Ikebana Workshop @ Botanic Gardens

Following the demonstration at the Japan Creative Centre, I signed myself up for the workshop at the Botanic Gardens last Friday.

I did not attend the demonstration before the workshop but managed to snap a couple of pictures of the finished pieces.

Rikka style. It's origins lies in the 16th century tatehana style and is the source of all later Ikebono styles. Arrangement consists of many contrasting but complimentary materials which expresses the beauty of the natural landscape.

Close up, in detail. A black flower?

Shoka style. It's origins lie in the 18th century form of simple ikebana and comprises of the traditional (shofutai) style and the modern (shimputai) style. Shofutai consists of three main branches, shin, soe and tai, which form a unity expressing the perpetual change and renewal in life. Shimputai consists of two main parts, shu and yo, which respond to each other with contrasting yet harmonious qualities, with a third part arashi, sometimes added as a finishing touch.

Two freestyle arrangements. This is the most recent form which emerged as a response to contemporary tastes, and may take on either a naturalistic or abstract style.

This would be my favourite piece.

After the demonstration, we proceeded to one of the classrooms for the workshop held in Classroom 3.

Look at all the plant material in those pails for our use!

It feels good being a student again.

We were each given a vase with a sponge, a pair of scissors, and a bunch of leaves and flowers.

We were told to take note of focus point, movement and space in our arrangement, and to avoid symmetry.

In 20 minutes we were done. The teacher, upon looking at my work, had no comments, but made a few minor adjustments out of obligation...lol. I think I did real bad. The boy liked it though.

It definitely takes more than a hour-long workshop to fully understand Ikebana. You might want to join the Ikebono Ikebana Society Singapore Chapter for a better appreciation of the art form. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with a decription of The Soul Of Ikebana as pulished by the Ikebono Ikebana Society.

Let's Sweets Japanese Buffet and Sweets

We finally got around to trying the new Japanese buffet restaurant at Bugis Junction. Supposedly headquartered in Sapporo, Hokkaido, it serves a buffet consisting of both dinner and dessert items.


Although I wasn't impressed by the pictures on the board, the boy wanted to try someplace new. Seeing that it was just $19.80++ a person, I didn't make a fuss.


Since we were early, we had to queue outside the restaurant beside the wall which was made to look like a chocolate bar. Looking a little like the house in Hansel and Gretel, it made the boy happy.


We were fifth in queue for dinner which started at 5.30pm, and got a seat at the balcony opposite The Faceshop and which overlooks the street where various promotions are usually being held.


The first thing I didn't like about this restaurant was the fact that you were supposed to finish your dinner in 90 minutes. For lunch, it would be 60 minutes. Having a stopwatch at the table has the effect of making one anxious, which is definitely not good for proper enjoyment of any meal.


The second thing was the limited variety of dinner items. However, given the restricted timing in which you were made to finish your meal, it hardly mattered. That also meant that I managed to get every single dish available on my camera, and 90% onto my table.

Mini Teriyaki Burgers. These tasted like the ones at MOS burger, minus the onions. The piece of chicken was really tiny and this meant that I ate it with only one-half of the bun.



Spaghetti and vegetable salad.


Sushi and mixed rice.


Pizzas on the right. They had among other flavours, corn, tuna, fake crabmeat, gyoza, and salami pizza.


Rather good vegetable gyozas and fried chicken on the left. The hash browns however, were too oily for my liking.




Do pour a scoop of the sauce over the spaghettis or they will be rather dry.




Gratin, cabbage with pork in mustard cream sauce, Hokkaido omelette, and some potato dish.



Two kinds of vegetable dish which we liked. Broccoli and cauliflower with prawns, and carrots with beef.


Japanese soya sauce chicken rice with curry. The rice tasted like something you would cook for kids, but I liked it even though the boy didn't.


The corn soup was blah but the vegetable soup was pretty tasty.


Drinks on free flow included Lipton teas (chamomile, earl grey), hot green tea, Miranda soft drinks and 7-up.



And of course the desserts! Each customer is only allowed 5 pieces a time, so I had to make multiple trips to the counter in order to try most of the varieties available.

First up were the rolls. They had tea-flavoured, black sesame-flavoured and matcha-flavoured rolls. These were pretty decent. The brownie on the other hand, was dry and hard, but the matcha cheesecake was moist and cheesy.


Next up were the pumpkin, green tea and strawberry cheese mousses, azuki mochi and pineapple jelly. The mousses were not overly sweet, but thick and creamy.





The azuki was too sweet.


The pineapple jelly on the other hand, was so bland even the boy said the agar agar he makes would taste better.


I adore blue-colored food but this blue jelly was equally blah.


They also have vanilla chiffon cake which is nice and light, and a variety of flavoured mousse cakes of which I only took the mango-flavoured, strawberry-flavoured, and green tea-flavoured ones to try.


Blueberry tart was dry and hard. The banana chiffon cake was soft and nice.


Chocolate banana parfait and green tea parfait.



Miso-flavoured mochi.


I couldn't get enough of the tasty custard pudding with the sweet crust on top!


They also serve banana chocolate crepe, caramel apple crepe, and mixed berries crepe with vanilla ice cream. A regular crepe.


I'm not sure if the items change, say on a daily or monthly basis, but we noticed that they did replace some of the empty trays with a different item.

Pretty decent for the price, but there's no overwhelming reason that would make me want to go back anytime soon, except that it's probably cheaper to get your dessert fix here than at a hotel buffet. In case you're wondering where it's located, just look for the huge banner. You can't miss it.