foodXculture: Grand Shanghai Rings In The Year of the Rat with Chinese New Year Menu of Shanghainese Specialties and Elevated Reunion Classics

For any Chinese restaurant, the lead-up to Chinese New Year is always a busy one, with each establishment attempting to outdo the other with uniquely attractive menus the whole family can enjoy. Be it doing a classic well or reinventing them for the modern diner, it truly is the season of eating. In the case of the recently refurbished Grand Shanghai restaurant, they’ll be applying … Continue reading foodXculture: Grand Shanghai Rings In The Year of the Rat with Chinese New Year Menu of Shanghainese Specialties and Elevated Reunion Classics

Old School Chinese Charm and Showstopping Presentation as Grand Shanghai Re-Opens (Review)

The 20-year old Grand Shanghai restaurant has recently undergone a grand renovation befitting of its status as a mainstay of King’s Centre on on Havelock Road. Now looking like a Shanghainese restaurant straight out of a vintage film, Grand Shanghai gives off plenty of nostalgic vibes from the moment one steps into it, with a spacious main dining hall with crystal chandeliers hanging above, complete with … Continue reading Old School Chinese Charm and Showstopping Presentation as Grand Shanghai Re-Opens (Review)

Review: Beside Ourselves by .gif (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★★☆☆☆ (Performance attended 10/1/20) Great songs from .gif stitched together with a premature theatre production unable to fully capture the theme of displacement with its form.  While primarily known as darlings of the local music scene, local electronica duo .gif has also recently dabbled in mediums such as theatre, having provided the lush, trippy soundtrack to Checkpoint Theatre’s Displaced Persons Welcome Dinner (2019). Their iconic … Continue reading Review: Beside Ourselves by .gif (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

Music Is: Inner Worlds – Igor & Pei Sian in Concert with re:Sound (Preview)

Start 2020 off with a round of music as re:Sound Collective presents Inner Worlds – Igor & Pei Sian in Concert at the Victoria Concert Hall this January. Bringing together violinist Igor Yuzefovich, co-concertmaster of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and SSO principal cello soloist Ng Pei-Sian, the concert is set to bring audience members on an exploration of the human spirit. The set will open … Continue reading Music Is: Inner Worlds – Igor & Pei Sian in Concert with re:Sound (Preview)

Review: Secretive Thing 215 by Secretive Thing (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★★★★☆ (Performance attended 9/1/20) Intricate, introspective experience with only our phones and a mysterious communicator. Going in to a performance of a secretive nature, knowing absolutely nothing about what to expect, feels a little unnerving and very exciting. With Secretive Thing 215, the latest ‘show’ by mysterious collective Secretive Thing, all we know is that we are to come with a phone enabled with WhatsApp, and … Continue reading Review: Secretive Thing 215 by Secretive Thing (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

Review: Contemplating Kopitiam and Kampong Wa’Hassan by Oliver Chong and NAFA (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★★★☆☆ (Performance attended 9/1/20) Alfian Sa’at meets Kuo Pao Kun meets the Millennials in this well-directed but conceptually disjointed reflection on belonging and identity.   There’s something incredibly audacious about splicing two unlike plays together in an attempt to better bring out their shared concerns. Where Kuo Pao Kun’s Kopitiam was a naturalistic, three-character work in Mandarin concerning itself with an elderly coffee shop owner struggling to understand … Continue reading Review: Contemplating Kopitiam and Kampong Wa’Hassan by Oliver Chong and NAFA (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

Review: A Tiny Country by ATTEMPTS (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★★★☆☆ (Performance attended 8/1/20) Gamification of a hypothetical nation’s destiny has the right idea in mind. While ATTEMPTS’ founder Rei Poh has always been interested in games, with their latest production, ATTEMPTS finally gets a chance to go full on into the genre, with participatory theatre piece and game A Tiny Country, playing as part of the 2020 M1 Singapore Fringe Festival. Directed and designed by … Continue reading Review: A Tiny Country by ATTEMPTS (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

Review: Café Sarajevo by bluemouth inc. (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

★★★★☆ (Performance attended 8/1/20) Docu-drama in the form of a live podcast reminds us how difficult it is to mend deep-set rifts, and the politicised effects these have on the most ordinary of activities.  Part of the joy of Fringe is how it offers a platform to showcase non-traditional theatre forms of all kinds. Of these, it is bluemouth inc.’s Café Sarajevo that plays around with … Continue reading Review: Café Sarajevo by bluemouth inc. (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020)

Singapore Art Week 2020: ARTWALK Little India 2020

ARTWALK Little India is back for its 6th edition as Singapore Art Week returns this January. Jointly organised by LASALLE College of the Arts (LASALLE) and Singapore Tourism Board (STB), with the support of Little India Shopkeepers and Heritage Association, ARTWALK Little India is a multidisciplinary arts festival taking place over two weekends in January, and brings a new perspective and spark of life to … Continue reading Singapore Art Week 2020: ARTWALK Little India 2020

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020: An Interview with Jelaine Ng and Jeramy Lim (The Shadow Curriculum)

If you grew up in Singapore, then you’d probably know that of all the currencies viewed as most important to getting ahead in life, the most valuable one is education. But in spite of having a world class education system available to all citizens, there are plenty of other factors that gives some students an unfair advantage over others, from a stable home environment to … Continue reading M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2020: An Interview with Jelaine Ng and Jeramy Lim (The Shadow Curriculum)