A Havelock Respite Revisited

Whoaaa. 2 posts in January and then 1 post in March. It almost felt like I'm neglecting my little pet project but swear, I'm not! Have been away from proper Internet connection for the last three weeks - tucked in the quiet and isolated Havelock.

First class India diving experience ;)

Havelock is a painful journey to get to - 4.5 hours of flight from Singapore to Kolkata/Chennai, then over two hours flight to Port Blair. Depending on availability of flights, you may end up spending a night in Port Blair to catch the early morning ferry (2.5 hours) to Havelock island.

Still, it's worth it. But I must admit it should have been highly unlikely for me to return so soon if it hadn't been for Mr K.

The Beach Life is the kind of routine you won't mind falling back on, day after day. On days that I don't dive (which is the majority, btw), I get up in the morning (hardly can sleep in as it gets warmer in the day), shower and head out to the cafe by the beach for an hour-long breakfast affair. I'll have a fan turned on while I wrap myself on to a comfortable armchair, or tuck myself into a hammock, stopping occasionally from reading to take in the beautiful beach. Life is good.

Some days I get a treat and we go on a different beach, another restaurant or something highly exciting like night kayaking and night jungle walk. Coz that's the kind of place Havelock is, quiet and unassuming. 

Night kayaking in Havelock is something entirely different. We head out before dusk, armed with oars. Paddled from the beach 800m out to where the thick mangroves action are at. The low-hanging trees certainly add to the mystery - which did not help matters when Tanaz, our kayak organizer, announced for us to not panic if there are snakes or birds that hang on to the branches....

Digressing, news of crocodile sightings sprouted a couple of days before our little kayaking adventure. Needless to say, all of us were on our toes, eyes open wide for any suspicious log-lookalike, hehe.

But we all got to a clearing safe and sound, the night is still and silent, millions of starts dotted the night sky and the phosphorescent plankton glittered when our oars brushed the waters. Beautiful....

The night jungle walk is another creepy affair. We headed out at 8pm (which is really 10pm, geographically) and got on to the forest trail, each carrying their own torch lights. After a short walk, I noticed drops of blood on the trail - they looked wet, fresh! That can't be good. We walked on, carefully landing on the slippery moss-covered stones. Then what we saw before us was mind-blowing beyond reason. 

A fallen tree covered in blood, appendages of a carcass lay before us, along with two sets of flip-flops, a machete and two bulging plastic bags. Unanimously, we decided to head back, pronto. That was an eerie sight, and knowing that the poachers were probably hiding and spying on us!

Meet Buffy - the menace.

Sam the gentle giant. This is one of his unusual poses. Usually he is found lying on his back with all  fours in the air, an open invitation to rub and scratch.

:)

And Frodo the Loyal. He is utterly attached to Vinnie, follows him everywhere like a shadow.

Buffy looks a little retarded here, but then again, she always is the odd one out, heh.

Surprise, surprise, the only food porn photo I've taken this trip. A South Indian breakfast of dosa in a little, run-down eatery where the cook bustles about in a longyi and singlet. While we munch on our breakfast, a juvenile goat strolls in and pokes its head into a carton of tomatoes. It got shooed away at the first tomato, but is unperturbed. When our longyi-clad chef disappears into the kitchen, the little kid trotted purposefully to the next basket full of okras where it happily chewed at least a dozen of them, heh.

Kuda Tahun Baru Cina

Well, well, well. It's been a fulfilling break from work and been busy amidst the Chinese New Year celebration, catching up with family and friends, playing with Pickles, and of course, stuffing my face at every opportunity. 

Mum is not cutting any slack either, 80% of the meals we have eaten in the two weeks I was back are all prepared by Mom, made from scratch. Like this pineapple jam that she forced asked me to take a shot of. No shortcuts in the preparation, all that stirring requires time and patience. And all that effort is reflected, they taste really good!

Update on the house senior citizen... She's really almost blind and practically deaf. It's sad but kind of funny at the same time, bless her. I will shout at her and she will be turning left and right trying to locate the source of sound, and scamper in the opposite direction. My little baby.

She was really manja when she realized I was back :) She stuck to me and wouldn't let me out of her sight., clambering up and down the stairs like an old lady. It's been almost half a year since she'd seen me and it does feel really good to rub her belly again.

Oh, I've gotten myself a pre-loved DSLR! Can't wait to break it in (well, by a new user anyway) on more adventures!

Hehe, love how funky this picture turned out. Dad was just curious as to what I was doing squatting on the front garden with a big black box.

Tua Ee's yummy assam laksa. It's one of the things that make me salivate just thinking about it. Thick, chunky pieces of mackerel swimming in sweet and sour broth - a complex mix of ingredients. Divine. (I escaped from the whole mackerel flesh-extracting process).

We have a guest! Mum doing a imaginary tv show, playing host to Vinnie and doing the whole introductory to a Chinese New Year Eve steamboat dinner. And yeah, she has a right to be proud of their work -

The usual steamboat suspects of prawns, fish balls, tofu, abalone, fishes, crabsticks, mushroom & pork balls, enoki mushrooms, fish maw, all accompanied with pickled chillis (homemade again by mum) with soy sauce. Mum and Tua Ee have outdone themselves again and made extra special effort of presenting the otherwise bland ingredients to our guest.

We've all said it before but I'm saying it again; our reunion dinner participants have shrunk in numbers. We used to eat out the back of Ah Ma's house for the space, but now just the circular dining table is able to seat  us all comfortably.

When all the young 'uns have retired from eating, the lau langs are still at it!

Puak kiau time! All kiau kui here...

And the yearly 2nd day CNY dinner with the others who didn't make it on the Eve.

Yes, I suppose next item on the list is a flash gun. Sigh.

And a tripod.... I only have the camera balanced on a table to get this shot.

And a little reunion with the girls...

Ending the post with Pickles looking like she's about to have a crick in the neck. She was begging for food by the table, although she still very much possess a keen sense of smell, her vision is obsolete. So she thinks she's looking at us with googly eyes but in fact she's staring at the ceiling here.

Ramen Santouka

Approximately three years ago, I recall vividly going to the 'Japan Street' in Pavilion, KL and Stanley, a colleague back in KL, recommended a ramen place that is supposedly 'quite good'. Having only tried ramen at a few Japanese restaurants in KL, I wasn't entirely keen, but still game enough to give it a try.

Oh. my. It was the best ramen I have ever had. The broth was thick and flavourful, but still light enough to slurp every last drop. The noodles were cooked al dente, the pork meat very tender, almost buttery - no chewing required. I could find no fault with it.

I remembered Santouka ramen, it was the first, and the last time I dined there for a while.

Then I moved to Singapore and I was even more spoiled with choices. Ippudo Ramen @ Mandarin Gallery hits the spot but I find that their broth to be a tad overwhelming, unlike Santouka's.

When I found out that Santouka too, had a branch in Singapore, I knew I had to go back there and see if it still excites my tongue the way it did, three years back.

The Central, Clarke Quay. Bit tricky to look for this restaurant. Very well hidden.

Tofu with bonito flakes, spring onions, ginger paste and soy sauce. Tofu wasn't as soft as I expected. It was meh for me.

TY's order of some special ramen with additional topping and 50% more noodles kind of item. It is a spicier variety and I prefer mine, so let's move on.

I ordered the Shio Tonkotsu ramen - which was the same variety I ordered back in KL. My order arrived and I was super excited - it arrived and looked exactly the same way I remembered three years ago! Excellent! (rub palms together)

The pork-based broth is exactly how I remembered it. Comes with strips of bamboo shoots, spring onions, black fungus, little Naruto slice and melt-in-your-mouth pork slices.

Gyoza -  too greasy for my liking. I love the ramen here but I think Ippudo still has better side dishes than Santouka. The pork buns and gyozas at Ippudo are to die for! Also you get to customise your ramen at Ippudo a lot more, additional toppings, done-ness of noodles, etc.

Well, excuse me while I clean the keyboard of stray saliva....


Ramen Santouka
6 Eu Tong Sen Street #02-76
The Central Singapore
Tel: +65 6224 0668

Forty Hands

Shall start the first of 2014 posts with something I love doing - eating. At one of my favourite cafes in Singapore: Forty Hands.

I think I may have had written about this place some time ago, but no harm going there again just to confirm its consistency? Of course.

Photos from phone :/ (meh)

Tucked and almost obscured between shop-houses in the Tiong Bahru neighbourhood. The only aspect that separates this shop from the others is the line of people queueing to get seats! The dine-in crowed can get crazy sometimes. You have to pick a good time to pop in. Once I was there for tea (3pm-ish) and there was a 30-40 minute wait! But on other occasions, I was there for brunch (noon till 1pm) and we usually get seats right away.

Default flat white. Forty Hands' coffee beans lay somewhere on the sour quadrant in the taste section. Strange when I first tried it, I thought their milk had gone bad! But no, it's just the way their coffee beans are.

Another cause of the ridiculously long lines - there's only about enough seating for 16-18 people indoors and a few tables at the back (outdoor setting) of this old-HDB shop lot. They do try to cram in more seats and tables, which is quite unfortunate. There was a time when I went there with TY and his face was literally next to a large female's bum! Thank goodness the next table was leaving so we swapped tables. The patrons that came after that also looked uncomfortable with the unusual seating arrangements and they also requested for another table, lol. But otherwise a nice indie cafe with a laidback atmosphere, really, complete with mismatched tables and chairs. 

Chilli dog with bolognaise, scrambled eggs and bacon - not bad but not as awesome as the Big Boy's Breakfast!

Big Boy's Breakfast - Sourdough with fatty bacon strips (wish they offer back bacon as an option!), eggs (any way you want - I had mine over hard), grilled tomatoes, handful of rocket leaves, bolognaise and sour cream. Oh and two beautifully fried, spicy Chipotle pork sausages which were my favourite! Love them to bits. And no baked beans, thank goodness for that.

I love how quaint and old-school Forty Hands serve their meals in. Like this metal plate, Ah Ma used to have stacks of them - usually for steamed pork & egg custard. Yum.

Cheese, tomato and ham toasties. Simple ingredients but you can never go wrong with them. The toast felt a little soggy though and lacking in the 'crunch' department.

Salad that I can't recall the name. A little Asian twist to it with stripped bok choy, bacon pieces, carrots, feta cheese and macadamia nuts. Spot on, loved the combination. Wished they were walnuts instead of macadamia, though.

There's also a pork belly pau that I've always meant to try but I get side-tracked all the time. Oh well, looks like I will have to do another dreaded trip to Forty Hands, then ;)

40 Hands Coffee

78 Yong Siak Street,

#01-12 Tiong Bahru.

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays 8am to 7pm.

Fridays & Saturdays 8am to 10pm

Closed Mondays.