Graffiti Cafe at NEX Serangoon

I recently stumbled upon the Graffiti Cafe when I was in NEX Serangoon.

The first thing that caught my interest was the $4.80 set meals that consist of one plate of wanton mee with a choice of a drink or dessert.

I thought it was a bit odd that it was called Graffiti Cafe until I stepped into the cafe; after placing my orders and grabbing my drinks at the cashier. 

The tables were small with simple stools provided. There are bigger tables at the back of the cafe.

The walls were actually covered with graffitis. This tiny cafe design will not be something is expected for a place that serves wanton mee and traditional chinese deserts.

The walls kept the Chickadee entertained throughout the meal.

You get your food at a little kitchen window once your number is displayed on the wall.

If you are looking for a Malaysian-style black sauce wanton mee, this place offers authenticity on a plate. Their combination of sauces comes quite close.

The cafe gave fried wanton in the noodles and also threw some wantons in their tasty soup. Their drinks were decent and I was quite aware that there were people ordering their desserts to dine-in or takeaway.

Tip: Make sure to mention that 'No chilli" if you are ordering for your child as it will come with.

Details
Address: B2-62, 23 Serangoon Central, Singapore 556083

EatPlayLove Cafe

EatPlayLove cafe is a restaurant that provides an awesome arts n craft section for kids.

For just $5 an hour (2 hours on weekdays), your kid can fiddle around with a variety of items to create their own artwork.

The cafe will start the kids out with a kind of starter pack that holds a tube of glitter glue and some basic knick knacks.

The arts n craft section takes up a whole side of the cafe.

The white art workstation has cute animal-designed little stools around it. Art tools like scissors, scotch tapes, punchers and glue is placed conveniently of the table to assist the children with their handmade creativity.

There are free scraps and ribbons neatly hung and placed in baskets at the disposal of the little artists.  

They have other swankier DIY items around the cashier counter but these items come with a price. 

Moving on to the items on their menu, EatPlayLove offers set lunches at $9.90 nett and also a kid's menu.

 

 

 

 

The chicken chop was decent. Their fries were actually pretty good

 

 

EatPlayLove makes a true effort to immerse you in the world of art and crafts.

I ended up having a go at some handiwork with the chickadee. Lots of fun.

I would advise parents to call ahead to make sure they are not close for a private function. Parking may also limited, so plan ahead.

Official website
http://www.eatplaylove.com.sg/

Operation Hours: 12pm to 10pm Daily
Closed on Tuesdays
Kitchen closes 3pm to 6pm, except weekends & PH

Address:28 Aliwal Street #01-07 Singapore 199918 Aliwal Arts CenterTelephone:6444 6400

Some pointers given in their website
Nearest public parking available along the streets outside our cafe, and a public carpark lot just opposite the road.
FREE parking after 5pm, on Sundays and Public Holidays!
Nearest mall parking at City Gate (Formerly Keypoint Shopping Centre).

Nearest MRT stations are Bugis or Nicoll Highway MRT stations.
It takes about 5-10 minutes to walk over.

Gurney Drive @Changi Airport

It seems appropriate that my first review of an eatery be something close to home. 

Being in Singapore, seeing Gurney Drive as a restaurant was both surreal and weird. So as a Penangite, I did the only logical thing. I went to the nearest branch to check it out. 

I was very skeptical about the Penang food that this so-called Gurney Drive offers. Eventhough they did seem to have an impressive range of the local favorites.

The first dish I had to order was the Penang Assam Laksa. Lets just say that it was not totally disappointing. They came quite close to being authentic. It has the right ingredients and the soup was not bad. The type of noodles used however, was not exactly the same as the local one although close. 

As a Penangite who craves for this local dish, Gurney Drive is now in my to-go list.

Assam Laksa $6.95

Singapore and Penang has very different versions of Fried Koay Teow. Gurney Drive has definitely nailed how the local Penang likes it. 

Premium Crab Meat Fried Koay Teow $12.65

The Koay Teow soup was alright.

Penang Koay Teow Soup $5.95

Do make space for their desserts. They are absolutely mouth watering. They have definitely made the bubur hitam work with their own version of having an ice cream on top. 

Bubur Hitam with Ice Cream $4.55

Saving the best for last. If you are a durian fan, you must order their King of Ice Kacang or Cendol. That scoop of durian ice cream is unbelievable.

King of Cendol $6.95

For parents with children, Gurney Drive offers kids meal. It comes with vitagen and a dessert.

The advantage of dining at the Changi outlet is that water is free. 

The place is rather small with limited seats. It is a simple set up. You write your own orders and place them at the cashier where you pay for your food upfront. 

For me, Gurney Drive does kind of hit the spot if you have certain cravings. 

Changi Airport Terminal 3 Departure
Departure/Check-in Hall,
Level 3 Mezz South, #03-21,
Singapore 819692
Tel: 6441 1690
Operation Hour: 10.30am to 10pm
(last order 9.30pm)

To view menu
http://www.gurneydrive.com.sg/menu.php

Groceries: Singapore vs Malaysia

Lets talk groceries.

Coming from Malaysia, it is rather hard to get the same figure salary in Singapore as they will normally bring up the "exchange rate difference". Most of them will tell you that food is cheaper in Singapore and conveniently forgets to mention the hike in housing rental and public transport. Also "food" means groceries and some foodcourt items.

 The cost in figure for groceries is indeed lower than what you would find in Malaysia. But as mentioned earlier, your salary figure would also highly likely be lower.

For example, the picture below shows the pricing in the two countries for a herbal packet drink. In Malaysia, it would have cost me RM3.80. In Singapore, it costs S$2.05 (RM5).

For fruits, it would normally cost around RM10 for 10 apples and RM5 for 3 bags of veges. It's around RM6 for 2 bags of vege in Singapore. 

Groceries aside, lets take a look at groupon. Groupon obviously provides for the best discount on certain items.

For a bowl of Tonkotsu Ramen in Malaysia (without groupon), you will need to fork out RM18. For the same bowl of ramen in Singapore (with groupon), it is S$10.90 (RM28)

It is better not to convert the dollar into ringgit when you do groceries. It has been difficult for me coming from Malaysia. I suppose it will take time to adjust to these prices. 


Take your time and shop around for the best prices in your neighborhood. Sometimes I feel that some hypermarkets has cheaper veges than the wet market. So be a smart shopper.

I can see why people take the advantage to go to Johor over the weekend. And I bet they are mostly Malaysians.   

From North to South

I have decided to give this blog a new look to celebrate the chickadee's promotion to toddler-hood. This blog is now colored pink or within the same color spectrum. Pink is the only color acceptable at this age. I kid you not.

So Big News - We have migrated.     

We have gone down south to the Lion City. 

Migrating is like a big breakup. You are saying goodbye to your world of familiarity and comfort. Your country has done just about enough for you to willingly let it go. You have stopped listening to the old and your ears have now leaned towards the whispers of a better life from the new.

There are lots of articles covering migrating as a single person or an expat. 

Moving on an expat package is just cheating. It is similar to going on a tour where you do what you are told and everything is sorted out for you. Try backpacking. 

There is just not enough credit given to parents who move with their kids on a local package. It can be financially challenging when you are moving to one of the most expensive cities in the world and you have to do it on your own. 

But with our "pros" outweighing the "cons", we lifted our roots, packed everything into boxes and made our big move.

Picture Perfect Birthday Cake

The little chickadee just turned 2. 

Only child alert: we had to get her a special cake. The hubs made it a point to get this (of all things) done for her.  

So what did our sweet little girl want for a birthday cake?
Dinosaur. No. Not Barney. She wanted the real extinct dinosaurs. Roaar.

Seriously, being a gen z girl getting birthday cakes must be great. 

1) I remember a lot of birthday cakes with flowers in my childhood. So it was always between the flower cake or the other flower cake. The more elaborate the floral design, the greater the birthday cake was. 

2) 3D cakes. Mind blowing.

3)  Getting to choose boy-themed cakes. 

4) Getting to choose girl-themed cakes on top of boy-themed cakes. 

5) Guilty Gen x parents who works all day.

Are you ready for the chickadee's cake? *drumroll*

Doesn't this just scream "we are awesome parents"?

They were sOooOoo cute. I couldn't slice them. I was so close to naming them.. 

Look at how the creator took the time to do up the cake. As she knew it was for a little girl, she added pretty flowers and butterflies. Genius!

We couldn't stop taking pictures of the cake; with or without the little chickadee.  

The cake itself did not disappoint either. It was moist enough and tasted chocolate-y. Most importantly, it was not too sweet. 

The birthday girl absolutely loved it. I really wished the dinos were actual toys for keepers. 

We took pictures until the last bit was sliced up.

It was not cheap but it was worth every penny. 

Thank you Nancy. 

You made our kid really happy and we have gorgeous pictures to remind her of it..

Eats: Rempeyek

What the heck is Rempeyek? I cannot believe how clueless I used to be. Rempeyeks are crunchy flour crackers. Apparently some sites call them the localized potato chips. 

Wikipedia states that rempeyek or peyek is a deep-fried savoury Javanese cracker. Bummer. I really thought they originated from here. 

The Malaysians like the Rempeyek Kacang (peanut); which I suppose naturally comes with anchovies.

The ingredients are basically flour, peanuts and anchovies. The spices that go in is a bit more complicated. But they are standard spices available here.

After that, it's slow deep frying in oil to crunch them up.

They were not kidding about the deep frying. I can feel my heart clogging. But seriously, for my love of snacks, I just gotta try it.





They have rempeyek molds too. I can't imagine slaving over this.

From indochinekitchen website

Cutting out hard labor, I bought a pack of rempeyek at RM10. A tad bit oily but pretty yummy. 

If you do decide to buy a pack, make sure there are generous amounts of peanuts and anchovies. Sometimes, sellers can be quite stingy with the anchovies. So inspect them first. If not, you are basically snacking on crunchy flour.

The chickadee loves snacking on the rempeyek (minus the peanuts). What's not to like. Crispy and tasty. We give her in moderation and lots of water after. She is young. She burns off everything. Lucky kid. 

Eats: McDonald's Breakfast

I was in Midvalley the other day when I decided we only live once and went to chickadee's "Old McDonald"  (This is how she calls McD. Think nursery rhyme) for breakfast.

I ordered a full on breakfast set of Sausage McMuffin and ordered a Hot Cakes (aka McD's slang for pancakes) Happy Meal for the little one.

I gave her everything on the table to try but she decided she liked the hash brown best. Great. Maybe it's my upbringing from my mum's healthy cooking but the first thing I did was to blot out any possible excess oil still drenching the hash. You should see how victimized the tissue was. 

Apart from having a second chance to play with toys again, you can now confidently order a Happy Meal and get the toy while blaming it on the child. Don't people get embarrassed queuing up for a Hello Kitty toy? I still don't get the whole collectibles craze. But ooo what toy will it be? And what will it do??  

Needless to say, it was love at first sight.

She loved the made-in-China pink stethoscope-round-the-neck necklace with its heart-shaped piano pendant that has some unknown annoying music playing when you tap at it. McD's toys never disappoint.

It was hers and no one else could have it.

..for like maybe 20 minutes.

After which, she awarded me with her new found "next best thing" and refused to take it back as she was busy fussing around a straw. Ei?

Oh well. Thank you "Old McDonald" for my new necklace. I'll keep it in the chickadee's jewelry box until it becomes "new" again. My hokkien inner voice is telling me to stick to straws next time.