Ordering in from Le Fusion

I haven't heard of Le Fusion (80 Mohamed Sultan Road) until I stumbled upon their deal recently. Their braised abalone seafood rice was going for $19.90 instead of the usual price of $38 if you ordered from them via Whatsapp. I thought why not and also got myself an order of sweet and sour pork with lychee to along.

The seafood and rice was packed separately from the gravy - gravy that had a prawn-y flavour which was kinda nice. Not as intense as the gravy from the poached rice from Da Shi Jia for sure. Portion was pretty big. The seafood came in large chunky pieces and was pretty impressive looking. Mussels, large prawns, squid, abalone, scallops, some fried fish hidden from sight and a mushroom. And three stalks of vegetables.

We had ordered two servings. One was enjoyable. Can't say that I was impressed by the quality of seafood from the second. Not the chewy mussels or prawns (not de-veined, yikes!). The latter had that little chalky mouthfeel and lacked the firmness and/or bounce one usually associated with fresh prawns. Abalone was a little tough.

For some reasons I found the sauce from their lychee sweet and sour pork very addictive. Perhaps it was because it had a fruity sweetness that wasn't cloying. The pieces of fried pork were no longer crisp but I suspect their rendition was either one that never had very crisp fried pork or one that turned soggy pretty fast. That aside, it wasn't a bad rendition at all. Love their seared lychee for its warm citrus sweetness.

Tori karaage bento from Menya Kokoro

I ordered this delivery bento imagining that I would be getting the same "muscular" tori karaage like we had previously eaten at their shop. Unfortunately not. While they were still as delicious, they were also much smaller. Small enough that you could pop them into a mouthful if you tried. #disappointedmuch

Rice was dry. Leeched of the fluffy texture that I had at least hoped to get. What's up with those tiny tamagoyaki slices? Will be the last time I'm getting these for sure.

Wagyu txuleta burger sets from Basque Kitchen by Aitor

I was intrigued by the txuleta (pronounced choo-letah) that was mentioned for these burgers from the one Michelin starred Basque Kitchen by Aitor (97 Amoy Street). Txuleta in a nutshell are older cows - aged between 3 and 18 years old from what I've read that are reared in the Basque region which purports a more intense beefy flavour in the meat.

So is wagyu Txuleta what I think it is or is it something else? Anyways I decided to splurge to see if it was good.

Pretty and nicely constructed between brioche. Flavour was not bad actually. I got the beefiness but a couple of things didn't work for me. The sauce - I don't what it was made of but there was a tanginess which reminded me of the "Thousand Island-esque" concoctions. Once I had gotten beyond the lightly crusty edges of the burger, I though that the sauce was too much and was contending with the flavour of the beef.

Definitely not the first time I'm wondering why kitchens sauce up supposedly better quality meat that they're selling.

The other thing was - I got a chunk, not sure how a chunk came forth minced meat, of very chewy...part I couldn't tear with my teeth after some effort. Too big to swallow. I had to spit it out.

The first comparison that came to mind for the burger was with the Smash Burger at Employees Only. Rather instinctively I would say. That was a better experience and one that was less expensive. $24 for 2 versus $78 for 2.

This came with dessert. Guanaja chocolate custard - kinda like mousse with dark chocolate/salted caramel pearls. Not bad. Tasted a little coconut-y though.

More fruits

Rock melon from supermarket. Not bad.

Home delivery from Maddie's Kitchen

We ordered in a bunch of stuff we liked from Maddie's Kitchen when we were eating there previously. Like their beef tenderloin black bean sauce hor fun with gravy that was packed separately. This dish survived delivery quite well. As delicious as I remembered it. 

Their Hainanese pork chop rice has the option of having the curry packed separately. Which was ideal if you wanted some crisp to still remain on those tasty pork chops by the time they get delivered to you. Very nice.

Batang soup with additional red garoupa meat.

Spuds and chicken of the sea

Made with ingredients that we had around in the house. A couple of Russets, Ayam Brand tuna, butter, pepper, salt and roughly chopped spring onions. Simply and tasty.