It was a Friday evening chill out dinner. A must deserved break after the seemingly endless work week. The office chaps and I bravely heeded our Senior Minister’s call to spend more money to prop up our flagging economy. There was no need for elaborate and complex fiscal policies for us, no need for a safety net for those living near or below the poverty line, no need for charismatic leadership to bring us out of this “technical” recession (ok lar…to be fair…I have not been catching up on the news on what our gahmen is doing for us…so this is a casual comment and it should not be taken too seriously hor). All we as citizens need to do is to spend more loh…

So we headed to the aptly named The Prime Society restaurant that seems to specialise in steaks and meat in general. The interior of the place was made up to be some sort of country house/mansion. It was huge - with the echos and the high ceilings. There was also a bar placed as the centre-piece in the erm…centre.

The long wooden tables added a touch of old style fine dining.

And the brick and mortar pillars and walls created a nice ambience. We spied that a major proportion of the clientele of the place seems to consist mostly of non-Singaporean families. I guess they were also doing a part for our country’s economy. Along with the mostly non-Singaporean staff, we seemed to have been transported to another country (erm…like Indonesia or Philippines).

We started with the Wine. Devils Creek Merlot (S$63) - sweet and fruity, almost like a dessert wine, Thorpe Shiraz (S$68) - more conventional.

I went for the Rib Fillet 300gm (S$48). Each of the steaks there had a rather lengthy description of the breed of the cow, the land in which they graze on and the type of grass/grain they are given. Quite impressive.

I suspect this only works for imported cows/meat. The effect would probably be lost with description of our local produce, e.g. “Bastard pig with unknown heritage, reared in the drains of Muar, Malaysia, hand fed by strangers and the local kampong kids and occasionally seen trawling the buckets of human waste for edible bits”

The steak came with Roasted Potatoes that were cut into edible pieces - a nice touch. We had to pay extra for the sauce. Each sauce costs S$2. I had the Bearnaise - a buttery/mayonnaise type of condiment.

My steak was done excellently. It was tender and had a good balance of fatty stuff and the meat. It was very much worth the price - anything for our economy = ).

Each of us chose different steaks:
- T-Bone Steaks 500gm (S$54)
- Rib on the Bone 500gm (S$52). This had a nice smoky and bah kwa kind of taste. Good.
- Eye Fillet 200gm (S$43). This was the smallest of the steak that was served. Do not choose this unless you wish to finish your dinner much faster than the rest of your dinner party.

Along with different sauces of Blue Chez Avocado Sauce and Pepper Sauce.

Some of us had the Pork Ribs (S$38 for the full rib and S$26 for the half rib). They were also substantial in size.

We then proceeded to Ben & Jerry’s - the Dempsey Hill Branch.

This had a similar country style setting, with the bricks and the fireplace and the dark wood wooden beams and furniture.

We toned down on the spending by sharing the ice cream, figuring that we had provided enough help to corporate Singapore already.

Thus a night of merry making and dining ended and I proceeded home… alone. It was a sudden change from the bustle of the day’s activities. The night was quiet and the entire neighbourhood asleep. Lazing in bed, watching Friends on Starworld, I caught the faint sound of bells - not the western kind, it was more of those small hand held bells carried by taoist priests…when they are leading those zombies (the chinese kind).

Initially, I put it down to the heavy dinner and the probable intoxication due to the wine drinking. Then I heard it again…. It was unnerving and a bit “pee in the pants” inducing. Then I realised the taoist bell sounds came from the starting segments of the Friends programme prior to and after the commercial breaks.

So…although this has nothing to do with food and I hope that I am not encroaching on the territory of that Russell “Ghost Story Writer” guy, I would like to request Starworld to relook into their segments and remove that bloody taoist bell sound …seriously man….what has bells got to do with Friends….sheeesh

I spent my weekend watching Hellboy II, Hancock, You Don’t Mess With The Zohan. Each of these movies managed to illicit intense feelings of loneliness in me and wistful thoughts for the return of my partner.

Erm…Let me explain. Hellboy II because Hellboy was in a relationship with a girl. In Hancock, Will Smith was pretty much alone and was yearning for company (I know guys who hated this movie…but it touched me quite a bit…damn). In Zohan, Adam Sandler got the girl at the end.

I hesitate to think of what a real romantic movie would do to me now…

Any hoot, here are some places that the missus and I visited for breakfast previously.

Scruffy Murphy’s Cafe-Pub
Address: B7 Marine Cove, 1000 East Coast Parkway, Singapore 449876
Tel: +65 6449 7717
Last Visit: 7 Sept 2008

Scruffy Murphy’s is located along the East Coast Beach. I guess it functions primarily as a pub. However, during the weekend mornings, the place will be invaded by families (both local and expatriates) looking for a place to relax and have a morning cuppa.

In the shelter of the eatery, patrons can be spectators to the multitude of people engaging in roller-blading, cycling, jogging, posing along the beach front.

Our item of choice was the Big Breakfast (S$10.50). You will get Sausages, an Egg Sunny Side Up, Baked Beans and Toast with Bacon. We added Fried Onions for an additional S$2.

We also had the Chocky Fix (S$5). It was essentially, 2 pieces of toast with Chocolate Spread. A disappointing and rather pricey item.

Delifrance Breakfast All You Can Eat
Address: Parkway Parade, Basement
Last Visit: 8 Jun 2008

We, being Singaporeans eager to get a good deal, were drawn by the All You Can Eat Breakfast Promotion at Delifrance.

Did you know that although the Delifrance chain was started out in France, the Asia Pacific operations was at one time controlled by one of our local Government Linked Companies (GLC, info referenced form Wikipedia).

Of course, the Delifrance chain has always tried to create an atmosphere that would mimic what the locals think a French bakery should look like.

Thus the liberal use of French colours. I wonder what Singapore’s main cultural/social export would be. I suspect it could be our unique form of governance - maybe we will see more countries having their statesman and politicians dressed all in white.

The All You Can Eat Breakfast costs S$7.95 and ends at around 10 - 10.30am (better to give them a call before making a trip down). To put right any expectations of a fabulous spread, please refer to the picture below which shows the “buffet” section. It consists of around 4-5 plates of pastry (both savoury and sweet) and a jug or two of juice. If you can spot them, they are placed on the table along the wall.

To supplement the Buffet, the wife ordered the Le (I note that this creates a double entry of the term “the”) Traditional Set Meal (S$6.30). This was some cheese pastry and comes with egg.

I on the other hand gorged on the buffet stuff to get my money’s worth. Heh.

Yip’s Cookies & More
Address: 384 East Coast Road, Singapore
Last Visit: 17 Aug 2008

This place is tucked among the same row of shophouses as the famous Beach Road Prawn Mee that is not located at Beach Road.

Sorry for the blurry photo. We were the only customers dining in and any photo taking would be quite conspicuous,

Our breakfast fare would include Tea, Curry Puff, Char Siew Puff and a slice of Chocolate Cake. I admit the Cake isn’t regular but it did give an umph to the start of our day.

The Curry Puff was quite spicy and rich. Not that bad. Char Siew Puff was average. Our total cost came up to around S$10 plus.

Verdict: Scruffy Murphy’s vs Delifrance vs Yip’s Cookies
Ambience: Scruffy Murphy’s (the Sun, Sand & Sea)
Service: None
Food: Hard To Tell (being hungry in the morning does nothing for differentiating being good and bad food)
Value for Money: A Draw Between Delifrance & Yip’s Cookies

Tapas Wine Bistro
Address: 40 Lorong Mambong, Holland Village, Singapore 277695
Tel: +65 6467 7590
Last Visit: 5 July 2008

We chose this place to try out the Tapas as the similarly named restaurant obviously served the Spanish item. We neglected the fact that wine would also feature quite prominently in its offerings. The setup was modern. There was an impressive collection of wine in a illuminated section of the bistro.

What got as a bit worried was the lack of a crowd…

The menu itself did not contain much of the typical Spanish fare that you would expect in a Tapas place. In fact, the food menu was rather bare. The emphasis seems to be on the wine…

When we got instead was the Cream of Tomato (S$6). A hearty portion if I might say for the relatively low price.

The Garlic Bread (S$7).

The Soft Shell Crab (S$10). At this point in time, we realised that we were not really having Tapas. Instead, we seem to be having small portions of food served in more elaborate presentations compared to your normal eateries - at more elaborate prices too. There were no violent complaints on the quality of the food though. Just a sense of disappointment that we were probably not having Spanish cuisine or what we assumed would be Spanish Cuisine.

The Escargot Mushroom (S$6.00) came in two spoons. I have recently took to watching a local cooking contest TV programme. The contestants on the programme seem to take a liking to placing their food items into spoons and little shot glasses. This is one trend that I do not understand… It could have been started by a Spoon merchant perhaps…without consideration to the impact on hungry patrons. There is a sinking feeling when the waiter brings over your dinner in spoons.

The Tiger Prawn (S$12). I graciously offered the 3rd prawn to my partner as she was an ardent lover of the crustacean.

The Angus Beef (S$13) similarly had garnishing with sprigs of herbs/leaves(?) and sauces drizzled in an artistic form on the plate. I imagine the chef taking great pride in his work - probably a young chap, definitely not of the older generation where quantity trumps everything else. Taste well, it was acceptable beef. Tender and quite flavourful.

The chef outdid himself when he balanced our Scallops on the Asparagus in this dish called Scallop Veloute (S$9). I checked out what Veloute means - it is french for an extremely smooth creamy sauce of various stock bases thickened with a roux. At this point I gave up on checking what roux means …

We sorta see the direction the chef was going towards. However, I guess we are rather more plebeian in our tastes and it was a major disconnect between our expectations and the food served.

The Tapas Tree
Address: 3D River Valley Road, #01-08 Clarke Quay, Singapore 179023
Tel: +65 6837 2938
Last Visit: 1 Oct 2008

This place we know definitely serves Tapas. We had been there before.

It was a lazy afternoon. The place was practically devoid of locals. There were people with blonde hair, white hair…

And brunettes. I wonder why we do not call Asian women with their dark/black hair brunettes… maybe it is an angmo/caucasian thing.

We went for the Patatas Pobre (or potatoes, S$8) and the Garlic Mushrooms (S$9.50). Both very nice. It was a good start.

They do not serve tap water here so we had to settle for the Juices at S$5.50 each…damn.

More garlicky stuff came in the form of the Garlic Shrimps (S$14.50). I felt the prawns were not of the freshest quality but the corpious amout of olive oil and garlic added much ommph to the prawns.

The Meatballs (S$12) were quite a disappointment. They tasted exactly like how you would expect minced meat made into a lump would be.

The Tos Salmon (or Salmon on erh…toast, S$9). I still do not understand how these eateries can charge exhorbitant amounts of money just for laying spreads/some pieces of meat/fish on bread. What is the effort needed? Do they need to employ specialists that are trained in the art of cutting bread or something. Boggles the mind, I tell you.

The food here was up to par. One word of caution though. The service here needs work. The waitressing staff here looked as though they all had a bad bout of constipation. Their faces were constantly screwed into some form of a grimace and they looked like they had pinpointed the fault for their non-bowel movements on the patrons.

Verdict: Tapas Wine Bistro Vs The Tapas Tree
Ambience: Tapas Wine Bistro (the huge availability of wine makes intoxicating your date easier…or if your date is a dog…self-intoxication is just a waiter away)
Service: Tapas Wine Bistro (they probably have better diet over here)
Food: The Tapas Tree (One of the main criteria…we would probably return here despite the sub-standard service level)
Value for Money: A Draw…

As for mooncakes, the reasoning as to why they put salted egg yolks in a perfectly fine mix of the sweet lotus seed paste totally confounded me as a kid. It stilll does. It was the main reason why I did not take to mooncakes. Things have changed now. We have new, modern creations that have deviated from the traditional baked mooncakes.

I present to you the Raffles Hotel Snow-skin Mooncake with Champagne Truffle & Ganache (S$45 plus I think).

The packaging was ok. Nothing spectacular.

There was a strong flavourful smell when the box was opened.

The mooncake was quite simply put, heavenly in taste. I loved the skin with its slight hint of the alchohol. The Lotus Seed paste had the right balance of sweetness. The rich chocolate core completed the experience (it would have been better if it was dark/milk chocolate though).

Looking forward to the next year for the next batch of non-traditional mooncakes = )

My partner has commented that the picture above makes the mooncake look rather unappetising. I agree with her. The picture was poorly taken with no effort and thought placed on the composition and eventual output. Something like this post which I think is quite banal. Sigh.

Cilantro Modern Asia
Address: Blk 59 Marine Terrace (located within a coffeeshop)

When I first saw the signboard for Cilantro go up in my neighbourhood coffeeshop, my first thoughts were of cynicism and skepticism. I thought it was unlikely that the local heartlander crowd would accept such new fangled cuisines - we are talking about beer drinking uncles and retirees with their beer bellies and market going aunties in their pajamas (it is a sign that you are in the heartlands *read suburbs* of Singapore when you spot 40 - 50 year old aunties walking about in public in their long flowing pajamas that are typically bright pink/green or some other matronly colours ).

I was unaware then that the stall was a brainchild of some rather reputable chef until I stumbled upon an online article. Call me a slut but somehow my impression of the stall was instantly changed and feelings of pride swelled in my bosom that some sort of culinary renaissance was developing in my sleepy neighbourhood.

When we arrived there on a Saturday evening, the stall was in the process of getting swamped by customers waiting for their orders to be taken. We overheard angry voices (in a mix of hokkien and chinese…I guess this justifies the Asia in their name) in the kitchen. The influx of customers was apparently creating a big backlog of orders for the kitchen. Customers were not getting their food fast enough and several items were running out fast. The phrase “no more rice…no more rice” was heard repeatedly. Surprisingly, the waiting customers seemed to take the delays better than the kitchen staff. I attribute it to the conditioning that Singaporeans have experienced with queues (and being resigned to non-ideal situations like the ERP and transport crap we are facing) and the fact that this was a coffee shop we were talking about.

Cilantro Modern Asia supposedly specialises in Japanese and Asian dishes. The online article I read cited their Wagyu Beef Rice and Wagyu Shabu as must-tries. So try we did.

Our Wagyu Beef Rice (S$9 plus) was served not long after our order. Note the mismatching chopsticks. We spotted the rest of the patrons having dis-similar chopsticks too. Not a problem except they probably need to work on their processes to ensure a more efficient order taking and serving system.

There was a good portion of beef.  They tasted fine (I hesitate to use the term well done in case readers are mistaken that they are overcooked instead of them being done well…erm..you know what I mean). My only grouse was that the sauce that they drizzled on the beef and rice was rather salty.

Then the food stopped coming. We were hungry so we had the Mee Siam (S$3) as an appertiser. This was in conjunction with the Agedashi Tofu (S$2.50). The Mee Siam was quite tasty. The combination of Mee Siam and the Tofu that I was alternating with…not so.

A further half hour would ensue before we were delivered our Wagyu Beef Shabu (S$15).

It was true about the rice. They had run out of it. However, they did offer us the remnants scrapped off the bottom of their rice pot with a disclaimer that the rice was likely to be inedible. We were game for it as we were rather hungry (cue sad violin background music).

The soup base wasn’t that bad. The Wagyu beef was fresh and tender.  The sesame and ponzu sauces that came with the Shabu was a disappointment though. They had a heavy taste and would completely overpower the beef.

Our dinner here immediately brought to mind comparisons with Akashabu. Thus the Face Off (ta dah).

Akashabu
Address: 5 Stadium Walk #01-12 Leisure Park Kallang

Akashabu is located in more regular surroundings.

With a better ambience.

The cutlery on display was of a higher quality. The chopsticks were matching ones.

Our starters were the Agedashi Tofu (S$3) and the Hamachi Sashimi (S$7). We had no issues with either.

The Sashimi was fresh enough and we could taste the yummy fat content in the fish slices.

How the system works here is that you order your ingredients for the Shabu Shabu from a ala carte menu. We had:- Buta - (pork) S$5.50
- Hotategai (scallops) S$6.50
- Shitake S$2.50
- Hakusai S$2.00
- Edamame S$1.50
- Rice S$2.00

The soup stock was fragrant and the ingredients were of sufficient quantity to keep us happy and satisfied.

What made the meal a good one was the sauces. It was a good mix of ponzu sauce, chilli slices and the sesame dressing. They truly complimented the meat and seafood we had.

Verdict: Cilantro Modern Asia Vs Akashabu
Ambience: Akashabu (bring dates to Cilantro only if you want to make the evening a short one…)
Service: Akashabu
Food: Akashabu (even though we did not have Wagyu beef at Akashabu, the combination of the better soup stock and superior sauces clinched it for us)
Value for Money: Akashabu (the meal at Cilantro came up to S$30.30. The one at Akashabu was only S$35.30. The S$5 extra was more than well justified.)

Japanese things are just so cute and in a way “cool”. Products and services seem to take on a different positive shine when they are branded as Japanese or Japan Inspired. You have a local electronic product maker calling themselves Akira - somehow the brand reminds me of the anime of the same name. And also various other establishments trying to brand themselves as from the land of the rising sun (hmm…our country should also get a similar tag…the land of the 81 members of parliament…or the land of ever rising costs…land of many ministers….land of inconsequential land mass).

This form of branding could have been adopted by Shokudo Japanese Coffee House. They have (1) a Japanese name and yes (2) they have included the word “Japanese” just in case you did not catch their drift.

The place was done up rather nicely. Bright, airy and chic furniture. It was located along the air conditioned indoor alley way of the Bugis Junction shopping centre - this afforded plenty of opportunities to people watch.

We started off with the Iced Yuzu Soda (S$4.80). Yuzu is apparently a type of ..yes..Japanese.. Citrus fruit. It was refreshing and quite unique compared to the normal calamari or lime based drinks.

Our starter came in the form of the Ebi Puri Puri Age (or fried batter prawn with wasabi sauce, S$7.80). This starter unfortunately came after our main course. So it could be said to be a non-starter…hahahah. It was quite tasty. I liked the wasabi sauce.

The wife had the Kinoko Wafu Aglio Olio Spaghetti (S$12.80). Sad to say it was decidedly normal.

We were unanimous in our preference for the Waraku Pasta version.

I had the Grilled Chicken Curry Omu (S$14.80). This dish I think is for the patrons who are unsure of what they want. To me, it felt too much like a hotch potch of stuff mashed together. It also felt like something I (with my rather limited culinary skills) would put together to try to impress a girl. In fact, I found commonalities between my neighbourhood coffeeshops mixed rice dish (S$2.50 - S$3.00 for 3 items) and Shokudo’s version.

Our day at the eatery took a turn for the worse when a shadow loomed over me and one of the waiters barked out the following in a rather aggressive tone:

“Hello”

“HELLO*”
* trust me, there was nothing friendly in his greeting…it is amazing how someone could turn hello into a pseudo swear world. It felt almost like being greeted in the army by a staff sergeant who had a vendetta against life in general.
“erm…yah,” my surprised answer at being greeted with such aggression.

“IS THIS YOUR DISH??” He evil eyed me while thrusting some food item towards my direction.

“NO,” I returned his evil eye and continued to stare at him while he marched off without apologizing.

Thus, this eatery’s attempt to disguise itself as a Japanese one was wrecked by the serious bad attitude of that one waiter. Sigh.

Well I was one of the first few thousand to get the iPhone. Yup… I was there at twelve midnight… On a working weekday to queue for the launch of the phone in Singapore. I had the strange idea that I was one of the exclusive few invited to the launch. That I would be able to just waltz into the place, get my iPhone and be out of there in a jiffy.

Yeah right… I ended up queuing for 7 hours before I got the damn phone. This meant that I saw the night turn bright before my eyes, along with it the sinking realisation that I might have committed one of my most foolish acts ever. Also this meant being stuck in between 2 middle aged men in the queue. Their sourpuss faces did not do much for the experience.

My delusion extended to hopes that I would get some freebies or special offers just for the launch… You know things like t-shirts that say I was one of the first (”idiots” dumb enough to participate in the telco’s marketing exercise) … Cheap souvenirs… Anything. I got nothing… Nada… Zip.

My anguish was compounded by the realisation that the telco had instituted a more systematic way of distributing the iPhone after the initial launch day. They are now proudly proclaiming to the customers that the wait would be less than an hour!

Why!!! Why!!!

The good thing was that I am now a proud owner of a iPhone… The same one I am now using to compose my posting. Heh. Cool shit rite. (ok i cheated slightly. Only the text above this sentence was written on the iPhone…the rest of I was through my pc after I felt my hand start to go numb from poking the iPhone screen). However, this state of ecstasy will be short lived as more and more Singaporeans get their iPhones and I understand the full enormity of my stupidity in joining the launch date queue.

In keeping with the theme of breakfast (unfortunately, I did not have breakfast after I got my phone…I had to go to work..), Chin Mee Chin confectionary is an institution in Katong. It represents old school breakfast taking for Singapore. Our Singapore National Library board confirms the history of Chin Mee Chin by referencing it in their infopedia here:http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_618_2004-12-15.html

You know it is old school when the tables are the white marble kind and the chairs are wooden (like how my legs turned wooden and at the same time wobbly while I was queuing for the iPhone).

There is a huge steel cabinet where patrons can choose their choice of bread, both savoury and sweet.

And of course we had to have their Kaya Bread (on the right). Step aside Ya Kun, Chin Mee Chin stays true to the path of tradition (and poverty?).  The sad little piece of bread on the left is our luncheon meat bun.

And what is bread without eggs.

Crack the egg on the saucer. Dump the contents.

Add liberal amounts of soy sauce and pepper to the mixture and slurp it all up - singapore style. The cost came up to S$7.70. Much less than the agony suffered by me when I had to queue 7 hours to pay $500 plus to the telco for a phone.

(1) our new set of national day songs. Truth be told, I do not care much for these national day compositions. They seem to lack soul and they fail to stir any patriotic feelings in me. It may be because I am getting more cynical as I age and that no fault should be attributed to the songs…who knows.

(2) our national day parade. The venue used to be either the Padang or the National Stadium. Some bright spark in our National Day organizing committee decided to try something different and thus a entirely new floating platform was constructed along the banks of our Singapore river for the purpose of hosting our National Day parade (this started last year). Each year high fliers from our military will be selected to coordinate the entire parade. Success (meaning no cock ups and the demonstration of marginal improvements and as they call it in Hokkien…the coming out of new patterns) will I think result in these people being even higher fliers. Sometimes I feel the most important day in the calendar for our military is not some mega combat exercise but the parade day. In fact, I get a sneaky feeling that some of the top brass are serial event coordinators.

The parade itself will normally consist of the march-in and out of the various military and civil organisation contingents; the welcoming of our lords government officials and the President, the singing of the anthem (a must), the fly past of our military hardware/planes, the parachute jumps, the running of young people dressed in gaudy customes and waving strange contraption while forming equally strange shapes and patterns on the parade ground,  more running around of people trying to tell some form of story of the birth of our nation and how well we have done, big banners and signs/slogans going around the parade on the message of the year as determined by our lords government, and of course the fireworks (probably a few million dollars worth and the highlight of the day).

(3) our national day message by the Prime Minister. I don’t really listen to it. But I hear it is normally rather long and filled with some interjections of Hokkien jokes and spliced with very important messages and policy announcements for the people..

I would like to add my own item to the festival. Our National food.

Address: 328 Katong Laksa, Katong, Singapore
Date Of Visit: 8 August 2008

In Katong itself, there are many stores claiming to be the one serving the better Laksa. Up to like just 2-3 years ago, I was indifferent to laksa as a delicacy. I have since taken to the dish - bearing one or two incidents of food poisoning from bad milk used.

I do not think 328 Katong Laksa is the original. I remember the original store was located across the street from 328 Katong Laksa. My father frequented there when I was young. The stall is no longer there now and I think most people are hard put to pin point where it has relocated to.

The Laksa (small bowl for S$3.50) served here is those that come served with just a spoon for your eating needs. This is because they have cut the thick noodles into lengths that can be easily spooned. Addition of the quantity of chili is up to the patron. I added a lot. It is good - original or not. One of our national dishes.

Address: Four Seasons Durians Cafe, Along Still Road, Bright Lights, can’t miss it, Singapore
Date Of Visit: 12 July 2008

I hate durians. I cannot stand the smell of it. I cannot stand the taste of it. I cannot stand the smell of burp from people who just had it. So it was a strange thing for me when I found myself at the Durian Cafe as my friends and wife wanted to eat the fruit - some say our National fruit.

People dine here Al Fresco. Cost of the fruit is at S$10 - 15 per kilo I think.

This was bacially hell on earth for non-durian lovers.

They have little tissue boxes on the tables. I could not help but think of the toilet when I saw them. I found the similarity between our WCs and this place stunning. What with the smell and the familiar shapes. I think I could be the only one…

Feedback on the durian was that it was not very “fragrant” and was rather bland in taste. Talk was that they could have chosen the wrong type of durian. I wouldn’t know…

Any hoot, Happy National Day. I will be away (hey…it rhymes).

The first time we went to Cheung Mun Kee was when my friend brought me and my then girlfriend there.

Recently, my now spouse had a craving (a real compulsion) for the Pig Trotter Cooked In Vinegar. As you may know, the dish is known to be favored by either expectant mothers or those that had just given birth. This was not the case here for avoidance of doubt.

This was plebian town, in the heart of plebian-ness. Which thus explains the throngs of taxi driver uncles with their trophy PRC ladies residing demurely on their arms. Ahhh…the power of love…of money…bringing people from different worlds and age groups together.

Something that you will not find in your usual air conditioned eating outlet (or really…any other place) is your communal toothpicks located on the rather dingy pillar with instructions in Chinese characters that bear the hallmarks of calligraphy by a part-time loan shark runner/helper more used to scrawling on the walls on his debtors.

This theme of the place being in the tough neighbourhood was magnified by my encounter with the resident drink store helper/coffee boy (or rather old man/probably ex-convict). I had politely asked him to take my orders for 2 can drinks. I was ignored. I thus proceeded to try to retrieve the 2 can drinks from the refrigerated storage myself. I was stopped in my tracks but his death stare.

His stare was amazing. It was those that I had expected from a scene in prison. The message was communicated quite clearly: “You have somehow made me angry very suddenly. In the next few seconds, I will be going over to you to disembowel you with my pick knive that I have made out of my toothbrush. While you watch as your guts spill out (the irony being that I was at a pig organ soup stall..haha), I will get my Ah Kua friends to sodomise (sodomy being quite a popular topic these days) you. I will not take pleasure in all of these as I am hard as nails. It is just what I do.”

I backed away quickly. He turned away. I then returned to get the 2 cans of drinks (as I was rather thirsty) and paid the money to another drink store helper/coffee boy (probably less of an ex-convict).

Notwithstanding the atmosphere, we were quickly and efficiently served our food. Thus the Pig Trotter In Vinegar and a side of Vegetables for the wife. I must admit that I do not like the Vinegar taste. It was sweet and too vinegarish for my liking. It may stem from the fact that I am a full blooded male (chicken encounter with drink store helper/coffee boy does not count as the guy looked quite tough even though he was probably 3 decades older than me).

I had the famous Pig Organ Soup instead with a side of Steamed Minced Meat. I love the flavourful and savoury taste of the soup. The ingredients were rather fresh and there was no noticeably piggy smell. The Minced Meat was excellent too. Plebian fare at its best.

The meal came up to around S$14.

And you get free soup refills. Good stuff.

I have been suffering from a severe bout of … laziness …

I heard it is incurable …

I guess I am resigned to my fate of lounging around, letting time pass, not doing anything productive, and basically being a waste of space …

I know you guys are sympathetic …

I will accept donations of any form …

Cash would be good …

Anything to soothe this terrible affliction of mine …

I will try to stay strong …

But know that the odds are against me …

It is genetic …

It got my dad … and his dad …

It is our burden to bear …

Sporadically, I will exit my stupor …

And you will hear from me …

Cherish those moments …

zzzzZZZZzzz …