Lino, Binjai Park

I first heard of Lino (7 Binjai Park, tel : +65 6463 7800) back when they opened sometime late last year. For some reasons I had the impression that it was a restaurant by Lino Sauro of Gattopardo. My interest in them was low until recently that I've realized that I had been mistaken. This restaurant was another venture by the Les Amis Group.

Capri Trattoria is but a 7-11 away from here.

I thought that their Brussels sprouts might have been part of contorni rather than antipasti but what do I know. These were nice though. There's bacon, pine nuts and raisins.

Also munched on meatballs while we were waiting. These were flavoured with fennel seeds. I thought there was an Asian quality to how they tasted.

Garganelli was awesome. The texture of the pasta was great and the sauce tasted like a lobster bisque. With cheese. To top on that, the accompanying chunks of lobster meat were firm and sweet.

Lino's mushroomy barley risotto was delicious. Great pairing with the cheese and olive oil. Couldn't understand those fried mushrooms though. I thought they did nothing to make the dish better.

We got ourselves a sea bream. The fish was stuffed with lemons and herbs to impart their flavours into the meat. The fish had been deboned. Burnt lemon was very sour. Salsa verde paired nicely with the fish. Liked this.

Cannoli was okay. Nothing I'd come back for again. I'm still waiting to stumble upon one of those that would. Those roasted cherries on the side were pretty sour.  

It seemed appropriate that there was a doppio espresso to end this satisfying lunch.

Breakfast before Endgame

Kuey chap breakfast at Covent Garden Kway Chap.

And after, to spoiler proof ourselves for the biggest movie in cinematic history.

Suju it!

Lunch at Suju. Yes, it wasn't that long ago since the last one. Just happened this way.

Today's special was negitoro don. So I got reeled in just like the last time. Suju does a pretty good one though. It tasted especially luxurious with the smooth and finely minced toro, aroma from the negi and sesame seeds along with the vinegared rice. Portions were a little small.

So I topped it up with their ooebi tempura. Chunky and full of bite.

Uni tsukemen from Menya Sakura

The first time we came across Menya Sakura (#01-07 Orchid Hotel, 1 Tras Link Road, tel : +65 9469 3366) was when they were located in Boat Quay. They were doing a foie gras ramen while we wanted to take advantage of that with a 1 for 1 deal from JPassport.

These fellas are currently doing a 3rd year anniversary menu with an uni tsukemen. Yep, you heard that right. I knew enough not to have hopes but I was still curious. 

There wasn't much uni going on except for the tiny pile on the noodles. Definitely far from the prettiest looking ones. We've also tasted better. Putting good quality sea urchin is apparently not a priority for these guys. The creamy tsukemen broth had a flavour akin to fermented bean (豆瓣酱) or miso. That was actually not bad.

Chin Huat Live Seafood (镇发活海鲜), Sunset Way

I don't recall if I've ever eaten at Chin Huat (#01-30, 105 Clementi St. 12, tel : +65 6775 7348) but these guys are an institution for zi char and seafood. Been around for years. Beside the common variety, the choice of clawed crustaceans they have on menu included Alaskan King and dungeness crabs. What the restaurant is known for are also some dishes done from giant grouper parts - some of which require pre-ordering. 

Very nicely poached prawns with Hua Diao jiu (花雕酒). The freshness of those prawns were apparent from the ease of de-shelling and sweetness of their meat.

Sweet and sour pork was passable. 

There was an unexpectedly tasty dish of home made bean curd. Couldn't really figure out what made that special sweet/savoury sauce that they used but it was pretty good. Good with both those bean curd and the vegetables. Gotta remember this the next time.

Our dungeness crab was steamed with Hua Diao jiu and egg. That Chinese wine imparted its flavour into the crab and that layer of wobbly steamed egg which made it the best tasting chawanmushi ever. Dungeness crab had a thinner shell what was easier to work with and meatier legs; but the meat from the body was crumbly and not as easy to remove cleanly like the Sri Lankan ones.

The Sri Lankan crabs which we all were familiar with had firmer meat and was equally sweet. What we had was done with their golden sauce which was made with pumpkin and curry leaves amongst other things. That sauce was sweet, luxuriant and pretty rich tasting. Pretty addictive with those fried man tou.

I mentioned Chin Huat offering giant grouper parts earlier. This skin was one of those parts. This was giant grouper skin stir fried in black bean sauce. Those slivers of skin were chewy, wobbly and umami - spiked with heat from chilli and saltiness from the fermented beans.

That's the three egg fried rice - tasted a lot better than the look suggested. The last time I had these was the one from New Station Snack Bar at Far East Plaza which was oozing grease. I had been burping flavour from that fried rice for the rest of the day afterward. This one here was competently done without excessive grease. While I would have preferred more of those trio of eggs in the rice, I did enjoy this.

Tried their coconut pudding which was more of a coconut milk jelly. Not bad but I prefer the clearer variety made with just the juice like the one at Ping's.

The boiled hashima dessert definitely needed more hashima. Like loads more.

They have orh nee with pumpkin sauce too. Not bad

Ajikatsu from Tonkatsu by Ma Maison

That's the seasonal horse mackerel in katsu form from Tonkatsu by Ma Maison. Pretty generous portions. I liked that the aji itself was firm and flaky, clad in the crispy panko batter. No excessive grease. A chunk of that ajikatsu together with some goma dressing soaked shredded cabbage and then chased with some of their rice - すけえ!