Tag Archive for Friends

Man of Steel Singapore Premium – Free Preview Ticket :)

14 June 2013 Entertainment No comments
Man of Steel Movie Premier

Man of Steel Movie Premier

Sometimes you can be in the right place at the right time.  Our Transit Partner card issuer in Singapore, EZ-Link, had hired out the whole cinema screening of the Man of Steel premium for the 7pm screening, and I was offered a spare ticket that was on offer in the office.

I think I was mainly chosen because 1) I was free and available, but most important 2) I worked on the EZ-Link account when I first started my new role in Amex Singapore.  BONUS!

I was joined with 7 other people (largely from work) – and their significant others (partner’s and kids), and was quite a nice session.  We went to the Golden Village at Vivocity in Harbourfront, and it was quite a nice gesture to extend the ticket to us by EZ-Link – I was very grateful in any case!!!

The movie itself was fabulous – very entertainment – lots of good movie lines and humour, although it went on a bit (over 2 hours 20 minutes), which seems to be the norm these days, but I think they could have reduced it by at least 30 minutes and it would still have been excellent.  The effects and fight scenes were pretty cool – and I am glad I managed to see it.

It certainly is going to be a year of comic-movies, iron-Man, Superman, Avengers, more? – I can’t wait to see them all 🙂

Drinks at Five Izakaya Bar, Chevron House

12 June 2013 Entertainment No comments

We wanted drinks, we needed drinks, we deserved drinks, so a few of us decided to meet-up and enjoy a Tuesday night at a local and reasonably-priced bar – at Chevron House.  It’s called Five Izakaya Bar – a Japanese bar that has such a great atmosphere.

It started with 2 of us, and then morphed into 5 people, then 7 of us at one point before a couple of ladies decided to give the last part of the drinks marathon session a miss (wise move – haha!).  We took it easy in the beginning with a bucket of 5 beers, we then went for the Asahi Tower, then we just kept ordering rounds of Asahi pints – with some finger food to keep our energies levels up.  I think we had quite a bit to drink by the end of the night.

The night ended with 4 of us going for Japanese food – always good to line one’s stomach with food before sleeping – haha! 🙂  One of the dishes gave us entertainment – deep-fried Aubergines with grated Cheese on top – a bit weird, as it looked likes worms moving around…very funny (and tasty!)!

The worry is I had an 8am call in the morning (which I would take from home, mind you), and one of the colleagues had to be in the office by 7.45am – also for an 8am conference call.  Ouch!

It certainly was a tough morning the next day…not necessarily a hangover, okay maybe it was!, it was certainly tough going 🙂  Now who’s idea was it again…?

Five Izakaya
16 Collyer Quay #01-05B
(Formerly Hitachi Towers)
Singapore 049318
Tel:       +65 6536 8955
E-mail:  collyer@fivebar.sg
URL:     http://www.fivebar.sg/

HK Friend Visiting Singapore – BOGOF Guinness – and then Karaoke

5 June 2013 Exhibition, Food No comments

The brother of a university friend, who is based in HK and I visited when I went there around Christmas last year, was visiting Singapore and we agreed to catch-up, have a few drinks and grab some food. It was a great way to catch-up with him again and see another fellow “Ang Moh”. We went to enjoy a nice evening drinks session starting at Overeasy at Boat Quay – always a good spot to meet and have a few bevvies before we move on. I always enjoy this place, ‘cos it’s a good spot to enjoy the night life, it’s got a pretty good atmosphere, it’s great for people walking and very central to meet in the middle – oh and they serve the black stuff 🙂 Haha!

The chap spoke very good mandarin (mega jealous!) and we went for Szechuan cuisine for dinner in China Town – and I was extremely impressed by his ability to converse well with the restaurant staff! This reminded me that I need to put myself them on a course of something…it has been 6 months already…my bad…grrr!!

The food was delightful – bit spicey, as Szechuan cuisine is, but delicious and very tasty. I think we just ordered the right number of dishes for the two of us – which can’t be said for the table of 3 girls next to us, who seemed to order for the world! Funny when you see them surrounded by all of the dishes (they were pretty large plates too) – lol.

I then got a message that a work colleague was heading over to Cuppage in Someset for Japanese, so we decided to join them. We met them at the J2 Bar – which serves as a KTV place – yup you can see where this is going! After continuing the whiskey bottle that we previously put behind the bar, the two ladies arrived, and it wasn’t long before we started singing our stuff. I did a few interesting tracks (or should that be ‘varied’ tracks) such as Oasis – Wonderful, Blue – Park Life, and then my choice of music went downhill when I sang Cheeky Girls and their infamous Cheeky Girls title track. Funny and memorably (whoops, not sure if that is a good thing). Hey-ho!

We then finished off and headed our separate ways at the end of the night – or should that be early morning. I think it had gone past 2am … and then we remembered that we had to work that next day. Yup the head hurt a bit…for some reason (I think the mixing of drinks probably didn’t help) 🙂

La Bistrot Stadium – Nice French Restaurant :)

30 May 2013 Entertainment, Food No comments

A colleague from work recommended a nice French Bistro – called La Bistrot located in Stadium to celebrate a colleagues birthday – so a group of us decided to pay a visit and celebrate in style. I am certainly very happy that we decided to go there, as it was a delightful little place.

The food was lush, and the atmosphere was fresh and a nice very relaxing setting – and the wine – well lets just say we had a bottle or two…haha!

What a nice way to spend quality time with a great bunch of friends and to celebrate the young lady’s birthday in style.

It wasn’t necessarily a cheap place, but the quality and ambience (and company) certainly made up for that – and we created our own entertainment throughout the night. BUT, the news is that it is closing down in mid-June, due to the 5x increase in rent, which was not surprising based on what they intend to do around the area, but it was a big annoyance for the Proprietor. The two Partners did not intend to set-up anywhere else, so it is likely this little gem of a place will be gone forever. Who knows, they may reappear (I hope), or they might choose to do something different (private catering etc). What a shame though – those greedy landowners and landlords! 🙁

This area is really being developed, in fact I was doing some reading online about Singapore’s history, and always wanted to know what was is the area before the ‘Stadium’, and it turned out that it was actually an Airport – part of Kallang Airport – before it closed in 1955, and the area redeveloped to become what is now the sports hub and entertainment venue – and where the new National Stadium is under construction. We’ll see what else this area becomes, but I definitely think fine dining is not going to be the key focus of this area…especially now La Bistrot is going – shame though, but alas that’s show business! You may actually recall that I visit the Stadium every Sunday (no, not for Church and my Confessions) but for Futsal (indoor astro-turf football), so I am getting to know the area and shopping mall pretty well – haha!

Anyway, to end, it was a very delightful dinner, the people that attended were so much fun, and we really enjoyed the food, wine and entertainment throughout the night.

Le Bistrot
2 Stadium Walk
#01-03 Singapore Indoor Stadium
Singapore 396691
Tel:      +65 64470018
Email:  lebistrot_news@yahoo.com
URL:    http://www.lebistrot.com.sg

Pasarbella @ The Grandstand

20 May 2013 Entertainment, Food No comments

I’ve heard a lot of interesting things about Pasarbella Farmer’s market at the Grandstand, so decided to try it out. I was looking to go a couple of weeks back, but never got around to it. So this time, I called a couple of friends and we decided to give it a go.

It’s a bit out of the sticks – not near any MRT stations, but once you are there, there is quite a bit to look and do. Apparently, it is located in what was the Grandstand of the old (horse) race track, so it was quite a long but spacious location.

The Pasarbella was interesting – it was full of small sellers and stalls, but they weren’t cheap. A lot of the produce was organic – and that itself means more $$$. The selections were nice though – but I am not sure if I would come back just to buy extraordinary groceries or similar – I would probably visit Jason’s or similar, which is closer and more convenient. I don’t know, maybe I would come back, we’ll see.

After buying what we could, we then went to ‘The Ascot’ – a restaurant that was very English indeed. A nice atmosphere, and most importantly a great menu on offer. We went for the Burgers, and one of us went for the BBQ Ribs – it was certainly nicely done, and didn’t cost that bad – $98.87 for the 3 of us.

Certainly would recommend a visit to Pasarbella and certainly a meal at The Ascot!!

Big Mama Korean Night

20 May 2013 Food No comments

A Korean food night is always a pleasure to join – and especially when it is with some fab friends and colleagues. A group of us left work on Friday, 17th May and we went to Tiong Bahru to locate and visit the Big Mama Korean BBQ place – it was surely a popular spot, but it was highly recommended. Of course, we did visit Harry’s beforehand – which made it every more pleasureable!

One of our colleagues duly ordered (she was Korean – perfect!) – and we knew we were going to be in for a treat of a night, and it didn’t disappoint. A selection of delightful dishes that was delicious, tasty and a pleasure to enjoy!

This place was also quite delightful and I must state that some of the ‘scenary’ at the other tables were also quite enjoyable to watch too – only looking though, haha!!

Big Mama Korean Restaurant
2 Kim Tian Road
Singapore 169244
Tel:   +65 6270 7704
URL: http://bigmama.sg/

Cheese Night at O’Batignolles

16 May 2013 Food No comments

Well what a nice way to relax with some great office folks – to visit Club Street and relax with some cheese and wine (well you can’t really have cheese on its own!).

One of my colleagues suggested this French establishment as a way to chill and chat after a hard day at work – and I must state it was delightful.  The cheese platter was delicious, the wine was really refreshing, and the fresh warm bread was a perfect accompliment (for the cheese that is!).

The only difference than being in France is the fact that it is that hot and humid in France – but there’s nothing like a bit of France in Singapore 🙂

O’Batignolles Wine Bar & Bistrot
2 Gemmill Lane, Club Street
Singapore 069247
Tel: +65 6438 3913
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OBatignolles

Krabi Thailand Holiday – Nice!

1 May 2013 Entertainment, Holiday No comments

A group of colleagues for work were planning to do a dive and snorkelling trip over one weekend, and the invite was opened to me.  Not being a strong swimmer or diver, I was definitely keen to do a bit of snorkelling and also relaxing poolside.

One colleague arranged the hotels, I did the flights, and we headed-off to the airport for the 4-day break.  Having rained-heavily since early morning, the taxi didn’t seem to arrive, so I made my way to the MRT to the airport.  I knew I was cutting it fine, so I did have that dreaded ‘will I get to the airport on time’ moments.  My colleague who lived near Farrer Park finally managed to get a taxi and was en route when I got the call to offer to pick-me up – so i decided to get out at Dhoby Ghaut MRT, and the taxi took a slight detour to pick me up from there.  The long and short of it, we made it to the airport, with about 40 minutes spare – but our seats on check-in were the worse – the last row just in front of the rear toilets – grrr.  Hey-ho, at least we were on the flight!

We stayed at the Sofitel Krabi Phokeethra Golf and Spa Hotel – it was a nice place – and certainly made us feel very relaxed.  The breakfast was delightful and the location very quiet and relaxing.  It had quite a nice pool – white sand – and they were able to arrange the tours for us.  It was low season – so we didn’t have the quota for the Dive/Snorkelling trip nor the Kayaking trip – so we had to arrange this directly with the place rather than via the hotel – which actually made it slightly cheaper.  It is amazing how much for a mark-up or ‘cut’ is given by the hotel.

The food was very tasty – and our stomach’s behaved themselves for the whole trip.  This can’t be set for the boat journey during the snorkelling – as it was a bit choppy, and I had a bit of a turn for the worse – which was frustrating to say the least.  Luckily, after a couple of sea-sickness pills, my stomach settled down again – grrr!

All in all – a relaxing, busy, entertaining and great fun trip – and it was actually good to get to know the folks in a more relaxed setting.

Brunch at Toby Estate

22 April 2013 Food No comments

A Sunday is not the same without eating a Roast or Brunch – so I decided for the Brunch on Sunday.

I heard a lot of about Toby’s Estate along Robertson Quay, so I open an invite to get a group of friends from work to come along.  In the end, only 3 of us decided to go – but I think it was a good number, as it is a busy place, and large groups are a bit manic to organise.

Toby has a reputation for its coffee – so we definitely ensure we enjoyed that, as well as the food.  I opted for the Toby Special – basically a light fry up with a bit of everything – very tasty.  We ended with a delicious cheesecake.  I am so glad we decided to sit inside, as during our brunch, the heavens opened and the rain continued for a good hour and a half.  We decided to walk along to enjoy a nice alcoholic beverage, before we called it a day and headed back to Clarke Quay and the MRT.

What a delightful session – definitely up for more brunching soon 🙂

Toby’s Estate Café
8 Rodyk Street #01-03/04
Singapore 238216
Tel:      +65 6636 7629
Email:  rodykst@tobysestate.com.sg
URL:    http://www.tobysestate.com.sg

Wine Tasting – Hubert Lignier Wines

22 April 2013 Entertainment, Exhibition, Shopping No comments

I was invited to join a couple of friends for a wine tasting event at Crystal Wines @ River Valley Road.  The winery is called Hubert Lignier – and when we arrived we were directed to the table to “deliver” the wine.

We were given a wine glass, and a stamp-card for the 7 samples – apparently, we were only meant to sample each wine bottle once until the 7 stamps were completed.  This particular wine tasting didn’t provide a host to explain the differences, just a chap sitting behind the table that pours the wine, and briefly explains some of the background of the wine bottles – but it was a bit ‘limited’ in the terms of a more detailed run-down.

We ended up chatting with each other for a while, and we basically continued drinking, nibbling at the cheese until the wine tasting session ended.  They didn’t seem to mind, I guess for them if the wine is open, they would have to finish to themselves, so might as well give it to potential customers 🙂

We did take a walk around the wine merchants/shop – and I did notice a nice display of Barolo Wines as well as Montupulcino – my favourite two Italian wines – but alas all wine in Singapore is very expensive.  So I opted for one of the ‘weekly specials’ – the Windy Park Sangiovese – another nice red grape.  I hope it tastes as good as it looks 🙂

I do hope that they do a Barolo wine tasting soon – haha!

Crystal Wines
491 River Valley Road
#01-02/03 Valley Point
Singapore 248371
Tel:      +(65) 6737 3540
Email:  retail@crystalwines.com
URL:    http://www.crystalwines.com

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