Wine Fatal Attraction (Beginning)

I have not tried any alcohol beverages in my life till recently due to my latest job role. My first go at wine tasting was during a sampling training where there were a few wines been featured.

The first wine which I tried was a red wine and the first impression is not fantasic. As can be seen, the first encounter was quite disappointing and bad for my throat.

After the first glimpse into the world of wines ( not a pleasant glimpse!), I have tried many other types of red and white wines.

Personally I have come to enjoy white wine better especially the wines which have a higher residue sugar content. Examples are the Moscato as well as Riesling from Germany. They have a higher degree of sweetness which when well chilled are pleasantly easy to drink and enjoyable.

Moscato in general have an alcohol percentage between 5.5% to 7 %. They have a very fruity nature and the alcohol after taste is quite well masked by the fruitiness. The below are two brands of moscato which I have tried. Both have different characters.

The first one is Boroli Moscato which is from Italy and it is sweeter than the second one which is from Australia under the Brawn Brother label.

Last lap for the Championship in the BPL

This has been one of the most fascinating Barclays English Premier League season. The race for the Champion has been a close fight between 3 clubs. ( Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea)

The race for the fourth spot has also been a keen battle between a number of clubs ( Liverpool, Aston Villa, Manchester City, Tottenham)

For this season, the top clubs seem to be dropping many more points than normal. Wonder is it due to the quality of the overall league is getting better or the top teams are getting weaker.

For Arsenal performance, they have been inconsistent throughout the season. They have dropped points against their nearest rivals as well as some unexpected teams. One reason could be due to the many injuries suffer by their various departments over the season. Another weakness is also due to the keeper inconsistency as he has made a couple of howlers in the season which does not inspire confidence in the backline.

For Manchester United, although it pains me to say it but really Manu have become over reliant on the use of star players for the offensive side of their game. Ronaldo has been carrying Manu offense for the last two seasons. This year Rooney has done very well to take over the mandate. However this also lies the problem, when Rooney is injured, there is a significant loss in cutting edge.

Even though Valencia has been a solid signing but the loss of Ronaldo as well as Tevez has been quite significant. In addition, the existing midfielders has not really managed to up their offensive game. A major downside has been the influence of Carrick. He was supposed to be the main creative force in the centre of midfield but his performance has been quite bad. Park and Fletcher has been playing well but their main role is to strengthen the centre of midfield from a defensive point of view. There is not much creativity in the centre of the park. This caused Manu to attack by the flank most of the time which makes it predictable for opposition.

For Chelsea, it can be said that out of the 3 teams, it is the most experienced as well as the strongest in depth as their bench is full of experience international. They also have suffered from players who suffered major injuries such as the loss of Essien and Ashley Cole. They have recovered well from a blip in the second half of the season.

Chelsea has just beaten Manu and are 2 points ahead with 5 games left. Based on the fixture list, their toughest assignment will be going to Anfield and not get beaten as they have a superior goal difference than Manu.

Manu have some tough games coming up which are away such as the Manchester Derby as well as Tottenham away.

Arsenal has relatively easiest run in to the end of the season. However they will need both Manu and Chelsea to drop a few points. It maybe possible for one of the two to drop a couple of points but not likely to have both teams dropping enough points for Arsenal to overtake them.

Chelsea is in a very strong position for the title. However based on this unpredictable season, both sets of Manchester United and Arsenal fans must be hoping for a last minute twist for the race for the title.

Dinner @ Long Beach King Seafood

Recently we went to the Long Beach King Seafood which is next to the Kallang Park's Macdonald for a family dinner.


We decided to order their special seafood menu which highlights include chili crab and the Geoduck ( personal favourite).

The first dish to arrive was the Geoduck in sashimi style. It is also accompanied by a soup based on mushroom and chicken stock. The soup is for those who prefer to poached the geoduck before having it. Personally preferred it raw as the sweetness is best expressed.

Geoduck Sashimi ( super tasty)

The next dish below is the chili crab with the fried man tou ( fried buns). The gravy is quite rich and goes well with the mantou. Maybe for people who like their chili crab spicy will be disappointed as the spicness for this dish is not really high. The crab was also very fresh and huge :)

The next dish is one of their more popular dish. The chicken meat was very tender and when you cut it, the meat comes off very easily and it is juicy. The only downside is that it is a bit on the sweet type.

It is followed by the chili fried lala. Lala is another type of shell fish and usually stired fried with chili.

It is swiftly followed by the vegetable cooked in superior stock and mushroom. It is quite ok.

The next dish is the steamed fish with an assam like gravy. The fish was fresh and the gravy is not too bad.

The dish below is their specially made seafood filled dough fritters. Unlike a lot of places, the filling here is very generous and flavourful. Excellent dish !

The below is the fried rice. Nothing really special.

We tried 3 of their desserts offering which are shown below. They were all quite good.



It was a really enjoyable dinner and hopefully can go again soon.

Friend's wedding dinner @ Qian Xi (Farrer Park)

Recently I had attended a friend wedding at the Qian Xi restaurant located at Farrer Park. It was a nine course dinner.

1. Suckling Pig Cold dish
2. Braised Shark Fin Soup with Crab Meat
3. Roasted Crispy Chicken
4. Steamed Red Garoupa
5. Braised Duck with Sea Cucumber
6. Fried Prawn with Cereal
7. Braised Abalone with Spinach
8. Fried Rice in Lotus Leaf
9. Yam paste with Gingko Nut

The first dish is the cold dish. I found the jelly fish a bit too sweet for my liking. The rest of the items is ok, nothing memorable.

The next dish is the shark fin. They are quite generous with the sharfin and the crab meat. Me really enjoyed it.

The third dish is the crispy chicken.

The following dish is the steamed red Garoupa.

The above is the sea cucumber and the duck meat. I find this dish quite yummy as I liked duck prepared using this method.

The fried prawn and cereal. This was excellent. The prawns were big and crispy that you could eat the outer shell. The best was the cereal. In the end, it turned out everyone wanted the cereal more than the prawns !

Braised abalone with Spinach. Nothing outstanding

Fried rice in lotus leaf ( a dish nowadays more popular @ wedding dinner)

I find that overall the dishes was ok and only one or two dishes really stand out.

Dinner at Paradise Inn @ Sommerset 313 B4

In recent times, there has been a lot of new malls that have taken root along Orchard Road. Example are the iconic Orchard Ion as well as Orchard Central and Sommerset 313. These new malls have a lot of new and exciting eatries for foodies to explore.

Recently, my friend and I visited Paradise Inn which is @ Sommerset 313 B4 located near the escalator. It is operated by the Paradise Group which also have outlets at other places like the Singapore Flyer.

The below is the snapshot of their opening page to their menu.

We decided to order 3 dishes to share and try out. The dishes are seafood with tofu and pork floss on top of it, sweet and sour pork and chicken fried with young ginger.

The first dish is the chicken fried with young ginger. The chicken is flavoured with the ginger and deep fried. The meat is very flavourful with the taste of the ginger and the meat is very tender.
This dish was excellent.

The next dish is the seafood tofu with the pork floss. The seafood gravy was very good and it went exceptionally well with the rice. The tofu is very soft and has a melt in your mouth texture when you bite into it.

The last dish is the sweet and sour pork which is absolutely delicious.

The food were excellent and match or exceeded our expectation. The only downside is the rice serving is very small. Even my friend who is not a big eater also required 2 servings of the rice.

The pricing is quite reasonable as it is about slightly more expensive than a zhi char. This is a place I would recommend people to go and try :)

Random post about Yahoo Fantasy Football

I am sure some of the people watching the BPL do play some of the online Fantasy League games where you either pick 11 players or 14 players from the pool of all available players in the BPL. The choice of players will be limited based on a 100 pts system.

The objective of the game is to pick the individual players whom you think will perform the best for a particular week. The only constraint as mention above is the whole team total worth is 100 pts.

I have already played it for 2 seasons yet I still not able to get the hang of it.
It seems this game favour players who keep on shooting since the points awarded for a goal is 7 pts but an assist is only 3 pts. Playing this game makes us support more on individual then an overall team performance.

I have tried choosing players where the allocation is focus on two areas (striker and midfielder) and for the rest of the position it is really picking the players to fill the numbers. I have also tried going for an all rounder team allocation. However none seem to work well :(

If there are any other people who is playing this game and is able to advice on the best strategy I am all ears for it :)

Lunch at Angus Steak House (Takashimaya)

These days fusion food is getting more popular as it seems people are more willing to experiment the various cooking techniques across different culture with existing/new ingredients. A good example is the use of Wasabi in Chinese cuisine.


Angus House can be considered as a fusion food as their menu offering is mainly based on American and Italian dishes but there is a fusion of Japanese cuisine in the preparation of the dishes.


The decoration of the place is classy and spacious. The place has a warm ambience created by the background music from the auto-piano shown in the background of the below photo as well as the warm rays of light gently propagate from the exterior.





The below photo is the table setting.

We ordered their set meal to try out. Their lunch set meal consists of a soup of the day, a salad, a main dish and a dessert.

The first dish to arrive is the Japanese theme salad. It is a bit different from the normal salad in the sense the dressing instead of thousland island dressing, they used a soy sauce based as the dressing. Guess it will be more healthy :)

The next item is the day soup which happen to be mushroom soup that day. It was creamy and very rich in taste. Loved it

The soup also came with some toasted bread as shown below.

The below are some of the main courses that we tried.

The first one is the fish and chips. The fish was very tasty. The only downside is the portion is not so huge. Would have been better if there is one more slice.

The second one is the black pepper steak. As I am not a beef eater so not able to comment about the taste but like the arrangement.

The next one is the seafood platter. The seafood were really excellent but the serving is really too little :( The seafood were grilled and then a very excellent sauce is used to tied the dish together.

The last main dish was the Japanese style spaghetti with scallop and crab roe. This is my favourite dish. As I am not really a cheese person, this dish is perfect for me. The stock of the spaghetti is really light on the palate and it fits perfectly with the seafood in the dish.

Recalling this dish is giving a urge to go there and have it again.

The last item is the day dessert. It is a slice of a cake with some custard cream if I recall correctly.

The taste of the dishes were excellent and the service was also quite prompt. It is quite a nice place to have a quiet dinner. The only downside as can be seen is on the portioning.