Real Food Yishun - Vegetarian Cuisine @ Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre [Singapore]

How would you react to a restaurant that was named Real Food? I would assume it would be a cuisine involving only organic ingredients but no, the real food in question here means vegetarian! 

Located next to Slow Bakes, Real Food's sister cafe, I was there purely because my sister needed to eat vegetarian! Anyway, I was relatively curious about Real Food as I jogged past it quite often and it has a rather decent review rating score of 4.1 on Google Maps. 

Mushroom and Celery Tomato Penne - frankly, without any meat, not many items appeared appetizing on the menu. I guess penne was chosen because we seldom chose it as a pasta choice, and also its calorie count (yes, that's indicated beside each dish) was lower.

 

Overall average tasting; texture was hovering on the edge of being undercooked, flavour was sourish, a tad watery and not something I would order given its pricing and its pretty paltry serving of mushrooms. I did enjoy the celery as it made me feel healthy. If only there was minced meat to hype up the dish. 

 

Mushroom Pizza - I wasn't expecting much after the pretty disappointing Mushroom and Celery Tomato Penne but I couldn't help being captivated by the overall outlook of this pizza. It also seemed to have noticeably more mushrooms. 

While the outer ring was thick and fluffy, the inner section was thin; making me feel less sinful although the calorie count for this pizza was a hefty 1145.6 calories! 😲😲😲

Absolutely love this pizza! It featured a crisp shell yet maintained a chewiness that made every bite so addictive! Flavour was on point; there was the nice earthy aroma from the mushrooms but there's something else that i couldn't pinpoint that made me literally ignore the heavy calorie intake! 

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At the risk of gaining weight, I hereby declare I would love to be back for the mushroom pizza! Pity Real Food doesn't serve beer as it would have been the perfect companion for the pizza! 

Address

30A Yishun Central 1, #01-09, 

Tzu Chi Humanistic Youth Centre,

Singapore 768796

Map

As above.

Website

https://www.realfoodgrocer.com/

Pricing

Mushroom and Celery Tomato Penne - S$19.80

Mushroom Pizza - S$16.80

(Subject to GST)

Freshly Fried Crispy Shrimp Cake from Penang Goreng No 1 (槟不厌炸) @ KSL Mall in Johor Bahru [Malaysia]

Are you a fan of the China app, little red book (小红书)? My sister is a huge fan and knowing I love prawn crackers; she shared a recent recommendation from little red book, of a newly opened stall at KSL Mall. 

Penang Goreng No 1 (槟不厌炸); which offered more than just prawn cracker, awkwardly named as shrimp cake. Other deep fried stuff on the menu included bananas, curry puffs, squid prawn cake, lekor, mushroom, and even chicken! 

Unlike many stalls that would just fry first and display the finished products, I heard that the prawn crackers would be freshly fried upon order; something I would really enjoy as many a time, the cracker was just cold, soaked of stale oil and lacked any crispness. 

Here's my bag of prawn cracker!

I am being safe one; let's just try one first.

Size wise, not that big of a cracker but the key attraction would be the generous amount of shrimps that literally covered the entire face of the batter on one side! Granted the shrimps were smaller but I should believe the adage; good things come in small packages! 

Sadly, despite the high prawn-batter ratio, the taste didn't impress and the shrimps weren't exceptionally 'sweet'. I did like the thin batter which resulted in a crispier bite, although I also wouldn't mind a thicker batter for better texture satisfaction. 

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Not going to condemn this stall just because of one item on the menu. We need to be fair to the stall and I guess I would give the other items a try in the near future! 

Address

KSL City Mall,

Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

(Outdoor, near Family Mart)

Pricing

Crispy Shrimp Cake (Full Prawn) - RM 4.80

The Spa Secret @ Batam Island in Indonesia

I love massages, and that's one activity almost all travellers to Batam Island would embark on when they visit! We researched a bit and settled on The Spa Secret, which wasn't too far to walk from our hotel.

Comfortable waiting area; it was quieter than in the afternoon, when the schedule was packed and we had to resort to a reservation at night for a session to relax the body, and soul.

List of treatments for your reference.

You may also check out their website here for the latest update.

After choosing what I wanted, we were served basil juice and also a compressed face towel that looked suspiciously like a mint but I had watched enough reels to know what it was.

My eyes popped out when I saw the above; you can also choose to select whatever you want to drink and eat from the cart! There's a coffee machine (that had milo), jelly, snacks, and even instant cup noodles! 

Luxurious room for my Signature Lomi Lomi Massage. Said to be "using long, continuous strikes combined with a deeply relaxing touch", my layman review was that oil was used, my tummy was massaged and I felt quite cold during the session, and it got colder after the oil was wiped off! Quite therapeutic although I would still prefer traditional Thai massage.

After the 90-minute massage, we were served ginger tea with a piece of ginger sweet, and kueh bangkit! For a person conscious of his weight, such great service was something I would prefer to avoid, especially at night! 

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Address

Komp Batama, Jl. Nagoya Garden,

Blk. D No.1-2-3 Phase I, Kampung Seraya, 

Batu Ampar, Batam City, Riau Islands 29432, Indonesia

Map

As above.

Website

https://www.spasecretbatam.com/

Pricing

Signature Lomi Lomi Massage (90-min) - 450k Rupiah

Sleeping Lion Suites - Deluxe King Room @ Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia

I had a fantastic stay at Traders Hotel on my last trip to Kuala Lumpur but location wise; it's not the most optimal. So for my latest visit, we opted for Sleeping Lion Suites, which was built only in 2023!

Co-located and connected to Axon Residences, Sleeping Lion Suites was conveniently located near Pavilion KL (about 200 meters) yet not that close to endure the jams around the area.

Proceeding to our check in at about 4pm on a Saturday; thankfully no queue as the 3-star hotel has 906 rooms across 37 floors! That's a massive number for such a small hotel reception / lobby. 

Got our key card; room assigned was 3313. 

Love being allocated on a high floor room! 

One feedback often highlighted on the reviews of Sleeping Lion Suites was the frustingly long queue for the lifts! Five lifts serving potentially more than a thousand persons at peak hours can indeed be a headache! However, we managed to avoid waiting for a long time, and the queue actually cleared quite fast.

Taking a photo of the lift buttons; essentially only 24 floors of guestrooms and on average about 38 rooms per floor. As always, checking in to the hotel room first so that we can dump our back-breaking belongings!

Long corridor that wasn't dim. Co-sharing a landing space with another room; I was scratching my head as wouldn't it be better to remove the landing space to accommodate a slightly larger room size?

Deluxe King Room 3313

Two words; compact, wow! Former because it was much smaller than expected, with an incredibly narrow distance between the television panel and bed. The television was awkwardly placed though.

Wow due to the fact that it was modernly designed, and more than just a typical hotel room look. Even the back lights evoked imaginary images of a sunrise.

Multi-functional area with an open wardrobe, tabletop for the electric kettle, luggage rack, mini-fridge, and even an iron hung on the side! p.s. the ironing board was on top.

In-room safe was hidden in a separate drawer. Frankly, I think it's ingenious to place the safe in a drawer; easier to place things and it gives the assurance to guests that it would be harder to remove compared to a conventional safe placed in the wardrobe.

Dressing table on the side.

As the hotel was newly built, certain modern touches were added; like the inclusion of USB ports beside the power sockets at the bedside table! 

Now, the window view. Such a narrow strip of window seemed to make the room appear even smaller. Oh well, having a window is better than not having any at all.

Panoramic view in front us, with sights of Pavilion Mall, KL Tower and even Suria KLCC. On the far left, you can even catch Merdeka 118, the world's second tallest building at 678.9 meters tall. 

Night view outside our hotel room for your viewing pleasure.

Washroom and amenities; no electronic bidet but I am already happy with it having both dry and wet areas! For this room, no complaint on the water pressure and the heater. 

Important - fire evacuation plan! I think our room type is the smallest. According to the website, the deluxe room is 21 square meters, which is similar to the cheaper superior room. Why ah?

Let's check out the rest of the hotel!

p.s. here's the lift lobby of our level.

Swimming Pool 

The infinity pool on the rooftop level of 37. It had the same facing as our deluxe king room and operating hours would be from 7am till 8 pm daily.

Appropriate / Inappropriate swimwear. 

Do you know that Malaysia is ranked number 4 on the list of countries with the most skyscrapers? Standing at 306, with six over 300 meters; the above is the "fourth-tallest building in Malaysia and the fifth-tallest building in Southeast Asia" - The Exchange TRX! 

Sky Garden

More the official smoking area on level 37.

Sky Deck

Opposite the Sky Garden; this would be one great sheltered place for you to chill with family and friends, so long it wasn't overly crowded.

In my opinion, the sky deck provided the best view of the city and I believe you can catch the sunset, which would be stunning on a good day. 

Sky Bridge

Linking Axon Residences with Sleeping Lion Suites, this connection bridge would also bring us to a very necessary amenity for my younger sister; the gymnasium! 

Mind boggling height! 

Gymnasium

Operating from 7am till 10pm, the elongated space was pretty big with a connecting aerobic space. But I felt that the equipment was too spaced out and there wasn't much equipment to cater to the guests and residents using the same facility.

Given the height, it was pretty nice jogging from the machines overlooking the city view that included the tallest twin tower in the world; KLCC.

Level 10

Similar to level 37, this was another floor that connected both Axon Residences and Sleeping Lion Suites. Unlike level 37, however, this was a lot quieter.

It had a kids playground and a small fitness corner. 

A large open space level with tables and chairs, and a few function rooms. It felt more like condominium amenities, which I presumed would be more for residents of Axon Residences, with some whom also seem to double up as hosts for Airbnb. 

Nicest area on level 10 would be the Garden of Dreams in the middle! There's a raised wooden platform where I can imagine yoga lovers making their difficult moves. 

Looking up to the bridge on level 37; free hanging with the sides providing the anchors, this sent shivers down the spine of a person who is afraid of heights. 

City views; not as great as those capture from higher levels! 

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Express check out via the self-serviced kiosk. 

So did I enjoy my one night stay at Sleeping Lion Suites? For one, I must admit that convenience is a plus given how near we were to Bukit Bintang and there were also plenty of nearby eateries.

Room size was tight; something that I can endure. What I didn't like was the sound proofing as I could clearly hear whenever the guests for the next room opened and closed the door. In addition, there was this door next to our window which was locked but we could hear sounds of machines, maybe compressors or something. 

Even though we travelled with the Greatest Kon, and another friend, they chose to stay at InnB Park, which was near us but at half the price we paid for Sleeping Lion Suites! Maybe I should consider that next time. Afterall, I just needed a place to sleep. 

Address

5, Jalan Walter Granier, 

Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, 

Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, 

Malaysia

Map

As above. 

Website

https://www.sleepinglionsuites.com/

Pricing

Deluxe King Room - S$72.95

(via Trip.com)