Ryu's (柳's), Capitol Piazza

Ryu's (15 Stamford Road, #01-87 Capitol Piazza, tel : +65 6384 9087) was a Japanese restaurant we stumbled upon the last time we happened by this corner of Capitol Piazza. I recalled that the menu looked promising so we came back today to try their seasonal anko nabe (anglerfish/monkfish hotpot). I believe this is the first time ever that we've seen anko nabe in this country.

El Mero Mero, Chijmes

This place (#01-20 Chijmes, 30 Victoria Steet, tel : +65 6337 1377) was delicious. Progressive and undeniably delicious. Whether it is Mexican or Mexican’t or if the contemporary and internationalised take of the dishes was close enough to truly represent the humble street food which inspired its menu or not, there wasn’t any doubt that the ingredients that they had used were of high quality.

We started off with a couple of their small plates. Here's the smoked huitlacoche quesadillas with Mozzarella and truffle oil. These didn't look like quesadillas as most of us are familiar with but the corn fungus was delicious. We didn't even mind that none of the truffle oil could be tasted.

Then came the street corn sampler which might have been a deconstruction of elotes or an analogous play between the host and the parasite. Just like a face hugger victim with a chest burster. Grilled baby corn, huitlacoche donuts and in the tube, some Cotija chilli mayo.  Oddly, the freshly made donuts tasted like it had a crustacean aroma; but it was crisp on the surface, tender on the inside and very addictive.

Those grilled baby corn are organic and sourced from Thailand. Sweet and lightly crunchy; it was good on its own or with the Cotija chilli mayo.

Their tacos featured meats finished in a Josper Grill. The first of what we had was roasted Dorper lamb with eggplant tahini, burnt onions and little thin discs of beets. Actually the burnt onions were present in all the tacos we had today. The lamb was in your face kickass with its melting fats. Which meant that it was gamey as lamb should be. The roasted chilli sauce they had on the side was aromatically smoky and packed some heat.

I'd eat these again in a heartbeat.

Next came the ones with New Zealand Angus tenderloin and bone marrow. The salsa on the side and the bone marrow were the ones carrying this taco through here since the meat didn't have so much flavour. But it was tender and in a nice shade of medium rare on the insides.

The third taco we tried was the one with veal tongue. Veal tongue that would almost disintegrate in the mouth like how Wagyu does. Served with the same smoky roasted chilli sauce as the lamb.

This was a Blue Foot mushroom skillet. Done with an organic egg, some home made goat cheese and served with corn tortilla on the side. The mushrooms we were told, were imported from France. Woodsy and earthy. The home made goat's cheese was mostly salty and not pungent. This could be eaten on its own or mixed up and wrapped with the tortilla like a sort of mushroom fajita.

Dessert was called Mum's Lime Custard. I watched for a while as the kitchen struggled to create the foam that would eventually be frozen in liquid nitrogen to form this dome. But the lime custard was refreshingly delicious and I wished that the portions were bigger.

Not to be Captain Obvious but, the food in El Mero Mero was elevated and refined beyond their origins. Some interpreted into new forms and also honestly, tagged to a price disproportionate to the petite portions. But this is Chijmes and nobody should be expecting to eat at this locale economically. As much as I appreciated the quality of the ingredients used in the tacos that they had served and the delicious corn tortillas that were used, I'll also say they were expensive tacos. Not something I could drop by for one or four on any regular basis.

But I'll be back. 

Ramen & Tonkatsu Ma Maison, Capitol Piazza

Ma Maison has a new shop (13 Stamford Road, #B2-51 Capitol Piazza, tel : +65 6384 6211) down at the shiny new Capitol Piazza that sells mainly ramen and tonkatsu. And from their ramen selection, there's Hokkaido cheese ramen; made from a gouda cheese from Hanabatake Bokujo, a dairy farm in Hokkaido. I'm again easily sold sometimes. 

So that cheese, a mild variety by the way added some milkiness and another dimension to their tonkotsu shio broth. Doesn't hit hard at all. I guess the obvious purpose of being mild allows it not to mask the flavour of their broth and they weren't willing to entertain request for extra cheese. The bowl turned out much lighter than I had imagined and rather enjoyable. I wouldn't travel here specifically just for this, but certainly wouldn't mind eating it again if I'm around the corner. 

Megumi gunkans and fried hohoniku from Maguro Donya Miura Misakikou Sushi & Dining

Here's a couple of stuff that we didn't notice on the menu before. The Megumi gunkan above which was a holy trinity of minced hon maguro, uni and ikura. So easily are we thus seduced by these fruits of the sea. The quality of the seafood was very decent and yes, they served this with grated wasabi.

And then some breaded and deep fried hononiku (tuna cheek). The flavour of the breading had a hint of ginger which was reminiscent of karaage. That ginger part normally bothers me, but I was able to overlook that this time.

Park Bench Deli, Telok Ayer Street

I've been wanting to check out this fairly new sandwich shop since they opened but never got the time until recently. While the name is Park Bench Deli (179 Telok Ayer St, tel : +65 6815 4600), it isn't a deli per se. It's a sandwich shop. Period. The menu's quite focused, on board and you kinda get different stuff depending on whether it's breakfast, lunch or dinner. If what I have been observing is correct, it does change. They're open weekdays only it seems.

Above is their cheesesteak. I enjoyed it. It may or may not be close to the original stuff, but that doesn't matter. It raises the bar here for cheesesteak subs or the other sad pretenders out there by being better than the rest. That's in terms of both quality and quantity. Bread was soft, sliced beef was tender and the taste of the sauce wasn't half bad at all. It was absolutely dripping with sauce. 

The peanut butter and jelly sandwich crusted with cereals didn't sit very well with me. The sandwich was a little hard. The peanut butter was dry and I couldn't taste any of that jelly. I could make plain pb&j without the trimmings at home and I'd enjoy it more. In fact, I could make pb and other things at home and enjoy it more. But there are other things on the board so I think I'll come back another time.

Fish & Meat, Wyndham Street, Central

Fish & Meat (32 Wyndham St, Central, tel : +852 2565 6788) operates on a concept that has been picking up steam over the globe in recent years on the basis of fresh and seasonal produce, sustainable catches and probably some of that farm to table approach that trendy restaurants or their wannabes are doing. There is focus on the awareness of the ingredients that are being used. Nothing wrong with being that. 

bread

marinated sustainable blue fin tuna / compressed watermelon / soy sauce / basil vinaigrette / quail egg

This watermelon and blue fin tuna was appetisingly delicious. Until I hit the bits of cilantro and I started eating more slowly, enjoying it less as I had to scrap off the bits of the herb before I carefully popped them into my mouth. Otherwise, this was refreshing.

whole fresh Burrata / grilled peaches / basil vinaigrette / heirloom tomatoes

I thought this would be good but there were a couple of things that did not agree with me. The heirloom tomatoes were a little dry. And those peaches that they used weren't juicy or sweet. In fact they were sour. Does that make sense?  No, I thought it absolutely didn't. I would have expected something like white peaches which were juicier and possibly much sweeter. Why bother to grill a sour peach that was still sour after that?

For a restaurant that focuses on the quality of ingredients, some work on the choice of ingredient is still needed.

sustainable Canadian sea urchin toast / salmon roe / cauliflower cream / cress

Damn. This. Was. Bloody. Good.

So good that I've decided to put up another picture of it. Haha! What the ingredient on the menu did not to mention was lardo and the infusion of cumin(?) in the cauliflower cream. And then ikura. I haven't been impressed like this in a while. This was not just the regular party in your mouth. There was more elegance to the amalgamation of flavours. The toppings felt well thought out. I'd eat this again if I come back.

By the way, this would be on record - the most expensive toast I've ever eaten in my life. Bar none.

soft duck egg raviolo / ricotta cream / burnt sage butter / pecorino cheese

I had thought that the duck egg raviolo would be nice-r. Sure it was rich as it had been intended, but somewhere along the flavour train, salt was too little. Will not bother with this again.

But here I still reserve, a gratuitous molten yolk spillage. 

O’Connor Farm grass-fed 100% natural beef tartare / pickled jalapeño / duck yolk / Parmesan

The beef tartare from Fish & Meat was a beast of their own making. A Frankenstein if you're a purist, or boldly flavoured and textured if you're more open and experimental. This wasn't just hand chopped beef. It was probably hand cubed and that made a whole lot of difference in texture. It was also loud. A lot more sour and heat from the pickled jalapeño. And too little Parmesan to matter. Admittedly, this is also my first time having beef tartare with rockets. 

It's different and I will never order this again. I liked the French-y one from La Cabane much much better.

homemade Sicilian lemonade / blueberry jam / thyme

I don't generally do much cocktails (exceptions disclaimed here) or mocktails, but for some reasons, I felt like one today. This was a passable lemonade. That's all. The blueberry jam didn't do shit and the thyme couldn't get through as much as I tried to crush it into the drink. I need to learn to avoid this things as nice as they tend to sound.