The Tavern @ Tanglin Club

Wowzers, The Tavern has decent prime rib at less than half the price tag at Lawry's. What's more, the standards of the meat here were almost comparable. We're talking prices like they do at Hog's Breath. Unfortunately, this was located at Tanglin Club (5 Stevens Road) and one would probably never be able to visit unless you knew a member that would bring you in.

At 380g, their Gentleman's Cut at $38 was a decently sized prime rib. That was served with sides of carrot sticks, steamed Brussels sprouts, baked cauliflower with cheese, Yorkshire pudding and a baked potato with the works (if you need to know....butter, sour cream, spring onions and bacon bits). There's also the option for some strong English mustard if you wanted. No complains about the food at all but the Yorkshire pudding from Lawry's was fluffier. The medium rare doneness that I asked for here was more like medium but I'm going to be forgiving on this one.


The Lady's Cut at approximately 280g was similar to the Lawry's cut in weight. Came with similar sides as mentioned above, costed less than half of Lawry's charges and we got ourselves much better service.

What kinda floored us were the spreads which accompanied their breads. A small selection of sliced breads and crackers were available. If you're wondering from the picture above, they had beef fat, herb butter and pork lard. The lard was fragrant without being overpowering and creamy like kaya with bits of the fried stuff in them. Herb butter tasted of honey. This place would be good for returns just for the lard spreads and prime rib alone.

The Tapas Tree, Clark Quay

The enduring memory from this restaurant besides the paella (which was recommended by a friend) was the blotchy service which made me undecided about how to feel about them. My impression of tapas definitely didn't come out well after having tried some of them over two consecutive nights. I'm wasn't close to being impressed. Perhaps I didn't order what's good on the menu, but then again, shouldn't it all be good? Allow me to rant. I called to make reservations at approximately 3.45 pm on a Friday afternoon and I was told that they were filled up and subsequent probing confirmed that there was no more seats to be had for the night. However, I did decide to try my luck and sure enough, there were seats available. What's with that? On the first night, recommendations from the service staff was done with a total lack of interest. On the second, a waiter was quite helpful in getting the seats and recommendations. The place also needed better air conditioning for sure. Indoors.

There was a nice selection on menu. Some of which, were actually pretty tasty, others were passable and the rest just downright boring. Didn't make me feel enthusiastic about returning any more.

chorizo fritos

trio de pinchos (marinated pork, beef and chicken skewers)

berenjena y tomate con queso parmasano (baked stuffed aubergine and tomato with parmesan cheese)

solomillo al jerez (tenderloin cubes in dry sherry)

The chorizos that were fried in olive oil tasted like sour and salty sausages. It wasn't spicy much and were pretty unremarkable. The tenderloin cubes in dry sherry were quite juicy and not cooked to death. I admit that I had very little hopes for them until I popped the first. There was accompanying gravy which tasted like something from tze char stores. In fact the whole dish tasted like a Chinese stir fried beef with bell peppers, mushrooms with a hint of wine. Wasn't I had expected but it was pretty good. Probably better with rice. For $15, I did expect more meat.

paella valenciana

paella negra

I thought the paella were pretty good. I've not much basis for comparison apart from the pasta version from Esmirada. The valenciana featured seafood like mussels, squid with additional of chicken compared to the regular one. To my surprise, there was pork belly too. The rice was piping hot and loaded with meat and crispy rice bits at the bottom. Reminded me of claypot rice. I didn't taste any saffron in it and most of the flavour involved tanginess. The negra which was the squid ink variant was very much filled with squid ink flavour (and squids too) and it was probably the blackest rice dish I've ever come across. It was more thickly coated than the squid ink risotto at Pasta Brava. Something to watch out for to avoid if you're out on a date.

Goat's cheese salad, Irish stew and fish & chips

Dinner at Molly Malone's again. I thought the goat's cheese salad on toast here was pretty good if you're into pungent cheeses. The stinky cheese had enough kick plus it was rich and slightly creamy. The salad it came with was nicely tossed. Dressing had a clean taste in spite of appearing like Thousand Island.

I don't really know what's definitive about Irish stews but I'm guessing it's the lamb and root vegetables like onions, potatoes and carrots. And Guinness. That's the impression I have of them anyway and this one was actually not bad. The lamb was pretty tender. The stew was served with a bowl of real mashed potatoes which were delicious. By real, I meant that it did not come from powder. It's just a hundred percent finely mashed potatoes with some butter where the earthy taste was still detectable.

It's kinda tough to find good fish and chips here. These ones at Molly Malone's are probably one of the better ones I've had around. Other memorable mentions include Fisherman's Wharf and the next in line would actually be Fish & Co already. I'll have to try the Greenwood Fish Market & Bistro to draw another line of comparison. The menu here states pacific dory and it's a nice fish and chips with crispy batter. The fish was served hot and came in pretty good portions. For $16, I would say that it's decently priced. Doesn't the golden brown beckon to you?

Woah...

Good friend of mine enjoys cooking on the occasion. One of the achievements attained to his satisfaction after numerous trials and errors is prawn noodles. I was invited to dinner recently so this was pretty much what this post is about if anyone has been guessing and re-visiting to see updates. As one of many numerous ubiquitous dishes locally, prawn noodles are something that is judged with varying standards, much like other local favourites like laksa and chicken rice. Various ingredients are measured across different yardsticks, subjected to differing preferences of individuals that eat or enjoy them. The prawns, the soup and possibly the noodles being the key items. These large prawns that you see in the picture, courtesy by my lovely hand model (I know you can't tell) are however not for the noodles. They're river prawns from Thailand, cost about $8 a pop and were grilled with simple condiments of salt, pepper, and not forgetting - the ever useful and delicious butter.

The highlight of the dinner was originally the prawn noodles. The huge prawns were originally not part of it. In retrospect, both were well done and definitely made it a difficult choice as to which was the star of the table at dinner. If you are wondering why is that, behold the hay mee!


I admit that it did look like ba kut mee (pork rib noodles) instead of prawn noodles since the pork ribs are clearly the only visible item in the bowl apart from the noodles. And no, the prawns are not hidden at the bottom. There are no prawns in the noodles. Which brings me to the other ingredients which I will divulge with the exception of a few key items which must remain secret or this would be the last entry that anyone will ever read from me. 

The key items that were used to create the sweet stock of this particular rendition of prawn noodles includes obviously prawns (or shrimps if you would), flower crab, pork ribs (I presume that one might have guessed easily), pig tails, cloves of garlic, onions, some ginger, belachan, kang kong and a couple of other items which are easily available. As said friend would state, he learnt it from his grandmother, there is no unit of measurement for the various items that are used. It's a trial of estimation until you get the proportions correct.

The result was a delicious prawn soup noodle. The shrimps that were put into boil for the stock were mostly used for the flavour, along with the disintegrated meat from the flower crabs. As you may have surmised, the soup was sweet from the use of those ingredients. The pork ribs survived the cooking process and had turned delicately soft, sliding off the bone with ease. The meat at this point fell apart easily in the mouth. Which takes us to the large grilled prawns.


These prawns spent about 15 minute in the oven to bake. After which, the essence and roe/brain oozed out onto the tray and was summarily scraped clean by the spoons of almost everyone at the table. I can only describe it was foie gras good. Heart clogging richness coupled with a fragrant caramelization in every mouthful would also be quite accurate. The meat of the prawns were firm with crunch from each bite and slightly sweetish. I'm normally not in favour of bones and shells but this was one of those exceptions when I discarded utensils in favour of better tools. I meant my fingers of course.

Ohsho, Cuppage Plaza

I've been to this place Ohsho (5 Koek Road, #01-10 Cuppage Plaza) once some years back for ramen and noticed the food that was being served in this counter styled eatery which featured Japanese food and cooking that reminded more more than a little of tze char. I have wondered if that was Japanese styled Chinese or Chinese styled Japanese? I'm guessing that it's a fusion of both if I had to put a label onto it. Well, it's probably more Japanese than Chinese though. Run by a bunch of Chinese guys that does the cooking and overseen by one other Japanese dude that was probably the one in charge of the eatery. Tucked in a little corner by the entrance of Cuppage Plaza, this cosy shop sees their regular share of crowd during the meal hours.


The menu features a bunch of stir fried dishes, a selection of ramen & fried rice and various set combinations of the a la carte items. There is a set dinner which always seem to be available for $16 which consists of a very delicious fried rice, omelet with chopped vegetables and crabsticks, stir fried pork with onions and bell peppers, breaded fried prawn, mashed potatos, some shredded cabbage with mayo dressing and a bunch of gyoza. The portions of that set is pretty substantial and the fried rice with minced pork here is pretty good stuff. There is a char aroma from the wok and that's something that's to me, really more Chinese than Japanese.

Their gyoza were pretty decent, if unexceptional. The skins are nicely browned, a little oily and the insides were hot and juicy. The condiments that are available for them included white vinegar, a chilli paste and something that's labelled as gyoza sauce which I didn't try. The vinegar however, worked well with the dumplings especially when paired with the chilli paste which has a noticeable kick and really adds zest. I would prefer the Chinese pot stickers (guo tie) over these any day though. Maybe, I just haven't had really good gyozas. The char siew ramen wasn't very noteworthy except for those tasty char siew slices which were rather fragrant. The noodle weren't of the type that I liked and their broth doesn't come across as outstanding.

Chocolate and banana prata from Spize

I've passed this place (409 River Valley Road) on several occasions, but never really stopped by until today. And I realised that this location is probably really good for the post-clubbing crowd in the vicinity. The menu at Spize essentially featured commonly found local Muslim food like mee gorengs, pratas and et cetera. There is a variety of pratas on the menu which includes some of the common renditions, specialties and dessert pratas. I tried the chocolate and banana prata which turned out to be pretty much how I thought it might have been. This was actually not bad. Semi melted banana slices and chocolate sauce drizzled generously over the top of a freshly made prata. The crispy surface doesn't stay so for very long though.

One cool evening with three Hot Bitches

That's what Wild Oats (Emily Hill, 11 Upper Wilkie road) calls their hot dogs and in the face of perspective, according to a friend whom was present, "These aren't hot bitches, they are just bitches". Really, I have reasonably expected more out of the poor show from Buffy, Dizzi and Sassi. The bitches arrived barely lukewarm and the buns weren't even toasted at all. Now remove all sexual connotations to whatever you've just read. This is a food blog if you remember. The toppings are really, not much to speak of apart from the novelty of having things like creamed peas which really doesn't do much to the dog apart from aesthetic color contrast for the toppings. Peas aren't exactly the strongest tasting of things and having them on sausages with spicey beef sauce already isn't exactly going to add much of a dimension if at all to the flavor. The caramelized onions and mustard were pretty regular tasting and I thought that it would probably be easier if the regular chopped variety were used instead. I must also mention the $6.50 plate of miserable looking and overfried crickle cut fries which looks like the frozen variety that can be purchased from any supermarket. Yikes, and to think that Wild Rocket and this place are related? Who's da boss in the kitchen?

"buffy"

"dizzi"

"sassy"

.

more of my home made pizzas...

One of the random things I made at home. If you recall on the previous occasions, I don't actually make them from scratch. This time round, it's the same brand of frozen pizza with spinach topping....AND additional stuff which I thought would be good to have. I'm talking about shaven breakfast ham, sundried tomatoes, generous sprinkles of grated parmesan & mozzarella and an egg. I was actually pretty surprised that the egg was still runny when the pizza was done, having spent the same amount of time spread out on the top in the oven.

Da Paolo Il Giardino, Cluny Court

I was taken in by the location of this place (501 Bukit Timah Road,#01-05, Cluny Court) which was secluded in the back of the row of shop houses just beside Serene Centre along the junction of Bukit Timah and Adam Road. Funny thing was, there was the huge sign stood just beside the bamboo lined and stone paved walkway. Which was so obvious and I had actually overlooked it before realizing that the innocuous path had actually lead to a shaded sanctuary which was the restaurant.

The starter for lunch was the portobello al forno which were grilled portobello mushroom caps topped with mozzarella cheese, basil and rosemary on some spinach leaves and cherry tomatoes. The mushroom tasted pretty much like how it looked. Was pretty juicy. After having had the magic mushroom from the Original Sin, I found it hard to find better portobellos from anywhere else. I know it's not a very fair comparison here.



Didn't take note of the pasta names but the ingredients pretty much speak for themselves. This duck liver tagliatelle was an outstanding pasta. Well flavoured in the oils of the pan fried liver tossed in cherry tomatoes and sliced mushrooms. The liver wasn't the regular quivery foie gras but it was close and not overcooked. I didn't expect anything less than al dente there for the noodles and it didn't disappoint being firm and of sufficient bite.


This other tagliatelle was tossed in a tomato cream sauce with vodka. Couldn't actually taste any of the liquor in the sauce. I was hoping for a hint of it. That sauce though was rich and flavourful and loaded with minced crab meat. Flavour of that crab was also all over. Definitelysomething that I could return for again.


Don't pass up on tiramisu because it's just so much better than most other places. I'll be lazy here and skip the description because I've already done it previously. Suffice it is to say that the one here is good.

A return to Yoshida

I came back again for lunch because the chiraishizushi was so memorable. I think I got some fish liver today which wasn't in the box the last time I was here. The chutoro seemed to melt more smoothly. I was wondering if that was psychological for the chutoro part. Everything was as good as I remembered it. I'll be hard pressed to want to pick anything else from the lunch menu if I come back again and I'm wondering if this was a good thing or not. Lol. If I really had to find a fault here, it'll probably be the pickled ginger which I was quite willing to overlook. The sashimi moriawase (I believe there was salmon, hamachi, maguro and a juicy scallop) turned up smaller than I had expected. I didn't get to taste it but it looked as good if not as impressive as the chiraishizushi box. And not to forget, the wonderful chilled onsen tamago in yuzu infused soy sauce. Mouthwatering is god damned right!

Dinner @ Sage

It had been almost a year since I had first/last walked into Sage. This was a dinner that I've been looking forward to do for quite some time, courtesy of fatpig.

A bit has changed in the past year at Sage. There doesn't seem to be lunch anymore which I thought was a pity because what they did was good. Dinner only has a la carte where there used to be sets previously. Those aside, the food still lived up to how I remembered it. The photos here do not do justice to the actual food. The restaurant was "romantically lit" and only so much image quality can be squeezed out with 2 megapixels. Thanks Adrian, for the extra lighting.

complimentary amuse bouche

I'm not sure what this was so I can only describe it by taste. The fuschia layer at the top was tangy and reminded me of berries or tomatoes. Couldn't put my finger onto what it was. At the bottom was a pudding of sorts the colour of oatmeal. That seemed to taste like pate.

Seared King Scallops on a Salad of Homemade Squid Ink Capellini, Marinated Ocean Trout and Avruga Caviar, Braised Scallop Lips and Leek & Potato Vichyssoise

I found the seared scallop very enjoyable. The sweetness of the it was resonant. There was some salty Avruga caviar with smoky morsels of scallop "wings" at the top and squid ink capellini at the bottom. At the base was a leek and potato vichyssoise which was delicious - to the point that most of us were rummaging the bread basket for remnants to mop up all the remaining vichyssoise. The marinated trout simply tasted like salty salmon flakes.

Pan Seared Duck Foie Gras with Pistachio Crust and Fig Compote, Granny Smith Apple Puree and a dressing of Red Grape Mustard Vinegar

This foie gras was widely praised. Probably one of the best I've had so far. Those cliche descriptions of crispy skin and quivery soft insides that disintegrates in your mouth lending their rich buttery flavours...it's all true. There's more. I had particularly enjoyed the pistachio crust which provided an additional nutty fragrance. That was definitely not just window dressing. Wait - there's even more; the Granny Smith apple puree was worth mentioning because it was so smooth that it was almost creamy. It introduced a citrus balance to the duck liver which was already heart clogging good.

Caramelized Black Angus Beef Cheek topped with Melted Foie Gras Mousse and a Fricassee of Mushrooms, Compote of Butternut Squash and White Onions

I picked the beef over the fish for the main. Almost regretted it because I tried the cod. The abhorred 'melt in your mouth' description would be very appropriate there. As much as I prefer to avoid that phrase, it was true for the fish.

Back to the beef cheek. Quite what I had expected. Not so interesting. There were some saving graces led by a light hint of that caramelized bitter over the sweet and savoury cheeks which were fork tender. The beef cheek sat in the sweet jus which was made richer by the foie gras mousse. Not much to the mushrooms but I liked the butternut squash compote.

Lemon & Triple Cheese Bavarian

For dessert, I landed myself this mascarpone, ricotta, cream cheese and Meyer lemon Bavarian with peanut butter ice-cream and baked honeyed-lemon filo. I was thinking as I tasted the pudding that all three cheese were individually lost in translation. It tasted like a curdled lemon yoghurt. Pretty enjoyable with the sweet filo pastry but was overwhelmed by the creamy peanut butter ice cream which was also really good with bits of crushed nuts on the side.

This place would definitely be for re-visits.