Singberry: strawberry delight

It is the usual Friday long lunch break, and as usual, we are all spoil by choices. It was a surprise when Foo suggested to visit this new dessert joint. Dessert for lunch? Am skeptical as well at first.

nice strawberry blended ice

Singberry is a new dessert shop in Ipoh Garden South, the complex of shops behind Pantai Puteri Hospital. Look for Beegaik Nyonya restaurant and there is a small road leading to a row of relatively new shoplots. Singberry is somewhere in the middle.

During lunch, there are not many people so we really enjoyed the spacious seating. The owner was friendly and service, rather personal. So far so good. The deco in the shop itself would give away the menu. Strawberry.

Yup, it is all strawberry. At least for drinks. Juice, Blended ice, you get the idea. Expect to pay more than RM6 for drinks each one. The strawberries are fresh, as you can always watch them blend your order. I personally ordered the strawberry and passion fruit. The taste is definitely strawberry, and quite heavy taste too. The passion fruit is rather light in comparison, and more prominent in the aroma rather the taste bud. It is OK since the main spotlight is on strawberry. The dessert list is the usual pies and cakes. At the end of the lunch, we did pampered ourselves with some cakes. The blackforest is fair, though I prefer it to be more rich in flavour. The cheesecake is good, though nothing beats Secret Recipe so far. The walnut cake is rather surprisingly good.

Lunch? Do not worry. There is menu from the nearby chinese shop for you to order other main dish. Expect the normal price of > RM5 for each noodel/ rice dish. Apparently there are least 2 shops which you can order, so order the nearest one if you are hungry. We sort of picked the not so good one, and my Tomyam fried meehoon ended up so late that I nearly starve to death. And the tomyam taste is lacking that it tasted more like a regular fried beehoon instead. Anyway, it is not Singberry's fault and will not affect its review.


Overall, nice place for dessert and to hang out. Especially if you are a strawberry fan.

Ratings: 3 poink!
 comments: not a fan of strawberry though I do not mind eating them fresh. Remind me of Strawberry Moment, though the varieties is less.

Citrus Wine & Dine: affordable fine dining

This will be a short post. It was a spontaneous decision to come to Citrus for lunch, and I was writing this post weeks after that. So, most of these ramblings is by memories. Of course, the photo shots won't do the dishes much justice either. (I really need to change my phone, can't be carrying my Canon everywhere)

Not sure where is Citrus Wine and Dine? Gosh....this place is rather famous locally for good western cuisine, nearest to a fine dining for a Chinaman. Located in between Ipoh Garden and Bandar Baru Tambun (assuming one come from town), just look for the main road in between Aeon (JJ) and Tesco and just go straight. The joint should be on your right before hitting Tambun. Just look for the orange Citrus sign.

Deco is minimalist, comfortable. Service is nice and prompt. It did not change throughout the years. I still recalled the first time I came to this place was 6 years ago and it still remain as clean. Open for lunch and dinner, the place usually is occupied though finding a seat is usually not a problem.

Food...just expect the usual western dishes and you will get the idea. Expect to fork out RM20+ for a main dish and you would get the idea. How is the taste? Good. Portion enough to satisfy me now (probably not when I was younger when I could gobble down a chicken in a meal). You would not disappoint but probably you would have tasted better somewhere else. For our set lunch (RM 19.50+), we had a choice of pasta and dori fish. Usual good taste. The dessert is rather nice though, a good ending to the meal.

Ratings: 3 half poink! (minus poink for the fact that I am still a stingy Chinaman; I would prefer Hot Jack over this)
comments: nearest you can get to fine dining and good western (with some local twist) with a decent price

Citrus Wine & Dine
No 38-46, Laluan Ipoh Perdana
Ipoh, Perak
05-5451010

TAKEYAMA: affordable, yet do not disappoint

menu

Seriously, I do not know how to differentiate a delicious Japanese dish. I just know that whether I find them good or not. However, I do know that most of them burn a hole in my pocket and that include the fast food style sushi-king. Then again, once in a while, we do like to indulge and keep ourselves happy.


Takeyama Japanese Cuisine is located behind Tesco next to Jusco/ Aeon Ipoh Garden. There is so many restaurant, just look for a row of typical chinese stalls, and this is on the opposite row. Open both for lunch, and my guess dinner. The place is not crowded for lunch, and the way the tables are set, it is still comfortable even full house. Service is rather friendly, since colleague of mine frequent this joint a lot.

nice lunch!

chicken + beef in same bento

The food, the food. How good it is. The menu is all Japanese, more on bentos, sushi and sashimi. There is also the usual udon, rice dish and even japanese curry. Not much of teppanyanki stuff though. Price range is broad, but definitely affordable. Bento set start below RM10 and range to RM20+ depending on what one order. Can't comment much on others, but I ordered the friend chicken and beef set. It tasted quite good, though not out of this world. Did not make me crave for more, but enough to let me say that it was a good lunch. Took a bite from friend's sashimi and it is fresh enough. The tempura looks good too.

nice tempura

nice sashimi

Overall, it is rather good dining experience. Good food. Not crowded, my kind of place. Worth a try.

Ratings: 3 half poink!
comments: add poink for the price!

PROMETHEUS: great Alien thrill, different taste though

Another great space thriller from Ridley Scott. Now, this is what we know so far. This chap is the one who brought us the Alien franchise. And for weeks, we have nightmare alien babies bursting out from our abdomen after watching THAT iconic scene. No wonder people have high hopes for Prometheus. No wonder it did not disappoint.




Prometheus is sort of like a prequel to Aliens franchise, but it is way more than that. Aliens was more of a no brainer but all of scare and thrill. Prometheus, for one, is more cerebral, need more attention while trying to maintain the similar adrenaline rush.

The story is simple. Noomi Rapace stars as Shaw, a paleontologist (my guess) who with her boyfriend or husband discovered some proof that humans are actually created by aliens species. So, they get a big corporation (no spoiler ahead that big evil corp has hidden agenda) to start an expedition to seek the maker. Well, obviously they succeeded but they got more than they bargain for. Without spoiling too much, bodies started dropping like flies, and aliens species renegade started. There is a maker or "engineer" as they call it, but what was its agenda?


The big issue is, the story is suppose to be cerebral, but it raises too many question, too much for my liking without providing any answers. They should provide more hint, so that one would thirst more, and guarantee a sequel. Now, with all the questions, I would just remember this movie as the one that confuses me. The gross and scary scenes are still there, up to par with Aliens. The self C section would set the new standard for gross. Alien attacks are far apart, but the build-up was good. One may sit on the edge of the chair, waiting for what is coming round the bend. Pace of the movie is alright, though I prefer things to be faster. Chemistry and acting is passable, though I still find Shaw's character not likable at all in the beginning, unlike Sigourney Weaver's Ripley. Blame it all on the presence of Charlize Theron... come on, fly her home as the sole survivor please~!


It did not define the genre like Aliens. Probably he would not be able to outdo himself, but Prometheus still will haunt you for days. And that is worth the ticket price.

Ratings: 3 half poink!
comments: plus poink for all the gross scene, but too many tentacle in the mouth reminds me of something else. minus poink for not letting Charlize Theron survive (come on, everyone know the heroine will survive and Theron is NOT the heroine)