I think most Singaporeans would have heard of The Feather Blade by now. If you haven't The Feather Blade is running a pop up steakhouse in Singapore's very own Chinatown. What makes The Feather Blade extremely popular with Singaporeans is that it was set up by an ex-employee of the famed Flat Iron Steak in London.

Since I missed Flat Iron Steak in London, I decided to drop by The Feather Blade with my boyfriend to review their steak.


I was initially a little confused when I reached the address Google Maps pointed me to, but later realised that The Feather Blade's pop-up store is actually inside Zui Hong Lou. The Feather Blade is easily identified by their posters screaming STEAKS that are plastered around the shop. The queue, which I failed to capture, is towards the right of this photo.

We reached at 7:20pm and joined the queue for a while before a friendly employee took down our numbers and told us we can go talk a walk around Chinatown before returning at 8:30pm. I like this system a lot because it means we don't have to wait in Singapore's intolerable heat!

We wandered off a bit about 8:20pm and The Feather Blade called us at approximately 8:20pm.

The Feather Blade menu

The Feather Blade steak menu

We initially ordered two sets of steaks (both medium) together with two sides (potato and mushroom) and one sauce (Horseradish Cream). However,  the mushroom was just sold out so we settled with just one side.


Similar to Flat Iron Steak in London, The Feather Blade serves free salted popcorn and water. The dishes were served pretty quickly after we place our orders. Don't have much photos because we were busy enjoying our steaks but the verdict from both of us was that steaks from The Feather Blade were worth the hype.

The steak was juicy and flavourful — my boyfriend even said it's the best he ever had and this boy is a gastronome. The potato is so soft that it melted in my mouth but to be honest I won't pay $7 for it. I didn't fancy the horseradish cream but that's because I'm a picky eater. My boyfriend found it a good compliment to the steaks.

I thought The Feather Blade was a little expensive compared to Flat Iron Steak ($21 vs £10, which is ~$18) but I guess the markup is inevitable. My boyfriend, on the other hand, finds the pricing resonable for such good steaks.

The Feather Blade pop-up store runs from 2 March to 21 April 2019.

(This post is not sponsored and we paid for our meals.)

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The Feather Blade

Address

90 Club St, 069458 (inside Zui Hong Lou)

Nearest MRT

Chinatown Station, Exit A

Opening Hours

5:30pm to 1am on Saturdays and Sundays

When Norwegian Air first launched its budget airline services from Singapore to London, I knew it was my chance to visit Europe. By a sheer stroke of luck, prices fell (SGD $199.90 is the cheapest promotional price Norwegian Air has for flights from Singapore to London Gatwick) so I immediately booked a LowFare+ ticket on the world's longest budget flight of almost 14 hours.

Tip: if you're buying a one-way ticket on Norwegian Air, its Singapore to London Gatwick option is cheaper. Flying from London Gatwick to Singapore on Norwegian Air can cost up to twice the price since the exchange rate is not in Singapore's favour. I booked my tickets approximately four months in advance.


I chose a LowFare+ ticket as it includes a checked bag of 20kg and seat reservation — I love my window seat. As it turns out, the two meals (and a sandwich snack) was redundant because Norwegian Air wasn't too strict about passengers bringing their own food onboard. Could've saved a little more if I chose the check-in bag option with an additional seat reservation instead. Nonetheless, getting my tickets at SGD $289.90 was still a steal.

The End of The F***ing World is a television adaptation of the comic book, The End of The Fucking World. It was released on Netflix worldwide on 5 January 2018. I'm usually not a fan of Westerm dramas (I prefer reading or watching Taiwanese movies) but The End of the F***ing World's dark humour caught my attention. What do you know? I finished all eight episodes in one sitting.


It’s a bit of an aged-old story now: boy who doesn’t understand feelings, therefore, doesn’t believe in love meets free-spirited girl. They fall in love until tragedy strikes. Nicknamed modern day Bonnie and Clyde, The End of The F***ing World takes things up a notch with James notoriously proclaims his fantasy of murdering someone, namely Alyssa, the girl with an uncensored mouth.


I love The End of The F***ing World! I announced it on Instagram immediately after finishing The End of The F***ing World's season finale and persuaded all my friends to watch it. In fact, I love it with such a burning passion, I'm writing an entire post about what I love about The End of The F***ing World, and already wrote another on my favourite quotes from Alyssa and James.

 I stayed in their Premier Room (Barrier-Free) for four nights. Le Prabelle Hotel's Premier Room (Barrier-Free) room came with a bathtub, which is extremely rare for hotels in Hong Kong, and a king-sized bed. I paid HKD 3,317.60 (approx. SGD $592 in March 2016) for the room.


Because Le Prabelle Hotel's Premier Room (Barrier-Free) room is meant to be wheelchair-accessible, its bathroom is spacious. Although the bathtub is a little shallow, it's good enough. The bathtub would be marvellous during Hong Kong's colder months; I had a good time soaking in the bathtub in March and didn't want to get out!


Le Prabelle Hotel provides free breakfast of a small snack and a packet drink every morning till 11am. They have free coffee, tea and some cookies in the room for your enjoyment too.

The room came with hairdryer, kettle, towels etc. For more facilities, you may to go Le Prabelle's website.


I doubt I'll go back to Le Prabelle Hotel, and strongly advised my friends against booking a room with Le Prabelle Hotel despite their excellent location.

I haven't been to Hong Kong enough to know if all hotels are like that, but Le Prabelle Hotel was inflexible with changing of booking dates, and check-in check-out timings. All of which I understand since I booked my room with the early bird price.

But I cannot accept Le Prabelle Hotel's insistence that we leave HKD1000 as deposit at the front desk. That messed with our budget quite a bit, especially since we were on a short trip and didn't bring a lot of cash. I travel a lot but I have never stayed at a hotel that requires a cash deposit, especially when it wasn't stated in their website.

For that very reason, I will not recommend Le Prabelle Hotel to my friends travelling to Hong Kong.

Le Prabelle

Address

372 Portland St, Mong Kok, Hong Kong
 

Email

booknow@leprabelle.com

Phone Number

 +852 2263 1263

Nearest MTR Station

Prince Edward Station Exit C2

Website

http://www.leprabelle.com/


Note: I paid for the hotel room with my own money. This post is neither sponsored nor paid for by Le Prabelle Hotel. I wrote the review based on my own experience with the hotel.

I always try to time my travels with colder seasons because I hate summer with a venegence. It's a known fact that I'm terribly afraid of the heat. I even suffered heat strokes a few times in Singapore! But as with every other vain girl in Singapore, I crave for the chance to layer up. I've already long established that wearing outerwears in Singapore is practically impossible, which is why I was super excited when Uniqlo sent me their AIRism camisole.

Everyone knows Uniqlo for their winter clothing and HEATTECH thermal wear (which I vehemently recommend to anyone travelling to colder climate), but Uniqlo's lesser known AIRism technology is truly godsent for Singaporeans.

What is AIRism?

Took Uniqlo's AIRism camisole out for the ultimate test — a day at the Marina Bay carnival, which is known to be humid, especially when the crowd surges. To top things off, I wore a parka I previously purchased in Hong Kong when it was chilly but never got a chance to wear in Singapore.

You know how Singapore's horribly humid climate makes you sticky, sweaty, and disgusting after a while? Uniqlo's AIRism technology releases heat, and prevents odours caused by sweat. Uniqlo's AIRism innerwear are, in simple terms, wearable deodorant.


Watch this video to fully understand how AIRism works. I'm beyond amazed because Uniqlo comes up with crazy technology all the time. I relied heavily on their HEATTECH when I travelled to Japan but AIRism blows me away!




I'm looking forward to less sweaty days and finally wearing my outerwears in Singapore. Yay to techology making our lives better!

Wearing Uniqlo MEN AIRism Crew Neck T-Shirt (Short Sleeve) in grey

Shop at Uniqlo's AIRism collection today
AIRism Women: http://www.uniqlo.com/sg/store/women/collections/airism.html
AIRism Men: http://www.uniqlo.com/sg/store/men/collections/airism.html

I stayed in Plan A Hostel in Taichung, located a convenient 15-minute walk from Taichung Train Station. Since I was heavily reliant on public transport in Taichung, staying near the train station — thus, also the bus interchange — made it easier to get around Taichung. Plan A Hostel is near lots of suncake (taiyangbing) shops, a Taiwanese specialty that originated from Taichung, making it easy to stock up on souvenirs!

Room

I stayed in Plan A Hostel's 'Standard 12 Bed Female Dorm' for two nights. Upon entering, I was immediately impressed by how clean the rooms were. Because it was Taiwan's low travel season, I was allowed to pick any bed I like.


Each bed comes with its own nightlight (in the shape of a macaron, how adorable!), mini platform for you to put your belongings, 2 USB cable points, a Type B power socket, and a Type G power socket.


Guests are requested to keep quiet and off the lights from 11pm onwards, which made the hostel a condusive place for resting after exploring Taichung for a day.

I had to go through the 'Standard 8 Bed Female Dorm' to get to my room. While slightly inconvenient, I prefer my 12-bed to the 8-bed dorm — I can only imagine how annoying it must be for doors to swing open every now and then, and having random people walk through your room. The 12-bed dorm was also more spacious.

Toilet

A peek at the male bathroom

Of all the hostels I've been to around Taiwan, Plan A Hostel has the cleanest toilet.


Not to mention, they have a stash of toiletries for all ladies, ranging from oil-based make up removal to facial cleanser. They even have nail polish removals, different sizes of pads and tampons, and cotton wool. Talk about impressive hospitality!


Toilet cover sheets if you're that anal about hygiene. As someone who's extremely icky about using public toilets, I love it! Plus, look at their puns :')


There are four shower cubicals, and Plan A Hostel provides different scented shower gel and shampoos for each cubical. What?! It made showering so fun!

Common Area

Plan A Hostel plastered directions to popular Taichung tourist spots around the walls. They even included a short description and opening hours! Should you need further information, Plan A Hostel also had two desk tops for guests to utlitise during their stay.


I did my laundry here for NT50 (SGD $2.30). Plan A Hostel has two washing machines but there weren't anyone else using the washing machines.


However, Plan A Hostel doesn't have a dryer so I had to hang my laundry to dry. It wasn't an issue for me but if there were others doing their laundry, the laundry line might get filled up pretty quickly.


Plan A Hostel provides free breakfast every morning up to 11am. Yay, who doesn't love free breakfasts?

Atmosphere

I shared the room with one other female traveller my first night there; the second night, we have around five girls in the room, and it was quite entertaining trying to communicate in our different languages and accents! Times like this I realise how important bilingualism is.


The first night I was there, Plan A Hostel was had a gathering. Guests and staff were mingling over some games and drinks, and I later learned that it's a common occurence.

Service

A lot of staff were on working holidays when I was there. Meaning, you'll enjoy exchanging travel stories and they probably have a lot to share. But they weren't that knowledgable when it comes to best places to buy souvenirs or getting around Taichung. Nonetheless, it didn't hinder me much because the information is easily Googleable.

The boss, upon seeing that I was checking out Taichung guidebooks one night, offered me some tourist spots he thought I might enjoy. Most of the staff could speak English.

Will I return to Plan A Hostel?

I don't see why not.

Plan A Hostel

Address

No. 201, Section 1, Taiwan Boulevard, Central District, Taichung City, Taiwan 400

Phone Number

+886-933728625

Email

aforangeltw@gmail.com

Price

SGD $21.15 per night on average

Booking

I made my booking through Hostelworld.

Disclaimer
I paid for my stay in Plan A Hostel and none of the staff knew I was a blogger so I didn't receive any preferential treatment. Everything written in this review is based on my own opinions and expectations after staying in different hostels in Taiwan.