The Tapas Tree, Clark Quay

The enduring memory from this restaurant besides the paella (which was recommended by a friend) was the blotchy service which made me undecided about how to feel about them. My impression of tapas definitely didn't come out well after having tried some of them over two consecutive nights. I'm wasn't close to being impressed. Perhaps I didn't order what's good on the menu, but then again, shouldn't it all be good? Allow me to rant. I called to make reservations at approximately 3.45 pm on a Friday afternoon and I was told that they were filled up and subsequent probing confirmed that there was no more seats to be had for the night. However, I did decide to try my luck and sure enough, there were seats available. What's with that? On the first night, recommendations from the service staff was done with a total lack of interest. On the second, a waiter was quite helpful in getting the seats and recommendations. The place also needed better air conditioning for sure. Indoors.

There was a nice selection on menu. Some of which, were actually pretty tasty, others were passable and the rest just downright boring. Didn't make me feel enthusiastic about returning any more.

chorizo fritos

trio de pinchos (marinated pork, beef and chicken skewers)

berenjena y tomate con queso parmasano (baked stuffed aubergine and tomato with parmesan cheese)

solomillo al jerez (tenderloin cubes in dry sherry)

The chorizos that were fried in olive oil tasted like sour and salty sausages. It wasn't spicy much and were pretty unremarkable. The tenderloin cubes in dry sherry were quite juicy and not cooked to death. I admit that I had very little hopes for them until I popped the first. There was accompanying gravy which tasted like something from tze char stores. In fact the whole dish tasted like a Chinese stir fried beef with bell peppers, mushrooms with a hint of wine. Wasn't I had expected but it was pretty good. Probably better with rice. For $15, I did expect more meat.

paella valenciana

paella negra

I thought the paella were pretty good. I've not much basis for comparison apart from the pasta version from Esmirada. The valenciana featured seafood like mussels, squid with additional of chicken compared to the regular one. To my surprise, there was pork belly too. The rice was piping hot and loaded with meat and crispy rice bits at the bottom. Reminded me of claypot rice. I didn't taste any saffron in it and most of the flavour involved tanginess. The negra which was the squid ink variant was very much filled with squid ink flavour (and squids too) and it was probably the blackest rice dish I've ever come across. It was more thickly coated than the squid ink risotto at Pasta Brava. Something to watch out for to avoid if you're out on a date.

Goat's cheese salad, Irish stew and fish & chips

Dinner at Molly Malone's again. I thought the goat's cheese salad on toast here was pretty good if you're into pungent cheeses. The stinky cheese had enough kick plus it was rich and slightly creamy. The salad it came with was nicely tossed. Dressing had a clean taste in spite of appearing like Thousand Island.

I don't really know what's definitive about Irish stews but I'm guessing it's the lamb and root vegetables like onions, potatoes and carrots. And Guinness. That's the impression I have of them anyway and this one was actually not bad. The lamb was pretty tender. The stew was served with a bowl of real mashed potatoes which were delicious. By real, I meant that it did not come from powder. It's just a hundred percent finely mashed potatoes with some butter where the earthy taste was still detectable.

It's kinda tough to find good fish and chips here. These ones at Molly Malone's are probably one of the better ones I've had around. Other memorable mentions include Fisherman's Wharf and the next in line would actually be Fish & Co already. I'll have to try the Greenwood Fish Market & Bistro to draw another line of comparison. The menu here states pacific dory and it's a nice fish and chips with crispy batter. The fish was served hot and came in pretty good portions. For $16, I would say that it's decently priced. Doesn't the golden brown beckon to you?

Woah...

Good friend of mine enjoys cooking on the occasion. One of the achievements attained to his satisfaction after numerous trials and errors is prawn noodles. I was invited to dinner recently so this was pretty much what this post is about if anyone has been guessing and re-visiting to see updates. As one of many numerous ubiquitous dishes locally, prawn noodles are something that is judged with varying standards, much like other local favourites like laksa and chicken rice. Various ingredients are measured across different yardsticks, subjected to differing preferences of individuals that eat or enjoy them. The prawns, the soup and possibly the noodles being the key items. These large prawns that you see in the picture, courtesy by my lovely hand model (I know you can't tell) are however not for the noodles. They're river prawns from Thailand, cost about $8 a pop and were grilled with simple condiments of salt, pepper, and not forgetting - the ever useful and delicious butter.

The highlight of the dinner was originally the prawn noodles. The huge prawns were originally not part of it. In retrospect, both were well done and definitely made it a difficult choice as to which was the star of the table at dinner. If you are wondering why is that, behold the hay mee!


I admit that it did look like ba kut mee (pork rib noodles) instead of prawn noodles since the pork ribs are clearly the only visible item in the bowl apart from the noodles. And no, the prawns are not hidden at the bottom. There are no prawns in the noodles. Which brings me to the other ingredients which I will divulge with the exception of a few key items which must remain secret or this would be the last entry that anyone will ever read from me. 

The key items that were used to create the sweet stock of this particular rendition of prawn noodles includes obviously prawns (or shrimps if you would), flower crab, pork ribs (I presume that one might have guessed easily), pig tails, cloves of garlic, onions, some ginger, belachan, kang kong and a couple of other items which are easily available. As said friend would state, he learnt it from his grandmother, there is no unit of measurement for the various items that are used. It's a trial of estimation until you get the proportions correct.

The result was a delicious prawn soup noodle. The shrimps that were put into boil for the stock were mostly used for the flavour, along with the disintegrated meat from the flower crabs. As you may have surmised, the soup was sweet from the use of those ingredients. The pork ribs survived the cooking process and had turned delicately soft, sliding off the bone with ease. The meat at this point fell apart easily in the mouth. Which takes us to the large grilled prawns.


These prawns spent about 15 minute in the oven to bake. After which, the essence and roe/brain oozed out onto the tray and was summarily scraped clean by the spoons of almost everyone at the table. I can only describe it was foie gras good. Heart clogging richness coupled with a fragrant caramelization in every mouthful would also be quite accurate. The meat of the prawns were firm with crunch from each bite and slightly sweetish. I'm normally not in favour of bones and shells but this was one of those exceptions when I discarded utensils in favour of better tools. I meant my fingers of course.

Ohsho, Cuppage Plaza

I've been to Ohsho (5 Koek Road, #01-10 Cuppage Plaza) once some years back for ramen and noticed the food at this counter styled eatery which featured Japanese dishes and cooking that reminded more more than a little of zi char. Have wondered if that was Japanese styled Chinese or Chinese styled Japanese? I'm guessing that it's a fusion of both if I had to put a label onto it. It's probably more Japanese than Chinese though. Run by a bunch of Chinese guys that does the cooking and overseen by one other Japanese dude that was probably in charge. Tucked in a little corner by the entrance of Cuppage Plaza, this cosy shop sees their share of crowd during the meal hours.


The menu features a bunch of stir fried dishes, a selection of ramen & fried rice and various set combinations of the a la carte items. There is a set dinner which always seem to be available for $16 which consists of a delicious fried rice, omelette with vegetables and crab sticks, stir fried pork with onions and bell peppers, breaded fried prawn, mashed potatoes, some shredded cabbage with mayo dressing and a bunch of gyoza. The portions of that set is pretty substantial and the fried rice with minced pork here is pretty good stuff. There is also wok hei.

Their gyoza were pretty decent, if unexceptional. Skins were nicely browned, a little greasy and the insides were hot and juicy. The condiments that were available for them included white vinegar, a chilli paste and something that's labelled as gyoza sauce which I didn't try. The vinegar however, went well with the dumplings especially when paired with the chilli paste which had a noticeable kick and added zest. I think I prefer Chinese pot stickers (guo tie) over these though. Maybe, I just haven't had really good gyozas. The char siew ramen wasn't noteworthy except for those tasty char siew slices. The noodle weren't of the type that I liked and their broth didn't come across as outstanding.

Chocolate and banana prata from Spize

I've passed this place (409 River Valley Road) on several occasions, but never really stopped by until today. And I realised that this location is probably really good for the post-clubbing crowd in the vicinity. The menu at Spize essentially featured commonly found local Muslim food like mee gorengs, pratas and et cetera. There is a variety of pratas on the menu which includes some of the common renditions, specialties and dessert pratas. I tried the chocolate and banana prata which turned out to be pretty much how I thought it might have been. This was actually not bad. Semi melted banana slices and chocolate sauce drizzled generously over the top of a freshly made prata. The crispy surface doesn't stay so for very long though.

One cool evening with three Hot Bitches

That's what Wild Oats (Emily Hill, 11 Upper Wilkie road) calls their hot dogs and in the face of perspective, according to a friend whom was present, "These aren't hot bitches, they are just bitches". Really, I have reasonably expected more out of the poor show from Buffy, Dizzi and Sassi. The bitches arrived barely lukewarm and the buns weren't even toasted at all. Now remove all sexual connotations to whatever you've just read. This is a food blog if you remember. The toppings are really, not much to speak of apart from the novelty of having things like creamed peas which really doesn't do much to the dog apart from aesthetic color contrast for the toppings. Peas aren't exactly the strongest tasting of things and having them on sausages with spicey beef sauce already isn't exactly going to add much of a dimension if at all to the flavor. The caramelized onions and mustard were pretty regular tasting and I thought that it would probably be easier if the regular chopped variety were used instead. I must also mention the $6.50 plate of miserable looking and overfried crickle cut fries which looks like the frozen variety that can be purchased from any supermarket. Yikes, and to think that Wild Rocket and this place are related? Who's da boss in the kitchen?

"buffy"

"dizzi"

"sassy"

.