22 August 2020
I went all the way to Square 2 @ Novena just to have dinner. Before that I was grumbling all the way that it would take me a whole hour and 2 transport changes to get there just for dinner, plus I hadn't met my fellow diners in months and wasn't sure if dinner would be at all awkward.
Anyways, dinner would be on me and Sharon since we were celebrating the birthdays of 2 people and we were the ones who picked the venue - Tunglok Teahouse at Square 2 (as it had a cheaper ala carte dinner buffet compared to Tunglok Seafood XD) - so couldn't really complain much. A big plus was that the ala carte menu had mini abalone, 'sharks fin' soup and soft shell crab as complimentary dishes, quite grand and fitting enough for a birthday ha!
The food at Tunglok Teahouse is served on an automated belt, similar to what you get at sushi restaurants, including the choo choo sound when there is food arriving, how cute!
The braised mini abalone that thankfully looks quite sizeable in photos, but is quite petite in real life.
A small portion of the food we had.. Remember it was an ala carte buffet? Of course have to eat more to get our money's worth!! hahahaha. We had everything from prawns to squid to clams to mango sago pudding. Total damage was S$146 for 4 pax.
Birthday people, one turned 28 on 20 August and another uhmmm.. the big
(number below 5)0. XD
Yes, yes, we had 2 cakes. Why?
The chocolate one was a delivery from another ex-colleague of ours (intended for one person, my goodness) which the birthday girl brought along so that we could share the calories. For tradition's sake, we got one cake for the birthday guy too, ironically named Mango Princess (what to do, he was the one who wanted something with mangoes). The funniest thing was that just as I was making up my mind whether to get the mango princess or something more masculine sounding, another customer came along and the cake was taken out from the chiller right before my eyes, the one and only one on display (some of the other cakes had several on display). I seriously broke out in sweat on the spot! Thankfully, they had some more in stock in another chiller in the back. Phew..
After dinner, we went to look for a place to have a drink to chit chat and in a kind of a repeat of the situation on 8 August, we ended up going to a few malls before locating a place with seats available. Oh and before that we dropped by Takashimaya as Sharon wanted to go to Braun Buffel to purchase a wallet. I ended up finally getting a replacement for my beloved Beanpole which I've been using since I got it in 2015 during my Korea trip. It's been looking a little worse for wear for quite awhile and I had been meaning to replace it even though it worked really hard for me. T___T
Beanpole Dearest and my new cardholder in pretty black leather
(S$143 after a 10% discount)
Not sure if RFID protection is a good or bad thing, some say it removes convenience?
We also dropped by Tiffany & Co as birthday girl wanted to take a look. I took the opportunity to take a look around as well and my goodness, I really, honestly cannot find any item that is worth the price tag. I suppose it really is meant for people who can earn faster than they can spend.
At the end of the day we ended up at Harry's Bar along Cuppage Terrace since it was the only place where we could find a table for 4. We had to sit on one side only to avoid being too near other tables, funny but also convenient for a selfie XD
I finally tried out the Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt and it can't replace the Dalmore 12 Years that I tried when in Shenzhen. I think I like the taste of whiskey more than wine now, shall try more (especially curious about the legendary Yamazaki) in future.
