The simpler life...

Kiasu-ism... Or more appropriate to what i wanna talk about, having your cake and eating it too (that must be the worst idiom ever... what's the point of having a cake when u can't eat it... but u get my point...) it's sad that the oft-held image of singaporeans being risk averse and generally can't bear to be on the losing end of anything. and i say that not with the "i'm high above all this; why can't others learn" attitude (though i say i was like that before). unfortunately, it's more of the "sadly, i'm one of them" apprehension that i'm penning this entry

i first mused bout the topic during a casual chat with swee kiong. i dunno what the heck we were arguing bout, but as with often the case, i came up with a wager/dare. a macdonald's meal/canteen treat/cup of drink (i forgot which of these frequent ones i used that day) for whoever is right after we go check up our stuff.

[side track... i know a lot of people who love to use unrealistic items (a million dollars, stripping, their life/head/body part etc) on wagers. it's one thing to use them as a figure of speech to express a deep sense of certainty but it bugs me when they focus on the betting part even when they're dead certain they're right. what's the fun of betting (or the amusement of the talk bout betting) when u know the wager is totally unrealistic and will never be fulfilled. i much prefer a small, realistic bet of a small but reasonable value. makes the discovery process more fun and hey, a simple meal or five/ten bucks doesn't hurt anyone]

okay, back to topic. so, yeah. sadly not many people take up my offers (maybe it's a blessing also. i've had my far share of wrong assumptions) and he's not any different. but he added something which got me thinking. "eh, i go check it out first then i confirm with you on the bet" or sth along those lines. yeah, it's probably in jest and i'm sure he didn't mean it but it kinda provokes you to think bout how many people like the idea of a risk-free reward, doesn't it? and i must admit, looking for a free lunch in a world where nothing comes free doesn't sit too well with my beliefs

i probably can go on analysing why this happens but nah, i'm not in that mood today. it reeks of a certain form of kiasu-ism, and it's just a disappointing to see it quite rampant in people around. maybe it's not just singapore and happening elsewhere too, but well, it IS pretty common here. and heck, i hate it but there's a streak of that in me too

i believe pretty strongly about the relation between risk and reward but sad to say i've seen myself turn down risks so many times. it's probably like how i realise i am actually a pretty conservative person who believes in liberal concepts and philosophy (ah, that would probably make something interesting to blog about some other day when the inspiration hits). sometimes what i preach, believe and aspire is not what i practice down at the moment

sure, there are certain things where i'm always ready to throw myself into. heck, i've found myself taking gambles that don't really offer much value in more than a few occasions. but certain things, i'm just way too safety orientated. i just can't wait til the odds are way in my favour cos they never will be. you never get anything when you never put any stakes on the table, i firmly believe.

now time to take the plunge more readily! (chances are, it'd all be too much of a hassle and i'd just be content being in the comfort zone all over again) oh well

PS: ok, i did a li'l search on the idiom. so turned out the more logical way to phrase that should be "eat one's cake and have it too". so, yeah, makes much more sense. and i guess having a cake and eating it too sounds way better. so who cares if it seems absurd

today was sadly underwhelming. reasonably fun i guess but was sadly expecting a bit more. so, yeah, was saw's ord treat. darn, i had like a whole comprehensive review of kushinbo in my head but as usual, now that i'm up on blogger all motivation to blog seems to have gone. guess i'd just cut it short. there were many things to like about it, and i did enjoy many dishes there, but sadly i wasn't too impressed with the overall package. in terms of value and quality of food and stuff it certainly does beat the cheaper buffets like those at seoul garden and sakae, but sadly i just can't seem to give it my whole-hearted recommendation. it's quite disappointing i enjoyed the dim sum buffet outing the last time much more than this.

grr, i'm so not doing it justice by brushing through all the small but important details. ugh, guess the food critic inside me is taking over... so, yeah, first impression when i went into the restaurant was pretty good. walked past the desert section first which have a pretty good assortment (compared to budget buffets like seoul garden, i mean, and not to those international buffets). and what with desert being one of my favourite types of food was really looking forward to all the cakes, ice cream. they even had a mini fondue (sure, i don't really dig fondues but just the presence of one always makes restaurants look way classier)

the other sections looked tempting too... sushi and sashimi were placed quite nicely next, followed by a few cooked dishes, the teppanyaki section (you pick the raw meat and pass to a chef who helps you cook them), and the nabe section. most of us skipped breakfast (i had a light one) so were quite famished when we entered the restuarant, so lo and behold, it's time for the spamming to start

i started off with the sushi section. they have most of the standard stuff you'd expect to have, but generally stopped at that. unagi, shrimp, roe, egg, california roll, tuna and the like... they were all decent, nicer than most cheapskate takeaways you buy outside but nothing too spectacular. the soy sauce was of quite high quality so accentuated the taste a bit, but that's it. (i could actually discern the fermentation of the beans instead of the usual factory produced ho-hum saltiness of usual soy sauce... and i say all that knowing nothing about the fine points of soy sauce... i'm so gonna be screwed if they turned out to be using some lousy brand or what)

after that went to the cooked food section. had some pork cutlet, yakitori, some braised chicken wings, tempura... didn't try the soft shell crab. again, as with the story of the day, they were good but not spectacular. wasn't too impressed with the tempura. breading was done very simply and was not fresh enough to wow me (wasn't anywhere near stale, just average). the sauce was so, so too. yakitori was decent. i quite liked it though would have dug more variety with the different chicken parts (my fave chicken skin! haha). small insignificant issue though. i dug the katsu sauce that went with the pork katsu (lol, that sounds like the story of the day)

next up was nabe (some kind of hotpot thing)... my, that was one dish done great. can rival some japanese restaurants at that. there were quite a few varieties to choose from (saw took the chiken one, which i kop-ed from), and my, the soup was done perfect. could taste the melding of the ingredients used from the veggies to the meat, all combining to give a savoury, sweet taste. my, i didn't think too much of this then (after all, who gives much attention to something so filling when you have those small, exquisite and more expensive dishes to gush over), but on hindsight i think this was the dish i enjoyed the most. loved the extra touch when bowls of udon, soba and chasoba was available too. there was the cold soba sauce for those who like it that way, but i loved how they catered to people like me too who like their soba taken with hot soup

teppenyaki up next (i talk like i've taken my food systematically but the truth was i just kop-ed whatever other people had taken most of the time)... the chef cooking for you was a nice touch but either they had very limited choices or bing bing/pong/aaron kept going for the same few dishes. it's probably the former, so i'd risk being a fool and claim outright that they have only 3 things to choose from: salmon, dory and chicken. they were done quite well, but it gets a bit tiring eating the same 3 things very quickly. and while it was an intended move and a healthy one, i was a bit disappointed they took out the skin. that's like the nicest part of the chicken/fish and adds so much flavor to an otherwise slightly bland dish.

oh yeah, had chawanmushi somewhere in the middle. was quite good. heck, darn good actually. easily rank in top 5 i've ever eaten (though i haven't eated much of that in my entire life, so take the ranking at your own discretion)

and finally it was on to desserts. my appetite isn't the biggest out there but i'm pretty hot on desserts so that's where i usually recoup my money from from buffets. sadly, while it all looked so appetising and all when i came in they didn't turn out so spectacular. the tiramisu probably summed the whole thing up. this is one of my fave desserts i'm talking bout, so i probably liked the restaurant a few times more right after entering it and seeing it available. after all, there's few things nicer than tiramisu done right. coffee and alcohol, probably the two of the finest foods on earth, combined together in a light fluffy texture that melts in your mouth and leaves a divine aftertaste. what more can you ask for. okay, i digress.

and thus it turned out to be the let-down of the day. i guess it was a nice touch they made the original, mascarpone cheese/cream version instead of the cakey version that's becoming way too common but other than that there was nothing much in it. the delicate layers that makes tiramisu so heavenly is nowhere to be seen/tasted, replaced by a strong cheesy and acidic taste more reminiscent of cheesecake than the holy desert of italia. the cocoa/coffee powder on top of it felt like a seperate dish altogether, totally not blending with the rest of it. and sadly, they went for a kids-friendly version and omitted the rum. sad, cos that could probably have salvaged the dish a li'l, bringing out the coffee/alcohol fusion as well as masking the poor, acidic aftertaste of its mascarpone. i still had 5 of them, but that's not the point haha. was terribly disappointing.

the rest didn't go down too well either. their donuts were rock hard and hardly appetising. didn't dig the few moshi desserts out there too. and my, the soft serve was terrible. i was quite thrilled when i saw the machine but sadly it turned out to serve only green tea ice cream. sad. they could have at least have both green tea and vanilla. i guess my opinions is probably biased regarding green tea, but considering how most of us didn't finish our helpings i guess it didn't go down too well with others either. the cakes (only 2 differnt types) was decent at least, and contrary to saw, loved the cream puffs with the chocolate-cream-bursting-in-your-mouth sensation. thought they made a good move providing waffles for the fondue. loved the first few i had. sadly, the waffles wasn't the best (it was quite tasteless and hard) and neither was the chocolate so after a few more helpings didn't like it that much too.

drinks wise there were the standard soft drinks. liked the extra touch of a coffee machine and a wide selection of tea sachets. surprisingly they didn't seem to have house-brewed green tea for a japanese restaurant (not that it mattered to me)

and my biggest gripe for the day: WHERE ARE MY OCTOPUS!! that was the dish i was most looking forward to before the meal lah. octopus sushi, baby octopus, takoyaki. all somehow MIA. and from the reviews/short recommendations of the place it seems like they do have it usually on the menu. sad. just my day to go and they don't serve it. and i guess for someone who doesn't take sashimi/soft shell crabs i ain't the best or most reliable person to go to for a review of the place.

when i look back at it and think bout it logically it is actually a pretty good place with pretty good food that offers quite good value for money. it's like if i order a set from a japanese restaurant i'd probably pay around the same price. and i'd get nabe+udon, rice, some appetisers and a main dish, all of which can probably be found at kushinbo. and i can even throw in sushi, sashimi and a whole assortment of side dishes into the fray here. sadly, my experience there didn't pull at my heart strings like a good restaurant should. it was a typical buffet experience. first, the enjoyment of trying out the assortment of stuff the restaurant has to offer; next the gouging on food and stuffing oneself to his fullest, and when it all boils over, the regret of overeating, wondering why you so craved a buffet before that and promising not to skip buffets for the next xxx years. unfortunately, while i could leave supposedly lesser restaurants like seoul garden and the dim sum buffet and long men feeling way bloated and uncomfortable but still able to recall the fun of stuffing so much food in such a short time, the feeling i got going out of kushinbo today was mainly just the discomfort and regret. perhaps today just wasn't the day.

After that was a bit of an anti-climax too. initally plan before today was to karaoke. as sucky as my off-key singing is and despite my tiny knowledge of songs which hampens the k experience, singing still presents good fun for me once in a while and i must admit i was moderately looking forward to it. sadly most of the rest of the section didn't want to. not everyone was into a movie too so in the end we just wandered around suntec for a while (arcade watching saw and toby play was mildly entertaining so at least it wasn't that much a wasted day i guess) before heading back. oh well. next alpha outing then...

(i'm surprised i came here just to write a recounting post. darn. the food gourmet/critic is getting the better of me... and to think i've spent the past hour doing this instead of enjoying myself playing some game haha. oh well. there's the joy of blogging too i guess)

there's a certain romanticism in being a loser. you know, how songs, poems and whatanot seem to almost always talk bout being failed, failing, having the odds stacked against one, yadda yadda. so much is said bout winning but who ever gives a thought bout those in positions of power, the situation weighed towards them, where winning is a foregone conclusion. anything else is just a letdown

ah, to be in the realm of the undeserving again