Bites from the Hokkaido Fair at Isetan

Absinthe, Bukit Pasoh

I first notice of this place because of the name Absinthe (48 Bukit Pasoh Road, tel : 6222 9068); a name that is surrounded by half truths, rumours and a aura of dark disposition because of the purported hallucinogenic effects of the drink. It has in the course of history, been the cause of deaths. Of such as Oscar Wilde. I've tried some but failed to conjure the green fairies that were suppose to appear. I also realized that I don't enjoy it as the taste of aniseed/liquorice reminded me too much of cough syrup. But I digress..... this is a restaurant that serves French food.

Smells like awesome sauce : Space Marines

Will be brought to us by THQ and Relic Entertainment.

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A tortellini alla Genovese from Porta Porta

This pasta tasted homely and heart warming in more ways than one. Prior to this, I've never ordered anything alla Genovese since I had always assumed that they were just another one of those tomato sauced concoctions which I may dislike. I was wrong. This was mostly meat/onions/white wine/and some other minced and stewed vegetables. Tomatoes were used but in a sparing manner in comparison to the regular ragu type of sauce. I couldn't taste much of the other vegetables. The white wine and meat flavours were rich in the stew like broth with ricotta filled tortellinis. Piping hot. Another reason for me to come back another time. Now if only they were more wallet friendly.....

Al Forno Trattoria revisited

Parma

Pappardelle al Quatro Formaggi

Frittura Mista

the slice before the rest

Medaglioni di Maiale Pancetta

Bummer! They ran out of gnocchi. It was the thing that I wanted to have from here. What I liked about their gnocchi was that they were pan fried. That got them crusty before their rich four cheese sauce came into play. So we ended up with their pappardelle which was not bad at all. Thick cut and not over cooked.

The Parma ham on their pizza were sliced thicker than I remembered them. Could hardly eat the pizza without pulling most of the ham off. It was nice (also a tad pricier than most places) but not as memorable as the previous time I had them. Those fried prawns that came with the calamari weren't anything to be excited about.

What was also good were the pork fillets. Thick hearty chunks of pig (tenderloin) wrapped in more pig (bacon) in a brown sauce. Couldn't tell what was that sauce but it was nice.

This place was old school and also no frills which I liked. Discounting one particular service staff that had a smile that I found a little disquietly disturbing.

Japanese sweet potato jelly cakes from Isetan

Got a box of them from one of the Japanese fairs over at Isetan during the weekends. I'm not sure why these things are called sweet potato jelly cakes since they don't resemble jellies in taste nor in appearances in any way. The textures of these things felt like reconstructed steamed sweet potatoes that are chilled. It was as if cooked sweet potatoes were mashed, mixed with something sweet (just sugar maybe) and then packed back into these bricks. Despite finding them a little too sweet for my usual liking, they were quite addictive. There was a nice flavour from the sweet potatoes as well. I guessing that there wasn't much other ingredients that were used to make them.

Cod-dling up at Wasabi Tei

Not doing any advertising for Wasabi Tei if that's a thought that's in your head but I needed to give myself a chance at their grilled cod which caught my attention the last time we were here. Due to probable inconsistency, it also turned out not as thick and large as I remember seeing them but there weren't any regrets. And yes, it did look quite charred, like their unagi and grilled chicken which were nice in that charred manner. I'm quite sure that many would have something to say about the quality of the cooking but it didn't taste as burnt as it looked. In fact it was fragrant on the outside while tender and moist on the insides. This was also an opportunity to try the cod in claypot which never fails to turn up on someone else's seat every time we visit. What we learnt was that at each seating, only 4 of these can be served up since it takes about a half hour for the cooking to be done. It was actually not bad. What you got from the hot bubbling pot beside from the fish was a whole lot of soft boiled cabbage, seaweed and golden mushrooms in a lightly sweet dashi broth. I'm not an expert on fishes nor do I order them very often, but I've eaten them enough in my life to recognize that these were pretty fresh as they go.

Angus House, Ngee Ann City

This was one place (391 Orchard Road, #04-25 Ngee Ann City, tel : 6735 6015) where I'll have little beef with their beef. Haha. Well, it's actually a second visit . The first first time was a treat from a friend a few years back and the food from the set seemed to be exactly as I remember it - from the fried fish starter to the tiramisu for dessert. I guess they're one of those dependable go to places where one can always rely on getting a decent steak with minimal frills.

Capricci, Tanjong Pagar

Relatively new restaurant that has moved into the place along Duxton where Oso used to be (27 Tanjong Pagar Road, tel : 6221 6761). The food was decent, with a savory starter of parmesan and wild mushroom souffle that stood out being both cheesy and comforting; and a ficattole which reminded me of deep fried dough fritters from Indian rojak stores. The latter would have gotten boring in a while, being a little heavy from the the grease, if not for the Parma ham that actually paired off pretty well with them.

Pasta was a little disappointing. What was meant by disappointing is that while it was really not terrible, it simply didn't hold enough of an appeal that I would look forward to coming back. The carbonara had a seafoody taste of clams and squids in the cream was a little interesting for a while. Gnocchi was just uninspiringly dull since one couldn't really taste the bits of chestnuts in them and the crushed pistachios are really doing nothing apart from providing texture to the dish since the flavors are a tad weak to content with a Gorgonzola based sauce which also didn't contain enough of the blue cheese to make me impressed in the first place. Maybe it could have been because of not having ordered their "signature" items. I definitely don't subscribe to depending on that.

"the bread wok"

soffiato di parmigiano in fonduta

ficattole with Parma ham

tagliatelle seafood carbonara

chestnut and potato gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce and crushed pistachio