Eating alone

Having time alone is sacred.

Good company who can spend good time together in silence can be hard to find. Yet, with just some practice, someone like yours truly who has a stronger need for peaceful moments can easily find delight in having time alone. Time away from the noises and taking time to treat one's ears with peace can be rejuvenating in some ways.

Eating buffet meals alone can be quite a pleasant experience.

On one of the afternoons earlier this week, I took time off from work and left the office early enough to catch a weekday lunch buffet at Kuishin Bo, a Japanese Buffet Restaurant. I just found out that Kuishin Bo (pronounced Kweeshin-Bo) means gourmet in Nihongo.

I pretty much like the idea of being able to help myself to as much soft-shell crab and sashimi that I could reasonably eat. Of course, I tried other items available. The ambience of the place was pretty nice with its soft-lightings. The best thing to yours truly was that it took me away from some noises.

I quite enjoyed the selection of food at Kuishin Bo, and won't mind visiting it again. There's still quite a number of items that I have yet to try when I was there earlier the week.

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Eating one set of buffet meal in the week seemed to have led yours truly to crave for yet another.

Yesterday, I decided that staying at home was pretty unpleasant. As such, I set off and eventually decided to treat my tastebuds to the buffet lunch at Baccarat Restaurant (please see this link for a short brief about this restaurant). I have heard that this restaurant serves sashimi and was tempted to try its buffet lunch when I was walking past the restaurant yesterday. Perhaps one might have guessed that I have a liking for sashimi. The sashimi from Baccarat Restaurant is delightful. I found myself taking several helpings of the sashimi when I was at the restaurant yesterday.

One thing that added to the overall pleasant experience of having lunch there yesterday was that I was being seated at a corner of the restaurant quite away from where the dining crowd was. Although that meant that I have to walk a slightly longer distance to get my food, I didn't mind. At least, I could have some quiet time. That corner was also quite pleasant because some sunlight shone through the glass and gave a refreshing change to the restaurant's generally soft lighting.

I have had a book with me yesterday, so my time at the restaurant yesterday was spent doing the following: walking about the restaurant to view the food, eating the food, reading the book and just watching time pass by. Approximately, I spent about close to three hours in the restaurant just doing all of these. Having buffet alone can be quite enjoyable, for I could just do things at my pace. It also gave me time to read through quite a fair bit of the book. I had actually read five chapters from the book while I was enjoying my dining experience in the restaurant.

Back to the food. The noodles in herbal broth was just right. It tasted good. I was also quite delighted by the selection from the salad bar. It served sunflower seeds.

The oyster that was air-flown from Canada was an interesting item on my plate. I don't really have a keen liking for oyster, but it was a nice break away from my regular diet to try the fresh oyster.

The restaurant offers an Italian selection. One could choose from a selection of different pasta, and different pasta sauce. The pasta I had ate tasted nice. But somehow, I felt the Bolognese sauce a little too salty for my tastebuds. Nevertheless, the pine seeds (if I have gotten the name right) that I had sprinkled on the pasta dish helped to make the dish palatable enough for myself.

The restaurant also offers tortilla. I felt that it helped lend a slight element of novelty to my lunch yesterday. I had tortilla with cheese and tomato. A warning, if you were there alone and you are a very small eater, you might end up wasting food if you were to order the tortilla. The tortilla is normally served in a portion sufficient for 3 to 4 persons to try.

I felt I was not quite into the Oriental dishes yesterday. Firstly, on those occasions when I walked past the Oriental selection, there were limited servings left. Maybe the customers yesterday preferred Oriental dishes more to sashimi? Secondly, after sampling a few items from the Oriental selection, I felt I would still prefer the sashimi and the sushi. The Oriental dishes were alright but did not taste exceptional enough to me.

The dessert selection had quite nice variety, though it was a little sweet for my taste. But what am I to fault, aren't desserts often sweet?

After the lunch, I went to visit the nearby Singapore Art Museum. There wasn't any particular exhibit that had caught my attention yesterday. A few of the galleries were closed for the installation of new exhibits when I was there yesterday. Nevertheless, it felt nice to be in the museum for its architecture somehow has had a comforting effect over me.

Time alone, somehow has helped restore some sense of peace to my life. Eating alone can be a delightful experience.