Chicken Up, Tanjong Pagar

Over the course of the past decade, the strip along Tanjong Pagar road has evolved more than a little in with an array of non local food options. Noticeably so if I might say. We've experience a share of French (Gavroche, L'Entrecote), a smattering of Italian (Buko Nero, Etna, Latteria Mozzarella Bar, Pasta Brava), Japanese (Inaho's Kitchen Bar, Keisuke Tonkotsu King) and the occasional Chinese and even Australian. We obviously haven't had the time to explore them all. Most notably, Korean restaurants (Kko Kko Nara, ChoWon Garden) have really mushroomed in this stretch.

Chicken Up (48 Tanjong Pagar Road, #01-01, tel : +65 6327 1203) happened to be another one of those Korean restaurants that have been around (duration unbeknownst to me) that had caught my attention lately. As the name might have also suggested, they specialize in chicken. Fried chicken. Given my limited experiences with Korean fried chicken, I'm going to go out on a limb to tip my hat to them for doing a darn good job.

I'm talking meaty birds with shatteringly crispy batter that didn't hold the slightest amount of excessive grease along with tender meat that were literally dripping with juices. It's pretty much what I've described.

What we didn't expect to discover in a fried chicken joint was an item on menu described as fresh blood soup. That was essentially a spicy vegetable and cow blood broth with chunks of bouncy textured (imagine fishcakes) blood that was a blast of spicy and umami. I liked that the vegetables were well boiled to the point where it was soft yet still lightly crunchy. Together with the soup, it was perfect with the soft sticky rice they served.

Dislikes? Banchan while waiting would have been great, but instead what they had was a forgettable free flow of salad. Air conditioning also needs work.

Two Blur Guys, Tanjong Pagar

This looks to be a relatively new joint for burgers and pastries down at Orchid Hotel (1 Tras Link, Orchid Hotel) facing the Tanjong Pagar market. Run by Jimmy Chok.

They have a prime beef burger (for $12.50) that's stacked with gruyere and slapped with a little truffle mayo that was honestly pretty good. The meat was both flavourful and running with juices, cooked with a nice amount of char aroma and crust on the outside. The only little gripe was the truffle mayo. The truffle flavour was a little too mild and they should consider adding a lot more for impression/intimidation or not at all since this burger was actually good enough on its own.  Duck rillette sandwich was cold and very salty.

I'm probably dropping by again sometime.

Yummy Recipes, Cresent @ Kallang

 

Quite a bit of food that we ordered at Yummy Recipes (7 Kallang Pudding Road, #01-08, tel : +65 6636-0603). Also an unexpectedly fancy decor for a restaurant located in an industrial region. 

In the interest of making this short(er) and sweet, here were some of the mention worthy.

• Roasted pork belly was good with crispy crackling and tender meat. It wasn't very fatty.
• Both the fried rice had a nice beady texture but the olive plate didn't have enough of flavour from olives and the pork belly one smelt a lot nicer than there were flavours.
• Sucking pig was pretty good, but nothing comparable to those in Hong Kong.
• Pig stomach soup was pretty good with a strong peppery flavour. But I heard it was thickened by cornstarch.
• Assam curry fish head was awesome. It was a rich creamy curry, robustly flavoured with the sour from probably both assam and pineapples that were cooked in them. That viscous curry was vibrant from the fruits, not flat. Only gripe was for $25, there was only half a fish head. Expensive. This was included in the menu as a local dish option, not a specialty from their Shanghainese chef obviously.
• Crispy noodles with seafood was very tasty as well. Generous portions of egg and seafood.

 

roasted pork belly

olive fried rice

pork belly fried rice

appetizer platter

suckling pig

double boiled soup of chicken stuffed in pig's stomach

Penang assam curry fish head

 

obligatory greens

crispy fried noodles with seafood

stir fried mee sua

Island Cafe, Tangs Orchard

 

I was first introduced to this place (310 & 320 Orchard Road, Level 4 TANGS Orchard, tel : +65 6311 3424) which serves what many would describe as atas local food years ago by a friend. Since then I've only been here a few times. With said friend. In all that few times, I've only ever ordered the crayfish laksa. Recommendations of said friend. Until today.

Their crayfish laksa was pretty heart clogging good. Rich coconut infusion into the moderately spicy broth. Tau pok, slices of fish cake, quail eggs. And of course, crayfish that wasn't obscenely tiny and also not overcooked. One could taste the sweetness from the meat still.

 

Their Penang char kuey teow was a decently done plate of stir fried rice noodles. Well fried, not too soggy, laced with fresh tasting ingredients and probably not like how it is done in Penang. But I suppose a rather good local rendition. A little mild in the department of flavour though.

Breakfast at Club Street Social

The crostinis were excellent. Imagine chilled creamy ricotta with a slice of briney anchovy and a sprinkle of citrus salt. All that on top of crispy sliced toast. The flavors brought together pretty much screamed 'Japanese!' for me.

Lobster bisque was actually pretty decent. Served hot and with enough of that crustacean flavors without being luxuriant like the rendition from Morton's with cream and brandy. Unfortunately the truffle egg toast was woefully inadequate for flavor and their ribeye panini featured meat that was both nicely done medium rare but yet very lacking in the natural flavors of the beef. For a moment, I was torn about how to feel about the sandwich, but I think I will probably never order it again.

ChoWon Garden, Peck Seah Street

I've been wanting to drop by this place (2 Peck Seah Street, #01-01 Air View Building, tel : +65 6225 1317) for dinner for quite some time. Tonight finally happened.

It started as usual with a selection of banchan. We didn't get any refills this time round. Not that any was really needed.

Notable mention went to the jaeyuk bosam kimchi which was marinated pork belly with kimchi. The slices of pork were served piping hot while the kimchi (which contained a few raw oysters) was almost icy cold. The chilled kimchi from this dish was stronger in flavour than the crunchier ones from the banchan which were less fermented. Eaten with the slices of pork, the taste altogether became different than if one were to eat either the pork or the kimchi separately. Couldn't really describe how it was, but we thought the synergy of flavours was good.

There was a dish of fried oyster battered in egg which was pretty decent if ordinary. They tasted like how they looked.

ChoWon Garden has a Korean spicy sausage soup call sundae kuk. It was served bubbling hot and the broth was redolent with a heavy umami flavour that was probably infused by what seems to be tang hoon stuffed sausage (amidst some other stuff that looked like it might be blood). And bits of fatty, some chewy, some crunchy cartilage like bits of unknown parts that had been simmering in the spicy broth. It was very delicious.

Wouldn't mind revisiting again in spite of that air conditioning that can barely be felt.

Casa Latina, Waterloo Street

I've had this recent bout of craving for Mexican food after a recent disappointing experience. Hence, Casa Latina (42 Waterloo Street, tel : +65 6884 6929).

We were intrigued by their Casa Latina melted cheese starter which was mozzarella cheese in a hot stone bowl with a spicy green sauce (it was laced with coriander/cilantro). Melted cheese was hot and gooey and one could just scoop them into tortillas that were served on the the side. The bonus this dish had for us came from the burnt cheese that were at the bottom of the bowl.

Their Jarocha seafood soup turned out to be a good choice. That being said, it was also kinda hard to discern the flavours of the soup. If I had to describe, it was savoury, umami and spicy altogether in a robust broth. In spite of appearances, it didn't taste of any tomatoes as I had initially suspected might. Heat did pack a bit of punch. Very good stuff. Will order them again if I come back.

Our first time having mole. The flavour was a mixture of mild sweetness, spice and a hint of pepper amid a pronounced chocolate body. The shredded chicken that came in the fried tortillas were just shredded chicken. This dish was about the mole. Taste did become monotonous after a while. What it did remind me a little of was the sweet sauce from chee cheong fun.

There, more green cilantro flavoured sauce ladled over their crab enchilada. This enchilada was loaded with shredded crab meat. Couldn't say that it was close to the best crab I've had but portions were pretty generous. Tasty refried beans on the side as well.

More home breakfast porn

Battle Sisig

No, there won't be any Alton Brown styled motormouth commentary from me. Here's a look between the sisig from Gerry's Grill (bottom) and 7107 Flavors (top).

The rendition from 7107 wins hands down for both flavour and texture. The latter attribute can obviously be seen from the sliced chilli, chopped onions along with bits of unknown cartilage-y parts which are thickened by a raw egg beaten over as they served the hot plate. There was also a whole lot more flavours going on.

As much as I liked some of the other items at Gerry's the sisig simply tasted burnt and it looked like it was just minced meat, some onions and garlic.

Bilbao Restaurant and Gastrobar, TripleOne Somerset

The name of this Spanish restaurant (111 Somerset Road, #02-16 TripleOne Somerset, tel : +65 6737 0150) reminded me of the uncle of a certain furry footed individual that bore an almost indestructible ring of power into the volcanoes of a bleak and desolated land. It also actually happens to be a name of a city in Spain.

This was a serving of octopus with olive oil, salt and paprika on sliced potatoes. The simplicity of the preparation allowed the natural flavours of octopus to savoured, enhanced by the ubiquitous crystals that the world harvests from the seas. Adding dimension was the paprika. I rather liked these as they were tender and chewy at the same time.

I didn't remember the name of this particular tapas, but it was balls of goat cheese encrusted with crushed almonds with tomato jam (which was fruity and delicious by the way) and squid ink toast. I liked it.

I didn't quite think too highly of the strips of fried potatoes. It was really the prosciutto and egg that really tricked me into ordering this item. Were they any good?  Better than the regular ham and eggs. But I don't kid myself into thinking that these were anything along the leagues of jamon Iberico. The eggs were of course, just eggs.

Couldn't remember what this was called, but it looked like an un-themed mash up of more of those fried potato strips, some salty fried prosciutto, eggs, pan fried foie gras and a carpaccio of pork trotters which was that thin film of jelly just below the foie gras and diced root vegetables.

That carpaccio packed a surprising amount of great flavour that shone in spite of its feeble appearances. Ditto for that red wine sauce on the side.

And there was an enjoyably chilled sweet rice and milk pudding dusted with some cinnamon.

As lacklustre as this entry appeared, the food from Bilbao was actually pretty tasty. I wouldn't rule out coming back.