One thing i love about traveling is the hotel stay. Who doesn't right? Unless you get a really bad hotel but that's kinda your own fault for not doing your research properly! (That's the Type A in me speaking.) Say hello to creating a great mess in the room when you leave for your adventures and come back to a neat and organized space after a long tired day of shopping and sightseeing. <3! Disclaimer: i do not mess up the room on purpose, i usually organize things into neat piles so that housekeeping would have an easy time. 

Things that i'm very particular about hotel rooms- Ambience, Bathroom (and amenities) and Bed. They are the most essential elements in any form of lodging and also my main reasons for not bunking in hostels. Hotels shouldn't shortchange their guests on the most fundamental components. If they do, they shouldn't be called hotels. The things that I appreciate are the little ones- nice toiletries, tea/coffee handpicked by the management (not just random normal ones), iPod docks, Wi-fi connectivity (it has become a must-have)... Small things that reflect the awareness of a traveller's needs or wants. Things to make them feel more at home despite being thousands of miles away from it. It is the minute details that differentiate between a good hotel and an excellent one.

So I was stuck in Sg after my August/ September break (Phillipines and South Korea) and by Oct i was dying to take flight from work. With the boy's birthday around the corner, I decided to throw him a surprise birthday celebration (because i'm also the awesum gf) and what better way to have a staycation in one of the boutique hotels in Singapore? The advantage to that is also the lack of need to plan (read all about how i love and hate about planning here. Also, it provides an opportunity to finally check out the boutique scene in Sg. Triple YAY!

I picked the New Majestic Hotel from my shortlist of Wanderlust, the Scarlet, Siloso Beach Resort etc. Capella is amazingly pretty (had tea at the Knolls the other time and i was blown away by the serenity) but sadly out of my budget. :( I have been following the development of the hotel since they opened and having been exploring the Duxton area, i found myself longing to see the interior of the rooms. Each of the New Majestic’s 30 themed rooms is different ranging from attic loft living to outdoor gardens. For the exhibitionist in you (or if you want to get in touch with your sensuality, you can opt for the open-bath-in-the middle-of-the-room Lifestyle Rooms.

I chose the garden rooms with the outdoor bath (quite the exhibitionist myself too) and requested for the East meets West room. The murals are zen-ish with the geishas carrying modern day items such as iPods and using laptops. Quite the reflection of a developed Asian society.

They have really good beds. No expenses spared on high thread count Ploh bedding. Discreet but luxurious- i like!   

I love the big bathtub- fits 2 ;) And surely there's a need for bubble bath- to hide the itty bits from prying eyes. S was very concerned about the privacy of the bath, not sure if the back windows from the upper floors are sealed and frosted as they look directly on our 'garden'. As ours is a corner room, i'm quite sure the tall office opposite could see us if we stood up. More needs to be done about the security for sure. There's a small indoor shower with rainshower head too! :))

The swimming pool, albeit a teeny bit small, is just right for us during our stay because there weren't many occupants. We had the pool to ourselves most of the time which was perfect. Love the colourful deck chairs and the mosaic tiled bottom of the pool. Diners at the restaurant could spy on guests from below so do everyone a favor, cover up and wear nice bikinis.

I even packed a picnic by the poolside. Cheeses, grilled meat, big juicy strawberries with Moscato. Heavenly.

Really appreciate the little touches New Majestic Hotel add to their rooms e.g. Nespresso in-room coffee maker, Kiehl’s toiletries and Bose stereo with iPod dock. Fulfils my criteria of an excellent hotel. :)

Breakfast was a semi buffet. One thing that was impressive was the orange/apricot brioche. Really buttery and nice. The banana walnet bread wasn't too far off as well. The other stuff were not exceptional but it satisfied the picky me, so it mustn't be too bad. :)

Overall, it was a nice experience. Shall do more of this in the future. Almost a holiday. :)

Check out the other boutique hotels here
Wangz Hotel

Naumi

Wanderlust

the Scarlet

Siloso Beach Resort (may not be boutique but still very nice!)

New Majestic Hotel
31–37 Bukit Pasoh Road, Singapore 089845
Hotel Enquiries (24h): +65.6511.4700
Hotel Reservations: +65.6579.2026
reservation@newmajestichotel.com

I love traveling. The idea of abandoning all the obligations and responsibilities and just taking off is so liberating and carefree. A different place, a different experience, a different life. You are a stranger. You are a nobody. No expectations, no judgment, no need to fit in. You can be anyone. Or you can finally be your true self.

That said, i haven't really had such a holiday in which i just hop on a plane with no itinerary and let the surroundings, people and fate decide what i should do or where to go. I usually get stressed out while planning. Logistic kills. The perfectionist in me seeks the best hotel (location, comfort and the right budget), the best route, the best attractions, best food (of course) and the best experience all in the shortest span on time. No wonder i'm stressed right? Oh and planning the outfits for my holidays? That would take a couple of hours at least.

This is merely a fraction of my actual planning. That is how anal i am! 

As much as i hate the planning (boy i really hate it!), i still love holidays abroad. I used to be a lot more anal about plans but i've changed (or perhaps i've gotten lazy). In recent years, my plans are more general and flexible. I give myself lots of extra time to stop, rest, think, recharge and relax. My recent U.K., Philippines and South Korea trip were quite relaxing. I even had time to sign up for a last minute cooking course in Seoul. That was absolutely impromptu but fun!

Originally, i had this grandiose plan of 'pseudo-backpacking' around SEA. I almost drove myself mad with the planning especially since i intended to travel alone. I had an entire excel workbook on the places to go, how to transit from a country to the other, places to stay blahblahblahblahblah. And then i decided to heck it! While it would be an eye opener for me, having not backpacked before in my life and alone at that, i think it's more important to stop worrying and just chill.

So this december, i'm heading to Vietnam and even though i've borrowed guidebooks to prep myself for the trip, i'm tempted to just go in blind and let the winds take me wherever i'm meant to be. Maybe i'll do that, provided the Type A in me doesn't freak out and start writing a research paper on holidaying in Vietnam.

So yeah. A holiday is meant to be stress free. It is supposed to restore balance to our typically tedious, repetitive and mundane work life. So take a break people. Loosen up. If i can, i'm sure most of you would be able to. 

My love for Bottega first started in 2008 when i was first stepped into the BV store in NYC. I immediately fell in love with the soft buttery and smooth leather I could hug the bags to sleep. And unlike most luxury brands who don't give a hoot about the interior lining (most use cotton), BV insists on a suede leather interior. YUMS! I was fearful about scratching the interior but as my bag family expanded, i stopped caring. :P

Anyway, i didn't get my BV on that fateful day. it was my first day in NYC and the boy convinced me that I'd see that cute red handbag again during our 3 week break so i shouldn't make an impulse buy. It NEVER happened. Till this day i still blame him. Since that day, I have amassed 3 items from the brand. 

My BV family (clockwise from left)- Regular Veneta in Ametiste, Mini Veneta in Red, Intrecciato Wallet 

My BV collection is kinda weird. 2 out of 3 pieces are wrong buys. Absolutely not what i wanted. But i grew to accept them. The first was the Mini Veneta. Long story behind it. Boy went in search of THE bag in NYC to redeem himself. He saw it in a different colour (a dull turquoise blue) and he thought that it was hard to match. Honestly, what do boys know about colours right? Somehow he thought that a mini red veneta is cuter, and that's how i ended up with my first BV, which is practically useless. 

                               

The mini Veneta measures 8.5"x 8.25". Holds almost nothing. It holds an iPhone, keys, cards and cash. Notice that i didn't mention a wallet? Because it doesn't fit! Not even my coach coin purse. I used it a couple of times. Once for a dinner at il Lido and for brunch and another time for supper at a prata place. BV makes really casual bags and this is not the Knot so i can't use it for dinners as well. So yea.. if anyone is interested in buying this, drop me a message. 

My second was the intrecciato wallet which i got a friend to get for me. Long story short, I wanted a deep purple (Opera) in a different style (slightly shorter and smaller). Provided the product code and all and the order was still wrong. My friend is a guy. There you go, it's almost proven that guys can't get a proper bag right. 

My 3rd purchase from BV was very recent. Oct 2011. Regular Veneta in Ametiste. I was hunting for another bag from Miu Miu but it wasn't available in Sg. S was overseas again, this time in Munich, so he offered to get it for me but it was OOS as well. Randomly popped by BV and waaala.. the popping Ametiste stood out and beckoned to me.

I was already looking out for a hot pink bag. Was eyeing Balenciaga's cyclamen but i thought it would be too much pink on the bigger styles like City and Part time. Plus i didn't want an overlap with my twiggy or first. So i immediately texted the boy and he finally got the right bag (for once).

I never thought that i would get a Veneta or any of their bigger bags because they look too dull. Let's face it, the bag is not particularly eye-catching and this style in a classic or neutral colour would be what i'd say boring but make it in a pop colour like Ametiste, Shock or Fire , you get a younger looking and much more lively bag.

I wouldn't say that this is the last piece i'd get from BV. I would love a classic knot in leather or some funky design for evening dinners. But right now, this would suffice. :)

I'm a self confessed bagaholic. I don't know when it begun. I think it is a genetic thing that was passed on to me from my mum. I've been buying bags for her on my travels since 6years back.

It all started with Prada, a gift from S's aunt for my 21st. Then when before the Burberry Blue craze hit our sunny island, i was already a proud owner of 2 BB bags. My bagaholic nature probably escalated during my grad trip when i went to the States and went crazy with all the Coach and Kate Spade bags (a HUGE mistake i must say. Never ever will i do it again). That was also when i became aware of Bottega Veneta and i almost got a handbag from there. Long story so read more about my bottega family here.

That same year (or was it the year after), i went to Paris and got my first Chanel. <3 Best decision i've made in my life. S's mum was goading me to get one after she got her cavier classic flap. That winter, i came back with a Chanel and an LV Tivoli (another mistake, more on that later).

Thereafter, it was just bags after bags after bags. Balenciaga, Mulberry, another Balenciaga, another Bottega Veneta and another...

W and i did a count of all the bags i own, criteria being more than 100 bucks (not really fair) and the figure was quite astronomical. Moral of the story is, be careful what you give someone a gift, it may change their lives forever. Case in point.

I'll share my bags with you in due course. Each of them has a little story of their own. Have fun reading! Do tell me what is your favorite or most coveted bag! Would love to hear about them.

Till then..

The Duxton area has become this incubator for cool coffee houses such as the Plain and the Pigeonhole and more recently- Group Therapy. Loving the way things are developing there. I've been to this area a couple on times on my indie weekend escapades and recently did a staycation at the New Majestic Hotel not too far around the corner. I adore the shophouses and that old school charm the area exudes. It doesn't feel quite CBD-ish as you wander down the one way streets or chill out at one of these cafes rain watching. Sigh. It's like an oasis of calm amidst the hustle and bustle of the city. This was exactly what i did today after an intensive hockey game under the crazy December sun (in the morning). Dragged this achy ass out to meet W for some much required girlfriend therapy. 

Typically i would have the boy drive me to the location of my choice but was convinced by W to visit Duxton on a car-less day. Thankfully, good weather permits (managed to avoid the rain) as W and i made our way to Group Therapy (how apt). I didn't know of its existence till W suggested visiting Duxton after doing a quick research on the area.  

Group Therapy is located above Etna and it boasts a spacious interior- High ceilings, comfy sofas (albeit a little too close to the diner next to us). There is another section which i didn't managed to capture. 

GT does an all-day-breakfast <3<3<3!! though the selection is quite small. I saw granola with yogurt and another dish together with Poached eggs with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce. No prize for my choice of dish! They also have other light bites like panini sandwiches, chicken ham pie, salads etc. There is also some simple main courses like a meat stew. W wasn't hungry so I only got to taste the Poached Egg. 

Fluffy toasted white bread. Crispy and nice on the outside. Very similar to that of WH. Nicely poached and runny egg yolks. Salty smoked salmon which were slowly cooked by the warmth of the eggs that rested nicely on them. And that hollandaise sauce is so cheesy and creamy! I like that it's not too sour but the heaviness of the cream became a little too much halfway into the meal.

Oozy golden goodness seeping into the white cottony sponge. YUMS.

Doesn't it look lovely? <3

Choice of beverage- Kopparberg Pear and Apple Cider. Was too excited to see this. Didn't bothered with browsing through the rest of the ciders and we missed out on Brother's Toffee Apple Cider (which i think is the best apple cider ever). And as usual, stomach failed me. Couldn't even down another bottle of Brother's. :( To think i wanted to try the cakes at a nearby patisserie. Oh wells, another time!

Cute holders for cutlery and sugar

W testing out the GF1 functions on me. I didn't know there a 'soft skin' function that apparently airbrushes features! I reckon this tool is gonna come in handy! :)


Group Therapy apparently does private functions too. Bookmarked for brunch party. Shall try the other dishes such as the waffles and panini (Oven baked Turkey slices with cranberry sounds awesome!). They open for brunch on Sundays from 9am. Do head down.


Group Therapy

49 Duxton Road #02-01 (Above Etna)

Tel: 6222 2554

Tue to Thu: 11am – 6pm
Fri: 11am – 11pm
Sat: 11am – 11pm
Sun: 9am – 6pm
Closed on Mondays 

GT website

Had a look through my photo albums and realized that i have albums after albums on food! It's amazing how much food i have eaten (or food that i made my friends eat). It has always been a bad habit of mine to over-order. I am the typical eye-greedy girl, a term coined by my friends for me, I always think that my appetite is bigger than it actually is but i guess i'm just delusional. :P And because of that, i think i have caused my close friends and the boy to put on a few inches on their waistline. As for me, i am blessed with an abnormally astronomical metabolism and overactive stomach that churns and burns food like no normal human being. Sorry folks.

Anyway, it is probably gonna take me a long while to transform the albums into delectable bites on my blog. Maybe i should just make it into a photo blog for food and let the pictures speak for themselves.

So, sometime a couple of months back we headed to Maeda for our monthsary dinner. First saw it on CNNGo which introduced a couple of authentic restaurants in Singapore. Its location in the gastronomical east provided an additional incentive to visit. The east has the best food in Sg. Prove me wrong otherwise.

Maeda is a simple and minimalist Japanese restaurant and quite popular with Japanese businessmen. The exterior is very nondescript and i wouldn't have noticed it if i didn't know of its existence. The food is Osaka fare (though i seriously can't differentiate the subtle differences between the different regions. As long as it's jap and tasty, that's good enough for me. :))

On to the food. We ordered the omakase aka kaiseki- a degustation menu put together by Chef Hiraoki.  There are 3 sets of different prices. We went with the 2 more expensive sets.

1st up, tasty appetiser of fresh plump Canadian oyster in ponzu dressing and chopped clam/ squid meat in a creamy wasabi-ish dressing.

Touted as a sake bar more than a food place, the selection of sake is pretty extensive. We settled for the calpis soju though because i only take sweet alcoholic drinks.

Our sashimi platter included maguro, salmon, saba, toro and otoro, botan ebi as well as uni! Love that creamy texture. Yums. Fish was fresh, definitely not as good as what we had in Tsukiji but oh wells.

A plump and chewy whole clove of Japanese garlic with a mild green chilli smothered in creamy mentaiko sauce looks too blah for me so i made the boy eat it. Guess he doesn't quite like chili after all.

This was what happened to the botan ebi head after we had the sashimi. Everything battered and fried tastes good. I however am not a shell person, more meat for me!

Tempura Anago- salt-water eel. Fun fact: Unagi is fresh water eel and usually barbecued. Anago has a very soft texture and sweet taste usually. Had that at Tsukiji and it was AWESOME. It was cottony and powdery and literally melted in my mouth. This was a far cry from that and it was really bland.

Tempura crab leg was a huge disappointment. Perhaps i was still reminiscing the huge fresh snow crabs in Hokkaido (see below).

I think this is saba but i'm not sure. Not a fish fan as you can tell. Typical fish. I never understood why would people order this.

Grilled wagyu beef and foie gras. My lovelies! The beef was nicely grilled. Would like the foie gras to be a little more crisp on the outside. Anyway I would gladly die a fat and obese girl with clogged up arteries just to eat this everyday. Ok maybe once a week.

And this must be the WORST DISH EVER. Some sea conk- which is a shellfish. Tasted really fishy and rubbery. Hated it.

A simple thin udon dish to conclude the set. It looks really simple but the broth is oh-so-sweet and flavorful. The texture of the udon is more like slightly crunchy soba.

And this is the highlight of dinner (served at the very end). Grilled sliced wagyu beef with pan seared foie gras and little mushrooms. Such a delight. This is the only way foie gras should be cooked really. 

Hiding my fat face from the world. Too much eating.

Total bill came up to about 300ish. I wouldn't pay this much for a meal like that. There were more misses than hits.  Don't think the ingredients are worth that much because they weren't that fresh. Not many cooking techniques to boast about as well. Go only if you have never experienced an authentic Japanese omakase before and have the cash to spare. 

Maeda
467 Joo Chiat Road
Tel: 6345 0745
Tue-Sun: 6pm- 11pm

One of my favorite weekend activity is to go hunting for indie shops/restaurants with the boy. It started sometime early in 2011, partly because like all couples in Sg, we ran out of things to do and places to go. Plus we can't be traveling all the time even though our friends think we travel quite extensively (i digress).

Anyway back to the subject on our weekend adventures, I was rather apprehensive about starting a blog to introduce all the little finds that we have discovered. The reason? Most of the time these cafes are not run like chain businesses. They do not have the capacity or ability to handle big crowds. When they get overwhelmed, service drops, people stay away and the business closes down. I've seen one too many good eating places close down because of that. It's sad. The other selfish reason is that I don't like my favorite cafes to be crowded. I want to sit there, enjoy my cuppa, watch the world go by SLOWLY and not be rushed into finishing my food and leaving.

You would think that with the proliferation of coffee-shops in would be able to meet the demands of the consumer but you're so wrong. While i have the luxury of having brunch or tea on a weekday, most of the working crowd will swamp these places on weekends. And boy! The chatter in some shops can wake the dead, make a deaf person hear again or cause a normal one to go deaf.

I honestly don't know what changed my mind. I'm still half decided on revealing the name/locations of the cafes I review even though i'm sure my tech savvy readers would be able to figure them out on their own. But i think some of these cafes could really do with more business so i'm gonna do my part to help them grow.

The food 

Luckily for me, my first visit to L'Etoile on a sunday was a quiet and pleasant one. I suppose people don't wake that early on weekdays for brunch (i got there at 930am no thanks to the growling tummy). The place is airy and cool with high ceilings on the 2nd floor. Ample space between tables (though that may change when they try to cope with the crowd). I like that the natural light seems to fill up the place. Smart and elegant use of white lace curtains that filters the strong rays and it feels so very French. All that's missing is probably the water heaters and a gramophone.

I ordered the big breakfast (as shown below) and the boy had the French crepes with butter and sugar. The breakfast was only $9.90 and the crepes were $5. Amazingly cheap but the portions are really small (even for me). Guess i've been spoiled by Jones and Wild Honey. Good thing is that for greedy people like me, you can try more of their brunch offerings. One good thing that L'Etoile got going is that they do not offer an extensive range of brunch items. I think there were 7 items? By keeping to what they do best, it maintains the standard. Plus it also helps indecisive eaters like me decide faster. Kudos to that!

I love the toast even though it's just simple white toasted bread with salted butter. That is good enough for me because that's already like brioche! Brings back fond childhood memories of me wolfing down stacks of butter toasted bread. The texture of the little hashbrowns was interesting, it's almost as though they were layered potato slices. The crepes are typically French, made of buckwheat, it's chewy and slightly spongey. It's a tad too cloyingly sweet so 1 piece was just about right provided you have savory food to go along with it. They also do eggs ben, heard it's not bad. It's on a bagel instead of the usual muffin so i suspect that it'd be quite tough to bite into.  All in all, it was quite a nice breakfast place. Limited photos because i brought the camera out without the memory card. :(

Shall bookmark this for my bdae brunch party, if i ever got down to organizing one.

L'Etoile
160 Owen Road
Tel: 6289 2872
Tue- Sun, 9am - 8pm
Brunch only served on weekends!

Hello my dear,

Welcome to the Ms Skinnyfat blog, where your appetite for life would be whetted by the delicious food and exotic escapades around the world.

I'm often asked why the name "Ms Skinnyfat". To sum it up, the description is metaphorical. It expresses my outlook on life: I'm a fun sized girl with a huge appetite for life and i want to experience and eat as much as i can (only if it's worth my calories), while i can. Life is too short for all the shoulda woulda coulda. 

But of course, the fear of growing fat from all that feasting is real. My advice is, if you wanna eat, then you better work that lazy ass. You're gonna need a lot of that if you keep reading my blog so you better start now.

Expect brutally honest reviews over here. I wouldn't let you waste your calories.

Laters,

C.

Ms Skinnyfat website sees more than 15,000 unique visitors and 60,000 page views each month. She is also the winner of the Singapore Blog Awards Best Food Blog 2015. For inquiries, feel free to contact her.