Melben vs Uncle Leong @ Ang Mo Kio

Rating for Melben: ***1/2
Rating for Uncle Leong: ****
Price: below S$30 per pax

Add for Uncle Leong: Ang Mo Kio Ave 3 St 22, Blk 233

Add for Melben: Across the carpark from Uncle Leong's

Telp for Uncle Leong: 65543453 (U'll succeed most of the time)

Telp for Melben: 62856762 (Good luck to you if you try to make reservation!)

Many of you would probably have heard of these familiar names in the crab industry. Let me give my 2 cents worth. Both are famous for their Butter Crab, Chili Crab, Golden Sand Crab and also XO Crab Bee Hoon.

All along I have always eaten at Uncle Leong. There is some queue but never unbearable. Across the car park, the queue is always a scene of madness.

One day, I arrived early and decided to give up my reservation at Uncle Leong to try the much talked-about Melben. Apparently owners are brothers who went their own ways. I was warned, "Miss, queuing time is 1.5 hours and waiting time for food to come is another 1 hour ya!". I bravely said "Yes".

While queueing, I took the chance to 'interview' some customers who are in the same queue. "Is the food here really much better than Uncle Leong's". The answer: "Don't know. We only eat here. Never even tried Uncle Leong before".

1.5 hours and 2 curry puffs later, it's finally our turn to be seated. We ordered our food and as warned, 2.5 hours later, we were finally able to tuck in. I am sorry to disappoint but in my opinion, I really feel that Melben is over-hyped. I honestly do not think that their standard far surpasses that of Uncle Leong's. They are equivalent but one comes with much much longer wait. In fact, I thought some dishes from Uncle Leong taste better. One suggestion I would like to give to Uncle Leong is, put some chili padi into the Butter Crab dish.

So if you ask me, just go for Uncle Leong!

But if you die-die must have Melben, they do have other outlets you can try. They are located at Blk 211 Lor 8 Toa Payoh and also at Pasir Ris.

Good luck and happy trying!

...the one who hasn't had crab for more than half a year now!

Crazy Queue @ OG

One morning at 9.30am, my colleagues and I were walking in the direction of OG @ Orchard to buy breakfast.

Guess what we saw!

A snake-like queue of aunties and housewives with colourful umbrellas right in front of OG. Apparently there is a private preview of the OG Sale for the OG members before the Sale is opened for public. I bet some aunties took leave from the work to join this honourable affair!

Could it 80% storewide??

Not really. It was only around 20% sale. So what's the big deal braving the rain and storm?

Sigh...

...the one who shouldn't sigh too early. Who knows 10 years later, you spot me at the same Queue with child in one arm and umbrella on the other

Rojak at Clementi Interchange

Rating: ***

Price: S$3-S$5

There is this Rojak stall at Clementi Central which is always very very crowded with patient patrons waiting in a line.

Chup and I have always been put off by the Queue and has never bothered to try it. Time after time we see the long queues, we wonder, is it really that big a deal?

One night when the queue appears to be shorter, Chup decided to give it a try. After all, Rojak is one of his favourite food.

Verdict? Well, it'd be something we won't brave the queue for again... It's nice but not fantastic. Definitely not worth all the queueing.

Just next to the Rojak stall is a Popiah Stall that has perpetually long queue too. How delicious can a popiah get?? We didn't attempt to try the Popiah.

Just in case you are there, the Sop Kambing from the Indian Stall is quite good. But the standard seems to have dropped over time.

...the one who hasn't frequented the above coffee shop for a while now

1-metre hotdog

Kembang Goela
Rating: ***1/2
Add: Plaza Central, Jln Sudirman, Jakarta
Price: below S$25

Introduced by a Jakarta friend to this cool restaurant. The deco and ambience is cosy with very pleasant setting. The food may be so so, but I give very high rating for their food presentation.

Don't believe?

Just check out this 1 metre long hotdog!

...the one who kinda miss the hotdog

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

I was caught out in the rain while walking through Kent Ridge Park just now, and suddenly the leaves of an undergrowth moved. I peered in and out came a greater racket-tailed drongo. I was thrilled. It's rare to find this bird outside of primary forest area. It stayed on the branch for a while before flying off. It has tremendous singing ability, or shall I say sound-making ability. I wasn't carrying my camera, but this shot was taken at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve on 26 Mar, where it was making the mechanical noises of an ambulance! It's the same bird, glossy black with 2 elongated tail feathers (though not clear in my photo). That brings to 28 the number of species I've seen at Kent Ridge Park.

Chup

Sex Is Zero 2

Rating: **1/2

Cast: Song Ji-Hyo, Im Chang-Jung, Choi Sung-Kook

Genre: Sex Comedy

Watched on 12 Apr 08 at Plaza Sing with Pei, CH and Chup.

A movie you should only watch when you want a good laugh and are looking for something brainless.

Bakwa on fire

Something very interesting happened in office somewhere near CNY period.

A colleague was heating up her bakwa. Nothing extraordinary?

Well, the extraordinary thing is, this colleague placed a layer of white paper underneath her bakwa, followed by another layer of newspaper and finally a layer of aluminium foil.

And what resulted from this combination was a burning smell and lots of smoke! The newspaper caught fire!!! It created a pandemonium in the office.

Just in case you had the same idea when it comes to heating up your bakwa, DON'T DO IT !!

...the one who still can't believe why her colleague did what she did

Pretty Coffee from TCC

Rating: ***

Price: below S$8

I am not usually a coffee drinker, but I won't reject this particular one called "Perfect Match" from TCC.

I don't think to a coffee master this coffee will taste particularly fantastic. I drink it purely for its very pleasing appearance. With 3 beautiful colours, I feel it such a waste to have to stir them together. And once stirred, the least I could do is to drink it :)

... the shallow one

We Will Rock You

Rating: ***

Watched on 5th Apr 08 with Von, Maru, Bur and Chup at Esplanade. Probably the loudest, noisiest musical I have ever watched. The band is powerful and sound effect was great, not muffled like some musicals.

Certain parts got me yawning away eventhough the volume was deafening both for my ears and my tummy...

Someone who is familiar with Queen's songs will probably enjoy the musical very much. A grandfather sitting in front of us was sleeping very soundly amidst the deafening rock musical while the wife and grandson were cheering away.

Vantage Point

Rating: ***1/2

Cast: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker

Genre: Action/Adventure

Watched on 6 Apr 08 with Chup and Bur at Great World City. Imagine watching what happened at 11.59am five times!! The idea is something new but the storyline seems rather exaggerated.

...the one who's listening to Soundtrack of Phantom of the Opera

Jurong Bird Park

On 30 Mar, Lin, KC and I revisited the Jurong Bird Park. We were there from noon to 4.30pm, on a sunless, drizzly day. True birdwatchers who observe the birds in the wild may sniff at this but there are advantages the Bird Park offers which are elusive in the wild. For one, you can get really close to the birds. Take the white-rumped shama (bottom photo). It was as close as 1.5m and it treated me with 3 different songs. In Kent Ridge Park, it scooted off as soon as I approach within 15m of it. I had only read that it sings beautifully, and is often kept as a song bird. But to finally hear it for myself... Then there were the exotic species. I took close to 800 photos, and still wish to visit the place again.

At home, I'm going through David Attenborough's "Life of Birds" on DVDs now, and have borrowed a stack of books on birds from the school library. Lin asked when this madness will end. Unfortunately, it'll have to end when school reopens in a week or so.

Chup

Kent Ridge Park

What's a home? Over the past week, the days have become hotter. The winds have died and the windows do not so much as flicker. We need the air-con at night now, and during the day, the floors get dusty much quicker. Last week, I swept, wiped and mopped the floor multiple times in succession, and the floor still felt dirty afterwards. If a home is the carcass of an apartment heated by the evening sun, then there's not much to like about this place. But thankfully, there's the larger picture...

Kent Ridge Park is 46.5 Ha (1 Ha is 100m by 100m) in size. By comparison, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is 162.6 Ha, the Singapore Botanic Gardens is 52.3 Ha, East Coast Park is 185.5 Ha, and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is 131.4 Ha. We've lived beside Kent Ridge Park for years, but it's only the last month that I've the time to spare to explore its avifauna. The above is to complete the photo record of birds sighted in this park within the month of March. Discounting mynas, sparrows, doves and pigeons, there is a total of 23 species of birds sighted from casual, by-chance encounters. These are not good photos. They're just for the sake of recording the head count. 9 species have been posted previously. Here are the remaining 14, taken over the last 2 weeks. Their names can be seen when you scroll the cursor over the individual photo.

Chup