SKY Dining @ Singapore Flyer

I am sure most of you have heard about Singapore Flyer or even being on board at least once ever since it opened to public on 1st March 2008. Towering at 165 metres tall, Singapore Flyer is the world’s largest Giant Observation Wheel with unique day-to-night panorama of Singapore city and parts of Malaysia and Indonesia at every turn of the wheel.

On Wednesday evening, I was honor to be selected as one of the 5 winners from the OpenRice Singapore TweetUp contest at their facebook and twitter list on #ORTU. From their facebook page(here), you can participate in their weekly contest to be one of the winners to join the team to an exclusive meal with other fellow foodie in Singapore.

While waiting to board the flyer, Fulvia, the host from Singapore Flyer brought us up to the VIP Lounge via the private access lift to a plush atmosphere whereby there is a mini bar and house pour beverages.

We were in the fully setup private dining capsule at around 7.30pm and everyone of us are very excited to begin our dining journey on the Singapore Flyer with the OpenRice Singapore, Editorial team where they actually doing this event Live at the Ustream TV (click HERE).

After seated, we were being served a glass of “Fresh Summer Berries In Ginger Ale” as our Welcome Drink. I love this beverage, which taste light and refreshing which goes well with the starter.

For starter, “Marinated Tuna Seaweed Furuke” will be served. The Ahi tuna in Japanese spices was laced with kumquat pommery dressing and accompanied with olive honey tomato and daikon cress. The honey tomato and daikon cress was very appealing for both sight and taste. Overall, this is a great starter, which is also served together with some baguettes of two different toppings.

After the 1st round of rotation which is about 30 minutes, the capsule will stop at the starting point for the In-flight attendant to prepare serving the main course and getting ready for the 2nd rotation. While waiting for the main course to get ready, most of the participates are eagerly taking the opportunity to snap some photo shots of the food and etc.

The complimentary wine that is served during the meal is known as “Misha's Vineyard - High Note” from The Local Nose Wine company.(click HERE).

Sarah from “The Local Nose” was sharing with us some of the knowledge on select different kinds of wine to go with each type of main course. She also shared with the some notes of the Wine from Misha’s Vineyard.

There are 3 different type of Main Course available for the guest to select from either salmon, chicken or lamb. And my choice of for the Main Course is “Arctic Char Salmon Escalopes”. It consists of two pieces of salmon steak stacked on top of the mashed potatoes patty, asparagus and etc. Beside it, there is a shooter glass with some ginger soya gravy to accompany the dish. Overall the dish taste quite good except I find that the salmon seems to be a bit too try if you don’t dipped it in the ginger soya gravy.

According to the Singapore Flyer Host, Fulvia, not any single one of us has ordered for their “Slow Cooked Spring Chicken Coq Au Vin”. And to our surprised, we have the same number of person choosing Salmon and Lamb dish that makes it a perfect 10.

“Stewed Lamb Shank Vindaloo” is simmered with scented Asian spices and served with chef accompaniment. Although it might look spicy due to its presentation but during the meal, those who had this dish don’t seems to have any complaint over it.

An hour or so after the two rotations, every one of us has enjoyed the wonderful night with great food and wine and after which we proceed to the VIP Lounge for our after meal dessert as well as coffee/tea.

The dessert for June/July menu is “Sticky Toffee Pudding” that is with dual sauce such as caramel and crème anglaise. For a dessert lover and baker like me, this is indeed a wonderful treat which is just well balance in taste which is neither too sweet nor too blend. I am sure having this with a cup of coffee/tea together with some great friends is indeed something memorable.

Thank you OpenRice Singapore for organizing this wonderful event, Singapore Flyer for their great food and excellent services as well The Local Nose for their complimentary of “Misha’s Vineyard - High Note” wine tasting. For information of the Singapore Flyer Full Butler Sky Dining can be found HERE.




P/s: More photos @ Cuisine Paradise Facebook Fan Page (Here)

HSBC Tree Top Walk

Talking about Nature Reserves in Singapore, I am sure you have heard of "Bukit Timah Nature Reserves", "Dairy Farm Nature Reserves", "MacRitchie Reservoir" and etc. In this post, I am going to share with you the "HSBC Tree Top Walk" which consists of several long hiking routes in MacRitchie that brings you through different stages of mature secondary forest.

The distance to the entrance of the TreeTop Walk is approximately 2.5 km which is around 45 minutes to an hour walk from the car park at Venus Drive, off Upper Thomson Road. There is also a parking lot conveniently situated at that area.

Along the route, we saw a lot of interesting plants and trees that interests our little darling. To me this is a very good outdoor experience for kids to learn "plants & animals" in real life example rather than from books. For example, my darling can spot the "Giant" Yam plant and Pandan Leaves, can you?

Along the walk, you will see a number of these signboard above showing you the distance between the current position and the Tree Top Walk. To us it seems to be like a motivation "sign" telling us we are just 1500 metres, 1000 metres or 500 metres to our destination.

For those requiring toilets, there is a Rangers Station in the middle of the walk for you to take a rest and use the toilets. But there is no shop selling water or food there, instead there is a water fountain which you can re-fill your empty bottles.

Before approaching the entrance of the Tree Top Walk, you have to walk past a long staircase walkway in order to reach the wood hut. When Rey saw the walkway he almost give up the thought of going down. Because after you walk past the bridge, you have to take the "up" staircase back from another route.

Upon reaching the Tree Top Bridge, all visitors will to pass through a wooden hut with a big sign in front saying "HSBC Tree Top Walk". From here all hikers have to go in single file onto the bridge, and everyone can only move forward and not back.

At 25 metres above the ground, this bridge is only about 250 metres long, so enjoy your view up there while walking through it. It is pretty narrow, so they only allow maximum of 30 person to be on the bridge at the same time.

The walk on the bridge offers you a magnificent bird's eye view of the plants and animals that live in the canopy. At your very eye level you will get to see the lively high life of the forest.

After enjoying the magnificent view from the bridge, it time to strength up and start heading back to the starting point. From the map shown, there is no short-cut to go back to Venus Drive, so we have to take another 2.5 km walk back in order to reach the car park.

Luckily along the way, there are still some interesting sight, plants and insect that capture our attention or else I guess Rey will not have the strength to finished the whole hiking trip. Tree Top Walk opens Tuesdays to Fridays from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm; Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays from 8.30 am to 5:00 pm. The Walk is closed on Mondays (unless it happens to be a Public Holiday) for maintenance and research purposes.

Hort Park - The Gardening Hub

"HortPark - 园艺园林" is a 23-hectare park located in the South-Western part of Singapore. It is also serves as a park connector that allows visitors to travel around Kent Ridge Park, Telok Blangah Hill Park and Mount Faber Park with ease and convenience through the elevated walkways and connecting bridges.

Near the entrance of the park on the right hand side you will find the Lifestyle Corner which is sponsored by Ikea which will probably be your first stop upon arrival at HortPark. Further in, you will see a patch of green grass which enhance the surrounding view of the nearby cafe.

Along the walk you will discovered a lot of interesting theme gardens with their unique setup that attract visitors attention. For example:- The Recycling Garden which is a place for recycling ideas in gardening where it display how those old and defunct items can find a second life as re-usable decorative items in the garden. Or you can explore the Fantasy Garden that consists of characters from "The Wizard of Oz" if you and your family are Fans of them. For those who love aroma therapy perhaps you would like to infused yourself in the Herb and Spice Garden.

Floral Walk is a welcoming gateway to HortPark where it consists a lot of beautiful walkaway that is full of different varieties of exotic flowers. I guess it will be great to sit under a shady tree and have a cup of tea/coffee together with good storybook for a great sunday morning/afternoon past time.

Towards the end of the walk at the HortPark , you’ll see about six glasshouses that serve as research stations for the upcoming Gardens at the Bay. Inside the glasshouses you will see a lot of potted plants that is store in the air conditioning rooms.

There is a link way gate at the rear end of the park right after the glasshouses with a pathway leading you up towards Kent Ridge park where the tree top canopy walk resides.

While walking backward to the main entrance of the Hort Park, we discover the HortMart that enable visitors to shop for all kinds of gardening-related products and potted plants. It is also a one-stop garden center that aims to provide a comprehensive shopping experience for visitors.

Look at all these beautiful potted plants and herbs which you can choose and bring it home from the HortMart at a reasonable price. Hort Park open daily from 6.00am to 10.00pm and there it is NO Admission Fee too :) So maybe you can consider to pop by with your kids or love one one of these day during June school holiday.

Resort World Singapore @ Sentosa

Em... ever since Universal Studios, Singapore open to public access on 18 March 2010, it has being my thought to bring Rey to take a look at the newly renovated Waterfront Station and Theme Park in Sentosa.

Today is an sunny Saturday morning, we decided to have a some light Dim Sum breakfast at Xin Fu Yin Cha - 幸福饮茶 stall that is located at Food Republic in Vivo City Lvl 3. The furnishing in the stall was in wooden-style chairs and tables which make it look like those 60s -70s stall. Although it's about 10.00am in the morning, there is a lot of people queuing up to grab their favourite dim sum. Overall, we are still very satisfy with their ingredients but the price over here it's rather the same as those in it's main restaurant.

From Vivo City, we took the Sentosa Express near the ticketing station outside Food Republic at level 3. The Sentosa Pass is available at S$3.00 per person per day at the Sentosa Express station. You can also enter the island via Sentosa Express using your ez-link card which shorten your time of queuing up during weekend crowds.

At about less than 10 minutes train ride, we reached Waterfront Station. We were so shock with it's new outlook and changes compare to the previous musical fountain, orchid garden, fish pond and etc that this place used to have.

I am sure everyone will not lost their way because there are a lot of interesting signboards and direction sign. About 100m away from the Waterfront Station, you will reach "The Bull Ring" where you will find some Gifts and Collectibles retail stores as well as "Chili's Grill & Bar" at the corner.

Other than retail and food stores along the side of "The Bull Ring". This area also marks the Entrance to the "Universal Studios, Singapore". Despite of the "high" pricing, I was shock that the ticket for the day can be SOLD OUT even before noon time. Em.... that shows that a lot of people are still willing to pay for the price to go in......... If you wish to know more about the pricing, perhaps you can take a look Here. And if you are interested to pop-by maybe you can consider to book your ticket on line in advance to avoid disappointment :)

After walking around here and there, it's time to take a break, rest the feet and have a cup of coffee/tea. From far, it's not difficult to spot "Coffee Bean" and the opposite end of the bull ring at "The Forum". For our tea-break, we had ice-mocha blended and a slice of their raspberry cake. I love the environment here, it's so peaceful under the bright morning sun..... enjoy my cup of coffee and cake gives me the feeling of "I am on Holiday" mood.........

"The Forum" consists of two level of retail, banking services, restaurants and etc. You will be able to spot Hard Rock Cafe at level 1 just a few steps away from Coffee Bean. Other than food, you also can see DBS and HL banking......

2nd big attraction of Resort World will be it's Casino that is located at the ground level of "The Forum". After taking the escalator beside "Lake of Dreams", we finally saw the Grand entrance of the Casino. All Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents must have a valid Casino Entry Levy (S$100.00 for 24 hrs) to enter the casino. And you will be surprised to see that beautiful "Lamborghin" outside the Casino entrance that will be given out to the Jackpot winner.

Look at the photo of the fountain on the left, that is the "Lake of Dreams" which is a unique musical extravaganza where fire, water and light are the stars of the show. Further down on the stretch, you will come across "Festive Terrace" which is surround by Hotel Michael and Crockfords Tower. Inside Crockfords Tower, they are range of branded shops in Galleria walk.

Look at these beautiful scenic, all these are taken during the Sentosa Express train ride. Sentosa really changes a lot during these past 5 - 10 years and every time you will be surprised when you get there :)

P/s: For more photos of the trip check us out @ Cuisine Paradise Fan Page, click HERE.

Hollywood Dinosaurs @ Jurong Bird Park

Wow.. I am sure upon looking at this photo you will be feeling just as shock and excited like us. Imagine if you are able to walk into the long lost world of ancient Dinosaurs to see and understand more details on their life-style isn't that be great and wonderful.......

Although this Hollywood Dinos Events started since last year mid December but unfortunately we are not aware of it until Mum got these complimentary tickets from one of my uncle during Chinese New Year. According to the ticket, the last day of this event will be on this coming Sunday, 21 February 2010 from 10am - 10pm.

Since there is a long holiday during Chinese New Year period, we decided to use these ticket on the 3rd Day of New Year. In order to go for New Year visit, we decided to set off at our destination early in the morning and hope to reach by 10.30am to as to avoid the noon crowd or hot weather. But....... these photos proofed that we were wrong, when we reached the traffic junction along "Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim" towards the "Jurong Bird Park" entrance. We were shock to see the Super long queue of cars along the road from the traffic junction all the way up to the car park entrance of the Bird Park. I think we waited for at least 30 - 40 minutes before entering the car park.........

Rey was very very excited even though we were stuck in the car during the waiting time. He was very eager to take a lot photo shots during on the Bird Park signboards, traffic jam, tress and etc. This was because, last week during his school "Field Trip" to Jurong Bird Park he was very upset as he didn't managed to take many photos due to camera battery die off(partly because I forgot to charge the battery for him and secondly he has being taking too many photos of his classmate in the bus during the journey).

But today he managed to take all these photos before the entrance of the Bird Park which he wanted to show me badly during his field trip. (p/s: this set of photo above is taken by him.... :p)

After spending some photo taking time at the entrance, finally we are in the world that is full of "Dinosaur's". At the entrance of we greeted by a "Therizinosaurus" which look pretty real and scary. Most of the kids in front of us was very excited and kept touching it's crawls and body but Rey on the other hand was kind of held back on the photo taking/touching.

In the 1st cave, there is this walking "Dinosaurs" that will dance with the background music and most of the kids/adult were enjoying it. This dancing dino will suddenly attack the audience in the first row without giving any warning sign and you can heard scream and laughter during the 10 minutes show.

Next we move on to the "Vine Lizard - Ampelosaurus" which is about 2 meter tall or above. According to the information given, this is found in France's Paleontogoist in 1989. Most of the little kids love this "soft looking" dino which seems to be more friendly for the kids.

Round the corner we were at the entrance of the 2nd cave, the 1st Huge Dino that greeted the visitor is this "Tyrannosaurus" which means tyrant lizard that appear during the late Cretaceous Period.

Passing through the second cave, it will lead you into the 3rd cave which is pretty dark and with sandy floor. There is also a rocking wooden bridge which you can walk over it and experience yourself in forest or so with dinosaurs chasing after you. In this cave, you can find "Suchomimus" which is a large spinosaurid-type dinosaur from the middle Cretaceous period. Rey was kind of turn off by the gaint flying lizard which is known as "Quetzalcoatlus" where their first fossils were found in Texas.

There are all kinds of Dinosaurs which is either display in door(in the dark caves with special effect) or outdoor which can look real from far. Despite which is your selection, I am sure this is a very good and interesting Educational Tour to bring your kids along during this coming weekend if you are interested before the ending of this event on Sunday, 21 February 2010.

There is also a time map at the resting tank after the 3rd caves where the kids can read and refresh their memories on those Dinosaurs that they have saw along the journey.

The whole visiting time takes about an hour to an hour and half depending on the kids and the photo session during the peak hours. All visitors are also encourage to take part of the lucky drawer where you need to answer 3 simple questions where you can find the answers along your dino hunting journey. At the end of the tour, you will find a little souvenir shop which is selling all kinds of Dinosaurs products, from soft toy, bags, caps and etc..... But the price is......errrrr....... to expensive.. imagine a medium size(about 2 feet or more) dino soft toy cost around S$120.00........

Overall, this is still a very worth going trip for kids to know more about Dinosaurs as well as seeing/touching them in real life. For more details about this event, click HERE.