Valentine's Day 2011

Valentine's Day is soooo overrated!!! This year is our 3rd year together. The first year, BB brought me to My Secret Garden and back then, I already thought that the prices for Valentine's Day dinner were exorbitant! And what's more I wasn't exactly impressed with the food. The second year coincides with Chinese New Year. Surprisely I don't recall where or what we did. This year, I saw flowers sent to one of my colleagues in office and wondered if I would get something. Yes as much as I think that flowers or roses for that matter are super expensive and useless as they have very short lifespan, I guess 女人的虚荣心 can't help but wonder, cos my BB did mention that he bought something for me, but he didn't. So we met up after work, and BB wanted to buy me a good dinner. He said this is the only time I can 敲竹杠, and it's once a year. But the miser in me wanted to save the $$$ for any upcoming trips or for a rainy day, so I thought just a regular dinner will do. We roamed around for a while before deciding to check out the Singapore Flyer, but they don't accept walk-ins. So we loitered in the vincinity and wanted to try out this Japanese food Hibiki. But when we walked in, nobody bothered to greet us. And when finally 1 staff came over, she asked if we wanted ala carte or the V-day set. Being our first time here, I told her that I wanted to see the menu. So she left and another staff came over and asked the same questions again, to which I gave the same reply. Then she gave me the menu and walked away, without seating us. Stood there for 3 minutes and we left. BB is super intolerant to service staff which ignore us. Walked around the area to see if there's more choices. Decided to move on to elsewhere. Called Nadaman on the phone whilst in the car, staff replied that it's fully booked till 9pm. Sigh, told BB we should just go some place nearby. Suggested Esplanade and we went there. Parking was damn expensive too!!! $6 per entry!!! I can go MBS for that amount! Then strolled around to find places to eat. Most of the places were super packed. Wanted to try out this Korean BBQ restaurant but BB was not in the mood for Korean, so we walked into this Italian restaurant called Al Dente Trattoria. BB asked me to check out the menu and I saw $138++, so I told him and he said ok! We walked in and sat ourselves. Then this waitress came and ask if she can get us anything to drink to start the meal, so we presume that the set menu didn't come with drinks. We happily ordered drinks, and to my amaze when the waitress came with drinks + champagne, which was then we realised that the set came with champagne. Waste of $$$. As we were into our first appetiser, BB suddenly asked if it's $138++ for the set or $138++ per pax. I was stunned! It didn't dawn upon me that it could be $138++ per pax! I got the menu again and saw that it was it. I was damn pissed!!! Heart was bleeding! Why would I want to eat something that expensive? C'mon I even thought of having hawker food. BB assured me it was okay and so we continued the dinner, but in my head it was numbers just floating around...$138++ x 2 + 2 glasses of wine + 10% service charge + 7% GST + $6 parking!!! I must admit at the end of the day, the food was really good, but I really don't think we should spend THAT MUCH on a day that was promoted by evil merchants who are out there to suck all your blood!

The menu for the day. I blame the fine prints that cost us the expensive dinner

Pan-seared US King Scallop on Spoon

The champagne and extra Cosmopolitan I orderedThe bread, which goes quite well with the oil thingy served on the side This is very nice! Double-Boiled Consomme with Oxtail Ravioli This is not bad too! Marinated Tuna on Tomato Salad with Sweet Pepper Oil Pissed! Another champagne item? Pear Gelato in ChampagneWe both chose beef. The other choice of main was salmon. Main: Wagyu Beef Tenderloin on Pumpkin with Onion Confit I was so engrossed in eating that I forgot to take picture of the main. The beef was nice, didn't really think it's wagyu though.

Dessert was heavenly! A good end to the expensive meal. Lavender-Infused Ivory Mousse on Strawberry and Mint Salad The heart-wrenching bill! Freaking $356.60! I can do a lot with that $$$!

In conclusion, I still think Valentine's Day is just overrated and being manipulated by the retailers as the very day to 砍菜头. So BB, next year we just spend it on a cheap and nice holiday? Thanks :)