Landmarc, Midtown Manhattan, NYC

Brekkie at Landmarc (10 Columbus Circle, 3rd Floor, NY 10019, tel : +212 823 6123) by Marc Murphy at Time Warner Centre. The food was much better than it sounded on the menu. But we came especially for their pain perdu and bacon.

And that pain perdu was huge. Larger than what I had imagined it to be. But it was pretty damn good. A crisp brown shell of bread with eggy/creamy/custardy insides. I hear that their bread is specially made for them. Doused with a healthy helping of maple syrup, it was rich and sweet and filling. Pretty awesome for the first meal of the day. 

That pain perdu was accompanied by a side, separately ordered of course, of crisp smoky Duroc bacon. Also awesome with the maple syrup. These had a more crisp exterior than the ones from Artichoke.

There were a few other things we had. Like the onion soup which had a rich beefy broth, loaded with gooey cheese which was one of the better I've had. Hash browns were quite addictive too. Addictive like I'm running out of space and I'm still shovelling forkfuls of them into my face kind of addictive. A seat at the window got us a view of Columbus Circle and the Trump Tower.

Five Guys, Midtown Manhattan, NYC

We were looking for something to fill our bellies after checking into the hotel close to midnight and Five Guys (253 W 42nd St, NY 10036, tel : +212 398 2600) by a stroke of chance happened to be within walking distance. From what I've learnt, the locals call this area 42th and 8th. 

All the major food groups including fruits can be found in their bacon cheeseburger. It felt pretty hefty wrapped in foil. The regular burgers on the menu come with two patties and the little ones come with one.

This was an "all in" sans ketchup. I liked that the sauce wasn't over done and that I could still taste those beefy charred patties with all the ingredients inside. Despite the size, the sandwich went down pretty easily. 

Couldn't pass on their fries which were really good. I like soggy fries and these thick cut, skin on Idaho potato-y fries definitely worked for me. In my limited experience, the best fast food fries I've had.

Washed down with a thick peanut butter shake. Aahhhhh.......burp!

La Strada reborn

We decided to stroll into La Strada today and in happenstance found out that this was the second day of their operations after the renovations from the beginning of the year which we had no idea had happened. Gone was the rustic looking trattoria facade. The interior had morphed into something a little more clean looking, classy and contemporary. I personally preferred the previous setup over this.

We were initially worried that much have changed into something else we wouldn't like. The menu has gone through a shake up and most of the old stuff aren't around anymore. A handful of their signature dishes/desserts were still around. But as we ate, we realized that our fears were unfounded.

Even the new green-y sprout-y salad with the raw sliced cruciferous greens and alfalfa was surprisingly tasty. I know, right? I wouldn't have believed that either before eating them. 

We were definitely impressed by their fatty lamb ribs; rich and greasy with those lamb-y fragrance with tender "slip off the bone" meat.

Also outstanding was a butterflied and grilled sea bream where the quality of the fish spoke for itself just underneath the veneer of expert preparation.

I didn't like the cannoli. It wasn't that the pastry was bad. Their choice of fillings were probably just not my thing. 

Tiramisu was unexpectedly good. "Juicy" even. The lady's fingers were well soaked and we could taste the alcohol from their liqueur of choice beneath the airy mascarpone cream. Possibly the best rendition we've had since Angeleno.

Noodle Thai Thai Kitchen, Beach Road

This Thai shop (327 Beach Road, tel : +65 6909 0759) had pretty good food. Even though the name had "noodle" in it, it sold more than just noodles. In fact, there's a gamut of commonly seen Thai food dishes.

Like som tam mamuang. They didn't have some of the usual add on/condiments around the table so I asked for extra crushed peanuts. Didn't look like much but these had the extras already. No fish sauce was detected. The mango was just a little bit riper than usual resulting in a slightly less crunchy texture. I liked it though.

The aroma from the khao soi wafted into our noses as soon as the brought it to the table. What made this good was the creamy coconut infused into the broth that made it creamy and nutty. Not as luxed up as the one from Provence that even had some lime and onions with a more complex flavour but it was still tasty that I wouldn't mind coming back for.

That's the lala jade noodles there - essentially a sort of Thai vongole. Spicy and rather good if I might say

We had a salt baked sea bass which was also nicely done. The meat was firm and flaked off like fresh fish meat does.

Not forgetting their mango sticky rice. It was unfortunate that the mango wasn't very aromatic even though it was juicy and sweet. The black rice which tasted like the glutinous rice version of pulut hitam was impressively soft

Caffe Fernet, Customs House

The Internet finds us places as much as we do the finding ourselves. It found me Caffe Fernet (Customs House, 70 Collyer Quay, #01-05, tel : +65 9178 1105) which has just opened but a fortnight ago. Apparently Italian inspired - opened by the people behind Jigger & Pony and Humpback.

It's a nice spot by the waterfront facing MBS. Air conditioning indoors is a challenge because of how the space is setup. Also, the longer we ate, the darker (and orangey-ier) the place became. Not so much because of the disappearing sunlight but from the adjustment of the restaurant lighting for "ambience".

We had smoked leeks with Gorgonzola and pecans. I'm sure there's more to the ingredients than wasn't mentioned in the menu. Like a bit of black pepper that made a difference and the shavings of the Parmigiano Reggiano on top. Outstanding dish of creamy Gorgonzola coated soft sweet leeks. We would come back just for this. For $19, portions were a little too small.

This was Hokkaido smelt. Which according to my limited knowledge would be wagasaki but it felt more like shishamo. Solid crisp batter clad on small white fish. Who could resist? Needs a little more salt though.

The menu described these as caramelized cauliflowers. Obviously these were way beyond caramelized. They have transcended into being charred. Damn these were good. I've never had cauliflowers with such a smoky flavour profile before and we liked it. But we saw a neighbouring table with the same dish with less char so maybe ours was an accident.

Another delicious vegetable dish in the form of charred gem lettuce. One that was topped with raisins, capers and anchovy vinaigrette. And some crumbled cheese that might have been Parmigiano Reggiano. Umami, savoury, sour and a bit of sweetness from the raisins. Nice.

That's the sheep's ricotta agnolotti with a saffron, honey and thyme sauce. Pretty good. Flavour was curated with a light sweetness in the saffron. Portions a little small though.

We made room for desserts because there's bomboloni stuffed with lemon curd. Eggy lemony curd in a crusty sugary shell. The texture was old school.

And olive cake with mascarpone and olive oil. Their olive oil was very good. The first thing after the smooth finish that struck was the fruitiness. We asked for more because the serving portion was a little too little and we were obliged. Pretty much doused the cake which together with the mascarpone rocked. In case it wasn't apparent (obviously so from the dark photo), there's rosemary with the cake. We mopped the leftover olive oil with the bomboloni even. Still good.

Ajisai @ Hokkaido Marche, Orchard Central

Ajisai, a small ramen chain from Hokodate in southern Hokkaido has set up shop at Hokkaido Marche (B2 Orchard Central, 181 Orchard Road). They are supposedly known for their shio ramen but I was intrigued by their se'abura charshumen bowl which featured bits of pork back fat. I got a squid ink bowl which in honestly, didn't look nor taste like it had much of squid ink for any flavour to register. The broth was porky and salty in a nice way and it seemed that the noodle had picked up some of those flavours as well. Charshu had a good shoyu flavour while the half ajitama didn't seem to have any at all. Must remember to forgo the menma the next time. Those were pungent.

I wonder what's the piece of bread about though.