Ladurée Takashimaya Singapore

 I LOOOOOVE Ladurée's macarons, they're like a piece of heaven! ♥

My absolute favorite flavor is Rose Petal, it tastes so amazing. Ladurée's Rose Petal tastes like rose, not too artificial, not too sweet, and the filling is generous and flavorful, and texture is so smoooooth ♥ The macaron shells are crisp and even, and it's just such a joy to eat these. 

 The first time I had Ladurée was in 2010 in Monaco.

The four flavors I got then were Rose Petal, Vanilla, Coconut and Chocolate.

The fake stone wall outside the store, which is located on the second floor of Takashimaya.

Ever since I heard that Ladurée would be opening a store here, I just kept waiting...after a six-month wait, it finally opened in Takashimaya! They have this store, as well as a smaller takeaway counter on the first floor. The queues are awfully long at both branches, though they're in the same building...had to wait over half an hour from queuing to paying.

 A box of 6 is S$32, a box of 8 is S$38.

My box of 4 in Monaco was only 7,50euros!

All the boxes on the left are boxes you can choose from. 

The cylindrical boxes are for loose tea leaves, 125g.

Limited edition Singapore box, for 8 macarons. 

Trays and trays of wonderful, crisp macarons and their generous, thick, tasty fillings...

If you don't want a box, it's S$3.80 per macaron, which they'll give in a plastic.

I got a box of 6, because I wanted the long pink box that matched the box I got in Monaco, which was the green version. (Yes I've kept it all these years, I've even kept the paper bag from then!) I wanted Marron (chestnut), but the staff misheard it as Marie-Antoinette and gave me that instead (the blue one) -.- Disappointed because I don't like caramel :( I wanted my Marron! Green is Pistachio, white is Vanilla and pink is Rose Petal, my absolute favorite~ ♥

 Gorgeous green treasure chest-like box with gold filigrees and a tassel!

And gold-leaf macarons...

Spotted this bird box, it's so pretty!

But they didn't sell it :( 

 Everything is so pretty, I love the pastel colors of the boxes.

 Gift basket, all pink.

For now the store sells just the macarons, tea, chocolates, candles, shopping bags.

Hope they'll open a dine-in salon and sell their lovely pâtisseries...

Their tea salons in Tokyo are gorgeous!

And I wonder if the cosmetics line will come here some day, the cosmetics packaging is gorgeous too~

Anyway, Uniqlo launched a range of Ladurée tees, they're so adorable! 

There are 10 designs in all, and these 3 are my favorites~

Recognize the patisserie in the middle? It's a Saint-Honoré Rose, which I'm holding in the blogger profile pic^^ Though the one I'm holding is from Antoinette. The Laduree here currently doesn't sell pâtisseries :(

Universal Citywalk Takoyaki Museum ♥

What food comes to mind when you think of Osaka? Well, for me it's definitely takoyaki (octopus balls)! Osaka is famous for takoyaki, so much that they even have a Takoyaki Museum~ It's not really a museum with history and all, but more like a food court consisting of a collection of takoyaki stores, so you can try all different kinds of takoyaki from around the region ♥ The Osaka Takoyaki Museum is located at Universal City Walk, which is right next to USJ (Universal Studios Japan). 

I really really wanted to go to USJ (who doesn't love theme parks!), but I was traveling alone and it's not really fun to go to theme parks alone :( But, I took a picture with Elmo~ And his cute pink friend whose name I don't know^^ And went all the way to the entrance to take a pic with the revolving globe hehehe. Actually, I've never even been to USS (Universal Studios Singapore) yet! Though I will soon! The yellow mascot with the big eyes is supposed to be a takoyaki ball ^^ ...and yes he's got a stick poking through him.

Takoyaki time~ They're cooked fresh! Not at big as Gindaco's takoyaki, but the outside "skin" was super crisp and the inside was soft and slightly gooey. Plus the octopus bits were nice and big! I got a plate of 12 (3 different types, 4 pieces each type) plus a drink, and that was about 700yen. 12 pieces is really very filling! The top left one had some kind of meat bits in it rather than regular octopus. It tasted different but still not bad!

Can't have a museum without a gift store and souvenirs! Takoyaki-head CHOPPER!! Takoyaki fridge magnets and cell phone straps. And super cute red octopuses. And a whole wall of Kansai Gotochi Chopper keychains! I love going through Japanese gift stores, they always have an large assortment of adorable souvenirs that makes you want to buy more!

I ended up getting an octopus (only ~700yen!) and a mini octopus (367yen)! There was also another size, can't remember if it was larger or smaller than the bigger octopus I got^^.

Lots of Hello Kitty items in the gift stores too! Hello Kitty x Glico T-shirt, cos the Glico Man is a famous landmark of Osaka. The biscuit tin one was in the USJ gift store.

I love takoyaki, but I love okonomiyaki even more, which Osaka also had plenty of~ ♥ They don't have a museum for it, but there are stores everywhere!

Arteastiq ♥ at Mandarin Gallery

Despite TWG being my eternal favorite place for tea, it's still nice to try out other places and discover new things. So here's another place for tea: Arteastiq Tea Lounge at Mandarin Gallery. It's located in town, so it's perfect to go to after an afternoon walking around. By the way, Antoinette now has another branch at Mandarin Gallery too!

It was my second time here at Arteastiq; I ordered the same thing I ordered the first time, Monet dessert tea!

Presentation-wise it's a lot different from the first time I had it, but just as delicious.

Their presentation is gorgeous by the way, everything looks so good!

Monet is a French rose tea with champagne vanilla ice-cream, love the flavors!

Cut of just the French rose tea, and a side of biscotti and green tea mochi.

The biscotti and green tea mochi.

Also had the high tea set.

I love food that comes in tiers, all food should come like this!

Orange cake and a wrap!

Yumyum smoked salmon~ And salad.

Ham!

Green tea in a pot!

Interesting intricate lighting fixture.

Arteastiq doesn't have much cakes or patisseries, which is what I like to have with tea... So my favorite tea place is still TWG ♥ Been to TWG countless times ever since the days when they only had one outlet at Republic Plaza, and now they've opened branches in Ion Orchard, Takashimaya, Marina Bay Sands and even overseas! My favorite tea's Charlemagne, a mixture of green and white tea infused with hints of rose and strawberry, so if you're ever there, do try it out! ♥ Also, their breakfast is delicious :)

Cupnoodles Museum Yokohama

 

I'm sure no one's a stranger to cup noodles. Though they now come in all sorts of flavors and packaging, the original cup noodles are the ones by Nissin, invented by Ando Momofuku (founder of Nissin) in 1971. Anyway, if you're ever in Yokohama, check out the Cupnoodles Museum! 

 

Only recently opened 2 years ago, the museum is dedicated to cup noodles and the spirit of invention. Conveniently located in the Minatomirai area, you can learn about the history of cup noodles, instant noodles and even try your hand at making them ♡ You can also concoct your own flavor of cup noodles!

 

Walls and walls of the various types of Nissin noodles and cup noodles.
Ando Momofuku invented instant noodles in 1958 when he was 48,
cup noodles in 1971 when he was 61,
and Space Ram (instant noodles for outer space) in 2006 when he was 95! 

My "Delicious Seafood Flavor"~ ♡
If you're short on time but still want an original souvenir,
you can concoct your own flavor of cup noodles for 300yen!
It takes less than 15minutes, and the helping of toppings is very generous. ♡

You can also design the exterior of the cup.

 

Choose from 4 soup bases: seafood, curry, chicken and...I forgot^^
Then you get to choose up to 4 toppings to add in.
I chose shrimp, crab stick, fishcake and spring onions.
The fishcake is imprinted with cute chicks!

 

Then you pack it in an inflatable bag to sling over your shoulder and carry around~
Apparently it's a very common activity for couples when they come to Yokohama,
saw many of them carrying these and walking around Minatomirai.

The cup noodle mascot!

 

If you have more time on your hands, another fun hands-on activity you can try out is making your own chicken ramen, which takes about 45 minutes.

 

You get to make it from scratch, starting from the flour and oil!
Mix and knead until it becomes dough, then roll to flatten.

 

Then comes the tiring part, putting the dough through this machine to flatten it evenly.
Done by manually rotating the handles...many tens of times. Just keep rotating and rotating...

 

And the finished product!
You get to design the packaging too!

 

For children, on the upper level there's a Cup Noodles Park.

 

It's basically a playground/play area where kids can "experience" being a piece of noodle in a factory line.
Sadly I didn't get to try it because only kids were allowed^^

 

Art piece in the museum.
In the mass of noodle strands, you can see words like unique, happy and creative.

 

There's also a cool light/shadows interactive display thing.
Touch the wall and shadow things appear and move about!

 

Every museum has a gift shop!

Cup noodle-shaped manjuu!

The Cupnoodles Museum is located in Minatomira in Yokohama, very near the city's other attractions. There's also an Instant Ramen Museum in Osaka (where Ando Momofuku first set up Nissin), and they have the same activities, so if you're in Osaka you can check out the one there instead~

Oktoberfest at Brotzeit

Eins, zwei, drei, g'suffa! 

After coming back from Yokohama, we went to Brotzeit to join in on some Oktoberfest activities~

Huge 1L mug of Paulaner Oktoberfestbier that was specially served during the Oktoberfest!

Sausage platter! 

The sausages were tasty, but my favorite was the big pile of sauerkraut ♡ 

I loooove sauerkraut! 

Slow-roasted pork knuckle! 

This was yummy as well!

Brotzeit also had a special (huge) Oktoberfest platter that looked delicious, but there were only 3 of us and we couldn't possibly finish everything on that large platter^^ Maybe next year!

There was a live band too, so everyone was dancing while eating and dancing while drinking ^^

They even did the chicken dance and a couple of conga lines.

Reservations are always snapped up quickly, so were only able to make it on a Thursday night. Since the venue was smaller, the scale and atmosphere was different from the one we saw at the Yokohama Oktoberfest, but this was fun nonetheless, and the food was scumptious! ♡