My 21st (Part I)

I am finally sharing the photos that I took for my consecutive 3-days 21st birthday celebration (gee, what a mouthful!)!!!

I kicked off the celebration of my 21st birthday on the 29th of December 2013 with my JC clique!

Group Therapy Coffee
49 Duxton Road

Singapore 089513
Opening hours: 11am to 11pm
Phone number: 6222 2554
Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar MRT (7 minutes walk)

Information obtained from their facebook page (Click 'here' to view it)

My JC girls and I

We met and had breakfast together at Group Therapy, and they also passed me my presents! A VS clutch + some VS lippies! (THANK YOU GIRLS *blows kisses*)

Breakfast together with them is a first. We are all.. fond of our beauty sleep. PLUS we had insanely busy schedules that don't ever seem to match. It was rare that we could find an opportunity for all of us to gather and meet, and an even rarer occasion that we all agreed to meet for breakfast! Meeting them was awesome!!

Food pics coming up next!

Disclaimer: Other than my own order, I tried none of my friends' orders, hence the comments about the other dishes are subjected to the tastebuds of my girlfriends.

Poached Eggs (on thick toast, smoked salmon, gruyere, hollandaise) - $15

According to Xin Yi who had this, the sauce became too overwhelming and sickening halfway through the meal. The portion was rather sad.. (no sides given + the portion served was really rather small) and hence it seems a little overpriced.

Belgian Style Waffle with Maple syrup & butter - $9

According to Wan Lin, it's your average waffle. Nothing surprising, nothing overwhelming. If you are looking for something trustworthy to eat, here is your choice of option.

Close-up

Shepherd's Pie (Lean minced beef sauteed with carrots, beans & caramelized onions, topped with a layer of butter mash) - $15

Now, this is MY order.

Hmm.. I quite liked this dish but it isn't something which I would deliberately go back to the cafe just to have it. The shepherd's pie was alright - beef was appropriately marinated and tasty, however the mash potato top was not as buttery as expected/stated. The salad was really good and appetising! *thumbs up* The chips were.. ordinary chips. Probably poured out of a chips bag. Original flavoured (if you are keen to know about that)

Portion-wise, as compared to the other things on the menu, this is definitely worth its price! Remembering that I had this as my breakfast... I usually don't eat a lot for breakfast hence I didn't get to finish everything on my plate as I was too full already. However if this was for lunch, then I guess it would be an alright portion!

Croque Madame (Smoked ham, melted cheese, bacon & mayo between two slices of French toast, with a sunny-side up egg) -$18

If you're looking for a heavy breakfast, THIS IS YOUR CHOICE!!!

The salad and chips were the same as the ones in my Shepherd's Pie order. According to Su Jean, the sandwich was average. But yes, this is a really filling dish!! However the price seems a little too steep given the ingredients and standard of the food (to each his own).

Hotcakes with homemade honeycomb (with fresh bananas, strawberries and maple syrup) - $15

Your typical hotcakes breakfast. According to Denyce, nothing special about this plate of hotcakes. So yeah, another one of the trustworthy choices if you aren't game enough to go for anything out of your comfort zone!


Ignore the (other group of) girls in the background, I don't know who they are. They merely shared a table with us.

I took this picture because I liked the way that decorated the cafe with small pots of plants (not sure if they are real plants!) and that intriguing art piece (a toilet bowl beside the stairwell in what looks to be like a castle?).

From left to right: Su Jean, Me, Xin Yi, Denyce, Wan Lin


After having breakfast at Group Therapy, us girls went to one of my friends' house (because she lived the nearest) to play cards.


It's been so long since we gathered together for a game of Bridge. That was our favourite past-time during our JC days. Whenever our break time or in between classes, we would pull out our deck of cards from under our table and start to play. It was thrilling because we had to avoid being seen playing cards by any teacher. Some of our teachers did see, however they would immediately close or shield their eyes and tell us to quickly keep them.

Playing Bridge was the highlight of my JC days - and most of my friends too, as we agreed in unison while playing that day - and it was what kept us sane and going on through those days.

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After spending half a day with my JC clique, we parted our ways because Su Jean had to run off and buy a birthday cake for her dad whose birthday was on that day itself (her dad's birthday is one day before mine and I only found out after what, 3 years?!! #howslowami). I met up with Rod whom I spent the later half of the day with.

We went to The Reading Room, which is now officially my favourite cafe at the moment!

My current favourite cafe: The Reading Room


I actually discovered The Reading Room while I was walking to Group Therapy. Somehow, it caught my eye and I made a mental note to come back to check out, which was what I did after parting ways with my girlfriends and that.... is one of the best decisions of my life.

I fell in love with the place.

Upon entering the place...

I was greeted by.. shelves and shelves and shelves of books!!!!

There are all sorts of books at The Reading Room. They have art magazines, fiction of various genres - I saw the full series of Twilight.. some Stephen King books.. Goosebumps!!! Gosh I miss reading that! - and biographies too I think.

You can actually grab ANY book that you fancy, and sit down to read it while having a cup of tea/coffee/latte/any-drink-on-their-menu and a plate of cake/muffin/any-food-on-their-menu. However you need to remember to put the book back from where you took it from! #beniceanddoit

Super happy + relaxed me!


They specially decorated the place for Christmas and draped white cloth from the chandelier to various corners of the eatery. They hung clear plastic snowflakes on their lamps and the whole place looked so magical. It practically looked like a scene taken out of a fairytale book.

Something like the snow scene in Alice in Wonderland?

I wish I could have found a way to capture the beauty of what I saw that day. The whole place was just so so so pretty! Unfortunately I couldn't, and it was one of those experiences in life where you have to be there to see it in order to feel it.

I love the place so much.

Close-up of the snowflake #sopretty #ohmygawd

What's this...?

IT'S A MENU??!?!

Coolest and most innovative menu that I have ever seen. Full marks for creativity!

Very green too!! No need to waste money and print a hard cover menu! 5 out of 5 stars!!!!

The way that I am complimenting and selling this eatery... And you'd think I own the place! #haiwish


Hot Chocolate

Not too thick. Not too milky. Just right for me.

Although.. I think that it would be a little better if it could have been a little bit more chocolatey.

Blueberry Muffin

I always go for blueberry muffin if it is available. This one is not bad. I quite like it.

You can never go wrong with blueberry muffin. Or at least.. I have never gone wrong with that choice before! #crossmyfingers

Deep Fried Mushrooms *chef recommended*

The Reading Room's food menu is for mushroom lovers. I say that because.. it is the menu that I have ever come by that has 5 DIFFERENT MUSHROOM DISHES!!!

So far, I've tried their Deep Fried Mushrooms (as seen in the pic), Garlic Mushrooms (served with toasted slices of french baguette), Grilled Portobello and Portobello Fries (tried these other 3 during my second trip to TRR).. and I prefer the Grilled Portobello and Garlic Mushrooms.

Fried whitebait

This is okay.. but I wouldn't recommend you to order it. Go for the mushrooms. It's more worth it and (TRUST ME) it tastes better!


So around 5-6pm, they would dim the lights in the cafe.. it's a thing they do. Probably to save electricity? I don't know.

But yeah, here is how the place looks like when it is dim:
If you wanna see the place when it is brightly lit up, go during the daytime. It's a completely different feel when it is lit up and when it is dim.

When the place is light up, it feels like a cafe. But when the lights have been dimmed down, the place seems bar-like and.. it is equally great for chilling out. 2 completely different feels within the same place.

Gosh I love love love this cafe so much!!! IT'S SO COOL AND SLEEK!

Go check it out if you have the time k! The address is:
19 Bukit Pasoh Road
Singapore 089833
Opening hours: 11am to 1am
Phone number: 6220 9019
Nearest MRT: Outram MRT (Exit H)

Information obtained from their facebook page (Click 'here' to view it)

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I'm gonna end off here now and continue Part II another day!! Many many more photos to post up!

Anyway, today is Chinese New Year so..

HAPPY HORSE YEAR!!!!! *neighs*




hearts,
Soph

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