Tea for three.

The Triumvirate seldom has the time to meet for a proper unhurried meal and a chit chat session these days. But when we do meet, we usually go all the way.

Tea at Royal Copenhagen, an extremely satisfying dinner at Kuriya, chilling out and drinks at Potpourri. We (or annie in particular) probably traumatised the staff at Kuriya with the random bursts of laughter and the spirited conversation which often induced an inordinate amount of eye-rolling or further convulsing bouts of laughing fits.

Kuriya's (at Lido) standard remained impeccable if a little pricey. Kate and I ordered the Nabemono hotpots while Annie went for the humongous Kuriya set dinner which she wasn't able to finish anyway. Tucking into my favourite side dish of baked tofu with mentaiko (spicy cod roe) and cheese, I declared with enforced gaiety "Mm, dick cheese!" whereupon Annie dissolved into another bout of hysterical giggles and Kate turned a strange shade of green and snapped, "Can you stop that! Just the thought of it makes me want to hurl. God, I can almost smell it." Scrounging up her face, she made muffled retching sounds. Which probably worried the very attentive waitress who came along to check if everything was alright.

Drinks sometime thereafter, was at Potpourri, the same gem of a place where Ming celebrated her big 40 as it was nearby and the ambiance was perfect. Quiet but comfortable. I ordered my usual reds, which incidentally is far better than a lot of the reds at a number of watering holes, some of which are way too acidic- almost like vinegar and a sheesha. Annie had a long island tea and Kate, her San Pellogrino.

I must say I'm thoroughly impressed with the sheesha at Potpourri's, an hour later and it was still smoking away unlike the miserable one at that arab street cafe which died out after 15 mins. In fact the harder I sucked, the more bubble-gummy smoke I was rewarded with. (Kinda makes you wish it applied to something else doesn't it?) By the time we left about 80 mins later, it was still going strong, Annie was lobster pink, making funny comments and I was wistfully bemoaning the fact that tomorrow was Wednesday and not Saturday.

All in all, thoroughly enjoyable as usual, though I must say that all this wining and dining is burning a hole in my wallet. Sob.