Restaurant Week Oct 2014: WOLF Nose to Tail Dining (from Hweecat's perspective)

Update: WOLF has been replaced with Bar-A-Thym. The awesome female chef is now cooking at Meatsmith.

Hweecat meow.

I usually look forward to the bi-annual Restaurant Week, as it is the time where participating restaurants come up with set meals at promotion prices (and probably the rare times when I could afford to try those usually-more-than-$30-for-mains restaurants). As day no. 300 coincides with Restaurant Week this October, it makes for a good opportunity (and excuse) for us to celebrate with a dinner set at a more pricey casual fine-dining restaurant.

Based on my roomie's recommendation, I made a 7pm dinner reservation for two person at WOLF through the DiningCity Restaurant Week website (http://www.restaurantweek.sg). It took a few days before there were seats available for me to make the reservation. Cat was initially sceptical when I told him that we would be having pork chops at WOLF for Restaurant Week, as he is fond of neither pork chops nor restaurant dining in general. Nevertheless, he agreed to try the pork chops together with me upon realizing that we would be paying significantly less than usual a la carte prices during Restaurant Week.

Restaurant Week Oct 2014: WOLF Nose to Tail Dining (from Cat's perspective)

Update: WOLF has been replaced with Bar-A-Thym. The awesome female chef is now cooking at Meatsmith.

Cat meow.

Cat and Hweecat went to WOLF for Restaurant Week combined with our 300th day celebration yesterday meow.

The food we were served was premium in every sense - especially the pork.

We first suspected something fishy, or rather extremely right, when the staff member (I hesitate to call them waiters and waitresses because they dress more smartly than any of the guests) asked me whether I would like my pork medium. I asked her what she meant by medium. It is not that I did not know the word, but I thought it was out of context. Medium must obviously refer to rarity of meat, but isn't that something that we use to grade beef, not pork? Immaterial though, myself not being a fan of beef anyway, I asked her to advise me on the recommended rarity. 

Cat's appetizer: Foie Gras Parfait

The Foie Gras Parfait appetizer served to us was the biggest I have seen so far. The foie gras came with artisan bread and housemade orange marmalade, and was meant to be served as "butter" on it, making the already deliciously creamy foie gras "double" in taste. Usually, I like my food gobbled down in large amounts at high speed. This time, I actually felt like nibbling.

Cat and Hweecat's mains: Mangalica Pork Chop

The Mangalica Pork Chop that was served came with maple-glazed sweet potatoes and a bit of salad, but the highlight was the pork chop itself. When I was told by Hweecat that we would be eating pork chops, I was expecting something a lot more like what is served in the school canteen. It turned out however, that the pork tasted and felt more like beef than pork in every good way in taste, smell and texture with none of the offensive properties (that I find) of beef, not forgetting that beef is considered a higher grade meat than pork. Hence, to compare pork to beef is already a great compliment from me. I was provided with a big knife which proved necessary for cutting the huge piece of meat. As I placed the first piece of pork into my mouth, I became immediately aware of the juicy richness of the fatty meat. My long-conditioned health subconscious (no pun intended) recoiled, but immediately I realized that I would not be tasting something this delicious in a long time, nor is it as though I would get to binge on this many calories any time soon.

I ate greedily and at high speed, finding myself feeling full before I know it. As I approached the end of the main course, I commented that roast pork out there is totally a waste of money and time.

Right on cue, a staff member approached us to seek our feedback on the pork. Immediately I replied that after eating the pork, I will want to stay off roast pork in the neighbourhood for 3 weeks at least, and save the money, time and most importantly calorie allowance to eat another of these. I also told him to please tell the chef my compliments. He thanked us and left Hweecat to finish her food. 

Cat's dessert: Pear Tarte Tatin

For dessert, I had the Pear Tarte Tatin. The dessert was sweet and really crispy. The sweet pear dessert that I ordered was particularly accentuated by the crust and vanilla ice cream it came with. You'll have to try this wonderful pear dessert yourself to believe the taste I described, and that is coming from someone who teaches in country clubs routinely.

Perhaps, what makes the encounter perfect is the review of the a la carte price of the food that we ate today. We paid S$35++ per person for the set dinner, but a review of the a la carte menu revealed that the amount that we would normally have spent is closer to S$80++ per person. Last but not least, the restaurant itself earns a few bonus points because high-class places are rarely frequented by this many young people, but we saw quite a number of them when we visited yesterday.

WOLF: Nose to Tail Dining
18 Gemmill Lane
Singapore 069255

Opening Hours:
Mondays - Fridays: 11.30am - 3pm, 6pm - 11pm
Saturdays: 6pm - 12am

Geylang Claypot Rice Lor 33

Hweecat meow.

Just a disclaimer before I begin: This is Cat's recommendation and he rarely recommends food that cost more than $10. Nevertheless, our taste buds will still make the final judgement when reviewing the food.

I have a love-hate relationship with claypot rice. I love how the claypot keeps the food warm and I enjoy eating the slightly burnt rice and the lup cheong (腊肠 or Chinese pork sausages), but it's frustrating when the person mixing the rice with the sauce can't mix the rice effectively and ends up with a significant amount of charred carbonized rice. Oh, and the chicken pieces with more bone than meat makes eating claypot chicken rice such a chore. :O

I was fairly sceptical when Cat suggested that I should give Geylang Claypot Rice at Geylang Lorong 33 a try, as Cat shares the same dislike of eating meat with bones as I do. He also cautioned about the long waiting time and estimated food cost ("definitely more than $10 per person if you include the zi char items"), but assured that the food quality and quantity would justify the slight premium in cost and long wait.

Indeed, I observed that the claypots served on the tables are relatively larger than those served at other claypot rice stalls. There was a lady who was eating claypot rice alone and the claypot she was served looked as if it could satisfy two persons!

Geylang Claypot Rice for two - probably more!

We ordered claypot rice (estimated S$8 per person) for two persons, as well as their long-time speciality Lotus Duck. What we got was more than enough for two - the serving size could probably feed three or even four persons! The chicken pieces taste nicely marinated - not too plain yet not too salty. The lup cheong and lun cheong (肝肠 or duck liver sausages) taste superior and take on a slight sweetness - probably the best waxed sausages I have ever tasted. The bits of crispy salted fish provide the delightful crunch and saltiness in the claypot rice. :D My only grouse is that it is still fairly troublesome to de-bone the chicken pieces, though I doubt the chefs would have the luxury of time to do so given the high volume of orders. The special claypot rice sauce is, thankfully, not terribly salty - actually we control how much sauce we want in our claypot rice and one of the lady servers is kind enough to help us mix the rice and sauce. (:

Lotus Duck

I really love the slightly thick sauce for the Lotus Duck (estimated S$14)! It goes so well with rice - I would recommend ordering Lotus Duck if you don't like dry food and need sauce to go with claypot rice. The duck meat tastes so tender that it could be mistaken for chicken. However, there could have been more lotus pieces - the lotus pieces are so tender but sorely lacking in quantity!

Very apt disclaimer

Waiting time is long as their claypot rice needs at least 25 minutes to prepare from scratch. At least they have kindly included ordering instructions and a disclaimer for their customers. 

Overall, the claypot rice at Geylang Lor 33 is arguably the best claypot rice in Singapore in terms of quality and quantity, and is worth the 30-minute wait. It would have been more ideal if the Lotus Duck has more lotus pieces to go with the claypot rice. If you don't like the idea of waiting for 30 minutes for claypot rice, you can call them to pre-order! ;)

This is Cat waiting for our non pre-ordered claypot rice. We waited for 30 minutes.

Geylang Claypot Rice

639 Geylang Rd, Lorong 33

Singapore 389570 
Telephone: 6744 4574 / 6744 3619

Opening hours:

Tuesdays - Sundays: 11.30am to 3.30pm (Lunch), 5pm to 12am (Dinner)

Real Food at The Central

I have a confession to make: I am a sucker for anything related to healthy eating. While I love eating a wide variety of food, I prefer indulging in healthy and wholesome meals which are delicious and guilt-free on the stomach. I'm also interested in non-conventional menus as well as food which involve minimal chemical processing. (:

One major qualm I have about conventional food is that I don't know the food source and how the plants and animals are treated and fed in farms. On the other hand, food that are healthy/vegan/organic/gluten-free/non-conventional tend to be more expensive compared to conventional food. ):

Is organic/vegan food always = more pricey?

Let's compare with cafes, for a start.