opia

[in progress]



the tasting menu included:

japanese-inspired oyster shooter with mirin, wasabi, tamari and seaweed, cha-soba roll
black fig with whipped goat's cheese, balsamic reduction, rockmelon and crispy proscuitto
steamed scallop tortellini with verjuice and citrus butter sauce, yarra valley salmon eggs, crispy leek and herb salad
crisph fried pork hock with chilli caramel, thai basil and marinated beanshoots
roasted snapper with smashed green mango salad, chilli jam, coconut cream and crispy shallots
honeycrunch ice-cream with toasted gingerbread, cinnamon oil and sugar swirls

china trip 2005 - hong kong

as i started on my six-month long foray north to china, i could not help but wonder how i am going to be affected by being away from my family for so long. yes; this nus-sep trip is be my first overseas trip for such a long duration. before arriving at beijing, where i will be spending one semester at tsinghua university, i would have been to hong kong, shanghai, suzhou and hangzhou, and eaten at a few "famous places". hong kong was my first stop before venturing into china proper; besides the shopping and food, it also offered a cheaper way of getting to shanghai - i'd be taking a 55%-discounted flight from shenzhen there.

it was really not a good idea to visit hong kong during late august, for the monsoon season meant that it rained during all three days i was there. fortunately, i wasn't in hong kong to sightsee in the traditional touristy sense, having done that last year. no; my aim this time was to go check out some of the more famous eateries and restaurants. and succeed i quite did; opia must rank as one of the best restaurants i've ever dined in (not that i've dined in a lot of restaurants; i'm only twenty three and three-quarters like mousketeer-scott from the video rental store).

the mtr system in hong kong is like the mrt in singapore, though little details here and there make the former somewhat better than the latter. such as the announcing of station names in three languages (cantonese, english and chinese). or the trains not being as crowded in singapore during rush hour due to the higher frequency of arrival. or the offering of free internet access at some of the stations (and with proper computer terminals that worked). things like that that singapore still doesn't get quite right.

i eventually got to my hostel (i.e. finally figured the direction to head to while wrestling for space at the mtr exit crowded with people taking shelter from the rain - thank god it was near) - wing fat hostel in causeway bay. took a single for the rack rate, since 1. i'm hopeless at bargaining and may as well give up right from the start and 2. have i mentioned that it was raining? i suppose the price was not too expensive though for hong kong, and it was one lane away from the middle of a big shopping district.

my first dinner was at 满江红, a sichuan restaurant that has gotten pretty good reviews over at egullet. and with that began my three weeks of dining alone in restaurants (lunch was a vegetable-mushroom wrap from citysuper - a super-duper fantastic supermarket which combined the atas sensibilities of jason's and the scale of carrefour).

the service was very good; the waitress, on seeing that i was alone, hearing that i was foreign (i.e. neither hongkonger nor china-chinese), and learning that i did not really know what i wanted, except for the mandatory 担担面 (heh), chattered with me for a while and helped me decide on another dish. in the end, i ordered a bowl of 担担面, as well as a 牛腩煲. her choice of the 牛腩煲 was excellent - the brisket all tender and melt-y, and the potatoes soft but not mushy. the stock was also very tasty : not too salty, and hot - perfect for a cold rainy day.

the 担担面 was also pretty good; not as peanutty as the crystal jade's one, but nevertheless very enjoyable. i guess my only mistake was to tell her not to make it too chot; for the dish was not chot enough for me in the end. this would be my second-last bowl of decent 担担面 for a while, too; though i'm slightly ahead of myself here =p

the next day, i had to literally pull myself out of bed in order to not miss a dim sum brunch (not having any travel partners, one really has to be self-motivated enough not to stay in a room and stone, especially when it's pouring cats and dogs). headed over to city hall maxim's palace (no affliation to the french maxim's), since i've already been to the other place in admiralty that people in egullet rave about (can't remember the name of that place, though the dim sum there was really excellent). comparatively, maxim's was not as good, though definitely competent, although i do have to qualify that i've only tried their 凤抓, 虾饺 and 虾肠 - it's really really difficult to be eating dim sum by oneself!

the first two were good, if normal (not that i'm complaining); the 虾肠 not so, due to the skin of the 肠粉 being too thick (though definitely not as thick as the gross singapore type with icky sweet sauce). and i didn't have room for 粥! i still can't get over the fact that i did not once have 粥 in hong kong, and how much i will be craving for a bowl of that hong kong ambrosia in beijing.

oh, and they served 密瓜西米露 from the trolly by having it in a large glass container (with an estimated diameter of 60cm), and ladling it out into bowls only when people ordered it. very interesting.

headed for the hong kong art museum after brunch by taking the star ferry, my one and only time taking it due to the rain. the hong kong art museum's entrance was quite difficult to locate, as it was one out of three buildings, the others being the cultural centre and science centre. no calligraphy works on exhibit, though there was a small exhibition set up by a calligraphy society in the lobby of the cultural centre.

the art museum was very enjoyable; especially the part with modern chinese art (installations and paintings). a few favourites were 天书, 第一号议程 and 双燕, in particular the last work, where the momumental high white walls of suzhou houses with a bit of the curved eaves of chinese roofs peeking through are juxtaposed with a pair of flying swallows.



dinner at opia, but that's a whole post by itself.

the rain waned somewhat on the third day; no longer was it pouring buckets, though it was still drizzling. oh well, better drizzling than pouring. went to 镛记 for brunch, though i couldn't order the whole works (烧鹅, 烧鸭, 叉烧,) since i was by myself. had to settle for a simple plate of 烧鹅饭. sat on the same table as another elderly man who was reading the newspapers the whole time; apparently it's very normal to be sharing tables like this in hong kong and china, at least when eating in eateries - 镛记 had four floors, and the first floor, where i was seated, was really more eatery-style even though the decor was still very upmarket. the other floors had proper tables for individual groups, like a proper restaurant.

apparently, one has to pay service tax for the higher floors; should be true since there wasn't a 10% tax tagged to my bill, unlike the last time when i dined with my family on the fourth floor.

after brunch, i made my way to the hong kong exhibition and convention centre, since that was the only major sight i missed during the last trip. a large-scale computer fair was being held there, and tons of people were out in force. decided to forgo the fair, as much as i was interested, since i really did not want to 人挤人, 挤死人.

anyway, the exhibition and convention centre was also where the golden bauhinia statue stood, a commemorative statue for the return of hong kong to china in 1997. the only other people there besides me were chinese tourists busy taking photos with the statue, as well as the china flag and the obilisk-like monument of the return of hong kong.

my third dinner in hong kong was simple - a bowl of hearty 牛肉饼面 in a little eatery near to my hostel. the 肉饼 had a springy bite to it, and the texture of the noodles was not half bad. it's really quite easy to be eating well in hong kong =)

photos here

tea bone zen mind

it is incredibly difficult to find a place with enough panache for a spot of afternoon tea in singapore, and not having to break an arm or leg to afford it. there are of course the chinese tea-houses that dot chinatown, and the restaurants in various hotels that offer high-teas (which incidentally should be correctly termed low-teas; high-teas were historically for the working, and not the aristocratic class), though i always find them somewhat lacking in personality. and let's not even stop at the starbucks-coffeebean chains okay?

thus, thank goodness for umami's posts on tea bone zen mind, which led the-one-formerly-known-as-j and i to explore this little gem of a place along seah street; we surely would not have given the place a second thought, if only based on the (ahem) rather interesting name =p. together with d, who arrived after the both of us, we had tea before meeting another two of our friends for dinner that night.

the dining space of tea bone zen mind was at once sophisticated and whimsical; located on the second level of a typical singapore shophouse, it was naturally imbued with a sense of nostalgia, effectively juxtaposed by the moddish furniture which provided splashes of reds, creams and browns. lace curtains covered the french windows, which allowed muted streams of light into the room, warming the stained wood floorboards; on them floated leaves, delicately dropped from a tree, which stood serenely in a large cement pot in the middle of the entire space.

the lady owner and her helper were extremely friendly; profusely apologising for the state of "mess" the place was in (apparently they just hosted a japanese tai-tai tea session), and generally making sure that we were comfortably seated. while looking at the menu, small cups of water, with the barest hint of lemon, were served up in most exquisite blue crystal glasses - things were definitely looking up. i finally decided on the matcha, which came with seasonal japanese sweets. in fact, all the teas came with some sort of sweet or snack to complement them.



the sweets that came were a green-bean daifuku from minamoto-kitchoan, and crystal "jellies" from shira-ya. the latter were brought back all the way from kyoto, from the owner's last visit there. the daifuku was not too bad; the crystal jellies excellent - shaped and sized like sugar cubes, they had smooth, matt and hard surfaces, and gelatinous insides (in the crunchy agar-agar way, not the soft turtle-jelly way). the owner was consciencious in mentioning that one should eat the sweets before drinking the matcha, all the time not sounding condescending. extra points!

the matcha was lovely indeed; the whipped frothiness providing "texture" to the tea, and the bitterness of the matcha was slightly alleviated by the sweets eaten earlier. definitely no less than the teas served during traditional tea ceremonies, plus i don't have to contort my legs into a most unbearable position.

unlike myself, both the-one-formerly-known-as-j and d chose to drink different teas - 八宝茶 and bancha respectively; and herein lay a problem: their teas allowed for lingering sips, whereas the matcha practically demanded for a quick finish - which might have resulted in me having to wait without a drink while the two of them slowly drank their teas. however, this was not the case, for the ever-thoughtful owner provided an after-tea drink - salted water with sakura petals (and perhaps a hint of plum - i'm rather hazy on this point) to tide over the wait. best of all, the water complemented the tea very well, the slight saltiness and flowery fragrance an effective counterpoint to the bitter tea. definitely better than if normal water was served, for the sharp taste of tap, or even mineral water would have smothered the lingering sensations of the matcha.

total happiness in a quiant package - now how many places in singapore can boast of this? tea bone zen mind's a definite keeper.

ember

i once read in 8 days a rather shocking tidbit: jason hahn, the resident food connoisseur of the magazine (and one of the better food journalists in singapore with actual comments that are not a result of regurgitating endorsement lines), commented that he goes to nooch noodle bar for "comfort food". frankly speaking, i'm shocked that nooch has managed to survive the restaurant scene in singapore, given that they serve up rather sub-standard food (at least when i last tried it a few years ago - cold noodles anyone? and i don't mean the correct-to-serve-cold-type either, if that's what anyone's thinking), let alone for anyone to proclaim it as somewhere to go for "confort food" - i mean, there must be like a bajillion other places in singapore that do noodles better than nooch.

on the other hand, that's the funny thing comfort food, isn't it? it transcends mere qualification; it conjures up an almost primal emotion that satisfies the deep bowels within. i see comfort food as being associated with the foods that one grew up with; one regularly sees on japanese tv food shows that talk about foods which have the "mother's taste" (as much as whatever gross implications that may accompany such a saying), or how someone always craves for their hometown dish whenever they are abroad.

thus, i consider it rather surprising that i hardly ever miss singapore food, even when i'm abroad. i don't even get cravings for most singapore food, save for the occasional plate of old airport road hawker centre's 南星炒虾面 (which i must not have had, due to my family's "misforture", for the last 6-7 years). rather, i get constant cravings for pasta. and sushi. and ember's pan-seared chilean sea bass with mushroom and smoked bacon ragout and yuzu-butter sauce. very atas, no?

ember is located in hotel 1929, a boutique hotel located at keong saik road, the old bordello district of singapore's historical chinatown area. it attracts a mean crowd for both lunch and dinner, especially after it introduced its super-duper value deal of a set lunch, where one pays forty dollars to choose a entree, main and dessert from the ala carte menu (except for the foie gras, where one has to pay the difference in price, which is still a good deal, considering one has to pay about twenty dollars more if ordering the same dishes the ala carte way).

this time round (yes there has been many times before this), i went for lunch with the-one-formerly-known-as-j and hk; the last meal there before leaving for beijing. ordering was a piece of cake - basically, i just had to worry what to have for dessert; the rest of it was fixed - i alternate the foie gras and the mushroom soup for the entree; for the main, it's two times chilean seabass, one time rack of lamb. extremely simple and efficient =)



what i had for lunch:

pan-seared foie gras on a bed of raisins and cinnamoned diced apples, with a sprinkling of sea salt
pan-seared chilean sea bass with mushroom and smoked bacon ragout and yuzu-butter sauce
wine jelly with assorted berries

i'm a big, big fan of foie gras, though i don't think i can distinguish the different grades of it (yet), since: 1. my first time eating it was only five years ago; 2. i don't eat it regularly (i'm not made of money); 3. i've only had it at a few places - and only in singapore. however, ember's version tasted pretty good to me; a very generous piece of liver, all oily and fatty, firm, yet yielding to the slightest maneuver of the knife, contrasting the subtly sharp, yet sweet cinnamoned apple cubes and raisins. sudden, intense bursts from the salt increased the oomph factor between bites.

actually, i believe that this is (at least) the third incarnation of this dish; i seem to recall it being served on toast, then with prune and armagnac in previous renditions. or is it the other way? no matter; the taste was just as good then, as it is now. in fact, i think i like the current version most (though i'm pretty sure it being the most recent has coloured my perception somewhat). the one on toast was easier to eat, though =P

unlike the foie gras, the chilean sea bass has remained unchanged for as long as i have patronised the restaurant. in fact, it was this very dish which led the-one-previously-known-as-j to introduce me to this restaurant, claiming it to be one of the best (cooked) fish dishes he has ever had. and i must say that i agree with his comment - in fact, this is currently the cooked fish dish which i measure all other fish dishes to (raw fish is a totally different category to me; it's like comparing pork and chicken). it uses all my favourite ingredients - chilean sea bass (yum!), mushrooms (yum!!), bacon (yum!!!), butter (oh my gawd!!!), combined into a simply delectable dish.

from the ingredients, one may deduce that this is an "oily" dish; and it is (in fact, more than one food blog has noted this - and their reservations for it). however, i feel that the "oiliness" is precisely what is so fundamental about the dish; for me, it is what prompts the gutteral sighs of approval - hence one of my "comfort foods". moreover, the "oiliness" is not the kfc type of oiliness, where it gets to you in the middle of the meal and you feel all disgusted and icky; this dish, though "oily", is not greasy, for while the fish is oily, its other qualities more than complement it: firm flesh which flakes off in nice sheets (unlike most other fish which comes off in "strands" or bits), and a clean fish taste devoid of any muddiness (unlike freshwater fish).

the sauce is equally inspiring. the buttery, creamy sauce, with the wafting aroma of the salty bits of mushrooms and bacon, provides competent contrast to the strong, distinctive taste of the fish (though i could never detect the yuzu!). every time i eat this dish, i always wished i could eat it in the privacy of my own home, for then i would be able to lick the plate clean of the sauce; it's that good =)

dessert, in contrast, is regrettably rather hit-or-miss at ember. their chocolate cake is quite good; however, it was a hot day, and i wanted something more cooling, so i went with the wine jelly, which was a new item on the menu. not a good move. the jelly was served flat in a shallow dish, making it hell to eat; it was also not cold enough, and the texture was not "crisp", but more rubbery, and quite hard. the garnish was also not particularly inspired: a mixture of strawberry slices, blackcurrants, the lone physalis (which incidentally is called 菇娘 in china - so cute hor?) and cranberries - it's as if it was designed for the customer to pick and choose his favourite fruits and not eat the rest; resulting in a rather wishy-washy feel. i wished the chef could just have selected one or two types of fruits instead, for that would provide much clarity to the whole ensemble.

still, the entree and main more than made up for the rather lacklustre dessert; a highly dependable, comforting meal indeed. if only they had the sticky date pudding and vanilla ice cream from marmalade pantry, that would have been one hell of an ultimate meal for me =)

kazu

i always find it difficult to decide on a place for a meal when i'm in the orchard road area. for its size, orchard road has a surprising dearth of decent mid-range restaurants; most of the time i'll end up at 翡翠拉 面小笼包 ordering my 担担面 and/or 清炒虾仁. or maybe 鼎泰丰. or toast for a quick bite. forget about any french, or even italian place that serves a decent meal for a decent price. the situation is slightly better for japanese, with kuriya at shaw house, and to a lesser extent, akashi.

however, when craving hits, it's off to kazu, a tiny, wonderfully cozy sumiyaki place located on the fourth floor of cuppage centre. extremely popular, it enjoys the patronage of both japanese and locals alike; never has there been a time that i was there when it wasn't full. the-one-formerly-known-as-j chanced upon it on a website (nookie i believe) about two years ago, and i've been patronising it ever since.

kazu is also my sister's favourite restaurant; this was her third time there. not wanting to spend too much money this time round, we skipped the big-ticket items, (thus no grilled fish, plus she doesn't really care for fish(!)), and decided to stick with what both of us liked - sticks and sticks of aromatic grilled meats and vegetables.



we ordered the pork kimchi, white asparagus tofu with tomato puree and ikura, wasabi leaves and wakame, warm-style edamame, and a selection of yakitori sticks: kurobuta, wagyuyaki, fatty pork with apple, sanzoku (free-range chicken) with salt, asparagus rolled with bacon, shimeji rolled with bacon, and tako okonomiyaki.

the pork kimchi is a staple when i come with my sister; it was her favourite dish the previous times (yes, even beating the yakitori). however, the kimchi this time is rather letdown-ish; overly watery, resulting in much of the spices not remaining on the cabbage when the kimchi was picked up, rendering the dish weak-tasting. definitely not one of the better dishes that night. the white asparagus tofu was better; a firm yet creamy block of tofu with a hint of asparagus, and perhaps a little cream cheese. it went very well with the ikura, the saltiness of the ikura lending contrast to the sweet tofu. and the edamame, of course, was nicely buttery, though i must say that i prefer the cold version of this dish.

what really shone that night, though, were the yakitori sticks, in particular the kurobuta and wagyuyaki. the kurobuta was very juicy, due to the good proportionment of the fatty and lean parts, and totally held its own without any superfluous sauces (unlike our local version, known as satay, where the meat becomes a receptacle for the peanut sauce most of the time). the grilling imparted a subtle smoky flavour which augmented the flavour of the pork. similarly, the wagyuyaki was excellently oily, with again a good mix of fatty and lean parts, and only the honest taste of beef, complemented with the smokiness of the grill. i particularly liked that it was neither hard nor stringy, but melt-in-the-mouth tender.

the sticks rolled with bacon were also quite good. the asparagus was firm and sweet; the shimeji nicely "crunchy" like how fresh mushrooms should be. and the bacon provided the aromatic oiliness which really completed the dishes. the fatty pork with apple was also not bad, though outclassed by the kurobuta. still, the sweetness of the apple was quite refreshing when matched with the meat.

what were disappointing were the sanzoku and the tako okonomiyaki. the sanzoku, though not too bad actually, paled in comparison to the previous version a few months ago; this time round, the chicken was a bit dry. but it was still better than the okonomiyaki, which was too hard and dry; definitely much worse than previous times.

still, i must say that my sister and i highly enjoyed ourselves (as was the case the previous times), and if standards remain, it will continue to be one of my favourite restaurants in singapore.

jaan

the restaurant industry in singapore is a highly competitive one; restaurants come and go at astonishing speeds. furthermore, quality does not mandate success, as may be seen from the demise of marmalade and duo; two places i sadly had no chance to try out. many restaurants, in an attempt to attract more customers to stay in the game, introduce highly irresistable deals such as set lunchs and dinners, often prix fixe, which may be as cheap as half the a la carte menu.

however, the fear i always have when i order a set meal, especially during lunch, is that "something's gotta give": one example being the inagiku set lunch i had a while ago, where the raw fish cuts were rather dissapointing, not to mention the abysmal tempura, which nus canteens' four-dollar versions beat flat. and since i've had a wonderful a la carte dinner there before, i'm wont to think that the poor quality stems from, at least partly, the need to cut costs due to a reduced-price menu

thus, it was with slightly bated breath that the-one-formerly-known-as-j and i made a reservation for lunch at jaan, where the three-course set lunch is one quarter the cost of a three-course a la carte dinner (though judging from the number of people that used the raffles discount card the last times i dined there, it's probably more accurate to say that lunch costs half of dinner =p). the online reviews (mostly good) helped to ease the fear somewhat, though.

we were allowed to choose one of three entrees, mains and desserts. for starters, i had the seasonal mushroom cappuccino perfumed with truffle essence; mains was the roasted duck breast, with cepe polenta and garlic gastrique jus; and for dessert, orange creme brulee with bailey's irish cream ice-cream



the mushroom cappuccino was aromatic; expected since truffle essence was used. it also contained chunks of mushrooms, which i supposed added, in some way, a crunch to the broth. of course, the froth that makes the soup a "cappuccino" was there too; giving it a somewhat "creamy" texture. the serving bowl was rather strange, though; a silver futuristic ceramic-like bowl which turned out to be plastic, and which cast a faint bluish tinge to the soup. wierd.

the main did not fare so well, at least part of it. not that the duck was particularly bad; it was just quite "eh"; even though it was juicy enough, i suppose (and it really was; the juices oozed out with every cut i made on the meat), it was strangely rather weak on the tastebuds. i couldn't really taste the "roastedness", or any hint of use of herbs, or even the duck fat that i assumed should have been aromatic enough to assert itself. in fact, the duck lacked a certain gaminess that makes it duck, i suppose. the brown sauce also did not help to enhance the duck much.

i did like the polenta though; which is:

"a staple of northern italy;(...) a mush made from cornmeal, (and) can be eaten hot with a little butter or cooled until firm, cut into squares and fried. for added flavor, polenta is sometimes mixed with cheese such as parmesan or gorgonzola. it can be served as a first course or side dish and makes hearty breakfast fare."

- definition of polenta, epicurious.com

the polenta's texture is not unfamiliar; akin to mashed potatoes. as for the taste, besides the obvious taste of garlic and mushrooms, there's another taste that i presumed come from the polenta itself - definitely not something i've come across. perhaps polenta (or cornmeal?) just taste like this? like a basic taste - i mean, how do you start to describe the basic taste of chicken, or pork? whatever the case, i liked it quite a bit.

dessert was my favourite dish of the day; the creme brulee, though not really torched like a normal creme brulee, was nicely creamy. the bailey's irish cream ice-cream complements the creme brulee quite wonderfully; the firm texture a nice contrast to the soft creme brulee. also, the ice cream also had a faint bitter liquor taste set against the sweet, yet light, orange taste of the creme brulee.

at thirty five dollars after all the extras, i must say that the meal was quite enjoyable: a classy setting (though i do think the light fixture is very, very out of place), good views of the marina and city areas, and definitely not substandard food ala inagiku's set lunch; what's more, the place is excellent for taking photographs of the dishes - due to the restaurant's seventieth storey location and full-height windows, the subjects are bathed in natural light, which makes for beautiful photographs, as may be witnessed from delicious:days, whom i think takes some of the best food photos i've seen.