YOMENYA GOEMON

Location: 1 Vista Exchange Green #03-04 The Star Vista
How to get there: Buona Vista Mrt
Operating hours: 
Monday - Friday: 1130am - 2100pm
Saturday - Sunday: 1130am - 2130pm
Contact number: 6694 3570 (stated on their tissue paper)

HI EVERYONE!! HOW'S IT GOING? I bet the uni kids are mugging your asses off. No worries, May&FJ are doing the same as well! Oh exams, how we dread them!! Here's wishing all the uni kids all the best for exams this time round! Remember, hard work pays off, so don't give up!!! You can do it!!!! May&FJ are here to cheer you on with our blog post today on Yomenya Goemon^^

Having done some research, we'll rattle abit of history on this restaurant. Yomenya Goemon is an Orignal Japanese pasta restaurant since 1976! It has about 2500 stores in Japan, making it the second largest food chain in Japan itself! (ZOMG!!) We have walked past this restaurant at City Link a couple of times promising ourselves to try it. So we decided to fulfill that promise today by visiting the one at Star Vista! A different outlet; but it's a new mall so we wanted to do a little exploring and plus, it was closer to school^^ (Save travelling time!)

One of the reasons we decided to do a post on this was due to the lunch specials they have to offer! We've included the lunch special menu at the bottom of this paragraph! When we first entered the restaurant, we were greeted politely by the service staff there, settled ourselves at the seats they brought us to. We took some time to make a choice, and decided on the Half-Half Set A which consists of Spaghetti Margherita and Cream Sauce Spaghetti with Crab, Shrimp and Scallops. This set comes with a soup and a dessert/drink, we chose a dessert instead of a drink (more worth it ^.-) We paid a total of $24.60, which is $12.30 per person.

Miso Soup:

• Light taste, something different.
• The bowl isn't even three quarters filled-.-

Spaghetti Margherita:

• Tomato sauce is light!
• Many tomato chunks with the sauce! Good^^
• Basil leaf flakes (that green sauce on top) is awesome! Totally makes the Spaghetti so much nicer!
• The 2 mini ham chunks bring a salty touch to the sweet and sour taste from the tomato sauce!
• The only disadvantage was that the Spaghetti was tossed with toooo much olive oil!!! OILY

Cream Sauce Spaghetti with Crab, Shrimp and Scallops:

• Light cream sauce with a twist as they added garlic bits. Doesn't make one sick from eating a few mouthfuls.
• Crab meat stick's sweet.
• Scallops are fresh and sweet!
• Shrimp is fresh and crunchy! They de-veined the shrimps! 

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ice Cream:

• Chocolate complimented the moist and soft chocolate cake.
• The chocolate sauce added to it's richness without overpowering the cake!
• Strawberries added a balance to the dessert. (Something slightly sour among the sweet stuffs!)
• Plus it was plated beautifully.

Advantages:

• Spaghetti was Al dente.
• They have a huge half portion! We were full after the dessert and stuffs. So I guess you can imagine how huge one portion itself will be~ MEGA HUGE.
• They have innovative personal trays that makes clearing of plates and cutlery easy.
• Water was served promptly. Like after the very minute we sat down, *whoosh* comes water.
• Staff here's polite.
• Prices are very reasonable considering their huge ass whole portions! (Naturally, the lunch specials are more worth it^^)

Disadvantage:

• It's kinda cramp from table to table as well as the walk way. (Slight grunts if we really have to pick a disadvantage)

Note:

• GST and Service Charge applies!

So if you're itching to check out the new mall, Star Vista (which is incidentally an eco-friendly mall) you can make a trip down and take a lookie! And of cos, if your stomach is rumbling during your tour around this boat like structure, Yomenya Goemon is not a bad place to stop and fill your stomach! 

Kay guys, I'll stop here! Till after exams our dear friends !!

<3May&FJ

CANOPY GARDEN DINING & BAR

Location: Bishan Park II 1382 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 Singapore 569931
How to get there: Take Bus 133 or 136 stop opposite Blk 331 (There are other ways of coming here, but this was the way we took)
Opening hours: 
Monday to Friday: 0900am - 2200pm
Saturday, Sunday, Eve of Public Holidays and Public Holiday: 0800am - 2300pm
Contact number: 6556 1533

Hey folks! Happy Valentine's Day! Here's wishing that you all get loads of chocolates, flowers and a romantic confession from your eye candy ^.- Sad to say, while May and I got chocolates and flowers, we have yet to receive a confession from our eye candies. So on this faithful day, we've decided to spend it with the usuals!!

It took us sometime to locate this place! Plus it was raining! Makes searching for this place even harder. It's actually very near the SPA; just right behind it! After walking around the park for about 10 minutes, we entered the Cafe. The cool air conditioned place among the trees and flowers just makes the atmosphere more serene on a rainy morning. Together with Jazz music playing in the background, you can imagine how relaxing the atmosphere's gonna be eh? It has a huge Alfresco area which can accommodate more people than inside the restaurant itself. 

So we settled ourselves down, scanned the menu and ordered: a Hot Chocolate ($6), 2 Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon & Roe ($12 each), 2 Eggs Royale ($13 each) 1 of which had an additional Sauteed Mushroom for $3 and an Eggs Benedict ($12). Our total bill should come up to about $83.07. 
I have included pictures of the menu at the bottom as the one in their website has no price tags. (I get VERY skeptical on menus with no price tags, it's either the price tag scares customers away or food's free of charge.)

We'll address the food first followed by the general advantages and disadvantages.

Hot Chocolate:

• Comes with 2 Marshmellows
• Not very thick and not very sweet (Just nice for darling Phyllis!)

Scramble Eggs with Smoked Salmon & Roe:

• Salmon and Egg's saltiness is just right!
• Scramble Eggs compliments the Smoked Salmon.
• Generous Servings of Smoked Salmon.
• Crispy Bread
• A twist to this dish would be having Salmon Roe in it! Salmon Roe bursts in your mouth!
• The butter that came with it was not chilled (Semi melted :/)

Eggs Royale / Eggs Benedicts: (This was put together as they only differ in the preserved meat used)

• English Muffin is crispy at the side!
• Eggs are RUNNY! GOOD!
• Full of Hollandaise Sauce!
• The portion looks small, but it was rather filling for me.
• The Sauteed Mushrooms Joey ordered were slightly dry, but the taste was good!

(Eggs Royale)

(Eggs Royal with Sauteed Mushrooms) 

(Eggs Benedict)

Advantages:

• Cafe's location is very good. Serves as a good getaway from the city.
• Prices for All Day Breakfast are rather reasonable.

Disadvantages:
SERVICE! This was something that we were itching to point out. They are lacking service staff; one Chef, one Server and one Batista is really stretching their service capabilities to their limits. As time passed, we became irritated with lousy service. You know what happens when people get irritated, they start to nit-pick. This is one thing a service industry should never allow your customers to do. Once your customers start nit-picking, you're gonna have a hard time trying to win them back the next time.

• We had served ourselves plain water because the staff did not offer and we did not manage to catch her attention as she was running from kitchen to table then table to table taking orders. (Mind you, when we started to leave, they started serving other customers water-.- can you imagine our anger?)
• The staff does not prompt you what's not available from the menu until you order it. 
• They brought us the wrong orders. (Something meant for another table came to us instead)
• Hot Chocolate came in 25 mins (Yes, we timed it.)
• the brunch-es came in 45 mins. This is what happens when you ONLY have one Chef.
• Oh yeah, I was told to add this. They did not stock up their Spinach! I have a very disappointed friend.

Note:

• Service Charge and GST applies.

Overall, you can say that we're rather unhappy with the service standards. But the food's not bad, so if you're willing to take the risk and wait, we advise that you eat like a biscuit or something first while waiting for the food to arrive! If not, you're gonna harm your stomach with all the stomach acids! 
Take care folks!! Till next time!!!

<3 May&FJ

D' GOOD CAFE

Location: 273 Holland Avenue #02-01/02 Singapore 278992
How to get there: Holland Village Mrt (It's near May Bank and below a clinic)
Opening hours:
Sunday - Thursday: 1000am to 2100pm
Friday - Saturday: 1000am to 2200pm
Contact number: 62199807

Eh yo! How's it going peeps? Once again, here's the weekly review from May&FJ! This time we've decided to stop by D' Good Cafe on our way to school. It's actually quite inconspicuous so you may miss it if you don't look very carefully. But in any case, we've got sharp eyes! Kekeke!

From what May said, D' Good Cafe is especially famous for their coffee! So be sure to check that out when you go! When we stepped into the cafe, we were wowed by it's interior design. They have very nice wall decors, bar counters and even cater cute furniture and toys for young kids at the 3rd story! It's a 2 story cafe which dishes a cosy ambiance. You can practically do anything there; from reading a book to browsing the internet, study or just a mini get together. Personally, I like to seek solace in cafes like these so a book, a cuppa and a slice of cake will do the job. Also they have an open concept (Alfresco) on the 3rd floor, which is incidentally uber hot to dine in the afternoon (oh the scorching sun!), but a rather charming place to dine in the evening with a small group of friends or family! (It feels like a resort concept!) 

Wait! I missed out the swings!!! They have those cute CHAIR SWINGS!!! Only 2 off them in the cafe and they are so comfortable to laze on! Sad to say, one swing can fit a maximum of 2 people only. But it's always best to have the swing to yourself, so you can swing at your own comfort pace ^^

Okay, enough on the chair swings. We ordered a lunch special ($20) which consisted of a drink, Mushroom soup, and a Spaghetti. Apart from that we also ordered an Eggs Benedict ($13.50), a Cookies and Cream Gelato ($3.50), and a Cafe Latte Regular ($5.60). So the bill totaled to $42.60. We will break this review into the different dishes and give our overall thoughts on the cafe as a whole. We have included shots of the menu as follows.

Lemonade:

• Refreshing with a soda twist.
• It was kinda too sour for May. I was okay with it, but given another choice I'd rather a iced Latte or something else.

Mushroom Soup:

• This is what May calls as: Warm creamy mushroom puree soup.
• There is a generous amount of mushroom bits.
• The cream does not overpower the mushroom (good balance!)

Prawn Arrabiara:

• It has a herbal taste. And it tastes spicy! I kid you not! But its tolerable and sometime after, you get addicted to it and you just continue eating and drowning water after that, but you don't stop eating till the plate's empty!
• There are 6 fresh and Q prawns! But sadly, some were de-veined while some were not.

(Check out the oozing yolk!!! AWESOME)

Eggs Benedict:

• The salad's sauce tastes somewhat like BBQ sauce. (Interesting!)
• Perfectly poached eggs that burst in your mouths! They are RUNNY! Yay! (We were happy kids! VERY happy kids!)
• The bacon complements the eggs and muffin bread.
• Hollandaise sauce was yummy! What's more, it came in huge amounts! (LOVE saucy stuffs^^)

Cafe Latte (Regular):

• It's light to medium bodied. (I checked some webs on how to describe coffee and found that this was one of the ways to describe it's strength. Fun facts yo!)
• It's not very sweet, but neither is it bitter.
• It's ratio of milk and coffee is good according to May.
• It's fragrant! (I've always love the smell of coffee; just the smell is enough to keep me awake! I need not even drink it!)

Cookies and Cream Gelato:

• Cookies come in bits and chunks
• It has an icy texture, not creamy.
• Not home-made though; so it doesn't justify the price. Nor does the size of it.

Note:

They have a Lunch Special from 1200pm to 1400pm @ $20:

• A drink (Orange Juice, Lemonade, Cappuccino or Cafe Latte)
• Cream of Mushroom
• Prawn Arrabiara or Portobello Pasta

Also, they offer a Mid Day Break set from 1400pm to 1800pm @ $5.50:

• Banana & Walnut Bread
• A drink (Regular Latte, Cappucino, Orange Juice or Lemonade)

They also offer a Set Dinner from 1800pm to 2000pm @ $22:

• A drink (Regular Latte, Cappucino, Orange Juice or Lemonade)
• Cream of Mushroom
• Oven-baked Lemongrass Chicken or Seafood Pasta
• 1 scoop of Gelato (Chocolate, French Vanilla, Strawberry or Cookies & Cream)

All prices are inclusive of GST. No service charge.

(Alfresco Area)

Overall, we feel that the prices here are reasonable for the portions but, their set meals are so much more worth the money! When you visit, order the Eggs Benedict! Trust me, the Eggs Ben is a must try! Love you all! Have a HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR to those celebrating and to those that are not, enjoy this hard to come by 4 day holiday! Till next time peeps!

<3 May&FJ



***Update: 12/10/2013

HELLO!!! May&FJ Went back to D' Good last week to check out their "vamped" up place. To be very honest, it was just a change in decor that inculcated a different feeling in the Alfesco Area.

We ordered a English Breakfast Set ($16.50) and add on $3 for a cup of Ice Chocolate, Fresh Sea Prawn Aglio Olio ($16), a Sea Salt Cheesecake ($9) and an Apple Crumble for ($8.50). We paid a total of $53 that day. We have included the menu here just in case there are slight changes towards it.

Fresh Sea Prawn Aglio Olio:

• It was slightly spicy. (There's chili padi inside)
• Prawns were HUGE, fresh, juicy and full of flavor. There was also a generous serving of prawns given.
• Pasta was well cooked but slightly tasteless. (The prawns bring out the full flavor of the whole dish)
• This is one pasta to die for, GET IT!

English Breakfast Set:

• The baked tomato was surprisingly good! I (FJ) thought it'd be rather soft but it's actually reasonably hard and tasty!
• The scrambled eggs was good as it wasn't very milky, it was however a tat too watery.
• We LOVE the sauteed mushrooms!!!! It was sooooooo good and soooooo juicy! Plus, there were loads of it too!!! 
• Sausage was good and juicy.
• The bacon was nice, not too much fats in it. (Though we know that's what bacon's meant for; FATS. But yeah~it was good.)
• Bread was neither too crispy nor too hard. (Strawberry jam was the ult for me! HAHAHA, I'm such a strawberry jam lover!)

Ice Chocolate:

• Very thick. It is worth every cent of the $3 top up! We'd rather you order their hot/iced Chocolate or Latte then their Orange Juice. (Who pays three bucks for orange juice?) 

Sea Salt Cheesecake:

• There was maple syrup in it and it complimented the cake!
• The cake was rather compact and it wasn't very cheesy. You would not feel sick eating the whole slice.
• It came with crunchy walnuts and a crumbly biscuit base that goes really well with the cheese.
• Maymay said that their cheesecakes are home-made, so this is one you peeps should give a go!

Apple Crumble with Vanilla Gelato:

• We waited almost half an hour for this dessert to be ready. Oh wells, we supposed they didn't expect any one to order this in the morning at least.
• It was rather small in size. But FULL of apples in it! <3 (Apple at every bite!!!)
• The crumble was really sweet and there is this cinnamon smell that I totally love!
• The apple was not too sour.
• The sweetness of the whole dessert comes from the crumble and the gelato.
• One thing that had me thinking was the crust. It was crispy at some parts and not some crispy at some parts. I was honestly wondering if that was how the crust was supposed to be. 

Once again, we have to say that our experience at D' Good was exceptional! It was lovely <3 <3 Do note that if you are above 60 years old, you'd get to enjoy a 10% discount off your bill!

Have you all been to D' Good? How was it? Share your experiences with us! We would love to hear them all! Till next time!!!

<3 MAY&FJ