Indobox, ION Orchard

I was initially a little skeptical since this place (#B3-24 ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn, tel : +65 6509 8600) was simply just another themed food restaurant managed by a group that was operating a couple of chained theme restaurant that I didn't care about. But I actually liked this.

The cumi bakar was smokey and full of bite. The flavors reminded me more than a little of bak kwa. I only wished that there was more char from the grill to accompany them. Their lemak laden curries and lime-y chilli were pretty good in a dangerous way that made me want to get seconds for rice. Ditto for the nasi kuning betutu set featuring meaty thighs from the chicken and accompanying tasty sauce from the cooking spices.

cumi bakar

kari ayam

nasi kuning betutu

The other fried rice from Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐)

meat packing district, Waterloo Street

I remember reading about meat packing district (Blk 261 Waterloo Street, Food Summons Coffee Shop) some time ago when they had just opened up. I never got the chance to visit since they were opened for business only in the weekdays and the old location isn't exactly convenient for anyone that didn't work in their vicinity. This current shop down in the coffeeshop in Waterloo Street was so much more accessible.

To the burger then. Their Fat Elvis was the only one we tried. The medium done patty was decent if not exactly exciting. But then again, what they had charged wasn't high as well and they were already ahead of Fatboy's and their progeny in town. In fact, the only thing that this place might improve on was the quality of the brioche. The generous slather of peanut butter was soft and creamy; bacon's "wasn't so crisp but I'm not complaining" decent and the thing that had me worried the most, the banana tempura slices, were actually very nice. Goreng pisang nice with a batter that wasn't overly thick.

You know what? I'm not opposed to giving this place another go.

Tai Wah Pork Noodle, Hong Lim Food Centre

Let me see if I got this right. This Tai Wah stall (#02-17, Hong Lim Complex, 531A Upper Cross Street) which is also known as the High Street one, is run by both the brother and nephew of the owner from the Tai Hwa at Crawford. There used to be another stall at the Bestway building that was operated by the said brother, but has closed and consolidated into this stall with his son at Hong Lim. And this would be my first visit.

How did this fare? The noodles (specifically mee pok) were softer than I had been expecting and the flavours of the sauces were unexpectedly quite subdued. The salty parts weren't as salty, the chilli didn't seem to have so much heat and the vinegar was just noticeably weaker in comparison with Tai Hwa. A literal pale comparison if you would. On a positive note, ingredients were generous and the varied cuts from the pork and dried crispy sole provided texture. The wantons were filled with dried sole and delicious and the soup was pretty okay. I'd eat this over Ah Kow any time, but it's going to be difficult to convince myself over the trouble of coming back. 

And the last dinner for 2013 was......

We went the dependable route instead of some place that had a New Year menu. Ootoya it was. Even as we placed our orders, I was scanning the update on the Last Dinner of 2013 by Burnt Ends which looked enticing indeed. Well, it's $200 per person so......

This was definitely good in the comforting sense and much less expensive. I picked apart a couple of the seasonal sets that they were offering and grabbed the fried oysters a la carte and discarded the soup from the steamed scallops on rice set. So this mix and match landed a shell fish teishoku dinner along with starters of blue fin tuna sashimi. This time round, the fried oysters were noticeably much better than when I last had them. They weren't as large as I was imagining but were briny and juicy. Couldn't complain on how this year has been wrapped up.

Cugini Trattoria Pizzeria, Club Street

I've been wanting to visit Cugini (87 Club Street, #01-01, tel : +65 6221 3791) for the longest time. So it's finally happened this weekend! If anyone is wondering, their food is southern Italian styled with influences Sardinia and Sicily, which I read, were where the owners were from.

Today's visit was a little whimsical. We didn't exactly order what the restaurant was known for. We just picked some of the stuff off the menu that sounded like they might be interesting and hence, totally skipped their southern styled pasta noodles that they are known for.

Cugini's calamari fritti was very good. I'd easily rate it amongst the top of fried calamari I've had. The meat was springy with bite, firmly enveloped in a crisp batter that was sufficiently salted and flavoured with something lightly smoky with some heat. Paprika or cayenne perhaps or something similar, but it was light and present, certainly made those calamari good enough to eat on their own. Dips on the side were very well done. 

This pizza was named golosa. Which translates as I understand, into something along the lines of 'glutton' or 'gourmand'. Perhaps the name of this Frankensteinian pizza was meant to be an innuendo sheathed within a double entendre. Just saying.

I actually liked this. For one, the fries are thicker cut. And slightly soggy which is the way I like fries. What it did was bulk up the pizza and the element that kept it from getting boring was the bits of Gorgonzola that was nicely spread through the pie. It's been a while since I've had a tomato based pizza where I didn't quite mind (even quietly to myself) that tomato base.

We had some Sicilian styled lamb ravioli in artichoke cream and butter. This was really good stuff. Didn't taste so much of the butter, but the artichoke cream was lovely and the finely minced lamb,  was lamb-y enough to retain characteristic flavour to the meat. I never understood people who ordered lamb and complained of gaminess. Pasta was well stuffed, properly cooked and firm to the bite.

Dessert was a white chocolate panna cotta with some crumbled Bronte pistachios and a raspberry sauce. The texture was smooth and creamy, a little heavier than a usual panna cotta because of the chocolate.