Food for Thought @ Botanical Gardens

Was at the botanical gardens for a stroll one afternoon, so we decided to pay a visit to ‘Food for Thought’, nestled amongst the luxuriant greenery of Singapore's most historical garden park.

What I discovered online was, Food For Thought is about transforming community spaces & bringing people together to enjoy Good Food for a Good Cause – the 4 partners of this cafe possess passion for helping the underprivileged. Food for Thought is their second project (First project being School of Thought, a tuition centre) and this project channels part of the proceeds to fund education costs for the needy students.

Food for Thought smartly placed itself in the tranquility of nature, providing the perfect atmosphere for an ideal getaway from city life. The restaurant is designed in such a way to resemble a greenhouse with streaming skylight in the day and soothing greeneries around the place. Do give it a visit and be enthralled :)

Service-wise - we did not require much assistance to be honest, so I do not have comments on it. The good thing I could mention is that there’s no service charge :p On that, no GST as well. I like such clear-cut, definite pricings.
In addition, the pricings have definitely retained the essence and spirit of not ‘paying a lot for very little’ - $3 for a coffee and so on, you get the drift ;)

Slow roasted pulled pork burger $9

With sweet potato chunks, pork crackling, homemade barbecue sauce.

A succulent burger with shredded pork that had been slow roasted and melts in your mouth. Accompanied by the freshest lettuces and overflowing with flavourful caramelized BBQ sauce, this item is a hit!

Grapefruit lychee sage soda $7

This is a must-have drink! It is such a refreshing combination and is great for chilling out for non-alcoholic drinkers.
The lychees were huge and juicy, and remained surprisingly flavourful despite having soaked in the soda for a while. This makes the grapefruit taste less distinctive in comparison.

Full Works breakfast $22

Scrambled eggs, bacon, butter toast, hash browns, roasted tomato salad, chicken sausage and garlic mushrooms

From the photo, you can see how generous the breakfast serving is. My favourite out of the lot would be the sauteed mushrooms that were so juicy and palatable.

Runner-up would be the cute balls of potato hash browns that were fried to a perfect crisp, with a beautiful shade of golden brown. Also, they were not too oily as well.

The bread was also well-toasted, and I enjoyed the entire meal very much.

Food for Thought @ Botanical Gardens

1 Cluny Road, 

Tanglin Gate, #B1-00, S259569 

Number

+65 6479 1080

Opening Hours

Mon  -  Sun 8am to 9pm 

(Last orders at 8.30pm)

http://www.foodforthought.com.sg/

Swensen's U.S. Southern Barbecue Menu from 1st September 2014 to 31st October 2014.

SWENSEN’S TURNS UP THE HEAT WITH U.S. SOUTHERN BARBECUE FAVORITES

Savor five new tantalizing seasonal additions with a Cajun twist that are big on flavors.

This season, Swensen’s flames up its grill and dishes up a menu inspired by the bold flavor palates unique to the Southern USA. Barbecuing is an all-American cooking technique that 

has resounding popularity today, with its roots firmly entrenched in good, ‘ol Southern comfort. So lasso up, and take heart in traditional country favourites cooked over hot, seasoned grills and slathered with rich, creamy sauces that deliver bangs of flavor.

Serving up rustic, wholesome dishes fit for any cowboy, Swensen’s pays its homage to Southern fare with tantalizing entrees like Swensen’s Cajun Chicken with Creamy Ranch Sauce, Grilled Snapper with Seafood Creole Sauce, Jalapeno BBQ Burger and a spicy appetizer in the novel Firecracker Soft Shell Prawns. For the complete Southern experience, finish up your meal with the zesty Key Lime Soda as inspired by the classic, American Key Lime Pie. 

Saddle up and dig in, as the limited edition menu is available only from 1st September 2014 to 31st October 2014.

Firecracker Soft Shell Prawns ($8.90)

These lightly battered morsels are coated with a unique blend of spices. Pop one of these for a 

party in your mouth! Served together with Swensen’s signature U.S. Fries and fresh veggie sticks with pineapple BBQ and Tartar sauce dips on the side.

Swensen’s Cajun Chicken with Creamy Ranch Sauce ($15.90)

A half chicken slow cooked with cajun herbs and spices, perfectly balanced by homemade creamy ranch sauce. Accompanied with mixed wild rice, mesclun salad and BBQ beans. Definitely a serving generous enough for the hungry cowboy!

Grilled Snapper with Seafood Creole Sauce ($17.90)

Using the finest and freshest ingredients, Swensen’s brings you this specially caught 

saltwater snapper on a platter! Tenderly grilled and generously drizzled with chef’s own special creamy creole sauce, it comes with buttered vegetables and mixed wild rice to complete the meal.

Jalapeno BBQ Burger ($16.90)

It’s getting hot in here! This Southern burger is stacked high with a juicy beef patty, flavorful jalapeno chunks and onion rings to serve up an excellent gourmet burger experience. Served with steak cut fries lightly seasoned in cajun spices and mesclun salad.

Key Lime Soda ($5.80)

Swensen’s version of the classic American Key Lime pie, made into a drink! Creamy, zesty, sharp, sweet and delicious. Take a sip, close your eyes and be transported to the Florida Keys…

Feeling thirsty now? Order up any U.S. BBQ main course with the Firecracker Soft Shell Prawns and enjoy the refreshing Key Lime Soda at a discounted price of $2! 

To cool down, we had our special ice cream creation from the ice cream buffet bar that's only available at Swensen's Ion Orchard outlet :)

This limited time only (U.S. Southern Barbecue) menu will be available at all Swensen’s outlets from 1st September 2014 to 31st October 2014.

Give them a try while you can! :)

Taipei Day 2 - National Palace Museum; Soka Center; Jay Chou Deja Vu Restaurant

Started off day 2 with the Taiwan National Palace Museum and Taiwan Soka Association headquarters building, Zhi Shan Culture Center.


Taiwan National Palace Museum

Take the MRT Danshui Line (red line) to the Shilin Station and change to bus R30 to the National Palace Museum. Other routes that will take you to and near the Museum plaza are buses 255, 304, 815, Minibus 18 and Minibus 19.

We took bus 255 because we wanted to visit the Taiwan Soka Association headquarters building nearby at the same time.

Bus 255 stops right outside Zhi Shan Cultural Center (opposite National Palace Museum), super convenient!

How the bus looks like:




Taiwan Soka Association (TSA)
TSA Zhi Shan Culture Center

No. 250, Zhi Shan Road, Section 2
Shihlin District, Taipei,
Taiwan 111

Tel: 
886-2-2888-1777

Fax: 
886-2-2888-1788





There was an calligraphy & painting exhibition by Lee Yih-Hong 李義弘 when we visited the cultural center.



Here's him:


You may refer to his works and bibliography here.

In the exhibition hall above, there was a collaboration project by the national palace museum and various museums of the world showing the history and evolution of arts, and raising awareness on the museums in the world.





Looking through a summary of the evolution of paintings.
As we walked 'through' the timeline, we can see that paintings get more colourful and at the same time, more complex. It's probably in-line with how the world has developed overall over the centuries.



Arts reference books for you to delve deeper.





Us in a photo in a photo :)



The TSA office which is a few steps away from Zhi Shan Cultural Center.
We went to make zaimu and bought souvenirs back for Singapore members & friends :)







Moving on, we crossed the road to the National Palace Museum!

National Palace Museum

No.221, Sec. 2, Zhishan Rd., Shilin Dist.
Taipei City 11143, Taiwan (R.O.C.) .

Opening hours:
Daily from 08:30 to 18:30 all year round.

Admission ticket price:
TWD250 per person
TWD150 for students with valid international student ID or Youth Travel Card

For more details on hours & ticket prices, click HERE.

Do note that photography is not allowed in the palace museum.
All photography equipments, coats and luggages will be requested to be deposited at the checkroom.

Familiar group? Haven't seen them in Singapore for quite some time.



A cute kitty store we passed by.
Full of kitty merchandises!





By the time we ended our tours at the soka center/national palace museum, it was way past noon!
Thus we decided to go for high tea at Jay Chou's Deja Vu Restaurant.


Jay Chou's Deja Vu Restaurant

No.1, Sec. 1, Bade Rd., Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei city 100
台北市八德路一段一號  華山1914文創園區  中四A館 

Phone:
02-2396-8296

Hours:
12 pm- 12 am

Website:
www.deja-vu.com.tw

Email:
service@deja-vu.com.tw

Nearest station: 
Zhongxiao Xinsheng station 忠孝新生站

The restaurant is hidden within Hua Shan Creative Park (文創園區). Take the Blue Line towards Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center and alight at Zhongxiao Xinsheng station. It's merely 2-3 stops away from Ximending/Taipei Main station area.
From Zhongxiao Xinsheng station, take a 10-15mins stroll towards Hua Shan Creative Park and you'll find Deja Vu Restaurant quite easily once you walk into the park.

The fine dining restaurant is a joint venture between 2 Taiwan celebrities Jay Chou 周杰伦 and Liu Qian 刘谦 and thus, ta-dah! You get a magic-theme restaurant.
Besides various items and props used by Liu Qian in his magic previously, Jay Chou fans will scream at the antique piano and the Batmobile which was featured in his 'Superman Can't Fly' and 'Super Sports Goddess' MVs.
I love the feel of this restaurant totally!

We had fresh orange juice (TWD160) and coffee latte (TWD80).

The tea sets are available at TWD580+ per tray, each tray serves two persons.
There was a selection of sweet and savoury treats respectively on the first and second tier, and fresh fruit platter on the bottom tier of the tray.

The tiramisu and cheesecakes were pretty good!
I had two servings of the cheesecake without feeling jerlat afterwards :)

Next up would be Wufenpu and Raohe Night market!

***

Taipei Day 1 - Kuo Kuang Express Bus & InHouse Hotel

Taipei Day 1 - Ding Tai Fung, Taipei 101, Ximending & Modern Toilet

Taipei Day 2 - National Palace Museum, Taiwan Soka Center, Jay Chou Deja Vu Restaurant

Taipei Day 2 - Wufenpu & Raohe Night Market