Adam Road, Mee Heart You

There are a number of places when i declare fervent support for (read: Cedele Bakery Depot and Ichiban Boshi) but they are mostly subjective with comparable alternatives, but I swear by this mee soto. I mean, I don't even like mee soto to begin with but I find this version from Adam Road irresistable. Despite the regular ingredients (I recommend getting an extra portion of tripe), this mee soto is in a 'liga' of its own. The secret is in the broth that bags incredible oomph and is so intense you can't see the bottom of the bowl.



Que Engima's Return to Innocence.



An order of any dish from Amirah & Nur Aniqah entitles you to a potato cutlet- otherwise, you can fuggeditabouttit. You can cry, beg or pretend its your death wish before you embark on the Atkin's Diet and Amirah will hardly budge. Oh yeah, this guy probably pays more income tax than you do but I doubt he will care if you throw a hussy fit. You can toss your nose at such practice but those who have enjoyed these chunky patties would not only understand but appreciate the selectivity.

Though the mee soto left us reeling in satisfaction, we were itching for more. Like a kid who have just had a chocolate fudge cake and now wants his Reese's Peanut Butter cups, we wanted the Nasi Lemak.



Surprisingly we found two coextending queues for the nasi lemak at No 1 Nasi Lemak and Selera Rasa- good to know that Selera Rasa wasn't hogging the limelight. Dad queued at the No 1 Nasi Lemak for a good 10 minutes for ONE plate, because IT JUST SO HAPPENS some guy before him bought like 10 packs worth of takeaway (doesn't it just kill you when you queue up at the supermarket after this guy with a trolley full of party junk food, for a bottle of coke light).


(Couldn't decide which picture looks better)

Going by the picture (the number of forks and spoons), you could probably tell that we wasted no time in getting all nip/tuck. It was well worth the wait, though funny enough it wasn't the usual fried chicken, fried egg or fishcake that sealed the deal but the rice. The light airiness was something to relish; paired with mind blowing sambal, it was a plate-scrappingly good.

The Vines Seafood and Steak Restaurant

Something's tickling me.
Down at my dorsal.

Gee, it sure sounds better when I'm typing it out.

The seemingly seductive fiddler is actually a dry-cleaning tag on my skirt.

Alright back to business. When people talk about Miss Clarity Cafe, the one other restaurant that inevitably gets mentioned is The Vines Seafood & Steak Restaurant - it's quite the Lindsay/ Paris thing to do! While Miss Clarity is regarded as the new kid on the block, The Vines has carved out a terroritory of its own by 'being around the block'. It is undeniable that both places have earned their themselves scores of fans who love "fine dining food", but don't exactly live on Lindsay/ Paris's budget.

Unlike Miss Clarity Cafe, the interior of the surf and turf restaurant is thankfully not quite as masculine-challenged. The atmosphere appears down to earth and the no-nonsense persona echoes in its dishes.



Poor garlic bread- it must be the most overdone starter in the history of grub. Children parties, budget office parties, late night binges... I mean, I like garlic bread and all but how mind-blowingly fascinating can it get? The soup was unremarkable but if I had been looking remarkable soups, it would be downright foolish of me to turn to The Vines.

The attraction of the restaurant was its steaks. While I thoroughly enjoy the oyster morney and chicken le cordon bleu from Miss Clarity Cafe, I got to admit their steak sucks. Period. Now excusing the slightly angtsy teenage-emo tone, I would have to say that MCC's Sirloin Steak and Rib eye over-promise, under-deliver.



At The Vines, the rib-eye was perfect medium rare, imbued with a pretty red that Dad loved in his steak and I, a stone on my fourth finger.



The lamb shank while tasty, was a tad dry (better lamb shanks can be found at Secret Recipe and Ember Restaurant).



Tempted by the optical illusion on the menu, I ordered the lobster and Sirloin Steak plate. Length-wise, the lobster was no bigger then my hand (palm and fingers included), but once I eased down my expectations, I was able to enjoy my 15 secs of lobster. The Sirloin steak was 'not bad', save for the fact that I been to steak-topia and am not in a hurry to rejoin Earth.

It was a pity each dishes comes with pedastrian side- baked potato accompanied by chives, sour cream and Spam's evil cousin Bacon Bits; an 'ok' mashed potato; boiled white radish, carrots and broccoli that was overdone and BLAH-and.



The dessert of the day was fruit cake. OOO i was half-expecting a Christmas slice with dried fruits and raisins but what we got was an inelaborate dry fruit-less butter cake with chocolate sauce. Another testimony of what not to expect in a wallet-friendly restaurant.

I think when its comes to steaks , it is clear as crystal that The Vines weaves its way ahead of Miss Clarity by notches but I would have to credit Miss Clarity Cafe for her variety of offerings. The words used to describe The vines would be 'decent' and 'suitable for those married for 5 yrs and up, if you are looking for somewhere 'awesome' or 'date-worthy', you are clearly in the wrong place.

Udon, Soul Food of Japan

I haven’t caught Spiderman 3, despite loving Spiderman 2 to “incie, wincie” bits.



Today I caught the movie ‘Udon’. The movie revolves around Kosuke, the prodigal son of an udon shop owner, who returns home to Sanuki, Japan after a short and highly unsuccessful stint in New York. After a bear-y scary encounter and fortuitous encounter a group of food columnists, Kosuke and gang make it their calling to re-discover off the beaten path udon mavens. As a nation-wide udon phenomenon kicks off, the group feels the double-edged sword of their success and one (I’m not saying who) comes to terms with his father’s idiosyncrasies.


Udon

Fanaticism is alive and kicking in most places, but more so in Asia where people are not used to physical or verbal intimacy but instead use food to express love, happiness and celebration.. Outside of Japan, Singaporeans love a food craze and even more so if it involves a 2-hr long queue.

The movie was entertaining and a little kooky at times but best of all, you don't need to be a bon vivant to enjoy these movies. It definitely made me more appreciative of the effort and pride which some take to hand make udon. “Finish up your noodles! Kids are starving in Africa and someone in Japan had actually bothered to make these from scratch and hand slice them to near identical widths!” I also realized how some Japanese restaurants here deface the taste by treating it as if it were mere escort for something esle . Well-made udon needs nothing more than just shoyu and green onions as such cleansed presentation only serves to bring out the natural taste and texture of udon noodles.

Though enjoyable for most parts, the movie was nowhere as heartfelt as Lee Ang’s Eat Man Drink Woman (a must watch).


Eat Man Drink Woman

You know what would be cool though? If somebody (not part of the Hollywood A-list) made a movie out of Victoria Abbott Riccardi’s Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto.

Softies Central

Oh lookey what I found!



Don't these cupcakes look definitively divine, absolutely alliteration-worthy? The are all handmade plush toys, made by extremely talented nimble-fingered folks. Honestly, who would have thought yarn and wool to be this interesting!

Gives a whole new meaning to "cough up a furball", no?

More can be found here!

The Very Talented, Nimble-fingered Folks include:
Heidi Kenney from My Paper Crane
Chrissy Brown from Etsy
Little Cotton Rabbits from Etsy
Too Cute from Etsy



Exploring further, these oddball characters made me weak in the knees. They are very much like the doodoo dollls I adore. And it just so happens that I was reading Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and was in a odd "rabbits can talk, how normal" mood.


Just another day at work.

We had to pose for some newsletter today and the Interns got a weeeeee-bit carried away.

So the Great Singapore Sale has commenced.. It's not THAT BIG A DEAL because most shops offer sales and discounts year round anyway. A time for people to get all disrespectful towards the clothes, salespeople and fellow shoppers under the influence of grab-before-its-gone syndrome. Yawn. Think I'm heading off to the National Musuem instead.

Cuvee, Raw Bar

"You are dining where?"

"Cur-veey.."



By definition, the name 'Cuvée' would have been somewhat appropriate (a French term used to denote wine of a specific blend or batch) but Marketing101says to me you should always give your restaurant an easy-to-pronounce name or at least one that doesn't sound like an illness borne out of vitamin C deficiency.

Like, don't you care if the restaurant will be made fun of in school?

Almost undetectable to first-timers, you would feel silly looking for the restaurant's entrance, sliding door situated outside Republic Plaza. A narrow staircase leads you to slick, split level space, with décor reminiscent of style.com's Spring 2007 Trend Report.

The menu is small (a quick glance would take up 4.83 seconds of your life), consisting mainly of sashimi, oysters, salads, cheese crackers sorta food. I'm guessing the purpose here is to drink and discuss business, so food has to be

1. ideally fuss-free and sleek (pasta sauce on that Raoul shirt can be a real deal-breaker)
2. Compliant to the wine, rather than the focus itself.

For those who demand their food to be cooked above a certain temperature, there's coq au vin, beef bourguignon and well, coffee.



Papadums were light and fresh.

P.s. I love the dish that holds the papadums!



The bar serves a raw-lly good deal after 5pm- 50% off raw food. Bourdain-horror stories aside, we got firm supple slices of sake and meikajiki sashimi, which was a real treat considering how the next best cost-alternative is Sakae Sushi (runs for cover).



Featuring the restaurant's centerpiece, the mini wagyu beef sandwiches were a tragic chandelier-shattering affair. Raw purple onions, shredded and crayon-sized wagyu filet banh-mied between toasted baguettes dressed with some orangey mayonnaise. Without the pseudo-wagyu sticks, the sandwiches were pretty decent on their own (baguettes critters ) but once you throw in the word 'wagyu,' expectations escalate ever so slightly. With a texture reserved normally for beef jerkies, one could only bemoan the loss of all the massages and grain/beer diets!

On face value, nothing seems to work for Cuvee -taboo-ish name, small "4.83 secs" menu and missable entrance- but its raw food is worth lingering around for and this might be the first restaurant where you have actually tried everything on the menu! Haha. Some may even warm to this 'cool' restaurant as it is just a sliding door away from the militaristic crowds and chain cafes.

Marmalade Pantry

Brunch is, without a doubt, the most beautiful meal of the day.

On Sunday, with dad nicely tucked away in the golf course, we decided to go to "somewhere nice" for lunch. "Nice"- how generic, how cunningly unexciting it sounds. My definition of "nice" includes a ten minute (at least) drive out away from the neighbourhood; somewhere you can dress up (or look purposefully dress down "made my millions, who cares if I have a ratty t-shirt on"); a place that exists only for indulgence’s sake.



Marmalade Pantry wasn't "somewhere nice".

The last time round I was there, I found it a little too 'frou' for my liking but well, everybody deserves a second chance (I'm clearly more forgiving when it comes to brunch). A waiter in marmalade's signature uniform (helmut-lang-meets-kitchen-confidantial) shows us to our table but a perky girl takes care of our orders and I felt inclined to exonerate Marmalade from its 'frou pas'. Today, the Sunday crowd is more "Back from Mauritius. How are my hedge funds doing" than "finally got my hands on the Miu Miu coffer bag".

The Sunday brunch menu, while extensive, doesn't overwhelm but a cursory glance at what my neighbour was having confirmed my choice.



Don't you just hate it when all you want is a really simple cheeseburger but you find yourself at the mercy of over-zealous chefs who would somehow try to slip in pickles, a sunny-side up egg, onion relish, sun dried tomatoes or even, foie gras? Well Marmalade's version is as 1-2-3 as it gets- single slice of cheese, ¾ inch thick beef patty and a dash of mayo spread between sesame buns. This cheese burger appealed to me for the very same reason that may turn you off. Such simplicity but I'm still thinking about it. The French fries scored with its suitably crisp edges.



For those looking for more, I would recommend the hot pastrami sandwich. Top with caramelised onions (which looked ideally whimpy, but by no means tasted so), the beef pastrami and emmental cheese duo lies to rest on an airy white toast mattress with a familiar mayonnaise spread.



"Can I have the fried peanut butter & banana sandwich and erm, with a heart attack on the side." Slightly disturbed by the word 'fried', we ordered our PB&B sandwich un-fried, just toasted. Well, it is predictable and a can't-go-wrong choice.



Wildly popular, minimalist-chic and understated, Marmalade Pantry is like the blond beautiful kid whom people love to hate but at the same time, can't wait to get into her good books (or in this case, the reservation book) or be seen in her company… Oh yeah, I woke up, threw this OLD THING on and found myself on the Best-Dressed List the next day. But it serves a brunch worthy of praise and while it’s hardly fashionable to display over-enthusiasm, I wouldn’t be turning down an invitation anytime soon.

Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge

Previous experiences at Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge have been less than “purveyor to her majesty the Queen” and today was no exception. Lamentable service aside, we decided to focus on conversation and cakes.



The display of cakes, thankfully free of tacky cream, look absolutely tempting- good thing there was a glass display separator, or I would have just handpicked a slice while waiting for our table (see this is why I should be banned from buffets).



Faced with a variety of Madhatter-approved treats, I was torn. Natalie-Imbruglia-Tormented-Soul-Woe-Is-Me T-O-R-N. The waitress recommended their bestseller the baked cheesecake but I was in the mood for something more unusual. There were fruit-based cakes -pear and apricot- with their handsome glaze; I was almost swayed by the gorgeous rich green matcha cake and the fruit cake with its icing sugar dusting was positively alluring; even the clownish-sounding chocolate brownie cake was worth a thought.

Unable to make up my mind, I did the next most appropriate thing; I asked my tea companion. I have to admit seeking advice or opinion from somebody else takes the heat of a bad decision made by myself.



Blueberry cake was essentially butter cake with sporadic traces of whole blueberries. I couldn't resist picking off the blueberries (that's why they are missing from the picture), which popped my mouth like sweet ikura; the cake was dense and moist but otherwise rather ordinary.



Served warm, the signature scones were such darlings. I have had too many scones that crumble at the slightest pressure but this version bucked the trend. Taste-wise, they were suitably buttery, great with a smudge of raspberry jam.

Back in Copenhagen, I had to walk past the Royal Copenhagen and Georg Jensen factory outlets (they were situated side by side) to get to school. Luckily, I’m not a big fan of porcelain and minimalist homeware or I would definitely have problems getting to school on time. Perhaps a cafe within those compounds would have tempted me to stray.



Writer's note: After revisiting my archives, I realised that
the cakes at
Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge
seem
positively boring,
compared to what
Copenhagen really
has to offer.

Hello to you exchange folks, enjoy it while it lasts... Sigh.

Ajisen Dining Nagomi

Is it just me or has there been sprouting of Japanese casual dining outlets? Waraku, AjiSENN... just to name a couple (erm, i only know two of such places anyway). These eateries fill in the space between fine dining and street food takopachi balls and yakitori sticks, barely a notch above conveyor belts.

The celebratory feature of such eateries (I don't think they qualify as restaurants) are the sides, which would appeal to those who aren't keen to slaughter a tonkatsu mega-gozilla set or slurp through a huge bowl of ramen. These graze-worthy munchies remind me of Spanish tapas, best for sharing between two.



The lotus root chips were light, airy like a ballerina's tutu- without the frills.



The sweet potato was sweet but not cloyingly so. The dish would have sailed had the sugar been caramelized brown but it was fun to play around with the bits that were stuck onto the plate.



An interesting item that made us go 'huh' was the chicken bone bites. Yes you heard me right, deep fried chicken BONES. Don't worry guys, there was meat on the bones but it was Sahara-dry and badly in need of accompanying sauce (sweet sauce, mayonnaise or ketchup?); otherwise, the soft bones were made for chewing.



The ton shabu, shredded pork belly (plus a very lonesome cherry tomato) dipped in shoyu was surprisingly palate cleansing.



Gone in sixty seconds, the mini salmon don was perfect for those ‘peck’.

Tucked in a corner, there remains much to sample at Ajisen- the Tonpeiyaki (pork slices, cabbage and egg omelette) appears to be popular with many and they have a extensive dessert menu well-catered to sweet tooths- mine included.

something's wrong with blogger.

i can't post images or blog properly.

can you?

When I read T-H-I-S, I couldn't help but sigh in agreement.

'Aye aye' to point 10, 13 & 20

Also to add on:

- Your blog becomes a transit lounge- you provide non-food-related links to distract your readers, as if to say, "thank you for visitng, now moving on..."

- You no longer care about eating 'blog material' stuff and in fact, that's the 4th Subway Ham Snadwich (parmesan oregano toasted with cheese, lettuce, pickles and tomatoes with honey mustard sauce and pepper)you've had for the week!

- You cite "poor lighting in restaurants" as an excuse, give up taking pictures and conveniently forget to write about the dining experience.

- When served, your friends instinctively hold back 15 econds, prompting you to say, "thanks... but I don't need a picture"

- The 12-second act of uploading photos becomes too time-consuming and you have better things to do like abuse the remote control, incessantly flip channels between Discovery Channel Travel & Living and Asian Food Channel for a good 13 seconds before settling for E! Entertainment News.

- And finally, you sponge off other people's list.

Enough said.

Recently, New York Mag has been keeping me entertained occupied sane at work. It's edgier, less Little Miss Prim & Proper than New York Times.

The fashion pages are an eye-opener, especially the Show & Tell Blog. Needless to say, many consider FASSSSSHIONN (key here is to breathe into the word, avoid saying out loud) to be more than just a passion (honey, passion alone doesn't pay the dry-cleaning bills) or religion (red thread around my wrist actually belongs to my Fall/Winter cashmere caplet). To them, FASSSSSHIONN actually forms the lowest level of Maslow's Hierachy of Needs, which technically makes sense since most only graze to survive. Think Lagarfeld, not Lager beer.

On socialite Fabiola Beracasa's blog, "The Fab Life" (congratulations on getting that pun right, Fabby!), her fashion- enslave life and air-kissing folks make for good light readng... although it does get a little too phony-baloney at times.. and this is NOT taking into account the number of folks who are non-biodegradable.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE however read Grub Street, especially 'Ask a Waiter' from Grub Street, which is essentially refine grub gossip served on China. Absolutely enjoyable readings there.