Tulipmania at Gardens by The Bay

We visited Gardens by The Bay on a super hot afternoon. Impromptu trip so did not use the right footwear, did not bring my sunglasses and my face mist. All which I wished I had. Anyway, they are having a Tulipmania exhibit in one of the domes till 4May14.

Not sure what does Miffy have to do with this event? Entry price for one dome ie the Tulipmania one is $12 for residents and $16 for foreigners. Prices are acceptable I think. I asked and the other dome has a rainforest theme and a waterfall. #notinterested. Wonder if there is an easier way to reach the place. We walked from one of Bayfront MRT exits inder the hot sun. Good thing it didnt rain.

Tourists taking selfies hahah.

Besides the tulips they also have many different flowers. What I noticed is that they have a constant display of cactuses and succulents. We saw them many moons ago when we went for the orchid exhibit.

Ohkay this cactus is so wrong..

Interestingly, these are also tulips! #sounique

Contemplating if i should enter this instagram contest. Hmmm..

#ootd shot of the day! Found these super  cute tiny pink flowers. Mini daisies? I dont know what they are really called. Hope they will have other interesting exhibits next time.  

Nephew's stinko face. Just woke up when we've finished viewing the 2 levels hahahahah #uglybutadorbs. 

Seoul Yummy

We went to Haji Lane. Have been wanting to go there been ages but havent had the chance since i keep dreading the walk from the mrt and its always so hot hot hot. Love the small shops there. Lovely stuff but gets repetitive after a while. We bought sunglasses each. Im still looking for a reflective blue version with round frame. 

After the hot day walk we went to Iluma for lunch. Still cant get used to calling it Bugis+ up till now. 

Went to have Korean food at 

Seoul Yummy

Bugis+

201 Victoria Street, #04-11, 

Singapore 188067

The side dishes they served us. So so. I didnt like most of it.

Drink is part of the set meal. Lemon tea with aiyu jelly. Turned out they are small bits of jelly scattered all around. Was expecting something more like natta de coco style. Big chunks on the bottom ofthe  glass. 

Kimchi ramyun for xiu. Think she enjoyed it. 

Ricecake ramyun for me. Live it. Gravy is thick. Would be nice if its a little more wattery.

Fried pork dumpling that came with my set. Xiu ordered an extra order of rice cake. Ive never really love rice cake. So to me the taste is so so. 

Vanilla Bar & Cafe

Met up with Xiu for lunch at Vanilla Bar & Cafe. Nearest MRT to the cafe is the newest blue line - Telok Ayer station and the cafe is around 5mins walk away. 

Full address is at 3 Boon Tat St S(069612). 

Reached there around 1130am and it was still quiet then. Crowd started to come in at lunch hour so preferably avoid those timing. It got pretty packed right before we left.  You can check out the menus on their Facebook page. They have a special menu too. 

We ordered:

Baked Mentaiko Crab Cakes

Pork Belly Don with Soft Boiled Egg

Parmesan Prawn Linguine

Vanilla Dirt Cake 

Molten Chocolate Cake 

Bill came up to around $75. No credit card promotions available. 

The mentaiko crab cakes are alright. Nothing with mentaiko can go very wrong. There is some sort of seafoody smell that I dont like though. Overall alright. 

Xiu had the pork belly don and she said its nice. Im not very interested - anything red meaty turns me off. 

My prawn linguine  is good too - a safe choice. The paemesan smell is very strong. Initially i ordered the  lobster linguine from the special menu but they were out of lobster. 

For dessert we also ordered the molten cake which is another safe choice. Its normal. Nothing to rave about. 

The main highlight of lunch was the flowerpot dessert - the Vanilla Dirt Cake. Xiu used that to lure me over hahah. Ok so what is it? Basically you have whats like Oreo crumbles - a very dry one since usually Oreo has a darker tone and would look like a moist soil. But these look less dark and dry looking. It does look like soil! 

Whats bellow the crumble layer is something like a vanilla ice cream but it kinda taste a tad cheesy and dry and not as sweet as what a vanilla ice cream would taste like. I dont know what exactly they are - just imagine eating a very cheap low quality vanilla ice cream from the supermarket. 

Two gummy worms on top which are very cute. Flowers are artificial. You cant eat them. I was rather disappointed. If they were edible it would hike up the coolness notch. A very creative idea. Something you can replicate for a house party. I love these things. 

Overall verdict I would have to say from what we have ordered, I prefer the main courses more than the desserts. They are alright but not fantastic. Nice cafe to visit if you wanna spend some quiet time tucked away somewhere having a quiet lunch - avoid the typical meal timings of course. It is a little pricey and not as near to the mrt as I would like my food places to be. Yes, Im lazy like that. But Im also not a foodie and I not the kind who would  queue long and go far for food hahah. Would I go back? Maybe but not so soon.