And as a tradition amongst the 3 of us, Chee Jeng’s mother will prepare hong zao ji mian xian 红槽鸡面线 (red glutinous wine ginger chicken vermicelli) for our birthdays…

I think it’s really sweet of her! Other than the fact that it requires much effort, traditionally for the chinese, this signifies longevity in birthday celebrations(Correct me if I am wrong)!

One funny thing about the 3 of us is that we’re always going out to have buffets for every birthday celebration we have, stuff ourselves till we can barely carry our heavy food-filled-to-the-neck stomachs down the road, so this time round, we opted for ala-carte food… BUT, seriously it makes no difference – we ordered hell alot as well.

Starters – Potato Skins

There was an ongoing promotion for DBS cards, so we opted for the 2 set meals which came with Caesar Salad,

Some Salmon Fillet, which I forgot the name of it. I like how it’s not too doughy – in fact, there is a layer of rice underneath the fish, which compliments really well with the salmon.

Pork Cutlet – which we mistook as beef. The meat was nicely done, very tender and is fantastic with the sauce. Just gotta try that!

AND OF COURSE, the regular favourite – Mac’n'Cheese! Goodness I wonder how they do it so perfectly, but I didn’t think the chicken fillet was good, it was too tough for my liking.

And a mud-pie which was surprisingly good! (Because usually complimentary mudpies will taste crazily bad, haha!)

The bar area – great for those gatherings for you to chat over drinks!

Dining area nearer to the entrance – it’s good for couples to dine and celebrate as well.

The dining area nearer to the stage area.

The stage area where they host band performances every night.

On that night where we celebrated Huiying’s birthday, we had many other celebrations going on as well, and I took a few shots of the lovely little kids who were celebrating their birthdays.

So adorable!

But anyway, in case you’re thinking of holding a private party at HRC, I checked out from their website that The Cafe’s Lion’s Den on the mezzanine floor seats 70, or you can even have the entire cafe to hold your celebrations!

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUIYING!

With love,

Chee Jeng & Vanessa

I like Japanese Buffets because I can order as many dishes as I want and not have to consider whether I will be a grass-eating pauper after, and not be too bloated because the portions dished out are pretty small. For instance, if you ask for 1 serving, you will literally get one serving of food (like bite size beef-mushroom roll etc).

And also, buffets are good for people who haven’t met in the longest time to catch up over small bites, where you can go on and on and on and on…

Recently, I just paid a visit to Irodori (where I frequent pretty often) and just thought I could share it with you guys!

Irodori Japanese Restaurant signboard.

The Menu and now the food:-

My absolute favourite – Salmon & Swordfish Sashimi!

And a fraction of what we ordered:-

Generally the food is pretty okay, but didn’t really like it when the service tends to be very messy and slow.

Counter seats where you get special attention from the chef, but there are also designated rooms and areas where you can book for your gatherings too!

And oh, we witnessed a Birthday Celebration while dining there too!

Just in case you start wondering, Irodori is located at Riverview Hotel 3rd level, and adult per head is @ $33++ whereas for children it is @ $20++.

AND AND AND…. There is 25% discount on your entire food bill during lunch & 10% off for ala carte items during dinner! I LOVE!

The entire family celebrated her 79th at SiChuan Court @ Fairmont (Previously known as Swissotel) – a good venue for family gatherings as well.

We had one of the private rooms to ourselves, and it has a good fusion of old and modern furnishing, complete with the auspicious red colour – and chinese families love that colour!

An extra table for the kids.

The first dish was Double boil Superior Fish Cartilage with Geoduck Clam in Superior Chicken Stock, I swear the names of the items are damn long but that aside, I kinda like the thickness of the Chicken Stock – not too overbearing, just nice and savoury for the tastebuds.

Another thing I really appreciate about this restaurant is that unlike other chinese restaurants, they DO NOT serve sharks’ fins, and even had a page dedicated to urge diners to help save the sharks. Thumbs up!

Special Honey Grilled Pork’s Callow Meat with Spicy Sauce

Steamed Cod with Preserved Chilli and Salted Vegetable

Pan Fried Honey Pork Rib smoked with ‘Pu Er’ Tea Leaves – if you are a pork lover, you just gotta go crazy over this – the meat is so soft, and the fats just melts in your mouth! Talk about having dentures, my grandma enjoyed this dish thoroughly!

Poached Seasonal Vegetable with ‘Tang Fu’ sauce

X.O. Fried Rice with Crab Meat & Bean Sprouts

Dessert of The Day – Watermelon Sago

Generally the food was pretty good in my opinion(food-friendly enough for the elderly), but slightly on a steep side -  The entire bill came up to about $2k, so be prepared if you’re going there!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!

(BTW, her favourite is DURIAN CAKE from EMICAKES!)

With love,

From all of us!

The Beautiful Birthday Girl!

The party was held at her condominium function room decorated with pink and black balloons, from the stairs leading all the way up to the function room.

She had catering from Neo Garden – I’ve been hearing so much about it and I finally tried it!

The entire selection was totally awesome, the brocolli was surprisingly soft.

And the fried rice was fantastic!

All the dishes were really good, I think I’ll keep Neo Garden in mind if I have any events the next time.

Her loving & doting boyfriend as well as the Birthday Queen!

Happy Birthday!

I’m sure you enjoyed yourself!

Well I had a great time there catching up with JC friends I haven’t met in a long time and of course, enjoyed the party! Happy Birthday Hui Ning! I’m sure you had a great time!

And of course, a successful party wouldn’t have been possible without programmes and an ideal venue – our birthday queen Hui Ning had her beautiful 21st @ The Green Room Café on 15th August 2009.

The signage

Balloons along the pavement to indicate there’s a party going on – great indication for some guests who are unfamiliar with the party area.

But anyway, in the invitation Hui Ning stated the event is held at the Canopy, and the Canopy is just right next to The Green Room Café (TGRC).

Canopy serves Australian style café food, whereas TGRC serves vegetarian – Only knew about that when I arrived!

Tina, JinSi & Kim @ the entrance.

The Canopy dining area.

The Canopy outdoor dining area.

And slowly it leads to TGRC.

Hui Ning’s party!

She had the entire TGRC to herself – indoors and outdoors.

The indoor area is catered to her family members, which I thought it was pretty thoughtful towards the elder relatives and the young children, in case it gets a little hot outdoors.

See, even had signs to indicate that it’s for family members!

Sheltered, air-conditioned indoor dining.

Sheltered outdoor dining

Pretty huh!

And the buffet food isn’t just at one location – there’s one indoors for the family so they don’t have to walk all the way to the outdoor area to get food.

The area for friends, ideal for a theme that is close to nature.

It was in fact pretty windy that day (she said she was so relieved that it rained in the afternoon – not at night – so the party venue was pretty cooling!)

A great chill-out place for couples too!

The food placed outdoors in one of the huts for friends.

And what’s more, they even have a stage!

Great for performances!

They even had wireless mikes and speakers around the restaurant…

Where friends can gather and perform on your special 21st..

What’s more, I guess it makes it really special to have your boyfriend dedicating message to you…

And your father singing for you at your party!

The very-loved-and-happy Birthday Girl!

The entire party was very heartwarming, I guess what makes a party really meaningful is the people, yes?

Once again,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUI NING!

With Love,

From all of us

Judging from his muscular build, its pretty obvious that this man spends half his life in the gym. And so Genevis came up with a GYM THEME for his surprise party, getting friends to come dressed in gym attire! (Birthday boy wanted a gym-themed party anyway!) Can’t get more meaningful than that huh?!

Originally we had intentions of holding a party in a gym, but we just couldn’t find places that could accommodate having food and equipments, plus given that we had a limited budget to work with, professional gyms were out of the question as well.

So, Genevis came up with the idea of placing signs at Twain’s Condo gym(so that he will chance upon them while having his daily workout), which slowly leads to Twain’s Condo Function Room!

His friends were hiding to prevent being spotted!

And anyway, the decorations was quite unexpected, we were planning for a red-and-white decoration theme (because his birthday coincides with National Day), but didn’t expect the function room to be so bare, SORRY TWAIN!

So, always good to head down to the party venue to know what’s being supplied and what’s not, and always to decorate hours earlier! (We only started getting down to work @ 6 when Twain was arriving at 630, bad planning!)

“If I can’t see you, then you can’t see me too?”

Twain searching for clues in the gym

Twain’s GYM Party.

Check out his stats!

Was Twain tearing while he read Genevis’s birthday message??

Check out some of the unique presents that Twain received…

Teddy bear with HUGE penis.

A bottle of Nu Er Hong – Chinese Wine

An album of birthday messages from friends in the foreground, and the powerpoint by Genevis on the laptop.

Party glasses we got from a party shop at Middle Road

And a new pair of Oakley’s for his 21st!

Once again, Twain’s “Birthday Cake” in the form of Don’s Sheperd Pie

Notice Genevis in the background? The beauty of Skype! She even posed for photos! No excuse to miss the birthdays of your love ones even if you’re overseas!

Look at Genevis in the computer screen (and notice what some of them wear when they hit the “gym”, haha!)

Happy 21st Birthday TWAIN!!

KPO signage

And I read from Marketing Interactive that KPO is actually by Chivas Regal and Imaginings(Does Balaclava and Wala Wala ring a bell?).

And just in case you get a little lazy (not wanting to park @ Orchard Central, they have Valet Services for you as well!)

I love the location – it’s not in the middle of the bustling Orchard Road, and is accessible enough for people to get there after their shopping in nearby shopping centres such as Taka and Heeren(nearest MRT is Somerset, btw!)

Their Menu

And yes, I was saying I’ve been wanting to try their All-Day breakfast – and along with Wen Ee, we opted for KPO’s The Works and Lychee Smoothie for our drink. I absolutely LOOOVVVEEE their scrambled eggs, their bread is just thick enough for me to neutralise the saltiness of the bacon, and it is well-toasted enough for me to have a good mix of soft scrambled eggs and a crispy layer of bread… yum yum. And oh, when I insisted the potato thingy is Rosti, Mikk said it’s homemade hash brown! Whatever that is, everything is so good! And it’s really filling, I spent a good 1 hour trying to finish the whole plate.

The Lychee Smoothie was just okay, nothing fantastic but the thing about it is it doesn’t taste artificial, which is what I enjoy.

The Works

KPO is a good place to chill with friends whom you haven’t met for a long time, a great place to talk and gossip and drink to your heart’s content. And anyway, of course, I’ve always love Mikk’s concoctions (because I don’t exactly like the taste of alcohol), so Mikk knows the right way to make me a cocktail which I will absolutely enjoy.

My Cocktail

My Cocktail, when it’s mixed.

And they have it in glowing version too.

PRETTY HUH!

Wen Ee’s, just right for her, a special concoction by her boyfriend.

Actually there’s no such thing as a glowing drink, Mikk was just saying I’d better put a disclaimer in case people start requesting for glowing drinks.. But in any case here’s the truth revealed:-

So now you all know it’s just a torch shining at a drink, please don’t ask for glowing drinks @ KPO, citing me as the source that I’ve had one, ok?

Fried Brownie and Ice Cream – I didn’t really like it, just thought the brownie was a little too dry, and the ice cream was melting way too fast (I’m not blaming KPO for this, it’s just that global warming is really getting us!)

And oh, we were seated at an outdoor dining area thats why the ice cream was melting fast:-

Just in case you start wondering what lies underneath the glass cover of the table…

TADAH! And I thought the table was pretty cool – you can start stalking the babe/guy you fancy via this “well”, enjoying your food and drinks at the same time!

And Mikk brought me around to take a good look at the entire restaurant, didn’t have much pictures because I thought it was pretty rude if I were to start snapping pictures of their guests… So here’s it:-

The Outdoor Seating nearer to the Valet Parking

The Outdoor Stairway

And the stairway overlooks this outdoor seating area, didn’t manage to get a snapshot of the sofa seats, but yeah, they do have one area so you can relax and have a good chat with friends.

I’ve always been a sucker for buildings with high ceilings and glass panels.

And the DJ area.

Wen Ee says this area is secluded enough for couples to have their private time…

But I say, how to have a private time when it’s right in front of the toilet! And oh, their toilet is catered for both sexes, and of course, the glass panels segregates the drinking and toilet area, so don’t worry about getting weird smells while you are savouring that drink of yours!

The bar area, from top.

I love the experience I get from KPO, their staff are friendly and attentive despite there were so many sections to look after. Perhaps dining there can get slightly steep (Our bill came up to about $75), but in any case, it’s a good place for gatherings – small or big groups and for couples, as well as best friends to catch up!

SO, for Twain’s surprise party we chose Four Seasons Catering – partially because I’ve tried their food before and they were pretty good, and also, I remember that their presentation was nicer. And because we had a budget to work with, so we settled for Summer Set – $13/pax for 25 pax.

Karapu Fried Mee Siam – One of my friends and Victor thought it tasted weird, because there is a sour aftertaste and they were like, “Vanessa, what the hell is this?! Is it spoilt?” But anyway, I thought it tasted pretty unique and nice, just that all of us were used to the “wet” version of Mee Siam, instead of the fried version. Just thought it’d better if we had ordered some curry to go along with it, since curry always goes best with vermicelli!

Sweet & Sour Fish Fillet

Beancurd with Shredded Ham and Mushroom

Cocktail Samosa – Thought this was fantastic! Unlike usual catered samosas where it’s soggy after the transportation time, at least I get to enjoy a crispy skin and some good curry filling!

Oyster Siao Bai Chye with Mushroom

Sliced Beef with Spring Onion – Victor loves this, because the meat is not too tough, just nice, just right.

Four Seasons Chicken – When I saw this I was like, omg what’s this black-brown pile, but when I tried it, omg, it was fantastic! I remember Genevis and I debating over which chicken to get, but we chose Four Seasons (because I thought it’s named after their brand for a reason) and it’s good! I don’t really know how to describe the taste – a little sweet, everyone was like, “Hey Vanessa, this chicken is good!”

Steamed Har Gao – Sorry this picture is slightly blur, isn’t that fantastic a dish though.

There was also Crispy Butter Prawns, forgot to take a shot of it but it wasn’t exactly worthy a shot – the meat was too dry, and the shell seemed impossible to peel. Besides, it’s not even buttery, and it wasn’t crispy at all – it was just hard.

The total bill came up to about SGD$385.20 for 25 pax, and what’s more, its good enough to feed more than 25 mouths – anyway they have a buffer of 10% of the quantity of food that you usually order, good huh!

And oh! When I mentioned that it’s supposed to be a surprise birthday party, they even threw in mini cappucino cakes, nice huh!

So obviously, forget about introducing me those famous cake brands because nothing can change his mind, so while Gen and I were discussing via Skype & MSN (She is in faraway land – Melbourne – for her exchange programme), and then ideas were thrown around HOLA! Shephard’s Pie from Don’s Pie struck my mind!

I’ve always loved their chicken pies, was first introduced to them when my dad brought back their kueh lapis. I did a phone reservation for a full Shephard’s Pie, ready for collection on 9th August, which is Twain’s actual birthday (Yes, National Day!)

Don’s Pie Signage

You can’t imagine how much I love their Chicken pies… They are just the best I’ve ever eaten! Love their crust, love their hard boiled eggs, love their potatoes and chicken filling, I’m just salivating and salivating..

Look at the number of features they have!

And oh, they also have other stuff, like Rich Chocolate Cake, Cheesecake, Apple Pie (I think) etc… and they also do delivery (free for above $150 orders). Maybe if you guys like it, can have a pie party!

Their pies are pretty price-worthy given the quality – $18 for a full Chicken Pie, $19 for a full Shepherd’s Pie.

And just thought it’d be a good alternative, other than the usual apple crumbles some of us may use, as a birthday cake(for non-cake lovers especially!)

Happy Birthday Twain!