I thought its actually quite a good initiative it its carried out. From the restaurant’s point of view, it will encourage the staff to emphasize more on the service, rather than just assuming that the 10% service charge is automatically there.

To the diner, I think its also fair that good service should relate to a tip. Maybe if I’m very happy with the staff throughout my dinner, I may even reward the waiter / waitress with a tip amounting to more than 10% of the meal.

Moreover,  some restaurants take into account the 10% service charge, even though they only offers self-service where the patrons have to collect the food themselves. Quite un-fair huh?

Ultimately though it has to depend on the culture of the people. Singapore for instance doesn’t really practice tipping, so this idea may not exactly work out.

Would you tip (or tip more than 10% of your total bill), if you are very satisfied with the service?

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I’m sure anyone reading this would have at least stepped into Starbucks / Coffee Bean / Spinelli’s a few times in your life. And there would be some of us (me inclusive) who is just a plain ole coffee addict. I for one cannot live without constant “caffeine injection” into my bloodstream. Whether its Caffè Latte, Caffè Macchiato, Espresso, or the local Kopi O (Gao), I can’t abstain from it for more than 24hrs.

So are you the same? How addicted to coffee are you? Well here’s a few phases of becoming a coffee addict. (pictures courtesy of The Oatmeal

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Without further ado, here’s the winning list.

Best hawker centre
Block 137, Tampines Street 11, Round Market and Food Centre

Most ‘Healthy Choice’ hawker centre
Block 221, Boon Lay Place

Best ‘night-owl’ hawker centre
Block 85, Bedok North Street 4

Cleanest hawker centre
East Coast Lagoon Food Village

Best fried hokkien mee
Che Jian Fried Hokkien Mee, Chomp Chomp, #01-11, Serangoon Gardens

Best fish soup
Rui Ji Fish Porridge, Market Street Food Centre, #02-15

Best chicken rice
Xing Li Hainanese Chicken Rice, Block 127, Toa Payoh Lorong 1, #02-16

Best dessert
House of Yummy, Chomp Chomp Food Centre, #01-09

Anyone else with other suggestions?

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Whether you’re an aspiring chef, an avid food blogger, or just a plain ole foodie, Julie & Julia is a movie that I think suits everyone. If you don’t know what the movie is all about, well here’s my brief synopsis of the plot. No spoilers here so don’t worry.

The movie is based on the lives of Julia Child, and Julie Powell. Both of which are are real people. Julia Child’s character is set in Paris during the 1970s. Being a woman of leisure (and no past experience in cooking), Julia decided to do something meaningful. She took up french cooking lessons, with the intention of bringing French culinary knowledge back to the US. After numerous trials and tribulations, she finally succeeded and became a renowned chef, who eventually published her own cookbook entitled “Mastering The Art of French Cooking”

Meanwhile, present day Julie Powell has lost her direction in life. One fine day she decides to share her passion of cooking with the rest of the world, by attempting all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s cookbook, and blogging it down at the same time. Of which she finally did it within her self deadline of a year, and her blog (entitled Julie / Julia Project, exists even till now) became a big success.

So the movie moves to and fro between the two ladies in two different spaces in time, drawing parallels with one another. Other than the quirky dialogues, viewers gets treated to a variety of french cuisines, and heartwarming lessons in life.

If you’ve caught “The Devil Wears Prada”, and “Mama Mia! The Movie”, then I’m sure you’ll agree with me that Meryl Streep is one of the best there is in the movie industry. Like always her role as Julia Child brought lots of fun and laughter to the plot, making it one of the biggest plus points to the movie.

On the other hand, I felt that Amy Adams didn’t really do justice to her role as Julie Powell. I thought her acting was a little bit bland compared to Meryl Streep. However there were still many comical moments during her numerous cooking attempts that tickled our funny bones.

One big thing that I realised after watching the movie is that when you decide to do something, always stay focus, focus, focus. Make sure you see it through all the way to the end no matter how hard it is. Then you can look back with no regrets. Just like the how Julia Child eventually made a name for herself even though she was rejected and mocked by every school that she tried enrolling into. Same goes for Julie for completing the 524 recipes within a year, and diligently blogging every single one of them down.

I know its easier said than done. But hey, at least try to give it your best shot. Having said that, there’s also something else that kept me thinking. We all know that there’s a saying that goes: “behind every successful man is a great woman”. Julie & Julia on the other hand, depicted a scenario of the total opposite, where the husbands of both ladies played an important and encouraging role towards their success.

So I guess nothing is a one way direction. Whether you’re in a relationship, marriage, or a  business venture, you’ll always need a good partner to be there for you. It doesn’t really matter if its the husband or wife, its probably the mutual support that gets things done.

That leaves me with the big question: did Julie ever get to meet her idol Julia Child? Well, you’ll have to catch the movie to find out. In the meantime, happy blogging, and Bon Appetit~!

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