House of Peranakan Petit, Eng Hoon Street

House of Peranakan Petit (42 Eng Hoon Street, tel : +65 6222 1719) is part of the House of Peranakan Group of restaurants. The group, which has begun from humble beginnings back in the 80s have apparently a number of accolades representing their culinary achievements for Peranakan food. This particular outfit as I was able to determine attempts to carry on that tradition with a contemporary spin for some of the dishes. 

That's their ngoh hiang - minced pork and prawns with chopped water chestnuts stuffed in a bean curd skin that's deep fried. I've personally had excellent home made ones so while this was pretty tasty, I couldn't say that it was a stellar representation of the snack. 

The grind of the minced meat was a little fine - a little too refined if I might add compared to the ones my grandmother made. The water chestnuts were also a little too finely diced to the point where they could barely be discerned. So I suppose the sin here was a loss of two contrasting textures that provided bite and a soft crunchiness which made these rolls what they were. At $12 a roll, this was probably the only time I'm ever ordering it. 

HoPP's chap chye was quite garlic-ky. Now I do like garlic in general but I think prefer the renditions of this particular dish that are less brown, more lightweight in flavour and have cabbages that have been stewed for a longer time. The kind that's commonly found in Hainanese curry rice stalls. That's just me.

Truthfully, this crayfish curry was my first crayfish anything in Peranakan cuisine. The gravy tasted like assam fish curry without the assam if you catch my drift. Am at a loss for a better description at this point but the flavours were nice. There was a bunch of wilted cabbage and what might have been a sunny side up on top of it. Awesome stuff altogether. If there were to be room for improvement, it would be an additional egg for the cabbage and perhaps larger crayfish.

These was appropriately named scallop lemak. The operative word here is lemak. Which means 'fat' in Malay but is synonymous to mean 'enriched' as well. Usually with coconut milk. The tender scallops were smothered in a heart clogging coconut milk laden gravy which was topped with laksa leaves. Pretty sure this was Peranakan inspired as opposed to being a traditional recipe. And damn it was good. It's a "tempted to lick the plate clean" kind of good if I had to be more precise. Made me eat more rice than I'm normally comfortable with.

Dessert was durian chendol. Pretty good stuff. The shaven ice with coconut milk was replaced with coconut ice cream. While it appeared deconstructed, it tasted like the actual stuff once it was all mixed up with the gula melaka. 

Etna 2016

Etna has throughout the past years we've visited gotten more focused and refined with their food and also have progressively gotten more expensive. What we liked about them was the consistently good experience (to date!) and that the quality of their food is actually very decent. 

There're a couple of things that I'm constantly reminded of them. The first would be the occasionally nifty off menu specials like their filo wrapped tenderloin with Gorgonzola sauce. The second is the lamented orange and Parmigiano Reggiano risotto which I am constantly wishing would return to their menu.

It seems that there is a little more variety with bread as well. Previously, it was just focaccia.

I'm not sure if it's just us but we've been encountering quite a bit of octopus lately. Here's an off menu starter of grilled octopus with potato puree and Taggiasche olives. Delicious char they had.

The current menu has a carbonara di mare. A carbonara with some fish caviar and bottarga. The flavours of both fish roes came through together with the tiny bits of bacon. But I though it was a little salty. I do think that I rank the carbonara di mare from Trattoria Nonna Lina higher and more befitting of its name.

Their ciriole alla Norcina was as good comfort food as ever with the chunky minced sausages, mushroom and shaven Parmigiano Reggiano. I've just found out that the name Norcina originates from the town of Norcia - a place known for their cured meats, cheese and truffles.

The other off menu special of the week was their "scottadito" styled lamb chops. A variable recipe that contains salt, pepper and rosemary. Damn this was delicious. The lamb was pink and the savoury sauce was literally finger licking good. While it's not apparent in the picture, it was accompanied some bitter roasted radicchio and mashed potatoes.

No. 3 Crab Delicacy, Outram Road

I’ve seen No. 3 Crab Delicacy (265 Outram Road, tel : +65 6327 2148) around for a number of years but have never really had the opportunity to be in the vicinity long enough to remember or consider them until recently. If anyone was wondering, they’re a local cze char (an old school one at that) and are also known for their crab dishes. I guess that much would be evident from their name. Heh.

That's their bee hoon with clams. Noodles had a good bite and the garlicky broth was pretty tasty spiked with some heat from the sliced bits of chilli padi. Note to self - the small portion is good for only one.

The dish that we had for the first time ever in any rendition was their rojak styled chicken. We never realized that such a cool thing existed. This was essentially battered fried chicken heaped with julienned cucumber, guava and turnip that were tossed in rojak sauce with crushed peanuts. The consistency of the sauce was a little thinner than what one normally gets in rojak but I thought this worked even though I would have preferred a little more viscosity. And more crushed peanuts. We enjoyed this.

In the interest of a healthy balanced diet, stir fried kailan with garlic. The bits of brown stuff on the top were crushed ti poh (dried sole). It added a toasty umami aroma to the vegetables but there was a little too little to go around all the greens.

Brunch @ Humpback

As it says, it's brunch time at Humpback. The folks here mentioned that are working on a theme that had inspired them from New York. I'm not sure where exactly in New York that inspiration came from. There's not much of coffee but one gets a healthy option of drinks to go with the food. Many of the latter is in small plates. Sounds like many places.

These are their devilled eggs. Hard boiled, halved and topped with fish mousse, ikura, olive oil and I think that's paprika.

Their burrata was unexpectedly good. The key ingredient that elevated this creamy cheese with EVOO and pine nuts over a thick toast was their salsa verde which I thought was nicely done. 

This was sea urchin, served in a half shell with cauliflower puree. The urchin was sweet, floral - much tastier than the dull colour had suggested. But there was too little to go around the buttered brioche. Twice that would have been good portioning.

Their fried egg was pretty good. Served with orzo and bits of octopus and blanketed with a little Parmigiano Reggiano. Salt, fat and a nice hit of umami packaged with the tasty egg.

I suppose there'll be expectations for the gratuitous molten yolk porn, so there.

There's a lobster roll. This wasn't bad as well. The bun was buttered, airy and had a light crisp. I'm tagging this with the warm one from The Naked Finn and the one from Luke's to be those I found more enjoyable. Luke's is still my favourite for their heavier hand with the butter.

We tried a couple of their oysters.

The Kumamoto ones were pretty good. It also had a very different flavour profile after being paired with that rhubarb vinaigrette they provided. 

Tino's Pizza Cafe, Tiong Bahru Plaza

We had passed by Tino's Pizza (#01-160 Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road, tel : +65 6352 7759) on several occasions and were wondering where these guys had come from. After some digging online, I found out that they're a pizza chain by the Sun Spark Group from Taiwan. Recently, they were handing out samples of their Blue Formaggio which got us interested. We came back for a whole pizza.

Tino's makes what they classify as Neapolitan and Roman pizzas - to be believed with a healthy pinch of salt of course. We haven't tried the former and I'm not sure what's Roman about this Roman styled one we had. Interestingly, the cheese covered the entire crust of the pizza including the cornicione. Anyway, the amount of splotchy blue surface got us excited. These guys were quite generous even though it was a rather mild blue cheese that they were using. Scattered with walnuts and drizzled with honey. 

Sufi's Corner, Baghdad Street

Sufi's Corner (1 Baghdad Street / 56 Arab Street, tel : +65 6298 1196) does Turkish food. As Turkish as it can get I suppose in this country with a chef from Istanbul. This restaurant was another one of those places we've walked by numerous times along the Arab Street district which we've wondered about every one of those times. Today, we finally walked in from the sweltering evening into a nicely chilled mug of reprieve ayran. Note to self - get the ayran without ice the next time.

We had iskembe. Tripe soup - theirs of which tasted like cream of garlic. It wasn't bad but it wasn't particularly memorable either.

The menu was rather overwhelming. There were a number of things which looked good so we were pretty much spoilt for choice. #firstworldproblems. We ended up with the Sufi's Mixed Grill which was made with a bunch of stuff baked in a lavash. What was the bunch of stuff I was talking about? Shish kebabs, doner kababs, chicken wings, kofte, pide, lahmacun, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, basmati rice and even fries. How's that for a mixed grill?

Look it. Underneath the ruptured lavash, which was quite good by the way, were loads of meat. This was supposed to be portioned for two but we reckoned that it would easily feed four.

There were even lamb chops inside. Yes, that's plural. Two of them to be precise.

As we worked our way through, we realized at some point that there was no way we would be able to finish all the food. They were kind enough to pack the leftovers so that we could microwave us another meal another day. We missed trying out their kunefe this time round because we hadn't room left for desserts. But I guess there's a very good chance we would come back another time.

Spaghetti with langoustine from PerBacco

I’ve always felt that PerBacco is understated. While that keeps the restaurant under the radar of the masses which is selfishly a good thing, it also makes me worry that there isn’t enough business enough to be healthy for them. I hope I’m wrong about the latter. Their chef Marco Fregnon is skilled at coaxing flavours out from crustaceans into cream sauces that shine. 

Recently, we tried their spaghetti with langoustine in a Gorgonzola béchamel sauce. That combination didn’t sound like it made sense at all since it’s a pairing of something delicate with something that was usually overpoweringly pungent. Couldn’t taste the Gorgonzola at all but what came through was a robust flavour from the crustacean. I could draw parallels with that to how they do their lobster carbonara.  

Blu Kouzina, Dempsey Road

We had eaten at Blu Kouzina (10 Dempsey Road, tel : +65 6875 0872) previously when they were located at Bt. Timah. It was memorable because it was our first time having Greek food and we enjoyed it. On top of that, the restaurant was using that fruity olive oil which was obtained from their family farm in Greece. Today we had more of that olive oil with their dense and soft loaves. Nice bread!

We had taramosalata, a mildly fishy (in a good way) and creamy dip made with cured cod roe. Delicious with their olive oil and bread.

That's the Talagani cheese, a sheep's milk cheese from Messina. The pan fried cheese turned out to be very much like halloumi. Both cheese are of different origins, but possess the same salty and milky flavour with a chewy texture.

And then some nicely charred but still tender octopus tentacles. This was good.

Followed up with some lamb chops and fried potatoes. I'm looking forward to coming back again.

Decker Barbecue, Robertson Quay

While I’m no expert or even have any levels of actual familiarity with American styled barbecue, specifically Texan styled barbecue which Decker (#01-17, 60 Robertson Quay, tel : +65 6635 8565) is allegedly making, this was quite good. No offence to any camps but this was altogether a much more tasty experience than the South Carolinian one at 85 South. Yeah, the only other American styled barbecue which I’ve tried. Outside the US of A and no less. Pretty impressed with the smoky ribs and the tender fall apart briskets from this particular outfit. I would like to come back and have those briskets again in sandwiches.

Yunos N Family, Ang Mo Kio Central

This shop was a local Muslim food stall (#01-01 Ang Mo Kio Central Food Centre, 724 Ang Mo Kio Ave 6) in the heart of Ang Mo Kio. We had mee rebus which was one of the things to eat here. What’s different about the mee rebus from Yunos were the "add on" options on menu which generally aren’t part of the usual offerings from others stalls. For this particular case, it was lamb ribs. I had three pieces in my bowl. Those ribs weren’t as tender as I was hoping for though. Their nutty kuah/gravy had a smoky flavour which I'm guessing is from the little burnt bits. Pretty decent mee rebus located just 10 minutes from Rahim Muslim Food, the other popular stall.

Gado gado was okay. The ingredients weren't sloppy at the least but I didn't think there was anything extraordinary.

The Rendang Chicken’O from Old Chang Kee

I haven't had curry puffs from Old Chang Kee in a long while because their puffs were shrinking along with the quality of the fillings while the prices have being going up. I don't particularly understand nor like the bulbous knots at the end of the pastry crimp. I don't remember them being so large in the past. Very obviously, they're trying to stuff us with more fried flour. I'm also lost as to why are the curry puffs known as Os these days. Anyways, there's a green rendang chicken puff that they're doing lately. Didn't taste very much of rendang if I might say so. It wasn't bad tasting, the fillings were just a little differently flavoured from their usual puff though I couldn't quite point out where. And it's not rendang.

Kite, Craig Road

I took notice of Kite (53 Craig Road, tel : +65 9729 7988) when they opened up late last year as they were by the same owner of SPRMKT. For some reasons, the restaurant went out of mind until recently so here's what we had from the visit. I was trying not to use the fusion tag but in the end, made peace with myself in agreement that they are fusion in many ways like many of the small plate joints that have been thriving in recent years. There's Japanese, Indian and even local influences in their food.

The other thing I learnt was that Leandros Stagogiannis is involved at the helm. Sounds familiar? Yeah, because he is.

Kite offers Tennent's beer aged with whisky oak. A smooth ale-ish brew from Glasgow of moderate bitter, some maltiness and interestingly beyond the other subtle complexities which I didn't bother with - a hint of whisky that came just before the aftertaste. I'm not sure if I had imagined the last part but that was what I thought registered. I liked it.

chicken skins, bourbon glaze, juniper salt

The chicken skins were quite nice. Crisp, flavourful - but not necessarily of the obvious ingredients that were mentioned. To describe it simply, it was salty and savoury. 

char siew wagyu

This did taste like char siew marinate and pretty much the only thing wagyu about it was the texture. Couldn't taste any of the natural flavours of the beef through the marinate. I don't think char siew flavour works so well with wagyu.

bread & butter

Actually, brioche and seaweed butter. The butter was nice in a salted umami kind of way, but I couldn't actually tell that there was seaweed. 

salmon trout 42Deg, seaweed, apples, sesame

Trout was very good. Tender, flaky and full of flavour. The sesame description from the menu was a bit of a misnomer as the dominant flavour on the presumeably sou vide fish is the furikake, not just sesame.

mentaiko somen, Hokkaido scallops, unagi, tobiko

The somen was also pretty good. I'm not sure what about it was mentaiko though. The torched scallops were awesome, cubes of unagi very nicely charred and flavourful as well while the spicy noodles kept us digging in until the very end. While this was a unique dish from Kite, the approach and flavour profile isn't so. Other restaurants have created similar noodle dishes with varying amounts of success simply because this flavour profile is well received.

Mangalica pork collar, you tiao veloute, spiced broth

The pork was buttery tender and I thought the creamy you tiao veloute was pretty impressive. If the idea was to create a progressive/contemporary update to ba kut teh, they've succeeded rather well.

lamb saddle chaat potatoes, spiced jus, tamarind mango chutney

I thought the Indian flavours were quite nicely done here. The lamb saddle was wrapped in a thin layer of fat which brought a nice lamb-y flavour together with the char on the exterior.