Dim Sum with friends @ Spring Ju Chun Yuan 聚春园

My friends and I decided to have dim sum on Sunday, 24 August'14 at Spring Ju Chun Yuan Restaurant 聚春园 , located at Far East Square on Amoy Street (one of Singapore's oldest, historical sites, nestled in the Central Business District area). This is our first visit to the restaurant. My friend read many good reviews about this restaurant and the dim sum lunch buffet priced at $24 per person seems like an attractive deal :)

What intrigued me most was that Ju Chun Yuan is housed in a building of a former school named Chui Eng Free School, established in 1854 (one of the first Chinese free schools to provide free education to the poor). The roof tiles, the old Chinese architecture and its colour palette consisting predominant shades of grey and subtle touches of red and green, makes the place nostalgic and unique. It's two-storey interior is elegant, tranquil and neat with glass windows overlooking Far East Square which might have been a courtyard. A perfect place for a quiet gathering.

We enjoyed an array of dim sum including inter alia, Cantonese siew mai, lotus wrapped rice, har gao, congee, as well as Northern-style guo tie and noodles, accompanied with a pot of pu-er tea (a rather neutral and lighter-in-caffeine Chinese tea) nicely laid on a white cloth on our table. We had osmanthus jelly for dessert after our mains too. We had a good time discussing about the legal system in UK and Singapore. My friend shared his internship experience in a law firm in Shanghai. It's good to catch up with friends returning for a summer vacation from the UK. Though they will face a tough competition after they graduate, since law minister Shanmugam recently mentioned that there are too many law graduates, I'm sure my friends will strive hard to succeed throughout their practice training and bar course.

Perhaps we'll meet up for another round of dim sum at Ju Chun Yuan another time when we're all free :) 

The nostalgic entrance of Ju Chun Yuan 

Zha jiang mian

Beef tendon noodles

Assorted dim sum, including inter alia, lotus wrapped rice, siew mai, beancurd skin roll, har gao, poached vegetables guo tie & dumplings. Value for money dim sum buffet @ $24 per person.

Spring Ju Chun Yuan 聚春园

#01-01, Far East Square, 130 Amoy Street 

Highlights - August 2014 & National Day

Orchid Extravaganza Floral @ the Flower Dome, Gardens by the Bay

At that time the orchid display at the Flower Dome was still under construction. 

Now it is all ready and the Flower Dome has been crowded with many visitors since then.

Beautiful National Day fireworks along the Bay

Majestic Bay Seafood Restaurant

18 Marina Gardens Drive #01-10, Flower Dome, Gardens By The Bay, 018593
6604 6604

Pear dessert (served hot)

Chili crab meat buns

翡翠火鍋酒家@中山廣場

Crystal Jade Hotpot Restaurant 翡翠火鍋酒家@Zhongshan Mall 中山廣場

#01-18, Zhong Shan Mall, 20 Ah Hood Road, Singapore

3 July 2014 - 海底捞 Hai Di Lao Hot Pot @ Clarke Quay

That morning I was a little upset when 'Emma' indirectly reminded me of Jx. 'Emma' said, "Whatever problems you have outside, say for example the guy you're upset about... whom I don't know... Have you ever thought of what he thinks? Perhaps he thinks you're not responsible... and you can only do one thing at a time... Maybe that's why he doesn't fancy you..."

I stuffed the entire bread in my mouth and chewed hard as I heard the aforementioned bold-italicized-underlined words. Didn't expect to hear such words from 'Emma'. I don't blame 'Emma'. It was meant to be one of those analogies 'Emma' is fond of giving which I at times heed such advice; of if it doesn't really apply, I will just take it as a grain of salt & not bear any grudges towards 'Emma'. However, I never expect that coming. Although I still bear no grudges nor am I upset with 'Emma', tears inevitably streamed from my eyes as I munched my bread. 'Emma' said, "Oh no... Sorry, I said the wrong thing... Sorry I really didn't mean to... Was just giving an example... You can do better."

Maybe those words were meant to be constructive criticisms? I'll take that. And if i really appear to be irresponsible I'll stand corrected and seek to improve myself. Maybe I really do not have any attractive qualities in terms of my personality that appeals to Jx. Nevertheless, I seek to improve myself everyday whilst living through my prime years. My evergreen agenda is to Live and Learn.

In the evening, I went with an old friend to 海底捞 Hai Di Lao Hot Pot @ Clarke Quay. Just a stone's throw away from where I work. What an experience! The wait was long - more than an hour. But that is beside the point. Whilst waiting, the restaurant provides free manicure service for waiting customers (for the ladies only I suppose). Back then when my fellow male colleague told me about it (3rd hand information from his friend), I thought he was just joking. Now I finally believe. I haven't heard of a restaurant that provides free manicure services. That's just another queue on top of the existing queue though. I left my name and number with the manicurist. By the time I finished my meal, the manicurist didn't contact me. Wasn't that lucky lol. There is also a playground for kids to pass time. I heard there is a karaoke room but I didn't check it out. We didn't order any noodles, but we enjoyed spectating the noodle-pulling performance by the chef whenever one table orders noodles. It looks like those scarf/ribbon Chinese dance. Overall, the food and service is good. The shabu shabu beef is fresh. The staff will de-shell the fresh prawns for us, leaving just the head to dunk into the boiling soup. Definitely worth trying! The food is definitely more appealing than what you see in the pictures. It's my archaic phone that fails to provide quality images.

海底捞 Hai Di Lao Hot Pot @ Clarke Quay

#02-04, Clarke Quay, 3D River Valley Road