Saturday, August 16, 2008

Dinner at Kampong Glam


I am probably a nostalgic being. Most of the time when I visit Kampong Glam area with friends, one of the preferred choice for meals was Alaturka.

I was first introduced to Alaturka thanks to Pinto's recommendations on his blog. Thereafter, I took his suggestion to check out Alaturka for my very first time with Emily, whom I have lots to thank for playing accompaniment on the piano for me for Grade 8 music exams. Much later, I had also brought my friend, XS, JY, SH, and Di on different occasions for meals there. Alaturka hence became the natural choice for dinner today. I like it for its simplicity and cosy ambience, and its nice drinks and food.

I have the pleasure to have dinner with eastcoastlife today. She's very kind to have offered to treat me for dinner. An even more kind gesture of hers was to go along with the nostalgic mood of yours truly to have dinner at Alaturka, and to share with me a number of her life-experiences and ideas. We also discussed on the issue of bullying and on possible strategies to raise the public's awareness on the issue of school bullying, a long misunderstood and neglected societal problem. While I probably don't have as strong a determination as eastcoastlife to address this issue of bullying, I hope she would be successful in her own ways to contribute her part to addressing this issue with other equally-concerned stakeholders and parents. At the fundamental, everyone deserves to have a safe environment to be in, away from all kinds of bullying.

Meantime, for readers who would like to view a glimpse of the spread for the dinner, here are some of the photographs taken:





Admittedly, my favourite was the Mutton Musakka which went very well with the lavash. I tried the Turkish Mint Tea for the first time, and it tasted good. It was full of mint favour. Alaturka appeared to have gone through some renovation and there was some change in the menu. I wish that it had offered spangile (chocolate mousse) but it didn't, so I could only savour in my memory, the spangile that I had tried when I was there in April 2007. I personally find that the Baklava was too sweet for my taste. I prefer spangile which was not available. On the side, Alaturka appeared to have pretty good business tonight. Cheers to its good business. Hopefully there would be sufficient business to keep it operating for a long time. That way my nostalgic urge could continue to be fed.

Anyway, after the dinner, when I was home, I went to try to search for the local group that was lobbying against bullying of children and youths, and came across this site of the Coalition Against Bullying for Children & Youths. Visit its site here: http://hrtd.com.sg/CABCY/index.html. It offers some good resources.

9 comments:

pinkie said...

can 'jio' me next time you go to Alaturka?

oceanskies79 said...

Sure Pinkie. Most likely after September when I return from a trip from the Land Down Under. :)

Doreen said...

The food looks very yummy. Sounds like your are a very emo person?

oceanskies79 said...

Doreen: What does emo mean? Maybe I am simply sentimental.

eastcoastlife said...

Thanks for your time and for being so thoughtful as to bringing along a long sleeve blouse for the visit to the mosque. :)

Dinner was good, I like the mutton dish too.

Thanks for the links, I'm reading through and trying to do something.

pinkie said...

OMG! You're going on a holiday!!! Envy envy!!

oceanskies79 said...

eastcoastlife: My pleasure. :)
A pity that we had missed the visiting hours of Sultan Mosque. Do check it out between 9.30 - 12 p.m. and 2 - 4 p.m. on all days except Friday and Sundays (?) when you next visit the Teh Tarik place for your tea fix.

I'm glad that you like at least one of the dishes. I was worried that out of my urge for nostalgia, I may have been too biased in recommending Alaturka to you. ;)

You are welcome for the links.

Pinkie: You have probably skills and privileges that I would envy too.

Anyway, I needed badly a break away from this country to reflect and to recharge.

eastcoastlife said...

You worry too much, PY!
Except for the organs and blood of living things, I'm adventurous and will try all sorts of food.

oceanskies79 said...

eastcoastlife: Sigh. I worry too much??? Looks like there's a lot more that I can improve upon. ;)