Kiseki - A Japanese Buffet Restaurant

My birthday celebration this year was so closely tied to food. Just the birthday weekend alone, We went for American brunch, steamboat and lastly, BUFFET!

We went Kiseki 2 years back but during that time, the restaurant was located at Heeren. Food selection was so-so and we didn't really rate it high at that time. 2 years later, we came across Kiseki again, but this time located at Orchard Central instead. We decided to give it a try once again.

Frankly, I prefer Kiseki to be located at Orchard Central than at Heeren. Situated at 8th floor, the full-length windows of the mall allow full sunlight into the restaurant, giving it a bright and cozy ambience. The moment we were brought to our seats, I immediately explored the food selection.

I was pretty glad that they improved over the years as there are more choices of food than before. First few which I came across,were Deep Fried Food section, where all the tempuras were.

Next, I made a turn and there were the Cooked Food section. Here's where the hotpot, chawanmushi, udon, noodles and rice would be. This is also the section that could fill up your stomach really fast, thus, I only took some of them so I could still have room for others!

Next up was the Seafood section. I know many seafood lovers might roar at me but being one who isn't exactly a seafood lover, I kinda skipped this section...but they looks good!

Last but not the least, I finally stepped into my favourite section, Sashimi! Regardless what they have, salmon sashimi is one selection they can't possibly be missing from a Japanese Buffet! I believe I ate at least close to 30 (or more) slices of salmon sashimi, hehe!

Though I did not plan to eat a lot of desserts during the buffet since I'm accustomed to my low calorie diet (5 months and on-going!), some desserts look really delicious to refrain from eating. :P

These dessert mixers look really intriguing so I couldn't help myself but to take some of them back to my table. Naturally, I didn't eat all of them but shared with my family, especially my little girl!

Well, Kiseki is quite a pleasant place for dining overall. Food selection has greatly increased over the years compared to the time when it was still located at Heeren. The restaurant is also very spacious, giving customers a comfortable space to dine. Price is reasonable too for lunch which is priced at $24++. I wouldn't mind patronising Kiseki again, when my craving for salmon sashimi kicks in.

Kiseki's Address:
Orchard Central, #08-01/02/03
181 Orchard Road
Tel: (65) 6736 1216

Rating: 3.2/5

My Birthday Celebration ~ Lunch @ Egg & Berries

Like I mentioned on my last birthday blog post, my birthday celebration did not just end with the drinking. On the very next day (which is the exact day of my birthday) after the fun night, Dear brought me to the restaurant I've always wanted to patronise - Egg & Berries!

I've always love American-styled breakfast and Egg & Berries fit just right on my favourite dining restaurant because it serves the breakfast I love, ALL DAY! Now I can get to eat them at any time I want!

Egg & Berries' menu is pretty straight forward but for just a brief moment, I was lost simply because there's too many selections for me to decide.

Egg & Berries' Menu

In the end, I decided to order Sweet Brioche French Toast with Sausage & Scrambled Eggs while Dear ordered Chipolata Sausage with Smoked Chicken & Scrambled Eggs. It was so yummylicious that we patronised it again on the following weekend after that day, which we brought Amelia along. Of course, we must ordered other main courses so as to enjoy Egg & Berries' food!

Sweet Brioche French Toast with Sausage & Scrambled Eggs ($13.50)

This main course was served with syrup for the pancakes as well. However, what surprised me was that there are 3 different syrups for me to use on my pancakes.

The Syrups - Maple, Chocolate and Berries

Bacon, Onion & Mushroom ($12.70)

Chipolata Sausage with Smoked Chicken & Scrambled Eggs ($12.50)

Chipolata & Eggs ($9.50)

Fresh Mushroom Cream Soup ($5.50)

Child's Menu ($8.50)

The Child's Menu is really a great deal! For a meal meant for kids, the portion served was not stingy at all! Amelia enjoyed it very much too!

Egg & Berries serves all its main courses with eggs, regardless its poached, scrambled, fried or whatsoever. There are many more courses from its menu I've yet to taste and on my next visit, I really need to try their Egg Benedict.

I'll definitely be a regular to this restaurant until I find a better one!

Egg & Berries is located on the 1st floor of Changi City Point, just next to Tunglok Seafood.

Rating: 4/5


 

My Birthday Celebration ~ Night Out!

17 August 2012. Yet another year to declare I'm another year older.

This year, I did not expect any extraordinary birthday celebration but just a quiet and heartwarming time with my family. I didn't even expect to go out at all till Dear told me my god-brother wants me to go down to their usual pub to celebrate my birthday. Ever since I gave birth to Amelia, my trips to pubs had greatly reduced. So, I agreed!

I also took the initiative to gathered my BFFs for a dinner after work, before I joined my god-brother at the pub. Knowing I would be going out, I had to doll up myself, ya? In all honesty, I did not put on too much war-paint but just emphasised on my eyes.

It wasn't really a pre-birthday dinner per se but I appreciated Cindy and Javier for turning up as they originally wanted to stayed at home due to their son's tuition. We had an enjoyable dinner at Joyee's favourite steamboat restaurant though she suffered a mild car accident just that evening. The men simply couldn't stand our topics as we mainly discussed about LUXURY BAGS! After the dinner, we headed to the pub without my BFFs as they needed to work on the next day.

It was really great to be able to meet up with my pub friends gang from time to time, especially when they remembered my birthday every single year! My god-brother, Fabian even managed to summon my next good friend, Larry to come along even though he always have a hectic travelling schedule! Come to think of it, from Network at Chinatown, to Mongkok at Tanjong Pagar, and now S Club, we have known one another for almost 6-7 years. Frankly, to be able to still keep in close contact for so many years whom we known from a pub, it is considerably amazing.

Alright, back to my birthday celebration night out. It is a standard practice in the gang that whenever someone's birthday is here, birthday song will be sung and most importantly, a yard of beer will be delivered right to your face. Naturally, I'd gotten a yard of beer on my hands cos it's a night out for ME!

Me with a yard of beer. I was also wearing my new top from Taobao that night. Oh yes, and that's Larry behind me in the photo, photobombing. :D

When most of them helped me clear the yard till it was left till the bottom (the round base...and the most lethal), I had to drink it up all by myself. The owner of S Club, whom we knew very well too (he's the one in the top-left photo with me in the photo below) saw me drinking up only the base, he 不甘愿 and asked me to drink more. I told him jokingly that I'd drink any alcohol he brought to me and I regret it the moment he came back. Why? Cos when I thought he would have brought a glass of liquor on the rock, he brought along another yard of beer to me, demanding me to drink it all by MYSELF! Blamed me on my silly mouth and promise, I had no choice but to finish 1 whole yard myself. Come to think of it, I think I'm the only one he brought 2 yards on someone's birthday...多有面子啊!

开心不忘娱乐. While we were happily enjoying ourselves at S Club, I also took photos with most of my gang ( some just hate the camera!), making more sentimental footprints down my memory lane.

I heart them so much, the friendship's most definitely gonna be a lifetime thingy. Who says friends whom we made from nightlife won't be longlasting?

Last but not the least, I gotta thank my Dear for spending my birthday night out with me and our pub gang!

My birthday most certainly didn't end with this. More birthday celebration posts coming up next! ^^

 

Taobao Haul #6

I realised that though I've been buying from Taobao for so such a long time, I've never really posted my haul up on my blog. Perhaps a few of them but not really in details. So...I decided to share my joy and also let other Taobao-lovers know of some good buys ^^.

This batch, I ordered hell lots of iPad sleeves! Can't really blame me since iPad's my latest new gadget and I really love to protect it! I also bought a clutch bag embossed with my favourite skulls on it!

Girl in Snow, by far my most commonly used sleeve for iPad. This sleeve cost me less than 6 bucks only! Durable and pretty!

The skull clutch bag that only cost me less than 8 bucks! ^.^

Isn't it punky? I love it sooooo much, especially I bought it at such a steal! great for functions or parties! It also come with a chain strap so I can sling it if I ever feel tired or holding it!

This is another iPad Clutch sleeve I ordered. Likewise to the clutch bag, this iPad clutch sleeve cost me less than 8 bucks only. The striking neon pink simply captivates me.

Frankly, this is a really good iPad sleeve, only that it is too small to fit an iPad which already has a casing in it. I'd really hate to carry my iPad without a casing, thus, this clutch sleeve was rather wasted. However, since I already bought it, It'll be wise to use it creatively for another purpose rather than leaving it in my cabinet to rot. And so, I decided to use it as a clutch, for real this time!

Of all my iPad sleeves bought so far, none of them beats the beauty of this...

Isn't it gorgeous?! It is so elegant and lacey! I have to admit, I didn't expect this to be of good quality (looks good on picture only). However, it surprised me with the fine details of the lace design, the material of the pouch, and the thickness of the whole pouch. Though this cost much higher than the rest, it is definitely the best catch out of those iPad sleeves from .

These are not all I've ordered from Taobao of course, but since most of the items I ordered are iPad sleeves, I shall leave apparels post till next time :)

Now I can't wait to order the next batch!

Chiso Zanmai @ The Central ~ A Japanese Buffet

Back in June, I was browsing through all the various food sites looking for an affordable buffet restaurant as requested by my dearest for his birthday treat (he rejected my suggestion for Melt the World Cafe!) and stumbled onto this restaurant - Chiso Zanmai.

Maybe I had not been going downtown for so long, I honestly didn't know there was this restaurant situated within The Central. Based on what I've read from its website, it stated that it is the cheapest Japanese buffet from Osaka. After showing photos from the site to him, we made up our mind to go there for his birthday treat (finally!).

Chiso Zanmai is located on the 2nd floor of The Central, and customers are required to take an escalator to the actual main entrance. As we drove there and got to the restaurant from the other end, we went in through their 2nd floor rear entrance instead, hahaha...

Chiso Zanmai has a really nice decor - simple, minimalist and spacious. The buffet spread is being displayed in a linear way so anyone can hardly miss any single selection.

The very first and favourite dish I love from Chiso Zanmai is their hotpot soup! It is so tasty, and full of seafood within!

Usually, people might have patronised cold cuts first followed by the main dishes but somehow, I always like to do it the other way round. Other finishing most of the main dishes lined up on the opposite of cold cuts, I made my way to scan them through briefly before I started digging.

Frankly, I am not exactly a lover of cold cuts so I only took a few which I believed I could take and they tasted really good! On the bottom right of the photo above, it was a cold dish comprised of broccoli, mushroom and cooked salmon. Though the salmon was cooked, it was served fresh and cold. Odd perhaps, but yet delicious enough.

Last but not the least, dessert section could never be a section to miss, not matter which buffet restaurant you go! Their buffet section has all the usual desserts and pastries, but what made me pay more attention had to be the black tart placed alongside the rest.

From what I read on their food tag, this is called 'Seaweed tart'. With its look so black but yet captivating, I felt like eating it too. But poor me, I couldn't have a piece of it at all since it's made of seaweed. *shrucks*

Given its price and food selection, I'll say that Chiso Zanmai is a very affordable buffet restaurant for those who feel that going for buffet means spending a bomb. What disappointed us was the lack of sashimi (they don't serve sashimi at all) and cooked food was a bit less than warm. Overall, Zanmai gave me an affordable price for a buffet lunch, a cozy dining experience and a decent food spread.

With $19.90++ per pax (not inclusive of drinks) on a weekend afternoon, what more can you ask?