Ultimate Hawker Fest 2014 + Geek Cafe + Sandbank (Bistro) + Pick Me Up Cafe

Woke up quite early (8.40 am) despite I slept late last night, but I finalised woke up at 9 am.

Applied the glass protector for my Redmi Note and sis's iPhone 5S. Perfect for the iPhone - Sis immediately exclaimed that the screen now looks so much clearer and commented that the film is a bit thick. That's the nature of glass protector!

But it's a bit saggy for the Redmi Note. At least I don't see any 'dirt' on the display part of the screen anymore and now some tiny bubbles or patches that outside of the display. Well being a 'perfectionist', I don't want any imperfection when comes to the display part. And since this is a spare phone, should I buy another screen protector?

About Ultimate Hawker Fest 2014. It's an event where public could savour lots of delicious local food under one roof in a comfortable air-con setting and yet is also for a charitable cause.

Saw PG message on the hawker fest thingy, say 12.30 pm meet at Suntec City. Late by almost 1 hour as I was called up last minute to remove the strong adhesive remains on the wall. Brought the new bag out and overall verdict was good! Doesn't look like it will go spoilt soon lo. The moment I sat down with PG and Nicholas, this person called Matthias (very difficult to recall his name, have to dig it out from the Instagram posts of the 8 DAYS Eat event) came and sat beside Nicholas. Aigoo... 他是不是故意的？整個場地座位還蠻多的，偏要選擇坐我們旁邊，想認識我們？The whole period, he only talked to PG and he suspected that our main job is to blog about food! Crazy! We have a proper full time job leh! From the way he talked and asked questions, I really think he wanted to know about 3 of us. I'm guessing that he saw me before. Oh well... 不熟就靜靜就好啊～～

Anyway back to the main topic of food, before I found them, they already bought and finished Prata with Poached Egg and Indian Hollandaise Sauce – by The Prata Place ($10). Subsequently we had Madam Tan Nasi Lemak with Pork Chop – by Hiok Kitchen ($15), Elongated Glutinous Rice with Abalone – by Geng Shu Mei Shi Shi Jia (根叔美食世家) ($15) and Power Chendol - by Jin Jin Dessert ($10).

椰漿飯
我喜歡它的叁芭辣椒
豬排很不像吃豬排
但味道還不錯喔
總的來說還是行的

糯米飯
就算裡頭只有一個小鮑魚
（而且還是我不小心吃到的）
但還是覺得普普通通而已
在馬來西亞吃過更好吃的糯米飯
他們有加醬油去蒸
黑黑的
讚！

最近興起椰糖風潮
這碗加了超多椰糖的 Chendol
卻得不到我的選票
為什麼？
很簡單
還是在馬來西亞吃過更美味可口的 Chendol
不明白這樣的 Chendol 會被選？

Damage: $17 (total $50)

PG requested me to use my luggage for BKK trip. Aigoo, I have to carry it to take MRT ds! Going to take the first train 6 am ds. 7 am take will bx.

They won the contest of having the most number of likes on Instagram. $50 Taka vouchers leh! This meal should be made free for me hbh! >.< Matthias also won by going up the stage and answering the question on premium ingredients correctly.

領了獎品
回來著
呵呵偷拍的！

It was past 3 pm when we decided to go Marine Parade for free stuff :) Chased after bus 36 made me looked so unglam aigoo! PG commented the LG USB cable super 給力, he was just convinced by its stellar performance despite it just cost $2. Even better than what Daiso sells lor! Keke, then Nicholas also shocked to find that cable jin power, not only it can charge devices faster but also looks and feels much more durable than other original or 3rd party cables. They both wanted to buy more to keep or give to friends/colleagues. Keke, I very yang coz I recommended them this one ds.

裡頭還蠻多手機、平板電腦及電腦的周邊產品擺放售賣

The cafe we decided to visit (re-visit for Nicholas) was Geek Cafe, a very very small cafe located at Marine Parade Central without any table and chair, only bar top and bar-type chairs available. It was launched yesterday and they gave out free cakes and coffee to those who liked their FB page. While Nicholas was trying to get as much information from the friendly male staff via chatting, PG already started his action of getting free cake and iced mocha ds. Aigoo, fast hand fast leg hor?

 菜單玲瑯滿目

據說本店採用經由專業咖啡達人調校後的咖啡製作機器
無須加糖就有味道出來
是不是真的？

一起發啊！

貓咪可愛啊！

店內提供相當多配件
依個人喜好來完成製作蛋糕的最後一個步驟：點綴
這樣一來店家可以把蛋糕價錢壓低
顧客又能隨心所欲根據需要點綴蛋糕
雙贏局面啊！

牠住這裡

向你看齊！

聖誕將至
店主不忘拿出一些應節擺設品出來讓人賞心悅目
而且店家還爆料——即將在12月8日推出的
兩款聖誕應節蛋糕
其中一款我們有機會先品嚐為快！

After which, at some point, where what the guy said and what we had observed when we were in other cafes, Adeline, the assistant general manager, was called in to help clarified. From there onwards, it was her who entertained us lol. Quite nice lady who also explained that the assortment cake slices would be up for sale online every Wednesday with a limit of 50 orders. I jokingly told PG that only NTU peeps would win coz last time we always got to fastest fingers to get the tutorial class vacancies. Keke~

Tried out the following:

• King Cat of the Mountain (Mao Shan Wang durian cake)
• Sweet and Smokey Taffy (salted caramel)
• The Russian Whiskers (mango + Vodka)
• Have a Snowy Christmas (preview with brownie sitting on gingerbread crust base, to be launched on 8 Dec)
• Iced Mocha (for PG)
• Flat White (for Nicholas)
• Hot Latte (for me)

In a way, we took 4 cakes out of the 3 as I think Adeline was quite heartwarming and welcoming to ask us to try out their new cakes!

這就是 Have a Snowy Christmas 巧克力蛋糕
裡頭包含了 brownie
底層則是 gingerbread 材料
好特別的蛋糕啊 

是每個人都會喜歡 The Russian Whiskers
因為裡頭有摻了一點點的 Vodka
來陪襯酸酸甜甜的芒果
如果酸味不要那麼種
會更加受歡迎
我投它一票！

Sweet and Smokey Taffy
比隔鄰的 The Russian Whiskers 稍微失色了一點點

貓咪：誰敢吃我的蛋糕
我就砍斷他！

完美了

Damage: $0

As PG wanted to leave to meet the JC mates at JP, I tried to ask Jordan if he wanted to come down to East Coast Park. Oh ya, also joked on that very bx person of the year - explodingbelly, to come out instameet us as I believe she lives nearby ds. But saggy that Jordan just got home from a buffet lunch and explodingbelly was at Pasir Ris. Aigoo... Nvm lor, we continued our cafehopping adventure at East Coast without anybody. PG went total bx and meltdown by this explodingbelly ds.

另外一間在東海岸公園設門市是星巴克
想遠離喧鬧的城市環境
可以到這裡來放空

天氣超好的
不騎腳車有一點點浪費
過後回家發現西部下雨了！

I was quite puzzled to see new buildings appeared at East Coast Park - for sure I don't see them the last time I was here. I remembered the famous yellow lighthouse but I didn't see these buildings leh...

So we walked further in and discovered that even Starbucks opened an outlet at ECP! Aigoo, things have changed so much that it's not really that East Coast Park I used to remember liao. Other than Starbucks, we also find 1-2 small eatery places and some bistro-themed restaurants that take on the outdoor nature of ECP - they have no air-con and use the natural sea breeze to cool down the environment.

Nicholas was drawn by 3 places, namely Pick Me Up cafe, Atmosphere Bistro and Sandbank. In fact, I was more interested in taking scenery pictures than food (I have enough on my phone liao).

我敢說它是東海岸公園一個蠻重要的地標
地標附近不記得有什麼賣吃的或廁所之類的
所以這次下來讓我感覺到世界一直在改變

Everytime I go ECP, photo taking is a must. Enjoying the sea view makes one mood lighter, more relaxing and in turn, happier leh. Not far from the yellow lighthouse, there lies a small pier which I wanted to go and snap the sunset. But I was being cut by Nicholas who called and asked where was I. Aigoo, he said he wanted to try Sandbank (FB link) instead of Atmosphere Bistro because elainegirlgirl and siewnah03 had visited before liao, 所以沒有新鮮感了。拜託！這樣都可以給他想到，真的心機好重啊！

According to the server (yah, according to the restaurant, what an Inception-kind of description haha!), the restaurant just opened some 5 days ago and they're having a 10% off promotion. On top of that, there is no service charge and GST. It kind of attracting people to dine at the restaurant but upon presented the menu by the server, I was appalled to find the food is so expensive! A simple pizza or a plate of pasta cost more than $20 - $30-40 are very common prices on the menu. The only pasta and pizzas that cost < $20 are those fully vegetables one. Sag! 又要花大錢了～

We had

• Charcoal Grilled Cola-marinated Chicken Wings ($14)
• Fried Oyster Sandwich ($22)

On first thought of the food. I didn't feel very cola upon eating the chicken. Yes, it's very easy to separate the meat from the bone, but it felt more of the homecooked 醬油鹵雞 to me lor. The saving grace was that it was charcoal grilled, so it was a little bit too fragrant. However, I think it could be better than if the wings are grilled to perfect they take the way to grill, the heat and the time into account. A bit overrated and overpriced for me though.

The oyster sandwich was somewhat fresh to me. Though I don't really eat oysters but I must say the oysters were pretty good! The bread looks 'hard' but was soft when use a knife to cut through. Well, nothing more I could comment on the sandwich, it's just a basic sandwich which has oysters instead of egg and meat patty. Fries were normal, not cheesy fries nor truffle fries. No surprise here. But the surprise of the price tag - $22 was way overpriced IMO. Not to mention that there was no air-con but I didn't feel hot and stuffy. Lots of angmohs here. Rhyme leh~~

Charcoal Grilled Cola-marinated Chicken Wings
說得簡單一點
這就是燒烤雞翅膀
什麼可樂醃製雞肉
我吃不到可樂味道
反而更像鹵雞
有些部分烤得有一點焦
一點點扣分啦

麵包看起來硬
但其實很軟
這個值得讚許
個人覺得不值這$22的價位

精緻但很貴的晚餐啊！

Nicholas 糊塗了。At first he took out his powerbank and put at one corner of the table. Then after that, he said his powerbank not around and asked me if I got extra. Luckily I brought two lor. But saggy, the Yoobao one was out of juice liao. After that he wanted me to send him the Taobao link on the iPad case and the LG USB cable. Aigoo, tio poisoned gao gao.

While we were almost finishing our dinner, the boss (as least I think he is) came over and inquired us how's the food. Well didn't give a super direct feedback, they weren't bad until inedible just that a more afforable price tag definitely would attract more patrons.

Damage: $16.20 (total $32.40)

Just now in the afternoon, Barry sent a WhatsApp message, asking 'What time ur going later?'. Was very puzzled why he sent that message coz we didn't say to go out what. After a long time, then I came to realise got Albert birthday celebration. Coz remembered they saying something like $20 pass to SG. After that, Joa said it would be better if not present at the scene coz the food not really suitable ds. Aigoo, what a relieve. Then Barry mentioned that Pra was there and asked why I wasn't around?! Seriously, he really got invited to go there ah. Seems like my exit of the chat group a mistake ds - I mean don't know what impression I gave to others ds. I just wanted to 'say' that I'm not interested in football game and then less disturbances to the phone mah. 應該沒有錯吧？

After the dinner, we walked to the last stop of the day: Pick Me Up cafe. I don't mind the outdoor seatings as the lighting was really good but Nicholas preferred indoor seating with air-con! Ordered The Manuka waffle with Greek yogurt scoop and fresh banana & strawberry slices as topping ($15.90+). Not cheap ds.

The ice-cream had a pleasant taste which I also don't know how to describe. It's not the typical yogurt-based ice-cream but somehow the cafe had added something to it. Is it honey?

別看它外表就是典型
鬆餅+水果+冰淇淋的組合
冰淇淋絕對讓食客大開眼界
味道好特別又好吃喔！
如果水果方面可以再多元化
必定吸引到更多食客的！

Damage: $8.50 (total $17)

Nicholas brought out the DSLR and stood up to snap the waffles was too attention grabbing. I felt so paiseh lor. 拿起單眼相機然後站起來拍也太誇張了吧？！

Nicholas narrated what happening on Friday. JX and Jordan were late for the cafehopping which started at Depot Road. So only Nicholas got the free drink on the house while JX and Jordan got to pay for it. Then they talked about my blog. JX seemed very concerned whether I got put his real name and say bad things about him. Aigoo, if you have nothing for me to comment, I wouldn't even want to comment lor. What for leh? But it's true that I will put his real name, but as initials so that those people who knows him and when they read my blog, will know. Keke.

Nicholas said he set up a blog just for him, PG and me, to write and publish food reviews. Honestly, I don't think I can accomplish the task because my workload is just too heavy and I don't have much time for myself, let alone this food-oriented blog. Then Jordan said if got invited for media food tasting event and if I can't go, he can replace me to go. 拜託，真夠毒好不好？！ 這就是 Jordan 的風範。

Left the place for home at 9.30 pm. Took 966 then 151 and lastly 157 home. Journey time: 1.5 hours. I think I need 2 hours if I had taken 197 and 198 instead. Saggy when Edwin last minute told me that the dinner on Monday was called off as he now recalled he got something on that day. Aigoo, 約一個人吃個飯有那麼難嗎？