Ever since I went to Amy’s home in the eastern side of Singapore at the end of last month and documented it in this post, I found myself heading to that corner of the island two more times in the last three weeks.
First, I was back at the Holy Family Church, two Fridays ago, not to attend mass but to park “illegally” in its carpark, something I’m told it’s OK to do by one of its parishioners and staunch volunteer at the church.
This friend suggested that I did that, when inviting me to eat at Cafe Oliv that was about a 100 metres from the church, as many of the worshippers leave the cars in the carpark after mass too.
Cafe Oliv is a delight. Quietly stylish. No wonder this friend was so adamant I tried it. We had set dinner. It was a Friday night and the cafe was respectfully full. Still, the service was good, the meal at $16 (I think, as I didn’t pick up the bill) excellent value for three courses + coffee.
What do I consider good service? Cheerful and amenable, for a start. When I said I didn’t want linguini with the grilled scallops as my main, I was offered alternative pasta with alacrity.
I chose spaghetti as I dislike both linguini and penne. Spaghers was done just right. Al dente without being raw. The four scallops which came with the pasta weren’t what I had been expecting but the plump in-their-shell kind that I got so addicted to in Bintan and Bali — so they turned out to be a very pleasant and tasty suprise…. and so fresh that I could hear the waves of the sea from whence they had been plucked.
yummy to the last morsel
The soup which kicked off the meal was a cream of mushroom, with plenty of fresh mushroom in it, and came with two bread wedges that were crisp without being tough to the bite.
The meal ended with a brownie topped with ice-cream. I asked for my ice-cream to be served separately, as I like to put it into my coffee in lieu of milk. The wait staff obliged, as they did our request to have our coffee at half strength.
The brownie was moist and choclaty in the nicest way. The coffee was of just the right strength and I had no problem sleeping at my usual witching hour.
soup and bread
sweet ending
Sunday nite (March 14) saw ex-colleague ML (whose late mum’s memorial mass at the Holy Family Church I attended earlier this year) treating me to a meal at Mana Mana Beach Club at the East Coast Lagoon.
ML had waxed lyrical about the place and especially the band which played there on Sunday nites. I would rather go there at any time but the week-end as I’m following a Korean serial — Honor of Family — and loath to miss any episodes from its week-end screening on Channel U.
So I went to Mana Mana reluctantly. OK, it’s a nice enough beach-side cafe and the food it served was up to beach-side standards. The wait staff were jolly and friendly in the usual beach-side style: breezy and bosomy. But, and a strong but, it’s far more manicured than the Mana Mana original I knew and fondly remembered in Bintan.
The reason for ML’s strong desire to be at Mana Mana on a Sunday nite was clearly the band and in particular, the lead singer, a gravelly voiced local-born Filipino (so he said) who took requests to sing old-time fav songs.
He took my request (Hotel California) and promised to sing more from the Eagles like Tequila Sun Rise etc but after my fav, I didn’t hang around till the turn for my next request was sung. I might have, had he been a younger singer but I wasn’t going to waste beauty sleep waiting for a singer wannabee from yesterday to play my favourite tune.
Yup, I’m that superficial.
Still, there’s one point worth noting. The band also plays at Mana Mana on Wednesday nites and hopes to draw a bigger following beyond ML with a one-for-one beer/wine promotion.
Drink to that anyone?
FOOD fuels me to talk... 