Riding on the coattails of Restaurant Week and providing the excuse to start the festive feasting early, American Express and HungryGoWhere jointly present 30licious - S$30 culinary treats till 2 December 2014. An exciting selection of restaurants has come on board this round, including big and familiar names like Lawry's, Bedrock Bar & Grill, Gyu Kaku and NUVO.
We visited The WEJS by Medici Cafe, a little alfresco joint at the secluded far end of Rochester Park. Service was extremely slow (it was just the chef and his wife) but i loved the hearty Tunisian food!

For starter, choose between Chicken & Spinach Soup or Salade Mechouia. The spinach soup wasn't too creamy so you could still taste the goodness of the vegetables. I thought a touch of cream would gel the soup better though. 

I also enjoyed the traditional tunisian oven baked red and green capsicums cold salad which was served with bread.

For mains, the Tunisian Chicken Couscous was fabulous. I may be biased towards the couscous but I simply love the fluffy little grains that tasted so light. The chicken leg absorbed the rich flavors from the tangy vegetables and tomato stew and became fork tender with.

The Chakchouka was also one of the better ones that I've tasted in Singapore and certainly not as overpriced as that of Wild Honey. This is best paired with couscous!

The set meal also comes with a drink (we had fresh juice) and dessert (very common man). Perhaps you could give their churros a try. We had the mixed can fruits cocktail which was meh of course.

UNA @ One Rochester is also an excellent choice for a romantic dinner under the fairy lights. Word is that the ex-Bomba chef has made UNA his home and has been dishing out the hearty and authentic paella that we know of. We started with a glass of 2012 Malacapa Rioja ($14/glass, $75/bottle) that came with the meal. It was an extremely enjoyable blended Spanish red and we would certainly come back for another bottle of this.

After waking our palate with the tangy gazpacho, we dug into the Signature Seafood & Chicken Paella, a rich and intensely flavored pan of short grain with generous toppings of perfectly grilled prawns, fish, chicken, mussels and clams. I thought the dish was a little salty, especially with the sliced chorizo but a small portion of it was just right.

The Pluma Ibérica was a great piece of tender Kurobuta Pork simply paired with a smoky sweet marinade and creamy mash (the kitchen was a little heavy handed with the salt).

I wasn't too impressed with the Churros (a la carte) which had a really milky center. I prefer churros with a little more crunch on the outside.

During the offer period, American Express® Card Members can enjoy 30licious special menus at more than 30 restaurants across the island for just S$30++ each. Customers who do not have American Express Cards will be charged at S$35++. To enjoy the delectable 30liciousdeals, you simply need to log on to book.hungrygowhere.com/30licious to make your bookings.

Cappadocia (Kappadokya) is a fairytale, complete with whimsical fairy chimneys, magical hot air balloon rides, and mystical sunsets over valleys. It's the reason why i fell in love with the country i've not been to (Turkey), until i made it a reality of course. Well long distance relationships just don't work for me, so i made this city, in the Anatolian region, my first stop on my Turkey trip.

STAY

Upon arrival, take a 1h transfer from the airport to one of the towns and check yourself into a cave hotel. A trip to Cappadocia isn't complete if you don't stay in one. It is certainly part of the charm of the place. The hollowed out soft volcanic rock accommodation is anything but shabby. Most of these lodging are luxurious with all the modern comforts you can imagine- electricity, wifi, baths, central heating, ac, beds etc. Each cave room has its own character- stone (made from blocks)/cave/chimney, with windows or not, view etc. so it all depends on what you prefer. It was a real headache deciding which town, which hotel and then which room! 

I decided on Goreme because it is fairly accessible to sights and activities (Goreme Open Air Musuem and Hot Air Balloon rides). Considering we only had 48h (or less) in Cappadocia, we didn't want to waste it on traveling around. I would love to check out Ürgüp and its boutique caves but it's just a little far off.

Here are some Goreme Cave hotels that i considered. 

1. Kelebek Hotel (I stayed here)

Room 5 and 6 are in the top of the fairy chimneys and for only 55 Euros (what a steal)! However, they do not come with ensuite bathrooms and are on the smaller side but hey, it's in a fairy chimney! Go for the Junior Suite Room 4 if you want a chimney experience with a bathroom. If you're claustrophobic, pick the Junior Suites (85 Euros) with windows. They come with lovely views of Goreme. I like Room 19, 113, 18 and 15 (somewhat in order). The organic breakfast spread was amazing (love the pides) and facilities include a Turkish hamam and a pool! (more on Kelebek later)

2. Aydinli Cave House 

This is a small home boutique, family-run guesthouse located just a short stroll from the city center. Double rooms are from 70 Euros onwards. I liked Room 10. For suite rooms (100 Euros), I'd go for 12, 3, 8, 9, 5 in order of preference.

3. Koza Cave Hotel

4. Terra Cave Hotel

If i were to visit Ürgüp, i'd pick one of the following: hotels for your consideration: 

Esbelli Evi- Charming place. The first cave hotel in Ürgüp.

Selçuklu Evi Cave Hotel- Near good restaurants.

Kayakapı Premium Caves- Very grand. Super lux! Some caves have private swimming pools.

DO

The Goreme Open Air Museum is a short 1km walk away from Goreme city center. Do not miss this UNESCO World Heritage site which was once a Byzantine monastic settlement and 17th Century pilgrimage site.

It was hard not to be wowed by the rock-cut churches, chapels and monasteries on site. 

I've never gone to an indoors spinning class till New York and i guess that kinda spoilt it for all the other spin classes that i'll ever go to. Yes i've sold my soul to SoulCycle (that's if i really have to ride). SoulCycle is the indoor-cycling cult that has people paying $34 per 45 mins class plus extras for shoe rental ($3) and water. Yes it is anything but cheap but it's NYC and New Yorkers will do anything to have them somebody tell them to believe in themselves and that is the appeal of SoulCycle.

SoulCycle is more than indoor cycling. It is a motivational exercise experience that combines crazy spinning, music and therapy. 

Once your shoes clip on, the lights dim and you'll be surrounded by flickering candlelight. The instructor (who is also a DJ and motivational speaker) starts spinning his/her set. You pedal on the beat and you lose yourself to the blaring music. There's no giving up because you ride as a pack, as a community. You will push yourself to the limits because you will not accept anything less. At least that's what the instructors will tell you. Nobody gives up. Until you attain that perfect you.

SoulCycle is fitness reinvented. It has put fun back into fitness and they claim that 45mins is all it takes to transform the way you look and feel. I can bet on that feel good factor. Why do you think there are so many gorgeous New Yorkers with slim waists and perky booties coming back to Soul again and again? I have not walked out of the refreshing lemon smelling facility feeling like i haven't pushed myself enough (other than the time when we had a lousy instructor and that is a rarity).

Along with Lululemon, SoulCycle is certainly the other crazy fitness phenomenon/brand taking US by storm. S is absolutely crazy over them (he needs that external motivation to work out whereas i'm naturally intrinsically motivated. I'm a type A yogi.). That said, i'm good with the occasional adrenalin pumping fat-burning cardio, full-body workout sessions (with hand weights as well). SoulCycle is the best spinning experience ever and sadly we just do not have that kinda crazy inspirational instructors or exciting facilities with great music in Singapore. I guess i'll stick to yoga here.

Do you exercise when you travel? Have you experienced similarly great spinning classes in Singapore? 

XOXO
Travelerintransit

It is all about Southern American Cajun seafood boil on our sunny island these days and we checked The Boiler, a gem tucked in the ulu and industrious Tai Seng estate. It's a queer location for a seafood spot but we absolutely dig the cavernous space and their delicious offerings. I guarantee that The Boiler is certainly worth your trek!

Here's the menu. It made perfect sense for us to order the Boiler's Bombdiggity Bag ($139) since there's a huge group of us (we had 3 bags of that). Each bag feeds more than the recommended 4 pax (that or we are small eaters). Dungeness or Brown Crab, prawns, mussels, clams, sausages, and corn are tossed with a sauce of your choice.

Our food were delivered in plastic bags placed in big metal buckets. You can only imagine the excitement at the table when the food was poured over the grease-proofed table mat. Don't worry, plastic bibs are provided to protect your clothes but try not to wear white yea?

For the sauce, there's garlic butter (for the kiddos), pepper butter (for amateurs), mild, medium and raging spice. Of the lot, i thought that the mild worked the best. It was more savory than the bland and boring garlic butter, but not too spicy to give you a heartburn or mar the taste of the seafood. You really don't wanna be eating chili alone (my bad experience at Cajun Kings taught me that. Read review here).

Of the ingredients in the bag, I loved the succulent and juicy prawns, the salty chorizo style sausages, and not to mention the sweet corn! The juicy kernels provided a respite from the spices after a while.

Get a lobster ($49) to go with your meal! Same price as Pince and Pints but without the queue (just make a reservation)! I liked this better than the crabs. Lemon butter was a good choice as the sauce is lighter and simpler, which allowed the freshness of the lobster to come through. The pepper butter can be rather overwhelming with spice in my opinion and not quite suitable for this meat.

Have some sides to go with the seafood. The bags come with fried man tous (buns), which were great to mop up the sauce a la chili crab style. We enjoyed the Cajun Fries ($5.90) with crispy thin batter and substantial filling. On hindsight i would have tried the sweet potato fries ($6.90). The onion rings ($7.90) were made with real onions and gave the meal an added crunch. Luncheon fries ($7.90) are well, luncheon fries.

If you're not up for a seafood feasting, you could also do smaller meals such as fish and chips, chicken and waffles, and hot dogs as well. 

For desserts, we had the Molten Lava cake ($9.90) which remained fairly decent even after all the photo taking. The almond (mocha?) ice cream with Oreo crunch was a hit with us. 

Skip the fried banana and durian fritters ($7.90) with salted caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. It sounded way more exotic than it tasted and certainly not quite worth the price for fried pisang. Plus it had a stale oily taste.

We really enjoyed our meal while it lasted. It was fun passing food around with our bare hands and letting loose at the dining table. However, the gastric reflux was pretty severe and the garlic aftertaste lingered long after the meal concluded. In fact, it's pretty nauseating thinking about it right now. So yes, it's a once in a blue moon indulgence for us.

That said, I'd certainly recommend The Boiler for a gathering with family and friends! What's your favorite seafood boil? 

The Boiler
18 Howard Road
Tel: +65 6635 1285
Sunday - Thu: 5 - 10.30pm

Fri- Sat, Eve PH: 5pm - 12am

Closed Mon

A good restaurant is one who keeps her customers and Restaurant Ember has been doing that for more than a decade (12 this year)! With a chic face lift and a change in chef (Chef Sufian Bin Zain, previously from Iggy’s and Waku Ghin), Ember has kept its rich classics and added refreshingly light new dishes to the mix. We sampled some items from the lunch set menu, as well as others from the main menu.

Taste buds were awakened with the amuse bouche of crispy sakura ebi and the loveliest freshly baked bread. 

I love cheeses and the Burrata ($14) was a great way to start. Milky and creamy fresh cheese with nutty, smoky and slightly bitter endives, cherry tomato, arugula, pesto. Well Chef had me at burrata.

For a lighter tasting starter, the Flan is a classic that is well loved by customers. Steamed egg custard with generous chunks of mudcrab, asparagus and Aonori (seaweed). It was every bit Japanese with the silky curd and light earthiness from the asparagus.  

I can never say no to Duck Confit and this 36 hours twice cooked leg with mashed potatoes and caramelized onions ($32) was delicious. Certainly my top 2 choice for mains at Ember. I loved that smokiness of the cured meat and it wasn't overly salted as well. My way of eating this? Remove meat from bone, mix things up a bit. You'll get that light creaminess from the potatoes and the sweetness from the onions along with the savory leg. Yums. If you wish to have this for dinner, do order in advance for the a la carte item.

My other favorite was the Pan-roasted Barramundi ($28), with tomatoes, fine beans, Avruga caviar, clam jus ($28). Loved the light flavors of the barramundi and the salty bacon-like avruga caviar. 

For dinner, you could do the 60 hours slow cooked Angus Short Rib ($38), with a special charred onion puree (which doesn't taste like onion at all), confit of cherry tomatoes and beef jus. Cooked to perfect tenderness, the marbled meat was paired perfectly with the sweet onion puree. I could love onions like that.

The Bouillabaisse with NZ Langoustine, Hokkaido Scallops, Barramundi, Garlic Aioli ($32) was sadly weak in the umami seafood flavor and tasted a little flat in my opinion. Perhaps a little too delicate? The clams were rather flavorless and the langoustine was limp. I would rather a firmer shellfish and fish.

I'm not a fan of Ember's dessert due to the lack of balance in their sweets.

Our Valrhona chocolate fondant had a mysterious burnt taste. It's a safe dessert but it's nothing wow. 

The deconstructed cheesecake with figs, crumble, Tahiti vanilla ice cream was light in flavors but not in texture. The creamy cheese would do better with fresh figs than the processed jelly jam.

The Texture of pistachio, sponge, crumble, ice cream, ginger milk foam ($15) was refreshing enough only because I love ginger and the hint from the foam added that light perfume at the end. The dish was as transient as the foam, so light that you don't even taste or feel it, with the exception of the really sweet ice cream. 

The best part of dessert was the dessert wine actually. Well if you need something sweet, just go for the Torbreck The Bothie 2011.

Hits and misses at Ember but there are sufficient options in the set meals to ensure a good meal. The 3 course set lunch is only priced at $42 and the 4 course dinner at $88. I would bookmark this for business lunches. :)

Restaurant Ember

50 Keong Saik Rd, Singapore 089158
Tel: +65 6347 1928
Weekday Lunch: 11.30am - 2pm
Dinner (Mon - Sat): 6.30pm - 10pm
Closed Sun

I've visited Hatter Street months ago but wasn't compelled to write them a review since they are already so packed and the crowd also played a part in my lacklustre dining experience with them. 

Despite the whimsical theme, the space was uncomfortable. I think their main purpose is to pack as many people in as possible so it was rather cramped. Also, you have to wait for a table before you can place your order, even though everyone knows that there is going to be a long wait time for the waffles. Do i make sense? Ok maybe i was just (H)angry (hunger induced anger) and i wanted my food fast but that did not happen.

So what's to eat here? Desserts, just desserts. Yvette Chua, who owns the place, trained at Singapore’s Culinary Institute of America and apprenticed at Hong Kong’s 3 Michelin-starred Bo Innovations for four months and she decided that desserts are gonna be it. Well, there's the famed Smoked sawdust pudding ($5) which is essentially a milk pudding with graham and some smoke. Well, i don't fancy the schmancy for desserts. I just want hearty calorie full options. Next. 

Other items such as some passion fruit and chocolate tarts, popcorn cake etc. But honestly, let's face it, you're just there for the waffles.

Waffles ($8.90). We went for the Pandan ice cream with gula melaka sauce which is a hot favorite. The waffle was crispy, and by crispy i meant it was like a giant potato chip. As with potato chips, once you start you can't stop so don't bother sharing because you can easily finish one on your own. Nice lingering aroma from the pandan ice cream but we could do with more gula melaka sauce. I reckon that the sea salt caramel waffle with vanilla ice cream wouldn't be too shady. 

Oh my 天 ($7.50) is a cookies and cream brownie with oreo ice cream and it came recommended. I should have trusted my own judgment because i thought the brownie was too tall and dry based on its appearance. I was right. The texture was a bit more cakey but with greater density but it was lacking in flavors (it had a one dimensional sweetness). I would not recommend this. The oreo ice cream was good though.

The Matcha latte ($5.50) was rather sweet and very milky. Thankfully it had sufficient matcha taste. 

I would love to be able to make this my regular dessert joint in the hood because the waffles are quite wow but i would never visit on weekends. The staff's mild hao lian beng attitude was also a put off. Moral of the story, do not stand between an hangry girl and her food.

Hatter Street Singapore
212 Hougang Street 21, #01-333 Singapore 530212
Tel: +65 6988 4591
Tue - Sun: 1-10pm

Close friends would know my obsession with having a V shaped face. Well, if you guys must know, my chubby cheeks stayed with me till I was 20 despite being as skinny(fat) as you occasionally see on Instagram and all. I'm not sure how my hamster cheeks went away but I religiously use the Clarins Shaping Facial Lift Total V Contouring Serum. However, if you're in need of a quick non-surgical non-invasive fix for an important function, then the Radio Frequency (RF) Brightening Treatment by The DRx Medispa would be the solution. I recently checked this facial out for my friend's wedding dinner.

Nominated as the “Best Non-Surgical Facelift”, the DRx RF Brightening Treatment promises more toned skin with visible tightening and lifting effect immediately after one session.

So how does it work? A specialized super brightening/anti-pigment cream or pore tightening/anti-aging cream will be worked into your face. You'd lie on a metal plate for the RF to work. Some physics and circuits thing that you can go read up on if you're interested. The therapist will then use another hand piece to massage your face.

You'll feel some heat as the massage goes on. That's due to the Radiofrequency (RF) energy which will generate bio thermal energy in the deep layers of your skin (deep dermis and sub-dermal layers). The purpose is to activate metabolism (for slimming) and increase the flow of nutrients and oxygen (for brightening).

The simple action will help stimulate collagen growth so that over time you'll get firmer and radiant-looking skin.

Hamster cheeks being squashed right here! Other benefits include reduced wrinkles, firming and toning including the eye area. Yes please! Smile lines be gone!

Daphne, my therapist for the session did half of my face first so that I could show you guys the comparison shot. Look at the right half of the picture! There was a visible lift of my cheek! And hello fruit-cutting-chin. :))

The DRx RF Brightening/Rejuvenation treatments are non-invasive with no downtime and it only takes 45 minutes! This makes it a good lunch time treatment! :)

The after treatment effect! Ahem fully clothed under that robe still! Daphne worked mostly on my laugh lines because she said my skin is still very young so nothing much to firm up. Wheeee!

And here's a picture at my friend's wedding 2 days later.

I've been told that this treatment is very rich so it may cause some breakout for some skin. I developed some little pimples but they were not obvious and only showed up after the wedding.

If you'd like to try this treatment, remember to quote ‘Blogger Cheryl 40% RF Treatment’ to get 40% off RF Brightening Treatment (U.P. $550) before GST.

Good news to my KL readers too, The DRx Group has opened its second branch in Kuala Lumpur at The Boulevard, Mid Valley City and will house The DRx Clinic, The DRx Medispa at the sprawling 5,000 sqft location spanning two floors. The award-winning DRx Trichology services will now be available to you guys too!

The DRx Medispa Singapore
302 Orchard Road, #14-02/#16-02
Tong Building (next to Paragon Shopping Centre)
Singapore 238862
Tel: +65 6223 1555
Mon to Sat: 10am to 8pm
Sun: 10am to 6pm
http://instagram.com/thedrxmedispa

The DRx Clinic and Medispa Mid Valley
No. 43-G The Boulevard Mid Valley City
Lingkaran Syed Putra 59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603 2284 1088
Weekdays: 10am to 7pm
Weekends: 10am to 5pm (clinic is closed on sun)