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| fooooood |
To put it as plainly as possible, this is basically twelve dishes on your dining table. Twelve dishes for Twelve dollars, starting from Twelve noon. It's a popular, if not quiet, offering.
They've been serving this at Ah Hoi's at Hotel Jen Tanglin- it's seasonal- and so we've gotten ourselves there whenever time and meeting locations permit.
Having a meal here is a little outdoorsy, a little alfresco, a little formal, a little casual all at once. It's a place where polo tees and knee-length shorts with belts would sit most comfortably. It's a place for hats and sundresses and sandals. It's also a place for maxi dresses thrown over your bikini. You don't get the chirpy, cheery, office party one gets at the buffets. (They've got J65 for that) Here, it's an ambience that borders between half-relaxed, half-formal that generates conversation, discussions and everything else. It's a place to appreciate a staff, meet a prospect, have a small-team gathering. It's a nice place for an afternoon date, a rendezvous, a space-out, if one might say, in the middle of a hectic day.
Having a meal here is a little outdoorsy, a little alfresco, a little formal, a little casual all at once. It's a place where polo tees and knee-length shorts with belts would sit most comfortably. It's a place for hats and sundresses and sandals. It's also a place for maxi dresses thrown over your bikini. You don't get the chirpy, cheery, office party one gets at the buffets. (They've got J65 for that) Here, it's an ambience that borders between half-relaxed, half-formal that generates conversation, discussions and everything else. It's a place to appreciate a staff, meet a prospect, have a small-team gathering. It's a nice place for an afternoon date, a rendezvous, a space-out, if one might say, in the middle of a hectic day.
I think of it as a plantation house. You know, that sort where there're verandahs with cane chairs and ferns and foilage and bougainvillea flowers.
I think of it too as a very big hut on stilts standing over the shallow waters of the seashore, like how seafood restaurants are in this part of the world, and where you don't know what the catch of the day is until they tell you, and where sunrises and sunsets are breathtaking and you get all-round breezes from the sea around you.
Except that at Ah Hoi's, you get more than seafood.
Even for their 12 on 12.
You get pork, chicken, fish and beef. You get soup and rice and vegetables. But you also get a menu that's kept afresh. One day you might get stewed pork with egg. Another day you might get steamed pork with salted vegetables. One day there might be pig's trotters bubbling in a clay pot. Another day there would be pork slices with spring onions. There're little surprises. One day you could get chicken drumlets stewed in some sort of herbal brew but the next day you could be presented with fried chicken in sambal sauce. One day you could get a whole chunk of sardine fish. Another day you could get fish slices. It's the same for the vegetables. One day you could have stir fried cabbage but cai xin and kangkong on the next.
Yet it's all very charming.
Especially if you're someone who loves variety, and if you want to get to know your fellow diners better. Personal preferences speak plenty for one who prefers sambal fish balls over kung po chicken, or someone who will dig around the little dish for long beans but eschew the stewed cabbage.
And when you have fruit infused water on the side with vegetable crackers (a particular favorite of mine) for the taking, when you have fans whirring above your head and you're seated on lovely cushioned garden chairs with the sparkling surface of the swimming pool in sight, it is a great lunch indeed.
Yet it's all very charming.
Especially if you're someone who loves variety, and if you want to get to know your fellow diners better. Personal preferences speak plenty for one who prefers sambal fish balls over kung po chicken, or someone who will dig around the little dish for long beans but eschew the stewed cabbage.
And when you have fruit infused water on the side with vegetable crackers (a particular favorite of mine) for the taking, when you have fans whirring above your head and you're seated on lovely cushioned garden chairs with the sparkling surface of the swimming pool in sight, it is a great lunch indeed.