Tien Court Restaurant @ Copthorne King’s Hotel Singapore

Hey everyone!

After a sumptuous lunch at Wooloomooloo and a relaxing staycation at Hotel Clover, we’ve finally come to the final part of my birthday celebration, courtesy of my boyfriend’s wonderful parents. This year, they brought me to Tien Court, a reputable restaurant that serves contemporary Cantonese and Szechuan cuisine at Copthorne King’s Hotel. It has been in operation for a long time with Taiwanese Masterchef Ho Tien Tsai at the helm of the kitchen, clinching countless of awards throughout the years for its culinary excellence. It’s a pretty popular choice among Chinese newly-weds to be for holding wedding banquets here in Singapore.

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Being a Chinese restaurant, the deco of the restaurant gave a very oriental yet modern vibes. It used auspicious colours like red and white, coupled with black to portray a more contemporary theme. It had a huge collection of antiques and more interestingly, there were even bird cages hanging everywhere!

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Featured the white romper I was wearing here!

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Me settled down in the restaurant. Love the intricate design of the sleeves by the way!

The restaurant is rather small for grand wedding banquets if you ask me, but it’s perfect for small-scale ones meant only for people you’re really close to (which I would be opting for in the future because I never like the idea of wedding banquets).

Bf’s parents did all the ordering of food while I was at the washroom so I didn’t know what to expect on the dining table! It was great they chose the food because I’m a fussy eater when it comes to Asian cuisine and I’d probably take ages to decide on what to eat. Haha.

First came the starters – an individual bowl of Szechuan Hot and Sour Soup for everyone.

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Topped with lotsa pepper and vinegar afterwards.

The Szechuan Hot and Sour Soup is a perfect alternative to Shark’s Fin Soup which I’m really glad is banned in most Chinese restaurants in Singapore. It’s addictive, equally thick and had lots of finely diced Tofu with plenty of mushrooms. And once you add the usual condiments like pepper and vinegar, it tastes almost like Shark’s Fin Soup!

Next, we had Roast Chicken with Spicy Garlic and Almond Flakes.

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The skin was roasted to the perfect golden brown – divinely crispy and perfectly dry. I usually eat chicken meat without their skin but this, I couldn’t forgo. The tender and moist chicken meat was given the extra crunch with those almond flakes and spicy garlic. You have to try this when you’re at Tien Court.

A simple stir-fried Asparagus dish with onions and red dates followed.

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Asparagus is one of the few vegetables I enjoy eating. This one at Tien Court was fleshy, juicy and soft – an indicator that it was cooked perfectly. It’s delicate, fresh and crunchy and it melts in your mouth. This plate was emptied the fastest!

Then we had Braised Duck.

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It had a rather strong herbal essence which I found pleasant and delectable. It added flavour to the succulent duck meat, making it really fragrant and savoury. Bf, on the other hand, thought that the smell was a tad too strong to the point of revolt. I guess if you’re not afraid of the pungent smell of Tea Leaf Eggs (茶叶蛋), this should be a-ok for you!

The final meat dish of the night was Hong Kong Style Steamed Garoupa.

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Bf and I love any “Hong Kong Style Steamed” fish because of the sweet and savoury soy sauce that came with it. It has a unique and addictive taste that you cannot find in other fish prepared differently. On top of that, the fish would always come silky smooth and tender, so much so that it’d break apart very easily when you try to cut the fish into smaller portions. The Garoupa dish fitted my description perfectly though. My expectation for this was well met 🙂

Last but not least, what is a birthday celebration without Longevity Noodles?

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It bizarrely came last and I vaguely remember that we wanted it to be served in the beginning. I guess the service staff wasn’t paying attention. But because it came so late, we were already full to the brim. I don’t think we even had space for desserts. Haha!

But I still managed to take a few mouthfuls of it to be polite. It was slightly cold and mushy, like it was left at a corner for some time before it was served to our table. It could be better if it was served earlier because the taste was not too bad honestly.

Okay, that’s all for this entry!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Tien Court Restaurant
Copthorne King’s Hotel Singapore
403 Havelock Road
Singapore 169632
Tel: 6733 0011
Fax: 65 6732 5764
Website

Love, Bonito Year-End-Sale 2014

Hey everyone!

It’s been such a long time since I wrote anything about apparel shopping so let’s take a short break from food posts, shall we? 🙂

Before that, I have a small confession as a shopaholic. I’m a compulsive shopper – that’s a known fact. Before I got obsessed with makeup, I used to go crazy on online shopping and would spend hundreds of dollars a week on clothes. My spendthrift ways became apparent when I was awarded the “VIP” status at Love, Bonito for being one of their top spenders in 2012. For that, I (together with a few other VIPs) was given priority over the rest in The Great Love, Bonito Sale in 2013 and was allowed to enter the room an hour ahead of everyone. No doubt it was such a rewarding experience and the privilege made me feel that all the spending was worthwhile.

Then, I had to return to school. I was forced to leave my full-time job and gradually, I started spending lesser on clothes (also because my wardrobes couldn’t take in anymore clothes and Bf was nagging incessantly at me for that) and of course, I also lost my “VIP” status on Love, Bonito.

Fast forward to October last year, I was given the opportunity to work at Love, Bonito after responding to their recruitment ad and successfully getting through the interview. I was their Photo Editor but because of school commitments, I had to leave the company after close to 4 months with them. It was one of my best working experiences and it kinda healed most of my scars from my previous long-term employment (which was beyond terrible. Read here). A few months had passed since I stepped foot into Love, Bonito office and I really missed working with the wonderful people there.

Just then, I received a text from one of my Love, Bonito ex-colleagues asking me if I was available to work during their warehouse sale in November. Without hesitation, I gave a positive reply. They must’ve heard me! Haha.

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So yes, that’s just a short background story on how I got to work at the Year-End-Sale. It was a two-day event. Only two days and I felt like my legs were going to break. For days I couldn’t walk like a human being and I had to forgo my morning runs because my soles were hurting like crazy from running around non-stop at the event to replenish stocks at the racks. But that’s fine, because I really enjoyed myself! Met quite a number of great people, and of course, shopping at the sale also plays a great part in making the experience memorable 😀

Okay enough of rambles. Here are some of the event highlights!

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We got to shop! Here are 2 bags full of my purchases! Not everything was for myself, of course 🙂

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Day 2!

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Good deals in the wagon! Quite a number of stuff I bought were from the wagon 🙂

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The pixies were all treated to a sumptuous (to me lah) breakfast on Day 2, courtesy of Kith Cafe!

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Here’s my cup of hot chocolate! What a way to start your morning. It definitely gave me a boost and made me more energised for Day 2!

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Great companions at the event! Here’s me with 2 Jocelyns. Haha!

Are you ready to see my loots?

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These are bags for shopaholics. Haha. Lugged back 2 of this!

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What I bought! I’ve got to agree that I managed to snatch up some great deals! 😉

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Featuring some of my star buys, here are my favourite tops and dresses (especially the maxi dress at the bottom which I had forgotten what it’s called) from the sale.

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Some more dresses and tops, and also the bottoms I bought!

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These are sample pieces (no tag) which I bought on impulse. Way too snug and small on me. 😦

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The very popular furry pullover which was gone before sunset on day 1!

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Love touching the material haha.

I didn’t have time to try out everything I bought but I managed to wear out a few of my purchases 🙂

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The top is loose-fitting which kinda made me look preggers so I tucked it in (but it’s so short, it kept coming off my shorts). I like the colour and the intricate design on the sleeves.

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Got this from the wagon 🙂 It’s a very unique design for a shorts.

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White romper which was launched during the Chinese New Year period this year. I actually have the same piece in Navy and love it so much that I decided to get another one in different colour! I was lucky enough to have seen it at the sale 🙂

Okay that’s about it! Will resume my food reviews shortly 😛

Please note that I will not be answering any questions relating to employment at Love, Bonito.

Cupcakes @ Fluff Bakery

Hey everybody!

During my staycation a few months ago at Hotel Clover, Bf and I walked past a stretch of road that leads to Haji Lane and Kampong Glam and we saw this super long queue formed outside a shop called Fluff Bakery. The time was a few minutes past noon and the queue was so long that it extended all way to the next small road beside it. We were both intrigued by the long line so we did a quick Google search about the bakery on the spot.

Apparently, it’s a very famous bakery well-known for their cupcakes and they’re often sold out within a few hours! And many a times, there’d be people who’d queue for 30 minutes only to realise that everything was gone the moment it was their turn to order. We didn’t want to risk queueing so long under the scorching sun. It was also partly because we were famished and we needed food right then, so we gave the bakery a miss and went to have our lunch at Pastamania (which was awful by the way).

We didn’t expect to walk that same stretch of road again 3 months later (to celebrate my birthday again at Hotel Clover) and this time we were early!

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I guess the hype has died down a little because the queue was seemingly shorter now but yay, that means first-timers like me would get the opportunity to try their famed cupcakes! The waiting time was less than 10 minutes and I managed to get all the flavours they had. Like Twelve Cupcakes, they have different flavours every week.

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This was the menu for the week of 17 November!

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One of their regular flavours is Nutella Red Velvet

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Another regular: Salted Caramel

Looking at the pictures can already make me drool! The beautifully decorated cupcakes are just too enticing. Who would be able to resist them, you tell me?!

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Nutella Red Velvet and Crème brûlée

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I’ll introduce them one by one in awhile!

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Here’s what I got! Top view 🙂

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Top row (from left): Explosive Cookie Butter Latte, Nutella Red Velvet, Crème brûlée // Bottom row (from left): Pecan Orange Salted Caramel Liquid Cheesecake, Salted Caramel, Ispahan

I only realised that I had forgotten to take pictures of them individually (except for Ispahan) today. Bummer 😦 Anyways…

Salted Caramel is described as a vanilla cake with salted caramel filling, vanilla Mascarpone frosting and salted caramel drizzle.

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Bf isn’t a fan of Caramel so I got to devour the entire thing, woohoo! However the caramel tasted like Werther’s Original caramel flavoured sweets so I’m not sure if it’s hand-made by the people at Fluff (or did they just conveniently melt the sweets? But I choose to believe everything was D.I.Y). The filling was really thick which made the cupcake overly sweet in my opinion. *reaches out for a cup of water* But I’m sure caramel lovers would love this to death!

Explosive Cookie Butter Latte is described as a light and fluffy coffee cake with Speculoos cookie butter filling, Speculoos cookie butter frosting, cookie crumbs and an explosive white chocolate shard. You must be kiddin’ me.

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OH MY GOD.

This is it. Ladies and gentlemen, I have found my new favourite cupcake flavour. I’m usually a sucker for Red Velvet but this just takes the cake (no pun intended hehe). I love this so much that I regretted not buying a few more of this because this was one of their limited edition flavours! NOO! Hey Fluff, when are you bringing this back again? I will be first in line just for this 😦

This cookie-flavoured cupcake has a good mix of crunchiness (from all the cookie crumbs, yum!) and softness. What I like about Fluff’s cupcakes is that everyone of them is filled with sweet and savoury fillings that surprise you with every bite. It ensures the moistness of the cake and makes you crave for more!

And why explosive, you ask? Because the popping candy that coated the white chocolate shards would fizz and pop in your mouth! I’m not sure if you guys are old enough to know what the candy is but during my time, it came in a form of a foot-shaped lollipop like this:

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source: alibaba

Oh my God, they are so creative I love it! Who would have thought of incorporating something like that into a cupcake? It made eating cupcake so much more fun haha. Now if you see any cupcake described as “explosive” by Fluff Bakery, you know why!

Crème brûlée is described as a light and fluffy vanilla cake with a creme brûlée filling, topped with Mascarpone frosting and burnt sugar shards.

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I must really take my hats off to Fluff Bakery for being able to bake crème brulée into a cupcake. Every keen baker would know that making and perfecting the taste of crème brulée aren’t easy. Heck, you don’t even need to be a baker to know that because Masterchef shows you everything that happens in the kitchen haha. But their ability to fuse a casual dessert with one of higher-end is definitely very admirable.

I like that the cupcake is soft and creamy, but I don’t fancy that burnt sugar shards at all. Granted, they were burnt intentionally, but they were just too bitter for my liking. You can do without them because everything else was perfect 🙂

Nutella Red Velvet is described as a red velvet cake with Nutella filling and cream cheese frosting.

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It’s heavenly *_*

A cupcake shop is never complete without the crowd’s favourite Red Velvet cupcake. To me, it’s one very important flavour to have because my final verdict of the cupcakes depends very heavily on it. Hence my eyes were already set on their Red Velvet cupcake before I stepped foot in the shop. And I wasn’t disappointed at all.

It is fluffy, moist and its sweetness is just right – exactly what I’m looking for in Red Velvet cupcakes. To top it off, it’s filled with everyone’s favourite chocolate hazelnut spread which complements the overall taste. It’s basically a major crowd pleaser that’s bound to sell out before the rest. But fret not, this is a permanent flavour so it’s available every single day!

Pecan Orange Salted Caramel Liquid Cheesecake is described as a light and fluffy vanilla cake with liquid cheesecake filling, orange salted caramel frosting and caramelised pecans on top.

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I don’t really like nuts but I must say that they’re necessary here because they gave the cupcake the extra crunch! It’s really good, light and tasty. It felt like eating a real cheesecake because of the generous amount of filling.

I love to eat but I’m also very weight-conscious at the same time. I usually avoid eating (too much of) the frosting of cupcakes but I actually don’t mind sacrificing a few pounds (just run more rounds lor) for the frosting on Fluff’s cupcakes, especially this one! It’s so one-of-a-kind and delectable and I’d kill myself if I wasted it!

Last but not least…

The Ispahan cupcake is described as a light and fluffy rose cake with a lychee filling and raspberry frosting.

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SO BEAUTIFUL (erm btw, the rose flower is inedible)

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This is another unique flavour that really stood out but somehow isn’t very popular (last to sell out every time). I guess it’s an acquired taste? But I ABSOLUTELY love it! The lychee filling really upped the game. It’s something that you can hardly find elsewhere (in fact, you seldom see fruit-flavoured cupcakes, do you?). It’s thick, flavourful yet not too sweet at the same time. I got the orgasmic feel biting into the cupcake. It’s AWESOME! Unfortunately, it’s not included in this week’s menu 😦 I hope it’ll make a comeback!

Each cupcake costs S$4. Quite a hefty price tag but I say it’s worth it! Also, it’s HALAL so it’s practically for everyone!

It opens at noon on most days and queues would already start forming before that. I’m not a morning person so I’m not sure when I’ll go back again 😦 Plus, it’s so far from where I live! Fluff Bakery, Y U NO DELIVER?

That’s all for this post! Thanks for reading guys 🙂

Fluff Bakery
12 Jalan Pisang
Operating hours: Tuesdays to Saturdays, from 12pm ’til sold out (around 3-4pm)
Nearest MRT station: Bugis
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