The Purposeful Journey

Bringing my time down bit by bit ; target : 54 minutes by October 

During my long and sometimes hard run today I thought deeply about life and the journey which each of us must take. To me, life is about taking that purposeful journey full of goals set for you either by yourself, or other significant people in your life, it could be your school (exams), spouse or partner (living together, starting a family), office (objectives, KPIs), friends and business associates, principals and most importantly,yourself.

If you set you goal in life, you will just go with the flow and don't be surprised how fast time flies and before you know it, voila, you are middle aged, the kids have grown, and your nest egg isn't almost there (where had all the money gone), friends, acquaintences business partners have passed on and you are facing challenges in health, work, family, business and even the foriegners are coming in to 'steal your lunch !'.

Let me state, that this is my opinion of life, to make it your success, take the purposeful journey.    Only you be the judge of how successful you will be at the end of it. The end is when you take your last breath and close your eyes and you are no more. So I would state that the following values are absolutely necessary for you to bring along the purposeful journey :

1. Clarity of the mind 

2. Purity of the spirit

3. Set clear goals and Relentlessly Pursue these goals 

4. Focus on the process to reach those goals and work to continually improve the process    

5. Discipline yourself in mind and body

6. Sacrifice time, energy and sweat to reach in within a set deadline. 

It will never be easy, I have picked up bad habits along the way, so I need to shed these if I truly want to achieve what I set out to do. 

There are no short cuts - especially in life.

Seize the Day      

Wolves go marching on to the 4th round of Carabao (League) Cup

           There is a certain spring in the play of the team,  the head coach Santos can make changes to the first team and still win, luck is with them and Wolves have a great reserve keeper in Howard. With the new Chinese owners, they now have Wolves TV for every match which they participate in. 

          I will say it, if Wolves make it to the final, I will want to watch them at Wembley !!! Of course there are 3 more very tough matches ahead, the 4th round (last 16), quaterfinals, semi-finals to contend with. They will be most likely facing the likes of any of the big 6 along the way, I am sure. The big 6 I am referring to are : Man. United, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal,Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. 

          But with the team brimming with confidence,players going for goal and not being selfish or greedy, this is a team which is on its way up to the Premier League. They must not let the past govern their attitude, remain grounded, focus on their passing, counterattack and defend strongly. 


          Full-time score, Wolves 1 ; Bristol Rovers : 0.  

Reunion of the Saints Sept 2012 - 5 years ago !

My, time does fly. This was some of the 'jam' session we had when about 60 of us 'old boys' from the class of 1978 met in 2012 at Joan Bowen Cafe at St Andrew's School to celebrate our 50th year of existence. In 1978, all of us were 16 (go figure) and that year was the GCE 'O' (General Certificate of Education) Levels which was mandantory for all students at Secondary 4 level.

Most of us went our separate ways to the then 7 junior colleges, polytechnics and ITEs and we never saw each other for practically 34 years until 2012.We realised that "time was running fast away" and now (2012) was the best time to meet up and reminisce old times.



Playing the School Hymn for our 'Boys' 


This last year 2016 had been an eventful year and we lost 4 of our 'brothers' ; it was heartbreaking to hear of each of their passing, and I was familiar with at least 2 of them.

So this video of 'Hey Jude' with the boys singing in the background was our (mine and Paul Ezekiel) way of giving back some time to reflect and 'go back' to when life was about singing the Beatles songs, playing football in the hot afternoon sun, sweating buckets and stinking the classrooms as a result, playing truant, coming late, detention class and all manner of shenanigans 16 year olds get into. 

Did I mention we also had to study for our 'O" levels ?    LOL. 

Wolves have self belief and a strong attack this 2017 - 18 season

The boyhood team of mine, Wolverhampton Wanderers are finally living up to their founder club status of over 100 years ago.  After a home defeat by then top club Cardiff City 2 weeks ago, Wolves sputtered to 2 draws, first a 0 - 0 away to Brentford and a 3 - 3 draw at home to Bristol City.

Yesterday, 16th Sept 2017, Wolves pulled off another great away win over Nottingham Forest at City Ground winning 2- 1 and all the fans left for home happy. I was following the live streaming coverage from the comfort of my home, but boy, was I transported back to a 16 year old fan once again.  Diogo Jota scored two opportunistic goals which were world class. The goal by Nottingham Forest Carayol struck me as a 'kelong' or 'fix' where the goalkeeper just stood and stared as the ball flew into the net from 25 metres out. Caught like a deer in the middle of the road staring at the car's oncoming headlights. Goalkeeper John Ruddy needs to focus and wake up !!!  

Diogo Jota is proving to be a wunderkid on loan from Athletico Madrid ; to Fosun the owners of the club we, the fans owe you a debt of gratitude that finally, with money, a brilliant visionary Head Coach in Nuno Esperito Santos, enlightened players, finally we long suffering fans of Wolves can get some pride that we can and will be back at the Premier League with the best of the best.





My mid term goal is to watch at least 3 Wolves games 'live' in England. 

I will follow the Wolves this season, through all their ups and downs (there will be for sure).

This season, 2017-18 will be exceptional and eventful. 

FART your way to organized thinking process

I can see clearly now the rain has gone

I will be the first to admit it again, I do not have a very organized mind. Clarity of thought is well developed over the years, but organization of the mind and your thought process is the way forward - for me at least - to doing things systematically. On top of organized thought process, I need to also have a persistence to see through the goals which I have set for myself however small or large they may be. The thought process MUST be organized and many decisions made decisively to ensure that the day passes by successfully. 

So here is the way to organizing, say, paperwork in terms of letters, or emails or information which is coming fast and furious through the smart phone and the internet. Lets keep it simple and just stick with paperwork and email through the snail mail and the mail server respectively.   

Say you receive letters / email everyday, bills, notifications, customer enquiries, appointments or dates fixed,smses, whatsapp chats to buy or do things etc. 

So use the FART Method, as best as you can :

a) F ile (and Review) -  this is an invoice from your vendor, you scan through it, ensuring that the goods and services have been rendered to your satisfaction, and you note that you have some funds coming in before the end of the month. Hence, you make a note (mental or written) to make payment by end of the month.  

You will need to make a discretionary call and decide to file, as well as review it when the invoice (or document) is due. This review and the adherence to the review is all important. 

b) Act - this is an urgent and important email asking you to reply to your boss with a report detailing the last months sales figures which were below expectation and give analysis as to when the key or regular customers will purchase. Decide what steps to take and take them accordingly to boost up the sales through added sales / marketing visits and ramp up promotions.

c) Throw - there is numerous junk mail from flyers of new properties (for example) whereby you don't have the funds or interest to pursue and hence you dump it in the wastebasket electronically or literally.

While this is for paperwork and electronic mail, there are numerous data and information coming into your sensory network (5 senses) which if you had a computer like brain, could process, and decide again to FART  everything and anything.

If I could have good enough sleep, well rested, have a regular exercise plan on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, with a clear vision for my life and say business to achieve some short (6 months) mid term goals (1 year) ; a lot of the day to day decision making will be much simpler provided I have the determination and endurance to see it happen.

I have set aside the beginning of each year with personal and professional goals since 2002. This goal setting has been very beneficial to me in assessing where I am on those fronts. 

Try the goal setting and FART method and see the results.

Be persistent, patient and focussed. 

What is it thinking ? 

Probitics Health Supplements

Provie G ; distributor : Freshworks Pte Ltd.

 Provie Range of all Natural Food Supplements

I have been taking food supplements for around 11  years, the upside of it is that I have been generally healthy (thank God and touch wood) so far. Many small niggling coughs, colds and the 'flu have not affected my health in general, and I am grateful and thankful for this. 

"Health is Wealth" goes the saying, I would like to add on this word, "Good Health is Wealth" because you can have bad health and all the money in the world can't buy you quality of life if you are down with a life threatening illness. 

This is not the first time I am revealing the wellness side of me, so I would like to share it with the blog readers, we tend to eat junk food once in a while, the food at the hawker centres is laden with everything from pork lard, to mono-sodium glutamate (MSG) to excessive sugar, salt and eggs.

I have been a GNC member for the last 9 years, and have bought bulk purchase for 1 years' supply from them amounting to $1, 268.  The supplements range from General Nutrition tablets, Ginko Biloba, Glucosamine Chondriotin MSM Sulphate, Vitamin E, Glutathione and now Proviva L.

I am now switching to add a mix of Provie range because its a) made in Singapore (highest safety standards compliance of non-toxicity by the Health Promotion Board), all natural food grade ingredients and the use of Pre and Probiotics (micro-organisms for gut health) which is so critical for our body's everyday digestion and well being. b) price point competitive with all natural ingredients with no chemicals 

 Interactive Microorganisms Labs, helmed by Dr Chia BT is the company involved in the creation the phytosymbiotic supplements and the manufacturing is done  in an

Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) factory which has passed Singapore's highest safety standards.

The product range is as follows :

    Illness Prevention, Disease management and control

1. Provie G     -   For people with high blood sugar levels           

                       -   Liver Protector (fatty liver, cirhossis etc.)       

  - the supplement is mainly extracts of bittergourd, and trace amounts of several other all natural ingredients. There are 'good bacteria' inside the supplements for fermentation to process thus the name 'phytosymbiotics'. 

                         

2. Proviva L  -   For people with high cholesterol (like me)                     

                                                                                                

3. Proviva U  -  For people with Gout                                        

                                                                                                      

   Lifestyle Enhancement

         

1. Living Logic   - for mental alertness, memory function      

                                                                                                     

2. Living Genesis -  anti-oxidant, general well being               

                                                                                                     

At this time of posting, I have been taking Provie U to control the amount of Uric Acid in the body, and Provie L for Cholesterol Reduction for about 3 years now.  

The effects of both on my well being are quite amazing , my wrist pain has subsided and while the Provie L  does not show great results (I have naturally existing high Total Cholesterol Levels)  my Triglyceride levels are normal. The benefits of these supplements is that they are 'all natural', and tested and made in Singapore under the most stringent of safety codes.

For sales enquiries, please contact the dsitributor, Freshworks Pte Ltd. 

My Polar Watch - simply Awesome

Not the best of times, but my first 10K in a long while.

I recently bought the Polar M430 as a little present to myself for going through a challenging 2 years of business. My opinion after about 1 and a half months of using it, is that this device is simply "awesome". I am a very late product adopter of the GPS watches having using more than 20 Timex chronograph watches over the last 17 years.

In 2007, I won a Garmin watch with heart rate monitor in a treadmill race. It was a cool toy except for monitoring the heart rate, I had to strap it around my chest like a bra.  The Polar M430 on the other hand has 6 thermal sensing devices to sense the heart rate on my wrist without the use of a chest strap. So technology has enabled the ease of use for this finicky consumer after 10 years. Ha ! 

In addition the M430 has 24/7 tracking of everything from my movements, siiting, standing, running etc. and has many superb tracking features. The features of this awesome toy are heart rate monitor, GPS tracking of your workout on the road, track or off-road trails for one.

Once you activate and stop the training mode (there are about 6 most popular ones), it tracks your maximum and average heart rate, your cadence (number of footstrikes per minute),your kcal burned, the % of fat used during the training (heh I love this one), and finally the distance covered. It will also tell you at the end of each day how much (in %) of the daily target steps (10,000) you have achieved.

You can also track your sleeping time, whether your sleep was interrupted and most ideal number of hours of sleep required, (mine is 8). 

The shop which sold it to me help setup the Polar Flow software, which I am to update my workouts every few days and voila ! there is so much to show there. Your entire workout summary like what I had mentioned above, in addition, there are maps (GPS remember) which show me exactly how far and where I had run. I am also an avid recorder of my workouts so my Workout Summary is also recorded for posterity. 

Finally, this cool video enables me to "relive my run" and thanks to Google Maps (or whatever they use to video this), it shows me again exactly where I ran, my start location (at the exercise station beside carpark B1), my fastest pace of 6:04 min / km just after the yellow lighthouse, where I turned around at Ski 360 and returned back and finished the last km at 7:48 min /km. Video of location, speed, elevation, kcals burned and total workout summary all in the video. 

How cool is that ??? 

Leaky Defence ; No Luck led to this 3 - 3 draw with Bristol City ;

Wolves played Bristol City this morning Wednesday 13th Sept, and watching the highlights, I could say I am disappointed that their defence is still weak, letting in 3 goals to Bristol City and not having a penalty in the second half and taking another half dozen chances could have swung the game their way.

Process is always about planend strategy, execution, productivity. Add luck and the supreme will to win or confidence and you will end up the winner. As humans, we have moods and emotions which will always come into play.

Coach Santos can tighten up the backline. 3 goals is 3 goals too many after having kept so many clean sheets for almost 10 games (except for Cardiff who scored 2 against Wolves).

This is their best start in 19 years so Wolves, wake up your idea !!!  

Climate Change effects is Real... and Deadly to us all

The devastation and chaos caused by the 2 hurricanes Harvey and Irma which literally destroyed properties, homes, hotels, beaches, people's lives and not to mention the upheaval of the flora and fauna of the Everglades, the cities of Houston, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Tampa, Naples and many other small suburbs causing hundreds of bilions of dollars in damage.

Climate change is real, global warming is real and everyone must do their part to heal mother Earth. It is so painful to watch the hammering the poor Caribbean islands have taken and  the island of Barbudos is wrecked.

Every country must do its part to reduce its carbon footprint NOW. We may well leave the world in a much worse shape for our children and our grandchildren. than when we set foot on it. 

That would be a monumental disaster for humankind. 

Wolverhampton Wanderers - Championship team with European flair

          9th Sept 3.00 pm and Wolves notch another win that makes it 4 out of 6 league games played, 1 draw and 1 loss to the top team Cardiff City. I notice that team manager Santos has introduced many European players who prefer to build up the game from deep inside the defence and then play their way towards the opponent's goal. This is reminiscent of the European game as compared to the wingers and crosses of the English game.

         A 1-0 win at home courtesy of Diego Jota makes all the fans happy. It is my wish to watch at least 1 match (maybe 2) one day. The Chinese owners Fosan Group have made a coup signing a top class coach in Santos. He is the 'special one' who will finally bring this team to the Premier League. The coach Santos has brought in 3 top class Portuguese players namely Jota, Neves and Cavahlero who bring the much needed passing, speed dribbling and counter attack which is trademark of European flair. 

         I wait in anticipation ! 

1 month target ; lose 2 kg ; run 64 mins for 10 K

After my run, a quick shower and all changed up for the day at the Swim Club 

I have set myself another 2 targets ; weightwise I aim to lose 2 kg by September and 3 kg by the end of the year ; that means 73 kg by year's end. A lot of the 'bad stuff' has to go ; the white wine after dinner, the chocolates,snacks and the rice. I am trying intermittent fasting, which my cousin introduced to me, whereby after dinner (normally 8pm), my next meal is targetted to be 12 noon the following day. This gives 16 hours of fasting and forcing the body to use up the stored fats. 

After the Run

As the suave looking 50 year old model said, the process of achieving the ideal body shape is 70% diet and 30 % exercise. This is a revelation to me, but as I analysed my past exercise routines, it dawned upon me that he is 100% correct, as the food intake is the main entry point into the body, feed it perhaps below the 2000 kcal level and exercise more, and I am on my way to losing the kilos. In the early weeks and months, it will be mainly water, but my regimen includes cross training like karate training, walks and of course the runs. I am only at 20 km per week, I hope to increase it to 30 km, that means 1 10K and rougly 4 x 5Ks. The issue is the body is no longer young so recovery takes longer but I am determined for 1 last hurrah.   

My pathetic time 

I believe that when I lose the 2 kilos, my running will get faster, and hence my timing will drop to below 1 hour (if I can do 55 minutes I will be over the moon !). 

The other thing is that all this training and exercise process tweaking should lead to some reward, so I intend to sign up for either the Paris Marathon and 1 other marathon by middle of next year.

Seize the Day 

Take this Money and Shove It

Cool Living in Parchinburi, Thailand ; Artisan Coffee in airconditioned comfort after a hard morning's 10K run  

A very successful friend of mine, has this very insighful piece of advice to me. He has managed companies with thousands of staff in a nearby foriegn country, and has had to deal with countless of issues and stresses while he was the CEO. He decided that at the ripe old age of 54, he decided to retire, in early 2008. 

The subprime crisis hit in Autumn 2008 and institutional banks,trading houses, merchant banks were swimming in massive losses and thus started the great (US) Financial Crisis. My friend's timing was perfect, leaving at the top of the 'game' with a decent cash pile and he headed back home to Singapore.

I have known him for almost 10 years and recently over lunch he had this message to me : aim for a financial target,once you have hit it and you calculate that its sufficient, prepare your exit and do it.

He has given me much financial advice over the years and they have all been proven correct.

I left the lunch a very thoughtful man.   

  

Mike Posner I took a Pill in Ibiza - cool song with a strong message ;

            This song has a strong social message and talks about the high life of a pop star figure who got addicted to money, sex, drinks and all the trappings of the fast life.

Loneliness, sadness, depression and an emptiness results when his star fades, and the money runs dry. Fame and money is fleeting

He advises all who want to be like him, he sings : 

"You don't wanna be high like me,
 Never really knowing why like me
 You don't ever want to step off the roller coaster

 And be all alone

You dont want to ride the bus like this
Never know who to trust like this
You don't want to be     
Stuck up on that stage singing (2)

All that I know... are sad songs...   
Sad songs                                       "

Pork Ball Noodle with Soup ; worth a Michelin Star in my book

In this little block 727 at Clementi West Street 2 on the ground floor is this pork noodle stall called Hua Chun. Unfortunately there is no English name on the sign but it is right in the middle of the small coffeeshop and it serves AWESOME Pork Ball Noodles. 

The elder gentleman (presumably the father) does a great job every morning tossing the noodles in the boilling soup while the son and daughter - in - law, prepares the soup and the ingredients. 

They have 2 sizes ; small for S$ 4 (EU 2.5)  and large for S$ 5 (EU 3.0). I normally opt for the small noodle and there are verious types of noodles. The skinny one (like spaghettini)  is called Mee Kia, the flat yellow one (like fettucini) is called Mee Pok and the round yellow one is called Sit Mee.

Voila ! Le petit dejouner cest magnifique 

The presentation is quite unique and the soup with all the ingredients, crab stick, a couple of fish balls, pork balls, minced pork, an egg, lettuce, spring onions and toss in some shallots for garnishing.

For me, I have tasted many Bak Chor Mee (Pork Ball Noodle Soup) in this Island Food Paradise and this is got to be at the very top in the Pork Ball Noodles category ; the noodles are cooked in 3 - 4 minutes with rapid tossing in the boiling water, so if there is a queue of say 5 people, expect to wait at least 15 minutes as each person may order more than one bowl. Some people order for their office colleagues or family, so they will 'tar pao' or take away in clear plastic bags.

Nothing beats the Bak Chor Mee eaten freshly cooked Al Dente and firm to the bite. 

You can choose 'spicy' with chilli oil, pork lard bits (the fitness and purists are pooh poohing upon reading this), sesame oil and some light soya sauce for seasoning. 

Shiok !!! 

Michelin people have not tried this stall I am sure !  

   This is the stall above in the centre of the small coffee shop at Block 727 Clementi West Street 2 

So much uncertainty ; N. Korea, Hurricane Harvey, Floods in South Asia yet life ,it goes on

Everyday, the main stream media floods us with well, once in 1000 years hurricane and floods in Houston, Texas, hurricane Pu Dan in Hong Kong which killed dozens in Macau, Shenzhen, rains in Bangladesh ; the bad news is coming fast and furious.

Today N. Korea upped the ante and test detonated a nuclear bomb. Everyone near and far have emotions ranging from panic, incessant fear, mildly concerned to total indifference to the latest test from the Hermit Kingdom.

Learning never ends ; keep up or slip down 

We need some stability in this totally unpredictable world where the incumbent US President has threatened to pull out of the Paris Climate Change Pact, close up the borders by putting up a physical wall with Mexico and all of us are seeing the White House as a mega episode of "the Apprentice".  

Here in Singapore, the economy is growing at an pretty slow pace, growth in sectors is very uneven, people are grappling with the disruptive technologies displacing traditional jobs with artificial intelligence, big data, driverless buses, drones and Fintech to name a few. Workers in their 40s and older face greater risks of being slipping into obsolescence if they do not go for retraining and learning new technological skills, such as studying coding languages and going for financial basic lessons, growth investing and have proper financial planning.    

We are facing headwinds of change and people still seem to be stuck in the '90s.       

Greed is Bad ; Very Bad

Gordon Gecko with his infamous line : "Greed is Good"

Michael J Douglas didn't know it at that time but when the colossal hit movie "Wall Street" was released all over the world, it romanticised all the excesses of Wall Street and the rotten to the core bankers, as typified by Gordon Gecko ( the name was chosen with tongue definitely in cheek) who as an unscrupulous fund manager had 2 mottos in life :

a) Win at all (moral) costs

b) Greed is good

Fortunately, in the end, the young apprentice (played by Charlie Sheen who later went on to his own successful TV sitcom "2 and a half men" and ultimately spiralled downwards in life with drugs and an HIV infection) took revenge on Gecko and the "bad guy' was implicated in the end for market manipulation amongst other things and sent to jail. If only this was true in the real crash or Financial Crisis of 2008 ! 

My humble opinion, is that I have seen numerous friends and acquaintences, who in their ultimate quest for all things materialistic, fuelled by this stupid and totally unholy tagline "Greed is Good"  end up in massive money problems and ultimately, bankruptcy. Bankruptcy per se is not the end of everything, but the pursuit of wealth illegally and using any kind of means to 'get rich quick' is well, illegal for the first move and morally reprehensible for the second.

Bankrupcty, as if I need to say it again,sets you back financially. Your savings will be wiped out, and you will have to sell off any asset with value like a car, equities, bonds and all insurance policies.In addition, as a last resort, you may have to sell your single largest asset you have which is your house, condominium or HDB flat. Emotionally, you are mentally scarred by it. It ultimately makes many people stronger, but it is a  big deal. This is the 'school of hard knocks'. Everyone falls down from time to time, you just need to learn to pick yourself up, brush off the dust, ignore the pain and start again - just like in the cartoons.  

Managing your hard earned savings is really about risk mitigation, value investing and growing your wealth against inflation. It is totally not sexy, there are no wild swings and the mantra for everyone should be :

1. Live within your means

2. If you earn $1000, spend much less than you earn, invest some and save some. 

Its boring, humdrum, but as my good friend Frank Rigley told me many years ago, "save your pennies, the dollars will save themselves" meaning if you save even the small money, ultimately it adds up to big money. 

"Greed is good. " should be banished totally from the collective consciousness of all baby boomers like myself and millions of others born in the early 50s till the year 1980 (we are now in the ages of almost 70 right down to almost 40 years of age. Our prime time is right now, and we need to save, invest in value, personal health and prepare for our golden years. To pursue risky deals and gamble away our hard earned CPF (pension money) all in the name of making more is foolhardy.

Michael J Douglas' character did have a reprise in Wall Street II where he apparently learnt his lesson and he was on the flip side (the good guy) trying at all costs to prevent the major 2008 crisis. That financial crisis was fuelled by bankers' collective greed to sell CDOs - all kinds of collateralised DEBT, mortgage debt, credit card debt all bundled up nicely and repackaged and rate them as AAA or some ridiculous rating, all in the name of making more money at all costs ; bankers are truly the Gordon Geckos of this world . "Screw the ordinary house mortgagee, lend him the money, I dont care if he has no job or just migrated here, property prices are rising up and up !  I need to make my commission ! "

Unfortunately for many millions of Americans, and countless others worldwide, the Great Financial Crisis left the top 10% even richer and the middle class feeling very squeezed as each financial year went by. Many lost jobs which never came back to the US, and people were forced to work 2  maybe 3 jobs at inhumanely long hours just to earn perhaps 80% of what they could earn before they were retrenched. Structural Retrenchment affected many millions of people worldwide. In the USA alone there are easily 50 million people living in poverty and another 50 - 100 million living from paycheck to paycheck. 

The newly skilled were filled by people with the 'right' skill sets, younger, hungrier, many from foreign countries. Is it any wonder, the ordinary citizen feels squeezed out and pushed aside in his own country ?  Someone comes along and says the magic word, MAGA ! 

Make America Great Again ! Just like that ! and he is elected !   This is no more than populism at play just to win votes.

Globalization is here is stay, Artificial Intelligence is coming, Disruptive technology is also the buzzword, and the Internet of Things will empower people to be masters of their lives. 

Do not believe in the above marketing bullshit, work hard and smart, save, invest wisely, work with a common purpose and lead a balanced lifestyle.

Toss that notion " Greed is Good " into the Garbage Can and Shut it forever.  

     

Putien Lunch 1 Sept 2017 - 1 Michelin Star Restaurant ; My Experience

Steamed Crab with Tang Hoon - signature (in season) dish 

Yesterday was Hari Raya Haji, a religious holiday for Muslims around the world celebrating Eid Mubarak. So for us in Singapore, it was a holiday and a long weekend for us. I took the opportunity to go to ION Orchard Road to have lunch with my younger son, as my wife was away on business. We headed to the 4th floor, intending to dine at Paradise Group, as I had vouchers for that restaurant. As the queue and the wait was expected to be long ; this is Singapore and good food comes with a price and patience (I hadn't booked), I encouraged Andrew to try the neighbouring Putien Restaurant (Xin Hua cuisine) , which was less full - or having a much larger restaurant to fill. 

Try their tea 

I wasn't impressed by their booking counter, as there was some confusion as to where was the actual booking and reservation site, some mainland Chinese couple took their liberties and I almost ticked them off. Getting into the restaurant, it was full and we had to dine at the terrace, which was perfect given the early afternoon and mild weather. We decided to order 3 of their Signature dishes. The first was the steamed crab Tang Hoon (a glass noodle similar to Bee Hoon or Rice Vermicelli). The price was almost $14 per 100 g, so estimated size of 1 crab was 800g the price would be in the region of $72 thereabouts. 

The second was the Japanese scallop (at $13.60 per piece) and finally the Deep Fried Pigs Trotters (upper thigh) at $8 per trotter. 

The tea recommended was really good, I was impressed by the service staff, he was informative, polite, available when needed and proactive, cleaning the table and replenishing the plates even without prompting. 

Their chilli is quite something else

First to arrive was the scallop, it was fried, and with some flour added to give it a smooth taste. Andrew liked and so did I, as it was crunchy and flavourful. I added the chilli sauce which Putien was famous for (their restaurant at Kitchener Road has been given a 1 star rating by Michelin no less). Good starter, though pricey.  

The chilli sauce I must add is pretty potent. Its watery and with ingredients aplenty inside, you can buy it and take it home to try with your home cooking. 

The second dish, the pig's trotter was again deep fried, I had my reservations about the taste, but it was again very savoury, but fat filled, and nothing much else. I had ordered it out of curiosity, because of my Mother's obsession with eating Pig's trotter (braised) when she was alive. I was curious as to what enamoured her to eating such an unhealthy dish. My verdict, I find it too rich and fat filled, and will skip this altogether the next time I am there.  

Finally, the piece de resistance , the Steamer Crab with Tang Hoon. Finally, a dish worthy of a 1 Michelin star ! There was plenty of crab pieces, the meat was accessible and easy to take out from the shell and the tang hoon was savoury and flavourfull with scallop bits inside the dish.

The crab was laced with some gravy and had crab roe, which I avoided. The dish in my opinion was very flavourful and the tang hoon made up for the lack of 'carbo' and I had my fill. 

Finally, the waiter brought a fruit dessert on the house which was a nice end to a fine meal.

Total price for 2 ?  $ 140 all in. 

Pricey ? Yes

Tasty ?  Yes

Expected Value ?  Well Yes and No. 

Dining Experience ?  Good but not exceptional ; it is a 1 Michelin star restaurant after all. 

Worth the 1 Star ?  Frankly No. 

There are numerous eating restaurants and coffeeshops serving crab delicacies in Singapore, I can name a couple in Chinatown, Outram  (3Crab and Kampung Chicken Restaurant) as well as the Teochew restaurants (Quan Le Yuan) at Havelock Restaurant who give as flavourfull and cheaper options for dining. 

Try it for yourself and give me your reviews. You can google it and get their numbers or website. I am not paid to write or promote any restaurant.  

Putien ION Orchard
2 Orchard Turn
#04-12 ION Orchard
S'pore 238801