Archive for November 2014

Mastercard Masterpass – Free $50 Prepaid Card

I never say no to freebies, so it was great to see some companies do some nice gestures as we approach the festive Christmas season…and no, I’m afraid this doesn’t include Amex!

Instead, it is MasterCard’s Wallet solution (called Masterpass) who have partnered with EZ-Link to offer a free $50 prepaid card for registering for their Masterpass service…so why not 🙂 MasterPass by MasterCard is a digital wallet service that makes online shopping safe, easy, and convenient. MasterPass stores all your payment and shipping information in one central, secure location. With MasterPass, you can shop, click, and checkout faster online.

Free $50 EZ-Link Fevo Prepaid Card

Free $50 EZ-Link Fevo Prepaid Card

Masterpass are really blitzing the island, with full-page ads in the various newspapers, billboards and bus-stop advert boards, not to mention these types of expensive promotions. So I managed to sign up and become one of the first 3,500 CMs and registed from 12th November (to 31st December – although I think it will be fully redeemed in a few days!) – and voila, an email confirming that I registered succcessfully, and a few days later, an email to confirm that I was indeed one of the first 3500 new Masterpass registrations! Yay baby! The great thing is that it can be used anywhere in Singapore where there is a Mastercard sign – at a bricks and mortar establishment or online store. I am sure I can buy myself something nice! Ha!

An Stroll to ECP and Early Dinner at Brussel Sprouts (23rd Nov)

Well it started with the usual “lets do some exercise” excuse – so we decided to go for a bus ride to the East Coast area.  We stopped near to the Stadium, and we decided to walk along the east coast from here.  It was a pretty hot and stuffy day (like every other day in Singapore), but it was a good stroll, as we weren’t in any type of hurry to get anywhere.

We aimed to try to see if we can walk quite a bit, but as we started to flair as we approached the Big Splash along East Coast Parkway, we decided to stop, rest a bit and have a drink.  We did do about 5km walk and it took just over an hour, so pretty good going methinks.

Mussels and Chips

Mussels and Chips

We stopped and walked around the shops here, and then we decided to have a bite to eat (well we were quite peckish by this time) at the Brussels Sprouts restaurant located here.  We had a nice beer – which was really refreshing, and we just chatted away, eating the mussels that and chips we also ordered.

They weren’t the best mussels we’ve had in Singapore, but did the job and we were actually very refreshed after the bite to eat.

 

Brussels Sprouts
902 East Coast Parkway
Block F #01-27 Big Splash
Singapore 449874
Tel: +65 6346 4344
Email: bigsplash@brusselssprouts.com.sg 
URL: http://brusselssprouts.com.sg

Walking Around Novena – Funny Times

When you walk around Novena, it is sometimes funny what you find.  There is not much around the mainly shopping and medical district, but if you search deeper, you do sometimes find a nice shop or two in the area.

I went with the girlfriend for a nice meal at Da Luca Italian Restaurant (at #01-19/21 Goldhill Plaza, 309012) for their lovely Burrata (this is one of the nice restaurants you find in the area), there was even a new spa (called Pine Spa – at 199 Thomson Road, 307636) that had opened up that month – and we were almost tempted to do this after our food – but we were so tired, I think we probably wouldn’t have woken up even if they forced us too – so we decided to pass the massage for another time.  BUT, it is a great treat, and now I know where it is – and it is 24 hours – what more can you ask for 🙂

We did find one particular restaurant / bar (forgot the name) near to Goldhill Plaza and Thomson road, which had a great window display – a big cuddly bear watching the world go by and relaxing with a beer (shame it wasn’t a Guinness!).  We then went to the Udders Ice Cream (155 Thomson Rd, 307608), an interesting place, and a nice variety of ice cream on offer – with no other that Oktobeer Ice Cream – that’s Edhinger Dunkel & Guinness Stout – yummy.

So as I said, there are a few nice places in and around Novena – you just have to spend time to walk around and find them… 🙂

Club Street Night Session (21st Nov 2014)

Another weekend, another excuse to go out and have some fun.  Club Street is all the rage these days, with the street turning into a pedestrianised area on Friday and Saturday night – which makes it even more of a fun atmosphere, as the restaurants cover the road with tables and chairs, and people spill over the streets.

We wanted to make the most of it, and Amex had a Chillax offer – as they partnered with many of the hip bars around Singapore to offer fine discounts, exclusive to Amex of course!  The only issue we found is that many of the offers are not applicable on Friday – hmm…shame we only found out after we had settled in for our drinks.  Silly terms and conditions, diluted the fun of the Chillax promotion in my opinion, as Friday and Saturday are the key nights for chilling and relaxing – as the promotion was centred on doing!

Our tour went something like this:

  • :pluck – for a cocktail each…a nice place and a nice ambiance inside.  We sat at the bar and watched them work away.  We had a snack (possible our ‘starter’) as well, as we drank away.
  • Lolla – we then went to our next venue – to have another drink to accompany our Sea Urchin dish – plus other dishes. The Sea Urchin dish was definitely a very different type of dish – never had it before, and I am still on the fence on whether I will have it again, but it was a very interesting dish indeed.
  • Noti – this place had a nice vantage spot, right along the main part of Club Street, we went inside for what will be our dessert snack.  Chocolate cake with ice cream – yummy!
  • Sugarhall – we then walked around to Amoy Street, where we were looking for the infamous Jigger & Pony cocktail bar…unfortunately, it was full, so we decided to go next door to Sugarhall, which I believe is owned by the same owners as Jigger & Pony – but Sugarhall is focused more on rum drinks and delightful meat dishes – my favourite choice.  We had a couple of cocktails, before we decided to call it a day.

 

What a session this was – it was chilled, relaxed, with lots of good food and drinks experienced.  Certainly brings a smile to both of our faces 🙂

Sunday Lunch at Keisuke Tokyo

A colleague from work was retiring after spending an enjoyable tenure with American Express – mainly around SE Asia. As he was returning to his native US, my mum and I arranged a nice farewell lunch with him and his wife.

He suggested a venue in Suntec – which was called Keisuke, which was a nice no-thrills place serving Japanese Ramen – and it certainly was a yummy meal.

We found the place pretty easily, and tuck into a delicious dish of Ramen – this place was certainly a great find, and we certainly enjoyed the meal.

Keisuke Tokyo
#02-391/392 Suntec City Mall
3 Temasek Boulevard
Singapore 038983
Tel: +65 6337 7919

Wing Seong Fatty’s Restaurant Lunch with Mum (8 Nov 2014)

My mum told me of this place that a friend of her (an air steward / cabin crew) had suggested, it was called Fatty’s near Sim Lim Square. It is actually a non-discrete place, but it is the quality of the food that matters.

We ordered a few dishes, and tucked it. The food was simple but very delicious, and we certainly enjoyed our lunch It wasn’t that busy when we went (it was just after opening for lunch), but we did enjoy the ambiance of the place.

I certainly would recommend this place, especially for the simplicity, price (very reasonable) and quality of the food.

Wing Seong Fatty’s Restaurant
175 Bencoolen Street
Singapore 189649
Tel: +65 6338 1087

Halloween Party (1st Nov 2014)

I am not normally keen in dressing up for a party (apart from dusting off the DJ for a few company doos), but this time, I was invited to one of Carmen’s friends Halloween party at their place. It was a theme doo, based on the Rocky Horror Picture Show – quite a funny horror movie – well a mix of comedy and horror mixed together, but some memorable movie tracks.

I kinda didn’t really do much on the fancy dress scene, but decided to go with the ballroom dance scene – so just required me to wear a suite, with a red shirt. To top this off, I was convinced to wear some eye liner and shadow (e.g. make-up) to mix it up a bit…hey-ho, all for the fun of it.

The party was great fun, some folks really make a big effort to play the parts of the characters of the show, pretty impressive. The best part was the fact that the whole place was themed – including showing the movie, the soundtrack, and the food – wow…what a fun night.

Ergh…and the end of the night, I was down to my boxes and in the swimming pool with a few of the others – apparently, this was the induction 😉 I apparently made a good impression. Haha.

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