Loysel's Toy // Windowsill in the Woods // Haji Lane

Yet again it's Pang and I on an impromptu cafe exploration. Yun's schedule is so packed I don't even know how we can ever go out. :-( Anyway, we decided to go around the Bugis area but ended up at the Lavender area instead. Loysel's toy is really out of the way and to be honest, if you ask me to go alone, I'd turn back to the MRT halfway there as we had to walk through this "ulu" forested area (there was a proper road) and luckily Pang had me as her trusty GPS haha. 

We ordered the Big Breakfast which was 16 bucks ( i think) and they had some coffee promotion so we had a free latte (maybe it's because the barista thought pang was too pretty ;-)) But sadly, the latte was disgusting. QUESTION #1, DO YOU PUT SUGAR IN LATTE? QUESTION #2, DO YOU STIR YOUR LATTE OR DRINK THE FOAM FIRST? QUESTION #3, IS THERE SUCH A THING AS COLD LATTE? We were like two idiots sitting there googling how to drink our latte... 

Anyway, uh on the overall it was okay haha it's quite alot for one person though. Yet again, nothing very special. The shop deco is nice and cozy though.  :-)

Loysel's toy was beside Kallang River and there was this park so we decided to take a walk/do more exploration. There was this pretty bougainvillea plant covered sitting area so we decided to take a picture and it really reminded me of one picture on fashiononymous.net haha. Anyway amid the hot sun and squinty eyed me( my spectacles nose piece dropped off = not used to no glasses), we had fun. Doing aerobics at the fitness station and taking pictures of wild chicken/roosters and passing by unfriendly construction workers..Yeah we are weird. 

So we left Kallang and went in search of Windowsill in the Woods. THIS IS A MUST GO PLACE THEIR PIES ARE HEAVENLY, and the place is oh so cute. :> We tried the (last) grasshopper pie (mint + chocolate) and the smores pie. Both were nice and the service was great. Plus they gave us an entire jug of cold water which was exactly what we needed for walking idk how long in the hot sun. For those interested, it's just opposite the Jalan Besar football stadium amidst some hardware stores and stuff. Thereafter we went to Chye Seng Huat Hardware just around the corner which wasn't a hardware store (if you don't know) but it was so crowded (sobs) so no Papa Palheta's coffee for us.  But we did take a picture hahaha we were channeling our inner tourist for the day. 

Lastly, we ventured off to Haji Lane where we saw some filming going on with Alaric Tay and Kym Ng and I can't remember the last person (OOPS). I've heard the hype about Haji Lane since I was like 13 and only now have I visited this place. But in my opinion it wasn't much, yeah cute stores and shops and the like of it but I expected something better haha. 

NaNa's Green Tea Cafe

After the ramen escapade we had it all planned out to go to NaNa's Green Tea for dessert, considering Pang's absolute desire for chewy stuff. Chewy mochi, yam balls, bubble tea pearls, I don't know what else she would want next. Haha. One stop from Clarke Quay to Dhoby Gaut Station, we went to explore the extension they did to Plaza Sing, and it was nothing much other than the SUPER DUPER LONG QUEUE at Tim Ho Wan. Seriously, what's so nice about it? I should go try their pork buns or whatever specialty they have there (when the queue is shorter). Seriously its like 3-4 SBS buses long. Singaporeans are seriously crazy over food.

Anyway, we ordered the Matcha Shiratama Parfait cause it was the prettiest and had some reccomendation on the menu. I've never tried parfait in my life okay (cause I live in a cave). The parfait was huge and my stomach was going to explode that night. The parfait consisted of some firm green tea jelly, milk, vanilla ice cream, honey cornflakes, 3 mochi balls(dango?), green tea ice cream (yum), red bean pastey ball, and cream with matcha syrup.

Honestly, I don't think my photos do much justice to it.  But for a teeny weeny pricey $11 bucks its worth a second thought. Strictly only for green tea fans.

Ramen Santouka

We declared it Japanese Day yesterday when we went on a evening food hunt and pigged out. Though I wasn't really in the mood, we went to eat ramen at Santouka. Apparently my brother's friend tried it at Tokyo and said it was awesome, but perhaps it was indeed awesome only in Japan. I tried the shio (salt) ramen cause there were three options (shio, miso and some jap word that means soya sauce) and the when I asked the waitress what they meant, she looked at me incredulously like I had said something forbidden in a ramen shop. Pang ordered the spicy miso ramen which was like the salty ramen broth + added salty chilli = extra salty ramen. Oh how dumb we must have looked. To me the shio broth was quite nice(albeit a little or quite salty) and the cha shu servings were DAMN IT, generous(and not fatty ^^) unlike other places, but I guess that's what you get for paying 19++ bucks for a bowl of ramen in Singapore.  The ambience was also quite nice with the view overlooking clarke quay and the Singapore River. But, the cozy shop space filled with ADULTS, made us stick out like sore thumbs, with our weird questions to the waitress, dropping of chopsticks and overall awkardness. HAHA, still it was an experience living the "atas" life.

Being an avid reader of Ladyironchef, he declared this as the best and most superior ramen in Singapore..  But I still like Marutama more than this. :P Perhaps my tongue ain't that cultivated yet to authentic Japanese food.