Suneo in Singapore: Dinner Drama

During my second work trip to Singapore, I managed to meet up with more friends. In other words, I managed to get more free meals. Cool, right? Especially when the exchange rate is 2.55. Really makes your eyes pop out. AlexanderTheGay of the Jaylex Foundation came to meet just the day after he touched down from Jakarta. He said he was tired, but he looked good to me. Polished, but definitely thinner. Once again, KH suggested the dinner venue, which was Poulet at Bugis+. French food, but I was pointed to the signature item on the menu-- Poulet Rôti. Roast chicken la, LOL, but in a plate of mushroom Chardonnay sauce. So it looked like a headless tanned hunk on a bed of cum (sounds familiar?). It was quite good really. Was actually a couple of years since I actually talked face to face with AlexanderTheGay. We updated each other on happenings, filling in the blanks. One by one we went through the list of BFF and I gave my report on each of them. Post-dinner, we went for gelato downstairs at Gelateria Italia. As luck would have it, we were served by a Singaporean Carol Beer (Little Britain fans would know what I'm talking about). She had half of the look, but the dead eyes and flat voice were perfect. I got a cup of Bailey's and we continued our conversation.

My next dinner date was with w850i and his bf, Andy. Our meeting point was at Bugis Junction where w850i met me first. Unfortunately, Andy was late. He brought me to TCC for a drink first. Forty minutes later, Andy made his appearance. By the time we went for dinner, it was already 7:30pm and the monstrous Friday night lines were already too crazy. The line at Ma Maison was just too long. Then it suddenly came to me that I saw a Ma Maison at Bugis+, so we tried our luck there. Turns out there was a table for us a Aloha Ma Maison, their Hawaii-themed casual Japanese-French dining restaurant. Truth be told, the flowery plastic table wrap gave the feel of warung Melayu. Yuck. And they nearly wanted to seat us around a fake palm tree. Horrible seating arrangements. I ordered the omu fried rice with beef stroganoff and we had some garlic escargot to share. When the escargot came, I though we could dig in. But it turns out that it was supposed to be flaming! We tried to get the attention of our server. But she only came to light the fire five minutes later. Andy's face had turned black. She might as well have squirted the lighter fluid on his face. When we ate the snails, it was just a little warm. X_X. Later on, the mains arrived sans cutlery. At that point, Andy lost it and blasted a waitress.

Andy: This is really bad service! I demand to see your manager!

Waitress: He'll come when he is free!

Looks like the waitress lost it too. Obviously they were quite understaffed. After a few minutes, the manager came and listened sympathetically to Andy's complaints. He did not try to defend himself, just pleaded to Andy to give him a chance to make it up to him. After the soft-spoken manager left, Andy started a tirade about the Unhappy Singaporean. I just let him rant. Things did not get better because they never came to refill his water. Grumpily he told the waitress that he will not be paying the service charge. Just after we finished our food, the manager came over with two large slices of fruit tart and a twenty percent off our bill. That put a half-smile on Andy's face. Phew.



w850i quickly ushered us out of the restaurant after the bill was settled. Went to do some shopping at Aeropostale (the clothes looked very A&F) and Pull & Bear. I rushed to the loo after that wondering if the people at Aloha Ma Maison poisoned me. X_X. My hosts were in the mood for nightcap so we walked to Suntec in search of a nice place to drink. Ended up in the Conrad Centennial Hotel Lounge. Perfect ambience with a talented pianist. For drinks I had white wine-based cocktail with some citrus embellishments. Toasted Andy on his future book publishing and w850i's recent promotion.



What's a trip to Singapore without meeting up with Tater? Amid all that rice, one definitely needs some taters. We met up for breakfast on Saturday at Yakun. Had eggs, toast and coffee. And of course the eggs came with the super black sauce (a thing I love to hate about Singapore). The place had cute posters like: "They have the French press, we have the sock!". Had a long talk till nearly lunch time. Parted ways, then I went to have lunch.



Later in the evening, I attended sunset mass at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes. The parish had a large Indian community judging by the the shrine to Our Lady of Good Health of Velankanni, considered the Lourdes of the East. The church was also interesting in the sense that there wasn't a crucifix behind the altar, but a grotto with Our Lady of Lourdes. The crucifix was installed to the side. Judging by the way the priest spoke, I think he is from India. Couldn't really understand his homily. Spotted a guy who turned up for mass in bicycle shorts. *facepalm*. Dinner for me was at Tastebuds Food Centre where I ordered a soggy padthai. During my wait, I spotted a really hunky and handsome fella having dinner with his family. Unfortunately I could not get a clear shot. So sad. Had a spot of tea with Tater at his apartment later in the night.





The next morning, Tater and I went for brunch at Tanglin Mall, an expat mall that's located at the quiet end of Orchard. We were supposed to eat at Eggs & Berries, but they had relocated. Bad luck. So we just made a random choice-- PAUL. Chose the scrambled eggs and it was just average. I ran to the loo after breakfast (the 'poison' from Aloha Ma Maison was strong!). When I got back, Tater suggested that we skip the joint without paying. To which I knew he already paid. >_>. Went belt hunting at ION Orchard after that. Searched through Zara, Pedro, Topman and finally found it in H&M. Tater had a long run in the morning, so we did not walk much. Most of the time, we just chilled at Starbucks. We went back to BHG Bugis after that for some Biotherm shopping. It was his yearly restock so he bought a lot of stuff. And I got some freebies as a result. Wakaka. Went back to the hotel to rest and we later met up for a quick dinner at Albert Centre.