A musing on different lunch locations

This week, I had the opportunity to experience lunch at 3 vastly different locations :- Public food court, high end posh restaurant, home-cooked meal at colleague's home.

Public food court :- Food Junction @ Harbourfront (wednesday)
In my quest to help my pal Lin to overcome her jetlag from her recent US trip, we made arrangements to meet for lunch..I really enjoy her good company so it was nice that she travelled far just so that we could do lunch..she wanted asian (enough of american food she says) so we headed for the food court where I had an expensive (for food court prices) S$8 bowl of korean bi bim bap. Good thing is that it was at least up to its mark in terms of tastiness. We had to do the usual "I book the seat, you go order first" routine as as with all food courts, space is usually hard to come by especially during peak lunch hours.

Food : *** (good for food court standard but not value for money)
Price : $
Ambience : *** (as with all things sporean, cleanliness scored;)
Level of muscle activity : high (had to book seat, walk around to see what fancied my tastebuds, line-up and carry own food back to table)

Posh restaurant : Il Lido @ Sentosa Golf Club (thursday)
Having read quite a number of good reviews on Il Lido, I ventured out with 6 other folks to check them out as part of a business lunch. The views are really something and I can imagine it being pretty romantic during dusk and dinner. Wee Hoon commented that the simple looking chairs we sat on were actually designer chairs costing a few hundred dollars each *gulp*.

We ordered a range of appetizers to share - calamari's, ravioli with crabmeat + cod and a tortilla cheese mushroom dish. Of the three, the crabmeat dish was most unique and stood out followed by the cheese dish. My main course which was the beef tenderlion was more medium rare than medium done..thankfully, great service from Kit who patiently took my dish back to be re-cook..I think he was really dissapointed with the way I "abused" my beef ;). The lamb chops were done quite well..but I still think the appetizers scored better. Dessert was creme brulee, tiramisu and flourless chocolate lava cake. I usually look forward to lava cakes and could not wait to try this but was quite disappointed as although it had the right texture, the chocolate had no oomph..Beard Papa's version stood better at 1/3 the price! Best in my opinion is still the lava cake at Ember :)

Food : **** (Their appetizers saved the day..mains are so-so only)
Price : $$$ (but free for me ;)
Ambience : ***** (a great place to be just to relax)
Level of muscle activity : 0 (well, maybe 1 just to chew and swallow - otherwise, we were treated like royalty, Kit was marvelously attentive, even bringing us a pot of warm water with lemon! when he heard a cough at the table)

Home-cooked meal @ Abhijit's house (Friday)
I always am envious of people who have helpers who are also great cooks. Abhi's maid cooks excellent Indian vegetarian and having tried her cooking nearly one year back, I decided to be thick-skinned and self-invite and organised the lunch at his place (I hope my honesty here does not stop anyone from inviting me to their place for a good meal :D )

We were not dissapointed..unfortunately, I was too busy wolfing down all the dishes to ask the name of each dish but trust me when I say, every dish was sooo Indian good. The added plus was that I got to play with lovely Zen, Abhi's golden retriever, who like his name, is such a gentle soul. We finished off the meal with the cakes I bought from Canele and one word summed up the whole lunch - Excellent!!! If only we did not have to go back to work..:(

Food : ***** (have already made mental note to self to be thick skin again in 6 months time for a re-invite! - infact, I managed to take away some leftovers..totally shameless :p )
Price : no money can buy!
Ambience : ***** (anywhere Zen is, it gets a 5 star rating;)
Level of muscle activity : 2 (only because I had to buy and cut the cake..heehee..otherwise, it was home style royalty treatment) - Thanks abhi!!!

So there you go, 3 very different locations serving very different kinds of food..I have no favourites (although the meal at Abhi's lingers longer in memory)..I concluded that it's really the company (great catch up time with lin, hilarious time with agency especially on eugene's antics, comfortable time with colleagues to celebrate the end of a work week)..ahh, :)