Da Mario's Pizzeria

Da Mario's Pizzeria is located across from Gallery Hotel. We ordered a Capriciosia Pizza, a squid ink pasta, and a rock melon with proscuitto and a glass of house white. Damage was $68.

In Singapore, many restaurants get italian cuisine wrong. But this small "hole in the wall," really is a small restaurant with lots of tables lined up in the lobby area gets it right. Okay. Not Garibaldis or Valentino's right. But good, borderline great. I would put them on my 2nd level of Italian restaurants to go to in Singapore.

The squid ink pasta was very good, spicy and full of garlic and flavor, pizza toppings were fresh and rock melon and proscuitto was plentiful and sweet. Would I go back?

Most definitely.

Freshly Baked By Le Bijoux

So I finally decided to eat. After so many months of going on a hunger strike for a good cause ( a republican win ), I have decided to write again. This time, just notes. Not MUSINGS.

A friend of mine showed me her HERWORLD magazine and I thought I needed to go to this place. Freshly Baked By Le Bijoux, at 57 Killiney Road, right across from the Singtel building at Somerset. A small store along a richie rich enclave visited by aunties with big hair and foreigners.

Service was excellent and food was decent. We picked up a delicious doughnut, banana bread and some scones to bring home to sample the fare but the review for that will come later. Our damage was $34.

Would I go back again? Yes. But I do wish that there was more ingredients in the sandwich. We ordered a beef hash and egg sandwich (pictured ) and a BLT (pictured above) along with a bottle of Iced Tea and distilled water.

Botak Jones

What don't you guys already know about good 'ole American food on this urbanized island! Burgers, steaks, hotdogs, huge pile of fries in fairly large portions... you've heard them all before. We got Billy Bombers doing the diner style thing, Jerry's (long service award) and a plethora of other similar themed restaurants.

So how does Botak Jones differ from the rest ? The first outlet was started in - of all places - TUAS. Well obviously Mr Jones saw fit to provide good quality American style food in our local version of the casual diner - the hawker center/coffee shop. This concept worked so well that he's since spawned a few other outlets around the island.

Botak Jones latest month old outlet occupies a 2 stall space at the corner of a newly renovated coffee shop along Depot Road. A brightly lit neon sign made in the likeness of Mr Jones' famous outline is perched in the left hand corner of the roof edge of the coffee shop. Located just before CMPB (in the direction towards Henderson Road), this place does brisk business catering to the lunch crowd pouring in from nearby factories and office buildings.

The electronic cash register, popular tunes blasting in the background from the 80s and 90s and a bunch of friendly sales staff looked a little out of place in our context of the local coffee shop but it's a refreshing change nonetheless.

Boasting an extensive menu serving everything from soups to burgers, hotty dogs, quality USDA / Australian steaks, there's definitely something of everyone.

We ordered a 200gm lamb chop and chili dog and sat down. Within a minute, a friendly waitstaff (in a coffee shop?!??!) brought the cutlery and an array of sauces - american mustard, HP sauce, chili, ketchup. Impressive huh.

6 minutes later, our meals came. Both plates were similary piled with servings of well seasoned and freshly fried cajun fries, fresh coleslaw (I mean fresh not that KFC crap), some lettuce. The lamb chops were well seasoned.. I think too well seasoned to the point where I couldn't really taste the gamey original flavour of the meat. It came with some creamy shitake mushroom dressing and a small dollop of chopped mint sauce that looked remotely like shredded olives. The next time I order the lamb I'll skip the cream sauce as it makes the dish too... how shall we put it.. rich ??

The hotty dog... I mean chili dog was huge. I mean HUGE. Like baseball game frankfurter huge. The bun was mushy from all the chili lathered in the sausage. Chopped onions, chili, minced beef.. pretty authentic alright.

You probably guess we couldn't finish the huge portions! Another excellent waitstaff brought over 2 styrofoam containers lined with aluminium foil to doggy bag the leftoevers - 1 for the fries, 1 for the hotdog. So polite! Even gave us a copy of the menu to take home and advised us to come for dinner as lunch is quite packed.

Cost us $21 bucks. Not exactly coffee shop pricing - you can have tze char for that kind of dough but the food was pretty satisfying. Can try lah. :)

Say Wa-Gyu!

Yummy yummy yummy... Daddy dearest brought home a nice block of wagyu today. Apparently a grade 7-8 type from Australia. Kindly left 3 slices for the wife and me to sear for dinner. We got home quite late today - 930pm so you can guess how hungry we were.

Fired up the frying pan (I know you wagyu purists will tell me the best way to cook it is over an open flame really quickly because the melting point of the fat is lower than regular beef) and seared each side for about 30 seconds. The meat wasn't cut too thick.. I reckon it was about a centimeter or so.

The end result was perfect. Somewhere between medium rare - medium on some parts of the meat seasoned with a few pinches of sea salt.

Even my dog was extra alert today. Wagyu oishi desu ne!!

Impromptu...

It's always nice to have a good meal to cap off your hard week at work. I like putting such events on my calendar as it does help to motivate my work week. It didn't help that the wife had to attend ANOTHER wedding dinner on Saturday - dining alone is not exactly very fun. Dining with other women is certainly not an option anymore (unless the wife is overseas of course)...

Before I get into more trouble, I'd better chug along with the main purpose of this blog. Yours truly was literally roped in at the last minute to enjoy a dinner organized by some of my dad's long time friends. They were booked into an Italian restaurant called Bologna at the Marina Mandarin Hotel. Now FC and me have been here before. The standards have been rather, how shall we put it, mediocre. Not tonight.

We were seated in the far corner of the restaurant, nearly 90% hidden from regular tables via the use of some sliding doors. The menu for that evening was totally customized and neatly printed... even nicer than some wedding menus I've ever come across.

To simplify the menu for yous guys at the risk of getting battered by the chef and insulting his marketing prowess, I present to you my fully digested meal for Saturday.

Puff Pastry with Mushroom - OK only lah. Puff pastry was burnt at the bottom. Quite flaky though but definitely not a fantastic starter. Would have preferred some ice cold fresh oyster shooters with vodka and tabasco. 5/10

Zuppa di... it was some tomatoey soup. Light and zesty with soft veggies for some texture. 7/10

Risotto with Porcini mushrooms - Well done. Creamy, with the rice cooked just right with a little bite to it. Porcini mushrooms added to the texture. Bits of parmesan in the mix made every spoonful a delight. Had 3 additional spoonfuls plated to me by Aunty XX seated next to me. 7.5/10

Salmon with creamed potatoes - It's real easy to muck up a dish as simple as this. You need a really fresh catch to make this work. Simply seasoned with some sea salt and chopped herbs served on a mound of creamy mash. 9/10

Roast rack of lamb - I tell you what it gets better with the lamb. Cooked till it's just exhibiting a nice hue of magenta/pink with a beautiful layer of fat in between the meat. Light drizzle of demiglace at the side. One of the best lambs I have ever tasted. Honest to goodness. 9/10

Tiramisu - A little too rich for my liking to finish off the meal. Plenty of mascarpone oozing from the front of the slice. Not too sweet. Didn't do it for me but I'd give 6/10

We had 3 obscenely expensive choices of alcohol to wash it all down with that evening. Actually there were 4 but being late, I wasn't offered the single malt whisky of scottish origin in a nice, brown box.

Champagne - Moet et Chandon 1988 Vintage Dom Perignon. Rated 93 by Wine Spectator.








Wine number #1 - Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac 1989. Bordeaux blend. Rated 90 by Robert Parker and 98 by Wine Spectator. Only had a glass of this one. Didn't like it.

Wine number #2 - Chateau Lafite Rothschild Pauillac 1988 magnum sized bottle. Bordeaux blend. Rated 90 by Wine Spectator and 94 by Robert Parker. Washed down 3 glasses of this. Heh heh.


There was another lovely delicate white. Fantastic bouquet and very very drinkable. I forgot the label but I need to know that one because I want to drink it again.

The wines alone could pay for 6.5 months worth of groceries based on an average of $100 a week.

In the end, the wife had to drive me home. I mean we both consumed copious amounts of alcohol that evening (she at the wedding, me at the party) but she holds her drinks so much better than I do!

So there you have it, good food, great wine and excellent company... I think I learned more about the mechanics of the good life in 2 hours than I'll ever learn for the rest of the year. You know plenty of us aspire to live the good life.. live in a nice posh home, drive a fancy automobile, eat at the swankiest places... I just think the most important things are godliness and contentment because without those, your Porsche would become just "another toy" in your garage.

I look forward to more value for money wines, porridge, salted fish and beansprouts and homemade espresso.

Ciao.

Advanced Seat Reservations in Singapore

It is culturally accepted in Singapore that packets of tissue paper represent seat reservation at a food-court. How ingenious? And the funny thing is that nobody really challenges it and it is widely practiced by women.

Strange but true.

Best Pints of Commercial Ice Cream Ever!

The best pints of Commercial Ice Cream in the world. You people should try it.

Great Bourdain Clips

Tung Lok Signature

My mum is a Cantonese. So there is some Cantonese pride when it comes to Chinese cuisine as she believes that it is the best style of all Chinese cuisine. That says something considering there are quite a lot out there. All these various styles and traditions involved. But recently, I could not help but actually coming close to an agreement with my mum.

We went to Tung Lok Signature at VivoCity because my adopted mum from the U.S. (imagine a small petite lady probably half my height but packs 3 times the authority) who took care of me while I was there, was in town. She wanted to eat Chinese food, so I thought what better place than to bring her to this nice restaurant that my principal company regional sales manager recommended.

The deco is gaudy. Very unlike any typical Chinese restaurants. The service was the best, 2nd best next to Lei Garden at Chijmes. But still excellent. There was about 6 of us and the menu sets were only for 4 or 8 people. So after making my mum decide what she wanted to eat (which she didn't for some reason and instead asked me to order,) my limited Chinese and the great help by the server gave me a set menu with a price that I was comfortable. It was a set menu without any traces of fish head, because Americans were on the table and away from crazy stuff like chicken head or drunken prawns. So what I got, which I honestly did not even know what I ordered, was fantastic.

I got roasted pork ribs with Chinese vegetables, a salt-based crab for each person, Peking duck, duck noodles, special tofu with vegetables, twice boiled pork rib and black chicken soup, and two more dishes that just skipped my mind. I haven't had such good Chinese food in a long time. The crab was unusual as we were given scissors to cut the crab shell, and the server even showed us how to do it. Cool. The Peking duck was de-lish, and the soup was fantastic. Our desert was specially done for our table, a durian style ice cream with durian puff and durian pastry, with fresh mint and strawberry, the guests that couldn't eat durian had honey dew sago with herbal jelly served in a martini glass. Cool.

Without a doubt, I would return to the restaurant. Total bill was about $400 FOR 6 people.

After Spidey ....

After Spider Man 3 at Great World City with the Fantastic Gohs. We slinged our way down to Robertson Walk. Deciding between a French restaurant whose name resembled a brassiere. We picked Cappadocia Cafe Restaurant. A Turkish restaurant. I think the best Turkish restaurant in Singapore. The food was exquisite and humus, you could only thank God for the chick pea. What can I say? Highly recommended. Expect service to be slow as there might just be up to 2 guys serving the whole restaurant and prices to be a little on the high side because of its location.

Some of you might be wondering why in the world does the food-critic take a picture of the napkin and not the food with his new camera phone. I will say, "Good question."

Our next stop was the Chocolate factory also along Roberston Walk. As sure as expatriate white men end up with strange looking Asian women, the chocolate was nothing much to crow about. It was chocolate but not at its cocoa best. I ordered the warm chocolate cake which was decent. Everyone else ordered chocolate tart and chocolate something else I can't remember.

What I don't understand is why restaurants have the cheek to declare that they do not serve plain tap water and they can only serve water in a bottle from France or Italy? Strange. I never understand these restaurants. They would rather make money from serving bottled water than banging on their food deliver them the cash. Maybe the restaurant just doesn't serve very good food? Maybe. But even in the expensive restaurants I have been to, and I mean up to $200 per person, they still serve iced plain tap water, so why not a chocolate restaurant/bar/dessert/eatery?

Strange.

New phone, New pictures!

So I gathered enough courage ($$) to purchase a new phone. I hope to add more pictures in this blog ....

Memories.

Memories can be tricky. We don't always remember what exactly happened but we remember exactly what we perceived happened. And one of those tricks that played on my mind was when I walked by it. It was so familiar that I could not help but sing it, and sing I did.

I remember the times when I was left all alone at home. My mom used to teach me how to make pasta noodles and if I got too lazy to leave the house to buy some food, I'd cook it. And boy, was it delicious. Probably bad for my health but those were the good times. Its about the same level as eat Nutella from a spoon.

You feel like Chicken Tonight?

Peachy

I was fed up. I was tired of having silly western food all the time. Italian, American, Mediterranean, Mexican, French, I am tired of all of you. I am Chinese by taste and I think Chinese cuisine can kick any other cuisine's butt if it wanted to.

With this in mind, I thought we should have some good Chinese food. I remembered the suggestion from Tasty Bites about going to Peach Garden at Novena Garden. So on that rainy Friday night, I left with my wife for a sumptuous meal at the Peach Garden. I am an East person, so I don't really know the North really well, but I managed to get around to where I need to be because one of my ex-girlfriends lived around that area. We (my wife and I) met at the nearby MRT station and walked for about 7 minutes to the restaurant located across from the Novena Catholic Church.

The setting was more like a western restaurant than an eastern one. They played a bad rendition of all the Jackie Cheung songs with Chinese instruments but I didn't seem to mind it. In fact, I was humming the songs in my mind while my wife was telling me about her day at work. (Sorry Honey!) The menu was surprisingly short. There wasn't much to order I thought. So I went with the particular dishes I was advised to order. The wasabi and mayo prawns, the lobster noodles, my wife wanted some fried tofu with garlic and an order of roast pork.

I know that it seems like we didn't order much, but we felt that it was enough. The wasabi prawns were tasty. I don't know what is this obsession with Mayo in this part of the world but I have to say it was a potent combination. The creaminess of the mayonnaise together with the wasabi paste made the prawns sweet with a kick in the butt when necessary. My wife who doesn't like wasabi liked the dish. So that meant something. The roast pork, an ever simple meat that can be easily destroyed in the wrong hands were delectable. The fried tofu was decent.

The best dish came last. The lobster with noodles. Unlike other restaurants which serve crayfish when the menu says lobster. This restaurant actually serves LOBSTER. Lovely, light, delicate and simple. It was a combination of the broth (chicken stock and Chinese wine) made the this alchemy great. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. I had been reading some reviews about the restaurant from other sites and I have to say that they were probably taking some crazy pills. The service was excellent. The pacing of the dishes were just right and I would definitely go back there again.

The best part of the night? My UOB card got me a 10% discount making our meal cost only about $60 some dollars. The meal was worth every cent.

I HATE BLOGGER

I appreciate Blogger for giving me an opportunity for providing me an avenue to write about my gastronomic adventures. However, I have to say that I absolutely hate BLOGGER. Its so darn difficult to write and paste pictures and keeping the spacing and alignment is a pain in the butt.

BLOGGER. I HATE YOU.

Brunch at Brunch

I don't know how I feel about a restaurant named after a meal time. I can't ever say I am having lunch at the restaurant lunch or you know, something like that. So to have my brunch at the restaurant called Brunch at Pan Pacific was not exactly the most thrilling of all ideas but since the wife loves having breakfast anytime. This place might just be my saviour.

Located at the 4th level of the Pan Pacific Hotel, and near the pool, I expected some high class breakfast dining. I was ready to be impressed. I love the deco, this outdoors, woodsy type stylized furniture with the complimentary built in ceiling fan as well as the servers in shorts, polo shirt and a cap. The service was excellent as usual at Pan Pacific. The food was expensive.

I cannot fault the price of the menu because it is a nice hotel. But just eggs Benedict at $9.50 (if I remember correctly.) Now, granted the eggs look freaking fantastic. And the yoke breaks beautifully like art. But $9.50 for chicken ham? I don't know. And if pictures could lie, for the same price, I only got 1 waffle. 1. I also ordered the club sandwiches which were fantastic by the way and so were the waffles.

If you want to treat yourself to a nice brunch any day of the week, at nearly anytime, I say saddle up and pay for what you think it is worth. If not, it might be better to avoid this place. They serve their brunch all the way till 7pm on the weekdays and 10 pm during the weekends.

Highly recommended if you want to pay $10 for sexy eggs Benedict. But I don't think I will go there again. Unless my wife wants to eat breakfast food at 7pm during the weekend.

The Prima Tower Experience

The last time I came here I didn't have my driver's licence for sure. I remember Dad used to know the valet attendants pretty well because they used to work for his friend. Come to think of it, the last time I set foot here was early 1996 just before I enlisted for National Service... not to eat but for baking classes. Yes you read it right the first time, BAKING classes with a whole bunch of tai-tai's. So what did a then 19 year old male, baking and a bunch of ladies have in common ? J-A-C-K.

So anyway back to the restaurant. Nothing seems to have changed in the last decade or so. You take the lift up to the 9th storey, then onto an escalator only to find another flight of spiral steps leading up to the main dining hall.

It was dead quiet for a Monday night save for a few tables littered with foreigners and local businessmen. The hostess revealed to us that last Monday's crowd was much healthier but overall business was still pretty good.

Mom in law (MIL), Dad in law (DIL) and bro in law (BIL) came promptly at 715 followed by sis in law (SIL) and her boyfriend (SILB). MIL rang earlier in the day to order a set menu for 7 so that saved us the trouble of poring over the menu and get down to the business of eating! Thanks MIL, you're the best MILF. That's (Mother In Law Forever) oh ye of stained minds.

Opening dish was shredded scallop and cod in egg sauce. Not my exactly my favourite but I wolfed it down with a smile nontheless. I shan't speak much about this dish since I dislike eggs in various stages of cooking other than scrambled and fried.

Fish maw soup arrived. NEXT.

Mmm.. the peking duck arrived without much fanfare. The duck was brought to the table for inspection and our murmurs of approval sent it back to the carving table. After some 2 minutes of slicing, basting & frantic wrapping, we got served. Hehehe. Perched on my plate was a golden skinned spring roll-ish looking delight.. or was it ? The minute I put it in my mouth and chewed on the 'fat', my satisfaction levels went downhill. The duck slices which were supposed to be thin and crispy were a tad bit too thick and meaty. The skin used to wrap the duck tasted very 'doughy' and where the bloody hell were the sprigs of spring onions ??!! NADA..

Steamed fish of some sort came next.

I forgot the dish after the fish.

I think the last savoury one was the leftover duck meat fried with noodles. Lacklustre dish so I won't bother.

Dessert was deep fried egg white with red bean stuffing. Oily and not presented well enough. I felt icing sugar should have been used to dust the egg white balls and not castor sugar. Icing sugar just does so much more for the dish both visually and tastefully.

As you can already tell I've lost interest in describing mediocre standard cuisine. Soooooo sian!!!

If my Francofriends do come back for more in future I'd gladly take them elsewhere. Totally lost my vote of confidence but I hope for history's sake they buck up to where they used to be.

The Tastybite Update

Hello readers, so much has happened since the last post on coffee culture appreciation! Strangely enough, I don't recall eating anywhere worth mentioning in the last few weeks. Tonight is Daddy-in-law's birthday celebration @ Prima Tower Revolving Restaurant. For the uninitiated, it's situated at the top of a flour mill just before the Sentosa Gateway. It's been eons since I last ate there due in part to the less frequent arrival of our family friends from the south of France who "louve zee plaise anz zee veews of Sentosa". My next post is dependent on tonight's outcome.

Since the last post, yours truly has finally bought a proper Italian made La Cimbali espresso machine. Picked it up in Perth during my recent trip there for a very good price. Even with the generous discount, this purchase has forced me to embrace the art of making coffee! Many thanks to my ever generous fairy Godparents in Perth Frank and Grace for that pleasant surprise gift of a proper coffee grinder.

My decreasing post count of late can also be attributed to my involvement in a new community forum project which has taken up a huge chunk of my usually quiet evenings vegging out in front of the telly.

Happy eating in the meantime and chat with you soon!

Morton's

A cannon camera for your picture to be taken: $550.

A color printer to print the picture: $600

A meal at the best steakhouse in Singapore: Priceless.

For everything else, there's always chicken, pork & fish.

More Restaurants, More Guests!

In the second part of the 3 part series about guests and restaurants: Specifically 10 days after my Mother In Law left for the United States, the great country that gave the world George W. and Michael Jackson, my brother and sister in law came to town!

I told them that in Singapore, you have to go to a buffet. Its everywhere. Its everything. Its part of Singapore culture. As if a buffet is the greatest social equality equalizer. There are no elitist in buffets. Just people eating in whatever order they like however much they like. Me and my big mouth brought us to the Straits Kitchen at Hyatt Hotel.

Now, I tried to make reservations the night before and I was gladly amused. Wow, a buffet having no tables available? The restaurant must be awesome! I made a reservation for the following day and we strutted ourselves there and were gladly surprised. It was a beauty. Straits Kitchen is probably one of the prettiest buffet/restaurant I have seen. The china was fancy. The service impeccable. The walls were out of this world. The food you ask? Well ... there's only so few words you can use but I shall use three. Glorified Hawker Center. Take away the masks of a hotel, china, air conditioning, and service. Its just very expensive hawker food. Maybe I am crazy stingy but to pay $44 a person including tax for a buffet that serves hawker food, which by the way did not have that much variety is a crime. I would like to take this time to publicly apologize to my brother and sister in law for dragging them to such an overpriced ostentatious experience.

I wanted my brother and sister in law to have a kick ass gastronomical experience. I wanted them to experience some local home cooking but not cooked by me, I thought of having some friends cook Chinese dishes. But the thing is, none of my friends can do it! They can cook mind you, but a 6 course traditional Chinese meal? Ouch! We are hopeless. I only know of a Victoria Junior College teacher, and friend of mine who can do Hainanese Chicken Rice? That's about it. Armed with that knowledge in mind, I decided to bring my guests to Liang Kee Teochew Restaurant, at Robertson Quay. Now let me get this straight. I am not Teochew. I am a misplaced Khek that can't speak a single word or swear with my own dialect and can barely speak some Hokkien and Cantonese. The reason why I chose Liang Kee was because it was my grandfather's favorite restaurant. And ever since he passed away over a year ago, I just somehow always think about going to the restaurant and have been back several times.

The food was good. Not great. The most important thing was that my brother and sister in law loved it. We sat al fresco style outside the restaurant and we ordered the goodies. The only disappointment was that they didn't have the braised goose meat, which is one of their specialities. We ordered the prawn rolls for me, hot plate tofu for my wife, some beef hor fun to share, some stir fried vegetables, my wife's favorite stewed pork with steamed buns, and I think some egg omelet. For all that, and I probably went through 3 rounds of Barley and or green tea, and maybe 2 rounds for everybody else, I have to say $60 some dollars was worth the ticket. I would gladly go back again. Only I would order the goose and cold crab!

Now, I can't afford to always bring my relatives to nice restaurants. So on some nights, we went to hawker centers and food courts. In my earlier posts, I stated that I have never stepped into Vivocity until my mother in law was in town, now I never stepped into the Food Republic in Vivocity until my brother and sister in law were in town. Let me just get this of my chest right now. Food Republic in Vivocity is the BEST, you heard it right, the BEST food court in Singapore. Bar none. Even better than the Food Republic at Wisma and soon to be in Suntec. Best. The people who got to the planning of that particular Food Republic got it absolutely right. From the location, to the type of food served to the decor of the place and the music that's played. Absolutely spot on. Its a lovely place. Great place to eat and I highly recommend this foodcourt more than any others.

The other place that my brother and sister in law loved was the temporary Chinatown market right next to Outram MRT. Okay. The way it was built is disgusting. You'll be inhaling and smelling like smoke if you sit in the wrong aisle and its always so crowded that you can't even find seats. The thing is that, the smoke inhalation and the over crowdedness adds to the charm of the place. I know it sounds weird but if Chinatown market was as sterile and as clean as a regular food court in the mall, why would I even think about going there? The food is good but I always wonder why in the world does a small stretch of stores always want to be serving the same type of food as their competitor? In this case, steamed fish head? That aside, I have always loved the Chinatown market and love the hawker center. This time, we went there primarily for the famous clay pot rice which we waited for 45 mins, we downed many glasses of the fantastic lime juice and sugar cane drinks as well as my sister and brother in law experiencing their first bbq sting ray. Cool.

My brother and sister in law loves Indian food. So we brought them to Little India to try one of the several Singaporean inventions that actually put us on the culinary map. The fish head curry. We didn't want to go to Muthus because it would feel like we were in an Italian restaurant and we thought it would be best to have them try Indian food in a comparatively somewhat more "local," place. Now, I have not been to the Banana Leaf at Race Course Road in a very long time. So I asked both of the Incredi-gohs to come along. Man-goh was amped for it. I could tell because he showed up early! Mrs. Goh was her usual calm and cool self. Actually the reason why I asked Man-goh to come was because I knew he could absolutely obliterate a fish head by command, just in case the tourists didn't like it. And boy did he!

My sister in law who is NOT a vegetarian but eats mostly vegetables cringed at the sight of the fish head. I don't blame her because I would too. My wife never liked fish head was quick to have me order other non spicy dishes for her,which I did. My brother in law, always game for anything and willing to try anything once had a field day. The fish tasted decent. The tandoori. the mutton curry the various vegetable curries were great. What wasn't was the effect it had on my stomach the day after. Now, I am not blaming the restaurant for my bad tummy. But lets just say that after that day, I wasn't going to go back to the restaurant again. My stomach twisted and turned so bad that I couldn't go to work and the feeling of nausea encapsulated 3 days worth of food. I hardly ate anything for 3 days after, and did I say that I was going to Hong Kong on the 4th day? Besides my stomach, the other thing I didn't like was the service. It was slow and I thought it was bad. We waited 45 mins for the food to come and when we try to get a server's attention, they always pretend to not see us? You know? That kind of service? I was upset. But oh well. Lesson learnt. Nothing bad happened to my brother and sister in laws stomachs. So that was good.

My guests being here meant that we could eat things that I normally wouldn't eat with the missus. That meant spicy food and seafood! One of the best kept secrets in local cuisine is still the Peranakan food. Their mixture of Malaysian spiciness and Chinese taste gives Peranakan cuisine an edge that maybe only Thai food can trump. We had to go to the heart of the Peranakan Restaurants, the ones at Katong and we picked and ordered some claypot satay chicken, my favorite salted vegetable soup, some otah, some stir fried and stewed mixed cabbage and mushroom, and of course the deep fried pork rolls in tofu skin. It was a lovely experience. The
restaurant was quiet on that weekday night and we had the restaurant all to ourselves. Service was prompt and we had a great time. I wondered why I never had more Peranakan food before.

I called and asked Mr. & Mrs. Tasty Bites along for our seafood experience. I wanted to bring my brother and sister in law to try some good chili crab and what better place to try it then the No SignBoard Seafood Restaurant at the Oasis. We made our reservations and we actually grabbed a bus there. We ordered 2 chili crabs, drunken prawns, those fried breads, stir fried broccoli, fried squid and no fish. We had a great time. Service was prompt. They held our food until everybody showed up. Everybody ate the crab, and the prawns. We ordered the fried bread twice. There's just something about chili crab. First of all, its more ketchup than chili and second of all, its more starchy than spicy. Thirdly, crab eating is hard work and sometimes, I don't feel like doing so much work for eating. But I did enjoy the experience we shared together. That was great.

Kopi. My brother and sister in law loved Kopi. They drank it like more than twice everyday. We went through the various types of Kopi like Kopi Si, Kopi Kosong, Kopi Kow, Kopi Pok, Kopi-O, the works. And I think they took about 3 days to identify what types they like, and my guess is they probably tried every kind and decided what they liked in 3 days. Unlike American coffees, the Singapore counterpart is usually thicker and it actually taste like coffee and not water. The places of choice always ended up to be Toast Box, Ya Kun and even the neighborhood coffee shops. The sock method does have its benefits.

In writing so much about my brother and sister in law, I guess what I am trying to say is this:

Kevin and Laura, we miss you.

Best Restaurant in the World?

Over the Good Friday holidays, the wife and I decided to not do much. So we sat around the house doing nothing. Seriously. We didn't do anything productive. What we did was watch alot of episodes of HEROES, sleep and eat. Okay, you can call us pigs.

While watching the television, I stumbled upon possibly what could be the BEST restaurant in the world today. El Bulli. The cooking techniques from chef Ferran Adria Acosta are both exquisite and marvellous. Look through the website, and you can see why. A mix of Science and fun, makes his dishes something to yearn for, something to look forward to. Every dish a taste that will bring you through a roller coaster worth of surprise, comfort that always ends with pleasure. His dishes, to call it ordinary would be an insult, to call it pretentious, would be missing the point.

The kitchen looks both of a science lab and a factory assembly line. I actually want my kitchen to look like his if I can afford it!

This is a DEFINITE MUST if I end up in Spain this winter.

The Perfect Meal.

If you had one last meal to eat, what would it be? It would obviously have to be the perfect meal. The mother of all meals? All your favorites whipped onto one meal. This question has been asked several times in the newspapers and asked in my Anthony Bourdain book that I was reading. Is there such thing as a perfect meal?

In my platonic search for gastronomic perfection, I have gone through many restaurants, hawker centers and coffee shops throughout Singapore gauging and tasting looking for good food in Singapore. But is "good food," just dependent on my taste? Science has often shown that people have different taste buds. In a test to taste bitterness, a chemical was used in a taste test and it was a 50-50 result. Some could taste it, some could not. Doesn't that mean that what food or dish is tasteful to me might not be tasteful to another, hence the perfect meal or that best dish is actually not that great and not that perfect?

Is the perfect meal dependent on the techniques cooked or the emotions and memories they invoke. Like women craving chocolate, its not jut because chocolate is delectable but it invokes comfort and memories of good time and at the same time provides some kind of sexual relief? Or is it the flash frying of the fried rice at Din Tai Fung that makes the fried rice fantastic?

I personally am dumb founded because I don't have a perfect meal and I probably won't even know what I want to eat if I knew I were to die tomorrow; simply because if I knew I was going to die tomorrow, I wouldn't want to be caught eating. I would be telling people that I love how much I love them and going to a corner and curl and getting ready to die. I know how I want to die though but only my wife knows that!

Truth is, I like good food and I have to say that as much as my mood is dependent on it, I have to eat my wontan noodles, char siew and roast pork rice and hainanese chicken rice at least once a week. Crazy? You bet. I hear stories of how my wife could eat pancakes for dinner for 2 years growing up in Wisconsin so I don't think I have that bad a habit.

The perfect meal or the last meal has to be a perfect storm. The mood that I am in. The people I am with. The restaurant I am at. The food that is being served. The service of the restaurant. The ambiance created by the restaurant. And the state of my mind. A great example of this was the dinner I had on my birthday at Valentinos. I was in a great mood because it was my birthday. All the friends I love were there, the food served was fantastic (never had such great oso bucco before ... or ever!), the ambiance was homely and warm, service was excellent as usual and the state of my mind was nothingness, because I was satisfied. If I died in my sleep that night. I would feel that I was satisfied because all was good with the world.

I guess what I am trying to say is that despite all these write ups and reviews from so many people including myself about food and restaurants, the only person, the only thing that is the most important to even decide how good food is, or how delicious it is: is you. The reader.

Perfection is subjective but the power to pontificate of vilify food still lies with you.

So what is the perfect meal?

Many Restaurants, 1 guest

As some of you might know. My Mother in law was in town recently and we had a great time. At least I hoped she had a great time. I know I did and I am pretty sure my wife did as well! We brought her to many of the favorites that has been mentioned in this blog before, to new places that I never knew existed. These are some short reviews of the places I visited:

Max Brenner's: How do I say this? It was cool when I first had a 4 years back. Its a chocolate heaven set in a durian like architecture. Personally, I never thought chocolate and durian mixed well but thats just me. I expected something when I went there again, but it turned out disappointing. We had an early dinner at the nearby self styled after the popular local television series, Makan Sutra Hawker center, which was ALSO disappointing but that's another story. We ordered waffles with chocolate ice cream as well as some brownies and ice cream. How do I put this? It was bad. The waffles were stale and you sense that it might be left out there for too long and the service was tedious. And might I also add to say that at that point of time, there were only 2 other tables in the whole place.

Makan Sutra Hawker Center @ the Esplanade: What I liked about the place. It's location was one heck of a convenient. I wanted very nearly to drag my mother in law to the satay club next to Lau Pa Sat but my wife didn't really feel like walking so we settled on this place. I have never tried this hawker before but lets just say that thank goodness, because it was going to be the last time I was going to be there. We were there at around 6 in the weekday evening and not many of the stores were ready to open yet. We went around looking for new things for my mother in law to try but many of the stores were either not too bothered serving me because I was local or didn't really bother at all. I thought that was sad, not for me but for the state of the hawker center there. They serve over-priced hawker food that can be had anywhere else in Singapore and you have to take in a healthy dose of attitude along with the average food. My advice: don't go. Save your money and go to some where else better. Hey, how about the Marina Square foodcourt across the street?

Spizza for Friends @ HarborFront or was that vivo city? I have never gone to Vivocity (or was that harborfront) until my mother in law came to Singapore. We just had a field day at Sentosa and we wanted somewhere that we could sit down and order pizza and kept cool. Pizza can not be terrible. Its not difficult to make and simple to eat. We ordered a pizza and an appetizer. What I didn't like about the place: the service was slow. Again, its a early dinner situation and there were only about less than 10 people in the restaurant and service was slow? Did I say that the service was slow?

What I did like about the place was the food was actually decent. Not the best. But above average for a pizza joint. I thoroughly enjoyed the pizza and the appetizer and the thing is the bill only came up to $30 some dollars and change for 3 hungry adults. That was cool.

Recomendation

For all the food lovers out there, I highly recommend A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain. Its not a great read, but I think Bourdain clearly understands what food eating is all about and why he does what he does as a chef. Philosophical and entertaining and it makes me want to become a chef.

More Reviews to Come

Some Updates: Sorry for the lack of action on the blog. I haven't been able to sit down and write. Sorry to disappoint those that think that I haven't been eating. The reviews to come are:

1) Straits Kitchen @ Hyatt
2) Liang Kee Restaurant at Robertson Walk
3) Spizza for Friends
4) Peranakan Restaurant @ Katong
5) Food Republic @ ViVo City
6) ChinaTown Hawker Center
7) Banana Leaf Restaurant @ Race Course Road
8) Thoughts on the last meal you might have if you know you were going to die tomorrow.

Till I write again.

Cha Cha Cha

I went to a Mexican restaurant in Singapore because I had to. My mother in law, wanted some Mexican food and I thought why not? I wouldn't go there on my own account, but for my mother in law. Anything!

Its a cute restaurant. It looks like a nice Hacienda and the service was prompt. I made a reservation over the phone, and even though the person who picked up the phone in the restaurant sounded rude and short, he was actually rather pleasant in person. Cha Cha Cha situated at one of my favorite places in Singapore helped. We ordered some chicken faloutas, chicken chimichanga, and a burrito. My wife ordered a strawberry Margarita which was pretty good. Being my wife (and I love her to bits while say this), she has special orders, she goes to restaurants and she wants certain things not in the food that she orders even though it states in the menu that its there. Anyways, she orders a side of sour cream while I asked for another basket of nacho chips.

Now before I go on a rant here, let me just say that I have NEVER been in the restaurant business before and I probably don't know what I am talking about. I can never understand, absolutely sit down and comprehend how a restaurant can charge $4.50 for a side of sour cream. A side of sour cream. A side of sour cream. I am just going to say this again. A side of sour cream. When we asked for an extra side of sour cream, the restaurant gave me a plate of sour cream. I mean like a 7 inches in diameter plate of sour cream. And the last time I checked, Cha Cha Cha is a Mexican restaurant, they are charging me for additional baskets of nacho chips. Nacho chips. A staple in Mexican restaurants. Nacho chips. Okay, rant over.

Besides my rant, the food was pretty good. I have always thought that Mexican cuisine as the poor cousin of the Asian cuisine, but I liked what I ate. A lot of foreigners there, so I guess it must not be that bad.

Jia Xiang Sarawak Kolo Mee

Don't go. Its terrible. Over priced and over rated. Went there a couple of days before Chinese New Year, its bad. With the same amount of cash spent, I could have gone to Macdonalds.

Regent Hotel Sunday Brunch

In my non stop food binging just before the holidays, I had to take a trip to meet my wife's colleagues for the first time. I have to say that the company was excellent, the food on the other hand was something else.

I enjoy a good Sunday brunch. There was free flow champagne and I had my fair share of 5 - 6 glasses, but you can't really keep a count because they keep refilling the champagne before you can even finish a glass full. Honestly, the champagne was decent. The food not so much.

We arrived at 1130 am when the buffet started at 12 and we were supposed to meet at 11. Bemused that all the food was laid out but nobody could eat it as per the restaurant management ruling. Scanning through the range of food available, it wasn't great. There was no dish or thing worthy to slaver.

I especially like the roast beef and pan fried beef with marinated scallops. Those were great. The lobster tasted old, the pasta station, I never understand the pasta stations at buffets, but I have no complaints. The restaurant would rather you load up on carbs than have you eating all the good stuff like lobster and shrimp. Nearly everything else was average. And I tried a little bit of everything. I couldn't help but think to myself that I've had better.

Again, thank goodness the company made the meal delightful. The desserts were ridiculously bland and thank goodness I had so much champagne that it actually made me sleepy when I got home and was ready for my 3 hour nap! The total cost for the both of us was $160. I would say it is relatively cheap since there was so much champagne involved.

So here is my advice: Go only when the company is good and you only really want the champagne.

Ristorante de Valentino

Fact. I have been raving about this restaurant non stop even though I have never been there. Fact. I love Italian food. Fact. I got a $100 voucher from my sweet mother in law (who is coming to Singapore) for New Year! Fact. I actually went to the restaurant this week!

I have read many reviews about the place so it was time to actually go try it. I think that without a doubt, this is one of the best Italian restaurants in Singapore. And that is before I even stepped into the restaurant. So with all the hype and expectation, the missus and I went to the restaurant over the weekend.

Immediately, I felt out of place. I sms'ed Mr. T to inform him that there were 2 Ferraris, a couple of beamers and mercs parked outside the restaurant! He promptly responded with "Welcome to the West!" We made our reservations many weeks ago and the server, gave us a window seat. Ahh, just the type of seats that I like!

The decor of the restaurant is quaint and exotic. It reminds of a small house in Italy and ambiance is almost you're at a friend's home having a meal. I panned through the menu and we decided together that we were going to have several things. We ordered the Orichette Pasta with dried tomatoes and chicken, a Quarto Stagioni Pizza and a Rack of Veal with Porcini Sauce. I ordered my glass of Tuscan red Italian wine ( I think its my favorite now, but I can't fully decide yet) and my wife had her sweet dry wine, which was not on the menu but the server told us that it was an option and my wife took it. Our desserts we later ordered were a Chocolate Salami with Vanilla Ice cream and the missus ordered the famous cake.

In summary. The food was excellent! The Orichette was done magnificently. The pasta was tender and sauce was finger licking good. The pizza was (I think I have officially run out of superlatives) great. The crust wasn't burnt and the combination was magical. The veal, I loved. My wife didn't really take the idea of eating baby calf, but I thought that the porcini sauce for the rack of veal should have been stolen to make another pasta sauce. The porcini was creamy and delightful. My tongue was rolling on the edge having a high like never before. My dessert was great. Chocolate salami, how wrong can it be? And the cake was decent.

There is however a low point for the restaurant. With all the hype and expectation, and the food being excellent. We left the restaurant unimpressed. Again, nothing the restaurant did was wrong. The service was friendly and I honestly felt so comfortable because there were so many couples of mixed races there! I might have sub consciously wanted more from the restaurant. I still can't put a finger to it. I will go back to wait for the Steak Florentine but isn't it strange when you expect so much for something and when you reach there, it becomes somewhat of an anti climax?

Feeling strange but highly recommended.

SHIN KUSHIYA

Call me crazy. But I am tired of going to the same Japanese Restaurants and eating the standard Japanese fare. I don't like to eat the same thing over and over again. I think its madness. Sure, I have to eat chicken rice, wontan noodles every week but that's besides the point. I like something different every time.

With the advice of Mr. and Mrs. Tasty Bites, we went to a restaurant at Vivocity. First of all, I have never been to Vivocity. I was not impressed but my wife did like the scenery.We hung out at the book store Page One, which my wife bought several books to read, and we met Mr. T outside the restaurant.

SHIN KUSHIYA is the name of the restaurant. We sat down and ordered. With the advice of Mr. T, we ordered all the Yakitori. I am tired of going to Japanese restaurants and ordering noodles, rice and sushi. We ordered, foie gras, beef, fish, vegetable, pork, chicken; the works. I have read several dissenting views about this place but I have to say that alot of it are wrong. The quality of the fish is outstanding. The beef is absolutely tender and the chicken and pork sticks are savory. I have eaten tons of yakitori at so many restaurants, and they range from the local satay sticks to the over zealous terriyaki sauce yakitori. This restaurant has a firm hand in the terriyaki sauce department and the only thing missing on this day was rice. I never ordered rice!

The service was outstanding and the view beautiful. If you want something different at Vivocity, go to SHIN KUSHIYA. Don't order the sushi and rolls, and noodles and what have you. Order the Yakitori. I know I will be going back there again pretty soon. We ordered so much that we had to stop ourselves from ordering too much.

The damage was about $140 for 4 people because Mrs. T showed up later. We ordered all sorts of drinks and had a great time. What it lacks, is just more variety for its Yakitori, and that's about it.

By the way, I heard that they might be opening somewhere more convenient soon. So look out for it.

Point-Counterpoint

I actually think that my debating skills are better than those on local television. So to prove my point, I will have to disagree with Mr. Tasty Bites, I have not going around eating at the nice places. Mr. T points me to the direction of the restaurants, I just go. Its a subservient relationship. If one can call it that.

The other point being I hate this new blogger thing. Its been ruining my spacing in my writing of the blog. I blame BLOGGER!

Back to talking about food ....

Kaffe

Guess what. It took me THIS long to migrate my old blogger account to the current one installed by Google. Talk about technophobia. Heheheh..

Whilst my brother FC has been on his usual ristorante tours around the island, yours truly has taken a seat in a local coffee culture appreciation club and learning what makes a good espresso tick. I've only recently come to appreciate (and am still learning) the GULF in taste and quality between Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Spinelli and outlets which claim to serve decent coffee versus D-I-Y coffee.

So how did I get hooked ? The last "decent" cup of coffee I had was from Spinelli's 4 months ago. I vividly remember suffering from a huge headache after consuming less than half a cup of harmless takeout latte. I thought it was the caffeine doing the work of the devil. Apparently not so.. read on to find out!

It so happened a friend of mine got hold of a non commercial Espresso Gaggia machine and Gaggia grinder around the same time I had that cup of horror. After toying around with it for 2 months and proclaiming the virtues of DIY coffee, he invited me over to his home for a cuppa. It was one fateful Saturday morning not too long ago that I rocked up to his mansion to see what the fanfare was all about.

I stumbled into his kitchen and into the presence of 3 "coffee geeks". Modelled somewhat after AA, this support group has a monthly meet up session with the aim to share the essential technicalities involved in making that perfect espresso. All of them own a basic set consisting of a roaster, grinder, manual/semi automatic espresso machine and are strictly available only from specialised distributors. Even a fully automatic Krups $1,900 machine from a good department store will not suffice!

Casually arranged on the table were a nice set of demitasse cups and saucers for the morning's brew. Seems everyone brought their own stash of freshly roasted coffee beans and everyone was eager to introduce their personal favourites.

It was drummed in me from the very beginning of my re-education that coffee has to be treated with the utmost respect. The DIY method allows total control over the freshness and taste of the beverage as it was meant to be enjoyed as opposed to buying freeze dried grounds of unknown origin/blend.

I sat in the corner, a passive observer, trying to absorb as much as I possibly could. After 10 minutes of studying intently, I was finally offered the first shot of the day. Oozing from the espresso machine's portafilter was pure bliss - a rich golden hue of almost syrupy consistency with an excellent layer of crema finishing off the shot. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee hung thick in the air and it smelled wonderful.

I put the double walled Bodum espresso cup to my lips and sipped gently on that rich liquid and slowly let it swirl in my mouth. Slight hint of bitterness in there, can't seem to taste the chocolate and berries...... and this was followed by a slight sourness on the tongue. Nonetheless, I had unknowingly consumed 3 full shots of espresso in that one single cup! No wonder my friend was cracking up as he failed to tell me that before I consumed it.



Six hours later, he rang me , apparently concerned that I might suffer from the same headache causing caffeine overdose that I thought was the guilty party in that "strong cup of coffee" from Spinelli's. Apparently not!!! I did not suffer from ANY side effects and thoroughly enjoyed another cuppa (so total 6 shots here). Finally, I was told that the cup of coffee I had at Spinelli's was either probably due to overextraction of the beans or that the beans were over roasted. They claim the local barista's are not well trained enough to deliver.

I was a convert.

Presently, I have 2 bags of green coffee beans sitting in my pantry. One bag hails from the mecca of coffee, Seattle's own Espresso Vivace. It's a decaf bean with most of the caffeine removed via the Swiss Water method. The other bag of beans is known as "El Placer Colombia Cup Of Excellence" or The Pleasure from well known US coffee distributor Sweet Maria's.

I am working towards getting a basic set of equipment after I sell some leftover audio equipment to raise the necessary $1,700 at least. Gulp. Heavy investment huh ? Indeed, but you gotta do it yourself if you wanna get it done right.

Have a great week!

Ode to Crystal Jade Seah

Hi Jade, how you doin? It seems a long time ago that you appeared on Miss Universe Singapore and lost to Carol Cheong in a deeply competitive and somewhat controversial social competition. I thought about it long and hard about why you lost, when I could remember, and all of a sudden, you re-appeared in our lives again through snippets of television time.

What's up? I haven't been catching up on the new show you are on about dancing floors but what is this hosting business? You're young and fresh and could have been a great investment banker with your degree from SMU, and now you're hosting uncomfortably among boys who are wearing strange clothes and trying to act like robots in front of you. I can tell you're always trying not to laugh at the bad dance moves.

Not being your biggest fan, can I offer one objective suggestion? Okay. Maybe more than one? Relax. Be cool. Be a diva.

And since this is food blog, have your manager call up Crystal Jade and ask them to sponsor you. its a match made in heaven. Imagine, Crystal; meet Jade.

An ode for jade (to the tune of the favorite song of your choice)

jade, jade

i think its kinda late ...

I can't do it. Sorry.

Main points: Enjoy yourself hosting. It takes time to be a good host. And get your manager to get you the job of spokesperson for Crystal Jade restaurants.Good match.

And now, my long awaited ode to Diana Ser......

WIne Garage

My wife's boss has been raving about this place and so being a good employee, my wife decided to try out the restaurant. I invited Tasty Bites, (for all dramatic purposes, I shall call him Mr. T) because the missus wasn't around and we could catch up on the Liverpool FC investment situation and thus isolating my wife. Just kidding, we minimized the talking about our beloved reds and concentrated on the food.

At Wine Garage We ordered the Antipasto platter, my wife ordered her sides of cheese and olives and a spinach salad while Mr. T and I ordered the grilled beef "rib-less," ribs with porcini risotto, and the restaurant being called what it is, we ordered some wine.

The deco took some time to get used to. Mr. T continually amazes me with his knowledge about all things told me that a lot of this industrial type design restaurants are really popular in Australia. The deco is nice. Its both a touch industrial without a hint of pretentious. Our server, which I have to say was one of the best servers I have had in Singapore, was polite, fast and made good recommendations.

The antipasto platter was outstanding. Loved it. A mixture of parma ham, cured mushrooms, salmon and fresh olives including the bread was excellent. My wife loved her cheese and olives and she claimed that the spinach salad is the best salad in Singapore; so that speaks volumes on how good the dishes are.

I was somewhat disappointed with my dish. I just felt that grilled beef tasted more braised than grilled. And that was my only contention with it. The porcini risotto was good and my Italian wine delightful. Mr. T didn't really say anything bad about his dish but I could tell that he liked it.

We enjoyed each others company and the restaurant didn't get crowded till very much later in the evening. I recommend this restaurant especially on their burger Tuesdays and I have to say that this is one of the better restaurants where service and food is of a good standard.

California Pizza Kitchen

So we were hungry, desperate, got lost on an island. It was getting late and we didn't know what to do. We walked as fast as we could and we saw a restaurant called California Pizza Kitchen. Place: Forum Galleria. Country: Singapore. Time: Its eating time!

As we entered the restaurant, we discovered that some how, we were the 2 skinniest people in the restaurant. The menu was decent and the restaurant quiet. Unusual for a restaurant in town in the weekend. We ordered the Italian pizza and a pepperoni pizza. I had my fill of Ice Lemon Tea and the missus her ice water. We later ordered dessert, some brownies and ice cream; thus the damage was $50 some dollars.

The food was decent. The pepperoni pizza was average at best. The Italian pizza was much better. Will I go back again? No. Probably not. The ambiance was nice but it wasn't like a pizzeria like I experienced back home.

Alas, good American pizza cannot be found in Singapore.

More reviews to come for the following places:

1) Valentino
2) The Wine Garage
3) California Pizza Kitchen

Stay tuned........

Country Singer Chicken

One of the few things in life I have learned through having been to so many restaurants is never go to a restaurant that has a name of a famous star, because most probably the star can't cook. And most probably, the star is not cooking the dishes. While I have been to Kenny Rogers countless times since it first opened in Singapore. I didn't know how good it was till I recently went back there again as a last resort.

My wife is a huge Kenny Rogers fan. Wait. She is a big fan of Kenny and Dolly together. I have never seen his movies and hardly can recall his songs. I do remember his chicken. We went to the Suntec branch and we ordered the ribs, a quarter chicken, sides of pasta salad, mac & cheese and tons of corn bread. I have to say it is STILL the best corn bread in Singapore without a doubt. I am not from the south like Texas or Louisiana but I know what good corn bread is. This place served the best corn bread.

If you were to ask my wife, this place also had the best mac and cheese. I hate mac and cheese but coming from a person who ate mac and cheese every week in college, she knows what she is talking about. So besides having the best corn bread, it also had the best mac and cheese.

The ribs was disappointing. Like Eve, I thought I was going to have Kenny's ribs in a chicken hut but what I thought was true again. Never go to a steak house to order the tofu burger. In the same way, never go to a chicken place and order ribs. Bad idea.

The chicken was extraordinarily average. I have run out of superlatives to explain average but its mediocre. It's what chicken is. On a good note, my wife thought that Kenny's chicken didn't have the famous "durian," taste like most if not all of the other local chicken had. (Have to love my wife for saying crazy stuff like that)

In any case, as sure as I know about my Liverpool football or my history of rhetoric by Aristotle, I declare Kenny Roger's chicken 2nd best in the chicken chain competition in Singapore!