Ronin

Most of us are familiar with 28 Hong Kong Street for drinks, but if you're up for coffee and sandwiches instead, say hello to Ronin at 17 Hong Kong Street. Ronin is an infant at two weeks old, but they are brought to you by older siblings The Bravery and The Plain.

When we first stepped in, the place looked rather dim. Perhaps a good place for first dates! The service was great, they currently do not have a menu so the waitress was very patient in explaining to us the food and drinks available.

Personally, I'd still like to have a menu just so I've all my options laid out in front of me. The menu is currently in the works, so don't worry, this coffee and sandwich place is not trying to follow the bespoke cocktail concept where they surprise you with a meal according to how you feel that day.

We went during lunch hour and while the place was crowded, we did not have to wait very long for seats for two.

Loved how they placed the bread in a cage-like container.

We sat at the communal table which could seat 8-10 people if my memory serves me right.

Dirty Ronin

The waitress recommended us the Dirty Ronin sandwhich which contained sausage ham, eggs, cheese and some veggies. It was delicious, and I loved that the bread was fresh and crisp. They were also generous with the serving, the two of us were only able to finish half of it!

Big Breakfast Set 

For our breakfast set, we added on avocados, mushrooms and bacon. It came up to $19 in total. Loved how fluffy the eggs were!



My colleague also got the brownie for an afternoon snack. I'm typically not a brownie person, but that was one brownie I enjoyed! Other colleagues who tried it also raved about it.

Location : 
17 Hong Kong Street
Singapore

Wheeler's Yard

If you're a fix gear enthusiast, you would have heard of Wheeler's Yard. If you're a fashionista, you would have heard that Burberry held a gig there for the launch of their new fragrance for men, Brit Rhythm. 

Tucked away in a inconspicuous warehouse in Balestier, Wheeler's Yard is a place for cyclists to come together and admire the (very pricey) bicycles on sale over a cup of coffee. 

The cappuccino we had was pretty decent and came with the old school biscuit with icing on top. They currently do not have the license to serve food and drinks yet, so you pay for your coffee via a tipping basis. 

I love the use of the huge space, and it was pretty quiet on a Saturday evening. Until the hipsters find out about this place, that is. 

Bicycle and cafe in a warehouse

The Bar Counter

Decor in the cafe

Bicycles for sale

Location : 

28 Lorong Ampas 

Singapore 328781

Penang

Penang is no longer the place only aunties and uncles go for weekend food sojourns - it has become a hip, cool place one can explore art, culture and of course food. I've been seeing too many friend's instagram and facebook posts on the street graffiti art and cafe scene in Penang and wanted to check it out myself. 

Just one and a half hours plane ride away, and what a world of difference Penang is. I had a luxury of staying in Penang for five days and four nights and decided to check out two areas : Georgetown city centre and Gurney Drive. 

Georgetown 

We were deciding between Yeng Keng Hotel and Hotel Penaga as both hotels were restored heritage shophouses but eventually went with Hotel Penaga. The hotel was was converted from a cluster from a cluster of 15 pre-war terraces and our room came with a balcony and the toilet had a jacuzzi tub - perfect for soaking our feet after a day's walking. 

The Lobby - Quaint, beautiful architecture with its charm retained

 

Fell in love with the tile design

Street Art 

Grab a map from your hotel lobby or download a copy from TimeOut : Street Art in Penang. While most of the graffiti art were around the same area, it was best to map out your journey from one point to another to ensure you get to see all or most of the graffiti art. 

 

 

While graffiti art hunting, visit Ben's vintage toy museum. There's an entrance fee of RM6 for adults and RM3 but it's well worth the money for a blast back to the past. Remember pinball machines, rocking horses and toy baby prams? 

Cafes 

How can the brunch queen visit a new country without checking out the cafe scene? Here's a list of cafe if you're intending to cafe hop! 

1. Cafe 55 

My favourite cafe of the trip - how can one not gush over the 3D coffee art that is so adorable? Take a look at photos others have location tagged and you will see that the barista can also do other designs such as cat, bear and pig. Thumbs up also for the scallop and angel hair pasta, the salad and the iced mocha. 

Location :

55, Lorong Stewart 

10300 Penang, Malaysia

2. Armenian House

To combat the heat, we stopped by the cafe for a smoothie. The mango and passion fruit smoothie was a thirst quencher! Armenian House is also a bed and breakfast. 

Location : 

Lebuh Armenian, Georgetown
10200 Pinang George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

3. The Mugshot Cafe 

Next to Rainforest Bakery, the cafe is famous for its bagels and yoghurt. We had the corn beef and rocket bagel which was pretty delicious accompanied with the iced mocha. I must be the happiest criminal alive in the mugshot photo! 

4. Moustache Houze

No surprises, but the cafe is moustache themed and serves cakes and drinks. The kiwi soda drink we tried was pretty refreshing. If you're heading there in a group, you can opt for a private room with a minimum spend of 80 RM. 

Location : 

No. 24, Lebuh Campbell 

10100 Pinang George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

5. Kwang Sang House 

A tailor shop turned cafe, it serves a decent set lunch meal. Priced at 16 RM, the set meal comes with a soup of the day, main course, drink and dessert. The only downside was that coffee was only served in the evening. 

Location : 

36, Leith Street, 

10220 Penang, Malaysia

Street Food 

Chulia Street : It's an entire lane of street food. Try the wonton mee and curry mee push cart store that's next to each other. 

Kimberley Street : A must try is the kway chap, it was so good that we had it two nights in a row!  The penang style char kway teow along the same stretch was also pretty tasty. 

Kway Chap Stall

Gurney Drive 

After two nights in the centre of Georgetown, we traveled to the Gurney Drive area and stayed at The Northam All Suites. Despite it being a rather dated hotel, it was very affordable and the size of the room and the view compensated for it.

The room was huge and at 50sqm, it was probably five times bigger than your average shoe box sized hotel room in Singapore at half the price. We paid around $100 a night and it came with a living room, a toilet, the king sized bed with an ensuite bathroom with two huge mirrors, showering facilities, toilet and a jacuzzi tub. 

What wowed me away was definitely the view. 

Beautiful view from the 35th storey 

The view from the infinity pool is pretty amazing too. 

Northam Beach Cafe : Just opposite our hotel at Gurney is an inconspicuous looking building, but when we reached the place it was streaming with people. Think of your East Coast Lagoon type of sea front dining. The fried oyster omelette is a must try if you're up for it. The rojak is also different from the Singapore type we're used to - the Penang style rojak is made up of fruits like jackfruit, coconut and guava served with thick prawn paste sauce. 

If you've the luxury of time during your trip to Penang, Gurney Drive would be a lovely area to visit. There are two huge shopping centres there, Gurney Paragon and Gurney Plaza. It's a twenty minutes walk away from the hotel I stayed at, so perhaps might not be a good option if travelling with the elderly or very young children. But if you find your way to Gurney Paragon, you must visit Ben's by BIG. It's the same company which started Plan B and Plan B Journal in Kuala Lumpur. 

We also gave Miam Miam (just next to Ben's) a try but personally, Ben's will be a better choice.  

With such a rich culture, it's no wonder why Georgetown is one of UNESCO's Heritage Site. If you're heading up to Penang soon, get your hipster on! 

Vietnam

My life motto is 'have money, will travel' and this year, I've been blessed to be able to step foot in foreign soil and discover what other countries have to offer. There is something exciting in being in an unfamiliar environment, exploring new cultures, tasting new food and seeing the world with a fresh pair of eyes. There is so much out there, and as cliche as it might sound, travel is the only thing you buy which makes you richer.

Whenever I travel, the very first resource I go to for tips will always be blogs and since friends have been asking for recommendations, this blog will serve to chronicle the adventures I've been on. 

During my birthday week in May this year, three friends and I took a week long trip to Hanoi, Vietnam. We navigated from Hanoi to Halong Bay, onwards to Sapa and back to Hanoi. 

Try vietnamese coffee
Eat by the roadside
Do visit Sapa and do a homestay! 

Hanoi - Old Quarters 
For the first night, we stayed at New Vision Hotel and spent the afternoon wandering around this new town. What was striking was the number of motorbikes on the road, and after the end of the trip, we were all pretty good at navigating through the traffic. 








Tip: Tony, the manager of Sinh Cafe (116 Hang Bac Street) helped us to book our train tickets and hotel accommodations at Sapa.  



Halong Bay

We went on a 2D1N cruise at Halong Bay and it was just lovely to be out at sea. The lack of internet connectivity was a welcomed, refreshing change as we spent the night lying on the deck, seeking out for shooting stars and having heart to heart talks. 



We visited Sung Sot cave which was also called Surprising cave. The funnest part of this cave expedition was trying to look for rocks which resembled animals. 





We climbed up what seemed like thousands of steps and was greeted with a view like this. It was breathtaking. 





The view was breathtaking, we climbed up what seemed like thousands of steps and was greeted with a view like this. 

Sapa 
Sapa was my favourite part of the trip. We took a nine hour Harry Potter style sleeper train which was surprisingly comfortable. 

Tip: Book a bus ticket from Lao Cai to Sapa from your travel agent prior to arriving at Lao Cai instead of booking when you arrive. The touting was bad, we heard the locals charging tourists an exorbitant prices just for a 40 minutes trip up the mountains to Sapa.
  




View of Sapa from our accomodation which we found out we were cheated after we checked with our travel agent back in Hanoi. We paid for a way nicer hotel, but when we arrived at Sapa, the middle man who arranged for the trip told us that was our hotel when it wasn't. 

Tip: Check and double confirm on the hotel name with the travel agent you book with. If in doubt, call the travel agent for clarification. 



We rented a motor bike and hired a tour guide to bring us around the area. Visited Silver Waterfall and Golden Stream of Love waterfalls, had lunch under a make shift roadside tent and just taking in the greenery.







Ta Phin 

Friends have shared that one of their best experience in Vietnam was going for a home stay, and we did just that. We biked a short distance to this village called Ta Phin and stayed with a lovely lady named Ta May and her family which consisted of her husband and her teenage son. 



The house we stayed in 



Our sleeping quarters













After Sapa, we headed back to Hanoi and stayed one night at the French Quarters which was skippable in my opinion. Or perhaps we've seen a more beautiful part of Hanoi that the city life simply did not appeal to us anymore. 

Would I go back to Hanoi? Definitely.