Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Suan Thai at Takashimaya Food Court
Thai Beef Noodle Soup with Boneless Chicken Wings Set. Very nice, but very thirsty afterwords...msg overload?
Yummy Viet at 704 Geylang Road
This place is only open at night, but they do have 2 other branches that are open during the day. We were actually in the neighbourhood to eat at Com Tam Vietnam, but it was 9pm and the place was full house. Even tho we weren't at the seedy side of Geylang, this late at night, it was still pretty sketchy with a couple of bars here and there and there were also too many....um let's say questionable ladies there that made us feel a little uncomfortable to be there. So we went to Yummy Viet which was just a couple of doors down. The place is indoors with aircon and nice decor. Too bad service wasn't served with a smile.
Foodwise it was ok - passable. It's not bad per se, but the other place seemed a bit better. Maybe we should've ordered similar foods to what we had at Com Tam in order to make a fair comparison. Maybe we'd just have to come back and try again :)
Foodwise it was ok - passable. It's not bad per se, but the other place seemed a bit better. Maybe we should've ordered similar foods to what we had at Com Tam in order to make a fair comparison. Maybe we'd just have to come back and try again :)
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| Lotus Root Salad - I expected some slices of Lotus Root, I really couldn't see any....were those white stem things supposed to be lotus root? More like the stems from Lotus flower or something. Anyway it did taste good, all the veggies were pickled. My Dad liked it too. Very refreshing BUT at $5+ a plate....it was a little small in serving. |
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| Steamed "Gong Gong" - Caelyn's favourite. What is it in English? Sea Snails? Very clean, must've been scrubbed well! |
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| Beef Noodle Soup - the soup was tasty, but the meat was a little tough. |
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| BBQ Pork Rice Noodle. When it first came I was like, where's all the veges???? The meats in the dish was nice and there was this fried spring roll on the top too. It came with a small amount of sauce, and I thought it wouldn't be enough, but surprisingly it was just right. |
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| So the veggies were hidden underneath, you only see it after you mix it....so...not really good presentation.... |
Monday, March 14, 2011
My Digital Perm experience
I had been itching to do something to my hair for ages. For one I badly needed a touch up on my colour and secondly needed a haircut cos it was starting to look really messy.
At first I thought of getting my hair rebonded. This is pretty much what I always want to get done whenever my hair gets unruly. But for some reason I started thinking about getting my hair digitally permed. The difference between a digital perm and the traditional perm is that they use these rollers that gets connected to this tentacular looking machine which heats up the individual rollers.
I went around to several salons asking for the price which isn't that steep mind you, same price as rebonding but I was also getting a colour so that was an additional cost. The perm itself which includes wash, cut and blow was about $148+gst at the salon I went to, the Korean salon on the other hand was I think about $188. The only reason I didn't go for the Korean one was cos it would all up cost me over $300 which to me is a little too steep. On hindsight next time I think I won't mind paying a bit more for the perm and getting a cheaper colour elsewhere.
For me going to the hairdresser is a bit like going to the dentist, sometimes a good experience sometimes a bad and painful experience. I always worry the new do won't come out nice or the colour won't show (which has happened before). And I've had my share of bad haircuts too. And because I was going to be spending so much money I really wanted to make sure it would turn out nice so I trawled the Internet for whatever info I could find on getting a digital perm.
A few girls in some forum were saying their curls didn't even last a month and some went back to straight as soon as they washed it! So this kind of scared me a little. There also wasn't very many recommendations of where to go to get it done.
I ended up going to NK at NEX shopping centre which I wish I hadn't done. Not that my hair didn't come out nice - but because it firstly doesnt look very much like the pic I showed her (then again it rarely happens where u do get the exact look as your sample picture), secondly it too them a second time on two separate days to get my colour right (the first time my roots were still black!), thirdly I felt that I got ripped off cos the final price isn't what they had quoted me several days earlier. They did say the price was a promo and they didn't know when it would end, but I asked her if it was still the same price she said yes! And I was pretty sure when I first asked they said it included a pre-treatment too but then on the day it wasnt free and included. And it's not like NK is some auntie type of salon. It's actually a big salon with several branches island wide. I did used to go to the one at Kovan but can't remember why I stopped (think cos I found a cheaper salon at AMK Hub). So lesson learnt is if I get a quote theyre gonna have to write it down on their namecard.
The first step after they wash your hair is putting the perming cream. I believe this is the same perming cream they put in your hair for rebonding (cos it smells like it) They do the same elasticity test by pulling a strand of your hair (I think) to see if it's ready. Then they wash it out after a while. They then trim your hair and After that they put the rollers in your hair with some thick padding between the roller and your scalp so your head doesn't feel too hot. The digital perming machine is then hooked up to the rollers and for mine was left on for about 40mins. My head felt so heavy and after a while my shoulders became really tired and stiff. After that they took out the rollers and applied some kind of lotion to the hair which was left on for about 10mins. Then it was rinse time and you're done ready to be styled.
After i had my colour redone I was a lot happier! Will I do it again in future? Absolutely! Just perhaps not at the same place eventhough the ppl there were nice.
At first I thought of getting my hair rebonded. This is pretty much what I always want to get done whenever my hair gets unruly. But for some reason I started thinking about getting my hair digitally permed. The difference between a digital perm and the traditional perm is that they use these rollers that gets connected to this tentacular looking machine which heats up the individual rollers.
I went around to several salons asking for the price which isn't that steep mind you, same price as rebonding but I was also getting a colour so that was an additional cost. The perm itself which includes wash, cut and blow was about $148+gst at the salon I went to, the Korean salon on the other hand was I think about $188. The only reason I didn't go for the Korean one was cos it would all up cost me over $300 which to me is a little too steep. On hindsight next time I think I won't mind paying a bit more for the perm and getting a cheaper colour elsewhere.
For me going to the hairdresser is a bit like going to the dentist, sometimes a good experience sometimes a bad and painful experience. I always worry the new do won't come out nice or the colour won't show (which has happened before). And I've had my share of bad haircuts too. And because I was going to be spending so much money I really wanted to make sure it would turn out nice so I trawled the Internet for whatever info I could find on getting a digital perm.
A few girls in some forum were saying their curls didn't even last a month and some went back to straight as soon as they washed it! So this kind of scared me a little. There also wasn't very many recommendations of where to go to get it done.
I ended up going to NK at NEX shopping centre which I wish I hadn't done. Not that my hair didn't come out nice - but because it firstly doesnt look very much like the pic I showed her (then again it rarely happens where u do get the exact look as your sample picture), secondly it too them a second time on two separate days to get my colour right (the first time my roots were still black!), thirdly I felt that I got ripped off cos the final price isn't what they had quoted me several days earlier. They did say the price was a promo and they didn't know when it would end, but I asked her if it was still the same price she said yes! And I was pretty sure when I first asked they said it included a pre-treatment too but then on the day it wasnt free and included. And it's not like NK is some auntie type of salon. It's actually a big salon with several branches island wide. I did used to go to the one at Kovan but can't remember why I stopped (think cos I found a cheaper salon at AMK Hub). So lesson learnt is if I get a quote theyre gonna have to write it down on their namecard.
The first step after they wash your hair is putting the perming cream. I believe this is the same perming cream they put in your hair for rebonding (cos it smells like it) They do the same elasticity test by pulling a strand of your hair (I think) to see if it's ready. Then they wash it out after a while. They then trim your hair and After that they put the rollers in your hair with some thick padding between the roller and your scalp so your head doesn't feel too hot. The digital perming machine is then hooked up to the rollers and for mine was left on for about 40mins. My head felt so heavy and after a while my shoulders became really tired and stiff. After that they took out the rollers and applied some kind of lotion to the hair which was left on for about 10mins. Then it was rinse time and you're done ready to be styled.
After i had my colour redone I was a lot happier! Will I do it again in future? Absolutely! Just perhaps not at the same place eventhough the ppl there were nice.
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| All in the name of vanity! First pic shows the digital perming machine, if it's not this machine it ain't a digital perm. The middle pic shows how tight the curls are after they get taken out. |
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| First day, see how my roots are still black....I seriously couldn't sleep thinking about it and made up my mind that I had to go back and make them redo it. |
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| This is after the second time, looks much better! |
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| After they fixed the colour! |
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Com Tam Vietnam - Corner of Geylang Rd and Lor 42 Geylang (update: shop has moved to 159/161 Kitchener Road)
UPDATE (13/4/15): One of my readers have just informed me that this shop has moved to 159/161 Kitchener Road.
This place was a great find that we accidentally stumbled upon. We were actually in the area to try a different Vietnamese restaurant which was unfortunately (or fortunately) closed. This is an outdoor coffeeshop type of 'restaurant', so I was a bit skeptical whether it would be nice or not, or whether it would just be chinese food being passed off as Vietnamese food. Anyway, since our tummies were already grumbling, we decided to give it a try.
Well it was well worth it. Portions are decent, taste is quite good and the menu has a large selection to choose from - and no GST and service charge!
This place isn't in the seedy side of Geylang, so even in the evenings you'd feel comfortable going here. And there were also Vietnamese nationals dining there, so they must think it's close enough to what they could get at home? We will definitely be going back to try the other stuff on their menu.
This place was a great find that we accidentally stumbled upon. We were actually in the area to try a different Vietnamese restaurant which was unfortunately (or fortunately) closed. This is an outdoor coffeeshop type of 'restaurant', so I was a bit skeptical whether it would be nice or not, or whether it would just be chinese food being passed off as Vietnamese food. Anyway, since our tummies were already grumbling, we decided to give it a try.
Well it was well worth it. Portions are decent, taste is quite good and the menu has a large selection to choose from - and no GST and service charge!
This place isn't in the seedy side of Geylang, so even in the evenings you'd feel comfortable going here. And there were also Vietnamese nationals dining there, so they must think it's close enough to what they could get at home? We will definitely be going back to try the other stuff on their menu.
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| The Menu |
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| The Menu |
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| Specials of the Day - no prices on it tho? |
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| Lorong 42 Geylang. Right opposite is a fresh seafood supplier, they have live oysters and live king crab! |
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| BBQ Pork Chop with Rice and dipping sauce. Look at the size of that pork chop! It was really good and the sauce was really good too. I wonder why the vietnamese shops here don't have broken rice though and the rice plates with the bbq porks never comes with that yummy egg and shredded pork skin that we always get in australia. |
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| It was glistening.... |
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| Beef Pho...very yummy |
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| Deep fried chicken feet with garlic and chilli...this was good, very spicy though. But to be honest...there really wasn't much to eat of the chicken. The ends of the feet though were so crispy that you could even eat the bones. |
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| Crispy Fried Squid. Caelyn loves squid, so we ordered this for her. She polished off most of it by herself. |
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