Small Potatoes Make The Steak Look Bigger

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.


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.


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.

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?

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?

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.

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.


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.


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.


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...


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.


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.


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......

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!

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.

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.






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.





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.


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.



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.

Though it says Lai Lai Family Restaurant, the Chinese name of this Taiwanese eatery actually reads 'Lai Lai braised beef noodles'. And a pretty good braised beef noodles this place does. The specialty of this place apparently is Taiwanese beef noodles and the service staff here are actual Taiwanese. Having never been to Taiwan myself, I have no idea how it stacks against the original beef noodle there, but I found myself liking the one served here. And apparently, sometimes, localization makes things better in some instances for me with regards to food. I'm actually refering to the lu rou fan which is a Taiwanese dish, which by name refers to braised meat rice. That name is actually misleading in a small way because the original dish actually contains just rice drenched in a fragrant braised meat gravy with no meat at all. The ones that are served locally by the Taiwanese eateries apparently serve them with braised pork belly.

The beef noodles in this place is served with various options. You get to choose between Taiwanese noodles, glass noodles, kuey teow and potato noodles. Now I haven't a clue what are potato noodles, but I would presume that they're either made of potatoes with flour like gnocchi or potato flour. There's also the option of having tendons along with meat and the size of the bowl of noodles are available in small, medium and large. Then, there is the dry and the soup variety to pick from. You also get to add eggs. This being the first visit, we grabbed the option of the small bowl of soup Taiwanese noodles which are actually a thick noodle with a slight chewy consistency like udons. The noodles arrive in a hot and mildly herbal soup base which while wasn't very thick in flavor, was spicy and quite tasty. Which is really quite excellent for the recent cool weather. Apart from the noodle and the tender braised beef and tendons, we get some token greens. The added egg comes too with a mild herbal aroma like the tea eggs. On the overall, the taste of the beef noodles are spicy and clean. Like I said, I thought it was pretty good.


And this would be the above mentioned lu rou fan. And I also think that I've found something new to look out for since I think this is really excellent. As I have mentioned earlier, this would be rice with braised pork belly and its gravy. It would have been close to perfect if there weren't those sprigs of coriander in them, but they are easily removed so it's something I can just let slide. What I like about the braised pork belly is that the fats are soft instead of chewy like those in most Chinese food places. With the exception of Japanese braised pork which have fats that disintegrate in your mouth, this are probably the next best thing. You get a starchier short grain rice which by its own, tastes sweeter and comes more moist and fluffy. Served hot, it proves to be a lethal combination of comfort.


Lai Lai's menu comes with an array of side dishes and this are braised intestines very much like what you get from kuey chap stores. These intestines are served soft, chewy and hot. In fact, these here are better than what I've had from many of the other kuey chap places without much of the strong taste normally associated with them and it's something that is really worth a try if you're one for innards. I'm pretty sure that I will want to order them again the next time I come by.


Another side dish from the menu is the braised pork ribs. I'm normally not one who's into Chinese herbal stuff, but I have to admit that these braised ribs with tender meat that is fairly easy to remove form the bones are pretty good. The starchy sauce on the dish is quite unremarkable, but the ribs themselves are pretty enjoyable with meat that is just lightly accented with a herbal aroma which I was glad isn't overpowering.

It's been quite some time since I had one of these things. These are actually some kind of limited edition flavor of Kit Kat from Hokkaido. And yes, it is rock melon flavored as illustrated on the box. Upon unwrapping the foil wrappers of these chocolate wafers, you can actually catch the light drifty aroma of rock melon. The taste of the wafers are actually lightly accented with the rock melon flavor. That means that while noticeable, it wasn't overwhelming in any sense. Pretty interesting. I wonder if it is just coincidence that I'm getting these rock melon flavored stuff at this time of the year or is it because the season has brought forth a tide of such items. It seems that I had received some rock melon jellies about this time last year.

The Japanese Food Festival at Isetan Scotts this time round seems to be smaller in scale in terms of what is available but it still is attracting its usual crowd. I grabbed a box of sabazushi for a snack before bracing myself to head back into the crowd to check out the other offerings. The sabazushi is apparently a salted and vinegar marinated slab of mackerel fillet over a roll of vinegared rice. Both the mackerel and the rice are pressed into a bar shaped roll of sorts and then sliced. The slices were pretty thick and this stuff is very enjoyable. The taste of the fish is fatty, atypical of mackerel and each slice of the fish is accompanied by a thick wad of sticky comforting rice. What makes it appetizing is obviously the vinegar which really helps and makes you want to wolf more of them down. If you're considering this, the fair ends on Monday, 17th December. I'm probably going to be down to pick up more of this before it ends.


I also decided to pick up a white bean wafer which they called Yoshifuku Monaka for $3.30 a piece which turned out to be quite unimpressive. My decision to try the wafers was due to the fact that it was a white bean rather than the usual red bean variety. In the end, the taste of the custard-like bean filling was merely sweet without much of an aroma. I wonder if it's because of the sabazushi that I ate before.

If you want a straight forward summary without having to negotiate the mire of my convoluted grammar, I was disappointed by dinner here (3 Chu Lin Road). If otherwise, please read on and appreciate the details of what I have to say about La Noce. Disappointments usually happen because expectations surpass reality. They also happen when things do not quite turn out the way we hope for them to. And sometimes, other things. They do add up. No offense intended to the good Chef Salvatore Catalano and his crew of attentive restaurant staff - the service was good and well appreciated. But for the cost of dinner, the food here definitely has ways to go. And good service doesn't really make up for misinformation, accidental or not. I wasn't disappointed because I had in mind, the flawless culinary execution of the highest level from this place neither. I knew for a fact that I had arrived to this place, very grounded to a realistic expectation of what to experience.


The menu at La Noce is clean and simple. What it contains are the commonly available items one would expect from the usual range of antipasto, pasta, meats and dessert. There is pizza which doesn't appear in the menu and there also was a small list of items from weekly special that was not indicated. One of them includes a ravioli with white truffle stuffing which didn't quite turn out as it sounded like.


The 18 month parma ham with melon was quite atypical of it's kind. Apart from the ham being slightly less salty and being more velvet-like in texture (which I thought was good), there is really nothing much to say about this starter. The melon didn't taste really sweet to me and wasn't too juicy.


The waiter, when asked insisted that the ravioli was stuffed only with white truffles and I was convinced that it could not be true because it cost $24. Realistically, it could not be so and after I've had the first ravioli, I know that it's definitely not just white truffles. I did not reasonably expect the waiter's claim to be true for this price, but what got to me was the insistence that it was purely white truffles. If you want to know, there is a bit of shaven white truffles on the top of the ravioli and it does come with a hint of the flavor from the fungus. Otherwise, it was a creamy cheese sauce and I was quite sure that the stuffings, if it included any white truffle at all, was mostly cheese. This is otherwise quite unremarkable.


This grilled lamb rack is pretty good. Personally I found it rather enjoyable and it's probably the best thing on the table tonight. Despite the meat being a little on the dry side, the doneness was good and the overall taste carried a an expected flavor of lamb and a very noticeable rosemary aroma on the surface. I still think that the charcoal grilled ones from Kazu are better in terms of taste, but these were definitely more meaty. If it's anything here I would recommend, it would be this.


This beef tenderloin is actually a replacement dish after the restaurant failed in a total of 3 attempts to do an ossobuco for two of us at the table tonight. The beef tenderloin was very decent if unexceptional. We get a properly done medium rare, but the meat wasn't as juicy as I had expected. Back to the ossobuco which I must mention to get it off my system, it was redone twice. When it first arrived, I was taken aback (yes, 'aghast' would be a better word!) at how hard the meat was when I first tried to prod at it with my fork thinking that it was all I needed to eat the dish. I made a mention to the waiter and he brought it back to the kitchen to have it changed. I'm not sure if it was changed or merely redone, but in the second round, the results were similar. The third attempt at the dish resulted in something that was quite rubbery and dry. Yeah, I said rubbery. The sauces look dried out from having being redone and the meat on the shank looked blistered. Definitely not something that you would expect of braised meat. And through it all, the waiter looked like he was totally ignorant of the fact that the meat was supposed to be tender and should be easily removable from the bone with just a fork. The good chef did personally apologise regarding the quality of the meat which we had graciously accepted, but a disappointment's a disappointment.


For $30, I didn't quite find this dessert platter enjoyable. I'm positive I've ingested better tiramisu in recent times and I thought that the home made version that I had was more enjoyable. I shit you not. The panna cotta was very ordinary and actually tasted better without the accompanying berry compote. Profiterole's quite the standard, but turned out larger than I had expected and the pie like piece is supposedly a pine tart which tasted like it has custard filling.

I'm not sure if I'm ever coming back given the rather remote location.

This eatery (72 Tanjong Pagar) professes to do northern Chinese cuisine and I've been hearing about them from a couple of sources. After a bit of asking around and reading, I decided to drop by for dinner and check out the food. Even though I had some idea of what to expect from friends whom have eaten at this place, some things turned out pretty unexpected. For one, the place looks a little older than I had expected even though I specifically informed that it was so. For another, the heavily accented chinese spoken by the people running the place was a tad difficult to understand. There were also hits and misses which I didn't really see coming from the food so, I left with a mixed feelings about the restaurant. On the plus side of things, the prices of the food here are actually rather affordable. This dinner for 7 people came up to just about $97 and the portions are, if not generous, are sufficient.

I think I got the name of this greasy and spicy pork belly dish right. I had the impression from nowhere that the slices of pork belly would be thicker thinking of regular stir fried pork, but these are actually quite thinly sliced reminding me of bacon. There is also actually much less meat than it seems because most of the plate is filled with onions and chillies. The pork slices is actually something that would pretty good with beer because of the spice and oil and my main gripe with this is that the portions of meat should be more plentiful.

The spiced braised lamb ribs here is rather good and if I do ever come back again, this is bound to be something on my list to be ordered. I can't help but place a comparison to a disappointing rendition of lamb ribs which I have had recently and I must say that this particular one is many times more satisfying than that was. The tenderly braised meat has enough of it's natural flavors, not being overwhelmed by the sauces and quite easily slides of the bone. Good stuff here not to be missed if you enjoy lamb. There are some sliced tofu of irregular thickness that are placed along the sides of the dish and looked rather out of place. I'm not too sure what to make out of them, but since I do like tofu, I thought it was rather good with the sauce from the dish.

I have some praises for these pumpkin slices which come across as sweetish, much like sweet potatoes and are great when eaten hot. One minor gripe would be that the salted egg yolk on the surface lacks the taste of yolk and is mostly just salty. I've developed a recent liking for salted yolk prawns and having them on hot fried pumpkin slices is a refreshing change to the usual prawn versions. There's a thing about having sweet and saltiness together in some things that carry an appeal which I cannot quite explain or express about liking them.

I didn't expect the duck tongue to have bones (the spiny or feeler like things that you see) in them as I'm having them for the first time. The flavoring of the marinate was pretty good but as I ate them, I couldn't help myself from thinking that they were tongues and after a while, it got kind of creepy. This was especially so when the meat started to get cold. I'm sure I didn't feel that way about eating grilled cow's tongue from Kazu and I can't really understand why this one did so. I'm probably not going to order them again.

The xiao long baos here are simply disappointing. This is probably the worst ones that I've ever had. The dumplings came dry with little or no juice in them. They were also barely lukewarm and I didn't have any problems with popping the whole dumpling into my mouth without having to fear the repercussions of a scalded tongue. I had expected the meat under the skin to be bursting with hot juices and really, that's one of the main essences of having them. Unfortunately this was not the case with the ones here. They actually looked pretty good as they were served.

This broccoli and shredded fish dish was something that I enjoyed even though it looked very predictable in terms of taste. There seems to be a broccoli and a certain seafood dish about in most Chinese restaurants and this one definitely looks to be just one of them. I pretty much forgot to add the accompanying vinegar and didn't taste any of the dried scallops that is supposed to be in the dish, but it was still good the same.

The shredded pork here is pretty much regular of shredded stir fried pork, but the saltish sauce that it was cooked in was rather flavorful and the accompanying chives at the bottom does help in adding an addtional dimension of flavor and crunch. The result was hence quite savoury. The dish was served with poh piah skins on another plate and bascially what you had to do is to wrap the pork and vegetables in those skins and eat them with your hands.

One of the highlights of the dinner was this caramelized apples which are basically battered and fried slices of apple coated in hot caramel. Accompanying this dish were two bowls of cold water and what you did was to dunk the hot apple slices in to the water to harden the caramel surface forming a crispy and sticky shell. The great thing about these apple slices was that the citrus flavor of the fruit was intact and was pretty essential in balancing the sweetness of the caramelised surface. It all has to be eaten fast since the caramel cooled pretty quickly and stuck the apple slices on the plate. Strangely, the apples remained hot and stranger still, we get a token sprinkling of those rainbow bits on the top. I'm pretty sure they were meant purely to be cosmetic in purpose.

These "incredible shrinking" puffs of egg white are quite common as desserts and are suppose to be light and fluffy. The ones in this place were unfortunately not really fluffy as the egg white skins were more on the dense and heavy side. The sugar coated puffs looked huge when they arrived and you could basically see them shrink slowly before your eyes into a much smaller size. The taste was otherwise quite the norm for these things with the hot red bean paste fillings under the sugar coated puffs.

Tiramisu, if your discerning abilities haven't quite figured out from the above picture is in some strange ways like chicken rice. Firstly, it has become quite ubiquitous. One can certainly without much difficulty encounter it in many places. It is also not too complex to make from instructions, but however, requires a measure of experience to work with the separate ingredients to fine tune their application to create the mouthwatering composite. On top of that, the appreciation of the dessert varies in expectations based on it's various ingredients.

Experience in making them is probably one of the important deciding factor as to whether the dessert comes out as desired or results in a hair ripping disaster. Another deciding factor would probably be the actual ingredients involved. Some recipes have included whiskey, rum or even Kalua. May be that the best would be marsala wine. It works like credit accumulation. Each ingredient adds a certain amount of points to the making process. The better or more appropriate it is, the more points each of them earns. The skill and experience adds more separate points and the sum of the individual credits should preferably fall within an imaginary boundary for it to become a good tiramisu.

Fortunately when it is done at home, one can always be forgiving. This is one that still requires fine tuning for better results, but as it is, it's pretty good. Recipe is shared by a secret contributor whom has made anonymous star appearances in this blog several times. Remember, YMMV.

• 1 tub mascarpone cheese
• 1 tub Cool Whip (whipped cream)
• 2 egg yolks
• Sugar (approximately 3-4 teaspoons)
• Espresso coffee
• Port
• Sponge fingers
• Cocoa Powder

Now keep your fingers crossed and hope that it turns out the way you imagine it.

Guess what folks? I'm back here again. This must be the fourth time that I'm writing about Kazu and I bet that some of you whom have been following this must be pretty damn bored of hearing me talk about their excellent charcoal grill. Well, if you're here and reading this, deal with it. But this time round, I'll be easing on the incessant chatter on the food since I there are previous mentions done already (1st, 2nd and 3rd previous visit) . I'll be letting the pictures do some their own talking since most of them have been mentioned and the standards here have so far been very consistently good.


This cold starter definitely deserves some special mention. The base in the cup is actually a minced crab tofu mixture and it's topped with ikura and some ponzu creating what I felt to be an excellent chilled amuse bouche, if you will. The taste apart from being slightly saltish and sourish was definitely something that awakens the taste buds on the tongue as the fragrant salmon roe bursts in your mouth. I'd say this comes highly recommended.


The anglerfish is back in season for this year and this time round, apart from the spicy grated radish top, there is a jelly of Japanese vinegar with ponzu, which I really thought was great. It's almost a surrealistic rendition of foie gras in balsamic vinegar glaze or drizzle since this was liver as well and albeit chilled instead of pan fried. The parallels somehow drew themselves to me with the sourish vinegar jelly as a additional dimension to the taste of the liver. In my mind, I had silently applauded Kazu for wowing me again.






This would be the first unfortunate time when I have something negative to say about the food here and these chestnuts are something which I'll steer clear from in the future. Baked in salt and tasting half cooked, the flesh in the chestnuts were difficult to extract and had little taste beyond that of salt. The texture came out very dry and crunchy and I didn't enjoy it a bit.







One of the things that changes but doesn't really change is Kazu's tiramisu. Their rendition doesn't quite taste quite like the authentic Italian version, but they admittedly tailor the taste of their offering and make changes to certain components of the dessert. This time round, there were blueberries in them and I recall from the past occasions, the sorbet in the centre was changed once from mango to musk melon.

I first visited this place (369 Sembawang Road, #01-05 Sembawang Cottage) some time back for their Moo Moo Burger and this time round, I returned for dinner just to see if the rest of the menu was any good. I have to admit that after the first visit, I didn't really think too much of the place. Now that I've actually eaten here, I think I'm probably right about the place. The conclusion to this visit is that I have some rather mixed feelings about them. Most of it leans towards the thoughts that I probably wouldn't come back again given the fact that there are many other places which I would rather take my chances with. I said that knowing that I didn't leave this place feeling really satisfied with what I've had.

The pistachio herb crusted lamb rack appears to me more like a lamb ribs. Despite the rather impressive appearances, I didn't think too much of the dish as a whole and it left me rather unsatisfied. A few things come to mind. Firstly, this was really quite difficult to eat with a fork and knife since the meat wasn't done to the way where it would fall of the bone easily and the knife that was provided didn't quite do the job properly. The meat was well cooked for most parts and medium well on some others. For the discerning, you might have realised that meant that the doneness was somewhat inconsistent. I ended up having to use my hands after sawing away at the lamb between the ribs which made it a slightly messy affair. Another thing I felt should be mentioned is that the crust of the lamb is mostly breadcrumbs. So the description from the name being pistachio herb crusted is something I personally felt was misleading because I didn't taste anything of the nut nor any particular herb. Seriously, I'm not impressed after hearing some hype about this.


I had first thought that the Emperor Oriental Chix Salad to be gimmicky, but it turned out to be quite tasty. The salad is filled with crackers, lettuce bits, accompanying strips of radishes and carrots with ground peanuts. It was actually served chilled and the plum like sauce which came with the salad definitely helped with the taste factor. Again, what I found disagreeable in this was the description from the menu which mentioned 'succulent chix breast'. Really, it's just shreads of chicken meat and the portions of that is pathetic.


Breaded and fried, the calamari isn't really exceptional and isn't worth much effort in words for descriptions beyond the that it is a tad chewier than I like them. It's really just plain old breaded calamari.


Despite the way it looks drenched in that very boring looking sauce, the ribeye actually turned out to be better than I had thought and these guys managed to do a very good medium rare. The brown sauce, according to the menu is a red wine sauce and it really isn't too bad. At how much they charge for the steak, it certainly could give Aston's a run for their money. If it's anything that I'll ever eat here again, this would probably be it. But from the way things look, I don't think I'm ever likely to return, given options.

Did I say I like this place? This probably means that at some time in the future, I'd like to come back again because the food's pretty good and I've little to complain about the service apart from the fact that it gets a little difficult to get the attention of the waiting staff when the restaurant is crowded. Borgo (789 Bukit Timah Road) embodies one of the spirit of Italian cuisine that I like which is slowly starting to become scarce in the small and vibrant community of their eateries here. Good old heartiness in the food. The prices here are atypical of most decent Italian restaurants here, which means that while you couldn't possibly expect anything to be very wallet friendly, they are fair and quite reasonable for what you get. I hear that this place does excellent pizza and I've not had the opportunity to sample them this time round. Still, this first visit is promising and bodes well for return trips.


I tend to look out at bread that's served in restaurants and maybe it's just me. Apart from Senso, Bontá and perhaps Prego, most of them tends to lack noteworthiness. I enjoy good bread and like I said, it may be just me. The bread here simply isn't outstanding. Understandably, that isn't the only yardstick to measure the restaurant.


Scamorza cheese is a type of curd cheese that has mild flavor and a chewy texture very much like mozzarella. The ones that are served here I believe are the smoked variety and hence, tastes like a smoked mozzarella. The scamoza dello chef is essentially baked scamorza topped with sauteed mushrooms and mixed chopped greens. The result is a very rousing-ly fragrant starter of smoked and mushroom flavors with breaks from the fresh taste of vegetables. I thought this was pretty good and it's certainly something that I wouldn't mind having again if I came back.


The gnocchi here looks to be hand made to me. That is because the sizes aren't the same for each of these soft fluffy potato and flour nuggets which are coated with a thick sweetish pumpkin sauce. They also look pretty small compared to previous ones that I've had. On the overall, the pasta was quite enjoyable with the bits of shaven cheese and bits of real bacon that prevents the constant sweetness from getting boring. Does anyone think that they look like corn?


This T bone steak is something of a meat lover's wet dream. At $58, you get a hefty 700g serving with a small side of sliced roasted potatoes resting on a bed of greens in balsamic vinegar and rosemary. I didn't really think much of the rosemary which tends to be a bit overpowering in flavor, but the meat was pretty good with the striploin side section being noticeably more chewy than the tenderloin section which I personally preferred. I had thought that the striploins were suppose to be more flavorful but the differences between that and the tenderloin was barely discernible to me. Done in a very good medium rare and with the char on the exterior, I thought this to be pretty good, even if it didn't quite score in the department of juiciness.


I had originally thought this to be one of those ubiquitous molten chocolate cakes that almost everyone out there is doing, but this turned out to be quite different and still gimmicky. Basically, it's a chocolate cake in a ceramic cup which gets drenched in a bit of Grand Marnier by the serving waiter and then flambéed on the table with a weak flourish. The aftermath leaves a soft, warm and rich creamy cake that is surprisingly weak in the chocolate flavor which I did not expect. So if you're hoping for a full bodied chocolate taste, this does not quite make the cut.

Running along and behind a wall of hanging greenery known as the Green Wall at the baggage collection area of Changi Airport Terminal 3, is a small mall space with restaurants call 3 Top. Dian Xiao Er which is known for their tasty herbal roasted ducks have gotten themselves an outlet in that place and business looks to be pretty good already for an airport that has not yet begun it's operations. The airport is currently on open house and open to the public for tours and this would be one of the few restaurants that are already up and and churning their own crowd. It is actually what I feel to be one of the better ones there amidst those that have chosen to set up business at T3. Service at this place is honestly subjected to which waiting staff attends to you, and the one which attended to our table was very good. It seems like most of the waiting/service staff in this restaurant are from China.

Dian Xiao Er does a pretty good fried rice with XO sauce. XO sauce is actually a mildly spicy seafood sauce made from dried chopped seafood like fish, shrimp and scallop that's cooked with onions, garlic and chilli. In short actually, some of the usual suspects for flavoring in Chinese cooking. The flavor of the rice leans towards being slightly bland rather than saltish and apart from being a little oily, was something that turns out quite memorable. Apart from what is seen in the picture, there is actually some prawns and squid in the fried rice.

I had thought that grassland styled roasted lamb sounded interesting on the menu, but it turned out to be disappointing. Firstly, it doesn't look roasted at all. In fact, one can tell that the meat is merely stir fried in some spicy sauce. The meat is so marinated and well cooked to the point that it has again, like numerous other Chinese places that does lamb and beef, become an unidentifiable meat substance. If you're into lamb for the flavor of the meat, you should just avoid this because I thought it was a waste of money for that.

The roast duck here is one good. Good means that given the opportunity, I will definitely drop by Dian Xiao Er to have them again. The skin carried enough crisp and fragrant duck fat underneath, over meat that was quite tender for duck. This option with 10 wonder herb contains codonopsis, foxglove and licorice roots and I actually thought that I detected a faintly sweetish taste of cinnamon in the sauce. I'm not normally one for Chinese herbal dishes, but this, I will likely to come back for again.