Gardenia bread and Ayam Brand’s sardines and tuna - 29 August 2009

I wrote on Facebook that Gardenia’s Nutri Multi-Grain bread with Ayam Brand’s chilli & lime sardines in tomato sauce is very nice; having tried that for breakfast. My friend commented and asked me to try Gardenia’s Focaccia with Ayam Brand’s chilli tuna but not to put the chilli with the Focaccia. Woke up early this morning to go to the supermart to get them for breakfast. Wah! Wonderful combination. Spicy good and shiok shiok shiok! I had to wash my hair to get rid of the sweat after that.

Birthday cake and eggs

Even though I am no longer young and am married, on the day of my Chinese birthday, my mother will, without fail, go to the neighbourhood cakeshop to buy a simple cake and boil eggs for me.  The eggs are coated with a type of red-pinkish colouring and the whole family will eat at least an egg for the day.  Simple family tradition.

Birthday Dinner at Tatsuya - 25 August 2009

My birthday dinner was at our favorite Japanese restaurant – Tatsuya. I reserved 2 counter seats and specially asked that we sit in front of Chef Goh-san. We asked Goh-san to give us 2 omakase sets and to include more of cooked dishes.

We started with 2 small appetizers each– my wife had pan-fried tofu with fish roe and freshly cut figs and I had the sliced rolled smoked salmon with roe and the freshly cut figs. These were good to start with and prepared us for a greatly enjoyable evening.

Next came a large rock oyster for me. It was smooth and sweet and could have easily slight down my throat.

Fugu mirin boshi – fried puffer fish with a sweet liquid flavoring made from glutinous rice and shochu- was next. We always asked for fugu mirin boshi without fail at Tatsuya. It was so so good and it’s liking eating bak-kwa with no guilt. Of course fugu can be deadly if not prepared properly.

Next came a plate of sashimi. Tatsuya consistently serves one of the best sashimi in town. Just look at the photo. Doesn’t it look at a piece of art? ;-)

Sliced cooked awabi (abalone) topped with bits of salmon skins and marinade was next. Each slice was chewy and crunchy. Nice contrast to the sashimi.

Next came a warm thick broth that had generous cubes of grilled eel mixed with radish. I think miso must be one of the ingredients and the broth was sweet.

We had a grilled isaki next. It was light and delicate but not as sweet as the kinki (my favorite and bloody expensive). I think it may be because the isaki was grilled instead of steamed. We finished the whole fish except for the head and tail.

The preserved ginger and pickled vegetables were good and they are usually served with the aburi sushi.

Tatsuya is well known for its aburi (grilled) sushi. We had a couple of them. Below is a picture of a piece of hirame (flounder) sushi. A check with Chef Goh-san and we found that it came from a left-eye flounder. Nice grilled aroma, chewy and juicy with lots of oomphs. I also asked for a piece of Matsusaka beef sushi. Gotta have Matsusaka beef whenever I am there.

My wife was served a bowl of tasty hot thin white noodles (I think this is hiyamugi) soup with beef. It was so good that we had to ask them where to buy the noodles.  Understand from one of the chefs that the hiyamugi is available over at the Isetan supermart.  Will definitely go and look for it.

It was late in the evening when we neared the end of the omakase course. Throoughout dinner, I had umeshu which was made by Tatsuya and bought for us as an anniversary gift from Andrew and Pat. The umeshu went well with the dishes and I think it will become a lot better given a couple more years of ageing. We were the only customers left and took the opportunity to chat with the chefs while they were cleaning up the counter.

Dinner at Pietrasanta - 22 August 2009

Was at Pietrasanta for dinner with 3 of my closest friends for a special occasion.

We skipped the tripes this time around as I having too much of these lately (Chinese and Western styles). So for starters, we had cold cuts, deep fried anchovies and Portobello mushrooms. I love all the starters especially the fried anchovies which I never seem to get tired of. They are not salty, not too hard or soft , simply just the right stuff for me.

For the mains, the four of us shared a slow cooked lamb shoulder, a steamed Italian sea bream, 4 grilled fresh langoustines (freshly flown in from Italy that day) and alio olio with crams.

The lamb shoulder was marvelously slow-cooked. The meat was soft, juicy and combined well with the excellently done mashed potatoes. This was a good change from the equally excellent beef steak that we usually order.

The steamed Italian sea bream was a surprise. Usually I do not order fish in Italian restaurants as the dish usually come out dry. But this was delightfully delicious. It may be because the shipment just came in on the same day.

The grilled langoustines were the highlight of the dinner. They were fresh, succulent and sweet. But atlas, being langoustines, we could only get so much meat out of them.

We opened a bottle of 1997 Carpineto Brunello di Montalcino which was “potong” from Andrew (not at dinner);

and a 1996 Marques Caceres Gaudium Gran Vino, courtesy of CW. Both wines went very well with the food on the table.

Overall it was an excellent dinner with close friends. We should meet up more often for meals rather than wait for special occasions; hah.

Pomegranates Finally!!!

Finally, I manage to find pomegranates at one of the wholesalers over at the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre. They are very fast moving and I quickly grabbed about 20 of them. Given half to Andrew as his daughter loves them. Just opened one. They are good ;-). The arils (seed casings) are very red, sweet and tasty. I think the pomegranades can last me for a week. I am a happy man.

Looking forward to golf at this place next month - 21 August 2009

Not going to say where this place is...for now;-)

Lunch at Raku Japanese Restaurant & Bar – Greenwood Ave – 20 August 2009

Wanted to go to Le Braceria for lunch but instead ended up at Raku Japanese Restaurant & Bar. Have not been to this Raku though I have been a couple of times to their first outlet over at the Holland Village area. But those were a few years ago and I am not sure if the outlet at the Holland V area is still there.

When the two of us stepped in at about 12.30pm, the restaurant was half filled (can also say half empty;-)). The interior décor is dark which is the same as its Holland outlet but it looked a bit more spacious than the Holland outlet if my recollection serves me well. As usual, we asked to sit at the counter so that we could see what they have and how the chefs are preparing the food.
I wanted to ask for an Omakase course but decided against it as we did not want to eat so much. The lady manager recommended a couple of dishes which accordingly to her were very fresh and some were their specialties.

They gave us a Nama Uni Sushi (Japanese vegetable salad). I thought that this was free as I didn’t order it. It was part of the bill;-(. Nevertheless, I quite like the salad and find the dish cold and refreshing. It was a nice starter with such a hot weather that day.

Next dish was an Arakabu sashimi. I was told that the Arakabu is in the same grouping of fish as the Kinki (which I love) and that’s why I ordered it. We observed the chef deboning and preparing the Arakabu in front of us. We suspect him to be relatively new as he was deboning the fish very slowly and not that skillful. We didn’t really like the taste of the Arakabu as it was not as sweet as we expected. Nevertheless it was crunchy. The bones were later used as a base for clear soup and again we find the soup not to our liking. I should have asked them to steam the fish instead.

Next on the table was Tsubugai (a type of Japanese seashell) sashimi. The chef separated the meat from the intestines and the intestines were soaked in soy sauce. I quite like the intestines. They tasted like century eggs albeit a bit harder.

After the Tsubugai, the dishes came too fast for our liking. I guess the staff was not experienced in observing the eating pace of the customers. This is something that should not happen in a Japanese restaurant. Some of the dishes are not meant to be taken together as they have different flavors.

We were given the tenderloin beef teppanyaki, the Nama Hotate Miso (grilled scallop with the shell and seasoned with miso), and a tray of uni sushi, ikura (salmon) belly sushi, toro (tuna belly) sushi, mekajiki (swordfish) sushi almost all at the same time. So, if you are into Japanese food, you will know some of the dishes will overwhelm the others. And because all the dishes came at the same time, they filled up the space we have at the counter! Then we have to hurrying consuming them as Japanese food will not taste nice if one leave them for toolong. Sigh! BIG BIG SIGH!

However, I like the tenderloin beef teppanyaki . This was the best dish of the lunch. It was “teppaned” nicely and juicy.

The Nama Hotate Miso was too sweet but still okay for me. The toro sushi was a big letdown. It did not taste like toro at all, did not look fresh and was dry with an after taste in my mouth.

Will I go back again? I don’t think so; unless one of my customers need to have a quick Japanese lunch and does not like to travel far for it. I rather travel a bit further to Matsuo-san or pay more over at Tatsuya to satisfy my Japanese food craving.

A Visit to a Pu'Er Tea centre in Kunming, Yunnan - 22 July 2009

When in Kunming, you have to pay a visit to a Pu’er tea shop. So the Yunnan Luyu Tea Culture Exchange Centre was where we all ended up in the afternoon of 22 July 2009. Our guide told us that the research centre is run by the Yunnan Agricultural University. Of course, trust the business-minded Chinese to also sell Pu’er teas to the visitors to make some tourist money and commission for the guides. From the look of the place, I think the various Pu’er tea there are the real stuff.

The centre is like a tea museum depicting the history of Pu’er tea in Yunnan. On display were the large leaves which are processed into Pu’er tea leaves,

the old tea horse route which was used to transport the tea leaves to various parts of China,

the various types of tea packagings,

the various grades of Pu’er tea , the types of tools and weights to package the tea leaves,

the types of transportation used by the locals to supply Pu’er teas to various parts of China etc.

We were given a presentation by the centre on the history and health benefits of Pu’er tea which inevitably led to us making many purchases. Good marketing by the folks there. My boss was so impressed that he wanted to employ one of the presenters (hahahhaha).

I must say that my knowledge of Pu’er tea increased substantially from that visit. Of course, substantially lah if you know nothing much in the first place ;-).

Drinking Pu’er tea on a daily basis can maintain and improve one’s health and it is said that it can prevent some types of cancers especially the aged tea leaves (shown below is supposedly a 20 year old 2 kg aged Pu-er tea leaves (this packaging is called a "brick")

The 20 year old Pu-er tea brick is expensive and thus to "add value", it is packed into a small nice wooden box.

I know quite a few of us in that group who visited the centre are now drinking aged Pu’er tea on a regular basis. Cheers!

Pluots????? - 14 August 2009

Was at my usual favourite fruit outlet on Friday afternoon. This time around, I bought some Oregon blueberries, Canada cherries and California pluots. Also bought passion fruits and a miniature watermelon from another shop. Photo above shows 2 ripe passion fruits and 3 pluots.

Pluots??? I had no clue what pluots are and thought they are apricots (I was 30% right). There is no such entry in both my Oxford and Chambers pocket dictionaries. A quick google revealed that pluots are a hybrid of plums (70%) and apricots (70%). They are highly sweet. The pluots that I bought have a initial sour taste followed by sweetness. They are juicy. Read that they are full of vitamins A and C and are cholesterol and sodium free and very low fat content. Definitely this is another fruit that I will like. They are only available from late May to September and growth in the Central Vally in California.

Penfolds Grange Wine Dinner at St Pierre – 13 August 2009

While having wines at Petro Centre the other week, Alain asked if we could like to have a Penfolds Grange Dinner over at St Pierre. Of course we all jumped into it when we were told that there will be Grange wines in the 70s, 80s and 90s with Emmanuel Stroobant at the kitchen.

And so it was a table for ten at St Pierre and what a stupendous dinner it turned out to be. It was a 9 course dinner and every course was paired with great wines.

We started with Amelia fruit tomato with fleur de sel and Japanese tuna carpaccio and paired with a Meursault 2003 Domaine et Selection made by Coche Dury. Yes, the one and only Coche Dury. Any white burgundy made by him will be excellent! Thanks to Alain who unselfishly contributed this bottle ;-).

Next came roasted king scallop with vanilla scented parsnip puree and grilled chicken jus and paired with Penfolds Grange 2000 and 1999. It is seldom that someone combines scallop and chicken for a dish but the chef in black was able make a glorious combination. However, every one of us was throwing praises at the Grange 2000. The wine was simply delicious. We will definitely be looking out for this wine.

The third course was a low temperature hen’s egg with fricasse of girolles and black truffle marmalade. This dish was my favourite that night.

Eggs with truffles will always be one of my favourite dishes. Emmanuel was generous with the truffles so I suspect that the truffles may have come from Australia……kekekeke. This was paired with Grange 1994.

After that, we had the oyster scented mini risotto with bottarga. I am still getting used to the taste of the bottarga and find it overwhelming on the risotto. I have to remind myself that I still have some bottarga in my fridge which I have to consume soon.

The risotto was paired with the wine of the night (to most of us) - the Grange 1971. This wine is 28 year old but it still has a lot of oomph in it. It was simply heavenly drinking it and a few of us quietly asked for a second pour. I think this wine will still go on for at least another 10 years.

The braised Boston lobster with shiraz dressing, glazed baby turnip and vanilla scented Fiji apple was next and it was paired with Grange 1991 and 1996. Lobster is also one of my favorite seafood and I wished there was more lobster meat ;-).

The lobster course was followed by roasted pigeon with caramelized figs and braised ratte potato in pigeon sauce which was paired with Grange 1983 and 1986.

I don’t like pigeon and try to avoid it as much as possible; reason being that I hate the “wild game” taste. You sometime get this type of taste when eating a duck but the pigeon “wild game” taste is always so much stronger for my liking. But this was different. It was roasted to perfection. The “wild game” taste was barely there and it was juicy good. Many pigeons I tasted were usually tough and dry.

It had been a long time since I finished a pigeon dish placed in front of me. The Grange 1983 was great but I think it should be decanted for a longer period.

By this time, it was getting late into the night and we were all quite full and tipsy. But we were all eagerly waiting for the star dish of the night – certified ribeye wagyu beef from Japan and cooked for 72 hours with wasabi scented gnocchi, Madeira emulsion and organic broccoli puree. But it came out to be a disappointment for most of us as there was simply too much fat in it. I guessed because we were very full and high on alcohol by that time. All of us dreaded taking in more fat even though I took a piece and found it agreeable. The wagyu paired with Grange 1990 and 1998. The Grange 1998 is another wine that I remind myself to look out for.

It was way past 11 pm and most of us could not touch the desserts and 24 months old comte “trou de souris”. Luckily it was not epoisses in which I would have wallop it;-). I settled for a cup of good old coffee to keep my head clear for going home.

Overall this dinner was excellent especially with such excellent range of Penfolds Grange wines. It is only once in many moons that one will come across such a range of wines in one sitting.