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A couple of weeks ago on a Friday evening I was at Shaw Lido when I saw this DBS NFC one.tap booth outside and it was pretty amazing! I only knew about Visa Paywave (and only recently did I try it at Cold Storage, and that was cool as well) so when I heard that you can tap to pay with your phone I wanted to try it!


What is NFC you ask? It means Near-Field Communications, which essentially is a short-range wireless communication technology that transmits data between a mobile device and a reader.

Unfortunately my iPhone 5 has no NFC. Boohoo!

I saw so many people win free movie tickets and moviebites combos. Even IMAX vouchers! There was also a guy who was wearing an NFC sticker on his shirt, so you just gotta find and tap him (with your phone!) to win. Hurhur.


All you need is an NFC-enabled phone like the Samsung Galaxy or Sony Xperia. Basically most smartphones that run on Android or even Blackberry. NOT apple.

Here's my colleague Mark who tried out the one.tap with his HTC phone! He won movie tickets!


I grabbed one of the signboards that people are carrying. It's quite hilarious. Now, perhaps I should consider an NFC-enabled phone the next time so I can put all my DBS cards into it so there's more space in my wallet for taxi receipts -_-


There are over 30,000 merchants in SG that accepts NFC payment, including Comfort/CityCabs (no more stretching across the seat to punch in numbers on the machine, just tap!). You can also tap at Watsons, Shaw Theatres (when you are late that is very important).

There are also mobile coupons that you can redeem with one.tap. All of these tap transactions are possible because of collabs between DBS + MasterCard + Starhub + EZLink with the phone app "SmartWallet".

You can view more of what DBS one.tap is about here:


SIGN UP for this amazing service on the DBS site now!
There's a promo for free popcorn when you use One.Tap at Shaw Theatres to buy a pair of movie tix from now till end of the year. That's super awesome. GGGMTL!

You know what is great about living in the heartlands? You get great local food from food centres that has been around for decades. My favorite thing to do on weekends (other than going for brunch) would be to go to a nearby coffeeshop or food centre, and eat ALL the good food! You'll be spoilt for choice at these places.

I'm also doing a series of hawker centre features precisely because there's so many stalls in there that you might wonder, which are the ones really worth your $2.50-$4 to try? You can only eat so many dishes. Well, I am trying them, and telling you which are the ones to look out for!

Also because of some friends from overseas who would love to try out local food. Well today we are starting with Chong Boon Food Centre. I went at noon and it is packed with heartlanders. I love it!

Of course there is the famous Chia Keng noodles as covered by ieatishootipost. You have to queue at least 15-20 minutes for it. Some like it, like my brother, but I've tried it before and found it too oily.

For today, we ordered the kway chap (look for this plate's colour). It is... average.

The Chwee Kway was really good. It is rice flour cakes with chai poh (preserved vegetables) on it. The kway is very soft, and the chai poh slightly sweet, very finely minced and not too salty. It was just a bit oily at the end with the chili (also good!). Recommend! It can be found at the last row, corner, with a white signboard with 2 chinese words which means chwee kway.

Next, the prawn and pork rib noodles at the last row of the food centre. Look for the purple bowl, that's the right one! It is the same row as the chwee kway. It is very delicious according to my sister and dad. Many people were eating it too. I'll hedge my bet that it's awesome.

I ordered the Chinese mee siam ($2.50) from the stall that had many accolades and press coverage stuck on it. It's a pity, it wasn't really that good. It does not have the "shiokness" from a tangy, spicy mee siam. This was in fact a bit too 'milky', even though the eggs were sliced nicely.

So if you have been following me on instagram (@alexischeong) you will know that occasionally I will post up photos of my adorable mini schnauzer called Mickey, nickname Mik Mik and hashtagged #mikmikk on instagram.

She loves car rides because she gets to do this (and stepping all over me in the process):


Well we brought her to the beach for the first time last Saturday and it was such an adventure for her! Look at how excited she is.


She also met some fellow doggie friends but prefer to hang with us at our mat.



Overall it was a great trip - she was so knackered out at the end of it. Happy weekend everyone!

Here are some photos of my dining companions that night! We walked over from Purvis Street to the very happening Liang Seah Street opposite bugis to have some desserts (the ones at El Toro didn't look that good). Good old chinese "tang shui" from Ji De Chi (not Ah Chew) hits the spot!

The braised beef cheeks with mashed potatoes, spinach, portobello mushrooms and madeira jus was a bit too gelak for us. The beef cheeks was really soft though. The mashed potatoes could be fluffier.

Chef D'Table

30 Victoria Street, #01-29 CHIJMES, Singapore 187996
Tel: +65 6338 4898
Mon - Sat: 11:30 - 14:30, 18:30 - 22:30

This month, we have 3 Nuxe products - a body lotion, a cleansing gel and a dry oil, a full-sized Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer with SPF20 and a small bottle of Bioderma water-based makeup remover/cleanser. There's also a very cute Bellabox mirror compact.

I am quite happy with the Laura Mercier product, which I might try to use. The Nuxe oil also smells amazing. I bet people will also love the Bioderma water, because it is so miraculous!

Happy birthday Bellabox!

Was kindly invited by the folks from Fern & Kiwi Bar and Eatery again for a proper food tasting after they had their Grand Opening in September. Spoke to many people that night - the very friendly PR guy, the restaurant manager and the chef.

The big question was "What IS New Zealand food?"

Being the first authentic NZ restaurant to set up shop in SG, they are by default a representative of the country. Huge responsibilities!


After some explanations and the proof in the pudding, the answer was clear.

New Zealand food is quality.
It is the best of nature's offerings because the country is in the middle of no where but receives the best in rainfall, clear ocean waters and rich volcanic soil. What that gives is rich agricultural produce, good beers, the best fish and cattle.

Even though they are also very close to Australia in the types of food, in terms of cooking style they have more Maori influences.

Well then, let's walk my epic meal of that night then shall we?

The restaurant was moderately filled on a Wednesday night. The tables and chairs are laid out quite comfortably on the second level above the bar.








Next we tried the Pizza Flatbread ($14) which is caramelized onions with Gruyere cheese and rock salt. It is a very interesting pizza as an appetizer - the caramelized onions was sweet and lent a fragrance to thick crispy pizza bread.







Coated with honey bbq orange glaze, the pork ribs were simply amazing. The meat melted off the ribs so easily in a medley of fats, tender fibers of pork and juice. If you ever had a hankering for pork ribs, you know where to go. It's really good. Highly recommended!




And then came the Moro bar and Kahlua Cheesecake ($13) with moro bar and kahlua, finished with a ginger syrup and an orange mint salad. This made ZQ make a very funny expression as well. And so did I because the first thing you experience when you put it in your mouth is ok, cheesecake. Then it kinda swirled around and you will taste the texture and richness in flavour. And then it finally hits you that you just had the most amazing dessert ever. WOW!