Platters Bistro and Wine Bar

Ok so the owner of this place is a friend. But that fact doesn’t make my review biaised. Not when it’s Jimmy Chok helming the kitchen and he’s undisputedly talented. I missed the soft opening of Platters, but after hearing everyone else rave about the food, I knew I had to get my (growing) ass there asap. So I gathered a group of 8 makan kakis and made a reservation last Friday.

NOTE: Jimmy Chok’s only going to be there for a limited period (they rotate chefs so the menu’s always different!) so hurry!

Conveniently located at Club Street, the bistro was nicely done up with cozy and casual chic vibes. It’s not a big place, seats maybe around 30 pax max. a bit of a Mediterranean feel to the whole place. Our large group got a whole private corner to ourselves – nice!


True to its name, this bistro serves a variety of platters with nice interesting names. They come in half and full boards. For the record, we ended the night with 5 full boards and a mixed cheese platter. Burp.

My personal favorite was the “Bare Naked Ladies” – hokkaido scallop carpacio served with soy, tuna bean coat (omg this was so good), cheese wrapped with smoked salmon and a nice heap of avocado (yum). Definitely a must-order, the platter itself (see above) looked like a work of art.

B and the guys attacked the “Carnivore”platter with gusto – braised beef ribs with horseradish sauce, roasted honey lamb ribs with pommery mustard and poached pork belly with sweet mustard. I wasn’t in a meaty mood to begin with but those short ribs! They tasted so delicious with the sauce. “Order one more?” B turned to ask. No prizes for guessing what my answer was.

Seafood lovers will love the “Out of the shell” platter – a medley of crayfish with mango salsa, sautéed tiger prawn with garlic parsley, crab meat mayo and (yay) more avocado. The crusty bread served with all these platters were super addictive, I found myself wiping the platter clean of crab mayo sauce (oops).

The last platter we tried was “The farmer’s craft” – Mozzarella, parma ham, truffle mayo, melted gruyere paprika served with gherkins, ricotta and watermelon. To be honest I wasn’t too excited by this platter. Or maybe I was just too stuffed from the earlier platters.

Naturally, we also had tons of wines. I gotta say, the wine prices here are pretty reasonable. Amongst the wines we tried was a Spanish red, 2008 Bodegas Ochoa 8a Mil Gracias Graciano from Navarraand a French white Thierry Germain Domaine des Roches Neuves l'Insolite Saumur Blanc. Both were excellent recommendations (thanks to the Bar manager Flo) and went well with the food.

Damage for 5 full boards, a cheese board and 5 bottles of wine came up to about $100 per person – I don’t know about you but I thought this was good value. Really enjoyable dinner. Thanks for the lovely company, makan kakis!

Who’s keen to join me for my next trip (soon)
?

Alkaff Mansion

So it’s Restaurant Week and I had to restrain myself from making too many reservations. “Keep-to-2” was the rule and trust me, it wasn’t easy eliminating and finally settling on the two places I most wanted to check out – Alkafff Mansion and the new Bistro Du Vin on Zion Road.

I have not been to the “old” Alkaff Mansion but my oh my, the restored premises was simple lovely! So grand and chi-chi- I especially love the wood-paneled 1920s second level setting and the outdoor bar – I wanna hold an event here!

Service was fantastic the moment we stepped in. Warm and friendly, the service staff made us feel at home straight away. Maybe it was them, or more likely it was the romantic setting – B ordered a bottle of prosecco (*swoon*).

The restaurant week lunch was at $36++. We looked at the normal menu and noticed that the normal executive set lunch was similarly priced and had the same courses too. No matter, what a wonderful (and, can I repeat, romantic) lunch!

For starters, both B and I ordered the tuna tartar served with avocado and passion fruit dressing. Doesn't it look gorgeous? I really liked the freshness of the tuna and the tanginess from the passion fruit. This dish really opened up our tastebuds for the main courses.

First up, my lobster ravioli in its own bisque. I absolutely love (who doesn’t) lobsters so this dish really hit the spot for me. The ravioli was well made and the bisque was robust yet not too over-powering. I could have had a second serving of this haha.

B had the beef short ribs in porto wine sauce and it looked delish too. I thought the serving size was a bit small for him so it was very kind of him to offer me a sliver to try – yums! Very tasty and well-marinated. We saw some people ordering the cod fish and that looked good too.

For desserts, we both had the blueberry cheese cake. Although not mind-blowing, it was the perfect ending to an elegant (romantic!) lunch.

I’m glad I decided to check out Alkaff Mansion for restaurant week. Watch this space for my review on the new Bistro Du Vin!

Lee Kui (Ah Hoi) Restaurant

It was a wonderful dinner that ended a surreal Saturday. Lazy lunch followed by a much needed deep tissue massage. Stroll around Ann Siang Hill and “accidentally” bought a lovely vintage (I love) dress. Quick glass of bubbly at Buyan before Austrian wine tasting at Group Therapy Café.

We made a new friend (Michael Thurner, ambassador for Austrian wines) from the wine tasting and in addition to the 2 bottles of whites we shortlisted to buy to bring for the BYO dinner, we ended up with 5 more bottles of “leftovers” from the tasting. Kekeke.


B has been raving about the teochew food at Lee Kui (Ah Hoi) Restaurant and I thought free corkage – no better time than tonight to check out the place. You need “critical mass” to sample dishes so our dinner party of 6 was perfect.

First up, the cold crab. Ooh I love crustaceans! The crab was so sweet and the roe so creamy. Very fresh. Would have been even better if there were some double shells but I’d order this dish again in a heartbeat.

Next dish that REALLY impressed me was another cold dish, the jelly fish and squid. This was totally different from the normal stringy jelly fish we have. The jelly fish served (in a most interesting and savory sauce) was heartily sliced and crunchy - it was so good. Definitely must go back just for this dish.

The rest of the dishes were very good too, although the star dish for me was the jelly fish. We ordered the signature oyster egg dish, which came generously piled with oysters and I liked how fluffy the fried egg was.

You can't go to a teochew restaurant and not order steamed fish, so we did. The pomfret didn't disappoint - it was fresh, cooked just nice and I was a tad embarassed for sucking the bones dry. I can't help it! It's tak glam but the bones (especially the head) are the best part :)

Other dishes ordered included the fried prawn balls (very addictive), stewed duck in claypot and braised cabbage with scallops. The latter was surprisingly tasty. By then, we were all stuffed (with food and burp, wine) but Ken Ken wanted more..

.. He wanted to try the signature dessert, the orh nee. I took some and yes it was good but I couldn't (yes me!) finish my bowl. Too much of a good thing, haha. Damage for our 11 course meal came up to $40+ a head - FANTASTIC value considering what we had.