The Hungry Bunny

We met up with my youngest brother and his girlfriend over the weekend for our monthly meet-up at Paragon. Although we don't live under the same roof, we try to keep in touch by making it a point to meet up at least once a month. It's all about effort. Since my mom passed on early, I've stepped in as a surrogate mother of sorts to my younger brothers. And while our relationship has evolved from being that of a surrogate mother to that of a buddy-like older sister, I do want to remain a relevant ( and important ) part of my brothers' lives. So, we make the effort to meet up regularly and share in our lives. Of course, it helps loads that the Hubs gets along fabulously with my brothers so meeting up with them is always a hoot and a half. Paragon over the weekend, as with any other mall in Singapore, is unbelieveably crowded, (our little island really is suffering from the effects of overcrowding stemming from a poorly thought-out immigration policy). Despite the variety

Hide Yamamoto , a fine-dining Japanese restaurant at Marina Bay Sands, has garnered quite a bit of attention since it opened to much fanfare in the fall of 2010. Since it passed my "must-last-more-than-1-year" test for new restaurants, it's been on my to-try list for a while. It was truly surprising to find it very sparse when we popped in for lunch over the weekend. We were the only ones present at the sushi counter! Ah well, good for us then, I much prefer a quiet, peaceful restaurant devoid of diners than a chatter-filled full-house one. Although the restaurant's namesake is French and Italian-trained, and although none of Hide Yamamoto's other 4 restaurants in Japan serve Japanese food, he's surprisingly chosen to open his first Japanese restaurant here in Singapore. You may, like me, hold the mistaken pre-conceived notion, that despite his pedigree, the Japanese cuisine at his eponymous restaurant wouldn't be that great, but boy were we bowled over

I'd been craving mac & cheese all week. We'd actually tried going to Seah Street Deli (coz they have one of the heartiest mac and cheeses in town) on Monday but it was closed, so it was only at the end of the work week that we managed to satiate my craving. You know, that's one thing I don't quite understand about Raffles Hotel. Seah Street Deli, like most of the in-house restaurants at Raffles Hotel, is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Save for the Steakhouse, Courtyard, Royal China and Tiffin Room, the remaining 10 other restaurants all take turns being closed for lunch and/or dinner on Sundays, Mondays and/or Tuesdays! I'd assume that, being a hotel of such caliber and history, most of their in-house restaurants would be open all week, instead of the other way around. It's like how Pontini at Grand Copthorne Waterfront is closed on Sundays, and Saturday afternoons. Seriously, what's that about? Also, Raffles Hotel restaurants now apparently

I met up with Ernie over the weekend for afternoon tea, or as he likes to call it, "happy time", which is really just code for chocolate and ice-cream. I picked him up and headed to the closest NYDC outlet, located at Novena Square right next to his home, which is possibly the most "unknown" and obscure NYDC branch ever. It's hidden deep in the corner pocket of the third floor of Novena Square, and little wonder why it was almost devoid of diners in the middle of the lunch peak period over the weekend. They need to do a lot more marketing to spread the word. You'd think that with so few diners, we'd get really awesome personalized and attentive service. But no, the staff were lackadaisical and restless, mostly chatting amongst themselves. We couldn't quite seem to get their attention in getting our orders taken so Ernie had to go to the counter to place our orders instead. To get our iced waters, we had to remind them of our request. I think, wit

My youngest brother just turned 21, a landmark age, and we decided to celebrate by treating him and his girlfriend to Sunday brunch at one of our favorite Cantonese restaurant chains, Imperial Treasure. Luckily for us, we managed to snag last-minute reservations at the Paragon outlet of the Super Peking Duck arm of the Imperial Treasure group of restaurants. It's one of our fail-safe options for a guaranteed good meal, I don't think we've ever had a bad meal at Imperial Treasure, yet. I've long associated the Imperial Treasure chain with Crystal Jade group of restaurants, considering that Imperial Treasure was set up by people that used to run Crystal Jade. However, Imperial Treasure has started to distinguish itself in terms of its varied menu (there are like 15 different ways of cooking every single meat or seafood!) and particular dishes. There are a couple of beloved items on Imperial Treasure's menu that I simply can't find at Crystal Jade. We starte