Ritz Carlton Singapore Staycation Blog Review

Posted on September 9, 2013 by missuschewy

Happy 2nd wedding anniversary to us and happy birthday to misterchewy! Yes 9th September is another date on the calender that holds tremendous significance for the both of us 🙂 We decided to celebrate one week in advance because I can’t get away from work this week. Today’s post will be a combination of a staycation review of The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore and how we celebrated this mega special occasion, The Chewys’ style! 😉

We checked in last Sunday, 1st September, at around 3pm after having a quick lunch at Marina Square. The check-in time is one hour later than most hotel’s standard check-in at 2pm. Time is money and money is time. When we stepped into The Ritz-Carlton, we were promptly whisked to the check-in counter and then asked if we wanted coffee, tea or juices.

Before giving you a virtual tour of our hotel suite, here are some parts of The Ritz-Carlton that we explored. This is Chihuly Lounge, which is named after famed American Dale Chihuly. How does high tea sound?

Greenhouse offers an attractive Sunday vintage champagne brunch from 12pm – 3.30pm, featuring an unlimited flow of Moët & Chandon, wines and selected cocktails accompanied by freshly shucked oysters, seafood, roasts, 50 French farmhouse cheeses and freshly baked soufflés.

Swimming pool with plenty of sun tanning chairs.

The gymnasium is located on the same floor as the swimming pool and is extremely well equipped.

It is also the largest and most impressive hotel gym that I have come across so far.

Business Centre

Ok here comes the exciting part! I made reservations in mid July and prior to that, I chanced upon a Happy Birthday package on The Ritz-Carlton’s website (which I think is no longer available) and decided to take it up since we could upgrade to a Premier Suite upon availability at check-in. I’m not sure if this is common but we were elated that we were lucky enough to score a suite room on the 7th floor! 😀

The Ritz-Carlton houses one of the largest guest rooms and accommodations of any hotel in Singapore, averaging 550 to 650 square feet, and The Ritz-Carlton Suite boasts a lofty 2347 square feet. Our luxurious suite spans approximately 646 square feet and features an unobstructed picturesque scene of Marina Bay.

The separate bedroom also has an element of timeless elegance, which seem to be consistent with The Ritz-Carlton’s definition of the essence of luxury, evident from its contemporary furnishings and state-of-the-art technology.

Doors separating the bathroom and living room from the bedroom can be closed for enhanced privacy.

The Ritz-Carlton is the first hotel in the world to be furnished with flushed wall-mounted 46-inch Hospitality LED TVs. There was one in our bedroom and another one in the living room.

Even the bathroom is so spacious that guests can enjoy his-and-her sink vanities. Mirrors are anti-fog, so you can no longer use your finger to write “I love you” after coming out from a hot steamy shower. LOL. There is also a separate shower stall with rain shower feature. Wrap yourselves in His and Hers micro-fiber Ploh bathrobes after your shower!

This is what I call the SEXIEST HOTEL BATHROOM in Singapore with the bathtub just beside The Ritz-Carlton’s signature octagonal window. Sorry this photo was taken in the afternoon when the sun was shining in, but I swear it looks sooo much better and also more romantic at night! The husband assured me that people staying at Mandarin Oriental and Pan Pacific won’t be able to see us because the windows are tinted on the outside. Anyway if you are scared, you can always lower the blinds. Ours was stuck and did not work. Oh wells.

Asprey bath amenities

Hair dryer in a bag. I used it after my shower and it gave me ridiculously soft and straight hair.

Separate cubicle. Told you the bathroom is damn spacious!

Walk-in closet. Are you thinking about playing hide-and-seek already?

Back to the living room! There is an iPod docking station at the writing desk but what impressed me was the Bose audio system. Tuned in to 98.7fm and the sound quality was quite good!

Mini bar stocks a range of beers, wine, water and juices.

There were 6 lit-up drawers within the credenza cabinet in the living room and pulling each one of them out was like unveiling a mini surprise.

Our Happy Birthday package was inclusive of a small bottle of champagne.

Welcome amenity consisted of cupcakes, strawberries and a very adorable Ritz-Carlton lion soft toy! Since our staycation cost us the husband more than $600, misterchewy and I decided to maximize the length of time spent in our suite and agreed on in-room dining. We were also entitled to $30 hotel credit which could be utilized for dining, shopping or spa at The Ritz Carlton, and used it for our in-room dining. Unfortunately, we poured through the menu for 15 minutes and carbonara was the only dish that we wanted to order.

Glad that Marina Bay Sands was nearby and it was a good chance for misterchewy to try the truffle fries from Au Chocolat because I kept raving about it after a casual brunch session with my bridesmaids earlier this year. So, out went the mister while the missus lazed in the hotel room waiting for her husband to tabao food back from Au Chocolat 😛

Truffle fries from Au Chocolat are da bomb! Really the best of all the truffle fries that I have eaten. The husband agrees with me! Still tasted damn good even when they were cold (I ate some leftovers the next morning).

Spicy Chicken Wings (Au Chocolat) had a tang of spiciness but was quite salty.

Duck Confit (Au Chocolat) was quite dry and hard, probably because we left it there for quite some time. Busy taking photos 😛

The Ritz-Carlton’s Carbonara dish was quite well-executed, thick and creamy but I think the egg could be done better.

Earlier in the day, I googled and found out that the sun would be setting at around 7pm, so we planned everything well and made sure that our food was served before that. That way, we could watch the skies change gradually as we were enjoying our food.

We find that in-room hotel dining is an ideal way to spend a intimate and romantic night with your loved ones. You have all the privacy in the world, can be yourself and relax without having to worry about being judged by others. The bonus is having lovely music playing in the background and a spectacular night view of the city. It was just the two of us and we dimmed the lights for a more romantic feel. 🙂

Feather beds and Sealy mattresses are used in all rooms, Club rooms and Suites. The bed was comfy but quite high. Think I have short legs because I had to tiptoe and hurl myself onto the bed. LOL.

This was the beautiful night view of MBS that we fell asleep to 🙂

And of course, we soaked ourselves in the sexy hotel bathtub after dinner and played with bubbles 😛 It was very therapeutic!

Hope you enjoyed our staycation review on The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore! Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy 🙂

Click here to check out our list of Singapore staycation reviews!

The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore
7 Raffles Avenue
Singapore 039799
Tel: +(65) 6337-8888

Town Restaurant @ The Fullerton Hotel

Posted on August 30, 2013 by missuschewy

We celebrated my dad’s birthday in July at Town Restaurant at The Fullerton Hotel. All photos were taken and edited by misterchewy. He was supposed to blog about this under his own account but since he’s too busy to even sign in on WordPress, here I am doing a pictorial post on his behalf. Sorry I’m busy too but I’m really thankful for readers who keep checking back for updates! 🙂

Promise that the next few posts will be more interesting! Hehe! Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy

Holiday Inn Express Singapore Orchard Road Staycation Blog Review

Posted on August 20, 2013 by missuschewy

– Sponsored Staycation –

In July this year, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) opened the first ever Holiday Inn Express in Singapore, located in the heart of the country’s vibrant shopping district and entertainment hub, Orchard Road.
Holiday Inn Express Singapore Orchard Road is the first of two Holiday Inn Express hotels planned for Singapore during the brand’s rapid expansion across South East Asia. With so many hotels concentrated in Orchard, it is needless to say that travellers will inevitably be spoilt for choice.

I was invited to discover the Holiday Inn experience for myself and since misterchewy was working that day, I checked into the hotel on my own that morning. I wasn’t the least bit worried about not being able to locate the place since I had been told that Holiday Inn Express Singapore Orchard Road is situated in between The Heeren and Paragon. Talk about prime location!

Upon stepping into the hotel, I was warmly greeted with a smile at the 24-hour reception. Check-in procedure was straightforward, swift and hassle-free.

Our room was on the 15th floor, highest being the 16th. There are 221 queen-bedded and twin-bedded rooms with complimentary in-room wifi. In fact, the hotel offers free and fast Wi-Fi access throughout the hotel, so guests can stay connected all day, every day. In this day and age, not many of us can survive without Internet connectivity!

Holiday Inn Express’ STAY SMART concept revolves around making sure that every valued guest can expect a fuss-free and refreshing stay with guaranteed comfort and convenience at a reasonable price.

A panorama photo of our queen-bedded room taken with my iPhone 5.

All rooms feature high quality bedding with pillow top mattress and duck down duvet.

Interestingly, guests have a choice of soft pillows..

..or firm pillows. We preferred the firm ones!

To my delight, there is also a comfy couch for people like me who abhors lying on the bed before taking a shower. To me, the bed is sacred. I’m not joking. Haha.

There are also 40 inch LCD televisions, ergonomic desk chairs and efficient work stations in every room.

Tea and coffee making facilities

I was quite surprised to find an un-stocked mini bar but honestly, with so many supermarkets and convenience stores around the vicinity, I would rather choose my own selection of drinks and snacks.

In-room safe

En-suite bathroom

Holiday Inn takes pride in its green initiatives and Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium recently received the Singapore Green Hotel Award 2013.

Pleased to find liquid handwash instead of bar soap!

Silly me, I was busy taking photos of the bathroom amenities and then realized in a state of shock that I had not seen the shower area. I was almost ready to believe that there could be another shared bathroom within the hotel.. until I saw the handle of the door! Phew!

Guests can recharge after a long day exploring Orchard Road by utilizing the refreshing power showers in the bathrooms with three-head massage showerhead.

There was a tour around the hotel and the first thing I noticed was “SMART is having your own set of wheels”. So there you have it, Holiday Inn Express provides trolleys for guests to conveniently wheel their luggages into their rooms.

Complimentary internet stations and self-service business centre

Complimentary Express Start breakfast is made available at the Great Room.

There is also a Grab & Go option for guests who do not have the luxury of sitting down to enjoy their breakfast. More on this later.

On the 4th floor of the hotel, a compact meeting facility for 12 persons can be booked, subject to availability.

The self-service laundry and and ironing facilities are also located on the 4th floor.

After the tour, I bought McNuggets’ meal at Cineleisure, which was about a 10-minute walk away, and enjoyed a quiet lunch in the comfort of the hotel room.

Watched a couple of movies while resting on the couch before meeting misterchewy, misstamchiak and her fiancé for dinner. There will be a separate post for this!

Featuring our OOTD! Hehehe.

Breakfast ends at around 10am each day and we made sure that we got there by 9.30am.

Scrambled eggs

Chicken sausages

Fried beehoon

Prawn dumplings

Besides the usual coffee and tea, you can also have hot chocolate. Kids will definitely love this.

This is the Grab & Go breakfast option which consists of a cup of hot beverage, muffin and fruit. Busy guests don’t have an excuse for skipping breakfast. Very thoughtful of the hotel!

Packed our stuff and spent a relaxing moment in the room before checking out at 12pm.

The new Holiday Inn Express Singapore Orchard Road is the smart choice for savvy travellers who are looking for the best location combined with the best value. The Smart Stay experience offers value-conscious guests everything they need and nothing they don’t. We personally felt that everything that was provided during our stay was adequate and we were very satisfied!

Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy 🙂

Click here to check out our list of Singapore staycation reviews!

Holiday Inn Express Singapore Orchard Road
20 Bideford Road
Singapore 229921
Tel: +65 6690 3199

OTTO Ristorante: 3rd Year Dating Anniversary Surprise Dinner

Posted on August 15, 2013 by missuschewy

Here’s part 3 of our dating anniversary celebration! The husband planned a dinner surprise at OTTO Ristorante and I got to know about it when we reached Red Dot Traffic Building. I must say that his surprise was a successful one because I thought he would be taking me to some chillax place with live music.

About a year ago, misterchewy told me that he wanted to take me to OTTO but I brushed the idea off because I didn’t see the point of splurging on a regular day. Little did I expect him to remember and fulfill his promise!

Hellooooo. LOL. Ok la just wanted to tell you guys that I’m super lazy to go into detail about the food. Let’s just say that I wasn’t myself that night and the 7 course Gourmet set dinner lasted about 3 hours which was crazily long, which also explains why we started taking photos of each other halfway through dinner. LOL. And it certainly didn’t help that there was a large group of noisy buggers who were laughing and screeching away like hyenas.

Amuse Bouche – Portobello mushroom with parmesan cheese

Deep fried lagoon grey shrimps and soft polenta Venetian style

Tuna belly carpaccio with arugula, chive and lemon oil

Pan roasted foie gras with green asparagus and cabernet wine vinegar

Homemade tarragon tagliolini with live prawn and spicy Italian artichokes

Homemade cocoa tagliatelle with red wine braised venison ragout

European sea bass fillet with sun dried tomato pesto

Crispy suckling pig lacquered with “black locust” tree honey and aged balsamic vinegar

Warm chocolate cake with Haitian vanilla ice cream

Honestly, the food kinda fell short of my expectations but like I had mentioned earlier, it was probably just me. I did of course enjoy the desserts 🙂 Thanks misterchewy for the wonderful celebration! Click here to read about our staycation at Novotel Clarke Quay and experience at making miniature food clay art! Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy 🙂

OTTO Ristorante
28 Maxwell Road,
#01-02
Red Dot Traffic Building
Singapore 069120
Tel: 6227 6819
Email: info@ottoristorante.com.sg

Opening Hours
Lunch
Mon to Fri
12pm – 2.30pm
Dinner
Mon to Fri
6.30pm to 10.30pm
Sat
6.30pm to 10.30pm
(Closed on Sundays)

Couple Activity: Sushi and Burger Handmade Miniature Food Clay Art

Posted on August 12, 2013 by missuschewy

There are so many unique things that you and your partner can do together as a couple and here’s what misterchewy and I did on our 3rd year dating anniversary! DENG DENG DENG DENG! Handmade miniature food clay art! One word, “FUN!!” best describes this! Even the husband thought so too! 😀

Before I show you a little bit on the process of making the miniature food clay, these are the final products taken immediately after the workshop because we wanted to use the toothpicks for size comparison purposes 😛 For the lesson, we could also choose to make bread, pastries, tarts or cakes other than sushi or burger. We decided to make our favourite food so it was sushi for me and burger for misterchewy! 🙂

The afternoon slot was already filled so we went in the morning, before checking into our hotel for our staycation. The workshop was held in a small room inside a camera shop at Chinatown, Pagoda Street, which is about 3 minutes walking distance from the MRT station.

I did some online research and finally settled on attending Kin’s workshop. Firstly, Kin’s works are amazing and impressive. Secondly, she had a slot for us on our anniversary day even though it was at 10.30 in the morning. Lastly, Chinatown is near Novotel Clarke Quay so we didn’t have to travel all over Singapore.

I asked Kin and she told us that she has been making miniature food clay for over 8 years! Not only is Kin very knowledgeable about the different types of materials suitable for making various types of miniature food, she is also very generous with her information which is what I like about her. You can ask her many questions and she will tell you as much as she knows.

To start things off, I was given a small piece of resin clay and even though it was already white, I had to mix in a bit of white to make it even whiter. And from the piece of clay, I had to divide it equally into 4 smaller pieces because I was going to make 4 types of sushi.

Poking holes to make it look like Japanese rice. Hehe.

Looks cute right! One of them is without holes because I would be wrapping ‘seaweed’ around it.

In the meantime, Kin was teaching misterchewy how to make salad for his burger set.

Made tamago sushi first! Sorry I didn’t take the entire process because it would take up plenty of time. So you just use your imagination ok? 😛

Tuna sushi! The husband and I were amazed and how realistic the tuna looked! Ok la maybe not mine, but the one Kin did as a sample looked damn real!

Apple pie done by misterchewy! We were giggling away because his apple pie looked kinda thick and fat, and Kin commented that it seemed as though someone had already taken a bite out of it. LOLOLOL.

Does my salmon sushi look adorable? Actually I’m not very happy with it because I made the indentation on the salmon a little too deep and when I used a white pen to line it, the whole thing looks ruined. Haiiii. But still quite cute because it’s about the size of my fingertip. Haha.

The husband showing off his burger! But still got some finishing touches to be made!

The last sushi that I made was the ebi sushi. It was the only sushi that I had to use a brush to paint the colors on the prawn. Not easy ok! Before I started painting, Kin showed me more than 10 failed samples done by her students. Those really cannot make it one. And I actually laughed at one particular prawn which she said looks like a washing board. I stopped laughing immediately because I realized I have not started painting my own. *Stressed* Thankfully, I think it turned out pretty alright for a first-timer! 😀 From left to right, we have tuna sushi with prawn roe, salmon sushi, tamago sushi and ebi sushi. The ones in the background were done by Kin, which are a bit smaller than mine, and obviously much nicer too!

Since the husband was still working on his burger set, I took some photos of Kin’s works on display.

Yipee! 99% completed!

The husband’s burger set! Got salad, apple pie, milkshake, French fries and burger!

We spent about 3 hours and after the workshop, I requested to have a photo taken with Laoshi Kin! We were full of respect and admiration for her! Kin was really patient and she constantly gave us feedback and tips while we were working on our food clay. Kin had also been featured in numerous paper publications and she was also asked to make miniature Laksa as a gift for our ex-President MR. S R Nathan!

Out of the 4 types of sushi, I spent the most time on painting the ebi sushi because I had to make sure it doesn’t look too fake. I was actually very worried and kept wondering, what if I also ended up with a washing board lookalike prawn?! The salmon and tamago sushi seemed easy to make but they are also not that easy. Kin said, practice makes perfect!

I thought misterchewy’s burger set looks quite impressive! Very surprising because both of us are not exactly the art and craft kinda people. Before the start of the workshop, Kin asked if we had any experience in miniature clay making or any other types of handicraft. We hesitated for quite some time before I said, “Erm… The last time I did real art and craft was in primary school?!” LOL! The husband found that the top bun of the burger was the hardest to make. He had to redo the thing at least 4 times because the shape was not perfect. Kin told him that there is a certain technique to moulding it. Again, practice makes perfect!

Kin updates her website on a regular basis and features her latest works on http://rainbowclayminiature.blogspot.sg/
For more information on the different types of workshops that she conducts, you may visit her website here http://www.kinsminiatureworkshop.com/
I have also recently found out that Kin has a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rainbowclayminiature-Kin/225509057484186

If you enjoyed our sushi and burger handmade miniature food clay art, do ‘Like’ us on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/missuschewy and follow us on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy as there will be more interesting updates to come! 🙂

Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay Staycation Blog Review

Posted on August 7, 2013 by missuschewy

– Sponsored Staycation –

Happy long weekend chewys! I’m back with a new blog entry! If you have read our previous post, you should have anticipated today’s hotel staycation review ya 🙂 The husband and I enjoyed a one night stay at Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay, a splendid 4 stars hotel situated in the heart of Singapore.

Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay features over 400 rooms which had been recently upgraded, each with a magnificent and amazing view of the Marina Bay, Singapore River, and also the spectacular city skyline of Singapore. We had the luxury of staying in a Premier room on the 22nd floor which is extremely spacious, complete with a balcony which can be accessed upon request for the sliding doors to be unlocked.

One substantial enhancement of the hotel was the discontinuation of queen sized beds such that there were only king sized beds even in Novotel’s smallest rooms.

All rooms have been designed to Novotel’s latest standards offering state of the art amenities. I was busy taking photos while misterchewy entertained himself by browsing channels on the LCD televisions with easy media connectivity panel. Oh did I mention that there is complimentary high-speed WiFi too?

Nespresso coffee machine

Some of the snacks available but are chargeable. FYI, 7-Eleven is conveniently located just downstairs.

iPod docking station. It’s a pity that it’s not compatible with iPhone 5.

The bathroom is also quite spacious. I wish I had my wide angle lens with me 😛

I like the colors that Novotel picked for the packaging of the toiletries.

Photo taken and very heavily edited by misterchewy using his iPhone 5. Hahaha. But the photo sure doesn’t lie that it was a hot and sunny day! Perrrrfect for a swim!

Totally got this resort or holiday feel right? *Sigh*

It was nice having a staycation at Clarke Quay for a change! So many pubs and clubs in the area and you don’t have to worry that much about getting drunk because all you need to do is stagger a little to get back to Novotel. Hahaha.

The night view from our hotel room is also very nice!

We got to enjoy the MBS laser show as well. We could have watched the NDP preview fireworks display too but the husband had already made reservations for dinner. Boohoo.

Premier room guests get to enjoy Premier Floor benefits all day, such as having access to the newly-upgraded Premier Lounge, complimentary American breakfast, WiFi, express check-in / check-out and complimentary use of the boardroom for those all- important business meetings and cocktail hours complete with free flow drinks and canapes every evening. Premier guests have the option of having breakfast at this Premier Lounge or The SQUARE on level 7, or maybe both if you have the stomach for it.

I admit that I was lazy to get out of bed and told misterchewy to eat breakfast on his own 😛 He chose to have breakfast at the Premier Lounge. We had been to The SQUARE for a brunch tasting last year and the husband concluded that the variety was much wider there even though the Premier Lounge was more exclusive.

My simple breakfast from 7-Eleven and The Sunday Times from the hotel! Breakfast in bed for me 😛

It was a great way for us to spend our dating anniversary at Novotel. Stay tuned to our next post as we will be showing you how we did our miniature food clay art as a couple! 🙂 Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy

Click here to check out our list of Singapore staycation reviews!

Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay
177A River Valley Road
Singapore 179031
Tel: +65 63383333
Email: H5993@accor.com

Celebrating My Birthday & Our 3rd Year Dating Anniversary

Posted on July 31, 2013 by missuschewy

YOOHOO CHEWYS! It’s my birthday today! Please don’t ask me how old I am, just wish me happy birthday can liao! Hahaha. This post is a short summary of how we celebrated my birthday and our 3rd year dating anniversary over the weekend. Just nice our dating anniversary is on 26 July and my birthday is on 31 July, so it’s a tradition for us to celebrate these two special occasions together every year. Likewise for misterchewy’s birthday and our wedding anniversary, which both fall on 9 September 🙂

I wanted the weekend to be a special one, and made sure that we indulged in some activity that we had not done together before. So, watching movie, karaoke, kite flying, etc were all ruled out. The husband wanted to sign us up for a cooking class with AFC Studio but he was informed that the studio was under renovation. To save misterchewy from the planning, I suggested attending a miniature food clay art lesson together! Actually, I was inspired by my good friend misstamchiak. She is able to make so many types of food clay that look so nice and impressive! I’m glad misterchewy enjoyed the lesson as much as I did! I did the sushi while misterchewy did the ‘McDonald’s extra value meal’. LOL! Will blog about this soon! 😉

After the clay making lesson, we checked into Novotel Clarke Quay Hotel. Breathtaking view from the balcony of our room!

Our premier room was very comfortable but the air conditioning was too cold despite our countless attempts to bring up the temperature. Our next blog post will most likely be a staycation review!

Usually, I would have found out about whatever surprise dinner plans that the husband had for me in the past but this time, I decided not to probe him at all. When we finally stood outside OTTO Ristorante, misterchewy seemed very pleased with the shocked/surprised expression on my face. Keep a lookout for the review!

And lastly, misterchewy spent more than $1.5K on this ultra sexy Fujifilm X100S as a birthday and anniversary present for me. Knowing that I had recently been considering getting a compact camera because lugging a DSLR with macro lens, wide angle lens and external flash (on my own if he cannot accompany me to tastings or events) is no joke, he parted with his money readily and got me the best compact camera (with his budget) after consulting some of his friends. The amount might not be huge to some, but to me, it is a lot of money given that we are a newly married couple and we are trying our best to save as much as we can for our future home. The husband says that it’s ok, money can always be earned back. Yes it’s true but I hope he doesn’t have this mentality all the time! All photos in this post except for the above and the panorama shot of Clarke Quay were taken with the Fujifilm X100S. Will there be a tech review for this baby? Maybe yes, maybe no. We shall see 😉

I really had a marvellous birthday and dating anniversary celebration and all I wanna say is a big thank you to my husband from the bottom of my heart 🙂

Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy

Movenpick Heritage Hotel Sentosa Singapore Staycation Blog Review

Posted on July 1, 2013 by missuschewy

Whoohoo! The husband and I were lucky enough to win a two-night stay on Sentosa Island after getting the most number of votes for an Instagram contest, thanks to the support from our friends and readers. It was our very first staycation at Sentosa, and also our first local hotel stay of 2013! 😀

The hotel was not revealed in the intial stage, but only after I won the contest. Was hoping W Hotel or Capella but I was also contented with Mövenpick Heritage Hotel Sentosa la! 😛 We chose to split our stay so we only stayed for one night. Will be going there again a couple of months later! We like how convenient it was because the hotel is located right next to the Sentosa Express monorail station. Highly recommend this hotel to all, especially tourists visiting Sentosa! You can also get to take tons of photos with our iconic Merlion YO!

The hotel reception was actually located downstairs and one of the female service staff promptly took our bags from us and led us the way to do our check-in at the counter.

We were given a room on the sixth floor, which is also the top floor.

Immediately after we putting down all our stuff, we headed to Tanjong Beach Club in our beach wear for some drinks and truffle fries. Oh yeah, all guests staying in Mövenpick Heritage Hotel Sentosa are given complimentary monorail passes in case you wanna get out of Sentosa during your stay. Appreciate the thoughtful gesture!

The only thing we did other than eat at Tanjong Beach Club was to fall asleep on the sand for about half an hour (believe me, it was not part of the plan) and then we returned to our room to shower and change. Didnt have time for other beach activities because we had a dinner tasting at about 6-ish.

Let me give you guys a little virtual tour of our hotel room! Ours was a 30sqm Deluxe Room with a king size bed, which felt reasonably spacious for the both of us, as evident in this photo. The room features natural wood furnishings and warm neutral colors which create a calm and tranquil atmosphere.

The LCD flat-screen television comes with Bluetooth connectivity but our only gripe is that wifi is chargeable.

The granite bathroom is equally spacious and has a contemporary vibe which I like.

With a see-through bathroom door like that, I think it’s gonna be awkward for non-couples to be staying together. At least there is a separate shower room (pictured above) but that would mean you have to change in and out of your clothes in the shower room which can be a tad inconvenient.

I find that granite is a good idea because its coarse-grained texture gives relatively more friction as compared to some bathroom floors.

Dim Sum in the toilet? No laaaa. It’s cute though! Guess what’s inside? 🙂

The bamboo steam baskets contain bathroom amenities like toothbrush, toothpaste, cotton bud, etc.

The loofah certainly came in handy in scrubbing away the suntan oil which we had applied earlier.

Besides the standard minibar and complimentary bottled water, there is also a Nespresso machine, a CitiZ 110 – Fire Engine Red, to be exact.

Pulling out the drawer reveals an array of drinking utensils. Nice to find wine glasses in there because you will need them if you are celebrating special occasions over a bottle of wine!

I’m not addicted to caffeine and coffee has absolutely no effect on me. Not sure if that’s a good thing but oh wells. Made a cup of coffee for the fun of it 😛

The yukata matches the bedroom slippers. Cute huh?

Featuring my OOTD! Bought this navy blue maxi dress sometime back but didn’t get the chance to wear it. There’s a peekaboo area around the small of my back. Hahaha. Since we’re on the topic on clothes, Zalora is having a GSS meltdown sale on over 8000 items, and up to 80% off! Often times, I find myself browsing through not just the women’s clothes collection but men’s as well because the clothes are really fashionable and trendy.

Not forgetting misterchewy’s OOTD! Love the color combination.

This is the view of the swimming pool that greeted us the moment we stepped out of our room and looked down. I immediately went, “Wah! So nice leh!”

And so, we went down to check out the swimming pool.

The gymnasium looks well-equipped.

We took one of the Sentosa feeder buses to Quayside Isle and it was our first time there! Kill two birds with one stone since we were already at Sentosa.

Such a pretty sight in the late evening! Kinda like Keppel Bay.

Our dinner tasting was at Museo, which will be featured separately in another blog post 🙂

Earlier in the day, we were toying with the idea of catching a late night movie at VivoCity but decided against it because old people wanna go back and sleep liao. LOL. Anyway, we thought that the Merlion looked kinda scary here! Hahaha! Wonder what would tourists think if they came here at night.

Was quite amazed that the Merlion changes into a myriad of different colors at night! This is my favourite color!

Showered and hit the sack! The husband and I slept really really soundly. Mine was quite extreme because I had a horrible nightmare. Shall not tell you what I dreamt about but I was crying in my sleep! Woke up and almost drowned in my own ocean of tears. I’m not exaggerating. On a positive note, it shows that the bed was really too comfy that I just continued crying and crying in my sleep, not being able to wake up earlier. LOL. The best part was waking up next to misterchewy and discussing if we should go for a swim or eat breakfast first.

We decided to eat breakfast first because the buffet closes at 10am! A copy of The Straits Times was found at our door. Can catch up on the news while having breakfast!

Breakfast buffet was at Mövenpick’s flagship restaurant, Tablescape.

The full International buffet includes an egg station and in keeping with the hotel’s promise to deliver the best of Swiss hospitality to guests, diners can also select from the Chef’s a la minute menu options.

The egg omelette was really good! We will definitely eat this again the next time!

Equally worthy of mention are the roasted potatoes, sausages and sautéed mushrooms! Mushrooms were so delicious that I had seconds!

The husband offered to take a photo of me but I refused because my eyes were kinda swollen from crying. FML. Later people think I siao. Go staycation should be happy why cry until like that. LOL. Ok la you will see some photos of me later 😛

Perfect weather for a morning swim! 😀

Towels are provided so you don’t have to bring along the towels from your hotel room.

No goggles also can swim! Don’t play play. I started learning how to swim when I was four years old and I have a National Survival Swimming Award (Gold). Ok la don’t haolian already 😛

Our staycation at Mövenpick Heritage Hotel Sentosa was quite a relaxing one although the next time round, I think I wanna go to Wave House Sentosa! Click here to read about our staycation reviews on Grand Park Orchard, Wanderlust Hotel, Oasia Hotel, Porcelain Hotel and Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel! 🙂 July is gonna be awesome because we will be celebrating our 3rd year dating anniversary and my birthday!

Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy

Click here to check out our list of Singapore staycation reviews!

Mövenpick Heritage Hotel Sentosa
23 Beach View, Sentosa
(Next to Imbiah Station)
Tel: 6818 3388

The Chewys’ Europe Honeymoon Trip: Days 20 & 21 in London/Big Ben, Borough Market, Three Michelin Stars Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Home Sweet Home

Posted on June 24, 2013 by missuschewy

YO chewys! Apologies for the slow update. Really exhausted after work and just nua-ed when I got home. Sacrificing my weekend to update you guys on our laaast two days in London! Ok la I also wanted to avoid the haze so I stayed at home then shunbian blog lor 😛 Our Europe honeymoon travelogue has come to an end, after 14 blog posts (including this one) like finallyyy! Ok la, almost. It will end when you finish reading this post. We went to so many places on Day 20 which was the unofficial last day of our trip because we had to head to the airport immediately upon checking out the next day. The feeling was not nice at all and I couldn’t bear to leave London because it was an awfully short two full days there! 🙁 The hubby promised that he will plan a trip to Europe again. (But duno when hor, sweetheart? I know you are reading this. LOL)

We passed by so many phone booths but I wanted to take a photo with it only on our last sightseeing day!

Big Ben! OMG, I can’t believe I walked along the same path as Jay Chou did when he was filming his “Big Ben” MV! Speaking of the King of Mandopop, I might be posting some photos and videos that we took during his recent world tour! 😀

Hehe London Eye reminded me of Singapore Flyer = Going home soon. Boohoohoo.

Visited the Westminster Abbey next where Sir Issac Newton was buried but the church was not opened when we were there.

Our visit to Borough Market was a quick one but we liked what we saw! It is London’s most renowned food market and is rich in culinary history. Taste and quality of food is not compromised here, and standards are regularly measured.

Wheatgrass juice is good for you!

We weren’t planning to do any cooking on our last night in London so we only bought chocolate fudge to munch on throughout the day and also a small bottle of white truffle oil to bring back to Singapore. McD fries with truffle oil, anyone? XD

Whoever said London Bridge is falling down deserves a good spanking. Hahaha.

The moment we decided to include London as one of our honeymoon destinations, I was very excited because I so wanted to visit Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, a three Michelin stars restaurant owned by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay!

We made our reservations early and mentally prepared ourselves that this was gonna be our most lavish and extravagant meal for this trip! 😛

There were a few set lunches for us to choose from. Can’t remember what they were titled but misterchewy had the more expensive one. Haha.

After some warm and crusty bread, we were served our Amuse Bouche which was Ricotta infused with mint, pea foam, sliced radish, tomato, rocket oil and violets. The ricotta had a subtle minty flavor and the pea foam was light and airy. The greens provided an nice contrasting texture to the dish. On the overall, it was kinda like eating a savory mousse cake.

For my starter, I chose Chicken liver, foie gras and bone marrow crouton with artichoke, heriage apples, Perigord truffle vinaigrette mainly because of the foie gras. Liked how the chicken liver and foie gras was done while the flavors of this dish were accentuated by the truffle vinaigrette. However, I found the crouton too hard.

The husband had Pressed foie gras, smoked and confit duck with Tasmanian mountain pepper, pickled pears and pain d’épices.

I had a choice of fish, rabbit or duck for my mains and I settled for Roasted rabbit loin with Bayonne ham, confit leg, Puy lentils, roasted hazelnuts and pickled mustard seed because I really wanted to try something different. I wouldn’t say that I particularly enjoyed this dish although the rabbit loin was quite tender. The combination of mustard and hazelnut didn’t work quite well for me I guess.

I could tell that misterchewy enjoyed his Costwold lamb and spring vegetable “Navarin,” best end, braised shank, confit breast and shoulder with wild and new season garlic. Alright, I know it’s a mouthful. Simply put, he ate various parts of the lamb and he gave two thumbs up.

Pre-dessert drink! Can’t remember (my memory is really bad) what fruits were used but it was a very delicious drink and we slurped this up in no time.

This photo of misterchewy’s Coconut soufflé with mandarin and lime sorbet was taken by him. Must give credit 😛 It was one amazing dessert! The coconut soufflé was warm, light and fragrant while the tangy sorbet balanced out the sweetness in a subtle way.

My Banana parfait, peanut butter mousse and bitter chocolate sandwich with caramelised bananas was equally awesome! It was a tad heavy and sweet but I loved it.

When I returned to our table from the washroom, our Petit Four was all ready to be devoured. It certainly looked delicate and exquisite.

The White chocolate and strawberry ice cream truffles actually made a dramatic appearance when it was served with dry ice. Basically, the strawberry ice cream truffles were encased in white chocolate. Biting into these babies made me explode with happiness!

Our gastronomical experience at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay lasted for about two hours. It could have been longer if we ate even slower I think. Total damage inclusive of wine was around SGD $400. No regrets at all! 🙂

After lunch, we went to the Natural History Museum and admission was free. The queue was very long and there was another queue for the dinosaur exhibition.

The husband was fascinated by what he saw but I wasn’t. Haha. So I offered to help him take photos.

We almost forgot about Platform 3/4 at King’s Cross Railway Station! *GASP* We took quite some time to locate this and there was already a long queue of Harry Potter fans waiting to take photos. We were free to borrow Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin scarves!

Hahaha of course we chose Gryffindor! 😛

The queue was waaaay longer than this! I almost wanted to give up but Harry Potter fan girl persevered.

Charleen kindly gave us some recommendations on where to go and what to eat in London. Burger & Lobster was somewhere misterchewy and I really wanted to try BUT we were not fated to eat there! First night, we missed our train and didn’t have time for dinner before Jersey Boys. Second night, we reached around 7pm after the Harry Potter studio tour and were told that we had to wait at least 2 hours!

And on our very last night, Burger & Lobster was closed for Easter weekend! FML! Sad like mad! D: D: D: We will eat at Burger & Lobster for 3 nights in a row the next time we go to London! Mark my words. LOL.

We settled for Fish and Chips at this pub called Prince of Wales.

Can’t remember who had what but we ordered London Pride and Big Ben. Errrr.. I think I still prefer Erdinger and Kronenbourg 😛

Very sad! Checked out the next morning and took the tube to the airport lo. We tried to do tax refund for one of the items we bought but couldn’t do it in London. Quite complicated so I shall not attempt to explain here.

Since we had hours before our flight, we had brunch to fill our empty stomachs!

Home sweet home YO! Sincerely hope that you guys have enjoyed following and reading all 14 of our honeymoon blog posts!

In summary, here are links to all our Europe travelogues:
Italy
Switzerland
Paris
London

Thank you for reading! Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy 🙂

The Chewys’ Europe Honeymoon Trip: Days 18 & 19 in London/Tower Bridge, Pollen Street Social & Harry Potter Studio Tour

Posted on June 18, 2013 by missuschewy

If you notice, there is no Day 17 after my post on Disneyland Paris because that day, I was stuck in bed running a slight fever. The husband made a few trips from the hotel to get my medicine, lunch, Chanel bag (LOL) and finally, in the evening, I felt better and we went to buy another Chanel and had dinner. The next morning, we got macarons from Pierre Herme and Laduree before leaving Paris for London, our final stop for our honeymoon trip!

Blame it on the super long queue at Galeries Lafayette’s Chanel store (yes I got more earrings) and we missed our train to London! Think we only missed by a couple of minutes because of the immigration officer? Was totally pissed off because he asked us many questions and wasted our time. It was very obvious that he was doing it on purpose. Had to wait for another 2 hours for the next train! >:(

You have to get the Oyster card when you are in London! It makes travelling a whole lot cheaper.

We were feeling thankful that London is one hour slower than the other countries that we visited earlier because this meant that we could still make it for Jersey Boys! I bought tickets online when we were still in Singapore. I actually felt very sad when we reached London because it meant that our honeymoon trip was coming to an end really really soon D:

We booked all our accommodation via Agoda and were quite satisfied except for this one in London! The location stated is so near the train station but it’s actually an office to pick up the keys to the apartment! The husband had to drag our luggages for a good 20 minutes before reaching Neate House.

To add fuel to the fire (yeah misterchewy was really pissed and he seldom loses his temper), we had to climb the stairs to our room.

When we walked past the bathroom, we did not notice anything amiss because the doors were closed when we walked past.

I got a shock of my life when I realized that there’s no bathroom in our room! Argh. Overlooked that this is a shared bathroom accommodation! Horror of horrors! I hate the idea of sharing a bathroom with other strangers! The thought of having to do so for the next 3 nights certainly dampened my mood.

We were kinda running out of time and took the tube to Leicester Square after putting down our stuff.

One of the things that you must do when you are in London is to watch a musical in the West End! It’s really an experience not to be missed.

Our decision to watch Jersey Boys was a last minute one. We missed them when they were in Singapore and we were glad to catch them in London!

These are the only two photos that we took inside the theatre because photography is prohibited.

A photo in front of Prince Edward theatre!

Our dinner was macarons from Pierre Herme bought earlier in the day in Paris. It was really late and we skipped dinner because the walk back to our apartment from the train station would take us quite some time. And on our way back, we realized the streets were really dark! Kinda scary and creepy.

If you think that our dinner was pathetic, you are so wrong lol. We were munching away happily like kids and finished all 7 within a matter of minutes.

Day 19 was the third last day of our trip! We tried our best to make full use of our remaining two full days in London.

On the Tower Bridge!

After a quick stroll (ok not a stroll anymore) along Tower Bridge, we took the tube to our lunch destination!

We were impressed by our dining experience at Pollen last July that we felt that the one Michelin starred Pollen Street Social warrants a visit! Of course we had a reservation 🙂

Colchester crab salad, pickled turnip, chilled crab cream, samphire.

Slow cooked egg, “mushrooms on toast”, crispy wild cabbage.

Roasted Cornish hake in red wine, broccoli stem, cockles, crispy quinoa, whipped artichoke.

Muntjac deer, beetroot, red onions, puree potatoes, smoked beetroot juice.

Pre-dessert palate cleanser.

Rhubarb, basil ash meringue, chantilly cream, mint oil.

Sorry I don’t have time and I’m too lazy to tell you how each dish tasted like. I’m sure you only wanna see photos anyway. LOL. But one word, “marvellous”. Ok misterchewy say one. Lololol. But really la, it was worth every pound.

We will be back!

Travelled to The Making of Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Tour via the tube! It’s located at some faraway place, like quite ulu. Haha. We fell asleep on the tube! After lunch syndrome.. LOL. Had to take a shuttle bus when we reached the train station in order to get to the studio.

If you are planning a trip to the studio, you need to purchase your tickets online as no tickets are being sold at the studio. There are various timings so make sure you choose wisely!

We were quite early so we went into the souvenir shop!

Hedwig! I think? Haha all animals look the same to me :X

It’s really cool that wands are being sold too! We found Harry’s, Ron’s, Hermoine’s, Malfoy’s and even Voldemort’s! I think I was holding Harry’s wand. 😀

Bought a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans and a mini Harry’s wand which doubles up as a pen for my brother. Some of the jelly bean flavors are quite gross. Don’t dare to try. Got booger, ear wax, vomit, dirt, earthworm, etc! Yucks!

Soon, it was time for our tour! This was the first thing we saw when we were in the queue. Harry Potter’s small little room at 4 Privet Drive! The details were so amazing. We even spotted Harry’s spectacles! Ok la, if you are a Harry Potter fan, I don’t need to explain so much. Just enjoy the photos k! 😛

Butterbeer! *Screams* Before our trip to the studio, I was telling misterchewy that we had to drink butterbeer because it’s Harry’s, Ron’s and Hermoine’s favourite drink at The Three Broomsticks! LOL.

The drink was really damn nice! Don’t know what exactly is it. Tastes kinda like an ice cream float without all that fizziness.

4 Privet Drive! Does the image of flying cars appear in your head?

Diagon Alley! Ahhhh my favourite!

Wokay! We have come to the end of our post! Stay connected with us on Facebook www.facebook.com/missuschewy and on Instagram @missuschewy and @misterchewy 😉

missuschewy

Singapore Lifestyle and Travel Blog

Category Archives: #Pictorial

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The Chewys’ Europe Honeymoon Trip: Days 20 & 21 in London/Big Ben, Borough Market, Three Michelin Stars Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Home Sweet Home

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