Koh Samui Jan 2015 Part I - Fenix Beach Resort at Lamai Beach

Finally I got down to write about my getaway to Samui back in January! As usual, so many things to share, so there will be four parts:

• Fenix Beach Resort at Lamai Beach
• Lamai Sunday Night Market
• Food at Krao Chao Ban Restaurant, Sabienglae 2 Restaurant, MK Restaurant, Koh Tan Cuisine at Thong Krut Beach
• Dessert at Lolamui Cafe, Lamai Fresh Coconut Ice Cream

Samui is hubby's and my favourite island in Thailand, mainly because of the two restaurants (Krao Chao Ban and Saebienglae) which I have shared in all my previous posts. And like I mentioned before, if not for the super expensive airfare (both Bangkok Airways and Silkair, relative to other places), we would have visited the island more often, like at least 2-3 times a year. We didn't manage any trip at all in 2014, so had missed the place/food terribly. Luckily, hubby managed to snag a good airfare deal (which was still expensive) for Jan 2015!

This time, our main focus was our favourite restaurants located at Lamai Beach area, so in order to save travelling time, we opted to stay at Lamai Beach area, instead of Bophut or Chaweng. After reading many reviews and much deliberation, we selected Fenix Beach Resort, which is 5 min walk to Sabienglae Restaurant (to the right), and about 10-15 mins walk to Krao Chao Ban Restaurant (to the left).

Our flight touched down Samui Airport in the morning and by the time we reached the resort, it was only 11+am. As it was still early for check-in, we thought we had to jalan jalan before returning later. But to our pleasant surprise, we were offered an early check-in! Hooray!

The reception/lobby area looked spacious and airy. Staff were very friendly as well. We were invited to take a seat at one of the cozy sofas and offered cold towel and cold juice, while the staff went about the check-in procedures.

Soon we were ushered to our Superior Sea View Room located at level 2, and this lovely view greeted us upon entering the room.

The room was very spacious and I must say the super King-size bed is the largest we have ever seen in all our trips these years.

Cute towel art on the bed.

Cozy lounge sofa. Check.

Simple and pleasant furnishings, with all essential amenities provided. Good!

Bathroom is clean and well-maintained as well. Good!

The balcony is very big with cozy lounge sofa as well. But I didn't hang around here as much as I did with the other resorts, because it was too hot. Realised there isn't any shade for rooms on this level. Next time must request for level 3 rooms.

View from the balcony, the free-form pool and the sea!

A tour around the resort grounds. This was taken near the beach looking inwards. Our room was on level 2 in the middle building.

This is the shallow pool, for the kids.

The adult pool, can't remember the exact depth. I think the sides are 1.5m and 1.6m or 1.8m in the middle?

Besides the deck chairs, there are a few of these super-size beach beds. Very popular among the resort guests, for suntanning.

Deck chairs looking out to the sea.

And some deck chairs just next to the beach.

There's actually a breakwater built along the shore, probably the tide comes in very high (not sure, didn't check during high tide).

nest Restaurant is where the buffet breakfast and all-day dining is served.

The dining area.

The buffet breakfast here was nothing fancy, reasonable spread, allowing us to have just a regular breakfast without over-indulging, which was good coz we could save our tummy for all the delicious thai food out there!

As usual, the egg station, with some stir-fries like noodles and rice, vegetable, tomato etc.

Salad, fruit, ham/cheese, pastry.
Bread station and usual favourites like pancake, sausage, bacon etc.

I think the Beach bar is only opened late afternoon or evening.

Didn't get to visit the gym as we preferred swimming due to the heat. Both of us did a massage though at a makeshift little pavilion next to the beach.

All in all, I would say that this resort is ok/reasonable, not as fancy as some of the resorts we stayed previously but for the price and location, it met our needs and expectations.

Stay tune for next post on the Lamai Sunday Night Market.

Meg's Pastry Studio - 2015 2nd Q Orders

3 months have gone by in a flash and I just realised half a year has already passed!

Each and every month, it's always interesting when I got new orders, and such fun to customize each order based on the preferences from different customers. Indeed, I'm blessed to have trusting customers who went along with my proposals!

Here's a summary of some of my baked goodies :)

After I introduced the Mango Chantilly Cake, I sent messages to friends and past customers informing them of the new flavour. This was ordered by a friend who has been very supportive, and glad that his family gave positive feedback about the cake.

The sweet and lovely cake was ordered by a new mummy for her baby girl's First Month celebration. She went for a dense and rich Valrhona Chocolate Cake, and requested for pink ombre rosette piping which I did with White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Loved how the colours and rosettes turned out. Rosettes are always very fun to work on :)

Ordered by dear friend WH (who's also my most supportive friend for my bakes) for Mother's Day celebration. He wanted something dainty and sweet-looking, so this lychee ombre cake was created for him. The addition of dried rose petals and fresh mint leaves were a refreshing finishing for the cake.

This was my tallest and biggest cake to-date, made for a couple's ROM celebration. A 2 tier, 7-layer red velvet cake frosted with cream cheese and decorated with rosette piping of themed colours blue, creme and coral pink.

A cutesy little cake ordered by a lady who has been so supportive and ordered quite a few cakes from me already. Her daughter loves strawberries, so besides fresh strawberries, the fillings was homemade strawberry jam, instead of just chantilly cream.

Another Mango Chantilly Shortcake, made for my yoga teacher's birthday celebration.

A second strawberry shortcake ordered by the same lady for her daughter's celebration in school. This time I proposed a 2-layer sponge cake with lots of chantilly cream and full strawberries as fillings.

A lychee shortcake ordered by a sweet lady for her twin brothers' birthday celebration. It's always gratifying to hear that the cake was well-enjoyed by everyone, not too sweet and light enough for the palate.

Nowadays I hardly bake rainbow cakes using white cake recipe anymore, because white cake is much heavier, sweeter and dense as compared to the sponge shortcake. However, to get really vibrant rainbow colours for the cake, a white cake is necessary. This was a special order by a friend for his son's birthday who specifically requested for a vibrant rainbow cake with marshmallow decoration.

This has got to be my favourite cake design so far! Ordered by a lady for her mum's birthday; she wanted something light and not so sweet, and as her mum loves flowers, she also requested for some rosettes. Very pleased that the ombre colours of the cake layers turned out nicely. The cake was frosted using chantilly cream which was very light and piped with reduced sugar swiss meringue buttercream for the rosettes. The feedback was positive, the cake was light and not too sweet overall, and the whole family enjoyed the cake very much!

Looking forward to more orders in the coming months!

Tokyo/Kawaji Onsen Dec 2014 Part VI - Little Pie Factory, Arisugawa Park, Jiyuugaoka

Continued from

Part I - Shibuya, Tsukiji Market
Part II - KAI Kawaji Ryokan (Room)
Part III - KAI Kawaji Ryokan (Ryokan and Onsen)
Part IV - KAI Kawaji Ryokan (Dinner and Breakfast)
Part V - Kawaji-Yumoto Station, El Torito Shinjuku, Shibuya Excel Tokyu


And we have come to the last part of my Tokyo trip, basically the last two days where I spent most of the time shopping. Just to share some new places I discovered this time :) The beauty about Tokyo is, although I tend to do the same old every trip, there are still new things to discover! I guess coz I'm not a resident, the place is big and time is limited, naturally there will be unexplored areas. And I'm only talking about Tokyo here, imagine the possibilities of the whole of Japan which I have only been to certain areas in Kansai, Kanto and Hokkaido. *phew* I digress.

First up, the Little Pie Factory at Hiroo 広尾! Couldn't remember how I found this shop that specialises in mini pies. I think it's through Facebook or something? It's located near Hiroo station (H03) of the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line, just one stop from Ebisu Station (H02) (Ebisu Station is at Shibuya). Since it's so near, I had to make a special trip to take a look.

The shop itself is not big, seating capacity less than 30 (including alfresco). Most people opt for take-away. Opens from 9am to 6pm daily.

Each pie is 8cm in diameter, there are both savoury and sweet selection.

Besides the standard flavours, there are two December limited edition flavours, Turkey & Cranberry and Pear. In Japan, seasonal limited edition offerings are very popular.

When I was there, savoury selection included meat, turkey & cranberry, clam chowder and keema curry.
Sweet selection included apply, pear, apple & cream cheese, chocolate, cherry, apricot, salted caramel, banana & caramel, blueberry and lemon. So many choices, so little tummy space!

In the end I selected meat and salted caramel for dining in and took away apple. Price ranges from 380 yen to 450 yen each.

The meat pie was absolutely delish! The pie crust was crispy and light, and the meat filling was juicy and tender. The salted caramel on the other hand, was nothing special. The pie crust was good but the salted caramel didn't leave much impression. Should have ordered the limited edition turkey & cranberry or pear!

Love the overall furnishing of the shop, which is warm and cozy, yet sleek and stylish.

After the brunch, I took a little stroll around the neighbourhood, and discovered Arisugawanomiya Memorial Park.

Upon stepping in, I was blown away by what I saw! Wow!

The park was pretty deserted, apart from a few senior citizens doing pond fishing. There was an air of tranquility and serenity as I walked around the pond area, basking in the beauty and colours of nature.

Couldn't imagine there's such a quaint and lovely park in the middle of bustling Tokyo.

As I only had very little time, could only explore around the pond area. The actual park itself is much bigger with several memorial statues, library, fields.

After Hiroo, I proceeded for my shopping and returned to the hotel to deposit my shopping bags and for my late lunch.

Bought strawberries and two types of salad from Tokyu Food Show and enjoyed them with the apple pie from the Little Pie Factory. They were all yummy, especially the apple pie. The crust remained crisp and the apple filling was both creamy and sweet, with just a right tinge of tartness. After lunch, it was more shopping!

For dinner, I opted for tonkatsu which to me, is one of the must-eat food in Japan.

Tonkatsu Wako is a chain restaurant selling tonkatsu in Japan. I would say the quality and price of the set meals are quite attractive and competitive.

Opted for the Hiiragi set, which is the December limited edition offering. It came with one piece of pork loin, one piece of prawn and one piece of curry croquette, rice, miso soup, chawanmushi and pickles. Green tea is complimentary and rice and cabbage is unlimited servings. My set cost 1280 yen which was very value-for-money. Hubby went for his usual pork loin and fillet set.

The next day was our last day in Tokyo. We woke up early to pack our luggage to prepare for check-out. Our flight was in the late evening, so we had to check-out and leave our luggage at the hotel first.

My breakfast, one of my must-eat dessert, Strawberry Shortcake. To me, the Japanese made the best strawberry shortcake, since they have fresh and quality dairy products/ingredients as well as juicy and sweet strawberries.

After we packed and checked-out, I headed to Jiyuugaoka. At the train station, saw Soup Stock Tokyo and decided to have an early lunch so that I could focus on my shopping later.

Ordered the seafood (scallop) chowder with napa cabbage, and opted for bread instead of rice. Love the chowder, it was creamy, but not heavy as the cabbage was light and sweet. Tiny bits of yuzu zest was added, and made the soup refreshing. This soup was perfect to enjoy during winter. And the bread was so yummy, slightly chewy on the outside and fluffy inside. I wish there are more Soup Stock Tokyo outlets in Singapore. Don't like Soup Spoon as much.

After lunch, I was walking around and came across this particular shop which was bustling with crowd and long queues.

Oooh, CHEESE TARTS! The picture looked so good. But I didn't have enough time so didn't queue for it :(
Regret!

Found out later that this shop is called Bake Cheese Tart, with outlets at Jiyuugaoka, Shinjuku and Omiya. I must definitely give it a try next time!

Signature retro VW van at Jiyuugaoka, converted to sell drinks.

Discovered a new Cath Kidston stall. Just browsed briefly as I'm over Cath Kidston already. More into Green Gate now :p

A shrine Jiyuugaoka.

Not sure if this is a new shop, very nicely furnished, selling homeware and zakka products.

After Jiyuugaoka, I headed to Manneken at Aoyama, specialising in Belgian Waffles. Could smell the aroma of the waffles as I approached the shop. This shop was recommended by a friend, L.

Bought two boxes of the waffles and one piece of the original to eat immediately. Oooh, it was light and crispy on the outside and very fluffy inside! Really yummy!

Thereafter wanted to have afternoon tea at Aoyama Flower Tea House but the queue was super long, I reckoned at least an hour's wait. Alas I didn't have enough time, so went back to Shibuya to meet hubby for a modest tea at Kobeya bakery which is located near the hotel, inside Shibuya station. Nonetheless, the croissant and pasta salad was very nice as well. In Tokyo, most of the eating places offer above-average food.

Finally took the airport limousine bus to Narita Airport. Bye, Tokyo, I miss you already, will be back!

Travel resources:

• Little Pie Factory (https://www.facebook.com/littlepiefactory, http://www.l-p-f.jp/)
• Bake Cheese Tart (http://www.bake.co.jp/index.php)
• Manneken Belgian Waffle (http://www.manneken.co.jp/)
• Tonkatsu Wako (http://www.wako-group.co.jp/)
• Soup Stock Tokyo (http://www.soup-stock-tokyo.com/)
• Kobeya Bakery (http://www.kobeya.co.jp/)