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