Opening of First 3 Stations of Thomson East-Coast Line

Today is the opening day of the first three stations of Thomson East-Coast line.  The first three stations are Woodlands North, Woodlands, and Woodlands South.  From 31 Jan to 2 Feb, 2020, the public can enjoy free travel among these 3 stations. 

I entered Woodlands Station and found a long tunnel to the entrance. 

The station design is very much similar to the circle line.  The station is spacious and well-lit.  During the free-travel period, you will find all the gantries show an X, just ignore that, as the gantries are open, you can just walk in, without tapping your fare card.

The platform is quite big as well.  I didn't do an actual count, but it seems like the length of the platform/train is comparable to that of North-East Line and East-West Line.  I think they have learnt a lesson from circle line and North-East Line.  The trains are too short on these two lines and the trains are always crowded during rush hours. 

The trains look very much like the new trains on NS/EW lines.  At the moment, the frequency is not very high.  It is about once every 7 minutes.  I hope they will increase the frequency when the entire line is open. 

I took the train to Woodlands North.  Woodlands North station has a modern design, and it is very spacious.  I went out of the station, but I was not too sure where I was.  There is nothing much outside.  Woodlands North has been planned as the connection point for the future MRT linking Singapore and Johor Bahru.  With the change of government in Malaysia, that probably will be a very very distant future project. 

Well, that's my experience on the first day of Thomson East-Coast Line.  There were not many people traveling on this line yet, but I hope with its opening, we will see more prosperity along the line. 

National Gallery of Singapore

National Gallery of Singapore, housed in the old supreme court and city hall buildings, had finally opened its door to welcome her first visitors in November.  It is after 10 long years of renovation and preparation work.  For a limited period, Singaporeans and PRs had the privilege to have free access to the galleries.

I managed to book my free tickets for the last day, 6 Dec, 10am - 2pm time slot.  We arrived at the gallery at around 10.10am.  There was already a queue, for ticket holders.

People queuing to enter NGS

Luckily the queue moved fast, we got into the gallery at around 10.30am.  I like the kind of Roman-Greek style of architecture, which shaped the city hall and supreme court buildings.  It really felt good with all the big stone columns, high ceilings, etc.

National Gallery is divided into four major sections, DBS, UOB, SingTel and Ng Teng Fong galleries.  Each gallery has further sub-galleries.  Overall, you have quite a lot of galleries, too much for a single visit, I must say.

UOB City Hall Courtyard

Concourse

The interior is spacious and modern.   I still remember when they came up with a few architecture proposals and asked Singaporeans to vote, I voted, and I also asked my friends to vote too.  I am happy that the proposal that I like is the one that was chosen, and that's what you see today.

NGS is specialized in the collection of South East Asian art work.  There are some gems in the collection.  One of them is a painting by famous Chinese painter Xu Beihong.

Painting by Xu Beihong

Xu Beihong's signature

Another one is a permanent gallery dedicated to Chinese contemporary painter Wu Guan-zhong.

Chinese Small Town by Wu Guan-zhong

Notre Dame by Wu Guan-zhong

There are also many paintings that are closer to our home, for example, old attap house.  This will bring back lots of good memories for our pioneer generation.

NGS is not just about paintings, the buildings are also part of an art heritage.  Look at these beautiful columns with Corinthian capitals, which were part of the former supreme court building.

Columns with Corinthian Capitals 

As NGS was just opened, there were many visitors on that Sunday, so it was a bit too crowded to enjoy all the art works.  However, I will definitely visit NGS again, when it is less crowded and have more time to enjoy the art works from our region.  And the good news is that NGS will continue to be free for all Singaporeans and PRs for the permanent galleries.

Song Fa Bak Kut Teh

Did some research on the internet for good Bak Kut Teh in Singapore, Song Fa appears to be one of them, so decided to give it a try on a Saturday afternoon.

I arrived at around 5pm.  The shop is at the corner of Upper Circular Road and New Bridge Road, directly opposite The Central shopping mall.  They recently opened a new shop just two shop space away, and it seems like the new place has air conditioning while the old one doesn't.

The service was very prompt.  Once I arrived, they ushered me in, took my orders.  Everything was very efficient.  At 5pm, the place was not very full, but by the time I left, the place was already completely full.  It seems like this shop has been featured in some tourist websites or guidebooks.  Many tourists came here, many of them seem to come from our neighboring Malaysia.

Premium Loin Ribs $9.50

Pig's Kidney Soup $6.50

 
My food came shortly.  They will present your bill when they serve the food, so better get your money ready :)

I ordered their premium loin ribs and pig's kidney soup.  The premium loin ribs were good.  The soup, as usual, had a taste of pepper, but it was not as strong.  At first, I was thinking probably Founder Bak Kut Teh and Song Fa were a tie in terms of the taste, but then later on, I think Song Fa is better in terms of after taste.  Song Fa's Bak Kut Teh gives you a lingering taste and keeps your mouth moist.   The loin ribs were fresh and tender.  You had the feel of really eating pork ribs, not some plastic.

The pig's kidney soup was a bit plain to the taste.  The good point was that the pig's kidneys were not over-cooked.  It retained the tenderness of the organ.

Overall, I think Song Fa is a nice place to meet your Bak Kut Teh cravings.

Founder Bah Kut Teh

Last week, I tried the famous Ng Ah Sio Bah Kut Teh, this week I decided to try its neighbor Founder Bah Kut Teh.

The place is now being run by the second generation.  They not only manage the place, they indeed come in to take your orders, and have direct interface with the customers.

We were there at around 12.45pm.  The place was almost full, but lucky there was still a table available in the outdoor area.

We ordered two combos, and a plate of choy sim.  The soup here also has a strong taste of pepper, but not as that at Ng Ah Sio.  In addition, there is also a lot less of MSG too.  This was evident that I didn't get thirsty later.  The meat was tender, this won my heart.

The Choy Sim with oyster sauce is a very simple dish, and I didn't have any expectation of it.  However, it came out quite impressive.  The choy sim was not just simply fried, I think.  I guessed they dip it in boiling water first, then fried it.  I liked it very much.

What else could be better to have Bah Kut Teh with a pot of Iron Kuanyin Tea?  They gave you really a lot of tea leaves.  It turned out a bit too strong for me.

Overall, I think it is pretty good.  It is a place where you can bring your foreign friends visiting Singapore to have a taste of this local delicacy.

Ng Ah Sio Pork Rib Soup Eating House

I saw this blog post about Ng Ah Sio Bah Kut Teh, so decided to give it a try on Sunday evening.  We arrived early at around 6pm, the place was not full, luckily.  The place has this old feeling, it is like the clock has been turned back to 60s or 70s in the last century.

Ordering is simple.  You just choose from their menu and indicate your orders on the order slip.  A wait staff will take your order slip and input to their computer system.  It is a place that looks old but with modern technology in use.

There are actually not many choices, so we decided to try their signature dishes, which are the spare rib soup and premium rib soup.  In addition, we also ordered a plate of lettuce.

The lettuce was not bad.  The spare rib soup and the premium rib soup are the same soup.  You will know when they refill your soup for free.  It was from the same pot :).  There was a distinctive strong taste of pepper in the soup and MSG.

Bornga @Star Vista

Had lunch at Bornga for Korean BBQ for the first at Star Vista.  We ordered Woo Sam Yeop, which is a thinly sliced beef, and Samgypupsal, which means pork belly in simple English :), 200g each.

I thought with 400g of meat for the two of us, it might not be sufficient to fill our stomachs.  However, I was surprised.  They gave us plenty of greens, lettuce, chili, etc. If you worry about a healthy diet, at least these greens will help lessen the whatever bad effects BBQ food will have on your body.

And quite a number of sauces and sides to go with our meat.

Here are the meats we ordered in their raw form.

WooSamYeop ($28.00 for 200g)

Samgypupsal ($22.00 for 200g)

Wondering how you are going to get the best of the meat?  Don't worry, the service staff will do the job for you.  The staff skillfully BBQ the meat for us.  The woosamyeop is just nice, one minute more will be too much, one minute less will be not fully cooked.


Compared with the woosamyeop, the pork belly is less impressive in its quality.  I don't know where they source their pork belly, the skin was quite tough, which tasted like rubber.

If you lose a bit of appetite for consuming too much meat, their seaweed soup is there for you to enhance your appetite.  It was a bit mix of sweet and sour.  After drinking it, your saliva will come back and you will feel like your stomach can take on much more :)  And there is no additional charge to this soup.

Last but not least, your finishing 'dessert'.  My friend said it had 5 different tastes, sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and ...?

In terms of service, the waiter who did the BBQ for us was good.  For the others, I think many of them are either very new, or just temp staff, so they are not as professional as they should be.  It is a common problem to almost all mid-class restaurants.  It is also a price we pay for the tighter immigration policy.

So Pho @NEX

Discovered this restaurant for Vietnamese food at NEX.  The name is interesting, So PHO.  PHO, as I understand it, is a Vietnamese word for noodle with soup.  It pronounces like 'far'.  That's the reason why they call the restaurant So PHO (far), and their menu says:  So PHO (far) so good!

The deco of the restaurant is mixed Chinese and Vietnamese.  The cultures of these two countries are inseparable.  Cultures always interact with each other, and influence each other.  It is never meaningful to forcefully exclude one particular culture out from another.

We ordered the summer spring roll with prawn and chicken to share.

Summer Spring Roll with Prawn & Chicken ($4.80)

I must say I like it very much.  The lemongrass brings out the freshness in the filling, which consists of rice noodle, cucumber, chicken and red pepper.  Dip it into the accompanying sour plum sauce, the taste is further enhanced, your taste buds are activated and ready for a good meal.

My main course is slice beef noodle soup.

Slice Beef Noodle Soup ($8.80)

Vietnamese beef noodle is famous for its clear soup.  The soup base is clear yet it still retains all the taste.  The beef is thinly sliced, and cooked by the heat of the soup itself.  The soup is spiced up with spring onion and onion.  And I put in the bean sprouts, lemongrass, and some chili.  All these healthy, natural spices make the soup more delicious, more enjoyable.

I would say it is one of the nicer places to enjoy Vietnamese food here in Singapore.

Carousel@Royal Plaza on Scotts - 2nd Visit

It was my second visit within half a year to this buffet restaurant.  As usual, they have a large spread of seafood.  Crayfish, prawns, flower crab, hairy crab, mussels, clams, snails.  There are too many choices.  No oyster or king crab, though.  That's reserved for the dinner crowds.

The Japanese corner has plenty of choices of sushi, sashimi and Japanese noodles such as soba for you to choose.

If you don't like raw food, or cold food, they have cooked food for you too.  For cooked food, you have the choice of western, Chinese,  and Indian.  My personal favorite is the cooked salmon.  The meat was tender, it really just melt in your mouth.

No buffet is complete without dessert.

You think you have seen all, they still have fruit stations, chocolate fondue, yogurt, salads, as well as choices of expressio, cappuccino, coffee and tea.

I think this buffet so far the best value for money buffet I have ever had in Singapore.  For a Monday lunch, the whole restaurant was full.  Luckily they designed their seating sensibly so you won't feel too cramped.  However, I did notice there was some deterioration of seafood quality compared with my last visit, which was a Saturday lunch.

There is a 10% discount to most of the credit cards, so basically you can save on your service charge.