Blog
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New camera, new world
So after coming back from travels, what do I end up doing but upgrading all my tech! Which included a new camera, the Sony Alpha 6000, just cause. I know nothing about cameras, so I bought it and hoped for the best. It’s supposed to be pretty good so I’m trying to figure out how to use it properly, and now I also want new fancy lenses.
For some reason I feel that when I walked around testing out my brother’s camera, the shots came out nicer, but after a little practise I think I’m starting to like mine too.
Here are some pretties!
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Japan, September 2014
Ah, Japan. The place I’ve wanted to go to ever since discovering the world of anime. What an amazing place, and I’d actually say I enjoyed it the most on my trip, probably because I had the least expectations for it. I should figure out how to eliminate expectations for everything that I want to do, because it works wonders.
I was pretty delirious from having been awake since morning in London, then getting only a few hours sleep on the plane because I was enjoying the in-flight entertainment too much and its manga feature plus some space pirate movie which was pretty awful, and then spending nearly a full day exploring Tokyo again. (Did I mention there was reindeer meat in the form of a sandwich on the Finnish leg of our flight? There wasn’t much actual meat I think, so I couldn’t taste it at all)
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My REM hacked my memory
I’ve always wondered how my dreams work because I get some weird ones – not just in terms of what happens but also the timing. I’ve had crazy dreams where I’ve had part 2 before part 1, and episodic dreams. They’re pretty amazing if somewhat trippy.
So last night I had this great one where I was at a set of markets, where there were all sorts of stalls, but there were three distinct ones that I interacted with – a stall where I bought a pastry and promptly lost it, which was a reference to the handmade croissant I left behind on my trip back to Adelaide from Sydney; a portuguese tart stall which had custard in a bucket and would put the custard in as you ordered and they had a special that was 3 for $4, and in my dream I knew it was a good deal but didn’t get one; and lastly a pastry stall that I bought another pastry from to replace the first.
As I was walking I entered a watch shop, where I was acquainted with the watchmaker from a past dream – though I can’t actually be certain that it was truly from a past dream. In my dream I remember it being a real past dream, but I’m not so sure. Looking for a watch, I initially tried on a silver one, but I didn’t really like it, so I asked for another. I wanted something more elegant, so out came an Omega, a rose gold watch, and at the time it reminded me of the one that Nicole Kidman modelled. Full of rose gold, with diamonds to indicate the hours. However, I didn’t like the colour against my skin, even though it was a very pretty watch.
At the end I asked for the price, at which point he jokingly said $9. I knew it was in the thousands, so I asked if it was 10, and the answer was yes. That’s when I said I couldn’t afford it, but that I’d come back for a watch one day – a watch that would capture my heart. He seemed to understand.
And with that, I gathered the pastry crumbs that I’d spilt while trying on the watches and walked off.
The end!
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City Social
It was a Benedict Cumberbatch tumblr that prompted me to consider booking a place here. Plus, it was new, and also, it boasted a great view. One thing lead to another, and I’ve decided that I will now attempt to visit at least one Jason Atherton restaurant when I visit a city where one exists. Whether or not this will actually work, who knows!
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Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
Lo and behold, San Pellegrino Top 50’s Number 5 in 2014 – Dinner.
I was recommended Dinner over Fat Duck, and I have plans to try and attend Fat Duck when it opens in Melbourne – so to Knightsbridge I went! This actually will be a text heavy post, as opposed to most of my restaurant posts that are spammed with food.
They had beautiful menus set up, with bits of trivia to read while perusing the menus. We were also lucky enough to be seated right in front of the kitchen, so we had a great view of flames and ovens and a total head count of about 15 chefs in that small space. It’s a fairly large restaurant from what I could see, and it blended into a bar in the Mandarin Oriental.
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London, September 2014
Oh wow, London. This is going to be a massive post with a lot of pictures!
I’ve been tempted to go to London for a while now, but New York is still the place I want to visit the most. I took advantage of the fact that I was going to be in Shanghai to travel through the Northern hemisphere, and managed to get a very beautiful stopover at Helsinki too – a place that’s a little bit of an in-joke with my friend from a radio play called Cabin Pressure, but also because I think Finland is a cool place – and the view from the plane is certainly pristine and amazing!
I guess I start at Hyde Park – the first place we walked through as it was near where we stayed. I absolutely love the royal gardens here, and it’s a bonus when the birds aren’t afraid of people, so I could get fairly close them and take all the pretty photos.
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F(L)IGHT
AND LENS FLARE MAKES A RETURN CAUSE I AM AMAZING
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China, August 2014
I keep telling myself I’ll never go back to China, but family matters always come up and I inevitably revisit. I’d consider my expectations of the place to be so low that I really shouldn’t be disappointed, but alas, but I’ve actually increased the amount of spoiledness (I know that isn’t a word) from polite, Western society that I continue to be surprised.
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Commune Social
The story of how I came across Commune Social isn’t super long, but is a story nonetheless – once upon a time, I was stalking a tumblr about Benedict Cumberbatch, when I saw a post that he was at the opening of a fancy new restaurant in London called City Social. I decided to book it as it boasted a view, and I figured my brother might like it since it overlooked the Shard, Gherkin, Walkie Talkie and Cheese Grater. Then, upon further inspection of their website, it turns out their chef, Jason Atherton, had restaurants in China, Hong Kong and Singapore too. And thus, I got the opportunity to visit Commune Social.
The setup of the restaurant was quite Western, all courtyardy and open, and in a quick visit before actually going, we were advised that the food portions were very small – but luckily I had known that already, it being fancy and tapas style, so I was prepared. The downside was, I had never ordered tapas style food for more than four people, so it became awkward when we were dividing tiny portions into six! I should have doubled all the orders, and that would have been enough.
Not only is this kind of food grossly more expensive in China, but I felt that there was a far lower level of service than in a Western country – perhaps it was just this visit though. I also admit to having no experience or knowledge about how to adequately staff a restaurant, but I’ve been to a fair few and every now again observe the waitstaff observing customers because it’s interesting to watch. I use the “magical refilling water test” as a benchmark of restaurant service, but here it felt like there just wasn’t enough attentiveness overall – plus the waiters looked a little stressed out, and I had no way of knowing if they had staff call in sick. That being said, I was excited that I frequently saw the dessert chef popping out to present her dishes.
Beetroot, burrata, gingerbread
I was pleased with the prettiness of the plating, but having had only burrata once before where it came whole, this one was already broken up for sharing and just as tasty. I really liked the gingerbread component here as well.
