Shanghai March 2011

I had not been to Shanghai since 2005.   This time, thanks to a workshop, I had the chance to visit Shanghai again.  It was also a good chance to catch up with my friend D, whom I had not met since 2005.  Gosh!  His son was already so big.  As i was there for a workshop, I did not have a chance to walk around, other than the Bund where we had our dinner.  The Bund looks different after the renovation for the World Expo.  The road seems to be wider.  I enjoyed Shanghai's weather in early March, cool in the day and a bit cooler in the night (about 2-9 degrees).  The only thing that i did not enjoy was my stomach.  I had stomach problem on the 2nd day and it was really painful.  Somehow when I went to Shanghai, I would return home sick.  Was it me or the water or the air??  Maybe I should not try again for the 3rd time. 

Team Photo:

Buffet Dinner @ Tiffany Cafe Furama Hotel Singapore

Another bad buffet experience.  So bad that though I had my camera with me, I did not feel like taking photo.  The food display was bad.  There was only 2 live station, one BBQ squids which have been cooked, and the other was a noodle station.

Sushi felt like those in Carrefour.  The cooked food were nothing fantastic too.

Place was quite empty, other than a big group of army boys.  The table and seating arrangement were bad too.  Tables were arranged in rows, it felt like a canteen.  To make it worse, it was very cramped.  If you are too fat, you probably cannot walk to your seat without distrubing your neighbour from the next table.

Please, if you have the money, save it up for better place.

Worst Buffet in Singapore?

I had one of my worst buffet experience when i went to Triple 3 in Mandarin Singapore.

On a Saturday night, it was priced at $98+++ per person (I did not know the price before I went there as the venue was chosen by my friend V, V did not know the price too!  V chose it because he had vouchers)  We only got to know the price when we saw the bill!

Like other 5 stars hotel buffet, there was a decent selection of food. 

Japanese:  Sushi and sashimi counter with the usual suspects.  I asked for some salmon belly, and the chef prepared a total of 6 slices for me.

Japanese II:  Tempura counter, freshly fried.  Prawns and vegetables tempura, and they have the japanese tapoica (the purple colour ones). 

Japanese III:  Teppanyaki.  Beef, Bean Sprouts, Prawns and Mushrooms.  Average, though I applauded the less use of MSG.

Italian:  Pasta, prepared freshly on the spot.  You can choose your ingredients, seafood or ham.  It was alright, though the pasta felt like the mass market, don't expect any homemade pasta.

Indian:  Currys, Naan, Briyani, Papadum.  I skipped most of the curries as they did not look appertising.

Chinese Roast:  Roast Duck and suckling pig.  Disappointing.  The skin of the roast duck and the suckling pig were more hard than crunchy.  The chilli lack lustre.  There was also noodle soup, though I skipped that too.

Seafood:  There was lobster with black pepper.  Actually I think that they were cray fish. 

Roast:  Beef and Ham.  Alright, edible.

Sweets:  Quite a big range including ice cream, but nothing striked home.

Overall:  3/10.  Highly not recommended, especially with such a hefty price tag!

Lleno @ NEX Singapore- Toothache experience

My colleague Banana was singing praises about this place, so I chose this place when meeting T and N since we were nearer to Northeast.

Lleno is derived from a Spanish phrase, means ‘to be full of praise / full house. It served quality modern culinary fare ‘European cooking techniques with an Asian twist’. I reached there at 7pm, surprised to find that there was only 1 table. T arrived on time, and we proceeded to order while waiting for N.

We had the escargots with mushrooms as starters. A small appetizer, there were only 4 of them. They were de-shelled, and served on the mushroom. Quite good, though I still prefer those served in a shell.

The next dish was the Hake Fish, surprising small piece, probably the same size as my palm. (Minus the fingers).  Definitely not enough for a big eater.  The fish was fresh but a bit too salty.

The last challenge was the ribs.  It came in 4 big pieces, so it passed on the quantity.  However, it failed terribly on the quality.  It was too tough, and after chewing one piece, my gums ached.  I thought I was the only one, and upon asking, i realised that I was not alone.  Probably age is catching up.  Such ribs are only for the young only.

The sweet was Earl Grey Tiramisu.  Quite special, though I found it too sweet for me.

I ended the nights felling nostalgic with a bad toothache.

Highly recommended NOT to go.

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.