Transportation Rant; Dinner at Au Petit Salut

It was Qiuyi's birthday and I was invited to dinner at Au Petit Salut at Dempsey's. Maxie, Preema, Alvin and Koh Ping were the others that attended. I hadn't seen them for the most part since I left MFA so it was good to catch up. Unfortunately for me, I was very late after getting delayed leaving the house, and then being unable to board over three buses from Orchard MRT towards Holland on account of them being completely jam-packed.

Ironically, our Transport Minister gave a keynote speech the following day outlining our future transport strategy with public transport as the centerpiece - apparently he wants to make taking public transport as convenient or more so as driving a car. Try packing yourself into a jam packed bus only to connect to a jam packed MRT train and see how comfortable (let alone convenient) that is!

In addition, Orchard MRT now suffers from a major human traffic flow problem due to the moving of the main exit from the MRT station to Orchard Road. The old main exit next to Wisma is now closed, and instead commuters have to exit through what will be the future Ion at Orchard residence/shops. The only problem is, the passageway to the new exit is very narrow and off to the side of the ticket booth, and it crosses with the path into the underground tunnel towards Tangs/Shaw. The net result is a huge jam of bodies.

Suffice the say that the planning regarding the human traffic flow has been non-existent and the situation is most unwelcome. Almost as unwelcome as the horrendous advertising on the Ion bombarding us on on the way up to Orchard Road. This is corporate branding and advertising at its most odious.

Over dinner, the conversation centered quite naturally on work, with the usual complaints about the long hours, the secretarial nature of the job and limited opportunities for research and so on. I guess discussing what is going on at the place makes me regret leaving a lot less - I doubt that I would have wanted to stay there for the long term given the status quo, and I highly doubt things will change in any fundamental way. It still pains me to hear of old friends and colleagues going home at midnight for a week or more on end, though.

Au Petit Salut itself was a nice enough place. I had seen it on numerous times passing by on Holland Road, standing alone and aloof from the dining and nightlife boom on Dempsey Road. The building alone was a bit of an oddity, a small three storey slightly run down looking thing. It was certainly interesting walking up the pathway from the bus stop and finding it blocked with leaves and ending up right by the windows to the kitchen.

Overall it was a nice enough dining experience. The service was good, the restaurant interior itself what one would expect from a fairly high class French place. I ordered a steak (felt like some meat) and it was done a nice medium rare - just as I had ordered. I passed on desert, but what the others ordered looked quite delectable. As far as French restaurants in Singapore goes, Au Petit Salut is definitely a better bet than say Sebastian's at Greenwood Ave or some of the other establishments I have tried.