Staycation @ Meritus Mandarin: Day Two

Slept pretty well at night...when morning came, I was raring to go, even though I was still partially drowsy from sleep (it's a complicated feeling :p). Took more pictures of the buildings outside -- the roads of Orchard were so quiet in the early morning and there was hardly any traffic around. Doesn't the slightly frosted glass of the hotel window present a rather surreal picture of the area? :)

Anyway, after I had a quick shower, it was time for us to get breakfast! Went back to the Chatterbox and soon found ourselves going around gathering food on our plates. There was quite a spread, from the usual items included in American breakfast to Asian breakfast stuff. Didn't really go for everything -- skipped most of the Asian stuff except for the Cantonese chicken porridge, and had loads of salad, a couple of sausages, a chicken wing, some crisp bacon, seafood gyoza (one of my favourites there!) and egg. Almost thought I wouldn't be able to heap my favourite scrambled egg onto my plate cos there wasn't any to be seen on the buffet tables, but later came across a special counter where you could order scrambled egg with your choice of fillings, so I ordered one with mushroom, chicken sausage and tomato. Yum. :) No breakfast buffet would be complete without scrambled eggs, I say! :p

After breakfast, we returned to our room to rest a while before going out again. Read newspapers and managed to catch most parts of a wonderful movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer on HBO which brought me to tears (sigh...what else is new? :p) too while Hubby was in the shower. Then, it's hello Orchard once again after a few steps out the main entrance of the hotel. Heehee.

Went back to the Chatterbox for their famous Mandarin Chicken Rice, which was included in the promotion. We weren't very hungry cos of the breakfast buffet we had, but fortunately, we were still able to eat. Omg... this award-winning dish that makes the hotel famous is a must-try! It costs $25.50 per set, but one can't really complain. The steamed chicken's pretty tender, and comes in three layers, each piled on top of the other. That's a whole lotta chicken for a single person to handle! Then the rice. Fluffly and light, with the flavour of chicken, but not oily at all. Both chicken and rice go really well with their special chilli, which I'm impressed with, cos I usually don't get any kick outta eating the normal chicken rice chilli. But this one's actually able to set my tongue on fire for a while, and it tastes really good. :) Then there's the dark soya sauce and ginger garlic mix. MMMmmm... thumbs up! What I love too is their chicken broth which tastes really healthy, with a generous piece of round tofu and lettuce served along with it. Overall, delicious!

Sigh... really enjoyed the stay, the great food, the company, the shopping/ walking about so leisurely these couple of days. Went back to BT for dinner, and could barely walk anymore after that. Stomach's just too stuffed! And guess what, Mummy cooked CHICKEN as well for dinner -- dish AND soup!

Anyway, now that it's back to reality once again, I'm missing the weekend stay lots. Though we never left Singapore, it really felt like a holiday for us. Now I'm beginning to see why some people are all ga-ga about staycations instead of going abroad. You get the holiday mood, minus the hassle of having to pack so many things and travel long hours on planes, as well as going through all the check-ins and outs at customs etc. But of course, I know I'd still enjoy going abroad; it's just that now, gimme a staycation like this any time and I'll be delighted too! *grinz*