Journey to Gold Coast! - Day 1

My flight touched down at Brisbane Airport at around 7 o'clock in the morning.  As I am holding a passport with an RFID, I went through their new immigration clearance system.  First, you insert your passport in a machine, the machine will automatically detect what language to display based on your passport.  You answer a few questions, then you will get a blue ticket.  Bring the blue ticket to the next station, insert it in the machine, face the camera and smile.  Voila, there you go.  You have got through your immigration clearance!  It is quite efficient.  Custom clearance is also a breeze.  No more dogs going around to poke at your luggage.

Brisbane Airport International Terminal

Train Station Platform

There is a train station right outside Brisbane Airport's international terminal.  Here, you can get your Go Card if you plan to use their public transport system.  You can find more information at their office website:  http://translink.com.au/.  They have a very useful journey planner at the site, which you can use to plan your trips in Brisbane and Gold Coast easily.  You can also download their app from Apple app store or Android store.

For Go Card, they have this concession that if you use the Go Card for 9 journeys, Monday to Sunday, all the remaining trips for the week is free.  Take note that it always starts from a Monday, and ends on a Sunday, not any 7-day period.

One journey is from point A to point B, regardless of intermediate transfers.  For example, if you go from point A to point B, stay at point B for an hour, then go from point B to point C, then it is considered to be 2 journeys.  If you go from point A to point B, then transfer to point C within 60 minutes, then your journey from point A to point C is considered as only one journey.

There is a AUD10.00 deposit for the card.  When you leave Queensland, you can refund the Go Card and get back your balance and the deposit.  It is quite cool!

There is a direct train service from Brisbane to Gold Coast's Nerang Station.  From Nerang Station, you can take local bus #740 to Surfers Paradise, which is the center of everything in Gold Coast.

Train Interior

Here I am inside the Gold Coast train.  It is quite modern and comfortable.  There is a toilet in the train too.  Very convenient for people who need to meet some bio needs.

My journey from Brisbane Airport to Surfers Paradise took about 1.5 hours.  The hotel I stayed is just 5 minutes walk from Bus 740's terminal station at Cypress Avenue.

The hotel room is very basic, nothing fancy to wow about.

But it does have a good view.

The most important point is its good location.  It is 5 minutes walk to Cavill tram station, 10 minutes walk to Surfers Paradise beach.  There are three supermarkets within 10 minutes walk for you to choose from, numerous shops and restaurants nearby.

In addition, there is a bus stop which is 30m away from the hotel where you can board bus TX2 to take you to Movie World and Wet 'n' Wild, TX3 to Dream World, and 705 to Sea World.  You really feel the world is at your finger tips.  100m away is the pier where you can board your Nerang River cruise.  Fantastic location!

Dinner was at Bavarian Haus, a German restaurant, said to be famous for pork knuckles.  The restaurant opens for dinner at 5.30pm, and we were there at 5.30pm.  We were told that the place was fully booked for the night.  However, they offered us a table till 6.30pm.

The deco in the restaurant is interesting, lots of beer mugs hanging in the ceiling.  By 7pm, the place was full, full of Asian tourists from China and Japan.

Crispy Pork Knuckles

The pork knuckle was huge.  If you don't have a big stomach, I really suggest you share it with at least one other person.

The skin was indeed very crispy.  You could hear it crack in your mouth.  The meat was a bit on the dry and hard side, and VERY salty!

Bavarian Haus Teller

We also ordered the Bavarian Haus Teller.  Don't really know what it means.  Basically it includes two types of German sausages, a piece of bacon and a pork steak.  The pork steak was the only item that was not very salty, and it was easy to eat!

Journey to Gold Coast!

I am going to use this post as the summary page to list all the related posts.  Please come back to check it out!

Day 1: Arrival
Day 2: Sea World
Day 3: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctury
Day 4: Skypoint Observation Deck
Day 5: Movie World
Day 6: Nerang River Cruise

Todai Seafood Buffet Lunch

When Todai opened first opened its door in Singapore's Marina Bay Sands, it was already a famous restaurant renowned for its seafood buffet, however, reviews from HungryGoWhere.com are mixed.  Half of the people like it, half don't.  So, anyway, I decided to give it a try for this Chinese New Year!

Todai was having an Alaska crab fest, and there were generous amount of Alaska crab legs.  For people who have never had Alaska crab before, it was not bad.  For people who have had Alaska crab before, especially in the states, the crabs are not as fresh, juicy and tasty as those in the states.

Other than crabs, there were also mussels, and baby octopus.

They have a large selection of Japanese cooked food, include octopus balls, miso sesamo, tempura, etc.

There is a large Sushi section as well.

If you don't like Japanese food, you can choose from Asian and western food.

Last but not least, dessert section.

Todai doesn't really have a very large set of selections for you to choose from, but still reasonable.  Their coffee is one weak link in the chain.  Their coffee kind of sucks.

If you pay by UOB credit card or make your reservation online, you will get a 10% discount.  After discount, the cost per person for a lunch buffet on a weekday is ~$45.  I will say you get what you pay for, not GOOD value for money but at least reasonable, especially considering that you get to eat Alaska crab legs.  

Esarn Thai Restaurant

We went for a walk in the morning on the Southern Ridges, and eventually came out near Pasir Panjang MRT station.  A Thai restaurant was just right there, so we decided to have Thai food for lunch.

We ordered a mixed vegetable and beef with basil leaves.

Thai food usually would not disappoint, and neither was this.  The mixed vegetable was nice, and in particular, they must have used some sauce unique to Thai food, as you don't usually have that kind of flavour with a bit hint of sour, which is very appetizing.

Beef was a bit hard, more chewy than tender.  It had a very hot flavor, you really got that 'punch'.  I guess that must be the effects of the basil leaves plus all the different kinds of chili that they used.  One mouthful you will feel hot air coming out right from your nose!

It was a delicious lunch worth mentioning!

Sela Restaurant@Seah Street

We were there on a hot Saturday morning, for their Sat Prosecco brunch at $48++.   The restaurant is tucked in a small shop space in the nostalgic Seah Street.  The decoration is simple yet still elegant, fits the modern European style well.

The first thing that came up was the Prosecco.  It is an Italian sparkling wine.   Forgive my poor knowledge of Italian wine, it was the first time I heard of it.  It tasted like white wine plus bubbles :)  The taste is not strong, very mild, more suitable for ladies, I think.  Prosecco is free flow, that's the beauty of this brunch.

As a European tradition, they served us some bread, to cure the hunger feeling in our stomach first.  The bread was really nice.  It was warm, crispy outside but soft inside, and it was the only food that was served warm for that day :(

Our first courses were seared scallop with bacon, etc.  and grilled asparagus with parma ham, etc.

I don't know why but both were served not hot, or warm, but lukewarm.  The scallop was at room temp, and didn't have the rich flavour they should.  Asparagus and mushroom were not bad, the parma ham was Ok, just a thin slice.

Our main courses were barramundi and tenderloin steak.

Again, both were just slightly warm.  I am not sure whether it was the restaurant's signature?  My friend's barramundi was hard, very hard.  I just tried one small piece and that was enough for me.

My tenderloin steak was actually not bad.  It was medium done, and it was tender, one of the more skillful medium done steaks I have had.  The only thing worth improving was I would like it to be served at a bit higher temperature.  I want to feel the warmth of my food.

My friend got a lemon tart as dessert.  Luckily I didn't make that choice.  It was so sweet that it was like the chef put a whole bottle of sugar in it.

My pudding was sweet too but it was more acceptable.

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.