Graze at Martin Road

Family day! it was the sun and i's first family day with Waffles (W). Once again we had an event filled day planned and started off on a gloomy, yes unfortunately, saturday for brunch at Graze @ martin road. Planning was of cos done by yours truly, the sun's only job is to eat and have fun! haha.

anyway, graze @ martin road is relatively new when i went there 1 month plus back. They have another outlet which is more well known at Rochester park. Equally nice i heard. I'm never a fan of crowd, and knowing how many singaporeans are brunch crazy these days, it was a no brainer, i opted for the less known outlet at martin road.

if you have a gps with you, getting there is not a big problem. The place is easy spot just by the side of the road together with the other 2 restaurants side by side, The Provision and Kha. Free parking is also available on a small lane next to the restaurant. However, that space might not be free once whatever they are building at the end of the lane is completed.

Upon reaching there, we were greeted by the warm service crew. As we had W with us, we can only choose the outdoor dinning, which is a pity really. It was beautiful inside as you will see later.

Brunch menu which also acted as table setting

Sad W with his newly groomed look. Graze even provided the drinking bowl and some cute looking dog snacks for him! plus points for extra service.

The sun ordered a cup of hot chocolate as her drink , which according to her wasn't good as they use cocoa powder and not real chocolate. You can trust her when it comes to chocolate. The food was overall pretty good. i enjoyed my Graze burger with its succulent patty and mash potatoes. While the sun, gobbled up her signature cast iron pan which is the restaurant's signature dish for brunch. There were sausages , potatoes, scrambled and poached eggs, bacon, baked beans . . . plentiful and delicious to fill one's tummy for a long time. i did help her finish some of it. haha.

Signature cast iron pan and Graze burger

Graze burger

While sitting outside, we couldn't help but be envious of those dining in the warm and cosy setting of the restaurant inside. Its easier to impress and wow me with a beautifully designed place than with marvelous tasting food. I know what is considered tasty and what is considered not, but above a certain standard, food just taste good to me. My tongue is not calibrated to such precision. So the food at Graze was good, but the layout of the restaurant was even more impressive.

main dining area.

a bar - like table good for bigger gatherings

Cakes and pastries

Cakes, pastries and tea side.

some spices, sauces and stuff you can purchase

cute looking vintage fridge which i fell in love with. i have no idea what they put inside.

a feature wall with teas and cookies available for purchase.

toilet.

besides being particular about food and place, i'm always curious to see how some restaurant's toilet looks like. For me there's 3 grades of washrooms.

3- yucks, dont even wanna step in

2- its alright, i can do my business comfortably and then leave

1- i wouldn't mind spending another 5mins of my time here

And for Graze, it was a grey and black coloured themed toilet that is simple and nice. Grade 1.

Overall, i like the food, love the place and the price is typical of a brunch you would find most at places these days. Nice, should find a chance to revisit it.

★ ★ rating of Graze: 8.5/10

love,

★ ★

Prive

I was at The Caribbean for a party one Saturday night and The Star came to pick me after the party ended. It was around 10 plus and I suggested that we take a trip to Keppel bay, since it's so near and I love the place. I was secretly hoping that Prive would still be open. Haha

So we drove there and luckily for us the place closes at 1130 instead of the original 1030 that I thought. I love how Prive is so serene and tranquil. It makes me happy just by sitting there. However, I prefer to be there in the day as it's a bit too dark for my liking at night. I don't quite like places that are too dark. They make me sleepy and I just don't fancy them. Prive, for one, was too dark for me. But they are sure an awesome place for brunch! Lovely location, may I emphasize haha

We had the banana bread, baked chocolate tart and tiramisu!

The star liked the tiramisu and I liked the chocolate tart. Well, I like anything chocolate basically. Haha









































The food at Prive is good but for me, the winning factor is the serenity of its location. I'd definitely go to Prive alot more if I can drive. Haha


Love, The Sun

Sun's rating of Prive : 8.5/10

1 2 6

I have always loved the Dimsum here. But being not very well-versed in the art of chinese, I never knew how to pronounce the name of the shop. I always called it THE LORONG 17 DIMSUM place. Till The Star brought me there for breakfast at 7am one morning and taught me that the name of the shop is actually pronounced as "One Two Six" although its actually in Canto. Pretty cool huh. Okay, don't laugh at me thanks.

Anyway my favourite has gotta be the crabmeat chee cheong fun! I love the sauce, though some may find it salty, but it's special and I really like it. Although I have to say that the crabmeat is so little that you can hardly taste it. Haha I always eat the same few things when I'm there. The crab chee cheong fun, the fu pi juan (beancurd skin roll- I LOVE FU PI JUAN!), hargao and scallop porridge. Somehow you just can't get sick of dimsum, right? Or am I the only one that feels this way? Haha. Anyway, we ate damn alot that morning. Like The Star had century egg porridge and we shared all the above plus siewmai! It's no wonder how we put on weight like it's free.

We went to Geylang another night cause The Star wanted to eat beef hor fun. And I randomly just said that I felt like eating dimsum and he immediately drove over to 126 and we had a hearty meal <: What a sweetie right hahaha

















Although the food's pretty good, I will like to comment that the service staff aren't very friendly and some are pretty rude. But thankfully now that there's The Star to do the ordering, I won't have to communicate ineffectively with the service staff anymore. Haha. Anyway before I left that morning, I saw doughnuts on a tray for sale. I contemplated but didn't get one in the end. They looked good.. I've gotta go back soon, have got a dimsum craving right this moment!


Love, The Sun

Sun's rating of 126 : 7.5/10

Buttercake n Cream

Situated in Sunset Way, with a really nice ambience, Buttercake n Cream was the first dessert place The Star ever brought me to. He couldn't stop talking about how good their desserts are and of course I had to try it to find out. Many might not have heard of this place before, but if you happen to be nearby, skip Dailyscoop and head to Buttercake n Cream instead. They might surprise you with their interesting creations. I had the Warm Chocolate Pudding on my first visit. They ran out of vanilla icecream so they replaced it with raspberry icecream. Being a non-berry eater, I did not touch the icecream at all. And not having the vanilla icecream to go with the pudding was a downer. But that does not discount the fact that the pudding was delicious! I like it. The portion was pretty huge! For $11, I would recommend that the pudding be shared! If you're a chocolate lover, or souffle lover, you've gotta try it! Anyway, that was the first time The Star and I ever went out and not knowing that I don't eat berries, he ordered Berry Berry Good because they were out of Banana Drama. Haha when he offered me the icecream I was like.. Err.. I don't eat berries. Followed by an awkward OH from him and and an awkward pause. HAHA. We did not take any pictures then because we were shy. HAHA. But anyway I got these off their website so yeah check them out if you can! OH, they only have these two pictures of their desserts! GUESS WE ARE JUST MEANT TO BE HAHAHA(if you don't quite get it, it's because those were what we ordered hahaha)











































Well in any case, we went back there again and tried their milk tea with cookies sundae. Hmm, the sundae was just alright.























and The Star finally got to eat his banana sundae. Such a happy boy hahaha. Love seeing how happy he is when he gets his desserts haha


Love, The Sun

Sun's rating of Buttercake n Cream : 7/10

Mint Museum of Toys

Its not uncommon to hear singaporeans complaining about how boring singapore is and there's nothing left for them to do. i'm guilty of having such prejudiced perception as well. However, ever since i started researching and planning for our occasional dates, i realised there are still many interesting places in singapore that i have not explored. And that is partly the reason why we started this blog, to share the interesting places we've been to and the good food that we've tasted with the world.

Take for example the Mint Museum of Toys. It has been around for quite some time, and yet i believe some might not have even heard of it. As you can guess from the name, it is a museum displaying vintage toys dating as far back as the 1920s. Many are now considered rare collectibles and are worth thousands of dollars.

The layout of the museum is rather different from a conventional one. A 5 level shophouse-like space houses the whole collection of toys. I might not be that young anymore, but still very much a boy and a toy fan. It was quite exciting browsing through the whole collection. Fascinating , as well, to see how much some toys have changed throughout the years.

Popeye playing basketball

some old movie poster

winnie the pooh in his early juvenile phase.

Classic mickey mouse

Match box cars ( i used to have some)

As we were rushing to our dinner venue, we completed the tour (a hurried one) of the place in 45 mins. Given another 30mins, we would probably have more or less combed the entire place. These pictures are only some of the many taken and there is actually quite a fair bit of interesting toys to discover. The only downside is that a $15 entry ticket might be a tad too pricey but it is still worth a visit. Who knows, you might not get another chance to see some of these toys anymore.

★ ★ rating of the museum: 7/10

love,

★ ★

Sunset Grill and Bar

Sunset grill and bar was where i brought The Sun for our first actual outing together. I wanted to impress her with a place where she has never been to. Situated away from the bustling city and surrounded by planes hangers, i felt it would be a good place. We arrived there at around 6.30pm, which was the perfect timing as you can watch how the sky changes and enjoy the view of the amber dusk scenery. Once the sky darkens, the mini light bulbs hanging all around the restaurant lit up to create another sort of ambience for the place.

Fish and Chips

Apple sauce pork chop

Level 1 buffalo wings

Sunset grill and bar is also known for their mega spicy buffalo wings. The spiciness level ranges from 1-10 on the menu but it actually goes all the way up till level 30! Definitely not for the faint hearted. You have to request for levels beyond 10. And if you do take up the challenge of the level 30 wings and finish it, you get to have your name up their hall of fame!

Both the sun and i ordered level 1 wings, and our tongues were stung pretty badly! One word of advice, if you are there on a first date, avoid attempting too high a level, otherwise you'll be sweating like a pig from the spiciness.

Overall, the food were very average and not cheap. But the alfresco dining and scenery kind of made up for it. Nice place to have a first date dinner with the novelty factor but not a place i would return frequently for the food.

★ ★ rating of food : 5/10

★ ★ rating of place: 7.5/10

love,

★ ★