Sabai - 24th February 2012

This is my second time writing this blog and I can truly understand how much effort our BMC Official Club Scribe a.k.a Billy Choi puts in week in week out. Work is so stressful everyday but at the back of the mind every night, you are reminded of the obligation to write sooner or later (blog needs to be up within 14 calendar days from the lunch as per new BMC Constitutions). And as days goes by, slowly you would have forgotten what you had for the BMC lunch, not even mentioning the taste of various dishes. Reason why am I writing the Blog for this week's is because as the elected CEO (Chief Entertainment Officer), my job besides to spot entertainment opportunities for my fellow members, DUH, is to replace the Club Scribe and the Official Cameraman when it's their turn to host BMC Lunch.

This week's venue is at Sabai at Takashimaya Lvl 4, hosted by Billy Choi. Being a "quite" smart guy, he decided to replicate another brilliant guy like-for-like into exercising his option to "bring a friend", Joseph Festin aka "Joker" or "Jo" for short. Just a brief history, this venue used to be the most prestigious BMC Lunch hosted by our dearest Hong Kong BMC sole-member, Gilbert Chong 3-4 years ago with a check of SGD300+. During those days, this amount would probably handed him the BMC presidency without any competition at all, just like a 20 sticks cigarettes pack used to be selling at SGD6+ in 2000 and fast forward to 2012, a whopping SGD11.80 or ~100%! (That is why our Oracle is firm on tobacco stocks, just like the all-in bet from Buffet on Burlington Railway). I must say it did not disappoint after returning 3 years later. The place is exactly the same as it was, with no fanciful decor or whatsoever. Waiter and waitresses are very Thai-Like, as friendly as "Pornsak" featured in "The Noose".

As we (MG, Jon & Jo) arrived at the venue, we were greeted a pack of wolves-like members (Collin, Billy, Bizman & Dann) that were present early. These despicable personals positioned themselves strategically for our BMC lunch by sitting concentrated only at the center of a 7 seats long rectangular table. We had no choice but to seat around the outskirts, but unfortunately for our guest, Jo whom wasn't aware of our BMC's "steady" culture, went for the Host Seat with dishes at the furthest of reach and saturated with 2 other seated members.

We had Spicy Pomelo Salad (Yam Som Oo) and Spicy Green Mango Salad (Yam Mamuang) for appetizers which were refreshing and just right in getting our stomachs lined up for the feast.

Next we had the Deep-Fried Stuffed Chicken Wings (Peek Gai Sod Sai) which were rather ordinary, except for the fact that the wings were boneless and easy to bite.

Tom Yam Soup is a Must-Have for all Thai cuisines so we ordered the Spicy and Sour Seafood Soup (Dtom Yam Ruam Mit Talay). However I must say the presentation was terrible, dull and plain as per attached photo. As this soup was served by the pot and I couldn’t remember which of our "steady" BMC member served the soup, my portion was simply made up of a piece of fish that were overcooked, 2 tasteless squids and ALOT of mushrooms (no sight of prawns were found).

Main courses we had are the standard Deep-Fried and Steamed Seabass (Pla Neung Manao), which according to some were one of the best fish served in Thai Restaurants here.

However, I beg to differ as I find them rather ordinary (Deep-Fried is preferred comparing the 2), nothing compared to the like-for-like Heavy Weight, Thanying Thai Restaurant at Amara Hotel. 

Accompanying the main were the Stir-Fried Vegetable (Kang Kong) with Chilli, Stir-Fried Hot & Spicy Beef & Pork (Pat Gaprao Neuoa, Moo) and Green Curry with Chicken (Gang Gwio Warn Gung) and loads & loads of free-flow plain white rice.

These dishes were rather the highlights as they were delicious and adequately spiced to go along with the plain rice. However, they come in standard portions and did not serve well for guests of 7.

Desserts we had were the standard Sticky Rice with Fresh Mango which according to a Mango lover (Myself), was the best of the 3 desserts ordered as compared to the Tapioca and Durian whatever.

Damage for the meal was S$417.05 for 7 pax or S$59.58 per pax. This was considered a generous treat from a fellow BMC member, over-achieving by a slight margin on top of the minimum spending requirement of EUR30 per pax, by an estimated EUR6 or S$9 per pax.

As per exchange filing requirements, we are pleased to announce that the BMC board members have voted and passed the following resolutions during our Sabai lunch, which will be added to our BMC constitutions:

1. Guests are only entitled to join our BMC lunches twice. Afterwhich, he will need to either enroll as an official BMC member or to seat at a separate table and eat by himself in order to participate our prestigious luncheons and to savor our gracious company.

2. After all the debatable disputes raised by my fellow members for my "Bring-a-Friend" treat held at No Menu, we have revised and standardized the new minimum spending requirement. The BMC mathematical equation to apply for all BMC lunches for the minimum spending would now be:

A = [(Total Number of Pax (including guests) * EUR 30 * EUR/SGD Exchange Rate on Bloomberg Iphone App (Version 3 and above) at point of billing)]

B = Final bill amount after netting-off any card discounts, vouchers used and ANY UNFORESEEN ERRORS made by the restaurant

A - B ≥ 0, else Difference to multiply by a factor of 3 and to be added into the next BMC lunch.

I still hate Blog writing. Till then, Adiós!!!

MG