Our last 2 days in Phuket were spent mostly at Kamala, getting massages and mucking around on the beach. But we did make our way to Patong for dinner and some shopping at night. Nat had arrived a night earlier than the rest of us and she was thoroughly impressed with this Pizzeria which was opposite the hotel she stayed at, so we decided to check it out too.
The first promising sign was the woodfire oven, and then finding out that the owners were Italians from Naples. They had to know their Pizza.
Some shots of Jonelle, Nat and Sherry as we were waiting for the Pizzas.
And here we go… The Pizzas!!!
I really can’t tell you how good the Pizzas were, except that we actually went back there the night after just before we left for the airport. If you happen to be going to Patong, you NEED to visit this place.
Pizzeria La Capannina
Soi Nani 2 Patong
Tel: 084-8406070
After dinner, we walked down the road towards the main streets and found a whole bunch of street market food stalls. Needless to say, we overate that night.
I just love this pic below. Just seemed to capture the moment at the bbq meat stall. I’m guessing this was the look on our faces too at that moment.
It wasn’t long before we found the infamous banana prata stall too. If you haven’t heard, it’s just like banana prata but cooked with too much oil and butter, then served with chocolate sauce and condensed milk on top. Heart attack on a plate but so good.
I liked this shot too. This little guy ran through the crowd right up to this stall in front of me and paid for some cockles. Snapped this shot without looking through the camera.
Everyone doing the Tham face.
Sherry at the Hello Kitty stall. Seriously, everything in the stall was pink and hello kitty… it was too much even for Sherry.
Some last shots of the beach at Kamala before we left for the Pizzeria and then to the airport. Sadly, I couldn’t catch a really nice sunset.
Lastly, this is Chani. She’s the General Manager of Kamala Beachfront Apartments where we stayed. The service she provided was simply astounding. She made the trip very easy and seamless for all of us. It’s really hard to come by such service these days. Really grateful for her help in so many things.
Can’t believe it’s been a week since we were in Phuket.
Last Sunday, we woke up at 6:45am to catch the 7:30am minivan for our phi phi island tour. Quite an incredulous hour to wake up at considering how much some of us really needed sleep on a holiday.
We reached the Phuket Royal Marina around 9am after picking up some other people from different hotels. The tour guide was extremely entertaining albeit stereotypical effeminate, flamboyant Thai man. Joel also pointed out that after hearing this guy speak, you can appreciate how accurate Chua En Lai’s Thai accent is in The Noose.
The first island wasn’t planned but apparently our tour boat had to be changed due to engine problems. So we stayed at this place for about an hour which was a bit longer than desired. Still, it was pretty sight to behold.
Geoff, Dani and Joel on the boat as we were leaving the first island.
Our second destination was Maya Bay. It took about 40 mins to reach this place by boat so we were all kind of asleep by the time we got there. Certainly something you’d be very happy to wake up seeing.
We dropped by a couple of other places but I didn’t take pictures because I was in the water most of the time. 2pm, we were starving from not having had breakfast and we arrived at the main Phi Phi island itself for lunch.
Photo of the people gathering round a booth our tour guides set up on the beach. They were selling pictures of plates with our photos on them. The thing about Phuket is that it tends to be overly touristy and so you’ll definitely get plenty of tourist traps and things you definitely know is a waste of your money, and yet the whole experience just draws you into wanting to participate in the scam.
No. I did not buy the plate.
We went snorkelling just off Phi Phi island after lunch. Fortunately, we didn’t have any merlions. We joked how scary it would be to see someone’s lunch in the water.
Last island, Bamboo island. It didn’t have any bamboo as far as we could tell.
We got back to the Royal Marina around 5pm. We were all pretty much completely spent, so we had dinner the moment we got back to our apartment and turned in early. I wasn’t feeling too well at this point so I definitely knew my body was telling me to rest.
Time to break the silence with a looonnnnnggggg update.
I went to Phuket with some of my small group mates from Saturday to Tuesday. It was a pretty good trip even though I only had 2 hours of sleep the night before we left, our flight to Phuket got delayed, my All Blacks jersey and spectacles got washed away on the very first day out at the beach and I fell sick on Sunday night. Yeah despite all that, I still enjoyed myself. Good company being the chief reason.
We didn’t stay at Patong itself because we wanted somewhere quieter. Hence we decided to stay at Kamala which is slightly north of Patong. And it only took us 15 minutes to travel to Patong by taxi.
View from our apartment balcony…
This is what the apartment looked like. had two of these for 8 of us. It was pretty awesome accommodation for the price we were paying.
We didn’t stay in the apartment too long. Most of us were starving by the time we touched down at the airport. So we just walked down the beach a bit till we found food that looked appealing. Interestingly, we also found that most things had Russian translation. I guess they must have a lot of Russian tourists.
Sherry doing her Tsunami man impression
We were rather amazed they had such nice flowers where we had lunch but on closer inspection, we realized they were fake and just tied to the tree with green twine.
At the restaurant waiting for the food…
Our first meal in Phuket was a tad expensive but we later realized that you can’t expect dirt cheap prices in this area because it’s catered for tourists. It wasn’t crazily expensive but it’s close to how much you would pay for a similar meal in Singapore. If we wanted cheap and tasty, we’d have to look for the street food in Patong.
Anyway, we ordered the regular thai fare…
After the meal we dropped by the local convenience store to buy bottled water. Found this little guy napping on the store counter. It totally reflected how we felt too at that moment.
But we didn’t nap… not when the beach was waiting for us. we went out to soak up the sun and play in the waves (this was also where I lost my spectacles and jersey to the sea)
That also kinda determined that we had to go to Patong that night to get contact lenses for me if not I’ll be walking into walls for quite awhile. Some shots we took before leaving our apartment. Took these without my specs amazingly.
Us walking down Patong. It was only later that we realized this street was the red light district in Patong. We were all very hungry but it was hard to decide on where to eat. Ended up at another seafood place that served mediocre and overpriced tourist food. If only we had waited an hour more for the street stores to open. Oh well…
That’s it for Day 1…
Sherry and I made it down to Strangers’ Reunion today. Perfect timing because i’ve always wanted to go there but they never really sold anything other than pastries and coffee until about a week ago when they released their sandwich menu. It’s not a full fledged food menu but it’s good enough to get me off my lazy bum.
The entrance wasn’t very striking. I actually walked past it while I was getting my camera out of my bag, then the smell of coffee hit me and I turned around. Sherry got lost finding this place too.
My first impression was that it felt very similar to The Plain at Craig Road. The counter and decor for one was quite similar. Also, their main focus is of course the coffee rather than the food. Hence, the minimalist menu of pastries and sandwiches. But I have to say, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Not at all.
Once Sherry arrived, we decided on a Salmon Sandwich ($9.00), a Roast Pork Sandwich ($9.50), a Cappuccino ($4.90), a Latte ($4.90) and a Red Velvet Cupcake ($4.00).
The Red Velvet came first, which was a bit strange considering we were having the sandwiches. But oh well, it’s not something I would kick up a fuss about and it’s not like it was melting. As for how it tasted, it wasn’t extraordinary but I’d order it again the next time I go if I could share the calories with someone else.
The coffee certainly was the highlight of everything. I can’t describe it honestly. You just have to go try it for yourself. To be clear, that’s not an option. If you like coffee, you definitely need to come here and have a cup.
Sherry’s Latte and her “kawaii” handbag. She also had the salmon sandwich, which is not worth it in my opinion. Didn’t include the picture but it’s just plain wholemeal bread with cream cheese, capers and smoked salmon. I’d give it a miss the next time.
The Roast Pork Sandwich on the other hand was very interesting and worth trying. It’s essentially Siew Yoke, cucumbers, pickled carrots and a bit of chili in a baguette. The baguette was a bit hard but didn’t end up scraping your mouth like sandwiches back at five and dime.
Without a question, Strangers’ Reunion is worth going to. I hope they add more to their menu sometime soon. Right now, I’d still rate Selfish Gene and Maison Ikkoku at the top of my list but that’s just because I love food more than coffee. Strangers’ Reunion doesn’t fall too far away from those two. I’m just hoping they’ll ramp up their food menu a bit.
Strangers’ Reunion
Walking distance from Outram Park MRT. Take the Police Centre exit.
Cappuccino on Flickr.
Cappuccino @ Maison Ikkoku.
The coffee here does not disappoint. not one bit.
Smoked Salmon Sandwich on Flickr.
Smoked Salmon Sandwich from Maison Ikkoku. Not as memorable as the Beef Sandwich but good nonetheless
Spent my day off with my cousins on Monday and we decided on having lunch at Five and Dime since we were pretty nearby. I’ve heard mixed reviews about the place so I didn’t exactly have very high hopes for it. The good first: It’s quite easy to find along River Valley Road. It has free parking for its patrons. The decor is really nice and there’s plenty of natural light. Decent service.
Onto the food…
Starters: Steph, Jon and I shared a Pumpkin Curry Soup and a Duck Salad. These were decent. The soup wasn’t extraordinary… My mom definitely makes better pumpkin soup but this was passable. The duck salad had a really nice sesame dressing and the duck itself was very tender.
But that’s about all there was good about this place.It’s all downhill from here.
Prices were exorbitant for what we were getting. I was so disappointed by the end of the meal that I completely forgot to take note of the dish names and their prices. Jon and I ordered the sandwiches. There was absolutely nothing good about them. It was bland and i’m very certain I could put together something much much better at home with ingredients straight out of the fridge. The toasted bread scraped the top and bottom of your mouth, making for a very unpleasant experience.
Steph’s mentaiko spaghetti was alright according to her, but I would not pay $22 for such a small and simple pasta (no meat or vegetables whatsoever). You’re much better off heading to Spaghetti Goemon at 313 Somerset or City Link Mall.
Granted, perhaps Monday Lunch is not the best time to visit Five and Dime because their Lunch Menu is much smaller than their Dinner and Weekend Menus. Still, it’s rather appalling they’re willing to serve these dishes at such crazy prices to their customers. Another thing to note is that the spaghetti and sandwiches were the only things on their lunch menu so we couldn’t have ordered anything else that might have been better.
I’m not going to include an address or website link below because in all honesty, I felt it wasn’t worth going to Five and Dime. Unless you have a wad of cash to burn on a weekend and you absolutely love places with nice decor, i’d say stay away.
This is the kind of thing you get into trouble for when you post it at midnight.
Cynthia’s final dinner before officially leaving for downunder… she made burgers and siobak. nomnomnom
There we go… enjoy the late night food craving salivation. I sure could use a nice steak now…
Ikkousha Ramen on Flickr.
I think Ikkousha was voted #1 at Ramen Champion recently. I liked it but some friends complain it’s a tad too salty.
Ikkousha Ramen on Flickr.
I think Ikkousha was voted #1 at Ramen Champion recently. I liked it but some friends complain it’s a tad too salty.
