Universal Studios Singapore

Chanced upon this good offer for RWS Invites member. That's like $211 nett per night!



However, it wasn't that easy to booked. Finally, I managed to get dates for 20th to 22 Oct. Arranged the other room for my parents too. I thought hard about the schedule for the first day and finally decided to have lunch at the Ocean Restaurant by Cat Cora before check-in.




Arrived at Hotel Michael on time.



Took about 20 min to check-in but only one room was ready. It took them another hour to get the room for my parents ready. A was too excited to nap. B did manage to catch some beauty sleep though :)



Didn't really like the room. The carpet outside the bathroom was wet. There was a can of opened yoghurt in the fridge. The walls at the shower area are slimy. The towel hook was loose. On the 2nd day, we left the hotel at 9 a.m. to USS and returned at 2 p.m. Housekeeping still wasn't done at all. As a RWS Invites member, I didn't get the welcome fruit platter so I had to call for it. There was no local newspapers given in the morning too. No bathrobe in my parents' room. Request to housekeeping only fulfilled after an hour.

After dinner on the 2nd night, the door access key to my parents' room couldn't unlock the door. I had to call reception from our room to request for new key cards. This should never have happened. At check-out, the reception actually wanted to bill me for 1 night under the 2 rooms. However, I had already paid and presented the hotel vouchers during check-in.

Back to the good stuff ... dinner on the first night was at Starz Restaurant at Hard Rock Hotel. It was quite good and reasonably priced at $58++. As a RWS member, I had 25% off for our group of 4.






On the 2nd day, it's off to Universal Studios Singapore (USS). The weather was good and it was quite enjoyable, especially the Mummy and Transformers rides. I actually went back for the Mummy when the kids were having their afternoon nap.

Since it's a weekday, there wasn't much of a crowd. The queues were manageable although I bought the Express passes. We managed to take quite a bit of photos with the mascots.







The buys at USS.



Dinner was at the Malaysian Food Street. Nice food although expensive.





After dinner, the kids had a wild time at Candylicious!







The next morning, we had breakfast at Macdonalds. Again, the kids love it!





Had a ride on the monorail and a little walk before check-out :)



>





This was the longest staycation we had ever and really fun!

Dine next to the Ocean

The closest we can ever get to dining with the fishes here. Lunch was at Ocean Restaurant by Cat Cora before the staycation at Hotel Michael starts. It was quite difficult to reserve a table as I guessed due to the small number of tables.

As usual, the kids were having all the fun.









It's good they could accommodate children, although mine were a bit noisier than most ...

A set meal was S60++ with starter, main and dessert. There was a minimum spending of $38++ if you went ala carte.

The BAD - They didn't serve water, you had to ordered a bottle, juices or soft drinks. This is outrageous and it would keep me from going back ever. Food portions were small as well and you wouldn't be filled at the end of it.

Mesclun Salad - Roasted beetroot, Goat Cheese, Walnut & Lemon Vinaigrette


Cabbage & Bacon Soup - Chicken Liver Mousse, Toasted Brioche & Truffle Oil



Tuna Tartare - Apple, Cucumber & Avocado



Braised Boneless Wagyu Short Rib - Celeriac Puree, Sauteed Mushroom & Caramelized Oatmeal



Cripsy Kurobuta Pork Belly - Sauerkraut Puree, Sauteed Savoy Cabbage & Mustard
This is good, crispy on the outside and tender inside.



Poached King Salmon - Leek Puree, Confit Potato & Sea Urchin Emulsion



The desserts were worth finishing with.

Mont Blanc - Hazelnut Meringue, Chestnut Paste & Vanilla Ice-cream



Chocolate Passion - Banana Stew, 68% Cocoa Ice Cream & Passion Fruit Espuma



Vacherin - Textures of Strawberry & Creme Fraiche

The 15th already?

Due to a number of unforseen things cropping, our dinner date had to be postponed to 14-Oct today. No matter, we are here to give the acclaimed Joel Robuchon a try,

I decided to give L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon at RWS Sentosa a try. For one, I like to see chefs at work and I quite like this concept of the L'Atelier.



However, the experience was somewhat lacking as we would soon see. No one opened the door for us ... and the door was heavy. No idea what the guy at the reception was doing ...

We had the counter seats where we should be able to catch some cooking action.



The bread was hard and cold ...



L'Amuse Bouche - Foie gras custard with red Porto wine and parmesan foam



Le Caviar Imperial - Imperial caviar in duo of French butter beans
This was unevenly cooked. Some of the beans were too hard whilst others were soft.



Le Homard - Sauteed Maine lobster on broccoli couscous



Les Eringi - King oyster mushrooms and prawn tsukune in a giner bouillon
Forgettable. The waiter forgot to give us spoons ... does he expect us to lift up the bowl and drink?



Le Foie Gras de Canard - Pan seared duck foie gras, glazed mirabelle prune and gingerbread
I hated prunes but here I downed two in a jiffy. As usual, foie gras is always good but then it's a cruel way to eat ...



Le Cabillaud - Roasted cod with white Paimpol beans and Iberian flavours
The Paimpol beans were from Brittany and in season. Sadly, the cod was way overcooked. Too tough to be enjoyed. I didn't finished this dish.


Le Boeuf Wagyu - French-style wagyu skirt steak with shallots confit
The beef tasted quite bland ...



Signature Joel Robuchon mash potato
Apparently a signature of Joel Robuchon. It is smooth and buttery.



La Caille - Caramelized quail and mash potatoes



Le parfum des iles - Smooth passion fruits, dark rum granite, light coconut foam
This must be the highlight of the dinner. Smooth and refreshing. The crushed ice below was the dark rum. Love it.



Le Mango - Brittany biscuit disc, caramel lightness, mango sorbet
This was good too. Thankfully the patissier was good with his creations.



Service was really bad. The bill took a good 20 min to settle. Spoons forgotten for the soup. Door wasn't opened for us. The waiter spoke too softly in his introductions to the dishes. Luckily we asked to keep the menu. In reality, the L'Atelier concept didn't really took off well. For one, there is no interaction between the chef and the diners. You also couldn't really observe what's cooking as the kitchen top was a distance away. In the end, the kitchen staff was just rushing to complete all the orders and the waiters were all overwhelmed and flushed.

Nah, doubt I'll be going again. Next one, back to Les Amis :)

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2nd time Adventure Cove

Wanting to make full use of our free tickets, we went back to Adventure Cove two days later. Since that was a Sunday, there was a bigger crowd naturally. It didn't much affect us as A and B were too little to go for the more thrilling rides. No queuing for us. Weather was good with a nice warm sun :)





This time round, they are even more afraid of the water! There was no way we could drag them to some water fun!



These were about as close to the water as they can get.







They definitely enjoyed lunch better :)






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Adventure Cove Waterpark @ RWS