McGriddles is back

For a limited time albeit. Don't know if I'm imagining things but it felt like it's a little smaller.

But it is back.

Oh yes it is back.

The Ranch Steakhouse by Astons, Clarke Quay

Astons has gotten themselves a spiffier upgrade in the form of The Ranch Steakhouse (Clarke Quay Block B, #01-15, 3 River Valley Road, tel : +65 6256 0334). With their own fridge dedicated to dry ageing meat and no less. From what we've had, they've totally outgunned the Ruth's Chris experience.

Bread gratis was toasted rye and truffled butter. I couldn't complain. It's better bread and butter than many out there. We enjoyed munching these while waiting.

If I might say so, The Ranch has pretty good lobster bisque. I'd like to iterate at this point that the balance of flavour is not a specific metric but an accepted range of moderation. There's good balance here from the creaminess of the soup that had a crustacean punch not to be scoffed at. I'd come back just for this. 

I've never tried figuring out the spices that went into beef tartare I've had beyond what I could see or taste. This tasted a bit more gherkin-y with a nice tanginess without what I would associate as being spicy. 

That's the XO cognac on the side which didn't really change much of the flavour after we doused it over the tartare. We were told it was meant to kill bacteria on raw meat. We enjoyed this. Would have preferred a coarser texture but am not complaining.

We went with a 240 days grain fed ribeye and 150 days grain fed tenderloin. Both Australian Black Angus. To get the criticism out of the way for a start, I feel that they need to work on the char on the surface of their steaks. Needed more for that smoky kiss on the meat.

To cut into both the literal and figurative meat, both the tenderloin and the ribeye were tender and sufficiently salted for flavour on their own. That ribeye had had pretty nice marbling. Note to self : pepper sauce is nicer than the Périgord truffle one.

I'd skip the corn the next time. It's a little cheesy, a little sweet but I didn't think much of it as a whole. The bacon needed more presence as well. It just made me miss a good creamed corn.

But wait, there's their gratin dauphinoise. Something to be enjoyed while it was still hot and the cream hasn't settled into something cold and stodgy. This was nicely baked with a creamy richness over thin sliced potatoes and a smattering of charred cheese. I was shovelling this into my face even though I was stuffed so they must have done something right.

Oysters, fish, potatoes and bread from Habitat by Honestbee

We were over at Habitat by Honestbee recently and I'm still trying to figure out what would incentivise people travelling out of the way to a location like this to buy supplies or even produce. 

Picked up a half dozen oysters - from Canada, don't know exactly where in Canada but we liked it. Creamy and briny. Not bad at all.

There wasn't so much of selection so I ended up with fish and chips haddock and fries. Fries were nice, fish was a little dry. Not too bad but it's not Smiths.

We got those crispy bits of batter on the side too.

And a pretty nice dill infused tartar sauce.

There was a corner selling bread which had this sugar sprinkled bo lo yau. Their rendition was one with a soft crust that crumbled too easily. Not a good thing. Felt frigid as a bun if that meant anything to anyone. That slice of Echire butter was not doing any favours either. 

Pi pa gao (枇杷膏) flavour from Tom's Palette

It's not the one on the right if that's what you were thinking. That's the chocolate stout which I kinda liked too. The pi pa gao flavour is the lighter coloured one which was pretty good. Definitely tasted like the real thing. With cream.

Unagiya Ichinoji, Robertson Quay

Unagiya Ichinoji (#01-05 Riverside Village Residences, 30 Robertson Quay, tel : +65 6732 1970) is one of a couple of unagi-ya that opened up after the Man Man phenomenon. From what I gathered, these guys were supposed to be more affordable because they used eels that are from Indonesia rather than the more expensive Japanese variety which Man Man uses. 

To be honest, I couldn't tell the difference. It also wasn't much cheaper than Man Man as well. I suppose the real draw was that there wasn't a queue at all at this corner of Robertson Quay in the weekends. We skipped the hitsumabushi for their gozen bento and the seiro mushi. The latter featured steaming of the grilled eel with the rice. I like them much better straight off the grill.

Another meal at Dee Tongue Thai by Rung Mama

Came back because we remembered that there were things on the menu at Dee Tongue Thai by Rung Mama that had previously gotten our attention.

I wanted to give their som tam a go to see if it's good here.

After a generous blanket of crushed peanuts and a dusting of sugar, it was all good. Very good.

This first rice dish and the som tam tided us over while the other dishes took their time to arrive. The stir fry of kailan was not bad. Not a fan of the crispy pork which wasn't actually crispy.

The expensive grilled squid wasn't as charred or aromatic as we would have liked. While I thought the chilli dip on the side was nice and spicy, it robbed the squid of most of its flavour including those from the caramelized sweet glaze.

This was their grilled pig's tongue. The texture was more crunchy than tender. While I didn't dislike it, I don't think so much of them either. The jaew that came with this wasn't too spicy and made a better dip for the squids than the chilli that came with those. 

Dee Tongue Thai had a thin and creamy tom kha gai. Even though it wasn't as rich as the ones from Gin Khao or Sawadee Thai, it was enjoyable and packed a bit of heat.

Gotta have more rice with those dip drenched meats and soup.

And some iced milk coffee to quell the heat. The coffee here was stronger than it looked. That's a good thing.