Singapore Arts, Beauty and Inspirations Male Blogger

I was late. I wasn't expecting the walking distance from Paya Lebar MRT station. No matter how far the distance would be, as long as delicious food is served, all that walking would be worth the sweat.

I had some time getting familiar with the other bloggers whom I would be dining with that night before dinner was served. I felt that it was definitely important to be comfortable with who we are dining with or else it would not be a enjoyable session. I sure was glad to know the lively and chatty bunch of bloggers that day!

The bombardment of dishes left me disorientated in which I was spoilt for choice and not knowing which dish I should off with.

I supposed it sounds logical that I started off with the Fish Maw Crabmeat Abalone Soup in Coconut. The broth was thick and it triggered my allergy reaction since it contained crab meat but I just couldn't ignore the fact that the coconut was loaded with generous large slices of spongy fish maw. Yes, baby abalones were included. (Note: It was quite filling I would say.)

The spiciest dish of that day was Larb Moo Tok. In short, it was meatballs loaded with spices and we were taught to pair them with the raw long beans. There was a chemistry between these two that balanced the rawness and spiciness which could not be explained.

Uncomplicated and fresh was the BBQ Squid. Firm yet chewy was its flesh, enhanced by the savoury sauce.  

Hommok Thai Style Otak easily made its way to one of the top few dishes I enjoyed that day. Mildly spicy, fragrant and textures like grainy steamed eggs. I swear I could eat this alone with just plain rice!  

BBQ Pork belly was quite decent, not overly drenched with sweetness. I had to examine the photo closely to double check if I was really having pork belly instead of char siew. Since when pork belly became as tender as char siew??  

Looking like a work of art, Deep Fried Kangkong with Special Thai Sauce makes a rather good snack to munch on. It was so crispy and it reminded me of tempura.

Lala Bee Hoon tasted much better than it looks. The been hoon was soaking with the umami sweetness of the broth cooked with lalas. Perhaps we took a bit too long snapping pictures as more broth would be pleasurable.

Thai Style Curry Crab which I felt that it needed no introduction. Crabs lover would rejoice with having crabs cooked in a different style and sauce, unlike the usual few ones available elsewhere. 

Last but not least were the 2 fish dishes Thai Walking Cat Fish with Spicy Lemon Soup (not shown here) and Deep Fried Sea Bass with Mango Salad. Both fishes were HUGE! Soup or fried? I guess it would be up to your personal preference.   

Overall, the Northeastern Thai dishes served at Spicy Thai Thai Café is not the usual Thai food you get like Pineapple Rice and Pad Thai etc. They have unique and delicious dishes prepared by the skilful hands of chefs that would change your perception of what is Thai food.

Thank you Honey for extending the invite and Christina for the invite. 

Opens Daily from 11 a.m. to 12 a.m

Spicy Thai Thai Café

Blk 115 Aljunied Avenue 2

#01-35, Singapore 380115

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).