Earlier this year, I went on a spur-of-the moment trip to Redang Malaysia just to get away from it all. Find a willing travel partner, and was all set to go. It was a long weekend, and I was in need of some colour, pasty white was soooo last season *tsk*.

I have to say, it has to be one of the prettiest beaches in Malaysia.

Where to stay
Most people, especially those going with families, would usually opt for the Berjaya Hotel on the busier side of the island. But if you’re looking for something quieter and more rustic, stay at the Coral Redang Beach Resort on the other side. The rooms aren’t great, but honestly, you won’t spend much time in there anyway.

Things to do
As touristy as it may seem, it’s still worthwhile to go snorkelling at the marine park just 15mins boat ride away. Don’t forget to bring your underwater camera, because you can take some pretty amazing photos on a sunny day. If you don’t have one, don’t fret, the dive centre rents out underwater cameras too.

If you dive, I heard they make two trips out a day to wrecks.

If you just want to chill, do what I did, park yourself on a deck chair for the day, read my book, tan and swim. And if you’re a geek like me, there’s free wifi resort wide.

Getting there
Another tip if you’re planning to go to Redang… take a flight! The 10 hour journey there on bus and boat was truly painful!

You can actually find most of the information you need on wikitravel.

My coffee craving one saturday afternoon led me to a new cafe in Paragon called Cova. The “V” in the logo wasn’t distinct, so for a good 10mins (until I verified it with the waitress), I thought the place was called “Coya”.

COVA Pasticceria – Confetteria heritage dates back to 1817 when it was founded in Milan by Antonio Cova. Specialising in coffee, pastries, cakes and chocolates, their flagship cafe is situated on the famous fashion street of Via Montenapoleone in Milan, Italy.

At Paragon, setting and ambience was kept classy but casual.

At Cova, we ordered some mini pâtisserie to go along with our drinks. As wonderful as it looks on picture, the taste was dissapointing and left me unsatisfied. Should have just walked downstairs to Canelé and ordered a Chocolate royale instead.

I judge a cafe on their ability to make the perfect latte. It’s all about the coffee grounds, aroma, temperature and the right amount of foam.

Alot of places don’t tamp their grounds hard enough, or don’t start their shots immediately giving it a burnt taste. But the part that gets to me the most is the temperature of the milk and how much foam there is. Sometimes it looks like i ended up with a flat white or a cappuccino. Thankfully, Cova’s saving grace was the perfect latte.

Cova Pasticceria
Paragon Shopping Centre #01-20A
Tel: 6733 0777
Open from 9.00 am to 9.30 pm daily.

Can’t believe I didn’t post this… was dated LAST YEAR… that’s the problem with writing drafts, you save it and forget to revisit them.

2007 Fathers’ Day was at “My Secret Garden” before they became el crappo

Last year, we cooked Mumsy breakfast on Mothers’ Day. So Jie Jie and I decided to cook dinner for Fathers’ Day.

Nothing too fancy, just two of his favourite food – Salmon and chocolate.

If I remember correctly, we baked a dill marinated salmon with baby roast potatoes. Dessert was a dark chocolate tart from the Jamie Oliver cook book.

What shall we do this this year? What are YOU doing this year?

Lately my new food haunts are around the Robertson Walk area near Mohammed Sultan Road. A few months back, we walked passed a lively wine bar/cafe just down from DoubleO called The Wine Connection. Patrons chatted away over rich wines and aromatic cheese platters. It sounded like a perfect way to round off dinner.

So we sat ourselves down for a bottle of red and two cheeses.

The only disappointing things were the 2 unnecessary surcharges imposed at the end of the night.

For a bottle of wine (which was from the wine list by the way) we were charged a $10 corkage fee. To my knowledge, corkage fees should be charged if you bring your OWN wine, not ones that we order from the menu.

Then there was an extra $5 slapped on for a weekend surcharge.

What we ordered:
Richland Shiraz – $30.80
Candied Nuts – $2.20
Bread Basket – $3.30
Dry Fruits – $2.20
Roquefort – $10.89
Brie de Meaux – $7.26

So at the end of the night, the bill came up to $71.65. A bit pricey in my opinion. If they’d knock of the silly surcharges, I might consider going back.

Wine Connection
Address: 11 Unity Street #01-06
Robertson Walk
Singapore 237995
Tel: +65 6238 6878
Website: www.wineconnection.com.sg

No, just boiled sweet potatoes.

One of the must do items on our itinerary was a day trip to Shen Zhen.

Danli was telling us about the bargain shopping, cheap massages, and manicures just across the border. And at that point of time, the 45min journey to Shen Zhen didn’t sound like such a bad idea.

That day turned out to be one of the worst day of our holiday.

Here’s a summary of what went down

• Evan woke up late, so me and Danz went out first
• Miscommunication on where to meet left us both waiting at different MTR stations. I was at Mong Kok, Danli was at Wanchai.
• Plan A: Was supposed to have Dim Sum at Wanchai.
• Change of plans, Danli came to Mong Kok. We converted some currency from HKD to RMB
• Plan B: Was set on eating Dim Sum, walked for an hour and couldn’t find a place in Mong Kok
• Just as we found one, I realized I left my passport behind
• Took a cab back to Wanchai to get passport
• Danli accidently left her Ray Bans in the cab. This was preceded with 30mins of cursing and swearing on her part
• Back to Plan A, walked to original Dim Sum restaurant
• Evan finally met us, it was 2pm
• So by the time we headed to Shen Zhen, half the day was already gone.

Talking about passport, this is my little rant about visas.

If you’re a Singaporean, you don’t need a visa when you cross over to Shen Zhen. I, on the other hand, am holding an EU passport. After checking the Chinese Embassy website, I went down to process my visa.

I left enough days to process the visa in time for my trip, what the website failed to tell you was that following Monday was a public holiday in China! So, instead of the normal price, I had to pay express! It cost me SG$80 FOR A ONE TIME VISA TO VISIT SHEN ZHEN FOR ONE DAY!

*gulp*

Always give yourself enough EXTRA time to get your visa.

Here’s how we got to Shen Zhen from Hong Kong:
Take the East Rail Line MTR from East Tsim Sha Tsui station (Kowloon side) to Lo Wu.

Lo Wu is the Hong Kong/Chinese border crossing, go through border formalities and you’re in the Peoples Republic of China.

Out the door and on your right you’ll see a big modern shopping centre, the Lo Wu Commercial Center. That’s where you want to go if you’re looking for fake goods, cheap shoes, beads, tailors and manicures.

You HAVE to bargain. One third to one half of the original price is about right.
If you need some time to think about buying something, remember to ask the for their business card. Because trust me, you WILL get lost.

The first train leaves East Tsim Sha Tsui at 5:28am and from Lo Wu the last train at 12:30am. Trains from Tsim Sha Tsui East to Lo Wu run every five to eight minutes.

Price: A single ticket costs HK$36.50

Yup you guessed it, froyo again.

Anyone has the calorie breakdown for a Yo Mama froyo?

I find great joy in discovering new hole-in-the-wall restaurants with tasty local food. Maybe it’s because of its rustic décor and local flavours, it so satisfying finding a rare gem of an eatery amongst old shop houses hidden in small alleyways.

Our recent quest led us to a small little place in Wanchai called “Crowd Restaurant (群 众小厨)”.

Most Hong Kong eating-places like this are small and floor space is maximized by cramping as many tables and chairs as possible. More often than not, you’ll have to share your table with complete strangers.

What I love about Chinese food is that your meal is cooked when you order it, so it’s served hot and fresh out of the kitchen. Huge demerit points to restaurants that opt for the easy way out of reheating/microwaving your food. On a side note, most of the time this theory holds true: the grumpier the 老板, the tastier the food! Discuss!

Back to the restaurant. The menu was all in Chinese, so it took awhile for me to figure out what was what. Maybe it would have helped if I turned the menu the right way up. Thank goodness for the pictures of some specialty dishes on the wall, all I had to do was point to it and say “一碗”.

Dru made the safe choice of ordering the sweet and sour pork with rice. Ironic because the non-angmoh was ordering what I consider a very Western-Chinese dish.

I opted for the scallop vermicelli. At this point, it also occurred to me that the pictures of food on the wall were probably the most expensive dishes too. I fell for their marketing ploy. What a Dupe!

But all was redeemed when I was presented with this massive claypot bowl of noodles with a generous amount of scallops (some were hidden under the noodles, can’t see from the picture). And all for just something as little as HKD75 (approx SGD15) But don’t quote me on this, I didn’t keep the receipt so I can’t remember how much it was exactly. Portion size was double of what we were used to, so we had to 打包 it.

It tasted great, I’d definitely go back there for seconds.

群众小厨／群眾小廚
Address: Shop A, 14 Gresson Street, Wanchai
Tel: +852 2866 8088

I love travelling on the ‘Ding Dings’!

The tram line has been carrying passengers from the East to the West of Hong Kong Island since 1904 (more specifically travelling from Kennedy Town to Shau Kei Wan).

It’s a wonderful way to explore the city, because you’re not going too fast, which allows you time to take in the sights (and smells). And the best part? All for just HK$2 which is equivalent to approximately SG$0.40!!! It was especially convenient for me because it took me about 10mins to get to Central. Sweet!

How to travel on the ding ding

1. When you’re at the tram stop, find out which direction you should be going by looking at the tram guide
2. When the tram comes to a stop, ENTRY is from the back door.
3. No payment until you EXIT the tram
4. When you’re near your stop, I’d suggest you start making your way (or more like wiggling and squeezing your way) to the front
5. There’s a coin box or Octopus card scanner next to the tram operator at the front. Pay when you exit.

If you want to know why it’s called the ‘Ding Ding’, visit the Discover Hong Kong tram guide website and the flash splash page will give you your answer.

Loved the adidas branded Ding Ding!

In Singapore we have our Cold Storage, Giant, Marketplace,NTUC Fairprice. In Hong Kong they have Wellcome, Taste, Great Food Hall and ParknShop.

The other day, I went into the Great Food Hall at Pacific Place, and was surprised with the variety of food available at this supermarket.

They had a huge deli and bakery section, with freshly baked breads, plus well stocked rows of food from around the world.

I spent a good 20mins just in the vegetable section, looking at the fresh produce and finding fruits or greens I’ve never before.

Check out the size of that Artichoke!

And talking about weird produce, check out this fruit! It’s called Kiwano fruit or Horned Melon.

The horned melon (Cucumis metuliferus), also called African horned cucumber or melon, jelly melon, hedged gourd, melano, or kiwano, is an annual vine in the cucumber and melon family. It is grown for its fruit, which looks like an oval melon with horn-like spines. The fruit of this plant is edible, but it is used as often for decoration as for food. Though the horned melon is native to Africa, it is now grown in California and New Zealand as well.

Source: Wikipedia

I didn’t buy it, but this is what was said about the horned melon online:

It tastes like a sour cucumber with hints of kiwi and lemon, and the texture resembles an aloe plant’s gelatinous, gooey guts, but full of semi-rigid, pumpkin-like seeds. The seeds are hard enough that we don’t think we’re supposed to eat them, but because they’re suspended in the gelatinous goo, it would be very hard to eat around them.

Hhhmmmmm….. thank goodness I didn’t!?! Doesn’t sound very appetising to me!