k r i s a n d r o

I have been a Citibank customer since 2004 and in fact, my first credit card is from the bank!

Citibank recently updated their mobile banking application on the iPhone and made quite a few significant updates. Being an obsessive iPhone user, I always look for apps that are fun, cool or useful. I have always primarily used Citi Mobile banking app to login to my accounts and check for balances and transaction details on my cards and this new update caught my attention on quite a number of interesting features!

Location based searches

It is always useful to search for things you need based on your current location using the GPS and the Citi Mobile app is able to search for nearby ATMs, Gourmet Pleasures dining deals, shopping privileges and Citi Rebate outlets in your vicinity. The app is also able to base your search from nearby MRT stations in the event that you are planning in advance to shop or eat at a place with a good Citi deal, or in areas with bad GPS connection.

If there are too little or too many results from your search, you can always adjust the distance of your search in 1km increments to a maximum of 5km in the settings.

Mobile Treats

This is probably something that is interesting to folks who loves discount coupons/vouchers. The Citi Mobile app is able to download e-coupons and e-vouchers for great deals right from the app!

For now, there are only 2 Mobile Treats available for use but I’m sure they will be adding more to the list as time passes.

I hope to see more from the location based searches in the future releases for the Citi Mobile app. More listings and the ability to show all the search results on a map will be nice. I find it easier to choose where I want to go visually.

I have inside news from the Citi folks that they already have immediate plans for the app and are also looking for feedback to improve on it. So do tell them what you will like to see!

[Disclaimer] Citibank is a client of my company. The purpose of this post is to share on the features that I like and the views expressed are of my own.

Tucked away behind the busy Orchard Road is the lesser known sister of the Pan Pacific Hotel chains, the Pan Pacific Orchard. Now that I have tasted the great food at the signature restaurant, 10 at Claymore, I think the lesser known sister should have a chance to revel in the limelight.

After a little poking around the internet, it seems like 10 at Claymore has been quite popular for it’s buffet spread and so I was quite curious when I was invited down by Citibank and the 10 at Claymore folks to try out food from the à la carte menu. I was also joined by 7 other bloggers: Chester, Veron, Keropokman, James, Walter, Jeneen and Claudia.

Seeing that the restaurant expected us down, I won’t talk about the excellent service that the staff showed as there but without any biased opinions, the food served to us was great! Pardon me for not packing vocabulary like a food connoisseur does but you have to believe me when I say the food is great, considering that I hardly get excited over food much.

I forgot whose idea it was to share food around like Thanksgiving instead of ordering mains for each of ourselves but I think everyone enjoyed eating chunks and morsels of food from the variety that 10 at Claymore served us that night.

If you every make your way down, do try the Thai Beef Salad from the appetiser section and for mains, do try the delicious Oven-Roasted Bonito Cod.

Oven-Roasted Bonito Cod with Honshimeji Mushrooms, Pea Sprouts and a Garlic Shoyu Sauce ($29)

Now, if you have a fat wallet and/or has a thing for beef, I implore you to spend it on the Blackmore Wagyu Beef Tenderloin. It is 200g of Wagyu Beef goodness that stirs my gastric juices as I am typing out this blog post. Even Veron who isn’t much of a beef person, enjoyed the tenderloin of Marbling score 9+.

“What MARBLING SCORE?!?” you might ask? Well, I was clueless also and apparently, a benchmark marbling/marble score of 1 to 9+ is given to Wagyu beef which grades it on the amount of intramuscular fat that gives the famous Wagyu it’s famous juicy texture. Need I mention that the best grade is on the high side?

Blackmore Wagyu Beef Tenderloin (200g) 600 Days Grain Fed – Marbling Score 9+ ($100)

Yes. It costs $100 and I swear that I didn’t knew of the price until someone pointed it out to me on the menu. Truthfully, it’s not something that I would order if I had to pay because of the hefty price tag but it’s worth every cent! The meat was juicy and the generous portion is good enough for most folks. I had it medium-rare so as to fully savour the goodness of the meat but I think it’s also extremely delicious served medium. Anything more cooked than that and I’ll go over and kill you myself…. and eat the remainder of the Wagyu beef you ordered….

10 at Claymore has a few promotions if you are a Citibank card holder:

• Valid 1st Aug 2010 – 30th Sep 2010
  Get 1 complimentary THE CLAYMORE (which is a steak) with any order from the grill menu.
  Get a 2nd grilled item from the grill menu for $10 only, with any order from the grill menu.
• Valid till 31st Dec 2010
  • 15% off total bill

Pan Pacific Orchard
10 Claymore Road
Singapore 229540

[Disclaimer: Citibank is a client of my company and the food was kindly sponsored by the restaurant. My opinions of the food are of my own and are not influenced in any way or by anybody.]