My 5 days 4 nights Ho Chin Minh Trip

Woohoo... I am SOooooo excited that I am flying off to Ho Chin Minh City Tomorrow. This will be my first time there so I was wondering if I would really like that place. I am sure Ho Chin Minh would be a great place with nice food but I am not so sure about the shopping there.

I would be travelling on Jetstar Asia Airways and the flight is early in the morning 7.15am. I think the duration of the flight would take about 2 hours and the time in Ho Chin Minh is slower than our time by an hour.

Here are some of the details for my free and easy package.

Air Tickets: $366 For 2 Pax
Lodging: Lavender Hotel, ROH Double with window (Approximately round off is $100 per night)
Each pax: Approx $383 per pax

I think it is cheap for a 5 days 4 nights stay. Moreover, i am counting down my christmas there. Anyway, I wish all of you a wonderful christmas this year!

More Posts On Saigon Can Be Found >>>>My Saigon Trip

Brewbaker at Anchorvale CC

Brewbaker's Kitchen & Bar is one of the newly opened outlet under Jack's Place. It is a hidden gem located in the neighbourhood area, Sengkang at Anchorvale Community Centre. This place will serve a great hangout place for those people who want to get away from the hustle bustle city,especially when you are staying just around that area and you just do not wish to travel too far to the town area.

The total bill was $49.79. Please see below for more details.

Brewbaker, sitting near the bar

Name: Brewbaker's Kitchen & Bar

Address: 59 Anchorvale Road #01-06 Anchorvale Community Club

Telephone: 6886 1811

Website: http://www.brewbakers.com.sg

Operating Hours:

Mondays To Thurs : 11.30am - 11 pm

Fridays To Sats: 11.30am - Late

You can catch live soccer if you want to because they do have a tv screen inside. :)

Bar Counter

Brewbaker have both indoor and outdoor dining. One thing i really loved the most is their freshly brewed beer sampler pack. It comes with 3 different flavors (Archipelago Traveller's Wheat, Samui & Archipelago Trader's Brown Ale). If you does not know what flavor you should try on, then you should try this. I prefered Traveller's wheat and samui more than brown ale. Brown Ale is simply too bitter for me. Brewbaker also serve wines as well.

Beer Sampler Pack ($9.80 Buy 1 set get 1 set free) Promotion

Well, as for their food, I think they still have rooms for improvement. Both the mixed grill and fish & chips tasted very normal. Fish & Chips was a bit cold when it was served to me. I think it will taste better if they can serve hot the next time.

Mixed Grill ($18.50)

Traditional Fish & Chip ($14.00)

Overall, I think this place is great for gathering with a few friends, but if you are looking for good food, I think other places may fare better. However, if it is a beer session, i think i really quite enjoyed their beer.

Rating: 3 stars for ambience / 2 stars for food (Totalling out of 5 stars)

Chalk Restaurant At Mount Sophia Road

Bread

Duck Confit ($31)

Escargot ($13)

Suprema 12 Inch Pizza ($19)

Lamb Rack ($35) Ribeye Steak ($33)
Outdoor Dining (great view of orchard behind)
( Scary?)

Here is a new hangout place that i found out recently. It is at Mount Sophia Road, just directly behind Plaza Singapura. This restaurant, Chalk is located inside this creative hub( Old school) was formerly a methodist girls school. Chalk was just opened barely for less than a month and is starting to attract some crowds. I am sure this place still need time to attract more people, it also reminded me the olden days of Demsey Road where there isn't many people. Other than that, this place have some art related businesses and gallery space.

Name: Chalk
Address: 11 Mount Sophia Road, #01-03
Tel: 6883-2120
Rating: 4 stars out of 5.

Initially, we wanted to go the restaurant which is directly opposite Chalk but the attitude and service of one the staffs really turned me off and her customer services was really bad. We asked for a table for 4 and this was what happened.

She rudely asked us "Did you make any reservation?"

We replied "No".

She replied, "Huh?? Do you know we do not have any seats available until 9.30 pm?"

I asked her again, "There are still so many seats available, can you just try to get us a table for 4 or may be you can just help us to check what time those people will be coming in?"

She impatiently replied and rolled her eyes at us, "This place is very popular, if you don't make any reservation, we will not have any tables for you."

Hello, what kind of attitude is this? She think i have no money to eat? She did not even bother to check her list before replying us. Straight away, i just tell my friends to dine at Chalk Restaurant. Anyway, Chalk restaurant looks much nicer and classy than this place.

The moment we stepped into Chalk Restaurant, we were greeted and welcomed by the friendly staffs. There is an indoor and an outdoor dining. The outdoor dining offers view of orchard road and the look and feel of the restaurant is very comfortable. The staff served each of us a glass of champage(drink of the day) first and also patiently explained the menu to us. We are also able to look into the kitchen from where we were seated. I was quite surprised when i found out that the chef was a young english lady and she is also the wife of the manager.

What I loved the most about their food was their bread. You will be served with different types of bread before the main course. We ordered a few to try. Escargot, Ribeye Steak, Duck confit, lamb rack and suprema 12 Pizza. All the food we tried were quite nice except escargot was abit salty. i specially like duck confit and ribeye steak the most.

Guess what? The total bill was only $131 for so much food and please do not worry that the portion will be small, even though it looks like a fine dining restaurant. Beside that, they did not charge us the champagne and service charge. I was wondering if it was because my boyfriend happened to know the manager. Hehehe... :)

Overall, it was a nice experience at Chalk. It is a good place for chit chatting with your friend or if you are planning for a romantic dining with your girlfriend, but yet is a little bit tight on the budget, try this restaurant.

Bysi Warehouse Sales from 5 dec to 8 dec 2008

Here is another update on warehouse sales. BYSI is having its year end warehouse sales from 5 dec to 8 december. Their items are going to start from $6 onwards. I think office ladies can replenish their wardrobe with the cheap buys over the weekend. :)

Click The Banner To See The Details

Charles & Keith /Pedro Men Warehouse Sales (27 Nov - 30Nov 08)

Charles & Keith /Pedro Men Warehouse Sale up to 70% OFF. The sales will start from 27 Nov -30Nov, Everyday from 10am-8pm. 27 November is exclusively for members only and the rest of the 2 days will be open for public. So, have you got a new pair of shoes to match your christmas outfit this year? I am sure you can pick up some great buys. :)

Click The Banner To See More Details

New Balance Warehouse Sales (20-22 November 2008)

Calling all New Balance Fans!!!! New Balance is having its warehouse sales from 20 Nov to 22 November. Apparels are starting from $10 and Sport Shoes from $25... Click the Banner below for more details. :)

Melben Seafood At Ang Mo Kio ( The Melben Crabs!)

Have you tried the Melben Seafood at Ang Mo Kio? This place is definitely well known for their Claypot Bee Hoon Soup Crab. Do you think they are the best place to eat crabs in Singapore? Personally, I would not say that they are the best in Singapore but they are definitely one of the most popular Crabs Haunt for the crab lovers. I also do have a special liking for their claypot crabs and creamy butter crabs. Yum! Yum! But.... their chilli crabs does not taste as good as the rest.

This place had been renovated and now this place looked so much more better with water features and the lights are actually dimmer which i think this is better for the customers. It became just like a better class kopitiam. Heehee...


Situated just opposite Melben Seafood is actually Uncle Leong Seafood. I heard both of them are from the same parent company. Despite of this, Melben Seafood had more customers.

Since there were just only 2 of us, we just ordered 1 claypot Bee Hoon Soup Crab, 1 Creamy Butter Crab and 1 Mixed mushroom vegetables. I think the price had increased slightly higher as compared to the last time I dined. I can't remember if they have GST included last time but this time they had it in the bill. The total damage for our food cost $96.30. The last time we also had 2 crabs, additional orders of Herbal wrapped chicken, Deep Fried Beancurd, Deep Fried Wu Xiang and a vegetable only cost around $120 plus and the portion was meant for 4 person the other time. Why was the difference so big this time round? Our crabs wasn't any bigger too and infact i think the person chose the smallest crabs for us. Anyway, it does not matter. We had our fill too. :)

Name: Melben Seafood
Address: Blk 232 Ang Mo Kio Ave 3 #01-1222
Tel : 6285 6762
Rating: 4 stars / 5

Highly recommended Food: Claypot Beehoon Soup Crab, Creamy Butter Crab, Deep Fried Beancurd.

Claypot Bee Hoon Crab Soup ( $39 )

Creamy Butter Crab ($39) Mixed Mushroom Vegetables ($12)

Adidas Street Bazaar 14-17 Nov 2008

I am so sorry that I didn't update you guys on this great deal that was held over the weekend because my modem was down for the past few days so cannot get any access to the internet. I had a good "adidas spree" over the weekend. Everything was really CHEAP CHEAP... I went for a consecutive of 2 days, saturday and sunday because I was told every day they have different items on sales. It was not too crowded on saturday but sunday was different, we had to queue. Well, perhaps it was last day and the sales was greater.

On Saturday:
50% OFF on every purchase of 3 footwears and above
30% OFF on every purchase of 3 apparels and above

On Sunday:
50% OFF on every purchase of 3 footwears and above
50% OFF on every purchase of 3 apparels and above

See the difference? Anyway, before it was priced 50% OFF for their items, it was already very cheap because a pair of sport shoes cost about $50 which the price had already slashed down before the 50% Discount. For example, $50 x 3 pairs =$150 -50% = $75 for 3 pairs of shoes. Extremely cheap right? Where can you buy a real and authetic addidas sport shoes for SO CHEAP... Average, it cost more than $100 per pair. Here are what I had bought....

(Top black:$40, Left Pink:$25, Right Green: $35 = $100 for 3 pairs)

(Top Left Gray: $15, Top Right White: $14 Bottom Left Gray: $15, Middle Black &White: $21, Right Pink: $15) Some Apparels are bought on saturday, hence it was only additional 30% OFF. Anyway, it was still worth it because the tops are already sold out on sunday. :)

These are just part of the items shown. The men's t shirts bought by my man cost only $10 each. :) Everything are just so worth it.

Ministry Of Food My Izakaya

Ministry Of Food My Izakaya (MOF) probably serve one of the most decent japanese food with decent fare. I visited the outlet located at Marina Square and you may need to join in the queue if you are too late. The total tab was $84.23 after a 10% discount using DBS credit card.

Name: Ministry Of Food My Izakaya (MOF)
Address:
- 6 Raffles Boulevard #02-138F Center Stage Marina Square Singapore 039594

- Bugis Junction (Cafe & Restaurant)200 Victoria Street #02-45 Bugis Junction S(188021)

- Raffles City (Takeaway Kiosk) 252 North Bridge Road #B1-49 S(179103)

Telephone: 63342 202 (Marina Square) 6338 6466 (Bugis)
Email: enquiry@ministryoffood.com.sg
Website: http://www.ministryoffood.com.sg/

Rating: 3 stars for ambience, 3.5 stars for food (Total out of 5 stars)

Recommendation: Mango Kakigori (Ice cream) and Seafood Toji

Teriyaki Bento ($8.80)

Tori Karaage ($7.20)

Soft shell Crab (6.80)
Tri Color Bento ($8.50)
Seafood Toji ($13.80)

Wedding At The Legends

I just attended a wedding last saturday at The Legends. They really have nice and cool ambience but I would say this place is a little bit hot even though it was installed with many fans. The plus points of this place is the ambience and food. The food portion was really big. Although my table only sat 9 persons but all of us had at least 2 servings of shark fins and some even had 3 servings. However, this place is quite out of the way which can be a concern for many elderly and those people who don't drive because they may not go due to the location. This was what happened during the wedding. Anyway, below are some of the pictures that I took during the wedding. Enjoy! :)

Reception Area

Table Setting

Stage

Wedding Cake, First Layer was real.

Wedding Favor (Heart Shape Stirrer)

Hainanese Delight

Here is a cheap found where you can enjoy nice food in an airconditioner area in Cityhall. Everything are priced so cheap. This authentic Hainanese restaurant is located opposite St Andrew's Cathedral church, some where beside breadtalk and the gramophone. This place look like a kopitiam with aircon but to find this kind of place in cityhall is quite rare. :)

It was my first time here and I specially like their Chicken rice. The rest are just quite normal to me. Those of you who want to look out for cheap haunt and nice authentic chicken rice can try this Hainanese Delight at stamford road. Anyway, this place is free from GST and service charge. :)

Name: Hainanese Delight
Address: 11 Stamford Road #01-05 Capitol Building
Rating: 3stars out of 5 for food

House Special Pork Chop (I don't really like this dish, too dry)

Holiday Inn Atrium Wedding Show 2008

I just attended a wedding show at Holiday Inn Atrium. I would say the perks they are offering are quite attractive.

Additional perks like:
- $2500 rebate for those who signed up on the wedding show
- Free flow of beer
- Waiver of corkage charge for duty paid and sealed hard liquor
- Complimentary food tasting for 10 persons.


1 table is $788nett for weekend / $688 nett for weekdays (Price for 2009)

Although they do not have complimentary wine per confirmed table, I still find it quite worth it because $2500 is considered better than giving away free wine per confirmed table(after my own calculation). The friendly wedding coordinator was willing to have the corkage charge waived for wines that I brought in for the actual day, which mean if I have 40 tables confirmed, I can bring in my own 40 bottles of wines free of corkage. After that any additional bottles will have corkage charges. If you buy from the hotel, it would be at $21.35 per bottle.

Food was prepared by Hong Kong Chefs from Xin Cuisine Chinese Restaurant. The food was quite nice when i tried at the wedding show but I am not sure about if the standard remains the same on the actual day. Best of all, their food menu include abalone.

I wanted very much to confirm the wedding banquet with them but my wedding may exceed 46 tables so it can be a big risk to us. For those of you who have less than 46 tables may consider them if you only have a budget of around $800 especially year 2009, finding a good hotel around this price is quite tough. :)

Website: www.holidayinn.com/atrium-sin

Here are some of the pictures taken at the wedding show. Pardon me for my bad shooting skill!