iPhone 4S?

When the iPhone 4S was announced several weeks ago, I greeted the news with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. There weren't any truly exciting features. Well, maybe Siri. But I doubt if many of us will use Siri on a very regular basis - after the novelty wears off, Siri will probably be kept in the closet most of the time. Besides, my contract wasn't up yet, so getting a new phone was not really a viable option. 

However, recently I am getting really tempted to buy the iPhone 4S.

Firstly, my iPhone 4 now lags like hell - coincidentally after I installed iOS5. Words with Friends lags so much that sometimes I need to wait for more than a minute for the game to load. It may be because Zynga hasn't released an update for it yet, so I am crossing my fingers. But other apps are also more laggy now - for example, Safari. And when unlocking my phone, the phone now seems to be a bit less responsive, so when I key in my 4-digit passcode, it tends to miss out one digit quite often. 

Of course, my home button is another issue. It is extremely unresponsive, and I would need to press it very hard for it to work. Assistive touches do help to get around this, but it does have its own fair share of problems - coupled with laggy apps, assistive touches only make things worse.

Even if I decide not to get it, can my current iPhone 4 last me for one more year till the iPhone 5 comes out? I am not so hopeful about that.

No Name Hainanese Curry Rice @ Beo Crescent

Before I came here, I was actually trying out Meng Kee Char Kway Teow (refer to my previous post), because it was just a three-minute walk away from here (Blk 40 Beo Crescent). But this stall was much tougher to find, which makes its name especially apt. I actually walked past this stall twice without realising it.

No Name Hainanese Curry Rice, with fried pork, chup chye, and minced pork. $3.70

The queuing was tortuous to me. Not because the queue was long - there were only eight to ten people in front of me, and the queue was clearing quite quickly. Rather, it was due to the stuffiness of the coffee shop. Ventilation was very poor, and coupled with the sweltering mid noon heat, I could feel the beads of sweat trickling down my back as I queued. This had better be worth it, I told myself. 

Well, it turned out to be pretty good, fortunately. The fried pork was excellent! It was crispy, succulent, and yet not oily. A quick look around confirmed that seriously everyone ordered the fried pork. Another look at how much fried pork the stall has further affirmed its popularity.

The rice, curry gravy (which is totally not spicy) and chup chye form the basic core of Hainanese curry rice, and theirs was delicious. The minced pork was also pretty good.

This is really cheap and good! Now, I find this much more worth travelling from home (I stay near Bishan) for instead of Meng Kee Char Kway Teow.

Meng Kee Char Kway Teow @ Havelock

Another place recommended by ieatishootipost, located at 22 Havelock Road. I went there at around 1130am yesterday (it was a Saturday) and there was no queue at all, to my surprise.

Meng Kee char kway teow, $3

ieat gave it 4.5/5, which is one of the highest scores for char kway teow (his top score of 4.75 is for Hillstreet Char Kway Teow, at Bedok South Road) so I had rather high expectations. It was fried in a different way, with lots of sweet sauce added, so the plate turned out to be sweeter than your usual char kway teow. It was also quite moist (which I like) and smooth, and came with bits of pork lard and hum. 

On its own, the dish was a bit too sweet for my liking, but it was still not bad. I very much prefer Hong Lim's char kway teow (Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee). Till now, it is still the best I have ever eaten. I wouldn't mind eating here again, but I wouldn't make a trip down specifically for this.

Charly T @ The Cathay

Charly T is a small diner situated at The Cathay. It's specialty is its roast chicken, and in a way it is very much like Kenny Rogers Roasters. 

I baulked when I first heard how much their whole chickens cost - $42? True, it comes with four sides, but still... I can buy a whole chicken from NTUC for less than $7 and roast it myself! 

So the real reason why I came here was because I had two BigDeal vouchers ($15 for $30 each). 

Deep fried calamari rings, $9

A decent dish you can do with or without. I don't know what the sauce is, but it was slightly sour, which I felt wasn't really suitable for the calamari.

Charly T half chicken - $24, with 3 sides

The chicken was not bad, but for this price, it was definitely not worth it. At least it wasn't too dry, especially the breast. I do recall Kenny Rogers Roasters' chicken breast being so dry that I would need to eat it with some of their macoroni cheese.

The chicken also comes with 3 sauces, which was also one of their so-called selling points. While the sauces tasted quite special and good, I didn't think they were really necessary.

Macoroni and cheese, coleslaw, butter garlic rice

The macoroni cheese was quite poor; it tasted bland and a bit artificial. Kenny Rogers Roasters' macoroni cheese is still my favourite. The coleslaw was average, but the butter garlic rice was not bad.

Moroccan beef sticks with roasted potatoes, $16

The beef was nicely medium, so it was still quite juicy. This helped to cover up the slight lack of beef flavour. I guess they use New Zealand beef, which is cheaper but not as flavourful as Australian beef.

CT Fries, $8

I found the fries to be the best of all. Deliciously hot and slightly crispy, I had to refrain from finishing the whole bowl, if not I wouldn't have enough space in my stomach for the chicken and beef. 

So would I come here again if I didn't have any vouchers? Well, I would consider it only on Mondays, when they have their whole chicken promotion - $30 for one whole chicken with 4 sides (normal price is $42). Other than that, I wouldn't even step one foot in.

Tonkotsu King @ Orchid Hotel

It seems that Singaporeans are really crazy over their ramen. Over the past few years, ramen shops have been sprouting like mushrooms, and being a ramen-lover myself, I have nothing to complain. Today, I tried another ramen restaurant - Tonkotsu King, at Orchid Hotel (Tanjong Pagar). My friend told me repeatedly to arrive by around 1130am to 1140am, because the shop is tiny and a queue forms outside very quickly. A quick count yielded only around 18 seats (including counter seats) for the whole shop.

The inside of the tiny Tonkotsu King

As the name suggests, only tonkotsu (pork bones) soup is served here. While this may hint at a lack of variety, you get a choice of tonkotsu, black spicy tonkotsu, and red spicy tonkotsu. The base is essentially the same; they simply add a thick black pepper sauce (black spicy) or some red chilli powder and chilli oil (red spicy) for the latter two dishes. 

After you have chosen your soup base, you get to customise your ramen in three other ways - oil, noodles, and soup. 

Oil = Less oil, normal, more oil

Noodles = Soft, normal, hard

Soup = Light, normal, rich

Wanting to try something different, I ordered the black spicy version with less oil, normal noodles, and rich soup. While waiting, we were treated to a free flow of marinated beansprouts and hard boiled eggs. I love beansprouts, so I helped myself to a generous serving of beansprouts. As for the hard boiled egg, it was done very well in the sense that it was not too cooked - the egg white was still quite soft, and the egg yolk was slightly liquid and not rock-hard.

Black spicy tonkotsu with egg, $13.80

When my ramen came, I tried the soup first without mixing the black spicy sauce. It was quite good, albeit a bit too salty - but then again, I did opt for the rich base. Then I mixed the black spicy sauce in and immediately regretted it. I found that the black pepper did not really go very well with the soup and having it in its original form would be better. This doesn't mean that the soup tasted horrible after mixing - it was still good, just that it would have been better without the black pepper. It was also a good thing that I requested for less oil - to me, there were already too many pieces of chicken oil floating around in the soup, and I removed them as soon as I could.

The ramen also came with black fungus and char siew. Both were decent - nothing extraordinary. But the flavoured soft boiled egg was the best I have ever tasted. The egg white was so soft that it was almost runny, and whatever seasoning they used in the soup to boil the egg had fully permeated into the egg. And the egg yolk was also delicious and half-runny. At $2 more just for an egg, it may seem expensive, but it was worth every cent.

Tonkotsu King is definitely a good place for ramen, and I will probably visit it again in the near future. But next time, I am just getting the original tonkotsu soup with no black or red spicy seasonings. And perhaps I will add my own option on the order form - "no oil".

The Internal Security Act and Hypothesis Testing

According to our Minister for Home Affairs, Teo Chee Hean, "more than 800 people were arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in the 1970s of whom 235 were issued with Orders of Detention." 

While there have been many people speaking up against the ISA, I am more neutral on this. I understand why the ISA is necessary - to enable the Government to act quickly to preserve public order without the hassle of going through a trial. Lee Kuan Yew pointed out before that the absence of the ISA is akin to "go(ing) through the motions of a trial and let a guilty man off to continue his damage to society". Of course, in the hands of the wrong person (or Government), this could lead to a potential abuse of power where innocents can be seized just for opposing the Government.

It is interesting to note that such a large number of people were detained without trial. It is safe to assume that a percentage of these people are actually innocent, which, in statistics, is indicative of a Type I error. In this case, we can actually set up a hypothesis with H₀ being the null (or default) hypothesis and H₁ being the alternative hypothesis.

H₀: The person is innocent.

H₁: The person is guilty.

This is where statistical error comes in - a Type I or Type II error. A Type I error is when H₀ is rejected when it is actually true - i.e, the person is innocent but still convicted, whereas a Type II error occurs when H₀ is accepted when it is false - i.e, the person is declared innocent but is actually guilty. In this case, a Type I error is the most applicable, because it is quite possible that a significant number of the people seized are, in reality, innocent. An example would be the people closely related to the suspects that were seized simply because, well, they are closed related.

The level of significance, usually denoted by the symbol alpha (α), refers to the probability of a Type I error. In statistical problems involving hypothesis testing, the student is usually given the level of significance (which is usually 1% or 5%) and asked to test if H₀ should be rejected or not.

Of course, if we were to use the above situation in hypothesis testing, I think the level of significance would be significantly higher than 5%.

Buying life insurance

Today, a friend messaged me this:

"Hi, want to check with you. Any good life insurance product in the market to recommend?"

This unsurprisingly-common question is actually rather impossible to answer. Firstly, life insurance covers a whole span of products, including whole life, endowments, term, and so on. Each product caters to different needs, and a proper needs analysis would not be possible without some of the person's key information like age, income, number of dependents, financial circumstances, etc. 

Secondly, even if the question is zoomed into a particular product category, say, whole life, there is still no simple answer. This is because premiums are not everything. A product may cost the cheapest, but if it also offers the least benefits, is it necessarily the best value for money? 

Thirdly, there usually isn't a product that is uniformly cheaper than all the other insurers' products across different ages, gender, smoking status, and sum assureds. Insurer A may have the cheapest term plan for younger males and for larger sum assureds, but for older females and smaller sum assureds, Insurer B may be cheaper. This happens because each insurer has its own mortality curves, morbidity curves, surrender rates, claims experience, and profit margins, which they use to price their products. 

Life insurance is much more different compared to other financial products because each product costs differently for each individual (varying ages, gender, smoker status, sum assureds) and also caters to specific needs. Thus, it is always advisable to do a proper fact find with an insurance agent or financial adviser before purchasing life insurance.

Virtual spring cleaning

I had three external 3.5" HDD with capacities of 1.5TB, 1.0TB, and 0.75TB respectively. The 1.5TB HDD was filling up and it was starting to show erratic behaviour, like disconnecting by itself when I am transferring animes in halfway, so I decided to quickly get a new HDD before something happens and I regret it for the rest of my life. Well, at least for a few weeks of my life. 

So a few days ago, I got a 3TB Western Digital external HDD at Challenger for $207. Hmm, this HDD alone is already the equivalent of all my current HDDs combined. I sat down and started transferring animes to my new HDD, and after a few hours, it... disconnected by itself. 

This time, I had my suspicions. My 0.75TB HDD had showed the same symptoms before, although at a much lower frequency. So I guessed that the culprit is the USB hub I used to connect these HDDs, and after removing it and plugging my HDDs to my iMac directly, voila - they all worked perfectly fine. *touch wood*

After copying all my animes into the new HDD, I realised that I still had a lot of space. So I selected some anime series to backup into the 1.5TB HDD (My anime library is actually 1.86TB, so if I were to back it up entirely, I would need to buy another HDD), transferred my photos and some other files into my iMac directly (instead of keeping them in one of the HDD), and did some basic spring cleaning, deleting files I would not be using. 

This resulted in freeing up the 0.75TB and 1.0TB HDD, so I am going to try and sell them for a quick buck. My desk now looks less cluttered too. 

With so much extra space, I decided to try out the Time Machine, a backup utility by Apple. What Time Machine does is that it captures the most recent state of your data. This allows you to restore any file, or even the whole system, across various time periods. For the past 24 hours, Time Machine makes hourly backups. For the past month, it stores daily backups. And for anything beyond that, it saves weekly backups until the HDD runs out of space. 

The size of my system backup is around 326GB. My backup HDD still has almost 800GB available, so it's not an issue. Along with the 700+GB of space available in my iMac and another 1.2TB of free space combined across the two external HDDs, I hope I won't need to buy a new HDD anytime soon.

Youmenya Goemon @ 313

A colleague recommended this place for "good and cheap Japanese pasta", so I visited the outlet at 313 with three other colleagues. Despite his warning to go early to get seats, we reached at 1215pm and were greeted with a 75%-empty restaurant. It's all because of its location - this outlet is located at a corner of 313 where traffic is very low.

A look at their lunch menu confirmed that prices were still quite reasonable, with pastas costing mainly around the $12 to $13 range. I selected their Lunch Set A, which consists of a regular pasta, soup and salad at $14.

Salad and soup

 I thought that the soup would be miso soup, but it turned out to be a clear and light soup. I would very much prefer miso soup though. The salad was quite good - their Japanese salad sauce was quite tasty and appetite-stimulating, and the vegetables were fresh. 

Crab, shrimp and scallop pasta in cream sauce

This is only a regular portion, but it's already big enough for most people. Shredded crab meat and dried scallops were used, so the flavour is more uniform throughout the pasta, but I think they could still add a little bit more. The prawns were the highlight though - they were very fresh and crunchy. Overall, I found this lunch set quite a good value for money indeed. Their pastas cost more than Pasta de Waraku's, but definitely taste better as they also use better quality ingredients.

Note that their main outlet is actually at Marina Bay Link Mall, and the prices are different from 313's. For example, a Lunch Set B (regular pasta + salad + soup + drink) costs $15 at 313 but costs $18.50 at Marina Bay Link Mall. And I remember my pasta costing $12+ at 313, but their website states that it costs $13.50.

Update as of 8th Nov 2011:
I visited their Marina Bay Link Mall outlet today and confirmed that the prices were indeed different from 313's. The main reason was because of the salad - over here, you can help yourself to one serving of salad at the salad bar. And the salad is really much fresher and comes with several salad dressings, which were all very good. On its own, a small bowl of salad already costs $5.80 here, so this justifies the price difference between the two outlets.

Keep your investments simple

Having a lot of funds in your portfolio doesn't necessarily mean that your portfolio is more diversified. And it certainly doesn't mean that it will perform better either. Sometimes, keeping your portfolio simple is the best way to invest. And monitoring it will be less of a hassle too.

1) Get exposure to the key regions

The key regions are Asia ex Japan, Japan, Europe, US, and emerging markets. These regions should form the core of your portfolio. There is actually no need for thematic funds like climate change, agribusiness etc unless your portfolio is big enough, or if you are a more experienced investor. 

To a certain extent, even single country funds can be excluded from a portfolio, especially if your portfolio size is small. For very small portfolios, investing into a global equity or global balanced fund is the fastest and easiest way to diversify your portfolio and gain exposure globally.

2) Diversify

Many investors think that fixed income funds are boring and leave them out of their portfolios. While their lower returns are nowhere as exciting as equity funds, they actually help to reduce the overall volatility of your portfolio. Fixed income funds are liquid and offer returns that are higher than bank savings deposits or fixed deposits, but with an acceptable increase in risk. If you have short term goals approaching, invest more into fixed income funds.

3) Invest regularly

Committing a fixed amount into your portfolio every month via a RSP (Regular Savings Plan) is a good way of maintaining discipline. The benefits of Dollar Cost Averaging have already been stated time and time again, so I won't repeat them here. 

If you have a longer time horizon, it is better to invest your RSP into an equity fund. If you have a shorter time horizon or if you are unsure about which equity funds to go into, there is no harm committing to a bond fund for your RSP too.

Ebay - Please sign in x 20

Ebay's website is really driving me nuts.

I tried to sell a figurine of Kenshin Himura on Ebay, and after I have logged into my account and keyed in the description, uploaded the pictures etc, I clicked on 'Continue' - and was told to sign in again. So I did so, and was brought back to the same login page. 

This continued for around five times, so I tried clicking on 'Back' and reaccess my account from a different page. This time, it worked - so I went to fill up all the descriptions and information again. Okay, everything went smoothly and my figurine was finally up for sale here.

Next is Cloud Strife - and I couldn't login again, even after repeated attempts. After several more times, the login was successful - and I was told that I have signed in from a different computer this time (what?) and they had to run some checks to verify my identity. I was given two options - to be contacted either via my phone number (either my stored number, which was correct, or a new number), or via email. I selected the handphone option (my stored number), and they highlighted the second option instead (new number) and said there was an error. I tried two more times, and was then told that I have exceeded the number of tries and could not choose either option anymore. What??

I was then given the choice to contact Ebay via live chat to verify my identity directly with one of their officers. Oh well, whatever. I clicked on it. After half a minute of connecting, it says that live chat is impossible now. Good job, Ebay. 

Several minutes later, I tried to login again and this time I was successful. I was able to key in the descriptions and information about Cloud Strife, then when I clicked on 'Continue' - I was told to sign in again. By this time, I think I had already keyed in my Ebay password around twenty times and was almost ready to shoot a very nasty email to Ebay to lambast them about their user-unfriendly website. Fortunately for them, the next login succeeded and Cloud Strife was finally listed for sale. 

Several weeks ago, I already attempted to sell some stuff on Ebay but was stuck on the 'Upload picture' part, because nothing happened when I clicked on it. And this happened persistently, even after using both Safari (on my iMac) and Google Chrome (on my laptop). 

Maybe I should start to consider other alternatives to sell my stuff. Damn you, Ebay.

Update as of 22nd Oct 2011: Stuck on the 'Upload picture' part again, because the link refused to work.  


Update as of 23rd Oct 2011: Same thing happened again. This is driving me nuts.


Update as of 24th Oct 2011: Finally the link worked! I took the chance to Ebay all the other stuff that I wanted to sell - a Marc Jacobs handbag (my mother's), a HP Photoshoot B110a wireless printer, a 750GB Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 3.5" external HDD, and a 1TB Western Digital My Book 3.5" external HDD.


Update as of 30th Oct 2011: Now their messages refused to load when I click on them. This happens on both Safari and Internet Explorer, so its definitely not a browser issue.

My Travel History

My travel history since 2002:

2011 - Taiwan (Taipei), Indonesia (Bali), Malaysia (Kota Kinabalu) - in two weeks' time, Indonesia (Batam) - in two months' time

2010 - Taiwan (Taipei, Taidong), Australia (Melbourne), UK (London)

2009 - Malaysia (Johor Bahru), Hong Kong

2008 - Russia (Moscow), Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh), Hong Kong, Macau, China (Zhuhai)

2007 - Australia (Gold Coast), Thailand (Phuket), Thailand (Krabi)

2006 - Taiwan (Taipei)

2005 - Australia (Perth), Cruise

2004 - Cruise, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Malaysia (Redang Island)

2003 - Nil (Did I really stay put in Singapore for the whole of 2003?)

2002 - Malaysia (Tioman), US (Chicago)

Places I am considering to visit in 2012:

Taiwan (yes, again - I can never get sick of Taiwan)

Japan

Malaysia (Penang)

Malaysia (Malacca)

South Korea (Seoul)

iOS 5

I updated my iPhone 4 to iOS 5 a few days ago. The update was around 700MB, so downloading it + full backup of my phone + restoring phone to factory settings + installation + restoring data to phone took me almost two hours.

Some observations that are significant to me:

1) The notifications are now consolidated into one location, called Notifications Centre. It is much more convenient, and can be accessed just by swiping down from the top of your screen. 

2) My home button has been pretty screwed for some time already - I need to press it with a lot of force before it works. Now, with AssistiveTouch, I can actually avoid using it entirely. To activate it, go to Settings --> General --> Accessibility --> AssistiveTouch. A new translucent button will now appear on your screen along the perimeter which you can move to a different location (still along the perimeter) if it happens to block anything. 

3) Words with Friends now lags like crazy on iOS5 to the point of being frustrating. I hope they release an update soon; it's driving me nuts.

4) iMessages is a godsend that saves me from Whatsapp. I hate using Whatsapp. It is common for users to get stuck at "Connecting..." as the app tries to connect to the server -  even if my telco or wifi connection is perfect. And sometimes, push notifications come late (it has ranged from several minutes to an hour to me) - or they don't come at all. Now that iMessages is up, I will be using it as long as the recipient is on iOS 5 as well. (It's a relief that my gf uses iOS 5.)

5) The camera can now be accessed even without unlocking your phone. Just press the home button twice and a camera button will appear. Touching it will lead you directly to the camera app, and the volume up button can now be used to snap a picture.

6) It is now possible to sync my phone wirelessly, as long as it is plugged to a charger and connected to wifi.

7) iCloud ensures that my calendar and contacts are backed up almost anytime, and across my Apple devices.

Tuna salad with red cabbage

Tuna salad with red cabbage (serves 4)

Tuna salad with red cabbage - one portion only

Ingredients:

Olive oil
2 cans of tuna
1 apple, cut into small pieces
1 bunch of spring onions, chopped
0.5 cup of mayonnaise
4 red cabbage leaves (make sure they look good and can serve as a serving bowl)
Salt
Black pepper

Instructions:

1) Drain the tuna, then add to a large mixing bowl. Mash it into small pieces.
2) Add the apple pieces and spring onions in, and mix.
3) Season with a bit of salt, black pepper, and olive oil, and mix it once again.
4) Add the mayonnaise in and mix uniformly.
5) Serve on red cabbage leaves.

Note: If you can't find a red cabbage, a normal cabbage would do. Also, for the tuna, I bought tuna in olive oil, but tuna in water or just normal oil would work fine too. When eating, feel free to take up the whole 'bowl' and eat it with the tuna salad!

Spaghetti with apricots and chorizo

I like this recipe. The sweetness of the apricots go very well with the saltiness of the chorizo. But apricots and chorizo are slightly more troublesome to buy.

Spaghetti with apricots and chorizo (serves 4)

Spaghetti with apricots and chorizo

Ingredients:

320g of spaghetti

4 garlic cloves, chopped into fine pieces

0.50 cup of chicken broth

1 tablespoon of chopped rosemary

0.75 cup of dried apricots, chopped into small pieces

0.75 cup of chorizo, chopped into small pieces

Black pepper

Salt

Olive oil

Parsley for garnishing

Instructions:

1) Boil a pot of well-salted water. When it boils, put the spaghetti in and let it boil according to the instructions on the pasta packet.

2) Drain the pasta.

3) Heat some olive oil over medium heat in a skillet, then add garlic and fry until the garlic is slightly brown.

4) Add the broth, rosemary, apricots, and chorizo into the skillet along with the garlic and cook for around 3 more minutes, then season with salt and black pepper.

5) Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl and add the pasta in. Mix it uniformly. Taste it, and add more salt and pepper if necessary.

6) Add some olive oil and mix it again.

7) Sprinkle some parsley on top of the pasta, and serve.

Song Kee Fishball Noodles @ Toa Payoh

Song Kee Fishball Noodles is located at Block 75, Toa Payoh Lor 5. It was recommended by ieatishootipost, so I decided to give it a try. 

Fishball noodles from Song Kee Fishball Noodles

When the noodles came, the first thing that I noticed was its abundance of chilli oil. There was a thick layer of oil at the bottom of the bowl (check out the spot between the two meatballs at the bottom of the picture - do you see the oil glistening?), and I had to spend some time trying to remove some of it before I mixed the noodles with the chilli.

The noodles were not bad. The chilli was pretty tasty too, though I wished it could be a bit spicier. But the spotlight should be on their fishballs and meatballs. One bite of the fishballs and meatballs and I could immediately deduce that they were definitely handmade - they tasted so fresh, very much unlike the common fishballs and meatballs you encounter outside. And the fishballs were also extremely bouncy. I even imagined throwing a fishball on the floor and seeing it bounce. Or using it as a ping pong ball for table tennis. But why waste a good fishball?

I wouldn't mind coming here again. But the next time, I will ask them to take it easy on the chilli oil. 

Angry Birds Completed

Finally managed to complete Angry Birds with 3-stars in every stage!

3-stars in World 1 and 2 of Angry Birds

3-stars in World 3 and 4 of Angry Birds

3-stars in World 5 and 6 of Angry Birds

3-stars in Halloween and Christmas of Angry Birds Seasons

Getting 3-stars in every stage of Season's Greedings and Trick or Treat was really difficult. 

3-stars in Valentine's Day and St Patrick's Day of Angry Birds Seasons

3-stars in Easter and Summer of Angry Birds Seasons

Looks like these two stages are easier and many others managed to get all stars. I got all 3-stars and I am still not really at the top ranking.

3-stars in Mid-autumn Festival of Angry Birds Seasons

Love the music in their Mid-autumn Festival!

Taipei (Oct 2011) (2/2)

Day 3

Lunch was at 王品, a very well-known chain of western-food restaurants in Taiwan. They only serve sets at a fixed price of NT$1,300 ($56.81), which sounds a bit expensive. But for this price, you get an aperitif, bread (with liver pate and butter), salad, soup, main course, plum juice, fruits, dessert, and a drink. As my Taiwanese friend described perfectly - a meal 王品 will make you "full until you die". Service was superb. Service standards in Taiwan are already much higher than Singapore's, but 王品's is clearly a head over the rest.

餐前酒 - Aperitif

The aperitif was non-alcoholic, with a tinge of fruit and not too sweet. Behind it - the liver pate and butter for the bread.

松露鲜蔬佐鸭胸海鲜 - Tender Duck Breast and Seafood seasoned with Truffle Oil

This was surprisingly light and bland. The left-most item is actually squid rolled around potato (I think), on top of some asparagus. The middle is duck breast, while I am not sure what the right-most is... I think they are bamboo shoots. A nice appetiser to start the meal after the aperitif.

松露海鲜浓汤 - Truffle and Seafood Bisque

An interesting dish - you are supposed to pour the seafood bisque (left) into the right bowl, which is egg steamed with some vegetable (suspect it is spinach), topped with prawn and scallop. My father commented that it is better not to mix, because the steamed egg is very bland and would dilute the soup taste, but I think the combination worked out pretty well.

台塑牛排 - Wang Steak

Their trademark dish. If you eat beef, this is a must-try. Although they use New Zealand beef, this was extremely delicious! It is the short-rib portion, and is separated into two sections - the meat (top) and the tendons (below). We were advised to eat the tendons portion first. For steaks, the tendons are usually quite tough, but theirs were nicely chewy. The meat was also very tender and juicy. 

Don't let the picture deceive you - it may look small, but the portion is really huge.

烤浓浆巧克力冰淇淋 - Chocolate Lava

Finally, it's dessert. The ice cream was quite normal, but the waiter kept on asking us if we wanted any free refills of ice cream. Pity I was too full to utilise it! The chocolate lava was very thick and rich - in fact, so much that I was afraid to eat too much as I was having a sore throat. But my father said it was very good.

Indeed, after we have finished our meal, we were really "full until can die". 

Restaurant name: 王品
Address: 台北市光复南路612号 (Nearest MRT is Daan or Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall station )
Tel: 02-2325-3478

(Note that they have several outlets around Taipei; this is just one of them. A list of their outlets can be found here.)

After the heavy lunch, we took a 10 minute walk to Taipei 101. Like most shopping centres, this didn't really catch my eye except for a shop called Toyland, which sells lots of anime figurines. After a while, I just sat somewhere and entertained myself with some iPhone games until my parents were done with their shopping.  

Next destination for dinner was 金泰, a Japanese restaurant. Tried to make bookings, but they were totally full, so my friend advised me to go earlier. We reached there at 515pm (which is already very early for dinner!) and there was already a long queue in front of us. To make things worse, we had to queue under the rain (in fact, it has been raining non-stop since we landed on Taipei). 

After a 1 hour and 10 minutes wait - we finally got a seat. Whew! This had better be good.

综合生鱼片, NT$220 (S$9.62)

A plate of the usual sashimi that Singaporeans are familiar with. While this was very fresh, it isn't incredibly unique or special.

牡丹虾 (巨大) , NT$630 (S$27.53)

This was definitely one of the best prawns I have ever eaten, and is a close fight with 天母's 阿吉师. The prawn meat was tender and fresh, but the most attractive trait is its sweetness. And the heads were also delicious, with the prawn liver and pancreas etc. This plate would probably cost more than S$50 in Singapore. The picture didn't portray it, but the prawns are actually big (around 25cm excluding feelers). Totally worth it! 

烤鲔鱼肚, NT$300 (S$13.11)

Grilled tuna belly. Although tuna belly is supposed to be a delicacy, I found this to be quite underwhelming. It wasn't just the seasoning - it was the fish flavour itself that was bland. Maybe we should have ordered tuna belly sashimi instead. 

烤明太子, NT$210 (S$9.18)

This is actually mullet roe. It was good, but a tad too salty. However, if you eat it with the raw sweet onions (under the roe), it turned out just nice.

烤鳗鱼串, NT$210 (S$9.18)

Hmm... if you compare this to the mullet roe, then the eel seemed rather expensive. Still, this was grilled very well, and I could taste the difference between their eel and the eel found in Singapore.

烤鲭鱼, NT$210 (S$9.18)

I didn't want to order this, because at home, we eat saba fish very often. But my mother overheard other customers ranting about it, so she insisted on ordering it. Although it didn't look very nice in terms of appearances, it was excellent. I guess this is because the saba fish in Singapore is almost always frozen while theirs was fresh.

烤鲜干贝, NT$320 (S$13.99)

Grilled scallops. I found this to be very expensive - two small scallops for S$14! While the scallop was very sweet and fresh, it was a bit too tough and dry. I think it was left too long on the grill.

海胆, NT$420 (S$18.36)

This is the second time I have ever tasted sea urchin sashimi. The first time was at Sushi Tei. This plate totally blew me away. It was sweet and briny and simply melted in the mouth. Gosh! After we left, I regretted not ordering one more plate. I don't know how much this would cost in Singapore - probably several times more and yet not as fresh and delicious too.

金泰 is a must-go place if you are a fan of Japanese food, especially sashimi. Their sashimi was incredibly fresh and yet at such affordable prices. The total bill for the three of us came up to NT$2,715 (S$118.66), which was ridiculously cheap compared to Singapore! And we ordered such high quality and expensive food too. I think this meal would easily cost more than S$300 in Singapore. Fantastic place, but you really have to make reservations way in advance!

Restaurant name: 金泰
Address: 台北市内湖区旧宗路121巷34号 (Nearest MRT is Gangqian or Wende station, but still need to take a cab)
Tel: 02-8792-8167


Day 4

There wasn't anything much to do in the morning, so after breakfast, we went to Sogo's supermarket again before taking a cab down to 龙都酒楼, a place my friend recommended for its roast duck. I tried to make a reservation on a weekend, but was told brusquely that for weekend reservations, I would need to call at least two weeks in advance. Whoa. Fortunately, they still had space for lunch on a Monday.

The place looked like a traditional Hong Kong restaurant, with all the gold pillars and gold words etc everywhere. 

龙都酒楼, 台北

They only sell their roast ducks in wholes - so three of us had to order one whole roast duck! Well, I am not complaining. Each roast duck costs NT$1,200 (S$52.45). If you want to use it twice - for example, using some of the meat for duck porridge, it will cost NT$1,400 (S$61.19). For three uses, it costs NT$1,600 (S$69.93). We opted for two uses, which is to eat the duck itself and have some duck porridge.

广式片皮鸭. Just look at the layer of fat...

It is eaten just like Peking Duck. The waitress sliced some of the duck breast out for us to wrap with the crepe, along with sweet sauce and spring onion. Being more health conscious (when possible), we tried to scrape off the fat and realised that it was extremely difficult - the fat clung on stubbornly to the skin. My father shrugged and just ate it, fats and all. But I persevered and managed to remove around 75% of the fat before eating the rest. For some pieces that came without fat, I have to conclude that it really tastes much better with at least a bit of fat!

The duck was very different from our own roast duck. As mentioned earlier, the skin and fat were extremely difficult to separate, whereas for local roast duck, all the fat can come off in one piece easily. Another difference is the meat texture - their roast duck was more chewy. And finally, the skin also has a different texture and taste (and more oily too). Delicious! 

The rest of the duck meat for direct eating

The waitress then cut some more meat from the other parts of the duck, then took the rest to make into duck porridge. 

姜丝皮蛋鸭骨粥

This is just century egg porridge with duck. I was wondering - in just twenty minutes, are they able to bring out the duck flavour into the porridge? I guess they probably have several pots of porridge with duck bones inside simmering, so whenever a customer orders the duck porridge, they would just put the customer's duck bones into a new pot of porridge and serve them an existing pot. But when I tasted the porridge, I think maybe they really just boil the porridge with our duck for twenty minutes, because the duck taste in the porridge wasn't really that strong. 

While some people may think that eating Hong Kong roast duck at Taiwan is a waste of time, I beg to differ. Their roast duck tastes very different from our Hong Kong roast duck, and the wonderfully crisp skin (with some fat) and meat texture make it definitely worth a try. 

Restaurant name: 龙都酒楼
Address: 台北市中山区中山北路一段105巷18号 (Nearest MRT is Zhongshan station)
Tel: 02-2563-9293

After lunch, we proceeded to 五分埔 for shopping. I walked around, thinking that there would be nothing for me to buy, but surprisingly I managed to get some stuff - a dog shirt for my dog, a One Piece towel for a friend, and a One Piece long-sleeved t-shirt for myself. They were all rather cheap, because they get their goods from wholesalers and sell them below retail price. The dog shirt costs NT$200 (S$8.74), the towel costs NT$370 (S$16.17) [retail price is NT$580, which is S$25.95], while the t-shirt costs NT$330 (S$14.42). 

Took a cab to 犁记, which is famous for their pineapple tarts. I am not really a fan of pineapple tarts, but after trying theirs during my previous visit, I was won over. This time, I was prepared to buy quite a few back home as gifts. 

犁记凤梨酥, NT$18 (S$0.79) each

The thing is that their pineapple tarts were good and cheap. We saw many other brands at departmental stores that taste nowhere as good as 犁记's and yet cost up to twice as much! I ended up buying eighty - yes, eighty - and when I returned to Singapore, I realised that it was still not enough. Damn!

It was an early dinner again today, at 530pm, because the hotpot restaurant, 无老锅, was fully booked and my friend only managed to secure the 530pm slot. The food was pretty good, but the way the waiters bowed deeply after speaking to us was rather... unnerving. 

鸳鸯锅

The left side contains 麻辣 soup. Not too sure about the right side, because when we asked a trainee waiter about it, he mumbled so fast that we couldn't catch anything. Personally, I prefer the soup from the right side, though. Occasionally, they will top up the soup with pig's blood and other ingredients, while the soup base itself was provided to us for self-refill. Pictures of other hotpot ingredients below:

Scallop paste

Beef slices

无老肉

Their trademark meat, 无老肉, is actually pork slices that have already been cooked and served chilled. The waiter said that we could also cook it in the steamboat, but I think it's better eaten like this. The bowl looked small in the picture, but it's just the tip of the iceberg.

Collagen from fish skin

Collagen! It was promoted there as being good for the skin, so my mother ordered it to try. After cooking, it became almost totally transparent and tasted pretty good.

After 1.5 hour, we were chased out (politely, of course) because each table could only be held for that period of time to make way for other customers. Damn. 1.5 hour is too short for hotpot! Thanks to that, I wasn't really that satisfied, but after that we passed by 阿宗面线 again and I was satisfied, heh.

This hotpot tasted quite good, but I still prefer the one I went to five years ago - 桥头麻辣鸳鸯. Will go during my next visit!

Restaurant name: 无老锅
Address: 台北市市民大道三段143号 (Nearest MRT is Zhongxiao Fuxing station)
Tel: 02-2731-7927



Day 5

Our flight was at 235pm and we had to reach the airport before 1pm, so we skipped breakfast and went for brunch instead at 鼎泰丰. Ordered their trademark xiao long bao, and there is actually a noticeable difference between theirs and Singapore's. Singapore's xiao long bao tastes saltier and has more gravy inside. Hmm... I think I prefer Taiwan's. 

My luggage was really filled to the brim, and I had to hand-carry a big bag of fish crackers and cup noodles. Our total luggage weighed around 20kg when we left Singapore, and we returned with almost 70kg of stuff.

Thinking of when to visit Taipei again. Maybe next year? 

Taipei (Oct 2011) (1/2)

Went to Taipei for a 5D4N trip with my parents. This is my third visit to Taipei, and it's still not going to be the last visit in the near future. Taiwan is one of the few countries I can make repeated visits to without feeling bored. The food is one thing - if you know the correct places, you can get to eat fantastic food at very affordable prices (I went there fully armed with a list of recommendations from a Taiwanese friend). In fact, food was the main reason why I went to Taiwan! And the people there are also Chinese, so I tend to feel more at home. They are also generally very helpful and polite, and these traits aren't easily associated with Singaporeans. 

Day 1

Reached Taoyuan airport and took a cab to Park Taipei Hotel for around NT$1,200 (S$52.45). Park Taipei Hotel (台北美伦大饭店) is at a rather good location, just opposite Daan (大安) MRT station. Internet is free but only via wired connection in the room, so for mobile phones and tablets, you need to bring a router along. I brought my laptop, so this wasn't an issue.

Bedroom at Park Taipei Hotel

Internet is free but it is only available via wired connection (ADSL)

They offer wifi only at their business centre, which is opened 24 hours, but it is still a hassle to go there just to use my phone.

After settling down, we proceeded to a restaurant called 鸡窝 for a very-late-lunch at 4pm, but found out that it would only open at 530pm for dinner. We were starving, so we went to a nearby cafe instead, Second Floor Cafe. 

Second Floor Cafe

It caught our eye because it looked quite cosy. Surprisingly, the food was pretty good!

All-in-one brunch set, NT$350 (S$15.30)

Their all-in-one brunch set was only available on weekdays, 2pm to 5pm, and subject to availability too. For just NT$350 (S$15.30), we got a choice of eight sides - egg, cheese, potato, soup, salad, meat, bread, and dessert - and two drinks. Out of all these, the omelette was the most outstanding. I am not really a big fan of omelettes, but I found this to be really good. The hash browns were great too, but then again, it's not too difficult to make good hash browns. The bagel, however, was too hard and dry.

Club sandwich, NT$230 (S$10.05)

Club sandwich was done pretty well too, especially the fries.

Three of us shared two meals with the intention of having dinner not too long after, but we still ended up being quite stuffed. By the time we finished, it was already 515pm, so I told my parents to wait till 530pm and revisit 鸡窝, since it was so near - and I didn't want to waste one meal without trying out one of the restaurants on my list. And I was really glad we did. Their chicken soups were the best I have ever tasted.

Original flavoured chicken soup，NT$360 (S$15.73)

This was their original flavoured chicken soup, so it comes with just one huge chicken thigh. The soup was incredibly rich, and if you look carefully, there's a layer of oil on top that actually helps to prevent the heat from dissipating. If I were drinking this in cold weather, I think this bowl will warm me up better than anything else. I blogged about the shark's fin soup from Majestic Restaurant before (http://goombaishere.blogspot.com/2011/07/majestic-restaurant-new-majestic-hotel.html), and for the price difference (half the price and around six times the quantity), I must say this chicken soup is definitely much more worth it. For those who are unaware, the base of shark's fin soup is actually chicken soup. Shark's fin by itself is tasteless - it is added to thicken the soup without using cornstarch, and of course for its texture. 

Chicken soup with mushrooms, NT$480 (S$20.98)

This is just the same chicken soup as above, but with mushrooms. Honestly, I don't think it was worth it - adding these mushrooms in actually diluted the soup a little (though the soup was so strong that it still tasted fabulous) but it definitely wasn't worth paying 33% more for.

Restaurant name: 鸡窝餐厅
Address: 台北市敦化南路二段81巷63号 (Nearest MRT is Daan station)
Tel: 02-2704-3038

Went to Sogo to shop after that, and we passed by 阿宗面线. Despite not being really hungry, I still found the appetite to down one bowl. 

阿宗面线，东区分店

During my past visits to Taipei, I would grab one bowl whenever I pass by. So on average, I eat around one big bowl per day. The small bowl costs NT$45 (S$1.97) while the big bowl costs NT$60 (S$2.62). Many people have the misconception that it is oyster mee sua, but it's actually mee sua with pig intestines. 

Dinner was at around 10pm at 师大夜市, and I brought my parents to the same 卤味 which I tried last year.

灯笼加热卤味，师大夜市

There were many stalls there selling 卤味, but this was the most popular. Identifying it by the two red lanterns above it was insufficient - I saw at least one other stall with similar lanterns as well. So the best way is to remember its name - 灯笼加热卤味.

Just look at the amount of ingredients available for you to choose from

After choosing your ingredients, they will boil them in some flavoured gravy/sauce, and then drizzle some secret sauce and garnish with salted vegetables.

Our plate of 卤味 costs NT$400 (S$17.48)

This was our plate, and it consists of chicken liver, pig intestines, Taiwanese 山菜, dried beancurd, pig stomach, 王子面, and... I can't remember the rest. The noodles is a must-add for me, and one packet may seem a lot, but it's actually very little. For three people, we should have added two packets instead.

师大夜市
Address: 台北市大安区龙泉街106号 (Nearest MRT is Taipower station)

Day 2

There wasn't much free time in our itinerary, so we squeezed 淡水 in the morning.

淡水老街

We were really short of time, so we only went to 淡水老街. I bought some of 淡水's specialties - 铁蛋 (阿婆铁蛋 is supposedly the best) and some fish crackers (鱼酥). My parents got some 黑金刚 (black peanuts) too, and we left in just 1.5 hour.

Lunch was at a restaurant called Kiki Restaurant, which serves Sichuan cuisine. According to the Taipei Times, it is actually owned by a celebrity, 蓝心湄.

老皮嫩肉, NT$200 (S$8.74)

This was the best dish, in my opinion. The name of the dish - 老皮嫩肉 - describes it perfectly. It is actually deep fried beancurd, and the insides were incredibly tender. Move aside, Boon Tong Kee!

醉鸡腿, NT$310 (S$13.55)

Their drunken chicken tasted quite good, as the alcohol and seasoning have seeped fully into the meat. The only gripe I had was that the meat was a little too tough.

苍蝇头, NT$220 (S$9.62)

苍蝇头, an innovative name for Chinese chives (韭菜) that is chopped into very small pieces. This is such a simple dish with very common ingredients - chives, chilli padi, minced pork, fermented black beans, and garlic - but it tastes damn good. It is considered a very spicy dish, but I still found it quite all right.

腐乳空心菜, NT$150

This was one of the common recommendations for Kiki, but it was a total letdown. The kang kong tasted very bland, with almost no hint of fermented beancurd at all. 

Restaurant name: Kiki Restaurant
Address: 台北市复兴南路一段28号 (Between Nanjing East Road MRT station and Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station)
Tel: 02-2752-2781

Next stop was 西门町, which is considered the Shibuya of Taipei. I am not interested in fashion, so the main attractions here were 阿宗面线 (again) and a shop selling all anime and manga stuff. 

My mother preferred to shop in departmental stores, so this time I brought her to 新光三越. It was actually pretty similar to Sogo, so we spent the most time at their supermarket looking for foodstuff to bring home. 

8pm - dinner at a BBQ restaurant called MOE Yakiniku Restaurant. 

Our beef slices on their charcoal grill

Another fantastic dinner. They used charcoal stoves to grill the meat, so the food obviously tasted much better than hot plates or electric stoves. Service was good too, and the waitress who served us was quite pretty too, heh. 

Chicken and pork slices

Both were excellent. Totally no complaints.

Wagyu sirloin steak, NT$1,280 (S$55.94)

This was the highlight of the night. The meat was carefully grilled by them such that the outside was nicely seared but the inside was still pink, more towards red. One bite and all the oil and juices just gushed into my mouth... gosh. Incredibly good.

Shisamo, or capelin fish. Also known as 'pregnant fish' as it is full of roe

MOE is a must-try. It is definitely one of the best BBQ restaurants I have ever been to.

Restaurant name: MOE Yakiniku Restaurant
Address: 台北市敦化南路一段270巷25号 (Nearest MRT is Zhongxiao Fuxing station)
Tel: 02-8772-5129