Pince & Pints Singapore Food Review

Posted on September 17, 2015 by missuschewy

Pince & Pints officially opened in July last year and refusing to jump onto the bandwagon like everyone else, here I am reviewing this lobster bar at Duxton Road more than a year later. LOL kidding. Truth is, we weren’t invited for any tasting (it’s ok la we can afford to pay hahaha) and this place doesn’t take in any reservations. We actually swung by Pince & Pints last year with two other friends but were told that the waiting time was estimated to be about 2 hours. Ridiculous or not? Anyway, Pince & Pints will be opening up a second level next month, which means more seats for everyone and shorter waiting time!

The hubs had always wanted to visit Pince & Pints, and given that our agenda was to celebrate his birthday, I was obliged to make him happy. Hahaha. Of course, we are still bummed out by the fact that we didn’t manage to try Burger & Lobster when we went to London for our Europe honeymoon trip in 2013. It was depressing because we specially made a trip to Burger & Lobster three nights in a row. Sad story but let’s not go into it.

After work, we wasted no time and chionged to Duxton Road. The place was relatively empty before 7pm and we were ushered to the second table nearest the entrance. There were only 4 items on the menu – namely Live Whole Lobster (Steamed or Grilled), Chili Lobster with Mantou and The Lobster Roll, all priced at $58++. When we visited, the new Truffle Lobster Roll ($68++) had not been launched yet which was a pity because WE LOVE TRUFFLES.

My date for the night! 🙂

When the servers offer you these aprons (or are they bibs?), do not turn them down! Eating the lobsters, especially if you order the chili lobster, can be a very messy affair 😉

The hubs initially wanted to order the Live Whole Lobster but he changed his mind and chose the Chili Lobster with Mantou upon knowing that I wanted that too. More variety for the blog mah! LOL. Very noble ah, misterchewy 😛

I wish they would come up with a black pepper lobster instead because I’m not the biggest fan of our Singapore style chili sauce. The hubs offered me half of his Chili lobster and surprisingly, the sauce wasn’t as crappy as what I had expected. Pince & Pint’s special chili sauce recipe uses ingredients like roma tomatoes, ginger, lemon grass, garlic and egg. The sauce was full-bodied and tasted a little spicy. Of course, this played an excellent supporting role to the star which was the freshly flown in lobster from North America. Firm, succulent and meaty best describe the lobster we had!

I was trying to decide if I should opt for the steamed or grilled version of the Live Whole Lobster and went with the latter. Served with mesclun salad, sour cherry, balsamic dressing, shoestring fries and herbed butter sauce, this dish was truly a beauty waiting to be photographed from all angles. No I’m just kidding because more than half the kitchen staff would look amused. #truestory 😛

I absolutely love how the lobster was grilled to perfection! It was still chunky and juicy, plus the natural sweetness of the lobster really shined through. Paired with the herbed butter sauce, the taste of the grilled lobster was totally divine. My only gripe, however, was that my lobster had giu chwee (shrunk in size)! There was significantly lesser meat than what we had for the Chili lobster. Maybe the steamed lobster would have been a better choice!

I rarely say this but service was attentive and top notch. Plates were changed, water was refilled, wet tissue packets were given out, all on a very prompt basis without us even having to ask!
Will we ever be back? Oh yes we will jio all our friends! Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy 🙂

Pince & Pints
32/33 Duxton Road
S089496
Tel: 6225 7558 (No reservations)

Opening Hours:
Mon to Fri
5pm – 11pm
Sat
12pm – 11pm
Open on Public Holidays, closed on Sundays

4th Wedding Anniversary Marina Mandarin Staycation Review

Posted on September 10, 2015 by missuschewy

Happy 4th wedding anniversary to us! We celebrated the special occasion in advance by taking a day off work for a staycation at Marina Mandarin hotel last Friday. The husband and I didn’t have any concrete plans until I chanced upon Marina Mandarin’s flash deal on their Facebook page, promoting 50% off their usual room rates which was impossible to resist! Booked a room without having to think twice! 😛

We haphazardly threw in some clothes and other stuff into our mini luggage before leaving our house that morning. Reached Marina Mandarin around 1.30pm and there was already a queue at the check in counter. The check in procedure also took up quite a bit of our time.

We were given a room on the 16th floor which is pretty high! It was great because the room I booked promises a view of Marina Bay. Actually, Premier rooms are all located on higher floors of the hotel.

TADAH!! Our Premier Marina Bay View room was incredibly spacious and I appreciate it especially when Little misschewy is with us. She has more room to walk around and explore without bumping or knocking into hard surfaces. Of course, the bed looked way too comfy to her too 😉

Our well-appointed Premier room exudes contemporary elegance, with modern furnishings that feature a combination of glass and rich fabrics. I was so tempted to just put everything down and jump into bed.

From a blogger’s perspective, the executive desk and ergonomic chair provide a comfortable and organized area for you to work on your laptop or tablet. Hehe.

The marble-clad bathroom was super spacious, featuring a deep-soaking marble bathtub as well as a separate glass-enclosed shower.

Everything you need is within reach!

Housekeeping finally sent the baby cot to our room and it’s a great way to ‘confine’ the little one so that we don’t have to chase her around. Haha.

Time for milk!

We went round to explore the hotel and were intrigued by these bird cages that we saw.

There are a handful of dining options at Marina Mandarin, namely Aquamarine, Peach Blossoms, Atrium Lounge, Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Cafe Mocha. I have been to Aquamarine with my colleagues and their buffet dinner is pretty good!

One of the things that we like about Marina Mandarin is that it is linked to Marina Square, making it extremely convenient for hotel guests.

The little one fell asleep in the carrier while we were deciding what to have for lunch. We then went to Teppei Syokudo at Millenia Walk for our favorite kaisendon!

And also hazelnut chocolate honey toast at Dazzling Cafe!

Went back to our room to rest and freshen up before heading out again for dinner. Kiddy ride for Little misschewy to reward her for behaving well. Lol.

I had actually made reservations at Bread Street Kitchen but subsequently cancelled it after reading not so good reviews. In the end, we settled for Four Seasons Chinese Restaurant at Capitol Piazza! It wasn’t such a good idea because we were still full from our lunch and it’s tough to order Chinese dishes for sharing when there are only two people. We ordered half a roast duck with two bowls of plain rice.

By the end of the dinner, I was bursting at the seams. Haha.

Obviously the hubs is a bad influence because he suggested that we go for round two right after Little misschewy fell asleep.

Admired the beautiful night view of Marina Bay from our balcony before we slept.

The hotel gave us a complimentary chocolate cake to celebrate the special occasion but I forgot to take a photo of it. The little girl loved it and kept asking for more!

Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy 🙂

Father’s Day 2015

Posted on July 16, 2015 by missuschewy

Here’s sharing how we celebrated Father’s Day this year! 16 months on, I must say that misterchewy has been performing quite well as a hands-on father and he has more or less achieved all his KPIs. Hahaha. Chanelle is as attached to her dad as she is to me, or maybe she favors me a little more but I think she’s still quite fair when it comes to expressing her affection for the both of us. If she feeds me some of her snacks, she will feed her dad too. And when she kisses me on the mouth, she makes sure that misterchewy doesn’t get left out.

I’m really happy to see both father and daughter sharing a strong relationship. Little misschewy is always calling out, “Papa! Papa!” even when the hubs isn’t home from work yet. It’s such a joy watching her eyes light up when misterchewy appears at the door step.

As mentioned in one of my earlier posts, we were invited for a staycation at Hotel Kai and we left Chanelle with my parents. I planned the entire day’s programme which was a pretty simple and chillax one. First, we went to Manzoku for lunch!

Must Instagram before eating! Haha.

The Chirashi ($25++) comes with miso soup and two slices of watermelon. I guess Manzoku should be quite well known by now for its thickly sliced sashimi, which nobody should be complaining about! Every mouthful was so satisfying!

We returned to our hotel room to relax because we were feeling lazy lol. About one to two weeks ago, I made dinner reservations at Cook and Brew at The Westin because I’m a SPG member and I wanted to take the opportunity to earn double Starpoints (got ulterior motive lol). Also, Cook and Brew is located on the 33rd floor, so the view of Marina Bay had to be good!

Kicking off our Father’s Day dinner celebration off with a pint of Erdinger each!

Sweet Potato Fries ($6)

Black Cod ($34)

The Chicken Farm ($27)

All in all, the food was very much overpriced and taste was mediocre. Would probably recommend Cook and Brew as a place to chill out with friends over some bar bites and a glass of beer or two.

The view was lovely though and we managed to catch a glimpse of the NDP rehearsal sans the fireworks.

We decided to do desserts elsewhere and headed to Snowy Village, which is relatively near the hotel we stayed. I had always wanted to check this place out because the dessert shop is housed inside a metal container! How cool is that?

Having tried only the Injeolmi Bingsu at Bing Go Jung, I wanted to introduce misterchewy to this supposedly fantastic Korean dessrert but the Injeolmi Bingsu at Snowy Village was kinda crappy and left me feeling disappointed.

The presentation of the bingsu was adorable though!

Pouring in condensed milk to make the bingsu sweeter.

The next day was Father’s Day and we celebrated the occasion with both families at a seafood restaurant at The Grandstand. Stay connected with us on Facebook.com/missuschewy and Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy 🙂

The Chewys’ Family Trip to Hong Kong Day Three

Posted on June 5, 2015 by missuschewy

As opposed to Australian Dairy Company which had been featured in my previous post, I was quite keen to try Capital Cafe at Wan Chai! This place also seems very popular and has garnered more positive reviews online.

We arrived pretty early and got a table almost immediately.

Scrambled eggs with black truffle! It was a pretty generous amount of black truffle shavings and the scrambled eggs were very creamy! It’s seriously damn good la.

We also ordered the Condensed Milk Bun which was very sweet but we like!

Next up we went for dim sum at two Michelin star Sun Tung Lok at Miramar Shopping Centre. We were not that hungry so we only ordered a few dishes to share.

Spent some time shopping at Harbour City! Seriously all the super atas brands are there!

At Toys R Us!

Afternoon tea at Intercontinental Hong Kong! They don’t accept reservations but we managed to get a table. Be there extra early if you want a table that gives you unobstructed view of the harbour! It’s really lovely! This is the Afternoon Tea Set for Two that we had. About SGD$130 to $140. We don’t usually spend money like this back in Singapore but since we are travelling, must enjoy right!

We saved a couple of scones for Little misschewy because she loves them.

We wanted to try Star Cafe and thanks to the help we found online, all we had to do was to look out for this neon signboard that says Dadol Hotel.

Walk straight ahead and take the stairs down.

I tried the Tomato noodles with pork chop. The tomato gravy was a bit watered down but the taste was still quite robust. This proved to be quite a comforting bowl nevertheless! Highly recommended!

That’s all for Day 3! Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy 🙂

The Chewys’ Family Trip to Hong Kong Day Two

Posted on June 2, 2015 by missuschewy

Little misschewy’s birthday coincided with the second day of our Hong Kong trip and we had planned an entire day of non-stop eating! Headed to Jordon first thing in the morning!

I wasn’t too keen on breakfast at Australian Dairy Company because I read reviews that this place is quite overrated but the hubs mentioned it’s on his must-try list. Ok la must give and take in a relationship 😛

We stared at the menu for a few minutes without knowing what to order. LOL. In the end we looked around and ordered whatever others were having.

Macaroni with ham was mediocre.

We also ordered the Steamed Egg Pudding and Steamed Milk Pudding which Chanelle loved.

As we were going to have dim sum in less than a couple of hour’s time, we decided to walk to International Commerce Centre. It was a damn long walk and I think we took at least 20 to 30 minutes to get there. Really no joke because I was babywearing Chanelle and felt like my lower back was gonna break. Haha.

Chanelle needs her breakfast too so off to the nursing room we went!

We were so impressed by the nursing rooms in Hong Kong. They have almost everything in there! Weighing scale, high chair, wet wipes, bottle warmer etc.

Clean and comfortable nursing room.

Tin Lung Heen is a two Michelin-star restaurant located on the 102nd level of The Ritz Carlton.

The view. Too bad it was rather hazy that day!

Roasted Crispy Suckling Pig (HK$308)

Deep-fried turnip cake with X.O. chilli sauce (HK$88)

Steamed golden shrimp dumpling with bamboo shoot and asparagus (HK$88)

Steamed barbecued Iberian pork buns (HK$88)

Soup dumpling with fish maw in superior stock (HK$112)

Petit fours were served and I really liked the osmanthus jelly!

It was a really wonderful dining experience at Tin Lung Heen and everyone should try the dim sum there when they visit Hong Kong!

After lunch, we went to a few shopping malls.

Took a break by having desserts at the popular Hui Lau Shan but it was so so.

I posted a photo on my FB page and a reader commented, “I just returned from HKG too. You gotta try the Kai Kee (at Tsim Sha Tsui) deep fried head of fish balls and deep fried cuttlefish balls. SUPER GOOD.” And so, we did just that. Problem was, we found TWO Kai Kee restaurants and none of them sold deep fried balls! It was kinda awkward and we randomly settled for toasted bun with condensed milk and iced milk tea.

Shortly after that, we passed by Wah Kee Snacks just 200m down and I thought maybe this is the one! The reader probably got the name wrong and it should be Wah Kee instead of Kai Kee. Plus Wah Kee Snacks specialize in a wide assortment of deep fried balls!

We tried the squid balls and prawn balls which were coated with some delicious spicy sauce which is their secret recipe. SO DAMN GOOD! We even went back after dinner to buy some back for supper! Hahaha.

But guess what? The reader said it’s not this. LOLOL. But nvm, we discovered a gem!

Another Instagram follower suggested that we try the peking duck at Spring Deer Restaurant, also at Tsim Sha Tsui. The restaurant had a pretty old school feel. As we were still feeling quite full, we only ordered Peking Duck (HK$300) to share.

The hubs looked around us and declared we should have a bottle of Tsingtao beer to go with our duck meat! >_<

Super shiok!

We bought a small sweet potato cake for Chanelle from the bakery below our hotel and we sang a birthday song for her. Hope she had an enjoyable time!
Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy 🙂

The Chewys’ Family Trip to Hong Kong Day One

Posted on May 27, 2015 by missuschewy

PHEW! I managed to get everything else out of the way so that I can focus on blogging about our second trip of 2015! Back in mid March, The Chewys flew to Hong Kong for a 5D4N stay which was planned as Chanelle’s first birthday trip! Come to think of it, it was also a way to reward misterchewy and I for surviving our first year of parenthood. LOL. Of course, parenthood is not without its ups and downs, and we couldn’t have done it without the help of our family members, who have been very helpful and forthcoming. We truly appreciate it! Ok back to the story. I have been toying with the idea of a birthday trip for the little one for quite some time but was put off by the exorbitant prices probably because her birthday falls in the same week as the March school holidays. Yeah but in the end, we went ahead with the plan because we wanted some time to ourselves!

We flew with Singapore Airlines and the airfare alone cost us about $1.2K. We did feel the pinch of course, with our home renovation underway and all. But it’s ok. Let’s enjoy first! Hahaha. Catching our flight early in the morning!

Happy Chewys on the plane! Can you spot Little misschewy’s first tooth sprouting at the bottom? XD

I think we booked our tickets in January, right after returning from our trip to Phuket, and hence we managed to secure the bassinet seats. The bassinet failed to serve us well because Chanelle only slept like 5 minutes in it and she was wide awake throughout the flight. The husband and I didn’t get to watch Penguins of Madagascar. Boohoo.

It was an energy zapping 4-hour journey for us! Hahaha.

After touching down at Hong Kong International Airport and collecting our luggages, we couldn’t be more relieved to meet our driver who was patiently waiting for us, holding up a placard with my name on it. He promptly took over our luggages and led us to our vehicle.

Really lucky and grateful to have Blacklane sponsoring our airport transfer both ways! Blacklane provides professional ground transportation at the lowest rates in over 180 cities all over the world. The steps to booking your ride is extremely simple. Via Blacklane’s website or app, enter the following details: Pickup and Dropoff locations OR the number of hours you wish to book the a car and driver for and your desired pick up time. After which, you get to select the car class which best suits your needs and budget! We selected the Business Class vehicle which allows a maximum capacity of 3 passengers and 2 luggages.

After booking, I received two emails. The first email was to acknowledge my booking and the second email was sent as soon as a suitable driver had been assigned to handle my ride request. When I switched on my mobile phone at the airport, I received email and SMS updates informing me that our car is on its way, and a second one as soon as our driver has arrived at the pickup location. It was a very pleasant feeling to be reassured a few times, knowing that you have got a reliable driver waiting to pick you up!

Bottled water to keep us hydrated throughout the 30-minute ride.

Loving the Mercedes E-Class!

Gotta thank Hotel Jen Hong Kong for the complimentary two nights and special rates for the remaining two! We really love the convenient location of the hotel. Hong Kong University MTR station is a mere 3-minute walk from the hotel! We stayed at Kowloon the previous few times we visited Hong Kong separately. This was our first time staying at Hong Kong Island but it wasn’t a hassle at all when we wanted to get to Kowloon. Also, Hotel Jen provides complimentary shuttle service to certain areas at various timings throughout the day.

We were thrilled to check into this lovely Club Harbour View room which offered us a panoramic view of Victoria Harbour. At 24sqm in size, our room was reasonably spacious for the 3 of us.

Our room came with free WiFi, full sized Executive writing desk, cable television, movie channels, electronic safe, steam iron and ironing board, amongst many other amenities.

We were impressed by the smart en-suite bathroom with walk-in shower! Also, the toiletries provided by Hotel Jen were adequate.

As usual, Little misschewy had the honor of testing the comfy bed.

Cheeky girl grabbed her pants and tried to escape after I changed her diaper. Haha.

We were famished but it was too early for dinner. Afternoon tea at Mandarin Oriental’s Clipper Lounge it was!

Not wanting to ruin the dinner plans we had in mind, we ordered the Afternoon Tea for One (HK$278 + 10%) to share.

Plain and raisin scones!

Devon clotted cream and rose petal jam. Both were so goooood!

The afternoon tea items were great but I found the service somewhat aloof. Well, I can still close one eye. Hahaha.

Actually this trip was mainly an eat and eat and eat trip! I must warn my readers first. LOL. Within the next two hours, we settled our dinner at Tsui Wah Restaurant at Central (Wellington branch). They have quite a few branches all over Hong Kong.

Iced Milk Tea.

Hainanese Chicken Rice was surprisingly delicious!

The best time to eat in a cramped cafe or restaurant is when the baby is asleep.

Pork cutlet burger which was tender and oily in a good way!

When communicating with the reservation team via email, I told them we probably wouldn’t need the baby cot as Little misschewy co-sleeps with us. However we changed our mind after checking in. Having a baby cot is the best way to contain her so that she doesn’t fall off the bed if we are not looking. And the baby cot is so cute!

“Let me out if not this bunny is gonna get hurt real bad!”

Surprise birthday cake specially arranged by the hotel! Chanelle’s birthday wasn’t until the next day but it was a really nice and sweet gesture!

We have come to the end of our post on our first day in Hong Kong! Stay tuned for more!
Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy 🙂

Mother’s Day Celebration 2015

Posted on May 18, 2015 by missuschewy

I can’t believe that misterchewy and I were pretty sure all along that we didn’t celebrate Mother’s Day last year. Of course, the best way to confirm is to search through my blog and it turns out that we DID celebrate by sneaking out for a nice dinner at Takumi Toyko. In my blog post, I also mentioned that we will include Little misschewy in our celebration this year but we left her at home with my mil. The hubs told me that he had planned a Mother’s Day itinerary for me and I had to take a day off work on Friday.

We travelled from the East to Holland Village as misterchewy said he felt like having brunch at D’Good Cafe. However, it started to pour and it was impossible to get there without being drenched, so we settled for Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe. It was during lunch that the hubs revealed that he signed us up for a cooking class at Shermay’s Cooking School just across the street! We have known each other for almost 5 years now and I have never once whipped up anything for him. When we got there, we realized that it was a cooking demonstration, much to our horror. I felt kinda mad because I wasn’t prepared to sit through 3 hours just watching the chef cook up a storm.

Thank goodness Chef Christopher Tan was very entertaining and we enjoyed the cooking demonstration! The particular class we attended was “A Peranakan in Paris” and these were the four dishes that we had the pleasure of watching him prepare – Couscous Ulam, Chicken Curry in ‘French Loaves’, Potato ‘Lodeh’ Gratin and Sago & Coconut Cremeux with Caramelized Pineapple.

All the dishes were splendid and mouthwatering! But of course, I confirm cannot replicate as these are way too high level for me. LOL.

After the class ended, we headed off to our dinner venue, which was also a surprise. Like last year, we had Japanese cuisine again but this time, it was at Aoki Restaurant by the Les Amis group! I had wanted to visit Aoki for the longest time! On the overall, service was alright but food was exemplary. The hubs wanted to try the Bara Chirashi (I think) but it was sold out. Nevermind, we shall swing by for lunch next time!

My mum bought this yummy yam cake from The Icing Room.

On Mother’s Day last year, Chanelle was barely two months old and look at her now! A cheeky little one-year-old who never fails to inject so much fun and laughter into our lives! 😀

Stay connected with us on Facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy 🙂

The Chewys’ Hong Kong Trip Video!

Posted on April 15, 2015 by missuschewy

During our recent trip to Hong Kong, we took some videos just for the fun of it and decided to compile the snippets together to depict our entire vacation! Both misterchewy and I don’t have any prior experience with video editing and stuff, so it took us quite a while to figure things out. Hehehe please bear with us because we know that this video is very amateurish but we reckon it’s a nice change to be able to document our trip in a different manner. Having said that, do look out for the photos that we will still be posting on this space soon!

Recently I was invited to try a website called ShopBack, which is a cashback website that gives you rebates for buying through them. When you buy through their website, they get commission from the brands, which they split with you as cash rebates! It’s pretty useful because they have websites like Expedia and Agoda, which means I can get cashback rebates for hotels or flights next time. Enjoy and happy hump day! 🙂

Valentine’s Day Staycation at Sheraton Towers Singapore

Posted on March 10, 2015 by missuschewy

Hellooooo I’m back! Had been really really busy preparing for Little misschewy’s One year old birthday party! Didn’t have time to update my blog because of that. Can’t believe there is so much involved but we are glad that it’s finally over! Hahaha. I’m here to talk about our Valentine’s Day this year! It was by far the best out of the 5 that misterchewy and I had spent together! 😀

That morning, my parents picked Chanelle up and she had a staycation at their place. Hehe. We then hurriedly packed our stuff for our own staycation. As soon as we got into the car, the hubs unceremoniously handed me a bouquet of flowers… in a paper bag! LOL. I was a bit disgusted and threw the paper bag back at him. Eh that’s like how unromantic. Haha ok la I shouldn’t complain so much right? 😛

Our Valentine’s Day staycation was at Sheraton Towers Singapore. I think the more popular ones had already been snapped up very quickly. At least the room is quite spacious and clean. For cheap hotels booking, search thousands of hotels site with Money Digest’s Hotel Search Engine as they guaranteed to show you results with the best price hotels in town!

Shower curtain! Can’t remember when was the last time I saw one in a hotel.

The hubs was hungry so we went for some ice cream at Island Creamery before dinner!

I had the pineapple tart flavored ice cream!

Took some photos because we reached the place early.

We were one of the first few to arrive The White Rabbit. Dinner place was chosen by misterchewy.

Only the Valentine’s set menu was offered that day. Looking back, it was kinda funny that we were surrounded by tables and tables of couples! The hubs and I had fun people watching and trying to guess if those couples were still dating or already married, and for how long. Like those couples who had their eyes glued to their phones, 90% possibility married. HAHA.