Eski Bar, Circular Road

Upon Aileen's recommendation, we took the guys to "Freezing" Eski Bar the night before our Genting trip. I was really amused at the concept of a freezing-cold bar in sunny & hot Singapore.


On a wednesday night, there were only a few people inside so we had most of the "cold" to ourselves. They even lend you jackets to keep you warm - perfect for picture-taking haha. The back area of the bar is not as cold but of course we stayed at the freezing-cold area right after the entrance.

I'm not sure if the thermometer was correct, because the last time we went there, it also read -5 degrees Celsius. Anyhow, correct or not, it was really very cold.

They had this promo where you get a dessert and a drink for $20, so we chose Warm Chocolate Brownie paired with "Heaven" - kahlua, creme de cacao brown, baileys, tia maria, cream and chocolate hershey.

So for those who are going to travel to Singapore anytime soon, I think this is one of the hidden must-go-to's. A truly unique idea - booze and a cool climate.


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Cafe Le Caire, Arab Street

So my twin bro, Johann, his GF, Farida, and my cousin Mike (Aileen's bro), arrived in town last Monday for a 1-week Singapohlean getaway. It's their 3rd or 4th time here so we wanted to take them to some place different for dinner.

We decided to go to Arab Street for a unique and unusual-yet-interesting gustatory mini-feast. Despite the rain, we braved to walk to Arab street from Bugis MRT.

Arab street actually reminds me of the small streets in Binondo in Manila. The feeling of old, rustic & historic small shophouses. Of course Arab Street is the cleaner version of Binondo. Plus, a lot safer especially at night.

For starters we had "Mez'ze" ($15) - a middle eastern tradition to start a meal with an assortment of starters and dips. For 15 bucks, this appetizer was very affordable with a wide variety of dips. I really loved the yellow dip (mashed chick peas I think) and the white one, as it was perfect with the bread. So perfect that we ordered additional bread. Hehe.

For main course, we ordered "Whole Roasted Spring Chicken" ($17) and "Meshawi" ($18)- a mixture of shish, tawouke, kofta and vegetable kebabs and house-special lambchops served on arabic bread and seasonal greens.

The chicken was slightly raw, some inner parts were still blood-red but we were too hungry and lazy to argue with the waiter so we just ate the cooked parts.

The kebab platter was my favorite. The assorted meat was very tender and tasty and went perfect with the Vermicelli rice ($1.50).

I would say we had a pleasant welcome dinner to usher the arrival of our guests. But more than the food, it's always fun to have family around. The daily grind at work plus living far away from home can get lonely, dull and monotonous...Huhuhu.. hehe.

Here is my rating for Cafe Le Caire:

Ambiance - 3.0
Service - 2.5
Food - 3.0
Presentation - 2.5
Value for Money - 3.5
OVERALL - 2.9

39, Arab Street, Singapore 199738 Tel: 6292 0979
Sunday to Thursday - 10am - 3:30am
Friday to Saturday - 10am -5:30am

"Live, Love & Eat!"

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En Route to Genting, Malaysia

My twin brother, Johann, and his Gf, Farida, plus my cousin Mike, Aileen's brother, are all in town. Haha was that confusing. So tonight we head off to Genting Highlands in Malaysia, a 6-hour coach ride from Singapore.

We will be staying at the First World Hotel, the larget hotel complex in the world with 6,118 rooms, as awarded by the Guiness Book of World Records. Guiness should also award them with the "Most Ridiculous Exterior Paint for a Hotel". Seriously, who the hell had the brilliant idea of painting it with rainbow-like colors in a disarrayed manner??!!

I am really looking foward to the Flying Coaster. In fact, this is the only ride I am looking foward to. Plus the cable car, maybe.

Wow look at that fog.. Yummy weather! Looks like "Fitness" in my blog has really taken the backseat for the meantime. Hehehe. But really, as soon as our visitors leave I will get my fat ass back in the gym :P

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Cha Cha Cha Mexican Restaurant, Holland Village

Mexican food is my all-time favorite. On top of Japanese & Italian. It's ironic though that since the 1.5 years that I've stayed here in Singapore, I haven't gone to a legit mexican restaurant.


So since Farida (my brother's Gf) is in town, we decided to go to Holland Village for dinner since I also haven't been there. Holland Village is quite nice actually. I like the quaint yet fun atmosphere. There was a lot of choices to eat at, including bars, shops and even a small shopping mall.

*I forgot to bring the digicam so here we go again with blurry pics from my phone cam.


There were 2 mexican restaurants that caught our eye. And they were right beside each other. So we decided to go to the one that had more people, assuming that the food was better.

For starters, they gave us a free basket of home-made nachos and salsa, then we ordered "Guacamole Dip" ($9) - described as "Mexico's indigenous fruit made with fresh ingredients, tastefully blended and served with corn tortilla chips". I loved the guacamole dip and the salsa but I found the nachos a bit too thin. Yes they were home-made but I prefer the ones at CPK or even Tostitos in a bag.

For main course, Aileen, Zach and I had the "Burritos" ($15) - Large flour tortilla served with rice and your choice of chicken, shredded or ground beef topped with melted cheese and chili con carne, served with refried beans, sour cream and guacamole. The presentation was bad, they just put the glob of refried beans, sour cream and guacamole on your plate. It would have been better if they were in small saucers or bowls.

Nevertheless, the taste was great! How I miss refried beans, ground beef, chili and sour cream, all wrapped in a yummy tortilla! The tortilla was a bit tough though. But overall, I would say the taste was above average, especially with the hot sauce.

Farida ordered "Chicken Tapa" ($9) - Chicken wrapped in flour tortilla and deep fried till golden brown served with sour cream, guacamole, salsa mexicana. Nothing special. The chicken filling was bland and the tortilla wasn't crispy enough. If not for the sauces, this would have been a disaster.

The star of the night were the hot sauces. haha. I just realized Cholula is way better than Tabasco. I find tabasco a bit sour. Cholula was more spicy and robust. Or maybe I'm just tired of Tabasco.

We were so full we had to have tea at the nextdoor hawker centre. Cha Cha Cha won't really make you get up on your toes and do the sun-dance but it was good enough to rekindle my love for mexican food.

Here is my rating for Cha Cha Cha:

Ambiance - 3.5
Service - 4 (the food came really quick)
Food - 3.5
Presentation - 2
Value for Money - 3.5
OVERALL - 3.3

32 Lorong MambongHolland Village
Singapore 277690
Tel: 6462 1650
Opening hours: 11.30 am - 11.00 pm (daily)

"Live, Love & Eat!"

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Eva Longoria for Magnum

So I assume by now you've seen the Magnum commercial featuring the uber sexy and unbelievably beautiful Eva Longoria.


Out of all the junkfood in the world, surprisingly, I am not really a fan of ice cream (along with softdrinks). So when I saw this commercial I was just ho-hum about it. To be honest, I don't even remember ever buying magnum ice cream in my whole life. I think Selecta is the Philippine version of Wall's ice cream (if im not mistaken) and I have eaten Cornetto before (their ice cream cone) but not Magnum. I think Magnum is like their high-end version of ice cream.

So last night after dinner, we were carefully contemplating on what to eat for dessert (hehehe). Then like a lightbulb in our heads we said "Hey, why not we try the Eva ice cream?". So off we went marching to the nearest convenient store to get a piece of Magnum. They weren't selling it by piece so we were forced to get the box of 3 (yeah right, forced).

So as we were walking out of the store to open our prized purchase, I looked at the receipt and realized, "WHAT?! $10.90 for 3 freakin' small pieces of ice cream?!! You have got to be kidding me!". So I thought maybe the cashier punched it incorrectly. So we went back inside to check the price at the freezer section and yes it was indeed $10.90.

Then I started to rant about how overpriced the damn ice cream is. I thought, for the price we paid, we could have gotten a pint of Ben & Jerry's. Then while I was rambling and complaining and opening the damn ice cream, I took a bite out of the Magnum...

"Oh my Eva!! It was so damn good!!" The ice cream was verrryyy creamy and the chocolate tasted like real belgian chocolate. Not the usual cheap chocolate coating that looks like chocolate but tastes artificial.

My apologies to Wall's. Next time put a disclaimer on the label like "Taste before you Complain". Hehehe. Thank god we got the 3-piece box, so there's another one lurking in the freezer, waiting to be judged.

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Hair Glue

Having healthy hair also means being fit right? hehehe.. Actually, this isn't supposed to be in my blog but I just found it so amusing so I can't help but blog about it.


Last Sunday, I went for a much needed haircut. There's this nice reasonably-priced salon called Hair Profile a few blocks from our flat. I've had the same haircut for maybe 4 or 5 years now and I've gone there a few times since I moved to our area last year.

So after she finished washing, cutting and washing my hair she proceeded to style it. I almost thought she was using Elmers glue to style my hair but of course I figured she's not that stupid.

And since time immemorial she's always been pushing different products for my hair so I figured, Ok i'll get this one. Also because I was really amused at the packaging. Very innovative. But very expensive at $28.50. Even more expensive than my damn haircut. Anyhow, I really wanted to buy at least 1 product from her so she would stop sales-talking me with products or hair treatments hehe :)

Then I surfed the net for paul mitchell products and found out the glue is only $10 online. Rip-off!! Grrr. Not bad though coz I think the bottle would last me at least a few months. And the best part is it's super easy to wash. Unlike the normal clay I use that's so damn hard to shampoo off.

Doesn't it look exactly the same as Elmer's Glue?? Very amusing! Now elmer's has gone into so many different types of glue like acid-free, tacky glue, glue with glitters, etc etc.. How about edible glue?? hehe.

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Art of the Devil 3

Panor (Napakpapah Nakprasit) is an attractive and beautiful teacher who is victimized through black magic by a Thai family to use her body to bring back a loved-one from the dead. Revenge takes its course when Panor's soul gets back at the family. At the same time, a man who is obsessed with black magic sets out to hunt Panor, believing that the Three-Eyed Devil lives within her.

One thing I noticed about Thai movies is that they love gore. The more blood, violence & cringe-worthy scenes, the better. I found the story a bit interesting because black magic (amongst other horror folklore) is also profound in the Philippines. I haven't really proved it's truth and existence but the filipino culture is not complete without talk about "mangkukulam", "tikbalang", "manananggal" and other local ghosts and creatures.

The movie was so-so. I've seen better thai movies. Surprisingly though I didn't fall asleep, despite the fact we watched the 1.35am showing. Haha! maybe because of all the gore. It doesn't matter that I didn't see the prequels because the story was second to the blood and violence in the movie.

For my rating, I give "Art of the Devil 3" - 2/5.

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The Soup Spoon, Raffles City

I LOoooOOvvEE Soup Spoon!!! No need to food blog because I already give them a 5/5! hehehe.

Whenever I'd like to indulge myself but not feel as guilty, I head straight to Soup Spoon. I think it's a brilliant idea to come up with a food store that is all about soup.

Nevermind the usual long queue and the slightly more expensive price because to me it is all worth it. I never really thought I could enjoy soup and feel full at the same time. I have always thought of soup as a starter but not as the main meal.



Their soups usually come with your choice of bread but this time we opted to "upsize" it to Naan for $1.50, add cheese and you add $3.00. I think it's a good idea to have a curry-based soup as I usually associate Naan with indian or mediterranean cuisine. Nevertheless, the Naan was good. Very chewy and perfect to dunk in your soup.

Zach had the "Beef Goulash" - described in their website as "prime beef-cut stewed with the infamous paprika and loaded with starchy vegetables to make it a meal in itself." I already had this before so I opted to try something else but I must say, this is really a meal on its own. There was so much veggies and beef that you could actually pair it with rice. Moreover, it's very healthy and yummy!

For $10.80, the beef goulash came with the "Chicken Tikka Wrap" - tandoor chicken with mango chutney, mint cucumber, red onions and romain lettuce. Another yummy treat!! hehe I'm so bias. But really, the tangy taste of the chutney plus the tender chicken was perfect with the bread.

I had the "Velvety Mushroom Stroganoff" - described as "feels almost like eating fresh mushrooms out of the field. The mushrooms are so smooth, they glide down the throat. This soup is overpowering with the aroma of mushrooms perfect for mushroom lovers."

Ok! I get it alright, mushrooms. That description was overkill... But indeed there was mushrooms everywhere. Too many that the soup was too thick. But still gloriously yummy!

To complement my soup, I had the "Teriyaki Fish Sandwich" ($10.60, with soup) - teriyaki fish with red onions, green salad & wasabi mayo. I'm not sure about the teriyaki fish but the wasabi mayo gave that extra layer of flavor & spice. My least favorite but not too bad all in all.

I sum up my soup spoon experience as healthfully appetizing!! (if there is such a phrase, haha). I just love the fact that you can enjoy your food for less the fat & calories. Some soups are a bit more caloric especially the cream-based ones but I think compared to eating a fastfood meal, soup spoon is definitely the wiser choice, bar none!

Here is my rating for Glorious Soup Spoon (haha):

Ambiance - 3.5
Service - N/A
Food - 4.5
Presentation - 3.5
Value for Money - 4.5
OVERALL - 4.0

252 North Bridge Road
B1-75/76 Raffles City Shopping Centre Singapore
Telephone: (65) 6334-3220

"Live, Love & Eat!"

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Fitness Blog #4

OK. I admit it. I have seriously taken for granted how hard it is to keep a food blog and lose weight. So now I am officially taking off Fitness. Hehe. Kidding.

Much to my regret, I gained 1.1kg.
F%#&!!!!
I am at fault. I know. I have been careless lately. Plus the fact that I went on a short holiday. Not to be disheartened because I have still been going to the gym regulary. At least 2-3 times a week. I have to go more often. But I have started doing weights as well. So who knows maybe the 1.1kg are muscles?!! :P hehe

Also, I am still cutting down on white carbs especially rice. I still take my wheat sandwich to work.


Speaking about gym, (I just really have to say this) don't you just hate stinky smelly gym-goers??! I mean, yes of course, in one way or the other some, if not most people, will emit some kind of smell because IT IS a gym, for crying out loud. But some people (and I think you know who these people are) are just offensively smelly. Their smell will hit you like a punch. Upper cut right on the nose. I mean really, from 10 feet away you could smell them. Atrocious.

The first time I got here in Singapore, this is the one thing that surprised me. The city looks very clean and green but the smell, I dont think so. Everyday, during my 3-hour long journey to and fro work, the smell of "these specific people" are just really an obstacle. A lot of times it would just make me mad. I mean c'mon, its impossible they dont smell themselves right?? besides, isn't it common sense that if you don't regulary take a shower and not use deodorant then of course you will stink!?

No wonder they recently came out with a "week-long" deodorant. NO kidding. They claim this wipe-on deodorant will last a week. Yuck.

Starting Weight as of June 30 - 121 kg
Weight as of July 9 - 119.2 kg
Weight as of July 16 - 118.5 k
Weight as of August 12 - 119.6 kg

"No Pain, No Gain"

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Big O Cafe Restaurant, Wheelock Place

So I was craving for Pasta with meatballs on a Friday night. We were thinking of going to CPK or Svensen's but settled for Big O Cafe at Wheelock Place.

I think it's always a genius idea to entice the customers by displaying the cakes at the entrance - especially in a place like Wheelock where foot traffic is heavy and a lot of hungry mallrats abound.


For starters, we had their "Soup of the Day -Clam Chowder" ($6.00). I was very careless to delete the picture of the soup when I was browsing thru the photos. Now I don't remember how it tastes like. Sometimes by seeing what I ate, it helps me remind of how it tastes. Anyhow, I remember it was quite good. Not too salty and rich.


For appetizer, we had the "Crispy Fried Calamari" ($9.90) - menu described it as "calamari with tartar dip and yellow lemon". Aren't all lemons yellow?? because when it's green its called lime, right?

Anyway, as you can see in the pic, the calamari is too bloated. In short, too much flour. I prefer breadcrumbs for calamari. If there's any flour, probably a thin batter just like the one at Fish & Co. Plus the tartar sauce was too sour and the calamari was rubbery. Not quite appetizing.

For main course, I had the "Spaghetti with Meatballs" - ($18.50) - described as "delicious beef meatballs in Big O's fragrant signature sauce".

For the price of the pasta, I did get a hefty serving. There was a lot of beef and the meatballs were quite big. Unfortunately, it was indeed big in serving but not big on taste. The sauce was bland. I did see a lot of herbs in the sauce and inside the meatballs but for some reason couldn't taste it. And I'm sure I didn't have a cold. I'd rather have less meat but more flavour.

For dessert, we had "Spike D" ($4.95) - described as "durian cake made with fresh durian topped with chocolate fudge. Voted favorite dessert by Life Eats".

Honestly, I'm netural when it comes to durian. I don't really despise it but I also don't love it. I must say though, this durian cake saved the day. You couldn't smell the pungent aroma but you could definitely taste the durian. Very moist and delightful. The chocolate was a good contrast to the durian. A very unique "must-try" especially to durian lovers.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed with Big O. I learned thru the website Big O is the newest sister restaurant of NYDC. And in my previous blog I was disappointed with NYDC. Oh well..

Here is my rating for Big O:
Ambiance - 3.5
Service - 3.5
Food - 2
Presentation - 3
Value For Money - 3
OVERALL - 3

ADDRESS #02-04/05, 501 Orchard Road, Wheelock Place Singapore 238880
RESERVATIONS 67378472

"Live, Love & Eat!"

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