Afterglow, Keong Saik Road

Afterglow - the name reminds me of Sarah McLachlan. Probably because that's the last I've heard of her music. But I digress. This Afterglow (24 Keong Saik Road, tel : +65 6224 8921) is a - well, restaurant. One that serves vegan food that's been talked about so it piqued my interest. As much as I enjoyed my greens, exploring vegan options has never really quite been my thing.

We tried some crackers. Corn and spinach crackers that came with a raw sun dried tomato nut "cheese". Those crackers which didn't crackle so much also didn't leave much of an imprint on me, but the nut cheese was rather tasty in a sourish and nutty kind of way.

Up next was their pureed broccoli soup with a dollop of walnut "cheese". If I'm not wrong, the food here doesn't go through cooking. This however arrived quite hot. So perhaps, it was just semi cooked. And a damned good broccoli soup it was. The flavours were right there and perhaps because of the heat, it didn't taste like it was raw at all. We liked it enough that we'd have no qualms ordering it again if we returned. 

And then some nori kimchi roll. Instead of rice, the kimchi was enveloped in chopped nuts and then wrapped in seaweed. Packed a surprising amount of heat. What was new to me were the nutty flavours that paired with the spicy sour of the kimchi. The latter, house made and aged for 7 days they said. Like.

After three small plates we agreed with, things were starting to look quite promising.

This was called Drag Pom salad. The ingredients are quite visible so I'll not say more on those. The dressing that they used was a very perky honey lemon that brought the elements together. I thought it was an impressive combination of lively tang and sweetness. The chopped macadamia nuts were fragrant. This was one delicious salad. Again, another item we'd order again in a heart beat.

Then came a zucchini lasagne. Topped and layered with more nut "cheese" thingies. For some reasons, I had the impression that the pastas were real pastas and not made of raw vegetables. I didn't dislike this, but it didn't impress as much as the previous dishes did.

The other "pasta" was a zucchini linguine. This too was tangy with flavours that remotely resembled som tam sans the heat. What rocked were those "walnut meatballs". Nuttily delicious and nicely salted by what tasted like a soy based condiment.

Dessert was a vegan key lime pie. This was also new for me since the pie was made with spinach and zucchini with a coconut base. We were a little skeptical at first but became totally convinced after a first bite. This had to be the most refreshing key lime pie I've ever had. Much thanks to the fact that it didn't contain the weight of condensed milk, the dessert was almost ethereally lime-y. That it was really chilled helped too.

All in all, this was a very encouraging foray here into vegan-ism. It's not converting me anytime soon, but I can see myself much more willing to check them out if more of them did food like Afterglow did. It does cost a pretty penny for a bunch of vegetables, but considering that it did require quite a bit of preparation and the ingredients were fresh, I guess I couldn't complain. 

Another lunch at Luke's Oyster Bar......with steak!

It's been a while, but I favour this location in town over the one at Gemmill Lane. I appreciate the dark wood and black that helps with the luminance of the mid day.

I like their Bloody Mary. It's somehow better than the rest I've had. It was suggested that a certain brininess could be tasted within. I personally don't know. I just liked that there was enough of that tang, salt and heat within the chilled viscosity.

The corn bread were their usual. Just enough to go round in the mouth to make you remember that it's pretty good and that more would not be unwelcomed.

The decision to serve a chowder in a jar is probably, largely aesthetics on stage. It's also probably not the best vessel for soup to work with their soup spoons.

But of course, being served in a jar does nothing to take away the fact that the clam chowder is one of the better ones in town. With real briny clams and a rich but not overwhelmingly so base.

I remembered someone having their lunch steak from across the table during the last visit. It looked delicious and so here I am having one. The steak was an excellent medium rare tenderloin, boldly salted and crusted on the sides with peppercorn. Crust was umami-azing.

I seem to recall the menu saying Béarnaise on the side so I believe that's their rendition. A place with penchant for butter which shows when it is used in the food. I'm not complaining.

This was the first time we've had add ons to the "Travis" burger. It was just a fried egg and avocado so......no, we didn't ruin the flavour profile. Even through the add ons, the results of the Maillard reaction still shone with the aged beef patty. The only thing that didn't quite work for me were the fries. Don't quite like the fries at this place.

Fried Camembert cheese and beer at Brotzeit

I haven't eaten at Brotzeit (1 HarbourFront Walk #01-149/151, VivoCity, tel : +65 6272 8815) in a while so some of the stuff that's on menu were new to me. Like the fried Camembert cheese which I liked because of the dry crisp breading. And of course, the gooey and semi-pungent cheese which worked with or without their cranberry dip. Speaking of which, was much better than I had thought. There were flavours of the berry, something akin to yoghurt and it was even a little buttery. Something tasty to go with their Russ'n, the weissbier with lemonade. 

Ah Heng Duck Rice, Hong Lim Food Centre

Word on the wire (yes, it still comes from wires these days; in fact, more than ever) that the proprietor of Ah Heng (#02-64, Hong Lim Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross Street) is the same person that used to run Heng Gi down at the Tekka Food Centre. In restrospect, the thin sliced duck did look rather familiar.

I'm gonna have to file this Teochew styled braised duck as good, but not great. Even though their constant queue belied otherwise. There was just something I couldn't put my finger to that could have made this memorable. I did enjoy the flat kuey chap with their clear tasting broth though even though the fried shallots were oddly lacking in flavour.

Nasi goreng mutton masala and pineapple cheese prata at The Roti Prata House

Here's another visit to The Roti Prata House down at Thomson for more plates of greasy goodness. This nasi goreng was pretty good stuff. While it might not be so apparent from the picture, the plate of fried rice was filled with very generous portions of diced mutton. This particular fry was done with the curry from the curried mutton so the flavours were all infused into each mouthful. It might not be the picture of a healthy plate of food but who are we kidding? We didn't come here to order this in the hopes of eating healthy. That's what other places are for!

Moving on, we scored ourselves their canned pineapple and plastic wrapped sliced cheese prata which was..... rather enjoyable actually. I liked it better than I had initially thought. It was the citrus sweet of syrup-ed fruit with the salty melted cheese together with the semi-crisp and chew in the prata that's the magic. One should feel free to eat this without curry.

Koh Grill & Sushi Bar, Wisma Atria

I have never eaten at this restaurant before because I couldn't make myself join the queue. Hence this was a first visit to Koh Grill (#04-21 Wisma Atria Shopping Centre, 435 Orchard Road, tel : +65 9180 3805). But years ago, this establishment was known as Hamoru Japanese Restaurant and they used to be located at the Food Republic at Suntec City. I've had that and so yes, I've had that shiok maki before.

Koh is home grown Japanese, somewhat like Akashi with differences. There's a more casual vibe. Not a place for Japanese food snobs because you're not getting that kind of quality nor skill here. This is the sort of place that one goes to eat stuff that one cannot get a "proper" Japanese joints because those are far too traditional/serious skilled and not localized. Generally not for Japanophilic food adventurers but who's to say eh? 

Koh Grill is known for their maki rolls though.

That's the pitan maki. A roll topped with diced century egg, a rich chilled century egg sauce and tobiko. For people who like century eggs and I rather enjoyed this.

Koh's shiok maki is iconic. A contemporary maki stuffed with unagi, draped with salmon, generously slathered with mayo (I think it's just mayo but I cannot be sure) enhanced by an aburi.  Seem to remember it feeling more shiok in the past when I popped them in my mouth. But maybe my taste has evolved since.

As the name of the restaurant implies, one can get grills. That's the foie gras on a stick. Pretty good, but it costed a bit more than Kazu. That means it's expensive here for the quality and quantity.

We tried the lamb yaki out of curiosity. That little rib of meat costed as much as a larger rib of lamb at Kazu. Didn't taste half as good. Admittedly, it was a fairly tasty marinated protein that was nicely grilled and chopped to bits but I couldn't really tell what meat it was. 

This where I re-emphasise on the restaurant being localized because such treatment of lamb is carried down from the previous generation(s). They marinate lamb to death because they think everyone dislikes their natural flavour.

This defeats the purpose of ordering lamb, no?

That's cod with a tobiko mayo crust. If that could be described as a crust since it wasn't very crusty. It actually tasted pretty good but the meat was a pretty thin and ragged for a fish like cod.

Here's their gyu yaki. To be fair, this wasn't doused with excessive seasoning. Just some salt and pepper which they got right. On the other hand, this was also one of the least beefy tasting beef I've had. And a little sinewy. So while it wasn't a third as good as the wafu steak from Tampopo, we paid almost as much.