Bollywood Veggies & Poison Ivy Bistro: Going Back To Nature!

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Hello my chewy friends! What do you do when have an entire day to spare? I’m sure many people, especially couples, find that weekends and public holidays are very precious because it’s a perfect time to spend quality time with your loved ones. I have to admit that sometimes, after a week of work, misterchewy and I are totally conked out and we spend a major part of our weekend lazing in bed. LOL. During the Hari Raya Puasa long weekend, we decided to take this opportunity to visit Bollywood Veggies which is nestled in the lush Kranji Countryside, in the northwest part of Singapore! πŸ™‚

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The ride to Bollywood Veggies took almost half an hour but it was an enjoyable one nevertheless. The scenic yet unfamiliar route made us wonder if we were still in Singapore! πŸ˜›

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Getting to Kranji Countryside is a teeny bit troublesome, but not to worry, here’s the Kranji Express Bus schedule if you decide to head there by public transport. We boarded the shuttle bus from Kranji MRT station at 12.45pm and it cost us $3 each for a two-way journey. You may alight and check out other places like Sungei Buloh, Gardenasia and Jurong Frog Farm along the way. Just flash your ticket! πŸ˜‰

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Bollywood Veggies grows a wide variety of vegetables, fruits and flowers, as well as uncommon medicinal trees and herbs. It is also the largest producer of organic bananas and papayas in Singapore! That’s something to be proud of.

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You know, brunch is not all about eggs and pancakes. Since we had travelled all the way here, it was absolutely necessary for us to settle our brunch at Poison Ivy Bistro. The Poison Ivy Bistro is aptly named after farmpreneur Ivy Singh-Lim, a fiesty 63 year old who is not afraid to say what’s on her mind. Expect only healthy meals with the freshest farm produce at Poison Ivy Bistro. There is no MSG and very little salt is used. If you prefer more salt, just ask for the ‘poison’. Oh, do note that payment is to be made by cash only.

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I had the Lemongrass Tea ($2) which was kinda refreshing to drink to beat the sweltering heat.

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Another recommended alternative would be the Aloe Vera ($3),

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We shared three servings of Brown Rice between ourselves. On average, the starters and mains are priced at $4 and $6 respectively.

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I suggested ordering the Bolly Banana Curry because banana and curry sounded like a pretty interesting combination! This dish wasn’t very spicy and the texture of the banana was akin to that of boiled potatoes. Do you know that Bollywood Veggies’ key offering is bananas? Their bananas are legendary and there are over 20 different types! You must try their bananas when you go there!

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Of the two curry mains, I very much prefer the Warrior’s Chicken Curry which does not contain coconut milk. The curry is thick and well-flavored with a variety of spices, while the chicken is cooked till tender. In general, I found that this was suitably spicy and would appeal to most people.

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As the saying goes, ‘never judge a book by its cover’. The same can be said for the Otah Omelette. This might look like an ordinary piece of omelette with a slab of otah but there’s more than meets the eye. Generous chunks of fish meat could be found in the otah and the egg omelette was extremely lemak!

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After a satisfying meal, we had to walk off the calories and we did so by exploring the grounds of Bollywood Veggies. Hope you guys enjoy looking at the rest of the photos, as much as we did taking them! πŸ™‚

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Bollywood Veggies is such an unusual venue for dating couples and families with children! Want a break from the usual eating and movies routine? Make a date with your loved ones at Bollywood Veggies! Wishing everyone a productive week ahead and don’t forget to join us on Facebook for on-the-go updates! πŸ™‚

Bollywood Veggies
100 Neo Tiew Road,
Singapore 719026 (Kranji)
Tel: 6898 5001

Opening Hours:
Wed to Sun & Public Holidays
9am – 6.30pm
(Closed on Mon & Tue except on PH)

Gardens by the Bay: Dining at Pollen & Strolling at Flower Dome

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Ever since Pollen at Gardens by the Bay was first featured on the Sunday edition of The Straits Times, I had been hinting widely to misterchewy that yours truly was dying to go there. The boy got my ‘hint’ and arranged to treat me to a pre-birthday lunch! Well, if he didn’t get my big hint, he’s gonna get a hard knock on his head. LOL just kidding~ πŸ˜›

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The hubby had everything well-planned and we took a cab to Gardens by the Bay after checking out of Wanderlust Hotel. He made reservations for lunch a few days in advance and we had a buggy to pick us up at the entrance. It sure was a long way in! Super excited while we were on the buggy! πŸ˜€

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I think with all the hype going on, Pollen probably doesn’t need any more introduction from this humble blog. Ok but anyways, for the benefit of those who don’t already know, Pollen is the sister restaurant to Michelin-starred British chef Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social in London. Pollen sets itself to be a fine dining concept in Singapore which serves mainly Mediterranean-inspired modern European cuisine in casual ambience surrounded by temperate olive trees, herbs and vegetation. Do you know that every morning, the chefs at Pollen pick fresh herbs and vegetables from their own herb garden as ingredients for the dishes? πŸ˜€

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Fine dining is just not my cup of tea. I prefer a casual and relaxed dining atmosphere. Being tensed doesn’t allow me to enjoy my food, and the hefty price tag that comes with it would not be justifiable, no matter how mind-blowing the food is. This is my personal opinion of course. What about Pollen then? I would say that dining in a picturesque setting is a totally different experience all together! It’s kinda like alfresco dining in a majestic glass dome surrounded by beautiful flowers and greenery in this case! Like Alice in Wonderland at a Mad Hatter Tea Party! I don’t think it’s something you can easily get elsewhere πŸ˜‰

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Thanks to the hubby for doting on me! Hehehe! πŸ˜›

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Typical things that ‘tourists’ do. Just felt that I had to pose for a photo with Pollen’s menu. LOL.

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Interestingly, the couple next to us was also celebrating the girl’s birthday! I’m not a stalker la but here’s her blog post! I was quite sure that she had to be at least a blogger, if not food blogger because her bf/husband remarked that he would have whatever she wasn’t planning to have. Hahaha! Guess what happened? All four of us had the Set Lunch ($55++). Both guys ordered exactly the same dishes and us ladies ate exactly the same too! Yup the starter, mains and desserts. Homaigawd.

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I picked the Petunia Ocean Trout as my starter, which instantly reminded us of the citrus marinated salmon that we had at Pamplemousse. Served with oyster mayonnaise and pickled onion, this dish was faultless. I loved the presentation! Such a pretty flower πŸ™‚

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For someone who generally prefers strong flavors, misterchewy seemed quite happy with his Slow Cooked Eggs with Patata Bravas. The fried potato cubes and crispy slices of chorizo went quite well with the spicy tomato sauce. Plus biting into the egg was sheer delight, as can be seen from the hubby’s facial expressions.

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You should be able to estimate the size of the Roasted Pork Belly if you compare it against the size of the beans. Heh. Yeah set lunch mah, whaddaya expect? πŸ˜› The pork belly was really good, very tender with a slightly chewy bite. And if I didn’t remember wrongly, the cut was actually quite lean.

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My John Dory was unexceptional, nothing to shout about. The seafood bisque veloute was way too salty but I finished it up nevertheless.

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Isn’t misterchewy’s dessert choice of Coconut Mousse, Rhubarb Broth, Goat Cheese Ice Cream prettaaaay? The sweet coconut mousse complemented the sourish rhubarb perfectly and the goat cheese ice cream though subtle, could be an acquired taste. We liked it very much! πŸ™‚

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My Beetroot Sorbet with Chocolate Mousse was served on a rock. Yes a ROCK! Haha. The waiter told us that a few customers actually asked if the rock is also part of the dessert and whether it can be eaten. Lololol. A rather refreshing mix of tart and sweet flavors in this one. The eating experience was a fun one though, trying to lick the rock clean. Heh.

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A birthday gift from Pollen! Very exquisite chocolate! I have never tasted anything like this before πŸ˜€

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Since misterchewy made reservations at Pollen, the entrance fee to Flower Dome was waived. This made our lunch at Pollen a rather good deal considering that we saved $12 per person on the admission fee πŸ˜›

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There is a lift within Pollen and we were shown up to the Flower Dome. Good thing we were there on a Monday because there wasn’t much of a crowd. But I made a wrong decision of not bringing my camera charger to charge my DSLR during the staycation πŸ™ Camera was running on low battery thus some of the shots that you see later on were taken with the hubby’s Canon IXUS.

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Taking a stroll at Flower Dome is a very cool affair! Hahaha no pun intended. It is a very nice feeling to have the sun shining down on you but in a cool and moist climate. Almost feels like experiencing winter in a foreign country! πŸ˜€

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Our Chewy tofu oyako – John and Sally! Long time no see right? πŸ˜› Ok shall let the photos do the talking!

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And finally, this post concludes the fantabulous birthday weekend that misterchewy had planned for me! If you have missed out on the earlier posts and haven’t got a clue as to what’s going on, click on the following links to read about our Wanderlust Hotel staycation, terrariums workshop and romantic dinner at Senso.
TGIF my dear friends and play hard over the weekend! πŸ˜‰

Little Green Pot: Make & Fill a Terrarium With Love For Him/Her!

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This blog would not be what it is today, if not for meeting and subsequently having misterchewy in my life. Just a couple of months ago, a nice reader dropped me a message on FB. J said that he’s a passive reader who doesn’t usually write to any blogs he reads. He remarked that mine is more than just a food blog, which tells readers stories of misterchewy and myself. J was initially captivated by the nice food photos (which I think have lotsa room for improvement!) and then he found that the romantic and loving relationship that misterchewy and I share is truly inpiring to him. πŸ™‚ J is not the one and only reader who has shared his thoughts about my blog with me and I really appreciate all these heartfelt messages that I get from readers from time to time πŸ™‚

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You may or may not have noticed that I have placed some of the popular non-food related blog posts on the right side of my blog. I will tidy things up when I have the time to do so and update along the way. Actually, I have been wanting to do this for the longest time but I’m a #1 procrastinator. LOL. Anyway, I’m quite sure that most couples, whether married or not, face the same questions like we do. “Where to go?” and “What to do?”

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Hubby Chewy and I are always trying to find new activities to do together instead of the usual ‘eat, shop, watch movies, repeat’ routine. As promised in my Wanderlust birthday staycation post, I will be sharing more about the Terrarium workshop that misterchewy and I attended. At first, I wanted to sign ourselves up for a baking or cooking class but most classes were already full since it was a very last minute ‘research’ on my part. I didn’t know what gave me the idea but terrariums popped into my head suddenly and the next thing I knew, payment was settled that Friday night and our workshop was on Sunday afternoon πŸ™‚

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The idea of having a terrarium appeals to me because it’s like having a mini garden in a bottle. Isn’t it very cool? I googled “Terrarium Workshop Singapore” and the first result that showed up was Little Green Pot. They conduct workshops once to twice a month. Luck was definitely on our side because they had one on 29th July, which is the date we checked into Wanderlust Hotel! Better still, got vacancies! The workshop was conducted in a small classroom at Hougang. Materials had already been laid out for us. For those who are keen to know, the workshop cost us $24 each, inclusive of materials. Very reasonable price! πŸ™‚

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These are the essential ‘ingredients’ that you need in order to build a terrarium. There was this auntie who actually brought colored sand to class! Her terrarium ended up looking really pretty!

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Hahaha this might sound really cheesy because all of us were essentially making the same thing but I told misterchewy that we should filling the terrarium for each other! So he picked the glass bottle with a pink ribbon for me, and I chose a blue ribboned one for him πŸ˜›

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Hehehe yup this is for misterchewy! It’s more meaningful that way, don’t you think so? πŸ˜‰

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Sorry I’m not good with the names of plants but anyway, there were about 3 types for us to choose from and we had to pluck a small pit from the pot and transfer them to our own terrarium.

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Pouring in the colored pebbles. Almost there!

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Lastly, we got to choose a cute little animal to be placed inside our terrariums. Just nice, we spotted that the camels were the only ones that came in blue and pink! Hahaha.

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Our instructor, KC, went round watering our plants for the entire class. He reminded everyone that terrariums are ‘low maintenance’ but keep in mind but that doesn’t equate to ‘no maintenance’. We only need to water them about once every six months! πŸ˜€

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Close up of missuschewy's

This is how the terrarium looks like when it condenses. It shows that the ecosystem is normal so there’s nothing to worry about! πŸ™‚

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The Chewys' Terrariums

Yipee! The terrariums are ready to be ‘deported’ to misterchewy’s and missuschewy’s workplace! πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€

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@misterchewy's workplace

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Hope everyone enjoyed reading our post and be inspired to fill a terrarium with love for your significant other too! πŸ˜‰ If you don’t feel like making one on your own, you can also choose to buy them off the shelves. Other than Little Green Pot, you can also get ready-made terrariums from The Plant Story, My Eco Tree and Hedge Garden. Note that I’m not sponsored in any way, just doing everyone a favor! πŸ˜› Have fun ya! πŸ˜€