Early birthday celebrations at DB Bistro & Oyster Bar, MBS

I like DB Bistro & Oyster Bar. It was my third visit and I still enjoyed it very much. It is fine without being over  the top stuffy; the food is not groundbreaking but the execution is nearly spot-on. Overpriced it is, so a special occasion beckons.

My brother-in-law and his family were recently in town and it was great spending some time with them, especially this was a spontaneous trip back from California. To cap off their trip, we had lunch at DB Bistro & Oyster Bar and I ended up celebrating my birthday early with KW's side of the family.

 

We each ordered a main and some items to share. The Kale Caesar was rather unexceptional, while the House Salad shined with a smattering of goat cheese, beetroot and pecan nuts. As for side dishes, the brussel sprouts were some of the best brussel sprouts we have ever had, thanks to the smoked bacon.

We order a beef and parmesan pasta for the kids and it impressed the adults around the table. Fresh pasta tossed in a rich buttery beef bolognese. Any restaurant that takes kids' meals seriously scores high in my books; I would be hardpressed to find a reason to NOT order it the next time I'm back.

I was set on getting the sea trout but changed my mind at the eleventh hour and got myself a Frenchie instead. A hefty beef patty coooked beautifully pink, topped with confit pork belly and cheese.And those fries? To hell with no carbs, I say.

My better half ordered the 300g Brandt Farm USDA Prime Ribeye and he was kind enough to share half with me. It was really good too, a shade of perfect pink with little need for any of the accompanying sauce and mustard. My only grip would be the price tag ($75) which makes it hard to swallow, especially since KW has been making exceptional steaks at home these days. 

  

P for Profiteroles and ... Pizaazz. A server brought over the profiteroles, drizzled some hot chocolate and caused the chocolate disc to collapse under the heat. Very dramatic. But it was more style over the substance for the profiteroles themselves were rather pedastrian. P for Pedastrian, I guess.

Swept away by Jaan, once again

KW and I scored some time off at the end of 2016 and we decided to celebrate the year with a treat at Jaan. Admittedly, with Chef Julian Royer’s departure, I kept my expectations in check and wished for nothing more than a relaxing fine meal. It is quite obvious from the title that we had a great time.

At this point, I would like to make a note of their service, which initially borderlined on unacceptable for a fine dining establishment. Specifically, those white and in management positions need to work harder on their EQ – hey, everyone is working hard to make Jaaan an amazing restaurant, don’t let your team down. Kudos to the local staff who made our visit a pleasant experience.

Ok, onto the happy stuff.

Knowing that there would be amuse bouche, snacks and pre-dessert, as well as a heavy dinner at Basilico later, we opted for a moderately modest 5-course option. As soon as we settled down, a bevy of amuse bouche were served. Nice. I can’t think on a stomach. They were all interesting one-or-two bite snacks that made us go “Mmm, we are off to a good start.”

Tapioca chips with hummus and yogurt

 Foie gras truffle macarons

Cheddar Sticks  

JAAN’s version of fish & chips  

Truffle mushroom consommé with potato espuma and crunchy potato bits  

Bread basket 

Wheat, sourdough, milk brioche and walnut raisin (my favourite), served with unsalted butter and a very interesting seaweed butter.

Heirloom tomato  

Stuffed heirloom tomato, served alongside burrata espuma, basil sorbet, pesto and foam. A refreshing start.

Watching over our hatch like proud parents

Soft Organic Hen’s Egg  

This is a Jaan signature that we also had under Chef Julian Royer. Gimmicky and theatrical. Perfectly poached egg poured into a silky potato mash and crunchy chorizo iberico cubes. Yet another warm-thy-heart dish.

Turbot

Roasted fillet of turbot, cuttlefish and pumpkin puree. The turbot and cuttlefish were perfectly made (fresh and toothsome), and the company of pumpkin puree was unexpectedly good.

Guinea Fowl

Guinea fowl with potato fondant and rillette, drizzled with an unctuous foie gras and chicken jus. Once again, an elegantly plated dish that tasted as good as it looked.

Cucumber sorbet

Ivory Caramel

Go big or go home. I love my chocolate desserts bold and intense, and this was an arresting assembly of chocolate. They need to start selling that caramel white chocolate ice cream in pints. Chef Westaway came out personally to serve the chocolate foam, so this would be a good time to thank him for the meal.

Mignardises: Lavender jam biscuits, amalfi lemon tart and chocolate truffles 

The mignardises were a lovely end to the meal. It's hard to get the balance right with one-bite desserts and they are usually overwhelmingly sweet, but these were all perfect.

The dishes at Jaan are beautiful and elegantly plated, on top of that, the flavour profiles are varied, punchy and bold. You would probably have guessed from the title, we were not disappointed and this is arguably my favourite 'fine dining meal / special occasion meal' of 2016!

Poulet, Changi Airport Terminal 3

Before Japan, we had a quick bite at Poulet (Terminal 3). A lunch that I very much enjoyed. Total disclaimer: I know it's a chain, a chain that specializes in roast chicken specifically, but we didn't have their roast chicken.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Salad de Paris. Kitschy name aside, the chopped (yes!) garden salad had dried cranberry, tomato, avocado, black olive and roasted pine nuts. It might look simple and maybe "too clean," but it was a refreshing counterpart to the rich and heavy dishes we had.

A French classic is escargots. I love escargots - my initiation to French cuisine when I was a kid and I never lost my palate for it. This were comforting and briny, with a texture you either love or hate (I love).

Perhaps the only thing I wouldn't order again is the mushroom soup. The mushroom soup was extremely creamy and a little too Campbell soup-like. A little goes a long way.

Many mains looked promising but we eventually settled on the pork belly. Incredibly indulgent and tender, cloaked with a rich tangy sauce and paired with the smoothest of mashed potatoes. Rich without being overkill.

Bar-Roque Grill, Amara Hotel

I have bloggged about the seriously good food at Bar-Roque Grill on not just one, but two occasions, but our third visit marks the charm. If I had to rank all the steakhouses I've tried in Singapore, Bar-Roque Grill is definitely within the top three.

We returned for KW's birthday and what really took the cake (or pie) was the amazing service from frontline to backend. When I made a request for them to add a Star Wars reference to the dessert, they took it up by a notch by presenting us with this lovely surprise.

I've often read that Caesar Salads are insidiously calorie-riddled, but I enjoy them all the same. Bar-Roque's Caesar is an example of a test-tested classic done well, dotted with perfect half-boiled quail eggs, anchovies and bacon.

I am normally wary of octopus dishes, which tend to be more bite than bark. The The chargrilled octopus salad is certainly worthy of being one of the restaurant's signature dishes. The octopus is toothsome without posing any dangers to dentures, and the Romesco sauce tied everything up beautifully.

We also shared smoked salmon Tarte Flambée. I was quite ready to dismiss it as a French pizza wannabe but it honestly quite moreish. It offered a good nibble without filling us up too much.

A safe-enough option would be the sautéed spinach and goat cheese. Nothing surprising, but a good way to get more greens in your system.

A more interesting side dish would be the delicious Ravioles “Royans.”  I like to call them Pillows of Creeping Destruction, especially since one is barely capable of staying awake after such a creamy unctuous filler.

Might be abit of an exaggeration here, but it's safe to say a Tomahawk is always within grasp whenever we celebrate birthdays. Nothing quite satisfies like a hunk of steak and we cleaned up this 1.5kg Tomahawk nicely.

Salty, beefy, buttery and smoky - our Tomahawk bore most elements of a great steak. After we were 90% done, they took the bond back, shaved off extra bits and gave them a good sear on the grill. Kicking up the temperature intensified the flavors and we wished the first round had enjoyed this trait.

Almond cookies with coffee? Don't mind if I help myself to a couple.

db bistro & oyster bar, Marina Bay Sands

Celebrity restaurants have come and gone but Daniel Boloud's db bistro is one of the few that has survived till this day. Though we chose that restaurant to celebrate my MIL's birthday, I didn't exactly have high hopes for it as people around me (KW included) have reported ho-hum experiences.

I guess with that, it is only fair to say we have a really good time. Service was attentive and the overall vibe was relaxed. The food sure didn't bring about much surprises but they were bistro stalwarts done very well.

A platter of plain baguette and herb focaccia paired with "I'm awesome 'cause I'm French" butter set the stage for a lovely meal.

We ordered a bunch of starters, kicking off with these Burgundy escargots. It's hard to go wrong with all that butter and garlic. Snails might sound utterly vile to some, but you can always trust the French to create something magical with something as fugly as snails.

Heavy on the blue cheese sauce and littered with bacon bits, the iceberg salad was pretty good too. I'm 110% sure it's not what your nutritionist ordered, so I guess while you are at it, you might as well order a side of fries.

The Americans and British would throw together mystery meats and come up with chicken nuggets and sausages, while the French can do the same and pass it off as a rustic and artisanal charcuterie platter. I am generalising, of course. But to be honest, this selection of house-made cold cuts kind of tasted the same after a while.

With Russell in mind, we shared a one of the two pasta dishes available - saffron tagliolini . It was rather delightful and I kept going back for more. Fresh chunky spanner crab and al dente eggy taglolini tossed in a tangy lemon and EVOO sauce.

For my main, I single-mindedly chose a steak, a 300g USDA Prime Ribeye from Brandt Farms. It is difficult for me to resist a piece of red meat, especially when the restaurant has an established level of quality assurance. Unlike my taste in men, I have pretty hedonistic views when it comes to meat. I like my piece of meat. I like my piece of meat lying there, all ready for me to ravage it.

On my Instagram, I described this medium rare slab as "eyeball-rolling pleasure." More than 24 hours later, I can still remember how gratifying it was.

If truth be told, I was quite turned off when the waiter asked me what sauce I would like with my steak. I really hate the idea of a sauce-drenched steak. It is so unnecessary, like a guy who wears an Hermes logo belt or deliberately leaves his car keys on the table so that people know what his ride is. Thankfully, the Bernaise I chose was served on the side; though I didn't use any for my steak, the sauce scored plenty of action with my fries.

Oh the fries! They were glorious! They were mostly cuboids of deep-fried perfection, complete with crispy crunchy edges. If no one on your table gets the burger or steak fries, promise me you will order a side of fries?

Having tried (and left unimpressed) the db "famous foie gras" burger, KW opted for the Frenchie, a fancy burger with a sizeable beef patty, confit pork belly, caramelized onions, Morbier cheese. It was good but not the best burger we've had - I missed the smoky sear on the patty and prefer a more back-to-basics burger.

The burger served alongside chill, mayonnaise and ketchup. I would assume that the trio of condiments are all made in house, given the pedigree of this bistro.

The rest were ready to throw in the towel but we ordered a dessert anyway because every celebratory meal deserves a happy sweet ending. I was torn between the profiteroles and warm molten chocolate cake, and KW chose the latter. The LBD of desserts, a warm molten chocolate is something you can always count on to satiate; while commonplace and blah if not executed properly, it is delectably winning when done well. 

Keen to differentiate itself, this fragile little chocolate cake cracked open to reveal a lovely salted caramel core. The hot chocolate ice cream was pleasant but I would have preferred plain ol' vanilla ice cream.

At the end of the day, I can't emphasize enough how important it is for meals to feel relaxed. I didn't expect any surprises and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the meal.

Le Bistrot du Sommelier, Armenian Street

I did it... I finally made it back to Le Bistrot du Sommelier!

KW and I were deciding where to go for my birthday meal and naturally, all the fine dining places made it to our list but all I really wanted was a good piece of steak. As a result, we rounded up some of our friends to partake in the meat fest at Le Bistrot du Sommelier for lunch on one fine Saturday.

After Bar-Roque and Bistecca, I was itching to head back to this much-loved bistro to see if their Cote du Boeuf still lived up the grand standards set during my 2011 visit. I hope my next visit isn;t three years in the making...

Given that they specialize in rillettes and pates, we went for the duck rillette for our starter and it was really enjoyable, paired with rustic baguette and pickled cornichons.

Not the most artisanal or refined loaf around but it suited our meal and the provincial vibe of the restaurant just fine.

We also had the Panache of Seafood, made up of scallops, scampis and mussels dressed in a light creamy seaweed butter sauce. The dish is a lot smaller than it looks but it was pretty filling, given the likelihood of more baguette-dunking action.

What stole the show was the 1kg, boneless Cote du Boeuf, medium rare. Superbly tender, replete with caramelized crust and unctous fats; even the well-done ends were incredible. Oh man, I can end my twenties in peace!

The sweetness of the beef was well-matched by the accompanying caramelised shallots and garlic confit. By the done, we were close to done with the mains, you could tell some of us were getting uncomfortably full and the conversation took on a slower pace. 

The gratin was a little pot of buttery, creamy carb goodness, the side salad was crisp and refreshing but it was second fiddle to everything else on the table - I swear it existed just to make us feel better about all the animal fat we were ingesting. 

We also ordered the Norweign salmon, pan-fried crisp but a tad dry. The steamed asparagus were a couple of minutes overdone too but the mash was just lovely and of course, buttery smooth.

And of course, there is always room for dessert. Naturally. Without a doubt. Duh.

From a lingering memory, I had my mind and gut set on the profiteroles. What we had were two giant choux buns (bigger than my kids’ fist pumps) filled with vanilla ice cream, bathed in warm chocolate sauce and a smattering of sliced almonds for some crunch. Just incredible!

The crème brulee bore a lovely aroma from the fresh vanilla beans but it could have been a tad more molten-y and the caramelized crust “a little thicker” (KW’s words). But we could be just nitpicking, given the highs of this meal was just sky-high.

It was such an exquisite meal, filled with much chatter and I am really glad I got to share it with some of my closest friends. I definitely also need to thank KW for the very generous treat (and Bimba Y Lola treat just hours before).