hotel

Atrium Restaurant @ Holiday Inn Singapore

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Zouk zouk zouk? Yea, we all know about the famous Zouk. But when people talks about Zouk, the first impression always leads to Holiday Inn Hotel. I used to visit the hotel there for drinks and dinner but my last visit was almost 1.5 year ago.

Last week, I was back at Holiday Inn for a dinner buffet at Melting Pot with J. We had the same thoughts when we stepped into the hotel – “Wow, is this Holiday Inn? It looks different!!”

Then… We realised that the 512-room Holiday Inn Singapore had revamped their lobby, refurbished their guest bedrooms and all-new dining concepts to offer their guests a more modern and contemporary experience. The location is pretty ideal as it is suitable for people who are here for both business and leisure as it is only minutes away from Singapore’s Central Business District and our popular shopping districts – Somerset, Orchard Road and more.

The food at Atrium Restaurant has also changed. It was formerly known as Melting Pot Cafe but now, Atrium Restaurant. As compared to the old Melting Pot, Atrium Restaurant is now brighter and gives off a very modern feel.

New interior, New Chef -Executive Chef Chua Yew Hock, New menu. Chef Chua enhanced the restaurant’s offerings to include his signature dishes, Mussel Otah-otah, Curry Laksa, Asam Fish and Chilli Crab.

I like the Laksa section because because you get to DIY and cook your own laksa. Pick the ingredients you want (I spammed the prawns and eggs and left the bean sprouts out). Hehehe. “Customisable” food always make my tongue happy.

I didn’t know it was a DIY section so I asked one of the chefs there to cook for me LOL. I cooked my second serving after that.

All the yummy egggggssss. I love the soup so much that I had 2 bowls of laksa (with extra egg and prawns) and a third bowl of the soup alone. The soup was not overpowered by the taste of coconut milk even though it was quite creamy.

They have a kid’s corner too! Your kids are so not going to pick on the food because they are so cute!

James loved the seafood section the most. See what was on his plate!

Other food like Sushi and Cheese are also available!

The desserts spread is also good for people who have sweet tooth! They have macaroons to cakes to pies to chocolates to ice cream!!

Well for me, it’s the usual. Macaroons first! James loved the pralines. They had Lychee Praline and Champagne Praline that night.

This dark chocolate pie is good!

Other than Atrium Resturant,there is also an upcoming Atrium Bar 317 scheduled to launch this month and the ever-popular Xin Cuisine Chinese Restaurant which serves authentic Cantonese cuisine.

“The makeover is indeed timely for us to offer something new to our loyal guests and to cater to visitors to Singapore, as well as residents here. We are looking forward to a robust season especially with the re-launch of our new all-day dining restaurant, lobby bar and guest bedrooms,” said Anne Johnston, newly appointed General Manager, Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium.

Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium is located at:
317 Outram Road Singapore 169075

Visit them at http://www.holidayinn.com/sinatrium 🙂

Crab Buffet @ Park Hotel Brizo

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EAT ALL THE CRABS TO YOUR HEART’S CONTENT AT PARK HOTEL!

Address: 1 Unity St Singapore 237983
Contact: +65 6593 8899

Last year, I attended a crab buffet at another hotel and went back for more with my parents. This year, I had another crab buffet at Park Hotel – Brizo Restaurant & Bar with the blogger friends!

William. James. Maybeline.

There were more than 19 types of appetising crab delicacies to the table, tempting diners with one of the most satisfying crab feast from 3 July to 31 Aug 2014.

You know you have to attack the all-time favourite in Singapore first – Chilli Crab.

Other than Chilli Crabs, other flavours were also available at the buffet.

Black Pepper, Salted Egg, Steamed, Heavenly Fragrance, Baked, Laksa and many other flavors.

Making the debut is the Heavenly Fragrance Crab that encapsulates Chinese, Malay and Indian flavors. The crabs are stir-fried with crispy bits of dried shrimp, aromatic curry leaves, chillies and curry powder.

The hot favourite that night was the pippin’ hot steam crab!

There was also Rock crab laksa Bee Hoon which was served in a bowl! Among all the crabs, salted egg crab is still my favourite.

Small fried crab snacks were also available as well – Soft shell crab, breaded crab claw etc.


After a meal of sinful indulgence, go light. Feel less guilty by eating salad!

And then continue with your feast with the cold dishes.

The cold prawns were very fresh!

Done with all the food. Now to the desserts!

We went WOW when we saw Magnums and Cornetto for desserts.

Happy kids on the go!

Desserts like Jelly, Hot Cheng Tng, Chilled Melon with Sago and assorted cakes were also available.

In conjunction with local’s delight and season, durian mousse was also included in the dessert menu!

Chocolate fondant.

William and me literally wipe out the macaroons for the bloggers at our table! Heh.

And the kuey he loves…

The buffet is available from 3 July to 31 Aug 2013.

Each buffet dinner comes with complimentary parking for dinner.

Thursday to Sundays – 6.30pm to 10.30pm:

$55++/pax
$90++/pax (inclusive of wine, beer and soft drinks)
$100++/pax (inclusive of champagne, wine, beer and soft drinks)

Start crabbing with Park Hotel today!

Weekend Staycation at Holiday Inn Express

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This is my third time doing a hotel staycation but first sponsored staycation. Weekends staycations are the cheapest alternative to a holiday. I was having an extremely busy week but with much thanks to HolidayInn Express, I get to chill and relax the weekends away in Holiday Inn Express at Clarke Quay!

I have to work on Saturdays so I was very much looking forward to the post work activities. James picked me and TC from our workplace and OFFFFFFFFF to the land of laughters.

The check-in process was kinda fast as it took the staff only 5 minutes. The staffs at the reception area was all chirpy and friendly! The guy who served me even told me he knows My Fat Pocket!

I also realized that there was a vending machine that sell snacks. Totally what is needed during a staycation. If you or partner can’t sleep and need something to chew on, just hop over to the machine.

After checking in……. Being anal, the first thing that I went to check was the toilet. I went to look for the hand soap and hair dryer first. LOL.

There were 4 pillows on the queen sized bed. You can pick if you want the soft or firm pillows. This is way too considerate. Save you the trouble of calling the reception for a change of pillows. The helpers also asked me if I wanted more towels for when I bumped into him after swimming. They were all very helpful.

2 thumbs up for all the staffs at Holiday Inn Express Clarke Quay!

I like hotel beds a lot because they are very comfy and clean. I have a thing for ultra clean bedsheets. So I had a very good sleep that night as well!

 

The room is also very functional because you can open up the side wall and you will be able to wash your hands without the need of walking over to the toilet.

Pssst. Each room comes with a 32-inch LED TV, an iPod dock and free wifi access!

As the rooftop pool closes at 9pm, the pool was the next stop after checking out the rooms!

The highlight of my entire staycation was the rooftop pool. It was very relaxing and we had A WHOLE TRUCKLOAD OF FUN THERE! William and Shaun met some korean tourists there and took a few shots with them. LOL. How cheeky.

Know what? You can see pictures of the lower part of the body of others when they are swimming. Too cool!

James, William and TC …. Skinny Dip? Well, maybe not. LOL.

And here comes Joyce! My partner in crime for the night.

My favourite picture out of the entire album was this. Perfect pictures don’t happen when you take it intentionally. This was one beautiful accident which was captured by William. Real smiles are BIG.

There is also a gym next to the pool. As it is open for 24 hours a day, you can head up to the gym to work a little if you can’t sleep.

The boys wanted to wake up at 7am for the gym but…..

It was nearly 7 when we left the pool. Back to the comfy room to clean ourselves up before dinner.

As HolidayInn Express Clarke Quay is located only 700 metres from Clarke Quay MRT Station or 1km from Chinatown, we were literally surrounded by good food hideouts. However, we went on to Central for good ramen and supermarket shopping.

We got chips and some drinks from the Japanese Supermarket nearby. And a Magnum minis to end the night. Or probably, to make the night a little sweeter.

If you are one party people, there are a lot of places and bars for you to chill out before heading back to the hotel.

As each room accommodates two, not all stayed. Nonetheless, it was a great experience and night!

Breakfast is the first meal of the day and it is important to start it well. I like hotel breakfast because I would stuff myself with their scramble eggs!!

The seats were easily available everywhere. You can have it inside the hotel or outside at the open space area.

High chairs, tables, sofa, or couch, pick any two that you find most comfortable.

You can have it Chinese, French or Western. From noodles to congee to sausages to pastries. This is to cater to the different groups of tourists.

Look at how the scramble eggs were cooked to perfection. I had double servings of that!

The day started out really good and I was feeling all pampered by the hotel. I had bad experiences at other hotels before but I would sincerely recommend Holiday Inn Express for a reliable and fuss free stay.

Thank you #StaySmartCQ; HolidayInn Express Clarke Quay for giving me the chance to experience such a wonderful staycation.

The hotel is located at 2 Magazine Road Singapore 059573 (right beside Central Mall).

For more information: https://www.facebook.com/HolidayInnExpressSingaporeClarkeQuay

Park Royal on the beach – Plaza Brasserie

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From March 8 to May 31, Plaza Brasserie will be offering the Seafood Fiesta under its popular Best of Asia themed from Mondays to Sundays.

For crab loves (ME ME ME!!), relish in their selections of Stir-fried Crab with Egg Yolk, stir-fried Crab with Black Pepper Sauce and Stir-fried Chilli Crab.
Hot varieties like Deep-Fried Prawns with Garlic and XO sauce, Crispy Soft Shell Crabs, Steamed Fish in Nonya sauce and many many more are also available.
This whole thing here is the crispy soft shell crabs. And this is one of the raves that Karen mentioned about :O

This prawn on toast is my favorite! (It is a little oily though, but you can eat first and worry later. Heh)

Fresh from the ice!

This crab cake is awesome!

If you’re wondering how it taste like, it taste like crab, just of different mouth feel.

Crab Fried Rice. You can’t see it here but there’s chunky crab meat inside.

I tell you, Hong Peng cleared 2 plates of these LOL.

Chilli Tiger Prawns!

The fishes served were EXTREMELY FRESH. Totally 2 thumbs up from a fish lover here!

I cleared A L O T of salted egg crab because it is way toooooooo nice.
Know what?

This dish totally deserve 4 out of 5 stars.

Remember, if you don’t like salted egg, you can go for other taste as well.
They have black pepper or chilli too.

After the proper meal, you can hop on to the dessert selection! They have a wide rang ranging from Chocolate cakes, Cheese Cakes to Almond bean curd, Pastries, Bubor Cha Cha to Chocolate Fondue.

This chocolate cake is one of their signature cake.

In addition, from Mondays to Thursdays, Chef Jackson Goh will also continue to steam the freshest catch such as Red Garoupa and Sea Bass and offer the choice of either Hong Kong or Thai cooking style.

They also have live cooking station of Teppanyaki prawns, stingray, so tong and salmon on Fridays to Sundays.

Date: 8 March to 26 May 2013
Dinner (Mon – Thurs) Adult $53 Child $32
Dinner (Fri – Sun) Adult $58 Child $35

I have already decided to head there for buffet again for my dad’s birthday!

$53-$58 for a free flow seafood buffet is actually very very reasonable!