Ma Maison, Anchorpoint

Some food from Ma Maison (#01-12 Anchorpoint, 370 Alexandra Road, tel : +65 6479 1670). These guys have been around for ages and have generally been pretty decent. They're also my first exposure to Japanese styled western food.

Onion gratin soup which was made with beef stock was not bad tasting. Sufficiently savoury and beefy plus pretty cheesy as well.

Their sirloin's generally not bad. I like that they get doneness correct and the crust that they give to the steak. This one has tamari sauce which was actually pretty good pairing with the meat. The only thing that they haven't quite gotten going well is the consistency of their meat. There's silverskin sometimes which can be a bummer. 

Yummy ikasumi omu rice. Creamy but not excessively because they didn't overdose with that cream sauce.

There's seafood and mushrooms about with squid ink rice in the omelette which was delicious. One can taste that squid ink flavour in it.

Love their chocolate strawberry shortcake too. These tasted better than their appearances belie. Pretty chocolate-y from the combination of the cream and sponge and the chocolate flavour's quite nice. Have mentioned liking them before.

Some eats from Casa Vostra during the new year

Back at Casa Vostra in Raffles City. 

Agnolotti all'anatra in brodo - duck filled agnolotti in a duck consommé. The minced duck in the pasta was delicately textured but pretty packed with flavour. The broth, for the lack of a better word, was duck-y but also lightweight at the same time.  

Nicely done broccolini. Great pairing with that creamy/cheesy sauce on the plate.

That's their pizza prosciutto e fichi which featured prosciutto di Parma, fig puree, walnuts and rocket with shaven Parmigiano Reggiano. Fig puree tasted like honey.

Dark chocolate gelato's not bad.

Rather liked their strawberry lemonade. Granted I was pretty thirsty then.

Ruxu (入续), Funan

 

Ruxu (#01-11 Funan, 107 North Bridge Road, tel : +65 8171 8419) is a tong sui (traditional Chinese dessert) and bakery chain from Guangzhou, China. They've gotten a bit of spotlight on local social media lately because of their first branch in Singapore.

They've something called phoenix milk custard with rice wine & mochi. Not bad though I think the flavour from said rice wine was a little weak. The custard was not excessively sweet with an almost ethereal texture and the mochi was much more tender than I imagined. 

Mango sago pomelo was okay. Decent tasting if not exactly memorable. Those mango were just crossing the edge into the pretty sour zone.

Almond pudding with osmanthus syrup tasted like I imagined. No surprises here.

Dim Sum Club, Wheelock Place

Came across Dim Sum Club (B1-01 Wheelock Place, 501 Orchard Road, tel : +65 6263 9164) by chance. The spot they're at used to be a coffee place if I recall correctly.

Tea's nice. Smooth and creamy local rendition that's sweet but not excessively so.  

Pan fried yam cake (芋头糕). There's chunks of yam, lup cheong and mushrooms in it.

Curious pan fried kaya bao. They're okay I guess. The kaya fillings inside were not memorable and the skin wasn't the fresh and fluffy kind.

Truffle noodle with sunny side up. The one thing that bothered me some about it was the kee flavour in the noodles. While the saucing and the egg yolk help mask that, some still came through. Otherwise, pretty decent.

Steamed pork and salted egg yolk patty on rice. Nice. Rice was tender and moist. Kailan was tender and not fibrous.

Har gow had thick skin. Not the delicate wrapper we gravitate to. Wouldn't say that it's bad but also wouldn't be getting them if we ever came back.

Their red bean soup with tangerine peel had consistency like porridge and that tangerine peel flavour was adequate. There's some sago in it too. I like this.

Dan Shui (淡水)

Some bites in our day trip to Dan Shui.

Pancake with cai por (pickled radish). Peppery ones at that. Never had these sweet pancakes with cai por before. Pretty good tasting with a lot of crunch - a texture that one normally doesn't get in these.

Red bean ones were also nice. Love that they weren't overly sweet. Loads of beans inside.

Custard ones were kinda lightweight.

Salted duck egg with powder blue shells.

They were salty, but not as salty as the ones we have back home.

The century egg shells were speckled.

The crystalline blacks were latticed with dendritic salt crystals. According to Gemini, these patterns are known as sōng huā (松花) in Chinese, are a sign of a properly made and high-quality century egg.

Yolk was creamy and molten. These were good tasting century eggs.

Stopped for some seasonal blueberry kakigori at this shop.

White bitter melon juice with honey. The drink was actually refreshing with the bitterness edging in at the back of each gulp.

爆漿大貢丸-迪化店, Dihua Street @ Datong District, Taipei

Pitstopped here (No. 13, Section 1, Dihua Street, Datong District, Taipei) for some local bites.

Chilled beancurd with grated peanuts.

Lu rou fan here was much more enjoyable than the one from Raohe market. I attribute it to the flavour intensity of the sauce.

Taiwanese sausage with tobiko. Couldn't taste those eggs but could feel them pop in between the teeth.

Tsujihan (つじ半), Breeze Xinyi, Taipei

Tsujihan originates from Tokyo. They're apparently a "viral" cash only and no reservations restaurant. This branch in Taipei (No. 68, Section 5, Zhongxiao East Road B1, Xinyi District, Taipei) takes reservations so we were able to get seats without having to queue. Also accepts credit cards.

What many people seem to be getting here are their kaisendon sets. 

Ankimo ponzu which wasn't part of the sets. Nice.

Saw quite a number of pictures of this tai sashimi with sesame sauce online. It was ok.

This was their 特上 kaisendon bowl. Seafood quality was just passable. I was expecting them to be exceptional. The uni was sweet but there was pretty strong taste to the point that it wasn't pleasant anymore. Crab meat was shredded and doesn't have much to go with mouthfeel. This felt like a glorified kaisendon.

One can get chazuke by requesting for their tai broth to be added to the rice. Other than the fish, I'm guessing dashi and miso. Not bad but it would cook whatever bits of fish that's still left in the bowl. 

Some milky pudding with matcha and an anko ball at the end.