Singapore, Day 3

Date of visit: 20th July 2010

We woke up to a reasonably nice weather, so we made plans for a trip to Sentosa Island’s new Universal Studios. After breakfast we went on the MRT and off to Sentosa we were…

We had been looking forward to Universal Studios since we decided to go to Singapore, and were glad that it had stopped raining. We arrived and bought our tickets, only to find out two main attractions were closed – the only large rollercoaster and ‘madagascar’. They could have told us earlier but this is their sneaky ways of getting people in… especially on a quiet weekday.

So in we went and after some attractions / rides we went looking for lunch. Wanting to stick to the Asian theme of things, we went to a local / Thai café in Universal Studios. Here we ordered a chicken satay set (4 pcs satay with nasi goreng rice and a coconut layered cake), and a separate chicken satay (6 pcs) and a Tom Yum Soup. Total  for lunch was about S$20, definitely not cheap for fast food of this quality!

After lunch it started to shower...and then proceeded to pour, to the point where we considered leaving....but that would've been really wasteful.! We found out there was a show at the waterworld and so we went and watched it. Turned out it was pretty good, nothing we expected. The weather got better and we went for some snacks before going on the several rides left in the park. 

My swirled soft-serve vanilla and chocolate (S$2 - melts way too quickly and has a gummy texture (too much carageenan??), waffle fries (S$3.50)

At around 5pm we left and walked to the Resorts World nearby, where there were several  of celebrity chefs' restaurants, such as Susur Lee's new Chinois and Joel Robuchon's L'Atelier and The Pastry Shop & Lounge (to open later this year!). But seeing as it was quite early and the only restaurant I really do want to try (Chinois) serves Chinese in an up-scale -i.e. more than two diners needed! - I made a mental note to return to Singapore to try them! Instead, we proceeded to check out the mall further along, which the casino was also located in, in which all shops were basically luxury brands one would find in HK, but also a Victoria Secret shop which didn't stock bras and swimwear (apparently, USA won't allow them... what is the point then???)

Disappointed, we headed back for the Sentosa express back to Harbourfront.

We walked around the Robertson Walk area and went into Canele Patisserie to satisfy our sweet tooth. We picked two pastries, St Marc and Caraibe.

St. Marc was S's choice, a 'biscuit joconde with kirsch vanilla creme chantilly, dark chocolate cream, creme brulee'

This was utter disappointment. Whilst it wasn't bad per se, it was nothing like the description claimed it to be. Creme brulee? Nadah...the topping was a glaze of something close to honey, the vanilla creme was virtually masked by the weird taste of the biscuit base and dark chocolate cream... Every layer was so thin you could hardly distinguish it! At S$8++ a piece this was certainly over-priced. 

This caraibe was the staff's (looked like she would kill to be elsewhere) recommendation. It sounded good enough - "dark chocolate cream 66%, dark chocolate cake 66%, hazelnut nougatine, almond chocolate glaze" so I said "yes", only to find that I should have gone with my instincts and went with the strawberry tart or macha or even a simple gateaux chocolat.... This dessert was so sweet it was impossible. Water wasn't provided, so what we were left with was fork-full of sweetened chocolate nothings. The outside almond chocolate glaze was the only thing I liked - crisp chocolate with bits of crunchy almonds. The inside was layers of hard and dry dark chocolate cake - sponge would've made a huge needed difference, and the dark chocolate cream was mixed with the hazelnut nougatine to the point that it tasted like cocoa and sugar rather than real dark chocolate....arghhhhhh. And at S$8.50++ it was a total rip-off.

so this was what we left behind: 

unsightly, i know!

Still starving at this point, we walked around to find dinner. It was at a Thai restaurant called Cafe Sapunsa which was recommended on one of the (many) blogs I read prior to this trip. It looked nondescript, dull even. Interiors were decorated quite randomly, but I made a mental note that we are here for the food, and not the décor! 

The menu was actually worse, quite badly laid out with menu items in Thai and English (not translated well enough) so we struggled to decide and eventually settled on a Vegetable Red Curry (mild) for S and a Seafood Tom Yum Soup, Fried Morning Glory with Chilli and Garlic for me. 

The lady taking our order didn't speak very good English and it was even more apparent when she got my orders slightly wrong (she gave me a non-spicy Prawn Tom Yum Soup rather than regular Seafood Tom Yum), but because the soup was so good without the spice any way, I wasn't complaining! Sour and full of prawn taste, salty but not full of msg...yumm.

Morning Glory with chilli was oily but well-cooked and good nonetheless. I do like spicy food so I was happy to see some chillies in this dish!

S's red curry vegetable was very mild, full of coconut flavour and had a very good assortment of vegetables - carrots, green beans, broccoli, thai eggplants, you name it! We both liked the taste very much, but thought they could've thickened it up a bit as this version was really watery to be called a 'curry'.

Our dinner at Cafe Sapunsa came to a total of about  S$30 - not cheap but definitely not expensive either for the quality of food =). Would recommend this place for hungry people in the area!