Night of Wine and Dine

Bottom left picture - from left:
Pathy (sommelier, Table@7)
Daniel Chathiard (owner, Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte)
Eugenia & Karl (owners, Table@7)
Clinton Ang (owner, Cornerstone Wines)

It is a stretch to find me at wine-pairing dinners. For the simple reason that I am allergic to alcohol.

But because it is the folks at Table@7 who asked.

And because we have fond memories of our dinner at the Chateau Smith-Haut Lafitte.

We went.

It was, of course, another thoroughly enjoyable evening at our favourite restaurant, with some of our favourite people in the F&B industry...

Cabaret - the video

Here are the pictures.

Here is the video:



Thank you, photographer and videoman, for capturing the night.

I treasure the memory.

Bellydance Night@Shiraz

I will remember this night for a long time to come. The reasons were many:

The place is Shiraz. They do decent, even good, middle-eastern food. The service staff are always willing to accommodate special requests.

My favourite people - bellydancers - perform every night of the week. I love that they do multiple sets throughout the night. I detest places where the dancer does a single set of 3-songs and immediately leaves for another gig elsewhere; there's no satisfaction from eating or entertainment, just interruptus of the most annoying sort.

The evening provided the rare opportunity to catch up with friends who I otherwise do not get to see.

This time, the limelight shone on Fatema and Katerina Shereen. Both performers saved the very best - the forkloric danceforms - for their last sets with Fatema ending with saidi and Shereen finishing with khaleegi.
I stayed to the very end. The reasons were many.

A night@Shiraz with Angelina

They are new bellydance students looking for a chance to try out their newly acquired bellydance skills.

Because I really like these girls. Because I want them to stay interested and enthusiastic with the dance. Because I believe to grow in the love and learning of dance, it has to be experienced outside the confines of the dance studio.

I wanted to make it a girls' night of dinner and bellydance. I need food, drinks and a professional bellydancer.

The perfect restaurant is Shiraz - the women loved their dinner, desserts and drinks.

The perfect bellydance professional to show and lead them is Angelina Tay.
Thank you again, Angelina, for taking care of the girls and giving them so much of your time. Bringing hip scarves for all of them to get them into the mood was a particularly thoughtful gesture.

Everything went very well. The girls came away inspired and in awe of bellydance and the bellydancer :)

I know we will be back again very soon. And the group will be even bigger.

Pig-out at Eng Seng Restaurant

I have said
- I will not stand in a queue for food,
- I will not eat dinner while the sun is still high in the sky,
- I will not eat at places where they serve up attitude with the food.

Then our wonderful foodie friends say we have to do crab dinner at Eng Seng for the best Black Pepper Crab. To organise this pig-out session, they had to
- go at 4.30 pm to pick and pay for the crabs,
- go at 5.30 pm to "chope" a big table for our party of 10.

It was still hot and sunny at 5:30pm. Every table in the house was taken. Ceiling fans with grease coated blades spun lazily, circulating hot air and cooking oil vapour.

There was a line outside, and walk-in's were being turned away because every crab was already spoken for!

Our dinner order hit the table and empty plates removed in rapid succession. Every dish was surprisingly very tasty.

Then came the piece de resistance - Black Pepper Crab. This isn't crab fried up with cracked black peppercorns. The crab is fried in a fragrant sweetish pepper sauce that clings to every part of the crab, making it literally finger-linking good!

Everyone of us pronounced this the best Black Pepper Crab we have ever had.

Would I come back? Yes I would (forget what I said at the top of this post.) And very soon too.

Eng Seng Restaurant is located at
247/249 Joo Chiat Place
Singapore 427935
Tel: 6440 5560
Important:
Hrs: 4:30pm till when the last crab is eaten at about 9:00pm.
Closed on Wednesdays

The Perfect Peach Garden

They are special friends. This is a special visit for them. The friends here want them to remember their first visit to Asia as truly special.

After a week of furious recce of highly reviewed restaurants helmed by Michelin-starred chefs with inflated egos, we settled for the only restaurant worthy of the label "fine dining experience".
A tastefully appointed private dining room at Peach Garden. On the 33rd floor of the bank building where we get a breathtaking view of city lights along the river.

An extremely capable banquet manager worked with us on a customised menu that highlighted the finest of Chinese cuisine. Each dish is given a light touch of exotic Asian garnish that tempted the palate to want to know more of our exotic flavours. Every course individually plated so beautifully that it is a feast for the eyes before it becomes food. Attentive servers who took care of our table efficiently with not so much as a whisper of intrusion on our total enjoyment of this magical place and occasion.

The carefully considered selection of fine wines is a perfect complement to the fine dining.
I dare say this will be an evening that we will remember fondly for a long, long time.

Let them eat foam

Call me old fashioned, but I like food that looks and tastes like it should. I don't appreciate marriage of respectable cuisines that produce an unrecognisable and indescribable hybrid.

The much talked-about signature dish of foie gras xiao long bao with truffle consomme hiding under a puff of celeraic foam is an insult to sensibilities. Foam belongs on coffee and beer.

The platter filled with unrelated nibble sized sweet somethings described as a "Symphony of Dessert" has several strings missing in the orchestra.

Fancy labels like "Asian cuisine with French influence" does not make the food more palatable.

Enough already with the overpriced lousy dinners and cheap drinks brought to your table by a nervous serving crew whose delivery made me think they flunked out of hospitality training.

It was time I took the eating crew back to basics.

Everyone had a delightful time tucking into a 10-course meal of real Chinese food prepared by real cooks who give a damn to what they are doing.
Let the culinary snobs eat foam recommended by the media whores.

A family dinner in June

I quit having birthday dinners/parties after the 21st.

For the next 30 plus years, my birth month became a period that I selfishly reserve for myself - going wherever I want, doing whatever I want, seeing whomever I want.

Then last year I decided to bring in the family for a dinner get-together again because it was a significant year. I couldn't see waiting another 5 years for the next significant birthday - some old people might not be around by then and I might actually be inexplicably sorry about that fact.

I naively thought I could get away with doing a birthday dinner with family once every 5 years. But as the month and day got nearer, they started asking if we'd all be getting together again, just like last time.

I could not bring myself to disappoint them, so I said yes, of course we will. Just like last time.

Of course the old woman created a lot of tension for everyone in the days leading up to the date.

Finally, on D-Day we are at the restaurant that I so looked forward to. Where the man arranged for a private dining room with the most spectacular view of Singapore from the 33rd floor. Where every course of the meal was thoughtfully pre-ordered, painstakingly prepared and now impeccably presented at the table on exquisite dinner servers.

And I realised too late I did not have my camera to record any of this for posterity.

And so.

I shall remember this occasion in my mind's eye and hold it close in my heart for a very long time to come: an evening of happy memories with my family that is more than a difficult old woman.

It's a minute steak

I like the Aussie-styled steakhouse for its decent food and casual ambience. I also like the no-fuss efficient service of the wait-staff. Parking is never a problem either.

It came to pass that the man and I took our visitors for a quick lunch there since they were running on a tight workday schedule.

The one guest is always a pain in the proverbial you-know-where. He particularly enjoys talking down to wait-staff with a fake English public school accent trying to impress that he has a most impeccable palate.

We ordered the set lunch, and have selected the minute steak for the main. Now he tells the waitress, Eton accent and all, "Er, y-y e s. I know how you always do steaks overdone in Singapore. Might you be so kind as to tell the chef I want mine very, very rare please?"

We groaned. We protested: Oh, puhleeze. It's a minute steak. It is a thin slice of meat pan-fried for just a moment on each side. It cannot be done very, very rare!

The waitress very graciously said she will check with the chef. She was back very quickly with the answer: The chef says the minute steak is too thin to be pan fried and served very very rare. He can, however, do it to a perfect medium rare.

There. Exactly as we told him when he nevertheless proceeded to make a ass of himself.

Like I said, I like the restaurant for it's decent food and casual ambience. Now I respect it for its straightforwardness and honesty too.

Kebab Nite@Potpourri

(click on image for larger picture)

Just when we were wondering what to do on the weekend post Christmas and pre New Year's between two haflas, Potpourri and Stephanie came to our rescue.

This promises to be another unforgettable evening of exoticism - drinks, kebabs, shisha and Stephanie.

Pig-out@Zi Yean Restaurant

Of late, the pig-out friends are having a hard time coming up with places to, well, pig-out at.

Our old reliable standby, Moi Kong, is closed; the entire building is undergoing massive renovation. Our other kitchen is closed and waiting for renovation to be completed at a yet-to-be-disclosed new location.

I don't include the big name restaurants in our pig-outs because there really isn't any surprises in those places. On reputation alone, one already expects impeccable service, opulent ambience and spectacular food.

Rather, we delight in finding low-key restaurants that would turn out some outstanding dishes. If the food is truly out-of-this-world divine, we would even put up with noise, over-crowdedness and untrained wait staff.

One recent foray turned out to be a delightful discovery. Food was decent, service was efficient and the place was not noisy!

Two of their dishes deserve special mention:

- their fried la mien had a beautiful wok hei aroma that woke up even jaded taste buds

- their 3-flavour fried chicken was skilfully done with different fragrant peppers and finished with a distinct citrus note

Zi Yean Restaurant is located at
Blk 56 Lengkok Bahru, #01-443
S 150056
Tel: 6474 0911

Go on - Bite Me

It's got taste. It's got style. It's got attitude. It's got funk.

The Bite Me burger is definitely not your ordinary quarter pound beef patty hurriedly slapped onto a hamburger bun .

I am amazed at how the lowly burger can be elevated to cult gourmet status.

Bite Me Burger Co is located at
340 Oxford St, NSW 2021
tel: 61 2 93311916
and
108 Campbell Parade
Bondi Beach NSW 2026
Tel: 61 2 93006566

Go on - It's Lebanese again

Dinner at a middle-eastern restaurant is still what I look forward to on the weekends.

For the food. For the ambience. For the bellydancing.

Even if it is for all of 15 minutes.

We made it to Abdul's and Hannibal's this trip. Yes, they are next door to each other. And yes, we went to one on Friday and the other on Saturday.

Abdul's Exotic Lebanese Restaurant is located at
563 Elizabeth St
Surry Hills, NSW 2010
Tel: 61 2 96981275

Hannibal Lebanese Restaurant is located at
557 Elizabeth St Surry Hills, NSW 2010
Tel: 61 2 96988288

Gunther's on Purvis

When it comes to French cuisine, I am at a total loss as to what to expect. Unlike other great cuisines of the world, French defies description. The French pride themselves as totally adventurous when it comes to food. They are ever creative, still evolving. Which means you may be in for the most impressive gastronomical experience of a lifetime, or you may be eating someone's failed cooking experiments.

So, when the girlfriend suggested a double date at Gunther's, I was hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. There are many reviews of the place. Two statements stood out in every review.

1. The cold angel hair pasta, Oscietra caviar is a must-try;

2. Expect to pay a lot.

The conscientious reviewers were right on both counts.

But, it is the perfect place to bring your date if you are out to impress with a good expensive dinner.

Gunther's is located at
36 Purvis Street #01-03
S. 188613
Tel: 6338 8955

Kashmir Restaurant @ Race Course Road

The girlfriend and her husband thought we'd like the food at Kashmir Restaurant, and made the necessary arrangements for dinner over the weekend. Oh, we more than like; we love!

The restaurant is tiny compared to the big boys along Race Course Road. But the small touches they provide makes the experience more than just stuffing one's face.

It begins with the ceremonial washing of hands in a tashtri. The food that is presented to the table is both a feast for the eyes and the stomach. Serving portions may be smaller than expected, but every mouthful is a delightful awakening of the senses.

We certainly look forward our next time there. There is a long list of dishes we look forward to trying.

Kashmir Restaurant is located at
52 Race Course Road
Singapore 218563
Tel: 62936003

Italian by Pasta Brava

The place is tucked among a row of restored shophouses on the very quiet Craig Road.

The food is Italian from start to finish - good old traditional Italian fare that is both home cooked comfort food and gourmet dining at the same time.

The decor is an eclectic mix of old world Italian and Straits Chinese - antique display cabinets filled with interesting copper and china knick knacks, colourful paintings provide contrast on walls painted a deep burgundy. Low lighting from colonial Dutch chandeliers finish the place with a sense of dignified tranquility making it the perfect getaway for a quiet dinner at the end of a busy workday in the city.

And on the weeknight that we were there, the place was surprisingly busy. Happily, we noted that the clientele was mostly young courting couples sharing an intimate dinner in a peaceful and pleasant environment to end a long workday.

And so, we had our evening of nostalgia and sentimentality as we ate our excellent dinner in a roomful of young hopefuls in hopeless love.

Pasta Brava is located at
11 Craig Road
Singapore 089671
tel: 6227 7550
(closed on Sundays)

Pietrasanta -a slice of Tuscany

These days I harbour no preconceived notions when trying out a new restaurant. Especially the newly opened and recently reviewed ones. I use the review only for pertinent information like address, business hours and days open.

There have been too many times when an entire glowing review is a work of fiction. And when you stop to think about it, why would a professional food critic write an awful review. It serves no useful purpose to the reader while it incurs the wrath of the industry players.

So with this newly acquired mindset, we set about exploring the month-old Pietrasanta (named after a town in Tuscany). And I was totally happy with everything about the place.

I was particularly tickled that they do a lovely baked eggplant starter smothered in cheese that's done to just the right soft (not mushy) consistency. I love their pizzas (any topping) and meat-and-cheese-stuffed ravioli. And, the sweet finish - Melthing Chocolate Cake that melted so sensually in my still greedy mouth. I have a feeling I'll love just about everything they serve up as I eat my way through their menu.

A noteworthy point - go on a week night when it will not be overly crowded. Then settle in for an evening of personable service and unpretentious home-style food in an atmosphere of rustic old world charm that is Tuscany.

Pietrasanta Restaurant is located at
5B Portsdown road
#01-03 Wessex Estate
S. 139311
Tel: 6479 9521
(Closed on Tuesdays)

An old familiar place

For Hong Kong style dim sum and very palatable Cantonese cuisine, this place has been a favourite with us for a long time. But as with so many restaurants, we forgot about the place for a few years, and only got around to visiting it again recently.

Although the restaurant has expanded to double its original capacity, they have kept the decor as it was - that of an old fashioned Chinese tea house. The cashier's counter is still this cage of a room with wooden bars for a window. I love that the familiar cheena features that I remembered so well have been retained.

The food while not exciting is likewise comforting in a familiar way.

I still love the place, and am gladdened that precious little about the place have changed. But I really wouldn't mind if they re-named the restaurant. Really, I would even like that.

Mouth Restaurant is located at :
Chinatown Point
133 New Bridge Road #02-01
S. 059413
Tel: 65344233

Peranakan @The Blue Ginger

I think of The Blue Ginger Restaurant as the veritable grand dame of peranakan fine dining.

She is style.
She is refinement.
She is hospitality from a bygone era where the living was gracious.

To celebrate an old girlfriend's home visit during the Chinese New Year, we gathered at this lovely restored shophouse restaurant for an old fashioned meal of Straits Chinese cooking.

And the warm memories of growing up in a peranakan neighbourhood came flooding back.

I miss those days.

Mimolette - where everything is pretty

Your first thought as you walk towards the restaurant is, "How pretty everything is." The lush surrounding, the soft uplights showing off stag ferns nestled on branches of majestic mature trees, the old colonial house sitting pretty in this peaceful surrounds.

A soft amber glow wraps you when you walk through that funky red front door. In the background, soft strains of bosa nova sets the mood and tempo of the place that is gentle on the spirit.


The restaurant opened to mixed reviews earlier in the year. But I have absolutely no complaints. Every course of the meal has a nice little twist that surprises the jaded taste buds. It has to be fusion food at its best - strongly western in its core with a touch of the eastern for its accent.

And as you walk away from the restaurant after a perfectly enjoyable evening, your last thought of the place has to be, "How pretty everything is."