Guys and Dolls

Can I just say how much I love the theatre? I am such a fan of musicals because they’re so much fun and I get so engrossed in the acting, singing, dancing, and costumes. L and I went to see Guys and Dolls today at the American Musical Theatre. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to the theatre and I love, love, loved it. I love the characters of Sky Masterson and Nathan Detroit and their lady loves – Sarah Brown and Miss Adelaide. It was a really fun show. I’m glad I decided to get tickets and go. I’ve been wanting to go to a show for sometime now, it feels good to actually have done it.  

I am considering being a season ticket holder since it involves holding tickets to 4 shows during the 07-08 season:

1. Little Shop of Horrors
2. Cabaret
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. A choice between Mamma Mia or Jesus Chris Superstar (in my case, I prefer Mamma Mia)

I can’t wait till the next show. I hope they bring some more excellent shows for the 08-09 season. I’m excited for the current ones so far. Most of the other shows are not until January. Can I wait that long? I hope so.

Gochi, Gochi, Gochi Coo

Our friend L invited us to go to Gochi with her on Saturday night. We had 2 wait to weeks for this event because you have to make a reservation in advance. The reservation was originally for 6 people…but it ended up being J, L, and me. Oh well…it was still a nice experience. Gochi’s tag line is Japanese fusion tapas and that’s what it basically is. All the dishes range between $6-$14. Nothing was overpriced at all. When you get to the restaurant, you wouldn’t even think twice that such a nice place exists in such a dumpy strip mall…but I’ve been fooled before (refer to Bleu Ginger restaurant which is also in a strip mall). Once you get over the fact that the restaurant is in a strip mall and you enter the restaurant — it’s a whole new ball game. We were seated in the dining room with the raised platform where we had to sit shoeless in tatami-style seating. This was very interesting indeed. This is the first time I’ve been somewhere that you are required to take your shoes off. It was neat.

According to an article I found, Gochi is Japanese slang for “good food.” — In my opinion – very true. It is also a globally inspired izakaya restaurant — meaning these types of restaurants serve small, elegant plates of grilled and fried food (just like tapas plates you get at Spanish restaurants.) Since Gochi claims to be Japanes fusion tapas (there are some hints of French and Korean inspired plates), we decided to try a little of everything.

Since Gochi doesn’t provide their menu online…I will have to remember what we ordered from my memory. We had:

• Crab Croquettes – Cream cheese and crab quickly fast fried in a batter
• Steamed Cod with a plum soy sauce
• Chicken thighs chopped and topped with a house teriyaki sauce
• Shrimp balls in a broth
• Pork and Tofu Clay Pot (a traditional style of Japanese cooking, ingredients cooked in a clay pot, when the waiter brings it out, they have to mix it up and dish it out for the patrons)

We were all pleased with our options. We got plenty of food and when we left there, we didn’t feel overly stuffed. It’d be fun to go there again with a bigger group — that way we can order more dishes to share. They have an extensive menu offering some simple dishes, but at the same time some eclectic dishes (like pork innards, cow tongue….)

I definitely will go there again…except I might ask to sit at a table next time instead of on the tatami mats. I need my back support.

Banana Leaf Is Too Crowded

Friday night, J and I met up with our friends M&N for dinner at this joint called Banana Leaf, which is a Malaysian, Indian, and Thai restaurant. Overall, the food was pretty tasty….but I wasn’t too impressed with the service and the atmosphere at the restaurant. It was too crowded in there and all the tables are about an inch apart. It’s just too crowded. I didn’t like the layout of the restaurant at all. Besides how bad everything else was….at least the food was good. We decided to order a few dishes and share with everyone.

We started off with the Roti Prata, which is a multi-layered home made Indian bread dipped in curry sauce and the chicken satay. Both were excellent.

For our entrees, we decided on 4 dishes:

• Mango Chicken (with green & red peppers in a spicy mango sauce served in a mango shell )
• Malay Sizzling Black Pepper Prawns (with onions in a pepper sauce)
• Penang Sizzling Prawns (with onion, green & red pepper with chef’s special sauce)
• Belachan KangKung (Ong Choy) -with Malay special shrimp paste sauce

We had the Hainan Seasoned Rice with turmeric to accompany our dishes.

The Mango Chicken had very nice flavors and the sauce accented the chicken very well. The presentation of the dish was very nice.

Both the prawn dishes were very good. The vegetables and sauces went very well with everything. It was very tasty.

The KangKung is similar to baby broccoli. I found a new vegetable that I like. It was good…not bitter at all like I thought it would be. Very satisfying.

For dessert, J and I ordered the Deep Fried Banana a la mode. The waitress told us it came with mango ice cream. I asked her if there was another kind of ice cream we could get instead — she told us yes, vanilla. So I tell her I want the vanilla instead. She repeated my order back to me….but when they bring the dessert out, it’s got mango ice cream. I didn’t want to be picky, but didn’t I specify I wanted vanilla? I had to remind them, so they took it back and brought the dessert out with the right ice cream. It’s not that complicated, is it?

Anyway…the dessert was decent — it doesn’t compare to the other banana desserts I’ve had at other Asian restaurants. To be honest, I was kind of scary. The bananas were dipped in this really red-orange breading, because the dessert came out and there were 2 crescent shaped objects in the weirdest orange color. It was kind of scary. After the first few bites, it isn’t too bad.

I say I would go back there….but during the week when it’s less crowded.