Lunch at Joe's Corner Cafe @ Kovan

25 Simon Road, Singapore 545912

Tel: 6280 0855

I went to collect my cream from the Doctor's, then decided to head to Lola's Cafe, but when I saw the crowd and queue outside, I knew I didn't stand any chance. Hence, I walked further down the row of shophouses right to the end and stopped at Joe's Corner Cafe & Bar, looked through the menu, and stepped in.

It was a simply-furnished cafe & pub concept , with framed pictures lining up the walls to add some vibrancy and well-spaced tables. I like the relaxed settings suggesting seeming to invite patrons to unwind, sit back and just enjoy a good meal or chillout session without worries. The cafe was empty at lunchtime on a weekend, which surprised me, so I got all the attention of the service crew.

The moment I sat, I placed my order. The Vanilla Latte (SGD$7.00)  was served shortly after I sat down. It was an iced-blended drink, slightly frothy, but very smooth and light for a blended drink. The light-creaminess of the drink belied the taste though - the vanilla flavor was prominent and the coffee's taste was also distinctive, both rising up to greet the palate with a pleasant sweetness. I loved it.

My main course took a while to be served, so I entertained myself on my Ipad, and good things were often worth waiting for. Finally, they served my Soft Shell Crab Spaghetti (SGD$16.80). The sight of the entire soft shell crab (tempura style) sitting atop my pasta perked me up. When I lifted it, there was an entire pool of fluffy egg topping the pasta, surrounding by red hot chilli sauce.

I took the first bite of this pasta cooked ala Chinese chilli-crab style, and enjoyed it immensely. The soft-shell crab was no doubt crispy and soft at the same time, almost melting in my mouth. The spaghetti was prepared to the correct level of not-too-hard softness I liked, and the eggy chilli sauce was simply fabulous. It was a tad spicy in my opinion, but I love spicy food so this was right up my alley.

I was glad that the original cafe I'd wanted to go was overcrowded, frankly. If not, I might not have discovered the great food and coffee here. Service was not excellant, but nothing to rant about as well, so all in all I had a good lunch for SGD$26.20 in all.

Brunch at Working Title Cafe & Bar

48 Arab Street, Singapore 199745

Tel: 9734 4187

The Working Title is located at The Social Hostel itself, thus serving a lot of its guests breakfast in the mornings, and other backpackers looking for a place to chill / take a break. Its casually tasteful, hipster-style interior is inviting, and while there isnt much service, the cafe is relatively comfortable in its own right.

One may choose to indulge in the Craft Beers here over their meals, and they do have a rather diversified range of beers here!

Above the entrance are rather tacky but interesting props that form part of the decoration - warning signboards, gunny sacks etc.

In stark contrst, here are some enriching black and white prints telling coffee stories in historical details... Working Title's?

The back door leads to a small yard area where the grounds are lush green patches of "grass", with more tables and chairs, emulating the feel of dining on the lawn or gardens. How lovely, and if one didn't step into the back, one would not have discovered this hidden find.

This was where I sat - the lone ranger scouting for food after collecting my passport from the ICA. The moment I walked in and they were playing Lana Del Rey's songs - so I knew this had to be my choice today, simply sitting here and enjoying her sultry voice and great music.

The menu was cute - clipboard style with many sheets clipped together, segmented into different categories like "Brunch", "Sandwiches" etc.

I did not take the usual beverages toady - I settled for a Chai Latte (SGD5.50) instead. Fooled by its plain appearance, I took a very tentative sip, and to my surprise it was very delicious. The "chai" flavor was not overpowering, but blended very well into the sweet milky coffee. The cocoa powder on top was a plus point. I enjoyed this so much I ordered one more.

My main course was the All Day Big Breakfast (SGD$14.90) - sunny side up eggs, bacon, tiny hash browns, rocket salad, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, sausages and English muffin. I waited a long time for this, and when it came I was surprised by the variety of items in this tray. Digging in confirmed my suspicions that the aroma (while cooking) was not deceptive of the quality of food in this tiny, simple cafe. All of that, for the price of merely SGD$14.90 - and tasted good (not salty) , now where else could one find such a homely treat?

I had a good meal to start the day with, and would like to come back and sit at the makeshift "lawn".

Lunch at Lenas Modern American Italian Restaurant (again)

After the first review at Lenas Restaurant (at Bugis Junction, which has since closed / moved to a smaller unit on level 2 with MOF), I revisited Lenas Modern American Italian Restaurant for lunch, but this time at Jem's outlet - the exact address being 50 Jurong Gateway Road, #01-16, Singapore 608549 and the contact number being 6338 7368.

As usual, the many offerings in the menu made us spoilt for choice and my colleague and I decided to take the set lunches (SGD$11.90++) - this cold cut salad forming the first part of the meal. The greens comprised of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, onions and slices of ham, topped with thousand island dressing, giving us a crisp, refreshing start to our meal.

The drinks were served next - we ordered Ice Lemon Tea but I added an additional Iced Yuzu Tea (SGD$3.90) for myself.

My colleague's main course of Breaded Chicken Breast topped with chilli and garlic powder and two slices of cheese - he mentioned that while the chicken was crispy and the taste was "not bad", it consisted of too much flour on the breaded layer, and hence, made one feel filled up far too fast. The criss-cross fries were lovely and crispy.

I had the Black Pepper Salmon which consisted of a thick strip of grilled salmon fillet, with hot black pepper sauce on the side, served with some vegetable and I added a sunny side up egg for SGD$2.00. The salmon was rather succulent and tasty, and its flavor was further enhanced with the spicy sauce and sweet eggy flavor, of course.

Just when we thought we could take one bite no more, they served a single scoop of Vanilla Ice-Cream, which was the last part of our set lunch. The ice-cream was lovely, with a heavy vanilla flavor and not too sweet, the perfect touch to end off this value for money lunch we'd just enjoyed.

UCC Coffee Appreciation

UCC Ueshima Coffee Co Ltd (founded in 1933) , serving premium Japanese coffee, has developed businesses in all sorts of coffee-related fields as the leader of Japan's coffee industry. There are more than 10 countries today which enjoys UCC's premium, imported coffee.

It is not considered a new kid on the block in Singapore, in fact there used to be a UCC Cafe in Takashimaya back in 2010. Today, many restaurants, hotels, individuals and 7-11 stores all serve UCC quality coffee. UCC serves coffee in many different manners and ways - coffee beans, 3-in-1 packets, drip packs, coffee powder for machines, etc. There are also many different flavors to suit different individuals and each one's unique preference.

For those who prefer the stronger, purer flavors of exotic coffee flavors, this drip pack comes in handy for office use, home use and even travels. The adventurous ones, or the testers, are able to try one flavor a day to locate their personal favorite.

For those who are more accustomed to localized flavors born out of convenience in this fast-paced society, there are these 3-in-1 packets available, with sugar and creamer added for efficiency. Besides the coffee flavors available currently (White Coffee, Colombia Coffee, Sumiyaki Coffee), they also have milk tea (Teh Tarik) and Hot Chocolate flavors to suit even the non-coffee drinkers.

Or if one uses small coffee machines, and prefers capsuled beverages, the K-cups serve as good alternatives. Besides many coffee flavors (such as Blue Mountain, Charcoal Roast, Basic Roast, Fukari etc), one also gets to enjoy very pure Jasmine Tea or Green Tea flavors in capsule form.

With such a wide range and array of products, there is a match for everyone, regardless of preference and suitability. If you like UCC coffee or would like to have samples, please feel free to email me at cloverleafwish@gmail.com, thanks.

Review: Chanel Le Blanc Compact Foundation

Photosource: https://londonprettyboy.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/le-blanc.png

When I bought the Chanel's Le Blanc light revealing whitening fluid foundation over the Chanel makeup counter, the friendly sales assistant threw in some samples as usual. Well, I do like the lightweight, non-greasy yet moisturzing and rather smooth liquid foundation, until I tried out the samples for Le Blanc light creator whitening compact foundation (shade 20).

Described as "soft and supple" textured on their website, selected for their transparency and extreme fineness, melting into skin to instantly hide all imperfections  and flaws on the skin, giving a soft and velvery finish.  I was rather skeptical as it has been years since I used compact - having been accustomed to liquid foundation all this while.

The first brush with miracle was rather startling. The powder did glide on the skin smoothly, without leaving any cakiness, flakiness or patchy look. After applying onto the entire face, the lightweight compact foundation did cover up all flaws, give the face a radiant glow, and it felt light to the touch, smooth and velvety indeed.

The good coverage, smooth finish and moisturizing makeup stayed with me throughout the entire day, not once turning into an oily sheen even hours later. I tested the second application out by not dusting over setting powder, yet my makeup was still intact perfectly. I was amazed because the reason I'd stopped using compact was because they did not give me that smooth, non-greasy finish, but Chanel's Le Blanc compact foundation was able to convince me otherwise.

Available in 6 shades to suit Asian skin tones and good for touching up throughout the day, this great compact foundation uses new generation ceramic pigments, liquorice extract, along with 2-year pearl extracts, bringing all the goodness to one's skin.

It is currently retailing at SGD$96.00 at cosmetics counters, and the refill goes for SGD$70.00. It is certainly a good buy, and easy to bring out in one's handbag too.

Movie Review: Transformers - Age of Extinction

Photo source: http://movies.cosmicbooknews.com/content/new-transformers-age-extinction-movie-poster

I believe I have watched most of the movies under the Transformers series, even though Sci-fi and robots aren't exactly my favorite genre. If I'd first fallen in love with Bumble Bee in a previous movie, I must say that in "Age of Extinction", Optimus Prime's courage and intelligence clearly won me over.

In this flick, Cade Yeager (played by MarkWahlberg) bought home a beat-up truck only to have it morph into an autobot, Optimus Prime, which threatened to kill him. Optimus Prime was badly injured by the last battle against the Decepticons, and he only managed to survive by taking the form of this truck, and Cade , a self-proclaimed inventor, helped to fix the gigantic autobot and was instantly in his favor.

Ironically, Lucas Flannery (played by T. J. Miller), a good friend of Cade and his teenaged daughter Tessa (played by Nicola Peltz), was the first one to be killed in the midst of escaping death - he was the one who invited death to the turf when he innocently dialled the hotline to report Optimus Prime's whereabouts, hoping for a large sum of reward in exchange for information.

Photosource: http://www.beyondhollywood.com/transformers-4-2014-movie-preview-images-and-videos/the-autobots-in-transformers-4-2014-movie-image/

Meanwhile, there were deadly collaborations between the an elite disvision of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) named "Cemetery Wind" and Kinetic Science Institute (KSI) where the owner of KSI, Joshua Joyce (played by Stanley Tucci) believed he was controlling the robots he invested heavily in making. In actuality he was being controlled by the manipulative and dangerous Megatron in a reformed and enhanced form, named Galvatron.

The robots took on various forms throughout the movie and engaged in fights against Lockdown and the weird alien race named "Creators" sent to capture the Autobots leader, Optimus Prime. There was also a battle between Megatron and Optimus Prime.

Be prepared for a lot of fighting scenes, and almost humurous but brilliant tactics employed by Cade, Tessa and her secret boyfriend Shane Dyson (played by Jack Reynor) to aid Optimus Prime in his fight against Lockdown. It was rather touching to first see how these robots (at least autobots) have feelings instead of being mere empty metal shells; secondly, to watch them and humans defend, protect and fight alongside each other with no regard for their own safety / lives.

Optimus Prime activated a group of legendary knights in the form of Dinobots as reinforcements, seeing as they were outnumbered and outmatched against Galvatron and his minions, which I thought was rather brilliant. However, I find that scene vaguely familair - has the same thing happened in one of those Lord of the Rings or Star Wars movies before?

Photo source: http://tformers.com/calling-all-autobots-new-transformers-age-of-extinction-movie-trailers-scream-and-stand-/23998/news.html

This movie brings us from Chicago to Texas to China to Hong Kong and then back to outer space, so be prepared for some rather interesting cultural infusion.  Horror and terror invaded the cities as the robots continued their fight and buildings toppled mercilessly. There were lots of chaos and emotional scenes, including the inevitable romance blossoming between Joshua and Su Yueming (played by Li Bingbing) as they worked together to bring the Seed to safety.

As the autobots and humans gained victory and Galvatron retreated, Optimus Prime set the Dinobots free and flew into space with the Seed, sending a message to the Creators. As Galvatron vows battle against Optimus Prime, we are sure that will be another sequel to this movie.

An entertaining movie overall, with lots of stunning effects and gratifying scenes of humans and robots working hand in hand to destroy those who intend to cause harm to Earth.

Brunch at Drury Lane Cafe @ Tanjong Pagar

94 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088515

Tel: 6222 6698

 Located along a row of shophouses at Tanjong Pagar, this red-doored gem was a lovely discovery.  Looking kind of tacky and casual on the outside, the interior with its neat, warmly-hued sleekness was a delightful contrast - tiled floors, smooth wooden tables, the whole picture of a hipster cafe.

I was immediately drawn to the desserts / pastries counter, in the midst of scouring for the perfect seat, since I was early. There were Carrot Cakes, Nutella Tarts, Salted Caramel Tarts, etc, all looking so tempting.

Then the friendly crew informed me that there were more seats upstairs, so I ascended this flight of polished, sturdy wooden steps up to check it out.

Needless to say, I liked what I saw very much - a vast space filled with well-spaced tables and interesting crated seats. For the romantic at heart, who love the "Dining-by-the-windows" or verandah concept, this table may be just what you are looking for (barring bad weather!)

We settled for the huge orange couch so we could totally kick back our heels and relax over brunch. The couch was a little low though, so *Katherine was afraid we'd have to bend over while eating. True that.

So we moved to one of the tables in this vast hall, gleaming with natural sunlight and lovely jar-covered lamps overhead.

We took a short moment to pore over the menu before heading downstairs to place our orders.

I had a drink named "Brown", which was actually Mocha (SGD5.50) - espresso with milk and chocolate, a change from my usual Cuppaccino. The coffee was aromatic, flavor complemented by chocolate's roasty sweetness.

*Katherine had a "White", which was essentially an iced Latte (SGD$4.50) - a lovely milky coffee to that was smooth.

We were first served our Salted Caramel Tart (SGD4.00). While the puff pastry shell was a rim of delicious fluffy crispiness - the gooey, watery centre that was the salted caramel was almost too liquid. We had expected the ganache to be hardened or creamy, but it flowed out too luxuriantly once the fork pierced into it.

*Katherine had the Bacon Baked Eggs (SGD$12.00) for her main - honey cured turkey bacon, mushrooms, homemade baked beans and cheese all tossed into a pot with eggs to bake and served with toast. While the flavor was rich and this made for a homely, nutritious dish, it was like casserole to me, something that we could easily made at home (but probably wouldnt taste as nice).

My Cloud 9 (SGD$10.00) - consisted of fluffy turkey bacon infused pancakes served with honey and butter. I appreciated that my choice was a fabulous one - because the lightly sweet pancakes were baked to a golden crispiness, and the strips of bacon atop were crispy exactly the way I love them.

Better yet, I did not even need to pour or dip any honey / butter for my pancakes, because as promised, there were bits of bacon infused within my pancakes. This sweet and savoury combination was a palatable match made in culinary heaven. Even *Katherine agreed with me.

It was a lovely place for a lovely brunch, and I would like to return for sure.