Dinner last Friday was at this hotpot and chargrill place called Xu Ting (æåĩ) near Raffles Place.
Kai Xin had chanced upon this Chinese restaurant during her lunch time and saw a lunch crowd. Must be good right? The idea of steamboat appealed to us so we arranged for an East meets West meetup that Friday. Poor Jia Xin couldn't make it because she had to work OT!
Us being us, we kept snapping her photos/videos of the food haha. ððð
We made reservations for 5 (Shi Min brought her +1 lol) and
truth be told, I don't think we need to reserve. There were only 10 or less
people including us. A stark difference compared to the lunch crowd, according
to Kai Xin.
Everyone just wants to drink beer and chill on a Friday
night unlike us. ð
It's ala carte buffet style so of course we order in peace. ð
The abundant choices of soups. The price of it is not included
in the buffet, in case you get a shock at the bill at the end.
What makes Xu Ting different from your usual
steamboat/hotpot places is that they serve your soup in individual pots. While
some may say that takes out the "fun" in having a steamboat w others,
it is good for people who prefer different soup bases/don't take beef/pork.
Everyone can cook their own food in their pots! ð
I chose the čŦčäđéļĄæąĪ for obvious reasons. ð
It is more worth it to share w someone if you can't decide
which soup to choose though.
1. The 2-in-1 pot is so much bigger and you can cook more
food at one go.
2. They use induction cooker instead of fuel gel, the latter
smells a little.
3. It is cheaper!
Here are the choices for hotpot, all free flow!
They told us to write the portions on their menu w a marker.
We took some time going down the list. The waitress took our order and asked if
she can just order 5 sets for everything. ð For convenience I guess
and we were like okay.
Then we wrote for nothing?! Lol.
Individual's pot w its fuel gel.
The pot is quite small and after you add your veggies to sweeten the soup, your soup will be almost filled to the brim. That is the downside of the individual pot.
I wish they carry bigger ones! Soups are refillable btw!
They have a sauce station nearby. You can make your own concoction! I mixed light soya sauce w minced garlic and chili padis. ð
Display w spotlights somemore. Like selling cosmetics hor. ð
Lazy to crop - Okay this is really small but we ordered čąæēđéĨž and they turned up like this.
Had a bite and omg!! All of us were like "Eh taste like what éŋ厷 used to make for us when we were younger!!"
So we ordered another portion to ååģ. ð Actually I ask my LMZ to make for me sometimes because I really like it. It's just flour, scallions and some salt but it is really fragrant lah!
Our table's situation. There was clearly no space, thus they pushed in a metal trolley to store other food. Photo of the said trolley later!
Seeing this photo makes me so happy? Like so much food?
"Live to eat, not eat to live." - One of my life's motto. ð
Metal trolley I was talking about!
V good hor! Don't need to squeeze/feel overwhelmed.
Here we have fatty beef, lean beef and fatty pork.
I love all, but if I had to choose, the fatty beef was the best! No gamey taste whatsoever. The colour/marbling (act one) so nice? And so effort hor them? Stack so nicely. ð #OCD
Lean pork! Marbling also nice. ð
One of the plus side is free flow å°įŽžå ! We had 4 each. Should have ordered more. ð
They were not bad!
And I am glad to say this is the first time I never stuff myself full w food. My stomach is v thankful wtf.
This is all thanks to the small pot. Since you can only cook a few items at one time, you chew slower/body gets the signal that you are full thus I didn't overeat at all. ✌
We had oranges at the end and wow, they are really sweet and juicy. ð We kept asking for more. ð
Bill for 5 of us! They charged for iced water (a huge jug) and also wet tissues.
Imo, just return the unused wet tissues to them, that's what 4 of us did. Each piece cost SGD0.50 before GST and service charge which is super not worth it. Hashtag auntydaisy but is true. Bring your own!
Overall, a great experience! We paid about SGD40 each but I think the ambience is really good (they even played instrumental music okay), waiters/waitresses are friendly, and most importantly, food is fresh!
Would I be back?
Yes I will. But only when I feel richer hahaha. Cannot anyhow bomb SGD40 every single time I crave for hotpot!
Oh ya, they have a chargrilled menu (think yakitori) as well but that is not included in the buffet. You have to add on. Maybe I will try that next time!
All the 92 babies here! Must make good use of Shi Min's +1. ððð
We were coincidentally dressed in forest green and pastel pink! ððð
Me being me, asked if Jia Xin was wearing yellow. She can match w the cleaning sign. Hashtag assholecousin
But č°åšææ, she was in maroon that day! Haha.
Took off the specs because the green reflection really last warning. Don't even know where the lens are. ð
Agaration is quite good if I may say so myself. ð
The 3 lightbulbs that day. ðĄðĄðĄ
Our faces were so oily oh god. Shine bright like a diamond wtf.
Photobombed!
We slowly walked down to MBS because we wanted to chill/I wanted to catch Pokemons. ð
Had TWG icecream for the first time! This was Timeless Tea? Tasted like Passionfruit Sorbet, v refreshing, I like. ð
It costs SGD5 for a scoop btw.... ðŦ But indulging once in a while is okay. #čŠæåŪæ ° ðĨ
This entry was probably last edited around November 2015, so pardon me for any cheesy-ness I felt then! Hahaha.
I realised I have not updated the Hey Soul Sistaz tag on this blog for super long even though we have been actively taking photos and while I did mentioned about outings w them on my Dayre last time and once in a while you see our photos on my Instagram, there weren't any other platforms I blogged in more details of our happenings.
So here it goes, an entry dedicated to Hey Soul Sistaz (HSS), what we have been doing for the past 2 years when we met up - which is actually nothing more than just meals, games, movies and badminton hahaha. I guessed it served as a good timeline for us as well, to see how much we have changed over the years. While I had some entries on Hey Soul Sistaz already, I found out that I missed out some while sorting the photos the whole night.
We took too many photos and they were everywhere in my folders, be it from my camera, from my phone, from WhatsApp, from Downloads folder and from my email. It was really crazy and the anal side of me just had to make sure that all these photos that were being uploaded ended up in the HSS album I created on Picasa because the previous photos from my older HSS entries were not in this album at all, but instead in other albums where I sorted by months e.g. March 2014, September 2015. - Actually I'd like to give myself a pat on the back here for sorting/uploading my photos by months on Picasa because it made my search to retrieve all the older HSS photos so much easier.
Also, it was also a little frustrating that when those photos were being moved the HSS album/when I uploaded whatever photos I have that did not see to the light to the HSS album, the photos were not sorted by date. And being a perfectionist, I knew I had to sort them according to date, which I did. I need a medal for this.
Therefore, I am going to go through those I missed one by one. This entry is going to be a long one, please bear w me.
There will be a huge amount of photos in this entry because I feel that unglam photos must see the light too, so if you can't stand our faces, annyeong?
The last HSS entry was in December 2014 and it was on our trip Adventure Cove Waterpark. That trip actually happened in September 2014. Also, while sorting my photos, I realised that there were 4 occasions where I hanged out w members of the HSS (haha so ayg) before the trip to AWS which I did not mentioned about here. Well done, Miss Chua.
Using photos to form this timeline so I might miss out some stuff because I am pretty sure there are a few dates where we met up for badminton, movies (Pee Mak, Annabelle, Jessabelle, Tomorrowland, Spy, Antman, Inside Out to name a few), study dates or random dinners where we didn't take any photos like e.g. 5 December 2014 we had Arnold's Fried Chicken together, I have photos of the chicken but not of us - Not so crazy to remember the date, stumbled upon it on my older Dayre entries when I was sourcing for photos there. Oh and while typing this, I remember another one where we played this Lifeboat game at my house! Can't remember the specific date though.
So here we go:
20 February 2014 - Keeping fit w May
Back when I was more enthusiastic in keeping fit. I actually made an attempt to run once a week. Now I am just like gudetama (my current favourite cartoon character) hahaha. Weight gain is not joke. :(
Hello May, jog together soon? Brisk walk also can? Let's stop being lazy! Haha.
Those dates w/o any pictures are clickable links, stuff which I blogged about previously, for example, these two below.
I can't really remember the details of this meetup but I remember us playing some games on May's bed or using her laptop for something. Faint memories there though. I also remember we have more photos taken but I do not have them w me.
I remember this was the day where we first tried Llao Llao and had blueberries sauce. Never again, it was too sweet. Haha.
I think we also had Korean BBQ, K.COOK at Orchard Central, which was average only!
Oh, and I suddenly remembered there was one day where I went to have Ju Shin Jung w May (I even remembered what I wear, am I weird?) and then we also had churros at the 4th level of Orchard Central where it is now Nunsaram. Wow, my memory is pretty good huh.
I also remember that we had this awesome soft serve icecream at Shabu Sai and a quick check on my Dayre told me we had that meal on 11 June 2015! Proves that we meet up more than pictures tell and that I have no friends HAHAHA.
10 October 2014 - Dinner w May and Sourheart
Shark was busy that day and we 3 met at town to have dinner and then headed to Orchard Central to chill which resulted in a series of photos by some fountain. Being considerate, I have decided to set these images to Large instead of Extra Large so that anyone reading wouldn't have to scroll that much to skip this date on the timeline... if anyone has even read till here, that is. I know you are, May. HAHAHA.
Extra Large for this because this was one of my favourites out of the lot. :)
Well well, give yourself a pat on the back if you ever scroll till here. Thank you for persevering.
We discovered a pretty nice background for taking full body shots and thus made use of Sourheart's 21mp phone and spammed. :D
We are really that crazy.... or rather embarrassing. I can't believe we took so many walking shots there. Thank goodness it was quite late that night and there weren't many people walking past.
Lol tryna imitate Kang Gary. OTL
V aware my height like same as them when they are both in sandals and sneakers but me... Hahaha and I was actually gonna fall back in this photo.
I had some coupon in a school's goodie bag and suggested my fellow HSS to join me on an adventure HAHAHA. It was those escape room style where we'd have to solve clues and figure out the next steps to escape in a limited time.
We were first served tea and biscuit while the in-charge briefed us about our mission.
We spent the next hour solving clues and working together. Managed to solve it within the limited time even though we had to ask for clues a few times haha. First timers, please give chance.
Took some photos at the photobooth later w their props!
Sourheart so cute hahaha.
Love it that the staff took a lot of candids!
Saw this ball writing event and we just had to do it. Wrote a lot of rubbish HAHA.
Proceeded to find good backgrounds for our full body shots.
We take finding good backgrounds for full body shots very seriously lolol.
Monochrome theme that night if you haven't realised. This is our very first themed get-up.*coughs* Do not judge. It's still better than couple outfits okay. *defensive*
11 February 2015 - Sourheart's Birthday
Wonderwoman. *smirks*
I remember writing a story using the photo below in our WhatsApp chat, let me go dig.
We surprised her w the cake and there was one blur photo where she looked like she's expressing "Oh my you guys shouldn't have..."
"Fine, I shall hold it."
"Wow that's pretty. It's wonderwoman just like me."
"I wish w all my might to get a hot and handsome bf!"
"Are we done w this?"
"Aww, you guys are the sweetest!"
BABE w her birthday cake! :D
We had Kickboxing session that day which explains for her attire.
21 March 2015 - Operation: Neon Green / Cafe Mondo
I had some coupon again from a friend and we went on a mission again.
This time round, we didn't really like the mission and the clues given to us were bad (in the sense it made things worse) but in the end we managed to solve it despite exceeding the time limit.
There were many different tag boards for you to use for phototaking haha.
This time we went Floral/Fauna, but it wasn't very obvious unless we state it. So this theme get-up idea is still not too overboard yea? *still defensive* Hahaha.
We also had dinner together at Cafe Mondo. Extracted contents from my Dayre.
Foccacia Beef Mondo
Best main out of all. Salivating thinking of its taste. Really åūåĨ―å. The bread was also nice lahhh. Initially I did some "research" and this was highly recommended but I changed my mind there. Too many choices offered hahaha.
Baked Macaroni & Cheese with Beef
The mac and cheese taste normal and the beef cubes were just er beef cubes lor. Very dry. Nothing to shout about.
Baked Macaroni & Cheese with Beef Mondo
This was yummy! The sauce was åĪåģ for me. A little like Beef Bolognese. Shiok ah. Should have ordered this for sharing!
Waffle Beef Burger
This was soso. Actually I thought Mac's beef patty was better. This was a little dry. I quite like the savory waffles (went well w the mustard) but I was the only one who thought this way haha. Their tomato slices were nice!! Didn't have the too-tomato-ey taste? Lol. Don't know how to describe!
Highlight of the day, here for their icecream!!
We had:
Spicy Apple Crumble
Passionfruit and Lemon Curd
Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch
Nectarine
Vintage Strawberry and Cream
Lemon Sorbet
Vanilla
We actually ordered Spicy Apple Crumble but they gave us Vanilla so I went to the counter to inform (where my friends felt paiseh, nothing wrong to request mah, not like I made a scene, I spoke nicely lol) and they gave us a separate scoop of the Spicy Apple Crumble. So we had 7 scoops in the end hahaha.
And I love all the icecream we ordered except maybe the chocolate and the vanilla one.
Oh! While reading my Dayre entry on this day, I found out that this was the day we played Lifeboat at my house. Hahaha. Just saying.
11 April 2015 - Studying in NUS w May
Cui faces studying for our last semester! But good old times, nice library to study in and also love to countdown to the next meal there hahaha.
15 April 2015 - Coloured Flashlights before Kickboxing
May bought a film camera which came w detachable coloured flashlights thus I attached it on my camera and snapped away.
Featuring our model friend, Sourheart haha.
Red alert: She is angry and annoyed.
W ma cool friend, May hahaha.
The lights made Subway look like some KTV lounge.
Y SO EMO.
I just kept snapping away, the other Kickboxers probably rolling their eyes away but heck!
So fun w those lights!
7 June 2015 - Malay Wedding w Sourheart
Attended the wedding of Shark's brother! More details on my Dayre! Shared quite a bit on the wedding there.
Then a week later, I met up w Shark and Sourheart for badminton and Shark told me her brother and sister-in-law read my entry. :O I didn't even tag anything except for hashtags like glutton4lyfe, popzbride (lol), paparazzi. I am thankful that all I recorded there were good things not bad ones?? It's so scary how an innocent entry on my day at a Malay wedding can get to the married couple's eyes.
Anything you post on the Internet is really not safe no matter what. I mean, I didn't mind that the couple read my entry, it's just I am shocked that they'd even chanced upon it. So yeah, ever since then, I kinda maintained a rather low profile (ayg) and stopped Dayre-ing that much altogether.
30 June 2015 - Nunsaram w May
I think we met to shop in town that day and we had bingsu and toast from Nunsaram that day.
Nunsaram has rather decent Injeolmi Bingsu and their Honey Toast was nice too. I actually felt that it tasted better than Xin Wang's and After You's.
LOL probably gonna regret doing this a few years down the road HAHAHA.
3 July 2015 - Back to Kranji Secondary School
Accompanied May back to our æŊæ Ą because she wanted to collect some dinner tickets.
W Mrs Ram! :)
We were so unlucky to meet someone we didn't want to meet that day. Was just saying can't be so å·§ we will meet our Mr Potassium Hydroxide. But we did.
Mrs Ram announced our presence loudly. OTL And he apparently forgot my name hahaha. Not like it's important he remembers. Bahhh.
23 July 2015 - Dinner at JEM
Theme that night was yellow/cream/beige hahaha. Again, we didn't wear till the theme was THAT obvious so okay lahh. Finally a full attendance meet up after months!
Warning: A series of neon yellow coloured photos ahead, same same but different.
I have no idea why Picasa loves to make collages/gifs for me whenever I upload a batch of photos but hey this is not bad ah, although the lightings in the photos differed a little since I edited some of them.
Basically summarised what happened when we took photos. Thanks to the nice fellow who helped us take burst shots! :)
So funny, can't get over how Sourheart's top is of a similar shade to the background. Plus the background fitted our theme too! ;)
Met up w May for dinners also before our next full attendance meet up. Lol, we damn no friends??? Suck our lives HAHAHA.
27 August 2015 - Dinner at JEM
Yes, JEM again because it was more accessible for all of us!
Our theme today was Midi but all of us failed except for Sourheart hahaha.
LOL. #stupidthingswedo
ROFL, while trying to find a good background.
11 September 2015 - Inside Out / Badminton / Saboteur / Limbang's Mcdonalds
No group photos but just for recording purposes.
I also voted for my first time ever!! Just saying haha.
25 September 2015 - Genki Sushi / Nunsaram w May and Sourheart
Only the three of us because Shark was overseas then!
My first time at Genki Susi and I love it!!!
Finally trying it after many jios by May. Hahaha. Now I know why. But then, can only eat when you have the money. The prices are slightly steeper than Nihon Mura. I didn't remember having a lot of items but I spent close to $20 there. :O
I love the items I ordered, especially the Spicy Salmon and Spicy Tuna!
The sashimi in Spicy Salmon/Tuna were in chunks?? Then there were onions in them also. *salivates* The lastphoto I took of food at Genki Sushi that day because I was too hungry. Lol.
And their chawanmushi was nice too. The croquettes were not bad and came w kewpie mayo!
We then proceeded to Nunsaram to chill and then we were told that we had to wait up to 50mins - 1 hour for their bingsu. :O At first I thought I heard wrongly. I wasn't. We waited though, because TGIF!
We ordered Injeolmi Bingsu and Honey Toast like the previous time! Still loving the bingsu, but the Honey Toast was weird, they didn't use the chocolate sauce like the other time and the whipped cream was very jelak for me! May and Sourheart enjoyed it though!
Also took some videos, some credited to May! :)
We are not bullies okay!! Hahaha. And yes to more videos next time!
8 October 2015 - Dinner at JEM
Hahaha we are so boring forever meeting at the same place.
Our theme that day was Blue if you haven't guess it already! Hehe.
So yup, that concludes all the meetups I have to date with my fellow Hey Soul Sistaz that I have missed. This photo is so apt, it's like the slapping thing people do on TV to signify end of filming hahhaa.
We have been hanging out together since Secondary 3, 15 years ago?
That's about 8 years ago!! Gonna insert a cheesy cliche quote here:
"If a friendship lasts longer than 7 years, psychologists say it will last a lifetime."
Hope it will be so for us too. :)
And w that, I hope I will continue updating the Hey Soul Sistaz tag here everytime we meet up so that they won't accumulate again like now. Haha. Stay tuned for Part II!
