Jones the Grocer, Mandarin Gallery

We were at Mandarin Gallery checking out a couple of their lifestyle shops when we passed by Jones the Grocer. It was just about dinnertime, the restaurant was sparse, and since we had a pretty decent pasta and risotto at their ION Orchard outfit, we thought we'd have a quickie dinner here before heading on home.

We later understood why the restaurant was barely occupied. The sputtering kitchen service was cranking out dishes like an old beat-up jeep. About 20 minutes after our orders were taken, we saw an earlier table of 3 receive their soups. Half an hour in, after I saw the said earlier table get served their mains, I enquired the wait staff if the exceedingly sluggish kitchen was due to an unexpected shortage of kitchen staff (like a flu epidemic broke out or something), just so I know to discount this slow service as a one-off, but it wasn't.

So, there was no good explanation for the ridiculously slow service. But what's worse was that I was given the laughably filmsy reason that the kitchen seemed slow because they "make everything from scratch". I didn't appreciate being fed such a transparent excuse. it would have been much better if they'd just straight out admitted that "yes, our kitchen is slow, we're sorry for the long wait, and we will endeavour to try harder". 

The 40-minute-long wait was exacerbated by the awful food; both our pasta and risotto were unforgivably under-salted and sickeningly rich.

The Asparagus and Taleggio Risotto ($21), barely perfumed with black truffle oil despite the menu's affirmation, was grossly under-salted. It would have helped if the taleggio cheese was evenly stirred throughout the risotto, but it was unceremoniously clumped into a far corner on its own.

The cloyingly one-dimensional Forest Mushroom Linguine ($28), with grana padano, pangrattato and earthy herbs, placed an overwhelmingly and overpowering emphasis on cream.This tasted like a heavy cream bombshell. Not even the generous load of assorted mushrooms could elevate this.

Jones the Grocer
333A Orchard Road
Mandarin Gallery #04-21
Tel: 68366372
Open daily from 9am to 11pm

Bee Kia Seafood Restaurant

The last time we met up with ZM and ED was 4 years, 3 months and 7 days ago. Why so specific, you ask? We'd lunch with them the very day they left and migrated to the land down under, so it's easy to remember how long they've gone. It's the first time they've been back, and ZM mentioned that he was craving beef hor fan, "the gravy kind", and I didn't want to waste a perfectly good meal opportunity at that (in)famous Geylang Lorong 9 one because their beef is known to be excessively artificially tenderised that it'd taste grossly pulverised. He only had 3 days in Singapore, and I wanted him to have fond memories of our food, not realize that he'd built it all up in his head and consequently underwhelmed, so I brought him to Bee Kia Seafood Restaurant, a cze char stall along Thomson Road that supposedly fried better beef hor fan.

Despite Bee Kia's name, seafood isn't what you should order when you dine here. It's their beef hor fan that's put them on every foodie's radar. I'd heard horror stories about their slow and rude service, so we made sure to arrive early for dinner. I'm glad to report that we experienced none of their reputed bad service. Food arrived barely 10 minutes after our orders were taken, and with the exception of the occasional pesky housefly buzzing around our food, we had a pretty decent cze char meal.

The signature Beef Hor Fan ($12), which you will see on just about every table, was pretty good. Not the best, but certainly one of the top few. Although the texture of the beef does taste artificially tenderised, it didn't reek of artificial tenderiser, nor did it disintegrate on our chopsticks. There was a decent amount of wok hei, and the velvety black bean sauce complemented the tender beef very nicely.

I know this is gonna scandalize their die-hard fans, but I actually preferred the Beef Bee Hoon ($12) to their hor fan. I liked how the plainness of the rice noodles tempered the luscious robust gravy.

They employ a very light touch with the prawn paste in their Prawn Paste Chicken ($10), so even ZM, who's mildly allergic to shellfish, lapped this up. I liked the subtle, not overt, prawn paste element too. The juicy-on-the-inside, crisp-on-the-outside chicken would make for a brilliant late-night snack.

We also liked the Sambal Kangkong ($8), fiery and smoky, with a good crunch.

Bee Kia Seafood Restaurant
1 Thomson Road
Blk 326 Balestier Hills Shopping Centre
Tel: 62548490
Open daily from 12noon to 11pm

Porcini Mushroom Risotto with Truffle Oil

Anne Burrell is one of my favourite TV celebrity chefs. Her food is hearty and comforting, and her recipes always a slam-dunk. While the Hubs always laughs at her orgasmic sound effects on her cookshows, I love her straightforward, honest and uncomplicated approach to cooking. Plus, she's always inclined to providing real helpful hints and insider know-how to cooking.

Like her recipe for mushroom risotto: the intimidating dish is made so accessible even for homecooks like me! It's laborious, but if you follow the recipe to a tee, the dish will pan out beautifully. Besides, what says "I love you" more than a labour of love that makes a beeline straight to the man's stomach? I've tweaked her recipe, very slightly, to accommodate for my personal preferences; the addition of truffle oil and subtraction of chives.
 

Ingredients (4 servings):
1 cup dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in 3 cups boiling water
600gm mushrooms, cleaned and sliced (I used cremini, but you can use an assortment of portobello, brown, white or shitake)
1 medium yellow onion, finely minced
2 cups arborio or canaroli rice, no need to wash
2 cups dry white wine (I used chardonnay here)
6-7 cups chicken stock, boiling hot
2 cloves garlic, smashed with the side of a knife
Olive oil for frying
3 tbsp truffle oil
Salt for tasting
2 tbsp butter for finishing
Parmesan, to shave as garnish


Porcini Paste (used as an additive to jazz up mushroom risottos or soups)
1) To make a porcini paste, remove the rehydrated porcini with a slotted spoon into a blender with 2 tbsp of soaking water and blend into a paste. Set aside the paste for use later.

2) The remainder of the soaking water, add the top 2/3 layer to chicken stock to boil; discard the bottom 1/3 layer, it contains the crud and dirt that has settled to the bottom.

Directions:
1) Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in pan, and add garlic (this is to make the oil tastier and fragrant).

2) Once garlic is browned, remove from pan. To save time, you can opt to use garlic oil instead.

3) Add onions to fry until transluscent. Salt lightly (this is to layer the flavours as you go instead of only at the end).

4) Add rice, coat evenly in oil and fry until toasty.

5) Add wine, enough to cover the surface of the rice and stir into rice until wine is almost all absorbed.

5) Add 1 cup stock (or enough stock to cover the rice), and stir until liquid all absorbed. Repeat 2 more times. Salt lightly.

6) It should look like this, plump with a toothsome bite.

7) Add 2 tbsp porcini paste, and stir into risotto.

8) In a separate pan, fry up the sliced mushrooms with 3 tbsp olive oil till cooked through. Salt lightly.

9) Add cooked mushrooms to the risotto, and toss evenly.

10) Turn off heat. Add 2 tbsp butter, and 3 tbsp truffle oil, and stir gently into the rice. This emulsifies the risotto so it achieves a flowy consistency but still holds its shape.

11) Serve and garnish with parmesan shavings and freshly ground pepper.

Savour 2014

It's not my style to attend food festivals. They're usually open-air (read: non-air-conditioned and hot), the food's overpriced, there's hardly any proper seating, service is practically non-existent, and worse of all, queues are a guarantee. But, I was recently gifted with a couple of complimentary tickets to Savour 2014, courtesy of my favourite kitchen and cookware retailer ToTT and the good people of FoodNews PR.

I've mentioned before that I love the stuff at ToTT, where you get maximum bang for your buck in fitting out your kitchen. I mean, my home kitchen is like a mini ToTT, so you can't say I don't put my money where my mouth is. Granted, the way their gleaming Sime Darby Centre showroom looks like a high-end kitchenware shop, you'd never believe how affordable their price points. But it so is!

This year marks ToTT's inaugural participation at Savour 2014. They have a booth at the gourmet food festival, with product demonstrations (so you get to see and learn first-hand how to use their ah-mazing products), a QR Code shopping wall (it links you directly to their website), a select bunch of their kitchen/tableware, and an iPad station for you to browse their extensive online shop. And from now till this Sunday night, ToTT is offering free delivery with a minimum spending of only $80, instead of the usual $200, on purchases made through their website here. Sweet!

We were introduced to one of their baking products, Magic Sparkles, glitter that looks just like what we all had/have in our makeup stash, but it's all edible baking products!

The jewel-toned sparkly sprinkles enlivened the cutest baby cupcakes. Because they're all-natural, GM-free and tested for common allergens, these sparkles are great for kids. No worries about loading your kids with artificial crap here.

As for the event itself; Savour 2014, I brought Lips with me (the Hubs had some hob-nobbing to do with the Tokyo bigwigs so Lips got second dibs!). We spent about $60 between the 2 of us and still walked away hungry (oh yes, we went off for a second dinner at Beng Hiang thereafter). It's not to say that the food wasn't good. In fact, the food was sublime. It's just that it wasn't enough. I would advise budgeting about $150 per person if you want a properly substantial meal.

Also, we had to eat standing up the entire time we were at Savour 2014. Just about every table was occupied with pretentious fops who didn't look like they cared to share. Ah well, the food portions were so small anyway that we finished our food in a flash, and so, a table to plop our plastic plates down wasn't really missed.

The saving grace was the cool weather and light breeze permeating the air with tantalising smells wafting out of the various booths. We weren't too hot or bothered.

I suppose it all boils down to this burning question: would I go to Savour if I didn't get complimentary passes? Nope. I'd rather go to the restaurants directly (yes, even the overseas Michelin-starred ones) for a proper sit-down meal. With white tablecloths and full table service. Even if that means forking out more moolah. BUT, if you like the convenience of sampling tasting portions of over 10 different celebrated chefs' superb creations, and don't quite have the money/time to spend chasing these restaurants down, then Savour the gourmet food festival, should be right up your alley.

So, anyways, onto the food. It was a good thing that I'm such a picky eater because everything we chose was due to elimination. Which resulted in us only picking 4 dishes, in which all 4 of them, yes, ALL, were fantastic. First up, in order of preference (it was a damn close fight!), was the booth starring Julien Royer from the lauded Jaan. This restaurant is so getting a fastpass on my to-eat list.

The 55' Smoked Organic Egg ($12) with smoked potato, iberico chorizo, buckwheat was just about the most perfect marriage of flavours and textures, you'd swear it was Cupid who brought them all together.

Next up was the booth featuring the oh-so-cute-it-hurts Chef Moon Kyung Soo from Mikuni. My passing crush wasn't a sentiment shared by Lips, who thought he looked really ordinary. I realised, later on, that the chef is Korean, so I guess I've sort of got a thing for Korean men. I blame the Hubs for kickstarting this.

The Kanpachi Truffle Soya ($16) with chrysanthemum flowers, was unbelievably delicate and clear. The truffle complemented the light soy and enhanced the natural clean flavours of the sparkling fresh sashimi.

The third booth helmed by Chef Kentaro Torii from Forlino, highlighted his minimalist Japanese refinement to hearty Italian cooking.

The luxurious 5 Cheese Tortellini ($14) with saffron cream sauce was, despite being loaded with FIVE cheeses, was light as a fairy. A couple of melt-in-your-mouth slow-braised kurobuta pork cheek cubes, beetroot puree and winter truffle completed the sensational dish.

Last but not least was the booth spotlighting Chef Daniel Sia from The Disgruntled Chef, The restaurant has been on my to-eat list since forever.

The meltingly tender Braised Pork Cheeks ($18) with sweet miso daikon, and light-as-air mousseline potatoes, hit the comfort button squarely. There was just something about this that would fit right in with cotton flannels, cool weather, a beer and binge-watching on Netflix.

My grateful thanks to Jael and Leroy of FoodNews PR and the awesome peeps of ToTT for the invitations and reception!

Savour 2014 
The Promontory @ Marina Bay
5-9 March 2014
Website: www.savour.sg

ABC Brickworks Food Centre

Because of its city-fringe locale, ABC Brickworks Food Centre is one of our frequented hawker haunts. Although the sprawling hawker centre is currently closed for renovations, it'll purportedly reopen next month, on 2 April. 

These are a couple of their notable stalls.

Yong Zhen Lor Mee

The Lor Mee ($2.50) here is notably more temperate than what I'm used to. But its muted flavours kind of grows on you. Especially if you're the type to prefer delicate and clear flavours. This was choc-a-bloc with braised pork belly, shredded shark meat and shark nuggets. By the way, if you want a braised egg, it's an extra $0.50.

If you like, I've seen customers drizzle copious amounts of black vinegar and load up on the chilli padi for more kick.

Yong Zhen also sells soupy prawn noodles, which looked quite popular with long-timers.

Yong Zhen Lor Mee
#01-40
Closed Wednesdays and Thursdays

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Tong Fong Fatt Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice

Tong Fong Fatt is another "famous" stall in this hawker centre. But unlike Fatty Cheong's, this boneless chicken rice stall barely sports a queue.

The Chicken ($8 for 2 person portion) is silky smooth and succulent. I liked that, like Shen Ji, the sauce here is a thick-ish gravy, rather than the usual watery soy-sesame oil emulsion offered at most other chicken rice stalls.

The aromatic Rice ($0.50) could be tastier, but it does set up the luscious gravy beautifully.

The store façade for reference; it's at the corner nearest the main road, where the entrance to the carpark is.

Tong Fong Fatt Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice
#01-32
Open Thursdays to Tuesdays from 10am to 9pm; Closed on Wednesdays

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ABC Brickworks Food Centre
6 Jalan Bukit Merah

Ippudo SG, Mandarin Gallery

I brought the Hubs along when I returned to Ippudo; he'd been damn "gian" to try the Spicy Black Ramen ever since I raved about it. We hit up this popular ramen joint on a Monday night with hopes of avoiding the insane weekend dinner crowd, and while there wasn't a queue in sight, the bustling restaurant was still operating at an 80% capacity. That said, service was Speedy Gonzales-fast and upbeat.

We started off with a seasonal special, the Tori Tukune ($8), juicy morsels of skewered chicken balls grilled to a smoky char, topped off by scrambled egg laces.

I wasn't blown away by the original tonkotsu ramen the last time round, but what a difference a good dollop of spicy miso makes. The Spicy Miso Tonkotsu Karaka-Men ($18), with ground pork and an extra Tamago ($3), had lively and punchy first notes, which mellowed out to a rounded milky base note.  

Ah the piece de resistance here, the Spicy Black ($18), spiked with spicy niku miso, copious dashes of black pepper, and lashings of spicy koyu oil is insanely good, and is only to be missed with much regret. Unsurprisingly, the heady, robust, sniffles-inducing broth was a big hit with the spice-loving Hubs. We also added an extra Tamago ($3) to this.

Ippudo SG
333A Orchard Road
Mandarin Gallery #04-02
Tel: 6235 2797
Open Mondays to Saturdays from 11am to 11pm
Sundays from 11am to 10pm
Website: www.ippudo.com.sg