Les Amis

It's been a looooooong time since zq and I met up with jes. So we made plans for lunch and settled with Les Amis. Jes made the reservation and we made our way on the day of our reservation. There's the $55/$75/$95/$125 set lunch.

Breads. We were served breads while waiting for our food to arrive. The waiter placed the bread and told us the bread that they served- Mini Baguettes, focaccia with black olives and sun-dried tomatoes,  bacon and pommery mustard roll and another bread that I can't remember. They also gave us a plate with unsalted butter and salt. My favorite was the focaccia. The saltiness of the tomatoes and olives complemented the plain and slightly chewy bread. The bread with mustard and bacon was nice as well. It was crunchy but not overly crispy and the mustard(which was quite mild) and bacon goes well together.

White aspargus in "Blanc Mange", Oscietra caviar. Blanc Mange actually refers to a sweet gelatinous dessert like pudding. The dish looks really pretty! Taste nice too. To me somehow the asparagus 'blanc mange' tastes a little like cheese and the caviar added some nice fishiness to the dish. The base of the dish(not sure what it was) was quite plain which helped lower the saltiness of the asparagus.

Oscietra caviar in harmony with cold angel hair pasta and sherry vinegar. Another picture worthy dish that not only looks nice but taste nice. On the side are edible (japanese?) flowers and chives. The pasta was well seasoned and I could taste truffle instead of sherry vinegar. The amount was just nice, not too mild but not too strong as well. The flower added(as you would expect) a flowery taste to the pasta and the caviar was simply pure black bliss.

Warm lobster encased within baby spinach accompanied by fish bone sauce. This wasn't one of my dish but jes was nice enough to let me try hers. It was truly yummy. The lobster was warm, juicy and firm, the sauce was flavorful and the roe on top was wonderful.

Crispy cornouaille langoustine balanced with a 'Folichonne' side salad. The langoustine was wrapped in pastry before being deep fried had salty pastry and sweet tender langoustine. Quite nice but what I really love about the dish is the side salad! It's one of the nicest salad I have eaten maybe because of the seaweed that gives it some Japanese feel(I have a weakness for jap food).

Now on to mains. Baby lamb rack with pommery mustard ice cream. The waiter said to eat the ice cream with the lamb to experience the hot and cold combination. The lamb was a little tough to cut as compared to beef. However when I placed the lamb in my mouth, it was soft and very easy to bite. So tasty. The ice cream melted too fast in my mouth for me to taste it with the lamb. The mashed potaoes on the side were good, smooth, creamy and buttery.

Grilled dry aged Australian beef tenderloin with a robus aroma of Telllicherry pepper accompanied with traditional sauce. Jes said that the pepper was a little too overpowering. The beef was slightly tougher than the lamb.

Granite of fresh coconut on a mosaic of tropical fruit and milk jelly. The granite really tasted like fresh coconut. The tropical fruit that we were served was pineapple. At the bottom of the glass was the milk jelly. There's also a biscuit(?) in a round shape which tasted something like love letters.(the biscuit eaten during Chinese New Year)

Hot souffle of Reine-Claude with a refreshing sorbet. My first souffle ever. Tasted like I was eating airy sweet egg. It was nice but I didn't like the airy texture.

Petits fours served with lemon custard dip. Lemon Madeleine and canele. The warm Madeleine were slightly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It tasted sweet and lemony. The canele had a slightly hard exterior but on the inside, it was something like a steam cake. The lemon custard was sour and somehow I think the dip was a little redundant since the petit four tasted nicer on its own.

Rate:
Breads: 7.5/10 ☺
White aspargus: 9/10 ☺
Cold angel hair pasta: 10/10 ☺
Lobster: 9.5/10 ☺
Langoustine: 8.5/10 ☺
Baby lamb rack: 8/10 ☺
Beef tenderloin: 8/10 ☺
Granite: 6/10 ☺
Hot souffle: 6/10 ☺
Petits fours: 7/10 ☺

Mata Thai

My mom and I wanted to eat thai food so we settled for Mata Thai which was nearby.

Thai Iced Milk Tea($1.50)- I love thai milk tea a lot and somehow it's hard to describe how it taste like. The closest description is that it taste like milk tea with some grass jelly taste. The milk tea here was a little too sweet for me.

Pineapple Fried Rice ($6)- Was a little disappointed when the rice came on a plate instead of in a pineapple like the one shown in the picture. Taste wise, it was disappointing. Tasted like normal fried rice with pieces of pineapple. Rice was a little too moist(slightly mushy also). However my mom was okay with the taste.

Tom Yum Seafood ($8)- So cool that there's like a clay like thingy with fire to warm the soup. Soup was quite good(although not the best, it still had some thai tom yum taste to it). It was spicy and acidic(I'm drooling while thinking back of how it tasted) It came with prawns, squid and mushrooms. The prawns were quite big(bigger than shrimps). My mom really like the soup. Better to drink the soup while the fire is burning cause when the soup is cold is ain't as nice as it was.(it also becomes saltier from the continuous bubbling evaporation) 

Yam Ring ($10)- This was one of the chef's recommendation there. We ordered it cause it felt weird to order just 1 rice and soup. Anyway, I didn't like this dish at all!(my mom agrees as well) No offense, not that it tasted bad or anything. It was just that it tasted too Chinese(since I was in a thai restaurant I wanted thai food). 

Mango Sticky Rice ($4)- Warm, slightly sweet and very slight salty rice topped with slightly cold, slightly sweet and slightly sour mango and drizzled with coconut milk. I liked it very much. A nice ending for our meal.
  
I think that this place serves food that are worth what I pay and I don't mind coming back here again for their tom yum soup and mango sticky rice. 

Rate:

Thai Iced Milk Tea: 6.5/10 ☺
Tom Yum Seafood: 6.5/10 ☺
Yam Ring: 4/10 ☺
Mango Sticky Rice: 7/10 ☺

Address:
Blk 508 Bishan st. 11 #01-390

Contact:
68999555/ 92762629

FIX

Went with my friends to FIX cause I wanted to try their donuts. Finding the place was a little tricky cause I didn't really look at the address carefully so I didn't know it was in the HomeTeamNS clubhouse. 

Anyway, we found the place and I ordered 3-Cheese Penne Gratin($10)- It's mac & cheese with 3 different type of cheese. There were diced onions, mushrooms and chicken inside. The dish was a little rich but other than that it was okay. Price wise, I think it could be cheaper. It was kinda small.
Iced Chocolate ($6)- Instead of $6, I paid $3 for it since I ordered it as a set with the penne gratin. This is the best chocolate I have ever drank. Mildly sweet with the perfect chocolate-yness ❤

Donuts with Salted Egg Yolk Custard Dip ($7)- Soft and fluffy donuts. The dip was good however it did not stick to the donuts so you couldn't really taste much of the dip. If only the donuts contain the dip as a filling on the inside, it would be better.

Rate:

3-Cheese Penne Gratin: 6/10 ☺
Iced Chocolate: 10/10 ☺
Donuts with Salted Egg Yolk Custard Dip: 6/10 ☺

Cake Spade

Went to Cake Spade with zq to try their cakes, cause zq said that their cake was nice.

Red Velvet Cheesecake($6.80)- Crunchy Oreo base, cheesecake with cocoa and vanilla, topped with fresh cream. It is dense, like a non-baked cheesecake with mild flavor of cocoa but stronger flavor of cream cheese.

Victoria Sponge($5.90)- A classic feather-like spongecake filled with fresh strawberries and cream. Strawberries and cream are always a nice combination. Cake was light. Thanks to the cream, it gave the cake the moisture that it needed. The strawberries also help gave a refreshing taste to the cake.

Rate:

Red Velvet Cheesecake: 7/10 ☺

Victoria Sponge: 7/10 ☺

Teochew Festival 2014

Went to the Teochew Festival with my course mates to learn more about their culture.

Each of us were given a $25 ticket. After deducting the entry fee we were left with $20 each. After we'd entered, we split into groups and immediately went to the food area.

 There were quite a number of stalls. The items that the stalls were selling were a quite expensive.

Orh Luak [a.k.a. oyester omelette]($15)-  well cooked omelette with small juicy oyster. It comes with an acidic, peppery sauce.

Braised Duck ($10)- slightly over salty duck that was a little dry. Braising is one of the cooking method mostly used by Teochew people.

Prawn roll ($10)- beancurd skin with prawn filling. The roll was not overcook and it comes with honey on the side(?)

Fishball Soup ($6)- handmade fishball with a tasty soup which had pork lard and spring onions.

&

Fishcake ($4)- oily tasty fishcake.

Orh Nee [a.k.a. yam paste]($5)- sweet, milky yam paste with ginkgo nut. Traditionally, the orh nee had pork lard and pumpkin inside.

Ah Balling [a.k.a. tang yuan | glutinous rice ball]($5)- chewy skin with peanut filling and sweet sliced ginko nuts. A dessert that is usually served during auspicious occasion.

Bak Kut Teh [a.k.a. pork rib soup]($10)- serve with rice, vegetables and beans. Meat was a little tough. 

Fried Kway Teow($?)- Tasted like stir fried hor fun. Forgot the price. 

Bird's Nest ($5)- rock sugar syrup with bits of bird nest. Six bottle for $25. Three kinds available- ginseng, rock sugar or less sugar.

Peanut candy- not sweet peanut candy. The also did a demonstration on how they made them.

Lantern- blue is for funeral while red is for happy occasion like this festival. 

Making a lantern by hand is a tedious process and the master is able to make two a day.

Teapot- the older the teapot, the better. None of the teapot is identical. Lift the cover and knock it lightly against the pot. People tend to buy it according to sound it makes whether higher or lower pitch.

Cooking Demo- At 3pm there was a cooking demo by Chef Eric Low. He demonstrated three dishes.

Wood Carving- it looks like it's made of gold but it's actually made of wood and then sprayed with gold. This is because it looks more glamorous. 

Jewelry shop- In the past for betrothal gifts Teochew would give necklace, earring, bangle and ring. For the wealthier families, they would also include 4 jades.

Chop- They will stamp you arm with a chop so that you can re-enter again.

It was a nice day and we had the privilege of having Chef Eric sharing with us about the Teochew Culture. Also we saw Pierre Png at the festival too!