Good Friday mee shay

Hey Crystal, when you're reading this, thanks for the mouth watering mee shay again. I thought that these noodles were better for texture than the kuey teows from the previous time. What's that semolina cake thingy with poppy seeds called again?

Oriole Cafe & Bar, Pan Pacific Serviced Suites

As the name of the place suggests, this was a cafe (96 Somerset Road, #01-01 Pan Pacific Serviced Suites, tel: 6238 8348). Food ranked to me, just a little above the likes of NYNY. Their Guinness braised spring chicken and beef cheek tagliatelle were mediocre. Fish and chips had thin crisp batter. Was decent.  The wait staff were definitely most obliging, but at the pace which things were done, the waits were almost excruciating. Even when it came to the bill. Would have been great if they could simply inform of the coverage in the happy hour which did not apply for most of the beers on the menu. I forgot that this place has an award winning barista in the house and I do like coffee.

 

Bites from Isetan

This was the outcome of one of those forays into one of my haunts in town. My favourite squido rice have gotten standardized with their glutinous rice packings into larger squids and they cost more these days. I guess they must have been pretty popular with the other people too. The clam onigiri just above didn't pack as much flavour or meat as I would have liked. Those small squids stuffed with roe are still as heart cloggingly tasty as usual. One of the notable items we also bought this time round were toasted rice crackers coated in chocolate powder. Those were amazingly fragrant and tasted much better than their mundane appearances suggested. The braised pork was mouth watering-ly sweet and savoury. They did cost a bit though.

Chye Lye Restaurant, Jalan Legundi

This was one of those places that I've probably passed by and never realised that it was there until now. It's actually located just a couple of units away from Sum's Kitchen which I've visited on a few occasions in the past year. Yet I've never noticed. Talk about being oblivious. I'm not about to lament on the lost opportunities for having not known about this place earlier (it looks like it's been around for a really long time) and instead, make excuses to come back again for the pretty good assam fish head curry.

The place can be scorchingly warm in the afternoon and has no ambience to speak of except for the brand of really old school charm of old coffeeshops which isn't that common these days anymore. But the food is good.


The initial impression of the tamarind based curry was that it tasted a little on the watery side. As the curry cooled, it gained a viscosity and the flavor was enhanced as well. Apart from making an excellent topping for the rice, the remains served decently as soup of sorts as well. For $18, I thought this portion which can feed 3-4 persons is probably better value than what I could have gotten at Muthu's Curry which costs more for less. Not to mention the tender deep fried chicken that comes with a belacan chilli with a kick which really was a steal at $6.50 for half a chicken and a very decent dish of stir fried sambal sweet potato leaves which turned out to be one of the better ones that I've had in while.

Oso, Bukit Pasoh

In the event that anyone was wondering if this had become some sort of photo blog, it's not. With what little time I've had lately, I just thought that I could just put up the photos before I got down to writing, so there you go....I'm back. And this time for a place call Oso (46 Bukit Pasoh Road, tel: 6327 8378) which I thought I should have discovered much earlier.

Apart from some little splotches in service, dinner here was what I was hoping to be. A few people have been egging me to try on numerous occasions. Turned out to be one of those that left me with a satisfactory smirk and I'll probably be returning again in the not too far future.

We got a very creamy burrata in very generous portions for two to start with along with some accompaniments of cherry tomatoes and a mustard coloured tomato sabayon. The effect of the colour of that sabayon (which really tasted like a fresh tomato dip of sorts) pairing with the plaster white cheese reminded me of a giant poached egg. Certainly nothing at all to fault with the hearty braised wild boar stracci luxuriantly saddled in a blanket of that rich tasting sauce robust with the aroma of red wine. Something I'm fairly sure I'll be tempted to order again when I do return. Those gnocchi with gorgonzola and parsley sauce was surprising in ways that I didn't expect as the fresh green flavour of the herbs held up with the not so strong gorgonzola. It was salty without the pungence to match, but I supposed the parsley novelty made up for it since it was good enough for us to mop up all the remaining sauces second servings of bread.

Dessert of the double vanilla panna cotta in black pepper caramel sauce was interesting, but wasn't mind blowing as desserts went. It was a nice milky panna cotta and the pepper caramel was refreshing.

Daily made “burrata” cheese from Puglia filled with tomato sabayon “for 2

Whole wheat “stracci” with braised wild boar in red wine

Potato dumpling “gnocchi” in Gorgonzola and parsley sauce

Double cream vanilla flan “panna cotta” in black pepper caramel sauce

Forlino, One Fullerton

To get to Forlino (1 Fullerton Road, #02-06 One Fullerton, tel: 6536 9965), one would have to find the entrance of the security office at the ground floor of One Fullerton located next to Starbucks. From there, you would have to get to the second floor via an escalator, cross a bridge to the next building to sniff out another entrance to a semi opulent looking flight of steps into a short but convoluted Baroque passageway that could be riddled with secret entrances along the walls. I'm just making the last part up about the secret passageways, but the kitchen door was really one of those that looked like the wall.

We were here to take advantage of the 1 for 1 promotion that UOB has with the restaurant. By that, I have subconsciously lowered expectations. In the end, it was pretty much mixed feelings for this Traditional Menu at $88++ here because, some of the food was good enough to interest me back for a la carte while others were just borderline passable. Their food had certain elements of a homely comfort, but didn't quite feel in place as well in the ambience of the restaurant. But hey, that's just me.


The amuse bouche was a Russian salad. Honestly, I didn't walk into an Italian restaurant and expect an amuse bouche of that. It felt to me like it was something contrived in the last minutes out of sheer desperation. It was really just a potato salad with zucchini bits, tasted exactly the way it looks unless you smeared the little dash of balsamic vinegar with it. Spectacularly unimpressive at the very least.


The home cured meat platter really quite enjoyable for me, featuring a couple of salami types, pancetta, Parma ham and a slice of Mortadella in vinegar and bits of fried shallots. Basically, your gamut of thinly sliced salty meat to get your appetite whetted. I wished there was more of it to go around and that I hadn't finished that foccacia so quickly.


The portions of the traditional Piemonte ravioli was to me, abysmally small. That'll be because also, the actual packets of veal themselves were made quite petit since they had more of them that some of the prima platti in fancy restaurants. Personally, I thought that they were one of the better raviolis I've ever had and again, I wished that there was more to go around. These were well stuffed with tender bits of meat and laying in a rich savory broth. I should really have asked for more bread. With similarity to Il Lido, this first plate was probably the best out of the meal.


Novelty aside, "Mama Forlino" lamb chops didn't quite do it for me. Firstly, I'm not overly enthusiastic over fried stuff, especially breaded ones. The meat in the lamb was actually quite puny despite appearances as the breaded crust with the cheesy fillings underneath was actually substantial. And to reduce the significance of the lamb in this dish, the meat had little flavor. It was very nicely cooked, being tender and all at a medium well, but I really ate lamb for the aroma of the meat. I supposed that I would appreciate these things grilled better. I liked the carrot and the little polenta cake (steaming hot stuff) on the side reminded me of a less greasy pan fried radish cake from Crystal Jade.


Decent hazelnut mousse thing for dessert and the brittles were a nice touch for texture. It definitely wasn't mind blowing on that note.

Would I come back again? I really don't know considering that they were a little pricey if not for the card discounts. Service was impeccable, but that's not all to it is it?