A Very Quick SQ Hop to KL

It's been a long time since I've flown SQ to KL, so my memory is a bit hazy, but I thought I remembered these guys providing at least a little snack or something on this short shuttle flight. I guess I was wrong. All we got today was a simple "coffee, tea, juice, or water." I picked the "juice" (no, they didn't specify what kind when they asked), which turned out to be this tiny little thing that went down in two gulps.

Not that anyone can really blame them...this flight was only 55 minutes, and literally just minutes after I got my drink, the captain announced that he was going to be starting his descent soon. I guess I just always associate SQ with its efforts to be a full service airline (as seen by them going so far as to provide a hot sandwich-like thing on a quick 1.5 hour flight to Penang) such that I was expecting at least peanuts and their signature hot towel, even on such a short flight. Too short, apparently! I wonder what the Raffles Class passengers got. I'm glad that I at least grabbed some instant Cup O' Noodles from the lounge (the spread looked pretty nasty tonight). And that just means more available stomach room to go hit Jalan Alor with.

Torisho Taka by Aoki

I've never eaten at the supposedly pricey Aoki at Shaw Centre before, as I think they specialize more in kaiseki, but I did want to come to their yakitori offshoot at the Gallery Hotel (#02-01, 6732-3343). We finally got in tonight after being faced with a full restaurant last time.

The menu was surprisingly limited without some of my usual non-kushiyaki items like daikon sarada and yaki onigiri. Of course that didn't stop us from ordering away on the menu with the rest of my favorites, ranging from negima to shironegi. These all turned out fine, but it still seemed just half a notch down from where I wanted them to be, as evidenced by the shiitake that was too moist for my taste, or perhaps the torikawa that could have been done just a tad longer on the grill. They did have nikujyaga on the non-skewered menu, but it didn't come across as anything spectacular. By no means was any of this bad though.

The more exciting things came more from other areas, such as the spicy raw wagyu, which was a special for the day and looked like a mini steak tartare with what I believe was a raw quail egg on top, but Japanese and spicy at the same time. A smile appeared on my face after eating this, even if it were sweeter than I would have wanted. I liked it so much that I even ate the shiso leaf that it sat on (normally I'm not a huge fan of shiso). Another highlight was the gyu loin, made from none other than...yes, wagyu again! This was a different experience; there was so much fat marbled into the meat that it nearly exploded with (fat) fluids in your mouth when biting into it. And yes, it tasted like butter. Mmm...

Now, if all the wagyu sounds expensive, it was. Our meal added up pretty quickly. Fortunately there were some cheaper items that easily worked for us too, such as the butabara pork or even the Japanese shishito peppers. Actually, one very simple and unique thing was the Japanese eggplant (not to be confused with the normal eggplant on the menu...this was on their separate list of specials for the day). I don't know if it was actually dipped in butter before grilling or not, but it sure tasted rich (not to mention had a very tender texture - almost like a scallop), and was a nice break from the usual ginger garnish.

Well, while this wasn't bad, my preference is still for places like Kazu or Kushigin, especially given the more limited menu here. This place is open pretty darned late though, with last orders at 12:30 AM on weekdays and 1:30 AM on weekends (closed Sundays), so I suppose that one could come here if it were late. Just make sure that you bring a very big fat wallet, especially if you've got a weakness for the wagyu like I do.

A Couple More From Piper's Pies

Here's just a couple more pies from Piper's Pies. The sesame-encrusted one is their Beef, Bacon, and Cheese Pie, which came out steaming hot with a great bacon aroma, not to mention a flaky buttery crust. Nice one.

We also grabbed their Beef and Potato Pie, which had a mashed potato encrusted top, thus allowing them to also call it a Shepherd's Pie. This one was a bit disappointing as it had been sitting around for a while, and lacked the smoky aroma of the bacon in the other pie (interestingly, it featured tomato slivers in the stuffing). It'd probably be pretty good if it were still warm from the oven though.

Stuart Anderson's Black Angus, Singapore

We used to go to Black Angus restaurants every so often for special family occasions back home (birthdays, etc.). Certainly I've seen and tasted a much better part of the world since then, but when I was growing up and surrounded by chain restaurants in suburbia, this was one of those places that I looked forward to (embarrased as I am now to admit it). These days I try to avoid chain restaurants like the plague, but once in a while, I subconsciously get a bit nostalgic for the days of yore. Indeed, from time to time (maybe once a year or so?), I specifically get cravings not for Lawry's ethereal prime rib (which would otherwise be my preference by far), but something a little cheaper, downscale, and mass-produced: Black Angus. They have a couple locations in Singapore (Orchard Parade Hotel #01-08, 6734-1181, with another location at One Fullerton). We somehow made our way over there tonight.

And what a fitting way to kick off an experience at a chain restaurant with a classic plasticky appetizer with an "oooh" factor: the Wild Wild West Onion, an onion cut into a gimmicky "blooming" shape, deep-fried with spices and served with a creamy yet vibrant sauce for dipping. Sure, what wouldn't appeal to grease- and sodium-craving taste buds when done this way? (And yes, this one is crispier and tastier than the one at Handle Bar.) But not long after eating a few pieces, the nostalgia quickly gave way to nausea, as reality reminded me of not only how pre-fabricated and tacky this was, but also how unhealthy it was too (not to mention the dragon breath from the fact that this was still partially raw).

Well, fortunately the service was lightning-fast tonight. We barely even got through half of the onion before our main courses arrived, thus saving me from eating more of that stuff. I ordered the smallest 8 oz prime rib (the sad thing is that - in all my greed - I really wanted the potato skins for a starter too, and thus ordered the smallest prime rib in the hopes that I might be hungry enough later to order the potato skins afterwards...I didn't in the end). I was a bit taken aback by how lifeless the prime rib appeared on my plate (even at a "medium," I would have expected some bloodiness), but the taste was more or less just as I had remembered: fairly tender and moist, with a saltier outside due to the seasonings and a cup of savory au jus for dipping other pieces into (I had to proactively ask them to bring me horseradish though). It certainly wasn't Lawry's, but I wasn't expecting it to be either (their leaner and hence less tasty BBQ ribs were also unremarkable - a bit like suburban chain peer Tony Roma's - although this place's coleslaw was mere shredded lettuce with dressing sadly poured on top). Normally I'd shun the crudely cut and boiled veggies on the side too, but I still ate them, perhaps partially due to guilt for eating that fried onion earlier and hoping that some greens might offset any of that artery-clogging that I was responsible for.

And to think that we originally set out tonight to try to eat something healthy. Well, one of the things that I fondly remembered from my childhood was the simple yet refreshing green salad that was included with the prime rib. But the blue cheese dressing I got tonight probably didn't help my efforts too much (and I seem to remember that these guys used to make it all-you-can-eat salad, right?). In the end, I left feeling a bit nauseous and regretful for coming here. And it wasn't that much cheaper than Lawry's either: we cleared the triple-digit mark with two people (and to think I also wanted to get their Alaskan king crab legs but was only stopped by the fact that they were unavailable tonight...I'm such a pig!). I guess I always seem to go through the same process: I crave Black Angus, and yet after eating it, I immediately regret having gone there, and then start to crave it again one year later. If I'm still writing in this blog for another year or two, I guess we'll be able to see if I submitted again to what I assume to be some form of mental conditioning from my youth that still continues to draw me back here again despite knowing better.

Sausages Corner at Tangs Plaza

This tiny little stand called "Sausages Corner" in the basement of Tangs Plaza came as a recommendation not long ago. The proprietor was pushing the "Cheese Pork Frankfurter" (not surprising considering that it was also the most expensive one at S$3 or US$1.75), but I grabbed one anyway. It was indeed decently tasty being stuffed with cheese, but it would have been much better had he grilled it thoroughly to retain the heat rather than trying to reheat it by dunking it in boiling water and then flirting with the grill for a minute (it got a bit cold after a few seconds, seeing that it was really only the outside that he heated up).

Hoping to find something more insipring, I then asked for the "Spanish Sausage Pork," which incidentally was also cheaper at S$2.50 (US$1.50). I liked this one better thanks to a greasier and spicier taste, not to mention a snappier casing. But again, it suffered from the rather futile boiling-water-and-grill procedure. There were a bunch of squeeze bottles on hand as condiments, but things like sauerkraut were nowhere to be found. So in the end, the sausages themselves had the potential, but they fell flat due to the preparation. Granted, we're far from Germany, Chicago, LA, or even New York, but I think my favorite in town is still the one over at Plaza Singapura (which incidentally is also housed in the basement).

On the side, I noticed some kaya toast stand called Heads or Tails selling some odd "Hot Thai Favorite" variation featuring "Chili Paste with Chicken Floss." I was expecting a complete disaster with this but nonetheless was intrigued and picked one up just to see what it was about. And it did turn out pretty well, with a very light and airy bread and thin spread of the brown sweet and garlicky sauce. I'm not a huge fan of sweets, bread, or breakfast, so I probably won't be getting this again, but I was still impressed with how it turned out.

Papi Pizza Pasta Trattoria

It's interesting how Mohamed Sultan has pretty much transformed itself from a street full of bars to a street full of restaurants instead. This place (5 Mohamed Sultan Road, 6235-0014) is another one of the many popping up there, just a couple doors down from Banoo, and has been one that we've had earmarked for a while. Tonight, we finally came down here to check it out.

The food turned out better than I thought it would. The sauces used in both the penne arrabiata as well as the spaghetti carbonara were distinctive and robust enough that I would come back, even if I could still think of how much further they could push the carbonara. The pasta was cooked just right, and they even had a bottle of chili oil on each table (rather than the Tabasco that's interestingly so common at Italian restaurants in Singapore), which I unfortunately did not notice until the end of the meal, but a taste of a quick drop on a spoon as we were leaving proved surprisingly good. And yes, the starters and desserts pretty much got my approval too.

It was pretty darned packed tonight though, and clearly, they were buckling under the weight of it, as seen by things like them forgetting my chianti. Don't get me wrong - the attitude of the staff was actually one of the best that I'd seen around here (almost as good as Da Paolo)...but they were severely understaffed for a Friday night crowd. What impressed me though was the fact that they were honest and mature enough to let me know that they couldn't deliver my pizza because the dough would not settle, and were apologetic without being excessive (well-handled in my opinion).

As I left, I noticed that the sign said that this place was "by Colleoni & Chiarini," who are the guys behind Oso (and also the guys behind Senso, if I'm not mistaken). That explains a few things, seeing that the food was something that I'd generally consider to be dependable and pretty much on the better side of things. While there are other Italian places around that I like just a little better for being cozier and more homely, this place certainly isn't a bad choice, and I'll happily come back again (probably on a less-crowded weekday).

Le Tonkin Vietnamese French Cuisine

Here are some spring rolls from Le Tonkin (18 Mohamed Sultan Road, 6235-6006), some Vietnamese French place on the former site of the Front Page bar. If it looks chichi, that's because it is. This place clearly was meant to be very posh and elegant for a fine dining experience. That wasn't quite what we were looking for tonight (we just wanted a quick meal), so we had to rush the staff to tell us to bring us all the food ASAP rather than taking their slow time like they thought we wanted. Fortunately, they were able to accomodate, and the food still turned out very well, if expensive.

We just grabbed three simple things: the spring rolls, the pho bo, and the cha ca la vong, the last of which is apparently some kind of special grilled fish. The spring rolls, while oddly dry in one part, at least were tightly wrapped. The pho, while in a shallow bowl (nor accompanied by any bean sprouts or basil), was still light and tasty. And the fish, while in just a few slices rather than a whole fish like I was expecting (especially at S$28, or US$16.50), was tender, fresh, and complete with a rich sauce that sizzled when doused over the hot black pan. In that sense, I liked this place better than the Indochine group, but to be honest, I'd much rather just wait for a plain and simple pho house rather than spending my money on anything as upscale and dimly lit as this place.

Shiraz Authentic Persian Cuisine

At long last...after much anticipation, Singapore's third Persian restaurant (I think that's right...one, two, three, right?) has finally opened (Clarke Quay 3A #01-06, 6334-2282). The place is just about a week old now, and it had a surprisingly good-sized crowd tonight, even when we arrived as late as 9:45 PM. And just like at Shamshiri in West LA, they had the grill sitting behind the window for all to see.

Now, being at Clarke Quay (across from Marrakech and the Tent), these guys were decidedly trying to be more upscale, complete with table linens and chichi square plates. Yet the staff was clearly still undergoing growing pains, as seen not only in the fact that they neglected one of the napkins at our table, but also in that they failed to tell us ahead of time that the kitchen had already run out of bread, and then unapologetically told us afterwards to eat just our se mast yogurt dips straight without it. At least the dips were rather tasty.

And fortunately, that good food trend continued throughout the meal. The lamb kubideh, while not grilled as long as I would prefer it, was nonetheless still very tender and juicy. The dough drink was also a bit richer than the watery type I'm accustomed to, but in a good way. Interestingly, the menu didn't even call it dough, but rather simply "The Traditional Persian Drink." When we asked the waitress if that were dough, she seemed surprised that we knew what we were talking about, and asked, "Wow - did you guys just come back from Iran or something?" (The proprietor displayed a similar degree of astonishment when we asked for raw onions to go with the kubideh, as he mentioned how that was a very Persian thing to do.)

Well, despite the unnecessary chichi-ness and spotty service, I liked the food here just a tad better than at Banoo thanks to a slight edge in richness across everything we ordered. And upon seeing the crowd here tonight, I do worry a bit about Banoo's future. There's still a number of reasons to go back to Banoo though: the food there is still good, and bottles of somagh are already on the table there waiting for you, unlike here. The service is cozier at Banoo, and they are open later too (last order here is 10:30 PM). The prices are also about a third cheaper over at Banoo: Shiraz charged S$28 (US$16.50) for kubideh here (which is not surprising considering the undoubtedly high rent here...plus all those chichi table linen and porcelain expenses they've gotta cover!), versus S$18 (US$10.60) for the "big" koobideh at Banoo). But yeah, the food at Shiraz was something that I'll come back for. Here's to hoping that they both stay in business (Persepolis is now eliminated from the running due to how inconsistent it had gotten).

Al Forno East Coast

Not to be confused with the completely independent Al Forno Trattoria on Thomson Road, this place (400 East Coast Road at Telok Kurau, 6348-8781) was suggested in a posting a while back for its home-made pasta. We were in the neighborhood today, and decided to stop by to check it out.

It turned out that most of the pasta here was not home-made, but rather just one dish: the pasticcio, otherwise more commonly known as lasagne. I figured out shortly afterwards that this was the appropriate item to get, seeing that "al forno" basically refers to food being baked in an oven. And I'm glad to say that this dish lived up to its name. While it didn't necessarily have that crispy baked top that I yearn for (and the edges here were over-scorched a bit black), the sauce was so rich and tasty that I eagerly ate this, despite the fact that I really wasn't even that hungry at the time.

Having to go all the way out there may discourage me from going back, but they did say that they were opening a more upscale shop in the Orchard area soon. That is probably just going to confuse people even more with the "other" Al Forno though...I wonder if they are still going to use that name.

Auntie Kim's Korean Restaurant

I wasn't expecting much from this place (265 Upper Thomson Road, 6452-2112), but I ended up leaving with the comfort of finding one of the better kalbi offerings in town. Finally did we find a spot that offered meat of enough quality that it was tasty on its own without any marinades, but still came with the essential yet simple sesame oil and salt dipping dish plus the usual chili paste, raw garlic, and lettuce...and much easier-to- manage small leaves at that. Then again, we opted for the saeng kalbi variety, which by its sheer unmarinated nature requires that the beef be of the best quality as there is no marinade to hide the taste (that also explains why it was the most expensive of the four kalbi offerings here...it was kinda like ordering wagyu beef at a yakiniku place, although it still had a distance to go before reaching Aburiya's wagyu ).

Indeed, not all here was rosy. The kimchi jige was a bit watered down, and the dokpogi, a cylindrical rice cake thing that I haven't had in ages, was a bit sweeter than I liked, even though it did go down well with beer. More importantly though, the service was frustratingly spotty. They failed to tell me that they were out of OB beer and just tried to slip Hite by me instead as if nothing had happened (admittedly, it's been so long since I've had either that I really wouldn't have noticed the difference had they just poured it themselves in the back without showing me the can...although the Cass mug might have sparked a question). And they hit one of my pet peeves common with Korean places around here: they cooked the meat for you in the back, despite the fact that there were grills at each table. They said that they only use the grills if you order more than one barbeque plate, presumably since the effort to clean each tableside grill is not worth it if one only orders one plate.

Well, despite depriving me of one of the joys of Korean food, they did do a decent job of cooking the meat. In fact, I liked it enough that I am definitely going to order two next time...and more so because of the tastiness (and the fact that the portions are pretty small) than for the chance to grill the meat myself (it would get a bit pricey though, considering that each plate is S$28, or US$16.50). Their clumsy service ironically worked out well in our favor tonight: they forgot to charge us for the dokpogi. They even gave out some official rice cake freebies from their sister bakery. I worry about how the rest of the menu items would stack up, but I'll come back for that saeng kalbi.

Borgo, Bukit Timah Road

This place (789 Bukit Timah Road, 6466-7762) was mentioned a number of times recently; not only in a posted comment, but also in a couple of print publications that I saw the other day. With all of this going on (coupled with my affinity for La Braceria), we stopped by today for lunch to see what all the buzz was about.

Since this guy apparently used to make pizzas at La Braceria, we made sure to order one, my selection being the pancetta e parmigiano rossa variety. As expected, the crust was thin and crunchy as it came out tongue-scorchingly hot from the oven. Taste-wise, I was initially hoping for a little more of an edge in the ingredients, such as perhaps an overwhelmingly rich cheese or something, which I never got. But there definitely wasn't anything wrong with these ingredients, as it was all very fresh and still very tasty (and I suppose the basil did distinguish it a bit). I'll have to try some of the other varieties next time.

We also grabbed the ravioli while we were at it. Today's cream sauce smelled a bit too garlicky to me at first, but I ended up really liking how rich it was (in fact, this was a good example of the surprising edge that I was hoping to get in the pizza). Another highlight of the meal was the dry chili pepper flakes that they provided with the pizza. It looked like the Thai variety that one sprinkles onto things like pad thai, but this stuff really packed some tongue-numbing heat (the waiter did warn us beforehand). We asked about it afterwards and were told that this was a homemade thing. Anyway, thumbs up for me. We'll be coming back...they had a big charcoal grill for things like sausages and steaks that I definitely want to come back for.

Piper's Pies - "Authentic Aussie Hot Pies"

While waiting for Borgo next door to open for lunch, we peeked into this place (787 Bukit Timah Road, 6463-8348) to check out their "Authentic Aussie Hot Pies." We went straight for the first item on the menu: Peter's Special, which boasted of some mashed potato top or something. That immediately conjured up images of Harry's Cafe on Wheels in Woolloomooloo to me, with its tower of mashed peas and potatoes. So I was a bit bummed to see that these mashed potatoes were baked into the pie itself.

Still, I did enjoy the taste quite a bit - not only of the potatoes, but of the meat filling (seasoned just right) and the flaky crust. I've never really spent much time in Australia aside from a passing visit or two, so I can't exactly profess to be an expert on pies. But I liked this enough that I'd come back here again.