Mosella Corpoate Lunch

I had a corporate lunch early this week, at this famed 5 star Pan Pacific Hotel at Claymore Road. Mosella is their 5 star international restaurant situated on the ground floor of this grand hotel. 

Zucchini Flowers 

A great starter dish. It looked like a fish dish and the texture was something like one of the vegetarian dishes from the "Shu" stall at most hawker centres. However, the flavor is hard to beat, there was some sweet and sour truffle taste due to the truffle honey and the pastry is made from the Spanish Manchego Cheese though I have no idea what it tastes in real life. It felt more soya beany than cheesy in texture. 

Very good. 

Jamon Iberico Ham on Crusts 

The Jamon ham was plentiful, overflowing and over 2 thick layers. The aroma is very overpowering for those who are not into their aged and cured hams. The charcoal fired flat breads were crispy and the tomato flavor barely came out on top as the ham was so pungent.

The fans for and against Jamon ham are from both ends of the  you love it or hate it. I must say, I didn't hate it and I am not really into this  degree of pungency 

Hokkaido Scallops Carpacio

This was a lovely surprise. The scallops were small, but the grapefruit and citrus dressing gave it a tangy taste. There were bits of sourdough crotons which I mistook for fish roe :). 

Really excellent. 

Its a must try dish and I will order it again when I am next at Mosella. 

Porcini Mushroom Risotto 

Another winner here, the risotto, while a little bit on the mushy side I think it was due to the type of rice used. In this case it was the aged aquerello rice. There was a strong hint if black truffle, just the essence. The parmesan cheese gave this dish the nice cheesy flavor.

Top rated. 

 

My first 16 years - 6 Adis Road.

 

Our Family House (1959-1976) 

This was the first home which I grew up in the 1960s and 70s. My fondest memories of my infant, toddler, kid and teenage life were centered first around my family house, school, sunday school and later I spent a lot of time at the Singapore Swimming Club and then the outside world.

We (my brother and I) caught spiders at the plants by the side of the house, we climbed the rambutan tree on the right of the picture, the huge garden was a mess, there was no front gate, fence nor was there any clear demarcation lines from the front to the back of the house.

Our house was  a bungalow built in the early 20th century. It sat on something like 40,000 ft of land and nowadays, a developer could build up a small condominium plot with the land area.

On the ground floor, there were 2 rooms, one was uninhabited (West facing), the east facing was converted to a bedroom for my Gong Gong P.C. Wen who came and stayed with us for about some 5 - 6 years in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The central 'ballroom' was a huge room without columns and my father kept all his law files there. I recall there was a line telephone which gave an electric shock everytime we picked up the phone and placed it to our ears. A painful memory from 55 years back !

Climbing up the staircase, we entered the main living room at the centre of the house. There was a huge verandah (with chicks or blinds as we call them), and during thunderstorms, we could shut the wooden shutter doors and retreat into the main living room. It was huge, and behind the living room was the dining room and the kitchen was at the back.

Our bedrooms were on the left side of the house, my brother and I shared one room which had a small loft made out of wood. Some years later, my father installed an air conditioner to this room. I recall using this room for over 10 years.

The master bedroom was divided into 2, my father slept on the large bed and my mother on the smaller bed at the back of the room. There was an adjoining toilet which all 4 of us shared.

To the right side of the house on the second floor, my Por Por (maternal grandmother) lived with us for close to 12 years. She went and lived with my Mum's youngest brother David in her remaining years. She passed on at around 85 years of age.

I fondly recall my Por Por could speak a smattering of Malay, and she and the maids (we called them Kak Kak or big sister) would get on each other's nerves from time to time. She was a fierce lady but melted with us 'Sum Mun Zai' Kia or gangster kids.

I learnt my Cantonese mostly from my Por Por.

The collective memories I have, are still pretty vibrant. I have gone to the exact address of my growing up years, and can barely make out how that plot of land used to create the happiest and most carefree memories of my life.

 

  

 

  

Mao Shan Wang - the Brand above all brands in the King of Fruits.

     Mao Shan Wang durians the top ranked brand of the King of Fruits. 

My regular lunch with my Saturday lunch khaki Fang KS normally brings us all over the island. I would normally start the weekend morning running either 6K or 8K at the East Coast Park starting at the bike station beside carpark B1 and then heading due east along East Coast Park connector.

Yesterday, as it was overcast, and drizzling, I changed the routine somewhat and spent the first 15 minutes at my swim club sauna room, sweating buckets at a temperature of 70C to 75 C. I then took off for a run along the Singapore river near the National Stadium. I ended up covering a total of 4K of approximately 8 minutes 30 seconds per km. 

On meeting with my lunch buddy, we had a nice seafood lunch at Scaled Restaurant, which is a vertical integrated business whereby the owner operates a kelong, as well as a restaurant.

After the lunch, we then adjourned nearby to try some durians. Lo and Behold, we chanced upon this gem of a durian shop. It was called Chong Hwa Durians. The shop which is newly acquired sits at 141 Tyrwhitt Road. We were pleasantly served by 2 young men who offered us this package of Buy 2 get one Free. 

The price per box of one Mao Shan Wang was $20 each. So for $40 we got 3 boxes which turns out to be $13.30 per box.

The first box which we ate (about 10 - 12 seeds) was outstandingly good. The flesh was soft, and the taste was a little bitter but once you got into it, a full slightly sweet flavour filled the palate. Borh of us ate outside their shop and were given the royal treatment with plastic hand gloves, a bottle of water and the sheer delight of eating the best fruit dessert on the planet bar none.  

It was absolutely amazing.

As a durian lover, I would go back and get some more. 

The King of Fruits is back in season.

Remember the name. Chong Hwa Durians and Fruits.

141 Tyrwhitt Road.

Singapore 207558 

    

Keeping good relations with friends so important at this stage in life.

                                           With a friend from Malaysia, Kannan Narinasamy 

Recently I was again rudely reminded of my mortality of another passing of a University mate last year. Whenever we 'old guys' catch up, after the pleasantries, we will settle into the same old routine of :

a) catching up on where we are in what station of life. 

b) Are we working, or are we retired ?

   If we are retired, are we engaged in meaningful activities or assisting in charities or engaged in church / temple work. Or are we in the endless plan of visiting far flung places and hard to reach locations like Nepal and base camp Everest ? I have friends who want to see / experience the following :

> Northern Lights

> Xinjiang North and South

> Llhasa

> Camino Portugues.

I would say just go for it mates. There is no time like the present ! 

c) What health conditions do we have and what good treatments and doctors or Chinese medicine practitioners are we consulting ?

d) How are children doing and what issues are confronting them at this stage in life.

While I do like to meet my old University classmates, I think that the 60s till the early 70s are THE best times to maximize our lives for the better. This means improving our mental, emotional and spiritual well being, as well as of course taking care of our physical health.

I will make it a point to meet old friends and like wine, the best relationships never get old. In fact they taste better after some time away.

At the beginning of this month, I welcomed an old staff and long time friend Kannan Narinasamy for 2 days to Singapore.

We talked about old times and where we hope to be in 1, 3 , 5 or even 10 years time.

It was such an uplifting time for me to reconnect with old friends. 

Stay connected.

Stay relevant

Stay humble

Be the engaging person that people want to reach out to you. 

Father's Day Dinner at Humo - Keong Saik Street - Fabulous Japanese Spanish Fusion food.

 

Yesterday we celebrated Father's Day (20th June). The selection of venue was made by me, and frankly, I will read the reviews on Google as well as other blogs to get a feel of what the first timers would hope to experience. The Google reviews were generally positive (4.6), though they weren't a lot (less than 400). Normally above 4.6 is good enough for me to give the restaurant a try.

Nestled amongst the many shophouse cum dining establishments along the gentrified Keong Saik Road (No. 21), finding parking was a big challenge especially after 7 pm. There are car park lots alongside Keong Saik Road on both sides, as well as Teck Lim road and JIak Chuan which forms a neat triangle and they run roughly parallet to Neil Road. However, since our time slot was 8.15pm most diners hadn't finished eating hence there was no curbside parking last night. 

We decided that - in future, we can take the brown line (Thomson East Coast Line) and walk into Keong Saik Road. I will try that train - walk strategy the next time. Its fast, no hassle if the weather is fine and no need to circle endlessly for a car park lot.

I had to drop my family off, before heading into the adjoining Bukit Pasoh Road and I finally found parking at Dorset Hotel - which frankly offers one of the worst parking programs in Singapore. Cars park on some kind of conveyor roller contraption and each slot is encased on top by another level of conveyor roller but to each side runs chains - these chains reach perilously close to the vehicle and the chances of getting the car scratched from these chains is high. The roof of the conveyor also has a height limit, so SUV cars also have risks of getting scratched. Not a good park place. The less times I visit the hotel the better.

We settled in eventually for dinner, and the first dish was a great starter, the Yellowfin Tuna Tartare. The bread crackers were just nice, slightly warm and the raw tuna flavor was greatly enhanced by the dachi gazpacho - whatever that was, it tasted great !  

The second and third dishes were really outstanding too. 

The Japanese eggplant (at right) which was baked to a fine crispiness, and topped with Miso glace, pomegranate seeds, and laid over a goat cheese yoghurt. It was really flavorful especially with the goat cheese yogurt topping.  

Japanese Eggplant with Miso Glaze and Goat Cheese Yoghurt 

Chargrilled Iberico Pork Ribs (500 g) with Japanese Cabbage - Yum 

The chargrilled Iberico Pork Ribs 500g was definitely a crowd pleaser. I had 3 ribs and while the meat did not fall off the bone, it was very tender and the flavor was one of (something like) ranch BBQ flavor. Nice.

The Japanese cabbage was also 10 / 10. It did not look like cabbage and when I had the first bite, I had to take a second and third one too. It was that good. 

The interior of the Izakaya was quite unique. One cant tell if the place was a Western or Japanese one, the 120 lanterns and the Sake Bar certainly gave it a Japanese feel but once inside you couldn't be sure.

My son Andrew and I were quite taken by the decor and the music playing inside  was a mix of late 80s to early 90s disco as well as rock and roll. Bands such as the Pointer Sisters, KC and the Sunshine Band, Earth Wind and Fire as well as the Bee Gees certainly made this father (me) young again !

The Piece de la Resistance 

Seafood Paella Japanese Style 

with Grilled Unagi, Baby Scallops and Firefly Squid 

The Piece de la Resistance or the Magnus Opus - which we waited nearly an hour for f- inally came. The Seafood Paella Japanese Style (S$ 48) did not disappoint. The rice was nicely cooked with some burnt edges and the baby scallop was lovely and flavorful. The unagi or grilled eel was done just right, and I had a couple of the firefly squids - I would rate this dish 8.5 out of 10.  

Seafood Paella 

My wife felt that the Paella at Kulto (Amoy Street) was better and I have tasted great Paella at the InterContinental Hotel along Claymore Road. 

The total bill for 4 dishes came to S$ 163 which was pretty decent for 3 adults. We had no alcohol and the prices all in all for most dishes were in the mid 20s to low 30s. Only the Paella was $48 but the pan was rather small in my opinion.

Would I return again to dine here ?  Certainly !

Music, the vibes were all 10 / 10

Food was 8.5 to 9 / 10

Location / Parking was 5 / 10

Price was 9 / 10.

So the key information :

Humo 

21 Keong Saik Road

Singapore 089 128

On Track for 1,000,000 views before August 2026.

 

                          At Capo de Roca (Portugal), the Westernmost point in Europe in 2019 

Well today's post is again about how the algorithm that captures the imagination of the 'spiders' than trawl the internet, and lo and behold, my little blog suddenly can garner around the region of 150K views per month when at the start of this year, it was hovering at about 30K  views per month.

A 5 fold jump in viewership. In a span of say 3 months. Whether this translates into anything tangible and beneficial or detrimental is beyond me, but the power of social media is out there for all to see. I profess not to have paid anything in the form of SEO or SEM for the search engines, but the numbers are  beyond my simple comprehension.

                            The famous lighthouse at Capo de Roca Portugal 2019. 

When I started this blog way back in 2008, some 17 years ago, I wanted to just keep an online diary of my life and how my physicality and mental maturity had developed over the years. My physical self has seen a decline since after I turned 55, but it has not seen a drastic decline - as yet. 

Once I had enormous energy, I could run 10 to 14 km per day, go and attend to work for about 10 - 12 hours and go home to the family. I would be able to do that, easily 3 - 4 days consecutively and rest for a day, before resuming the runs. So at my peak of running, I was clocking 60 - 70 km per week.

Now, in my early 60s, I am doing at best 10 km running per week, with a lot more walking (say 2 nights of 5 to 6 km each). My joints are shot and achy after a 'long run' of say 8km. My time has dropped from a peak of 4.5 to 5 mins / km to easily 8 mins / km and sometimes even slower.

I take Creatine Monohydrate supplement for recovery and I feel my age, honestly.

I hope to have another 10 - 12 years of running, albeit slowly.

That is if, I do not succumb to osteoarthritis or cap replacement  beforehand. That is a big IF but I have seen enough friends who are struggling with their weight and they are carrying easily 10 - 15 kg more than me and are as tall as me. This means that their body mass index is calculated and categorized as :

Weight (in kg) /  Height (in m) x Height (m)

To be in the healthy range is between 20 to 25 ; above 25 is overweight. above 30 is obese, above 35 is severely obese.

Below 20 is underweight and below 18 is severely underweight

I fall in the overweight category and have a score of 26.3. 
                                   

Not good. 

                                                   Devil's Inferno Cascais 2019 

Metabolic syndrome is hitting many of my friends. I do not want to be part of that number because, the longer you have it, it deteriorates your overall health. 

First, you will be diagnosed with high blood pressure, then diabetes, coronary heart disease and cancer. Of course, its not a given that you will hit all of the 4 one after the other, but it is a precursor when you are diagnosed with one. The likelyhood of getting the other 3 subsequently is then hgher.  

So I must persevere everyday, eat less processed food, eat more vegetables and lean meat, 

I need 7 to 8 hours uninterrupted sleep, go to the toilet at least once a day and laugh at least once a day. 

Wish me luck on my journey onwards to a nice retirement.

In the meantime, wish me luck on reaching that magic 1,000,000 views by August 2026. 

1979 and 1980 Junior College Years

 

With friends from Raffles Institution Jan - March 1979 ; The first 3 months of attachment to St Andrew's Junior College

During some  outdoor activity in 1979. The 2 friends I recall their names are 

a) R Subra (first row extreme left)

b) Chen Fun Yap (first row second from right) 

I would like to say that the Pre University days of my youth were rather misspent. I had no clear picture of what I wanted to do in life after Secondary 4. My grades were at best mediocre and I followed my then best friend to SAJC and enrolled in the 3 sciences 1 Math course which was the pre-emptive course in preparation for Medicine at the local University.

It was a disaster of sorts, I rather liked maths, and was good at it. I loved Physics, and could spend hours upon hours just tackling the problems in the textbook Nelkon and Parker.

I tolerated Chemistry and I abhorred Biology. 

So my 'A' level grades reflected the interest of the student, me. 

I had skipped many classes (playing truant) (called 'pontang' because I had not completed the homework or just had no interest in the subject.).

There were instances when the teacher caught us napping at another empty classroom when we were supposed to be attending her class !

I was still finding my identity at the tender age of 16 - 18 years.

It was a rather bleak period for me. Neither here nor there. 

On looking back, if I had then the clear focus and dedication about my direction in life, I would have gone straight into the 2 Math, 1 Physics and Economics course - I think that would have given me less grief in Pre University and possibly a better head start into my University pathway several years later.

We cant undo the past, but hindsight is 20 / 20. 

I managed to gain entry to Engineering undergraduate course, and graduated in Bach Mechanical from the NUS is 1983.