Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens (Las Vegas)

I really don't see any reason why anyone should miss this if you happen to be in the area. As long as you are a 1) photography enthusiast 2) nature lover 3) person who simply wants to get away from everything in the Sin City or 4) person who is looking for something free in Las Vegas, you need to get yourself here!

Although we didn't manage to catch the musical performances (5pm-6pm) or see the the green thumbs in action (1030am-1130am), just taking a stroll through the garden is a good experience on its own! 

The current theme is Spring Celebration. Other themes run throughout the year, including Chinese New Year, Summer Garden, Fall Harvest and Winter Holiday. With 140 expert horticulturalists in charge of this garden, it's no surprise that the standards of this garden are raised so high.

Lots of photo taking opportunities and you get surrounded by the scent of the flowers the moment you get near to the Conservatory. Sure, it may be a small place. But the beauty of the place more than makes up for this small garden! It's so tasteful and exquisite with flowers from different countries.

Let your eyes feast on the beautiful flowers at the Bellagio Conservatory. But obviously, don't wait till you get to Vegas! There's never a better time to stop and smell the roses than now!

Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens
3600 Las Vegas Blvd.
Open 24 hours, 7 days a week 

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Mystere by Cirque Du Soleil (Las Vegas)

The last time I watched Cirque Du Soleil must have been at least a good decade ago. So I totally had no recollection of their performance when I caught Mystere.

We decided to get the tickets for Mystere online because we were afraid that we won't be able to get tickets for the show. There are extra costs if you want to buy the tickets online with the option of either printing the ticket yourself or collecting it at the box office.

There are a few options you should consider when buying a ticket: 1) Buy it at the box office (without the extra charges) 2) Sign up online ahead of time on their website to know of any offers 3) Check the online website and click the "offers" tab- we got 35% off because of that 4) Visit the ticket station near MGM to check out any offers.

You might want to reach the theatre around 15 minutes earlier (assuming that you have got your tickets much earlier- the queues can get long) because there are some acts that start before the show. (Leave a comment if you would like me to spoil the fun as to what happens in the 15 minutes.)

The following photos are taken from their website because no photography is allowed in the theatre. My favourite three amongst the eight acts are the following: Bungee, Trampoline and Trapeze. A particularly act which I will not forget is the rather creepy cries of the man baby.

Overall, the experience was wonderful. Apparently, this is the cheapest of all the Cirque Du Soleil acts in Las Vegas, probably because it's the longest running one. But just because it is the cheapest doesn't mean it's the worst. I especially liked the fact that you could see the live orchestra/band. The performance were mostly high energy and the lighting was just perfect. They also break up an otherwise serious acrobatic act with random comic effects in between (by either the clown or the man baby). Just a tip, getting the cheapest tickets at the back does not mean that you are getting the worst seats. Considering that there are several aerial acts, I actually found the view at the back very good.

(p.s.They are performing in Singapore 26 July 2012 onwards. (Click here if you're interested in going for Saltibamco in Singapore.)

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The Buffet at Bellagio (Las Vegas)

Restaurants which serve buffets at Las Vegas have the most unoriginal names ever. The one at Bellagio is definitely not the only one named Buffet in Las Vegas. 

Initially, I thought the queue would be long because we arrived at around 12pm. But it took us only 15 minutes to get in. You just need to pay at the counter before entering. 

This buffet place was HUGE. I really do mean HUGE. There was a wide selection of food scattered around that I didn't even know where to begin. The thing is that they emphasise breath and not depth. Therefore, you can have a sampling of Western food, Chinese food, Japanese food, Vietnamese food, Mexican food, Italian food etc but you don't get to try many dishes from the same group of food. 

I never ever waste stomach space on bread at buffets, unless they look especially enticing. Although I didn't try the bread, I thought it was pretty cool that they had a rather wide variety of bread to select from. 

The sushi selection was quite limited and the California rolls weren't all that impressive. 

I thought the turkey tenders were delicious! The meat is very thick but it's grilled nicely. This is coupled with the fact that these are mini burgers- they tend to make you feel a little less guilty, although deep down in the inner corners of your heart and conscience, you must surely know that the fact that it's mini doesn't prevent your waistline from expanding.

Please get some BBQ ribs at the roasting station! The sauce seeps into the meat of the ribs very nicely. Pity the ribs weren't the meaty kind where you don't have to use all your energy to get a small chunk of meat out. 

I'll let the photos do the talking from now on- either I didn't try them or I tried a very insignificant portion such that they are not really worth mentioning. (By the way, the seafood section was very limited- only prawns)

Last but not least, desserts! Those who have read my posts on different buffets in Singapore would know that I love my desserts. There is a wide range of desserts and sadly, I knew I couldn't eat them all. Apparently, the tiramisu (top left hand corner) wasn't that fantastic. But I tried the pecan tart (bottom left) and the apple crumble (bottom right) and both were very good. The brownie (not in the picture) was also chock full of bitter chocolate and nuts! 

The only gripe I have with the desserts is that I wished that some of the dessert portions could be smaller so that we could try more desserts, instead of having that nagging thought in your head that you should not be stuffing yourself with too much sweet stuff. 

Overall, this place has a wide selection and the food quality is decent. For a price of $19.95 (on weekdays lunch), I think it's very worth it to go to the buffet. If you have a few more bucks to spare and love eating crab, you may want to go for the dinner instead which serves crab legs which seems to have gathered good reviews.

Please check out the website for the prices for different times and days.

p.s. For people who love to snap pictures of flowers, don't miss the Conservatory which is free of charge at Bellagio.

Buffet at Bellagio 
Bellagio
3600 Las Vegas Blvd S Las Vegas
NV 89109

Tel No: (702) 693-7111

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Dottie's True Blue Cafe (San Francisco)

"If you can't take care of yourself, don't go to Dottie's True Blue Cafe."


"I just realised I entered into one of the loveliest neighbourhood." 

The queue at Dottie's True Blue Cafe is so long, you can use it to either 1) eavesdrop on (or openly listen to) conversations (there is where the above quotes came from), 2) people watch or 3) do both.

The Cafe is located in the Tenderloin area and although we went to the Tenderloin area a few days ago for some Vietnamese food, we realised that this was the real Tenderloin area. When the girl said that this was one of the most loveliest neighbourhood, she was obviously being sarcastic. This place is one of the most dangerous places in San Francisco where there are many homeless people, drug taking, prostitution etc.

But, anything for food.

It opens at 730 am (closed on Tuesdays). If you don't want to queue, I suggest you reach there before 730 am. We reached there are 8 am, and ended in the shop at 915 am. For those arriving later than 8 am, I'm almost certain that your waiting time is going to exceed 2 hours. You won't miss the shop- the queue snakes round the corner and goes deep into the alley.

I ordered The Open Road ($13.50) which was a small glass of juice, two eggs (done in any way), bacon, ham or mild Italian sausage, home fries and two pancakes or 1/2 order of French toast.

I got orange juice, scrambled eggs, ham, home fries and two pancakes. The juice was freshly squeezed, and the eggs were nicely scrambled. I was craving for a little pepper on the eggs though. The ham was a tad too salty for me although it was chewy and it was thick. The home fries were small chunks of potatoes, seasoned with herbs and the skin was crispy on the edges.

Then, there are the BEST pancakes I've ever tried. So incredibly fluffy. So out of shape. So yummy. Drizzled with the maple syrup, sigh, this breakfast is high in calories but will raise your happiness level too.

The lunch portion was so huge I had to take away some food. Worth it? Definitely. The service is great and the servers are very helpful. Love the decor of the restaurant as well. But the queue and the location might deter some from coming here!

Dottie's True Blue Cafe
28 6th St (between Stevenson St & Jessie St)
San Francisco, CA 94103
Tel No: (415) 885-2767

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Mifune Restaurant (San Francisco)

We headed to Japantown for dinner and was pretty amazed by the wide array of Japanese restaurants we could choose from. We didn't know which to go to, so we ended up at Mifune. It was apparently featured in the Michelin San Francisco 2007 edition. 

Always the safest choice- we ordered the tempura udon (around $8). There was a combo for this if you are interested in the california roll. 

The tempura udon (you could choose soba if you want to) came with a bowl of hot noodles (apparently made by themselves), two prawns, one eggplant, broccoli, sweet potato and onion. I found the soup okay, nothing fantastic about it, but my mum found it too salty. The noodles were really fat and springy though and it's perfect for hungry people because the portion was rather huge.

Besides the whole load of oil laden, deep fried stuff, there was also some pickled cabbage. I haven't eaten any Japanese pickled cabbage in Singapore so I have no idea how it's supposed to taste, although as a matter of personal preference, it would have been better if it were in bigger chunks.

The service here was a very rushed affair. The food is pretty cheap and came in rather generous portions. Taste wise, it's pretty ordinary. Nonetheless, there are many other restaurants in Japantown and one probably should do a more thorough research on Yelp! to decide the best Japanese restaurant to go to.

Mifune 
1737 Post St
San Francisco, CA 94115
Tel No: (415) 922-0337

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Crab House (San Francisco)

San Francisco is well known for its dungeness crab. We went to Pier 39 not knowing where the best crabs were but decided to drop by Crab House anyway just because there was the word Crab in it. (That's as good as saying i'm going Pizza Hut just because the word pizza's in it.) 

But this place didn't disappoint at all.

The place wasn't fully occupied when we went in around noon but it didn't take long before people were waiting for seats outside.

We got the Prix Fixe Menu ($24.95) which is very worth it. It includes mixed baby greens salad, killer crab and tiramisu dessert.

The salad is typical salad- tossed with ginger oil dressing. A very generous portion of greens- but that says nothing because greens probably don't cost too much.

The star of the show. It's the first time I'm eating anything other than black pepper/chilli/salted egg yolk crab. When we first saw it, we said, "Oh that looks quite small." But after digging through the claws, it was clearly enough to fill us up. The "secret garlic sauce" recipe was buttery and while some parts of the crab was a little too salty due to the butter, most of it was perfect! The crab was obviously fresh because the restaurant is located next to the pier. (okay, I suppose it isn't that obvious, but still, it was fresh.)

This was the tiramisu. I liked the flavours- not too sweet and the alcohol was just the right amount- not too overwhelming but you know it's there. The cream layer was a little too much for me, in proportion to the sponge fingers, but that really isn't much of an issue.

The server was very friendly and it's just a very chill place to enjoy some good crab at Pier 39. I would say it's really value for money as long as your appetite isn't particularly big.

Crab House 
203 C Pier 39
San Francisco, CA 94133
Tel No: (415) 434-2722

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Pho 2000 (San Francisco)

Pho 2000 sounds like a really old-fashioned name. Like everything set up in the year 2000 had to have a "2000" at the back.

Anyway, the restaurant is situated in Little Saigon, which is the Tenderloin area in San Francisco. It is apparently a pretty dangerous area. But we managed to get out of it unscathed, thankfully. Little Saigon totally doesn't look anything like an ethnic enclave, minus the row of shops selling Vietnamese food (and bubble tea). 

We ordered the Pho Ga (Rice noodle soup with chicken). Small portion was $6.25. Not sure if it's an Asian appetite or what but the small portion was humongous. It was as if noodles came free here! They totally don't scrimp on their ingredients although the chicken pieces were of unequal sizes. The soup was light and sweet (might be a little sweeter than usual), warm and delightful.

Service was good and there is complimentary tea. For this price, I think it's pretty worth it to venture into this neighbourhood to try some pho, meanwhile bearing in mind not to attract too much attention to yourself!

Pho 2000 

637 Larkin St (between Willow St & Eddy St)
San Francisco, CA 94109
Tel No: (415) 474-1188

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Saveur

My family were eating at the chicken rice stall opposite when they came across a long queue at Saveur. Being the typical Singaporeans we are, "have queue confirm good". So resolved we were, that we decided to go to Saveur on Labour Day. 

Before the shop had even opened at 12 pm, there was already a long queue. Despite arriving at 12 pm, we waited until 1 pm for a place in the restaurant. But it's no wonder people will come down from all parts of Singapore just to savour Saveur- it's incredibly cheap considering the food they serve.

It's been one year since they set up their first stall at Joo Chiat. They then moved to the current location in March. The point of the restaurant is to bring French food to the masses, instead of having to pay an arm and a leg just to afford a French meal.

The food doesn't get served in order. So you could order soup and bread, and get it midway while you're enjoying your main dish. This is the pumpkin soup (soup of the day) ($4.90). 

Pan Fried Foie Gras with Lentil and Pickled Onion (35g) ($7.90) was one of the starters. Seriously, $7.90? There you have it. But it's also incredibly small so if you're intending to have it as a main, maybe order the 70g option. I don't eat foie gras so I don't know how it's supposed to taste like. But upon the strong recommendation of those who tried it, I had a bite and the flavours were pretty rich and the liver seemed to melt in your mouth.

One of us ordered the Angel Hair Pasta with Tiger Prawn and Lumpfish caviar ($6.90). According to her, it was not bad. Not sure what that means though.

I ordered the Confit of Duck with Orange Segment and Sauted Shitake ($8.90). This is the third time I'm eating duck confit and while not the best, it's definitely the most value for money. And it's not even like it was done badly- it was good, just that I felt that the one at the Tastings Room was better. But no, that doesn't give me an excuse to complain about this dish because I could possibly buy three plates of this and still have change.

Taste wise, the duck was a little tougher than I would imagine it would be. But the orange and the duck complemented each other and the orange gave the duck some of the lacking moisture. The mashed potato was typical mashed potato but done well nonetheless.

The decor of the place is simple but homely. The service is also pretty good and efficient despite the long wait outside. Special mention to one of them who was nice enough to accommodate our requests to cancel the order for the bread because we thought that the bread was a single portion instead of two in one portion.

There's probably nowhere in Singapore you would find good food at such good prices. We spent $80 for 5 people.

Note: Cash and nets only.

Saveur 

5 Purvis Street, #01-04
Singapore
Tel No: +65 6333 3121

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