Hummerstons is located at Fraser Place on 11 Unity St, tucked in the corner on the second floor. I had a hard time finding it at first because for some reason I thought it was inside UE square… but if you follow google maps correctly you would have no trouble getting there (turn right after you go up the escalator!)

The place has a great, airy ambiance. Perfect for a lazy sunday brunch / meal. There were quite a few patrons when we came in at 1:30pm, but not to the point where we had to wait for a table.

I loved Poutine so we got the classic Poutine to share. I was a bit disappointed though, since it was $13 and came in this teeny tiny portion. Plus the cheese wasn’t cheese curds!

I was STARVING since I had been out since 10AM, so I just had to go for the Hummerstons Brunch Burger (S$26). It was essentially a burger patty (served medium for me), lettuce, tomato, bacon, mushroom, cheese and sunny side up eggs. It was terrific and they got the “medium” part right which makes me a happy camper. The burger also came with this orangey sauce which I can’t recall the name, but it was so good I had to dip everything in it.

My friend Will got the Hummerstons breakfast. I forgot what’s in it, but the portion was huge!

Hummerstons Restaurant
11 Unity Street
#02-14 Robertson Walk
Tel: +65 6737 8863
Tue to Fri: 12pm – 4pm (Lunch)
Tue to Sun: 6pm – 12am (Dinner)
Sat, Sun & PH: 10am – 4pm (Brunch)

Snapped this pic while walking to Beer Market. HUUUGE 3D Heineken sign!

A snap of the beer market exchange ticker. Watch out as the price go high and low, I’ve seen beers go as high as $37.40 per bottle! But fret not as the market restarts after 30 mins. Click here for more info!

The place also sells a large variety of bar foods although I didn’t get any pic of it since I was hungry. I’m a huge fan of their cajun fries!! Ask them for cheese sauce on the side for extra yumminess!

Anyway for my birthday a bunch of work friend and I decided to check out Fika, a small Swedish cafe around Arab st. Really it was just an excuse to eat ;)

Loooove the ambiance of this place. There is also a second story which we didn’t get to check out (I heard it’s cozy and they even have couches!) as well as al fresco option outside along arab st.

Everyone that was present that day, plus 3 people who couldn’t fit into the picture. Thank you for coming!

Chilled traditional meatball open face sandwich – S$16.50

My coworker ordered this. I think it’s the creamy mushroom pasta + leek with smoked salmon.

Baked Cheesy Potato wedges - S$7.90 We got two of these to share across the table. I’m a huuuuuge fan of potatoes so I totally loved this. You can’t really go wrong with cheese and potatoes.

Swedish meatballs – S$17.50 – Also got two of these to share! although I think I ate most of it… at least I know I ate nearly ALL the potatoes!

Swedish Hash –  S$18.90 – my main dish! Yeah it was a total carbo overload for me that night… which was great because we went for drinks after at BluJazz and I would have definitely face planted on the bar if I didn’t eat beforehand.

So in addition to a great meal with great companion, I’ve also mastered the art of drinking without suffering from hangover the next day. I guess you do become wiser as you turn older ;)

Fika Swedish Cafe & Bistro
No.257 Beach Road / Arab Street, Singapore
(on the corner of Beach Road and Arab Street)
www.fikacafe.com 

That day, one of my closest work friend couldn’t make it to the dinner. I didn’t think much of it since we had plans for lunch later on anyway and I’m not that crazy about birthday celebrations, but the next day (on my actual birthday) I found out why – She was slaving away and baked me an ENTIRE cake that night! It was a total surprise as she brought out the cake in the office~

THANK YOU TULIKA!!! :) :)

The place was really small and unassuming. That seems to be the trend with all the great eateries in Europe isn’t it?

The place gives off a homely ambience. Waiters were also quick and very welcoming.

We both settled for Noix d’entrecote (I also had a glass of red), which is rib eye steak and totally affordable at €11.90. It came simply with pomme puree (mashed potatoes) which were superb!

We had to share our table with strangers, which we didn’t mind. A middle aged couple came by to sit with us and struck up a conversation, which was really nice! The wife shared with us a bit of insight to France since they both had been here multiple times before. She told us Parisian used to be rude back in the 80s, but now they had gotten a lot better.

So there you go, French people are not rude and I was satisfied with the meal ;)

Au Pied de Fouet
3, rue Saint Benoit
75006 Paris
www.aupieddefouet.com

58 Tour Eiffel is located at the first floor of Eiffel tower, which means you have to take the lift up. So, prior to going up to the restaurant, we had to line up to get our lift tickets. Makes it a bit hard if you’re planning to take a date up for a romantic dinner doesn’t it? Also, I find it ridiculous that you have to pay extra for the lift ticket, even though it was only €4.60, which I think should have been included in the dinner price. Given that we had to make reservation and there are only two time slots available (6:30pm and 9:00pm), they should have been able to anticipate how many people are coming at which time, and gave us our ticket in advance.

But I digress.

The restaurant itself was decent sized, but obviously you are paying for the view and the location of the restaurant. The tables are so packed close together that you can almost bump your elbows with the next table.

We reserved the Prix fixe opera menu for €67. we got a seat that was pretty close to the window and the service was excellent throughout the night, so I’m not going to complain futher :P

For the appetizer, I chose Smoked Salmon, Apple and Celery Remoulade. It was decent.

Braised veal, seasonal vegetables, stew sauce. I’m aware of the moral implication with consuming veal, but I figured I should give it a try once in my life.

It was tasty and the sauce goes well with the meat, but I don’t think I need to have veal again after this. Veal has this soft texture and delicate sweet taste. I think i much prefer the regular savory taste of beef.

This is serena’s main dish: Roasted chicken breast, salsifis and mushrooms, Albufera sauce

The 58′s Mont-Blanc. The dessert literally takes the cake here (heh). That swirly chocolate cream on the left? more like swirly chocolate heaven. The french knows how to do dessert, I’ll give it to them. Even three weeks later I still remember the taste…

That day it was mostly cloudy and very foggy, to the point that we couldn’t even see the top of Eiffel tower when we were walking on the ground floor. So we were pleasantly surprised when we walked out of dinner and saw that the fog has cleared up!

Gave us a chance to say good bye to the tower :)

First up, Ladurée. We went to their small bakery at Champ-Elysees. We got there around 7pm on a weekday, so the line wasn’t too bad (only about10 people ahead of us). I walked past it on a weekend later and the line snaked out of the bakery itself o_o

The bakery is pink and pastel green themed. So cute!

Each macaron was €1.85, and the price per boxes are listed above. Obviously you save more by buying it by the box.

For my first macaron in Paris, I chose Raspberry and Black Forest

Thin, egg shell-like cookies with creamy (but not overly sweet) filling. I pretty much fell in love on the first bite!! I knew that from then on, I couldn’t have macarons anywhere else other than Paris.

Next is Pierre Herme. We walked past one of their branch at 72 rue de bonaparte, just a few blocks north of Jardin du Luxembourg.

The street was filled with high end boutique stores and I almost walked past the Pierre Herme store because they blended right in with those stores! Except for the line that went out the door, I would have never guessed this store sells baked goods!

Rows and rows of fine chocolate

This picture was the only one I managed to take before they told me to put away my camera (oops). I almost drooled all over the counter. The cakes were all so pretty and so delicately made!

The price for each macaron was €1.95, making it just a tad more expensive than Laduree.

Truffle Blanche & Noisette – White truffle and hazelnut macaron. This was probably my favorite one out of them all. Not only do you get a strong taste of the white truffle, but the macaron also sparkles. how pretty is that??

Rose macaron – light and not overly sweet.

I happened to walk past Pierre Herme again while shopping at Galeria Lafayette, so I got two more:

Caraquillo – Chocolate and Coffee. Another one of the macarons that just sparkles

Cassis Berry – the jam filling was tangy and yummy

So in the end, which one do I prefer? It’s a tough call really. With Pierre Herme there is a sense of class, and obviously a lot of effort has been put into making and designing their macarons. The taste was also special. With each macaron, you wouldn’t say it was too sweet or too bland. It was just perfect. Laduree was a bit more playful and vibrant with their color and flavors.

In the end I opted to take back the 24 boxes home from Laduree for €36.30. I still can remember the sweet smell of these macarons when I opened the box… it was heavenly.

Just a note for those planning to take back macarons for friends and family back home: I had to hand carry these as the macarons are super delicate and definitely would not survive the trip home if I chucked the box into my luggage. I brought them on a 17 hour flight, then put them into the fridge right when I got home and they managed to maintain the freshness till the next day.

As soon as I got to the airport I shelled out some euros to get the Museum pass which was €35 for a two day pass – well worth it if you want to see a lot of things in Paris. I also recommend getting the Paris transportation pass since you’ll probably be using a lot of their metro.

I found out that the major train that was going to take me to the city – RER B – was on strike that day. The helpful girl at the tourist counter recommended me another route which involves taking the bus to Denfert Rochereau metro. I didn’t want to take taxi, so I took the bus option and it was the worst airport-to-city journey I had throughout the entire trip. We were packed into the bus like sardines (i guess because everyone had to take this bus), when I tried to get into the station my luggage almost couldn’t fit through the gate, and THEN the train into the city was so crowded that I was pushed against everyone with my big luggage.

But finally, I made it safely to our hostel – Plug-inn hostel at Blanche area.  This hostel was probably the most commercialized and expensive accommodation we paid, but Paris isn’t exactly a cheap city. I don’t mind the hostel much and it was located in a convenient area. It was also down the street from Moulin Rouge area, but it was actually not very sketchy.

Day 11 – November 9, 2011

Like most people visiting Paris, we were of course excited to see the Eiffel Tower! We were starving so we had a quick lunch at a chinese place down the street (we really missed asian food, you see) then took the metro down to Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel tower!! we gasped at the first sight of it. you’d never guess how excited we were to see this tall tower!

Jardin du Champ de Mars – so pretty with the yellowing trees around it

Hoping to be able to check out the summit of the tower that day, Serena and I got in line. To our dismay, the elevator decided to malfunction right when we get to the end of the line. One hour wasted and we were pissed. It was getting dark at 5pm, so we decided to just enjoy the city and walk to Champ-Elysees at the other side of Seine River.

But, halfway through Pont d’lena bridge, we looked back in awe as the Eiffel tower started to light up as the night fell. It was one of the most gorgeous sight of the entire trip! We were no longer pissed off.

Jardin du Trocadero, where we got a better view of the magical Eiffel Tower

After taking a million pictures, we continued to walk towards Arc du Triomphe, and onto Paris’ main shopping street – Champ-Elysees. I was VERY impressed by this street. It was big and very full of life and glittering with all kinds of high end stores. I see now why Paris time is shopping time!

Serena and I had our own agenda at Champ-Elysees. She wanted to check our Louis Vuitton, while I couldn’t wait to get my hands on some french macarons. They both happened to be close to each other so it all worked out well! We hit the Louis Vuitton store first, which was huge and extremely overrated but walked away empty handed as their collection was just not impressive. We continued to walk down the street, and I spotted the famous pastry shop Laduree! We quickly made our way into the small shop and was delighted that the line wasn’t too bad.

Click here for the post on macarons.

Tired from all the walking, we decided to call it a day and went home.

Day 12 – November 10, 2011

We were determined to get to the top of Eiffel Tower today, so we set out to the tower – bright and early. The elevator didn’t malfunction this time and we were able to get to the summit! The summit ticket costed us €13.40

The summit is tall. Very, very tall. Looking down was almost scary but we enjoyed our stay.

Paris was cold around this time. I’m glad I brought my coat!!

Satisfied with the tower, we made our way to Notre Dame de Paris, a gothic Catholic church at the heart of Paris built in the 12th century.

The front door was decorated with a statue of Jesus and the twelve apostles

Inside there was a small, intimate mass! No idea what it was for though.

From there we went to…

Musee du Louvre! It was actually within walking distance from Notre Dame but we had the metro pass so we took those instead :P I was slightly disappointed to find that there was no line at Louvre. I wanted to use my Paris Pass privilege!! ah well. We went straight inside and looked for Mona Lisa.

Finally! The painting was a lot smaller than I had expected, but there she was. I had to wade through a thick crowd to get a picture up close…

Venus de Milo, created on 100BC and is one of the most famous ancient Greek sculpture.

Louvre is a HUGE museum. Art lovers can spend hours, if not days, wading through this museum. Serena and I wasn’t exactly one of those people so we were in and out within two hours after checking out the must-see arts. We went to check out Jardin du Tuileries right outside of Louvre

Such a pretty and relaxed place. I looooved all the parks we went to in Europe!!

Louvre from afar

From this park, we took the train to another park – Jardin du Luxembourg, which has now become my favorite park!!

They had all these chairs instead of benches for people to sit in. Everyone just literally sat in circles, reading books or chatting with friends as they’re enjoying the beautiful weather!

So Serena and I followed suit, we sat on the chairs for awhile before moving on

Our next destination was about two blocks away the Pantheon

This Pantheon isn’t as old and full of history as the one we saw in Rome, but I was still impressed by how massive and beautiful it was

We were close to St. Sulpice, an area Serena wanted to check out for shopping and also home for my second macaron hunt: Pierre Herme. On the way there, we passed by Jardin du Luxembourg again and I went picture happy, again. The entire park was just too pretty to resist!

Amidst all the activity and excitement, I spotted this old couple slowly trotting through the park, arm in arm. I’m not sure if it was just the romantic atmosphere in Paris or what, but I was very touched by them. I hope to find someone I can share the same experience with, one day.

A few blocks down from the park, we found ourselves at Rue de Bonaparte – where one of Pierre Herme store is!

Read my entry on macarons here!

We were hoping for some cheap shopping at St. Sulpice, but it was actually the opposite. All the stores were high end boutiques and expensive! However, we stumbled into a Burberry store and Serena did stumble out with a new coat :P

We wanted to have dinner at a place my french friend recommended but it wasn’t open till 7:30 so we walked to Musee d’Orsay nearby. I was hoping to see Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night, but as soon as we got there I found out the painting was currently on loan… in, get this, Singapore. of ALL the countries and time! The good thing is I can still see it as it will be here till Feb 5.

I did enjoy the rest of Orsay very much though. We got to check out Van Gogh’s other works, as well as various works by Claude Monet I had previously learned about. I much preferred Orsay compared to Louvre!

Afterwards we went back to Rue Saint Benoit for french dinner at Au Pied de Fouet, and went home.

Day 13 – November 11, 2011

We woke up bright and early again to the place I looked forward the most. I was a french revolution geek growing up, so I was extremely excited to visit Versailles!

It was located about an hour away from Paris and we took the train to get there.

On the way to Chateau de Versailles. How pretty is this?

The gates outside were entirely painted in gold.

Chateau de Versailles – a beautiful palace where three generations of French monarch lived – Louis XIV to XVI (and his famous queen Marie Antoinette) lived. Upon entering the palace, we were given an audio tour guide which was very helpful. I still can’t believe I was at the very site where Marie Antoinette tried to escape during the beginning of French Revolution!

And get this, this is the backyard of the palace. a freaking forest. No big deal!

We started making our way to Petit Trianon, which took about 15 minutes by foot.

From Petit Trianon, we also tried to check out Marie Antoinette’s estate but it was just too cold outside and the park was way too big! so we saw what we could and made our way back to the palace.

The entire Versailles trip took half a day. When we got back to the city, we went straight back to Champ-Elysees to check out Arc du Triomphe.

Nice view of Champ-Elysees from the top of the arc. We were also up there at the right time and got to witness Eiffel tower’s mini light show. Apparently every hour right on the dot, the Eiffel Tower begins to glitter for about 5 minutes.

From there, we went back to our hostel to prepare ourselves for tonight’s dinner at Eiffel Tower!!

Click here for my post on dinner at 58 Tour Eiffel.

Good bye Eiffel tower.

Day 14 – November 12, 2011

We don’t have much to do that day so we slept in and only went out at noon. It also marks my last day in Europe :( I fly out at 9pm that day and Serena flies out at 8am the next day… the whole day we kept saying how much fun the trip has been and how we can’t believe we had to come back home!!

Visited yet another point point chinese food place.. ok, i guess in a way we’re also glad to be coming back home…

They had Sriracha!!

We decided to stop by Sacre Coeur since it’s only 10 minutes away from our hostel.

Our share of morning cardio…

Best decision ever. Sacre Coeur is located on top of a hill, overlooking Paris. the weather was beautiful that day and we got to sit on the steps for awhile, people watching and just enjoying the view of paris.

The small square opposite of Sacre Coeur, Square Louise Michel.

We decided to finally go for a real Paris shopping trip at Galeries Lafayette

Galeries Lafayette is a famous shopping place. It has all the high end brands house in one single mall! The place was also invaded by Asian people, us being two of them… You know it’s a good deal when there are asians around :P

Not sure if you can tell, but the mannequins on top are tiny models of the actual clothes! i thought it was soooo cute…

My loot of the day – a miu miu wallet for my sister. I got it in a very miu miu color – the pink Mughetto! it was also a great deal since I got it for €310. They retail for US$400 in america and S$660 in singapore, so we saved a few bucks :P

The man was drawn entirely in crayons!

Stopped by laduree to buy a box of 24 macarons for my coworkers. OMG just remembering the heavenly smell of these makes me want to cry T_T

Right after that, we went straight back to the hostel and waited for my shuttle bus to come pick me up at around 7pm. I decided against taking the train with my big luggage, so we booked a shuttle to the airport which costed €20.

Good bye europe… This whole trip has just been amazing and such an eye opener for me. It was definitely a top 3 moment i my entire life thus far!! I will be back some day..

Emirates have pretty decent in flight meal :)

I searched online and found that the best bistecca are at Trattoria Sostanza, so we made our way to Via della Porcelana for lunch.

For a place that was so largely talked about on the internet, it was rather small and unassuming. I almost missed the place! We got there 15 minutes after noon and the place only opens at 12:30 for lunch, so we waited outside for it to open. The waiter was kind enough to let us wait inside and seated us promptly at 12:30.

Inside was small and cozy, just as modest as it is outside. Sostanza is a 100 year old restaurant and you immediately get the feeling that they kept their tradition closely. For one they still don’t accept credit card (so cash only) and the menu were handwritten:

We knew what we came for: Bistecca alla Fiorentina and Petti di pollo al burro (Chicken with butter sauce). We ordered those with a glass of red wine (water for Serena) and shared a side dish of spinach and garlic. Not more than ten minutes later it was served:

Bistecca alla Fiorentina (€25), all 500gr glory of it. Plain and simple. Many reviews insisted to have it rare, but I ordered medium rare because I’m just not brave enough to deal with the blood…

Yup, medium rare is just enough amount of rare-ness to me. The beef was crspy on the outside, yet tender and extremely juicy on the inside. My mouth is watering right now writing this blog and I really wish I can have this steak RIGHT NOW.

Serena’s Petti di Pollo al Burro (€15) – roughly translated as chicken in butter, this dish was highly recommended online and I can see why. First bite and you know you’ll never have chicken the same anywhere else.

Spinach sauteed with garlic and oil. Even this was melt-in-your-mouth good! we polished every last strand of it.

If you’re ever in Florence, do make Sostanza part of your culinary visits. The price for my meal was around €35 after the wine and spinach. I’ve had steak more expensive than this and they were nowhere near as memorable as Sostanza. Well worth it I say!

Trattoria Sostanza (Il Troia)
Via Porcellana, 25/r, Florence, Italy
Closed on Sundays. Cash only.

Cheap white house wine! Came in a cute jug too!

For starters, we shared an eggplant with mozarella and tomato sauce. We had our doubts with the restaurant because it was pretty empty when we first got there at 7pm, but whatever doubt we had was immediately forgotten once we tasted this dish. It was really good!

Simple mozarella and ham pizza. You can’t go wrong with this, and they didn’t.

Bacon with truffle oil linguine – the star of the night if you ask me. I didn’t expect it to be so good, but it was really, really good. Probably one of the best pastas I’ve ever had, ever. They were generous with the bacon and definitely did not hold back the truffle oil.

La Focaccia is located pretty central at the heart of rome (close to Pantheon and Piazza Navona), so it’s easy to get to. And you definitely should, while in Rome.

La Focaccia
Via della Pace, 11 00186 Roma, Italy

Serena and I met up with my friend Christina for dinner. Christina lives in Madrid, so she knew where to go and took us to La Barraca, one of the top places to have Paella in Madrid. We had no idea what to order so Christina also took care of that (and speaking in Spanish too!). I went to their website and managed to find what we got:

Home Made Pate with Oporto (€6.80). This was interesting as I’ve never had it before. Pate is… some sort of meat spread. It’s a mix of meat and fat done such that it can be spread on bread, and that’s how you eat them. I thought the taste was rather interesting!

Tosta de Lomos de Anchoa con Tomate - Anchovies with Fresh Tomatoes on Toast (€4.50). I like this one! It’s like bruschetta with anchovies on top.

Valencian Paella - Chicken, Rabbit, White and Green Beans (€13.30 per person)

In La Barraca you can’t order Paella just for one person (minimum order is two), so we all had to share the same Paella. Since serena and I don’t really like seafood, we had the safest bet instead – Valencian paella with chicken and rabbit. I’ve never had rabbit before and was surprised to find they taste very similar to chicken, but sweeter and more tender

The paella was really tasty and was given in a very, VERY large portion. In fact, before serving us the paella, our water came out holding a huge pan of Paella. I regret not taking a picture of that :/ Then the waiter disappeared back into the kitchen and came out holding three plates of evenly divided paellas – and that was our meal. And what a pleasant meal that was!

La Barraca is located close to Gran Via, so I don’t see why you can’t make a stop here while you’re in Madrid!

La Barraca
C/ DE LA REINA, 29 28004 Madrid, Spain