EatPlayLove Cafe @ Aliwal Street

Date Patronised: 28th Feb'14

No. of pax: 2+1

Spent: S$31 (inclusive of S$5 for off-peak craft for the kiddo)

I've known about the cafe during their soft launch as it's owner is a friend of my good friend. But I've not been there since I seldom get to that area.

It was a brilliant opportunity as we intended to bring our son to the Children Toy Museum at Kampung Glam, it was not opened yet, so we thought of yumcha when I realised we were very near the cafe.

And so we popped by twice. Yup, twice!

First time, it was not opened yet. Ops.. it's open at 12 to 10 pm daily. We were 15mins away from 12pm.. Zzzzz...

Second time, you guessed it, we were the first customer!

It's located at Aliwal Street, at Aliwal Arts Centre

I really like the cafe

With many small little things that make you feel cosy, really

It was empty at first, but flooded with customers when we finished our lunch

Somehow feel the personal touch

Kiddo was given a tag - probably to indicate we have paid for the art & craft corner

Included in the small fee

This too!

The stools at the kiddie corner with 3D carving.. 

Kiddo engrossed at work, although he produced none.
Thought it would probably be better if there were more kiddos around.
Inspiration has to come from somewhere!

Chicken Soup Macaroni With Veggie for kiddo - Set at S$6.50
Comes with Yakult

Baked Mushroom Rice for him

Chicken Chop for me!

There were a few surprises:
1) The space - I've thought it was a small cafe, I was surprised it was very spacious, as you can see above..
2) The food #1 - I was surprised to have some decent meals
3) The food #2 - and was even more surprised the food was yummylicious!
3) The price - set lunch at S$9.90 (a main and choice of ice lemon tea/coke/sprite/coffee/tea)

We think it was a great deal. Great place to hang out, yumcha while the kiddo busy away.

Best part, hubby said we can go again, which is rare, trust me!

The fee for the art & craft corner:
S$5 for first 2 hours on weekdays
S$5 for first hour on weekends, PH and school holiday
**Subsequent 30mins at S$2.50


For more information:

Website: http://www.eatplaylove.com.sg/ (Check out their party packages too, now I wish my son was only turning ONE this year so we could celebrate his birthday in this cosy cafe)

Address: 28 Aliwal Street #01-07 S199918 Aliwal Arts Center

Tel: 6444 6400

PS: there's a public carpark right in front of the cafe, limited lots though, we saw a number of cars waited around.

Disclaimer: While my good friend is a friend of the owner, I do not know the owner myself, so this post is solely based on my personal experience and humble opinion. :-)

Clout Shoppe (Online Shopping)

Date ordered: 6th Feb'14 (Thursday)

Date received: 7th Feb'14 (Friday)

Spent: S$90 (inclusive S$6 for delivery)

I was so happy with the prompt service!

They ought to improvise the sealing of the paper bag though..
The staples hurts and I didn't really want to remove them.

Excited!

My first Melissa flats!

Smell really nice and soft...

The trademark

I had to ask for an exchange though.. as the size US6 is too big for my left foot, it literally dropped out if I lift my left leg.

So I wrote in to arrange for the exchange the next day, which was a Saturday. I was feeling a little phobic of online purchase exchange etc.

Surprisingly, I got a reply from them on Monday, before lunch time. The Customer Service was so nice, she even thanked me for getting in touch and noted my concern and told me in details the procedure for exchange. She also asked me to make arrangement in advance so that they can make necessary arrangement. Also told me right away that smaller size is not available for this colour. I may want to choose other colour or design.

WOW!!

And so I chose Burgundy, Black, which was nice too!

I asked hubby to go down to them on Tuesday, and tarah... I've got my shoes exchanged nicely within 2 working days!

How cool!

Do note though, price on Clout Shoppe not necessarily cheaper than Reebonz but I like the variety of products.

Old School Delights @ Upper Thomson Road

Date patronised: 3rd Jan'14

No. of pax: 2

Amount spent: S$39.50

As our precious had to attend make up art class at Heart Studio on our anniversary, we had only 1 hour for our anniversary dinner, so we settled somewhere nearby. I wanted to try La Petite Cuisine, but it was full house when we walked past.

Old School Delight caught our eyes, and of course, they still have seats available. Not for long though, not long after we settled down in there, the crowd started to come in.

So, if you are ready to walk down the memory lane, here goes!

I was super excited about this box.. 5 stones and Donkey cards! Gosh!

Root beer float

Gigantic portion of Fish & Chips

Super Yummy Nasi Bryani with 2 pcs of fried chicken!

Hubby's Chendol - I thought they look eeks! Haha!

For more details:

Website: http://www.oldschooldelights.com/ (They have a very cute website, do visit!)

Address: 215M, Upper Thomson Road, S574349

Tel: +65-6458 4518

Artease @ Serangoon Central

Date patronised: 31st Dec'13

No. of pax: 2

Amount spent: S$15.00

It is situated at Serangoon Central, very near our place. I told hubby of the cafe opened "lately" (I'm not sure when.. it just appeared and we started talking about it). I've never seen long Q, so I thought it would be perfect for our paktor yumcha.

I ordered a cup of cappucino, hubby had a cup of Strawberry Freeze and we took a slice of New York Cheesecake.

Cappucino tasted ok, but the coffee art could be better. Probably I was spoilt rotten since I went to Chock Full of Beans? Maybe..

Strawberry Freeze was ok. I noticed most of the customers ordered cold tea drinks instead of hot drinks. So maybe, if I were to patronise again, I shall give those a try.

New York Cheesecake tasted ok, but the base was cakey. I didn't like it.

More details:

Website: http://www.artease.sg

Address:
Blk 261 Serangoon Central
#01-29 Singapore 550261

8 Degrees Taiwanese Bistro

Date patronised: 21st Nov'13

Spent: S$24

No. of pax: 2 adults 1 toddler

My friend shared about this bistro for a few weeks. I've always wanted to try but thinking of the parking on weekends, I just get lazy. Last night, my friend and I brought my son along, we walked there. If you are taking public transports, you can walk here from Serangoon MRT Station actually.

I had high anticipation, as my son loved the food we had in Taiwan. So I hope he could find the food here nice, and eat more.

The bistro was very quiet, probably because it was a weekday.

Prices are within reasonable range, but we were disappointed by the food. Perhaps, just perhaps we didn't order the right food.

My son didn't take more than 5 spoons of the stewed pork belly rice. And asked for durian instead.

BBT is something I would recommend. This place can definitely be a good yumcha place.



Interior




Fruit beer - sure try next time




Yummy BBT  @ S$3.80 each - we even packed another cup




Stewed Pork Belly Rice at S$3.80 - my son didn't like it




Weekly special at S$8.80

 Note: they have high chairs if you need it for your kids.


More details:

Website: http://www.8dtb.com/

Address: 37 Teck Chye Terrace (S)545734

Tel: 6284 8226

TCC @ Anchorpoint

Date patronised: 25th Aug'13

Spent: S$100++

No. of pax: 6 adults + 5 toddlers

As my friend's birthday falls in the month of August, and she is a member of TCC, her card entitled us to 50% off the bill. And so we made reservation for dinner after the kiddos' photoshoot.

They provided us with only 2 highchairs. You can really imagine the chaos when you have 5 toddlers at the same place.

The staffs were very friendly, even when one of our kiddos broke a glass. He smiling happily to clear the broken glass away.

And then another one of our kiddos puked onto the cushioned chair and the floor. Yet, the staffs were cool about it.

They were so cool, although we were very sure they were cursing us like mad in their heart. For that, I wrote a compliment feedback in TCC website. Within half an hour, I've got a reply!

Good deed done! Hope compliments breed good customer service!



Ma Maison @ Bugis+

Date patronised: 18th Aug'13
No. of pax: 2+1
Spent: I'm not sure, hubby picked the bill

I didn't really feel like taking pictures of the place and blog about it. Mainly coz I regretted my decision to lunch there.

I had a great time having lunch with my girlfriends in Ma Maison Bugis, I didn't take note of what they really serve before suggesting to hubby to try them.

So son and I went to get a seat while hubby put shoppings into the car.

My son went to a 2 seaters immediately while I struggled to pull a highchair out. Son insisted not sitting on a high chair. Then came a male staff that sound like a Filipino and asked how many we were and suggested that I take bigger table instead.

Before I go further, please bear with me that the arrangement of the place such that there are 2 sections, so this one is separate by a small aisle for passerby to walk by obviously, from the kitchen, cashier and the staffs. So, not that we didn't wait to be seated, but it somehow didn't work that way.

Anyway, he didn't sound very friendly, but we were given menu right away, and asked if I wanted cold or warm water. He got a small cup with straw for dear son and a bigger mug for me.

I took a long time deciding what to eat, as I was obviously regretting my choice. There was almost nothing I could order for my son's lunch! But.. I was served water, so I can't just say thank you but no thank you, right? Though technically I can, I wouldn't do it.

After what seemed a long time, I ordered Tonkatsu pork cutlet (below picture) as son would like to have crunchy with his rice.

Hubby joined us later, he too, didn't know what to eat. And he decided not to order. The menu already put his appetite off. The staff didn't offer him water by the way. So he took mine instead.

To my horror when the Tonkatsu came, I asked "no rice?", he answered "if you want, you can order the set, ma'am".. sounded really not nice. So I said it's ok.

We made do with the set.

Not that I didn't want to top up for a set, but the sound of it, he wasn't very happy. I was not very happy too. He should have told me there's set option when I ordered... I could have missed it.. I could have not understood the menu, etc...

Long story cut short, I couldn't wait to leave the restaurant, that is why you see, I didn't even bother to see how much hubby paid for the lunch.

And I posted on my Facebook immediately, about how the customer service sucks here.

It was as if he could read my Facebook update real time, he was all friendly when hubby paid. He even offered dear son a basket of toys, and asked him to choose one. And for that second, he smiled widely.

How handsome he looked when he did smile.

Singapore customer service standard? Way to go manz!

The Tonkatsu Pork Cutlet - really juicy, succulent, tender, crispy - yummy

The boy was happy of course with the little gift from them

PS: In the end we bought a cup of bubble tea from Gongcha due to the unsatisfaction.

Saybons @ Junction 8, Bishan

Date patronised: 3rd Jul'13
No. of pax: 2
Spent: about S$12

Where the name came from: (from their website)
Saybons is inspired from the French phrase- C'est Bon which means 'it's good' in French. To make it a little easier and unique, we anglicized the phrase and added a 's' at the back. Most people should be able to pronounce this one we guess.

It looks like a small eatery at one of the corner. Wouldn't catch my eyes if not my friend suggested to give it a try.

Prices are reasonable.

I had combo meal, consists of choice of soup, 2 choices of bread and iced tea, for S$7.80

I could actually smell bread standing here taking this photo - really appetising

Not very big on the inside - 4 tables can accomodate 20 people probably
(saw an IKEA highchair, it would come handy if you want to bring your kid there too)

The menu

 

My combo, focaccia bread with garlic herb butter and cheese butter, wild mushroom soup and iced tea.
Also my friend's fresh tomato soup.


In short, fast french food, YUMMY!

PS: Bread was too much for us, I brought home a piece, and my fussy hubby thought it was yummy too!


Details:

Website: http://saybons.com/

Address: Junction 8, Bishan (#02-27A) (they have 2 other branches in Plaza Singapura and Aljunied)

Tel: +65-6258 3138

RamenPlay @ Breadtalk IHQ in Paya Lebar iPark

Date patronised: 26th Jun'13 (near lunch time)

No. of people: 3

Spent: about S$45

Paya Lebar iPark is becoming the upcoming business park it seems.

Situated just near my office, it was impressive to watch the construction progress of the building. Initially we were guessing which company it belongs to. Slowly, it revealed itself. Finally in early Jun'13, it officially opened. If you read the news, it cost $64.1 million for the BreadTalk IHQ.

BreadTalk group didn't fail to amaze me from the diversification. From Breadtalk to RamenPlay to Food Republic to ToastBox to DinTaiFung. They also have carpark available for visitors (first hour free parking - offer till 31st Jul). On the second floor, still under construction, would be Cherie Hearts, UOB and medical hall. At least these were the visible brand names now. From their website there'll be 7-11 too. Wow..

I'm amazed they have very good sight. They have dine-in for brands under their group, they earn from car park, and certainly from rental to other brand. That is a superbly good investment.



Photo from the news




Had a chance to take a look on a Friday evening after work - Breadtalk




RamenPlay




The grand entrance to RamenPlay - I am very curious of the reason, feng shui?
(Behind Ramen Play is Din Tai Fung)




Toast Box and Food Republic




The alfresco




I didn't notice in other RamenPlay before (or perhaps coz I didn't intend to blog about it then, I didn't notice)




The chili paste didn't look appetising but once you took some, you wouldn't stop. The initial taste, SPICY, but then the fragrance just stayed in your mouth when you swallow. Super concoction I should say, not just me alone, but with my colleagues too.




Shoyu Ramen for my colleagues




Cha-shu Double Soup Ramen for myself - superb soup
but I had to add chili oil to make it spicy, I prefer my ramen spicy.




Yaki Gyoza to share - not as crispy as I thought it would be




Crispy Dango - Really crispy and piping hot! Yummy!




Yaki Dango - was a bit sick of the meaty taste
as this was the last I took during the meal

 I have to mention that customer service was good in this RamenPlay. I saw a lady service crew touched a lamp post (part of the interior design) mounted slanted on the wall and told customers to mind their head. Awww..

Except for ToastBox I believe all other restaurants were full house by the time we were done with our lunch. And it was pouring. I can certainly imagine the crowd if it was not.

Address: 30 Tai Seng Street 534013 (Across Tai Seng MRT Station, besides Sakae Sushi building)
Website: http://www.breadtalk.com/mall/ (you may refer to the website for tenants coming up, carpark rate etc)
Tel: 6444 5258
Opening hours: 11am to 9.30pm (for RamenPlay)