Singapore's Good Food

Vietnamese beef noodles at PHO 99

My Japanese friend introduced me to this place and it's my favourite place too. I took my Vietnamese friend here last weekend. She liked it too :)

Weekend Brunch at Club Street Social 

I had a chicken panini and a bite of Nutella pudding that my colleague ordered. 

I read about Nutella pudding online and it was not highly rated but I thought it was really nice!

Dinner at Haramiya 

This is a cheap Japanese Korean BBQ place. This place is really value for money. Lunch is even cheaper!

But they don't have enough waiters/waitresses so you need to try hard to get their attention!

Sunday Lunch at a Friend's Place

 

Last sunday - I went to visit my friend's place for the second time.

 

 

 

 

The first time I went to her place was when she first moved in.

I helped her move her stuff as neither of us knew that we could actually get professional movers' help for less than $100. We thought that they charge lots of money so we tried carry ing everything including small furniture all on our own.

 

In Singaopre, housing is very expensive and  we cannot afford to rent a whole unit for ourselves.

Unless you are expatriates and your company pays for your rent, car and everything, most of us  (locally hired foreigners) need to rent just a room out of the whole unit and share other common spaces like kitchen, bathroom and living room with others.

 

Some people share rooms with friends just like back in university times

but like my friend and I, who came to Singapore at differnt timings, we cannot find a palce together as our rental contracts end at different timings.

(Our contract is usually a 1 year base and we cannot extend for just a few monthes or a few days so while one is looking for a new place, the other one is still tied up with the current contract. Therefore we cannot find a place together.)

 

 

So what we do is to rent a room from a landlord and live with them in the same unit.

This is just like a homestay, except that you are preparing your own food.

Some landlords don't allow us to cook, some do.

I love cooking so I usually choose a place where I can cook, but still I always feel nervouse cooking at landlord's kitchen.

 

 

My friend lives with her landlord just like I do.

Her landlord is a married couple and they are both very nice.

Last time I went to their house, they asked me to visit them often,

 but as their place is quite far from my place, I didn't have a chance.

When I visited them for the second time last sunday,

it's been almost 1 year and we were all so surprised.

 

 

I cooked Japanese bento box and broght it over for lunch.

 

Lots of gobou (Burdock) dishes

 

-Kinpira Gobou

-Gobou salad

-Chicken gobou rice

-Japanese sweet rolled eggs

-Hijiki (a type of seaweed)

-Chicken, egg plant and tomato marinated with yuzu dressings

 

 

 

 

My friend makes her own very cute drink coasters.

 

 

 

We enjoyed our afternoon tea with these special coasters.

(what I was drinking was actually pear juice but never mind that)

 

 

We always meet up at a cafe outside and drink tea/juice and chat untill a day ends.

We basically did the same thing this afternoon but it is a different experience

when we can do it at home.

It is more relaxing and we can chat without worrying about time and other customers.

 

 

 

It is always difficult to invite friends over to your place

when you don't really have your own "place" or house.

But I'm very grateful that my friend's landlord is always happy to have me there

and we all had a good time that afternoon.

 

 

 

 

Deep Fried Chicken Shiso Dinner

 

Today's Dinner

 

 

Deep fried chicken shiso rolls

Japanese sweet egg rolls

Boiled french beans

Marinated sweet eggplants

White rice

 

 

 

 

Long time no Shiso :)

The past few weeks lunch and dinner

 

This blog is becoming like a travel blog more than a cooking blog nowadays..

So just a few pictures from the past few lunch and dinner...

 

 

 

Hamburger steak Lunch

Ever since I changed my job, work is busier

and sometimes I don't have time to go out for lunch.

So I started bringing lunch to work.

 

 

Bibmpab

 

A dinner from one of the busy night

 

 

Taco Rice

 

Today's lunch!

The Neuschwanstein Castle

 

The haze in Singapore is really depressing.

I have to stay at home to avoid the haze this weekend.

What I see is this grey scenery from my bedroom window...

I can barely see anything..

 

 

I must cheer up myself by looking at the beautiful pictures from Germany...

 

 

 

Here it goes!

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4 : Breakfast at Gabriela Hause

 

 

 

They toasted the bread for us!

It was warm, crispy outside and soft inside.

 

So far it was the first warm breakfast during this trip!

It looks like some simple ordinary looking bread in the picture, but it was very delicious!

 

I also had different kinds of hams, sliced cucumbers, cheese and boiled eggs!

After finishing this plate, I went to get some more!

I was starving because we skipped our dinner last night!

 

 

A picture of the Neuschwanstein castle on the wall at the breakfast place.

This is the most famous castle in Fussen and we are going there today!

 

 

 

 

 

After the breakfast, we walked to the Fussen main station to take a bus to go to the Neuschwanstein!

 

 

A bus to the castle leaves every 20 to 30 minutes from Fussen station, depending on the time.

 

After you get off the bus, you can walk to the ticket office.

 

On the way, you will walk pass a lots of cute souvenir shops!

Please make sure you visit them!

They sell many cute things!!

 

We visited some of them on our way and many of them on our way back.

It will still take sometime from here to the castle

so if you do not have much time, better shop after visiting the castle.

 

Also please make sure to book your ticket in advance.

You can book it online and pay on the day of the ticket pick-up.

 

The castle is very popular that you might not be able to get your ticket

 if you try to buy one on the day of your arrival.

 

 

 

 

 

We were so lucky that it was very sunny and clear
when we visited the castle!

 

 



It was so sunny that we didn't need those lovely umbrellas!

 

 

 

 Souvenir shops

 

 

 

A horse-drawn carriage!

 

You can either take a shuttle bus or a horse-drawn carriage to go to the castle.

 

I was so tempted to take a horse-drawn carriage on our way

but my mum suggested that it would be better for us to take a shuttle bus instead.

 

This is because the castle is high up in the mountain 

but horses cannot take too much of its uphill.

So they will not take you all the way to the castle.

You would still need to walk a bit after you get off the carriage.

 

 

So we took a shuttle bus on our way and a horse carriage on our way back.

The shuttle bus was very convenient as it stopped very close to the castle and this special bridge

where you can enjoy a beautiful panorama of the castle and mountains behind.

 

 

 

 

 

So, after you get off the shuttle bus and walk towards the castle...

This is what you see...

 

 

 

 

The Hohenschwangau castle

 

 

 

 

 A beautiful lakes with blue mountains covered by remaining snow and blue sky...

 

 

 

 



 

It was just so so so beautiful.... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After pampering myself with this beautiful scenery and fresh air...

 

 

HERE IT COMES!!

 

The Neuschwanstein Castle

 

 

 

 

 Close up

 

 

 

The entrance

 

 

 

 

 

The Neuschwanstein castle was simply amazing.

I already enjoyed the scenery and the design of the castle from outside

yet, inside was amazing too!

 

No photos were allowed inside of the castle

so I enjoyed it fully with my eyes and stored all the amazing things in my memory.

 

 

I must visit this place again!

 

 

 

 

After exploring the castle, we sat down at this cafe within the castle for some coffee.

 

 

 

 

 

Ludwig ll passed away before the completion of the castle

and even today, some parts were remaind unfinished.

 

I really love the way they preserve everything as they used to be.

 

 

You can see that even in this cafe,

some parts of the walls are unfinished.

 

 

 

 

 

The view from the special bridge

 

 

 

I've got these small doughnuts on our way to the horse-drawn carriage stop.

I was expecting them to be solid and crispy like Okianawa's famous doughnuts
but it was actually very soft and chewy.

The texture was quite interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


We took a horse-drawn carriage on our way back.

 

 

It was really nice and claer during the day,

but after coming down to the town in the late afternoon,

 the sky was starting to get rather grey.

I was wondering if weather is going bad or simply the sun is starting to set.

 

We continued shopping at those small little souvenir shops

and did not really realized that the weather had changed.

By the time we were about to leave the last shop, it started raining quite heavily.

 

 

There were so many people at the bus statopm and the bus did not come for 30 to 40 minutes.

The bus station was sheltered but the actual bus stop was not.

 

Towards the end, people with umbrellas started queuing up at the actual bus stop.

We didn't have unbrellas but were worried that we could not make it for  the first bus

if we comfortably wait under the bus station shelter

Really, there were many of us waiting for the same bus

to go back to the Fussen main station.

 

So we decided to queue outside too.

 

It took about 5 to 10 minutes until the bus actually arrived at the bus stop.

We got wet but were glad that we made it for the first bus,

because there were some people who couldn't get on the first bus

and had to wait for another one, which probablly takes another 30 minutes or so to arrive.

(There were some people trying to cut queue like crazy

and  I was very upset and disappointed about them)

 

I wonder how long they waited for the next bus.

Hopefully it was no longer than 30 minutes...

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we got back to the main station, we returned to the hotel just to change clothes
because our clothes were all wet after waiting for the bus without a shelter for a while.

We learnt from last night that if we stay too long in the hotel room,
we will end up not going out at all and skip dinner again.
So after changing clothes, we quickly left the hotel
and went to a restaurant called "Ludwigs" for dinner.

It was the first propper dinner we had in a restaurant in Germany.

 

Boiled White Asparagus with Hollandise Sauce

 

 

They were really think and huge!

 

 

A recommended meat plate.

Pork ribs, a ham, grilled chicken, beef... I cannot remember what else was there.

 

 

The waiter said the plate is just enough for 1 person.

But just in case we cannot finish it,

we ordered 1 meat plate and 1 veggie plate to share for 2 of us.

 

Yet, we ended up not being able to finish everything.

It was just so much to eat!

 

 

 

After the dinner, we realized that we needed to buy some breakfast for tomorrow

before going back to the hotel.

We were leaving early on the next day to catch Euro bus to go up to Rothernburg.

The bus leaves very early in the morning and it only runs once a day so we could not miss it.

 

 Bakeries were all closed by then, we went to see if any restaurants have take away menu.

 

One restaurant was closed and the other one did not have a take away menu.

As we were about to give up, I spotted a small kebab shop.

We took away 2 garlic kebabs - which we eventually ate in the bus.

Sorry for the fellow passengers... but the garlic kebab was what the shop staff recommended to me.

 

And in fact, it was very delicious!

 

 

My very first trip to Germany -day3 Fussen city- May 2013

 

Next morning- Breakfast at Guest House Heidelberg

 

 

Delicious sandwiches, savoury and sweet bread

 

There were varieties of sandwiches, savoury bread, dessert bread,

yoghurt etc on a table in front of the reception.

People can just sit there and eat but there are not many tables and chairs.

So many of us just picked whatever we want and bring them with us.

 

 

Yoghurt

 

 

 

 

We were in a rush to catch an early train to Fussen

so we packed our sandwiches and quickly left our hotel too.

 

 

Heidelberg train station.

 

Our train was delayed for 35 mins!

All the annoucements were in German and so

we were a bit confused and worried while waiting for our train.

But a friendly Japanese lady (She said she was studying here)

helped us translate the annoucements and explained the situation for us.

 

 

There was also a local gentle man who taught us which train to take in English.

Everyone we met in this country was so friendly and helpful.

 



 

Finally we caught our train!

We saw a mother's day ad outside of our train window.

 

 

 

 

 

Express train to Augusburg, then changed to a local train to Fussen.

It was a long train ride and I was bored half way through..

 

 

 

 

But eventually the scenery outside became so beautiful
with endless green grass fields
and blue mountains covered by some remaining snow and clear blue sky! 

So I became really busy taking pictures and collected lots of nice pictures
by the time we reached Fussen.

 

 

 



Finally...

 

Here we are!

Fussen!

(I love the 2 dots on top of "U". Looks like a smily face!)

 

 

 

Feeling the clouds and mountains so close to us.

 

 

A cute little station house?

 

 

 

 

 

Fussen train station

 

 

 

 

 

Clear blue sky!






 

 

Welcome to Fussen!

 

 

 

Sakura?

 

 

 

 

A very pretty town/city, Fussen.

 

 

 

 

 

One thing I found unique about Fussen architecture is that

many of the buildings here have paintings on their walls.

 

 

Some are not so obvious.. like those painted window frames

Others are very obvious like people's images..

 

 

 

Shop signs are also cute.

 

 

 

 

Even a clock is painted! Can you tell?

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was so sunny and clear today so we decided to walk up a bit of hill

and see a small castle.

 

 

 



 

Yellow tanpopo flowers and green grass

I wanted to lie down on the green grass.

 looked so comfortable!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The entrance to the castle

 

 

 

 

A view from the castle balcony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside was a museum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After seeing the castle, we were quite tired.

So we decided to go back to the hotel and rest a bit.

But it turned out that we fell asleep and by the time we woke up, it was already close to 9pm.

We were to lazy to go out then, if I remember correctly, we skipped dinner on that day.

 

The hotel we stayed in Fussen is Hause Gabriel.