Da Paolo Gastronomia at Cluny Court

After dinner at Da Paolo Bistro Bar last weekend, I decided to head down to Da Paolo Gastronomia at Cluny Court for lunch.

This is my 1st time there even though I pass by this cafe everyday on the way to Botanic Gardens MRT station since I've moved to Shelford 1 year ago.

Note to anyone who wants to have lunch at Da Paolo Gastronomia at Cluny Court, please be prepared to sit outdoors or wait for seats, as this place gets pretty crowded during lunch time with all the expatriates, housewives, and hippy people all wanting a slice of their favorite food.

I had their roast beef with mozzarella in toasted panini with a choice of crispy ciabatta and a iced latte.

I should have chosen their soft country bread (it's a choice between these 2), as it would have been easier to eat. But that is not to say that their sandwich is not good, in fact, it's quite nice! A combination of roast beef and mozzarella will never be wrong!

One good and also bad thing about the place is their service. They are very attentive, to the extent of being slow!

Da Paolo Gastronomia

Add: 501 Bukit Timah Road, #01-01 Cluny Court, Singapore 259760

Tel: 6468 7010

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Gastronomia.BukitTimah

Exact Opposites

My 2 girls!

One is shy who always slip up behind me when we bump into friends.

The other is too friendly, to the extent that she says hello and bye bye to strangers on the mrt trains.

I'm sure my friends know who is which. Hah!

Da Paolo Bistro Bar at Rochester Park

Running out of places to hang out for dinner, we decided to head further west to Rochester Park.

Rochester Park is a popular cluster of restaurants and bistro cafes located in the west. This is actually my first time there, though it has been in existence eons ago. We decided to dine at Da Paolo Bistro Bar because we have the Palate Dining card which entitles us to 50% off for 2 diners.

Though they seem cheery and happy in the photos, it is very tiring to bring them out to dine because I have to entertain them all the time! All parents should understand what I am talking about here. Heh heh.

Their squid fritters is one of the best I've eaten. The fried skin is crisp and not that oily, and the squid is oh so chewy. I like!

For our pizza, we requested for our favorite combination of Buffalo Mozzarella, Italian Parma Ham and Wild Rocket leaves. Yummy!

Their pasta was of average standard. I do not remember which we ordered. But Kae had quite a good time slurping them up.

What disappoint me was their cakes. We had their chocolate brownie and tiramisu. Seriously, you can just pass on their cakes if you dine there.

Da Paolo Bistro Bar

Add: 3 Rochester Park, Singapore 139214

Tel: 6774 5537

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BistroBar.RochesterPark

Affection

The sisters love each other. Even though they fight over toys, even though they love to annoy the other, even though Kerri will hit Kae for no reason, even though Kae will snatch things away from Kerri when she knows that will make Kerri cry, they still love each other.

Recently, when they are both in a good mood, they love to hug each other. It's their new thing.

Day of Ds

Dar took a day off from work today.

We took the chance to head to Dean and Deluca for lunch. This was our first time there since it opened at Orchard Central in June 2012.

We were there just before 12pm. And there wasn't a crowd. Even at 1pm, the place was not crowded, maybe just 50% full. Has the hype died down? Or is the place only crowded during dinner time?

Their coffee is not too bad, just the everyday average tasting latte, which cannot go wrong.

What I really liked was their brunch items.

Their pancakes were great according to dar. And they really looked damn yummy! High calorie alert!

And I had their American breakfast I think. The portion was huge for the price. And it was one of the tastier ones I've had so far. Thumbs up!

After lunch, we walked around, and finally headed to our next destination The Cathay, for the highly anticipated movie, The Dark Knight Rises.

We decided to watch at Cathay's Platinum Movie Suites (which is the equivalent to Golden Village's Gold Class) since we do not get to watch movies that often nowadays.

The movie kicked ass! Love that show! And I actually prefer the Platinum Suites to Gold Class. Go try it out!

Dean and Deluca

Add: 181 Orchard Road, #04-23/24 Orchard Central, Singapore 238896

Tel: 6509 7708

https://www.facebook.com/DeanDelucaSG

Private Affairs

Aud, Ked and I headed down to Private Affairs for lunch today.

It was quite difficult to find the place as they do not have a door at the shopfront. Just note that it is next to No Menu.

Maybe I went with an empty stomach and with high expectations. The food was just average to me. My Striploin was seriously below average. Another slice of meat not defrost properly.

I am not sure if their pasta and codfish were of standard, since the girls didn't go gaga over their mains.

Their saving grace was their foie gras and their chocolate cake with ice cream.

I don't think I will head there for lunch again. But maybe just for their foie gras!

Private Affairs

Add: 25 Boon Tat Street Singapore 069622

Tel: 6220 2005

http://www.privateaffairs.com.sg/

Paradise Dynasty

This was my second time at Paradise Dynasty. Only because it's almost impossible to get a table for dinner because the dinner waiting queue is always too long. So I decided to pop by one day for a late lunch.

I had their 炸酱面, which I recently had a thing for. Their version is the same as Imperial Treasure which is noodles in a spicy gravy. I prefer the version from Din Tai Fung actually, which is not spicy, and the gravy is not very thick.

And of course I had to order their Signature Dynasty Xiaolongbao to try!

The 8 flavors are original, garlic, ginseng, foie gras, black truffle, cheese, crab roe and szechuan. My favorite flavors are the foie gras, black truffle and crab roe ones. I think their Xiaolongbaos are good only in terms of the different flavors. Otherwise, I think the best Xiaolongbaos in Singapore are the ones from Imperial Treasure.

Paradise Dynasty

Add: 2 Orchard Turn, #04-12A Ion Orchard, Singapore 238801

Tel: 6509 9118

http://paradisegroup.com.sg/dynasty/

许俊盛-隆记

We went to 许俊盛-隆记 for dinner with my in-laws.

They serve Teochew food meant to be taken with porridge. And since we ate rice instead of porridge, the dishes somewhat tasted a tad salty. But still, I find their food delicious. And quite reasonably priced too. We ordered a total of 7 dishes plus 1 dessert for 4 adults, the bill came up to slight less than $100.

My favorite food has to be the clams and yam paste!

许俊盛-隆记

Add: 121 Joo Chiat Road, Singapore 427410

Tel: 6348 0973

Facebook link here

New Hangout

It's not really a new hang out. More like an old cafe revisited. And the cafe is Prive.

Prive Cafe now has a really mini kids play area. There is a playhouse, and 2 slides for the kids to enjoy while having their meals. Because of this, it makes dinner so much more enjoyable for the parents, namely me.

But while they are gearing towards to be more kids friendly, their food really disappointed us this time round.

Dar ordered the Steak Frites and they tasted like they had just been defrosted.

And I ordered the Seafood Marinara Spaghetti to share with Kaelyn. Just look at the pathetic portion. For a price of $24, I felt that it was a total rip off. Kae can finish the whole bowl and not be full! In the end, that ended up as her dinner. Of course I had all the seafood.

Prive Cafe

Add: No 2 Keppel Bay Vista, Singapore 098382

Tel: 6776 0777

http://theprivegroup.com.sg/prive/

Facial has never felt so good

It's been a while since I had my facial, so I called and managed to get a last minute slot for facial. Lucky me! Maybe it's because I am the first customer, somehow this time round, the facial felt so good. Maybe the therapist still have loads of energy to massage my face. Hah! For your information, I have my facial at Decleor Institute located at Raffles Hotel. More deatils are be viewed here.

I was very sloppily dressed. And I felt like an auntie. I think the reason for that it that I was wearing my spectacles. I always feel older when I'm wearing my glasses.

Decleor Institute

Add: 328 North Bridge Road, #02-26 Raffles Hotel Shopping Arcade, Singapore 188719

Tel: 6334 0833

http://www.salonprofessionalassociates.com/images/decleor_mag.pdf

No Menu

I met up with Ked and Aud for lunch at No Menu today. Aud is just back from Hong Kong and will be back for good this time round. Yipee!

Like the last visit, their buretta cheese and parma ham just blew me away. Again. I think I will just order that as my main when I dine there next. It's the best I've tasted so far. A Must Order!

Their squid ink pasta was just average. I think of all the squid ink pasta I've tried, the best I've had was from Ristorante da Valentino. Argh, I want to go back there again!

No Menu

Add: 21/23 Boon Tat Street Singapore 069621

Tel: 6224 0091

http://www.nomenusingapore.com/

PV and PV

These are the 2 shops I will always go to when I am at Holland Village, Provence and Plain Vanilla Bakery.

My favorite from Provence is their Brazilian Cheese buns.

And my favorite from my new favorite cupcake store, their Red Velvet. Recently, they added the flavor Salted Caramel to their regular menu. Yipee! And of course, the dark chocolate is for Kae.

Provence Bakery & Cafe

Add: 17A Lorong Liput, Holland Village, Singapore 277731

Tel: 6467 6966

http://www.provence.com.sg/

Plain Vanilla Bakery

Add: 34A Lorong Mambong, Holland Village, Singapore 277691

Tel: 6465 5942

http://www.plainvanillabakery.com/

Afond Spa

I have been so tired recently. My lower back hurts real bad now. I think it's because of Kerri. you see, she still sleeps in the baby swing, and we will carry her to the bed only after she's sound asleep. Which means I have to sit a lot. A lot, because she always fidgets even when she's asleep in the swing.

So I decided to go for a much needed massage. I decided upon Afond Spa as it's near my place and they have a great promotion for first timers.

It's housed at a very small cosy 2 storey unit at Holland Village. I guess I was lucky to get a good masseur on my first visit. You know how sometimes it hurts when they massaged your calf? Well, she did a good job. Her knead was strong but yet I didn't feel any pain. That's my benchmark for a good masseur.

So, in the end, I signed up a package with them. Dar said he saw it coming. But in my defense, I only sign up if I think their services are good. So there.

Afond Spa

Add: 29 and 29A Lorong Liput, Holland Village

Tel: 6469 2313

http://www.afondspa.com/index.htm

Kith Cafe and The Merry Men

There's this whole stretch of eateries at Robertson Quay area, and we usually eat at Ichibantei when we are there. The other eateries we've tried was Mondo mio and Aburiya. Today, we decided to go to the the other end of robertson Quay, and we ended up having coffee at Kith Cafe and dinner at The Merrymen.

Kith Cafe has 2 branches, the other is located at Park Mall. What I love about the place is that they are very kids friendly! They have an area for children to play at. With their play horses, their small selection of books and toys, you can be sure the kids will not mind staying there while the parents sit and sip their coffee.

And their coffee. Oh, it's really good. We ordered their iced cafe latte, and it's one of the strongest ICED latte I've had ever! It's even stronger than the hot latte that most cafes serve. Thumbs up!

And the girls had to have their chocolate fix. A pity though, their chocolate cupcake is just average tasting.

Since it was dinner time, we thought we should just hang at the area and have dinner at another eatery. And we decided on The Merrymen. We ordered their truffle fries, a pasta and a pizza to share. Their food is generally average. I just thought their pizza chould be better. It's a tad too dry and bland for my liking. I don't think I will head there for food again. Maybe just for drinks.

Kith Cafe

Add: 7 Rodyk Street, #01-33, Watermark at Robertson Quay, Singapore 238215

Tel: 6341 9407

http://kith.com.sg

The Merrymen

Add: 86 Robertson Quay, #01-02, Singapore 238245

Tel: 6735 9667

http://bythemerrymen.wordpress.com/