First good place to eat - Sree Ganga on Stanley Street. It's a small Indian eatery in the Telok Ayer conservation area, a locale already chock-a-block with restaurants selling good food. This sort-of-new place is along the same stretch as Kamal Fried Chicken Briyani, the only other competition in the cuisine category. My colleagues and I had tea here once after a meal elsewhere, and had to sneak past the long queue of hungry patrons to get seats and jump the order process. We sipped the very milky tea and observed the eager eaters. The food had to be good and I had to come back another day. I did so last week. I went early 11-ish, and ordered 2 chappatis, beetroot, tofu sambal, fried bittergourd crisps and chickpea dhal. At the counter, I added a tea and the server gave me a pappadum. Sounds like a lot and it came to $9. But boy was it good. The chappatis were thin but substantial. I have a soft spot for beetroot, dry fried with cumin and coconut. The tofu sambal was a spicy surprise, the tofu fresh, firm and tasty. The chickpea dhal was thick, chunky, so flavourful and delicious. I saved most of the bittergourd to the end (I don't know why) but they rounded the meal nicely. The masala coating was sufficient to mask the bitterness and lend the Indian spice kick. Everything was brilliant, and those were just the vegetables! There was mutton masala and other fish and chicken dishes too. The promise of good food is enough for Singaporeans to storm this place and I hope they do well for they will surely reap more dollars from my thinning wallet in due time. My waistline will suffer in silence. (The pix above was post-publish update, no tofu but spinach with mustard seeds and coconut. Gorgeous!)
On Friday, I managed to persuade some colleagues to have a drink or two at Cook & Brew. This is a bar-restaurant at the new Westin Singapore at Asia Square Two. What's cool about this place is that it's 33 floors above Marina Bay. The glass front and open terrace magnetically draw first timers to the awesome view. There's not much on the west side of Marina Bay, just a lot of construction, open land and road. I bet it's pretty at night though, with lights from the ships and docks. The recent cool weather also makes for pleasant outings and conversation at the terrace. The other cool thing about Cook & Brew is the space. Someone took pains to plan out the ideal aesthetic emptiness of confined entertainment spaces. Dark wood floors, mood lighting, long bar, spots of seating. The bar itself is perhaps 10 metres long with an accompanying stream of high chairs. The cushy looking sofas are spread before the open glass wall before the open terrace where there's lots of seats for couples. Apparently many men go out in pairs for a Friday post-work drink. I was there about 530pm and it wasn't crowded, quiet even. The restaurant end was empty, the hungrier crowd coming later about 7-ish. Loungy music played overhead as I had a Heiny with another earlybird invitee. Oh yes, the best thing about Cook & Brew, the beer is quite cheap. Heineken pints for $10 and Kilkenny pints for $12. Unfortunately, the wines and cocktails aren't at reduced prices but they won't bust the bank. Sounds good already I bet. I haven't there on Saturday but I guess it'll be a nice and quiet place for a intimate date. Hint hint. (There's an equally pretty Lobby Bar, so you might end up there instead). http://www.thewestinsingapore.com/en/cookandbrew
On Saturday afternoon, I got a call from a friend who needed help. He asked to borrow my National Service full pack items. In my sleepy stupor of the late afternoon I said I would think about it and later made up my mind to go meet him. (I would collect my MacBook from repair in the same one fell swoop of an outing to the city). I met said at a bar at Prinsep Street where lo and behold everyone was watching Liverpool play Arsenal. I arrived as I received a notification from my Live Score app that Liverpool was one up over the Gunners. Woo hoo! That's the way to start a good evening. I must write at this time that I do not have the sports channels on my cable subscription so my allegiance to Liverpool and "Other clubs not Manchester United" has not been truly professed with live match watching. I live for scores on this phone app and results on websites. My boss would also come around early in the week to extol the virtues of his team, Chelsea. This screening at the pub was my first time watching a live match in maybe over a year. Same for my friend. As I settled down, came in goal number 2. What?! Liverpool up 2-0 against the league leaders. Skrtel the defender again! This was getting to be quite fun. At the table I sat at, my friend, a fellow Red, had brought along two Arsenal fans. They were getting a little miffed at the quick onslaught. Then low and behold, Sterling adds number 3. Three minutes later, Sturridge is doing a funky dance as he puts in a sensational goal number 4. What was going on with Arsenal? The TV shot of Arsene Wenger and his not-so-merry men all arms folded in their deep blue winter jackets made me laugh. I'd like to think Liverpool was doing this well because my friend and I were watching. Haha. I forgot how entertaining football could be. Liverpool had a fantastic game, ending the rout 5-1, the one goal Arsenal pulled back on was a penalty though they did try hard. Suarez didn't score and I felt he deserved something. Gerrard was awesome. He was all over the place in a good way, assisting the assaults and toeing the backline when defence was due. I realised that shows hosts were adopting American style analysis, with instant replays, on-screen drawings and lots of stats. They showed the percentage of Coutinho's forward passes. That's insane. I don't think we need that depth of stats, just to watch the game and have a pint during and after. Fun, no silliness. It was a good good game. Go Reds, let's keep it going.
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