Another shot at Tino's Pizza

The last time we were here, we noticed that they had a lamb pizza so we came back to see if it was any good. It's our first lamb pizza. This time round, we picked their "Neapolitan" pizza base to compare. Interestingly because of that base and the choice of the lamb pizza with its seasonings, this pizza which was chewier bready-ier tasted like a naan - or possibly even something northern Chinese like a bread from a region like Xi'an. What could have been improved were the actual thin slices of lamb which were dried out and almost devoid of the meat's natural flavours.

There was peanut butter fries with bits of bacon. This was better tasting than I had imagined.

Keisuke Kani King, Cineleisure Orchard

So I finally got down to Keisuke's Kani King ramen shop (#01-03 Cathay Cineleisure Orchard, 8 Grange Road, tel : +65 6262 6968) in town and gotten myself a bowl of their crab broth ramen with rich soup. Medium flavours and oil with hard noodles. From what they had mentioned, their kani broth is made from swimming crabs and chicken bones. I wonder what are actually those swimming crabs that were used. With all that flavour and sediments, this broth was some butter, a splash of milk and a dash of brandy away from being an actual crab bisque. I thought the crustacean-y flavour were pronounced and quite enjoyable.

For what it's worth, I didn't think so much of the similar kani ramen bowl I had previously down at Keisuke Tokyo which could have been the predecessor to this current rendition. That might just have been the version 1.0 of things just like how their ise ebi ramen could have been a market test for the viability of the Lobster King.

Revisiting Brasserie Gavroche

An overdue revisit to Brasserie Gavroche. Have been wanting to come back for a while now.

The bread is pretty nice. There's a hard crusty exterior above the soft chewy insides. Flavour is wheaty. Good with the butter, plain while mindlessly chewing or to mop up sauces from their plates. Tonight, they were constantly topping up as soon as they saw the basket empty. We went through three baskets. 

We had a mâche salad with lamb sweetbread. I don't do salads very often but this I had to order because, sweetbread. The exterior of the offal was nicely browned, Malliard reaction creating the so tasty flavour which by the way, paired up nicely with their onion confit vinaigrette on the greens. Délicieux.

Onion soup was kinda boring though. I think more cheese would be great and there was a lot more sweetness from the onions than savoury from the other ingredients. The stock didn't taste like it was made with beef broth. Having said that, it wasn't a bad onion soup. It just wasn't my kind.

Welsh lamb saddle was very nicely done. The accompanying pink garlic confit was sweet and delicious while the mash potatoes were creamy. Delicious jus too. I'd eat this again easily.

Here's their rump steak made with Irish grass fed Angus. One of the cuts of beef that I haven't ordered very much or at all. It was definitely not ribeye tender, but a lot more tender than I had imagined. Meat was grainy and the beefiness was of a lower and perhaps.....less ethereal quality. I think many people would simply dismiss it as being gamey flavoured. Not bad but it was just good for an experience. The green peppercorn sauce was nice though.

I didn't think this was a good tarte tartine. The pastry was flat, more like filo rather than puff pastry and it wasn't very buttery at all. The apples were nice but that was all to it. Maybe these guys just aren't great with desserts. I remember feeling let down the last time too.

Soon Lee Roasted Delights, Keong Saik Road

This came by a recommendation of a friend. The roast meats were generally passable with the exception of the char siew which was exceptional. That's all I should be saying. I didn't get the address but the exact location at Keong Saik Road is here.

Seng Kee Vegetarian, Beo Crescent

Came upon this stall (Lian Seng Eating House, #01-16, Blk 40 Beo Crescent) which is located along the same block as the nameless Hainanese curry rice. This was located in the other, only other coffee shop along the block and we thought vegetarian noodles sounded good for breakfast since we haven't had one of these for quite a while. It's the usual greasy fare. Nothing much changes with Chinese vegetarian bee hoon. But I suppose we liked it because it was relatively tasty and it's a flavour of nostalgia all the way back to the days when Tiong Bahru Market was an almost derelict dirt stained bunch of hovel market with leaky roofs. I remember eating vegetarian bee hoon in the market as a kid while watching old folks pair them with a bowl of gruel.

Tsukada Nojo, Chinatown Point

We’ve been curious about Tsukada Nojo (#02-37 Chinatown Point, 133 New Bridge Rd, tel : +65 6444 8840) for almost as long as they have set up shop (and subsequently a few outlets). Their success by far has hinged largely on their bijin nabe - a beauty collagen hotpot. Certainly piques more than a little of curiosity.

Anyways, it’s a hotpot that’s done with their “golden collagen chicken stock”. A stock made with free range Jidori chickens from the Miyazaki prefecture in Kyushu. From what I read on their site, the chicken are stewed for 8 hours until their bones are dissolved. Said stock is then cooled into collagen puddings which pretty much forms the base broth.

Those puddings melt with heat from the induction stove built onto the tables. There's some chicken hidden in there as well.

And then a starter we ordered was served. Shredded steamed chicken with julienned cucumber, ume dressing and shiso. This was kinda nice.

The ingredients were pretty much the standard for all their hot pots. It seems that these guys have sourced local organic vegetables here. The only additional protein apart from the chicken are tsukune (chicken meat balls) and some prawns. Those prawns were really sweet by the way. One can of course top up with extras and add-on options. We stuck to the default since it was our first time. 

A cup of the unadulterated broth ladled out for tasting. Good stuff.

Meat is removed from the broth before the rest of the hotpot ingredients are put in. Chicken was pretty tender. Works with their yuzu pepper if you don't know what to eat them with.

Simmer and wait and then eat.

We had a side order of spicy tori nanban. That spicy mayo packed a bit of heat and was pretty good.

Also on the side, they had some large tori shumai which was quite nice too.

Egg noodles were provided for the remaining broth as starch for the hotpot.

You know what? This turned out to be better than I had imagined. I don't mind coming back again if I can catch one of those hours when the queue isn't so crazy.