Lunch at Werner's Oven, Siglap

One of my ex-classmates from my NUS German class suddenly had a craving for German food at Werner's Oven and initiated today's lunch. I gathered she asked a number of people, and some were interested, but in the end only 3 of us showed up - the initiator, and two of us who live in the east. Guess Siglap was a bit out of the way for the "westerners". It was a pretty good lunch though, here's what we had:

Fritierter Camembert Käse



The two of us shared this while waiting for our friend to come. It's fried camembert cheese with raspberry sauce. It's a little more salty than I anticipated - I always thought camembert had a very mild taste - but in a delicate, rather subtle way. I suppose as an appetizer, the saltiness does help to, well, appetize.

Bärlauchwurst



For the main course, two of us had what was described on the menu as "coarse pork sausage with wild garlic herb, served with potato salad & sauerkraut". It was the meatiest meal I've had in a while, but that's German food for you (I wonder what vegetarians would order at Werner's). It came with a small bit of mustard on the side, a good thing, since it helped to take off the meatiness. I liked the potato salad too - potato slices in mayonnaise with apple bits and I think some pieces of hard-boiled egg. Servings were huge, it took me ages to finish the whole lot.

Ox-tail Stew



My other friend had the Ox-tail Stew, first item on their All-Time Favourites menu list. I only tried a sliver, but the meat was tender, and the sauce smelled marvellous. I think an entire plate of it can be a bit too much though.

Jägermeister



I was quite full after my sausage-cabbage-potatoes combo, and ordered one of these babies to round up the meal. Had been intrigued all through lunch by its description: "Germany's famous herbal liqueur with 56 different herbs, barks, roots and flowers ... also believed to soothe the tummy after a meal and a good hangover remedy."



Well it was plenty herbal alright, it felt like drinking one of those chinese medicinal ointments that people use to treat sprains. My friend thought it tasted like Woods cough syrup. I downed a whole glass of ice water while finishing the shot. I have to say, the liqueur may not be the best drink I've tasted, but it seems to live up to its promise as a tummy-soother. I thought I was stuffed after my meal, but an hour later, my stomach seemed to be getting empty again.

Final word on the meal - satisfying, would have been better if I'd finished with a dessert.

Superband concert, Saturday 23 Jan 2010

Went to watch the Superband concert at the Indoor Stadium Saturday night, presumably their 3rd last ever (they have 2 more shows next week in Taipei). After travelling to 40+ cities and performing 40+ shows over the last year, they were like a great soccer team that's played one match too many, and just couldn't muster the energy to deliver the beautiful game that people have come to expect of them. I guess Singaporeans anticipated that. This was the turnout at their concert last July:



and this was the turnout last night:



Granted, the first shot was taken 2 minutes before showtime last year, and the latter about 20 minutes before yesterday's show; regardless, the crowd was noticeably less this time round.

The atmosphere was rather more sedate too. Last July, there was banter, between the bandmates themselves, and with the audience; the song set was great - the crowd whooped at the intro of every other familiar song and sang along with the band; the performers were on a high and there was just this really great energy in the air.

Last night, they had to come up with a new set for their solo performances, some of which were newly written ones, and while there were a few good songs, I think they just weren’t as instantly recognisable and sing-along-able as the ones they played last July. And when it came to the final few songs of the group performance part, the fatigue really showed. 周华健 somewhat expressionlessly strummed the guitar when it wasn’t his turn to sing – a far cry from his usual booming-laughter-and-huge-gestures persona onstage. 张震岳 went one up (or down?) didn’t even sing some parts of several songs, at one point even sitting with his back to the camera, so that for a good part of a song, we stared at the back of his vest and cap on the giant screen above the stage. Well, I’m being nice and putting that down to exhaustion from touring 40-odd venues in a year. Or I could be cynical and call it a snooty, unprofessional lack of showmanship, which it probably was, too. After all, the other two 大哥s (李宗盛 and 罗大佑) sang their hearts out all night and never for a moment seemed out of it the whole time they were performing. I guess it’s true what they say about old ginger.

To be fair, it wasn’t a total let-down. The new songs were mostly good – I particularly liked the one with the 罗大佑 drum performance) – and even though they more or less just recycled their group performance and encore sets, I think the audience still enjoyed those parts the most, there are some things you just can’t get enough of. And it’s only on hearing it the second time that I realised 罗大佑’s 《皇后大道东》 has such interesting lyrics on post-colonial Hong Kong, in addition to having a great catchy tune.

The two oba-sans sitting to my right seemed tickled to no end by 李宗盛’s cartoonish facial expressions while playing the guitar during his solos. Totally absorbed in his guitar and song, his eyes were closed, and mouth was open (showing off the many gaps between his teeth), and he would sometimes stick his tongue out during the more fancy complicated chords. I also learnt that he’s twice-divorced, currently single and had something going on with the wife of chicken-rice seller in one of the cities they toured (couldn’t catch the details about the 鸡饭嫂 they were talking about).



Some guy in the front section screamed very loudly “周华健,我爱你!” right after 周华健 did his first solo piece, to which he replied “谢谢你,那个非常粗暴的声音 […] 你的女朋友不会奇怪吗?”. Even on his off days, he still has his sense of humour intact. And he still puts up a solid show. What can I say? The guy can sing, I thought he really has a really really good voice. Just too bad he wasn’t in top form this time round.



For all the sullenness he projected towards the end of the concert, 张震岳 did play the percussion for the entire show; and I guess it’s a bit much to expect the same rock musician who did songs like 《我要錢》 and 《我爱台妹》 to perform 《明天会更好》 and 《朋友》 with the same passion and vigour.



All night, I was wondering if they were possibly not going to play 《出发了》, the first song they recorded as a band, and one of my favourite songs from their last concert. Of course they did, and saved it for the last during the encore. So I suppose the concert did end on a high note for me.