A return to Yoshida

I came back again for lunch because the chiraishizushi was so memorable. I think I got some fish liver today which wasn't in the box the last time I was here. The chutoro seemed to melt more smoothly. I was wondering if that was psychological for the chutoro part. Everything was as good as I remembered it. I'll be hard pressed to want to pick anything else from the lunch menu if I come back again and I'm wondering if this was a good thing or not. Lol. If I really had to find a fault here, it'll probably be the pickled ginger which I was quite willing to overlook. The sashimi moriawase (I believe there was salmon, hamachi, maguro and a juicy scallop) turned up smaller than I had expected. I didn't get to taste it but it looked as good if not as impressive as the chiraishizushi box. And not to forget, the wonderful chilled onsen tamago in yuzu infused soy sauce. Mouthwatering is god damned right!

Dinner @ Sage

It had been almost a year since I had first/last walked into Sage. This was a dinner that I've been looking forward to do for quite some time, courtesy of fatpig.

A bit has changed in the past year at Sage. There doesn't seem to be lunch anymore which I thought was a pity because what they did was good. Dinner only has a la carte where there used to be sets previously. Those aside, the food still lived up to how I remembered it. The photos here do not do justice to the actual food. The restaurant was "romantically lit" and only so much image quality can be squeezed out with 2 megapixels. Thanks Adrian, for the extra lighting.

complimentary amuse bouche

I'm not sure what this was so I can only describe it by taste. The fuschia layer at the top was tangy and reminded me of berries or tomatoes. Couldn't put my finger onto what it was. At the bottom was a pudding of sorts the colour of oatmeal. That seemed to taste like pate.

Seared King Scallops on a Salad of Homemade Squid Ink Capellini, Marinated Ocean Trout and Avruga Caviar, Braised Scallop Lips and Leek & Potato Vichyssoise

I found the seared scallop very enjoyable. The sweetness of the it was resonant. There was some salty Avruga caviar with smoky morsels of scallop "wings" at the top and squid ink capellini at the bottom. At the base was a leek and potato vichyssoise which was delicious - to the point that most of us were rummaging the bread basket for remnants to mop up all the remaining vichyssoise. The marinated trout simply tasted like salty salmon flakes.

Pan Seared Duck Foie Gras with Pistachio Crust and Fig Compote, Granny Smith Apple Puree and a dressing of Red Grape Mustard Vinegar

This foie gras was widely praised. Probably one of the best I've had so far. Those cliche descriptions of crispy skin and quivery soft insides that disintegrates in your mouth lending their rich buttery flavours...it's all true. There's more. I had particularly enjoyed the pistachio crust which provided an additional nutty fragrance. That was definitely not just window dressing. Wait - there's even more; the Granny Smith apple puree was worth mentioning because it was so smooth that it was almost creamy. It introduced a citrus balance to the duck liver which was already heart clogging good.

Caramelized Black Angus Beef Cheek topped with Melted Foie Gras Mousse and a Fricassee of Mushrooms, Compote of Butternut Squash and White Onions

I picked the beef over the fish for the main. Almost regretted it because I tried the cod. The abhorred 'melt in your mouth' description would be very appropriate there. As much as I prefer to avoid that phrase, it was true for the fish.

Back to the beef cheek. Quite what I had expected. Not so interesting. There were some saving graces led by a light hint of that caramelized bitter over the sweet and savoury cheeks which were fork tender. The beef cheek sat in the sweet jus which was made richer by the foie gras mousse. Not much to the mushrooms but I liked the butternut squash compote.

Lemon & Triple Cheese Bavarian

For dessert, I landed myself this mascarpone, ricotta, cream cheese and Meyer lemon Bavarian with peanut butter ice-cream and baked honeyed-lemon filo. I was thinking as I tasted the pudding that all three cheese were individually lost in translation. It tasted like a curdled lemon yoghurt. Pretty enjoyable with the sweet filo pastry but was overwhelmed by the creamy peanut butter ice cream which was also really good with bits of crushed nuts on the side.

This place would definitely be for re-visits.

Asia Grand Restaurant, Odeon Towers

The main draw of this restaurant as some of you may already be aware of, is the $28 Peking duck which was pretty much a steal considering how much other Chinese restaurants are charging for them. I'm also fairly sure that there isn't any other place in town that can match this place in price for that. That being said, one must also be realistic in expectations for such a Peking duck since it was going on the cheap. Wouldn't be anywhere close to top notch in terms of quality. I've definitely had better Peking ducks elsewhere but that being said, I've also never paid this little for one.

Peking duck aside, Asia Grand Restaurant (331 North Bridge Road #01-02 & #01-05/08 Odeon Towers) is also a pretty decent restaurant. The variety on the menu is sufficient if not too extensive in variety. Notable mentions from dinner included the bamboo clams with garlic, apple soup with fresh water fish and a certain lup mei fan which consisted of claypot rice with a variety of waxed meats which turned out to be pretty heart clogging.

We were informed that this dish (which isn't on the menu) is not available all the time. At the end of the claypot rice, a bowl of stock was provided to scrape the remaining charred rice from the bottom of the pot creating a porridge of sorts. I thought that was quite well done if not for the fact that there was coriander in the broth which really just killed it for me. From the desserts, the yam paste (orh nee) was surprisingly enjoyable, considering that I don't normally like them.

I missed out the photos of the soup and the Peking duck skin in egg rolls, so there...

meat from peking duck

The Peking duck as mentioned was decent. We opted for the meat to be cut up and served instead of the usual options of having them stir fried with rice or noodles or having them minced and served on lettuce. I very much prefer the meat sliced and served. This also educated us of how little remnants of duck meat was actually available from one bird. Also reminded me of that sad one at Golden Peony which had seriously pathetic leftover meat compared to the much larger plate here or even Hai Tian Lo. Seriously, I had doubts about having had the whole duck at that place. Even though the standards of the Peking duck here weren't comparable to the Golden Peony, this one actually felt more satisfying.

some vegetable with roasted garlic and dried scallops

These are mustard greens I think. It was a pretty light dish but the garlic turned out to be a bit more pungent than I expected. Good thing I didn't pop too many cloves in at a time.

bamboo clams with garlic and golden mushroom

These steamed bamboo clams were great - full of chewy tender meat along with golden mushrooms. The soy sauce and minced garlic worked as a common flavour paring to the shellfish. I can imagine polishing off quite a few of these myself.

salt and pepper pork ribs

I unfortunately didn't like their pork ribs. It could have been because I found the cut of the meat to be excessively fatty. Much more than I normally like. We opted for the salt and pepper option as the sweet and sour rendition sounded...boring and coffee sauces usually just sound more interesting than they taste. None of those I've had tasted like coffee or remotely so. I was thinking that this would probably be a good test of flavour for the ribs and I wasn't wrong. The flavour was simply just not outstanding.

assorted waxed meats (from the claypot rice dish)

These assorted waxed meats which are actually part of traditional claypot rice are quite commonly available and costly during the Chinese New Year. The assortment here includes waxed duck, lup cheong, liver lup cheong and waxed pork belly. All of which are fatty and oily and sweet with the exception of the duck which was very salty. Unlike the regular claypot rice, the meats and vegetables aren't mixed with the rice and the stock is used in sparing portions.

claypot rice

broth from the remaining claypot rice

yam paste

red bean paste pancake

mango pudding

The desserts which we had were average at best. So the mango pudding was really just a regular mango pudding which I didn't think much of. The red bean pancake was likewise unexceptional though it did have a much less chewy skin and I didn't find the paste itself excessively sweet.

In retrospect, while definitely not the best around, Asia Grand was a passably adequate restaurant. They quality as a decent location for family dinners. Hell, I can see myself coming back with my family. For their economically priced duck also.

La Cantina in Venezia, Changi Village Hotel

I'm thinking that this place could probably be just the poorer cousin to San Marco if not for the fact that Cantina (#08/09-02, Changi Village Hotel, 1 Netheravon Road ) dwelt in one of the most remote of locations and the service here is quite spotty. I was honestly quite taken in by how the restaurant had made it's placement at the roof top of a surprisingly pleasant Changi Village Hotel and in spite of being just on the 8th storey, it was one of the tallest spots in the vicinity. Which grants a nice, if not so scenic view of the beach. The night ambience in the al fresco areas with the roof top pool made it a quiet and pleasant place. One could always reduce the value of an al fresco dining appeal since the weather is virtually humid all year round, however this was located just beside the sea and well, there was the occasional sea breeze. Did I mention having also to look past the tacky wooden bars and retro styled crystal lamps on the walls?

If you haven't yet been sufficiently bored by the description of the place, you might still recall that I had also mentioned that the service was rather spotty. I didn't think I had expected top dollar service. I was more interested in what I could get to my stomach then any superficial flair that an eatery might practice, but I'm sure that there's minimal expectations that one would normally have. The restaurant was slightly over half filled on a Friday night with no wait staff bothering to even bring a menu to our table until we requested for one from a group of waitresses that looked like they couldn't be bothered to even glance to a table of 3 that was just seated and without a menu. To be fair, the service evolved towards an old world charm was quite friendly when it finally happened.

The prices here were what I consider to be quite regular of standard Italian places. That meant that while it wasn't really cheap, it also wasn't anywhere close to exorbitant. Portions did look quite generous and the food is in a nutshell, pretty ok. So while it wasn't mediocre, there are other places that do better. Which also means I'll difficult time justifying a return.

I managed to break my routine of just getting pasta and since this was my first visit, and I hadn't any idea if there was anything that was great about theirs. The menu didn't look too interesting, so apart from an antipasto platter, I grabbed the Saltimbocca alla Romana.


This is a regular olive oil drenched antipasto platter of vegetables and cold cuts that was serve chilled and marinated. That was something that I hadn't expect. I was thinking that they'd be grilled instead. Oddly, their button mushrooms were so soft that they almost disintegrated in the mouth without having to chew on them. The mortadella and salami were really, just ham and salami. Apart from the enjoyable hard and crumbly Parmiggiano Reggiano, I don't really have much comments here.


From what I had gathered, the Saltimbocca is a meat dish lined with proscuitto. Here its done with pieces of chewy pork wrapped in Parma ham, seasoned in sage and sitting on top of pan fried potatoes and some vegetables. Hearty would be the good word for this dish and I quite enjoyed the slightly charred potatoes. I couldn't quite make out what the sauce was however. The taste was a little buttery and saltish.

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.