Taste Paradise, ION Orchard

I've finally got to visit the much talked about Taste Paradise (2 Orchard Turn, #04-07 ION Orchard, tel : +65 6509 966) , the flagship restaurant of the Paradise Group. This place was a little pricier than I had expected, even for dim sum. While the food was quite tasty, the cost of eating here didn't quite commensurate against the taste for regular visits. Not when there are plenty of other more affordable options around.

century egg with lime sherbet

These spoonfuls of chopped century eggs came with coarse bits of ice and were more like granitas rather than sherbet. It was also quite sour and tasted much less interesting than I had imagined. I'm positive that they're something I will not be ordering again. The execution was just poorly thought out.

har gou

The har gous from this place were decent, but I really couldn't say much more about them. Somehow, I was expecting better from a place like this.

steamed prawns and golden mushrooms wrapped in seaweed

The steamed prawns wrapped in seaweed were quite good. The prawns were fresh and crunchy and the pairing of the savory superior sauce with seaweed simply clicked. The bonus for me here was that I like golden mushrooms as well.

steamed chicken claws with black bean

Not a mediocre rendition of steamed chicken claws here, but I know I've had better. The flavor of the black beans were sadly lacking. They looked and tasted like there were there for decoration rather than flavor.

siew mai

The dainty siew mai was again like others, pretty decent. I can never help but to compare these dumplings against the memorable ones.

foie gras

I like foie gras. These were pretty okay. I can understand that since this item is probably not their forte.

la mian with truffle oil and bacon bits

Yes, I've been reading on how truffle oil are brewed through food alchemy. That doesn't stop me from liking the aromas and the truth is, their noodles were firm and provided very nice texture for both chewing and slurping. And there's truffle oil and bits of crispy bacon in there.

char siew sou

I think here lies a decent rendition of char siew sou. The pastry was soft and packed a generous portion of the hot and sweet roasted pork and sauce. The true masters of this light and delicate skinned pastry, at least in ION, are however found seven floors below.

steamed pork ribs with black bean

Again, the black bean in the steamed pork ribs seemed more for presentation than flavor. These were okay, but I would not consider ordering them again if I came back.

duo of roasted pork belly and duck

Not bad, but didn't blow me away there.

X.O. sauce stir fried chee chong fun

These rice rolls took a very long time to arrive after repeated reminders. They were actually not bad, but the sauce a little too damp than I'm used to.

salted yolk custard buns

Everyone creates a rendition of these buns these days. I've to admit that the ones here in Taste Paradise are pretty good with a nice balance of custard and yolk.

Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King, Orchid Hotel

I only managed to get in here (1 Tras Link, #01-19 Orchid Hotel, tel : +65 6636 0855) on the second try. The first time round, we were turned away with the reason that they had run out of broth at 2pm and had to close early for the day. To be honest, I wasn't really impressed by Keisuke's first joint at Parco with their prawn based broth. But this was a specialized tonkotsu joint so I toed the line and joined the queue because I simply had to find out.

Here's a serving of the "special" option of their ramen which included shoyu egg with semi molten yolk and wood ear fungus. The most obvious element of the tonkotsu broth served in this establishment are the little chunks of lard floating in them. The flavours were clean and creamy and didn't taste excessively heavy in spite of the fat that was in the broth. There was the option for the level oiliness and how hard the noodles are to be done. Their hard noodles were chewy and right up my alley in terms of texture.

So what else was happening here? I find myself liking their large and more thinly sliced than usual sheets of charshu. Having free flow servings of their bean sprouts which made good munching while waiting for the noodles to be served and those chilled hard boiled eggs are definitely an appreciated attraction there. Will definitely be back to check out the black and red options they have for the ramen.

Hinoki, Cross Street

This was a first visit to Hinoki (22 Cross Street, #01-50/53 China Square Central, South Bridge Court, tel : +65 6536 7746) based on a recommendation from a friend. I thought the food was pretty good. Not that I'm an expert with all that stuff that the friendly men behind the counter with sharp knives and blowtorches were trying to stuff me with. One of whom was Lawrence Chia, sibling to Ronnie Chia of Tatsuya at Goodwood Park Hotel.

As usual, I have difficulty identifying some of the fishes that I've had over the course of the omakase, but I've labelled those that I had been able to tell. There were so many things which we had. From memory, the outstanding items that lingered were the fresh tasting chilled oysters, a fatty grilled tuna collar, the awesome skewer of beef which name is lost to me, the nicely torched foie gras over amaebi and the mekajiki toro from both the sashimi platter and the sushi with yuzu salt.

Was it all perfect for me? I suppose I would have enjoyed it more if there was uni. I've to admit that I didn't quite enjoy the bits of ginger on the aji sushi. But hey, that was something I should have indicated at the start so I only have myself to blame. In retrospect, I think impressions have been made to the point that I wouldn't mind a return trip here.

I just wish these things were more affordable.

some spicy octopus thingy

oysters in ponzu

fugu mirin boshi

sashimi platter

grilled tuna collar

lobster mentaiko yaki

some beef, I forgot the name....sublime stuff

daikon with white miso

shima aji

hotate with spicy mayo

mekajiki toro with yuzu wasabi salt

foie gras with amaebi

akagai

aji

aburi toro

saba

anago

miso soup with lobster head

amaebi with bonito flakes

hirame

champagne grape and yuzu sorbet 

Fi53fty Three, Armenian Street

The "white" yoghurt and potato bread tasted quite ordinary. The surface was crusty while the insides were warm and soft.

The apple and rosemary was very agreeable. It was described as an apple risotto of minced apples cooked in its own juices topped with a rosemary flavoured foam. This dessert in my opinion had one of the better balanced application of rosemary I've had in any food. It tasted pretty good to me and reminded me more than a little of apple pies.


The dessert portions were rather substantial. It felt like the portions of a main here was certainly so for their pineapple with Chinese five spice, coconut and Brie. I'm not too sure how I still feel about this dessert. The flavours to me were decidedly oriental and yet not so because of the dill and cheese and coconut cream. And it didn't appear very dessert like because of the five spice infusion along with the bits of coriander which have no place in desserts. The pungent brie ice cream was interesting if unusual and I'm still wondering what made those crumbs grey. They tasted like cookie crumbs if anyone was wondering.

As novelty, I was held captivated for one serving.


After meal sweets were apple gums.


The wagyu beef cheek and alliums, asian pear and wood sorrel was apparently a signature and was pretty damn good. This was my first experience eating something that was sous vide. The wagyu beef cheek that had been cooked for 40 hours was very tender, retained texture and was very flavourful. It was accompanied by the robust beefy consommé that they poured upon serving along with blossoms of citrusy flavours from the wood sorrels and little balls of what tasted like Chinese pear and tiny onion bulbs.


There was also a cold starter of scallop and passionfruit, tea and herbs. The taste was fairly predictable. Predictable wasn't really a word I would think to associate with the food for a first time eating here.


Some of the items served here are pretty unusual. This was a spelt porridge with winter truffle. As much as I could smell the truffles, I couldn't find any in the porridge. The black disc in the middle tasted to me like a concentrated squid ink jelly. Brown crumbles over the top are suppose to be chestnuts but had the texture of minced fried garlic and the taste of neither chestnuts nor garlic. I did find the this starter very comforting and tasty though.


Their charcoal infused bread looked pretty interesting. It didn't taste different from regular bread.

This dish was called pork belly and red cabbage, lardo di Colonnata. The red smudges being red cabbage puree and for the lardo, I haven't a clue where. There were little blobs of translucent gel like things which bursted with the flavour of apple. The crackling of the pork belly was crispy while the fat and meat were tender. 

Bread was served in a warm clay pot and kept warm with some heated seeds. These bread were apparently described as yoghurt and potato bread and the black ones were infused with charcoal. Accompanying them was small stone bowl of what we were told is Danish butter with toasted barley and buckwheat.

We were served with an amuse bouche of some crackers on a black tile and a spoonful of carrot emulsion with walnut shavings. I do not remember what are these crackers made of, but they tasted like a crispy and airy keropok to me.

I couldn't identify the carrot emulsion or walnut shavings neither in terms of flavour. The former tasted creamy and the latter was like sawdust that dissolved in the mouth.

I've decided to let Blogger determine the sequence of this particular post as for some reason, I wasn't willing to rearrange the photos after uploading.

Fi53fty Three (53 Armenian Street, tel : +65 6334 5535) was carved out of a venture between Michael Han, an ex-lawyer that has as reportedly stinted at The Fat Duck and Les Amis. The restaurant is well past its second year in business and has been serving food that has at some point or another, been talked about because of the origins of the helm and their showcase of a fusion-ish modern European cooking that the kitchen produces. All with as much locally sourced ingredients as possible.

The salted Danish butter was creamy and served at a temperature where it was lightly chilled and very soft. Those toasted barley and buckwheat added aroma and texture to the usual butter and bread.

Enoteca L'Operetta, Boat Quay

This place (78 Boat Quay, tel : +65 6438 2482) fell in my radar because I had learnt that it was the first and only place locally that had achieved the Vera Pizza Napoletana certification from the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. In plain speak, it meant that L'Operetta had gotten themselves a stamp of approval for making what's defined as proper wood fired pizza through the traditional and accepted method that Naples considers authentic.

What provoked thought was that in spite of the numerous Italian restaurants that have set up shop in this country, it was the Japanese (I'm still referring to L'Operetta here in case you got lost) that got this certification. Perhaps it might have been because the other Italian chefs think that the trouble was not worth the the results and that the locals probably will not know the difference in any case. Perhaps, perhaps....

Going against the usual grain (pun unintended) I've decided to start with what I felt to be the most enjoyable item which we had instead of the usual starter to end. The Mantecato al Minuto nella Forma di Parmigiano was a parmigiano reggiano risotto made a la minute. The grains of rice were coated with the rich flavours of the creamy and salty cheese and this was probably the first of risottos which I've had that left me pondering on seconds. That I did not have.

The pizzas were not mind blowing in any way. In fact, it was all was quite ordinary if nicely done. The tomatoes tasted fresh but their mozzarella didn't taste like it was different from the ordinary. The crust was a little more chewy than I had expected. Maybe I'm not missing that much out from Naples after all. Their Gorgonzola e miele turned out to be another bummer. The aroma was surprisingly good when the pizza was served. The toppings - a mixture of Gorgonzola and mozzarella and wasn't even half as satisfying as the one in Benten Cafe. The spread of the cheeses were poor and the stingy drizzles of honey were just sweet without the associated aromas.

L'Operetta's signature starter is apparently an oven baked Hokkaido scallop which was described to be flavoured by aromatized butter. Not that I could taste anything that I could have even remotely associate with butter. The cheese blanketed shellfish was cooked medium rare and was pretty juicy. Still I didn't feel I was impressed. The accompanying mushrooms stood out more.

Lucky Wanton Noodle, Tanjong Pagar

It's been a number of years since I've last stepped into this hawker centre. Was a little overwhelmed over by options. The original intention for this out of the way lunch trip was to try a recommended nasi lemak but the said stall was closed. I ended up giving Lucky Wanton Noodles (Blk 6 Tanjong Pagar Plaza, #02-33) a try. Ordered a plate of their sui kao noodles with additional char siew. 

I liked it. They noodles weren't as chewy as I preferred but the mix of dark soy sauce, chilli sauce and pickled green chilli went some ways with the flavours and that helped. The char siew wasn't fantastic by any stretch. Tasted very old school to me. Much like how many char siew from wanton noodles stalls tasted when i was a kid. It was a pleasant kind of familiarity there. The dumplings were however pretty good. Pink minced pork, crunchy shrimps and bits of water chestnut.