Was told long ago by my ex-beautician that the key to looking for a good husband is one who is sweet and considerate to you everyday, 365 days a year. Forget about the ones who surprise you with big, grand gestures on key dates in a year. I find that to be extremely true and hope to pass this little tidbit of know-how to Faith when she's of a hubby-finding age.
Here's a good reason why...
Since our grand plans to have Faith sleep alone in her own room while we snuggle lovingly together in our own comfy Simmons bed has gone to the dumps, we have "unwillingly" embraced the other spectrum on sleeping arrangements -- co-sleeping. I sleep with Faith on our pull-out Ikea sofa bed (which is starting to creak at certain places), while Louis sleeps on a 2" mattress on the floor next to our sofa-bed.
Along the way, we have more or less fall into an unspoken arrangement where I would be the one to coax and nurse (if necessary) Faith to sleep when she wakes in the middle of the night. And that is no mean feat, let me assure you. Becos my dear daughter to date still refuses, despite many failed attempts and measures, to sleep through the night. I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times she actually manages to sleep through the night and still have leftovers.
Which is why come morning, when my dear hubby rouses from his daily cellphone alarm and stumbles out of the room to take his shower, I'm none the wiser. I'm like a dead log, tired out from the many interruptions to my much needed beauty rest. But just before he heads out of the room, he would always draw the curtains and put a clothes peg in the middle of it to effectively shroud the room in total darkness. Just so that Faith and I could both sleep in longer without the glaring sun shining in onto our faces.
Last night, for the first time, he slept back in our own room. Alone. Cos he was down with a cold and didn't want to spread it to Faith or myself. For one reason or another, when I opened my blurry eyes at around 7-ish in the morning, I saw him dressed in his work clothes, standing next to the bed, pulling the curtains shut and putting the peg in the middle.
Was expecting him to head off to work after his usual morning shower. But he come in and did the same routine that he always did before he left. For Faith and me. That's what I call an everyday sweet gesture. One that is small and simple, yet shows how much he cares for us.
And me? Well... I don't think I remembered to thank him. All I remembered was a mumbled question of "Are you better, darling?". Don't believe I stayed conscious enough to hear his response before I went back to sleeping like a dead log.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Blessings
Just as we did a mid-year review of our expenses, it occured to me that I have forgotten to do a mid-year review of all the things we should be grateful for. After all, it is easy to lose sight of what we have and to focus only on what we don't.Eve and I indeed have much to be grateful for, not lest the fact that we've come a long way as a couple, experiencing what has been for me, the best times of my life - spending a year in France after getting married, getting our own place, living in Singapore close to a strong family and friends network and getting to travel rather widely in the past 5 years. All these have allowed us to have quality time with each other in much richer environments and it is so common now, whether we're watching Discovery and Travel, or just talking with friends, for us to reminise on things we've done together before. Just today, Eve cooked our fav dishes of pav baji, curry chicken and chickpeas - dishes she picked up from Manisa while in INSEAD and it made me grateful not only for the fact that we had the chance to meet with great friends, but that Eve still continues her love for cooking that she only picked up while in France - albeit, now with a little bit more "distraction".
This little distration is also the shiniest light in our lives. Ever since Faith entered our lives, she has brought us countless of laughter and silent pride. From her first smiles as a baby to the hearty and innocent chuckles she gives now, from her first crawls to her first steps - everything she does amazes us. Recently, we have noticed how she has become a much better listener and communicator. When she forgets to sign "please" when she snatches something from us, all we need to do is to remind her. Just tonight, I had asked Faith to look at mummy because she had done something wrong, and she sheepishly looked at Eve across the room. When she patted Eve with too much force just now, Eve reminded her it was painful, and she patted Eve again, this time gently, with her trademark hug. It melts our hearts to see her respond to us this way because it reaffirms the fact that she is able to understand us. This opens the way for conversations, on top of play, with her.
As parents, we're only grateful that Faith has grown up as a healthy, happy and respectful child. She's really all the girl that we could have ever hoped for.This mid-year 2008, thus, it is worth pausing a while, to remind ourselves to count our blessings. Never mind the cost increases, and the fight against inflation. Life still has its blessings that I at least, oftentimes don't remind myself enough of.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Mid-year review
Now that I'm no longer working, I do not have to be frustrated by the often tiresome and exasperating exercise of doing mid-year review of work performance targets. Nonetheless, targets are inevitable things that we have to set and aim to achieve in both our work and personal lives.
While reviewing work targets is no longer an exercise that I sweat over for the duration that I've taken a leave of absence, there are some "targets" that we set out for ourselves as a family. Definitely, the word "target" is a loosely used term for us and the review process is certainly not as rigorous as those at work. Nonetheless, it continues to be very relevant and important in order to achieve a harmonious, happy and balance family life. And one of these targets is about our savings.
Earlier on when Louis and I discussed and agreed for me to become a SAHM, we recognised that our savings would have to take a dip. Still, we decided to attempt to save somewhat close to the figure that we used to be able to save as a dual-income family. It was manageable last year as I still drew an income for the first half of the year.
However, it has been rather challenging to continue to save that amount this year, amidst increasing household expenses on our end, as well as overall price increases in many household items across the general economy.
For the first half of this year, we have been nipping regularly into the amount that we sat aside for our monthly savings. A quick look at our savings balance points out with great certainty that we would never be able to save the amount that we did last year at any rate.
To us, this is an alarming concern. Louis and I are both highly risk-averse individuals and we do not have much investments other than those in our savings, fixed deposits and some small amount of insurance cum endowment policies. This may sound very unwise but we are slowly working our way towards other forms of investments that matches our risk appetites.
Apart from some one-off expenses and our occasional spending on travels, there aren't that many extravagant items that we spent on a monthly basis. Yet, we couldn't understand why we kept digging into our savings. Again, a quick look at our monthly household bills show that we are spending significant amounts each time we go to the supermarket for groceries, utility bills and costs related to driving a car.
Of course, I have read recent newspaper articles of family who saved more when they shop wisely and cautiously at supermarkets like NTUC, Shop-N-Save, Giant vis-a-vis the more expensive and high-end places like Market Place, Tanglin and Jasons. Admittedly, I haven't been very conscious of our spending whenever we grocery shop; happily filling our shopping baskets at places like Jasons and Tanglin at times out of convenience, instead of the more price-friendly neighbourhood supermarkets.
With increasing tariffs on electricity and water usage, we are also finding our utility bills soaring based on current usage patterns. Indeed, there are situations in which we can reduce our electrical and water consumption rates as there are many everyday situations where we are wasteful e.g. leaving the TV blasting to an empty living room, leaving lights and fans on when there's no one around etc. Apart from reducing the hole in our wallets, there's the added side benefit of reducing our carbon footprint.
And so, Louis and I resolved that we could lower some of our household expenses by keeping a closer tab on our spending patterns and habits. After all, if overall household income isn't going to change by much, we need to reduce our expenses so that we can continue to achieve our yearly targeted savings :)
Thus, and in no particular order, these are some of the actions that we would be taking:
While reviewing work targets is no longer an exercise that I sweat over for the duration that I've taken a leave of absence, there are some "targets" that we set out for ourselves as a family. Definitely, the word "target" is a loosely used term for us and the review process is certainly not as rigorous as those at work. Nonetheless, it continues to be very relevant and important in order to achieve a harmonious, happy and balance family life. And one of these targets is about our savings.
Earlier on when Louis and I discussed and agreed for me to become a SAHM, we recognised that our savings would have to take a dip. Still, we decided to attempt to save somewhat close to the figure that we used to be able to save as a dual-income family. It was manageable last year as I still drew an income for the first half of the year.
However, it has been rather challenging to continue to save that amount this year, amidst increasing household expenses on our end, as well as overall price increases in many household items across the general economy.
For the first half of this year, we have been nipping regularly into the amount that we sat aside for our monthly savings. A quick look at our savings balance points out with great certainty that we would never be able to save the amount that we did last year at any rate.
To us, this is an alarming concern. Louis and I are both highly risk-averse individuals and we do not have much investments other than those in our savings, fixed deposits and some small amount of insurance cum endowment policies. This may sound very unwise but we are slowly working our way towards other forms of investments that matches our risk appetites.
Apart from some one-off expenses and our occasional spending on travels, there aren't that many extravagant items that we spent on a monthly basis. Yet, we couldn't understand why we kept digging into our savings. Again, a quick look at our monthly household bills show that we are spending significant amounts each time we go to the supermarket for groceries, utility bills and costs related to driving a car.
Of course, I have read recent newspaper articles of family who saved more when they shop wisely and cautiously at supermarkets like NTUC, Shop-N-Save, Giant vis-a-vis the more expensive and high-end places like Market Place, Tanglin and Jasons. Admittedly, I haven't been very conscious of our spending whenever we grocery shop; happily filling our shopping baskets at places like Jasons and Tanglin at times out of convenience, instead of the more price-friendly neighbourhood supermarkets.
With increasing tariffs on electricity and water usage, we are also finding our utility bills soaring based on current usage patterns. Indeed, there are situations in which we can reduce our electrical and water consumption rates as there are many everyday situations where we are wasteful e.g. leaving the TV blasting to an empty living room, leaving lights and fans on when there's no one around etc. Apart from reducing the hole in our wallets, there's the added side benefit of reducing our carbon footprint.
And so, Louis and I resolved that we could lower some of our household expenses by keeping a closer tab on our spending patterns and habits. After all, if overall household income isn't going to change by much, we need to reduce our expenses so that we can continue to achieve our yearly targeted savings :)
Thus, and in no particular order, these are some of the actions that we would be taking:
- Review our monthly grocery expenses and work out a lowered budget that we should stick to for future spending
- Plan our food menu ahead so that we only need to buy what is necessary, instead of buying impromptu while at the supermarket
- Abstain from shopping at high-end supermarkets, unless absolutely necessary
- Turn off all lights, fans and electricity power points when not in use
- "Go public" to reduce usage of our car to save on fuel and related ERP and parking charges, i.e. Louis would take the public transport to work whenever possible
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Faith signs 3 words
I've been intrigued by the idea of teaching Faith to sign since reading about it on Baby Center (click here to see article). However, I had not taken any actions to learn or find out more until my friend, Tam, demonstrated with her daughter how to sign a few common words.
I decided after seeing her daughter signed, to try to teach Faith those 3 words that I learned, namely; "Please", "Thank You" and "More". That was probably about 1 1/2 months ago. When I was telling my mom about teaching Faith to sign, she laughed at me and said that it would likely be a situation whereby I would be the only person to understand Faith.
Admittedly, I wasn't really consistent in teaching or using it with Faith. It was more a situation of me teaching her to do it whenever I remembered to. Faith didn't seem too interested in signing with me at all. Neither did she showed any indication that she had the faintest idea about what I was trying to do. Or so I thought.
Two weeks ago, as I was eating my usual morning cornflakes, she crawled up to me (as usual)and grunted to me to give her some. I asked her to sign "please" politely before I would give her some. And she did, rubbing her tummy in a circular motion after I popped the cornflakes into her mouth. I gave her more cornflakes and told her again to say "please". And she did a few times, although each time, she signed it after I've given her the cornflakes instead of the other way around. But, it confirmed a fact -- Faith could sign!
To say that I was pleased and thrilled was an understatement. I was absolutely floored by the idea of Faith signing back to me and knowing that she had actually understood whatever I had taught her.
Since then, she had almost consistently signed the 3 words to us whenever we asked her questions (for instances when she could reply using the word "more") or when prompted to say "please" and "thank you".
I've also developed my own sign for the word "open" and she's used it to great effect, especially when she's asking me to open her container for cornflakes and raisins :) Now, I'm spurred to teach her more words to sign. After all, I think Faith's going to be a late talker as she hasn't even called Louis or myself "mummy" or "papa" yet.
I wished I had researched a little more about teaching baby sign languages after the Baby Center article so that I could have started much earlier with Faith. Nonetheless, I think its still not too late to teach her now. So this week, I'm going to pop into Kinnokuniya and get me a book or two to expand our vocabulary on more words we can sign :)
I decided after seeing her daughter signed, to try to teach Faith those 3 words that I learned, namely; "Please", "Thank You" and "More". That was probably about 1 1/2 months ago. When I was telling my mom about teaching Faith to sign, she laughed at me and said that it would likely be a situation whereby I would be the only person to understand Faith.
Admittedly, I wasn't really consistent in teaching or using it with Faith. It was more a situation of me teaching her to do it whenever I remembered to. Faith didn't seem too interested in signing with me at all. Neither did she showed any indication that she had the faintest idea about what I was trying to do. Or so I thought.
Two weeks ago, as I was eating my usual morning cornflakes, she crawled up to me (as usual)and grunted to me to give her some. I asked her to sign "please" politely before I would give her some. And she did, rubbing her tummy in a circular motion after I popped the cornflakes into her mouth. I gave her more cornflakes and told her again to say "please". And she did a few times, although each time, she signed it after I've given her the cornflakes instead of the other way around. But, it confirmed a fact -- Faith could sign!
To say that I was pleased and thrilled was an understatement. I was absolutely floored by the idea of Faith signing back to me and knowing that she had actually understood whatever I had taught her.
Since then, she had almost consistently signed the 3 words to us whenever we asked her questions (for instances when she could reply using the word "more") or when prompted to say "please" and "thank you".
I've also developed my own sign for the word "open" and she's used it to great effect, especially when she's asking me to open her container for cornflakes and raisins :) Now, I'm spurred to teach her more words to sign. After all, I think Faith's going to be a late talker as she hasn't even called Louis or myself "mummy" or "papa" yet.
I wished I had researched a little more about teaching baby sign languages after the Baby Center article so that I could have started much earlier with Faith. Nonetheless, I think its still not too late to teach her now. So this week, I'm going to pop into Kinnokuniya and get me a book or two to expand our vocabulary on more words we can sign :)
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Phuket Part 2 - Time spent with family
Faith gazing at the pool from the living room of our Banyan Tree Pool VillaOne of the drawbacks of being a consultant (or for that matter, any job that is project-based) is that one seldom has the luxury to control your own time. While one can theoretically take leave as and when one likes, in practical terms, one usually can't. The reason is simple: one can't plan too far ahead for leave because one never knows if a project is ever going to complete as planned.
So, it was with much relief that we headed off to Phuket on Monday, having completed a project the week before. There is nothing quite as relaxing as knowing that you have nothing hanging or waiting for your attention when you get back to work. So it was that Faith's fifth trip overseas - this time to Thailand, Phuket started.
Instead of giving an iternerary of what we did in Phuket, I decided to pen down a few thoughts that arose during this trip. Hopefully, Faith, when you read this when you are older and perhaps when you have your own kids, you'd empathise with what mummy and daddy felt on this short but memorable holiday.
We're getting better at it I still remember when we first brought Faith overseas. This was to Bintan then (20 October 2007) - no flight involved, and we had packed what seemed to be an overwhelming amount of stuffs such as cooker for her porridge, a medicine bag, chopping board etc. On her first flight - to Dubai (29 November 2007), we had for the first time in our lives, used a child seat belt and we were intrigued at what we needed to do to take her in and out of the bassinet when there was turbulence.
7 months and 4 trips later, I would consider ourselves quite pro at travelling with Faith. Perhaps give us two days notice and we'd be able to pack everything. We now have a ready-to-go medical kit for Faith (and one for ourselves), a spare cooker for her travels, a fridge-to-go (to keep veggies fresh for when we arrive to the destination), and all her complete set of toiletries already packed into our green Samsonite luggage bag. Besides these spares already in the luggage, we're getting quite good at putting in her toys, and favourite pillows and bolster. As for flights, when we book the flights now, it comes quite instinctive as to which flight times work best for Faith's meals and sleep times. And on board, we now don't even bother with bassinets on short trips and have learnt to juggle alternating meals and of course, mastered the use of the infant seat belt.
So, it was with much relief that we headed off to Phuket on Monday, having completed a project the week before. There is nothing quite as relaxing as knowing that you have nothing hanging or waiting for your attention when you get back to work. So it was that Faith's fifth trip overseas - this time to Thailand, Phuket started.
Instead of giving an iternerary of what we did in Phuket, I decided to pen down a few thoughts that arose during this trip. Hopefully, Faith, when you read this when you are older and perhaps when you have your own kids, you'd empathise with what mummy and daddy felt on this short but memorable holiday.
We're getting better at it I still remember when we first brought Faith overseas. This was to Bintan then (20 October 2007) - no flight involved, and we had packed what seemed to be an overwhelming amount of stuffs such as cooker for her porridge, a medicine bag, chopping board etc. On her first flight - to Dubai (29 November 2007), we had for the first time in our lives, used a child seat belt and we were intrigued at what we needed to do to take her in and out of the bassinet when there was turbulence.
7 months and 4 trips later, I would consider ourselves quite pro at travelling with Faith. Perhaps give us two days notice and we'd be able to pack everything. We now have a ready-to-go medical kit for Faith (and one for ourselves), a spare cooker for her travels, a fridge-to-go (to keep veggies fresh for when we arrive to the destination), and all her complete set of toiletries already packed into our green Samsonite luggage bag. Besides these spares already in the luggage, we're getting quite good at putting in her toys, and favourite pillows and bolster. As for flights, when we book the flights now, it comes quite instinctive as to which flight times work best for Faith's meals and sleep times. And on board, we now don't even bother with bassinets on short trips and have learnt to juggle alternating meals and of course, mastered the use of the infant seat belt.
Will these holiday memories stay with Faith? Notwithstanding the fact that some part of travelling is now becoming quite routine, there is always something new in every travel we embark. The one thing that constantly on the back of our minds is this: Will Faith remember any of this? Will Faith remember the first time we had our own 'pool' right next to the living room? Will she remember the first use of her ring-float? Will she remember seeing the slightly more tanned Thai faces? Will she remember the toy elephant she received as a welcome gift in her cot? Will she remember how hot this place was? Will she remember how she clung so much to Eve during this trip? This Phuket trip brought many firsts for not only myself and Eve, but probably even more so for Faith. To the extent, I think as a result, she was a bit more clingy to Eve this time round because she is much more conscious of her surroundings compared to when she was younger. Also, the flight, as short as it was, probably contributed some jet lag (and as a result some tiredness and consequently, grouchiness) making her even more insecure.
A brief search on literature showed varying comments on this topic about whether infants remember their holidays. As parents, we secretly hope so. Because it is tiring to bring Faith on a travel, but we also know we would miss her terribly if she were not with us. It just wouldn't be the same. The only consolation thus, we hope, is that she remembers this. This will make all the tiredness in the world well worth the while.
We need to get better at taking our own pictures One of the best things about going for a trip is that we come back with a full GB of pictures and memories. I promised Eve that I wouldn't take the easy way out by converting everything into a slide show, so here's my favourite 15 photo picks apart from those already in this blog.
1 & 2. Faith on her favourite rabbit-back ride. 3. Usual cheeky self 4. Checking out the closet.
5. Faith basking in the afternoon Phuket sun indoors 6. Eve and Faith at the French restaurant 7. Posing
8. 3rd day in our own pool 9. Eve showing Faith how to kick 10. A closer look at the water flow 11. Refraction
12. Fun in the pool 13. At the Banyan beach. 14. Mother-daughter lessons in life 15. Quiet time
One of the worst things is that out of 200 pictures we take, only 5 of them have all three of us in it. It doesn't help that Eve and I absolutely have no skill in holding the camera in front of us, then shooting, or for that matter, using a camera timer. Thankfully, there are kind souls around us who kindly oblige when we're not too thin-skinned to ask.
Overall verdict After having tried out many destinations, Eve and I still feel our favourite chill out place is Banyan in Bintan. Not only is it self-contained in terms of having restaurants with good quality food, it is also nearby which means that Faith isn't subjected to any of the jetlag. Until next time then :)
Phuket Part 1 - Food
Having returned from Phuket, I thought it'd be time to sit down, relax and recount some of our experiences in our 4 day stay there. There are just too many places to start from, so I thought why not kick off with the Food blog.
Eve and I are foodies at heart. In fact, one of our best hobbies in our travel isn't visiting churches or monuments or places of interest. Our favourite pasttime is really discovering nice eating places in our travels. Till today, for example, we still miss the Cous-cous we had in a corner restaurant in Nice, the Korean food in a restaurant near the Eiffel in Paris, the paella from Carrefour near Fonty, the fried seafood in a homely restaurant in Venice and the baguettes we had in along the way to the market in Fonty.
So it was no surprise that we had high expectations for discovering at least a few nice eating places in Phuket. After all, this was a place that I remember well for seafood (I came here with my family eons ago when I was a little boy) and after all, this is Thailand - a place where I've been impressed before (at least in Bangkok) by the creativity and affordability of the cuisine. And (fortunately) before I left for Phuket, I researched on some of the potential food places to go to as suggested by Thailand Tatler. Two of the places - Dibuk and Watermark, were places we came to know of because of the site.
As one would expect, we had disappointments and pleasant surprises along the way. Here's the four food places - the good and the bad, worth mentioning.
The disappointment -Saffron at Banyan Tree (2 out of 10)
We have had mixed experiences at the Saffron - Banyan Tree's signature restaurant. At Bintan, we were simply bowled away by the cuisine - it was not only innovative, the cuisine was really worth every penny and when we first ate there, we really liked the degustation menu it offered. However, when we subsequently went to the Saffron at Bangkok Banyan Tree, we were disappointed because the food was really not that different from any typical Thai fare you would get in Bangkok or even in some Thai restaurants in Singapore.
This time round, we decided to give Saffron at Banyan Phuket a try, and it was a disappointment. We ordered their signature appetisers and when it came, the plating was just average. Also, the satay was a tough and the sauces really just ordinary. When we ordered the recommended curry and vegetables, we also felt the food was just so-so. The bill came up to a hefty S$80 for just myself and Eve, so we really felt this was a meal that was not at all value for money. Definitely a 2/10 place.
We had originally wanted to go to a Italian place recommended by the Thailand Tatlet, but because we got there too late, we decided to venture to a French restaurant instead.
To our surprise, the food was actually quite good. For S$40 for the two of us, I ate beef bourguignon, and Eve had buttered sole. We also had 2 appetisers comprising of a dish of creamed scallop and another of grilled king prawns in garlic butter. All the dishes were good and fresh and we had a taste of the homely French cooking that we seldom find outside France. Nothing very wow about the food, but understated and homely. It seems the chef had married a French chef and now she was cooking on her own. Well, our gain. The other authentic thing about the place was that the other customers in the restaurant were a pair of French women.
Overall, I would rate it 8 out of 10 for food, but because it was a little warm and because it cost us a lot to get into town, I'd rate it 6 out of 10.
Good value for money -Lotus Restaurant (7 out of 10)
For dinner on the second night, we called the conceirge and they recommended us to a place called Lotus Restaurant - just five minutes ride from our hotel. The good thing of course was that the restaurant was able to send a complementary shuttle to Banyan to pick us up - we merely told our recep what time we wanted to be there and they arranged everything for us.
The place is an outdoor place - no aircondition seating. But the night we were there, there was a nice breeze blowing, so it was actually quite pleasant. Plus, the service staff was kind enough to help us put a mosquito coil when I requested it - more as a advance precaution rather than in response to any mosquitoes that I actually saw or felt. The other good thing about this restaurant is that the food is cheap and good. We spent in all S$20 between Eve and myself for dinner that night - I ordered Tom Yam soup and some prawn cakes, whilst Eve ordered some Pad Thai. The tables next to us also ordered a lot of seafood - there were live seafood of lobsters and prawns and they looked pretty good.
Overall thus, I would rate Lotus as a 7/10 place - very "everyday" food menu at non-cut throat prices, and it is accessible from Laguna where we were staying. Definitely a place one can go for a casual lunch/dinner while in Phuket.
Our best restaurant pick -Watermark (8 out of 10)
On our last night in Phuket, Eve did the most streetwise thing by calling up our recep to enquire about transport to Watermark. As it turned out, this restaurant has been featured in Thailand Tatler from 2004 to 2008 without fail and I had printed out the menu for Eve before we went for the trip. Eve caught on and found out that the restaurant actually could send a complimentary shuttle to Banyan to drive us to the restaurant that was 20 minutes away.
The Watermark made our day and I think foodies will love the place. The place is located in a yacht marina and you can see yachts just docked next to your table. The ambience thus was splendid and the staff were very kind and professional.
We also loved the food there. You know when you are having quality food just by looking at the sauces that accompany the food and in typical French cuisine style (though the restaurant is fusion/Australian/Thai), the sauces played a large part in the dishes that came in. Eve and I ordered the following:
Starters
1. Goong Sarong 220 Baht (~ S$10)
- fresh prawn tails wrapped in crispy vermicelli noodles + honey-mustard sauce
2. Trio of Vietnamese Rice Noodle Rolls 180 Baht (~ S$8)
- rare tuna & seaweed - hot mustard dip; shrimp & green mango - asian cocktail dressing;
chinese aromatic duck - sweet chili blackbean sauce
Mains
1. Pan-Seared Pink Duck Breast Salad 265 baht (~ S$11)
with pomelo, rocket & avocado + orange dressing
2. Homemade Prime Beef Burger on Open Ciabatta Bun 275 baht (~$11)
with grilled cheddar & beetroot, relish + shoestring fries
The burger was a little salty, so I would recommend if you do try this dish, tell the chef to ease up on the salt. Apart from that the food was really nice and well-plated and innovative. The duck salad was good because the duck came in large chunks - good for a mains.
Overall thus, I would say, go to the Watermark if you're going to Phuket for the first day to at least try it. Then go to the Lotus the next day to get some down to earth food. After that, who knows, explore further the restaurants in Thailand Tatler or repeat the places as necessary :)
Eve and I are foodies at heart. In fact, one of our best hobbies in our travel isn't visiting churches or monuments or places of interest. Our favourite pasttime is really discovering nice eating places in our travels. Till today, for example, we still miss the Cous-cous we had in a corner restaurant in Nice, the Korean food in a restaurant near the Eiffel in Paris, the paella from Carrefour near Fonty, the fried seafood in a homely restaurant in Venice and the baguettes we had in along the way to the market in Fonty.
So it was no surprise that we had high expectations for discovering at least a few nice eating places in Phuket. After all, this was a place that I remember well for seafood (I came here with my family eons ago when I was a little boy) and after all, this is Thailand - a place where I've been impressed before (at least in Bangkok) by the creativity and affordability of the cuisine. And (fortunately) before I left for Phuket, I researched on some of the potential food places to go to as suggested by Thailand Tatler. Two of the places - Dibuk and Watermark, were places we came to know of because of the site.
As one would expect, we had disappointments and pleasant surprises along the way. Here's the four food places - the good and the bad, worth mentioning.
The disappointment -Saffron at Banyan Tree (2 out of 10)
We have had mixed experiences at the Saffron - Banyan Tree's signature restaurant. At Bintan, we were simply bowled away by the cuisine - it was not only innovative, the cuisine was really worth every penny and when we first ate there, we really liked the degustation menu it offered. However, when we subsequently went to the Saffron at Bangkok Banyan Tree, we were disappointed because the food was really not that different from any typical Thai fare you would get in Bangkok or even in some Thai restaurants in Singapore.
This time round, we decided to give Saffron at Banyan Phuket a try, and it was a disappointment. We ordered their signature appetisers and when it came, the plating was just average. Also, the satay was a tough and the sauces really just ordinary. When we ordered the recommended curry and vegetables, we also felt the food was just so-so. The bill came up to a hefty S$80 for just myself and Eve, so we really felt this was a meal that was not at all value for money. Definitely a 2/10 place.
Good value for money -Dibuk French Restaurant (6 out of 10)
We had originally wanted to go to a Italian place recommended by the Thailand Tatlet, but because we got there too late, we decided to venture to a French restaurant instead.
To our surprise, the food was actually quite good. For S$40 for the two of us, I ate beef bourguignon, and Eve had buttered sole. We also had 2 appetisers comprising of a dish of creamed scallop and another of grilled king prawns in garlic butter. All the dishes were good and fresh and we had a taste of the homely French cooking that we seldom find outside France. Nothing very wow about the food, but understated and homely. It seems the chef had married a French chef and now she was cooking on her own. Well, our gain. The other authentic thing about the place was that the other customers in the restaurant were a pair of French women.
Overall, I would rate it 8 out of 10 for food, but because it was a little warm and because it cost us a lot to get into town, I'd rate it 6 out of 10.
Good value for money -Lotus Restaurant (7 out of 10)
For dinner on the second night, we called the conceirge and they recommended us to a place called Lotus Restaurant - just five minutes ride from our hotel. The good thing of course was that the restaurant was able to send a complementary shuttle to Banyan to pick us up - we merely told our recep what time we wanted to be there and they arranged everything for us.
The place is an outdoor place - no aircondition seating. But the night we were there, there was a nice breeze blowing, so it was actually quite pleasant. Plus, the service staff was kind enough to help us put a mosquito coil when I requested it - more as a advance precaution rather than in response to any mosquitoes that I actually saw or felt. The other good thing about this restaurant is that the food is cheap and good. We spent in all S$20 between Eve and myself for dinner that night - I ordered Tom Yam soup and some prawn cakes, whilst Eve ordered some Pad Thai. The tables next to us also ordered a lot of seafood - there were live seafood of lobsters and prawns and they looked pretty good.
Overall thus, I would rate Lotus as a 7/10 place - very "everyday" food menu at non-cut throat prices, and it is accessible from Laguna where we were staying. Definitely a place one can go for a casual lunch/dinner while in Phuket.
Our best restaurant pick -Watermark (8 out of 10)
On our last night in Phuket, Eve did the most streetwise thing by calling up our recep to enquire about transport to Watermark. As it turned out, this restaurant has been featured in Thailand Tatler from 2004 to 2008 without fail and I had printed out the menu for Eve before we went for the trip. Eve caught on and found out that the restaurant actually could send a complimentary shuttle to Banyan to drive us to the restaurant that was 20 minutes away.
The Watermark made our day and I think foodies will love the place. The place is located in a yacht marina and you can see yachts just docked next to your table. The ambience thus was splendid and the staff were very kind and professional.
We also loved the food there. You know when you are having quality food just by looking at the sauces that accompany the food and in typical French cuisine style (though the restaurant is fusion/Australian/Thai), the sauces played a large part in the dishes that came in. Eve and I ordered the following:
Starters
1. Goong Sarong 220 Baht (~ S$10)
- fresh prawn tails wrapped in crispy vermicelli noodles + honey-mustard sauce
2. Trio of Vietnamese Rice Noodle Rolls 180 Baht (~ S$8)
- rare tuna & seaweed - hot mustard dip; shrimp & green mango - asian cocktail dressing;
chinese aromatic duck - sweet chili blackbean sauce
Mains
1. Pan-Seared Pink Duck Breast Salad 265 baht (~ S$11)
with pomelo, rocket & avocado + orange dressing
2. Homemade Prime Beef Burger on Open Ciabatta Bun 275 baht (~$11)
with grilled cheddar & beetroot, relish + shoestring fries
The burger was a little salty, so I would recommend if you do try this dish, tell the chef to ease up on the salt. Apart from that the food was really nice and well-plated and innovative. The duck salad was good because the duck came in large chunks - good for a mains.
Overall thus, I would say, go to the Watermark if you're going to Phuket for the first day to at least try it. Then go to the Lotus the next day to get some down to earth food. After that, who knows, explore further the restaurants in Thailand Tatler or repeat the places as necessary :)
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Dinner date
We had dinner with Anand, Rohini & Partha the week before we left for Phuket. A&R have been living in Singapore for a few months. While I've met with R & Partha many times, Faith has yet to see him till then. Their age difference is only about 4 months apart.
Suffice to say that it was a busy night for the parents; trying to eat, catching up with each other and entertaining the 2 kiddos to boot :)
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The little family
