Nasi lemak at Yishun 645

Yes, this was exactly the same coffee shop as the recent one with duck noodles. Pretty decently cooked nasi lemak if not one at the top of the game. I guess the rice was savoury enough. I'll pass on those over fried skinny chicken wings the next time for something else. This was another satisfying breakfast.

Cicheti, Kandahar Street

People give their restaurants different names for different reasons and mostly, it's for association. But what struck me about Cicheti (52 Kandahar Street, tel : +65 6292 5012) was how inappropriate the choice was. Not that it was offensive or anything. It's akin to calling your restaurant tapas or dim sum when you actually don't quite serve those. If you didn't now, cicchetti are little plates of snacks that are served in Venetian bars; little plates of snacks very similar to tapas or dim sum.

But I suppose after all these years, I'm past names. It is today a mere handle for reference. Any meaning behind them is no longer of much significant or even at all, lost in hubbub.

They have burrata on menu that came with prosciutto di Parma, grilled bread and fruit. The cheese was expectedly milky and light and the ham was quite moreish. Those grilled peaches, or were they nectarines, were a little more tart than sweet. But I thought the plate was enjoyable altogether. I would have liked more bread and fruit and less rockets.

This was their quattro formaggi pizza - a semi blistered chewy crust topped with fior di latte, ricotta, Gorgonzola and maybe Grana Padano. What elevated it was the honey you could request for on the side. Memories. Definitely worked salt from cheese and EVOO. Good for returns.

We tried their pappardelle al ragu because their rendition of the ragu used lamb shoulder. The meat was minced rather than shredded as we had imagined and didn't taste very much of the lamb. The rest sauce was quite ordinary. Not a candle to the awesome one I've had in Rome though hoping never hurt anyone. But - the homemade pappardelle was amazing. The springy textures of the eggy pasta was possibly the the best I've had so far.

And then, a cold smoked cheese cake to end. The smoked cheese was quite pleasant and the buttery crumbles were delicious, but the cake was otherwise not so impressive that we'll ever come back for seconds. Those shards of caramel tuile were quite nice initially, but the sweetness got to me after a while and they tend to get stuck on teeth.

Home made French toast porn

Yeap. Egg soaked wholemeal pan fried in butter, stuffed with cheese and Nutella. Dusted with a little cinnamon sugar. Hand crafted with love, or so the verbiage goes these days.

Ah Hoe Mee Pok, Clementi West

I've been wanting to come down to Ah Hoe Mee Pok (Blk 710 Clementi West Street 2) after reading about them earlier this year. Why so? The chef owner is a Naoji Kuribara, Japanese native doing local mee pok. Here's to adding of strata to authenticity and another story of another finance guy turned food stall owner.

How was it? I liked it. The flavour profile from the mix of sauces/oils was more balanced than most local rendition; which also meant that there was nothing very strong tasting. There was just a very mild heat humming at the edges and even the vinegar harmonised rather than dominated. That crayfish tasted fresh with flesh easily stripped off the shell while the abalone slices was surprisingly tasty. The ingredients were generally of good quality. And that large bowl of soup on the side - that soup tasted of crayfish and had almost as much lard as the bowl of noodles did. 

If I had to critique, I would have preferred a bit more bite to the mee pok. I just like a little more chew. But it was still a pretty tasty bowl the same.

A Lawry's cut with bone in

So here's a Lawry's Cut of their bone in prime rib. Also a first time trying their buttered peas. Wow, they're sweet.

Cure, Keong Saik Road

After spending three and a half years at Esquina heading the kitchen, Andrew Walsh has ventured out with his new restaurant Cure (21 Keong Saik Road, tel  : +65 6221 2189). If one were to observe things objectively, the progression seemed to have been from small plates to even smaller plates.

I thought the food from Andrew Walsh had evolved become more complicated. There were traditional pairings in the design of the menu, but those had been elevated into another form. To a point whereby each dish sometimes becomes more of an abstracted experience and we were guessing at what we were eating since the description from the menu doesn't tell very much. I wouldn't advise anyone to come here if they were famished, but if you had the time, it's an exploration if you're a fan of the chef. 

Mix Seed Sourdough / Bacon Butter / Fermented Cabbage

The bacon butter was very good. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be had with the fermented cabbage, but the latter tasted like kiam chye (salted/preserved mustard greens) from Teochew porridge stalls.

 chicken liver mousse/crispy chicken skin/crispy kale/sweet corn croquette

This wasn't listed on the menu as part of the dinner. While there wasn't so much of differing texture going on apart from the bits of chicken skin and fried kale, I really liked the mousse. Their corn croquette - which was essentially a fried skin covering molten flavourful cream of corn was very well done.

Cured Salmon / Cucumber / Almond Soup / Vanilla Snow

This pairing was very nicely done in the chilled almond soup too. There was more going on, much more than what the menu described, but the salmon did work with the almond. I would love for this to be available separately and in larger portions than teacup sized, but unfortunately, nothing can be ordered in Cure. 

Foie Gras & Duck Bun / Plum Jam / Pickled Endive

The menu calls it duck bun. The server called those duck buns donuts. It tasted like fried bread. Without sugar. I supposed it worked as a vehicle for the pan fried foie gras and the other thing on the plate which the menu also didn't mention which the server did. Duck and duck liver terrine with foie gras powder. I think the powder might have been unnecessary. It contributed nothing to texture or flavour if you had it with the terrine. This looked like being fancy for the sake of it.

Iberico Pork Loin / Smoked Mussel / Cauliflower / Juniper Caramel

The pickled cauliflowers were good. The fried/dried crispy stuff was also cauliflower. Those brown blobs were also introduced as cauliflower puree, but we know there's a whole bunch of other flavours going on which were good, but didn't taste like cauliflower. I think the pairing of flavours worked well with the pork loin, especially those grapes.

John Stones Irish Sirloin & Beef Tartare / Burnt Onion / Oyster Mayonnaise

This reminded me of the beef and oyster dish from Esquina. Strangely, there was a lot of oyster flavour on those leaves. The steak tartare which was made with the oyster mayo didn't taste as much of oysters than the blobs of oyster mayo which didn't taste as much of oysters as those leaves.

Yoghurt / Curry Granola / Mint Granita

Those granola had a similar flavour to papadums/papads/muruku. Which was actually quite natural with the passionfruit yoghurt and the mint granita. I thought this represented Indian spiced breads with mint chutney quite nicely with a different range of textures.

Irish Moss / Chocolate / Pistachio / Connemara Whisky Jelly

The dark parts are chocolate tuile. The lighter brown parts are chocolate something else which I don't remember. The pistachio came from the gelato which for some reasons tasted like it had truffle in it. Those Irish Moss were slightly gelatinous and tasted of basil. Flavour worked together if you mixed everything up to eat, but not so interesting as individual ingredients.