Top 10 Restaurants!

So H and I love good food, and we were talking about this last night as we were enjoying a fabulous meal at the Ubiquitous Chip in Glasgow. Here's our list of our top 10 favorite restaurants and why. What are yours?

In no particular order of merit :

1) Gordon Ramsey, London - a special treat where the food is gorgeous and the service/presentation brings the term "food opera" to life. The experience, and the price, were truly eye-opening. And no, we didn't see Mr. Ramsey come out and harangue the guests

2) Gramercy Tavern, New York - we wandered across this place on our first trip to New York. Despite being underdressed, we managed to grab a reservation in one of the most popular restaurants in NY. It was the first truly classy food and service experience we had at a decent price

3) Ubiqitous Chip, Glasgow - this just got added to our top 10 list. The Chip was started in 1971, focusing on locally sourced, well done Scottish fare. An amazing concept in 1971, and still a really great experience even now. I had a steak au poivre (ie. cooked in its own juices) that was the best steak i ever had, along with the most flavorful cherry tomatoes ever! And i can still taste the white rice pudding from last night as i type this note...

4) Cheesecake Factory, US - yes, i know this is a chain. But H and I had some really nice experiences here, the cheesecakes are AMAZING, and the portions are great value for money. If you count t
he number of times we walked out of here ready to burst... you'll understand why this is here...

5) Chili Padi, Singapore - this is the only Singapore restaurant on this list because you can really only have good Peranakan in SE Asia. This is a consistently good restaurant that serves our favs like Kue Pie Ti and Beef Rendang, and an absolutely amazing sago with gula melaka.

6) Inopia, Barcelona - hands down the BEST Tapas place we've ever been to. it's a diner like restaurant where you get to see the cooks making your tapas in front of you. we loved it so much, we went back twice during the trip! I still recall the waitress trying to explain what a sea urchin was (cos we couldn't understand the menu) and making oinking noises...

7) Zingerman's Roadhouse, Ann Arbor, US - www.zingermansroadhouse.com. seriously, go check it out. H and I have never had a bad experience there, and H swears by the pulled pork. Me, i swear by the donut sundae (actually both of us do). AMAZING!

8) Japanese tapas in Vancouver - don't recall the name of this place but the japanese tapas were amazing. still the most succulent squid i've ever had....

9) Helena's Hawaiian Food - a diner which won a James Beard award for best local food. Like Chili Padi, this offered a great experience, made special by the fact that you could only get this in Hawaii.

10) High tea at the Empress, Vancouver Island and the Ritz, London - we cheated a bit here as we couldn't decide. The Empress had the best experience, with its high vaulted ceilings and windows and tremendous amount of natural lighting, all overlooking the shore. The Ritz, on the other hand, had some truly amazing tea and scones (clotted cream!!!!) and desserts.

Honorable mentions :
Valentino's, Singapore - loved the food, and definitely grea in Singapore, but perhaps not the best that we've ever tasted.

Les Amis au Jardin, Singapore - this pales in comparison to Gordon Ramsey

Oonetheque, Singapore - a new place we tried out that's pretty good (in Suntec City)

A kaiseki meal that we had in Japan

Slanted Door, San Franciso - a great Vietnamese place by the Bay. Still the best paper rice rolls i've had!

As we put this list together, we realised that we had yet to taste really amazing dim sum or Chinese food. Also, it was sad to see that we didn't really have too many Singaporean dining experiences in there. Any recommendations?

Anyway, hope to add more to this list in future years!

OMG = Lucky

Amazing how one day, one chat, can change the potential course of your life for the next 5-8 years.

Amazing how 2 years ago, i blogged here about an amazing opportunity. And today, i'm blogging again about another amazing opportunity to work in another country.

Stay tuned for more developments....

Life goes on and on and on...

Let myself get a little addicted (ok, a lot addicted to WoW) during the year end holidays, hence the lack of blogging.

So here's some major updates in my life.

Got Lasik! 6/6 in one eye, 6/4 in the other. Can't complain, but you do kinda notice the difference between the eyes. It is so amazing to finally be free of glasses after 23 years with them. And i KNOW for a fact not that i cannot deal with contacts. Had to wear them for a bit cos my eyes were done seperately, and let me tell you, it is NOT FUN having to try to pry a lens out of the corner of your eye that is feeling dry and irritated while driving at 90km/h down the PIE. So Lasik = good. It's strange to feel the wind in your eyes for the first time.

Got interviewed and featured in one ginormous photo for the first time. Amazing how everyone saw it, including long-lost friends (who i did not remember for the life of me) and mom's friends. And equally amazing how quite a few of the comments centred around.... "your eyes were too small, you look better with specs" and "you look too young in that photo without specs". Maybe i should get cosmetic glasses just for photoshoots....

Got some really good news from my boss. Let's just say that i got some unexpected recognition (financial and otherwise) from the top. Made me happy, and extremely surprised. My mom jumped out of her skin when i told her (she measures prestige by numbers/salary)

Had our farewell for K last night. I teared up a little during the tribute (ok, a lot... my voice broke) but it was tears of joy. At having met such a wonderful person, mentor, coach and boss. Thanks K, for everything! And i know everyone else feels the same way. People talk about the shadow of the leader, and i know that i aspire to be a leader like you, someone who inspires through respect, through competence, through love, empathy and admiration.

Ajantis is happy-sad in a good way...

Late night thoughts...

Two things.
1) I have one of the best bosses in the world (hyperbole, i know) and i'm dang bloody grateful for it. Must let him know next monday

2) I need to not angst so much over whether i'm doing a good job.

Ajantis will be less bluesy tomorrow...

Marathoning for life

Finished the marathon in sub 5 hours. 4 hrs and 51 minutes to be exact! 25 minutes better than my previous marathon time. Guess that's the difference when you run the marathon with 6 hours of sleep and no flu (yes, i ran with a flu in 2006).

The sun and heat were tiring, but all in all, it was a great run. The toughest part of the run was walking back to my car after the finish. I was so tired, i was shuffling like a 60 year old man, leaning on the pole while waiting for the traffic light to change. The multiple abrasions on my waist, thigh and knees didn't help either....

But still, i'm glad i did this 2nd marathon. Thanks everyone for coming down, even if i finished before you guys got there!

Ajantis is tired, hungry, sleepy but contented...

Loneliness of being

I've had to make a couple of really tough decisions the past couple of weeks. It's made me realise how lonely leadership can be, because i couldn't really talk about the full picture except with my boss or with H.

Guess that's why it becomes so difficult for leaders to do the right but tough things sometimes. Something that i'm still coming to terms with but am ready to accept. Good thing H is always there to provide a listening ear (and soon, a shoulder to rest on!)

On a less maudlin' note, the marathon is tomorrow. Don't know why i'm so nervous since i ran it the last time in worse shape (cos of a dang flu). Guess it's just nerves, or maybe it's because I stupidly told EVERYONE i was doing it and asked friends to come down and support me -.-

Oh well. Need to go rush down to buy a pair of earphones now.

Ajantis has butterflies in his chest....