Shoestopper #24

Hello there. How was your weekend? I hope your Monday blues had also come and pass you by, even better if you didn't catch any of it! I realized I havent done any shoe-stopping post in awhile so here's one for the day! That's my controversial Aldo wedges I got nearly a year ago in Singapore, ION Orchard. Can't believe it has been that long! I bought her for about SGD65 during the sales period. I thought it was a real snag! We all know how comfortable Aldo shoes are and that price is just a bargain for it. Why controversial, you may ask? Well, my mother hates it. But some of my friends, me included love it. Mum thinks it's the ugliest thing I can buy at SGD65 apparently. HAHA. For me, I like the metallic colour as it is really quite easy to match it with. With pants, short dresses in summer, maxi dresses in autumn, maxi skirts for a daytime jaunt.

Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com

Sure, the dark wood wedges may be a little hard to swallow at first. BUT, when you find out after a day of shopping on the first time you wear it, or spent 12 hours in uni with it, and YOU DONT GET NO BLISTERS, you fall in love with it over and over again. The wedges are unbelievably solid and stable. I must say they are not the lightest one around but I don't mind. The soles are also wonderfully comfortable with the slightest cushion to make you feel like you are NOT feeling those hard wood the wedges are made of.

I get this sense of invincibility whenever I put them on. Who does not love an extra boost of confidence on any day at all? So tell me, do you LOVE it or HATE it?

Till my next shoe-stopping experience, Mayy xo

M's Food Find #17

YES! More food, and just you guys wait for that massive post at the end of all this. I am making up for lost time I guess for the past couple of days. And also, it is Chinese New Year, the season of gaining weight and eating. =D

I met Nicole the other day at ION orchard and we went a wee bit mad with Accessorize 70% sale. i finally got my sequinned beret and she bought me er, something cute. Haha. We also spent some time looking for food in ION and settled for some taiwanese cafe at the basements, Lu Gang Xiao Zhen, a subset of the asian kitchen.



I wasn't too hungry so I ordered the bowl of pork rice. It looked really good on the menu! I knew it was going to be small and at the price of $5.50 (I think?), I thought that's alright. But it actually IS small small.

It sure did NOT look a thing like the photo they had in the menu. It was more minced pork and alot more rice. You just cannot be fussy with this. I wished it was slightly bigger and abit more meat pieces instead of minced.

I finished this with a cup of pearl milk tea. I sure miss KOI bubble tea! Haven't ahd a chance to get myself that yet! =((((( I just like their bubbled/pearls.

Anyway, I was not satisfied after my lunch and we went in search for a dessert to end it all on a high note. Nicole suggested this and I nodded my head in agreement. I tried this one quite a while back on one of my earlier trips back. I just love azuki beans!

Photos credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com (nokia phone again...)

I like how this stall is VERY generous in stuffing their fishes with fillings. And the skin is so crunchy and light. Awesome. I love how they serve it to me warm/hot. And their azuki filling is not too sweet. OOOOOO now I want one. Hahaha. This one is the closest I have found to the ones I had in Japan when I was there.

Till my next food find, Mayy xo

M's Food Find #14

This food find is one of my never-fail places to go to whenever I am low on ideas. Especially in town and now, Bugis too. I never tire of Japanese food and I like that Itacho Sushi at ION Orchard (now Bugis and Plaza Singapura have outlets too) allows individual sushi orders. I can try as many kinds as possible or eat their other delightful dishes. It helps that their food comes in small portions and the prices reflect that. Keeps costs down for those who are small eaters!

However, the queues at peak hours are sometimes frustrating when you are so very hungry. I have endured quite a few but still manage to leave the place satisfied. Although Itacho has some popular dishes and limited daily, I often missed out on them as they are all sold out. It is quite disappointing...


It is Tamago series at Itacho so there are a few special dishes for a limited time. This post is done for my most recent Itacho trip which is also my first visit to the one at Bugis. It was my sister's and Mummy's first time eating at Itacho. Sis ordered the Curry Lobster Tamago. You can really taste the curry powder and the lobster ain't much since it is chopped up. The Tamago is sweet and makes for a good accompaniment to the curry flavour. But one's enough for me, I would prefer going for their sushi.

The above sushi are the Wagyu Beef (left side) and the Aburi Salmon (right side). They were Sis' orders as well. Wagyu beef sushi is abit pricey at $6 a pop, but according to Sis, AMAZING. She would go back there just to have it again and again. Aburi salmon was good to, juicy and fresh.

This one is a popular order, the sakura shrimp and cheese specialty/creative roll and comes in a pair. Nothing too special about the taste, but try it because the cheese is slightly torched and so, melted. Yummy. And the crunch of the sakura shrimp. Oh alright, it is special.

One of their limited dishes, the black pepper salmon belly. Sold out in ION most of the time I go during lunch, it was available in Bugis for dinner this time. In fact, all their special dishes were available at Bugis during dinner time. HINT! haha. This dish is fragrant and the salmon belly absorbs the flavour well.

The spicy salmon fish head is also a limited one. But our dish came with mostly bones and very little meat. Not that yummy and I've had it twice (both times disappointed), so you can skip it and your Itacho experience will not be shortchanged.

Same goes for this baked stuffed crab. It has still got that fishy seafoody raw taste and it definitely does not sit well. Leave this one, it probably tastes better in your imagination.

And finally, we end on a high note. The piece de resistance. Salmon with soy sauce sushi. It is cheap too, at 40cents a pop. But having gone to Itacho at ION countless of times, I only just managed to order it successfully the last time I went for lunch and we took the last 3. In Bugis, we ordered 7 to 8 pieces, even with re-order. No waiters coming back to tell me it is sold out! The raw onion is a good accompaniment to this salmon sushi. The soy sauce accented the aburi salmon and brings out the juicy fresh sweetness. I could have this everyday.

Try their cold soba too, I always order that. I also think the service at Bugis is better in large part to their lady manager, super aunty but it gives you that sort of nice and personal attention. Having said all that, better hop on down to Itacho Sushi soon! Definitely worth the wait and time. It's always money well spent there. ;)

Till my next food find, Mayy xo

M's Food Find #3

Hello, it's been a week into the new year. How have you been celebrating/up to? I'm slowly regaining my energy and going out more. Today, I met Marsha in town. My first proper day out in Orchard. Nice huh, what with all the red sale signs tempting me. I am ashamed to say I caved in at Cotton On Body, Cotton On, La Senza, and Bershka.

We girls gave up on our idea of having lunch at PS Cafe in Palais Renaissance. I haven't tried but Marsha had. So comfortable in ION coolness, we settled for xiao long baos and la mian at the new Paradise Dynasty. (ION Orchard, #04-12A) It was not a really long wait so that's good. The staff said about 15 minutes but it was only really 5. We ended up on a table for four so we had places to put our shopping. I like that, along with the plush chairs. Comfy.

I didn't see the menu this time, and just ordered what's recommended in the magazine I read sometime ago. For the both us, we each ordered the 8 different flavours xiao long baos - Ginseng, Garlic, Szechuan, Original, Crab Roe, Cheesy, Foie Gras and Black Truffle. Both of us loved the Black Truffle most, followed by Foie Gras. The Szechuan was abit too oily. Nevertheless, for $13.80 it was a steal to try the signatures. In fact, if it was your first time like us, I found it fun to not look at the menu and try to match the colours to flavour.

Photo credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com (bad photo quality as I used my phone.)
For the La Mian, I ordered the La Mian with Sliced Pork in Signature Pork Bone Soup. I loved it. I am a pig to finish both my orders but hey. The soup was thick and fragrant. The noodles soft and tender, better than the Crystal Jade ones I love too. The egg was done to perfection with a soft molten yolk. I like vinegar so I added a bit to my noodles. Yummy. Marsha liked the soup too, and preferred it to her beef noodles (I can't remember which one though). She said she would have liked her beef noodles in my broth rather than her broth. Nice, especially I found out my big bowl of noodles cost me only $9.80. Marsha's $10.80

Photo credits: mayydiaries.blogspot.com
All in all, a satisfying lunch with good service and reasonable prices. I like the quaintness of watching the tea guy refill my tea with his long spout teapot. It never fails to make me laugh. They even let us sit around and chat for quite awhile after clearing the table. Relaxing with a good friend, catching up is always nice. I'm sure it's going to be my new favourite haunt for my xiaolongbao lamian craving now. There's just no doubt about it. So go try it when you have the time, and let me know how it went! =)

Till my next food find, Mayy xo