Just a small change in my grading system. From now onwards, there is no grading system! I think my writing should be suffice in fully describing what I liked and disliked about the restaurants. If I add the grades, it would seem like I am unnecessarily harsh! Or am contradicting myself. So just a foot note, I have changed my grading system.
P.s. If ever so there is a need to bring my old grading system which was both contradictory and harsh back, I would gladly do so.
Rang Mahal & Delhi
My love for Indian food knows no bounds except my tongue which might get scorched occasionally by the heat of the curry. When the misses is around, I hardly eat Indian food even though she doesn't discourage it, but she does make a face. So when she was not around, I decided to try some expensive Indian food at the Pan Pac and my experience can best summed up by a buddy of mine that said," Bro, whenever an Indian restaurant has the name RANG in it, its gonna be expensive."
As I walked out of the restaurant, I felt a tinge of disappointment. The place was nice, it was sexy. Very beautiful decor and relatively good service. For paying $40 over dollars per person on this Sunday buffet, I felt it needed more. It was not suffice that they had countless amount of naan bread or that they served interesting soup. For a buffet, there sure wasn't a lot of choices. It was more like a non-buffet with several choices of curry and some dishes and that was it. Maybe I can't count but there surely in my mind wasn't enough choices to be called a buffet. There isn't a word opposite of buffet, trust me, I checked. The Indian food was good. It was. But not worth $40 a person.
On the other hand, I went to Delhi on RaceCourse Road. I have to say, having already been to Muthus and Banana Leaf many other times, I was not very impressed with the restaurant. I mean the deco. Its a small dimly litted restaurant, and what catches your eye is all those awards they have won for excellence and best restaurant. That, I was impressed. When I sat down, I looked at the menu and went through it. I ordered my new favorite Gobi Aloo, my spinach in goat cheese, 4 different types of naan, chicken tikka masala, my mum wanted to try their mutton biryani, all you can eat pampadam, tandori chicken for 4 people and tomato soup for the misses, (like I said, she doesn't really like Indian food), topped up with some masala tea and home made mango ice cream for my parents, and mango lassi and lime juice for everyone else. Even the lady who was helping us was telling us to stop ordering so much!
Talking about the lady, she was very nice in explaining to us what was good and what we needed to order. She even advised us the combination of the food! Fantastic I thought! When I left Delhi, and I mean the restaurant and not the city, I was full and happy. The food was fantastic. I told my parents that sometimes after eating curry, everything tasted the same. But for Delhi, that wasn't the case. Each dish had its own distinct flavor and it was complementary on so many levels. And to top it all off, I only paid $22 bucks a person and I was full to the brim. Best of all, my wife probably just had the best Indian food experience in her life.
Sometimes, looks can be deceiving. And a good restaurant doesn't need to have "Rang," in it.
Hope this helps.
As I walked out of the restaurant, I felt a tinge of disappointment. The place was nice, it was sexy. Very beautiful decor and relatively good service. For paying $40 over dollars per person on this Sunday buffet, I felt it needed more. It was not suffice that they had countless amount of naan bread or that they served interesting soup. For a buffet, there sure wasn't a lot of choices. It was more like a non-buffet with several choices of curry and some dishes and that was it. Maybe I can't count but there surely in my mind wasn't enough choices to be called a buffet. There isn't a word opposite of buffet, trust me, I checked. The Indian food was good. It was. But not worth $40 a person.
On the other hand, I went to Delhi on RaceCourse Road. I have to say, having already been to Muthus and Banana Leaf many other times, I was not very impressed with the restaurant. I mean the deco. Its a small dimly litted restaurant, and what catches your eye is all those awards they have won for excellence and best restaurant. That, I was impressed. When I sat down, I looked at the menu and went through it. I ordered my new favorite Gobi Aloo, my spinach in goat cheese, 4 different types of naan, chicken tikka masala, my mum wanted to try their mutton biryani, all you can eat pampadam, tandori chicken for 4 people and tomato soup for the misses, (like I said, she doesn't really like Indian food), topped up with some masala tea and home made mango ice cream for my parents, and mango lassi and lime juice for everyone else. Even the lady who was helping us was telling us to stop ordering so much!
Talking about the lady, she was very nice in explaining to us what was good and what we needed to order. She even advised us the combination of the food! Fantastic I thought! When I left Delhi, and I mean the restaurant and not the city, I was full and happy. The food was fantastic. I told my parents that sometimes after eating curry, everything tasted the same. But for Delhi, that wasn't the case. Each dish had its own distinct flavor and it was complementary on so many levels. And to top it all off, I only paid $22 bucks a person and I was full to the brim. Best of all, my wife probably just had the best Indian food experience in her life.
Sometimes, looks can be deceiving. And a good restaurant doesn't need to have "Rang," in it.
Hope this helps.
The Dichotomy of Fast Food
First thing's first, my wife is back! So more restaurant reviews to come!
Second thing is, not all fast food chains are created equally. Not even intra fast food restaurants. So I went to the airport Burger King and the Tampines KFC. And I have to say those are 2 of the worst food chain restaurants I have had in awhile. Why is it that the Kallang or Bedok KFC taste better than the Tampines KFC? Weird isn't it? Its still the colonel's 11 secret herb and spices right? And the BK at the airport, which their chicken fingers I swear bounce off the floor like a rubber ball. It was that bad.
Footnote to self: Only go to Kallang and Bedok KFC. Approach Burger King with caution.
I used to love the McDonalds at Far East Plaza. It was the best McDonald's ever. Now, I would actually say the one a the East Coast is pretty good. Now, if the iron chefs actually opened a fast food chain, I would so eat there.
British Chefs
Just a thought. I never have been to the UK and the idea of eating English food is just eating fish and chips or some kidney pies. So why in the world does the England in particular produce so many cooking shows cooking other country's dishes? There has been Floyd, Julia Child to the new chefs like Jaime Oliver and the lass of my life Nigella. What gives?
I think its the British accent. Its cool. I have to say Jaime Oliver is one of the best chefs on TV. On TV is the emphasis. He makes cooking an experience and he is genuine and fun to watch. I don't have some man crush on him but I do think that he is the only person that I have tried copying in terms of cooking style. Maybe he relates better to people my age? No matter what the case, I am just happy that I get to see Jaime Oliver on Singaporean TV.
Man I wish there was a food channel.
Superfluous Cacophony II
I like this term. I think I shall use it.
I like eating good food. And I like eating. And I like. Cooking. Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. I can cook. And I think for a guy who has no previous training other than the food channel, I think I'm pretty damn good too. I want to take this time and talk about the people that have taught me the most about cooking.
Due to my love for Italian food. Lydia Bastianich is one of the biggest influences. I love watching her cook because if I was Italian, I wish she would be my grandma! She cooks simple Italian food and her food philosophy is simple. Love cooking and cook for the people you love. The show I believe is taped from her home and I wish that my kitchen was like hers! Her son is also partners in the restaurant business with Mario Batali (see Superfluous Cacophony). Someone should buy her book! What better way to learn Italian cooking than from an Italian!
Emeril Lagasse: Sure he had a failed TV show, who doesn't? But he makes cooking fun. He adds pizzazz to cooking. I was so influenced that I even bought his Emeril Spices which works wonders with meat as well as bought all his pasta sauces. They are all good. Sometimes he does go off on a far far away tangent on food, but I think most of the time he is sane. His cajun cooking is brilliant and it is because of him that I started trying cajun and creole food. And I love it.
Tyler Florence is the last guy on the right in the black sweater. Initially, I always thought the guy was a poser. A little bit like Rachel Ray. Looks cute, can't really cook. On the tele for some eye candy for the home makers. But after watching some of the "Tyler goes to ... " (this is the name that I remember the show by, not neccsarily the name of the show), I became a convert. I have always believed that the true essence of cooking is making something simple tasty. It sounds simple enough but I think when it comes to cooking, less is more. The flavor of the meat should be the center of the dish and not the garnish or the spices. We only add the marinate and spices to accentuate the taste of the meat or dishes. Watching him cook makes cooking interesting. And it makes me want to cook.
If ever someone from the Travel Channel or Art Central ever reads this blog, televise their shows. Their good and fun to watch. You learn so much more from them than many other chefs.
Superfluous Cacophony
I have always wanted to use those words in a sentence! Superfluous, for those whose vocabulary is as good as mine and a cunning linguists that I am. Superfluous in German means uber-fluous. Used in a sentence: That was superfluous!
Cacophony on the other hand is more of a literary term. Its a mixture of cocoa and some music. Hence, cacophony. Used in a sentence: You Cacophony! Or : That Cacophony was delicious!
The reason I am writing this is because I realized that I have not been writing for a week. As explained in my previous post, I have not been eating in restaurants recently because my wife has not been in town. So I have been eating nothing but the good old hawker food. But going beyond what is required to review the local restaurants and since my wife is in New York, I thought what better way to write on this blog but to tell people the few of the best restaurants I have been to in the world and I hope more Singaporean restaurants follow suit.
My favorite Italian restaurant in the world is Babbo. Located in the Village in New York, and a rumored waiting list of 3 months, this is I think one of the last bastions of truly authentic Italian cooking. Living in the United States for awhile, I realized that the Italian food scene there was much more "Americanize", than Singapore. I still remember eating at the first ever Pasta Fresca in Boat Quay even before there was a Boat Quay and Pregos when it was on the 3rd floor of Raffles City. They were fantastic and it left a great impression on me of what Italian food really is. Even though as time progressed, both their food standards went down the drain, I have personally thought that the Singaporean Italian food scene was much more dare I say authentic? But my trip to the United States last Christmas changed my mind. I was in New York for a week and after seeing so much of Mario Batali(pic above), the chef of Babbo(pic above) on the tele, I thought I had to try his food.
It was as if it was written in the stars. My wife called the restaurant and she was told that there was no space left. It was only a week before! Our choices were only the bar, which thank goodness we did not pick because it was just too darn packed! In the same phone call, the server told us to wait and someone on that very same minute cancelled their dinner appointment and we had a table! Yay!!!!!!
The restaurant is small. That's the way I like it. It was dimly litted and the tables were small but functional. The service was exquisite. Okay, there was this really annoying man that was bitching to the waiter (who would later serve us) about the food. Our table was right infront of the bathroom which could probably fit about one person, and I had a hard time turning 180 degrees in the toilet. It was that small. Our server was a bespectacled balding man with a very pleasant and sincere disposition. He was cool. He told us what to order and what was good. The restaurant even served quarter bottle of wines! Great! Why doesn't Singapore Italian restaurants do that? So we ordered our lobster pasta, a guinea fowl, some antipasto, a quarter bottle of red wine and the free flow of bread. It was heaven. The food was exquisite. The taste scrumptious and delightful. My mouth was bursting with flavor and awe of Italian cooking. I don't know what that annoying British man was bitching about his food but I thought it was fantastic! My wife who never liked wine loved the Italian wine and the food matching was superb. Great date! Drunk with Italian fervor and drowning from the rain that was pouring outside on that Winters day, I was consumed and renewed. I love Italian food again! Not that I stopped loving it before. But it was a renewal of love!
I think I should go buy the cook book. How cool is it for an Italian chef to have a pony tail and wears clogs.....
A Long Walk by the River
As I was saying, myself and tasty bites took a walk around town and we were wanting to eat some good food after picking Mrs. Tasty Bites up from Daimaru. I didn't want to go to Clarke Quay because I'm not a tourist. Instead, we headed out to one of most favorite noodle places in Singapore at the Gallery Hotel. Its a Japanese restaurant called Miharu Japanese Noodles.
Placed in an understated corner of the hotel. One would think that it would be hidden away from the public blocked by all the alcoholic bars around the place. But thank goodness for all of us, it is not. It has an understated and casual manner about the restaurant that I really like. It's small. Which means I like it even more! I remember the first time I came here with Tasty Bits (before he was Mr.Tasty Bites) the night before his wedding. It was a quick dinner and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Fortunately this time, it was still pretty early in the evening and there wasn't a lot of people.
There aren't many choices like one would expect but that's a good thing. I have always been told that the noodles in this restaurant have to be eaten in 10 minutes because that's how the noodles were meant to be or it might get too soft after soaking in the soup for too long. Whoever told me this was correct. And especially for this store. It made even more sense. We ordered 3 different ramen noodles and they came back with the food in 8 - 10 minutes. Service was brisk and fast. Polite too actually. We were sitting down and contemplating life, but before we could get too far with finding out the meaning of life, the noodles came. Humans are so easily distracted! I tried my best to emulate the feat of 10 mins. Me and Tasty Bites finished in like 8 minutes flat. Mrs Tasty Bites was still having a go at it and trying to tame the noodles. It was good. It was delicious. The noodles were excellent and safe a few slurping noises, I actually thought that the noodles were from Japan! Which I think they are from Japan!
The total bill was $47. I thought it was reasonable. Mrs Tasty Bites wanted to eat her dessert now and she suggested that we go to Canele Patisserie. I have never been there. So I thought why not?
Walking between Gallery Hotel to Robertson Walk was a short 10 mins walk. We could digest the food in due time and we could catch the sights along the drain, I mean the river. While discussing the idea of buying the apartments along the river, we passed several other Japanese restaurants that looked Japanese, which made me want to go back and try the food, and bars that made me want to puke. Before long and without puking, we were at Canele.
The place was empty. So I thought this must be a pretty bad place. Tasty Bites reading my mind told me that it was still early, that was why it was still pretty empty. Earlier in the day, I already went to a pretty "she she," place in Menottis for a business lunch. The ladies outnumbered the men. I wasn't bemused as much as terrified at the amount of unattractive ladies in Singapore. The place was empty. We had the choice of any seating. Service was bad because there was only one person serving and there would be a lot of people walking into the place later. Mrs. Tasty Bites and myself were scanning through the layout of cakes and pastries and chocolates they had on the counter. As we investigated each item, they all looked sexy. The desserts called out to me, wanting to be eaten.
Dying from symbolism and praying for my lack of imaginative writing, I decided that we try a sample platter that contain 8 miniature pastries and desserts. We sat down, ran through the menu and ordered 3 more things. All with ice cream because allegedly, they only serve ice cream on Friday and Saturday. By the time all our desserts came. I could tell that Mrs. Tasty Bites was about to have a sugar high (lucky Mr. Tasty Bites!) and I have to say they were great! Borderline fantastic. I for one never really have a sweet tooth and I can live my life without eating too much sweets, but this was just a bombardment of flavor. It wasn't just the sweetness. It was a constant attack, in a good way of the complementing flavors that accompanied the sweetness of sugar. Be it the sourness of mango and the richness and texture of melted dark chocolate, or the frosted sugar shaped like a marsh mellow around a decadent rum and raisin ice cream with strawberry sauce. This place wreaks of nothing but a pre sex meal. The owners might as well would have named it Aphrodisiac restaurant. If you were to die there, you would die only after having an erection. A gastronomic erection that is. Don't let your mind wonder too far.
Just hanging out with Mr and Mrs. Tasty Bites was already great. The dessert made it better. And tasty bites was right, the restaurant did get very crowded. And it was filled with a lot of women. Something interesting to note, they now not only serve desserts and pastries and chocolates, they now are trying to bake bread. I think it makes sense. Its the post sex meal right? How can they have pre without the post? Anyways, I am definitely bringing my wife here for dessert sometime. DEFINITELY. I think you should bring your wife, girlfriend, date there also. They'll love you more after it.
Miharu Japanese Restaurant - a great place for a quickie lunch.
Food: 7/10
Service: 6/10
Value: 7/10
Canele Patisserie Chocolaterie
Food: 8/10
Service: 4/10
Value: 7/10
Hope this helps.
Placed in an understated corner of the hotel. One would think that it would be hidden away from the public blocked by all the alcoholic bars around the place. But thank goodness for all of us, it is not. It has an understated and casual manner about the restaurant that I really like. It's small. Which means I like it even more! I remember the first time I came here with Tasty Bits (before he was Mr.Tasty Bites) the night before his wedding. It was a quick dinner and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Fortunately this time, it was still pretty early in the evening and there wasn't a lot of people.
There aren't many choices like one would expect but that's a good thing. I have always been told that the noodles in this restaurant have to be eaten in 10 minutes because that's how the noodles were meant to be or it might get too soft after soaking in the soup for too long. Whoever told me this was correct. And especially for this store. It made even more sense. We ordered 3 different ramen noodles and they came back with the food in 8 - 10 minutes. Service was brisk and fast. Polite too actually. We were sitting down and contemplating life, but before we could get too far with finding out the meaning of life, the noodles came. Humans are so easily distracted! I tried my best to emulate the feat of 10 mins. Me and Tasty Bites finished in like 8 minutes flat. Mrs Tasty Bites was still having a go at it and trying to tame the noodles. It was good. It was delicious. The noodles were excellent and safe a few slurping noises, I actually thought that the noodles were from Japan! Which I think they are from Japan!
The total bill was $47. I thought it was reasonable. Mrs Tasty Bites wanted to eat her dessert now and she suggested that we go to Canele Patisserie. I have never been there. So I thought why not?
Walking between Gallery Hotel to Robertson Walk was a short 10 mins walk. We could digest the food in due time and we could catch the sights along the drain, I mean the river. While discussing the idea of buying the apartments along the river, we passed several other Japanese restaurants that looked Japanese, which made me want to go back and try the food, and bars that made me want to puke. Before long and without puking, we were at Canele.
The place was empty. So I thought this must be a pretty bad place. Tasty Bites reading my mind told me that it was still early, that was why it was still pretty empty. Earlier in the day, I already went to a pretty "she she," place in Menottis for a business lunch. The ladies outnumbered the men. I wasn't bemused as much as terrified at the amount of unattractive ladies in Singapore. The place was empty. We had the choice of any seating. Service was bad because there was only one person serving and there would be a lot of people walking into the place later. Mrs. Tasty Bites and myself were scanning through the layout of cakes and pastries and chocolates they had on the counter. As we investigated each item, they all looked sexy. The desserts called out to me, wanting to be eaten.
Dying from symbolism and praying for my lack of imaginative writing, I decided that we try a sample platter that contain 8 miniature pastries and desserts. We sat down, ran through the menu and ordered 3 more things. All with ice cream because allegedly, they only serve ice cream on Friday and Saturday. By the time all our desserts came. I could tell that Mrs. Tasty Bites was about to have a sugar high (lucky Mr. Tasty Bites!) and I have to say they were great! Borderline fantastic. I for one never really have a sweet tooth and I can live my life without eating too much sweets, but this was just a bombardment of flavor. It wasn't just the sweetness. It was a constant attack, in a good way of the complementing flavors that accompanied the sweetness of sugar. Be it the sourness of mango and the richness and texture of melted dark chocolate, or the frosted sugar shaped like a marsh mellow around a decadent rum and raisin ice cream with strawberry sauce. This place wreaks of nothing but a pre sex meal. The owners might as well would have named it Aphrodisiac restaurant. If you were to die there, you would die only after having an erection. A gastronomic erection that is. Don't let your mind wonder too far.
Just hanging out with Mr and Mrs. Tasty Bites was already great. The dessert made it better. And tasty bites was right, the restaurant did get very crowded. And it was filled with a lot of women. Something interesting to note, they now not only serve desserts and pastries and chocolates, they now are trying to bake bread. I think it makes sense. Its the post sex meal right? How can they have pre without the post? Anyways, I am definitely bringing my wife here for dessert sometime. DEFINITELY. I think you should bring your wife, girlfriend, date there also. They'll love you more after it.
Miharu Japanese Restaurant - a great place for a quickie lunch.
Food: 7/10
Service: 6/10
Value: 7/10
Canele Patisserie Chocolaterie
Food: 8/10
Service: 4/10
Value: 7/10
Hope this helps.
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