of chinese new year reunion dinners
:: LIFE IN SINGAPORE / FOOD / CNY ::
this year's reunion dinner was far different than what i was accustomed to, for this was thefirst second time in my life we ate out (mum insisted we did before, a few years back - for which i have absolutely no recollection of becoz i is getting senile). and tis more significant, as tis me Sis' first reunion dinner with the family, for a good few years when she was overseas :)
we made reservations at the Sakura Restaurant, located a stone's throw away from our abode (against my better judgement, but mum liked buffets, so...) and we were late by 5-minutes for our 8pm reservations, to which we were faced with a sudden appalling situation at the main-doors of the restaurant.
a mob crowd had gathered outside the Sakura, apparently ALL had reservations and that no one was let into the place yet! upon questioning the dude blocking the main-door, t'was first-come-first-served, even if you had placed a reservation prior?! = like, WTFF was this?
to this, mayhap i should whine less and take on a more "proactive/positive" tone, to wit:
(1) next time when you open booking/reservations for a "reunion dinner", or even a festive occasion, please do expect people to turn-up at the appointed time. and not some lame-'o' excuse that "we didn't expect everyone to turn up at the same time" ~ duh?
this is a "reunion dinner", we Chinese dun muck around with this day of the year.
(2) also know that the scheduled reservation was at 8pm. (first "session" being 5pm-7pm, next was 8pm-10pm) by then you'd be facing hoards of hungry folks. and you dun really want to keep "hungry-folks" waiting for long. especially hoards of "hungry-family-folks" ...
(3) do not stand at the entrance of the restaurant, to try ferrying people in. set-up a stand beside it, with a barrier or velvet-rope or a human-chain or something! - on the outside, to take on people's booking-confirmation. singaporeans tend to be a cooperative lot (most times :p) and would queue up when asked nicely ... but this time around, t'was like a scene from a zombie-flick, ready to tear at the dude blocking the doorway!
and alla that is just before entering the joint! now for the buffet itself:
(1) please ensure there are enough drinking glasses and soup-bowls present for the diners to fully enjoy their "dining experience". dining with a parched throat helps notin washing down the msg at all in this endeavour. people were seen using teacups to fill up with soda and juices. next were styrofoam cups.
we endedup ordering unneccessary amount of claypot-soups to quench our thirsts! (and they weren't that bad tho :p)
(2) stock-up regularly on the food on display, for you can see the hungry-masses and like "true singaporeans", everyone grabbed whatever they saw and in abundance, fillingup their plates ... while those who've bothered to queue are left with the garnish. and the next thing ya know? halfway down the meal, the plates are replenished and beautiful but everyone's had their meal. such a waste really ...
i had brought my toy-aibo for a planned photoshoot, for this "moneumental occassion", but alas, me mood was dampened and the food looked (and tasted) not worthy of recollection, and so random stuff were snapped instead.
hey, im not all about slamming down onSuckura Sakura here - to be fair, loads of folks were also downright demanding and rude. heck, at one point (admittedly) i raised my voice and stared-down a dude, for my mum had managed to squeeze queue thru the doorway, whereby a dude closed the glassdoor quickly behind her and i feared it might hit her, and so i let loose my fury ... (whereby a stranger next to me patted my shoulder and spoke to me, calmed me down - my thanks to the stranger, whomever you are!) ...
a coupla tables away, was a family (group of 4) who apparantly did not have a reservation but managed to sneak in and was about to fill their stomachs, when "busted". shouting and angry-finger-pointing ensued and at the end, i think they tucked into their food ...
and to Sakura's credit, the service-staff at our area (forgot to check his name) was a pretty quiet and nice dude, who cleared our tables promptly and we ended-up stacking plates for easier clearing, for him! LOL
and in the end, this is what i thought of their food:
IMHO, of coz *heh* ;p
regardless, t'was not an "adventure" i was prepared to go thru, for our reunion dinner, but it happened and we survived and back to Sakura we will never do again ... and please for next year? let us eat at home again?
> insert image of the homecooked reunion dinner in 2005, away from the teeming masses and noise, but of coz sweat of me parents ... next year we (the children) have "promised" to cook our different dishes and hopefully we'd be able to have a "better" reunion-dinner-experience to tell and share ...
*sigh*
._.
this year's reunion dinner was far different than what i was accustomed to, for this was the
we made reservations at the Sakura Restaurant, located a stone's throw away from our abode (against my better judgement, but mum liked buffets, so...) and we were late by 5-minutes for our 8pm reservations, to which we were faced with a sudden appalling situation at the main-doors of the restaurant.
a to this, mayhap i should whine less and take on a more "proactive/positive" tone, to wit:
(1) next time when you open booking/reservations for a "reunion dinner", or even a festive occasion, please do expect people to turn-up at the appointed time. and not some lame-'o' excuse that "we didn't expect everyone to turn up at the same time" ~ duh?
this is a "reunion dinner", we Chinese dun muck around with this day of the year.
(2) also know that the scheduled reservation was at 8pm. (first "session" being 5pm-7pm, next was 8pm-10pm) by then you'd be facing hoards of hungry folks. and you dun really want to keep "hungry-folks" waiting for long. especially hoards of "hungry-family-folks" ...
(3) do not stand at the entrance of the restaurant, to try ferrying people in. set-up a stand beside it, with a barrier or velvet-rope or a human-chain or something! - on the outside, to take on people's booking-confirmation. singaporeans tend to be a cooperative lot (most times :p) and would queue up when asked nicely ... but this time around, t'was like a scene from a zombie-flick, ready to tear at the dude blocking the doorway!
and alla that is just before entering the joint! now for the buffet itself:
(1) please ensure there are enough drinking glasses and soup-bowls present for the diners to fully enjoy their "dining experience". dining with a parched throat helps not
we endedup ordering unneccessary amount of claypot-soups to quench our thirsts! (and they weren't that bad tho :p)
(2) stock-up regularly on the food on display, for you can see the hungry-masses and like "true singaporeans", everyone grabbed whatever they saw and in abundance, fillingup their plates ... while those who've bothered to queue are left with the garnish. and the next thing ya know? halfway down the meal, the plates are replenished and beautiful but everyone's had their meal. such a waste really ...
i had brought my toy-aibo for a planned photoshoot, for this "moneumental occassion", but alas, me mood was dampened and the food looked (and tasted) not worthy of recollection, and so random stuff were snapped instead.
hey, im not all about slamming down on
a coupla tables away, was a family (group of 4) who apparantly did not have a reservation but managed to sneak in and was about to fill their stomachs, when "busted". shouting and angry-finger-pointing ensued and at the end, i think they tucked into their food ...
and to Sakura's credit, the service-staff at our area (forgot to check his name) was a pretty quiet and nice dude, who cleared our tables promptly and we ended-up stacking plates for easier clearing, for him! LOL
and in the end, this is what i thought of their food:
IMHO, of coz *heh* ;p
regardless, t'was not an "adventure" i was prepared to go thru, for our reunion dinner, but it happened and we survived and back to Sakura we will never do again ... and please for next year? let us eat at home again? > insert image of the homecooked reunion dinner in 2005, away from the teeming masses and noise, but of coz sweat of me parents ... next year we (the children) have "promised" to cook our different dishes and hopefully we'd be able to have a "better" reunion-dinner-experience to tell and share ...
*sigh*
._.
