Shabestan, Robertson Quay

Shabestan (#01-13 The Pier, 80 Mohamed Sultan Road, tel : +65 6836 1270) is an upmarket Persian/Iranian restaurant located down the riverside where Brasserie Wolf used to be. We've been eyeing the place for quite a while as we've passed by the location multiple times, seen their menu and thought they looked interesting. Yes, it's another one of those places.

We were recommended the muhamara to start - a paste of pepper, walnuts, olive oil and pomegranate served with lavash . The muhamara was sweet, nutty and had some citrus in the flavours. Delicious.

We ordered a duo of their rice; or polo/polow which incidentally sounds like pulau. One was a Zereshk polo which is sometimes known as the Persian jewelled rice - rice made with saffron, dried barberries and pomegranate. The other was a Baghala polo, cooked with lima beans and dill. Both were delicious. The square on top is cut off from the rice crust in their cooking vessel. Something like a socarrat.

Did anyone think that we have forgotten lamb? We did not. Here's a soltani which featured a koobideh and grilled filet. Meat was marinated, but not to death. 

We ordered a stewed duck with walnut sauce with pomegranate. This was the first duck dish we've ever had in any Middle Eastern restaurant. The sauce was rich, sweet, tangy and nutty. Not so different from the muhamara. There was a whole duck thigh in the dish and the meat was fall off the bone tender. 

Dessert was a saffron ice cream with pistachio. With more pomegranate. That ice cream was rich and creamy with saffron flavours. Good stuff.

Shabestan has a fancy looking dough/doogh. The drink is similar to ayran - basically a salted yoghurt drink with mint and sometimes with club soda. This one has masala spices and dried rose petals too.

More Saravanaa Bhavan-ing

Another stop over to address the craving for Indian food. Today we had a mini thali, which I guess represents a slightly smaller subset of something like say, their North Indian Thali. Instead of naan, there was chapati together with the briyani. Alongside some watery aloo kurma, dal, raita and scoop of kesari bath for sweets. Pretty tasty but not quite the kickass satisfaction I was hoping for. Seems like the chapati had been lying around for a while too.

Oh, we tried their paneer 65 as well. Tasted pretty much like how we thought it would. A little salty, a little spicy and made good munching. Syed Alwi Road alone promises many return trips.

Ristorante Da Valentino 2017

Another few years have whisked by since our last visit to Valentino's. If you're wondering why we took so long, it's mostly because of their location. Not exactly the most accessible of places.

Today they had sakura ebi tossed with bottarga special that was off the menu. Those little shrimps were freshly fried and had a nice crisp. Paired with the briny bottarga, it was addictive to say the least.

This was their Bormio salad - with julienned apples, pine nuts, ricotta cheese and a an appetizing dressing. Tasty.

We had a pretty good saffron risotto with porcini. Beady grains of rice infused with the flavour of saffron and cheese. One of those things that some people would be wont to say is uncomplicated and tasty.

There was also a spaghetti frutti di mare with olive oil and bottarga. Couldn't get much from the oil but there was also zesty lemon which together with the cured roe made very good flavours on the pasta. The prawn even had some head fat!

Dessert was a conservative profiterole. Conservative and trusty.

And a nice glass of chilled moscato for lunch.

While it may sound cliché, Valentino's is a great place to eat. Getting pricier by the years though.

A pasta from Hoshino Coffee

Yes, this was the pasta from Hoshino Coffee. The one that is called Hoshino on the menu. It's actually kinda nice in a Japanese wafu kind of way. Nothing too heavy tasting as it's a soy sauce and olive oil base if I'm not mistaken. There's bacon, sausages, tomato, some spinach, a soft boiled egg and shimeiji mushrooms. A little salty, a little smoky and...just Japanese I suppose.

Ananda Bhavan, Syed Alwi Road

Apparently, Ananda Bhavan (95 Syed Alwi Road, tel : +65 6398 0837) which was set up in 1924 is the first Indian restaurant in the country. Wow, I never knew that till today. Too bad my first experience at their restaurant near Tekka market wasn't so memorable. But hey - this visit turned out to be an enjoyable re-acquaintence.

Their pav bhaji was delicious. Amazing flavours of mashed vegetables with the crunch and that bit of sharpness from the chopped onions along with a breath of zing from the squeeze of lime. Those pav were nicely buttered and that definitely helped. Vegetable briyani was likewise hearty and flavoursome, especially so with the refreshing raita or their rich kourma. Notable mentions also goes to the savoury aloo masala and the Chennai cabbage which for the first time, I've noticed having flavours of mustard. The little container in the middle was the dessert of the meal and that was actually pulut hitam. Pleasant and unexpected surprise there. As one can imagine, a good riot of flavours from the platter. And a meal to send one into a post lunch coma. Hah!

We were initially apprehensive of their pale looking masala tea, but it turned out to be quite nice. Not excessively sweet, milky and enough of the masala registered. Will be back again.

Tandoori chicken sandwich from Sarnies

Possibly the weakest offering from Sarnies (136 Telok Ayer Street) compared to the other mainstays that I've had. The chicken was a cold dry chopped up meat marinated with tikka spices. While I didn't expect that it would come from a tandoor, they could have really upped the game by putting it on the grill or do a pan fry for that char which would have done wonders for the flavour. The meat was barely better than the one at Subway. I'll stick to their chicken schnitzel the next time if I want a chicken sandwich here. And no more tandoori anything from any place I know doesn't have a tandoor.

O Banh Mi, Tiong Bahru Plaza

Here be banhminions! I couldn't find out much about O Banh Mi (#02-113, Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road, tel : +65 9764 2108) but the fact that they were brought in by a Pegasus Group which till this day, only runs this joint which also happens to be the first and only shop. I'm guessing that they must come from somewhere to have been brought in.

Anyways, it's mostly Vietnamese street food here. At least of the variety that the rest of the world is familiar with.

We had gỏi cuốn - summer rolls. They were kinda nice actually but I was hoping for a bit more mint.

Their phở gầu bò viên was surprisingly enjoyable. That light beefy broth was the savoury kind I preferred so this bowl trumps the recent other one at Pho99. There were tender thinly sliced briskets and those bò viên didn't taste like the regular factory made ones. And yes, no raw bean sprouts. I'd eat this again.

And there was bún gà nướng chả giò - grilled chicken bún with fried spring rolls. Nicely done and basic. I'd eat this again.

The surprising find was deep fried chicken skins. These were awesome. Crispy with a little bit of chew and deliciously salty. These could be one of the more memorable fried chicken skins I've had in recent times.

Cottage Delight's Fiery Furnace

Found these under the "reduced to clear" tags at the Market Place in Raffles City. I bought a bottle out of curiosity. If anyone's wondering, it's beer. A hoppy amber hued English beer that left a prickly heat on the back of the throat. After a second session, I realized that I kinda enjoyed this new sensation. The brew was better drinking than our local brand and at the reduced to clear prices, quite a deal considering how much it would cost if one were to get a bottle of lesser known import or "craft beer" from a watering hole.

IndoChili, Tanjong Pagar Centre

We popped by this Indonesian restaurant (#B1-03, Tanjong Pagar Centre, 7 Wallich Street, tel : +65 6386 6427) after having seen the other branch numerous times during transit along Zion Road. We were hoping that it would be another good find after having had some good experiences recently with Indonesian food.

We skipped the nasi kuning for the putih so we could understand their flavours more with less distractions.

Quite the sucker for perkerdel we were. These potato patties were nicely fried and peppery. But between Cumi Bali and Sari Ratu, this didn't come up tops.

There was beef satay with a nice sweet and smoky marinade. Liked the flavours but the meat was a little tough.

I thought the sambal for their ayam goreng cabe hijau needed a bit more punch. Not complaining though since it was actually pretty good with the rice. We've had better ayam goreng. The accompanying tempe and tauhu on the side were actually pretty good.

This was called cah kangkung. The name sounded similar to how stir fried kangkong would be called in Hokkien. The dish was essentially sambal kangkong as most of us would know it. Passable in terms of flavour but I really disliked the fact that it was full of stems.

The menu described their ikan bakar kecup as grilled but it was probably deep fried then grilled. Was really gunning for just a decent grilled fish actually. Had assumed that the dominant flavour to be the kecap manis rather than the chilli paste. Wouldn't order this again.

I can't say that I disliked the place, but I don't think we'd be in any hurry at all to come back again. The prices were a little high and at the end of it all, both Cumi Bali and Sari Ratu were much more satisfying eats.

Nalan Restaurant, Capitol Piazza

This was yet another Indian vegetarian restaurant - one that seemed a little under the radar at the basement of Capitol Piazza (#B2-54 Capitol Piazza, 13 Stamford Road, tel : +65 6336 6404). But the food certainly packed a punch. The briyani that came with their North Indian thali (it didn't come in a steel tray though) above was kickass flavoursome and addictive with the savoury spices. Larger portions would have been nice; though these folks acceded to our request for more dhal.

The other item worth returning for was their paneer fried rice. As enjoyable if not more than the one from Komala's. I'm impressed. Badam milk is nice here. Will come back again.

No Menu by Osvaldo Forlino, Boon Tat Street

We had eaten at both Osvaldo and Forlino. The latter preceding the former. I guess No Menu (21 / 23 Boon Tat Street, tel : +65 6224 0091) is the natural progression after Osvaldo shuttered for whatever reasons. It's clear that family wants to do something down to earth for their food. From my personal observation, rustic and pricey. Rustic like Porta Porta, pricey like Valentino's. 

The theme behind the name of the restaurant is a dégustation styled experience in which a multi course meal of smaller portions is served. We went a la carte for this first visit.

Their bread was an in house focaccia. Damn this was nice. The wait staff was eager to bring seconds and thirds when we finished.

One of the reasons why the focaccia was going down fast and easy was what they call their spicy sausage from Calabria. In other words, nduja - a spreadable salumi made with pork parts and red pepper among other things. The other reason was their fruity EVO. 

We had vitello tonnato. Another item that made a good vehicle out of their foccacia.

The other starter was fiori di zucca - flower of zucchini stuffed with ricotta cheese. These ones were huge and wasn't what we were expecting. It was also the most expensive zucchini flower we've had. Two of them costing almost as much as what Valentino's charges for their grilled octopus tentacle.

The skin was fried to a nice crisp and on the inside, instead of a creamy texture, the ricotta was like hot milk. 

Pasta was cacio e pepe and squid ink. It was assumptious of them to split the plates for us and assumed that there was sharing going on. Not that there wasn't. But it would be appropriate for them to ask before doing so. While it would be considered thoughtfulness and a show of initiative if asked for, we didn't.

Not to digress further from the food, the cacio e pepe was disappointing. Not enough Pecorino nor pepper to live to its name and shame on that coming from Osvaldo Forlino. The squid in risotto on the other hand was really good. The menu mentioned there was lardo in it. While I couldn't specifically pick that out from the flavours, this could possibly be the tastiest dish of it's kind I've had. 

Dessert was tiramisu. Competent and brought back memories of the first time I had them years ago. But otherwise, not exactly outstanding or worth what they were charging.

No Menu is not cheap. Even though it is what they call themselves and what they try to sell, these guys actually do have a menu. It looked safe, traditional and not very exciting. And also expensive. That should have been impetus for what it is they do to be extraordinary which doesn't quite seem to be the case.

Reminder to self: I don't like the nasally voiced ang moh who picked up the call for reservations. Sounded condescending. The wait staff on the other hand were excellent.

The Betterfield, High Street

The Betterfield was disappointing and a waste of money.

In spite of truffle oil and truffle salt, their ultimate black truffle fries didn't taste very truffle-y. PS Cafe makes better truffle fries with just truffle oil.

The menu called this their ultimate seafood pasta. The standards were dismally low if these was an indication of anything ultimate from the restaurant. The seafood that were described included tiger prawns, squid, shredded crab, mussels, and scallops. The two tiger prawns were a little sorry looking and puny; we had maybe three rings of squid, shredded crab that barely registered texture, two mussels and a single tiny scallop. While the pasta didn't taste bad, it looked sloppy and the seafood appeared sad. For $35, it was criminal. 

I thought it would be fun to top up some Raclette cheese on the steak - the sorry looking steak which was supposedly Riverine rib eye. Didn't expect the steak to come tagliata styled too. The tastiest thing on the slate was the nutty torched cheese. And why the slate? It rattled every time I try to slice the meat. For $55, I'm putting this place on blacklist. Astons make nicer steaks.

They didn't even bother trimming the meat of the inedible sinews.

In retrospect, we could have gotten ourselves much better food in this part of town for what we paid here. To be taken into consideration as well, one could actually spend less and land a more satisfying meal. Note to self : NEVER come back.

The Daily Cut, Tanjong Pagar Centre

I've seen this The Daily Cut (#B2-16 Tanjong Pagar Centre, 7 Wallich Street) around but haven't actually tried their food until recently. I guess it would make things easy to just describe them as one of those places like Grain Traders. Albeit one that is a little less expensive, bigger portion for similar prices but less flavoursome. Service comes with a look like I owed them big time. 

I don't mind eating these if I'm in the vicinity but I'll definitely pass on the beef for protein the next time. They obviously didn't care that the meat they chose to put out were tough and sinewy.