Quayside Isle – & Made Burger and Gin Khao Review [Media Invite + Giveaway]

Posted in Uncategorized by jahbella

We have always enjoyed visiting Quayside Isle at Sentosa Cove with the family. After all what is there not to like when you get to enjoy good food with an awesome view of the yachts parked along the marina. Most importantly there is ample space for the kids to run around and enjoy some fresh air while they wait for lunch or dinner to be served.

Given that Quayside Isle has an extensive selection of restaurants, the only tricky part would be settling on which restaurant to have your meal at. Check out their Dining Guide for a complete list of restaurants at Quayside Isle.

Over the weekend, we had the opportunity to try out two restaurants at Quayside Isle, namely &Made Burger Bistro L’Entrecôte Express as well as Gin Khao.

&Made Burger Bistro L’Entrecôte Express would have been a typical choice for our family on any given day. Burgers, fries and milkshakes make for perfect lunch options for the kids. But &Made made it even better for families by offering 2 low tables and chairs for the little ones to indulge in some colouring. This allows us parents to settle in and order our food peacefully. Mind you that these tables are not located in some obscure corner of the restaurant which some restaurants sometimes do, almost making it seem like an afterthought. Rather the tables are located in a generous space, in the middle of the restaurant. This means I can be seated at either the high tables at the alfresco area or the regular tables within the restaurant and still have my kids pretty much right next to me.

As the name suggest, burgers are their forte and you will be spoilt for choice on which burger to try. Trust me! We tried their Blue Moon burger, B&C burger, 3 Little Pig burger and new Lamb burger to name a few. The burgers are a very good size, with quality patties that are super tasty and juicy. The adult burgers range between $16 to $28 and the reason I say adult burger is because they also offer a kids menu at $10 and it comes with a mini burger and dessert. Jah is normally super picky when it comes to his food especially burgers but he polished off his plate of burger and truffle fries (ala-carte). The kids burger came in a very manageable size which meant that I could concentrate on my own burger while he handled his own.

Kids Mini Burger

Kids Dessert

Free Cotton Candy!

Cotton Candy Moustache!

Gin Khao (Thai restaurant), on the other hand would probably not be my first choice when dining with Jah and Bella but I was surprised at how family friendly Gin Khao is. Spacious indoor seating allowed the kids to be very comfortable and the food was mildly spicy. For those who really can’t take anything remotely spicy or if ordering for kids, feel free to inform the kitchen that you would like a non-spicy version and they would gladly accommodate. We ate a whole lot that day even though we were half full from burgers, we still couldn’t resist!

Enjoying the space and comfy seating

Some of our personal favourites include the Watermelon Rice (a spin on the typical Pineapple Rice), Prawn spring roll, Tom yam soup, Crayfish Class Noodle and Chicken Wings (the kids had the non-spicy version which was equally tasty).

The restaurant also served very interesting desserts as well as some yummy drinks like Iced Rose Thai Milk Tea and Coconut Mojito (no alcohol) Utterly refreshing!!

Definitely a perfect place to have a meal with the family even if there are little kids! When do you ever get to have Thai food with kids around? :p

The ambience at Quayside Isle is so serene that it almost feels like you have been transported outside of Singapore. Contrary to belief, Quayside Isle is not hard to get to and ample parking is available at Sentosa Cove Village Carpark which is a 3 minute walk away from all the restaurants while underground parking is also available at Quayside Isle. More details on how to get there, can also be found in the Dining Guide.

Now for the good stuff!

Quayside Isle has kindly offered to sponsor a S$100 Quayside Isle Voucher to one lucky reader of Jahbella.net .

To join the giveaway, just complete all the steps below.

Be a Quayside Isle @ Sentosa Cove Facebook page fan
Be a Growing up with Jahbella Facebook page fan
Share our Facebook Post , Tag 3 Friends and Hashtag #quaysideisle and #jahbellagiveaway – Make sure your post is public! (For those who are not familiar, just copy this link – https://jahbella.net/2015/12/01/quayside-isle-made-burger-and-gin-khao-review-media-invite and paste it as your status update, tag your friends and include the hastags above
Like and comment on the Facebook post so that I can note your participation

The giveaway will end on 8 December 2015 2359hrs.

Congratulations to Khor Lee Ling!!!

You have won yourself a S$100 Quayside Isle voucher! We will be contacting you via PM shortly. Please remember to reply within 24 hours! 🙂

Thanks for everyone’s support and do stay tuned for more giveaways!

Terms and Conditions: The winner shall arrange to collect the prize directly from the sponsor. The winner will provide their details to Jahbella.net and the sponsor for this purpose. We reserve the right to select another winner if the selected winner does not reply to our email within 24 hours.

JahBella’s Mummy

Disclosure: JahBella was invited to a Media Food Tasting at Quayside Isle. No monetary compensation was received. All opinions and photos are my own.

19Nov2015

Letter to Jah (4 years old)

Posted in Birthdays, Letters, my thoughts, Our Thoughts, Parenting decisions, Uncategorized by jahbella

Dear Jah,

You have just turned 4 years old a couple of days ago and it somehow feels like our little baby is now a little boy. A big boy you might correct me if you heard this now. Your Papa is still in disbelief because it has suddenly hit him/ us that you will be entering Kindergarten in a month’s time. We long to rewind to the days where you were a little colicky baby or when you were just learning to take your first steps. Ok maybe not so far back..:)

Jah at 4 months old

First unassisted step at 9 months 3 weeks

But we know you are excited to grow up..you talk about entering Primary school and you talk about being 18 or 21. You talk about what you want to be when you grow up. Right now your dream profession is to be a clown. Yes I kid you not! You have gone from a ‘parachute pilot’ to an army soldier to finally a clown. Although you did mention last night that you wanted to be a teacher, just like me but your reason was so that we could go to school together. 🙂

You have become quite a book worm and a Star wars fan

Being 4 years old is proving to be a trying age for both you and your Papa and I. We absolutely love the conversations we have with you and your hilarious antics but sometimes things get a little out of hand. We love that you are so opinionated because it helps us to learn more about who you are but you are also starting to test the boundaries, push our buttons and well really really assert yourself. The past couple of weeks have been a nightmare to say the least because well apparently everything has to be Jah’s way or the highway. Oh wait a minute, Jah hasn’t come home for a few weeks now because he is climbing the beanstalk with Jack. Yes, you have assumed the identity of a little dog called Goldie and you have renamed my stuff dog ‘An’ (he used to be called Goldie). Yes you have become quite the drama king (in a rather cute and amusing way).

We love your tender heart and your need to make sure that everyone is taken care of. We love the compassion that you have and the way you seem to understand the world’s big issues in your own little innocent, compassionate 4 year old way.You are mature beyond your years. You have a level of maturity and magnitude for forgiveness that even some adults may not have. We lost your iPad this last week and instead of breaking down and throwing a tantrum like we would expect any 4 year old or even an adult to for that matter. You said these words in the sweetest kindest voice ever, “Its ok Papa, I think the birthday robber came and took my iPad. Its not your fault Papa, its ok.” Ironically we would probably have felt much better if you had just thrown a tantrum but in that moment it felt like our hearts weighed 1,000 tonnes. Perhaps because it was filled with guilt but bursting with pride all at the same time.

You have just turned 4 years old a couple of days ago and it somehow feels like our little baby is now a little boy. A big boy you might correct me if you heard this now.

But you will always be our little baby.

JahBella’s Mummy

22Oct2015

When Adaptability becomes Complacency

Posted in Our Thoughts, Parenting decisions, Uncategorized by jahbella

It’s been a tough couple of weeks with the haze plaguing all of us for more than a month now and Jah and Bella getting HFMD right in the thick of it all. I think people who know us, would understand how terribly torturing and difficult it is for us to keep the kids at home/ indoors on weekends. Yes, we are that crazy family/ parents who head out at 9am every weekend so that our kids can burn off some of their energy.

So we were absolutely looking forward to the haze leaving us by end November as earlier estimated. However with the new forecast coming in at Dec/ Jan or even as late as March next year, I can’t help but feel really frustrated. After all, there is really only so much ‘sneaking around’ the haze that we can do.

Taken last Sunday when we ‘snuck around’ before the haze got worse . Jah and Bella have been absolutely cooped up in the days leading to this.

We used to pre-plan activities that the whole family can look forward to for the weekend. But now we wake up every Sat and Sun hoping to see PM2.5 levels below 100 and then we would rush out for some quick outdoors before ushering everyone indoors as the numbers start to climb (usually within 1-2 hours). Yes PM2.5 below 100 is our family’s internal threshold and while this usually means that the psi is well below 100, we prefer to be kiasu/ kiasi at least over this issue.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not so much a post to rant about the haze and to talk about how we have adapted our lifestyle to having the haze around. Rather with the haze looking to stay for a while, I am worried that we are becoming too adaptable. By we, I really mean all of us.

I know we teach our children to be adaptable and to react and change according to the situation. And in this situation, I think adaptability means perhaps getting a purifier and making a habit out of switching it on or carrying your n95 mask in your bags and wearing it without the fear of looking like a fool because no one else is wearing it. That to me is the extent of adaptability we should undertake. However being adaptable should not equate to being complacent.

Do you recall how only a month ago, we would ‘panic’ at the sign of the psi/ pm2.5 going above 150. Now some of us don’t even bat any eyelid. Yes some would say what a bunch of complainers and whiners. That is another argument for another time.
We should be adaptable but we should not accept walking around in the haze, unprotected as a normal way of life. We should not allow our kids to run around in a park when the levels are clearly unhealthy.

The reason I bring this up is not because I’m some perfect human being/ parent who can keep my kids indoors with no problem at all. I understand the pains and frustrations. The reason I need to say this now is because I too struggle and I too find myself slowly allowing myself to be complacent.

I need to to remind myself that this should not be a new norm for us and especially our children. We should learn to be adaptable during these months and hope that the end comes sooner rather than later but we should NEVER be complacent.

JahBella’s Mummy

7Aug2015

NDP Preview at Ritz Carlton Singapore (Review)

Posted in Uncategorized by jahbella

If you don’t already know this about us, we absolutely love traveling! Yes Jah and Bella included, quite the wanderlust family. So whenever we entertain the thought of doing a staycation, it somehow always ‘escalates’ into a full-blown holiday overseas. I always end up convincing myself that it wasn’t worth the trouble to just pack for a night or two and I might as well top up a little and take a plane somewhere for a ‘real’ holiday.

So the decision to do a staycation at Ritz Carlton Singapore wasn’t a straightforward one. We had just returned from Tokyo with the kids for 11 days and our helper would have just returned from her home leave the day before. All in all, no reason for a holiday so soon after and just a logistical inconvenience for me. However we figured there was no better time for a staycation too, given that we will get to enjoy a good view of the NDP fireworks and all the aerial display. I’m so glad we went ahead with it and that we chose the Ritz.

When I first entered the lobby for check-in, I was abit thrown off by the long queue at the front desk. Are you sure this is the Ritz? It all looked abit disorganized and chaotic. However I was quickly ushered by one of their staff to another ‘desk’ so that I didn’t have to wait in line. I later found out, it was because I had Jah with me and they have a policy to prioritize and attend to guests with kids first. 🙂 Nice!

The kids were also given Ice Cream Passes (a free scoop of ice-cream daily, to be claimed at the Pool Bar) and an activity pack. Really nice touches to make the kids feel part of the entire experience and it helped to ease some stress off the parents as well.

Ice cream pass!

Activity for the kids (nicely put together)

Who doesn’t want ice-cream..even I wanted some

The Deluxe Room with Marina Bay view that we booked was quite something. Even without the promise of fireworks and aerial display, it was a sight to behold and we wondered why we didn’t do this sooner.

Twin bedroom

The toilet you never want to leave

View from our Deluxe Room

We were also given a bottle of champagne, 2 limited edition SG50 lions and a S$50 credit which we used for room service, as part of the Celebrate You Celebrate Me package. The package is available till the end of the year so it is really quite a value for money deal if you should decide to do a staycation at Ritz Carlton Singapore this year.

While we were not expecting to head out at all since we wanted to park ourselves in front of our windows from 5pm onwards, the location of the hotel was really convenient for us to grab early dinner and snacks for the evening. I would imagine though, if we didn’t have any NDP entertainment to keep us in, the location would be perfect for us to explore the Marina bay and heritage areas in the vicinity. I am really glad we chose the Ritz for this purpose though because we honestly had a spectacular view of the flying and fireworks action. We even had the mobile column and the marching contingent past right in front of us. And because it was the NDP Preview, it really helped to have large giant screens on the floating platform to showcase the action happening at the Padang. Here are some of the ‘money shots’ from that evening. 🙂

Black Knights

LKY Tribute

A380 over the bay

A380 upclose

State flag flypast

SG50

The first fireworks before dark

Fireworks Spectacular

Marina Bay Light Show

I have to say the only disappointing thing about the entire experience was the lackluster breakfast buffet spread. We were expecting a lot more from Ritz Carlton and perhaps we were a little spoilt from our previous experience at Capella but the breakfast was really quite ordinary. In fact, the room service dessert, the night before was rather disappointing as well.

That being said, we loved the service, the room and how they treat families and children. They even had a special table set up by the pool side for kids to take part in some SG50 drawing/ doodling. You will be surprised at how interesting kids find these activities. Jah was captivated for a good 20 minutes and he even drew a picture of what he saw from our room window, the night before.

More ice-cream and drawings! Perfect Sunday!

Little Picasso

Family members are yellow in the building (yellow circle). Fireworks are the colourful bits and Supertrees are the green parts. 🙂

Definitely a hotel we will be coming back to (even without the NDP draw).

For now, goodbye room..goodbye view (according to Jah)

Happy National Day!

Enjoy your Jubilee Weekend!

JahBella’s Mummy

5Dec2014

Jah’s First Movie Date and Review on Penguins of Madagascar

Posted in Movies, Parenting decisions, Uncategorized by jahbella

I brought Jah to watch his second movie @ the cinema today. This was meant to be a post school concert ‘reward’ and the chosen movie (Penguins of Madagascar) was rather apt, after all he was a penguin from Madgascar in his school dance. 🙂

I also took the opportunity to make it a ‘playdate’ with one of his friends from childcare. Jah rarely/ has almost never been on a play date. Given that he goes to full day childcare 5 days a week, it has never been a real need. However I recently noticed that Jah has started talking about his friends/ best friends a lot more and has been wanting to invite them to play or even to go on holidays with him :p I figured this will be a good time to help develop his social skills and progressing to the next milestone of interacting rather than playing alone, in a group. I was excited to see if he really could interact with his friend 🙂 It was really nice to see the two of them sit together and ‘chit chat’, from little 18 month olds who would ignore each other to friends at 3 years old. In fact I think I saw glimpses of them getting ready to conspire against us adults.

Now onto my review for Penguins of Madagascar. I was abit apprehensive about the movie. Jah’s first movie was Planes – Fire and Rescue (something he was very familiar with) but Penguins of Madagascar was something totally new to him. Having said that, he sat through the entire movie without moving out of his seat once and he talked a lot less and asked a lot less questions. Perhaps he was getting more familiar with the movie concept but I have to say the rapid and continuous action sequences in the movie helped. While there was enough witty dialogue to amuse the adults, the dialogue was almost always interlaced with an action sequence and it kept him very entertained. The plot was also simple enough for him to understand without asking too many questions about what was happening or what this or that character said. Definitely a good and fun movie to bring the kids to.

The only drawback? Jah woke up from his nap and the first thing he said was “mummy we didn’t take photo in front of the Penguins poster! There was no penguins poster like the planes fire and rescue!” Yes so I wished we could have had a photo op spot :p I guess my only ‘complaint’.

JahBella’s Mummy