Daily Scribble

Dine out Bangalore

1 Comment

There are many nice restaurants to have good food in Bangalore. I have been trying out new restaurants every night after work. The company has save a lot of money by outsourcing to India, I figure I should help them spend some of the saving on gourmet food. It is nice when you can expense your dinner to the company account, you don’t have to worry about whether the dish worth the price, you only have to worry about whether the food taste good or not.

Eating local food in Bangalore is very cheap. A very nice Indian dinner is only 200 rupee, about $5. However, having real food in Bangalore is relatively very expensive, the price is still slight cheaper than Vancouver. It cost $30 to have dinner in a fine dining restaurant and $50 in a 5 star hotel. The average daily wage in India is 100 rupee, so my dinner costs an Indian’s salary for the whole month. Well, the company is paying for it, who cares about the price?

In Bangalore, most restaurants only open for dinner after 7p.m., some restaurants won’t even open until 8p.m. The guest house is located in the out skirt of the city, so it is about 30-45 minutes away from most of the good restaurants. Even though I have to spend an extra hour stuck in traffic to have some nice food, the long journey definitely worth the long journal.

Here is the record of my quest for good food, highly recommend to all business travelers to Bangalore: I only list the name of the restaurant and my comment here. Please look up the address and phone number in Google, it should be easy to find.

Blue Ginger in Taj West End Hotel – Taj West End Hotel is like a forest inside the city. You can enjoy real South East Asia food sitting next to a beautiful lagoon under the tree. The air quality in the hotel is really good, you don’t suffer from the pollution on the street.

Mainland China at Church Street – This is probably the best restaurant in Bangalore you can find real Chinese food, instead of crappy Indian-Chinese food.

Mandarin Room in Grand Ashok Hotel – Another restaurant with real Chinese food. It is on the top floor of the Grand Ashok Hotel overlooking the whole city. Very nice view.

Sunny’s at Lavelle Road – Nice French and Italian cruise. I had my first steak in Bangalore here.

Windsor Grill in Windsor Manor Hotel – Pool side BBQ in a luxury hotel. Yes, you can also order steak here.

Zen in Leela Palace – Leela Palace is the most luxurious hotel in town. Go figure.

Fiorano at 100 Feet Road – Nice Italian restaurant close to the Forum Mall, which is next to the guest house.

Via Milano at 80 Feet Peripheral Road – Another nice Italian restaurant close to the Forum Mall.

I.T.Alia in Park Hotel – Probably the best Italian restaurant I had so far. It is very small, don’t forget to make a reservation.

Bangalore Bistro – This roof top restaurant offer an unique dining experience with close-enough French cruise.  The tables are carved out of stone and have a peddle of water in the middle with floating rose paddle and candle.  It is very hard to find, better call them to ask for direction.

電視

律政新人王2

2 Comments

Suvivor’s Law 2 聖誕回香港旅行期間﹐無線正在播「律政新人王2」﹐晚上沒有上街時﹐偶然也會看一集半集。我沒有看過舊一輯的「律政新人王」﹐無從比較新舊兩輯的分別﹐不 過從劇情介簡看來﹐除了其中一位男主角(還是配角﹖)相同外﹐兩輯沒有直接關連﹐是完全獨立的新故事。劇中有關法律的情節照舊兒戲失實﹐律師的角色會忽然腦殘﹐犯下些連 大學法律系一年級生也不會犯的過失。算了﹐反正這套劇集是標準的無記貨色﹐掛著律師的外表﹐實質是買愛情輕喜劇。我也不再浪費口水批評劇中的法律問題了﹐ 只希望無記不會誤導市民﹐以為現實中法律是用可以用些白痴招式去操控。

撇開法庭戲不談﹐這劇集是環繞兩對男女主角的愛情故事。一對是馬國 明和官恩娜上演的小姐與流岷﹐另一對是陳健峰和李詩韻上演的現代陳世美驚雲。劇集中段陳健峰替官恩娜父親打工﹐馬國明開解失戀的李詩韻﹐我還以為會變成玩 交換伴侶﹐怎料什麼事情也沒有發生﹐打工的正正經經打工﹐開解的更是一對出場去開解別人。這套劇集很反常地完全沒有三角四角戀﹐兩對情侶都從一而終﹐幾許 風雨後有情人終成眷屬。

陳鍵峰和李詩韻這對沒有什麼特別﹐除了陳鍵峰初段未復牌出庭時英明神武﹐後段復牌後則越來越白痴﹐連辯護律師漠視 當事人利益的責任﹐刻意輸掉官司當作復仇的屎橋也想得出。我反而喜歡看馬國明和官恩娜這對歡喜怨家﹐一個是不良少年苦學成材的窮律師﹐另一個是億萬富豪千 金大小姐律師。雖然這配搭原本是很老套的陳腔濫調﹐不過加上中途殺出的馬國明私生女﹐讓這套愛情添上新鮮的完素。官恩娜與馬國明原本火星撞地球﹐屬於兩個 不同世界的人。剛巧馬國明的女兒出現﹐激發起官恩娜的母性。看見馬國明對女兒那份父愛的偉大﹐正是愛情至上主義者官恩娜撞景著的好男人。官恩娜雖是嬌生慣 養的大小姐﹐但她除了愛洗錢外天性不壞﹐甚至因為一直在溫室中長大﹐加上讀法律的關係﹐對真理和公義有一份很天真地執著。馬國明不要富貴追求公義的性恪﹐ 正好吻合官思娜心底的理想。馬國明被困遊艇跳海游回岸那一幕﹐他寧願不要美人也要堅持公義﹐足以讓官恩娜為他傾倒。

到了官恩娜宣告與馬國明結婚﹐父親認為馬國明配不起女兒而反對婚事。她父親其實也沒有資格說三道四﹐自己不也是和助手兼女兒的好友搭上搞不倫之戀。說起來 官恩娜自己已是超級有錢女﹐根本不希罕其他公子哥兒的身家。又不用怕結婚後要挨窮﹐揀個可以吃得他死死的馬國明做丈夫﹐比揀個可能會包情婦的有錢公子更幸 福。馬國明雖然窮﹐總算是個律師﹐也不算太失禮。他生活簡樸不愛花錢﹐不怕給人說吃軟飯﹐老婆的錢頂多是自己用來買衫。這對小姐與流民的組合看似沒有可能 走在一起﹐但細心分析兩人的性格﹐這段感情發展得很合理。當然馬國明女兒從中作扯線﹐作紅娘攝合爸爸媽媽很鬼馬有趣。雖然嚴重違反法律常識﹐但用案件帶動 兩人的感情發展﹐創作示愛救婚結婚那三場法庭戲的編劇值得一讚。

「律政新人王2」只有二十集﹐劇情主線集中水分不多﹐沒有多餘的無聊家人線。其他角色劇情的分枝戲份﹐最後也會合﹐成為小姐與流岷愛情故事的伏筆。馬國明 完全不靚仔﹐演起戲來比其他靠買樣的小生﹐讓觀眾看得舒服。陳健峰的戲份倒淪為悶場﹐不如乾脆刪掉讓劇情更清爽明快。總體來說這劇集不錯﹐達中上準﹐不妨 一看。

電影

10000 BC 公元前一萬年

Leave a comment

10000 BC給公司派了去印度公幹﹐每個週未也要煩惱有什麼節目。這個週未約了兩個印度同事去街﹐體驗普通印度年輕人如何過週未。其實印度人同香港人一樣﹐週未不外是行街吃飯看電影。原本我想看套印度Bollywood的電影﹐不過發現原來沒有英文字幕﹐以及印度同事喜歡西片﹐決定買飛看這套「公元前一萬年」。印度的電影院同香港的差不多﹐一樣是大銀幕高背椅﹐大堂有販賣汽水爆谷的小吃部。唯一不同的地方是電影播到一半﹐戲院會忽然亮起燈關掉放映機﹐原來是中場休息時間﹐很體貼地讓觀眾上廁所解決需要。

三個大男人看電影的要求很簡單﹐不用理會攝影藝術感人情節﹐只需要緊張刺激動作迫人。「公元前一萬年」中有大量電腦技﹐沒有多餘的文戲﹐差不多全部都是動作場面﹐完全付合我們的基本要求。電影開那場原始人大戰長毛象﹐就拍得非常精彩好看。電影的故事極之簡單﹐話說主角的部落本是與世無爭﹐平時閒來靠打獵長毛象為生。某一天有外族入侵﹐擄走了很多族人和女主角﹐於是主角同幾個伙伴就千里迢迢去救人。由雪山追到森林﹐從森林追到沙漠﹐打完長毛象打恐龍﹐打完恐龍打長牙豹。旅途中遇上了其他同樣族人被擄的部落﹐救人隊伍由原來的幾個人越加越多人﹐一大班土人原始人浩浩蕩蕩去救人。原來那些外族捉了俘虜回來﹐是要他們當奴隸起金字塔。最後是很例牌的結局﹐正邪雙方大戰一場﹐奴隸打贏外族重獲自由﹐主角則英雄救美﹐大家回家安居樂業。

不過一個有點歷史常識的人﹐看這套電影肯定會看到嘔血﹐因為電影中的歷史時空嚴重錯亂。主角不單止橫跨雪山沙漠去救人﹐他還至少橫跨了八千年的時空。公元前一萬年是石器時代﹐那時代的原始人的確是用骨矛和石製武器打獵長毛象。不過來擄人的外族竟然騎著馬和拿著劍﹐馬匹是在公完前四千年才給人類馴服﹐而劍則是公完前三千年青銅時代的產物﹐他們和原始人時代足足差了七千年。外族要擄人去起的金字塔﹐那是公完前二千年才開始興建。外族擄人時給俘擄帶上手扣﹐那是鐵器時的產物﹐最早也要公完前一千年才出現。最離譜是有一幕女主角給祭司帶去問話﹐桌面上有一張地中海地圖﹐非常精確地繪畫出歐洲的海岸線﹐那是至少十六世紀才出現的超高科技。電影中不同時代科技差異之大﹐主角根本沒有可能有任何勝算﹐就只差沒有出現飛機大炮機關槍。不如索性來個原始人坐獨木舟大戰航空母艦﹐說不定可能會更加好看。

Daily Scribble

Cultural Experience

10 Comments

When we travel aboard, we love to claim that we are there to experience the culture.  We tends to look down on package tour that lock tourists up inside air conditioned coaches and only released them at specific spots to take a few snapshots.  It seems the cultural experience is what distinct intelligent travelers from dumb tourists.  Love to experience culture works fine when traveling to places with lovely culture.  Walking down the Louvre like a French, having Cappuccino like an Italian or soaking hot spring like a Japanese all sound very cool.  You can always learn something new and useful from those rich cultures by interacting with the local people.

However, there is a dilemma when traveling to places with not so lovely culture.  Why would anyone want to experience the mess in India?  Why would anyone want to experience the uncivilized vegetarian diet culture?  It is OK to try it for the first times, so that you can claim it sucks and stay away from it forever.  There is simply nothing to learn from those backward cultures.  Why bother?  I guess the only reason someone want to experience those culture is becoming an armature anthologist, observe the culture first hand and explain why it sucks to satisfy his academic curiosity.

Daily Scribble

Holy Cow

4 Comments

Holy Cow

India is famous for the scared cows roaming around in the city.  You see cows everywhere, along the road site, next to parked cars, even in the middle of the busiest intersection.  Cow is considered holy in the Hindu religion, so killing of cow is forbidden in India.  You don’t find beef in the menu of Indian restaurants.  To a beef lover like me, I could never understand why the Hindus would make a tasty animal being holy.

Actually I asked the question why cow is holy in Hindu to my Indian friends.  It seems none of them know the exact answer.  They don’t eat beef simply by following the Hindu tradition without questioning its origin.  I read from Wiki that holy cow may have its origin from the agriculture use of cows.  However, cows are no longer used in modern day farms, maybe we should stripe the holiness of cows and make tractors holy instead.  Another explanation is that cow has some symbolic meaning in Hindu religion.  Since choosing a symbol is kinda arbitary, why can’t they pick some other less tasty animals like shrimp or crab to worship?

Luckily, if you know the right place, you can still enjoy beef in India.  Most western restaurant in big hotels serve beef in their menu.  I just had a tenderloin steak grilled to perfection for dinner last night.  There is an old saying that you are what you eat.  If I eat holy cows, shouldn’t I become holy too?