boCHINche at home

First time ordering from boCHINche. Not that we're regulars. Ohhh no. Not at all.

This was their ajo blanco, a sort of "white gazpacho" made with almonds. There's some grapes and sliced apples in there too. Texture was mealy/chalky and flavour was a little tart. Didn't dislike it but I don't think I'm a fan. What disappointed me about the soup was the smoked almonds it came with. Didn't taste smoky and those almonds were just beginning to turn rancid. #disappointed

We ordered one sweet corn empanada to try because we hadn't any idea if it would be good and I remember being not too impressed with the last empanada we had from them. This was good. Creamy fillings that wasn't excessively so with the flavour and sweetness from the kernels of corn. I wouldn't mind getting these again. 

Their osso buco pappardelle was nice. Rich and savoury wine flavour bolstered by meatiness which coated the noodles. But wait. Those candied walnuts that were supposed to come along - why even bother when there's not enough of them to register flavour in this already rich tasting pasta? Couldn't even get any texture since they were so crushed up and the amount was a pittance.

I was hoping that those walnuts would have added a little something different. #disappointed

Asado, Southbank, Melbourne

This Argentinian/Spanish restaurant (Riverside Quay, Southbank, Melbourne, tel : +61 3 9088 8600) came by recommendation of friends. The menu consisted mostly of sharing plates and grilled meats and was pretty good. These guys have one of the better sangria I've had plus I'm of the opinion that they rivalled and likely outdid the experiences at Bochinche and Salta.

Taking lead with the small plates was some salted cod croquettes with pickled fennel, sour cream and dill.

Followed by empanadas stuffed generously with minced beef, olives and boiled eggs.

Their white fish ceviche was refreshingly flavoured.

Then came the lengua - thinly sliced grilled beef tongue topped with chimichurri.

Loved the salty provoleta which was topped with Oloroso soaked raisins.

Couldn't pass on those morcilla. Spiced blood sausages if anyone was wondering.

From the restaurant's asado, slow roasted Western Plains suckling pig of various cuts and very crispy skin. These were from pigs that were allegedly raised outdoors without artificial growth hormones on a primary diet of wheat and barley. It was a very delicious pork, nicely grilled and amazing with those jus that came with the serving.

They also had some pretty good quality and nicely grilled Rangers Valley grain fed flank here.

And for the obligatory greens - roasted Brussels sprouts with Manchego cream, raisins and hazelnuts. One should never mistaken obligatory with healthy. But this sure was tasty.

Starch was some fried russet potatoes which were essentially patatas bravas.

Brunching at Bochinche

The last time I was at Bochinche (115 Amoy Street, #01-02, tel : +65 6235 4990), they were located at Martin Road. It looked noticeably more spacious, had a larger bar/counter seating and was more well lit than the current shop. Now I'm not sure why did I even bother to mention those things.

We had a spinach and goat cheese empanada. I wonder if these pastries are to Argentina as roti prata is to Singapore. While I haven't had much of them before, this particular one looked suspiciously like a French pastry than the puff that I was expecting. It tasted okay, not so tasty that I'll be coming back again for them.

The other thing I couldn't figure out was their grilled watermelon salad. It was supposed to be grilled and for some illogical reasons, I was thinking that they could've had char markings on them. I did just mention that it was illogical - but these weren't even warm. In fact, they were a little chilled. The mint granita was a nice touch while the burrata cream could have definitely done better than those decorative portions. This felt like style over substance.  

Brioche french toast with ham and bacon ice cream. The last part got me sold. Did taste like bacon but I couldn't really tell if the flavour come from just the bits or also the ice cream as well.

I liked their Provoleta best. Hearty, solid and sufficiently voluminous with their grilled bread. I just wished that the bread didn't have such a hard crust.

Bochinche, Martin Road

sea bream ceviche, tiger’s milk and sweet potato

Provoleta, almonds and honey

Argentinian grass fed rib eye 400g

Been wanting to visit Bochinche (22 Martin Road #02-01, tel : +65 6235 4990) for some time already and for some reasons, it's always been a case of out of mind from out of sight. 

As with the previous experiences at Salta with Argentine beef, the meat yielded noticeably less flavour than that what we're used to with the Australian/New Zealand/USDA imports. So while I didn't mind this , I'm not such a big fan. Especially when the bone marrow sauce on the side which was suppose to help was unimpressive to say the least. Their creamed spinach which looked like it was some spinach & cheese (in line with mac & cheese) was nicely done underneath the toasted cheese, flavoured by a hit of nutmeg. 

What we felt were more interesting were their ceviche and their Provoleta cheese. The former was lively with the citrus of limes on the firm but tender texture of the fish. All refreshingly chilled. The only bummer was the cilantro/coriander. What I'll definitely order again the next time would be their Provoleta cheese - rocked with it's milky saltiness, sweetness from the honey and the fragrance of the toasted almond shards.

Salta re-visited

Not so much about the beef for me to further mention since I've previously talked about how I felt about their rib eye. Apparently, they were consistent with that. It seemed that there are flavoured butter options which one can include now. This jamon iberico butter tasted like it had blue cheese in it. Definitely enhanced the grilled meat though not exactly in ways I had expected.

What impressed us this visit was their smoked tomato soup which I did not think was available the last time. The smoked aroma was impressively well bodied in a cream base that was non too heavy. Also redolent with the flavour of the tomato. Bonus points goes to the thin garlic and cheese toast. This could be something I'll come back for again. That and their very nicely done up garlic mashed potato which was surprisingly addictive.

Avoid their beef burgers. For a place that specializes in grilled meats, the patties were atrociously bad.

Salta, Icon Village

I've been wanting to come down to Salta (12 Gopeng Street, #01-56/57 ICON Village, tel : +65 6225 8443) for quite a while. This place is relatively (still) new to the scene for steaks in this country and what was essentially different about them was that they are an Argentinian steakhouse. Argentinian meat with their styles of cooking (coal fueled flames, no less!) being the key of the offerings.

Just to get things off my chest, I didn't enjoy much of their Corazon de Cuadril, which was a cut described as heart of rump. It was probably the delicious thin slices of well salted hump from churrascaria that have gotten me confused and thinking that this might have been similar. The grainy textured lean meat was less than flavourful beyond the seasoning of salt and was a little too tough to be enjoyable. They might have been better thinly sliced from spits rather than in the form of the thick chunk of meat where the insides were just....boring and tough. The rest of what I had, I liked. Pretty much.

Started off with a small selection in a bread basket. These served today were warm and that made them enjoyable.

What made the bread better were the little pots of dips that we had used for almost everything else that was served. My favorite of the three provided was definitely the spicy chimichurri. I was told that there was coriander inside, but I tasted none of it so it was all good. These dips they had tasted like they weren't made too long ago. The salsa and anchovy dips were pretty good as well and they actually taste quite good with butter on the bread. This Provoleta was a dish of melted Provolone cheese spiced with oregano and pink pepper. And to the point, it was awesome. The accompanied spices added to the flavours but did little to detract from the original milky and salty taste of the chewy cheese which was bolstered with the char aroma from the browned bits at the edges. I liked this so much that I would probably come back just to eat it again. We had a salchicha as well. It was a nicely grilled and juicy sausage there but the fillings were far from coarse and felt like it was processed by a machine rather than hand. I did enjoy the flavour but it was texture that was found lacking here. I couldn't say the ribeye was anywhere close to awesomeness, but I think it was a good enough job for the meat to be enjoyable. Then again, I must have meant that from the source of the meat rather than the execution because there was really nothing I could have been faulting from the grill. The flavour from the fat wasn't distributed well as I was hoping for. Wouldn't avoid ordering this again a next time though. Damn my habitual usage of double negatives. The mushroom and potato puree on the side tasted slightly sweet. Every potato that arrived on the table tonight tasted like sweet potatoes. That was unexpected.  Except for the sweet potato fries which we had deliberately ordered. The one with mushrooms was addictively tasty. It wasn't actually puree as most of us would have understood it. More like mashed. For all the food that we've already had, we managed to polish off the entire dish. The fries however became a tad too greasy and cloying at the end.