Movies: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Movies: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Is there anyone who hasn't of this guy? Its evident that now Marvel is raking in the good dough and has a high budget to move from comics to the movie theater with the chunk of Marvel based movies being made these days. Every major hero from the avengers has now the individual chance of having their own sequel and episode 2 and this is the one for Captain America. For those who dunno about this dude with his nice muscles and everything, here is how he looks alongside his good friends

Heres the Capt in all his glory and ready to rumble

Captain America, less clothes but still as ready to rumble 

Ok now that we are done swooning at muscles, lets move on to the review as to whether this muscles.... i mean movie is worth seeing.

Storyline 4.5/5

This movie follows Captain America as he lives life as a hero in the modern world. Halfway thru, something happens and blames are thrown around and suddenly the good ole captain becomes seen as the bad guy. Overall, a story driven by betrayal that gives chance for the heroes to show their special moves.

Note that this movie is not just a action flick with a fix premise and the whole movie then focuses on the same premise. Nope, that is not this movie's description. Rather, this movie has an important story it wants to tell about the background and growth of Captain America and along the way there are various twists and turns. Hence you do need to somewhat understand what is going on to appreciate the movie better.

However, the storyline, being the main show focus does take up a huge chunk of movie time and as such it might be slightly boring for the pure action viewers. They do make a conscious effort to inject humor in this movie and they are generally pretty good and entertaining.

Character 4/5

This movie introduces more then just Captain America. In fact, there is emphasis on the Capt, a new super hero called Falcon, Black widow and even good ol' Nick Fury. Even the Winter Soldier is slightly introduced in this movie as the main villain. 

All the characters are distinct enough in terms of fighting styles and their backgrounds and the way they do things so its clear that all of them have their own individual problems. You will see the Capt clearly as the leader of the team, the widow as the spy like figure, Nick Fury for all his shady undertakings and distrust etc. This is the emphasis of Marvel. However, there is not really enough time to squeeze more character content into a supposed action based show as one might like but you have to draw the line somewhere.

Cinematography 4.5/5

This movie has a good mix of shots that are very clearly filmed especially in action scenes so you pretty much get to see good fighting scenes throughout the show. All the fights have their unique defining moments and are not mere fights for the sake of fighting which is a good plus to the movie.

There are also a few good epic and wow shots throughout the movie that add a lot of enjoyment value to the movie.

Still there are moments that can still be slightly more improved to reach levels like the 300 movies (although I haven't seen the latest one) but all in all the shots are quite well done and do add great entertainment value as well as impact values (meaning you feel the impact as if you were hit by them) in the movie.

Music 4/5

The movie and its positive effect on the movie are appreciable. Its no musical, but you will definitely notice its presence and it will set you up for whatever section of the movie you are currently at.

Spectacle 4.5/5

If you are a Marvel story line fan, this is a no brainer. Long movie time, strong storyline and good action scenes that fully emphasize on the strength of the Capt makes this a must see show. For action lovers, you won't be entirely disappointed but the strong story line will put off those who just wanna see action which is not the main emphasis in this movie. Also if you are too tired, towards the center of the movie there is some very content heavy sections. It might make you fall asleep.

None the less, if you are going to see the next movies like the coming avengers, then you will see this sooner or later so you might as well see it in a movie setting where the sounds are louder and you can feel the impact.

Overall

Storyline: 4.5 (Strong storyline, clearly the emphasis, might be too strong till people who cannot pay attention fall asleep though, hence can improve on pacing)

Character: 4 (Introduction of new characters all whom are distinct. Just a bit little time for full backgrounds and emphasis)

Cinematography: 4.5 (Good shots, fight scenes are very impactful. Just lacks large epic battles of huge proportional and maybe even more creative shots)

Music: 4 (Significant booster to the immersive values)

Spectacle 4.5 (Everything a Marvel fan expects of the movie, story line and action is done well above average)

Overall: 4.3 (A strong scoring shows that this is a show that fans must see, but action lovers can also find enjoyment in this movie. You don't need to have any particularly low expectations of this movie to really enjoy it as it does provide good quality entertainment to all but the worse critics. Go ahead and see it if you need some form of entertainment as a 3 hour action movie that has a high probability of being entertaining is a good time sink and investment of your time.)

Hotels: Shamrock Hotel

Hotels: Shamrock Hotel

Another popular place that many people will visit in Asia is the city of Hong Kong or more correctly termed as the special administrative region of China, Hong Kong. It is one of the most densely populated regions in the world. Hong Kong also has a very comprehensive transport network which makes going around the area pretty easy. Most people go there with the main objective as shopping, with a bit of sightseeing in the itinerary and we will cover this in the review on the place itself. For now, here is the review on the hotel that I stayed in during our visit to Hong Kong. Do note that actually Hong Kong is divided into two regions which is the mainland, which borders China, and Hong Kong Island itself. This hotel is in the mainland Hong Kong.

Details of Hotel

Name: Shamrock Hotel
Location: 223 Nathan Road, Kowloon, Jordan, Hong Kong
Number of Stars: 3 stars
Room of Review: Standard
Highlights of Hotel: Near MTR, Located in tourist area, located in shopping belt, nightlife
Date of Review: Beginning March 2014

This is the hotel's main door and actually its quite easy to spot as long as you go down the correct road. Just try following the map given in this blog and it should be fine. In anycase, this is one of the bigger hotel as it has its own building which is maintained by the hotel itself. There are other hotels that just take a few floors off a residential or shopping building which might or might not look older.

Comfort 3/5

From the pictures of the room here,

Pardon the mess

Even has a cool looking chandelier... interesting location at the aircon vent

Apparently, in Hong Kong, rooms are supposed to be miserably small... i have heard stories about how only one person can be standing at a time and the other must be seated on the bed to have space to move around... Fortunately, this was not the case of Shamrock hotel! In fact, it seems that this hotel room was actually even bigger then my hotel in Taiwan!

So as you can see here, there is more then enough space to leave your bags around. The room also has a control panel right next to the bed that controls the air con temperature and lights and everything else including an in build alarm clock. Of course in the end it all boils down to how much did i pay for this hotel so we will cover that in the last category.

Airconditioning and bed softness was all pretty comfortable with nice thick blankets although it was slightly creeky. Would recommend keeping the windows closed most of the time though as there is nothing nice to see outside the windows and it seems a bit messy. Room was also not entirely new and has a slight bit of musty feel.

Service 3.5/5

Services that i was able to experience in this place was door opening service and also holding on to your luggage before check in and after check out just in case you wanted the additional shopping time.

There is 24 hours service and the staff are able to understand English with little problems. There was also a rack with information on tourist attractions although it was not very detailed. Overall they seem rather profession. There is also the need to put a 300 HKdollars deposit though and checkout was fast and painless.

They do daily cleaning of the rooms as well as replenishment of towels although this is the kind where you need to dump the towels into the bathtub for replacement. They didn't help to tidy up the room however. (I had one hotel whereby the staff actually folded all the clothes that were strewn around and even arranged all the clutter on the table. Not sure if you appreciate that though)

There is no water provided to you though although there was extra pillow and blankets. The lift was quick to get to the floors and there are two lifts so this is a plus for this hotel.

Front desk

Lobby sitting area... or actually WIFI area.

Overall they seem pretty willing to please although they are similar to Puri hotel in that they are not totally able to exceed expectation and go the further distance.

Amenities 3.5/5

Starting at shower amenities, this is what you get for the price.

Yep there is a tub

As you can see, its compact and yet spacious enough for a tub. Didn't manage to utilize it during my stay there too but you can see this hotel does provide quite a bit in terms of amenities. Soap, shampoo and tooth brushes were also provided.

There was also a kettle and cups that you can use to make your tea if you are that kinda person. There was also enough alternate towels for floor mats as well as two big towels for the normal bath.

There was a full bar fridge provided under the television that is permanently switched on that you can use to keep the drinks you buy outside cool. No microwave or other cooking amenities nor was there any laundry capabilities although they did have the laundry bag so you probably can get your things cleaned... for a price.

They do have a closet that you can use to hang your clothes with a safe this time provided with English instructions. THERE IS ALSO NO FREE WIFI IN THE ROOM which is why the lobby is crowded with people looking for internet connection. A sad thing for a hotel in this time and age.. In fact its so sad i shall deduct a 0.5 score right now. This will not be an issue if you are planning to get a data plan for like the 4 or 5 days that you are here in Hong Kong.

Overall, they have slightly better then average amenities. Obviously, pools and other recreational facilities are pretty rare in these kind of cheaper hotels and this is non-existent here.

Location 4/5

There are two aspects of location that are particularly strikingly good. The first is that it is literally almost next to the station for the MTR.. like a bit more then 20-30 steps to the MTR entrance. You probably can see a pattern that I love hotels near the public transport. Also the location of Jordan is between two pretty good shopping area which is Tsim Sa Tsui and Mongkok. Mongkok is where the night market is and TST is the more expensive shopping area. It is also quite easy to get to Hong Kong Island itself from here so this is probably another of the pros of this place. There was actually a night market street called temple street in walking distance from this hotel so it might be an additional plus to the hotel.

The other advantage is that this place is directly along the route of a few buses that come from the airport itself. So instead of spending 100HKD for the fast rail after which you still need to change train, you can actually take a 33 HKD for A21 or 39 HKD for A22 bus straight down ALMOST to the door step of the hotel. The hotel will be like maybe 50 m from the bus stop itself. Just get out when they say Jordan.

Just to make it clear though, because this area is in the shopping belt, meaning that you have small shopping centers all around, it is also apparently located pretty near to the red light district of Hong Kong. That being said, it seems that in Hong Kong, you are not allowed to publicly solicit for business so it is overall pretty safe and I did observe some police presence in my time there.


Cost Efficiency 3/5

The cost of the room was actually just above 300 SGD for 2 nights there whilst in taiwan I got the room at Puri hotel at SGD 330 for 3 nights. Over here you probably have to consider, what are you here in Hong Kong for. Disneyland train stop is actually closer to the airport and there is also an outlet shopping center nearer to the airport and this is about 40 mins away by train. So if you are bringing kids along you might prefer to stay closer to the airport especially if you are not spending too many days there. On the other hand, the public transport to Ocean park as well as Victoria peak which are other popular tourist destinations are on Hong Kong Island itself which is where this hotel is closer to. Young couples might prefer this hotel for the reasons listed above.

The over cost is just SLIGHTLY a tad bit pricy but if you really are conscious about the room size this price might be just right for you.

Comfort: 3 (Does feel slightly old, but not till its uncomfortable. Rooms seem bigger)
Service: 3.5 (Service is there, but not exceeding impressive)
Amenities: 3.5 (No wifi is a big deal, but actually provides quite a bit of good amenities)
Location: 4 (Fabulous central location for most of the activities that one will do here)
Cost Efficiency: 3 (Pricey, probably for room size and location but there is overall a good feel because it is really easy for you to get anywhere.)

Overall: 3.4 (Incidentally, this hotel actually got worse then Puri hotel although it was bigger. Probably because this hotel didn't manage to score in the small parts which was like Wifi and probably the price point too. None the less i would say this score indicates that it is a fabulous place if you want a above average comfortable room to stay in but if you plan to spend alot of time in the room, maybe not a good idea.)

Thats the end of the hotel review section of my Taiwan and Hong Kong trip. Shall start on the other categories soon, probably weekly.

Hotels: Puri Hotel Ximen

Hotels: Puri Hotel Ximen

Introduction

There are many places and countries to visit in the world. For the people living in Asia however, one place that they will visit in their lives is probably Taiwan. Taiwan is actually quite a big place and when you go for tour fairs, there are many choices of whole island tours of Taiwan that can be from 6 days or more or tours for smaller sections of Taiwan that can be for 4 days or more. For those who are not interested in the hurried itinerary of a tour group especially if they are going with friends, you can always op for a simple holiday in one of the many main cities of Taiwan.

One of these cities is Taipei which would be the area of interest in this review. Along the way i will list down some of the considerations that i made in choosing this hotel and see if these are the same considerations you have

Details of hotel
Name: Puri Hotel Ximen
Location: 108, Taiwan, Taipei City, Wanhua District, Ximending
Number of Stars: 3.5 stars
Room of review: Standard Twin
Highlights of Hotel: Close to shopping area, restaurants and MRT station
Date of review: End Feb 2013

This is the hotel entrance

Comfort 3.5/5

This is the bed room

As you can see, the room is REASONABLY sized, with two good beds... actually the begs are fantasy.. its the kind of bed which is very very soft.. those you sink into. Also the provided blankets are extremely thick and feels kind of fluffy.

Everything is very very well placed so there is more then enough room to move about the place but you probably won't be able to fit more then 2 extra friends into this room if you wanted to.

Note that not all rooms have windows, but to be honest given the location of this hotel, your window will have little of a view. None the less for those who are slightly claustrophobic this might be a consideration for you, to request for a window at least.

The toilet which is pictured further below is pretty well spaced and you wont feel TOO squeezy inside although the shower and toilet bowl are pretty close to each other and the water can flow from one end to another. At least the decor is nice.

There are no extra pillows or blankets given in the room itself. The aircon is pretty good and strong but since it only functions when there is a key card inserted, you should make sure you have one key card in all the time. Thankfully, the hotel actually provides you with two key cards so you can actually leave the place and have all your switches and air conditioning powered up.

The lift also seems kind of old and fortunately we were on the first floor. We did see some people waiting for the lift so its quite likely that if you were on the other floors, you might take just that bit longer to get out of the place thanks to the slow lift.

As the hotel is small, there is actually some sound seeping through from other rooms although it was never significant for us that it hindered us from sleeping. Just for your information here.


Service 3.5/5

Services provided by this hotel includes, water replacement daily, bathroom replacement, daily cleaning of the rooms.

The staff are also pretty friendly looking, and on our last day, they were recommending methods on how to get back to the airport early in the morning. They might not be too conversant in English though. It is good also that at night the receptionists are guys, so you might feel a bit safer. The guys also look really nice and friendly so I wouldn't worry about them.

Still, there are areas for improvement like to help you open the door (although the door is tap once and it will open automatically), and also maybe bringing you to the room itself and introducing you to the amenities of the room. Will tell you more later.

All in all, they seem "ready to serve" but it is more of those where you can ask them for anything and everything, but they will not aggressively volunteer their services. They are also not really aware or aggressive on giving recommendations on where or what to eat.. they did recommend a famous oyster bee hoon to us which means they are somewhat aware, but in the morning when we asked where we could do breakfast, we were directed to some place which only had one open shop.. So this can be someway they improve, maybe have a map inhouse that can help tourists find their bearings and eat some of the recommended food here.

Amenities 3/5

This is the shower

Lets talk about the shower amenities first! Shampoo and soap are all provided as well as toothbrushes, shaver and shower cap. There are also towels for both face and body and a floor mat. Its interesting that the mirror is heated so it will actually not fog up, which is a very interesting consideration they made.

There is tea and cups provided with a kettle for those who like their tea in the room. They also have a safe and a mini fridge.. problem is they did not really come and tell us how to start up the fridge and remember earlier how i said that the key is needed for the electricity? Yep.. that means that if you are using the fridge, you must have one key inside the slot at all times. Its also those kind of 6 pack fridge as opposed to a bar fridge so you should expect to only put only some drinks inside. The instructions to the safe was also not entirely clear and we actually had problems getting it to work for us. Of course you can just ask the staff member.

There is no cooking or microwave here... probably cause this is taiwan and if you want anything, you can really just go outside and buy... unless its 1+ am.. in that case your only choice is the nearby macdonald as everything else is closed.

There is also no explicit closet here but they provide you with 4 hangers at the mirror for you to hang your stuff. After dumping all our luggage on the floor there was still enough space to walk around so I would say its still ok. They also provide a desk with a chair for you to do any work or writing.

Location 4/5

The whole reason this place was chosen was because of location location location... Its location is so fantastic, after leaving this exit, you probably just need to walk about 80-100 steps and you are there. Note that you need to turn right into a smaller alley and the hotel will be on the left. It is slightly blocked by the billboard signs so you WONT be able to see the hotel's name till you walk slightly into the small road.

But anyway back to location, this hotel is one stop away from Taipei Main station and from the main station you can go almost everywhere. Hotsprings at Beitou, yep. Pingxi rail, yep. Airport via High speed rail or public bus, yep. Night markets are also pretty convenient although this hotel is nearer to Shida night market as opposed to Shilin although Shida is said to be the 2nd biggest night market... Nonetheless lets not forget the fact that you are actually right next to Ximending which also has a movie theatre along the area. Thanks to the strong rail network however, you can pretty much be where ever u wanna be in max 1 hour.

Basically, living near a shopping area has this benefit. Do all your eating and touring for the entire day towards evening, come back at 10 plus.. OH too early?? Just go out of your hotel and walk the streets for awhile and get some snacks. Tada. Full use of your time. If you stayed in the more traditional main area hotels you probably wont be able to justify leaving your room at 1030 and since you need to be back before the public transport stops, you might only have maybe 30-40 minutes of extra shopping time.

There also seems to be a bar area behind the red house at Ximending so this info is for those interested. Finally, this hotel is really almost directly opposite the Ximen police station so you may have a bit more peace of mind when staying here.

Cost Efficiency 3.5/5

I seen the price for this hotel range from 80 to about 100 SGD per night. My room was 100 dollars per night and it tends to get overbooked pretty quickly. It was full on the Friday we were there. Given the more modern decor and since it doesn't look or feel old, it is pretty above average kind of cost efficiency especially when you think about the convenience that the location brings.


Comfort: 3.5 (Fabulous especially if you are those who want just a place to sleep, but its above average for the common user also.)
Services: 3.5 (Has room for improvements but at least the staff are doing some work)
Amenities: 3 (The basic amenities are provided but some amenities like the safe and fridge are mini versions)
Location: 4 (This is the main advantage of this hotel and should be the major reason you choose this hotel, everything to visit is convenient from here)

Cost Efficiency: 3.5 (I personally felt i paid slightly above what i was comfortable with [was expecting just about 80 sgd] none the less i could justify this by the good location)

Overall: 3.5 (If it was slightly cheaper, this hotel would be a definite get for me. None the less its not a place for big families though as the rooms are really well arranged to maximize the space already so there is no running place for kids, but for couples and solo travelers its a decent place to stay and you won't regret staying here especially when you leave your room to begin your tour and when you come back home, you realize that you have a shopping area at your backyard.)

Movies: I, Frankenstein

Movies: I, Frankenstein

Hi all, don't have extra much to say before the review of the movie posting except that there ain't very much high budget blockbusters thus far into 2014. Yet there is still people who need some entertainment of which movies are still a good form of. So is there any movie worth seeing? How about this one about Frankenstein.

Just for your information, this Frankenstein is an alternate storyline and is not the traditional slow and clumsy one word sprouting Frankenstein that we are familiar with. Of course the movie does use elements from the original Frankenstein such as the monster with no soul and the same scientist that created him called incidentally Victor Frankenstein (There seems to be some kinda link between the name Victor and bad guys like Frankenstein, Hugo, Von doom). So is this rehash or revised version of Frankenstein good to watch? Lets read the review and find out!

This is how he used to look like.. not much to look at...

Today, the new and improved Frankenstein looks like....

Impressive huh?

Or to be even more impressed

One day.. just one day....

Anyway how did this movie perform?

Storyline 3.5/5

Given that this is another take of a story that most people used to be accustomed with, this movie is able to keep the audience enthralled for quite a while as they introduce the audience to this new world that Frankenstein lives in, which is actually somewhat like our world. However, the movie only does this briefly which would be fine if this movie is going to be just a one off thing. This is further exemplified by the 90 minutes show time so you shouldn't be expecting too much of a description of this world Frankie is in.

The whole flow of the story is determined pretty quickly from the start and from then its just a progression of things with little twists and turns. It is basically just following a angry Frankenstein as he discovers himself stuck in a battle between good and bad and his reaction towards that as he chooses sides. Nonetheless, the movie does a good job of keeping the story flowing and as a result it helps ease you from action scenes to action scenes and you will not feel too bored but neither will you care about the story too much as its quite standard.

In short, the story is done well enough to not be a chore but help move the movie along. Its not overly complex but at least it generally makes sense  and doesn't become a bore.

Character 3/5

The main character of this movie is obviously Frankenstein. It is also clear to say that he is the only main character. The rest of the people you see in the movie are all supporting characters.

Despite this, there is actually little emphasis on who Frankie actually is probably because he has no soul and hence nothing unique to to really focus on. This trend follows on to all the supporting characters also and hence all of them are forgettable cliche character types that you will see in every other movie. 

It's saving grace is that it focuses on introducing instead of the person, the two distinct groups of people that we have which are the gargoyles and the demons. But even then there is not particularly that much emphasis placed in this part especially when you consider the 90 minutes show time.

This is good.. didnt know good was ugly too

This is evil, as usual ugly

Cinematography 3.5/5

This is supposed to be the area of focus for for most action movies and this movie captures these few aspects. 

Epic shots that show how big some buildings buildings are and how magnificent they look. 

Many many fire and light special effects that have a intended meaning of someone dying. 

Large scale fighting where you will see many pretty lights with snippets of close up to the various more important fighters 

Close up fights involving only a few combatants that are nicely choreographed. 

These are the expected aspects that all action oriented movies must have or should try to involve. However there are areas that can be improved to lend more immersion and areas such as large scale battle are basically just skirmishes with little tactics or strategy. That is unlike how LOTR does it which should should be a good reference point for large scale battle Cinematography. 

Music 3.5/5

The music is actually pretty significant and strong in this movie adding alot to the overall immersiveness and feel of the movie. Makes the action and impacts sound a lot more strong. Overall this is the way action movies should strive towards.

Spectacle 3.5/5

For a action show it has pretty above average storyline and the action scenes are pretty good. The 90 min timeframe for the movie is also alright as some other action movies, when they try to drag for time end up frustrating or boring the audience which is not what this movie did. This movie flows from battle scene to battle scene with appropriate amount of backdrop. Battle scenes are pretty fair with people "dying" from both sides save the more important characters.

Of course there is more to be improved like via slow mo cam and first person and stuff like that but this movie does alright.

Overall

Storyline: 3.5 (Coherent and has a flow to it, can be better but is pretty good for action flick)
Character: 3 (Focuses on one character but this character doesnt have much character to him because that is his character. Understand this statement? :) )
Cinematography: 3.5 (Does action scenes and epic scenes well. Action scenes generally enjoyable but there are clear areas for improvement)
Music: 3.5 (Strong score and sound effects to add alot of umph to the movie)
Spectacle: 3.5 (For a action movie its above average in terms of action and storyline. Doesn't really do anything particularly new however aside from its new world situation)

Overall: 3.4 (This score is a good reflection of a movie that is good for passing time. If you have nothing else to do, you cant really go wrong with this movie as its action is sufficient for the mainstream audience. Is it a must see, a show that you will regret not seeing? Most likely not. So if you have no other plans for a weekday night you could catch this movie. Especially if you are on a time budget of 1 and a half hour movie.)

I should honestly have wrote this review as soon as i got home after the movie so that the week end viewers would have this info.. Will try to do that in the future :)

Thanks for supporting this site!

Food: Menya Musashi Kodou

Food:

Had quite a few pretty good eating outings recently and decided that I should be a bit more regular in my reviews and share with people about interesting places to eat at.... or not! Since I have the opportunity to eat out while some people might want to make a more informed choice, I feel that its good to make full use of the information I have garnered and perhaps help you manage expectation or even save your trip and time. So here is another pretty unique place that I have eaten recently.

This shop is recognizable by their samurai drawings on the outside as well as inside of the store. I believe he is supposed to be Musashi who is famous for using two swords at the same time?

So lets get down into the review.

Food

We ordered a single side dish to share and a main dish for each of us and you can see the pictures below

Tempura mushroom! 

Besides this side dish, there were other sides like steamed or fried gyoza and tofu amongst other choices. It was pretty nicely fried and very crispy!

The standard Ramen with your choice of meat

Same Ramen, different choice of meat!

The unique point of this place is that they have 3 different type of soup bases namely the white, black and red soup base. The white is the usual Tonkatsu type which is pictured above. The black is apparently more garlic based but none of us purchased that choice. Mine was the red base that you shall see below which is supposed to be spicy and if you order it in this separate form it is apparently thicker then the normal soup.

This was my order, char siew separate from the soup base cause I am brave!

 The next interesting draw of this place is that the choice of noodle that I ordered whereby the ramen is separate from the soup/gravy, you can actually upside the noodles up to 5X the original. The original is about 120g which should be the usual for the soup ramen. Then you can get up to 600g of ramen. However, they do not add extra soup or gravy for free though which is probably the issue we have over here that i will discuss further. Make a guess of how much I ordered since it was free :)

Side view of my ramen

Top view so you can make a better guess

As you continue to guess here is what other issues we have. As you can see, basically all the meals are just about 2 or 3 slices of meat with bamboo and also half an egg. You basically can only choose between the soup version or this version where you can add more noodles. There are some other dishes they serve but i suppose this is what they are suppose to be special in.

So as you can see, it was pretty difficult to finish eating up everything and it was pretty clear i over estimated my abilities. Note that the amount of noodles can increase but there is additional charges if you wanted more sauce/gravy. The biggest problem is that the noodles are served slightly cold or at least towards room temperature. After dipping it into the sauce many many times, you will have a situation whereby the sauce is just cold.. This made the dish a bit harder to finish and I think it is safe to say that if you choose more then 2X the normal noodle amount you will experience this. They should really just consider putting the gravy on sort of a heater or like a steamboat style so that the gravy and hence the noodles will be eaten piping hot.

I personally love to eat my noodles hot.. So this made the experience and taste of the food a bit less tasty then I would have liked. That being said, the normal soupy ramen choices are all fine but they do not have the additional noodle options. The noodles are slightly more unique then what i have tasted before and they are quite QQ or chewy in a good sense.

All in all, the food  is different from your usual ramen shops, has a bit more expensive feel, but if you going for the soup separate from the noodle option, it will not be nice for anything more then 2X of noodles.

Food 3/5

Atmosphere 3.5/5

The staff is pretty attentive and the ordering is done via a tablet which gives you pictures and the like. However the traditional menu is still given to you. The little probably that i have is that all the dishes such as the meats are given in their traditional japanese styled english spelt names so you will see stuff like Tontoro and have no clue what meat it is.

Adds some authenticity to the food but not non-japanese friendly. The seats are big and they serve water freely so that is some plus points to the place. Overall, the atmosphere is pretty ok, slightly noisier as the place is slightly squeezy but thanks to the location of the seats, the waiters and staff will not be getting into your way very often.

Price 3/5

Its not expensive, but i would say it is neither cheap too. For someone like me who cannot really tell the difference between quality meat, I can't really tell why the usual choices are more expensive when the portion of meat is lower. You actually have one two ramen dishes with the same type of meat but you need to add extra 2 or 3 dollars for a additional slice of the meat and everything is the same.

Its good they dont really charge extra for the separate noodle and gravy choice if you want to add extra noodles. But note that it already costs 14.90 - 18.90 for that choice as opposed to 12 - 15 for the normal Ramen when in essence it is somewhat identical.in content to the normal Ramen.

Side dishes are also averagely priced from 4.90 to about 10.90 depending on what you get.

Our total for 3 persons for 3 mains and 1 side was about 60+ dollars just for your information

Accessibility 3/5

This place is located in Jurong and as far as it seems I think it is currently the only one of its kind. But its location near to the MRT is pretty good although all staying at the north and east would probably find it a chore to get there. There was actually a queue at about 7 plus so I suggest that you queue earlier to avoid. Its more due to the small size of the outlet and possibly cause it might be slightly novel.


Overall 

Food: 3 (It tries to be premium and feels premium in some sense, but taste wise it is just slightly lacking especially for my choice)
Atmosphere: 3.5 (Its a nice place to sit and chat, not too messy)
Price: 3 (Not entirely worth the price but if they do some improvements it might be more worth)
Accessibility: 3 (Has queues and is all the way on the west side, but least its near the mrt)

Overall:  3.125 (Overall, I would say this score is a good reflection of my feelings which is a place you can eat once, you wont regret it at least for the experience sake, you may come back but most likely wont feel any particular strong feeling to return. There is too little pulling factor to eat here more then once, but on your meal here, you won't feel cheated or anything either.)

I took slightly longer to post this up because its name was not in the westgate directory cause it was probably too new. Nonetheless, I should have some reviews coming out soon... in actual fact I actually currently have an excess of things to review so hope I can get it done soon :)

BTW for those who were wondering, I ordered the noodles X3 and I am proud to say, I should have managed to finish about 2.5X of the noodles before i gave up... of course one reason was due to the lack of hot gravy.. Hopefully they will take this into consideration and do something about it!

Its website is over here http://www.menyamusashi.com.sg/ for more details and stores

Food: Paradise Dynasty

Food: Paradise Dynasty

For those who do not know, there is this large chain of eateries that sells various genre/categories of food and this is the Paradise group. This paradise chain generally can be identified with some Paradise word inside for example, Paradise inn, Kungfu Paradise, Canton Paradise and other more obscure names like My Nasi. Dont ask me how did they come out with their naming convention but its a pretty strong group as you can see from their reach in Singapore. You would probably choose Paradise dynasty for their noodles and their xiao long bao although they do offer other foods like fried rice and the like. It is like an alternate Ding Tai Fung. So lets look at what we ordered!

Heres their own plate with their nice branding

Their choices of Xiao Long Bao

In real life!

As you can see here, this is probably the main driving factor of why you would actually go to Paradise Dynasty to eat, which is their multi colored xiao long baos that is infused with various flavors. The middle one is the usual xiao long bao, while from the green clock wise, it is ginseng, garlic, truffles, crab roe, sze chuan, cheesy and foe gras which is the brownish one.

All xiao long baos are pretty well made and sturdy enough and they do have their distinct flavors when you eat into them. I would personally say that it is a fun experience to order the entire set but you actually can order 6 or 10 of the same flavor of xiao long bao, but they cost up to 13.60 for 10 of the same colored xiao long bao. Do personally feel that it might be slightly too much to eat it 10 times.

The problem you probably might face here is that if you are gonna share this with your friend, you will only have one flavor to try out so you probably have to divide them with your friend. Buying two entire sets might be slightly too filling also.

By the way, xiao long bao should be eaten as soon as possible (but dont get scalded by the soup inside) cause when the xiao long bao is cold it is not as taste to eat.

This was the other two dishes that we ate

La Mian with Marbled beef (SPICY)

This is my personal favorite from Paradise Dynasty and actually i believe this is currently the only place i know that serves this. Its kinda like MA LA la mian and I like how it makes my lips sore after eating due to the spiciness. Its fun and if you like spicy, you should try it.

La Mian Hot and Sour

 This is the second dish that we ordered and it is the traditional suan la tang, the hot and sour one. This one can be found in many other places such as Lao Beijing and Ding Tai Fung and to be honest, I would say that all these places have different tasting Hot and Sour soup. It is generally so different that you probably would feel that it is different dishes. Lao Beijing has a slightly more peppery taste to it, Ding Tai Fung is not that spicy. This one was reasonably spicy and pretty nice.

Overall, I would say that Paradise Dynasty has a good mix of food for all customers and unlike DTF, their individual rice and noodle dishes are actually sufficient as a meal itself. For DTF, you almost always have to order some additional food such as xiao long bao or meat dishes or veggie to have a filling meal as DTF has noodle choices that are devoid of meat. Most choices of food are pretty nice tasting and their portions are very very sufficient!

Food 4.5/5

Atmosphere 4/5

One good point about Paradise group is that their tables are big and well spaced, and their decor has some type of ambience to it. Their staff is also very quick to respond and I even saw one of them accept the customer complain pretty sincerely. Its probably a company that would make amends should they have wronged you in anyway.

There is the occassionally random tiny flies flying under light at times and this is not the first place i seen it, i seen it before in pizza hut too but not sure why they appeared. Seems like a totally random issue and it dissipates in a while but just letting you all know it.

Price 3.5/5

This is the breakdown of the food that we got

As you can see, it ends up to about 43 to 45 dollars for two pax which is 20+ per pax. Given that we ate till we were pretty full, it is a above average worthiness kinda price. You can see that the 8 Xiao Long Bao costs us 13.80 and if you actually just wanted 10 of the normal xiao long bao its about 9.60 SGD. 

The rest of the dishes per person should range between 9 dollars to about 16 dollars so it is a pretty OK price overall :)

Tea is served immediately but note it is chargeable

Accessibility 4/5

The store sizes are really big which allows quick turnover which means even with long queues, they should move fast. However, like DTF, these places will have significant queue on weekends and friday nights. When we ate that day however, we left around 6.30 and there was already a growth of a small queue of maybe like 5-7 sets of people there. It is also very near Jurong East MRT located inside Westgate.

Overall

Food: 4.5 (Food is filling and its pretty unique and good tasting, there is also quite a good variety)
Atmosphere: 4 (Big store with very good decor and spaces. Seats are big)
Price: 3.5 (Good price for the food, obviously can always be cheaper but overall its pretty worth)
Accessibility: 4 (Easy to go but has the occassional queue)

Overall: 4 (A score of 4 is pretty good indication of a place that you would visit again and again when you have the craving. It is also pretty worth the price and there is good variety that will not let you be too bored with the food choices. I would recommend this as a place to bring your friends for the above average type of meal on a regular basis especially if they have not tried the multi colored bao before. Even more so since you probably cannot try all the baos in one setting if you are eating with your friend. I personally will go back there whenever i got the xiao long bao craving)

Share your experience here if you eaten at these places before :)

This is the company website here : http://www.paradisegroup.com.sg/

Movies: Police Story 2013

Movies: Police Story 2013

A very strange title for a show, with an additional 2013 added at the end of the movie title. This is because there seems to be another movie released previously called Police Story that seems to not be related to this movie so the 2013 is added to highlight that it is a different movie. This movie is produced by none other than Jackie Chan and gang and of course involves Jackie and his kungfu antics.

As per his usual style, its a action, thriller flick that includes cops. So is this a show that you should see alongside the slew of other cop related shows such as firestorm and the white storm? Or does this movie pale in comparison? Is it too similar that there is no novelty of watching this movie now? Lets read on and find out

Storyline 3.5/5

This movie is presented in a rather unique manner, using the main storyline which is the hostage situation that the star cop gets himself into, as the backdrop into explaining how did this cop actually get into this situation in the first place i.e. why he was targeted to be a hostage in the first place. 

As a result, the whole story only comes together at the end of the movie where you will realise oh this is the whole trigger for the entire movie. In more obvious terms, this movie is basically a hostage situation that adds more fluff to the movie by including the story telling of the reason for the hostage taking in first place.

Because of this however, the early part of the show is actually slightly confusing as to what is happening and does take a bit of effort to try to link everything together. Not entirely a relaxing effort if you ask me.

None the less because of this, the two hour movie has enough substance to remain interesting and compelling but it overall it takes a bit of effort and even at the end when everything is reveal, the storyline is just at best above average. Will cover this further in the character section.

Character 3/5

This is where this movie is slightly lacking. Besides the main character played by Jackie, all the other characters have very minor and slightly confusing roles. However, one aspect that this movie wants us to try to experience is to empathize with the villain in the way he does things or the reason behind them. However, I personally feel that there is too little effort put into trying to flesh him out maybe cause of the time, or cause of the way the movie is presented and in the end there is little pity or whatever you are supposed to feel for him.

There are also too many characters that merely just appear to help drive the story slightly but they just seem randomly added and add little extra value but might have added unnecessary complexity to the story.

The main character is also probably supposed to be emotionally messed up in some way or other due to the history of things that has happened to him. However, because of this, the things he does are sometimes rather confusing and strange which would sometimes make the movie slightly unbelievable.

Cinematography 3.5/5

This movie does some aspects of cinematography well, and some not so well which overall averages out. It does good slow motion scenes and improve excitement and action level. However, the scene of the movie is generally dark and sometimes hard to follow since the star actor is moving around in the pipelines which is supposed to be dark.

Also 90% of the movie is confined to that single one place which does not help to retain the attention of the audience. (The feeling of 1 and a half hour into the movie and you are still in the same place)

It does try to use the alternative vision method to keep the movie interesting i.e. the movie will play out a possible scenario in the thought process if the person takes this action, while in the end he will decide not to take that action and do something else after considering the possible outcome.

Music 3.5/5

There is actually visible emphasis on the music in this movie and overall it does support the overall feeling of the movie. Nothing to spectacular but its effect on the movie is definitely there.

Spectacle 3.5/5

For a action movie, it is above average but definitely not one of Jackie's best work thus far. Storyline wise is pretty unique, but slightly too simple overall with no final OH SO THATS WHAT HAPPENED feeling. When everything in the end is revealed the feeling is rather muted and not entirely a big deal. The movie doesn't really play on twists and turns of the mind but rather just adds complexity by purposefully omitting details to be revealed later. Hence the audience does not really feel that they were misled or misunderstood anything which takes out a lot of the fun factor of plot twists.

Overall

Storyline: 3.5 (Somewhat unique, but complex and not that enticing)

Character: 3 (Too little drawing of the audience to empathize with the characters, also too many characters that seem to just randomly be added to minor effect)

Cinematography: 3.5 (There is visible effort but not above the top yet. Also has some not too great cinematography portions)

Music: 3.5 (Visible effort but not too fantastic.)

Spectacle: 3.5 (At best it is just merely above average for both aspects.)

Overall: 3.4 (Its not above 4 so its safe to say that this is not a must see movie honestly. You probably will still enjoy it if you like the genre and are pretty interested in the story telling method. However, you won't particularly be impressed by any aspect of the show. Given its 2 hours long, its ok if there are no other movies that interest you as long as you manage expectation. Note that for a Jackie Chan show, this movie does not have particularly much fight scenes.)

Its the last day of the year so safe to say this will be the last review for this year. Hopefully for the new year I will be able to consistently review more things and do more reviews :) Thanks for the support for this year and see you all next year :D