Beef - Wagyu Beef Grade 6 from Astons Specialities and Hock Lam Beef Noodles

Remember the last review I wrote about Hock Lam Street beef kway teoh (click here) where I gave the food a 6/10? Well, after having the take-away bowl of beef noodles below, I've decided to revise my opinion about the food. The bowl of beef noodles was fabulous on its own ie without comparison against the past experience eating the same. Maybe it is a one-off thingy, maybe it was a different chef, or maybe takeaway beef noodles is nicer than beef noodles eaten there (because the noodles were allowed to soak in the gravy for a longer period of time?), I'm not sure. All I know is that being the queen of second chances does pay off once in a blue moon and agreeing to have the beef noodles below is one of those times. :)

However if one is looking for consistency in the standards of beef at not too exhorbitant prices, I would recommend Astons Prime. Astons Specialities at Sembawang isn't too far off the mark either - it is value for money per my earlier review but based on my experiences there, I would only order the wagyu beef there and not the other options like Ribeye etc. The last time I was at Astons Specialities was somewhere back in June just before my SZ/HKG trip. We had the Wagyu Beef Grade 6 which came with 2 sides and was priced most decently at about SGD37 each. The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. The beef was just the right thickness and cooked so perfectly that each bite of the meat retained its full flavor. All beef lovers should have wagyu beef at least once a month I think.

Happy Chef and Chicken Kiev

My CEB had been craving for chicken kiev for quite some time and although I tried to find some other place in Singapore which sells chicken kiev, the results of my search pointed to just one place - Happy Chef Western Food.

Because I'd been there all of 2 times, my CEB and I made a wrong turn getting there but eventually found the place which is located right along the side road branching off North Bridge Road named "Crawford Lane". The nearest carpark is the one with cashcard parking gantries. Happy Chef is right smack in the middle of the stalls of that coffeeshop and appears to be your rather ordinary Western food stall except for the many newspaper articles about the place pasted on the pillar in front of the stall.

One has to make payment upfront right after ordering from the rather extensive menu with the prices clearly displayed next to a picture of each food item. Cash terms of course. My CEB had the chicken kiev at SGD6.50 which was served quickly enough but had been cut into 3 pieces:


The Slog Reviews: ?/10. The reason for the ? is that I didn't get to have even a bite of the chicken kiev. Now, my CEB claimed it wasn't as good as the ones he had in UK when he studied there BUT he totally forgot to offer me a bite which is quite, unlike him. And he finished all of the kiev rather quickly so I guess it mustn't have been too awful. On a side note, if one wants to buy frozen chicken kiev, one can go to the shop specialising in frozen meat near Cold Storage at Parkway Parade.

I on the other hand, had the battered fish. The Slog Reviews: 6/10. The fish neither tasted fresh (but that doesn't mean it wasn't fresh) nor impressed the taste buds in any way. The chips were also tasteless and hard, much like the veg which was served along with the fish. After reading more about Happy Chef on the net, it seems that the dish to order is the pork ribs so one might want to give the fish a miss and try that instead.


Address:
466 Crawford Lane
11am to 10pm daily

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010) movie

We decided to take a leisurely drive back to Singapore after leaving Melaka about 3+pm. So instead of taking the North-South Highway, we followed the direction of the signboards that said "Muar" and from "Muar", we followed the signboards that said "Batu Pahat". We reached Batu Pahat Mall's cineplex about 5.45pm and because my CEB had watched almost all the movies showing without yours truly, he agreed to watch the only non-Malay movie he hadn't watched so far "The Owls of Ga'Hoole" although it had started at 5.30pm.

By the time we sat down, we had missed the start of the movie which usually sets the stage of the movie and we hadn't a clue what the movie was about at all but it didn't take along for us to cotton on - bad (the Pure Ones) versus good (the Guardians). The hero of the movie was, as with most movies these days, a young (and yes, don't we all bemoan the loss of our youth) owlet named Soran, who makes the decision to break free from the Pure Ones when he realises that the Pure Ones aren't that pure. His brother, Kludd on the other hand, buys into the Pure Ones' evil plans wholeheartedly.

The Slog Reviews: 7/10. We didn't watch this movie in 3D (which after readings some reviews, is a far better watch than in 2D) and while we enjoyed it moderately, we felt that there was nothing novel or impressive about the movie - the plot or storyline. Both of us agreed that the movie reminded us of the epic "Lord of the Rings" movie even though the characters are of course, vastly different. I guess it is because of some of the scenes - the owls donning on battle gear aka the trolls, Kludd falling back into the flames aka golum It was also difficult to identify with Soren or any of the other characters too and although the owl-warrior-poet "Twilight" got some laughs from the audience, the humor was slapstick and far from witty. I am not sure about children's capacity for violence these days and although the fighting scenes were not gory, I'm not sure if I'll like my child watching talons being sharpened to a vicious shine, owls using their claws to tear at each other and brother turning on brother etc...

Effective Communication

At our company's cocktail event last week, we had a workshop on effective communication. It was one of the better workshops that I've attended and so I thought I'll write it down the tips I'd jotted down. Toolbox for making great connections 1) Eye Contact 2) Body Language 3) Words (Finding things in common) 4) Intonation/Enounciation 5) Style (Delivery - informal/informal) 6) First impresions (Looks, Status, Dressing, Voice, Handshake, Smile, Manners, Presentation of oneself) What makes a great communicator great 1) Clarity (Organised Thoughts) 2) Good Tone 3) Ability to articulate 4) Knowledge of what he is talking about 5) Able to keep the listener's attention 6) Able to obtain respect and rapport 7) Engaging 8) Good listener 9) Empathy (put yourself in the other person's shoes and imagine how they feel) Dangers of not communicating well Confusion, conflict, reduced productvity (wastage), ruined relationship, affects your reputation/image, affects your company's image Door openers (Non-webal, verbal) Smile, Nodding, Look concerned (approprirately), Looking interested, handshake, turn and face the speaker Say "Right", "Really", "That's interesting" Active listening An active listener will: 1) show genuine facial expressions 2) use good eye contact and body language 3) occasionally show understanding 4) provide regular verbal feedback 5) ask questions requiring more detail 6) ask a balance of open and closed questions 7) show patience and empathy 8) acknowlege the enthusiasm in the speaker's message 9) reflect back and think before replying 10) keep an open mind 11) listen to understand instead of listening to agree/disagree In short, active listening = empathetic listening 1) Encourages the speaker to speak 2) Confirms understanding 3) Show that you are interested 4) Reduces possibility of misunderstanding 5) Encourages speaker to develop the message and his/her feelings 6) Shows care and understanding rather than you are demanding and controlling How to paraphrase "So what you are telling me is..." "Am I right to say...." "In other words...." "What I am hearing you say is that...." "So basically you feel that..." "I see. You that that...." Other tips 1) Slow down (speech) 2) Keep language simple 3) Enunciate (use whole mouth) 4) Emphasize for meaning 5) Check for understanding 6) Have a clear goal 7) Be courteous even if stressed 8) Listen effectively 9) Encourage positive thinking 10) Treat the listener how THEY (and not you) wish to be treated

Banking in Malaysia

I am aware of the CLOB incident where many fellow Sporeans lost their hard-earned monies. I don't believe for a moment that my monies will be safe in Malaysia, esp when I don't have a Msian citizen as a joint account holder (that option which was once open to me, no longer is).

However, after an evaluation of the pros and cons, as well as weighing the likelihood of losing everything, I decided to open a bank account with one of their most (if not, the most) established banks starting with the letter M. Actually, I was a bit more ambitious than that and decided to open an account with another of their banks starting with the letter R.

I checked the websites most carefully on the requirements before going down to the branch and prepared the necessary - passport, NRIC and even, my utilities bill. The lady at the counter that day told me I could not open a savings account but only a current account which had a charge of RM5 a month. Only after I'd asked if there were any other options which weren't quite so expensive did she offer the alternative of an account (current) with a charge of RM10 every 6 months. However, she required RM1000 for that account and thankfully I had that amount. However, my CEB had some doubts and the long-short was that we agreed to check out other options available such as R bank before commiting. We even went to another branch of M bank to ask about opening the account there but was told that "system is down - come back another day".

So last weekend, after a couple of emails from R bank informing me I could not open any account whatsoever with them, I went back to M bank and there was a different lady at the counter. She informed me that I was only eligible to open the account with a RM5 monthly charge. It was only when I firmly insisted that the lady the week before had processed the forms half way for me for the other account that she finally conceded that I could open this other type of account. BUT BUT, she wanted to make it tough - not only did she want my NRIC, Passport, copy of my utilities bill, the RM 1000 and also evidence of where I worked, something which wasn't required before. Anyway, to get the account open, rather than argue with her, I gave her my namecard which apparently was good enough.

She told me to wait for the girl at the next counter to process the forms and sat there we did. For a full one hour. Now, the girl was doing nothing, attending to no one else but her colleagues who came over to slouch in the chairs opposite and joke with her. At the end of one hour, when the other lady asked her if she was done, she just said "System problem". The other lady took over and immediately used the same computer which had a "system problem" to complete the processing in all of the next 15mins. When I groused about to my CEB, he said that if this country was as efficient as ours, we would be in serious trouble and therefore if I insisted on banking here in Msia, I would have to put up with stuff like this. Fine.

So, after the processing was completed, the lady gave my a Visa Debit card and a paper card which stated just my name and my account number. Except that it stated Savings Account instead of Current Account above my account number. When I questioned her, she said it didn't matter. And when I asked her for a copy of the forms which I'd signed on for the account opening, she said that these were not available to customers. I even asked her for a pamplet on this current account which states the rates/charges/interest and she told me the bank had none to give as all the information is on the website. Great. Just great.

And so to top it all off, when I "login-ed" to internet banking this morning, I found that RM8 had been deducted as bankard annual fees payment. I called the head office in KL to check and they told me it was because I'd applied for unlimited withdrawals. I told them I most definitely hadn't and they told me to call the JB branch. I asked if there was a possibility of reversal of the charge and she said I should just accept the fees paid for this one year. Fantastic Eh.

It gets even better - when I asked her if payment of petrol using the visa debit cards = withdrawals, she said no. She asked if anyone told me that there would be a deduction of RM 200 each time I used the card for petrol withdrawal which would subsequently be credited back to the account after 5 days and the correct amount charged then. I said no. Well, apparently it is something that wasn't mentioned to me despite me telling the lady at the branch my primary purpose of opening the freaking account.

Msia banking boleh indeed.

CIMB credit card and Nijyumaru

I received my CIMB credit card in the mail sometime when I was in Cairns (along with the new Standchart Platinum Mastercard AND a Standchart Preferred World Mastercard which I most certainly didn't even apply for - but I'm not complaining because of the vouchers that came with the cards, and the 25000 free stdchart pts for the Preferred card which I can redeem S$100 worth of Tangs vouchers with).

Anyway, the CIMB credit card came with a book on all the benefits/privileges attached to the card. There was a seperate section on discounts at restaurants in JB and I've decided that we should try out the different restaurants listed there. If my food companion, my CEB, had the final say in this matter (where we eat), I'll be eating and writing about the same places over&over again, like at his favourite Japanese restaurant in JB, Nijyumaru. I like the place very much too, don't get me wrong (see my first review of the place here (this entry has the address of both outlets)). However, variety is the spice of life, and all the more so when it comes to food :D

So, since CEB specifically requested that I blog about how good the food is here, esp the "red-wine beef cubes" which he claims is even better than the horrendously expensive double rib eye premium steak in Saigon which we had on my birthday (another post for that),I've decided to take the photos from our most recent dining experience at Nijyumaru (4 Sept 2010) and write about the experience.

My CEB loves tuna sashimi (not salmon) and it was no surprise that he ordered this:

Given the speed he finished the contents of the bowl (which wasn't too large), I guessed it must have been pretty good. To confirm, I asked him specifically how the food was and he said "Good".

I had my favourite Jap noodles - cha soba. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. I would say this dish is excellent value for money at just RM11. That's lesser than the cost of a cha soba packed lunch at the supermarket near my work place! This dish even came with a raw egg (which I wasn't too sure what to do with and left untouched). The only grouse I have is that there was a tad too little tea to soak the noodles in.

I also ordered 2 grilled scallops to go with the cha soba. The Slog Reviews: 5.5/10. I wouldn't recommend this dish at all. At RM[cant remember need to check the receipt], it wasn't worth the money because firstly, it was badly cooked and the meat stuck to the flesh and secondly, it was badly cooked (I just have to say that again hah) and the meat tasted gritty and sandy.

And of course, we ordered my CEB's favourite red wine beef. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. The beef is certainly well-marinated and tasty, and no, you can't go too far wrong ordering this dish (RM21) but I guess my CEB and I have quite different views when it comes to this dish. I found the beef too mushy to my liking, it lacks the texture of the beef at Aston Prime where one's teeth can literally sink in slowly to the meat.

Oh, and one thing about Nijyumaru, they always ask if one has made reservations, even if the party is small (like 2-3 pp). I've never made reservations and never had to wait for a table but then again, I've always made sure to go to the restaurant either slightly later (8+) or earlier (6+) instead of dinner time. However the fact that they ask (for reservations) is telling and those with a bigger party should make reservations.

Kirishima Shuzhou Japanese Restaurant

I was clearing out my office drawers this morning and I found the receipt for this restaurant which I'd kept for the purpose of blogging. But of course, per the previous entry, I haven't done so and now not just my memory of this experience, but the receipt as well is blurred, very blurred.

Anyway, I'd been told repeatedly that this is THE restaurant that Japanese in JB go to for a meal. So if one is looking for a place in Johor Bahru which has jap food that taste very similar to that found in Japan, Kirishima and not Nijyumaru, is the place to go. So one weekday evening in late June, because of the hour (8pm), we decided to forgo the usual grocery shopping and just have dinner (and pump petrol of course) in JB. Parking at Crystal Crown Hotel which is where the restaurant is located cost RM3. Here's a pic of the entrance of the restaurant on the second floor of the hotel (accessible through the lobby).


The menu which was rather impressive looking (despite the words "Japanese casual style dining) had a wide range of items for us to choose from. As we were pretty hungry, we ordered the sets. I ordered the Soba Takikomi which cost RM38 and this is just 2/3 of the set. The rest of the set (consisting of chawan mushi etc) can be seen in the last pic.

My CEB on the hand, who eats sashimi unlike The Slog, ordered the xxxx (receipt has blurred) Gozen which cost RM48. We were absolutely floored by the size of the set when it was served!

We also shared a Agedashi Dofu (RM 12) and if my memory serves me rightly, this dish was the only one which wasn't too our liking. Not that it wasn't good, but it tastes rather different from the agedashi tofus that we have at Jap restaurants here.


The bill for the food alone (see pic below) was RM98 but with the govt tax of 5% and svc charge of 10%, the total amt payable was RM112.70 altogether. That's why we end up going into Msia so often - it's impossible to get this amt and quality of food at a restaurant in a hotel for less than SGD 50 in Singapore!



Here are the restaurant's details:
Open from 12.00-2.30pm / 6.00-10.30pm throughout the year.
Address: 117, Jalan Tebrau, 80250 Johor Bahru, Johor. (Crystal Crown Hotel)
Tel: 07-276 2838

The Expendables (2010)

With a title like that, and a star-studded cast of action veterans from the 1980s to 1920s, it is no wonder that this movie opened at No 1 in the box offices of USA, UK and even China.

Now, this is strictly a guys movie IMHO. I grew up with Sly (short for Sylvester Stallone) who was my Dad's action hero of all times, and I adored Arnie (short for Arnold Schwarzenegger) ever since watching Terminator. Jason Statham is wicked (love his acting in Crank) and all Chinese know Jet Li of course. However, it took my learned colleague's explanation of how unique the fight scenes in this movie are (because of how the action veterans are paired up) before I could appreciate the movie, or rather, the purpose of the star-studded cast.

The Slog Reviews: 7/10. The plot is rather thin (you can read a review by clicking here) and all the "good guys" survive. Girly girls should give this movie a miss but guy guys would love this movie (esp the older guy guys)

Salt (2010) Movie

A superb action-packed movie. The Slog Review: 10/10. And if course, it doesn't help that Angelina Jolie is my favourite actress...hmmm, can't think of any movie of hers which I have dissed but Salt, Salt is a great movie with the story twists and non-stop action.

Salt (Jolie's character) turns out to be a Russian spy indeed - the major twist to the movie is that she has a change in heart, turns her back to the Russians and even turns on her mentor (kills him in retaliation for killing her husband in front of her). Another significant twist is that her boss/colleague turns out to be one of the hard core terrorist plants too by the Russians and whom she manages to kill too by strangling/breaking his neck with the cuffs around her wrists (she has to jump off the stairs to do this by the way).

Watch this movie to forget the real world out there (and to marvel at God's work of art - Jolie herself). :)

Inception (2010) Movie

Yum Cha at Serangoon Country Club

Ah, Yum Cha. I'm writing this post exactly one month since we were there and for the life of me, I can't quite remember what we ordered. However, as with most things we experience, while the details escape us, we usually remember how we felt.

We hadn't quite planned on going to Yum Cha but finding parking at Serangoon Gardens around 8pm was close to impossible. As we were literally starving, we decided to park at the country club (which cost us almost SGD 4 for about 2 hours) which would mean having dinner at Yum Cha located at the club itself. The service was very prompt and the servers professional and attentive. The decor and ambiance of the Chinese restaurant was pleasing enough, much like that of a good hotel's restaurant.

The first dish we had was some beef dish (let me see if I can find the receipt with the name of the dish) cooked with milky gravy. From the pic, it is pretty clear that food presentation was done very well. What is not clear however is how good this dish was. The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. Bite-sized tender chunks of boneless meat bursting with "meaty juiciness" combined with the full rich milky flavor of the gravy. Very good indeed!

Next up was this dish that cost SGD 16. Organic vegetables and mushrooms. I wouldn't have ordered this dish if I had a choice but since I wasn't dining alone, my food companion had a say too and to my misery, ordered this dish from the menu. The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. Although it is a tad bit expensive for just some veg, the fleshy thick mushrooms and the gravy more than made up for it. A must-try for mushroom lovers despite the price.

Ah, and the final dish, the dish which I had selected - cheese-baked lobster noodles. The cost was SGD 24 and the portion sufficient for 2. The Slog Reviews: 7/10. Nothing jaw-dropping about this dish except for the price tag. For that amount of lobster meat and the rather ordinary tasting noodles, I wouldn't suggest ordering this dish at all. If one wants lobsters per se, there are far better places to be having them. And as for the noodles without lobster, that's less than half the price. Conclusion? Do not order.

The total cost for the 3 dishes was about SGD 76.30 after a 10% discount (DBS credit card). As we have been thoroughly spoilt by JB food prices, I found the price a wee bit too steep for my liking although it was money well spent (heck, we were celebrating an unexpected revision of the Slog's humble wages!). To conclude, this yum cha outlet at Serangoon Country Club is definitely a place to consider if you have to bring the folks out or a Mother/Father's day celebration and cost isnt a consideration at all.

22 Kensington Park Road (Serangoon Garden Country Club)
Singapore 557271
Tel : 6343 1717

Opening Hours:
Mon to Fri: 11am - 3pm, 6pm - 11pm
Sat, Sun & Public Holidays: 9am - 3pm, 6pm - 11pm

Toy Story 3 (2010) Movie

Ohhhhh, "Pixar has done it again" sums up this movie nicely.

The Slog Reviews: 8/10. My movie companion had to watch it in 3D of course and I'll have to say that we both went away content despite the price of the 3D movie tickets. I can't give the movie 10/10 because my taste in movies have somewhat changed and I found the animation just a little too unrealistic and young. Gosh, I AM growing old...might that do with my birthday coming up next month I wonder. ( I am writing this entry on 23 July despite the post date which was when I entered the title of this entry so I wouldn't forget). But enough about me. In this movie, the whole gang is back from Mr PotatoHead to SlinkyDog and the indispensable Buzz Lightyear, Jessy and Woody. The villians or the really bad villian is Lotso Bear, a bear who was once loved by his owner but accidently abandoned and then replaced. A really detailed synopsis of the movie can be found here so I won't write anymore about that. Watch, if not for the 3D (which is nothing too outstanding unlike Despicable Me), for themes of faith, friendship and moving on explored in this movie.

She's out of my league (2010) movie

I haven't updated so long for various reasons. Primarily because I was out of the country (and we all know which countries block access to blogs) and also because I have been so busy at work that I haven't had the time and juice/energy to write an entry on top of all the writing I have been doing.

I have a teleconference starting at 4pm, 20mins later from now and I actually have to backdate this post written today on 15 July so that my posts will be in date sequence when I publish. Am I even making sense? What I meant was that I have 4 entries in draft forms unpublished from June and if I were to publish this post with the current date, those entries will appear below this post which wouldn't make much sense. Of course, I could move this post by amending its date to the appropriate date later but I fear I'll be buried too deep under the avalanche of work to remember or do that. We'll see, like everything else.

For now, I just want to talk about something else other than work so what better topic than a rather senseless comedy with no big names which I watched last night till 2pm "She's out of my league". Don't ask me why I stayed up watching this show - it's just one of those movies required for major "de-stressing"where my brain cells can take a 2 hours break.

The Slog Reviews: 6/10. A girl who is rated a perfect 10 (figure, face, law degree and event planner that makes at least 15 grand per event) selects a rather wimpy kid who is not a college graduate to be her bf because, as she admits, he is safe, he wouldn't hurt her like her ex who cheated on her did. She is attracted to his honesty, his goofiness and just when they are about to do the dirty, they have this huge fight because he admits to being disappointed that her flaw (webbed feet) is so minor. She screams at him that he is insecure yada yada and he walks out on her. In fact, he goes back to his ex-gf who had initially left him for another guy but now wants him back when she sees the perfect 10. And because it's a movie, the perfect 10 actually chases after this geek and tells him that in her eyes he is a 10 and he likewise at the same time decides he is good enough for her. This show is only good for some laughs...and moments that make you cringe and thank the stars you aren't anything like that wimpy kid.

Nanny McPhee and The Big Bang (2010) Movie

My movie companion wasn't keen to watch this movie which is a family film but having watched and enjoyed the first movie (Nanny McPhee) way back in 2005 (was it that long?), I had my way and despite his initial reservations, we enjoyed this movie quite thoroughly.

The Slog Reviews: 9/10. The positive reviews (click here for the plot too) for Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang which is a spin off (and not a sequel since the plot and characters (save for Nanny Mc Phee) are different), are quite well-deserved. Despite the target audience being children, the movie managed to effectively engage and elicit laughter from the adults in the theatre throughout the movie. I particularly loved the ending of the movie, ah, now if only life would be just like such feel-good movies. A very good Brit movie to conclude and well worth the time spent watching it.

Hock Lam Street Popular Beef Kway Teow

We had lunch today at Hock Lam Street's beef kway teow newly renovated restaurant which is a far cry from their previous place. Co-incidentally, I had lunch there with my food companion a couple of weeks ago too (which is when I snapped these pics but never got around to blogging) so I had the opportunity to try both to the soup and dry version of the popular beef noodles.
Here is a picture of the menu - the options boil down to a combination of cow parts (sliced beef, tripe, brisket, beef liver, beef ball and tendon) that one selects. Although there are 3 options - small, medium and large, the servers tend to encourage one to have the medium portion. As I'm not a fan of innards, on my first visit, I ordered slice beef and beef balls in soup. The Slog Reviews: 6/10. The soup was rather light on the palate and the first thought that I had after a mouthful of beef noodles was that...I could have this same dish at a food court for lesser than SGD6, nevermind the history of this stall (as proudly displayed on the walls).

The second time, I decided to have the dry version which came with rather delicious looking gravy. The Slog Reviews: 6/10. All 5 of us ended up rather disappointed with our beef noodles which left us feeling far from satisfied. The standard of the beef noodles at Hock Lam is rather dismal and I wouldn't recommend the place to anyone looking for a satisfying meal. The quantity of noodles provided is sufficient but the quality of the gravy and all leaves much to be desired.

Address: Seah Street, a few shops down from Sin Swee Kee Chicken Rice.

Fishing at Nenasi in early June on King Chong's boat

Being really sick this month (June) didn't stop me from doing what I love most. I'd a fever of 38 for two days before the trip, lost my voice, was coughing madly and choking on phelgm but there was absolutely no way I was going to miss this fishing trip which I had been looking foward to. No way - no one (and there were many) and nothing (threats, exhortions, well-meaning advice) would stop me from going on this trip.

Not sure if other anglers feel the same but I feel akin to a soldier when I take up my rod and reel - my weapons against the fishes of the deep. The pic below is a shot of the "weapons" (each person brought or 1/2 sets) that the 8 of us used on the trip. Mr Brad and Ms G-Loomis set is amongst them but not my penn reel and shakespeare rod set which I'd kept after the first day.

On the first day, I landed about 3 groupers, 1 of which is the largest grouper I've caught to date. I caught the fellow somewhere late morning when I was just sitting there holding on to my rod to make sure it didn't get tangled with the other anglers' lines. I felt a jerk on the end of my line and I sprang up like a jack-in-the-box from my sitting position while jerking upwards on the rod to set the hook. The greasy grouper didn't stand a chance against the Bradmis whichI worked slowly and steadily - the grouper did give several hard jerks along the way up to make for its hideout but the hook had been set firm and pretty soon, it was lying on the floor of the boat. I am bringing my camera for the next trip and checking the shots after it's taken - the photographer this time had a Canon SLR and I can't say I am pleased at all with the picture below showing only half my fish!



The rest of the afternoon was quiet and I was too sick to go sabiking or jigging with my second rod and reel (the penn set) even though it was all set up. I tried for a while though but the rod tip of the shakespeare rod was too soft (this is the first time I've taken the 10 year old made in usa thing out to nenasi) and could not impart my actions effectively to the jig or sabiki. My friend on the other hand caught an ebek when jigging, filling me with hapless envy. The next trip in August, I'm determined to land me an ebek through jigging too. About 4pm, the boatman decided to take us to a tripletail spot as it was the triple tail season but unlike my previous trip to Rompin, this boatman didn't bring us to any secret spots and the deckie this time was most lazy and unhelpful. If you asked me, even though I paid about SGD100 more for the last trip, it was worth it because it was non stop tripletail action for an hour. Here, it was, "not enough bait fish", "catch your own bait fish" "wait for an hour without action". If I hadn't a prior experience that I could use for comparison I might have thought that this was normal fishing. Anyway, I did manage to catch 1 big fat bastard of a triple tail - that's me with Ms G-Loomis bent right over.

And the size of the tripletail on the other end? Only this. These fishes may not be too large in length but they are pure muscle as I've said before in my previous catch report (click here), and must not be underestimated. I was considered lucky to catch this tripletail because there were those who had a bait on without a bite at all fishing at the same spot as I was. However, it isn't about luck alone - it's about what I learnt from the past experience at Rompin from the very experienced boatman and deckie - tripletails go for bloody meat. Not just bait fish, but baitfish sliced and as bloody as possible. So try to slice up your bait fish instead of leaving them alive.



The next day, the boatman brought us for tripletail in the morning which I thought was strange because from my experience at Rompin, tripletails feed the most about 4-5pm. However, I wasn't going to be the smarty pants around since I still can't connect my leader to braided line with an FG knot (I'm hopeless at it!) so I joined the group near the unjung, used my hook to tear at the meat of my live bait till there was blood and lowered the bait into the water. Thanks to my fantastic ZeroRh+ sunglasses, I could see some distance into the water and as I was reeling back my bait to check on it, a fish came swimming out of nowhere heading for my bait. I stopped reeling and to my delight, the fish took my bait. I counted to five and jerked hard upwards to set the hook (oh, believe me I've learnt never to not set hook after that cost me the first prize in the fishing competition in Sabah). My friend's wife next to me said that the fish didn't look like a tripletail and from the action below, I could tell she was right. Despite the size of the cobia, it didn't have half the strength and fight of a tripletail. Anyway, this was a really small cobia, even compared to the one I'd caught before (click here) and it didn't go for any runs or put up much of a fight. Still, I was happy to have caught the cobia because cobia porridge is great! :)



These were all the fishes that our weapons had conquered - out of the pile, I caught more than half of the fishes. Haha. Okay, there's my cobia, my tripletail, my 3 groupers....and also, 1/2 of all the Huang Xiao Jies (the yellow tailed/finned bait fishes on the right which taste great deep fried - not sure what the eng name of the fish is). After catching the cobia, the rest of the afternoon was so quiet despite the boatman changing spots that I changed the rig to sabiki on the Bradmis and enjoyed massacring the Huang Xia Jie clans in the sea. Sabiki-ing when it's quiet can be very fun but one must learn how to remove the fish from hooks oneself or one would be an annoyance when one reels up 3 to 6 squirming small fishes on sabiki. 1 of the other anglers who had a lousy day the day before and today (1 fish each day) said that he wouldn't mind the huang xiao jies so while everyone ate lunch I sabiki-ed and he stood by unhooking the fishes. It was fun - not serious angling but still...fun :)

Anyway, how we divided the fish was by lucky draw with 8 piles for 8 anglers so that no one would go home empty-handed. However, as a concession, each of us were allowed to pick one fish we had caught to be put in our pile and of course, I picked the largest grouper I had caught to date and here it is after a 3 hours journey back in an icebox from Nenasi to my kitchen sink.

Here are the rest of the fishes that I got in the pile - not too many like the last few times but quite enough till the next fishing trip! :D

I can't wait till the next fishing trip! :D

Tokumika Jap Restaurant (second time) and Ice3

The thing about my food companion is that if he finds a place that he likes, he goes back there again and again. After our first visit to Tokumika and an almost daily request from him to eat there again, we ended up there once more on a Tues night after work. The place was deserted but filled slowly with 3 other couples which meant I could take a better shot of the interior of the restaurant with my camera phone.

My food companion loves sashimi and he ordered the Goshina Sashimi Set (5 diff types of sashimi) and a complimentary Tori Karaage (fried chicken). I ordered the beef sukiyaki again and the total cost of the meal came ot SGD 48.80 which I thought was pricy by JB standards. The problem with going over the causeway so often for good food is that I have a problem spending money in Singapore restaurants now. For eg, I thought that the rice and miso set at SGD 3 in Tokumika was pretty steep when, on hindsight, it should be considered pretty standard. The Slog Reviews: 7/10. People have told me that the mark of a good Jap restaurant is one where Japanese go to and in this aspect, Tokumika on the both occasions I have been there, is woefully lacking in. No complaints about the service and decor as before but unless it starts to attract the Japanese crowd or runs some promotion with some credit card companies, I don't see this place being on the list of popular/famous restaurants.

And no, the dessert below isn't from Tokumika but from Ice3 Cafe at Serangoon Gardens which we adjourned to after dinner. There was a promotion on the crepes (50% off every Tues) so we each ordered the same which took rather long (almost half an hour) to arrive. The reason, I suppose, is because the cafe only has 1 machine which makes crepes and each crepe can be customised by the customer. For eg, I chose peach filling, walnuts, chocolate sauce and walnut icecream for my crepe. The Slog Reviews: 7/10. An ice cream parlor more for teenagers than those past their prime - the crowd inevitably reminds one of one's age. Free flow of water (self-service) and a large range of ice cream which unfortunately, failed to impress the sensory buds (the first time we went to this cafe we had 8 scoops of ice cream!) again.



NB: Tokumika Jap Restaurant has been closed since end August 2010

Fish Soup at Chiang's Restaurant @ Geylang Lor 20

I'd posted pics on my Facebook account of the Teochew restaurant experience in Melaka, and a good friend who was Teochew recommended that I try the promfret dish at a coffeeshop located at Geylang Lor 20. So one day after work, I was struck by an inexplicable urge to have promfret and persuaded my companion for that evening to try out the food there too. We managed to find the place without much difficulty and even secured a parking lot right in front of the coffeeshop. However, the friend who had recommended me the place had neglected to mention that this lorong had chickens/prostitutes and seeing them was a brutal reminder that there was a profession that had been around longer than mine 

We asked for the menu which had very limited items and everyone at the coffeeshop seemed to be having the promfret soup or hotpot so we ordered a bowl of SGD10 promfret soup to share between the two of us. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. The soup was very tasty and there was a fair amount of thick fish slices. However, there were some slices which included the fine bones of the fish which made the slice quite inedible unless one scrapped the meat off the bones. We also ordered the prawn omelette. The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. This dish was done very well I must say - the egg omelette was light and fluffy and didnt taste the least bit oily. The prawns in the omelette were tender and somehow blended in very well with the egg instead of being hard individual prawn pieces. I would order that dish again if I went back to the restaurant After dinner, because the fish soup and prawn omelette didn't quite hit the spot, I wanted to have dessert and the servers at the stall told us we could get dessert around Lorong 25. So we walked past the No Signboard restaurant and further along till we spotted a large white sign on the opposite side of the road that read Yong De and Famous Beancurd. I ordered a bowl of beancurd with peanuts while my companion ordered a you tiao and soya bean milk. The total cost was slightly less than SGD 5 and proved to be a rather unremarkable finish to the night. The Slog Reviews: 7/10. The beancurd was ordinary to the point of blandness even wtih the peanuts. I wouldn't recommend going specially to this place for beancurd at all unless one is around the area. Rochor Beancurd tastes far better and is smoother.

A-team (2010) Movie

The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Everyone close to me is raving about this movie but while I found it full of action and humor with a decent enough plot (again, another movie attacking the integrity of the CIA), I wouldn't give it a 10/10 because one doesn't quite manage to connect or identify with the 4 characters. A movie that would be bettery enjoyed when watched on the big screen because of the action. If you want to read about the plot of the movie, click here.

Jonker 88 - the best dessert and nyonya asam laksa shop in Melaka

No doubt about it. If you are a dessert lover, esp a chendol lover, you cannot miss going to Jonker 88. I managed to snap a pic of the rather extensive menu while in the queue.

The pic below shows the dessert being prepared. Self-service all around so one is advised to have a friend go into the shop to secure seats first and have another friend queuing for the dessert.
Do not be deceived by the pic below of the interior of the shop which I took.At first, I wasn't sure if we had to queue first at the narrow entrance of the place for our dessert first before getting a seat but thankfully the heat forced me to enter the shop to see if I could get a table for my colleagues first so they didn't have to wait in the sun. And, every single blasted table was occupied with people standing around. Not a single spare table and I was desperate enough to unshamedly enlist the help of one of the servers to help me get a table.

Thankfully he pointed me to a table where the group of pp were about finishing their food and we managed to get a table. I queued outside for the dessert while another colleague queued outside for the laksa. The 5 desserts below, 2 bowls of baba chendol, 1 bowl of baba durian chendol, 1 bowl of EPC 8 precious chendol and 1 bowl of sago gula melaka cost RM13 only.

A close up pic of the famous baba chendol which is reputed to be the absolute best Baba chendol in Melaka. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. I am not a chendol fan so I have no basis of comparison. The dessert was quite sweet and should be eaten cold. As in, really cold with lots of ice (one can go back to the stall out front to ask for more ice in an empty bowl).

I have no idea what the E.P.C stands for but the dessert came with more ingredients than the baba chendol. Worth ordering? The Slog sits on the fence for the reasons mentioned above.

However, everyone agreed that the sago gula melaka (last item on the dessert list) was really good. The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. Good stuff with the right amount of milk and sweetness.

Now, just opposite the dessert cart is the cart selling laksa and noodles. Both belong to Jonker 88 and are located at the front portion of the store. As mentioned, ideally you should go to Jonker 88 in a group of at least 3pax so 1 person can secure seats within the shop while 1 queues for dessert and the other queues for noodles. And believe me, the laksa from Jonker 88 is "solid" and should not be missed if one is there for dessert.

As we had just eaten at Hoe Kee and thankfully hadn't over-eaten, the 4 of us had capacity to share 2 bowls of laksa. First, the curry laksa. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Very thick curry gravy with fresh fish cake and noodles. If I hadn't have to share, I would have cleaned the bowl - and oh yes, I asked for more gravy and it was free :) Excellent hawker fare.

However, what stole the limelight was the dish below. The most delicious nyonya asam laksa that I've ever tasted my whole life, or rather, the 4 of us ever tasted in each of our lives. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Just ORDER! I'll be most grateful to anyone reading my blog if he/she can tell me where one can find such laksa or laksa 3/4 as good as the one below - the gravy wasn't thin and sour but thick and just slightly sour. How's that for starters. I have to stop writing about this meal now or else I fear that I may find myself driving up to Melaka this weekend for more of this dish!

The Slog Reviews: 9/10 for the overall experience at Jonker88. All the staff, from those preparing the food outside and those helping within were friendly and obliging. Whatever we asked for, more ice, more gravy, was given with a smiling face and FOC. Jonker88 was a great ending to our Melaka road trip indeed and anyone going to Melaka should visit this restaurant at least once for its excellent food and service.

The restaurant details are:

88, Jalan Hang Jebat,75200, Melaka.

Operating hours: 10am to 6pm (8pm on weekends)