A Very Greasy Zi Char Dinner!

I rarely do full zi char or seafood meals. They tend to induce really bad IBD flares; either from the allergies or from the sheer amount of grease in the food, even for plain vegetables. Once in a while, I can have a little bowl if there's a full table to share these dishes with.

That night, we bravely went to a collaboration dinner: Origin Grill X Keng Eng Kee Seafood (or KEK Seafood for short). For two nights, the dinner menu at Origin Grill at Shangri-la Hotel only held KEK Seafood's menu. They printed menus, wall stickers and little fans. It was a cute set-up. I like it that Origin Grill tries to keep things interesting by doing plenty of collab dinners this way. 

We've never eaten at KEK Seafood; we don't know what it's famous for or if it's popular or stuff. I only know it's a family-run restaurant, and they work pretty hard to draw the crowds. I might as well stop by tonight to taste its food rather than going to its actual restaurants because I wouldn't have stomach space if it's just two or three people, and it's tough to gather a table of 8-10 to share the fats. 

Tonight, we took the S$118++ per pax 'degustation menu' so that we could sample a little of everything. Chef Wayne Liew and his father Paul Liew were there, checking on diners and the kitchen. I don't know them, and I'm not interested in schmoozing. I just wanted to eat my food and leave. LOL

The food was typical Singaporean zi char, except tonight it was at Origin Grill at Shangri-la Hotel, so we got better service, cutlery and really decent alcohol. The rye bread and awesome butter that came at the start of the meal was lovely. I ate a little more bread, thinking that it would help soak up the incoming oily dishes. 

The appetizers were a hit and a miss. Two items were really quite delicious, like the coffee pork ribs and cereal prawns. The fried prawn rolls were average at best, and the sauce was equally iffy. The smashed spicy cucumbers with Sichuan peppers turned out bitter and simply gross.

The mains arrived together. There was a total carb and oil bomb in the form of 'moonlight hor fun' (月光河粉), with Miyazaki A5 wagyu striploin that melted into plate once stirred in. There were lupcheong and yuncheong too. Gawwwd, it was tasty and it was also utterly greasy af. It was impossible to eat more than five mouthfuls of it. I wouldn't know if the kitchen held back on the oil tonight, or it went full-on. If it did, then I dare not imagine how much more oily these dishes would be at the KEK restaurants.

The Boston lobster in black pepper sauce was underwhelming. Except that I do not like black pepper anything. I would really rather have my lobster in garlic, or just butter. I guess this is KEK's thing. They wouldn't do it as 'chilli lobster' at this dinner in order to cater for the diners who don't take too spicy stuff. I suppose they do crabs in the same manner. The fish dish was surprisingly good — Aquna Murray cod in KEK's version of fish head curry sauce with fried beancurd skin. At the end of dinner, all I can say is, each time I eat these dishes, I'm reminded that this isn't my kind of food. :P 

I skipped the dessert. I simply couldn't stomach anything else. Sugar and more carbs on top of grease would kill me. It wasn't my kind of dessert either. The man was keen to have a spoonful. Dessert came in the form of rainbow bread and sweet corn ice-cream. I have no words to describe sweet corn in the form of ice-cream. 

Aging in this Age of Gloom & Doom

Steeled myself to read Helen Simpson's 'Lub Dub Lub Dub Lub Dub', published in The New Yorker on August 30, 2026. It's never easy to read stories about mortality, aging and friendships. 

Tracey and Lois met for coffee on a hot May morning in London, in the middle of a heatwave. Right now, they're discussing about stovetops and Tracey's new cooker. They are old friends, and are in constant contact. 

Tracey is worried about her recently retired 65-year-old husband Adam's heart, and is attending a CPR workshop after this. Lois is on her way to catch the 10.07 train at Euston to visit her 92-year-old elderly mother living in the Midlands. For all purposes, the story recounts another day in their lives.

The story ends with an oven exploding. Tracey stays at home while Adam heads out to a tennis session. He has been very taken with exercise. Tracey was simply reading while heating up a lasagna when the oven door exploded. Tempered glass bits went everywhere. Luckily she wasn't cut or bleeding.  

I didn't know what to make of it this story. The mundane-ness of it all. Now, the title. It could simply be a reference to the steady march of the days till one dies. Like a heartbeat, plodding steadily till it stops beating. No one could tell when.

Lub dub lub dub lub dub is the noise of the heart beating when you listen with a stethoscope.

In an interview with the same journal, the author is asked if she still envisioned London to be headed for gloom and doom in 2040. She said yes. She had written an earlier story 'Diary of an Interesting Year' (2009) about Britain in 2040, after the 'Big Melt'. The author had taken her interest in climate science research and applied it to the storylines in her writing. 

The author is then asked how old friends would help with this doom and gloom that seems to be the world's future, at this pace it's headed towards.

Later that day, Tracey joins a real-estate agent, Ollie, to look at a flat. She and her husband are thinking about moving into a smaller space. “Downsize and Die,” Ollie says they call it in the office, before catching himself. For Tracey, this is a line to share with Lois. Would aging be a lot grimmer without an old friend like this?

Oh, but surely friends are the flower of life all the way through! Having two or three people on the same wavelength is the ultimate luxury, whether you’re twenty-three or forty-six or ninety-two. Though you’re right—old friends become rarer as the big scythe starts to swish more frequently. And, while you can make new friends, by definition it’s impossible to make new old friends—so you lose your shared past as well.

The unusual thing about Tracey and Lois is that, as well as communicating via WhatsApp, they’ve actually managed to meet IRL and exchange an IRL hug.

Sambal Kacang & Ikan Bilis

I can never say no to sambal kacang and ikan bilis. It goes with everything. It isn't the healthiest, but it makes everything so tasty. E's helper remembered that I love it. When she fried up a batch for the family, E packed a bottle for me. Yayyyy! Hehehehe.

Hoarded the bottle in the fridge. It's precious, these homecooked things. There was a day that began at 5am and ended at 8pm. All I wanted to do was to get home and have a hot shower. There wasn't any plan for dinner. I didn't even want to stop by anywhere to get a take-out. I figured I'd just boil up eggs or something.

When I felt more human and took a look at the fridge, I grinned. There were leftovers. Yay! I never mind leftovers as long as they have been properly kept. There was a small minced pork patty and 80g of white rice. That would do nicely. I didn't feel like boiled eggs, so I seared a sunny-side up. I was hungry, but not that much till I needed a full portion of food or wanted to boil up a bak zhang.

Took out the sambal kacang and ikan bilis, added a dash of sambal belachan too. LOVE. There, that was dinner done at  9.30pm. The small portions wouldn't cost indigestion or affect my sleep. It really wasn't too shabby, and absolutely delicious. I was very pleased with it.