Market Grill: Lobster Rolls and more

The fad of lobster rolls are all but almost over. But there are still great tasting, and there are still a few places who serve a value for money roll. One is Pince and Pints and the other The Market Grill.

I dropped by after not visiting for a while, and found the place to be just as cozy as my last visit.

The grill still offers great steaks...we saw the grillmaster hammering out several during our visit there, and they all looked great...and one of the advantages (disadvantages?) of sitting next to the display grill is the smells and sizzles can be experience in close quarters...mouth watering.

We sampled the Lobster Roll...

Served with fries, and a small salad. The brioche bun is buttered, and toasted on the grill, and a (we understand) 500g of lobster, boiled, deshelled, coated with some lovely herbed mayo pommery sauce. The lobster is cold in the hot bun, and the contrast creates a wonderful sensation in the mouth.

We found the lobster tail to be very chunky but a bit on the tough side. And the pincer meat to be extremely soft and tender. $45 for a serving is quite good value for money, we think.

We also tried the burger

The Chef's original recipe chargrilled burger is with 200g of chuck patty and served with creamed Portobello mushroom, bacon, romaine lettuce. The bun is the typical sesame seed bun. Very juicy, thick patty, with strong beefy flavours. The bacon was crisp and full flavoured. Very nice burger. The 200g patty version we had was $34, and they offer a smaller 150g patty version for $25.

Overall a nice grill. They also have steaks, as we mentioned, lamb and fish. 

The Market Grill

208 Telok Ayer Street

Singapore 068642

Monday - Saturday

Lunch 1130am - 230pm

Dinner 6pm - 10pm

Closed on Sunday

No reservations policy

Forest Restaurant: Chinese New Year Menu at Resorts World Sentosa

Chef Sam Leong is one of the most celebrated local chefs around. Always known for innovative use of ingredients and beautiful plating of Chinese dishes, he set up his own restaurant in Equarius Hotel in Resorts World Sentosa.

I was invited for a tasting of the new Chinese New Year menu. And typical of Chef Sam's meals, it is themed...this tasting seemed to be around the coconut.

We started with the Four Treasures Soup

Zoom in, the soup looks coyingly sumptious. 

The superior chicken stock is used to braise the fish maw, sea cucumber, crab meat, Hokkaido dried scallop and served in a young coconut. The taste is mild, allowing the ingredients to shine, and shine they did. Very delicious tasting, thick, filling and satisfying soup, with a light hint of the young coconut.

Next Boston Lobster

Fresh Boston lobster, wok fried with green chive juice and fresh lily bulb. Magnificent. The lobster meat was tender, sweet, and the done-ness just right to be slightly crunchy. The lily bulbs provide a more hearty crunch, as did the vermicelli bed the concoction lies on. Delicious!

Next, a slightly western twist, Sakura chicken roll

Again, using the superior chicken stock as a base, the Sakura chicken is tolled up with dried oyster and black moss and served with yam puree. I found the chicken to be delectable, with a very light, mild chicken flavour...mind you, not the offensive type found in frozen chicken, but a delightfully beautiful aromatic chicken flavour which permeated and harmonized with the black moss and dried oyster. A sprig of asparagus provides an able counterpoint. 

And for desserts, chilled coconut jello

Home made coconut juice jello, served with aloe vera and sea coconut topped with popping candy. Magnificent. The jello was incredibly smooth and supple, and had a light taste of young coconut, and went superbly with the sea coconut and aloe vera. The popping candy providing some fireworks...wonderful way to end a meal.

Truly superb cuisine, And I have to take my hat off to Chef Sam Leong for creating such magnificent dishes.

Forest Restaurant

Resorts World Sentosa

Phone:6577 7788

Christmas Buffet at STREET 50 at Bay Hotel

I have featured STREET50, a restaurant tucked in a boutique hotel just off the bridge from Sentosa. The food is rather interesting, and they make seasonal changes to the menu for National Day, Christmas, etc. Today, I managed to preview the Christmas menu which I find rather interesting. Thanks to Wendy and Xiowei of Pink Publicists for inviting and hosting.

The Christmas menu features a huge selection of delicacies, amongst which I highlight some in this post.

I start with the featured drink...the Glitter Jubilee...rather refreshing concoction with rum, and flakes of gold.

But on to some of the dishes...I found the Honey Baked Chicken Ham to be quite good.

A Street 50 Signature complete with Cranberry Chutney, Peach Compote, Mint Raita & Chestnut Sauce, the ham was nicely seasoned, and very tender and moist on the palate. This is available for take away as well.

A Tender Duckling Breast with Cranberry & Calvados was next. 

Succulent duckling breast accompanied with fresh cranberry sauce and apple brandy. I found the duck a bit on the gamey side. I am not particularly thrilled with the gamey flavour of duck, but I know some of you are rather fond of this. Apart from that, the duck was perfectly roasted, the meat slightly pink on the inside, and nice and honey brown on the skin. The duck was very tender, with a sliver of fat under the skin. 

I loved this dish, on the regular menu, but also available for their Christmas buffets

Called Tom Yum Flair, it has a strong lemongrass flavour which is very tom yum, yet served with spaghetti and seafood, featuring fresh mussels and half a rock lobster. I found this to be very good, if a bit spicy. I had mixed feelings about this dish when I first tried it a couple of years ago, also here in STREET50, but this time, I found it very satisfying. Definitely a thumbs up for me.

We ended with a sweet note of their version of a Christmas Trifle with cranberry. 

Suberb. Rich but not coy. Sweet but not overly so. Beautifully balanced with the tart and sour accents offered by the fruits. Very nice. 

Interesting menu offering...quite complicated, with many options on pricing for lunch, dinner and on the actual holiday dates and eves. Prices range from S$38 for lunch, S$48 for dinner and $88 for the holiday dates, with specials for senior citizens and kids (who eat for free with each paying adult). Conditions apply.

STREET 50 Restaurant and Bar
Bay Hotel, 50 Telok Blangah Road
6818 6681

Lobster Porridge and other delectable cze char dishes at Maude Road

I wrote about our fondness for lobster porridge, and a very good one near Margaret Drive. But Chui Xiang is no more...the place where it was housed is slated to be demolished, and I understand the owners decided to reduce the operations to a stall in MDIS. So our search for a replacement began in earnest.

This little corner restaurant along Maude Road, near Little India came with lots of bloggers' recommendation...perhaps its because the PR people have been working the blogosphere with tastings. I did not participate in the tasting, but reading the review, decided to have a go at the lobster porridge.

A small portion, good for 2 pax is served with a medium sized lobster...about 450g fresh. Calling it a lobster is a bit of a misnomer, as lobsters have claws, but this was rather a crayfish or a rock lobster, dwelling in warm waters and lacking the said claws. More like a very large prawn, I guess.

The lobsters were nice and rather a bit larger than the Chui Xiang ones, though combined, they probably weigh almost the same. As a result, the Wanhelou ones here were a bit more meaty. The flesh was quite firm, had the requisite seafood sweetness and rather fresh. 

The porridge was cooked Teochew style, more like rice in a rich broth. The broth itself was nice, rich, If I were to make the obvious comparison, we found the Chui Xiang broth to be a bit brighter, so to speak, more flavourful and more robust. The Wan He Lou version was a touch heavy on the ginger...if it were to mask the less than fresh seafood, one can understand, but as the lobster was very fresh, this was not not essential, and I view it as perhaps a bit heavy. But it was still delicious, and made a nice filling meal.

We also had the kurobuta pan fried pork

The sauce was quite similar to what one would use for a char siew, I would imagine. And as a lover of char siew, I found this to be very nice. The pork was fat, tender, and had the slight hint of porkiness which provides a punch and dimension to the dish. Very nice. 

We also ordered the silver fish fried rice.

This was rather superb. The rice was nice and dry. The dish bursting with lots of ingredients, and tossed in a very hot wok with silver fish, scalions, eggs, small scampi, a bit of pork sausage. Scrumptious. Wok Hei was very powerful on the dish. Definitely a very agreeable fried rice.

Having sampled a small number of dishes, I think I can muster this restaurant a recommendation. I will be back to sample more of the rather large menu, and no doubt will enjoy it. 

Wan He Lou Chinese Restaurant

65 Maude Road 

Daily: 11:00 - 14:30, 17:00 - 22:30

www.wanhelou.com

Chui Xiang Kitchen lobster porridge

Lobster! Sounds expensive...much alike wagyu or abalone. And a favourite of Kin's.

One of my friends recommend this restaurant, in Commonwealth, in a row of shophouses just beside the now defunct bowling alley. So, as it was close to where we lived, we went to try.

The waitress recommended 2 lobsters for the two of us, each weighing about 200g.

The porridge was more like rice in a beautiful, sweet tasting, very aromatic broth. The broth was not overpowering, and the rice was soaking within just long enough to absorb some of the flavours, but not so long as to be mushy. Each grain was still intact. The broth was quite nice.

The lobsters were smallish, but very fresh, probably live. As usual, lobster is a misnomer, this was rather crayfish. The meat was firm, very nicely flavoured, and succulent. Very nice as well.

We also had the spinach in 3 types of egg. Very nice as well. The broth is excellent. The egg cracked over the near boiling soup is quite nice. The century egg and salted duck egg adding to the richness and excellent taste.

Very nice little place. As we ate, we spied the table next to us having sang yee mien...crispy noodles with king prawns in a thick savoury sauce...hmm..to try next time.

Chui Xiang Kitchen (醉香小厨)
38 Commonwealth Avenue
#01-03

Lion D'or in Geneva

I have written about my experiences at the 1 Michelin starred Lion D'Or in Geneva once. Actually I eat there almost every year, and am constantly delighted with the quality of the cooking as well as the excellent service.

As it is SIHH season again, I had the opportunity to dine there again. I started with a lobster dish, Lobster “à la plancha”, medley of autumn vegetables artichoke fritters, roquette salsa

At first taste, I wanted to rise to my feet and applause the chef. The lobster was truly excellent. The flesh nice tender, but not so tender as it melts in your mouth. It has a nice, firm feel to the bite...I suppose al dente is the correct description. But yielding with pressure, and releasing a wonderful aroman and flavour. Very sweet meat. Magnificent. The vegetables served well as supporting cast, but the lobster was certainly the star.

My dining companion had the cannelloni with black truffles.

As the dish was presented to the table, I could already breath in the wonderful aroma of the fresh black truffles. Shaved in thick slices, and placed over the rolls of canneloni...the pasta, was of course cooked perfectly. And the simplicity of the dish made it all the more excellent. I tried one canneloni piece with a slice of truffle. Heavenly....unless you don't like truffles...but otherwise, highly recommended, despite the high price of CHF95+++ for the dish.

I had the whole sole from Brittany, sauteed in a butter mixed with meat sauce potato mousseline and wild mushroom enhanced with crispy sage petals

Also very good...though just short of the supreme excellence of the lobster and truffle pasta dishes. The sole fish was superbly fresh, and perfectly cooked, with the butter sauce permeating and embuing the meat with a wonderful mouthfeel and flavour.

For dessert, I had the souffle.

Ultra light, warm qunce souffle with a walnut biscuit and quince sherbert. Again quite excellent. The souffle was a bit smaller than I had expected, being used to the huge, airy soufles in Paris, but it was nonetheless very light, very tasty. The light quince flavour permeated nicely, and ably supported by the sherbert, which gave a more accute and sharp taste of the quince.

Overall, excellent plus plus restaurant and great cooking. A bit pricey as Michelin starred restaurants tend to be. Highly recommended if budget permits.

Lion D'or
chefs: Dupont & Byrne
Place P. Gautier 5
CH-1223 Cologny
+41 (0)22 736 44 32

Crystal Jade Golden Palace

Chinese New Year tastings have begun...Crystal Jade Golden Palace invited me to a tasting of their very innovative menu for the Year of the Horse.

Chinese New Year celebrations start with the now famous Yu Sheng...a tradition these days and a must have. And to differentiate, chefs have been innovating on the ingredients.

Here we have pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, white sesame and peanuts are added to a salad of fresh vegetables and slices of sweet mango.

Fresh salmon and amberjack fish slices, topped with gold leaf flakes are drizzled with Crystal Jade's special plum sauce and hazelnut oil. The mix is then tossed by the diners, and as each of the ingredients symbolice abundence, wealth and health, the participants get to enjoy the blessing for a great start to the new year.

A very interesting, and special fish is next

The Amadai fish is specially imported from Japan, deep fried to a golden brown and covered all over with crispy shimmering scales. The first time I ate fish scales was in Guy Savoy, a 3 star Michelin restaurant at their main restaurant in Rue Troyon in Paris. Amazingly, Crystal Jade's chefs have recreated a very similar dish...though the French dish was not deep fried and this was, the scales looked and tasted very similar. Very light, crispy, very delicately flavoured. The fish itself is elegant, mild and with shichimi powder...a harmonous blend of chillies, orange peel, peppercorns, sesame seeds, dried ginger and seaweed...the taste is sublime. Very nice. Wonderful mouth feel.

A lobster was next

The Chinese name for lobster is Dragon prawns, and dragons are auspicious to the Chinese. Canadian lobster, which I had once in Vancouver, and explained to me by the restaurant owner as superior to Boston as it is more flavourful, more tender meat, is used. The shellfish is seared with hot oil, and gently simmered in superior stock containing halibut. The chef describes this style as yin yang cooking, and explained that it ensures sweet flavours of luscious, firm, white flesh of the lobster sealed by the scalding, and then infused with the goodness and mildly sweet taste of halibut. Eating the lobster, I would declare he was very successful. Reminiscent of the one I had in Vancouver.

A pork dish was next

Wouldn't be much fun if its just plain old pork served, pan fried, right? And of course that won't be a case for the inspired team at Crystal Jade. Strips of kurobuta pork from Japan, sauteed with 2 different varietals of mushrooms, a tricolor of capsicums, and cordycep flowers. The dish is light, yet bursting and overflowing with flavours. The pork was very tender, and suitably mild, allowing the palate of the mushrooms, capsicum and flowers to highlight the dish. A light, organic raw extra virgin coconut oil permeates with a light, fragrant, and yet very creamy foundation. Very nice.

Having been delighted with the first 3 dishes, the fourth brings the meal to a crescendo

Scallops, seared and braised with sea cucumbers in a superior stock. With two sprigs of sauteed asparagus to provide a bit of colour and extra flavour. The combination rests on a bed of sweet corn, wheat and barley as a substitute for traditional rice as a starch. Beautiful flavours meld together in a very nice symphony.

And finally the sweets...a trio of the familiar, the traditional with a twist and the innovative.

First the innovative, black eyed pea cake, steamed

The traditional with a twist, steamed carrot cake

And the familiar with a twist...CNY glutinous rice cake, steamed

A truly superb meal. Worthy of a consideration for the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Many thanks to Samantha of Crystal Jade and JJ of Pinstripes for hosting and the invitation.

Crystal Jade Golden Palace
5th floor Paragon Shopping Center
singapore

Boston Lobster and Sushi with Sashimi

Oceans of Seafood is one of the interesting new seafood restaurants which has appeared recently in the Singapore scene. Full of the freshest seafood, laid out like a market. One selects the seafood, and the chefs prepare and serve it at the table.

From live Boston Lobsters to Canadian and French oysters, to the freshest sushi and sashimi airflown from Tsukiji Market daily.

We decided to try the lobster...

The sample we selected was agressive, alive...and weighed 1.1kg

Boiled, and served with two sauces...one garlic and another like a Japanese teriyaki type.

The meat was very thick at the body. Interestingly at the claws, the meat seemed to have retreated somewhat within the shell...the meat, removed, looked a bit rather smaller than the claw shell.

The meat was also rather sweet, but a bit too firm...perhaps a tad overcooked? The lobster was female with a small bit of roe which was rich and marvellous.

Then we had half a dozen Canadian oysters

Very nice. A bit mild flavour, but very fresh and very creamy. Very enjoyable.

One can also order sashimi and sushi...we had a serving of mekajiki

Magnificent. Beautiful, fresh, creamy. If I had to nitpick...just a tad too cold. But still very very good.

As was the sushi plate...11 different kinds. For $35, thick cuts and very fresh, not a bad price.

Overall, quite nice, though, if truth be told, we found the raw dishes better than the sole cooked lobster, which was half the cost of the lunch. I would return for the chirashi sushi and more of the mekajiki.

Oceans of Seafood
PasarBella @ The Grandstand Bukit Timah Singapore
200 Turf Club Road #02-06 (#02-K2 to #02-K11)
64661005

STREET 50 Bar and Restaurant: Two very surprising dishes which tantalizes the palate

The Bay Hotel is one of the interesting new boutique hotels which have sprung up fairly recently. I featured their Indonesian restaurant Rumah Rasa some time ago, but they changed the concept for the restaurant from Indonesian to an international theme - global flavours with a twist. Interesting methots. So when an invitation to taste was received, I jumped at it.

Especially so when the invitation to the new restaurant, now called STREET 50, featured the new Singapore National Day dish...a new dish created for the purpose of our nation's 48th birthday...the Black Pepper Lobster. Hmm...sounds yum...and it is! But more of that later...I begin with an unusual escargot dish...

Escargot in Hazelnut infused butter, flambe with cognac.

Wonderful. The butter was very lightly fragrant with hazelnut...the cognac was still quite strong and rather powerful...the escargot itself was not especially interesting...this was just de rigeur good escargot. But the flambe process on the table is a bit of drama, and entertaining.

We also sampled the Tom Yum Flair...a seafood dish with spagetti

As I approach this dish, I am a bit hesitant. The tom yum flavours are evident and strong. The crayfish and seafood...I can see squid and fish...are fresh. The spagetti done well, with a creamy sauce. But I find the flavours a bit disjointed. I have mixed feelings about this dish.

Next a lamb shank done like rendang...

I found this more convincing. Actually, really enjoyed this. The rendang sauce was superb...albeit a bit on the sweet side...but still within the norms of a mutton rendang, which usually tends to be a bit sweeter than the rather more sour beef rendang. The meat was very tender, well marinated, so fully absorbed the rendang flavours. Beautiful dish, served with some steam rice.

Then came the piece de resistance...the Black Pepper Lobster

The serving was a rather large Caribbean lobster...weighing about 700g, cooked in the chef's own black pepper sauce. When the dish was presented on the table, the wonderful aroma of lobster was powerful, and seductive in a way only lobster can.

The meat was chunky, very meaty, beautiful texture. Very sweet meat, very nicely blended with the aromatic black pepper. Well supported by the ginko nuts. Truly a winning dish. This is to be available only for the National Day celebrations, but I urged the chef to put this on the menu permanently. Highly, highly recommended.

And the sweet end...durian pengat

If you love durian, you will love this dish. A thin, rather dry crepe is rolled with durian pengat filling. Beautiful, smooth, creamy, aromatic. Very enjoyable.

This is an invited review. Thanks to Dennis She for the invitation and wonderful company during lunch.

STREET 50 Restaurant and Bar
Bay Hotel, 50 Telok Blangah Road
6818 6681

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf: Beanstro

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is one of the larger chains coffee shops in town. Known for their coffees and teas, and snacks, they decided to go into the foray of full meals. They went a big way, hiring an executive chef, and branding these restaurant styled CBTL as Beanstro...a play on their name and bistro. Each of the Beanstro outlets have a dedicated kitchen to prepare and cook the food onsite.

I was invited by Vincent Chang, CBTL's Senior Director of Business Development and Controller for a tasting. I understand Vincent is a fan of this blog, and contacted one of his suppliers who is a good friend of mine to arrange this tasting.

I went to the tasting with my friend who made the arrangement and another. Our party of four tasted this meal...quite a lot of food.

We started with calamari

Quite nice. Calamari rings, breaded and deep fried.

Followed by a cheese appetizer

I found the cheese to be very mild, and as it was deep fried, a bit greasy.

And a salad

Nice slices of tuna, lightly seared on a bed of vegetables with a very light nicoise sauce.

For mains, I had the steak burger

I had expected a steak, grilled and sandwiched in bread with condiments, but this was done with sliced beef. I feel it makes the sandwich a bit more difficult to eat, as the beef slices tend to slide all over. The flavour was robust, but the meat a bit on the chewy side. I would have preferred a more marbled cut.

My friend had the squid ink pasta

I had a taste, and it was not bad. I prefer pasta with squid ink sauce, as this normally has more oomph than a squid ink infused pasta. But in this case, it was the latter, done with aglio olio and clams.

And two of them had burger

And we shared a lobster pasta

I found the pasta a bit undercooked, rather hard. But the slipper lobster is superb. Very fresh, sweet. The sauce very nice, tingling, spicy.

For desserts, warm chocholate cake

Quite de rigeur. The crust was a bit dry, but within the moist chocolate oozed. Not as smooth as the best I have eaten, but not bad.

Creme Brule

And bread pudding

I find the desserts to be large servings...and the presentation a bit boring as each dessert was presented in a cup, on a saucer...one almost exactly the same as the other.

Overall, satisfying food...appropriate for the target level, I guess...which is mall style quick eats (not fast food).

Beanstro
Ngee Ann City, 391 Orchard Road # B1-37 Ngee Ann City
6235 1610
Mon - Sun: 8am - 11pm ...Fri,Sat & Eve of PH: 9am - 11pm.