Bottle Tree Village

In a bid to beat the horrendous work stress we've been getting, my best friend (now denoted as BFF = Best Female Friend) and I decided to have a good chill-out dinner on Saturday. So, after some disappointing shopping....disappointing 'cuz there wasn't much to buy. And so upset with her for not agreeing to like the hot black shoes I saw at Pazzion. You know how gals are...always in need of approval before they buy something. Anyway, hack, I'll just go buy it some other day when she's not with me...wahahaha.

We wound down the evening by having dinner with the BFs. We took a drive to Sembawang...er...seem like a little long drive...cuz by the time we arrived, I was hungry hungry (again).

It's at a Tze Char/ Seafood Restaurant at Bottle Tree Village - this is the kind of Chinese food I like. We ordered Pork Rib King (sweet/sour style). It's their Chef's recommendation. It's not very sweet/ sourish...which is good, cuz I kinda quite dislike sweet/ sour fish...or the pork thing that's done similarly. It's slimey, sweet and worst of all fatty...yucks! Besides that, we ordered fried baby squid, sambal kangkong (this one was fresh and yummy), and sea cumcumber claypot.

Overall, I'll rate the food as 6.5/10. I'm pretty sure, some kopitiams out there serves better tasting food. The sea cucumber clapot was particularly bland and boring and filled with veges rather than big pieces of sea cucumber.

But the place scores for ambience. I'll give it 7 or 7.5 depending on whether there was breeze and maybe the time one chooses to be there. It was a little dark by the time we arrived, if not, the view should be better. If you're looking for somewhere unique/ rustic/ idyllic/ by the sea...different from your usual haunts, this is worth a visit.

The place is quite family friendly, with a few play areas for children. And most who visited were big families. Car park is free. Though entry to the restaurant is via a road that is tarred, unmarked and about 1.5 lane wide, which makes two way traffic difficult. Usually one car has to stop to let the opposing car drive past before proceeding.

Service was pretty good. Service staff were polite and fast. Food was served up quite fast. We even had a platter of fruits (which we however were soaked in syrup) after dinner.

Post-dinner we took a walk of the boundaries of the restaruant. First stop, small jetty. On which, we peered down to see murky waters. Which in the next moment turned into murky waters littered with styrafoam box.

Next, we took a walk to the park connector beside the drain. The smell kinda reminds me of the drain near my home (on bad days), but it was worse. Not too healthy a place to jog or cycle or run or walk by, if you ask me.

Lastly, we routed back to the entrance of the restaurant to see the famous and expensively transplated Bottle Trees. We attempted to take some ghoulish photos beside the Bottle Trees. Well...I shall not post them here for fear of scaring people.

Next weekend...Sentosa!