Bites from the Hokkaido Fair at Isetan

Absinthe, Bukit Pasoh

I first notice of this place because of the name Absinthe (48 Bukit Pasoh Road, tel : 6222 9068); a name that is surrounded by half truths, rumours and a aura of dark disposition because of the purported hallucinogenic effects of the drink. It has in the course of history, been the cause of deaths. Of such as Oscar Wilde. I've tried some but failed to conjure the green fairies that were suppose to appear. I also realized that I don't enjoy it as the taste of aniseed/liquorice reminded me too much of cough syrup. But I digress..... this is a restaurant that serves French food.

Smells like awesome sauce : Space Marines

Will be brought to us by THQ and Relic Entertainment.

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A tortellini alla Genovese from Porta Porta

This pasta tasted homely and heart warming in more ways than one. Prior to this, I've never ordered anything alla Genovese since I had always assumed that they were just another one of those tomato sauced concoctions which I may dislike. I was wrong. This was mostly meat/onions/white wine/and some other minced and stewed vegetables. Tomatoes were used but in a sparing manner in comparison to the regular ragu type of sauce. I couldn't taste much of the other vegetables. The white wine and meat flavours were rich in the stew like broth with ricotta filled tortellinis. Piping hot. Another reason for me to come back another time. Now if only they were more wallet friendly.....

Al Forno Trattoria revisited

Parma

Pappardelle al Quatro Formaggi

Frittura Mista

the slice before the rest

Medaglioni di Maiale Pancetta

Bummer! They ran out of gnocchi. It was the thing that I wanted to have from here. What I liked about their gnocchi was that they were pan fried. That got them crusty before their rich four cheese sauce came into play. So we ended up with their pappardelle which was not bad at all. Thick cut and not over cooked.

The Parma ham on their pizza were sliced thicker than I remembered them. Could hardly eat the pizza without pulling most of the ham off. It was nice (also a tad pricier than most places) but not as memorable as the previous time I had them. Those fried prawns that came with the calamari weren't anything to be excited about.

What was also good were the pork fillets. Thick hearty chunks of pig (tenderloin) wrapped in more pig (bacon) in a brown sauce. Couldn't tell what was that sauce but it was nice.

This place was old school and also no frills which I liked. Discounting one particular service staff that had a smile that I found a little disquietly disturbing.

Japanese sweet potato jelly cakes from Isetan

Got a box of them from one of the Japanese fairs over at Isetan during the weekends. I'm not sure why these things are called sweet potato jelly cakes since they don't resemble jellies in taste nor in appearances in any way. The textures of these things felt like reconstructed steamed sweet potatoes that are chilled. It was as if cooked sweet potatoes were mashed, mixed with something sweet (just sugar maybe) and then packed back into these bricks. Despite finding them a little too sweet for my usual liking, they were quite addictive. There was a nice flavour from the sweet potatoes as well. I guessing that there wasn't much other ingredients that were used to make them.