Singapore Arts, Beauty and Inspirations Male Blogger

There is just something I have always liked about Japanese art and design and that would be the term minimalist. Think of the brand Muji and you would get what I meant. It wasn't surprising that I had to make my way down to Esplanade to view these 8 artworks by individual Japanese artists whose works are modern interpretation of traditional art forms.

Check out their large panel board below!

As usual, I couldn't resist taking #artootd shots with installations such as this one. Tell me how often you get to pose with 9 identical umbrellas at once or even having unique art pieces that compliments well with your outfit (first image)?

Thankfully I dragged my friend along to visit this small scale yet insta/blog worthy art exhibition so that he could be my photographer for that day! He was so wrong when he thought that I would leave within 15 minutes! Sorry, that do not include photography time.

I had a great time immersing myself in the simplistic art concepts. From the cute katadori (miniature) to the fine detailing of nagame (diorama). From the precise positioning and echoes of shizuku (drop) to the abstract ku (vanity). From the unusual kodama (echo) to the story-telling shirushi (symbol). From the aesthetic figures of irou (decoration) to the inspirational sawari (texture).

These were the keywords that described my first impression while admiring these works.

How about yours?

I did spam many shots of the art pieces that I fancy, only to post a couple since my camera was not corporative in low-light conditions. Pictures do not exactly do justice to these artworks since the colour balance would definitely be off and fine details such as the brush stokes would not be visible from afar.

For beginners like me, I usually admire landscape paintings such as 'Venice, The Yellow Sail' which tempted me to go on a stress-free overseas holiday trip. A marketplace painting such as 'Pasar (Market)' is fairly common among Asian artists I guess since I often see paintings of local markets with vendors selling their stocks.

Besides those, I tend to admire morbid and mysterious paintings as well. The random placement of tombstones against the illusional sky as backdrop found in 'The Cemetery'. Loving the ruins of the building against dusk, shadows enveloping the foreground of the painting in 'Seko Prambanan (The Guard, Prambanan)'. Such a painting lies a dramatic story behind it.

Although some paintings were direct and straightforward, there would definitely be a huge number of those that would be deemed as beyond comprehension. The most intriguing thing about art is that you might fall in love with the art pieces even though you catch no balls (not understand anything) about the art.

Arts In Your Neighbourhood is an initiative by the National Arts Council that brings arts such as dance, music, theatre and visual arts right to our door steps. Since one of the location was held at a rather centralised location of Toa Payoh Central, I had no reason not to make my way down to immerse myself with the series of free performances held there. Just make sure to check out their event highlights before making your way down (in future for other #ArtsInYourNeighbourhood programmes) since there would be multiple different performances/activities from 10-27 March 2016. 

I headed over to the iconic dragon playground which was located at Block 28 of Toa Payoh Lorong 6

with the other instagrammers. This dragon playground is one of last few remaining/surviving in Singapore before getting extinct since their habitant has been eyed for other development plans. For some people, it would represent a nostalgia of their childhood while I had no impression of it at all. My childhood just does not revolve around playgrounds. 

Despite the sun not showing any mercy on us, many of us were seated on the mats scattered across the grass patch enjoying the story telling session about how this dragon lost its eyes. The context of the story was further enhanced by the musicians playing for added sound effects. Young children were getting really excited over the performance.

Back at Toa Payoh Central, a band of musicians performed a series of songs such as 'Rasa Sayang Hey' and 'Xiao Ren Wu De Xin Sheng' (小人物的心声). The performance was harmonious and soothing and the lead singer was a beautiful lady being a bonus. Toa Payoh is definitely a good place for such performances since it is a pioneer generation populated residential area and they would support such an event.

Last but not least, another performance that day by 'The Rainbow Toymaker' was located at Ang Mo Kio Central Stage, near Jubilee Square. It was a colourful performance by the 3 men act that involved colourful costumes and elaborated props that were mostly handmade. Towards the end where the actors looked for volunteers to participate in simple games and dance moves, there was an overwhelming response from these children as they excitedly rushed up to stage.

After the performance, audiences were allowed to borrow their props for photo taking purposes. That was how I got my picture taken with the blue teddy bear!

I wasn't even aware that SingaPlural 2016, a design exhibition that was going on from 7 Mar - 13 Mar existed. It was just pure coincidence that I happened to be around Bugis that day, walked past that attractive looking poster and ended up spending more than an hour in exploratory mode. If I wasn't in a hurry, I guessed I would have spent my entire day there. It was a $10 entrance fee for the public while students and teachers could enter for free. 

Since I was alone, my ootd shots with some of the artworks/designs were taken by strangers. I would have taken much more shots if I were with my friends of course. I felt that art and design exhibitions definitely would be a good place to snap unique ootds pictures since no two works would be of similar concept. Everything was unique in their own ways, depending on the creator's level of inspiration.  

Since there were quite a lot of exhibits around, I guess they usually categorise them into similar categories or depending how large scale the works would be, thus assigning them a suitable space for showcase. That unique beehive looking table above was one of my favourites that day!

I wanted my ootd shot to be in that composition below but that little girl who took my picture ended up taking the picture above. Oh well, she just stood at the same position where I managed to ask her to take for me. This shows that different people have different perceptions of what would be artistic to them.

There were actually many other picture-friendly art/design area that would promote interactivity between the works and the public. Just that those more popular spaces were usually crammed with people trying to capture ootds as well. I was not the only one inspired to do that you see.

Works that attracts people to take with/of them usually involves certain elements such as craziness (cockroaches), cuteness (rocking tiger with music), simplicity (white shirts), artistic beauty (gradient walls), inspirational (mushroom lights) or maybe vintage/retro (some of the furniture).    

Chinese restaurants seems to be getting far less attention as compared to their Western counterpart these days. Perhaps the overwhelming growth in the number of Western restaurants due to modernisation unknowingly supressed the presence of those few Chinese Restaurants. I felt that it would definitely be a sad thing for the Baby Boomers and Gen X if their children or grandchildren from the Gen Y / Z would not be able to find an authentic Chinese restaurant to celebrate their birthdays.

I myself admit that I wasn't really fond of Chinese cuisine since I being from a Gen Y category. I was one of those who seek exotic food thus neglecting the opportunity to thoroughly appreciate Chinese cuisines. We should all change our mind set to actually think that Chinese food is never comparable to Western. Before I begin the review of some of the prominent dishes that were served by Grand Mandarina Restaurant, let me just introduce to you the CEO, Benson Tong (on the right) who is the chef of vast experience gained from different F & B establishments, a F & B consultant as well as a private chef. On the left is Executive Chef Eric who helmed the kitchen of Grand Mandarina Restaurant. They work hand in hand, with a group of experienced chefs under their wing.

It is so true that diners would trust a chef much more since they are the ones who would prepare our food. It could be a physiological factor but the presence of chefs who made the effort to come out of the kitchen to interact with diners definitely set us at ease.

With my plate's outer circumference glittering with gold, I couldn't wait for the meal to start!

We started off with the complimentary Cherry Tomato with Plum Sauce to whet our appetite. Popping the skinless cherry tomatoes whole into my mouth and enjoying the sweet-sour explosion that ruptured in my mouth definitely delighted me. I was already hoping to have more pops!   

The Steam Vegetarian dumpling with dice assorted mushroom and vegetable in black pepper is a vegetarian dish. An excellent option for vegetarians out there since this dish is one out of other vegetarian options from the menu. The crystal skin was of a chewy texture, slightly sticky and thin. Wrapped within was a mixture of mushrooms with a hint of peppery taste.

I admit that I squeezed an entire sliced segment of Crispy Rice roll filled with smoked shredder duck and bamboo shoot into my mouth, afraid that it would fall apart. It was actually skilfully and firmly wrapped that falling apart was not a concern to the other bloggers. The contrasting texture of the silky smooth cheong fan and the 'crunch' factor pleasantly surprised me. (As crunchy as a fried bean curd!) 

The Pan-fried bun filled with mince pork and cabbage, also known as shen jian bao was definitely not an easy dish to prepare. Since making it would be rather time consuming, many places in Singapore do not sell this dish. The bun itself was a mixture of slight fluffiness and crisp, resulted from pan frying. The ingredients were quite compact but could do better with more meat.

Being a meat lover, I rejoiced at the sight of meat.

As we all know the skin of pork belly has 2 types of textures. Biscuit hard or waffle crisp, explained by Chef Benson. The skin of the Crackling pork belly here belongs to the waffles crisp texture that doesn't challenge our teeth. As for the fatty juicy tender meat, I had no issues with them.

The Signature Crystal Char Siew definitely was my favourite dish that day. Just like its name suggests, the char siew was evenly torched, its surface caramelising and forming a thin layer of delicate 'crystal'. I could even hear the cracking sound as I bite into the tender char siew!

The Roasted Duck with summer truffle sauce was also one of the restaurant's note-worthy dish. Nothing would go wrong with crisp skin, tender meat as well as fats (not everyone would enjoy eating fats though). Not forgetting the presence of little truffle bits spotted in the sauce itself. 

Deep fried Chilean Seabass with crispy fish skin served with egg white crumble and golden broth was another dish that plays with textures. The fish skin was as crispy as a keropok (prawn cracker), balancing nicely on the slab of Chilean Seabass which was also slightly crispy on its outer and firm within. It compliments so well with the fluffy texture of the egg white as well as the rich golden broth. 

The textures of Steam wild yam in Imperial sauce somehow reminded of aloe vera in terms of its firmness as well as its sliminess, not necessary in a negative way. Chinese yam was used for this dish with vinaigrette and finely sliced chilli padi to enhance but not overwhelmed the neutral tasting yam.

The last dish that I was so tempted to try but couldn't, due to allergy was the King prawns in Coconut, coconut crustacean broth with silken longevity noodle. The coconut husk was first steamed before the prawn broth boiled with coconut juice was added in. By observation, the noodles was silky smooth and the other bloggers were enjoying slurping them down. I could also only watch them enjoy extracting the cholesterol juices of those big prawn heads as well.

Last but not least, we had Dessert of the day which was not from the menu. (You may make a call to check if its available.) I felt that each component of the plated dessert was to be enjoyed separately since they were not exactly complimenting each other. I would say it was a Chinese version of petite four that includes coconut ice cream, red bean paste, durian pengat and crispy charcoal shell coated with black and white sesame seeds. 

Overall the dining experience was surprisingly positive, from a Gen Y person's perspective whom wasn't quite fond of Chinese cuisine in the first place. Thanks to Chef Benson who loaded us with plenty of F&B knowledge regarding the dishes as well as his team for the preparation of the food. Thanks Vet for extending the invite as well.

The restaurant is situated in a really accessible location, conveniently located just a road across Outram Park MRT Station. It is a 2 storey building that should not be difficult to spot.

Grand Mandarina is open daily from 11:30-­2:30pm for lunch and 6:30-10:00pm for dinner.

325 New Bridge Road #01/02-00

6222 3355

http://www.grandmandarina.com.sg/