Sunday, March 2, 2008

Restaurant Review: OOSH @ Dempsey Road . Singapore


Overall Verdict: Very Good.

Ambience : Excellent
The garden seating is romantic but also works nicely for groups. Tables are not too close to each other. Nice japanese influence with the usage of water ponds. 

Food: Excellent
3 Sea Sampler: Oyster shooter (bloody mary), shrimps and scallop with light mayo sauce. Not bad. 
Grilled Portobello Salad: Simple and tasty grilled portobello, greens with dried and fresh tomato.  Olive Oil & Balsamic dressing.
Oosh Spaghetti : Savory concoction of scallops, turkey bacon with garlic and tomato sauce. Highly recommended!
Spiced Octopus: Grilled with lemon juice and spices. Simple and delicious. It comes with thai-sauce, but we recommend that you eat it without.

Drink: Mediocre
Very limited selection of over-priced wine by the glass
1/2 Draft Heineken for $9 ...

Service: Good
We had no reservations on a Saturday night but they managed to accommodate us but did not get a great table under the pretext that all others are booked (which was not true ...).


Value for Money: Good
3 beers, 1 glass of wine and  4 dishes mentioned above: $108 for 2 people.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

6 days and a car finally!

Happy Friday/Saturday! Another week in M TV, time is flying. Almost 6 days to go for Tomo-chan to arrive!
Napa, SF, Berkeley here we come! So Tanoshi mi ! (yes i know a bit of Japanese).
I finally was able to rent a car today, what a relief ! It is my 1st time to drive a Hyundai, it is not bad at all.
Tonight, Tomo-chan and I had a lovely video conference over MSN, we even had a coffee 'together' and other stuff..
Later I moved to a one-bedroom apartment, with a patio so big, we can play futsal on! Then went out to dinner to a seafood place, had seabass and a glass of pinot noir (chotto weird combination) ... so so or 'mama huhu' as they say in Chinese..).
Tomorrow, I am DRIVING to SF, staying over my boss's place (and feeding her cat while she's away) and meeting an good old friend for dinner.

Monday, January 28, 2008

2nd Sunday in M TV

Second Sunday in M TV, means one more Sunday without Tomo-chan.

I was car-less again. Hope to rent a car from next weekend. It is tough not to have a car in the US..

I went (walked) to see a movie in the only theater in town. No Country For Old Men, by the Coen Brothers, was so gripping and bleak yet so excellent (direction, storyline and acting), it was worth all the stress that I went through... Also, there is this sense of relief walking back home, that life isn't that bad.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Food in MT V

One thing I love about the US is food. I am not talking about all the junk food that makes too many americans obese... the same junk food chains that litter most of the world we live in. There is another side (people from or who spent time in San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami , DC, .. know what I am talking about) (and by the way, the best hotel management university is no longer in Switzerland but in the US - Cornell!). Even a place like MT V, with its proximity to Silicon Valley and San Francisco, offers a very wide array of cuisines. That was such a pleasant surprise! In 5 days, I have sampled decent food from Vietnam, Italy, Japanese x2, Mexican and Indian... and more to come). Mind you, all those places are within a radius of <1 mile , downtown area and < 15min walk from where i live.
For a listing for all (or most) restaurants, click here:
http://www.mountainviewca.net/mv.html
Also, got to mention Red Rock Cafe, they have the best espresso around (so far), and have lovely live bands that play almost every night. (I am writing this from that Cafe and listening a to this really cool country'ish / blue grass'ish band with a husky-voiced female vocalist - reminds me of my time in Austin..). I am a little lost which restaurant to take Tomo-chan with only 2 nights here in M TV. (not being sarcastic..)

Mountain View Town - high level.

As i will be staying in Mountain View (we call it MTV at my company) for several weeks, figured i ought to know a liiittle bit about this place. Predictably i went to Wikipedia.com for inspiration:
"
Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city gets its name from the views of the Santa Cruz Mountains. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 70,708."

The same source in Wikipedia mentions that whites make up 66%, Latino 18%, Asian 20%...but i do see (or maybe just notice) a lot more Asians (indians, chinese, etc..) than Whites on the road (or maybe - most probably- whites tend to use cars rather than walk.

Lots of IT companies have setup shop here ... the only logical explanation - to me- was (no longer is) is cheaper real estate vs. Silicon Valley or San Francisco. If you'd like more info (doubt it..), click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_View%2C_California

No offense, it is an Ok little place, but it is a little town with not a lot to do but... check out my Food in MT V post....

2nd post (i mean , ever!)

It cold and wet here in Mountain View. But it is Friday :-)

2 more weeks to go.. almost.

No complaints!

Friday, January 25, 2008

Days in San Francisco

Currently getting a bunch of training in Mountain View, while Tomo chan is in Japan.
Sabishi ! but we talk 3-4 times a day, which is great. :-)