Seta ; Mandarin Oriental Milan ; 2 star Michelin dining ; best meal in 2017

           

My wife and I had a superb meal in Milan, Italy recently. The restaurant is Seta in Mandarin Oriental,Milan and the foodie writeups on it were giving it reviews beyond excellence. I am putting up this post in the after lunch glow of a truly satisfied patron who has had an extraordinary gastronomic experience. 

Mandarin Oriental Hotel is an exclusive 5 star (5 storey) building tucked away at via Andegari 9, 20121, near the Piaza del Duomo district is the 5 star Mandarin Oriental Milan.It is within 10 minutes walking distance from the Corsa Vittoria Emmanuelle II or the famous walking street.  

Reservations must be made well in advance (I did mine almost 1 month beforehand), as they are almost fully booked (only about 12 tables) on the weekends, I was fortunate in that we  managed to secure a table on 4th December monday at lunchtime. 

Berlucchi Prosecco 

The first thing when you enter the hotel's unobstrusive entrance is that you step into a hotel of understated luxury. Seta itself was set up in 2015 and within 2 short years, it has gained 2 Michelin stars for its dining excellence. Helmed by Antonio Guida, his team of chefs, the maitre 'd and the service staff are all well groomed, and well versed in their craft.  

Seafood Spaghetti 

We opted for the 3 course set lunch, for EU 65 each. I also had a Berlucchi Prosecco to go with the seafood antipasti (starter above). The starter was a show stopper, the spaghetti was done 'al dente' or chewy which I thoroughly enjoyed as compared to our Singapore version of boiled to extreme softness. It had some prawn mince dumpling on the top and a beetroot - tomato gravy. Very tasty. 

  

Free nibbles 

Seta delights its patrons by offering fusion Italian food mixed with Asian influences (chef Guida worked in Japan for a good number of years before starting Seta). On top of that, the sommelier (wine expert) and the wait staff are excellent in their service standard, world class, very skilled in their craft, never pushy and available whenever you want them.

  Lamb Roulade 

The main course lamb roulade was sensational, the meat was very tender, flavourful and the fusion was in the vegetables with radish, carrots on a pistachio nut sauce. Very innovative.

Pantanonne Bread 

The Pantanonne bread is a Seta original, and it was rich (raisins, cranberry etc.) and came with a side of cream. 'Perfecto' as the Italians would call it.  But no, they went one better and offered us there additional desserts gratis.

Calorie counters please step aside 

The grand finale,  which would keep anyone with a sweet tooth thoroughly satisfied, is the ultimate sweet fruit fantasy. 5 different pairings of sweets for anyone ranging from cherries, to chocolates, to avocado to walnuts. The devil will be in the weighing scale when you get home (OMG ! I put on ...... kg !!! ).

A final review of Seta, based on my rather simplistic forumla :

a) Food Quality and Presentation : 4.8 / 5

b) Service Quality   :  4.8 / 5

c) Ambience           :  4.9 / 5 (very quiet setting with plenty of privacy corners)

d) Satisfaction        :  4.9 / 5  

Overall : 4.85 / 5 ;  Really a class meal worthy of the term 'fine dining'. 

Will we go there again, of course. But we must start saving our monthly earnings for a long while yet. 

Cheers ! 

   

Wolves go Marching on ; 23 Dec 2017 ; 1 - 0 win at home to Ipswich

This time of the year many football clubs are in the thick of the mid season and Wolves are having a splendid first half, leading the Champsionship by 7 clear points at the mid way mark. Their squad is brimming with talent and coach / manager Nuno Esperito Santos is a master strategist as well as man motivator. Easily 3 quarters of the team can be fielded into national teams, and I can list the obvious ;

Strikers 
Diogo Jota  (10)   - Portugal
Ivan Cavaleiro (10)  - Portugal
Leo Bonatini (13) - Brazil

Midfielders
Reuben Neves - Portugal
Romain Saiss - Morocco
Matthew Docherty -  Ireland

Defenders
Wily Boly  France

Goalkeeper 
John Ruddy England 

The team has only conceded 4 goals in the last 11 matches with eight clean sheets (not letting in any goals) - including the titanic 0-0  against Man City and scored a whopping 19 goals. They are practically injury free at this point and with the January transfer window coming up, coach / manager  Santos will be eager to snap up the loan players such as Jota and Bonatini. So great is their potential that the manager needs to make quick decisions as they are hot property. Wolves will do well to place mid table if they reach the Premier League next season 2018-19. 



    

Paves - Baby

This is a brand new band from the UK, and I like this single called 'Baby'. have a listen and decide for yourself. They have potential to be chart toppers ?  

An excellent goalkeeper is worth 2 outfield players ; Reading 0 - Woves 2

this is an excellent season for the Wolves, so I am very proud of their owners, the manager / coach and players. Most importantly the die-hard long suffering fans from the West Midlands you deserve the top of the table result so badly.

This game I would rate John Ruddy the Wolves stalwart and captain as the Man of the Match, at least on 3 occasions he single handedly (pun intended) kept Wolves with a 0 deficit when it could easiy have been 3 - 0 or at least 2 - 0. 

The strikers did their job yes, but the unsung heros of the defence and especially the goalkeeper, John Ruddy deserves my Man of the Match for this win.  

Greetings from a fan (yes, fair weather but changing fast) from Singapore 

Another Hero Gone ; Goodbye Malcolm Young ; Lead Guitarist AC/DC

This is the penultimate AC/DC song for me. "Highway to Hell". Surprisingly it does not glorify the Evil One,as people who do not know and want to criticise. Instead, the lyrics tell of the singer, who has lived the life according to his own values and most likely when the time comes, if he gets judged by the Man upstairs, he is on the way via the Highway to Hell.
Malcolm is the lead guitarist of AC/DC and he is in the same league as Keith Richards of Rolling Stones. AC/DC contrary to popular belief is not from the UK but Australia. The Angus brothers were, however, born in Scotland before their family migrated to Australia when they were children. 

This video was shot in River Plate Stadium,with 250,000 heaving and ecstatic fans. Malcolm and his brother, Angus Young, were really giving a performance par excellence. In a predominantly Catholic country, it is refreshing to see so many people, young and old appreciate the art of AC / DC. The band was definately relishing their performance to the sellout crowd who literally had the time of their lives. This live band performance and the wild participation from the fans is a real bonus ! 

In my early days, I did not even want to listen to their music. Now, especially after Iron Man 2, I love their songs, especially Highway to Hell. Its so 'in Your face' !  

My hero ? Michael J. Fox

A video detailing the early signs of Parkinson's disease, before the tremors. 
a) Small handwriting
b) Loss of Smell

My hero for several years now, has been Michael J. Fox, of Family Ties fame. He shot into stardom at an early age (in the early 20s) with the Back to the Future series, playing the Marty McFly character to much commercial success.

In 1991, when he was barely 30 years old, he discovered he had Parkinson's disease, a dibilitating disease which till today there is no cure. However, through his sheer effort, he formed the Michael J. Fox foundation and it is doing very well with lots of sponsoships and visibility.

His humility, humour and sheer resilience in the face of this disease is admirable, having battled this monster on a daily basis for the last 36 years. I am truly in admiration of this man, who has 4 children, and has written several books since his diagnosis, one of the most memorable being " Lucky Man".

Never take your situation or condition as the end of the world, the world goes on with or without you. So, wake up each morning and thank God that you are here and you have your health, your wits and your loved ones.

Keep pressing on with all your might ; find a cause which is close to your values and pursue it with conviction. You will be the better for it.  If you haven't found a cause, keep looking and like Steve Jobs said, never settle. 

Stay Hungry, and Be Foolish. Only then will we be facing adversities and growing. 

Gen IGen ? Fake news is the order of the day. People are getting brain lazy, apathetic and the art of interpersonal relationships is being seriously threatened.

             

       There is a new generation of people, called the IGen, (I guess its a play on the IPhone) ; these people, young and old are addicted to their smartphones. They are being inundated daily with news feeds which are increasingly being viewed by me as from a dubious source. Half truths are being perpetuated as 'news' and the people cooking these up all have an 'agenda'. So where is the objectivity of news ?  We need to have a discerning mind so that we can think really for ourselves is this the actual situation or is this an article which is 'framed' to impart an opinion so as to influence public perception. This then is what people can an 'op - ed'.  It is inevitable that reporters or writers will put in a 'bias' or slant on things or events which they report. So skip the written article and view the event on Youtube. Again, there is the possible 'framing' of the video if taken not in real time, but edited to take out certain bits and then present it to the unsuspecting public (like Trump's visit to Japan and where he fed the koi fish, together with President Abe and the MSM press only focussed on Trump tossing his entire box of fish food indicating or giving the impression he was not respecting tradition,culture and protocol ; the actual longer footage taken by CNBC (I think) shows Abe throwing out his entire box first, then followed by Trump. The MSM media edited out the first bit on Abe and focussed on Trump, giving further evidence to the impression that this President was one who did'nt care about respect, protocol and the centuries old culture of a long time post war friend.  

            We have 'Stomp' the news portal of AsiaOne which in a nutshell shows local people doing horrible things in public and then being filmed and the footage goes viral on social media.

            IGen, is a malaise of the world where the smartphone has made us dumb. For example, I am less used to thinking of where this street is, in context of Singapore as I am reliant on GoogleMaps and my Garmin provides me up to the last 5 metres of my destination where I want to go by car. I lose track of how to get to my destination in my head, forget the roads leading up to my destination and I am ever dependent on technology to make my life simpler.

          If in the event of an emergency, I need to rush to a certain friend or relative's place, I will be struggling to recall what road the house or apartment is. In short, I have become dumb and not utilising my brain as it has not been used to remember road names and relying on the general direction of the roads and expressway. This is just one of the dumbing down of me (and society in general) that I am aware I am sinking into, so I try to be aware of that fact and make the necessary adjustments lest I become so dependent on the technology. 

          If I can advise people 1 important thing, 'get off the grid ! '.  See the forest making up the entirety of the numerous trees, seize the beauty of the day and enjoy the moment as living life.

         When we look up from our phones, we see beauty, simplicity and joy. Why do we jump into the virtual world which is entirely man made and when we can't appreciate even the most basic of nature's beauty right before our eyes ?  

         Seize the Moment.