Joanne's birthday celebration

Oh another happy day! In my continuing coverage of celebrations / good times, today’s blog post regards the birthday celebration of a very good friend (Joanne) that took place yesterday. An infinitely more awesome one, i may add !! 

When it comes to a good friend's birthday, it's always all about cake-cutting and gifts. The question is how and where do you do it. Here’s what we should all get on our birthdays: Great friends gathered around a table toasting us. Good Friends Great Tastes. As the saying goes - A birthday celebration is a Celebration of Life, Food and Friendship !!

A birthday comes just once a year, so one should make birthday time extra special for those you care about. The best birthday gifts focus exclusively on the birthday person. Make him or her the center of attention.

Junyu & i decided to treat Joanne to yummy Samy's Curry at Dempsey Road. This is one of the fish-head curry dining institutions in Singapore - its great rival is Muthu's Curry at Race Course Road near Little India.

The difference with Samy's is that it is located in relatively green & quiet surroundings, a rarity in over-built Singapore and is close to the bustling Orchard Road.

I was at Samy's before and i find Indian food to be one of the more fragrant Asian cuisines – along with Thai food. Well, not all chinese food smells mouthwatering good and a good portion of Japanese food is delicate. But the curries? Hmmm, that's the smell of awesome and my friends & i felt that Samy's is a perfect choice for lunch.

The relaxing atmosphere, laid back waiters and a lot of food... nothing had really changed since my last visit. The decor is all rattan tables and chairs, no air-con, only high-hanging ceiling fans.

At first sight, Samy's Curry's layout is quite ideal. They have a display hot plate, where customers are shown a variety of curries. From this colourful array, you pick out what you want and take a seat. When you are seated, a friendly staff approaches, with a banana leaf will be  laid on the table and they would serve white rice or briyani rice (your choice). My friends & i prefer the latter as it compliments curry better. A waiter came back and forth with a few metal buckets and dolloped piles of each bucket’s contents on our leaves: vegetable curry and a wet dal that spread on the leaves.

Another waiter came along and placed a bergedil on the corner of each leaf and metal plates of the curry squid and chicken tikka between us. We were also asked whether we wanted some gravy on top of our rice and we plumped for fish curry. The waiter came back one final time with a basket full of crisp poppadoms.

Soon after, our ordered dishes of fish head curry, masala chicken, curry mutton, fried cauliflower and fish cutlet arrived with prompt service.

Me with a crisp poppadom

The life saver in an Indian cuisine, LIME JUICE, its the only way to quench my thrist and literally put out the "fire" in my throat. Although i am almost spicy intolerant, over a long lunch, the spicyness would eventually get to you and my best remedy: A large glass mug of lime juice (sweetened and diluted lime juice) is so refreshing !!

Junyu with a crisp poppadom

Birthday gal (Joanne) ready to tuck in

Credit must be given to Junyu who made Joanne's birthday celebration even more special with her idea of designing a loaf of bread with customised message using peanut butter. She was really very creative to come up with this idea to celebrate Joann'e birthday instead of celebrating via the usual traditional way with a birthday cake.

Creative lady (Junyu) in action

Birthday bread being created !!

We headed to Marina Bay Sands for high tea after lunch at Samy's Curry

Singapore has a kindness campaign since 1979, encouraging people to be courteous and kind to one another in this small southeast Asian country. The campaign's mascot is Singa the Lion and these mascots representing the four different races are being displayed outside Marina Bay Shoppes. I urged the birthday gal, Joanne to take a shot each with these four mascots and she happily agreed.

Birthday gal striking a pic with Junyu with all her birthday gifts received from both of us.

Birthday gifts from Me & Junyu

Overall, a really fun day ! Junyu and I were both glad (and relieved!) that the birthday girl had a good time too. She got nice accessories, comestics, bag, perfume and facial products.

To my dear friend Joanne: On your birthday, i wish for you the fulfillment of all your fondest dreams. I wish for you that whatever you want most in life, it comes to you, just the way you imagined it, or better. I hope you get as much pleasure from our long-time friendship as I do.

I look forward to enjoying our friendship for many more of your birthdays. I sincerely wish you success in everything you do, happiness, health and joyful adventures! 

Happy Birthday! 生日快乐