Singapore & Taiwan Trip (Day 9)

January 10, 2016January 10, 2016Leave a comment

At Westgate Hotel, we had complimentary breakfast included. So on most mornings, we took advantage of their buffet breakfast. The dining area is very nice and they had quite a variety of choices. Of course S had to get his chicken steak!

For myself, I got a bit of everything. There’s really something for everyone. Plus I love their fresh juices.

After breakfast, we headed to Ximen MRT Station. Since it was our first day we had to purchase our transit pass. You can choose to get the Taipei Pass which gives you unlimited rides for a specified number of days or the EasyCard which is their touch and go card which offers some discounts compared to a single fare and is re-loadable. Simply purchase the card at a machine at almost any station and your initial purchase will require a NT$100 deposit. You can get this deposit back at the end with a small transaction service charge at the service booths.

We chose the EasyCard since we thought it would be a better deal for us based on our itinerary. I highly recommend getting one since you can use it on buses too. The MRTs are very clean and there is English on all maps. Super easy to use!

We took the MRT from Ximen to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall Station. Follow the signs and you’ll find yourself in front of the beautiful National Theater.

Continue walking and you will find the Liberty Square and also the National Concert Hall. It was burning hot this day so remember to bring your UV umbrellas and look super touristy! Liberty Square recalls the important historical role it played in Taiwan’s transition from one-party rule to modern democracy and is now used for mass gatherings.

Take the long walk down across Liberty Square and you will find yourself at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. The memorial hall was made in memory of Chiang Kai-Shek, the former president of the Republic of China who ruled Taiwan. There are 89 steps to represent the age at the time of his death.

When you get to the top, you will see a large statue of Chiang Kai-Shek. The ground level has a museum with history of his life as well as Taiwan and China history.

Be sure to plan your time when visiting because the highly viewed change of the guards occurs at the hour from 10am to 4pm daily. Pretty neat to see them do the performance but we found it a bit too long.

After watching the guard change performance, we took the MRT to Taipei 101 / World Trade Centre station. Upon exiting, you will see the grand Taipei 101! The building was the tallest building in the world in 2004 to 2009!

When you enter the building, you will find that there are many shops and restaurants. It basically houses a shopping mall now in addition to many offices. We decided to purchase tickets to go up on the observatory. This costs NT$500 for adults.

You will then be put in an elevator with other visitors and within 37 seconds, you will go from the 5th floor to the 89th floor. It is the fastest elevator in the world!

The view from the observatory on the 89th floor is breathtaking. It offers a 360 degree view of Taipei and I highly recommend checking it out. The 89th floor is located 382 meters above ground and you can literally see every direction of the skyline.

Take the stairs down to the 88th floor and you will find the world’s largest and heaviest wind damper as well as the cute damper baby. This is the structure that stabilizes the tower to prevent high winds and earthquakes from toppling the building. On the 88th floor, there is also a gallery of Taiwan’s carved coral and gemstones. We weren’t too interested in that though.

Now climb the stairs again and head up to the 91st floor. This is the highest floor they allow you to go up.

This is the tip of the skyscraper and you’ll exit to an outdoor observatory deck where you’ll feel the wind and again enjoy a beautiful view with no glass in front but rather metal bars. As it was quite windy that day, they blocked the area so we were only able to see around 180 degrees.

After the view, we headed down to the shopping mall and went to Din Tai Fung. Of course a trip to Taiwan wouldn’t be the same without a visit to the famous Din Tai Fung. The Taipei 101 location is super busy because of the tourists so expect a long wait. We ended up waiting almost an hour to get a seat for a late lunch.

The XLB restaurant has become such a tourist spot that they even have signs telling you where there’s good photo opportunities…like this one here where you can watch the chefs make your XLBs.

I don’t recall seeing this at the other locations, but they have their rice vinegar and brewed soy sauce. The server taught us how much to pour of each for the best taste.

They also provide you with a “how to eat xiao long bao card” for first-timers.

We ended up sharing a large bottle of Taiwanese beer. Mmmm cold and refreshing after a hot day.

We always get the same things here but they’re so good to not! So we got the Steamed Shrimp and Pork Shao Mai.

And their world famous Pork XiaoLongBao.

We also decided to try their Braised Beef Noodle Soup. I didn’t think this was as good as the one from Tao Yuan Beef Noodles though.

We also got the Pork Buns which was something new we tried. Not bad.

After lunch, we decided to head to the Tamsui district since we were way ahead of our itinerary. The area is also known as Danshui sometimes.We hopped on the MRT towards Tamsui station which is quite far (around 30 minutes or so). When you get off the station, you will need to transfer onto a bus (either Red26, 836, or 857) if you want to see the Fisherman’s Wharf which I highly recommend. You can use your EasyCard on the bus but it’s quite a ride especially if you don’t get a seat. I highly recommend going to see the sunset because it is absolutely beautiful. Take the bus to the last stop, where almost everyone else will get off, and you’ll see beautiful boats here.

One of the most famous attractions is the Lover Bridge of Tamsui. As the sun was starting to set, we decided to run to the bridge before we missed it. Luckily, we got the sunset and it was gorgeous. The bridge itself is beautiful and makes a romantic date night.

The Fisherman’s Wharf is absolutely beautiful and well worth the trip. There are also many seafood restaurants here which we unfortunately did not try.

Cross the bridge which is a short walk and you’ll find the beautiful love sign where couples took pictures. So romantic! Apparently this is also where Jay Chou filmed a video. Apparently at night, the bridge lights up with rainbow colours.

After the sunset, we wanted to check out Tamsui Old Street. I believe there is a bus that takes you closer to here, but we weren’t sure so we took it back to the Tamsui MRT station and took a short walk to this street. This pedestrian shopping area has a ton of restaurants, street food vendors, and souvenir shops.

We found a vendor selling these jumbo ice cream and could not resist! I’ve seen so many pictures of these ice creams!

When they say it’s tall, they’re not kidding! We got the mix of Matcha and Mango which was so good! Surprisingly, the ice cream didn’t taste cheap. Definitely quenched our thirst and is great to share.

After Tamsui Old Street, we continued wandering into the coastal town and found many more shops. Great place to walk around nice as it’s so laid back and a nice getaway from the busy streets in Taipei’s city centre.

At night, we decided to head to Shida Night Market as we thought restaurants in Tamsui would be probably on the pricier side. You can get here by taking the MRT to Taipower Building Station and taking Exit 3. We got a little lost but eventually found a bunch of shops and food vendors. We settled with Chicken Kings which appeared to be the only stall selling fried chicken.

Of course S got the Fried Chicken Steak. Not bad but we later found better ones.

For myself, I ate at this stall.

I got the famous Fried Stinky Tofu. It did smell, but the taste was fantastic. I love how the outside is super crispy and they poke holes in the tofu so that the sauce is absorbed in. It comes with a side of pickled cabbage and chili sauce. So good!

We also ordered from the Drink Monopoly Shop. Be warned that unlike in Singapore, most of the menus are in Chinese in Taiwan. Vendors are still friendly so it shouldn’t be a problem asking even though there may be a communication barrier.

We got a simple Milk Tea with Pearls for only NT$40. Such a deal for bubble tea in Taiwan! Probably not the best in town, but pretty good in our standards.

Shida Night Market actually didn’t’ have as much food as we’d hope for compared to many of the other night markets. However, it had tons of cheap and stylish clothes. This is the trendy neighbourhood since it is near the National Taiwan Normal University or Shida University for short. Great for the ladies who love to shop.

After dinner at the night market, we headed back to Ximending to walk around. Always so much going on here!

We also scored a box of Chicken flavoured Lays Chips. As a foodie, I’m always trying new flavours from different countries! Had some munchies and played some games in our hotel room and called it a night!

Details:

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall: Take the Yellow or Green Line to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall Station: No. 21, Zhongshan S Rd, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan • 10048

Taipei 101: Take the Red Line to Taipei 101 / World Trade Centre Station: No. 7, Section 5, Xinyi Rd, Xinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110

Din Tai Fung @ Taipei 101: B1 at Taipei 101

Tamsui Fishermen Wharf and Lover’s Bridge: Take the Red Line to Tamsui/Damshui Station (last station) and transfer onto a bus (either Red26, 836, or 857) and get off at the last stop, Fisherman’s Wharf:

Tamsui Old Street: Turn left when you get off Tamsui station and it’s a short walk: Section 1, Zhongzheng Rd, Tamsui District, New Taipei City, Taiwan 251

Shida Night Market: Take the Green Line to Taipower Building Station (Exit 3) and walk 5-10 minuntes along Shida Rd: Lane 44, Taishun St, Taipei City, Taiwan 106

Singapore & Taipei Trip (Day 8)

January 7, 2016January 6, 20161 Comment

Day 8 of our trip in Singapore really only gave us enough time to grab breakfast and head to the airport since our flight was at around 10:30am. We went to Toa Payoh Lorong 8 Hawker Center and tried Granny’s Pancake.

We got one Peanut and one Coconut Pancake and oh my goodness! These are so good! They are sort of like mochi cakes and the filling inside is really good. Must try! They are under a dollar too.

I ordered from San Yuan Gourmet which features different noodles soups.

I ordered the Laksa for a killer price of $2 SG. It came with bean sprouts, tofu puffs, fish balls, and fish cake. Really good!

S got a BBQ Pork Noodle. I don’t remember which stall he got it from.

I had the Grass Jelly Soya Bean drink again. We don’t seem to have this a lot in Vancouver.

The aunt then drove us to the Changi Airport. Such a nice modern airport. Security was very quick and we had tons of time to spare.

We took China Airlines again and took off at around 10:30am. At around 3:00pm, we arrived in Taipei. It’s actually a pretty long flight as the two cities are actually quite far. Luckily this aircraft was brand new and was barely at capacity so we had tons of space and great service.

We arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan Airport and customs took quite a long time. Finally we collected our luggage and we went to the basement floor to the HiLife convenience store to retrieve my pocket WiFi we had rented. Wifi on the go is convenient so we had ordered online from iVideo before arriving. Super convenient as you just order in advance and pick up at your chosen location with two being in the airport. When you leave, you can drop it back at the same location. The employees were super helpful and friendly. Depending on which device you get, it can cost around CAD$15-18 for five days. If you can read Chinese, check out the Chinese version of the site and you can enter a promo code to get some discount off. We ended up paying only around $20 for 7 days. It can support up to 8 wifi devices so great to share. The only downside was the battery only lasted around 6 hours and it would shut down when we most needed it. Remember to bring a portable battery pack or purchase one to rent as well.

After picking up our wifi, we headed to the bus station. You can purchase your ticket easily inside with a vending machine. If you are going to city center like us, take the 1819 Kuo-Kuang Motor Transport and it will take you to Taipei Main Station where you can exchange to a metro or cab to get to your hotel. It’s a pretty long ride and took around an hour. It only costs NT$125 one way so around CAD$6.

As our hotel was right in the heart of Ximending, we had to transfer after getting off at Taipei Main Station. We decided to cab since our luggage was quite heavy. Cab fare was quite reasonable at around NT$100 and was only a short 5-10 minute ride. We stayed at Westgate Hotel which was awesome!

The rooms were spacious enough for us and the bed was comfy. The only weird thing is the sink is right at the entrance of the room but I didn’t mind it as I could use it while someone was in the shower. We paid less by choosing a room without windows but that actually didn’t bother us. There are tons of complimentary items including bottled water and a pineapple cake on the first day. Water and amenities are replaced every day if you finish.

The bathroom situation is pretty unique with the shower and toilet separate. Pretty good again since we don’t need to wait for one another. Loved the faucet of the shower with different massaging heads. The design was great so that none of the water spilled out. Only downside is that you sort of need to come out to get dressed so not ideal for sharing with friends.

Although Westgate Hotel was a bit pricier than the other options, one thing we loved about it was the location. Literally one minute away from the MRT and a step away from the crowds of Ximending. Ximending was super cool since it was sort of like Taipei version of Shibuya in Japan. Bright lights and tons of trendy young shops. Great for the young crowd!

Of course I had done my research for food, so we took a 10 minute walk to find Tao-Yuan Street Beef Noodle Shop. It’s a bit away from the bright lights and a little quieter in this area. It was pretty hard to find but look for that big red sign!

The tricky part is you also have to head up stairs. The waitresses barely speak English, but she was super nice and gave us a stack of all the order sheets that had gone through to show us what the popular dishes were. Menu is in Chinese so if you can’t read it… you’ll have to order with a surprise.

We both got the Signature Beef Noodle Soup with S getting one with all beef, while I got a mix of beef, beef tendon, and brisket. The noodles and soup were really good! My beef was really tender although S had a piece that had a lot of tendon in it and he didn’t quite like it. You pay when they place the bowl in front of you. A must try! Prices are around $6-8 a bowl. Consistent with Vancouver pricing.

After dinner, we headed back to the Ximending area and checked out the Ximen Red House. This is a historic theater and built back when this area was under Japanese rule. Today, it houses a display of the history of the structure, some cafes, and shops where artists sell art. Around this area, there was also a night market going on where many vendors sold handmade products.

We then headed back into the busy streets of Ximending where there were tons of shops and food carts. This is actually the first pedestrian area and the largest in Taiwan.

Getting thirsty, we headed into a 7-11 to purchase my favourite Taiwanese fruit beers! These are so cheap here…at around less than CAD$2. Mango was my favourite! Oh and by the way, 7-11s are literally on every block of this area!

The famous Modern Toilet was a place I wanted to see. I’ve heard negative reviews about the food, but I’m a sucker for restaurants with a cool design so I wanted to check it out.

The restaurant’s ambiance definitely wowed us. Super fun since you sit on a toilet and everything is just bathroom themed.

They serve actual meals, but I heard pretty bad things about it, so we decided that desserts couldn’t be too bad… Well we were wrong. We ordered the Passionfruit Shaved Iced and this was the largest bowl of shaved ice I’ve seen! But it was also disgusting.. The toppings they put on there were the sweetest and cheapest stuff ever. We barely made it through because it was so sweet and it just didn’t taste any good!

We also ordered the Fresh Milk Boba and paid extra to have it in an urinal. This was also disgusting…

Apparently fresh milk literally means fresh milk… I guess we missed the word tea in it? So we were served fresh milk in an urinal and for some reason the inside looked really dirty… Why was their brown stuff in it? The pearls were pretty good though as they were the clear ones which I haven’t tried before. But other than that, Modern Toilet was a miss and I would recommend skipping it altogether.

Since we were pretty tired from our flight, we headed back to our hotel and called it a night.

Details:

Toa Payoh Lorong 8 Hawker Center: 210 Lor 8 Toa Payoh, Singapore 310210

Taipei Westgate Hotel: No.150 Sec.1 Zhonghua Rd Wanhua Dist. 10843 Taipei (Take 1819 Kuo-Kuang Motor Transport to Taipei Main Station and change to Line 5 to Ximen Station Exit 6 OR take a cab when you arrive at Taipei Main Station)

Tao-Yuan Street Beef Noodle Shop: No. 15, Taoyuan St, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan 100

Ximen Red House: No. 10, Chengdu Rd, Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan 108

Modern Toilet (Ximending branch): 108, Taiwan, Taipei City, Wanhua District, Lane 50, Xining S Rd, 7號2樓

Singapore & Taiwan Trip (Day 7)

January 6, 2016January 5, 2016Leave a comment

Day 7 would be our last full day in Singapore. Of course our day started off with breakfast. We visited Chong Boon Market & Food Centre in the Ang Mo Kio district. I feel like I’ve visited so many local hawker centres after this trip!

At the Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle stall, we ordered Oyster Omelette. They use mini oysters in this dish and is really good with a side of chili sauce!

I also ordered from Lor Mee, which apparently is a relatively new stall.

I got the Traditional Lor Mee. It’s basically noodles with a thick sauce and filled with tons of fish cake and fish balls, hard boiled eggs and more. I found the sauce a little bit too thick for my liking.

Singapore is also famous for their carrot cake so we ordered from Black/White Carrot Cake.

We ordered the Black Carrot Cake since we don’t usually get this in Vancouver. It’s basically a sweet black soy sauce. Quite interesting since it’s sweet rather than savory. They also cut up the cake into really tiny pieces.

At the hawker centre, we tried Bedok Chwee Kueh. This spot is very famous and therefore has a huge line up!

We ordered the Chwee Kueh with chili sauce on the side. Chwee Kueh is a steamed rice cake and a popular breakfast item for Singaporeans. It’s topped with preserved radish and you then dip it in the chili sauce. The cakes themselves are not very flavourful so are only flavoured by the salty preserved radish and spicy chili sauce.

For drinks, I had the Grass Jelly Soy Milk Tea. I’ve had grass jelly with milk tea many times but not with soy milk. Pretty good!

S had the Soursop Juice Drink. A new fruit I discovered on this trip is soursop and it looks like a durian but tastes completely different. Fruity and a must try here!

We also bought a Pandan Cake from a nearby bakery. Pandan cake is green in colour and is sort of like a coconut sponge cake. The flavour is from pandan leaves.

After breakfast S and I headed to the nearby local mall since I wanted to buy some local food products at the grocery store. I ended up with a bag full of laksa sauce, Hainanese chicken rice sauce and much more! We also got a snack at Yummi Bites.

We got the Fried Banana! Not bad but I don’t think they are freshly made.

At the MRT station, we found Ya Kun Kaya Toast which I have been wanting to try for so long. Locals told me they have some of the best kaya! You can find their stores at most MRT stations actually.

We got the original Kaya Toast and holy! This is the best toast I’ve had. The toast itself is toasted perfectly so is really crispy. Filled with kaya and a thick slice of butter, this is probably really bad for you, but so so good! Way better than Toast Box in my opinion! I ended up leaving with a jar of their kaya and have finished it by now!

We then took the MRT to Bugis MRT Station as we wanted to check out Bugis Street. This is basically a street filled with cheap goods and souvenirs. Sort of like the night market. You’ll find cheap watches, shoes, and clothes here. We later found that they have expanded upstairs now with tons of clothing shops for young women. The clothes here were a lot more trendy than downstairs and had a Korean feel to it. I’m definitely coming back here next time I visit!

After shopping we met up with S’s aunts and cousins and they suggested to visit Haw Par Villa. S said he had visited this attraction when he was a kid and it was the creepiest place… we all got curious and since admission is free, we decided to go check it out. It used to be called the Tiger Balm Gardens since the brothers who developed Tiger Balms first created the park.

Inside, you will find many sculptures depicting scenes from Chinese mythology and folklore. The most famous is the Ten Courts of Hell which is a creepy dark tunnel filled with depictions of what would happen to you if you went to hell based on Chinese myths. It’s pretty creepy in here and they get really detailed with what happens… You’ll have to visit yourself to see what’s inside as I find the pictures to be too scary to post here…

These are some of the other sculptures you’ll see at the park. They’re all very detailed but we found the park to be very random. You’ll enjoy it if you’re into mythologies though.

After Haw Par Villa, we took a quick drive around National University of Singapore and then checked out the National Stadium. It features a dome with a retractable roof, which is very similar to BC Place in Vancouver.

As we were near a mall and were a bit hungry, we decided to grab take-out at Popeyes! We don’t have it in Vancouver so I’ve always wanted to try!

We got some chicken strips and their famous biscuits. Mmmm pretty good but I think I still like LA Chicken the most!

We did a bit of shopping around nearby malls and then decided to check out a Korean dessert place called Binggojung.

We got the Oreo, Matcha, and Cheesecake Bingsoo. The ice is not as fine as the ones I had in Korea but not bad. Plus they’re pretty to look at!

After desserts, we headed back to the aunt’s and decided to take a bike ride around the nearby park with the cousins as it would be our last night in Singapore. The weather is really nice to bike at night as it’s no longer as humid. We headed home and packed our bags for the flight to our next destination the next morning. Until next time Singapore!

Details:

Chong Boon Market & Food Centre: 453A Ang Mo Kio Ave 10, Singapore 561453

Yummi Bites: (inside AMK Hub shopping mall) Ang Mo Kio Ave 3, AMK Hub, Singapore 569933

Ka Yun Kaya Toast (Ang Mo Kio MRT location): 2450 Ang Mo Kio Ave 8, #01-12/14/15 Ang Mo Kio MRT Station Singapore 569811

Bugis Street: (Bugis MRT Station): 3 New Bugis St, Singapore 188867

Haw Par Villa: (Haw Par Villa MRT Station) 262 Pasir Panjang Road, Singapore 118628

National Stadium: 1 Stadium Dr, Singapore 397629

Binggojung Korean Dessert House: 399719, 102 Guillemard Rd, Singapore 399719

Singapore & Taiwan Trip (Day 6)

January 5, 2016January 4, 2016Leave a comment

Day 6 in Singapore started off with breakfast at a local hawker centre again. This time we visited Alexandra Village Food Centre as it was along the way to Sentosa.

S ate at Dover Road Kai Kee Wanton Noodles and got the Shredded Chicken Noodle in Dry Soup. This was for a low price of $2.50 SG.

For myself, I ordered from Lian Kee.

I got the Minced Meat and Mixed Ball Dry Noodle. Their menu shows either the minced meat or fish ball but they let me mix both. It may look dry in this picture, but the sauce is at the bottom and you mix it up and it’s super tasty. I especially loved the noodles which are homemade.

After breakfast, we arrived at Sentosa for day 2 of our 2-Day Fun Pass. See my previous post about our first day in Sentosa. Today would be a full day at Universal Studios. With the fun pass, you still need to redeem your tickets at the service center. A huge line up so I would advise to get in the line quick!

Upon entering, you will find yourself in a replica of Hollywood and New York City. I found these sections to be a bit underwhelming. Continue moving on and you’ll find yourself in the Sci-Fi City.

We quickly decided to go the Transformers ride and the line up was apparently going to be 45 minutes. I convinced S that it would be quick but I swear it took us 1.5 hours to get to the ride. Don’t be fooled by the line up as I was since it turns and turns and the line up continues inside where you cannot see. It’s just tons of waiting and kills your mood and mind you we went on a random weekday in September. Anyways, the ride itself was pretty fun I have to say but it really lasts for probably 5 minutes or so.

Throughout the attraction, you’ll find cool photo opportunities like this one where they have a photographer trying to sell you their professional prints, but they are also happy to take your pictures with your camera. Anyways, after that long wait lining up, we decided that it would waste way too much time and we wouldn’t be able to go on all the rides with the limited time. We ended up purchasing the Universal Express Pass which allows one time entry at basically all the attractions. I believe this costed us around an additional $60 SG which is not cheap but well worth it for us. From what I see online, it seems like you can get it for only $30 SG though… so be sure to check online first! You can also purchase the Universal Express Unlimited Pass if you want to have unlimited access at each attraction. We found that our pass was sufficient as we did not have much time anyways.

After purchasing the pass, our line up for the rides were a max 30 minutes and usually less. We felt great walking pass all the others waiting! One ride that I loved was the Battlestar Galactica Human vs. Cylon. The pass allows you to go on both each. Basically it’s a duel roller coaster so they move at the same time. Such a thriller!

In Far Far Away, you will find yourself with more kiddie rides as it’s all about the castle and Shrek.

We went on their newest ride the Puss In Boots’ Giant Journey. A cute ride great for kids and even adults.

A ride that I enjoyed and think is great for all ages was A Crate Adventure in the Madagascar zone. You sit in a log boat and are taken through a ride with very well-done displays of the four friends.

Again, we sort of skipped lunch because of all the line ups. So of course we got hungry later in the day and decided to eat at Mel’s Drive-In at the Hollywood zone. You’ll find your classic American diner food but way overpriced.

We got some Chili Fries, Regular Fries, and Chicken Strips. Not bad but definitely overpriced. Bring your own food or expect high prices.

Moving on we checked out the Ancient Egypt area with super cool displays!

Another thrilling ride is the Revenge of the Mummy. I was literally screaming in this but it was so much fun. The roller coaster will go backwards and you are in the dark half the time so it’s pretty frightening!

The last zone was the Lost World where Jurassic Park was. You’ll find life size dinosaur displays and all. This is also where Water World was but the water show did not happen because of the haze. Super disappointing!

We did however go on the Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure which is a river raft ride and pretty fun. We brought ponchos ahead of time as you will get soaked on this ride. You can also purchase ponchos here.

Apparently the studio was closing early that day as there was a Halloween event which we were not aware of. Bummer as we didn’t get to check out all the rides. And this is what happens when you leave when the attraction closes…. a huge line up for the Sentosa Express!

Overall, we were quite happy with Universal Studios. You cannot have bags or loose belongings on you for many of the rides but it’s great because they offer free lockers at almost every location for an amount of time. That night, we headed to S’s relatives for a BBQ birthday party so no dinner pictures for this day!

Details:

Alexandra Village Food Centre: 120 Bukit Merah Lane 1, Singapore 150120

Universal Studios (at Sentosa): From HarbourFront MRT Station, go through the VivoCity shopping mall and take the Sentosa Express, OR take a stroll on the Sentosa Boardwalk from the shopping mall, OR take the cable car from HarbourFront MRT (Exit B).

Singapore & Taiwan Trip (Day 2)

January 1, 2016December 30, 2015Leave a comment

Day 2 in Singapore started off with complimentary breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express Orchard. Had fruits, cheese, sausages, bacon, and a different type of fried noodles or rice each day. Not bad for continental breakfast and the chef and servers are super nice.

After our tummies were full, we headed out to explore. The closest MRT was Somerset and I would highly recommend getting either a Singapore Tourist Card that provides unlimited travel for a certain amount of days if you’re there for only a short period or the EZ-Link Card which offers stored value and is more like pay per use. You can get both of these at most MRT stations or at the airport. The EZ-Link Card has a non-refundable cost of $5 so is only a good deal if you stay around a week like we did. The transit system here is awesome and trains are extremely clean. Maps are so easy to follow and I highly recommend downloading a map app on your phone which provides you with the quickest way to get around. Transit here is extremely cheap with many of our rides being under $1! What a steal compared to Vancouver…

Anyways, our first destination was to check out Chinatown. You can get off right at the Chinatown station and take Exit A.

I recommend checking out Pagoda Street if you want to buy Chinese souvenirs but this area is quite touristy. If you walk around the area you will also hit some open markets with more local goods. There is also the Chinatown Food Street with hawker stalls. My favourite was looking at the colourful houses on top of these shops which made it feel like you went back in time.

Continue walking and you will find the Sri Mariamman Temple which is a Hindu temple dedicated to the goddess Mariamman, known for her power to cure illnesses and diseases. The entrance is covered with detailed sculptures of mythological beasts and people. Quite an eye catcher and you can also enter into the temple, although you will need to remove your shoes. We skipped this part.

Moving on, we somehow wandered into the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum. This is a Buddhist temple and you are able to enter for free as well. However, those with shoulders or thighs showing will require a blanket which they can provide.

Wandering around again, we spotted Maxwell Food Centre, which was definitely on my list of places to visit. We decided to grab lunch early which was a good idea.

Maxwell Food Centre is covered and looks very similar to most of the other hawker centres that we would visit later on. At most hawker centres, the stalls will have a sign showing whether it is self-serve or full service. Self-serve means that you will need to line up, order, and wait for your food at the stall. This is the case for most of them. All hawker stalls also show the grading of their cleanliness and any that are A or B are good to go from our experience.

We had originally anticipated the much talked about Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken, but for some reason it wasn’t open that day. We settled on Ah Tai Hainanese Chicken Rice which had the exact same banner and a long line up. Apparently this is opened by a former employer of Tian Tian…

Since we weren’t too hungry, we shared the Steamed Chicken Rice which came with a side of soup and added the hard boiled eggs. This was only $3.50 SG which was a deal! The portion was a bit small but perfect for one. The rice was absolutely delicious and the chicken was tender with a nice jelly on the skin. Pretty good but I can’t say how it compares with Tian Tian since we didn’t get to try. We also got a Soursop Guava Slush which was extremely refreshing! Gotta get the tropical fruits here.

Following lunch, we took the MRT from Chinatown to Clarke Quay station. Clarke Quay is a historical riverside quay which was used for trade back in the day. Today, it is more of a tourist area with the river being used for cruises for tourists.

We crossed the river and found colourful buildings all along the quay. The area now houses expensive restaurants and nightclubs. Since it was daytime, they were all empty. I presume they are bumping during night time.

Since it was extremely hazy and humid outside, we decided to head over to The Shoppes at Marina Sands for some air conditioning. The shops here are high end so of course we weren’t going to be doing any shopping here. However, it’s worth checking out if you’re a shopper since it’s very pretty inside.

Although we weren’t planning to shop here, I highly recommend checking out the Louis Vuitton shop here. They have some interesting goods here that appear to be limited to Singapore. Like this chili crab suitcase… A tip is to go to their highest floor and exit to the balcony. You will be able to get a view of the Singapore skyline for free.

Since we were pretty hungry, we decided to just eat at the food court at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. A bad idea, since this food court is overpriced and food is quite average.

We ended up sharing the Char Kuey Teow which is a flat rice noodle stir fried with Chinese sausage, bean sprouts and beef. We found that there were way more bean sprouts than noodles… Would skip this.

We were planning to visit Gardens at the Bay after dinner since it would be all lit up, but we exited the mall and realized it was pouring… We ended up heading back to our hotel, but along the way stopped by 313@Somerset, a mall right at the Somerset station. This mall offers more affordable shops, so we did a bit of browsing here. We then tried Toast Box, which is known for their kaya toast.

Kaya toast is served with soft boiled eggs. And by soft boiled, they are very soft boiled. You crack these open and mix in soy sauce and pepper and stir it up. You can slurp this with a spoon or dip your toast in it. Kind of gross in the beginning, but I quite enjoyed it after…

We ordered their classic Kaya Toast which comes with a thick slice of butter. Oh, this is so bad for you, but so delicious at the same time. Kaya is a coconut jam and along with the butter, this is a killer breakfast or midnight snack. We had this along with an almond milk and satisfied our late night craving. However, Toast Box is definitely not the best for kaya toast. I highly recommend Ya Kun which I will write about later on. You can find both shops almost everywhere you go.

We called it a night since it was raining pretty heavily. Some goodies I found at the supermarket were Singapore only flavoured cup noodles. Mmmm my favourite was the Black Pepper Crab! Great souvenir to bring back for foodies.

Details:

Chinatown Pagoda Street: Take Exit A from Chinatown Station

Sri Mariamman Temple: 244 South Bridge Rd, Singapore 058793

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum:
288 S Bridge Rd, Singapore 058840

Maxwell Food Centre: 1 Kadayanallur St, Singapore 069184

Clarke Quay: (Take Exit C from Clarke Quay MRT Station) 3 River Valley Rd, Singapore 179024

The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands: 10 Bayfront Ave, Singapore 018956

Toast Box at 313@Somerset: B2 313 Orchard Rd, Singapore 238895

Singapore & Taiwan Trip (Day 1)

December 31, 2015December 28, 2015Leave a comment

At the end of September, we went on a trip to Singapore and Taiwan for around two weeks. This series of posts will share with you my day to day itinerary of landmarks we visited and of course the delicious food we tried.

We took China Airlines, a Taiwanese airline, since it was the cheapest flight available. We took a red-eye flight and left Vancouver at 2am. Since there are no direct flights to Singapore, we first did a layover to Taipei first, of which we arrived at around 6am local time the next day.

The layover was around 2 hours and it took another 4.5 hours to arrive in Singapore. The Taipei Taoyuan Airport has a decent amount of shops so it wasn’t too bad of a layover. The flights itself were a hit and miss. The flight from YVR to SIN was pretty bad since the aircraft was much older and the food wasn’t very good, but the SIN to TPE flight was an upgrade with a new aircraft. Overall, the flights with China Airlines were still okay for the price we paid.

We arrived in Singapore at around 1pm and the weather was humid with 30 degree weather in late September. S’s aunt picked us up from the airport, but it is extremely easy to take the metro to the city center. We then checked into Holiday Inn Express on Orchard Rd. since we would stay there a few nights before moving to the aunt’s place. The hotel was clean and the room size was sufficient. Would highly recommend especially since the location is very convenient.

Since we were pretty tired, we took the rest of the day easy and just walked around the malls in the Orchard area.

We headed into Takashimaya which had the chain store Four Seasons Durians. Since we were in Singapore, of course we had to give durian a try. We tried the durian crepe which had freshly made pancakes wrapped with real durian. Very fresh and pungent of course.

Moving on, we headed to ION, another popular mall on Orchard Rd. and tried the jerky at Lim Chee Guan.

They sell by the weight, and we tried both the pork and beef jerky. We actually enjoyed the beef much more. This is a must try in Singapore though! So delicious!

We did a bit of shopping and then headed to the basement floor of ION where the food court is. We tried the Ice Shop which features an assortment of icy goodies.

I tried the Cheng Tng while S got the Ice Kacang. The Cheng Tng is a traditional Singaporean dessert with light refreshing soup with longans, barley, agar strips, lotus seeds and syrup. The Ice Kacang is popular in both Malaysia and Singapore and this one was a colourful shaved ice with mango, jellies, and red bean. Reminded me of the ones in Vietnamese cuisine.

For dinner, we headed to Newton Food Centre, a famous outdoor hawker center. In Singapore, if you want to try local food, hawker centers are the way to go. Not only are they relatively cheaper than going to a restaurant, these are the spots were the locals actually dine at.

Newton Food Centre actually had a very nice ambiance, but I found it way too hot to eat at since there aren’t any fans or coverings on top to keep cool. It was also the most touristy market in my opinion.

We ordered from a variety of stalls, but most of it came from Sin Sin BBQ Seafood. The aunt said that most of the stalls have pretty good food, but this is usually their go-to. You can sit anywhere you want and they will come to you and take your order as well as bring you the food when ready.

The aunt suggested I try a very popular and refreshing drink which was the Sugarcane Juice with Lemon. You can also get this without lemon, which I actually preferred. The drink is rather sweet but perfect in the hot weather.

Another famous dish are Cockles, which reminded me of periwinkles. You open up the shell and pick out the meat and can dip it in the chili sauce. Great to share.

Popiah is the Singapore version of springs rolls. The thin dough wrapper is filled with shredded turnip, bean sprouts, peanuts, and fried tofu. You can dip this into a hot chili sauce. Good but wasn’t really my favourite.

The Chicken Wings were one of my favourite! A nice char and crispy skin.

Another popular dish is the Hokkien Mee which was topped with prawns and bean sprouts. It was delicious when mixed with the hot chili sauce.

Of course we had to try the Grilled Stingray since it’s what Singapore is known for. We tried two versions – one with chili sauce on top and one without.

It was my first time trying stingray, and the meat has an interesting texture. The middle is one bone, so you can scrape the meat off easily. The meat is rather on the tough side but is worth trying in Singapore.

My all time favourite were the Chicken and Beef Satays. Dipped in the peanut satay sauce, these were full of flavour. It also came with Ketupat which is a common Malay item served with skewers. This is rice packed inside a coconut leaf. The rice therefore is very flavourful and you can dip it in satay to moisten it.

Finally after dinner, we headed back to Orchard Road to window shop the luxury retail stores since it was close to our hotel. This is a great place to take a breezy walk at night. We were extremely tired after basically a whole day without sleep. We went to bed early that night and this wrapped up our first day in Singapore!

Details:

Holiday Inn Express Singapore Orchard Road: 20 Bideford Road, Singapore 229921

Takashimaya: 391 Orchard Road, Singapore 238873

ION Orchard: 2 Orchard Turn, Singapore 238801

Newton Food Centre: 500 Clemenceau Ave North, Singapore 229495

Chef Tony

December 29, 2015December 28, 20151 Comment

Chef Tony has been the talk of the town for quite some time and even won Vancouver Magazine’s 2015 best dim sum award.

The restaurant is known for their high-end Chinese cuisine and you can tell just by the interior of the restaurant. Crystal chandeliers and VIP rooms with closed doors perfect for hosting parties.

Even the entrance has a gallery of expensive Chinese liquor as well as tea. We made reservations ahead of time on New Year’s Eve for dim sum and we waited less than 10 minutes and were seated. Pretty good since dim sum restaurants never get you seated on time based on your reservation.

Dry Shrimp and Chives Rice Noodle Roll

We started off with the Dry Shrimp and Chives Rice Noodle Roll which had loads of dry shrimp. The rice noodle roll was very smooth and thin.

Black Truffle Shrimp and Pork Dumplings

Next up were the famous Black Truffle Shrimp and Pork Dumplings. Once placed on our table, we could smell the strong black truffle. This definitely made the typical dim sum very luxurious. The black truffle gave the dumplings an earthy flavour which I quite enjoyed. The wrappers were also thin and filled with a large shrimp and abundance of pork.

Baked Barbecue Pork Bun

The Baked Barbecue Pork Buns were glistening on the top. They were soft and fluffy and filled with lots of meat.

Marinated Chicken Feet

The Marinated Chicken Feet was a bit of a disappointment as I found that they were rather bland. They had a bit of chili flavour but nothing else.

Sticky Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf

The Sticky Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf came with three servings.

These were different from the usual as they had wild rice mixed in. This made it rather dry. It was also filled with some minced meat and salty egg yolk.

Deep Fried Taro and Abalone Dumplings

The Deep Fried Taro and Abalone Dumpling was another dish that was elevated from a simple dim sum to a high-end dish. The deep fried taro were topped with mini abalones. Crispy and flaky on the outside with a slight chew from the abalone.

Deep Fried Sticky Rice

An interesting dish was the Deep Fried Sticky Rice. It was essentially sticky rice which used wild rice again and was coated in a thin batter and deep fried. I thought this was average as it was rather dry and the rice would stick to my teeth.

Braised Mushrooms with Egg Tofu

We also ordered a larger dish which was the Braised Mushrooms with Egg Tofu. The sauce was thick and gooey as it should be. The tofu was smooth in the inside and crispy on the outside.

Steamed Egg Sponge Cake

Lastly, we finished off with some desserts. First was the Steamed Egg Sponge Cake. I found this to be rather dense and wasn’t my favourite.

Baked Durian Paste Pastry

The last was the Baked Durian Paste Pastry. The outside was extremely flaky with the inside filled with some durian paste. The paste was actually not very strong but still pungent nonetheless. If you want strong durian pastries, I would suggest trying Shiang Garden’s.

Overall, I was quite pleased with Chef Tony. The food is carefully prepared although there were some hits and misses. It’s nice that the chef is getting creative with traditional dim sum and adding other complex flavours to the dish. This of course comes with a price but the service and ambiance is also much better than many other Chinese restaurants.

Pros:
– Pretty solid dishes
– Great service and ambiance

Cons:
– Pricier
– Parking is a pain here

Price Range: $20-30 / person

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4 Service: 3.5 Ambiance: 4 Parking: 2 Overall: 4

Gang Nam Korean BBQ

November 29, 2015Leave a comment

Gang Nam Korean BBQ is located on the corner of Empire Centre and has been around for quite some time, but for some reason or another, I never gave it a try. Finally, on a weekday night, I headed over with S, J, and M for a Korean bbq night.

Each table has a grill in the middle, so space-wise, you don’t get a lot and it gets rather crowded to eat.

Banchan

Once you’ve placed your order, they bring you a large assortment of complimentary Banchan, which included marinated bean sprouts, kimchi, sweet potatoes, pickled radish, green salad, and lettuce to wrap your meat in.

Marinated Pork Short Rib

We ended up ordering one of their BBQ dinner combos which was around $45 and is supposed to fill 2-3 people. It came with 4 meat dishes, a choice of Seafood Pancake or Japchae and a choice of Bibimbop.

Chicken Bulgogi

All their meats were very flavourful since they were well seasoned. You got quite a lot of meat for the price you pay. Our combo also came with Pork Belly and Pork Jowl.

Japchae

We chose Japchae as one of our options and it was a large dish (the picture above was half eaten already).

Bulgogi Bibimbop

For Bibimbop, you can choose between vegetables, beef, seafood or pork. We went for the stir fried beef and it was very flavourful.

Beef Tongue

We also added the Beef Tongue separately and these were delicious. I love the chew on it.

Man-du

The last add on we had was the Man-du which are steamed meat dumplings. These were addicting and I loved the sweet soy sauce that came with it.

Overall, we were extremely happy with Gang Nam Korean BBQ. We were beyond full and could have done with just the combo itself. Prices are quite reasonable, although we had some soju and beer, so it ended up costing over $30 a person. Otherwise, it can be quite reasonable. Service is also quite friendly.

Pros:
– BBQ dinner combos are great value
– Most dishes were well executed

Cons:
– Restaurant is a bit small so can be crowded on weekends
– Table gets very crowded

Price Range: $20-40

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 3.5 Service: 3 Ambiance: 2.5 Parking: 2.5 Overall: 3

Every Day is a Food Day

Category: Type

Singapore & Taiwan Trip (Day 9)

Singapore & Taipei Trip (Day 8)

Singapore & Taiwan Trip (Day 7)

Singapore & Taiwan Trip (Day 6)

Singapore & Taiwan Trip (Day 2)

Singapore & Taiwan Trip (Day 1)

Chef Tony

Gang Nam Korean BBQ