Crystal Jade Xiao Long Bao Buffet (Holland Village)

Hello Humans,

Shan and I- do we look alike? Most people say no, haha. Anyway we were making our way to Holland Village to meet Adele for our XLB Hotpot Buffet! I was kinda excited cos I've always heard how great it was- free flow of XLB and locating at Holland V sounds kinda good too-I don't know why. 

Our only group photo of the day! HAHA, I was so happy that we got this seat in the sense that there's a huge mirror next to me and I can take a group photo even though I don't really look good here. LOL. So this was taken right at the start of our feasting. We were too busy eating and some photos were taken randomly thereafter. 

So our feasting started! Not sure if I should say we ordered a lot or not. But we've ordered quite a lot of mushroom and veggi. To be honest, I was quite sad that don't have fish, prawn, scallop and chicken slices (their's come in pieces). So for meat wise since I don't eat beef (not sure if there's beef though, I didn't even look much at the menu) and mutton, I ate mostly pork, and those meatball thingy. The Szechuan soup base was spicy, and hence I didn't have much of that. 

What's Xiao Long Bao buffet without XLB right?! I was kinda a little disappointed cos I prefer Din Tai Fung's XLB. Perhaps I didn't eat it asap while it's hot... Oh well...

Char Siew Bao

Gui Hua Gao and Red Bean Jelly

We weren't very hungry to begin with though we didn't really have much for our lunch. We were basically stuffing ourselves with the food we ordered and I was super full! Well, I seldom eat steamboat (at least that's what I think) and this pretty okay in the sense that the ingredients are pretty standard like like tofu, veggi, mushroom and meat. But I'm quite sad that they don't offer seafood choices like fish, prawn (we were given 3 each FOC but that's of course not enough) and scallop. Yes I know I've said that but I'm just trying reinforce how sad I am for that. HAHA. Drinks can be only refilled when you finish them, so it's too bad if you wanna change your option (they have coke, barley and Chinese tea). 

And another thing that I'll probably comment is the dining duration. It's only around 2 hours for you to enjoy the buffet and to catch up with friend/family. HOW IS THAT ENOUGH?!): Personally it wasn't enough for me cos I eat pretty slow. The place is slightly crowded and noisy so I could barely hear NPM when we were doing some catch up.

So would I go there again? Well, probably not anytime soon. If I've a craving for XLB, I'll probably head down to Din Tai Fung. Oh ya, Mayim (in WestMall) serve pretty nice XLB too. If I've a craving for steamboat, Xian De Lai is much of a good choice. I've tried it in August and they serve scallop, fish and prawn if I didn't remember wrongly. And they do not rush you off! Maybe it wasn't crowded that's why we could take our own sweet time..

So anyway, Thanks NPM for treating the Ho sisters! It's expensive, especially on a Weekend! Lots of love from us to you! HEEEEHEEE.

So after our buffet, we grabbed some bread for next day's breakfast and headed down to D' good Cafe for MED flea! We just wanted to take a look and see if there's anything for grab. The queue was super ultra long before we head for buffet and the queue was pretty short after our buffet. And guess what, we met XQ at the stairs! HAHA. I got myself a pretty green top, whereas XQ and Adele got themselves a dress each. 

Took photo with the pretty swing in the cafe before we parted:

Shan and NPM

The Ho Sisters. 

Pardon the big fat legs.

:D

Group photo: thanks to the free photoshoot booth at the flea! Reminds me of neoprints.. HAHA.

Loves,
Bean

D' Good Cafe with 117

Hello Humans,

Meet up with 117 is always venue-changing! We always set Food for Thought at Botanical Garden as the initial place but we always end up somewhere else. This time we changed to D’ Good Café at Holland Village. (: So here we are, walking along the stretch of familiar streets that we walked past for our Hatched trip. The café wasn’t hard to find. It’s just a minute walk from HV MRT Exit B, walking pass a lot of ATM machines and Hatched and slightly further down.

Don’t step into the wrong place, cos you gonna walk up the stairs to get into the café. If not, you can get through a glass door and get up using their cute elevator! It was really interesting for the both of us and we couldn’t resist but to take it. It goes super slow and its maximum capacity is 4 pax at 400 kg. This reminds me of those small elevator in hostels/hotels in Europe! And being in all white, I can’t help it but think of secret agents reporting whether their missions are completed or not! So yeah, we played with the elevator.

It took us quite a while to search for their menu and it was after minutes that we checked with the staff and realize they are on the ordering counter. The staff was kinda rude when both of us took a menu each and he said we could only take one with us, in a very impolite tone. BAD IMPRESSION.

117 ordered Homemade English Breakfast ($16.50), which she find below average and the best thing on her plate is the toast with jam.

YQ and her Breakfast for Dinner. :D

My Fresh prawn Aglio Olio ($16) was pretty standard, so I don’t have much comment. At least it wasn’t petty and comes with 6 prawns. However, I think TCC Aglio Olio is much nicer than this. 

And here's me with my food! ;)

Bad toilet they have. It wasn't the clean toilet like other cafes, at least those that I’ve visited so far, and the stupid door was so difficult to close and I was like a retard figuring how to close it. I’m never good at those kind of door, reminding how I got stuck in an airplane toilet when I was 12 years old. The basin was poorly designed cos you can’t rinse your month cos there’s something that’s blocking your way. The water is bad cos the front part of my skirt got wet. Yes, I’ve a lot to complaint, just for the toilet. X: Because you know right, most of the cafe toilets I've been to are very well-maintained and very comfortable. SO.... Hmmm.

But we spotted a pretty spot at the café, the open area at the third floor! 几romantic一下! The pretty night scene coupled with the pretty lighting, it seems like a good place to date! HAHA, but it was quite hot and there’s no wind so we chose an indoor seat.

I do admit that I’ve quite a few bad impression of the café (and we didn’t get to play the swing! L ) and the food is so-so only or below standard, it’s probably I wouldn’t be visiting it anytime soon. But it’s only 2 food out of the menu so it can be quite biased. And one bonus is probably no GST & Service charge! You can save quite a bit from that 17% okay. But first impression always counts. Maybe, maybe I’ll be back one day for their food, cakes or drinks maybe? 

So yeah after our dinner, we walked around Holland Village. 117 was surprised when I told her it’s probably my third time coming HV and my first proper night here that day. Actually I myself find it unbelievable too. HAHA. But yeah, I’m not really into night life. 8pm onwards seems to be home-time, where I should be at home eating dinner and probably catching nice/funny/meaningful programmes or drama.  I am certainly a home-girl. HAHA. Back to HV, the rows of restaurants, cafes and food along that stretch of food are damn attractive. I AM SO GONNA TRY THEM, one fine day! A chalkboard grabbed 117’s attention and cute 117 thought that …. HAHA, I’m not sure whether I should say it here cos it will reveal how cute she is. Maybe I shan’t. 

So anyway we headed into NYDC and had our round 2! Dessert time with cake and icecream! (: HAHA. I tell you it was damn funny cos we were very indecisive, we walked to the counter with cakes and tried to look at the inside of the cakes but too bad we couldn’t see from our view. We were tempted to ask the staff to turn it for us to see but we were too paiseh to make such a request. After seeing how ugly the Ugly Cake is, we decided on Boo Boo the cake. And guess what, not long after we sat down (we were sitting right in front of the counter) someone requested the staff to turn the cake -.- Nice ambience cos we got comfy sofa seats that’s so spacious for the two of us and the place is so bright that I’m not that sleepy! Icecream was not bad, and it's $2 for one icecream cone. The Boo Boo Cake was okay for me cos I'm fine with dessert/cake (not all but spongy.mousy I also okay!), but YQ prefer more spongy kind. 117 footed the dessert bill, thanks huh! :D She even say she’s gonna treat me TWG macaroon next time! WAHAHHA, thanks huh, I will remember and I hope you will too! Okay, greedy piggy bean mode on.

So yeah, thanks 117 for the dessert and accompanying me to explore HV at night! Hope you wouldn’t have to OT too much! Till we meet again, by the end of 2013 for a successful Botanical Garden trip! :)

Loves,

bean