Kinki

You know it's not a promising sign when even before you've taken your first bite, you start thinking fondly about another restaurant's rendition of the same dish. Sadly, this was the case with my chiraishi bowl at Kinki. A VERY AVERAGE spread of raw fish with nothing outstanding, although it was at least decently fresh. I couldn't help wishing that I was tucking into Aoki's bowl of heaven.

E's miso cod was also only passable (bearing in mind that this dish is not that difficult to prepare) and the portion was small. Both our sets (SGD40++) came with completely unremarkable sides: garden salad tossed with some sakura ebi, miso soup, pickles, and a green tea ice cream parfait. I was also unimpressed by the so-called "japanese with an urban attitude" decor with manga graffiti on the walls / raw cement floors.

Well, it was all my own fault for not doing research properly and jumping to book for Restaurant Week since my top picks were all gone by the time I remembered to log on to the booking site. Our other Restaurant Week meal at Boathouse though, turned out very well, so not a complete waste of time. More on that in a later post!

www.kinki.com.sg

70 Collyer Quay #02-02

Customs House

Smiths Authentic Fish and Chips

Hankering for a taste of the quintessential Brit favourite, I was enthusiastic to check out this chippy that had opened at Tanjong Katong Road.

I loved the set-up, with the fryer right out in front and the fried fish pieces displayed in a glass panel, exactly like how I remembered it from my school days, when I used to hang out at the Kensington / Gloucester Road area. The fish and chips even came wrapped up nicely in paper parcels :-) Portions were huge too! E and I shared a 'haddock n chips' (SGD16) and mushy peas (SGD2) and were comfortably full. The fish was beautifully done and earned the thumbs up from both of us - a thin, crispy, light batter with moist and tender, piping hot flakes of white flesh beneath. The chips were great too, generously cut and slightly soft/limp, just the way I like it. With a generous douse of malt vinegar and salt on everything, I was a happy camper. What a wonderful whiff of nostalgia this visit brought to me.

N.B: Pl excuse the crappy photo. Ethan was "fussing" a little as it was mid-way through his noon nap and thus I had no time to "fuss" around with camera angles, lighting and such!

www.smithsfishandchips.com

Ethan is Five Months Old!

My beautiful little boy is five months old today, and is extremely happy and healthy. I am so blessed and lucky to have him.

At five months old, Ethan has developed some wonderful habits:

• Sleeping through the night for 12 hours, from 730 pm to 730 am. He started doing this 3 nights ago, after I decided not to wake him up at 4am to breastfeed. When he wakes up in the morning, he doesn't cry but just plays quietly with his hands / feet or benchpresses, while waiting for me to go into his room and get him up. Even when he does a poop and stains his romper, he still doesn't cry! What a good boy!
• Settling himself to sleep, without any patting or pacifier. After I put him down on his cot and leave the room, he rolls / crawls around the cot and plays with his hands / feet for a little while, then falls asleep after about 10 minutes or so, with perhaps one to two minutes of soft whimpering.
• Able to patiently self-entertain and self-play in his rocker chair, for up to 30 minutes at a time. He also waits for us to finish dinner (he likes to stare at us eating - it's like a great show for him), before I give him his last feed of the day.
• He is still on complete milk feeding (5 feeds a day, 180 - 190 ml per feed, 65% breastmilk, 35% formula milk). I intend to try feeding him a little bit of diluted rice cereal next weekend, it's really exciting! Ethan's first taste of "real" food. Wonder if he will turn out to be a little gourmand.

Ethan: lookeee at me mummmeeee. i am a water baby. i love to swim!

Table 66, Revisit

Another lovely lunch at Table 66,

alas empty save for us on a Saturday.

The duck leg confit (SGD 28), done sous vide, was marvellous, aptly demonstrating just how sous vide cooking can elevate certain dishes to new heights. Meltingly tender meat, not overly salty as some renditions of duck leg confit are wont to be (take note, Au Petit Salut) and a beautifully crackingly thin skin. Like crunching on crackers but way better.

Almost as good was the beef chateaubriand, also cooked sous vide and finished on the grill (SGD 38). The "almost" qualifier, since it was cooked to medium doneness (E's specification, while I always think that medium rare is the best way to savour steaks). Still, this was beautifully tender, all the beefy juices had been captured and retained within the meat by the long slow controlled temperature cooking. Hurrahs for whoever invented sous vide cooking!

Porky vermicelli from Paradise Inn

I remembered Chubby Hubby's rave review about these pork noodles from ages ago. A Fabulously Fatty Fantasy?? I've gotta try this, I thought. With Ethan strapped to my chest on my trusty Ergo baby carrier, I made the short hike to the Paradise Inn outlet at my neighbourhood mall to check out this dish.

In yet another instance of over-inflated expectations, I felt a distinct sense of anti-climax. The slices of pork trotters were slithery and smooth and the noodles oily (perhaps a little too much), but this wasn't something that hit the comfort food spot for me. Perhaps my eating enjoyment was hampered by the efforts of trying not to drop lard-laden noodles onto Ethan's beautiful baby hair!

Passport

We're in the process of making Ethan's passport

cos you never know when the mood to take off and go for a short vacation will hit

For a passport, you need a photo

and thus one fine day i propped him on the sofa and clicked away!

Here's a shot that we didn't use as he wasn't looking straight into the camera

Doesn't he have such an irresistibly cute expression on his face?

He looks a lot more grown up than a 4.5 month old baby!

And also excuse me for being the proud mother and showing off another cute photo!

Lawry's The Prime Rib

It had been six long years since we had been to Lawry's, as we had been happily satiating our steak cravings at Morton's. But then a one-for-one dining offer appeared in our mailbox, the perfect excuse to revisit Lawry's, which had since moved from Paragon to Mandarin Gallery.
First up was the somewhat showy spinning bowl salad (romaine and iceberg lettuce, watercress, shredded beets, chopped eggs and croutons, tossed with Lawry's vintage dressing). Apparently there's a standard flourish that the waitresses need to perfect when pouring the dressing into the bowl which I didn't manage to photograph (although our smiling waitress obligingly struck a pose with the tossed salad).

The famous Silver Cart was wheeled to our table and our choice of "California Cut" Prime Rib (SGD62.90) carved tableside - I thought that this was a nice touch that brought a real old world feel to the entire lunch. According to Lawry's website, they serve USDA Prime Rib, aged up to 21 days and slow roasted on beds of rock salt.

Whatever it was, my medium-rare prime rib roast was fatty, juicy, flavourful and in a nutshell darn good, especially with the flavoured paprika salt and horseradish dip. The Yorkshire Pudding went down a treat too and E had nothing but praises for the mashed potato. Between Morton's and Lawry's, I would say that Morton's wins by a whisker but it actually depends on whether you like your meat roasted or grilled.

Lawry's The Prime Rib Singapore
333A Orchard Road #04-01/31 Mandarin Gallery
www.lawrys.com.sg

光猪's Maiden Swim

Ethan: Mummmee says I look so cute in my swim diapers.

Tee hee hee. I am a lady killer.

Ethan: Oops. The water is cold. COLD. COLD. COLD.

Mummmee get me outta here!!!! WAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

Bergs Gourmet Burgers

Bergs' burgers taste more like my idea of a good burger compared to Burger Bench and Bar - soft toasted bun, thick meaty patties, fresh and crisp onions, tomatoes and lettuce. An exploratory trip to the outlet at Changi Business Park since it was so near our place proved rewarding.

We ordered the Miss Piggy (SGD 13 for Bergs size): prime beef pattie, streaky bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion, aioli, bergs sauce and edam cheese. This packed a mighty oomph and was big enough for two to share. Fragrant smokey aroma from the bacon, great tasting sauce, only issue that I had was that the beef pattie was a tad overcooked and dry as a result. Maybe the cook had an off day, since other reviews of Bergs had mentioned that the patties remained moist and juicy. The chips were to my taste too i.e. brit style - large wedges, piping hot, not crispy but fluffy. Additional points for the self-service salt and pepper shakers and the vinegar bottle!


Bergs
www.bergsburgers.com

Shiraishi

There's a recurrent Japanese theme going on when E and I celebrate my birthday (Ikukan, Wahiro, Goto in previous years). My choice this year was Shiraishi, located at the Ritz-Carlton Singapore, since so many customers had raved about it, and I was curious to know how it would stand up against my favourites of Shinji by Kanesaka and Tatsuya.

Unfortunately my Japanese dining experiences shall I fear, be henceforth classified as Before Shinji (BS) and After Shinji (AS). It was a good lunch but nowhere near the magical take that we had at Shinji - of course, to be fair the price points are also nowhere near that of Shinji's.


E had the Edomae Special (SGD40) with 8 pieces of sushi, clear soup, and dessert, since this is what Chef Shiraishi-san is famous for, while I went for the Hisago Bento (SGD 50) which had sashimi, mixed appetisers, grilled fish, tempura on rice, soup, and dessert. Pleasant surprise, my sashimi selection even had two pieces of otoro, which were adequately meltingly oily but expectedly paled in comparison to what we had at Shinji.

It looks like it's going to take a while to wean my tastebuds off their expensive tastes (or E's wallet is going to burn)! I am sure that we would have been very happy with Shiraishi had we gone a few months ago.

Shiraishi: #03-01 Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore

http://shiraishi.sg/