An onion and ghee thosai from Sri Kamala Vilas

The thosai today at Sri Kamala Vilas was much more enjoyable than the previous time we were here. It must have been because the crispy skins were soaked with the cheesy and buttery tasting ghee. The strips of chopped onions in them were crunchy, tasted fresh and was weet. Today, I noticed that there were radish in with the sambar as well.

Hometown Kitchen (家鄉小廚)?

What got my attention from 家鄉小廚 at People's Park Complex (#01-67/68 People's Park Complex, 1 Park Road) was the queue that was snaking out for what was claimed to be freshly steamed Shan Dong baos (山东包) - which were essentially steamed buns with meat and/or vegetable fillings or not. It took me passing by a couple of times before I gave in to curiosity and decided to give it two gos.

These steamed buns came in three configurations of meat and vegetables, just vegetables and those that do not come with fillings. Apparently, the queues that form outside the stall are mostly for the ones with fillings and each freshly steamed batch lasts only for minutes before they're sold out. The taste of these buns weren't too bad at all with generous minced meat fillings dripping with juices. The skin however wasn't of the light fluffy variety that I was hoping for. What further interested me to this place was the sides of dishes which one could order to eat alongside the steam buns. Notably tasty were the lightly salted and very crunchy long beans, spicy and springy dried bean curd strips and interestingly, marinated pig ears that had a mix of both meaty and crunchy texture from the cartilage.

pork tripe, beef tripe and long beans

pork tripe, pig ears and strips of dried bean curd strips

innards of the pork and onion bun

Saint Pierre, Central Mall

This degustation dinner at St Pierre (3 Magazine Road, #01-01 Central Mall, tel : +65 6438 0887) had been a voyage of so many flavours that I'm at a loss on how to start describing. From the Parma ham and Parmesan crusted bread sticks, sun dried tomato crisps to the breaded sticks of fried sardines to be dipped in aioli, to the peach coloured droplets of full bodied salmon mousse or the salted French butter, every item was prepared with considerable care for flavours. And those were just amuse bouche.

To be fair, not everything was bogglingly good. There were things that probably would have made one go "it wasn't too bad" or "I'm not sure I'm too impressed with this". Still, the after dinner satisfaction spoke some about my impression with the food quality and the service.

basil scented cannelloni of lobster & scallop mousse with tarragon cream and confit of new carrot

brioche

classic pan-fried foie gras with caramelised green apples and old port sauce

I've heard quite a bit about St. Pierre and their foie gras. This might not have been their best representation as it wasn't as quivery as I would have liked for an ideal doneness. The flavours were intense and aromatic and I thought it was a pity that they were slightly overcooked.

armagnac marinated foie gras terrine with homemade brioche, shallot marmalade and Japanese cress salad

The foie gras terrine here was probably the best that I've had so far. There was a depth of creaminess in the texture that I've never encountered for any other similar terrines and the Armagnac marination of the liver enhanced gave the liver a pleasant depth. 

soft poached egg with zita pasta, green asparagus, iberico ham and matsutake mushroom duxelle

This one definitely one of my favourites for the night because of the simplicity of the individual flavour of the component and also in spite of the fact that the poached egg had a totally solid yolk. The asparagus was poached with a nice crunch and paired off very well with the aromatic and salty Iberico ham; basically the two stars of the plate for me.

risotto of momotaro tomato confit, chorizo & sea urchin with baby squid tempura and parmesan emulsion

Did not expect the taste of the risotto reminded me of glutinous rice dumplings. Didn't expect also for the chorizos to taste like lup cheong. Based on the ingredients that were listed for the risotto, I had no idea how things turned up that way. There wasn't any baby squid tempura in there.

butter roasted john dory with late season truffle puree, baby leeks, ratte potatoes and champagne emulsion

This was good stuff. But I was quite sure that the truffle puree had more than a little bit to do with that.

more bread with olive tapenade

roasted lamb rack with smoked eggplant, asian spiced courgette, macadamia nut and stuffed baby zucchini

Properly done roast lambs where it retained enough the natural flavour of the meat. I believe in the natural flavour from lamb or otherwise, there wouldn't be a point to eating them at all. This rendition from St. Pierre was pink and superb. For all I've said, the best praise I suppose would be that I would order them again.

72-hour braised beef short rib with garlic puree, roasted onions, spring vegetable and lime scented sugar

Probably the best beef rib I've come across. Not that I've eaten a lot of them. The inside of the braised ribs was the vibrant shade of pink of medium rare. The texture of the meat was tender. Everything else about it sort of became secondary.

pre dessert

lemon parfait with lemon cream, rosemary crumble, yoghurt sorbet and lemon cress

petit fours

Marutama Ramen, The Central

Yes, it had taken me this very long to come down to Marutama (6 Eu Tong Sen Street, #03-90/91 The Central @ Clarke Quay, tel : +65 6534 8090) and after two separate visits, the verdict is that the ramen here agrees with me. In the earlier days of this ramen-ya, what kept me away were the horrendous queues. Which doesn't seem to be as deterring these days. At least for the weekdays it seemed so.

What made the ramen agreeable with me was the thick chicken broth and thin eggy ramen which had a bite which I liked. Both the charshu and aji tamago had noticeable flavours of soyasauce. The seven nut soup however, tasted just a little spicy (in a Korean kind of way) and with no hints of nuttish-ness I was expecting. The delicious dish of daikon arrived piping hot and there was also a charshu bowl which did featured their some tasty grilled pork; though the latter didn't quite measure up for me as a donburi.

I'll definitely be back

Cinnamon melts from McD

Old man Ronald has tricks up his sleeves. Cames in a form of small, soft and piping hot buns with melted marshmallows and a generous amount of a gooey cinnamon sauce. A single portion is probably much too much sugar for me. In spite of being pretty sweet, I could imagine this greasy snack to go well in the morning with a thick bitter brew.

Sims to me that.....

Here's a look at our local take of the "workmen's lunch" from my favorite economic rice store down at Whampoa Food Centre. I must have been ordering the same items from what I can recall in the past 3 visits I've made. Braised nonya chap chye, greasy fried egg with long beans, battered fried chicken and a steamed triple egg with minced meat. Sticking to a tried and true dishes or am I becoming boring?