Mosella - International Cuisine at Pan Pacific Orchard

 

Seafood Paella 

I recently had the good fortune to dine, not once but twice at this Internationally renowned hotel's Mediterranean restaurant. Mosella.  The food is very good, the service excellent and the ambience with the high ceiling, above average.

The Mosella restaurant serves international cuisine. The hotel is at Claymore road, beside the Thai embassy and the Orchard Towers. 

Let me review the 4 dishes we had. On the first visit, my associate and I had the Pan fried Cod and Seafood Paella (above and below). The Paella was very tasty with lots of calamari, some morsels of mussels and 2 giant Tiger prawns. 

This dish alone is a standout. For $ 72 for 2, it is pricey. Fortunately for me, I have an App which offers discounts of up to 50% and we managed to get 30% off the whole meal off the Ala Carte menu.   

Pan Fried Cod with Asparagus Spears 

The pan fried asparagus is another superbly tasty dish. The skin is crispy and the meat, tender and succulent. The sauce with the grilled asparagus added a new dimension to the meal, which I totally enjoyed. Price $42 is again on the high side. 

Zuccini Tempura Spears 

This zuccini dish was somewhat of a letdown, the flour tempura was rather clumpy and not crisy enough. The zuccini while fresh, did not emit any erstwhile flavour as a reault of my wife did not bother to eat the remainder of the dish. 

Grilled Lamb Chops 

Amazing 3rd dish. The grilled lamb chops. The meat, while fatty was so flavourful reminding us of the grilled char siew or belly pork from our chinese cuisine.

While the meat was rather fatty, I would say all in all it was an extremely satisfying dish, only second in place to the Seafood Paella in terms of flavour, optical delight and well worth trying on the odd occasion when there are only the 2 of us dining out on a Saturday night.

Mosella Restaurant

Level 2, 10 Claymore Road

Singapore 229 540

Email : mosella.ppsor@panpacific.2com    

I have been given the gift of perfect eyesight ; I'm forever grateful.

Horizontal Section of Eyeball 

I have had my procedure done for my eye cataracts recently. On 23rd June I had the lens removed from my right eye and on the 30th june, the lens from my left eye has been removed. In its place are 2 mono-focal intraocular lens from Johnson and Johnson with the field, width of vision and depth of vision enhanced to practically 20 / 20 for my left eye and near 20 / 20 for my right eye. My reading ability is the same as before using my right eye.Its a tremendous improvement from my previous eyesight where I had to rely mainly on my contact lenses and spectacles from years ago.

The key thing to note is to work closely with an experienced and knowledgeable opthomologist, follow all his / her instructions and give him / her all your previous eye prescriptions for him to select the right set of intraocular lenses for you. 

My previous optometrist, Mr. Leow of Star Optical was instrumental in guiding my brain to adapt and effectively use one eye for reading (right) and one eye for far sightedness (left). That way I can in theory see both near and far field, when I used my contact lenses.

After my 2 ops, my brain has adapted to the same set of 'instructions' whereby my right eye is used for near field reading and my left eye for far sight. So far, with a little bit of adjustment, I am doing well in both areas. 

The differences ?  

- Everything is so bright and so clear now. 

- I need more time to adjust to the spatial (width) awareness and so this is taking some time. 

I hugely grateful to Dr. Wesley Chong, a senior opthomologist surgeon from the Eagle Eye Centre, who is extremely talented, humble and blessed with outstanding bedside manners. He is very approachable and answered all my basic questions Pre and Post Operation via email - many times, within an hour of my sending out the email. Huge shoutout of thanks to him and his staff. 

My 2 procedures were carried out at Mt. Alvernia hospital and I was treated as a day surgery patient. Thankfully, the bulk of the operation costs (hospital, doctor and medications) were borne by my SingLife with Aviva critical disease insurance and my Medisave.

Thank you Wesley and team !

I recently bought a book written by a Dr W H Bates, who was the preeminent opthamologist surgeon in the US in the early 20th century. In it, he detailed that vision and eye care is so important and everyone CAN have perfect eyesight, if only they were trained or learnt certain techniques to maintain and even reinforce one's eyesight. I am almost finished reading and the key takeaways from the book, I will put up in the next post.

Muscles of the Eye 

Ever since I was preparing for my Ops, my midset is now this. For a good 53 years (I have been heavily myopic since I was about 10 years of age), I have lived with poor eyesight. I have bad myopia due to bad reading habits (reading in poor light, lying down and reading are 2 examples).

Now that I have regained this wonderful gift, I will make every single effort to not lose it again.

Every day without fail, I am doing the following eye exercises.Once in the morning and maybe one more before I fall asleep. 

The eye has muscles attached to it just like every other organ in our body. We need to regularly upkeep the muscles and take proper nutrients to ensure these last the remaining years of my life with the best quality and performance possible 

The gift of sight is accorded to many, yet few are appreciative of what the gift actually brings along with it. I list the following :

a) enhanced sense of smell

b) clarity of thought.

c) mental acuity.

My daily routine now in the morning entails the following :

1. Eye exercises seeing far and looking at greenery (100 feet) for 5 minutes each eye.

2. sticking out my thumb and extending my hand and pulling back right under my nose. My sight then follows my thumb.

3. Doing 360 clockwise and anti clockwise eye revolutions.

4. Cleaning my eyes with cotton buds and saline solution for up to one month

I am so grateful and happy for my new gift.

Seize the Day. 

The wonder of sight and technology

 

Right Eye after Cataract Surgery 

Today 30th June I will go for my second procedure, for cataract surgery. Last week on the 23rd I underwent the procedure at Mt. Alvernia Hospital. I rested for 7 days (minimal activity and occasional outgoings) and today is my second procedure.

I feel very blessed and happy to have a top notch surgeon, I will not reveal his name at the present time. Medical Technology and advanced science  means that with the procedure, most if not all of my sight will be restored.

In the coming days, weeks, months and years, I have made a promise to myself to practise excellent eye hygiene, learn eye exercises, cultivate good eye habits and have appropriate and ample time for rest.  One of the most precious gifts God has endowed us, the gift of sight is to be treasured for us all,  as  long as we are alive.    

After my first medical with the opthamologist 

Carpe Diem. 

Thoughts on Aging - Cataracts

Today 23rd June, I am scheduled for an elective surgery, cataracts. I have had declining eyesight for the last 1 and a half years. I had a check at the Singapore Eye Centre at the end of  2023 (December) and the Senior Consultant Opthamologist had indicated that I had the beginnings of cataracts, a thin film across the lens on one eye, which clouds light rays entering the retina, which if they were not treated in time, can completely cover the lens and render one blind.

My initial solution was to minimise my outdoor activities, and use as much of the sunglasses (I own numerous pairs of Oakleys), but over the years, the vision especially at night, as well as going from a light to a dark place has deteriorated. The old Scout song comes to my mind :

"My eyes are dim I cannot see, I have not brought my specs with me... "

For a while I tried to decelerate the downward performance by taking lots of lutein tablets on a daily basis.

Of course, that eventuality is normally decades in the making, and depending on the health of the person, most people opt to go for cataract surgery in their late 60s to early or mid 70s. It is not uncommon for people around my age to have had their cataracts done early. I know easily a dozen individuals who have had theirs done in their late 50s to my age.

Cataracts are most commonly resolved (thanks to modern medical technology !) through surgery and I opted to be seen by a top eye clinic in Singapore. The surgery involves removing the old lens of the individual and replacing them with new intraocular lenses, with life spans of easily 40 to 50 years. 

I am thankful for my team at my business who will cover for my duties as well as having supportive family and friends who have given me hopeful wishes to a speedy recovery as well as their own personal experiences for post op recovery.

I intend to take the safest recovery for the next 2 - 4 weeks and God willing my eyes will be better in the weeks, months and years ahead.

My thoughts on aging ?

It is inevitable. Is age just a number ? I think no. There are numerous proofs which indicate that while one may look young, in actual fact, the body accumulates lots of 'bad stuff' through years and years through the slow build up.

a) ultraprocessed foods

b) sugar

c) salt

d) smoke and VOCs.

e) alcohol

f) fatty foods.

So my blog is an ongoing reminder to me and my readers to seize the moment, the day and to make good of my potential for my successors in the years to come.

SCALED - From Kelong to Table 2025

 

Deep fried Sea Bass Cheek with Curry Seasoning (KFC or Kelong Fried Collar)

At a recent school get together with old class and schoolmates, we had an unforgettable meal at SCALED by Ah Hua Kelong. Located at 8 Hamilton Road, this restaurant was dimly lit from the main road, and I had some trouble parking at the nearby Jalan Besar Stadium.

Mussels in Curry 

The mussels in curry was flavourful, and the mantous (normally used for Chilli Crab) gave this a nice Indian Chinese fusion taste and feel to it. I would say that it lacked some 'oomph' in that the curry could have been more viscous and thick. The one we ate was rather spread thin. 

Smoked Seabass Pate with Sourdough Bread 

The star of the show to me was the Smoked Sea Bass Pate, with Sourdough bread, caramelised onions and pickled garlic. I had 2 portions, it was so good. The pate was flavouful, and sourdough bread a bit on the buttery side, and the caramalised onions toppings were to write home for.

I would come back again to try this dish. 

We had a couple more outstanding dishes which unfortunately I did not have the time to take a photo but the Seafood Glace Risotto was outstanding. The risotto was actually barley and it had the freshest prawns, and some scallops inside it.

Another dish, the Prawn Dashi Aglio Olio, with roasted prawns, fried prawn head and prawn stock was another winner, though rather oily.  

For all of the mains and starters, its best eaten with a group of friends, and with a hearty round of drinks and catching up - just as in my case.

Panna Cotta 

To end off our meal, we had the panna cotta, the panna cotta came topped with a sour plum meringue. The sweet doughy biscotti was a nice add on too. 

ASTM F 1980 - 16 and ISO 11607 - 1 Accelerated Aging Tests for Pharma and Biotech - QRA INTERNATIONAL PTE LTD.

 

Podi and Poriyal 3 May 2025

Kovil Vadai with palakottai hummus 

My son and I last Saturday went to dine at the Podi and Poriyal Restaurant off Sturdee Road North (486 Serangoon Rd) and I was very pleasantly surprised that I am vividly reminded of the early days of my youth (late 60s and early 70s) when my father brought my brother and I to savor Dosai (Masala and Rava) at the Komalavilas Restaurant beside the Rex theatre. My palette was wonderfully stimulated and I savoured all the dishes prepared by the chefs in this 20 odd seater restaurant.

I was transported back 55 or more years and all the memories of my Dad and us eating using our fingers with the dosai dished out on a banana leaf no less. The hummus, or chickpea dhal is my all time favourite condiment. I can eat it practically everyday. There are essentially 3 different types of dosai

a) Rava  (with potato and vegetables)

b) Masala (I believe its the same as a), but named differently

c)  Paper 

The fare is South Indian no less, and the dishes are fried for the most part. Rather unhealthy, and the liberal use of butter and ghee makes the fare, rather heavy going. 

We ordered the Railway Cutlets, which is I believe fried beetroot with breadcrumbs cover. Its extremely tasty and the picture is shown at the bottom.

My son then had the Butter Dosai which included a Sambar Roast potato set. It had 2 different Rava Dosais and potato on the side. I was so pleased with getting a taste of my old Indian breakfasts back in the 60s and early 70s, that I reminded myself that I would return one other time, at least. 

Kanchipuram Idli with Chutney

My 3 course set menu started with the Kovil Vadai with Palakottai Hummus. It was fried to excellence and I dipped into the hummus with great gusto. 

My main course was the Kanchipuram Idli and though it is rice patties, I was feeling rather full after just taking one of them.

Railway Cutlets 

The final piece in this amazing dining concerto was a chocolatey paste not too sweet and had a hint of licorice. Safe to say it was a suitable end to a totally enjoyable Indian culinary journey, at least for me.

My son had a bottle of Asahi Black. He didn't quite take to the selections of foods but he gamely ate his share.

Total bill price : S$ 115. (or US$ 85) for 2.

My review overall.

Food :   4.5 / 5  (you MUST like Dosai and the fried Vadais, its not for everyone)

Ambience : 4 / 5 (rather small restaurant)

Service    : 4 / 5  (informative and helpful waiters)

Overall    :  4.25 / 5.

Would I go again : "Yes".

Pricing : Well there are many cheaper South Indian restaurants along Serangoon road probably serving the same fare at 60% of the price. Be prepared to queue for at least 15 to 30 minutes before getting a table. 

Once you find seating, be prepared to sit in a rather noisy and confined environment if you venture to those restaurants.