Address: 47 Jalan Tua Kong, (Upper East Coast) Siglap, Singapore 457249
Tel: +65 64420030
Website: www.blooies.com

Today marked our farewell dinner to MILK. He will be leaving Singapore this Friday for a new work position in China. There was a conscious effort to give him a treat at a non-chinese restaurant - 7.30 pm at Blooie’s.

Now, among this particular group of friends, we have this peculiar rule. If anyone is late by more than 15 minutes, the person would have to give the rest of the gang a treat. It is a good rule - punctuality is kept, there is ruling by consensus and everyone baring one gets freebies. Thus the phenomenon of all of us appearing at Blooies way before time to pre-empt the risk of the rest of the gang arriving earlier and colluding against the latest arriving party (if you are confused…think of it as akin to an arms race on a much smaller scale).

Although the translation of the Hokkien road name (Tua Kong) means Farking Big, this is quite far from actuality. Blooie’s is located in a sleepy residential area, located just a 5 min walk away from the more bustling Siglap main road (the more Tua Kong road). The place juts out among the Car Repair Shops and the Mom and Pop stores in the row of shophouses.

Settling down with our jug of Stella Artois (S$23), we noticed that the clientele was prodominantly foreign - namely caucasians. Most of the waitresses were probably non-Singaporeans, Filipinos to be exact. Not sure if this was the cause for the mistakes made in the taking of our orders. Maybe there was something lost in translation as the waitresses were more accustomed to people who speak either with an American Twang, Australian whine, European slang or Queen’s English. Anything but our local Singlish.

The service was slow too. I guess the waitresses had identified us as people who would not tip due to the existing 10% service charge (they were right) and had channelled their attention to the more financially endowed non-Singaporean customers (again, they were probably right).

The consolation was that I had always found the environment quite relaxing and their burgers quite appetising.

I had the Blooie’s Special Portobelle with Melted Cheese Burger (S$16.80). The ground beef hamburger patties were competently grilled. Toppings of fragrant and succulent mushrooms capped the meat. A layer of melted cheese held the whole assembly in place. The fries were American in nature (big and coarse…) and had just the right amount of sprinkled salt. Altogether an excellent Burger. Though I think the size of their meals had shrunk since the last time I visited the place one year ago.

This complaint with the size of their portions continued with the dudes who had the Chicken Enchilada (S$16) and the Ribs (S$15.80 for the small one).

Jerm with the Fish & Chips (S$14.80) was fine except he was thoroughly unsuccessful with his attempts to get more tartar sauce.

Our meal ended fairly quickly. A quick goodbye, some well-wishes to MILK, some jibbing and we dispersed.

This was not what I had envisioned the dinner to be. I had expected some reminiscing about old times, some heart-warming tales, some hitherto unsaid confessions…maybe some uncontrolled moistening to be spied in MILK’s eyes. Guess we were too man to do such things…

Wish you the best of luck in your new job..dude. The east will be slightly quieter with you absent.