Pique Nique Cupcakes

After some heavy lunch, my friends and I were wanting to just sit down and chat. We decided to try the town's newest import, Paul Bakery. It seems, however, that our idea is shared by many judging by the long line. We decided to skip it and head to Pique Nique a few floors down.







As with last time, all but me were not able to resist the all day breakfast menu. And as with our previous experience (check out previous post), they found the food to be a bit ordinary.





What made this visit extraordinary would have to be their cupcakes and their extremely friendly staff.

My tummy had very little room left so I decided on just a lemon cupcake and a cup of hot chocolate. The chocolate was dark and thick, just the way I like it. The marshmallow cloud was something to look at, I almost didn't want to eat it. It's lightly sprinkled with sugar to help sweeten the drink.



The lemon cupcake is actually a pound cake in disguise, again, just the way I like it. Halfway through it, I got a bit of lemony surprised since it has a chunk of lemon cream filling.



Our gracious waitstaff surprised us with a Red Velvet Cupcake on the house. This was also wonderful, I would've preferred a little more cream cheese on the frosting but the cake itself was divine. The flavor was very subtle, I'm drooling just thinking of it now.



When we settled our bill, we were surprised with a macaron each. What a way to end our meal.

Johor Bahru

To get away from the weekend monotony, Em-J had this idea to spend it at Johor Bahru, Malaysia. I don't really mind travelling there since it's less than a half hour away from where we're staying. I met up with him and Danny who were both coming from Segamat and we were both surprised that we were wearing the same shirt.



After circling City Square for a bit, we hailed a cab and asked the driver to take us to the nearest Jusco since I couldn't remember the exact branch. We ended up in a wrong one being that it was quite small with just a few places to eat at.

We asked around and we were told that the one that we're looking for is Jusco Tebrau.

A trip to JB wouldn't be complete without having lunch at Nando's. They have a completely new menu and I felt that the prices aren't as cheap as before. It's almost the same as that of here in Singapore.



The mall is quite nice, I thought of Powerplant while we were having lunch looking at the people passing by.



We also chanced upon the coolest candy shop ever, Country's Tid-Bits and Candies Cottage.











What sets this apart from the usual candy shops more than just the great variety is that you're free to try everything! Yes, FREE!!! We sampled the sweets all to our hearts content. We love it!!! We ended up buying two big bags of sweets even though we've already had more than our fair share.

With nothing else to do, we decided to watch a movie since they are already showing The Woman in Black, a week earlier than in Singapore.



After the movie at 10PM, we received another pleasant surprise when we found out that the mall is still open giving us a little more time to look around and do a little bit of grocery shopping. I also saw this cool little angry bird cake.



And I got talked into buying this Cherry drink.



Before heading to Singapore the next day, we had lunch at Stone Grill. Great food at very affordable prices.

Casa Tartufo

Truffles have been one of the recent rages in the foodie scene. I'm half expecting McDonald's to come up with truffle flavored fries anytime soon, if they can come up with a "macaron" sundae, surely they can come up with a mass produced "truffle" flavoring.

I admit I'm not really a foodie and my taste buds are not as discerning and I've also just recently fallen in love with truffles when everyone else has already been raving about it. 

As part of the restaurant week celebration, we tried Casa Tartufo last Sunday, it's also known as the "House of Truffles" so I was excited to try truffles with more than just fries. 

The restaurant is located at the ground level of the Forum in Orchard.



I loved the overall feel of the restaurant. It was very homey and welcoming, it also helps that everyone was very friendly. The owners even went out of their way to make little conversation and even took the time to take our photo.





They have an extensive wine list but sadly I'm really not a drinker and I know next to nothing about pairing so I just had water. We were first offered a bread basket while waiting for our soup. The first course is a choice between the soup of the day or deep fried sardines. Em-J and I decided on the soup. Actually, we ended up ordering the same thing for the three courses.



I forgot to ask what the soup of the day was and for the life of me, I couldn't quite figure it out. It was just alright. 

We had the porcini stuffed ravioli with mushrooms for our main course. I liked this dish and while we initially thought the serving was a bit too small, it ended up to be just right. I just felt that the ravioli was a bit overcooked.



Our dessert of truffle ice cream was very interesting. The owner explained the process of making it so our curiosity was piqued.



It was very good, my favorite part of the meal. Your first bite hints of vanilla sweetness, as you continue to savor the spoonful of dessert, an explosion of truffle goodness hits you. Too good for words!

I'll be back for this dessert alone.

You can check the website here and their regular menu here.

Special set lunch menu price for restaurant week: $40++, $10++ for the still water.

Restaurant week happens again in October, you can register early here to be able to reserve two days earlier than the rest.

Titanic in 3D

I'm one of those who never tire of watching a good movie over and over and say what you want but Titanic isn't just a good movie, it's a great movie in my book. I loved it when it was first released and I still do.

However, while I love the movie, I'm not a die hard fanatic so I don't have the special edition DVDs and I haven't downloaded the movie and stored it in my hard disk and I haven't seen it in such a long time.

When I saw the trailer for the first time in the theater a week back, I got all excited. I had a whiff of nostalgia and I remembered watching it with my family and having a really great cinematic experience.

Having the chance to watch it on the big screen again is something that I wouldn't pass up. Frankly, I don't care much for 3D but if there's one movie that deserves to be 3D-ified, it's this. I can just imagine how majestic Titanic will look.

With invites from Omy, we headed to Plaza Singapura last night for the special preview.

Both a critical and commercial success, the hype surrounding it and it's very famous theme song had a bit of a negative effect. People started to feel that need to distance themselves from the hype. Up to now, check your Twitter timeline once it's finally re-released and you're sure to see a lot of negative jabs at the movie but I refused to be sucked in. As soon as the lights dimmed, I sat back and allowed myself to experience the wonderful journey that it truly is again.

I suggest everyone go to the theaters on April 5, leave your inhibitions out the door and see the movie again as if you're seeing it for the first time.

Potion Bistro & Bar, Nostalgia Hotel

I was able to catch the tail end of Restaurant Week last weekend with Analyn and Em-J. I chose Potion for Saturday lunch because I was curious about it, I actually thought that the restaurant specializes on molecular gastronomy. I tried reading about it online but not much has been written about it so we didn't really know what to expect.

Potion is the in house restaurant of Nostalgia hotel in Tiong Bahru. I haven't been there so I was looking for a tall hotel. Analyn whipped out her phone to help us out, it turns out that we've already passed the place twice.



Adding to our confusion, we saw that the restaurant is outdoors but the entire place is being hosed down. Chairs were all turned over and moved to the side, workers were all over, wet and dirty.

We decided to enter the hotel and we were asked by their gracious front desk staff if it's alright for us to have lunch inside instead. This is actually a blessing since it was too hot outside.

The place is a bit cramped, I felt that they can do with a couple less chairs but it really wasn't a problem since we were the only ones dining in at that time.





Here's the special menu:



I ordered a lychee drink to cool me off a bit which was really refreshing.



We started with potato soup which was good.



Analyn had the chicken for her main dish while I had the salmon. The serving was pretty filling, not what I was expecting. I loved their mashed potato, I haven't been a fan but I nearly finished my heaping serving. The asparagus was also good. Sadly, the salmon was overcooked, a little burnt and dry but the sauce made up for it.



Dessert was pear gelato which I was expecting to be served in a martini glass. When we were finally served with it, we were surprised and delighted. The effort in the preparation was not lost on us. The pear flavored and shaped ice cream was dipped in chocolate. It's center resembling the pit was a dark chocolate bonbon and the protruding stem, mint chocolate.





They sure know how to end a meal.

Restaurant Week special price: $25++, $4.50 for the drink.
All photos taken with my phone.

Citrus Hotel, Johor Bahru

Citrus Hotel is located just across City Square. Its location is perfect if you're looking at a place near immigration which is exactly what Em-J wanted. From City Square, exit out of the office side of the building near McDonald's and cross the street.





The area reminded me a bit of Chinatown in Manila, there are outside eateries just nearby and some stores at the checkpoint are open till 11pm if you find yourself hungry late at night.

I arrived at the hotel at 3pm and they asked me to wait while they are checking me in.



The lobby looked like a simple boutique hotel and wifi was pretty strong. (I realize later that it might not have been the hotel's wifi that I've been using since theirs is password protected.)

I followed up with them 10 minutes after but they're still not done. Weird cause there's only one group checking in before me and there are, at that time, 2 front desk staff there.

After a 45-minute wait, this is what the lobby looked like, lots of people waiting for what should be a simple check in procedure. I would totally understand this if I came for an early check-in but I didn't.



I was finally given my room and I headed straight to the elevators which would fit about 4 average adults. The hallway smelled faintly of rice sacks as if you're in a warehouse.

The family room was very spacious which was a surprise.





It did look a bit bare with just the minimums. A couple of beds, a desk and a TV, right behind the wall is a pretty big wardrobe with a mirror for a door which was nice. I also noticed that the floor by the foot of the bed is uneven.



The bathroom looked like a bathroom from someone's flat but the good thing about it is that it's quite spacious. Just don't forget to switch on the heater from outside before taking your shower. What I particularly didn't like about it is that the bathroom door has no lock.





While it comes with free wifi, don't get your hopes up, it was almost non-existent. We called the front desk several times and we were given a username with a number from 1 - 30. We had to try each one to see what would work and when it did connect, it didn't stick.

It also comes with free breakfast at the cafe on the 2nd floor.







Breakfast was a simple affair but I have to point out that the service was superb. The people from the front desk should learn a thing or two from the waitstaff there.

Overall, while there are minor inconveniences, it's a good enough place to stay at.