Anjappar Authentic Chenttinaad Restaurant (Singapore)

Anjappar (Singapore)

Rachel and I popped by Mustafa Centre a few weeks back to help her dad exchange some foreign currencies. It was then that we realised the stretch of shops along Syed Alwi Road, directly facing Mustafa, touting cheap CDs and other souvenirs have all been replaced by a whole row of spanking new air-conditioned restaurants serving various Indian cuisines.

This is probably a sign of the growing rich and affluence expat Indian families moving into Singapore as the Little India locale shift in their shop mix to cater to the needs of these new immigrants.

I am a fan of Indian cuisines, drawn to the aroma of funky spices, used generously. Hence we decided to try out a few of the restaurants in the stretch, one at the time.

For a starter, we chose Anjappar as it is the only one which has an international franchise in other countries like Canada, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It has two outlets in Singapore, the other one is located at Racecourse Road.

A picture of Mr Anjappan, the restaurant founder, inside the menu

Inside the restaurant - Rachel and I were the only non-Indian customers that day

I ordered an onion utthappam, while Rachel ordered a garlic naan and a plate of quail curry. We also ordered a mango lassi to share. The quail was a bit overcooked and tough to chew. Otherwise, the food was pretty good. We particularly liked the utthappam which was like a cross between a soft fluffy pancake and a roti prata.

My onion utthappam

Rachel's naan

Quail curry

Price-wise, our bill came to around $30 for two pax. Not too sure if it’s pricey as we are not familiar with the prices for Indian restaurants.

Anyway, the two addresses for the Anjappar outlets in Singapore are below:

Anjappar Authentic Chenttinaad Restuarant
76-78, Racecourse Road
Singapore 218575
Tel: 6296 5545
Fax: 6296 5575
Email:sales@anjappar.com.sg

Anjappar Authentic Chenttinaad Restuarant
102, Syed Alwi Road
Singapore 207678
Tel: 6392 5545
Fax: 6296 5575
Email:sales@anjappar.com.sg

Do drop me a comment if you know other good Indian restaurants in Singapore that Rachel and I can check out. 🙂

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Hong Kong Kim Gary Restaurant (香港金加利茶餐) @ VivoCity

Hong Kong Kim Gary Restaurant

My colleague, Han Joo told me this Hong Kong-styled cafe-restaurant has rather good food. Hence Rachel and I went to try it last weekend. The restaurant appointed Hong Kong TV star, Wong Chung Chak/ Bosco Wong (黃宗澤) as their brand ambassador. They sure made full use of their contract with him – you see the dude’s face plastered over everything from their menu to the store front posters.

We quite like the restaurant’s decor and the extensive menu. The price is also quite reasonable. Food and service are average. We both ordered baked rice – a decision which we regretted as it gets really sickening when you eats too much of something that taste quite the same. Next time, we will order a rice and a noodle so we can switch around.

We enjoyed the soup and the drink. However, their specialty fries was disappointing. The different seasonings were funky, but maybe they can consider serving fries with ridges or wedges that can better capture the flavouring instead of the plain old McDonald’s fries.

It’s likely that we will visit the restaurant again as we only tried a small fraction of their menu. 🙂

Inside the restaurant

The restaurant is quite packed and there's a substantial queue just to get in

You order by filling up various sheets of paper - novel yes; environment friendly no

Spoilt for choice by the extensive menu which listed over hundreds of items

Soup is served in a mug

Fries with "special sauce" - this is a disappointment, it's just normal McDonald's fries with some funky seasoning

My cheese baked rice, steamed with lotus leaves

Rachel's twin baked rice of two different sauces

Enjoying a glass of Almond Milk Tea

Rachel tucking into her baked rice

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Bye Yasmin Ahmad

Yasmin Ahmad, picture via http://babymerv.blogspot.com

My favourite movie director, Yasmin Ahmad passed away on Saturday. I was alerted to the news by my friend, Hajar who knows I am a big fan of Yasmin’s works.

Goodbye Yasmin. Thank you for the heartwarming movies and TVC you have directed that touches lives.

Yasmin apparently had a stroke on Thursday, 23 July 2009 and collapsed while attending a meeting with Datuk Siti Nurhaliza and her husband Datuk Seri Khalid Mohamad Jiwa, and Media Prima representatives for an undisclosed project.

Here’s the news video report via Sha.tc:

On Saturday , 24 July 2009, less than 48 hours after her surgery, Yasmin Ahmad succumbed to her injury and was pronounced dead at 11:25PM.

Below is a list of movies Yasmin directed:

* Rabun (My Failing Eyesight) (2003)
* Sepet (Chinese Eye) (2004)
* Gubra (Anxiety) (2006)
* Mukhsin (2007)
* Muallaf (The Convert) (2008)
* Talentime (2009)

I have only managed to catch Sepet, Gubra and Muallaf. They were all beautiful movies, depicting love that transcends race, language and religion. You can read my review for Muallaf HERE and also catch some of Yasmin’s various award-winning TVCs.

I need to go hunt down the other movie titles.

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Police installed new CCTV at Hong Lim Park

Nice new CCTV to watch over Hong Lim Park

Via Mr Brown and Singapore Democrats. The folks from the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has spotted some contractors installing a spanking new CCTV at Hong Lim Park, home of Speakers’ Corner, Singapore’s last bastion of free speech and sanctuary for legal demonstrations.

This surely goes a long way to promote free speech in Singapore. Good job!

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Quoteworthy – PSC Chairman Eddie Teo

PSC Chairman Eddie Teo, picture via PSC website

“Being critical means you care about our nation and want to improve things and correct what you think is wrong. Being sceptical means you are not naive and do not accept everything you read or hear.

The public service is not looking for conformists and ‘yes-men’, but people who dared to think and question existing policies. Even a few mavericks – people with unconventional viewpoints who are willing to challenge assumptions – will be useful because they will add vitality and diversity to the service.”

Chairman of Public Service Commission (PSC), Eddie Teo

Source: Give PSC the ‘real’ you (Straits Times, 25 July 2009)

I was not bright enough in my younger days to be offered a chance for a PSC scholarship interview. Anyway, I always had the impression they were looking for ‘yes-men’ and having been mostly a non-conformist most of my life, I highly doubted I would have gotten an offer even if I am eligible. That’s why the comments above came across as rather comical to me. Since we are encouraged to be sceptical and cynical, what if I were to tell Mr Eddie Teo that I am sceptical and cynical to his comment that PSC is not looking for ‘yes-men’? 🙂

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