Vegan Burg

A night in the East side of Singapore had given us a chance to visit Vegan Burg in Jalan Eunos. With founders believing that plant-based diet is environmentally sustainable, they try to inspire and influence the world around with vegan diet into their lifestyle.

Vegan Burg

I particularly like the benches they had as it was decorated with faux grass patches. It really matches the theme of eating greens and ambiance created in Vegan Burg was like dining in the garden, a special kind of feeling like having a picnic.

Vegan Burg's Ordering Counter

The Advertisement splash on their wall had given another view towards having burger. If you think that having Fast Food is consider as junk food, perhaps you have to head down here and understand more about their burgers.

Think Fast Food Is Junk Food? Think Again.

Self service is observed in the restaurant and with the help of the buzzer system. Besides dining in Vegan Burg also offer services right to your doorsteps, in case you are craving for Fast Food and do not want to feel so sinful, this is another option for you.

Buzzer

There are 3 kinds of chiller available to choose from if you are having a set meal. They comes in three different color where by the green represents the Citrus cooler, the orange represents the mango sunrise and pink represents the passion fruit drink. However, there are no free flow of the chiller but you have to pay $1.40 per cup if you want it to be refilled.

Drinks

Interestingly, I would never have thought that my burger would be served in a mass tin with grease paper. Burgers and the choice of side was served in it. A good thing about the burger was that it was half wrapped and enable patrons to grab from the mass tin immediately and pop it into the mouth conveniently. Assorted vegetables were included in this vegan meal. For those who are not taking onions, their friendly service will ask if you want them before the burger preparation.

Seaweed fries on the other hand were special, they were fat and yummy. Though they were not that crispy like the common fast food joint, you can really taste the authentic use of potatoes in it.

Smoky BBQ Meal - $12.80

Tangy Tartar were half wrapped and standing vertically on the mass tin. Just like the Smoky BBQ burger, the buns came along with whole meal grains which is healthy.

Tangy Tartar Meal - $10.80

The regular shape patty had signs of dryness. From a non-vegetarian point of view, the burger with was pretty good even without the use of meat.

Tangy TarTar buger

Topping up my meal with their Granny's Soup. I was in luck during that day of visit as they purposely prepare this cup for me as their last batch of soup had sold out. The soup's texture was more like a paste but it was fragrant infused with herbs. Flavours of mushroom were adequate, a concentrate soup more than I have expected.

Granny's Soup - $2

Overall, it is a good experience having the so called "fast/junk" food turning into a healthy diet.

Rating: 3 / 5

Vegan Burg
Location: 44 Jalan Eunos Singapore 419502

Cha Thai

Cha Thai, a pretty new Thai establishment along Telok Ayer Street is a brand new place to explore if you want to have a little surprises in Thai Cuisine apart from the usual ones we had. The people behind Cha Thai is similar to the one at Loaves Me in SMU.

Cha Thai

Service is very welcoming in Cha Thai, politeness and efficient services. Condiments and utensils were conveniently placed in an acrylic rack on each table ranging from Chilli flakes to Thai's Essential in cooking like the fish sauce.

Condiments & Utensils Rack 

Interior was bright, modernly furnished and with ample of seating.

Thai Milk Tea comes in both ice and hot version. With strong hit of tea fragrant among the milk, I would say it should be thick if not for the ice which had diluted the taste after a while. The word butterfly pea on their menu caught my attention and I had recalled my first experience of butterfly pea on my rice in Nara Thai. It was not very common to see them available in Singapore Thai Restaurants and i was curious about butterfly pea beverages taste.

Thai Iced Milk Tea & Butterfly Pea Juice - $3.90 Each

The luscious green curry had swept our feet off on the 1st taste. The traditional green curry sauce was appetizing and cooked with chicken thigh as well as carrots. Don't worry, its never too spicy here!

Chicken Green Curry - $18

Voted as their signature dish, the Cha Thai Fried Rice! I particular like the part whereby big fresh prawns are used in this dish with crab meat, salted fish, kailan served with shallot and used of cashew nuts.

Cha Thai Fried Rice - $22

Just Look at the big succulent prawns, it's definitely worth the price that one is paying for!

Big Fresh Prawns

Another surprise that I had was their crispy prawn cakes. Deep fried to its golden brown perfection in a bigger portion which is seen 2-2.5 times bigger than the usual ones we had. Moreover, its lightly battered crisp texture was not too hard, in fact, it goes very well with the sweet plum sauce and its juicy prawn meat.

Crispy Prawn Cake - $15

Boat Noodle, a popular local noodle in thick soup base that consist more than 15 kinds of herbs. It was unexpectedly good with a good twist to cater to local tastebuds as it was not as spicy as the actual Thai Boat Noodle back in Thailand. Lean meat were tender and you can truly taste the fragrant from the basil leaves as well as the peanuts bits. The broth were impressive with a good hint of pork liver used as its ingredient.

Boat Noodle - $18

Last but not least, we ended our dinner happily with the sweet treats, Thai's staple dessert, Sweet glutinous rice served with Thai honey mango.

Mango Sticky Rice - $15

Overall, the food that Cha Thai serves is very different from the typical Thai Restaurants we have over here which I would say it spells a big difference as compared to others. It has a good authentic Thai Taste but with a twist that caters to the modern world. I would say a fusion of the old school and new ones. It kind of reminds me of the Baan Ying, a chain eating place when I visited Bangkok earlier this year. I would not mind returning again.

Rating: 4 / 5

Cha Thai
Location: 80 Telok Ayer Street Singapore 048466
Operating Hours: Mon - Sat: 1100 to 2200, Close on Sun

Hotelissimo Haberstock

Hotelissimo Haberstock is located at the heart of Munich, be it that your plans is for leisure or on Business Trip, its generally a good choice of stay.

Hotel Haberstock / Hotelissimo

Based on its location, the entrance to the train station is just less than a minute away and if you want to head to the main entrance of the main train station, Haupt-Bahnhof , its just less than 5 minutes of walk. Tourists like me took advantage of its location as it is only 15 minute walk from places of interest like Marienplatz square and the Theresienwiese Oktoberfest Site.

At the Cross Junction Few Steps away from Hotel. Spot the S & U Baan Entrance / Exit

Walkable Distance to Main Train Station, less than 5 minutes

A Quiet Public Holiday Morning in Munich

The 3 Stars Hotel has ensure a pleasant stay for guests with their friendly and helpful reception service of 24 hours round the clock. Conversation in English language It does provide free Wi-Fi in all rooms as well as in public areas of the hotel. Laundry service and luggage storage is also available too.

Waiting Area near Reception

Passage Way to Hotel Rooms

Waiting Area at my room level

I was rather shocked to see the hotel room as I had expected something similar to what was actually shown on the hotel portal. Having a single room to myself for just one night was good enough with the room space. There was a electric fan in the room and CRT Television to keep my night cool.

TV Console

Shower Area in Toilet

Toilet

I was staying overnight during the peak Season and hotel room rate was at 199 EUR,  however, do note that such rate is consider relatively one of the cheapest during Oktober Fest Season.

Old School Key to room

My hotel room was just right next to the streets and during the night I can still enjoy the bustling life and culture of Munich Oktober Fest with people at the pubs over midnight throwing themselves merrily into such an occasion.

Out and down into the streets from my Hotel Room Windows

Though Hotel might be warm at night, the electric fan came in handy in circulating the air in the room.

Hotel Room with Fan

Breakfast in the hotel was not that bad either. Like most of the hotel, they have a small area for breakfast filled with typical items like, bread, cereals, cheese etc.

Breakfast Area

As I sat down, I notice a little note in English that there was friendly request available from their staff and I ordered omelette with cheese.

Note

Little Burger Patties were cute and I took them and paired along with tomato as well as cucumber slices. Though the patties were served cold, I still find them delicious and the best selection out of the breakfast area due to that I was quite bored to have the typical Bread, Cheese and Jam for the last 1 week in Germany.

Little Patties

While I thought the patties were good, the staff surprised me further with a fluffy omelette. I remembered how the aroma traveled all the way from the kitchen into the dining area and wow, what a homely taste!

Special Order from the kitchen

The idea of staying in the Centre of Munich and near to the main train station had gave me convenience to most of the places of interests, even a direct train towards Munich Airport. Overall, it was a good experience being totally alone in Europe for a day in Munich.

Main Train Station (München HBF)

Hotelissimo Haberstock
Location: Hotelissimo Haberstock D-80336 München, Schillerstr. 4
Tel.: +49(0)89-55 78 55

Website

The Usual Place

The old school looking shop house with metal grills and red brown bricks down at the corridoors of Blk 346 Jurong East gave me a flash back of my child hood days of how shop houses used to look like.

The Usual Place

With such a nostalgic feel, the Usual Place cafe interior is said quite closed to my heart with simple furnishings in a industrial theme interior catering to about 40 seats. Nestled in an Neighbourhood Estate that I'm most familiar with, The Usual Place is just about 10 minutes walk away from Chinese Garden MRT Station.

The Usual Place Interior

This place serves comfort western food at an affordable pricing in a cozy environment. I came to know of this place when I heard that Aglio Olio costs only $4.90 per plate. It's no gimmick as the serving is pretty normal. Let's check out what I have ordered. :)

Menu

Generous ice cubes and mint leaves made up majority of the drink with soda water and Yuzu Zest. A refreshing cooler that stands up among the rest of the beverages in the menu.

Yuzu Mint - $4

Appetizers like this chef recommended Calarmari Rings is a noteworthy item to try out. Served with tartar sauce, these deep fried calamari rings were simply addictive especially with herbs added in its batter. Having lemon juice squeezed over them had also elevated the taste. One good point to note was that it was not too greasy even though it was deep fried.

Crispy Calamari Rings - $6.50

Salted Egg Prawn Pasta came with 5 pieces of fresh prawns in relatively medium size without being too artificial. It's creamy salted egg sauce was the bomb! Addictive and absolutely delicious to someone like me who enjoy salted egg yolk flavours. The cream base salted egg yolk amount was proportioned to the spaghetti. No complains but a rather interesting combination with a little bit spiciness.

Salted Egg Prawn Pasta - $12.90

Another chef recommended item on the menu! The Usual Burger comprises of their homemade beef patty stacked together with melted cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, bacon and fried egg. Just too bad that the side were over done.

The Usual Burger - $13.90

Besides having cakes as a choice for desserts, you get to have a chance to taste their waffle that falls under the SWEETS section of their menu. There is two types of Waffles to choose from, Banana and S'more Waffle and we had the latter. Waffle was homemade by order basis topped with vanilla ice cream and decorated in chocolate sauce drizzles.

S'more Waffle - $7.50

The special part of the waffle was not just about the sprinkling of its icing powder but the burnt marshmallows that left the impression. With such, it reminds me of how BBQ marshmallow is, leaving a thin crisp exterior yet sticky and clinging onto the waffle.

Sticky Marshmallows

Service is seen polite with friendly smiles. Besides that servers are efficient and tables were cleared promptly. It's good to have such cafe in the neighborhood like this, it gives us another option to hang out with my friends without burning a hole our pockets as no GST and Service Charge is required here.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

The Usual Place

Location: 346 Jurong East Street 31 #01-73 Singapore 600346

Bamee

Being "stranded" in Munich Airport after given notice that my flight had been delayed for about 3 hours due to the heavy fog in Manchester, I went round and round the departure area for window shopping before coming to a conclusion that I should have some food before the flight.

This is not the first time I had visited Bamee and I remembered how expensive their meals were during my last trip to Munich. Therefore I was hesitant to buy a meal from them initially.

Bamee

Being lost with the choice of food on it menu, I'm kind of enlightened when I overheard some of the Singapore Air Stewardess that their Roasted Duck is good and I decided to give it a try though it was one of the most expensive dishes on the Menu board.

The authenticity of the meal is never a question to me as most of them are from Thailand from the way they had conversed in their mother tongue language. I ordered my meal without additional drink as it costs me 6 Euros (that's about $10 SGD) for any regular cup of juices displayed.

Buzzer

In exchange for the buzzer, I received my meal with a generous bowl of rice served in a elegant plate together with the Roasted Duck in Red Curry. The smell and the look of it drove my stomach crazier. It groans louder and faster literally.

Geang Ped Yang - 16,90 Euros

The crispy roasted duck was really good and red curry was not too spicy. Vegetables like long beans, capsicums and cherry tomatoes were included in the curry too. The sweet tasting curry was a perfect go to the bowl of white rice.

Red Curry

Coming from an Asian perspective, the bowl of Roasted Duck with Red Curry was creditable and left me a very good ending trip in Munich. I'm glad I made a wise choice to follow the recommendations of the Air Stewardess.

Besides having self service at collection, it would be a good practice to keep your empty dishes at the collection point after dining.

Curry

Rating: 4 / 5

Bamee
Location: Terminal 1, Departures C, Munich, Germany