A taste of middle eastern

Admittedly I don't know Middle Eastern cuisine well but X is a big fan. So when we found ourselves wondering around RWS looking for a place to eat, he was immediately drawn to Anar. The belly dancing, I'm sure helped pique his interest too but unfortunately we were too early. I believe it starts from 8pm.

Once inside, you feel immediately transported into the movie set of the Arabian Nights.

A complimentary starter of feta cheese

with a complimentary serving of pita bread

(they charge $2.50 for additional serving which I thought was unnecessary considering the restaurant but that was my only complaint of the evening, everything else - the food & service is excellent)

Moutabbal

X wanted to order this favorite Baba Ghanosh but the server highly recommended this instead. Also an eggplant dip. Excellent. We were happily dunking our bread in this

Hummus with minced beef

My favorite. Hummus is a chickpea puree perfectly complemented with bits of beef

Chicken livers - this was delicious.

All the starters appealed to us so we ordered 3.

Word of warning tho : the dips are rich & can fill you up especially if you eat with a lot of bread

Grilled Lamb Chops & Beef Medallions

Tasty & cooked just right but we still preferred the starters

A shot of their beautiful restroom

Will we return ? Absolutely !

Buddha Tooth Temple

I must have passed by the Buddha Tooth Temple in Chinatown dozens of times yet last month was the first time I ventured inside. I followed a group of tourists so we won't be the only ones gawking & there were lots to *gawk* at.

The entrance facing South Bridge Road is called the Mountain Gate. See the pair of the dragon ornament on the roof top of the gate, cast by a Japanese. I know this because these are all explained in their very well designed website - by way of which I realised that there is a museum that we missed. Note to revisit.

They provide shawls for cover up in case you are not appropriately dressed. No shorts, miniskirts or revealing tops.

Even though I'm not of any particular faith, I'm always in awe of religious & spiritual places. This was no exception. The interior is opulent, to say the least.

The temple was completed at a cost of $75mio. These zodiac protectors are available for sponsorship. The website gives an extensive list of items that you can choose to sponsor - from floor tiles to ceiling boards, prayer wheels to lanterns.

The hall is pretty amazing.

We spent a lot of time taking it all in.

Prayers were starting

& it was time for us to leave

If you ever find yourself with some time to kill near Chinatown,

you know where you can go

Sentosa Boardwalk Day & Night

When we went to RWS for the Lion Dance Competition, we decided to use the new Boardwalk. Another excuse for the Girl to bring out her scooter. There are signs within Vivocity with directions.

You could walk or....

....use the travellator

There are also restaurants which we didn't have time to check out

since we didn't want to miss the show nor be exposed to the hot sun

It was a very hot day so we kept close to the covered walkway

It is very pretty

It was much more pleasant walking at night when it was cooler

& to see it all lighted up

See what I mean about the lights

Noting this down for future reference when we want to eat around that area

RWS Lion Dance Championship

Sometimes browsing sistic could bring surprising & unexpected results. Here is one of them. I found myself drawn to & hence purchasing tickets for the RWS International Lion Dance Competition. The blurb says the event will showcase internationally renowned lion dance troupes. Hey why not right ?

Every year without fail when we were kids, my father, being the businessman that he was, would invite a lion dance troupe to our house to perform & to do the Cai Qing (translated to mean plucking the green). A Chinese belief that it will help the business do well. I love to watch Lion Dance & nowadays apart from Chinese New Year & the occasional shop opening, it's hard to see them in action.

There were 2 days of competition. Semi finals on one day & finals on the other. I figured I'll get tickets for the finals & see the best in action. From 15 groups (not exactly international, they came from China, Macau, Taiwan & even one from Australia), it was down to final 8.

Being the novice that we were, we didn't exactly choose the right seats - it was free seating. We were looking at the performance from this angle as you can see from the above picture. The problem is that you actually don't see how wide the poles go nor how far apart they are. It was only when we view from the big screen that we could see the difference & appreciate the difficulties in doing stunts on them.

This was one of the Singapore lions that unfortunately fell midway through the performance. But they gamely picked themselves up & continued but needless to say had points deducted for the misstep.

By the time we left, this Taiwanese lion was leading the pack. Yup we left at break time cos the noise was getting too much for the Girl & since we weren't supporting any particular group (apart from Singapore), after watching 4 groups perform, that was enough.

It was an interesting experience - quite unlike our usual shows at the Esplanade.