Tamara Mellon leaves Jimmy Choo wtih Labelux' acquisition of the brand

Tamara Mellon, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Jimmy Choo, has been seen as the face of the brand, and the genius behind it. But they just announced that she, together with Joshua Schulman, the CEO, will leave Jimmy Choo. Tamara Mellon will leave at the end of this month, and Joshua Schulman until the New Year.

The departures follow the successful transition of Jimmy Choo to Labelux ownership and management control.

Tamara Mellon is glamorous, loved by fashion editors, is synonymous with the brand, and even had a Jimmy Choo perfume ad that is fronted by her (now, now... which other founder can boast of this?)

How will this affect the brand and where will Tamara Mellon transit to after this? Tamara Mellon has been very quiet about it, but it's definitely something fashionistas are super curious about.

Paradise Dynasty: Be there for colourful xiao long bao!

I've been to Taste Paradise, Paradise Pavilion and Seafood Paradise, this time I'm at Paradise Dynasty to try out the super-famous xiao long bao. I've heard so much about the creative xiao long bao and had been wanting to visit. I finally made it!

We reached the restaurant that's located at ION Orchard at about 6.30pm on a weekday, and there was already a short queue forming outside. We waited for about 15 minutes before getting a seat at the al fresco area (Because they don't have seats in the indoor area... no wait, actually they do, but they decided not to give it to us because another group of diners was kicking up a mini fuss about not wanting to sit outdoors. And being the easy-going diner that I am, I pretended that I didn't know the swapped the seats that I "deserve" with someone else's.)

We both ordered a bowl of la mian each. My companion had a beef la mian:

And I had a pork belly la mian. This is probably the best Chinese la mian I've ever tried before. The pork belly is so well-prepared that it really MELTS in your mouth. Yummilicious. The soup was good too.

To have a sample of all the flavours, we ordered this:

The alternative is to order one set of one particular flavour. After sampling all of them, my favourites are cheese and ginseng. My companion likes the garlic one. Least favourite? Probably truffle and foie gras - because I can't even tell the difference.

We finished the meal with desserts - red bean pancakes!

And they taste really good too!

Gosh, what's not to like about Paradise Dynasty? I don't know man! I can't nit-pick! And I'm sure I'll be back again :)

Japanese pasta at Yomenya Goemon at City Link Mall

I hope you like pasta because you're going to see a lot of different pasta in this entry!

Leslie and I walked past Yomenya Goemon after the Swissotel & Fairmont's Christmas party and told ourselves we're visiting it.

So we were back!

Each of us ordered a half-pasta set - that's two half-bowl of pastas plus miso soup and drink in each set.

The servings are so generous, doesn't feel like "half" bowl.

My seafood aglio olio

Leslie's seafood cream pasta

Leslie also had one tomato pasta

My carbonara

Soup pasta

Leslie didn't have enough and decided to get another bowl. So I get to try some of it too.

Overall it was a very fulfilling meal, the pasta were all very nicely done. The only complaint I would have is the   of the seafood aglio olio. I found it a little too bland. Leslie's seafood cream pasta is the most gratifying, and the tomato pasta is pretty good too :)

Christmas comes early - party at Equinox and Ink Bar

The parties that Swissotel & Fairmont throw are always super fun. Remember the Mooncake party that I blogged about the last time? This time, Christmas comes early and we had a "Christmas party" where the media gets to preview the plans that Swissotel & Fairmont have for Christmas, in a few months' time.

That day, one of the private dining rooms at Equinox is transformed into a Christmas ballroom. The huge venue is decorated with Christmas trees, lights, and frosty "Christmas motifs" on the windows. Carols were playing in the background and turkey was served. Looking out of the window, we get the enjoy the wonderful view that Equinox boasts of.

Within about an hour after arrival, Leslie (my guest) and I quickly got into Christmas mood.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas :)

The food was, not surprisingly, fantastic. And when there was so much good food to go around, it's difficult to pick and choose - we simply went for whichever caught our eyes, so we try the more visually-appealing ones first.

Delectable food to go around.

A real salmon. 

Some of the fare that we tasted at the buffet.

Meats were good, according to Leslie (I'm not a meat person).

Suckling pig with lotus rice was a highlight that day.

Much effort has been put into the decor. I heard that the marketing team worked overnight to get these things up. Hey, your efforts paid off because they look fab!

An exquisite ice sculpture.

Breath-taking view from above!

If only it snowed in Singapore...

After some mingling, making new friends and sampling the wonderful food, Leslie and I got more drinks and simply bask in the beautiful view that was all around us.

We attempted a red-meets-white ad poster look.

White wine + great view = perfect evening

See the Christmas decor?

And just as we thought the evening was over, the Swissotel & Fairmont marketing team gave us a surprise - a part two to this already-fabulous party. We headed down to Ink Bar at Fairmont, where there were more drinks and... okay, read on to find out what :)

We got ourselves a seat and cosy up with the couches. Party hats were given to us and cheers of "Happy new year!" were heard, so you really would imagine that Christmas/New Year were here already.

All ready to party!

Ta-da! Here was the biggest surprise I had! Beautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL buffet table of candies, sweets and desserts - all Christmas-themed!

I really felt like a child in a candy store. Super excited!

Winter wonderland!

Yummy log cake

Candies that look like Christmas bells

I bet elves live with these candies.

Excited by the colourful goodies

And I took whatever caught my eyes without really thinking if I could finish them because I just wanted to sample all of them! It wasn't too hard for me to fill up my plate.

We filled our plates

Cheers!

More drinks, of course.

Super adorable (and yummy) cookie

Beautiful performance put up and got everyone dancing and clapping.

A band came to entertain us

And then Leslie and I indulged in more drinks.

Another drink to keep the night going

Humongous bottles!

More drinks!

The party rounded up with lucky draw with wonderful prizes (such as hotel stays in Swissotel overseas!) and I didn't win anything (as with any lucky draws I've ever participated in) :(

Lucky draw prizes

Here's a final picture of us. We had a good time, a big thank you to the team at Swissotel & Fairmont!

Final shot :)

As I've mentioned the hotels have wonderful plans coming up for Christmas and New Year, which I will definitely share closer to the date. Watch this space!

Buffet Town opens at Raffles City

I went to Raffles City a few months ago, wanting to go to Shokudo. Then I found out that it has closed! In its place is Buffet Town. Taking over Shokudo's premises, the place is huge!

I decided to visit it another day and here's my report from the restaurant.

Pictures from the visit - just take note that when I go to buffets, I don't follow any kind of sequence in taking the food. So you'd see salads and fried food on the same plate, sashimi and fried rice placed together - you get the drift!

My very first helping is some friend food, japanese curry, sausages and potato. The curry is pretty good. The rest is just meh.

More fried food, sashimi salad and pizza. Sashimi and pizza are decent. By this plate, I also know that the fried food there can be missed.

The seafood isn't fantastic but is "edible". Go for the sushi instead, they taste pretty okay.

These two are the must-try at Buffet Town: laksa and pasta. Pasta is served at a live station where you can choose the toppings you want to go with the pasta and the type of pasta you want.

On this plate: satays, mee tai mak and sausages. The mee tai mak is okay, the rest are very average.

These are my favourites - the salmon sushi with dark sauce and waffles! The waffles are done on the spot too, and is super crispy. I love my waffles with maple syrup and butter, but you can choose to eat it with chocolate syrup, honey or ice-cream - or all of the above! These toppings and sauces are available at the counter.

Here are a few selection from the dessert counter. The ice-cream completes the meal quite well - it's just really fun to be able to scoop your own ice-cream and decorate it with whatever you like. It made me happy!

Here's me outside the buffet. Check out the pants - new from Malacca. The hip area is slightly puffed, and it has turned up cuffs that show a pretty pattern. I should have worn heels, but it was the weekends and I had enough of heels! My feet need a break :(

Overall, I think it has a few hits and misses. Also, I haven't had time (and stomach space) to check out every single station. There may be more interesting features that I didn't manage to try.

Lunch is from 11.30am to 3pm ($23.80 on weekdays, and $28.80 on weekends and PH eve and PH); dinner is from 6pm to 10.30pm ($33.80 on weekdays, and $38.80 on Friday, weekends, PH eve and PH). It's located at B1-44E, Raffles City.

Do you follow a specific sequence when you pick up items from the buffet line? (e.g. by type of cuisine, or start with salads, end with desserts)