[Dilmah Tea Appreciation Workshop at Earle Swensen's]
This is my first visit to Earle Swensen's, situated at Vivocity, unit #02-117. The name Earle Swensen's was actually the name of the founder and was also the same giant behind F & B group, Swensen's. The whole restaurant here at VivoCity was very spacious and also halal certified.
Meats, Pastas, Burgers and desserts are the main focus here but they do have a huge salad bar too, with quite a number of greens varieties to choose from.
My main purpose today (7th Oct) was to attend the tea appreciation workshop organized by Openrice Singapore & Dilmah Tea Singapore. There are around 20 of us attending. We were first greeted by Dilmah representative, Ms Patricia. Thereafter followed by Ms Patricia telling us the history of tea way back from 2737 B.C and understanding the progress of tea leaves making till the finished products we had today, through PowerPoint slides shown on projector.
First 02 types of Dilmah tea served to us after the presentation was the Dilmah Exceptional English Breakfast and Pure Peppermint tea. We are told to pair them with the chips & slaw sandwiches provided for us. My personal preference is to pair the sandwiches with Dilmah Exceptional English Breakfast tea rather than Peppermint. The latter choice was way to strong to go with the sandwiches as the minty taste totally overtakes the taste of the sandwiches.
As for the Chips & Slaw Sandwiches, they was made up of toast, chilled coleslaw and potato chips. The buttery toasts' texture was crispy and toasted to a beautiful golden brown. I'm rather new to this combination of chips and coleslaw as fillings in my sandwiches but I'm quite surprised it did work well together even though it's meatless.
After the wiches, we were each served with a slice of Classic ice cream cake by Earle Swensen's. It was the 3 layers' strawberry, vanilla and chocolate ice cream cake which i had it umpteen times when I was younger so it wasn't new to me. It still tastes as good as before, only the serving size was smaller now.
For this round of dessert, we are pairing it with Dilmah Exceptional Elegant Earle Grey and Ceylon Green Tea. We were taught the right way of brewing our tea bags in our glass for a duration of only 3-5mins and not exceeding 5mins, to get the perfect taste. Ms Patricia also explained why the purpose of triangular cone shaped tea bags rather than the common flat ones is to allow the tea leaves in the bag to have the space to open up fully.
Ceylon Green tea tasted very light and refreshing but when you taste it together with the ice cream cake, it was too light to distinct. But ironically, while the Earle Grey tea tastes too spiced for my liking, it pairs better with the ice cream cake. Ice cream seems to neutralize the spice level of the Earle Grey tea and made it taste more enjoyable down my throat.
Other than these 4 types of Dilmah tea we tried, there were also other different varieties of Dilmah tea on display for us to see. There are much more infusions now.
Pictures taken at this event were already posted on my Opensnap "jellylovesfood" page. The overall experience at this tea appreciation workshop was pleasant, short and simple, although I expected more. I initially thought we will have hands-on activities like seeing, touching, smelling of real raw tea leaves or different varieties of ready processed tea leaves, rather than only taste them from tea bags only.
As for Earle Swensen's, I have to return again to try the mains before I could make more precise comments about this restaurant.
The last but not the least, thank you Openrice Singapore & Dilmah tea for having us

[Seattle Pike Chowder]
1 Marine Parade Central
Situated next to the fast food giant & marine parade food centre, is a new food joint, Seattle Pike Chowder. Together with Giovanni.L gelato, they took up a booth-like unit with alfresco concept. From far, Seattle Pike Chowder wasn't obvious because gelato took up most of the space. The whole area was very airy at night and we were greeted by friendly & courteous staff. Positive impressions right from the start.
Total of 6 types of chowders on sale. Price ranges from $8.90 small bowl to $16.90 large bowl. Bread bowls are from $12.90 onwards.
We tried 3 types out of 6. First is New England Clam chowder in a bread bowl. As told by the marketing personnel Rachel, ingredients for chowders are imported from Seattle directly. Bread bowl is locally sourced.
New England Clam Chowder Breadbowl $12.90: The broth is very thick, peppery and creamy. It is very rich in taste. Ingredients were generous, spoonful of clams and vegetable in every scoop. I do like this heavy chowder but my personal preference will be a little less salty, best to go wif the bread to reduce the saltiness.
Total 10 sourdough bread bowl were served and more than half is burnt on the outside, too dry & hard.. Bread texture on the inside is too chewy, lack of fluffiness. Timing of heating the bread gotta be fine-tuned.
Smoked Salmon Chowder followed thereafter. We were given a small portion ($9.90) to try. The chowder gives off a very nice smokey fragrance even before I could taste it. First mouthful down my throat and I'm already immersed in it.
Smokey shellfish broth, shredded salmon & lotsa potato cubes inside, it's yum to max! Cream cheese is one of the ingredients added in the broth, although not distinctive but it does help the broth to be really smooth & more creamy.
Seafood Bisque- Among all 3 dishes I've tried, this Seafood Bisque is the least impressive. The overall presentation is congee-like, clotting & not smooth. Although we were told there are cod fish, salmon, shrimps, crab meat inside the bisque but all I scooped up were tomato cubes. Tomato based broth resulting in overwhelming sourish taste, diminishing the sweetness of seafood added.
Overall experience at Seattle Pike Chowder was good, love smoked salmon chowder the most. Compared to locally found diluted chowders, these we had at Seattle Pike are so much richer in quality. One of the foodie member in our group whom just came back from Seattle 2 weeks ago, told us that this tastes exactly like the version she had in Seattle So I presume these authentic recipes by Seattle Pike Chowder Singapore branch will definitely attract more crowds from locals, expatriate and tourists. I will bring my friends here to try out other chowders on the menu and also the wide range of gelato by Giovanni L.

[ Cha Thai 2nd Visit]
My friend and I stepped into Cha Thai at 11am and were the first customer of the day.
For appetizers, we ordered Creamy crab roll. Mains we had Glass Noodle Salted Egg and Signature Tiger Prawn Panang Curry. As for drinks, we tried out their Iced Salted Plum Juice.
Lunch crowd starts coming in at 11.30am and very soon whole place was filled up.
Creamy crab rolls- Spring roll skins rolled up and deep fried. Accompanied by a creamy seafood coconut dip topped with chunks of crabmeat. The dip was too salty to go with the rolls alone.
Signature Tiger Prawn Panang Curry- 05 huge prawns were swimming in a pool of curry gravy. Curry gravy was too milky and having it too much makes us felt nauseous. Kinda disappointed as prawns were uncooked too. Kitchen replaced us with a new bowl.
Glass Noodle Salted Egg- Noodle texture was rather hard to chew on, too dry. Although it's salted egg glass noodle, but it's not salty and lacks flavour.
Iced Salted Plum Juice- A very refreshing drink that clears away the oiliness in our food. It tastes like Yuzu/ Tangerine tea
Verdict: Cha Thai is rather new and still need fine tuning. Service was very good though. I will probably check back again after awhile to see if there's improvement. But currently, only their desserts are worth a try.

[ Cha Thai ]
Location: 80 Telok Ayer Street S(048466)
Cha Thai opened their door for business today, 22 July 2015. When we reach there at 4.15pm, the restaurant was actually closed for break till 6pm. Nevertheless, the lady boss was really kind to show us in. We were also greeted by a whole batch of friendly Thai waitresses whom were in all smiles. It's a good sign ;)
As we already had lunch earlier, so we only try out their drinks & desserts without any mains. The mains looked tempting though on the menu
We ordered the Iced Butterfly Pea juice & Tropical Fruits Cocktail. To our surprise, other than our orders, the sweet lady boss served us with their signature toast, accompanied by both the pandan dip and thai tea dip. We felt so loved!
Iced Butterfly Pea Juice: A drink made from using Butterfly Pea flower, same as those used in Peranakan kuehs (causing the blue color). Mixed with some lime juice and the bluish drink turned purple naturally!
Tropical Fruits Cocktail: Its a dessert where cocktail fruits are placed on top of a white colored jelly. Nothing special about the fruits because from cans. The best part is the jelly. The  jelly was infused with jasmine (initially we thought its coconut) and it was so fragrant, every bite of it was so yum. The overall dessert wasn't overly sweet too!
Toast with dip: Thick toast were cut into smaller cubes, butter applied and toast to crispy. The Pandan dip was in a pretty light green color, topped with some carnation milk. Fragrance from the pandan is irresistible. I love it really creamy and sweet. The other dip we had is the Thai tea dip. It tastes wasn't so nice because tea taste was not distinctive enough, can be bolder.
Verdict: Overall experience is good, food is decent though slightly pricey. All staff are very well mannered and courteous too. I will come back again to try the main dishes.

[ The Quarters ]
Location: Icon Village 16 Enggor Street #01-09 S(079717)
Deco: The Quarters gives me the kind of warehouse feel, with Aluminium sheets laid as roofing. Grey concrete walls are accompanied by wooden table & chairs.
The Boss, Deming, tells me about his Singapore Fusion food concept and his confidence to draw crowd with his food to the usual quiet icon village in Enggor street.
Marinates, sauces, food, ice cream are all freshly made daily and made in-house.
(Food served)
Drink:
Quarterade- Fresh lemon juice, mint & dill $6. Very refreshing with minty aftertaste that lingers in mouth.
Starters:
Salted Egg Fries $9- Normal skinny fries with salted egg dipping sauce. Sauce is thick & sandy, can taste the fine s.egg granules. Bottled ones are on sale too.
Calamari $13.80- Eating fried squid alone is bland therefore must go with curry dipping sauce provided. Dip is thick, creamy but with only minimal hint of curry. Quite spicy though.
Har Cheong Gai $9.50- Chicken was well marinated, flavourful and crispy. But I felt the balachan chilli is the limelight here. Fiery, goes well with any other starters too.
Umami babi $10.80- Braised pork marinated with Chinese wine & dark soya sauce. Meat texture is dry, should have served wif gravy. Man tou: How I wish they were deep fried
Samsui Chic salad $12.80- Salad dressing with mashed ginger wasn't strong enough to be named Samsui. Chicken meat is bland. A rather flat salad dish.
Wafu Beef Salad $14.80- As for beef, I couldn't comment because I don't take consume cows.
Mains:
Ma Jie indulgence (chili crab pasta) $18-
Chili crab taste wasn't distinctive enough, too much of heavy tomato base. Ends with sourish sweet aftertaste rather than Chilli crab.
The Great escape $18.80 - Baramudi fish pan fried to a crispy finish on the skin. Fishy freshwater taste still lingers in the mouth probably because fish is only marinated with salt. To enjoy this dish better, fish & sauce definitely has to go together. Lemongrass, ginger flower cream sauce, very creamy with oni little lemongrass/ ginger aftertaste. My suggestion? Has to be bolder.
Satay burger- As told by the boss, marinating ingredients were made from scratch & the meat was marinated for 24hrs to achieve the flavorful, spiced results. Grilled to perfection, this Satay chicken thigh is really tender. Love the crisp part of the rice patty, like tasty 锅巴. Satay sauce was filled with peanut bits but tastes slightly on the sweet side.
Dessert:
Wonderffle $12.80- emongrass ice cream is really yum. The other Pandan ice cream not only smells good, but also creamy & not too sweet. **Ice cream are all made inhouse oh!! Texture of Waffle is slight crisp outside & soft inside (Not my kind of waffle) Probably we poured too much caramel sauce causing it to be overly sweet.
Affogato $8.80- Pandan ice cream blends really well wif the espresso.
Bibik's brownie $10.80- Bibik's brownie- This dessert is rather a surprise to me. "Buah Keluah" that is used in Peranakan dishes is now made into buah keluah ice cream. Rather unique & mind-blowing, good try!! Brownies tasted choco-licious & sinful. Love the slight crisp on the outer surface of the brownies too.
Duriancanboleh $8.50- signature item. Eggy, smooth texture but durian portion can be bolder. Boss tells us, pair this dessert wif white wine, can actually bring out the fruity sweetness of the wine before & after having the brûlée.
Verdict: Food still needs fine-tuning but overall experience is decent. Prices are reasonable too. A great place for colleagues and friends gatherings.