Pasta Brava without pasta

Pasta Brava. A seemingly unwavering custodian on our sunny island for Italian food. The menu hasn’t changed since the first time I visited a decade ago. There are seldom/no specials of the week/day, no frills. Just the menu. Steadfast and steadfastly moving into what could be construed as retro. But not yet a relic like Pete’s Place. 

Soto ayam from Rahim Muslim Food

There were a couple things that stood out. The first was the amount of chicken that they gave and the second was the begedil. That begedil was so dense that it couldn't absorb any of the broth. After a bite, I found that the interior was totally dry even though it had been soaking for a while. Neither were complains. Just observations.

If anyone is wondering about that broth, it was boosted with their dark soya sauce with chilli. A "rivulets of perspiration down the scalp into the face" kind of heat. Which was not unenjoyable but pretty much killed any of the more subtle flavours. But in retrospect, I'm pretty sure I'd pick their mee rebus over their mee soto if I had to eat at Rahim's again. 

Revisiting The Pelican

We came The Pelican Seafood Bar and Grill (#01-01 One Fullerton, One Fullerton Road, tel : + 65 6438 0400) for dinner once some time back. As it had turned out, I didn't say much and the only thing that I had mentioned was their seaweed sourdough loaf. So that became another wall of digital portraits frozen in their silence. 

Humpback, Bukit Pasoh Road

Humpback (20 Bukit Pasoh Road, tel : +65 6750 4461) was opened by the people behind Jigger & Pony and Sugarhall, both of which I've never visited. The name of the bar/restaurant refers to the whale which is directly referenced to their seafood theme; which from what I've read is Seattle styled. Not that I know what that means. The wait staff there are generally young, friendly and are fortunately, not clueless about the food they're selling.

clam dip, cream cheese, ritz crackers

Clam dip was rich and creamy. As a dip, I suppose it was okay. As a clam dip, I thought little of it. While we could tell that there were clams in the dip, we couldn't really taste the clams. I think it was reasonable to expect a clam dip to taste of clams. No?

roquefort blue, honey, bread

I had told myself not to order this because I could make it at home. I had wanted to get the sea urchin brioche, but they were out of it so I got kinda thrown off the track and fell back onto a safe routine. This was not bad but honey and blue cheese are one of those things that's kinda hard to screw up. And I am pretty sure they didn't make the cheese nor the honey, so...repackaged food.

kale, buttermilk, pear, kale chips, pecan nuts

We heard that Humpback was good with vegetables. So we had kale. There was crispy kale and regular kale and I think the buttermilk had dill in it. All in all very enjoyable. I think more pear would definitely make this better.

brussels sprouts, chipotle, egg, raisin

The brussels sprout were good. An appreciable hit of savoury and heat from the chipotle and the whole plate was more umami than we had been expecting. Liked those plump sultanas and the eggs were a good idea.

cabbage, herb cheese, crispy quinoa, chilli oil

Cabbage was actually juicy underneath all that char. Sweet from the freshness too. That smear of herb cheese didn't quite do anything for this plate.

pumpkin, burnt butter, hazelnut crumb, vinaigrette

We might have been pulling out all the stops with the vegetable thing so here's pumpkin. It was fried I think and there was a flavour in that that made me think Indian or Middle Eastern. Maybe it was cumin. That blob on the side was a puree made with the pumpkin too. That was also good. 

At this point of time, I was starting to be aware of the fact that while we had been eating a lot of vegetables, there was a also a lot of grease and fat. Caveat cenator.

rainbow trout, egg yolk, almond milk, mustard seeds

And so fish. Sous vide rainbow trout which they had recommended and was really delicious. I'm definitely getting one of this again if I come back.

We managed to get dessert. There were only two and the other was a chocolate mousse. This churros was competently done and came with a nice salted caramel cream on the side.

Revisiting Islamic Restaurant

I tried their prawn beryani this time round. Couldn't taste any flavours particularly crustacean in the rice or rempah. Generous with the prawns, but the rice was a little too little. Yes, there was quite a fair bit of prawns in there. It didn't help at all that the whole bowl was littered with bits of coriander. I will stick to their mutton rice in the future. 

Still there was a bright spot. Their lamb shank korma had a kickass and heart clogging rich nutty gravy. Stuff that will make you scarf down loads of rice.

And some nice susu halia to wash the food down.

French beets, boudin noir and turbot at Le Bistrot du Sommelier

I think the restaurant is still on the winter menu.

chataigne, bettrave et Sabayon aux Cèpes

chestnut mousseline, steamed beetroot and cèpes mushroom sabayon

That explains the steamed beetroot, which by the way were really delicious. From France. These beetroot had none of that earthy taste that most of us associate with beetroots and they come in other colours than just purple. Though those were mostly hidden under the spinach salad which was ladled with their also delicious savoury cèpes sabayon. Also hidden at the bottom of the plate was the sweet and creamy chestnut mousseline and some brown crust on the beetroot which they did not list on the menu. That brown crust thing tasted like some sort of sweet hazelnut crust. Also awesome. This must have been the most impressive warm salad I've had in years.

boudin noir

I never realised that Le Bistrot du Sommerlier had boudin noir on the charcuterie menu before. So we just had to order it. Because reasons. This was their rendition, more pâté than sausage and equally delicious. Served simply with just mustard and a little salad. The boudin noir rocks with their bread.

turbot

The turbot was from the board and for the night only. Cooked in a robust citrusy lemon butter and stuffed with thyme. The portion as you can see from above was huge; could have fed three persons quite easily. The fish tasted fresh with tender and flaky meat. Pretty impressive.

This on record would be my first time ordering a whole fish in a French restaurant. My first time probably getting owned by a fish as well. We could barely finish it and ran out of room for dessert. Maybe the next time.