Astons Specialties at Sembawang

The problem with once having had the chance to experience something really good, one finds it rather difficult to accept something that isn't on par, even though it is doubtless that that has its own merits too.

In a vain attempt to relieve the glorious memory of Astons Prime, we went out for dinner at Astons Specialties at Sembawang at my suggestion one Saturday evening. And, the queue, there was not one moment from 6.20 to 8pm when there wasn't a queue at all. However, the queue moved along pretty quickly, largely due to the management of the tall big-built manager at the doorway and rather ample no. of seats in the indoor and outdoor portion of the restaurant. The restaurant seems very popular with large families and larger groups of friends on weekends. The queue for dinner on weekdays is far shorter based on my previous experiences

So anyway, it was my treat because of the good news I'd received in the week, and I ordered the Ribeye Xtra Cut for both of us. Priced at albout SGD 17, the steak comes with two sides which can be chosen from the variety of hot sides and cold sides on the menu. My health conscious companion had the house salad and fries for his sides and his steak, medium to well done.

As for me, I had the mashed potatos and pasta salad. The Slog Reviews: The waiting time was about half an hour for the food but that wasn't a surprise given how crowded the place was. I would suggest having a light bite before going to astons for dinner or one might get really irritated with the wait time. I would give the ribeye 8/10 which was cooked the way I liked it (medium-rare) and came with just the right balance of fats and meat. Unlike the lousy Ministry of Steak, Astons Specialiaties at Sembawang gives real value for money steaks.

604 Sembawang Road #03-14
Sembawang Shopping Centre
Tel : 6753 6302
1130-2200hrs (Opens Daily)

Restoran / restaurant New Lucky at Tmn Sentosa

This restaurant, Restoran New Lucky, has been around for more 30 years according to the owner. And I believe him since I'd eaten there with my family when I was really young and my dad would do the weekend supermarket/petrol driven-drives into Malaysia - my dad loved the drunken prawns at this restaurant which the waitress would bring in a covered glass bowl to our table and swirl the still alive prawns about in whiskey. My dad did like the roasted pigeons at this place too although he finally agreed that the creatures didn't have much too meat on them.

Anyway, after a 12 year hiatus, I finally returned to this restaurant sometime in November 2008. Locating the place isn't a problem - the restaurant is most prominently located at Tmn Sentosa - there is no missing the restaurant on the left side of the road when one turns in. The pic below is of the dishes we ordered - crabs, toufu and veg. The bill came to almost RM 90 and I remember being most disappointed at the quality of the dishes, in particular the toufu dish - never ever order this toufu dish. As for the steamed crabs, nothing exceptional at all.

So, because I am the queen of second chances, and because my food companion wanted to have drunken (and not herbal) prawns and I distinctly remembered how this restaurant did the covered bowl with prawns swirled in whiskey thingy, I suggested that we go to this restaurant for dinner. It was almost impossible to find parking at 8pm at Tmn Sentosa and we had to walk all the way back down to the restaurant after we did. The restaurant was about 2/3 occupied but the service staff came over after we seated ourselves (they don't show you to the seats here) and we ordered the following 4 dishes per the pics below.

First up - the "drunken" prawns which appeared to be prawns cooked in herbal soup - drunken indeed! No glass bowl materialised with live prawns drenched in whiskey. My friend who, as I'd said in a previous entry has a craving for herbal prawns too, pronounced this dish highly unsatisfying, not just because it wasn't what we were expecting but because the soup's standard was pretty low too. The Slog Reviews: 6/10. The cost of the prawns was RM9/100gm with a min order of 300gm and the dish above cost RM25 which is about SGD 11. While not expensive or nasty-tasting, the prawns did not have the sweetness that truely fresh prawns have and the soup/ingredients of the soup failed to enhance or bring out the flavor of the prawns. Instead, presented this way, the prawns ended up being cooked to the point of being too hard.

As for the clams (la la) which cost RM 15, The Slog Reviews: 6/10. The clams were really small, the meat shrunken and tasteless and there appeared to be more shells than meat. When compared with the clams I've had at other seafood places in JB, like Grand Straits Garden, and Kong Kong, this dish cooked in bland black pepper pales in comparison. Waste of $ ordering this.

The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. The fried kong kong priced at RM 10 was plentiful and tasty enough. We could not help comparing the quantity for the price against the kong kong we had at Serangoon Gdns a few days earlier for dinner but that's the cost of living for you.

If there was any dish which we agreed was worth ordering, it would be the toufu with minced meat priced at RM 10. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. The sauce and meat on the toufu which was fresh with a crisp outer layer was rather satisfying, being not too salty or too sweet. Do note though that this restaurant does not have menus but one has to order based on the large pics of the food put up on the billboard near the kitchen area.

The total cost of the meal above was RM73.65 inclusive of 5% govt tax and 3% svc charge. Was it worth it? No. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant to anyone at all. The standard has fallen far from what I remembered from my childhood days and I suppose the cooks of yester-years are long gone. In any case, if one wants to try out this place still for whatever reason (I can't think of one given that there are so many better places around), here is the adddress and tel no.

1-5, Jln Keris, Taman Sri Tebrau, 80050 JB, Johor
Tel: 07-3337519

After the meal, because it failed to hit the spot for both of us, we went to good old A&W at the Jusco located at Permas Jaya and had a rootbear float each (and a connie dog for my food companion). Like the restaurant, A&W is a reminder of childhood days (there aren't any more A&Ws in Singapore now) but our experience there that night was definitely more satisfying than eating at Restoran New Lucky.

Pontian Wanton Mee at JB

The first time I had Pontian Wanton Mee was with my mum a couple of years ago. She wanted to share her great find - a place at Orchard Rd selling really cheap and good food - and I remember being really surprised at the cost of the food at the outlet of Pontian Wanton Mee in Orchard. However, the food never really grew on me and it was only recently that I developed an inexplicable urge to wolf down springy but soft noodles and slurp slightly salty soup with pcs of tender minced pork wrapped in a kind of flour skin that slides away from the pork when put in one's mouth - ie wanton mee.

So, when my companion told me that he had found a wanton mee store in JB which would satisfy this urge, I was most surprised when he brought me to the Pontian Wanton Mee outlet located at Taman Sutera (the shophouses near Taman Sutera).

At about 8pm, the shop wasn't too crowded and we were attended to almost immediately. This is how the first page of the menu looks like - apparently there is a difference between wanton noodles and pontian wanton noodles when all along I've thought they were the same thing. When I said I found the price in SG cheap, the price of Pontian Wanton Mee in JB blew me away - the food is ridiculously cheap - get this - RM6 for a large bowl of noodles which works out to SGD 2.50 only and the small bowl is RM4 which is SGD 1.70 (below SGD 2!) .

Below is a pic of the food we ordered - I had the a medium sized Dumpling Noodle (bowl on the left - the dumplings came in a soup) while my companion had a large sized Pontian Wanton Mee. For both bowls of noodles, we chose the chilli plus black sauce combination for the sauce which, as you will see from the menu above, is the recommended option.

The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. Very decent grub for a ridiculously low price. The noodles were springy and chewy but I felt the meat in the dumplings were too hard - probably the dumplings hadn't been defrosted properly (I don't expect freshly made dumplings for that price!). Still, if one is on a budget and has to fill one's stomach with reasonably satisfying grub or if one shares a similar urge to partake of a non-conservative local asian delight (wanton - get it?), one may visit the following Pontian Wanton Mee outlets in Malaysia per the pic of the addresses of the Malaysian outlets I took below.

Zerorh+ Sunglasses

I have discovered that there isn't a limit to the things one can buy when one has a hobby like fishing. In the deep of my heart, I know that some things are essential and some aren't but somehow, the definitions of need and want get blurred when colored by passion. I have bought the essentials like Mr Brad and Ms G-Loomis, and I have held back getting the waterproof camera (Project Camera) but after my last fishing trip, I decided that a pair of 100% UV protection and polarised sunglasses is a must and not a mere want. Nevermind the 2 Coach sunglasses and 1 Gucci sunglasses all bought within the last year sitting at home unused and unworn.

Well anyway, after shopping around at various sunglasses stores (I discovered that the price of a polarised Rayban sunglasses model differs by SGD 40 between Sunglasses Hut (SGD160) and Capital Optical at Raffles City (SGD202) which means that price comparison is a must!), I finally decided on a pair of Zerorh+ sunglasses at Sunglasses Hut.

The Slog Reviews: I hadn't heard of the brand Zerorh+ before the day I got the sunglasses but I was totally sold by the fact that it had ZEISS polarised lens. And Zeiss as we all know, is legendary for the quality of its lens. The price (SGD220), the fact that is is comfortable and light-weight as well as the way it fits the shape of my face had me and good hard-earned money parting company. I'm going to use this for the fishing trip coming up in a couple of days and based on the website reviews of the sunglasses, I don't think I'll be disappointed. If you are into sports, do consider Zerorh+ (click here to go totheir website) as an alternative to Oakley.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

After watching the movie Shutter Island which I reviewed here, I knew I had to get the book and read it asap to get the answer to the twists the movie presented, so I went online to reserve the library book and thankfully, I was the first in the reservation list. The other book I had reserved some time ago, called Super Freakonomics which is some sort of a sequel to the book Freakonomics which I reviewed here, had also arrived at the Central Library so I picked both books up at the same time together with another 2 books that caught my eye.

When I got home, the first book I read was Shutter Island of course and because I've discarded the nasty habit of reading the last few pages of a book first (it spoils the pleasure), I only got my answers at the end of the book - Andrew Laeddis/Edward Daniels/Teddy was insane - the hospital was not trying to make him crazy or make him believe he was crazy so that they could imprison him out of fear he would blow the whistle on their experiments on patients. Andrew Laeddis could not accept what had happened - his wife killing their 3 children, in particular, Rachel, his 4 year old daughter, closest to his heart (according to the book) and he murdering the person he loved the most in the world, his wife.

The line in the movie "Would you rather live as a monster or die as a hero?" is not in the book at all. I read though that the author of the book had taken the stance that Teddy did not consciously opt for the lobotomy to erase all his memories because if this was the case, that Teddy had shown some awareness, the lobotomy would not have been carried out. So this answers the second twist in the movie too.

The Slog Reviews: 8/10. As for whether one should read the book, I would say that if one has not watched the movie, one could well enjoy it but if one has watched the movie and read my reviews on both the movie and book, then maybe one could give it a miss. Because some of the lines in the movie are lifted right off the book and the movie brings to life not just the characters but the relationships as described in the book, in particular, Teddy's deep love for his wife.

The book describes the relationship between Teddy and Dolores in a moving manner too:

When he met her
"He thought: so this is what it feels like to love. No logic to it - he barely knew her. But there it was just the same. He'd just met the woman he'd known, somehow, since before he was born. The measure of every dream he'd never dared indulge."

When he thinks of her (when he is Teddy and not Andrew)
"But as the years passed, he missed her more, not less, and his need for her became a cut that would not scar over, would not stop leaking...I held her. This world can't give me that. The world can only give me reminders of what I don't have, can never have, didn't have for long enough...We were supposed to grow old together. I wanted to watch the lines etch themselves into your flesh and know when each and everyone of them appeared. Die together. And if I knew for certain that all it would take to hold her again would be to die, then I couldn't raise the gun to my head fast enough"

"What was the point of buying groceries, shaving...if none of it brought him closer to her..."

When he has just pulled his 3 children's bodies from the lake she drowned them in
"If he could sacrifice his own mind to restore hers, he would. Sell his limbs? Fine. She had been all the love he'd ever known for so long. She had been what carried him through the war, through this awful world. He loved her more than his life, more than his soul."

Iron Man 2 (2010) Movie

1 of my movie kakis cancelled watching this movie with me last min because of all the negative reviews he'd read about it and after watching the movie with another friend, both of us could not fathom why anyone would write anything bad about the show! They say birds of the same feather flock together and I suppose in this case, both of us legal birds enjoy flicks where there are hot chicks in body hugging outfits (Oh, Scarlett!), fast cars (car race at Monaco) and lots of action where the good guy kicks ass...again and again.

The Slog Reviews: 9/10 - Definitely a movie that should be watched on the big screen - Whiplash/Backlash snapping his electricity charged whips slicing through racing cars, Natalie Rushmore (Scarlett) in a outfit that shows off her lithe but womanly frame executing the most sexy poses ever while taking down the bad guys and Mr Oh So Bad But Dont U Want to Just Be The 1 Girl to Change Him,Tony Stark himself. Robert Downey Jr I must say, plays the role to perfection, quite a departure from how I remembered him in 1 of my favourite serials - Ally McBeal. As for the storyline, you can find it here but if you are looking for a mind bending plot or an emotional rollercoaster, this show can't give you that. It's action, action and action!

Go Karting in JB

If I've never particularly favored Go Karting before, the experience I had at the Go Karting Circuit in JB made sure that this "sport" would never be one of my hobbies. At the suggestion of a friend who was insistent on trying out something new and persuaded by the fact that his and not my car would be used for the trip to the circuit located near Permas Jaya at Plentong, we headed there one morning.

We got lost, but asked for directions at the BHP station in Plentong and managed to find the road and then dirt track leading to the circuit. The dirt trail, which went on for quite a distance, was narrow, rough, bumpy and strewn with stones (I'm so glad it wasn't my car). To my surprise, there were quite a number of Singaporean cars heading to and fro the circuit, most of which were driven by expats.

This is how the counter at the go karting circuit looks like. This is not the place to bring one's loved one unless she/he can accept flies (lots of them), stray dogs, dirt, heat and filth, all away from civilisation. The rates for an ordinary go-kart (you are not allowed on the faster ones unless you have some sort of license/permit) are SGD 35 for 10mins. I am sure that is cheaper than SG rates but it seems pretty pricy to spend that amount of money just to go a few rounds at a limited speed in the blazing sun around a track with a helmet that has been worn many times before on one's head. Of course, one is required to sign an indemnity form and to dorn a cheap sort of shower cap before putting on the helmet. Still, be warned that the sweat-soaked sides of the padded helmet press against one's cheek...talk about major ughhhh.

The picture below is a close up of one of the faster racing carts. Drivers of the karts, per the pics above, are required to don a safety suit (see the guys in blue and red above) before driving off in one of these karts. Note where the jelly can of petrol is. I fail to see why anyone would subject themselves willingly and happily to racing about in one of these "machines" under the blazing hot sun with a can of petrol between their parted legs, especially when one can drive a car at a far higher speed, at greater comfort and without the risk of one's family jewels going up in flames.

As the petrol tanks for the ordinary smaller go karts are located near one's elbow and we had driven all the way there, I was minded to have just one round on the go kart despite the horror of having to put on the smelly sweat-soaked helmet. The pic below shows the smaller ordinary go karts and a glimpse of the circuit. I should mention at this point that the seats of the go-kart are meant for the ordinary-slightly larger person- there was a lady of considerable girth who had to sit out the ride because her butt could not fit in the seat despite her best efforts. Instructions are given one to one in English by the many foreign workers consisting of instructions on how to get in the kart, sit down, stop and accelerate. Very simple all of it. One foot goes on the brake, one on the accelerator.

The Slog Reviews: 6.5/10. Unless one doesn't drive or one drives very carefully usually, one may probably find the thrill in racing around the karts under the blazing hot sun. And one needs to be less particular about hygiene too given the state of the circuit and the helmets. Going around the track 5 rounds in 10 mins got pretty boring although I would say some of the bends are rather sharp. I trod on the accelerator and brake at the same time which resulted in my kart spinning 360 degrees at least 3 separate occasions on the track. An employee (a foreign worker) followed me in another go kart throughout so I guess this circuit is pretty mindful of safety.

Shop just next to Geylang Prawn Mee at Upper Serangoon Rd

We had decided to have the yummilicious Geylang Prawn Mee at Upper Serangoon Road but if you have been there, you will know that parking there isn't easy (Beach Road is still more challenging though) given the limited no of parking lots outside the row of shops.

I was delighted to see a car pulling out of a lot slightly in front of the prawn mee store and sped up to get to the lot...only to find 2 PRCs dragging those large green rubbish bins to block cars from parking in the lot. My companion got out and asked them to remove the bins but they insisted that we had to eat at their shop if we wanted to park there. Given that my companion had grown tired of the prawn noodles (??!?!) , she agreed without a second thought (or without asking me!) and so I parked my car there.

I'm sorry I don't have the name of the restaurant - all I can tell you is that it is just next to the famous prawn mee stall which was packed to the brim by the way. I am not sure if it is operated by PRCs but all the servers in the restaurants are PRCs. The restaurant's menu is rather limited if one does not favour their set meals which range from SGD 25 onwards for 2 and consist of curry/assam fish head and veg. And from the limited menu (6 items), we shared this nonya hotpot per the pic below.

The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. For SGD 5, the dish above despite its rather simple ingredients was exceedingly tasty (I think it was the soup!) and the prawns were firm and fresh. I would without a doubt recommend this dish.


We also shared a bowl of curry chicken - the curry comes with rice and is priced at SGD5. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. I would give it a higher score if the dish came with more of the delicious curry which was not too oily and just the right consistency/thickness. The curry was spicy enough to give a warm fiery feeling but not too spicy so as to make one reach for water.

This restaurant is worth a visit for cheap and good dishes. It helps too that it is air-conditioned unlike the prawn mee store and that the servers are extremely polite, friendly and helpful. Very good service - I think I'll get the name of this restaurant and update this post later. The only drawback is that one has to pay in cash.

Blissful Cafe's Bak Kut Teh and Liver Soup

Remember my last post on Bak Kut Teh? Since then, I've developed a strange craving to have Bak Kut Teh, nevermind the blistering temperature in the afternoons. If not for the sheer number of things to be done at work each day these few weeks, I believe I would have deliberately driven to Chinatown just to have a bowl of BKT at the hawker center there for lunch.

As it was, because Mr Brad needed some lubrication to function smoothly, I was down at Beach Road (parking there is a nightmare!!!) during lunchtime today with a friend and at my insistence, we had BKT at Blissful Cafe (No 29-31 Sultan Gate Tel No: 62988538). He had a bowl of pig liver soup which came with mee sua and shared a medium sized bowl of klang-style BKT with me.


The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10 for the BKT. I believe the standard has dropped since the last time I was there and it would appear more worthwhile to order a small bowl of BKT at SGD 5 than a medium sized bowl of BKT at SGD 9 given the portions of each. Not that the medium sized serving was anything to complain about given the amount of straw mushrooms, tau kee, veg, butter mushrooms and meat but just that a small bowl would be more value for $. I can't comment about the pig liver soup (SGD 6) because I wasn't mind to try the same but my friend who slurped his way down to the last drop was of the view that it was "normal, the BKT was better". Still, Blissful Cafe is a nice place to have lunch at whether it is hot (there is air conditioning) or rainy (the BKT warms one up!) and the service is fast and good with the servers being helpful without being intrusive. There are also numerous newspaper cuttings on the walls (mostly from Chinese newspapers) which proclaim the merits of this eatery so if one is fortunate enough to find a parking lot at Beach Rd during lunch, Blissful Cafe is worth a try at least once.

As good-looking as Brad...

Last year, my Fishing Shifu had recommended this spinning reel to me as a value for money spinning reel - he who owns S@ltigas and Stell@rs. *sniffs. And since Feb this year, there had been a sale on this model at 1 of the tackle shops ((15% discount) but I put off going down because I was reluctant to spend $ on a spinning reel when I already had a Made In USA 2500 Penn Spinning Reel, courtesy of my father.

However, after due consideration of the age of the Penn reel (more than 10 years) and my skills with my Shimano Calais Baitcasting Reel, I decided to shell out the few hundred bucks and buy my first spinning reel. I had my mind fixed on the 2500 model which would be perfect for luring but that model was sold out by the time (2 months after the sale started) so I bought the 3000 model instead which is bigger and heavier.

And here it is, the beauty from Japan loaded with 30lbs Berkeley Crystal Translucent Braided Line...

Oh, and did I mention I bought the perfect companion for Mr Brad? She didn't come cheap - about SGD 10 more than Mr Brad in fact but she's as important as he is and he cannot co-exist without her so tada...presenting Ms G-Loomis!

I think the rod is a she because it requires so much more maintenance and storage space than Mr Brad! Let's see how the two work together given their cross cultures - he is made in Japan while she is made in America.

Me, Mr Brad and Ms G-Loomis are going to have some bashing good times ahead! Watch out, fishes of the deep! :D

Afternote: Click here to read what the Bradmis (combination of Mr Brad and Ms G-Loomis) has conquered.

The Lovely Bones (2009) Movie

I remember browing through the book at the bookshop's bestseller's section and I remember being pretty thrilled that there would be a movie adapted from the book, and a movie directed by Peter Jackson no less.

The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. A pretty comprehensive review of the movie can be found here. It was a pleasant surprise to find out that Rachel Weisz was also acting in this movie, given that I'd just watched Agora right before this dvd. However, she wasn't playing the lead character, an ethereal young actress named Saoirse Ronan was, because as you will learn from the review, the lead character was a young gal named Susie Salmon who was raped, murdered and dismembered by a neighbour at the age of 14. While in heaven, she watches over her family in the wake of her murder (the grief, the need to find the murderer, her mother fleeing to another state to escape the pain) and in the years that come after that when they move on with their lifes (her baby sister gets married and have a child). In the movie and in the book, her murderer doesn't get caught and that lends the movie and story a very realistic angle (no fairy-tale ending) - that in life, sometimes not all the bad guys get caught immediately or in the near future or even at all. There are people out there who do bad things and get away with it, and it seems grossly unfair but that's life for you.

Agora (2009) Movie

Agora sounds a lot like my fav hotel reservation website, Agoda so I googled Agora for its definition and the term apparently means "An open, public courtyard in ancient Greek city."

The historical movie however is set in Roman Egypt and centers around the life of Hypatia, a female astronomer-philosopher in a time where there are Christian fundamentalists bent on denouncing all other religions through violence where necessary. Hypatia is played by the incredibly beautiful Rachel Weisz. (I first noticed Rachel Weisz in The Constant Gardener (A 10/10 movie in The Slog Reviews) for which she received an Academy Award for her role.)

The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Hypatia is the daughter of the head of Alexandria's fabled library and she teaches philosophy to a group of men (including slaves). Her slave, Davus, is madly in love with her and as is 1 of her students, Oreste. But Hypatia makes it abundantly clear that she is not interested in men by returning Oreste's gift of a song and musical instrument with a cloth stained with her monthly blood. In the movie, the Christians are shown to be fanatical zealots hell-bent on persecuting those of a different faith and the Christians storm and destroy the fabled library and its contents when those who believe in the Roman Gods take refuge behind the library's walls. Hypatia escapes the looting and murder by the Christians and is shown to be the woman behind Oreste who rises to become the Prelate of Alexandria. He is shown to use her words and to bow to her counsel. She also sets free Davus during the looting and he becomes one of the sword-carrying Christians. He doesn't forget her however and tries to warn her when he overhears the other Christian planning to harm her because she states openly that she believes in philosophy when asked if she believes in God. Oreste is shown to cave in to the pressure by the Christians zealots and asks Hypatia to state her belief in God, failing which he would not be able to speak to her any longer. The movie makes it clear that he is torn between the deep love and respect for Hyptia and the need to placate the rising forces of Christianity, in particular, their crazy-looking leader, Cyril. Hypatia decides to leave his protection and his palace and walks out on the streets of Alexandria where the Christians capture her. Davus her slave sees her being captured and follows them to where they take her - the ruins of the fabled library. There, they strip her, and almost skin her alive but Davus saves her by telling them not to stain their hands with impure blood. The Christian zealots then rush out to get stones to stone her to death and during the time they are gone, Davus suffocates her with his hand across her mouth and nose. He tells the Christian zealots that she fainted when they return and walks away as they stone her inmobile body mercilessly.

Ministry of Steak at Serangoon Gardens

The outlook (decor/lighting) of this relatively new kid on the block (which wasn't here before the renovations) looked inviting and the pics and the prices on the menu displayed outside suggested that this would be a place for good steak at a cheap price. Seating wasn't an issue at almost 9pm and service was prompt enough. The cost of the 2 dishes below (and a drink) was about SGD 27 with the fish dish at about SGD 7 and the beef about SGD 17.

The Slog Reviews: 4/10. The cooking leaves a lot, and I mean a LOT to be desired. The sides were awful enough that most of it remained uneaten despite our best efforts. Nevermind about the wasting of one's $ here, dinner at this place made me feel that we'd wasted our "hard-to-get" parking lot at Serangoon Gardens too (which was a greater pity than the $ spent). The food at the hawker center beats the over-priced unsatisfying dishes and if one must have steak, the astons outlet just 10 foosteps away from this joint is the place to go to for better food at an almost similar price. Oh yes, and this place doesn't accept credit cards either. Thumbs down all the way.

Shutter Island (2010) Movie

This is one of those movies that sends me straight to google find all I can find on it so as to rid myself effectively of the niggling feeling of uncertainty left in my head (What was the ending?!). And it really didn't help that I missed the last 10mins of the movie (not through any fault of mine,)

Guess what? The result of googling didn't get rid of that niggling feeling - instead, I now know I absolutely have to watch the movie again as well as borrow the book (Shutter Island by Dennis Lehans) which the movie was adapted from. Apparently, one of the twists/parts left for intepretation by the viewer is right at the very end when the lead character asks/declares "Would you rather live as a monster or die as a hero?"

Assuming that the first twist to the movie was accurate ie that Teddy was actually an insane patient on the island who had shot dead his wife for drowning their 3 children due to a manic-depressive state, the debate on the net rages over whether the last line was a declarative statement. I read on the net that the author of the book said that his take that the sentence was not, because if it was, then the lobotomy would have been halted since Teddy shows self-awareness. Others on the net have taken the view that Teddy made the conscious choice to be lobotomised and have the memories of his past erased because he could not live with them - this view was derived based on the "look" that Teddy gave to Chuck/Dr Sheehan when Teddy made the statement and also given Teddy's sufferings - migraines and flashbacks and dreams of his beloved dead wife when he says oh, so brokenly, "please don't leave me". I particularly like the dream where she is in his arms and everything around including her turns to ashes (which gels with what Teddy believes in his delusional state as Andrew - that his wife died in a fire) but blood flows from her stomach (which is the real memory).

The Slog Reviews: 9/10. I can do no better than to quote one of the reviews I stumbled upon on the net "The point of "Shutter Island" is that there is no truth and there is no reality. The genius of the storyline is that two people can watch the film and walk away with completely opposite perceptions of what actually happened - and *both* and *neither* are correct all at once. What the movie is really attempting to show us is that one person's reality is another person's fantasy - a perfect demonstration of how the world is seen by the sane and the insane. " It also helps that the shots and acting is superb. If you are a fan of Leo, you might be saddened as I was by the deep crease between his eyes - ah, how fleeting youth can be!

Date Night (2010) Movie

A really good and comprehensive review of this movie can be found here.

The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. An entertaining but forgettable comedy. It was hilarious that everyone, including the crooks, were aghast and outraged by the 2 lead characters stealing another couple's reservation at a really popular restaurant resulting in a case of mistaken identity. Would you do that? Take another person's reservation at a restaurant by pretending to be that person (if it is apparent that the person isn't around at the time)? Anyway, the most serious theme explored briefly in the movie was the reality of marriage life but that aside, the rest of the movie was light-hearted with a mixture of slapstick comedy and repartees. Good for laughs at the end of a hard day is my take on this flick.

Grand Straits Garden Restaurant / Restoran (yet again)

As mentioned in my earlier post on this Grand Straits Garden Restaurant (click here), 1 of my food companions has developed an incurable and insatiable desire for the herbal prawns served by this restaurant so despite my suggestion to try other restaurants in JB, he bargained hard to satisfy his desire at this restaurant yet again...This is the third time that we've been there in 2 months and we are getting quite familiar with the staff there.

Now, this food companion is a creature of habit and he would have ordered the exact same items as the previous 2 times except that I put my foot down and as a minor concession, we ordered a different vegetable dish instead of the sambal kangkong which I still highly recommend. Since I've already reviewed the other 2 dishes in the pic, The Slog Reviews: 6.5/10 for the Poached Kow Kee with Century Egg & Salted Egg which cost RM21 for a small portion. Almost tasteless gravy with dark green spinach and eggs which isn;t worth the price or the calories. Do not order.

We waited 30mins for the dessert which we only after ordered the meal because the veg dish failed to, in my boss's parlance, "hit the spot". To be fair, the staff did warn us that the dessert would take that long to prepare because they had to do what we ordered - black sesame with ice cream- from scratch. Below is a pic of the dessert which cost RM8 each (SGD 3.50). The Slog Reviews: 8/10 - the dessert was well-presented with the hot sesame at the bottom and the cold ice cream melting on top and I would recommend this dessert to those looking to end a meal at the restaurant on a sweet note.

The cost of the meal (with 2 bowls of rice and 1 can of coke) came to RM90 (SGD 36) which I thought was a bit pricy for JB standards given that we had only ordered clams as live seafood. But I suppose that's the price to pay for the ambiance and service which is exceptionally better than other restaurants in JB.

The worst bak kut teh (in Johor at least) - Restoran Hong Tat Bak Kut Teh

I've been having an insatiable craving since last week for some really good bak kut teh (pork ribs in soup and spices), the kind where the meat slides off the bones and the boiling hebal soup leaves a pleasant aftermath on the tongue and in the belly. The kind found at the bak kut teh stall on the first floor of Hong Lim Complex hawker centre nearest Chinatown Pt or the kind found at the bak kut teh stalls at Beach Road for eg. Blissful Cafe (at No 29-31 Sultan Gate Tel No: 62988538) where I managed to satisfy my craving finally during lunch hour today with a small bowl of bak kut teh soup for SGD 5 only.

I have heard that there are quite a few famous bak kut teh stalls in JB and so, after work on a cold rainy day, I was insistent on having bak kut teh soup and having it without having to wait a long time because I was starving. The price to pay for my impatience and greed was an unpleasant experience eating at Restoran Hong Tat Bak Kut Teh located at No 93 Jln Sutera Tanjung 8/2, Tmn Sutera Utama 81300 Skudai.

The restaurant had quite a no. of people, was well-lit and clean so we decided to try out the place, figuring that it would be decent. Well, it wasn't. We ordered bak kut teh for 2 pp (RM16), 2 bowls of rice, and beancurd with minced pork (RM8). Here's a pic of the dishes.

The Slog Reviews: 0/10. Absolutely do not waste a penny eating at this shop. The bak kut teh soup was watery (without a strong herbal taste) and the meat was tough and tasteless. The portion meant for 2 was hardly sufficient for 1 person, with less than 6 small pcs of meat. There was barely enough soup and when we asked for a refill, the first refill came promptly enough but for our second request, we were ignored twice. Or rather, the server agreed to bring more soup but never did despite our reminders (She went about serving the other tables). Apparently this shop has been opened for 8 months and that should be long enough time for the food and service standards to be of far superior quality than what we had experienced. I would as such, recommend giving this restaurant a miss - a meal at the many other restaurants in the same area would no doubt yield a more pleasant and satisfying experience.

Prawn Fishing at Bishan again (2nd time)

Due to an opportunity to be in the North area, I decided to bring a colleague located in the North side, prawn fishing at Sin Ming Prawn Fishing during lunch-time. At about 12.30pm, there weren't too many people prawn fishing (about 5-6 groups per pond) and with the good weather and "beginner's luck" that she had, we had a great time catching these 7 prawns in the short one hour! And yes, the large blue big-head prawn was a most welcome surprise (her second prawn), large claws and all. All the prawns in our net are missing their claws because I used the plier to remove them before unhooking the prawns.

Having purchased the 3hrs package which cost SGD30 instead of 1hr SGD 15, I returned later in the night about 11pm to complete the balance 2 hours by myself. Apparently if you return after 24 hours, you would have to purchase 1 more hr to make 3 hrs. Anyway, even at 11pm on a weekday night, the place was crowded. I got a seat at the same spot where we sat in the afternoon next to an uncle who was using live fish as bait. From the prawns in his net, it was evident that fish makes a better bait than worms and chicken liver for prawns. We got to talking and he offered me a fish for bait. There was a take less than 8mins later but given the trouble of transporting live fishes, I'll be sticking to worms for now which can be purchased at SGD 4 and are easy to saw or just tear apart for bait.

The Slog Reviews: 9/10. Now, I did something absolutely stupid this time when prawn fishing. Instead of threading the net through the vertical part of the pole holder, because of the size of the loop,I threaded the net through the horizontal part instead and after half an hour of prawn fishing when I had caught about 4 prawns, the entire net slipped off and fell into the pond. I didn't realise what had happened until I caught the 5th prawn and could not find my net. The white-haired uncle behind the counter was sympathetic to my plight and used a bamboo pole to hook up my net. All my 4 prawns were gone of course...he said he would give me more so I continued to prawn fish until the 2 hours were up (the lady at the counter was very precise about the time which is the 1 thing I don't like about Bishan Prawn Fishing). True to his word, he got the Chinese lady to give me some prawns and she gave me about 7 small prawns. Added to my catch, I took home 14 prawns from the 2 hours. Now how's that for decency and good service - the prawn fishing place wasn't obliged to give me any prawns, much less when I had been careless in placing my net. Hence, as I said before and would stress again, human r/s are most impt when it comes to prawn fishing too! :D That being said, based on my previous experience, I would estimate that the average catch rate at Sin Ming Prawn Fishing is 7 prawns an hour per rod which brings the cost of each prawn to SGD1.50.

Up in the Air (2009) Movie

Every once in a long while, we happen to catch a movie that really speaks to us, that we can relate to, and this movie, Up in the Air ("UA") is that movie for me. So, my review of the movie is going to be far from partial.

The Slog Reviews: 9/10. It's not possible to review this movie at all. The most decent attempt I could find on the web is here. I don't think I could do better than that review. So, I'll just say that you have to sit there and watch it. All 2hours of it. And it will not be a waste of your limited time here on this earth.

As the director put it"The movie is about the examination of a philosophy. What if you decided to live hub to hub, with nothing, with nobody?"

The lead character, Ryan Bingham is depicted as living out the aforementioned philosophy in his job which involves flying an average of 11 months a year to various companies in the big US of A retrenching workers. He is shown at the start of the film to live out of a small cabin-sized suitcase with cordial but distant family ties to his two sisters. He gets elite status at airlines, hotels and car rentals by virtue of his frequent patronage and one of his goals is to be part of a club with less than 10 members in the whole world - the club where members have chalked up at least 10 million airmiles. He admits happily to never having considered marriage or children and is observed to be happier than those who are married. In fact, he gives motivational seminars where he encourages participants to imagine putting all that they own/all their relationship in a backpack. Participants are then asked to imagine the weight of all in the backpack, the straps biting into their shoulders and their progress forward slowed down by the heavy burden they tote around. In short, Ryan believes whole-heartedly that one should go through life unencumbered with anything (including relationships) and anyone.

That is until he meets 2 women in succession. 1 of them is Alex whom he meets at an airport lounge and is also a frequent flyer. She has an exceptionally amazing body (we see her naked from the back) seriously. Esp for a woman that age. The other woman is young Cornell graduate Natalie who is the flavor of the month with the boss of his company.Natalie seeks to introduce a new program which will reduce cost for the co - the new program will allow termination to be done via video teleconferencing instead of face to face with the workers to be laid-off. Anyway, Ryan gets romantically involved with Alex and when he describes the relationship with her as "casual" to Natalie, Natalie goes off on him about the importance of relationships and calls him immature. So Ryan decides to get more serious with Alex and invites her to his sister's wedding. There, the groom gets cold feet on the day of the wedding - ah, that's the part to watch-and the groom questions the whole point of it - marriage, having children, getting old and dying. Ryan is forced to give the groom a pep talk by Ryan's older sister, and the pep talk is against what Ryan has always believed in but he does such a good job of talking about going through life with a co-pilot that the groom gets up and proceeds with the wedding. Alex and Ryan's relationship are shown to deepen more during that period and when Ryan is asked to give a talk about the backpack, he walks out after the first sentence. He goes to Chicago where Alex is and finds out that she is married with kids. She calls him later and explains to him that all he is is an escape from her real life and that she is adult about it and he can still call her. He hangs up the phone without saying bye. After that he is shown to achieve his goal of 10million miles and when the captain asks him where he is from, he says from here - as in, up in the air, he doesn't have anywhere else or anyone to call home. When he goes back to the office, he finds that Natalie has quit. 1 of the axed workers they had met killed herself as she said she would.

Now through Natalie's character, 1 of the themes explored is about the humanity of terminating someone via any method than face to face. She introduces teleconferencing to terminate workers to save cost for the company but her boyfriend whom she said, fits her checklist and whom she moved to Omaha to be with, "terminates" the relationship with her via sms "we should see other pp". It is perhaps then that she has doubts about her work. And it comes to a head when she views the varied reactions of those who have been told that they are laid off - her planned standard reply of "people who have conquered mountains have sat where you have" seem inadequate in the face of the tears, fears and anger of those told "that their position in the company is no longer available". Natalie's character is also used to challenge Ryan's way of life. At 1 point, he asks her to sell him "marriage" and when she asks him "what about dying alone" he tells her that his parents died alone in a foster home and that everyone dies alone" ie marriage doesn't solve this problem at all. This sounds familiar to me - I've read that at the end of our life, all we have is ourselves and God. Ah well. Natalie's character is also used to illustrate how marriage is really about settling after some point in time. Alex tells her that by the time a woman is 34, all requirements (for a man) go out of the window, and a woman only hopes that he is taller, has a headful of hair although this isn't a deal breaker and that he earns more than she does.

So well, for those who know me, I guess from the parts of the movie that I've focused on above, it would be easy to see how I relate to the movie and the characters. The movie doesn't have a happy ending I'm afraid - it shows Ryan going back to his life before Alex and Natalie - the one time that he abandons his philosophy and reaches out for a co-pilot in his life (Alex), he crashes and gets burnt (she's married w kids and all he is, is an escape!). So, I guess the movie doesn't provide hope, could be said to be mildly depressing but hey, isn't that life or how one could choose to look at and live life?

Frog Porridge at Tmn Century JB

It wasn't in our grand plan that evening to have frog porridge but it was a cold stormy wet day and we didn't know where to get really good bak kut teh which I had been craving for. So we decided to check out the durian stall along Tmn Century instead and behind it was a frog porridge stall - the first that I've seen and eaten at in Johor Bahru. It had a huge signboard "Geylang Lor 9" which presumably is the name of the stall and from my research on the net, a branch of our own Singapore famous frog porridge stall at Geylang Lor 9.

Now, I haven't eaten at our local stall before, not being a die-hard fan of eating frogs (although I do admit that I like frog legs fried) but as I was hungry, irritated (the durian stall was closed) and cold (it was cold as I said), we decided to have dinner at this stall/restoran on a whim. The menu looks like this - nothing more is printed on the back. The prices are clearly stated and I believe, due to the exchange rate difference, 20% cheaper than our local stall's.

The restaurant has indoor (airconditioning with 2 washrooms) seating and outdoor seating. Even though it was a weekday evening (Thurs?), the restaurant filled up rather quickly with both locals and our own fellow countrymen which leads one to the reasonable assumption that this branch is doing very well across the causeway. There are quite a number of employees, predominantly young local chinese-speaking males clad in red (see pic below) who while not the most generous with smiles, do a decent enough job of taking orders and bringing the food to you.
This is the frog porridge with 2 frogs (RM20) which we shared along with another bowl of plain porridge. It arrived steaming hot with the tender white chopped parts of two frogs mixed in near the bottom. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Frog meat is 1 of the most tender meat around, softer than chicken even and without the fishy taste of fish. The frog meat in this bowl was no exception to the rule and the porridge was a thick gruel which proved to be filling and warm but rather bland.

We also ordered another dish per the pic below which consist of fried seaweed and chopped vegetable. I'm not sure what the name of the dish is (it was in Chi) but as you might have noticed, this dish is not on the menu. Because of the limited selection, we had asked our server if there were other vegetable dishes and after much hesitation, he suggested this dish. The cost was RM 8 but it really was quite tasty and the seaweed went well with the porridge.

The Slog Reviews: Total cost of a bowl of 2-frog porridge, plain porridge, barley drink and the seaweed dish above was RM33 which is about SGD 13 only for a filling dinner for 2 on a cold day.