Halia at Botanic Gardens

Here are the highlights of a meal we had recently in Halia. The restaurant has been around since 2001, and have been a favourite for many. They recently had their premises renovated, and the new restaurant is as beautiful as the former. Now even more so with the garden inside feel. But how is the food?

We started with a fabulous lemongrass & ginger tiger prawn salad ($19++)

Fresh mango & tomato salsa, glass noodle & ginger flower dressing. The prawns were large, succulent and very tasty. The most intriguing about this this is the chef's salad dressing. Superb. Just the right balance of all the tastes. And the glass noodles went well with the dish by soaking up the dressing...Very nice.

The next appetizer was the Chilli crab dip ($15++) with crisp baguette

I found this dish brilliant. The chilli crab could have a little more spice kick, but overall it was excellent. Chunks of crab in a piquant sauce. On crisp baguette. Nice. Kin did not fully agree, feeling that the crab could be more substantial. But I was happy. For me, a nice dish.

The for me, the other appetizer, the lime & ginger yellowfin tuna kinilaw was less successful. Kinilaw is a Filipino dish. 

On to the mains...my favourite for the evening was the paperbag oven-baked halibut fillet ($40++)

The fresh halibut was baked in a paper bag with mirin sake, ginger broth. And served with sesame Japanese rice, wakame & truffle mayonnaise on the side. The fish was superb. Smooth, creamy, very fresh. Beautifully cooked. The sauce was also sublime. The brilliant mix of miron sake with the ginger broth was magnificent. Loved this dish. Goes well with the rice. 

The next main we had was the Wild Alaskan black cod (140gm. $56++)

With ginger flower sambal, Chinese long beans & pickled ginger jus. We found this dish to be b bit bland. The fish was cooked nicely enough...nice moist flesh, crisp skin. But the long beans were undercooked resulting in a greenish flavour. 

And the Spice Islands marinated lamb loin ($44++) was also a bit ordinary.

Perhaps ordinary is too harsh. The baby back ribs are excellent. The meat just fell off the bones at the prodding of a fork. Very tender. The meat was a tad too lean, lacking in the fats that usually make up flavour. And the seasoning a bit pedestrian...it is a nicely concocted barbeque sauce, but no wow factor. It was served with a curried wild rice, charred chilli, pickled ginger & coconut on the side. The rice was hard, but I liked the curry sauce. We note though that we thought this dish to be not extraordinary, the other tasting party thought it was her favourite for the evening. 

Then on to desserts. I only hilight two...first a very unusual ohr nee.

Doesn't look like one, nor actuallly taste like one either.  The "Orh Nee" ($12++) is made from frozen home-made yam parfait, pumpkin puree, candied gingko nuts & lotus seeds. I guess the traditional ohr nee is made by pulverizing yam and cooked over a slow heat with pork lard. This was frozen, a first assault of the unfamiliar. And then the pumpkin puree and candied nuts were untraditional. But it did taste very good. More like yam/tofu ice cream with dressings of pumpkin, ginko nuts and lotus seeds. I really liked it, despite, or because, it does not taste of the traditional hot ohr nee. Nice one chef!

And the Die Die Must Have Chocolate ($12++)

A must have for chocoholics. The chocolate raspberry gnache, cacao nibs tuile, chocolate go fabulously with the marshmallow, raspberry sorbet, raspberry sauce, crispy raspberry and chocolate. Nice sweet end. 

Overall the restaurant had a wonderful ambience. Service was excellent, wait staff being very knowledgable and easy to catch. Food is excellent, mostly. I really loved the king prawn salad, the chilli crab dip, and the halibut. But others present in the tasting loved the cod and the pork ribs. The desserts got all round approval. 

Halia Restaurant

1 Cluny Road, Singapore Botanic Gardens, Singapore 259569

Access by taxi at Tyersall Avenue, near the Ginger Garden. URA Coupon parking on Tyersall Avenue. Free to park on the coach lots after 6 pm.

Na Na Curry: return of the king?

Nostalgia foods have a certain attraction...especially when its gone!

For years, we used to eat at and love the pork rib curry by Nana Curry at Marina South Food Centre...then they disappeared, only to kind of appear again at the Amara Food Court...I am not sure if its the same folks, as the taste, though very good, did not seem quite right to me. Then they too disappeared, when Amara went on their renovations. The new Amara, now smartly called AM100 is open, and behold, Nana Curry is now a little restaurant within. No GST, no service tax...open daily except Sunday lunch. Interesting. And throw in a few other cze char dishes for good measure.

But our first love from them is their pork rib curry, and that's what we went back to try, twice, to ensure that they are consistent. I am happy to report that the old Nana is back. Either that, or over the years, our tastebud memories have evolved, and the curry now served by Nana is the new good.

But excellent it is.

The gravy is thick, but not too thick...just the right consistency to be slurp-able...quite shiok to drink...spicy but not tongue numbingly so. Very nice, and now served in a stainless steel bowl with a flame below to keep the curry hot and boiling over.

For a regular 1 pax serving, 4 pork ribs, each about 2.5 inches in length are served...with half a small potato...quite sufficient. I prefer to eat the curry with rice, and they do serve a dry, fragrant rice which is perfect.

I can detect the pork rib is probably frozen, but the curry more than makes up for it. I suspect it is made with fresh spices, and fresh coconut milk, to taste so wonderfully savoury, so fragrant, with the kick of the chilli and spice. Very good, and addictive.

So now they are back, and as I said to Kin on our first visit...this is "crave-able" curry...and indeed it was, within a week, we revisited...and yes, it is still as good.

Highly recommended.

Na Na Curry
100, Tras Street, #03-14

Eating at the stables: classy dining at Marmalade Pantry

Marmalade Pantry is an old name in Singapore dining...I would describe it as a chic, casual dining environment, where beautiful people meet and greet. Especially so at their rather boisterous Ion outlet. Recently, they opened another outlet in the old Turf Club grounds. A much more homey, country atmosphere, rather more romantic.

Set near the Riding Club, and their stables...one can almost detect the faint smell of the horses when the wind is blowing the right direction. The restaurant took over from another old favourite: Mimolette.

I was there on invitation of Food News, who are the PR folks who do the fine work of promoting Marmalade. And to begin our tasting, some salads.

Pan seared haloumi salad

The star of this dish is the namesake haloumi - a Greek cheese with a high melting point, so suitable for grilling and frying or in this case pan searing. The cheese is usually made with a mixture of goat and sheep's milk. This particular example is made in Australia, and is rather firm, with a nice, firm texture, and a slightly salty flavour. Goes well with the juicy tomatos and greens which adorn the dish with the generous drizzing of olive oil.

The second salad is their Mexican chicken salad

Beautiful Mexican flavours - with the salsa like mix of chick peas, diced tomatos, spiced corn and avocado et al. And nicely supported by the crisply grilled tortila and grilled chicken.

The pastas were next, and as two of their all time favourites were part of our tasting menu. First the crabmeat linguini

Spicy, piquant sauce, but with richness fortified by the exuberant crabmeat. Very nice. The pasta was a bit over al dente, but the dish was quite outstanding in my books. Not quite the coy-ness of the similarly named pasta used to be served at Valentino's (which alas, in last tasting has slipped from its lofty self some 5 years ago), but quite close. Close enough to beat Valentino's current offering.

And spagetti carbonara...this is a hard one to nail by many cooks...

But the chaps at the Marmalade kitchen did well. A perfectly poached egg sits on top of a decadently rich, creamy sauce, littered with chunky, crisp, flavourful bacon bits.. I know my friend Dr Mycroft would love this one.

On to the mains. Their signature steak and eggs

We ordered it Chicago medium rare...charred on the outside. And it was delivered as ordered. The beef was, I guess, Australian grain fed...given the chewy sinews and lack of intermuscular fat in the form of generous marbling. But the meat was well grilled (in which I mean lightly grilled...) and was flavourful, delicious, albeit a bit on the tough side of good. The sauce on the side is a good take, as this will allow the diner to choose how much or little (I like it sans sauce) they prefer. The smashed peas provided a nice counterpoint. Well deserving of a signature dish.

We were next presented with crispy pork belly

Looking more like two large ribs, the pork belly drew smiles and oohs around. I found the pork to be very nicely seasoned, and tender. The crispyness remained on the skin, which remained so even with the natural jus drizzled over the meat. Some celeraic and apple slaw provides the bit of acid to cut through the fat (yum) of the meat.

And beef cheeks

Touted in the menu as 120 days grain fed beef cheeks...with horseradish mash, field mushrooms and pearl onions and asparagus. The cheeks were super tender, almost to being mushy, as beef cheeks tend to be. Despite the French label, I don't beleive I have ever seen a laughing cow, so the cheek muscles are I guess not heavily exercised, which attributes to the tenderness of the cheeks. Comparing to my gold standard for this in Singapore, Marmalade's is less structured (in that it is too tender, perhaps too much braising), and a bit too mushy. Brasserie Wolf is still the standard bearer for me in this department.

In any tasting event, especially where there are bloggers...cameras are whipped out and before the food can be tasted, photographs must be taken. The restaurant was rather dim, in keeping with the romantic intents of the environment, so we had a small private studio, at a prep table used by the waiters to stage the dishes.

Which leads us to the desserts...of course the famous Marmalade cupcakes were a feature, as well as the Lemon brulee tart, a granny smith and stem ginger pudding, a sticky date pudding together with the Red velvet cupcake, Elvis cupcake and the Hummingbird cupcake.

Regular readers of this blog will know I am not much of a dessert connoisseur. I did eat, and taste all the sweets. For me, the standouts were the lemon brulee tart - very sour and perky. And the sticky date pudding.

Beautiful environment, really cozy and romantic. And a nice menu, with many specialities to choose from.

Many thanks to Jasmin from Foodnews and Marmalade Pantry at the Stables for hosting the tasting.

The Marmalade Pantry (Fairways Drive)
55 Fairways Drive, Singapore 286846
6467 7748
Tue–Fri: 3pm – 11pm, Sat–Sun: 10am– 11pm (Closed on Mon)

Professor Brawn @ Novena

Home style western food in Singapore...chicken chop, fish and chips, sausages...a kind of comfort food, I guess. And one which is quite satisfying...and one which I feel the urge every once in a while. Professor Brawn is an eatery which rekindles this. Good food, nice service, ambience very canteen like, but not unpleasant...and with a social cause to boot. Lovely.

The usual makan gang comprising of CSC, Dr. Mycroft, and Larry descended one lunchtime for some serious eating and chatting...We started with a shared main course...the triple sausage platter as a starter

A nice, flavourful spicy Italian, with a chicken bratworust and a pork stuffed with cheese. I ended up liking the spicy Italian best. I would rate these regular sausages, nice, but not special.

As part of the set menu, includes a soup...which was a creamy soup. And a small carafe of either orange or lemonade. The lemonade was a bit acidic, a tinge of sour, but nicely balanced with the sweetness of the syrup. Nice touch.

I had the chicken with truffle sauce. The chicken sat on top of some crisp potato wedges. The chicken was well cooked, the skin...though not quite crispy, was rather delicious. The drizzling of the truffle sauce was a rather nice complement to the dish. Two thumbs up for this classic western dish, easily found in hawker centres and food courts in Singapore.

CSC had the signature fish and chips:

A rather large slice of breaded, fried dory served on top of fries. Looked nice, and was confirmed by CSC...who commented that the dish brought back nostalgia of Hainanese Ako cooking western meals, with a Hainanese twist. A sentiment echoed by all.

Larry had the pork ribs

Perhaps half a rack...Larry hinted that he thought Tony Roma's was better, but the ribs smelled heavenly with a nice dollop of BBQ sauce and the meat tender enough for him to tease it off the bone with the slightese prodding.

Nice, inexpensive eatery, conveniently located. Food good, though not exceptional. Nice brisk service. Worth revisits.

Professor Brawn Cafe @ Novena
#02-78/79 Novena Square,
238 Thomson Road
Opening Hours: 11.30am to 930pm Mon to Sun
(65) 6253 4650

Tex Mex: Santa Fe Restaurant, Singapore

This is an invited review. Meal paid for by restaurant. Together with Foodiequeen, Hungry Cow, Simin, Jencooks

One of the comfort restaurants, which make Kin and I very comfortable with the ambience, decor, food was a Tex-Mex place called Chico's and Charlie's at Liat Towers. For years, this was a refuge when we wanted to relax, and enjoy a margarita with some good solid Mexican food. But they disappeared, and we sometimes ache for good Tex-Mex. Years later, I began to travel quite frequently to Texas, and found that C&C's food was actually quite authentic when compared to real Texas Mexican food found in Southlake, Roanoak, Mesquite, all small towns around the bi-city metropolis of Dallas Fort Worth.



The interior of Santa Fe reminds me of the ranches in Texas (or New Mexico - the state where the city of Santa Fe actually is in). Reminds me of old cowboy movies, of the insides of a salon when the hero cowboy comes to have his shot of whisky. Except that this was a riverboat! Riverboats typically ply the Mississippi, further north (though its called the Deep South by the Americans...go figure).

This riverboat restaurant is by no means new. The occassion of their invitation was to celebrate their 10th Anniversary! This must be one of the best kept foodie secrets. 10 years, and for all the food bloggers on my table it was our first visit. And judging by the comments all round, yes, I am letting the cat out of the bag, not our last.

We ordered many of the dishes in the menu. BTW, if you read this early, and get there before July 11, 2009, the mains are all at S$10 (this is super value, as they are almost real Texan sized servings). Service was cheerful and swift.

First up, barbequed pork ribs:



Simply dubbed Santa Fe BBQ Ribs, the large slab of ribs were smothered with a BBQ sauce. The meat fell of the bone, and tasted rather good. This instantly brought me back to the Smoked Meat houses around Mesquite, TX. Meat was marinated, and slowly cooked by the hot smoke from slow burning chips from the mesquite wood. The smokey flavour combined to the fine, herbal like fragrance from the mesquite was marvellous. So was the Santa Fe's example. Nice.

We also had the fajitas...both beef and chicken. Shown below is the beef fajita:



The beef was tender, if you observe at about 7 o'clock in the picture, you will notice its actually done medium (bravo!). Slap the meat in to your flour tortila, add some shreded cabbage, jalapeno, cheese, and viola! your fajita.

As starters, being food bloggers, we had two rounds of this (testament to its great taste?)...one in the begining, and another towards the end of the main meal.



Named buffalo wings...I often wonder why buffalo...do they have wings? Anyway, the radius/ulnar part of the chicken wing was marinated, and probably deep fried to create a nice crispy crust, but then smothered in a sauce. Quite delicious. The crisp skin below the sauce, providing a nice contrast to the juicy chicken within.

The star of the evening for me was the Blackened Burger.



A huge sesame bun, with a huge beef patty. This is a real chopped beef patty, served to us medium doneness. With chopped onions, lettuce, onion rings served over a bed of rough cut fries. The burger was very nice...huge to the extent of being messy to eat (but hey, eating a large burger is fun partly because its messy). And tasty. The patty was mild tasting...though actually covered with a layer of crushed black pepper. A bit more salt would elevate the taste a bit, but that's easily done at the table to your taste. The fries were also very nice...crisp on the outside, and smooth and creamy inside.

Overall, I found the place to be very nice...the environment was cozy and friendly. The service good. The food wholesome. The riverboat is interesting, and would make a nice place for a company gathering. Comprsing of 3 levels, the lower deck where we dined, the upper deck which can be made into meeting room, seminar room, or another dining room, and the roof-deck which offers open air BBQ.

The only snag, as noted by Foodiesqueen in her blogpost was the difficulty of getting there. I got lost driving there and ended up at the new IR. And as I understand it, only one bus service runs the route.


31 Marina Coastal Drive
Berth 1 (Stewords Riverboat) Marina South Pier
6278 5775
Sun-Fri: 12pm-3pm, 6pm-10pm
Sat & PH Eve: 12pm-3pm, 6pm-11pm
Photonote: shot with Panasonic Lumix DMC LX3. The interior of the restaurant was really dark...hard to get handheld shots without flash.

Singapura Restaurant, Singapore

with Larry, Prof Horolographer, Dr. Mycroft and SJX

My friend Larry is a foodie with few parallels. In the years that I have shared a meal with him...each has been always a wonder, an entertainment of the highest order, with great food as the standard bearer. When he suggested Singapura Restaurant, I thought it was going to be possibly local malay cuisine. A quick google and up came KF Seetoh's pronouncement that the restaurant was very good, and their cold crabs was die die must try. Housed in a somewhat hidden enclave behind Sim Lim Square, the ground floor of the restaurant is merely a lobby...with a display table set in one corner, and a staircase leading upstairs. As I ascended the stairs, my eye caught on a portrait of Anthony Bordain and the owners occupying a place of pride amongst other celebrity guests. Interesting, methot.

We were warmly greeted by the owner: Valerie Tang. The restaurant was one of two started by her father - the late Mr. Tang Eng Seng, who claimed to have invented the method of preparing the cold crabs. Mr. Tang's original restaurant - Li Do, is still in operation. As he had two children, he started Singapura which was willed to Valerie, and Li Do which was handed to his son.



The crab looked beautiful indeed. The colour was resplendent. Glowing even. Each shell was full of roe, to the delight of Mycroft...



And came with huge pincers, much to the delight of moi...ahem. The shell was cold to the touch. I imagined it to have been either steamed or boiled...probably steamed, possibly with some herbs, then chilled before being served. But somewhere in there must be one or two secret steps.



At first touch, the cold crabs felt a bit strange. But once in the mouth, all strangeness disappeared. The roe was heavenly - aromatic, rich. Wonderful. The meat was tender...not flakey, it still retained some of the elasticity which suggested its freshness. Very nice. The oily mouthfeel that one gets with cooked crabs like chilli crabs or pepper crabs was mostly absent. In its place, a sweet and savoury, somewhat astringent meat.



I picked a huge pincer...the thick, hard shell easily gave way to yield a beautiful piece of pincer meat. The meat was succulent, sweet. Dipped into the special chilli sauce - piquant, spicy, pungent. The chilli sauce is something special and provided added firepower to enhance the crab meat.

We also ordered some har cheong kai.



The prawn paste encrusted pieces of juicy chicken was also very good. but excellent har cheong kai is de rigeur in a Cze Char stall or restaurant in Singapore these days. This was not particularly special, just well executed. I still prefer the har cheong kai in Loy Sum Juan, which to me, provided extra oomph in all departments - more aromatic, more crunchy, more crispy, more juicy meat within.

The prawn roll also the next dish.



This dish is also special. Fresh, succulent, juicy prawns were wrapped in pig's caul, and deep fried till crisp. Regular prawn rolls are just prawns wrapped in bean curd skin and deep fried. While this tasted good, the bean curd skin imparted a flavour of its own, not totally discordant with the prawns. Valerie chosed to use an animal covering...much like sausages made with pig's intestines are more intense in flavour, as the pork within is ably complemented in taste...Here, a pig's caul (as I understand it, this is a membrane that covers an embryo at birth) serves the same purpose. I am tempted to use the word micro-taste as in micro-dynamics in music...small, tiny variations in taste that is sublime and yet at the same time affirmative.

To ensure that the skin is crisp, crunchy, light, pig's caul is cleansed with chinese rice wine to rid it of the smell.I would imagine the astringent quality of the wine would also dry out the caul enabling it to deep fry to a higher level of crisp. This dish was delightful. Everything came together. The fresh, succulent, sweet, "breath of the sea" prawns inside the cocoon of light, crisp cual were a delight.

Next we had braised spare ribs.



Lovingly marinated with honey, cloves, five spice powder, each spare rib was first steamed, then deep fried. The meat was fall off the bone, melt in your mouth kind. The mouth feel and umami was good. Beautiful texture and very tasty indeed.

We also had some Hokkien Mee.



This was fried with thick yellow noodles, into a thick, brown gravy with seafood. Not quite the famous black hokkien mee in KL, but the fragrant gravy, and the fresh seafood was exquisite.



Each strand of noodle was coated with the rich gravy.

But being the gluttons we were, we just have to have the crab bee hoon soup. Larry described it as a piece de resistance. He has always been partial to bee hoon crab, so I expected it to be good. We had interesting experiences with horological genius and guru Philippe Dufour some years ago at Sin Huat in Geylang...chef Danny Lee's crab bee hoon, dry fried instead of soupy...was outstanding and blew our minds - not only because it was caustically expensive (S$700 for 8 diners for a 7 course dinner in a Cze Char stall in Geylang!! we can eat a similar menu at the Ritz Carlton!!), but the taste experience was stupendous.

With this background, we approached Singapura's crab bee hoon soup gingerly. Larry was in all confidence that we would love it.



The dish came in a large claypot, with visible prawns and crab swimming in a yellow, curry like soup. Valerie spent some moments fussing over the presentation.



And first whiff...the fragrance hit the nose. Wonderful. First taste, indeed this was soup what hits the spot! Extraordinary...a very complex taste. Thick, fragrant, rich. Flavourful. Powerful. Coupled with fresh, fresh seafood, and coarse bee hoon. The prawns were crunchy, and still smelled of the sea. Two Thumbs up for Valerie and Larry for the recommendation. What a wonderful way to round up a meal.

But wait, we still had dessert...red bean pancake is a house speciality.



Rich, smooth red bean paste inside a crisp pancake. Very nice, and rivals some of the better ones in town, but not extraordinarily so.

Overall an excellent restaurant. Service was excellent...Valerie was buzzing around, checking that guests were being served by the waitresses.

We also had Christmas Fruit cake made my Mrs. Horolographer...she is a gifted baker if I ever met one, and this was a great fruit cake.




Blk 9 Selegie Road
#01-31 Selegie House
Tel: 6336 3255

Restoran Ah Meng, Johor Bahru

with Kennard, Ken, Alice

We found ourselves in Johor Bahru, a grand diversion with multiple stops, but actually the excuse to go try out a few eating places. Our first choice was a Teochew restaurant near Pelangi, reputed for their Ohr Nee. But we were a bit late in arriving...about 3pm, and we settled for an air-conless restaurant a short drive away. Ken, the native Johorian recommended this Cze Char shop.

Their signature dish is a flat, dry fried bee hoon...some say this is the chow tar bee hoon, some simplly call it flat bee hoon...I call it delicious.



The bee hoon must have been fried with a rich stock, imbuing some magical taste powers to the strands of rice noodles. Chives, some vegetables, chicken, eggs make up this interesting dish.



The noodles were soft, slightly flattened in the wok and slightly charred by the immense heat of the wok. Wok hei is there in spades. Shiok.

We also had the pork rib curry.



Some regular readers might know that my mom cooks a mean Nyona curry, be it chicken, fish head, squid (real power curry! Really to die for), and pork rib. But Ah Meng's version is not too far behind...I loved the rich, coconut gravy. If they used curry powder, it was not evident...no powdery taste this one. The rich shallots, lovingly tumis to fragrant golden brown form the backbone for such flavoursome gravy.

The potatoes are first fried to slightly crisp/charred/caramelised before being inserted into the curry. The pork rib is from succulent ribs, and floating ribs - rendering the meat soft and tender, and the cartilage almost edible. (indeed they were crunchy and good bite).

Steam fish, with chye por was next.



The fish was fresh. Steaming done just right. Bits of fish around the backbone remain just slightly rare to require a small amount of force to seperate it from the bone...the meat was tender, and sweet. The chye por added crunch and punch.

We also ordered the ngor hiang.



Innocent looking enough. The skin was translucent, and this was the first hint that this ngor hiang was going to be special. Pick up a slice, and the roughly chopped ingredients gives the second hint. This was not mass processed ngor hiang. This was bodering on artisanal.



The ingredients are quite ordinary for a ngor hiang. A quick fry in hot fat seals in the taste, the outside is golden brown crispy, the vegetables inside still slightly rare and crunchy. Each mouthful is full of flavour - the crunch of the crispy skin intermingled with the carrots, meat, seafood (I think there is some seafood...prawns in the mix).

Of course, the must have vegetable...polisang choi (hmmm how do you spell this?) was lightly blanched and drizzled with some oil. Al dente to the bite, the cook demonstrated great precision in his cooking.



For dessert, Ohr nee.



This is a signature dish of a Teochew restaurant. Made with fragrant yam, steamed, mashed, stirred with generous amounts of pork lard, and served with boiled, smashed pumpkin and ginko nuts. Ah Meng's version is not as fine as those typically found in the great Singapore Teochew restaurants like Hang Kang. The yam was discernable as bits, offering a rough-ish texture...not quite rough enough to feel individual bits, but not quite a smooth paste. The dish was not greasy...perhaps lack of pork lard caused it to lack something in full flavour.

Total price for 4 persons: RM90.


Restoran Ah Meng
38 Jalan Sultan Aminah
Taman Iskandar
Johor Bahru, Malaysia


Photonotes: no theaterics were attempted. Usual equipment, typical workflow. Shot inside the restaurant on a wet rainy day. No flash, no tripod.