RS Deli

Disclaimer: owners are friends of friends.

New Indon-themed cafe/deli that opened up along the busy stretch of Upper Thompson Road. Young, breezy and cheerful, open design. Simple menu with a fast food ordering concept, but delivered to your table (a la Mos Burger). Unfortunately, the menu lacked fish and vegetable (vegetarian) options. The rice sets portions were on the small side, but is in accordance with the price. Like a typical Indonesian food, the curry and sauces tend to be on the sweet side which I found to be a tad too sweet. Both the beef rendang and chicken gulai need to be stewed longer and served hotter. As said, I'd prefer it to be less sweet and more spicy. The nasi lemak's chicken wing was on the dry side; the otak was really good but pity too thin and too small. All the rice sets were served with eggplants, excellent home-made sambal and potato-dried shrimps keropok thingy and rice. Each set has a different rice: plain rice, yellow rice and coconut rice. I felt that they should make it an option for the diner to choose, for which I would pick the yellow rice, but as explained by the chef-owner, each rice was chosen to specifically complement the main dish. The satay burger came in a bigger portion than the rice set and was also price-size appropriate. The chicken was juicy, but the satay sauce again lacked heat (both figuratively and literally) and veered towards being too sweet. Free iced water (self-serve) always a plus! Coffee's from Highlander which is also another plus.

Verdict: Good place for a casual Indonesian dining but do not expect to be easily filled; will come back if in the area and looking for Malay food.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Brilliant. Emotional. Raw. Authentic, earnest teenage angst not seen since I can't remember when. And definitely excellent taste in (indie) music! Having the author be the screenwriter and director of the show is a double-edged sword. The good thing is Stephen Chbosky definitely understands the material and knows exactly what he wants to translate onto the big screen; the bad thing is that he gets too over indulgent at times and some scenes dragged out longer than necessary while some scenes are extraneous. The movie could have been trimmed down by at least 15 minutes. The three leads were perfect for their roles. Logan Lerman portrayed the emotional frailty and fractured innocence very well. Emma Watson will be a big star one day. She's on the cusp of a breakthrough and if she hones her skills more, stays aways from cheesy flicks, I see a great future for her. Ezra Miller is the quirky strange one but his performance was also spot on: a sensitive soul within the outrageous personality. Other outstanding supporting actors include Mae Whitman (always a delight!) and Paul Rudd (underrated, but delightful and reminds me of my own English teacher). This show will surely be re-watched, re-quoted and re-critiqued by the teens of this generation and be as cult as "Heathers" or "16 Candles" of my time. Depressing/Angsty movie with a positive message: bad things happen to any people, good or bad, and we always think we deserve the love we have. Really makes me want to go out and read the book! Do you feel infinite? Have you felt infinite?

Catalunya

Fancy new Español restaurant with a fantastic location and view! Lots of pedigree here, with the head chef himself previously at work at El Bulli, so expectations were high. Welcome reception was excellent and polite. I arrived first and was placed at the bar to wait. Out came the bar menu and a glass of water. That glass of water was a clincher; a distinguishing factor between good and very good. Menu was simple: a mix of starters, tapas, meats and fish. The sangria was good. Sweet but not masking or watering down the red wine. The bread with salted tomato was a good appetiser. Nothing special about it but good to open the palate with. The fried aubergines was interesting. Served with a miso and yuzu/citrus sauce. You definitely need a liking for all the separate ingredients to like it. Main course was their suckling pig. Half of a 2 week old Spanish piglet. Very good. Soft, succulent with just the right amount of fats left on the skin. The skin itself was crispy but very unlike the Chinese version. The meat was well roasted, easily stripped off (as evident by the server dismembering the piglet using just a plate). Meant for 2-3 persons, but unless both parties are big pork eaters, 3-4 people to share will be better. It can get a tad too boring after a while. The roasted pineapples were great. Not many places do it other than the Brazilians and traditional Spanish places. Served with cinnamon and raw pepper, it as a great complement to the suckling pig. Dessert was uninteresting. Had the bread pudding with milk ice-cream which surely is an acquired taste to love it. Coffee was not good at all. Overall, a bar like ambience with poor acoustics but prompt and polite service and reasonable pricing.

Verdict: Will be back to try something different.

Magosaburou

Tucked away in a nondescript corner of the top floor of Ion is a Japanese-pseudoKorean BBQ place. Supposedly famed for their beef. Going through the entrance, climb up a flight of stairs, and you arrived at the fifth floor (so you could actually get in via the carpark instead) with a view that over looks Orchard Road. +Plus One for view and ambience. We had the premium beef set lunch that was $95/pax. Firstly, it came with about 2 servings each of Ox tongue, shank, tenderloin cubes and sukiyaki slices, squid and scallops. Secondly, the marbling was divine. You can choose to BBQ yourself or have the staff do it for you. We did the work ourselves which was half the fun, especially hearing the fats melt and sizzle in the fire. Worth the price if you love wagyu beef...it is hard to find such gems in Singapore. The portion is not going to be very filling, but for these kind of food, it is best to be just right rather than stuffed. Besides, the set came with a 5-item appetiser (which was disappointing), a raw salad, a steamed salad, rice, soup, coffee, 3 sides of kimchi (not great!) and 3 sauces (soy, salt & peanut; most of the meat were great unadulterated or with a touch of salt/peanut). Importantly, dessert was provided, and interestingly, they served us 3 different desserts for the 3 diners. I had the creme brulee and tiramisu: the former was not bad, with vanilla beans and ?pistachio or chestnut, but the custard was too warm with the sugar glaze too thick; the tiramisu was alright with a slight hint of alcohol and coffee but too much sponge.

Verdict: Can come again for lunch sets if I ever have premium wagyu craving. Did not look at the full a la carte menu properly, but looked expensive. Good view!

Note: Apologies no photographs for this makan session...next time!

Arteastiq Lite

Cozy, chill place at Mandarin Gallery. Nice comfy furniture designed by Marxx with lotsa glass, but that may be too warm if sunny. The last two decades saw the advent of coffee culture in Singapore and it looks like premium tea culture is creeping into our shores. Keyword being premium. A wide range of tea-based menu with hot, cold, dessert and alcohol drinks. But honestly nothing special about it. Tea presentation is where most of the money goes to. Had the ginger ginseng tea which comes in a pot and with some biscuits and tea-pastry. At least there's free water refill for the tea and friendly service. Acceptable quality, but nothing to wow about. The tea set for 2 comes with a pastry tower with bite size hors d'Oeuvres that tasted basic. The food menu was also minimal and many items were unavailable.

Verdict: Definitely just a place to chill with friends, and nothing else.

Taken 2 [Dig]

A competent sequel that is watchable but lacked the high octane energy of the first one. The stakes just seemed lower even though the whole family is involved. Perhaps because the plot was more straightforward this time round. Liam Neeson was commanding again, sadly no meme-worthy soundbites this outing. Hard to imagine Famke Janssen as a damsel in distress, she just can't lose the femme fatale image after X-Men and Nip/Tuck. Maggie Grace = pretty, acting improving, but no Milla Jovovich (you hear that, Luc Besson?). Directing by Olivier Megaton was similar to the first outing: lots of quick cuts, but some of the action appeared too messy this time. One good fight scene in the hamam,, but nothing tops the one by Viggo Mortenson in "Eastern Promises"

666 Park Avenue

Pilot: This is ABC's latest offering trying to emulate the success of "American Horror Story" after the failure of "The River" last season. "666 Park Avenue" is a soapy crossover between "Rosemary's Baby", "Doctor Faustus" and "Desperate Housewife". Firstly, almost a perfect cast. Terry O'Quin and Vanessa Williams are perfect as the Mephistophelean Gavin and his partner Olivia, Dave Annable has the solid, dependable guy down pat, but it is Rachel Taylor as the main protagonist that is a bit of a mystery. So far she is more annoying than convincing. Secondly, there are some good scares: 2 to be precise, and one "OMG, OMG, OMG!!" moment. But sadly, they did not push it further which would have been what a cable network would had done. Pity. The music was generic horror/scary and looks like Alexander McQueen is a sponsor of the show. Again, another problem with this and most of the new series this season is that I cannot see them sustaining a 20-plus episode order. Much less more than one season. The concept of this may make a good movie (although run of the mill) or a better mini-series. WIll just have to stay tune, but at least there's Terry and Vanessa!

Episode 2, "Murmurations": This episode is brought to you with shades of "The Birds" and "Shining". Overall, it's getting boring. Tertiary characters that are not that interesting. Hot writer with hot photographer wife with hot assistant who may or may not be psychotic/supernatural ("American Horror Story did it better with The Maid"). They need to clearly define why Jane is "special" to The Drake; also, what is the role of Vanessa William's character? Or even Nona...It gotta pick up the pace. Let's see what November Sweeps brings and whether this show is worth committing to for a whole season.

Episode 3, "The Dead Don't Stay Dead": This show is weird. Scary but not scary enough; campy but not campy enough. I am really intrigued with what is the deal with Gavin's and Olivia's relationship in the show. Perhaps, it is time to show a bit more, rather than plodding through slowly. Who is their daughter Sasha? The resident-in-trouble plot was boring and predictable and cliche. As was the whole Bryan sub-plot. More interestingly is Jane's visions. They got to have some payback soon! And, what's so special about Henry that has Gavin so interested in him?

Episode 4, "Hero Complex": Trust Whedon's alumni Elizabeth Craft & Sarah Fain to deliver the best episode thus far. Character development with minimal mumbo-jumbo magic. Rachel Taylor is easing into her role, but the hour belongs to David Annable's Henry. Although, again, why is he "special"? At least the writers managed to ask the questions that the audience has been thinking about. Unfortunately, Gavin's reply is just as cryptic. Smokey is back! Now, Nona is getting interesting.

Episode 5, "A Crowd of Demons": A Halloween episode in this show is kind of redundant, but at least it introduced us to Gavin's antagonist! Finally, some conflict for him! But what is the point of abducting Olivia? A red herring? And this whole smokey man from the luggage thingy is such a sell-out. What's the point? The birds love Jane? And also, the whole Louise/Bryan subplot...gagh!

Episode 6, "Diabolic": Strongest episode to date. This show has finally gotten interesting with a development of an overarching plot to replace the tenant-of-the-week stories. Losing the other boring storyline of the playwright, photographer and assistant was also a good move. The producers really got to define Gavin's power. Not necessarily his character - the ambiguity here is actually good - but what he can or cannot do. Which then bring us to Victor Shaw, the new man in his life. Is he good? Bad? Supernatural or human? WHAT IS IN THAT BOX??!? (so much better than "Revolution"'s mystery of "Why is there no electricity?"). Olivia and Gavin continues to be the most interesting couple, and I am actually curious to find out more about Olivia (with Vanessa William's Botox fading, her acting as improved). The new additions of Detective Cooper (?Mulder) and PR Laurel will perhaps give Rachel and Henry more to do. In particular, there is a definite chemistry between Cooper and Rachel. Lastly, good to see Rachel has finally admitted out loud her abilities and attached the dots regarding her relationship to The Drake.

Episode 7, "Downward Spiral": I hope the producers at least get to tell finish the story. I am intrigued by the ending. By Olivia's and Gavin's relationship. Who is Victor Shaw? Are Nona and family the good guys? Or is Gavin indirectly manipulating the grandmother to keep Jane here? There is so much potential for twists, turns and double-crossings. The weakest link is the annoying Louise-Robert-Alexis triangle.

Note: ABC has cancelled this series. I thought it had finally found its footing, but let's hope they can finish up the story at least. As a series, it will be hard to keep this going and keep it fresh every season, unless they can come up with an excellent reason for Gavin's character.