How time flies as more than two months have lapsed since we last had our Get Together. It is the month of May and we met at Diamond Kitchen for our GTG.
And the theme this time was around non-round case watches and round case watches. Every time we meet, we want to be double-wristed and hence the double theme. We made a booking for two tables at Diamond Kitchen at Laguna Park (Marine Parade Road) and a total of 17 turned up.
Diamond Kitchen as I was told is opened by people from the diamond trade and the bosses are super fussy eaters - good news for us patrons. We started with the salted egg yolk sotong. Not too salty and cripsy on the outside, the squid is juicy on the inside and done just nice. Not too tough and just the right amount of salted egg yolk.
Next up was the clam broth bee hoon (vermicelli) which IMHO is always the highlight of the meal at Diamond Kitchen. The broth is thickened but very tasty - real taste of clams. The clams were fresh and rather juicy. And the way they cooked it, the bee hoon does not get soggy even after 10-15 minutes in the broth.
Another must try is the steamed sea bass. I was told that the sea bass comes from the sea and not from seafood farms. The meat was succulent and the fish was definitely fresh. Well done! What we had ordered but not featured here in picture is the champagne pork ribs. Another great dish - more so for the children. Tender pork ribs marinated in champagne, floured and lightly fried to seal in the juicy bits. Unfortunately, I was too busy eating I forgot to take a picture of the dish.
Superior chicken soup - boiled for a few hours and not always available (I suggest you order ahead), the soup has lots of dried mushrooms and probably one whole chicken in the pot. Tastes like chicken tonic soup - good for health and the soul too.
Of course one can't do without vegetables and my personal fav is the three eggs spinach in broth. Cooked with three kinds of eggs - century egg, salted egg and the "normal" egg in a delicious broth.
Next up was the cereal chicken. A rather unusual iterate of the dish. Most restaurants will do cereal prawns but this is the first time I had cereal chicken. Done pretty well - not fantastic but the chicken was tender.
Two more dishes - the gan xiang fried rice and the or nee (yam paste). The fried rice was rather normal other than the fact that this is a spicy version fried rice. Nothing special to me.
Another winner for me that night was the or nee (yam paste). Smooth and fragrant, the or nee came with ginkgo nuts and steamed pumpkin. Thumbs up for this one. And then the highlight of the night.
Table shot of the watches present. See anything familiar? As you can seem the left side is all the round case watches including two pocket watches and the right side are the non-round case ones.
A closer look at what was there… The round ones.
The not so round ones… and some interesting pieces I might say. Two JLC Reverso Grande Dates - one in steel and one in gold. First off, some interesting round ones.
An unusual piece - the Urban Jurgensen. Someone said this resembles Kari Voutilainen and it was promptly pointed out that Kari had some connection to the man and the brand.
Next an old Minerva pocket watch. The movement was cleaned by Sean and now working well. In fact, he had done some work on the case - had it polished.
And as usual, we tend to find an IWC pocket watch courtesy of one of our friend.
The Omega Speedmaster Pro made its appearance and in a Nato strap. A wonderful iconic timepiece.
Another unusual piece from Blu. Revolving hour and a rather nice complication.
Not only is this not round, it is eight sided. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak City of Sails.
Next the Panerai Radiomir PAM 231. Not my favorite brand but unusual anyhow as they don't make many gold pieces. They are more well known for their steel pieces.
And two very interesting pieces - one from Roger Dubuis and the other from Lange & Sohne. The Roger Dubuis is the Sympathie three handed watch with central seconds.
This is one of the unique piece of the evening - unique for a few reasons. This is the white gold great dial version. Only 25 pieces were made for the Lange Owner's Group (LOG) and this is piece number One! Elegant and definitely worth it if you can get your hands on it.
And this must surely be one of the highlights of the night - other than the Lange Cabaret LOG. The Limited Edition HM2. On picture, the watch looks big but on the wrist, the watch is rather wearable. And the moon phase and date display on the left with the time on the right. Readable.
The back of the movement featuring the battle-axe automatic winding rotor. And a very unusual rectangular IWC vintage piece below.
We talked a lot more this time around which meant I had less time to take pictures and post them. I would have loved to photograph the two JLC, the Rolex Explorer 2 and the other Habring, Movas, Reed and Seikos.
Next time my friends, I promise more photos. but first things first - when are we going to have the next GTG?
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