Archive for July 2013

Booked a Long W/E Holiday to Penang, Malaysia

I decided that I should try to arrange a few long weekends before the year-end…not too many mind you, as I don’t want to use up all of my holiday too soon.

Anyway, I still haven’t visited Penang, so decided to go and visit there for a long weekend – leave late on Friday, and return Monday evening – so I can spend 3 days and 3 nights there. I think that should be plenty of time to admire the place, I just need to sort out a place to stay.

I decided to go and redeem by $50 voucher I had pending from Tiger Airlines (which expires on 31st July), so I think it was a good cost-effective choice 🙂

Level 33 Sunday Roast with Chums!

I always wanted to try out the Sunday Roast at Level 33, so managed to get a group of us together and we decided to give it a go! Well it’s better to enjoy a setting like this with chums!  It’s a bar located in MBFC Tower 1 (Standard Chartered Bank tower) – and ergh… is on the 33rd floor…go figure!!

Great View from Level 33 Balcony

Great View from Level 33 Balcony

I actually did the booking via their reservation booking system, provided by a service provider called “Chope” – it seemed to go through very smoothly, so I was pretty impressed.  It even sends you an email alert to remind you a few days before the booking – nice touch! 🙂

The setting was very nice at Level 33, I’ve been before for an after work dinner and drinks in 2011, during my previous Singapore secondment, but haven’t tried their roast before!    The roast is S$38++, so a little on the pricey side.

The food was amazing, thoroughly enjoyable, there was a good atmosphere, although with this ‘posh’ setting, it wasn’t really the feel of a ‘pub’ or ‘bar’ as such.  We also wanted to give the microbrewery brew ago, so as we couldn’t decide, we decided to give the ‘sampler’ option – which gives you 5 half-pints tasters…it was a toughie, but I actually enjoyed the House Porter over the others, including their Stout.  The sampler costs S$20.88++, but gives you a good array of tasty beer options to try throughout the meal.

We tried the following: Stout, Pale Ale, Blond Lager, Special Seasonal Brew, and a Wheat brew.  We also created the House Porter with the mix of the Stout and Pale Ale – my favourite of the 5 brews we tried.

The panoramic view is simply amazing from Level 33 – so we decided to have a coffee from the balcony and enjoy the view…

Great Panoramic View

Great Panoramic View

LeVeL33 Craft-Brewery, Restaurant and Lounge
8 Marina Boulevard #33-01
Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 1
Singapore 018981
Tel: +65 6834 3133
URL: http://www.level33.com.sg

Mad Men Attic Bar – Circular Road

A group of us previously aimed to visit Mad Men Attic Bar a few weeks back – having just opened earlier this year, but our visit was postponed due to various timing challenges, so we managed to get another date sorted.

The bar is located at North Canal Road, near to Boat Quay and Circular Road, but it is tucked away from the main street – so you definitely need to know where to go before you go 🙂 It is actually quite a nice place – mainly due being positioned as a roof-top bar, above some shop houses. It has a great buzz up there, but it is quite an intimate place, so the main outside sitting area is very popular.

We cocktails were pretty good, although the food is quite ‘interesting’ – they are trying to ‘posh’ up the food, which in my opinion is not needed.  I just wanted ordinary fries, not one soaked with truffle oil – whilst it’s ‘nice’, it is simply a bit too over-powering for me (personally)…especially when you are just after the classic ‘fries’ taste.   The life music was pretty good too, with some great tunes sounding out, however I would say due to the limited space, it was probably a bit too loud to really ‘enjoy’, as you struggled to hold a conversation above the music.

Service is also a bit hit and miss too – I think they need more staff, and the issue is also that you can’t tell who is a staff member and who is joe-public – sometimes they serve you at the table, other times you have to go to the bar to order – it’s just a bit too hit and miss for my liking…especially when you also try to identify the bar staff – haha!  In fact, two of us tried to get the attention of passing guests, rather than staff, who looked at us blankly – whoops 🙂

Anyway, it’s worth to pay a visit, but I think it’s a one hit wonder.

The Mad Men Attic Bar
11 North Canal Road #03-02
Singapore 048826
Tel: +65 6222 3529
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mad-Men-Attic-Bar/468047046574709

Bank Bar and Bistro Tuesday Pub Quiz

Having missed out a couple of quiz nights over the past month, I decided to make the effort and turn up this time – I can’t say no to a fun night with a few friends, and to Guinness (shock horror).

I also made a special effort to ensure work didn’t get in the way which has happened to the previous sessions.

The Bank Pub Quiz is scheduled twice a month (every other Tuesday), and it was actually a good venue for it – being in close proximity of the office, but far enough to relax in a great setting.

We did pretty well – ended up in the middle of the table by the end of the night, and I actually did well answering some of the questions – and focused on one particular round (the tunes we want to pretend we don’t know) – well I was brought up in the 80’s and 90’s – haha!

I definitely will do it again soon…

Another Sunday, Another Sunday Roast and a New Venue!

Sidewalk Tavern

Sidewalk Tavern

Whilst doing a Google search, I located a new pub that was located along East Coast Road, which served 1) Guinness and 2) a Sunday Roast. It seemed to be run by an English chef, so it must be good.

It was called Sidewalk Tavern, and had pretty good reviews, so I decided to give it ago.

I decided to get their early and took a taxi there arriving around 11.30. It was easy to find, and actually there was quite a few places to eat and drink around East Coast Road and Upper East Coast – it seemed to be a nice area – with everything that you need in the area. The food and service was very nice – it turned out to be owned by a husband and wife combo, with the husband chef – who was indeed a fellow Brit, and a Singapore Chinese wife – who manages the front of us. It was a nice place, and very relaxing atmosphere.

The food was very nice, the beef was served perfectly, cooked medium, and it melted in your mouth – the only downside is that the plate was cold and the yorkshire pudding didn’t rise properly. But apart from that, it was definitely delightful and I certainly would go back. It is just a way out really to make it a regular location for my Sunday Roast. There is also another place nearby called Dog and Bone, so I might come back to the area and try the other place out and see which one is the best 🙂

I decided to venture back via the Kembangan MRT, which was about 15 minute walk, and I walked along Frankel Road until I reached the MRT along Sims Avenue East. There was quite a few nice houses along Frankel Road, so it must be quite an expensive area – very spacious and good quality establishments…so it was actually good to walk back and see some of the nicer areas around Singapore 🙂

Sidewalk Tavern @ Siglap
924 East Coast Road
Singapore, 459115
Tel: +65 6448 5979
E-mail: cheers@sidewalktavern.com.sg
URL: www.sidewalktravern.com.sg

Futsal Fun – and a Hat-Trick!

What does one do after spending the Saturday doing indoor rock-climbing, well you do a nice 2-hour session on a Sunday morning playing football (futsal).

It was actually a good round with about 10 people turning up, which made it less strenous than usual. I don’t know if it was due to being fitter than previously, but either way, I played pretty well for a change, and managed to score a great hat-trick during the session.

I wonder if this means I am improving my footie skills? Ha!

Indoor Rock Climbing (again) – What Fun!!

Another weekend, another session to chill and relax with chums. We decided to go for another indoor rock climbing episode, and I really enjoyed it the last time we went out.

This time, there was only a few of us, and I must admit I was shattered this time around, so I didn’t manage to attack many of the walls or routes this time, but I did 3 runs and reached the time each time, which was enjoyable.

I must get into a more regular routine, and maybe should sign up to a class – ‘cos it really is great fun 🙂

Onsight Climbing Gym
100 Guillemard Road
Guillemard Village
Singapore 399718
Tel: +65 6348 8272
URL: http://onsight.com.sg

Zsofi Tapas Bar – Fun Dinner

After a hard day at work, it’s always good fun to get a group of us out for drinks and dinner.  We decided to give a Tapas Bar a try, having received a review from a work colleague – the key to the recommendation was free Tapas for every drink purchased during the evening – nice 🙂  Yup that got my attention too!!  Haha!

It’s towards the Little India district, just off Serangoon Road.  We went there around 8pm, and it wasn’t that busy, they seemed to have 2 parts of the restaurant, one a sit-down area, but this excluded the free Tapas offer, all the ‘bar’ side which offered a lounge type area and outdoor roof-top area, and of course the free Tapas.

It turned out to be a fun night, and was truly delicious – I would definitely recommend to give it a go, although I wouldn’t say the Sangria was the best, however, the Tapas were yummy!!

Zsofi Tapas Bar
68 Dunlop Street
Singapore, 209396
Telephone: +65 6297 5875
Mobile: +65 842 842 84
Email: info@tapasbar.com.sg
URL: http://www.tapasbar.com.sg

Eye Specialist Treatment – Getting Expensive :(

Well having had a GP appointment and 4 follow-up eye specialist visits – and a fifth (and hopefully last) visit in mid August, it turns an eye infection can be quite expensive 🙂

The total charges for all of the visits to date are just over S$600 (approximately £300), and I am expecting the final costs to be about $680 (~£340). Luckily I have company mediguard insurance, but unfortunately, this only supports claim of $400, meaning I will still be out of pocket by around $240 but the end of the treatment…hopefully there are more specialist visits after the one scheduled in mid-August.

Hey-ho – there are always times when you recognise the positive notion of the UK National Health Service (NHS) – but you do have to pay a hefty tax rate to support it though…

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