Newly located at JEM's quiet corner in level 1 is Danro Collagen Hotpot Buffet by MOF. I've always seen people posting photos of collagen hotpot on their Instagram and Facebook raving about how amazing this beauty pot is, but have never once gotten the chance to try it because of work and many other commitments.

But yesterday, I've finally gotten a chance to try out Danro's Collagen Hotpot Buffet over at JEM because there's no work, no shoot, no school. Woohooooo! Can't remember the last time I got to come out and enjoy myself like that.... ANYWAY!

Thank you so much MOF for inviting me over to try out your new restaurant!


Hidden away at an extremely cosy corner, the restaurant has space enough for up to 70 pax during their peak hour. They also have enough space for their customers to walk around to get their food, unlike your usual hotpot restaurant where you got to squeeze through many tables, perspiring and sweating away in that hot and humid space while having your food... Gah, another reason why I don't like to go steamboat with my friends.


Call my a mountain tortoise, but it is my very first time being able to have hotpot in an air-conditioned space, without feeling hot asf, and heading home smelling like I just got myself BBQ-ed. Hahahahhahaa

Comfortable dining environment, definitely a plus point!


Not forgetting the amazing sauces.


What is hotpot without sauces right? My favorite is their peanut sauce with garlic and chili padi!! That's Kimmy's favorite too!


Free flow of soft drinks and green tea for you. Of course, they have beer and Japanese sake for you with a top up of a few more dollars! Just order it from the friendly waiters around!


Over at Danro Collagen Hotpot Buffet, they serve 4 different type of soup bases.

1 Garlic Pork Collagen
2 Garlic Pork Spicy Collagen
3 Chicken Collagen
4 Chicken Spicy Collagen

I took the Garlic Pork Spicy Collagen and Chicken Collagen. Being a fan of spicy food, I thought I would prefer the Garlic Pork Spicy Collagen more... but I ended up having the Chicken Collagen more instead, and Kimmy finishing up the Garlic Pork Spicy Collagen soup hahahaha.


They serve premium pork, chicken, beef, and prawns there! All you have to do is let the staff know your choice of meat, and you can enjoy unlimited amount of it for a set dining period! Prawns are only served during dinner, so bear in mind, if you want to enjoy the prawns, don't go during lunch time!



Meanwhile, to celebrate their opening in JEM, Danro by MOF has generously offered 50 1-for-1 dining voucher at their JEM outlet, specially for my followers/readers. In order to participate, simply comment your name and email in the comment section, or PM me on my Facebook and I will get back to you shortly!

Due to the extremely tight redemption period, the name will be sent in on Monday, 19th December 2016.
While stock lasts everyone. Thank you for popping by!

We popped by Stranger's Reunion and had a late lunch there. Yes, after postponing the trip there for so long, I finally got to drop by and try out their amazing all-day breakfast/lunch.


Do I need to mention again that the food is a-maz-ing? Hahahahaha

Wanted to chill there a little longer but we had other plans so we had to head off after a while. It was a nice experience though. I love the food there, but I heard they will be closed for a while to undergo some renovation. Guess I can look forward to a whole new concept of Stranger's Reunion at the end of the year now!

Update again soon! Xx

Salted Milk: Made using Nuchi Masu salt. Seawater is drawn off the coast of Miyagi Island. This sea salt contain high in minerals and it can accentuated the creaminess of the milk flavor.
Shikuwasa Sorbert: Made in Ogimi Village. The tangy sweetness of the green fruit is surprising refreshing and fruity.
Purple Sweet Potato: From Yomitan villange and Miyako island. The purple sweet potato is made into velvety paste before blending into the gelato. The overall taste combined a mild sweetness and intense potato “punch”.
Okinawa Tofu: Made in Nanho city. Okinawan tofu, being extremely high in protein, is often referred to as “longevity food”. The overall gelao is gently rich with Okinawa soyabeans.
Black/Red Tea: Made in Kunigami Village. A unique Okinawa tea leaves from Inzatsu Assam variety offer an full aroma character.
Brown Sugar: Made in Tarama Village. This gelato offer a sweetness with a complex, mineral-rich finish.
Meyer Lemon Yogurt: Meyer Lemon is a natural hybrid of lemon and orange. We made this into a unique yogurt as a suitable alternative after heavy dinner.
Matcha: Using tea leaves from Shizouka Prefecture, this gelato has intense yet slightly bitter after-taste. Great for matcha lover who is looking for the real matcha “punch”.
Cheese: Made in Ishigaki Island using milk from Jersey cows. It’s mild, yet refined.

They had a pop up store going on @ Raffles Xchange last week, offering 8 of the 9 flavors available. My personal favorite was the Tofu and Salted Milk one because they're not too sweet, and the Okinawa Tofu one was simply amazing. I could taste the light flavoring of the milk used to make this gelato, at the same time a slight sweet tinge of lingering soy taste.

For tea lovers, you'll definitely love the Black/Red Tea and Macha flavor because the tea taste is extremely strong. Unlike your usual ice cream, which has a stronger cream taste instead of flavoring, the Okinawa Gelato will overwhelm your taste buds with their exotic flavoring.


Fun fact: Okinawa Gelato has only 5% fat in their gelatos! Comparing to your normal ice creams which contains 15% - 30% fats, the Okinawa Gelato is a much healthier choice; made from milk instead of heavy cream!

They also have Meyer Lemon Yogurt and Shikuwasa(Lime) Sobert, not exactly my favorite because it is really really sour. The taste does gets sweeter as you go on finishing the entire cup though! So my suggestion is have a cup of Lime/Lemon for dessert after a hearty meal. It'll definitely hit the spot!

And here's one for people who loves Salted Caramel. Nope, they don't have salted caramel here but they do have the Salted Milk flavor! I really love it because it first tastes like milk gelato, but then there is this sea salt after taste quickly following suit and fill up your entire palate. Like salted caramel, sweetness first, follow up the saltiness to balance out the taste. Making you want more and more of it! That is, if you are a salt person.. (If that ever make sense.)

My mom's favorite was the Japanese Purple Sweet Potato Gelato. She thought it was taro initially hahaha. Unlike what the name says, the sweet potato isn't as sweet as you think it is. It has mild sweetness in it, but you could also taste the freshness of the ingredients used to make these gelato. But I must say, it is really weird to taste Japanese Purple Sweet Potato cold. I mean, we've always ate it hot during cold weather. Now they have another use for the sweet potatos! Hahaha.

Surprisingly though, the Brown Sugar flavor isn't as sweet as I thought it would be. Unlike your usual Gula Melaka, the Okinawa Brown Sugar Gelato brings a little bit of herb taste along with it. Gula Melaka also has this weird herb taste but then it is extremely sweet and I am not a fan of sweet stuff. Thankfully Okinawa Brown Sugar Gelato tasted just right. (Too many flavors so spoilt for choice, thank goodness they only have 9 for now, hahaha)

Last but not least, is the Cream Cheese Gelato. A pity they don't have it on sale this time round because I am sure all cheese lovers would love the Cream Cheese Gelato. Imagine having frozen Hokkaido Cheese cake.... How amazing, right?!!

The Okinawa Gelato will return this coming mid August, with many more different flavors for you guys to try out. They will also expand into a physical store soon enough, do keep a look out!


PS: They are also looking for franchising, you can contact them @ okinawagelato@gmail.com if you are interested!

If you wanna get yourself some Okinawa goodness, don't forget to show them some support on their Instagram: @okinawagelato. Stay tune to their updates, and drop by the next time they're back!

Disclaimer: Never thought I'd write a review so brutally honest, but since you guys requested for legit honest review because the queue is so long and you guys wanted to see if it's worth it then........ HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY, ALL IN OR NOTHING.

All that hype since the opening day last week, but I haven't exactly got myself a chance to sit down and dine in over at Pokemon Cafe. (Yes, I managed some photos from the opening day if you are actually following me on Instagram!) Thankfully, last Saturday I had a couple of friends who were really ON about it and went to queue really early for us! They started queueing at 9:30AM, and we finally got a seat for 6 people at approx. 12PM.


Despite the really small and cramp area, I must say they have pretty good crowd control and ambience. At least the diners weren't rowdy, and the cafe isn't in a mess. Sure the waiters are a tat bit slow with cleaning up, but that's okay. It wasn't too much of an issue, to be honest. The real issue is how the space constraints kinda caused many people to share a table with strangers. How awkward would it be if it just so happen the people you're sharing with is a pair of super lovey-dovey couple...

"Laiiiii darling, ahhhhhhhh~~~~~"

HAHAHAHHAHAA


Luckily we got a table to ourselves because our group isn't small enough to share a table with other customers, 8)
They don't have much Pokemon themed cutleries or interior. So I guess the only thing you can really camwhore with is their food.

It was photos after that since the food was taking a while. The cafe has this really tiny "photobooth" for you to snap some photos with their props, but sadly, the staff who took the group photo for us was terrible. The photos turned out blurred and all, so we ended up taking selfies instead, :/


Just kidding, I love Charmander okay. It's like my favorite starter. Whatever I do, I do it with Charmander.
Anyway, we spent so much time taking photo, I forgot we were supposed to dine there. The food took around 30 minutes to come. Glad they served me the latte first tho!


The Iced Latte is really good. I read some reviews online and everyone was saying how bitter it is. Probably because I am a fan of coffee, it actually tasted just right. With that said, I also saw photos online showing a terribly powdered Pikachu face. I guess I am pretty lucky I got a nice, (and cute one at that) right here, hahahaha. Kudos to the barista!

The food though, was a total disappointment.

All photos are raw unless stated.


I ordered a Smiling Pikachu Omelette Rice for myself because when you order the Omurice, you get to bring home the Pokeball Mug. You know my Omurice was served cold and dry? I was so sad. Not the undercook kind of dry, but more of a it-has-been-left-in-the-open for quite a while kind of dry. I had to ask for extra curry sauce to be able to swallow the rice.

Did not touch the salad because the veg doesn't look fresh at all......

Ah well, I'm just paying for the mug.


The Magma sauce given was also quite minimal. It wasn't enough to fill up the whole plate of rice. But hey, the Magma sauce actually tasted quite good! Like non-spicy laksa,


I wanted to order this initially, but I will not get my pokeball mug if I do, :( So Desmond ordered it instead, so we can share hehehehe.
I saw the menu, and those black stuff on the bun are actually supposed to be a printing of Pikachu. No idea what went wrong there, I can't even make out a Pikachu from that black stuff. It honestly looked like mouldy bread.


On the other hand, salad served right next to a grill pan. Hmm......

I did not try the bolognese because the boys said it tasted sour. Hahahaha, I did take a little bit of the egg white tho! That Pokeball is made of egg white, with ketchup filling the red side of the Pokeball!


Basically, Blue Fizzy Drink. Tastes like Ice-cream soda, but take away the creamy taste. I heard it was $8, and you don't get to keep the bottle. Now it's $11, but you get to keep the bottle. That extra $3 for a bottle with just a piece of paper label stuck on with double sided tape... Idk man, you judge.


Then again, it feels as if they simply replaced the sorbet on top. Notice that same piece of withered leaf and the placement of the fruits there?

Ugh.

y u still so half ass

Didn't try it tho. The first one turned me off so bad, I cannot....


Can the fingerprint be any less obvious? :/
Moving on, the pancake that made us wait for close to an hour finally arrived. Everyone's almost done with their food by now, and Ryan and Kimmy's pancake finally arrived!


I don't know man, I wasn't the one eating those but they sure as hell didn't like it because it was too cold, and dry. Ryan could barely mouth his pancakes but he swallowed it down anyway because it's freaking $20.

Whereas poor Kimmy received the pancake with hair in it. Not sure if you could see it, but I'd zoom it in for you anyway.


Naturally when you visit a themed cafe, and is paying so much for the food, you'd expect at least the most minimum hygiene measures taken, right? So Kimmy decided to inform the staff that there's hair in the pancakes so they would be extra careful with their next order. But well, because the staff was really nice, she decided to replace the pancakes for him.

So she came back within 2 minutes with a new plate... (Like how the heck, because we waited for the first plate for close to an hour but she just BAM! came with a new plate of pancake magically in 2 minutes, wow.) And SURPRISE! The pancake felt just like my Omurice... It felt like it-has-been-left-in-the-open for quite a while kind of cold and dry. How disappointing...

So Kimmy went to that same staff personally to tell her about the issue, and he was informed that, Pancakes takes time to decorate, thus it is cold. If we wanted warm pancakes, we will have to wait 2 hours for it. Pretty dang infuriated by that statement, to be honest. She very nicely exchanged the pancakes for us again anyway, though. Thought we gonna wait 2 hours for it, and wanted to refuse but she rushed away. Okay so we waited.

Then here comes Pancake 3 in 5 minutes. Amazingly, 5 minutes.
Of course it was nice and warm! And looked really presentable;

NOTE*: Warm pancakes can be decorated and served within 5 minutes, y'all.


But it tasted pretty sour too. Like spoilt pancakes.



And that's it. Kimmy had enough of all the changes, and how complacent the service there was. We quickly finished up our drinks and left the place.

I honestly can't explain my love-hate relationship for this cafe. I really loved the Iced Latte and would no doubt come back for it, or even do take-aways if it is available.. Good job, barista! but I will never, never come back to dine again because the amount we are paying simply doesn't justify the service and food we received. I could take that 150++ to Marche and enjoy some really awesome rosti for all 6 of us. /rollseye

Bad food and services aside, we had great time there taking photos actually. Like you spent so much over there how can you go home without even taking nice photos of those food?! Desmond and Ryan brought their Pokemon plush along and we were happily placing them on the table for mini photoshoot.

With almighty digital enhancement, even shitty food could look good. Let's not end this post on a bad note alright, hahaha


The Pokemon Cafe is located at Bugis Junction, Level 4. They're occupying half the space, so you shouldn't miss it.

My honest opinion? This cafe is really not value for money. What you are paying for is really just the oxygen within the space. Something like an entry fee... So you get access to a plate of food for yourself to spam insta-worthy photos with. Problem is the food is mediocre, not every plate served looks presentable and everything is overpriced. It feels more like they are selling the brand rather than the experience.

Ah well, guess we paid quite a bit for an extremely unique visit. What are the chances to be served with a Bloody Pikachu, Sour Bolognese, Squashed Mini-chu and 3 ruined Pancakes in just one visit? Hahahahaha, that's pretty dang special alright.

I guess the best take-home for us was the Pokeball mugs and the nice photos with the team. Can't wait for the next outing!! I sincerely hope we don't get served spoilt food from a full-of-excuses staff again........
Siao meh? Pay 150 over dollars to get bad food and services!