Ali Nachia Briyani Dam - Singapore

Recently my ex-colleague recommended a nice Biryani place in Singapore. Since my colleague is a known foodie, I had no reason to disbelieve his recommendation. At Ali Nachia Biryani Dam shop, he recommended that we take mutton biryani with ribs. The mutton biryani that we bought tasted amazingly good.

The quantity was sufficient enough not to feel too full or too less. Mutton was perfectly cooked and most importantly without the usual after smell of the meat. Rice grains were long, not sticking to each other and less oily.

The biryani is of Malay style and not Hyderabadi style. It is called Nasi Briyani (spelling is correct!), where Nasi refers to rice and briyani refers to Basmati rice.

During the lunch, he told me the story about Ali Nachia Biryani Dam shop. Originally it was located in Tanjong Pagar railway station for more than 3 decades with reasonably roaring business. When the railway station was closed, they were asked to relocate to Tanjong Pagar Plaza.

In the process, unfortunately, the owner Mohd. Ali Latif lost most of his loyal clientele. Added to that the shop has a locational disadvantage being at a corner behind a pillar on second floor. The going has not been that good for Latif after the relocation.

Ali Nachia Biryani Dam sells mutton, chicken and fish biryani. As on date of this post, it costs SGD 7. They are closed on Sundays. Generally, Mohd. Ali Latif and his wife will be there at the shop. Mild, friendly and humble Malay couple.

Though I was introduced to this shop only two weeks ago, I have already gone thrice to this shop, once along with a friend.

The shop is situated at:

Level 2, Tanjong Pagar Plaza (the end nearer to Tanjong Pagar Market), clean with B grade certificate. My rating for the food here is 4 stars out of 5.

Running a restaurant business is tough in Singapore and it will be a shame if popular biryani shops like Ali's are folded.

If you are reading this post from Singapore, please visit this shop and try out the mutton biryani with ribs. If you like it, please ask your friends also to patronise Ali Latif's shop.

If you are reading this post from out side of Singapore, please share this with your Singapore based friends and ask them to try out.

Btw, hailing from Biryanibad, i.e., Hyderabad, known for the world famous dum-biryani, I quite liked this variation.


Poor imitations of 'Hyderabadi dum-biryani' is sold in a number of restaurants in Singapore. But, I am yet to get the satisfaction that I get when I devour chicken biryani from Paradise restaurant on MG Road or Cafe Bahar in Hyderguda.

Btw, my global hunt for a perfect match for Hyderabadi dum-biryani is still on... :)

A Singaporean's View On Indians

The owner of the flat that I am staying in is a retired banker and loves to talk. He has a nice array of topics to speak with and that too with conviction. Nice gentleman that he is, whenever he comes home he spends time and enjoys his conversation with us. He is born and brought up in Singapore of Chinese ethnicity.

During one of the conversations he, as a matter of fact, mentioned that Singaporeans (Chinese) are more health conscious, Indians (including Singaporeans of Indian descent) are more conscious about the education that they give to their children and that the Malays (including the Malays from Malaysia) tend to be more religious.

Initially when he made the statement I didn't think much about it. But later on as I thought more about it, I felt what he said was what we Indian really more conscious about. I started feeling proud about it. Remember, his intention was not flatter me or Indians. It was a simple statement of perception from a simple person.

Well that is a Singaporean's view on Indians!

Sex And The City Country

Past few weeks, couple of stories are being played out in the media, both print and video, in complete public view. Stories delving deeper by the day.

One on vice raid on under-age sex, where more than 40 eminent to not-eminent residents of Singapore are undergoing trial. 

Here is the link: 

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/1066418/underage_paid_sex_case_even_the_high.html

The second about ex-Chief of Narcotics Bureau who allegedly sought sex as bribe, with large size pictures of the accused and the defendant in full public glare in print and video channels.

Here is the link:

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/caught_in_the_act/1337490/trial_of_excnb_chief_woman_was_allegedly_coerced_into_sex.html

In a way, publication of these stories in the media, does warn future perpetrators of the perils. However, whether there is a need to go into tantalizing micro details, e.g., email messages, scene resurrection explanations etc, I am not too sure. Don't you think the media also has the responsibility of objective assessment before overly amplifying such stories in public domain?

Jakarta's Umbrella Children

The picture below was taken at the taxi stand at Ambassador Mall in Jakarta. When you look at the picture below, it may appear like a normal picture where a bunch of children are holding umbrellas while it is raining.

(Picture taken with my iPhone4)

Actually the story has a slight variation. As you may have already known, traffic in Jakarta moves at excruciatingly slow pace. Some times it takes more than 30 minutes to travel 500 meters. While it rains, the traffic moves even slower and takes a long time to get a taxi.

During these times, kids wait with umbrellas to escort the shoppers who come out of the mall to the road where they safely make their 'passengers' get into a taxi. For providing this service the kids take tips of  small sums of 3,000 to 5,000 Indonesian Rupiah, which is equivalent to 50 to 70 cents Singapore Dollar (20 to 30 rupees).

Sounds interesting, innovative and enterprising right? That's Jakarta for you.

Akshaya Tritiya Gold buying frenzy in pics in Singapore

Here are some of the pics and a video that I shot on Akshaya Tritiya day (April 24th 2012) in Mustafa Singapore where people were buying gold. Btw, Mustafa is one of the biggest shopping malls in Singapore. I was part of the crowd as well ;-) ...had to wait nearly 20 minutes in a queue (!) to buy gold.

And, see this video clip to believe...

Interesting (abbreviated) facts about Singapore

Here is an account of interesting abbreviation facts about Singapore. Full form of the abbreviations are at the end of this post.

- 'HDB' apartments house nearly 87 per cent of the population

- 'SLE', 'CTE', 'PIE', 'KPE', 'AYE', 'BKE', 'KJE' are the major expressways connecting all parts of Singapore

- 'EP' is given to a foreigner employed in Singapore and 'DP' for his dependants with 'FIN'. Citizens have an 'NRIC'. A Foreigner can become a 'PR'.

- 'SMRT' operates 'MRT' trains, buses and taxis

- 'COE' needs to be paid while buying a car and 'ERP' while using in major roads at designated timings

- 'TTSH', 'SGH', 'CGH', 'NUH' are major hospitals

- 'GST' needs to be paid on all purchases be it goods or services

- A number of Indian expats prefer to send their children to International Schools 'UWC' and 'OFS'

- 'DBS', 'UOB' and 'OCBC' are three major local banks

(HDB: Housing Development Board; SLE: Selatar Expressway; CTE: Central Expressway; PIE: Pan Island Expressway; KPE: Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway; AYE: Ayer Rajah Expressway; BKE: Bukit Timah Expressway; KJE: Kranji Expressway; EP: Employment Pass; DP: Dependant Pass
FIN: Foreigner Identification Number; NRIC: National Registration Identity Card; PR: Permanent Resident; COE: Certificate of Entitlement; ERP: Electronic Road Pricing; TTSH: Tan Tock Seng Hospital; SGH: Singapore General Hospital; CGH: Changi General Hospital; NUH: National University Hospital; GST: Goods and Services Tax; SMRT: Singapore Mass Rapid Transit; MRT: Mass Rapid Transit; UWC: United WorldCollege; OFS: Overseas Family School; DBS: Development Bank of Singapore; UOB: United Overseas Bank; OCBC: Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation)

Seeing red over 'blackface' photos - the sunday times, Singapore

I am extremely disturbed to share captioned story, reported in the 12th February edition of 'the sunday times' (the Sunday edition of The Straits Times) Singapore. 

Here is the link for the story:

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_765755.html

Here are the pictures that were printed in today's newspaper. Even before I start explaining, you would have already got riled by looking at the pictures, at this racist act by a bunch of employees of a well known local bank - United Overseas Bank in their staff event last Friday (10th Feb 2012) with a 'Bollywood Theme'. A bunch of Singaporean Chinese blackened their faces to resemble Indians !?! (really???).

To say the least, it is downright horrendous and unimaginative. If these guys thought it was funny, they must have pawned their small brains somewhere else. That bank employees can stoop so low is beyond my comprehension. How did their superiors, colleagues especially Indian colleagues allow such stupid act?

Quite frankly, Singapore is one of the best examples for religious harmony. Singapore is a melting pot for all religions and races. Despite this, I am sure there will be quite a bit of backlash on this matter, in the coming days. 

In the meanwhile, I ask all the readers of this note to circulate this offending news to ensure that any one who thinks of doing such stupid acts will thin twice before attempting to do so.

Before I close this note, I would like to thank SPH (Singapore Press Holding) journalist Ms. Jennani Durai for having the courage to make this action public by providing the pictures from a facebook entry. If not, this event would have gone unnoticed and the perpetrators would have had courage to repeat with much more disdain. Thanks Jennani. 

If you do not agree with such acts, please post your feelings, even if it is a word or two.

Thanks a lot!

Full story here:

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from The Straits Times dated 12 Feb 2012.

by: Jennani Durai

Several Chinese employees of United Overseas Bank have raised eyebrows online after posting pictures of themselves in 'blackface' at a Bollywood-themed staff dinner.

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Pictures of last Friday's event at the Fairmont Hotel were posted on social networking site Facebook on Sunday. At least three men are pictured with their faces painted black, presumably because the event was Indian-themed and Indians have darker skin.

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'Blackface' is widely seen as racially charged, especially in the United States. It originated as a form of theatrical make-up for performers to act out caricatures of dark-skinned people.

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Attempts to reach the staff involved were unsuccessful.

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A Chinese reader, who e-mailed the pictures to The Sunday Times, said she found them extremely offensive. 'It's one thing to wear a traditional costume to a Bollywood- themed dinner, but another thing altogether to paint your face black,' said the reader, who wished to remain anonymous.

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She said the pictures were offensive because they were 'appropriating someone else's ethnicity and treating it like entertainment'.

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And she was shocked at the captions and comments on the pictures, in which friends of the men said their get-up was 'hilarious'.

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'All these people wouldn't like it if a bunch of American employees went to a Chinese-themed dinner and put double-sided tape on their eyelids to make them single-eyelids,' the reader said.

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Some others also found the pictures distasteful.

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'I am not sure whether they were just having fun or making fun. I think that we should always be careful about issues related to skin colour in a multicultural society. There are some topics we should always approach with caution and this is one of them,' said Mr Tong Hong Mun, 25, a concert promoter.

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Counsellor P. Dinesh said painting their faces black was 'no different from referring to someone of Indian descent as 'black' which is thoroughly unacceptable in any Singaporean context'.

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Still others acknowledged that there was nothing malicious in the intent of the men, but that it was a poor decision.

Ms R. Yasotha, who works in publishing, said her first reaction was that the men had 'clearly never had any Indian friends'.

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'They just wanted to have fun, so I'm not going to be up in arms about it, but it's idiotic and juvenile,' said the 28-year-old.

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Responding to queries from The Sunday Times, a UOB spokesman on Sunday said the pictures were 'taken in the spirit of fun and were not meant to offend or appear to discriminate against anyone at all'.

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'UOB takes racial harmony very seriously and proudly employs more than 20,000 employees of about 50 nationalities. In fact, the occasion was one that was celebrating this diversity,' she added.

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'However, we apologise if members of the public have been offended by the photos and have instructed the staff to remove the photos from their personal site.'

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UOB said it would speak to the staff involved and counsel them.

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The pictures were taken down from Facebook on Sunday night.