Vegan Burg

We were in Chinatown today so that I could buy wholesale seeds at Ban Lee Huat. The uncles were pretty charming and friendly, giving me loads of advice. Anyway they also sell chinese tea leaves so I am pretty sure I will visit them again.

It was lunchtime so Mr Bear said he would bring me to try vegan food because I have been feeling even more lumpy than usual. After my initial enthusiasm, I got bored and hungry walking because the walk was so far and I could see the Raffles office crowd spilling out of their office and into nearby eateries. I was worried that we'd have to wait very long for a table and food.

But thankfully Vegan Burg wasn't that crowded. After realizing that I was a total noob, the counter staff took pains to explain what are the flavors and ingredients. I chose creamy mushrooms, so did Mr Bear, so when I turned my head to face the cashier, I was excited to change my order to the new seasonal offering, wasabi mayo edamame burger with alfalfa.

We had them with seaweed fries (no taste of seaweed) and broccoli florets. Mr Bear also insisted on ordering the Granny's soup, which was a very nice tomato soup with a dash of herbs and a smoky aftertaste. I liked the flavors of both burgers alot, especially the wasabi mayo (I use that on my tomato salads at home) even though I think the soy patty didn't agree with my tummy. I felt really bloated after the meal even though it was a rather healthful meal (discounting the patty).

Mookata

Mookata is a form of Thai BBQ where you BBQ the meat at the center of the hot plate, and the fat flows into the surrounding trench, making a supposedly tasty broth (didn't like it). Bobo was explaining the concept to me one day, and it was pretty strange, the next day I saw a huge banner advertising mookata near the library.

It was quite cheap. S$20 for a decent amount of meat, and you could add on more ala carte items. I found that I LOVED LOVED LOVED the Maggi Seasoning marinated chicken. Have you tasted this magical sauce before? I try to cook from scratch but I have a massive weakness for this seasoning...probably because this bottle used to feature in my family's cooking but I hadn't had it for YEARS. The familiar umami taste *melt*

Bedrock Bar & Grill *drool*

Bär and I coined this term "lavish lunch" to commemorate the rare milestones in our miserable lives. It's been a long time but we have two this month.Yeah! *Jersey Shore style fist pump!*

Brain Freeze worthy!

We started off with Bedrock Bar & Grill, which I read about in Some like it Haute. If someone mentions it 5 times in a blog, it must be a definite 5-star. So I suggested that we try out its set lunch menu for our first celebration. I decided to make reservations just in case, which was a good idea, because even on a Monday afternoon, the restaurant was soon decently filled (at a glance, > 70-80% tables occupied, considering the price, it was a testimony to its quality).

We had the following options under the set lunch menu:

set lunch menu

Anyone who reads this blog often *fingers crossed* (hope there are some of you out there), will know that Bär has some self-admittedly lousy luck when it comes to ordering from any menu, e.g. the semi-cooked fish at Alkaff Mansion. It also didn't help that he avoids certain foods like I do (though in my case, I gorge on those I can eat -> that's why I am fat) which limits the items he can consume.

I cheekily suggested that he ought to take the Lobster Bisque because the brandy in the soup would intoxicate him enough into a benevolent mood when he met his clients later. Instead he asked the obliging waiter (James) to check if he could change the soup to Smoked Tomato soup on the ala carte menu, while still ordering his main and dessert from the set lunch menu.

The waiter came back and confirmed that the chef was agreeable to the change, which of course put us in an even better frame of mood to enjoy ourselves. Really the excellent service contributed a huge part in our enjoyment. Again, if anyone reads this blog often, they'd know I am the kind who will not pull punches when it comes to either praising/bashing a restaurant. 

ok only

We ordered drinks, I tried their signature iced tea (was a miss), and Bär, a critus mocktail (also a miss). Truly the drinks were not the stars of the show, but they served their purpose of quenching our thirst. 

We were served toasted pita bread, which came warm to the table with an entire roasted clove of garlic (in olive oil) and a round disc of butter. The garlic was ambrosia to our eclectic palates, and we soon demolished the entire clove. Nonetheless vampires needed not be afraid, because the garlic tasted sweet and mellow without a single bit of that soul-destroying sharpness.

Fluffy and warm little pita bread pockets

I think we enjoyed it too much, that was why the attentive staff offered us seconds of the bread (which came this time with a lovely golden brown toasted skin) and another sacrificial garlic. Bär commented that we must look ravenous. On hindsight, they might have realized that we had many vampires to kill back at Arbeit. Oh delicious pita bread, how I wish I could cut myself into bits and stuffed myself into your comfy shell. A further testimony to how good the bread was, Bär couldn't bring himself to finish his main, but he continued to stuff his mouth with the remaining hunk of bread.

Shit, this is becoming an ode to the pita bread, so I better move on. 

Like I mentioned earlier, Bär changed his starter to Smoked Tomato soup with a little dollop of Basil Mascarpone, as explained by James. As the food started arriving, I started regretting not bringing my camera instead of using my pathetic phone camera. If only I could immortalize Bär's rapture as he slowly appreciated the soup. He offered me a sip (ok, he knew I would continue staring at him until he let me), and I could taste the smoky essence in the strained liquid.

Fishy gummy bears

I had smoked salmon (I had to hit my Omega 3 quota), and it had a uniquely chewy texture like salty gummy bears. I only encountered this kind of toothsome quality once at a Japanese restaurant. Usually the smoked salmon I am served is flaky and soft. 

Giant chicken thighs!

When Bär's chicken arrived, we were flabbergasted. That was A LOT of chicken on the plate. After Bär took the heap apart, I was bemused that it comprised of two thighs and chunks of turnip and beetroot. The chicken's juices ran clear, and contrasted delightfully against the crispy skin. Hmmm...

I had a really hard time deciding between the various steak dishes (I quickly eliminated the burger - too much carbo),  minute wagyu, petit tender or steak with fries. In the end I chose the wagyu. My bovine eye candy was delivered on a hot plate (ok, it wasn't really that sizzling hot kind) with little julienned fingerling potatoes and caramelized onions hidden underneath. The only complaint I have is that I wished that the restaurant served a little bit of greens with the dish. I felt like a roly poly cavewoman as I heartlessly carved into my sinful steak. The unctous marbled fat in the steak melted in my mouth and warmed the cockles in my heart. *Swoon*

Make love on a plate

But the pièce de résistance for me was truly the scrumptious brandied berry and almond tart. Warm, and crumbly with that little dollop of creme fraiche melting on the tart, it was a lovely touch to end the meal. It was so yummy that Bär was envious and wished he ordered that instead. Then again his profiteroles were two beautiful frozen nuggets of solid cream. Told him to wait for the damn things to defrost, lest he get brain freeze, but he insisted on eating them. Tsk Tsk.

In a nutshell,
Bedrock Bar & Grill
96 Somerset Road, #01-05 Pan Pacific Serviced Suites Orchard, Singapore 238163

Less is More - Ah Bong's Italian

 

I forgot to take a photo of the stall, so please make do with this (taken from the stall's facebook page)

Mr Bear's sister joined us for lunch today, so I suggested that we try Ah Bong's Italian, which I read about a few days ago. It was supposed to be restaurant quality at kopitiam (coffeeshop) prices. So we decided to give it a try, even though I was nursing a headache. It was the same coffeeshop that houses Two Face at night.

Today we had a few choices, ragu, country style pasta (I think), mac&cheese, aglio olio and creme brulee. The pasta was S$6 a plate, which was ok. We also had the option of adding truffle oil for S$1 to the pasta. The three of us ordered the creme brulee. The food was served on quaint coffeeshop style dishes, unfortunately the portions were dietician-sized.

I tried a little of everything as well as my own mac & cheese, which was delish, but didn't have much other than bacon bits, mushrooms bits and cheese. 

The country style pasta

Miss Bear's country style pasta was very nice, with minute slices of zuchini and mushrooms. Mr Bear's had the same ingredients though his was doused lavishly with oil because it was aglio olio after all. I preferred the country style pasta, though my Mac&Cheese was the best. Bobo being a pasta hater would probably run screaming into the afternoon. :D

In a nutshell, I would say, the taste was very restaurant style, though the portions were also very restaurant style. Perhaps it's because Mr Bear and I were fatty poompooms, but even slender Miss Bear opined that the portions were a little tiny, and we looked longingly at the yong tau fu stall. Wished Ah Bong sold salads, or even sorbet. The pasta settled a little heavily in my still fragile system, would have been nice to have had some lemon sorbet to cleanse the palate a little bit (luckily I ordered 钓鱼 - chinese tea using a tea bag), though the creme brulee was very yummy. The scorched sugar shell was warm, contrasting with the cold inside which was gooey, cold and sinful... hmmm. But oh so tiny.

It was a teaspoon next to the creme brulee (S$3).

I commented drily that it was good in a way that they didn't give us too much to make us feel sick, like we'd have with large family sized portions, because the flavors were heavy. I think if they provided some free greens/salad would have been improved the meal so much more and made us feel more value for money (e.g. air-conditioned Saveur's very popular Saveur pasta only costs S$4.50 and the portion is larger). I suggested to Mr Bear that if we ate at this place again, we should buy 3 pasta to be shared by 2 persons.

It was all about portion control... Shrove Tuesday

Miss Bear decided to starve me into submission, by ordering only 1 tofu dish, and 1 vegetable dish (she vetoed my suggestion to contaminate the vegetables with any form of meat). Later, she commented drily, "do you think you the waitress think we are vegetarians?"

Gee. You think?

Very amazing spaces style

I thought she might be controlling the portions because we were going to have waffles, though I told her if she wanted me to eat at Creamier, she should just haul me out to ze barn and shoot me between the eyes. 1st of all, it is more overhyped than the rest of the overhyped gelato shops, next, why the fuck must I queue to buy ice-cream, then queue for seats? It's insane.

But like I said, I was starved into submission, so we tried out another gelato shop further down, near Braddell MRT station, called Shrove Tuesday (no idea why. There was a great wall of text explaining why but I couldn't be bothered to read it). 

We chose Baked apple caramel (me) and Roche (her)

I like the shop design. It is very eclectic, Amazing Spaces style. Roche was basically ground hazelnuts (flavor, but no actual nut) mixed with chocolate, while baked apple caramel tasted pretty sticky but ok. I could tell that Miss Bear preferred my choice, because she kept eating mine instead of hers. But the most amazing part is how they spin the waffles. These gelato shops claim that by using a yeast batter they can create crispy batter but the reality is that since it is yeast batter, the batter rises so they earn more while incurring lesser material cost.

Exiting the shop, we saw a little shop at the opposite block. It was selling traditional waffles and ice-cream separately. I remarked to Miss Bear how ironic that that shop had 0 customers when it was selling the exact same thing and cheaper too. Lovely juxtaposition of cheap yet less appreciated versus expensive yet hyped. We are such suckers for packaging.

I love Dragonfruit

I love dragonfruit, specifically the red outer skin, red inner flesh one. I hate the red outer skin, white inner flesh variety from Vietnam, which tastes blah. The red flesh one tastes gorgeous!

We were at the hawker centre near Arbeit, when Mr Bear said we should totally get this. A yellow outer skin dragonfruit. He said he gets them at S$7-8 for one at Chinatown, and when he asked the uncle how much this cost (S$5), he said we must get, and that the yellow ones are the best. Super sweet.

I haven't tried the flesh but I brought it home. So will try out and see what color is inside.

巧克力熔岩蛋糕 Chocolate lava cake ... Not

Came across this recipe, it was really easy for a molten chocolate lava cake. So decided to give it a try after dinner today. I cooked very small portions for dinner tonight, to Bobo's shock. Naturally he was enthusiastic when I said I was going to bake molten lava cakes.

Don't look too closely at the expiry dates :D

Oops, didn't have any ramekins, so I used cupcake shells to hold the cakes (note to self, should reduce the baking time. I also used chocolate chips leftover from the time my neffe came over to bake cupcakes (that was a terrible nightmare). As it was, I actually increased the time to 15 min, instead of the required 12). No wonder when they came out they looked like erupted volcanoes.

Chocolate lava cake
50g chocolate
40g cream
35g Caster sugar
1 egg
25g Low gluten flour/ cake flour

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water. After it melts,  add the cream to the chocolate and continue melting.
Beat eggs,  add sugar to it then pour into the chocolate mixture.
Mix the flour well  into the mixture. Pour into a ramekin and set aside.
Set oven to 200 degree Celsius. When hot, put cake into oven for 12 min.

Schokolade lavakuchen (Deutsch Rezept)
50g schokolade
40g sahne
35g streuzucker
1 ei
25g kuchenmehl

Schmelzen der schokolade in einen Schüssel auf kochende wasser. wenn der schokolade schmelzt, fügen die sahne hinzu und schmelzen mal wieder.

Schlagen  das ei schaumig. fügen den zucker bevor in schokoladegemisch einfüllen.

Mischen das mehl in schokoladegemisch. einfüllen in eines  Souffléförmchen und bewahren auf.

Backen am 200 grad celsius für 12 minuten.

Happy New Year 2014

To kick off 2014, here is a little food porn. My leftovers from NYE dinner haha. Ignore the chicken, it was murdered 4 times, poor thing.

[olives, mesclun salad, tomatoes, green apples and smoked salmon doused with sesame dressing]

redo of leftovers: roasted chicken + tomatoes + salad + scrambled eggs + fried mashed potatoes (rolled in oats)

Guess how much this was?

I bought this breakfast the first morning when we just came back from our trip. I almost jaw-dropped when the lady told me that it cost "S$4.50!? for breakfast?!" Looking through the receipt, the fried egg was S$0.70, vegetables were S$1.00.

I am really shocked.

Kho Kho Nara

A whole group of bears convened upon the hapless Kho Kho Nara for its fried chicken. It was my suggestion, because fried chicken was the one thing I craved maximus from my South Korean trip. And I still hadn't been able to find the perfect place that reminded me of that wonderful fried chicken I had there (don't ask me about the fotos, they are probably in the junk somewhere that I hauled from my other home).

The restaurant is CRAMPED. After all it is located in the CBD, which means $$$$ in rentals. I can totally understand, but it was impossible to take photos nicely when another bear's elbow is digging into your ribs while the other is reaching over  you to grab at the yummy chicken wings.

"I'll make love 2 you like you want me to And I'll hold you tight, baby, all through the night" (Boyz II Men's song)

The chicken is INSANELY GOOD. Crispy, freshly fried, fragrant. Even the original fried chicken was wonderful. If the damn chicken is a man, I would bring him home and make sweet sweet love to him all night long and then eat him. It was really expensive, but really yum. I would go there just for the wings, they were that good. There were three flavors, Original, Soy Garlic and Sweet & Spicy. I personally like the garlicky one, because it carries the piquant fragrance of garlic and is yet cloyingly sweet. Vampires beware!

김치 찌개 - affordable but blah...they used cheap belly. I don't know why I had instant image of leftover samyeopsal

Beef 비빔밥

The rest of the lunch menu is ok including the banchan. Way cheaper than its dinner menu (same items by the way), but not worth writing about because they were a letdown after having those ambrosial chicken wings.

In a nutshell,

Kko Kko Nara Korean Restaurant
57 Tras Street #01-01 Singapore
Tel: +65 6224 8186

Insanely good food at Saveur Singapore

Taken by my lovely camera before its lens went kaputt (S$6.90)

Mr Bear said the night scenery at Gardens by the Bay was very nice and that he was going to bring Mrs Bear there Samstag night. So being the shameless thick-skinned thing I am, I immediately put up a paw and asked if we could go along.

So Mr Bear said, ok, how about dinner? I reassured that I would have no problem finding a place as long as he told me his budget.

S$20 a head? Wtf? On a Saturday night... Flexing my fingers, I dug deep into the Internet and found Saveur.

Saveur used to operated as a food stall by two Shatec (I missed their old training restaurants, Rosette and Petals) graduates in a kopitiam called Ali Baba Eating House (I kid you not) located along Joo Chiat. It later moved to its current location in Purvis Street. The place is so popular that it does not take reservations. Instead you will queue up obediently for one of its 60 seats.

B1 and I got lost, because I remembered wrongly Purvis Street as the street near Bugis MRT station. Nope, it is near City Hall station behind Raffles Hotel and perpendicular from the National Library. We left our names, after someone kindly told us to (you see, everyone was bizarrely standing in a line, even though the restaurant has opened for dinner). Then we wandered to Mani.cur.ious like I said before.

When Mr and Mrs Bear showed up, bizarrely dressed in bermudas and polo tees, B1 and I were sweating like mad. A middle aged lady had even fainted from the heat. Yup, the food is worth fainting for. Finally we got our seats, where we were served iced water very promptly without being asked, a totally appreciated gesture.

I insisted that it was a goose when we saw it on the signboard. Turns out it was a Duck

We had been standing outside the restaurant like little match girls, we noticed this signboard about their pasta being available for takeaways. Must be very popular, we concluded, so B1 and Mr Bear both ordered that. Me, I ordered foie gras with creamy lentils and pickled pearl onions, while Mrs Bear, bread rolls and Soup of the Day (which was Mushroom soup). 

Sorry, usually I wouldn't order bread rolls unless I know who made them. (S$2)

The pasta was most excellent. Al dente, with just the right touch of flavorsome chili oil. One thing I didn't get was why it was minced meat sauce in the menu, when it tasted like tuna to me. B1 liked the crunch of the little sakura ebi (I skipped that because I don't like prawns).

Mushroom Soup. Ok, nothing exciting. (S$4.90)

My foie gras was a wee bit crispy and then all creamy and gooey and yummy inside, all of the right kind. Not like that horrible place Two Face Pizza that burnt it. Just the right amount of sear. Swoon....I would have preferred the apple-infused port wine and vanilla bean, but I decided to save some $$ for dessert.

Just the right amount of sear (S$7.90)

Then it was onto the entrees. I chose the braised short ribs, Mrs Bear, the pan-seared bass, and the guys, the duck confit, because everyone else was ordering it.

Duck Confit (S$10.90)

 The duck confit was pretty awesome, though a bit chao tah (burnt), I thought. B1 loved the mushrooms (duh, he being a mushroom nut after all).  It was fragrant and not the least bit gamy and ducky. B1 insisted I try even though I didn't eat much duck ever since it entered my non-edible list because I like ducks.

Pan-seared sea bass (S$14.90)

Mrs Bear mmm-mmmed through her pan-seared sea bass. She kept commenting that it was juicy. I had to restrain myself from saying "moist, you say it's moist, not juicy." I am naughty and fussy that way. But she was sort of right, the fish flaked easily at the fork and was moist and flavorful.

It was during dinner that we had a pretty wild conversation about foreign brides. It was brought up because Mr Bear realized that he had dressed really down and other diners really dressed up well for dinner. Duh, it's a French restaurant, after all, on Purvis Street. Besides cheap and good eats then party in some club downtown is a good idea. I pointed out to Mrs Bear that there were a lot of local girls dressed up and eating with Caucasian men. I remembered a conversation with an online friend, who said that the Thai women who migrated to his country were ugly and married to really old men. I realized that these women were actually smarter than me. They get to stay at home and keep home without having to worry about where their next meal was coming from. Whereas I studied all the way to MSc, but have to work like mad everyday.

Mrs Bear replied "but they have to please the old man, you know?"

"We have it worse," I retorted. "We have to please our bosses at work. Come home and have to please the old man at home too." Got the evil eye from B1 for that. hehe.

Braised short rib (S$14.90)

Finally my braised short rib came. It was worth the wait. It was soft and tender, and had my favorite mesclun salad and vinaigrette dressing. Yum yum. I thought the gratin wasn't as hot as it should be though.

Strawberries with basil sorbet (I forgot what was the price, it was a special)

We decided on our desserts. I got the strawberry special with basil sorbet, which tasted great! Too bad Mr Bear kept stealing from me. :( He and his wife shared a chocolate mousse with crushed hazelnuts. B1 ordered Textures of Citrus, which was blood orange jelly served with orange granité, freeze-dried pineapple, feuilletine, citrus segments, and lime zest. I didn't like his much.

Textures of Citrus (S$6.90)

Chocolate and Hazelnut (S$7.90)

The entire bill came out to be about S$120, which was pretty excellent, considering what we ate. It was really worth fainting for. I would definitely come back here to eat.

In a nutshell,

Saveur

5 Purvis Street, 

Talib Court #01-04 

Singapore 188584

A simple lunch @ The Orange Thimble

Shop Front

Today was supposed to be one of those lavish lunches that Bär and I have taken to having to nourish our pathetic souls. But because I didn't have the time to research on a place and I was already given the area to look into by Bär, we ended up at our favorite Tiong Bahru enclave.

Sorry for blur shot, camera low batt and me weak from hunger

Still don't get the hype about the Tiong Bahru Bakery. After making ugly faces through its glass windows (and frightening their customers) we made our way to its neighbor, Orange Thimble. Orange Thimble sells itself as a place "where art meets cafe". We missed the all-day-breakfast, which was only available until 1130hrs on Freitag. Sigh.

Buy art on the side :)

So I was doomed to have the BBC sandwich which comprised of sad streaks of bacon blanketed by lettuce and jammed walnut toast, and a companion side of mesclun salad. The little bears will be horrified at the amount of vegetables on that plate.

BBC stands for brie and bacon and eh???

I had a confused palate, while Bär had the OT which was egg mayo. I looked at the photo I took of the egg mayo sandwich and whispered to Bär "the sandwich looks like it has teeth!"

I bite!

Less frightening shot of the OT

To say the truth, I was a bit alarmed when I saw the wait staff pour the juice from the jug because we had ordered it as freshly-squeezed. But when we tasted the juice, ah, it was the right stuff. It was just that they stored it in the jug, that's all. I liked my orange juice, but Bär frantically added sugar to his grapefruit and orange juice, saying it was too sour for him. It was funny watching him trying to melt sugar in a cold beverage *giggle*

Juices under art

For afters, we both got double scoops of ice-cream. I was sure that I wanted irish cream after I got to taste a little bit of it (it was either that or earl grey with figs to accompany my vanilla pod ice-cream. I am all about matching flavors). Bär got strawberry and cookies and cream which presented contrasting tastes. So in the end he didn't finish.

Irish cream und vanilla pod eis!~

Orange Thimble is a great place to hang out with friends (the irony, considering how FA I am). Food is not great, but I liked the ice-cream, and the art it had on the walls. Very inspiring. I will do some mixed media art tonight (if I can stay up)!!

Other nooky areas to hang out with friends

Orange Thimble

Blk 56, 01-68,

Eng Hoon St,

Tiong Bahru