 5/10 ☺
Red bean and Sweet Potato Patbingsu: 5/10 ☺