During February 2010, my elder brother, requested for my help as photography assistant for one of his photo-shoot and as I was available, I went ahead to join in the fun. This particular photoshoot for taking part in the Harper’s BAZAAR and ION Photography Awards 2010. This competition calls for a fusion of fashion, art and architecture. The criteria for the shoot is that the location will be at ION Orchard (outside or inside).
We reached pretty early around 7.30am to come for preparations as well as to conduct the shoot before any shopping crowd comes along. Well, there was another 2 teams shooting at the same day too!
Following are the team involved in the photo-shoot.
Styling: Winnie Loo Hair & Makeup: Sha Shamsi Photography Assistant:Ronald Tan Model: Nataliya Zapolina / Mannequin
So what do you think of the photos? I thought they look great but unfortunately, we didn’t win anything in the contest. Even though, it still it was good fun and a fruitful experience!
Wow! It’s been a while since I last done a weekly series of my life in Singapore so will continue with this blog post before I starting for forgot the details. Starting off with a set lunch at Yoyogi Japanese Restaurant – Tori Karaage Set S$14.50++.
Saba Shio Set at Yoyogi Japanese Restaurant S$14.50++. Both set lunch comes with green tea. Overall, I find the food tasty, fresh and worthwhile. Will be back for more!
Pork In Sweet And Sour Sauce. Errm, what’s the sauce?
Here is the Sweet And Sour Sauce. It is purposely separated so that the pork will not be soaked soggy and still retain the crunchy outer layer. Need sauce? Just dunk the pork in the sauce!
Sea cucumber stewed with mushrooms, black moss (fa cai) and vegetables in gravy.
Wandering around at Raffles City, while waiting for a friend to join for lunch. Think it was a Monday noon and there wasn’t much people around. Wanted to do some window shopping but my friend turned up early.
Take-away dinner – Seafood Mui Fan (white rice served “wet”, with sauce or gravy on top) S$3.50.
Take-away dinner – Yi MianS$3.50. We usually eat in front of the television and will lay old newspapers on the table so that no wiping is required after we finished the food. Wahaha!
Whampoa Food Center. You can find a lot of tasty food here!
Went to the older food center instead to have breakfast. It was about 9am when I reached.
Large Wan Tan Mee at S$3. Delicious! But I seldom pass by Whampoa area so maybe I have pen it down somewhere to come back and try other tasty food available.
Off to Clarke Quay to grab some booze. Day view of The Cannery @ Clarke Quay.
Wheat Ale 500ml (1-for-1 before 8pm) at The Pump Room @ Clarke Quay S$12++. Remembered that the happy hour 1-for-1 promotion on Monday is till 10pm. Will be back with whole gang then. Ha ha!
Second round – India Pale Ale 500ml at The Pump Room @ Clarke Quay S$12++. Those who have UOB credit card, please use it to pay for the bills as you will be entitled to 15% discount.
Night view of The Cannery @ Clarke Quay. It’s a nice place to chill out, dine and drink. Love the ambiance!
Went to a nearby food center to have Prawn NoodlesS$4. This is one of the popular prawn noodles in Singapore and it’s very yummy!
Oh, beside Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, you can find Sri Krishnan Hindu Temple as well. Most devotees who came to this area usually will pray at both temples. π
In front of the Sri Krishnan Hindu Temple, there was a tentage and offers free food to the devotees who are queuing patiently for their turn to be shown their seats. Must be some festive or auspicious day!
Walking around in Bugis area and saw a car with many balloons sticking out of the sunroof. Are they trying to fly? π
Claypot Chicken RiceS$10 (for 2 person). Well, you have to fish out the chicken, Chinese sausages, vegetables from the claypot and put them on a plate. Then add dark soy sauce and oil into the claypot (both to each preferences) and mixed well. Once done, it’s ready to be served. Believe the main reason that most people separate the ingredients out is that we just want to season the white rice. π
Side dish to go along with Claypot Chicken Rice – Herbal Black Chicken Soup S$3.
Also ordered some healthy Stir-fried Vegetables with Oyster Sauce to go along as the vegeables that comes along with the Claypot Chicken Rice is not adequate for us.
Queuing up to pump Shell FuelSave 98 promotion at S$1 per litre. I waited for around 45mins before it’s my turn to pump. Also heard from the media that this promotion cause huge jams all around as Shell offers this 1-day promotion island-wide. For info, the usual pump price hovers around S$1.80 to S$1.90 per litre region (before discount).
Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak (Ang Mo Kio). My above combination is S$4.
Take-away dinner again as we seldom cook at home. This time is Xing Zhou Mi FenS$3.50.
Not long ago, I took a walk at ION Orchard, a new-concept styled shopping mall that opened in the prime shopping district of Singapore, Orchard Road. First stop to satisfy my salivating mouth is Gindaco Tsukiji (η―ε°ιη« ιη), the renowned Takoyaki from Tokyo, Japan. Gindaco Tsukiji is located at basement 4 and there seems to have an indefinite queue due to the popularity.
After 10mins of waiting, I got my Takoyaki (6 pcs) at S$4.80 and quickly hurried off to a corner to devour it! π
Walking around the basement area of ION Orchard. Majority of the shops are already opened for business. Believe the official opening launch of ION Orchard is somewhere in Oct 2009.
Nippon-Ya (Japanese Food Boutique) at #B4-13 sells food stuffs imported from Japan, majority are largely sweets (mochi, cookie, cake, chocolate, etc) !
Are you a donut lover? Cos Dunkin’ Donuts is back in Singapore!
Headed outside of ION Orchard to see the fantastic architecture. It was a hot and humid day but perfect for photo taking! Look at the reflections made by the sun on the glass, does it look like some big diamond? π
Teleport station to ION galaxy? Hehe, nope! This goes down to the Orchard MRT Station and basement of ION Orchard.
ION Orchard – taken from a further distance to capture the canopy.
At the entrance to ION Orchard. Giorgio Armani, one of the numerous notable luxury brand tenants in ION Orchard.
Flagship stores of Cartier and Dior at the entrance facade.
The roof canopy of ION Orchard. Overlooking Singapore Marriott Hotel on the right side.
Since we were already nearby at Isetan Orchard, decided to head off to the basement to grab some coffee at McCafe. But when I got off the escalator, this counter in front of McCafe stole my attention! They are selling German beer and we decided to give it a go. π
I understand that the beer counter was part of the German Fair organized by Isetan Orchard. Decided to go for wheat ale – Valentins WeiΓbier (Weissbier) 500ml for S$10. Hmm, seems to me that it was a tad too expensive as I remembered seeing it going for S$7+ in supermarkets.
After the beer and a rest, back to strolling at ION Orchard again. Heading down directly to basement to check out food restaurants for our dinner.
Animated displays at the side of the escalators.
EpiCentre @ ION Orchard – a premium reseller of Apple products. Still drawing the crowds!
Our dinner will be at Aoba Hokkaido Ramen – a top ramen from Asahikawa, Hokkaido. Barriers are setup to facilitate the long queues.
The interior of Aoba Hokkaido Ramen – not too huge with sitting capacity around 30 – 40 persons.
Shoyu Tontoro Ramen S$16.80++. We also each had a Green Tea at S$1.90++. Total for the meal was S$41.53 (including 7% GST, 10% service charge and after 10% discount using Citibank credit card).
After dinner, next up, will be to take photos of the lighted-up ION Orchard. Taken from Wheelock Place.
Colurful Prada at ION Orchard. The photos captured here is only a partial representation of what you can explore/shop at ION Orchard as I didn’t finish walking the whole of it. I will be back again! If you are coming to Singapore, please do visit ION Orchard and share with me your experience as well!
Leaving you with the video of ION Orchard night scene.
