Lunch-Jing Dian Seafood Restaurant, Sungei Kadut-6 August 2009

Thinking hard for a lunch place today. Suddenly recalled a recent TV food programme in which two celebrities drive around Singapore to review food. One of the restaurants featured is a newly opened seafood restaurant in Sungei Kadut. Sungei Kadut??!!!! That area is like “ulu” with lots of furniture factories and people like us on the street only go there infrequently on weekends to look at furniture. Nevertheless, without actually knowing where the restaurant location is, William and I decided to try our luck. TV programme introduced one must be good, right?! WHAT A MISTAKE, WHAT A MISTAKE, BIG BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!

At first, we could not find the place so we stopped the car to ask a lady and she pointed us towards the newly opened International Furniture Centre (IFC). She guessed that the restaurant must be there. Turned out to be right.

When we stepped into the restaurant, there was just maybe about 5 tables of patrons. We were given the menu which looks similar to that of House of Lobsters. But we do not think they are related to the House of Lobsters. We ordered the set for two which includes lobsters porridge and a vegetable dish. The Chinese waitress (nowadays nearly all waitresses come from China) recommended their so called signature chicken dish which looks like miniature chicken drum sticks. The restaurant began to fill up and it was downhill all the way until we stepped out of it.
First, I don’t like the tables and chairs. Either the table is too high or the chair too low, I find it difficult to place my hands on the table. The seat of the chair is too deep. I have difficulty leaning back. If Jo comes along, my bet is that she will feel very uncomfortable since she is short.
Second, they have this device on the table that one can press the small buttons to call for the waitress to order, make payment etc. This is actually the same device that they have at the Thai Shark Fin Restaurant over at Goodwood Park Hotel but with one major difference. You see, whenever, you press a button, a series of jingles that last for nearly 20 seconds will sound out from a speaker in the dining area of the restaurant. And the sound is irritating loud!!! And we had to sit just a metre away from the freaking speaker hanging over us! We complained to the waitress several times about the noise but to no avail.

Second, the waiting time for the three dishes was simply way too long! We nearly finished half the teapot of Pu’er before the lobster porridge came. And the porridge was nowhere near that of House of Lobsters which is much tastier and comes at the right sizzling hot temperature! It could have been better if Jing Dian porridge is a tad hotter. I think they used a lower grade of rice than that of House of Lobsters to make the porridge.

We finished our porridge but the signature chicken dish and the vegetable dish were nowhere to be seen! Each of us took about 3 bowls of porridge and the other dishes were not served!!! We were not the only one impatiently waiting for the food. Pity our nearest table of 6 who came in about 10 minutes later than us. They did not even have any dish on their table even after we footed the bill and left the restaurant. This was like more than 45 minutes after they placed their orders. If I was in their shoes, I would have walked out of the restaurant.
I shall not comment further on the so-called signature dish or the vegetable dish except to say that I cannot understand how they could call it “signature dish”.

And this is not the end. We went to the cashier counter to make payment thinking that it could save us some time as we already spent nearly an hour and a half waiting for 3 simple dishes. Guess what; we have to wait 6-7 minutes for someone to appear at the counter. There was also another customer waiting there but he was trying to tell them to serve the rest of the dishes. The waiter brought up a list of the dishes he ordered and asked him what had been served!!!! Goodness!!!

And guess what again, we were told by the waitress that the boss is also lunching with some guests at one of the tables. Gosh, he cannot see with his own eyes what is happening at the restaurant and that his customers that day are most likely not to come back again???? I did not see any captain around to manage the restaurant and I think he better go and find a good one. Even though the food is so-so but the place has potential as it is the only restaurant around there but if the service continues to be what it is today, then good luck. I am definitely not going back again if not for a long while. I am still wondering how come there is a TV programme on the place!

After today’s lobster porridge lunch, I really miss House of Lobsters which has closed its Republic Polytechnic branch. They have good food but it is not the right location for them.

Lunch at Tatsuya-5 August 2009

Not been to Tatsuya for a couple of weeks, so was glad when Andrew suggested we have lunch there. For Tatsuya, he will always do the reservation as he is a regular there.

I was there on time at 12.30pm. If you eat at Tatsuya, you know that it is recession proof. It is practically full for lunch and dinner. For dinner, they can have 3 turns. Now why do we love the food? Because the food are very fresh and the chefs and waitress are jovial and pay detailed attention to your needs. They make you feel shiok and welcomed. Prices are not cheap. An omakase meal for one will likely knock you back by S$200-S$250. But the quality of the food is fantastic.

Chef Goh-san was a little taken aback when we asked for their menu. All these while that we are there, we have never asked for the menu and just let him decides what he is going to do for us. Of course we always ask him to include our favorites i.e. grilled fugu and the Matsusaka beef. Both of us took like a ten second look at the menu and said to him “omakase”. He gave a sign of relief and jokingly told us that he was taken back when we asked for the menu. Kekekekeke.
Chef Goh-san has actually set aside some goodies for us. The first one was the uni (urchin roe). Man, they were real fresh; being just in from the Tokyo Tsukiji market in the morning. Goh-san had just cut off the top of the urchin and presented us with the uni lobes still inside the urchin. On my, the color of the uni was so orange and the texture so smooth and buttery. The taste was so fresh, sweet and simply melted into my mouth with a slight hint of the sea. I have seldom tasted uni so fresh before and the only one that is comparable was the time I ate live uni in one of the seafood market in Hokkaido.

The other special dish was two huge oysters. Big oyster is usually less desirable than the smaller ones. But these two were different. They were smooth, slightly creamy and crunchy. When I sank my teeth into the oyster, it was simply juicy. Have to remind myself to check with Goh-san the name of these oysters.

Okay, I am not going to go into details the rest of the omakase meal. It was a fulfilling meal yet again at Tatsuya. Looking forward to the next meal there;-).

I did not bring my camera along and the photos of the uni and oyster were taken from my headphone. The quality of the photos certainly does not do justice to both these dishes.

Notes on Matsusaka beef (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Matsusaka beef (松阪牛, Matsusaka gyu, also "Matsuzaka beef") is wagyu (Japanese beef) originating in the Matsusaka region of Mie, Japan. It is one of the most famous kinds of beef within Japan and internationally, containing a high fat-to-meat ratio.

Breeding

Matsusaka beef is produced from virgin female cows chiefly born in Hyōgo Prefecture. The cows are raised in the quiet, serene area surrounding Matsusaka between the Kumozu River to the north and Miyagawa River to the south. Only female wagyu are raised in Matsusaka, where they are fed plenty of fodder, as well as tofu lees and ground wheat. When they have no appetite, they are fed beer to stimulate their eating, and they also receive regular massages with straw brushes after being sprayed with shōchū and are taken for daily afternoon walks. Soothing music is played to the cattle to "calm" them and promote better quality beef.

Mini Wine Drinking Session -@ PetroCentre – 31 July 2009

We went for a small wine drinking session at Alain’s PetroCentre. When I reached there, Andrew was already there and Alain had opened 2 Italian wines – a 1994 San Leonardo and a 1995 Montselapade- to breathe.




Both of them gave me puzzled looks when I asked them if their wives told them any exciting news. Alamak, their wives have not told them that my wife is expecting. I had the honour of breaking the news to them. Our guess is that the wives thought that I would have told their husbands. Hahahahaha. Anyway, they were very happy and began to tease me what I will be expecting from now onwards. Alain happily said “This calls for a celebration and we need to open Montrachet and Musigny!!!” He quickly went into his cellar to bring out a 2001 Domaine Amiot Guy et Fils Montrachet, a 1999 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogue Musigny and a De Sousa rose champagne. Unfortunately, Alain had left the De Sousa in the freezer and the bottle was practically iced! He had a hard time trying to prevent the bubbles from spurting out of the bottle. It was kind of fun watching him forcing his hand onto the nose of the bottle and trying to slowly open a small gap for the bubbles to fizzle out. Somehow, he managed to salvage about 4 glasses of the wonderful De Sousa. I think he has to wait for the ice in the bottle to melt to get some more champagne. But I am not sure if you can still call it champagne after that ;-).
Chris, William and SSK joined us a short while later. William bought 1.5kg of roast pork (gosh!!!) and Anna made some nice bread and focaccia. All of us enjoyed the Montrachet and Musigny as well as the two Italian wines. What can I say for the best two type of wines in the world;-). Thanks to Alain for being so generous opening these wines. The only regret is that my wife can’t join us for the occasion and the fabulous wines.

Steak Tartare

My good buddy, Andrew, simply loves steak tartare. Steak tartare is usually a dish of raw beef; though in some countries it can be of raw horse meat. I think steak tartare is easy to prepare. You just have to chop the raw beef very finely and then marinate it with wine and add lots of spices like pepper, tartare sauce. Add in a raw egg and mix with onions and capers.

The first time I taken steak tartare was in 2006 in Beaune, Burgundy. We were having dinner at a restaurant (can’t remember the name but I know the location) and good old Andrew ordered the steak tartare. Me being blurrrrrr at that time, followed him. I can tell you that, goodness me, I took a long time to even complete a quarter of it. I don’t understand why he loved it. How could one eats totally raw beef????? I am okay with beef done raw, medium raw etc but definitely not “tartare” style! I remembered trying to do a Mr Bean on the tartare dish which brought smiles to the rest on the table. The chef even came to question me if there was anything wrong with the dish. Luckily we had lots of other dishes, so I told him I was very full.

Understand that the dish “steak tartare” come from the Tartar people of Central Asia. They did not have time to cook their beef so they place the beef under the saddles of their horses. By the time they finished their journey, the beef is finely tenderised.

Lunch @ Bistro du Vin

We had lunch at the newly opened Bistro du Vin today. This is part of the Les Amis Group. It is quite surprising to a number of my friends that I hardly step into any of the Les Amis restaurants. I don’t know why but I guess it may be because the prices are of the higher end and the wines are so expensive. It feels like I am not getting the money well spent.
The place was quite empty when we stepped in. I guessed it was still early. The place is quite dark for a bistro especially if you get a table inside towards the wine storage area. As more people stepped in for lunch, the place became very noisy. Too noisy for my liking.
I must say that the place is well decorated. Has to be as it was reported that they spent S$500,000 on the deco.
I was quite disappointed with the food. I think my two eating buddies were equally disappointed even though they did not openly say so. For starter, Andrew and I had onion soup and Alain ordered soupe de poisson (fish soup). Don’t know about Alain’s fish soup but Andrew and I agreed that the onion soup was a bit too salty. There was not much onion slices in it and I loved my onion soup with lots of onions.
We had a cold cut platter and a Marcos Iberico de Bellato platter to share. Both were so-so. I guess I may be very critical as I been to France and Italy to eat these. The weather and the storage may have affected the quality of these hams.
I had the braised beef, Andrew had duck confit and Alain, a fish dish. The braised beef was salty and I had to ask the waiter for one too many slices of bread to go together with the braised beef.
The saving grace was the bottle of great wine that Alain brought along. It was a 1990 Paul Jaboule Aine Hermitage La Chapelle Hermitage. Corkage was $50; which in my opinion is way too high for a bistro; be it part of the Les Amis group. No other group was drinking wine despite it being closed to a full house.
A write up of the 1990 Paul Jaboule Aine Hermitage La Chapelle Hermitage is as below by Wine Spectator.
We finished up ordering 3 double espressos and were given single expressos. Don’t think we are going back soon.

Spotlight On: Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1989 vs. 1990
The 96-point 1989 is selling for 51 percent less than the 97-point 1990
Nick Suarez
Posted: Wednesday, April 08, 2009
The Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle is the crown jewel of the family-owned and -operated Paul Jaboulet Aîné winery. The wine has set records for Rhône wines at auction: A case of the heralded 1961 brought in $252,000 in a 2007 sale.
The auction results of the 1989 (96 points, $55 release price, $168 current auction price) and 1990 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle (97 points, $60, $343) make for an interesting comparison. In the Northern Rhône, the 1990 vintage is considered superior to the 1989, but Jaboulet made quality Hermitage La Chapelle in both years. Nevertheless, the track records for these bottlings at auction are quite different: The 1989 is currently trading for 51 percent less than the 1990.

Dinner at Pietrasanta - wedding anniversary-27 June

It was our very first wedding anniversary on 27 June. Throughout the week, both of us were thinking very hard for a suitable place to have a small celebration together. It was made more difficult as we had recently eaten at a number of good restaurants. My wife commented that we have not been to Pietrasanta and Nicolas for quite some time and so it was decided that we would go to either of these restaurants. Nicolas was fully booked for Saturday evening and we were fortunate to make a reservation at Pietrasanta.
We made it a point to go slightly early to get a good parking space and to talk to Loris, the chef cum owner. We were pleasantly surprised that both Loris and his brother, Giuseppe recognised us as we have not been there for quite some time. We found out that the restaurant was only opened on Wednesday as they had gone back to Italy for a couple of weeks of holidays. How lucky for us!
Both of us shared the sauteed clams and aglio olio for starters. Loris does very good sauteed clams and mean aglio olio. Our food guru, Alain, told me once that to judge if an Italian chef is good, just eat his aglio olio. Loris' aglio olio always passes with flying colours. They are chewy, not too oily and simply tasty. We also had salami and blood sauages which Loris just brought back from Milan. They were simply wonderful especially the blood sausage though my wife didn't really like it especially when she discovered what they are...kekeke.
For the mains, my wife had grilled wagyu beef tenderloin and I had grilled pork neck. We always love the way Loris does grilled wagyu beef. I was, however, disappointed with the grilled pork neck. But I have to say that it was my fault as I asked Loris to grilled it thinly sliced. Result was that the pork was quite charred, hard and not juicy; unlike my wife's beef tenderloin. However, I was quite pleased with the 1997 Chianti that Giuseppe recommended to me. Must remember the name the next time I go there.
We finished the night with a melting chocolate cake and a slice of pear cake.
Overall, it was a very good dinner for us. Pietrasanta is a nice place for a good family meal. The place is friendly especially with Loris and Giesuppe around. The place is a bit noisy but in no way rowdy. The food is not refined but this is what Tuscany food is meant to be. For those who have been in local restaurants in Tuscany, you will know what I mean.

Starbucks vs McCafe- 6 July 2009

In a New York Times article today, Starbuck’s answer to McDonald’s McCafé $100 million dollar blitz is:
“If your coffee isn’t perfect, we’ll make it over. If it’s still not perfect, you must not be in a Starbucks.”
In the article Terry Davenport, chief marketing officer at Starbucks, is quoted as saying..
“[Competition] is trying to just commoditize coffee and take it down to a level where all coffee’s the same, and if coffee’s coffee, you might as well buy the cheap stuff. … We just don’t believe that to be true. That’s why we wanted to tell our stories.”