Mia's Update: ParkRoyal on Pickering

This is a pretty late entry, for I've visited a Junior Suite at ParkRoyal on Pickering last month for a friend's birthday party. The hotel is located conveniently at 3 Upper Pickering Street, opposite Hong Lim Park, which is a mere 5 minutes walk from Clarke Quay MRT Station.

 The main entrance

 The interior of the hotel

credits to booking.com

 The 'green' exterior of the hotel building

credits to booking.com

ParkRoyal on Pickering, a PARKROYAL Collection hotel, redefines the metropolitan skyline with a unique hotel concept offering 15,000 square metres of lofty sky gardens, and an exclusive rooftop Orchid Club lounge that offers amazing 360 degree views of the Singapore city skyline for club room guests. Strategically located at the gateway to Singapore’s dynamic Central Business District, opposite Hong Lim Park, the hotel offers an ideal base for work or exploring the city. ParkRoyal provides modern comfort in their rooms and suites, and a dedicated wellness floor with terrace pool, spa and a jogging track high above the street level.

They are the newest hotel in the PARKROYAL portfolio and one of Singapore’s greenest hotels – proud recipient of the BCA Green Mark Platinum Award.

-adapted from Hotel Website-  

And now, let the picture do the talking first.

The corridor leading to our suite. 

 The separated lounge area with an executive desk and pretty bay windows. And yes, we were setting up Wii in the room. :)

 The bedroom, surrounded by 2 sides of bay windows, and a standard sized wardrobe.

And a pretty luxurious bathroom, with a separated WC (toilet) that wasn't pictured, a his and hers mixer basin stand, and the actual wet area with a bathtub and standing shower area. 

 The (non-complimentary) mini bar was well stocked up with chocolate bars, canned drinks and alcohols.

 The complimentary coffee machine and tea bags were pretty well stocked up as well. 

Room wise, there's absolutely no complaints. The suite was done up nicely with pretty ID finishes and provision of mood lighting that gives a luxurious feeling. Though homeowners might not truly appreciate the abundant existence of bay windows in their houses, I believe having them in hotel rooms will definitely be a plus point that serves to prim up the overall mood of the room. Just imagine spending a nice, quiet afternoon sitting at the bay window, reading your favourite book under the warm sunlight that streams in through the large windows.

The brilliance of the suite aside, I have to say that their service is really not up to the mark, yet. Unlike our previous staycation with The Quincy Boutique Hotel, whereby a friendly staff will show us up to our room and give us a detailed room tour to explain to us where were all the gadgets and equipments located and how to operate them, there was none of such thoughtfulness from ParkRoyal. We were left on our own, trying hard to figure out how to even on the lights to the bathroom!

On top of that, despite us requesting to check in at an earlier time, which we weren't rejected in the first place, we were informed that our check in will be delayed as the suite wasn't ready, even after their standard check in time! In the end, we were offered another suite. Nevertheless, the damage has been done as the initial room number holds a special meaning. 

Lastly, their service was really slow! We had some problems connecting our Wii to the TV and called the concierge for techical support. About (minimum) half an hour later, nobody turned up at our suite and we called again, to be told that they'll send the technician up soon. The technician didn't show up at our suite until at least another half an hour later. 

1 hour wait for technical support? Are you kidding me?! 

In spite of all the disappointment with their standards of service, we still had a great time together. At the end of the day, it's still the company that matters. :)

Just showing off the mad awesome chocolate cake we had that night. The whole cake was so rich and chocolatey. The most sinful indulgence of the night. Simply decadent! 

Till then,

Mia

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Mia's Recipe: Japanese (New York) Cheesecake Cupcake

As in my Japanese Cotton Cheesecake post last week, I've mentioned I went on a baking spree that Sunday. Now, to be exact, I went on a cheesecake baking spree. Apart from the cotton cheesecake, I've also baked some NY cheesecake cupcakes. Now I can't really differentiate NY cheesecake against Japanese cheesecake (those sticks selling at Beard Papa), so if you know how to, please tell me!

Now, let's get on with the ingredients so we can get started. 

We will need:

For the crust base

Vanilla Wafers or Digestive Biscuits - 120g

Butter - 40g 

(You might wanna use a bit more butter with Digestives)

For the cheesecake

Cream Cheese - 200g

Caster Sugar - 60g

Eggs - 2 nos.

Fresh Cream - 150ml

Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp.

AP Flour - 3 tbsp.

Butter - 20g

First up, melt your butter in a hot water bath and then place the wafers/biscuits in a ziplock bag and smash them with a rolling pin or any alternatives. Otherwise, you can crush them in a food processor until fine. 

 I crushed my digestives with a wooden spoon, actually. 

 Mix in the melted butter until they resembles wet sand. 

Spoon the wet crumbs mixture into the muffin tin/sillicon cups lined with cupcake liners. I've used 1.5 to 2 tsp. each and then felt that my base was too thin when my cupcakes were baked. Will recommend doubling what I've used (3 to 4 tsp.) on a No. 8 cupcake liner. 

Press down the crumbs firmly into the cupcake liners and leave in the fridge for them to set for at least 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, we shall prepare the cheesecake mixture.

Beat the softened cream cheese until smooth and add in caster sugar. Mix well.

Add eggs (beaten) bit by bit, mixing well with each addition. 

Add fresh cream and mix well.

Add lemon juice and mix well. 

Sift in flour and mix well. 

Finally, add in butter (melted) and mix well until the mixture is smooth. 

The batter will be pretty runny and liquidy. 

Pour the mixture into the crusted cupcake liners until 3/4 filled and bake at 170 degree Celsius for 20 minutes. 

Do not check the readiness of the cupcakes by inserting a toothpick, expecting them to come out clean, because they shouldn't!

I gauged by seeing my cupcake tops getting slightly browned (some didn't because my oven sucks) and developing this layer of sheen over the top. If you tap the top of the cupcakes, they should have this subtle 'jiggly' texture to it. 

Cool the cupcakes down to room temperature and chill them in the fridge for at least 3 hours before serving. 

If you can see, the insides remain very soft and moist. I didn't do a good job with tapping out the air bubbles, though. :(

Till then,

Mia

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Mia's Review: Chock Full Of Beans

Just yesterday, I visited Chock Full Of Beans at Changi Village with Sa and DS for one of my Pre-Birthday celebration. :)

Located at the end of a row of shophouses, the place is actually pretty hot. Literally. :p

In case you're wondering, CFOB is known for their awesome latte art.

Let's see what we've requested for the day. 

 I asked for a Minion on my Cafe Mocha and got DAVE!

 DS's Doraemon on his Hazelnut Latte

And Sa's Hello Kitty on her Hazelnut Latte, which later on got bits of poached egg added in. Okay, I shall not elaborate on that mishap.

In my opinion, even though their latte art is pretty impressive (I LOVE it, actually), the coffee has failed to impress me as much. The coffee is pretty weak, hovering dangerously close to being more like a milo than a mocha. But hey, I'll willingly close both eyes for the sake of my awesome minion latte art. :) 

And I'll definitely re-visit again and again for my mickey mouse, chipmunk, stitch, bunny, (and the list goes on) latte arts. 

 My Bangers & Egg - $17

Frankly speaking, I felt it's rather pricey for a croissant, scrambled eggs and 2 bangers. Plus, the scrambled egg (my favourite kind of egg) was not very well done. Very bland, almost tasteless, even though I've added in grounded black pepper and salt crazily. The croissant was crispy, but lacked the buttery fragrance I love about them. And the bangers were.... normal. Pretty dry and tough, but flavourful enough with a peppery savoury taste. 

Will I spend $17 for this again? No hesitation, my answer is no. 

 Buttermilk Waffle with Caramelised Bananas - $9

Honestly speaking, I think this waffle is every bit worth our $9. I wouldn't complain if it's slightly more expensive, either. It's so pretty! 

The sad thing was, the waffle was served together with the rest of our orders, and we only started eating it after we're all done with our individual mains. So by the time we started on the waffle, it was cold. :( 

Nevertheless, I think it's still good. The waffle was soft, fluffy and dense enough to not affect its fluffiness and yet not make us felt cheated of our money. I'm not familiar with buttermilk to know whether there's a distinctive buttermilk taste to it, but it definitely was at the right sweetness with a subtle baked fragrance to it. Plus, the caramelised banana topping was just brilliant! Cooked to soft in sugar syrup till caramelised, yet not exactly with the sickening mushy texture. There's no doubt to it, all 3 of us immediately nodded our head and said, "The banana is good!" at first bite. A must try if you're a waffle+banana person. But, do eat them while they're hot, please! Don't make the same mistake we made. 

And that's DS's Egg's Benedicts and Sa's wrap wasn't snapped... because it's just a wrap. *rofl* 

And as I've said this meet up was my pre-birthday celebration, here's what Sa bought for me as my present! A pair of Rilakkuma mopping slippers. Pretty soft and comfy too! And thanks for the treat as well! <3

Till then,
Mia

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Mia's Review: Tim Ho Wan @ TPY

And so, we also did the number 1 favourite pastime of Singaporeans: Crazily queuing up for food, by visiting Tim Ho Wan!

Even though the branch at TPY is rumoured to be less crowded, CL and PS were still very sweet to offer queuing up for the 6 of us as early as 930 in the morning, when the restaurant opens at 11am! And even so, they were the 4th in line! When I reached at about 1050, there was already a snaking queue ending right at the escalator, of which 1 round of the restaurant seating is insufficient to manage.

So my point is, be it PS or TPY, be ready to queue for an avg of 2 hrs. 

Upon getting the order list from the staff while in queue, the girls literally went on a crazed ordering spree, ordering 2 sets of erm, almost everything. Alright, I exaggerated. But still...

Tell me this is manageable by 6 frail damsels.

That aside, let's get down to business. Here's my take on Tim Ho Wan. :)

First up, got to be their famous chair siew bun. The most easily understood description of this bun for those who haven't had the chance to try it yet, will be a polo bun styled char siew bun.

If you can see, the top of the bun is covered by this layer of crispy flakes, just like a polo bun, albeit less buttery. The bun itself, apart from the crispy flakes on top, is soft and relatively thin with the insides filled with a generous amount of sweet tender char siew. Having char siew as one of the food listed under 'I will rather not eat' and definitely no fan of a char siew bun, I can still easily conjure up a GOOD for this bun. 

But, to queue 2 hours for it? Nay.....

Next up, is the must eat 3-combo at every dimsum place I visit. The fried carrot cake, the har gao, and the siew mai. (Not a fan of pork, yes. But somehow siew mai must tag along with har gao. There's no other way to it.)

My verdict on this three: Common. 

The fried carrot cake is actually nearly crossed the line of disappointment, in fact. It's soft, yes. Very soft in fact. But it's also pretty bland, not flavourful enough, and not crispy at all on the outside. I might even have disliked it if I didn't find the container of chilli sauce right beside me at the table. 

The har gao and siew mai are pretty much just any har gao and siew mai we can find at other restaurants that need not queue 2 hours to get seated (For example, The Cathay, Crystal Jade or DTF). I'm sure this tells you everything you need to know.

 Next up, cheong fan. We ordered a total of 4 variations of cheong fan: Char Siew, Prawn, Liver, and the remaining one that I coudn't really remember but it's a plain one with some sesame oil. (Liver and plain ones not in picture)

These cheong fan, once again, were good but not fantastic. Just, commonly good. The rice flour skin were very soft yet not mushy and the filling were tasty.

But, can you get cheong fan of the same standards elsewhere without the need to queue for 2 hours? Yes, you can. 

 Next up, is this rather unappealing glutinous dumpling, which I have no idea what it's called. Asked the girls, but those who made the order couldn't remember. Nevertheless, it's just a glutinous rice ball with some meat filling inside. However unattractive, this is quite good. the Glutinous rice skin was fried till crispy and yet still sticky and very chewy. The meat filling inside is moist, tender and a blend of sweet and savoury. I didn't really enjoy the filling that much, but I really liked the dumpling skin. :)

These prawn dumplings were fried till amazingly crispy with real prawns wrapped within. However, the additional toppings that made these fried prawn dumplings slightly more special were the wasabi mayo and ebikko. The wasabi mayo tasted pleasantly minty rather than the 'stinky' pungent odour I hated wasabi for. However, in my opinion, they didn't really bring out the taste of the prawn dumplings. I'll still prefer them with just a good quality chilli sauce.

 This Ma Lai Gao is extremely soft, fluffy and sweet! It simply melts inside your mouth and releases their distinctive brown-sugar caramel-ly sweetness. However, it was a tad too sweet for my liking, and the sweet flavour of it kind of clashes with the rest of the dim sum. Nevertheless, I can totally see myself enjoying this Ma Lai Gao with a cuppa good kopi siew dai. :)

Lastly, how can we miss out my favourite dessert, Osmanthus (Jelly) Cake? Every piece of the soft, 'crumbly' jelly is stuffed generously with the osmanthus bits and wolfberries, making it very sweet and yet not 'artificial'. To be honest, I enjoyed this the most and if I weren't so full by the time this was served, I could have easily gobbled down all 3 pieces in mere seconds. I can never get enough of osmanthus flavoured stuff! :)

So to sum up my verdict on Tim Ho Wan, I'll say it's good for an 'experience'. Even though I'd actually only queued for 10 minutes this time round, and regardless of how much I love their osmanthus jelly cake, I will never consider queuing another 2 hours to get them, ever again. 

So was Tim Ho Wan a yay or nay for you? Drop me a comment and let me know!

Till then,

Mia.

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Mia's Recipe: Japanese Cotton Cheesecake

On Sunday, I totally went on a crazed baking spree and baked 2 kind of cheesecakes. One of them is the Japanese Cotton Cheesecake (Cupcakes). Sounds good? So let's get on with the ingredients so we can get started. 

We will need: 

Cream Cheese - 200g (I may experiment with the usual 250g tub another time)

Milk - 200ml 

Butter - 60g

Eggs - 6 nos.

Sugar - 140g

Flour - 60g (I used AP, but I believe cake flour is the best choice)

Corn Starch - 20g

First, heat up the milk in a pot over heat and melt in the cream cheese and butter until mixture turns smooth and leave it to cool.

Separate the egg yolks from the whites (make sure absolutely no traces of yolks get into the whites) and beat the whites till frothy. Add in sugar in 3 batches, beating in between each additions and then continue beating on high until meringue stage (peaks formed). 

I beat mine for 20 minutes in total, on mid-high speed. 

By this time, your cream cheese mixture should be cooled. Add in the egg yolks and mix until well combined. 

Sift in the flour and corn starch and mix well. 

Next, temper the cream cheese mixture by adding in 1/4 to 1/3 of the meringue and stirring until well combined (very important!) 

Pour the tempered cream cheese mixture back into the meringue and fold lightly to combine. 

Take note not to over mix this final mixture, if not your cakes will not come out fluffy and 'cottony'! 

 Scoop the batter into your muffin tins lined with cupcake liners (I did 2.3 tbsp for each no. 8 sized liners) and bake them over a hot water bath at 160 to 170 degree celsius for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the top is nicely browned. 

Baking over hot water bath simply means pouring some boiling water in your baking tray before sitting your muffin tins directly into the water, but making sure they're not immersed. 

I baked my cupcakes at 160 degree celsius for the first 20 minutes before turning up my heat to 170 degree celsius when i realised my top were still pretty 'white'. I want to get my top nicely browned and was worried that continuing to bake them slowly at 160 might dry out their centre. 

As you can see,  my cupcakes shrank pretty bad. This was because I baked mine in 2 batches and I must take out this first batch before I can put in my 2nd batch. They immediately collapsed and shrank when i set them out on the cooling rack, due to the sudden drop in temperature. 

For my 2nd batch, I decided to off the mains after 22 to 23 minutes (instead of 25 minutes) and let the cupcakes cool slowly in the oven itself. The shrinkage was less obvious.

 And here's a shot of how the middle looks like. Extremely fluffy and moist. :)

Till then,

Mia

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Mia's Review: Kaixo

Middle of this month, I successfully planned a surprise birthday celebration for J at Kaixo by gathering all the girlies at a rather short notice. And yup, J and I settled for Kaixo because somehow we were having the same craving for Churros and Paella. Plus, Kaixo is just one street away from her workplace. So I guess, why not? :)

 Menu can be found here without pricing. 

In case you're unfamiliar, Kaixo is a Spanish restaurant that offers mainly cuisine influenced by the Basque region (Northern Spain) and their dishes are generally tapas. 

We didn't even wait for J to confirm our order (because if there were only J and me, we only need to order Paella and Churros) and we went ahead to get a black paella for 2 and risotto off the main menu to share. We also ordered a Kurobuta (black pork) Pork Collar with Pisto Bilbaina and Raxor Clams in sauce Vierge off their special menu. Not forgetting two servings of Churros with hot chocolate dip! 

Just showing the interior of the small restaurant and the cute candle table lamp! 

Ginger Ale - $4.50

The difference between Ginger Ale and Ginger Beer is that Ale is more dry as compared to Beer, that's all (as according to the server). And as per their explanation, this glass of ginger ale is a mixture of slight sweetness, tangy-ness of the lemon, a pleasant subtle spiciness of the ginger and the distinctive dryness of the ale. Coming from someone who enjoys a can of Asahi Super Dry from time to time, this $4.50 is a well spent. :)

Razor Clams - $16

I can see that the rest of the girls has the exact same "Huh!" look that was on my face when the dish was served. We've all overestimated the servings of tapas. It seems that there really is just ONE clam's serving in this dish. (Yikes!)

The clams were cooked to an extremely chewy texture, yet not 'rubbery' at all. You can guess from the generous amount of chopped tomatoes that they tasted sour, pleasantly sour, and makes a very good appetizer course. The only thing bad about this for me was, why so little? :(

Kurobuta Pork Collar - $18

Looks like beef, eh? But it's really pork collar! 

The pork is cooked to amazing tenderness, yet still has the chewy texture that gives the meat a very good bite. Every bite is flavourful and savoury with a hint of spices, brilliant. I'm not going to deny that I'm really not a fan of pork, but this is good! 

Risotto (Creamy Bomba Rice with Mushrooms & Peas) - $18

I shan't deny that I got pretty turned off when this was served. Look at the amount of peas! When I dug my spoon in, I was further turned off because it seemed extremely mushy and gooey. Alright, by now you should know I was never a fan of risotto.... But my views changed upon the first bite. Although it seems mushy and gooey, the rice were actually still pretty hard, which added on a very distinctively bite and gave a great contrast to the gooey cream sauce the rice was generously drenched in. Very creamy, with a subtle savoury flavour to it. I've carefully avoided all the peas so please don't ask me how they tasted, yeah? And erm, because a small serving for 1 was actually shared among the 6 of us, I didn't manage to fish out any piece of mushroom. However tasty, I can forsee myself being unable to finish even the small serving due to the creaminess of the dish. I'm not exactly a cream person, that's why.

Black Paella for 2 (My apologies for the blurred picture) - $20 per pax ($40)

First impression, serves 2? Really? The serving of this paella is almost like the risotto for 1! 

However, the rip-off serving aside, first bite of the paella was heavenly. The rice was cooked till the point whereby those rice crusts are forming (think of claypot rice, those last bits of rice at the bottom?), hence it's a brilliant blend of soft mushiness with crusty hardness, all in a mouthful of rice. The pleasant surprise of the texture is further sweetened up with a flavourful savoury taste that was slightly peppery. Just now I liked it! However, the seafood were less promising. They're generally overcooked, with the squid so terribly done I felt I was chewing some rubber tyres. In the end I totally gave up and swallowed it all, almost choking on the huge chunk of unchewable squid.

The strong flavour of the rice also got to me after a while, so much so that I felt they're too salty to stomach with my final bite. I guess this is why they're meant for two. The strong flavour makes it impossible to finish this plate of paella alone. 

Churros - $14

Yes, $14 for 5 sticks of fried dough covered in cinnamon sugar and a watery chocolate dip. MAJOR RIP OFF. 

If you're interested, you can check out my post on churros recipe, which I've done recently. This $14 Churros basically just looks prettier than mine, made thicker than mine, more generously coated with cinnamon sugar than mine, and comes with an additional dish of a very watery chocolate dip.

Major disappointment here. Need I say more?

All in all, the 6 of us spent $160 in total at Kaixo, and left the place still very hungry and heading directly to a dim sum place over at Chinatown for 2nd round. 

The food was tasty, no doubt, but the price was too high for comfort. I guess I'll go back to Medz for paella for now, and will make my own churros. :p

Kaixo is located at 96 Tanjong Pagar Road and is closed on Sundays and Mondays. 

Till then, 

Mia

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