363 Katong Laksa, Holland Village

I haven't been to this hawker centre in a long while and it seems that there's a 363 Laksa at the nasi lemak stall (#01-15, Holland Village Food Centre, 1 Lorong Mambong) where one simply orders from the side of the stall. Is this even related to the other one at Lorong Liput? Anyway, the gravy was sufficiently rich and had enough spice to be fairly satisfying. But the flavours certainly didn't beat a certain French chef whose rendition was more outstanding. Not enough hae bi here. But I'm not complaining. I quite like their otah. 

The kani ramen from Keisuke Tokyo

I never got to try this crab stock ramen back at the old Keisuke Tokyo shop before Parco folded, so this was one of those bowls that I've been wanting to give a go. To be honest, I wasn't very impressed with this (3 Temasek Boulevard, #02-391/392 Suntec City Mall, tel : +65 6337 7919) like their shrimp based ramen. While there was genuine crustacean flavor infused into the broth, the base stock was a little too viscous to be enjoyable in volume. These flat noodles that were used are also not my thing. I also would prefer, a more robust crab intensity in the there. 

I'm inclined to think that I don't agree with Keisuke Takeda's shellfish broth noodles, but it certainly wasn't true for their Ise ebi tonkotsu broth they did a couple of months ago back at the Four Seasons shop which I thought was pretty damned good. I hope they bring that back.

Of artichokes and onglet and......

After being informed that the Brittany artichoke season is back again, we immediately made reservations at Le Bistrot Du Sommelier. It is also because of this very reason that we realised that the last time we had visited was almost year ago because of the artichokes that were in season. It was also an excuse also to come for their onglet which we really liked. Tender and sear crusted under their shallot and garlic confit.

This time round, we allowed ourselves to be convinced of their joue de boeuf which was slow cooked for 18-24 hours with red wine. The meat was nothing less than fork tender. Dessert was preserved plums in Armagnac and vanilla ice cream. It was something that subtly grew on us as we ate.

A wagyu hamburg steak with penne from Miàn (面)

I was craving some hamburg steak recently. By some chance when I ended up at Salut Kopitiam and saw that Miàn (Blk 119, Bukit Merah Lane 1) had some weekly special on the board which involved a wagyu patty and shallot fried penne, I basically changed my mind from trying their ramen burgers to that. The ramen burgers, will have to wait for another time.

I quite liked this. The meat was dense, tender and hefty for its size with flavours that were pretty beefy too. I didn't even mind the brown sauce that they were using as it didn't distract from the meat. The tangy dressing on their salad was quite nicely done too. All in all a plate of straight forward comfort food. I guess the only couple of things that I thought they could improve on was a proper seared crust on the exterior of the patty which would make the world of difference and getting the doneness at medium spot on.

Anthony Bourdain’s Theory on the Foodie Revolution

"When I grew up in the ’60s, we’d go to see a movie, then we would go to a restaurant. And we would talk about the movie we just saw. Now, you go right to dinner and you talk about the dinner you had last week and the dinner you’re going to have next week, while you’re taking pictures of the dinner you’re having now."

Full article 

Fu Xiang Chicken Rice : Boiled Edition

Here's me cutting back on the roasted pork and sticking to all things chicken in this plate from Fu Xiang which I mentioned wanting to try. I can't say that I've got how they've done their birds all figured out, but I think I like their roasted chicken better. The skin for this boiled one was a little thicker and just didn't quite work out for me. That's not to say that I won't change my mind about it with a better experience in the future though.