UPDATED: The Regent Singapore Weekend High tea Buffet Giveaway is now closed. I will be announcing the results on twitter later in the evening. Thank you for participating.

The winners of Weekend High Tea giveaway are: #90, #454, #1061, #174, & #730.

The Regent Singapore’s Tea Lounge is well known for their afternoon tea in Singapore. On weekdays, they serve the traditional English Afternoon tea on a 3 tier stand. They also have a very popular Weekend High Tea Buffet which is always fully reserved.

The Tea Lounge has recently revamped their weekend High Tea Buffet selections with more tantalising choices. I am partnering The Regent Singapore to giveaway five pairs of the Weekend Afternoon Buffet High Tea ($44++/pax) at The Tea Lounge.

It makes sense to go for the Weekend High Tea Buffet if you are a big eater. Besides the assortment of finger sandwiches, home-baked scones, freshly baked pastries and cakes, the afternoon tea buffet also comes with a scrumptious spread of food.

Check out the Asian corner which has sushi, satay, spicy chicken wings, and dim sum. Okay, this is a secret between us: you MUST TRY the confit of salmon at the Carving station when you are there. It is out-of-this-world, trust me. Besides the salmon, there is also the slow roasted leg of lamb on Saturday and English roast beef on Sunday. Not to forget that there is also a gelato station with a selection of ice cream and sorbet. Here’s the best part, they have a waffles and crepes station too! You can have as many waffles and crepes as you want, and you should also know that the Tea Lounge is famous for their Passionfruit Souffle with caramel sauce. Amazing isn’t it?

The Regent Singapore Weekend Afternoon Buffet High Tea giveaway is exclusive to the readers of my food blog. All you need to do is answer a simple question:

HOW TO ENTER SINGAPORE FOOD BLOG WEEKEND HIGH TEA BUFFET GIVEAWAY

1. Five winners will each get to bring a guest along (worth $88++ per pair) to try the new weekend afternoon buffet high tea.

2. Answer this question by leaving a comment: Which Hotel’s Tea Lounge is giving away the weekend high tea buffet?

3. Weekend afternoon buffet high tea giveaway is open to Singapore residents only.

4. A random generator will be used, everyone has an equal chance to win.

5. Giveaway ends on Friday 12 noon 1st April 2011. All winners will be notified by email.

// Note that comments are moderated, they will appear after I approve it, so please do not submit more than once.

/ / The Chocolate Fondue giveaway is now closed, thank you for participating. The winners for my chocolate fondue giveaway are comments #403, 224, 389, 36, and 209. I will be emailing you very soon.

Jewels Artisan Chocolate cafe is located on the second level of Orchard Central. They have a value-for-money afternoon tea set, and their Black Palm Island Salt macaron is one of the best I’ve had.

It has been some time since I last did a contest, so I am happy to let you guys know that I am giving away 5 sets of Chocolate Fondue from Jewels Artisan Chocolate.

Last week, I met up with Singapore’s first artisan chocolatier Then Chui Foong, who is currently helming the kitchen at Jewels Artisan Chocolate. It is very interesting to hear her philosophy about chocolate and dessert, and I think the Singapore food scene needs more people like her.

Jewels Artisan Chocolate Cafe has recently introduced a new item, the Chocolate Fondue Set ($18.80) on their menu. It is the first ever chocolate fondue to give you 3 choices of premium chocolate dip – Dark chocolate, Milk chocolate or Brandy chocolate.

And now is the exciting part: readers of my food blog get to win 5 sets of chocolate fondue by answering a simple question.

HOW TO ENTER THE SINGAPORE FOOD BLOG CHOCOLATE FONDUE GIVEAWAY

1. FIVE lucky winners will win themselves a set of Chocolate Fondue worth $18.80 each.

2. Answer this question by leaving a comment: What is the name of the shop that is giving away the chocolate fondue?

3. Chocolate fondue giveaway is open to Singapore residents only.

4. Giveaway ends on Friday 12 noon 11th March 2011. All winners will be notified by email.

// Note that comments are moderated, they will appear after I approve it, so please do not submit more than once.

NOTE: Guys, it’s perfectly fine to take part in the giveaway even though there are already a lot of entries. I am using a random generator to select the winners, everyone has an equal chance to win.

Photo Credit: Elizabethgilbert.com

The giveaway has ended, and the five winners are Shirin, Angeline, Serene, Terry, and Stefanie. Thank you for taking part in the contest

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When I was in Sydney back in December, I brought along a copy of Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, for some light reading. A book that is about self-reflection, love, and food? It is exactly just what I need! While certain parts may be a little draggy initially, things start to get exciting when Liz went to Italy and eat her way through.

I admire the way she deals with things that are thrown into her life, and there’s this particular memorable quote that I remember, “When I get lonely these days, I think: So BE lonely. Learn your way around loneliness. Make a map of it. Sit with it, for once in your life. Welcome to the human experience.”

Anyway, before I digress, this is not a book review, I enjoyed reading the book, and I thought you will like it too, so here’s a little surprise for all of you:

OpenTrolley Bookstore is a Singapore-based online bookstore that represents many reputable local & regional book publishers, selling more than 1.5 million English books at discounted rates. And they have kindly agreed to giveaway FIVE copies (soft cover) of Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

HOW TO ENTER THE EAT, PRAY, LOVE GIVEAWAY

1. Leave a comment on this post

Tell me your favorite food quote. ONE entry per person, and you can write anything. I will choose the five winners base on the most interesting quotes. For those who frequently leave comments on my blog, you will have a better chance, so if you have yet to read the book, do give the contest a shot!

2. Use your own contactable email

Please use your own contactable email when you post the comment, it is highly unlikely that I will choose those who leave their comments using newly created/dubious email address. Anyway for the winners, I will be in touch shortly with the details to get the book.

I know there are folks from the States, Malaysia, Australia, and other countries reading my blog, but this contest is only open to those currently residing in Singapore due to shipping constraints.

The contest will run until 23th Jan Saturday 2359, so you have exactly three days before it ends.

Note: For more details on the book Eat, Pray, Love please go to OpenTrolley.com.

I’ve mentioned about another surprise during the crab giveaway didn’t I?

As much as I will like to organize a 100 people food outing every month, it lacks intimacy and you probably will get just five minutes of me. So now I’m offering you my full undivided attention, over a buffet dinner.

I’ll be bringing 7 lucky folks to join me for a food tasting session at the newly renovated, Window on the Park Restaurant. Hold on a second, I can hear someone say there’s no such thing as a free lunch dinner in this world. Oh yes there is, the  dinner will be free for the seven of you, and we shall feast like kings and queens! So if you are available for dinner next Wednesday on the 16th Dec, try your luck by joining this contest.

Just a quick note on the buffet, it focuses more on local and Asian dishes, and the signature dishes include laksa and durian pengat. The restaurant also features three live stations which serve fresh pasta, local dish of the day, waffles and crepes.

HOW TO GO ON A DINNER BUFFET WITH ME

1. Leave a comment on this post

Tell me why you want to join me for buffet. ONE entry per person, and you can write anything. And unlike the last time, the winners will not be decided by any highly sophisticated method. Instead, you really need to crack your brains to leave an impressive comment that will stand out among the rest. For those who frequently leave comments on my blog, you will have a better chance, so hurry up and join me for dinner!

2. Use your own contactable email

Please use your own contactable email when you post the comment, it is highly unlikely that I will choose those who leave their comments using newly created/dubious email address. Anyway for the winners, I will be in touch shortly to tell you more details about the dinner.

The contest will run until 14th Dec Monday Midnight, and so you have exactly four days before it ends.

Window on the Park Restaurant
11 Cavenagh road
Holiday Inn Park View
Tel: 6733 8333

Photo credit: Window on the park

* * * The giveaway is now closed, will announce the winners shortly * * *

It’s that time of the year again – the hairy crab season.

The October and November period is the time for harvesting the tiny crustacean; while they are definitely not the biggest in size, it is often touted as the king of crabs (maybe with the exception to the Alaska king crab).

Almost every decent Chinese restaurant will be offering this delicacy; it’s either you have this, or be square. And they are also not exactly cheap, the better quality ones can cost up from fifty to hundreds of dollars. I was invited to a tasting session by Food Junction recently – they are the first and only food court in Singapore to offer hairy crabs.

The highlight of the hairy crab is definitely the rich roe within; the main difference of the male & female hairy crab will be the latter having more roe.

Here’s the step by step guide provided by Food Junction on “How to eat Hairy Crabs”

Step 1: Lift flap on the underside of the crab. remove the heart.

Step 2: Pry open the toe shell to enjoy the roe.

Step 3: Remove gills

Step 4: Hold on to the legs & break the body in half.

Step 5: Cut crab leg into smaller segments.

Step 6: Push it through to the narrower segment of the claw into the other to extricate the flesh in the latter.

Step 7: Remove Pincer from crap and snip into smaller segments.

Step 8: Cut along the sides of the pincer to extricate the flesh.

The hairy crab set consists of one crab and ginger tea, with the necessary tools like the scissors and gloves (if you need one). We also had some side dishes of steamed pork dumpling (xiaolongbao) which I found to be ordinary; the skin cracks when I tried to lift them up. Order the fried pancake instead, it is a better appetiser and fares much better than the xiaolongbao.

To be honest, I’m not a big fan of crabs in general. I don’t understand why people spend so much time and effort to pry out so little meat hidden within the shell; fine I admit, I’m lazy – I don’t like to get my hands dirty! Anyway if you are keen to have a hairy feast, the hairy crabs will be available at three Food Junction food court (Bugis Junction, Great World City and The food place @ Raffles city) from now until 20th December; with the male ones priced at $18.80 and the female one at $23.80. I will like to thank Pris & Racheal and Food Junction for the invitation.

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HOW TO ENTER THE HAIRY CRAB GIVEAWAY

I bet half of you just scroll right to the bottom when you saw the word Giveaway on the top! So for all the lurkers silent readers out there – here’s the reason for you to finally leave your first ever comment on my blog.

I totally understand how it feels to be on your end, reading my blog from the screen and feeling hungry in the middle of the night; so I’m happy to announce that Food Junction has kindly agreed to giveaway FIVE SETS (1 male & female hairy crab worth $42) to five lucky readers. If you want a chance to win, here is what to do:

1. Leave a comment on this post

Tell us why you want to try the hairy crabs. And ONE entry per person, just write a short and simple line. It doesn’t really matter what else you say, as your impressive or witty comment will not affect the results,  but obviously you can’t just write two or three words. Anyway the point is – nobody wants to read an essay here.

2. Use a valid & contactable email

Please use a contactable email when you post the comment, I will email the winners shortly after to direct you on how to redeemed the hairy crabs from the Food place @ Raffles City.

3. And the Five lucky Winners . . .

The five lucky winners will be decided by a highly sophisticated method, and I reserve the right to re-pick if there’s any discrepancy or foul-play involved (of course there won’t be, all of you are nice people but yeah just in case).  The contest will run until 20th Nov Friday Midnight, and so you have exactly three days before it ends.

Have a hairy crab feast, I hope you enjoy the little gift I have for everyone!