IKEA Restaurant & Café

Picking to go to IKEA on a Friday night seemed like a good idea at the time. Except I’d forgotten that Fridays fall under the weekend category, which usually meant that shopping places became a mad house, especially where there’s a sale. Like almost the entire population that goes to IKEA, I had a hotdog, yet my tummy wasn’t fully satisfied. Deciding not to have another hotdog again, LL and I combed through IKEA to find the internal café. We found it – after 10 minutes of wandering around. (The paths always confuse me when it comes to short cuts.)

When we finally found the café it was packed! There were quite a lot of tables in that decent corner of a café. You could choose to sit at round tables, about a meter wide, with blue and white checked table cloth, or at wooden rectangular tables. Lamps hung from the ceilings near the table tops, illuminating the wooden tables with a splash of bright light. Unfortunately, the round checked-table-clothed tables had no such exclusive lighting.

Feeling a tad bit too greedy, LL and I ordered Chicken Wings, and upon the popular sight of Swedish Meatballs all over the tables, a plate of that. On impulse, being the greedy little piglets that we are, we snatched a plate of Fish & Chips too.

Bad impulsive decisions. The Chicken Wings were crispy dry and moist in all the right places. To fork out $1.20 a wing is quite standard too. A bite ensured a rich fried oil flavour, mixed with chicken goodness.

Fish & Chips. The good news? Real fish, real potato fries. A light layer of batter coated the fish and though it was a tad too dry, being so did make it crispy around the edges. If you're worried about biting into the fish fillet just to have a massive wave of oil invade your mouth, don't worry - the fish fillets are placed in a metal container with a rack so that the oil can drain. The bad news? For $4.90 you get 2 moderately sized pieces of fish, but just a handful of fries that you could possibly count with all your fingers and toes. Chip lovers out there beware! You ain't gonna get your high on those chips. Thank God for the tar tar sauce accompanying the fish. Goodness knows otherwise where you'd get any moisture out of this dish. Personally, I would probably not order the Fish & Chips ever again.

Meatballs have always garnered a mix reaction from me, whether consciously or subconsciously. I'm not a fan of grind-that-up-and-pack-it-together-to-make-a-patty/ball/fillet type of person. Despite the fact that the meatballs were processed, they still packed a punch on my first bite. But as I ate the 9th meatball, I regretted buying 15 ($8) of them. The meatballs are served with a generous dapple of strawberry jam, 4 huge potato chunks, and a lovely mushroom-cheese tasting creamy sauce. Surprisingly, the sweet strawberry jam complemented the meatballs very nicely. Who would have thought? Meat and Jam. Not me.

The potato chunks tasted like they were recently dug up from the soil, cleaned and prepared, and cut into 4. Do you know the difference between cheap potatoes and better ones? Cheap potatoes have this "Hi, I've still got part of the ground with me" taste, and are very yellow. These leave an aftertaste on their way down to your personal food incinerator (your stomach - spelled out for the clueless). Better potatoes (like those they serve in "Jack's Place"), have no such taste, and are geared towards a more pale yellowish-white colour. Needless to say, I wasn't very intrigued by the pile of potatoes on my plate.

Ikano Pte Ltd
IKEA : Making Room for Ideas
317 Alexandra Rd
Tel : 6474 0122

Review on Bluwaters Restaurant Pte Ltd

This restaurant is truly a diamond in the rough. Tucked away in Purvis Street, away from busy traffic, Bluwaters Restaurant offers a boosts a cozy and relaxed atmosphere where you’ll feel right at home. Its lighting accentuates the colours of the cuisine against its white plates, yet is dim enough to prevent unwanted glare. Bluwaters settles for casual classiness, with its nicely set tables contrasting with their plastic yet incredibly comfortable chairs - the seats seem to take the shape of your bottom! To much delight, an open concept kitchen is adopted, sweeping aromas across the dining area.

I was there on a casual lunch date with my girlfriends and rushing in late, I had discovered that we were all to have set lunches. The 3 course set lunch consists of an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert, with choices for each category. My girlfriends ‘surprised’ me with what they had ordered for me – pleasantly.

We had a choice of Prawn Bisque soup or Croquettes for our appetizer. While the aroma of the soup had the rest of us hooked, PJ opted for the croquettes instead. The Prawn Bisque soup came with a crispy breadstick and actually contained one prawn! Though one may seem little, it seemed aptly proportionate to the size of the appetizer. Behind its rich brown colour was a wonderful blend of beef and prawn.

For an appetizer, the serving of the croquettes surprised me – you get 3 whole chunky pieces! The croquettes were sprinkled with parmesan cheese and the garnishing added a nice touch to its presentation. Biting into the croquette, you can hear the crisp breaded coating crumble and feel the smooth potato blend simply glide across your tongue.

Before we knew it, we had finished our appetizers and went on to our main course - a choice of Baked Salmon with King Prawn and Butter Rice or Striploin with King Prawn and Spinach Pasta. PZ had Striploin whilst the rest of us tried the Basked Salmon.

The Striploin came with a wonderful serving of beef slices, atop a heap of nicely packed spinach pasta. Although a deep green in colour, PZ said the pasta was really good with its creamy sauce. The beef was great, but it could have been better with slightly more sauce to accompany it.

The Baked Salmon came baked “into the plate.” A word of caution to all food enthusiasts: do not touch the plate for the first few minutes unless you want to get burnt. The salmon was baked with the plate, which not only gave it a unique presentation, but also keeps your salmon warm while you eat it. Of course, I couldn’t help myself and had to turn the plate around to take a picture, despite the warnings of the waiter to “not touch the plate. It’s hot.” If I had held on any longer than I did, I would probably be sporting a blister now. The butter rice was a tad too dry though – if you like your rice wet and moist, you probably would not like it. My guess is that they baked it together with the salmon. The dish came with a scallop the size of a 50 cent coin, grilled to perfection, as well as a “bundle” of asparagus, tied up to look like a loose haystack. The asparagus was fresh, without much ‘treatment’ besides being cooked, and provided a refreshing recess to the rich cheesy covered salmon. The cheese was nicely melted but if you were expecting a HUGE prawn for both dishes, you’d be disappointed to find that though the prawn was of a considerable size, it wasn’t as huge as it was made out to be. It was very flavorful though, and it reminded me of the prawn they serve at “Fish & Co” on their “Seafood Platter”.

Dessert followed too soon after, Tiramisu! The tiramisu was double layered, soft and fluffy. The taste of liquor lingers in your mouth a few seconds after your first bite. It came drizzled with strawberry and chocolate sauce, with a cut of strawberry fruit.

We also had the Chocolate Fondant seperately, which was met with much satisfaction. Chocolate Lovers would adore this dessert. The outside of the Chocolate Cake is crusty, and crumbles into its moist interior as your fork delivers the first cut. Chocolate Sauce oozes out almost immediately. Mind you, if you are looking to see ‘lava’ flow like the chocolate volcano just erupted, you’d be disappointed. The side of ice cream, like when paired with brownies, acts as a nice compliment to the rich, yet not overly sweet, chocolaty flavour. One can tell that the restaurant does not use cheap ice cream - you’d see no ice crystals in your ice cream. The ice cream is thick like “BUDS” and “Ben & Jerry’s”, and its consistency reminds me of “Swenson’s Sticky Chewy Chocolate” ice cream – the way good ice cream should be. The small serving of strawberry and raspberry that accompany the dish adds a nice tangy respite.

The $18++ we spent on lunch was really value for money. The service was impeccable – the food was served promptly, and the staff was friendly and polite. They greet you cheerfully when you arrive and leave, with genuine smiles on their faces. They kept calling me a “lady”, much to my embarrassment, for it seems to be too high a title for the likes of me. The waiter even waited patiently for me to settle down before placing a neatly folded napkin over my lap, entertaining our requests to take pictures for us – more than once. With conditions like these, I find myself wanting to visit sometimes soon again.

7 Purvis St #01-01 Singapore 188586
Contact: 6338 3345
Lunch: 11.30am - 2pm
Dinner: 6pm - 10pm

*croquette & main photo courtesy of PJ

Earning Extra Pocket Money/Petty Cash on the Internet?

I was pretty bored some time last week and went around deciding to test out some of the internet sites that offer things like “read e-mails for cash”, or “try out things for free” or “complete surveys for token cash”. (I intend to set up a blog for my opinions and reviews and needed some material to start with anyways. This seemed like good idea).

There are legit companies out there who do these kind of things. I have been approached before by some to test out some new products (It was fun!) and give my opinion on them. I got paid nicely too! There was one I did for $20 for 20mins. I had to test this new drink. Not only was it yummy, it was quite a fun experience. Of course, the downside of it was that I had to travel all the way to Tanjong Pagar to the research company to do the survey and test. However, these opportunities are pretty rare. Out of all the time I have been registered with the company, I have been called up only twice. (I have been with them for about a year or so already).
So I decided to do something I have never done before and test out (I love to test new things) the internet based ‘companies’ that conduct these kind of offers. Actually my idea for this sprung out of boredom while I was sitting on the MRT and I saw this advertisement on the train:


I signed up for only the FREE registration ones, so I didn’t have to incur cost. (I’m not THAT dumb to go sign up for the ones you have to pay – especially since some of these companies seem to cater more towards US/UK/Canadian markets – which meant fewer opportunities for Singaporeans.

http://www.wowearnings.com

VOLUME :You receive about 3-5 e-mails per day from this company. They pay you for each e-mail read.

OPPPORTUNITIES: There’s also a “Paid-to-click” section whereby you get paid the value of the banner you click (limited to once a day). However, since joining, I’ve not seen any of these banners. The message “There are no banners to display” comes out. Their “Paid-to-signup” with offers (basically testing free online things like programs and stuff) are mostly for US citizens and you’ll find little, if any, offers that are applicable to poor Singaporeans like ourselves.

CASHABILITY: When your account reaches $20, you can cash out your earned income. For Singaporeans, they do this via paypal, stormpay or e-gold only. Too bad for people who don’t have these accounts, or aren’t computer savvy.

RELIABILITY: Questions sent out via e-mail had been answered promptly. The website is working 100% of the time and is organized well. An idiot could navigate his/her way through. I snooped around the net a bit and managed to get in contact with this Malaysian guy who is registered with them to ask if he had gotten paid before and he said yes. Not much to go on of course, but why would he lie to me?

WORTH THE TIME? If most of your income is going to come via e-mail reading, it’s not really that great. The pay out is only about 2 cents (USD) per mail read. If you are willing to take the risk and do some investing, then I would say this will probably be worth your time. For $4.95 you get $75, for instance. Some FREE trials that require registration pays out $33. They give you $5 just for signing up with their company to begin with.

UPDATE (31st August): It's funny but as of now, the 150 mails i've read have earned me about USD$5 which is more than their boasted USD$0.02 a mail.

http://www.emailcashpro.com

VOLUME : Number of e-mails received depends on your profile. It is estimated to be not more than 3 per day. I received 2 messages in the week I have joined so far.

OPPPORTUNITIES:. It accepts only Singaporean citizens and Permanent Residents. It seems like you can earn cash only through e-mails for now.

CASHABILITY: You get one point or one cent per mail read. After earning $11, you can cash out. They pay by cheque and deduct $1 for processing.

RELIABILITY: This company is registered so you can go check up on it. Their website is SO easy to use since it only has one link that you can access after joining – the member’s area. Everything you need to know is reflected there in a general overview. Looks pretty good and decent too.

WORTH THE TIME? Well, they do provide market information that can be quite relevant to Singapore since they are after all a Singapore based company. However, if you are only in it for the money then it’s not that great. Bearing in mind that they are a young company (and thus still can improve and develop more), I guess there’s no harm joining but don’t expect to make more money than to buy your favourite Teh-Tarik.

UPDATE (12th August) : I guess I was right about them getting better. They've negotiated an extended free full function trial with hollywood clicks - a dvd rental company. Plus, you get a chance to win a membership (worth about $400) from them in a new lucky draw! YAY!


http://www.e-mailpaysu.com

VOLUME : I’ve received 41 messages thus far. The average number per day is 7. The number ranges from 2 -14 messages, with 14 being the weekend hit! They also send mails to your mailbox that you have with them – automatically received when registered. These vary. I’ve received about 20 mails this way (on top of the 41). All this within a week. Expect a high volume.

OPPPORTUNITIES:. “Get paid to click” – visit websites and get paid $0.005 per click. There are 7 clicks available per day. The troublesome part is that you have to key in your username before each click that’s all. You can “play games for cash” though I still have yet to figure out that part properly. “Playing and tesing new video games” unfortunately only applies to US citizens so if you aren’t one, like me, too bad. They have “Ad-cash” where you get $0.10 per advertisement read. Of course, like all the rest, they pay you for reading their mail - $0.02 per mail. They also give you 2 points per e-mail ad read, which can later be accumulated and converted into cash. Gold membership doubles your earnings. They have a free weekly lotto where you stand a chance to win up to $500 but it’s not applicable for Singaporeans.

CASHABILITY: By cheque. $1 processing fee.

RELIABILITY: I can only find the company e-mail address. Not much to go upon. They have been delivering their services though thus far.

WORTH THE TIME? They pay you $10 just for signing up. Their website is confusing at first and seemingly disorganized, but you get used to it. The pay out is not great but the high volume makes up for it i guess.


http://www.morvo.net

VOLUME : Medium. I got a survey invite every few days or so.

OPPPORTUNITIES:. You can join focus groups and take part in surveys (through the phone, in person, or online). You can also earn points when you shop online – a fraction of what you spend is converted to points. Trying out offers also gains you points. Referring people increases your chances to win a lucky draw item – you can choose amongst a range of usually desirable things in the market like an ipod.

CASHABILITY: Taking part in focus groups earns you a token sum ranging from $10 to $250 (at least from what I have seen so far). The longer the focus group, the higher the token sum it seems. Points earned are converted to cash and can be directly transferred into your bank account (if you’re Singaporean). If you’re not a Singaporean you will receive a cheque in USD.

RELIABILITY: Registering for this automatically registers you for yoursay.com and vice versa. They seem to be under the same company.

WORTH THE TIME? It’s definitely worth registering for if you are aged 25-early 30s. The bulk of their target audience for focus groups with the highest payoffs is in that age range. However, they do have a considerable number pf surveys and focus groups for all ages, with acceptable remuneration for your time and effort. Their surveys (so far as I have observed), look for participants aged 18 and above. They seem to be quite selective with their participants though. I wish I could comment more but I have not been successful in my application for any of the surveys I signed up for so far. I’ve been registered with them for more than a year now.


www.mysurveyasia.com.sg

VOLUME : I can’t really tell for now. I just got my confirmation yesterday and the only survey I’ve done is to “profile” me. I don’t think that’s counted.

UPDATE(31st August) : It's been a month and I still haven't received a single survey invite.

OPPPORTUNITIES: Seems like just surveys for now.

CASHABILITY: I don’t know what’s the range of points they give for surveys but I got 100 just for signing up and another 100 for completing a “profiling” survey.

RELIABILITY: There seems to be a lag time when I registered. It took them a week after registration to confirm my registration. (That is, I signed up on Tuesday, and on Tuesday the next week they mailed me to confirm my registration. Until they confirm your registration you can’t do nuts.) They control referrals too! So no spamming and no being referred to someone you don’t know! I mean, if you were going to be referred by someone, and contribute to their ‘rewards’ – 50points to the referrer (maximum can refer only 5 people), you would want to give the 50 points to someone you know right? So I like that. They are managed by and operated byTNS. (TNS founded in 1960, is a member of the TNS group of companies - the second largest marketing research organization in the world. They provide custom research to leading companies and organizations across a wide variety of industries.) They profile you professionally with a well-thought of website and survey design. Very comprehensive. Very professional. I stand in favour.

WORTH THE TIME? They give you 100 points for signing up and another 100 points for completing a survey to “profile” you. *see below: global test markets* You need a minimum of 500 points to redeem something – which in my opinion should be pretty easy. You can suggest rewards if you don’t like what you see in the rewards section. So far, they’ve got lots of gift voucher redemptions available (mostly, $10/20 gift vouchers). From what I can tell so far, they have the highest payout. A definite winner.

www.globaltestmarket.com

VOLUME : Low. They only send out e-mails when there is a survey to do. (But I guess the number of opportunities you receive depends on your profile.

OPPPORTUNITIES:. Just surveys.

CASHABILITY: Instead of cash, they dish out marketpoints. These marketpoints can be converted to cash at a rate of 5 USD cents per point. However, their payout per survey depends on how far you go in the survey. Every survey you do, they will ask for your general data and if you are eligible after answering the first question, then the survey will proceed to the next question and so on. If after the first question they find you ineligible by criteria, then the survey ends. However, they do give you token points just for attempting the survey (like if you do not go further then the first question). The survey I was invited to do had a reward of 5-50points (25cents to $2.50 USD).

RELIABILITY: This company seems reputable. They’ve been around since 2004. Their membership base is huge I imagine because for the survey that I did, there was a quota of 53459 people to survey! They even give you a few surveys to do to “profile” you for their clients’ surveys (demographics, eligibility and all). They were the only company aside from www.mysurveyasia.com.sg which did so. Their website is well organized, and professional looking. On their “contact us” page they have provided a land address as well as their e-mail addresses (each e-mail specializes in different areas of questions). I am very impressed. They don’t allow spamming either!

WORTH THE TIME? The payout per survey is pretty good. I have no idea if the volume will pick up but I guess the number of survey invites you receive will depend on your profile. I don’t regret joining them. They seem professional enough in the long run and I think maybe I can get some extra pocket money here.

http://www.viewsnet.synovate.com/

VOLUME : Low. I hardly got any invites since I joined in 2005.

OPPPORTUNITIES:. Surveys only it seems. Focus Groups do not seem to be materializing.

CASHABILITY: One point is $1 so far as I can tell. I got one point for doing a very short simple survey and they gave me $1.

RELIABILITY: You get the money through GIRO/Internet Banking only. I have received a payment before so you can rest assured that they do pay out.
WORTH THE TIME? I hardly got any survey invites, and when I did, the survey was always closed by the time I got to it (not long after mind you) – quota for survey reached. My guess is that this company has got more panel members then survey opportunities. So when one survey comes up, it’s snapped up and closed in a poof. The website is slow to load too. The payout seems pretty good as long as you can complete a survey or focus group