Small Potatoes Make The Steak Look Bigger

I think this establishment has the capability go some ways with the food it serves and the price of at which they charge them for. Cafe Olive (220 East Coast Road) is a rather affordable option which cost less and provides equivalent or better quality than the run of the mill family restaurants in town. And the bonus is that there isn't any GST and service charge at this place. I dropped by on the notice from a reader regarding their tenderloin sandwich which I did not regret. In fact, I was quite pleasantly surprised by what I had and judging from what I saw from other diners, there are other offerings from the menu which look good enough for me to come back, at least a couple of times more. I see several good looking braised lamb shanks going around the tables.


This would make the second soft shell crab in recent years that I've had and remember it good enough to be noticed amongst the gamut of many others that are in the trend of serving this dish. I think most soft shell crabs are simply unremarkable and many are poorly done to the point that they have become quite boring and I have started avoiding them. I picked this starter based on the recommendation of a friend and certainly, it was quite good. For one, the entire of the exterior of the crab was crispy and the insides were hot, soft and juicy. And at $4.90, there isn't anything to complain about it's price. I only wonder what does the salty egg of the crab refer to because I was expecting it to be covered in some salty egg sauce and it didn't really taste anything of that.


This tenderloin sandwich is excellent. It's beats the ribeye sandwich from Marmalade Pantry which I personally think pales in comparison with this which goes at about half the cost at $10.90. There's a doneness option and the tenderloin cut for the sandwich is noticeably heftier than the latter ribeye. Shame on Marmalade Pantry. I believe that the buttered and lightly toasted foccacia stood out more than ciabatta in a weak wasabi sauce. That said, if anyone does know of good steak sandwiches, please drop in and give me a heads up. For now, this recommendation is the best I've had around.

It was just wishful thinking on my part imagining the rib eye steak in this sandwich to be thick and dripping with juices. Well, it was dripping with juices, but it didn't quite qualify with what I had in mind for the thickness. That's what wishful thinking gets you. Lol. The bread, which I think is ciabatta, isn't actually as large as it appears to be. It's puffed up in side so it just looks larger than you think. And you get to choose the doneness of the steak in the sandwich. The really enjoyable thing about this sandwich is that you get a real piece of meat which you can rip out with your teeth. Apart from that, I thought that the ultimate beef burger was ultimately more satisfying. I would attribute that to, apart from the thickness of the meat....lol, that the wasabi sauce which did mask up quite abit of the beefy flavor. That's not really strong wasabi in there, but it did deliver the taste across and I honestly thought that it would have been better if there wasn't any of it. The fries here are pretty good, so the tapioca chips probably should go as well. I am entertaining the consideration to attempting on this what I do at McDonalds. But that would probably make it the most expensive sandwich I've ever had.



The sticky date pudding I was told, is pretty good. It wasn't really as good as the descriptions that I've been given of it. I very much prefer the one at B.R.O.T.H.. And the magic involved was plenty of hot butterscotch and sour cream which works for me, much better than vanilla ice cream on this particular treat.

My lingering impression of this place from the last time almost 3 years back is that the mains are pricey and quite forgettable. Three years later today, the experience at Esmirada (442 Orchard Road, #01-29, Orchard Hotel) is similar and service in this place really needs work. A good term to describe service in the restaurant would be wildly inconsistent. That inconsistency ranges from when you visit to what I think to be whom the servers perceive you to be. If you catch my drift. And the Friday dinner crowd didn't look too promising for their longevity. I've only discovered that they're the same group that manages Brasserie Wolf down at Robertson Quay, just a unit away from Brussels Sprouts.

This place is spoken of for their grills which I think is on the whole, quite decent, but really not something to rave over. The price of the grills goes a little on the high side and the portions aren't exactly generous. Esmirada does paella and the noodle option of that dish actually comes with penne instead of noodles that I thought would be. I'm not picking on the choice of carbs, but I have my suspicions that the pasta isn't done through the authentic sauce reduction cooking. What doesn't feel right is that there isn't chorizos in the platter and the description of chicken from the menu really just involves a couple of mid wings. Really, a couple means just two if you still remember the actual definition of the word. That is certainly astounding generosity.

The rabo del toro is described by the menu to be a Spanish ox tail stew that is served with saffron rice. I really do not know what's so distinctively Spanish about the ox tail stew but it wasn't too too bad coming with four chunky pieces of the tail and served with boiled root vegetables. A signature dessert from the place known as Melting Moments probably has outlived it's moments. The unromantic description of it, is two tiny molten chocolate cakes with a scoop of walnut ice cream and cherries. There are places that does equally good or better molten chocolate cakes these days which also comes in larger portions.

This stall (Stall 29) amongst many at East Coast Lagoon is one of those (out of two in the stalls that are opened for lunch) whose queue gets visibly long from the time I was there for lunch and sees no subsidence even after I am done and leaving. I'm usually not a fan of queues and is very often one of the things that turns me away from a stall with little exceptions. I've learnt that they are usually not worth the wait and I personally dislike having to wait. This is one of the exceptions I made because I was informed that their duck is exceptional and that I'm not likely to be eating at this place often, so it might be a good idea that I should be tucking in to something that's commonly agreed upon as good stuff.


As hawker prices go, this one is a little above the norm. A single portion of the duck, be it with noodle, rice or porridge is $4.50. But I agree that the duck is good and a visible notch above the regular braised (that seems to be the only way it is done for Cheok Kee) duck which I usually will not favor over the roasted variety. I'll not go into the cliche description of the meat. I did not have the rice but it looks to be something that is also better than the regular poor tasting and dried grains that many regular nondescript stalls serve. I can certainly imagine having this again if I do come back to East Coast Lagoon.

Just some shots and thoughts of the Epicurious Burger from, Epicurious (#01-02 The Quayside, 60 Robertson Quay). A friend of mine who lives in the vicinity of Robertson Quay/Mohd Sultan area has been telling me about this rather awesome sandwich of theirs. For $18+ $4 (for the works which includes mushroom, an egg and real salty chewy bacon), the the price comes in as hefty for a burger. The plus side to this is that Epicurious does manage to make the individual toppings identifiable instead of a common mixed mashed burger. Honestly, I was quite impressed by the fact that each mouthful was distinctive of the mushroom, mustard, sauteed onions, aged cheddar cheese, patty and egg. The marinate of the beef patty can be described as flavorful, but is however crumbly. This means that if you're one of those people who prefers to take burgers on with just hands, you get disintegrated meat crumbs over the plate as your maw your way through.



The noteable visual feature of the Epicurious Burger is that the patty, which is of regular size comes with buns that are smaller than average. Small bread make the patties look bigger? I'm not saying that it was to that intended effect, but it's a curiosity to me.



My dear brother thinks that the patty, apart from being better marinated is probably just a little better than those from Botak Jones which is along the same standards as wham!burger. Which means that it's visually more impressive than the taste. It's a little tough for me to disagree. If you like them heavy duty and firm, this is definitely not the burger. Head for Wild Rocket, Brewerkz, or Marmalade Pantry instead. This patty in this one is just good for epicurios-ity, not much more.

Geylang is reknown at least amongst the locals here to be a very recognizable district which congregates businesses that involve pleasures of the flesh. Not to delve to deeply into the lurid details of the myriad options of carnal pleasures, we have locally and possibly internationally famous food hawkers, drinks, more food and more drinks. Yeah, almost everyone knows about this. I'm sure you did.

The stalls around Lorong 9 (and possibly other areas) boasts several food outlets that are opened 24 hours of the day, so you can pretty much drop by the area at any time of the day or night and avail yourself to the options. A couple of the noteable eateries here deal with frogs and cows.

Lion City Frog Porridge (235 Geylang Road) is famed for, obviously, frog porridge ($19 for 2 frogs and a pot of porridge). Incidentally, there is also another one at Balestier which also calls itself the frog porridge vendor from Geylang Lorong 9. So which is the original? The taste between the 2 stalls are comparable, but if my memory does not fail me, the one at Balestier has a stronger kick from the spiciness of the kung pao gravy which is also served in much more generous portions. It also came bubbling hot which this one in Geylang didn't. Nonetheless, the popularity of this dish is undeniable from the bustling crowd in the coffeeshop. The frog was the usual hot and tender succulent flesh that you can place in your mouth and simply suck the meat off the bones. I know people who think frog meat is disgusting. And I wonder to myself how can that be? Lol. The porridge here has shreds of ginger which along with coriander and cilantro forms the tripartite bane of my eating experiences. Apart from that, the thick gruel which is the usual accompliment with the claypot kung pao frogs does an almost unparelleled definition of literal and proverbial warm comfort, especially in the cool rainy nights. Really, apart from the ginger shreds, I have no complains.

Just across the road sits a famous Lorong 9 Geylang beef kuey teow. This is actually my first time having it and I really don't know what's so great about it. It's not a bad beef kuey teow. The lethal combination of black bean and chilli sauce is something that I normally find quite irresistible. This one comes that way with a char flavor that is distinctive to the food cooked from seasoned black iron woks. However, the sauce isn't as body-ful as I thought it could have been and the beef is simply just tender pieces of unidentifiable meat. Insert your own rat jokes here. Maybe it's just a personal preference for my beef to taste like beef. But I really don't think that much of this supposedly famous place.

I've visited this place before sometime September last year when I was brought to sample for the first time this rather special "liao" laden noodle. I had no clue the name of the stall, so I've actually found out the name of the name some months back and also realised that they're only open during lunch hours so do not attempt to visit this place during dinner. Seng Kee also sells a rather unique fish maw noodle which is interesting in a way that fish maw is usually used to soups and I've never encountered them served with noodles like this. Today, probably because of the crowd, I got noodles that weren't drained as well so it turned out a tad wet. The overall taste wasn't much as affected as the texture though. The soup is as marvelous as I remember, dense and cloudy in it's flavorful content.

I remember seeing this item on the menu from my previous visit here at Perle Noir so I decided that I just had to try it to see if it's any good. I tend to avoid steaks in non-steak places, but the blue cheese beckoned and won over the other tenderloin option that was stuffed with oysters and wrapped in bacon. I really don't think the oysters here are any good from a first poor show. It was unfortunately not the thick juicy steak which I was hoping it to be and judging from the quantity of blue cheese used and the flavor that resulted from it, it isn't something of exceptional stench. This turned out to be a regular thin sliced ribeye which was not possessed of the quality which I have had at Ember nor did it turn out to be what I would have preferred like it was at B.R.O.T.H.. This supposed medium rare piece wasn't remarkable by any means so if you like your beef like I do, I think you can give it a pass and stick to the mouthwatering Yorkshire pork rack.

I've never really been a fan of bread pudding. The only one that I recall ever thinking was good was from Miss Clarity. It's usually far too starchy and sweet and it's normally not warm enough for my liking. This one from Brewerkz falls in the same category as the others whereby it's not warm at all. But the overall taste is actually pretty good so I could just imagine if it had been warm and it would have been a pretty good pudding. What helps is the whisky caramel sauce and the fairly generous raisins which breaks apart the monotony of sweetness on the tongue. If I ever come back and have this again, I'll have to remember to remind them to have them heated before serving.

Apart from a couple of items which I thought wasn't too bad, this place is actually quite disappointing. To venture a guess, I could start with speculating that there is a poor system of batching up the grills that are ready to be served, by which it has already started to cool. There's no way the standards of the grills on sticks here can approach the quality at Kazu or Kushigin. Topped with a cocky waitress that thinks that this place does exceptional garlic rice which is better than what she labels as "other places". Oh, this seems to be one of the places too where the servers are very adepted to the practice of professional aversion of the eyes when you try to get their attention anytime after you've made your orders. It's quite safe to say that this will be my first and last visit.


This stuff is really quite good. Pleasantly chilled, the century egg sauce made of the yolk is sweet that this is almost like a dessert. The roe on the top was a very nice touch of slight saltiness to this dish. I'm pleasantly surprised that it was better than I thought it might have been.




I must say that the ox tongue is pretty good. Here, the tongues are sliced thinly and then packed onto the sticks, so the look like the regular pieces while remaining on the sticks, but unfold as you pull them out. The main problem with Shunjuu's grills are that they don't arrive hot which makes things vastly different from the other 2 Ks. The chiizu aburage maki are bean curd sheets that wrapp around cheese. I couldn't really taste much cheese in this so I think it's no good at all.




The lamb chops are good. Very comparable to what I had at Kazu, but it's much more fatty. With it coming hot off the grill, the fat is usually something good enough for me to ignore, but this one simply had too much.


I'm thoroughly disappointed with this. It's almost totally a different thing from what I had in Kazu. The sweet potato here isn't as fragrant for one and its very dry. It also was served with butter which would have helped it greatly here. Do not order this here. It's not worth it.


This fish is quite fresh, however the meat disintegrates easily and I'm not sure if that's how the texture of this fish is supposed to be like. This makes it a rather tiresome affair eating them with chopsticks. In the department of taste, it's rather decent with the oily (oil from the fish) flesh. The crumbly meat just makes it dubious in terms of quality.

I'll rather pick Kazu over Shunjuu anytime in the future. Both experiences that I've had there makes it a clear winner in dining experience.

This place (Blk 85 Bedok North St 4) is suppose to be quite popular I hear from some colleagues. This is one of the old styled hawker centre cum wet market places that you don't see much of anymore. Think Tiong Bahru Market. Strangely, half the stalls in this hawker center seems to be closed in the middle of the day and the lunch crowd is almost threadbare. I was pointed out to a Hainanese styled curry rice which also reminds me of the ones that had in Tiong Bahru Market and Maxwell Food Centre in the past.

For 2 meats and 2 vegetables, you get a plate with rice at a very affordable $2.50. It looks to be a rather good lunch deal if you're not a big eater. You may have surmised that the portions aren't exactly very big, but I personally think it's a fair portion. I only wished that they were more generous with the crispy breaded pork chops.

These paus (meat buns) are really large. It's big enough to make a meal alone and well....I must say that the fillings are quite generous. There's mushroom, egg, salted egg, meat, crabstick and lap cheong. I remember reading about this somewhere saying that there's abalone, but I didn't really find any of those. It's quite similar to a $2.50 pau that East Ocean Court use to do years ago. That was smaller and much tastier. The location if you're interested is at GC Foodcourt, 623 Elias Road, #01-01.

I wonder what the term 'Japanese casual pasta' means. So now we know that Waraku is expanding their portfolio of Japanese restaurants doing more of what their original establishments serve with a focus. I'm generally in favorable disposition with Japanese westerns thanks to Ma Maison. They understand the concept of al dente pasta better than most other places and are almost, almost comparable to the Italians. The sauces and toppings here are on the other hand, comes in more experimental looking varietals and with certain strains which non-Japanese places are not likely to do. That makes them distinctly Japanese I guess....in a way.


At the top left, there is a Bonito sauce which is a ponzu-like condiment. That is one of those things that I'm talking about being distinctively them. There's nothing like that in Pasta Brava or Garibaldi. Will never ever see them there.

This store isn't really at Eunos MRT but at Changi Road instead. Just across the road from a rather good ba chor mee store along the row of show houses. The soup here comes free flow, and it probably would do better with abit more pepper. But I'm not complaining. There is the spare rib option for the meat and soup which comes with just ribbed portion of the pork which cost 50 cents more per bowl. The pictures will do the rest of the talking.