I am back!

Atma Namaste!

Firstly, I sincerely and deeply apologize for not posting for so long. I was trying to settle down with all the health issues and busy schedule while still needed to get enough rest. Now that I have gradually got used to the ups and downs of my health as another stage of life, I'm ready to entertain you with more cafe visits, restaurants try out, museum exhibitions and other throw backs that I've done.

 

I've also turned into a Vegetarian (Vegan most of the time) since last year for the love for animals, so I will be doing more non-meat reviews. Feedback for the dishes with meat will be from the friend-on-food-duty on that trip.

So boys and girls, cats and dogs, I'm back!  

xoxo

Jamie's Italian Singapore

Wait. Who is Jamie?

I started to know this cute guy (Jamie Oliver) in "The naked chef" back in year 2000 when we subscribed to cable TV. He's so knowledgeable in cooking Italian...a British who is specialized in Italian cuisine! How special?!

And then he became famous and came out with more series of cook shows, some attempts to change school canteen food to healthy ones for the growing kids, some to proof to us fast food are really crap and bad for us, and of course, how to cook fast but wonderful dishes to impress our guests. I was so hooked by one of his series which he cooked in a cottage house, very homely, and there was a garden full of herbs and veg that was manned by a special gardener who also shared his planting knowledge. I remember there was once I went to Taipei for almost a week, I was so homesick but my hotel room had cable and then I saw his show..felt like home already..

He has sooo many good ideas and kind intentions in cooking that we should all learn. I know...we are so busy right? How to cook fresh and nice food without having to stand in the kitchen for 2 hours right? Well, you can now go to his restaurant in Singapore Vivocity!

I heard walk-ins got to wait for very long time (at least 45 minutes), so to avoid disappointment, I made reservation online and the next available date was already 1 month later!

So finally I was there, the waitress served me well, very polite and professional. She even bothered to remember my request to change to better seats, bothered to wait and confirm the reserved seats are opened and ask me to go over! Great!

 Jamie has written many many cook books to share his cooking skills and recipe.

 Al fresco with the view of the sea.

 Look at the ham!!

Ok, let's go to the food!

 Italian Farm Sausage ($24.50). Grilled pork sausage flavored with red wine and spices, served with sweet and sour peppers, capers, chili and garlic. This dish was abit salty but I just couldn't stop eating it. I like the combination of different texture of the dish.

 Wild Truffle Risotto ($16). Finely minced black truffle with butter and Parmesan. The rice was slightly hard but the taste was delicious....love the truffle.

Crab Spaghettini ($16). Sweet crab tossed with capers, chili, fennel, parsley, anchovies and lemon. This was tooooo salty, like the taste of the sea. Unless that was the intention.

Tutti Frutti Lemon Meringue Pie ($11.50). With limoncello and crunchy pistachio brittle. Goodness...this was super sinful!! The meringue was like marshmallow (not too sweet), but the lemon at the bottom was sooooo sour! I couldn't finish it though.

I would like to try their bread and other dishes next time, hope they have some discount because it is quite pricey..

So here are my views:
Ambience 3/5
Food 3/5
Service 3.5/5
Price Slightly steep
Toilet Availability 0/5

Check out their address and menu at their cute website at http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/singapore/home

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Don't eat shark fins!

xoxo 

Shinkei

This is a newly opened Japanese buffet restaurant at 600@Toa Payoh which is at lorong 4 (near Toa Payoh Library). I'm not sure about lunch time, but it was very peaceful during dinner time. Especially after a long long week at work, this is a place to rest your mind and eat to your satisfaction. No crying kids and loud nonsense music.

At $39++ (Fridays and weekends dinner), you can order everything from the menu. From teppan chicken heart to curry rice and sashimi, everything is free flow.

And I must say, these food were not that bad! I shall let the photos do the talking...

 Crispy on the outside, smooth inside.

 The sashimi platter was very generous.

 California rolls were great too! Seaweed was crispy, mayonnaise was delicious and rice perfectly cooked. 

They have nice cold premium beer at $8 too...superb!

I couldn't wait to dig in, so I didn't manage to take photos of most dishes.

 

I think it does not do this place justice just by looking at its price. Beside providing good standard Japanese dishes, they offered great service. The waitresses were very polite and full of smiles. To me, service and ambience are keys to customer's satisfaction. I would love to go back again to try out all the items. They have so many! I wonder how they can finish washing all the small small plates..maybe they have a heavy duty dish washing machine?

So here are my views:

Ambience 3/5
Food 3/5
Service 3.5/5
Price Slightly steep but can try it!
Toilet Availability 0/5 (but you can use the clean toilets in the building)

Check them out at facebook.com/shinkei.

Lunch: 11.30am - 2.30pm

Dinner: 6pm - 10.30pm

Address: 600 Lorong 4 Toa Payoh #01-06/07/09/10, Singapore 319515

Telephone: 6255 5598

xoxo

National Museum of Singapore - Absolut Vodka, Princely Treasures from the house of Liechtenstein

I've been to our National Museum many times, mostly were to see what exhibits were held and also to enjoy the beautiful architecture of the building. If you haven't been to the museum since your primary school excursion days, do pop by, it's really classy. Couple about to wed, you can consider taking your pre-wedding photos here too...of course, at an affordable price.

The reason I need to blog this is because of Absolut Vodka and Princely Treasures from the house of Liechtenstein exhibitions. These are rare! What I know is Princely Treasures has 9 more days before it ends, so if you like European arts and paintings, don't miss this chance. Otherwise you may need to fly to Liechtenstein to see the actual exhibition.

 National Museum is conveniently located near Dhoby Ghaut MRT.

Shopping!

Ok before we start a brief visual tour of the absolut vodka exhibition, kudos to these 4 men. They are the contributors of these rare collection. Thank you guys. Don't drink too much.

Let's begin to savour the silent treatment of vodka.....

 Do I see a halo or is it just the after-effect of vodka?

This is fun. It's called Canvas Symphony. Just pop into any of the 4 booth and place the bottle into any holes to create the rhythm and eventually the music. You can change the beat of drums, guitar etc.

Behold. What you are about to see are extremely rare bottles that can come with a street value of up to $15,000, that only a handful of people have seen in person. "Regarded as the Holy Grail in any collector's cabinet, these bottles are lusted by many, yet owned and jealously guarded by the elite few."

Ok I cannot let you see more. You should go and take a look in person!

See the bottles from small to large?

Next! Princely treasures!
In short, these are just a small portion of the arts collected by the Prince of Liechtenstein and his ancestors. They even have the paintings of his ancestors! How fun! Can you imagine you have that in your house/palace? But I think ours maybe from some Qing dynasty or something if we really had them....errr...abit creepy.

You can do your own painting here. They even provide subjects, paper and color pencils. Do it to impress your date! But must make sure you really can draw ok..

 I can also be "civilized" to appreciate the painting. Thanks buddy for this picture.

 Pretty daughters...fair and curvy.

Oh this is fun. It can be wound up and move around the guests. Whoever it stops at has to drink from it. It will often spill onto the guest's clothes and cause embarrassment and of course laughters. It's a game anyway, take it easy.

 Guided tour to explain every details of the collections. I missed it.

Do you recognize Jesus and Mother Mary in this painting? This painting was acquired in 1710! Perfect condition. Even our photos can turn yellow after 20 years..

This is one of my favorites..nice-figured fair girls in soft fluffy dress..The painter really brought out every details of the fabrics and foldings.

 Want to know the story behind this painting?
"Judith and Holofernes are figures in the Old Testament Apocrypha. Judith was a rich, beautiful widow, who has viewed as a heroine and a symbol of the Jews' struggle against their old oppressors, the Assyrians. When Holofernes, chief general of King Nebuchadnezzar, attached the Jewish city Bethulia, Judith tried to save the people by entering the enemy camp with her maid. Holofernes was overcome by her charms and kept her in his camp for a banquet. When he got drunk, Judith took his sword and severed his head. Her maid placed it in a bag and they left the camp before the body of the general was discovered. Without their general, the Assyrians fled and Bethulia was saved."

Hmm...how did she charm him? ....

There was an orchestra  playing there on that Saturday! I thought it was the background music but it's real! Feel so high-class. But well, all these paintings are collected by Prince right...have to be high class.

So what are you waiting for? Singapore citizens are entry-free to most of the exhibits! Princely Treasures ticket is only $10, if you have NTUC card you can even waive it off! So just go! There are other permanent exhibits like Singapore history too.

Check out their website at http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/ or their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/National.Museum.of.Singapore

Next time, 1 Market by Chef Wan.

xoxo