Where's this? 0702

Home to 24 emperors, it has 8,000 rooms and was built by over 1 million labourers over a 14-years period. Guess where this is?

Where's this? 0701

OK, it is Friday night and the girls are out again. We were going to catch Harry Potter in Orchard and decided we cannot mistreat our stomach. So, we had a good dinner at this restaurant which had outlets in various places and Katong being its first outlet if I remember correctly. We ordered the fish and chicken which came with 2 sides of your choice. Service was unfortunately slower than expected although we got our seats pretty quickly as this outlet has been surprisingly quite packed every time I passed by; there'd be a snake long queue of young teens lining up for their table. We had to repeatedly ask if the chicken would be coming as we had a show to catch.

I remember the last time I ate at the Katong outlet, we had to queue darn long and waited even longer for the food. It was known for 'cheap and good' wagyu beef steak then, but quite disappointed when it came - guess you pay monkey price, you get monkey goods. But its other western selection was decent.

Nevertheless, when the food finally came, it was nice and up to our expectations. The portion were decent and our meal costs less than $18 with iced lemon tea included. Two thumbs up for the food but only one thumb for the service.

Guess the name of this restaurant and location.

Where's this?

OK, here is how the game goes - I'd describe the food and give hints about the place where it was taken. You have to guess the restaurant's name and location. The prize for guessing right - self satisfaction. Priceless.

Eat, drink and shake...

After an 'exciting' night watching some of my colleagues shake their bellies... I had a quick dinner at ichiban boshi in Centrepoint, Orchard. I ordered the 'tenzaru' chasoba, which was just alright.

Won't say it is the best, but it satisfied my craving for soba. One thumbs up.

Set lunch

An alternative to Hans cheap and good set lunch is the one at Arcade... forgot to take the shop name, but it was your typical hainese chef's cooking of western dishes. It also has chinese selection like your beef hor fun and stuff. We took the set lunch set for Tuesday, which was fish and chips. As with set lunches, it came with soup, beverage and dessert. Of course was a wee bit diluted but the colour looked promising. The main course wasn't too bad. The fish was thinly coated with crust, and the portion was decent. The salad was overloaded on salad cream but I love the sourish taste.

The dessert was a tad disappointing - a cup of jello. Would have preferred it was a slice of watermelon or fruits of sorts. Anyway, for $12nett, it wasn't too bad a bargain for lunching in CBD area.

The Low Family Reunion - a long awaited affair

It has been a really long while since folks on my dad's side gathered for a dinner like Saturday night. But we did have a nice dinner, all thanks to Aunt Rosalind who's back for holiday. Her son, our cousin Hiroshi, as the name he goes by these days, was the head ring leader to gather the folks at Long Beach seafood on dempsey.

The food was good and selection was just right, although I'd like to have black pepper crab but I had to remind myself I was guest, plus we have visitors to Singapore and thus, must give chili crab the higher priority as it is the unofficial official 'national' dish of our country. Two thumbs up for the food - and I enjoyed myself so much, I forgot to take the picture of the Ee Fu noodles (which was very well done and tasty, without being overly salty and I've never tasted ee fu done like this so deliciously in any other restaurants before) and dessert (bulu hitam which came with coconut ice cream instead of coconut milk). The vegetable with Enoki mushroom was also really good.

The highlight of the night for me was meeting our youngest cousin Ian. We haven't seen him like 10-20years or so, and now he is all grown up. But, he still had that same impish look and didn't take too long for me to point him out. Pity our eldest cousin "Ah Jin" and her brother couldn't make it, else it will be cousins in full force.

For a moment, I just had this feeling that if grandpa was around, or looking down from wherever he is for even a split second if he could, he would have been proud to see us all gathered together.

Night at the museum

Want to do something different on a Friday night that'd be fun yet 'healthy' and educational? Check out the Night Festival at the National Museum of Singapore happening 10-11Jul.

So instead of my usual coach potato Friday exercise, I ended up with sore feet. Pity I wore the wrong pair of shoes, otherwise would have stayed longer and explored further within the vincinity where the festivity was held. So much was happening and roads were blocked. I hope they continue this and hold it more often and longer period as it made Singapore looked much more interesting and fun with various acts, movies and exhibitions all happening at the same time.

The acts were happening at National Museum of Singapore, Singapore Art Museum, The Peranakan Museum, The Substation, Singapore Management University Campus Green, Stamford Green & Stamford Road.

It was like an open house or a POC demo of sorts. All the more interesting that it was held at night when the air is much cooler... and great for night owls.

I am tempted to go back again tonight.... any other takers?