This was the Pepper King from Ramen Nagi, the current seasonal "Limited King" that's supposedly limited to 400 bowls before it's taken off the menu. I'm not sure what's so special about this since it could have been assembled by any of their ingredients that they have already been using. It didn't taste very peppery initially so I had to grind in a little more black pepper of my own. And some crushed sesame too. At the end of the bowl, I was sweating quite a bit from the heat. I thought it might have tasted like bak kut teh but this broth was clearly richer and sweeter.
Authenticity seems more a matter of ranges and limitations than of outright prescriptions. - Jeffrey Steingarten, The Man Who Ate Everything
Monday, February 19, 2018
Pepper King from Ramen Nagi
Digested Pages :
japanese,
ramenation
Sunday, February 18, 2018
初二 at hans im glück
It's day 2 (初二) of the Chinese New Year. Still a great deal of eateries wrapped in the warm embrace of a good rest or the torture of visiting one place to another. I saw that hans im glück was open from the first day so I thought it might be a good place to get lunch.
Apparently these guys bothered with a CNY special. Grilled chicken breast with apricot jam and grilled mandarin called glücklichmacher according to the menu. Internet translations got me 'happy maker' or 'happy pills'. Sounded like something that would send me on a trip. The apricot jam didn't taste very apricot-y beyond being tangy. Overwhelmingly so if I might add. It was also pretty obvious that the mandarins were not grilled. Liars!
That's the birkenwald with sour cream and mushrooms on a beef patty. Like the previous beef burger, it was pretty edible if unexceptional. I'm still trying to understand the relationship this place (or just maybe.....Germans?) has with their beef patties.
Digested Pages :
between sliced bread,
burgers/sandwiches,
german
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Merci Marcel, Eng Hoon Street
French casual restaurant at Tiong Bahru (56 Eng Hoon Street, tel : +65 6224 0113) run by the people from Ô Batignolles Wine Bar at Club Street. Serving food from locally distributed ingredients where possible (Tiong Bahru Market) and even coffee from a local roast.
That above was their goat cheese tartar with mint. I don't know what's a cheese tartar. This tasted like goat's cheese mixed with a lot of sour cream. With little goat's cheese and barely any mint. Those flatbread were't that flat and had texture like tapioca kueh. Won't be getting these again.
Their ravioles de Royan was nice. Creamily rich without being overwhelmingly so (ymmv) and cheesy with that delicious Tête de Moine.
Not much good things to say about their Angus beef item. Think it was flank steak which is a pretty lean cut of meat. Wasn't very flavourful. A little chewier than I normally prefer. Creamy mushrooms on top were nice though. Wondered why this didn't come with frites. For some reasons this was making me miss the onglet at Le Bistrot du Sommelier very much.
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Bedrock Bar & Grill on Vday
It's been quite a long time since we were last here. Really long. We were here trying to squeeze in a quick dinner which we made no reservations for before rushing off to catch a movie in the vein of an odd love story by a cool Mexican director. Timing was a little tight. The restaurant knew, did their best to accomodate but still took longer than what was comfortable for us.
To their credit, they came to check on us, assured us a few times that the food was in preparation and on the way. To top that off, their service recovery was excellent.
I remember mentioning their Applewood smoked tomato soup as being one of the best I've had around. This still has not changed.
Got ourselves an order of their full lamb rack to get a measure of how they make them. It's tender, a little chewy and just passed muster. They were not the better ones we've had but not bad that I would have wanted to complain about them. Those ribs would have benefitted from a little more char, a little more salt and also a little more fat so that it would have been that much more satisfying. Didn't dislike this but wouldn't get them again.
On the side, some sweet potatoes with bacon and blue cheese. I recognize that I'm can be an almost perpetual critic about blue cheese in food because the quantity is often too little. A critic I personally feel with valid critique in this particular context. For this dish, we got a nice cheese that was robust but not sufficiently pungent that I'd class them into the blue cheese category.
Before your thoughts get ahead of what I'm about to say, this was fortunately good enough. Paired with a nice salty cheese crust, those sweet potatoes were addictively delicious. We finished all of it leaving us very stuffed that we collapsed on the theatre seats into the shape of water while enjoying The Shape of Water. Go Guillermo del Toro!
Digested Pages :
western
Monday, February 12, 2018
Kazbar, Church Street
Kazbar has been around for more than a decade if my memory serves. For a very long while, I had the impression that they (#01-03 Capital Square 3, 25 Church Street, tel : +65 6438 2975) were one of those Middle Eastern facades that's the excuse for a watering hole down in Far East Square. Then again, it's not like I'm never known to make mistakes.
Their food was pretty good. Pretty pleased by their shorbet adas (lentil soup) that was packed with those great cumin flavours. While we were pleasantly surprised how much a squeeze of lemon changed the taste profile of the soup, it was delicious both with and without the lemon.
Hadn't had one of these quite a while. Sure brought back memories of the much missed Banoo. While this was obviously missing the butter element, it wasn't too bad at all. The lamb koobideh was nicely spiced without being excessively so.
There was also a pretty memorable lamb shank on ouzi (spiced rice) and a generous sprinkle of cashews along with yoghurt. That ouzi (also cooked with lamb) was addictively delicious. Savoury with a good amount of salt paired with some sweet crunchiness from those cashews. Shank was tender but not so moist.
Digested Pages :
mediterranean,
middle eastern
Sunday, February 11, 2018
A bak kwa kouign amann from Tiong Bahru Bakery
So these guys have a local flavoured rendition of their kouign amann and it was actually kinda nice. Sweet, buttery and importantly, getting sufficient bak kwa flavour from the little bits of the dried barbequed meat within the layers of pastry.
Note to self, never get coffee here again. I always forget for some reasons how much I dislike their coffee. It's the acidic sour stuff. A waste of money in my books.
Never get coffee here again......
Never get coffee here again......
Never get coffee here again......
Never get coffee here again......Never get coffee here again......
Never get coffee here again......
Never get coffee here again......
Digested Pages :
a local signature,
pastry
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