Day 11 - Paddington and Billy Kwong

Weather: Another sunny day. Occasional rain from the afternoon onwards.

We decided to make it shopping day in Paddington, mostly because we were too tired to venture elsewhere.

Had breakfast at Anastasia's again. The bald owner insisted that HM was very quiet and unlike her giggly self. When asked if he could have remembered the wrong person, his reply was "Yes maybe but I don't think so." HM was appalled to hear herself being described as "giggly".

William Street, Paddington, is a wonderful little locale. There were a number of upscale specialty shops in beautifully restored Victorian houses. Walked past Colette Dinnigan. Not likely to buy anything there - can't afford it.


rows and rows of restored houses


like peranakan houses in S'pore


... except there's no five foot way


my favourite

We saw a wonderful long haired gray cat sleeping in a shop window which made HM want a cat after declaring the day before that she wanted a dog. HM decided that if she ever moved to Sydney she would want a dog, a cat, a rabbit and a hamster...


how much is that kitty in the window?


cats really do know how to be picturesque

Oxford Street is a fantastic place to shop. There's everything that HM likes, like FCUK, LJ, Mambo, surf shops, and Max Brenner. The plundering continued. HM pillaged Lorna Jane and bought 2 sets of workout clothes, a pair of pink shorts no less. When was she gonna wear that?! She also bought a pair of jeans and a black halter from Sportsgirl. (No, you don't look like a minah in stretchy bootcut jeans, so buy the jeans already.) I ended up with mosquito bites while waiting for her in the nearby park.


beware of mosquitoes...


no, we didn't buy any


now you wouldn't find this here in Singapore

Dinner was at Billy Kwong, a meal I was so looking forward to. What did we have?

• Prawn wonton and veg soup – ho hum
• Chilli and black bean mussels – surprisingly yummy. Sauce had Chinese black vinegar in it much to someone's delight. HM was happy with the pickled ginger.
• Crispy duck in orange sauce – Kylie's signature dish and utterly delectable. The duck skin was crispy and tender, the flesh fell of bone. We were happiest with this dish.
• Steamed snapper fillet with ginger and shallots – the sauce was a tad too oily and the fish slightly overcooked for our Cantonese taste buds, but it was good nonetheless.
• Fruit platter - nice

What did we think of the place? There were many plus points - the excellent service, the fresh quality produce, the successful update of Chinese food. On the minus side, everything was a tad too salty.

The décor, we could tell, was intentionally Chinese teahouse, with squashy small tables and 3-legged stools. Stools looked like they had been specially made larger to accommodate spready bums that wouldn't normally fit onto authentic Asian stools comfortably.

The unplanned-for entertainment came by way of our eating companions. To one side, we had Silly Singaporean Honeymooning Couple; the woman had a rock on her finger that probably weighed more than her. They ordered fried noodles and steamed whole fish. Silly people left the best bits of the fish behind and who on earth would order noodles at an upmarket restaurant unless it was to save cost or if they were ang moh and didn't know any better. The only other excuse might have been if one had already exhausted the menu from repeat visits but it didn't look like that at all. If you can afford such a big rock, why stinge at a first-rate restaurant? Better to buy smaller rock and eat well. You can't eat rocks anyway. The Couple also talked about eating at Tetsuya's. Without an advanced reservation? Dream on. Heh heh.

On the other side, we had Declasse Ang Mo Couple. He kept losing his shoe as he waggled his foot. The shoe kept landing on our side which was really annoying. At one point he was sitting with his leg on the stool. Very tak glam. He would have fitted in nicely with the uncle crowd back home in the coffee shop. Oh well, at least they knew enough to order the Billy Kwong banquet with the many small courses.