Pelican Pizza - Singapore

A while ago there was a Groupon voucher for Pelican Pizza. I'd never heard of it before but after reading a few blogs saying it was good, thought would give it a try after all it was only $15 for $25 worth of food.

We decided to go for the Pelican A Set Meal which consists of 1 Regular Pizza, 1 bbq chicken wing set (3 chicken wings), 2 garlic breads, 1.5ltr bottle coke - price $25.90. For the Pizza topping we chose the Pelican Special, which consisted of onions, mushroom, salami, beef, green peppers, fresh tomatoes, olives and cheese.

the box

BBQ Chicken Wings - Set of 3

the Pelican Special

Garlic Breads

Verdict: unfortunately it fell below our expectations. The pizza, although having generous toppings was a little bland and tasteless. The beef mince was also a little dry and had a funny taste. The garlic bread came in a paper bag and by the time it arrived the paper underneath the bread was drenched in oil.....really not an appetising sight. Now i know why garlic bread usually comes in foil or foil lined paper bags.

On the upside though, the chicken wings and garlic breads were very tasty - but i doubt it was made in house so can't give them credit for that. And also, we didn't feel too thirsty after the meal. Usually with pizza hut we'd have to chug down a lot of water because we'd be super thirsty.

Another plus is there's no gst and no delivery fees. But im still undecided whether i'd order frm them again...\

The funny thing was when they called me back to ask for my groupon code number and then proceeded to ask me (almost begged me) if I wanted to order anything else, ie they said "that's all ah?". The guy then proceeded to tell me how he was losing money cos of Groupon and that people weren't ordering more and that Groupon never told him about GST and Paypal charges etc. Anyway felt kinda sorry for them! I suppose you'd definitely lose money, but aren't they supposed to look at this like they're advertising? He talked to me like we were old friend catching up or something....kinda weird....


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Uncle Leong Seafood new outlet at Punggol

If you're a regular at Uncle Leong's Seafood at Ang Mo Kio, you would have noticed their shop has closed down. Fret not, they've actually moved to Tebing Lane at Punggol.

It is now a proper restaurant with indoor aircon seating and outdoor sitting overlooking the river.

Food is still as tasty as ever with big fat sweet crabs. Yummmmm

The restaurant is right next to the prawn fishing pond which gets pretty crowded. Come early like before 6pm to avoid waiting in line for a long time as they dont take reservations on weekends.

Crab Beehoon Soup

Chilli Crab

Sambal Kangkong

view of river

Their famous Crabs - Chilli Crab, Crab Beehoon Soup, Shimmering Crab

Can't miss it with a big sign like that!

Shiu Yakiniku Review

We bought some vouchers from Deal.com.sg for this buffet. I think had there been no offers we wouldn't have gone all the way there to try it out because it's situated at this place called The Village which is right next to the Jurong Birdpark carpark. It's pretty quiet there so presumably their main customers must come from the people that visit the bird park.

The restaurant itself is pretty small but I was impressed with the number of waitstaff they had which meant service was prompt, but with the same level of unfriendliness you've come to expect from any other restaurants in Singapore.

We bought the vouchers for $23. The funny thing was, we only had 2 vouchers but wanted to bring my Mum along and was told on the phone when making the reservation that we could buy the same voucher direct from the restaurant.

The best thing about the buffet is that it truly is smoke free and you start to wonder how on earth they do it because there are no exhaust fans sucking up the smoke. It felt really good to go to a BBQ without having smelly clothes. And somehow the food tasted healthier too because the they didn't stick onto the grill plate and didn't char as much...

Food wise it was ok only. Yes the meats were good, well marinated. And we definitely had our fill of Pork Belly, Pork Collar and Beef Ribeye. Only thing was all the meats seemed to have been marinated the same way with some kind of sweet marinade - not bulgogi or anything. After you cook the meats you can dip it into their Korean red pepper paste dipping sauce or their home made BBQ sauce which to be Frank was tasteless and too runny. meats are ordered ala-carte style.

On the special deal menu, there was also appetisers and hot food you could either take from the buffet table or order ala-carte. The buffet table seemed like a cheap display and was rather unappealing. The sushi was quite poor standard (I could've made better) and same for the teriyaki chicken, didn't really make you want to have seconds. The only thing I really liked from the displayed buffet was the cucumber and radish kimchi....and ice cream.

But despite the little offering they had, we were satisfied with the meats and really when you come to a BBQ buffet that's all that matters. If you want to compare with something like Seoul Garden, the food at Seoul Garden is more but Shiu Yakiniku beats it in it's smokeless environment and good quality cuts of meat such as the pork belly, pork collar, beef ribeye and beef tenderloin. But with such little variety you get sick of eating the same stuff over and over again after a little while. This is based on the special deal menu though, so not sure how the normal menu compares.....but I doubt that I'd make a return trip there again - once is enough.

Pork Belly

Pork Collar

Tempura

Beef Tenderloin

sushi, octopus, seaweed, kimchi cucumber, beansprouts, terriyaki chicken

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Mini Cheesecake

Made these mini cheesecakes the other day using my mini cheesecake pan. It was delicious, but I wondered why the picture of the recipe that I followed turns out different. Mine was brown and theirs remained white....

Recipe and pic from here: http://www.exclusivelyfood.com.au/2006/10/mini-baked-cheesecakes-recipe.html

Mine:

Krabi - Day 4 - Going Home

Time to go home. We had pre booked a town car on the Internet which was cheaper than buying on the spot. A car to the airport costs 600 baht one way and on the Internet we booked for under 1200baht for a return trip.

We totally fell in love with Krabi and we'll surely be back.

Great shells we found on the beach as souvenirs!

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Krabi - Day 3

We couldnt really decide what to do on the 3rd day. We wanted to go Kayaking but knew that we would be pretty tired after the full day previously. We also wanted to go on the 4 island hopping but was seriously worried about getting seasick from the choppy waves. Unfortunately when u come during May-Nov it is the low season because it's the monsoon season. So the weather is a bit eratic, strong winds and big choppy waves. Plus having experienced terrible seasickness when we went to Bintan and Macau I was pretty worried. At the end the agent honestly told us that it's probably best not to go to the islands at this time because the weather is unpredictable.

On this third day we did have the best weather though. Even with the strong winds. Ao-Nang beach was a little calmer so the waves weren't that crazy and the brown colored water we saw previous days now looked more clear and greenish blue. So we decided to venture into the beach and had a great time. Not exactly powdery sand as it was very grainy and had tons of seashells but on the upside it was really fun finding all the different shells to take back as souvenirs. The best thing about swimming on Ao Nang beach is the beautiful backdrop of the giant limestone cliffs on The side and in the distance. It just felt so mystical.

After a swim at the beach it was back to the hotel pool for a while longer. We were planning to go catch a cab to the nearest Tesco for lunch but after talking to the tour agent we found out it would cost us 600baht one way by cab. But her company was offering a night shopping tour for 350baht a person and Caelyn was free. So we booked that instead.

The tour was from 5.10-9pm. The van would take us to the Outlet Village, Tesco, and night market.

The Outlet Village is a bit lame. And wasn't THAT cheap. Sizes were pretty small so we didn't really find anything. I only managed to get 1 Gap top.

We then went to Tesco after that. Actually it was more like their local mall, it had several other shops and restaurants, small food court and a cinema. The restaurants are very cheap compared to the restaurants at Ao Nang near our hotel. We ate at a Japanese noodle restaurant where a bowl of noodle was only around 70baht! One Thai dish like Pad Thai or curry at the restaurant near the hotel was easily about 150baht! Of course it's not like u could go to Tesco everyday cos it's quite a distance away. At Tesco we bought a few local snacks to bring back for our family.

After Tesco we went to an open air night Market. It was very lively but wasn't very big. Had lots of food vendors and other vendors selling this and that. We werent so game to try the food eventhough it mostly looked yummy, though the hygiene was questionable. We did buy some deep fried prawns and crabs which we thought would be relatively safe since it was fried in hot oil. It was so good and so cheap at only 40baht!

This was soooo good

Street Performer....the one being painted on...not the kid

All in all we had an hour at each place. Tesco was the only place that wasn't really enough to go to for 1 hour. It's a good tour to go on if u like to shop or or if u have enough time to fit it in.

Green Curry KFC chicken!

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Krabi -Day 2

We decided to book ourselves on a jungle tour which cost 1200Baht per adult inclusive of lunch and freeflow water and the use of the hotel swimming towels.

We booked our tour from the hotel tour desk which is run by an external company. It was really surprising to see the tour agent as being European since we were expecting a Thai person. What was even more surprising was when she opened her mouth, she spoke fluent Thai AND her English was with a Thai accent!

When our tour van arrived it was another surprise to see a tour guide looking the same as our tour agent. We later find out that they are actually sisters from Bulgaria who have been living in Thailand for 14 years, the majority of which was in Krabi. They were pretty much Thai ppl in essence. We so didn't expect it.

One of the things that is bad about joining a tour is that we have to wake up very early at about 7.30 to have breakfast and be picked up by the van by about 8.30-8.45. Not really something u wanna do when ur on holiday.

Our first stop was Tiger Cave Temple which is a revered Buddhist site. Legend has it that a monk fell asleep in a cave and when he woke up found a tiger asleep beside him. There wasn't Really much to see there, if you're a Buddhist u can buy some flowers and candles for offering. There were also wild monkeys roaming around. The big attraction there is the 1200 steep almost vertical steps that leads to the top of the limestone mountain where you got a nice panaromic view. But I didn't go up there, it was far too steep for the little one. Hubby did make it 3/4 of the way up and took some nice panoramic shots.

 

After the cave temple we went to the Hot Springs which was about 200 metres walk into the national park. The hot springs place was A LOT smaller than I had expected. We went during low season too and there were other ppl there, I can't imagine how crowded it would get during the high season and how all those ppl could fit into he natural 'bath tubs' all at once. It's also not a good place for little kids. The water at 38 degrees celcius is far too hot for them to feel comfortable in. It's only recommended u soak in the mineral rich water for 20mins. Even if u don't get a chance to go in for a full body soak, a nice soak of ur feet really gives comfort.

 a bit smaller than I expected

This is the 'official' photo taken from their billboard.

The next place to visit was the Emerald Pool. It's a natural fresh water pool rich in calcium content thus giving it a greenish hue. Lunch was served at this shack near the entrance of the walk. The local Thai lunch served wasnt terribly exciting nor terribly good. It was just OK. We had a fried egg ommelette, stir fried chicken sweet spicy chicken with cashew nuts and veggies, stir fried veggies, very mild green chicken curry, white rice, lots of fruits (watermelon and pineapple), teacake which they dubbed as Krabi cake and a bottle of mineral water each. We had a German couple, a Portuguese couple, and an Israeli lady. They didn't look like they enjoyed the food at all, and didn't seem like they even touched the curry. The poor Jewish girl also couldn't really eat much (that's an entirely different story for another day).

So after the lunch, we had to walk about 800metres into the National Park to get to the Emerald Pool. It's quite a distance for little kids to go on. So if u do go, be warned that you'll probably have to carry them most of the way. Strollers arent really suitable either because the track is muddy in some parts and when you get to the Emerald Pool u have to walk over some planks. The 'pool' is very pretty and worth the treck. Caelyn absolutely loved it.

 

We were way exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel. This was dinner for the night.

Tom Yam Soup

Garlic Squid, quite good

Crab with Glass Noodles...I've had better in Singapore

Curry

Krabi Day 3

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Krabi - Day 1

The flight to Krabi was relatively smooth. We flew on Tiger Airways because there really isn't any other airlines that fly direct from Singapore. I was impressed that the plane we were on had leather seats cos we've flown Tiger a couple of times to Jakarta and they never had leather seats last time. Leather seats on airplanes I think really ups the comfort factor when u fly budget.

The flight was only about 1.5 hours. Krabi international airport is extremely small but looks newish with extensions being constructed when we landed, there was only 1 other Air Asia plane there - and that's it.

We arrived to Grey overcast weather. It was humid but you could also tell that it was a little bit cooler than it would be on the hot and dry season. One of the reasons to feel apprehensive about coming to Krabi in the low wet season is you don't really know what to expect and whether your whole holiday would be ruined by downpours.

We had arranged for a private transfer to the hotel prior to arriving. If you buy a return transfer it is actually cheaper too. Our driver was quite and didn't speak much English. It took about 40-45 mins to reach our hotel.

My first impression of Krabi was it felt so relaxing to be there. Things seemed to be at snail speed there, the roads weren't that busy either and people drove in an orderly manner. It felt completely different to Bali too.

The drive to the hotel was quite scenic too as we passed by Big limestone mountains on our left and right - exactly what Krabi is famous for. As we passed by the city you can see how undeveloped the town is and as we neared the tourist area known as Aonang Beach you could see the change in landscape with resorts, and restaurants and bars and 'tourist infos' left and right.


We stayed at the Golden Beach Resort which was literally on the steps of the beach. The beach itself wasn't exactly what we expected. The waves were very choppy, water was brown and sand was brown and not so soft and powdery. Nothing like Patong Beach in Phuket with its crystal clear waters. I was slightly disappointed had it not been for the beautiful limestone cliffs it was set against. We opted to pay a little extra to stay in a bungalow and it was worth it. The room was big, with flat screen tv, big deep bathtub and huge bed. They had joined one king bed with a super single bed. Unfortunately children over 3 years old has to be charged for a separate bed. And if u think u can fib it, I don't think u can since they take down everyone's passport details when u check in. There were minor complaInts with our room. There were a few ants here and there, and they didn't give u a spare toilet roll and the bathroom didn't have conditioner or lotion. They do however give you free drinking water though not sure if it'll be replenished daily or not.

In room bar pricing was pretty cheap.

The chambermaids made elephants out of our towels!

Our Bungalow, our room was only the bottom half though.

There are plenty of shops and restaurants and bars surrounding us. The 7eleven however was a bit of a walk. Important if u want to buy lots of drinks and snacks.

I found the place to be better than staying at Kuta beach in Bali. It was a lot quieter although this might be because it's low season but it was also by far a lot cleaner. Foodwise also felt more affordable. You could get a plate of pad thai for about 120baht even at the hotel restaurant. It was a little weird though seeing how many pizzerias, pasta, and fish and chip burger places there were that also offered Thai food on the same menu. Surprisingly we only sighted one McD and one Burger King restaurant. No pizza hut surprisingly.

The outdoor eating area of the hotel's small restaurant, nice view of the beach.

The beach was literally at our doorstep.

The hotel lobby

beautiful limestone cliffs

Hotel Swimming Pool

Day two takes us to a Jungle Tour.

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