Korean BBQ Buffet at Don Dae Bak

Our dear friend gave a treat and she deserves a shout-out for being the awesome possum wife's bff (and by extension, mine too). She brought us to Don Dae Bak, a place that was drastically different from what I had in mind. The only experience I had with Korean BBQ thus far was Seoul Garden, and yes, I recognise that isn't entirely authentically Korean.

First things first: the low-hanging pipe above the grill area is essentially a HVAC unit that siphons air away. You pull it closer to the grill (quite close, in fact) when you're cooking meat. That being said, nothing will prevent these two things from happening to you when eating at a Korean BBQ:

1. Your clothes will smell of cooked meat. Forget about how you look, wear things you know you'll throw in the wash the second you reach home.

2. The oil from the grill will splatter, and a drop or two of very hot oil will land on your skin. Or in my case, my eye. Twice. My bespectacled friends, you're at an advantage here.

The meat selection here is really good, and we had a choice of pork, chicken and beef. Being the carnivores we are, we went with all types of meat.

Of course, the highlight of eating at such a place is cooking the meat. Behold, the oil-splattering goodness of grill-cooking:

The best tip I can give you is that your time at one sitting is limited to 90 minutes, so if you want the most amount of meat for the time you have, forego the chicken and just choose beef. Chicken takes so much longer to cook!

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Brunch at Spruce, Fire Station (Upper Bukit Timah)

A fire station-turned-restaurant/bar, this place is spacious and evokes a sense of quirkiness. 

Bottles galore! Of course, for a bar, this must be standard fare.

I can't really comment on their selection, but I'm told their offerings aren't overly expensive.

I really like the wooden textures of their decor.

Christine and I have been eyeing Spruce for a while now, and they didn't disappoint. Their staff are attentive and are quite willing to strike up a conversation with you--so if you're the type who want privacy on your dates, you might find them a little uncomfortable intrusive.

A simple menu where everything can be seen at a glance.

Their macchiato isn't that strong but for a pick-me-up in the morning, it performed its function well.

Christine had a 2-for-1 drinks special while I had the coffee.

On to the main event. As a tip, their sides may sound small, but they are really big. Our server advised against our order of a side each. Here's why:

The French toast is huge! So beware, you might end up not being able to finish your sides!

She had the eggs royale, which is poached eggs with smoked salmon on a muffin. Spruce includes a dash of caviar to add an extra dimension to the dish.

I went with their recommended "chicken benny", which is eggs benedict with a portion of grilled chicken served with waffles. Sounds weird but it works well!

Their portions are huge! I think I will order one main and one side to share with Christine should we come here again.

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Sunday Brunch at Basilico

The recent birthday festivities were absolutely amazing. My wife and I love brunch, and especially Basilico's, which features an open cheese room (only during the Sunday brunch) and numerous legendary dishes like truffle cream risotto and free-flow foie gras.

As a lover of all things truffle and foie gras, I skipped over all the other items on their buffet line, which does look good too.

The main event for me was raiding the cheese room. This time, there was an Italian cheese chef who asked for my preferences and made his recommendations. When I said I wanted to try everything, he made it a point to pick out his most adventurous cheese: urbiaco al Barolo, which is wine-infused cheese. As a Methodist, I can't drink, but since this is in food, I suppose the rule won't apply here.

The best dishes of the day, however, still went to the pan-fry station because of foie gras. I think Christine and I must have eaten at least $100 worth of the gooey goodness.

Last but not least, we also raided the truffle dish of the day. Unfortunately, it wasn't the standard risotto; alas, it was changed to a truffle cream ravioli. Nonetheless, it was still really good.

As far as I was concerned, I was done. However, as all wives would be quick to point out, a buffet is incomplete without desserts. So here's a short collection of obligatory dessert shots:

What a day this has been. Thank you dearest, for the wonderful treat! It was an amazing experience!

For further reading:
Basilico's official web page

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Brunch at Paddy Hills (September 2016)

When Christine took leave on a Monday morning, the hunt was on for a cafe we could have brunch at. Here's where social media is pretty cool; we were browsing our friends' Instagram feeds and chanced upon some photos of Paddy Hills.

Parking here would be a severe problem on the weekends. I'd recommend parking at the nearby private estate (which may be to the chagrin of the home owners; park at your own risk!)

Unassuming facade, but wait until you go inside.

Tucked away in a small enclave just beyond the windy roads of South Buona Vista Road, your best bet at reaching this Aussie-inspired fusion cafe is by car--we checked the bus stop and found only one bus servicing this place.

The cafe has a hip vibe to it, but I'll let you be the judge of that:

Christine and I ordered a mixture of savoury and sweet: their famous "hei rice" which was essentially squid ink fried rice served with fried chicken, and their pancakes. As for drinks, she had a yuzu cooler and I had their piccolo.

The bubbles were sweetened too, and it was a race to pop them in our mouths before they went out by themselves!

The piccolo was light, and not as strong as I'd like it to be. But then again, I'm a coffee addict!

Strip away the edible flowers and the chocolate powder coating and you're essentially eating pancakes, ice cream and berries.

The rice is topped with mentaiko sauce and a soft-boiled egg that you have to crack yourself. Oh well, I suppose it makes you more excited since you're personally involved in the last step of food preparation.

Even though we were advised that the portions were small, Christine and I were full sharing just these two dishes. I think you'd seriously be full even with sharing. All-in-all, it was a great place to have a relaxing brunch. As it was a Monday, there was no crowd. I'm told that during the weekends, the crowd can sully the experience.

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A Major Update!

So I'm supposed to be studying but the lighting conditions are far less than ideal, so I'll take a little break to blog before moving up to my room where I have much better lights (but also much more distractions). Here's the update of my life for the past few months, so I'll be concise and share the relevant stuff.

Study, study, study!

The biggest update is that I've stopped work at AMKMC and am now a full time theological student at Trinity Theological College. I'll let some of these photos do the talking for me:

Orientation Day was packed.

My class is huge!

At the TTC chapel, where I go for chapel services, a staple part of student life.

The Hebrew Aleph-bet (alphabet), which we had to memorize on the first day.

Genesis 1:1 in Hebrew.

Church history class.

This year's CSCA lectures with Dr. Simon Chan on "Subversive Liturgy".

Random picture of Jumbo sleeping under my car while taking a break from studying.

Our visit to St. Mary of the Angels for our Field Education.

Reading my Mission and Evangelism textbook with a book stand to alleviate some of the "eyeball aches" I've been getting recently.

A view of the chapel from the back (where I'm usually now since undertaking AV responsibilities).

I've completed my first year Old Testament and Theology courses, so "by right" I should have more time to study than my fellow first year sufferers. But the truth is, I feel like I don't. I'm discovering that in order to retain information, I can't read at my usual pace. I miss out a ton of details! With Thursday mostly free and Friday all to myself, I pray that I will be able to catch up with my friends who are so well-adept at reading and writing. You can keep me in prayer for:

• Church History - I'm really quite bad at geography and remembering places!
• Hebrew 1 - 'Nuff said.
• Mission and Evangelism - A mountain of readings, and a lot of group projects. Thankfully, my group mates are amazing!
• New Testament 1 - The hardest for me so far. Our textbook isn't the friendliest and I've had to read up or watch other lectures to make sense of what the author of our textbook is trying to say.

Gigs and gear adventures

By the grace of God, I'm still able to get some vitamin M (music) in my system. My ministry "swan song" was serving on a worship team at this year's YMEFLC (Young Methodist-Evangelical Free Leaders' Conference), which I had the immense privilege of playing through a Fender Deluxe Reverb. Tonal bliss!

My amp sim became a mute switch. What a beauty of an amp!

In September, I'll be performing with some pals of mine I've come to admire and respect at Blujazz. Ivni and Wai Yee are blind musicians and are part of an annual concert at Blujazz (Ivni is a drum student at Bossworkz Music School, and yes, he is a blind drummer!) and I've had the privilege of meeting them to play on their bands for the past two years. It's a humbling experience to play alongside them because they show me that music transcends boundaries, even physical ailments.

I didn't have time to take a picture of them, but here's a shot of me rehearsing with an iRig Pro interface and using my phone as the effects processor.

Also, I think I've discovered that there is no way to achieve high gain tones through analog pedals unless you have a decent high-gain amp--which I will never own. Hence, my recent acquisition of iRig gear to play heavier stuff: and I'm mightily impressed! How I wish this technology was available to me when I was starting out! iRig equipment makes the multi-fx style of gear much more accessible for the beginner guitarist.

Soli deo gloria. Now, back to studying!

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