Cook & Brew at The Westin Singapore

Do you know?! Westin Singapore is back in Singapore!

Well, Westin Singapore used to be in the City Hall, but was changed to the now Swissotel and Fairmont.

 

They are now under the Starwoods hotel, joining big names like W hotels and St. Regis!

 

I heard they have good dinner place there too, so I brought along the birthday girl chue chue and Esther along. :)

 

First funny thing is... I went to the lobby wanting to press for the lift...

But I couldn't find any button!!! Then the staff press and I saw the light!!! hahaha.. felt so dumb...

 

 

We went to Cook & Brew located at 33 floor! Super nice ambience!!!

Good view of the outside, and inside is so spacious and comfy! So many sofa seats for drinking!

 

Cook & Brew at The Westin Singapore

 12 Marina View, Asia Square Tower 2

Level 33

Tel: 6922 6948

 

It's just a stone throw away from Downtown Station (Exit E).

 

 

Starting the feast!

 

My drink for the night, BROTHER's Strawberry Cider.

This place serves lots of different type of beer and alcohol from many different countries, so you can always come here and try nice flavours! And it's not that expensive too despite such a good ambience.

 

Our starters, Crispy Calamari ($13) and Hot Wings ($12).

The hot wings... is NOT hot at all. More of SOUR wings. Tasted like buffalo wings instead. haha...

 

We order German Butcher Platter ($34) as our main, and this only main filled all of us!

Luckily we didn't order others if not wasted.

It's really quite filling and it's good food!!!!

 

I also heard about their Burger, and ribs which is quite popular as well... Shall come again some time and try them!

We ate like for 2 hours... before continuing again with desserts... hahhaha...

And I ordered 2!!! Ok lah, the portion not very huge so can finish. hehe...

Ordered Cheese Stick ($15) and Chocolate Brownie ($15).

Both were very nice! The desserts are worth it. haha..

Choose the cheese stick if you have to choose 1, it's quite refreshing.

 

 

Surprised chue chue with a candle on the brownie! Well, as you celebrate more bdays, sometimes we lose the singing part, the present, then the candle part... haha... but of course, try and put a candle lah.

 

Although it's a simple fare, I do hope everyone enjoyed the night.. cause I really do.

The chats and just getting together to keep talking... esp. with Esther.. haha... Just great, cause I hardly do so..  

 

Overall, Cook & Brew is a nice place to hang out with great drinks and food, plus ambience! Doesn't burn your pocket as much as the other similar restaurants around town.

You'll see me coming by often! hahaha...

 

 

Happy Birthday Chue Chue!!!!

 

Boring post.

Wasn't feeling too well... don't know if it's the weather. been feeling sick-ish and no mood.

 

Hence, cancelled outings and only did simple stuff.

 

Went PC Show on Friday right after work since it's sooo convenient now..

And bought this red baby back!!!

It's my 2nd laptop I bought and it's red again!

My first was Sony Vaio Red.

 

Lenovo S410. Bought at a cheap price of $849! budget abit lah...

Considering I don't play games, don't chiong movies...

this is good enough for me I guess. #boringlife

 

On Saturday, the boy and I went for a movie date after a 3 week hiatus of not going out. haha..

He was in reservist and me, ... obviously mugging.

Watched the Edge of Tomorrow by Tom Cruise! It's a bit boring starting because it repeats and repeats the same scenes... haha.. Shall not say much. .. but after that it was quite good lah.

worth the watch :)

Had a simple dinner before going back home to rest cause was feeling sick just going out for a short while.

 

 

And when you have nothing to do but rest, you start typing away here... haha...

Hope I'll be better next week!!!

 

Family in Phuket

After a mia-ing for a month, I'm back to diligently back-tracking what happened last month.

 

The highlight was I went for a short trip with my family, and this is our first family trip out of Singapore through air! Our first was just a trip to Malaysia so it was a drive up.

So this time, was glad we could bring our parents slightly further!

 

Our family trip: Phuket (4D3N)

Bro wanted to take SQ but I refuse (budget la)... so decided on Jetstar... and all of them haven taken a budget before except me! lol...

SQ was going at about $360 while we only paid for $200 for Jetstar!!!

 

It was an early flight 8.20am departure but luckily all of us were punctual.

 

This trip is supposed to be very nua... so not much activities.

So, bro wanted somewhere far off the main area and just wanted a place where kids can play.

So we decided on Grand Centara West Sands Resort & Villas which is super duper far off the main area. In fact, we were just beside the airport! haha... It took us about 20min from the airport only!

Why we chose this was mainly because of their kids friendly facilities like Kids Club and Jungle Splash. Yes, this trip focus is the kids, and adults to NUA to the max.

 

We were ushered to The Club for checking in (probably because we booked Penthouse Pool Suite)

Because we were very early, and we were kinda restless, the service staff noticed and decided to upgrade us to a Luxury Pool Villa 3 bedroom (4 beds) which is apparently bigger in space and pool size is bigger too. The cost was $2K for 4D3N of 8pax which I think it's quite reasonable.

 

 

The Club entrance

The Club lounge (outside)

So cute!!!!! :)

This is how restless we were.... like 2 hours waiting for our room...

By the time we were given a room, it was already like 11.30am and we were hungry already cause it was Singapore time 12.30pm!

We then proceeded to The Club lounge to eat some light snacks. Apparently, we were able to come to The Club to have snacks all day long ... Guess that's because we booked the Suite/ villa.

And... the snacks were actually so much nicer than the normal breakfast!!!

 

 

Throughout our stay, we really just come here daily and diligently to eat... haha...

cause really quite shiok to eat free flow of good stuff!!! The sandwiches were really way better than breakfast!!!

What they serve daily, but there is a variety everyday!

Our Villa pool!!! So huge! My first time staying in a villa.. so was very pleased with this size of the pool! haha..

 

The fully equipped kitchen

The living room.

 

And baby Velda who's enjoying her babycot! Seeing the kids smiles always make everything so worthwhile.

 

The bedroom upstairs which has 2 beds. All the bedrooms are so spacious!

Top view from the bedroom upstairs

A typical toilet for all the bedrooms. All bedrooms are en-suite.

Really, we didn't do anything on the first day. All were lazy and wanted to sit in the living room do nothing when the kids were napping...haha...

Even when I suggested the itinerary for the next 2 days, I had negative responses! They didn't even wanna go out.. lol...

But at least, we compromised and went out on the second day to town area.

 

The hotel has a free shuttle service to Jungceylon Shopping Mall in Patong. The journey took about 1 hr... After that, we hired a car to Wat Chalong, one of their grandest temples in Thailand. Indeed, it is very grand and bigger than the popular one in Bangkok.

It was going to rain....

Most temples you see in Thailand has this elephant. Although I'm not sure why.

The biggest and grandest out of the 5 temples inside.

After that, we went to Central Phuket Festival shopping centre which is 5 min from Wat Chalong.

We shopped around and got some goodies and headed for Fuji for dinner.

The thing about family trips is you can't eat roadside food .... haha... always must find a restaurant that kids can eat.

 

His favourite. Sitting on such stuffs. haha... I used to be like this too! hehe..

After dinner, we headed for the Phuket Night Market which is only opened during weekends. It's actually quite near the Central Festival. (It's at Chaofa Road)

It's really quite cheap. and there are many food stalls!!!! One of the 'must-try" in Thailand... but didn't dare. hahaha.... Yucks!

I remembered when I was 16, my first trip to Bangkok, I think I tried it. But that was THEN. haha...

 

On Day 3, we treated our parents (and ourselves) hehe... to spa! We decided doing it in hotel spa is the best option so that we could take turns, and rotate taking care of the kids.

 

Took the 90min aromatherapy massage. It was good enough for me cause I slept through it.

They have facial spa too which uses Origins products. Supposedly should be good and worth the money... but didn't try lah.

 

Jungle Splash!!! It's really quite fun for the kids, and adults they have roller coaster too!!!

I tried it, and it was great! hahaa...

Jungle Splash is similar to Singapore Adventure Cove. It has the lazy river and kid playground, the manmade wave, and a few roller coaster.

I think for family with kids, this hotel can be quite good for simple getaway. :)

 

Baby Velda loves this!!!

 

 

Because the kids are still young, they were only able to play a few of those rides. But nonetheless, just give them one slide they will be happy to play it repeatedly. haha...

 

A very simple holiday with the family and just catching up.

Hope to have more family trips in the near future!

 

 

Tangerine at Resort World Sentosa

Exams are just 2 more weeks ahead and I spent my weekends on intensive revisions and self studies.. because I also signed up for mock exam coming up this Saturday... (why did I do this?)

Somemore saturday mock exam is at night 6.30-9.30pm... :(

I hope I can keep up the momentum of studying everyday till my exam and hope I pass!

With this new job, practically everyday I get to go home at 5.15-5.30pm.. and reach home before 6.30pm. Life is... really much better some would say. But, guess it's still too early to decide if this is really the lifestyle I want. haha...

 

So, spent my Vesak day with the boy for a mini date! Been neglecting him during weekends, and now till exams are over, it's just gonna be dinner dates/ lunch dates.

 

And we went to Tangerine at ESPA Resort World Singapore!

 

Tangerine is located in ESPA, which is very popular for its prestigious spa.

What makes Tangerine unique is that its menu promotes a healthy and nutritious meal without foresaking the delicious taste.

The menu has symbols like Fit for life, Weight Management, De-stress and Intro to Detox.

Also, it list down the amount of calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat information so that you know what you are eating.  

 

We ordered:

 Chef Sam Leong's Asian-inspired Pomelo and Coconut Salad with Prawns for appetizer

Herbal Chicken Soup with Hokkaido Scallop & Cordycep Flower for Soup.

The salad was very refreshing, and the soup was damn good. Felt very nourished when I drank, and the taste seems like it has been boiled over long hours. Must try!

For the mains:

Braised Mee Sua with something-i-forgot (hehe)

Sous Vide Salmon with Red Capsicum Puree and Tamarind Sauce

The salmon was fantastic!!! The best I had, even better than MBS.

Definitely MUST TRY!!! It's not expensive, think was $22+ ard there.

It's slow cooked so it taste like raw, but it's actually all fully cooked. Very soft!

 

 

To get there:

There are shuttle bus from Hotel Michael and Festive Hotel to get to ESPA. It will stop at Equarius Hotel. The bus comes every 15 min interval. The queue is just outside the "Adam & Eve" sculpture.

 

Cycling Route from ECP

This morning, we went for a cycling trip with my ex-boss!!! And I'm super burnt now! Didn't expect we would travel sooo far and explored further places.

 

So we went from ECP, from Fort Road to Tanjong Rhu then to Gardens by the Bay.

 

After that, we crossed over to Marina Barrage for a pit stop rest.

Toured around Gardens by the Bay illegally... (we weren't supposed to ride inside) haha..

Then to MBS.

Thereafter, we took a damn brave decision to try going to the new Cruise Centre since all of us never been there. Super wrong decision. Cause it was damn hot. Scorching sun!!! By right, we were supposed to U-turn back then we wouldn't be caught in the afternoon sun.

 

Anyway, the cruise centre is quite desserted. Guess there'll only be crowd when there's ship. Otherwise, not a single soul!!!

 

Some beautiful flowers along the way. Lovely! :)

 

 

Alright, that's all for now. Damn tired. And I'm gonna slap lots of Aloe Vera gel on myself!