Re-visiting iO Italian Osteria

Here's back in iO and a couple of noir filters shots from the iPhone. Coming back and seated where we were allowed me to absorb the decor in a different light from the first visit. These full glass panels and industrialized theme ceilings brought back memories of Beef & Liberty.

I noticed that they have a house brew on menu. It wasn't as smooth as the server described it to be but I suppose they're not known for beers. 

We grabbed some gnocco fritti off their board featuring weekend specials. That's the fried bread stuffed with cheese and some salumi - a trio of fennel (finocchiona perhaps), chilli and pepper salami along with some shaven prosciutto of sorts. Looked and tasted like speck. More bread would have been nice.

That's spinach spatzle with Fontina fondue, braised onions and bacon bits. The sauce made the pasta deliciously buttery and cheesy.

There was baked stingray with a honey citrus sauce thing. I don't think it was fresh stingray. The texture of the meat didn't feel like it. Possibly a frozen fish but I cannot be sure. But the sauce made up for the slightly lacklustre textures and as a dish, it was quite enjoyable.

Their pistachio tiramisu was nice. But then again, we were expecting it to be so because Etna.

Chicken dum briyani from Anjappar

This was Anjappar at Westgate (#04-08, 3 Gateway Drive, tel : +65 6566 5545). I wasn't in the mood to run through the menu and thought that it was probably a good time to just fall back on a simple dum briyani to see if these were good here.

How did that go? The rice was light and fragrant from the spices while the chicken was tender. Would be fair to say that it was a competently done chicken dum briyani. But it didn't wow me. I realized that I had actually been more impressed by the one at Shami's much more than this. The chicken thigh I had gotten wasn't very meaty too. But maybe it's because these guys don't use the GM birds? *cues flashback of stringy quail*

A vanghi bath from MTR 1924

Something a little out of our usual ways, we came by to MTR for lunch and got ourselves a vanghi bath - a Southern Indian dish of brinjal rice. This isn't available everyday though and if my memory serves, just Tuesdays and Fridays. Now I didn't dislike this but I very much prefer their pudina bath because it was a much more savoury rice dish. This however was more spicy so to speak - a lot more warmth and some tanginess which I believe is from tamarind that was used. Wouldn't have minded if there were more brinjal in it. Well, at least I've tried this. I'll pick another of their rice dish the next time.

Didn't/couldn't pass on their rava idli. So good, especially with that splash of ghee and that warm sambar. I have gotten a conjoined twin today so yay, more idli!

Pete's Place, Grand Hyatt

I haven't stepped into Pete's Place (Grand Hyatt Singapore, Basement Level, 10 Scotts Road, tel : +65 6732 1234) for ages. While my memories of the place are a little hazy, the restaurant looked like it hasn't changed since then.

We happened to order food in the time slot where a free round at the salad bar is available as long as main courses are ordered. One would come to the conclusion that the salad bar is more Sizzler than Basilico. There isn't much to be excited about from the small spread; but hey, we got ourselves some vegetables.

Their vitello tonnato looked unusual. The tuna sauce didn't look or taste like the usual creamy variety. That sauce looked like it was chopped up bits of tuna mixed in olive oil. It was a little...watery. I wonder if it's some regional variety or an older technique that I've never encountered before. Those caper berries were also very sour.

There's was a burrata pizza with anchovies. The creamy cheese a counter to the fish and the chopped tomato base. The latter of which was surprisingly enjoyable. Surprising for me that is. Don't expect Neapolitan styled crust here. They did mentioned that a 48 hour dough that is made in house was used and the baking is done in a brick oven.

The restaurant claimed that their spaghetti carbonara didn't have cream. It got us interested. The pasta was a little wet for something that didn't have cream. I was expecting a little more punch from the cheese and pepper. The flavours were a little less intense than I had hoped for but it wasn't a bad spaghetti carbonara.

Tiramisu was okay. The ladyfingers were quite thoroughly soaked and the espresso flavours were getting through. But I couldn't tell if there was any liquor involved.

Original Jalan Tua Kong 132, Sixth Avenue

I've heard about the Jalan Tua Kong noodle stall for some years and am aware that there are a few stalls. Personally, I don't know which was the original or the better. I was told that this was definitely not the original. This particular stall at Good Good Eating House (24 Sixth Ave.) was okay. If anyone's caught on that I'm not entirely impressed at this point, that would be about right. 

The toppings were generous and I suppose passed muster as a whole. Sliced fish cake, fish balls, sliced pork, minced pork, a single fish dumpling and a couple of shrimps. Chilli was gritty and packed a bit of heat. Ok, maybe I didn't like those flavourless shrimps very much.

Their mee pok was kinda disappointing though. The noodles were a little clumped together and didn't quite have that springy texture that I was looking forward to. Bummer. I wouldn't say that this was a bad bowl but it's definitely not one of the more enjoyable mee pok I've had. Wouldn't mind eating if I'm in the vicinity but it's not something that I would go out of the way for.

Another night at One Night Only

We're back again in O.N.O.. Doing a steady job of exploring their focused menu which we thought the restaurant has been doing a pretty good job of. I don't know if anyone has paid any attention to their sides; I think those are quite well done.

Their buttermilk fried chicken was kinda dark looking. The spice mix for the batter had a bit of heat and if I'm not mistaken, thyme. Bird was well brined with flavour getting into all of the meat. The pool of oil that gathered at the bottom of the fried chicken was a little off putting though. Between this and Clinton St., I prefer the latter.

But.....the creamed corn rocked. Those mashed potatoes they had, still have little chunks of potato in them. 

There's an aptly named No Frills Cheeseburger which quite kicks ass. Comparably so to something like say Wolf Burgers. And aptly named because they didn't overload unnecessary add ons to detract from the flavours of the meat and cheese beyond a piece of lettuce and a slice of tomato between the buttered brioche. That brioche didn't hold up very well from all the juices oozing out of the meat though. I'd eat this again. 

We had room for some malted vanilla shake this time round.