This post is entitled "Much Ado About London"...so please be prepared for a super long post. Okie dokes, moving on...I love this cereal. It's so yummy and its full grain! I can snack on this all long. I've been eating this for breakfast for the past week (except when I had scones from Waitrose - that rocks too!). Can't find this in Singapore right?

Went to watch "Star Trek" on Fri night but before that, the whole bunch of us (mix of Singaporeans, Malaysians plus 1 American and 1 PRC) met up for dinner at this Korean restaurant named Corean Chilli.

That's Pork Ribs & Veg Hot Pot on the right and a seafood pancake on the left.

You must try their fried rice cakes with fish cakes in spicy sauce. Its like those that you see in Korean dramas and this restaurant makes it SPICY!

On the right is Gor's beef bone soup. Non-spicy since Gor is allergic to chilli. Quite nice but it has a very strong beefy taste.

To the left is another hot pot. This time its rameon, rice cake, veggie and beef. I didn't eat it but it looks like a whole blob of red. When it came, the rameon was the dried instant noodles and all of us went, "Maggi Mee!" Hmms...would you pay GBP22 for instant noodles? Ok ok...it came with lots more stuff in it.

Ah..the ever popular Dolsot Bibimbab on the right.


To the left is my beef veg stew. Looks good right? There even is an egg inside.

Taste-test verdict? Um...disappointing. I'd rather you go and eat this particular beef stew at the Korean restaurant at Amara Hotel in Singapore.

That being said, the restaurant is pretty good. If you're in London, take the tube and alight at Leicester Square. Exit towards Chinatown, turn left when you come out and just walk straight. Its the first restaurant that you'll see once you cross the street. Corean Chilli.





"Star Trek" at the IMAX theatre was good!! Its a bit like watching it at the Omni theatre in Singapore just that its not half a dome but a huge screen that seems to stretch from floor to ceiling. Most certainly did make the action seem a little more exciting. The movie wasn't 3-D though. Now, I am a little thankful that I didn't win the free movie tickets to "Star Trek" before I left Singapore. Hee. =)

We watched the 11.30pm screening but it started a little late. It was approximately 2.15am when it ended.

Gor and I had to walk from the IMAX theatre in Waterloo to Trafalgar Square to catch a night bus home.

While walking past the Royal Festival Hall, I spotted this Nelson Mandela bust.

The Brits seem to love him a lot. He celebrated his birthday last year in London with tons of celebrities like Oprah Winfrey.

Pique-nique monsieur, madamoseille??
On Sat, we went to Portobello Market, which is near Nottinghill. There were loads of vintage jewellery (not willing to buy any for GBP 5 each) but I bought a miniature tea set! Keep watching this space to see how I make them into jewellery! :) Lovely weather! Sunny and temperatures were around 20 deg C?

While walking towards Portobello Market, we spotted this house, which George Orwell lived in. He wrote "Animal Farm" by the way.

I love how all the houses here were painted blue, red, yellow etc. Funky!! Bursts of colour are always nice.

That's Portobello Market in the background and it stretches far far down. We spent 2 hours just walking up and down. Gor and Sharon didn't believe I could take a nice picture of the market with me just stretching my arm out and snapping. Hah. Proved them wrong. Not blur too!
Gor and I didn't eat breakfast since we woke up at 11.30am on Sat so we decided to pop into this brunch place called "Tom's" which is located at Westbourne Grove...just a short walk away from Portobello Market. The place is really crowded and we were placed in some cosy corner and there was this stairs that led to a small garden with 2 tables. All taken, of course.

My Egg Florentine - poached eggs, with spinach on English muffins and topped with Hollandaise sauce. My bro wants me to tell all you readers that this was very expensive...it costs GBP 8. Taste-test: yummy.


Sharon's Egg Benedict - poached eggs with ham on English muffins and topped with Hollandaise sauce. She quite liked it.

Gor's 3-type omelette - eggs, ham, cheese and tomato. The taste of the ham was quite strong....but quite fluffy and yummy. Gor was grumbling cos I made him cut the omelette into half and place one half on top of the other just to get a nice shot. Sharon was laughing away and saying, "Of course...you need to show what's inside!!"

Happy munchers!! I think my shot of Gor is nicer than Gor's shot of me cos I actually said "1,2,3..." whereas my bro was taking soooo long to take this pic. My jaw was tired from just posing. =P Ooh...my top matches the wallpaper.

Tada...the famous (actual) bookstore that was used in the movie "Nottinghill". There was someone snapping shots INSIDE the bookshop but I felt that there wasn't a point as the place is already refurbished since the movie was filmed. The inside (and even outside) looks completely different from the film.
There's a small noticeboard with newspaper clippings about the movie etc.
Random self-cam shot of the new bus (neither Gor nor Sharon had the luck to sit on a new one prior to this). Purply seats...reminds me of Barney. Not a nice shot of me...but heck, too lazy to reshoot.

We took the bus from Nottinghill to Oxford Circus. Not to shop (although we ended up doing so. Sing & Moon - got your souvenirs already). We were there to meet a couple of other people for dinner at this place called "Le Relais de Venise" where they only have 1 main course - L' Entrecote steak.
Their waitresses' uniform is like the typical French chamber maids!! So cute. Like those maid cafes in Tokyo too...but the waitresses here don't act cute.

First up - salad with walnuts. I hate the mustard dressing that faintly tastes like wasabi. Yucks.

The mains!! Thinly sliced beef that is very very tender. The sauce is supposed to be the highlight and its (but of course) a secret recipe. Taste-test: sauce is made of olive oil, basil, garlic and a squeeze of lemon. Perhaps some mint inside as well. The fries were excellent as well! Before you think that this serving is small (yes, that was my initial thought too), they will come around with a second serving once you're done with your first. Their reasoning is that they want you to enjoy the steak at its best temperature etc. All of that for GBP 19.99.

Since there were 5 of us, we went all out on dessert! Profiteroles and this layered meringue thing with ice-cream. Haha...the menu's in French!! We just asked the waitress what was good to share. Well, the GBP 19.99 that I mentioned earlier doesn't include the dessert. Our bill came out to be GBP 23.10/pax.

Address as follows:

Le Relais de Venise
120 Marylebone Lane
London W1U 2QG
Tel: +44 20 7486 0878

They don't accept reservations and they open for dinner at 6.30pm. Be there early because we ended our meal at 9 plus and there was a queue around the building.

By the way, that's pronounced as Mile-bone (with a slight 'le' in btwn) Lane. Looks like Mary-ler-bone to me...but yeah...just like Leicester is pronounced as Les-ter, Covent is cor-vernt, Gloucester is glous-ter...the list goes on...I'm just as confused as you are. =P

As I probably had mentioned in my twitter or on another post, I went to Baker Street on Wed. When I came out of the tube station, I was surprised at the horde of tourists and then I realised that Madame Tussaud's was just a stone's throw away from the station. Sherlock Holmes fans would also have bells ringing in their heads that Baker Street is the home of the fictious detective. Well...yes, and here's the statue made in honour of this famous detective.

I want to go back to Baker Street for Madame Tussaud's and Sherlock Holmes but my bro said that he's not going to pay for my Madame Tussaud's entrance fee =((( *throws a mini tantrum* But I wanna see the wax figures!! Missed it the last time I was here and mum got to see it..but I didn't!! Waaah.... ='(

If you were wondering what I was doing at Baker Street (other than being a tourist), its because I went to the London Business School to take part in a paid survey. GBP 10 for 45mins of clicking on a computer BUT the tube trip to and fro had already cost GBP 4.40. Ah well...some moolah is better than no moolah.

I also managed to get my DVI-HDMI adapter and lead....which cost me a grand total of GBP49.48. Bah...there goes all my money. However, that means that I can do my work in 'peace' on my own comp, which I am doing now. Yes...the screen's huge and the words that I am typing out now are showing on a 42" LCD screen. Woot~ Actually, wld be better if it were halved and I had TWO screens so that I can organise stuff easily - the same way I do at home with my double monitors.

Walked a lot on Wed because from Baker Street, I walked till Park Street where LBS is, then walked all the way to Marble Arch/ Oxford Street with Sharon as we wanted to check out the platters at Mark & Spencers. Remember the Penny Bazaar that I mentioned? Penny Bazzar items were ALL SOLD OUT. Within half an hour. M&S opens at 8. Apparently, people were already queing at 7am. Singaporeans aren't the only cheapo kiasu ones ok. We just talk too much about our kiasuism but the rest of the world is just as bad. Seriously. You'll know what I mean when you travel enough and meet enough of these kiasu people *remembers being pushed aside by a Japanese woman who was rushing up the train*


Anyway, the uber domesticated me made a nice colourful dish last night, which is simple and everyone should be able to make it! Roasted chicken thighs on a bed of asparagus and roasted peppers. They actually have ORANGE peppers here. So cool. Ok, how did I roast the peppers? Easy. Just whack it into the oven at 220 deg C and don't be alarmed if the skin starts getting burnt and blistered. Once the whole thing is blistered and black, put it in a bowl and cover t immediately with a cling film. Or, like me, you can put it in a plastic bag and just close it. Once it cools down, you can peel off the skin and cut up the soft roasted peppers. Very yummy and sweet!! The rest...well, I don't need to tell you how to cut asparagus and you can marinate the chicken however you like. I just used garlic and those marinate sauces that come out from a bottle. I do have a secret marinate recipe though...but...not revealing! Muahahaha...

Hmm...is this entry getting a wee bit long? Well, just to round things off, bro and I plus some of his friends will be going to watch "Star Trek" on the IMAX screen tonight!!

There'll be more grocery shopping over the weekend (ran out of milk) and I'm thinking of visiting Camden Market or Portabello Market as I want to hunt down some vintage charms and really really nice handmade clay flowers etc.