Mia's Review: III Cafe

Finally, I'm back with another food/cafe review! Has been doing more beauty related posts recently and my food pictures has been snowballing in my blogging folder. Yikes!

And this time, it was a meet-the-pets event with SL's Butter and MD's Froski snatching the limelight. I would have let Jelly joined in, but after seeing her traumatised look from hearing my neighbour's dog barked ONCE, I guess not.

"You mean, I don't get to go?"

"Oh, okay...."

Located on the 2nd floor of the row of shophouses along Siglap (above the pub), I was greeted by a cute french bulldog, miu miu, at the gate.

 The cafe is not very big, with about 10 tables or so to accommodate about 40 plus (human) pax at a time.

 Other than a drinking fountain for the pooches, the cafe has also placed mop with bucket and litter pan for the pets and their owners.

There's a section of the cafe serving dogs' meal, The Barkery. Menu includes savoury mains like meatballs & meat pies, and also desserts like pupcakes and biscuits.
The most popular dish for that day seems to be their meatballs, even a terrified kitty gave it a few munches! Well, we'll get to that later on.

And now, to the human food section of the cafe. For a pet cafe, they actually do have a pretty wide range of choices, from light snacks, to salad, to pasta and western mains.

Couldn't help but snap a picture of this cute doggie figurine sitting on the counter.

My choice of the day:
Roasted Chicken with Salad and Mashed Potato (but they gave wedges) - $12.90
Mocha - $4.90

The coffee was okay, but the food was.... mehhh.
Both SL and I chose the same mains. Hers was okay, while mine was a little too salty, especially the salad. According to her, my salad dressing even looked a darker shade of brownish yellow. I guess that's why mine was overly flavourful.
And while SL and my sides were more flavourful. It was right at the opposite end at OYHZ, Dresden and MD's side. MD took Cabonara while both oyhz and Dresden took their All Day Breakfast.
It was painful looking at oyhz trying hard to stomach the extremely bland eggs. Just think, scrambled eggs with no seasoning?
No thanks.

However, the meatballs from The Barkery seems to be a big hit, for not only Butter couldn't wait to clean up the bowl. but even a terrified Froski ate quite a few bites of them. And even though it was left cold, it still attracted a very cute Corgi!

"Woof, will you give me some meatball?"

This Corgi, named Coco, is so sweet and mild. Instead of dashing over to steal a bite, she simply sat down and stared at us until we decided to give up Froski's half eaten meatball for her.
And she literally WOOF it down in one bite.
Her owner was pretty embarrassed, constantly coaxing her to go back to their table and saying that she has already ordered meatballs for her too.

The very first dog that caught my attention in the cafe is this 6 months old Chow Chow puppy.
He's so fluffy I'm gonna dieeeeee!

Very chillax, sociable and playful too!

This Shiba Inu puppy was pretty smitten and kept butt-sniffing and hugging him.
HA HA HA!

Then came along a Japanese Spitz, who got pretty fed up by the touchy-feely Shiba Inu and started a small barking fest.

And the so adorably tiny Chihuahua twinsy pups! The black pup seems to be blind in one eye, but still a cutie!

At one point of time I spotted a toy poodle and a pug as well.

 And then came the biggest dog of the night, a cute Golden Retriever, who got smitten with Froski and wanted to befriend him.
Froski you got yourself an admirer!

"WHAT?!"

"OH MY GOD!"

"I better retreat. No, food won't work on me this time. I need to hide!"

"Why you all so bad one?"

When MD and Dresden first came in with Froski and attempted to let him out of the cage, it immediately attracted a handful of pups who bounded over and started barking excessively. Poor guy, he was so terrified and even peed on Dresden while she carried him away from one hostilely barking pup.
Throughout the entire 3 hours plus we were there, Froski was totally stressed up being the only cat in a cafe full of dogs. His face was literally a 囧 and he moved around slowly in a leopard crawl motion. Poor boy! :(
Apparently, Dresden has called to ask if it's advisable to bring a cat and they didn't bother to give much warning that the cat will probably end up in such a predicament.
Sorry Froski, no second time!

As for Butter, it wasn't exactly a stressful time for her since she's just being surrounded by more of her own kind, I reckon.
But being more timid and introverted, she very much preferred to stay close to her humans, SL and P, and literally just dog-watch along with us.
Haha, how sweet!

 "Yes I know I'm pretty. You don't have to keep snapping photos of me."

And after being fed meatballs and some of SL's roasted chicken, she went into this Zzz mode.
Love those floppy ears!

All in all, I think III Cafe will be an awesome cafe to bring your pet dogs over to chill and let your pup make some pup-friends and socialise on a weekend. Food wise....
Oh well, on the safe side you can always just stick to fries. :)

Oh, and please, no cats unless it's a seasoned dog-befriender.

III Cafe is located at 678A East Coast Rd Level 2.
For more information, visit their website HERE

Have you participated in MollyMia's first beauty giveaway?
Head over HERE to check it out if you haven't!

Till then,
Mia Foo

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Mia's Sponsored Review: MTM Therapy at Indulge Skin & Body Lab & Special Deal!

I've always been suffering from stiff shoulders due to long hours at the computer (plus bad sitting posture), and the stiffness will eventually 'move up' my neck and then eventually manifest itself as either my random migraine attack or my yearly cluster headache attack. 

So I was really glad when I was given at chance at trying out this TCM related Meridians Tissue Manipulation (MTM) therapy at Indulge Skin & Body Lab. 

MTM therapy is a form of remedial massage that uses buffalo horn tools which allow the therapist to go deeper into our muscle tissue to 'untie' the knots within, providing a much more effective relief for chronic pains, muscle stiffness and fibromyalgia. As this massage works directly on our meridians, which are the channels in our body through which our qi flows, this therapy will also help to relieve symptoms that arises from meridian blockage, such as water retention, weight gain and etc.

The areas upon which we can perform MTM therapy on includes:
1. Eye
2. Face
3. Back
4. Buttocks
5. Arms, Chest and Shoulders
6. Tummy
7. Legs

For more information on their individual benefits, visit Meditrina's website HERE

For my case, I was advised to try their back therapy, which helps to alleviate both upper and lower back pains and consequently improve complexion. The therapist, Chira, upon hearing that I suffer from frequent migraines, also went on to perform the treatment on my arms, shoulders, neck and head.

I was ushered into a small and clean treatment room and given disposable shower cap and undies to change into. Chira was also very polite to make sure that I was already lying face down on the bed before she entered the room.
And before I move on with my experience of the therapy, let's see how the buffalo horn tools look like.

A total of 5 different tools were used as shown, with 3 sizes of the horn-shaped tool, 1 small spatula-shaped (rounded plus flat tips, and 1 flat plate with 4 different edge detailing. The flat plate gave a sensation that's closest to 刮痧 (gua sha) while the other 4 tools produced a much deeper, specific pressure. Depending on the area and intensity of the 'knots' encountered, the therapist will switch between the 5 tools to give the best effect. 

My therapy started off with the application of this Soothing Moxa Pain Relief Essence on the major meridian points on my back, namely two sides of my neck, shoulder blades, mid/lower back and base of my spine.

If you understand Japanese Kanji or Chinese characters, you'll know that the product name can be loosely translated into palm's acupuncture. Indeed, as explained by Chira, this quick acting pain relief essence adopts nanotechnology to allow the essence of the ingredient to penetrate into the skin to give a 30 seconds DIY acupuncture session to alleviate the pain at targeted area.
Using her palm, Chira pressed the product on my skin until I felt this warming sensation before patting the area lightly to complete the application.
With difference in level of meridian blockages at different areas of my body, I experienced a significant difference in the time taken for the warming sensation to be felt.

After application of the Soothing Moxa Essence, Chira then started the massage with buffalo horns using the Ageless Herbal Cream with Chasteberry extract ($178), winner of the Cozycot Women's Choice Award 2012. Unlike other oil massages, which leaves your skin oily and in need of a shower, this cream gets fully absorbed into your skin in the course of the massage to give you many benefits, such as:
1. Smoothen skin texture and work on skin renewal
2. Promotes blood circulation and reduce appearance of wrinkles
3. Gives a firmer and more curvaceous bust line
4. Promote stronger immune system
5. Improves vitality, stamina and endurance
6. Strong anti-oxidant effects help to increase defence against free radicals
7. Alleviate PMS, menopausal symptoms
8. Supports bone health
9. Increase muscle strength and physical fitness
10. Restore physical and mental energy to optimal levels
11. Speed up recovery from illnesses

And for the buffalo horn massage, it goes with the usual TCM theory of 不通則痛,痛則不通, which means if you have blockages, it's going to hurt. And of course, it hurt a great deal for me, with the worst pain experienced at my left shoulder blade, which explains the usual migraine and cluster headaches on the left side of my head. The knot was so bad Chira could hardly get the horn to move and she had to switch to the flat plate to ease it out first before she could get the horn to work, calling it a 'big project'.
And just like what my usual TCM doctor has been telling me, Chira could easily deduce that I suffer from weak lungs (hence the usual colds and 100-days-coughs) and weak gastric with bloat from all the knots she located in my back muscle tissue. And by constantly easing out these knots to unblock my meridian blockages, it will help to alleviate all my current pesky health issues.

And as preempted by Chira right after the treatment, parts of my arms and back started to bruise up slightly the next day, together with a stinging pain on the skin. But compared to bruising from 刮痧 and cupping, these bruises are way lighter and could be easily overlooked at a glance and goes away on the 3rd day for my case.
But all these in exchange for better health, better complexion, and most importantly no more migraines and the dreaded cluster headaches, why not?

And that's Chira, their best therapist who is fluent in both Mandarin and English.

Are you suffering from chronic pains, sciatica, constipation, indigestion, bloatedness, or even facial issues like dark eye rings and saggy skin?
Give this MTM therapy a try and experience the benefits for yourself!

Indulge Skin & Body Lab is located at
1 Vista Exchange Green #B1-27, The Star Vista, S(138617)
Nearest MRT Station: Bouna Vista (5 minutes walk)
Tel: 66942072

For more information on Meditrina's products and treatments, visit their WEBSITE or FACEBOOK

And for all my friends and readers, you'll get a special discount! Just quote MiaMTM10% to enjoy a special 10% discount for the treatment, Ageless Herbal Cream not included.

Till then,
Mia Foo

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Mia's Beauty Haul & Giveaway: Playboy Cosmetics. Beauty Treats, Luv Carat, Cala Brushes

Yeah, I know there's a little too much brands listed in the title. But this is a collective haul. I still have some items from Pixi Cosmetics that's still currently shipping, which will take a while, so I'm going ahead with these products first. :)

First up, from Cala. Their bamboo brushes....

I got their Powder Brush to replace my dirty old flat top complexion brush from Elf Studio and at the same time, decided to pick up another of their Complexion Brush such that I can use them alternately when one is getting dried from washing. 

From Luv Carat, I got 2 tubs of loose powder. Couldn't resist it because their packaging is so bling and so pretty!

 I've gotten the shade in Natural Beige for myself as I've used up my BB Mineral Loose Powder I've gotten from Japan during my Kansai trip last year. 

From Kuu Konjac, I've also gotten their white konjac sponge, which is meant for oily & combination skin, to replace my worn out konjac sponge from Black Paint. 

And from Playboy Cosmetics, I picked up 4 items.

And if you didn't know, I'm obsessed with buying lip products and I've gotten 2 pink lippies for myself: Pink Candy (left) and In the Pink (right).

I already have 3 mascaras (Rimmel, Maybelline, and Dollywink) stashed away in my drawers and I know I don't really need another mascara. But I really dig the packaging and couldn't resist getting this Bunny Black Mascara too.

And this Blushing Bunny Shimmer Bronzing Powder, which I totally impulse-bought it simply because it's so pretty!

And lastly, from Beauty Treats, I got some pretty affordable deals! 

Their Perfect Face Trio, which is a Contour-Highlight-Blush palette. A pretty huge one too.

I also got their Lip Crayon set, which comes with 4 pretty colours in very convenient twist up tubes. 

And I also got this Swag Bag, which comes with 12 eyeshadows, 4 lip glosses and 2 blushes, specially for a giveaway! 

And.... of course I decided to throw in more goodies from my haul to sweeten up this giveaway. 

Follow the steps listed in the Rafflecopter below and stand a chance to win for yourself a total of 4 beauty products:

1. Playboy Blushing Bunny Shimmer Bronzing Powder

2. Luv Carat Celebrity Gold Loose Powder (Great for highlights)

3. Beauty Treats Swag Bag

4. Beauty Treats Lip Crayon (in Bright Red)

Really sorry to my international readers, but this very first giveaway of mine is only open to those with a valid Singapore mailing address, unless you're willing to pay for the postage. :) 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Till then,
Mia Foo

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