jani

When I booked Kafe Warisan for a friend's birthday dinner, I couldn't help but snigger at their slogan of "World Famous French Mediterranean Cuisine in a Classic Rice Terrace Setting" -- surely a little pretentious for a small restaurant in a podunk town in rural Bali, no? And thus I was expecting mediocre, somewhat overpriced food in a cheesy Balinese setting... only to get way more than I expected. This was easily among the best Western meals I've had in Asia, or anywhere else for that matter.

jani

One year had passed since my incorporation, and with the annual report out and a fairly healthy-looking balance sheet, it was time to dig a hole in it. Plan A was Italian-Indonesian fusion joint Buko Nero, but getting a reservation there remains impossible and my virtual secretary had pasta coming out her ears anyway, so we opted for Le Tonkin, a recently opened French-Vietnamese place on Mohamed Sultan.

jani

In the course of writing a previous entry I realized that I've never actually written up a master list of all the weird food I've eaten, so here's a first stab at it.

Politically correct note: "weirdness" is in the eye of the beholder, and I'm obviously writing this from a Western perspective. It's instructive to remember that a Chinese colleague of mine still finds cheese of any type to be tough going, and considers the very idea of intentionally moldy (blue) cheese to be utterly disgusting. Without further ado...

jani

Ever since I came to Singapore, I've kept hearing about Chikuyotei for two reasons. First, it's Singapore's only Japanese restaurant that specializes in eel (unagi), a dish that is quite difficult to prepare properly. Every now and then, hope has overcome bitter experience and I've tried my luck elsewhere, always ending up with a slab of boney, fishy rubber coated with excessive amounts of sauce.

jani

'Twas the night before Christmas, which made for a pretty good excuse to visit my favorite restaurant in Singapore, Halia. The name means "ginger" in Malay, and not only is this probably my favorite root vegetable, but in my book this place just has it all: a beautiful outdoor location in the jungles of the Botanic Gardens, an atmosphere as laid back as the smooth jazz they play, prices that burn only moderately severe holes in your wallet, and last but not least, consistently grrrrrrreat food.

jani

So a friend took me out to dinner yesterday at Singapore's latest "in" restaurant, Il Lido at Sentosa Golf Club. It's a modern, hip, Italian place, not unlike San Marco at the Lighthouse (Fullerton), just much larger because it is, after all, in a big clubhouse built for people with too much money and a need to show off.