Annie sent an email a few weeks back (23 April) about arranging a dinner meet up. Although we have kept in touch via email, the last time I saw Annie in person was on 6 February 2000 (second day of Chinese New Year), when she invited a few friends including myself to her home at Stratford Court, and that is like almost 9 years ago!
Annie arranged the dinner gathering at the Waraku Japanese Restaurant at Marina Square on 7 May (7 pm). Besides myself, Desmond, Freddy, and Kar Yen also attended. Kee Hai could not make it because he had to look after his children, while Koon Chee is still in Hong Kong.
The word Waraku is transliterated into Japanese characters that look like the Chinese words for 和乐 (or Harmony):
I have not stepped into a Japanese restaurant for many years (although I did try the Japanese Egg Omelette at a Japanese foodcourt called the Ishi Mura in the new Northpoint annex a few weeks back - but that's another story). I normally patronise Chinese and Western restaurants. So I was also looking forward to trying the food in the Waraku. It did not disappoint.
I arrived at the restaurant at exactly 7 pm on Thursday evening. I met Desmond just outside the restaurant, who had himself also just arrived (we were the earliest).
I was quite impressed with the posh surroundings as we were led to our "private" room:
I was quite enamoured when we were shown to our "private" room. This is actually the first time I have ever been inside such a room - characterised by the low table with a distinctive gap under it for putting our legs. When I dined in other Japanese restaurants previously (back in the Conner and IDTECH years), the private rooms we had were like any normal dining room with waist level chairs and tables). The unique furniture arrangement piqued me - having only seen such things in movies and television:
About 1 minute after Desmond and I settled down, Annie and Freddy arrived. Kar Yen joined us about 20 minutes later, and our party was complete.
Annie had asked for a "private" room so that we will we have a quiet surrounding to chit chat. What a joke! There was a doorway sized gap in the partition wall that leads to a passage leading to several other "private" rooms (you can see the gap in the above photo). However, one of these "private" rooms were occupied by a motley group of young ladies celebrating the birthday of one of their lot. These gregarious ladies were squealing with laughter at decibel high ranges, and were drowning out whatever quietness and tranquillity that was promised by a "private" room. They were so loud and deafening at one point that I got up, went to their room, and asked them to please tone down their excitement level. Although they did quieted down a bit, the noise level gradually returned to the highs as the night wore on. You just can't keep a good woman's voice down :-)
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I can't recall exactly the names (my Japanese is pretty bad) of the food we ordered. However, Desmond ordered some kind of steamed fish, and I think Annie, Freddy, and Kar Yen ordered noodles (soba?). As for me, I ordered some kind of Tempura "Wazen". "Wazen" means "Set Meal" in Japanese. Here, you can browse through the Waraku Restaurant's menu from this URL:
http://www.waraku.com.sg/docs/menu/casual/lnk/index.html
The "Wazen" menu is shown on page 12/13 in the above link. However, it does not feature the item I ordered, which comprised of:
- fried prawn fritters (tempura ebi)
- fried calamari (squid - tempura calamari)
- baked potato
- assorted vegetables (carrots and Brussels sprouts - my favourite)
- soba soup ramen (noodle)
- egg custard with pork slices (chawanmushi)
- rice
My Tempura Wazen meal cost $18.80, plus the hot green tea at $1.00, set me back $19.80, which I felt was pretty reasonable. My Wazen meal was absolutely delicious (tempura is always a favourite), and was pretty filling. I give my Tempura Wazen a rating of A+.
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During dinner, conversation revolved around the old standard questions: Where is Goh Kim Siew now? What have we been doing? How is the economy? Etc etc.
Where is Goh Kim Siew now?
Actually, no one knew. It was said that Kim Siew and his wife had divorced a few years back, but other than that, no one really knows where he is at the moment.
However, during dinner, Annie mentioned that she had a Facebook page, while Kar Yen mentioned that Siok Kee also had a very nice one. I commented that I don't personally like Facebook, because I find its default settings to be too invasive of privacy. Things that you might not want to publish can be inadvertently open to the public if you did not set up your Facebook settings appropriately.
Anyway, as I was writing this, I thought that perhaps Kim Siew may have a Facebook page. I did a quick Google search, and found the following link:
http://kimsiew.com
Looks like Kim Siew is doing very well.
What are we doing now?
I am still with a software company (CRISTAL Solutions Pte Ltd) working on logistics software (Warehouse Management Systems). I have been doing the WMS software since 2001.
Annie is currently between jobs. She quit her job with an Air Show company some months ago to look after her dad when he fell seriously ill. Her dad had passed away recently.
Desmond is still with Seagate. He is now working at the "Endpoint Security" department, and is also taking a part-time course on IT Security at Nanyang University.
Freddy is still with UBS. Because of the worldwide financial crisis, banking sector jobs are also perilous in these times. No one really knows what is going to happen next.
Kar Yen is currently working at Yongnam Holdings Limited. She said that she has to make a long commute every day from her home to Tuas.
Physical Appearances
Everyone commented on how much weight Kar Yen has put on. The rest of us didn't seem to have changed much, although I must admit that I now weigh 82 KG (I used to weigh only 75 KG).
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
I do not follow fashion news, so I was aghast when I learnt that the handbags that Annie carried (a gift) and that Kar Yen bought (at staff price discount) were so expensive. Annie's bag (COACH) retails at $600+, while Kar Yen's bag (GUCCI) retails at $900+. I commented that the satchel that I carried cost only $25.
You can have a glimpse of the bags from these thumbnails:
Annie's Bag
Kar Yen's Bag (partially clipped)
My bag is propped at the corner behind Desmond
I made the usual joke that many years ago when Koon Chee told me that he bought a pair of branded shoes (Dr Martens?) for $250, I told him that the cost of my shirt, pants, and shoes total to less than $100, which is less than the cost of 1 of his shoe ($125)! Anyway, as I said before, and as my friends know me, I am not really into branded clothes. I usually spend my money on computer stuff and books. I recently spent over $500 on books about science and philosophy. I have also spent equally much on computer gadgets and accessories.
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We decided to call it a night at 10 pm, because many of us have to work the next day (Friday). Originally, Annie wanted to arrange the meet up on either a Friday or Saturday, but Desmond had classes on Friday evenings, and Kee Hai is not free on Saturdays. This was why the meet up was scheduled on a Thursday. It is ironic that the person whom Annie accommodated for this could not make it.
This reminded me of the time back in 1995 when Annie, Desmond, Koon Chee and myself were supposed to go to Hong Kong on a holiday trip. Koon Chee had promised to show us the sights if we went together. We queried Koon Chee whether he really could make it, and he said something to the effect that "even if he was sick, he will drag himself out of bed to join us on our Hong Kong trip". And as it turned out, Koon Chee could not join us on that HK trip :-)
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There was some hoo-hah over the bill because according to our server, customers who paid with a HSBC credit card is entitled to a 10% discount. However, it turns out that the HSBC credit card was associated with two promotions:
a) one-for-one free dessert
b) 10% discount
Because Kar Yen and Desmond both ordered cakes for dessert (the rest of us skipped dessert), the cashier had automatically extended the one-for-one free dessert promotion on the second cake to Desmond's HSBC card. Only when we were calculating the amounts each of us had to pay for dinner was the missing "10% discount" uncovered. We told our server that it is ridiculous to give the "one-for-one free dessert" because that was only worth $2.80, whereas the "10% discount" would cut our bill by at least $10! We asked the server to void the previous bill (which Desmond had already signed), and to issue a new one with the corrected amount. Hopefully, there is no cock-up when the credit card statements are received by Desmond later in the month.
I look forward to the next gathering.
NJ
Links
Photo album:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/njwong88/DinnerAtWarakuRestaurant
Waraku Website:
http://www.waraku.com.sg
12 May 2009 : See updates and corrections in the following
post.
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