Brunch @ Humpback

As it says, it's brunch time at Humpback. The folks here mentioned that are working on a theme that had inspired them from New York. I'm not sure where exactly in New York that inspiration came from. There's not much of coffee but one gets a healthy option of drinks to go with the food. Many of the latter is in small plates. Sounds like many places.

These are their devilled eggs. Hard boiled, halved and topped with fish mousse, ikura, olive oil and I think that's paprika.

Their burrata was unexpectedly good. The key ingredient that elevated this creamy cheese with EVOO and pine nuts over a thick toast was their salsa verde which I thought was nicely done. 

This was sea urchin, served in a half shell with cauliflower puree. The urchin was sweet, floral - much tastier than the dull colour had suggested. But there was too little to go around the buttered brioche. Twice that would have been good portioning.

Their fried egg was pretty good. Served with orzo and bits of octopus and blanketed with a little Parmigiano Reggiano. Salt, fat and a nice hit of umami packaged with the tasty egg.

I suppose there'll be expectations for the gratuitous molten yolk porn, so there.

There's a lobster roll. This wasn't bad as well. The bun was buttered, airy and had a light crisp. I'm tagging this with the warm one from The Naked Finn and the one from Luke's to be those I found more enjoyable. Luke's is still my favourite for their heavier hand with the butter.

We tried a couple of their oysters.

The Kumamoto ones were pretty good. It also had a very different flavour profile after being paired with that rhubarb vinaigrette they provided. 

Tino's Pizza Cafe, Tiong Bahru Plaza

We had passed by Tino's Pizza (#01-160 Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road, tel : +65 6352 7759) on several occasions and were wondering where these guys had come from. After some digging online, I found out that they're a pizza chain by the Sun Spark Group from Taiwan. Recently, they were handing out samples of their Blue Formaggio which got us interested. We came back for a whole pizza.

Tino's makes what they classify as Neapolitan and Roman pizzas - to be believed with a healthy pinch of salt of course. We haven't tried the former and I'm not sure what's Roman about this Roman styled one we had. Interestingly, the cheese covered the entire crust of the pizza including the cornicione. Anyway, the amount of splotchy blue surface got us excited. These guys were quite generous even though it was a rather mild blue cheese that they were using. Scattered with walnuts and drizzled with honey. 

Sufi's Corner, Baghdad Street

Sufi's Corner (1 Baghdad Street / 56 Arab Street, tel : +65 6298 1196) does Turkish food. As Turkish as it can get I suppose in this country with a chef from Istanbul. This restaurant was another one of those places we've walked by numerous times along the Arab Street district which we've wondered about every one of those times. Today, we finally walked in from the sweltering evening into a nicely chilled mug of reprieve ayran. Note to self - get the ayran without ice the next time.

We had iskembe. Tripe soup - theirs of which tasted like cream of garlic. It wasn't bad but it wasn't particularly memorable either.

The menu was rather overwhelming. There were a number of things which looked good so we were pretty much spoilt for choice. #firstworldproblems. We ended up with the Sufi's Mixed Grill which was made with a bunch of stuff baked in a lavash. What was the bunch of stuff I was talking about? Shish kebabs, doner kababs, chicken wings, kofte, pide, lahmacun, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, basmati rice and even fries. How's that for a mixed grill?

Look it. Underneath the ruptured lavash, which was quite good by the way, were loads of meat. This was supposed to be portioned for two but we reckoned that it would easily feed four.

There were even lamb chops inside. Yes, that's plural. Two of them to be precise.

As we worked our way through, we realized at some point that there was no way we would be able to finish all the food. They were kind enough to pack the leftovers so that we could microwave us another meal another day. We missed trying out their kunefe this time round because we hadn't room left for desserts. But I guess there's a very good chance we would come back another time.

Spaghetti with langoustine from PerBacco

I’ve always felt that PerBacco is understated. While that keeps the restaurant under the radar of the masses which is selfishly a good thing, it also makes me worry that there isn’t enough business enough to be healthy for them. I hope I’m wrong about the latter. Their chef Marco Fregnon is skilled at coaxing flavours out from crustaceans into cream sauces that shine. 

Recently, we tried their spaghetti with langoustine in a Gorgonzola béchamel sauce. That combination didn’t sound like it made sense at all since it’s a pairing of something delicate with something that was usually overpoweringly pungent. Couldn’t taste the Gorgonzola at all but what came through was a robust flavour from the crustacean. I could draw parallels with that to how they do their lobster carbonara.  

Blu Kouzina, Dempsey Road

We had eaten at Blu Kouzina (10 Dempsey Road, tel : +65 6875 0872) previously when they were located at Bt. Timah. It was memorable because it was our first time having Greek food and we enjoyed it. On top of that, the restaurant was using that fruity olive oil which was obtained from their family farm in Greece. Today we had more of that olive oil with their dense and soft loaves. Nice bread!

We had taramosalata, a mildly fishy (in a good way) and creamy dip made with cured cod roe. Delicious with their olive oil and bread.

That's the Talagani cheese, a sheep's milk cheese from Messina. The pan fried cheese turned out to be very much like halloumi. Both cheese are of different origins, but possess the same salty and milky flavour with a chewy texture.

And then some nicely charred but still tender octopus tentacles. This was good.

Followed up with some lamb chops and fried potatoes. I'm looking forward to coming back again.

Decker Barbecue, Robertson Quay

While I’m no expert or even have any levels of actual familiarity with American styled barbecue, specifically Texan styled barbecue which Decker (#01-17, 60 Robertson Quay, tel : +65 6635 8565) is allegedly making, this was quite good. No offence to any camps but this was altogether a much more tasty experience than the South Carolinian one at 85 South. Yeah, the only other American styled barbecue which I’ve tried. Outside the US of A and no less. Pretty impressed with the smoky ribs and the tender fall apart briskets from this particular outfit. I would like to come back and have those briskets again in sandwiches.