5 Sep 14 -- Cafe-hopping : Ice Edge Cafe and Lola's Cafe

Friends may know from my Facebook account that I have been cafe-hopping , mostly with bf.  A friend of mine "jio-ed" me to cafe-hop and we decided to cover the Kovan area today.

Cafe-hopping took on a new level today as my friend and I really hop from one cafe to another. Well, we did not really planned for it, but half expect this to happen.

Initially, we decided to try out Lola's Cafe in Kovan, as  there were many good reviews about this quaint little cafe. However, we also have friends who told us how difficult it is to visit the cafe after work, for the queue can be as long as 1 hr,   A friend told me she always ended up at the nearby cafe , Ice Edge cafe, as they cannot put up with the long queues.

I reached Lola's before 7pm and thought I should be able to get a seat for two and I don't see a queue forming.  Yet I was wrong, For the staff took out an iPad with a booking system and told me that there were lots of requests for a table of two and the expected waiting time was 1.5 hrs.   Since my friend was still on the way, I just gave my number to be put on the waiting list .

Then, we decided that since we seldom come to Kovan, we might as well tried out both cafes in one evening! Had dinner at the nearby Ice Edge Cafe and then hopped back to Lola/s for drinks & desserts,

Well, I guess many of the patrons in Ice Edge Cafe were directed from Lola's (we saw many people coming from that direction). It's still good to have a cafe located near another. LOL.

Was so busy thinking about dinner and hopping to Lola's that I have forgotten to take a pic of Ice Edge Cafe, So here is a pic which I found from Google

(Photo credit:http://www.donnlicious.com/2014/04/ice-edge-cafe.html)


Ice Edge Cafe is more known for its waffles & gelato.  Well, I have to resist the temptation and just order a main course for my dinner.  We both ordered a fish & chips each and my friend had an additional glass of root beer float.


So here's a pic of my dinner. For the price of $14++, I just find it average. The fish is rather fresh but the batter is a bit dry.

Time passed rather quickly and just as we have completed our meals, I received a call from Lola's automated booking system that the table was ready .  We made our way there and were directed to two seats indoors (phew).


The cafe.


The Interiors. Industrial and simple look.


Tempting Desserts

I was 3/4 full by then . As the saying goes -- There 's always room for desserts, I not only had a cup of latte (as usual) and shared 3 desserts with my friend.  We just simply picked the items that look interesting on the menu.


1st dessert- Banana Earl Grey Tart. $5,

My friend chose this as it seems unique. The Earl Grey flavor was not as strong as we expect it to be, perhaps the caramelized banana slices overwhelm it. It's still worth trying.


2nd dessert - French Vanilla Creme Brulee ($6)

We ordered this as my friend mentioned she like Creme Brulee.  I like the crispy caramel top. Only have two spoonfuls of it as I am trying to cut down on sugar. LOL


 3rd dessert -- Humming Bird Cake.

We ordered this as we were intrigued by the name. Heard of Hummingbird but what's a Humming Bird cake?  Quoted from Wikipedia:
"Hummingbird cake is a banana pineapple spice cake common in the Southern United States. Ingredients include flour, sugar, salt, ripe banana, pineapple, cinnamon, pecans, vanilla extract, eggs, and leavening agent."

Lola's version consists of  cream cheese frosting, chunks of pine apples, banana and a dash of cinnamon. This is my favorite order.



I usually have a latte at cafes. Here's my cup of latte ($5) that comes with coffee art, The coffee is not too strong. I have no qualms drinking coffee late at night as I will still fall asleep easily. True enough, I concussed soon after I hit the bed that night.

So that's all for my blog post after a long hiatus. For more information on the cafes , please refer to the links below:


Ice Edge Cafe
Operating Hours: Monday - Sunday: 12pm - 12am
Address: 2 Kovan Road, Simon Plaza, #01-10, S(548008)
Phone: 6858 5729
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iceedgecafe/info
Website: http://www.iceedgecafe.com.sg/


Lola's Cafe
Operating Hours: Tue - Thu: 10:00 - 23:30

                                Fri - Sat: 10:00 - 00:00

                                Sun: 10:00 - 23:30

Address: 5 Simon Rd, S545893
Phone: 6284 0349
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lolascafesg
Website: http://lolascafe.com.sg/

Cafe Fest Singapore 2014 -- where Great Stories are Told ...

When I chanced upon an ad on Facebook on this inaugural Cafe Festival in Singapore many weeks ago, I was really excited.  The concept of  visiting a cafe hopping street  sounds so interesting.  I remembered showing the BF the link and  after reading the FAQ, I did notice that the organizers  mentioned on the site that the  event is open to all but only the  festival pass holders can purchase F&B from the participant cafes.  Being a coffee lover, I would definitely need to make  F&B purchases if I am going to attend.  At that point of time, it already occurred to me that  there seems to be a loophole that  by opening the event to all, the system can be exploited  by having one person paying for a pass to get the F&B at festive rates. 
You must be wondering , why bother to but passed when the even is open to public?  
This is because on the website , the organiser, TELL GREAT LITTLE STORIES (TGLS) indicated that all cafes will conduct checks to ensure all are passholders and they will also conduct their own checks to ensure that those in the main seating areas are passholders only.  With  also the promises of a free $20 Uber credits for free rides on festive days and goodie bags valued at $60 -$100 each, we thought it would be worth attending the exclusive event ,

 Screenshots from the website




Due to our hectic schedule, we forgot to buy the passes during the early bird promotion and the VIP  passes were also sold out. We, or rather the BF has paid $50 to get the 2 regular passes.  

The event took place on 6 Sep and ended on 7 Sep.  We only attended the first day and felt that it is rather poorly planned.  Over hyped , I would day.   So much efforts was sent on marketing the  event  yet  it was poorly  planned .   I am sure by now most would have read from the news and social  media about the backlash the organisers received  on the first day of the event.  I have organised events  (though not on this scale)  and know how difficult it is running one, but i have to say this is rather a disaster and  really felt that the organizers have not been  truthful to the public.  No wonder someone said they really live up  to their name of telling  great stories.

Why I consider the event is a disaster:

1. Uber Credits
 Till today, the BF did not receive any email on the Uber credits, It did not matters to us then as he will be driving that day.  Saw from the comments that many of the passholders cant even get a ride using the Uber credits.

2 Lack of Signage/instructions
It was only indicated that the venue is at Waterfront Promenade.  No map shown. I actually used Google map to  check out the place and it cannot be found in Singapore. If not for the Garfield Run, I would not have guessed where exactly the  festival was held from the pic shown their Facebook page.  Pity those who spend hours trying to find the venue.

3 The  event ended up not exclusive to pass-holders 
 The passholders only found out that the event is open to all and the cafes allows the public to purchases the F&B items only at the event. The organizers only commented through the  Facebook  at the end of the day that " it is our mistake for not communicating to the consumers clearly that the event was made open to the public” ­– a decision made “halfway” through the preparation of the event".    Oh, why did they not indicate the change in the policy on  their website and yet they were still selling last minute Festive Passes  two days before the event when they know it will be open to the public.  Why did they not get the helpers to inform us about this arrangement at the point of registration? We have to find out the truth ourselves when we saw the public queuing for food and drinks.

4 Useless goodie bags not worth as much as they have claimed

Picture shown here show the contents of the goodie bag. Basically just pamphlets , a map of the Cafe Fest and a small notebook. Can you justify why it is value at $60?!!!

5. Limited selection of food,
The event is supposed to last till 7pm. At 2pm, we saw most of the food items sold out and by 5pm, more than 5 participating cafes has packed up for the day.

6. Little Discount for pass-holders
The discount for the pass-holders is only $1,  By opening the event to the public, that means a pass-holder need to buy  at least 25 items  to get back his/her  money worth, compare to those who did not event spent a single cent to get the passes.   Really don't see the value in doing that too.

7. Lack of seats and small tentage.
Lookng at the tent age, I really feel sorry for those who forked out more $ to get the VIP passes.  It was so small that it could barely fill 50 people.  No checks done by the organizers to ensure that those people seated there are all pass-holders.

8. Lack of sincerity

Though the organizers admit at the end of their first day that it was their oversight and they are working on some sort of compensation. as they put it , "for those who might not come for the 2nd day of the event, they have to write in to them.   This only appeared as a  comment on their facebook page. There isn't any post on their Facebook page or on their website  on this matter.


Ok enough said about them. Here's some pics of the event,


Some of the participating cafes.

Tt's a  super sunny day.Long queues at each stalls and not crowd control.  There/s no priority queues for the VIP holders as promised.




(to be continued)

Card-marking Achievement in 2014

Have not been posting much on this blog. That doesn't mean I did not make any cards or crafts for the year. Have created a few baby albums for friends, different type of crafts. Am finding it difficult to post on blogspot as I find it a hassle to forward the pictures from the phone and download it from laptop to post on blogspot. Am contemplating to use Dayre but seems like non of my friends have been using it.


Anyway, just want to share this on blogspot. Honestly, I don't feel good about winning as I am the only participant of the challenge. For some weird really, no one else took up the challenge for the week! There have been many participants for the other weekly challenge.  To me it's a little achievement as I had tried something which I have never tried before --- painting on cards, using dimensional paint.

1) I used my new Sizzix honeycomb die for the first time.

2) Somehow I wanted a very dark theme card, with a hint of purple. So I chose a black Prima Optimist paper over a  purple cardstock. Used Art Anthology dimensional paint in Trolley Grey and paint over Tim Holtz stencil (latticework).
Paste the Honeycomb die on the side and a Prima resin frame on the other side.
Wanted to add a flower accent , but felt my flower is too "cheery". So I pasted a black leaf first.

 3) As for the flower, I managed to find a black lace from my stash and attempted to make a black lace rosette. Think it looked ok and then sew the flower to it. In order to make it look "grungy", i painted some dimensional paint over it.

4) So here's the finished product.