Andre

When you spend $1k on a meal, you kind of hope that it’s going to be life-changing. Trust me. I wanted to rave about Andre here. I wanted to say it was worth every penny and that you should hurry up and go check it out. Unfortunately, I can’t.

The food at Andre was mediocre. The price tag was not worth it. For all the hype, all it came across was trying too hard. The whole octaphilosophy thing felt gimmicky and no, I don’t buy the whole “we only serve bio-dynamic wines” crap either.

The only redeeming factor that night was the service. And the excellent company I had, of course – B, the birthday (hardly) boy.

Ok let’s talk about the food. It’s a set dinner at $288++ per pax, comprising 8 courses (9 including dessert). From the website, each course is supposed to

“ attempt to discover through cuisine; the nature and significance of ordinary and scientific beliefs while investigating the simplicity of concepts by means of rational argument concerning their presumptions, implications, and interrelationships. The pure and unique hues of nature’s gifts from the land together with scientific research are juxtaposed alongside with the intuitions of the South, where primal aromas and texture evoke the endless trail of memories”

……. Erm...

Anyway, a quick run-down and some OMHO (only my humble opinion – new abbreviation I learnt!) comments

1. Pure - Gaspacho of Zucchini. This tasted like grass, very raw and no, I didn’t like it.

2. Salt - Oyster with Granny Smith Apple Foam. I liked how the apple gave a fresh sweetness to the oyster but the overall dish was not very exciting. Cute plating of tiny (2mm?) chopped apple cubes all over the plate – pity the poor kitchen hand tasked with plating.

3. Artisan - Charcoal Grilled Baby Sweet Corn. The corn was very fresh, sweet and nicely grilled. But no wow factor. Really? Grilled corn?

4. South - Salad of Fruit Tomato, Persimon, Cured Hirame, Chilled Risotto with Palamos Prawn, Mackerel, Red Snapper, Sea Bass. I am a big fan of seafood so this dish, I liked.

5. Texture - Squid Risotto with Cauliflower Puree(right). The wait staff put up a big show here, asking us to guess which component was the squid and which was the rice. The answer – no rice, the risotto was made of squid. Ok... that’s clever. But the dish just tastes normal, OMHO.

6. Unique - French Artichoke, Japanese Baby Barracuda Fish. Again, I love fish.

7. Memory - Warm Foie Gras Jelly, black Trufle Coulis (left). Now THIS was probably the only dish that impressed me that night. As you may know, I don’t like eating foie gras. Ethical issues aside, I am not too big a fan of liver in general. But this dish rocked. It tasted was foie gras infused custard – texture was lovely, loved the scent of truffle – superb. I wanted more.

8. Terroir - Wild Duck, Tarragon and Onion Puree (right). This last dish wiped out all the goodwill from the foie gras jelly. Eeiks – the duck was a tad dry and tough, come on, this is unacceptable! I didn’t finish this.

Dessert was chocolate degustation. I like chocolate. This was ok.

As mentioned, the bill for 2 came to about $1k, including a bottle off wine - Kastelberg Riesling Grand Cru 2007 Marc Kreydenweiss. We asked the sommelier for something that could go with the entire degustation and indeed, this choice was spot on. The Riesling went well with the predominantly seafood based dishes, whilst having enough structure to cut through the meats. Hmmm the $280++ bottle of wine could well be the most “value for money” item we had.

Most disappointing meal of the year! Liberty Private Works beats Andre hands down. For that matter, Buko Nero, Ember and so many other restaurants too.

Mookata

It’s been raining an awful lot recently hasn’t it? Perfect weather for steamboat!

We googled a (relatively) new Thai BBQ/steamboat place along East Coast called Mookata and decided to check it out. “Mookata” means pork BBQ – the boys were excited and looking forward to a meat fest. Finding parking was a bit of a challenge but we made it. The restaurant is a coffee shop-ish setup – simple décor, no air-conditioning and poor ventilation (seriously, be prepared to smell). Service seemed a tad sluggish and disorganized.

Luckily the food was good. It’s difficult to go wrong, when you put lard on a hot BBQ – everything tastes good! We ordered the meat platter and the “healthy” veggie platter, together with some ala carte sotong balls, squid and otah etc. The quality of the food was fresh, though the ala carte order quantity was a bit small for the 4 hungry boys at the table. I rather liked the accompanying sourish chili sauce, it gave the food some kick.

I was craving for wholesome comfort soup and was initially disappointed by how shallow the “steamboat” compartment of the BBQ stove was. Clearly, BBQ was the focus here. I later cheered up. Because, dear readers, you get some REALLY kick-ass soup post lard-BBQ – not the best idea if you are on a diet but omg I just kept pouring soup into the sinful stove and thoroughly indulged.

The bill came up to about $250 (including 12 beers) for the 6 of us. Not exactly cheap but oh vell, it was an enjoyable meal. Priceless, the look on A’s face when he mistook the piece of lard as squid and popped it into his mouth!

Esquina Restaurant Review

You are going to hear about this fantastic new tapas place anyway, so it might as well be from me.

Finally, I found a taste of Spain in Singapore! The minute I walked into the narrow 17 seat-by-the-bar set-up, I was hooked. Oooh same vibes as Cal Pep in Barcelona.. Minus the crowd. For now at least (the place only opened on December 9th). I’m glad we checked it out early on; it’s so good it’s going to be crazy getting seats!

We knew the food was going to be good. Esquina’s opened by Chef Jason Atherton, protégé of Gordon Ramsay and owner of Michelin starred London restaurant Pollen Street Social. The restaurant is run by Chef Andrew Walsh. And man were we excited.

It’s a lovely feeling, having a fellow foodie beside you and sharing that anticipation of having our palates seduced. Hugs B, thanks for sharing this new culinary gem.

The menu is supposedly inspired by the canapés at the legendary El Bulli. It isn’t very large but what we had, we loved.

First, B ordered one oyster (I’m not too big a fan) from the raw seafood bar. It was huge. B says it was fresh and well-seasoned. Me, I waited patiently for my garlic and chili Madagascar gambas to be served. Now that, was good. Yes, it’s $8 a prawn but it’s (again) huge and very tasty.

The clams came up next. It was minor torture waiting while watching the chef cook them up – I love the smell of butter and that white wine sauce was divine. If only I had some bread to soak the sauce up.

As we watched the chef plate the next dish, the scallop ceviche with radish salsa, we were impressed by his finesse and obvious pride taken in his creations. It was so pretty - my pic does not do it justice. The taste was very interesting too, the use of sesame sauce in the ceviche gave it an almost Chinese fusion feel.

I needed my carbs so I ordered the rabbit confit with seafood paella. It was a nice manageable portion for both of us. A tad salty but one of the better paellas I’ve had in Singapore – moist, creamy and indulgent. Something I would order again.

At this point, we were almost stuffed. But B looked distracted. He was torn between ordering the bellota ibérico jamón, or the ox- cheeks which came highly recommended by the waiter. We finally chose the latter. It was a fine choice – the ox-cheek and mash were delicious!

Just as we called for the bill, the chef passed us two mini ice cream cones. Complimentary dessert - such a sweet way to end a lovely lovely meal. Damage was about $150 for the both of us – very reasonable, considering we had 3 glasses of wine and a wow dining experience. I can’t wait to go back! I hear they will be opening up an outdoor dining area soon. I still prefer sitting at the bar watching the chefs work their magic though. Encanta España!!

Address - 16 Jiak Chuan Rd. Singapore. 6222-1616. They don't take reservations, btw.

Sarnies

It's not often I get the luxury of a leisurely weekday breakfast. When the opportunity came up, I dragged B to check out Sarnies. Such a cute name for a sandwich!

The cafe was pretty empty when we got there at 9am but it started filling up very quickly. It's a small cafe atlong Telok Ayer Road - bright and cheery with cosy seats - looks a lot like the other coffee joints, actually.


We got two coffees and two breakfast sarnies (I love the word!) to try. B has pretty high standards for his daily brew, so it must be good when he approves of his latte. I enjoyed my long black too - although I'm quite indiscriminate with my caffeine, so I'm easy to please.

When the sarnies came, I was bowled over by their sheer size. "I'm going to have to doggy-bag half of this", I announced, digging into the massive pile.

The bread makes a world of difference in a sandwich and the bread at Sarnies (baked inhouse) was excellent. I loved it. I also loved the creamy scrambled egg and generous slices of smoked salmon in my sarnies. B had the bacon and egg sarnie. He liked it, although i must say my sarnie was way more photogenic than his.

I'm definitely coming back for lunch. This time, I will be less greedy and share a sarnie.

NUOC

B mentioned a good Vietnamese restaurant near his place, so last lazy Sunday, we decided to check out NUOC at Orchard Central. I’ve always found Orchard Central a bit of a maze (weird layout) so if B had not known where the restaurant was, I doubt I’d ever have found it.

NUOC is a bit of a fine dining Vietnamese joint so prices were slightly steep. But I thought this was justifying so – quality of the food was fantastic, with excellent service to boot. The ambience was nice – lots of natural sunlight, soothing surroundings and a great view of orchard road. Very zen.

I would go back just for this one dish - Juicy beef tenderloin goodness married with healthy greens and refreshing chili/fish sauce – so good!

Also of worthy mention were the fresh vietnamese spring rolls – we were impressed with how snuggly wrapped the prawns, sliced pork, lettuce and vermicelli were rolled in the rice paper. The peanut dipping sauce was very tasty. We also had the chicken pho to share. I liked it, although B says the beef pho he had the last time he was there is better.

There’s 20% discount with the modestos card and I hear it allows BYO with no corkage for a couple of bottles too so I’m looking forward to a wine lunch/dinner there soon!

Hong Heng Beef Noodles

Our hearts sank when we saw that Boon Tong Kee had taken over the coffee shop where Hong Heng was previously. Thank goodness for google, which led us to the new location at Block 226H AMK Street 22 Kebun Baru Market.

It was pure comfort food on a rainy day. Lovin' it.