Joji's Diner, Stanley Street

Mixed feelings about the food at Joji's Diner (3 Stanley Street, tel : +65 6993 7890).

Coffee's okay, that's a double shot so it's not exactly coffee flavoured milk they're serving. What might not be apparent is that this was a cappuccino. Don't think anyone would be faulted for thinking that this was a latte.

What I was interested in was their smash burger. According to them, it's 70% beef and 30% lamb. Happy to report that I could taste the lamb. What needed work was the salt. Salting was uneven so some of the bites were bland-ish. Pity cuz that burger was otherwise pretty decent.  

Duck was not worth the money. Meat was hard. I read somewhere that it was slow cooked for 9 hours. If that had been so, this would be somewhat of a spectacular failure. For something that was supposedly confit, there was also little intensity in the flavour and a conspicuous lack of salt. 

We asked about the orange marmalade sauce because what we mostly tasted was a brown sauce flavoured with rosemary. Someone from the kitchen came over to explain that they used fresh orange juice for the sauce. Well none of that came through. Nothing was mentioned about the marmalade. Where's my bits of peel? 

We had blueberry pancakes.

There's more than just blueberries in the sauce. I think red current and cranberries too if I'm not mistaken. Not a fan of it because something about it tasted artificial to me. Pancakes were okay but don't come expecting the same standards as Clinton Street Baking Company.

Ginett Restaurant & Wine Bar, Middle Road

Dinner at Ginett. Tried as I did to not be presumptuous - I had already surmised that they aren't going to be at the same level as restaurants like Le Bistrot du Sommelier, Atout, Brasserie Gavroche and Gaston. Not to even mention Claudine. Heh!

Dry and slightly crusty bread which was good for mopping up sauces and little else.

Kronenbourg Blanc is pretty expensive here. $19 a pint.

I'd describe their lobster bisque as decent. Off my head I could easily name a couple from the not too distant past which were a better experience. Like The Ranch, Atout or Bedrock.

Brie de Meaux with truffle and brioche.

Pretty good. I liked that the Brie was flavoured with real slices of truffle.

I liked this - filet mignon and foie gras with morel cream sauce with shaven slices of truffle. Steak had a nice sear and was a proper medium rare. Didn't even mind the rosemary tasting brown sauce there. This was when we used the last of the dry crusty bread to "clean the plate".

We were curious about their pike quenelle and wondered how it was different from the rendition at Brasserie Gavroche. Ginett's was au gratin - dry on the exterior which had a cheesy and eggy flavour. Hidden at the base were mushroom duxelles. Not bad tasting. The dumpling had seafood flavour, not so much just fish as the dish was named. Not bad.

Peach beer, black curry and bonito tonkotsu at Ippudo

Saw that Ippudo has a black curry ramen so wanted to try it.

Happenstance also found us peach beer currently on the menu - there were cubes of sweet canned peaches with syrup in the beer. Didn't deny that guilty pleasure.

The black curry ramen was suppose to have won some award. What award that was and who awarded them, no body seems to know. Tasted spices and squid ink in the thick curry which also had its brand of sweetness that was unlike most Japanese curry.

Noodles weren't the thin Hakata type, it was more like tagliolini. Not bad tasting but it also only good for a one exploratory bowl for me. Wouldn't get it again.

We've seen the bonito tonkotsu bowl in Ippudo's menu since pretty much the beginning but have never tried it until today. This bowl had a thick broth which was smokey, sweet and savoury - nothing like the one from Ikkousha. Underneath were the thin and wiry Hakata noodles. This one blew Ikkousha's rendition out of the water.

Hot durian mousse from Yat Ka Yan (一家人)

Never had durian mousse served hot before but it's available at Yat Ka Yan. It's not so much piping hot than warm and I definitely get why it works at this temperature. Yummy.

L' Arte Pizza & Focaccia, Guoco Tower

I was curious about L' Arte Pizza (#01-14, Guoco Tower, 5 Wallich Street, tel : +65 8932 2923) because I've read the chef, a Radostin Kiryazov described as Bulgaria’s ‘God of Pizza’. Also gathered that they're doing Romana pizza which as I understand was pizza al taglio. 

If shops were a representative of their chefs, I'd say that Bulgaria’s ‘God of Pizza’ isn't on the same level of playing field as Italy's' Michelangelo of pizza'.

Bread was airy and crunchy - but it didn't taste like the ones I've had in Rome which were generally more rich in olive oil. The toppings were decent quality but not particularly memorable or outstanding. I guess Pizzarium had left a benchmark I'll never meet here.

Matsutake chawanmushi from Sushiro

It's on Sushiro's menu lately. Underwhelming. I'm assuming that those bits beside the edamame are the matsutake because I couldn't tell. Couldn't taste the mushroom in the steamed egg either.