Review - Bing Bian

Went to Millenia Walk on Tue and I went off to have dessert (again) at this new place called Bing Bian.  I'm sure most Singaporeans, Taiwanese and Malaysians would've known 'snow ice' desserts by now.  It's like ice cream minus all the cream and eggs.  This is similar to that but they have tons more local flavours and it doesn't come from a single supplier in Singapore.

Above is the Coconut Affair which has a base of light coconut snow ice and topped with nata de coco, ginger snap bicuit powder and gula melaka.  How can you resist this?! It's everything I love in a bowl.  It's surprisingly not too sweet and it's quite affordable at $4.90.

The first time I went to Bing Bian, I tried their Avocado Ice ($5.50) which had a base of avocado ice, topped with nata de coco, ginger snap biscuit powder and gula melaka.  Think of it as a deconstructed avocado milk shake but with fewer calories and a lot more fibre.  The staff is friendly and they allow top-ups of gula melaka if you're dining in!


Spoke to the owner and director of Bing Bian, Gary Wong, and he said that he decided to set up this shop after eating similar desserts in Malaysia and Taiwan.  He had spent 7-8 months just doing pure R&D (as well as kitchen experiments) to come up with the various combos as well as to perfect the yuyuan balls which had to have the right texture while maintaining its taro/yam flavour.

You could tell his passion for his business as he explained to me how he felt that instead of putting the snow ice in a mountain, he opted for this everything-in-a-bowl presentation so that it's not messy for clients and you are able to get a scoop of everything without the fear of the ice collapsing on you.  I liked how he told a staff that, "We're selling happiness to our clients."

Gary definitely has strong ambitions for his business as he seeks to set up 2 more stores by the end of next year.  Heard that Channel 8 has even used his Millenia Walk branch for a location shoot.  Kudos to him and his team and yes...I shall go try his dessert with the yuyuan balls one day.  Oh..if you're not into cold desserts, don't fear as Bing Bian also serves up the hot stuff!  They also do delivery for offices near their stores with min. order of $25.

Bing Bian
9 Raffles Boulevard
#01-105, Millenia Walk
Singapore 039596
Tel: +65 6337 1391
Mon to Sat: 11am - 9pm
Sun & PH: 11am - 8pm

1 Sophia Road
#01-39/43, Peace Centre
Singapore 228149
Tel: +65 6338 9475
Mon to Sat: 11am - 9pm
Sun & PH: 11am - 8pm

I mimicked their Avocado Ice at home and you can get my recipe here!

Bloomberg Singapore's Party

Went to Bloomberg on Wednesday for their party which was to celebrate their revamped studio (for Bloomberg TV) as well as a year end gathering for clients.

Check out the customised serviettes...

Went there with 2 of my colleagues.  We marketing gals stick together - be it work or fun! ;)

Below is a Singapore Sling and I really like the brolly straw! It was the best tasting drink among the wines (not that great) and the fruit punch (too sweet). Maybe I should've raided their pantry for drinks instead...

A waiter had spilled red wine over my leg that evening.  Thank goodness I wasn't wearing white trousers and I was also wearing patent leather heels! If not, I wouldn't have had such an easy job of cleaning everything up with serviettes and the caterer would've gotten a dry cleaning bill. 

Above is a cute but totally useless corp gift.  Below is the entertainment for the evening which I'd like to call the Chindian band.  The music was honestly quite good!

On to the food...which was disappointing.  Bloomberg really needs to replace its caterer.  The food probably cost more than $15/person but the quality is worse than my caterers whom I only pay $5/person.

Dessert...2 out of 5 was good.  Still failed.

I quite like their gift! It's a mug that reveals another message when you fill it up with hot water/coffee/tea. So true. Bloomberg's on 24/7 in my office and I much prefer watching Bloomberg TV compared to CNBC. 

I'm sleepy now. I'm going. Gone.

Extending my 15 min of Fame

Here are a couple of videos where I was the presenter.  First one is a webinar that I did on trading the US markets in Singapore.  It's a bit long so watch it only if you're really interested in trading.  The second one is where I did a market commentary so that one is short and sweet.  Did it in 1.5 takes! :)

Restaurant Review - Ramen Dining Keisuke Tokyo

Lurking in a corner on the 3rd floor of Parco Millenia Walk is a gem of a ramen place called Ramen Dining Keisuke Tokyo.

 I love bean sprouts! Especially when it comes in a nice tub for you to eat as much as you want! You can also ask for bonito flakes for toppings. これだけ食べ放題。。。

The main draw of Keisuke Tokyo is their famous dish - Crab Soup Ramen ($15.90++ with egg, $13.90++ w/o egg).  I LOVE this ramen so much that I will always order this whenever I'm at Keisuke Tokyo.  Nothing else on their menu is as drool-worthy. There's no crab meat but it comes with 2 slices of really tender Japanese style char siew and bamboo slices.

The stock is thick and is made from lots of prawns and a bit of crab, giving it that lovely lobster bisque-like flavour.  The noodles aren't the usual thin ones but is more like the thicker ones that we associate with lor mee, which adds a certain bite in an otherwise all round 'soft' dish.  This comes with the optional grated ginger for those who think that it's too heavy on the prawn flavour.  I, of course, detest ginger so none of that for me.

Another thing that I love about Keisuke Ramen is that you get to sorta customise your ramen:

• Soup: light/ normal/ salty
• Noodles: hard/ normal/ soft
• NO spring onions/ bamboo/ seaweed

This place is a MUST-TRY for ramen lovers in Singapore and although it is slightly pricey, I think it's on the same level as Ippudou so it's ok to treat yourself to some quality ramen from time to time!  ;)

It's rather crowded during lunch regardless whether it's a weekday or weekend but they're less crowded during dinner on weekdays.  I've yet to go there on a weekend dinner so do let me know if it's crowded!

Ramen Dining Keisuke Tokyo
9 Raffles Boulevard
#P3-02 Millenia Walk
Tel: 63377919

Review - Oriole Cafe & Bar

I went to the flagship Cafe & Bar of Oriole Coffee at the Pan Pacific service suites, which is right smack between Somerset 313 and my fave shopping haunt - H&M.  It was raining and my friend was hungry (I was a bit peckish too) so we headed to Oriole as she loves their coffee.

Loved the decor of the place which rustic with the wood but yet modern with the metal shelves behind the bar.  Ok...food!

 I ordered their prawn bruschetta (please pronounce this as brus-ketta...it's Italian so 'ch' is pronounced like a 'k' while 'c' in Italian is pronounced like 'sh'). I like that the bread was toasted but yet soft and not chewy.  I also liked the garlic flavour from the prawns all the way down to the tomatoes.  However, as a bruschetta, it was severely lacking that yummy olive oil flavour and basil.  Made me wonder whether they used virgin olive oil instead of the extra virgin olive oil as claimed on their menu. Another thing that I didn't quite like was that the prawns were unnaturally crunchy (hello sodium bicarbonate). Hmm...for $10++, I was a tad disappointed although I can't really put it on my 'never-eat-again' list.

My friend ordered their Philly cheese steak sandwich ($17++).  Ok...this is a keeper! You can't go wrong with beef, sauteed onions, roasted peppers and cheese between two slices of soft buns.  Yums.  It comes with a side of wedges and salad.  They even garnished the wedges with slivers of parmesan cheese.  How sinful can you get?

To end the full meal, my friend ordered her favourite Citrus Sin ($6++) coffee which is sweetened with orange juice, apparently.  I took a sip and I couldn't taste the orange.  Was she supposed to squeeze that wedge of orange into the coffee?? *Shrugs*  Love the coffee art though.  I'm really not willing to pay $6 for a cuppa coffee or tea so...that's the part that has me going "eeks".

What I really like about Oriole is the charm of the place.  It's what a cafe is - chic but yet casual without any pretentiousness.  I might visit again at night when there's live music but I suspect that it will be packed with like-minded people.

Oriole Cafe & Bar
96 Somerset Road
Pan Pacific Services Suites
#01-01
Singapore 238163
Tel: 6238 8348
www.oriolecoffee.com

Restaurant Review - Bonchon Chicken Singapore

My brother ate the fried chicken at Bonchon Chicken in New York and was telling me how much he enjoyed it as well as how popular it is in NYC. As such, I decided to try the Bonchon Chicken at Bugis+ for lunch. Started with the spicy Tteokbokki ($12.90++) which not only was the rice cake but also noodles which tasted suspiciously like spaghetti. SPICY!!! I'd rather they gave more rice cake than the noodles.

The star was of course the fried chicken.  My colleague and I ordered the Medium Combo ($15.90++) which had 2 drumsticks and 6 wings (I'd argue and say that it's 3 wings since they counted the drumlet as a wing), and you can choose a side (rice/ edamame/ kimchi).  As for the sauce, half of the plate was spicy while the other half was garlic soy.  Trouble was that the tteokbokki was so spicy that the sauce on the chicken didn't really stand out to me.  I love the crispy and not oily skin.   However, the meat tasted a bit weird although it was tender.  It wasn't juicy and lacked that yummy chicken taste...if you get what I mean.  As such, the more flavourful chicken part has to be the wing but I'm a drumstick gal.  They claim that the sauce is designed to stay on the skin and not on your hand.  Verdict on that? 95% true.  There's a reason why there are packets of wet towels on the table.

I would go back again but if I've got a craving for the sauce but if I wanted to eat fried chicken, I'll be heading off to KFC/ Texas Chicken/ Popeye's.  Sorry Bonchon.

Bonchan Chicken

201 Victoria Street

#01-11 Bugis+

Tel: 6884 4768

Be Responsible Pet Owners Exhibition

Happening simultaneously with AFA over last weekend was also AVA's "Be a Responsible Pet Owner" exhibition but we got distracted simply by the animals...

BIG hare. It's the same size as my medium-sized cocker spaniel!! It takes 4 tiny bunnies in the next pen to make up the length of that hare.  The fur was incredibly soft though.

Below is the sweetest 9-month old Husky named Ariel.  So adorable.  I want.

Met a 2-month mongrel pup too and he's still on my mind.  Sweetest wee thing ever.  Maybe, I will get a mongrel for my next pet.  Hehe....

Review - Twelve Cupcakes

Cupcake fad has hit Singapore!! 'Twelve Cupcakes' is the chain by former Miss Universe Singapore Jaime Teo and her hubby, DJ Daniel Ong.

I decided to try it since they were having a 'Buy 4, get 2 free' promotion.  They only had 6 flavours left so I guess it must've been kismet. The cupcakes are not cheap at $3 each unless you buy 6 or more.  However, ingredients such as chocolate and cream cheese were never the cheapest.

Now, let me try to recall the flavours that I purchased...from top left, in a clockwise manner, it's Chocolate Chip, Vanilla Chocolate, Strawberry Vanilla, Rainbow Vanilla, Chocolate Vanilla and Strawberry Chocolate. 

Taste test for the Strawberry Chocolate and Vanilla Chocolate with all the cream cheese frosting: the cake base was moist and wasn't too cloying although it was too chocolatey for me.  I like that light strawberry flavour in the cream and I loved their cream cheese frosting although my mum felt that it was too sweet.

It was a good try but I don't think I'll spend $3 for one of these babies again.  Unless I have a huge cupcake craving.  Wait. They have Peanut Butter flavoured cream. Hmm...anyway, consolation for that price tag is that it tastes as good as it looks!

You can view all their flavours and store locations at their website www.twelvecupcakes.com.

Cafe Review - Heath Bistro

As you know, I went to AFA (Anime Festival Asia) over the weekend so a girl has got to eat right? So...Siew Mai did a bit of googling and found 'Heath Bistro' at Expo via hungrygowhere.com.

That's Siew Mai pretending to take a photo of my food.  Below is my Chicken Chop Rice which came with a small side of salad with balsamic vinaigrette.  Verdict - so-so. Nothing really special.

Siew Mai ordered the Pizza Margherita and added $1 for chicken toppings.  I didn't try it but she said that it was good.  Thin crust pizzas rule!

Both were part of their sets which cost $9.90 and came along with a soup.  I didn't take any photos of the soup because it looked grey.  It was mushroom soup and I liked that the mushroom soup wasn't creamy and still had obvious mushroom bits.  Didn't like that it tasted like seawater. Salty.

The service was a bit lacking and they only had 2 wait staff.  1 auntie was just doing the serving and clearing while the younger girl had to do that as well as take orders.  Hmm...not a good idea on a Saturday with 4 exhibitions going on simultaneously.  No wonder the place wasn't crowded.

I don't think I'll go back there again unless I want to beat the crowds.  That said, the lure of $9.90 set meals is quite strong if I'm at Expo since I'll only go there when there's a major exhibition.

Heath Bistro
1 Expo Drive
Just outside Hall 3
Singapore 486150
Tel. no.: +65 6260 2002

AFA 2012 - Singapore

Got my concert tix to T.M.Revolution on Fri, 9 Nov and then 5 artistes on Sat, 10 Nov.  The 5 artistes for yesterday's concert were: BabyMetal, Fripside, m.o.v.e., LiSA and FLOW.  I was mainly there for LiSA and FLOW.

There were other artistes performing today (May'n, Sea.A and some others) but they were those whom I wasn't interested in.

Sorry folks but I didn't take any photos of the T.M.Revolution. I was being a good girl.   :)  Having said that, T.M.Revolution proved to us what a rock star he is with his outstanding and entertaining performance, which was backed by his equally great band! Below is post-T.M.R with Siew Mai pouting over the fact that it is over.

Onto Saturday's Festival and Stage area! They were giving out these fans at the entrance as well as at Amuse Inc's booth.  Rurouni Kenshin!! I'm so excited that the movie is coming out! I was reminiscing with a friend that we started watch the Kenshin anime when we were in JC.  It has been THAT long.

 The costumes worn were on display!! Weeee~~~

I saw the above costume and I was really tempted to get it but then...it's meant for males and I wouldn't have any chance to wear it except during the annual AFA.  The price wasn't very cheap either.

I really have to give it up to this Gundam cosplayer.  You can't really see from this photo but the whole costume was made of cardboard.  Amazing.  However, I couldn't help but think: how does he go to pee?

My stash from Odex booth! I know...a lot of Domo-kun stuff.  Siew Mai and I love Domo-kun so we shared the cost of the Fukubokuro and my T-shirt. $29 for T-shirt & Fukubokuro which contains 1 pen/pencil, 1 mobile phone holder, 1 mobile phone strap, 1 mug, 1 other mobile phone thingy, 3 L- folders and 1 mystery item.  Add $5 for a domo-kun cushion.  The T-shirt alone costs $12.  With these purchases, we received a free hologram poster of "Mobile Suit Gundam - Trailblazer", a free "Ryu Mabuya" poster and a choice between "Full Metal Alchemist" poster or some other poster.

I also splurged on these absolutely adorable Linkin Park Nendoroids! OMG...so cute....the price of $62 wasn't cute but it's Linkin Park!!!!

We went to the Stage area at 5pm only for me to realise that I had missed the 4.30pm Greeting Session by LiSA. Doh! LiSA is such a great live performer who is very energetic and entertaining.  I kinda regret not getting her CD last year as this year, the only LiSA merchandise being sold was a pair of earrings at $13.  (0_o)  Nutso.  I'm not going to buy a pair of rubber earrings for $13.

Nonetheless, it was the screening of the 1st half of 'Eureka Ao 7' after the greeting session and it seems rather interesting.  Plus point is that the opening theme song "Bravelue" is sung by FLOW who made a 'surprise' appearance.

Happy 10th Anniversary to FLOW! FLOW THE MAX!!! Gotta love the boys from FLOW.  Their album songs don't sound as good as when they're performing live.  LOVE LOVE LOVE their live performances.

After a quick dinner, we headed off to the Max Pavilion where the concert was held at.  The ticket stated that the concert would start at 7.30pm so I didn't really understand why the organisers only announced on their FB page that it would start at 7pm to ensure that people are able to catch the last train home.  Um...I love social media and all that but when we're at the Festival, it's not a habit of ours to check FB all the time.  Couldn't there be announcements made over the PA system?  In the end, the concert started at 8pm due to technical issues.  As a events organiser, I can't really blame them for the technical faults as shit always happens even after testing like a gazillion times.

The concert opened with BabyMetal who really annoyed me with their helium-induced-like voices and the jarring mix of rock, pop and goth. Square peg, round hole. You get it.  The otakus in the crowd loved them though.  That said, Siew Mai and I were among a large group of sitters.

After BabyMetal was m.o.v.e. who managed to rally the crowd into a rave despite the really really long wait in between.  That's possibly because their music is the trance/ euro-beat genre which I felt was more suited to a club.

m.o.v.e. was followed by fripSide where they had mic issues and the lead singer's voice couldn't be heard properly.  Didn't help that her voice is so high and weak while the music was so loud.  Perhaps they should've tuned down the music.  The poor girl had a frozen smile but I guess it didn't matter in the end as the crowd loved them.  Siew Mai and I were back on our chairs during their set.  Sorry...not our cups of tea.  I was very impressed and entertained by the side entertainment of some otaku boys who synchronised their dance during FripSide's set.  Below is the video clip that I managed to take.



Finally...after a super long wait due to equipment change and technical issues...LiSA!!!!

LiSA again wowed the crowd with her superb vocals and entertaining performance! She teased and interacted with the audience while we were also taught a hand gesture/dance along with her.  Her rendition of 「一番の宝物」is as great as ever and she nearly turned emo again but I guess the lack of time caused her to go to her next song really quickly and she didn't get the chance to cry.  I was so disappointed that she only sang 4-5 songs with NO encore!! WTH!! もう一曲聞きたいな〜〜〜

Again, with another long equipment change etc, FLOW came on with the Superman theme song as their entrance background song.  Cheeky boys.

I can't repeat enough times how great FLOW is during their live performances.  They only sang 4 songs!!! Again, NO ENCORE! The crowd was pumped up and continued singing along to 'Go!!' although it was played only as a background song.  You could tell that the band didn't want to leave as they were still on stage waving to the audience despite having all the house lights on.  They were also apologising to us fans via twitter on how it was too short and they promise to come back to Singapore again.  Yes please and don't make us wait a whole year! These guys ought to do a FULL concert on their own. Fark AFA.  I know I'll be happy :)

I can't fault the organisers for the technical issues but I think that they should've added in more buffer time for it.  Not to forget that it was streaming live on Nico too...which made me wonder whether the long in between waits was also due to advertisements on Nico?  I also think that having 5 artistes perform within 3 or 4 hours is overly ambitious.  That doesn't allow time for encores nor as I had mentioned earlier, buffer time.  One has to know your audience too...the older ones couldn't care less for Babymetal or fripSide...so perhaps an afternoon concert with these 2 could've been held?  After all, the Max Pavilion was already rented for the whole day...should maximise time and ticket sales.  The staff/ volunteers ought to be taught to be a bit more polite too.  Nobody should say to guests "The Hall is about to close. Please leave." PR skills sorely lacking.  The right thing to say ought to be, "Sorry but you'll have to leave soon as the Hall is closing."

After we left the hall, I couldn't help but feel super disappointed and it didn't end on a high for me.  It was like I was starving and someone gave me a starter, only to take it back after I had a bite.  Really upsetting.  :(  I really hope that this doesn't happen next year.  Seriously.

Restaurant Review - NamNam Noodle Bar

Opened by the Les Amis group, NamNam noodle bar is a nice small cafe/restaurant serving casual Vietnamese pho and bahn mi at very reasonable prices! The bahn mi start from $5.90 while the various types of pho start from $7.90.

My colleagues and I went for their lunch sets at $9.90 (LOVE lunch sets) which comes with the spring rolls (1st photo) as a starter, choice between chicken or beef pho (you know I'm going for the beef) and a choice between ice coffee with condensed milk or lotus tea.  I triple love the fact that the prices stated are inclusive of GST and they do not charge for service.

First off, I must say that I really dig the decor which was simple but yet a bit of a throwback to the 1970s with the enamel serving mugs.  Their efficiency astounded me.  Our drinks were served even before I walked back from the cashier! Service-wise: as expected from the Les Amis group. Friendly, professional and I felt guilty for making the cashier run to the kitchen because I had forgotten to mention that I didn't want spring onions in my pho. Oopsy...

Taste test! We weren't impressed with the thick rice paper used for the spring rolls but I must say that the balance between rice vermicelli and the basil leaves was very well done. Just give us less chewy rice paper.

Lotus tea was tasteless. Colleague said that her ice coffee was bitter but then sugar level is quite a personal affair.

My habit of eating noodles is to usually finish up the meat and vegetables before eating up the noodles so I found the beef really tender and juicy.  My colleague who doesn't have that habit found her beef a little tough towards the end.  I loved the soup.  It had that right balance between sour and savoury and you know it's more refined than some other Vietnamese restaurants simply by the fact that I couldn't see any scum in the soup.

Would I go back again? Oh yes I would. I really want to try their bahn mi for breakfast one of these days but I find it ridiculous that their breakfast only starts at 10am. Us working folks tend to get breakfast before 9am yeah.  It took me this long to try out NamNam was also because of the LOOOONNNNG queue that started even before noon! (0_o)  I think their soon-to-be-opened branch at Wheelock Place (slated to open in Nov 2012) will also face the same issue.  Good news is that the queue moves fast...so try it one day and have a pho-tastic meal ;)

NamNam Noodle Bar
250 North Bridge Road
#B1-46, Raffles City Shopping Centre
Singapore 179101


Website:  www.namnamnoodlebar.com.sg