Italiannies, TripleOne Somerset

I first encountered Italiannies (111 Somerset Road, #01-02 TripleOne Somerset, tel : +65 6736 4211) a few years back in Kuala Lumpur at The Curve. Little had I expected that a few years later today, they would be setting up shop here. In spite of what they claim, this was strictly American Italian styled food. Portions were hearty and surprisingly for me, there were certain items on the menu that agreed. Still, this place was a family restaurant chain of sorts. One should keep expectations moderated here.

This spinach and artichoke formaggio was quite hefty for a starter. The dish was a dip with bits of artichokes, mushroom and spinach in a creamy cheesy sauce. It didn't taste bad at all. I suppose it was a wee bit heavy on the grease. It was rich, salty and I thought it was a little too much cream and salt for a single serving.

Clams in olive oil, white wine, garlic, parsley and something that made it spicy. Generous amount of decent tasting clams which were made much better by the delicious broth. It wasn't amazingly good, but it was unexpectedly very tasty.

The Napoli Bianco was a non tomato based meat lovers pizza that didn't exactly have the thinnest thin crust out there. The pie was loaded with ground sausage, salami and bits of chicken. The weight of all that protein and fat simply folded the crust as each slice was lifted off. All that salty meatiness with cheese had me sold.

Grape Shake. Surprisingly very refreshing and clean tasting. We were told it was made with nothing but ice and blended grape. With skin. Definitely one of the better fruit slushies I've ever had. Not to be missed if you want a thirst quencher or make believe that you could actually be scouring off all the richness from your arteries.

Ippudo Singapore, Mandarin Gallery

It was the most fortunate thing that I arrived here before the queue started snaking out from the entrance at Ippudo (333A Orchard Road, #04-02/03/04 Mandarin Gallery, tel : +65 6235 2797). A few moments later, and I would have been on of those standing in line wondering why are the seated people taking so long just to finish a bowl of ramen. One of the main reasons that prompted me to try them out were that it was recommended by some friends and that Ippudo does Hakata styled ramen which was the type of tonkotsu (pork bone based) broth with straight noodles which I liked. I must admit that the owner, being dubbed Ramen King did intrigue me a little. Still I told myself to set realistic expectations of what I'd be getting.

To start off with a couple of broad strokes, the option of the hard ramen was certainly appreciated and the shoyu flavors in the egg were barely perceptible. The latter was certainly unexpectedly so since Marutama did their egg so much better.

The shiromaru with egg bowl was basically the straightforward tonkotsu based ramen with no frills. Interestingly, the soup had a depth of porkiness which is often not very noticeable and despite being so, it was not overly heavy. The sliced pork that was used also came with a stronger flavor of pork than the pork belly that was included in the akamaru bowl.

The akamaru ramen had a more interesting broth in terms of the blend of flavour. It definitely had more dimensions coming with the faint taste from the blackened garlic oil and that dollop of miso. The diced onions that came with each spoonful of broth added to that effect and it turned out to be quite balanced without any of the flavors being overwhelming. That also seemed to reduce the porkiness of the broth which the shiromaru had.

Couldn't find anything to really fault the thin slices of soy infused pork belly slices in this ramen except for the fact that they were a little small.

Interesting pork buns with delectable meat. The meat was in really small portion.

I suppose I liked Ippudo but the queue as it seemed to be still, would probably keep me away. I could always drop by places like Tampopo or Ichibantei for a quick fix of tonkotsu ramen instead. Those guys are pretty decent too.

Monster Green from RedDot

Here occured the unlikely event that I headed back to RedDot Brewhouse and I managed a glass of their spirulina infused Monster Green brew for the sake of curiosity. I couldn't say that I could taste anything out of the ordinary and all the green did make me anticipate a seaweed flavor of sorts, but it was all very ordinary instead.

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