Friday night was a food-filled night.
Went to East Coast for a seafood dinner. The usual fare–prawns, Chilli crabs, black pepper crabs, steamed soon hock (that’s a kind of fish, but I don’t know what its English name), barbecued squid and a venison hotplate. I think the only dish I liked was the fish. The others were pretty mediocre. Anyway, it was an extended family dinner together with uncles, aunties and cousins.
After dinner, my sister, two other cousins and I headed off to Oscar’s Cafe and Terrace at Conrad Centennial hotel for Round 2! Nah, actually it was just dessert. Oscar’s is one of my favourite spots for dessert as they serve really good ones there. It’s also a good place to just sit and chat. The service is good too.
Because of it’s named after the famous Academy Awards, the desserts are all named after Oscar-winning films. We ordered a Casablanca and a As Good As It Gets. The former consisted of three scoops of ice cream–vanilla, passionfruit and stracciatella–served in a passionfruit mango sauce, topped with dark chocolate bits and pistachios. And it was here that I learnt that Stracciatella is really just a fancy name for Chocolate Chip ice cream.
As Good As It Gets contained of four scoops–raspberry sorbet, passionfruit, coffee and vanilla–served with some fresh raspberries. I had the Casablanca with one of my cousins and my sister had the As Good As It Gets with our other cousin. I enjoyed my ice cream (from Movenpick) but my sis and other cousin didn’t really enjoy theirs too much. First they said that the raspberry sorbet was way too sour. I think it would have been good had it been served together with some dark chocolate. The other thing that really bothered them about the ice cream was the container in which it was served in.
It was like one of those big round champagne glasses. It was quite tall and had a deep trough. It made for very difficult eating because of the following reasons:
1) The seats were a wee bit low. So we being not THAT tall, felt a bit like hobbits trying to sit at the edge of the chairs to eat.
2) The spoons weren’t long enough. They were just normal eating spoons and not those that had long handles.
3) The glass container was just too tall! The mouth of the massive cup was just too high and it dipped too low.
So anyway, my sis decided that we had to give some feedback to the management. After all, we’re just being kind so that they can improve and serve their customers better. So we asked the captain over and told him that we found the chairs too low, the tables too high and the glass too tall and deep. Man, are we demanding customers or what?? Haha.
But I think it’s alright to give feedback and we weren’t mean about it. The manager also graciously accepted our comments and told us that he’d feedback our comments in their weekly meeting.
After I got home, I slotted the Whale Rider DVD which I had rented into the player and stayed up till 3am to finish it! Great film! Keisha Castle-Hughes puts up a sensitive and heartfelt performance as Paikea, an 11-year-old trying her best to win her grandfather’s affection. The film also showcases the rich cultural traditions of the Maori race and at times I felt like I was watching a documentary. Anyway, definitely a recommended film.