Uncle Leong Seafood, Punggol East

what's the horror behind the taxidermied quad claw crustaceans Uncle Leong didn't say?

Let's begin this with Mellben.

I was introduced to Mellben some years ago. Back then, the first taste of the broth from the crab bee hoon was mind blowing. I had never had anything that tasted like that. In fact, the milky and crabby broth left such a deep impression that it gave quite a bit of leeway to the subsequent decline of standards.

The last visit to Mellben that I made was probably about half a year back. While the crab broth was still good, it was nothing like the earlier years. Fast forward to today, I managed to try the ones at Uncle Leong (6 Tebing Lane, #01-03, Punggol East, tel : +65 6441 1848) for the first time. Never had the chance to visit them when they were back in AMK. These two are related though I am not exactly sure how. While I felt that the crab bee hoon was a passable okay, it wasn't up to the standards of what was served in Mellben today. Remember what I said about about plenty of leeway. A pale shadow here of the old Mellben but arguably, a decent soup still.

What's well known about them is that they have their suppliers that provide them with really large crabs and they're generally fresh and meaty which is the way most people like them. The ones that come with the bee hoon are generally better in my view as they they don't get overcooked as often - which results in flesh that gets stuck onto the shells.

Those golden sand crabs which are a signature at Uncle Leong aren't as impressive as I would like. The creamy buttery sauce spiked with peppercorns and fried curry leaves somehow lacked body.

Maybe it's time for a re-visit to Mellben just to compare broths.

stir fried nai bai with garlic

Guinness pork ribs

crab bee hoon

jin sha (golden sand) crab

corridor of claws

The Market Grill, Telok Ayer Street

My first encounter with the product of a certain Loh Lik Peng, restaurateur and hotelier, was a number of years back. At Restaurant Ember in Hotel 1929. And subsequently, Cocotte and Esquina. In retrospect, I have to admit that this man knows what people want, understands the concepts that work in the ever thriving F&B realm and sells those crystallized themes to the rest of us.

Market Grill (208 Telok Ayer Street, tel : +65 6221 3323) is one such conceptualization made material. I'm not too sure what people label them, but I personally think it's a rather clean concept with straightforward food with little frills, probably focused preparation from skilled kitchen staff and attention to quality. Of course, such things comes with a price tag to match. 

Their cod croquetas are balls of mashed potatoes and minced cod. Crispy on the outside, hot and soft on the inside. I'm sure those aren't very difficult to imagine. On top of that, seasoned with enough paprika to pack a little bit of heat. Not bad, but I guess these are one of those things that I'll never order again after having had them once.

We were looking forward to the lobster sliders. Live tank lobsters slain upon order so that we could have them stuffed brioche rolls at our pleasure. This was as fresh as freshness gets. This was good. Good meant large chunky springy pieces of lobster mean tossed in a mayo, looking as if it were about to burst out of the rolls. Even the fries tasted good. Expensive it ws too.

They had run out of ox tongue which was what I had originally wanted, so I settled for a hanging tender. Steak was a nice medium rare and no less. As the name implies, the meat is tender and has a very defined grainy texture. It was juicy, beefy and a lot more chewy than the regular prime cuts of meat. I thought that the exterior sear was well done to seal up the meat with that you know, umami meat crust that meat eaters generally like? Yes, that was pretty much what it was.

I did also like the accompanying black pepper sauce they did, but I had to hold them in reserve for their 'salardais styled' duck fat potatoes rather than mess up the flavour of a nice piece of seared beef.

Lamb rack was also pretty good. The meat was laced with quite a lot of flavourful fat. The trick was to eat them fast before the fat becomes brains. From this order, we discovered that the mashed potatoes that they do here were excellent. Milky and buttery in flavour, smooth and creamy in texture. Superb accompaniment with the lamb jus on the side.

Banana rum pockets for dessert. I tasted no rum in those bananas. Fortunately, the rum and raisin ice cream was nice.

Fee-fi-fo-farfalle!

Some home cooked colorful farfalle which we had previously picked up from the Marco Polo airport. So my knowledge of cooking pasta inches up a trifle more. These need to be boiled a little longer. Al dente wings means harder knots in the centre, so I'll have to settle for softer pasta the next time. If anyone wonders, it's just bacon and mushrooms. Flavoured by butter, truffle salsa and truffle salt.

PasarBella at the Grandstand

I am having difficulty trying to reconcile what the theme for PasarBella is after hearing words bandied about like 'freshest ingredients' and 'gourmet farmers' market' against what I've experienced there. Does anyone honestly think that those things exist and that we could truly establish an artisanal market for niche produce? We hardly have farmers. What fresh produce? Everything grown or organic that is sold is imported. I certainly didn't see any home grown brands for produce. So as much as they like to call it a market, it's really more of a mall with a market theme and a glamorized food court attached.

And do we really honestly need another Shiraz kebab stand or another Da Paulo's anything down in Bt Timah? The prominence of established brands point towards what most of this country has been doing with malls and food courts. Cut and paste templates spending a whole load of money, a little bit of effort and no originality.

End of rant.

Start of another.

Here's a look at the paella from Le Patio. I'm not sure if these guys are doing Spanish or French, but it's probably just the aesthetic charm that they're selling. The hook that lured me into the queue was a large cast iron platter of seafood on top of rice. And judging from the queue, these guys seem pretty popular.

The first thing I was expecting was freshness and value in a real farmer's market. The stock for the rice was to me, sub par. A random paella I had previously eaten in a food court in the airport in Barcelona seemed much better tasting. No, I don't have a picture to back that up. And soft mushy textured prawns? This wasn't anything I would associate with fresh or great quality. Yes I'm also about to gripe about the empty mussel I had there as well. And no, the drumstick is not part of the box. That's another $2.50 you've gotta top up.

To be fair, the crepe was quite good. Then again, it was freshly made and one simply shouldn't mess up sugar, butter and a squeeze of lemon.

The veal dog from Huber's was actually quite boring. I appreciated the freshly toasted buns and certainly better quality sauces that they were providing, but the fillings of the sausage are smoothly textured factory processed protein matter. It ends there for me. No texture to look forward to each bite, not big on flavors neither. Not exactly gourmet if you asked me.

Shami Banana Leaf Delights, Sembawang Road

Shami (349 Sembawang Road, tel : +65 6754 3898) is a local Indian eatery of a small fame up in the northern parts of this country that makes a mean fiery red chicken masala with a spicy nutty paste. They used to be just a stall in the food court at Northpoint with a history for long queues. The food in recent times has become somewhat inconsistent. The same might be said for their queues. Not too long back, they set up shop along Sembawang somewhere across the road from Khatib Camp.

The quality of the food I was told, is better here these days compared to the stall in the food court. It's something that I cannot deny or confirm. If this is an up in quality, does that mean that the one from the food court stall has truly fallen?

fish cutlet 

These balls of minced fish and potato were pretty tasty. As much as I'm avoiding comparison here, Samy's uglier looking ones were much better than these.

butter chicken 

No complains about the butter chicken, but this will like never beat Jaggi's.

Chennai cabbage?

 lentils and beans

 briyani

Orders of rice came with two choices of vegetables. The rice didn't seem to be as good as I remember them. Those vegetables were apparently nothing much to write home about neither.

mutton masala 

Kashmiri and cheese naan 

Naans were rather small serving and lacked fluffiness. Felt somewhat run of the mill. I suppose that's how they do these here.

 deep fried fish roe

We loved those freshly fried fish roe. So much that after dinner, we did a portion for take away as after dinner snacks! Sadly, these seem to come by uncommonly these days.

gobi manchurian

These stir fried cauliflowers were not the most memorable.

the washdown

Trattoria Gallo d' Oro, Central Mall

It was a quiet Wednesday evening down at Trattoria Gallo D' Oro (Blk 7 Magazine Road, #01-03 Central Mall, tel : +65 6438 8131) within the compounds of Central Mall. Luca of Bontá, perched on a chair near the entrance was in conversation, half watching any guest that might have appeared with his hawkish Stellan Skarsgård-like gaze.

Right till the point when the head chef Carlo Marengoni stood up and warm smiles broke out with 'hello's off the lips. They had probably meant 'benvenuto' as well. I hoped.

The website of the restaurant mentioned northern Italian home style food. Not sure what was northern Italian about it but home style hit the mark. If you're still reading at this point, the portions of the food before the first plates were quite generous.

sliced pork loin with tuna mayo

This was basically vitello tonnato. Except that pork was used instead of veal and underneath, a salad. The sauce was rich and smooth, but remember, must share. Easily feeds three.

a misto fritto of sardines and calamari

We opted to leave out the prawns from their fried seafood plate so that we could have more of the calamari and sardines, the latter which was something they were known for. The fish was fresh tasting, had a crispy batter nicely salted and was in simple terms - very delicious. The best part of the fry was the lack of excessive grease. I need to eat this again.

pappardelle with goose liver

Off menu was a goose liver pasta. We swapped the fettucine for pappardelle. Creamy and balanced off with spinach, it was served hot and a lot lighter than it looked. Good stuff.

sliced beef tenderloin sauteed with rosemary and spinach

I don't think beef is their forte here. Perhaps, I'm prejudiced with the treatment of bovine protein matter. And bias when it comes to the application of rosemary. I like my meat beefy and this was oiled with too much other flavours. It was in truth, a decently done up piece of meat, but I think this might be the last time I'm ordering sliced steaks that doesn't come with a Gorgonzola sauce in Italian restaurants.

strawberry panna cotta with cream pudding?

We pushed for a dessert in spite of being rather stuffed at this point. Strawberry panna cotta? It was a regular panna cotta with a sliced strawberry and sauce. What got me was the spice that I tasted in the pudding. I think it might have been aniseed or liquorice; faint and just enough presence to be tasted without being overbearing. I liked it. I just couldn't tell what it was.

mystery diner "A"