Copper Chimney, Race Course Road

Indian food for me has generally been a mixed bag of excitements and disappointments. In general, I do enjoy them. Especially those of the Northern India variety. There are certain commonalities which doesn't agree with me. It has to do with certain overused green herbs, amongst them the vile coriander. There are others, but I do not have the names to them. Suffice it is to say, these are the bane of my eating pleasures.

Copper Chimney at Race Course Road was an example of a mixed bag place. The restaurant is a few units away from Delhi Restaurant which I ate at a couple of months back. The al fresco dining area at the entrance was tiny (just two tables) but had a small measure of the old world charm (and dirt) of the colonial era. An old shop house glazed in weathered whitewash and peeling paint matched with dust coated grey concrete flooring. If not for the lack of shelter from the rain, it would have been a pleasant place to linger after lunch with hot tea and a cigarette which I shouldn't have the luxury of. Lol.

Papads were served at the start. These ones are studded with peppercorn and are quite spicy. Alongside, was a mint chutney which did not have slightest hint of mint in them. After a while, I couldn't decide if the crackers were the main source of the spicy sensation in my tongue or if it was the chutney.

One of the things I enjoy from Indian restaurants is lassi. This one was a mango flavoured one. Good stuff.

Their Murg Malai Tikka was heavy as a starter.  The portions could've made a main course. This was also one of those dishes that didn't altogether agree with me because of the amount of green herbs that was sprinkled all over. The dish was suppose to be chicken marinated with mild spices, yoghurt, cream and cheese. All I could really taste was the herbs and the bitter burnt portions of the chicken. Despite being a Chef's Recommendation on the menu, I'll never eat it again unless my life depended on it.


This Gosht Saag turned out to be an excellent in the rainy weather. It's mutton in spinach gravy as described in the menu. The dish was like a piping hot and mildly spicy mutton and vegetable stew of sorts. It managed to stay warm throughout the whole time I was eating. What impressed me was that mutton was actually tender and not overcooked. Had this with an order of cheese naan. The only complain that I had was that my unerring senses detected sparse bits of coriander. Fortunately, it was in quantities small enough for me to forcibly ignore.

I noticed that there is quite a variety of cheese based dishes on the vegetarian section of the menu besides palak paneer, so it's possible that I may come back again.

The Pied Piper's Pie

I don't recall having a pie which I thought was better than Don's. After today, I still haven't. Lol. I was thinking Piper's looks kinda good, having passed by the stall at the basement of Raffles City on several occasions and catching a waft of the golden brown pastries. I had originally wanted to check out the Beef, Bacon and Cheese but I was there pretty late and they were out. The good news is that if you're there late, all pies (no matter which one) goes for $5. This one up there is....some creamy chicken pie with white wine in the sauce. Couldn't tell from the taste. At all. It's filled with plenty of chunky chicken meat though. Pretty big chunks. What didn't quite cut it was the creamy sauce which I thought was pretty weak. It's not so good, despite how it looked.

A very forgettable Pivdofr

Dinner with Junie. Pivdofr is located along the eatery laden Liang Seah Street, just across the road from Bugis Junction. I was recommended this place by a colleague whom also enjoys eating and told me that the prices of dinner at this place was very reasonable and that the food was not bad. Seeing their claims of serving good food and not serving fast food, I was thought that maybe, this could be another one of those gems in town where affordability meets quality. I'm guess that all of you  would know what assumption is the mother of. While the food at Pivdofr was really quite edible, there was really little beyond it. Their set dinner price of $16.50 did sound like a rather attractive deal. And it would seem that you pay for what you get.

The dinner gets you a small salad, soup of the day with garlic bread, a main of choice and dessert. Customers also are entitled to order their half dozen escargots at $6.50 instead of the usual $8.00 if at least one set dinner is taken. The snails were quite decent, but I thought it was a waste that there wasn't enough bread to soak up all the excess butter left behind. We found it quite laughable that both of us thought that the salad from this place actually tastes better than the circus act of a spinning bowl salad from Lawry's. What was obvious right from the start were the freshness of the vegetables that were used and strangely, I kinda enjoyed the bits of onion which seemed to add more character to the usual monotonous Thousand Island mix. I normally don't like onions. The soup of today was cream of corn and wow, the gods must been smiling because for once, I didn't encounter cream of mushroom for a daily soup. The soup was milky but a relatively unexciting cream of corn. The mains which we picked were the Hungarian Beef Goulash and the Mixed Grill. The goulash was really just beef stew that came with rice. I don't know if there's anything about Hungarian goulash that makes it truly Hungarian, but I'm quite sure this didn't have those elements because it's just a regular stew with potatoes, canned button mushrooms and carrots. On to the mixed grill, I know I've had better in coffeeshop westerns. Better in portions and better in quality. More than significantly better at that. These didn't even come with the bacon and eggs or even lamb. The meats were hard and well done (yeah, the doneness of the beef too) and what I assumed to be the chicken wing could well have been pigeon wings. The dinner finished with an easily guessed scoop of ice cream. I'm so thrilled. Thrilled that now I know and that I will never set foot in here again.

Maybe it's just me expecting too much.

Kazu Sumi-Yaki Restaurant, Cuppage Plaza

The menu for Kazu was astoundingly large for variety. It took a while before we could even register what we had browsed while running through the list of items that were available. Spoilt for choice would be an understatement here while we were momentarily frozen by indecision. That also meant that there was likely still a whole bunch of things which I've have just given cursory glances and did not remember seeing. I suppose that boded well, especially when we liked the food here.

Kazu is located at the fourth story of Cuppage Plaza - which is right behind Orchard Point or just across the Starhub building near Centrepoint. They're one of a few Japanese restaurants in the building that looked to be really crowded during dinner. The atmosphere does get a little noisy from the din of the crowd and wait staff along with the constant background sizzle of the grills in the kitchen which seems to be continuously ongoing without end from the time we stepped into the restaurant. Tables were packed quite closely. Seating arrangements per individual included space that was just slightly bigger than elbow room at the tables. If you're looking for peace and quiet at dinner, this place is not it. Otherwise, you've just landed yourself  good Japanese kushiyaki joint. My observation of vibrant hustle came from a weekend crowd so I've no idea if they're equally crowded during the weekdays.

I'm not sure if this place serves "regular" Japanese food but we were here today for their charcoal grills on skewers which I have been curious about after reading it from D's entry.

Herring roe

This was served in five pieces. Texture was akin to rehydrated fish maw, just more compact. The roe was buoyantly firm and crumbled as you sunk your teeth into them. Each crumbled piece was still firm. I could feel the eggs burst like hundreds of tiny water balloons in between my teeth as I chewed them, releasing their saltiness. On the top are bonito.

Angler fish liver

The smooth creamy angler fish liver was like a chilled foie gras, albeit with a stronger liver taste. I liked this. The orange grated topping was spicy radish. Chilled ponzu sauce had an invigorating citrus flavour that paired well with the spiciness and the spring onions on top. According to the waitress, this liver is seasonal and is only available during the winter season in Japan. Another item she mentioned to be seasonal for winter in the menu was cod sperm.

Horse sashimi

Now that I've tried horse sashimi, I didn't think that it was much out of the ordinary as a meat. The sliced meat wasn't fulling thawed and didn't have much of flavour. Was not sure what to expect of horse meat. Felt like cold and unsalted salami which I thought was rather boring. There was a sesame oil dip on the side which helped but otherwise, I wasn't impressed to any degree.

Oyster in pork belly wrap

Oysters blanketed in pork belly - which were akin to having them wrapped in bacon. These skewers were served piping hot and one should be wary about popping the whole roll into the mouth. Lest the hot juices from the oyster exact their revenge on you.

Golden mushroom(top 2) and asparagus(bottom 2) pork belly wraps

The pork belly wraps for the mushroom and asparagus were sliced very thinly that one can almost not taste them. However I  dug the golden mushrooms and asparagus so this was a must try for us as it was our first time here. They were not bad at all.

Foie gras

Foie gras was another no brainer. At $5.50 a stick, it was affordable. Not as good as the pan fried ones but it came quite close. A slightly crispy grilled surface that enveloped a soft creamy inside which disintegrated as you wedge it between your tongue and the roof of your mouth.

Grilled squid in sweet sauce

I mentioned liking squid before. Kazu's grilled squids were pretty good. The meat was firm with enough bite, yet not rubbery. I did think it would have done better if it were a little more charred. The legs were removed and skewered.

Grilled pork with apple

I was instantly curious about these after reading about them on D's blog. Not surprising, these were pretty damn good and was claimed to be something of a specialty at Kazu by the server. Chunky pieces of tender fatty pork infused with the flavour of the grilled apples wedged between them.

Minced chicken with cheese in zucchini (left 2), grilled cod belly (second from right) and grilled chicken hearts (right)

The minced chicken and cheese in the zucchini wasn't fantastic. I could hardly taste any cheese. Will not order them again the next time. The cod belly was decent but I prefer my cod to be in larger pieces. Grilled chicken hearts were chewy. I'm not sure if I've ever had chicken hearts before today but I found them delicious. The heart is the strongest muscle in our body and I would presume it to be so for chickens as well. I suppose hence, the texture of the hearts were more meaty. But not tough. 

grilled tuna

I'm not usually big on cooked tuna but these were quite good. The insides were slightly rare instead of fully cooked which worked out for me. Didn't touch the leeks though.

ox tongue(left) & Japanese wagyu beef(right 2)

Ox tongue tasted like a chewier beef. The wagyu here was quite well cooked. Despite that, it wasn't tough and the buttery flavour came through courtesy from the heart clogging amount of fat marbled into the meat. We were not sure of what the difference was between the Japanese, Australian or the US version, so we picked Japanese at random. If I remember correctly, it was $10 a stick.

"Snowdrop"

That's a dessert call Snowdrop. The lump in the centre was ice cream (which you can choose between green tea or black sesame) that is wrapped in mochi skin. In the ice cream were some almond pastry and a chunk of milk chocolate in the centre. The golden weave (or hair) on the top was made of sugar. Though nnot a bad dessert, I didn't think too much of it.

Would definitely like to return again someday since I never got to try the crab and pumpkin croquette and pumpkin ice cream - they ran out of pumpkin. I also think that there are items from their menu that could appeal to me. What we've had so far left a pretty good impression.

Marrakesh - Moroccan Lounge & Bar, Clark Quay

This was a nice looking place which I've passed by on a couple of occasions but have never stepped into until now. Marrakesh is run by the management that owns the Harry's Bars and it is located right beside The Tent at Clark Quay. I was quite impressed with how the interior was decorated. Some effort had apparently been made for that Middle Eastern feel bar. I thought it was nice alternative spot to chill. They even had music in this place (some form of Indian-ish/middle eastern modern ambient/chillout) which was also not intrusive.


What I liked about Marrakesh were the cloistered corners which the establishment seemed to be filled with. Although it wasn't a lot of space, it might be comfortable room for 5-6 persons cloaked in semi-privacy.

That's pretty much where the beauty of this place ended. The food and drinks were a general gamut of grills, breads and vegetable stuff which you can expect from Middle Eastern themed places. Having eaten at Banoo, I can attest at the better quality and variety at the latter. Most of the food here looked like more elaborate bar snacks which I guess was the point. Being able to smoke in this place meant that it's probably a bar license they've gotten, not a restaurant.

This mixed grill platter I had at $28 came as they described with beef kebab, shish taouk, shish kebab, lamb kebab with dolma, hummus and Arabic salad. What arrived was an array of grilled and spiced meat on sticks drenched in some tomato based gravy. I'm fairly sure there's coriander in there somewhere, but in this instance, it was faint enough for me to disregard. The portions weren't large, so a platter feeds one hungry person. Their mojito was quite disappointing. While the drink was good with the lime and mint, it had barely any detectable trace of rum. Serving drinks with excessive crushed ice and not enough alcohol is unfortunately lousy but common bar practice around.

If you're not really looking for great food it's a good place to chill and hang with friends.

Dinner @ Home @ 6 p.m.