I was invited by the marketing & direct sales manager, John, of Novotel Clarke Quay recently to try out their new and improved international buffet spread at the The Square, their restaurant in the hotel. I was so stoked because I love a good buffet, and it's been a while since I've had any!

Novotel is situated just beside Liang Court, which can be accessed by train from Clarke Quay MRT, or several buses. It was a tad longer to walk from the station though and we were suitably hungry by the time me and my friend Wing reached!

At the restaurant, we met up with John, who gave us a tour of the buffet line-up and also introduced to us the current theme for The Square - Big Feature Dishes! I'll show you what that is in a bit.


We also met Jean-Philippe (guy in photo), the French chef at helm of the restaurant who was from Bali previously. He was the one who conceptualized this theme, and also created interesting fusion food.






This is the giant mortadella sausage.
They also have some meat dishes, like seabass and roast lamb. Had some roast lamb which was very tasty, especially with the sauce.

 Here's another giant dish - the Paella! It is featured in the poster as well.

Here you have a 1 metre grilled snail sausage - interesting taste, it was salty and dry but had some spices inside.

They also have a hot food section, where the staff will help whip up a local laksa or noodle dish for you! The staff there were all very helpful and friendly.


They also had a 38kg parmesan cheese wheel. This is so insane haha. But they cook the risotto inside!



There is also a giant Brie cheese at the bread/cheese section.

 Here's a giant cake. Very marie antoinette don't you think?

 Their dessert section is quite comprehensive! All finger food sized. My favorite is the giant chocolate sauce fondue with fresh fruits.


Lastly, I am going to talk about their ala carte dishes! We were served with the cheese risotto with parma ham first. I loved it! It was cooked in a pan and then rolled in a parmesan wheel so that the heat melts some of the cheese and the rice gets coated. The cheesy taste was just right, and not too salty.


Next we had another awesome dish - the cod fish with tiger prawns in laksa bisque. It was my favorite dish of the night. The codfish was cooked to perfection and draped in the thick gravy which is oh so addictive! It is also served with chicken rice, so imagine - this is Singapore on a plate!







The Square
177A River Valley Rd, 7th Floor Novotel Hotel, Singapore 179031
+65 63383333
Website

This is an invited food review by Novotel Clarke Quay.

I first discovered and blogged about Arbite's brunch offerings a while back but I've since gotten the opportunity to revisit it to try their pasta! It was a mental note I made to myself when during brunch, one of my companion's tomato pasta tasted so good it seems like a must-visit after.

So I did! I ordered the dish I was most curious about on the menu - Green Tea Fettucini with Smoked Duck ($24.90). It was made with smoked duck breast, semi sundried tomatoes (LOVE!), button mushrooms and garlic malto (what is garlic malto?!). Also a sprinkling of feta cheese on top (if that is not garlic malto, I can't tell, really).

Look. at. that.





The parents ordered a fish and chips for Kesler. Which is the perfect kid food. Cos I know I would love it if I had no teeth and wanted something exciting to nom on.




Arbite
66A Serangoon Garden Way, Singapore 555962
+65 62870430
Tue–Fri: 11.30am – 10.30pm
Sat–Sun: 11am – 10.30pm

Do note there's a 50 minute limit to your meal time if you go during peak - the trick is to go at around 8++ so they won't chase you out since you are the last batch. Otherwise, don't feel bad if they asked you to leave, 50 minutes is more than enough to get all that Omega-3 into your tummy!

The best kept secret in town has now been unveiled. #dontsayinevershare - I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do!


Ichiban!




Sushi Express

1 Raffles Link, #B1-23 Citylink Mall, Singapore
+65 62389811
Daily: 11am – 9.30pm

It's time for brunch! In fact, there is never a time where you can't have an all-day breakfast. This time round I went to check out Bronte that is nested in the Bukit Timah enclave near Sixth Avenue. The place has been on my radar since foodie and entrepreneur @Yongfook instagrammed about it a week ago.

Apparently Bronte was created after the demise of Uluru on Duxton Hill, an Australian steak restaurant which was very good, as I used to go there occasionally for their set lunches. However, at Bronte we only focus on their brunch food for now. They have the steaks too, which warrants a dinner visit another time.


The ambiance was quite pleasant, the inside was very shady and not glaringly sunny like the outside.

So they serve brunch from 9.30am-2.30pm on weekends only. Be sure not to go in late for their eggs and assorted brunch items then!




Next up the food! Yay, I had the English pork sausage with scrambled eggs, potato hash, roasted tomatoes and rye toast ($17). It was a very classic and simple combination of good old favorites.

What I liked was the potatoes that was done just right, mixed with the fragrance of the bacon, and the more exotic rye toast they had. The tomatoes were a tad puny. The eggs was fine as well, slightly drier (like about 10%) than what I like. The sausages were saltish and flavorful but not exactly bursting with goodness.


I was suitably full after this dish.


My friend ordered the smoked salmon scrambled eggs with garlic portobello, sauteed spinach, home-baked beans and rye toast ($17). It was really wholesome as well. Great for people who likes their veggies, though if its the shrooms I'll prefer to go to Artichoke for their organic shrooms!


Otherwise there are also other great brunch places around, notably Choupinette and from what I heard, Baker & Cook which I have yet to check out.




Bronte
8 Greenwood Ave, Singapore 289198
+65 62199151
Mon–Fri: 12pm–3pm, 6pm–10.30pm
Sat–Sun: 10am–3pm, 6pm–10.30pm

It's been crazy! Since appearing I've had more than 100 likes on FB and more than 4,500 page views on my blog. Thanks everyone for your support as well, seems like my mandarin was not that atrocious..

In case you were not home on a Friday night at 8.30pm, here's snippets of most parts of my appearance in the half-hour programme.

You can catch the full episode on xinmsn catchup tv.

The time has finally come. After 2 days of filming in April, I guess it's now or never to let everyone know that I will be appearing on Channel 8 tonight at 8.30pm on a new variety show called "Share Something", or "我爱公开”.




















I got a call back in March about it in which they are looking for bloggers to co-host an episode of the variety show. The concept is about finding and sharing interesting food, places and apps from people's smartphones as well as featuring some of them to share with the audience. You can see my blogger profile on the xinmsn website, as well as the show intro.

Here's me with Bryan during one of our filming breaks :)

Saw ling at their Balaclava gig recently and managed to take a few videos. Really liked Balaclava, the place was quite comfortable for drinks and the music was not too loud. Didn't realize it moved to ION, hidden all the way at the carpark on the 5th floor!



They did 3 sets in total. It was really fun, I enjoyed it a lot.



Hope you liked it too! For more info on where they play next visit Ling's Facebook Page.

I actually got it free when it was still new, but since then they have priced it at around 1.99 if I am not wrong.

But seriously. I have tried almost ALL the photo-editing apps out there... Camera+, Photoshop Express, VSCO.. but they all just didn't give me the freedom and capabilities like Snapseed does. Do note I am talking about photo editing and not filtering (that's Path, Instagram, Hipstamatic).

Actually I wasn't aware of how powerful the app was when I downloaded it, but after a while my colleagues were raving about it and I tried it again.

Then I realized - This is how you get your iPhone photos to look like they were taken from a DSLR.

Exhibit 1: Taken with iPhone 4S, edited with Snapseed.





Compare the before (left) and after (right).
In fact, this app was also rated to be the best by one of my favorite visual bloggers of all time, krisatomic. She tried all the paid apps in fact.

Here's what I normally do with my photos. Remember to set your screen brightness to bright enough or you will keep thinking your photos are very dim.

1. Try to take your photos in a good lighting (Very important to start with a good base photo)
2. Use "Drama" function, lower the intensity and increase the saturation. This is the most important function.
3. Use "Detail" function to sharpen image if needed
4. Use "Adjust image" function to tweak brightness (usually)

Other cool functions: "Selective adjust" to brighten up certain areas and "tilt-shift" or "center focus" to create the blurry background effect.

Anyway, go download it and try it for yourself.

#dontsayinevershare !