Wednesday, June 17, 2009

SINGAPORE NIGHTLIFE FOR A SATURDAY - THREE TIPS

People Make It Fun!

I was back in town last Saturday night and lucky enough to attend another gourmet club outing by my friend, Mong Lin. It was the second outing that I've been able to attend.

15 hungry guests were waiting to start dinner at the "Codfish Village."

Cheryl, the Miss Earth Singapore event organiser, was there with her husband, Tom. Helen and Greg and their 3 friends from the Marina Bay Sands were also there. Thomas and his attractive partner, who are restauranteurs and regulars with the gourmet club were there, too.

Sally, a Hainanese (like Mong Lin and myself), who played a nurse in one of my tvc's and who just returned from a cross country drive in China was there with her boyfriend, Aneace.

Anthonia, a top private banker, and another nice Hainanese guy called Tun were also there to enjoy an evening at the hawker's.

You couldn't ask for a better looking group. I was guest number 16 and I was an embarrassing 30 minutes late (well, not everyone's perfect!)

The group was a great "going out to eat" crowd. There were lots of spontaneous laughter and even a few interesting remarks about male fantasies.

We even talked about traveling together to Hokkaido for skiing, Egypt for a birthday and Brazil for Carnivale!

I'm sure that the bottle of Swiss schnapps with gold flakes for aperitifs which I brought with me wasn't even needed, but it did seem that the laughter became more robust after a series of shots were downed by the guys and some gals!

Codfish Medley

"Codfish Village" located in Toa Payoh, Block 83 Lorong 2, was already famous before we made it our dinner stop. Several articles from the leading magazines and newspapers were posted around the restaurant praising it's repetoire of dishes.

These dishes included: curry fish head - which most of us loved, but stayed away from eating the eye and eye socket; baked fish head with cheese (who said Asians don't like cheese?) ; steam fish fillet with olives; salted egg (called "ham tan" in Cantonese) scented fish slices and crispy codfish tofu.

The chef only steered away once from the "all codfish" medley to serve a dish of stirred fried venison. It was worth the diversion - it was delicious!

The service for this hawker restaurant was really quite good.....they even washed our shot glasses so we could have a few shots of another bottle which I brought along for the ladies, "Godiva Liqueur." The ladies - and some of the guys - loved the Godiva!

So, put on your jeans, get a group of friends together and head over to Toa Payoh this weekend!


Tip Two: Xi Yan

All dressed up and no place to go? Well, up above I mentioned Thomas, the restauranteur....

My first gourmet outing which I attended with Mong Lin was actually at Thomas' place, "Xi Yan" on Craig Street.

It has no visible signboard from the street and reservations are needed for the fixed-priced menu. The restaurant originated in Hong Kong - my favorite place for good dining - and has been booked solid for a long time now.

Be sure to call ahead to check on the menu of the day and consider yourself lucky if they have the Japanese tomatoes on the menu!

Groups only are accepted....


Tip Three: Carnivore at Vivo City

Brazilan restaurants are known for their atmosphere, "all you can eat" roast meats and secret sauces, great salad bars and freshly-made caiparinhas!

I pulled a group of friends together for a casual lunch a few weeks ago at the newly opened Carinvore at Vivo City beginning with the Brazilian ambassador, to the charming owners, to some friends from BBC, AXN, Mediacorp and the Film Fest. Though it was just a weekday lunch, the lunch stretched to some 3 hours! The caiparinhas definitely helped us forget the time!

Now, if we had gone here on a Friday, Saturday night or even Sunday (Brazilians love feijoida on Sundays!) , when the place has live music, I'm sure that we would have had an even better time! Music is what the Brazilians live for!

Don't wait for next year's Carnivale, bring a crowd to this place now!



What to Do after Dinner on Saturday Night

Still raring to go? After Codfish Village, the gourmet group headed off to Clarke Quay and Attica....but, I would suggest:

1. Drinks and music at the piano bar on the top floor of the Swissotel
2. Champagne at Shangri-la's Blu
3. Intercontinental Hotel lobby for jazz
4. La Hacienda on Dempsey Road

Have fun on Saturday in Singapore!