French Cuisine in SGP: Bistro du Vin.

It is not always that I can recommend a French restaurant in Singapore...which serves authentic, non-pretentious Provonce style cooking. Many of the French restaurants in Singapore too often serve only haute cuisine and not enough serve authentic, traditional bistro fare. Sebastian's was one...and now apparent its successor...Bistro du Vin is another.

From the decor of the place, and the providence that Sebastian's which was in Hillcrest used to belong to the Les Amis group, who also own Bistro du Vin...it looks like this is the successor to one of my favourite French restaurants in town.

The set menu is particularly interesting. Unlike many places where the set lunch is a watered down version of the real menu degustation, here the set lunch is quite a good selection. This is a 3 course menu, with entree, main dish and dessert with coffee or tea...all for S$30++. Quite good value if the food is good...and good it is...no, I take it back...it is excellent French cuisine.
I had the chunky leek and potato soup with Burgundian escargots as a starter.

This was a foretaste of the excellence which was to come. The soup was excellent. The potatos were chunks floating in the in a rather clear, though creamy looking soup, which is beautifully flavoured. The escargots were plump and nice. Very good soup.

Kin had the Pan Fried veal head terrine, sauce gribiche and pine nuts.

This was excellent too. I found the salad's rockets a bit bitter. But the terrine (not visible in the photograph above, as it hides behind the salad) of pan fried veal head was very good. Gelatinous, tasty, and great mouth feel. Certainly not for the diet concious. The pan fried roll of veal is particularly crisp and beautiful.

For mains, I had the lamb shank, which was slow cooked with white onion and cherry tomato confit. A S$6 supplement for this main.

And worth the supplement...every penny. The lamb was tender...literally fall off the bone. I imagined the fats to be drained through the slow cooking, as what remained was just muscle and collagen. Beautiful mouth feel, and great flavour. The confit of white onions and cherry tomatoes were an able support team, providing a bit of acidity, and punch. The tomatoes were particularly sweet and ripe. Superb dish...I would certainly rank this as one of the best lamb shanks I have eaten.

Kin had the baked Norwegian salmon, parsnip cream, horseradish and roasted almonds:

Also exquisite. The salmon looked like it had been cooked sous vide instead of baked...the flesh was cooked just so...a bit rare inside. And still extremely moist. The cream was excellent foil to the salmon. And the roasted almonds toped the dish.

For dessert, Kin opted for the Creme Brulee

Excellently done...but for me, I thought it was a bit uninspired....a touch too ordinary. Especially after the spectacular starter and main course we have just had. But technically, nothing to fault. The glazed caramel was perfect. The creme within was smooth, creamy, nice.

I had the chestnut cake, with vanilla ice cream.

To say this is good, is an under statement. To say it is spectacular, is an over statement. This cake lies somewhat in between good and great. The chestnut cake was moist, tasty. The vanilla ice cream was strong, flavourful. Very nice. And all went well with the cream. Great dessert.

We both had the coffee...which, given the state of the third wave coffees available in town these days was dismal. I don't know why chefs go to such great lengths with the ingredient selection, preparation and cooking of the meals to produce such spectacular meals, have great sommaliers who select only the best wines to complement the cooking...but yet, the final cap of serving a decent cup of espresso...they fail. The coffee was too acidic, sour even. Dismal.

But overall I loved this restaurant. The cooking is as fine as I have tasted in France and Switzerland. And the ambience was excellent...nice relaxing. I forget to mention the baguettes which were served with unsalted butter before the entree...this was one of the best baguettes I have eaten in a long time...crispy, crusty exterior...soft, smooth, almost creamy bread within. Wonderful.

And the service was excellent. Catherine Piong and her team were knowledgable, cheerful...none of the "sparking or still" and frown on an "iced water" request. Great service. Bravo!

Certainly a fixture on my lunch calendars for years to come. Bistro du Vin 1 Scotts Road Shaw Centre #02-12 (address sounds like second floor, but it is street level)

Espresso Joints: Maison Ikkoku

Continuing series of espresso joints in Singapore. The third wave espresso places are sprouting out everywhere, and often helmed by baristas who cut their teeth elsewhere...many of them with 10 years of pulling coffee under their belt. Maison Ikkoku is one such place.

With an interesting French/Japanese inspired name...I am presuming...Mr. Google pointed out that this was Japanese manga. The location of the cafe, in the middle of the Malay/Arab enclave of Kandahar is also interesting. Surrounding shops are more likely to offer Middle Eastern cuisine or Nasi Padang (indeed two of our island's most famous nasi padang stores are on the same street...Minang and Sabar Menanti).

Some 10 qualified baristas serve this maison. They don't roast in the facilities, but they roast off site. Interesting to me that some of the beans are quite old...the oldest bearing a roasting date of 20 December 2011...it was 4 January 2012 when I visited.

But the proof of the pudding is in the tasting...so here is my macchiato:

I was not sure of the age of the beans, so I shyed away from ordering my usual double ristretto and went for something with a touch of milk. Turned out I didn't have to worry about the espresso. It was thick, viscous. The marking by the foamed milk was perfect. The concoction held a teaspoon of sugar afloat for nearly 20s.

The mouthfeel was near perfect. The viscousity, the body of the espresso was apparant. There was an inherent sweetness of the coffee and this was apparent. I will venture to order a double ristretto next time.

Lionel's picollo latte looked just as excellent. The latte art was nice, finely drawn...I didn't taste it, but if my macchiato had anything to make reference to, it would be great.

Nice homey feel at the cafe...Relaxing. With free wifi (need a password from the barista though). Nice place. Throughly enjoyable.
Maiso Ikkoku 20 Kandahar St

Ramen Champion at Iluma: Tetsu

Last week, I sampled the offering by Iroha and concluded it to be too salty for total enjoyment. Today, I went back to Ramen Champion, and tried the ramen from Tetsu. Tetsu serves the ramen tsukumen style...meaning, the noodles are served separately from the broth. The method of eating is to dip the noodles into the sauce and savour.

The stall offers a fairly wide selection of ramens and side dishes. I opted for the Very Rich Paitan Ramen in its original stock of pork, chicken and seafood. They created a special version for Singapore without the seafood...but I wanted to sample the original.

I added a flavoured boiled egg. Rather expensive at S$2 methot.

The noodles were thick, dense, very nice springy consistency...a little chewy, though not quite. Perhaps just a nice bite. The dipping sauce was really super rich...almost viscous. And superb flavours of pork, chicken and bonito. And the best part is it is not too salty. This comes as a small surprise, pleasant though, as I had expected it to be laden with salt. But the balance was perfect.

The egg was nice too...though just a bit over...just a tad over, mind you...I would have preferred a slightly more runny yolk.

The egg was very tasty. The chasu was a bit fat, and dark...suggesting that it had been marinaded for a while.

It was rather tender...and as it was sliced thinly.

Dip the noodle into the sauce, and slurp it up. The noodles seemed able to pick up the sauce well. And the combination is very good. Oishi! When you have finished the noodles, and there is some sauce still left, go back to the store, and add hot dashi. And drink it all up. Delicious. Btw, if half way through the noodles, the sauce gets cool...as the noodle is cold...you can bring the bowl back, and the staff will put in a hot stone to reheat the sauce/soup. I didn't try that though.

This is my favourite Ramen Champion so far. I did sample Bario's offering on two separate occassion...my lunch friend: Dr Mycroft and Lionel both had ordered the Bario ramen. And I had a little sample. Interestingly, the Bario broth was thicker and more salty last week with Mycroft than today's.

I will be back to sample the 4 other ramens, but somehow, I think Tetsu's offering will draw me to it many more times. Excellent.
Tetsu Ramen Champion 201 Victoria Street 4F Iluma

Ramen Champion at Iluma: Iroha

Ramen. Pulled noodles, in broth. Delicious. Those are the words that come to mind when one mentions ramen. The mecca of this evovled cuisine (the Japanese adapted and improved on the Chinese creation of the pulled noodles...also known in Mandarin as La Mien) is no doubt Japan. Tokyo, Osaka, Hokkaido et al, have their own interpretation of this delectable meal in a bowl. Ramen Champion is the innovative itenerant setup...where 6 famous Japanese ramen stalls compete for the prize of Ramen Champion rolled into Singapore in July 2011, after a successful stint in Bangkok.

The setup is simple and quite ingenious. Take 6 of the best ramens from Japan. Put them together in a large food court. And create a system for patrons to sample all and vote on who they think is the best. After 6 months of operation...so as to allow the original masters who were here for the launch, and for the skills of ramen making to be fully absorbed into the local cooks who dish up these bowls daily, I visited for the first time.

I tried Menya Iroha as the first stop.



Looking much like a typical ramenya in Japan...especially those under bridges near railway stations, where a hot, steaming delicious bowl of ramen is probably the cheapest eats in town. It is not unusual to find standing only ramen-yas selling a bowl for Y300 or Y400.



The most famous and award winning style of Iroha is the Negi Tama ramen, which I tried.



The broth was black, thick...flavourful. Perhaps too flavourful...well actually not...but way too salty. It tasted like the base stock was indeed salty shoyu, and reduced by hours of simmering with the soup's ingredients of mixed seafood, chicken and vegeables. For me, this was the killer. Too salty to enjoy.

On the other hand the chasu and egg was excellent...the chasu was very tender. And the egg was almost runny inside, but nice and firm surroundings. It was also marinated completely, and totally infused with the flavours of the shoyu sauce.

The noodles were like the lor mee we use locally. Thick, but nicely cooked. Smooth and goes down well. Quite satisfying.



Not a bad bowl of ramen, but I think this is seriously too salty. I cannot imagine tHat it is not detrimental health effects if you drink up the bowl.

I will be back to sample the others. But for me, this is the last time for Menya Iroha.



Menya Iroha
Ramen Champion
201 Victoria Street
4F Iluma

Eating in Berlin: Food for the soul and the body

Berlin. What a city! 24 hours a day. Cinemas, cabarets. Bars...yes, the bars are amazing. As are the truly fantastic museums. And after a day walking, absorbing, interacting...what's better than to seat down with a good friend for a spot of dinner. borchardt is a place to see and to be seen...and the food is quite good too.

I have visited and eaten here at borchardt (like ee cummings, always spelt sans capitals, I don't know why) many times. But this time, the service was a bit lacking. Hurried. Curt. Not the worse I have encountered, but not as nice as usual. The place is a social epicenter, so to speak. Tables are crowded together...much like Parisian bistros, where the waiter has to pull out the table for one to get in.

But I was told, movie star and pop artise spottings are as common in this hall as are politicians. Even Angie Merkel has been spotted here once or twice.

I started with a rather large lobster bisque:



Beautiful. The soup had packed all the flavours of the sea and the lobster. Powerful. Lightly seasoned to bring out the crustacean. Nice!

My friend Dr. M had the wildlachs...wild salmond...



I did not taste it, but he assured me it was very good. Both the soup and the salmon went down very well with a coupe of champagne. Ruinart, I believed.

Both of us elected to have the steak...which was served with french fries at the side.



I had ordered mine in my usual style...Chicago medium-rare...charred on the outside, pink and medium-rare on the inside. I am not sure if the waiter understood me...though he presented me with an English menu, and appeared to speak English...but steak was medium-rare, no charring.



Like most European steaks, the meat was lean...but this was reasonably tender...perphaps some micro-marbling. And tasty. The fact that it lacked a nice burnt crust was overshadowed by the full beef-iness of the meat. Nice.

And to accompany, a nice St Emilion Grand Cru...Chateau Haut Pontet.



Reasonably priced at €53 for the bottle...nice, smooth tannins, though 2008 might seem young for a St. Emilion. But nice berries, ripe, ripe fruit. And an mild nose reminiscent of plums and blackberries.

And for dessert...Profiteroles



Quite nice...but profiteroles are always nice...so these are nothing special.

Nice place...but I liked it better the 2 or 3 times I was there for lunch than this time, when we came for dinner.


borchardt Restaurant
Franzosische Strasse 47
am Gendermenmarkt
10117 Berlin
Germany

Eatery hopping in Hong Kong

I have written an article about restaurant hopping in Singapore once...where we did each course of a meal in a different restaurant...drawing from the specialities of each. Recently, I had a try of this in Hong Kong

.


click on the Hong Kong skyline above for a larger photograph.

A good friend/makan buddy and I found ourselves in Hong Kong at the same time for different reasons...and we decided we needed to have at least one meal together. After much deliberation...as foodies are bound to do...we have poor resistance to the lure of good food...we decided on Yixin. This is based primarlily on the recommendations of Jason Bonvivant a foodie bloger in Hong Kong whom I have been following for a while.

But I planned to have a cuppa ristretto first before going for dinner, so on my way out of the Star Ferry at Central, I stopped at an old favourite which I found several years ago while searching for beans in HKG...Zambra.



A double ristretto



A bit long for a ristretto. More like a double espresso...and even that a bit long. But nonetheless tasty, and nice mouth feel. Fixed the coffee needs for the day.

A short walk away is the traditional Yixin restaurant



We zoomed in on the 3 famous dishes...we had a vegetable dish as well...dou miao.

First the duck...



Pipa ya as it was called...featured a nice delicate crisp skin hiding the juicy succulent duck meat within. The serving above was for half a duck.

we also had the char siew that Jason raved about



But I found this to be a disappointing. The meat was very fat...we discussed this with the waitress later, and she confirmed that this was their best cut, and very popular with the Hong Kong people. I guess, our taste buds differ here. There was no crisp, burnt bits. The meat which was there was very fat (yes, I did mention that before), though very tender.

And the interesting dish called Fried Fresh Milk with crab meat.



I am not sure how this is done. But this turned out surprisingly tasty. Light, without the slightest hint of grease. The fried milk tasted very nice. And complemented the crab very well. Nice dish. Reminds me of the egg yolks and scallops I had at Restaurant Ten some time ago. BTW, the wonderful Restaurant Ten at Purvis Street is now sadly closed...the owners decided to ply their trade in China.

Back to Yixin...the servings were very large...too large for 2 grown, hungry men. Perhaps we needed to be a table of 6 to consume what we ordered.

But yet, we needed to look for dessert...and I remembered a dessert store I chanced on when I was in HKG last...somewhere along Pacific Place...to ease the large dinner, we walked...and found Xi Yan's dessert place.



Somewhat nondescript, but almost fully packed. The place served full meals...but we had ours. So I ordered a poached pear with tofu ice cream.



Quite exquisite. The tofu ice cream was quite a nice flavour...unusual, but for me excellent. The pears were nicely poached in syrup. And nice.

Interesting dinner...starting with a coffee at an old favourite which turned out to have lost some of its glitz, to a restaurant picked from a blogger's recommendation, and dessert in a place I have had great experience in the cooking in Singapore. Not bad for a night in Hong Kong.


Cafe Zambra
Shop 1. G/F.
239 Jaffe Road,
Wanchai, Hong Kong

Yixin Restaurant
G/F Shanghai Industrial Investment Building,
48-62 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Xi Yan Sweets
Shop 1, G/F, 8 Wing Fung Street, Wan Chai Hong Kong
2833 6299

Feasting in Switzerland: Les Mossettes

When good friends invite you over to lunch at a restaurant where their sister is chef and the sister's husband is the sommelier, you don't think twice. You get up early for the 2 hour drive from Lausanne, and go.

So when Marco and his lovely wife Veronique asked me to join them for lunch at Les Mossettes...a restaurant in the mountains, where Veronique's sister has just taken over...and earned a respectable 12 Gault Millau points on the first year...I jumped at it. We were also joined by another good friend and gourmand: Alex and his lovely girlfriend Sophie. Makes wonderful company.



It was late November, up in the Swiss mountains...when in most years, it should have been covered in snow and freezing temperatures. But 2011 is an unusual year. And there we were, basking in the sunshine. At about 3pm, we got up to continue lunch inside the restaurant, after eating and drinking al fresco since noon...not because it was too cold, but because the onslaught of the sun was merciless...and it was getting too hot (!!!). But promptly at 4:30pm when the sun set, it became quite cold.



A quaint little cottage, almost in th emiddle of nowhere. As we drove up to the restaurant, we passed the Abbey of Valsainte...the monks who bottled the water we were to drink...and who are silent monks. The Abbey has been there for perhaps 700 years. And the Abbey complex was quite large and beautiful...especially considering that the community who lives within numbers about 20.



Anyway, this was an unforgettable lunch. Not only the food was unusual and only vaguely familiar to me, as all the ingredients were sourced locally. But the wines were also superb, well selected and quite unfamiliar to me as well. The wines turned out to be the star of the afternoon for me. All superb.



We started with some deep fried leaves...a bit of grease stuck on to the leaves, but it was crisp, light and seasoned with a little salt, very nice.

And the aperetif to go with this was a beautiful bottle of Pouilly-Fuisse...the only wine whose domaine I recognised that afternoon...



The starters were some seafood...



Well, I guess not all ingredients are from the area...we were up in the mountains, hundreds of kilometers from the oceans...so the scallops must have been flown in. They were juicy, and sweet. Fresh. The fish, I understand is from the neaby lake - Lac Noir.

We had an intermediate white...a Premier Cru from Nuit St. George...an unfamiliar domaine for me, but the wine was gorgeous:



And for mains, quail



Very nicely roasted, perfectly done. The quail had a slightly gamey flavour, but remained very mild, more like chicken with a bit of bite...and smaller. Very tasty.

To accompany...two reds...





All the wines were organic..and from vineyards who practice sustainable agriculture. And they were magnificent. All were chosen by the sommelier, Georgie (I am not sure how we spell his name...but it sounded lime geor-gee)...



And the cheese...



Being close to La Gruyere, of course it featured a large slice of the famous cheese. Magnificent.

And we went inside for desserts...too hot...



Fresh, light, and very nice. But the dessert wine was the surprise



Sparkling! yes...see the bubbles...but not from grapes, but from 20 different types of pears...



This was magnificent. Like a beautiful champagne...dry, beautiful bouquet. And the tingling bubbles, which were small, well formed and quite vivacious. Made only in magnums, and in very small quantities. This was a great treat. Truly memorable.

Magnificent trip. Beautiful food. Wonderful wines. And fantastic company. Plus what a great weather in November. What more can a man ask for.



La Pinte des Mossettes
La Valsainte, Cerniat 1654 , Switzerland
+41 (0) 269272097

Feasting in Switzerland: Restaurant de la Croix Ouchy

Eating with friends are the best. Absolutely! Good friends make a meal much more memorable, and much more enjoyable. This visit to Switzerland, I had the fortune of the company of my Italian Swiss friends...and of course, we eventually ended up at an Italian restaurant.

But not before experiencing some magical bartending at the bar of the Lausanne Palace.



Angelo, the attending barman is a sort of a legend in these parts. The bar was decorated like the set of a 1930s movie...I am almost expecting to see Hemmingway stroll into the bar and nod at Angelo for a drink...young Ernest did spend many a winter in Lausanne, and I would imagine he might have had a drink or two at this bar.



Angelo would ask you what you feel, and magically concoct up something which will soothe and suit your mood.

But it was getting late, and we were getting hungry. So off to the port of Ouchy...to a little bistro, serving home made Italian cuisine...Restaurant de la Croix Ouchy.



When we arrive...the place was jam packed...to the brim!

We thought we have had too much meats and fish, so we opted for 3 servings of carbs...two pasta and a risotto. And we did the communual thing and shared all 3 dishes. The pictures are the serving size of our individual portions...

First the pappardelle:



Beautiful, fresh prawns. Wonderful home made pasta. Al dente. Cooked perfectly.

Next, ravioli with stuffed veal



Again, magnificent. Done the traditional Italian way, the sauce was enough...but not drowning the pasta...as it should be.

But for me, the star of the evening was the risotto...



I have a soft spot for good risotto. And this one hits the spot for me. The rice was perfectly cooked...each grain absorbed the broth and was bursting with the flavours. The tomato sauce was wisely balanced...the right touch of acidity with the perfect balance of sweet and spice. And the prawns were magnificent. Really good risotto.

For me, this meal was a return to the basics in Switzerland this trip...where gastronomic indulgence was the order of the day. And perhaps its the little boy in me, but I do feel a good pasta (or noodle, or ramen) makes my day. Two thumbs up for the restaurant, and to Marco and Alex for bringing me there.



La Croix d'Ouchy
Avenue d'Ouchy 43 CH - 1006 Ouchy
Lausanne, Switzerland
0216162233