August 15, 2006 -
eve of 3rd Annual Johor Arts Festival

The night before the concert, core members of the Johor Society for Performing Arts, organisers of the festival, bring us out for dinner at this famous Johor restaurant, Hak Seng. While Hak Seng is famous for the Teochew dishes, it's the restaurant owner that takes the limelight. (see him in white tee-shirt, sitting next to Roger) He's got an article up on his wall, headlines screaming "Loud mouth Hak Seng".

Truly, this man's quite a character. He sits down at the table with you while he takes your order, like he's part of your group. He tells you - not recommends - what to order and when he sees that you've ordered enough, he'd tell you so. "Enough," he'd declare before getting up huffily. Dude shuffles off to place your order in the kitchen. I'm told he'd tick you off for not finishing your dinner (that got me quite nervous) and he's got no problems telling customers to bugger off if he feels they've had enough to drink.

To top it all off, the man walks around his restaurant barefoot.