Meatworks

C says:

When Meatworks opened at Level 4 of ION Orchard a few weeks ago, I walked over to check out their menu, and a friendly waitress passed me their business card, which had their website printed on it. I checked it out when we got home, and was directed to their Malaysian website instead, complete with prices in RM. They also gave me the business card for their soon-to-open Brawn by meatworks, at Marina Bay Link Mall. This was even worse. The website doesn’t even work (and still doesn’t to this day). This is a pet peeve of mine – if you are going public with your website, you should ensure that it’s ready before then.

Anyway, notwithstanding that, we decided to give it a shot for lunch today. It was certainly a calm respite compared to the frenzied queues at Paradise Dynasty next door.

Alarm bells started to ring somewhat when A ordered the Meatworks burger, and asked for it to be medium rare. The waiter initially said it wasn’t possible, because they do their burgers medium well to well done. ?!?! He checked with the kitchen and came back saying they could accommodate.


The Meatworks burger comes with a sundried tomato relish, which is a large part of why A ordered it. The fries were good, and the patty was pink as requested, but somehow it was still quite chewy and very dry – it looked medium rare but tasted overcooked.


They have quite a selection of steaks, including some I’d never heard of before. On that basis, I decided on the Hanging Tender cut, again medium rare. The steak was quite thin, so my medium rare became somewhat medium. It had a good char to it, but the meat itself was really tough, dry and chewy. I had to eat tiny forkfuls because anything larger would be a challenge to chew and swallow. The mashed potato was good, but my friend W’s home made garlic mash is way better.

I have a theory, but that’s just it – only a theory. I was wondering about the chewiness of the meat, especially the burger since it was pink but still dry, when I remembered reading something in Jay Rayner’s book The Man Who Ate The World. He was interviewing celebrity chefs in Dubai, who told him the greatest challenge there was cooking with halal meat, because of how the animals are slaughtered (and their blood drained), which ultimately affects the flavour of the meat. While it’s not stated that this is a halal-certified restaurant, I did notice an absence of pork on the menu, and the fact that the chain originated from Malaysia.

For a restaurant that was practically empty, our food took ages to come, and so did the bill, and the processing of my credit card. The waiters were very polite though, and even said “I hope we’ll see you again”. Er... I’m afraid that’s not very likely.

A says:

The food’s just decent. The mashed potatoes were amazing and the fries were the kind I like, but for a place that calls itself Meatworks, the meat was only okay, and nowhere near great.

Service-wise, the staff are very friendly, but our food took forever to arrive.

Overall, I wouldn’t be back only because there’s already so much at Ion I really like.

Meatworks
2 Orchard Turn
#04-12 ION Orchard
Tel: 6634-0026

Buko Nero

C says:

We managed to get a reservation at Buko Nero just a day in advance! We called on Wednesday, and because we’re both on leave, we were pretty flexible on dates and times. Turns out they could give us 7 pm the very next day. So actually, a reservation here isn’t all that impossible, if you have the luxury of free time.

I went with the set menu, but A didn’t feel drawn to many of the elements (mainly the dessert), so he decided to order a la carte. Here’s what we had:

Amuse bouche: Wonton ravioli filled with seabass, with carrot and ginger sauce
C’s starter: Momotaro tomato with speck and citrus vinaigrette
A’s starter: Veal carpaccio with citrus vinaigrette and parmesan crisp
C’s soup: Tomato basil with crab meat
Sherbet: Papaya and thai orange
C’s main: Switched to risotto with beetroot and pecorino
A’s main: Tagliatelle with scallops and bottargo
C’s dessert: Raspberries with mint and lime yogurt foam
A’s dessert: Espresso and coconut panna cotta

The meal started out quite well, with all the starters really hitting the mark. It lost a little steam during the mains. I ordered the risotto because I was still seduced by the memory of the amazing risotto with speck that I had last year. This wasn’t as good – it didn’t have the same mind blowing flavour, and I think the beetroot made it a bit too sweet for my liking. Plus the rice was just a tad too al dente; maybe like a minute underdone.

A’s pasta was much better. Really flavourful and the scallops were nice and fresh. A few mouthfuls also suffered the same, slightly undercooked fate though.

The dessert from the set was the main thing that discouraged A from ordering it. Fresh raspberries and mint couldn’t be further from his thing. I must admit that while I wasn’t put off by them, they’re definitely not something I’d order otherwise. Still, I liked the lime yogurt foam that brightened the slightly tart berries.

A’s dessert was great. An intensely flavoured coffee panna cotta, topped with a layer of coconut and coconut shavings. A couple of mouthfuls made up for my dessert.

Dinner here is always a pleasant experience. Sure, some visits yield better dishes than others, but the homely atmosphere, and the sheer familiarity because we’ve been coming here (albeit sporadically) for so many years, always makes us happy.

A says:

As always, a mix of hits. Although the stand out this time was the espresso and coconut panna cotta. I’m glad it’s on the regular menu so I can order it again if I want.

Buko Nero
126 Tanjong Pagar Road
Tel: 6324-6225
Dinner: 6.30pm to 9.30pm (Tuesday to Saturday)
Lunch: Noon to 2pm (Friday and Saturday)
Closed Sunday and Monday

Ember

C says:

Once again we celebrated our anniversary (our 7th!) at Ember tonight, which again was reassuringly busy on a Monday evening. They had a very interesting 4-course set dinner for $85, but it didn’t include the Chilean seabass. I’ve become somewhat superstitious now where this is concerned – Ember’s our anniversary restaurant, and the seabass is our anniversary dish. It's worked for us so far, so I’m not about to mess with tradition.



In the end, we decided to come back in 2 weeks to try the set dinner, so we went ahead with our a la carte orders tonight. My new favourite appetizer here is the cold angel hair pasta with konbu and shaved abalone. How they manage to infuse so much flavour into a cold noodle is anyone’s guess, but this is really delicious. We also felt quite retro, and ended up ordering the deep fried oysters.



Of course we had the Chilean seabass with bacon and mushroom ragout, and truffle butter sauce. The first bite of this dish always puts a smile on my face. For our other main, we tried the roasted pigeon with foie gras and truffle sauce. This tasted good, but at $45 I must say it was disappointingly small. The pigeon was very flavourful though, and the cabbage with bacon rocked.


We had room for dessert, so we each had one. I had the caramelised pear tart with baileys ice cream, and A had the banana tart and asked for vanilla ice cream instead of the lavender. When the desserts arrived, there was a little candle stuck to one of the plates. I guess they remembered when I made the reservation that I’d been there before. I mentioned that I go there at least once a year, and while I don’t think they knew what the occasion was, I thought it was sweet of them to try to commemorate it.

This is sort of a post-in-progress, because there were a number of dishes we didn’t try tonight because we’re hoping they’ll be available in the set dinner in 2 weeks. So check back again then!

A says:

As always, the food and service were excellent. My only complaint for the night would be the miniscule portion for the pigeon. I could have finished it in less than ten bites if I was going all out...

Restaurant Ember
50 Keong Saik Road
Tel: 6347-1928
Monday to Friday: Lunch 11.30 am – 2 pm, Dinner 6.30 pm – 10 pm
Saturday: Dinner only
Closed Sunday

The Disgruntled Chef

C says:

Who? Chef Daniel Sia, ex-White Rabbit chef. Why is he disgruntled? Well, the restaurant’s website says that it's their way of making fun of themselves, break the rules and avoid the usual stuffiness of a posh restaurant.

Located at Dempsey, somewhere behind PS Cafe, the restaurant’s concept is all about having lots of plates to share, rather than a traditional service of starter, main and dessert. The menu is clearly designed for this, as there are only about 5 big plates, and about 15 small ones. We dragged W and M there, since we figured the more people we had, the more dishes we could try.

Their small plates are really quite small – portion sizes are about right for a party of 4 to have just a bite or two of each dish. Given that each small dish costs about $14 on average, the costs do actually add up. We shared ten small plates between the 4 of us, since we didn’t feel like paying an astronomical $88 for the big plate of chargrilled cote de boeuf, and were just pleasantly full.


There were a few items that I knew I just had to have. Firstly, the baked bone marrow, where the bone is conveniently sliced lengthways, served with toast and persillade (a paste consisting predominantly of flat leaf parsley). I’m a huge fan of the taste and texture of bone marrow, and I love a good tulang. This one didn't get me as excited as I expected. My first bite was a non-starter because I smeared too much persillade on the toast and I couldn’t taste anything else. I subsequently adjusted the proportions which made it better since I could actually taste the marrow, but it wasn’t as unctuous and rich as some bone marrows that I’ve had.


My next must-try was the crackling suckling pig, which is available as both a big and a small plate. We ordered the small plate, which had about 5 or 6 small slivers of pig. This was definitely my thing – the meat was tender and the skin was thin and crispy. Next time this is all mine! :)


Another item that I really wanted to try was the baked camembert fondue. Essentially, an entire small round of Camembert cheese is baked so that it gets nice and runny, and you can dip bread or other yummy things into it. Here it’s served with toast, chicory and apple sauce. I had the same reaction to this as the bone marrow. Knowing how delightfully pungent camembert can be, I was quite surprised when the apple sauce all but overshadowed the taste of the cheese. Again I had to tweak the proportions, and pretty much gave up the apple sauce, but even then the cheese was really mild. Not sure if it lost some flavour in the baking process, or whether they used a particularly mild camembert. Maybe I’ll buy a stronger camembert and try to recreate this at home.


The crispy lamb shortribs were a pleasant surprise. They were dusted with Moroccan spices, which I usually don’t like but they were used quite sparingly here, just adding a hint of flavour rather than overpowering. The ribs were crispy on the outside, and surprisingly tender inside. Definitely ordering these again.


The chicken liver parfait was good too – very smooth and flavourful, and it paired very well with the onion jam. At least here, the parfait held its own against the condiment.


We had the curried mussels, and W in particular was very enamoured with these. I must say that the curry broth was excellent, but I get mussel-ed out quite easily, so after a couple, I left everyone to rave over the mussels while I slowly demolished the pig and bone marrow. It’s worth pointing out that we had a few closed mussels, which if they remain closed after cooking, it denotes that they’re not fresh. We brought this to their attention, and they brought 4 opened, replacement mussels for us.



Some of the other things we had were not particularly noteworthy. Not bad, but not dishes that I would come back for. I had high hopes for the crayfish mac and cheese, which couldn’t really go wrong given a combination of pasta and cheese, but it wasn’t as good as I expected. And the crabcakes were quite ordinary.


The desserts are worth a mention. W’s sticky toffee pudding was excellent, with really strong toffee/caramel flavour and a light fluffy texture. I tried the fig crisp, which was fig-infused puff pastry paired with a Roquefort parfait. Given that blue cheese and dried fruits like figs are a match made in heaven, this went very well, with my only criticism being that I would have preferred a more intense fig flavour.

The restaurant was surprisingly quiet on a Saturday night. There are definitely some hits and misses, but the hits were good enough that I’m keen to go back for repeat orders, and to try some of the other items.

A says:

Great service. And fabulous desserts.

The small plates were good, but except for the mac&cheese, a bit too small for four people. But I think we actually chanced upon the best way to try this place – Go in a group of four, try the dishes, then go back as a pair to re-order your favourites.

I think we’ll be back at some point, just because the desserts were so phenomenal. If only the parking at Dempsey wasn’t such a nightmare.

The Disgruntled Chef
26B Dempsey Road
Tel: 6476-5305
Tues to Sunday: 12 noon to 3 pm; 5 pm to 11.30 pm (last food order)
Closed Monday

Paradise Inn

C says:

A-Roy Thai, our default dining option whenever we’re at Funan Centre, was closed tonight, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it allowed us to try Paradise Inn – the casual home-cooking arm of the Paradise Group of restaurants.

As is the case with most Chinese restaurants, larger parties are better because there were many dishes that I wanted to try, but would’ve been way too much for A and I to finish. I therefore wistfully passed up the fried prawn paste chicken wings and the myriad double-boiled soups, and we settled on two dishes.


First was the coffee pork ribs, which to A’s delight were completely boneless. The pork was really tender, and the coffee element in the sauce wasn’t too overpowering, and just added a pleasantly bitter edge.


The second dish was a Chef’s Special that wasn’t in the main menu – the sliced pork belly with beancurd and dried chilli in claypot. This was somewhat kung pao style, but more savoury and less sour. When the claypot was opened at our table, it was so fragrant that even the waitress instinctively commented “hao xiang ah!”.

The thinly sliced belly pork, some slightly burnt from contact with the hot claypot, was heavenly. It was quite fatty, but sliced thin enough that it didn’t feel greasy or jelak at all. This was just heavenly with plain rice, and at just $10, really good value too.

In fact, our entire meal, including 2 drinks, cost us less than $30 in all, which makes me really look forward to the upcoming outlet of Paradise Inn opening soon at Marina Bay Link Mall. We’ll skip the drinks next time though – the milk tea that we ordered tasted like it was straight out of a (bad) vending machine.

A says:

The food was great and portions (even for the small sized dishes we ordered) were huge. Great value for money at $10 per dish. A definite surprise and definitely an option for the future.

Paradise Inn
109 North Bridge Road
#02-10/11 Funan Mall
Tel: 6338-4018
Open daily: 11.30 am to 9.30 pm
www.paradisegroup.com.sg

Pamplemousse Bistro + Bar

C says:

Pamplemousse is a fairly new, casual bistro at Dempsey serving modern French food. We’d been meaning to try it for a while, but have been unsuccessful in getting last minute reservations on Friday nights. To our surprise, A’s friend KH managed to snag a table for 10 on Saturday afternoon for dinner that very night.

Their menu concept is interesting. They don’t have an a la carte menu; instead they have either a 6-course chef’s tasting menu for $98, or smaller set menus – 2 course for $48, or 3 course for $58. Note that those are the prices for the most basic selections though. If you want some of the more premium items, those come with supplemental charges. These supplements range from $8 extra for the uni tagliolini, to $30 for a chargrilled ribeye.

A and I decided to go for the tasting menu, since it contained all of the items that we wanted to try anyway. Little did we know that their portions are HUGE here, and they don't really reduce the size of your portions when you order the 6-course vs a 3-course. Needless to say, it was too much, even for atetoomuch. Next time we’ll stick with a 3-course.


The starter was a citrus-marinated salmon. I still don’t know if the salmon was just cured, or cooked very slowly at a very low temperature, but it was perfectly pink all the way through, with a slightly firm texture.


Next up was the porcini mushroom soup. The soup was smooth, earthy and topped with strips of golden mushrooms and a couple of plump escargots. This was perfectly decent, but if I had to compare, the mushroom cappuccino at Sage still comes out tops.


That was followed by the monkfish cheek, which was honestly quite forgettable. Maybe I’m not a fan of the slightly tough texture of monkfish, but I found this a bit dry and hard and not particularly flavourful.


The next dish was one of the main reasons I wanted to try Pamplemousse – the uni tagliolini. Thin tagliolini pasta is cooked in a rich shellfish bisque sauce, topped with uni, chives and tiny morsels of crispy pork fat. There was nothing about this dish that I didn’t absolutely love, and is the one dish that I’ll come back to Pamplemousse for. Definitely lived up to my expectations (and probably the only dish that really did).


After a palate cleansing apple cider sorbet, the main course arrived. We both had the duck confit, because the alternative main course was a wagyu striploin that entailed a $55 supplement. I appreciate that they don’t skimp on their portions, but in this particular case, the main course could have benefitted from being a bit more streamlined. After all the food that we had, I think such a large portion was actually counterproductive. Good tasting menus should have portion sizes that leave you just satisfied enough and wanting just one more bite, whereas it was a struggle to finish the entire portion of a considerably large duck leg. Taste-wise, this was ok but I actually prefer the light simplicity of the duck confit at La Petite Cuisine at Serene Centre. The best part of this dish was actually the lychees in the sauce.


Finally dessert, which was called Toast and Milo, but which actually comprised a toasted brioche slice topped with caramelized banana slices, paired with a milo ice cream on shaved nutella “soil”. I really liked this, but I’m still very puzzled by the bananas in my portion. They were frozen in the centre, so I passed them to A, and when he tried mine, he said his were warm all the way through! Bizarre…

Service was excellent. We actually booked a table for 9, and when we realised that we had an extra person, without any complaint they carried a table in for us from outside to accommodate our party. Food was prompt, and servers were polite and knowledgeable.

There were some hits and misses here, but I would go back again for the uni, and A for the salmon. Their starters seem better than their mains here, so maybe next time we’ll go for the 3 course, and see if we can order 2 appetisers and a dessert instead.

A says:

The food was good and portions were surprisingly large, which considering the 6-course menu was $98++, actually made it relatively value-for-money.

Service was also very good so we’ll be back for a cheap 2 or 3 course set at some point.

Pamplemousse Bistro + Bar
Block 7, Dempsey Road
#01-04
Tel: 6475-0080
Tue–Fri: 12pm–2.30pm, 6.30pm–10.30pm
Sat–Sun: 11.30am–2.30pm, 6.30pm–10.30pm
(Closed on Mon)
www.pamplemousse.com.sg

Youmenya Goemon

C says:

The Marina Bay Link Mall, a subterranean mall linking the new Marina Bay Financial Centre to One Raffles Quay and beyond (all the way to Raffles Place MRT) is finally open, and given that more than half of the outlets are dining establishments, this bodes very well for those of us working in the area. About a third of the shops are still a work-in-progress though, with a scheduled date of January 2011 for all the shops to be fully open.

For me, some of the more eagerly anticipated stores aren’t open yet, like the Four Seasons Organic Supermarket, and a couple of restaurants from the Paradise Group, so for now, the early birds are raking in pretty good business.

One of the first to open was Youmenya Goemon, a Waraku-esque casual dining place that serves Japanese-style pasta. They’re so specialised that they only do pasta – no other side dishes or mains except a perfunctory salad bar. They were doing pretty good business on a Friday night, and apparently lunch services have been flat out since they opened a week ago.


I decided to try a carbonara with meat sauce – best of both worlds. This was basically a spaghetti carbonara with an additional ladle of Bolognese on top, resulting in a richer, creamier version of a Bolognese. The egg could’ve been a runnier, to add yet another dimension to the sauce, but that would be nitpicking.


A had the aglio olio spaghetti with dried scallop and whitebait. This was also pretty tasty and surprisingly fresh and clean tasting, without too much oil or garlic.

The pasta here is much better than Waraku, and we later found out why. Unlike many restaurants, they actually don't par-cook their pasta. The pasta is boiled from scratch only upon order, so given that it takes about 8 to 9 minutes to boil pasta, don’t expect fast food here. It does pay off though, because the texture of the pasta is really good, and most importantly it isn’t watery or mushy.

Their so-called “gimmick” here is that you’re supposed to eat spaghetti with chopsticks (though you can ask for a spoon if you wish). This makes mixing up the pasta really difficult and, if you’re not careful, also very messy. In my opinion, the food here is good enough that they don't need the gimmick and in fact, I hope it doesn’t frustrate diners into not wanting to return.

A says:

Good food. Good service. A bit slow, but that’s cause pasta is cooked to order. Will definitely be back when it’s less crowded. Although note to self: don’t order the royal milk tea, it’s awful.

Youmenya Goemon
Marina Bay Link Mall
#B2-03
Tel: 6509-4670

Santi Tapas Lounge

C says:

In true atetoomuch fashion, we bypassed the formality and stuffiness (read: expensive) of the main restaurant of Santi by Santi Santamaria, and opted instead to sample the restaurant’s offerings via their more casual (and affordable) tapas lounge.

Currently, the tapas lounge offers 2 tapas tasting menus - a $60 and a $90 one, as well as a la carte offerings of most of the items on the tasting menus. We decided to try one each, to have the best of both worlds. Essentially, the $90 has one extra tapas, and an additional final course, almost like a main.


We started with bread and bread sticks, some amazing green olives and a platter of iberico jamon with crostinis smothered with a delicious tomato and garlic spread. The olives were delicious, and while the jamon could’ve been sliced a bit more evenly, it was still very intensely flavoured.


Next up was the gazpacho. This cold tomato soup was very refreshing, and had a decidedly tart edge that I don’t think came exclusively from the tomatoes. Couldn’t figure out what it was though (Top Chef taste-test: fail).


The next course was the one where A’s $60 menu lacked a third component – the anchovy and tomato salad with lomo iberico. The other two parts were the same – seafood escabeche, which was a couscous with clams, and roasted peppers with cod brandade. All of them really showcased the ingredients at their best. The anchovy in the salad was just shy of too salty, but well balanced with the slight tartness of the tomato. The clams in the escabeche were very fresh and sweet, and the cod brandade was very tasty, with the roasted peppers being just sweet enough.


Next came the heavier tapas. From right to left (and also the order in which we were advised to eat them): octopus “a la plancha”, crustacean with migas, and eggs with mushrooms. The octopus was super tender slices of octopus served with a tomato puree – why can’t more places prepare octopus like this? This was perfectly cooked – so sweet, tender and juicy. The migas with the (some kind of shellfish) was like flavoured panko breadcrumbs. It gave the shellfish a really good texture and was very addictive. Finally, the last item was a scrambled egg with wild mushrooms, which was creamy, earthy and delicious.


The $60 menu ended there, but the $90 came with a traditional quail stew. I think the $30 premium is worth it for this dish alone. The stew was like home-cooking, but elevated to a refined but yet not pretentious level. The quail was really tender, and the charred bits of skin were to die for. The sauce was made for lapping up, and the beans at the bottom of the dish added an interesting element.

What really took the cake were the strange chunks I found amongst the quail pieces. They were slightly soft, and looked like pieces of scallop. I put one into my mouth, and still couldn’t identify it. After a few more chews, it hit me. Pure pork fat! Man, the flavour and unctuous texture of this mouthful is not something I’ll forget any time soon.



The $60 menu came with a selection of sorbets (mango, pineapple and pear), and the $90 had a Crema Catalana (something like a crème brulee) with seasonal fruits. These were good but nothing to shout about. What got to me more were the lovely nuggets of 2008 parmesan cheese that they dug out of a huge wheel to serve us before dessert.

Definitely a last minute contender for Best of 2010, by virtue of the octopus and quail stew alone. Service here is a tad on the slow side. There’s only one waitress manning the entire lounge; I guess they focus more of their workforce on the well-heeled diners at the main restaurant. She’s a bit harassed but is quite friendly; you just have to be prepared to spare about 2 leisurely hours for dinner.

A says:

Food is spectacular. Service, not so much. Still, the relative affordability, and I emphasise relative when you compare it to the astronomical prices of the main restaurant, makes this worth a visit.

Santi Tapas Lounge
Casino Level 2
Marina Bay Sands
Tel: 6688-8501
Opening hours: 6.30 pm to 11 pm

Nando’s

C says:

After hearing that the Bugis Junction branch attracted snaking queues when it first opened, we were expecting more of a crowd this morning at the Tanglin Mall branch. When we got there slightly before 12, it was almost empty – we were the third table. It filled up later on, presumably after the various kiddie enrichment activities in the Mall ended for the morning.

Their specialty is grilled chicken with peri-peri sauce. You can choose varying heats – Lemon & Herb, Mild, Hot and Extra Hot. Since this is essentially a fast food chain, I assumed their thresholds were pretty low, so I went with the Extra Hot on my grilled ¼ chicken thigh.


The chicken was awesome – one of the most tender pieces of chicken I’ve ever had. The meat pretty much just fell from the bone, but not in a slow-cooked stew kind of way either. The chicken had a good chargrilled flavour, and was enhanced by the peri-peri sauce. The Extra Hot had quite a kick to it, but not in an unbearable way.


I didn’t order sides with my chicken because I wanted to try one of the starters – the Chicken Livers with Portuguese Roll. The roll turned out to be just a mini baguette of sorts. The livers were delicious as well – perfectly cooked and still creamy inside.


A doesn’t like navigating chicken bones, so he went with a really boring chicken kebab. To give them credit, they managed to cooked the chicken breast pretty well – it was quite tender. Still, it was a far cry from my chicken thigh, and since the meat came of the bone so easily, A is convinced to order the grilled chicken instead next time.

A says:

The ¼ chicken of C’s was fantastic. My kebab, not so much. The service wasn’t exactly stellar either. But I guess we’ll be back to a Nando’s at some point. Maybe the Bugis branch if it’s not too crowded.

Nando’s
163 Tanglin Road
#01-14/15, Tanglin Mall
Tel: 6338-6555
Open daily: 10 am to 10 pm
www.nandos.com.sg

Chikuwa-Tei

C says:

My colleague recommended this place to me, and specifically the thick slices of salmon sashimi and the chawanmushi. When I did a bit of prior research on it, I realised that it used to be called Wasabi-Tei, and was located at Far East Plaza. It was a tiny little joint that didn’t accept reservations, and had a scary, bordering on Soup Nazi-esque chef/owner.

When they moved to Mohamed Sultan Road, they renamed themselves Chikuwa-Tei, and got themselves a bigger space and could accept bookings. We called at 7.45 and just managed to snag a table at 8 pm.


I ordered the chirashi sushi and A had a sushi and udon set. His was ok, but paled in comparison to the chirashi. My colleague was right – they’re very generous with their slices of fish, and everything in the bowl was good. In particular, what shone were the salmon, which was sliced very thick and was rich and creamy, the swordfish, and surprisingly the tamago as well. The rice was also well cooked and nicely vinegared.


The photo doesn’t do it justice, but the chawanmushi here is probably the best I’ve ever had. The egg almost seems secondary, because it’s so chockfull of ingredients. Loads of enoki and shimeji mushrooms, chunks of chicken, cubes of incredibly fresh prawns, and even some konnyaku at the bottom to mimic sharks fin. The dashi stock is also very delicately balanced, and the egg perfectly smooth. At $5 per bowl, this is heaven. I may just have 2 of these as my meal next time.

Service was also very good – polite and very quick. We were in and out in half an hour. Another good place for an after work dinner, assuming we manage to get a reservation.

A says:

Awesome. Great food. Great service. Definitely a new regular for us.

Chikuwa-Tei
9 Mohamed Sultan Road
Tel: 6738-9395
Open daily: 11.30 am to 3 pm; 6 pm to 10 pm

My Little Spanish Place

C says:

This little hole-in-the-wall neighbourhood joint reminds me of the first Don Quijote at Lorong Kilat – a small, understated place that seats just about 30 or so. I was quite encouraged by the fact that it’s owned by a Spanish lady, since I figured it had to be pretty authentic. Because it seats so few, it was surprisingly hard to get a table here. Last minute reservations on a Friday and Saturday proved unsuccessful, and we only managed to get a table on the day itself for the less popular Sunday night

They have an interesting split in the menu, between tapas and raciones, the latter being slightly bigger portions for sharing, in between tapas and main courses. Because we wanted to try their house special paella, we were quite restrained in our tapas order.


To start, we had the potato omelette, which is apparently the national dish of Spain. The menu confusingly said that it’s traditionally served cold, but they can warm it on request. However ours arrived warm by default. A took the first bite and after a moment, said “chai tao kueh”. I thought he was joking, but when I tried it, I had to agree. The flavour and texture was very surprisingly like chai tao kueh. Good but not what I was expecting.



The two seafood dishes fared better, especially the snails, which were sautéed with jamon, chorizo and white wine. The snails didn’t taste overly “gamey”, and the combination of jamon and white wine was a winner. The squid cooked in its own ink was another unexpected dish – I expected the squid being sautéed in a squid ink gravy of sorts, but instead the squid ink had been incorporated into a batter, and this was just a version of deep fried calamari.


The paella takes about 20 minutes to cook – the house paella has everything and the kitchen sink thrown in. Prawns, mussels, calamari, chicken and chorizo, with saffron rice. The rice was very flavourful, infused with all the flavours of the ingredients, but I would’ve liked the rice to be a little more moist. The charred bits were good, but I don’t think it was worth the wait. Plus, with so many interesting tapas and raciones to try, the smallest paella still fills us up way too much, so unless we come in a larger group, I doubt we’ll be ordering this again.


Because A isn’t a big paella fan, he left me to hoover up the paella while he saved room for dessert. We went with the Fried Milk, which was actually more like little morsels of deep fried custard. It was lighter than expected and a good end to the meal.

I’d put this place more or less on par with Don Quijote – it’s not the long awaited Spanish restaurant that we’ve been waiting for, but it’s ok for an occasional fix.

A says:

Fantastic service. The food’s mostly good, but not exactly spectacular. We’ll probably be back just because there are so few Spanish places. Oh, and to try the churros.

My Little Spanish Place
619 Bukit Timah Road
Tel: 6463-2810
Lunch: Sat & Sun 12 noon to 4 pm
Dinner: Tues to Sun 6.30 pm to midnight
http://www.mylittlespanishplace.com.sg/

Paradise Dynasty

C says:

Yet another dining option at ION. This is the Paradise Group’s foray into xiao long bao and la mian, and we ventured here on Sunday night to check it out. We managed to get a table immediately, which was surprising for a Sunday night.

The entrance is quite small, so I was under the impression that it was a smallish joint, but the corridor goes pretty far in, past the vast glass-walled kitchen, till you reach a rather large and impressive dining room.

They serve innovative xiao long bao that are infused with various flavours, though do note that they are all pork-based. If it’s your first time, it’s probably a good idea to order the sampling platter that has one of each. We ordered one platter each, and sampled each different one simultaneously. The dumplings are quite garishly coloured, which can be a little disconcerting, but it makes for a pretty platter and an easy way to distinguish each variety.

White – Traditional
Yellow – Cheese
Orange – Crab roe
Green – Ginseng
Pink – Szechuan (spicy)
Black – Truffle
Grey – Garlic
Beige – Foie Gras


When we return we’ll probably order selected ones. I’ll pass on the Ginseng – the flavour was too strong for my liking, and the spiciness of the Szechuan didn’t quite suit a xiao long bao. Cheese was interesting, but I’m not sure that I can handle more than a couple before getting a bit sick of it. And I’m ambivalent about the Truffle, mainly because the truffle flavour wasn’t pronounced enough.

The Garlic was pretty good, but strong so definitely not the most social of choices. Traditional was good, and I really liked the Crab Roe, which was very flavourful, and the Foie Gras, which had just enough foie gras to give it some flavour and a lot of depth and body.


We ordered one of their specialty la mians – the signature la mian with sliced pork in pork bone soup. This was very good. The noodles were much thinner and more delicate than usual la mian. The broth was sweet yet it didn’t have the excessive oiliness of a similar tonkotsu ramen broth. The pork slices were wafer-thin and tender, and there was even a half-cooked egg. Do note that they put chopped coriander together with the spring onions, which we only belatedly discovered, so if you’re not a fan of coriander, do remember to ask them to hold it. We definitely will next time.


We’d heard some warnings about the spiciness of their Szechuan-style offerings, so instead of ordering a second spicy Szechuan la mian, we decided to ease into it by trying their poached chicken in Szechuan sauce (kou shui ji) instead. This wasn’t very spicy but it did have quite a kick to it, so I’m not sure that I can handle an entire bowl of spicy la mian. Especially when the signature pork bone one is so wonderfully delicate and refreshing.

This is definitely worth a visit, but skip dessert. We ordered the egg white soufflé balls with red bean and banana, which took 20 minutes to arrive and weren’t that great.

A says:

Except for the spicy Szechuan and ginsengy Ginseng, I’d gladly have any of the xiao long baos again. Even the cheese one, which I think some might find strange.

We’ll definitely add this to our list of places to eat at in Ion. Prices are very reasonable with most la mian dishes priced at around $10.

Service is a bit iffy though. I found the waiters would travel in clusters and there’d always be too many or none around. Having said that, when you do get their attention, they are very helpful and eager to please.

The only disappointment of the meal was dessert. I had high hopes for the soufflé balls with red bean and banana, but it took forever to arrive, and there wasn’t enough filling.

So for next time, we’ll order more xiao long baos and skip dessert.

Paradise Dynasty
2 Orchard Turn
#04-12A ION Orchard
Tel: 6509-9118
Mon – Fri: 11 am to 10 pm (last order 9.30 pm)
Sat, Sun & PH: 10 am to 10 pm (last order 9.30 pm)
http://www.paradisegroup.com.sg/

Valentino’s

C says:

Oh Valentino, how we’ve missed you... We came here with L and M (their first time!) for dinner tonight and had another awesome meal. It’s food like this that sometimes makes me wonder why we bother trying new places for a “Best of [year]”, when such amazing food can be found in old favourites like Valentino and Ember. The meal would’ve been perfect if they’d had stock of burrata and lobster for the signature lobster pasta, but then again, maybe that would’ve been too much of a good thing.


Kudos to Alberto for making all the specials sound so yummy – we ended up sharing 3 of them to start with. Firstly we had fresh figs with parma ham. This was a leap of faith on our part, because I’ve never really been a fan of figs, and I don’t remember trying any raw fresh ones before. This has converted me – the figs were really sweet, and went very well with the parma ham. Kinda like an alternative to the more predictable melon and ham combination. It also helped that the figs were drizzled with a balsamic syrup.


Alas there was no burrata, so we had the braided mozzarella instead, served simply with olive oil, cherry tomatoes and a salad. As always, this was fabulous, and testament to how the best produce rarely needs any intervention.


The dish that left all of us lost for words was the grilled octopus leg. I think this could well be the best octopus I’ve ever had. It was so incredibly tender, grilled with just the right amount of salt, and tasted really sweet. This is how fresh seafood is supposed to taste.


Because there was no lobster pasta tonight, we managed to try some other items. A had the ravioli of the day – stuffed with beef and served in a butter and sage sauce. This was a surprisingly light dish, well-executed and with very clean flavours.


My main course rocked. I had yet another special – the pan fried fish served with risotto. Again, this was so simple, yet all parts of it were prepared so well. The fish was crisp, fresh and well seasoned. The risotto wasn’t too heavy, but was flavourful and most importantly, had the proper oozy texture.

Valentino’s – still our favourite Italian restaurant. Best dishes there are usually the specials, cos those are made with the freshest produce, but they don’t come particularly cheap. I still think it’s worth it for an amazing yet unpretentious meal.

A says:

One of the best meals I’ve had all year. Awesome!!!

Ristorante da Valentino
11 Jalan Bingka (off Rifle Range Road)
Tel: 6462-0555
Tuesday to Sunday: 12 pm to 2.30 pm, 6 pm to 10.30 pm
www.valentino.sg