Seb's Bistro

Sebastian Reuiller is an interesting fellow. Cutting his teeth at Les Amis with the legendary Justin Quek, he moved on to a bistro bearing his name at Greenwood Park (Sebastian's...which I have written about before...and lamented that it is no longer in existance for the gorgeous confit du canard), then to Picotin. And now in a fairly new place, once again bearing his name...Seb's Bistro.

The restaurant is rustic and relaxed...and dining, lunching, breakfasting is al-fresco, with giant fans blowing wind to cool the eaters...:-)



The place is child friendly, and the same building also houses a children's play center...so the parents can eat in peace while the kids have their fun. We were there on a lazy Sunday, with some good friends visiting from Hong Kong...

Edward had the Sunday Roast, man's cut...some 500g of roast beef on the bone...



Two huge slabs of beef...prime, and richly marbled, lay on the plate with cherry tomatoes, some green beans and a large baked potato. A small Yorkshire pudding lies on a separate small plate to complete the Sunday Roast.

The order was for medium rare...



And it was just a little over medium rare, and just shy of medium...actually what I like...:-). Edward tends to prefer a little bloodier...but this doneness is perfect for the rest of us...of course even a young man cannot finish 500g of beef in one sitting, we each took our cuts. The beef was superb. Wonderfully seasoned, the cut was beefy, the meat was perfect in its consistency and makeup...not too soft as to fall off the bone, but not tough at all. The mouthfeel was superb. I can still almost taste the beef in my mouth. One of the best roast beef I have eaten in a while, and in memory better than roast beef specialist Lawry's.

Our friend Lean also ordered the same, but the ladies cut, which was still some 300g. And she also shared it with her husband.

I had the lamb shank. I ordered the confit du canard, as I remembered how wonderful it had always been at Sebastian's...but they didn't have it that day.



This was braised till ultra tender...fall off the bone with the prodding of a fork kind of tender. The meat was flavourful without being overbearing with the taste and aroma of mutton. The gravy was rich, satisfying. And the mashed potatoes which accompany was also very creamy, smooth and tasty. Another winning dish.

Kin had the lamb chops



For me, it was also superb. The lamb had the nice aroma, again not overpowering, but a faint hint that it is indeed lamb and not another meat. The meat was a little tough...requiring some mastication before it is swallowed...but for me, very good. Kin thought it a little tougher than she preferred. We briefly compared it to the one served at La Nonna's...and though this was a good lamb chop to me, we concluded in agreement that La Nonna's was better. The lamb was served on a bed of potato gratin...which I again found to be superb, and a side of grilled vegetables.

Sean, with the intention of sharing Lean's beef, ordered a chicken sandwich...um...no pics. But he declared it to be quite nice.

Dessert time! Kin had to have the chocholate cake:



She thought it to be lesser than what Reuiller used to serve at Sebastian's...I do agree...the chocholate lava within did not quite have the same consistency and viscousity as it did...it was a bit too viscous. But I thought it was a nice, bitter chocholate blend, and went well with the vanilla ice cream.

I had the apple tart



Which I thought quite nice. The fruits adorning the tart were fresh, and the pasty light and fluffy. Shiok.

Sean had the pear tart...



I did not taste the tart, but it looked exquisite.

Overall, I think Seb's Bistro delivers....great food, good ambience...I would have preferred some air conditioning though. But definitely one to return many times.


Seb's Bistro
(al fresco only)
7 Rochester Park

Traditional Swiss meals: Les Armures in Geneva

Les Armures, one of the favourites of my watch buddies when we come visiting during the Salon International de Haut Horologie (SIHH). Some of them love the place so much, they stay at this little boutique hotel up the hill just by the old town of Geneva. The name refers to the gunnery just behind the hotel, with its ancient guns originally trained to protect the city against its enemies.

But a quaint little place this is. As one enters, the whiff of cheese is rather strong. This was, afterall Switzerland, and this restaurant is one of the places to enjoy raclette and fondue. But I am fond of neither, but have still grown to love this place...for it serves great lamb and other delicacies.



The occassion this time was dinner with Laurent Ferrier and his team, after a successful launch of his Gallet Tourbillon watch, and a new peek-a-boo timepiece shown earlier that day at the Geneva Time Exhibition (GTE).

I started with a French Onion Soup:



A thick, rich onion soup...stewed till the onions have caramalised and profuses a sweetness to the broth, a thick layer of toasted breadcrumbs, covered by a layer of cheese and baked. For those who love cheeses, this was absolutly delicious. Wonderful aromas of the onions infuse gently with the cheese. Excellent, and one of the best French Onion Soups I have had in a while.

As a sample, a plate of rackette was served:



A melted lump of cheese...eaten wrapped around a potato. For the cheese lover, again this was a slice of heaven. I like cheese, but am not totally crazy with it, so one serving of this rackette suffices to satisfy...and it was indeed satisfying. But connoiseurs will eat 5 or 6 servings in a meal. A heavy meal indeed.

Raclette is actually from the French term to scrape, and the traditional method is to start with a semi-solid piece of cow cheese, and with the aid of a flame or heat source to melt the surface. As the cheese melts, a small knife is scrapped into the diner's plate. In Les Armures, this was already done in the kitchen, and the ceremony of scraping or racler (French) is not performed.

For my mains, I had the rack of lamb:



This was served medium rare:



and with potato rosti...another Swiss favourite. Rosti is kind of like a hash brown, but often served covering the entire plate.

The lamb was from New Zealand, and as fine as it ever was. Tender, flavourful. Rich tasting. The rosti was well done...a crisp and rich crust over the starchy interior.

Swiss food is rather rich, with lots of cheese, butter, potatos and heavy meats (sometimes). And for traditional Swiss, Les Armures is certainly a good option for Geneva.


Restaurant
Hotel Les Armures
Rue du Puits-Saint-Pierre 1
1204 Geneva, Switzerland
022 310 91 72

More postcards from Germany: Michelin Star in the Baltic Sea

with FM

I took some time off after I completed my photography in Glashutte, and drove to the Baltic Sea, via Berlin. More on Berlin in the next blog post. I stayed in Arhenshoop...a small village with an excellent access to the Baltic Sea...but this was an early winter, as noted in the Dresden and Glashutte posts...and a harsh one. Temperatures by the beach was typically -3C during the day when I was there...but with strong north winds blowing, it felt like close to -15C most of the time.

We drove to another small village of Wieck auf dem Darss...and visited a favourite of FM and his family...like many Germans, they vacation during the summer (Whitsun period) in the Baltic Sea, and it has become a tradition for him, wife and daughter to drop by Haferland to have a meal when they are here.

Reputed to have one Michelin star, the chef of cuisine Kurt Jäger cooks up a storm in this quaint little hotel.



Inside, it was a quaint, cozy smallish restaurant. The establishment has a hotel and an attached art gallery as well...and this seemed to be a common theme with hotels in the Baltic Sea area.

We started with aperitifs, then a nice house white, and finished with a great bottle of Volnay 2001. We later retired to the hotel's smoking room and had a wonderful Partagas Churchil, and a my favourite Talisker. But for now, the food...

We started with the fish soup:



The fish was superb. Lightly cooked, ultra fresh. The hot soup certainly was a treat for the cold winter. The soup itself was like a consomme. Jager had a light touch, not too spiced up, not too much salt. Just a touch to enhance the sea flavour, and the freshness of the ingredients.

Both of us opted for the lamb.



Interesting for Jager to mix two slices of rack of lamb and a tougher saddle of lamb together in one dish. Superbly cooked...again, light touch with the seasonings, allowing the nice meat to blossom to show the flavours of the lamb. Even the sauce was light, unlike the jus served by many other restaurants which tend to be very concentrated and sour. But this was light in taste, and compliments the lamb. The cooking was just right...grilled just shy of medium...slightly on the rare. Accompanied by vegetables and potato.

Dessert was two scoops of home made ice cream...served with some confit of berries. The berries added a touch of acid to balance the richness of the ice cream nicely.



Excellent dinner indeed. And cooking worthy of the star.



Hotel Haferland
Bauernreihe 5a, 18375 Wieck auf dem Darss
Germany
http://www.hotelhaferland.de/

Bismillah Biryani: best in Singapore?

various occassions

When Leslie Tay, now Asia's Best Food Blog by the Nuffnang Asia Pacific Blog Awards wrote that Bismillah was the best nasi biryani in Singapore...my eyes and tastebuds perked up.

In my travels to the Indian sub-continent, I have tasted some amazing biryanis...in New Delhi (a small restaurant in Defence Colony, whose name escapes me now), in Mumbai (once a superior experience at the Hilton Towers coffee house...yes, next to the Oberoi which was seiged, and many times at Mahesh, and the Copper Pot), and in Karachi. The rice was superior...super long grained, non starchy, very fluffy and absorbent. I even hand carried 10kg of superior basmati rice once back from Delhi. The varieties you get in Singapore's provision shops are way inferior. Read Leslie's article for more information on basmati rice.

Not only the rice is superior, the spices are superior. The cutlets of lamb, often whole rack or leg are superior. Fat, no doubt, but flavourful, wholesome. And the generous amounts fragrant ghee used makes it an aromatic pot. None I have experienced in Singapore comes close.

But a few offer substitures when a trip to India is not possible to enjoy some biryani. I have written about Mirchi, whose Dum Biryani is superb. Almost close to the motherland's, but not quite. And the promise that Bismillah was the equal, lures.

I made a trip to Dunlop Street immediately the next day. True to form, I found the rice wonderful...but the mutton used was very tough, almost to the extent that one has to fight with it...that kind of killed the experience. But within the toughness, I could taste the hints of the spices which the chef had blessed the meat with. And the rice...wonderful.

I gave it a second try, and brought some overseas colleagues there for dinner...including an Indonesian, a Pakistani, and a Korean. All enjoyed the biryani...but the mutton was still being mutton...very tough. I discussed this with Arif, the owner who was there that evening...and he explained that he does not use ghee (healthier), and uses mutton from goat which is more than a year old...so the meat is tougher...a quality he feels should be part of the mutton experience.

So when Cactuskit announce a mini-makan session that lamb curry was to be made available, I jumped again and made my third visit to Bismillah.



The lamb was served in a brown gravy...quite unlike any curry I have seen. Chunks of lamb...making out what I think is probably a whole leg or part of. Another serving, shown above was a rack of lamb...



The meat was very tender...fall off the bone. Very succulent, juicy. Nice flavour...and a subtle hint of the lamb. The sauce was more a brown sauce than curry, was heavy in pepper...The entire ensemble was rather nice. But I felt it did not scale the heights. The sauce was one dimensional, too strong of pepper. And no complexity to play with the flavours and aromas of the lamb.

The dish was served with hand made naan.



I am not sure if Bismillah have a tandoor oven to make the naan, I suspect not...but the naan was very dense. The dough did not rise at the ends to make a fluffy, light bread, but remained dense, and chewy. The taste was ok for naan, but I much prefer the fluffy, fragrant varieties found all over India and in Mirchi.

Not being able to resist, I also ordered a lamb biryani:



Lamb biryani? Earlier Arif had argued that only mutton, with its incumbent tough, sinewy meat was good enough for dum biryani...he had once declared that if mutton is cooked till tender, the meat is destroyed in his mind...but somehow, perhaps the power of Leslie's blog (I and a few others commented that the mutton was too tough), he now offers lamb.



This was absolutely wonderful! The lamb was tender to a fault...fall off the bone...it was served on the bone, and meat on the bone, being closer to the blood supply when the animal was alive tends to be sweeter and more succulent. Indeed this was. The lamb flavour was not overpowering, but subtle, ever present...perfuming the spices instead of the other way round. Very very good. The rice was superb as usual with Bismillah. Truly an outstanding dish.

How does it compare to Mirchi and those in India? Well Mirchi uses ghee...this alone imbues the biryani with added flavour and fragrance...much like pork lard enhances the flavour of char kway teow, the ghee enhances the flavour of the biryani. So still no comparison. But a healtier version (not exactly totally healthy as lamb is high in cholesterol and saturated fats). I am able to live with that...no, more than only live with it...but totally am able to embrace it...as I don't get a guilty feeling of betraying my body each time I indulge. So Bismillah will be a permanent mealpoint for me...to be visited, hopefully sparringly (for health reasons).


ismillah Biryani Restaurant
50 Dunlop Street
Singapore 209379
93827937
11am to 10.30pm dail

The Pierside, Singapore

While waiting to attend an event at Jing, Dr. Mycroft, Prof. Horolographer, SJX and I went next door and had dinner at The Pierside.

This is an old eatery which have been dishing up great eats to the beautiful people who show up at this trendy, fashionable area. The restaurant has a commanding view of the harbour...ok, this shot was taken about 60m away next to the Merlion...but the restaurant has an equally nice view...



We only had mains, as there was going to be finger food, champagne and single malt whisky at the event courtesy of The Hour Glass and Carl F. Bucherer later...in fact, where we sat, the drinks counter was just a few meters away, and we actually felt like getting our free champagne from there...:-)

We were immediately served very small buns of bread...bite sized...these were hot when we got them...and tasted great.

Mycroft chose the wagyu tatare...he could never resist wagyu or any kind of fully marbled beef. And we were a bit shocked when it arrived...the tatare patty was super small...a mould about 1 inch in diameter and the same height. Hmm, that's not going to work, but a quiet word with the excellent Maitre d settled that, and soon it was replaced with a more sizable portion.

The quail egg, and passion fruit provide a nice visual treat, and must have provided a nice counter taste to the rich wagyu.



He reported it to be quite good. Tasty! he proclaimed. Like me, he liked his tartare quite spicy, and remarked that it could stand with a little more spice. My personal favourite of steak tartare (not wagyu) is in a small restaurant in Paris, where they allow you to mix the spices yourself. Yum.

Young SJX opted for the rack of lamb, and when that arrived it was 2 rib cutlets.



The dish looked gorgeous...the lamb looked beautifully done, with what looked like charcoal charring at the side, and when he cut the meat, looked perfectly pink inside. He seemed to enjoy it.

The Professor had miso cod. The Maitre d recommend it as a hot favourite of the restaurant.



The chef did a good job at the plating. The cod looked exquisite. Horolographer was satisfied with the fish, the fish looked like it was nicely done. It came with new potatoes...by the time I shot the picture, he had already taken a bite of one of the spuds. The fish was perched on top a bed of sweet peas.

I had the pasta. But with a twist. Slices of succulent, juicy Maine lobster was quite generously sprinkled.



This dish, I can comment...it was delicious. Excellent balance and sweetness of the lobster made my meal. The tagliatale was nicely done. Flat noodles like tagliatale should be made fresh, and though I did not ask the wait staff, I suspect this one was...it tasted freshly made, and soft rather than chewy. Super.

The service was excellent. Cheerful...both the Maitre d and the waitress was smiling and happy to bring more bread, butter (yea, we did eat a lot of butter...as one might expect with Mycroft on the table). The setting of the restaurant was supreme, and the decor bright and cheery. Nice place. Really lovely. Enjoyed it.

Pierside Kitchen & Bar
Unit 01-01 One Fullerton
1 Fullerton Road
Singapore 049214


Photonotes: Shot with the usual 17-40L, but with 580EXII flash - indirectly using the white ceiling as a reflector.

The top shot of the durians of Esplanade was done with HDR. +2EV, 0EV, -2EV, combined using Photomatix HDR and Tone mapping.