Pig-out @ Lao You Ji

Question: How many snouts can fit in the trough?

Answer: M-A-N-Y when the food is soooo good.

Lao You Ji is one of those seafood tze-char places that serve up some outstanding specialties that will make even the most jaded of palettes take notice.

Two such dishes are:

Steamed bamboo clams smothered in fried garlic done to perfection - succulent meat against bursts of crunchy garlic bits.

Meaty giant crabs the size of your dinner plate on a bed of bee-hoon fried in the juice of the crab.

Applications open for next pig-out. Bring snout.

Lao You Ji is located at:
245 Outram Road
Singapore 169046
Tel: 6221 5280

Yesterday once more@Shashlik

All my best memories
Come back clearly to me
Some can even make me cry
Just like before
It's yesterday once more

Carpenters, 1973

Shashlik brings back a flood of memories. Good memories. Memories of a time when we were young and dating and happy even if broke most of the time. A time when there weren't very many steak restaurants to choose from and Shashlik was the answer to a stylish dinner date in the late 70s.

One recent evening when the man was visited upon by nostalgia and sentimentality, Shashlik came to mind. It was like stepping back in time some 25 years. The dim lighting, the overly dark wood furniture, the so-very-70s leather-bound chairs, the service trolley, even the Hainanese ah-kor's (servers) were all just as we remembered them.

There was no need to look at the menu. We knew exactly what we came for. We started with their famous borscht soup, shared a chateaubriand steak, and eagerly looked forward to the bomb alaska. Every detail was as we knew it would be.

The borscht soup without beetroot, the entree sizzling on a hot plate while the trimmings were being assembled in full view by your table, the bomb alaska flambe'ed before your eyes. All done with the courtly manners of the old-style ah-kor's on trolleys with squeaky sticky wheels.

We want to commit every detail of the place to memory. We want to remember our favourite ah-kor from our courtships days - now 70 years old - still going about his business in that familiar no-pandering fashion.

As the evening drew to an end, we took a long last look at the place. Finally, with reluctance, we stepped out of the restaurant and walked into the present.

Shashlik Restaurant is located at:
545 Orchard Road
#06-19 Far East Shopping Centre
Singapore 238882
Tel: 67326401

Hosgeldiniz

اهلا و سهل Ahlan wa sahlan

otherwise, Welcome...

Our front entrance done turkoman tentage style
with tent band, mafrash cushions and even a camel garland.

Pig-out @ Quan Xiang Yuan

Quan Xiang Yuan is one of our pig-out restaurants. It is the type of Chinese restaurant you go to when eating is all that you are after, and you take only good friends who are on the same mission.

The food is consistently good in that home-cooked-goodness way. Don't expect any clever twist to the usual standard dishes of Hokkien fare whether steamed, fried, braised or boiled.

There are no soft touches to this place. The decor is strictly utilitarian - stark white tiled walls and floor, stark white florescent overhead lights, basic wooden chairs and round tables that seat 6 to 12 people. All the better to hose down the entire place when a general cleaning is called for.

The service is basic and minimal. Your entire 10-course dinner appears in 20 minutes. You do not get a change of service plate. When it eventually becomes desperate and necessary to get new service plates, the wait-staff will gladly hang back and let you self-serve.

And the noise. This is not noise from noisy eaters expected of Chinese restaurants. This is rude intrusive din from the wait-staff clearing tables. Do not hope things will quieten down when the place empties out. There will be no let-up in the clanging and slamming of utensils and crockery. Every minute that you are there. Any night of the week. No relief. No exception. No hope.

The restaurant is reputedly a favourite hang-out for taxi-drivers who come for the home-feel of the place.

We don't relate to that sentiment. We come strictly for the food. We would come a lot more often if there could be just some small improvement in comfort level.


Quan Xiang Yuan is located at:
252 Jalan Besar
Singapore 208925
Tel: 6294 6254

I love my Basbousa(بسبوسة)

otherwise, an exotic semolina dessert of arabic origin

baked to a honey golden brown
steeped in a light lemony syrup
a divine sweet finish to an elegant dinner

i did soooo well for a first attempt

Bellydance festivals

I only just found out about this mega event:

Dina, the living legend of bellydance, will be performing at the International Belly Dancing Convention 2007 in Las Vegas (July 30 to August 4)

It is too late for me to schedule my work/life to attend this. Sigh.

If any of you make this event, I'd love to hear all about your experience.



I can, however, start to plan on going to the Istanbul Gypsy Festival in May next year.

Incidentally, I have stayed at the Hotel Hali - the hotel of choice for this festival.

Actually, I have been everyplace and done everything mentioned in this itinerary. But I will happily do them all again :)

Any of you joining me?

Bellydancer Quiz

What Kind of Belly Dancer are You?

You are a Cabaret Belly Dancer! You're what people think of when they hear the words "belly dancer" -- the beaded bra and belt, the nightclub routine, the doumbek and the zills. Equally at home in a restaurant or at a hafla, your routine is a crowd-pleaser no matter who's watching! Keep shimmying! Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

I LOVE this!! If you take the quiz, let me know your result please?

Hafla@Samar

Magic happens when women get together for a night
of ...dance, music and food. Samar Cafe

magic happens tonight because

I am free
to let the music move me
to dance for you
to laugh and share
the love I have for you

tonight magic happens

Click here for review of hafla by M.E.D-aze

Samar is located at:
1 Baghdad Street
Singapore 198906

Tel: 63980530
Fax: 62264605

Food, Glorious Turkish Food

Do not dismiss the dish saying that it is just, simply, food. The blessed thing is an entire civilisation in itself. (Abdulhak Sinasi, writer, 1883-1963)

Come for the history, stay for the food. (anonymous)

Misir Carsisi (otherwise, the Spice Bazaar)

Lead me through this fantasy land
Where I will find
Candy and sweetmeats by the barrel
Exotic spices by the sackful
Sturgeon caviar of the Caspian
Natural sponges from the Aegean
Shelves full of dried fruits, nuts and sweets
All these, and more, much more
To be had for the asking

Ottoman Splendour

(L) Nuruosmaniye Mosque

(R) Mosque of Sultan Ahmed (aka Blue Mosque)

(L) Aya Sofya

(R) Upper Gallery of Aya Sofya


(L) Topkapi Palace entrance

(R) Iznik Tilework in the Harem in Topkapi



The timeless beauty of Ottoman architecture still captures the imagination today as it did 400 years ago.

Pretty Streets, Pretty Homes

I've always wanted a real home
With flowers on the window sill ...

Where you lead by Carole King

Carpet Lover

This Kirghiz came home with me.

Every carpet lover has her favourite carpet merchant. He is the one who has
the best selection at the best price. He goes the distance for you in your
search for that rare piece you have set your heart on.

These are my guys.

Kapali Carsi (otherwise, the Grand Bazaar)

The Grand Dame of Bazaars - the Kapali Carsi - still stands majestic today.

No visitor can resist the dizzying array of goods sold here - modern and traditional, arty and tacky, mass-produced and unique. It is like walking into Aladdin's cave of treasures.

Every tourist comes away believing he just clinched the best deal of his life because he bargained really hard and long.

Reality check: the tourist is testing his bargaining skill; the vendor haggles for a living.

Forget Aladdin's cave; the unsuspecting tourist is in a nest of vipers.