Mad Jack Café

Times flies.
Today would be the last day of November and tomorrow we will be stepping into a brand new month - December ! Alright for today, we would like to post a review of a cafe Specializing in authentic Australian fares - Mad Jack !

They are located around Singapore in 4 different outlets :

Selegie Outlet - Paradiz Centre 01-04/05, 1 Selegie Rd	63389771/ 62575951
Jalan Kayu Outlet - 242, Jln Kayu (Next to URA Car Park)	64831202/ 62575951
Simpang Bedok Outlet - 304 Bedok Rd, The Market Place (next to Tanah Merah MRT)	64458168/ 62575951
Bukit Timah Outlet - 6 Duke's Rd (Bukit Timah Rd before Coronation Plaza)	64624300/62575951

Specializing in authentic Australian fares, you will go bonkers over the insanely good chow at Mad Jack Café.

• Fun games & competition – Xbox, table soccer, punching bag, graffiti, modified sports, puzzles, play room, tv, toys & games for all age group.
• Convenient & visible location with easy parking
• Raving reviews from the media
• Trendy & fun to read menu w/ Halal certification
• Spontaneous customer service
• Money Back Guarantee (Don’t take back what you have eaten)
  

Signature Dishes inclusive of their famous Fish & Chips, Crazy Chick, Fish Burger, Banana Craze, Blue Mountain (Tallest Burger in town) are all nice and tasty. They also offer a full range of birthday and party cakes.
Preparing a party? No worries, mates. Just call them and they will provide outdoor catering service for corporate & private functions.

Ratings : (for the Bukit Timah Outlet)
Environment : 4.5/5
Range of food : 4/5 (Cakes, fruit juice, burgers, desserts, ahh... lots and lots)
Taste of food : 4/5 (the food are nice, desserts and cakes are sweet too, but not too sweet)
Overall : 4/5 (a nice and pleasent place to dine in a lonely evening or with your family members)

For more details, visit : http://www.pkxpressgroup.com/madJackCafe.asp

Sweet Talk 甜言蜜语

Ok, for today, our feature will be about food - Bubble Tea.
Sweet Talk 甜言蜜语 is a stall around Singapore selling bubble tea,
they are located in many places, such as Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Bedok, Thomson, etc. (almost the whole Singapore)
Anyway, I had tried their bubble tea, not that bad.
They have a lot of flavours to choose from and their staffs were quite friendly and patient (for those stalls that I had been to) x:
Who says all bubble tea taste the same ?
Sweet Talk bubble tea uses milk tea that they had brewed, instead of some other shops which used flavourings.

Although I am not sure how many outlets are there around Singapore and their website has nothing on it except their logo, Sweet Talk is one of the places that I know, which serves nice bubble tea.

Ratings :
Not applicable (there are a wide range of flavours and lots of outlets, therefore I couldn't possiblily know the taste, the service, the variety of bubble tea in other outlets)

Logo taken from : http://www.sweettalk.com.sg/

Sheraton Towers Singapore Hotel

The Grand Ballroom is a massive 629 square metres of pillarless expanse that would accommodate a 550-seat wedding banquet amidst plush décor and elegant fittings. It may also be transformed into 4 smaller rooms with state-of-the-art equipment, lighting and controls for a high-tech presentation. Providing a flawless view of the stage, with spectacular chandeliers and decorated gold leaf wallpaper, this L-shaped ballroom is sure to impress.



The food served were nice, service were perfect. Range of food had even gone to soft shell crab. which is rarely seen being served during a wedding banquet. The atmosphere was also another factor that contributes to the high rating later. We were even given a survey form near to the end of the wedding, so that the hotel would know that where their standards stand and necessary make improvements.

Ratings :
Atmosphere - 4.5/5 (Love the colorful lights shone on the table during the whole wedding event)
Service - 5/5 (Our plates would be changed after every dishes)
Taste of food - 4.5/5 (Quite many dishes were nice, except the last course dessert, some sort of "Cheng teng". It is not that sweet, in fact, its quite tasteless)
Overall : 4.5/5 (A thumbs-up venue to held such wedding banquet)

Chewy Jr

Sink your teeth into your first Chewy Jr and you'll know it's not any ordinary cream puff. It's cripsy on the outside, yet soft and chewy on the inside, making it perfect to munch on!

The puffs were an accidental creation by founder Kevin Ong, who experimented with a blend of recipes from two different countries. Thereafter, it took him two years to adjust the processes to master the puffs to perfection. The result is a healthier version as the puffs are baked and not fried and it uses only the finest ingredients and pure dairy products from mother’s nature!

Today, Chewy Jr sells more than 3,000 puffs daily! The craze has also been featured on the Sunday Times and Youth.SG. With 14 delicious flavours to choose from, you'll be absolutely spoilt for choice @ Chewy Jr!

Tanjong Pagar Plaza Blk 1 Tanjong Pagar Plaza #01-18 Singapore 082001 Tel: 62228867 Bugis Junction 230 Victoria Street, Bugis Junction #B1-12 Singapore 188024 Tel: 63335002 Bukit Merah Central Blk 163 Bukit Merah Central #02-41 Singapore 150163 Tel: 62760223 Tiong Bahru Plaza 302 Tiong Bahru Road, Tiong Bahru Plaza #B1-09A Singapore 168732 Tel : 62722265

Infomations taken from : Chewy Jr website (http://www.chewyjunior.com.sg/)

Ratings :
Food : 4.5/5 (There is many type of creamy puffs to choose from, as well as crewy puffs with other fillings like sardine, char siew, potato ham, curry chicken, etc.)
Taste : 4/5 (The cream inside the creamy puff tasted excellent, it will flow out of your puff after you have bite it)
Overall : 4.5/5 (A must try for their creamy puff !)

Hao Zhou Dao Porridge Steamboat

Just came back after a dinner at Hao Zhou Dao porridge steamboat at Blk 712, Ang Mo Kio Central there.

They offer steamboat buffet at around $13.80. Impressed by the freshness and variety of food being offered, they actually use fresh dory fish, its great !
Ingredient wise, you get the usual sausages, fish ball, sotong ball, pork, chicken and fish slices, noodles, rice, dong fen, seaweed, tofu, egg, beancurd skin, mushrooms, veggies etc.
But the porridge steamboat is delicious.
You can taste the sweetness of the stock in the porridge.
Whats more ! If you are bringing children there, while waiting for the soup base to boil. They also have springrolls and chicken nuggets available, which can already be eaten straightaway as they were already fried before.

Ratings :
Range of food : 4/5 (Quite a lot of foods with just a relatively affordable price)
Taste : 4/5 (the porridge base and the tom yam soup are not bad)
Value : 4/5 (I couldn't remember the price of the cost of a child, think is $5.80, but adult, if I am not wrong, is $13.80 at weekdays and $15.80 at weekends/public holidays)
Transport : 4/5 (just a 10 min walk from AMK Hub, located next to jubilee)
Overall : 4/5 (you should try their porridge steamboat, its nice after you "cook" it with the lots of sotongs and seafoods)

Marina Barrage

Built across the mouth of the Marina Channel, the Marina Barrage creates Singapore’s 15th reservoir, and the first in the heart of the city. With a catchment area of 10,000 hectares, or one-sixth the size of Singapore, the Marina catchment is the island’s largest and most urbanised catchment. Together with two other new reservoirs, the Marina Reservoir will boost Singapore’s water catchment from half to two-third’s of the country’s land area.

The Marina Barrage is the result of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s vision nearly two decades ago when he envisaged damming the mouth of the Marina Channel to create a freshwater reservoir.


Upon reaching there, you will be stunned by colorful fountain lights displays.
So I suggest you to visit Marina Barrage during night time, the view will be perfect.
You can even enjoy the coldness of the water by stepping into some of the colourful fountain displays.

Ratings :
Environment : 5/5 (Suitable outdoor visits during the weekends for families and couples, plus the colourful fountain lights display + the sea breeze)
Scenery : 5/5 (View of the Singapore skyline and the Singapore flyer is just by your eyesight)
Transport : 2/5 (The spaces in the carpark is limited, if you arrived late, you will have to wait for a long long queue for the cars to enter and exit.)
(As said by Dallas of Cornflict, the bad thing is that its pretty inaccessible by bus or by foot)
Overall : 5/5
(A not-to-be missed Singapore coolest place !)

AMK Hub

AMK Hub is a shopping mall located in Ang Mo Kio, within the North-East Region of Singapore.
It has the air-conditioned Ang Mo Kio Bus Interchange, the third bus interchange in Singapore to be fully air-conditioned, which is conveniently linked to Ang Mo Kio MRT Station via an underpass.

AMK Hub is part of the redevelopment plan to rejuvenate the town centre of Ang Mo Kio, to make it more hip and vibrant. Seng Han Thong is the Member of Parliament for this constituency (Yio Chu Kang Single Member Constituency).
The shopping mall has 48,250 square metres of gross floor area and 350,000 square feet (33,000 m2) of retail space. Among the other neighbourhood malls around in Singapore, AMK Hub's size is bigger than Sun Plaza and Heartland Mall. Malls like Causeway Point and Jurong Point Shopping Centre are still bigger compared to AMK Hub.

FairPrice's largest branch in Singapore, the FairPrice Xtra hypermarket, at AMK Hub, occupying AMK Hub's Basement Two with its first-ever and biggest hypermarket, which stands at approximately 7,100 square metres (77,000 sq ft), and offering a wide variety of products ranging from groceries to electrical and electronic goods.

Ratings :
Range of shops : 4/5 (From tuition centers, lifestyles shops, bubble tea Sweet talk, teenagers' favourite Minitoons, to an eight-screen cineplex)
Transports : 4.5/5 (Just a underpass away from the Ang Mo Kio MRT station, there's also a bus interchange and carpark, so there's no reason why it is inconvenient to get there)
Overall : 4/5 (Do visit there if you haven't done so)

http://www.amkhub.com.sg/

Eatzi Steakhouse and Bistro

Eatzi Steakhouse & Bitro @ SAFRA Yishun Country Club and EastPoint are Halal Certified and Muslim Singaporeans can enjoy sizzling steaks and food at great value prices.

At Steakhouse & Bistro, members and guests can count on warm and friendly service alongside delicious, flavourful dishes. Indulge in a wide variety of savoury pastas, sizzling steaks, Asian fusion dishes and freshly blended smoothies.
Overlooking the swimming pool, the atmosphere at Eatzi Steakhouse & Bistro boasts a crisp and clean, upscale feel, where everyone will have a pleasant and enjoyable meal dining in the restaurant or by the poolside.

If you are lucky to have lobster soup as the soup of the day, it is a must-try recommendation. I must say that the soup really taste nice.

Operating hours :
Mon to Fri - 11 am to 10 pm
Sat/Sun, PH & Eve of PH - 9.30 am to 10.30pm

For more details or reservation, please call Eatzi Steakhouse & Bistro @ 68528 270

Ratings :
Range of food : 4/5
Taste : 4/5
Service : 4/5
Overall : 4/5

For more details, visit http://www.eatzi.com.sg/index.html

Daiso

Remember I promised you all to post about the Japanese store, Daiso yesterday?

Daiso is a unique combination of dollar and convenient store, carrying over 100,000 types of high-quality stylish household and lifestyle products at unbeatable prices. Headquartered in Japan with business expanded to Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea.
Daiso offers around 90,000 products, nearly all of which are original products developed by

Daiso through repeated trial manufacture with customer satisfaction uppermost in mind, they also maintains a strict focus on products and quality.
Additionally, Daiso makes every effort to develop new products.
They will introduce over 1,000 new products every month in an endeavour to constantly upgrade their image.

In Singapore, there are a total of 3 stores.
All the items in Daiso are sold at $2 each. No matter big or small, worth it or not worth it, all items are sold at $2. I had bought a file folder which has 48 transparent pages for you to slot notes in, and its only $2. For those who don't want so many pages, they has others with 30,40 pages as well. But as said earlier on, they are all priced at $2.

The 3 Daiso stores in Singapore :

Name : Singapore IMM shop Address : 2 Jurong East Street 21 #0385 IMM Building 609601 Floor area : 30,100ft2(2,800m2) Opened : 23 March 2002

Name : PLAZA SINGAPURA Address : 68 Orchard Road, Plaza Singapura,Singapore 238839 Floor area : 7,300ft2(700m2) Opened : 18 September 2006

Name : VIVO CITY Address : No.1 Harbour front walk #03-0616A106B Floor area : 12,200ft2(1,130m2) Opened : 1 December 2006

Ratings :
Range of items : 4/5
Prices : 4/5 (All items are at $2, so picked those items carefully which are worth it.)
Overall : 4/5

Image taken from : Daiso website

Plaza Singapura

Fancy a break after a hard day of work or school ?
Head down to Plaza Singapura, located along Orchard Road.
You can also take the MRT to Dhoby Ghout MRT station and talk a 5minutes walk there.
There are retail outlets over seven floors and two basements.
Carrefour, Golden Village, John Little, Marks & Spencer, Best Denki, Spotlight, Daiso are a few shops that can be spotted there, there are many many more.
The mall is relatively popular with families, teenagers and young adults.

How to get there :
Buses: 7, 12, 16, 36, 65, 85, 106, 174, 502, 512, 518, Nite Owl 65,
Nite Owl 85, SN 10, SN30, 14, 77, 111, 124, 139, 167, 175, 190, 518, 602, 605, 700, 700A, SN10, SN30, NR6, NR7
Walk: 5 mins from Dhoby Ghout Mrt

Range of shops : 4.5/5
Shopping experience : 4.5/5
(with such huge range of shops and even many food stalls located at the basements, its truly one of the best shopping mall for families and teenagers)
Transports : 4.5/5
(The mall has a 752 lot seven storey carpark, MRT station and bus stops nearby.)
Overall :4.5/5
(Strongly recommended for tourists as well as fellow Singaporeans who never visited Plaza Singapura before to go and check it out.)

p.s tomorrow i will feature about the japanese store, Daiso (which is also located in Plaza Singapura).

NEWater Visitor Centre

School holidays are just round the corner and its time for parents to bring their children out to explore some places around Singapore. Today, I will suggest them to bring their children to the NEWater Visitor Centre.

Located at Koh Sek Lim Road, for those who are taking bus, you can alight at the bus stop located at the stretch of road (Upper Changi Road East) just outside Koh Sek Lim Road. Upon reaching the Visitor Centre, report to the 2nd level to make a tour session if you havent done so (read below.)

You can book your tour through the website online system found here or via telephone at 6546 7874/6541 0511. As you will not be able to enter any part of the NEWater visitor centre without any tour. Tours can also be book directly at the spot, but take note of the time sessions available below, do not report there too early, else you will have a long time waiting at the waiting area (picture on the left).

Tour Session	Session Time
1	From 09:00 am to 10:30 am
2	From 10:45 am to 12:15 pm
3	From 12:30 pm to 02:00 pm
4	From 02:15 pm to 03:45 pm
5	From 04:00 pm to 05:30 pm

They will have a virtual guide "Wave" which will direct you each step of the way through the NEWater Visitor Centre. You will be educated and entertained by multimedia presentations and hands-on interactive games. At the end of the experience, you will have a comprehensive knowledge of a wide range of water-related topics and especially on NEWater and its uses.

You will also get to see a NEWater factory that is incorporated in the NEWater Visitor Centre. You will be able to witness at first hand the operation of advanced membrane and ultraviolet technologies in the production of NEWater

Transport : By car, there will be parking lots there. By bus, 12,24,31,38.
Nearest MRT stations are EW28 EXPO and EW4 TANAH MERAH INTERCHANGE.

Ratings :
Educational : 4.5/5
(you will get a chance to know and explore the various areas on how the dirty water were being transported into different areas before it become into NEWater and getting to see the NEWater factory that is incorporated in the NEWater Visitor Centre)
Games : 3/5
(During the time I went, which is a few months ago, many of the games were under repair, can someone update me with this?)
Tour : 4/5
(Tour is fairly good as the guide will explain to you about the different NEWater procedures. The multimedia presentations is done quite well too, allowing you to view on respective NEWater topics in the presentations.)
Transport : 2.5/5
(If you are not going there by car, be prepared to walk a relatively long distance after you alight at the bus stop. Avoid taking the MRT there as the distance you have to walk to there is very long. However, there are shuttle services provided from Tanah Merah MRT Station to the Visitor Centre. Please check the website for the time sessions of the shuttle buses.)
Overall : 4/5
(Recommended for parents to bring their children to the NEWater Visitor Centre for a visit, Moreover, its free and educational, why not just get a day off and head down to the NEWater Visitor Centre during the holidays. However, If you report there early and takes you 1hour+ just to wait for your tour session, its going to be a long long wait.)

P.S Remember to report there on time or 15mins before the tour, if not when the session starts, you will not be able to join the tour and have to wait for the next one, which is about 1.5hours in between.

And don't forget to grab a bottle of NEWater before you leave =)

For more info : Please visit the NEWater Visitor Centre website

Pictures photographed by : Shawn.Yi.En

Alexandra Arch

Alexandra Arch

Distance: 0.08 km
Walking Time: 05 mins

The bridge, with its curved deck and tilted arch, spans across Alexandra Road like an opened leaf. On the Hyderabad Road side, the bridge is connected to HortPark - the gardening hub, via the Floral Walk. Near the bridge is Gillman Village, a former British military camp in the early 20th century, is now home to an eclectic mix of restaurants, pubs and art galleries.

At night, the bridge will dazzle with colour-changing LED lights. The lights display will be on between 7pm and 12am daily.

The Alexandra Arch is also part of The Southern Ridges, a 9km chain of green spaces which spans across Mount Faber Park, Telok Blangah Hill Park, Kent Ridge Park and ends at West Coast Park, each seamlessly linked by foot trails and connection bridges.

The opened leaf-shaped Alexandra Arch then welcomes you to HortPark – the gardening hub. Enjoy a delightful stroll down the Floral Walk lined with blooming flowers and pick up some gardening ideas at the HortPark!

As I am only covering about the Alexandra Arch today, I will only focus on Alexandra Arch, for more information about HortPark or The Southern Ridges, please visit the npark website or Uniquely Singapore - The Southern Ridges

For people who would want to visit Alexandra Arch or just simply to take a picture of the bridge, I would recommend you visit there at night, probably after dinner. You can have a slow stroll on the bridge, enjoying the view of the stunning colorful LED lights and it is also quite a perfect place for couples.
It will also be more convenient if you travel there by car: Parking is available at HortPark-the gardening hub.

Ratings :
Beauty : 4/5 (The dazzle colour-changing LED lights truly worth the trip)
Overall : 4/5 (If you are free, do consider going there at night and have some time to relax yourself. You can go to the nearby Hortpark too, so its worth it.)

--Pictures photographed by Shawn.Yi.En, informations taken from http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/popup/alexandra.html

Swissôtel Merchant Court - Wedding banquet

Been to my relative wedding at The Swissôtel Merchant Court Ballroom this afternoon. It was also the first time that I had been to a lunch wedding banquet too.

It was held at The Merchant Court Ballroom, which boasts a column-free wedding banquet venue with a sweeping ceiling to floor glass wall on one end.
A pre-function area outside the ballroom makes a quintessential yet private cocktail reception area.





The food there was absolutely well cooked. Perhaps one of the best that I had ever ate. Thumbs up for the Crispy chicken in mango sauce, it was really a great dish whipped up. The chicken was fried till it was crispy and easy to chew on, blending in well with the mango sauce.
Another dish worth praising is the Mango Pudding served at the last as a dessert. The milk and fruits were just absolutely great, not too sweet to make you tired of eating it.

Ratings :
Food : 4/5
Service : 3/5 (need some improvements to serve the food faster as some of the dishes served had turned cold)
Ballroom atmosphere : 4/5
Overall : 4/5
Though most of you wouldn't have a chance to eat at the ballroom unless there's a wedding taking place there, but if you happened to have a chance to eat there, do enjoy the experience.