the black night safari

I'd forgotten what it's like to work Saturdays. The last Sat I worked was Christmas Eve and early offstone (at 7pm) so it was relatively cheery and slightly noisy. But yesterday, the office was quiet. Still and dreary.
But it gave me time to think about what I did last night, which was a second round at PS Cafe.

It was once again the rgs group (minus the 2 married ones - one off in melby, the other newly wed), and we had, a few days ago at Cellar Door decided on wearing black. I can't remember why we settled on the theme, but it fit well with that night - Friday the 13th, and a full moon shimmered in the sky. So I put on my black dress, black shoes, a belt I got from HK, stuffed money etc into my black bag, put on the earrings the Sassy Slumbering Gal had got for me from BKK a long time ago (they're somewhat gothic), and put on some eyeliner and a plum-ish lipstick (I don't have anything darker than that).

And with everyone else in black, we walked up the dark road that is Dempsey and into the Night Safari that is PS Cafe. (Char pointed out that it was Night Safari/Jurassic Park-like, with its floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto a forested area. We peered out - I was faintly hoping a Brontosaurus would just amble towards us, but all we saw were diners feasting and smoking and drinking.)

The reservation was at 830. It was either that or come earlier and vacate the table by 830, which is a terrible idea. It's amazing that this place, less than 2? 1? months old, is just absolutely Packed with people - making service a little less than perfect and raising the noise levels such that I couldn't hear the person opposite me.

We started out with one of the specials - a portobello mushroom, baked with gorgonzola and surrounded by some chopped vegetables drizzled with a slightly tangy sauce (I'm sure there's a word for this but I am so stuck right now). I liked the mushrooms and I liked the vegetables but I didn't like them together. The sticky prawn salad was once again on the menu, and once again recommended by the waiter, but honestly, while I did like it, I thought it was something I could hop over to any Thai restaurant (or BKK) and eat.

The chips (again) with just the kaffir lime aioli (as it's just too yummy) came next.
Oh and the waiter had recommended the Zinfandel from Sonoma. We tried it but regretted not sticking to what we had loved the previous visit - the Brown Brothers Heathcote Shiraz 2003.

The mains took a while to come. And I wasn't all that impressed with the beef and mushroom ragout, which came with dumplings (more like smears of batter). The beef chunks were quite tender but it was quite forgettable.

Mel's order of the chicken special was interesting - chicken breast stuffed with crabmeat, shrimp and smothered with a lemon hollandaise sauce. The chicken was very tender but it was a bit disappointing that crabstick was used. And the lemon sauce somehow seemed a bit dessert-like. Eps had the moussaka which we had determined the last time as rather tasty, but a rather small portion.

We decided that another round of alcohol was needed and ordered, what else, but the Brown Brothers. And apparently that was the last one in the house. Char, when told by the waiter that he had to check if they had any more bottles, said, pointing at eps: "Oh try to find one, it's her birthday."

And after the wine was uncorked and poured, he brought out a slice of their chocolate cake, which was a nice surprise. All too soon, the wine was finished and we went over to the quieter Wine Company for a bottle of sparkling wine. Very pleasant, very easy. But I was very full.

And the place closes at 1.

And we still had about 1/3 of a bottle left.

So into the taxi we went, off to my house, as I was the closest. Where we sat around for another 1 1/2 hours, finishing the wine and chatting.

So that was a good night.
That was also an expensive week. But that's another story.

(As I had to work - yes I said work - in between writing this post, the office has gotten noisier as the night flows on, mostly cos of the ManCityManUnited match on TV, which my boss is quite animated about - he announces whenever a goal is scored, so non-fans like me can ignore him and fans/gamblers can pray for something to happen. And this is when the proofs get double and triple checked, and the ed makes noise about this and that to my boss and I try to stay hidden.)

PS Cafe
28B Harding Road,
Tel: 6479-3343