The Hungry Bunny

This is a brunch-friendly dish that's really easy to whip up, as long as you can get a reliable sous chef to assist with the dicing (the Hubs had to redo his batch after a quality control inspection). An added bonus is that melting the gorgonzola into a puddle of cheesy melty goo makes the stinky blue cheese an excellent introduction to cheese virgins. Ingredients (feeds 5-6): 5 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes (I used a mix of yellow and purple ones - they look prettier this way) 1/3 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil Salt (flavoured salts are fine too; I used a cabernet salt) Gorgonzola (switch it out for regular mozzarella, ricotta, or feta if you prefer) Eggs (apportion 1 egg per person) Direction: 1) Toss diced sweet potatoes with olive oil and salt and spread it out onto a baking pan, making sure it's well-oiled and sufficiently salted. Roast for 15-20 minutes at 190C until tender. 2) Remove pan from oven, and break eggs in separate

At first brush, Thai-based Jim Thompson may appear to be just another homeware retailer in the Dempsey Hills lifestyle enclave, but the multi-hypenate chain actually houses a restaurant. Set in a beautiful black-and-white colonial, amongst lush gardens, and basking in the glow of twinkling lights, the restaurant is striking. But that's where the superlatives end. Service was well-meaning, but inefficient and sluggish. The staff to customer ratio was higher than at Tamarind Hill , but service was slower at Jim Thompson . The food was lackluster, far from authentic, and depressingly watered down, probably to indulge the large proportion of Caucasians frequenting the restaurant. Notwithstanding the abysmal fare, the restaurant was still a full-house on a mid-week evening. Packed with business-types. I think, Tamarind Hill would have left a far better impression on business associates. A major bummer: the mosquitoes infesting the restaurant. I sat indoors, an air-conditioned but

Food tours are de rigueur on my travels. I've found that joining a food tour is the most authentic way to get to know a country, as guides bring you around to their favourite food haunts, away from tourist traps, all the while providing an unadulterated insight of a local.  I've never done one in Singapore (why would I ever need to anyway??), so when the FoodNews PR people invited me on a Gourmet Greens Week 2015 Food Trail around our little island, I thought, why not? It'd be fun to do one of my little island, and I may discover new foodie gems! Besides, I'd been toying with the idea of implementing a vegetarian diet once a week, so the food trail's spotlight on vegetarian fare was perfectly opportune. For the week of 23 - 29 November, participating restaurants will offer a 4-course set lunch at $30, and 4-course set dinner at $45, with a complimentary bottle of FIJI Water (I mean, if you were going to eat clean, you may as well go all the way and avoid Newa

The west end of Singapore is frequently denounced for its lack of laudable cafes. However, I've noticed a trend, in recent years, a surge in cafes opened in the west, like On The Table , W39 Bistro, and now, Paddy Hills . The corner tenant of a row of gentrified shophouses, Paddy Hills occupies the very same spot previously helmed by Lim Seng Lee Duck Rice (aka that South Buona Vista Road duck rice). Walking into the industrial chic space, you couldn't imagine an open-air-ed old-school coffeeshop hawking braised duck rice if you weren't here before. Hipsters abound, of course, but I've seen the occasional basic adults drawn from the hinterland. The bistro is run by a lean workforce, but, for a place that doesn't have any service charge, service was fantastic - smiley and efficient. In contrast, I get charged the standard 10% service charge for bleagh service elsewhere. Another perk, no GST either!  That said, my grouse was mainly regarding the menu, it tende

It's been a while since we last visited La Strada , and the first time we've dined here since the new chef was installed. As expected, the menu's been revamped; the pastas and risottos have shrunk while the appetizers, meats and seafood have expanded. Bestselling signatures have remained, like the carbonara and tagliolini al granchio , but there's definitely a deliberate paradigm shift in the restaurant's approach to the menu.  A bonus to our return: it's white truffle season! YUMS. A seasonal special off the white truffle menu, the Piedmont Beef Tartare ($64) was perhaps the most exquisite rendition ever. Sumptuously full-bodied, a drizzling of olive oil, shavings of parmesan, and flecks of white truffle came together to make an elegant, flavoursome starter. The Fritto Misto ($32), a melange of lightly battered shrimp, squid, fish, whitebait, zucchini, and eggplant, was deep fried to a golden perfection. A sundried tomato aioli added a refreshing pi

This may have started out as an invited tasting (courtesy of the fabulous people of FoodNews PR), but I'm gonna take an aside and credit a foodie friend of mine, Izzy, for 2 of the best eats of 2015 (the other being Bochinche ). She'd raved about the food at Sugarhall , a Jigger & Pony affiliate (and neighbour) and highly recommended the awesome roasted chicken. As with all new-fangled restaurants in Singapore, Sugarhall had opened with great fanfare a little over a year ago, where the CBD-set swarmed and reservations weren't allowed. Now that the gleam has dulled somewhat, the crowds have dissipated, and reservations can now be taken for groups of 8 persons right at the last minute on a Saturday night. It's a revelation that the restaurant is far from a full-house on a weekend night; Sugarhall 's fare is fantastic, with every dish a slamdunk, and service is upbeat, knowledgeable, and gregarious. BUT, I have a supposition: the fact that the restaurant is 2

The year-end festivities have begun!!!!!! I was reminded of the commencement of my favourite time of the year when a friend brought over a bunch of Twelve Cupcakes' Halloween edition cupcakes; left to right from top row: a bandaged rainbow-vanilla-ed Yellow Mummy; a red velvety Ghosty emoji; a minty chocolate Green Monster aka Oscar the Grouch's cousin; and bottom row right: a pumpkinned chocolate Mr Scary Face. Almost too cute to eat! Twelve Cupcakes B1-01 Orchard Gateway 277 Orchard Road Tel: 6509 1255 Open daily from 10am to 10pm Website: www.twelvecupcakes.com

Basque is a coastal region in Spain that flanks the south of France. A subset of Spanish cuisine, but heavily influenced by French inclination, its cooking is characterised by, amongst other things, smoked paprika and roasted peppers. These, together with a typically full-bodied Spanish red like a tempranillo, form the core flavour profiles of a classic Basque Beef Stew . I didn't have a tempranillo on hand, so I substituted a cabernet sauvignon recently scored on my travels to wine country Down Under. Ingredients (feeds 4): 1 kg stewing beef chuck, cut into 1" cubes 250 gm carrots, diced 400 gm white button mushrooms, sliced 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved 3 large potatoes, cut into 1" dice 1 large yellow onion, chopped finely 5 cloves garlic, minced 300 gm roasted bell peppers, sliced roughly 1 cup full-bodied rich red wine (tempranillo, pinor noir, or cabernet sauvignon will do just fine) 4 cups beef stock 1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves only 1 tbsp smok