Wolfgang Puck's CUT

We don't do very-fine-dining very often, but we did it recently for a special occassion. We went to Michelin star chef Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in Marina Bay Sands called 'Cut'. Now I don't think I can review a steak restaurant with any sort of authority given that I eat my meat 'well done' & like it with a lot of greens. But having said that, I do love my meat & even though I can't tell whether it was a good cut & whether it was cooked to perfection, it was pretty darn good. I ordered Japanese Wagyu Filet Mignon with an Argentinian chimichurri sauce, which came in an unpretentious portion & with 4 kinds of mustard dips. Satisfaction followed! :)

BBC's Sherlock

We've been following 'Sherlock' these days & at the end of Season 2, here's what I'm convinced of: Sherlock knew all along what Moriarty's plan was - hence the mannequin hanging from the ceiling in the first (or was it second?) episode; and Sherlock suggesting the high-rise as the place for their final meeting. I'm also convinced that the twist has something to do with the (garbage?) truck parked below the building when Sherlock jumped & Molly's job in the morgue (or is she in forensics? - either way, she has access to corpses).

Just an instinct.

"The Explosion of the Radiator Hose" by Jean Rolin

I thought this was an interesting part-fiction/ part-factual English translation of a French book written by journalist Jean Rolin. Its a travelogue by Rolin about transporting a used Audi car from Paris to Kinshasa (Congo) for use as a taxi and everything he sees, experiences & hears on the way.

I knew very little about the Republic of Congo (hell, I didn't even know that Zaire has been renamed as Congo!) except that it was a French colony once & has a horrifying political history stained by coups, blood-curdling assasinations & brutal rebels. This is your typical 'white man in Africa' account - its mainly about the author's unease & sense of danger/ adventure - starting in the immigrant-ghettos of Paris and ending in "the heart of darkness" (a reference to a novel written by Conrad in the previous century).

Perhaps Jean Rolin rambles a bit every now & then but he has a habit of jotting down quirky details of the places & people he sees; and that's what makes this travelogue interesting.

The Melting Wok Warung, Bali

We were in Bali last weekend & it wasn't a well researched/ planned trip. We skipped the beach this time & decided to explore Ubud. We made friends with an American family at our resort who raved about this restaurant, and we thought we should try it too. That's how we walked into "The Melting Wok Warung". Without knowing what a delight it is.

The cafe really is a warung (a local term for street-side small-time cafes). It has 6 tables. It also really is a 'Melting Wok' of sorts. The owner is a lovely & warm french lady, Geraldine, who along with her Asian husband decided to experiment with western & Indonesian flavours in one wok. The menu is not extensive at all. There only one curry and you get a choice of meat. Its a festival of flavours in your mouth! And then there are the desserts. Oh, the desserts. They don't sound as great as they really are. A caramel pudding with coconut milk, for example, sounds like an overkill on fusion, doesn't it? I'm so glad we ordered it anyway!