Penang Delights

If you're away from your home country, its absolutely natural for one to crave for one's hometown food. As for me, my eyes are always wide open for Penang food in Singapore. This stall Penang Delights touted themselves as Authentic Penang Hawker Food. I had actually frequented their stall before in Blk 117 Aljunied Ave 2. I believe this is their origianl stall and it seems like they had expanded since then to 51 Old Airport Road Food Centre and 300/302 Joo Chiat Road.

As far as I remember, their char keow teow was so so only. I am not sure whether is this really authentic penang style because they use the thinnest type of keow teow. Penangnite hawkers uses the medium size keow teow. I tried their Hokkien Prawn Mee today. It taste like Penang style, but something is lacking in it. I just cant figure out where. I guess it could probably be due to the soup. In Penang, once you slurp the soup, you can feel the rush of prawn juice all soaked up into the soup. The chilli used as well is more fragrant.

Overall I think the stall food taste can still be improved. But overall, its just so so for me.

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Online Only - Coldplay concert review - from TodayOnline

Online Only - Coldplay concert review
A concert worth every superlative

Genevieve Sarah Loh
genevieveloh@mediacorp.com.sg

My editor groaned when he found out that I was going to be the one reviewing Monday night’s Coldplay concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Something about me listening to Viva la Vida on loop 154 times and how it’ll result in an extremely biased concert review dripping with blind Chris Martin love and gushing superfluous adjectives proclaiming the band’s ascending rock-god status, undeniable stage presence and lyrical perfection.

He was right. But now I have more than 10,000 other witnesses who, judging from their contented faces after a value-for-money two-hour show, will be more than willing to back up my gush.

Forget all the mudslinging criticism about their radio-friendly whine rock, blatant U2 and Radiohead ripoffs, Hollywood wives and naming of children after fruit. None of it matters once Coldplay takes to the stage.

For their third outing in Singapore, the band pulled out all the Big Rock Band trappings – massive video screens, a rainbow of lasers, giant orbs displaying dizzying images, bursts of neon confetti and two runways allowing the band to get up close and personal with their fans. But the Brit quartet still managed to tirelessly deliver their old and new hits – Clocks, In My Place, Yellow, Fix You, The Scientist – in an unexpectedly intimate manner.

Much of that credit belongs to the impossibly charming frontman Martin, whose deft piano skills and drunken schoolboy trance-like dancing proved strangely riveting as he seamlessly moved from guitar to piano to vocals and back. The crowd-pleaser did and said all the right things, much to the joy of the sold out crowd who lapped up lines like “ Singapore ... You guys are right now ranking amongst one of the very top audiences we’ve ever played for” and “You guys know how grateful we are to get to play for 10,000 people right here in Singapore. Thank you so much for coming out on a Monday night”.

Couple that with incorporating “Singapore” into their song lyrics several times and performing a cute version of The Monkees I’m a Believer right amongst the shocked audience members at the far-up cheaper seats, and you got a stadium full of frenzied fans eating out of their hands.

There is a brief creeping sensation that these seemingly spontaneous tricks were nothing but just neatly executed, manipulative crowd pleasers. But Martin’s self deprecating humour, unrelentless energy and vocal prowess, along with the rest of the boys’ (bassist Guy Berryman, guitarist Jonny Buckland and drummer Will Champion) earnestness easily washed away any doubt of their genuineness.

Coldplay gave a performance that was worth every single superlative – and every single cent.



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Coldplay Fever - from Straits Times

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Living la Vida - from Today

Viva La Coldplay - from MyPaper

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Coldplay Concert Review - 23-Mar-09

Coldplay came and conquer the euphoric crowd of 12,000 in Singapore Indoor Stadium last night. They blasted off the night after 9pm with Life in Technicolor. The crowd went wild, and before the night was over, Chris mentioned halfway through the show that he hoped that Coldplay had given all they got because the crowd surely gave all. Well for the display they put on coupled with the laser lightings, the big video display and the carnival like mood the Coldplay crew threw in, it was worth every single cents. No one would have walked out of the concert venue and say it was a letdown.

Chris was running back and forth on the stage all night. It helps to hold a concert in Singapore Indoor Stadium where Chris showcased his prowess in cajoling the crowd to sing along. He played the piano, the guitars and even the harmonica. Coldplay belted out a cover of The Monkees, I Am A Believer. They surprised the fans by performing an accoustic set with just a mike set up at the far left hand corner of the venue. The crowd on that end certainly got their money worth.

After a short 3 minute break they dashed back to the main stage, they started to play one of their earlier hits Politik and it got the crowd all standing up again. I had 5 picks before the gig, they did all the 5 songs. Viva La Vida really got the crowd singing along with oooh and aaahs, one would have felt that they were in a EPL match. The Hardest Part was taken down by a notch with Chris singing to it with just the piano, brilliant stuffs you don’t get on your cd. They did Clocks earlier on and for the encore, they did The Scientist and Life In Technicolor II.

By the time it was over, it was already 11pm. One of the longest gig I attended which came close to a 2 hour performance. And did I forget to talk about Mercury Rev? This guys are good opening act, they started of at about 8.15pm and ended their stuffs at about 8.45pm. Their lead singer Jonathan Donanhue looks a little eccentric to me on stage, at even one point mimicking a bird or something you see out of Karate Kid deadly finishing move.

Back to Coldplay, it was indeed a superb display of excellent showmanship rival to none. I attended their 1st joint gig with Travis before, and Chris has certainly grown from there. For a band that produces hits after hits and not just stuck with their 1st single curse Yellow, this goes to show that Coldplay truly deserves to be better than a No. 6 band. So Bono, we know U2 is great, but the music scene deserves a few more greats alongside U2.

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P/S: Kim snapped all the pictures that night

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Top Picks Coldplay

I am looking forward to Coldplay's gig this Monday. Blocking whatever distress and worries I have, I am concentrating on the gig. Below are the Top 5 songs, I be singing my lungs out. In no particular order of preferences, here it goes

1. Viva La Vida
2. Life In Technicolor II
3. The Scientist
4. The Hardest Part
5. Clocks



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