TnT's Workout Blog

Later in the afternoon heavy rain brought flowers down from trees. It looked like it had snowed.

We spend a lazy afternoon in a coffee shop reading. Earshot is so far the only place we've found quiet and ambient enough to spend some time reading or studying. Perhaps because this Sunday their coffee machine is out of order and they don't serve food --- we don't know. Anyway, they make Tei an iced latte without the machine. Once, they forget to change the CD, the place is really quiet. The staff does not bother us at all, either.

Afterwards, we spend some time strolling Boat Quay and Clarke Quay areas to find another comfy place to read. Even if there are not too many people (read: tourists) around, we don't find anything nice. Brewerkz is full, so we end up having pints of Old Speckled Hen at Penny Black, and then head back home.

On Saturday morning, starting promptly at 10am, we have cooking class and then a 7-course tea-pairing lunch at Si Chuan Dou Hua restaurant on the 60th floor of the UOB tower.

Before indulging into the meal, we watch Chef Zeng Feng prepare three of the dishes:

• Chilled Dou Hua noodles with ginger, cucumber, century egg, and Japanese pickled radish. The noodles are made by heating slowly the mixture of soft tofu, milk, and gelatine, and then letting it cool and curdle on a flat tray. Finally, it is cut into fine strips. This is Tei's favorite of the dishes we have. So, refreshing with the condiments.
• Double-boiled Minced Chicken Soup. The secret of this dish is that the chicken is pounded really fine and mixed with eggs (and ginger --- all dishes contain ginger!) to form a very silky texture. Then it is boiled for 30 minutes, not on top of the fire but on the side. This keeps the chicken mixture from breaking up.
• Double-boiled Bird's Nest with Almond Soya Bean Pudding. This is the dessert and the most complicated dish to prepare. The pudding consists of south and north almonds, which are ground and mixed with water to make cream.

  The complication probably is due to the fact that our instructions are all mixed up since they are translated into English at the very last minute; the restaurant did not expect any Caucasians to show up, so all the recipes are originally in Chinese and the class is also given in Chinese, only that there is a simultaneous interpretation in Japanese for the Japanese ladies participating. We get a personal and spontaneous simultaneous translation in English by Marketing Communications Manager Bernadette Lim. We also enjoy the opportunity to ask her questions as we go.

In addition to these three dishes for lunch we have some Beijing duck, deep-fried cod, stir-fried mushrooms, and fragrant rice. The dishes are paired with two different styles of tea.

This is another great even in World Gourmet Summit! Last but not least, before the meal we get to experience an acrobatic and enthralling tea serving dance. And by the way, the star in the middle of our table is made of different spices that Chinese use in their tea, like lily and wolfberries.

The first picture was taken yesterday from our office (16th floor): very loud thunderstorm with no rain swept over us when we were about to leave work. The other picture is from the ground floor of the same building.

After the run we prepare a quick breakfast of wholemeal breadrolls (we baked last night) with ham, cheese, fried eggs, tomato (those yummy Japanese tomatoes) and alfa alfa sprouts. Then we head out for another World Gourmet Summit event at Hilton: Grandeur Of Wine fine wine exhibition, a nice wine tasting event with local wine wholesalers.

We taste Georgian, Hungarian, Croatian, Italian, Argentinian, New Zealand, and French wines, and are invited to a number of wine pairing dinners to be organized in the near future. We also got to taste some awesome food prepared by the participating restaurants and catering services.

Again we are impressed how well the event is organized: it is not crowded at all and everything runs smoothly. There are a lot of clean glasses and drinking water available. The only reason to complain is the air-conditioning: not only us guests, but some exhibitors are freezing.

In the afternoon we do some shopping. First, we visit Orchard Central to pick up our race packets for next weekend's Nature Run. By accident we spot a Prana shop next to the world's highest indoor climbing wall (as they claim).

Later we visit Velocity at Novena. It is a mall with several relatively good outdoor and sports stores. Finally, we make a pit stop at Harry's to watch F1 qualifiers in Shanghai's Grand Prix. In a month we are going to be in Shanghai again to visit the Expo.

In the evening we attend Wildlife Gourmet Safari at Singapore Zoo's Night Safari, an event part of World Gourmet Summit organized in Singapore for 14th time. Despite a lot of waiting and the pouring rain, we enjoy the event tremendously. It truly seems that all parties involved --- the Night Safari, the chefs, and the WGS staff --- try to make it a memorable event. Everything is so well executed and runs smoothly. After this experience we look forward to other WGS event we have registered to.

The event is supposed to start at 6pm, but still at 5:45pm we are stuck in the worst traffic jam ever at Clementi Rd., and of course horrified that we are going to miss the dinner. We call the organizers. By the time we get to Night Safari, we find out we are the first ones there! Soon, we are taken to a shelter at the boat dock, where we are served champagne and canapes, and entertained by a boa and a barn owl and their caretakers.

It appears that the cruise on Seletar Reservoir is cancelled because of the heavy thunderstorm, and we spend quite a while waiting for the rest of the guests. Eventually we are escorted to a tram, one of those regular night safari trams turned into a restaurant wagon. It looks pretty cool with its zebra striped sofas and table clothes.

The first course is served while we tour the night safari. Then we stop at a shelter house by one of the tram stations to enjoy the scene of the two executive chefs (Kelvin Low, Wildlife Reserves Singapore and James Viney, Four Seasons Hotel Macau) and their staff (must be at least twenty of them) preparing the remaining three courses for us. Here is the menu with wines for tonight:

• Yellow fin tuna with fennel confit, pink pepper and mint (2008 Sartori, Friuli Grave Pinot Grigio) --- Viney
• Cream of lobster bisque with colossal crab meat, served with country style bread (2007 Sartori, Bianco Veronese IGT) --- Low
• Spiced seabass, tomato and mustard seed jam with verjus (2004 Campo Verde, Barbera d'Asti) --- Viney
• Oven-baked Wagyu tenderloin on slow cooked potato confit and pumpkin puree with port wine sauce (2005 Castello Banfi, Chianti Classico Riserva) --- Low

After the main courses we do a bit more touring in the night safari, and then we return to Ulu Ulu Safari Restaurant for desserts. First, we are entertained by a tribal dance group. Then we indulge ourselves with two dessert dishes, each prepared by one of the chefs:

• Basil Espuma with orange (2007 Castello Banfi, Rosa Regale DOCG) --- Viney
• Cold souffle flavored with Grand Marnier and strawberry mille-feuille laced with vanilla sauce --- Low

Official photos of the event are here. Apologies for the quality of our photos; the lighting conditions were nothing but optimal for a cell phone camera, even one with a night mode.

Final note: Basil espuma (which is like cold and sweet cream of basil) is probably the most original and excotic dish we have; we have never had basil as dessert before, but it works perfectly. We have real "still life" on our dessert table, and the five-year old in our company can't keep his fingers off the fresh vegetables.

In the afternoon we head out for another cultural expedition: we visit Singapore Art Museum (SAM) to check the exhibition Realism in Asian Art, but we also see the other exhibits. Since photography of the artworks is not allowed (which not many visitors obey), we only have pictures from common areas and from outside the museum.

Afterwards we visit Adstragold Microbrewery at Chijmes, a place being a weird concept of some guy purchasing a ready-made home-brewing set (with tanks and all) and starting a brewery restaurant. We taste all their three beers: pilsner, hefewieser (SIC!), and bock-stout. All taste raw to us. We bet those guys know nothing about beers. Actually on their page they proudly state that they don't need a brewmaster.

We stay at the Sarang Rooms, a Bed&Breakfast place with three guest rooms with shared kitchen, toilet and shower facilities. We are told that the house is over hundred years old, and these three rows of townhouses are last remaining houses in the central KL, all others having been demolished to give way for high rises. Our house looks newly renovated and is super clean and neat. We pay 150 MYR per night for a spaceous room and the breakfast.

And what do we do in KL?

• First, we have both good and goofy experiences with taxi drivers. Absolutely the worst is the guy who takes us to Sarang from KLIA, or actually does not. Instead he tries to leave us to some strange alleys, and just refuses to follow our instructions even if we have a GPS.

  Next morning we need to go to Sepang to claim our race tickets. We pay the driver 150 ringits for a round trip, which also includes a tour in Putrajaya, new capital city hosting all government offices and ministries, and housing for the government workers, and Cyberjaya, a Silicon Valley of Malaysia. The driver is super talkative and wants to share with us all his views on political and social issues going on between native Malays and Chinese in the country. The same guy takes us to KLIA when we are flying back home: it is 5:30 in the morning and this time he's kind enough to keep his mouth shut and let us sleep.

• We have some awesome food, too. The first morning our hostess Christina takes us to a Southern Indian place next to a Hindu temple. We are served various curries and dahls on banana leaves. Later the same day, we have lunch at a organic vegetarian place Woods Bio Marche. Their food is tasty, and believe or not, feels really healthy.

  Other two dining experiences worth mentioning are the twentyone kitchen+bar, a modern bistro with creative menu, and Restoran Berputar Seri Angkasa di Menara Kuala Lumpur, a revolving restaurant on top of the KL tower. In attempt to avoid the crowds on the viewing deck, we opt for a buffet brunch: it is expensive but the selection comprising of Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Western dishes is extensive and delicious.

• KL's Birdpark is awesome, much better than Singapore's. The park is huge and is divided in zones with different species in each of them, and the whole thing is covered by nets. There are a lot of different birds (200 species says the brochure), and except the potentially dangerous ones, such as ostrich and hawks, they are all over the place, and we really get to see them close. We also meet Alex's cousins :)
• Malaysia's F1 Grand Prix is also much more enjoyable than Singapore's. For the same money we paid for the tickets to Singapore's race last year, we could buy our flights to KL, and the tickets to the Sepang race, for the seats from where we can actually see half of the track. The race itself is rather uneventful, but the display by the Royal Malaysian Air Forces prior to the race is rather scary and loud, though.

  On top of the good things, there is plenty of food and drinks available, no one smokes on the stands, and it does not rain. It takes us three hours to get back to the city after the race, but we can only blame ourselves for making some bad decisions. After all it does not rain, and we still have enough time to have a nice dinner on our last night in KL.

• There is nothing particularly impressive in the KL city itself, but really nothing we totally dislike, either. People are friendly, and it is relatively clean (yes, we can assure you that there are much nastier places in Singapore, which in general is considered super clean) The highway system seems very efficient, and the roads are in good condition (we have already noticed this when bicycling in Desaru area). They could pay closer attention to pedestrian safety in the city, though. Unlike in some Vietnamese cities where traffic is close to chaos, in Malaysia crossing the streets is truly dangerous.