Birthday lunch at Jam at Siri House, Dempsey

Happy birthday to me! I had a lovely lovely lunch at Siri House on my birthday with  KW. It was a quiet day otherwise but lunch at Dempsey on a quiet Friday afternoon with my isgnificant other half - that was all that mattered to me.

I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by JAM at Siri House. Instagram is mostly filled with photos of influencers and socialites. which somewhat dilutes the perception of how good the food is. Refined plating, big bold flavours - not to mention sick decor. I’m sold.

Both starters were really good. Creamy burrata and fried shallots smeared on toasted sourdough. Plus finger lickin’ good chicken oysters that were meant to be dunked in that umami sauce.

The prawn pasta is one of their signature dishes and it’s an absolute delight too. It’s not a big portion but it’s crazy rich so a couple of spoonfuls is more than enough to satiate.

For me, steaks have always been celebratory food and the steak here was pretty good (though KW’s steaks remain unbeatable'casue I'm super biased) and that Thai-inspired sauce superbly cut through the rich gamy flavours of the steak.

I was stuffed by the time we finished our mains but kw persuaded me to have dessert. Yuzu ice cream, apple calvados and white chocolate mousse was the most perfect to end our meal. 

Back to Jai Thai

Please file this under Why you don’t see us doing brunch.”

Truth is, I did have a reservation made at Columbus Coffee Co.s but Russell mentioned he wanted “something spicy” for lunch. In fact, he mentioned it twice. Twice.

My heart literally burst and I was this close to proclaiming “That’s my boy!” But instead, I maintained my composure and we made a quick turn to Jai Thai.

Jai Thai is an oldie but goodie. Perhaps I have a soft spot for this restaurant as we have been visiting for years. Oddly enough, it seems to have gotten even better over my last couple of visits.

Carbs-wise, the Pad Thai was a slurpy smoky toss-up, while the unpictured salted fish fried rice is a simple but utterly comforting dish.

I’m not usually a curry person but I found myself going back for thirds with the red curry beef. Don't worry, the fried fish with basil chili sauce looks a lot more fiery than it really is.

Other must order dishes include their prawn cakes and prawn omelette (swoon).

To end off the meal, the red ruby was pleasing, especially with slices of jackfruit, but the mango with (still warm) sticky rice sealed its status as star dessert.

Rochor Thai, Novena

One Saturday, we had to grab lunch within the Novena area and we discovered Rochor Thai, a cosy joint that whips up a mean Thai meal. Previously located in Joo Chiat and Rochor Centre, chef-owner Joel Ong honed his skills in Thailand and it seems like his cooks are from Thailand as well. I am glad they didn't dumb down the food for us locals.

I have an incredibly soft spot for Thai omelettes so I knew I had to order their Crab Meat Omelette. Proving that there is an 5 year old in me that never grew up. this made me a happy camper.

The Cabbage with Fish Sauce is a deceptively simple dish that made us gush over cabbage. You don't get to type out a sentence like this any day.

The boys lapped up the Pad Thai though 2 year old Lukee whisper, "Spi-cy" a couple of times; I thought it was on the sweet side. This sure isn't the best rendition out there but it will be a crowd pleaser.

We also decided to try the Salted Baked Seabass, which is gentle baked for 25 mins. This is a regular feature among Bangkok's street scene and I am sure KW is thrilled he didn't have to slum it out to enjoy it. The chili dipping sauce is amazing.

We didn't have desserts but the Thai iced tea was an aromatic creamy delight.

Folks Collective, China Square

Ugh, overpriced Thai food. I mean it was okayyyy, can't really go wrong but the overall feel was clinical and soul-less. I have read the lunch portions are small so Z and I ordered  some dishes to share. 

First up, the mango salad that was pleasant enough, but namely because it's hard to go wrong with peanuts and green mango. Really, it's hard.

The salted egg squid was - hmmm - smallish, and the salted egg flavour present but faint. 

The red curry with roasted duck and lychee was ok. Flavours parred down for the expats working in the area. 

The company was awesome though. 

Mata Thai, Bishan Street 11

Cheap and cheerful. This pretty much sums up our meal at neighborhood joint Mata Thai. 

The pad thai is a pleasing dish to begin with and it's the cook's skills that take it from good to omg-hands-off-my-pad-thai. This particular one might have lacked wok hei but that was a distinct caramelized flavour that is twice as hard to find and certainly twice as delicious.

The fried chicken with sweet chili sauce was tasty but the thickish toughish batter would prove slightly challenging for some. 

The prawn omelette was ordinary in an acceptable way while the stir-fried kang kong was deceptively spicy even without visible traces of belachan.

What proved to be my undoing that afternoon was the tempura fish!

An explosion of fried foods that included eggplant, long beans and carrot strips. On top of that (oh yeah), there was tons of batter bits just waiting for me to scoop them up by the mouthfuls. Love in the first degree burns.

I'm not a fan of tau pok kwa to begin with but the soon-to-be 16 month old sitting beside me loved this dish.

The tom yum was reportedly good too; note: I was utterly destroyed by the tempura fish by the time the tom yum soup arrived.

Thanks to my mum's super social skills, we received a plate of of tapioca dessert on the house. Tapioca is one of those desserts that get overshadowed by other desserts such as mango sticky rice or red ruby. It is earthy, fibrous, and once upon a time sustenance of war-torn civilians. Yeah, terribly appetizing, isn't it?

But this was a solid dessert - and by solid, I also mean it will cling onto the inner lining of your stomach for dear life till the next meal.

"The Memorables & Mentionables" 2006 Grub Round Up

The Good

[No-brainer place for brunch] Cedele Bakery Depot at Wheelock Place- I'm almost afraid to venture into the realm alone for fear of losing control and getting all BreadOut. Till wheat-allergy do us part.

[Been there, done that and still visiting] Crystal Jade La Mian- So been-there-done-that, you can’t consider yourself to be a Singaporean / PR unless you have participated in a National Day Parade crystal jade queue.

[Karma in Play]: Ichiban Boshi & Sushi Tei- What goes around comes around. You don’t have to read between the seaweed sheets to sense my undying loyalty for these conveyor belt chains…

[Tangible dedication] Shimabshi Soba- You simply cannot ignore Shimbashi’s dedication to fineness (actually it's just a window display away). Gawd, I wish I owned this place.

[Uno senso required] Somewhere in Toa Payoh behind the Singapore Press Holdings bulding- The service staff is curt, the hygiene standard questionable and the ambience non-existence but for seriously good cze char, I could learn to shut down the rest of my senses and focus on taste.

[Ching Chong Chomp] House of Hunan- Beijing, Shanghai, Sichuan, Chong Qing, Jiang Nan and now Hunan, this elegant anomaly (i.e wallet-friendly) of the Tung Lok Group is the latest to join the “Somewhere In China” dartboard.

New Kids On The Block

E Sarn: Authentic Thai food in a small homely space... And to think it all started with a dream about the revered King Chulalongkorn and a plate of omelette. Not all dreams are made of fluff. (see sister restaurant: Thai Noodle House)

Auntie Kim's- I consider myself lucky to be living just a ten minute walk away from desr ol' Auntie Kim’s.

Pow Sing- A pitstop for familiar Nonya favorites.

New Kids in Couture

Sage Restaurant- An eye-opening experience, made memorable with the company of kindred spirits.

Ristorante Da Valentino- Secreted in an unexceptional surban, Valentine snubs the impregnable rule “location location location”. Three cheers for the service and a thumb -up for the food (one less thumb for the lackluster dessert). Let’s hope nobody’s on a visitor’s pass.

The Bad

Food Republic Thye Hong Hokkien Mee- "Join the queue, it must be good!" DAAAHHH!~!! Wrong! Singaporeans have a history of queuing up for questionable things (Remember Hello Kitty dolls?). Blame it on herd mentality and our MSMD (Merlion See Merlion Do) mentality. For hokkien mee aficionados, one mouthful is all it takes to pull a “merlion” (vomit).

Just Noodle- Just DON’T-Do It.

The Ugly

Razzies of this post include:

PS Café- “Perfect chill out spot” and “place to see and be seen’ are just a couple phrases that have been used to describe this eden. True, you won’t feel short-change on ambience but chow-wise (this is a f- blog after all), it is awfully pretentious and one feels short-change on value. The chaotic service didn’t help though we have to give them credit for looking better than Dude-Where’s-My-Duvet staff from Marmalade Pantry. Only for those who can’t afford their own cabbage patch African baby or tribe of Masai warriors for coolness’s sake.

Lemongrass Restaurant- there are certain things you wish you never had to find out of your own. Let somebody else try it! Let somebody else regret! Well, I did it so you better not follow in my footsteps

Hanabi- Joe Borg, European Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs would have your heads for unnecessary slaughter of animals.

The Forgettable

Kuriya: Bankruptable yet not particularly impressive.

Secret Recipe: I guess the real secret is how they’ve survived until now.

E-Sarn

Thai food used to be a favourite of mine... an emphasis on "used to be". This should not come as a surprise to many though as with the germination of heinous "expresses", mass-produced mediocrity has became a regular fixture in most restaurants. Consequently, Thai food soon became as desirable as last season's viral flu and this was further compounded by my culinary retreat in Chiang Mai, which taught me that delicious thai food wasn't that difficult to make.

But thanks to an inconspicuous restaurant along bukit timah sixth avenue, I managed to veer off the highway of mediocore Thai food. With a homely atmosphere and an obviously "regulars" client base, E-Sarn sits no more than 30 customers at any one time. Luckily apart from dining in, you could also call for delivery or in advance for takeway. Word has it, they are even planning to venture into the home catering business.


Green Papaya Salad Som Tum


Green Mango Salad Yum Ma Muang

We were in a Thai restaurant, so of course we had to order the salads! Once our salad orders were made, I immediately heard the knocking of the mortar, which added to the anticipation of our starters. I have got a small confession to make- I couldn't make out the difference between the green papaya and green mango due to almost-identical appearance, taste and crunchy texture. But other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed the zesty perk-me-up lime dressing and pronounced aroma of dried shrimps and roasted peanuts.


Thai Vegetable Omelette Cha-Om Kai Tod

The amount of greens was a huge turn-off for me as I have never quite seen an edible vegetable that resembles nuances of what you would find under the bottom of the fish tank. Casting away my prejudice, I took a bite and gained a lesson on inner beauty HA! The cha-om (a unique vegetable imported from Thailand) left a barely-there bitter aftertaste, which was easily overwhelmed by the prawn paste blachan dipping sauce. Unlike most omelettes, this wasn't swabbed in oil.


Claypot Beef Nuea Mor Din

Equally engaging was the hearty claypot beef stew. As far as food quirks go, I am very much guilty of ladling gravy over my rice, thus I highly recommend the tender beef stew, especially if you have a weakness for “brown thickish gravy”.


Green Curry Chicken

However, not all our main courses enjoyed high ratings. When it came to the green curry chicken, my satisfaction was misplaced with the churlish milkier-than-usual curry and pedastrian chicken breast meat.


Olive Rice Khao Ob Nam Liap

I actually misread the name and was expecting fried olive rice, instead of steamed rice topped with minced pork & olive. The only glitch was the droughty minced pork and olive stir-fry but that was easily rectified by mixing it with steamed Jasmine rice. But somehow I think this was slightly amateurish, compared to Patara’s olive rice.


Sticky Rice with Mango Khao Niao Ma-Muang

Not leaving room for Khao Niao Ma-Muang would amount to serious injustice, as this was easily the best mango sticky rice I’ve had in a long time. The ripe mangoes were undeniably sweet and as the warm sticky rice spontaneously coalesced into my tongue, I wondered what I had been doing all along, wasting my time and calories with dry hard varieties.

Like a relationship, there are inevitably ups and downs in E-Sarn. You might visit E-sarn and be bewildered by the fuss I'm creating because when it really comes to the crux of their allure, there really isn't anything remotely mystifying about E-Sarn. All they did was to take simple fresh ingredients, utilize tried-and-tested cooking methods to whip dishes that made cooking at home seem redundant. But the real mystery is how so many eateries think they can get away with so-called Thai food, by throwing in a couple of kaffir lime leaves and some food colouring.

So, how doe it feel like to fall in love all over again?
-Simply wonderful.

Thai Noodle House

Minced Meat Salad Larb Gai

The minced chicken breast meat defied dryness curse and I couldn't get enough of the salad dressing, which was acccented with fish sauce and lime juice. Although the salad was described as spicy but the spice was missing in action. Served on the side, the cucumber and long beans were refreshing though the latter was too raw and woody-tasting for my liking.


Beef Soup Gao Lao

Served with beef balls, sliced beef & bean sprouts, it stands to reason that this was hot favourite amongst regulars.


Pad Thai

The traditional Thai style fried noodles was done a little wet behind the strands. Slightly sweeter than the norm, it would be a shame to not order the pad thai.


Claypot Glass Noodle and Prawn

Not a fan of pad thai? Have the claypot glass noodle instead. Without the medium prawns adornation, the noodles looked deceptively simple but defintiely tasted better than it looked.

Lemongrass Restaurant

The menu at Lemongrass consists mainly of timeless Thai favourites, thus veterans of Thai food shouldn't find anything foreign or unfamilar.

We kicked off dinner with a Green Mango Salad (not shown). Twiggy strips of green mango finely sliced mixed with finely sliced purple onions, awashed in lime juice, fish sauce and whole peanuts. It is hard to pick on the green mango salad but I would have preferred ground peanuts instead..

Vermicelli Soup with minced chicken was comfort food most earnest. However as it was crammed full of contents, the little broth left failed to leave an impression on me.

Tom Yam Soup was a glorious shade of orange and filled with seafood and mushroom. Not big on tom yam, I gave it a miss.

Hot Plate Beancurd. Egg beancurd settling atop of an omelette, smothered in mushrooms and minced chicken gravy. What's so Thai about this dish? It was tasty but looked and tasted like every hot plate beancurd that we ordered from a Chinese restaurant. For a restaurant that proudly proclaims that it serves authentic Thai food, this dish does seem a little criminal.

The Green Beef Curry was filled with thin slices of beef and chunky aubergine. It was appetizing enough despite the fact I am not a fan of green curry (I prefer red).

The Crispy Garoupa with Thai Style Chilli Dressing stood out amongst the other paltry dishes. It wasn't nearly as crispy as what I have had before but the fact that it was
a.fish and more importantly,
b.deep-fried, i mean how wrong can you go?

I am trying to find something reedeming about lemongrass so this was probably the borderline saving grace of the entire evening.

Pineapple Rice was flagrantly pathetic. The dish consisted a pile of rice topped with chicken floss and fried shallots.. -pause- that's it?

THAT'S IT! You got it right the first time.. Urgh, thinking about it makes me froth.

Another main dish was the Claypot Vermicelli Prawns, which was as ooo lala as the pineapple rice or any other dish for the night for the record.

Overall, the quality of food lay somewhere between half-decent and shoddy. I mean, compared to other cuisines such as japanese which are considerably blander by nature, it doesn't take Thai food as much effort to spark of some fireworks. Now, if only Lemongrass had paid more attention to details. It is especially infuriating because I have heard quite a bit about this restaurant but high hopes for it completely fizzled out by the end of the night. In fact, writing this review felt extremely laborious as I didn't think they were worthy of my time.

It is so hard to find good Thai food at decent prices, looks like I should just stick to Patara Fine Thai should the craving kick off.

Chiang Mai Part 4

chiang mai- chronicles of the missing collarbones. [part4]

thus leads to the climax of the chronicles.

the highlight, or rather purpose of our trip was to attend the chiang mai thai cookery school and master the art of thai cooking. of course by the end of fice days, we were far from becoming master chefs but i reckon someday, my ability to whip up a delicious plate of phad thai will come in handy.. oh well, the trip worked wonders for my self- esteem as now my limbs don't go weak in front of the stove..

the dishes we cooked were surprisingly easy to handle. we would foirst watch a demonstration in an air-con classroom, then return to our individual stoves to regurgitate what we have just witnessed.

ta-dah- the more notable dishes cooked by your truly!



everyday you would prepare about six dishes and you have them for lunch and tea.. can you spell stuffed? in fact, i don't ever remember feeling hungry in chiang mai... everyday you would see and hear people rubbing their well- filled tums, saying "too much eat.. i am stuffed" but some of us don't seem to learn from our mistakes.. haha...



"collarbone, collarbone...... where have you gone, my oollarbone??"



the other amazing aspect of this school was the people you met. my mum sister and i were probably the only asian faces in class (apart from the staff) and people travelled from all over the world, say london scotland denmark fiji brisbane vancouver, just to learn what thai cooking is all about.

you hear tales of how people have been on the road for weeks, travelling from myanmmar, to thailand and are on their way to malaysia and very possible singapore. i even met americans from san francisco who were making their way down to singapore to visit a relative who lived on thomson road! haha.. and this other lady from london called camilia, who sold her car to travel and was about to head home to a 40,000 pounds debt.. there are men who travel without a female counterpart and they attend these cookery lessons on their own accord. now how many singaporean guys have actually entertained such a thought?



listening to them, you cannot help but marvel at their tenacity to drop everything and live THEIR life.



i just had to take a picture of this pizza sign.. when i first saw it i was like, "huh? so who's the best" then i thought about and went, "hey there's a pretty good idea.. because noone can fault you for not being the best... since their is always another pizzeria that is one-up above you.. " haha... this is john from vancouver. he's in the picture as we walked to his guesthouse together as he wanted to pass me one of his already-read book. though he's just done with university, he's perfecting his mandarin at a chengdu university before doing his masters in canada and he plans to visit singapore and malaysia in july! plain 'WOW' huh.



you should definitely chiang mai thai cookery school.. its a great way to learn how to churn out fast sumptious meals and an even more fantastic way to meet people who different lifestyles.

happy 400th post, by the way!