Re-visiting Basilico

We had a pretty good recollection of our last visit to Basilico. There was a little kind of magic going on for this semi-buffet restaurant at Regent Hotel. A little glitter and sharpness that we liked. This revisit was actually a little disappointing because we remembered that it was good. If one were to take a step back and consider that the food didn't taste as great while the prices have gone up, it had became noticeably more expensive. $69 for a relatively good experience versus $82 for something that felt diluted. The entire experience felt a little washed out. Like the photos that you see here versus then.

The buffet spread had changed a little (no more Gorgonzola....what travesty!). Quality seemed to have taken a hit. Noticeably so was the charcuterie section that tasted just salty and flat. Dessert spread was lazy, lots of simple chocolate stuff going on that looked like it could have come from anywhere else. The only thing that we found exceptional was cooked pineapples in cinnamon and star anise. It was a very nice citrus and spice going on with hot pineapples. Back to topic, the restaurant should seriously consider getting rid of that laziness and do up some real Italian sweets as befits the theme of the restaurant.

This dinner was their Basilissimo menu which is a best of what they had to offer. It was pretty much a showcase of the past winter dishes that they had done which included a porcini and leek risotto with marinated venison loin and Barbaresco wine reduction and some rack of lamb with artichokes and Vitelotte potato purée. The slightly underdone risotto was passable, with the flavors or neither mushroom nor root vegetable coming through and venison with so much star anise that it tasted like lor bah (a local meat braised in dark soy sauce and spices). Lamb was decent, but not outstandingly so although the Vitelotte potato purée was nutty and delicious. 

Dong Bei Ren Jia (东北人家), Upper Cross Street

 

 pi dong (皮冻) - pork rind in aspic

cabbage and pork dumplings (水饺)

 

deep fried man tou with condensed milk

 

big head bean sprouts stir fried with shredded pork and dried chilli

mutton and salted vegetable soup

guo bao rou (鍋包肉) - sweet and sour pork

cong you bing (葱油饼) - spring onion pancakes

 
pumpkin deep fried with salted egg yolk and sugar

Just a quick one here. The food at Dong Bei Ren Jia (22 Upper Cross St, tel : +65 6224 5258) was not bad at all. The prices were affordable to boot. Both of which were evidenced by the full house and it was mostly filled by Chinese nationals. 

A few of items that I felt was more mention worthy included the salted vegetable soup with mutton which was tasty. Interestingly, there wasn't much flavour of the meat in the soup itself. The actual pieces of mutton were however nicely flavoured. For mutton lovers I meant.

Their sweet and sour pork rendition was nothing like the local variety. These were thin sliced pork, battered and fried to a light crisp that was a bit more sour (vinegary tang) than sweet. Very appetizing and no cloy. 

Bean sprouts were delicious and the deep fried pumpkin with salted yolk and sugar was interesting to say the least. The latter was surprisingly easy to pop into the mouth in spite of being deep fried.

Better make reservations if you want a table at dinner without having to wait.

Good Year Local Hainanese Chicken Rice Ball, Toa Payoh Lorong 1

Chicken rice is definitely a local thing. It's something we're pretty damned good at that everyone else's rendition stands a far second. Not entirely true there but, it's almost a generally accepted blanket statement. Chicken rice balls are another thing entirely. It's not so local. It entails additional effort of packing rice into balls which is another layer of hard work over an existing layer of hard work. Not everyone's game. I've heard of them in Malacca, not sure if they're any good there since I haven't tried it. 

I've been wanting to try the chicken rice balls from this stall (#01-366, Chang Cheng Mee Wah Restaurant, 111 Toa Payoh Lorong 1) for quite a while already and now that it's finally happened, I think it's definitely better than the other crumbly one down at Jalan Besar.

What worked for me over at this shop was a more compact rice ball which was almost akin to a chicken rice ketupat. There was definitely enough flavors packed in them and salt going on to make them savoury and tasty. The chicken that was served was also noticeably meatier, more tender and smoother as well. Each serving came with a chicken claw & peanut soup that was rather good. The down side for me was their bland-ish chilli sauce which I couldn't really quite figure out. Still, I'm thinking that this was a pretty decent stall as far as chicken rice joints go. Decent meaning that I definitely wouldn't mind having this place as a semi-regular-crave-fixing-location if not for their slow moving queue. 

Re-visiting the foie gras xiao long bao from Paradise Dynasty

Apparently, these have been vastly improved. I've had them xiao long baos twice over the course of the past couple of weeks and they do taste a whole lot better than the first time I've had them. There was a lot more foie in the flavors of the soup inside the dumplings. In other news, the rest of the others were still pretty mediocre. Their truffle version is still a joke compared to the ones at Din Tai Fung. But I guess that just makes choosing here a whole lot easier.

The Naked Finn, Gillman Barracks

This was another place (Gillman Barracks, 41 Malan Road, tel : +65 6694 0807) that had been on my radar for a while and it's finally happened. The options they serve up here are focused, but was by no means limited. I certainly didn't remember the last place that offered nine options for crustaceans. In summary, the seafood was really well done with minimal seasoning that the quality spoke for itself.

We got a table by the bar. The reservations process is a little spotty. It took a while before my calls got through and they never pick up the phone if you call beyond their stipulated hours.

Sitting at the bar here simply means that you get to see the drinks being made. There is no open concept kitchen.

Watching them make drinks was however a rather pleasant distraction while waiting for orders to arrive. I saw my drink made at least.

I liked their Kyoho grape cocktail. Very unsophisticated and comes with chew from the bits of grape skin.

It all starts with a salad. It was okay, nothing very much to get excited about.

We were never really explained how the condiments were to be used, but the belachan and the Thai tasting sauce on the top left worked, and worked very well, with their chilled bee hoon.

First up was razor clams with hot shallot oil and fried shallots. As mentioned earlier, little in the way of condiments to distract. It was perfumed with the shallot oil and salt on the side was optional. This was actually very nice. The textures were good and the mild sweetness came through.

Then came the bee hoon which the server advised on going easy on. There's been some talk about this particular item. It's as good as those talks described. As easy going as we tried to be, it was addictive. Especially when one had to wait between courses. We had seconds eventually.

Then came the New Zealand littleneck clams. I think these were okay, nothing very much I could describe except that they tasted fresh. 

What was outstanding was their Indian baby squids. The aroma from the grill hit us as it was served. The char was present without being excessive.

Grilled Alantic scallops were chunky and again, had nothing but fried shallot and their oils. These, the squid and the bee hoon so far are good for returns.

The largest portioned items were some locally farmed barramundi that came with olive oil and salt. I don't generally order fish very often, so take this opinion with a pinch of salt (lol, pun intended!). Best damned barramundi I've had. The skin was pan fried to a light crisp and the flesh tasted tender and juicy like steamed fish. Very nice.

I think these were the Mozambique lobsters. These were also very nice. The flesh was so sweet and the heads, flavorful.

If anyone is wondering, I was forced to use my fingers.

A decent if not so remarkable crème brûlée to wrap up.

I like this place. The staff is friendly plus the seafood's was really pretty damned good. It's not too cheap, but I guess that's the way these things go for in this country. Would love to come back again, but the location's a pain to reach.

Lunch at Au Jardin

I'm gonna keep this short. In truth, I thought that the brunch was better bang for the buck even if it costed more. But what I liked about the lunch at Au Jardin were their seafood options for the starters and mains. The mud crab and the scallops namely, which were excellent and very nicely flavored with truffle mayo or reduction. I know that truffle has gotten old of recent years and the market is filled with the alchemied cheap stuff, but these aren't that.

The foie gras and striploin was really just passable. Those, I had expected better.

pan fried foie gras, petite salad, caramelized apple, verjus sauce

mud crab with Ratte potato salad, Avruga caviar, black radish and truffle mayonnaise

roasted black Angus striploin (200 days grain fed), caramelized root vegetables, sweet corn puree and shallot sauce 

Hokkaido scallops a la plancha with “sunny-side up” egg, seasonal mushrooms and truffle reduction

this was so good

“Matcha” with citrus mousse and ice cream 

  

“Chocolate Fondant” 

un café