Yoshimaru Ramen Bar, Holland Village

Pretty sure that I will come back here (31 Lorong Liput in Holland Village, 6463-3132) again. Maybe even soon. Reason was their ramen left an impression. Which was a good thing considering that there have been quite a few ramen shops opening up in the recent years and they're starting to look the same. Coupled with veteran ramen shops, we actually do have quite a number option. Do feel that they need to distinct themselves.

Here's a bowl of their moridakusan ramen which is Yoshimaru's version of "the works". Including a tiny dollop of mentaiko was a waste since nothing of it could be tasted once everything got mixed. Enjoyed their tasty tonkotsu broth which wasn't as salty and greasy as I imagined. In their moderation, intentional or not, it turned out to be good. The thin and firm noodles was the other thing that I liked. Was never much of a fan of the soft and curly types. These ones almost reminded me of the first time I ate at Ajisen many years back when they were still decent. 

There's also tan tan mian which featured a nutty and spicy broth that left me wanting more. I'm wondering if there was any peanut butter involved in the soup.

Didn't enjoy their charshu don which featured charshu that tasted like preserved pork cubes. Reminded me of mei cai kou rou when eaten with takana. Definitely had better.

Mietta's, Arab Street

Angelo Sanelli, formerly of Michaelangelo's and current captain of this culinary ship known as Mietta's (126 Arab Street, tel: 6396 5493) reminds me of a man sized dwarf. Big boned, bearded, gruffy facade and probably a nice guy at heart behind his serious appearances as he makes his rounds about. Executive chef Dennis Sim on the other hand, exudes the personality of a man of the kitchen. I say that because his chef's coat isn't snowy white like what many are wont to romanticize and it actually has food stains. And the first words from the man were to enquire if the food was fine and to explain why was what which way. Impressions.

Before I go into the more interesting topic of the food, I'd like to extend my thanks to fatpig for organizing dinner (again!) and for the arrangement of the interesting starter of blueberry gnocchi with braised venison in a red wine, bitter chocolate jus which was something dredged up and out from days back in Zambuca. That was probably not the only residual item that was plated since the carpaccio di manzo did look quite the same as well from the chef's former restaurant.


Honestly, the starters didn't leave too deep of an impression and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to feel strongly about them. But perhaps, I had wanted to be pleasantly surprised. For starters (pun intended), the venison as explained didn't have enough marinate time and in all likelyhood didn't have as much flavor as the chef had intended. Chocolate sauce wasn't as interesting as it sounded and compounded on that, the only flavor of the blueberries came from the bits of the fruit. I must say that the portions were rather generous. The beef capaccio arrived in portions too dainty and I could have sworn that I tasted lemongrass even though nothing like that was described to be in it. One could say, underwhelmed.


The mains, on the other spectrum of impressions were very commendable. We had an excellent foie gras risotto with porcini, which I think should have been renamed because each mouthful of that rice was infused with a robust taste of the mushroom. Foie gras really stood second place in the department of flavor and second place didn't position itself with as much proximity to the first as I would have preferred. But that would just be me. The rack of lamb which was crusted with "coffee soil" was just awesome. The only revelation from the chef on what made the coffee soil were coffee and cocoa which were probably the reasons for the burnt caramelized aroma of the crust. The sweet and savory rich flavors of the sauce that didn't threaten the moderate gaminess of the lamb were smile inducingly impressive on my part. It was a tad pricey for a rack of lamb on that note, but it also made me want to eat them again.


Desserts weren't too spectacular for me so I'll only be on top of the items which I thought were the better ones. The more memorable being the tiramisu which was probably one of the better ones I've enjoyed outside of home made ones and something that was call orange, orange and more orange. From what I can remember, a shot of blood orange jelly and mandarin sorbet atop a crepe and I remember hearing Grand Marnier in the description. What worked for that was pretty much the appeal of a clear citrus flavor at the end of dinner.

Golden Rooster at Clementi

Wow, this is quite nice. Another place that has been around for ages and this was probably my first time eating here. I've been trying to make a trip down to this chicken stall (Blk 450 Clementi Central, #01-305, S120450) for quite a while after being told about them, but it never really happened until today and I'm pretty impressed. By both the the tenderness of the generously portioned barbequed chicken and the speed at which the stall dishes out orders. For $4.50 it was a good deal and I was told that it used to cost less for the same amount. They have a pretty good chilli sauce on the side that had some kick as well. For a few dollars more, one could also just get the whole chicken which was quite a lot of meat. Me thinks I'll be back again quite soon for more now that it's not so far away from the workplace.

Amuse bouche?

These were from a colleague that got them from a trip to Shanghai. They're essentially dried beef jerky things that were a mix of sweet and savory like pork floss, but the chewy texture made me feel that it was more akin to eating dendeng paru (dried and fried beef lungs). And of course, the hilarious naming they've got there.

Singing the blues?!

This was a discovery of chance. We were looking for some food after a movie at Filmgarde in Iluma and ended up in a very suspect and what I thought to be pseudo Japanese joint that goes by Benten Cafe (201 Victoria Street Bugis, #01-14). We were totally impressed by their amazing blue cheese and honey pizza which I swear, contained more blue cheese than any others that I've had ever. I did not expect it to be half decent but what turned up definitely surpassed our expectations. Mind blown. One can surmise from the mottled surface of the pizza that no exaggeration was involved here on my part. If not for anything else, the pizza was the one thing that validated this establishment's existence. I hope that this wasn't a one off incident and I intend to come back again to find out.

OverEasy, One Fullerton

Found out about this place (1 Fullerton Rd, #01-06 One Fullerton, tel : 6423 0701) from a timely tip off and a piss poor email advertisement from IS magazine which mentioned that the place does miniburgers for a dollar each in the evenings. Of course the advertisement has conveniently neglected to mention that those were not applicable during the weekends and that the STI performance also had something to do with whether those mini burgers were available or not. One can but smell the reek of cheap ploy oozing through the cracks.

 

On a more positive note, the grub was noticeably better than what normally passes off for bar food since the menu design was crafted by a Travis Masiero, formerly of Wine Garage whom now runs a place call Spruce down at Tanglin. So we got a tasty but pricey Philly cheesesteak sliders ($16) which was actually a misnomer since they were actually just pan fried beef cubes in mini toasted and buttered buns which looked and tasted nothing like cheese steaks. The strange melted cheese on the medium rare seared beef had texture like custard. Or kaya. No kidding. Otherwise, all was actually pretty good, along with a truffled egg toast ($14) thing which really just struck me with the strength of the truffle aroma as soon as it was brought to the table. I could eat 2 or 3 of these cheesy poached eggs on bread at a go.

 

All I could say about the burger with the tacky name was that, it was not bad. I wouldn't though, put it past a quarter pounder with a very nicely done medium rare patty that was absolutely leaking meat juices as you bit on them. That's pretty much what it was with a side of that nice crispy haystack fries that was actually quite addictive.