Will eat for love

As boring as it may sound, I spent my my 31st birthday with my parents :) No getting drunk, no running away, no mad hats and kissing girls. Just eating lots with my beloved parents and family :) It sounds weird, but my family are feeders.

We talk about food when we wake up, we talk about food one meal ahead, we eat between meals, and we talk about food before we sleep. My fondest childhood memories are of eating hawker food late at night with my Mum, Dad and brothers. My Mum helping me to squat and pee in a monsoon drain after supper (ssssh, don't tell my future employers that I can do the oriental squat!).

Instead of the Maccas scale to judge the standard of living in different countries, we have the crab scale.

Chilli crabs in Singapore:


Chilli and curry crabs in Thailand (sorry, forgot to take a pic!)

Salty egg (Haam Daan) crabs in Cambodia -

Which country had the best value crab meal?

WEEEELL....
Biggest crab ever, goes to Singapore Chilli Crabs.
Err, with crabs from Sri Lanka. HUUUUGEN:

Best value for money, Thai crabs. Cheap as chips! 2 mud crabs for next to nothing in Baht (again, sorry no pix).

Tastiest crab goes to CAAAMBODIA :) Which surprisingly has a lot of really good seafood. For exorbitant US prices. More on that later.

Here's what my Dad told me on the last day of our holiday together - "What do you want to eat? CRAB. PRAWNS. Because I know you're not going to have the same in Rondon! You will never find this in Rondon!"

My Dad was right. Best. Birthday. Ever.

(Followed very closely by the time the dFs, B, He Who Shall Not Be Named and I went mental for a week :) )

Here are the other foodie pix from Singapore (where a brilliant laksa cost me less than 2 squids) and Cambodia.

THAT laksa:

Char Kway Teow:

Teow Chew Braised Duck:

Kway-Something-Something, it came with the Braised Duck:

Tofu, simple and honest :)

Foodcourt Rojak and dang it was good:

Durian, the KING of fruit.
Smells like a public toilet, tastes like heaven...
(to be honest, I loooooves the smell)

My birthday dinner of Steamboat with every luxurious seafood available:

(there's abalone in there)

The best fish head curry on banana leaf in Singapore:

The pippies (la la) I haven't had for years because it's not sold in Rondon:

The boat noodles I had by the side of the floating markets:

The riskiest thing I did in BKK...
Eat fly-infested noodles (before I found the more hygienic noodles above)
THE DAY BEFORE T&D's wedding:

Nom nom nom... The Cambodian grouper:

The mangosteens. HELL the fruit in general:


So yeah, I took more pix of food than anything else ;P
(THANK YOU LI,
ESPECIALLY FOR LETTING ME EAT DURIAN
IN YOUR APARTMENT
*grin* *MUAH* )

Question!

I could only ask an EastRondoner this...

Me: "Are Pikeys real?!?"
J: "Well I haven't come across any lately, but..."
Me: "What, you mean they're not in your backyard these days?" *grin*
Snatch, it's still one of my fave all-time movies :)

And now... Meatfest:

(Top-left is what a 1kg steak looks like!)
My lobster bisque entree?!?

Just kidding, here tis!


le 600g T-Bone
(did you know, one side is Porterhouse, and the other Fillet?)


le 350g New York Strip Steak
Num numm nummm indeedy!

Goodman! Thoroughly recommend it. Little bit on the salty-well-seasoned side, however, great cuts of beef.

Pun intended

Hey CH, this one's for you *grin*:
A couple of clams were eating chocolate bars while two fish watched.
"Did you see that?" one fish said, as the clams finished their treat.
"They didn't offer us a single bite!"
"What do you expect?" asked the other fish, "They're two shellfish".

Har har har :)

CH's seafood sculpture -
A whelk eating a clam, eating a prawn:

Wow... cocktails, a flaming shot, half bottle of wine, loads of sweet sweet seafood, chocolate tart and dessert wine? How long am I going to have to run to burn off all those calories? *grin* I've also noticed that I will say anything and talk to anyone when drunk.

Me: "I'm doing a survey, if a guy's got the greatest personality in the world, but is really bad in bed, would you still marry him?"
Random Girl sitting next to me: "Of course not. If I wanted great personality, I'd talk to my friends".
Me: *waits for CH to go to the bathroom* "Do you think he's cuuuute?"

I was hoping one of the girls would hit on CH. It backfired, they thought I was his date :P

HOT&BUFF waiter: "I'm going home to my bf and his big c0ck! Did you want to know that?"
Me: *drunken whisper* "Does it... hurt?!?"
HOT&BUFF waiter: "Haha, not if you use lots of gel!!"

I look at a picture of HOT&BUFF waiter's French bf. OMG, he's HOT too... Talk about a fantasy sandwich... *sigh* I hug and kiss the off-duty waiter and run back inside. It's ok, he was pretty drunk too *grin*

I love this place :) Ooh, I guess the company was alright too ;)

Fat Duck

Sorry for misleading you. I didn't mean to imply my flatties had bought me a female escort for my birthday *lol* The quote is from a just-got-laid Zapp Brannigan from Futurama. Well, yeah, I _did_ feel that happy that night ;)

What B, T and D did was whisk me away to Bray for a molecular gastronomy experience at FAT DUCK :D One of my dream restaurants!!! It was an AMAZING experience.

B, T&D - I really am speechless. I don't know how to thank you guys for such an awesome experience :D *MUUUUAH* Yaaaaay! :D

Enough words! I give you pictures (if you can't see the slideshow, go to the post)! Plus a video of my eggs being scrambled in nitrogen :)

People watching in Soho

From one of my favourite restaurants :) Love it. If you're nice to me, I'll take you there...

(PS: SM&JH - I'm wearing your scarfie :D )

Le fantastique!

We thought we had been blessed with a table at The Fat Duck, but when that fell through, we picked Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester instead. Well, la dee da! I have to say, that The Dorchester (hangout of Kate Moss), really _is_ the swishest hotel I've ever been to. This is luxury defined. The restaurant, was decked out in elegance. For the first time, I felt it would've been wrong of me to whip out my camera to take some food pr0n *grin*

Better still, I was surrounded by shexy French accents allllll night :D *swoon*

The evening started out well. We were very well behaved as we sipped our champagne aperitifs. My entree of "Soft-boiled organic EGG, crayfish and wild mushrooms, Nantua sauce" was sooooo good... The sauce... oooomg, it was sooo tasty! *drool* Err, I just looked it up, and Nantua sauce is made out of sauteed LIVE crayfish (o_O) Oops, that was a bit evil of me.

As the half bottle of white wine started flowing, we got more and more giggly. I'm sure people were looking at us *grin*

My main of "Fillet of BEEF and seared FOIE GRAS Rossini, "sacristain" potatoes, "Periqueux" sauce", was sadly, a bit on the ordinary side. The foie gras rossini was delicious, the beef however, was average. Good beef, but nothing special. I think I've figured it out, avoid ordering beef at French restaurants. There's just nothing very exciting the French can do to a fillet of beef.

As the half bottle of red wine reached its end, we were in stitches. I can't remember what we were laughing about, but I'm sure it was dang funny *grin* As the Sommelier comes over with my dessert wine, I'm still giggly. He starts showing us the bottle and explaining the wine to us. His accent was so dreamy, I asked him to repeat the name of the wine for us *lol* The wines he recommended for us that night were all excellent, I was impressed.

Ok, so I snuck a photo on my iPhone. Here's our yummy "ROSE and RASPBERRY pleasure":

At the end of the night, I sidled up to the Restaurant Director.
Me: "Bonsoir Monsieur!"
RD: "Bonsoir! Ça va?"
Me: (Sh*t, "bueno" is Spanish! What's French?!?) "Err, bien?"
RD: "Good! How can I help you?"
Me: "Could you do me a favour please? I would love a souvenir. Is it possible for me to get a signed menu from the Chef and a list of the wines we had tonight?"
RD: "Of course!"

The Restaurant Director comes back with a signed menu for me.
RD: "Would you like to see the kitchen and meet the Chef?"
Me: "That would be nice..." :D

We were shown to a very SPOTLESS kitchen and introduced to the Executive Chef for a chat :) I offerred to marry the Pastry Chef, unfortunately he was already married with a toddler. I should've made a move on the Saucier or Sommelier instead! As we leave the restaurant, we're handed a complimentary package of orange cakes. Nice touch.

Overall, I think I paid for the experience of dining at The Dorchester more than for the food itself. It's hard to explain, but I don't think it's possible to find this standard of service and atmosphere anywhere else. Comparative to all the other restaurants I've been to anyway. Or maybe it's just because I had great company that night :) I can't believe we got trashed at a very fancy adult restaurant! I feel like a rebel ;)

Buddha Bar

Hrm, I was hoping for more the Laughing Buddha type of Buddha... If I was going to start a bar, that'd be the Buddha I place in my front reception. I'd make everyone rub his belly as a condition of entry too *grin* This one's still pretty impressive in size though.

Overall review - Drinks good, food meh. Good place to meet up with friends for cocktails, food was pretty dang average for price. Approx 45 squiddies each for 7 people, sharing small portions of food. Had to be done though, just for fun :)

Cow meat

Let's start out with a Dove Bloody Mary.

It's no ordinary BM, this one has Guinness in it! o_O Not bad either, innit? For 5 squids! Only in East Rondon do cocktails come this cheap cheap!

Now we get to the COW MEAT. This was my sirloin dinner. Biggest f*cking cut of meat I've had to eat on my own in my life...

14oz == 400g!!

I wonder if this is how PdF felt when we got him a 1kg steak for his birthday one year :) How on earth did he manage to eat twice this much of cow meat?!?

Couldn't do it :( Left some gristle and a couple of bites left on my plate. Had to save room for dessert after all :P Which wasn't very good anyways... However, if it's a hunk of Argentinian cow flesh you're after, head to Buen Ayre. Hrm, personally, I think I prefer Gaucho. Though, it's been awhile since I've been to Gaucho.

Fidgety

On the tube I glanced up. I meet the eyes of a cuteish guy with a cuteish smile. I quickly look away, embarrassed that I'd been rubbing my eye mercilessly for the past few mins. Did I mention that I've had a couple of glasses of Rioja? I would've blushed if I wasn't already red *grin*

So here I am blogging on my iPhone instead *lol* On my way to eat offal with Ms K if you must know. I've been looking forward to it all day! In the meantime I think I now understand why strangers advertise love notes to other strangers in the Metro. A stolen glance in less than a split second. Was he smiling at a joke shared with his friends at the instant I looked up? Was he smiling because he knew I was in a *happy* state? I'll never know, but I can live with ignorance :)

That's venison offal and chicory on my plate (best eaten together)
Chitterlings and chips on Ms K's plate :)


To be honest, I was expecting tripe, but got kidney and liver instead!!
Thanks Ms K for the wunderbar company as usual :)

Paella anyone?

I love it when the household hits the fishmarket :)

Alan Yau

Of Hakkasan, Yauatcha and Wagamama fame has a new noodle bar... and a crappy signature :P Notice though, that all dishes on the menu are £3.50! Which means T, B and I gorged ourselves silly on 8 dishes and 4 beers for just under 40 squids *grin* Where is this place?

I AIN'T TELLING *grin*

Posh Asian Nosh

That's "asian" as in "indian" food.

The lonely alcoholic:

Always the first to arrive at dinners, my mission is to try and get trashed before the others get there *grin* Unfortunately, milk and vodka don't mix very well and it took me awhile to down this lassi cocktail.

Benares food pr0n


Party mode on my camera. W00t w00t!

Bon Chon

I really look forward to dinners in NYC. Especially when there are locals to take me around :) Food here, it's on a whole different scale from Rondon. Something as simple as Bon Chon crispy chicken wings, can keep me happy for the entire night. Happy enough to even survive a night out at an RnB club! *lol*

I have decided. If I could create an animal, it'd have at least 10 wings. No drumsticks :P Yummmm...

How to eat chicken wings:

The "Pincer" technique
Use two fingers on each hand only. Less mess, however, more chances of wing flying out of your hands if munching too enthusiastically.

The "Praying Mantis" technique
Use your nifty forefingers to clamp and position the wing while feasting.

The "Oriental Hybrid" technique
When fingers aren't enough, bring on the chopsticks.

How NOT to eat chicken wings:
The "Serenade the Wing with a Boy Band Song First" technique.
+10 points for style, -50 points for effectiveness :)

Balthazar!

It's the place everyone keeps mentioning, and when we tried to get in on Saturday, it was packed. So Missy W and I decided to try our luck this morning. We got there just in time for...

... the change over. Meaning, at 11:45am, we were 15 mins too late for brekky, and 15mins too early for lunch! D'oh. Didn't stop us from splitting a croissant while waiting for the lunch menu to kick in though :)

Biggest bowl of mocha I've had in my life:

And it's not just the camera angle:

It was big enough to cover the menu!

My lucky day

There I was, sitting in a chair similar to one you'd find at a dentist, getting my eyebrows waxed by Nina in Selfridges. Suddenly, an announcement:
"Attention customers, please join Michel Roux Junior at the Cookshop for a cooking demonstration."

EH? WOT WOT? MICHEL ROUX JUNIOR? But my eyebrows are only half done! Impatiently I wait for Nina - "Done! Take a look". I do a cursory glance into the mirror, give some smiling nods at Nina and push off the dental chair. With flaming eyelids fresh from waxing, I rushed 3 floors down, and claimed front row at Michel's cooking demo. Not that hard, since not many people were there at the time :P I can't help but grunt humorously when I hear an elderly oriental couple next to me exclaim, "Oh, look at that wok! Looks really good, is that what he's selling?"

My parents would've said the same thing *grin*

Who is he? He's Alain Roux's cousin :) That's Alain from Waterside Inn. Their family history goes a long way back. Michel Roux Jr's restaurant is called Le Gavroche. Very highly rated by Zagat. Number 28 on this list. It's one of the places I've been thinking about eating at for awhile. Thinking only, because I don't actually have anyone to go there with to eat :P According to their website, it was the first restaurant in the UK to earn first 1, then 2 and finally 3 Michelin stars. At the end of the cooking demo, I smile at Michel and walk over:
Me: "Do you mind doing me a favour? Can you sign my cup for me?"
Michel: "Sure! I've never been asked to sign a cup before!"
Me: "Normally I'd ask you to sign a menu. I have Alain's signature too." (Nothing like a bit of name dropping)
Michel: "Ooh, so you've been to Waterside Inn."
Me: "Yes. Isn't it your restaurant's 40th anniversary this year?"
Michel: "Yes, it is."
Me: "Did you do anything special?"
Michel: "We had plenty of parties!"
Me: "How come I wasn't invited?" *grin*

Michel laughs and winks and hands over an autographed fork (the cup didn't work cause it was waxed). Yup. I'm officially a celebrity chef groupie.

When I got home and looked in the mirror, I belatedly realise that Nina had done something weird to my left eyebrow :P