Fish Soup (Part 2): Mei Xiang Black & White

I love fish soup. My usual haunt is Han Kee at Amoy but B and I have been trying to check out alternative places for our fish soup fix. I was on leave that afternoon, so with time (minus stress) in my favor, we decided to check at Mei Xiang Black & White fish soup at Jalan Besar market. They are only open from Mon to Fri and closed weekends and public holidays, so..

We got there at 11.50am, just before the snaking queue formed - scores!

This fish soup stall is quite quirky. There's a huge clock hung up to show that they are open at EXACTLY 11.12am everyday. Interesting how there were these huge black fans against the otherwise white stall decor too. They are famous for the mix of fresh ("white") and fried ("black") fish slices soup mix. I asked if I could only have "white" and they flatly said no. Hmph.

Food nazist aside, the fish soup was indeed good! Fish and prawns were fresh and the soup was very flavorful. A tad oily and not the most healthy around but we slurped our bowls dry. Yummy!

Would I return? Yes, probably. But it's a bit out of the way though, so perhaps on the next day off.   

7Adam

Friday night - the end of a long tedious work week and time to reward myself with a nice dinner. 7Adam was a relatively new place so we decided to go check it out.

My review in a nutshell – some winners but overall a tad over-priced and mediocre food. The bottle of Angove Clare Valley Riesling ($80) was ok-priced for a restaurant table wine but steer clear of the house red – Oldenwood Cabernet Savignon – it’s pretty nasty.

As per earlier reviews we read online, we also ordered the trio of appetizers ($27) to share – Foie gras, crab cake and seared tuna. Portions are shown above. I thought the crab cake was very tasty and B liked the foie gras too. The seared tuna was just so-so.  Presentation of this dish was nice though.

We were looking forward to the mains but they were rather underwhelming, for the prices. They weren’t BAD bad, I guess we had high expectations and they fell short of them. I had the king prawn with sake sauce ($32) which came highly recommended and sounded good on the menu - I love mango chutney. Sadly, whilst the prawns were fresh, they were a bit overcooked and I could neither taste mango chutney or sake. I had to season with lots of salt and pepper.

B had the lamb shank ($40), which again, came highly recommended. This was cooked nicely but unfortunately, the sauce was way too salty (and I have a high threshold for salt).

Dinner for two including the above as well as a shared fondant dessert came close to $250. For that price, I can think of many other better restaurants we could have gone to. To be fair, the surroundings and ambience of 7Adam was very nice. I love the idea of combining dining and art. It’d be good if they can improve the execution of the food though.  

Damotory

It’s been a hard week at work and B decided I needed mid-week drinks. Go figure. Naturally, I am not one to argue (heh) and he did not have to do a lot of persuasion.

We got to Robertson Walk at a work-life-balanced 8.45pm (“early”, relatively) and were just about to auto-pilot direct ourselves to Orihara for some sake and oden when Damotory (I can't find the address online but it's right in the middle of the courtyard you can't miss it) caught our eye. The banner screamed “opening 50% discount for WINE & BEER” – it was quite the no-brainer for two thirsty and hungry people to be drawn into the restaurant.

Damotory was almost full house but lucky us, we scored a nice tatami mat table in the corner . The clientele seemed to comprise a fair number of local Koreans – always a good sign.

The food menu was simple – about 15-20 items on a small flipboard with pictures, we quickly settled on 3 items for sharing. The drink menu, on the other hand, was quite challenging – so many types of rice wines, shochu, medicinal wines! I was tempted to order the chrysanthemum wine but B wanted the maggeolli (rice wine) instead.

There was a bit of a wait for the food since it was full house but we comforted our stomachs with the free banchan (small dishes) first. I loved the sautéed onions. The kimchi radish was pretty good too. B was very pleased with the maggeolli. Yes that white shoulder in the picture belongs to B.

When the food came, I was personally pretty stuffed on banchan. But I have to say, it was, for the most part, worth the wait. First up, the Gibijjim – traditional korean style braised short ribs $20. This came sizzling in a stone pot and the meat was so tender that it was falling off the bone … The “sauce/ soup”, though a tad too sweet for my liking, provided warm comfort. The radish soaked up the sauce nicely, I polished off most of it.

Next came the Nakji Bokeum - spicy stir-fried octopus with vegetables and noodles $20. Wow this packed quite a spicy kick. I really liked the thin cold noodles this came with, perfect with the spicy sauce.

By the time the Gyeran Malee - folded-over omelette with cheese came $15, we were really, really stuffed. It’s a simple dish, but I thought they did it well. The egg was moist and I loved eating it layer by layer. Too much of a good thing though, we had to pack the remainder home. “Bet it’ll taste even better cold”, B says.

A much needed respite from a crazy work week at a neat price of $65++ for the 2 of us. I am definitely returning to try the exotic (Korean ginseng?) wines and more food items. Hmm, I wonder when the 50% discount ends.

Bites from Bo Innovation

So I was fortunate enough to land myself a free ticket to Savour 2012 this year - tickets for Friday afternoon. Not ideal, I had thought initially (ok I know I really shouldn't be complaining since it was free) but it turned out pretty darn good - no queues to buy the food and it was sheer bliss at the free wine tasting session - everyone eagerly offering us wine.

Yes, I'm quite the cheap drunk (as if you didn't know already).

Anyway, the highlight foodwise for me was the Bo Innovation booth. I can't afford to go for a meal at the HK restaurant proper, but I did spend all of my $21 savour dollars there!



First, I tried the legendary "molecular xiao long bao (XLB)" which most rave about. Indeed, Alvin Leung's technique of making skinless raviolis (apparently popularized by Ferran Adria) was most impressive. The "bubble" just burst XLB juice in my mouth and it was really very tasty. At $9 dollars a pop though, I'd say it's a "try once" novelty.

Luckily, the Har Mae Lo Mein was more filling. It's supposed to be a deconstructed version of the famous Malaysian classic. I loved it - dry noodles infused with rich robust prawn flavour and the scattering of tobiko truly complemented the dish.



Hmm, is it too ambitious for me to say I'd try re-creating this at home? Nice event, Savour. I'd go again next year!