We ordered the Indonesian Laksa, Indonesian Nasi Goreng and some Fish nuggets with fries.

Was served a basket of assorted bread and rolls with accompanying dips. We loved the special peanut dip the best.

The bread and rolls were delicious. Soft and fluffy … the dips and cream cheese really goes well with it…. yummy…

Here comes our food… yum yum

Fish Nuggets with Fries (served with cherry tomatoes and tartar sauce)

Indonesian Nasi Goreng. Comes with accompanying side dishes like Chicken Satay, Ayam Goreng, Achar, Keropok and 2 types of sauce. The fried rice was very delicious. The egg goes really well with it. Actually I found the serving quite big cos there were still a number of side dishes as well.

Indonesian Laksa served with fresh prawns. Taste a little different from Singapore Laksa. Comes with side dishes like Achar and Fried Spring Roll.

Total cost for the lunch is approx USD54.

To be continued … …

It was really a last minute decision to go on this short trip as the voucher expires end Jun 2011.  The voucher is a 2D1N stay at Banyan Tree Bintan Valley Villa. However, when I called up Banyan Tree, they told me they have phased out this Villa and promptly upgraded us to the Seaview Villa. Wow… I enquired if there are still available Villas for reservation at this last minute and was fortunate that there are.

So off we go on our short little vacation

The weather aren’t too good when we set off for Bintan. Stormy clouds looms above and soon it started to pour. Prayed really hard that the rain would stop when we arrive at Bintan.

The rain did stop when we arrived and we were soon on Banyan Tree’s private charter to the resort. Land transfers cost USD25 and it is not included in the voucher.

We were served a refreshing glass of drink and a cold towel to freshen up. Choose from either Ginger Lime juice or freshly squeezed fruit juice

A snapshot of the layout of the resort

Arriving at our little Villa

Every villa is different and are not close to one another, lending privacy to its occupants. All the Villas faces the sea and you get unobstructed view of the sea.

Interior of Seaview Villa. A nice king sized four poster bed… ohhh so romantic

The day sofa overlooking the sea. Nice to lie there with a nice cup of tea

A reading chair for you to read your book comforably.

Complimentary bananas

Complimentary Tea, Coffee and Mineral Water

Table and chairs at the sundeck for you to enjoy the evening breeze while enjoying a private moment with your loved ones

There are also deck beds for you to suntan yourself but beware of the mozzies

Have a shower while soaking into the beautiful sea view in front of you?

Light some aromatherapy incense to scent the villa. It’s complimentary too

View of the sundeck from the bed

View of day sofa from the bed

There are separate wash basins for you and your other half. It comes with His and Her toiletries too haha no need to squeeze at the wash basin with your other half

The dresser. I love it… so quaint and antique

At the last minute, we decided to extend our stay by another night and enquired if it is possible to do so. In addition, we have already bought our return ferry tickets… that might be a bit of a prob if we were to extend our stay by another day but the friendly and helpful receptionist managed to not only help us extend our stay but help to change our ferry departure dates and timing.

Btw, all the villas comes with a heated jacuzzi… really nice to soak in the warm water while looking at squirrels jumping from tree to tree.

After we have left our luggages in the villa, we decided to go out to have our lunch since it’s already 2 pm (Singapore Time). As we were walking to the restaurant, we saw many other villas of different designs. The surroundings in the resort were very serene and so close to nature.

To be continued … …

All of us had the set dinner which comprised of the salad, soup, a main and lastly the dessert.

Here’s the Casear Salad. It’s pretty refreshing and I loved the bread bits

This is the horrible googy soup. It had too much starch that I think if u throw it to the wall it would get stuck there. A colleague did not drank hers. On hindsight I think it’s so clever of her not to cos a few of us who drank this googy stuff came down with diarrhea the next day. I started running to the loo that very night.

Here’s the googy Cream of Mushroom

3 types of mains to choose from.

Colleague A had this chicken set that comes with apple sausage.

Steak with baked potato.

I had this… the fish set that comes with potato wedges. The wedges were nice. So was the fish.

The dessert.. Vanilla ice-cream. It was nice but I was too full to finish it.

The food was not bad (except for that horrible googy soup). But I don’t think I would be patronising Astons anytime soon. Had this phobia of coming down with diarrhea after having my dinner there. Sigh

They had another branch in Serangoon and I blogged about it in my previous posting (http://belyl.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/kimly-steamboat-seafood-serangoon/)

Ordered this crispy chicken that had been deboned 90%. The chicken skin had been roasted so crisp that you can hardly find any fat in it. The usual price is $14 but there is currently a promotion going on and it’s selling for $9.

This handmade beancurd dish was recommended by the aunty taking our orders. She suggested this to us after we told we want something different from the usual beancurd dish that they usually served. This one comes with clams, prawns, scallops and other veg. Very delicious. ($12 for this serving)

Stir Fried Di Wang Miao ($8)

This is another dish that the aunty recommended. Pork Ribs with fried banana slices ($12). This is delicious.

Dessert is complimentry. Sweet Corn Pudding… yum yum

Jin Wei Seafood
Blk 418 Yishun Ave 11
#01-385
Tel: 6757 0127

Ordered the Herbal Guitar Duck – Small Serving ($11.70). Duck meat was tender and there is a slight herbal taste. But if you compare this to the ones sold at Dian Xiao Er, I would prefer the ones at the latter as the herbal taste is much stronger.

Soup of the Day – Lotus with pork ribs soup – $7.70. It serves approx 2-3 pax. Tasted ok. Would be better if some red dates were added to enhance the taste of the soup.

You Tiao with Pineapple cubes Salad – $5.90. The You Tiao wasn’t that crispy anymore and tasted a bit soft. Perhaps it had been left mixed with the salad dressing for quite a while.

Their famous Eggy Rice with braised meat and chestnut. Tasted like what my grandma would cook. Yum yum yum. $5.90 per serving

Another of their speciality – Stir fried Four Seasons Beans with Salt Egg Yolk. Very nice and crunchy. I really loved this dish.

Total bill for the dinner came up to approx $62 (inclusive of 3 Eggy rice + 1 bowl of white rice + 1 soy bean drink with pearls) for 4 pax. Pretty reasonable.

The soy bean drink doesn’t taste that great. Don’t think would be getting that again the next time I am there. I noticed that the queues started forming at around 7 pm and I am glad that I came earlier to queue.

At the mmoment this restaurant do not accept reservations. It’s on a first come first serve basis. However, I checked with the restaurant manager, he said that perhaps they would accept reservations later on.

Lu Gang Xiao Zhen – the Asian Kitchen
Ion Orchard
#B3-22
Tel: 65091128

Reached there slightly before six and we were lucky to get a table there. Today is the 15 th of the lunar month and it’s packed with patrons.

Ordered their famous and very popular Fried Fish Steamboat. The soup base is very tasty and it’s well flavoured with Chinese Herbs and lots of other types of veg and mushrooms.

Some of the herbs used are dang gui slices and wolfberries. The soup tasted a little tangy due to the tomatoes added into it.

This dish is Fried Mushroom Strips stir-fried in mushroom sauce with Bok Choy. Mushroom had never tasted this delicious till now

Another delicious dish – Black Pepper Mock Meat fried with pineapple cubes, green pepper etc. Yummy!!

This is my fav cos I can’t eat real prawns due to my allergy. As such, it had been a really long time since I ate fried cereal prawns…. this is so crispy and delicious…. yummy yum

Comes with refreshing green apple salad.

So how much does all these delicious food cost??

Paid $39 for all those dishes we ordered + 3 bowls of rice + 3 bottles of herbal drinks. Pretty reasonable

Ci Yin Vegetarian House
Address: Blk 152 Serangoon North Ave 1
Operating Days and Operating Hours: Open: 7am to 8.30pm but close between 2.30pm-4.30pm
Nearby Landmarks: Opp two temples & Blk 114, just above 315 bus stop

Specialities:
dim sum, such as soon kueh, rice kueh, carrot cake (1 pc type), breakfast – dried mince meat noodles, char siew noodles, laksa, brown rice porridge; lunch – economical rice; dinner – cze char.

Act 2

Act 3: Under the Stars

Act 4: The March

The entire Musical performance lasted an hour. I saw quite a number of elderly folks left half way thru the show. They commented that quite boring. Dunno what they are singing also.. haha

Act 5

find this particular scene very cute… the singers were singing in such high pitches.. haha

Act 6: We love Roxie

Act 7: In the Streets

Finale

Thanking the audiences