Sweet secrets

It's not often that I shovel a spoonful of tiramisu into my mouth and I get that "wow, this is good stuff". The most memorable was probably the first time. 17 years ago at Pasta Fresca. Throughout the next 17 till today, there have been good ones, bad ones and mixed feeling ones and my general take is that everywhere has their standards and some taste better to certain people than another. This dessert is almost upon receiving the award of the most ubiquitous non-local desserts of this past decade and it's something that in recent years I've gotten jaded with and pushed down the preferential ladder.

Last night, after dinner, we stopped by Da Paolo's Gastronomia to check out what culinary goodies was left a little less than an hour before it closed and decided to pick up a box of tiramisu along with some cheesecake. I remember one of the staff in the stall who happed to be nearby saying "You can't go wrong with that". Boy was she right.

What made this tiramisu stand out is the excellent and almost viscous soft marscapone fillings which does not appear in most tiramisu elsewhere. I don't know how pervasive is that since I do not go around eating that dessert at every opportunity, but this comes quite close to the traditional method of how they are made. In comparison with the poorer clones that comes with hard cream fillings or dry without the slightest hint of liquor which, this is almost.....ALMOST divine. Also this tiramisu comes blanketed with fine cocoa flakes instead of the regular cocoa powder. Does help reduce the choke factor when you eat them fast. There're probably other good ones around that are equally as good. For now, I know where to find one if I need to.

What are your views on tipping for service?

Seeing that there is some interest generated in this topic, I've decided to bring things up front so that you can have your say about what you think about tipping. Let's stay civil with this and keep the conversation trail contained in that link here instead.

Noodle Place Restaurant, Centrepoint

Noodle Place Restaurant (#01-53/56, Centrepoint), a Hong Kong styled noodle restaurant has been around in the secluded back of Centrepoint for many years. Tends to be overlooked by many because of the location though that did not seem to be a deterrence against queues of the initiated waiting for seats.

 

One of the highlights of Noodle Place is their selection of roast meats. Which includes roasted chicken, steamed chicken, roasted duck, soya sauce chicken, roasted pork belly, barbecued ribs and char siew. The quality of the mixed roast meats were evidenced by the number of tables that ordered them in some combination or another. Enjoyed the duck, pork belly and char siew that came with some fat. 

 

Another dish I found enjoyable was the crispy fried cod which was available without sauce or like this one which was done with egg white and teriyaki sauce. Fish was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The starchy gravy didn't particularly add much to the dish but I found myself enjoying it. Might be because of the egg.

 

Mayo wasabi prawns are on the menu. This dish consisted of battered fried prawns that are coated in a sauce that was a mixture of mayonnaise and wasabi paste. Tasted okay, the mayo wasabi cream was quite mild and leaned towards the sweet side. Think a bit more of the wasabi flavour would be nice. That made the ones I had at Peach Garden a notch better.

 

The beef brisket noodles from this restaurant were pretty good. Generous when compared with the portions of the briskets that are served at Crystal Jade. Meat was succulent and tender.

Molly Malone, 56 Circular Road

If anyone was wondering how I spent the hours of the national day parade this year, it was in this Irish pub. Interestingly, a Dutch friend who's in town (who was here with me) mentioned that Molly Malone's is in Holland too. And while I haven't any measure on how Irish the food here might be, the portions were pretty generous without being overly expensive. If not anything else, food here is definitely filling - from the piping hot fish & chips to the Calgary stampede burger, which I thought was kinda strange an idea for a burger here. What does Canada have to do with this Irish bar? The food was hearty rather than sophisticated. Expect not the subliminal layers of complexity. Simple fare that's good with beer here. Yes! There is Strongbow.

 

fish & chips

Calgary stampede burger

tuna melt

A sandwich for your thoughts?

New diner-esque place town just across the road from the National Library at Bras Brasah. They're called Food for Thought. Menu is small and there was an excruciating slow wait when the place was crowded. Place really doesn't have much of floor estate - it was difficult to even walk in when we were there. We didn't eat much, just tried a sandwich of theirs.

It was a pretty decent slow roasted pulled pork sandwich ($7.50) which I thought wasn't bad at all. The pulled pork tasted like meat from pork knuckles and is packed together with sliced sweet potatoes. Not bad. What I liked especially about the sandwich was that the focaccia warm and moist. Better than what O'Briens offers at a similar price point.

Mustard, 32 Race Course Road

This was a good find. I first found out about Mustard some months back while I was lunching in the vicinity. Told myself that I'll be back to see what this place was about and though it was a few months, I'm glad it happened. Mustard specializes in Bengali and Punjabi cuisine. The differences between the two types of regional foods are highlight in their menu using colour codes. The interior of the restaurant reminded me more than a little of Banoo.

Kolkatta Kathi Kebab Rolls

These kebab rolls which were served piping hot were pretty good. They were found under the "trailblazers" section of the menu which presumably are the starters. The rolls were stuffed with meat, onions, crunchy green peppers and a tasty pepper sauce. Made excellent snacks. There were also other options for fillings like mutton, chicken with eggs or even cheese. One could just eat a couple of these things and be filled.

Kolkatta Shingara

pyramid asunder

The kolkatta shingara was a delicious non-spicy pyramid shaped vegetable puff. The insides were filled with cauliflowers, potatoes and peanuts. Texture of the puff was bolstered because of the peanuts which provided quite a bit of crunch. They were however a little bland, but it seemed that quite a few of the dishes here were served with little salt. Like the kebab rolls, these puffs were filling.

palek paneer

These palek paneer (cottage cheese in puree-ed spinach) wasn't so good for me because of the bits of ginger. It's the first time I've encountered ginger in them. It was otherwise like the regular variety.

Kosha Mangsho (mutton masala)

mutton bryani

Bryani here was a little different from what we were used to. There was hardly any salt. There appeared to be very little little oil in the rice and what we could mostly taste were the spices that were used to cook the dish. The serving was large enough to feed two and came with a generous portion of tender mutton and some potatoes. I could eat this again if I ever come back here. What I liked about the briyani was also the accompanying yoghurt on the side which was good with the rice.

cheese naan

Their cheese naans here aren't so special. You might have guessed that they're probably not cheesy enough. Still they were served hot and freshly made.

Chingri Maacher Malai Curry

This coconut curry with shrimps was apparently a signature dish from the restaurant and it was delicious. The curry looked liked oatmeal instead of the usual spicy hues. The flavour was intense with coconut and spices. It tasted quite rich but was not quite as spicy as what I normally expect of curries. The was meat in the fruit which could scraped out. I suppose that was an assurance that the fruit as a bowl wasn't recycled. The shrimps looked to have been cooked in the curry for some time and texture was stiff. In spite of that, I think I would recommend this.

Rossomalai

The rossomlai was cottage cheese in some sweet milk. I detected ginger in the milk and that wasn't something that I was expecting. The texture of the cottage cheese was like a wet dense bread.