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. My Tasting Palette .
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. In celebration of food and dining experiences . |
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Exploring and discovering new restaurants Dining and chilling out with my loved ones Baking and cooking over the weekends Sharing my love for food with others
Vanilla bean pods (one can never have enough) Valrhona Cocoa powder Valrhona chocolate Macarons from Laduree and Pierre Herme Madelines mold Pretty cake stands (I only have one and only one) YUZU from Japan! (They taste great in almost anything) A food tour to Italy and France Opportunity to study at Le Cordon Bleu |
Sunday, September 30, 2007 Of lunch and fun in the kitchen Such a late post. I simply have no time to blog about food anymore!
J and I went to La Strada for lunch because we couldn't get a table at the newly(relatively new) opened Au Petit Salut at Harding Road. I was looking forward to the Truffle butter pasta and the desserts at La Strada. Unfortunately, we were disappointed. We ended up getting the set lunch for economic reasons and it hardly did satisfy us. I can't emphasize how important a restaurant should serve good bread. Good bread is as important as a good amuse bouche or appetier. That's because a good bread shows the restaurant's dedication and skill in providing good food. The bread from La Strada was not just cold, it was stale. It was a great disappointment for me because I love (good) bread with olive oil. For starters, I had the baby octopus salad with potatoes with pesto sauce for my appetiser. While it was alright, it wasn't good either. J had the potato and leek soup. This one was really good. Love the taste of leek. For the mains, we both had the beef tenderloin. This was much better than the starter. It was simple execution but the steak was juicy, tender and it wasn't overcooked. For desserts, we stuck to the safe, old tiramisu. Frankly speaking, there wasn't much choice to begin with. The tiramisu wasn't like the best. It wasn't the near best either. It just provided the sweet ending to a meal. Oh well, I should have just spent my dollars on the truffle butter pasta. If there is one thing worth going to La Strada, it's their truffle butter pasta.  Baby octopus salad  Mains  Dessert *** On a brighter note. I tried making chocolate mousse for three reasons. The first is because I was drooling over the recipe that I saw from 'Delicious' magazine (September issue). The second is because I know my dad, sis, and ros likes it. Thirdly, J and I wanted to play around in the kitchen. Making chocolate mousse is so fun and therapeutic because I love dark chocolate and I love the smell of melted chocolate. The results were fantastic. The texture was smooth. The only complaint was that, it was too bitter. I guess it differs from individuals if you are big on dark chocolate and milk chocolate. Next time I'll try making the milk chocolate one. Think this is a great recipe especially for a party! *** Chocolate Mousse (Adapted from Delicious Sep 2007) Serves 6 150g good quality dark chocolate (or chocolate of your preference) 50g unsalted butter 2 Tbs of coffee dissolved in 2 Tbs of boiling water 1 tbs of Kahlua or other coffee liqueur 3 large eggs, separated 1 cup of pure cream 1 tbs runny honey Mint springs and strawberries to serve 1) Place chocolate, butter, coffee in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stire until chocolate is just melted. 2) Remove bowl from the pan and stir in coffee liquer. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and leave to cool to body temperature. 3) Meanwhile in a clean, dry bowl (any water or fat will affect results) use electric beaters to whisk the eggwhites for 3-5 minutes until foamy and soft peaks form. 4) Whip the cream to soft peaks in a separate bowl then keep chilled. 5) When the chocolate is cool enough, stir in the yolks and honey. Gently fold in a third of the cream. Gently fold in half the eggwhite, keeping as much air in the mixture as possible. 6) Fold in remaining eggwhite followed by remaining cream. 7) Divide mousse among six 1-cup serving glasses and chill for 4-6 hrs to set. 8) Top mousses with strawberries and mint to serve.  Captured the golden sunny shade egg yolks in my shiny stainless steel pot  The result Worth the wait I assure you  Cool mint and juicy strawberry Important to the mousse Saturday, September 22, 2007 Chasing the blues away with lunch at Jaan  Lovely view from the 70th storey of Swisshotel I woke up to a really bad, and realistic dream and it made me feel a little moody for the morning. Lunch was the turning point for me, really. I was (almost) instantly cheered up by a good lunch with my dad. But not after I was starved for an hour plus while waiting for my dad. We headed to one of our favourites French food restaurants in town, Jaan at Swisshotel. It's been awhile since I went back and I was pleasantly presented with a wonderful view of the recently built Singapore Flyer. The view was great, the food, even better. After being seduced by the almond crushed crusted foie gras from Gunther's, I was left craving for more. Hence, appetiser was an easy choice for me. I was not disappointed. The foie gras was tender, moist, and seared perfectly though I felt that it should be seared at higher heat. This was paired with a warm flaky tartin with a sauce that is both lightly citrusy and richly flavourful at the same time. My dad ordered the Alaskan Crabmeat with creamy spicy shellfish coulis. Not really my cup of tea because I remembered ordering this the last time only to find it overly creamy. I just dislike cream-based sauce.  Pan-fried Foie Gras with Vine Ripe Tomato Tatin with Pomegranate Reduction  Petit Pain of Alaska Crabmeat, Creamy Sabayon, Spicy Shellfish Coulis Mains was the usual baby veal loin. Perfect. All of its rich flavours are encapsulated under the layer of seared skin. It is served with truffle veloute which is basically shallots, truffles, butter and cream. Lovely stuff there. Dad and I went for the same thing because we just love our veal!  Baby Veal Loin BlanquetteI asked for a dessert recommendation since I don't usually order desserts at Jaan. The waitress pointed this one out- the Crunchy Tanariva Milk Chocolate Bar. Once it was brought in front of me, I knew that this would be an enjoyable treat. Just look at the photo. A sandwiched hazelnut praline center with two thinly sliced sweet Tanariva milk chocolate. The ice-cream brought about the crunchy-ness and complemented the hazelnut praline. The golden orange glowing sun-like apricot coulis added a fruity touch to the dessert.  Hazelnut sandwiched between milk chocolate slices served with Nougat Ice cream and apricot coulisNow you know how to chased the blues away. Indulgence (in food) is the key. I'm one happy girl. Monday, September 17, 2007 Sunday lunch at Brussel Sprouts My best friend brought me to Brussel Sprouts for lunch. We wanted to go to Pontini, Copthorne Waterfront for Italian food but it's closed on Sundays. How disappointing! Anticipation overcame the disappointment as I was excited to try out the mussels which were supposedly good. The layout of Brussel Sprouts puts one at ease the moment one enters. The place is cheery and relaxing for causal dinning though it can get pretty crowded and noisy.I love their Tin Tin silhouetted walls though I remember him being a French invention. Sunday was my first time trying the food here though I've been down for the their Belgium beer(which I loved). Brussel Sprouts serves Belgium food and is opened by Chef Emmanuel Stroobant, the guy behind Saint Pierre. Brussel Sprouts boost an extensive menu of mussels- 14 different styles of mussels and a wide range of Belgium beers. Grace and I mulled over the mussel selection for quite awhile before we ended up choosing the tomato-based, garlic, herbs and saffron one. The mussels come served with refillable buckets of huge fries. The dish sounded really good but for one, the mussels were really small and secondly I could only taste the tomatoes and garlic actually. So much for giving it such a fancy name. I miss the fresh mussels from Perth. The beer battered fish and chips were alright. Well-battered, however the fish and chips from Greenwood still wins hands down. The best dish was probably the warm salad that was served with green beans, bacon, baby potatoes and a poached egg. It was a real delight to eat. I love poached eggs on my greens. We were really full and bloated by the end of the meal and we didn't even finish half the amount of fries we had! Even though the food wasn't mind blowing, I enjoyed my Sunday afternoon with my best friend. It's a good place to chat because the place wasn't too crowded when we were there. We headed to Canele for desserts. When I look at desserts, it makes me miss baking a lot! Jupiter was good as before. I hope Canele introduces more new desserts because I'm getting a little bored with their selections.  Tin tin- But where's his dog?  Warm salad: surprising really good   Mussels and fries Sweet endings
Birthday celebration at Gunther's
J asked me where I would like to go for my birthday dinner and I was stuck because there were so many places that I wanted to go. For some reason, I decided to go to Gunther's( pronounced as Goon-thers) , a relatively new modern French cuisine restaurant under the Garibaldi Group. Chef Hubrechsen was previously from Les Amis. After taking an hour plus to get to the restaurant (due to bad traffic and ZILCH parking), we were hungry and grouchy . The restaurant reminds me of Garibaldi- dark, minimalist decor but I think there is more privacy at Gunther's because there's more space between each table.  Amuse Bouche: "amuse your mouth/palate" literally  Mini Baguette- It's mini though it looks huge**** We were first served the amuse bouche- lightly battered and deep fried prawn. We then happily ate into our warm mini baguette with butter. The beauty of French cuisine- Butter! Lovely stuff there.  Simplicity at its best  The pan fried foie gras *** Soon our starters came, we ordered the pan seared foie gras with a layer of crushed almonds served with a poached peach. Let's just say this dish is worth our wait. It's divine. The crushed almonds add a crunchy texture, a contrast and complement for the soft buttery texture of the foie gras. J says that it is the best that he has eaten. The other starter was the grilled mushrooms served with tomato confit, cured ham and a sunny side up runny egg. This is the only type of dish I like my egg yolks runny. This dish was perfectly executed. I can't find any fault with it. Such simple ingredients but they are well-mashed as a dish. The mains were rather limited and so I decided to go for something more unconventional- angel hair pasta with kombu, dried ebi. Pasta was done al-dente, the sauce was very light but it awoken my tastebuds. I would go back for this dish seriously. J ordered the pigeon served with a bed a julienned deep-fried potatoes. Didn't have much of this but I thought it was only so-so. Not particularly fantastic. We wanted to order desserts but there wasn't anything we fancy because the menu is so small! So we headed off to Robertson Quay for something sweet. Gunther's has a perfect setting for a private dinner with some pretty well-executed dishes. However, for its price tag, I hope that we can see and taste more exciting dishes.  Our starters  My angel hair pasta  J's pan fried pigeon**** Sunday, September 09, 2007 Sunday evening baking  My messy island table- with my recipes and cooking accessoriesIt gets better with practice. That's what everyone attest to; that's what I believe in. J and I spent Sunday evening baking to preempt our Monday blues. Firstly, baking cheers us up. Secondly, we will be cheered up by little sweet treats for the next day.  J: hard at work Whisking the lime mascarpone mixture It's my second weekend baking the Lime Mascarpone tart. It's just a practical decision because I still had unfinished Mascarpone cheese and I didn't want to let it go to waste. It also turned out better this time. Firmer texture and less sourness (adjusted based on feedback though I really like sour stuff). Just think that the quantity of the recipe needs serious tweeking because for some reason or another, I don't have enough filling to go around making the ratio to tart unbalanced.  Peeking out abashedly Also, baked the well-received burnt butter cupcakes. I love this cupcake tremendously. The texture is perfect. The taste is wonderful- nothing can beat the taste of burnt butter: so fragrant, so sinful. This cupcake is really one hell of a recipe because it's really tedious and I only made a dozen of them so I felt a little sad. My parents still think that the icing is too sweet. That I agree- I need to find a way to make the icing gel nicely without adding too much icing sugar. I'll leave that for another time.  Little treats to chase away the Monday bluesMy next item of fancy: Langue De Chat in matcha flavour. I can't wait to try that out.
Lunch at Borgo Servicing the car at Bt Timah was simply an excuse to head to Borgo, a small Italian restaurant along the stretch of Sixth Avenue. J and I didn't manage to get there the last time because we were delayed by my haircut. Chef La Mura Dominico who was previously at La Braceria helms the kitchen at Borgo -Bringing his well-loved grilled meats and pizzas to the menu. This small and unasuming restaurant caters to the regulars who mostly stay in the vicinity. It's funny how J and I travelled so far just to have lunch there when it used to be just 10 minutes drive from my old place. Lunch was well-worth our ride there. Service was friendly, the restaurant was cozy for a private and quiet chat. We ordered two starters and a pizza to share. We had the pan-fried scarmozas with porcini mushrooms. We wanted to try this because we just tasted the deep-fried version of scarmozas at La Strada and we wanted to see which version is better. We both voted for this one that is served at Borgo. The deep, rich flavour of the porcini breathed new life to this simple dish. It was a pleasing treat and it sets us wanting for more. Our next starter was baked eggplant with mozzarella cheese- Doesn't it spells C-O-M-F-O-R-T F-O-O-D. Simple yet we liked it too though the cheese was getting to me. I was feeling full from the starters. Next came our pizza- The third cheese-based dish. I really couldn't take it anymore so I just had 2 slices of the Artichokes, Salami and mushroom pizza. It was alright though not particularly fantastic. Perhaps, we only had ourselves to blame for choosing such "Cheesy" dishes. The desserts were far too plain for me to order- I think they had tiramisu, and almond cake. But I'll definitely be back to try the handmade sausages that I've heard about so often. Borgo is a good, causal place for friends to chat over simple but well-executed Italian dishes. One shouldn't expect a lavishly exciting or palate-challenging menu. It serves what it does best so I applaud them for staying through for serving up authentic "homely" Italian meals.  Pan-fried Scamorzas with porcini mushrooms  Baked eggplant  Our pizza: note all the pizza is like an interesting colour wagon - (from right) the sushine yellow of artichokes, the earthly tones from the mushrooms, gleaming red salami slices *** Ok, what you see below is probably not supposed to be in this post. But how can I leave out the loveliest of chocolates- Organic milk chocolate wafers flavoured with ground cinnamon. Bought this box for my dad. It's well-worth its price tag seriously. It melts into your mouth and makes your eyes bounce delightfully as the you allow the chocolate wafer to disappear with the warmth from your tongue. It's indulgence that everyone should afford to have. Geez, I can't wait for the Belgium handmade chocolates that my dad will(hopefully) bring back in Oct. Fly me chocolates!  I love my chocolates
Dinner at Wakashachiya Curry Udon With all of us working, it's been a long while since I met up with my project group mates to catch up. We decided to head down to the alumni drinks gathering at Brewerkz on a thursdayso we headed to the Central for dinner. Since JT and I are huge fans of Japanese food, and Mok is accommodating enough to entertain our cravings, we headed to try out Wakashachiya, the curry udon store just beside Muratama Ramen. Wakashachiya is apparently the first international branch of the 63 outlet curry udon restaurant chain from Japan. Hence, I really wanted to try it even though I'm not a huge fan of udon or Japanese curry. The dinner turned out to be delicious enough for me to gobble down the entire bowl in record time. (Or perhaps I was simply too hungry after work) I ordered the Ebi Tempura curry udon. The tempura's batter was light and crispy so thumbs up for that. The udon was cooked to a right done-ness- Springy. Jt's deep fried lotus was even better. What an interesting topping for a udon. The only reason why I didn't go for that is because I need my protein-fix. However, if they had offer it as an extra optional topping. It will be a permanent fixture in my udon. We didn't order extra sides because there wasn't much to choose from, and that bowl of udon filled us to the brim. I wish that they have more interesting concoctions to lure me in because I still think that there isn't enough variety or surprise for me for repeat visits.  Ebi Tempura Udon  Deep-fried Lotus UdonPopcorn delight! No Reservations J and I caught the preview of this movie. I love the first scene of the movie when Kate (Catherine Zeta Jones) was describing her truffle sauce. I was expecting to see more food in the movie so I was a little disappointed when that did not happen. But it is a good paced, light-hearted movie to watch. My favourite scene was when Zoe, her niece, was smelling the ugly-looking truffles, and was put off by its smell. She dumped the few pieces of precious truffles away! The other scene that I really like was the one when Nick( Aaron Eckhart), Kate and Zoe were having their little pizza party and the song "Sleeping Lion" came on. I love that song! It reminds me of m childhood.  *** Ratatouille This totally made my day even with a peasant dish as its name. I love, LOVE, LOVE this movie! The food in the movie looks gorgeous. And saffron, oooh saffron, it makes me miss it so much. I keep craving for my saffron risotto, badly. It's seriously funny and highly entertaining. I'm thinking of watching it for the second time and third time. Will go buy the DVD when its out. This movie totally rocks especially for food lovers because you find yourself identifying in Remy and how he de-constructs food, the way he describes his food and the way he experiments with food. It's inspring for me and it makes me want to hit the kitchen to whip up a few dishes, to bake, to experiment, to eat and a long list of food related activities. If only we have the luxury of time and money on our side...  
Dad's birthday lunch at Inagiku, Swisshotel  Fragrant garlic fried rice- I love garlic and the garlic makes the fried rice so fragrantOn my dad's actual birthday, we headed to Inagiku, Swisshotel for lunch. Inagiku is renowned for its teppanyaki and sashimi. My dad and I ordered our favourite premium sushi set while my mum, being a conservative eater opted for the teppanyaki wagyu beef(Japanese marbled beef)that was served with garlic fried rice. This time I had the chawanmushi (Japanesesteamed custard egg). My friends would know that I'm never a big lover of eggs or chawanmushi. But being in the office left me feeling cold perpetually, so I decided to go for something warm. The chawanmushi at Inagiku surprised me- I love its stock base and unlike many places that overcook the chawanmushi, the one I had was wobbly and silky soft. Perfect! I felt that the wasabi that they used in their sushi was a little too powerful for me. I could feel it rushing up my nose and then head. But I love the o-toro (tuna belly) and uni. I also picked at my mum's food. Wagyu beef was drool-worthy. Its flavour was delicate and it did not disrupt the way it melts in your mouth. I also greatly appreciated the finely-sliced garlic that were served on the side. Crunchy, bursting of full flavoured goodness! I had to rush back to work after that so I skipped the dessert. But it did bring a cheer to the rest of my day. More importantly, I was able to spend time with my dad on his birthday. Oh I just love the way that (good) food brings people together.  Chawanmushi- with mushroom and ginko nut  Ooh i love this one.. fried fish slices with citrusy sauce topped with shredded nori  Light vegetable broth  my sushi set my mum's teppanyaki-styled wagyu beef with fried garlic slices
Monday, September 03, 2007 Dad's birthday treat at La Strada, Shaw Lido  Happy birthday "mahjong" tiles!J and I went on a baking adventure on Sunday afternoon. We attempted the lime mascarpone tart for my dad’s birthday. It’s the first time that I baked ever since we started working. It feels good to be in the kitchen and interacting with my baking accessories. I miss my sakura-shaped cookie mould, my orange kitchenaid mixer, and my measuring cup! (ok I know it sounds really strange)  Lime Mascarpone tartAnyway, the proportions in the recipe are a little off. I ended up with an extra biscuit base. And there was not enough lime mascarpone to go around. So my tart has less filling than it should have. I don’t know what went wrong. But anyway, it taste good. Extremely sour because I added lime zest. But I like it. I love all (most) things sour. My sis and I bought these cute “mahjong” tile-like candles that reads “Happy birthday”. How cute! *** Lime Mascarpone tarts This tart has just a teeny bit of tartness to it to make it so delectable. With a sweet biscuit base, it is a non baked cheesecake masquerading as a tart. Ingredients Sweet biscuit tart shells 4, medium 8 egg yolks 100 ml of lime juice Lime zest, to taste 240g castor sugar 250g butter, softened at room temp 150g Mascarpone Method: Prepare biscuit tart shells Combine egg yolks, lime juice and sugar in a small bowl set over a pot of boiling water. Beat until the mixture is thick. Continue beating while adding the butter, Beat until mixture is thick and glossy. Leave mixture to cool, and then fold in mascarpone. Spoon mixture into tart shells. Garnish as desired and serve. Makes 4 medium tarts. **** Sweet biscuit base: 750g Biscuit (grahams, digestives) 250g butter Place biscuits in a plastic bag and crush well until biscuits are all broken up and crumbly. Pour into a mixing bowl and mix well with melted butter. Spoon mixture into baking moulds. Press well into base and sides of moulds. Refrigerate for at least 1/2hr before using. Makes 1 large tart, 4 medium tarts or 12-20 small tarts *** We cut the cake before we headed to La Strada (at Shaw Lido) for our dinner. La strada is under the Les Amis group and they recently underwent a makeover. It now has a minimalist, Spartan layout. The round table they sat us at was a little too tiny and cramped up for me. My parents were pretty amused when they noticed the bar counter that has several types of glasses (the Bordeaux glasses for red wines, champagne flutes, martini glasses etc.) We were served with two glasses of crunchy Italian breadsticks and olive oil while we poured over the menu to decide on what to have. Between the six of us, we ordered a good variety. For the starters, I decided to try the fritto misto- 4 deep-fried pieces of seafood served with saffron infused mayonnaise and capers and herb salsa. This dish was an artful surprised; the 4 pieces of seafood was arranged neatly on the top of a white square plate while two streaks of pale yellow and deep green danced across the background. No doubt it was a delight to eat this beautiful piece, I felt a little disappointed because of the portion and the fact that the mayo did not have the touch of saffron as promised.  J's Quail egg and Foie Gras Ravioli  The starter that I ordered- Fritto MistoJ ordered the starter that I had wanted to try- the quail’s egg and foie gras ravioli served with mushrooms. My dad queerly called it a giant Italian dumpling. The foie gras was cooked till soft and it was an interesting dish really. I enjoyed it more than my starter that seemed to pale in comparison. However, it ws the simple deep-fried scarmoza that took the cake. Drizzling lemon juice over the lightly battered pieces made the scarmoza a wonderful treat. We loved the way the cheese melts gleefully in our mouths.  It doesn't look too good here because we didn't manage to take a photo before the waiter tossed the spaghetti for my sisAfter our starters, I was anticipating the main course because I hoped that it will be seriously good to blow my mind and palate. My sis ordered the homemade spaghetti carbonara with Spanish ham and confit egg, overflowing truffle butter sauce. Being my greedy self, I had to take a mouthful of her pasta. My, it was absolutely heavenly and mind-blowing at the same time. I just went “Wow”. Yes, it is really that good. I love the unique and rich flavour of the truffle. You can understand why it is termed “the diamond of the kitchen”. Though the truffle looks like a brown ugly lump, its taste cannot be replicated by any other ingredient. This pasta is the star of the evening.  Variazione di agnelloWhat I had was less fanciful. I ordered the variation of milk-fed lamb- slowly cooked then char-grilled, roasted shoulder, pan-roasted cutlet, rolled loin stuffed with olives etc. It sounds really good?That's what I thought. While it was alright, it wasn’t fantastic and there are definitely many other restaurants with much better lamb than La Strada. My biggest complaint is that the dish was slightly cold. I should have sent it back but I suppose I was so overwhelmed and carried away by my sis’s pasta that I forgot all about it. My grandma had the char-grilled spring chicken served on a bed of salad leaves. It’s really good because the chicken is not overcooked, the meat is tender and succulent. And they proclaimed it to be French spring chicken. I wonder if its true. My mum ordered the char-grilled 200 day grain fed U.S rib eye served with a potato rosemary pizza and rocket salad. She really liked it a lot. I thought it was really good too (apart from being a tad too peppery).  Opera style chocolate and salty peanut caramel with chocolate feuillitineMoving on to the desserts, I think it’s the best part of the menu. Surprisingly interesting and well-executed desserts. Since my parents and grandma were too full for desserts, J, my sis and I ordered two to share. The first was the famed opera style chocolate and salty peanut caramel with chocolate feuillitine dessert that came with milk sorbet. The second was the peach and almond tarte that was served with truffle honey ice-cream.  Peach and almond tarte with truffle honey ice-creamThe former is a noteworthy effort to marry a realm of flavours into a single dessert- the salty peanut caramel to the smooth ganache and hazelnut almond praline to the interestingly cold and light milk sorbet. Such a tantalizing experience. The latter was a warm dessert with puff pastry paired with peach. Really nice though the ice-cream was overpowering with the taste of truffle that I could hardly taste the honey. It was rather good but I feel that it’s an acquired taste. Overall, we had a pleasant experience at La Strada. I’ll be back but I’ll definitely go for the heavenly truffle butter pasta. I’m still deciding where to head to for my birthday. Thinking of trying out Gunther’s and Sage. Any opinions? |
