Xotic

What's this, another Indian place? Yup, it's called Xotic and is located at Te Irirangi Dr. I honestly don't know how this place is still surviving. Food King and I decided to try this place because our favourite Indian place (Raviz) was closed and Food King was craving for butter chicken. They had some special lunch set for $10 which includes the main course, drinks, rice and naan. We both agreed that it sounded too good to be true and the food would (most probably) be crap but we still decided to try. True enough, the food was crap.



Butter Chicken Lunch Set






Didn't bother taking a picture of my own curry, they both looked about the same. The naan was burnt quite badly and it was quite hard, tasted really bad. Random coriander was just thrown on the rice and the curry tasted diluted and watery. In other words, tasteless. The rice was soggy as well. Don't remember much about the service, the food was horrifying enough.




Since then, we've steered clear of this place - the food at Raviz is definitely much more satisfying.

Muffins

After Food King left New Zealand, I missed him a lot (obviously) and at the next gathering, F made these delicious chocolate muffins for me. A really sweet gesture and I love the designs, especially the smiley face. Thanks girl :)

Drinks throughout the seasons

Hey readers, a random post of our drinks throughout the seasons but we've had a lot of good memories over these drinks...

From our favourite Columbus Chocolate and Vanilla frappes (although we both think that chocolate is the best!)




To delicious smoothies at NZ Natural (Mango, Berries, Strawberries, Banana, etc...)



Not to mention the chocolate cake at Columbus... Btw, after experimenting we've decided that the cream with cake is definitely nicer than the yogurt with cake.




Milkshakes at Esquires (Tiramisu & Hazelnut)



Oreo Bash at Gloria's - one of my favourites, ever. And their White Chocolate Mocha is good too!



xoxo Food King, saranghae you.

Peaceful Pond

Went with Food King to feed ducks at a pond. It was a warm day and we went in the evening bringing lots of bread...



The duckling was so cute! As we threw the bread, the mum made sure the duckling got enough to eat while dad stayed protective and alert of the surroundings. Aww...




Doesn't it look peaceful? We were the only ones there at that time... A moment that will never be forgotten.




More ducks got attracted by our feed and came waddling up to us... They were adorable! The ducklings were pretty big here and they gobbled up the food pretty quick. They ate till dad called them to go swimming back home, hahaha.





Mum and her babies



One of New Zealand's birds, the Pukeko, came over to join us too. Food King was fascinated by them because it's not a bird you can see anywhere, haha. They were rather cautious of us and stayed a safe distance away.

Movenpick

Swiss Movenpick - premium ice-cream and one of NZ's finest. We went to the outlet at Mission Bay (75 Tamaki Drive) with my parents and Food King. It was pretty busy as it was a sunny saturday afternoon but the ice-cream was so good!

We had 2 orders of 2 scoops in a Swiss Waffle Cone ($7.50 each). The flavours that we chose were Maple Walnut, Tiramisu, Stracciatella and Almond & Vanilla. In particular, the maple walnut and stracciatella was so yummy. Mmm.

Rainbow's End

Hey guys, how have you been? Welcome to Rainbow's End, NZ's theme park. Food Queen has been here about 7 times and it was my 1st time for me =)

The pictures here do look boring bcoz we honestly couldn't be bothered taking pics of all the rides plus it did rain a little in the late afternoon so the grounds were wet and muddy.

Anyway, we went on the Scorpion Karts first. Go-karts where you can go 8 rounds and you can bang into other people haha.





We also went on the Family Go-karts. This was really fun and Food Queen and I sat together in 1 go-kart while she drove. Hahah her driving skills are fantastic. She went racing and did sudden left and right turns, almost making us crash 3-4 times. Our kart skidded quite badly at one point and she stopped the kart for a split second before we crashed into the "safety tyres".

Bear in mind that in Singapore's theme park (Escape Theme Park), this same type of go-kart is only allowed to be driven by people with a driver's license. They use real fuel here (is this right) and the motor is quite strong? (correct?) therefore it was fun to see everyone doing this in NZ. Singapore can be pretty strict at times, lol.



We also went on the 3D indoor Motion Master ride, Pirate Ship, Log Flume, Power Surge, Cinema 180, Bumper Boats, etc. The main ride we didn't go on was Fearfall, 18th storey free fall from the sky at 80km/h. I'm not a fan of rollercoasters =P






After playing on the rides, we stopped over for lunch. We ate some disgusting lasagna for like $8. =( The worst lasagna I've ever had in my entire life.



This is the Corkscrew Coaster. Scary but fun, haha. It started drizzling at this point so most of the crowd went home the waiting queues went down to less than half.




This was taken when we were on the Goldrush, a fun rollercoaster through an abandoned goldmine. One of our favourites.



Taken when we were about to go down on the coaster. Food Queen's hand was shaking hence the blurry pic, haha.


Bumper cars has always been one of my favourite rides so we went on Dodgems.






They also have other kiddy rides in Castle Land, a place where kids can ride non-scary coasters.



A small theme park which was rather disappointing at some parts but it was still fun going there with Food Queen. =)

Eastern Beach

Food Queen and I went to Eastern Beach (Auckland) and slowly watched the sunset



Our shadows on the beach



A huge seagull looking for food - too bad we didn't bring bread that day! Heheh.




Since it was low-tide at the time we went, we walked quite far out... Although our feet were pretty cold since we were walking barefoot in the water, it was a great feeling to hold her hand and walk out to sea together.




Pretty sky - can't seem to see this in Singapore!

Ko's Dumpling!!

Here's one of my favourite korean restaurants - Ko's Dumplings!

They serve really tasty and authentic korean food here :)

Fried Dumping (Kunmandu) ($8)



Their fried dumpings here are a must have! They do not have that overly deep fried oil taste and the skin is really crispy. The pork meat inside is sweet and juicy as well. We've tried their Steamed Dumpings before but we like their fried ones better. Btw, we usually order 2 plates of this as one is never enough! :P



Noodle with Black Bean Sauce (Jajangmyun) ($8)



A famous korean dish and one of my absolute favourites is the Jajangmyun! The noodles are chewy and the pork in the black bean sauce brings out the full flavour. If you watch a lot of korean dramas, you would probably be pretty familiar with this dish :P They give lots of sauce so the noodles are not dry and it is so tasty! They have the chinese version of this dish too - if I'm not wrong it's called Zha Jiang Mien.

Noodle in hot soup with seafood, pork and vegetables (Jampong) ($9)



This is one of my Dad's favourites because of the savory spicy soup. It's a healthier option as compared to the Jajangmyun because of all the vegetables - they give quite a bit of cabbage. The noodles are great as usual :) Great to eat on a cold day as the soup is really satisfying.

Sauteed diced chicken and vegetable in hot sauce (Rajogi) ($25)




Decent portion of chicken in their hot sauce and it was scrumptious. We usually eat about 3/4 of this and then take the rest home :) Their chicken mostly consists of flour (what is it? ask mum) and it's healthier than other places that just deep fry their chicken in oil. The onions add flavour as well. A great dish to order, you can't go wrong!

How I wish they would open an outlet in Queenstreet or somewhere in the city because then I'll go to this place waaay more often. The boss in Ko's Dumplings is also really friendly and service here is good :)

42 Paramount Drive
Henderson
Waitakere, 0610