Nibble & scribble

Craving Chirashi

2009-10-24T17:15:00.005+08:00

Oh how I badly wanted to eat this today but I couldn’t get anyone to meet me for lunch and I had all these groceries and marketing to get done today. This was the last bowl of Chirashizushi that I had and possibly the best one this year. The chef’s choice for this bowl had lovely nuggets of abalone “skirt”, marinated pieces salmon, tuna, scallop, topped with uni, ikura and something that I fell in love with at Mizutani - tamago castella. Why didn’t anyone tell me earlier that they were topping their chirashis with tamago castella?!

Aoki
1 Scotts Road #02-17
Shaw Centre
Tel : 63338015

Taste Paradise, Expanded

2009-10-12T23:48:00.004+08:00

My memories of Taste Paradise are good. A standout dish that I remember is XO carrot cake which has now been proudly claimed by Taste paradise in the menu now as Taste Paradise XO carrot cake. So when a representative of Taste Paradise reached out to me, I was curious to know if it was still as good as I remembered it.

Taste Paradise ION looks different from its original one at Temple Street. The dragon inspired gold ceiling feature, the paintings of the emperors and rich colour palette that invokes opulence. No expense was spared, no detail overlooked - gold leaf ceiling feature, hand picked fine porcelain, tableware and chairs, the custom made menus… It is a little over the top but I still like it to a certain extent. Much like the ION building itself, it is not my favourite style but at least it is something interesting to look at.

The new menu here is longer. It now does dim sum lunch and I anticipate that it will continue to grow to incorporate other new dishes that they continue to innovate and reinterpret classics. One of the reinterpretation that we tasted was the Peking duck served with a their very own formulated rice roll, an interesting alternative that is equally smooth but add more of a bite as a opposed to the regular crepe.

Part of the new dim sum menu is their lux version of the xiao long pao – steam shanghai pork dumplings with foie gras. It is a juicy morsel, most of the foie melts in the heat so, don’t lose your soup! Following that was another foie gras number, this time pan-fried foie gras with Peking duck reduction, very rich and a cute celebration of the duck on the plate.

Their classic shark’s fin soup that can be enjoyed as a green version comes seething on a Japanese stone pot and accompanied with a lengthy crispy spring roll that is to be dipped into the soup. The hot idea of the stone pot, I love; the crispy spring roll, I’m not such a fan, too much of a distraction for me.

What we had last of the savouries, braised vermicelli topped with simmered crab meat, was my favourite. Deceptively simple looking, the delicate strands noodles were coated gorgeously with wok hei and a gentle sweetness from the crab, delightful mouthfuls and this is just me, but I like it with drizzle of vinegar.

The dessert was surprising, the winning factor that gave them the winning edge was their cloudlike bun that encased the salted egg yolk custard, think soft and imagine softer. a nice concluding note.

Taste Paradise at ION Orchard
2 Orchard Turn
#04-07 ION Orchard
Tel: 6509 9660

Middle Road Pork Ribs Prawn Mee

2009-09-27T13:18:00.002+08:00

I was excited about having lunch here since and tried to like it. We ordered and waited twenty minutes so when the soup bowl of piggy parts appeared, I was ready to dig in.

It was a tad disappointing. The soup was lackluster and flat but the saving grace was the perfectly cooked liver but really other than that, this was really letdown.

Middle Road Pork Ribs Prawn Mee
16 Sam Leong Road
Tel: 62924870

Let's Eat in Paris, Quick!

2009-09-25T20:33:00.011+08:00

Quick and easy, good eats that can be done on the run.

Jabugo Iberico & Co serves happy hams. The happiest and tastiest of them all, the black Iberian pigs that roam in oak forest and eat acorns are happy pigs. We dropped in for a plate of delicioso of ham and bread that we dipped in their gorgeous homemade garlicky tomato spread. Simple. Awesome. Not technically not eat and run, but they should do take away!

A falafel from L'As du Falafel is one of those non-French but very Parisian food that everyone should eat. Light, crisp and fluffy falafels are the best I’ve had; and the eggplant that jammed into the pita bread is really good too. Seating is available but somehow I prefer to eat my falafel standing or walking.

Plenty plenty plenty to eat here, their tarte au citron was noted in Figaro's best of Paris at no.4 and umami swears and cherishes the apple tarts when they are in season. A great bakery with too many edible treats, not one for sweets I passed on those, but as was led to their gougeres which I agree, are amazing.

Jabugo Iberico & Co
11 rue Clément Marot, 75008 Paris

L'As du Falafel
34 Rue des Rosiers, 75004 Paris

Secco
20 Rue Jean Nicot, 75007 Paris

The Croissant Diet

2009-09-25T17:26:00.002+08:00

After days in Paris stuffing myself with croissants and pain au chocolat that were gloriously washed down with espresso and apple juice, I think I’m ready for a lighter diet. I ate them walking out of the store, walking on the street, at the breakfast table, in the middle of the night when I woke up starving, on the plane, on the train, under arcs crumbing on my book; I’m all buttered up.

Unfortunately not all Parisian croissants are made equal. But with that said, part of being a good cook is being a good shopper, start with good ingredients and half the battle is won; and France has great butter. The croissant is simple, 2 main components: dough and butter; but the beauty and difficulty many fold. Folded and folded in a precise manner to hold the butter and to create the distinct layers, if done right and with delicious creamy butter the result is an ethereal light pastry that is crisp and flaky that is at the same time buttery and rich. And sometimes I like mine with a little chocolate but this diet for me is really unsustainable, I love the way it licks on my lips but damn the way it sits on my hips.

Tasted & liked:

La Boulangerie Julien
Invalides, Paris
85 rue Saint-Dominique, 75007 Paris

Ladurée
Champs Elysées
75 Avenue des Champs Elysées, 75008 Paris

Lunch Specials

2009-08-24T22:40:00.003+08:00

Of all the sushi places, my favourite to have lunch at is Sushi Yoshida. Prices on the menu are represented nett so it saves you a small headache from the post lunch bill calculation. This is my favourite chirashi place and the icing on the cake for me about having lunch here is dreamy onsen tamago that kicks of the meal.

Hot foie gras jelly topped wild mushroom fricassee under buckwheat brioche crust and black truffle coulis at Jaan

Lunch at Jaan is what I call Jaan made more affordable. Priced higher in relativity to most set lunches in the city, it’s still a really great place to have lunch – dining with a view, quality service and extremely stylish and gratifying food. The foie gras with wild mushrooms bowl that I had during my last lunch there was deliciously awesome.

Onglet Steak with shallots and garlic confit served with French fries at Au Petit Salut

Although having lunch at Au Petit Salut’s either requires a car, a taxi ride or a bus ride and small hike making it slightly less accessible than its former location; their winning formula of classic simple bistro fare priced rightly lunch menu still fill their lunch tables. My favourite thing to have here is the onglet steak with shallots and garlic confit served with French fries.

I first ate at Tenshin six months ago and beware, it is dangerously addictive. I have been back there five times. The mini kaiseiki is the best way to lunch there, if not I’ve sort of invented my own set lunch – a tempura set with an ‘upgrade’ of scattered rice.

I think “Let’s do lunch” is probably one of my favourite three-word phases.

Sushi Yoshida
10 Devonshire Road
Tel: 6735-5014

Jaan
2 Stanford Road
70F Swissotel
Tel: 6837-3322

Au Petit Salut
40C Harding Road
Tel: 6475 1976

Tenshin
1 Cuscaden Road
The Regent
#03-01
Tel: 6735 4588

Sushi Mizutani: Gaining perspective on Sushi and Tamagos

2009-07-26T18:00:00.001+08:00

Not all tamagos are made equal. If there was a standard for tamago, there should be one for all the tamagos I’ve eaten and then there is Mizutani’s. It defies being a regular tamago and it is really a cut about the rest – rich, sweet, eggy and almost custardy – trust me, you’ll want more than a piece and will go back just for seconds.

When it comes to sushi, there are no real measures. No cookbook can tell you how much wasabi to put in a sushi; the parallel measure to that is a pinch of salt – how much? That really translates as: unless you know, you won’t really know. Neither would the book tell you about how much rice. The rice is a delicate balance and for each piece to have a consistent mouth-feel. That’s craft.

Why knife skills matter? It isn’t just how sharp your knife is but also your relationship and knowledge of the muscular structure of the fish or sea treasure that matters. With every slice, there are choices – how thick, what angle? Why it matters? Because it just does; because it can change everything. Abalone sushi to me has always been on a chewy rubbery side but here, Mitzutani slices at a calculated thickness and this transforms it from rubbery to crunchy – amazing, I’ve never had abalone sushi like this.

Now I think I understand. This is the art of sushi. This is sushi Mizutani.

Sushi Mizutani
Seiwa Silver Building B1F
9-2-10 Ginza, Chou-ku
Tokyo,Japan
+81-3-3573-5258

Killer Style Teppanyaki

2009-07-18T09:44:00.005+08:00

My memories of Teppanyaki are family dinners. For some reason there was a period when I was less than three-feet tall that we used to have weekend dinners at this particular Teppanyaki shop that now closed. And then, since the proliferation of the quick and dirty version of teppanyaki at food courts and I haven’t been to a teppanyaki for a long long time.
There is so much beauty in the simple things.

I’m a big believer of simplicity, pure simplicity. And here, they keep it simple. Very simple – quality ingredients treated with the highest respect (excellent knife skills are a pre-requisite).

As with a lot of eating that we did in Tokyo, there was a close physical proximity to the man that prepares your food. The chefs here have their personal groove; they work with the hot plate and they do things well. Part of the experience is the dramatized cooking, a little flame a little steam and a “smell-track” that is designed to whet your appetite.

Our order included both surf and turf – both exceptional, so if budget and diet permits – have both. The cooking here is cone with commitment and integrity. After the live prawn are presented, they slide onto the hot plate and are gently held down, then deftly beheaded, shelled and de-veined. Special attention is given to everything. Care is taken to flatten the tail shells, removing the unsavoury bits from the head and then coated in oil and left to fry up to a crisp. Head to tail eating. Yum, the crunch and the intense flavours that were concentrated at these extremes were even better than the sweet crunchy flesh. A little salt, some heat and a fresh piece of sweet flesh and all carefully orchestrated on the shiny hot plate – so deliciously simple.

Teppanyaki Akasaka
Tokyo Zennikku Hotel 37F,
1-12-33 Akasaka,
Minato-ku, Tokyo
Tel: +81-03-3505-1437

The Skinny on Skinny Pizza

2009-07-03T23:03:00.004+08:00

The Skinny Pizza to me isn’t pizza.

It looks like a pizza but it sure doesn’t taste like one and thankfully is a fad that has not taken over all the pizzerias. I had the Ah Taki Tuna Skinny at Barracks that promised much but really it was more like tuna salad (tasted ok) served on an edible cracker plate. Sure it was skinny and yes it made a wonderful crack and snap but it was also too crispy and hollow to be a good honest pizza dough. I’ll vote for thin crust –crispy and tender- any day!

20 Bites of Tokyo

2009-06-28T17:11:00.007+08:00

1. Kyubei, Ginza

Established in 1936 and probably the most famous of the Michelin starred sushi places; Kyubei is a place where you come for a good sushi, sample a part of sushi history and pay respects to the inventors of the gunkan sushi.

2. Random Izakaya under the tracks, Akihabara
Cute mother and son team, a totally random find but fabulous.

3. Sushizanmai, Akihabara

“Sushi Galore” which was incidentally was offering specials for different cuts of tuna for the day – maguro, otoro, chutoro, aburi toro - we glossed the laminated menu and settled for a self-designed “maguro zanmai” and a little bit more.

4. Jangara Kyushu Ramen, Akihabara

The pitter patter weather made it perfect for a hot bowl of ramen but that also meant standing in line huddled under a transparent umbrella, which really is no fun. Squashed up next to otakus in the shoebox sized shop is also half the experience of noisily slurping down the thin noodles and drinking hot rich tonkotsu spiked with mentaiko and laced with oil.

5. Beef Rice Bowl, Akihabara
Exit from Jangara Kyushu Ramen and take 15 steps in the left diagonal direction and have a gratifying beef rice bowl which I’m convinced was my eating companion’s obsession during our entire trip in Tokyo – sometimes measuring our tax refunds in units of beef rice bowls.

6. Freshness Burger, Akihabara
Made with nature friendly ingredients and fresh ingredients – we had the classic WW burger, double patty with the cheese and the works. Amongst others, they serve a spam burger, how does that ties in with the freshness philosophy?

7. ANA Akasaka Teppanyaki, Akasaka

Fantastically fresh seafood and scrumptious fatty beef cooked in a highly stylized manner that is designed to titillate your appetite. Really really awesome.

8. Jou mon, Ropponggi

Other than me being mildly obsessed with one of the waiter’s really cute fish motif shirt, the whole experience here is fantastic. The shelves and bar top is lined with shochu jars and bottles of sake and the menu is extensive. We ate for hours and went through sticks and stick of yakitori along with mimigar, homemade tofu, ramen and washed it all down with sake and grapefruit sours.

9. Caplis Royal

If you love Calpis, think rich creamy Calpis. Yum.

10. Tenfusa, Tsukiji

Tsukiji, even when you grumpily drag yourself out of bed in at 4ish in the morning with your eyelids half open, you'll eventually get over it and be glad to you got up, it an awesome awesome place. The amazing natural beauty in the colours, shapes and sizes that the ocean surrenders to us is so beautiful and everything looks oh so delicious. You can spend hours exploring, gawking and being trigger happy in this market and once you get hungry there are the looong snaking queues at Sushi Dai and Sushi Daiwa or if you can’t wait in line, our greasy alternative of tempura in the corner store and a wake me up coffee and jam toast in the cafe.

11. Robuchon at Ropponggi
Good but disappointing.

12. Aoki Sadaharu

13. Kuon, Ebisu

Raw pig liver anyone?

14. Random Soba

15. Midori Sushi, Shibuya

Let’s face it, Midori has kickass value bites. Sit in line for a while but the sushi platters are true to its motto of being of high quality and of good value. The platters are fabulous and it being the uni season, an uni each – so that we won’t fight but what I really liked was the aburi platter.

16. Pap House, Shibuya

Hand picked beef and only marbling score 10; the beef here is sweet fatty beef. Hear the sizzle, witness the rising flames as the fat drips and onto charcoal, smell the sweet fat and then taste the good cow’s life.

17. Mizutani Sushi, Ginza
Here I rediscovering the art and craft of sushi and that not all tamago-s are made equally – there are tamago-s and then there is mizutani’s tamago.

18. Sweet Potato Agemanju & Tempura, Asakusa

The more important reason why we went to Asakusa.

19. Okonomiyaki

20. First Kitchen, Akihabara
Tokyo on a budget? Fast food but not necessarily bad food, their mentaiko pasta goes down easy and the chicken wings are supposed to be good.

Keep Stirring

2009-06-11T23:00:00.002+08:00

“These days, one of the most important stages of making a risotto is considered to be the mantecatura, which comes from the Spanish word for butter, mantequilla. It means the beating on of butter and cheese right at the end of cooking, to give the risotto that fantastic creaminess.”

- Giorgio Locatelli, Made in Italy

I love this book. It is so generous and honest in wanting to pass on the knowledge that Locatelli has acquired over the years. I haven’t read it from cover to cover but I’ve read sections of it and reading the risotto section made me feel loved. As result, I've been trying to pass on that love and I’ve been stirring a lot of risotto. I’m still learning about it.

Risotto is a beautiful thing. The sheer simplicity of it demands that you pay attention to the quality of ingredients and patience that you invest in the process. You can’t rush it; you have to coax it gently with your wooden spoon, slowly encouraging each grain to soak in as much it can manage.

I’d admit risotto seems intimidating but it really isn’t. You need to keep stirring but can blink and you can even walk away from the pot for a brief period and it’ll forgive you. But if you need to keep your dinner guest occupied, standing conversation around the pot with people taking turns at stirring works as well.

Is there a real technique behind the stirring? I don’t know. Someone said we could only stir in one direction for a reason I cannot remember. Someone else advised, we should stir in a figure 8, I have tried both of that and stirring in both directions and I don’t see any major differences. At least I think the risotto turned a blind eye to my inconsistencies.

And for a dish that has intimidated many, it is ironically something that is very adaptable, you can put anything in it – there are plenty of variations in the book but the for the last risotto I stirred, I used Locatelli’s basic risotto recipe and added roasted butternut squash – delicious!

Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto
Serves 6

Ingredients
1 butternut squash
1 tablespoon olive oil
2.5 litres vegetable stock
50 g butter
1 onion, very finely chopped
400 g Arborio rice
125ml dry white wine
75g cold butter, cut into cubes
100g Parmesan, grated
salt and pepper

Method:

Slice squash in half, remove seeds, and rub with olive oil. Roast face-side down in a 180 degree Celsius oven for 40-45 minutes or until tender when pierced.
Scoop out the flesh and mash and set aside.
Melt the butter in a heavy-based casserole over medium heat. Add the onion and cook very slowly for 5-7 minutes until soft.
Add the rice and stir for a few minutes until heated through and well-coated with the butter.
Stirring continuously, add the white wine and cook for a few minute to allow the alcohol to evaporate.
Add a ladleful of hot stock and stir until absorbed. Continue to add the stock a ladleful at a time, stirring continuously, until all the stock is absorbed - about 15-17 minutes. When cooked, the rice should tender but firm in the centre.
Stir butternut squash then leave to stand for 1 minute.
Add butter and Parmesan, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. Season to taste and serve.

City Girl Grows Urban Sprouts

2009-05-16T15:15:00.002+08:00

Up to two and a half months ago, I had never planted a thing in my life. Never. Ok, granted I had to grow a few bean sprouts for science class in school on cotton pads but other than that, nothing else.

And then occasionally I come up with half crazy ideas like owning an organic vegetable farm but thankfully my friends keep me grounded and reminded me that I really haven’t grown anything in my life, so really a farm is quite a far fetched idea. Ok, so I’m not going to own a farm and the concrete-grass ratio where I live is not in my favour, so the only real city-friendly alternative for now is container gardening.

This is part of my starter garden. Ok, so it really isn't a garden. It is more like a collection of containers. Small ones, round ones, large ones and ugly ones. In them I have planted cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, coriander, beans, carrots and rocket. On the surface it seems easy, grab a pot, pour in some soil, plant the seeds according to the directions at the back of the packet, give it some water, sunshine and talk to them occasionally. Technically it almost seems as easy as following the directions on the flip side of a Betty Crocker mix but in reality there are all these other variables that you don't even think about.

And here’s how it all started. I tried to buy the best compost I could get my hands on which means, having some humility and going to the nursery and having to ask silly questions like, “I need to buy some soil. I’m planting some vegetables and I want them to grow tall, strong and tasty, what do you recommend?”

With some soil, some seeds, sunshine and water, I’ve managed with varied success. Some of my plants have been consumed by aphids and some died for reasons unknown to me. But the ones that survived and the ones that grew into delicious end products that made the whole trying process worth it. Now I can proudly snip some rocket or some basil from my containers and in a few months let’s hope I’ll have some tomatoes.

I love vegetables and I love salads; growing my own vegetables, I think is a fabulous idea. Firstly, I can plant my vegetables organically. Secondly, I feel like I’m eating more responsibly – in a minor way, I have reduced my carbon footprint because when I really think about it, the earthbound organic salad leaves that I constantly consume is flown in from across the world and there is something not very earth friendly about that. And really, this is as fresh as it gets.

Fingers crossed, I’ll have some juicy tomatoes soon.

Back on the Italian Trail: Garibaldi’s New Menu

2009-04-26T23:47:00.003+08:00

I haven’t been to Garibaldi’s in a while and was hardly a regular there but perhaps that is about to change.

With the recession and some love from the restaurants with their shrunken prices I feel a little encouraged to dine out and to visit places that are not on the usual eat list.

Garibaldi’s has launched a new menu. What’s new? More pastas and risottos at more accessible prices; with the expansion of these sections of the menu, it is big and it reads well.

Some of the new choices read beautifully - Homemade Noodles with Slow Cooked Castricum Lamb Ragout and Dried Ricotta, Homemade Crab Meat Tortelli with Mussels, Zucchini and Saffron Sauce and Homemade Pasta Tubes stuffed with Wagyu Beef, Cheese Sauce and Leeks Confit – a combination of luxurious comfort and elegance, it is tempting to slowly eat through this section of the menu. The Trenette with Sardinian Vongole and Grey Mullet Roe in White Wine Sauce was a kicked up version of a classic vongole – strictly speaking, the bottarga is not necessary but a wonderful addition to elevate it and to set it apart.

Moving further down the menu, the risotto menu is the largest I’ve ever seen. Risotto with something from the land or the sea, they’ve got most of the bases covered. Even if you didn’t want to eat a risotto, you’ll be tempted to. One of the new additions that was something that I wanted to try even though I’m not a big fan of carbonara was their risotto carbonara. Seriously, a risotto carbonara – served with parma ham. The only carbonara that I really eat now at this point in time is one with a poached egg. I’ve tasted this carbonara and I think it is an interesting idea. It taste like it but different, it tastes good and is fun to eat but if I had to choose between the two forms, I think I chase the twirl in my fork because combining the desired creamy risotto texture with an already relatively rich, I could only stomach a limited number of spoonfuls.

Whilst the other sections of the menu have expanded as well, it is the expansion of the comfort carbs that sit closest to my heart. That in my books translates simply: I can go in for a plate of delicious comfort plate in some of my favourite forms and pair that with something from the other sections and I’m can be a happy camper.

Garibaldi
36 Purvis Street
#01-02
Tel: 6337-3770

Once again: Chicken & Paprika

2009-04-11T23:25:00.002+08:00

I’ve put them together again, chicken and paprika. I think I’ve found a slightly better combination though. Chicken, paprika and chorizo; this trumps the first recipe I worked on. After making this about three times for different crowds, I’m convinced this is a winner. Maybe chorizo will be my new bacon, smoky and paprika included!

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 chorizo, sliced into 2-cm thick coins
8 chicken thighs
2 red onions, peeled and chopped
8 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
15 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 rounded tablespoon paprika
90 ml shao hsing wine
6 sprigs of thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat olive oil in a heavy based pan or Dutch oven and brown chorizo and set aside.
Using the same pan, brown the chicken pieces until the skin is golden brown. Remove and set aside. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of oil and discard excess.
Sweat onions and garlic in the pan for about 3 minutes and then add the paprika and tomatoes and fry for another minute.
Add shao hsing wine and deglaze, scrapping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
Add chorizo, chicken and thyme into the pan. Add water until it comes up to the halfway point of the chicken. Bring to a boil and then braise for 90 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Eggs&Eggs&Obsessions

2009-04-10T16:01:00.002+08:00

I don’t know what it is or how it happened but I love eggs. When I read a menu and I see poached egg, usually everything else fades into the background. When I’m seated at the sushi counter and I spy a block of tamago, I'll have to have a piece or when there is an onsen tamago on the menu, I’ll have an order of that too please, thank you.

mentaiko tamago

Then there is something about an egg and egg combination that is classic and more seductive – I keep thinking about the cover picture Jean-Georges Vongerichten Simple to Spectacular cookbook of his signature egg caviar dish. Over dinner last week, I discovered another egg on egg combination that I loved – Mentaiko Tamago. I had this at Mimigar last week and it was perfectly satisfying. The tamago wasn’t too sweet or too greasy but moist and deliciously punctuated with the tang and distinct mentaiko flavour. I think they should put this on the regular menu.

Mimigar
1 Nanson Road,
#01-08, Gallery Hotel
Tel: 6235-1511

Revisiting some Italians

2009-03-27T23:29:00.005+08:00

Over the past months and few weeks, I’ve been doing ‘comfort’ eating. I’ve been eating at familiar places and in particular I’ve been eating at the same Italian places. Whilst I love trying somewhere new, sometimes nothing beats knowing exactly what you are going to get even before you open the front door of the restaurant. Here’s the rundown.

Valentino's

I’ve been back for three different types of sittings in the past few months. Once for a no-holds-carbs-evening-out with the girl friends, second for a private party for a friend who turned the big three-O and lastly for a lazy Saturday lunch. And on all three occasions and after all these years, I still think the food and the ambience is amazing. Have a bowl of pasta, split a pizza, nibble on the menu seasonal anchovies or settle down with the grilled to perfection steak Florentine (this is really awesome!), you can’t go very wrong.

Buko Nero

I have been a bit of a manic with this hole in the wall. After my first meal there, I made sure I had a table for every month of the year. I’ve dined there with all sorts of permutations. A table for two, three, four, five and six persons but I’ve never eaten there by myself. I’ve had their set lunches, the set dinners, the daily special pastas, the regular menu, ordered my own and nibbled at other people’s courses, ordered almost half the menu and sharing it and after all that experimenting, I’ve settled for my own ‘menu’ – a soup (either the soup that is on the board or the default porcini mushroom soup laced with truffle oil), a pasta (a toss up between the specials, default choice of spicy prawn spaghetti and the other rival pasta on the printed menu) and a serving of ham and cheese crostinis to share. Dessert is optional. The rational behind my mania: I like what they do and I like what it stands for: small, intimate and food made with love. There are some things that sometimes irritate me, in particular the long almost irrational waiting time between courses, but I overcome that with good company and some patience.

Da Mario's

Since it’s re-opening on the opposite side of its original location, I’ve been there three times on three consecutive weeks and I’m very sad to report that Da Marios has lost its ‘al dente’ touch. Visit after visit was a downhill tumble, and so I don’t think I’m going back for a long long while. On my first visit, we were served tepid appetizers and limp pastas and the waiter almost looked shocked at my replied, “to be honest, the soup was under seasoned and tasteless and the courses were tepid” to his question on how our appetizers were. After our pastas, I decided that my dessert allowance was better spent elsewhere (even though I remember that they have a gorgeous tiramisu). On my second visit, my pasta was still too soft but the bruchetta gave me a slight glimmer of hope. On my third and final visit for this year, our pastas were still limp but I had the wisdom to stay away from the capellini that was close to gloppy on my first visit and to stick with its fatter and flatter cousins – spaghetti and linguini – but they were still cooked beyond the point of al dente. I can’t figure it out. Are they cooking these to ‘Asian noodle’ standards? Why can’t I get some al dente pasta here? But maybe there is a way around it, I can tell them to undercook my pasta and it might turn out ok but seriously, I trust not the service here - on my third and possibly my last visit, a seemingly innocent request to get our bread warmed, where I was left irritated with the stupid answer they gave me and cold bread and was the final straw. This was third time, not so lucky and I’ve had it here.

Valentino's
11 Jalan Bingka
Tel: 6462-0555

Buko Nero
126 Tanjong Pagar Road
Tel: 6324-6225

Da Mario’s
60 Robertson Quay
The Quayside #01-05/06
Tel: 6235-7623

Tenshin: An Art Mastered

2009-03-16T23:17:00.016+08:00

I have a deep fear of deep fat frying and most frying for that matter. A pot of hot fat coupled with my usual sense of clumsiness, are a bad combination together. As a matter of fact, I just managed to land a few splutters of hot oil yesterday and so I’m nursing some burns. And so, with regards to cooking, I love most of it but if someone else could do the frying for me, please be my guest.

Tenshin I would say is a confident restaurant. In this age where we praise super foods and organic, deep fried is generally relegated to bad food; you have to be really confident that what is served is top quality deep fried food that has nothing to do with the greasy tag that can make you feel sick in the stomach.

Here frying is an art form. The work is hot, intense and precise. It starts with a basket of fresh ingredients that are then lightly coated with a barely there tempura batter. Working in pairs behind the copper shield the tempura masters swiftly drop the ingredients into the hot oil and then pulled up at an exact moment and then instantly set in front of you. Each item so perfectly fried. Hot, light and crispy and integrity of the ingredient preserved through the cooking process that allows you to taste its absolute essence - I don’t think I had ever really tasted a matsutake till I ate at Tenshin: I could almost taste and imagine the earth that it grew in.

Seasoning is left up to you. Sea salt or flavoured salts – curry, green tea – or swish your tempura around in tempura sauce with grated daikon. And then wash all the goodness down with hot tea, this helps to aid the digestive process.

Bits and pieces of my lunch:

The mini kaiseki set that consisted of a salad, a sashimi plate, tempura of three types of seafood and three types of vegetables + separate order of uni, scattered tempura rice served with pickles and miso soup and dessert.

Tenshin
1 Cuscaden Road
Regent Hotel #03-01
Tel:6735-4588

Soup for the soul: s-o-t-o-a-y-a-m

2009-03-14T10:45:00.012+08:00

Chicken soup, essentially chicken bones and tough bits boiled with a permutation of vegetables and spices. Coloured with turmeric and spiked with a pounded melage of aromatics and spices, the Indonesian version is one of my favourites. This is one of my favourite things to eat in Bali – Soto Ayam from Made’s Warung. Their version is heavily flavoured and packs a small punch of heat. Stir it around with your spoon and scoop up the crunchy sprouts that lie beneath the vermicelli, it is all very good together.

Made's Warung
Jln. Seminyak,
Seminyak, Bali

Tippling Club: the good and the bad

2009-02-28T00:34:00.012+08:00

I like what they are doing at the Tippling Club. They are a breath of fresh air to our local dining scene with their sense of taste, modern techniques and interactive dining layout. And their cocktails are clever and sophisticated or as a friend of mine would describe as “a party at a high level”.

They initially only served dinner and post-dinner drinks and tapas but that proved to be too intimidating for many, including me, so they introduced lunch sets with a tagline that tried to demystify the notion that a meal at the Tippling Club was too expensive an experience for many and to perhaps quash the joke going around that it should be named the Rip off club. The lunch thing worked, priced at a more accessible level we managed to round up a group of five that were willing to try the Tippling Club.

The only drawback about lunch is that instead of the cocktails, which are really half the show, they don’t come with lunch but a unit of alcohol is allotted to all diners – choice between white and red but that issue can be easily solved by ordering your cocktails by the side. I’ve had lunch at the Tippling Club twice. They change the lunch menu on a monthly basis, making eating here on a regular basis possible without being bored. I adored eating here for a number of reasons.

One. The food is cleverly convivial. Their first offering was fizzy rum infused grapes. Bubbles are always fun. Charred peppers, which are given an extra charred dye by a squid ink batter and served with a soy sauce-based foam and eaten with these long pincers.

Two. The plating is stylish. The plates are a combination of many labour intensive intricate pieces pulled together.

Linguini Carbonara, wild mushroom puree, crispy bacon

Three. The combination of flavours and use of textures are inventive and imaginative. Foams and jellies – will, needless to say, appear on the plates but so will other surprising elements, so go with an open mind to be entertained and fed.

four textures of parmesan and rocket emulsion

whipped gorgonzola

Four. Their cheese courses are divine. On the first visit I had a whipped gorgonzola that was served with edible flowers, capers and broken pizza bread and on the second visit I had Parmesan in four ways and both were absolutely delicious.

Five. Cocktails. Two words, smoky bastard.

But for all the good things that are happening at this place, its Achilles heel will be spotty cooking that was sadly consistent on both visits – one dish was under salted, another was too salty and then very tragically my pasta was soft to the point of mush despite its beautiful appearance and wonderful flavours. I would love to continue supporting this place for its potential and what they do but a poor execution of a good idea is a culinary tragedy.

The Tippling Club
8D Dempsey Road, Singapore
Phone: 6475-2217
www.tipplingclub.com

Chasing duck tales in Bali

2009-02-12T21:21:00.007+08:00

I think I had forgotten how good duck could taste. I tried to give it up for a while because a diet stated forbidden me to eat duck, whatever screw that, duck is yum.

Bebek. I think the Indonesians have a cute name for the duck. Bebek. It has got a cute ring to it, no? Bebek bebek bebek. It is almost onomatopoeic. Believe me, I was trying not to eat duck, but that didn’t work. My resistance crumbled, the dishes sounded so good on the menu, bebek betutu and deep fried duck, the no-eating-duck plan was shelved till post-Bali.

One. Bebek betutu at Bumbu Bali, that was pre-ordered on the morning of our arrival, I expected to look a little more glamourous. Stripped of the banana leaves that cradled was our duck, there was our duck, the one that was rubbed with local spices and slow cooked for hours and hours. It was tender, very tender but I found too mildly flavoured despite the hours of stewing in spices. The pre-cursor to the arrival of the bebek betutu, the bebek soto was, however, delectable.

Two. Murni’s Warung in Ubud, one of the oldest restaurants in Bali, history is a testimony to itself. Its bebek betutu is tried and true, tender off the bone with a better distinct flavour, and no pre-ordering required!

Three. Deep fried duck at Bebek Bengil, the dirty duck diner. Maybe they should export this as a fast food. Balinese Fried Duck, and it will be commonly known as BFD. Deep fried chicken has had long success, so why not deep fried duck. And not just any deep fried duck but duck that have been sitting in marinade for 36 hours and then lowered into the deep fat fryer. Deep fried duck that is best eaten with hands. Finger licking good.

Bumbu Bali
Jalan Pratama, Tanjung Benoa,
P.O.Box 13 Nusa Dua 80363
Tel:+62-361-774502

Murni’s Warung
At The Bridge, Campuhan
Ubud, Bali
Tel: +62-361-975 233

Bebek Bengil Restaurant
(Dirty Duck Dinner)
Padang Tegal - Ubud
Tel: +62-361- 975 489

Smells aside, the braised pork rocks

2009-01-27T18:29:00.002+08:00

Ryoriya Sangokushi
30 Robertson Quay
#01-03 Riverside View
Tel: 6238 8962

Ok the place smells bad. One meal here and rest assured, the smell of food will linger and linger and will not go away. It’s Taiwanese and Japanese but to be honest, I’m confused I don’t really know what the theme is or is it really a cross between the two. But let’s put those things aside; let’s focus on the good things going on here – the casual home cooking. One good thing here which will probably make you ignore the horrible thought of smelling like food for the rest of the day is the small bowl of Taiwanese braised pork with rice – good comfort food, period.

Paprika

2008-11-22T09:50:00.002+08:00

I’ve recently fallen in love with paprika. I find myself unconsciously sprinkling it in more and more of my cooking – stews, whilst sautéing mushrooms, on potatoes, on chickpeas, on everything really.

Here’s one instance: I had an open bottle of Chardonnay, a chicken and a task to cook dinner. So whilst sweating down my onions, carrots, garlic and celery again I found myself reaching for the tin of paprika and sprinkling it as if it was my magic dust into the cast iron pot. It is great. Paprika rocks my world – maybe it is a cooking magic dust.

Paprika Chicken Stew
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 onions, peeled and chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 rounded teaspoon paprika
750 ml bottle of Chardonnay
3-4 rosemary sprigs
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy based pan and brown the chicken pieces until the skin is golden brown. Remove and set aside. Discard excess oil.
Heat remaining olive oil in a heavy based pan or a dutch oven and add carrots, onions, celery, garlic and paprika then slowly sweat vegetables until soft, about 4-5 minutes.
Add the whole bottle of wine, deglazing and scrapping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
Return the chicken to the pan. Add rosemary and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20-25 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

* Optional, you can further thicken or enrich the stew with cream and serve over rice, potatoes or noodles.

Cook to feed yourself and let the people come

2008-11-06T17:32:00.003+08:00

The Screening Room
12 Ann Siang Road
Tel: 6221-1694

I was part of the eating party that was hosted by the Screening Room, and to be honest I was very pleasantly surprised.

The food, I like very much. It was straightforward good tasting food. There were no foams, no jellies, no freeze blasted dehydrated ingredients, just good tasting well seasoned food.

This is a gastro-bar with a personality.

The philosophy behind the menu that is designed by Wayne Nish is simple: I cook for myself, this is what I like to eat and this is how my food soul is satisfied. Because of that I can sense a level of confidence and sincerity in the food that was served on the table.

His food is hard not to like. His raw plate, his own interpretation of sushi were a series of flavours that popped in your mouth and his steak, cooked the way he likes it, is something magnificent to chew on. And the cheese platter, a small but carefully selected and air freighted is thoughtful and a celebration of the art of cheese. For more details on the meal, read the other accounts here, here and here.

*All photo credits go to ivn, I shamelessly took his photos, thanks :) .

Women, cooking and traditions

2008-11-05T18:35:00.007+08:00

I stole away to India for a week for what I would call a time of life enrichment. When I left, I had plenty of good intentions of giving but I think I received more than I had set out to give.

For seven days I lived in a small town city called Pondicherry, which is about a 2.5 hour drive from Chennai – depending on traffic. The city, a former French colony, is home to one million inhabitants, so I imagine that this is small city in relative scale of India.

I explored parts of the city by foot, avoiding cows, goats, human traffic, motorcycles and bicycles but inevitable got hit by a cyclist – it was his fault, I stood completely still and he never stopped peddling – trying to absorb as much of the city as I could. Part of this experienced involved endless tasting of the varieties of muruku, hunting for a good samosa seller and scouting the local market.

Other than the city, I saw and listened to a lot in the kitchen with three women. I learnt about the hardships, struggles and realities in life. All the cooking that I tasted were cooked by mothers, women who cooked to feed their families and cooking methods and foods that have been passed down through their great grandmothers to their grandmothers to their mothers to them. The only thing about what I shall call heritage cooking is that learning through this method is that a lot of it is learnt through practice and time. Without written recipes that instruct accurate measurements, verbal instructions and a connection for food is all that you have to rely on. My lesson was simple. I wanted to learn to make chapatti. Perhaps I scandalized my host when I insisted that I wanted to help and I wanted to cook, but I put my foot down, “teach me” I said, “I want to learn how to make chapatti”.

Chapatti is actually really healthy. And whilst I was there it always was my preference over rice at the dining table. So since I was consuming so much of it, it seemed natural that I should learn how it is made. In addition to that, much like the skill of cooking rice, I noticed that the making of chapatti almost seemed like a necessary kitchen skill as I never spotted a chapatti store that is likened to out bread stores.

The process that I learnt from these three women is really simple but you have to be one with the dough. To feed six of us, I was given a small mount of atta flour/wholemeal flour that was liberally seasoned with salt and given the following instructions: add water, a little at a time until sufficient. So I followed, and this is what I’ve gathered, you add water, a little at a time, just enough to bind the dough and then knead until a smooth dough is formed and then rest the dough for 15 to 20 minutes if time permits. Following that, form and roll small balls – the size depends on your preference for petit or large chapattis. The next step is the rolling of the dough. This I feel is the most difficult portion. The pressure that is exerted on the dough is of utmost importance for a roundish chapatti – more pressure on one and less on the other. As you roll, “the dough will roll itself” that is to say, as you rock and roll and work your magic on the dough, the dough will naturally rotate and form a circle and this technique needs to be practiced, practiced and practiced. Should you choose to cheat, you can simple roll out the dough thinly and then trace the circumference of a plate with your knife. Once we’ve got the dough rolled out, heat a frying pan till very hot and then place your dough on it, flip it once when some bubbles form, then repeat the same process on the other side. On the third flip, start looking for the bigger bubbles and press down to push the air towards the centre of the chapatti or to areas which aren’t puffing up and rotate the dough as you do so, remember protect your hand with a dry cloth because steam is really hot. Once it is perfectly puffed, you are done. Transfer to a container that is lined with a dry cloth until ready to eat.

Chapattis for me was this. Returning to the basics of cooking and feeding on the memories of how their mothers used to make their chapattis, the beauty of my journey through chapatti (chit chat) making is that is that it is a celebration of a form of uncomplicated cooking and a connecting with the people and their way of life.

The sushi relationship

2008-10-27T12:37:00.003+08:00

Nogawa
100 Orchard Road, #03-25
Lobby Level, Le Meridien Singapour
Tel: 6732-2911

If I’ve learnt anything over the years of eating sushi is that sushi eating is an intimate relationship that you have to cultivate.

I don’t have any qualms about trying a new sushi restaurant but sometimes it is just easier to go to a place where the people know who you are, what you love and what you hate and are willing to accommodate you on the occasional unreasonable request. What more with sushi, where raw fish and strange and unknown ingredients are placed before. I feel that there must be a certain level of trust involved between me and the man behind the glass coffins of pristine fresh fish.

I have had the good fortune of meeting and building good relations with a couple of sushi chefs that have always taken good care about me. I have an annual date with Nogawa and after a few return visits I’ve developed a friendship with Chef Kelvin who works the counter. A friendly face and sweetness in character that comes through his food he has been good in feeding me.

Chef Kelvin has fed me well.

Thank you, it was yum.