Casa Vostra ending Year One

It's been about a year since Casa Vostra opened. Time sure flew by. The queue is still around. Some new stuff have come up on their menu.

Like braised beef cheeks flavoured with rosemary and pepper. Not bad tasting but wore its welcome quickly.

First year anniversary pizza featuring their wagyu bresaola. I was thinking that maybe more bresaola would be nice but after going through it, I was impressed by how much of the flavour came through with those slices.

Ravioli alla zucca was also new I think. Mini raviolis filled with pumpkin puree. We were tasting a lot of cheese and butter in this and lesser of the pumpkin. Not bad.

Today, we learnt that the menu allows an additional shot of espresso for their double shot espresso tonic. Nice.

KFC Breakfast Loaded Burger

Was thinking as I wrote if this post added to useless web clutter. But thank you posterity. Anyways, it's odd that the buns were cool for something assembled on order. Cool like "it wasn't microwaved long enough or at all" type of temperature. Tasted milky and cheap. Cheese wasn't melted as well. Loaded? I don't think they understand loaded. Well, another lesson learnt here.

A couple of fried rice from Sin Hoi Sai

Decently done preserved olive leaves fried rice from Sin Hoi Sai. Liked that the flavour of those olive leaves got through and the plate was not excessively greasy. There's sufficient salting which is something that shouldn't be understated. Some eggs and bean sprouts with spring onions inside as well. 

We were pleasantly surprised by their Yang Zhou fried rice. Came loaded with diced prawns and old school red dyed char siew and spring onions. Nice bit of smokiness and pretty savoury.

These two are worth coming back for.

Revisiting Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) @ Paragon

Trying new stuff, getting old stuff and discovering new fried rice at Paragon's Din Tai Fung.

First time trying their angled gourd and shrimp xiao long bao. The flavour in the soup was clean and sweet. Pretty lightweight compared with the regular ones that had rendered pork fat.

Pretty respectable prawn paste mid wings they do. The prawn paste wasn't as intense as say those from Sin Hoi Sai, but it's adequate and not shabby with chicken that's nicely fried. I liked that we could just slurp the meat off those bones easily.

Fried tofu with lotus roots and mushrooms seem new. Tasted kinda like how you think it would. I didn't like it because there's some Chinese celery (芹菜) in it.

Quietly, Din Tai Fung has also introduced black truffle fried rice in this outlet. Real shaven black truffle, no truffle oil. Which means while the flavour doesn't endure for long, it's not artificial. Actually, the ones at London Fat Duck and Tampopo felt like better eats. 

This steamed kaya buns were oddities. The menu mentioned Nonya kaya and it looked Hainanese. But it tasted like Nonya kaya. The brown stuff crusting the surface were coconut flakes.

ARTEASG, Raffles City

Noticed ARTEASG (#B1-04 Raffles City, 252 North Bridge Road) recently and destiny guided our feet into their shop. That cheesy mango drink was pretty heart clogging and cold.

Ok, not so much destiny than it was their wasabi fish roe egg tart that got me curious.

They were serious about the wasabi. It was a stronger hit that what I expected from an egg tart - not that I've ever had such an expectation before now. The tobiko came through too. Pretty unusual combination which was new yet familiar.

This was their mien mien ice (绵绵冰). This was the one with sea salt cheese and green grapes. Has the same cheese foam thing as the cheesy mango shake thingy on milky shaven ice topped with...ice cream? Kinda bingsu-ish. Buried at the bottom was purple rice. The grapes weren't as citrus-y as I imagined and I was imagining Shine Muscat because they looked like those.

One week later......

Love the bubbly lychee Americano. Tasted like it sounded - lychee sweetness with bubbles like razor down the throat in thick iced coffee. Nice.

Antioxidant cheese yoghurt with mixed berries. Salty cheese foam layered over berry flavoured yoghurt slushy thingy. Not bad. Kinda like ice blended Yakult with cream and salt.

Revisiting Shenton Way Golden Bridge Roasted Chicken Rice (珊頓道金橋燒臘雞飯)

Back at Shenton Way Golden Bridge Roasted Chicken Rice. So I noticed that the slices of char siew which I've gotten today didn't seem to taste as much of that fermented bean sauce as the last time. Guess it's luck of the draw kinda thing depending on how much marinate stuck to the portion that was sliced out.

Tender roast pork that was falling apart. The crackling was crispy. Can opt for chicken rice (油饭) with roast pork which was what we got today.

Breakfast at Chinatown

From Jia Ji Mei Shi.

Duck confit with blueberry sauce and kaya butter crispy bun from Tsui Wah (翠華)

The duck confit appeared on menu recently and I think it might be a limited time item. I thought it was nicely done. Crisp skin and tender meat that was adequately salted, pairing nicely with the sweet blueberry sauce and buttery mash.

The menu listed this as kaya condensed milk bun but what they were actually putting on plate was a half of that crispy bun with kaya and butter and the other half with condensed milk and butter. Would have been great if there was more kaya but I still liked it.

Don't their lamb chops just look great? Nice browning on the surface, arguably tender yet meaty at the same time and came with enough fat for those lamb-y flavours to shine. They're delicious.

Brunch at Wooloomooloo Steakhouse

First time brunching at Wooloomooloo Steakhouse. Four course menu which is kinda like a set lunch for weekends.

Nothing has changed with their onion focaccia. Still as nice with the butter.

Crustacean bisque was savoury sweet, creamy and had a bit of heat that trickled down the throat. There's some chopped prawns in it. Not bad.

Buttery egg & smoked mackerel tart which was delicious with the crème fraiche and sweet caramelised onions. There's a molten yolk egg in the middle to add to the richness. 👍🏼

Tuna tartare in goma dressing topped with tobiko in what appeared to be black sesame flavoured cones. Nice.

I saw someone with a Wooloomooloo double cheeseburger last time and thought it looked good. Got it with their secret sauce on the side. Meat's coarse ground/chopped and hefty with just smoked cheddar and house made lightly pickled cucumbers between buttered buns. Liked those fries. Someone thought this burger out well. Secret sauce was actually pretty good. Tasted Thousand Island-ish with mustard and diced pickles. Even enjoyed the ketchup. I could come back for this. 👍🏼

Lamb ragu linguine. Lamb flavour was in the tangy tomato ragu and the meat was chunky. Not bad at all.

Matcha yuzu gateaux. The yuzu came from the blob of crémeux on the side. Fragrant sesame tuile. Cake was basically matcha mousse. Also not bad.

Isn't a pavlova the Australian take on an Eton mess? Anyways, I liked this better than I imagined. There's raspberry compote with a light crunchy meringue holding chamomile Chantilly inside. Not excessively sweet so that scores.

Super Star K, Funan

The last time we were at Super Star K, I was pretty sure there wasn't kong guksu on menu. Apparently, there is now. At least there was for their branch at Funan (B02-22A/23 Funan, 107 North Bridge Road, tel : +65 6320 3813). Was happy with it and also glad that they served with sugar on the side without us having to ask for it. Note to self: We enjoyed their gogi mandus.

Cavern Restaurant, Rainforest Wild Asia

Cavern Restaurant is newly opened by the Tunglok Group at Rainforest Wild Asia (#02-32 Rainforest Wild Asia, 20 Mandai Lake Road, tel : +65 9853 7558). And yes, the cavern is obviously man made.

Food's decent. Had the burrata and heirloom beetroot salad with truffle honey which has a sweetness which I couldn't discern if it was from the honey or the beetroot. Cheese was nice but not the creamiest or milkiest I've had so I'm gonna call this not bad but also not great.

Burger's passable. Could tell it's beef but it lacked salt and char and considering that it says wagyu on the menu, the patty's kinda underwhelming. Otherwise not bad tasting. In retrospect, I'm pretty glad I got it sans sauce.