Tuesday 29 November 2011

Asia's Dining Destination Package - A Gastronomic Discovery at Marina Bay Sands

Recently Marina Bay Sands(MBS) and United Overseas Bank(UOB) has come out with a epicurean adventures at Asia's Dining Destination(ADD). For a year, this ADD programme comes with a luxurious stay at Club or Suite floor; champagne on arrival, a behind-the-scenes kitchen tour at the renowned SANTI , Guy Savoy and Waku Ghin; as well as breakfasts, cocktails and dinner at the celebrity chef restaurants and other participating outlets.


THE CLUB ROOM


The Club Room is located in Tower 2, on the 35th to 49th floors. It has a room area of 62-square meter space, featuring floor-to-ceiling windows, calming contemporary decor, executive work desk, 42” interactive flat-screen television, iPod docking station, DVD player and Nespresso machine and etc.

On top of the above guests from the Club Room also entitled privileged access — to The Club at Marina Bay Sands which is situated 57 stories above the ground, the famous Sands SkyPark and the Infinity pool. Enjoy complimentary breakfast at The Club at Marina Bay Sands, a beautiful venue that offers airy seating, wide-open city views and attentive service.

Breathtaking view from our hotel room at level 39 which is facing the city view. The room at Tower 2 has a great panoramic view of the city which you could admire at all time of the day.

Beautiful night view of the city from our room.


INFINITY POOL @ SKYPARK


The 150 meter Infinity pool is located at SkyPark which is the world’s longest elevated swimming pool that is 200 meter above ground level. Although the SkyPark is open to the public access via ticket sales (for the Observation Deck) but the use of the pool is only available to hotel guests where they have security guards in between the gate of tower 1 and 3 to check on the flow coming in and out of the pool area.


OBSERVATION DECK @ SKYPARK


With an impressive 12,400 square meters of space that stretching longer than the Eiffel tower laid down, the Sands SkyPark can host up to 3900 people. At the Observation Deck which is located at Tower 3, visitors can feast their eyes on the unforgettable panoramic view of the city landscape (click HERE for the observation view points) as well as a choice to dine-in at Ku De Ta Restaurant.

The Sands SkyPark Public Observation Deck, which is open to members of the public and is a ticketed area, is accessible daily from 9:30am and closes at 10pm (and at 11pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday). For more details on purchasing the ticket(s) you can click HERE.


THE CLUB @ SKYPARK


As The Club Room guests we also get to enjoy complimentary sumptuous Afternoon Tea and refreshing pre-dinner cocktails from The Club located at level 57, Tower 2 . As you can see from the above there is quite a selection of English style tea snacks which is enough to fill your tummy before dinner.

The Club also served American Breakfast from 6.30am till 11.00am daily with wide selection of pastries, harm, cheese, bread, salad and etc. They even have a egg station at the counter to prepare your desire choice of egg dishes. According to the service waitress, if you are an early bird you could even catch beautiful sunrise at about 6.20 - 6.30am in the morning too.


RISE @ LOBBY AREA


For guests who purchase the Asia's Dining Destination package it also includes 2 complimentary breakfasts from either The Club at SkyPark or RISE at lobby area. In this case, guests get to try out two different concept of breakfast and dining experience in two different environment too.

At RISE guest would have more selection of their food  compared to The Club as they usually served international style of buffet items ranging from western pancake, omelette, sausage, salad to Asian dimsum, fried noodles and etc. And there is a also wide selection of pastries and bread plus fresh cut fruits too. But if you prefer more quite environment plus bird eye view of the city landscape from the SkyPark, The Club would be definitely your choice.


THIS ULTIMATE GASTRONOMIC DISCOVERY PACKAGE OFFERS:-


  • a 2-night stay in a Club Room or Orchid Suite
  • an exclusive behind-the-scenes kitchen tour through a selection of Celebrity Chef restaurants
  • a 5-star dinner at the Celebrity Chef Restaurant of your choice
  • daily breakfast at either The Club/RISE
  • complimentary Afternoon Tea
  • complimentary Sunset cocktails at The Club at Marina Bay Sands and more
  • complimentary Airport Shuttle Bus on arrival

You can to select a 5-star dinner from one of these restaurants:
~ CUT
~ db Bistro Moderne
~ SANTI (review coming up soon)
~ Guy Savoy (review coming up soon)
~ Osteria Mozza
~ Sky on 57

For more details, pricing and reservation of the Asia's Dining Destination Package, you could refer to Marina Bay Sands official website HERE. Or related photos about this post can be found at Cuisine Paradise Facebook Page HERE.


BEHIND-THE-SCENES KITCHEN TOUR
(Upcoming post)


Behind-the-scenes Kitchen Tour of the Celebrity Chef Restaurants is one of the key focus in the Asia's Dining Destination(ADD) package where the guest(s) has a chance to tour and go behind the kitchen to meet with the chef and get to know the process of food preparation. Although the kitchen tour is only available for SANTI and Guy Savoy from the ADD package,  but we are also glad that we could managed to get into Waku Ghin's kitchen too.

So stay tune for more updates on the Behind-the-scenes Kitchen Tour(updated on 05 Dec 11, HERE) plus review on SANTI and Guy Savoy. Lastly I would like to thank Venetia and Philicia from Marina Bay Sands for the invite to experience this Asia's Dining Destination Package.

Monday 28 November 2011

{GO GREEN} Basil, Chilli and Garlic Spaghetti, Pistachio Crumbed Chicken plus Avocado Milkshake

Now till end of December 2011 is our annual end year school holidays where most of the kids get to enjoy a long holiday break before the new school term starts in 2012. Since we often had late breakfast during this period of time, I would cook something rather simple, fast and in small portion just enough to fill our stomach till tea-break or dinner.

Here we have some really quick to prepare spaghetti with nutty oven baked pistachio chicken plus a cup of smooth and creamy avocado milkshake for our brunch.

Saturday 26 November 2011

Asia's Dining Destination At Marina Bay Sands - db Bistro Moderne

db Bistro Moderne is a contemporary French-American restaurant where traditional French cuisine meets the flavours of the American market. Just a few days back, I had a chance to dine-in this celebrity chef restaurant (opened by Chef Daniel Boulud) which is one of the 6 selected restaurants for the Asia's Dining Destination Package (ADD) organized by Marina Bay Sands.(I would share with you more about this ADD package in the next few posts.)

db Bistro Moderne also includes a stylish 15 seats counter bar, as well as an informal lounge area for causal dinning, 2 private rooms sitting 8 guest each or 20 when used in combination are also available for personal or business entertaining.

Before our dinner, we had an exclusive kitchen tour and interview with the Executive Chef, Mr Stephane Istel of db Bistro Moderne where he shared with us his experience and team in the kitchen as well as how he co-ordinate with Mr Daniel to oversee db Bistro in Singapore. Mr Stephane mentioned that he always believe good food comes from heart and the one who cook must put in "heart and love" while preparing he/her dishes in order to perfect the dish.

As you could see from the above photos, the kitchen area is quite spacious and surprisingly "clean" and neat which is rather different from what we usually see from the TV shows. The kitchen is divided into  a few area such as Burger station, Fish and Pasta, Soup, Salad, Dessert and etc.

Upon seated, we are served with some fresh daily homemade bread from Marina Bay Sands in-house bakery which is located inside their central kitchen. These bread are made and distributed to most of the restaurants and cafes in the hotel. Example:- db Bistro Moderne, Santi, Rise and etc

For Appetizers, Chef Stephane has specially prepared this Mushroom Tarte Flambee with White Truffles which is an Alsatian Flat Bread served with Fromage Blanc, Onion, Mushroom and shaved white Truffles. It has a crispy base similar to thin crust pizza and the combination of the toppings makes it a great starter to go with some wine or sparking drinks.

Next appetizer we had Gillardeau Oyster which is serve with Lemongrass Coulis and Caviar. Interesting combination of using Asian lemongrass to combine with western cheese, cream and caviar to create this appetizer. I love the lemongrass coulis which is not too overpower on it's lemongrass fragrant or taste and it really brings up the taste of the fresh oyster with that extra caviar on top.

Japanese Kagoshima Beef Carpaccio is something quite refreshing which is thin slice of Wagyu top with capers, mizuna(a Japanese water greens), Aged Parmesan and a good drizzle of Extra Virgin Tuscan Olive Oil. 

For Main Course, we get to try 3 different types of dishes such as Ravioli(a pasta dish), Roasted Dory and Ribeye. First to be served is Braised Beef Cheek Ravioli which is sort of similar to our Asian minced pork dumplings(wanton). Here the Ravioli is wrapped with some flavorsome ground beef and cooked together with cheesy sauce and veggies.

Personally I prefer dishes with Fish compared to Meat and before I tried this Roasted John Dory, I actually have in mind that the fish might have a fishy taste. But to my surprised, the Chef who prepared this dish definitely has done a great job with it. The fish taste great with a crisp outer layer and yet soft and juice when bite and it goes well with the aged truffle risotto and extra shaved white truffle. 

This is my first time trying Kagoshima Ribeye and it texture is definitely a great different from those ribeye steak that we had in normal restaurants. Each cuts and bites release a different sensation and taste while chewing in the mouth. Most of us love that char-grilled taste and almost "Fatless" feel whenever it goes into our mouth. The accompany Agria mashed potato is so smooth and creamy but yet it does not have that greasy taste and it goes well with the spinach and lettuce too.

Array of French dessert to satisfy our sweet taste buds ranging from Araguani Dark Chocolate & Peanut Butter Souffle, White Truffle Clementine, lie Flottante, Raspberry Souffle, Malt, Pomme, Profiteroles.

Out of all the desserts served above, my favourite choice is this Profiteroles Au Cafe. Love the whole combination and it makes you crave for more after each mouthful. The profiterole is filled with praline ice-cream and top with smooth and luxury melted chocolate.

For more related photos of the food tasting and kitchen tour on db Bistro Moderne, please refer to Cuisine Paradise Page album, HERE.


THANKSGIVING SPECIAL
(until Sunday, 27 November 2011)



Usher into the Thanksgiving holidays, db Bistro Moderne will be serving up some "Thanksgiving Specials" just for this festive season. This menu is available only till Sunday, 27 November 2011. The Thanksgiving menu will feature delicacies such as Alaskan King Crab Cakes and Duo of Organic Turkey. The three-course menu is priced at S$85++ and each item is also available separately on the ala carte menu too.

db Bistro Moderne 
2 Bayfront Avenue B1-48, Galleria Level
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
Singapore 018956

Reservation: +65 6688 8525
Website: HERE

Monday 21 November 2011

IKEA - Our All-times Family Favourite

About two weeks ago I was invited to attend a "behind scene" tour at IKEA, Tampines to get to know more about their showrooms, store operations, restaurant and etc. It was a very wonderful trip where each and everyone of us was given a chance to know and see IKEA store in another aspect of view apart from what we used to know.

We were all very excited while stepping into their showroom on level 4 as we were all enlighten by their range of Christmas Dining setup at the entrance which brings out the the warm festive feelings in our heart too.

When process further, we were introduced to these IKEA showrooms where you could find lots of inspiring ideas and furnishings in realistic room settings which are similar to our living environments. For example most of the furnishings ideas from IKEA, Tampines emerged from the flour area and layout of the newer estate near their area such as Sengkang and Punggol.

And it is in these showrooms that we can try out their furniture; fall asleep in a bed, stretch out on a sofa, or even let our kids make their own decision to choose furniture for their rooms.

Despite of dealing with furniture and food, I didn't know at IKEA whenever we purchase "soft toy" at any of their outlets (Alexandra/Tampines), the IKEA foundation will actually donates €1.00(S$1.75) to help educate kids from UNICEF (The United Nations Children's Fund) which is a very meaningful contribution that we could help and take part in.

And for the month of November till 24 December 2011, IKEA will also donates €1.00(S$1.75) whenever we purchased soft toy or kid's meal(chicken nuggets) to the UNICEF in order to help more children to have quality education.

IKEA Restaurant is located at level 4, beside the Children's IKEA where you can take a break from shopping with some coffee and cake or even breakfast/dinner. And in the restaurant, you'll find healthy Swedish and local daily dishes at really low prices too. In order to cater families with kids, the restaurant is child-friendly with high chairs and a play area as well as special menu just for kids.

For your information, IKEA Restaurant is serving Christmas Dishes such as Christmas Platter, Marinated Herring Gratin, Mini Log Cake and etc where you can take a look at the menu on their website HERE.

Located at the end of Level 3, Market Hall. I am sure most of you are familiar with these racks and boxes that are found in the IKEA, Self Serve Furniture Area. The concept of these self-pick up methods came from their very first store where the demand was so great that the furniture wasn’t being provided fast enough to the consumers. So in order to please their consumers, IKEA opened their warehouse and allowed consumers to take whatever they wanted to buy and proceed straight to the payment counter.

After we have completed the tour, the next excitement we had for that night was we were invited to dine-in at their Co-workers Restaurant which is located at the back alley of the main restaurant. The design, layout and food menu of their staffs restaurant are pretty similar to what we see at their IKEA restaurant too.

For dinner, I tried their Cheese Baked Saithe (from the 3 choices) which I think is not available on their IKEA restaurant menu. Saithe is also known as coley which is a white fish with firm flesh that is very popular in Germany. I love the taste  and texture of this dish which is served together with some potato and carrot, hope it will be available in their restaurant menu soon.

Lastly I would like to thank IKEA and Pearlin from one9ninety for this wonderful IKEA behind scene tour.

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