Pita Pan, Marina Bay Sands

Come for shashuska, stay for the falafels

Pita Pan, Marina Bay Sands

A few years ago, if you told me I would enjoy Mediterranean vegetarian food, I would have pat you on the back and thanked you for a good laugh; and if you told me my family would enjoy such a meal, I would have pat you on the back, shoved some money into your pocket and made sure the taxi driver took your drunken ass back home safely. 

Yes, we have come a long way, haven't we? The stars aligned themselves (well, more like we became fans of Food Network Asia, TLC and Asian Food Channel) and the two wrongs somehow right-ed themselves. 

Located at Marina Bay Sands, Pita Pan was founded by "Israel's curry queen" Chef Reena Pushkarna. To me, it sounds like she is more of a diplomat and her game is tasty healthy grub. Well, I could very well easily make peace with Mediterranean vegetarian food after a meal here. 

If you aren't familiar with Mediataranean cuisine or indecision is your weakness, the Mediterranean Platter would provide that essential 101. I particularly enjoyed the baba ganoush and the hummus was my second favorite.

The platter, like every shashuka, comes with puffy pita bread. Having had my fair share of limp and insipid pitas, these pitas from Pita Pan were a delicious revelation - and perhaps, appropriately so since the eatery isn't called Shashuka Shack or Falafel Hut.

The shakshuka is a someone-must-order dish and we had the Red, Green and White. I know that sounds like some nineties dating meet-up but I guarantee there are no losers in this mix.

The entry-level red shashuka is perhaps the most popular and easily acceptable offering among most diners here. It is rather sourish and the colour might remind one of rage but don't worry, it is pretty tame. It was pleasant enough but I must admit over the years, I have stealthily grown out of love for tomato-based dishes.

On the other hand, the green and white shakshukas made me puppy popeye-eyed.  

Predominantly made up of spinach, the healthy quotient of the green shakshuka made me feel like I have absolved myself of all sins committed during the Christmas/ New Year festive period. Though it was a little salty, the pan was barely recognizable when we were done with it. 

Perhaps not very Mediterranean but just as deserving of a spot on our table were the sweet potato and spicy fries. 

These sweet potato fries are seriously addictive. My selectively-healthy dad heard the words, "sweet potato" and conveniently forgot the word "fries"; I heard the words "sweet potato" and thought to myself "Why, hello there!"

The spicy fries, dusted with paprika, were no-brainer tasty.

I love falafels though it's not easy to get good ones on our tiny speck of an island. I love the gritty-on-the-outside, grinded-on-the-inside textural contrast and plus it's deep-fried. On top of the plain falafel, which I'm sure is pretty good, Pita Pan also offers sundried tomato and basil falafels.  

It's hard to pick a favorite. Really hard. Like I-got-to-have-them-again hard. 

The tauboleh salad was a refreshing toss up of bulgar wheat, tomatoes, green onions, and cucumber. Not just for those whose lifestyle revolves around Crossfit and the Paleo diet. 

My sister fixed up a mixed salad picked from the bar. Though the neo orange dressing was treacherously spicy, the mix of red cabbage, carrots and cous cous among many things were mighty moreish.

It's been weeks but I'm still reeling from Pita Pan's pita breads which were some of the bounciest, chewiest pitas I have ever come across. Maybe instead of renting a bouncy castle for the bub's birthday, I should get some of these pitas instead.

El-Sheikh Restaurant, Pahang Street

Lebanese.

Now that's a cuisine you don't find often on this blog.

Upon Yang's recommendation, which was based on a friend who has a Lebanese boyfriend***, we had dinner at El-Sheikh Restaurant on Pahang Street.

*** Yes, I am vaguely aware of the fact that dating a French doesn't necessarily make one an expert on French cuisine but my sister's friend has been to Lebanon and that makes her 'one-up' in my books.



We greeted our Sheikh Mezze, a selection of dip-friendly starters by ripping open the pre-packed Lebanese pita bread. The Lebanese pita bread we had was very burrito-like, thinner than pita pockets found in other cuisines.



The hummus, pureed chickpeas spiked with tahini (sesame paste) and lemon juice, was earthy and smooth without losing its grainy consistency. We had clear favourites and this was Yang's.



My gums would soon shudder at the mere thought of tabbouli, a parsley salad mixed with tomatoes, onions, mint, lemon juice and olive oil. To me it was really just PARSLEY PARSLEY PARSLEY - yes, in bold.

Similar to the hummus is the moutabel, which was made of grilled aubergine, tahini and lemon juice.





On top of the cold mezzes, we had two hot mezzes - cheese sambousek and falafel.

It is best to attack the cheese sambousek first, a deep-fried filo puff pastry with cheese, parsley and onions, to experience gooeyness that would have been lost to time.

I had my first and last falafel in Copenhagen so I knew that these deep-fried grounded chickpea balls could potentially be crazily delicious. Crunchy and well-seasoned, good to know stereotypes exist for a good reason.



On top of Sheikh Mezze, we order an addtional baba ghanoush, which turned out to be my favourite mezze of the table. The sprightly appetizer was made of grilled eggplant, tahini, lemon juice and obviously, loads of parsley; but the parsley made all the difference, without any of its gum-chilling overpowering qualities.

We had the Sheikh Chicken, a whole chicken spliced open, marinated and grilled. The dish reminded me of the 'why did chicken cross the road' joke but in a 'why didn't the chicken check before crossing the road'. As you can see, the chicken tried to cross the road and got steam-rolled by a tank. Parents should make use of this opportunity to dispense some road safety advice.



I forgot what's the name of this dish but it is the one above Sheikh Chicken on the menu. Boneless chicken chunks marinated and grilled, topped with a brush of mayonnaise. Unlike the Sheikh Chicken which borderlined on being dry, this chicken was smoky and creamy.

Both dishes were served with saffron rice. Oh fluffy formless rice perfumed with the aromatic scent of saffron! [Insert plate-scrapping sound clip]

For me, El-Sheikh pried open the gateway to Middle Eastern food. Although my understanding of Lebanese or even Middle Eastern begins and ends with the hummus bought from supermarkets, a few more dining experiences should worm out this deficiency. Hmmm, do you guys know of any other restaurants that do good Middle Eastern food?

Rafiqi's, New York City

I'm really proud of myself because I have finished writing all seventeen posts (!) on New York.

And that's just New York... More to go on Boston!

Traditionally when a visitor thinks of New York street food, pizzas, bagels and hot dogs are usually Top Of Mind recalls. But I have a feeling that isn't the case for New York natives. Walking around, I was surprised to see the ubiquity of halal carts. It's hard to believe that these shoebox carts can actually house a stove, grill, sufficient working space for 2 grown men and crunch out cowabunga halal street food.

Gyros are the new bagels.

On my way to Farmers' Market at Union Square, I walked past Rafiqi's eye-catching gyro and pita cart, stamped with quotes of praise from New York Mag and New York Times. Interesting, I thought to myself without paying more attention to it.

However after an enjoyable time at Farmers' Market spent taking quackloads of pictures and one giant shortbread cookie later, I found myself yearning for something greasy and exotic, so a detour was made to Rafiqi's.



Although hot dogs are a universal favourite, I thought of it as kiddy food. But gyros... now gyros are what grown ups eat.



"One lamb and chicken gyro, please..."

Before I could even finished my sentence, the guy in the picture above moved with such dexterity: first re-grilling the meats and pita, then chopping the meats into chunky strips, before overloading the pita slice with the meats and vegetables, relishing them with a dash of 'red' and 'white' sauce (chili and tzatziki), finally twisting the gyro into a handy aluminum baton.

WHOA, it was like seeing some balloon contortionist at a fun fair conjure poodles and swords with those balloon-frankfurters- except this actually made sense and was something kids adults would fight over for.





Watching him only served to whet my appetite and I couldn't wait to devour the gyro. I wanted to enjoy my gyro without having to worry about jaywalking and motion-induced mess so I just decided to have it there and then. I stood in front of the Parsons Design School (sigh, Project Runway), tore open the aluminum armor and tucked in with 'fierce' gusto.

Oh gaw-, it was really worth looking all uncool and unglamorous for. There was the spiciness, the sharp tang, the grease and the pita that obediently soaked up the meat juices and sauces.

I bit into an unidentifiable brown squishy thing and was surprised that they added aubergine. Now when did that happen? I didn't even see them adding aubergines. However, a couple of bites later, I realised the unidentifiable brown squishy thing was in fact an absolutely delectable piece of lamb fat!

I realised I have a penchant for 'guy food'. That's not to say females don't eat pizza or gyros but in the next fifteen minutes, only men above 35 (years and/or waistline-inches) approached the stand, determined to be a part of this heartclogging affair.



Voted "Best Street Food" by NYMag, Rafiqi's is so successul it has spurned off imitations "Ra-Fakey's" like fake Prada totes. Frigging awesome, Rafiqi's gyro tasted better than heaven, it tasted like just like ... payday.

Rafiqi's
Apparently they have a few outlets:
32nd Street and Park Avenue
52nd Street and Park Avenue
24th Street and Park Avenue
47th Street and Madison Avenue
6th Avenue between 18th and 19th Streets (which is the one I visited)

Cappadocia Café Restaurant

The Real Cappadocia.

Hmmm, my first Turkish entry.. Let's see, I have just about a mug's full of knowledge in Turkish Food and as I'm typing this review, I have four other IE windows on the side, providing some sort of crash course to TurkishCuisine101.

Of course after Greece, I know Turkish doner kebab is spankinliciously can't-get-you-out-of-my-head good but it's like fast food.. junk food. Furthermore, Turkish is established as one of the top three cuisines of our time, alongside Chinese and French. So suppose doner kebab was all I knew about Turkish food, it would be such injustice to myself and their heritage.

The menu at Cappadocia is extensive and loaded with droolsworthy pictures and helpful lengthy descriptions. Yes, a snapshot paints a thousand words but it didn’t help that most were attention-grabbing and affixed with tantalizing speech bubbles that whispered, “Mossuaka tonight, baby? You know you want me..” or in the words of famous Makansutra guru, “die die must try...” -gulp- With no friendly neighbourhood waiter around, we took quite a while to decide.

For starters, we were introduced to Karisik Meze, which was an ensemble of Turkish appetizers. Don't you just LOVE sampler platters? I know I dooo.. Sampler platters are perfect for people like me who take forever to decide and over the course of two minutes, can and will drive the waiter nuts with my indecisiveness.

Anyway... Regarded as "Middle East's answer to Spanish tapas" (and in my opinion, "Chinese dim sum"), the meze platter definitely lived up to our expectations anticipation.


Meze

I got to say with nowhere esle to compare, I am not in a position to 'review' or evaluate the taste. The hummus and tzatziki dip look familar but geee what's the leafy-looking mummified tube?

YAPRAK SARMA

????? Yaprak what--??? Haha, it is actually vine leaves with pilaf rice stuffing which strangely reminds me of our Chinese glutinous rice dumpling. The cigar shaped Sigara Boregi is stuffed with spinach and feta cheese, wrapped in phyllo dough and deep fried. The bead-faced falafel, made out of grounded chickpeas and spices, was pretty good too. But give me some warm toasted piede and tzatziki dip and I promise to be quiet for the rest of the evening.


Armut Patate

The Armut Patate was something altogether. The centers were stuffed with spinach and the potatoes were soft baked and then shallowed fried. It was 'Yay on its own', 'Yay with a dab of tzatziki'... You wanna remember this name: Armut Patate- License To Thrill.


Izgara Kofte

For our entree, we had the Izgara Kotfe, which consisted of grilled minced beef patties, served with side salad and pilaf rice. While the pepper gravy was pedastrian, the kofte was unlike any beef patty I've ever had. The kotfe was grilled to medium perfection and you could tell there was something going on there with the juicy patty on the verge of being leathery. A home run for this squashed baseball lookalike.

We gave dessert a miss since I do distinctively remember a nasty encounter with the baklava in Copenhagen. But overall, our meal warranted return visits.. if only Robertson Quay weren't such a $#%$ to get to.