Kailash Parbat, Syed Alwi Road

This (93 Syed Alwi Road, tel : + 65 6291 5545) vegetarian restaurant located just across the road from Mustafa was another chain from India that has established a number of outpost. This one was a short walk from Murugan Idli Shop. From what I could gather, they've been around for quite a while and are present in New York and London as well. They also seemed to be famous for their chaats.

I like dahi puri. That's puri shells filled mostly with sweetened yoghurt amongst other things. Other things like taramind chutney, some spicy green chutney, a generous sprinkle of crushed sev and coriander. This one didn't have coriander of course. A party in the mouth snack with sweet, sour and spiciness paired with crispy and creamy textures.

Those balls are masala cheese marvel. From what the menu described, they're made of spiced cheese and paneer which are deep fried. Strangely, they reminded me of the fish cutlets from Shami which were made of potato and fish.

Another tasty starter we tried was their kaju mutter tikki. These were deep fried patties made of potato, green peas and cashew.

There was an awesome serving of basmati rice cooked with palak (spinach). As green as it looked, it tasted rather buttery as well so I guess there must have been quite a lot of ghee involved. I'd eat this again in a heartbeat.

More carbs in the form of their bhatura. These ones had cheese in them and the texture of the flour was a little thicker than those I've had previously. The flavour reminded me of Chinese dough fritters and rocked with the sliced onions on the side and....

...were accompanied curried chick peas. These delicious spicy chick peas were tender and not hard like some.

This was their paneer butter masala. Which was for the most part, an equivalent of the cottage cheese version of butter chicken.

And black lentil dhal with kidney beans. This was really rich and heart clogging buttery. 

With all the rich gravies, we needed naan to mop them all up.

Even though we were almost bursting the seams after the chai and lassi, we somehow didn't pass on the malai rabri. A dessert of thickened milk with sugar, cardamom and bits of pistachio. Cool, sweet and creamy dessert.

One must understand (and accept) that while these may be vegetarian, the richness is not going to be doing your heart any favours. But we walked away from this meal adorn with smiles so that's a good thing. And I'm definitely coming back.

La Strada, Scotts Road

Out of the ashes of the old La Strada rose the current (1 Scotts Rd, #01-13 Shaw Centre, tel : +65 6735 6656). A once upon a time classy, starched white table clothed and napkin ristorante into the rustic trattoria with a warm glow today. Still there are residual of Les Amis which didn’t quite fall squarely into the traditional trattoria look. The curved drinking glasses, stylish table lamps and some of the tableware looked distinctively Japanese rather than Italian - but I thought it was a good effort. The prices seemed to remain at similar ranges as before.  

This was their fritto misto, fried seafood and vegetables. The portions were supposed to be for two, but I thought it was quite lightweight for two. There were shrimps, whitebait, some little fish that tasted like sardines, a mussel, a couple of scallops, soft shell crab and one small squid. Not much vegetables beyond a few thin slices of zucchini. We liked the variety of seafood, possibly the fritto misto with the most variety in this country. I kid you not. But I would have liked better if there were more of some of the seafood. Like the mussels or the scallops. Even the sardines.

La Strada's porcini risotto had Romanzini snails. The risotto itself was lightweight, earthy and savoury. This one went real easy with the cheese so the flavours of the stock and mushrooms shone. And there were plenty of what tasted like fresh porcini mushrooms in it. It was a little pricey though.

I remembered liking the their rendition of carbonara previously. The noodles seemed to have changed. What's the difference you might wonder. It's the texture. While it had all the other elements, it didn't taste so impressive these days. I could say that we didn't get a very molten yolk from the confit egg tonight, but that wasn't the reason why it wasn't good for me anymore. Maybe my preferences have evolved out of this particular pasta. 

This was a soufflé from their board. Matcha and coffee. Very nice. And very competently done with a light fluffy texture and a mild egginess. It took quite a while in the kitchen and the restaurant tided us over with a chocolate tart and vanilla bean ice cream on the house through the wait. Now that's the Les Amis service I remember.

Bebek Goreng Pak Ndut, Lucky Plaza

This barebones shop (#01-42/43, Lucky Plaza, 304 Orchard Road) must be the first to serve bebek goreng - Indonesian styled fried duck in town after all the ayam penyet joints unless I've been missing something. But then again, maybe I haven't been missing out that much. This was their bebek goreng sambal ijo, the option of the duck with their green chilli sambal. 

While the skin of the duck was fried to a nice crisp with seemingly no excessive grease and the meat was moderately tender, it was also dry and measly as well. I guess I just wasn't impressed with the meat nor the portions. But the their chilli was respectable. The green was creamy and a little nutty with a moderate heat while the red possessed a heat that was scalp prickling kickass. 

Hon maguro nodo set from Nakajima Suisan

Tuna has been off the menu for a while (at least times that I've passed by) now at Nakajima Suisan and when I saw hon maguro nodo on their specials, I knew that I wanted one. At that point of time, I hadn't any idea what nodo was. But through the verb that has these days become the representative for 'search' in this era, I realised that nodo actually refers to the throat. So my first bluefin tuna throat.

And the meat was good. Unctuous, tender and flavourful of the fish lined with fat and clad in that crisp exterior from the grill. Speaking of fat, there was even a portion that had charred fat that I got reminded of a sirloin. I'm not sure how long this is gonna be available, but I've a feeling that the next time I'm here, it'll probably be off the menu.

Crunchy peanut butter and crispy fried shallot sandwich

This is definitely not so healthy but the idea was interesting at least. I used crunchy peanut butter which provided some additional texture to go with the crisp of those shallots deep fried with sunflower oil. The latter is home made.

In retrospect, if you're gonna be trying this out, don't hold back on the shallots. I added more later on. Peanut butter needs a fairly strong flavour to complement especially when those flavours aren't of the acidic sort. Both are rich and no doubt contesting with each other, but once you get that balance, it's a world of two aromas.

Glam-ourized

Dependable nasi padang and gado gado for dinner at Kampong Glam Cafe. By the way, their paru goreng rocks. It looked dry but it's actually tender with a nice bite. If you're wondering about that cerulean drink, it's their lime blue Cola. It's not an actual cola per se. It tasted like it had fresh and preserved lime in it.