My Boudoir

As mentioned in my previous entry, I did a Boudoir ('boo-duah'), basically a lingerie or intimate shoot.

Boudoir is not a new concept, even in Singapore. For some reason, I never had the desire to have myself shot in lingerie or naked when young. I came across some photographers' portfolio and did not think that such pictures were tasteful. In fact, many were vulgar and too brass for my liking.

That was until I chanced upon Kelvin's website on Facebook. 

Kelvin was my pre-wedding photographer more than a decade ago. He was with Chris Ling, a highly popular wedding photography studio when I was getting married, and his photography style was something to my liking. He was humorous, yet phlegmatic and humble, always with a smile. He would also go the extra mile for his customers.

I knew that he had become a Boudoir photographer about 5 or 6 years ago. I remember telling William that he was doing it alone and William was 'envious' of him, being able to look at naked bodies and being paid for it.

But I did not have the desire to do it. I never imagined myself doing such a photoshoot as I was always under the impression that only well-endowed models and actresses would do it. Moreover, I was not very impressed with the pictures, then.                               

Some time early this year, I came across Kelvin's Facebook advertisement. I was captivated by the new soft, implied-nude images. Yes, just 'implied', not 'full' nude. 

He uses soft fabrics like tulle and silk to complement women's bodies. Very different from the boudoir pictures I have seen elsewhere.

By then, I was way over my prime. My not-so-big busts had further shrunken. My face was saggy. In fact, everywhere was saggy, even my calves.

So I laid off the idea. Forget it lah. Do what do? So old already still want to take that kinda pictures? Laugh die people.

But the beautiful images kept haunting me.

Then, I had a rude awakening: my eye bags.

If I don't do it now, then when? I will never be younger than NOW. Either I do it now or never.

So I signed up a $750 package which promised 5 hard and soft copies of the shoot.

Even then, I procrastinated on taking the pictures. 

I booked the session in early May, I procrastinated till I could not do so anymore - I did it on 30th June, the last day my promotional package would expire.

I confirmed the date just a week before. And I started my so-called 'quick slimming programme'. I did sit-ups every night. From just being able to do 10 sit-ups the first night, I improved to 25, the night before the shoot.

I ate little for dinner in the 3 days leading up to the shoot.

On the day of the shoot, I arrived one hour early thinking that it started at 10am. 

Kelvin met me at the door. I told him he was my pre-wedding photographer and we chatted till the make-up artiste arrived. 

We talked about our changes in jobs, how he evolved to become a boudoir photographer, and the lingerie I purchased for the shoot. 

At 11am, the make-up artiste introduced herself as Bobbi from The Makeup Room and proceeded to do the make-up for me.

I informed her that I had fillers done so she was gentle with my cheeks. She was quite unlike most make-up artistes I have been through, not that I have had many experiences with make-up artistes. She asked what my preference for my make-up was and when I sought her opinion, she suggested 'natural'.

When she realised I was not very comfortable with my hair being swept to a particular side, she immediately swept it back instead of insisting on her proposition when she was the professional.

We chatted a little about fillers and she agreed with me that eye creams don't work for eye bags. We went on to chat about my filler experience since she did not seem to have the intention to have any but did not mind listening to enrich her filler knowledge.

The make-up was finished at about 12pm, and the shoot began.

We started with a short dress I had brought. Eventually, we didn't pick any images from the short dress series, but it proved to be a nice warm-up into the shoot.

William came to watch the shoot as he was worried on many counts: 

- he did not want me to be touched by the photographer

- he wanted to ensure that I did not show too much skin

- he was worried that I would show my vital parts unwittingly

Quite silly, right? What do you expect when you are doing a shoot like this? After a few hours, William had to leave to pick Baby up.

By 4pm, we did the lingerie shoot. Kelvin said,"It's the last series."

I got a shock. I said,"Huh? But I also want to shoot with those (pointing to the fabrics)."

Kelvin probably thought I only wanted to do a lingerie shoot because I mentioned to him that William was not comfortable with me doing a boudoir and had followed to watch.

But like I said, Kelvin would go the extra mile for his clients. 

Subsequently, we did implied-nudes, using different fabrics to shield or cover the vital parts of the body.

I was given a bathrobe to wear each time I was to move to a different backdrop so that I didn't have to walk all over the studio half-naked or naked.

I was surprised Kelvin never did ask me to smile, square my shoulder, suck in my tummy. When I asked, he replied that he was not taking passport photos! We laughed.

Throughout the session, we laughed a lot, talked a lot, like friends.

The shoot seemed to be done fairly quickly, but by the time I checked the time, it was 7pm! How time flies when you are enjoying yourself!

The shoot was actually accompanied with a female assistant who was Kelvin's wife, Elaine. She was the more talkative and sanguine personality compared to Kelvin and she was very adept at making people very comfortable quickly. When any adjustments needed to be made to the props which were in close proximity to my body, she would be the one to do it. The closest Kelvin had ever come to touching me was to position a finger or two and he would ask for my permission to do so. Never presumptuous that the client or friend has become too comfortable with him, like stupid ol' me often do.

I have shown my female friends and cousins my unedited images and they were surprised at my 'courage'.

They asked how I had felt in front of the photographer and my reply was the same,"He was very humble and nice, and made me very comfortable. I did not feel awkward in front of him."

About a week passed before I was informed to shortlist the images.

All the time, I didn't know what I should hope for. Should I hope for many great images? Then I might end up buying many and burning a hole in my pocket. Should I hope for lousy images? Then I would be very disappointed that the shoot didn't work out. In the end, I decided that I should hope for exactly 5 fantastic images because that was how many images my package had included.

When I started viewing the pictures, my breath was taken away. There were so many sides of myself I never saw or knew. It was like how Hermione felt when she saw her own backview in one of the earlier Harry Potter movies,"Does my back look like that?"

Suddenly, I felt empowered. It was a curious feeling. The images were an embodiment of strength in femininity. It sounds silly but it felt like women were created to be women indeed. I find myself trying to be a man in many ways, especially after marriage, ironically, but the images were a strong reminder that I am a woman. And I don't have to prove that I am stronger or better than men, because we are differently created for different purposes.

Because there were too many images I liked, I topped up for a $3200 package that would allow me to possess all images and create an album of 35 pages, including the 5 images I had already paid for.

I know the price tag sounds crazy but I don't think I would do a Boudoir again. Like what someone said,"It would be a documentation of how your body sags if you do it yearly!"

I am a happy customer of Kelvin, so do check out his website if you are interested: https://kelvinlim.com.sg/

A Low-Class Experience at Parkroyal Hotel's Crab & Lobster Buffet (Kitchener Road)

I am a big fan of crabs so when my elder sister asked if I was keen to go for this buffet for her birthday treat, I jumped at it.

There was a credit card promotion at two-to-dine-in at $118++ and we were joined by my mother, my third sister and her friend, my fifth sister and her youngest daughter and my youngest sister and her family. Children below the age of 7 ate free.

It was on the day we made our way to Parkroyal Hotel at Kitchener Road in Little India that I realised there are three Parkroyal Hotels in Singapore. The one that I always knew is at Beach Road, and for some reason, I kept thinking that the one at Pickering Street was another hotel. That buffet day, I learnt about the third one at Kitchener Road. I was very surprised that a Parkroyal Hotel would park itself in an area like Little India. Little India could be a tourist attraction to some but it is not the most affluent area where tourists would base themselves at or at least I thought.

The buffet started at 6pm but we only got there at about 7.15pm. Not my style. I believe in maximising the time I have at a buffet so I usually get to a buffet or afternoon a little early to settle down and 'get ready' to zoom in on the food or area I want. Very 'yeow kwee' I know, but if I am paying, I'd better make sure at least the time spent is worth the dollar.

The first thing that greeted us was the crowded long queues everywhere. I should have taken a picture of the massive crowd and queues but I was late for the buffet and the yeow kwee in me was worried that I would be shortchanged if I didn't join the queues as soon as possible so I missed out on the picture of the crowd.

My mother and I didn't even know what we were queuing for, but since there was a queue, it must be for something good, so we joined it.

It turned out that we were queuing for Mentaiko lobsters, baked lobsters with mayonnaise. Food was slightly above average but I didn't like the way it was given to us. 

I didn't read the sign that stated 'One serving per time' and asked my mother if we should get another serving for my sisters who were parking the car. The lady who was giving out the plates of lobster immediately shrunk her outstretched arm and said curtly,"If you want more, you have to queue again."

It made me feel like a yeow kwee.

Yes, I know I am a yeow kwee, but is there a need to make me feel like one in front of other guests? This is a hotel, you know? Parkroyal doesn't have the budget to send its staff for customer-service training, is it? I believe there are more tactful ways to word it, like "I am sorry, Miss. One serving at a time. You can queue up again if you would like to get it for someone else."

Then my youngest sister raved over the steamed live lobster, saying that it tasted superior to the Mentaiko lobster, so we queued up for it.

Nope. The rest of us respectfully disagreed that it was better. Could not tell that it was 'live' by the degree of freshness either.

To optimise the money's worth, we ate another two or three Mentaiko lobsters since it was better than the steamed live lobster.

One chef per station too!

We queued for the Pumpkin Crab, meaning crab in pumpkin sauce.

It sounded weird but the pumpkin sauce sweetened the crab meat so I had at least another helping. Queued again, of course.

My sisters and brother-in-law took their little children to the stations to show the chefs that there were two of them so that they could get two servings. *roll eyes (at the hotel's policy)* (in Singlish fashion) Have to do it until like that to get another plate ah?

There was a dessert station placed away from the crowd. I would have missed it if I hadn't come with my sisters.

Chin Chow with longan drink

Scallops should be fresh.

Other seafood as side-dishes

There was another station with other less popular crab and lobster options unmanned by chefs. Guests could form their own queue in the usual buffet style to pick and choose the food they wanted. They didn't look palatable enough to entice me to try them though:

Chilli crab

Kam Heong crab

Japanese Lobster Fried Rice

Not sure what this was but it looked spicy

Lobster Spaghetti

Pork Confit

Crustacean Paella

As we drove home, all of us unanimously agreed that the place was too crowded and packed for a comfortable seating. The (lack of) hotel ambience felt more like a market place. We had the feeling that the hotel was trying to maximise its space to contain as many guests as possible for the price it offered for the buffet. It made the buffet feel cheapskate and low-class. A stark contrast to every single afternoon tea we have been to.

We also felt that the constant need to queue, each time we wanted food, made us feel low-class. I said I felt like an orphan queuing in a food house, waiting to collect my food. My fifth sister said she felt like a prisoner waiting in the queue for her food.

When I related my 'One serving per time' experience, all of them agreed that it made one feel cheapo or yeow kwee. My elder sister summed my experience up,"It's an aunty preparing the food. What can you expect?"

Verdict: Parkroyal Hotel at Kitchener Road has a lot of room for improvement.

Best Denki is Better Than Courts

My credit card had accumulated enough points to redeem a few items off the Maybank Treats Points reward system.

After much deliberation, I selected a Panasonic hair-dryer, a Philips blender, a Philips epilator and finally, a Shaw Theatre voucher for some snacks to maximise the remaining points.

I made my way down to Courts Causeway Point to redeem the Philips epilator. Unfortunately, the salesperson told me that the stocks for the model to be redeemed was not available. He also called Courts Lot 1 to find out that the item was also out of stock there.

I happened to be at Bishan Junction 8 and so I hopped over to Best Denki to redeem the blender and the hair-dryer, with full expectations that I was going to be disappointed like I did at Courts.

Surprisingly, Best Denki is clearly a superior megastore to Courts. The salesperson whipped out the hair-dryer within a minute of me asking for it, and went away for another two minutes before coming back with the blender!

I could not believe it was such a smooth sailing experience!

Best Denki reinstated my confidence in megastores, so I gathered my courage and set about calling Courts' main line.

Twice, I was put through the mill of button-pressing just to be hung up on because the call was cut off due to too long a duration the wait!

Fine. I called the Causeway Point outlet to inform them that I could not get through the main line. To my horror, the automated voice recording said,"We are closed for the day. Our operating hour is from 11am to 10pm." I looked at the clock. It's 2pm on a Saturday, lady!

I decided to call any branch and see if it gives me similar rubbish. 

To my utter disbelief, Courts Tampines' customer service department obviously does not believe in picking up calls! 

My goodness, how lousy can Courts get?

I wrote an email on the 'Contact us' page and hoped to get some reply. 

'Hoped' is right. There has been no response.

I decided to go down to Courts Causeway Point again and try my luck.

As it turned out, I was bestowed with the darned epilator on the spot this time round.

But my euphoria was short-lived.

I opened up the box and saw this:

 

The first thing I noticed was missing was the pouch.

Then I saw that the accessories were all missing!

My first thought was: Someone had tampered with the package and removed the items.

How can I not worry that this is a used product? For all I know, someone had used this product and conveniently taken the accompanying items.

So I returned to Courts Causeway Point again, and told the guy in charge of 'Service' what had happened. At first, the Philips salesman said the package really did come like this. I showed them the instruction sheet which indicated that there should be a cover for the epilator before using. The service guy agreed to check with Philips about it and get back to me the next day. However, more than a week passed and I still didn't hear anything from Courts.

So I made a third trip to Courts and asked about the outcome.

The Problem With Having FT Customer Service Officers

Me: Hi, I am redeeming Philips Epilator, model number  6420, but it's not available at Courts CWP and Courts Lot1. Can I know if you have the stocks at all?

FT: What's the issue with the epilator, M'am?

Me: No.  I am trying to redeem the epilator but it's not available at Courts CWP and Courts Lot1. I would like to know if you have the stock for it.

FT: Oh, you ordered it online?

Me: (with worn-out patience) No! I WANT TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE THE STOCK!

FT: Oh, Oh ... Let me check for you, M'am.

(4 min later)

FT: M'am, you can find the epilator at (this and that place)...

Me: No. I can only redeem it at Courts but it's not available at Courts CWP and Lot1. I want to know which Courts has this product.

FT: You can find it at supermarkets and ...

Me: No. My letter SAYS that I can only redeem it at Courts but there's no stock at Courts CWP and Courts Lot1. I want to know which Courts has it.

FT: Let me check ...

(2 min later)

FT: What is Courts, M'am?

Me: (outraged) !!! It's a SUPERSTORE, a furniture and electronics superstore.

FT: Can I have the spelling for 'Courts'?

Me: (can't believe what I heard) ??? Huh??? Sorry?

FT: Can I have the spelling for 'Courts'?

Me: (clarify) Are you asking how to spell 'Courts'?

FT: Yes.

Me: (resigned) Never mind ... *click*


I had experienced one round of disappointment at the abovementioned Courts outlet and I had to go through an exasperating and time-wasting experience with a Filipino customer service officer who did not know what 'Courts' is!

Can we have locals back, please?

"FOC" - Music to My Ears

 

I took my father's watch to Rolex at Tong Building on Monday for battery replacement.

The Filipino Front Desk Officer greeted me with a wide grin and I said I was there to 'change battery for the watch'.

She took a look at the watch and said,"Yes, this watch needs battery."

I asked,"How much do you charge to change the battery?" My father had a 2008 receipt which had '$30' clearly printed on it for battery replacement. He said the price has since increased. My brother last replaced the battery for $50. I would expect the price to further increase to at least $80 but I bore a secret hope that it remained at $50.

To my utter surprise, the lady replied,"We don't charge for changing of battery."

I was stunned. I must be dreaming.

I repeated,"No charge?"

She affirmed the repetition,"There's no charge."

I clarified,"But you used to charge for changing of battery."

She replied,"Yes, but for now, we don't charge."

It's free? At Rolex, an ostentatious, luxury brand for watches. They don't want the money?

Yay!!! 

There's something that doesn't need money in Singapore! 

I waited around for the receipt and feasted my eyes on the watch displays that priced from a humble $6xxx to $39xxx before walking out of the door feeling really lucky.

A catch: the watch would need servicing which starts from $850 if it does not move after a battery replacement and they would give me a call to let me know.

They called two days later to inform me that the watch was ready to be picked up with no hiccups.

Of First Hair and Cords

As I am on no-pay leave this year, I have a lot more time on my hand. I got into the undesirable habit of surfing the net too much, I must admit.

One morning, I was either surfing on one of the forums or Facebook when I chanced upon some mummies discussing making hair brushes out of their babies' first hair and making name stamps out of their babies' dried umbilical cord.

I was curious. During my time, the 'trend' was to create hand and footprints as mementos of the baby's first few days or first month. Hair brush and name stamp were virtually unheard of.

However, I had kept both my babies' first hair and dried umbilical cords, for 15 and 7 years respectively.

Now, why would I do that?

I kept the dried umbilical cords at my mother's advice. She claimed that keeping the dried cord helps ensure that the child have a good memory. I don't think highly of myself in the memory department so I had to keep it for my babies.

There is no logical or scientific explanation to my mother's claim, of course. It's probably an old wives' tale but I kept them anyway, in a small empty Obimin bottle made of darkened glass.

As for the hair, I had always loved their incredibly soft hair.

I took the girls to the hairdresser at their fourth month for the shave as a traditional practice.

Why fourth? I don't know the traditional belief behind that mysterious number. My mother said babies' hair is shaved at first or fourth month. They looked too fragile to be touched at the first month, and I wanted the hair to be intact for as long as possible.

Having kept these two items for each of my babies, I never knew what to do with them. The umbilical cords were in the dark little bottle sitting in a cabinet; Baby's hair was in a plastic bag in a drawer and what little I could save from Coco's traumatic hairdressing experience was contained in the tiniest ziplock bag in her baby album.

So I took an extreme interest in my new-found treasure!

With due diligence, I did my research on the experts in the matter.

There are only two companies in Singapore that create these products: Huaxia Taimaobi Centre (华夏胎毛笔) Huatsing Baby Souvenir 华新胎毛笔). Both companies also have active Facebook accounts that allow potential clients to inquire about their products and prices.

In the typical fashion of the research-obsessed, I went down to both the centres to make my enquiries. And anyone who knows me knows I am an asker who asks the weirdest questions.

I chose Huaxia in the end as I felt that I liked what I saw and the lady was able to educate me on the differences among the authentic liuli (coloured or glazed glass), crystal and artificial liuli.

Huat Sing had the geographical advantage over Huaxia but I felt that the Mainlander salesperson attending to me was not very used to having visiting customers. We had arranged an appointment prior to my visit but he was unprepared. The only samples he could show me were the ones in the display cabinet that were very limited. He also recommended the supposedly popular emperor-seal stamps to me and I did not fancy the size nor the designs. Compared to the lady at Huaxia, I felt that he was a little more pushy about his idea of 'good' or 'nice'. There was no mention about the hair brush samples.

I took a month or so to deliberate on what the girls and I wanted before I went back to Huaxia (KK branch) to place my order.

Welcome to the world of choices!

These are the hair brush samples and they are not exhaustive.

The decisions to make:

- the material (cloisonne, purple sandalwood, red sandalwood)

- the size (very small, small, medium or large)

- the design (full or half engraving, with or without camel bone, with or without accompanying name stamp at one end of the brush, with or without silver thread)

- the couplets or phrases to be imprinted on the brush

- the type of cap (normal transparent plastic or a matching brush cap)

- any other addition (child's lunar birth date)

The multitudes of baby hair brushes alone dazzled me. I was getting confused by the different makes and prices so I noted down the prices for the ones I was interested in and went home to think it over.

As for the cord stamps, there were three main choices: 

crystal （水晶）

$128 w/o GST

authentic liuli （全琉璃）

$228 w/o GST

artificial liuli （仿琉璃）or in Huatsing's words 'amber crystal' (琥珀水晶)

$88 w/o GST

I like the transparent element of crystal as it gives the clearest possible view of the umbilical cord but it looks the cheapest as it bears a striking resemblance to clear glass.

Obviously, the girls' eye for details have been well-trained. They set their mind on the most expensive product.

I made many requests:

- I wanted the liuli's three colours to be balanced and of equal mix. Some liuli had one or two dominating colours which I didn't like.

- I did not want the liuli's colour to block the view of the cord. I wanted the cord portion to be cleared of colours so that I could see it clearly.

- I wanted the colours to be somewhat light and not too dark.

- I wanted as little air bubbles as possible in the liuli.

The nice saleslady, Joyce, wrote down all my requests on the envelopes and said they would try to accommodate my requests as far as possible. But she also told me that none of her customers has made these requests. They only choose authentic liuli and the rest is taken care of by the workmanship master.

Coco's baby hair was too little so Joyce also cut some of her current hair on the spot to make up for the shortfall. Joyce said that the master would place the current hair on the inside while the baby hair would be on the outside as a wrap for the hair.

After about a month, the call to pick up the goods came. 

 

The brushes came in boxes beautifully wrapped in Chinese-print fabric.

 

The umbilical cord stamp boxes. 

Gorgeous and expensive-looking, don't you think?

 

How they look resting in the boxes

Each stamp has the girls' Chinese names engraved in 小篆，an ancient Chinese word form, at the bottom.

 

Baby's stamp

  

Baby's cord

I was more excited than anyone to see it!

'cord' in Hokkien is pronounced as 'zai' which sounds like 'cai' (财) in Chinese.

A little bit of baby hair (发) is added for the auspicious meaning of 'prosperity' (发财)

  

Coco's stamp

Therein lies the oval-shaped ink pad

 

Coco chose the full gold or yellow stamp as she thought the ones with coloured swirls were too childish for her liking (grrr ...).

 

Coco's cord up close

By the time I took it out from the Obimin bottle for the making of the stamp, the cord was beginning to disintegrate with some powder forming.

Baby's choice: red sandalwood with half engraving of phoenix (size: small)

$228 w/o GST

 

Coco's choice: red sandalwood with half engraving of phoenix on camel bone (size: small)

$228 w/o GST

I am very pleased with Huaxia's service and products. No doubt the stamps and brushes added up to quite a fortune, but I thought there isn't a better way to keep these two items as keepsakes.

I will definitely recommend Huaxia to anyone who wishes to keep their baby's hair and umbilical cord as mementos.

The pretty and younger lady who attended to all my enquiries at my first trip at Huaxia was helpful and informative while the nice and accommodating lady who attended to all my fuss was Joyce. 

What will I do with the stamps and brushes?

When the girls become independent adults or get married, they shall be given to them as invaluable presents or dowry.

This is what happens when you are getting on in age. You think about such things.  

Pompompurin Cafe for a Birthday Celebration

It was nearing Coco's birthday. I am not a Sanrio or any character fan usually but I thought it could be fun for the teenager to have her birthday at a themed cafe, so I suggested going to Pompompurin Cafe for her birthday celebration. For a second, I'd thought she might dismiss it as being 'childish' but she said yes readily.

For the uninitiated, like me, Pompompurin is a Sanrio character in the form of a golden retriever wearing a brown beret.

When I reached Level 4 of Orchard Central with William and Baby at 5pm on its opening day, I was quite surprised to see a snake of people making a beeline for the entrance even before dinner's time.

It was a one-hour wait before we reached the threshold of the cafe.

A peep into the cafe

When we settled down, one of the staff brought us a Pompompurin plush toy 'to take photo with'.

We cam-whored with the toy for at least 15 minutes just for fun of it!

And I must commend the patience of the staff. 

Not once did they interrupt to ask if we were ready to place our order.

Baby's order: Puru Puru Pudding Shake at $12.99

It was a glass of broken-up pudding with some sweet drink.

Baby and I did not take to it at all. It was left two-third un-drunk.

Coco's Love Love Hot Marshmallow Latte at $12.99

I did not ask her but she seemed to love it.

My Cookies & Cream Caramel Latte at $11.99

It tasted like ... passable, iced cappuccino?

Before we could place our order for our main course, the serving crew informed us that their signature Taco Rice in a Cup of Friendship was finished for the day:

I had wanted to try this. A major disappointment there but could not be helped.

Baby and William shared Mushroom & Bacon Carbonara ($26.99). 

It comes with a free Pompompurin mug when you make payment later.

A little funny episode ensued when William requested the staff to wash up the mug on the plate to bring home and the staff assured him a clean one would be given to him later.

Both Coco and her cousin had Pompompurin's Beef Stroganoff ($18.99).

Coco liked it but could not elaborate on the taste except telling me that "It was nice."

And mine's Pompompurin Coconut Milk Chicken Curry ($17.99).

It looked cute but the taste was at most passable.

I told the kids and William that we were not there to pay for the food but rather the ambiance and novelty.

Coco and her cousin had a pudding that went by 'I am Purin. Pompompurin' ($9.99).

They enjoyed it.

I tried it too and I have to say that was the only item that was the closest resemblance to some nice pudding.

We had to take a picture of our food and ourselves since I am not sure if we would ever be back!

I had called and checked that I could bring a cake in and the crew sang "Happy Birthday" song to Coco as the manager placed the cake on the table.'

We were pleasantly surprised!

And we had the must-have picture of every patron before leaving the cafe!

Verdict: 

The presentation of the food was cute and novel but the tastes were nothing out of the ordinary. We did not expect spectacular food at cafes like this though so we were not disappointed. However, we enjoyed our dinner very much as the service was great. Being the first night of their business, the crew were quick on their feet and rather attentive and patience. 

Will we be back? Not likely to be in a big group anymore since an ordinary meal for 4 adults and 1 child cost a whopping $165.85. But if you haven't been there, it will be fun to have a cosy meal there with a friend or someone close for novelty's sake.