Author: ajay

Am I glad none of my friends told me to eat at Pepper Lunch in Singapore. I’ve really had enough of Pepper talk awready. I honestly think the blog is more entertaining than the food

We got to eat at No Signboard Seafood resto instead. It was good that their branch in the Esplanade Mall was just a short walk from my hotel. Every implanted Pinoy in Singapore recommends tasting their crabs which is heavenly. We ordered the one in chili sauce which didn’t taste so spicy but looked like it had been mixed to perfection with some egg sauce or such. No Signboard is so called because it started as an obscure hawker stall.

No, we didn’t eat rice with the crabs. The house recommends pairing with the divine steamed buns which you can dip in the sauce, if you hate the idea of licking your fingers. Hah. The texture of this bread is just amazing. They remind me actually of similar buns in Filipino Chinese restaurants like My Home Deli or Wah Yuen. Next time you’re at a Chinese resto, order the fried buns, with condensed milk to go. Bread and condensed milk is actually a fave childhood memory for some of us

My cheapest thrill while in Singapore was eating ice cream from the ambulant vendors. See? The sign says “Magnolia,” but we don’t seem to have durian-flavored ice cream blocks in our shores. If New York had their $1 hotdogs, Singapore has their S$1 ice cream, which you can eat on a piece of biscuit, or a slice of multi-colored bread.

Trying out the hookien mee at Thye Vong in Wisma Atria’s Food Republic was one of the ‘touristy’ things I did, following a guidebook. The fried noodles are still traditionally placed in some sort of palm leaf called opeh leaf. One also gets to see the cook make the noodles from scratch in a giant wok, adding one ingredient after another.

Buffet at MELT World Cafe, Mandarin Oriental. Because I just find their food exquisite, and this was one place where the nosh didn’t taste like bland hotel food. Even the room service didn’t disappoint.

Cookie creations at The Cookie Museum. Passing by this place which was decked in full Venetian splendor, I couldn’t help but make a turn-around. A bit on the pricey side with cookie tins starting at S$35. But it wouldn’t really hurt spending a lazy sunny afternoon with platter of exquisite cookies and a cup of English tea for a taste of the good life. Their papaya cookies are highly-recommended.

As in previous trips, I had a list of things to see and places to eat in on my maiden visit to Singapore, but wasn’t even able to accomplish half. I blame this on my hectic schedule, and the fact that I preferred shopping to eating. One can only do so much at any given time, right? I did miss out on a lot and it just makes me dream of visiting again soon.

Fearless quote from an acquaintance who is now based in Singapore: ” Manila is just for visiting my folks, Singapore is my home now. ”

Knowing the sheer number of Filipino workers in this island-state, many people can probably relate. My first impressions: it’s almost a perfect place, one where you can feel very safe in, but somewhat lacking in character. I know this is an an unfair assessment given the fact that I wasn’t even able to go to Sentosa or the Night Safari.

Was it just me missing Manila’s chaos and maddening frenzy? The busy tourist in me could never tell. In Singapore, there was no such thing as ‘organized chaos’ even. Everything just seemed to be in its proper place. Here are bits and pieces from the short trip:

Staying at the Mandarin Oriental Singapore was fab. Unlike the Mandarin Oriental in Makati which is small, the two Mandarins in Singapore are much bigger. The hotel we stayed in connected to a mall (the Marina Square) and was just a short walk to tourist landmarks like the Esplanade and the Merlion Park

Flying via SQ, and trying out the Singapore Sling. Thanks to a sponsor, this budget traveller flew via SQ So what they say about the food being good is true. But I also had a kick trying out the Singapore Sling, since I wasn’t able to go to the Raffles Hotel Long Bar anyway.

The Singapore Flyer experience. Standing at 165 m from the ground, the Singapore Flyer is the world’s biggest observation wheel and is one of the Lion City’s newest landmarks.Even though I was scared of heights, I was glad to learn this one didn’t daunt me as it moved at very slow speed. The Flyer offers one a great vista of Singapore’s skyline and the waterfront, as well as the outline of neighboring countries like Malaysia. Cocktails are served onboard and after getting down the Flyer, one can enjoy the array of shops and restaurants in the retail terminal.

Great Singapore Sale? Except for the picture above which was at Benetton, the independent retail shops didn’t seem to put up a lot of the big Sale signs, at least not where I looked in Gap, Mango, Zara or some of the other stores. It’s better to look at the big department stores though because that seemed to be where the big discounts were.

Outlet shopping was better! On my last night, my buddy James brought me to the Anchorpoint Mall on Alexandra Road where the outlet shops of Giordano et al. were. I literally went crazy and closed Charles & Keith for the night Who needs the Great Singapore Sale when there are the outlets with their drop-dead prices too? That’s just the bargain-hunter in me speaking.

Long live IKEA! Since I am in a ‘home furnishing’ mode, I was pretty excited over my first IKEA stateside visit. IKEA fans would be glad to know there are two big IKEA stores in Singapore. I raved over their contemporary designs and how cheap the prices were. I mourned over the fact that I couldn’t possibly bring home the bookshelves or even the canvas frame on my modest economy class baggage allowance.

Kinokuniya Bookstore Singapore. One word: big! But our local Fully-Booked would give them a run for their money in terms of size too.

Royce Chocolates. Can be found at the Suntec City Mall (opposite Carrefour) and the basement food hall of Takashimaya Department Store. Grab some if you don’t know yet the heavenly Nama chocs are not yet in Manila, or want better selections

A first look at the Nokia E71. Lusting over this phone, which is set to come out this July. Presently has the smallest QWERTY keyboard but also has desirable features like easily switched work/personal modes, one-touch keys, 3.2 megapixel cam and most of all, Wi-Fi.

more <a As I always say, I've been the whole world over but.... but. I've never been to Singapore!!!

Thanks to A.S. for making this dream come true.

Thanks to Mahoney (Mah Honey, geddit?) for making my shopping dream in the Great Singapore Sale come true

Posts coming soon. (Supposing I don’t get buried in them curry crabs and shoppings bags. Heh.)

The pain of changing Wordpress themes….

The past week saw my traffic drop tremendously after I changed my blog theme to Feedoo. For a while there, I thought my blog was hacked because I couldn’t seem to access it from our office, gym (Fitness First) and the mall branch of Netopia. This site just drew a blank when I typed my URL.

On the other hand, it was weird because I was able to view it from my house and some of my other friends’ peecees. My web host Yuga and I got into a discussion and he surmised that it was a DNS problem with users subscribing to PLDT My DSL, something which had plagued other bloggers before.

I was ready to go into the throes of depression until I talked with a technician of Netopia in SM Sucat. When I told him that I couldn’t view my blog in their web cafe, he tested the site on Firefox and my blog showed up. Which led him to conclude that it wasn’t some DNS problem affecting me. It was just that my blog theme wasn’t customized for IE.

So now, after carrying Origami for years, my SweetHeart has been very sweet enough to upload me this new theme called Syrup. I like it because it is no-frills and has very clean lines. Tested it now in IE version 7 and it still has its flaws. If you’re using browsers other than IE or Firefox, would appreciate your telling me how it goes.