Monday, May 31, 2010

Macau & Hong Kong

Amanda and I are just back from classy Macau and as always, amazing Hong Kong. I had never been to Macau before and was interested in the intense development that has taken place and is continuing to take place.

We decided to embrace the tackiness of Macau and stayed at the Venetian. As you can see below, the Venetian is all restraint and elegance. Even better, the frescoes are in great condition, far superior to the crappy ones you see in Italy. The "Grand Canal" runs through the middle of the Venetian flanked by Italian masterpieces such as Gucci, Armani, Versace and the flagship of Italian cuisine, Starbucks.


We had lunch at Robouchon and were incredibly disappointed. After previous experiences at 3 Star restaurants my previous suspicions have been confirmed and I am content to never place much value in the substance of the Michelin guide's higher certified restaurants. I have no interest in eating over-worked food in pretentious surroundings served by well dressed glassies.

However, I did eat one of the greatest cheeses I have ever tasted. It was a camembert from Champagne however unfortunately I got the name of the other camembert that was served and so am none the wiser. Stay tuned, I have sent emails to ask for the name and to see if I can marry their pastry chef.

Then began the great Portuguese egg tart hunt. After getting lost in the casino for 20 minutes and then stumbling upon the canal which was worth another 30 minute wander I ended up in another hotel. The concierge called ahead to confirm that the bakery was open only for the first taxi driver to not know the location. 10 minutes later the second taxi driver talked it through with the concierge and we finally had agreement. 15 minutes later I end up at a different egg tart bakery, my second preference - Lord Stow's. After my initial disappointment at not finding Margaret's Cafe e Nata I got stuck in to Lord Stow's. They are pretty damn good although a little too eggy. But with pastry like that, I can forgive many many sins.


Dinner at Fernando's was a great rustic bookend to the day and although my belly looked like I had a cheese-baby, we still managed to eat several plates of great food highlighted by an incredible plate of clams.


In Hong Kong we ate dinner at a fantastic private kitchen. Liberty Private Works served a seven course meal (accompanied by our beautiful BYO Lakes Folly) each course of which was beautiful. After the butter-fest of Robouchon the dishes were delicate, simple and fresh and I can highly recommend it to everyone.

Amanda is normally my salami mule as HK has some great delicatessens, however this time I smuggled my own cured meats. An incredible salami is calling to me from the fridge as we speak and the voices in my head won't stop.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

A Bit Like Magic



The Queen cover band was pretty damn fun though about 408 closets away from being anywhere near as good as Freddie.

36 Rajasthani musicians

The Manganiyar were fantastic. Part of the Singapore arts festival, this was a peep show of incredible Indian musicians, the opening and closing of curtains and the rhythmic, synchronised switching on and off of dressing room light globes. All orchestrated by the greatest display of castanet playing this side of Leonardo Balanda's Concertina for Castanets and Orchestra Three Anecdotes (1977).

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Amanda's Birthday - Part 2

We were joined by around a dozen friends at a rarely found BYO restaurant in Singapore.

The night started off with Amanda and I heading to the restaurant with the alcohol. Amanda looked extremely sexy in a little black Gucci dress. And clutching a magnum of champagne which was about half as big as her. I now realise how much she must have to drink for me to become attractive!

We blasted through dinner for around 4 hours and after tiramisu cake, headed out to dance. I had booked a few tables at one of the good clubs (like I would know!) however for some reason Amanda changed her mind. She didn't want to be at a club full of 25 year olds, rather choosing to go to a club that would be full of 45 year olds. I don't know why she would want to spend her 35th birthday at a place like that.

She did enjoy it though. As soon as we walked in she hit the dance floor to the classics of yesteryear - Duran Duran, Madonna (old school) and did I hear some De La Soul? 4 hours of non-stop dancing. And I mean non-stop - there was not even a toilet break.

I even managed to dance a little (see earlier post regarding champagne in-take) but mainly amused myself by watching Eurotrash (not you Philippe), guys trying to pick up, lady-boys (not you Jason), and boys trying to pick up lady-boys.

As part of Festivus we are going to HK this weekend "for a big one." I think she has a renewed taste for dancing. Can't wait.

MMA at Resorts World - Review

Hmmm, another terribly organised event.

The seats are generally arranged in a circular manner around a centrally located cage. I had purchased the second most expensive tickets and was located in the last row, equidistant from the cage as the nearby cheapest seats.

The seating is not raked so it is hard to see over heads, particularly when the fighters go to ground.

Save yourself money - buy the cheapest tickets possible and sit in one of the many empty and better seats.

Whisky Live 2010 Singapore - review

Quite a poorly organised event that reminded me of being at a buffet in a Tier 2 Chinese city.

I won't go as far as to say that the event was over-sold as this would imply that the organisers were not fully aware of the numbers coming. The layout was woefully inadequate for the number of attendees with small tasting tables located in cramped corners.

The "special events" such as blind tasting (which was blind smelling, not blind tasting) was 5-7 glasses attended to by one woman, providing some "fun" for the couple of hundred people present.

One barman for whisky cocktails.

One barman for other cocktails.

2 staff attending each whisky tasting table and each table was typically 3 deep in waiting.

Terribly organised event from the lack of information on the website to the whisky available to the lack of staff to the overcrowded room. I will not attend again.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Birthday's & Visitors

As the dust clears from Amanda's birthday last night, I am not feeling very chatty but will do my best.

We have had The Rock family come through Singapore and loved every minute of it.

Grace was a treat as always and Jasper looks set to be the world's greatest clapper. I would mock him as a one-trick pony however his molestation by a Singapore airlines hostess and half the women in Singapore has driven me to secretly practice my clapping when Amanda is in the other room. He clearly has his mother fooled as she rather generously describes his hair colour as "copper."

The one thing about Grace that is really impressive is that even at this early age, she clearly has the elegant class of her mother when it comes to her dress sense.

And has passion for her fashion.

Amanda's birthday last night was a long and messy affair.
1985
3 bottles
1988
Magnum

Just 1 bottle
More details to come as my head clears and Amanda gets out of bed.