2 Major things (I felt) happened today.

The eve before Children's day... and 2 major things happened.

1) The rejection of US$700b bailout bill by the US house of representatives.
Do these people know that the whole world... well.... ALMOST the whole freaking world is dependent on them to make it work out!! Yeah at ur people's expense, you will be paying for the greed of others. But blame it on yourself for not keeping track and making sure things would not turn out AS BAD AS NOW! If u think that it's just about ur taxpayer money, think again!! it's about the clerk that is wondering if she would earn enough to make a living for her family, and that handicapped boy who hoped for a donation to better his future. The world is NEVER just about u! WAKE UP AND SMELL THE SHIT!! cause the black stuff u should see everyday is not coffee, but CRAP u been dishing out to the rest of the world!!!

2) Mr JB Jeyaratnam has passed away
Honestly was hoping he would do something for us Singaporean. From his struggle, I was silently encouraging him to go further. Though not out loud, I was supporting him. His struggle from his bankrupty case, and his moving forward from there had gained my respect. As slient as my support had for him, my tears would flow. I hope he will go to a better place now. Goodbye Mr Jeyaratnam. Thank you for trying to help.

Today is indeed a sad day for me. Just the eve of Children day... and my favorite month of the year....

Chiara Risotorante (16th Sept 2008)

I am the type of person whom one would say is brainless... I can be easily entertained by these little balls, shimmering above... for hours, if no one interupts. Do not ask me what I was thinking about, cause I would have to come up with an excuse, other than the truth (I am not thinking of anything). So having something like this in a restaurant is good ! :D

Woooo free food ... Green and Black olives... not my favorite fruits of the day... but my dining partner loved it, emptied out the ramekin... She was definitely having fun poking with the star dagger.... I thought she was trying to make sure they were definitely dead before eating them... None jumped up and protest her treatment of them :D

And then we came to my favorite... BREAD!!! nice and warm... that's what bread should always be served at. Along with some olive oil and ... hmmm this is not the usual balsamic vinegar we usually have... it's like the thick thick dark soya sauce which is slightly sweet... I really like this than the normal watery type... It's a pity I was only able to get a dessert spoonful of it, even after asking for more. Maybe I should try this at home when I have guests over.

Pan Seared Duck Foie GrasPoached pear, Almond Ravioli with Light Amaretto Sauce

Force fed might they be... won't take away my adoration for this delicious part of a duck. Though I did not really pay attention to how the duck or goose were forced fed till I got hooked to this delicious part of them, I do not agree not in giving it up just yet. I would definitely give it up, should one tell me that these are wild ducks or geese being captured and forced fed. But these animals are bred to be killed as food for us. So.... I would bow and kiss ur web feet the next time I go to a chinese restaurant for duck web, till then... the foie gras is good enough to think of the guilt later. With a rather enjoyable foie gras, I can easily forgive the rather dry ravioli. Oh, I would not say this is a perfect piece of liver... just because I prefer mine with more sweet sauce. :p

A spoonful of Oven - baked Ricotta Spinach Cannelloni ....

Don't u feel hungry... this was supposed to be my friend's main... but she was swinging this in front of my eyes.... who would be able to resist... esp a ugly pig who loooooooooooooove spinach almost anything... :P

Seeing that she has such a "big" portion of it... I decided to get a few spoonfuls... "just to taste." :)

Absolutely delicious... please ignore the comment if u are not a spinach person.... but how can anyone not like spinach... :p Was regretting I decided to go for the set meal... maybe the next time, I will get this ALL TO MYSELF.

Cod Fillet with Basil Risotto

I guess I am an Asian thru and thru... I love my carbo, esp the rice. The Basil Risotto was the one that drew me to this dish... they was supposed to be serving another fish.. Red mullet, but they do not have it... so they changed it to a Cod Fillet instead. Cod is a great fish to have.... I did not enjoy this as much as I thought I would. The flavour of the risotto wasn't to my taste... and the cod has a slight fishy taste to it. I been spolit lately by my mom's frequent visits to the fish market, that I do not like to have fishes that had fishy taste. But I was hungry.....

Panna Cotta with Fruit Salad

For no better choices, I chose Panna Cotta. But this was great!! how great? Not telling. Just go and give it a try :D I had to say the vanilla seeds at the bottom of the cup is a good sign.

Tirasmisu with iced cappuccino

Dessert with coffee would never tempt me!!! even if it's ice cream! :p

All in all, I think it is a reasonable portion of reasonable food for reasonable price @ a good location. Definitely a "should try it out" place :D

Tin Hill Bistro WineBar (Sept 14 2008)

Saw this restaurant a few times when I was going thru the ever so busy road... Was it Upper Bt timah road approaching 6th Ave... most likely... :P Was attracted to the ceiling to floor glass walls... I always like such places... and think of the amount of time needed to clean it up :P

Daily specials are usually written on this black plastic sheet looking thing... also good for checking out if any one enter the place :P I am absolutely paranoid about people coming in the room when I can't see them... but i can hear them.

Strong smelling food should never be placed with stuffs that would absorbed the smell of others. :D so... what kept me in this place, with somewhat horrible service I had got. The Macaroons of course!!! :D and that little pile of macaroons... *yummy* can't wait to sink my teeth into them :D

Antipasti

We chose Roasted Aubergines in Garlic oil and Roasted Zuchinni in oregano-infused oil and we got Garlic in olive oil as their choice. The toast was good :P esp with aubergines. I didn't think too much of the roasted Zuchinni. It didn't taste as if it was roasted. I felt that they had just put it in the oil...

the Garlic was good! :D I had 2 all to myself. Garlic does have this strong smell and taste... but this was rather light... and wasn't strong to me. This would not be a dish I would order again, should I come back. Felt there is nothing special about it at all.

Rouge Omelet -
Onion (replacing red peppers), tomatoes, cheddar, chives topped with sour cream

I was supposed to have vegetarian for the day. But vegetarian in terms of no meat.... but yes to onion, garlic, milk and eggs... that's why I ordered this meatless breakfast choice. I didn't like red peppers, so I asked for onion instead.... this was quite good, see the "cream" ooozing out of it. *yummy*

Things i did not order or got to try....

Scramble Egg with sauteed onions, mushrooms, bacon and toasted soldiers

Considering that the person who ordered this, ate everything other than the onions... i think this would be a good dish to try the next time round.







Classic Eggs Benedict :- didn't try this... didn't get the comments from the person who ate it too...
But she finished everything......

now now... to the reasons why I put up with crappy service... It was an absolutely love at frist sight thing... I couldn't just walked out without having you.... my lovely Macaroons...

Rose flavoured ... yummmm hmmmm i am losing bits and pieces of it!!! why? cause it was too breaking into pieces before i can stuff all of them into my mouth!!!! gosh... I just need to stop and rethink my plans on how to devour this beauty....

Anyway my attempt failed... I lost about point 5 percent of my Macaroon....
well... at least i got a picture of it... and I had another waiting for me... and it was slightly flatter... :D

Earl Grey Flavour Macaroon
This tasted like chocolate than earl grey... and it has a rather peculiar taste... I tot it smelt like the garlic i had earlier.... could it be a case of garlic breathe??!?! I need to explore this a bit more... Maybe....

This is one place... I might want to consider , seriously consider about going back..... Could be the laid back natures of service staff which i am not used to. I am not used to being served with my antipasti like 20 mins after I ordered, when someone else seemed to get their WARM scones order faster than me . oh come on!!! how much time, do you need to serve food that's already prepared, which came out cold btw??!?! Considering that drinks are made easily... the other table got theirs definitely earlier than we did, we got our juices like 10 mins after the antipasti.

To have a service staff asking me a question like "how long was it you had ordered your antipasti?", as if I could not ask when is food coming, led me to think of a purchase....

I am soooooooooooo getting myself a stopwatch!!!

Watch out for the ANAL GREEDY PIG!! i am so coming soon!!! and I will have an answer for that question!

Tatsuya (Sept 13 2008)

It was definitely open for business!! :D Walking into a BUSY Japanese restaurant was quite daunting, especially for people who prefer quiet meals..... We were greeted by shouts of welcome.

Bottles of weird weird liquid with plums in there.... I didn't want to ask them what those were... as the servers seemed to be so busy with things... Somehow, I just do not know what these people were busy with... they were all so hyper and moving around as bees.... move slowly already!!

Mixture of Sashimi for 2 persons
I looooooooooooooooooooooove sashimi... I like salmon, i like otoro, I like sweet shrimps... I like octopus... I know there are japanese names to these... but I really do not like to go into those... I know what I want, though not their names... and I like my sashimi colder than room temperature. Another reason why i do not like to go to a Japanese place during their busy hours.. is we are served with Sashimi that are good, but not at the right temperature.



Uni Sushi!!!
okie... Uni is one of my favorite. I like it, but I like to be able to taste it too. Somehow, this Uni had a weird taste... I meant the chef might be trying to enhance the taste of the uni or hide the taste of it... I do not know... but it's definitely not something I had enjoyed. I still prefer my uni taste without any fanciful other additional tastes distracting me from my uni.

Sushi for 1
This portion seemed to be quite huge for a person. I can be so filled up by this. :D The tuna maki is very unique... I think they had marinated the tuna with some fried tempura batter bits, spring onion and something else... I can't remember..... but it was good. I didn't like the slightly bbq or whatever u would called it mayo thingie on the prawn and the scallop... the flavour was just too strong, taking away the taste of the fresh sashimi they had used.

Mixed Tempura

okie.... It's going to be a really negative experience for me @ this "supposingly to be REALLY good" japanese place. The batter is just too thick!!!! I thought it's supposed to be a light batter, and the batter was thicker than what I like and what I felt a good tempura should have.

Saba
I am quite a fish person, especially when I realized I can't have too much of beef. Maybe it's because I am getting old. But this saba had a slightly bitter taste esp at the tummy area. I only had the tummy area... The taste was very slight, but it just pop out every time I chew.

Tatsuya, definitely has a group of leaders who are running a tight ship, as my makan kaki told me. But having to run a tight ship also mean everyone is on hyper active mode and high tension all around. Lunch is a relaxed moment, at least for me. To me, i need a less tense environment.

I might go back one day to try their bento sets... but it will definitely after their busy lunch hours...

and this experience could have been better... and I would have to pay less for what the quality of food I had.

Ju Shin Jung West Korean Charcoal BBQ Restaurant (Sept 07 2008)

I would know what a greedy pig is, cause I am one. Proud to be one too... :D hehe I got really bad craving for Korean spicy seafood soup, after seeing it on one of my friend's shot of his dinner on Flickr. Needless to say, I put up half a struggle and lost it within the 2 seconds I tried. The next thing was to plan and most important of all, plot how to get a group of people interested in Korean food meal. That wasn't difficult at all, considering how stubborn I can be, when I want to.



So.... off to one of the more popular Korean food in Singapore, Ju Shin Jung at West Coast Road or Highway... whichever it is, it's just opposite Haw Par Villa.

I remembered being very much entertained by these towel coins... they sure look like mints now... and when u pour water over it.... it will expanded into a disposable towels! great stuffs to bring on a camping trips!



The REALLY fun part of having Korean meals is the side dishes. Ju Shin Jung, or rather most of the authentic Korean Restaurant here, gave unlimited side dishes, at least that's how it was here all the times.

Frist came a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong tray of raw Vegetables... Errr Can't we just have a few leaves? Plus I am not too convinced that most of the diners can finish that tray of veggies... I never did like recycled vegetables.... no matter how fresh they might look.

We were supposed to use the vegetables as wrap for the BBQ meat that we had ordered. But raw chilli??!?! Do anyone actually pick up those raw chillies and start chewing on it? I can do garlic, but anyone is welcome to the chillis! :p

Kimchi!!! Cabbage marinated in Spicy bean paste and fermented for a few weeks .... though I think it's only done for a few days here, it's still so tasty. One of the better kim chi I had tried so far in Singapore. I prefer to use this cabbage to wrap my meat with :P~

Pumpkin Pancake! I absolutely love this. It had a sweet pumpkin taste to it. But they run of this, and wasn't able give us more *sobs* I did not manage to get any... there was 2 kids there, so they can have it first.... I wonder who took the 3rd piece *hmmmmm*

Cold Tofu in Spicy Soya sauce and spring onion.... I liked the sauce and the spring onions, and left the tofu to the other adults on the table to finish. hehehe :D

Another side dish... I think it's fishball... but I never did like such fishballs... so I left it alone. It didn't look that great either.

More vegetables.... I think they were just trying to balance our diet here....

I like, I like !! Sauteed mushrooms! Though there are chilli slices in it, it's not spicy at all.

Cabbage in spicy soup.... I didn't try this. I thought it look too weird to eat.

Chilli in spicy cream sauce - I didn't try this. I always have the idea that a whole chilli, and it doesn't matter if it's cooked or raw, it's very spicy!! And I would absolutely refused to have it.

These are individual side dishes... I was given raw onions with some sort of oil like base and this seaweed marinated in some vinegar tasting sauce.

Cold noodle in cold soup (물냉면 Mulnaeng) This noodle has mee sua like noodles, with a half an egg (how can anyone be so cheapo!!! give me an egg mah...), slices of radish and cucumber and a thin slice of beef, dipped in ICE cold weird tasting clear liquid. I don't think this would ever made it into my top favorite food list EVER!!! I don't like the soup, cause it's so cold esp with the crushed ice they had put it. And it had a weird taste!!!! and we were supposed to put in some mustard and vinegar into it..... Geeezzz give me more kim chi and I will forget this dish ever exist in Korean food history! :p

Seafood and Vegetable steamboat (해물전골 Haemul) - This wasn't the type of steamboat I am used to. My version of steamboat is hot soup in a pot, and the raw ingredients all around and we just cook as we want. With this version, everything was already in it. All we had to do is to sit and wait for it to boil. Considering that this is a seafood steamboat, I don't see much seafood, other than a whole chunk of octopus!!! Seriously, a whole chunk of octopus... IT was definitely too much for us to handle. We ate the scallops, the prawns, some of the tiny crabs and a few mussels... and left most of the octopus behind. I like the taste of the soup, but it would not be a hit with people who doesn't like fishy taste. The spicy and hot soup, mixed with some rice... definitely will warm you fast, especially in a cold winter.... *blinks**Blinks* Hey! I live in Singapore! no winters.... What the heck!!! I can always turn up the aircon!

Now to our BBQ Stuffs!!! I was given 3 different types of sauces... I really can be bothered with which sauce to use with each meat, I just dip whichever I like and enjoy my meats!!

Sliced beef tongue (우설 Woosul) - Delicious.. not saying that it can be eaten raw, but it's delicious when it's lightly bbq 'ed. Beef tongues are so chewy and when sliced thinly, they are easier to eat than regular beef.

Fresh Pork Belly (삼겹살 Samgyub) - Yummy!! This was much better than the one I had a few days ago at the other Japanese restaurant. I think it had do with the fact that it was cooked and consumed quickly!!! :D

Marinade Beef-Rib (양념갈비 Yangnyum) - I didn't get a cooked picture of it... why? because the service staff took away my favorite part!!! my bone!!! *sobS* she took away my bone!!! I was too shocked to eat for 5 seconds! But I got over it and continued with eating my Pork belly with kim chi... :D They also had another version of Black Angus beef... only a few dollars difference, but I can't be bothered with it... cause this was good enough for me.

Seasoned Slice beef (생불고기 Bulgogi) - What is an authentic Singapore version of a Korean meal without this!!! u get it almost everywhere in food courts of Singapore. What made this so different? Well.... *drum rolls* it was the free enoki mushrooms they gave. In another word... no differences.

Spring onion Seafood pancake (해물파전 Pajun) - This is one of my MUST eat items! IF they have it, I must have it. I LOOOOOOOOOOVE this. I like the spring onion in it, the pathetic almost non-existing seafood that was supposed to be in it... and most important of all the pancake batter? Can it still be a batter, when it's cooked? no matter! I just like the thing! everything that made this into a perfect dish, except the pepper! :p doesn't it just look yummyily delicious!!! :p

Saengang-cha (Ginger Tea) - to me, this is a very much acquired taste thing... but I like it!! :P very nice... give me more!! I think I drunk about 4 bowls of this..... :P It left behind a spicy aftertaste, that was quickly forgetten as I recall the sweet taste of the drink.

Oh we were also given hearted shaped watermelon slices... nothing special, just another piece of water melon.

With the issue of FT coming into Singapore, and how Singaporeans are dependent on them, as they are on us, I still find it hard to balance the need and the want. This restaurant used to have a majority of Korean staff, as compared to now, where FT had taken over almost all the service staffs and the kitchen, when I peeked into it. I agree totally, when a business wish to cut costs, having a cheaper source of labour is good. But when the standards of the food dropped, I find it hard to justfy the cost of cheaper labour. The want of having cheaper labour overshadowed the need of having good food. Either start training them to prepare Good Authentic Korean food or get back your Korean staffs, cause MILK MILK wants GOOD FOOD!

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(Take note that I do not have any issues nor do I discriminate against hard working people who leave behind everything they have back home to come to Singapore for a better life.)