As an added surprise, Grandma and Papa flew into Singapore late Friday night after a visit to Thailand. Harrison worked out they were coming when we saved a room in the AIRBNB for some mystery guests! The kids were very excited to see them on Saturday morning and having two extra adults to help with the four kids made a huge difference to us! The first thing we did on Saturday was walk to a local cafe for breakfast.
Mum and I (you wouldn't know we were related!)
Sienna really loved wearing my hat on this trip (it suits her!)
Out for breakfast, sitting in the Singapore heat
We then visited the famous Singapore Zoo, even though it was hot, there is lots of shade under the trees which helps. The gardens at the zoo are beautiful.
Papa decided to do one of his classic photos...
and when he pulled his head out of the Rhino's mouth he bumped his head on a very sharp tooth. The cut was actually quite deep, poor Papa!! He had a good laugh about it though.
The girls had to get a photo with the giant Yukult drink, they love the stuff!
Alissa trying to cool herself with a fan that sprays water
A beautiful white tiger
The kids cooling off with lemonade slushies
Zara's cheeky face
We took a little train to get around some of the zoo
Grandma and Sienna
Zara giving Papa a little kiss
That evening Mum and Dad kindly babysat the kids while Clinton and I went out for dinner. We looked at some of the fancy michelin star restaurants on Sentosa Island but they were very expensive.
We found a restaurant that had guest michelin star chefs and thought it might be more reasonable. We were ushered inside by a friendly waiter and instead of being taken to a table we were taken into a tiny waiting room. Alarm bells started to ring when the head chef himself came into the room to welcome us and give us an entree. It was a treasure box filled with little delicacies to get us started (all with a norwegian theme - where the chef was from). Once the head chef left the room, I suggested to Clint that we should make a run for it. There was no menu and it was obvious that this was going to cost a fortune! We felt bad taking off so we ate the entree and then we were brought into the restaurant and seated. We were then given "tasting leaves" little tiny leaves (yes, they looked like leaves on a plant sitting on a log tree) that had different flavours of the forest. Again, we were panicking!
Finally, they brought us a menu and we were able to see some prices. Luckily, we didn't have to have a full degustation meal and we chose individual courses that weren't too expensive (still pricey though). I think our waiter could see the panic in our eyes and very kindly helped us to understand the menu.
The food was delicious - the photos don't do it justice as it was dimly lit (in a very stylish way) and it wasn't really the type of place where you take photos of the food. I quickly took some photos very surreptitiously! All the servings were very small but there were little in-between tasting courses too. By the end we were very full!
After dessert they brought out another tasting plate of mini desserts...
Clinton and I left happily after we paid our bill (with our credit card) and we learned a few valuable lessons. If a restaurant doesn't have a menu - you probably can't afford it. If the head chef introduces himself and chats about his menu in a private room - you probably can't afford it. If your fellow restaurant patrons are dressed to the nines in designer labels and look like they haven't a care in the world - you probably can't afford it. Lesson learned!
