Day out with the English Royal Family: Part I

There are two parts to this entry simply because they took the trouble to come to Singapore to bring me out shopping twice in a week. Don't I have awesome godparents?

10 September

It was a Thursday, which means that the King took leave from work just to bring me out for shopping~

However, the Queen had a secret mission around Jurong so we had to head there first.

We were making our way for a quick foodie tea break when the Queen suddenly got VERY VERY distracted by a neighbourhood shop, the kind we usually skip cuz they sell cheapy aunty clothes.

But I was wrong and the Queen was right, because we had stumbled upon a treasure trove! *gleaming eyes*

It was a shop full of branded goods from factory outlets! The Queen spent the entire afternoon trying on clothes and spent more than a thousand dollars on her own while I only got a dress, tank top and 2 Swarovski hairbands (less than $200 in total).

I wasn't really interested cuz the dresses there are all so LONG and I have skinny calves. Besides, the photos of the models show that the dresses are supposed to be above the knee while mine reaches down to halfway through my calf. Yea la I'm short la now shuddup.

*****

We were all starving to death by the time the Queen was done, so we headed straight to where the King recommended for dinner; Valentino at somewhere in a Bukit Timah estate.

Our reservation was for 7.30PM but we were there way too early (hungry, what!) so we got a much better place than the usual crowded room!





Valentino's bar





Love their furniture



Their wine cellar! It's a WALK-IN. Damn...



Random shot outside the restaurant, without flash.
Leading lines LOL.
(BTW I got a B+ for my Photography GEMS. By cheating. =P)

*****

Well, you might have noticed the total absence of pictures of food in this post, but that's because when I took pictures of the place, it was empty; too early for big groups of diners to come into this second part of the restaurant.

Afterward there was an obnoxious and super boastful group of yuppies who came in so I decided not to draw attention to our table with my oh-so-powerful Lumix's flash.

Stupid fuckers were trying to boast "subtlely" about their RICHES, unfortunately it was not as subtle as they hoped it would be. Every minute of the meal I could hear shouts from their table. Super no class for a bunch of educated people trying to feign having accents.

*****

I digressed. The food is of course the most important part of the post right!

We ordered:
Drinks-
San Pellegrino Sparkling Water
(Yes, they fill and refill without asking and it costs more than $10 a bottle)
House white wine
(Not toooo bad for a house wine, quite sweet)
House red wine
(Not nice.)

Starters-
SOMETHINGY cheese wrapped in parma ham
(I only know it wasn't goat cheese, and it was YUMMY)
Shellfish in tomato and chilli stew
(I seriously cannot cope with Italian food names, so sorry)
Salad with SOMETHINGY cheese and pine nuts.
(When I said I didn't want any portion of this, the waiter went "NOOOO. O_O" and gave me a single piece of veg to try. @@")

Main Courses-
Beef chunks in mushroom sauce with mashed potato, drizzled with truffle oil
(YUMMYYYYY but cost $42 if I don't remember wrongly)
Mama's Chicken; so called because it's a family-owned business and the mother of the owner cooks it. It's actually a spring chicken in a claypot with lots of herbs including rosemary and cooked for 4-6 hours.
(We all didn't like this one, nobody expected it to contain rosemary which is really too strong for our Asian taste, plus it costs $48!)

Dessert-
Tiramisu (Self-explanatory)
White chocolate cake; I forgot the name, but that's what it is essentially, and they said that the cream is imported specially from Italy.
(The Queen liked it but it didn't really impress me, it tasted kind of plasticky to me in fact.)

Afters-
Chamomile Tea
(This cost freaking $6 per cup. And we didn't know until we got the bill.)

Total cost? $270.

Overall, the place is good but not recommended if on budget. Highly recommended if trying to impress someone, however be warned that the owner will come in halfway through your meal to charm the socks off everyone at your table.

*****

The poor pale-faced King stumbled to his car and decided to drive me home right away so that he wouldn't have any more unexpected unpleasant surprises for the day. Besides, it was pretty late and we were alllll tired from waiting for the Queen the entire afternoon.

:)