Nibble & scribble

Yardbird

2011-10-12T23:42:00.010+08:00

There’s a lot to like about Yardbird, a lot, and it has got the right attitude of being a really good izakaya. The place looks cool - it looks more New York then Hong Kong - it offers nose-to-tail eating of a chicken (which almost seems to be the most politically correct foodie way to eat) and it has got a kickass drink list that will keep many happy. Even the name seems right. Yardbird, perhaps implying the happy carefree life that the local chickens that are sourced and used for the yakitori or that it will like to be the local chicken joint where people gravitate to for some comfort food. So it really is no surprise that the once the media got a whiff of this place, it fell in love with it too.

The big BUT for me on this place is that …
The yakitori for me unfortunately did not live up to all that expectations. The yardstick where it fell really short was the chicken wings (tebasaki). The tebasaki wasn’t stretched out to its full potential on the skewer, so instead of getting that really crisp skin that I was hoping for, it was unfortunately still a little flabby because not enough fat was rendered out. It was seasoned well and it was topped off with in-house blended Shichimi Togarashi but that didn’t save it. The non-yakitori items fared better. The KFC – Korean Fried Cauliflower – is great. It is a fabulous way to get children to eat cauliflower (or any vegetable) - lightly fried to a crisp and then coated with a sweet spicy glaze.

Yardbird
33-35 Bridges Street
Hong Kong
Tel: 852-25479273

Ramazan Bayrami - Experiencing Ramadan in Southern Turkey

2011-08-31T21:43:00.012+08:00

My friends and I were travelling in Turkey during the tail end of Ramadan in 2010 where we started in Istanbul and then headed south towards – Sanliurfa, Yuvacali and then to Gaziantep. We were concerned if food was going to be available or if we were able to get around. Somehow we managed and what we thought was going to a difficult situation turned out to be a rich experience.

Istanbul has the majestic blue mosque and the charm of the east and the west but down in the South, closer to Syria, where traditions and religiosity runs deeper, we experienced a different environment and sincere hospitality and through the Ramazan period in Turkey.

Sanliurfa

pool of sacred fish, Sanliurfa

On the days leading up to Bayram, we headed off from Istanbul to Sanliufa, where we wandered around the romantic narrow and dusty streets. Like most of the locals headed down to the bazaar in ancient town in preparation for Bayram to shop around for new clothes and sweets, we went down to pick up some Turkish delights for our host and then pulled away and from the crowds to lull away the time away. For some part of the afternoon, we sat by the pool of sacred fish in the cool of the shade, people-watched and fed the fish and then slowly made our way back to Aslan Guest House as the sun started to set.

lahmacun

Ayran

Back in the guest house, Özcan Aslan, an English teacher who runs it, invited us to break fast with his family and to enjoy the food that had been prepared by his wife during the course of the day. We gathered with his family and sat in the courtyard around the dinner tables and silently observed sunset; once the sun disappeared from sight, the feasting started. They first broke fast with by drinking a lot of water and then proceeded to the food laid out on the table. The lahmacun – spicy minced lamb on flat bread – the Turkish version of pizza, was surprisingly very spicy and delicious with a squeeze of lemon. Served with a variety of vegetables, I favoured the soft eggplant and the yoghurt coated vegetables to take some edge off that intense heat. And to finish it all, the ayran was lightly salted refreshing and felt cleansing to that heat that was still burning in my mouth. The meal that we shared was simple but it was a great way to experience Ramazan in Turkey. Where food and cooking become more difficult without the ability to taste, breaking fast with a family made it all more special.

Pero and Halil

On the eve of Bayram, we headed off Yuvacali where we stayed with Pero and Halil, a Kurdish couple and enjoyed the silence, stillness and slower pace of things. We hid in the shade from the afternoon sun, hiked and learnt a little about archaeology and then waited for the right time to feast again. We slept on the roof, safe under mosquito nets and under the watch of the stars above. It was so beautiful.

The morning of Bayram started with me making unleaven bread whilst the boys were still snoring but once everyone got up and everyone was fed, we got ready for Bayram!

The adults were armed with sweet and smiles and the children with their well wishes and their empty candy bags. The children started to arrive. Amongst the first to arrive was Pero and Halil’s daughter, who returned from a sleepover at her cousin’s all dolled up in her new clothes and kissed and wished their elders a happy Bayram in return received colourful and a variety sweets and candy. She chatted quickly with her mother, waved and was off to the next house for more sweets. We stayed a short while just as the visiting was starting but then had to move on, so we thanked hugged Pero and Halil for their hospitality were headed off to Gaziantep.

We had grand plans for Gaziantep. We were headed for Turkey’s gastronomic capital to feast but we failed to factor in Ramazan. We expected pistachios and baklava shops to line the streets but we were greeted by empty streets and closed doors but it was the first day of Bayram. Nonetheless, we were hopeful and tried to see if İmam Çağdaş was open for us to stuff ourselves silly on kebabs and baklava where we heard they were the best but all we saw was the front door. So that was our alternative food tour of Gaziantep, the gastronomic capital - where we witnessed how the city shuts down for Ramazan, where the streets were empty and unfortunately İmam Çağdaş was not open for us.

Closed, :(

We experience Ramazan Bayram in Turkey with some inconveniences but the warmth shared at the table and the simplicity of rustic food that we were given – really nothing fancy but laced with a lot of love, we were really happy at that.

Adam Road Soto Ayam Stall #9

2011-08-27T09:56:00.003+08:00

As the rain falls outside, I’m craving some Soto Ayam with a begedil from Adam Road.

I remember headed over there on a Saturday afternoon for a bowl but we arrived half an hour too early and had to wait in anticipation. So we lingered and sipped on teh teriks, waiting…as the chicken and spices mingled in the boiling pot, well on it is on its way to becoming a fragrant broth that is light but big in flavour.

Whilst the chicken broth is comforting, it is the other components that make the soup sing. The dark sauced ‘sandy’ chilli packs a good punch of heat and flavour that can be used as a dipping sauce or stirred into the soup. I also don’t particularly enjoy having noodles in this dish. I usually substitute it for a begedil (fried potato cutlet), and break it up into chunks and let it slowly disintegrate in my soup.

Amirah & N’ur Aniqah
(Mee Soto & Mee Rebus)
Better known as Adam Road Soto Ayam Stall #9
Stall 9 Adam Rd food centre

Learning Chinese: 你吃了吗?

2011-08-27T00:49:00.010+08:00

Even though I’ve been eating Chinese food all my life, I feel like I barely know anything about it. I’ve spent a few brief weekend getaways in Hong Kong and Shanghai in the past 18 months and I’ve been eating a discovering the larger world of Chinese food.

In fact, the more I eat, the more I realise how much I don’t know. And this is what I’ve been learning …

Perhaps the reason why we can’t taste the range of dishes anymore is simply because there are just some ingredients that aren’t available anymore! I remember going to the wet markets as a child and staring wide-eyed at those cubes of coagulated pigs’ blood and not so nasty bits of brain and lung which I haven’t seen in last 10 years or longer!

In Hong Kong, I was introduced to Almond and Pig’s Lung soup. I slurped down on a delicious version at Luk Yu Teahouse, one that has been popular and approved by the locals for many years. The almond soup is delicately flavoured with mandarin peels and is creamy and has a gentle grainy texture from the almond puree that gives it a good richness. The pig lungs were a lot milder than I expected. They looked a little strange but they had an airy and spongy texture that was pleasant to eat.

Shrimp with Longjing tea

fishballs with watershield

I’ve also learn about Zhejiang cuisine at a recent meal at Hongzhou Restaurant and I was surprised at the delicateness. We ordered shrimp with Longjing tea unfortunately was a little lightly flavoured for me. It sounded wonderful but it was a little bland, so I suspect I was just served a poor version of it. The homemade fishballs served with water shield, were very seductive. Pillow soft, they danced around my mouth as I chewed down on them. As for the accompanying water shield, I’ve yet to learn to appreciate.

I was never a fan of Sichuan food and I never quite understood the draw of the mouth numbing experience. But that is starting to change. I think part of the draw and thrill of it is that it is a mild form of extreme eating. It is about eating and being at the edge and not falling over and surrendering to those chillies and peppercorns.

Fuschia Dunlop’s Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper, has made me reconsider sweating and it out for a full spicy meal.

The shui zhu yu at San Xi Lou pushed me further in that direction.

The name, “water cooked fish”, evokes images grease-free, health and weight conscious cooking but the actual dish is far from it. In fact, oil is used in cooking the fish. And not just oil, but a lot of it. And don’t be alarmed by the chillies, there are only about...a hundred of them in the bowl? But they will remove most of it before you dive in with your chopsticks, and they are large enough to avoid. What you need to watch out for are those peppercorns. I crunched down on the first one and it really kicked me in the face. I was unprepared. Overwhelmed, I had to put my chopstick down. Then as I was recovering, “crunch”, I bite into the second one, and I had to stop eating again but the sensation of pain and pleasure that started on opposing ends started to inch closer to each other. And before I knew it, I found myself loving and hating those sensational little bastards. Oh, and the fish licked with the fragrant oil was very tender.

So I’ve been exploring and re-discovering a whole new world of Chinese food. Other than that, I’ve also been really fortunately in meeting local foodies whose wealth of knowledge I’ve learnt a lot from. I feel really humbled by this whole experience and in awe of this old and diverse cuisine.

Luk Yu Teahouse
24-26 Stanley St
Tel: +852-25235464

Hong Zhou Restaurant
1/F,Chinachem Johnston Plaza
178-188 Johnston Road
Tel: +852-25911898

San Xi Lou
7/F, Coda Plaza
51 Garden Road
Tel: +852-28388811

Trolley Service Lunch at Robuchon, Macau

2011-08-13T17:38:00.007+08:00

Far from airplane lunch trolley service that only offers a chicken or fish option, that’s not what I’m referring to. Instead, I’m reminiscing about a Lunch back in February in Robuchon a Gelara, Macau that involved multiple trolleys and trolley service that I adore.

I don't think I've ever seen so many trolleys during one lunch. I really liked it. With every trolley rolled and stop at our table that makes the whole idea of dining entertaining and also about celebrating the time spent around the table through the spectacle of service.

Once we were tucked into our seats, the champagne trolley came, along with the admirable but rather ridiculous wine folder, which thanks to technology and perhaps through popular vote has been condensed into 10 pdf pages in an ipad. Once the bottle was decided and the bottle retrieved, on to our next trolley.

The butter trolley, this is my favourite of them all. Say no more, the only question that really matters is - salted or unsalted?

Bread Basket

The set lunch was classic, technical and well refined – everything that I expected from a Robuchon establishment. The fine tarte of mushrooms with foie gras was exceptionally yummy and his legendary pomme puree was really silky smooth and perfection.

oyster with seaweed buttered toast

Crab with Couscous

Fine Tarte of mushrooms with Foie Gras

artichoke veloute with duck breast and truffle infused floating island

scallop, squid farci and pearl vegetables

Seabass with truffle butter

Quail stuffed with foie gras

Pork with blood sausage

The dessert trolley, the ice cream trolley and then the cheese trolley, where there is the element of choice and opportunity cost. Should I have dessert, cheese, or both? And if I only have dessert, what should I have? I think that there is a big difference when the dessert menu comes on a piece of paper and when it is laid in front of you like with ceremony. It is almost like you need a different set of skills in making a choice – as opposed to deciding off a piece of paper and imagining how it would turn out. From all our choices from the trolley, the winner for me was the lemon tart.

I really enjoyed the service and food during my lunch here, it was value for money and a great treat. I think this will be on my eat list on my return trip to Macau.

Robuchon a Galera
Hotel Lisboa
3/F, Lisboa Tower
Tel: +853-8803-7878

MmmMmmMozza.

2011-07-23T17:52:00.005+08:00

Mozza-styled pizza, is currently my favourite type of pizza.

The crust is the signature of the Mozza pizzas – which you will either love or hate. I belong to the love camp. I don’t know what goes in it but I’m sure it is more than flour, water and salt – does anyone have the recipe? I sat at the bar and watched what they did – firstly they stretched the dough leaving a crust at the end and then pierced it to let some air out. After which it was a brushed with olive oil, top with ingredients and pushed into the fire oven where more magic happens. The fire oven puffs up the air bubbles trapped in the dough and produces a puffy and charred looking crust that is crisp on the first bite and deliciously chewy.

The other thing I like about Mozza is the feel that it has. The placemats are silly and I think it sets the tone of the place. It is pizza after all – what’s the fun in putting prim into pizza! So, have fun, order and eat with your hands and make a mess – I couldn’t care less.

Pizzeria Mozza
2 Bayfront Aveue
#B1-42/46 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
Tel: 6688 8522

On the hunt for more piggy ...

2011-06-11T11:48:00.002+08:00

The result of having great food is that you have a benchmark and you are constantly measuring everything else against it searching for something of equal greatness.

So ever since the roast pig at Kimberly, I’ve developed a slight obsession with finding the good roast pig in Hong Kong. Josh or the dude better known as Char Xiu Bao, recommended the Celestial Court roast pig, and so that rose to the top of the eat list for my next trip to Hong Kong.

A great part of making an occasion of eat a roast pig is idea of community and feasting. It is mandated that you gather more than four, unless you have a great appetite for pig because the law of diminishing marginal returns kicks rapidly after the second sliced roll and some restaurants demand it.

So we are gathered here today at Celestial Court to celebrate the life of another pig. This pig stuffing - pearl barley, black truffles, glutinous rice and wild mushrooms – is delicious. The mushroom and (China) truffles lend fragrance and the barley mixed in with the glutinous rice give it texture – together, it was a good contrast to the crispy skin.

The pig vs. pig – in terms of crisp skin, Kimberly wins but Celestial Court wins it with their stuffing.

Another highlight from Celestial Court was the fortune chicken – a deboned chicken stuffed with ham and mushrooms, wrapped in lotus leaves and then baked in a dough crust to seal in all the flavours and moisture. As the staff break through the crust and peel away the layers of lotus leaves to reveal the succulent chicken treasure below, the aromas that burst out of the parcel is exceptionally delectable. It was fork tender and extremely tasty but unfortunately it was a tad on the salty end.

We ate through a few other dishes on the menu but for me was that pig. It was not too complicated or “truffled” for the sake of it – although the mushrooms rather than the truffles really gave it that edge - and importantly, the execution was good. Good piggy.

Celestial Court
2/F Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers
20 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
+852 2369 1111

Krabi Street Eats

2011-01-18T20:15:00.004+08:00

Krabi, Thailand is better known as a base for island hopping and a range of outdoor activity than its food. In an area that is populated by tourist, it is hard to avoid a tourist trap. And really good food is hard to come by when the restaurants try to cater to the world with their bizarre combinations of Thai-Italian/Thai-Indian/Thai-Dutch/Thai-Swiss/Thai-"insert a nationality" cuisine. To look for Thai-Thai or Thai-as local as it gets food, we tried to hunt and to chow down at the clusters of street stalls.

The first hawker, a stand alone, that we met originates from Malaysia and had serves up the best banana "pancake" of the three that we tried. The pancake, however, really isn't the fluffy pancakes that we soak in maple syrup at brunch, rather it is as what our Malaysian hawker described to us, "in Singapore you call it roti prata, in Malaysia we call it roti chennai, but here and the international name is pancake." The secret to his crust that the other stalls didn't quite achieve, we concluded was probably his use of Planta that gave a good crust to his "pancake".

We also found a cluster of hawkers in close to the McDonalds where we had the southern Thai version of chicken Satay, which was thin strips of chicken breast marinated in a turmeric based sauce and served with a mild red curry like sauce that was unfortunately a little flat. And after snacking on that, we strolled a few stalls down and we sat down again for beef noodle soup and the best mango salad I had all trip and some grilled corn.

For dinner left the touristy Ao Nang and headed into Krabi town for a more fragrant and exciting local food scene in the night market. We milled around with the locals and finally hit the goldmine of local food. The food market was made out of little stalls that served an array of delights. Crisp deep fried chicken that smelled and tasted delicious that is sold with an optional extra serving of fried chicken skin, charcoal grilled squid and fish, lightly battered shrimp, braised piggy parts and pork ready to be mixed around with some rice and pickled vegetables, raw local oysters and Thai staples of Phad Thai and mango salad. Stall after stall, we ordered and ate and ordered some more, it was the closest we got to the Thai-Thai food that we were looking for.

Krabi didn't have bad food per se, but it was really hard to find the really good local stuff that had kicks of sweet, sour, spicy and everything that makes Thai food very addictive. The biggest take away I had after sampling phad Thai after phad Thai, I've learnt that phad Thai is a loose term for Thai-styled fried noodles and that every hawker or cook has their own style to it (or perhaps adjusted for the foreign palates) some like it sweeter, some were heavy on ketchup and others borrowed flavour from fish sauce and sweet soy sauce or maggie seasoning - I liked mine not overtly sweet and with the extra squeeze of lime.

Teochew Goodies

2011-01-02T16:56:00.002+08:00

I’m Teochew but as a kid I wasn’t the big fan of the food and I never cook Teochew either. Now, I eat more of it and have developed a greater appreciation for it but I still don’t cook it.

During my last trip to Hong Kong, I feel like I was re-introduced to Teochew food through this small gratifying tasting of Teochew dishes.

We started off rich with braised goose liver. I’ve had braised goose but I’ve never had Teochew styled braised goose liver. We tried to order two plates but the health conscious waiter stopped us in our tracks and advised that we order one to start with because as he advised, “it is very high in cholesterol”. Incredibly smooth and seriously delicious, two plates would have been better than one.

The duo of seafood balls - prawn balls and crab balls – was not too starchy so that the taste of the prawn and crab still came through and not greasy.

The stir-fried pigeon with chestnuts was a little on the salty side but manageable with the lettuce wraps. I like pigeon, and in this dish there was only a slight gamey taste that makes it approachable for most.

We finished off with baby oyster porridge, which is something that I like. The watery broth of the porridge absorbs the flavours of the oysters, dried sole and pork and this bowl was good.

Chiu Mei Ku (潮味居)
Shop D & E, 2-16A Bowrington Rd
Bowring Building, Wan Chai
Tel: 852- 2834-6669

Thomas Keller's Creamed Corn

2010-12-30T20:40:00.005+08:00

For Christmas this year I chocked up a lot of cooking time. Half of the cooking was really planning. The planning is a fun process of reading through my cookbooks and flagging recipes and then running through the list of shortlisted recipes to see what is really feasible in the cooking time. One of the real winning recipes that I found this Christmas was Thomas Keller’s creamed corn from Ad Hoc at Home.

This recipe is really good. It is very simple and the flavours are divine. The cream and butter makes the creamed corn luscious and the pinch of cayenne pepper makes the dish pop with a gentle at the end. I loved it and the people I served it too loved it too – I’ve made this three times in five days! I’ve also made a ‘variation’ of it out of necessity, substituting calamansi for lime and I prefer it with latter.

Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home Creamed Corn Recipe
6 corn, shucked
1 large lime or 6 to 8 calamansi
2-3 tablespoons butter, unsalted
Salt
¾ to 1 cup heavy cream
A pinch of cayenne
Finely chopped chives

Directions
1. With a sharp knife, cut vertically down each ear of corn to slice off the kernels. Put the kernels in a large bowl, then hold each cop over the bowl and use a spoon or the back of a knife to scrape any remaining corn and the milk from the cob.
2. Grate the zest of the lime, preferably with a microplane grater; set aside. Cut the lime in half.
3. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the corn, squeeze about 1 tablespoon of the lime juice, or to taste, over the corn, and season with salt.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until all of the liquid has evaporated, concentrating the flavour, and the corn is beginning to sizzle, 15 to 17 minutes.
5. Stir in ¾ cup cream, the cayenne, and lime zest. Continue to cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the cream is absorbed by the corn. Add up to ¼ cup more cream if desired for a creamier texture. Add salt to taste and stir in the chives.

Breakfast at Wulumuqi Lu, Shanghai

2010-12-11T16:49:00.005+08:00

Exploring the street for breakfast eats.

Yang's Sheng Jian Bao, Shanghai

2010-12-11T10:37:00.004+08:00

This was one of the best things I ate in Shanghai – Yang’s Shen Jian Bao. The lines are annoying but the buns are worth the wait. Made and fried to order, since the lines ensure that the buns are hot and fresh, these juicy soup pork wrapped in a duo textured bun that are sprinkled with sesame seeds and spring onions are really comforting and delicious. The first one I bit into unfortunately exploded and I lost half of the soup and even after finishing the last one, I still wanted another plate of those buns!

*several outlets but we went to -
Yang’s Fried Dumpling
97 Huanghe Lu
Shanghai, China

Rocking Pork Roll, Kimberly Restaurant HK

2010-12-03T16:39:00.003+08:00

The crackling sound of the cleaver chopping through the roast pig stuffed with glutinous rice is delightful. It is a distinct sound that you will hear periodically throughout the restaurant, softly announcing that their pig has arrived and that their feast on the pig will begin shortly.

The roasted pig skin is super crisp and the fat under the skin kept the meat moist and succulent through the slow roasting period. The flavours are simple but the roasting technique to achieve that even crisp skin is a craft with the timing and fire.

Everyone at the table gets a ‘roll’ of the pig – a disc of glutinous rice that is enveloped by crackling. Together, the bite of the crisp skin, the chewy glutinous rice stuffing and tender pork is a tasty experience.

Kimberley Chinese Restaurant
Kimberley Hotel, 28 Kimberley Road
Tsimshatsui, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2723 3888

Drunken Crab at Jesse, Shanghai

2010-12-03T15:24:00.004+08:00

RAW CRAB. It sounds a little frightening even for someone like me who consumes a large amount of raw fish, uni and shrimp. But there are these horror stories of crab handlers who have died from a flesh eating disease, so the idea of raw crab scares me a little.

Here at Jesse, the drunken crab, is a Shanghainese favourite. The spotted sea crab is marinated in a shao xing wine marinade, (alcohol kills germs right?), served cold is insanely delicious, and it doesn't look that scary.

Jesse
41 Tianping Road
Xuhui, Shanghai, China
Tel: 86-021-62829260

Bund Brunch Dealings – Jean-Georges

2010-11-27T13:27:00.004+08:00

"Lunch at Jean Georges, it is a no-brainer" was the answer I got when I asked a friend where she had lunch in NYC during her business trip.

As for us, deciding to have Brunch at Jean-Georges in Shanghai wasn't such an easy decision. Firstly, there are a lot of brunch choices. Secondly, one of us previously had a sub par experience at Jean-Georges, Shanghai and was not prepared for another one. Eventually we did, we figured it was a calculated risk, since it was a good way to give Jean-Georges another chance since the brunch deal was touted as the best brunch on the Bund. I went with no expectations and I'm glad to report that it was good. I haven't had lunch at Jean Georges, NYC but I am guessing that it is the same winning formula of great food at a good value that makes it's a "no-brainer" lunch spot.

There are 3 brunch deals to choose from. If you are a brunch purist, the 188rmb brunch menu that gives you beautiful platter consisting of homemade smoked salmon, French toast, eggs Benedict, buttermilk pancakes and a croissant or with an additional 210 rmb you can lux-up your brunch plate with some lobster, truffle and caviar and add 210rmb. But if you are like me and not really into pancakes, then you can elect for the 188rmb 3-course prix fixe. On top of this, proper service and a view are all inclusive.

Left and moving clockwise: scallops and cauliflower with caper-raisin Sauce; raisin & walnut bread; steamed shrimp salad, tender greens and champagne vinaigrette

The food was focused on being good. The plates were elegant and slightly understated but big in flavour. From our first courses of scallops and cauliflower with caper-raisin Sauce, steamed shrimp salad, tender greens and champagne vinaigrette and Kabocha pumpkin soup, mushrooms and chives, the scallop was the flavour winner of the three. I expected the local Shanghainese river shrimp on the salad, so I surprised when I was served up a jumbo sized shrimp (or I would term prawn – I got lost in translation somewhere) but it was juicy and sweet and the vinaigrette had a great acidity.

Left and moving clockwise: grilled pork chop with smoked chilli glaze, asparagus and onion compote; veal Milanese, radicchio salad and sweet potato, dried cranberries; JG Cheeseburger with Fries and truffle dressing

For the main courses were slightly heavier. The JG cheeseburger had the makings of a good burger and a rich truffle dressing but all together it was too heavy. My Flintstone-sized grilled pork chop with smoked chilli glaze, asparagus and onion compote, was really good; the smoked chilli glaze was bold and pungent but well balanced out.

top left and moving clockwise: wildflower honey, vacherin, crispy meringue and citrus sorbet; oatmeal apple soufflé and applie cide sorbet; Jean Georges chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream

For the sweet notes, the signature Jean Georges chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream was executed ok but very unimaginative. In comparison, the apple cider sorbet was apple fresh and delicious that went really nicely with the comforting oatmeal apple soufflé was sensational and the wildflower honey, vacherin, crispy meringue and citrus sorbet, was cleverly layered textures, light and refreshing.

All in all, the brunch deal here is a happy meal. There is a view, there is good service and the food is solid. It is a good deal, so looking for brunch on the Bund? Maybe this is a no-brainer.

puxi. pudong

Jean-Georges
4/F 3 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu,
Shanghai, China
Tel: 86-21-63217733

*see all photos

Hairy Crab Happy Hour – less mess more flavour

2010-11-24T22:07:00.008+08:00

It was October when we were in Shanghai and it was (still currently) that time of the year again when 大闸蟹/Da Zha Xie (hairy crabs) plump up and are perfect for savouring their roe and oil. They were everywhere. We stayed along Wulumuqi (middle) street and the streets were lined with stores selling these compact roe bundles in abundance.

Hairy crabs are a food that I associate to Shanghainese food but on our hunt for Tu An Xie Wei Guan - that a local recommended to us, I soon realised that feasting on this delectable delicacy that not everyone in Shanghai gets to enjoy. Two locals, the lady whom recommended us to the restaurant and another whom we asked for directions had never even tasted it because it too expensive. So, I’m very grateful that I have had the privilege.

This year in my hairy crab adventure I’ve found different and easier ways of savouring the hairy crab. Nothing beats using your ten fingers to rip apart the crab, then dipping the roe in vinegar and eating off the shell and licking your fingers and finally proceeding to pick of the remaining flesh but this processing is sometimes a very messy and tedious affair.

These are my newly discovered ways of eating hairy crab (hassle free) in no particular order of preference:

1. Braised Shanghainese noodles with hairy crab cream, Liu Yuan Pavilion, Hong Kong

2. Hairy crab xiao long bao, Ding Tai Fung, Shanghai

3. Hairy crab and roe with mung bean sheets, Jesse, Shanghai

4. Hairy crab roe with tofu, Liu Yuan Pavilion, Hong Kong & Tu An Xie Hui Guan, Shanghai

Hairy crab roe with tofu, Tu An Xie Hui Guan, Shanghai

Hairy crab roe with tofu,Liu Yuan Pavilion, HK

Liu Yuan Pavilion
3/F The Broadway
54-62 Lockhart Road
Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Tel: 852-28042000

Ding Tai Fung
Second floor, South Block,
Xintiandi, Shanghai, China
Tel: 86-021-6385837

Jesse
41 Tianping Road
Xuhui, Shanghai, China
Tel: 86-021-62829260

Tu An Xie Hui Guan
1 Gao'an Road
Xuhui, Shanghai, China
Tel: 86-021-64451206

Hong Kong, Double or Nothing

2010-11-09T17:32:00.005+08:00

Like I previously mentioned, I’m usually in and out of Hong Kong in 30+ hours, so with that little amount of time, I find myself eating a succession of small meals. The pattern that has more or less unfolded is what I term, one plus one meals.

Breakfast 1 + 1

Starting off the day at Lau Fu Kee is great. It is gentle on the stomach, especially if you had a big night out. Here, the rice that has been cooked to a point where it surrenders what its original form is and transforms into this really smooth nourishing comforting bowl of white goodness. Choose what you want in your congee and you are good to go.

From Lau Fu Kee we walked a little to head to breakfast no.2, Lan Fong Yuen, a Hong Kong food institution that is home to the milk tea. Because it is famous, it is tourist friendly. So the menus are friendly, it is in English, in Mandarin, in Japanese and if all else fails, stare at the pictures. We went for the pork bun and milk tea to wash down everything and to finish off breakfast. The pork bun is essentially a fried port cutlet topped with a slice of tomato and mayonnaise and served between a lightly toasted burger bun. It was tasty and the pork was tender and not too greasy but it didn’t blow my socks off. Pork burger bun with milk tea, not something I would wake up craving but when enjoyed together in Hong Kong, it is strangely a nice combination.

In between meals 1 + 1

I usually eat at Mak’s but this time I thought I would cross over from the usual Wellington Road outlet that I eat at Tsim Chai Kee. I had the fish ball and wanton noodles, ok, yes the portions are bigger but I didn’t the soup quite hit the mark, it was a little cloudy and the flavours weren’t as clean as Mak’s.

From Tsim Chai Kee, we walked down Wellington and headed into the famous Yung Kee, which I have successfully avoided every other trip in Hong Kong. I’ve always thought it was overhyped, overpriced and bordering on being a tourist trap. Well… but I should try it right? Ok, so I tried to shake off my prejudice and was given a solution of tasting Yung Kee but not burning a huge hole in my pocket and potentially feeling really pissed off. Instead of ordering a whole goose or half of it, I ordered a serving of goose rice – a small bowl of rice topped with the famed roasted goose and its drippings seeping through the grains of rice. The roasted goose I must admit was good and the side of century eggs was really good and the ammonia was under control. So now that I’ve been there and done that, check. The food is not bad but I still think it is overhyped and definitely overpriced. And for a one Michelin star holder, the service grumpy and condescending, well, in short, it was downright atrocious.

Lau Fu Kee
50 Lyndhurst Terrace,
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: +852-2850-6756

Lan Fong Yuen
4A-6 Gage Street
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: +852-2544-3895

Tsim Chai Kee
98, Wellington Street
Central, Hong Kong.
Tel: +852-2850-6471
Yung Kee
32-40 Wellington Street
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: +852-2522-1624

Xenri No Tsuki

2010-11-09T15:34:00.006+08:00

My past two visits to Hong Kong have been rushed. I’m in and out of the city in about 36 hours and with only that amount of time, so much to do, a couple of people to catch up with and loads to eat, planning and multitasking is important. The best way to do it, is to share a great meal with the people you want to see, that way the warm comforts of familiar company and conversations helps to season the whole meal.

One of the first things that come to mind when I think about going to Hong Kong is Kau Kee’s beef brisket noodles and seriously the last thing on my mind is Japanese cuisine. But when an offer of two local foodies was made to bring us to their regular sushi place, I couldn’t say no, and it’s been a long time since I had sushi.

I hadn’t realised how long I hadn’t sat at the sushi counter until the night before my flight and I was lying in bed and muttering to myself, “oh man, I can’t wait to get to lunch, I can’t wait to eat sushi” and with those wonderful thoughts, I eventually drifted off to sleep, woke up in a daze, got myself to the airport in the wee hours of the morning and I made it to lunch.

Lunch got off to a late start. There was some mix up in our reservation, the chef thought we were coming for dinner and so was terribly surprised and embarrassed when the four of us turned up and the sushi counter was full. So instead the four of us sat tight in a corner with a bottle of sake and waited for the seats at the counter the open up. Sake, not a bad way to start a holiday and as S puts it, “having sake in the middle of the day is so decadent but I love it!” I love it too but it is a terrible combination with hunger and travel exhaustion.

C-jie, when she invited us told us that this is her regular joint - they have loads of fresh fish and the chef is not Japanese. Chef Andy Li, the man behind the counter, sure he isn’t Japanese, he is a local Hong Kong boy and he explained to us his cuisine, Japanese technique but tuned a little to the local Hong Kong palate. Well, I’ve no problem with that. We are finally seated sushi counter and I’m really ready to eat. So to quote Kaga Takashi, “a la cuisine” (I’m neither French nor Japanese).

We started off with what I shall term as the cold and creamy courses. Shirako, Cod milt or bluntly put cod sperm followed by akimono, monkfish liver and lastly oysters. The Shirako that we had was just coming into season but this was the best I’ve ever had. It looks twisty and brainy but when cooked perfectly brings out the creamy custard like texture, we had it cold and lightly seasoned, this forgave the wait for the seats at the counter in an instant. Following that we had akimono, another cold creamy dish but rich and fattier and more luxuriant topped off with ikura. Splendid start!

Following that we had focused plates of sashimi that showcased beautiful presentation, technique and freshness.

Chef Andy’s personal and latest creation that he was testing on us, a oshizushi, box sushi of Aji, sesame seasoned sushi rice, konbu and topped with truffle, was well-balanced, creative and delicious.

Amaebi served in its sauce made from its own head juices. Head to tail eating, prepared simply with the focus of highlighting the merits of the amaebi.

Triple decked uni gunkan sushi, this was just crazy. It was so tall I could barely fit it into my mouth without losing any of that glorious uni that had just arrived. This was just pure indulgent and generosity from the chef in wanting to pleasure and feed.

Negi toro, labouriously hand chopped that gave the toro a good texture but also maintained the fatty flavours of toro and and garnished with spring onions. Again, this piece of sushi was presented with a generous top flavour, awesome.

Throughout the meal what I felt most of the passion and gentleness of Chef Andy’s love for food and for feeding us. The food was prepared with integrity and had a big focus on flavour. So…so what if he is not Japanese and he is presenting sushi, it still is technically beautiful and a feast for the eyes and the stomach, and he has the magic that what anyone in the hospitality industry should have, a desire to serve and entertain, to bind and to comfort people through his expression of food.

Xenri No Tsuki
6/F, Jardine Centre
50 Jardine's Bazaar
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
+852-2576-1880

Alone in the Kitchen with a Truffle

2010-08-11T21:31:00.003+08:00

Just like the book, Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, this is a confession of when I’ve cooked for one and dined alone, with the intent of being selfish.

When a friend returned from down under with a truffle from Manjimup, Western Australia where The Wine&Truffle Co produces French black truffles, I decided that one truffle was only enough for me and I was going to consume all of it.

This is how I made my bowl of comfort, no measurements and probably not authentic (sorry Antonio!).

Truffle Pasta & Egg

Ingredients:
Fettuccine
Butter
Black truffle
Parmesan Cheese
Egg

Directions:
1. Boil fettuccine. Drain.
2. Add butter and few truffle shavings in the pan and heat gently.
3. Add cooked pasta and toss then add parmesan and stir.
4. Fry egg until white is firm but yolk is still runny. Place egg on pasta.
5. Add more truffle shavings and parmesan then season to taste. Eat immediately.

Nong Khai Beer House

2010-07-24T10:26:00.004+08:00

Sunday afternoon and we’ve ventured to golden mile for lunch. We surfaced from basement car park and were greeted with the odd smell of bamboo shoots – one that I closely associated with Thailand. This basement is buzzing – prominently displayed hand phone and calling adverts, blaring Thai Music, it feels foreign to me but for the many that loiter and mill around here, this is their home away from home.

The cooking here is rather remarkable. There is a spirit of entrepreneurship and tenacity. Many of these basement shops don’t have a gas stove – chicken gets broiled by a turbo-broiler, the food is simple and very homely. Because of this slight limitation the menu is tilted towards salads but the plates come fresh and bright, delivering the classic Thai sweet, spicy, sour and salty punch. Share stack salad bites on some sticky rice then soothe the heat down with some milky Thai ice tea, and for that moment, enjoy the feeling of being foreign in your own land and finding comfort in food.

Nong Khai Beer House
5001 Beach Road, #01-73/74
Golden Mile Complex
Tel: 9188-7221

36 Hours in Hong Hong (Part 2)

2010-07-24T00:01:00.005+08:00

As we trekked up and down the slopes of Hong Kong, we were careful to dodge the air con water dribbles but were unfortunate to be caught in the rain. The best comfort for feeling wet and miserable and to feed some late night munchies was found at another da pai dong – Yuk Yip Dessert, opposite the current Man Yuen Noodles, also the original location of Man Yuen Noodles and from what I understand still has some linkage to the original stall. Confusing? A little bit but the small bowl of noodles, without argument, good.

An alternative to slurping a slice of history at Man Yuen would be Mak’s. Over-priced for pre-war sized portions? Perhaps. The bowl size is quite odd. As someone I dined with over dinner puts it, “one is too little and two sometimes feels like you are over doing it”. Order more and share or if you are solely in Hong Kong to eat, treat it as an amuse bouche, just don’t think too much about it. Have the obligatory bowl of wanton noodles, the broth has good depth and umami, their noodles have an amazing texture and the shrimps are crunchy. Other than that, something that I like having is the noodles with shrimp roe and oyster sauce.

We weren’t expecting to get a coveted table at the The Chairman Restaurant that opened to rave reviews at the end of 2009 but we thought we’d try, and hey, who knew, they could sit a table for three, so we jumped it.

Their philosophy using on artisan and local ingredients and homemade sauces, sounds ambitious and grandiloquent but there are plates and diners who will testify that it isn’t just all talk.

We started with century eggs with homemade young ginger pickle, where the waiter kept stressing on the fact that the only use the young ginger, highlighting the use of seasonal produce and also the best ingredients. The pickle came through, the brightness of the ginger without the heat that you get with the old ginger.

crisp small yellow croacker fish

Then we picked up the perfectly fried to a crisp small yellow croacker fish that crunchy and airy to bite and then drizzled with the sweet tart balsamic dressing this got a nod of approval from everyone. The appetizer we had, pork chin with Chinese premium soy sauce served with crispy tofu, I understand what they were trying to do with the contrast in texture but was ok and paled in comparison against the croacker fish.

Steamed Fresh Flowery Crab with Aged Shao Xing Wine & Fragrant Chicken Oil

Their signatures are excellent. Steamed Fresh Flowery Crab with Aged Shao Xing Wine & Fragrant Chicken Oil, the individual elements on their own were very good - sweet fresh crab meat, mellow and inviting and (let’s face it) flavourful chicken fat. And to mop up the sauce, silky rice rolls to swish about sauce, here in Hong Kong they aren’t shy about the fat.

The Chairman’s Chicken

The Chairman’s Chicken, also a house signature, is a good demonstration of what this restaurant is trying to do. Classic and seemingly simple but executed on a higher level by concentrating on the basics of good cooking – good ingredients and homemade sauces that provide stamp their originality. The dish looks deceptively simple and the taste is has a long finish.

braised layered bean curd with morel and Chinese mushroom

The vegetarian dish, braised layered bean curd with morel and Chinese mushroom, was unexpectedly awesome. The ribbons of bean curd was stacked on top of one another to form a soft brick and coated with brown sauce which stood up against the bigger earthier mushrooms. Clean and clear tasting.

The food here is good. I like the idea of it – eat local, eat fresh and eat well, it is friendly gourmet.

Last stop before we hit the tarmac, Tai Cheong Egg Tarts, where flaky pastry meets silky custard, two dozen to go, ok, now we were good to go.

Yuk Yip Desserts
2 Elgin Street,
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2544 3795

Man Yuen Noodles
68-70A Hollywood Road,
Central, Hong Kong

Mak's Noodles
77 Wellington Street,
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2854 3810

The Chairman Restaurant
18 Kau U Fong,
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2555 2202

Tai Cheong Bakery
35 Lyndhurst Terrace,
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2544 3475

36 Hours in Hong Kong (Part 1)

2010-07-20T22:51:00.006+08:00

36 hours in Hong Kong and focused on eating Hong Kong and Cantonese food. Pack light, wear good walking shoes and be prepared to be a little sleep deprived.

Off the plane and off to lunch. Starving and still clutching my hand luggage, we arrived at Fu Sing for some Dim Sum and traditional dishes that were all executed at a good to excellent level. One example is Fu Sing’s char siew had a good little of bit of everything - a sweet, crisp and charred outer layers and the pork was super succulent, hands down the best ever. (I don't think anything in Singapore comes close.)

Amongst the usual suspects of dim sum, chicken feet and har gao, we ordered other delights like deep fried fish belly with a batter that is airy and light, polo char siew pau, a little too sweet but nice and crisp on the outside and soft on the outside, good but more char siew would be appreciated. And lastly, but not in any particular preferential order, the XO stir fried Cheong Fun that was soft and chewy and coated with enough sauce.

Chinese lettuce and prawn paste in claypot

Away from the dim sum theme, two dishes that I really enjoyed that I thought were wonderfully simple but high up on the delicious scale were Chinese lettuce and prawn paste in claypot and pomelo skin with shrimp roe sauce. The prawn paste was pungent enough to make it and the heat from the claypot was enough to scorch the taste on the lettuce and to maintain its crisp without wilting it, clever cooking and excellent tasting.

pomelo skin with shrimp roe sauce

As for the pomelo skin, like most Chinese delicacies that are textural than strong tasting, the second dish - pomelo skin with shrimp roe sauce - sounds stranger than it taste, and it is really quite amazing for something that I wouldn't think twice about tossing into the bin. Our dining companions, a couple of local HK foodies, explained the pains of preparing the skins to remove the bitterness from the skins and then the braising process, the result is a texturally interesting squishy and spongy pulp that readily absorbs the braising liquid, the whole dish was strangely delicious.

Gough Street and its dai pai dongs. We first headed to Kau Kee to the awesome beef brisket noodles that most who have tasted still either a. crave b. have on a regular basis to feed the crave c. daydreams about, we headed there to, option a, feed the crave. Then we crossed over for some typical Hong Kong food, food that really only makes sense in Hong Kong and sometimes pack a tasty punch. Sing Heung Yuen, a typical da pai dong that requires some - sideways eating - sitting on an uneven ground and balancing your bowl of noodles on a downward angled table due to the hilly nature of Hong Kong has its charm. Sitting here makes you feel like part of the old and new Hong Kong and whilst you are soaking in the local feel, have some local fill - we had their popular crispy bun, a crispy hamburger bum, topped with lemon juice and honey and a bowl of instant noodles with hand squeezed tomato soup with a pork chop and fried egg (the popular choice is macaroni and beef). The crispy bun was crisp and fluffy and the lemon and honey was sweet and tangy but a tad too sweet for me. The tomato soup, I enjoyed it more than I expected, and I recommend getting a fried egg in whatever combination you choose - break the yolk and coat your noodles or stir it into your soup, extra flavour means extra yum!

The only ‘real’ dinner that we had was to be the highlight because we were sampling the seasonal local delicacy - Yellow oil crab. The locals guard this pretty tightly, well basically they eat up their own supply so very little of it gets exported or if any at all. So this is what I’ve learnt, like the hairy crab, it is yellow oil crab is roe-filled and are best eaten at the peak of its season. During the hot summer season, these sun loving crabs meet on the mouth of the Pearl River and if sun kissed at the right temperature, the fat in the liver breaks up and permeates and stains the flesh yellow. We sampled ours at Victoria City (part of the East Ocean Group) and like the hairy crab, the focus is really on the yellow oil and roe – best scooped and savoured with a tiny teaspoon - rather than its flesh, although there is more to pick through compared to the hairy crab. What we really liked was their yellow oil crab xiao long bao where the crab meat and roe is mixed with the pork and the resultant soup that is encased in the dumpling is both stained yellow, rich and creamy – great and turf in a dumpling! Good as it was, I must confess, it was a little of a let down but perhaps we haven’t hit the peak of the season.

Fu Sing Sharkfin Seafood Restaurant
1/F, 353 Lockhart Road,
Sunshine Plaza,
Wanchai, Hong Kong.
Tel: (852) 2893 0881

Kau Kee Noodles
21 Gough Street,
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2850 5967

Sing Heung Yuen (opposite Kau Kee)
2 Mee Lun St. (between Gough St. and Hollywood Rd.)
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2544 8368

Victoria Seafood
1 Tim Mai Avenue
5 Floor Citic Tower
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2877 2211

The Korean Twist: Fried Chicken & Makgeolli

2010-07-04T16:51:00.004+08:00

Chicken wings are a really great bar food. Part of its appeal is the hands-on experience you get eating it. The chicken wing has a high skin to meat ratio makes the chicken wing seem like a choice cut. The structure of the chicken wing also sets itself up to be ideal finger food: the wing tip is a natural grip handle as you gnaw through at the wing. And the drumsticks, well, maybe that’s where man got the idea of having meat on sticks.

So what about fried chicken done in a Korean style? From what I understand, the chicken is lightly dredged in flour and twice fried till a lovely golden crisp and then lacquered with sauce. With a great sauce these crisp chicks are dangerously delicious and awfully addictive.

Unlike most of the Korean restaurants that tend to focus on BBQ, Kko Kko Nara is a small mom and pop Korean shop that has carved out its niche in Korean fried chicken and as a late night dining option.

The draw of the place is obvious from its cute plump looking chicken that it has chosen for its logo. Their fried chicken comes in three flavours: original - without sauce, with a soy garlic sauce or a sweet spicy sauce. Of the three, the clear winner is the soy garlic and just a word of caution, I had a singular piece of super spicy ones and that was more pain than pleasure.

The clincher of the night, however, was the discovery of draft makkoli. Makgeolli or makkoli – an unfiltered rice wine that is very much like a nigori sake but lower in alcohol and sweet and refreshing with the gentle effervescence. (This is one of the best things I’ve tasted this year!)

There are other gems on the menu such as the bo ssam, which is now synonymous with David Chang and Momofuku, is also absolutely delicious and accompanied by not just crisp lettuce and perilla but a variety of green leaves to mix things up a little. And the rest of what I had was a bit of hit and miss.

The menu is not for the solo-eater, it is designed for drinks and socialising. The normal-sized portions feed a minimum of three to four, so bring friends and drink some draft makkoli!

Kko Kko Nara
57 Tras Street #01-01
Tel: 6224 -8186

More No Knead - Walnut&Raisin and less ugly!

2010-07-03T11:02:00.003+08:00

I’ve fallen in love with this no knead method of making bread. It is no knead and less mess and the crust even crackles when I pull the bread out of oven. And above all of it, it is amazingly simple, anyone can make bread.

The only issue I have with this recipe is the long time that it takes to ferment. It takes planning. The initial fermentation takes 12-18 hours and then 2 hours for the next proof. The initial fermentation is a little tricky to plan and the only time I managed to string together enough hours and to blend my social and bread fermentation schedule was on the weekends. So I’ve been thinking about how I could work the dough into my weekday schedule and I’ve figured out a way of making this bread-work-life balance work. If I wake up 20 minutes earlier on a weekday to mix the dough and to set the fermentation process, I can shape and proof the dough when I get home from work, have a little dinner and pop it in the oven 2 hours later, then volia I’d get fresh bread for the next day! Hurray! Hurray!

Ingredients
3 cups bread flour
½ cup raisins
1¼ teaspoon table salt
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup walnuts
1½ cups water
½ teaspoon instant or active dry yeast
pinch fresh ground pepper
wheat bran, cornmeal or additional flour for dusting

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, raisins, walnuts, salt, cinnamon, yeast, and pepper, mixing thoroughly. Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough, about 30 seconds. If it’s not really sticky to the touch, mix in another tablespoon or two of water. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 12 to 18 hours.
2. When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface with flour. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Using lightly floured hands or a bowl scraper or spatula, lift the edges of the dough in toward the center. Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.
3. Place a tea towel on your work surface and generously dust it with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Gently place the dough on the towel, seam side down. If the dough is tacky, dust the top lightly with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Fold the ends of the tea towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours. The dough is ready when it is almost doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression. If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.
4. Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 250 degree Celsius, with a rack in the lower third, and place the covered heavy pot in the center of the rack.
5. Carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it. Unfold the tea towel and quickly but gently invert the dough into the pot, seam side up. Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes.
6. Remove the lid and continue baking until bread is a deep chestnut color but not burnt, 15 to 30 minutes more (It took me about 15). Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to gently lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool thoroughly.

My No-knead (+No-Shape) Olive Loaf

2010-06-13T22:23:00.005+08:00

I'm guilty of ugly baking!

Olives have been my latest thing. I’ve been tossing it in salads, consuming them on their own and I’ve been trying to make a good olive loaf.

I haven’t had too much success with the olive loaf. My first yoghurt olive bread was a total disaster and it ended up in the bin. The second loaf wasn’t too fantastic either and I’d like to forget about it. So I’ve abandoned the yoghurt olive bread recipe that have embraced a relatively more time consuming and more effortless approach to this. The new approach – the no knead approach. With the help of Jim Lahey’s wisdom and his recipe, I’ve tried this new method and have had moderate success. I baked an ugly shapeless loaf but it tasted much better. Work in progress but one step closer!

Ingredients
3 cups bread flour
About 1 ½ cups roughly chopped pitted olives
¾ teaspoon instant or other active dry yeast
1½ cups cool water
Wheat bran, cornmeal, or additional flour for dusting

Method
1. Mix all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add water and incorporate by hand or with a wooden spoon or spatula for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Lightly coat the inside of a second medium bowl with olive oil and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest 12 hours at room temperature.

2. Remove the dough from the bowl and fold once or twice. Let the dough rest 15 minutes in the bowl or on the work surface. Next, shape the dough into ball. Generously coat a cotton towel with flour, wheat bran, or cornmeal; place the dough seam side down on the towel and dust with flour. Cover the dough with a cotton towel and let rise 1-2 hours at room temperature, until more than doubled in size.

3. Preheat oven to 250°C. Place the pot in the oven at least 30 minutes prior to baking to preheat. Once the dough has more than doubled in volume, remove the pot from the oven and place the dough in the pot seam side up. Cover with the lid and bake 30 minutes Then remove the lid and bake 15-30 minutes uncovered, until the loaf is nicely browned.

Oatmeal & Raisin Cookies

2010-06-06T22:12:00.002+08:00

On one particular Saturday, I was enlisted as baking help. Truth be told, I don’t think I’m a good baker. I love the idea of baking bread and how it smells when it is baking in the oven, and I even bake my own sometimes but I’m pretty far off from baker extraordinaire. Nonetheless I agreed. Part of it was because I like hanging out with people in the kitchen and I haven’t seen D in a long time and I thought I would be encouraging towards her baking experiments.

So armed with our can-do spirit and a Martha Stewart recipe, we spent an afternoon measuring, stirring, scooping batter and chit chatting. Our not-so-sweet (I demanded that the sugar be reduced by half because I have found most baking recipes to be overly sweet) no wheat germ oatmeal cookies came out hot and crisp and cooled to a chewy and very healthy feeling cookie.

Martha Stewart’s Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies
(without our modifications)
Makes about 60 cookies

Ingredients
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups raisins

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Stir together oats, flour, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add oat mixture; mix until just combined. Mix in raisins.
2. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Flatten slightly.
3. Bake until golden and just set, about 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks using a spatula; let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

Ban Leong Wah Hoe's Chilli Crabs

2010-05-22T22:20:00.003+08:00

Chilli crabs are not something that I crave but every visitor that comes has it on their must eat list, so I oblige. My default is usually No Signboard in Geylang but I think I’ve found a better alternative. And so here it is: Ban Leong Wah Hoe Seafood. The crabs a fresh and huge and the sauce, although I didn’t think it was chilli-spicy enough, was good and didn’t taste like too heavy on the tomato and sugar. It had a good balance, ribbon egg, tomato sweet and the winning flavour that I’ve had a hard time tasting in all other chilli crabs - a taste of crab in the sauce.

Ban Leong Wah Hoe Seafood
122 Casuarina Rd
Tel: 6452-2824

Peperoni – Sometimes size matters

2010-05-16T12:08:00.001+08:00

Possibly the largest pizza size available in Singapore, the family size XXXL at Peperoni is funny and gluttonous if consumed by one but reasonable value and tasty for a whole family. Going there is a family occasion. There is something really delightful about having a pizza with a diameter comparable to the length of my arm arrive at the table. Maybe it is the thought that I can eat in a guiltless manner because of the appearance abundance or lack of deprivation of another if I ate more than 5 of the irregular squares of pizza that have been zigzagged across the pizza. Whatever it is…crisp wood fired pizza alone is hard to resist. And in this case, I’m in favour, super-size mine.

Peperoni Pizzeria
6 Greenwood Avenue
Tel: 6465 6556

Sergio Herman, Oud Sluis but in Singapore

2010-05-09T18:58:00.005+08:00

Sergio Herman was here in 2008 and even though this was two years ago, I still have very clear memories of this. Very simply, it was very good.

Life has a funny way of working itself out. I tried to get a table and shamelessly pulled every possible string to get a table here in April 2008. I got close. Really close. First on the waiting list but no cancellations and they were running a full house; close but no cigar.

No table at Oud Sluis. The alternative dinner plan was a morning at the Albert Cyup market where we lugged a leg of lamb back to roast up a feast for dinner. Not quite the same thing but since the idea of visiting Amsterdam was to spend time with friends, it was a still a great day sans the road trip to Zeeland and meal at Oud Sluis.

Later in the year, the friend whom I shamelessly persuaded to beg whoever he knew for a table at Oud Sluis called me and said, “Remember Oud Sluis and how you were trying to get a table there? Well…Sergio Herman is in Singapore.”

“What? Where??”

I was a little hesitant because I’ve attended a few dinners with some starred chefs but sometimes I think being out of their kitchen, they are sometimes a little off beat and since most of the restaurants rely on seasonal and regional produce and being away from their restaurants takes them out of their context. But I was assured by the voice on the other side of the telephone line, “I ate at Oud Sluis when it had two stars and I remember thinking, this guy is going to get a third star, trust me, you will like it.” Ok, I want a dinner reservation.

In my rather twisted logic, this restaurant has to be good. I’ve lived in Amsterdam and whilst I love my Dutch friends and they love their stamppot, I am not as enthused by it. I think most people agree with me, judging from the lack of proliferation of Dutch restaurants around the world. So therefore, by my logic, if Oud Sluis in Zeeland could attain three Michelin stars, something really magical must be happening there.

So what happened when Sergio Herman was in Singapore? He cooked at the Cliff in November 2008 and that was one of the best meals that I had in 2008.

From top left moving clockwise:
oyster cracker with freshly shucked oysters and nitrogen frozen oyster liquid, tuna with black radish and seaweed with soya foam, crispy chicken skin with curry aioli, 3 ways cucumber (marinated, frozen and foam) with mackerel sashimi and crispy rice and beetroot macaroon with foie gras.

The meal had a fantastic start, some amuse bouche had a little bit of everything and got it absolutely right. The oyster cracker with freshly shucked oysters and nitrogen frozen oyster liquid was crisp to bite followed by an explosion of cold oyster liquid. It didn’t quite look like an oyster but it tasted like an oyster three times over.

The other that I loved was beetroot macaroon with foie gras. A good amuse bouche should leave you wanting another bite. As for this one, we loved the combination of the crisp and spongy with the creamy buttery foie gras so much that managed to coax the waiter for an extra serving. Good amuse bouche.

Sergio Herman cooks cleverly. He uses modern techniques not for the sake of being trendy but as a way to achieve an excellent expression of the ingredient. He dances between traditional and the avant-garde and puts out visually seductive plates and cuisine that is highly innovative, playful and at the same time very sophisticated.

My favourite of the night, scallops “black and white”. Beautifully plated with complex “black and white” elements – Jerusalem artichokes in jelly and sliced, grilled scallops, black truffle, olive oil powder, nitrogen frozen yuzu shots - that meshed well together in a familiar but fresh way.

seabass marinated as canneloni, escabeche of shellfish and scallops, emulsion of citrus and granite of green herbs

langoustine with smoked eel, potato and cucumber, miso-verbena vinaigrette

grilled sole, oyster, shellfish, combava vinaigratte, cream of salicornia, algae chips

scallops "black & white"

As for the rest of the courses, here’s the run down of the menu – seabass, langoustine, sole, scallop, lamb and triple dessert extravaganza (that’s what’s written in the menu). The seabass, langoustine, sole and scallop followed the same vein of clever cooking but the lamb unfortunately didn’t stand out all I remember of it was that, it was a well cooked piece tasty lamb that didn’t quite interest me. The dessert, despite being a tad sweet for me helped create better memories after the lamb.

tripe dessert extravaganza from left to right: chocolate 'tattoo', cremeux vanilla and structures of caramel, macaroons and rose gel, ice cream of ducle de leche and ice cream "lollipop"

So before we left, thanked the chef (repeatedly) for the marvellous meal. I left the dinner table with glee and just one question that has yet to be answered: if this is Sergio Herman and Oud Sluis out of context – I already like it very much – what would Oud Sluis be in Zeeland?

Robatayaki - Akanoya & Takumi Tokyo

2010-05-01T22:25:00.008+08:00

In my very loose definition, a Robatayaki is a Japanese grill over charcoal where the menu of fresh ingredients are laid before you and you point and choose what you want for dinner. The thing about authentic Japanese restaurants is that sometimes the menus are built in a way that exclusive to the Japanese speaker so the best part about this type of Japanese restaurants is that in terms of ordering, it is hard to get lost in translation. So if it looks like a scallop, it is a scallop, if you point at it, they will serve you a scallop. Just remember to smile and to bow politely when you enter and when they shout Irashaimase.

Great robatayakis outside Japan should do two things. They should firstly transport you to a different world - one that will loudly welcome you and maintain this rustic noisy lively atmosphere and slightly overwhelm you with the beautiful meticulously arranged display of food that you will sit in front; and they should always present the best and the freshest ingredients.

I always have fun at robatayakis. You ogle at the food in front of you and point at whatever you fancy (but this can be dangerous for your wallet), the order gets shouted out and the chef shouts a confirmation, then you sit back and wait for your food to get served on a long wooden paddle to you. It entertainment factor is quite cool. Entertainment aside, I like the idea of the robatayaki, it is rustic and more importantly, it is very ingredient driven.

This dining concept has been around for a few years and in those few years I've been to two and have had reasonable meals with shell-shocking bills.

At Inakaya robatayaki, now known as Akanoya Robatayaki, (correct me if I'm wrong) was the first robatayaki to open here, my dining companion and I went a little overboard with the pointing we started at the vegetables, pointing to corn, sweet potatoes, matsutake and then moved on to the fresh array of seafood where we couldn't decide what to have to we decided to just order everything that we wanted from the crabs to the scallops and added chicken and beef to the list... before we knew it, we ordered almost one of everything. Plates of food kept coming off the grill, onto the paddle and directed at us. We, there were three, unabashedly finished everything, and having tasted almost everything, I thought it was good but not outstanding and my main issue is that it freshness quality did not hit the mark for me. What it missed with freshness it did not in the bill and that I didn't feel that was justified.

On another part of the island or Keppel Bay to be exact is Takumi Tokyo offers a great view, as opposed to a conventional dark wooden atmosphere, and fantastic tasting sake. Like the other robatayaki, the freshness - near pristine ingredient - quality missed the mark but there were some bright sparks in the meal that we had. At Takumi Tokyo they have set menus but my preference is the pointing method. Overall, food was good and the great items that we had were the homemade cream cheese as part of the appetizers, seasonal fava beans that were cozy up in their thick cocoons, the glistening mackerel and the onigiri that was seriously aromatic from the toasting treatment and very crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Finished with a crisp floral sake, very lovely.

So, where does robatayaki stand? On entertainment and experience value, it ranks very high. On food, good to very good. On service, very good. My suggestion, if anyone is reading, the vegetable section is a little neglected, I would like to see more seasonal = more freshness = more flavour.

Akanoya Robatayaki
1 Tanglin Road
#01.01 Orhard Parade Hotel
Tel: 6732-1866

Takumi Tokyo
2 Keppel Bay Vista
#02-01 Marina at Keppel Bay
6271 7414
www.takumitokyo.com

Move over salted caramel ... hello salted gelato!

2010-04-28T23:16:00.004+08:00

It started in France and it slowly took the world by storm, the salted caramel is now everywhere.

The truth is a little salt on sweet can go a long way, season to taste. So here's a new sweet salty sweet from Japan that I found in the recent Isetan Japanese Food Fair (runs till 6 May 2010) - Natural Salt Gelato that I found whilst wandering through the supermarkets and absolutely adore! Move over salted caramel, make space for the salted gelato!

Table 66 on Tras

2010-04-04T22:07:00.003+08:00

This might come as a small shock but eating out started to bore me a little last year. The menus started looking the same and the probability of having a ‘gastronomic moment’ was low. It wasn’t that the food was bad; it was more that the new did not entice or excite.

But as life would have it, there are always a few good surprises. Earlier this year, I attended a wine dinner that I agreed to go to more for the company than for anything but it was unexpectedly good and very promising.

Table 66 is a new old kid on the block. There are service problems but it is serious about the food it serves. The room is spare and a little cold but this place offers comfort on plates. The chef, Vincent Teng, is a familiar face. Last spotted at Desire at the Scarlet and prior to that at My Dining Room on Club Street he has grown a fan base of diners. The food is simple and big in flavour. Case in point, the grilled tenderloin and truffle potato puree. Everything was right – the beef was flavourful and tender and the potatoes smooth, creamy and fragrant. The other bright spark of the night was the Royale Noisette Gateau, a rich hazelnut mousse cake that was unexpectedly good. I’ll come back because it’s been a while since got a good feeling a place; somehow I feel like it is serious about good food.

66 Tras Street
Tel: 6225-6690
www.table66.com.sg

Makaning (local) Kota Kinabalu

2010-03-08T11:55:00.005+08:00

With plenty of waters to dive in and a mountain to conqure, I recently found myself in Kota Kinabalu twice within a short period of six months. I also had the good fortune of meeting JB, a friend of a friend, who took us around and fed us lovely food and whisky, and with that we were fast friends.

perspectives of mount kinabalu

I first visited Kota Kinabalu in 2009 to spend a few days underwater fining amongst fascinating colours and potentially delicious items in the water. This time around in 2010, I traded in my fins and mask for a pair of hiking shoes and a head torch and took to conqure the mountain. Scaling the mountain knocked some wind out of me but the as we gradually ascended and my legs grew weary, the landscape and view progressively improved. The night trekking on the other hand is not my cup of tea, it is dark and it is cold, and not being able to see the end point was torture. The only upside of the darkness were the star filled sky as we gazed up and the city lights as we gazed down. The peak if you ask me, it is overrated. The surreal landscape on the way up and the barren raw beauty revealed on the way down were far more breathtaking and rewarding. So to me, the peak it is really just an end point and a maybe great photo op.

On this visit, JB was kind enough to take some time off to take us out for brunch to recharge our tired bodies and aching legs, and to act as a good food ambassador of Kota Kinabalu. We got into this car and drove away from the city centre and towards an invisible noodle trail that he set out for us.

(from top left to right: pork noodles, kopi special, ngiu chap and fish parts in tomato broth)

We first started off with the famous Kah Hiong Ngiu Chap with their super hot homemade chilli and a local kopi concoction called kopi special, a combination of local coffee, milk and gula Melaka (palm sugar). The kopi special has a caramel smoothness and gives the coffee a soft sweetness with an additional layer of flavour. The super hot chilli, I'm not too hot about, in fact it was just too hot for me. The beef noodles on the other hand, good. The soup is sweet and tasty, although a tad overcompensated with a boost from the good old msg. The braised beef tender and although it is a beef noodle place, for me the braised radish was the winner. The next stop, pork noodles. Here, the bowl of noodles is all flavour and texture - springy noodles tossed in dark sauce and served with a side dish heaped with lard bits. The pork broth is surprisingly sweet but its contents were slightly overcooked. And just when I thought we were done with brunch, JB said, one more stop if you still have space, we can all share a bowl. So on we drove towards bowl number three, a bowl of selected fish parts up to your own choosing – from fish balls, fish maw, slices fish, fried fish to fish lips and fish stomach … prepared in a slightly sour tomato broth, light enough to let the ingredients speak for themselves. Something else you need to order is the fried bean skin with fish paste, crisp on the outside and tenderly bouncy on the inside.

Aside from the noodles we slurped. We ate a lot of seafood during my visits to Kota Kinabalu. Surrounded by waters, it offers fresh and affordable seafood options. In the casual buzz of Filipino market or a variety of what I call, pick-and-point seafood restaurant, where you choose your dinner from tanks filled of seafood. My picks from the Filipino market are the sea grapes, a real taste of the ocean that we had dipped with a chilli concoction and the barbequed succulent squid, everything else that we had weren't particularly fantastic. And from the restaurants, other than platters of prawns, mantis shrimp and bivalves, make sure to order a serving of the local Sabah vegetable - sayur manis - a crunchy local fern, like a skinny skinny asparagus that is delicious, stir fried either simply with garlic or spiced up with sambal.

So if this is Kota Kinabalu: diving, natural beauty, fresh seafood, Sabah vegetable, kopi and teh specials and a host of local eateries still to be discovered, I’m liking it.

Noodle Trail

Kah Hiong Ngiu Chap
Block A, Ground Floor,
2-0-10, Kolam Centre Phase 2, Hilltop,
Jalan Lintas,
Sabah, Malaysia.

Kedai Kopi Melanian
Lot 7-0, Ground Floor, Lorong Lintas Plaza 1,
Jalan Lintas, 88300 Penampang Kota Kinabalu

Fatt Kee
Lee Wong Kee Seafood Restaurant
Lot 6 Ground Floor,
1-0-3, Kolam Centre Phase 3,
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

Crab Linguini (in twenty minutes)

2010-02-07T19:07:00.001+08:00

Here’s a really simple recipe. Unless you want freshly picked crab meat - I used canned crab meat - you could bang this out of the kitchen and serve it to hungry guest piping hot in about 20 minutes. You could leave the anchovies out if you aren’t a fan or you don’t have them in your pantry, I used them because I love them and I had them at hand.

Ingredients:
400g linguine
100ml olive oil
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 anchovies
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
250 g cooked white crab meat
juice of half a lemon
a handful of parsley, chopped

Directions:
1. Bring a large saucepan of well-salted water to the boil. Add the linguine and cook until al dente.
2. Prepare pasta sauce. Heat a large pan over medium heat and add oil, chilli flakes, garlic and anchovies. Saute until anchovies melt into oil and completely dissolve. Add tomatoes and sauté for 3 minutes. Add crab and sauté just to warm the crab through.
3. Toss pasta in cooked sauce. Add lemon juice, parsley, season to taste with salt and better and serve immediately.

Lai Huat's Sambal Fish

2010-01-31T18:13:00.002+08:00

This is one of those that should be categorised as ugly dishes that taste good. In terms of effort for presentation, I would grade it a 2/10 but I would like to think the other 8 points goes to the extra effort that they put into making the sambal.

The sambal is everything. They’ve been dishing it on fried fish for decades and it is pretty good. We selected the flat fish over the pomfret because it seemed the meatier of the two. The sambal is good. It isn’t a paste that they butter on the fish but a dry-fry version that is fragrant and crispy that could just be eaten with rice. The only slight let down is that the fish was over-fried. It wasn’t greasy but I would have liked to have more of texture and flavour of the fish rather than just crispy batter with crispy sambal bits. Again, extra points for the sambal but no points for the fish.

Lai Huat Seafood Restaurant
72 Horne Road
Tel: 6299-3024

Zhong Guo Seafood Restaurant, it serves Xinjiang Skewers

2010-01-24T16:13:00.003+08:00

I don’t know how long they have been around but they’ve certainly added spice to Chinese food dining scene.

Although it is called Zhong Guo Seafood restaurant, it really isn’t representative of Chinese cuisine. Well… technically no restaurant possibly could, unless the menu had 1000+ items? Whilst Chinese food in general relates to Cantonese food, the food here trades in the trinity of garlic, ginger and spring onions and fills it with spoonfuls of cumin.

We came here in search of Xinjiang skewers. Cumin and chilli pepper seasoning is the only choice, so if you order a whole load of them, order a ‘refresher’ because they might all start tasting the same. I wasn’t expecting exceptionally tender cutes of meat but here, they are grilled to death, so please note, it really more about the flavours. It is tough but tasty. The only exception was the quail, which perhaps because it was a whole roasted bird as opposed to unknown choice cuts.

Whilst I thought cumin should only appear in curries and dry rubs, I was surprised to see that they use it as a main seasoning for stir-fries for squid or pork, we ordered the squid to try but the seasoning is way too strong for me.

If I had a choice, I’d rather have yakitori over Xinjiang skewers any day but there is a different quality of deliciousness in the seasoning and the chaos of the restaurant that might draw me back for those chewy chunks of meat that are roasted over charcoal. It is tough. But it is also tasty.

Zhong Guo Seafood Restaurant
193 New Bridge Road
Tel: 6423-0680

Itacho Itacho ...

2010-01-09T18:02:00.002+08:00

In Tokyo, there is Midori where the snaking line is one indication that they have found the perfect balance between quality and price. In Singapore, Itacho which has made its way here from Hong Kong tries to fill those shoes. Admirable but the problem is that the balance isn’t quite there yet. When it comes to price versus freshness the quality seems right but with regards to some, the execution quality needs to play catch up. That being said, the value is still evident.

We snacked here, so our sampling size of the menu small. We started with the delicious lobster and mango roll and then got a little carried away with the aburi section, which at Itacho is known as roasted sushi. Sadly, most parts of the roasted sushi section was a letdown with often the fish served over-scorched and other time, an unbalance of proportion of fish to rice or in one case scallop to cod liver. So maybe next time, when I’m in some cute flat shoes and find myself in the line again, I think I’ll start with my traditional favourites and then explore the rolls a little more.

Ippudo: The meal of pork pork pork

2009-12-07T23:00:00.002+08:00

Ippudo has arrived!

Second after New York, our little island is the only other city (for now) that house an overseas outlet of this popular Japanese ramen chain. We thought we could skip the queue by arriving late but even at 9pm the line was still 10-man long! The relatively waiting time, however, was thankfully relatively short, 10 minute tops.

I was hoping it would have a Tokyo hole-in-the-wall feel but it presented itself as quite the opposite, a large dining room lined with a bowl mural and Japanese comics, its modern and for lack of a better word, Japanese-looking.

Ippudo was on the eating agenda during my last trip to Japan but somehow it never happened. So how awesome is this: since I couldn’t go to Ippudo, Ippudo came to me! Expectations were set high and sad to say, I was mildly disappointed. The bowl of akamaru ramen had the right elements to make it spectacular – skinny silky noodles in pork broth with ‘manually’ stirred in red miso, black garlic oil, and paper thin slices of pork, the soup had a great delicate nutty flavour and a soft mouthfeel but it lacked an additional flavour dimension that prevented it from transcending to super good.

Ramen aside, the rest of the menu, in particular the appetizer section, had interesting items; if my memory serves me right, I spotted a prawn cocktail (rather unusual for a ramen shop) and a tofu with beans that I would like to return to try. But for dinner this visit, it was pork pork pork - Pork buns, pork gyozas and our pork stock bowls of ramen - and as a justification to that skewed diet, my dining companion declared, “you can never have enough pork”. The gyozas are what I would call "pork-corn" sized but the pork buns were delicious, my only gripe, is that needed more pork, if not it was most of it was lovely.

Ippudo Singapore
333A Orchard Road
Mandarin Gallery #04-02
Tel: 6235-2797

*photo credit to Dave.

Burger Shack

2009-11-27T10:21:00.004+08:00

After having a few bad experiences with expensive and seriously overrated burgers, I was a little apprehensive about hot spots of burger joints that have sprouted up across the island. Carl’s Junior has often has been the place I’ve gone to satisfy that occasional burger craving since I know there will be no surprises and their fantastic fries are one of my favourite.

Burger shack was surprisingly good. When it comes to burgers, classics are what I like. Here everything is made to order, so depending on the time of the day the waiting time can differ. I liked the way the burger squished together in my mouth - a soft bun, a juicy patty, homemade tomato relish and some obligatory vegetables for a balanced meal; or build your own burger with additional cheese, bacon and beef patties, purely optional. Nothing I will go nuts over but something that I will come back for.

Burger Shack
#01-01 King’s Arcade
559 Bukit Timah Road
Tel: 6466-3477

Tai Hwa - The vinegar bowl that hits the comfort spot

2009-11-18T21:56:00.001+08:00

When I get homesick, thing I crave most is bak chor mee. The bowl that really hits the comfort spot … Tai Hwa Bak Chor Mee.

The people who run Tai Hwa are masters of their respective roles. The cooking here is done in a very systematic manner - the first guy plunges the noodles into the boiling water, passes the bowl down to the next cook who dresses the noodles and adds the minced pork, the bowl is then returned to the first cook for more ingredients and then passed on to quick succession to another person for the finishing touches. The order taker is amazing and he has an elephant memory. He walks down the queue and takes multiple orders from multiple customers. He covers an average of seven to ten customers which means a ballpark of twenty orders and then walks back to the store and starts stacking bowls, adding bits of noodles to indicate your noodle of choice and spoons to indicate soup.

The queue here is annoying. And you actually have to stand in line. But despair not, there is a fantastic bowl of bak chor mee at the end of the wait. I personally love vinegar and the way they use it here. A winning splash of great vinegar, some chilli, some lard, in the right proportions is a winning concoction. Stir some noodles in the simple heady sauce, add some pork, braised mushrooms, dried flatfish and serve it with sweet pork flavoured soup, it is a winning combination. I could have this for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Tai Hwa Bak Chor Mee
Block 466 Crawford Lane #01-12

Double boil, more toil and trouble?

2009-11-12T15:16:00.005+08:00

The heat here is nothing less than sweltering and earthen jars that the soups sit in are over a meter tall. Working here, if you ask me is no easy feat. But nonetheless, the good people at Earthen Jar here get up everyday to make great soup and they do everything with a smile.

There is soup and then there is double-boiled soup. Here I would say it is great double-boiled soup. Double-boiled, is like double the trouble but the flavours are twice as bold. When it comes to soup, slow cooking prevails and I think the Cantonese have patiently mastered the art of 老火湯 “old fire soups”. The superiority of the double boil is that the ingredients are slowly allowed to relax in their watery environments and to gradually release their nutrients into the soup. Very little moisture is loss in the process and because of the gentler heat as compared to boiling. This is how I would explain it ... imagine the molecules of liquid dancing around and making merry with the other molecules (please use your discretion; the chemical basis of this argument is my imagination) it is by this unhurried process mutually intensifying the overall flavour.

Here at Earthen Jar, they serve six healing soups: Healthy chicken soup, ginseng chicken soup, pork with or without lotus root, black chicken and duck soup… Correction. Not just soups but good precious soups done the old fashion way that preserve delicious and won’t break the bank.

Amongst the six, we tried four. Between the ginseng chicken and healthy chicken soup, the first had a slightly herbal flavour lent by the fresh ginseng whilst the essence of the chicken was clearer. The black chicken soup was by far the sweetest from dates not in a saccharine manner but a little too much for me. The pork I expected to be the sweetest of all turned out to be the most delicate and soothing like its calming benefits. What was surprisingly good was serving of rice the mushroom and dried shrimp, a fragrant sidekick that supports the bigger flavoured soups.

This place is likely to be overlooked. It sits a corner and is overshadowed by its neighbouring eating house which houses heavyweight hawkers such as Rong Cheng Bak Kut The, Hup Seng Braise Duck Rice and a smaller outfit of Ah Orh. We only chanced upon it because we were pointed in that direction by fellow foodies that we met eating at the neighbouring eating house. Well, now that we’ve found it, I’m satisfied and gratified.

Earthen Jar Treasure Herbal Soup
Blk 22 Sin Ming Road
#01-244, 77 Eating House

Craving Chirashi

2009-10-24T17:15:00.005+08:00

Oh how I badly wanted to eat this today but I couldn’t get anyone to meet me for lunch and I had all these groceries and marketing to get done today. This was the last bowl of Chirashizushi that I had and possibly the best one this year. The chef’s choice for this bowl had lovely nuggets of abalone “skirt”, marinated pieces salmon, tuna, scallop, topped with uni, ikura and something that I fell in love with at Mizutani - tamago castella. Why didn’t anyone tell me earlier that they were topping their chirashis with tamago castella?!

Aoki
1 Scotts Road #02-17
Shaw Centre
Tel : 63338015

Taste Paradise, Expanded

2009-10-12T23:48:00.004+08:00

My memories of Taste Paradise are good. A standout dish that I remember is XO carrot cake which has now been proudly claimed by Taste paradise in the menu now as Taste Paradise XO carrot cake. So when a representative of Taste Paradise reached out to me, I was curious to know if it was still as good as I remembered it.

Taste Paradise ION looks different from its original one at Temple Street. The dragon inspired gold ceiling feature, the paintings of the emperors and rich colour palette that invokes opulence. No expense was spared, no detail overlooked - gold leaf ceiling feature, hand picked fine porcelain, tableware and chairs, the custom made menus… It is a little over the top but I still like it to a certain extent. Much like the ION building itself, it is not my favourite style but at least it is something interesting to look at.

The new menu here is longer. It now does dim sum lunch and I anticipate that it will continue to grow to incorporate other new dishes that they continue to innovate and reinterpret classics. One of the reinterpretation that we tasted was the Peking duck served with a their very own formulated rice roll, an interesting alternative that is equally smooth but add more of a bite as a opposed to the regular crepe.

Part of the new dim sum menu is their lux version of the xiao long pao – steam shanghai pork dumplings with foie gras. It is a juicy morsel, most of the foie melts in the heat so, don’t lose your soup! Following that was another foie gras number, this time pan-fried foie gras with Peking duck reduction, very rich and a cute celebration of the duck on the plate.

Their classic shark’s fin soup that can be enjoyed as a green version comes seething on a Japanese stone pot and accompanied with a lengthy crispy spring roll that is to be dipped into the soup. The hot idea of the stone pot, I love; the crispy spring roll, I’m not such a fan, too much of a distraction for me.

What we had last of the savouries, braised vermicelli topped with simmered crab meat, was my favourite. Deceptively simple looking, the delicate strands noodles were coated gorgeously with wok hei and a gentle sweetness from the crab, delightful mouthfuls and this is just me, but I like it with drizzle of vinegar.

The dessert was surprising, the winning factor that gave them the winning edge was their cloudlike bun that encased the salted egg yolk custard, think soft and imagine softer. a nice concluding note.

Taste Paradise at ION Orchard
2 Orchard Turn
#04-07 ION Orchard
Tel: 6509 9660

Middle Road Pork Ribs Prawn Mee

2009-09-27T13:18:00.002+08:00

I was excited about having lunch here since and tried to like it. We ordered and waited twenty minutes so when the soup bowl of piggy parts appeared, I was ready to dig in.

It was a tad disappointing. The soup was lackluster and flat but the saving grace was the perfectly cooked liver but really other than that, this was really letdown.

Middle Road Pork Ribs Prawn Mee
16 Sam Leong Road
Tel: 62924870

Let's Eat in Paris, Quick!

2009-09-25T20:33:00.011+08:00

Quick and easy, good eats that can be done on the run.

Jabugo Iberico & Co serves happy hams. The happiest and tastiest of them all, the black Iberian pigs that roam in oak forest and eat acorns are happy pigs. We dropped in for a plate of delicioso of ham and bread that we dipped in their gorgeous homemade garlicky tomato spread. Simple. Awesome. Not technically not eat and run, but they should do take away!

A falafel from L'As du Falafel is one of those non-French but very Parisian food that everyone should eat. Light, crisp and fluffy falafels are the best I’ve had; and the eggplant that jammed into the pita bread is really good too. Seating is available but somehow I prefer to eat my falafel standing or walking.

Plenty plenty plenty to eat here, their tarte au citron was noted in Figaro's best of Paris at no.4 and umami swears and cherishes the apple tarts when they are in season. A great bakery with too many edible treats, not one for sweets I passed on those, but as was led to their gougeres which I agree, are amazing.

Jabugo Iberico & Co
11 rue Clément Marot, 75008 Paris

L'As du Falafel
34 Rue des Rosiers, 75004 Paris

Secco
20 Rue Jean Nicot, 75007 Paris

The Croissant Diet

2009-09-25T17:26:00.002+08:00

After days in Paris stuffing myself with croissants and pain au chocolat that were gloriously washed down with espresso and apple juice, I think I’m ready for a lighter diet. I ate them walking out of the store, walking on the street, at the breakfast table, in the middle of the night when I woke up starving, on the plane, on the train, under arcs crumbing on my book; I’m all buttered up.

Unfortunately not all Parisian croissants are made equal. But with that said, part of being a good cook is being a good shopper, start with good ingredients and half the battle is won; and France has great butter. The croissant is simple, 2 main components: dough and butter; but the beauty and difficulty many fold. Folded and folded in a precise manner to hold the butter and to create the distinct layers, if done right and with delicious creamy butter the result is an ethereal light pastry that is crisp and flaky that is at the same time buttery and rich. And sometimes I like mine with a little chocolate but this diet for me is really unsustainable, I love the way it licks on my lips but damn the way it sits on my hips.

Tasted & liked:

La Boulangerie Julien
Invalides, Paris
85 rue Saint-Dominique, 75007 Paris

Ladurée
Champs Elysées
75 Avenue des Champs Elysées, 75008 Paris

Lunch Specials

2009-08-24T22:40:00.004+08:00

Of all the sushi places, my favourite to have lunch at is Sushi Yoshida. Prices on the menu are represented nett so it saves you a small headache from the post lunch bill calculation. This is my favourite chirashi place and the icing on the cake for me about having lunch here is dreamy onsen tamago that kicks off the meal.

Hot foie gras jelly topped wild mushroom fricassee under buckwheat brioche crust and black truffle coulis at Jaan

Lunch at Jaan is what I call Jaan made more affordable. Priced higher in relativity to most set lunches in the city, it’s still a really great place to have lunch – dining with a view, quality service and extremely stylish and gratifying food. The foie gras with wild mushrooms bowl that I had during my last lunch there was deliciously awesome.

Onglet Steak with shallots and garlic confit served with French fries at Au Petit Salut

Although having lunch at Au Petit Salut’s either requires a car, a taxi ride or a bus ride and small hike making it slightly less accessible than its former location; their winning formula of classic simple bistro fare priced rightly lunch menu still fill their lunch tables. My favourite thing to have here is the onglet steak with shallots and garlic confit served with French fries.

I first ate at Tenshin six months ago and beware, it is dangerously addictive. I have been back there five times. The mini kaiseiki is the best way to lunch there, if not I’ve sort of invented my own set lunch – a tempura set with an ‘upgrade’ of scattered rice.

I think “Let’s do lunch” is probably one of my favourite three-word phases.

Sushi Yoshida
10 Devonshire Road
Tel: 6735-5014

Jaan
2 Stanford Road
70F Swissotel
Tel: 6837-3322

Au Petit Salut
40C Harding Road
Tel: 6475 1976

Tenshin
1 Cuscaden Road
The Regent
#03-01
Tel: 6735 4588

Sushi Mizutani: Gaining perspective on Sushi and Tamagos

2009-07-26T18:00:00.001+08:00

Not all tamagos are made equal. If there was a standard for tamago, there should be one for all the tamagos I’ve eaten and then there is Mizutani’s. It defies being a regular tamago and it is really a cut about the rest – rich, sweet, eggy and almost custardy – trust me, you’ll want more than a piece and will go back just for seconds.

When it comes to sushi, there are no real measures. No cookbook can tell you how much wasabi to put in a sushi; the parallel measure to that is a pinch of salt – how much? That really translates as: unless you know, you won’t really know. Neither would the book tell you about how much rice. The rice is a delicate balance and for each piece to have a consistent mouth-feel. That’s craft.

Why knife skills matter? It isn’t just how sharp your knife is but also your relationship and knowledge of the muscular structure of the fish or sea treasure that matters. With every slice, there are choices – how thick, what angle? Why it matters? Because it just does; because it can change everything. Abalone sushi to me has always been on a chewy rubbery side but here, Mitzutani slices at a calculated thickness and this transforms it from rubbery to crunchy – amazing, I’ve never had abalone sushi like this.

Now I think I understand. This is the art of sushi. This is sushi Mizutani.

Sushi Mizutani
Seiwa Silver Building B1F
9-2-10 Ginza, Chou-ku
Tokyo,Japan
+81-3-3573-5258

Killer Style Teppanyaki

2009-07-18T09:44:00.005+08:00

My memories of Teppanyaki are family dinners. For some reason there was a period when I was less than three-feet tall that we used to have weekend dinners at this particular Teppanyaki shop that now closed. And then, since the proliferation of the quick and dirty version of teppanyaki at food courts and I haven’t been to a teppanyaki for a long long time.
There is so much beauty in the simple things.

I’m a big believer of simplicity, pure simplicity. And here, they keep it simple. Very simple – quality ingredients treated with the highest respect (excellent knife skills are a pre-requisite).

As with a lot of eating that we did in Tokyo, there was a close physical proximity to the man that prepares your food. The chefs here have their personal groove; they work with the hot plate and they do things well. Part of the experience is the dramatized cooking, a little flame a little steam and a “smell-track” that is designed to whet your appetite.

Our order included both surf and turf – both exceptional, so if budget and diet permits – have both. The cooking here is cone with commitment and integrity. After the live prawn are presented, they slide onto the hot plate and are gently held down, then deftly beheaded, shelled and de-veined. Special attention is given to everything. Care is taken to flatten the tail shells, removing the unsavoury bits from the head and then coated in oil and left to fry up to a crisp. Head to tail eating. Yum, the crunch and the intense flavours that were concentrated at these extremes were even better than the sweet crunchy flesh. A little salt, some heat and a fresh piece of sweet flesh and all carefully orchestrated on the shiny hot plate – so deliciously simple.

Teppanyaki Akasaka
Tokyo Zennikku Hotel 37F,
1-12-33 Akasaka,
Minato-ku, Tokyo
Tel: +81-03-3505-1437

The Skinny on Skinny Pizza

2009-07-03T23:03:00.004+08:00

The Skinny Pizza to me isn’t pizza.

It looks like a pizza but it sure doesn’t taste like one and thankfully is a fad that has not taken over all the pizzerias. I had the Ah Taki Tuna Skinny at Barracks that promised much but really it was more like tuna salad (tasted ok) served on an edible cracker plate. Sure it was skinny and yes it made a wonderful crack and snap but it was also too crispy and hollow to be a good honest pizza dough. I’ll vote for thin crust –crispy and tender- any day!

20 Bites of Tokyo

2009-06-28T17:11:00.007+08:00

1. Kyubei, Ginza

Established in 1936 and probably the most famous of the Michelin starred sushi places; Kyubei is a place where you come for a good sushi, sample a part of sushi history and pay respects to the inventors of the gunkan sushi.

2. Random Izakaya under the tracks, Akihabara
Cute mother and son team, a totally random find but fabulous.

3. Sushizanmai, Akihabara

“Sushi Galore” which was incidentally was offering specials for different cuts of tuna for the day – maguro, otoro, chutoro, aburi toro - we glossed the laminated menu and settled for a self-designed “maguro zanmai” and a little bit more.

4. Jangara Kyushu Ramen, Akihabara

The pitter patter weather made it perfect for a hot bowl of ramen but that also meant standing in line huddled under a transparent umbrella, which really is no fun. Squashed up next to otakus in the shoebox sized shop is also half the experience of noisily slurping down the thin noodles and drinking hot rich tonkotsu spiked with mentaiko and laced with oil.

5. Beef Rice Bowl, Akihabara
Exit from Jangara Kyushu Ramen and take 15 steps in the left diagonal direction and have a gratifying beef rice bowl which I’m convinced was my eating companion’s obsession during our entire trip in Tokyo – sometimes measuring our tax refunds in units of beef rice bowls.

6. Freshness Burger, Akihabara
Made with nature friendly ingredients and fresh ingredients – we had the classic WW burger, double patty with the cheese and the works. Amongst others, they serve a spam burger, how does that ties in with the freshness philosophy?

7. ANA Akasaka Teppanyaki, Akasaka

Fantastically fresh seafood and scrumptious fatty beef cooked in a highly stylized manner that is designed to titillate your appetite. Really really awesome.

8. Jou mon, Ropponggi

Other than me being mildly obsessed with one of the waiter’s really cute fish motif shirt, the whole experience here is fantastic. The shelves and bar top is lined with shochu jars and bottles of sake and the menu is extensive. We ate for hours and went through sticks and stick of yakitori along with mimigar, homemade tofu, ramen and washed it all down with sake and grapefruit sours.

9. Caplis Royal

If you love Calpis, think rich creamy Calpis. Yum.

10. Tenfusa, Tsukiji

Tsukiji, even when you grumpily drag yourself out of bed in at 4ish in the morning with your eyelids half open, you'll eventually get over it and be glad to you got up, it an awesome awesome place. The amazing natural beauty in the colours, shapes and sizes that the ocean surrenders to us is so beautiful and everything looks oh so delicious. You can spend hours exploring, gawking and being trigger happy in this market and once you get hungry there are the looong snaking queues at Sushi Dai and Sushi Daiwa or if you can’t wait in line, our greasy alternative of tempura in the corner store and a wake me up coffee and jam toast in the cafe.

11. Robuchon at Ropponggi
Good but disappointing.

12. Aoki Sadaharu

13. Kuon, Ebisu

Raw pig liver anyone?

14. Random Soba

15. Midori Sushi, Shibuya

Let’s face it, Midori has kickass value bites. Sit in line for a while but the sushi platters are true to its motto of being of high quality and of good value. The platters are fabulous and it being the uni season, an uni each – so that we won’t fight but what I really liked was the aburi platter.

16. Pap House, Shibuya

Hand picked beef and only marbling score 10; the beef here is sweet fatty beef. Hear the sizzle, witness the rising flames as the fat drips and onto charcoal, smell the sweet fat and then taste the good cow’s life.

17. Mizutani Sushi, Ginza
Here I rediscovering the art and craft of sushi and that not all tamago-s are made equally – there are tamago-s and then there is mizutani’s tamago.

18. Sweet Potato Agemanju & Tempura, Asakusa

The more important reason why we went to Asakusa.

19. Okonomiyaki

20. First Kitchen, Akihabara
Tokyo on a budget? Fast food but not necessarily bad food, their mentaiko pasta goes down easy and the chicken wings are supposed to be good.

Keep Stirring

2009-06-11T23:00:00.002+08:00

“These days, one of the most important stages of making a risotto is considered to be the mantecatura, which comes from the Spanish word for butter, mantequilla. It means the beating on of butter and cheese right at the end of cooking, to give the risotto that fantastic creaminess.”

- Giorgio Locatelli, Made in Italy

I love this book. It is so generous and honest in wanting to pass on the knowledge that Locatelli has acquired over the years. I haven’t read it from cover to cover but I’ve read sections of it and reading the risotto section made me feel loved. As result, I've been trying to pass on that love and I’ve been stirring a lot of risotto. I’m still learning about it.

Risotto is a beautiful thing. The sheer simplicity of it demands that you pay attention to the quality of ingredients and patience that you invest in the process. You can’t rush it; you have to coax it gently with your wooden spoon, slowly encouraging each grain to soak in as much it can manage.

I’d admit risotto seems intimidating but it really isn’t. You need to keep stirring but can blink and you can even walk away from the pot for a brief period and it’ll forgive you. But if you need to keep your dinner guest occupied, standing conversation around the pot with people taking turns at stirring works as well.

Is there a real technique behind the stirring? I don’t know. Someone said we could only stir in one direction for a reason I cannot remember. Someone else advised, we should stir in a figure 8, I have tried both of that and stirring in both directions and I don’t see any major differences. At least I think the risotto turned a blind eye to my inconsistencies.

And for a dish that has intimidated many, it is ironically something that is very adaptable, you can put anything in it – there are plenty of variations in the book but the for the last risotto I stirred, I used Locatelli’s basic risotto recipe and added roasted butternut squash – delicious!

Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto
Serves 6

Ingredients
1 butternut squash
1 tablespoon olive oil
2.5 litres vegetable stock
50 g butter
1 onion, very finely chopped
400 g Arborio rice
125ml dry white wine
75g cold butter, cut into cubes
100g Parmesan, grated
salt and pepper

Method:

Slice squash in half, remove seeds, and rub with olive oil. Roast face-side down in a 180 degree Celsius oven for 40-45 minutes or until tender when pierced.
Scoop out the flesh and mash and set aside.
Melt the butter in a heavy-based casserole over medium heat. Add the onion and cook very slowly for 5-7 minutes until soft.
Add the rice and stir for a few minutes until heated through and well-coated with the butter.
Stirring continuously, add the white wine and cook for a few minute to allow the alcohol to evaporate.
Add a ladleful of hot stock and stir until absorbed. Continue to add the stock a ladleful at a time, stirring continuously, until all the stock is absorbed - about 15-17 minutes. When cooked, the rice should tender but firm in the centre.
Stir butternut squash then leave to stand for 1 minute.
Add butter and Parmesan, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. Season to taste and serve.

City Girl Grows Urban Sprouts

2009-05-16T15:15:00.002+08:00

Up to two and a half months ago, I had never planted a thing in my life. Never. Ok, granted I had to grow a few bean sprouts for science class in school on cotton pads but other than that, nothing else.

And then occasionally I come up with half crazy ideas like owning an organic vegetable farm but thankfully my friends keep me grounded and reminded me that I really haven’t grown anything in my life, so really a farm is quite a far fetched idea. Ok, so I’m not going to own a farm and the concrete-grass ratio where I live is not in my favour, so the only real city-friendly alternative for now is container gardening.

This is part of my starter garden. Ok, so it really isn't a garden. It is more like a collection of containers. Small ones, round ones, large ones and ugly ones. In them I have planted cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, coriander, beans, carrots and rocket. On the surface it seems easy, grab a pot, pour in some soil, plant the seeds according to the directions at the back of the packet, give it some water, sunshine and talk to them occasionally. Technically it almost seems as easy as following the directions on the flip side of a Betty Crocker mix but in reality there are all these other variables that you don't even think about.

And here’s how it all started. I tried to buy the best compost I could get my hands on which means, having some humility and going to the nursery and having to ask silly questions like, “I need to buy some soil. I’m planting some vegetables and I want them to grow tall, strong and tasty, what do you recommend?”

With some soil, some seeds, sunshine and water, I’ve managed with varied success. Some of my plants have been consumed by aphids and some died for reasons unknown to me. But the ones that survived and the ones that grew into delicious end products that made the whole trying process worth it. Now I can proudly snip some rocket or some basil from my containers and in a few months let’s hope I’ll have some tomatoes.

I love vegetables and I love salads; growing my own vegetables, I think is a fabulous idea. Firstly, I can plant my vegetables organically. Secondly, I feel like I’m eating more responsibly – in a minor way, I have reduced my carbon footprint because when I really think about it, the earthbound organic salad leaves that I constantly consume is flown in from across the world and there is something not very earth friendly about that. And really, this is as fresh as it gets.

Fingers crossed, I’ll have some juicy tomatoes soon.

Back on the Italian Trail: Garibaldi’s New Menu

2009-04-26T23:47:00.003+08:00

I haven’t been to Garibaldi’s in a while and was hardly a regular there but perhaps that is about to change.

With the recession and some love from the restaurants with their shrunken prices I feel a little encouraged to dine out and to visit places that are not on the usual eat list.

Garibaldi’s has launched a new menu. What’s new? More pastas and risottos at more accessible prices; with the expansion of these sections of the menu, it is big and it reads well.

Some of the new choices read beautifully - Homemade Noodles with Slow Cooked Castricum Lamb Ragout and Dried Ricotta, Homemade Crab Meat Tortelli with Mussels, Zucchini and Saffron Sauce and Homemade Pasta Tubes stuffed with Wagyu Beef, Cheese Sauce and Leeks Confit – a combination of luxurious comfort and elegance, it is tempting to slowly eat through this section of the menu. The Trenette with Sardinian Vongole and Grey Mullet Roe in White Wine Sauce was a kicked up version of a classic vongole – strictly speaking, the bottarga is not necessary but a wonderful addition to elevate it and to set it apart.

Moving further down the menu, the risotto menu is the largest I’ve ever seen. Risotto with something from the land or the sea, they’ve got most of the bases covered. Even if you didn’t want to eat a risotto, you’ll be tempted to. One of the new additions that was something that I wanted to try even though I’m not a big fan of carbonara was their risotto carbonara. Seriously, a risotto carbonara – served with parma ham. The only carbonara that I really eat now at this point in time is one with a poached egg. I’ve tasted this carbonara and I think it is an interesting idea. It taste like it but different, it tastes good and is fun to eat but if I had to choose between the two forms, I think I chase the twirl in my fork because combining the desired creamy risotto texture with an already relatively rich, I could only stomach a limited number of spoonfuls.

Whilst the other sections of the menu have expanded as well, it is the expansion of the comfort carbs that sit closest to my heart. That in my books translates simply: I can go in for a plate of delicious comfort plate in some of my favourite forms and pair that with something from the other sections and I’m can be a happy camper.

Garibaldi
36 Purvis Street
#01-02
Tel: 6337-3770

Once again: Chicken & Paprika

2009-04-11T23:25:00.002+08:00

I’ve put them together again, chicken and paprika. I think I’ve found a slightly better combination though. Chicken, paprika and chorizo; this trumps the first recipe I worked on. After making this about three times for different crowds, I’m convinced this is a winner. Maybe chorizo will be my new bacon, smoky and paprika included!

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 chorizo, sliced into 2-cm thick coins
8 chicken thighs
2 red onions, peeled and chopped
8 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
15 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 rounded tablespoon paprika
90 ml shao hsing wine
6 sprigs of thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat olive oil in a heavy based pan or Dutch oven and brown chorizo and set aside.
Using the same pan, brown the chicken pieces until the skin is golden brown. Remove and set aside. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of oil and discard excess.
Sweat onions and garlic in the pan for about 3 minutes and then add the paprika and tomatoes and fry for another minute.
Add shao hsing wine and deglaze, scrapping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
Add chorizo, chicken and thyme into the pan. Add water until it comes up to the halfway point of the chicken. Bring to a boil and then braise for 90 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Eggs&Eggs&Obsessions

2009-04-10T16:01:00.002+08:00

I don’t know what it is or how it happened but I love eggs. When I read a menu and I see poached egg, usually everything else fades into the background. When I’m seated at the sushi counter and I spy a block of tamago, I'll have to have a piece or when there is an onsen tamago on the menu, I’ll have an order of that too please, thank you.

mentaiko tamago

Then there is something about an egg and egg combination that is classic and more seductive – I keep thinking about the cover picture Jean-Georges Vongerichten Simple to Spectacular cookbook of his signature egg caviar dish. Over dinner last week, I discovered another egg on egg combination that I loved – Mentaiko Tamago. I had this at Mimigar last week and it was perfectly satisfying. The tamago wasn’t too sweet or too greasy but moist and deliciously punctuated with the tang and distinct mentaiko flavour. I think they should put this on the regular menu.

Mimigar
1 Nanson Road,
#01-08, Gallery Hotel
Tel: 6235-1511

Revisiting some Italians

2009-03-27T23:29:00.005+08:00

Over the past months and few weeks, I’ve been doing ‘comfort’ eating. I’ve been eating at familiar places and in particular I’ve been eating at the same Italian places. Whilst I love trying somewhere new, sometimes nothing beats knowing exactly what you are going to get even before you open the front door of the restaurant. Here’s the rundown.

Valentino's

I’ve been back for three different types of sittings in the past few months. Once for a no-holds-carbs-evening-out with the girl friends, second for a private party for a friend who turned the big three-O and lastly for a lazy Saturday lunch. And on all three occasions and after all these years, I still think the food and the ambience is amazing. Have a bowl of pasta, split a pizza, nibble on the menu seasonal anchovies or settle down with the grilled to perfection steak Florentine (this is really awesome!), you can’t go very wrong.

Buko Nero

I have been a bit of a manic with this hole in the wall. After my first meal there, I made sure I had a table for every month of the year. I’ve dined there with all sorts of permutations. A table for two, three, four, five and six persons but I’ve never eaten there by myself. I’ve had their set lunches, the set dinners, the daily special pastas, the regular menu, ordered my own and nibbled at other people’s courses, ordered almost half the menu and sharing it and after all that experimenting, I’ve settled for my own ‘menu’ – a soup (either the soup that is on the board or the default porcini mushroom soup laced with truffle oil), a pasta (a toss up between the specials, default choice of spicy prawn spaghetti and the other rival pasta on the printed menu) and a serving of ham and cheese crostinis to share. Dessert is optional. The rational behind my mania: I like what they do and I like what it stands for: small, intimate and food made with love. There are some things that sometimes irritate me, in particular the long almost irrational waiting time between courses, but I overcome that with good company and some patience.

Da Mario's

Since it’s re-opening on the opposite side of its original location, I’ve been there three times on three consecutive weeks and I’m very sad to report that Da Marios has lost its ‘al dente’ touch. Visit after visit was a downhill tumble, and so I don’t think I’m going back for a long long while. On my first visit, we were served tepid appetizers and limp pastas and the waiter almost looked shocked at my replied, “to be honest, the soup was under seasoned and tasteless and the courses were tepid” to his question on how our appetizers were. After our pastas, I decided that my dessert allowance was better spent elsewhere (even though I remember that they have a gorgeous tiramisu). On my second visit, my pasta was still too soft but the bruchetta gave me a slight glimmer of hope. On my third and final visit for this year, our pastas were still limp but I had the wisdom to stay away from the capellini that was close to gloppy on my first visit and to stick with its fatter and flatter cousins – spaghetti and linguini – but they were still cooked beyond the point of al dente. I can’t figure it out. Are they cooking these to ‘Asian noodle’ standards? Why can’t I get some al dente pasta here? But maybe there is a way around it, I can tell them to undercook my pasta and it might turn out ok but seriously, I trust not the service here - on my third and possibly my last visit, a seemingly innocent request to get our bread warmed, where I was left irritated with the stupid answer they gave me and cold bread and was the final straw. This was third time, not so lucky and I’ve had it here.

Valentino's
11 Jalan Bingka
Tel: 6462-0555

Buko Nero
126 Tanjong Pagar Road
Tel: 6324-6225

Da Mario’s
60 Robertson Quay
The Quayside #01-05/06
Tel: 6235-7623

Tenshin: An Art Mastered

2009-03-16T23:17:00.016+08:00

I have a deep fear of deep fat frying and most frying for that matter. A pot of hot fat coupled with my usual sense of clumsiness, are a bad combination together. As a matter of fact, I just managed to land a few splutters of hot oil yesterday and so I’m nursing some burns. And so, with regards to cooking, I love most of it but if someone else could do the frying for me, please be my guest.

Tenshin I would say is a confident restaurant. In this age where we praise super foods and organic, deep fried is generally relegated to bad food; you have to be really confident that what is served is top quality deep fried food that has nothing to do with the greasy tag that can make you feel sick in the stomach.

Here frying is an art form. The work is hot, intense and precise. It starts with a basket of fresh ingredients that are then lightly coated with a barely there tempura batter. Working in pairs behind the copper shield the tempura masters swiftly drop the ingredients into the hot oil and then pulled up at an exact moment and then instantly set in front of you. Each item so perfectly fried. Hot, light and crispy and integrity of the ingredient preserved through the cooking process that allows you to taste its absolute essence - I don’t think I had ever really tasted a matsutake till I ate at Tenshin: I could almost taste and imagine the earth that it grew in.

Seasoning is left up to you. Sea salt or flavoured salts – curry, green tea – or swish your tempura around in tempura sauce with grated daikon. And then wash all the goodness down with hot tea, this helps to aid the digestive process.

Bits and pieces of my lunch:

The mini kaiseki set that consisted of a salad, a sashimi plate, tempura of three types of seafood and three types of vegetables + separate order of uni, scattered tempura rice served with pickles and miso soup and dessert.

Tenshin
1 Cuscaden Road
Regent Hotel #03-01
Tel:6735-4588

Soup for the soul: s-o-t-o-a-y-a-m

2009-03-14T10:45:00.012+08:00

Chicken soup, essentially chicken bones and tough bits boiled with a permutation of vegetables and spices. Coloured with turmeric and spiked with a pounded melage of aromatics and spices, the Indonesian version is one of my favourites. This is one of my favourite things to eat in Bali – Soto Ayam from Made’s Warung. Their version is heavily flavoured and packs a small punch of heat. Stir it around with your spoon and scoop up the crunchy sprouts that lie beneath the vermicelli, it is all very good together.

Made's Warung
Jln. Seminyak,
Seminyak, Bali

Tippling Club: the good and the bad

2009-02-28T00:34:00.012+08:00

I like what they are doing at the Tippling Club. They are a breath of fresh air to our local dining scene with their sense of taste, modern techniques and interactive dining layout. And their cocktails are clever and sophisticated or as a friend of mine would describe as “a party at a high level”.

They initially only served dinner and post-dinner drinks and tapas but that proved to be too intimidating for many, including me, so they introduced lunch sets with a tagline that tried to demystify the notion that a meal at the Tippling Club was too expensive an experience for many and to perhaps quash the joke going around that it should be named the Rip off club. The lunch thing worked, priced at a more accessible level we managed to round up a group of five that were willing to try the Tippling Club.

The only drawback about lunch is that instead of the cocktails, which are really half the show, they don’t come with lunch but a unit of alcohol is allotted to all diners – choice between white and red but that issue can be easily solved by ordering your cocktails by the side. I’ve had lunch at the Tippling Club twice. They change the lunch menu on a monthly basis, making eating here on a regular basis possible without being bored. I adored eating here for a number of reasons.

One. The food is cleverly convivial. Their first offering was fizzy rum infused grapes. Bubbles are always fun. Charred peppers, which are given an extra charred dye by a squid ink batter and served with a soy sauce-based foam and eaten with these long pincers.

Two. The plating is stylish. The plates are a combination of many labour intensive intricate pieces pulled together.

Linguini Carbonara, wild mushroom puree, crispy bacon

Three. The combination of flavours and use of textures are inventive and imaginative. Foams and jellies – will, needless to say, appear on the plates but so will other surprising elements, so go with an open mind to be entertained and fed.

four textures of parmesan and rocket emulsion

whipped gorgonzola

Four. Their cheese courses are divine. On the first visit I had a whipped gorgonzola that was served with edible flowers, capers and broken pizza bread and on the second visit I had Parmesan in four ways and both were absolutely delicious.

Five. Cocktails. Two words, smoky bastard.

But for all the good things that are happening at this place, its Achilles heel will be spotty cooking that was sadly consistent on both visits – one dish was under salted, another was too salty and then very tragically my pasta was soft to the point of mush despite its beautiful appearance and wonderful flavours. I would love to continue supporting this place for its potential and what they do but a poor execution of a good idea is a culinary tragedy.

The Tippling Club
8D Dempsey Road, Singapore
Phone: 6475-2217
www.tipplingclub.com

Chasing duck tales in Bali

2009-02-12T21:21:00.007+08:00

I think I had forgotten how good duck could taste. I tried to give it up for a while because a diet stated forbidden me to eat duck, whatever screw that, duck is yum.

Bebek. I think the Indonesians have a cute name for the duck. Bebek. It has got a cute ring to it, no? Bebek bebek bebek. It is almost onomatopoeic. Believe me, I was trying not to eat duck, but that didn’t work. My resistance crumbled, the dishes sounded so good on the menu, bebek betutu and deep fried duck, the no-eating-duck plan was shelved till post-Bali.

One. Bebek betutu at Bumbu Bali, that was pre-ordered on the morning of our arrival, I expected to look a little more glamourous. Stripped of the banana leaves that cradled was our duck, there was our duck, the one that was rubbed with local spices and slow cooked for hours and hours. It was tender, very tender but I found too mildly flavoured despite the hours of stewing in spices. The pre-cursor to the arrival of the bebek betutu, the bebek soto was, however, delectable.

Two. Murni’s Warung in Ubud, one of the oldest restaurants in Bali, history is a testimony to itself. Its bebek betutu is tried and true, tender off the bone with a better distinct flavour, and no pre-ordering required!

Three. Deep fried duck at Bebek Bengil, the dirty duck diner. Maybe they should export this as a fast food. Balinese Fried Duck, and it will be commonly known as BFD. Deep fried chicken has had long success, so why not deep fried duck. And not just any deep fried duck but duck that have been sitting in marinade for 36 hours and then lowered into the deep fat fryer. Deep fried duck that is best eaten with hands. Finger licking good.

Bumbu Bali
Jalan Pratama, Tanjung Benoa,
P.O.Box 13 Nusa Dua 80363
Tel:+62-361-774502

Murni’s Warung
At The Bridge, Campuhan
Ubud, Bali
Tel: +62-361-975 233

Bebek Bengil Restaurant
(Dirty Duck Dinner)
Padang Tegal - Ubud
Tel: +62-361- 975 489

Smells aside, the braised pork rocks

2009-01-27T18:29:00.002+08:00

Ryoriya Sangokushi
30 Robertson Quay
#01-03 Riverside View
Tel: 6238 8962

Ok the place smells bad. One meal here and rest assured, the smell of food will linger and linger and will not go away. It’s Taiwanese and Japanese but to be honest, I’m confused I don’t really know what the theme is or is it really a cross between the two. But let’s put those things aside; let’s focus on the good things going on here – the casual home cooking. One good thing here which will probably make you ignore the horrible thought of smelling like food for the rest of the day is the small bowl of Taiwanese braised pork with rice – good comfort food, period.

Paprika

2008-11-22T09:50:00.002+08:00

I’ve recently fallen in love with paprika. I find myself unconsciously sprinkling it in more and more of my cooking – stews, whilst sautéing mushrooms, on potatoes, on chickpeas, on everything really.

Here’s one instance: I had an open bottle of Chardonnay, a chicken and a task to cook dinner. So whilst sweating down my onions, carrots, garlic and celery again I found myself reaching for the tin of paprika and sprinkling it as if it was my magic dust into the cast iron pot. It is great. Paprika rocks my world – maybe it is a cooking magic dust.

Paprika Chicken Stew
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 onions, peeled and chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 rounded teaspoon paprika
750 ml bottle of Chardonnay
3-4 rosemary sprigs
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy based pan and brown the chicken pieces until the skin is golden brown. Remove and set aside. Discard excess oil.
Heat remaining olive oil in a heavy based pan or a dutch oven and add carrots, onions, celery, garlic and paprika then slowly sweat vegetables until soft, about 4-5 minutes.
Add the whole bottle of wine, deglazing and scrapping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
Return the chicken to the pan. Add rosemary and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20-25 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

* Optional, you can further thicken or enrich the stew with cream and serve over rice, potatoes or noodles.

Cook to feed yourself and let the people come

2008-11-06T17:32:00.003+08:00

The Screening Room
12 Ann Siang Road
Tel: 6221-1694

I was part of the eating party that was hosted by the Screening Room, and to be honest I was very pleasantly surprised.

The food, I like very much. It was straightforward good tasting food. There were no foams, no jellies, no freeze blasted dehydrated ingredients, just good tasting well seasoned food.

This is a gastro-bar with a personality.

The philosophy behind the menu that is designed by Wayne Nish is simple: I cook for myself, this is what I like to eat and this is how my food soul is satisfied. Because of that I can sense a level of confidence and sincerity in the food that was served on the table.

His food is hard not to like. His raw plate, his own interpretation of sushi were a series of flavours that popped in your mouth and his steak, cooked the way he likes it, is something magnificent to chew on. And the cheese platter, a small but carefully selected and air freighted is thoughtful and a celebration of the art of cheese. For more details on the meal, read the other accounts here, here and here.

*All photo credits go to ivn, I shamelessly took his photos, thanks :) .

Women, cooking and traditions

2008-11-05T18:35:00.007+08:00

I stole away to India for a week for what I would call a time of life enrichment. When I left, I had plenty of good intentions of giving but I think I received more than I had set out to give.

For seven days I lived in a small town city called Pondicherry, which is about a 2.5 hour drive from Chennai – depending on traffic. The city, a former French colony, is home to one million inhabitants, so I imagine that this is small city in relative scale of India.

I explored parts of the city by foot, avoiding cows, goats, human traffic, motorcycles and bicycles but inevitable got hit by a cyclist – it was his fault, I stood completely still and he never stopped peddling – trying to absorb as much of the city as I could. Part of this experienced involved endless tasting of the varieties of muruku, hunting for a good samosa seller and scouting the local market.

Other than the city, I saw and listened to a lot in the kitchen with three women. I learnt about the hardships, struggles and realities in life. All the cooking that I tasted were cooked by mothers, women who cooked to feed their families and cooking methods and foods that have been passed down through their great grandmothers to their grandmothers to their mothers to them. The only thing about what I shall call heritage cooking is that learning through this method is that a lot of it is learnt through practice and time. Without written recipes that instruct accurate measurements, verbal instructions and a connection for food is all that you have to rely on. My lesson was simple. I wanted to learn to make chapatti. Perhaps I scandalized my host when I insisted that I wanted to help and I wanted to cook, but I put my foot down, “teach me” I said, “I want to learn how to make chapatti”.

Chapatti is actually really healthy. And whilst I was there it always was my preference over rice at the dining table. So since I was consuming so much of it, it seemed natural that I should learn how it is made. In addition to that, much like the skill of cooking rice, I noticed that the making of chapatti almost seemed like a necessary kitchen skill as I never spotted a chapatti store that is likened to out bread stores.

The process that I learnt from these three women is really simple but you have to be one with the dough. To feed six of us, I was given a small mount of atta flour/wholemeal flour that was liberally seasoned with salt and given the following instructions: add water, a little at a time until sufficient. So I followed, and this is what I’ve gathered, you add water, a little at a time, just enough to bind the dough and then knead until a smooth dough is formed and then rest the dough for 15 to 20 minutes if time permits. Following that, form and roll small balls – the size depends on your preference for petit or large chapattis. The next step is the rolling of the dough. This I feel is the most difficult portion. The pressure that is exerted on the dough is of utmost importance for a roundish chapatti – more pressure on one and less on the other. As you roll, “the dough will roll itself” that is to say, as you rock and roll and work your magic on the dough, the dough will naturally rotate and form a circle and this technique needs to be practiced, practiced and practiced. Should you choose to cheat, you can simple roll out the dough thinly and then trace the circumference of a plate with your knife. Once we’ve got the dough rolled out, heat a frying pan till very hot and then place your dough on it, flip it once when some bubbles form, then repeat the same process on the other side. On the third flip, start looking for the bigger bubbles and press down to push the air towards the centre of the chapatti or to areas which aren’t puffing up and rotate the dough as you do so, remember protect your hand with a dry cloth because steam is really hot. Once it is perfectly puffed, you are done. Transfer to a container that is lined with a dry cloth until ready to eat.

Chapattis for me was this. Returning to the basics of cooking and feeding on the memories of how their mothers used to make their chapattis, the beauty of my journey through chapatti (chit chat) making is that is that it is a celebration of a form of uncomplicated cooking and a connecting with the people and their way of life.

The sushi relationship

2008-10-27T12:37:00.003+08:00

Nogawa
100 Orchard Road, #03-25
Lobby Level, Le Meridien Singapour
Tel: 6732-2911

If I’ve learnt anything over the years of eating sushi is that sushi eating is an intimate relationship that you have to cultivate.

I don’t have any qualms about trying a new sushi restaurant but sometimes it is just easier to go to a place where the people know who you are, what you love and what you hate and are willing to accommodate you on the occasional unreasonable request. What more with sushi, where raw fish and strange and unknown ingredients are placed before. I feel that there must be a certain level of trust involved between me and the man behind the glass coffins of pristine fresh fish.

I have had the good fortune of meeting and building good relations with a couple of sushi chefs that have always taken good care about me. I have an annual date with Nogawa and after a few return visits I’ve developed a friendship with Chef Kelvin who works the counter. A friendly face and sweetness in character that comes through his food he has been good in feeding me.

Chef Kelvin has fed me well.

Thank you, it was yum.

Little Plates of Barcelona - TapaÇ 24

2008-08-16T19:05:00.006+08:00

Diputacio 269
Barcelona, Spain
Tel: +34 934 880 977

Tapas are a great way to eat. They are miniature foods that are straightforward in taste since there is no space for side kicks. As an eater, you can also flirt between plates without guilt to take in a myriad of flavours and textures.

Barcelona was my first glimpse into the Spanish way of life with tapas. And in my books, it is a good habit to pick up. Delicious morsels that are washed down with some bubbly cava or alcohol of choice, what’s not to love? And with some great company, that is even better. But even if I had to do it alone, I would.

This bar was initially hard to navigate through without English since the menu is neither in English nor in Spanish but only in Catalan. But there are universal languages such as pointing to objects of your desire or making the appropriate animal noises or just throw caution out of the window and point at random items on the menu.

The place had a good buzz. They take no reservations so go early if not wait in line like the two of us did. Peek through the glass windows to survey happy faces and the food on offer but try not to stare. The anticipation, I think, is part of the experience.

They sat us by the bar, and we used our limited Catalan vocabulary of “cava” to start with and then the paper bag menus were presented.

Having read about this place, we know that the bikini C24 – truffle flavoured ham and cheese grilled toast – along with the McFoie – a mini hamburger with foie gras served with a foie gras mayonnaise – are the house signatures, and the for the rest we pointed to what people were eating and guessed with KD’s knowledge of the Spanish language.

The house signatures are “…mmmh!” good. A little injection of gourmet into the everyday fare is a fun and yummy, which should explain why they are a mainstay on the menu. I also discovered artichoke chips. Impeccably fried and lightly snowed with salty flakes these are a seasonal crisp that I consumed at every chance I got. Other plates such as stewed tripe with garbanzo that only I ate and persuaded KD to dip her bread to mop up some sauce, that she did enjoy, stood out from the rest.

* see the whole set here.

La Strada and their Carbonara

2008-07-31T23:13:00.005+08:00

La Strada
#02-10 Shaw Centre
1 Scotts Road
Tel: 6737-2622

La Strada and their carbonara. Or maybe it is just me and the a few weeks of a slight manic obsession with la strada carbonara. I’m an eggy person. I usually can’t resist not ordering any dish off a menu that reads “… with a poached egg”. And whilst gleaning through the usual blog roll I came across a picture of La Strada’s Carbonara and I was sold. I love pasta. I love ham and the truffles were a bonus. But it was that precariously perched poached egg on the mount of tangled noodles that really what caught my attention.

But it was not meant to be. For two weeks in a row I’ve gone to La Strada but in vain. Out of sheer determination, I’ve been suggesting La Strada as the dinner location to friends for dinners but alas, I haven’t ordered the carbonara.

Just last week I suffered a bout of sickness that is a little gross to describe so let’s just call it a bout of sickness. Sick I was but I had a dinner appointment with people whom I really wanted to meet so I still went out to dinner with strict instructions from the doctor, for the next few days you cannot have any chilli, dairy and eggs and porridge is the best form of food. To which I replied, “NO EGGS?! I love eggs.” After which the nurse just laughed at me. Oh well. So to La Strada but no eggs and no dairy, hmm… ok no carbonara for me.

As for this week, I am well and healthy and consuming a healthy amount of an egg a day but ivn ordered it for his pasta dish … so for variety sake I ordered the hand-cut pasta with mud crab that is sautéed in olive oil, garlic, fresh chillies and white wine, a worthy substitute.

I, however my second visit, have finally tasted this pasta that I have been coveting. I had two generous forkful twirls of the pasta that had a smooth mouth feel and truffle scent that then easily glided down my throat.

Ok, that was worth the wait and a return.

* credit to ivn for the photos.

Cheng Li Yuan & Mao's Spicy Pork

2008-07-27T16:42:00.004+08:00

Cheng Li Yuan
72 Tanjong Pagar Road
Tel: 6227-2551

We had Sunday lunch along Tanjong Pagar today and comparatively to any regular weekday or night, the street almost feels dead. The car park was one quarter filled, the streets were empty and we were the only ones in the restaurant today.

We walked in to Cheng Li Yuan for lunch. It was a quiet day and we were the only ones present. We were seated and the menus and tea was presented shortly. For the culinary daredevils there is marinated duck tongue that we debated if we should order, the consensus was yes but somehow it got forgotten when we did the actual ordering, so that’s a review for another time.

There is really nothing about the ambience to talk about. It is a Chinese restaurant with tables and chairs and nothing fancy in it really. The service was a one woman show but we were well attended to and she was gentle and nice.

I didn’t have my camera with me so there aren’t going to be any pictures with this post. Photos are an easy way for me to recall a meal but since I don’t have those I’ll share with you the clearest memory I have from lunch. After our orders had been scribbled down and shuttled to the kitchen, I could hear them fire up the wok. We literally heard them cook our lunch and from the sound of the intensity of the fire it sounded like lunch was going to be wok delicious.

One of the house specialties, Mao’s spicy pork, is a great way to eat pork. Plate piled high with chilli, there really is more chilli, a mix of fresh and fiery hot dried ones, than pork on the plate but the slivers of pork belly are shiny coated with flavoursome oil and full of flavour. Mao likes, I like too.

The braised lamb was tender and well spiced is great and pile on to your rice stir around and eat but skip the tofu on the side it was cold and I just didn’t get what it was doing on the plate.

Amongst the other dishes, I liked their version of egg white with fish and dried scallop. Piping hot and smooth bound golden ribbon of yolk and vinegar that gave it some edge, it was quickly consumed.

The menu is large, four pages long that would cater to many different taste and budgets. So I’m guessing the lack of a crowd today was due more to it being a Sunday rather than testimony to its food. I’ll check back the next time I’m on the street.

Pinotxo - An Epicurean Pilgrimage

2008-07-07T22:20:00.007+08:00

I spent five days in Barcelona. I visited some of Gaudi’s works, headed down to the port and spent hours wandered around the city under the warm sunshine because KD and I decided that we were ‘walkers’ that we weren’t going to hop on the tourist bus but walk everywhere. We walked everywhere. We might even developed stronger legs. The truth about our walking route is that although it was spontaneous, it was guided by mainly by the lust of shopping and the desire to eat, that being said, we did literally walk into a few sights and monuments.

Fresh seafood, cutting edge molecular cuisine along side fervent advocates of traditions the Catalans know how to seduce you into their glorious world of food. We had a lot of eating on the agenda. Different city same story, too much to eat too little time.

The food here in the city is incredibly delicious. Of all my meals I had, the one table that I would board a plane just to eat at again is the crowded L-shaped counter of Pinotxo in arguably one best markets in the world, La Boqueria. Here, there is no menu. Needless to say, what is fresh is the menu.

We lucked in grabbing two seats at the corner after a short wait of five minutes where our espresso were served and we contemplated what we should eat.

“What would you like?”

“What is good?” asked the naïve me.

“Everything is good!”

“Ok, I want some fresh seafood, so…between the bamboo clams, the clams and the gambas..”

“For me, the gambas are the best, but that’s for me...”

“I’ll have the gambas,” the deciding factor being when in Barcelona, eat like the Catalans.

The gambas were possibly one of the best things I have eaten all year. Pristinely fresh, succulent and sweet all they needed was a little coaxing on the hot plate, a splash of olive oil and a dash of sea salt. After you gently nudge its head off allow its natural prawn essence to spill onto the plate to marry with the olive oil for a sauce that should be soaked up by a baguette slices. The food was so pure and it spoke so sincerely, I feel in love with Pinotxo instantly.

“How were the gambas?”

“The best I’ve ever had…” and that’s the only way I currently feel inspired to cook prawns at the moment.

They also encouraged us to try their chickpeas, another of our charming cook’s favourite, and that like the gambas was deceptively delicious - the best I've ever had. We also ordered their baby squid cooked with white beans, garlic and balsamic that we witnessed them cooking from start to finish and continued to stare jealously at the gorgeous plates that others ordered. The wonderful people at Pinotxo took a liking to us. Maybe it was our appetite and sense of adventure that endeared us to them as they generously fed us odd bits to sample. When we called for the bill, we assured them that we would be back tomorrow but tomorrow was a Sunday and the market it closed on Sunday, so Monday it had to be but there is no seafood on Monday.

We still returned on Monday and we had a repeat of their chickpeas, and ate from what I would term their ‘land menu’ – tripe, veal cheek, salted cod and such. It was still all magically good although I am biased towards the ‘sea menu’.

“Come back tomorrow?” they asked with a smile.

“I would love to but I have to fly off in the morning. Too bad, I’ll come back when I’m back in Barcelona.” If I could, I would board a plane today to eat there again.

Morton’s where size matters

2008-06-07T12:40:00.004+08:00

Morton’s The Steakhouse
Mandarin Oriental
5 Raffles Avenue, Marina Square
Tel: 6338-0066

The steak lineup

For that one night in Morton’s I decided that I was going to pretend to be a man because that seemed to be the only appropriate response.

Morton’s stays true to the idea of American style over the top indulgence. It is a very masculine restaurant. I was in super-size me land with steak fillets as big as my face and lobster claws as large as my hand. In Morton’s land, size matters. Correction, size is everything. Even the tomato was the size of my fist!

The service is winning. It is the integral part of the whole experience from the start to the finish. Part of the whole experience of being pampered is having the waiter literally bring the menu. They recite it off the top of their heads and as show off their platter of meat cuts available and dangle the 1.5 kg lobster in front of you. It is a fun spectacle.

The steaks. They are good, they aren’t awe-inspiring but they are good meats. It starts with a good ingredient – a gingerly aged piece of beef – and that’s what you are presented with. What I love about it is that, there really is no margin for error here because the steak is presented to you in its naked glory, cooked to your choice of bloodiness.

jumbo lump crab cake

But before we get to the steaks, there are the appetizers to get through. Maybe the colossal shrimp cocktail or a main lobster cocktail? I had neither but I was allocated a colossal shrimp Alexander with beurre blanc sauce which strangely but very amusingly tasted like popcorn. Along with that, the jumbo lump crab cake is outstanding, so if you can’t decide between the starters, this is my choice pick.

As for desserts, as far as I can remember this might have been one of the first places to have the ubiquitous molten lava chocolate cake in Singapore (correct me if I’m wrong) and a Godiva hot centre chocolate cake but the Godiva has now been dropped but it is still a fail safe good ending for dinners.

Will I come back? Maybe but one condition must be fulfilled - someone else has to picking up the check because I don’t feel that the prices are justified. The whole theatric experience was to a certain extent bordering on ludicrous but very entertaining. I can’t fault the food it was good but maybe I’m not man enough to stand up to the size of it. A good steak, yes and too much of a good thing, I packed half of mine home and prolonged the pleasure of my NY strip. So maybe this place isn’t for me and definitely not for the faint hearted.

Salad Days

2008-05-31T17:14:00.001+08:00

My vegetable man in the nearby market has been good to me. He has over the years been a good supplier of fresh crisp greens and other colourful roots but in the recent years he has been sourcing for a wider variety of vegetables and has cultivated a substantial and growing choice of organic products.

After a monster meal yesterday, I decided a salad was the only way to go today. I walked to the market today in search of fabulous things for my chopped salad and digestion. I find the idea of a chopped salad very appealing. One of the reasons is strange and self serving. One of my favourite things to do in life is to mise en place. It is weird I know. And I love working with the knife, slicing, dicing and chopping. So for me, the chopped salad is perfect, I get to savour the whole process of preparing it and then I get double the pleasure from forking through it. The salad combinations are unlimited and just think of it of a mix of something light, something fresh and a clever mix of things in my fridge or the guiding principal can be – select the things you love to eat.

This was my chopped salad of the day.

Romaine lettuce
Sautéed shiitake mushooms
Tomatoes
Manchego cheese
Leftover roast beef
Quail’s eggs
Vinaigrette made from the best olive oil you can get, vinegar and your favourite mustard

Hamburgers at Relish

2008-05-25T14:29:00.003+08:00

Relish
#02-01 Cluny Court (next to Serene Centre)
501 Bukit Timah Road
Tel: 6763-1547

Here’s more about eating hamburgers. I recently headed down to the chic casual burger bar Relish to see if I’ve found the place for burger craving emergencies.

It didn’t quite do it for me. I had the signature wild rocket burger with sun-dried tomato relish and arugula. Hamburger versus hamburger, sure the patty was generously thick, the cooking was spot on with the medium-rare and it had great texture and mouth feel when chewed on but I didn’t get an ounce of the transcendent char-grilled beefy taste that I was looking for! Not to discount the sun-dried tomato relish or the Sarawak pepper sauce which was delicious but I still have beef about the patty and my semi-hot fries that seemed to have spent too long on the pass.

Maybe I don’t belong in a gourmet burger bar or maybe when it comes to hamburgers or maybe I am a hamburger purist or simpleton (I’m not sure which), but it is really simple, all I really really really want is a really tasty no fuss hamburger where I can taste that it is good beef (no Kobe or Wagyu required), it was cooked deliciously pink to order and served with fresh lettuce, tomatoes and squirts of ketchup and mustard. Fries optional but preferred.

Burgers and how I like them

2008-05-19T17:36:00.003+08:00

I have a strange relationship with hamburgers. I never crave them as a comfort food but when I do spot one on a menu, I occasionally have a compulsion to order it even though it might not be what I really really want.

Whilst I never crave them, I still find the need to find a good burger joint for emergencies. The good news is that I’ve found one the horrible part of that news is that it isn’t on the same continent as my regular home address.

Just a short walk away from the Albert Cuyp market is where I think is the best place to roll up your sleeves and to bite into in Amsterdam: Burgermeester.

This smallish, narrow and unassuming shop makes fine burgers. The good people that operate this place are really friendly so that makes the burger eating a happy experience. And in case you were wondering, they serve side salads and milkshakes as well, but the focus is really on the burgers.

Once you’ve sized up the burger menu, narrow your choice down to your favourite three and then I recommend ordering the mini trio plate that way you get to eat all three of your choice burgers. And don’t forget to ask for the burger of the month. Every burger is made to order, so if you go during the busy hours a wait is expected.

I tried the plainest of them all, the beef burger. It was good. They use mainly organic ingredients, implication: good, fresh and happy ingredients = tasty burger. For their beef, they make their patties with Blonde d’Aquitaine beef. After the process of being chopped, shaped and grilled, what emerges is beef patty that is juicy and flavourful, fantastic for burgers. My first bite and to my delight had me reaching across the table for the napkins to save the beefy dribble from hitting my clean shirt. It was nothing grand in this crazy gourmet burger era where Kobe, Wagyu, foie gras and truffles are now its frequent bedfellows, but it was a thing of basic beauty.

Burgermeester
Albert Cuypstraat 48
Tel: +31-206-6709339

The Singel 404

2008-05-14T00:12:00.006+08:00

I’ve been away. After about two weeks of sleeping in foreign beds and waking up to a hammered jet lagged feeling; I’ve just made it home.

The feeling of being home is a strange feeling. You can be perfectly alienated at home and at home in a completely foreign environment. This trip I went back to a place that I called home for a while, parts of it still looked foreign and other parts looked and smelled familiar. The supermarket that was a seven minute walk away from my then home, my supermarket, had the same smell that it had five years ago. Thankfully not one of those bad smells, but just a distinct smell that was strangely reassuring.

After walking down the aisles of the Albert Heijn and reacquainting myself with the delights of pindakaas (the Dutch version of peanut butter that taste nothing like the smooth Skippy’s/peter pan types that I grew up eating), stroopwafels those waffles that justify are thin enough to hold the maximum amount of caramel, speculaas a Dutch spiced biscuit that I was seriously addicted to and the cheese, I started feeling more at home.

Old cheese with egg, sun dried tomatoes, honey mustard, sprouts, avocado, garden cress and walnuts

Once I pulled myself out of the supermarket, I did the next thing that was top on my priority, to eat at my favourite sandwich shop in Amsterdam. Anyway, the Singel 404 is small, so you need take any choice table that you get and if the sun decides to come out, sitting along the Singel to watch the boats, bikes and people pass it a great way to spend lunch. The menu here is huge – with nearly fifty different bread + ingredients options ranging from the failsafe toastie, club sandwiches, and my personal favourite section: specials where they have great combinations – it is hard not to at least one option that you would like. Or the last option is for you can be an impossible person like me on my first visit where I insisted on creating own sandwich despite the dizzy array of choices, but I am not too sure if this option is still available.

This trip I made it to the Singel 404 twice – for lunch and brunch. In the peak lunch hour, it is annoying having to stand around and to watch people eat whilst you are starving but in a seriously twisted manner, there is perhaps a magnified sense of gratification when you grab a choice table and savour lunch with conversation. For brunch, I made it there really early and so I enjoyed a full twenty minutes of quietness from me being the solo diner in the lunchroom. Everything I’ve ever had in this place is good. Everything. That and I’ve had fabulous memories at this place. Needless to say, I love it.

Singel 404
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tel: +31-204-280154

And this little piggy went to Mimigar

2008-04-06T18:28:00.003+08:00

Mimigar
1 Nanson Road
#01-08 Gallery Hotel
Tel: 6235-1511

Here at Mimigar, the open kitchen is dedicated to Okinawan style food and the cooks wear funky hats. I think Okinawan cuisine is good fusion food. It is a fun mix of Chinese and American influences that have been adopted into the local style of cooking.

The Chinese influence – stir-fried bitter gourd with pork. Unlike the Chinese version which is commonly generously flavoured with black beans, the okinawan version has a very clean taste and stir-fried over a furious flame with eggs and tofu.

The American influence – taco rice that is essentially a taco sans taco shell but plus rice. They also have a Japanese version that is taco curry rice, a house specialty – I’ll try this the time.

One of the stranger things that I ate here were sea grapes – a type of edible seaweed. I thought they looked really cute. The way they serve it here is pretty straight forward, a plate of sea grapes and a shoyu based dipping sauce, dip and chomp. And of course you have to have a serving of mimigar when you are at mimigar. With a whole menu page dedicated to this delicacy, you can choose how you would like to enjoy it. We chose to cover it with peanut sauce, something that I thought was a little too overwhelming, since I tasted peanut sauce and a hint of crunchy porky.

Mimigar has a quirky vibe but I can’t put my finger down as to where it origins, is it the fact that the cooks have funny hats or that the restaurant is named pig’s ears but whatever it is, I like its quirk.

Singapura oh Singapura

2008-03-30T22:22:00.003+08:00

Singapura Seafood Restaurant
Blk 9 Selegie Road
#01-31 Selegie House
Tel: 6336 3255

Cold crabs rock. It is crab au naturel and because of that it is essential that the crab is of the freshest quality. At Singapura restaurant, the flesh is firm and compact, the roe is creamy and the garlicky vinegar chilli sauce is a great complement.

This restaurant has been around for while. Its operations are now run by the second generation but the food still holds on to good traditions. Other than the solid chunks of cold crab, there was more good food that came from.

Unlike the usual prawns rolls that are made from a combination of minced pork and prawns and rolled in bean curd skin, their special prawn rolls were made form whole prawns and deep fried to a crisp. And their pork ribs, tender and sticky sweet are finger licking good should not be missed.

Our attempt at ordering a vegetable dish was derailed when the staff suggested that we tried their baby kalian with pork liver, another deliciously sauced dish that disproportionately had more liver than leaves – so much for trying to order something healthier!

Last up before our noodles was the fish head. The fresh dish head was steamed with a generous handful of garlic and then sauced with tau cheo, very simply put together but very good. To finish it all off, we split a plate of Foochow noodles, after all we are in a Foochow restaurant, and that rounded up dinner.

Ten-Jyaku - to inspire tranquility

2008-03-22T16:48:00.006+08:00

Ten-Jyaku Japanese Sushi
Millenia Walk
9 Raffles Boulevard
# 01-11
Tel: 6837-3960

H's Maki

A few weeks ago a friend brought me Ten-Jyaku - a two year old Japanese establishment that has a small sushi bar, serves up specialty hot pots and has these intimating bamboo cage-like sitting areas.

From the outside looking in, I was apprehensive but when I entered I was met by a familiar face that stood behind the sushi bar, this chef that I met a year ago and I felt a little more at ease.

The good people at Ten-Jyaku serve up fabulous aburi sushi. The courses leading up to that also deserve a mention – a refreshing momotaro tomato consommé jelly, oden, pork ‘sushi’ and homemade salmon tofu topped with oyster and miso. The highlight for me, however, was still the sushi or more accurately aburi sushi. The sushi chef pulled out all the stops and served us what he a sushi roll that he named after himself, let’s just call it Chef H’s sushi. It was a tempura prawn and spicy mayo roll that was stopped with tai and more spicy mayo and gently applied the glowing flames to the sushi’s surface. The whole roll was a great pop of flavours and textures. Following which he served us more sushi of salmon belly, yellow tail, snapper and scallop all baptized by the blow torch flame and topped with a combination of their different flavour enhancing garnishes. And to finish it off, we pieces of rice that was topped with an obscene amount of creamy Russian uni that was free from any fishy scent.

Admittedly I would have liked to have a wider range of fish to choose from, but what they might lack in quantity and choice, they make up in quality and fun through their swift reach to their blow torches and their garnish kits.

WFSKFHSH - Fish Steamboat!

2008-03-02T17:27:00.001+08:00

Whampoa Food Street Keng Fish Head Steamboat House

556 Balestier Rd
Tel: 9769-4451

116/118 Rangoon Road
Tel: 9023-2854

I was first introduced to this steamboat last year through one of the Makankaki’s session and I instantly fell in love with it.

The past few days of rain have got me craving for some soothing hot soup. My favourite place at the moment to slurp and to warm up is Whampoa Food Street Keng Fish Head Steamboat House aka WFSKFHSH. There they prepare a rustic charcoal heated steamboat filled with fresh fish slices, yam, vegetables and a stock that is unbelievable well flavoured and delicate – we suspect it is a good mix of fish bones and a load of ti po (dried sole fish).

Frolick: Yogurt Rediscovered

2008-02-11T23:27:00.000+08:00

Very recently a few young friends got together and decided they were going to create the best damn frozen yogurt that they thought they could. They experimented with various combinations, sampled the competition, repeatedly tested and tasted, until they came to a consensus – we’ve got it, this is wicked yogurt!

Scoop: The natural flavour comes close to luscious Greek yogurt (more flavours to come!) with refreshing hint of something that reminded me of green apples.

Frolick
241 Holland Avenue
#01-02

And Then I Ate More Sushi

2008-01-23T22:47:00.000+08:00

Nogawa
100 Orchard Road
#03-25 Lobby Level
Le Meridien Singapour
Tel: 6732-2911

I think I could live on sushi alone. Maybe I should consider since I imagine that if I fed on a diet of rice and fish only, I would live pretty well.

With the closing of Akane, Chef Nogawa now alternates between his Sentosa and town outlet, serving and joking with his regulars. Different location, but the praise for the pristine freshness and variety of fish is still the same. Everything was precisely prepared and then chomped by us.

My favourite moment was when chef Kelvin told me to get ready to stick my hand out and to open my palm.

“Ready?” he asked
“Yes” and then he placed a small mount of rice that was generously topped with plump sea urchin.
“Eat it immediately!” he instructed and in a smooth tequila shot motion, we popped it in our mouths.

* See all photos here

Da Mario

2007-12-22T12:29:00.000+08:00

Da Mario Pizzeria
60 Robertson Quay #01-10
The Quayside
Tel: 6235-7623
Closed on Mondays

Here’s a great Italian place that has been under the radar. Based on its appearance, you wouldn’t expect too much from this place (and that’s if you notice it at all) but this hole in the wall rustic Italian place is a discovery.

Kudos to Mario, the chef plugs in his ipod and works in a tight space with his cooks. The handmade pizzas that they make are slight different from what is served in Singapore. Not thick crusted but not exactly paper thin either, it is slightly puffy but thin enough to have a good crisp and topped with cheese, Mario’s homemade sauce and your choice combinations. We went with the Rustica with was Italian sausage and mushrooms and it was good.

And the pastas, homemade goodness and portions that will make sure you are well fed. His creation such as the today’s special of crab cappelini that was delicate and yet powerfully featured the sweetness of the crab.

Pizzas and pastas aside, the proof of the restaurant is really in its salad. The chef’s salad of fresh tomatoes, crisp salad greens, simply sautéed mushrooms and creamy mozzarella and drizzled with balsamic vinegar, so simple so fresh and so good. The calamari that we split was also fabulous, ethereal light batter that coated the squid rings it was a great way to start eating.

There is much to love here the smallness of the place that creates comfort and the personality, the passion and the warmth that all comes through in the food.

Cooking Laksa

2007-12-02T21:52:00.000+08:00

I wonder who created laksa?

Maybe the origins was something like mole, where someone just used whatever ingredients that they had at hand and surprise, something beautiful was created. I don’t know. And how did all the different permutations come about?

Laksa, in this case laksa lemak, is a great dish. It is rich and comforting for the soul and it is a magic carpet ride of hot, spicy, fragrant and creamy sensations. For some reason I’ve never thought about making laksa from scratch. It does seem like quite a tedious task and since I work close to a pretty good laksa stall, it really doesn’t make sense. But since a Singaporean friend who has sense migrated was visiting for lunch I thought it was a perfect opportunity to try my hand at this.

You could make laksa for one, but if you are going to use all that elbow grease to pound all your ingredients rather than throwing it in a food processor (as I did, my excuse was that I woke up late and my guest were arriving so I couldn’t let them starve), you might as well get some people to help to make tonnes of it and they can enjoy the fruits of their labour at the same time. Once you get that pounding out of the way, everything else is rather simple. All you need to do is to fry the paste, add liquids and simmer.

Laksa

100 g cooking oil
150 g dried shrimp, soaked till soft and drain
400 ml coconut milk
1.5 litres chicken stock
Sugar to taste
Salt to taste
20 g tofu puffs, cut into strips or cubes
400 g thick rice noodles, blanched
Laksa leaves, washed and chopped

Laksa Paste
1 stalk lemon grass, white portion only sliced
100 g blue ginger/galangal, peeled and sliced
20 g candlenuts, roughly chopped
200 g shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
15 g chilli paste
20 g belachan
1 Tbsp ground coriander seeds
1 Tbsp ground turmeric

Condiments
16 prawns, shelled and boiled
30 g bean sprouts, blanched
Hard boiled eggs, halved

Method:

1. Prepare laksa paste. Grind all ingredients except turmeric and coriander seeds in a blender until a fine paste then add turmeric and ground coriander seeds.

2. Heat oil in a large heavy based pot. Fry laksa paste for about 5 minutes, add dried shrimp and fry for another 3 minutes. Add coconut milk and stock. Bring to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and sugar to taste.

3. Strain stock and reserve dried shrimp. Grind dried shrimp in a food processor and stir into the stock for a thicker consistency. Add tofu puffs and simmer for another 5 minutes.

4. Arrange condiments and noodles in a serving bowl and ladle over hot gravy and sprinkle with laksa leaves as desired.

Joo Heng - Simply Delicious

2007-11-25T18:11:00.000+08:00

Joo Heng Restaurant

360 Joo Chiat Road

Tel: 6345-1503

Whilst I haven’t been blogging, I am still eating, no real excuse except for the fact that I have been little lazy.

I recently discovered this placed called Joo Heng along Joo Chiat Road, although discovered isn’t exactly the best word to use since this place has been around for yonks. Since finding it, I’ve found the food rather irresistible. I’ve been back there twice within a month and I’ve tried to spread the good news only to find out that a foodie friend of mine has been unintentionally harbouring this secret place from me, he was exposed when I tried to tell him the good news about it only to be told, “oh yeah, that’s my childhood place, I used to eat lunch there so often that the uncle recognises me, I grew fat on that food!”

The food here is what I would call local home styled cuisine -- cze char lah! It is simple straight up tasty food. Whatever we have tried was good and judging from the sample and the good smelling plates of food that whizzed passed me I think it would almost be safe to say that everything on the menu is good.

Whilst it has a selection of shark’s fin dishes, what I remembered most was something that it rather rare on menus nowadays, their poached you yi and te gua dish, gently cooked it was cooked just right and then covered with sauce and served with a garnish of spring onions and ginger, very yummy and I wished more places served this. Their unpretentious and homely style also translates into many other delicious nostalgic dishes that we tried such as prawn-pasted chicken, sweet potato leaves fried with sambal belachan, special tofu, steamed song he fish head and steamed baby squid, all simply put together but all very delicious.

When you dine here you don’t need wisdom for a good meal. Reasonable prices and scrumptious food prevail, so order away.

Sage

2007-11-03T22:38:00.000+08:00

11 Unity Street
#02 -12 Robertson Walk
Tel: (65) 6333 8726
website: http://www.sagerestaurants.com.sg/

In school it was always harder to maintain an A then get one. Once you’ve got one, there is the added pressure of having to maintain the standard since you know you are well capable of it. Likewise once a restaurant has been highly praised, there is pressure on it to maintain its high standards.

My first visit was well over a year ago when Colin had organised our annual food bloggers’ dinner. That was a good visit. The highlight of that night, company aside, was the chestnut & oxtail consomme and truffle oil. I can still remember the powerful flavours that came from that unassuming looking soup.

Escargot & Prawns

I recently made a return trip to Sage and it still has it magic. The star of the return visit, however, was a different dish. Much like the chestnut and oxtail consomme, the risotto of Burgundy escargot and tiger prawns flambéed with pastis, Parmesan crusted poached egg and Italian parsley foam, was an explosion of flavours and textures and it was high up there on the yummy scale.

Sage is a great restaurant that is well deserving of the praise that it has received and it is one place that I recommend to many. The food is outstanding and the service is friendly but not giggly and unprofessional and my favourite part about it is that they are local talent.

*see the whole set of photos here.

Michael Roux without the Waterside Inn

2007-10-22T23:26:00.000+08:00

The Waterside Inn. Whilst I have never been there, I would imagine with it many accolades, it is one worth burning rubber for to take in the spectacular surroundings, impeccable service and to enjoy an extensive wine list with peerless cuisine.

Michael Roux was recently featured in a week long Michelin star dining extravaganza, so instead of flying and driving to the restaurant in Bray, we instead took a shorter drive to Goodwood Hotel.

So, what happens when we take one of the successful elements out of its natural environment?

The menu that we chose was a very safe menu, nothing spectacular and on hindsight, it was a menu that perhaps for quality control in a foreign environment was something that did not require a lot of a la minute cooking.

The food was really just ok – terrine of foie gras and pistachio-coated chicken breast and ratafia-marinated grapes, delicate shellfish minestrone, warm fish terrine with butter, oxtail and beef cheek in beaujolais wine, glazed onion, button mushrooms and smoked bacon and sliced pears and blueberries in shortbread biscuit and coulis of red fruit – nothing that particularly created an impression except and oddly enough, the ratafia-marinated grapes with the foie gras dish and the smoked bacon.

The uneven service was the highlight of the night. Our first two courses chased each other in quick succession and then the lag time in between our other courses left us a little hungry. Good company can compensate for off-beat food service, but the final straw of the night was when I tried to send back my hardly tender oxtail that was replaced, but after the waiter tried to insinuate that perhaps it was tough because what I had an issue with was the bone and not the meat per se. “What?!?” I have an issue with that, end of story.

At Table Tatsuya

2007-10-14T19:43:00.000+08:00

Tatsuya
270 Orchard Road
#01-05 Park Hotel Orchard
Tel: 6737-1160

Last night was a night of focused eating. Sushi was the main thing on our minds, so with Akane closed we decided to head to the other well established sushi mecca in Singapore, Tatsuya.

The sushi counter only sits a dozen and the chefs put on quite a show with their sharp knifes, bamboo brushes and blow torches. With such a small sitting and the personal attention you are given with the one to three ratio of sushi chef per customer these seats are coveted and needless to say, costly.

We ordered ‘omakase’ with a qualifier that we were only interested in eating sushi and sashimi. And with that we were later assigned Chef Kan who took care of us for the rest of the night.

The problem with going to a new sushi bar or for any new restaurant is getting the chef to understand your palate and your likes. We started off with a super fresh sashimi platter that consisted of the usual suspects – salmon, tuna, giant shrimp, clams, swordfish – very good, but seemingly conservative for my raw appetite. I sat back and wondered if this was going to be a good meal. The sashimi plate was certain fresh and faultless, but was I going to be taken on that magic-carpet-ride-delectable-adventure that some sushi chefs are capable of?

Aburi toro and salmon

Aburi botan ebi

After popping the first piece of oily-punchy-pepper-seasoned aburi salmon, my fears of being disappointed were dispelled. Following in quick succession was a string of aburi creations, toro, scallop topped with foie gras, botan ebi with mentaiko and matsuzaka beef, all fabulous popping flavour morsels. The most incredible flavour combination was this ‘special unagi sushi’ as Chef Kan puts terms it which was a grilled piece of unagi rolled with a paper thin cucumber slice, topped with salmon skin followed by tobikko and then sprinkled with sesame seeds and a swift brush of yuzu zest and sauce … a mouthful to describe and a mouthful delight.

From the raw department, Chef Kan hand crafted nigiris that included tai with rock salt and squeeze of lime, uni, Hokkaido surf clam, hamachi, arkagai, abalone and chutoro. After which Chef Kan look a little lost since our appetites seemed insatiable as we still peered hungrily into the glass boxes in front of us scouring for more. He then pulled out some squid and sent it to the kitchen to deep-fry as a ‘snack’ or a crispy intermission whilst he thought about what he was going to feed us next. For a treat, he reached below and pulled out the hirame fin then we finally call it a night with the stronger tasting sama and saba.

Hokkaido surf clam

Abalone

Tatsuya is a great table to be at. Bring you sense of adventure and let the chef lead, then either set your budget and boundaries on what you would or would not eat or eat with reckless abandonment and fork over your plastic.

*See the whole set of photos here.