'New' Variety of Tea from Vietnam おいしいお茶

16 September 2009 (Wed): CK,my colleague popped by my office and handed me a gift from Ho Chi Minh City. His brother brought a 'BIG BAG' home, supposedly.

Through the transparent zip-log bag, I saw some grey balls of what he told me was tea. Enchanted by its shape, I was ready to enjoy it.

The aroma, first of all, perfumed my room with chrysanthemum fragrance. The tea ball, when immersed in boiling water, 'blossomed'. From its centre, a string of yellow dried chrysanthemums danced; I couldn't wait to bring it home.

At home, A drank it like it was another wonderful tea, with no hoo-ha oo-wow coming from this 'cool' tea-drinker and 'connoiseur'. "What?!" I thought. That's all the reaction I got.

But a week ago, after a month has past, we went to Goodwood Park's Coffee Lounge again for its porridge meal. The waiter, Benjamin, from Ipoh cheerfully recommended this 'FLOWER TEA'. "I've had that before, Benjamin. I loved it in fact," I replied - somewhat dampening his enthusiasm to introduce the new tea. Anyway, I ordered the flower tea he recommended.

The presentation was delightful; it was served in a transparent western drinking glass instead of the ceramic cups that I use at home. The glass was placed in front of A. whose eyes widened. "This is very nice", he exclaimed. "It must be good..."

I took a sip. Nope, not that good, though. The tea-ball opened up as usual, but revealed a small bouquet of red orchids and jasmine in its middle. These flowers don't go well with the tea, unlike chrysanthemums. Nevertheless A. became intrigued by this 'discovery'; he wanted to comb Singapore to find it. After two days he gave up. Fortunately R. was going to Ho Chi Minh City for a short break. She came back with two small bags from TAX Centre across Rex Hotel, where M. recommended the supermarket to get coffee. A bag of the tea-balls costs about SGD 6 for 8 balls according to R. On each bag reads 'Jasmine Pearl Tea (Tra lai tran trau)'(ジャスミンパールティー).

Great accompaniment with any kind of Chinese/Vietnamese food and Japanese snacks:

These are from S.-san who sometimes returns to visit his family here:

Cafe food デンプシーのカフェフード

It was one of those Friday evenings when I had to head for Dempsey when ideas on where to eat were not forthcoming. I haven't really had a feast there, so why not? I thought.

The place looked quite 'happening'- crowded and bustling with activities; yuppies eating, drinking and chatting. Even when empty tables were spotted in the Jumbo Seafood Restaurant, the Filipina guest-relations officer chirped 'Sorry Ma'am, they are reserved'.

La Forketta, the Italian place seemed like the place to go, but the music was explosive inside the restaurant, noisy diners competing with it. No thank you.

So, Culina was the last resort.

White asparagus with al funghi risotto...Croque monsieur with salad...The menu on the chalkboard looks good. We ordered our wine and appetizers.

Mmm...our wines turned out good. Our appetizers weren't bad either. Not the best risotto here - but asparagus was very fresh and crunchy.

Then came croque monsieur:

A mistake.

Next, the dish of the evening: scampi pasta.

Quite exciting to look at, but urrgg...so salty.

The tab came up to SGD 102 plus. We felt we had eaten just to keep our organs functioning, but end up overworking the kidneys.

The next time I run dry of ideas on where to eat, I'll just head for Garibaldi. For a few more tenths of dollars, food and wine is surely awesome.