Arteastiq Bistro @ Plaza Singapura

The girls suggested to have high tea and Arteastiq was chosen as the venue. This time round, we visited the one at Plaza Singapura. It has been ages since I last dined at Plaza Singapura!

To start, we shared a salad that has quite a sizeable mound of burrata in it. Tasted sweet (probably from the honey mustard or sweet potato?). Quite nice.

Spinach and Sweet Potato Salad @$15++ (plushie not included)

creamy burrata

Got ourselves a "Signature Teasery" set that is meant for 2 pax to share. It comes with 2 specialty tea. We chose Pomelo Tea (hot) and Lychee Tea (iced).

Pomelo Tea (front) and Lychee Tea (back)

Signature Teasery for 2 (@$48++)

The best item from the savoury would be the Tortilla with Smoked Duck. Next was the Vol au Vent  with its delectable puff.n The foie gras terrine on toast with yuzu marmalade was overpowered by the sweetness. Hmm, for a moment, I thought I was having dessert already.

Smoked Salmon with cream cheese mousse, Tortilla with smoked duck breast, Vol au Vent with mushrooms capers pate, Foie Gras Terrine on Toast, Yuzu Marmalade, and Crushed Pistachio

Double Raspberry Choux Pastry, Chocolate Cone with Banana Custard, Chocolate Truffles with Nut, Macarons

The raspberry choux bursts out easily when it was pressed. Thick jam in it. Did not try the rest. 

Double Raspberry Choux

Thank you Tiara for making the reservations. An afternoon with Tiara, Shermaine and Kris.

Arteastiq Bistro

Address:  68 Orchard Road, #03-70/72, Plaza Singapura, Singapore 238839
Website: https://www.arteastiq.com/plaza-singapura-menu/#hightea
Contact: 6336 0951
Business Hours: Daily 11am to 10pm

Dookki 두끼 @ Clementi Mall

Do you love chewy rice cake in spicy gochujang sauce as much as you love those fishcake skewers (odeng) soaked in clear broth? If your answer is yes to both, then you'd love Dookki. Imagine eating an unlimited amount of tteokbokki and fishcakes to your heart's content, buffet style! Sounds fantastic, yes? Ahhh, but there is a catch. This is a time-limited buffet. For dinner, there is a 90-minutes time limit. Adequate for the majority of us as the ingredients only needed a few minutes to cook.

store front

Just make sure that all pax in the party are at the door otherwise, time starts when the first person starts. The service staff would ask if it is your first time, and if yes, he/she will take the time to explain briefly the processes.

instructions

Staff will help you to create the sauce in accordance to your spice level preference. We asked for a mild spicy as there is one in our party that has lower tolerance to spicy food. The broth will be set to boil while the staff goes to make the sauce. If you'd like to add the cheese ring to the meal, it is of a separate charge and not included in the buffet by default. About $9.80 for the cheese ring with sweet corn.

broth (soup base for the sauce)

A tumbler of the base broth will be left at the table and diners are free to pout it into the pot once the pot became too concentrated after prolonged cooking.

Staff would explain which are the containers for cooked food, and raw ingredients. Each diner gets their own personal 'plate' that look like a mini tiny sauce-pan. So cute.

raw ingredients

Liked that the tteokbokki are really tiny. Loved the purple coloured ones for they reminds me of ang ku kueh. Chewy exterior plus sweet fillings. Try it and you'll know what I mean. If you like the cheesy ones, the pale yellow tteokbokki that looks like mini sausages (similar to purple tteok) contain cheese fillings. The chicken bulgogi tasted good even when boiled in the soup/sauce. And with Korean army stew style, one could put in as many pieces of luncheon as you desire.

take your pick 

first round

We exercised caution when taking the ingredients. First round was just to try what's good and what's not. For the cooked food section, there was a lot of fried stuffs (twigim). Totally regretted taking the fried chicken! More flour than chicken. The mandu are decent and so was the gimmari (fried seaweed roll).

twigim 튀김

My favourite and probably the safest bet, was the odeng / eumok (fishcakes). A few varieties and my friend asked what's the difference. Err...the shape and density? Hahaha!

fishcakes 어묵/오뎅

Meanwhile, do place all the ingredients that needed cooking into the pot. And while it is boiling away, one could start with the twigims and eumoks. Remember to eat the cheese ring once it start bubbling otherwise, either the cheese gets chaotar (burnt) or the ring will stopped cooking after a short while and the cheese will harden.

cooking in progress

If you are looking for utensils/tissue paper, for Korean food dining, most places would have this compartment as part of the table design. For Dookki, it is the same.

at the side of the table

For the best fish cake, it got to be this one. The soft and fluffy ones.

best fish cake

For dessert, don't bother. Just shaved ice and chocolate sauce. Hmmm, we shared one and agreed that this was not worth any stomach space.

shaved milk ice with chocolate sauce

Sakae Sushi @ Lot One

My parents would visit this outlet each time they are in Singapore. Reason being that Lot One is close to the place that we are staying. Otherwise, the other option would be Ichiban Boshi at Jurong East.

The menu at Sakae has been revamped and it is pretty decent. Am having a thing for aburi sushi and they do have 4-pieces of aburi salmon for $10. Not a bad deal. Especially if the size of the sushi is not too minuscule that it then becomes irksome.

Aburi Salmon Sushi @$10 (4 pieces)

pretty good

For me, I'd usually do 7-pieces of sushi for a meal. As in every meal, there should be some greens, so I got myself a plate of wakame (seaweed) sushi. Just loved those saltish crunchy texture of the seaweed.

wakame ワカメ

The last finale piece, was a handroll. Been ages since I last ate one. Oops, for this meal, I'd consider the amount of rice in the handroll as x 3 of any sushi piece. Means, I ate 9 pieces of sushi in total. No wonder I remembered feeling rather full after that.

California Handroll 手巻

Tanabata Festival (七夕) @ Liang Court River Valley

Celebrated once a year on the 7th day of the 7th month, Tanabata is also known as Japanese Star Festival, where two star-crossed lovers separated by the milky way, reunite. The festival was imported to Japan by Empress Kōken (孝謙天皇) and it gained popularity till date. In Japan, people will write on strips of paper and wish for good fortune during this day.

And for the very first time, Liang Court is bringing this cultural festival to Singapore!

Tanabata

At Liang Court, now we too can write our wishes on Tanzaku strips, and hang them on bamboo branches. Hopefully, the celestial lovers could make them come true!

write your wishes

may your wish be granted

For kids, there are fun traditional games specifically shipped in for Japanese Summer Fair by Meidi-Ya Supermarket. For example, Yoyo Fishing, Ball Scooping and 1000 Strings.

mini carnival games area

scoop tiny balls instead of guppies

try your luck with 1000 strings

There's also a showcase of Saga Prefecture rice and vegetables. Saga-gyu I've heard, so today am acquainted with Sagabiyori rice and greens.

Sagabiyori rice

mochi tools

carrots, cabbage (はくさい)

kabocha (カボチャ)

Other than that, there is also a booth by Be Movement Singapore, a social enterprise that amongst others, publishes books and hold fairs to raise awareness of social causes from a global perspective. 

Be Movement's Japan Issue

trinkets handmade by elderly and low income families

If you're at the main Atrium, don't forget to drop by Katana-e Kicho 刀絵帰蝶 by Ms Nalu Miyamoto. She uses the Katana, precision cutting blades, to create intrincate and detailed paper art.

Katanae Art Display and Demonstration by Ms Nalu Miyamoto

Had a chance to chat with Miyamoto-san, and she shared that her creations have background stories, for example Japanese folklore like the Crane Wife (Tsuru Nyōbō).

Tsuru Nyōbō 鶴女房

Like a painting, am appreciative to the fact that the paper pattern was carved out, bit by bit by hand using the small sword. Its final form is such a beauty.

delicate yet with a sense of strength

If you're shopping at Liang Court and spends above $100, then don't miss the opportunity to redeem a Miyamoto-san's creation, while stocks last! She will be in town till 10 July only.

どうもありがとうございました、すきです！

And if you're spending $150 and above ($250 for Meidi-Ya and Audio House) There's also an exclusive couple-set pillows to redeem till 10 Aug.This week's design till 10 July is Cosmic Love.

reuniting on Tanabata

Remember Liang Court Signature Food Trail? Well, it's back!

food trail

Get your coupons for just $40, and use it on Mondays to Thursdays to enjoy a pre-set first meal, and then choose the remaining of the 2 sets from any of the 25 participating outlets. Oh, there's a free beer from Thirsty - Craft Beer Shop, plus choose one quick bite out of 5 choices. Wow.

food trail coupon

Not forgetting, 7 July is also Machicon date. Buy tickets here.

To end the evening, here's a bottle of Thatchers Green Goblin (@$9.70) from Thirsty.

cheers

Liang Court Mall New Year Activities and Goodies

Was at Liang Court and boy, its supermarket Meidi-ya was bustling with shoppers! Japanese and local, everyone seemed to be stocking up for the new year. Liang Court Mall is hosting a series of activities for Japanese New Year (お正月), celebrated on 1st of Jan.

From now till 5th Jan 2014, shoppers can redeem a gift box (from Customer Service at L2) wrapped in furoshiki if the spending is above a certain value. Terms and conditions apply. Read more here.

Other dates for activities to look out for is 1st Jan 2014, 4th Jan 2014 and 5th Jan 2014. No worries, there are standees, banners all over the Atrium to remind shoppers of the upcoming activities for Japanese New Year.

Shishimai workshop

Shishimai (front), Daruma (back)

Shishi-mai  is similar to 舞狮(Lion Dance during CNY). Wanting to keep goals and need some help to stay focused? Daruma, also known as Japanese wish doll may assist.

Daruma

Fancy a mask, or a sugar biscuit?

sugar biscuit look interesting

cute and scary masks

Years ago, was in Tokyo during the New Year period, and the hotel had this bamboo decoration at its main entrance. Think it was the kadomatsu.

somehow, this reminds me of kadomatsu

daruma on mochi?

Interestingly, Meidi-ya is selling cherry blossoms. Yup, cherry blossoms!

Cherry Blossoms in the living room?

stalkful of buds

close-up view

How about some confectionary for the new year?

had tasted these few years back by a friend who went to Kyoto

In Meidi-ya, one might find alot of people buying fish cakes (kamaboko), kelp (konbu), sweetened black soybean (kuromame) as these items  are typically eaten during the new year celebration.

There's a bit of authenticity in the basement of Meidi-ya, where one can find a Taiyaki stall manned by a native chef.

Taiyaki stall

scooping up hot mochi-mochi taiyaki

making red bean regular taiyaki

white mochi-mochi taiyaki

The fillings are actually quite sweet, and it was almost bursting out of the pancake! Custard has a nice vanilla scent to it, while the mochi dough was that bit more chewy.

taiyaki (fish-shaped pancake) @$2 per piece

After you're done with shopping, don't forget to redeem your new year goodies box from Customer Service at Level 2 (if qualifies).

pink auspicious furoshiki wrapped gift

daruma everywhere

rice crackers