Niu Ze Sui @ Chinatown
After lunch, we wandered around Niu Ze Sui @ Chinatown. My HK uncle who migrated to Singapore long ago told us the story behind Niu Ze Sui on our Sunday dinner @ Mellbern Seafood, Block 13, Braddel Road (near Toa Payoh) but I can’t recall now as I was not listening. When I find out again, I will update here.
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A big mooncake centerpiece for passerbys to take photograph of and reminding everyone that Mid-Autumn festival is fast approaching.
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Many stalls on our way to the nearby Kwan Im temple.
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Look at how many people are there at this Kwan Im Temple during the weekend.
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Pray hard and your wish will come true! I hope so.
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Many stalls outside selling flowers, fruits and incense for the religious prayers.
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After Chinatown, my next destination is Tully’s Coffee @ Far East Square.
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It is located at Pekin Street and just opposite of Toast Box. A commercial area so this area is empty when I check Tully’s out.
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Isn’t this resembles a Starbucks store? Tully’s Coffee also originates from Seattle, get it? And the logo stripes looks very alike with AC Milan, the famous football club in Italy and Europe.
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A cappuccino (S$5.30) and a Iced Mocha (S$6.10), totalling S$11.40. That’s very expensive when both the drinks tasted far worse than what I get from Starbucks or Coffee Bean. Even my cousin sister and her boyfriend agreed that the both the capp & Iced Mocha are disappointing.
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I asked for less foam but there is still so much dry foam on my capp.
I read from article that Tully’s baristas are trained in Seattle for 3 weeks, the coffee machines are top of the line La Marzocco machines and the coffees are hand-crafted and roasted in small batches. In the same article I also saw a photo of a coffee with latte art, so I was impressed and persuaded to check out Tully’s on this trip. In the end, very disappointed.
With a bit of time left, I walked my way to Highlander Coffee @ Tiong Bahru. Never visited this well-praised coffee bar by all coffee geeks (including KF Chan & Irving), so was a bit lost searching for Highlander even after the instructions on the website.
If anyone planning to visit Highlander Coffee, take an MRT to Outram Park and look for exit F or G. My advice is find exit G and you will be just in front of the Police Cantonment Complex. The Singapore General Hospital will be on the opposite road and is after the bus stop. Just take left and go straight ahead till you see the shops on the main road. Highlander Coffee is in the middle of this block of shops. It is a very small, compact coffee bar and with a coffee roaster.
By the time I managed to find my way into Highlander Coffee, it is almost 6pm. Highlander’s normal business hour is from 9am-6pm (Mon-Sat), so you are out of luck if you plan to visit this place on Sunday. I briefly met Phil and Cedric before in the FHM barista competition as they both were the technical judges for that occasion and I was one of the competitors.
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Guo Li, the super barista with awesome latte art chatting with a customer over the counter. I love that customers can just go up to the barista and start conversation on coffee. Nothing better than this to stay connected with your regular customers and get direct feedbacks.
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Coffee drinks wallpaper on the wall, a nice feature but can only be for those like Highlander Coffee because you have to produce the same coffee drinks as shown.
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Sweet, chocolaty, nutty and long-lasting aftertaste. Notice the Illy cups? Nice to see but once broken, considered sold (hahaha, so have to be extra careful).
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A regular enjoying his cup of coffee.
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Saw a picture of a guy holding a cup of coffee on the Bulletin board? That is my destination on Day 2, Papa Palpheta, a newly opened speciality coffee retail store.
As it was Formula One racing weekend, who can afford to miss the action? Last year, my cousin sister and her boyfriend found a spot that could see glimpses of the F1 cars going through one of the corners during the race. Unfortunately this year, the spot was covered with thick green canvas throughout the track.
So in the end all of us had to just wait on the bridge to listen to the screaming engine sound of the F1 cars passing through. It was so quick in the straights that it is near impossible for us to be able to even get to know which team’s cars had just passed by us.
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Singapore at its best, night time!
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Lights brightly lit the Singapore sky and waterfront.
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Where we waited patiently for the F1 race to start. During the wait, we even got interviewed by one Chinese radio station (can’t remember which one is it).
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Entrance gate no.5 for the valid F1 ticket holders.
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On our way back, passed by this shop. Not sure if it is a cafe or not.
