Monthly Archives: September 2007

Food Republic and Clarke Quay

We had no official plans today so decided to go with our flatmate Roli to Little India for shopping at Mustafa Center. She brought us to a vegetarian Indian restaurant and we had our first taste of paneer, a soft cheese very similar to ricotta. We had one dish with a creme and pecan sauce and the another known as tikka masala, a tomato based sauce. Generally Ron does not like vegetarian food because he doesn’t find it very filling but that was not the case with this food. Maybe it was the naan or maybe the cheese but we were pleasantly stuffed after this meal.

At Mustafa, we picked up some paneer to try to make at home. We also ended up buying another four bags of groceries! I think the novelty of it all hasn’t worn off yet so everything is different and we want to try everything. We bought frozen roti, naan, sauces, fruits, and various fruit drinks.

We were supposed to go to Kinokuniya so Ron could get a Japanese workbook to study for his language exam but we ditched that idea after all the groceries. We headed home to rest first then we were to meet Alex and Joyce at Vivo City for dinner.

We didn’t know exactly where to eat but ended up at Food Republic since there was so much selection. I had my first bowl of Laksa with Udon for S$6.90. It’s sort of a coconut cream curry noodle dish. It was good but apparently I paid too much as usual hawker centers only cost S$3 per bowl. I guess it just means I’ll have to eat more! For more on the Food Republic, click here!

There were some cool things like fresh fried “you tiao” (Chinese dough stick):

After dinner, we headed to Clarke Quay (pronounced “key”):

Apparently you can take a boat ride in the canal and have dinner. This area of Singapore has lots of bars and places to eat. One place that I thought was kind of cool (in a nerdy sort of way) is a bar called The Clinic. The outdoor seating look like hospital gurneys and they have wheelchairs at some of the tables. There was also a room that looked like a morgue and operating room. Alex says that they serve shots in syringes and you can purchase an “IV bag” that contains about 6 shots. Isn’t that just too nerdy?

We instead went to a bar called Cuba Libre. I tried a Starfruit Mojito which was good for a mojito but I think starfruit’s flavor is just too light to taste in a drink. They have a strawberry mojito, sangria (with banana rum!), caipirinha (has cane sugar), and other drinks. We had nice time chatting and the place was pretty quiet on a Sunday night.

Here’s me and Joyce:

Here we are at the end of the night (look at Ron’s big head covering the “Quay” part of the sign… hee hee):

Lush Nails

Today Ron had a full day of class so I went out with some of the other partners to have lunch and get a mani/pedi. Elina, Gladys, and I headed over to a food court near Holland Village to have lunch. There was one place that had a very long line (20-25 people) but we weren’t willing to wait.

We ended up having roast chicken, roast pork, and char siu rice dishes and ordered some fresh fruit drinks. It really hit the spot as we were all starving and now we were ready for some pampering.

We walked by the place with a very long line and it ended up being a roast duck/chicken place. It looks like it won some award this year (something called a “Green” award) so maybe that explains the long time. We’ll have to try it the next time around.

We headed over to Holland Village to try this salon called Lush Nails. It’s on the 2nd floor of a small mall near the back, you can’t miss all the signs leading you to it. It’s very posh looking inside with satiny red colors and silver accents. The foot baths for the pedicures are filled with roses and lemons. I only had a pedicure and it was nice and relaxing. The foot/leg scrub and massage was great. They also served us hot green tea which was soothing.

We had a nice relaxing time and I hope to go back soon. I think I’ll take Ron for a manicure and/or pedicure 🙂

Pictured: me, Elina, & Gladys (see her wonderful manicure)

Prices seem reasonable but I may try a few other places before settling on one.

Oh, someone spotted Mel Gibson today… maybe he owned one of those fancy cars yesterday?