My World

Daddy, what did you eat today?

Daddy, what did you eat today?

My son asked me, out of nothing.

I looked at him, and I was shaken. Really shaken. To the core.

Yes, such a simple question. But it made me think.

What did I eat today? How was it like?

How many times did I skip my lunch? And how many times did I rush through it, with my mind somewhere else, eating like a mechanical movement just to fill in the stomach, and in the end not even aware of what the dish contained or how it tasted like?

Yeah, I am guilty of that. And not just once. The only defence has always been : Busy. But really, how much time can I save by skipping my meal, or gulping down my food in such a hurry? Maybe 20 minutes? Or 30? Or even 1 hour? The time I can easily gain for productive work by focusing more on real work and spending less on checking emails. And what was the trade off? A wasted opportunity to enjoy life’s simple pleasure. A lost chance to be mindful of my moments in life, and to have a break from work (after all, lunch time is not just for eating but also for resting and recharging for the second part of the working day). And a step away from being what I am supposed to be: a human.

From that day on, I started paying more attention to my lunch. I ate in instead of buying back. I went to lunch a bit later to avoid the peak period so that I did not have to squeeze and wait for table. And I spent more time on my food, to look at it, taste it and feel it, not just gulp it down in big mouthful. And my lunch time was really more enjoyable.

And the next time my son asked me, I not only could answer him, but also tell him about the food, and it really intrigued him and made him want to try new food more often. And best of all, it was a new topic for us to talk about, a new thing for us to share and a window into my life outside of home.

So, what did you eat today?

Wind River – Justice is served, but a bit cold (and late)

It is often said that revenge is a dish best served cold. Well, maybe not for justice. When justice is served cold (and late), someone has had to suffer injustice, and no matter what, it may be too little too late, and there will be a bitter taste in the end. And that was what happened in Wind River, a thrilling movie about the snow, the battle for life and the quest for justice.

A young Indian girl was found dead in the snow, with some apparent foul play signs in place. It could easily be classified as a case of natural death, if not for a stroke of luck that brought a hunter to the scene before all the signs had been buried by the heavy snowfall of winter Wyoming or a pack of hungry coyotes. And everything changed thanks to the determination of a young FBI agent and the wit of the hunter, an unlikely partnership that turned out fruitful in the end.

The story was gripping, and the performance of the lead cast was way above average. Renner was emotional, having to relive his own tragedy all over again. Olsen was quite good too. She exuded determination, and it was easy to connect with her emotionally as she really lived in the role and acted naturally. It was worth watching, even though is was not at all a happy story. And it may still leave you in a state of unbalanced after the credits have rolled.

Another subtle issue that was raised in this movie is the racism towards Native Indian community in the US. From the position of the owner of the land, they were forced to give up most of their territory and now constrained to a kind of natural concentration camp. They lost their land, their home, their lives, and now they are given a place in a harsh corner with harsh living condition and nothing much but snow and wind. And even though they may be registered as American citizen, they are surely not treated equally as other Americans in other parts of the country. Imagine if such a suspected murder case happens in Washington or New York, and the girl is a white American, surely there will be a small army of seasoned investigators onsite in a few minutes after the case is reported. Here, they only send a young agent, vastly unequipped for anything at all, with a superfluous task to come and file a report. America may be the land of dreamers, but some people are definitely allowed to dream bigger than the others.

The girl is dead, and nothing can change that fact. But with quality movies like this, it is only hoped that more awareness will be raised on the topic of the Native Indian community in the US, their living conditions, their treatment and the social attitude towards them. And when that starts gaining traction, probably they will receive a better treatment, there will be more help, and more opportunities will come their way. It is a small step, but in the right direction. Job well done.

Rating: 4 feathers out of 5

Logan Lucky – A surprisingly cool movie to watch

I picked up this movie purely based on the high ratings it has gathered in other review sites, and to tell the truth, I almost wanted to switch to another a few times in the first 30 minutes or so. The story built up quite slowly initially, and the actors seemed boring and lack of emotion. There was a worker who got fired, and a former veteran turned bartender, and a woman and a kid. The kid did not look quite dazzling (think High School Musical standard), and the woman, played by Katie Holmes, looked old and tired and totally unenjoyable. Quite a perfect case for the build up of a boring movie, until when something suddenly happened.

The main man, in revenge to the company who fired him for no reason, and to the society that has been mistreating him and his family as a whole, decided to steal their money. And from then on things started to get exciting. There is no shortage of past movies on the same topic, but this one is different, because the team that carried out the deed was so hopeless that it would be unimaginable for them to pull it off without getting arrested and thrown into jail. But they did, and they got away with it, with a major, huge, smart twist in the end.

It turned out, the guy was smarter than I thought, and the last 30 minutes of the movie more than redeemed for the initial boring part. I was silently hoping that they would be able to get through. Of course, stealing is bad, and I am not in any way supporting that. But it would be very sad to see them thrown into jail, especially after all the injustice and ridicule they have been suffering from the society. And after all, the company that they were stealing from did not really suffer much, and even wanted to bury the incident and move on, so who’s the wiser.

Channing Tatum was a cool guy, and he showed his coolness in full force in this movie. He was the mastermind of the whole heist, and devised a careful, almost perfect plan to cover their tracks and got out safely, and even thought of a safe way to know when to dig out the money. And he looked very much a doting father in this movie, and built great chemistry with his little daughter, who melt hearts with her rendition of the all time favourite country song “Take Me Home, Country Road”. (The last time this song was sung was also in another nice movie that Channing took part, “Kingsman Golden Circle”, in another touching moment).

A really lovely cowboy movie indeed. And they really lived freely, recklessly but also fully. Job well done.

Rating: 4 yummy popcorns. I am satisfied. 🙂

Avengers Infinity War – Arguably the best Marvel movie ever

Normally I don’t like movies with ensemble cast. This is an exception. Despite the huge number of heroes, the movie still gave them enough time to shine instead of just a blink-and-you-miss-it appearance. And despite the various locations, the flow of the whole movie was clear and logical and not ended up in a mess (think Justice League disaster). Well done, Disney.

This is also possibly the superhero movie with the most surprising and unpredictable ending ever. By now, most of you who have a liking to Marvel heroes would have already watched it, so hopefully you also agree with me. And it might be the most shocking ending ever. I believe many of you had felt lost and couldn’t believe in what was unfolded on the screen. Well, at least I did. And I still do. How can it end that way? Is it the only way?

Despite the shocking ending, I still feel that the movie was worth watching, every minute of it. It was so fast paced that 2.5 hours flew by in a wink, and there were so many intense actions that there was no room for boredom or occasional yawning. Fights after fights from the beginning to the end. And all the super heroes that we have come to love were all pushed to the limit.

Also, I have never seen any villain as powerful, formidable and dangerous as Thanos. The only one who came close was Apocalypse, but he made a silly mistake of getting himself out of the game so early. Thanos was different. He was in the hotspots from the start to the end, and did the most important tasks himself. And that’s why he succeeded. The Avengers would need to muster an incredible force in order to defeat him. And I am really anxious how they will get it done.

Also, it was great to see another side of Tony Stark. A more humane side, a fatherly side of the man who used to be quite “heartless”. He really has a heart, and a beautiful one. The way he cared for Peter Parker, starting in Spiderman Homecoming and peaking in this movie, was really heartfelt and heart wrenching. It’s like a father’s love for his son, who was in many ways very similar to him, even though if asked, he would surely reject it.

Another painful story that took central place in the movie is the love between Scarlet Witch and Vision. Their love for each other ran deep, and they really cared about each other so much that they were willing to sacrifice themselves. And when they finally thought they would be able to be together at last, they were torn apart once again. Scarlet Witch is one of the most powerful superheroes in the Marvel universe, but she was overwhelmed with grief and worry about Vision that she could not use her full potential, and when it finally manifested, then tragedy struck again. It was really sad and distraught, so much that it was like Romeo and Juliet over again.

All in all, a wonderful albeit very sad movie. And while we were all at loss for words, we can only hope that history will be reversed and our beloved heroes will come back again in the next Infinity War movie. But that is the story of one year later. For now, we can only grow that hope and entertain ourselves with all the theories that are everywhere in the Internet.

Now, for a little bit of what is to come. There are some missing characters in the first Infinity War movie that might make a big comeback to help reverse the dire situation later. And there is a special new character whose power may change the balance of the game (think Thor level or even more). Wow, I can’t wait to see what will unfold one year later. Yay.

Transformers The Last Knight, thankfully, finally!!!

Thankfully I did not go to the cinema, and only watched the movie when it was available for home viewing. Seriously I could not understand how the producer and director could justify this production. It was a pain to watch, and a torturous two hour of screen time. Boom. Boom. And boom. The end.

The plot was thin and very simple, even for an action movie. Just a bunch of robots hitting on and shooting at each other. And the over abuse of CGI made the whole movie more like a showcase of computer technology.

The hopeless effort to link the story of the robots with the legend of the Round Table Knights did not help to lift the story by an inch. Rather, it’s like an insult to the legendary tale of King Arthur. He must have been very shameful to have to share the table with those soulless moving machines.

There are times where a main actor has enough strength and wit to carry the whole film. But not here. Even the appearance of Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Hopkins, how ever talented they are, still could not salvage the disaster. They did not have enough screen time to showcase their acting chops, and in this story of machines, humans were reduced to mere pawns in the game, less for making an impact and more for signifying the difference of power.

Even the lovely Bumblebee is not funny anymore in this movie. He has always been a rare bright spot of this whole series, and kind of a saving grace. When I saw him in the previous movies, at least I found something fun and entertaining. Not anymore. With that degradation, then you know how wrong it must have become.

There was a twist in the story, but it was so predictable that it became so childish. And the problem was resolved so easily and quickly that it seemed not much like a problem at all. Don’t underestimate the viewers’ intelligence so much. Please.

There was another new leading girl (again). But really, Megan Fox was right when she criticised the film and the way the leading girl became a mere beautiful puppet. Honestly, hers was still the best among the transformers’ girls, and it only went down and down since she left. We had different vases in each instalment, who barely appeared and disappeared and left no mark or significance to the whole movie, and I can bet you don’t remember who they are and what they have done.

This is the only bright spot in this whole disaster. The girl is lovely, lively and strong. And no, she is not the main girl who got thrown around by the robots and explosions. She was more like a add on, but she shone in every shot that she had (and too bad there were so few). She lived to the character, she showed real emotions in her scenes and I could feel her genuine emotions when she cried for the fallen robot friend or the sheer happiness when she fixed those robot parts.

Overall, it was a bad movie, and unless you have nothing else to watch, or you really want to destress by seeing metal scraps being blown to pieces, I strongly suggest to give this a miss. And I really hope they will leave the Autobots for good, even though the after credit scene still left some hooks for a potential revival (there are really things that better left unturned).

Thank you Autobots. You have saved the Earth again. Now you can rest in peace.

When the leader is blinded by hate, the team will suffer

When the leader is blinded by hate, the team will surely suffer. That has been proven true again and again, and don’t worry, you are not reading a blog post on career advice. It’s a movie review post, and the two movies that I have watched recently both reminded me of that simple yet hard to follow business principle.

The first example is Colonel Packard, the team leader of the team of soldiers borrowed to escort a group of scientists to an unknown and uncharted island. They thought it would be easy money, and they would be in and out in a flash, the last mission before going home. Man, how wrong were they. They got trapped in an unprecedented mess, faced with enemies far worse than what they had encountered before, and lost quite a lot of comrades within a blink of an eye.

That was when the mistake happened. Instead of sticking to the safe plan of going to the rendezvous point to leave the island as soon as they could, the leader of the team was blinded by the pain of seeing his men die right in front of him, and the hate of the creatures that had caused all those deaths. and decided to revenge. It was a grave decision, made hastily when the mind was not in a sound stage, driven by anger, and led to even more dire consequences. More losses, more disasters. More failures. And more pain.

Another wrong decision made by hate and rage could be found in War for the Planet of the Apes, the last episode in the recent remake Apes trilogy. Another setting, another battle, another decision, but the consequence was somewhat similar.

This time, the pain was even deeper, and the rage was burning much hotter. Therefore, the decision was faster and the consequence was even more serious. Driven by the loss of his family, Caesar decided to abandon his pack and go solo to seek revenge against the colonel (well, another colonel, why there are so many bad colonels in Hollywood movies? Is it some kind of prejudice against them?), and the decision led to both loss of lives of his pack and the long and hard suffering of those who had survived. It also led to his own suffering and torture. So, again, a bad decision, especially made by a leader, and followed by his team, has a lot of deep impact, both to himself and those who follow his order.

The message that I would like to bring across here is, be responsible with your decision. It’s bad to make wrong decision for yourself, and even worse if the decision needs to be carried out by others. So, be responsible and think clearly before making any decision, and never make them in a rush or a rage. Very likely that you will regret shortly after that. And sometimes, it’s almost impossible to turn back and undo the mistake. So, think carefully before stepping in.

Back to the movies. While Kong Skull Island was just so so, Apes 3 was actually quite good indeed. Kong relied too much on special effects to create a huge Kong and some nasty monsters, so the human became more like an add on, the same fate as those poor folks in the Transformers movies. They were merely put there as props, to highlight the battle between the creatures of the island, It was really a waste of talents like Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and Samuel Jackson. Their screen time was quite limited, and their impact was minimal. In the end, it was just another empty monster movie, nothing more.

Apes 3 was different. It was built on a solid plot, with sufficient highlights of the conflicts between human and apes, the battle for survivor of their kind, and the thoughts that drive the groups to the final confrontation. The colonel wanted to protect his team and his principles, while Caesar just wanted to find a safe place for his pack to stay peacefully for a long time, away from all the guns and bullets of human. The paths collided, and mayhem ensued. The two leaders locked horns, both trying to defeat the others. In the end, the Apes triumphed, although the price to pay was really high. A good way to end the series, and a worthy tribute to Caesar.

By the way, the colonel in Apes 3 also made a grave mistake when he decided to nuclear against the rest of the army, built up his fortress and killed the sick human. The decision was also made blinded by pain, also a great one of family loss. And the consequence was even more dire: The downfall of all the human and the real planet of the apes. So, I hope I have stressed the message strong enough. It’s tempting to do, and it gives initial satisfaction, but even if the objective is achieved, normally it’s short lived, while the consequences are much more permanent and serious. And the price to pay is normally high, if not very high.

Logan – A tired Wolverine

Tired. That was the overwhelming feeling I had after watching 2.5 hours of that movie on the big screen. And tired, too, were the characters, especially Logan a.k.a. Wolverine.

DF-13002 – Hugh Jackman stars as Logan/Wolverine in LOGAN. Photo Credit: Ben Rothstein.

He was far from the prime Wolverine that we came to know and love many years ago. Gone are the days of the endless power, instant healing capabilities, and deadly fighting skills with his razor sharp claws. What was left was just an old, exhausted man, on the last miles of his journey through life. He was slow, he was weak, he could hardly run anymore, and he was really dying.

Besides, he was very, very lonely. His X-Men friends and comrades had long gone, leaving only him with Charles Xavier, hiding from the government in a desert in the border between USA and Mexico. Moreover, it was not a powerful, empathetic Charles that had been the bedrock of the X-Men foundation. Instead, it was an old man, weak and with lots of diseases, including seizure and dementia. He was still powerful, and he still had power over others’ minds, but the power had run out of his control, and he became as much of a threat to whoever was around him. A ticking time bomb just waiting to explode.

Logan took care of him, fulfilling his part of the deal that he had made with Charles long time ago when he rescued him from his haunted past. He was trying his best to be patient, even though he still had some outbursts here and there. Anyway, taking care of an old man with dementia is never easy, let alone the fact that that old man could kill you or drive you insane without even realizing. Tough job, Logan.

Logan (2017)Directed by James Mangold Shown: Dafne Keen — Logan (2017) Directed by James Mangold Shown: Dafne Keen

It was understandable why Logan was so reluctant to take the new girl, a mutant named Lara, under his wings, or may I say, his claws. He had had enough troubles to deal with. He was barely getting by, and life on the run was the last thing he would want, with a wheelchair bound old man in tow. But in the end, he was still a hero, and what was a hero to do but to save the day. So here you have it, Logan, old and weak, fighting again for survival, and probably a better future.

It was hard to see Charles die (Oops, spoiler alert). It was even harder to see Logan deteriorating and was only a shadow of himself. And it was painful to see him die in the end (Spoiler alert again). But that is how life works. He had a long, meaningful life. Not beautiful, but meaningful. And even in the last hour of life, he spent it the way he would love to: Protect others, be the bearer of the burden so others can have a better future. He is a real leader, even though he never admitted that. Seeing him stand back to let the mutant kids run away reminded me of the scene in the X-Men 2 movie many years ago, where he defended the school and saved all the students.

Anyway, it was some kind of consolation to know that he did not die in vain, and his death opened a new chapter for many lives, including Lara, his daughter (well, in a way, or perhaps more like a clone, since they made her in the lab with is DNA sample). And I think he would prefer that to dying slowly with the poison inside his body killing him one cell after another.

Ok, let’s talk a bit about Lara. She was the product of the next phase of the Weapon X program. The program went haywire, and she escaped the lab together with a bunch of other mutant kids. They made a deal to meet somewhere in the USA to find a dreamland where they could live without fear. But before she could get there, she had to overcome a huge war machinery coming to get her back to the lab. Then Charles found her during one of his rare conscious moments. And that how everything became entangled.

Lara is a tough kid, with wild nature and very sharp claws. In the beginning, she was more an animal than a girl, but with the genuine care from Charles, and the tough love from Logan, she became more and more of a human, and by the end of the movie, they forged a beautiful bond, and she was truly heartbroken when his newfound family was taken from her. That’s the difference between a human and a machine. Human can think, can feel, can have emotions, and are therefore harder to control. Even if they were raised in the lab, they were still kids with feelings, not just animals living by instinct, or cold blooded killing machines. And that was the main reason why the Weapon X program was stopped in favor of creating truly emotionless clones that only followed instructions.

With the demise of all the old guards, I am not very sure how they will continue the X-Men universe. Or will they can it and only continue the Avenger assembly? Time will tell, but at least, there is still something to build on. Lara will surely be a good replacement for Logan, and those kids have enough superpowers to defend themselves and defeat any upcoming invasion. All they need is just training, to control and make full use of their potential. Something that Charles had done with the X-Men first class.

Conversation in the A&E room

The nurse walked out of the A&E room. Everyone looked up, anxiously waiting. She called out a name. No response. She called again. Still no response. Then the admin staff answered: “No family member”.

“No family member”. The nurse mumbled, walking back in.

I did not know what that patient would feel, but if I were him, I would feel very sad. Waking up, in pain, and seeing no familiar face beside him. What would he think? And would the physical pain be stronger or the emotional pain?

To me, the answer is starkly simple.

Physical pain can be eased by painkillers, but there is no medicine for the emotional pain.

I would never want to be in that situation. Not at all.

And I would not want to put my loved ones in that situation either.

We are all living in a very busy world, where we spent the bulk of our time at work. We only have a few pockets of time left every day, and there are so many activities fighting for those little precious hours. Squeezing in some more work. Reading. Watching your favourite TV show. Browsing Internet. Catching up with friends. So many that, in fact, we can hardly find the time for all of them.

I am not saying that they are not important. They are all important, to a certain degree. But there is something more important than that. Something that we should try to squeeze some time for.

FAMILY.

Because after all, they are the ones that will be there for you, with you, in times of need. Who you can lean on, call on, and look for when you need someone to be there with you. For you.

I for sure, will do. And I will keep reminding myself that. Everyday.

Eat to Live or Live To Eat

Overheard 2 guys talking in the train last night on the way home

“You should eat in order to survive…”

Suddenly thinking. Should we eat our meals every day just to survive, to get in enough nutritions into our bodies for a proper functioning of the organs?

Or should we enjoy our food and get the most out of every meal, not just a bunch of chemical compounds?

In this new economy, where everything is fast and everyone is busy, I believe many times we have rushed through our meals, just to finish them and get back to our work. I am also guilty as charged, gulping down the food and rushing back to office, without even remembering what I had just eaten or how it tasted like.

And, there is a thing called take-away food, where you even don’t sit down for a proper meal. You end up mostly sitting in front of your laptop and eating your meal while multi-tasking something else. Your food surely tastes like grass, or even worse, you don’t taste it at all. You eat it, but you don’t taste it. And is it a waste? Of time, of food, of a chance to enjoy what you do?

I believe that’s also a reason why people love taking photos of their food. But what’s the point of doing so, if what you finally have is just a lifeless photo, and not an enjoyable experience?

I should keep reminding myself, to live more in the moment, to be more mindful and enjoy my food, not just an expensive meal, but a cheap lunch at hawker centre, for it’s not just the price of the meal, but the time you spend on it. And time is precious, and very limited.

Bread Street Singapore – Nice, comfortable meal

(All credits of the photos in this post go to the original owners. We did not take any photo since we were focusing too much on enjoying the food :P)

Since it was Valentine’s Day, and we have not gone out alone (without the kids) for quite a while, I decided to go upscale a bit and choose a place that we would not visit very often. And since we would be catching a show at Marina Bay Sands (more on that in another post), why not trying out Bread Street by Gordon Ramsay. After all, I was quite curious how his own restaurant would be, given his reputation of expecting nothing less than perfect in his cooking shows.

The restaurant looked friendly enough, not so intimidating. Probably it was purposely decorated so that it would not scare off first timers like me. The reviews online are mixed, but I still decided to give it a try. After all, there should at least be something palatable, and we are not so fussy so something decent should be warmly welcome 🙂

As customary for European restaurants, we were greeted by the bread. And gosh, we really loved it. There were a few varieties, and although the butter was a bit on the salty side, the newly baked, crusty bread really made a good introduction. We happily devoured them, and had almost finished the whole basket by the time the first course arrived. And, they are on the healthy side, wholemeal and with lots of nuts. So, no guilty feeling.

As we visited on Saturday lunch time, there was only the brunch menu available. There were some interesting starters that I wanted to try out, but they were only available in the full menu. Never mind, work with what you have. Luckily, the tuna tartare was available. And I had no regret ordering it. The crispy crackers went perfectly with the fish, and we wished there would be some more. The fish was beautifully seasoned, not fishy at all, and literally melt in my mouth. Scoop up some fish with the cracker, spread a little bit of the accompanying fresh cheese on top, and toss in your mouth. The feeling is purely wonderful. And even after the crackers were long finished, we had a fun time savoring the fish alone.

The second starter we ordered was tamarind fried chicken. It had received mixed reviews, with some listing it as a must have, while others complaining that it was dry, hard and even paled in comparison with Korean fried chicken.

My first impression was that, wow, it was huge for a starter. 3 whole wings, each cut in half, was enough for a meal actually. And while the seasoning was a bit savoury, I really liked the batter and the hint of sour tamarind. It was cooked throughout, and no pink spot even to the bone, yet it was still moist inside and crunchy outside. Fans of finger food wil surely enjoy it, and I have no problem ordering it again, although we will likely have to cut back on other dishes due merely to its size alone.

For the main course, the no brainer choice is fish and cheap. After all, it’s an English restaurant, and what screams English more loudly than a plate of fish and cheap. And it really did not disappoint. The fish fillet was super fresh, with chewy and smooth texture, and totally no fishy smell. Juicy and sweet on the palate. And the batter was crispy and not a single bit oily at all. Probably deep fried with very hot oil at perfect amount of time. Again, the piece of fish came with a generous serving of yummy thick cut fries. Guilty sinful carbo, but awfully good, especially when dipped in the in house tartar sauce and puréed pea. If stomach space is not an issue, I will happily finish until the last strip, but I had to tell myself to stop, since there were still more dishes coming up shortly.

The second main course that we ordered was the beef burger. Again, it came with huge portion of fries, which only added to the guilt we had as we were still struggling to finish the one that came with the first main. However, this was not as stellar as the previous dishes. It was not bad at all, had generous serving of medium cooked beef, but I found the burger too bit and thick, and the beef a bit dry due to lack of sauce, even though there was a layer of melted cheese in between. Also, I did not quite like the texture of the hamburger steak, I prefer it served to me whole. It was an ok dish, just not amazing. Maybe for the next visit, we will swap it with a starter, so that we can enjoy more varieties, go gentler on our stomaches and not feel so guilty on the pile of carbo.

As many reviewers had mentioned, we saved some room for desserts, and it did not disappoint. Luckily we ordered just one dessert to share, and it was a really good one. Monkey shoulder Cheesecake with raspberry ice cream. Another crowd favourite and recommended dish, and for good reason. The ice cream was probably made in house, had distinctive fruit taste and not too sweet, even a bit on the sour side, to pair perfectly with the creamy cheesecake, which was firm but smooth, bouncy and did not crumble easily when under attack of the spoon. And it was not lumpy at all, rich and cheese but still smooth and did not cause bloated feeling at all. Perfect execution. Definitely something I will be happy to order again.

Overall, a very good meal. A place we can go back again for sure. Upper middle scale, but not totally unaffordable. A good addition to the crowded culinary market here. And a surprise that all those yummy dishes were made by a young female chef, who had worked with Gordon himself in London before. Well done, and hopefully the kitchen here is not so brutal as what we have seen on TV before.

Last but not least, we were served by a MD. He was exceptionally kind, courteous and polite, spoke fluent English with a slight accent, and had stylish pony tail. But I really had no idea he was the MD of the restaurant until I checked the Internet to find photos for this post. Maybe it was a busy lunch service that day, or maybe he just wanted to feel the pulse of the customers and make sure everything was done right. Anyway, he was really nice and not pushy at all, and exceptionally helpful. Oh yeah, he wore something different from the rest of the service staff. Again, I did not notice it till now 😉 Ok, I will be more watchful next time.

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