notable eats (3rd - 16th september)

1. cedele by bakery depot - with j

chocolate truffle cake - one of the best chocolate cakes i've eaten, this cake brought me back to my four months in beijing, where a group of us singaporeans found this really nice korean bakery called cafe bros, where they served a mean slice of chocolate cake. the chocolate truffle cake at cedele was very similar to that of cafe bros', with the cake comprising of a thick slab of firm yet creamy chocolate "mousse" sitting on one of the most delightful cake bases ever. not overly hard, the crumbly, saltish base was quite perfect with the cake itself.

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2. at home

焖冬菇 - mom made three batches, the first two being trial runs for the third, which she brought to her choir party. simply marvellous, especially the very first batch; the 烧肉 and 蚝干 were cooked until they literally dissolved into the thick broth; enhancing the flavour and texture. found myself sneaking into the kitchen and eating the mushrooms straight out of the pot on more than one occasion.



mooncakes - tis the season for the delightful baked morsels of 莲蓉! mom's version is not too sweet, which is perfect for me, since i find most commercial mooncakes too cloyingly sweet. and don't even get me started on 四黄月饼 - those idiots who buy them deserve to get their money cheated if they don't even realise how cheap salted eggs are compared to expensive 莲蓉.

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3. jaggi's - with sis

assorted chicken tikka - the cardamom pieces were a bit too dry today, and the cardamom taste not pronounced enough. the mint ones were more minty than usual; these were good. the garlic and masala ones were absolutely delicious too. in any case, spotted the exact same flavours in frozen packs at mustafa's. bought the cardamom one; will see if the taste is similar.

mutton curry - not spicy enough, and rather watery (though not as watery as the typical south-indian curry); seemed to remember this being thicker. the mutton pieces were a bit tough as well.

chicken moghal - very good; a nice balance between sweet, spicy and chot. usually i don't order any chicken curries at jaggi's so as to provide variery to the dishes (as chicken tikka is a must), but i'm glad i did. will try the normal chicken masala next time.

palak paneer - more bitter than usual, and not much paneer in the mix. quite disappointing.

butter naan - i really love the butter naans here (i find the garlic ones too dry in comparison). the naan came to the table all nicely tandoored, and glistening with melted butter. neither too doughy nor too crispy. sheer heaven.

vadai in yoghurt - the sour yoghurt was good; the mix of spices gave it just the right amount of kick. the vadai itself was okay, but not particularly memorable.

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4. 丝绸之路 - with j, d, yq

麻辣花生豆干 - quite good; quite sichuan-y (read: 麻辣), but not numbingly so. i'm not a fan of boiled peanuts usually, but this was not bad to me, as the peanuts weren't too mushy. the 豆干 was very nice with the sauce.

架子白肉 - this was not very good that night; the meat was quite tasteless, as compared to when we had it two weeks ago. somewhat saved by the armoatic, garlicky sweet chilli sauce. and folding foods is always fun, i guess =)

回锅肉 - very nice. the meat had just the right touch of wok hei, and was not too salty even without rice.

木耳炒丝瓜 - quite good; the crunchy jew's ears contrasting nicely with the slightly slimy luffa. the lightness of the dish was well-appreciated with all the other heavily-sauced dishes.

沈阳冰花煎饺 - one of the best 饺子 i've eaten. the dumplings are joined by a piece of light, crispy and extremely thin "waffle skin" that is laid on top, like how a floor slab connects columns; this provides an interesting texture to an already very good dumpling, with a most juicy filling. vinegar completes this dish absolutely.

四川担担拉面 - i think this 担担面 has slightly overtaken cj's version as my favourite chinese noodle dish in singapore. the 麻-ness is akin to "authentic" sichuan versions albeit much watered-down (not that that's a bad thing). and it doesn't swim in a bowl of scary red chilli oil (another feature of the real deal); instead, the oil just about nicely coats the strands of noodles, without much leftover in the bowl (like how a good pasta dish is).

桂圆羹 - longan-perfumed coconut milk (?) with watermelon. memory of this quite hazy. all i can remember is that it provided quite a refreshing end to the meal.

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5. 味之楼 - with j and wy

味之楼, or taste paradise in english, serves very good modern chinese food, sort of like club chinois without its hefty price tag (not that this was very cheap either =p )

unagi in a fruity sauce - amuse-bousche. okay; not very memorable; though the pineapple did somewhat serve its purpose to prime the palate for the dishes to come.

青芥末鱼子虾球 - prawns dressed in wasabi with fish roe. this was one of the best versions of wasabi prawns i've eaten. unlike many other chinese restaurants that completely got rid of the nose-numbing quality of wasabi when used in making the sauce for wasabi prawns, rendering the sauce to be nothing more than sweet neon-green gloop, tp's version retained a subtle yet noticable hint of that. in addition, the dish came with chilli macademias: the nuts coated with a dark, smoky blend of chilli powder and various other spices. of course, prawns were very fresh. excellent!

鱼子西京鳕鱼 - chef's recipe baked cod. my favourite dish of the night. a hair's breadth of unsitting ember's chilean sea-bass as my favourite cooked fish dish ever. topped with tobiko and ebiko, which provided an added layer of texture, the fish was nicely oily, covered with a delightful honey sauce which was nicely browned (i assumed it was pan-frying). absolutely heavenly.



蜜汁焗鳕鱼 - baked cod in honey sauce. kinda like the former, but less intense. still very good though, just that the former totally shadows it. chopped mango provided a sweet tartness to the dish.

蜜香排骨 - honey pepper pork ribs. melt-in-your mouth good, the texture of the ribs was in a league of its own. the redness of the fruity sauce was a bit scary at first, but you forget all that after one taste.



经典萝卜糕 - fried carrot-cake in xo sauce. marvellous! the texture of the carrot-cake was superb - very creamy, yet holding its shape well-enough to be easily picked up by chopsticks. apparently, lap cheong was used to flavour the oil that the carrot-cake was fried in, rendering an excellent taste.

四川担担面 - sichuan dan dan mian. the low note, not that it was bad. it's just that if i wanted 炸酱面, i would have ordered 炸酱面. the texture of the noodles was not bad; and it did come with cucumber strips. in a way, it was a pretty good bowl of 炸酱面, though not in the same league as 天津馆's, which is, in my opinion, probably the best 炸酱面 you can get in singapore.

生磨杏汁木瓜盅 - almond cream in stewed whole papaya. people who don't like normal almond creams and/or papaya should try this version. the combination reduces the sickly sweetness of the papaya, and the hard medicinal taste of almond cream; amalgating them into a bowl of pure ambriosa. the papaya bowl also helped keep the cream warm right down to the last drop. very good!

i wonder how much this "artist" is getting paid

just saw this channelnewsasia report; makes me wonder what other sorts of "experimental art" are being shown at the biennale.

"trying to use mind power to levitate city hall?

that's what 300 people tried to do on saturday by locking hands and surrounding cityhall building.

the project was conducted as part of the singapore biennale 2006.

can mind truly overcome matter?

the answer in this case is simply 'no'.

the believers, try as they might, failed to levitate the 77-year-old building.

but according daniel malone from new zealand - the artist who came up with the idea - the aim is to examine the role of art in relation to belief and the current state of the world.

the significance of the work lies not so much in the physical result but rather, what effects the project will have on its participants.

the project was inspired by a 1967 protest in washington dc where anti -war protesters tried to levitate the pentagon."

- satish cheney, channelnewsasia

the effects the project will have on its participants... well, i guess i will feel rather sweaty and silly after the whole thing. still can't believe that the organisers actually managed to get 300 people to stand there looking like fools.

hey, who knows, maybe some of the participants decided to play punk and sabo the whole project! i can just hear them now, "i will the city hall not to levitate... i will the city hall not to levitate...".

idiots.

notable eats (20th august - 2nd september)

finally decided to do something about the lack of postings on the blog after a few months of relative (to say the least!) inactivity. i have taken a cue from umami's "what i ate last month" series; hopefully, this point-form style will be more effective in getting me to post. not to say that i have given up on the more rambling posts; i guess i will do those as and when i feel like it.

anyway, here's my report card for the past two weeks of eating:

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1. sabai - with j and jo.

the first "sunday times' top-50 restaurant" visited. originally wanted to go to da paolo's bistro bar, but they don't open on tuesdays.

khao tang naa tang (crispy rice crackers served with minced chicken and prawn simmered in coconut cream) - excellent: the dip was a small pot of pure coconut heaven; all fragrant and creamy, and the little bits of chicken and prawn enhanced the texture. i just wished that they could have been more generous with the portion; it was a really, really small pot...

yam som oo (spicy pomelo saladwith prawns, chicken, roasted coconut, ground peanuts, chili jam and sweet sauce) - not bad too, just sour and spicy enough to whet the appitite for the next dishes.

peek gai sod sai (deep-fried stuffed chicken wings) - not as nice as yhingthai's, which were chock-a-bloc full of juicy mushrooms and other chopped veggies, in addition to the re-stuffed meat. the filling for the ones at sabai was more of the "paste" variety, which i feel is a bit like eating a chicken patty stuffed into a chicken wing. still, it was quite good; definitely better than plain old chicken patties.

pahd tua pluu (stir-fried wing bean in oyster sauce with sliced chilies) - not much impression. think it was okay.

gang daeng warn bpet yang pollamai ("sabai" red roast duck curry with coconut cream, sweet basil leaves, lychee, longan and pineapple) - another winner. i love thai curries; i prefer them to the malay-style ones due to the added creaminess, and the indian-style ones due to the sweet and sour notes (rare of me to like so many flavours in one concoction!) a bite of the lychee with the curry left me gushing with compliments; i wouldn't have thought that fruits and curry were such a winning combination.

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2. the daily scoop

lychee martini and macadamia ice creams - pretty creamy, though with the occasional ice crystal; the flavours though were quite fabulous; the lychee martini was more delicate than the lychee ice-cream which used to be available at haagan-daaz, which i always thought was nice if not a bit too strong. the macadamia, though, was my favourite; the base being nougat-flavoured rather than the usual plain vanilla. if only they open a second branch in town...

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3. 翡翠拉面小笼包 - with j and wy

(names of the dishes are not per menu; will update after i revisit)

萝卜酥 - my newest discovery, and current favourite dish at cj, tying with 担担面. it is a marvel of a pastry; the light-as-air flaky pastry skin encasing a most juicy radish filling that is delicately flavourful. the contrast of the two is simply sublime; akin to le bistrot's lemon tart version 1.0. none of that miakiness (the word that my sister and i use to describe the state of a gooey mess being "miaky", pronounced "mia-key") that defines the normal 酥 at most dim-sum places. excellent on it's own, or with the chili provided at cj.

红烧狮子头 - quite good; i loved the yolks that were encased in the ginormous meat-balls. the sauce was also not overly-starchy, if memory serves me right.

炸鳝鱼 - rather disappointing this time round; about half of the pieces of eel were way too hard. not sure if it were due to the eel itself, or the cooking time.

清炒虾仁 and 南京盐水鸭 - usual standards (i.e. very good).

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4. canele - with j, jo and wy.

home-made ice-creams on fridays only.

earl grey ice-cream - what a glorious scoop of ice-cream! the most creamy texture i've ever tasted for an ice-cream (if not wrong, even better than berthillon), and an intense earl-grey flavour, nicely contrasted with the slightly tart raspberries. and the ice-cream melted very slowly; probably the result of a good recipe as much as the cold glass it was served in.

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5. aerin's - with j, sh and wh.

for all the hype in the recent reviews, this one fell short. perhaps it's the lunch-menu curse, though there is really no excuse for over-cooked pasta (i mean, if i, the cooking dummy can get it right...)

cream of white bean - okay, not mind-blowing. could be more creamy and intense i guess.

spaghetti with beef bolognaise, arugula salad and pecorino cheese - as i have mentioned, the pasta was too soft (granted, nowhere near pasta mania's standards; still, for a restaurant that had just received quite a few nods, this was quite unacceptable), partially saved by the rockets, and the chunky beef sauce.

red wine poached pear with vanilla ice-cream - the dessert was quite lovely (plus i really loved the presentation), though the pear was rather difficult to cut. they took away the knife, which had been sitting on the table unused for the previous two courses, and which would have really aided in eating this dish. still, the pear was sweet and juicy, and the ice cream adequate in providing a counterpoint to the pear.

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6. ember - with sis, yl, c, sm, wx

the first time eating at ember and not having the chilean sea-bass or the rack of lamb; decided to go with the set-dinner instead. didn't think the set was as good; next time, must not waver in my decision =p

deep-fried soft shell crab with black pepper sauce - quite good, if a bit mushy. the sauce was not particularly interesting.

seasonal vegetable tart with feta cheese - the best dish of the night from the set menu. the tart was more of a 生煎包-shaped pastry, filled with fleshy-type cubed vegetables (think aubergine rather than rocket) sitting on a ring of spinach leaves. to a certain degree, this had the un-miaky quality of cj's 萝卜酥. the pastry was also just right: neither too oily nor too dry.

poached snapper stuffed with maine lobster, shimeji mushroom and foie gras sauce - the low point for me. the sauce was too watery for my liking, almost like a chinese soya sauce, and way too light on foie gras, which i thought would have given an extra oomph. the fish itself was also rather dry, and the lobster did not really contribute much to the whole dish, its taste pretty much buried by the rest of the ingredients.

homemade green tea ice cream with green tea shortbread and red bean confit - the red bean confit was a fancy name for anko (which i dislike, unlike tau sah); the ice-cream itself and the shortbread was okay, if not particularly memorable.

tart tatin - a few bites of my sister's apple tart reaffirmed my confidence in the restaurant; for like the chilean sea-bass, ember's good dishes were truly excellent. the caramelised apple with the sweet, flaky tart and a scoop of vanilla bean ice-cream was a match made in heaven. no questions on what i'd order for dessert the next time i return.

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7. lei garden - with j, g, yq, jt and his gf

(names not as per menu)

烧鸭 - normal, not particularly fantastic.

黄金虾 - the best dish of the evening. the prawns were nicely coated with a layer of salted egg-yolk dip, then deep-fried, resulting in a (good) oily, salty, crunchy skin. the prawns themselves were also fresh enough. though i would have love for them to be deshelled, so that the egg-yolk would go directly onto the flesh of the prawns themselves; though that would mean that one doesn't get to suck on the heads of the prawns.

蒜炒芥兰 - not good; the vegetables tasted old and hard, hardly any sweetness, and the garlic simply not strong enough.

清蒸笋壳 - normal (though good normal).

日式牛柳 - the beef was in thick cubes (that should have set off some alarms), and true enough, it was over-tenderized, giving it an almost artificial, metallic taste. the sauce was very fragrant though, and it went very well with the onions which were added to the stir-fry.

杨汁甘露 - again, normal. starting to get over the mango-sago-pomelo phase though. think i can revert back to 龟零膏 and 杏仁露 from now on.

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okay, so it wasn't as short a post as i'd have imagined... =p