e.Blackboard part 2

A new chef and new suppliers, e.blackboard has been hard at work listening to the needs of its customers and comments from foodies over the months, and I tagged along together with ieat and two of his makan kakis for a photo shoot and preview of the new menu.


First up is the pasta, which I felt was really appetizing. The taste was not overpowering and it wasn't too dry or soggy with sauce.




Fish and chips is available at $6. The dory fillet had a great texture to it and the skin was crispy yet not oily. Salad and fries are served as well.


Next up is the lamb chop ($12.90). Not a mutton eater myself, I found it good enough for my taste buds, though one may feel that the piece is smaller than it is because of the bones. It also now comes with mint sauce (instead of citrus butter previously served) and potato wedges.


I had originally given this session a miss, but due to a change of plans at the last minute, I made my way down and arrived half an hour late, when most of the food (like the ribeye steak) had been shot, eaten and turned cold. As I ate it for the last visit a week ago, Bryan was kind to have Gerald, the new chef, prepare it for me so that I could make a comparison. I opted for medium-rare.


And my conclusion is that the steak is one of the best I could get for $12.90, given the competition for budget steak at this price range from places like Aston's. The change of beef supply has certainly helped. As soon as the tasting was done, everyone wanted a piece of it!


Every meal ordered entitles you to 2 side dishes, and one of the more refreshing stuff now available is the Cherry Tomato Raisins, which comes as a topping for the coleslaw.

And that is all for the foodie session at e.blackboard today. You may also want to check out ieat's take on the revamped e.blackboard, which offers you more details about our trip.

MRT track accident part 4

I regret letting this slip, on the judgement that people are clever enough to know and that it would not circulate cos I have debunked it in the forums, and therefore I hate to see this.

I know there are some pictures that have been circulating on the net claiming to the picture from the Yishun MRT accident. What can I tell you is, it will never be leaked or the Government will skin you alive. No, it's not a Singaporean government thing, any government will do that and we will say, "Serve you right." Journalism has its limits.

Back to the pictures, which had been circulating through email, blogs and forums. They belong to another incident, where the outcome bear resemblance to the case at Yishun.

The source of the picture came from http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=427e9d7db0, which is dated November 12th. That in itself is enough to cast doubts on the authenticity. The picture was first posted on STOMP (but has since been removed) and it took no effort to hunt down its source since the person simply quoted the picture's URL.

Another fact was simply that the picture seemed to be taken from a subway tunnel, where it is dark. If any picture were to be taken at Yishun, it would be at daylight after 7am.

Hope this helps.

Refurbished MRT train in action

Finally caught the refurbished train 005/006 in action during peak hours, and along the East-West Line!

Train 001/002, the second refurbished train to come out and also the real guinea pig all the while for the engineers to play with the various designs, now sports the SMRT-Citibank Visa card advertisement, and is still at Bishan Depot. It is rumoured to come with the working version of the in-train dynamic route map.





Bigger versions available here.

PS: e.blackboard pictures will be up in the wee hours.

Pasar Malam whereabouts (Dec 9th-10th)

1. Sengkang MRT/Sengkang East Road


2. Yew Tee MRT (till dec 31st)


3. Choa Chu Kang MRT


4. Hougang MRT


Next up: Ang Mo Kio MRT

Info courtesy of discussion threads here and here.

Boon Lay MRT Extension Pics

Sorry, the pictures are dated to July, but since I have re-uploaded it again, I think I would like to share it with you all.

See the full collection of pictures.

SBS Transit introduces Fast Forward 74e and 151e

To start from 18th December, the buses will only ply between Hougang/Ang Mo Kio and institutions along Clementi Rd, Dover and Kent Ridge. The peak-hour only services, which are allowed to use flexible routing and the PIE, will skip the Bukit Timah area to save travelling time.

As the services are premium services, express fares will be charged and no concession or season passes will be accepted. As a promotion, SBS Transit will charge only normal adult fares for the rest of 2006.

Sakura International Buffet

Qibi and me went to the Sakura Int'l Buffet outlet at Toa Payoh and we were pretty disappointed. The cost of the buffet lunch, at $20 nett each, could have gotten us better Japanese food elsewhere, but I reckon that they were probably catering to a different crowd all together.

And there weren't even a miso soup pot! The only special thing is that I got to try out the swordfish, which is unique though tastes fishy after a while.

Since I don't recommend the place, I will not put up the details of the place, but will only show two pics. =



Scallops, Oysters and Mussels.

Thank you to EDMW and "ndmmxiaomayi"

I was pretty amazed by the fact that my photos and my take on the MRT accident yesterday was posted on Tomorrow.SG.

For those who wanted to know what happened before this MRT post was produced, it went like this. I woke up at 6.30am, happily reading EDMW forums on Hardwarezone when a post came in at 7.07am.

Half of myself believed it and that I should go down to investigate (just like the Candy Empire incident sometime back), the half was reluctant and sleepy. But all thanks to a confirmation SMS from "ndmmxiaomayi", who takes the northbound train every weekday morning and had already reached Woodlands on an affected train, I prepared all my equipment, bathed and rushed down for it.

All thanks to EDMW and my friend, hence, I would like to dedicate the 3,000 page views to you guys, and hopefully as fellow netizens, we can bring citizen journalism to everyone. Cheers.

Food pictures coming up later tonight. =P

MRT track accident part 2

I was discussing with my friend about the outcome of the investigation as we far as we could gather, including reports from Lianhe Wanbao, and i can conclude that CCTV footage won't yield the cause of death. Why? The very spot of the incident is where I took the following pic a few weeks ago:



I chose the spot then because I have checked where the cameras are pointing then and found that corner to be a blind spot, since, as we know, photography is not allowed inside MRT stations, and anyone would find it easier to avoid questioning even if the pictures are for legitimate purposes.

So, maybe he could have dashed out himself, or being pushed down, or staggered out of the seat towards the edge in a drunkenly manner, we would never know 'cos the footage might not show it.

MRT track accident again!!!

Part 2
Thank you post
The gory pics in circulation are fake!

UPDATE: According to HWZ, the person is said to be a local indian national, was believed to be drunk (no one can confirm and we have to leave it to speculation) when he fell into the track and was sliced into 3 pieces by the impact, which explains the complexity of the clean-up operation.

A track accident occurred at 6.48am at Yishun MRT and service was disrupted until 8.15am between Sembawang and Yio Chu Kang.

SMRT personnel were quick to resume service within an hour and a half by first moving the body and keeping it below the platform gap while they put powder to prevent it from decaying as train services continued. The body was eventually removed at 9.47am and promptly sent to the mortuary via a police van.

The SMRT PR personnel kept accompanying the mediacorp reporters and cameramen around, and prevented the rest from following them too closely. :(

Pasar Malam whereabouts (Dec 2nd-3rd)

For this weekend....

1. Serangoon Gardens
2. Sengkang East Road
3. Yew Tee MRT
4. Bt Panjang Rd Blk 271
5. Hougang View (opp Hougang CC)
6. Yishun MRT
7. Jurong East MRT (ending this weekend)
8. Choa Chu Kang Ave 4