Monday, April 30, 2012

New York New York

While I was looking for somewhere to eat, before ice skating at Leisure Centre Kallang, this restaurant came to sight. Sets of pasta, pizza, steak, fish grill and variety of western snacks are all available. It may be a nice hideaway before/after a good exercise at the skate link. What I recommend is the Spaghetti Bolonaise with Meatball and the Hawaian pizza. You can ask the shop to make the dish spicy or non spicy according to your preference.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Shunju Izakaya

I went in a party of four people. The shop is located in the fine looking riverbed pedesterian road along the Singapore River. They have good variety of Shochu(焼酎)+Sake (日本酒)and typical but good side dish for these drinks. I would recommend Beef Salad (Gyu Tataki Salad) and Ochazuke (お茶漬け)

Tel: +65 6887 3577

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Netsuretsu Ichibantei

Ramen, Dandan mian is good here.
The taste is pretty much geared towards Japanese native taste, but they still try to offer some local taste, such as spicy ramen. Pricey but I would still say worth the price if you are craving for Dandan mian.
It is located in one of the blocks in Far East Square vicinity.

3 Pickering Street #01-32/33 Nankin Row Singapore 048660
+65-65570226

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Keyaki at Sari Pan Pacific Hotel


I had a quick lunch for my day 1 in Jakarta. The daily lunch special costs 99,000Rps ++. the one I tried is Tempura Don set,which comes with salad, miso soup, coffee or fruits cut. The floor is quite spacious, waitress is very attentive but not in an intrusive way, so that you feel very special. I guess most high class Japanese restaurant is designed in such a way anyway.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4

Afternoon tea (arteastique)

On the top floor of Mandarin Gallery at the edge of floor, you will find a colorful deco tea house. They serve salad, main dish (beef, pork, chicken, fish), wrapping, deserts, and afternoon tea set. The one I recommend is pork with pineapple sauce, beef with berry sauce, and ham&cheese panini. Their drinks are quite unique: fruit tea with ice cream is worth trying.

Massage parlor in Singapore

Let me share you the massage parlor I have tried or been using frequently in Singapore:

1,
My Foot Reflexology (Great World City). 1 Kim Seng Promenade #02-01/01A Great World City S237994

They are quite used to foreigners who are not used to strong pressure massage. They mainly provide foot and shoulder/neck massage. They have some pool of masseuse who are visually handicapped but very professionally skilled in their works. If I remember correctly they charge around 40 to 50 dollars for 60 min foot massage. Accepts Nets or Cash payment.

2,
Rapellez
Orchard Road
541 Orchard Road, #18-03/04, Liat Towers, Singapore 238881

They have a few outlets in Singapore. This place is more of upper class beauty spa which also provides facial, body scrub, aroma therapy. Very professional. We bought a package. Subject to the contents of package, I am paying around 50-60 Dollars per treatment which is average around 90-120 min. You definitely need to book in prior to treatment. Not open for Sunday/public holidays.
I am a regular here and usually take aroma body massage and ear candle treatment. The pressure is more for foreigner standard but I am sure you can ask for adjustment. Interior, hygiene, ambience, music are all high standard.

3,
Nature Care Oriental Massage
Blk 22 Havelock Rd #01-711 Singapore 160022

Another regular place I visit for shiatsu massage. In the middle of HDB residential area, I found this decently priced but up to good standard massage place. They mainly provide foot and body massage. 60 min body Massage is 49 dollars. The masseuse may not be so good at speaking English so a little Mandarin communication would be more help. Nevertheless overall service level more than expected for what you pay.
Hygiene, ambience is good. Recommend to book in prior to treatment. Open everyday. No package but if you sign up you can get the eleventh or thirteenth treatment free (condition applies).

4.
Adept therapy
#01-84 Lucky Plaza
Small but cozy environment for decent shiatsu massage is available at L1 of Lucky plaza along Orchard Road.
Foot massage 60 min $45, Body massage 60 min $60.
I have tried a few times. Lots of touristy visitors may be present so be aware of your visiting hours to avoid hick ups.

5.
Zen Wellness
#02-04 Cuppage Plaza
And
#02-62 Concorde Hotel
The atmosphere may look a bit dingy due to its location, and interior but they do provide reasonably priced service. Most masseuse may not speak much English so some Mandarin would help and avoid hick ups. (I did experience one as the masseuse changed during my session and the time duration was not correctly conveyed therefore had to renegotiate the service fee conditions at the Concorde Hotel outlet.) Official rate for 60 min body massage is 60 dollars. However, for Japanese they have a special discount rate, so let them know beforehand. (I saw their ADs after trying out their service)

6.
Rwo Shur Foot Reflexology Centre Dawson Place, 57 Dawson Road

Typical local family use massage place in shopping centre of HDB area. They give treatment in open space. Very Chinese traditional type massage. Unless you are accustomed to the treatment I will warn you to try from limited duration.

Tiger air

The third LCC player to be reviewed:
Trip between Singapore (budget terminal) and Jakarta (Terminal 2). I would assume they are the most economic among the three. When compare the price, i do not recall a them to be beaten by price. However this comes with trade off to convenience. Booking process is okay, as I can specify my luggage allowance etc. But I still need to come over to budget terminal. It does not have enough outlets to accommodate the shopping, eatery demand. (Note: Budget terminal will be demolished as of September 2012, therefore Tiger Sir will move to T2.) They also seem to temporarily or indefinitely halted the web check-in function. This was a bit of painful as I needed to follow their strict check in requirement 45 min prior to flight departure, even on early hour flight.
Flight attendant is friendly, on flight food and beverage service is just as same as other LCCs. No flight entertainment may be painful if you are on mid haul flight such as Singapore - Taipei flight.
The number of check in counter is quite limited. Even in Singapore it is usually only one or two, so expect for long queue when check in.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Waraku (izakaya style chain)

On weekly family dining out, we chose to try the Japanese Casual Dining. Though the name looks similar to Watami, it is a different chain deriving into several franchise (pasta, curry, dining) style. The dining is what we tried: they have ramen, noodles, fried seafood, steaks, curry rice, Sushi, teppanyaki. It offers a nice view of Singapore river and Clark Quay area.
Recommended for family or group dining.
Located at 3rd floor of Central, just above Purple line MRT Clark Quay station.

Air Asia

Continued from three (3) LCCs comparison:

Air Asia: I took the flight between Singapore and Langkawi recently. The booking process is perhaps the most friendly among the three carriers.they even provide i phone apps. Others do not. They also use terminal 1 in Changi. I was able to web check in but not for the returning flight. Air Asia provides individual luggage allowance as well as booking meals. You may be wise to order one if you do not want face some hiccups of "out if stock". Range of meal is limited but considering the flight time, I find it reasonable. As for long haul flight (e.g. KL - Haneda/Tokyo), I found the range of service, such as entertainment to be not bad.

Sushi & Sashimi Restaurant (Ippachi)

Wondering for lunch around Sentral Senayan area, I bumped into separate nice looking building; plaza senayan arcadia. In the building three nice looking restaurant came into my sight: Din Tai Fung, Fukuten (Sumibiyski) and Ippachi (Sushi). Craving for light set meal, I immeadiately jumped into Sushi. Inside the decor looks high class Sushi Restaurant, with very attentive hospitality. This is one of most cost effective Sushi shop I have been for a while. The Nigiri set comes with Choice if noodle (i selected Somen) and Salad with desert and only cost 138,600Rp (19 SGD). The chef is making Sushi in front of me. I see some Sake or Shochu bottle for dinner occasion. All customer looked Japanese but possibly sone wealthy local may be regulars.

Very impressive, highly recommended!


Address: Plaza Senayan Arcadia Unit X110, Jl. New Delhi no.9, Pintu Senayan Jakarta 10270

phone: 021 5790 1461


Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4

Friday, April 20, 2012

Jet Star


I would like to compare the three main LCC players Flying from Singapore from my recent three flights:
First of all, Jet Star.

Jet star flying from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City. I found the booking process they provide misleading. I could not manage to dismiss the luggage allowance for my family members,therefore end up reserving extra capacity of luggage. Other airlines allow individual selection of luggage allowance. I also got charge fir extraordinary surcharge for credit card payment. Unless I have a Jetstar credit card, I have no choice but pay 50 SGD. EFTPOS may work but not for NETS.
Web check in is quite a hassle. I keep on bumping into errors, time out, as I need to fill in quite amount of information. Inputting four passenger takes 20minutes and was in vain. Error message possibly die to connectivity issue. I gave up and just walked up to counter as usual. Luckily morning flight counter is not that congested. They have several booths for check in.
Jet star uses terminal 1 in Changi. I can book a seat in prior to boarding, unlike LCCs in Europe.
In flight, no entertainment no complimentary food/drinks which is the standard practice among LCCs so there is not much to complain. I can still buy food and drink on board anyway. Flight itself is punctual. One unpleasant incident was at HoChi Minh airport, after check in. Boarding Gate announcement is not correctly displayed. We had to wonder back and forth from edge to edge of airport. In flight sales item, magazines are good quality.

Sari Pan Pacific Jakarta

I stayed during my short business trip to Jakarta. As my colleagues recommended me, the hotel is conveniently located in the city center, right across the street of Sarina Department store. The hotel staff are very friendly and attentive to help for any query. The room comes with complimentary wifi. I was entitled for complimentary breakfast and food selection is satisfactory.
Having said that I need to point out the downside: maintainable of facility seems not to be up to the 4 or 5 star standard. Room bathroom seems to be aging, though there is no fault but the toilet flush button was a bit tricky until i got used to it. I smell some moss inside the room as well as in the corridors, possibly due to inadequate ventilation maintainable. The wall is a bit thin so I hear voices TV sound from adjacent room.
The hotel spa is good, the restaurant keeps up its quality to a good standard. Compared to the other Pan Pacific hotels I stayed in Singapore, this one falls behind but still satisfactory.

Sheraton Langkawi Resort

Our family stayed over long weekend at executive suite, which is around 100sqm bungalow type room. Very spacious, nice environment for get away from noisy cities.

For myself, living in a tropical country condo, I did not feel so fascinating to be out in the rural spot. Nevertheless it gave us the sense of unusualness of holiday: I should give them the credit for that. Hotel staff seems to be constantly busy, or maybe understaffed, so I may have to approach them for any help.
Early check in was available so it was quite a good first impression for my family. Facility seems to be a bit outdated partly due to the wooden structure. But everything worked okay except for magnetic room key, and on premise transportation. The key often did not work properly, buggy takes time to pick up. Better be patient for time!
Dining experience here is worth note. Two restaurants provide good quality food and drinks. The local, Indian and Chinese blends quite well in their menu!




Saturday, April 7, 2012

Hotel Nikko Saigon

We stayed for long weekend holiday in Ho Chi Minh City. 30 min drive from Airport. Just opened October 2011, quite brand new hotel. Though the location is a bit far, the facility, hospitality is great. We are at the executive floor, so are entitled to the lounge for complimentary breakfast, afternoon tea. The baguette, pho is great for breakfast. Both thumbs up for either vacation or business.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Sun with Moon Japanese Dining & Café

Recommend for reasonable Japanese Lunch set:

501 Orchard Road
#03-15/16/17 Wheelock Place
Singapore 238880


restaurant 京兆尹 in Taipei

mostly vegeterian but they are also famous for their desert menu.
Quite nice for your stomach. The restaurant is in Taipei City, Taiwan.
台湾台北大安区四維路18号