happy rainy Halloween

here i am blogging now, listening to beautiful jazz in my room.. too bad I'm not staying by the beach or else it would be even more beautiful night.. listening to waves, chilling out....

it's getting a little too bored around here.. it's just 1 month since my attachment end.. i can't stay at home and do nothing.. i must have something to do.... i can't imagine if it is gonna be 3 months... i think I'm gonna lose my head.... HELP!

and here my little poem title "letter"...lol

letter letter when will you come? if you don't come soon i'm gonna lose my head!!
letter letter i really need you now!
why don't i receive you now?

love it?....

I hate it... haha

letter letter when will you come?.. as each day pass i'm getting more and more impatient!!
please come asap.

God i miss my rightful place... the kitchen.. there is this little temptation to just show up for work..
i miss working!!!.. i'm glad that lennon is doing fine in the kitchen, getting along well with everyone.. arrrrrr!!!

i feel like going back but i know i should not right now....

welcome to my another episode of critic

This time i went to a Italian place.. it called AL Dante.. located at esplanade...

this is what i ordered

warm baby spinach with portobello mushroom
beef lasagne
and a bread pizza... (i'm sharing)

I think it's a good place.. i would give it a 7

walked in
found a table upstairs and on my way up i saw a waiter carring this huge massive tray with 4 plates and on the other hand another plate.. first it's dangerous.. what if he drops it? or fall.. big mess.. 2nd it's slow.. by the time he bring it up to the counter the food will be cold.. i seriously suggest a mini lift.. save time, faster service and no danger.

got to our table and i was just observing everything around me... until i realise we got no napkin.. they forgot about it while setting our table.
then nearby our casino is still under construction and the plates and drinking glasses got dusty very quickly.. can't help that... so i continued to observe again.. the waiters were all young people, it looks like as if they are there for attachment or something.. really young say about 17 to 19yrs... then also something bad which is all of them folded up their sleeves, which i think it's a bad idea because it will make them look like shit.. some are long some are short.. and if they have to put their sleeves back it will be crumpled.

Our starters came.. i love what i had.. fresh baby spinach, not over cooked, fresh portobello mushroom grilled to perfection, great flavour.. it's a good combination. Yao min had mussel.. Fresh!, perfect! not over cooked! real good.. sauce it good too..
while eating i saw a waitress adjusting a table to make it stable.. big mistake!.. she put a cardboard on of the legs to balance it!!! what in the world!! it makes the place looks bad! looks like a coffeee shop now... next our mains came i think it was alright for mine.. nothing fantastic about it.. just need a touch of salt.. oh and when we were done with our starters, manager came to pick up the plate BUT he did not clear the cutlery that we used for our starters.. he just put it by the side!! oh man.. are they low on cutlery?... why can't he just change the fork and spoon?..

then we had our bread pizza.. well again nothing wow about it.. it's alright.. it's balance in the taste..
when we were done with our meal, we sit and talk and continue to observe.. at 930pm they still accept customers to come.. when is the last order?.. even at 10pm.. anyway they were not ready to take in customers because the table was not set!.. even when customers were settled down, it took them some time to set the tables!.. again that is bad.. real bad.. they are never ready for anything... then talking halfway a waiter came and give me the bill!! i was thinking ok... i didn't ask for it.. i looked and realise that it was the wrong bill it's not meant for me but the table behind yao min.. HELLO!!! wake up!!...

service was not good.. but there was one waiter notice that i was observing them and he ask me if i need anything.. that is a good thing...

for service i would give 4/10
Food 6/10
environment 5/10 now because of the IR, but in future i believe it would be 7 or 8

overall i think the place is a 7/10...
service is real bad for this palce if it was better i would give the overall a 8

according to mei hwa, 18 chef is a good place to dine.. she claims that the service is good and portion of food is good and so on... 15 min later we went there, with ace and hong siong.

BAD PLACE!!!!

let's start.

first impression was alright.. since it made a little name for itself..
Owner is Benny- was train by Jamie Oliver
so i thought maybe i could get something good out of this place.

walk in manage to get a table- once we settle down i notice the table was not clean properly.
looking at the menu, and was short of the main course menu.
the style is like cafe cartel where you write your orders down and pass it to the cashier.
This is what i ordered.

"Funky" 18 chef salad
Lamb Rack
brownie

when i was at the counter i place my order i asked if it was a lamb rack(the menu put lamb cutlet or something) then she started telling me and showing me the shape with her hand, so i got a feeling it was lamb rack and so i said it's lamb rack, then she looked at me blankly then i asked her if i could have it rare... she looked at me blankly again... then a "chef" beside her jokingly said put raw... not funny to me.. Question is WHY DOES SHE NOT KNOW THE MENU!!!! bad service!!!

after paying went to get my cutlery and i can't find it.. none left in the holder.. seconds later a china guy came with a try filled with washed cutlery and just place it at the sauce counter!!!! I was thinking WHAT IS THIS!!!! fine i went to get what i need and back to my table.. guess what my table is still not clan properly.. what a surprise... oh and the lamb rack that is ordered comes with a soup and bread.. even before i settle down to my table my soup is already there waiting for me..hahaha... it's really funny... first time ever... then my salad came.. wow i have 2 mouth to eat or something.... STUPID!!!

soup was open from a can, salad was very sour, with 4 frozen prawns, some pine nuts black pepper... really shit...

next comes the lamb "cutlet" aka Lamb rack!!! 3 SMALL PIECES OF LAMB with a SMALL Half potato that was cut into half again and it was cold!!! and a HUGE salad right next to it and a small cocktail glass filled with a little cut tomatoes and lost of chopped onions!!.. VERY VERY DISAPPOINTED... i asked for a rare and it comes well done... very well done that is hard like a stone!!!SHIT... TOTAL SHIT was serve to me. i didn't try the Hugh mountain of salad i tried that cocktail and my mouth is filled with raw onions.. nice onion smell in my mouth... the small shitty cold potatoes.. guess what lamb cost 20... crazy!.

and last but not least dessert
came a real lousy ice cream from a tub.. then while the waiter was serving, i asked to serve the brownie as well.. he didn't hear me.. ok.. he is deaf... tried to find another waiter waiter but nowhere in sight... DAMN waiters manage to find one at the same time hong siong's drink was a question.. it's says that the drink has a chocolate fudge but where is it?... then the waitress who was a the cashier came and say that it is in blended in the drink itself.. i'm like thinking why do you even bother to put it on the menu when it suppose to be on the drink?.. bad.... then she asked how was my food is it alright.. i told her no... and she said ok and just walk off... why bother asking if you are not going to ask why! no i forgot to mention that she didn't not key in mei hwa's order, i think she is blind...

so after waiting for like 15 min or so my brownie came.. it was hot, BUT there were 4 HUGH massive ice cream ball around it... and i was thinking again.. did i order brownie or ice cream?? very confusing... my brownie was just a small rectangle shape.. it's dry..........

and there my terrifying experience at 18 chef.... wait stuff don't know the menu, and very inattentive... Food was horrible to the max....

anymore reasons why you should not dine there?... I don't care where the chef came from or train from.. but his standard is not what he was train with... horrible.. a disgrace to Jamie Oliver

i think it's tough to be my friend.. so when recommending me restaurant to eat.. please let there be good service and proper food... i'm still hungry.

GUESS WHAT!!!!!

I JUST SIGN UP TWITTER!!!...

don't ask me why........ i really don't know..lol

http://twitter.com/isaiahjoel

hahaha

currently I'm working part time for yihui's company OGL(don't know what it means) for the next 10 days.. job scope is to drive..lol... today was the first day and it was alright, tiring... i didn't just drive but also help out in deploying(which i'm not suppose to do) because things were going too slow, today i really see myself as a workaholic.. Joleen you are right about that.
we were suppose to end at 730pm, and we just had like a number of stores to go, so i suggested to complete it so as not to lag behind the next day.. today i would say that i was leading them somehow.. pushing them to do faster... and to complete what we need to do. I think it was fun today.

just completed the brownie and vanilla ice cream.. it was easy to do, but i have a shit oven so the outcome is not really what i wanted but this will have to do for now.. the brownie may seem like it is very heavy, but it is light in the mouth, not like those mouth filling brownies out there and the ice cream is also light it does not have those kind of heavy thing that once you eat you feel like your whole mouth is filled with the flavour. i like the taste, but i think there is still room for improvement, just a little adjustment to the recipe.



you know there is part of me that is longing to know who is my other half i wonder who could it be?... haha i think that is what you'll get when you go into the adult group...oh well, God has his own timing and all that, just got to wait..lol

at this time my brownie is about to be ready and serve... at 130am... don't really know why am i doing it at this hour.. but never mind the results looks promising.....





brownie is ready after 40min at 180c

how would you feel if u ordered a beef and it taste like chicken or fish?....

or

if u ordered a beef and it has this weird soda texture in it?


i think it's amusing!... but how to do it?

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED

Happening on a tuesday (when i'm still in starters, before Lennon join the team)

7am- walking through the door of 53 asking myself why did i choose to go through this.

705- change and take all the shit outside
710- hang all the clean kitchen towels to dry
715- slicing carrots for carrot puree and putting it in the water bath
720- portion potatoes for dinner.
722- check for horseradish slush- "shit not enough, better do more"
723- rush to the fridge to get horseradish and start peeling them
725 start to juicing it.. whole kitchen is filled with the spiciness of it- "F--ing hell joel i hate you".... "not my fault" you can see the tears in everybody's eyes.

730- weighing out the number of recipes to do for horseradish
736- clean down
740- start to slice beetroots for wagyu dish...
...
...
830- Done, at last... "Shit beetroot granita!"
831- Thank God it's enough to last through today.
832- take out scallops to marinade them
843- take out garnishes to do for scallops
910- done 1st garnish (local watercess)
920- done 2nd garnish for scallop ( parts of watercress)
921- Jap man comes. "why now!!! F"
940- done with the whole shit load of orders and run back to my stuff
941- doing 3rd garnish for scallops (corriander cress)
941- "shit forgot to do marnide for beetroot and juniper oil"
947- done beet root marnide
950- done juniper oil
- Boss comes in and talked loudly to the whole kitchen "lunch we have 25"
- "what else do you need doing?" "tahoon cress, sayur bermis and i need to see my list"
- " ok i can pluck sayur bermis" "ok thank you boss"
10am - took out 70 chicken leg to dig out for the oysters
1030am- clean the bench
1033- cutting tahoon cress
1035- done cutting
- looking at list "SHIT.. shallots and parsley"
1036- took out shallots and start mincing them
11am- still mincing shallots "Carrot puree! al could you go up and take the carrots out from the water bath and start to blitz them"
- Lee walks in with a few bags that he went shopping for us
- "here you are asshole"... "F you"
11.15- done shallots, run to the fridge to get parsley
1130- done parsley
-start to clean down
- Lee starts to shout at the pastry guys
1140- setting up for service
- "could you please clean that filthy window" "yes boss"

1150- start to scrub some potatoes for next day
12pm- first guess in
1205- "SNACKS FOR 2 PLEASE"
- "YES", "YA", "WEE"
1215- order comes down
....
...
...
...
... loads of screaming and shouting in the kitchen...

"BOSS where is the old man it's almost 2pm"
155pm- old man comes to deliever veg
- boss went out to shout at him

230pm- lunch service is over for starters
- clean down
245pm- takes out chicken skin and lay them on trays to bake them
310pm- start to bake them
312- start to do brown butter
313- slice chestnuts
- "F".... i sliced my skin off "you alright?" "ya. just part of my skin came off" "shit"
315- getting patch up
- continue to slice
-brown butter ready
320- start to fry chestnuts
330- done chestnuts
- bring the oil outside
333-start to weigh out coffee soil recipe
340-done coffee soil and baking it
- pick basil
4pm- done picking
-weigh out basil water recipe
403- done
420- done basil water
- takes out smoked eel to cut
430- done cutting smoked eel
-mackerel is done curing time to wash it
440pm-"Joe could u cut up some veg for staff?" "and also do the pasta?"
- "sure"
441- rush to do staff veg
5pm- potatoes are done
- start to portion according to the tables
515- start to portion consomme
520- staff meal done and starting to dish out
530- running through dinner prep to see what is missing
531- "wow, we are done for dinner" "now we need to scrub more potatoes, but set up first"
550- starting to scrub
6pm- "joe could you sweep the floor please" "ya"
615- back to scrubbing
7pm- guest in
...
...
...
...
...
busy dinner service... till 11pm, and we start to clean down.. 12am leave the kitchen and go home

this is pretty much what i went through.. it may seem like a very relax, but it's not, it's only my poin of view not the whole kitchen. if i had to type everything down, it will take me a few days and it will be full of the "f word" it's a rough world in there. But it's GOOD.

Freedom at last!... at least for next 2 months

watch this space if u want to know what happen one day in 53....

the guys and i were talking about it that we should write a book called one day at 53.. talk about what happen how shit we got in and stuff like that, talk about our lives in the kitchen. And maybe sell it in stores, haha and then hoping to hit the new york times..lol.. but it was all talks, but i 'm gonna blog my one day experience in that kitchen. It will be bad.