Raise your spirits with Korean comfort food at Chicken Up (Parkway Parade)

As an amateur or should I say part-time food reviewer (I don't think that I fit the title of food blogger) who posts reviews as and when I like and given that I am no expert on food, I would never have expected myself to be invited to food tasting events especially since I'm not one of the big names in the food blogging arena. When I saw the call for applicants to take part in this food tasting event hosted by Open Rice at Chicken Up's latest branch at Parkway Parade, I gave it a shot while thinking that it would be extremely unlikely that I would be selected. As such, when I received the email confirming my selection, it was a mix of surprise and disbelief that I was going to attend my very first food tasting event! It was a tad intimidating at first because some of my fellow participants were armed with very professional-looking cameras, using additional lights or flashes or going to great lengths to arrange the dishes on the table so as to make the photos look better. Comparatively, I just brought my Sony camera which isn't even a DSLR and was meant as a countermeasure against dark lighting within the restaurant. Otherwise, I always use my mobile phone to take my food pictures. I guess this just shows how "casual" I am when it comes to taking food pictures for my reviews so I don't think I can match up to these more experienced food bloggers anytime soon in terms of skills, experience and enthusiasm. ^__^

Perhaps I should talk about my experience with Chicken Up so far for a start. I am not new to Chicken Up actually as I've been to their outlets before i.e. once in Tanjong Pagar and twice in Tampines. As such, I knew roughly what I was going to eat there before I showed up for the food tasting event. However, it seems like Chicken Up has added some new items which I don't remember seeing before which I think is a positive step towards attracting new customers and maintaining the novelty for existing ones.

The Parkway Parade outlet at the first floor of the shopping mall feels much bigger than the Tanjong Pagar and Tampines outlets partly because there are two sitting areas separated by the walkway. The Tanjong Pagar outlet felt more cramped as the tables were rather close to one another while the Tampines outlet also had similar issues as it isn't a proper shop space within the Century Square building. Lighting-wise, the Tanjong Pagar outlet was on the dark side since it was within a shophouse and there were not many windows to let in the natural light from outside while the Tampines outlet could be a bit dark if there was a lack of sunlight coming through the full-length glass windows as one side of the restaurant was facing the building. Comparatively, the Parkway Parade outlet felt less restrictive in terms of space and the warm orange lighting  made it feel cosier. The shop space area houses the bar counter on the left, the sitting area in the centre, the kitchen at the back and a series of wall display shelves on the right containing bottles of food items such as spices and fruits. It might be good to fill up the entire display area as some bottles were empty so it didn't look as nice as it could have been. The first row of the shelves were also not lighted up so by fixing that, the whole display would stand out more prominently.

The other seating area outside the shop space can be likened to be semi-al fresco because there are no walls on the boundaries so you would be able to look across to other restaurants near Chicken Up. The borderless design makes the area look more spacious than it actually is. In addition, you don't need to bear with the heat like in the Tampines outlet because the outdoor seats there are exposed to the elements. In the Parkway Parade outlet, you get to enjoy an al fresco feel in air-conditioned comfort. Based on this reason alone, I think customers would be happier to sit in the "outdoor" area than if they had to contend with the heat, dust from vehicle traffic or even the haze which is becoming an annual issue when the winds are not in our favour.

Being a Korean restaurant, there is no lack of Kpop music as the BGM which should attract young people who like Korean pop culture and food. I heard a number of my favourites during the entire tasting session which I think is good in improving the dining experience. Ever since the Korean drama "He who came from the stars" (별에서 온 그대) became a hit, chi-maek (치맥) i.e. fried chicken and beer has suddenly become a very attractive combination to many people. For chi-maek fans, you would be happy to know about the chi-maek buffet offered by Chicken Up at its Tanjong Pagar, Tampines, Buangkok and of course Parkway Parade outlets where you can eat an unlimited amount of chicken wings with beer or soju at a fixed price. On most days, ladies can get this deal at $35++ each while gentlemen who are expected to be able to consume more, have to pay a $10 premium on top of this amount. Note that if you are coming on a Friday, there would be a surcharge of $20.

For customers who may be clueless about what to order especially if this is their first time here, Chicken Up provides a list of their best-selling food, drinks and desserts on the first few pages of its menu. Although not everyone may like what's popular among the masses, it is helpful for those who may have difficulty deciding even after going through the entire menu. With the presence of photos as visual aids, this allows customers to see at a glance what to expect. In the event that they are interested in a particular item, they can then refer to the detailed menu for a list of what goes into which dish and the spiciness level. For those who may have special dietary concerns due to various reasons as religion, I would recommend that you check the ingredients list before ordering. In my case, I keep a lookout for dishes which contain beef or beef-related items when I dine out so that I would not eat such dishes unwittingly. As such, Chicken Up's efforts in trying to provide the list of ingredients is indeed commendable and helpful to people like me. I wish more restaurants would be more considerate in this regard.

First to be served was the pineapple soju (파인애플소주, $30). Even before the top of the pineapple was removed, the sweet scent from the fruit was hard to ignore and it looked good visually. The small soju shot glasses were used to serve this type of soju. Much as I'm not really into alcoholic drinks, the pineapple soju tasted better than I expected. A note of warning though, because the sweetness of the pineapple soju is picked up by the tongue first before the taste of the soju kicks in, you may be tempted to drink this at a faster pace than your body can take it. It would be recommended to go easy on the drink because soju's alcohol content varies from 16.7% to 45% so there is a risk of getting drunk before you finish your meal. Perhaps not drinking on an empty stomach and pacing yourself would be the best way to ensure that you can enjoy this drink without causing any undesirable effects after your meal.

The watermelon soju (수박소주, $38) was served in an entirely different manner though. First of all, one bottle of soju was poured into half a watermelon with the fruit removed which set off the first wave of white smoke flowing out and collective responses of amazement among the participants. Another bottle of the soju was then emptied into the watermelon as seen from the picture. The soju was then served in droplet-shaped bowls which were much bigger than the soju shot glasses. Comparatively, this may not go down well with the casual drinker because the strong soju taste hit the tongue in such a manner that it felt like scalding due to hot water. The watermelon taste was not as noticeable when compared to its pineapple counterpart which I assume to be that the soju overpowered the taste of the watermelon.

Frankly speaking, for people who can hardly drink or only drink once in a while, the watermelon may not be suitable for you. For those who can hold their liquor well, this would be good if you are eating in a group and the aesthetic appeal of this item would definitely lift the atmosphere of your meal outing as soon as this gets served on your table. On the other hand, if you are new to soju and can't really boast about being a good drinker, go for the pineapple soju which is less intimidating and easier on your palette. Portion-wise, it would be less likely for you to get drunk since the volume of the pineapple should be lesser than that of the watermelon.For those who may be wondering, the type of soju being used here is Sodal 쏘달 from Jinro which contains 16.9% of alcohol.

Makguksu (막구수, $12) which is essentially cold buckwheat noodle salad, was one of my Top 3 favourite dishes during the food tasting. Besides buckwheat noodles, there were vegetables such as cabbage and carrots, seaweed shreds, one-half of a hard-boiled egg and a vinegar-like dressing. Even before the ingredients were mixed, this dish already gave off a refreshing aroma even though it was not a hot dish. Despite being slightly cold, the makgusu offered an unique combination of sour vs. spicy (the dressing) and soft vs. crunchy (the noodles and the vegetables) thus making it a very appealing appetiser to begin the meal with. Portion-wise, it's good enough to be shared among a few people so for people who must have their greens and carbohydrates, this would be a pretty good choice to get started.

Topokki with cheese and seafood (해물치즈떡볶이, $20) would be a dish popular with those who like spicy food. Most topokki dishes in Korean restaurants tend to have just the deok (rice cakes), the odaeng (fish cakes) and hard-boiled eggs or with ramyeon at times. However, Chicken Up's version chooses to do away with this convention and adds seafood such as squid and scallops along with glass noodles and onions to the standard ingredient of deok. A generous amount of shredded cheese is placed on top thus giving the dish a thick and gooey texture once it is mixed into the topokki's spicy sauce. Be warned that this can be quite stimulating on your tongue so for those who are not too good with spicy food, you may wish to reconsider your choice. For those who relish spicy food, this should be a very attractive option. As for those who can't take beef-related items just like me, note that there is beef seasoning used in this dish.

The seafood pancake (해물파전, $18) here was also somewhat different from the traditional version elsewhere. In many Korean restaurants, the seafood pancakes are usually thin with crisp edges and presented as a big full circle. Sometimes, they are cut up in pieces of different sizes in the kitchen while at times, they are only cut and served at the table. The version here lined up the four square pieces of the pancake neatly on the plate and each slice was comparatively thicker than the norm. However, I found that the proportion of the batter was more than what I would have preferred so I could hardly taste the spring onions and seafood bits within the pancake. The dipping sauce was also modified to become somewhat similar to chili sauce with a savoury twist as it contained chili sauce, sesame seeds, soy sauce, sugar and undisclosed spices. This is quite different from the usual soy sauce with spring onions and chili used elsewhere. Perhaps it's a matter of old habits die hard but I do prefer the traditional sauce when eating this dish. Given the price of this dish, I also feel that the portion may be too little and the small number of pieces will probably mean that it's going to be harder to share this dish in a large group setting unless multiple portions are ordered. For a small group though, this will be just nice as compared to the larger traditional version. I guess the suitability of a dish really depends on how big your dining party is.

There are two types of fries being offered here i.e. the bulgogi fries (불고기프라이스, $18) and the kimchi fries (김치프라이스, $18). As the bulgogi fries contain beef, I would not be able to give an accurate assessment of that since I did not sample this dish. However, the kimchi fries which are covered in a mayonnaise-based sauce with melted cheese, spring onions, shallots and shredded chicken which had been cooked in chicken stock contains a mixture of different flavours coming together to deliver an unique taste. The sourish kimchi coupled with the sweet mayonnaise and cheese, the crunchiness brought about by the vegetables and the texture added by the flavoured chicken shreds combine to create a new type of fries that isn't so common out there. The only flaw I notice is that the fries at the bottom of the tray tend not to be covered by the sauce thus it might be good to have an option of ordering more dipping sauce for those who find themselves running out of sauce or would prefer to have more of it. Surprisingly, despite the use of kimchi in this dish, there seems to be a lack of the signature spiciness from the kimchi so for those who are concerned about spiciness, it looks like it won't be an issue for this dish.

Jabchae (잡채, $14) is a stir-fried dish made up primarily by glass noodles, spring onions, carrots, onions, capsicum and sesame seeds. The version here which I also chose as one of my top 3 favourites, was nicely flavoured without an oily aftertaste. Even when left to cool (because we were busy taking pictures), the glass noodles remained springy instead of becoming a messy lump. Although there are some versions of this dish which contain pork or beef, Chicken Up's version doesn't. As such, for those who are looking for a noodle dish to satisfy their carbohydrates need and yet doesn't want to consume more meat or wants to eat some vegetables, this would be another viable option just like the makgusu introduced earlier on. However, the key difference between both dishes is that the makgusu would be more suitable to be an appetiser while while the jabchae is more like a side dish to be eaten together with the main course.

During my last visit to Chicken Up, I did not notice that there was budae jjigae (부대찌개, $30), also known as army stew on the menu. I'm not sure if this was newly added recently though. The strange thing is that, it is known as Ugly Tang Stew even though the Korean name printed on the menu remains as budae jjigae. Apparently, this name was given to represent the mixture of the ingredients in the stew which look rather messy because there are many types of items inside the top. Budae jjigae apparently started as a food item for soldiers where they added anything they had into the kimchi-based stew because food was scarce then. There are no fixed rules on what must go into this dish but as far as I could see, the standard items of ramyeon, deok, ham, luncheon meat (not sure if this is the SPAM canned meat from Korea), chili, spring onions, onions, macaroni and cheese were all there. As for the soy beans (not baked beans) and enoki mushrooms, they probably aren't considered to be part of the menu for budae jjigae. The soup is also a bit different in the sense that the gochujang (chili paste) is mixed into a kimchi-based soup but here in Chicken Up, a clear stock made of chicken is poured into the pot while the gochujang is shaped into a sphere, placed on top of the ingredients and blended in when the soup boils. As such, the taste here is somewhat lighter and not as spicy than the usual budae jjigae.

Looking at the photo, it is evident that the pot was almost full by the time the soup was poured in. It can be a bit difficult to stir the contents without some of the soup flowing out of the pot. As such, it might be better to use a bigger pot if possible e.g. the flat-type big pans usually used for budae jjigae. Otherwise, it would be best to pour in the soup over several times to avoid the contents from overflowing.

Finally, here are the leads at Chicken Up i.e. the fried chicken! There are three flavours available i.e. ganjang (soya sauce), yangnyum and spicy. During the tasting, we were given the first two flavours to try.

Korean fried chicken is done differently from the usual style of fried chicken we get elsewhere as it is deep-fried twice and coated with a sauce using a brush after deep-frying. As such, this is said to be the reason why Korean fried chicken is less greasy and crunchier than its competition. It is also said that Korean fried chicken restaurants tend to use small or medium-sized chickens which have more tender meat thus contributing to the popularity of this dish.

The ganjang chicken wings (진짜 유명 간장 지킨윙, $12) which interestingly is listed as "very famous ganjang chicken wings" in Korean on the menu, had a light sheen on their skin due to the glazing of the soy sauce which also played a pivotal role in making the skin moist to the taste. Unlike other deep-fried chicken wings which may tend to be either too oily or dry on the surface, the presence of the ganjang helps to accentuate the flavour to a certain extent and retains the moisture in the skin. In addition, the deep-frying method used to make the chicken wings also played a key role in sealing the natural juices of the chicken meat without drying it out. Although it would be good if the flavour of the ganjang could also be tasted in the chicken meat rather than just at the skin level, this might make the entire dish a bit too salty to my liking so I think the current method of just coating the ganjang still works best. On the whole, this version of the chicken wings ranks in my top 3 but I think that there is a limit to how many I can eat these at one sitting because the soy sauce becomes a bit too heavy on the palate after a while.

On the other hand, the yangnyum version (양념치킨윙, $12) looked very different from the ganjang version as the chicken wings were coated in a red and sticky sauce which typically consists of gochujang (Korean red chili pepper paste), ketchup, garlic and corn syrup. White sesame seeds were then sprinkled on the chicken wings as shown in the photo. For those who prefer a slightly spicier version of the chicken wings, this should be suitable for you. Even for people who may not be a fan of spicy food, the level of spiciness in this dish is still manageable to a certain extent. Similarly, the meat of the chicken wings was still tender and juicy just like the ganjang version. Personally, I think that this would taste best when eaten with alcoholic drinks such as beer and it doesn't feel as overwhelming on the palate even after eating multiple pieces.

In conclusion, the entire tasting event was very enjoyable and I found it to be a great eye opener. This review turned out to be much longer than I initially expected so if you have read this till the end, thank you for your time and attention and hope that you were not bored by this. Special thanks goes to the staff at Chicken Up who tried to make us comfortable and answered the numerous questions we had and Open Rice for giving me the opportunity to try this new outlet. Till the next tasting event then!

Review of "The Laundryman" 青田街一號

I caught this movie at its special presentation during the Singapore International Film Festival held at Marina Bay Sands' Sands Theatre on 27 November. Before the movie was screened, the director Li Chung and the cast members Sonia Sui and Yeo Yann Yann went on stage to greet the invited guests and press which unfortunately I wasn't able to get close to since there was a security line to separate the invited guests and other members of the audience. Nonetheless, I was still able to catch a glimpse of Sonia Sui from a couple of metres away when she stood briefly in front of the movie's poster for a photo-taking session. She was really stunning in person even though she had just given birth to her son not that long ago and literally dazzled with her dress. It was a pity though that Joseph Chang who was one of the leads, was not able to come to Singapore and I wondered why especially considering how significant he is in the cast lineup.

Before the movie started, the director and cast were invited on stage to greet the audience. Apparently, the two actresses had not seen the final version of the movie yet so the director was joking that he was "worried" for his life since he had to leave many scenes on the editing room's floor. In particular, he was apologetic towards Yeo because her part was affected to a large extent. I gather from the fact that the movie was about 1.5 hour long, there must have been a lot of editing done to make sure that the story could flow smoothly within such a short period of time. Then again, when there is a need to make so many cuts, it makes me wonder too as to whether they might go overboard with it just to meet the time limit and if the story would be adversely affected.

To classify this movie under a particular genre would be somewhat difficult as there was a deliberate attempt to blend comedy, action, romance and criminology into this film. I thought that it was a very ambitious attempt on the part of the director who was making his directorial debut with this film. Considering the length of the film, I did have concerns over how the story structure would be affected.

Before I begin sharing my views on this film, here's a summary of the storyline. There is an old-style laundry shop which operates in a quiet street on Qingtian Street where the beautiful owner Ah Gu (Sonia Sui) is actually the boss of a group of killers and the laundry shop is a front to cover up the tracks of these killers by "washing" away the corpses of the victims. Among the killers, the top killer is Qingtianjie Yihao (No.1 of Qingtian Street) played by Joseph Chang as nicknamed by Ah Gu because he is the best among his peers. There is not much blood and gore since he kills in a relatively clean manner e.g. breaking the neck of his victims or strangling them. The actual dirty part of the job is done in the laundry shop when the corpses are put into the machines and you actually see blood from the transparent water tubes. Of late, No.1 has been suffering from seeing the spirits of his victims haunting and following him around to the extent that he does not dare to stay at home. When No.1 tells Ah Gu about his problems, she dismisses this as mere hallucinations and that he shouldn't be scared of those spirits. Nonetheless, when he insists on solving the problem so as to keep his sanity and get his life back to normal, Ah Gu introduces him to a psychic (Wan Qian) which leads to an unlikely romance developing between them. On the other hand, Yeo plays a female police officer who is investigating the series of disappearances and comes to find out the true identity of Ah Gu and the dark secret she is hiding.

As I mentioned earlier, the biggest concern I had was whether the story would flow well despite the short running time and the editing which had to be done. Frankly speaking, I thought that the story had its bright points such as the part where the man making toy models was pining for his neighbour and sought to kill the latter's husband as he was abusing his wife, the interaction between No.1 and the psychic or the fighting sequences in the climax involving Ah Gu, No.1 and the police officer which were entertaining to watch. During the post-screening talk section, there was a lot of mention of how they tried to be as realistic as possible by using real weapons such as knives or not pulling back punches. In that sense, the movie does have its bright spots and I applaud the crew and staff's efforts in making this movie.

However, if I am to judge the story as a whole, I thought that there were too many elements clamouring for my attention thus leading to me having difficulty trying to make sense of how each part correlated to one another or sustain my attention for the entire span of the movie. In addition, I thought that the pacing was slightly uneven when too much time was spent on some parts while the reverse happened for some other parts. The part about the model man was supposed to be funny but at one juncture, I thought that the joke was getting a bit stale. On the other hand, I would have liked to know more about Ah Gu's background and her rationale for doing what she did but I felt that there was too little devoted to this important fact. As a result of this problem, the biggest casualty would be Yeo who had a really forgettable role other than she was beaten up really badly by Sui in the climax scenes. It felt so odd to see Yeo pop up of nowhere and suddenly go to the laundry shop to confront the baddie when she wasn't featured too prominently initially in the investigation process.

As for the acting, I thought that Joseph Chang and Wan Qian did quite well to make an impression on me and had pretty good chemistry (there were in fact rumours of them dating). My impression of Chang in the past was that he seemed more like a tough guy but this movie showed that he's capable of doing comedy well. Too bad on the action front, they made him look like a weakling in front of Ah Gu who was supposed to be a doctor but strangely could fight that well. In the end, Ah Gu didn't lose because she was poor at fighting which I thought was a rather bad way to end the fighting sequence. The romance factor between Chang and Wan's characters was implied rather than expressly displayed so it did feel a bit odd when you suddenly realise that they had developed feelings for each other. I didn't really mind that but somehow, it felt really out of place.

As for Sui, I felt that she was not featured as much as I assumed when I watched the trailer which was a pity. I had the impression that she was the female lead but the movie featured more interaction between Chang and Wan rather than between her and Chang. In fact, Wan seems to have appeared more than Sui in the movie. As such, I thought that if her role of Ah Gu could be developed further to show a more complete picture of who she was, that might have convinced me why she did what she did. After watching the movie, it just gives the impression that Ah Gu was obsessed with some weirdo ideology and she was a psychopath of some sorts which I thought was not a fair representation of herself. Likewise for Yeo, she didn't get the chance to show what she was capable of doing. Especially after hearing about how she went through lessons to prepare for the filming, there must be more than meets the eye for her role which unfortunately couldn't be seen by the audience.

In conclusion, I found that the movie did not really meet up to my expectations which I attributed to the trailer looking more exciting than the actual film. In his directorial debut, there were some rough edges which I thought that the director could have been able to smooth over if he had more experience. The editing done might have gone overboard to affect the fluidity of the movie which I thought was a great pity because I think this could have potentially done better if it was 2 hours long. Luckily, the movie still had some bright spots in its story and the acting was fairly good given the time constraint and choppy editing. If there could be a DVD version with a director's cut which can add more body to the story, I think I might be interested to check this out again.

An afternoon tea too pretty to eat - Salt Tapas & Bar by Luke Mangan

Whenever I walked past Salt Tapas & Bar at the first floor of Raffles City Shopping Centre, it somehow felt like a place which was more for drinking rather than food so I've never had the urge to check out its menu and what it offers. In addition, the name of the restaurant i.e. the word tapas suggested that it offered small bites rather than full-course meals so that also deterred me to some extent. Upon seeing some recommendations online recently about its Jardin tea promotion on weekday afternoons from 3pm to 5pm, I finally decided to give this a try and I'm glad to say, I am happy that I did so.

Upon reaching the restaurant, the service staff would ask if you would prefer an indoor or outdoor table. If the weather is cool enough or you aren't bothered by the heavy traffic passing you by, the outdoor area would be suitable for you. On the other hand, even if you choose to enjoy the aircon comfort indoors, you can still enjoy the street view since the doors are left open. As seen from the photo, I chose aircon over al fresco since it was a bit hot after a downpour on the day I visited and I didn't want to take in the exhaust fumes from the vehicles together with my tea time snacks.


As I was browsing through the menu, water was served from a wine bottle with a cup having bubbles on the side thus making it look as if this was sparkling water. I must have looked like I was very clueless about this place because the waiter took the time to explain to me what they offered during this period and even told me that this was water (in case I misunderstood it to be otherwise). I think that's rather reassuring especially for first timers like me who probably finds it a bit unsettling to be here when the staff clearly outnumbered the customers. Besides me, there was only another table of a couple with their young toddler and another table of working adults at a corner away from me apparently taking a brief break from work.

On the Jardin's food menu, there were two tea sets comprising of various snacks, both sweet and savoury. Set A contains white coffee creme brulee, camembert with lavash, Jamon croquette, Kinako macaron, Honeycomb cake, prawn taco and choc sable. On the other hand, Set B offers purple Japanese sweet potato macaron, matcha orange religieuse, raspberry rhubarb tart, Parma ham with fig, raisin scones, mini churros and pork slider. As for the drinks, you can choose from coffee and tea i.e. espresso, macchiato, long black, flat white, cappucino, cafe latte, breakfast tea, camomile, earl grey, jasmine green tea and peppermint or the three mocktails i.e. Rose n' flames, Adam's apple and Berry fruity. The Jardin tea time promotion allows you to choose one of the tea sets and one drink for the price of $35++. If you prefer to create your own unique combination (maximum 7 items), that would be $45++.

On the other hand, if you wish to add more items, you can do so at the price of $5++ per item. I welcome this kind of flexibility because I always felt that a lot of tea time promotions tend to insist on a fixed menu which may not appeal to everyone. For example, if I'm not a fan of macarons and yet the menu has this item, I can't change it with something else even if I offer to pay a different price. As such, it does get on my nerves if I'm forced to eat something which I don't like so I tend not to go for tea time offers which don't allow changes or customisation to the food options. Although there were some items which I wasn't too keen on or had never had before, I decided against changing the combination in the set menu since there should have been a reason why they were put together.

Starting off with the drink, I selected the berry fruity mocktail which according to the menu consists of green tea, blackberry, mint leaves and lime. It came in this beautiful cocktail glass with two green apple rings on top of it. Frankly speaking, I wasn't sure whether I should or could eat the apple rings so I just left them as they were. As for the mocktail itself, I thought it tasted a lot like thick black tea rather than the comparatively lighter green tea so I think the blend of flavours probably resulted in this end result. As I am a big fan of mint and citrusy flavours, I was eagerly anticipating to be able to pick up the taste of the mint and lime but unfortunately, they were hardly noticeable. Nonetheless, that's not to say that this drink isn't nice. I did enjoy it after all but I guess it depends on the individual. I personally prefer to be able to pick up the distinct flavours of the ingredients which go into making this drink so at the very least, if the mint taste was stronger, this drink might have ranked higher in terms of my satisfaction index.

As for the food, I selected Set B which has more items that I'm familiar with and like. The items were served in a wooden tray with chocolate soil beneath so it resembles a garden with a variety of colours. Visually, this is very appealing and the desserts looks so pretty that I felt unsure of how I should start. There isn't any particular way or order you should adhere to when eating these items so I just went with my own gut feel. Another interesting feature of this was that the waiter would come by to ask for your name which left me a bit bewildered at first. Later, I realised that this was because they wanted to write my name on the side of the tray in chalk which somehow made this feel special as if this treat is specially for me. I wondered why they put the side with my name facing outwards though and was a bit self-conscious about showing my name to the rest of the customers who were around at that time. Nonetheless, I thought this was a pretty good tactic to improve the dining experience.

The first thing which caught my attention was the sweet potato macaron which was in a light purple hue. I have never eaten macarons before and simply do not understand what the hype is all about. To me, macarons seem like an overly sweet dessert for me so I've not been too keen on this thus far. However, this sweet potato macaron had me somewhat converted, not fully though. The light aroma of the sweet potato and the not-so-sweet macaron was a joy to savour and I felt like having a second helping.

The next item was the Parma ham with fig i.e. one of the two savoury items in this set. I have never tried having ham with fig so the combination was innovative to me. However, perhaps the ham could have been paired with something sweeter than the fig because the saltiness was a tad overwhelming and could have been balanced out with another item that has a stronger taste.

Third up was the churros which is something I've been quite in love with of late. However, as this is the mini version, it was difficult to get an accurate assessment of the taste. In addition, the cream and chocolate sauce were put into the same cup thus resulting in a blended dip which I didn't quite like. Perhaps I should order the regular-sized churros next time to see how they taste.

The rhubarb tart was OK but I thought that the creamy tart base was a bit too fluffy to my liking. I don't really recall how rhubarbs are supposed to taste so I can't tell whether this tart was good especially since the sourness of the raspberries took away my attention.

The scone with raisins were really good in that it wasn't hard as a rock and had a nice aroma. Having it with the jam made the taste even better. I would have wanted more of this if it was available.

As for the pork slider, I thought that it was very flavourful especially the pickled vegetables. I wonder if there was a full-sized version which would be really satisfying to have.

Last but not least, the religieuse which supposedly should have the matcha and orange flavours, turned out to be stronger on the orange side. It might have been good to emphasize the matcha flavour too so as to strike a balance.

In conclusion, this is how I would rank the items I had (in descending order): pork slider -> sweet potato macaron -> scone with raisins -> religieuse -> Parma ham -> rhubarb tart -> churros.

Having tried this once, I think I will go back again to try other items on the food menu and another mocktail. That kinako macaron, honeycomb cake, choc sable and prawn taco on Set A do seem rather appealing. Service was great and attentive especially for a first-timer like me who was unsure of what to order and how to do it. Price-wise, it does seem a bit steep so to me, this would be a once-in-a-while indulgence on a lazy weekday afternoon.

Book Review - 放手，是最好的祝福 / 于美人

As this book is in Chinese, I thought that it would be best for me to write the review in Chinese too where I'll be able to express my thoughts better:

“认识”于美人其实是无心插柳的。

当时应该是2008年左右，在转台时无意看到她所主持的《国民大会》。她那风趣又时而自嘲的谈吐，跟任何嘉宾都能很好地交流，把复杂或沉闷的主题都能用生动和简单的方式呈现，我就因此成为这个节目的忠实观众。很遗憾的是，美人姐突然从这个节目中消失，我也因此停止看《国民大会》。所幸，之后在其他节目如《新闻挖哇哇》，《非關命運》，《一天壹蘋果》中又见到美人姐。只可惜，有些节目已经停播了，至今仍然在网上追看的节目只有《新闻挖哇哇》。

对于美人姐的印象，一直是一个坚强有主见，同时兼顾工作和家庭的职业女性。然而，2013年发生的婚变让这样完美的形象变得有瑕疵。当时媒体很热衷于报道婚变的种种故事，很多名嘴又你一言我一语地批评她，当中还不乏一些曾是所谓好友的人，看了有点反胃。老实说，婚姻出现问题很多时候不一定是一个人的问题，就因为美人姐在事业上和经济上处于优势就把责任全推给她有点欠公平。当然，我也不打算多讨论谁是谁非，既然已经离婚就不需要再多加着墨。人不会完美，这件事之后美人姐也应该认同的是，她虽然失去一些，却也得到不少。我个人的感觉是她似乎没有那么强烈的自我防卫感，现在比较怡然自得。

听到美人姐要出这本书，其实有点担心会不会又被说成是旧事重提或炒作新闻。看完之后，觉得反省和澄清一些不实的报道的成分占大部分，所以应该不至于被说成这样。特别的是，整本书不是美人姐写的，因为穿插了各界好友的观点，所以可以从多方面了解大家对婚变这件事的看法。当中一些并不是名人的友人，用比较平淡的方式，提出的观点又有些许重复，这部分就有点沉闷，因此身为公众人物的赖芳玉律师，黄越绥老师，王瑞德，李昂，许常德和颜冰心的文章就会显得比较容易引起读者的兴趣。

至于美人姐的文章，我特别感到印象深刻的是她提到与小孩接受咨商的过程和成果，尤其是让她了解到小孩真正的想法，也让小孩明白自己的立场这点。人与人的沟通其实是很简单，又非常困难。通过第三者的协调，竟然也能让双方的沟通更有效是我之前没有想过的。这也可说是通过这本书所得到的意外收获。

总的来说，这本书是为了反省和疗愈而写。内容没有她初婚变时的那种控诉和激动，感觉是平实和充满对未来的正面能量，相信对很多面对类似问题的人会带来新的体会。

The latest trendsetter in town - Caffebene 카페베네 (Vivocity)

It seems like many people are very excited about the arrival of Caffebene, a South Korean cafe chain, in Singapore, considering the number of times I've been seeing pictures of the food and drinks there on various social media platforms. Pardon me for being ignorant but even though I've heard of the brand before, I've never tried it in South Korea so I don't feel the hype or get what it is all about. Nor am I a fan of bingsu (similar to our local ice-kacang in a sense) which is said to be one of the biggest selling points of Caffebene. It certainly does look appealing but the portion size is indeed daunting for a person to finish especially in this season when it rains almost every afternoon. Last but not least, as for the coffee which Caffebene takes great pride in, it will probably never win me over because of the fact that I don't drink coffee at all.

So why did I go there anyway if there was no strong pull factor in the first place? Well, let's just say that I was being curious. Hearing people rave all about it, I thought that it was only right to pop in for a visit and see if it really is as good as it seems. Knowing that it will probably be a long wait on weekends, I deliberately chose a weekday afternoon to visit the first outlet at Vivocity. Much as I would expect the place to be crowded as it is the school holidays now, about 95% full on a weekday afternoon with office workers, tai-tais, families with kids and teenagers forming the bulk of the customers is really not my idea of a chill-out cafe.

Before I visited the cafe, I did some research online to see what kind of items it offers on its menu. In the food department, there are waffles, honeybread, gelato and bingsu while for drinks, there are coffee, frappeno and non-alcoholic cocktails to choose from. However, when I was at the cafe, there were also cakes and sandwiches that were not mentioned on the site so I'm not sure if these will be offered all the time. Based on the selection so far, this looks like a place which I'll probably swing by for desserts after the main meal rather than have a full course meal at.

Currently, there is a promotional discount of 20% off for beverages to celebrate the opening of the cafe. I chose the cold peppermint tea which was rather refreshing and not too sweet to go with the dessert.

As for the dessert, I chose the walnut-base waffle with Korean rice cake which came with some walnuts and a generous portion of soybean powder sprinkled over the waffle along with some almonds and walnuts. The aroma of the waffle was very noticeable from the moment it was handed over at the counter and further accentuated by the soybean powder. Much as I don't really like the thick and dense waffle, I thought it was still done pretty nicely and tasted good without the usual accompanying syrup or ice cream. The rice cake had a red bean filling and due to the heat from the waffle, became really soft and easy to chew. Surprisingly, the rice cake went well with the waffle despite being vastly different types of desserts. My only grouse is that the soybean powder kept falling onto my clothes with each mouthful of this dessert so be sure to shake the excess powder off to prevent this from happening.

In conclusion, would I go back to this cafe again? Well, the crowds can be rather intimidating and I certainly don't fancy sitting in a noisy cafe to relax. Having said that, I thought that they had a few items which I'm pretty interested in so I may just return for the sake of trying them out on a day when the hype has sort of settled and I won't have to jostle for space with the other customers. The issue is, going by the crowds I saw, it doesn't look like it will happen anytime soon which is definitely good news for the cafe.

Review of Platypus Kitchen (Bugis Junction)

I was looking for a nice place to have a late lunch in the Bugis area when I found Platypus Kitchen on the Internet. It had pretty good reviews and I liked what I saw on its menu so it was decided then to head to its outlet at Bugis Junction. As a matter of fact, I had walked past this place a number of times before but never had the chance or inclination to visit it especially since it seemed quite crowded during meal times.

When I entered the restaurant, I was a bit intimidated to find that I was the only customer around. I guess that's to be expected too since it was already past three when I was there. Nonetheless, the waiter who had come to greet me was very welcoming so it helped to put me at ease. I was seated at a table which allowed me to have a great view of the entire restaurant which was largely in soothing pastel tones and black. With the afternoon sun pouring in, this felt like such a good place to spend a lazy afternoon in as you watch the people walk by outside. In particular, I liked the seating which was very comfortable due to its padded seats. There have been many times when I stopped going to a restaurant because I found the seating very uncomfortable (e.g. chairs being too high or too low while eating at the table) or the tables being too close to one another thus resulting in a very cramped feeling so it was a good thing to be able to find a place which doesn't add on to my stress in this respect.

First up was the lobster and crustacean soup which is roasted lobster broth served with double cream and bits of Boston lobster. Based on my experience so far, most soups would be either served in a small round bowl or those very big round dishes so it was a bit unusual to see an oval dish used in Platypus Kitchen. I liked the idea because it was rather easy to drink from and prevent spillage which tends to happen with smaller bowls. As for the soup itself, the aroma was very tempting as soon as the dish was served. There was also no need to add additional seasoning like salt and pepper because the soup was already flavourful enough on its own. As for the lobster bits, I felt that they were a bit too finely-cut for me to get a more accurate feel of the taste but at the very least, they didn't taste fishy in a bad way. The only thing which I didn't like about this dish was probably the herbs served as garnishing because they tasted a bit bitter.

The main course I selected was the Italian Rosemary Garlic Cast Iron Grilled Chicken which was tagged as a specialty dish on the menu. The reason why this is called a Cast Iron Grilled Chicken is due to the fact that the chicken is grilled in heated cast iron skillets at 250 degrees Celsius. I presume that this cooking method helps to seal in the flavours of the chicken without the meat becoming too overcooked. There are four versions of this dish where the chicken is further cooked in different sauces so I think I'll be back to try the other versions another day. Coming back to this version which I ordered, I felt that the aroma of the garlic and herbs was nicely infused into the chicken so I was quite satisfied with this dish. The salad was fresh with a nice citrus-like dressing which made it more palatable since I really dislike those with a strong vinegar taste. The fries were of the right thickness but I would have preferred them to be lightly salted so as to eat them on its own. The chili sauce provided was a bit watery and unlike the usual local version we are used to so I thought that didn't go so well with the fries.

One good thing to highlight about the service here is, the staff noticed that I was struggling with cutting the meat and went to get a meat cutting knife for me to replace the bread knife I was using. Granted that I was the only customer at that time, it might not have been difficult to notice that but I still applaud them for taking the effort to make the change because they could have just ignored me anyway if I didn't ask for a change in the knives.

Last but not least, my dessert was the molten lava cake served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate soil. The vanilla ice cream was rather ordinary in my opinion but I thought the idea of having that almond chocolate glico stick as a garnishing was pretty interesting. On the other hand, the lava cake was rather dense and tasted quite rich so I gathered that it should be made of dark chocolate or the proportion of dark chocolate was pretty high. It was a pity that the cake was so dense that the "lava" failed to flow out when I put my spoon into it. However, the semi-liquid chocolate within was still nice to eat despite its gooey texture. I'm not sure how the chocolate soil was made but as long as it tasted good, it didn't matter so much.

On the whole, I was rather satisfied with my dining experience at Platypus Kitchen and would want to visit it again but still, I would prefer to avoid the peak hours. I sure don't mind being the centre of attention again as the only customer in the restaurant! I also liked the fact that the restaurant attempted to distinguish itself as a place where people can meet up to enjoy meals together and it's making an attempt to get people off their phones at the dining table with little notes in the form of bookmarks. There are quirky questions and little known facts about food which can be used as conversation topics and I thought that it's a pretty good idea to catch the diners' attention. Whether it does help in making people concentrate more on their dining partners and food rather than their phones still remains to be seen but this type of initiative should be encouraged for its positivity.

Going down the memory lane of toys - MINT Museum of Toys

Having heard of MINT Museum of Toys for some time through my friends' posts on Facebook, I never got a chance to visit this place only until this afternoon. I had the impression that this was a place which housed vintage toys from various countries and local childhood toys which coincided with the museum's description on its official website:

"MINT (Moment of Imagination and Nostalgia with Toys) Museum of Toys is the world's first purpose-built museum for toys, and opened its door to the public in May 2006. It was officially launched by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr George Yeo, on 5 March 2007. Belonging to Mr Chang Yang Fa, a Singapore Citizen, the private museum showcases an extensive collection of vintage toys, including rare and unique one-of-a-kind pieces. It is considered to be the largest collection of its kind within Southeast Asia, with more than 50,000 pieces of vintage toys and childhood memorabilia from more than 40 countries, including Singapore, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, the United States, and even Bulgaria. The collection ranges from the mid-19th Century to the mid-20th Century."

It may be easy to miss the entrance of MINT since it is sandwiched between a chicken rice shop and a pub-restaurant. Luckily, there is a new pop-up board for people to take pictures with outside the entrance so it should be easier to spot the museum now. The museum consists of 5 floors whereby the first floor is the MINT shop which offers various toys on sale. More on that later after I introduce the other floors of exhibition space.

On the 5th level, there is a rooftop bar and on the walls and staircase leading to the 4th floor, there are enamel displays of vintage ads for products such as alcoholic drinks. Personally, I thought that it was interesting to see these ads and how the products were marketed in the past. Some of the ads were really simple with a single picture and the brand name which was really straight-to-the-point and concise. Unlike many ads these days which can get really cluttered or abstract that we can't tell at a glance what the ad is selling, I thought the simplicity in the past excels in bringing across the message as it is instead of letting "noise" disrupt the delivery of the message. Perhaps this is something which the advertisers of today can learn from. Although there are quite a number of ads on display, it might be ideal to re-arrange it in the form of specified themes or clusters of ads selling similar products so as to leave a deeper impression on the visitors.

At the staircase landings between the levels, there are huge glass cabinets extending from the floor to the ceiling showcasing a variety of toys and related merchandise. However, due to the absence of any descriptions, tags or signage indicating that there was a theme in each of the displays, it took a fair bit of time and effort trying to decipher why certain toys were displayed together and if there was any similarity between them. There were some sections which I could hardly understand why the toys were being placed together and if there was a theme on each floor. As such, I felt that it was a pity because visitors wouldn't have known the message behind the displays if they are not on a guided tour. In addition, the lighting in the glass cabinets was so dim that it made the toys appear darker than they truly are. The items featured on the top shelves could only be seen if you are standing on the top of the stairs while those at the lower shelves can only be viewed if you bend or squat down. I thought that it was really inconvenient and difficult for me to view the displays in this straining manner. Coupled with the poor ventilation and lack of air-conditioning especially in the higher floors (be it the stairways or the exhibition gallery), it was truly a sweltering experience for me even though I spent only an hour or so in the entire museum.

In the exhibition galleries though, the lighting turned out to be an issue again. This time round, the lights are fitted at the bottom of each shelf so if you want to take a picture of something opposite the full-wall glass cabinets, you will get ugly light lines as shown in the picture on the right. That was why I decided to give up taking pictures of some of the exhibits because I just couldn't avoid or erase the light lines from my pictures. Perhaps a skilled professional photographer will be able to do something about this situation but alas, I'm not.

Given that MINT is a small-scale museum and privately-funded, I guess that it might not have resources such as the bigger national museums which can invest in special lighting to bring out the best in the exhibits but it will be worth looking into this in time to come so as to boost the appeal of the museum to visitors. In this time and age where many people take photos and share on social media, not being able to take a decent picture with a handphone is probably going to be a sore point for people who want to leave behind some memories of their visits and share it with their friends and families. It will do the museum good if the sharing of such photos is facilitated as this will create interest just as what it did for me when I saw pictures of the museum on my friends' Facebook pages.


On levels 2 to 4, there are exhibition galleries featuring the themes of collectables, childhood favourites, characters and outerspace. True be told, I had difficulty understanding the themes as the descriptions at the entrance of the galleries made me wonder why certain things are classified under a particular category. In any case, I think the bigger problem lies with the heavy focus on vintage toys which may be too far back in time for us to get excited about. I do like seeing vintage toys in order to get a feel of how toys made in the past looked like. However, when you go through rows and rows of such toys which featured characters that you've not seen nor heard of before, I admit that I was feeling rather weary quite soon. Considering that I'm in my early 30s and there are so many toys featured which came out before the 80s when I was born and grew up as a kid, it was difficulty to get excited over these older toys. Perhaps there might be an exhibition in future where the toys are classified in terms of the time periods they come from and more side stories to elaborate on the history of each character/toy so as to engage the visitor in another way and stir up interest. In addition, there is too little focus on the toys played by children in Singapore during the old days so I would prefer to see more of that. The arrangement of the toys could also be altered in such a way that the exhibits are not blocked by one another. As seen from my photo on the left, two of the seven dwarfs from Snow White had their faces concealed which I thought was not an ideal thing to happen in a museum's display shelf.

Last but not least, with regard to the MINT shop, I thought that they had a pretty interesting range of items, be it old or new. However, the pricing of the items seem a bit high e.g. the pack of vintage "five-stones" would cost $15. Considering that I had already paid $15 for the adult ticket, I wasn't too keen to pay another 15 for a relatively no-frills set of "five stones". Perhaps there needs to be more competitive pricing so as to entice visitors to shell out extra money to bring home souvenirs after the visit.

In conclusion, I truly applaud MINT's efforts in conserving and displaying such an extensive collection which makes it one of its kind. However, to keep the museum going in future and attract both new and repeat visitors, there are some improvements which need to be made and hopefully, these enhancements will happen in the near future.

Official Facebook fan page up!

For those who are interested in getting update notifications through Facebook, please visit the official fan page here and "like" the page. Look forward to interacting with you there as well!

Review of "Oishii Japan 2015" in Singapore

Oishii Japan is ASEAN's largest dedicated showcase on Japanese food and beverage which was recently held at the Suntec Convention Centre the past weekend. The first two days were opened to trade partners thus the public could only attend the event on the 24th. Even so, the opening hours were relatively short especially since I only managed to reach the venue two hours before the closing time and did not have enough time to visit all the booths. In addition, the fact that some of the booths had already been closed by the time of my visit meant that I wasn't getting access to all the content that was supposed to be showcased so I thought that it was a pity. Last but not least, as some of the booths had already sold all their merchandise, there were some items which I wanted to buy but couldn't. It might be good if there was a way to purchase the items directly from the manufacturers and get them delivered to Singapore especially if they had not found any distributors to sell the products locally. For example, there was this white wine from Yamanashi which I really liked after sampling it at the booth but was disappointed to find that there was no more stock and it was not available in Singapore yet.

The organisation of the booths at this event was in a somewhat inconsistent manner where some prefectures had a cluster of booths taken up by various companies based in that prefecture e.g. Aichi, Gunma, Chiba and Ibaraki. I suppose this was probably because they had more companies within a single prefecture to take up the cluster of booths compared to other prefectures which may have one or two companies taking part in this event. Those which were not put into the prefectural clusters either had the location of their home bases plus their company's names or just the companies' names reflected so it was tough to identify which items came from which area unless you talked to the staff manning the booths or read the brochures given out. In that sense, it might be good to see a classification of the booths according to geographical locations in future editions of this event.

As for the things I managed to buy from this event, first up were the tea products from Isodaen in Aichi. They were selling their products at buy two get one free for SGD 8 which I thought was a steal after sampling the tea. I got two packets of the mint tea bags and one for the green tea powder which I'll probably be using for my desserts.

At Daiei Foods' (Kanagawa) booth, most except for two of these items were sold out. The crab kamaboko was given out as samples and I really liked how fresh and flavourful it tasted. I was even more intrigued when the staff said that the kamaboko could be eaten straight after defrosting since it was already cooked before being frozen or to be used in salads. Nonetheless, when I ate the kamaboko today, I still cooked it since the idea of eating this raw was rather new to me. As for the other item, it was shellfish steamed in Japanese wine which could be eaten after defrosting. The rich flavour of the wine was nicely infused into the shellfish but may be a bit overpowering for people who doesn't like the smell and taste of alcohol. Although the staff said that the items can be bought at Meidi-ya, I'll have to check it out before this can be confirmed.

There was also a J Food Court where people could buy onigiri from SAMURICE, Singapore's first onigiri outlet or the Niku Soba from Keisuke Ramen. I even saw Takeda Keisuke-san, the founder of Keisuke Ramen at the booth. Unfortunately, both stalls were sold out by the time I reached so it was a pity that I couldn't taste the food there.

In conclusion, I thought that it was a good effort to boost awareness of Japanese food and beverages. However, it would have been better if the following improvements could be taken into consideration:
- Planning of the booth layouts to put companies from the same prefecture together or improved labeling to help visitors see the companies' origin easily from the signage
- Extended opening hours or increase in the number of public access days so that more visitors can attend the event
- Ensure that there is enough stock for individual visitors to purchase because it's rather disappointing to be greeted with "sold out" signs wherever you go

Till next year's event then!

A nostalgic tribute to SG50 - "7 Letters"

"7 Letters" is a compilation of 7 short films from 7 of Singapore's well-known filmmakers to commemorate the Golden Jubilee namely  Boo Junfeng, Eric Khoo, K Rajagopal, Jack Neo, Tan Pin Pin, Royston Tan and Kelvin Tong. I haven't watched films from every director so I approached this movie with no knowledge of their styles and which type of films they specialise in making. As the free screenings at the National Museum were so popular, I resorted to catching this film at Golden Village instead.

I do not plan to go into details on each of these films even though there were some which didn't really interest me. Given that this is a celebratory gift for the nation, I guess it's better that I keep my criticism to a minimum. Nonetheless, I would like to share my thoughts on the stories which did strike a chord with me in one way or another.

The Girl directed by Jack Neo
Jack Neo's films are usually commercial hits in the cinemas because the themes of his stories tend to be on things which affect most of us, be it NS, family problems and bread-and-butter issues so they can easily engage an audience of all ages and genders. On the other hand, he always gets rather harsh reviews from critics on the value of his films. Frankly speaking, it's not easy to achieve commercial success in a small market like Singapore. To go out of Singapore is yet another feat. Not all arthouse or indie directors can succeed too. Although I don't really see his films as those food-for-thought type of films, they aren't always as bad as how the critics make them out to be. I've watched a number of his films in the past especially during the Chinese New Year period because honestly, there's not much you can do during those few days other than head to the cinemas. In addition, the elders in the family tend not to be keen on Hollywood movies so it's always a natural choice to go local. Then again, after his highly publicised affair scandal years ago, it just feels terribly odd to see his films preaching the goodness of family ties or doing good so my interest in his films have dwindled a lot since then,

This short film however gives off a slightly different vibe. Signature-style of humour with a mix of dialects and Chinese, the story is as simple as it gets. A girl has a crush on a boy in the same class and would even sacrifice her well-being just to help him even though the guy treats her like trash. However, what really hooked me was how the simple story ended with this really sad twist of the girl's family moving to another kampung and the boy had no chance to repay her for what she did for him. Cliche or corny you may say, but sometimes, an emotion as simple as regret like in this instance is what really gets to you.

The Flame directed by K. Rajagopal
The entire film is in monochrome and depicts how an Indian family is faced with the choice of staying behind as Singaporeans or taking up the offer of British citizenship on the eve of the British's military withdrawal from Singapore. The father insists that his son and daughter-in-law go to UK with him but the son is caught in a dilemma especially since his wife refuses to go and become second-class citizens. On hindsight, it's easy to applaud the daughter-in-law for standing up to her father-in-law and insisting on staying in Singapore. However, at that time, nobody knew what was going to happen to Singapore after the British left so you can't blame the father for believing that things in the UK would be better for the family. What impressed me about this story was the great acting between the three characters and how they managed to convey the conflict convincingly to someone like me who didn't go through those difficult times and didn't have to make such a tough choice. It made me feel a sense of admiration to those who decided to stay despite the uncertainty and honestly speaking, if not for those who believed in a future for the nation, we might not have made it. Of course, for those who left, I can't blame them too because they thought that it was the best way out at that time. Luckily for the film, it doesn't choose to judge either side for the decisions they made which I thought was a good thing.

4:30 by Royston Tan
I can empathise with the little boy in this story because I used to be a latchkey-kid myself where I returned to an empty home after school. Eating lunch all alone with no one to talk to until someone returned home in the early evening is really not fun for kids of that age. Other than this "familiarity" with the lead character's situation, the nostalgia of seeing things from the past and that community spirit which is sorely missing nowadays brings back a lot of fond memories. Now, we hardly know our neighbours, let alone allow them to come into your place to borrow the shower room or offer them kueh like that Malay grandma did.

Grandma Positioning System (GPS) by Kelvin Tong
Again, this is a relatively simple and straightforward story of a Chinese family which has to travel to Johor every year during the Qingming festival to offer prayers to ancestors. Despite doing it every year, the family actually has little time and patience as seen from their eagerness to wrap things up quickly and get back into their routines. Even the route to the grandfather's grave is always "forgotten" by everyone except the grandmother who spends a huge amount of time talking to the grandfather about how to get home from the cemetery with her grandson seemingly listening without a care at the side. However, when the grandmother passed away, the family finds themselves stuck again in a bid to find the grave the following year and manages to find the location with the help of the grandchildren who remember what the grandmother said in the past. Just when the family is glad that they can wrap things up quickly unlike previous years, the grandson heads back to the graves and repeats what his grandmother said in the past so that the grandparents' spirits will be able to go to their new house. The significance of this film is probably not so much about mocking the impatience showed by the family members when paying respects to their ancestors and how much they were focusing on their own lives but rather the fact that everything is changing so quickly around us that there are hardly any landmarks of the old times which we can remember or see these days. That could be why the grandmother was insistent on telling her dead husband's spirit about the directions back home in case he got lost without the old landmarks along the way. Good thing that the grandson remembered what she said or else the "tradition" would have been lost with her passing.

Review of "Everest" (movie)

"Everest" is a movie based on the 1996 Mount Everest disaster which happened between 10 and 11 May 1996 where eight people were caught in a blizzard while trying to scale and descend the summit. However, the film focused mainly on the happenings at the South Summit which involved mainly two commercial expeditions led by Rob Hall of Adventure Consultants and Scott Fischer of Mountain Madness and resulted in the deaths of 5 members in total from both teams including Hall and Fischer themselves.

For the first part of the movie, it features how Hall prepared his team for the climb to Everest including the trek to reach base camp and multiple climbs to acclimatise. It is worth noting that right from the start, it was made very clear to the climbers that even though the ultimate aim was to scale the summit, if the circumstances did not allow for it or the climber's condition was deemed not suitable to continue, the climbers should give up on this goal. No doubt that the climbers paid for the expedition companies to guide them up the mountain, it was also the duty of the companies' staff to ensure that the clients make their way down safely. Needless to say, this advice fell on deaf ears for some people because the desire to reach the top mattered the most at the end of the day.

The second part of the movie described how both teams had to work together in order to overcome the odds of ever-changing weather conditions and overcrowding due to a high number of climbers aspiring to reach the summit during the same period. However, unexpected complications such as ropes which were not repaired on the way to the summit and some team members who were seemingly not physically suitable to make the arduous climb also contributed to the difficulty of the ascent. This in turn caused delays along the way up and down as the sudden blizzard hit the climbers and resulted in some of them losing their lives.

As I left the cinema, there were a few questions I pondered over. Of course, on hindsight, it is easy to pin blame on a single or multiple causes for the disaster, be it due to natural or human causes. Besides, the movie's way of telling the story may not be 100% accurate so we can't really blame one person for another's fate. As such, there is no intention on my part to say who was right or wrong but rather, the following points are the what-ifs that I popped up in my mind after watching the film.

First of all, there's always this saying that the outcome is not the most important thing but the process matters most. However, in this situation, I wonder if that also holds true for the climbers. Being able to scale the summit is important but being able to make your way down safely should also be the same. Does it mean anything if you manage to scale the summit but end up losing your life after that? It's especially regrettable that some of these climbers did go to the top and end up not coming back. I wondered about the decision of Doug Hansen's to keep going even though it was way past the 2pm turnaround deadline when he was still making his way up and there was a lot of time needed to head back amid the rough weather conditions. I can understand why he insisted on proceeding because the summit was within reach and he had already tried multiple times in the past. Physically and financially, there was no way he could do this one more time. The feeling of failure again would have been a crushing blow. Then again, I also wonder if Hall had been insistent enough to stop Hansen from scaling the summit, would things have turned out differently for the both of them? Granted that Hall was in such a dilemma because he understood Hansen's reason for insisting so well, you can't blame him for doing what he did. It certainly isn't a pleasant situation to be caught in when a split second decision can decide your fate and both options are equally painful decisions to make. I just feel sorry for these two men because one didn't live to savour his success while the other didn't manage to save himself and reunite with his family.

Secondly, the idea of allowing commercial expeditions scale Everest presents another dilemma. On one hand, the clients are the ones paying for their trips and should have the ultimate say in deciding whether to proceed with the climb. On the other hand, the professionals in the expeditions make judgments as to whether someone is fit enough to proceed or if conditions are favourable to proceed but can they persuade or even force their clients to turn back if need be? Will the clients even listen to them or will they insist that they have the final say just because they paid for the expeditions? Should there was a minimum requirement before anyone attempted this massive task, would it have helped in reducing the number of people who attempted the climb despite their personal limitations?

Last but not least, this movie reiterates the point that the forces of Nature should not be taken lightly. Granted that the weather changes were swift and beyond the control of the climbers, there was no way they could have fought against that. Even if they had all made their descent before the 2pm deadline, would it have helped? Of course, we won't have the answer to that now but it just drives home the point that when Nature is concerned, there is no harm with being more careful and aware of the dangers which come along with each situation.

On the whole, I think this movie is great in terms of showing the beauty of Everest and how people are so enamoured with climbing it that they would even put their lives at stake. Despite the fact that I may not be fully convinced about giving up your life for this purpose, I could see how strong the desires of the climbers were in pushing themselves forward with each step upwards. On the other hand, as this is a factual story, the plot did lack a bit of dramatic appeal thus it can appear a tad bland to some viewers. This also affected the character development as there was hardly any time left to explain why certain people did the things they did. One thing I was rather puzzled over was Beck Weathers' family situation. It appeared initially as if he was estranged from his family as seen from the family portraits which excluded him and his wife Peach's lukewarm attitude towards him. Then again, when she heard about her husband's survival and needed immediate medical attention, her earnest efforts in sending a helicopter to pick him up from the mountain showed that she still loved him. It got me wondering if Beck's expeditions to climb the Seven Summits was the cause of his seemingly cool relations with his family and constant absence at home but the movie did not actually talk much about this so I thought it was a pity that our understanding of the characters seemed to be rather superficial.

In conclusion, this is a pretty decent film so do check it out if you are keen.

Outback cuisine for the first time - The House of Robert Timms (Suntec City)

The House of Robert Timms is not exactly a new name to me but I've never had the chance or inclination to give it a try especially after hearing that it serves some exotic fare such as kangaroo meat which I must admit that is too adventurous for my palate. Nonetheless, while thinking of finding somewhere new to try in the Suntec City Mall and after doing some research on its website, The House of Robert Timms seemed like a a pretty decent choice so I went ahead with it in the end.

Robert Timms is well-known as one of Australia's oldest and most established gourmet coffee brands and was only introduced to Singapore in 2010 at Wheelock Place. I'm not a fan of coffee though but the promise of wholesome cuisine from Australia did sound like an enticing prospect. Then again, I've not tried Australian cuisine before so I'm clueless as to what exactly defines Australian food other than the fact that the ingredients should come from there.

First up was the clam chowder served with toast which was truly delectable. The amount of clams in the soup was much more than the number of shells seen in the bowl and they were as fresh as they could get. The soup itself was rich but not to the extent of overwhelmingly creamy. The garlic toast was done very nicely with a nice fragrance and to top it off, the bread used had grains and nuts in the crust which further accentuated the flavour. This has got to be one of the best versions of clam chowder which I've tasted so far.

The main course was the herb roasted half-chicken with criss-cut fries and salad. Instead of the usual long fries served in most restaurants, I think the criss-cut fries were a rather unique choice but personally, I felt that it might have been better if the fries were reduced to bite-size portions. Generally, the chicken was nicely grilled and went well with the sauce. Nonetheless, I do not like breast meat which usually tastes tough and dry no matter how it is cooked unless it's used in macaroni soup or Cantonese congee. In the case of this dish, the only drawback was that the other parts of the chicken tasted well but the breast meat was a disappointment as usual or I would have given higher marks for this dish.

The chocolate mousse cheesecake came in a portion larger than what's served in most places but given the price tag of 9 bucks per slice, I think that should be the case anyway. Much as I think that the flavours of the chocolate mousse and cheesecake layers were fine on the whole, I found that them being equally dense meant that the cake was somewhat too rich to finish by the time I was halfway through. It might have been better if the mousse layer was lighter which would provide a difference and graduation in textures within the cake and make it easier to finish alone. Otherwise, it might be best to share this cake with someone else or in a group as this can be rather filling as a dessert or tea-time choice.

On the surface, this may look like the usual nyonya kueh with the coconut shreds but this is actually an Australian dessert called lamington. I didn't know this until I asked the waitress and she described it as a sponge cake with coconut shreds on the surface. Further research on the Internet suggests that the traditional Australian version has a coating of chocolate sauce with coconut shreds on the outside while a layer of cream or raspberry jam is spread between the two layers of sponge cake. There are variations in the flavours depending on the area as it is said that Australia has a lemon version too while New Zealand has a raspberry version. Apparently, the version served at Robert Timms does not have a chocolate coating.

Although there were three flavours to choose from, one was sold out i.e. orange. I then decided on the strawberry version over the lemon one in case the latter was too sour. When taking the first bite, I didn't really like the smell and flavour of the sponge cake which had an artificial flavouring somehow. After a few more bites, the taste would grow on you. In any case, having sponge cake with coconut shreds is a rather new experience for me so I would not rule out the likelihood of going back to try other flavours of the lamington.