Sunday, April 03, 2011

Dry curry chahan and mapo tofu from Ohsho

Ohsho, dry curry chahan

Finally broke out of the charshu chahan repetition and picked another from the list of fried rice menu at Ohsho. The combination of curry powder and onions made reminded me of murtabak. A little Indian and Japanese and at the same time, yet still quite Chinese if you catch my drift. First impressions and no complains.

Speaking of comfort food, their rendition of mapo tofu wasn't too bad. I liked them better after the gravy had lost some of the starchy consistency. Just tofu, minced meat and a mild spiciness which probably would have worked better with white rice than fried rice.

Ohsho, mapo tofu

Saturday, April 02, 2011

Poutine, truffled mushroom soup and wagyu burger from Crossroads Cafe

Crossroads Cafe, poutine

Crossroads Cafe, mushroom soup

Crossroads Cafe, wagyu burger

Crossroads Cafe, wagyu burger

What did I not like too much about the food here(320 Orchard Road, GF Marriott Hotel, tel : +65 6735 5800)? Probably just the truffled wild mushroom soup that reminded me a little too much of the Campbell variety with a tad generous dash of cream which was largely saved by the truffle oil that came in almost imperceptible portions. Maybe I could gripe over the gravy from the poutine that could have been a little richer and perhaps less watery. Or perhaps, the choice of bun which didn't quite do it's job holding the burger up together as the juices from the patty disintegrated them.

I'm just being picky :p.

I did enjoy the poutine in spite of the fact that I would definitely prefer it with a bit more of that gravy which wasn't too shabby in the first place. Couldn't complain about the stinky goat cheese and bits of salty chorizo that came with it as well. The wagyu burger was definitely more than a mouthful of stacked beef patties, nicely grilled and blanketed with raclette cheese. As one might have surmised from the above, there were a great deal of bovine flavoured meat juices and grease from the patty. Nothing beyond a some rockets, the fragrance of sliced raw red onions and a little tomato to detract from the flavour. And a juicy fat gherkin to cut through all the combined grease. I can't say that I won't be back......

...but I will not be ordering that mushroom soup again.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Kampong Glam Cafe

Here's a good stop (17 Bussorah Street) for some down to earth local food. One which I've passed by on countless occasions until recently. No complains at all from their hearty nasi padang which featured surprisingly tender paru goreng down to that blend of sweetness from the shaven coconut, spicy kick of their sambal belachan and lemak savouriness from the sayur lodeh. Pretty much a good selection of distinctive flavours on one plate.

In spite of being a little bland with the broth, the "upgraded with a begedil" mee soto was pretty decent. Piping hot with a mix of chillis and deep fried shallots to go along in a cool rainy afternoon.

Their teh tarik was just the drink to wash everything down with.

Will definitely drop by again when in the vicinity.

Kampong Glam Cafe, nasi padang
Kampong Glam Cafe, soto ayam
Kampong Glam Cafe, lontong
Kampong Glam Cafe, teh

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Home made grilled cheese sandwich


The magic of wholemeal bread, shredded cheddar, a questionable amount of butter in bed together on a hot frying pan. I'm going to use raisin bread the next time for the next cosmic alignment.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Christmas lunch at Bedrock

Bedrock Bar & Grill, Pan Pacific Serviced Suites

This blog is not yet dead!

But this entry is definitely late in the coming as lately, real life has wrapped its reel more tightly about things as I battle to fight for breathing room. But let's get to the food.

We decided to pick up the offer from Bedrock out of numerous emails because we had a good meal from the previous visit and we definitely had hopes that this would not be far from the experience we had from that first visit.

Bedrock Bar & Grill, bread

The piping hot and freshly baked flat bread which Bedrock serves has not changed. Exactly how we remembered them to be with the soft buds of garlic and salted butter. Needless to say, we had seconds and even thirds.

Bedrock Bar & Grill, yukon potato soup truffle cream
Yukon potato soup - truffle cream

The comforting and creamily textured potato soup was really just buffed by the truffle cream which performed admirably with their truffle-y flavour. I couldn't say that the soup was out of this world, but the flavour from the fungus worked enough of it's magic that I've had to admit that it was a pretty decent soup. Yukon potatoes or not.

Bedrock Bar & Grill, pumpkin risotto braised duck confit tomato shaved parmigianno reggiano
pumpkin risotto - braised duck, confit tomato, shaved parmigianno reggiano

Their pumpkin risotto turned out to be much better than it appeared on plate in the department of taste. To their credit, the flavour of the pumpkin was identifiable in the creamy rice and it paired off very nicely to that "sweet and salty" effect from the gravy that came with the braised duck. If this item had ended up in the regular menu, I certainly wouldn't mind ordering them again.

Bedrock Bar & Grill, steamed seabass sautéed asparagus balsamic reduction boneless short ribs
steamed sea bass - sautéed asparagus, balsamic reduction, boneless short ribs

The steamed sea bass looked like it might have been seared a little as well instead of just steamed. I'm not overly big on fishes most of the time, but I would have to say that I liked this. The texture of the meat was nicely preserved where the meat didn't just crumble and dissolve in the mouth. Simply flavoured too, was it with nothing short of salt and pepper. I didn't quite understand why a braised short rib came along, but it was surprisingly well done. That melted in the mouth.

Bedrock Bar & Grill, duck fat potatoes
duck fat potatoes

We just had to order up the fried potatoes to side up the other items we had. Notice the golden yellows and dark browned edges. It tasted as good as it looked without excessive grease.

Bedrock Bar & Grill, steamed banana pudding vanilla bean ice cream brandied cherry
steamed banana pudding - vanilla bean ice cream, brandied cherry

We were getting quite stuffed from the food and extra orders of the flat bread earlier. Lacking the capacity of a four stomach cow, I sometimes forget to accommodate space. What would usually impress me about a dessert would be their ability to make me still finish them even when I feel stuffed. This was definitely one of those. It was a suitably soft banana pudding. I guess what helped out there was that the pudding and the large scoop of ice cream weren't too sweet and the tart cherries and sauce helped get us going. Yes, and the gooseberry too.