Chinatown Blues

Mediocre. Is what I would use on Chinatown, our Chinatown. It was a little drizzly and wet the night I was there with LG. I even bumped into a friend of mine who announced my name pretty loudly, but you know, no one really turned around or cared to find out which human-ling of the so-so-crowd belonged to the name. Whatever. *pair of interlocked V ‘s on forehead*

To the left already, a la Beyonce.

Aside from lacklustre atmosphere, wet furniture and a one-off appearance of cheesy trishaws transporting clueless tourist couples to wherever at rip-off prices in disco renditions of nineties’ pop hits, the food fare was BOR(E)-RING. Really, people. Ugh, ugh, ugh. *stomping silver Gucci python pump heels*

I went all the way there, in my favorite gold Roberto Cavalli drawstring tote, and cute Topshop Unique dress which I vacuumed-packed from Oxford Circus, to ingest fumes from the long line of standalone food stalls. AND. Swiftly chopstick my way from the plasticky plate of char kway teow (fried broad noodles in dark sauce), into my hungarian mouth. (I’m not really Hungarian, but what else could you call someone who’s hungry? Hun or Hungry-let? Duh.)

The color looked right and the taste was sufficiently balanced between the sweetness of the dark sauce and saltiness of the MSG. But the absence of lab cheong (Chinese sausage) was deeply felt and sadly missed. The school-canteen-like dish was drab-looking and depressing. Sad-o-rama.

The seafood selection looked happier and cheery but I wasn’t craving for crustaceans and friends. But I did check out the ah balling with LG.

Read her blog on : http://ladyglam.blogs.friendster.com/ladyglam/

Ah Balling refers to stuffed rice glutinous balls in hot soup. The store here was (wo)man-ned by two little old ladies who were struggling to get the orders right. It can be quite a challenge, folks! There were a bunch of stuffings and soup flavors which you, as a willing makan-ster, could choose from which promotes consumer empowerment. And extreme work stress for our senior-citizen aunties :( The price though is almost free! Two bucks for 6 balls…S-I-X…Cheap-o-rama. Yasui ne! Murah Lah. We shared a bowl of green tea, peanut and black sesame balls in ginger soup. The ginger concoction was heavily hinted with white sugar and some ginger oomph. Not very happening.

The green tea ah balling was mochi-like. The paste was clumpy even in hot soup and tasted blasé. As for the black sesame, LG, you comment since you ate ALL of them! And for the peanut ones, mmmmmmmmm, they punctuated the end of my dinner with a sweet and happy ending. Melt-in-your-mouth fluidity and crunchy texture cradled in gooey rice sold me to these things for life.

Come on now, get ballsy in the new year. *wink*

My Green Loves - The Last Instalment

One of the many good surprises I had in the last hours of 2006 lies in this four-lettered word : Aiwo (Raffles City Shopping Centre).

Extremely tasty and not a busy sight at all, the New Year’s Eve lunch I had was outstanding. The Omega-3 lunch plan was yummy-doodles. I’ll let the pictures do the talkin’.

The main course I had was a medley of mushrooms, cauliflower and broccoli tossed and marinated tandoori-style. Very Indian. I like! And it seemed as though I might not get to see the white of the plate after a good thirty minutes of active fork-stabbing, teeth-crunching exercises.

What kept me going was the upcoming surprise which would complete the trilogy experience :)

Voila! The dessert left me lingering for more – chocolate and green tea parfait with berries reduction. Smooth, rich and sexy. I savored every spoonful from expresso-dessert cup to willingly-parted lips. Again and again. I would like to think that the sweetness and chocolate ingredient ingested (rather quickly) could be attributed to a sugarless sugar substitute. And that all the calories were sucked out of the unforgettable sweet before it landed in front of me on the dining table by the kitchen angels. Uh-huh...

Truth or dare, folks?

For those who prefer meat and veggies sharing the leading role on the table, Aiwo also offers generous portions of salmon and chicken for your masticating enjoyment.

And the sinless = guiltless chocolate cake is also irresistibly available.

Come on, take a go at it. Who knows, you might lose everything (unwanted double chin, useless fat cells, bloated silhouette), and gain nothing except the check (a.k.a. bill).