October 2016 ~ rolling writes

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Gills N Shells

11:37 AM Lavender, Singapore, Western Cuisine 0 comments

We dropped by Gills N Shells one Saturday evening. The foot traffic was pretty low and I think this place certainly deserves more customers.

We ordered the Hae Bee Hiam Pasta with Soft Shell Crab ($18.90). Sometimes, creating fusion dishes may result in disasters but this was not one of those. The pasta, coated with a generous amount of flavourful and spicy hae bee hiam, was a perfect combination with two relatively large pieces of soft shell crabs. If you are one for spicy and deep fried food, this is for you.

We also ordered the Truffle Infused Cod ($24.90). The pan-seared cod was doused liberally with truffle oil, with chye poh on the cod. While the chye poh added some welcome saltiness to this dish, I felt that it was a little over-fried, resulting in the preserved radish losing its distinct crunch. There was a choice between pilaf rice, fries or mashed potatoes. Since fries and mashed potatoes are so common, we decided to go with the fragrant pilaf rice.

To round off the meal, we ordered a Gills N Shells Tiramisu Jar ($10.90). I was initially a little skeptical when I saw the glass jar as it seemed to consist mostly of cream. To my delight, there were abundance of lady fingers soaked in coffee liquor.

While the service was attentive and the food generally good, we found the portions a little small.

Gills N Shells
Hotel Boss
500 Jalan Sultan #01-19
Singapore 199020
Tel No: 6493 2238

Journey to Infinity: Escher's World of Wonder

10:38 PM Art Science Museum, Exhibitions, Singapore 0 comments

When I was in primary school, I used to receive emails from friends on optical illusions and I remember being intrigued by these. So, when I saw a newspaper writeup on the exhibition, Journey to Infinity: Escher's World of Wonder, I decided to visit the exhibition.

There are several exhibition themes: Early Works: Art Nouveau and Nature, Tessellation, Metamorphosis, Commercial Works, Exploring Infinity and Escher Mania.

I wasn't too interested in Escher's early works, but things got more interesting as we walked through the exhibition.

I am not sure whether they still have tessellation in the primary school mathematics syllabus but that used to be one of the rare areas in mathematics that I found fun. This exhibition is of course a lot more high level.

Credit: Marina Bay Sands

If you thought that Escher stopped at mere tessellations, you couldn't be more wrong because he decided to level up again by morphing his tessellation. In this part of the exhibition, the tessellation morphs from one object to another. I was trying to figure it out at the beginning and it became clearer as I walked on.

Credit: Marina Bay Sands

Escher also created a number of drawings with impossible objects. In other words, structures which may seem plausible, but upon closer inspection turned out to be impossible to create. I spent some time look at Ascending and Descending. He must have had quite a brilliant brain to figure these.

Credit: Marina Bay Sands

Of course, there are bound to be people inspired by such art. And one of my favourites was Donald Duck by Hans Kuiper.

Credit: Marina Bay Sands

Art Science Museum, being Art Science Museum, wouldn't forget about "interaction", the buzzword for museums nowadays. Besides The Relativity Room and Tessellation Puzzle Activity, there are tables and chairs situated at some spots of the exhibition for some DIY activities. For example, you can punch holes into some strips of paper with music notes and slip it through a small device and music will be generated.

An interesting exhibition if you are into tessellations and impossible objects.

Face to Face Noodle House

10:57 AM City Square Mall, Jalan Besar, Singapore 0 comments

Face to Face has a history of over 100 years, when the founder's great grandfather learned the art of making Jook Sing noodles. With over 30 outlets in Malaysia, the Singapore branch is its first overseas foray.

I ordered the value meal because it seemed too good a deal to pass. At $10.90, you get a main, a drink and a side.

I ordered the Traditional Sarawak Noodles. Minced pork, char siew and wanton sat on a bed of incredibly springy handmade noodles. Add a bit of the dried chilli at the side to up the oomph of the dish. As side, I chose the juicy Fried Taucu Wings.