Martin Yan in Singapore!

Are you familiar with Martin Yan from the show "Yan Can Cook"?

I most certainly am!

At an age where I had nothing to do in the afternoons after school, there really wasn't much on tv except his television series. Whilst I don't remember being particularly interested in cooking, I sort of grew up watching his shows.

So when Tom told me that he was holding a dinner event at Capella, I thought it would be interesting to go.. And my whole family decided to go as part of my dajie's early birthday celebration.

You know, I wasn't really sure what to expect.

The event was held at the beautiful Cassia Restaurant and we even had this huge VIP room to ourselves! First was a cocktail reception followed by a small speech by Marin Yan himself before we were served the first course. Following which, we got to see him showcase his cooking techniques and cutting prowess and was treated to a very entertaining session. The below video of him deboning a chicken is really funny, if a little long.. You should watch it if you have the time.. =P

If you are still tickled, click here for another short segment of him cutting ginger and other stuff!

We were then seated again to complete the rest our dinner before Martin Yan came into our room in the middle of our 4th course! (there were 5 courses in total) He was so warm and personable.. and he signed messages to all 3 of us and my mum~!

In all honestly, I didn't think very highly of the food in retrospect to the amount we paid.. BUT getting to meet Martin Yan, talking to him and being so entertained by his live performance, it was really really worth it! We all had so much fun last night.

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So pictures..

His worktable..

The view of the restaurant from our VIP room :D

The menu for the evening..

zipai shot while waiting..

us..

jie & tom

Here's the chef himself in action..

food.. Crispy Beancurd Skin Rolls. the mushrooms inside were super yummy!

Dragon & Phoenix.. Don't understand why it's given this name, but it could have been warmer.. =/

Beef Stew with beancurd sticks & chinese chestnuts.. yum! except for the slightly tough beef =/

Smoked Marinated Squab.. sadly the meat was too tough. I'm never eating squab again..

Wine Poached Pears.. everyone (except me) loved this!

this was turning out to be a rather sad dining experience for me. :(

To end off the dining experience, we were given complimentary in house capella mooncakes. They sell at $280 for a box of 4! =X

This was their standard mooncake with cinnamon inside.

and these were tea-infused.. both not bad.. but not worth $9 apiece. =/

So he came into our VIP room to say hello..

and here we are like groupies crowding him for autographs..

Group shot..

and thick-skinned me asked him to take this zipai shot with us =D

best photo of the night!

What a wonderful event! :)

Beef Buffet at Barossa

We had our 10th month celebratory dinner at Barossa Restaurant today. (: (: (:

Eric had bought a groupon for Beef Buffet + complimentary red wine for ~$60 total and we've been planning to come here to try out the buffet for a few weeks now. Unfortunately I've been sick for quite a while, hence we were unable to come earlier..

Hungry boy.. =P

Me..

The bar (: The ambience was really nice.. with my kind of music haha.

ah the fine life! (:

Here's the menu.. taken with my iphone. (:

The sauces: Blue cheese, Mushroom, Red wine & Bearnaise. My favourite was the Truffle Bearnaise! (:

it was sooooo goood!

My Australian Ribeye. It's the best of all the 5.. And oh-so-succulent!

I forgot what was this hahah but we tried 4 out of the 5 different cuts - T-bone, Prime Rib, Ribeye & Wagyu Rump. Eric enjoyed his T-Bone, but I felt that they were all too tough. :(

Sauteed Mushrooms om nom nom nom ;D

Grilled tomato with cheese.. I didn't try this..

Cream Spinach.. Another awesome side. =D

Barossa Salad.. I also didn't eat this lol.

Overall it was a very pleasant experience except that some of my steaks came a little too well done. :( But the service staff there is really nice, and they understand the importance of getting the beef right. I had to send my second round ribeye back to the kitchen twice!! Coz it was super overcooked. Like medium well, instead of medium rare.. yuck. But it was definitely worth the wait and Eric and I left the restaurant as happy fatties. =D

Last shot in the restaurant (:

zipai outside wahahah..

zipai myself too lols.

thank you dear for the super yumsss dinner!  ♥♥♥!

Barossa
22 Lorong Mambong, Singapore 227681
Opens daily: Monday to Friday 12pm – 3pm, 6pm-1am (Fridays 2am); Saturday 12pm – 2am; Sunday 12pm – 1am
Tel: 6468 4688

Mid-June Update!

My biggest fan has asked me why haven't I been blogging lately..

Well.. I've just been really really busy. =/ And I have no idea doing what exactly.. haha.

So like before.. This will be just a series of mini posts from here & there..

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Dinner @ Chatterbox

Have you heard of Chatterbox at Mandarin Orchard?

I didn't until Eric told me about it.. It's signature dish, the legendary Chicken rice, costs $27++.

It was really yummy!! (tho I was starving so maybe I'm biased. :x)

His mum is a Marina Mandarin member so we got to eat there 50% off. =D

Eric ordered Fish Head curry and he was pleasantly surprised. He said he hasn't tasted good fish head curry in a while...

And lastly, he ordered the Coconut ice cream for me! Looks pretty fancy tho not spectacular..

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Joey's Farewell

It was Joey's last day on the 2nd of June and I spent that whole week preparing for her present.
And that's how i fell sick... sigh.

Anyways I'm really proud of what I came up with heehee, but only took a few pictures of the final product..

I did up a small photobook with photos of the team as well as short messages from everyone..

I didn't take pictures of the messages..

Here's Joey with her 2 gifts

Doing some funny pose with her gift lol..

Me & my girls..

Team photo!

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Mother's Day Dinner

Yes Father's day just passed, but I haven't had time to QC the photos for uploading. So that will be for another day..

We had Mother's Day birthday celebration at Kome Japanese Dining at Keppel Club.
Super YUMS food for an equally exorbitant price tag...

First up.. Sashimi! =D

And then these simply-to-die-for oysters! <333

Hand rolls..

Tempura..

- too hungry to take photos of all the food... -

Eric & I..

Jie & Tom..

my parents + t

ice cream!!! they had Kyoho Grape Sorbet. sehrrrrr gutttt! =D

Family pic!

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The Dogs..

I love my dogs!!! They are the cutest things everrrr. And everytime I go home they will stare at me with their (literal) puppy-dog eyes, whining so fervently to be taken out for a walk..

How to say no???

I've been trying to walk them 2x a week, and guilt-tripping my sisters to walk them at least once so they get walked at least 3-4x a week! It's not everyday, but it's so much better than before...

Here's their post-walk shag faces.. Impossible to take a pre-walk photo as they are too hyper.

Bailey sleeping on the floor heehee..

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Random OTD

My lovely Burgundy dress from Intoxiquette..

Yet another dress, but an old one from Intoxiquette. I finally bought a new black bag from C&K. =D

New top from The Blush Inc, paired with a skirt from affairree.