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.

The Sushi Bar Normal Chirashi Don

Hweecat meow.

I've been pigging out with Cat so much (and getting caught up with work) that I have accumulated a backlog of posts. Time to start completing my posts! :P

Since our first visit to The Sushi Bar at Far East Plaza, I have wanted to make a return visit to try more items in the menu. As we were hungry and craving for some really good salmon aburi sushi, we decided to visit The Sushi Bar again last Friday. To ensure that we will not leave hungry this time, we ordered a Normal Chirashi Don (S$24.90) in addition to a plate of the must-order Salmon Aburi Roll (S$14.90).

Normal Chirashi Don

The Normal Chirashi Don is of such premium quality that we felt it was well worth the price! It comes with 3 thick slices of salmon, aburi salmon, tuna, swordfish, yellowtail and scallop, and topped with ikura (salmon roe). What we really like about the Normal Chirashi Don is that premium cuts of sashimi were chosen for the chirashi don. We were especially impressed with the tuna in this chirashi don, which tasted fresh and succulent, unlike the tuna served in most restaurants which usually tastes mushy (and hence not so pleasant to eat). The sashimi-rice ratio seems to be about 2:1, such that we have just enough rice to eat with the sashimi without overpowering its taste. If the Normal Chirashi Don is already so impressive in terms of quality (and definitely one of the best chirashi don in Singapore), I can't imagine how much more "premium" could the Premium Chirashi Don be!

Salmon Aburi Roll and Normal Chirashi Don

We like how the Salmon Aburi Roll tastes just as 'shiok' as the one we had on our first visit. So far the quality has been consistently great. (:

From our two visits to The Sushi Bar so far, we are impressed with how the chef could serve Japanese food of premium quality consistently at fairly reasonable prices. The portions are generous, yet leave us feeling hungry for more. We feel that it's better than Itacho Sushi in terms of food quality and freshness, yet just a little more pricey. Would we visit The Sushi Bar again? Cat doesn't feel a pinch of regret after paying the bill, so the answer is: yes. :D

The Sushi Bar

14 Scotts Road

#04-28

Far East Plaza

Opening Hours:

Mondays - Thursdays 12.30 - 3pm, 5.30 - 9pm

Fridays - Saturdays 12.30 - 9pm



E'spuma Lab

Update: The guys at E'spuma Lab have decided not to continue their lease at PoMo. ):

Hweecat meow.

Cat usually does not particularly like fine-dining. However, today's post involves a casual diner at PoMo which uses fine-dining culinary techniques in its dishes - at wallet-friendly prices! Think gastronomic techniques like sous vide and espuma at hawker prices.

E'spuma Lab seems like one of those 'atas' (i.e. high-class) diners at first glance. Situated near the entrance at level 1 of PoMo, it has a very clean look with sous vide and espuma equipment at the shop front. What attracts Cat most is the price of its food offerings - you can get a decent Western fusion set meal with a bowl of soup and ice lemon tea/coffee/tea for less than S$10 (for most items)! 

Ever since we discovered E'spuma Lab in early May, we usually drop by for a fuss-free dinner after frequenting the Ya Kun Kaya Toast branch at PoMo. Since then, E'spuma Lab has been officially launched with a media tasting, and has since expanded their menu to include more pricey items such as salmon and steak (and not forgetting changes in dish presentation).

The Cream of Mushroom with Sautéed Shiitake (S$3.80 ala carte, served as part of set meal) is smooth with a strong taste of shiitake mushrooms. There used to be some shrimp and crisp bits in the soup; nevertheless, the soup tastes consistently good on our visits. For ala carte, the soup is served with mini French baguettes.

Mushroom Soup (on first visit in May)

Mushroom Soup as part of set meal

The Sous Vide Eggs (S$3.80) comes with two options: Sautéed Mushrooms and Smoked Norwegian Salmon. The eggs are cooked perfectly soft with runny yolk, demonstrating the advantage of the sous vide technique in cooking consistency. The Sautéed Mushrooms Sous Vide Eggs are topped with puffed wild rice and truffle crumble, providing some complexity in texture. In short, heavenly.

Sous Vide Eggs with Sautéed Mushrooms

The Smoked Norwegian Salmon Sous Vide Eggs are topped with crispy salmon skin and ginger shoyu. The smoked Norwegian salmon wasn't fantastic, but we like the crispy salmon skin as it tastes light and not too oily. A pity that we were served the wrong order on that particular visit and the poor young chef accidentally served our eggs with a broken yolk.

Sous Vide Eggs with Smoked Norwegian Salmon

We also tried some of the mains as part of the set meal. Our personal favourites are the E'spuma Potato Foams (S$6.80 ala carte) which come in three options: Curry Chicken, Beef Rendang and Sautéed Mushrooms. The potato foams are also served with mini French baguettes.

You might ask, why eat foam for dinner? Well, treat it as if you are eating something similar to mashed potatoes, but a little more smooth. The texture of the potato emulsion is very rich and soft, yet does not cloud the flavour of the toppings. In fact, the potato emulsion is excellent with Curry Chicken! :D

Curry Chicken with E'spuma Potato Foam (on first visit in May)

The other mains we tried are the Spaghetti with Swedish Meat Balls and E'spuma Caramelised Onion Sauce (S$6.80 ala carte) and Fragrant Rice Served with Pan Seared Sous Vide Chicken Breast and E'spuma Pesto Sauce (S$6.80 ala carte) (which was replaced with spaghetti as they ran out of rice on that particular visit, and which I conveniently did not take a photo of). These two dishes aren't spectacular; the meat balls were dry and the chicken breast merely tasted acceptable, but we liked the espuma sauces.

Spaghetti with Swedish Meat Balls and E'spuma Caramelised Onion Sauce

Our verdict? E'spuma Lab has done a pretty good job of introducing fine-dining gastronomy to the masses with Western fusion dishes. With decent fine-dining offerings at surprisingly wallet-friendly prices, even Cat wouldn't mind multiple visits. :D

E'spuma Lab
1 Selegie Road
#01-20/21
PoMo

Opening Hours: Mondays - Saturdays 11am - 9pm

P.S. Glossary of some gastronomic terms used:

Sous vide is a method of cooking food sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath or in a consistent temperature lower than conventional cooking temperatures, in order to cook the item equally and retain moisture.

Espuma is the Spanish term for foam or froth that is specifically created with the use of a siphon bottle. This molecular gastronomic technique allows for creation of foams without an emulsifying agent and hence achieves an unadulterated flavour of the ingredients used.

Koh Grill & Sushi Bar Shiok Maki

Caution: This post contains multiple appearances of the word "shiok" and may cause involuntary stomach growling and salivation. Viewers are advised to read on a full stomach. :P

Hweecat meow.

Cat and I love salmon aburi sushi tremendously since the first time we tried it at Sushi Express. The melt-in-the-mouth sensation of raw salmon seared at the top...it just feels sooooo shiok! :P

(For non-Singaporean readers who don't know what "shiok" means, the Coxford Singlish Dictionary provides a pretty good definition.)

So, how shiok is the Shiok Maki at Koh Grill & Sushi Bar? We decided to order one plate of Shiok!!! Maki (S$16.80) (1st gen) each to see if this local sushi creation lives up to its name and hype.

Shiok...Maki!

Our plates of Shiok Maki look sinfully delectable when served from the counter bar. Imagine avocado and grilled unagi rolled into seaweed and round sushi rice, topped with thin slices of aburi salmon, drenched with some form of cheesy mentai dressing and piled with loads of tobiko roe. That's Shiok Maki for you. :P

Advantage of sitting at the counter bar: You see how your sushi is being prepared.

The moment the Shiok Maki entered our mouths, we could feel the shiok feeling of the salmon aburi as the maki disintegrated and melted in our mouths. It wasn't exactly consistently melt-in-the-mouth for the aburi salmon - we could still feel the salmon texture for some pieces of maki - but still decent. What wins me over is the addition of avocado to the maki, which contributed to the shiok taste of the maki without being fatty in an unhealthy way. (:

Overall, I would say that the Shiok Maki at Koh Grill & Sushi Bar isn't as shiok as we thought (we have tried better aburi salmon in Sushi Express, though not all the time), but the combination is indeed delicious and the maki is fairly consistent. Is it worth the price? Surprisingly yes, considering the quality. ;)

Koh Grill & Sushi Bar
435 Orchard Road
#04-21
Wisma Atria Food Republic

Opening Hours: Daily 11.30am - 10.30pm

P.S. As the 2nd gen Shiok Maki contains shrimp and Cat does not like shrimp, we only tried the 1st gen Shiok Maki for this visit.