Katong adventure / anniversary dinner

By Esther Rachel Lai. - 4/14/2014

Hi guys! Okay, so I'm actually reaallyyy lazy to blog right now but I figured that if I don't do it now, this post will probably be delayed till next month or months from now. I actually took leave today to celebrate Shane & my wedding anniversary but I fell ill yesterday and something cropped up over at Shane's side just when my leave got approved. Our anniversary's actual date is tomorrow and Shane has the day off but I'm on MC so i guess we'll be spending the day at home this year. Thank goodness we already had a simple dinner in celebration on Saturday night, but that's not all! Our Saturday was quite an adventure, exploring the streets of Katong/Joo Chiat with Kylie!
We got up bright and early on Saturday and as usual, Kylie and I had to bug Shane to get out of bed. I'd impromptu plans the night before to go get traditional Singapore breakfast that day & I wasn't going to let a sleepyhead ruin my plans! My dad was a darling, he dropped us off at our destination before heading for church with my mom and brother.

Our first stop,

Chin Mee Chin Confectionery
204 East Coast Rd, Singapore 428903

This old school coffeehouse serves up traditional eggs and toasts and other pastries like sugee cake, egg tarts, sausage rolls and stuff as well! I read reviews about the place and some have said that their standard took a dip, it's my first time there so I can't comment much on that but the toasted kaya butter buns tasted really good to me!
Tried a luncheon meat puff and an egg tart as well. The puff was quite alright, although it could use a bit more luncheon meat filling. & the egg tart wasn't your typical kind. It's texture was kind of like custard? I think i prefer the normal pale yellow egg tarts.

& Kylie had her raisin bun. Or just the raisin without the bun. Rascal dug the raisins out and refused to eat the bun.

I really love their home-made buns! Unlike the usual slices of bread we'd normally have, it's not at all dry and it's really soft and fluffy yet toasted to perfection! Would totally come back for these!

Shane had a cup of tea while I had coffee to keep me energised through the day. Not a coffee-drinker but I enjoyed every sip. Shane gave two thumbs up to his cup of tea as well, it was, as i may put it, really his "cup of tea". haa. The eggs were a little undercooked though, a bit too watery but they were still good.

I love the entire look and feel of the coffeehouse. Old school, nostalgic. It brought back memories for Shane, of how his mom used to bring him and his brother to a place like that at Pasir Ris Park when he was a kid. You don't see places like that anymore. Overpriced hipster cafes are springing up everywhere now so it's a real gem to find a place like that - Cheap & good!



It was pouring when we got to CMC and even after out meal, there was still a slight drizzle so we decide to linger around i12 Katong till the rain stopped before heading to our second stop which was quite a walk away.
Really love this Noah's ark centrepiece at the atrium selling kids stuff, it even moves!


 After walking around for about an hour, checked the weather and it was sunny again so off to our second destination we went!



I really love the streets of Katong. It's like walking down memory lane, with so many interesting sights and shops to see. Take the one above for example! Old school chairs made out of cane & check out that rocking horse!

Vintage tiles along the corridors of the shophouses.

& a beautiful shot taken by none other than our talented little photographer!

Our second stop...

Kreme Couture

216 Joo Chiat Road #01-03 Soholife
Singapore 427483


This humble bakery owned by a secondary school senior of mine and his girlfriend, is tucked away in the streets of Joo Chiat & it's a little hard to spot if you're not intentionally looking for it. But lucky you! They do deliveries and you can check out their website (link above) as well! They're known for their pretty cupcakes (check them out their instagram @kremecouturebakery for pictures) and I especially love their quiches!


 Bought a 24k chocolate fudge cupcake for Kylie cause she wanted one and the three of us shared it amongst ourselves. Boy, was it chocolatey & fudgey alright! The cake's really moist and the chocolate really packs a punch! It's almost like eating a molten chocolate lava cake. Shane loved it & finished it up for Kylie! 

Their cupcakes all look really yummy but I came just for the quiches! I'd definitely order their cakes from them if there's ever any occasion though! That one chocolate cupcake got me sold! & I'm not just saying that because I'm acquainted with the shop owner. Believe me, you gotta try them yourselves!


We even got a packet of brownies from them cause it was free brownies day! Now tell me, how awesome is that?!
& in case you were wondering what quiches are, TADAHHH! These are! They bake different flavours everyday & on Saturday, it was apples and caramelised onions, duck rilettes and anti pasto. Each quiche is filled right to the base of the pastry cup, and every bite was just deliciously tasty! They bake them in other flavours like smoked salmon, poached mushrooms and stuff as well so you've to see what's the menu for that day!


On our way to our primary purpose of travelling to Katong, we decided to stop at Fat Boy's Burger Bar for lunch!

Fat Boy's Burger Bar
465 Joo Chiat Rd, Singapore 427677

 I blogged about my first visit to Fat Boy's (Marymount) in January and if Marymount's too far for you, good news! They've an outlet here at Katong as well! It's just slightly down the lane from Ninethirty by awfully chocolate!


 Gotta love the bad-ass ambience here.


Shane & I weren't extremely hungry so we shared a burger. Played it safe this time and ordered a burger from the menu instead of "mixing and matching" my own. We had a Wimpy burger with lamb patty and added extra monterey jack cheese. It was DEEEELICIOUS!!! Both Shane & I fell in love with their lamb patty at first bite! If you like lamb, you'd love their lamb patty, it's really tasty and goes extremely well with the cheese! 

Of course, how could we resist their spicy chicken drumlets?! These were a little spicier than the ones we had at Marymount but it was soooooo good! Probably the only ones that I can keep on eating and not get sick of!

After lunch, we made our way to our primary destination but not without making a short stop at...


Kim Choo Kueh Chang
111 East Coast Rd, Singapore 428801

This peranakan shop just opposite i12 Katong is hard to miss with it's vibrant coloured kuehs stacked outside the shop! It sells nonya dumplings and all our favourite childhood kuehs like the legendary ondeh-ondeh! It's so hard to find good ondeh-ondeh that doesn't use artificial pandan flavourings! Bought a packet of Kueh Dadar and Ondeh Ondeh back home to enjoy! 


Vintage joy ride displayed outside Rabbit Carrot Gun. The streets of Katong's really interesting!

FINALLY, our primary destination!
 We're The Furballs
45 East Coast Road Singapore 428765

We're The Furballs is a dog cafe where patrons can pay and entrance fee and have unlimited playtime with the dogs! I was really excited to bring Kylie there cause I know she loves dogs & her reactions around dogs just brings a smile to our faces. 
Entrance fees are $8.50 on weekdays and $9.50 on weekends and includes a free drink. 
They actually don't recommend children to mingle with the dogs though, because the dogs can get quite hostile towards them so we needed to sign an indemnity and she had to constantly be by one of our sides while in there. A little bummed that even Kylie had to pay $9.50 as well.

Puppy mugshots!

Love this concept where patrons have to try and "catch" the dog treats if they wanted to feed the dogs. This way, it'll prevent customers from overfeeding the dogs by simply buying treats off the counter.

Duchess the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel meeting a nervous Kylie! Duchess is one of the more aggressive dogs so we had to be wary of it when it came near Kylie.

Slinky the Dachshund! I think this one's a boy but it looks so gentle and pretty! 

& it's really gentle towards Kylie as well. Ky said Slinky's her favourite.

Bui Bui the french bulldog. Also, Shane and my favourite. I love how grouchy he looks and he always sits in a corner alone, stoning. Sometimes he eyes you dubiously which is madddd adorable in my opinion!

Lu Lu the toy poodle! Not a fan of poodles but this ball of fluff is adorable as well!


That look.

Yuki-chan the pomeranian! I read online that a customer once dropped her and it resulted in a broken leg, so if you ever visit, do take extra care when handling the pooches!


"Whatchu lookin' at?"













Tricks for treats!

Kylie's shot at asking Slinky for his paw!


A short while later, the bosses came in with 2 more dogs, Lola the pomeranian and Mochi the Maltese! The vibe that the bosses brought in was really unsettling though. They didn't greet their customers when they came in and they seemed really unfriendly. I understand that they're the bosses but that doesn't mean they've to appear so hostile? Even their employees were much more friendly and hospitable compared to the bosses themselves which is really weird.





I sniff your butt, you sniff mine.

Bui Bui's such a glutton, he eats anything.

Including Shane's dead skin. hahaha. He was happily licking Shane's leg like it's damn tasty.




Loner.

 & that was our day spent at Katong! I wouldn't go back to WTF though. It was much to costly and it really was disappointing compared to what I'd expected. I think they should invest more into their food rather than charge an entrance fee so at least, people will come back for the food AND play with the dogs. I mean, really, how many of us are willing to pay $9.50/pax just to play with dogs? Even if we are, it'll just be a one-off. And after paying $9.50 to enter, who's really gonna care about the food, especially if it's $5.90 for instant noodles!

So anyway, as i mentioned earlier, Shane and I had a simple dinner date on Saturday as well. After Kylie's nap, we took her to her babysitters for the night!
Yes, our beloved John & Pat! Our parents were either working or away on a holiday trip so we had to find someone who could help us babysit Kylie for a couple of hours and who better than our dependable favourite couple? So relieved that they were free to help us out that night although I was a bit nervous at first, leaving Kylie with them (as all mothers would naturally be). But Kylie really enjoyed herself with them & I knew I could trust them to take good care of Kylie while we were away. Glad they enjoyed Kylie's company just as much as she enjoyed playing explorerkid with them! Thanks again guys!

So while the baby was out of the picture, we had quality couple time chatting over dinner at

The Bark Cafe

1000 Upper Changi Rd N, Singapore 507707


The Bark Cafe's a really nice place to relax and unwind over a couple of drinks. Away from the hustle and bustle of the city with it's relaxing outdoor dining, it's a great place for friends and family to have dinner not just couples! I was telling Shane how all that's missing is a live band to play good music.


Beer for the man...

Strawberry squirrel cocktail for the lady.

Again, we were still quite full from our food adventure in Katong so we decided to share a plate of Seafood Aglio Oglio which I thought was a little too dry. I loved how generous they were with the seafood though!

The last time we came here, about 4 years back, we had their cheese-baked escargot which was to-die-for but it seems they've changed it to baked garlic cream sauce escargot which paled in comparison. The mushroom soup was really good though but i couldn't say the same for the garlic bread.

So yeah, that was my Saturday well-spent! Not sure if I ate too much or if it's cause got caught in the rain that's why I fell sick but man, if it was cause of all that food, I'd gladly fall sick again! haha!




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