I have a confession to make. I have been a deliquent blogger for the last couple of months. But I need not enumerate and rant all the causes for being so. I'd rather rejoice for finding the time to get back to the usual :-). I can already smell the scent of the festive season. The lights, ornaments and holiday trees have started to adorn the streets, different establishments and houses. Although I've yet to put up mine at home, I'm beginning to feel strongly the wind of merriment. Oh Christmas, I'm so glad you're finally here!
Marina Bay is currently the hottest spot in Singapore to unwind, dine, relax and have fun. So much are going on in this area. I was more than delighted to have made the right choice to celebrate my birthday in this sparkling place. On the whole, I indeed had a grand time.
My day started with a lunch buffet experience at Ritz Carlton Millenia. Inspired by some good reviews of the hotel's Green House Restaurant for its Asian Seafood Buffet, I decided to try it with my husband. Ritz Carlton for many years, has been well recognized for its high quality service. Rightfully so, the hotel delivers what it's been known of. Two thumbs up for the kind of service we received from its staff. The ambiance was likewise very private which was notable. Unfortunately, the same level of quality was hardly translated to the food. As I hopped from one food station to the next, more and more I was convinced that the element of freshness was not there. In terms of variety, the selection was enough. But quality wise, it's way below my expectations. Unfortunately, I don't think there will be a second time for us.
For our next stop, we headed to Sands Sky Park, the highest observation deck in Singapore at the moment. If you want to view the entire Lion City at your own pace, this is a good venue for that. Breathtaking, relaxing and astounding sceneries await visitors. It would be best to come in late afternoon to have both day and night views. I can't wait to spend the New year's Eve here. We're already booking soon!
To complete our Marina Bay experience, we tried the iLight Cruise - Asia's first Light Art Festival. It's a very calming outdoor acitivity to appreciate the beauty of Marina Bay's nightscape. It's a 30 minute boat ride filled with stunning 25 light art creations of international artists from all over the globe. This art technology was a sheer beauty at night!
We capped our night with a dinner experience at the RISE restaurant in Marina Bay Sands Hotel.
Overall ambiance, service, food selection and quality, all these got a pleasing nod from me. I specifically liked the cold seafood station and the dessert section. It was by far, another best buffet experience in the island. A classic ambrosial culinary treat is what RISE meant for me now and boy was I glad we stumbled upon it on my special day.
After the September hiatus (last month was pretty tight for me), I'm finally back online. Incidentally, I'm welcoming the October with a new face for the blog. Just in time to mark the official start of the merry months (a.k.a. holiday season), I decided to dress up the blog anew. I hope you'll all like it. =)
And whenever the holiday season arrives, isn't food always the star of the feast? Timely, Singapore Culinary Journey 2010 gives us a good season sampler with its October Highlights. This might be a good jumpstart to excite our appetite.
Just like its other asian neighbors, Singapore share the same eating habit for rice and noodles. The local diet is largely comprised of these two major staples with the latter as the most common choice for a meal. From its very affluent culinary pot, noodles definitely stands out as a food category. You normally see it in all forms and variations in the local food centres and Kopitiams. In fact, the range of choices is so diverse that sampling its taste equates to being a cultural attraction. It's typically slurpped and enjoyed piping hot either in soup or stir-fry. Many of these dishes are adaptations or inter-cultural fusions of the multiple ethnic groups who migrated to the country. This gave birth to the Chinese-Singaporean, Indian-Singaporean, Malay-Singaporean, Indo-Singaporean and other mix and matches of multi-racial cuisines. Likewise, by and large, this makes the noodle dishes in this country far from being lifeless and boring. As such, it is a culinary pride. Here are my top picks for the must try.
Fish Head Bee Hoon - a creamy noodle soup consisting of rice vermicelli, fried fish cake, tofu, vegetables and seaweed; normally prepared using fish broth and milk; this noodles is so comforting that I likened it to a typical rainy day soup
Mee Siam - also known as "siamese noodles"; a thin rice noodles in a sweet, sour and spicy sauce served with hard boiled egg; for the lover of fiery dishes, this is something you must haveCall these dishes the must try or the must sample; undoubtedly, the list of the best can even have more. But clearly, noodle hopping in Singapore is synonymous to a delectable heritage trail. And it's always a pleasure to partake.
