Capri Trattoria & Pizzeria, Binjai Park

So, another one of those location (3 Binjai Park, tel : +65 6468 4886) that's been on radar and didn't happen until now. I take it that anyone who knows where Binjai Park is and doesn't live in that vicinity understands how one needs to make their way specially there for anything because it's a location that's not in the way for more than 99% of the people here. I digress......

We started with a couple of anitpasti. This one was amusingly named ricostruzione di un fungo which translates into 'reconstruction of a fungus'. I'm seeing it as how the stems of the mushrooms have been replaced by scallops. This was delicious. Expensive but very tasty with little but salt and the natural flavours of the mushrooms and scallops.

Capri Trattoria has cold cuts that are allegedly made in house. Maybe except for the mortadella.  This is mention worthy because not many Italian restaurants here cure their meats.

There was a citrus risotto with quenelles of prawn tartare which we couldn't pass on. The citrus flavour was refreshing while the rice was light that we inhaled it off the plate easily. Not to mention that those prawn tartare were really good. The meat was barely cooked and filled with flavours and sweetness of the crustacean. Pretty impressive. For now, a runner up to my favourite fruit risotto.   

These guys do a pretty competent fettuccine alla nocerina. The egg noodles had great texture, sauce was creamy and rich and the flavours on the whole came through nicely. It just needed a bit more salt. It seemed that the restaurant had just recently recalibrate the salt for some of the dishes from feedback.

Another go at SBCD Korean Tofu House

Even though we weren't very impressed by the food the last time, we had for some reasons decided to come back. It was much better eating here this time though but their ham and cheese sundubu/soontofu didn't taste like it had any cheese in it and the ham was actually luncheon meat. Those fried croakers that they serve were also much more delicious today and even had roe in them.

Here's a dish that one doesn't normally see nor associate with Korean food - orange chicken! The serving was pretty generous. I've never had these before but I'm assuming that orange chicken doesn't really taste like orange. The sauce had a nice citrus in it even though it wasn't definitively orange. Not so different from sweet and sour meat here.

Vatos Urban Tacos, South Beach

Vatos Urban Tacos (#01-03, 36 Beach Road, tel : +65 6385 6010) opened with a little fanfare a little more than a couple of years ago. To be honest, visiting them had never crossed my mind until recently. For some reasons I just decided that I should give them a go.

The word 'fresh' on the menu is used fairly liberally here. While the guacamole was described as fresh, they wouldn't make any without cilantro when we asked for them, claiming that it was made in batches and that each batch would last for a couple of days. I'm pretty sure the word 'fresh' doesn't mean what they think it means.

While their food looks like a fusion of Korean and Mexican, calling them American is probably not too far off the mark. We were served some giant tortilla chips with salsa. 

Margaritas were a little expensive and had too much ice with too little drink. Now I know their standards.

Their galbi taco was not bad though. I had mine sans cilantro of course.

Couldn't taste any apple from the apple slaw in their Baja fish tacos but as fish tacos went, these were pretty tasty. As much as they looked like goreng pisang with a thick batter, they were mostly fish meat. 

Their tamales were disappointingly dry. 👎🏼 The pork carnitas inside them were as dry as the masa looked. 

We tried their kimchi galbi grilled cheese which sounded like a nice idea. Sounded is the operative word. Those kimchi didn't quite turn out as nice. Flat, sour and salty paired with more saltiness from the cheese (I did like the crusty cheese). It was a little too much salt and grease for me to like. Not to mention that the little chunks of galbi were tough. 👎🏼

Sliced lamb bagels from Two Men Bagel House

So what made me head down to Two Men Bagel House this time? I felt like some bagels for breakfast. With sriracha. I saw that there was something called Hot Links on their web site that featured lamb sausages with eggs and that sounded good. Down at the shop, their menu description said just sausage so I asked them what kind they were and they said it was pork sausages. Since I had already been psyched up for lamb so I ended up with this other one which had sliced lamb.

It wasn't too bad. Meat's a little tough but some of the flavour from the meat got through. It was also saved by the sriracha though.

Of Valentino Valtulina, white truffles and Moscato d'Asti

The season for tartufo bianco has arrived. That has compounded on, with the surety of our sunrise, the truth that Ristorante da Valentino hasn't been as easy on the wallet for some years already. But come we did, lunched we did and then departed we did quite happy with what we had. 

Their pesto had always been a point of interest. It's always been an excellent dip for their ciabatta. After these years, I've given up guessing what's in the herby mixture aside from what goes into regular pesto. Today, we were getting a lot of anchovies.

Interestingly shaped plates. These seemed to be a more practical sharing shape than the usual plates.

The first of the white truffle items we had was on sunny side ups and morels. Yum! We wiped the remaining yolk and butter clean off the plate with the ciabatta.

The ciabatta. Salted, crispy on the outside and definitely freshly baked.

The simplicity of house made fettuccine, eggs and butter with shavings of white truffle. I enjoyed it but for some reasons, I didn't think the experience was ahead or on par with the one from Osteria L'upupa in San Miniato years ago.

Finally got to try their aglio olio with seafood. There was definitely some seafood-y flavour going on that took away from the olive oil. Not bad, but not good enough that I'll want to come back for them again.

Apparently their Moscato marinated pork chops are well received. The meat was caramelized with a little sweetness along with the aroma of rosemary. Meat had a bit of fat that kept the porcine flavours in place.

Speaking of Moscato, we found out that the Moscato d'Asti they served by glass was the same as the one they sold by the bottle. Apparently, they only have one specific bottle here and they use that for everything they need Moscato for. Like probably the pork chops too. I always felt it was a nice one.

A nasi goreng putih mutton from Haji Kadir Food Chains

I picked this stall (#B1-14 Golden Mile Food Centre, 505 Beach Road) because I saw nasi goreng putih mutton, I haven't had that before and I wasn't familiar with this particular area. It wasn't that great. Edible but I don't think I'll consider it again. The fried rice was ordinary and the bits of mutton were hard and disappointingly lacking in kambing-ness. Bland, in other words. In the end I thought it was just another average plate of nasi goreng in a food centre where one has plenty of other options.

Does anyone know of good nasi goreng mutton that uses ground mutton (like those in murtabak)?

Nasi padang from Food Opera

That above was from the Indonesian cuisine stall at Food Opera. It was a pretty good plate. I liked those kang kong; a bit of garlic with some dried chilli aroma. They were wilted and tender and didn't pack much heat at all. Bean sprouts were just bean sprouts. I supposed as long as they were nicely cooked it's mostly good for me. Mutton/lamb curry was delicious in their flavoursome savoury and spicy manner. Meat was pretty tender. Not shabby at all for nasi padang. I just thought that $9.30 was kinda expensive though.

More brisketing at Decker Barbecue

It's been a while - a couple of years since we last/first tried Decker Barbecue so we decided to come by for a quiet afternoon lunch of their briskets. You know, just to get reacquainted with their barbecue over again. It's not like we have much other options for American barbecue as well.

We got ourselves a brisket sandwich and just a little bit of brisket. The former wasn't piled as high with slaw as we had imagined from the menu description. Between the two orders, we came to the conclusion that the tenderness was top notch. There was some smokiness in the meat. But the other flavours was a little muted and maybe some more salt would be great. 

Not to mention that these guys were pretty expensive too. But then again, not like we have much of a choice for barbecue here.

Two fried eggs from Beo Crescent Curry Rice

Yeap, todays curry rice came with two fried eggs (荷包蛋). Almost the same configuration as the last time except for the swap back to the regular squids. Yum yum!

Le retour à L'Entrecôte

Has it been almost 8 years already since that first time we stepped into L'Entrecôte at Duxton Hill? Time surely sidled by almost unnoticed. I managed to get a better pic of the steak they're known for this time round though. Portions seem to have shrunk. If there was anything that really bothered me about this visit, it was that they seriously need much better air conditioning.

We didn't do anything else but their entrecôte steak. I'm not entirely sure if the sauce was exactly the same but I didn't think there would be any reason that anything would change. I still enjoyed it. The meat had some aroma from a bit of char to go with as well. Fries didn't seem to be as good as I remember them. Les Bouchons has nicer fries.

Black Tap, Marina Bay Sands

I've never heard of Black Tap from New York until recently when they were announced to be opening up at Marina Bay Sands (L1-80 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, 10 Bayfront Avenue, tel : +65 66889957). Since then, I've been reading up a little. Their shops in NY get meat from Pat LaFrieda. I wonder if it's the same meat that's being used here.

Apparently, these guys are known for their "Crazyshakes" which looked very much like a fast track to diabetes. We were intrigued by their burgers instead.

Nursed a Brooklyn Lager while waiting for the food. The first time I had one of these was at Keens Steakhouse earlier this year. A dry-ish, not so bitter and hoppy brew I liked which reminded me of the Golden Ale from Brewerkz. Was definitely looking forward to this.

I was surprised that they even offered Singapore Blond Ale on tap though. I'm guessing that they must have been coerced into it because that was a lousy brew.

We had a couple of their burgers, both of which were pretty good. Totally blew the recent Nekkid experience out of the water. The one on top was the lamb - came with a solid coarse ground patty that packed a nice lamb-y flavour which held up in the face of the pickles and Swiss cheese. At this point, I'm pretty confident that this could possibly the best lamb burger we've had to date.  

The Greg Norman was a kick ass blue cheese burger. I suppose I could understand why it had won the People's Choice award for the past consecutive years at the New York City Wine and Food Festival's Burger Bash. There was a good amount of the blue cheese that it was satisfying without overwhelming that wagyu patty that they used. That is balance right there. Speaking of the patty, it came with a nice crust around that medium doneness. Fries were good.

No Crazyshakes for us. Just a classic peanut butter with whipped cream. Nice.

Tiong Bahru Boneless Hainanese Chicken Rice (中峇鲁起骨海南雞飯), Smith Street

This again, was another one of the numerous places we've passed by literally countless times and wondered if they were any good. I was also wondering to myself if this shop (56 Smith Street, tel : +65 63230191) has/had any relation to the other Bib Gourmand listee by the same name at Tiong Bahru Food Centre. They have exactly the same name but this one didn't serve their chicken rice with kiam chye. There's also cze char to be had here.

Anyways, this chicken rice wasn't too bad. I'm not a fan of their chilli which I felt was a little too gingery for my preference. The rice had just the lightest hint of ginger that didn't bother me. But it also had sufficient flavour that I didn't quite mind the fact that I'm doing this chilli-less. Their poached chicken was chilled and even had those jelly underneath their skin. Not adversed to coming back at all.

Between sliced bread at Japan Rail Cafe

Japan Rail Cafe's special of the month in September is their kaisenwich. As one might have surmised - the name which is a mesh of seafood in Japanese (kaisen) and a sandwich. Bread from Asanoya Bakery presumably. Filled with minced crab, Hokkaido scallops, tobiko and onions. It tasted nicer than it sounded.

I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed their Ultimate ABC burger - their bacon cheese burger with avocado. Juicy if relatively uncharred wagyu patty in a stack where the flavours weren't muddled. And yes, I would be judging it using a set a different standards that I normally do for burgers because they're Japanese. I liked them even though it didn't have some of the usual characteristics I go for. Just because I accept that they're a thing.