Some random home made hotdog

Looks and tastes much better than the hot bitches! These are pork sausages encased in butter toasted hot dog buns topped with mustard, jarred relish and yellow onions sauteed in butter. Everything can be pretty much bought off supermarkets and assembled except for the onions which have to be diced and fried.

Greenwood Fish Market & Bistro, 34 Greenwood Ave

I found this to be a rather pleasant place nestled in the folds of private housing estates along Hillcrest just off Bukit Timah road. Which really also means that the place which is located along a row of shop houses with other oft mentioned restaurants isn't visible at all. Greenwood Fish Market is really, a tiny fish market with a rather pleasant dining area built into the back of the stall which sells fresh seafood. Right at the front of the store, is a small al fresco area which sits approximately 15 persons. Presumably, the seafood that the restaurant serves all seafood that is sold at the stall front and the menu has a surprising variety for a small place, inclusive of a variety of fishes like yellowfin tuna, barramunda, cod, halibut and a bunch of others which I do not recall now that can be cooked to order based on availability.


The food here is interesting, if not conventional in execution. What I meant was that the offerings while not exotic, was presented in a not so commonly seen (you could say boring) manner. The foie gras and sea scallop ($24.95) is served on top of a bread pudding soaked in a port and fig reduction. It comes with a small bunch of vine ripen cherry tomatoes and a piece of grilled pineapple on the side. Well, I'm not sure about how this is suppose to be interpreted, but I do enjoy both scallops and foie gras. There's nothing exceptional here, both the liver and the shellfish come as I had expected, so this is actually not bad. It's my first time having them on bread pudding though.


The escargots ($14.95 for half dozen) here don't just come drench in garlic butter or olive oil or any of that oil and garlic combinations. It is actually served in what the menu describes as a 'patty case' which looks very much like a kueh pie tee shell. The menu says that it comes with bechamel sauce, but what we got here was just snails in a kueh pie tee shell blanketed over with a cheese sauce and topped over with a very fine garlic paste and then dizzled with some token balsamic vinegar. I thought this wasn't too bad, just unexpected because I had expected escargots to be just served as they are. My initial reaction to this rendition of snails was actually to wonder if something was wrong with the snails to be so covered up in sauces and condiments, but after having the first, I realised that the meat doesn't taste as drenched in the other flavors as I had thought they might and that they were actually pretty fine.


The crab meat vongole was actually pretty decent. This comes from someone who's usually wary of vongole because of the miserable portions or lousy quality of clams that are used very often. This one from Greenwood is actually a regular vongole that's comes with shredded crab meat tossed into the pasta. The buttery broth had also an edge of spiciness which I thought was a nice touch that I rather liked. The first noted plus to this for me was the al dente spaghetti. I think it would have scored better if the crab meat weren't so shredded and actual sinews of them could be seen. Having them in this manner somehow reminds me that these bits are actually leftovers from other crab dishes since they didn't exactly rank up there in terms of freshness in taste. I'm not actually complaining, I'm just stating a suggestion that might by chance be enacted upon. Lol. The clams here aren't too bad and it's good to know that this plateful isn't propped up with just shells. I don't know why, but when I ordered this pasta, I was envisioning a plate filled with crab shells in the pasta.

I have a feeling that I'll be back again. I ought to check out the fish and chips.

Obento lunch at Nanbantei

Previously I have had a similar yakitori obento lunch set from Kushigin. Now that I'm having it at Nanbantei (Far East Plaza #05-132, 14 Scotts Road, S228213), I realised that they are exactly the same thing and cost the same amount. A $12.50 bento box with 5 sticks of grills, pickles, rice topped with minced chicken, sauteed mushrooms and seaweed. The difference between the two bento boxes are probably just the rice that is being used and as I recall, the former didn't use the short grained Japanese rice. Otherwise, lunch at both places (same management if you didn't know) are pretty much the same deal. Now I'm not too sure why I was expecting any differences at all.

A second take at Prego

The last time I visited this place was also my first time having dinner here with an ossobuco wanna be on a very cheesy saffron risotto. This time round, it's pastas for the mains since Prego is obviously Italian and I thought it might be interesting to see what they have up their culinary sleeves. Having been around for some years doesn't always mean that things are as good as everyone expects despite the rather competitive battleground for the restaurants here. And there isn't any insinuation behind the last statement. I was merely stating a sentiment that just popped up a second ago. Apparently, there was just a very recent change in the menu. I'm not aware of any web edition which is available, if it is indeed available for the food, so it makes a visit to this place slightly interesting in that manner. You don't know what could come up next. But then again, it could be boring.

One of the things I enjoy about this place is the nice wheel of complimentary bread that they serve to the patrons. It has always been the same bread that Prego has been putting on the table ever since I could recall remembering and it has never failed to arrive as a dense but soft and warm loaf. Take it from me, whom haven't visited this place that many times. Lol. I think it goes appreciated when one is hungry and waiting for the antipasti to arrive. And there's also the chilled tomato pesto to help whet the appetite.

bread

calamari fritti

These calamari from Prego are probably the most expensive ones I've ever had. For $28, it was certainly quite unremarkable with an almost tasteless batter. The saving graces of the starter came from the squid that I felt had a rather enjoyable bite and the "spicy tartare dressing" which really livens up the fried squid noticeably. I'm quite sure the price of it was not justified.

spinach gnocchi stuffed with prawn topped with minced crab meat on a crustacean bisque

The gnocchi's here do taste a tad weird in an Asian manner to me. Maybe it is just me, but it had consistency like Chinese yam cakes and the make of the pasta did look slip shod. The pasta looked like it had the morsels of meat rolled into them in tubes before they were cut and not scored after they were cut. I was reminded of the fallopian tubes that are served in kuey chup stores since they essentially appeared like small stuffed tubes. The taste of the crustacean bisque was definitely very similar to spicey dried shrimps (hay bee!). The minced crab meat definitely didn't ring with the sweetness of fresh ones. Even for in house made pasta, these were the most un-gnocchi like gnocchi I've ever had and I'm far from being impressed.

pappardelle della befana
saffron pappardelle tossed with sauteed pancetta and eggplant aglio with provolone piccante cheese

The pappardelle was the better of the two pastas that was ordered and this one is actually something that was picked off the festive selections on the menu which decidedly looked like a gimmick to me because there wasn't anything really so festive about it. In fact, I'm positive that the kitchen could come up with something like this anytime for a change of menu, but let us not venture further in that matter. There was just the barest hint of saffron in the pappardelle and most of the flavor came from the tangy tomato based sauce and the stronger flavored piccante cheese which I have just found out is a variant of gorgonzola.

Zucotto

To demystify, this is just a Kahlua flavored ice cream with a cookie crumble shell. Despite the plain make up of the dessert, it was actually not too bad.

I don't think I'll be wanting to return at least for a long while.

La Petite Cuisine, Serene Centre

Being one of those places whose name pops up now and then on food conversations and the Internet invariably invites a measure of curiosity to want to find out what the place is really about. Le Petit Cuisine (#01-05 Serene Centre, 10 Jalan Serene) has been on and off my radar for a while now. The place is known to certain extents to do a home made styled French cuisine with no frills and an affordable price. Truly, the place is not fancy at all at the slightest. The food's rather simple with no unnecessary elaboration and if you're expecting ambience that accompanies the usual imagery of dining in a French place, you can dispel that bubble. There is none of that there. Think plastic tablecloth, laminated card menus and cash only payment. This is about affordable French food which would probably make a good introduction to anyone who is curious about what one can expect of bistro styled dining.

foie gras panfried with orange confit and salad ($15)

For a $15 foie gras, I certainly cannot complain much. But if I had to say it, I would have liked a more crispy surface and this is probably because the ones here aren't really caramelised before the pan fry. The insides do literally dissolve in your mouth and for the price here, is definitely a better deal than a pseudo fancy rendition that features a higher price tag and noticeably smaller portions. One gripe that I had is that the supposed orange confit tasted a lot like a Worchester sauce reduction.

ravioli of prawn and foie gras in lemon creme ($12)

Honestly, this item would have gotten top scores if the skin of the ravioli itself was better made. That's because, in each one of them comes a single shrimp and an identifiable piece of foie gras and the accompanying lemon creme sauce is actually pretty decent. Instead of stuffed squares of pasta, these arrive pretty much like wanton or other similar chinese styled dumplings. The portions look to be second platter rather than a main since there was only 3 pieces.

confit de canard with gratin ($14)

I've certainly not much complains about the confit de canard apart from portions, which I thought was a tad small. It's definitely not the best out there, but it's a decent flavored duck that is served with a tasty milky gratinated potatoes on the side.

Of fast food, chilli fries and Carl's Jr

Just wondering out loud if there is another place that does and equivalent or better chilli fries than Carl's Jr. The ones from KFC aren't really to my liking. I understand that Botak Jones does something similar, but I'm pretty much against the over fried crinkle cut fries which really makes them no fun to eat and it makes me feel that I'm killing myself with something that doesn't taste as good. Though I'm essentially not big at all on fast food, these usually chained outlets are definitely ubiquitous enough to the point that they are probably on most people's consideration list when one does not have time to spare and really need a quick meal. And apart from this place that still serves the best (and most expensive) fast food burgers since they've opened up here, there doesn't seem to be any better player in the horizon. The portabello burger definitely beats the mushroom swiss at BK. Speaking of burgers in this place, the chilli cheese burger could definitely do with more sauces. The mix is pretty decent, it's the quantity that could improve. That being said, it'll probably make eating them a messier affair.

So, good chilli fries anywhere anyone?

Teh Tarik ice cream from Island Creamery

I've just dropped by Island Creamery (Serene Centre, 10 Jln Serene #01-05) recently and tried a couple of their flavors. The teh tarik ice cream is pretty good that I bought 2 tubs home. I thought it wasn't excessively sweet and certainly had enough of the tea flavor to be enjoyable.

If you happen to be the owner and reading this, your Tiger Sorbet was mildly interesting too. However, the tigeresses that you employ behave as if they were loaded with PMS and really need a dosage of discipline. Selling nice ice cream is certainly no excuse for bad attitude and obvious display of lackadasical behavior. I'm talking about one particular lady who informed me that the dry ice packing that could keep the ice cream cold for an hour and a half while another that did the actual packing said 45 minutes and insisted that she was correct about the duration. I had to ask the first other lady again to confirm and both of them looked like they weren't in agreement. Seriously, I needed the ice and what's with not wanting to ask and not providing ice and still arguing with the customer about the duration of the cold packing?

Marché, VivoCity

It's been quite some time since I've walked into Marché. I had actually thought that they had departed the local food scene with Vila'ge being more visible in town but apparently, they still are around in Vivocity (VivoCity, 1 Harbourfront Walk, #03-14). Things apparently have changed a little on the menu. The old favorites like the rosti and the savory crepes are apparently still around. The food doesn't seem to be as tasty as I remember them to be except for the greasy rosti with their greasy sausages. The banana crepe had rubbery skin thicker than prata and for something that comes from a hot pan, the bananas actually arrived cold. Wtf?! The pasta drenched in some weak cream sauce is apparently not to my liking if you can realise from the picture that it's smothered in cheese flakes and chilli powder.

The pleasant surprise is that Marché actually has König Ludwig at rather inexpensive pint which I found was a rather good substitute for Hoegaarden during the shortage period some months back where everywhere was serving them with extra thick foam with some other places charging more while at that. But that's for another day.

rosti with garlic sausage

pan fried mushrooms and potatoes

creamy mushroom soup

some curly carrot pasta

banana crepe with maple walnut ice cream

Festive lunch from Il Lido

Il Lido (Sentosa Golf Club, Bukit Manis Road) is up again this year end with a festive menu for Christmas. Apparently, this festive menu has been ongoing since the 5th of November and will continue until the 28th December before the switch into the New Year Menu. Simply put, I haven't had the opportunity to visit before and decided to give a try of their offerings of the 4 course festive lunch ($58 before tax) since it's a festive mood most of us are in and it is also a place that I've been hearing about for some time. The restaurant is really, located at the rather inconvenient location of the golf club at Sentosa which can prove to be a bit of a hassle if one is not driving. On the other hand, it is a rather pleasant place with a rather scenic view of the sea if one is inclined to find their way there and put up with the either the blistering sun or the sweltering humidity or both. I wisely requested for an indoor seat near the al fresco area to get both the air conditioning and most of the view which though was scenic, was also far from the stunning portrait that it is often imagined to be.

complimentary bread crisps

These dry looking bread crisps are surprisingly quite enjoyable to munch on during the wait time between the courses, served in a coral designed metal bowl which I've noted seems to be in almost everyone else's photos. These light airy bread crisps are actually lightly flavored with olive oil and bits of garlic and I thought they probably would have been great for dips and soups. Certainly quite different from the usual sliced bread or buns that most of the other places offer out of either obligatory practices or just to fill you up. Il Lido fills you up with their airy crispy thin bread and as if to confirm, they actually brought a fresh bowl just as we were a third done with the first. I'm not complaining though.

insalata di granseola con avocado e salsa di agrumi siciliani
blue swimmer crab salad with avocado and sicilian citrus sauce

These crab salads must be one of the commonly overdone salad/starter things and really gets boring, but since this is all part of the set menu, there isn't anything else I could choose. Does the minced crab salad with avocado and orange slices look familiar to anyone? I didn't think that these things would be the "caesar's salad" of starters in restaurants everywhere. For a Italian restaurant that presents a rather modern take on the menu, this salad actually feels quite uninspiring. The taste however is the expected light flaky crab meat over creamy avocado that's somewhat rudely interrupted by a very regular bruchetta-like tomato toppings. I don't know what went into the sicilian citrus sauce, but I was glad it did contain enough of an element of citrus and didn't taste anywhere close to Thousand Island dressing. Lol.

tagliolini con fegato d'oca e pere al marsala
homemade tagliolini pasta with goose liver, pears and marsala wine sauce

This was probably the most enjoyable course for me in taste and texture. Not to my surprise, it's not an extremely fanciful plate of pasta. What was like-able about this was the poached pears which was not overdone to the point of being mushy. The diced pears remained in the state between the light and firm crunch of the fresh fruit and the soft texture of cooked fruit. The resultant tussle of flavors between the goose liver and the pears was enjoyable for me. I suppose it would have been a notch better if the liver used were the fatty type like foie gras. But honestly, this was pretty damn good for me with the al dente tagliolini. I haven't really figured out the marsala wine sauce which was quite well flavored without being overbearing. Now if only the portions were bigger...

involtino di tacchino farcito al tartufo con puree di mele e castagne
roasted turkey stuffed with pancetta and truffle, apple and chestnut puree

Tiny pieces of turkey breasts that Il Lido serves. The mixed stuffings ended up tasting mostly of the pancetta. The rest of the taste was pretty mashed up and lost. Some credit goes to the meat retaining a measure of succulent moisture and rather delectable surface flavor. All in all, this was quite enjoyable.

merluzzo nero con porcini, crema di patate e salsa al vino rosso
chilean seabass with porcini mushroom, potato cream and red wine sauce

What was remarkable about this chilean seabass was actually the char grilled mushrooms which surprisingly possessed a very distinctive flavor of mushrooms apart from the char fragrance. Nothing to do with the fish here. This was certainly one of the more delicious enjoyable grilled mushrooms that I've had. I thought the creamy potato bed was rather good as well, being unexpectedly light in taste. As for the chilean seabass, it's just a chilean seabass. Fresh enough, firm, soft, but otherwise a very regular unexciting small piece of fish. The red wine sauce turned out to be a presentation gig for me since the flavor wasn't as robust for the drizzle quantity it comes in.

sorpresa natalizia
traditional italian festive pudding

I'm not too sure how far this tradition stretches for the making of festive pudding or if tradition has changed for puddings over the years for the Italians. It certainly did look quite contemporary for a pudding and I'm not just talking about the visual presentation of the dessert. This comes like a heavy layered mousse clad in a super thin chocolate shell and dusted with a very fine chocolate powder topped with a meringue. According to the server, the 3 different layers of the interior were chocolate, coffee and vanilla, but I thought I had tasted mascarpone in there. We get some bits of candied chestnuts on the side with a golden brown sauce which was distinctively bitter-ish sweet and that the server insisted was just honey. Hmmm......

Chew on this!

I took a plunge and decided to check out a couple of the gimmicky sounding desserts from Ah Chew in this re-revisit to see if they were anything of note. True enough to my inner suspicions which I had decided to quell because of a couple of pretty good earlier experiences at this dessert store, they were definitely no big deals. The green bean soup with seaweed did arrive, a decent dessert atypical to regular green been soup. To pick apart my previous sentence, I meant that apart from having strips of seaweed, the dessert virtually tasted nothing of seaweed. I was actually disappointed just because of that because I was hoping to taste them and hoping to discover something really different in this ubiquitous Chinese dessert. I suppose it all was through no fault of theirs since it is green bean soup that had seaweed inside at the end.

There was a little sign on the counter that mentioned the availability of their steamed milk egg with cookies which was an item that is not on the menu. The adventurous sucker in me decided on an order of it and it turned out to be nothing more than a regular steamed egg dessert with a thin layer of cookie crumbs blanketed over the top. The crumbs didn't really enhance the steamed egg in any way that made the dessert better IMNSHO since they didn't taste of much apart from sweetness. I could really have gone without the additional dimension of textural difference. Seriously, I thought very little of it. To reiterate, gimmick!

Lai Lai again!

Not that I'm too surprised with myself for heading back to this place for late evening chow again since the last visit did leave me with a rather favorable impression of their offerings. This time round, the order was almost exactly the same. We got the tasty lu rou fan, braised intestines and their signature beef noodles. Having the braised meat rice for the second time, I managed to eat them slow enough to notice that the gravy actually contains minced pork aside from the braised pork belly that laying on top of the soft and warm rice. I also noted that there is a store by the name of Taiwan Delights along Bugis just less then a minutes stroll from the entrance of Liang Seah Street that offers similar items. I'll probably check them out when I'm next in the vicinity looking for warm comfort stomach fillers. For the beef noodles, we opted for the potato noodles which I was curious about from the last time and it turns out to be akin to what I had thought to be glass noodles. These potato noodles are rather "Q" as they would put it, to coin from a Taiwanese term. Which really means that they are springy in consistency. The texture is smooth as expected, so coupled with the chewy consistency, reminds me of a crab tang hoon in Geylang which I've had some months back. This makes them very easy to slurp and let slide down the throat without even actually chewing them which I personally think is quite a fun thing to do with some noodles.

Hyang To Gol Korean Restaurant, Amara Hotel

I was told that this place (Amara Singapore Hotel Level 2, 165 Tanjong Pagar Road) is pretty good by word of mouth from a friend who got it straight from a Korean guy. So my guess is that there must be a certain level of authenticity in the food here. That being said, I still feel that Korean food isn't so much my cup of tea as Japanese is even though I don't really mind them now and then. There's simply too much of a similar taste of spicy and sour here which makes many things a tad difficult to distinct from one another. But I suppose it could also be the fact that my palate isn't quite as discerning for all things kimchee.

small array of condiments

spread shot

spread shot II

cold appetizer soup

Kimcheejeon

Here's the almost obligatory pancake that's available in most Korean restaurants if not all of them. I'm not too sure of how good these are against the original things since I've only had them once in Togi, but the ones here are pretty good with a crispy exterior and hot soft insides. In fact, these pancakes are quite akin to Chinese carrot cakes in texture. The difference comes in the fillings of onions and chilli and that it's orange. You could think of them as a hybrid between Indian dough fritters and Chinese pan cakes in some strange manner.

vegetables for the grilled meat wrap

Saeng-Galbi (non marinated beef short ribs)

Yangnyeom-Galbi (marinated beef ribs)

The marinated meats here are pretty standard of how it is done in other Korean places which I've visited. You get to choose the cuts and quantity over the menu and the meat is served and grilled in front of you by the servers. After which you can choose to eat them as they are or attempt what I feel to be a rather troublesome wrap involving a nuttish and salty sauce, slices raw garlic, grilled onion, raw green chilli, all in a lettuce wrap. The cost of the meats here can be quite pricey. In fact, the more expensive options cost more than some steaks Morton's. And the meats here don't even come up to those which I've had back in Aburiya. So really, do the wrap and enjoy the kick of the spices. I don't think they're that big here on the original flavor of the meat that is a tad more done than the requested for medium rare.

Gopchang-Jeongol (beef mixed innards with noodles in soup)

The gopchang-jeongol is something that I haven't really noticed elsewhere and comes recommended. This dish is essentially a beef innards stew with intestines, tripe, tofu and some miscellaneous vegetables and noodles. I must admit to being surprised by the fact that the flavor of the beef was well in the broth and not drowned out by all the spiciness. This is definitely a reminiscence of a beef kuey chap.

Jajangmyeon

As you may gather from the Korean name jajangmyeon which sounds similar to the Chinese zha jiang mian, this noodle is basically very much the same. You get a bowl of noodle topped with thick sticky gravy that's filled with diced meat (probably pork) and vegetables. The main difference is that in zha jiang mian, there isn't really vegetables in the gravy apart from shredded cucumbers and the meat comes minced. Also, instead of being savoury, this jajangmyeon's gravy is actually sweet. Coupled with the viscosity and a rather generous portion, these noodles becomes cloying after a bit making it steadily and progressively a task to finish eating. I very much prefer the Chinese version to this anytime.

what do you think?!

ginger drink