"Skyfall" is the 23rd James Bond movie and it also marks the 50th anniversary of Bond.  In the film Bond investigates an attack on MI6; it transpires that it is part of an attack on M by former MI6 operative, Raoul Silva. The film sees the return of two recurring characters after an absence of two films: Q, played by Ben Whishaw, and Miss Moneypenny, played by Naomie Harris. Skyfall was the last film of the series for Judi Dench who played M; a role which she had played in the previous six films. The position is subsequently filled by Ralph Fiennes' character, Gareth Mallory.

Overall, it is a very good Bond movie and it certainly pays tribute to old school spy thrillers where the storyline is simple and just a lot of action.  There were some side jokes in reference to gadgets that had appeared in previous Bond films which were quite funny if you got them.  The most outstanding actor in this film has to be Javier Bardem.  His acting was SUPERB and he brought in that flair to the character of the villain whom you love to hate but secretly want to be simply because he's quite a genius (albeit a crazy bloodthirsty one). 

Women (and feminists in particular) will prefer this Bond film to the rest because the usual sexy Bond girl(s) here are sidelined and hardly play any role in the movie, with exception to Moneypenny but then she doesn't sleep with Bond.

So, what are you doing reading this review? Just go watch it and enjoy it as an entertaining action flick that will not disappoint. 

Went to watch La Cage aux Folles last night with my brother and it was FABULOUS! We were meant to watch it on Tues evening with 2 other friends but by the time they had both confirmed, the cheap GBP 10 tickets were all sold out, so we cancelled the whole thing. However, Gor and I really wanted to go watch it...so we went to lastminute.com at the last minute (haha...very corny I know) and managed to get GBP 15 tickets!! And guess what? Our tickets were FRONT ROW STALL seats!!! This is the first time I have been up close to the stage and able to see the actors' expressions etc.

Ok...anyway, about the musical...the story revolves around a nightclub owner, George, and his drag queen partner, where their lives are rocked when George's son is engaged to a right-wing politician's daughter. Hilarity ensues when the whole family tries to put on a face of normality when the in-laws visit for a day.

Just some side info, La Cage aux folle was originally a play and the French movie was released in 1978. It has since been remade into an American film called "The Birdcage" starring Robin Williams, Gene Hackman and Nathan Lane. The musical was first staged in 2002.

I really really enjoyed myself last night. The music was good, the performers were fanatastic (except the actor who played the son...he was terrible) and the story was heartwarming. I enjoyed it A LOT more than Wicked. So, if you're dropping by in London before Jan 2010...you MUST MUST MUST go see La Cage aux Folles!!! It gets my 2 thumbs up and toes included! LOL :)

Why are there sooo many Birthdays in end July and August? Hmmmm.....

Not that I'm complaining! It gives me excuses to eat good food and enjoy company! :) Anyhows, last Sun, we celebrated G's birthday at Harwood Arms. Loved the relaxed pub atmosphere of the restaurant with the earthy tones and decor. Felt like the country coming into the city.

Sh had made a tiramisu for G, which I think is so sweet of her! The tiramisu turned out really well although Sh felt that it was too sweet and that she needed to put more coffee for the sponge fingers.

Ok...on to the food review. Haha. There's a recurring theme in this blog... =P

Gor and I ordered the Roast Beef with roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, Kale, cauliflower and watercress.

Look at that. Isn't it amazing? The flavour of the meat was good but it was little too sinewy and I had a real struggle with the meats despite asking for steak knives. I didn't like the potatoes as they tasted like a cross between a russet and new potatoes. That being said, this is the FIRST Yorkshire pudding that I actually like.

Aiy...why was I looking elsewhere?

SL's bream with squid and long beans.

Ph's cod with crayfish. Looks delish!

Lunch on Sun was really fun. We laughed a lot thanks to Ph's crazy statements and everyone teasing each other. I laughed so much that I could feel a lot of phelgm at the back of my throat and my sides were starting to hurt.

I think I've eaten my fill of beef for the week....definitely well loaded up on the iron...replenished any iron that I have lost over the weeks. NO more steak for me in Singapore! Until next month perhaps...hehehehe...

Went to watch Harry Potter on Sat at IMAX. Little did we know that part of it was going to be in 3D!! I was so thrilled and started getting all excited when we were queuing for the glasses and to get into the theatre! Obviously, we had to ham it up and take pics of us in our humongous 3D glasses. How chic.


Had to control ourselves since flashes from the camera weren't very pleasant for the other cinema goers...hehe.

Well, only 12 minutes of the movie was in 3D but oh my...it was SOOOOOO good! It looked as if the snow flake was right in front of us and when the evil ones were flying around London, it felt as if we were flying alongside too. Oh...it was fun to mentally go: "Ooh...that's Trafalgar Square, St. Paul's, Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern! Been there!" (^^)v

Haha....watching Harry Potter in the country of Harry Potter!! What could beat that?

Overall, I enjoyed the film and I didn't really feel like it was disjointed although a couple of people told me that they felt that it was all over the place. Gor was a little disappointed that there weren't any more scenes of new magic spells etc. However, I did feel that Harry Potter wasn't portrayed as having lots of potential to vanquish Voldemort (apologies to Potter fans if I mispelt his name). In fact, Potter seemed rather daft. He was soooo obvious when he was trying to fish info from the Professor. How duh can one get?

I haven't read the books but I think its high time that I did. I'm looking forward to Iggy's kind donation of his books!!! Thank you in advance!!

Last Fri, S organised a surprise Birthday dinner for Iggy and dinner was at the The White Swan. It was funny how S was trying to keep the surprise and bring Iggy to the restaurant without him knowing that we were there.

They had met earlier in the day and went to Tate Modern. From the balcony, she pointed out the school that Daniel Radcliffe studied at (don't ask me for the name, I can't remember) and promptly went there. After viewing the school, she suddenly said, "Let's take the first bus that comes here." Talk about being 'spontaneous'...hahaha. After they alighted, she brought him to some ulu alley and when they walked past The White Swan, she said, "Hey...let's go for a drink here." She then brought him upstairs to the dining room and SURPRISE!! LOL :D

Now..be prepared for another onslaught of pictures of food!


Above is my starter of air-dried lamb with goat's cheese salad. It was kinda nice considering that the sauce was a little minty, which went well with the strips of lamb. However, the meat had a strong mutton flavour and the salty meat didn't really go well with the salty cheese. I would've preferred a mozarella and a vinagrette with olive oil dressing.

This was Dr P's starter and it was amazing how even HE didn't really remember what he ordered. It should be quail...if I remember correctly.


Gor's starter was a soup with quail egg. Funny thing is that both Gor and S didn't remember what kind of soup they ordered. -__-;; Gor and I were supposed to share our starters but he forgot and left me only a spoonful of soup. -__-# And the soup was good!!! Grrr....


Main course: mine was a veal steak, which surprisingly, the waiter didn't ask for the doneness. However, it came out quite well and I love the bed of peas and roasted cherry tomatoes. J also ordered the veal and our steaks turned out exactly the same doneness! Kudos to the chef for his preciseness.

Dr P and birthday 'boy' both ordered the dory which they finished in a jiffy. Dr P commented that the pine nuts were a nice touch. I took a bite and I must say that the tomato salsa was very yummy too!


Gor & S ordered the same main course too...which is rack of lamb. I think the doneness of medium rare was done perfectly and I actually preferred it to my veal. S said that she preferred mine. Maybe we should've swapped our mains...haha.

We had to order dessert as they didn't allow us to bring in a cake. Must be because they won't be earning off our dessert. As such, we used Iggy's choice of chocolate eclairs as his 'cake'.


Funnily, the waiter had just placed the dessert in front of Iggy and then a woman from another table started singing "Happy Birthday" even before we started doing so! Haha...so cute.

Gor and Dr. P's summer pudding with clotted cream. Disappointing, I heard. I didn't try.


My Gooseberry fool with honey and oats. Disappointing as well. I only ate half of it. There wasn't any bits of gooseberry in the cream but the sourness is definitely there. I should've gone for my initial choice of either eclairs or ice-cream. Bah...the waitress told me that it was 'nice'. I was definitely 'fooled'.

The homemade ice-cream was good! Especially the pink one which is elderflower with berries. Mmm...very good!

Overall, the dinner was quite good and the service was excellent. The wait staff was very pleasant and nice. The starters and the mains were quite alright. As for the dessert...stick to the chocolate or ice-creams.

They're having a summer promotion now, if you make a reservation through their website, you'll get 25% off the bill! An even better promo is through Top Table where you can get 50% off!

Baked this strawberry shortcake on Thu. Had inspiration to bake one when I saw someone on TV eating a slice of strawberry cake. Haha...I can be so easily influenced by what I see on the telly.

The strawberry shortcake isn't like a sponge cake so it isn't entirely sweet. The pastry is a short crust pastry that's slightly savoury and this is contrasted with the sweet strawberries & cream filling and whipped cream on top.

Despite its messy appearance, I must say that I am quite pleased with the results considering that I didn't have a measuring cup (I found out later that there WAS one in the cupboard). It could use a lot more strawberries and cream though...but Gor and I went shopping for these ingredients without the recipe at hand. So, overall....PASS! :)

Speaking of cravings...I had a sudden craving for bubble tea on Wed and on that night, I dreamt that my bro drank bubble tea and placed the empty cup in front of me to spite me! He even went "Heheheheheheh" while placing the cup on the coffee table in front of me! *cries* :( Well, at least I know that that will never happen in real life. ;P

Went to watch Duet for One on Wed evening and you can read the synopsis of the play by clicking on the link.

It is a very serious play and it has been a long time since I've watched something so intense. Overall, I felt that the acting was superb except that the lead actress, Juliet Stevenson, was a little TOO dramatic at the start. She showed her range of sarcasm, hysteria and melancholy a lot better towards the later half of the play.

I didn't know that this play is so old that a film starring Julie Andrews, Liam Neeson and Rupert Everet was made in 1986!

Let me leave you with a quote from the play, which I think sums up the whole moral of it. "The meaning of Life is life itself!"

My JC classmate, CC, is in Rotterdam, Holland for training and so, he came to London over the weekend and I met him for lunch last Monday at Galvin.

We arrived early at 11.45pm when the kitchen opens only at noon. However, we were not the first ones there. We were given water, the menu but we couldn't order till noon sharp. Yes...welcome to the world of Michelin starred restaurants and fine dining. My thoughts on this was, "Why can't you just take our orders and then put them through once the kitchen is open?" Ah...well...when in Rome, do what the Romans do.

Starter - Imam something...which is just roasted aubergines with sun dried tomatoes, coriander and spices, topped with a dollop of sour cream. It was good! Kinda odd to find a Middle Eastern starter in a French restaurant though.

Finally, some semblance of French food with our main course of Pork on a bed of mash. The sauce was incredible. I have NO idea what went in it but I'm guessing red wine, onions, carrots and sugar. The pork was shredded and was very tender...mmm....

Dessert was rice pudding with Provence peaches and honey. I wasn't exactly blown away by this dish but CC messaged me on Tues saying that he was thinking of this dessert. :) I joked that he just misses rice since he's been away from Singapore for a few weeks and rice costs EUR 2 per bowl in Rotterdam.

In general, I like the simple dark wood furnishings, crisp white table cloths and impeccable service. For GBP 15.50 (before 12.5% svc charge), this set meal is good value for money and definitely worth the visit. The fact that it is only 5 mins walk away from Baker St station also makes this place a convenient place to go to.

This IS a place that I would want to revisit and I do feel that they have managed to do what Arbutus had intended to do - fresh, seasonal foods with reasonable pricing for everyone to enjoy.

On Sunday, my bro had organised another get-together with another bunch of friends. This time, we had lunch with them at this fine dining restaurant called Arbutus. Gor and I had eaten at their sister restaurant Wild Honey where they served wonderful honey comb ice-cream.

Anyway, I just found out that Arbutus is owned by a Michelin-star chef as well as Will Smith. They claim to use the freshest seasonal ingredients and to make it simple and affordable. Hmm...one of Gor's friends said that she had the exact same menu at Wild Honey. Fresh, seasonal but unimaginative? Anyway, the company was great as always...but here's the taste test!
My starter of a salmon Salad. The salmon must've been sitting in some vinaigrette or some acid because the salmon was semi-cooked and was very tender. The dressing wasn't too sour and complimented the vegetables and salmon perfectly. Yummy!

P's chilled courgette soup that was surprisingly delicious.

I ordered rabbit for my main course...and in my hunger, I forgot to take a picture. Oops. :P It rabbit stewed in a creamy mustard sauce with new potatoes, broad beans and petit pois (hahaha...that just means peas). The rabbit tasted like chicken with a ducky aftertaste. Sure beats the stir-fried rabbit that I had in Beijing though.


Dessert was called "Floating Island with Praline on a sea of vanilla cream". That floating island is a meringue with bits of crushed praline inside. The dessert was good on the first bite but then became increasingly too sweet. It isn't something that I'll crave for and order again. What I'm interested in is how they managed to make the floating island come out in a nice disc like that...hmm....

Would I go back there if I had the chance again? Hmm...well, I must say that I wasn't too impressed by them. I'll go if someone pays for me! Hahaha!

Time really flew by and it was already 4pm by the time we finished lunch (we started at 2pm)! Then...as a huge group of 10 people, we headed to a nearby cafe for coffee/ tea to chit chat till closing time (5pm).


That evening, Gor, myself and P went with some others to watch a comedy fest preview. For GBP10, we watched 4 stand-up comedians do their thing as a preview for their material in next month's Fringe festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I must say that I enjoyed myself quite thoroughly that evening and I do wish that Singapore had more stand-up comedians or pubs/ bars with more open mic days etc.

Well, it is about a week before I return home and I can't wait!!

I had so many evening events happening last weekend that I am now faced with a serious backlog in blogging. So...apologies if you're sick of seeing my previous post! :)

Well, just an update on what I did last Sat....it was Suzanne's birthday dinner and we went to this restaurant called Beach Blanket Babylon. I really like the atmosphere and decor of the place...really reminded me of Mimolette in Singapore. They have a dance floor and bar downstairs with a spinning DJ.

Here's the Birthday gal with her "Happy 18th Birthday" balloon and tiara. Yup...she's turning 18...again! Haha...


H, who sat next to me, ordered the pan seared scallops on polenta for her starters. I took a bite and I must say that it was quite yummy!

My bro and a few others ordered the soup of the day, which was French Onion Soup. They said that it was very yummy and was a 'healthier' version because there wasn't cheese in it.

I was the lone experimenter on the table who ordered the crab and pea shoot salad and WHAT A GOOD CHOICE!! It was savoury, creamy and slightly sweet from the fresh peas. I could eat two servings of this and skip the main course.

H's main course of sea bass....

My yellowfin tuna steak. Not bad...but my salad overshadowed it. =P

We were 'chased' from our table after our mains because they needed the table. As such, we walked downstairs for drinks and to dance...and this is what we saw.

This man was wearing glasses, had incredibly messy long hair and he was dressed in a T-shirt and skirt. The picture speaks for itself.

There was another table full of transvestites just behind him...but they were dressed in the typical loud makeup etc.

Suzanne's chocolicious cake!! Sinfully good....mmm.....

Why 3 candles? Go make a guess ;)









I'm not sure whether you can see it clearly at the bottom...but we had extra entertainment when a bunny man came into the restaurant and started dancing around the whole restaurant.
His face was painted white with drawn nose, mouth and pink cheeks. He was wearing a hot pink leotard and fish net stockings!! Some of his hairy chest was exposed too!! LOL!!! Some things, I can only see it here and not in Singapore....

We stayed on and chatted (and ate cake too) with bubbly in our hands. I was feeling really pooped by midnight (was out the whole of Sat) and so, my bro and I left but I heard that the party continued till 3am! I feel like clubbing now....

As you've read in yesterday's post, bro and I went to Nobu for lunch on Saturday. After that, we went to St. Paul's again as I didn't manage to see the inside of the church the last time. Just nearby St. Paul's, we saw the old gate to the city of London...


And the London Stock Exchange...


That evening, we went to Regent's Park to watch "The Importance of being Earnest" with a few of my bro's friends.
It is an open-air theatre and this is the same theatre that I watched "Much Ado about Nothing" last month. I love this play from Oscar Wilde. It is funny, witty and sarcastic. It is strangely appealing and a bit relevant despite it being first staged in 1895!

I didn't like the use of stage for this particular production. It was distracting and doesn't gel well with their 19 century costumes. The way they changed the stage mid-way in the 2nd half was distracting too. Their backstage crew wore black...but wouldn't it make sense for them to wear white since the stage is white? What's up with the musicians who stroll in and out at weird and distracting moments?

The actor who played Earnest/Jack Worthing was obviously faking a posh accent and it started to grate on one's nerves after 5 minutes. His reaction time/expression was retarded too. Thank goodness his poor performance wasn't enough to dampen the excellent script and the performances of the other actors. All in all, I love this play!

Spotted this celeb at Busaba Eathai, a Thai restaurant, at the branch just behind Selfridges. Pardon the blurred image which was taken by my bro with my phone camera. That baldie is Evan Handler by the way. He played Charlotte's husband in SATC and is currently playing Charlie in "Californication".

A waitress was so excited that she squealed in the kitchen, "Charlotte's hubby is here!". That caused the whole kitchen to turn their heads in the direction of Mr. Handler.

Well, he looks slimmer in person and he was really unfazed by the number of heads that turned and looked in his direction. Guess he must be used to it by now.

Told a friend and he bitchily said, "Oh...how unimpressive."

Oh...whatever.

I realised that I didn't upload this picture till just now because it was taken with my phone! This is a dessert from the Chinese restaurant 'Yautcha" called "Baba (?) Matcha Shochu" if memory serves right.

We ate this a couple of weeks ago actually. The eye dropper thingy is what contains the shochu. I had to sneakily take a pic of this with my phone camera because Yautcha is a chi-chi place that doesn't allow photo-taking of any sort within its premises. Taste test: Love the presentation, love the matcha cream, yuzu (a Japanese citrus fruit) was a little interesting combination and shochu's always a good liquor for desserts. The whole mish-mesh wasn't that exciting though.

Now, what WAS exciting was having lunch at Nobu where the food was "faultless" as described by one food critic. The Park Lane view is rubbish. You see more cars and the road rather than the park. Foodwise...

The beef tenderloin that I had ordered in my set lunch (GBP 25). It was done to perfection! I ordered medium and it was just the way I liked it. It originally comes with a wasabi pepper sauce but you guys will know by now how much I detest wasabi, so I changed it to a Teriyaki-ish sauce. This set comes with sashimi and tempura (had to remind the waitress about the tempura before it came) as well..but I was too hungry and just gobbled it all up. We waited 30 minutes for our food but the quality was well worth it.

Above: Gor's Bento (GBP 28) which contains a sashimi salad, assorted sushi, fried prawns in a yuzu ponzu, black cod in miso and grilled vegetables with spicy sauce on top of his rice. Sushi - fresh but normal. Sashimi salad was yummy as the acid from the ponzu dressing had half-cooked the tuna slices so they were soft and flavourful. The fried prawns were like popcorn prawns...perhaps Mac's/ KFC/ Mos Burger/ Long John's Silver ought to come up with something like this. The buttery vegetables were very pleasurable as well.

Our wagyu & foie gras gyoza (GBP 15). This was meant to be our appetitzer but it came along with our mains. -__-; Order this only if you like beef/ lamb because the taste is quite strong. Yum yum!

Now...for a really WOW dessert....


When we ordered it, it read "Goma parfait on chocolate soil" (GBP 9.50). Ok...I understood that goma is sesame...so goma parfait should be black sesame ice cream. Chocolate soil??? When the dish came, we finally understood that chocolate soil referred to chocolate cake crumbs that they placed to look like soil. They had also made the ice cream into the shape of a stone and added sugar 'mushrooms' and one of these mushrooms had a chocolate lizard drawn on it. How cute!!

Taste was fantastic as well!! The goma ice cream was creamy and smooth and went really well with the chocolate crumbs. There was hint of chocolate coming through the cake crumbs but without it being overpowering. Wonderful. I feel inspired to recreate this dish!! 2 thumbs up and hats off for the dessert chef!!