KENT RIDGE FINE MUSIC & STEAK APPRECIATION CLUB (NO VEGANS ADMITTED) RECONVENES

The Kent Ridge Fine Music & Steak Appreciation Club (No Vegans Admitted) reconvened on Sunday lunchtime (13 September 2026) at its usual hideout, St.Martin's in Clementi Fields or Marriner's Corner. The idea was to re-sample its famous N.Z. Roast Beef Prime Rib, which previously had left the quintet longing for more. The only problem: the four Professors and one Physician got the timing wrong. Marriner's Prime Rib is served only in the evening.

Undeterred, they settled for the Ribeye Set Meal instead. One meat is better than none, one supposes. True to the establishment's well-heeled service, the dishes came swiftly, first the garden salad, soup de jour (which had minced meat in cream) and garlic toast. This was quickly dispatched, and before long came the main course. Only Winston Seah Kar Heng opted for the Sirloin and found his portion smaller than the others'.  

As this was being consumed, discussions about last weekend's Wagner's Siegfried by the OMM came up, as did future plans for the fine orchestras of Kent Ridge. About steak, promises were made by individual members to have pilgrimages to Sweetheart Garden Restaurant (any of the seven outlets) in Hong Kong. It was agreed that the Mongkok outlet in Bank Centre (2nd floor) was the most accessible and had the highest turnover.

After accounting for the tiny slice of cake, coffee or tea, the quartet sans Winston (who had a birthday party to catch) made their way to their favourite creamery - Burnt Cones - which was around the corner. So here are the incriminating pics of Professors and Doctors enjoying their ice-creams.

This CTL had the Pistachio flavour.

The other CTL had Stracciatella
(whatever that was) while 
HCK had Moon Cake Salted Egg.

PP chose Moon Cake salted egg too. 

The newly created official logo
of KRFMSAC (NVA) or
Kent Ridge Fine Music & Steak
Appreciation Club (No Vegans Admitted).
Even Sir Lion whole-heartedly agrees.

RETURN OF THE KENT RIDGE FINE MUSIC & STEAK APPRECIATION CLUB (NO VEGANS ADMITTED)

The Kent Ridge Fine Music & Steak Appreciation Club (No Vegans Admitted) has returned with a vengeance. On the evening of Sunday 8 February, the KRFMSAC (NVA) moved further afield beyond Residential College 4 to the only New Town in Singapore named after a composer - Clementi*. To a favourite steakhouse which Professor Winston Seah Kar Heng has geekily nicknamed St Martin-in-the-Fields, which is none other Marriner's Corner off Clementi Road and Sunset Way.

Not deciding on the food, but
discussing about passacaglias and fugues.

Despite the restaurant's wide menu, the five permanent members of KRFMSAC (NVA) all settled for a single item - the weekend N.Z. Roast Beef Prime Rib set meal. No discussion, no hemming or hawing, just a strategic choice that made life for the service staff super easy. Before long, the soup de jour (Borscht of chicken), garlic toast and salad was served. Then came the piece de resistance in all its glory.

At $32 + side extras, the Maestro Chan Tze Law, who certainly knows his steak (see previous posts), declared this to be the best value prime roast meal in all of the land. He was right. The tenderness and succulence of the meat, with a small trimming of fat, made it all worthwhile. The sole medico of the party just reminded everyone not to forget their statins.

It's a quintet rather than a quartet now.

Are you being served?

What tucking in looks like.

Who qualifies to join KRFMSAC (NVA)? Obviously, no vegans. A love of good music (Mahler and Wagner preferred, and Beethoven too), an age of at least three score, old enough to remember Maritime House on Cantonment Road as the "good old days", and the minimum title of Doctor. Professor and Maestro as titles are even better, preferably all three. Kar Heng has all three, having also conducted the Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra and mastering no less than seven instruments and seven languages.

Ready, Get, Set and Go!

The two CTLs, PP and SKH
looking sated and satisfied.
HCK's reaction is likely to be the same.

When they say, "the proof is in the eating",
this is what it means.
A plate even cleaner than the ruling party.

After the steak, which had to be consumed before the curfew hour of 7.30 pm, it was time to adjourn for ice cream at Burnt Cones. And here are the incriminating pictures.     

Deciding on the flavours.

* I was, of course, joking about Clementi New Town being named after a composer. It was named after Sir Cecil Clementi Smith (1840-1916), who was governor of the Straits Settlements from 1887-1893. Clementi Smith was however the grandson of the Italian composer Muzio Clementi (1752-1832), a pioneer of the pianoforte who had settled in London and started his illustrious colonising family. So, I was partly right, but mostly being cheeky.

Looks familiar?
The bust of Sir Cecil Clementi Smith
at Victoria Concert Hall (left)
and his illustrious pianist grandfather
Muzio Clementi (right)

The other New Town in Singapore named after a composer is... Bukit Bartok.