Bistro Du Vin

After hearing so many reviews of the new Les-Amis themed restaurant known as Bistro Du Vin, i trooped down with a few friends to try out the food there.

Blogger seems to have difficulty uploading photos but i will try my best=)

We stepped into a little quaint oasis of charm and quirkiness very typical (or so i heard) of a Parisian Bistro - that was obviously the inspiration. Red walls, pictures of artwork, parisian buildings, as well as with marble table-tops and brown chairs make for a lovely atmosphere. Very well-decorated and quaint - if every parisian bistro was like that, i would love to go there anytime.

We were served some fresh bread first - nothing much to shout about, but i did like the unsalted butter accompanying it. it was actually very good that i had some seconds.

ZH had a mushroom friscasee with morels and a poached egg; it was really good. Very earthly flavours of mushrooms and herbs (i was trying to figure out what they were - seemed like some fresh parsley, thyme) - all with a nice poached egg on top. classic bistro fare. served with a salad.

The mains came; myself and J did not order starter since we are not working yet and can't afford to spend extravagantly on food. i ordered a duck confit, while J had a lamb stew and ZH had beef braised in red wine.

The duck confit was excellent; very tasty, with a very crispy skin and very tasty duck fat; the meat wasn't that tender (still fine by me) but it was very tasty, with a nice saltiness and savouriness that a confit is supposed to have. i found it a bit too salty, but i guess some folks like it that way. The tasty duck fat was really oomph-inducing, reminders of why i like french food so much (but is so sadly expensive). A pot of "coffee sauce" accompanied my confit and that really added a new dimension to the dish and went very well with the duck, with a bit of sweetness to nullify the savouriness. The fries accompanying it were a nice touch.

The beef braised in red wine was very nice - very robust flavours of beef and red wine, hearty flavours. only gripe could be that it wasn't as generous as it should have been.

the lamb with green peas was not bad -alot of gamey lamb flavours.

Desserts:
J had a lemon tart which was quite excellent; very tart (pardon the pun), and light, refreshingly ending off the meal.

ZH's profiteroles were bad: the crust wasn't too light, probably because it was kept in the fridge for too long or something.

i had a creme brulee; it was served in a shallow dish to allow for more "burnt caramel" per total caramel; it was excellent, if a bit too sweet; at least real vanilla beans were used. It would be perfect if the dish was slightly deeper and less wide, so that you don't get so much burnt caramel per total caramel - at some points it felt like eating candy.

Overall not bad but not worth the price we paid. Hmm. (7.5/10)
Not value for money!

Brussel Sprouts

Had a small 'dinner' for some friends for my birthday=)

So I 'jioed' the friends all down to brussels sprouts, coz they were having a mussels promotion - half price after 10, or before seven.

since everyone was late and i was having exams, it'd have to be after 10 then.

so i ordered some beer to start things off:

we had an Orval. this being the first time i tried orval, it was actually very good - very refreshing, light, punchy....

it's been so long i cant remember the taste actually but i really liked it :) wanted to switch with my friend haha but she liked it too. soh well.

Had a main course of duck confit. the rendition here is pretty good. the skin is crisp, the meat is tasty, flavourful, and flakes off easily. how a good confit should be. and it is accompanied by a cherry beer (kwak) reduction that cuts through the richness of the meat.

The mussels came later: we ordered quite a few to share:

white wine sauce, provence sauce, beer sauce, and another....

all very good, with sweet delicate mussels in a tasty sauce. great to mop up with the fries served on the side.

pity the fries weren't very good though - cut too thick.

AGes since i posted huh.

well.u noe that my food blogging days of travelling around scouring for good food is kinda gone. kinda because i dont have that many classes so alot of my days are spent eating at home (which is good and cheap) and that u noe maybe im a bit lazy and petrol is a bit more expensive and yadayadayada.

well hope u like reading what i write. i hope i do also.

sometimes we write for posterity's sake. like for our own goodselves to read and maybe chuckle at how lovely we are.

hmm.

as for me.

alrite.

let me blog.

i shall blog about this nice place called Paradise Inn, a branch of Taste Paradise, and it is really quite nice. location: west coast plaza, just next to my church.

went there twice already, and i shall just recapture my experiences.

first time was with zh and friends.

this is watercress soup - very nutritious. loads of watercress.

the stewed su-dong-po pork. gelatinious layers of pork (esp with the fats lovingly melting in your mouth) in tasty viscous sauce.

wok-fried noodles: quite tasty.

this was quite nice: wasabi mayo prawns. very fresh prawns: however there could be more wasabi.

sauteed eggplant with chilli: very nice.



The second time i came with my parents and this is what we had:

Spinach with 3 eggs: this was good, a bit of minced meat with the 3 eggs: can't really go wrong with this dish huh.

Fried Rice: very fragrant, good wok hei.

Hotplate tofu: very good! the sauce coating the tofu was very delicious. loads of oyster sauce and whatnot, i bet.

AH, THE piece de-resistance: steamed fish head (carp) with spicy hot sauce, all covered with crackling lard bits. this was super delicious. the fish was very fresh and had a nice delicate flavour that went very well with the deliciously spicy gravy, which was tangy, savoury, a bit sweet, all at once - it is what is known as 'hot sauce', go try this! the lard bits on the top were very sinful tho, could feel my arteries being clogged.
(8/10)
(no need to rate the others huh)

Wasabi Tei - Fantastico! Oishi!

Went to Wasabi Tei today for a second try at their much-lauded Japanese food. As you all already know, Wasabi Tei is well known to contain owners who are food nazis, who will scowl at you, never serve you with a smile, etc....But with the reputation of the food, we had to go again.
So off we went.

We were served with an appetizer, which was some pickled seaweed, and that was really delicious. Savoury, salty, with hints of sweetness. Very nice.

Couldn't decide what to order, so i went with the same thing i had the other time just to see how good it really was, since everyone talks about it and loves the food here so I had to really try it out again. Had the Chirashi Don (S$20). And i tell you, it was the most value-for-money amazing set I have tried. The pieces of sashimi were sliced so thickly, each slice was the thickness of a human finger (I'm not joking). And I was served, hmms, let me see:

So how was the fish? incredibly fresh, delicious, savoury, tasty, with all the lovely oomphy fish oils and juices and fish flavours.

I first tried the Hamachi (Yellowtail): Ah,this was good. very fresh, with the usual yellowtail flavours. Very thick.

The salmon was next: Ah, this was very thick as well, and absolutely delicious. very fresh, with no bad flavours.

Tamago: very well done. sweet enough.

Swordfish: Ah, this was really the BEST! Very thick, very "crunchy" with perfect texture of a good mekaji, and the taste was really shiokkkk, OISHI!!! OOMPHY! Very very savoury and delicious, with the lovely fish juices oozing out once u bite into the swordfish at the back of your tongue.

Another fish was served: didn't know what it was. It wasn't bad.

And the creme de la creme that i've saved for last: Some little bits of UNI! (sea urchin) A metallic sort of taste of the sea, creamy, sweet seafood taste of slight brine, with a lovely sensation at the back of your tongue. Sorry i'm really bad at describing the food, you know. =) It was good.

Rating: 9/10


Oh btw i tried my friend's chawan mushi. it was delicious. very fresh steamed egg just freshly made, with bits of mushroom and prawn!

Two Chefs Eating House

havent been to many new places recently, but this is one of them. Two Chefs Eating House, located at commonwealth, has been blogged about by many many people. it's one of those places that is so famous that really i don't really need to bother.

alot of pple have said that standards have dropped, this place isn't worth going to anymore, and all that. well, to be fair to them, i'd say that certain dishes are pretty good, and worth going for, while certain dishes are really just ordinary and probably works best as a 'filler'. it's like how you have hit singles, and fillers, in albums. (btw check out MGMT, they rock).

we started off with some drunken cockles. this is definitely NO filler. it's absolutely amazing. fresh cockles in a thai-inspired savoury, sour, spicy, sweet sauce all at once. with loads of chilli and scallions to boot. superb. i was slurping the gravy to no end. (8.5/10)

then came their most famous dish - butter pork ribs. this was really quite good too. milk powder-like butterish powder coated tender fried pork ribs. went quite well, with the butter lending a savoury edge and the milk a sweet aftertaste to the ribs. but i wasn't overwhelmed. heh. (7/10)

the three -eggs spinach was a disappointment really. i had much better ones at boon tong kee. haha. of all places. (4/10)

came 2 days later to try other dishes and bring new friends. this time we had the golden mushroom tofu. this was really good. the sauce was very tasty and was a perfect accompaniment to a bowl of rice. savoury, unami. came with enoki mushrooms and soft beancurd. only pity was that portions were little. but never mind. (8/10)

Sin Ma G7 Seafood restaurant (geylang)

Zihua and her friends organised a makan session at Geylang, and one always knows she does her research well. so off we went. it was this air-conditioned seafood eatery at lorong 3, next to the claypot rice. since it wasn't listed in makansutra and all that, nor do food bloggers usually post about it, i didnt have really high expectations. how wrong i was! for the food was superb.

we started with some marmite chicken. rich, luscious, with the slight malty aftertaste of marmite, each piece of chicken was coated with this salty, slightly-tangy, malty glaze, very tasty. i could eat this all day long. (8/10)

then came some veges. passable. i think the veges were going stale so it wasn't very good but yah. still can.(6.5/10)

next up - pumpkin prawns! the prawns were really really fresh, sweet and tasty - the sauce was quite delectable. with the right sweetness, a bit tangy - but i think siang hee's version still beats it since it has much more pumpkin flavour and is thicker. (7.5/10)





next up - CRAB with tanghoon! the tanghoon absorbed all the flavours of the crab very well (as we all know tang hoon does) - i just felt that perhaps ya kwang's version was much better due to the presence of hwa tiao jiu and a stronger wok flavour. this one was good, braised, tasty, and savoury, but just lacked the edge. pity. (7/10)

And the piece de resistance - i've saved till last - is the Salted Egg Yolk Crab with butter. this isn't the style in melben seafood where there's lots of butter used, like a gravy.this one is the style where the crabs are fried with salted egg and hints of butter coating. it was absolutely delectable. it was a pleasure (yes, super guilty , fat-laden pleasure) just slurping/licking off the salted egg coated with butter, which went extremely well with the fresh sri lankan crabs that were really sweet and succulent. must try. (9/10)

Oriole Cafe and Bar

i'm a member of coffeegeek, which is an online community of coffee lovers and drinkers. if you love coffee you can find out all sorts of infomration about espresso making, beans, cafes, everything about coffee. yup. and so i discovered that the WBC barista championship singapore winner (john ting) works at oriole (and the no 2 also - who ironically is the boss) and decided to pay a visit, having looked online to find the place. it's apparently pretty new, situated just opposite cineleisure at the new pan pacific suites.

i went there, and was presently surprised that they had this espresso promotion, serving espresso shots at one buck a shot. sounded too good to be true! so i went in, heard about the promotion, sat down, and had a nice chat with john the head barista. we talked about coffee, life, the place, how to make good espresso, etc, and how to really appreciate a cuppa. he then served me two espressos, one their single origin (columbia), and one their blend. to be honest i wasn't very fond of their single origin, it was very full-bodied and robust and strong, a bit too much so for me. but i quite dig their espresso blend espresso. to be honest, since it's been almost a month since i've been there, i forgot what the taste was like. but i know it was quite nice. had a complex aftertaste after the initial 'saltiness' settled down. and a long finish.

usually when im there i have lattes, or piccolo lattes, or ice-lattes. their coffees often have beautiful aroma, and full-bodied tastes which are complex and robust and never bitter nor sour. a must try if you like coffee then!

(8.5/10)