Oscar's @ Conrad Centennial

It's been over a year since we came to Oscars at Conrad Centennial Hotel in Marina Bay.

The last time we had a (buffet) meal here was in the February of last year, close to Chinese New Year. 

We haven't been back since. 

But the food's good, there was a reasonable deal, and most importantly, we were celebrating a birthday. 

So we came. 

On other days we might have done a lunch, but this being a Sunday, it became a brunch instead. 

There's not much difference between a lunch and a brunch, I think, other than the fact that the latter has more desserts and more morning-meal type of foods. 

Strangely I didn't take notice of those. 

Maybe I was too preoccupied with the serving dishes on the buffet table.

I'm a little different from my companion who knows exactly what the appeal of the menu is. 

Oysters. 

Freshly shucked oysters. 

Doesn't matter from where they come- they can be French or somewhere else- it's a go just so long as they're big, fresh and juicy. 

I like oysters (with lemon) but I'm more varied when it comes to food at buffets. 

Like how I always take a plate of salmon sashimi but I also have to have a plate of cooked stuff at the same time.

At Oscars today I took a little bit of noodles, a little bit of chicken, some spinach with cheese, some baked salmon and a bit of tofu. 

It begets understanding why I'd choose the noodles and the chicken but I think one had a bit of Sichuan something, and the other had a bit of a Taiwanese thing. 

Unfortunately I don't remember precisely which was which, and now I'm wondering why I took the mushrooms as well. 

Between the slices of sashimi that were on the table, and the baked salmon, my companion got us each a bowl of oyakodon with foie gras. 

It sounds simple- and it is- but the chicken was tender, the egg was soft, and the rice, when eaten with the foie gras, tasted like fatty meat and rice grains mushed up and melted together.

the dish was unusual- and so good. 

I should have taken another bowl.

But we decided to go for the meats. 

Somewhere from the grilled section outside the restaurant, we brought in a few pieces of wagyu, and several sticks of satay. 

You might find it unusual as to why we come to a buffet and ordered satay.

Because it seemed fun. :)

Satay has to be one of the most fun foods when you're at a buffet. 

No one's going to say anything if you wield the stick around in the midst of conversation or dip the meat into a bowl of peanut sauce and eat it dripping into your mouth.

That's just how it is.

I found the sauce particularly good. 

It wasn't oily, it was thick and tasty, and there were lots and lots of chopped peanuts inside. 

I don't know if we took any more of the grilled meats. 

Probably not. 

By then, we were getting rather full. 

Still, we didn't want to pass on this- a sort of breaded fillet either of pork or fish with a most generous heap of bonito flakes on top.

And we didn't want to pass on this- salted egg fish skin- either. 

Let's just say the fish skin was memorable. 

I don't think we've ever had that much salted egg powder seasoning on the fish skins we've eaten thus far, and neither have we ever had such huge fish skins either. 

It was so good that we actually regretted not being able to go for more. 

To be honest I was feeling really, really, really stuffed by then. 

The culprit, I think, were the prawns. 

I shouldn't have taken them. 

But it's a habit of mine and I always find it difficult to skip out on having a couple of fresh, cold prawns with Thousand Island salad dressing dip on the side. 

Perhaps it sounds pretentious but now that I think about it, it's a pity that I took the prawns. 

I might have been able to enjoy my dessert better otherwise. 

That's not to say that I didn't love what I had. 

There was just too much for me to choose from. 

So I studied the offerings and decided on a plateful of little chocolate cakes, little cheesecakes, two scoops of strawberry ice cream, a bit of apple crumble and dainty rich-tasting chocolate tarts, finishing it all with a cup of strong latte coffee.

126 in 2022

A dim sum meal for me at 126 tends to be either a very late lunch, or an early supper.

It isn't because I don't do dim sum in the mornings. 

It's that 126 has more of a supper-ish vibe than a breakfasty vibe, and I think they know it too, because they've gone from a 24-hour to a late morning 1030 to a past midnight 3am.

It's no secret that I have a great love for dim sum. 

I've written about it long enough. 

Maybe because it's one of the foods that I can eat anywhere, anytime, and it don't have to be a table full of bamboo baskets and plates. 

It can be a single plastic bag, or a Styrofoam box for takeaway. 

I don't know if I've ever done a takeaway from 126. 

I think not.

Most of the time we eat there. 

I've got a series of pictures from previous years. 

This collection here, however, marks the first for this year. 

It's not a very big collection- we don't always order a lot when we're there, but we (more or less) know what it is we want, what it is we love, and what it is we want to have. 

Like the tubs of barley and winter melon drink with chunks of winter melon inside.

And the deep fried scallop yam puff which, I think, is probably one of several signature dishes at this dim sum place, and which- if you don't have an aversion to scallop, yam and deep fried stuff, you really must try. 

It's so good. 

The skin is crisp, the yam, warm and soft, wraps snugly the single piece of (umami-tasting) scallop inside. 

I like this dish so much that I actually get disappointed if we don't get to place an order. 

That doesn't mean that we don't have other favorites or that the other dishes aren't nice.

They are.

We love them just the same. 

My companion has a thing for the fish maw rolls. 

And we have a thing for the cheong funs and the xiao long baos. 

I find the cheong funs here cute. 

Not only do they have the options of char siew and prawn, they're smaller than your regular sized ones, the flour is thick, and the gravy is of so rich a texture you'd almost think of it as a smooth, velvety paste.

I like to slurp the gravy up with the fish maw rolls.

I also like to do the same with the siew mais. 

(Don't waste) 

But I can't do it with the xiao long baos. 

Not even with the meat.

Because in lieu of traditional bamboo baskets, 126 steams up their baos in their metal carriers with each individual bao sitting cutely and safely in its own little spoon. 

I think their timing's pretty good. 

Sure, you don't get the paus all perky and rounded like you'd get elsewhere, but the flavor's retained, and if you eat them the way I do- one small bite style- you don't have to worry about spillover. 

The spoon catches all the delish, savory soup and you can easily sip it slowly after you eat up the bao.

Holland V

I've always been a bit reluctant to come to Holland V in the afternoon. 

Maybe because the place in the daytime makes me think of a year when I didn't really like what I was doing, and yet didn't know what it was I wanted to do. 

It's funny what a place can make you think of. 

See, it would come as no surprise if a place like Holland V made you think of cafes, coffee, lunch with girlfriends, and supermarket shopping. 

Instead I think of an outfit- and it is an outfit that I (in all honesty) don't particularly like. 

I don't have very negative memories associated with the outfit. 

Just that it reflects a role that I- during that time- had, and which I- even back then- didn't aspire to be. 

Of course, Holland V in the daytime is not all entirely that singular association, nor all that singular purpose and memory. 

There have been lovely long lunches at Fosters.

There have been one or two meetings in the two-storeyed Starbucks that I used to have. 

And there have been sneaked half-hour moments of shopping at the Cold Storage during Christmas time. 

They had such lovely poinsettias right by the main door. 

And the collection of wines, chocolates, smoked meats and candy canes got me into the season without me having to get into the season all by myself. 

It's been lovely to have come here on a many a weekend. 

I've had laksa at the coffee shop.

I've climbed up the stairs to the pet store to look at puppies, bunnies and guinea pigs. 

And I've eaten egg tarts from the Tai Cheong Bakery on the very same road. 

Oddly enough I haven't been inside this shopping center much- maybe  because I went in one time- but there wasn't anything in particular that caught my eye so I never went in again. 

In recent years I've been more on the other side of Holland V though. 

There've been a couple of lunches at the Crystal Jade place right by the corner. 

There's been a mid-ride meal of waffles, caramelized bacon and scrambled eggs at Craftsmen.

And a coffee or two at the Coffee Bean there. 

There used to be a Sasa somewhere around here. 

And I think there was an Indonesian food place somewhere here too.

My memories of what Lorong Mambong used to be are a little vague- it's been too long- but I think I should be coming here to the area more often.

I'm glad of it. 

There're new memories I want to make. 

There're new things I want to see. 

Holland V might not be as much a chillout enclave to me as it might be for others, but she has her own presence, her own heritage, her own charm, and that- is what I want to see.

Perhaps I'll never be as bohemian as what they oft claim Holland V to be, but I'll make my own space here.

I'll find a time to have a meal at the hawker center here. 

And meanwhile I hope to come back to Takeshi-San izakaya for their meat platters and sushi platters soon. 

Hedgehog's (Whole) Month- or Two

Just the other day I wrote about the celebration we had on Hedgehog's birthday. 

What I didn't say then was that the celebration actually continued on for the entire month, with drinks here and there, meals here and there.

It's not our style to have a big extravangza on the actual day and be done with it. 

Rather we like quiet celebrations here and there. 

There are three traditions which we try to do year on year on year. 

One is to have a dish of noodles- doesn't matter what sort of noodles they are and what kind of noodles they are. 

One is to have a cake- usually with a bit of chocolate somewhere. 

And one is to have a bowl of glutinous rice balls in ginger soup. 

We started the third tradition about two years ago so it's considerably new, but hey, why not, when it's warm, it's comforting and ginger soup always makes for a great sweet soup to have whether on a hot day, or cold. 

There have been years when we cooked our own ramen. 

This year, however, we decided to have our dish of noodles at Kai Duck over at Ngee Ann City. 

The place being popular for Peking Duck, along with the noodles we got a dish of Peking Duck (tortillas?) and an okonomiyaki-like radish cake dish too. 

There was a day where we had rosti with sour cream over at Wild Honey. 

But because you can't just order the rosti without ordering a main, we ordered a plate of scrambled eggs with vine tomatoes and brioche bread as well. 

Of course there was the delish murtabak from Al-Azhar which we had a on a weekday. 

I cannot describe just how delish it was to have the warmth of hot, crispy, multi-fold murtabak, mutton bits and onions over my palate in every bite. 

Trust me, it was bliss eating it on a Wednesday.

One of the things we like to do on special occasions like these is to have meals that we (somehow) don't usually get to have. 

So for a Friday dinner we went to Poulet, and ordered chicken and cranberry sauce with a side of fries and a side of macaroni and cheese. 

It was, shall we say, unusual, because the charm of the chicken was really the cranberry sauce. I didn't know they had sweet ones. I thought they only had savory

All these meals were really memorable, but what topped it all off- I must admit- was the brunch we had at Conrad Centennial in Marina Bay. 

I'll write about it another time but let's just say there were a lot of (Freshly shucked) oysters, a lot of meats here and there, ice cream, and pretty little cakes which wrapped up this year's birthday. 

Takeshi-San @ Holland Village

Takeshi-San, located on Lorong Mambong in Holland Village, is an izakaya. 

But unlike some of the izakayas which I've been to, they're remarkably different.

They're more.. casual. 

That's not to mean that the other izakayas aren't casual. 

They are- an izakaya is, after all,  a place to drink, to eat, to have little chats.

But they just seem to be a little... darker, heavier even.

I don't really know how to describe it. 

It's just that here I don't find myself surrounded by huge (black-glassed) bottles of Japanese whisky. 

Nor do I find myself staring at bottles of sake big and small all lined up on the counter. 

I know they're somewhere. 

I just haven't been placed at a seat where I can see them. 

Personally (and I might be biased) I prefer it this way.

Because whilst I like good food and great conversation, serious, formal environments tend  to unnerve poor little me. 

Takeshi-san, however, has made their place such that its gives off more of afternoon tea vibes than evening drinks izakaya.

It's obvious right from the moment when you step through its doors.

There're bench booths along one side of the wall.

There're tables- mostly twos and fours- on the other.

The first time we were there it was for lunch.

It being a late hour when we were there, we had the whole place to ourselves.

The introvert in me found it very blissful. 

No loud chatter, nothing to distract me from the enjoyment of very, very good salmon belly sushi, and a huge platter of meat skewers, beef cubes, fresh salad, and crispy hot French fries.

I really enjoyed the beef cubes and the meat skewers. 

At first I thought they might be sinewy (some places are) but no, not at all. 

The grilled meat, smoky, full of flavor with just that hint of burnt taste, was perfect, and we had a great time with the skewers.

Hedgehog pulled them off the wooden stick and forked them. 

I pulled them off the wooden stick and speared them. 

And one or two pieces I ate them off the skewer like how we normally do with satay.

If the meats were satisfying, the fries and salad were not far behind either.

The salad- with its big, big leaves had (I think) a dressing of yuzu (something) and the fries-  a huge heap of them- stayed hot and crisp throughout the meal, making them a perfect side for the generous serving of Mentaiko sauce. 

Special mention must be made of the Mentaiko. 

So I know it's something quite ordinary- like you can buy it from any Japanese supermarket or DDD- but theirs is exceptionally thick here (they don't dilute it down) and they're relaxed enough to bring you another when you request for more. :)

Of course this meat platter isn't the only good thing here at Takeshi-san. 

They've got a host of other great dishes, and their sushi is amazing too. 

We ordered four pieces of their salmon belly sushi together with the meat platter when we had lunch here the other time. 

We ordered a full sushi platter when we came here fir dinner the very next time. 

I wish the pictures of the platter did better justice to the soft, beautifully-shaped, melt-in-your-mouth pieces of salmon sushi.

But I was hungry, I was unwinding, and everything on the platter- roasted, non-roasted, with mayo, without mayo- looked so good.

I'll have to be careful to take a better-looking picture next time. 

Chances are I'll add in a glass of yuzu beer too. 

Miss Brown @ TTSH

One of the scariest things in life is to find out that someone you know (and take note of) is not well and has to be sent to the hospital.

It's not a pleasant phone call to receive. 

It's also not a pleasant phone call to make. 

Not too long ago a phone call came in to inform that Miss Brown was having a rather high fever and needed to be admitted to hospital

The last time this happened was earlier this year and she was sent to SKGH.

This time they sent her to TTSH.

The phone call came in around 530. 

We got there at 8.

I'm not sure how protocols of different hospitals are but here we weren't allowed to enter the A&E- not even her son who had made his way down to be there. 

About an hour after, whilst we were having dinner at the mall opposite, a call from the department came in.

Nothing was clear yet, they said, but there was a likelihood that Miss Brown might was suffering from pneumonia. 

She would remain under observation in the A&E  for a while- with the appropriate care management- until a bed was made available and she could be shifted there. 

Next morning- next very early morning- we called the department tto ask- and found out that she'd been admitted to a ward, and a bed there.

I am not familiar with the wards of TTSH, and did not know that Ward 80-something was at the old annex- until afternoon of the same day when we got there.

Neither did I know that most patients in the ward- 86?84?- were pneumatic ones- until the nurse on duty informed me. 

One of the things that surprised us when we got there was the bed, or rather, the location of it. 

Unlike previous times where she had slept surrounded by other patients and other visitors, this time she was placed by herself alone in a single room there. 

We hadn't known that Bed 23 was a single bed in a single room with its own ensuite toilet and its own ensuite bathroom.

I don't think Miss Brown had ever been assigned a room like that.

For the whole weekend that she was in hospital, her son visited her. 

So did I.

We however weren't allowed to stay for long- only an hour each time.

The nurses, however, did a fantastic job 

When I turned up one evening, a nurse was (patiently) feeding her.

Tests soon determined that Miss Brown did indeed have a lung infection.

So they put her on drip antibiotics for a day or two.

She seemed a little grump about the IV (no surprise there) but she  didn't attempt pulling out the needle either and so the antibiotics went in very smooth.

Her son and I alternated between showing her pictures on the tablet and playing Youtube videos. 

I think they worked. 

At least there was something for her to watch, something for her to listen to. 

It helped that the room was comfortable. 

Really comfortable. 

Not only was it sunny and bright, the air was also crisp and fresh, helped, no doubt, by the presence of the air conditioner in her room, and the air circulation machine right beside her bed.

Miss Brown did not communicate much during those few days that she was there.

Then again she doesn't communicate much at all.

Thankfully, however, her spirits lifted, tests showed the infection was cleared, and four (five?) days after, Miss Brown was discharged and she went back (to the nursing)  home. 

Hedgehog's (Actual) Day

More than two months it has been since The Hedgehog had a birthday. 

It's always a lovely time- not just because it is a milestone- but because it's a celebration of a life lived, a life with joys and sorrows, dreams and hopes. 

I know for one thing the road Hedgehog has gone on. 

I also know the dreams and the hopes Hedgehog continues to have. 

No more is there a crave for loud, boisterous celebrations (although I think one of those big shimmery shiny balloons might suffice).

Instead it's just a moment to let the day be and let the day pass.

There was a celebration meal, of course, at this izakaya in Holland Village called Takeshi-San. 

Being there in the afternoon has its benefits. 

You have the whole place to yourself, and the already-attentive staff is attentive even more. 

We got one of those platter things- that being what we had come here for- with an amazing spread of food that included crispy, hot fries, fresh salad with (yuzu?) sauce, wagyu beef cubes, and meat skewers two kinds. 

We also got four little salmon belly sushi. 

Everything was so good. 

Almost at once I fell in love with the squishy, soft, rounded taste of the salmon belly over the soft, beautifully shaped rice. There was no fishy aftertaste and the whole piece melted gorgeously in my mouth. 

You know, there're many places that serve good salmon belly sushi, but this is one place that I'll certainly come back to once again. 

Their (meat) platter was just as good. 

The beef cubes were surprisingly tender. The skewers were remarkably fun to eat, and we had a great time dipping everything into the Mentaiko sauce. 

Hedgehog fell in love with the Mentaiko sauce. 

So did I. 

Maybe because Takeshi-San wasn't stingy with the portion, and they gave another full portion when we requested for more. 

It was a relaxing lunch we had that day. 

A good dessert succeeds a good meal, but with there being no more room for waffles and ice cream, we decided to do cake, and so wandered out of Holland Village towards the Star Vista mall down the road. 

We settled for Coffee Bean, and it didn't take long for me to decide what to get for The Hedgehog who has a fondness for anything chocolate, and tea. 

So I got a slice of (something) (something) Thousand Leaves, and a nice, soothing cup of peppermint tea. 

We took time with the cake.

but we still  weren't hungry at dinner time.

Not wanting to end the celebration this early however, we decided to continue on with the dessert streak and made our way down to Chinatown for... tang yuan.

Yes, I know- it's not quite a traditional birthday food- but  glutinuous rice balls (with sesame filling and peanut filling) in ginger soup are one of Hedgehog's favorite traditional desserts, and who doesn't mind a bowl at Mei Heong Yuen anytime?