murakami cafe

if i were to set up murakami cafe, it will definitely be more a spiritual rather than an entrepreneurial endeavour.

without a doubt, the cafe will only sell pasta. there will be wine and not much else.

i’m thinking of the entire cafe looking like a home kitchen.

there will be music: jazz and opera.

as for seats, i want as many individual seats as possible to discourage groups from coming. it’s a place for people to hang out with themselves, not with other people.

to differentiate ourselves and to create a lot of publicity for the cafe, every now and then we will have a telephone call coming in for customers. this call will be from a total stranger (paid by us) who will give the customer, probably the strangest telephone conversation she will ever have in her life.

Tony Takitani

Tony Takitani is coming to the cinema here and mr. tan wants me to meet his good friend, who is also a Murakami fan and lives in my neighbourhood.

somehow i think watching Tony Takitani with other people is wrong, as wrong as paris hilton singing. so i’m declining his offer.

what i suggested, however, was for us to meet, go to the box office together and pay for individual seats for individual viewing.

i would really like to end the evening by going with them to a quiet pub that plays jazz and have some beers and no conversation.

*

Once the mountain of records had disappeared from his house, Tony Takitani was really alone.

Warren Bennis

No leader sets out to be a leader per se, but rather to express him- or herself freely and fully. That is leaders have no interest in proving themselves, but an abiding interest in expressing themselves.

mr. tan is wrong

mr. tan, my favourite (only) commentator is a great guy.

his blog, which is more premium than mine, has depth, humour and little happiness.

still, mr. tan is wrong about 2 things:

1) joining SDU (a matchmaking agency for the foreign reader) will not solve my problems

SDU, I’m sure, is a premium organisation where I will meet many premium women. but, to borrow a phrase from AA: my name is isaiah and i’m lonely. and no amount of women (nor men) can make the loneliness go away. it’s a disease i live with.

2) a baseball bat will not solve my problems

the world has a lot of not so premium people. and i’m one of them. to beat up all these un-premium people will simply be too exhausting. having said that, my ultimate birthday wish is to have a couple of swings at those irritiating character performers in their fat insulated suits. Barney is top of that wishlist, followed by any of the Teletubbies.

black hair, yellow skin and ate noodles

i find this terribly amusing:

What’s the worst city you’ve eaten in?

Toronto. Canadians have little sense of food. When you have a sandwich, it’s either ham or egg. No sauce, no mayonnaise, no pepper, nothing. Terrible.

Once I asked my colleagues there what typical Canadian food was. They said fish and chips. A friend took me to a famous fish and chips shop in Toronto. Oh, terrible. Very big portions, but you know, a potato is a potato.

At that time, I knew of only one Japanese restaurant in Toronto. So when I was homesick for Asian food, I went to Chinatown. I couldn’t speak Chinese, but I felt very comfortable there. Everyone had black hair, yellow skin and ate noodles.

damaged

here’s why:

1) when i was 9 or 10, i was staring at a group of kids playing soccer, out the window of my ground floor apartment. one of them looked directly at me and cried out to me to join them. i was so frightened by the eye contact and shouting that i went into hiding in my own house.

2) i was mainly locked up at home as a kid, alone, eating too much, watching too much Matlock, Murder She Wrote and Lakers-Celtics games.

3) i came in last in a story-telling competition, a teacher told my friends in front of me.

4) i was left out of outings in my secondary and poly days.

5) i read too much haruki murakami and like him too much.

6) i fell in love when i was young.

7) i fell out of love when i was young.

when i was in primary 6, i went home everyday and listened to wham! some songs i would repeat, like last christmas and a different corner.

9) i learnt about love from watching HK TVB series and thought it was a fun game, full of misunderstandings, happy accidents and sweet endings. alas.

there’s probably a lot more but it’s a start.

scary

people think i’m kidding when i say i’m scary.

here’s a couple of reasons why it’s the truth:

1) i’ve been emotionally cruel to my mother and my dog.

2) i have a very bad temper which a lot my friends don’t see.

3) i can be insanely jealous as a lover.

4) i screamed at 2 strangers this month.

5) if i die in my sleep anytime today, things will be ok, if not good.

6) i think it’s ok to be scary and damaged and i have absolutely no interest in changing.

7) i find it most difficult to make friends cos i demand a lot of friendship, at levels i’m incapable of reciprocating, which makes me a hypocrite and a fool.

freddie mercury

freddie mercury’s peformance in live aid was head above shoulders over everybody else’s.

it’s amazing how a short guy with a queer mustache and an overbite can command the hearts and minds of millions.

i would follow him to hell, that’s how i feel, if he asked me to.

[Awesome - Queen's iconic performance at Live Aid in July 1985 has been named the world's greatest rock gig in an industry poll.]

Brenda Ueland

The unself-confident woman who wrote the farm memory, in skyrocketing up so fast in writing, had one advantage and that was that she has had such a sad and lonely life.

funniest thing this year

maybe it’s just me, but this is the funniest thing i’ve read this year:

NEW YORK – Osama bin Laden was obsessed with pop star Whitney Houston, claims a Sudanese poet and former TV writer in her memoirs.

Kola Boof, who wrote for soap opera Days Of Our Lives, says that she was once his sex slave, reports the New York Post.

She also claims in her memoirs, Diary Of A Lost Girl, that he told her Houston was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and that he wanted to arrange to meet her.

She adds that Osama would go on about ‘how truly Islamic she is but is just brainwashed by American culture and by her husband – Bobby Brown, whom Osama talked about having killed, as if it were normal to have women’s husbands killed’.

this moment

at this moment, there is not much that tastes better than lightly toasted wholemeal bread spread with chunky peanut butter.

not copied, not pasted

again and again, i have to remind myself to stop, pay attention, observe.

stop, pay attention, observe. stop, pay attention, observe. stop, pay attention, observe. stop, pay attention, observe. stop, pay attention, observe. stop, pay attention, observe. stop, pay attention, observe. stop, pay attention, observe. stop, pay attention, observe. stop, pay attention, observe. stop, pay attention, observe. stop, pay attention, observe. stop, pay attention, observe. stop, pay attention, observe. stop, pay attention, observe.

hungry

SINGAPORE’S TOP 50 RESTAURANTS

LifeStyle asked 16 food critics and enthusiasts to vote for Singapore’s top restaurants, based on consistent quality of food and service. Here are out top 50, in no particular order

AMERICAN

1. LAWRY’S THE PRIME RIB
Paragon #02-42/43
Tel: 6836-3333

The waitresses may look like naughty French au pairs with their frilly head-dresses, but the prime rib is seriously good. You’ll feel like royalty when the chef carves the beef at your tableside.

2. MORTON’S OF CHICAGO
The Oriental
Tel: 6339-3740

At $80 a steak, it’s the most expensive grill in town. But it’s worth every cent. Everything – from the doneness of the meat, the side dishes, the souffle to millionaires, there’s still time to make that first bundle and to get on the invitation list.

its skin so paper-thin and meat so moist, is simply unparalleled.

4. CRYSTAL JADE PALACE RESTAURANT
Ngee Ann City #04-19
Tel: 6735-2388

The Crystal Jade group’s ultra-popular 15-year-old flagship hasn’t a dish that disappoints. Service and ambience – after a recent $5-million makeover – are stellar.

5. GOLDEN PEONY
Conrad Centennial
Tel: 6432-7488

It’s been low-key all these years, but it has consistently produced great modern Cantonese fare. Go for the dimsum and desserts, which are always exquisitely put together.

6. HUA TING Orchard Hotel
Tel: 6734-3880

Award-winning Hong Kong-born chef Chan Kwok is an undisputed master of his game. His inventive repertoire of Cantonese food is modern in presentation but traditional in taste. Signatures include shark’s bone soup and crabmeat beancurd.

7. IMPERIAL TREASURE
Great World City #02-06
Tel: 6732-2232

The flagship of a new, growing chain is giving the Crystal Jade group a run for its money. Its range of traditional Cantonese fare is solid and ever reliable. As a newcomer to the scene, service is sharper too.

8. LEI GARDEN
Chijmes #01-24
Tel: 6339-3822

It’s unlikely that you’ll have a bad meal here. Everything on the menu, from dimsum to soup to seafood, is done with practised competence.

9. PEACH GARDEN
273 Thomson Road #01-06
Tel: 6254-3383

Even better than its signature wasabi mayonnaise prawns and shark’s cartilage soup is how the friendly owners, Veronica Tan and Angela Ho, mother you and see to your every need.

10. SUMMER PAVILION
The Ritz-Carlton
Tel: 6434-5286

Everything about this modern Cantonese restaurant sings. The food is executed with meticulous pride, the service is exemplary and the ambience is classy and six-star.

11. TASTE PARADISE
48-49 Mosque Street
Tel: 6226-2958

Only a few months old and it’s already snagged a loyal following. The definite must-try here is the fried carrot cake with XO sauce, so smooth and tasty it has attained cult status.

12. WAH LOK
Carlton Hotel
Tel: 6311-8189

Its Cantonese fare is always reliable, which explains its popularity among the business elite. Go for the seafood dishes, crab congee, and – not to be missed – the scrumptious baked barbecue pork bun.

FRENCH

13. AU JARDIN
Singapore Botanic Gardens
Tel: 6466-8812

Executive chef Galvin Lim offers flawless haute cuisine to what is possibly the most romantic dining spot in town. His style is based on the French stalwarts of foie gras, frogs legs and escargot.

14. AU PETIT SALUT
44 Jalan Merah Saga #01-54
Tel: 6475-1976

This charming eatery showcases resident chef Patrick Heuberger’s earthy style of French cooking, including his signature, southern French-style beef rib. This is where homesick French customers get their fix.

15. JAAN
Swissotel The Stamford, Equinox Complex
Tel: 6837-3322

This modern French eatery is known for its fresh, innovative takes on seafood, veal and duck. Also prized are its value-for-money set lunches.

16. LES AMIS
Shaw Centre #02-16
Tel: 6733-2225

Belgian-born Gunther Hubrechsen had the unenviable job of filling the shoes of masterchef Justin Quek. But he has since held his own with a light, innovative style based heavily on seasonal ingredients. Service, as always, is faultless.

17. RAFFLES GRILL
Raffles Hotel
Tel: 6431-6156

Chef de cuisine Jean-Charles Dubois focuses his classical French style on traditional flavours using provincial produce. With its French windows and ornate chandeliers, it offers the best of elegant French dining.

18. SAINT JULIEN
3 Fullerton Road, Waterboat House
Tel: 6534-5947

Former Raffles Hotel chef Julien Bompard whips up consistently great classical French fare from this waterfront locale. The decor would not win awards, but its food is always reliable.

19. SAINT PIERRE
#01-01 Central Mall
Tel: 6438-0887

Emmanuel Stroobant may look like a rock star but he sure can cook. His modern French repertoire is clean yet inventive, and check out his six different preparations of foie gras.

FUSION

20. BUKO NERO
126 Tanjong Pagar Road
Tel: 6324-6225
One of the smallest restaurants in town, this 20-seater proves that you don’t need designer decor to pull in the crowds. Italian Oscar Pasinato seamlessly fuses his native cuisine with Asian influences.

21. RESTAURANT EMBER
50 Keong Saik Road
Tel: 6347-1928

Award-winning Sebastian Ng’s contemporary European cuisine is laced with interesting Asian details. The decor is casual chic and the service is warm but unintrusive.

22. IGGY’S
The Regent
Tel: 6732-2234

Owner Ignatius Chan brings back cutting-edge ideas from his travels abroad, which are deftly interpreted by German chef Dorin Schuster. Their eight-course degustation dinner is a steal at $150 per person.

HENG HWA

23. PU TIEN
127 Kitchener Road
Tel: 6295-6358

The first restaurant to take Heng Hwa cuisine upmarket, it offers a slew of excellent signatures like lor mee, steamed bamboo clams and sweet and sour pork with lychee.

HOKKIEN

24. BENG HIANG
112-116 Amoy Street
Tel: 6221-6684

Long touted as the best Hokkien restaurant in Singapore, this proudly authentic eatery offers an unbeatable version of oyster omelette.

INDIAN

25. RANG MAHAL
The Pan Pacific
Tel: 6333-1788

The first to bring upmarket northern Indian fare here, it offers a sophisticated range of top-notch dishes in a sleek, classy setting.

26. SHAHI MAHARANI
Raffles City Shopping Centre #03-21B
Tel: 6235-8840

Its comprehensive range of traditional northen Indian food, including prawn tandoori and chicken tikka, will not disappoint.

ITALIAN

27. DA PAOLO BISTRO BAR
3 Rochester Park
Tel: 6774-5537

The menu is deliberately kept small. Attention is placed on its barbecued fare featuring fresh ingredients. Simple but effectively delicious, and the ambience is lovely too.

28. GARIBALDI
36 Purvis Street
Tel: 6837-1469

Acclaimed chef Roberto Galetti’s classical approach to fine Italian cooking showcases the best of seasonal ingredients in this hugely popular, classy restaurant.

29. VALENTINO’S
11 Jalan Bingka (off Rifle Range Road)
Tel: 6462-0555

Immensely authentic, Valentino Valtulina’s restaurant boasts excellent pizzas and pastas in classic trattoria style.

JAPANESE

30. AKANE
The Japanese Association
120 Adam Road
Tel: 6467-2768

Hailed as the reigning guru of all Japanese chefs here, Yoshio Nogawa serves food – made from seasonal ingredients from Japan – that’s so good it’ll make your jaw drop.

31. AOKI
Shaw Centre #02-17
Tel: 6333-8015

This tiny slip of a counter restaurant offers exquisite Japanese fare, from sashimi and sushi to shabu-shabu, tempura and an interesting seasonal menu.

32. MIHARU JAPANESE NOODLES
Gallery Hotel #01-11
Tel: 6733-8464

No wonder it’s a secret hideout for ramen connoisseurs. Its famous Nishiyama brand of noodles from Sapporo is wondrously springy and al dente.

33. NADAMAN
The Shangri-La
Tel: 6213-4571

All the Japanese classics – teppanyaki, sukiyaki, shabu shabu and tempura – are done excellently. Also lauded is its multi-course kaiseki menu.

34. SHIRAISHI
The Ritz-Carlton
Tel: 6338-3788

Shinji Shiraishi’s eatery is tucked in a quiet corner of the hotel, but his food – fresh, authentic and uncompromisingly top-notch – rings loud.

35. TATSUYA
Crown Prince Hotel
Tel: 6737-1160
Home-grown Japanese masterchef Ronnie Chia’s sashimi and sushi are expensive but excellent, approved even by the fussiest of Japanese expatriates.

36. TENSHIN
The Regent Hotel
Tel: 6735-4588

This is known to serve the best tempura in town. And you’re advised to sit by the counter where you can savour each morsel fresh off the oil.

LOCAL

37. LONG BEACH SEAFOOD
Car Park A, Marina South
Tel: 6323-2222

They created the black pepper crab, but just about everything on its menu is done consistently well. The service is so good that they even peel the crustaceans for you.

38. SIK WAI SIN EATING HOUSE
287 Geylang Road

This boisterous eatery serves all the zhi char (restaurant-style food) classics well. Its steamed fish head and prawn paste chicken are legendary.

39. TRUE BLUE CUISINE
117 East Coast Road
Tel: 6440-0449

This is as authentic as Peranakan food gets. Owner-chef Benjamin Seck lovingly and painstakingly recreates family recipes in this beautiful shophouse restaurant.

MODERN AUSTRALIAN

40. PIERSIDE KITCHEN & BAR
#01-01 One Fullerton
Tel: 6438-0400

Executive chef Robin Ho’s take on modern Australian food is deft and confident. Signature dish, snapper pie with smoked tomato and white truffle oil, is a must-try.

MODERN CHINESE

41. CLUB CHINOIS
Orchard Parade Hotel
Tel: 6834-0660

A frontrunner of the modern Chinese movement in Singapore, it offers everything from bird’s nest to foie gras, all drawn together in an intriguing, harmonious mix.

42. JADE
Fullerton Hotel
Tel: 6877-8188

Headed by executive chef Thomas Chai, this elegant restaurant offers dimsum and Cantonese staples perked up by tropical fruit and Western touches.

43. MAJESTIC RESTAURANT
31-37 Bukit Pasoh Road
Tel: 6511-4718

This so-hip-it-hurts restaurant also possesses substance. Chef-owner Yong Bing Ngen wields a competent hand over ingredients as disparate as shark’s fin, abalone and rack of lamb.

44. MY HUMBLE HOUSE (below)
#02-27/29 Esplanade Mall
Tel: 6423-1881
French truffles and Sichuan peppercorns are happy bedfellows here. The use of petals, twigs and dry ice in its dish presentations makes eating here delightfully surreal.

REGIONAL

45. PAGI SORE
88/90 Telok Ayer Street
Tel: 6225-6002

This cosy, unpretentious Indonesian restaurant offers some of the best Indonesian dishes in town. Signatures include steamed fish with otah and grilled chicken with black sauce.

46. SABAI
Ngee Ann City #04-23
Tel: 6333-8491

One of the most expensive, upmarket Thai restaurants here, it boasts stuffed chicken wings and red roast duck curry that beat even those in Bangkok.

SICHUAN

47. SILK ROAD
Amara Hotel
Tel: 6227-3848

Helmed by mainland Chinese chefs, it offers authentic and lip-searing cuisines found along China’s Silk Road – Sichuan, Shaanxi, Liaoning and Beijing.

TEOCHEW

48. CRYSTAL JADE GOLDEN PALACE
Paragon #05-22/24
Tel: 6734-6866

How’s this for style: Teochew cuisine in a moody, neo-European interior. But it’s no mere pretty face. It boasts excellent braised goose, steamed fish and Teochew-style fried noodles.

49. EAST OCEAN
Shaw Centre #02-18
Tel: 6235-9088

Its traditional Teochew-style cold crab has never failed. It also serves a comprehensive dimsum menu and some top-notch Cantonese dishes.

50. GUAN HIN
Block 34 Whampoa West #01-01

This veteran has been faithfully whipping out authentic Teochew fare from the ground floor of a Housing Board block. Go for the ngor hiang (fried meat roll), steamed fish and orh nee (yam pudding).

Boey Kim Cheng

I couldn’t deal with the changes: The places that I grew up in, they’ve all disappeared.

It’s hard for me as a father to tell my son: ‘This is what I did as a kid and this is where I went to primary school.’

It’s a very lamentable state. You turn around and this and that place is gone.

We are all very anxious about who we are, and that’s partly because of our post-colonial legacy. We’re a very young country, but we haven’t been allowed to settle down.

From the first day of Independence, it’s been a rush to prove ourselves.

We are all made up of memories; who we are depends on what we’ve lived through. Going back to beginnings is very important.

I always tell my students you must research your beginnings; that’s where the clue to who you are lies. I don’t think there’s been enough looking back.

Richard Rhodes

If writing a book is impossible, write a chapter. If writing a chapter is impossible, write a page. If writing a page is impossible, write a paragraph. If writing a paragraph is impossible, write a sentence. If writing a sentence is impossible, write a word and teach yourself everything there is to know about that word and then write another, connected word and see where the connection leads.

Link

damaged

when i told the MNC Queen that i was scary and damaged, she said she didn’t get the scary part.

which means she gets the damaged part.

hurray.

fools

how stupid is this?

someone said hi to me on msn. he asked two meaningless questions. then he invited his friend to the conversation and said he was showing his friend how to do an invite.

and then he said, “that’s all. thank you” and left the conversation.

what do you do with fools?

block them on msn.

queenstown

Queenstown is the best proof that we are no longer ruled by monarchs.

Despite its rundown dispositon, I wish that Queenstown remains as she is.

Long live the Queen!

crap picture but a better concert

INXS 17 Aug 2006 Fort Canning Park

How do you feel
I’m lonely
What do you think
Can’t take it all
Whatcha gonna do
Gonna live my life

one of you

there is only one of you in all time – Martha Graham

There’s a version of me that’s strong and powerful. Another that is tired, selfish and impatient.

Most times, I’m scary and damaged.