Tonkatsu & Sake Bar Tonzaemon, Chijmes

Tonzaemon (Chijmes, 30 Victoria Street, #01-09, tel : +65 63385907) is a pretty new joint by Ma Maison, which seems to be making a bid for the tonkatsu market. They started branching the fried pork offshoot opening their first, followed by an outlet at Westgate. And now this. As the name of the place implies, it does tonkatsu and sake. And some other small bites on menu.

If the question at this point is if they're any good, I'd say that there's definitely room for improvement and they could certainly learn more about what they're trying to sell.

These are foie gras gyozas. They aren't entirely filled with the foie, but there's probably enough inside to flavour the pork stuffings. Very decent and if they're trying to achieve a balance of flavours between the liver and the pork, they've succeeded. It came with some balsamic vinegar concoction and a mixture of chilli oil and soy sauce on the side. Honestly, I don't know why anyone would use them because it would simply mask all the flavours that they're trying to create.

Their hire katsu stuffed with foie gras sounded promising. Truly. The pork was well fried to a good crisp, well drained and honestly, rather competently done. What unexpectedly didn't work out so well was the foie gras. In spite of the quantities that was used, the flavours were barely there. I mean, how can that be? In a similar ball game, there's definitely a better player. This didn't fail as a dish. It just didn't turn out quite like how I thought it should have. 

While it was nice to have a change of dips with their Japanese mayo and tonkatsu sauce mixture, it simply doesn't quite work out for this katsu. I want to taste foie gras when I eat this. Why else would I be ordering it?

And that's the rosu katsu with cuttlefish ink. The meat was a beautiful light pink shade of white, thick and tender. And no, the flavours of the ink didn't come through. What surprised me was that the flavour of the pork itself didn't quite come through as well. 

And rice with pickles and tonjiru. These are ordered and charged separately. Yes, the price tags of the katsu aren't large enough to cover these. So on hindsight, there are definitely more economical places to have tonkatsu in town. The older players here have been around for a while and are still around for a pretty good reason. The tonjiru here doesn't even contain the slightest morsel of pork. Two bowls of it and nada.

Definitely room for improvement methinks.

Peanut butter & pickle sandwich

This happened largely because of Food Wishes. I was watching one of their videos on the world's favourite video streaming and came upon one for making pickles. Somehow, the pickle sandwich just got stuck in my head, driving me to Google for it. Little did I expect that the top search results from 'pickle sandwich' actually leads to peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. One site led to another which eventually led to me making one just to see if it tasted like how I imagined it.

It's actually pretty good. I'm definitely making these again.

Lamb soup with rice at Curry Times

I was honestly skeptical about Curry Times (3 Gateway Drive, #02-08 Westgate, tel : +65 6369 9609) when I had first heard about them because they were opened by Old Chang Kee. Which has become a brand for me to avoid for their over greasy fried food and steadily shrinking curry puffs with prices going on the inverse. After visiting a couple times, I'm starting to admit that they aren't too bad after all. Sure they're trying hard to sell the nostalgia. Old skool food and decor with new skool prices. But I think they're getting the food part right. At least for some of the items. And their curry chicken is pretty tasty. Seriously.

Here's a bowl of their lamb soup which I liked. I think it's good because this happens to be one of those Chinese (local) lamb soup that isn't overwhelmed by excessive use of herbs. There was a noticeable lamb-y flavor in the broth and those fall off the rib meat. Sure there was dang gui, some goji berries and a little bit of ginseng in there. There was even some coriander I spied that was boiled to death. But all those were on the sideline, supplementing the natural flavours of the lamb without much detraction. And that chilli that they provided on the side was pretty nice too. Tasted like a rendition of chicken rice chilli and would have been more awesome with a squeeze of lime. It's just too bad that this would be on menu only for this month. 

Rediscovering Modesto's

We haven't been to Modesto's for a long time. For some reasons, I got reminded of them and decided to eat there. But before heading down, I Googled it and for the first time, found out a little about the person who opened the place (a real Italian by the way) and how the restaurant was formerly started in Kuala Lumpur. That guy, Modesto Marini, has sold off this chain and is apparently running some pretty spiffy (read expensive) fine dining places in KL.

The restaurant hasn't changed very much. They're still using those plates lipped with leopard skin designs. But it seems they don't serve their focaccia anymore.

I kinda remembered that their mushroom soup was pretty okay. It still is, blended bits of real mushroom with a token drizzle of cream which failed to achieve much beyond presentation. To think that these guys were way ahead many of the competition of their era when they first opened.

I've never recalled ordering any melanzane alla parmigiana. This could be my first! And as wary of tomato sauces as I generally am, this was quite enjoyable. Those eggplants were soft and well..... one cannot really taste much of eggplants buried in flavours like these. Not complaining at all though. 

I got suckered into ordering their beer risotto which was this month's special. I was initially thinking that the rice could have been a bit more cooked, the cheeses could have been Parmigiano Reggiano instead of whatever light and mildly bitter one that they used and more salt would have been great for the stock. They used Tiger by the way. But on hindsight, all those heavier flavours would have drowned out the mild beery (I meant hoppy) bitter. Their home made sausages could also do with more salt.

What kinda rocked, unexpectedly, was their puttanesca which we got with their house made squid ink tagliatelle. The pasta was firm with bite (again, a shade.....just a tiny shade under what would be ideal for me). The sauce was delicious. There's the garlic, tomatoes, some heat and olives with the pungent and salty anchovies. Served piping hot.

Portions here are still pretty generous. We didn't have space for desserts. The atmosphere was old school, like Pete's Place. There's no fancy plating or puny portions. But I think I'm not going to be discounting them so readily in the future. By the way, OCBC cards gets 30% off the bill on Tuesdays.

Sambal nasi ayam at Mr Teh Tarik

I wasn't sure what to expect out of the sambal from this chicken rice stall at Mr Teh Tarik, but it turned out pretty good. The flavours from the sauce were rich, pungent and spicy - ladled over some tender fried chicken. Their rice was beady and well flavoured while the accompanying chilli sauce on the side was lime-y and refreshing. This was definitely one of the more memorable Halal chicken rice that I've had.

The durian mousse from Dessert Bowl (一碗甜品)

This durian mousse from Dessert Bowl (80A Serangoon Garden Way, tel : +65 6285 1278) is actually part of a small bunch of my favourite durian desserts. The others being the durian sago from Ah Chew and the durian Guinness shake from Udders. Of the three mentioned, the former two are made with D24 and the latter, mao shan wang.

Why does this work? Well, I guess that using D24 helps qualify it as legit since anything lesser doesn't quite bring in the flavour. The mousse is always nicely chilled and retains that chill well throughout eating with its thick creamy consistency. And then there's real durian pulp to bolster those flavours. Guilty pleasures doesn't get any better.