Stale Bread
Warning: This is a REALLY stale post. Immune-suppressed individuals should take extreme caution and consult your healthcare professional. I'm really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. I though this too late to post ages ago, so I left it in my archives. However, I'm feeling a little nostalgic.... (and desperate) about the old days, of how it used to be... so here.
When two thirds of the Unholy Trinity get together with the
Orginiser for dinner, one would expect an overwhelming reponse. However, it seems that the magic doesn't work that way. Perhaps we're missing David's magic touch. Alex's exclusive appearance failed to reel in the crowds of adoring peers in, or perhaps we went wrong somewhere. With just the three of us, it kinda ended up as a committee meeting. All was not lost as it turned out to be quite the "fancy and quiet" affair that Alex was looking for. Of course , our kind of "fancy" is open to intrepretation. After meeting up the two at MPH, at the history section (looking for the biography of Tun Dr Ismail?!) we were off to dinner. We may be the executive layer of the glamourous world of orginising, however, we are not spared the curse of indecisiveness and fickleness. The failure to reach a consensus when one is hungry can be quite an experience. Anyway, we hopped from Madam Kwan to Chilli's and finally San Francisco Steakhouse.
My first time there. Mel's bro-in-law loves it there. But after my experience, I can't fathom why. It's has quite a large floorspace, nearly as big as Tai Thong Spring Valley. The interior is pleasant enough with much wine lining the walls. The same cannot be said about the service and the food though. Don't get me wrong, the staff are friendly enough, but behind their fake smiles and pleasant demeanour, hides very heinous intent to fleece the customer. Firstly, they told us that they did not have any sky juice and that we'd have to settle for bottled water. However, we later found a table beside us being served ice water from a jug. Secondly, they keep on trying to persuade you to order the expensive stuff. Never really caring about what you want to have and never give any helpful hints as to what there is to order. You go for beer, they will ply you wine. Choose steak, and they'll push roast beef (pre-prepared dish) on you. Get you to order garlic bread, without telling you that the main dishes actually come with a wholemeal bun. And not revealing that they have dinner sets that are really relatively economical.
An example of a helpful waitress / waiter:
Kam Lun Tai (old shop opposite UDA Ocean): "You all order so much for what?! You think you can finish ah? Enough."
Crystal Jade (Ngee Ann City): "The amount that you've ordered should be quite enough for 5 persons."
The cara penyampaian may have been different, but the intent is sincere and helpful. Help the customer make the right decision. Don't just try to lead them to order your "Today's Special", expensive dishes and what not. I wouldn't mind coming back again to such places.
Anyway, the whole night, we picked at our food (not that good) and slowly sipped our beer. Conversation was very much confined to human behavioural science and psycho-analysis. In layman's terms, mengumpat and bad-mouthing people. Haha. Some reminiscing about the old TV shows and cartoons that we used to love so much, but have now forgotten. Some fluff. Some fluffing.
"I remember that I had to wait for my mum to finish watching Oshin before I get to watch Heathcliff!"
"Why wasn't Miss Piggy ever on Sesame Street?!"
"(Humming the theme from Sailormoon)"
"My little pony and friends........"
"Do you remember the somersault and corkscrew volleyball smashes of a Japanase serial?"
"Teletubbies freak me out!"
If that wasn't enough, the music played in the restaurant took leap back into 50s, 60s and 70s, causing Alex to go into a very nostalgic mood. We all sang along to the oldies that we knew. I don't know if it was the beer, but we sure had fun. And it triggered a need for KTV. Shall we?
Be sure to fluff before you get to bed tonight...
When two thirds of the Unholy Trinity get together with the
Orginiser for dinner, one would expect an overwhelming reponse. However, it seems that the magic doesn't work that way. Perhaps we're missing David's magic touch. Alex's exclusive appearance failed to reel in the crowds of adoring peers in, or perhaps we went wrong somewhere. With just the three of us, it kinda ended up as a committee meeting. All was not lost as it turned out to be quite the "fancy and quiet" affair that Alex was looking for. Of course , our kind of "fancy" is open to intrepretation. After meeting up the two at MPH, at the history section (looking for the biography of Tun Dr Ismail?!) we were off to dinner. We may be the executive layer of the glamourous world of orginising, however, we are not spared the curse of indecisiveness and fickleness. The failure to reach a consensus when one is hungry can be quite an experience. Anyway, we hopped from Madam Kwan to Chilli's and finally San Francisco Steakhouse.
My first time there. Mel's bro-in-law loves it there. But after my experience, I can't fathom why. It's has quite a large floorspace, nearly as big as Tai Thong Spring Valley. The interior is pleasant enough with much wine lining the walls. The same cannot be said about the service and the food though. Don't get me wrong, the staff are friendly enough, but behind their fake smiles and pleasant demeanour, hides very heinous intent to fleece the customer. Firstly, they told us that they did not have any sky juice and that we'd have to settle for bottled water. However, we later found a table beside us being served ice water from a jug. Secondly, they keep on trying to persuade you to order the expensive stuff. Never really caring about what you want to have and never give any helpful hints as to what there is to order. You go for beer, they will ply you wine. Choose steak, and they'll push roast beef (pre-prepared dish) on you. Get you to order garlic bread, without telling you that the main dishes actually come with a wholemeal bun. And not revealing that they have dinner sets that are really relatively economical.
An example of a helpful waitress / waiter:
Kam Lun Tai (old shop opposite UDA Ocean): "You all order so much for what?! You think you can finish ah? Enough."
Crystal Jade (Ngee Ann City): "The amount that you've ordered should be quite enough for 5 persons."
The cara penyampaian may have been different, but the intent is sincere and helpful. Help the customer make the right decision. Don't just try to lead them to order your "Today's Special", expensive dishes and what not. I wouldn't mind coming back again to such places.
Anyway, the whole night, we picked at our food (not that good) and slowly sipped our beer. Conversation was very much confined to human behavioural science and psycho-analysis. In layman's terms, mengumpat and bad-mouthing people. Haha. Some reminiscing about the old TV shows and cartoons that we used to love so much, but have now forgotten. Some fluff. Some fluffing.
"I remember that I had to wait for my mum to finish watching Oshin before I get to watch Heathcliff!"
"Why wasn't Miss Piggy ever on Sesame Street?!"
"(Humming the theme from Sailormoon)"
"My little pony and friends........"
"Do you remember the somersault and corkscrew volleyball smashes of a Japanase serial?"
"Teletubbies freak me out!"
If that wasn't enough, the music played in the restaurant took leap back into 50s, 60s and 70s, causing Alex to go into a very nostalgic mood. We all sang along to the oldies that we knew. I don't know if it was the beer, but we sure had fun. And it triggered a need for KTV. Shall we?
Be sure to fluff before you get to bed tonight...
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