Company Lo Hei at Asia Grand Odean Towers

We had our annual company dinner at Asian Grand Odean Towers, where Chef Chan used to be.  We were asked to gather at 630pm and dinner would commence at 7pm.  I wanted to go for a beer before the dinner but I had a meeting in Tuas that was rescheduled from 2pm to 4pm.  Due to bad traffic, I only reached Asian Grand at 7pm, almost 2 hours in the car...!!!

Well, it turned out that my boss and I were not the only ones who were delayed.  Dinner had not started when we reached, people were still mingling around. 

Dinner finally started, with the much anticipated Yu Sheng. 

I think R and A were not very happy with the mess that we have made.

Peking Duck.  Before it was cut.

 Nicely wrapped up.  The skin was crispy and not too oily.  However, I still think that it could not beat the Da Dong Roast Duch in Beijing.  Da Dong allowed you to DIY, and I could wrapped 3 pieces of skin in the roll!! I am greedy!

 Ah, my favourite dish of the night!  Abalone.  I had 2 portions.  The mystery of this dish was the gravy.  Somehow it made the abalone and the simple broccoli delicious.  No hint of MSG, so it must be the wonders of the rich ingredients.  Some said abalone tasted like rubber.  For me, I love the texture, chewy and full of texture

 Crispy Roast Chicken. 
A simple dish that you could find in most Chinese wedding dinner, but not all could meet the standard of crispy skin, and yet maintaining the tenderness of the meat.  Some places could get it both wrong, such that the skin was not crispy, and the meat was so tough that you felt that the chicken was a muscular one.

 Dessert - Nian Gao.  Not that sweet and did not stick to your teeth. 

Food were generally alright, though the glutinous rice was disappointing.  At the 7th dish, we started our game, A was the first person to throw.  A and Boss discussing what was the best method to use to throw the ping pong balls.

This was the game board.  The black ones were $2, silver were $5 and the gold were $10.  You were given 5 balls to throw, and the maximum amount that you could win was $30.

Some of the prizes for those people who could not get any of the ping pong balls in.  There was the second round for those who missed the first round, and the amount was doubled, though it was still capped at $30.

Guess what!  Banana and I were the last two person who just could not get the ball into the hole.  I was the last woman standing, and all of them who wanted to go home were trying different means to help me.  I wonder what happened to me since I was doing alright in the trial back in office.  Must be the wine :-)  Finally I got 2 balls in at the third rounds, and I could hear loud cheers (Finally can go home!! HAHAHA)

Laksa Pasta- Singaporean or Italian?

P and I went to Wild Rocket @ Mount Emily for dinner.  Had not seen P for a while, it was really nice to catch up with him.  I had the privilege of choosing the venue, so i chose Wild Rocket, known for Mod Sing - Modern Singaporean dishes.

It was tucked at Mount Emily, walking distance from Selegie Center or Little India Station.  Slow walk will take around 15 minutes.

I tried one of the signature dish, Laksa Pesto Spaghetti.   It was a fusion, between Singapore Laksa and Italian Pasta.

The dish was first seen in Singapore as early as in 2008.  It is essentially an Asian take on the Italian herb sauce called pesto, made with crushed basil, pine nuts and garlic, smoothed out with olive oil.   The pungent, aromatic laksa leaves, an important garnish for Peranakan laksa, are used as the main ingredient of laksa pesto sauce.  The Laksa Pesto Spaghetti was served with prawns.  The taste was strong, it felt like eating dried Laksa.

The dessert Strawberry Cheesecake was served in Martini glass.  Interesting concept, though i found it a bit too sweet.

Nice place to chill out on a friday night, will be back to try other dishes, and hope to see the chef whipping out more innovative dishes.  Maybe Chicken Rice Pasta?
10A Upper Wilkie Road GF Hangout @ Mount Emily Singapore
Tel: +65 6339 9448

Phuket Jan 2011

The last time I went to Phuket was 11 years ago, in year 2000.  My memory of Phuket remained at the busy and touristy Patong beach, sleazy, full of pubs, prostitutes, street hawkers, drunk tourist, white men with Thai girl (or girls).  Beaches were alright, not exactly white sandy beach, but still cleaner than our East Coast Park and Changi Beach.
I am back 11 years later.  This time, I decided to stay away from Patong, and chose to stay in Karon Beach instead.  I stayed in Pacific Club Resort, a pretty good hotel.  Room was clean and spacious with a nice balcony.  Breakfast was good, with eggs station and toast and some hot food.  Not the biggest spread that I have seen, in fact, you could see that it was catered more to the European/Amercians/Assies  I looked at the guests staying in the Resort, 90% westerners.  Probably explained why.  It was about 10 minutes away from the beach, so quite nice and quiet.  If you want something next to the beach, this place is not for you.

The dining area of the hotel - Pacific Club Resort

 From the top of the hotel (5th Floor).  There was also a pool at the roof top.  Not your olympic size pool, but was decent enough for a swim.  There was a water fall feature which doubled up as a massage place.  Let the water fell on you and relieved the soreness of your body.

Karon Beach.  Lots of beach chairs and umbrella.  You have to pay 100Bhat to rent one, but there was no time limit.  Karon was less touristy than Patong, but still rather busy.  One strange observation was that there were hardly any asian on the beach.  I was one of the few asians, other than those local hawkers trying to sell you things.  Second observation, the local hawkers were amazing in the collection of merchandise that they were selling to sell to the beach goers.  There were ice cream, corns, donuts, elephant lookalike lamp, shawl, towels, tshirts, broom for brushing away the sand, hemlock, hats, shades, keychains, candles....

Ice cream cost 3 times more compared to the shop.  But i guess you had to give them credit for carrying the ice cream in the big ice box to paddle.

Third observation.  Most of the Ang Mo look alike.  Men- Big belly.  Women - Big Boops, equally big tummy.  I had no seen any sexy bods.  So my vote for my favourite beach still goes to the beach in Barcelona.  Sexy spaniards, both men and women.  Anyway, no eye candy in Karon Beach, so I concentrate on my tan.

I wonder why there was a Sweden flag

We stopped at a restaurant near the beach for lunch before heading back to the hotel.  The Tom Yum Soup was supberbly hot and spicy!   The pad thai was equally good! We tried to get a Tuk Tuk back to the hotel, which was about a 10 minutes walk.  The Tuk Tuk in Phuket was a rip off.  Regardless of the distance, they charged 200 Bhat!  We refused to pay and slowly made our way back to the hotel

Steamed fish for dinner.  Average.  Thailand is not the best place for steamed fish.  It was ok but nothing great.

Stir Fried asparagus with prawns.  Mediocre.  Pls avoid this restaurant call Karon Sea food if you happened to be in Karon Beach area.  Service was slow, food was average, and to make it worse, i almosst lost my iphone there.  I will avoid it like a plague.

Day 3:  Patong Beach.

You have to see Patong Beach if you are in Phuket.  Patong is the most touristy beach and most developed one in Phuket.  Do not expect clean white sand.  It is a good place to see how tourism can change the facade of a place.  If you stand on the street of Patong Beach, you probably would take a while to register that you are in Thailand.  Whole street was invaded with western brand, such as McDonald, SubWay, Molly Malone Pub, Burger King etc.  Signs were in English.  Hard to see any locals other than the hawkers.  Shops were selling knocks off, from Rolex to Billabong to Oakley shades.

 Finally i saw one hot bod.

 I had to include the Thailand flag to remind myself it is in Thailand.

 Uncle McDonald localised.

 There were Tsunami warning signs along the street.  I wonder if I would be fast enough to run to the evucation point if the Tsunami really striked.



UK Dec Part 5- Christ Church and Brighton

We made a day trip to Christ Church, to see the ChristChurch Priority Church.  The only Christ Church that I knew was the one in New Zealand, did not know that there was one in UK
too.
http://www.christchurchdorset.com/

Weather was grey and drizzled, made it felt a bit gloomy.  Christ Church city center.  I like the designs of the houses.

 The miracle builder - Christ Church Priorty Church was built by Jesus Christ himself.

 Look at the colourful walls of the houses.

 Have you ever seen a man talking to swans?  This place will look gorgeous during summer.  Winter was a tad too cold.