A unique wine dinner (19Feb12)

One fine day a bright idea came to mind: To bring fine dining into the comforts of our own home! And so I set out to gather all necessary "ammunition" required for this task. Didn't have to look far, because everyone in the household has their own hidden talents! We have... JD as the head chef, his friend CJ (a real restaurant chef) as co-chef, Joanne as the pastry chef, S as the sommelier and myself as the coordinator. Not forgetting Tawa (our maid) as kitchen helper. In the days leading up to this event, I created some excitement among our diners by sending out the carefully-crafted menu. Rather fancy 6-course dinner dunch ya think? Battle half won :)

The dinner also featured blind tasting under S' full responsibility. She chose, with much deliberation, 6 wines to be paired with each course. She also painstakingly prepared tasting notes for each diner to ponder on and thereafter match with the wines.

Table setting prior to their arrival.. May I just mention that we did not expect preparations to be such hard work? JD thought long and hard about the menu, making sure ingredients are balanced and portions are right. Joanne played around with different desserts. Several trial runs took place. And as the menu changed now and then, S also had to re-think her wine choices! After everything was finalized, S and I went supermarket-hopping. Seriously in order to get all ingredients we had to search high and low at cold storage, ntuc, seng siong & marketplace.

I had the honour of commencing dinner with my scallops amuse-bouche (adapted from Tetsuya's recipe book). Followed by JD's lovely dishes. Happy that  the food was well-received :) Couple that with enthusiastic wine discussions. I must say the event was a success!

Non-stop kitchen action. Effort ttm. The entire crew should really be given a pat on their backs. Great job.

Pretty lizzy and her signature 3-finger twist. CHEERS!

Au Petit Salut (28jan12)

Went to Au Petit Salut on a Sat afternoon to celebrate Joanne's birthday. Pretty good ambience for a casual day-dining especially with the outdoor garden setting that is typical of many Dempsey restaurants. Not so practical in the day, of course, if you're familiar with Singapore's weather. Probably much nicer sitting out there in the night.

Felt like mentioning this restaurant as the food is up to standard, at a good price ($35 for a 3-course set lunch), and you could get wines at $7 per glass during lunches! Ok the cheap alcohol is the real pull factor. Good value food and drinks..me like :) Things that we tried that were not bad: homemade duck rillettes, braised lamb shoulder, seared Onglet beef and choux buns. The Burgundy snails were very lacking because of the weird tomato topping. Not recommended.

Name: Au Petit Salut (website)

Location: 40C Harding Road Singapore 249548

Expenditure: ~SGD$50 pp

Les Amis Simply Black (11Feb12)

The weekend before vday, S brought me to Les Amis for a very fun & fine lunch. Called SIMPLY BLACK, this exclusive blind tasting wine luncheon is only held every Saturday. Wines are carefully paired with your choice of 3 or 4-course menu. Simply black because the wines are served in black glasses! Interesting. You'll be surprised to find that in these special glasses, you won't be able to tell a white from a red. There was no wine top-ups, but we both love the novelty experience. Analysing wines over a nice meal surely makes for an intimate & enjoyable time together. On top of that, the food was really good. I know this is rare but the one course that left a deep impression on us was the "Fancy lemon tart"! Definitely something to crave for.

Name: Les Amis (website)

Location: 1 Scotts Road, Shaw Centre, Singapore 228208

Expenditure: At S' discretion :)

Banyan Tree Bintan (2-5Feb12)

A getaway for 10 adults and 4 kids

In celebration of S' birthday, our group of friends actually managed to find time and escape together on a holiday away from Singapore! First time in history I was told. Some stayed 3 nights, some 2 nights and others 1. In spite of that, everyone made the most out of it and had a most fabulous time. With all that drinking, snacking, swimming, poker-ing and tanning (ok that's just me), I'm sure this vacation is now etched deeply in our memories :)

All in all, we occupied 3 Sanctuary Pool Villas in Banyan Tree Bintan (~700usd per night per villa). Each of these villas consists of 2 bedrooms. We love the infinity pool that appears almost seamless with the sea (clearly evident in the photos). Two thumbs up for the view that indulged us.

It might have rained out the first day, but the pavilion (common area between the 2 bedrooms) was the perfect place to chill and 谈心. Presenting to you...everyone! Including JJ :)

The lobby and the signature Saffron Restaurant that serves good thai food.

Breakfast at Tree Tops. Outdoor seating offering an excellent view. We sat indoors so as to avoid the mozzies.. Love the free flow sparkling wine.

Being tropical and rustic means you get to see all sorts of insects and animals around. Here's a monitor lizard for you. Pleased be advised to keep all belongings kept behind closed doors in your villa at all times. We have been warned by the hotel staff that monkeys do sneak into your "home" in search for food. They can open packet chips and even canned soda. Won't be surprised if they took interest in your small electronics like handphones :S Anyway, found some kiwi remnants that might have been nibbled at by squirrels. Hmph.

What a nice setting for our in-villa bbq dinner. Food's not bad too although kinda ex. ~65usd pp. Nice bedroom decoration for S on her birthday. All of us were full of praises for the high level of service rendered during our stay.

Golf at Laguna Bintan Golf Club which is right next to the resort. See the many villas in the background? Ours is one of them. Last dip before heading back to sg...

End note: Banyan Tree is getting abit too old for its premium price so hopefully they'll do a full refurbishment soon. Certain facilities weren't functioning and we experienced a minor incident concerning safety. No complaints about the staff though!

New Year's in Phnom Penh (1-2Jan12)

Day 3 & 4

What better things to do on New Year's Day than visit the temple and pray for health, happiness, luck, and all the good things? And so first thing in the morning we headed to Wat Phnom ("Temple of the Mountains" or "Mountain Pagoda") which, according to wiki, "stands 27m above ground". There, I plucked up some courage and "bought" a pair of caged birds (US$1) to release them back into the wild. They were so cute and soft and I felt happy watching them fly away from my hands. New year, new lease of life :)

Time for food again! This time at Romdeng, another Friends International restaurant. Much more spacious and done up than Friends. Lovely food and wine. Bright colorful art pieces hung all around. A pity they're not for sale. Here, you can find fried tarantulas. Yes, fried SPIDERS! We weren't brave enough to order it...

Last stop - The Royal Palace. BE ADVISED that anyone wearing sleeveless or short skirts/shorts will be refused entry. You'll be asked to buy or rent an ugly tee shirt/sarong. The Silver Pagoda is located in here. Worth a visit.

Random food - Beef pho from a small local shop and pasta from FCC. Food in Phnom Penh is generally quite good!