Sunday, October 25, 2009

Sultan Kebab, Inglourious Basterds, Food for thought

It was a Friday and after morning rounds we were supposed to attend happy flower's tut at 2pm but when we found out it was an invite to join another group (no need for so much vigorous thinking of ways out) and that my effort to ask around for other groups' happenings (another case presentation at 1pm) were to naught, we decided to head far away for lunch. Anyway the journey here was most roundabout. We thought of Whampoa Market again, but somehow we went to Little India - got lost, not finding the Tekka Market carpark and landing up instead at Mustafa, curse the one way roads, and cos the other car decided not to have lunch at Komala's and suggested a pay-as-you-deem-fit vegeterian place which didnt pick up calls, we landed at Sunshine Plaza where the Thai food was closed and finally we ended up walking over to Sultan Kebab (1 Sophia Road #01-15 Peace Centre). Hell of an unexpected journey.

What Kelly and I wanted to try was the beef kebab here, cos the first time we were here in the evening for dinner only the chicken was left - so we tried the chicken with rice and the iskender chicken. Hence this time, we tried the beef kebab roll - and it was lovely, with the tortilla being toasty and warm, with generous slabs of beef kebab. It seems really healthy though, with no compromise to taste - it was extremely tasty.

The iskender beef, on the other hand, packed even more beef on the plate - and is on a piece of toasted bread. If you eat it fast enough, you might be able to eat some toasted crusty bread before the sauce sogs it all up.
Along with some old school kacang in a cone from the uncle hawking outside...
We then walked over to Le Cafe Confectionery & Pastry (264 Middle Road Elias Building) to try the soya bean tarts - as strongly recommended by Dedrick who said that it was like a taste of heaven - and it seems popular for each customer was only allowed ONE box of eight tarts (preferbly to call before collection). They sell a range of pastries of which their pineapple tarts in the shape of golf balls seem to be most popular.


The soya bean tart was a contrast of textures - really smooth, wobbly silky soya bean custard on a hard buttery crust. It was almost as if the crust was premade and the custard was just poured in on order. There were other flavours for the soya bean egg tart and we'd love to try the grass jelly soya bean egg tart the next time round.
Kelly got innovative and cos we moved onto Rochor Original Beancurd (2 Short Street) for tauhuay later on, she scooped some of her tauhuay into the hard crust (after she sucked up all the original custard) and concluded her own invention was tastier! Note that the hot tauhuay here is much better than the cold (probably in storage for too long).
Looks like our CG mates were getting really too innovative. (and he was then having tauhuay-orrhoea through all the created orifices....gross) Marc's dad unknowingly finished this up when he saw this tart....lol ignorance is bliss..
Luckily I decided not to join any of the 2 tutorials cos they ended up being 1/2 hour apart from each other so decided to hurry to watch Inglorious Basterds with Kelly at the Cathy (yes this is a dated entry, this was way before surg started), and we were amazed by how sadist we were at the sadism. I mean, I was wincing from my behaviour. This movie comes in 5 parts, in each character's perspective and talks about how it all finally culminates in an act, which was reminiscent of War of the Worlds - this movie, if you are a movie buff, has plenty of references to other films, Quarantino style.
Introduced Kels to my new finding.....the Diet Cream Soda Root Beer is DAMN FRIGGIN AWESOME.
Tried the portuguese egg tarts at the Mooncake Festival at Takashimaya at this stall called Yah Weh Confectionary. This is almost like eating a sweet eggy curry puff for the crust was extremely flaky yet thick, and the custard itself was also blowtorched to form this lovely crust. The main outlet is at a really secluded place in Yishun so I guess this is the first and last time we're having this.
Took the train down to Raffles City cos we were still on a quest to find that kaya toast at Beach Road when we stumbled upon these creatures..... there are almost always strange walking advertisements around - the last time round we spotted naked people in cardboards advertising for Ikea.
Finally nailed down YY Ka Fei Dian (37 Beach Road). This is the row of shophouses along Beach Road that is behind Raffles Hotel, on the way to Shaw Towers. The teh ping (Kelly's) and my hot yuanyang was really shiok! They still use stockings to brew their coffee, no less.
Their kaya buns are just what you expect - lightly toasted, with steamy soft bread within. Not spectacular - for I think if I practise enough at home I can achieve this too! Note that they do not have the thin kaya toast here - if you want the flat bread its pretty much the normal Gardenia variety they use. Popped by the National Library again and managed 3 books - The Pig that wants to be eaten, Book of God and Physics, The Thing around your neck. I just finished the Hour i first believed... not great.
After the library visit, we went to Food for thought (420 North Bridge Road #01-06 North Bridge Centre) . I dined here with Matt and Chiara (desserts only), and subsequently Jillian (dinner - sandwich and soup set), so I roughly knew what I liked at this place. What I didnt try though during my previous visits, was this very interesting tomato garlic soup - this had a layer of olive oil atop the soup and when stirred around this was a symphony of all the condiments as mentioned, and was lovely with the chewy bread that was provided, which soaked up the soup very well.
The mushroom soup here didnt come with any cream, and you can taste the earthiness of the mushrooms in this soup.
We then had desserts - if you get a chance try the Brownie-Expresso-Marshmallow-Chocolate-sauce-icecream this dessert rocks my world. But I decided to try something different and had this peach butterscotch crumble which turned out to be rather disappointing. Warm peach pieces taste strange (prefer the frozen cold ones in condensed milk!), and the butterscotch got too cloying amidst the (very little) crumble pieces.
But the red velvet cake tasted as good as ever - sour cream cheese layers amidst the red flour - its a tad like a carrot cake minus the nuts and other condiments. Kels said the colouration is cos of the vinegar treatment to the flour. Imagine your friend's surprise/horror as she slices the whole cake to find the cross section to be as such!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Tanglin Tree, Epicurious, Paulaner Brauhaus

Thanks to all : Rous, Xue, Dom& Nat for the lovely brunch at The Tanglin Tree (56 Tanglin Road #01-01 Tanglin Post Office)
My salmon sandwich. Its as boring as it looks =P I can almost make it myself!
Go for the scrambled eggs and full works.
Doesn't it look good??? Comes with baked beans which Dom refused at first but later asked for it cos it turns out it was minced in with meat hence damn tasty, very unlike canned beans.
Nat's Prawn pasta. She's had better..
Banana bread to share, this was comforting, warm and toasty, with coconut drizzled all over for that extra bit of sugar rush.
Yoghurt and granola with fruits - replicable at home too...

Dom and Xue and I hung out more at Epicurious (60 Robertson Quay #01-02 The Quayside). It felt like a second lunch.
Our cheese platter, complete with grapes, Carrl's crackers (which you can top up!) and bread.
Apple Crumble is the real deal. The crusty layer with generous amount of digestive crumbs, with ample stewed apple chunks was excellent.
The bread and butter pudding, came like its name suggested, the bread AND the pudding, separated. I guess this dessert is alot more interesting when it is messier, not like the one here nor at Oriole, super neat.
The sticky date pudding started to taste as starchy as the bread and butter pudding after awhile and we were a little sugar intoxicated...
We wanted to bowl at Marina Square but the lanes were full so we had to play a (very painful) game of pool, before setting off for ANOTHER meal. Yes its dinnertime, already after our second lunch. We headed to Paulaner Brauhaus (9 Raffles Boulevard #01-01 Millenia Walk)
Love the complimentary bread platter here, arriving soft and warm and a range of spreads from good ol butter to even pate.
The beef stew goudash soup was excellent, if only we had more bread to mop up the chunky soup.
Roast beef was slightly raw, and thinly sliced, as I liked it.
But what really stole the show was the veal sausage with fries. Oh my, the fries. They were doused in curry powder and was really really excellent!
The lamb shank was also good, one hell of a tender chunk of meat, but as usual, much of the shank you get on your plate is the bone which looks most spectacular, but actually harbours quite little meat.
Sigh, eat so much....but I was still hungry so I went over to Kiliney Kopitiam (Marina Square) for kaya toast before managing to bowl. It was Xue's first time, and moreover in a short skirt!!! Really cant tell, at least she didnt gutter as much as I did.
My sneaky friends. Muaha.
I suddenly miss our partying days ALOT. Haha. Lets go again soon!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Bella Pizza, Laurent's

Finally met M, Fly and Cel at Bella Pizza.(30 Robertson Quay #01-14 Riverside View) We got lost finding this place! It is the row of restaurants facing the river as you walk in the direction towards Clarke Quay.

After bantering over how many dishes to order, we had this starter of eggplant lasagna first - surprisingly this got me thinking about the giant eggplant I had at Ikoi, and the fantastic Italian eggplant I had at Big D's (which I'll blog about soon). I like Big D's version, followed by Pietrasanta. Bella's has too much tomato sauce for me... and the eggplant's a little too soft.

Salmon (Red Pizza)
With generous pieces of extremely salty smoked salmon, it wasn't as red a pizza as I'd expect it to be.
Pizza Bianca - mascarpone cheese, mushrooms and truffle. This was way too light for me. You must eat it quick when its served, for when it hardens and coagulates its like eating hard cheese on bread. The crust here is comfortably chewy - not too thick. Somehow I like the crust at Da Mario's better - more crisp.
Fettucine with Italian sausage and truffles with a touch of cream Pasta was way too tough, and was salty... Juststick to the pizzas here.
Crepes with Nutella and Mascarpone, with Bananas
Nutella makes everything nice, period.

Whilst Fly and I were describing the break, M laughed at us for it being even more dull than school life whilst Cel went as far to say that sch is better than hols?! Hello?! Not laughing at you babe, M and I really couldnt suppress the sniggering at the best chicken rice ever.

M and I actually receed the area last fri to hunt down for Bella Pizza when we spied on the ice cream booth at Laurent's Cafe & Chocolate Bar (80 Mohamed Sultan Road #01-11 The Pier @ Robertson) but didnt get a chance to return to cos Caroline lost her wallet. Today we had chocolate and I had the extremely soft Pistachio - it was melting away and was extremely creamy, it had a mild spicy aftertaste.

Met up with Cel and Fly again at Butter after - along with Huilin, Nik, Zj and his bunch of friends. I dislike the expensive parking at Fullerton.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Itacho Sushi

Celebrated the bro's birthday at Itacho Sushi (2 Orchard Turn #B2-18 ION Orchard) cos I had a fantastic experience at Itamae Sushi in Hong Kong (so I guess, B you can try this outlet! since you commented on my post then...). This outlet is not bad too, but I guess I miss the conveyor belt where they rolled out many many interesting shell fish sushi and creative versions of sushi that got me to try a huge variety then in Hk. Here in Singapore there is only a bar where you can catch the chefs in action, but if you're in a big group (like my family!) then you sit at the normal restaurant tables.
Waited in the queue for a short while (comparing to the time we waited faithfully for our number to flash in the queue system - they imported the same system here!) before we were ushered in...they also have slips of paper where you can place your orders - it can get quite confusing cos there are different colours for different orders but here in Singapore they pamper you (you don't pay for service for nothing!) and take your orders but in HK you order through those slips of paper with tiny words lol.
guess this entry's gonna be a pictorial unless the food deserves some comments...
Ebi/Ebi Miso, Crab/crab miso, Flying Fish Roe with cheese, Caviar, Curry lobster.
Eel ($6) this is a really huge long long portion for $6, considering its supposed to a sushi.
Crab Salad ($4) - a case of an overdose of mayo.
Roasted egg (warm) - love the consistency of these.
Wagyu beef rolls
Jumbo Scallop Sushi -the same ones that blew me away in HK but somehow it seems like fresh here. Didn't try the conch or zaru which I liked in HK though they have it here.
Salmon with roe, smoked salmon
Eel with egg mini don ($5)
Spicy Sashi Mini Don ($5)
Thought I might order a few mini dons instead of one large don but guess what the dons are like sushi served in a very large plate! Super ripped off, the portion is TINY (ok its ironic that im using caps to emphasise how puny it is.) . Just a little angsty about it. Just order the sushi.
Soft Shell Crab hand roll
Crabmeat chawan mushi - had a crab claw and huge mushroom inside the warm egg, with plenty of shredded crabmeat atop. Exact replica of the one in HK.
My sister's udon set
Guess there were some that I didn't capture cos there were too many.... it somehow feels very different not sitting by the counter!! The company matters too, the way our eyes lit up simultaneously as each dish rolled by the conveyor belt =)