Back in ChoWon Garden

We haven't been eating at ChoWon Garden for quite a long while. Precisely the same thought I had the last time we were here.  

The banchan arrived customarily after orders were taken. At first glance, they looked like they were run of the mill and indistinguishable from "the usual stuff that's served everywhere". But one of them actually featured red meat, I can't tell which, that tasted like babi pongteh with gochujang. 

What truly surprised us pleasantly were cow lung egg fritters (buchimgae?). Certainly didn't expect to get those. Took a bit of chewing to get the flavours out. Nice.

That's their yukhoe chobap, a minced raw beef sushi drizzled generously with sesame oil. I thought this tasted pretty good.

Their nakji pajeon (octopus pancake) was not bad. A little greasy with bits of octopus tentacles, egg and spring onions mostly. Didn't look as fascinating as the picture on the menu though.

The other dish we had which was unexpectedly outstanding was their chadol doenjang jigae - a fermented bean paste stew with thinly sliced beef brisket. Vegetables and tofu inside as well. Flavour from the fermented bean broth with rendered fat from the brisket was addictively delicious. Perfect with a bowl of steamed rice. 

Te Mana lamb at The Pelican

We haven't been to The Pelican in a while. If anyone is interested in knowing, the restaurant no longer serve their complimentary delicious seaweed sourdough possibly because people were more interested in them than the other things on the menu.

#disappointedbecausewaslookingforwardtoit

They do have a sort of showcase thing going on for Te Mana lamb from New Zealand which is billed as the wagyu of lamb. A few items on the menu were based on those lamb.

Not their lobster bisque though. No lamb in there. It was still nice. It had a lot less cream going on than many and a nice crustacean sweetness in it. There were also tiny chunks of orange segments in the soup which were kinda nice in a warm orange-y manner.

So here's that Te Mana lamb rump sandwich in more colour saturation and less ideal light conditions for a photo shot. As a whole, I liked it. Nice cabbage and pear slaw in a buttery brioche. But the ratio of ingredients in the sandwich was a poor showcase for the flavour of the lamb. Too much texture and flavours going on. Could have been solved by more generosity of that thinly sliced lamb rump but clearly they failed the showcase here. Brioche was dry and crumbly. Needed moisture or should have picked a sturdy rye instead. But I still enjoyed it. Couldn't tell it apart from a regular lamb though.

There was a shank braised in red wine sauce and blue cheese polenta. Shank was competently cooked. Tender and had the lamb-y flavour from the bits of fat in them. No blue cheese flavour at all from the polenta which was slightly disappointing even though I kept my expectations low on that part. It was buttery and cheesy which made it pretty enjoyable. Tomatoes were juicy and bursting with sweetness. Calling this this the wagyu of lamb raises expectations. The differences between another good lamb shank and this was - well, almost impossible to tell.

Burger +, Wisma Atria

These guys (#01-37/38 Wisma Atria, 435 Orchard Road) are Korean and have taken over the old site of Omakase Burger; selling what appeared to be burgers that look and even taste like those from Omakase Burger. Right down to the buns.

Anyways, Burger + was priced similarly if not more than them. Kinda like around how much it would cost to eat at Shake Shack. They even taste quite similar though it was more Omakase Burger than Shake Shack. But they aren't identical. The buns from Burger + didn't hold up well to the burger juices. Wasn't well built as they were almost falling apart halfway through. Patty didn't taste exactly the same even though I've to admit it was pretty similar through the melted cheddar.

I did enjoy it. Those burgers were tender and much lighter than it looked. Avocado shake was also pretty enjoyable. Their pricing also means that I won't be visiting with any regularity.

Eee Mo BBQ (이모), Maxwell Road

Check out those banchan. It's better than what I'm used to getting with the processed food and all. We've walked past Eee Mo (32 Maxwell Road, tel : +65 6509 4173) numerous times (what's new at this point eh?) and finally came to eat.

Back to the banchan. Battered and fried squid legs, pretty solid kimchi that had a good balance of spiciness and sour and some pig terrine thing where I saw ears - just to name some. Not bad at all.

I forgot what this was called but it's a fried rice with beef briskets and kimchi radish. I know, not much can be seen of those kadugi bokkeumbap. The rice was nice and peppery with some beefiness.  It was delicious, I enjoyed it but the portions were unfortunately dismal for $20. For that price, I thought it would have been reasonable to be expecting at least twice those portions. Expensive it was.

We were pretty excited that they had kongguksu on the menu so we ordered one. If you didn't know, it's a bowl of chilled wheat noodles in a broth of soy milk. The flavour of that broth was nutty and pretty much how I imagined that it. Don't know if there were other ingredients other than soy beans though. We were given a bit of salt for flavour but at the back of my mind, I couldn't help but think that it would taste better sweet than salty. 

That's an order of their bassak bulgogi - a bulgogi variant that is said to originate from Eonyang in Korea. It's a dry variety which I believe was pressed into a pan and fried. Sweet, garlic-ky and savoury. It was a lot lighter than it looked too. Pretty good. At $39, also pretty expensive for the portions.

The Feather Blade, Club Street

New steak restaurant (90 Club Street) that only serves one cut of beef on their regular menu. The flat iron or a.k.a. feather blade. A cut from the chuck which is often described as tender as tenderloin but at a lower price. What is often omitted by those mentions is that it is also chewier than tenderloin. 

From what I gathered, The Feather Blade was started up by a guy who used to part time at The Flat Iron in the UK and took inspiration from them. As of now, the restaurant doesn't take reservations.

I don't remember if I've ever experienced this cut but it tasted much like flank. Beefy and pretty tender but with a less grainy texture. It's good with just salt and pepper but I got the horseradish cream on the side to see if it was any good. Lacked punch. Won't be getting that horseradish cream again.

Creamed spinach was delicious. Parmigiano Reggiano and a hint of nutmeg with cream on tender spinach. Nicely done if I might say so. Mushrooms were okay.

Potatoes were not bad. I think they were fried in beef fat. The outside was crusty and crisp while the insides were mealy and soft. Not bad.

There's a burger not on the menu with a patty that's made from the trimmings of their steak. What distinguished their burger was that the patty was deep fried in beef fat creating a crusty exterior - kinda like the meatballs that my grandmother used to make. The meat on the inside was of medium doneness. 

They built their burger with the concept that it would have "none of that tomato, lettuce, cheese nonsense". While I didn't agree with the train of thought that paved the way to its creation, I was curious. Even if I generally wasn't a fan of Béarnaise which was pretty much the only topping apart from the shallots.

The texture was interesting to say the least. I liked the shallots. Did not enjoy the Béarnaise much as I had expected. I thought the flavour was overBéaring. The brioche, the onions and the patty all ended up pretty Béarnaise-y which in irony made it boring. A good salty cheese (think American, aged Cheddar or even one of the blue variety) would have been a much better option in my opinion.

Thoughts at Beef Sukiyaki Don Keisuke

We waited a while before getting our seats today. I realized the reason why after we had gotten in. A bunch of self important motherfuckers decided that their pretentious loud conversation was too important to take elsewhere and hence a bunch of seats were occupied even though the occupants had finished their food. Self important motherfuckers who didn't give a flying fuck about the queue that was building up. A queue that was waiting in the stifling heat while these insects debated over minute points of their worthless lives in the comfort of the restaurant.

Inconsideration and self entitlement appear genetic in this country. Unless the root is exterminated, change seem nigh impossible. Culture Rot propagates from the top.

Okay rant over. The wagyu sukiyaki don from Beef Sukiyaki Don Keisuke is still awesome.