Candy gets hungry #2: Revisiting Jamie's Italian @ VivoCity, Singapore

On the week of cny, me and my family were down to visit my aunt at Singapore and I knew I had to go back to Jamie's Italian again! Missed that place so much!

We got there during lunch time and was glad that we got a table near the windows. What's better than having full blast natural sunlight when you plan to take photos of your food right?

We ordered something me and my sister absolutely missed since our first visit, baked mushrooms - 14$. I'm not sure why but perhaps I was too excited and had set the bar way up there? While eating this I didn't exactly feel the 'ooooo, I want to finish the whole pan feel?' I remember being pretty sad when the last bite was eaten by my sister during our first visit. This was the only dish we re-ordered from our first visit. 

Next we ordered was a prawn linguine - 26$. We were slightly bummed out that the pasta was overcooked. Sauce wise I kinda like any tomato based sauce except for the one with nutmeg that we previously tried during our first visit. Seeing that it wasn't in the menu anymore during our 2nd visit, I guess that pasta wasn't a favorite?

This was their dish of the day(?) week(?) I can't remember the name of this dish other than the part where it's fish and it tasted pretty good. Furthermore this is coming from someone that someone dislikes eating fish. 32$

I'd say this was my favorite dish of the day, Chicken Al mattone - 28.50$. We actually ordered this by mistake and I'll just say I had no regrets haha. My mom wasn't a fan of it as it was too rich to her liking but the mushroom sauce and the tender piece of chicken went really well for me. ♡ 

Jamie’s Italian Singapore
1 HarbourFront Walk,
VivoCity, #01-165/167
Tel: +65 6733 5500

Bamboos and Tori gates - Day 3 in Japan: Arashiyama & Fushimi Inari, Kyoto

This was my last day in Kyoto so it was more like a chill day. The only place in our travel itinerary on that day was Arashiyama so Fushimi Inari Shrine was more like an impromptu place to visit because me and my sister hasn't been there before. My mom and aunt already visited that place during their previous visit to Japan.

Arashiyama's bamboo grove gives off a nice and relaxing atmosphere. The occasional rays of light peeking through the tall standing bamboo plants also gave a nice touch to our photos. Selfie-ing there also prettier ok. 

See, told you the lighting was perfect.

After taking enough shots at the bamboo grove, we made a stop at Tenryu-ji Temple. I'd say this is another must go place if you're around the area. I mean, might as well right?

see see seeeeeeeee. The rays of light gives off some magical feel right?

to me, traveling to countries during their fall-winter season is the best time ever. especially when you're experiencing summer all year round in your own country. The scenery you're able to absorb and savor is just simply beautiful and at times you'd just wish to preserve it and bring it home with you. I guess that's where cameras came into the world to help mankind preserve precious moments in their life.

So happy to find this little beautiful on the ground to bring home with me! Picked this up under this very beautiful tree near the bridge. (I'm not sure whats the name of the bridge but this was the place that got us side tracked)

The whole reason I said we needed a portable wifi was because I want to see what geofilters are there all over the world and look at this kyoto one, it's so cute and pretty! On the side note, although Arashiyama seemed like a small town, while being distracted by other breath taking places around in the area, it took us awhile to navigate our way back to the station. When we did, we were starving and quickly made our way back to Kyoto station's Isetan for ramen. Lunch hour in Japan = queue every where T_T

 I didn't take down the name of this restaurant but the reason we chose to eat here was solely because 1. they were using the 'machine ordering system' that my sister wanted to see how it worked and 2. the queue wasn't as bad as the other ramen restaurants on that floor. Taste wise I'd say it's not bad, the broth was pretty nice for me but the beef tasted a little too salty for my liking. Oh and it also came with bottomless uncooked eggs haha.

If you ever visit this restaurant, don't get their gyoza though. Their pan fried gyoza dumpling was served with sour plum powder and half a lime. I wouldn't recommend trying this because the gyoza skin was all stuck together and it was a little mushy on the bottom for my liking. If you're in hopes of trying gyoza, don't let this spoil your cravings. Unless your goal is to try every gyoza you come across in Japan, then go ahead la. This was the first time I had sour plum powder to dip my gyoza in! Quite interesting, I'd say.

Soon after lunch was when we decided that why not spend the extra time we have to visit one of Kyoto's die-die-must-visit place? Fushimi Inari shrine is like a place tourists visiting Kyoto must go one right? Plus it's really amazing that all of these tori gates were built from scratch with people's bare hands! I mean, there's soooooooo many of them!

Here's a tip, not all takoyaki in Japan tastes good ;_; I wouldn't say this tasted bad but it just didn't give me the heavenly-feel I get when I eat good food.

But look at this shot. Like documentary shot, kan. / w \

We stumbled across this yummy goodness in the mini mart at Fushimi inari! 

Coca-Cola lime flavor gaissss! I don't remember seeing this in KL so we bought one to try and we regret not buying a few more back to the hotel with us. It's ok though, we found it at Tokyo and bought like 4 more bottles. 

Candy gets hungry #1 - ANTE, 1Utama review

Candy gets hungry – This idea came up during one fine day when I was browsing through all the food photos I have taken and my belly started crying “I’m hungry T_T” Thought this would be a better way to categorize my life in a nicer more ‘me’ sort of way, so why not give it a go?

I’ve passed by Ante many times when it was still on renovation and I remember mami dearest once said that gourmet lovers should be interested in this place. Since the day it opened, we’ve passed by couple of times too then one very very very fine day, we walked in and took a seat. 

The ambiance of the place was pretty nice. 

 The word 'pumpkin soup' is always tempting to me and one of my life goals is to find the world's best pumpkin soup. So you've guessed it, this was the first thing we ordered.

♡ and here comes the food ♡

Out of everything we ordered, this dish was probably one of my most anticipated dish. Because, it's pumpkin soup ,duh. ( Roasted pumpkin with herbs - RM14 ). So far the worst pumpkin soup I've had was priced at RM12 and the best I had well, that was priceless because it was a home cooked one. Unless you want to include the cost of air tickets to Sydney la. 

For RM14, I'd say, go for it. The soup was creamy and nicely seasoned, I'd dare say that it was pretty yummy. In fact it was actually slightly better than the best pumpkin soup I've had in PJ. So for the extra RM4, I guess I'd go for this place if I have mid-range atas food craving and didn't mind burning a hole in the wallet because their mains were nicer than the restaurant that served the nice RM10 pumpkin soup. 

Big breakfast: Scrambled eggs, house smoked bacon, bratwurst sausage, sauteed mushrooms, salsa & slice of multigrain toast  - RM32

My sister went with this big breakfast from their brunch selections. The bratwurst sausage was really really good and was loved by all three of us but "I'm still hungry" was my sister's only comment for this plate. For a big breakfast, it did seem rather small after me and my mom tried a little bit of everything haha but taste factor wise, it was pretty good. Often times, nothing really goes wrong with big breakfasts, except when it comes to the sausage. ANTE totally nailed it perfectly tho.

 The Chargrilled Pork Steak: Signature steak, russet potatoes, truffle sauce, cherry tomatoes & honey glazed rockets - RM52

This was one of their signature dishes recommended by the waiter. The pork steak was juicy and tender, it also went well with the truffle sauce. I love tomatoes so naturally, the sweet taste of the cherry tomatoes was something I enjoyed. You know at first glance I thought the portion was small but I guess the only reason was because the plate it was served on was huge and I don't know why but the food was placed on one edge of the plate so like a quarter of the plate seemed bare. The portion was filling enough but I just expected something fancier?

Pork Diane: Seared pork loin, button mushrooms, russet potatoes, green pea mash and white wine cream sauce - RM42

This was another dish recommended by the waiter and I have to say he really did a good job in recommending. Both of the dishes he recommended suits my taste pretty well. I liked everything on the plate except for the green pea mash that I personally did not favor very well. When I reached towards the end of my dish, biting down to a whole chunk of fat really wasn't all that pleasing either. However, overall, this dish would be something I would re-order. It was pretty cute to see the green pea mash hidden beneath the pork loin though. 

Ratings upon 10 bacon strips

Taste: 9/10

Overall, everything tasted great. There wasn't anything served that wasn't tasty, the green pea was good but I just personally didn't favor green peas when mashed. A little more sauce for the Pork Diane would be great though.

Presentation: 5/10 

Everything was definitely not as beautifully arranged as I imagined. It was really only the taste that saved the whole experience. 

Price: 6/10 

I can't really dwell much on the price because I think what we got had justified what we paid for, except the big breakfast though. I still think the quantity was rather small for a big breakfast. Would I dine at Ante again? Perhaps, but definitely not so soon, you can't eat such pricey meals every week kan. Although I've said that the price had somewhat justified the food quality, it is still a costly meal. I definitely would like to try the branch at Solaris though, I've seen people blogged on the solaris branch and the same food definitely looked different from what I experienced. 

P.S I just find the beverage page of the menu is a little lacking in terms of legibility, so I suggest improvising that bit when it's time to change menus haha

ANTE, 1 Utama

Lot F346 @ New wing, first floor

FB page: ANTE