High tea set @ Okada Coffee (100AM)

Went back to Okada Coffee for their high tea set which is going at 20 bucks for 1 person and 36 dollars for 2. The latter set comes in two tiers compared to the single set where the items are placed on a single plate. You can choose either coffee or tea to go with your dessert plate so I went for tea since I don't drink coffee.

Although I was quite impressed with the quality of the cake when I first visited them, the high tea set was a bit of a disappointment. First of all, there wasn't any description of what items were included in the set so I had no idea what I was going to get. As such, I didn't know that it included beef meatballs which I couldn't eat since I don't eat beef. As a result, I had to ask the waiter what that dish contained before returning it. I really appreciate the waiter's gesture of asking the chef on what items can be given to me in exchange for the meatballs but getting four sandwiches in return turned out to be a pretty bad idea. There was too much cream and butter in the sandwiches and there were already two sandwiches in the plate so it was normal that I couldn't finish them. The rest of the items also failed to impress me so I left the place a tad disappointed.

Frankly speaking, I really like Okada Coffee for its Japanese ambience and the good service but there's got to be something more appealing about the pastries and cakes to complement the coffee and other drinks. Although I do understand that the coffee should be the main product, it surely doesn't hurt to do well in the supplementary items because that will surely bring about more spending by the customers as compared to buying coffee only. Coupled with the fact that the location isn't that favourable, it will be very important for the cafe to promote itself and stand out among the crowd so that it builds up a stream of regulars and can keep going.

I haven't actually given up on this place so I'll pop by again to try other items which I hope will restore my faith in their menu.

Review of The Call (2013 movie)

This film's story is pretty straightforward in the sense and can be divided into two arcs. The first is pretty much introductory and lays the foundation for what's going to happen in the main arc. Halle Berry plays the role of Jordan Turner, an LAPD 9-1-1 operator who receives a frantic call one night from a teenager named Leah Templeton who is terrified by the appearance of an intruder into her home. Although Jordan manages to give good advice in helping Leah evade detection by the intruder, the disconnection of the call leads Jordan to redial the number immediately and this results in the intruder turning back and locating Leah easily. Jordan tries frantically to stop the man from hurting Leah when he picks up the phone but he replies with a cold answer, "It's already done." and hangs up. Days later, Leah is found dead and her corpse dumped in the open.

This incident causes Jordan to lose her confidence and she is so guilt-stricken that she can no longer be a 9-1-1 operator. 6 months later, she becomes a trainer for the operators and chances upon a call received by a newbie operator from another teenager Casey Welson who gets abducted from a shopping mall's carpark. The newbie operator is unable to handle the situation thus Jordan takes over the call with great reluctance and attempts to help Casey escape from the trunk of the abductor's car by giving her instructions over the phone...

The reason why I became interested in this film was due to an interview of Halle Berry about her role of playing a 9-1-1 operator in this movie. She mentioned that as part of the preparation for the role, she listened to voice recordings of people who had called the hotline and there was one which was especially painful to listen to. The call was from a woman who called for help because she was in danger of being sexually assaulted but there was nothing the operator could do other than listening helplessly to what was happening at the other end of the line (apparently, the police had not reached the caller yet when she was undergoing such an ordeal). There was a line in the movie as well which seemed to bring out the message of the dilemma these emergency hotline operators face. Although they are expected not to be too emotionally involved in what their callers are going through, it can be rather emotionally draining for them especially if they do not know if the police or medics reached the callers in time or whether the cases ended well. Like what happened in this film, it is not difficult to imagine the trauma Jordan went through because her action had unwittingly caused the death of a caller who depended on her to survive.

However, this film chooses not to dwell too much on this soul-searching part and focuses a lot on the action aspect. It was a pulsating ride to the end where Jordan struggles to make the best out of the situation and help Casey escape from the abductor. Time after time, Casey's attempts are thwarted and innocent people are drawn into the case and suffer at the hands of the abductor. I think the tempo of these scenes was very well-controlled and it made up for the lack of emphasis of the emotional side of things in the story. The icing on the cake was that, the ending was pretty unconventional and helped the film to make a deep impression on the viewers. Whether you agree with the way things were handled is one thing but it sure is an unexpected development that will set viewers thinking a little more about the movie rather than dismissing it as a forgettable suspense thriller from the minute they step out of the cinema.

Buta (pork) sukiyaki at Yayoiken やよい軒

The biggest problem I encounter whenever I'm in the mood for sukiyaki is that many places sell the beef version and offer no alternatives. That's bad news for someone like me who don't eat beef. Imagine my joy when I happened to chance upon Yayoiken's offering of buta sukiyaki! Of course, having not eaten the beef version before, I can't really compare this version with the beef one which is regarded to be standard fare when it comes to sukiyaki. Personally, I think Yayoiken's version is pretty good where you have a good mix of vegetables, mushrooms, rice noodles and of course, the thinly sliced pork which absorbs the flavour of the sukiyaki stock fully. If they had used chicken instead, it might not have fared so well with me because chicken tends to get overcooked and tough in a hotpot while pork is a bit more resilient to this type of slow cooking. It's a substantial portion for lunch and with the free flow of sparkling white rice from Japan, that should be a pretty hearty meal to have especially since the set meal price is below $20 (before taxes). Now, I know where to go to the next time I have a craving for buta sukiyaki again... ^__^

Green tea galore from Uji, Kyoto - Tsujiri

On the first floor of 100AM lies this small shop named Tsujiri which offers lots of green tea-based desserts and drinks made from green tea produced in Uji, Kyoto. There are lots of coffee places in Singapore but the same can't really be said for tea even though I believe that there are enough tea lovers around too. Besides, one of Uji's most famous produce (also recommended on the city's tourism board website) is tea so it's a great thing that Tsujiri brought the real thing over from Kyoto. Being a lover of green tea products, I decided to give this place a try after lunch.

The shop is actually quite simple in terms of it decor which is primarily made up of green and white. Most of the shop space is taken up by the counter and production area with a small shelf showcasing some of the green tea you can buy e.g. the chawan and brush used in traditional tea ceremonies and the green tea in pre-packed packages. As for the glass shelf facing the corridor, it was actually quite bare when I visited so the focus of Tsujiri seems to be more on its matcha drinks and matcha-themed desserts rather than baked goods such as cakes. Maybe they will expand their range of products in time to come? Anyway, with the extensive drinks and desserts menu, they probably won't need to do this anytime soon because it will take some time to taste everything or most of the items on the menu.

And this was what I had during my first Tsujiri visit - the matcha anmitsu dessert. Essentially, this is matcha ice-cream with kanten jelly, red bean paste, mochi and shiratama as its base and toppings. It's not exactly a big serving so it's actually just nice as a post-meal dessert. As such, you don't have to worry about this being too much for you to take after a full lunch or dinner. There isn't a lot I have to say about the side ingredients which is pretty standard in places dishing out Japanese-style desserts but I think the matcha ice-cream deserves special mention here for its rich and flavourful taste and texture which is to my liking. I've tried matcha ice-cream with a tinge of bitterness (too much of the matcha power) or tasted a bit powdery (maybe the matcha powder wasn't blended properly?) before so Tsujiri's version was actually the best I had so far because of the scent of the matcha lingering in your mouth even after finishing the dessert. In addition, it wasn't saccharine-sweet nor bitter (at least with respect to my tastebuds) so I think they got it right with the proportion of matcha used in the ice-cream. Only thing which I think can be improved is, the toppings take up quite a bit of space at the top of the cup so it may be better for them to go below the ice-cream and make it easier for people to eat. I had to navigate my way through the toppings to ensure that while I ate the ice-cream, I did not accidentally push the toppings over and make them land on the table.

On another visit, I didn't actually eat at the outlet but rather I bought their matcha chocolate cake and had it at home. That explains the poor presentation in the photo. ^__^ Anyway, the only thing chocolatey about this cake is the white chocolate shavings on top which I thought I could do without with. It didn't add a lot of flavour to the cake itself anyway so I would prefer to have the cake being pure matcha flavour. As for the cake itself, I thought the sponge portion was a tad too dry although I liked the matcha layer which was again rich enough to leave an impression and not put people off. Since Tsujiri's strengths seem to be in its drinks and desserts, I think the cake needs some tweaking after all but it's still a credible effort. I didn't see the cake on display during my first visit so I'm assuming that this is something that doesn't get served every day.

Traditional Dim Sum from Central in Hong Kong - Luk Yu Teahouse & Restaurant (Ion Orchard)

Tucked away in a corner right at the entrance of the Food Opera foodcourt in Orchard Ion, Luk Yu Teahouse & Restaurant might be displayed as a mere dim sum takeaway stall. In fact, I noticed that most people buy the dim sum and eat at the tables in the foodcourt rather than head inside the restaurant's dining area. Maybe they thought that they had to pay extra to eat there? I also thought so at first but surprisingly, I didn't have to pay any additional GST nor service charge.

Actually, the reason why I was keen to try Luk Yu had to do with the fact that I had intended to visit its Hong Kong outlet when I was there at the beginning of the year. However, due to some last-minute changes to my plans, I had to give this a miss even though the guidebook I had highly recommended this for its traditional charm since it was established back in 1933. As such, I have no basis of comparison when it comes to whether the HK or SG version is better. In a way, that is helpful too because I tried the food with an open mind and wasn't too critical about it. Maybe I'll be less forgiving when I try Tim Ho Wan in Plaza Singapura since I was really impressed with what I tasted in HK.

Looking at the menu, it is predominantly made up of dim sum items taking up two-thirds of the page. The remaining space is for congee, noodles, desserts and beverages which you can see that there aren't too many choices.

Starting off the meal with a plum drink since it was pretty hot that day and I wasn't in the mood for Chinese tea. By the way, Luk Yu offers a selection of Chinese tea for you to match with your dim sum so you can check out the menu on the table. I was hoping that the plum drink would be a light and refreshing drink which could help to reduce the after-meal oiliness. However, it was a tad too sour for my liking and so I would have liked it to be slightly more diluted. There isn't much to say about the way the drink was presented which I suppose lies with the fact that Luk Yu is a teahouse after all so they would probably put more effort in the teapots and teacups used for Chinese tea rather drinks like plum juice which are commonplace everywhere else. Not that it bothers me though because I can understand where the emphasis would be placed on.

And next up are the dim sum items! I always like to order this dish of spare ribs steamed in black bean sauce whenever I have dim sum but not every place does this well enough. Either their spare ribs are too bony with little meat or too oily so I find myself being disappointed most of the time. Luckily, Luk Yu does fine in this dish with a generous portion of meaty spare ribs which doesn't leave an oily aftertaste at the end of the meal. However, if there's one thing I must point out, I think the evenness of the taste needs to be improved because the spare ribs at the bottom seem to have soaked up a lot of the sauce and became a tad saltier than the meat at the top which can taste less flavourful than it should have been so it's a pity that something like this happened.

Another staple dim sum item I must have will be the siew mai. Luk Yu's version seems a bit more meaty than "prawny" and gives the impression that the meat's taste has overshadowed the prawns within. Given that the size of the prawns is a little smaller than the versions found in places such as Crystal Jade, maybe that's why the taste leans towards the meaty side rather than the seafood freshness found in prawns. For people who prefer to taste big fat prawns in their siew mai, this version might not meet your expectations. Although I'm also the type who prefers the prawn taste to be stronger than the meat, I can still accept this version but if I have to eat multiple pieces of this in one seating, I don't think I would really enjoy doing this. Maybe one or two would do just fine for me.

I always like to have Cantonese-style congee with my dim sum so I ordered the seafood porridge here. It was a huge surprise to see so many ingredients inside this $6.80 porridge with at least four pieces of fish, prawns and scallops each. No doubt the prawns might not as big as those in Crystal Jade's version or that the scallops were actually sliced thinner (maybe into half of its original size?), I think it's a pretty good bargain after all given its price. Another good thing was to see the peanuts and crispy crackers on top of the congee when it was served. A lot of places don't serve peanuts with their congee so I was really happy to see that. The only grouse I have has got more to do with my personal taste though, the congee seemed a bit bland and I had to add some light soy sauce to it. In other places, I'm usually fine with no light soy sauce for my congee. As such, if you are one who likes lighter fare, I think this congee might just suit you.

On the whole, this outlet of Luk Yu dishes out decent fare at market prices comparable to the competition. The biggest selling points or should I have its advantages lie in the fact that it's right at the entrance of the food court and doesn't charge you taxes or service charge thus should attract a fair bit of customers. However, people seemed unwilling to enter the restaurant's dining area so it would be to the restaurant's advantage if they inform customers about the no-GST and no-service charge perks which should boost the restaurant's table occupancy rate. When I was there on a weekend evening, there were just three tables of customers including me so that's definitely on the low side.

Maybe it's time for me to consider going back to HK again to try the original Luk Yu? ^__^

Review of Platina Data (novel) by Higashino Keigo

Even though I bought this book in September last year, I only managed to complete it in late March because I read a few pages and stopped for a long time because I was tied up with other things. It doesn't mean that this novel is bad in any way though so I would like to make this clear. I have a bad habit of wanting to buy new books even though I still have a huge number of unread stuff to go through so I'm trying hard to resist the urge to get new books and aiming to finish my waiting list first. Since the movie version was just released in March, I thought that I should finish this first in case the movie does come to Singapore anytime soon. Last time I heard, it should be coming to our cinemas in May! ^__^

Anyway, if you haven't read this novel and wish to avoid knowing how the story develops, I would suggest that you skip this review. I certainly do not want to spoil the fun for you especially if you are in the midst of reading it or haven't even started.

Before I begin sharing my thoughts on this, let me give a summary of the key characters involved and their relationships with one another. Note that there are some minor characters I've left out since they did not appear for too long:

Kagura Ryuuhei - the chief analyst of National Police Agency's Special Analysis & Research Institute. Develops a second personality named Ryuu after the suicide of his father.
Asama Reiji - assistant police inspector of Metropolitan Police Department's 1st section
Tokura - Asama's junior and partner
Nasu - the chief of MPD's 1st section
Kiba - subsection chief of MPD's 1st section
Shiga Takashi - chief of National Police Agency's Special Analysis & Research Institute
Kagura Shogo - Ryuuhei's father, a ceramic artist
Tateshina Saki - the programmer who developed the DNA Investigation system
Tateshina Kousaku - Saki's elder brother
Minagami Youjirou - a professor in neurology at Shinseiki University Hospital and Ryuuhei's doctor
Shiratori Risa - a American-Japanese who is doing research on DNA profiling
Suzuran - Ryuu's girlfriend
Chikushi - a former architect who lives at a remote settlement in Borero City
Sasori - a former bartender who used to work at a bar operated by a gang and lives in the same settlement as Chikushi

Despite the fact that there are so many characters in this story, the movie version chooses to make some changes to the lineup and only showcases the characters I've put in bold as the main cast (based on what I see from the movie's official site). I am guessing some of the characters above may also appear in the movie. Besides this, Tateshina Kousaku's character is also missing from the lineup while Minagami is changed to become a female (Suzuki Honami) in the movie.

The novel can be largely broken up into three main arcs i.e. the events leading up to the development of the DNA Investigation System, the Tateshina siblings' double murders and the manhunt for Kagura. To begin with, the novel talks about how the police is developing this DNA Investigation System which uses DNA data to do matching in order to find criminals easily and accurately. Besides that, it can also help to project how the person may look like and even reveal specific physical characteristics about the criminal and his/her family members. However, Asama being the type of old-school police detective you see in most police dramas who believe in using his feet to find the criminals i.e. going around looking for clues or questioning people, he doesn't believe in the DNA Investigation System which is very strongly "promoted" by Kagura. Despite Asama's resistance and lack of faith in the system, it turns out to be a great thing after all as the police solve cases quickly and get their hands on the criminals easily. Kagura who strongly believes in the worth of his system and data then takes part in efforts in boosting awareness of the system and getting all Japanese citizens to provide their DNA to be included in the database despite concerns over privacy etc.

The second arc is set some time after the DNA system takes off and it is then revealed that the system is actually developed by the Tateshina siblings who stay in a VIP room at Shinseiki University Hospital. Kagura is also revealed to have a dual-personality by the name of Ryu so he has to seek treatment at the same hospital to allow Ryu to "appear" at designated times to do his thing. However, during one of the visits to the hospital, Kagura finds the Tateshina siblings dead in their room and starts to doubt whether Ryu could be behind it. In addition, he is horrified to see that his own DNA was found on Saki which will place him under suspicion as the culprit.


The final arc shows Kagura being aided by Shiratori as he goes on the run to find the truth. Asama who goes after Kagura, slowly realises that there is more to what it seems as they both arrive at the same conclusion...

I must say that the beauty of this novel lies in Higashino Keigo's ability to craft his characters in such a way that gets you fully emotionally invested in what happens to them and to surprise you with unexpected developments just when you least expect and that helps to keep the reader engaged instead of losing interest. Frankly speaking, I thought the first arc was a tad slow but given that it needed to show all the relationships between the characters, explain how the DNA Investigation System came about and why it was touted to be a lifesaver as well as show a contrast in Kagura and Asama's attitudes towards the system. One thinks that it is the solution to everything and can do no wrong while the other thinks that it is definitely not without its flaws. Of course, Kagura gets proven wrong at the end because the same system he believes in actually led to him being accused of something he did not do. No doubt he had suffered while being on the run, I think the experience helped to make him see things from different perspectives instead of being stubborn in everything. It was also good that Asama doubted the accuracy of the system or else he would have been tricked into believing that Kagura was responsible for the murders. Sometimes, a police detective's instinct works better than hard and cold data.

Things start to heat up in the second arc after the murders took place especially as Kagura also doubts himself or rather his other self about whether he is the murderer. Although Kagura and Ryu have been co-existing without much trouble, Kagura does not seem to think too favourably about his alter-ego while Ryu can't be bothered with Kagura either. The amount of faith that Kagura has in his DNA Investigation System can be seen from the fact that he chose to doubt Ryu first instead of the system. With Shiratori's assistance, he begins his journey of being on the run before the police can catch up. During this period, Kagura finds out more things about Ryu and that he even has a girlfriend Suzuran who seems to appear and disappear at will.

The third arc offers a lot of revelations and unexpected twists as Kagura is fighting with an invisible enemy i.e. the real culprit while Asama is investigating the case through his own ways. Although they appear to be going in different directions, they manage to arrive at the same conclusion somehow or so it seems. I won't give away the ending because it is really gripping and very interesting. As for how the main characters end up, I would say that it's a happy ending after all although I think there's a tinge of regret and it's not an ideal fairy tale conclusion. It's something more in tune with the circumstances described in the novel and really more believable as something which might happen in the real world.

On the whole, I think this is a great novel from Higashino which is truly a classic piece of work. I'm not sure if this has been translated into other languages yet but if you can read Japanese, do pick this up and have a go at it. I don't know if the movie follows the novel very closely but I'm guessing it might not, going by some telltale clues in the cast.

Japanese kissaten around the corner - Okada Coffee 岡田珈琲 (100AM)

Tucked away in a corner at the newly-opened 100AM (formerly known as Amara Shopping Centre) is this quaint kissaten 喫茶店 called Okada Coffee which hails from Kumamoto in Japan. According to its Facebook page, Okada Coffee defines the activity kissa as 1) to enjoy cake and dessert with coffee or tea and 2) to enjoy coffee or tea after meal. I happened to spot this little cafe after having ramen at Keisuke which is in the same building so I made up my mind to check out this Japanese-style cafe one day. In case you are wondering, I'll have a post about Keisuke another day.

The selling point of this cafe is definitely its coffee but unfortunately, I don't drink coffee so I can't judge whether the coffee lives up to what it claims to be. In fact, I was a bit wary about entering the place because I wondered if there was anything for someone like me. However, there are alternative choices for non-coffee drinkers or those who prefer not to drink coffee on a particular day so don't be intimidated by the fact that although the name of the cafe emphasizes coffee, you can still find other beverage choices here to go with the exquisite desserts here.

I paid a visit to Okada Coffee at teatime on a weekday which was almost empty except for a couple who was having coffee and desserts while chatting. It may be a different story during weekends though. Not that I mind though because I've always liked places like this which are relatively quiet and allows me to relax while enjoying a nice dessert. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to find such places around because the popular cafes tend to get so crowded and noisy so relaxation seems to be an elusive concept at such places. When you look at the store front, it appears to be rather small but once you step in, it's not cramped at all and has quite a number of tables placed at a comfortable distance from one another.

From the menu, it appears that Okada Coffee serves a selection of main dishes during lunch and dinner hours so it's more than just coffee/tea and desserts here. However, as I was there during teatime, I didn't get to taste the main dishes so I'll probably have to come for a second visit to try them. At the entrance, there are some Japanese magazines including travel guides to various spots so you can bring them to your table for your reading pleasure.

If you are at Okada Coffee after 2pm, there is this teatime offer where you can order a dessert with a drink for an additional of $4. I ordered the matcha cake which was $6 and the yuzu soda so the bill came up to $10.70 after GST. The matcha cake was very flavourful and the sponge cake portion moist enough to bring out the aroma of the matcha. Combined with the slightly sour-and-sweet yuzu soda, it evened out the sweetness of the cake. At the same time, the cake brought out the refreshing taste of the yuzu soda so I was pleased that this turned out to be a good combination after all.

If you are looking for a quiet place to do some reading while drinking aromatic coffee and having some desserts at the same time, this will be a good place to check out. Just in case you miss this place, Okada Coffee's on the third floor and at the opposite end from where Keisuke, Yayoiken and the Jeju restaurants are. There's a juice bar just beside the cafe so it should be easy to locate this little kissaten.

Review of "The Bride Always Knocks Twice" / 她门 (Stage play)

I must confess, I'm not an avid theatre-goer. I used to see a number of stage plays when I was in school and that was when we got subsidised tickets at prices which were affordable then. However, after leaving school, I didn't approach plays with the same level of passion as before and it was only till last year when I started to watch stage productions again. There were some titles over the years which did interest me but sad to say, sometimes the ticket prices were too high (in my opinion though) or that the timing wasn't suitable for me. When the moon and stars were in alignment again, that was when I made a comeback to watching plays and boy, this is an addictive and very cost-intensive hobby. ^__^

Grabbing the title of being the first stage play I've watched this year is "The Bride Always Knocks Twice" (Chinese title is 她门) by the Theatre Practice (实践剧场). The story features a bride who ran away from her wedding and accidentally chances upon a house where six other women from various eras and backgrounds live in. Through an exploration of the reason that led to the bride running away, the play also showcases the lives of the other women in the house and what led them to "seek refuge" here where time seems to have come to a standstill.

As this play was written by two people i.e. Jonathan Lim and Liu Xiaoyi, the difference between their writing skills is rather obvious because the pacing of the story is uneven. The first act was slower in contrast to the second part and there were some developments which I thought were too draggy. In addition, I felt that there should have been more emphasis on the women in the house and how they came to be there but that was sorely lacking. It felt as if the writers decided to tease the viewer with small snippets of information but that didn't form a comprehensive picture of the women's pasts. As such, I felt as if I was none the wiser about what was binding these women to this unusual house and why they didn't want to take the first step out into the "real" world. Perhaps they think that their "halfway house" is the real world and what they are more at ease with. However, without an idea of what motivated them to remain status quo, I didn't feel much emotional attachment to the characters. Of course, I understand this is supposed to be dark humour and it probably means a lot of things are open to interpretation rather than being conveyed directly but there are too many points which are not explained so it can be a bit annoying (at least to me).

Despite this, I think the acting was quite good and I particularly liked characters such as the 60s -70s movie star, the Sultan's concubine and the Samsui Woman. Not only did they provide lots of laughter to spice up the play, I thought their characters were most interesting and endearing to me. Kudos to Su Chun Ying, Siti Khadlijah Zainal and Hung Chit Wah Felix! As for the lead i.e. the runaway bride played by Isabella Chiam, I do like her acting but her character didn't go down that well with me.

On the whole, this was a OK production which I felt needed more fine-tuning to make it more palatable to the general public. If the pacing of the story was managed better and there was more exploration of the characters who all had potential to be interesting stories on their own, I think I might have liked this better.

Satisfying & tasty - Monster Curry (Orchard Ion)

Among the various Japanese food items I like, curry is one of the more common items I order whenever I eat out. Compared to the curry that we usually eat in Singapore (be it Chinese, Malay or Indian style), Japanese curry tends to be on the sweet side and lacks the punch of the spiciness found in local curries. I'm perfectly fine with this since I'm not someone who really loves spicy stuff but at the same time, I do think that some of the Japanese curries on offer out there tend to be a bit bland at times. That's why when I came across Monster Curry, it was as if I finally found something which I had been searching for i.e. the flavourful curry with a tinge of spiciness.

As seen from the picture, the portion is huge. At first, I thought it was just the plate which was big but it turns out that the portion of the food matches the size of the serving plate. If you do not add any additional toppings to the standard one-item curry, I think it's manageable for one person. You can do mix-and-matches as you wish just like how I combined the pork shabu-shabu set with ebi-fry in the photo. Frankly speaking, I don't really like to eat fried meat e.g. tonkatsu with curry because the taste kinda lingers on and it can get too rich for my own good especially on a hot day when I crave for something lighter. The pork shabu shabu is thinly sliced and yet it's done so nicely that it matches the curry very well. The ebi-fry was also cooked in such a way that the batter didn't taste crunchy or the prawn was overcooked. The colour of the curry turned out to be a bit darker than most of the versions I've tasted so far but I think that's fine because that's how the curry I cook at home looks like when I use those Japanese curry packs from the supermarket. I only asked for a Level 1 spiciness which was fine for me so if I do get adventurous another day, I might go for a higher level of spiciness.

On the whole, it was a pleasant experience to eat at Monster Curry although it can be a tad cramped if you come on a weekend since the place takes up a rather small space on B4. Nonetheless, most people simply eat and go so you won't have to queue for a long time either. Prices are generally a bit higher than what you pay for curry rice in restaurants like Sushi Tei or Watami but given the portion and the quality of the food, I think it's still something worth paying for.

The right time to announce your marriage if you are a Japanese celebrity

This article from Real Life offers an interesting view why Japanese celebrities like to announce their marriages during the year-end and March in case you are wondering why there's a series of such announcements in this month alone. Now, will we get any more surprises in the last few days of March?

As the sakura blooms in spring, the entertainment world is also seeing a series of happy marriage announcements.

On 1 March, Tsutsumi Shinichi who has been tagged as the "co-star killer" by entertainment reporters and widely reputed as the extraordinary playboy of his time, announced his marriage through his agency's website. His wife is an ordinary woman who's 32 and 16 years his junior who he met four years ago.

Spring has also come to the rakugo world where Kokontei Kikinojou and NHK announcer Fujii Ayako announced their wedding to the media via a fax statement on 13 March. The couple met during a programme on NHK-BS and dated for three years before getting married.

Naka Riisa and Nakao Akiyoshi who were first FRIDAY-ed last year, announced their marriage on 21 March with a joint statement and that she is already three months' pregnant. In response to this, there were many disappointed comments online from fans.

On the following day, another bombshell came from Sakai Masato and Kanno Miho who met through the movie "Ooku" and it was met with bewildered frowns from entertainment reporters who had never found out about their relationship until this marriage announcement.

On 25 March, Amano Kousei and Hinagata Akiko got married and it was especially sweet for the latter who had gone through a divorce in the past.

The following day, the horse racing world also saw jockey Fukunaga Yuuichi announce that he is going to marry FujiTV announcer Matsuo Midori. Their relationship had already been known in the racing world so it wasn't a surprise after all. Matsuo will leave FujiTV in September to support her husband so this news was met with happiness and sadness from her fans/

On the same day, Yoshizawa Hisashi who is a familiar face to longtime drama lovers, also announced his marriage to model Kiriyama Maki even though the actual marriage registration took place on 3 March.

*Note that on the same day this report came out, comedian Yabe Hiroyuki announced that he is going to marry former TBS announcer Aoki Yuko in April.

Why is that marriage announcements seem to be following one another recently? Actually, there is a perfect reason for this trend.

According to an insider in an entertainment agency, marriage announcements tend to be concentrated during the year-end and end of fiscal year i.e. March and this has been a longtime practice. During this period, everyone will be busy with various things thus public concern about the marriages will generally be low. Especially if we are talking about shot-gun marriages, sudden marriages (short dating period) or even marriages where someone is a third party (i.e. one party snatches the man/woman from a longtime partner), it will be more desirable to announce their marriages during this period so that the media won't have time or interest in digging for more information which can hurt the celebrities concerned.

At the same time, this has brought about another interesting trend where entertainment reporters are very free during this period. In the past, they may have to spend a lot of time to do research but during this time of the year, the celebrities would be the ones announcing their marriages and offering the information to the media so they effectively have nothing much to do.

Spring Kyushu Fair 2013 @ Tampines Mall

If you are a lover of Japanese food and prepared to pay for premium products straight from Japan, you should pay a visit to the Spring Kyushu Fair which is currently being held at Tampines Mall. The pre-sale was held today from 3pm onwards where there are a lot of stalls selling various foodstuff products from the Kyushu region. Most of the stalls are located in the lobby on level 1 but there are some stalls spread out on the second floor. You may just miss them if you focus on the main area only so be sure to check out those "outlying" stores as well.

Just to give you a feel of what's on offer: roll cakes created in conjunction with Sakai Hiroyuki (second Iron Chef French), ramen, seasoned seafood, deep-fried seafood, croquette, fruit jelly, ice-cream, puddings in dorayaki, Yame tea, grilled squid, karage, mini taiyaki and the list goes on and on. However, be prepared to shell out good money for the food here because coming straight from Japan would mean that there's a premium to be attached to such products. Besides, some of the products aren't common here so it's no wonder that the prices tend to be on the steep side due to their rarity. Frankly speaking, I like Japanese food but biting the bullet to pay top-dollar for the best food can be a huge dent to my pocket so I tend to be very selective about what I buy at such food fairs. In the past, there was only the Hokkaido food fair which was an annual event but in recent years, Isetan has brought in food from other regions of Japan which is good for us because it brings the local produce to us rather than us having to fly all the way there to try everything.

Despite it being a pre-sale today (the official event begins tomorrow), there were loads of people around probably due to it being a public holiday tomorrow so I didn't get to buy anything. In fact, the crowds were so "intimidating" that it was difficult for me to squeeze in so I only managed to check on the stalls on the fringes rather than those situated right in the middle. The picture on the right was taken when the crowds just started to flow in at 3pm but an hour later when I returned to check out the stalls, the aisles were really packed to the brim. It always strikes me that the atrium area here isn't that suitable for such food fairs because it is too cramped and the aisles always end up to be jam-packed with people. Looks like the crowds might get worse over the upcoming long weekend but for those game enough to brave the sea of people and willing to pay top dollar for your food, you will definitely be handsomely rewarded! ^__^

Eguchi Yosuke saying "No" to another installment of "Kyuumei Byouto 24 Ji"?

Came across this article from Cyzo Woman which analysed a recent article from Shuukan Bunshun about Eguchi Yosuke reportedly saying "No" to another installment of "Kyuumei Byouto 24 Ji".

According to the 28th March issue of "Shuukan Bunshun", FujiTV is faced with another last-minute loss of its drama lead following rumours that Oda Yuji who had been scheduled to appear in "Machigaware chatta Otoko" said no at the last minute. This time, it is Eguchi Yosuke who reportedly refused to appear in the latest installment of his hit series "Kyuumei Byouto 24 Ji" even though he and Matsushima Nanako are scheduled to be co-leads in the drama. Filming is supposed to begin in April and the drama due to be shown in July. However, Eguchi was said to have said "yes" initially but rejected the offer in mid February despite the fact that the first episode's script is ready and negotiations with sponsors are in progress. As it is impossible to cancel the production nor postpone it, it is said that Tokito Saburo will take over the lead role in the drama.

According to a weekly magazine's reporter, it appears that Eguchi's rejection was due to his agency packing his schedule too tightly. As his colleague Matsu Takako had recently left their agency to manage her career on her own, it was said that the agency had to make Eguchi and Eita work harder than before in order to maintain the income. Similar to Oda's case where he rejected the offer because of conflicts over production fees and his proposed ideas for the drama, Eguchi's case was also due to his own circumstances rather than uncontrollable issues. Being the lead would mean that there is added responsibility but in a lot of situations, even though the agency may say OK, the actor or actress is ultimately the one to make the decision so there are many examples like this where the actor or actress rejects the offer in the end even though it is accepted earlier.

Source: Cyzo Woman

It is alarming to hear that Kyuumei will be without its lead possibly because of a reason like overwork. Remember how Eguchi got into a traffic accident and had to cut down on filming for Kyuumei? And that the TV station cut the number of episodes and screened fillers in the middle of the season just to wait for Eguchi to return to work? I'm sure this series means a lot to both sides and Eguchi wouldn't have thought of dropping it so easily unless there was a serious problem. I'm not too sure how true this report is but artists being worked to their fullest because of the loss of another profitable artist from the same agency is commonly heard of in the J-ent world. In fact, I think it's probably the same in any other countries. It's just that such issues don't tend to be brought up in the open for discussion, not at least for such big names. There was a similar issue in the K-ent world when an actress simply escaped from the filming mid-season and went overseas to protest over overwork. She had her reasons for doing that because the situation didn't improve after she kept talking to the people concerned but the backlash that came was really something to reckon with.

If Eguchi is indeed overworked (considering he just finished "dinner" on FujiTV and may have other film projects waiting at the sidelines thus cannot get any rest before Kyuumei's filming starts), I'm sure there will be people who understand his difficult situation. On the other hand, there will also be those who will be less forgiving of him to reject the offer at the last minute and what's more, to a series which has helped him built up his career over the years. Think of it this way, if Ito Hideaki rejects Umizaru for whatever reason one day (which is extremely unlikely because the problem now with Umizaru is that its author refuses to let FujiTV do another movie or drama), imagine the controversy and pressure he will have to bear with especially nasty comments like turning your back on your benefactor! Besides, I also pity Tokito Saburo (if he really has to take on the lead role, perhaps not as Shindo but another character) because he has big shoes to fit and will be blamed if the drama flops. He's a great actor but can surely do without such a blemish on his CV, really. And Matsushima Nanako who counts this series as a signature work too may be badly affected if her longtime partner really says no this time due to no fault of hers.

Let's hope that more news will come soon before the summer 2013 season so that we get a clear answer as to whether we'll see Shindo in Kyuumei again!

Review of "Les Miserables"

I first heard of "Les Miserables" when it came to Singapore as a musical but at that time, I didn't manage to catch it because I was still a student then and frankly speaking, theatre productions were pretty much out of reach to most people with the high ticket prices.   As such, it is great that there is a movie version of "Les Miserables" which I think will be more accessible to the public in general and perhaps have a wider reach compared to musicals performed in designated venues. Having said that, my knowledge of the story was very limited before watching this movie. I haven't read the novel before so I only knew a sketchy outline of the story. Prior to watching the movie, I did some research online to get a feel of what to expect and realised that there seemed to be a lot of material in the original novel. How was everything going to fit into a  2.5 hour movie without feeling like it was disjointed? How can this very long movie keep people engaged because seeing a musical on stage is probably going to be very different from watching it on a cinema screen? In a way, I'm glad that I did not read the novel first because that actually made this movie a lot more palatable. I think I would be trying hard not to make comparisons if I knew the story very well so this helped me to enjoy this movie for what it was worth.

The story seemed to flow through rather quickly because it had to cover a lot of ground spread over a long period of time. As such, there were a few times when I felt that the time transition was rather abrupt because while you were still immersed in the previous moment, the scene changed so rapidly to the next development. However, I can understand why this had to be done because if not, the movie would be much longer than it currently is. There were some parts of the story which I enjoyed very much: Jean Valjean trying to escape from Javert (Russell Crowe) both physically and emotionally over many years (Valjean was still scared when he saw Javert after he became a factory owner and mayor even though the latter didn't recognise him at first), Fantine's downward spiral in life after she gets sacked and how she lamented her fate, Eponine's (Samantha Barks) one-way feelings for Marius (Eddie Redmayne), the Thenardiers describing how they con people in their inn (that was really funny) and the revolution scenes (especially towards the end when everyone was singing together). Surprisingly, or should I say unsurprisingly, the romance between Cosette and Marius didn't strike a chord with me at all and I was secretly hoping that the movie could get through that quickly. Maybe it's just me but I really couldn't bring myself to care for that love-at-first-sight relationship or rather those two characters. Nothing against the actors though.

People may have doubts over the cast's ability to sing in this movie but as far as I'm concerned, I think they all did pretty well especially for those who have some stage experience e.g. Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Samantha Barks. Even Russell Crowe sounded OK to me and he wasn't jarring to the ears or anything. I must say that I liked these three actors' performance the most. I believe the cast would have gone through a certain degree of training to practise for their scenes especially since I read an article that said the sound recording was done on set rather than in a studio.

Here is a selection some of the best performances (in my opinion) from the film:

I dreamed a dream - Fantine (Anne Hathaway)
This has got to be what got Anne Hathaway her supporting actress awards. Actually, Fantine wasn't in the movie for a long time but during the limited time Hathaway was on screen, she showed a lot of development and depth in Fantine's role as she suffered a terrible fate after being losing her job at the factory. This song is a great summary of Fantine's life as she goes from a young girl who believes in a bright future and everlasting love to one who is kinda cynical now about the things she used to believe in, full of helplessness (cannot raise Cosette on her own openly since she was unmarried) and despair about her present and future circumstances. Hathaway's rendition of this song really hit close to heart as she sang her heart out so it's no wonder that she managed to shine so brightly despite having limited appearance time (although I must say that her role was a meaty one after all).

On My Own - Eponine (Samantha Barks)
Apparently, Samantha Barks played the role of Eponine in the musical version of Les Miserables in London before so it won't be surprising if she knows the character inside out. Her singing and expressions show how much she was pining for Marius but she knew very well that he was in love with Cosette and she stood no chance with him. There is a similarity between Fantine's song and Eponine's because they had an identical theme of despair and not being able to do anything about their situations. However, Fantine's despair was more about not being able to control what life had in store for her while Eponine's despair was not being able to make the man she loved to take a good look at her no matter what she did because he was obsessed with another woman. Just like what Hathaway did with her song, Barks also impressed me a lot with this song. Despite a small role, Barks really showed a lot of potential in a 3-minute song which made me sit up and take notice of her.

Do you hear the people sing?
Compared to the two songs above which were more on the sentimental side and emotionally heavy, this song is extremely uplifting and full of hope and promise for the future. Although the revolution didn't succeed for the first time and resulted in heavy losses, those involved were so confident about their cause that they didn't seem to think of the what ifs when things did not go their way. Especially towards the finale when the "dead" come back to sing this song together, it was a nice way to end the movie on a positive note rather than focus on the "fairytale ending" of Marius and Cosette.

Meeting the right person at the right time? - Sakai Masato and Kanno Miho

Sakai Masato and Kanno Miho getting married?! Imagine my shock when i first saw this flashed across the screen on TVBS News (a Taiwanese news channel) as a headline. For something happening in Japan to be treated as a new flash item and highlight outside of Japan, that signified how important this news item was. I seriously thought I was seeing things when that headline appeared on screen that I immediately went to my regular news sites to see if this was true. When I confirmed that this was true and not some far-fetched rumour, my first thought was, when on earth did they start dating? There were no rumours at all about them being romantically linked and from the news reports on Friday, they gave the impression that Sakai and Kanno had only started dating 3 months ago so strictly speaking, this is a whirlwind romance (although it was said that Sakai had wooed Kanno since January 2012).

I came across this article from Nikkan Cyzo which I think would be quite useful in explaining why they want to get married only after a few months of dating. Since there are some rumours/speculations which were not confirmed, I thought it was better to post this here with my views rather than on the Dorama World site:

Sakai Masato (39) and Kanno Miho (35) are getting married soon after a mere 3-month courtship as confirmed by their respective agencies. It is said that they may get married as soon as next month and will hold a press conference once the marriage registration is completed. However, as some insiders reveal the details, the marriage plan wasn't supposed to be in such a big rush.


"The two of them aren't young idols who are having a shotgun marriage. What's more, they are both adults with flourishing acting careers. As such, getting married on the spur of the moment may hurt them in future as actors if things do not work out later. Besides, they have to think of the impact of their marriage on their work schedules and CM deals thus there had been advice from people around them to reconsider whether they should take things a bit slower." 

The two of them had only started dating last December as a result of Sakai's aggressive wooing of Kanno. An insider revealed this, "When Sakai confessed his feelings to Kanno, she had accepted him on the condition that their relationship had to be built on the premise of marriage. With response to that, Sakai agreed to it immediately. In addition, Sakai even went to Kanno's agency personally to ask for permission to marry Kanno, not just to date her."

It has been known for a long time that Kanno has a strong desire to get married but she has not been seeing anyone of late. During filming of her dramas and movies, she would proactively talk about her views about love and relationships. According to an entertainment reporter who had been following Kanno's career and interviewing her for a long time, it is believed that Kanno suffered a traumatic experience due to her ex-boyfriend Inagaki Goro's indecisive attitude towards her.

"A Johnny's artiste would have to go against the agency's objections in order to get married or else marriage is out of the question for them. However, Inagaki could never bite the bullet and kept Kanno waiting during their 8-year relationship. Kanno even went to the extent of leaving her former agency which wanted to stop her from getting married and joined Ken-on later. Despite this, Inagaki kept brushing her off by saying that his agency wouldn't agree to let them get married so they went their separate ways in the end."

In stark contrast to Inagaki, Sakai's decisive stand towards marriage was probably what made Kanno budge in the end although she didn't accept him initially. "Actually, from the time Kanno broke up with Inagaki till she started seeing Sakai, there were rumours of other celebrities who wanted to woo her but they all gave up upon hearing her marriage premise condition. Apparently, comedian Jinnai Tomonori was one of them who tried to use his divorce from Fujiwara Norika as a reason why he didn't want to get married so Kanno didn't give any of these people a chance at all."

Kanno is said to be very interested in books about astronomy these days and her interest is in line with Sakai who's of the indoor type and likes reading. Although it looks like a sudden marriage on the surface, it could be a long-awaited spring for Kanno after all.

Kanno and Sakai's relationship seems to be a great example of meeting the right person at the right time. This other report from Cyzo Woman mentioned that ever since Sakai broke up with Tomita Yasuko after a five-year relationship, he had been romantically linked to a number of actresses all these years e.g. Takeuchi Yuko, Tabe Mikako and Aragaki Yui but there was no concrete proof that he was in a serious relationship with any of them. On the other hand, Kanno's famous on-and-off relationship with Inagaki for a long 8 years seem to place her in stark contrast against Sakai's "colourful" dating history. It almost seemed as if they were so different and they were like parallel lines which did not meet at all.

However, I think why things worked out for them in the end had a lot to do with the fact that they met each other at the right time. If it had been that Sakai was much younger and wasn't sure about getting married, he would not have accepted Kanno's condition (assuming if she did set this rule before dating someone) and she would not have agreed to date him. On the other hand, if Kanno did not have a strong desire to get married and had not suffered a long wait to get married in her last relationship, Sakai might not have won her heart with his decisiveness and "aggressive wooing". It does appear that Kanno did not respond to Sakai favourably at first if he really did tell her about his feelings back when they were filming the Ooku movie. It could be that Kanno thought that he wasn't serious then and only became convinced about him after seeing Sakai in a different light when they were doing the promotions.

Frankly speaking, I don't really think that Johnny's Jimusho is the sole reason why Inagaki didn't agree to marry Kanno. Sure, he may not be like Kimura Takuya who literally "forced his way through the barriers" to get married to Kudo Shizuka but there are other Johnny's idols who still managed to get married i.e. Yamaguchi Tatsuya from TOKIO who married his girlfriend after dating for 8 years and Inohara Yoshihiko who married Seto Asaka after they broke up once. Inagaki may have his difficulties then for not being able to get married (perhaps the traffic offence?) but now that Kanno has finally found her man, there's no point anymore harping on the reason why he couldn't bite the bullet when they were still dating. Just that I think the tabloids would probably have a field day following Inagaki around to see how he reacts to his former girlfriend's wedding news.

Although Sakai and Kanno's courtship period is indeed short, I guess for a couple in their 30s who have already taken their fair share of hard knocks along the way when it came to love, if they are sure that the other party is who they want to live with for the rest of their lives, there's really no issue of getting married after just three months. And the fact that they are not doing a dekichatta-kon really does help in making sure that people won't ridicule them for getting married for the sake of the baby. Frankly speaking, a dekichatta-kon usually takes a little lustre off the wedding news announcement especially if we are talking about young idols. This couple would have gotten to know each other quite well during the filming and while going on the promotion trail together so the dating period's length is not really the key indicator of the right time to get married. It certainly doesn't mean that dating for 5, 8, 10 years will definitely lead to marriage.

Now, the next thing the media is eagerly awaiting will be, when the couple will register their marriage and what they'll say during the press conference. I'm hoping to see them appear together and give their side of the story instead of fax statements a lot of celebrity couples issue. Perhaps they may not open their wedding ceremony to the press but I'm sure Kanno would want to have a proper wedding rather than go low-key or have no ceremony at all because this is after all the day she has been waiting for a long time. Sakai on the other hand would probably be smiling so much that his eyes can't be seen. ^__^

Looks like spring is a wonderful time for love with all these romance/marriage reports coming one after another! Any bets on who will be the next one to continue with this trend?

Japanese Variety Showcase - Himitsu no Arashi-chan

It may seem strange to do this post now because Himitsu no Arashi-chan ended its run on 21 March i.e. yesterday after a 5-year-run. Frankly speaking, 5 years is a rather long time in the variety world when programmes get cancelled easily due to poor ratings and that's precisely the same reason which did Arashi-chan in. However, this programme isn't as bad as it seems as the low ratings suggest. At least that's what I think.

I didn't follow this programme right from the start and along the way, I stopped watching this when access to the programme wasn't readily available. Last year, I started to watch this again and caught up on some of the older episodes of which some were quite entertaining. Instead of trying to pinpoint why the programme didn't do well, I'll like to introduce some of the segments which I enjoyed a lot as a way to remember the good things Arashi-chan did:

1) Mannequin 5

This has got to be the highlight of Arashi-chan which typically shows 5 people coming up with their own fashion coordination based on a fixed theme. Usually, there will be 2 Arashi members along with a couple of special guests plus one or two comedians who gets paraded as models and four female guests will pick the person whose coordination wins their favour. The last one remaining will be left alone in the studio lamenting why he was not chosen. It's a relatively simple concept but what's interesting is that even with great looks or a good figure, it doesn't mean that you'll definitely be chosen by the ladies who have lots of scalding comments for these guys at times. Sometimes, what guys think they look in may come off as horrendous in the eyes of the opposite sex so this is a wake-up call for them of some sorts. At times, the comedians or guest stars manage to wow the ladies so much that the Arashi members get left behind with their "less-than-desired" fashion sense e.g. the double parka trademark from Sakurai Sho (wearing two parkas at the same time) or the Aiba-take from Aiba Masaki (three-quarter length pants). ^__^

There have been six Mannequin 5 SPs to date where all 5 members would fight against one another and head off to a shopping mall early in the morning to pick their clothes and accessories to match the theme. After they do that, the public was asked to vote for the best coordination and the loser would have to pose in embarrassing sets or poses for ads pasted on a trailer truck that went around Tokyo initially but later extended to other cities outside of Tokyo. I voted twice in this so it was fun as a viewer to see if your choice would win or be seen as horrible in the eyes of the majority.

It's a pity that they didn't end off with a Mannequin 5 SP in the final episode, I would have liked to see the Arashi members fight it out again with their fashion sense, or rather the lack of it at times.

2) Otona wa dekite touzen SHOW

In this segment, Arashi members and guests are asked to answer questions which are considered as common knowledge if they are indeed adults. There will be two teams who send out representatives based on the percentage of people in a particular category who manage to answer the question correctly and the losing team will have to drink bitter tea to help them "grow up" into adults. This segment can be rather informative and helps you know things which you might never have realised even though in terms of age, you are already an adult. There was once when it was really impressive to see Ohno get all the Kanji names of different types of fish correct. Frankly speaking, I know the names in Hiragana script but never really bothered remembering everything in Kanji which is commonplace in sushi restaurants. Being an avid "fisherman", Ohno really showed his knowledge about fish through this particular question. And you would be surprised that sometimes, the Arashi members have talents which you never knew about e.g. Nino being able to fold his clothes more neatly and faster than a married woman.

3) Arashi Sharehouse

The concept of this segment is that the Arashi members live together in this huge house and they will entertain female guests who come to visit them. Usually, there will be two members in each episode and depending on the combination and their interaction with the guest, this can be really entertaining at times. This is actually the newest segment which started barely a year ago and takes up about half the airtime. Sometimes, I find the editing a but choppy so the dialogue tends not to flow well when they switch topics too abruptly. Nonetheless, the fun part about Sharehouse is how you can hear interesting snippets about Arashi and the guests which you probably wouldn't know in the past. Some of the guests also cooked their specialties on the spot so it can be amusing to see how Arashi members are roped in to help at times but obviously, some of them are not very culinary-inclined. :-)

It's a pity that Arashi-chan has ended and Arashi are not back on TBS with their own programme as a group but rather Sakurai is teaming up with another comedian for a talk show. It remains to be seen if the new programme can do well (I'll check it out if there's an opportunity) but frankly speaking, one less programme to see the entire group together is sad news after all. I hope that Arashi will be back with a brand new programme on TBS soon and I stress, it's all 5 of them who have to appear together. ^__^