W Singapore Sentosa Cove

Every time I receive a wedding invitation from friends who are throwing a banquet at W Hotel, a part of me is reluctant due to the hefty angbao that I have to give, yet another part of me looks forward to the scrumptious food at the banquet. 

This time, thanks to my husband, we managed to get a one night free stay at W Singapore Sentosa Cove! 

1. Location

Honestly, unless you intend to hang out at Sentosa all the time, I wouldn't see why anyone would choose to stay at W Hotel, because it is far from the main attractions and even within Sentosa, it is rather far in. A taxi ride (without all the surcharge and all) to Vivo City costs around $7. 

2. Hotel 

The hotel exudes a hip and funky vibe, and this extends from the lobby to the rooms to the pool.

3. Room 

The room was spacious and trendy. At the bedside, there were several switches with different labels, one of which stated "Flirt"- if you switched that on, pinkish purple / purplish pink (whatever) lights would switch on.

We also enjoyed good views of the quay and the private yachts docked there- one can only imagine the lives of people who live at Sentosa Cove!

Very comfortable bed, such that my husband could not wake up the next morning and said that the bed simply sucked him in. The pillows were a little too soft for my liking- I had the option of choosing my pillow (there is a pillow menu) but I was too lazy to request for harder pillows.

4. Toilet 

There is a bathtub in the toilet. The panes could slide so that one could see the room from the toilet (and vice versa). Not sure why anyone slide the panes open though because you would almost certainly catch a cold.

There was a bottle of Evian in the toilet and it costs $5, so unless you really like Evian and don't mind splurging on it (in the toilet), by all means. Otherwise, you can drink the complimentary bottles of water in the room.

I loved these packaging which were simply shouting- "I'm too cool for you!" Even the colour of the toothbrush was neon, consistent with the vibe of the hotel.

Strong water pressure. The only issue I had was that I didn't want to use the rain shower, yet quite a bit of water continued to spray from the rain shower despite me using the handheld showerhead.

One could really fall in love with the citrusy bath products from Bliss. I love citrus bath products because they instantly make me feel fresher!

5. Breakfast 

I am glad I managed to wake my husband up, threatening him that if he didn't wake up, there will be no more food for him at breakfast. We ended up spending more than an hour at The Kitchen Table.

There were two sections- one offered Western food (think baked goods, cereal etc.) and the other side had Indian food, Chinese food, etc.

We started off with some baked goods and were mindful not to stuff ourselves with too much food in the beginning just in case we couldn't try the other food offered.

The pancakes were ridiculously cute- look at the smiley face, how can anyone resist those beautiful pancakes! That said, they weren't the most delicious pancakes around- a little too buttery for my liking. 

There was Christmas-coloured bread, a variety of jams and spreads, cereal etc. I liked the fact that there was soya milk offered as well, although it was a little salty.

At the other section, there was a small selection of smoked salmon, ham, cheese etc., and an egg station. Then, there are your usual suspects- mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, bacon etc. There was also Indian food, fruits and desserts. The desserts selection was quite small (and wasn't great) but I guess you shouldn't be eating too much dessert for breakfast anyway!

There was a Chinese food station, with porridge, dim sum, and assorted noodles cooked on the spot. One thing I didn't understand was why the dim sum wasn't available for all to take but had to be served by the chef.

We were so full after breakfast that we skipped lunch. 

The food at the buffet was more than sufficient and decent. The only issue was that it seemed like it was really crowded, and people had to wait to get their breakfast fix. Hint: The early bird gets the worm! 

6. Amenities 

To aid in the digestion of our heavy breakfast, we walked around the compound and visited the swimming pool. The swimming pool was rather big and lots of families were enjoying the pool facilities.  

We also visited the gym which was surprisingly empty. It was either because people who stay at W Hotel do not visit the gym (because they are at Sentosa) or because they are all stuck at breakfast!

It looked like a well-equipped gym.

7. Service

Service was pleasant and one felt like the hotel really wanted to go the extra mile. In the afternoon when we were just lazing around, a staff knocked on the door and offered us a box of chocolates- it was a nice mid-day surprise! Another staff came back later in the day and asked if we required any more water or shower products, which was a nice touch. I especially liked the fact that the room had 6 bottles of water- enough to keep you hydrated all day long.

8. Getting around 

Besides your usual suspects like taxi, one option getting around is to take the shuttle bus to and from Vivo City. Timings and routes available here. You would see that the frequency isn't great. For example, there is one shuttle bus at 5:30 pm and the next is 2 hours later. There is also the option of taking Sentosa Bus B.

W Singapore Sentosa Cove 
21 Ocean Way
Sentosa Island
Singapore 098374 

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The Clifford Pier

More than a decade ago, whenever I took a bus to have lunch with my mother in the CBD, the bus used to stop near Clifford Pier. The Clifford Pier today, is a far cry from the Clifford Pier back then. 

Clifford Pier was built between 1927 and 1933 and was named after Sir Hugh Clifford, the former Governor of the Straits Settlements. It was a landing point for immigrants and other sea passengers. With the construction of the Marina Barrage, the Clifford Pier ceased operations on 1 April 2006. 

For my birthday celebration, we decided to try their Singapore Heritage Afternoon Tea.  From Monday to Friday, the high tea is between 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm, whereas on weekends and public holidays, the high tea is between 3 pm to 5 pm. 

Gorgeous setting, with high ceilings and colour tones alluding to the place's nautical origins. 

The Singapore Heritage Afternoon Tea ($48++ per adult on weekdays and $55++ per adult on weekends and public holidays), consists of one tea tray of sweet items, a buffet of savoury items and free flow of coffee / tea. The tea was from TWG.

It was interesting to observe the demographic of the people having tea here. They were either a group of well-dressed women (with a couple of groups organising hen parties for the brides-to-be), or reluctant men being dragged here by their girlfriends / wives. Women's money is always easier to earn! It followed that, a lot of the sweet items were left untouched by the women who of course were concerned with their waistlines.

The afternoon tea is not your usual Western high tea, but instead seeks to represent Singapore's culinary past and present. For the sweet items, there were Pandan Swiss Roll, Bandung Macaron, Honey and Mango Financier, Soft Centered Coconut Chocolate Cake, Mini Kopi & Almond Butter Buns, Bika Ambon, and Plain Scone with Jam.

Having the Pandan Swiss Roll and the Bika Ambon was like making a trip to Bengawan Solo, and the Mini Kopi & Almond Butter Buns were like those from local bread shops- the thought that popped up in my head was, why am I paying so much for food that I could buy from Bengawan Solo? Honestly, I could not tell much difference in terms of the taste. While decent, nothing in particular stood out.

There were also Plain Scone and Tropical Fruit Scone, which came with Passion Fruit and Mango Jam and Homemade Kaya. I am a sucker for scones and these suited me well. I especially liked the passion fruit and mango jam which was tart and gave a nice lift to the scones. My husband, however, found these little darlings not buttery enough.

Onto the savouries, there was a pretty interesting selection- more interesting than the sweets. There was the Chilli Bak Kwa Jam on Savory Egg Tart. While this was an interesting pairing, I did not particularly fancy the savoury egg tart, which tasted somewhat like egg quiche.

Deep fried food are always crowd pleasers, and here they have Calamari Ring (with a wasabi mayo dip) and Jalapeno Cheese.

These were the Cruffin with Masala Potato and Curry Leaves as well as Prawn Fritter. The cruffin was essentially a mini curry puff.

Other food items to look out for include the Chilli Crab Bao, which were mini mantous accompanied with Chilli Crab sauce. The Carrot Cake with X.O. Chilli and Scrambled Egg was so fragrant and delicious, we repeatedly topped up our plates with these . We did not have enough space for the Kurobota Pork Kong Bak Bao, but I think this is something certainly worth trying.

There was also a small salad section, which was pretty decent- seafood salad and smoked duck salad.

For drinks, there was a choice of soya bean milk or bandung, with sago, chinchow etc on the side. I particularly liked the soya bean milk as it did not have an artificial taste and was not too sweet.

There were also live stations dishing out food on the spot. There was one serving Kueh Pie Tee and Popiah- definitely get the Kueh Pie Tee as it is topped with crab meat. There was another station serving Prata and Roti Jala Wrap, accompanied with Nonya Chicken Curry. While the prata was not the most inspiring, the chicken curry is worth trying. There is also a station for making your own rojak and there was a wide variety of ingredients (apple, starfruit, jambu, guava, pineapple etc.) you could choose from.

There is definitely enough food at this high tea to fill you up. In fact, I was so full, I skipped dinner. However, I felt like I was paying more for the ambience than for the food. The food was decent, but I felt as though I could get more bang for my buck at a hotel's buffet instead. That said, this is still a decent choice for an afternoon tea.

Tip: Make your reservations a few weeks in advance (especially if you want to come by on a weekend), because the seats here fill up very quickly. We had to book 3 weeks in advance. Also, do ask about the available credit card discounts- there was a 15% discount for certain credit cards.

The Clifford Pier
The Fullerton Bay Hotel
80 Collyer Quay
Tel No: 6333 8388 

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oHacorte Bakery (Okinawa)

Rated #1 bakery in Naha, pictures of oHacorte's fruit tarts lured me to the shop on Saturday at 9 a.m. 

The cafe was full and we had to put our names on the reservation list. However, it took barely a few minutes before we were brought to our seats. It had a very comfortable and relaxing ambience- perfect for lazing the day away. 

We didn't realise initially but later found out that their shop occupied several levels, each with a different concept. It was slightly disappointing that the fruit tart section did not open until 10:30 a.m. On the first floor, you could buy fresh produce, interesting wares such as biodegradable camping utensils, fresh bread from their bakery or you could simply enjoy the food in the cafe.

We ordered three pieces of their baked goods for breakfast the following day. Surprisingly enough, they all remained soft and fluffy!

I ordered the Deli Plate (1,150 yen). You can choose one soup and two delis. The choice of soup included pumpkin cream soup, minestrone and shrimp prawns bisque. The deli choices included german potato of herb sausage & yuzu pepper, garlic shrimp, cajun chicken, marinated mushroom etc.

I went for shrimp prawns bisque, accompanied by the german potato of herb sausage & yuzu pepper, as well as the cajun chicken. Our food took a long time to come and I was excited when it finally arrived. Alas, this excitement was not for long. The cajun chicken was served cold- if my food takes so long to come, I would have thought it was because they were cooking the food such that my food would come out piping hot. The german potato of herb sausage was neither here nor there- the amount of sausage was pathetic with absolutely no hint of yuzu pepper. The egg quiche was also served cold- are they lacking fire or heat in the kitchen? The shrimp bisque was also pedestrian. The only saving grace was the bread.

I would certainly recommend this place for their baked goods, but not so much for the meals. A pity we didn't get to try their famous fruit tarts! Also note that they have a policy that everyone at the table orders something from the menu.

oHacorte Bakery 
1-4-10 Izumisaki
1F Kina Bldg
Naha, Okinawa 

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Hotel Pesquera (Okinawa)

1. Location 

The location of the hotel is good. It is around a 15 minutes taxi ride to the airport (which will cost anywhere between 1200 yen to 1500 yen). While it is not right smack in the shopping district of Kokusaidori, it is around a 15-20 minutes walk. It is also around a 5 minutes walk to MaxValu (a supermarket) and a 7 minutes walk to Fukushu-en Garden (rated #5 on Tripadvisor but I didn't feel that it deserved such a high ranking). 

No parking is available on site and we parked overnight at a nearby carpark (within 1-2 minutes walk). 

2. Room

As long as you do not expect a 5* hotel room, this hotel should suffice for your basic needs. For around US$100 a night, this is probably as good as it gets. It is clean and the beds are comfortable.  Bedroom slippers are provided and you are instructed not to walk around the hotel room in your own shoes or you will have to pay. 

There are very limited channels on the TV and no international programmes are available.

3) Toilet 

The toilet bowl is located separately from the sink and bathtub. The toilet smelt a little weird probably due to the lack of ventilation.

Bath products such as shampoo and body wash are available. Temperature of the water was a little difficult to grasp.

Washing machine and dryer are available.

4) Service 

There is a small reception where there is one person who helps to check in. The reception is not manned 24 hours and you would therefore have to inform them in advance of your check in time. Depending on who is manning the counter, you may encounter someone who is fluent in English or someone who simply cannot speak English. The first night we encountered someone who spoke minimal English and decided to leave our questions for the next day, when a girl at the reception answered our questions fluently in English. 

Hotel Pesquera 
2-4-13 Wakasa
Naha 900-0031
Okinawa 

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Alaise De Bale Ishigaki (Okinawa)

1. Location

Alaise De Bale Ishigaki is around a 30-40 minutes drive from the city centre, which means that if you wanted to have a meal at one of the more popular spots in Ishigaki, it would take you at least an hour to and fro. If you want to stock up on items from the convenience store, do that before you reach the hotel because we didn't see any convenience stores in the vicinity. 

It is a good location if you want to be near beaches- there is a beach right outside the hotel. However, it didn't exactly look like the best spot to swim. It would be a better bet to venture out to Yonehara Beach which is around a 15 minutes drive away from the hotel. It is a popular beach and you can swim with sea creatures without venturing out too far. Kabira Bay is around a 30 minutes drive away. 

It was a short drive to the nearby kayak / canoe store (around 5 minutes) where we rented kayaks to the Fukidogawa River Mangrove Colony. 

If you decide to stay here, keep a lookout for the Japanese name of this hotel because it does not state "Alaise De Bale Ishigaki". 

2) Room

We paid around S$250 per night. The room was clean and the bed was comfortable.Most of the room options allow for two single beds.

There was a folder containing the movies you could rent for free (e.g. Harry Potter, Frozen, Minions etc.). Free strong wifi available. There was a sign stating that lizards bring luck and ants would come if sweet stuff were left open- I guess we know what kind of animals to expect in the room. To be fair, we didn't see any during our stay.

3) Toilet 

The toilet bowl area was separate from the bath tub and washing area. The toilet was relatively big for a Japanese hotel. Full set of toiletries was provided.

4) Breakfast 

We paid around S$15 per person for breakfast. There was a choice between continental or Japanese breakfast and we of course went for the latter. Breakfast was served with a glass of cold tea, with a further choice of hot coffee or tea. Breakfast was healthy and decent, but not sure if it's worth the price.

5) Amenities 

There is the option of reserving a private bathroom (presumably an onsen), although we did not do so.

There is a small swimming pool and you could borrow beach towels from the counter.

6) Service 

The Japanese are well known for their service standards and I wish I could say the same in this case. However, it was a mixed bag of feelings for this place.

While the staff were friendly and courteous, one incident left us feeling a little perplexed. Upon arrival at around 2+ pm, the cafe on the ground floor was closed. We then asked if there were any eating places around the hotel, to which the question was met with a resolute "No". Upon much prodding, the staff suggested a soba place which was around a 5 minutes drive away. I would have imagined that this was a common question, unless people were content to just eat in the cafe on the ground floor (which was closed)- something might have been lost in translation.

7) Conclusion 

While the stay was comfortable, we felt that this place was a tad over priced.

p.s. Do keep a lookout for the night sky- lots of stars in this place with minimal light pollution.

Alaise De Bale Ishigaki 
337-250 Fukai
Ishigaki 907-0451
Okinawa, Japan 

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Builders

Builders was in the news last year, but for the wrong reasons. Despite that, my family who had tried the food at the cafe really enjoyed the meals, so we decided to have lunch there on a weekend. Apparently, there is a minimum order for groups exceeding a certain number of people. While we were not informed of that when we were there (not sure if it is because we didn't hit the minimum number or whether the policy is still in place), they had other strange rules like not allowing us to order for 3 people when the fourth person hadn't arrived. That said, it did not stop us from enjoying the food here. 

The soup of the day was the Bacon Minestrone Soup ($7.90). The soup was appetising and tangy, and perfect with little vegetable and bacon bits.

The crispy Golden Wings ($8.90) had potential to not be "yet another starter" because of the curry vinaigrette which was drizzled over the wings. However, the curry taste was not distinct - maybe I was looking forward to dipping these chicken wings in McDonald's curry sauce!

I enjoyed the Panko Herbed Fish Burger ($16.90) which came with a generous piece of lightly breaded fish between two pieces of buttered burger buns.

My mum was raving about the French Toast ($13.90) and said I definitely had to get it. The french toast was caramelised, crispy at the sides and drizzled with a blueberry compote- enjoyable, but definitely not worth its price.

For a cafe located at a heartlands area, the price is a little steep. That said, the food is enjoyable.

Builders 
53 Sims Place
#01-160
Tel No: 6747 1837 

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VENUE By Sebastian

Eating at VENUE By Sebastian is like an ideal relationship- to keep falling in love with the same person over and over again. I last came here around 3 months ago in a professional setting and was a little reserved with taking too much food because well, it was a professional setting. Yesterday, I came with a good friend and it was just no holds barred. Both times, the food was well executed and memorable.

The restaurant is often full for weekday lunches. However, when we came on a Saturday for lunch, there were only a few souls around, which was great because that meant that we didn't have to battle with noise when speaking. The restaurant was bright and inviting, decked out in comfortable neutral colours.

When you get seated, the waiter will ask whether you know how their menu works. Essentially, their dishes are served according to a "sharing concept", where the intention is for guests to order a selection of dishes to be shared.

First up was the Iberico Pork Jowl, Gremolata, Lemon ($18). The thinly sliced pieces of pork jowl was nicely seasoned and had a nice chewy texture. It seemed like a simple dish without fancy embellishment, but it worked well this way.

My friend raved about this Cold pasta, konbu, truffle oil ($23), and there was no way we were going to get through the meal without ordering this. Again, another dish which looks simple but it was very flavourful, say what you may about truffle oil being artificial, but still simply loving that taste which coats every strand of the pasta. The pasta was also cooked al dente.

The Chilean Seabass, mushroom-bacon ragout, truffle yuzu butter sauce ($32) was hands down, my favourite. I liked it so much that I shamelessly told the waitress not to clear the plate as I had not scrapped the remaining mushroom, bacon and sauce from the plate. The fresh seabass was slightly crispy on the outside, and soft and juicy in the inside. Oh, but that sauce. The creamy sauce together with the mushrooms and bacon were a perfect accompaniment to the light-flavoured fish. Just the thought of the dish makes me salivate.

To end off our meal, we ordered the Pear tart, crumble, baileys ice cream ($14), which the waitress told us will take around 30 minutes to be ready. After all the impressive food we have had, the dessert didn't seem to be as outstanding. Despite that, the dessert of sliced pears laid on a flaky and buttery crust was enjoyable- so buttery, we smelt it even before it was served.

There is no way that I am going to deny that we had a enjoyable meal here. While I would pay $32 for the seabass, I am not sure whether I would pay so much for the pasta or the pear tart.

VENUE By Sebastian 
Downtown Gallery
6A Shenton Way
#01-02
Singapore 068815
Tel No: 6904 9688 

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