Osvaldo (No Menu) - 17th February 2012

This is the first BML outing to experience the invoking of the new “bring a friend” rule. In fact, owing to the close proximity of the venue (boon tat street) to the office, MG had invited 2 friends!

So a quick introduction on our club’s invited “friends”-

Jacqueline Sue
Age: early to mid 20s depending on whether make up is on.
Characteristics: Tardy, emo, light-hearted, and susceptible to circular logic at times.
Likes: Anything pink. Favourite character is Hello Kitty.






Joseph Festin
Age: early 30s no make up
Characteristics: Joker, bloke, seldom serious.
Likes: Eat, drink and be merry!

The day started inauspiciously for us, as club members were denied the right to our ride. (Dann argued that since it was so near, it did not make sense to drive and MG foolishly agreed) The pre BML flurry of emails gave it 2 thumbs down before the meal even started and MG was fore-warned that any slip up on the food would result in a swift SLASP vote. (Refresher: SLASP=sounds like a samolah place; Samolah = redo)

Upon arriving at the venue, a request was made to MG to consider ordering some wine to go along with the food especially since we had invited guests (self paying) whom we were looking to formally add to the club. A call was made to consider the exquisite Domaine Romanee Conti. But the response we got from MG (as expected) was even less responsive than praying to god for the TOTO winning ticket number. 

So we proceeded to order our lunch (whilst eating the rather ordinary bread), and were directed by MG to select only 1 main each and he would order a couple of sides to add to the meal. The shared side dishes were the burrata cheese and the calamari. I was actually rooting for the 1 kg bistecca to share, but MG was against the idea and was fervently supported by Dann (I suspect there was some back door quid pro quo going on between these 2 club goons prior to the engagement).

Collectively we ordered the beef cheek (MG), Snapper fillet (Bizman), Tagliatelle with Porcini mushrooms (CC), Lamb shank (Dann), Ossobucco (me), Spaghetti Vongole (Jac Sue), Carbonara (Festin).

For the shared starters, it was a thumbs up all round (except for Jac) for the burrata cheese,parma ham and sweet tomatoes. The soft fresh cheese is delicate with a rich milky taste, and has an unprocessed feel. A total antithesis to your processed kraft singles. (Side note: CC again wanted to comment on cheese that did not really taste like cheese…. What crap! Just because the few cheeses you’ve ever eaten tasted salty does not mean that a non salty cheese does not qualify to be cheese!)

The calamari was also well received. It was fried in light batter and was slightly crispy and not soggy with oil, which you sometime encounter with fried calamari. The tomato dip that accompanied the calamari went quite well with its slightly sweet and tangy taste.

Beef cheek was sizeable and had been impressively stewed to a soft texture. The accompanying gravy and mash went well, although the beef had a rather strong iron-like flavour, which may or may not be to the liking of some.

The lamb shank was quite delicious in my view and I had inadvertently taken a larger than I had intended tasting chunk from Dann’s plate. He was not pleased. The lamb flavour was not over-powering and the meat’s texture was well done. I did not get to try the mash or the organic carrot, as Dann was not in the mood to let me have any.

The Milanese style ossobucco I had was so-so. The saffron risotto was a tad on the dry and slightly undercooked side. The ossobucco’s texture itself was good but the flavour did not quite meet my expectations. A far cry from the few I tasted in Milan itself. The marrow however was intact and yummy!

As for the snapper fillet, it was ok. I suppose you cannot ask too much out of grilling a piece of snapper. I’d personally rather have a fish and chips style cod fillet anytime. Over the course of about 100+ BMLs our dear businessman seems to always choose the fish dish, and 9 out of 10 times he comes out disappointed. I wonder if it’s because he’s catholic (try not to eat meat on Fridays) or he’s got Alzheimer’s and always forgets that he’s been frequently disappointed by the fish dish or he’s just simply a sucker for disappointment.

For the pasta dishes, it was mostly downhill for the establishment from here on. The most decent was CC’s porcini pasta. The tagliatelle was cooked perfectly al-dente, and the sauce had a rich infusion of porcini flavour with fair amount of mushrooms.

The spaghetti vongole was a disappointment. The pasta did not seem to have soaked up any of the flavour and the whole dish seemed like it was made by an amateur. The clams however were fresh, but that was the only saving grace of the dish. (Note: this was the day’s special)

The carbonara was a total failure. The sauce was a tad too thick (could be some addition of cream) and  the whole dish was too salty and probably fit for someone suffering from chronic low-blood pressure. The pasta was ordinary. Prior to ordering we knew that it was unlikely that the La Strada Carbonara benchmark could be beaten (although we were hopeful since the price was the same!), but the loss was too wide to be mentioned here. It was shameful for an establishment like Osvaldo to serve such a dish.

We proceeded to call for the bill after being disallowed from ordering desert and were offered tasty complimentary pieces of meringue with cream, which sad to say was one of the better tasting items we had for the day.

In conclusion, this was not lousy enough to qualify for a SLASP, although for the price and quality, it was definitely a “not to return” venue. It was on the whole disappointing as no menu has had good reviews elsewhere, but seems to have fallen short of the expectations of our BMC.

Total damage was S$363.69 and this is where it got interesting. Assuming the bill was split evenly across 8 pax (6 members + 2 guests), the 2 invitees would refund MG a total of S$90.92, leaving MG with a spend of just S$272.77, which based on the EUR/SGD prevailing exchange rate at that time, MG’s minimum spend should actually total S$298.06.

The gap of S$25.29 would result in a penalty of 3x (based on club rules) to be added to the next BML meal, i.e. S$75.87. At this point MG claimed that he had been done in by the restaurant as the 2 pastas ordered by the invitees were supposed to be at least S$20 higher. He then offered to collect only $30 each from the 2 invitees (apparently Jac paid S$50 and did not receive any change), thus meeting his minimum spend by the barest of margins (what a bloody cheapo), or when pressed further, he said he would rather pay an extra $40 bucks to the establishment than do a top up for the next meal. So folks, now you see the true colour of MG!

MG’s actions kind of reminded me of a tale that was told to me by a wise old malay chap – a man was offered by god a wish for any gift he wanted on the condition that his neighbour would receive twice as much of that gift. Pondering on the offer for a moment, the man told god, in that case, make me blind in one eye.

All in all it was a disappointing meal organized by our most disappointing member, who happens to be our club VP (phooi phooi!).

By: Club Scribe

Tatsuya Japanese Restaurant - 9th February 2012

“So, there will be winners and there will be losers…… but the important thing is that the overall gains of the winners outweigh that of the losers….”

A paraphrased excerpt from comment made by senior minister emeritus GCT (circa 2011).

And so that was how the day and our story began. To provide some context and as a refresher, everyone who was not on board a place to HK was seriously looking forward to this week’s BML bonanza brought forth by the additional promised S$100 spending by Dann as well as the unfortunate disappearance of MG from this week’s dining scene. (Mathematically, the minimum EUR30/pax was now worth a whopping S$80/pax, which makes attending this meal almost 60% more valuable in SGD terms then attending our standard garden variety BMLs)

Dann had decided that the anointed venue should be either Sabai at Takashimaya (the last time we appeared there was like 2 years ago) or Crystal Jade Golden Palace at Paragon. He had (as per club directives) sent out his email to the right recipients at the right time suggesting a vote on either venue for us for THURSDAY 9^th Feb, which is a slight change from our usual choice of Friday. After a flurry of emails, it was decided that Crystal Jade Golden Palace would be the lucky establishment that will be hosting our party.

Jon being the designated driver decided that it would be more cost effective to ferry the smaller party in a single cab than driving and so off we went towards orchard road. Whilst hopping into the cab, Jon mentioned to Collin to contact businessman to inform him that the final agreed destination was Crystal Jade and not Sabai, so as to avoid the possibility of him turning up at the wrong venue. It was at this moment that our dear Jason Lau went berserk on the phone claiming that he was not informed on the change of the date. He was apparently furious on this turn of events and personally called Jon the president to appeal for a postponement of this week’s BML, saying that we had previously confirmed that it was set for a Friday and that he was not informed of the change to Thursday.

Against this claim, Jon, CC and myself immediately discussed the merits of this appeal, and felt that Jason’s claims were unfounded as :

1.       Dann had clearly sent out the email more than 48 hours before the lunch date

2.       All the email addresses of intended recipients were correct

3.      There is nothing in the original constitution or amendments which disallowed a BML to be conducted on a day other than Friday.

Given the above, it was obvious that businessman was simply crying over spilt milk (notwithstanding that it was definitely going to be sweet and creamy for this BML), and so we decided to put it to a vote to see if there were enough votes in his favour to change the course of history.

As we all well know from the result of MG’s futile attempt at a free lunch last week, the outcome for Jason’s appeal obviously came out no differently.  With a total of 7 votes available amongst 6 members (Prezzie has 2), a total of 4 votes were necessary to swing the appeal in Jason’s favour. Counting the votes of MG and Jason, only an additional 2 votes were actually needed. Unfortunately, despite the claimed magnanimity of some of our members, the needed 2 votes did not come to pass, and Jason was left to wallow in fury, hunger and self pity.

Being the shrewd members that we were, we realized that the bonanza had just morphed into a bigger bonanza, with just 4 members splitting the loot of S$400! We quickly called Dann to change the venue to Tatsuya, since such high per capita spending could only be justified with over-priced Japanese cuisine.

Owing to our last minute arrangement, we were offered only the outside seating area, and Dann being uncharacteristically sharp, was quick to demand from us for a waiver of the air-conditioning criteria for BML. Without hesitation, the waiver was granted unanimously and at lightning speed.

Upon seating, we were presented with the ala carte as well as set menu. For people on a budget, the lunch set menu at Tatsuya actually provides reasonably good value with most sets hovering around the S$30 level.  Value of course was not what we were after for this session, and we quickly decided to settle in on the S$55 Chirashizushi from the ala carte menu as our main.

In addition, we added 3 other orders which were the fried oysters (kaki furai), fried chicken (wakatori age) and the icouldnotcatchthename sushi platter which was not on the menu and was highly recommended for S$125 by the kimono clad waitress.

The chirashizushi was wonderfully presented with ingredients like salmon, yellow tail, tuna, tuna belly, scallop, salmon roe, swordfish, sweet prawn, eel, crab sticks, pickles and tamago (egg) set on a bed of pearly sweet rice topped with seaweed. 

It was an 8/10 for presentation, taste and freshness. My personal preference is for Aoki’s version of chirashizushi, although Dann begged to differ. His parting remark to our debate on which was better ended with… “I suppose I did not like Aoki as much as I did not have the premium set there!”

As for the fried chicken, no complains here, it was crispy on the outside and still moist on the inside. But this was one of the dishes that was ordered (together with the oysters) to make up the numbers.

Notwithstanding that however, the fried oysters were quite a treat. As usual, CC again gave his “actually this oyster is quite nice. It doesn’t really have the oyster taste”. I was like what the #$%^*@ kinda comment is that?!? It was a rerun of his pork that does not taste like pork comment at La Strada. I suppose next time I’ll blindfold him and offer him fish and say that it’s actually chicken and he’ll probably say… “whoa this chicken is really good cos it doesn’t have the chicken taste….”

Finally, the icouldnotcatchthename arrived, and we were presented with 10 different seared (with a blow torch) sushi‘s that were apparently a house specialty. As they were all different, I did not get to taste all of them, but suffice to say that it was good but not fantastic. Each sushi also seemed on the small side although that could have been the result of the searing. But at a price of S$12.50 each excluding service and taxes, this was one helluva inflated dish that is not worth a re-order unless you just won the Toto.

All in all, it was a good meal, no complaints except that the quantity was a tad on the light side, and so, on we were to the trusty Ya Kun Kaya Toast for coffee, eggs and toast.

Whilst having coffee there was a debate on who was the biggest bastardo (being born out of wedlock in Italian) in this affair? We collectively agreed that minus the losers (MG and Businessman), as well as leaving out the paymaster since he had nothing to gain as the agreed spend was already fixed, the king bastardo title had to be won by either of the 3 winners, Jon, CC or me. We were unanimous in our agreement that Jon had to be the biggest since he is the holder of 2 votes and could have single handedly altered the course of history had he chose to. So yes Mr President, you are now also the club title holder for King Bastardo.

And so, of the 3 winners (Jon, CC and myself), the spoils.... the total damage for the day as S$401.45 for the lunch and an additional S$12.80 for coffee and toast.

As at press time, Dann still owes me S$2.70 and S$0.10 to Jon, for the shortfall on the coffee and toast (Dann please see picture as evidence). Being the nice person that i was, i offered to waive the 70 cents and just collect S$2 from Dann, but upon hearing this, Jon would have none of it and demanded that his 10 cents be paid back in full as "it was the principle of the matter and not the amount!" So much for magnanimity from our club president...I think mercenary is more befitting.

By: Club Scribe

La Strada - 3rd February 2012

This is our club’s 3^rd visit to La Strada! The first was by ex-President Sheng (now president of the one-man shanghai branch) and the second was by Gilbert (now president of the also one-man HK branch).

Having had the utterly poor foresight to join the club late, Collin Cheong was unfortunate not to have had the opportunity of the earlier La Strada visits. So with the establishment finally re-opening its doors after some renovations which has seen the place halved in size (the private room which we took during our previous visits has now been turned into a Viet restaurant), CC decided that it was time for him to try out for himself, what can plausibly be considered one of our club’s favourite Italian joint.

As per the agreed driving roster, Jon was the designated driver for the day. Along the way, MG enquired if Dann would be so kind as to consider deferring his BML scheduled next Friday till the following week as he would be up in HK for a wedding and as it so happened to be, to also collect his HKD 6,000 cash grant by the HK government. Dann in his attempt to be accommodating considered the request and asked if such a deferral would constitute a consumption of his free postponement pass. To this, Jon and I deliberated extensively for about all of 2.5 seconds and retorted … YES! So Dann in his further pretense of trying to help MG out asked if he would pay for the EUR50 penalty should Dann really need to make a further postponement, to which MG replied instantaneously (without deliberation)… “Of course not la!” Jon and I then added fuel to the debate telling MG what a cheapo he was. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and in this case MG was obviously trying to attempt at achieving the unachievable. We pointed out further that why not he request for a postponement of the wedding in HK, or for that matter, since he was going to receive HKD 6,000 that he should consider throwing in at least a SGD30 sweetener (since the value of his meal is at least EUR30) for Dann and the club. To this MG claimed that he was going to pass the HKD 6,000 to his dad (To Mr Cheung Senior, if you are reading this blog please add a comment to confirm the claim by your son on your receipt of the HKD 6,000. If you did not and would like us to slap him more than a few times for telling a lie, please add that as well) and so had no real monetary benefit going to HK.

The argument concluded with Dann deciding not to postpone, and MG fuming and leaving Dann and the rest of us with a “its ok Dann, dun wanna postpone right? I’ll remember….” warning.

We arrived and got down to the business of ordering. Thanks to the spending requirement, we all opted for the 4 course set lunch. Collectively we chose every dish in the set menu, except for the Gnocchi which was not available and the replacement for the day was their lovely carbonara.We wolfed down 2 helpings of the tasty and warm complimentary bread that was offered, although Jon mentioned that he remembered the old La Strada offering a much wider variety of bread for starters including their pizza bread and bread sticks. 

Moving on to the starters, we agreed the soup was so-so. For comparison, you could say it was a superior version of Campbell’s alphabet soup without the alphabets (used to love it as a kid). 

The capellini was light and fresh but a tad bland. 

The star dish for starters was really the grilled calamari. It was grilled to perfection. Someone mentioned it was possibly partly torched to achieve such a result. The flesh was tender and juicy although you could still smell and taste the grilled smokiness. It went perfectly with the sweet caramelized onions.

For the pasta course, I foolishly chose the spaghetti with mussels and tomatoes whilst the rest chose carbonara. Foolish because that meant that I had to let all 5 of them try my dish whilst I got to try only 1 of theirs! This is another sneaky unspoken strategy of all club members. Much like sitting in the middle is preferable to sitting at the edge as you would have the best access to shared dishes and all. All future BMC wannabes do note that topographical and geographical advantages extend to the dining arena as well!

The mussels were fat, juicy and absolutely delicious! The tomato sauce was not too thick, sour or overpowering, and just right to go with the shellfish. The pasta though was somewhat ordinary. 

As for the carbonara, it was hands down delicious, and in my view still the best carbonara in Singapore, to which all the other club members agreed. It is done the traditional way without cream and La Strada’s style is generally much saucier than other non-cream based carbonaras you may find elsewhere. The artery clogging yolky sauce combined with crispy ham, parmesan cheese shavings and topped up with a poached egg yolk and truffle oil on top of a bed of pasta is mind blowing. Impressive as each ingredient may be on its own, the synergy of combining it all together in one dish shows a result that is simply astounding! The only complaint is that the portion could be bigger.

For the meat course, Businessman was the odd man out choosing the salmon, to which he lost a third of his fish within seconds to other hungry forks. The fish was cooked perfectly leaving it ever so slightly undercooked in the centre keeping it moist and oily. 

The osso bucco was decent, although the meat was a tad dry, but this was compensated by the delicious marrow which was fully intact in the bone cavity. 

The star dish for this course was the roasted pork rack. The pork was tasty, flavourful, somewhat crisp on the outside and yet not at all dry. Collin mentioned that it was pork that did not really taste like pork (personally I could not figure what that meant, but from the look on his face, it was definitely a thumbs up for the dish).

For desert, the tiramisu was the best dish, and one of the better tiramisu’s you can find. 

But for anyone looking for some texture, the Iced nougatine is quite a treat as well. It is an iced and creamed version of nougat with a coulis of berries. The crunchiness of the hazelnuts with the sweetness of the nougat and the tartness of the coulis combine nicely. 

As for the apple tart and gelato, it was given an overall so-so grade by the diners.

Whilst finishing up, Dann casually mentioned that for his turn next week, he think he had made the pledge of an additional S$100 bonus spend over and above the minimum of EUR180 (owing to his poor performance at Jade restaurant), to which we were all smiles with the exception of MG. We even re-affirmed by reminding Dann that we had proof of his commitment to the additional spend should he forget.

Final note...the lower photographic quality is partly due to the use of our back-up cameraman as our actual cameraman, being the paymaster was relieved of his duties.

By: Club Scribe