Revisiting Pura Brasa

I remember not being impressed by Pura Brasa the first and last time we were here. Back in the day when this building they were at was still called Tanjong Pagar Plaza rather than Guoco Tower and the quality of their Jamón ibérico didn't look all that great.

Food was noticeably better this time round though.

That tomato purée on crispy crystal bread thingy was refreshing and likeable. Could have been on a next level if they had used a better (also read as fruitier) olive oil but whatever. Tortilla was decent.

Pretty impressed by their Josper grilled lamb racks. Sizeable chunks of meat with crusty burnt end bits that's unadulterated by anything but salt and pepper. Also quite a bit of fat with pretty lamb-y flavour that's in your face. I did not expect this and was pleasantly surprised.

What propped those ribs of lamb up were Padron pepper and potatoes. They're getting points for relevant vegetables on the side instead of "mesclun greens".

Their burger was labeled under a section call Pure Hamburger. Patty's wagyu - Josper grilled and no less. What got my attention was that other than the meat, there were only a couple of slices of nutty cheese and some sweet caramelized onions. No nonsense in there folks. They were serious about showcasing the burger and I thought it tasted pretty good. Wouldn't mind coming back for it again kind of good. 

Re-visiting Binomio

I made reservations at Binomio because their menu indicated that they had baby eels which I was curious about. But they were out of it when we were here so.....bummer.

We had fried squid and anchovies. Not bad.

Lamb t-bone with lamb sweetbread and goat's cheese. This was so good - which doesn't even begin to express how much I liked this dish. We had this the last time we were here more than two years ago.

The other dish I wanted to try was their seaweed paella with sea anemone. Yes, sea anemone. That's the fried bits of stuff on top of the rice with the sprigs of ice plant. I'm actually at a loss on how to describe them. The sea anemone had a texture almost like oyster or mussels. The flavour reminded me of seaweed and also oysters. I liked it. And that robust seaweed flavour in the rice. For the first time ever, I was scraping and looking forward to the socarrat off the bottom of the pan.

Because they allowed half portions of paella from their regular serving, we made our second half the one with duck liver (it's foie gras!) and figs. So these two paellas were technically single serving portions which were heavier than we imagined. The rice for this one had a flavour like some kind of red meat stock. Don't know if it's duck of beef but it's not bad. 

Olivia Restaurant & Lounge, Keong Saik Road

Always exciting (still) to head to a restaurant that's open by one of the alumni of El Bulli. That would be the co-founder and chef of Olivia (#01-03, 55 Keong Saik Road,  tel : +65 62210522), Alain Devahive whom according to what I "researched", spent a decade in the vaunted hall of molecular gastronomy. Much of his stay there was spent with the restaurant’s food research laboratory team, El Bullitaller.

We can all read of that what we will. Me? I'm just wondering how much of that research translated into what we had on the menu. 

This was the third attempt at getting a table. Guess third time might be a charm after all.

Maeloc Sidra Con Mora, blackberry cider. Grape-y, sweet and dry-ish. I liked it enough to have more than one.

This we had to do - spherical olives that were a tribute to the originals by Ferran Adria in El Bulli. If one liked olives, this was a fun take. Olives in liquid form with the burst in your mouth and trickle down the throat experience. Like Gaggan's Yoghurt Explosion. We had twelve of these between three of us.

I'll explain here - this was a beef and foie gras carpaccio. The swirls in the beef are supposed to be foie gras, not fat from the meat. Don't know how they did it. Very pretty but I couldn't get much of the foie gras in the flavour. Loved the pine nuts and I thought the orange peel confit was a nice touch. There's a truffle cream dressing drizzled over the carpaccio which was nicely balanced. 

Their canelon was good. There's meat inside. Have heard it might be veal, beef cheek or chicken or foie gras. I don't know. But it was so delicious with the Parmesan cream.

Bikinis with Jamón Ibérico, cheese and truffle. Nice in a simple way.

The monkfish and prawn stew because poor man's lobster. Even as I popped a piece of that monkfish into my mouth, my brain registered lobster. Prawn was very tender unlike the firm and crunchy texture we tend to prefer - but it had a very sweet crustacean flavour and head juice that was awesome. Mopped up all that bisque with their bread.

Tried their suckling pig shoulder.

They deboned the meat for our convenience. Nice. Sauce/jus/gravy thing was salty and delicious. Again, I mopped the plate with bread.

I liked those cinnamon flavoured roasted pineapple. 

No one should be saying that I never enjoyed the food.

So, their cheesecake. The one which the menu described with cream and blue cheese and almond sable. The one that's been making rounds in social media and inspiring a legion of copycats. Never really tried any those so I couldn't comment but this one is fucking nice. Because blue cheese. The flavour from that blue was a little more than subtle so I'm happy. Savoury sweet and that melty texture - I'll be back for this. 

Wagyu txuleta burger sets from Basque Kitchen by Aitor

I was intrigued by the txuleta (pronounced choo-letah) that was mentioned for these burgers from the one Michelin starred Basque Kitchen by Aitor (97 Amoy Street). Txuleta in a nutshell are older cows - aged between 3 and 18 years old from what I've read that are reared in the Basque region which purports a more intense beefy flavour in the meat.

So is wagyu Txuleta what I think it is or is it something else? Anyways I decided to splurge to see if it was good.

Pretty and nicely constructed between brioche. Flavour was not bad actually. I got the beefiness but a couple of things didn't work for me. The sauce - I don't what it was made of but there was a tanginess which reminded me of the "Thousand Island-esque" concoctions. Once I had gotten beyond the lightly crusty edges of the burger, I though that the sauce was too much and was contending with the flavour of the beef.

Definitely not the first time I'm wondering why kitchens sauce up supposedly better quality meat that they're selling.

The other thing was - I got a chunk, not sure how a chunk came forth minced meat, of very chewy...part I couldn't tear with my teeth after some effort. Too big to swallow. I had to spit it out.

The first comparison that came to mind for the burger was with the Smash Burger at Employees Only. Rather instinctively I would say. That was a better experience and one that was less expensive. $24 for 2 versus $78 for 2.

This came with dessert. Guanaja chocolate custard - kinda like mousse with dark chocolate/salted caramel pearls. Not bad. Tasted a little coconut-y though.

Binomio Spanish Restaurante, Craig Road

Binomio (20 Craig Road, #01-02 Craig Place, tel : +65 6557 0547) has been in operations for a number of years. We never noticed them until we started visiting PerBacco's old location. They were just next door to each other. Even then it took a long time for us to finally visit.

In their earlier days, I noticed people talking about their old executive chef Jose Alonso and his Michelin studded past. About two years back, not so much fanfare was accorded to the current EC Gonzalo Landin who looked like he was a touch and go kind of guy. Touched and went at places like Dinner by Heston Blumenthal or even a 4 month staging gig at El Celler de Can Roca. Locals tend to call this job hopping.

I guess this was amuse bouche. Manchego with jelly. Quince maybe? 

A sangria tinta while waiting for the food. This one had quite a lot of fruits. Nice enough that I followed up with another.

We ordered their blue cheese croquettes with very low expectations. Because curiosity and things are always an assumption until we know. It turned out enjoyable. Crisp breading exterior with enough of the pungent blue cheese flavouring in a piping hot creamy...erm...insides. Good for returns.

Got a half portion of their Jamón Ibérico pata negra. Yup, pata negra here and no less. Nutty, sweet and savoury like all nice Jamón Ibérico are.

The menu described this as a cheese terrine. The texture was light with an almost mousse like creaminess. Flavour was mild - almost relatable to mascarpone. I thought it was paired nicely with the honey olive oil thingy. 

We ordered lamb chops because *Joey Jordison drumroll* - lamb sweetbreads! So hard to find these things. And figs. And goat's cheese.

Lamb was competently done. The meat had a healthy amount of fat which translated to flavour. I thought those sweetbread were a little too little because they were delicious. 

We hadn't had paella in a while so why not one from a restaurant that's pretty well received. Artichokes and snails. Those artichokes were delicious and the snails were snails. What was outstanding was also the flavour in the rice. Deep savoury flavour with soccarat that was so good. And I am usually not a soccarat kind of person.

Not impressed by their cold whiskey cake. The middle layer is cream, the yellows are egg yolk and toasted almonds. That's all the texture. Whiskey was poured over when it was served and well, it's just creamy and sweet.

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.