Luke's before the year is out

We like Luke's. It's a pleasant place with pressed white tablecloth and napkins paired with wait staff that discreetly eye you from a distance like a hawk anticipating the next time you lift your finger for their attention. The people are generally not snotty. They're pricey no doubt but once in a while we do pricey because the restaurant has always been a pleasure.

I missed the coarse salt flakes they used for their Bloody Mary. Miss the old poppyseed buns for the Travis Burger here. But the Bloody Mary is still good.

All meals at Luke's begin with their corn bread. I'm not in a position to tell if they're one of the better ones around but they are nice.

I've also said pretty much all there is about the Travis Burger. Still the better if not best overall burger in my books. This I daresay. Still don't like their fries.

We ordered their Georges Bank scallops today. Something we've been wanting to get for some time now. They were delicious with properly done searing on the outside and half cooked insides. The sauce is light with flavour that isn't a distraction to for those scallops. Now how am I gonna not order these the next time?

Kazu Sumiyaki and the unchanging constant

In the recent years we were here at Kazu, we've detected changes. We took in a deeper breath of the experience recently. The place had lost the rustic izakaya/kushiyaki atmosphere of their earlier days. While the food was still of good quality, the portions definitely have shrunk. It also appeared that how the food was prepared had also been changed. The first indicator was the use of noticeably less salt in their kushiyaki.

We begin the story with a glass or two of Asahi Kuronama...

Since shirako was in season, why not? The portions were tiny if that wasn't apparent from the picture. While it was delicious, I still thought that $15 for two mouthfuls of shirako was expensive.

There was ankimo so we ordered some. I had forgotten that Kazu uses ponzu jelly for these. These monkfish livers were exceptional.

I'm pretty sure that their tororo ringo is a lot chewier these days.

And that their prawns and scallops in bacon have shrunk. Considerably.

Never noticed that they had chicken oysters as part of their regular offering before so we couldn't resist. The lonely stick at the end is reba.

I used to think that I knew the hatsu skewers here very well. Well enough to recall how much they salted it and how the salt crunched between the teeth through the chewy hearts. They're no longer as salted these days. 

Had gyutan.

And oh, the lamb chops are still delicious.

Didn't expect their matsutake yaki to be so prettied up. I thought the recent ones we had from Keria were much more fragrant.

Their foie gras sticks have gotten more expensive and felt like they have become smaller. Still tasted like it's no good for your heart though. :p

Sweet potatoes that we didn't pass up. They obliged with extra butter so it was awesome.

Up to a few years back, I would have easily recommended them as the top kushiyaki joint locally. I'm not so sure these days.

Kiwami, Guoco Tower

This was a relatively new shop at Tanjong Pagar (#B2-10 Guoco Tower, 1 Wallich Street) just next to Aburi-EN that claimed to be a ramen and gyoza bar. I tried their amaebi mazemen. Didn't enjoy it. It was pretty sauce-y for noodles that was supposed to be dry which put me off right from the start. The predominant flavour of said sauce was vinegar and sakura ebi and while I generally am receptive to  both ingredients, this particular combination of theirs didn't work for me. Not to mention the noodles that reminded me of Chinese yellow noodles.

Maybe I should try their fried rice instead. 

Little Caesars Pizza, Funan

I was very curious about Little Caesars' (#01-18 Funan Mall, 107 North Bridge Road) 12" pepperoni pizza going for $7.99 because I thought it was somewhat too good to be true. Not for anything that might be decent. I happened to be in the vicinity and decided to walk in, picked one of them up and in the process, understood that Hot-N-Ready meant pre-made and kept warm.

It wasn't half bad for something quick. Two slices from Pezzo would have costed more than this whole pizza but Pezzo has thicker sliced and much more pepperoni.

Uni ramen from Sushiro

I had to order this once I saw it in their menu because it ignited a burning curiosity. The ramen was surprisingly not as bad as I had imagined. That uni sauce in the warm noodles was creamy, a little sweet and I've to admit was kinda appealing. No comparisons to be made with Seizan here but the sea urchin in this bowl was so much better than the uni gunkan from the last time.

藝 yì by Jereme Leung, Raffles Hotel

Quite an entrance by the 'Pale Garden' wouldn't you say? Story is, Jereme's local and has cut his teeth in various prestigious hotels. He's apparently opened more than 9 restaurants throughout the world, has spent the past 17 years in Shanghai and 藝 (#03-02 Raffles Arcade, 328 North Bridge Road) is his first restaurant here. A homecoming opening if you would.

We were told that the chopsticks represented ying (阴) and yang (阳). The black pair was for common use and the cream ones were for individual. Pretty fancy.

The kurobuta char siew was an expensive disappointment. I believe the fat was insufficiently rendered resulting in the texture of the char siew in becoming a little tough and "crunchy". Unless that was the intent of the kitchen! *gasp*. Needed more caramelization too. 

The roasted pineapple was really good though. Sweet, juicy and fragrant.

Har gow with black garlic was nice. It's almost like the shrimp dumpling had balsamic vinegar.

Siew mai weren't one of the better ones we've had. Most of the flavour came from the dried sakura ebi. The rest of the fillings tasted flat and there wasn't much of textures going on considering that there was pork, prawns and mushrooms.

Loved their braised chicken claw in black bean sauce. I'm tempted to say that this was the best of this dish I've had. Solid flavour from the black bean sauce and the extraordinarily tender claws that were slurp off the bone. The taro that came in the dish was so fragrant.

If there was a dish that I would identify as outstanding, it'll be their luffa and pig's stomach peppercorn soup. I'm sure a lot went into the making of the velvety collagen filled broth. Awesome. I would come back just for this alone.

We tried their sautéed Xinjiang styled lamb tenderloin. Because cumin. Because lamb. Because it was something different from the sautéed beef cubes that every other Chinese restaurant seem to be doing. Lamb was nice. Portions of the lamb were dismal. This was dish was mostly fillers.

The server recommended their mushroom buns. It looked like one of the more better made mushroom buns in terms of appearances so kudos to that. I didn't understand the flavour because I tasted taro and was trying too hard to identify the mushrooms that were supposed to be in them.

The last dish we had was stir claypot kailan with prawn paste and Shaoxin. Nicely done if I might say so. I liked how direct it was with just the flavour coming from the wine and the prawn paste pairing with the crunchy sweetness from the vegetable. 

Their satay flavoured ice cream was interesting. It was nutty with some heat that was punctuated by citrus from the pomegranate. 

Was pretty surprised that the Da Li rose ice cream had a rose flavour that was more intense than the satay flavour from the satay ice cream. Not bad.