It was a small little place and there were very few seats. Even though it was a small place, it felt cheery because it was brightly lit and the whole color scheme was predominately white with some purple. It sold milkshakes, ice-cream and some snacks. But the main draw is the milkshakes. When I was there, over 90% of the customers were drinking milkshakes. Many people also walked in, brought their milkshakes and left.

At Mao Mao’s recommendation, Sayang and I tried the grumbling raisins (rum and raisins) and chocolate truffle castle (chocolate) milkshake. We bought the mini cup ($3.60) which was very small, no taller than my hand. At first it didn’t seem like much, but each milkshake was packed full of goodness. My chocolate milkshake was very rich and thick, almost as if I was eating chocolate ice-cream instead. It was even richer and thicker and Billy Bomber’s milkshake, which for a long time had been my No. 1 milkshake in Singapore. After drinking this, I had to agree with Mao Mao’s husband that this is the best milkshake in Singapore.

Sayang had the rum and raisins which was just as good, full of creamy goodness and a taste of rum. If you like rum and raisins ice-cream, you will love this.

After we finished our first cups, Sayang and I decided to try other flavors, much to the horror of Mao Mao. We tried vainilla pot (vanilla) and spooky mocha (mocha) milkshakes. We felt the vanilla was too creamy to be enjoyable. The mocha was quite nice but our favorites were still rum and raisins and chocolate.

Once Upon A Milkshake
32 Maxwell Road #01-08 Maxwell Chambers
Tel: 98233779

After we bought the tickets, we went for lunch at Tonkichi. We were hungry so we overordered and ended up feeling very very full.

Lunch

First we had dashimaki tamago, the Japanese styled scrambled eggs. I expected the eggs to be sweetish but it wasn’t. It came with a pile of grated radish. We added a little soy sauce to the radish and ate it with the egg. Pooh Bear liked the combi and thought it tasted quite nice.

Spider roll ($15.90)

We also ordered a spider roll which was very nice. It was like california maki but with soft shell crab. I enjoyed it as there was a quite a bit of the crab and not too much rice.

Ramen set ($24.90)

Pooh Bear ordered the ramen set which came with a bowl of ramen, a pork katsu and a side dish. Pooh Bear chose the char siew ramen and adegashi tofu. It was a big bowl of ramen. The char siew in the ramen melts in the mouth but it is a fatty kind; about 50% fats so I think not everybody will like it.

Rosu katsu curry set ($23.90)

I had the rosu katsu curry set. I chose the rosu over the hire because rosu is fattier. The meat was quite a thick cut and filling. The curry was nice and a little peppery.

Alice in Wonderland

Liked

• Alice has a purpose – I must mention that I wasn’t a big fan of the original Alice in Wonderland which always felt to me like a story written by someone on a drug high. Tim Burton’s version gave a purpose for Alice’s presence in Wonderland/Underland rather than just a lost tourist who wanders around. I felt it made the story more exciting.
• Beautiful images – Like other Tim Burton’s movies, the graphics is beautiful yet a little haunting and a little dark. Even though there was quite a lot of computer animations, it works well because Underland is a little surreal. Part of the beauty in the details.
• Voices – Not only a treat for the eyes, this movie was also a treat for the ears. I enjoyed listening to some of the voices in the movie in particular Alice’s father, Cheshire Cat and Tweedledee/Tweedledum.

Disliked

• 3D – There’s many things I hate about the 3D starting with the glasses which were not meant for people wearing spectables. It was felt awkward and heavy and I kept adjusting it thoughout the movie. Pooh Bear and I also felt that the 3D effects were not very impressive although it could be due to many other variables like lousy 3D glasses or maybe our eyes are not 3D capable.
• So dark - What I cannot stand about wearing the 3D glasses is that it cuts out so much light and made everything looked dull and boring. It was as if someone changed the brightness and contrast all the way to zero. I was distracted during the movie because I kept thinking “It’s too dark… It’s too dark…” I was so fed up that during the proposal party, I took off the glasses and watch it in non-3D instead.

Sweet ending to the end of the day

On the way home we stopped by Marvelous Cream and bought and shared a small cup of ice-cream. We were so full from lunch that both of us skipped dinner.

Places visited:
Tonkichi
3 Temasek Boulevard
#B1-009 Suntec City Mall
Tel: 63394231

Marvelous Cream
1 Raffles Link
#B1-04 Citylink Mall
Tel: 62381683

So in the end, since Sayang couldn’t give a definite answer, and also because all the ramen restaurants in The Central are crowded, Tong Xiang suggested going to a ramen restaurant at Liang Court.

But first, we had desserts at Azabu Sabo. Just Sayang, Tong Xiang and I. We left work earlier than the rest, who left office after 7pm.

We shared the desserts. I chose a strawberry ice-cream, soft ice-cream, red bean and fruits combo.

Sayang suggested a soft ice-cream and baked Japanese sweet potato. The sweet potato was hot and the ice-cream had already started melting.

Then we met AC and walked over to Liang Court. Tong Xiang suggested Yu Sai Shoku, a restaurant at the basement of Liang Court.

I had shabu shabu ramen which was quite nice. The soup was made with pork bones which gave it a rich meaty flavor. In shabu shabu ramen, the meat was thinly sliced.

Besides ramen, we also ordered some side dishes. We had gyoza but I don’t particularly like gyoza in general so I’m not sure if it’s nice or just ordinary.

The rosu katsu is not too bad. The meat wasn’t too dry and the breadcrumbs coating was crunchy and not too oily. But I felt it can’t beat Tonkichi.

Same comments for the hire katsu. Actually I still can’t tell the different between rosu and hire.

Places visited:
Azabu Sabo
6 Eu Tong Sen St
#01-68/69 The Central @ Clarke Quay
Tel: 64109578

Ichibantei
177 River Valley Road
#B1-50 Liang Court Shopping Centre
Tel: 63380393

We went to Shimbashi Soba at the basement of Raffles City. I had eaten at original shop at Paragon when it first opened. But that was some years ago and I have not eaten at this restaurant for some time. I didn’t know there was a branch in Raffles City.

Soba cha ($4.50 a pot)

We had 2 pots of soba cha, tea from soba grain. Mao Mao liked the tea and said that it had a smoky flavor. When compared to the roasted barley tea, the soba cha is more smoky while the roasted barley tea smelled like coffee. Unlike the roasted barley tea, the soba cha is best when hot.

Aona goma cream kake ($6.80)

We ordered 4 types of side dishes. First was a simple dish of boiled tou miao with a creamy sesame sauce. The portion looked small but there’s actually quite a lot of tow miao. I quite like it because there wasn’t a strong vegetable taste and the sauce masked out the rest of it. Mao Mao felt it is a good thing that I am eating vegetables and kept asking me to eat more of it.

Salmon yukke ($9.80)

Next we had the salmon yukke which was very nice. There was actually quite a lot of salmon even though at first look, it seemed very little. But when Mao Mao and I started eating, there always seemed to be still some salmon left in the dish. We mixed the raw salmon with the raw quail egg. The salmon was fresh and very nice. There was also some slight spiciness. Mao Mao felt they added some Japanese chilli oil and I thought I tasted some sesame oil as well. This will be a dish that I will order if I dine at Shimbashi Soba again.

Nasu & cheese yuba tsutsumi age ($9.80)

Mao Mao wanted to try this – eggplant and cheese wrapped in beancurd skin and deep fried. There were 3 pieces of it plus a deep fried lady finger and a saucer of what Mao Mao called the Japanese thousand island dressing. I don’t really fancy it although truth be told, it actually tasted quite ok. I felt it was not as worth the money if you compare it to the salmon yukke which was tastier and a larger portion.

Tori karaage ($7.80)

The chicken karaage was quite nice and came piping hot. Mao Mao made a comment about it but I can’t really remember. Something about the coating was different from the normal chicken karaage.

Hiyashi kamo soba ($20.80)

Mao Mao and I had a bowl of cold soba each. You can’t see it in the photo but there’s actually quite a lot of noodles. I felt this dish was enough for a normal eater but Mao Mao and I were feeling greedy. The soba was freshly made. At the Shimbashi Soba restaurants, there is a small room near the entrance where people could see the chef making soba noodles. While Mao Mao and I were in the restaurant, we saw the chef making the last batch of soba noodles for the day. Because the noodles were handmade, they were not as smooth or powdery as those dried prepacked noodles found at supermarkets. The noodles were chewier and the slightly coarse texture meant the sauce was able to stick to the noodles so you can get a bit of the sauce with every bite. The cold soba dish we ordered came with 5 slices of roasted duck, a poached egg, some spring onions, wasabi and soba sauce. I mixed all of them together in the bowl. It was cold and salty and refreshing. I can imagine eating it again in this current hot weather.

Cream anmitsu ($9.80)

For dessert, Mao Mao and I shared a cream anmitsu. There were a lot of ingredients in this dessert. There were soba balls, fruits, Japanese jelly cubes, red bean paste and a sprinkling of black beans, all topped with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. We were also given a small pitcher of brown sugar syrup which we poured over the ice-cream. I felt the creamy vanilla ice-cream goes well with the red bean paste. Mao Mao liked the red bean paste as well as it wasn’t too sweet. She also liked the soba balls which were chewier but less sticky than normal rice balls.

Shimbashi Soba
252 North Bridge Road
#B1-06/07 Raffles City Shopping Centre
Tel: 63378852

It was around 8pm when we finally went for dinner. We decided to go to Muthu’s Curry for dinner. It’s a festive season and we were in a mood to indulge ourselves so we ordered quite a few dishes.

The restaurant was filled with people and the waitress who took our orders was so busy that she forgot to key them in. So we waited for quite a long time and had to ask another waitress to check on our orders. That’s when they discovered that our orders weren’t keyed in yet. The staff was very apologetic about it and a few of them, including the waitress who forgot our orders, came to apologize and told us that they have asked the kitchen to cook our orders first. They also came around later to make sure that our orders arrived.

Apart from that hiccup, dinner was quite enjoyable.

Tadkaa daal ($8)

For vegetables, we had tadkaa daal ($8) which was a lentil gravy with some chilli and other spices like cumin and mustard seeds. The lentils were cooked until almost everything is soft and mushy. It’s not really spicy even though chilli is added.

Mutton vindaloo ($10)

We ordered the mutton vindaloo ($10) which was quite nice. The dish contained mutton and potatoes with a spicy gravy. The mutton was very tender and the potatoes quite nice too. Because the mutton and potatoes were about the same size and colour, Bell mistakenly took two pieces of potatoes when she wanted to take the meat. “It’s fate,” I told her and she glared at me.

Cheese chicken kebab ($13)

The cheese chicken kebab ($13) came with a green sauce which I did not like very nice. I felt that the chicken was flavorful enough and do not really need the sauce. But that’s my personal opinion because I noticed Bell do eat the chicken kebab with the sauce. The chicken was tender and juicy which was somewhat of a pleasant surprise because I was afraid that it would turn out too dry.

Butter naan ($4 each)

We ordered a butter naan each ($4) to go with the dishes.

Mango lassi ($6 each)

For drinks, we ordered a mango lassi each ($6).

Pistachio kulfi ($5)

For dessert, I had what I usually order, pistachio kulfi ($5). It came a bit melted but much easier to eat because it is no longer rock-hard.

Strawberry kulfi ($5)

Bell had the strawberry kulfi ($5) which she enjoyed as well.

Muthu’s Curry
138 Race Course Road
#01-01
Tel: 63921722

We went to Ion and had lunch at Aoba Ramen. We had the lunch set which was a main course (ramen) and extra $0.90 to add on a side dish. We ordered different ramen and different side dish. Keropi and I found the soup salty and somewhat oily. When we told Mao Mao, she said, “If you find this salty, then you should try the one at Gallery Hotel.”

Shoyu Negi Ramen ($11.80)

There doesn’t seem to be any porkless ramen in the restaurant so Mao Mao ordered the shoyu negi ramen and gave Keropi and I all the pork.

Shoyu Taro Ramen ($13.80)

Keropi ordered the shoyu taro ramen which contained fatty pork belly. The pork was braised until the meat is very soft. Each chunk of meat has a thick layer of fat so it’s definitely not for the health conscious.

Shoyu Tontoro Ramen ($16.80)

My ramen was the most expensive but the pork was nice and tender.

Now for the side dishes.

Potato and chicken croquettes

Fried chicken

Fried tofu

After lunch, Keropi and I shared a mocha donut from Dunkin Donuts. Then we walked around Ion. It is a very big place and somewhat confusing. Keropi and I had not been there before so we just followed Mao Mao around. Of all the shops, we spent the most time at Uniqlo. Then as it was getting late, I suggested we should move on to Somerset.

Waffle with strawberry and white chocolate ice-cream ($9.25)

Before leaving Ion, we stopped at Gusttimo Di Roma for tea. We shared a waffle with 2 scoops of ice-cream. Keropi got to choose the ice-cream because she’s treating us, ha ha ha. She chose strawberry and white chocolate ice-cream. Mao Mao and Keropi liked the strawberry ice-cream which was a little sour and sweet. The texture is more like sorbet than ice-cream. I thought the white chocolate was quite sweet but I ended up eating more of it than the strawberry ice-cream. I don’t like the waffle which was quite dense and heavy. The nice thing about it is that it is made fresh and came hot.

After the ice-cream, we continued on to Somerset 313. We visited the Uniqlo outlet there as well. All of us left the shop with at least 2 purchases. Keropi and I liked the cotton clothing at Uniqlo as they are so soft. We kept touching and feeling how soft they are. Wouldn’t it be nice to cover the whole bed and sleep on them?

Aoba Ramen
2 Orchard Turn
#B3-25 ION Orchard
Tel: 65099394

Gusttimo Di Roma
2 Orchard Road
#01-17 ION Orchard
Tel: 65099380

The menu had changed a bit, some dishes were gone and there were some new dishes. Both of us ate pasta because we felt that the best dish at Aerin’s was the pasta.

I ate Aerin’s signature dish – Aerin’s Tagliatelle which contained a generous amount of smoked salmon, salmon roe and mushrooms. The sauce was thick, sticky and creamy. I enjoyed it and cleaned up my plate. I think the amount is just right as I was feeling a bit tired of the creamy sauce by the end of the meal.

Bell had a black pepper beef pasta. Besides sliced beef, the dish also contained capsicums, onions and garlic. The black pepper made the whole dish very fragrant.

We went to the Cedele All-day dining outlet for dessert. Bell ordered the chocolate truffle cake which is supposedly quite famous as it won several awards. The cake is rich and chocolaty. It seemed almost entirely made up of chocolate and cream and very little (if there is any) cake.

I ordered the real chocolate pancakes which is probably my favourite dish at Cedele. The two pancakes had a generously sprinkling of couverture chocolate. The pancakes came with some strawberries and blueberries and scoop of vanilla mascarpone cheese. The soft, sweet, creamy cheese goes well with chocolate pancakes. Bell and I had a pancake each and we almost fought over the cheese.

Aerin’s
252 North Bridge Road
#B1-11/12 Raffles City Shopping Centre
Tel: 63372231

Cedele All-day Dining
#03-28A Raffles City Shopping Centre
Tel: 63378017

E-Sarn Thai Corner
130 Pasir Panjang Road
Tel: 64733716

Sayang introduced this Thai iced tea ($3.50) to me, so now I introduced it to Pooh Bear and One Red. Thai tea is made from black tea leaves and food colouring is often used to give it the distinctive orange colour. Star anise powder is usually added to the tea. Some variations added tamarind or orange blossoms. Since the menu did not say, I don’t know what made up the thai iced tea served at E-Sarn. Pooh Bear said it tasted like Jia Jia Liang Teh with condensed milk while Mao Mao said it tasted earthy. I liked it because it is sweet.

Mao Mao ordered a tom yum soup ($7.50) which is more sour than spicy. There is a slight spiciness which you don’t initially taste but kicks in after you swallowed the soup. Beside the sour and spicy taste, the soup also has a nice prawn flavour.

Mao Mao also had the glass noodle salad ($10.50) which contained vermicelli, minced chicken, prawns, cuttlefish, dried shrimps, tomatoes, onions and cucumber. The restaurant was generous with the serving and there were a lot of prawns and cuttlefish. The dressing was made of chilli and lime so it was spicy and sour at the same time.

After a while, One Red decided to add an extra prawn to the salad. He took the prawn hanging off Mao Mao’s purse and put in the salad dish too.

The green fish curry ($13.50) was quite nice. The fish was cooked very tender. There was also those round eggplants found in Thailand.

The pandan chicken wings ($10.50) were crispy and tasty even though none of us could taste the pandan flavour. The wings were cut into half so it was easy to eat. It came with a sweet chilli dipping sauce but the wings were good on their own too.

The onion omelette ($6.50) was a simple dish of eggs and onions. Although simple, it was nice and goes well with the rice. The omelette is fried until the sides were a little crispy, just the way I like it.

One Red, Pooh Bear and I shared the olive rice ($8.50). The rice was covered in a layer of minced pork and olives. The waitress advised that we mixed them up before serving. Mao Mao commented that there were more pork than olives and it certainty seemed that way. But even if the proportions were wrong, it still tasted nice.

We had two Thai desserts. First was the red rubies ($3) which Pooh Bear liked. Mao Mao commented that it might be better if it was shaved ice so you won’t get pieces of ice in the spoon.

Mango with sticky rice is Thailand’s most famous dessert. When I first encounter this dish, I could not understand eating rice as a dessert. Isn’t it super filling? Once I got used to the idea, it was actually quite tasty dish. For this dessert ($5.50) at E-Sarn, the sticky rice was served warm and drizzled with coconut milk. It really goes well with the mango and you should eat both mango and rice in one bite.

The lunch cost around $28 each. We did order quite a few dishes but overall it felt a little expensive. Probably good for a treat but not everyday.

Muthu’s Curry
138 Race Course Road
#01-01
Tel: 63921722

We ordered quite a lot of food. 3 of us had briyani rice while KKH had naan. All of us has a glass of lassi. The lassi was nice and thick.

The chicken in the chicken tikka masala dish was very tender. The chicken was marinated in yoghurt, tandoori powder and spices. The gravy wasn’t spicy at all. It was KKH’s husband’s favourite dish.

Instead of ordering palak paneer, we decided to try something different and ordered butter paneer. It was cottage cheese in non-spicy gravy. It tasted a bit bland because the cottage cheese was tasteless.

My favourite dish was the murgh vindaloo which was mutton with potatoes in gravy. It was a little spicy. The mutton was very tender and the potatoes were tasty.

For dessert, each person had a pistachio kulfi. I still like the kulfi at Muthu’s Curry best because it wasn’t too sweet. The kulfi was hard as rock and all of us had difficulty eating it at first. It was better after it thawed and softened. The texture of the kulfi was a little grainy and not as smooth as normal ice-cream because of the finely chopped nuts. It tasted full of pistachio and sweeten milk.

We spent around $25 each. It was a little more expensive than other meals we had along Race Course Road but we also ordered more food today, with briyani rice and desserts.

Mao Mao, Pooh Bear, Spider and I took half-day leave and met One Red for buffet lunch at AquaMarine inside Marina Mandarin Hotel. Spider had eaten at Aquamarine before and she immediately led us to the sashimi counter. Each of us took a plate of salmon sashimi and went back to our table and gobbled them down. Then we went back for seconds and maybe thirds. Then we started on the cooked food. All of us had a bowl of the creamy mushroom soup which was thick and good. There was also quite a variety of salad, cooked food and desserts.

We had a lot of fun trying out all the different dishes. Some dishes were quite good while others were ordinary. The cold cuts section had 3 types of mustard and Pooh Bear and I took a bit of each to try. We concluded that the mustard we liked best was the innermost bottle but we forgot the name, so clever. Mao Mao enjoyed the caesar salad and took two helpings of that. She also found the raw oysters so tasty that she ate 3 of them even though she was allergic to shellfish. We all joked that she will be full of energy tonight. Pooh Bear liked the teriyaki chicken which was tender and juicy. I liked the beef stew for the tomatoy soup and the soft meat.

We enjoyed the desserts very much, especially the chocolate mousse cake, the bread and butter pudding and the mua chee. The chocolate mousse cake was very chocolatey and and soft because it was 90% mousse and 10% cake. The bread and butter was nice and warm and I poured a lot of the vanilla cream sauce on it. Yummy! We had some fun making the mua chee, snipping away and mixing it in the peanuts at the same time. However Aquamarine failed in the ice-cream section. Ice-cream was either sweet corn, yam or the potong ice-cream sticks. Not very appetizing. There was none of the all-time favourites, vanilla or chocolate ice-cream.

We ate until 3pm and had a good time. There was a 1-for-1 promotion for UOB card so in the end we paid $30 each.

AquaMarine
6 Raffles Boulevard
4F Marina Mandarin
Tel: 68451111