Trattoria Lafiandra Al Museo, Singapore Art Museum

This place didn't not serve warm water. It didn't not serve iced water. It also did not provide bread at dinner. One of the wait staff didn't like the Italian beer in this restaurant that he recommended against it for Tiger instead. The price of beer for some reasons wasn't not on the menu so if you need to know, it's $14.50 for that Tiger. And apparently, the waiters opened up bottled water so quickly that you didn't even have the time to mouth the words 'Panna' or 'Pelligrino' before they chose it for you. Now that I've gotten those out of the way, I have to admit to being quite disappointed with the recently opened outlet of Trattoria Lafiandra (71 Bras Basah Road, #01-02 Singapore Art Museum, tel:68844035) down at the Art Museum. Personal preferences aside (I thought the pastas are pretty uninteresting), the food was unexceptional. I hadn't intended to order pizza for dinner, but ended up eating mostly that because nothing else looked particularly appealing to me.

The starter of the buffalo mozzarella and parma ham ($25) was passable. I felt that those was more nicely done at Stiff Chilli which used rockets instead of lettuce which was hidden underneath the cheese. What I felt about the pizzas was that their toppings needed work. The word that came to mind was threadbare. Their pizza con porcini had so little porcinis. A slice of mushroom pizza from Da Paolo Gastronomia had more mushrooms than the whole pie here. I shit you not. The diavola was quite ordinary featuring salami that was mildly spicy, prosciutto e fungi ordinary with pathetic portions of ham and I couldn't really get into their prosciutto crudo which was recommended. I had the feeling that everyone was expecting to see some rucola on top of the pizza but it wasn't the case. Despite the fact that all of the pizzas featured thin crust, they were pretty tough to cut (some were not portioned and some were which made me wonder why) and not crisp to boot.

prosciutto di parma con mozzarella di bufala

pizza diavola

prosciutto e funghi

pizza con prosciutto crudo

ossobuco

There was some sharing going on and I managed to try some of what was going around. The ossobuco was an odd curiosity, appearing like a stumpy phallic tower of undulating sedimentary build up of something that looked like chai por (Chinese pickled radish). The meat was very tender. Very. At certain points, I wasn't sure if I was chewing on the meat or the mash on top of it. This bone definitely didn't have the marrow which I was hoping for. The saffron risotto tasted fine and did have the saffron flavour.

Their recommended seafood soup turned out to be quite unpleasant. Not trying at all to pick on the food unnecessarily, but the smell was weird and rather off putting. It arrived with a generous portion of seafood which included clams, mussels, squid and prawn. Ingredients did not taste fresh. One seafood soup and eight people at the table, it was left mostly unfinished. I think you get the point.


This salad looking thing covered in rocket is actually a sliced ribeye steak and is probably the most tasteless ribeye I've ever tasted. In fact, it might have been a very bland cut of tenderloin since the meat was rather soft, but I wouldn't know better since I only had a bite and the menu did say ribeye. If anyone should consider their iced lemon tea in Lafiandra for $3.50, consider yourselves informed of what you are getting. This one's for you Pet, if you're reading.

Having been in operation for some time previously at Princep and also now with the capability to be in the business in the Art Museum, I had thought better of Trattoria Lafiandra. Pretty sure I can take this place out of my list now since I'm never returning after this today.

More from Ma Maison

Here's a mentaiko spaghetti tossed with onions, mushrooms and some prawn topped with nori strips from Ma Maison (#03-96 Central, 6 Eu Tong Seng Street, tel: 6327-8122). What I like about it was the blend flavour from the mentaiko and seaweed. Gotta love that smoky edge that they gave to the pasta. If anyone has any good mentaiko pasta to recommend, please let me know.

This was fried Camembert cheese. Had an unexpectedly light crispy batter. Cheese was soft and gooey inside. Liked it much better than I had thought. The sauce on the side was lemon honey with a sprinkle of coarse grain pepper. Works with the cheese but they were also good on their own.

The beef stroganoff ranks somewhere on the top my list of comfort food. The scrambled eggs over the buttered rice was so good. Don't know if it's anything close to original Russian versions, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a Japanese interpretation of the dish.

Sho-U, Central

This place at Central (The Central, #03-85 /102/108/109, 6 Eu Tong Sen Street, S059817, tel:65348066) sold itself a contemporary Japanese fine dining. While I agree with the contemporary description, I didn't think it was fine dining unless they were referring to the minute portions that were served. The minimalist decor of the interior from the plush red entrance led into two separate dining areas which were in black and white. The visual style had impact and a positive side to this place was the attentive service from the friendly wait staff. I didn't think so well of the food, especially when this place was pricey.


I admit that a number of the items from the menu did sound appealing; which was what prompted me to give them a go. The actual delivery however didn't leave a similar impression.

Mame soup ($8)

Tried mame soup which was described to be a creamy soup made from edamame. I thought that it might be something akin to chilled green pea soup. The actual soup wasn't quite like what I had in mind. Spart from being cloudy green, I wouldn't attribute the word 'cream' to the taste or consistency. At all. It tasted like a shio broth with only a slight hint of edamame. 

This was something that one can actually finish in 2-3 big mouthfuls. The photo doesn't but the bowl was actually thick and shallow.

Uni avocado tempura ($20)

As intriguing as it appeared on the menu, the uni avocado tempura didn't quite do it for me. Granted, it was sea urchin and avocado encased in a light batter and lightly fried as well, the dish arrived lukewarm. Both the uni and avocado actually turned up pretty dry. The green powder on the side as informed by the server was green tea salt. I couldn't really taste any of it. The tempura came in 3 bite size pieces and there's probably enough uni to make just one good uni sushi in there.

Ika onsen tempura ($12)

This squid tempura filled with egg was probably the best thing that was served. The server had said that they eggs were half boiled so I was thinking that they would be still somewhat runny, but the yolks were actually almost solid. Despite that, these were quite tasty, if pricey.

Foie gras brown rice in stone pot ($22)

tossed

The foie gras brown rice was pretty tasty, but for $22, I would pick on the foie gras being thin and in small pieces. What's more, they were overcooked. So it we didn't get any with creamy insides that dissolved in your mouth. Brown rice was pretty fragrant and came with some brown sauce which was poured into the stone bowl of rice and tossed before eating. The portion was enough to fill up two small bowls.

No doubt that effort has been put into the dishes in Sho-U and that the quality of the dishes are far from mediocre, but for the prices and pathetic portions, I will not be returning. I didn't even feel like dessert after the insubstantial food.

Fisherman's Wharf, New Bridge Road

Last dinner for the year of 2007 came in the form of (North Alantic) cod and chips down at Fisherman's Wharf (27 New Bridge Road, tel : +65 6532 6468). Been quite a while since the last time we were here. Things haven't changed much - just a wider selection of fishes. I don't remember so much from the last time though the cod today was a little dry. Still enjoyable though. It was still a viable option compared to the breaded variety which seems to be everywhere.

Having tried the Halibut and the snow fish, the conclusion I drew were that they were only different in texture. I think. I'm not good at telling. What I didn't see coming were their mashed peas which were surprisingly very dry, nutty and enjoyable.

Happy New Year!

Some random home made hotdog

Looks and tastes much better than the hot bitches! These are pork sausages encased in butter toasted hot dog buns topped with mustard, jarred relish and yellow onions sautéed in butter. Everything can be pretty much bought off supermarkets and assembled except for the onions which have to be diced and fried.

Greenwood Fish Market & Bistro, 34 Greenwood Ave

I found this shop to be a rather pleasant place nestled in the folds of homes along Hillcrest just off Bukit Timah road. Which also meant that the shophouses it is located at isn't visible at all from the main road. Greenwood Fish Market is really, a tiny fish market with a dining dining room built into the back of the stall which sells fresh seafood. Right at the front of the fish shop, is a small al fresco area which sits approximately 15 persons. Presumably, the seafood that the restaurant serves are the same seafood that is sold at the stall front and the menu has a surprising variety for a small place. There were a variety of fishes like yellowfin tuna, barramunda, cod, halibut and a bunch of others which I don't remember. Most of them could be cooked to order based on availability.


The food here was interesting, if not so mundane in execution. What I meant was that while not exotic, it was served in a not so commonly seen (you could say boring) manner. The foie gras and sea scallop ($24.95) were on top of a bread pudding soaked in a port and fig reduction. It came with a small bunch of vine ripen cherry tomatoes and a piece of grilled pineapple on the side. Well, I'm not sure about how this is suppose to be interpreted, but I did enjoy both scallops and foie gras. There's nothing exceptional here, both the liver and the shellfish come as I had expected, so this is actually not bad. It's my first time having them on bread pudding though.


The escargots ($14.95 for half dozen) here weren't drench in garlic butter or olive oil or any of that oil and garlic combinations. It was actually served in what the menu describes as a 'patty case' which was in reality a kueh pie tee shell. So we got here were snails in a kueh pie tee shell blanketed over with a bechamel sauce and topped with a very fine garlic paste and then dizzled with some balsamic vinegar. I thought this wasn't too bad, just unexpected because I had expected escargots to be just served plain. I was initially wondering if something was wrong with the snails to be so covered up in sauces and condiments, but after having the first, I realised that the meat doesn't taste as drenched in the other flavours as I had thought they might have. They were actually fine.


The crab meat vongole was pretty decent. This coming from someone who's usually wary of vongole because of either the miserable portions or lousy quality of clams that are used very often. Or both. This plate from Greenwood was actually vongole that's topped with shredded crab meat. What's more, the spaghetti was al dente. I think I would like liked it better if the crab meat weren't so shredded. This shredded state reminded me of leftovers from other crab dishes, but I'm not complaining. I was just stating a suggestion that might by chance be enacted upon. Lol. The clams here weren't too bad and it was good to know that this plate wasn't propped up with just shells. I don't know why,  I was envisioning a plate filled with crab shells when I ordered this pasta.

I have a feeling that I'll be back another time. I ought to check out their fish and chips.