Lawry's The Prime Rib Singapore - Birthday Lunch

The second part of my birthday celebration was on the day itself, with just me and A having some private time alone sans kids. (First part was over the weekend with the staycation at Rasa Sentosa.) To start the day, we went to Ultimate Spa @ Shaw for a 90 mins massage in a couple room. As we were wondering where to head for lunch, I suddenly thought, why not Lawry's. 

Lawry's was a place where hubby and I first came across when they were still in Paragon, back when we were still dating and were students with limited funds. So spending $100 per pax for lunch was beyond our reach. Then in 2010, we wanted to go Lawry's as well, but I read reviews online which recommended Morton's instead. So we went there.

Photo from Morton's (2010)

This time, since we were in Orchard, we decided to go for it. 

Both of us ordered the Lawry's cut, medium rare (finally after not being allowed to eat beef in anything other than well done during my pregnancy) with the spinning/ tossing salad. We also added mashed spinach at the side. The steak was quite "zuppy", as in quite a lot of sauce. Andrew somehow remembered the taste from Morton's 4 years ago and felt Morton's steak was nicer. However, the brighter ambience and nice window view in Lawry's was more comfortable. When the staff knew we were celebrating my birthday, they sang birthday song, took picture and give me an English trifle cake. 

Photo from Lawry's (2014)

Overall, nice experience just hanging out with Andrew alone. It's been so long to have some "us time" especially after the birth of Leanne.

On a separate note, I put the photo in my bag and promptly forgot about it until one week later and placed it on our TV console. Emma's reaction to it was interesting. Emma took the photo and said, "Daddy Mummy inside, Emma Mei Mei Aunty Romelyn not inside". She also observed the birthday cake, and could infer that it was a birthday celebration. I asked her whose birthday, and she can connect the fact that Mummy's birthday was last week, and said that it was my birthday celebration. She also asked to bring it to school so that she can show all her friends. We were quite touched that she seemed to be so proud of us as her parents that she wanted to bring our picture to show everyone, and also amazed at what she can just show and tell based on the photo. 

Staycation - Rasa Sentosa Shangri-la

I planned for a staycation at Rasa Sentosa Shangri-la this year for my birthday. (We stayed at W Hotel last year for my birthday, and we have also previously stayed at Hotel Michael, Equarius Hotel, the resort previously known as Beaufort, and Amara Sanctuary Sentosa; Sentosa is a nice place for staycation, but rates are getting higher.) They had recently renovated and were known to be kid friendly. I got a discounted rate of $315++ since I was also in the hospitality industry, otherwise we would have had to pay around $600++ which I would never pay for a normal room. 

We got there around 1.30pm but the room wasn't ready yet as they were having high occupancy. However, they allowed us to use the facilities while we were waiting. Emma was eager to head to the beach to build her sandcastles. So we changed her up and headed down to the beach area. 

The visibility of the sea surprised me. We could still see our toes even though it was up to my knees. (Ok, I never thought Singapore's beaches counted as such.) It was fun to walk in the sea with Emma. Daddy bought a sandcastle-making toy set from the gift shop (which was at surprisingly non-exorbitant prices, think around $12) and we had fun making sandcastles. 

Around 3pm, we were informed that our Deluxe Poolview Room was available. It is very spacious with a King Bed, sofa bed, bathroom with bathtub and shower, and balcony.

So when we reached our room, it was apparent that Emma would not be sleeping any time soon. So we changed her into swimming attire and brought her down to the pool. The pool had a wadding area which she enjoyed. There were also 3 slides which were more like mini slides, but Emma would still not be comfortable riding down alone and adults were not allowed on the slides. Fortunately there were breaks in between where the lifeguard was not around and Emma and I "sneakily" went down all 3 slides together. 

Emma and her "seahorse"

Leanne chillin'

After all the beach and pool play, Emma finally fell asleep exhausted at 7pm, right smack during dinner time. So my husband and I ordered in-room dining. We were too beat to head out anyway. The Hotel arranged for a little Tiramisu cake as a surprise for my birthday as well. 

Next morning, we headed for breakfast (which is apparently included for all guests, makes sense cos it's quite isolated from everything else) at Silver Shell Cafe. Variety was good but the better items like salmon ran out quickly and were replaced with cheaper stuff like chicken. They also had a cute Kid's Corner where kid-friendly food was served in smaller bite-sized portions. Would rate the breakfast 7 out of 10. Not too bad. 

After breakfast, we headed for the beach again.

Daddy and Emma building sandcastles

Leanne chillin' again

Nice huge pool

Great way to spend the weekend!

Staycation - Naumi Hotel

Occasionally I browse Groupon to see if there are any good deals, or anything to buy (you know that saying, a woman will pay $1 for a $2 item she doesn't need if it is on S-A-L-E). So I saw this Groupon deal on Naumi Hotel along Seah Street for $288 nett. I previously passed by it with hubby back when we were still child-less, and thought that it would be a nice luxury boutique hotel to try out. But rates were around $400-ish after taxes, which I felt was too expensive. So when I saw the deal, I thought it would be a good time to try it out.

We got the Habitat Room, which was really small. However it did have the minimal necessities, including a nice King Bed, shower, and the sink was island-style. I liked the fact that they had Apple TV so we could airplay stuff from our iPads and iPhones, but the wifi connection was quite spotty. The furnishings did remind me of W Hotel Sentosa Cove, which we stayed in Feb 2013 for my birthday.

One nice little touch is that they had complimentary mini bar, which consisted of 2 packets of chips, miniature bottles of some hard liquor (didn't pay much attention), 4 cans of soft drinks and 1 can of beer. The cost is minimal, but was a nice touch, as it was good to chew on something while watching movies when the kids were sleeping.

The rooftop pool is quite nice, with cool edgy type of furniture. It featured a nice view overlooking Raffles Hotel, Raffles City; generally the City Hall area. However the pool rules does state that no kids under 5 years were allowed. Luckily we were the only ones using the pool.

While the staff were quite pleasant during our stay, and the location was quite accessible to Bugis/ City Hall area, for the usual rates that they charge, I think it would be more worth to stay at other Hotels that have more facilities.