SPRMRKT Kitchen and Bar ; Level 2 -01, 41 Robertson Quay A Review

Steak and Frites ; 

        Located on the 2nd floor of the SPTI (Singapore Tyler Print Institute)  shophouse, the SPRMRKT Kitchen and Bar has been around for 1 year now. I read a superb review of the place from the Straits Times Life section last Sunday so decided to try it out for ourselves, the following Saturday. Centrally located at Robertson Quay, if you park, park at the Service Residences Basement carpark and walk past the Brussel Sprouts. SPTI is a three in one concept, of outside dining casual bar, the French supermarket and second floor European bistro dining. 

Twice Cooked Chicken Roulade 

     We ordered the octopus and shrimp, the brussels sprouts for starters and I had a Bordeaux as an aperitif.  The Spanish octopus was pretty chewy but flavourful. It had been slow cooked for about 24 hours in a low temperature oven of 100 deg C and then served. The brussels sprouts dish was excellent with sambal as the secret ingredient.

      Coming to the mains, my steak and garlic fries was excellent. Done medium well it was flavourful and tender. Our only grouse was that it was rather thinly sliced compared to Woolloomooloo's thick 300 grams ribeyes or sirloin steaks. However for the price of S$ 38 it was a gem of a meal. The garlic fries as mentioned by food columnist Wong Ah Yoke were crispy and very tasty. 
 
     The twice cooked chieken roulade was above average, tender and tasty. My wife said that it tasted frozen cooked, though we can't be too sure about that. 
   
     The executive chef Joseph Yeo came out and spoke with us, and gave us a free dessert on the house. It was excellent and with enough raspberry sauce on the side, the brownie was in my opinion, a real treat.

     Service was very good, by any international standards. Kudos to SPRMRKT for making this a highly satisfying meal at a very decent price of $70 per person, with 2 starters, 2 main courses, a glass of wine and free dessert.

      I will probably return for the lunch one of these days. This goes into the I will return memo.

      Ratings 

      Food : 4.0 stars out of 5  (see above) ; French Fusion

      Service: 5 out of 5    (attention to customers, prompt, insighful)

      Location : 4.5 out of 5 (not too crowded, limited seating and easy accessibility)

      Price      : 5 out of 5 (high end gastronomic food at mid range prices. Happy Ending!)

Oxygen Conditioning of Sportsmen and Sportswomen

At this level, O2 is probably only 11% of the atmosphere

       Michael Phelps sleeps in an oxygen controlled environment every night. Top class athletes also sleep and train in oxygen depleted chambers or sealed rooms. Why do they do it ? About 50 years ago, there were some astonishing physical test results from people who lived and exercised in high altitude conditions, namely the mountains. Scientists were baffled as to why these people, Kenyans, Nepalese to name a few. Since the early '90s the marathons of the world were dominated by Kenyans who lived and trained in hilly regions and ran easily 20 - 30 km to school.

      After years of research, it was theorised that the lack of oxygen will affect the cognitive and physical functioning of the brain, and other body parts. Studies have shown many years ago that with much lowered oxygen levels, people struggle even to perform the simplest of physical and mental tasks like speaking, simple arithmetic and memory. Even walking up a flight of stairs resulted in tremendous effort. The physiological reason is that the body is naturally conditioned to operate at optimum levels of oxygen in the air at around 20.8%.

A conditioning chamber can control oxygen to 11.2% or equivalent to 5000 meters above sealevel.

        Hence, the mature adult body requires oxygen in the bloodstreams and the red blood cells are the main transporters of this to all the other body parts where aerobic respiration takes place whereby the oxygen is then broken down in the muscle fibre, energy, work done and motion are hence the result.

        In long term reduced oxygen levels, the body adapts brilliantly and the speed of transport of the red blood cells to the various body parts is increased so as to maintain the same level of work done or energy. That is why if you are in an oxygen depleted room, you will find yourself panting, taking shorter inhalations, perhaps gasping as you perform the same run on the treadmill at the same pace of running as you would if you were in a normal open air room. Studies have shown that at 3000 meters above sea level or about 14.5% of Oxygen in the air even the simple run at say 6 mins 30 seconds per kilometer will make you feel like you are running at 6 minutes pace ! You will be putting in much more effort and your blood vessels will be increasing the oxygen distribution by up to 30%. 

       A practical example is if you went up to Everest base camp at 3000 meters, even 100 meters walk is a stretch for the weekend warriors and they end up panting through the mouth.

       The effects of your body's increased productivity (up to 30%) by your red blood cells' activity can then be an enhancing effect if you then return back to normal oxygen levels of 20.8% - your performance will definately be enhanced. The enhanced performance can last days up to 1 week depending on the duration you live, train and go about your daily life.

        So the top sportsmen and sportswomen will record even better results using legitimate and accepted scientific technology.        

    

Kicking Practice

My mawashigiri (roundhouse kicks) isn't very good, as I tend to be too stiff with my trunk ; anyone with some recommendations or comments on how to improve this would be most welcome.

Singapore Densely Populated ? Actually we are way down the list in the world

         Recently I visited the Singapore Urban Gallery at the former URA Building, along Maxwell Road. It shows a helicopter view in 3D of the changes in the landscape of Singapore and how far we have come as a country and city these past 52 years. The urban landscape has changed from the post 2nd World War when all we had were kampungs (rural villages with attap houses and huts, no running water and no sewage system at all), poor infrastructure and third world standard of living. 

        My takeaway was that Singapore has expanded in area from 650 square kilometers during the '70s to 710 square kilometres as an island. I all along thought that my city state was densley populated per square kilometre. I was totally wrong on that count. The latest census puts Singapore's population (citizenry, residents and temporary workers) at 5,400,000 or 5.4 million. Divide that by 710 square kilometres and you get 7,603 persons roughly per square kilometre. 

        I did a check on Wikipedia, and much to my surprise, as a city, Singapore does not even come in the top 50 cities in terms of density if you take into account the municipalities or districts within certain cities. See below for some examples. Guttenberg is just outside New York City, as is Bnej Brak and Pateros The top 20 cities and municipalities in terms of density are :

  1. Manila   :   41,515 per km2

  2. Pateros :   30,546 per km2   (municipality of Philippines)

  3. Mumbai :  28,508 per km2

  4. Dhaka   :  27,916 per km2

 .6 Bnei Brak :27,299 per km2  (Israel)

 .7 Levallois

     Perret      : 26,432 per km2  (France)

 .15 Kolkata  : 24,252 per km2  (India).

 .16 St Josse  

       ten Noode : 24, 165 per km2 (Belgium)

 .20 Guttenberg :22,645 per km2 (USA)

      So having 7,306 persons per km2 is way down the list of crowded cities. Its a paradigm shift to me having thought of us as an overcrowded city with masses of people jostling for personal space. 

      In another list of actual cities, Singapore (category city state) makes it only as the 25th most densely populated city in the list of 91 cities.

     Its the 48 th largest city by population worldwide, and it is  the 25th most densely populated. 

    In its proper perspective, if you consider anywhere in Singapore, you have a football pitch area (its 106 m x 75 m approximately or 75% of 100 x 100 m), you would theroretically see about 58 persons.  So, thats in theory about slightly more than 2 times the number of football players plus referee plus linesmen.

    In reality actually, this is just the average density, many places are far more crowded (like in MRT trains during peak periods, F1 walkabouts in Marina Square and in movie theaters). Outside in the tropical forests of MacRitchie Catchment Area it goes down to perhaps 1 person or less per 100 m2.

     

F and B Service Standards in London is really World Class

Ramen Joint at Embankment 

This post is to acknowledge the fact that the city of London has Food and Beverage service on the whole par excellence. Having travelled to many parts of the world, and eaten at fine dining as well as ordinary dining establishments, I have come to the conclusion that London's dining F and B establishments make every effort to provide the BEST service to the customer. Bravo to them.

Fusion Dining along the Embankment 

         For Singapore, with the exception of only the top 10% of restaurants, it is impossible to match the service standards in London. My wife and I were there for 5 days, and practically every dining establishment for a meal, the service staff would be polite, well informed and clear in diction and order processing. Even in an ordinary burger restaurant in Earl's Court, the waitress has to recover 3 clothes pegs from your table. This is part of the front of kitchen's staff's routine. Once you enter the restaurant and are ushered into a table, you will notice 3 clothes pegs. Upon ordering from the waitress, after an acceptable time of waiting, she will bring the order to you. She will then proceed to take the first clothes peg from the table once she has served you.

Brilliant afternoon along the Thames 

        Again, after some time, she will scan the table and make the effort to come over to retrieve the 2nd clothes peg. She then will ask you how is everything, the burger is cooked to your liking and anything else you would need. Once you are done, again, she will come and clear your table, engage in pleasantries and ask you and your dining partner if you want to order some dessert and coffee or tea. Depending on your response, she will then proceed to followup and serve the dessert, coffee tea and retrieve the third clothes peg. 

       The simplistic operational procedure to retrieve the clothes peg ensures that in a crowded diner such as this one, the waitress must go to each and every table using the clothes peg as an indicator of at what stage the dinner or lunch is progressing. A simple yet highly effective way of ensuring that everything is covered and every table is given the same amount of attention and access to service.

       London F and B service staff are mainly from the EU countries. I hope that with the Brexit around the corner that their livelihoods will be protected as tourism and good service standards are so important to the well being of any economy.     

Commuting in Southern China ; not so easy from my recent experience

The MRT Card for Guangzhou 

        The world is easy to maneuvre as a solo traveller ? Well, not exactly. My recent trip to Guangzhou and Dongguan is testament of this. I am fortunate to be able to speak passable Mandarin, thanks to the rigid training I had in school as well as usage of the language in business. My recent trip to Dong Guan, was a revisit to China, particularly the use of the mass prime movers such as high speed trains and the underground in big cities such as Guangzhou.

       The plan was to meet with some associates in DongGuan, South China. As that particular week (last week of April) coincided with the Canton Fair, many flights from Singapore to Hong Kong or Shenzhen were fully to capacity, I had to book a flight to Guangzhou which was some 2 hours plus by car to Dongguan. Rather than inconvenience my manufacturer to pick me up which would entail at least 5 hours to and fro, I agreed to (firstly) upon disembarking from the aeroplane to make my way to the subway (the term Mass Rapid Transit is used in Singapore) and head towards the station Guangzhou East where there is a link to the high speed trains either eastwards to Shenzhen or westwards to Dongguan, Chengdu, Chongqing or Changsha .

        The first part of the by- foot trip was easy. Upon disembarking, I made it to the terminal station at the basement of the airport. Then, I had to buy tickets from the automated ticketing machines which were primarily in Chinese. I had my first bout of confusion, as Guangzhou East station was finally located on the ticketing machine, but the damn machine did not accept 50 yuan notes ! Only small 5 yuan and 10 yuan notes. So, I had to get out of the queue, go the the 7 - 11 convenience store, and change my 50 yuan notes.

       I then decided to skip the queue altogether, and bought a stored value card (or so I thought) for 50 yuan (S$ 10 dollars equivalent). I made my way then to the platforms only to be turned away at the turnstiles. The reason ? My stored value card of 50 yuan had no money topped up inside ! The 50 yuan was just a deposit ! So I made my way to the same 7 -11 convenience store to top up another 50 yuan (S$ 10). Again I had to muddle my way in my broken Mandarin !

      Upon reaching the platforms, it was pretty easy to make the way to Guangzhou East station. It was 12 stops away from airport, and as can be seen by the free map, the words were printed in tiny Chinese and English ! Definately very difficult for people like me approaching early old age with long sightedness !! 

       When I finally reached the Guangzhou East station, again I had to ask people exactly where the tickets were being sold for the trains going to Dongguan. I was fortunate there was a kind lady cleaner who escorted me to exactly the counter which sold those tickets (there are many ticketing machines and counters to all parts of China) and this part was really tricky. The trains heading to Dongguan were plentiful and there were trains departing every 15 minutes (Dongguan is along the way to many other cities east of Guangzhou)

      Getting to the right platform was also something of a challenge, again my Mandarin helped me tremendously. So, for an English only speaking person to travel around alone in China would be a major challenge even today.  

     Therefore the challenges to overcome upon arriving at Guangzhou airport ;

a) locate the MRT station at B2

b) Buy tickets or Stored value cards from either the ticketing machine (ensure you have 
    small 5 or 10 yuan notes) or the 7-11 ; Stops are written mainly in Chinese

c) Upon reaching Guangzhou East station, make your way to the High Speed railway 
    network above ground

d) Purchase the tickets from the obscure ticketing office - Chinese reading and writing 
    is a must. 

e) Get onto the right platform at the right time. 

     So, I finally hopped on the 2 :35 pm train to Chanping which is a suburb of Dongguan.I finally reached my destination at 3: 15 pm after having touched down and cleared customs by 12.30 pm. 

     It took me all of 2 hours 45 minutes. If I had the future know how of the use of the Card and  the location of where to purchase the all the tickets and board accordingly, I would be able to shorten the time to easily 1 hour 45 minutes or less. 

          

The Sad Plight of the Working Poor in Singapore

           With each passing year, Singapore keeps on getting world class scores in all kinds of things, Our National University is top Asian University in the World University Rankings, the PISA International results for maths and science puts Singapore at No. 1 in the world rankings for secondary and primary school levels. Our per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 4th highest in the world, we have the world's busiest transhipment port in Tanjung Pagar, expatriates find this island really easy to acclimatise, and amongst the best in Asia to live, work and play.

           The glaring underbelly is that Singapore has a very high GINI coefficient, that means the top 10% is many many times richer than the bottom 30%.  It is apparent, from the numbers of people I meet in my daily commute and having my breakfast, lunch or stroll amongst the Housing Board estates and I see the elderly working people cleaning tables, toilets and the like.I know I am only scratching the surface, but the truth of the matter is that there are numerous elderly people in Singapore have to work, many times, in back breaking and demeaning jobs till they are bed-ridden. Many elderly have depleted their savings and depend on their families, or downgrade their housing to live in smaller units, or even stay in rental flats. The young - old pyramid is fast becoming top heavy and our citizen population is under producing due to myriad of reasons, but top of the list is the hectic pace of life coupled with high cost of living.  

           This is very sad. The foreign talent scheme to attract foreign companies and the foreign influx has improved Singapore's total GDP, but overall productivity has taken a hit and has been sliding these past 10 odd years. 

           Singaporeans had climbed up the socio economic ladder quickly through their educational qualifications during the boom years followed first from the 60s - mid 80s there   was a tremendous boom. From 1985 till 1987 there was a deep V shaped recession..Then it was all systems go from 1988 till 1997, when the Asian crisis hit for 2 odd years Things rebounded from 2000. SARS crisis hit our economy hard in 2003. There were good paying jobs and even short term windfalls like the property boom of the '90s, the dot com fever and the huge stock market rise which went on until the 1st Asian crisis. People left their jobs for the 'quick bucks'. When the crisis came, all the fast bucks turned into smoke. In 2008, there was the American Financial Crisis (Lehman brothers and AIG) but Singapore had tightened its credit lending so much so its economy was relatively unscathed.  

          From 2004 till current day, Singapore has seen year on year growth slowing down. What has happened in the last 15 - 17 years is that the economy was in a transformation mode first moving from basic manufacturing, to high end manufacturing, to Research and Development of bricks and mortar (hardware) red and white goods. The banking sector was liberalised and banks were greatly expanding, there were the entry of many high performance managed funds as well as many foreign law firms came in to compete. With the paradigm shift of internet banking, finance, broking and IT, there were plenty of foreign professionals coming to work. Those were heady days, and our economy was further boosted by the opening of 2 integrated resorts or casinos in 2010. The F1 circuit came and is still here. But the new businesses were in value creating apps - jobs like writing code or software security were in high demand. Only a talented few good be trained in those disciplines. 

Elderly Ice Cream Man 

         In real terms, many Singaporeans only got a little leg up financially through from the integrated resorts, the work there were mainly  for housekeeping, car jockeys, security and concierge. It wwas work to just get by. The economy continued to flounder after the US debt crisis in 2008 and Singapore again had more unemployed.   

         Fast forward to 2017, the global economy is  still sputtering, oil prices are diving down again, bricks and mortar plus all physical shopping at all levels are hit in a massive way. Shipping, oil and gas industries are in the doldrums and manufacturing is ,well, almost gone.

        Singaporeans who missed the upward growth and dips of the last 40 years have watched with disbelief and wondered why they missed the boat. Globalisation was meant only for the smart , privileged, lucky and daring few. Many of us are doing 2 jobs like Uber drivers and Food Panda. Its work which pays reasonably well but its work for the young and able-bodied.   

        So the current situation in Singapore is challenging. We are considered lucky having had a good and prudent government who does things in a practical way. They do not spend unnecessarily and save for a 'rainy day'.  But the elderly have few precious years left to live.

       Their plight is more important than all the accolades from all over the world. 

       Spare and thought for them.