Month: September 2024

Bye bye Badoque

When the announcement of Badoque was closing was out on Instagram, I had to book it with my friends to eat there one last time.

It had been there for 18 years at Simpang Bedok and on 15 September 2024, it is set to close.

Yes, this post is not really a review post unless you’re from the future, you read this and had a time machine to go back to taste all the good restaurants in Singapore before it closed.

Being one of the first famous Halal western/fusion restaurants in Singapore, Badoque had been so iconic in the East side.

This is their mojito and their cups were really jug sized and value for money.

You need to understand, this wasn’t a thing amongst restaurants back then when it started. Having a huge cup that was more like a jug for a whole drink and at such affordable prices? Mixing sodas were also not a thing when it was first released.

You either get a drink that’s just a soda not a mocktail and definitely not at these sizes in regular restaurants.

Kepak bing bing. It’s a pun on the sound you get when you play the kompang. And kepak is ‘wing’ in Malay. It’s a spicy chicken wings appetizer that goes really well with that squeeze of lime on it.

Breaded oysters. Can you guys tell me where else can I get breaded oysters at a reasonable price now? And done well with their chilli sauce and just a bit of a salad and lemon squeeze for bit of acidity.

There was once we thought “Huh, breaded oysters, maybe it won’t be that much, let’s get two” and it was too much because we ordered other appetizers too for the group. We didn’t think it was going to be a lot but as most of the Badoque’s menu.

The portions are always just so generous.

I ordered a lamb shank because their beef ribs were already sold out by the time we were there. According to the server, everyone had heard of the announcement and had booked it to Badoque.

We were going on a weekday evening so I would imagine the last few days and even last day to be the busiest for goodbyes.

Maybe we can’t order again, but I’ll always remember this lamb shank to have the most delightful sauce with the lamb shank itself being so soft and tender. You didn’t need a knife, you can even use a spoon with it.

Lamb Bukhari is another lamb shank but with rice and the sauce. Can you see how portions are big and the TASTE was always flavourful with spices and the chef knows how to have it all balanced with just a bit of acidity too with the fattiness of the meats.

Other stuff we ordered was Lamb Bamia (comes with a lot of bread for their sauces), breaded chicken steak and fish and chips. Mind you, even their fish and chips weren’t the regular ones but 4 individually breaded fried fish. None of that tasteless sutchi fish either.

So howlah.

They have such high quality food and drinks.

All I can say is thank you for the memories.

Food places in Singapore, when they’re good, they’re good but they always seem to have an end either due to rental prices or life or anything.

But it just means we should always appreciate it when they are there.

If you do actually have a time travel machine, I think it’s your mission to try out all the hawker shops and restaurants that have closed in Singapore. Badoque should be in one of the lists.

After all, I don’t think visiting food places would make too much of a difference in the time continuum, would it…?

I want what she has

When your husband retires before you, and doesn't want to 'unretire' by Sumiko Tan

There’s a new Sumiko Tan section called Sumiko At 60 which is a new ‘series’ that I just noticed since Lunch with Sumiko ended. Or has lunch with Sumiko finally got its lunch break? Haha.

Mind you, I hadn’t flipped through the Straits Times for a long while until I want to see specifically ‘local’ news, the opinions or forum page that tend to bring rather eye catching at times dumb responses where people duel with each other hoping their replies catch the eye of the editor in charge to just post it.

Anyway, a brief check showed me that this was her third article in that column. And it is amazing.

Who is Sumiko though? In her exact article When your husband retires before you, and doesn’t want to ‘unretire’ she has this one bit that made me gasp.

I started working in The Straits Times on May 15, 1985. I was 21 years and five months old. I’ve been in the same job and in the same organisation since, and the longest breaks I’ve taken from work were three-week vacations.

And yes, she is the Executive Editor at The Straits Times now. If you checked the Singapore archives somewhere (don’t quote me on it), her first few articles were about Singapore, a typical reporter.

In fact, when I was a student and we had to read the newspapers in school for who knows what reason that I can’t remember for, her articles came full page with an original illustration to go with it to supplement it and her byline. No longer just news reporting, she wrote articles of anything and everything.

I might say Sumiko Tan was the blogger before blogging was in. She had the mainstream media printing her afflictions and struggles or non-struggles.

She is the best clickbaity reactionary writer for the press.

It wasn’t factually stupid things like some writers make a mistake of when they give opinions, no. She backed things up with real facts but enough fluff and opinions to make you go “What the heck am I reading?”.

And I want what she has.

While the Sumiko at 60 article states she’s afraid of retirement, and her husband is a teacher who has finally gotten his chance to chill…

She just wrote what most of us nowadays can’t achieve.

A job that sustains you for more than 3 decades, with 3 week vacations available?! AND she gets a more than a half page to write the heck she wants? Assumedly whatever the heck she wants, I don’t know what goes on the minds of the higher ups.

Maybe they go “Ms Sumiko Tan, do your thing, we believe in you to bring up the readership of ST by rage baiting them with your factual yet inconsequential happenings. Omakase, oneigaishimasu!” BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.

The latest article read in her typical style but with survey facts and a PSA about how the age of retirement will be increased and the reemployment age. Because Hallelujah, she doesn’t have to retire so soon.

It was a heaped with a dash of ‘postponing’ CPF payout “tricks” such as “monthly payouts will increase by up to 7 per cent for each year of deferral” as she was advised by a “Ms Daphne Lye, a financial planning solutions lead at MoneyOwl, a financial advisory firm under Temasek Trust“.

Can you imagine.

Ms Sumiko Tan calling up Ms Daphne Lye and saying “Help, help, my husband is wearing his tatty t-shirts and shorts around the house after he has RETIRED WHILE WATCHING NETFLIX AT 9am. WHAT CAN I DO????”

And Ms Daphne Lye reassuring her that his “approach to retirement could also offer valuable lessons“.

No, no you cannot imagine so.

Which is why I find this article simply amazing since I wonder if it is an advertorial.

Really.

If it was posted anywhere except The Straits Times, it probably would have a “This post is sponsored by” at the end of it.

By now you might be wondering, why do I want what she has? How can I even write articles like these in a the main newspaper and get PAID for it? You can’t even find listings on The Straits Times job openings page for such a trajectory. Everything seems to be social media based videos or nothing to do with the actual papers.

At most even with the google ad monies I get on this blog, I can only afford a pizza after a year or so with the readership. I doubt I can retire on that. So yeah, I want what she has. To get paid to write such things and have the ability to retire with an already retired husband who watches Netlix at 9am??

Anyway, whatever rage bating article she has in the papers, it is somehow a reassuring thing that as the world goes on, and as Straits Times still gets printed, we will always have a Sumiko Tan article.

I hope she will have a new series in 9 years time too, after this Sumiko at 60 series.

I’m very sure it would be nice.