Brunch at Au Jardin

We've been wanting to come to Au Jardin (EJH Corner House, Singapore Botanic Garden Visitors Centre, Cluny Rd, tel : +65 6466 8812) for a while. A really long while. This was a first visit and also a brunch which they serve only on Sundays. Everything before the soup was pretty much a la carte buffet styled which was prepared in curated batches for freshness.

duck rillette

We liked the duck rillette here. Enough duck fat to grease the shredded meat, sufficient salt to enhance the mildly gamey flavour and little else to distract. We had seconds with extra orders of bread.

Tempura of fish and prawn beignet

The tempura and beignet were fried very shortly before service. Both were served hot and fresh tasting with a crisp skin and tender meat. Each of the latter was also wrapped in a shiso leaf. We had thirds since each portion was really small. 

vine cherry tomato with mozzarella 

This was one of my favourites from the brunch.  Chilled and luscious sweet tomatoes (all skinned, no less) with EVOO, a pinch of course salt scattered and drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar. And little sliced balls of mozzarella. This was good in a refreshing manner. We had thirds. Uhm.....I had thirds.

foie gras terrine, rock melon with Serrano ham, smoked salmon

No complains on the foie gras, ham & melon and the salmon. The food was not super fancy, but it was all very decently done with quality ingredients. Strangely, we didn't have seconds for this.

mesclun salad with honey mustard dressing

Unfortunately for the boring old salad, everything else that came with was better. This was pretty much left untouched except for a leave or two.

cream of mushroom soup with truffles 

A finely blended rendition of a luxuriant mushroom soup with accents of truffle. Again nothing very fancy, just nicely done.

scrambled egg, smoked salmon, truffle reduction

I would love to have this scrambled eggs for breakfast often. 

roasted rabbit saddle, seasonal mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, truffle reduction 

One of my favourites of the brunch as well. The rabbit was well flavoured and highlighted with an excellent black truffle reduction. The Brussels sprouts tasted fresh and the assorted mushrooms were exceptional. One could see the care in the preparation of each component.

lobster pasta with sweet basil 

The pasta was unfortunately not impressive. Noodles could have done better with a shorter blanch and the meat wasn't as sweet nor firm as I was hoping for. This was probably just the only dark spot here.

apple tart with vanilla sauce and ice cream 

This was not bad at all. I couldn't figure out what the ice cream was. Refreshingly tart it was.

Manjari 64% chocolate Ganache tart with chocolate “soil”, milk pudding, crème de cacao jelly and burnt butter ice cream 

Hmmm...not big on this but it was really an okay ganache.

I think one's salted caramel saffron and the other is some berry......? I'm just guessing

The case with Eggs Blumenthal

oven grilled cheddar on sourdough toast  

pan fried cheddar on sourdough toast

 yum yum...something wicked this way comes

leftover sausages from Le Bistrot du Sommelier 

what I just labelled as 'eggs Blumenthal'

It's just breakfast porn over the weekend again. With a misleading and intriguing title to it. We tried the "perfect" scrambled eggs, as taught by Heston Blumenthal over YouTube. The double boiled stirring method if you would. It didn't quite turn out the way his did, but it was still buttery good. I liked too, how the residual whites are still present.

Steamed bread with butter and kaya from Ya Kun

This picture doesn't really show very much but I thought this new item from Ya Kun was quite nice. It's basically quartered bread with spread steamed in a bamboo basket. The result was piping hot airy bread with a slightly chewy texture. In between, melted butter soaked in the thick fluffy slices and a smudge of kaya. Local comfort food.

Extra Virgin Pizza, United Square

mushroom bianco

spotted pig

grilled skirt steak salad

cauliflower romesco

United Square is starting too look like a place where I can find myself heading for food. Ramen Bari Uma and Tamoya Udon have opened up lately. The old yakiniku place at the corner has been taken over by Extra Virgin Pizza (#01-14, United Square Shopping Mall, 101 Thomson Road tel : +65 6247 5757).

The food wasn't shabby. I don't think I would mind coming back for the pizza again. Their crust was a little thin, chewy and generally doesn't hold the weight of the toppings very well. And the spotted pig was generally a tad salty, even for me. Still, the things we had ordered were quite tasty. Special mentions to the cauliflower that had a nutty almond capsicum sauce. Don't expect precision from the doneness of meat here. They generally just do pizzas.

Monster Curry, ION Orchard

The curry from Monster Curry did remind me of Go!Go!Curry! which was the previous tenant of this unit. Both shops made thick and rich Japanese curry that was more nutty and sweet and packed relatively little heat. Now I'm not insinuating that this place is possibly the same one that's been repackaged with a new look and menu, the wifi scanning from my phone still picked up the GoGo Curry network somewhere while I was seated at this stall (#B4-54, ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn tel : +65 6509 4555).

This was the Mountain Monster curry rice (with added "onsen" egg and cheese) which was good for two. Or more. Depending. The fried meats that they did were much better than I had expected while the shabu pork slices were much more mediocre than I was hoping for.  The egg was unexpectedly chilled.  In retrospect, the spiciness was really what kept the curry going for me. For without, became monotonous after a bit. While I won't be in a hurry to come back, I'm not against the idea of returning. Spiciness level 3 at this shop is okay, I can crank it up a notch the next time.

A feast for a martyr

Here's a dinner to conveniently commemorate a once man that was clubbed, stoned and decapitated after he was tortured. I'm sure he never meant to die such a death.

But what of bee keepers, epilepsy and plague?