Sunrise across Mount Kinabalu

A physical challenge? A mental challenge? Or both? For some it might be asking your long-time girlfriend to marry you. Cliff diving in Acapulco. Running the London marathon. Moving out of home.

For mine, it would definitely have been scaling Mt. Kinabalu in Malaysia. On face value, almost 18 kilometres up and back, climbing to an altitude just under 4100 metres seems not to difficult. Right? Two days? Can’t be that bad – right? Well… let me tell you.

The ascent to the base camp wasn’t too bad – but it rained. And rained. And rained. Monsoonal conditions in July. Unbeseen by our guide at this time of year, and he had done the climb a few times, 202 times all up actually. It just didn’t stop. My expensive Goretext boots were rendered useless by the sheer volume of water.

Oh, and let’s not forget the altitude sickness that also kicks in. Your head aches. You feel dizzy. Nauseous. You wonder why you are here. You wonder why you’re not on a beach somewhere. But you need to press on.

Here’s the photographic evidence.

Starting out just inside the Timpohon Gate

One of the many porters ascending the mountain, near Pondok Villosa

Sayat-Sayat Checkpoint

Just before the checkpoint, the sheer granite expanse comes underfoot. In some places, you’re skirting around a vertical face, standing on nothing but a ledge that’s perhaps 20cm across. It’s pitch black, your headlamp gives you some glimpses into what’s ahead, but at this point, there’s not much between you and the ground below. I recognised two Korean women from the day before ahead of me, and they had stopped – blocking my way. The problem? They were scared. Whimpering like frightened animals. This is how people were reacting to climbing the mountain in the dark.

View down towards the South Peak

I can only imagine what a ‘technical’ (i.e. hands on the rock face) climb of this height would be like, let alone ascending something like Everest. Much respect to those who undertake those activities, after the scramble we did. Here’s the complete photoset on Flickr.

View Larger Map

Hipster douches with bad hair and 80s retro fluoro stone wash fashion sense got you down with their fixies and poor city riding skills? Then check this out.

Rule #52: Ditch the headset. He can barely pull it off – and you are not him.

The latest edition arrived in the mail today and Brad Pitt gets featured discussing “the new rules for digital gentlemen and other highly evolved humans”.

On his thoughts of tweeting a picture of his wife’s butt like Ashton Kutcher did of Demi Moore:

“Don’t take a picture of your wife’s butt. That’s silly. Take pictures of other people’s wives’ butts.”

On lying about how much money you make on your online dating profile:

“Everyone lies online. In fact, readers expect you to lie. If you don’t, they’ll think you make less than you actually do. So the only way to tell the truth is to lie.”

On talking on the phone while taking a whiz:

“No, you can’t talk on the phone! Do you want the guy next to you to hear your entire conversation? That’s why you should only text in the bathroom. Just be sure you don’t hit the wrong button and end up putting a photo of your junk on Twitter. Trust me, you don’t want those followers.

On sometimes awkward cyber dilemmas:

“Who cares if your Warcraft wife is really a dude. If it’s good, don’t check under the hood.”

Oh, and there’s some great infographics in this edition as well.

Meet Mowgli – the baby orang utang

He’s one of the star attractions at Lok Kawi Wildlife Park. About 40 minutes drive from Kota Kinabalu – it was great to see a wide range of animals, including gibbons, proboscis monkeys, civet cats, a swooping rhinoceros hornbill and playful elephants amongst other animals, but had we known we would go to Singapore Zoo later on, we may not have bothered. Then again, there’s not exactly a lot to do in Kota Kinabalu, so this was certainly a good way to bide our time until we started our climbing trip of Mt. Kinabalu. But be warned – if you sit in the front row of their main show, you’ll go toe-to-toe with this ape in a coconut husking competition. There will only ever be one winner. In the time it took me to rip about a 2 inch wide strip of coconut husk, he had the whole lot off! I did manage to smask the coconut open, but that wasn’t exactly the brief.

If you’re looking to get there, taxi is the way. Pre-arrange a price (as with all Malaysian taxis), and you can probably get a driver to do a round-trip. Just make sure you get his telephone number to call him when you want him back.

The reigning coconut husking champ

Very clever episode of “Will it Blend?” where a selection of Olympus kit gets smoothified. Check it out.

A taxi ride across town to Dempsey Hill sees us amid a swathe of restaurants – but our focus is the Tippling Club.

Opened up a year ago with ex-Vue De Monde chef Ryan Clift behind the wheel, the emphasis here is on the matching of the beverages alongside the food. This is where Matthew Bax, of Melbourne’s Der Raum comes to the party, as the mixologist.

It’s Thursday night and the restaurant is virtually empty – I don’t have to tell you how that makes me feel. However, as we were both keen to try it out, we sit and prepare for the 10-course “Gourmand” tasting menu with matched drinks. The five-course “Classic” feels a little lean and the 15-course “Experience” would no doubt be just that, however I feel that the experience might lead me to roll out of the restaurant.

Settling up for a pre-dinner drink, I opt for a Campari and orange juice, and get the first taste of what’s to come. A segment of orange is candied and partially frozen.

With an amuse bouche of whisky-mascerated red grapes, yet still holding their shape firm, we commenced. First off the rank was a cold butternut soup, served on a piece of dark grey slate (as many of the dishes were) – with goat’s cheese and dark chocolate. The vessel for the soup was seemingly the bottom slice of a butternut pumpkin which seemed to melt away as it came to room temperature. Flavours were non-existent except for the goat’s cheese and chocolate, which were a jarring combination. Paired with the “Teachers Tipple”, served in a flask hidden within a hard-backed text book, I couldn’t find the combination, or the benefit of pairing this wonderfully spiced, whisky based concoction to the dish. In its own right, this would be a drink I would happily order at the bar.

Second course was the “Plus / Minus”. Foie gras prepared two ways, the “Minus” – dehydrated to a powder format, cooled and ladled onto the slate, the “Plus”, deep fried – with a crispy exterior, giving way to a silky molten foie gras. The minus simply consumed all the moisture from my mouth leaving me with a cloying mouth of cold foie gras powder. As a kid did you ever lump a spoonful of Milo and stick it in your mouth? You only did it once, though, right? The plus, was certainly a plus, but when matched with next drink, “The Chappelle Brothers” – a pineapple gin and vermouth concoction with saffron bubbles, I was left confused. Why was I drinking essence of fruit salad with foie gras? Two dishes down and I starting to wonder what the hell I was doing here.

Third was the Quail Satay – a generous portion of quail sitting on a millimeter deep pool of green curry. Thankfully, we were back on track here. The curry provided a tease of heat and a crumble provided the satay flavour – this was a great dish, and I wanted another two of the poor little birds. Unfortunately the paired drink, a pomelo and basil Bellini was way off the mark.

Black pepper frog was plate number four, and the kitchen was now hitting the mark. Big, peppery flavour surrounded the deboned frog, complete with crispy fried chicken skin which were reminiscent of fried wanton wrappers. It was matched with a Coopers Sparkling Ale – there’s nothing better to wash away that bitey flavour than a beer. This was the only drink selection from the whole menu that was served unadulterated, and here we had a hit.

Our fifth plate was not as per the menu: Barramundi was unavailable and replaced with local Sea Bass. This dish suffered poorly for it – the pickled cauliflower, one of the four ways it was served overpowering the delicate flavour of the sea bass. This felt like a lazy out for the kitchen, where instead of completely revising the dish, the simply made the switch. Remember that Campari I ordered as an aperitif? It featured as the matched drink here. I was sorely disappointed as I would have thought it been a good idea to at least advise me that it would feature as part of the menu. However, at this point, I was now thinking that Bax was high on acid when he put together the drinks list for this menu and was tempted to opt out and go for a bottle of wine.

Enter the Vegetable Garden for plate number six. A small carrot and leek with a layer of celeriac resembling more of a freeform lasagna pasta sheet – a porcini mushroom earth providing a wonderful earthiness to the dish contrasting with the delicate flavours. The drink was probably the most interesting of the night – a combination of beetroot juice, Fernet Branca and other liqueurs to create the the Bax Beet Pinot 2008. A clever use of flavours here – slightly bitter at first and finishing off with the sweetness of the beet on the palate – completely complementary to the plate.

The last of the savoury courses, number seven –the Lobster Pea. A portion of lobster ensconced in a gelatinous sheet of paella stock with fresh garden peas. This dish was a grand way to finish, the freshness of the peas and the subtle flavour of the stock complimenting the crustacean, as did the paired drink – a spicy tomato cocktail, taking hints from the classic Bloody Mary.

On to dessert, dish eight was the Passionfruit Cloud. Basil ice cream and crumble hide a centre of passionfruit cream served atop of the slate. Another hit, and now that we were into dessert territory, it was apt that we could start playing with some fruity flavours in the drinks. A blend of agave and tequila with tropical fruit provided a refreshing cocktail combination.

More meteorological phenomena for dish nine, the Snowball. Two hemispheres of white chocolate and sudachi with a smear of yuzu curd. Gentle flavour and very much a texture dish, these spheres were delicate and completely overpowered by the Captain’s Blood cocktail – a powerful combination of dark rum and pomegranate juice with basil seeds frozen into the ice.

And rounding out the ten was caramel poached banana with tonka bean ice cream and more powder, this time a chocolate soil. The banana lacked the caramel flavouring I was certainly looking for. The final drink the Smoky Old Bastard, a dram of whisky on ice – infused with tobacco, Peychaud’s Bitters, served in a tall container with a wood stopper, the stopper holding in citrus smoke. However, it smelled like cigarette smoke. Meant to imitate the smokiness of Scotch whiskey – this was utterly repulsive. I tried on three occasions to drink this, but failed.

Perhaps just use a good Scotch?

Food/Drink – 1
Need were really say anymore?

Service – 3
General service was fine – the restaurant manager needs a few lessons in humility and general professional behaviour.

Ambience – 2.5
Not much of it going on. The chemistry lab feel was cute, but perhaps it should have gone all the way. The counter seating is set up so you can watch what is going on in the kitchen, but all I could see was drinks being made and a dish or two being plated up. If you ask your patrons for feedback and it comes back negative, listen to it and don’t fob it off.

Value – 1
SG$620++ for the 21 mismatched items for two people? Enough said.

Total – 7.5 / 20

Terribly hit and miss and simply trying too hard. If you must, opt out of the paired drinks and try something else, or better – save your money and try any one other of Singapore’s comparably priced fine diners. The Tippling Club is in desperate need of a properly matched wine list to have any chance of succeeding and a reduction in the number of powders and airs served. If molecular gastronomy is to be the flavour of the day, then a well rounded selection of laboratory skills need to be honed and presented.

The Tippling Club
8D Dempsey Road
249672, Singapore
+65 6475 2217

See you in a few weeks!

Jennifer Cardini in the mix

Some photos I shot from the Kompakt Label Party / 6th Birthday for Deep As F*ck gig at The Cross a couple of weeks back.

I wasn’t overwhelmed by the gig – a modest turnout on the Sunday, which was due no doubt the countless gigs (We Love Sounds for one) that had occurred across the long weekend. Musically though was where I was underwhelmed – it certainly wasn’t anything to adventurous and I have to feel that like the Kompakt label, it’s lost a little of it’s fresh edge that we used to see a few years back.

However, I was overwhelmed by the ‘flu which I came down with the next day and am still recovering from.

Astronomy Class rocked it at the Annandale on Friday night. Go and buy the album – dope Australian dub hip hop. Enough said.

You’ve no doubt been involved in a conversation like this at some point in time.