A million deths?

We interrupt this gastro diary with "Long live Dave Mustaine!". It definitely rocked ass last night!

Yakitori obento set lunch @ Kushigin

Kushigin at Cuppage Plaza now does lunch on Sundays too. I'm not sure for how long has this option been going on, but I remember it being only available for Mondays thru Saturdays. I've been told about their yakitori bento sets which is suppose to be great value at $12.50. The bento comes with 5 grilled items along with the rice that is topped with seaweed, sauteed mushrooms and ground meat (I can't really tell what this is but I suspect it is chicken). On top of it, is a miso soup and a dessert (I got a red bean dessert with mochi). The grill on sticks are pretty good since I see them freshly made on order for the bento. We get a chicken with leek, chicken balls, quail eggs, asparagus wrapped in pork belly and some mint in chicken things. I thought it was pretty decent and rather affordable.

One gripe on the bento lunch is that the rice which is really, not the regular Japanese rice that one would expect. It wasn't very sticky all in the first place and the minced meat and mushroom toppings had sauce that seeped into the rice, breaking it into a soft mash which was simply a trial to eat with chopsticks. Since they weren't sticky at all, it was akin to eating regular rice from a box like that which was really just a hassle. I wonder how this fares against the bento at Nanbantei.

L' Angelus, Club Street

Pleasant dinner which was otherwise perfect if it wasn't marred by a particular wait staff that confused himself with the order, gotten the wrong starters and gave a subtle to blatant display of displeasure by his attitude at the prospect of having to get the wrong orders corrected. That particular moment reeked strongly of pretentiousness which I have yet to encounter in other French places which I've visited so far. Even at Raffles Grill. The encounter was the lowlight of the evening. I would have liked to avoid any negative comments because L'Angelus was honestly a rather nice restaurant. Ideal for dates. 


Their pan fried foie gras came in quite a generous portion. I'm not too sure what has gone into the sauce but it appeared to be a balsamic glace of sorts. Had a robust vinegar-y flavour over a mildly crisp skin and soft quivery insides. Dissolves on your tongue.


I'm quite pleased with the ribeye. Turned up a bit larger than I had expected since I've always had the impression that portions tend to be more dainty in French places. The steak was served with a grilled tomato and a side of gratinated potatoes which arrived separately on a hot plate. There is the option of either pepper or blue cheese sauce. Needless to say, I picked the blue cheese which was actually quite strong. While it wasn't so juicy, the meat definitely didn't lack the beefiness I was looking for. There was soft fat on the sides while the steak as a whole was tender yet firm. I thought that the fat wasn't excessive and that's a good thing. Not to mention that this was a properly done medium rare which I liked. This cost about as much as the tenderloin from Brasserie Wolf but was much more enjoyable and definitely better value for the money. That's my take. Would love to come back and try more of their food.

Alaturka Turkish & Mediterranean Restaurant, 16 Bussorah Street

Had a little difficulty finding Bussorah street because we weren't familiar with the area and we almost didn't find it until we stumbled upon the sign at the back door of the restaurant in the alley. Pretty cosy restaurant adorned with mosaic tiles, decorative plates, Turkish lamps on the ceiling and little tea lights secluded into alcoves of the brick walls. Definitely felt Middle Eastern. Which was jarred by the fact that there was a multi media kiosk at the front of the restaurant rotating through images of the food from the restaurant.

We ordered the karisik kebab (mixed grill) along with an iskender lamb kebab (which I didn't get to find out about from Sultan Kebab), starters of hummus and babakanoosh (roasted eggplant & garlic dip) accompanied by their olive oil garlic bread. On hindsight, it was quite a lot of food for two.

babakanoosh

hummus

karisik kebab

iskender lamb kebab

olive oil garlic bread

The food was pretty much what we had expected. The iskender kebab came with something that tasted like lamb ham. I was expecting real grilled lamb rather than a reconstructed one. Was a little disappointed. The odd thing about the karisik kebab was that it also included a chicken drumlet and mid wing. Are these part of the usual items in kebabs? The prices I thought were pretty reasonable. All these totalled to about $50.

Modesto's, Orchard Parade Hotel

I have mixed feelings about Modesto's. After eating here, I'm not sure if it's a place which I liked or not. Probably have to come back again since the selection on the menu was large and there were some items which I found compelling. Hindsight impressed on me that the food wasn't all that great. I was thinking that certain things could have been done better. The service however was friendly and great despite the bustling crowd and agonizing waiting time. Over the course of an hour of wait for the food, the waiting staff had without prompt walked over to reassure that the food is in order and that they're doing their best for a busy Friday evening.

Bread served was pretty bad. Tasted like a dry herb focaccia which didn't taste fresh. Needed generous dips of olive oil and vinegar despite being hungry and having to go through a long wait for the food to arrive.

The starter of the antipasto italiano wasn't what I had expected. While quite palatable, the food felt limp. The grilled vegetables were a tad too cold, Mozzarella cheese felt crumbly from the caprese and there was noticeably little Parma ham that draped on the rock melons. 

The calamari fritti was second starter. Maybe because I like soggy fries, I had no complains with the soft batter that coated the squids which was actually quite enjoyable with the chew.

Was mulling over a few of the pastas and eventually ended up with the ravioloni di pesce al pomodoro.  Its fillings of supposed minced prawn and crab meat turned out to be quite disappointing. There was some creamy 'things' in the filling where neither the prawn nor crab were barely discernible. Whatever little of it was drowned out in the tomato sauce. The portions and doneness of the ravioli was good and if the stuffings were better, it might have actually been enjoyable.

Anatolia Turkish Restaurant, Far East Plaza

This was a Turkish shop that has been operating in their current premise (Far East Plaza #02-58/59) for a while. Had always thought of coming by to try their food and never really did until now. Anatolia as the name might suggest, does Turkish food. Aside from the vertical spits where the meats are carved, the shop also featured a small and single serving salad bar and a corner for Turkish ice cream. The menu consisted of a list of the usual kebabs, wraps, a small selection of sides and salad. Orders are taken over at the counter and payment is made before one heads to the seating area to wait for the orders to be served.


Dinner was a mixed kebab which featured grilled chicken, lamb and beef heaped over some salad and a portion of rice. It was described be something meant for sharing but the portion looked to be enough just one. The lamb koobidehs from the platter had a dose of chilli which upped the spiciness. Banoo and Persepolis didn't do theirs with chilli. The egg omelette which we had to go along was just a regular pan fried omelette with paprika. Tried the apple tea which I had initially assumed to be a freshly brewed beverage. It actually came in a teabag and was surprisingly not bad. There was quite a bit of of apple flavour in that tea.