Revisiting Atout

This was an unexpected long lunch fuelled with wine and conversation at Atout. Well over three hours. I'm thinking it should happen more often.

There was cod liver pâté on the menu. Never had these before. Only cod liver oil as a kid. The liver was delicious. The taste was much milder than chicken liver with a texture that was smoother as well. 

Because figs were in season and hence on the special boards, we just had to have them. Especially when they've been baked into a tender sweetness topped with melted blue cheese and walnuts.

The frog legs were similar to the ones at Le Bistrot du Sommelier and understandably so. Meat was slurp off the bone tender.

One of the reasons for this visit was for their ribeye au poivre with brandy cream sauce that we first tasted at Casse Croûte. Hell yeah it was good that it reduced us to "mmmm...."s. This was at least a light year beyond the sad con job that was Ruth's Chris. Shame on them. Here was nicely exectued doneness, tender good quality meat and proper browning with great flavour.

We had a side of sautéed baby potatoes to go along.

That red. I can't remember what it was but it was recommended to go with their meat. Excellent choice with sharp peppery notes that paired very nicely with their delicious ribeye au poivre.

For some reasons, we were also given a complimentary shot of Calvados.

I'm not sure if the shot of Calvados had a role to play as a subconscious suggestion but we ended up with their Calvados soufflé for dessert. Competently done. Liked those chunks of apples that were at the bottom.

Baby squids from Beo Crescent Curry Rice

Yup, the bottom left. I didn't know that these were available from the stall until today and decided to include them instead of the regular curried squids. These were pretty tasty. There was a squid-y flavour that reminded me of their ink and it was nice with the curry. What didn't like about them was that the quills were not removed. Every little squid had them. It's no fun trying to get those little plasticky pieces out in the middle of eating.

Japan Rail Cafe, Tanjong Pagar Centre

We've been here a few times and I definitely recall having taken photos. For some reasons, I've never gotten around to blogging Japan Rail Cafe (#01-20 Tanjong Pagar Centre, 5 Wallich Street, tel : +65 6385 5422). Well, better late than never. No? Anyways they're a Japanese cafe with Japan Rail theme - somewhat. Maybe 'Japan travel, lifestyle and news' would be a more appropriate description. One can actually purchase JR passes or even book hotels through their website. They're a mixed bag plus a cafe. That's right.

JR Cafe has staples on their menu which doesn't really change. Those stuff include curry rice, donburi and burgers to name a few. They're generally pretty decent but I feel that the portions are a little small. The curry rice has a few options for toppings and I think the fried chicken and scallops are nice. There are seasonal items occasionally like the gyutan teishoku for this month. Pretty flavoursome thick cut beef tongue with that beefy taste that got more pronounced the more one chewed on them. Not a bad place to drop by once in a while.

Small Potatoes Make The Steak Look Bigger : Year Twelve

Twelve. The number of hour markers on the dial of a watch. An alleged claim to the number of knights at Arthur's Round Table. The number of disciples Jesus reportedly had excluding the one that supposedly betrayed him. The number of books in John Milton's Paradise Lost. The number of signs of the Zodiac in western astrology. The largest number with a single-syllable name in English.  The number of edges in a cube.  The number of lunar months that maketh the lunar year. The number of years Solomon Northup spent as a slave. The number of function keys most keyboards have. The number of food blogs one can buy with a dime these days. The number of counts of twelve in this paragraph.

And also the number of anniversaries Small Potatoes has made the steak look bigger.

Hock Shun Traditional Home-made Curry (富順正宗咖喱), Redhill Food Centre

We were drawn by the bright signage and queue at the front of this stall (#01-66 Redhill Food Centre, 85 Redhill Lane). Here's a bowl of their creamy earthy orange curry with toasted bread (one can choose to have it with rice as well). It packed a manageable heat and tasted rich. It was not bad - reminded me a little of the one at Uncle Sim. I didn't think much of the chicken thigh that came with the curry though.

Chiew Kee Noodle House, Upper Cross Street

This (32 Upper Cross Street) was the other soya sauce chicken shop which is related to Chew Kee in the past but had now become competitors. It seemed that this shop had seen more recent renovations while Chew Kee looked a little rustic.

There were definitely some differences in the braising sauce that they have concocted for their soya sauce chicken. Chew Kee's sauce had a little more herbal flavour. I'm not sure if I had imagined it but their sauce tasted a little sweeter. That being said, the one here was not slouch. Both shops featured very tender chickens.

We had a side of eggs and tau kwa which were flavoured with a similar braising sauce. These were pretty good.

What was noticeably different were the noodles. I thought the texture of those noodles from Chew Kee were better because they had more bite.

It seems also that both stalls differentiated themselves with their chicken rice. Chiew Kee here had a light but flavoursome rice which was a little garlicky while Chew Kee's rice had a light flavour from ginger. Needless to say, I preferred the rice here. Chew Kee also has tastier boiled dumpings (水餃).

If you were looking for a verdict on which one is better, it's not happening here. It's a preference thing. I liked both and would have no qualms eating at either. Maybe I do like Chew Kee a little bit more.