Gratin with Scallop and Prawn

Gratin with Scallop and Prawn (S$13.90)

Presentation
The gratin comes in a big nice bowl. The gratin is fully covered under the cream and cheese. The huge prawns and scallop can be seen protruding out from the cheese.

Taste
The gratin is very creamy and cheesy. It is similar to pizza with the strands of melted cheese when the gratin is scooped out from the bowl. The cream taste covers the taste of the shell pasta. The prawn and scallop is very fresh and together with the cream which has the sweetness of onions, makes this gratin, quite a wonderful dish. Even though i don't take onions, which is a nemesis of mine, I was not resisting this dish after i found that there were onion strips in the cream. There is totally no onion taste but the sweetness of onions.

Rating
Presentation: 3.5/5
Taste: 3.5/5
Value for Money: 3/5

RECOMMENDED

Location
Ma Maison Restaurant, Singapore
Bugis Junction

Read other reviews of Ma Maison here.
Chef Pizza

Fusion Pizza: Western Chef Pizza Japanese Style

Chef Pizza (S$13.50)

Presentation
The chef pizza is a very small size, about 7 to 8 inches in diameter. It comes in a thin metal 'pan'which has a interesting handle.

Taste
The crust is thin but however it is not crispy. Even though the pizza is quite cheesy, ie there are a lot of cheese, it is not salty. The toppings on the pizza, mainly mushroom, is not enough. It feels more like eating pieces of mushrooms with lots of cheese and a not so crispy crust.

Rating
Presentation: 2/5
Taste: 2/5
Value for Money: 2/5

NOT RECOMMENDED

Location:
Ma Maison Restaurant, Singapore
Bugis Junction

Read other reviews of Ma Maison here
Gratin with Prawn and Scallop

Midori: Japanese Green Tea Sponge Cake

Midori
Matcha Sponge and Azuki Bean Compote layers in Yuzu infused Bavarois

Presentation
This cake has 5 layers. The top layer is yuzu bavarois, followed by the matcha sponge cake. The 4th layer is the Azuki bean layer. Topped with a green tea macaron and backed with a thin white choc piece on the outer portion.

Taste
The 1st bite into this cake gave me a refreshing feeling. The yuzu is of a sweet nature and blends well with the matcha sponge cake. The Azuki layers with the bean gave the cake some texture and is actually quite smooth. Contradicting textures but its nice.
The taste of each layer is very bland, so bland that each layer is almost tasteless. However if you put all the 5 layers together, this is where the miracle comes. The refreshing yuzu sensation will be dancing on your palate. There are also yuzu sacs in the bavarois.
Even though this is the second piece of cake that i had, the citrus taste whets your appetite and makes it easy for the cake to be taken. However I wish that they would complement the cake with a bit more citrus taste.

The tea that was ordered goes very well with this cake. A little description on the tea - Miraculous Mandrain: A melange of warm rich black tea blended with the fresh tartness of normandy apples and notes of caramel. A youth tea of delight.
The taste of the apple from this tea is almost infused into the cake when they mixed on the palate. I wonder if this Miraculous Mandrain tea is specially made for this Midori cake.


Ratings
Presentation: 2.5/5
Taste: 4.5/5
Value for money: 4/5
The best cake that i had taken from 1-Caramel. Both legs and hands up for this cake. Highly Recommended.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Location
1-Caramel.
Read other reviews of 1-Caramel here.
Banana Cream Pie
Other Cakes

Banana Cream Pie

Banana Cream Pie
Crispy table tart with almond frangipane filling topped with a layer of light pastry cream and fresh banana chunks

 
Presentation
The top layer is banana custard, with banana fruit chunks in between the sweet bottom crust layer. There is also a sweetened white cream covering the outer circumference of the pie.

Taste
The bottom crust is sweet but not too hard. The top layer of the custard gives the whole pie a very nice and smooth texture. The bottom crust gives it a good support, which is of mixed texture. The banana fruit is however not to my liking as it lacks the solid feel to it. However towards the end of the dessert, the sweetness starts to overwhelm you.
Overall it is a good dessert to end your meal with.

Ratings
Presentation: 3.5/5
Taste: 3.5/5
Value for money: 2.5/5

RECOMMENDED

Location
1-Caramel. Read the other reviews of 1-Caramel here. 

Xi Men Ding Taiwan Cuisine

Me and my wife were wandering around the Vivocity Shopping Mall looking for some food after our shopping. We were rather familiar with the restaurants in Vivocity. One of the newer restaurants that were opened is this one that serves Taiwanese Cuisine.

The restaurant looks ok and the food picture looks ok too. We had been to Taiwan and decided to give this restaurant a try since both of us love taiwanese food. Table was easily available as there wasnt much of a crowd.

Looking thru the menu, the items were mostly taiwanese style food. We ordered 4 dishes, of which 1 is a snack, 1 is a soup and 2 normal dishes.

Snack: Taiwanese Fried Beancurd (S$7.50)
This dish is a whole beancurd, cut into small pieces and fried. Chilli sauce and a mixture of salt and pepper comes as a dip for the fried beancurd. The fried beancurd itself is tasteless. The texture of the beancurd is coarse, both the crust and the inside.
The salt pepper mixture is for the dipping of the beancurd, but even with that mixture, the taste just doesnt blend in. With a direct comparison with Crystal Jade's salt pepper tofu, this fried beancurd simply does not make the grade.

NOT RECOMMENDED

Soup: Clam Soup (S$6.00)
The soup is ordered based on per pax and it is a lucky thing that we only ordered 1 bowl. The soup taste a tad slight salty and the taste of the clams was simply too strong. There were quite a number of small clams in the soup.

NOT RECOMMENDED

Main Dish: Radish and Egg Pancake (S$10.00)
This is a simple dish. Basically it is chopped radish fried with eggs and nothing could go wrong with this. It must be said that though the taste is also slightly bland, the fried egg is very thick, about 1 inch in thickness. The radish adds a slightly sweet taste to the egg. The egg is fried till golden brown, but while the outer layer of the fried egg is crispy, the inner egg layer is soft.

RECOMMENDED

Main Dish: Sanbei Chicken with Basil (S$17.90)
This is a very common dish in Taiwan and is actually not difficult to cook. This dish is also the signature dish of the restaurant. Though its the signature dish, the dish is actually not much any different from those that you can find from the receipe books. In short, the dish did not create a sanbei chicken dish that is unique to itself. However the taste is still acceptable.

RECOMMENDED

Overall Rating
Presentation: 2.5/5
Taste: 1/5
Value for money: 1/5
This is not a restaurant that I will visit again. It would not be too far fetch to say that if they do not improve on their food, very soon a new food establishment would be opening in that spot instead.

NOT RECOMMENDED

Wondermilk Cupcakes

Cupcakes

Presentation
The cupcakes are small in size with about 2 inches in diameter. The cupcakes were of different flavours, placed in a small cardboard container. Each of the cupcakes were decorated differently with different toppings on top.

Taste
Foxy Red Velvety - Cream Cheese Cupcake
The top of the cupcake has a little bit of cheese that is mixed with cream. It has a creamy texture. With the red choc toppings, it adds another layer of sweetness to the cream. The cake layer is red in colour but otherwise proofs to be just a normal cupcake. The texture of the cake is soft with a little bit of sponginess.

Oh My Peanut Choc - Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcake
There is a very heavy peanut butter taste that covers the taste of the choc cake beneath it. The peanut butter is too think that it covers and seals the throat. If you love peanut butter, this is the one for you.

Pina Colada - Fragrant Pineapple Flavour Cheese Cupcake
It has a refreshing taste especially after all the heavy choc flavour ones. Besides the pineapple taste, there is also a tinge of passion fruit taste with the crunchy passion fruit seeds in the cupcake.

Mr White Choc - Rich Choc Cupcake
This is a very normal choc cupcake. There are not much of any flavours. It is supposed to be a white choc cupcake but it seems that the white choc didn't really shine thru.

Ratings
Presentation: 2/5
Taste: 2/5
I have never been a fan of cupcakes and have never tried it. What i know of cupcakes are that they have a nice and delicate appearance but with a very very sweet taste that can cause a big toothache. This further confirms it.

NOT RECOMMENDED

Dessert Review: Chocolate Berries Meringue

Besides the Strawberry Mascarpone, we also order the Chocolate Berries Meringue for our dessert. Our main dishes review: Chicken Escalope and Pollo Pizza, can be found at the respective links.

Meringue is a type of dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar.

Food
Chocolate Berries Meringue (RM 15.00)

Presentation
The meringue is slightly browned in colour and this is evidence that the meringue has been baked in high temperature for a short period of time. There are multiple layers of meringue and cream with blue berries and strawberries. There are generous chunks of strawberries and whole blueberries on the top layer cream.


Taste
The strawberries are not too sweet and is slightly sourish. In contrast, the meringue is sweet. Put these 2 together and it becomes a marvelous mix. The sourish taste is neutralised by the sweetness. Though the meringue is hard in nature, the crispiness is welcomed. The meringue simply melts in the mouth. However there are a bit too much cream in this dessert. The is not much chocolate taste although this is know as Chocoloate Berries Meringue.
One thing that i find disturbing is that the meringue smells slightly fishy. This could be from the egg white, which sometimes give out such smell after being baked, but this smell is gone once it goes into your mouth.

RECOMMENDED

Dessert Review: Strawberry Mascarpone

No meal is ever completed without desserts. We had ordered Strawberry Mascarpone and Chocolate Berry Meringue for dessert after our main dishes of Chicken Escalope and Pollo Pizza.

Mascarpone is is an Italian triple-cream cheese, originated in the area between Lodi and Abbiategrasso, Italy, southwest of Milan, probably in the late 16th or early 17th century.

Basically, this is a strawberry cheesecake that we had ordered.

Food
Strawberry Mascarpone (RM12.50)
A.K.A Strawberry Cheesecake

Presentation
An italian cheesecake that comes with crusted biscuits at the bottom. There are small chunks of strawberries in the cheesecake. Strawberry puree was also mixed into the cheesecake to give it the red strawberry colour in the cheesecake.



Taste
With the mascarpone cheese, it gives the cheesecake a very buttery smooth texture, to be exact it has a very creamy texture. There are small chunks of  strawberries in the cheesecake though mostly are concentrated in the centre of the cake. As with the strawberry to whet the appetite, I dont find it too cheesy.



RECOMMENDED

Food Review: Pollo Pizza

The 2nd main dish that I took at Alexis was the Pollo Pizza. Look at the 1st main dish here and my dessert Strawberry Mascarpone and Chocolate Berries Meringue here.

Food
Pollo Pizza
Chicken Pizza (RM 29.00)

Presentation
The pizza is a thin crusted pizza with moderate amount of melted cheese and topped with thin slices of capsicum. The pizza is about 10 to 12 inches wide.

Taste
It seems that this pizza looks like a normal cheese pizza topped with capsicum. However the secret is the layer of chicken in between the cheese and crust layers. The chicken is pounded to a very thin layer and similar to the chicken escalope, the chicken meat is tender and smooth.
The slices of pizza appears to be quite cheesy but it is not as what it seems. The cheese amounts to just nice.
If you are like me that is not a fan of capsicum, you will be surprised at how sweet the capsicum has become on this pizza dish.

RECOMMENDED

This pizza dish surprises me with the thin layer of chicken under the cheese. Sure is a new way to top the pizza. The toppings taste good too.

Food Review: Pound the Chicken Escalope

Went to Alexis at The Gardens. This is my second visit and for the 1st visit, the food was so nice that i ate quite a lot. For my 2nd visit, I ordered Chicken Escalope and Pollo Pizza for as my main dish and Strawberry Mascarpone and Chocolate Berries Meringue for my dessert.

Food
Chicken Escalope (RM35.00)
Crispy Breaded Fried with Flattened Minched Chicken Meat.

Presentation
The piece of chicken is quite large about the size of a 6 inch pizza. It comes with some pan-fried tomatoes on top of the meat. There are also a side salad and a slice of lemon to add flavour to the chicken meat.

A bit of a lesson here: Escalopes originate from France and are pieces of boneless meat which have been thinned out using a mallet, rolling pin or beaten with the handle of a knife.That is why the piece of chicken is so flat.


Taste
The cruumps are mixed with different spices, distinctly indian spices. The chicken is deep fried till quite crispy, and the texture of the chicken is smooth and nice, even though the layer of meat is relatively thin. The smoothness is usually obtained from the pounding of the meat into this flat layer. However the taste of the chicken is slightly bland even with the indian spices. Just add a little salt and pepper and squish the lemon slice and it would taste wonderful.
The salad is very fresh and is mixed well using olive oil and lemon.
The pan-fried tomatoes are just nicely cooked.


RECOMMENDED
Even though the dish may look quite plain with just the chicken, salad and the lemon. I enjoyed this piece of chicken meat, done just right.

Wine Review: Nepenthe - The Fugue 2003

Just bought this wine from Cold Storage. I had tried the yr 2000 btl and it was a wonderful bottle. This is the 1st time i am trying the 2003 bottle. Lets see if it taste just as good as the year 2000 bottle.

Nepenthe The Fugue
Year 2003
Limited Release
Adelaide Hills
Australia
S$49.95

Mixed blend of grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon 48%, Malbec 22%, Merlot 15%, Cabernet Franc 15%
Contains Sulphites.

Described in Homers, The Odyssey, the original Nepenthe was a potion so powerful that it erased gruef and banished sorrow. Nepenthe is located in the steep Adelaide Hills, where ancient soils and the cooling influence of altitude ensure long living wines.

Fugue: A musical piece with two or more melodies which build to a complex form with a marked climax; made famous by J.S. Bach. The Fugue reflects the music after which it is named; richly layered, resonating and building with time in a bottle.

Based on Cabernet Sauvignon, enhanced by blending with its traditional partners, The Fugue is a full flavoured, complex and elegantly structured wine. It is recommended to be decanted before serving.

My Tasting Notes:
Wine is dark crimson in colour. The bouquet smells of dark fruits. The wine is of slightly buttery texture and exhibits a bit of earthly tones with a tinge of tobacco. There are dark berries taste which remains on the palate for sometime. The finish of the wine goes to mid throat. I would consider this to be mid-full flavoured.

Ratings: 85/100

RECOMMENDED

If you would like to take a look at the wineyard's tasting notes, take a look here.

Cheesecake -- Banana Style

It is never enough to just take 1 dessert. We had ordered 2 dessert from the start and the 2nd one is Banana Cheesecake.

Check out the other items that we had ordered

1. Grilled Saba Fish Set
2. Japanese Curry Pizza
3. Caramel Pudding
4. Banana Cheesecake

Food
Banana Cheesecake (RM7.90)

Presentation
The dessert in Kissaten, I realised, is decorated at a minimum. The cake is just placed in the middle of the plate.

Taste
The banana fruit in the cake blends well with the cheese taste. It goes smoothly together with the cheesecake. The layer of choc at the bottom gives and ending to the taste of the cheesecake in a flavourful way.
The cake however could be quite filling  if taken by just one pax. I would advise ordering this piece of cake to share between 2 pax or 3 if all had taken dinner.

RECOMMENDED

A nice piece of cake with well supported base of choc. Banana fruit meat gives the cheese a complimentary taste.

Caramel Pudding

Who dont have a second stomach for dessert? Dessert is a must. Now for the desserts that we ordered in Kissaten.


The other items that we ordered

1. Grilled Saba Fish Set
2. Japanese Curry Pizza
3. Caramel Pudding
4. Banana Cheesecake

1st dessert that comes to us. Caramel Pudding.



Food
Caramel Pudding (RM 4.90)

Presentation
The pudding is rather plain. The pudding is like a fortress surrounded by the caramel sauce.

Taste
The pudding texture is very smooth. The pudding wobbles like a piece of soft tofu about to collapse but still remains intact. Caramel taste is strong but it is very refreshing.

RECOMMENDED

This dessert is a must try especially if it is a hot sunny afternoon. This will definitely perk you up.

Pizza with Japanese Curry

From Kissaten, we also ordered a Japanese Curry Pizza. You can read about the other items that we ordered here.

1. Grilled Saba Fish Set
2. Japanese Curry Pizza
3. Caramel Pudding
4. Banana Cheesecake

Food
Japanese Curry Pizza (RM17.90)

Presentation
The pizza is about 9 to 10 inch wide. It is a japanese curry pizza topped with egg plant and mozzarella cheese. The egg plants are well spaced out but otherwise, it is quite plan looking.

Taste
The curry taste is not strong. It is a light flavour pizza, which the egg plant blends nicely with the japanese curry. Cheese volume is slightly lacking. I find that there are not enough cheese on top of the pizza. It is also possibly because of the lack of cheese that the egg plant blends with the cheese. I have not imagined that egg plant can be used on pizza and with japanese curry. A very interesting dish i would say.

RECOMMENDED

It is ok to give this pizza a try if you have not taken any japanese pizza before. However the chances of re-ordering this again would be very low, as there could be other dishes that is worth more of my attention.

Fusion of Western and Jap Food - Kissaten

Met up with my friend on a Saturday when i was in KL for a dinner meal. One of the party wants to eat Tonkatsu and so we decided to head to a nearby Jap and western fusion restaurant near our place. Kissaten @ Jaya One.

Kissaten, 喫茶店, in Japanese means Japanese-style coffee shop, those older and smaller establishment. Though it is a coffee shop, it does not have the cosiness of those smaller establishment. It is more of a restaurant then a coffee shop. They offer al-fresco dining experience as well.

The 'coffee shop' is quite a popular place for family outing. Most of the tables were taken and there were some big families dining in the restaurant. There were quite a number of tables and in some of the locations where the tables were placed, it seemed quite out of place. Imagine putting a table with 4 chairs in a cross junction between the exit from the kitchen, the main entrance to the  restaurant and the entrance to the restaurant from the stairs from level 1. It comes across to me that they are really making full use of the space that they are neglecting the safety of the diners.

We had ordered quite a few items to fill our stomach.

1. Grilled Saba Fish Set
2. Japanese Curry Pizza
3. Caramel Pudding
4. Banana Cheesecake

Apple Strudel from Modesto @ Vivocity

Following the main dish of pasta, I ordered an apple strudel as my dessert. Read the pasta review here.

Strudel Di Melee Con Gelato Alla Vaniglia ($13.00)
Home Made Apple Strudel, served warm and topped with Vanilla Ice-Cream

Presentation
This dessert comes with a scope of vanilla ice-cream on top of the golden brown baked apple strudel. Cocoa powder and icing sugar were sprinkled around the plate to give it a simple decoration.

Taste
I started eating from the crust of the strudel, but found that the crust is not crispy. It would be a lot better if the crust is crispy. Even though the crust is not cripsy, I can still find a fragrant butter taste used for making the crust and making the crust golden brown. It contains caramelised pine nuts, raisins, walnuts and a few slices of apple.
There is nothing special about the ice-cream which can be found almost anywhere. However having the hot studel and the cold ice-cream both in the mouth at the same time gives a very contradictory feeling, which some people may not like. I like this feeling, which feels like a tug of war happening on my tongue.

Ratings
Presentation: 3/5
Taste: 3.5/5
Value for money: 3/5

NOT RECOMMENDED

This is not a dessert that i will go back for, at least not at Modesto. I think there could be other places that do the strudel better than they do.

Pasta from Modesto's @ Vivocity

Modesto, a place that i had been to 3 times before with my love one but this time i went alone after my fashion shoot. Modesto in Italian means shy, modest and humble.

This branch has a rustic interior of old Italy and Tuscan brickwork. In the evening, the interior has a warm feeling and with the yellow lights, makes the place rather romantic. The tables are spaced quite far away which makes private talk ok.

It also an outdoor area that overlooks the bay and be able to see Sentosa and Resort World Singapore. Once the Resort World has fully completed the iconic Crane Dance and the Maritime Xperiential Museum, it would pack a view to behold, especially if there are fireworks. This view would be fantastic.

Modesto serves quite a number of Italian dishes. The menu items are all in Italian but the description of the dish is in English. This is to cater to the local crowd. Modesto specialises in their Pasta and also the traditional wood-fried pizza with thin, crisp crust. I had tried their pizza before and indeed they are quite good, but this time i tried their pasta instead.

Food

Tagliolini Aglio Olio Di Nocciola E Peperoncino Con Aragostine ($29.00)

Fresh home made pasta with baby lobster meat, slices of fresh chilli, garlic and hazelnut oil

Q & A With Andrew Scrivani (Round 2)

This is the following the article that i posted a few days back on.


If you missed the main article. Read it here.
Read the 1st part of the Q&A here



Q.

Any tips on shooting brown food? Like sauces, mashed potatoes with gravy, etc? They never come out right. Thanks.

A.

I am so glad you asked this question. Brown and dark green foods are by far the hardest to photograph. This is where all of your skill as a photographer and especially a lighter comes into play. When I shot the Nigella Lawson column for the Times several years ago, a large portion of her food was dark. Creating a shimmer on the food is essential to create depth. Side lighting the food was almost always the solution to get that shimmer. I have also taken to extreme macro shots (finding one specific highlight on the plate to focus on) or the action shot as was the case with her food: pouring, spooning, cutting, etc. Also, carefully selecting your props and colors really helps compliment the food.

Q & A With Andrew Scrivani (Round 1)

This is the following the article that i posted a few days back on. The last tip really is a helpful one. Check it out.


If you missed the previous article. Read it here.
For the 2nd part of the Q&A, read it here

Some Tips on How to Take Photos of Food

An article that i found in NYtimes on how to take good photos of food.  Read the full article below. 

A few of the tips i find are really useful. Pay attention to point 1 and 2. Those are the easiest to achieve in any typical restaurant setting. 

Point 4 seems a bit technical to non photo enthusiast. It is basically saying not to shine direct light onto the food. Best that the light source has a translucent white paper covering it.

For point 5, ask the waitress for the brightest table and seat that the restaurant has. This is a must. 

I will post more of Andrew's tips in the next few updates. Remember to come back if you want to improve your food photo taking skills. 

The 1st part of his Q&A can be found here.

Having Sleepless nights? It may be linked to what you ate in the day.

If you are having sleeping trouble, there are 5 foods that are advised not to be eaten before going to sleep.




Canned and smoked meats:

A favorite meal for many people, a sandwich of smoked meat, sausage, or sliced meat. Smoked meats have high levels of amino acid tyramine, which causes the brain to release norepinephrine, which alerts the brain and makes us to be vigilant and stir.

First Camera, Then Fork

This is an article that i found from New York Times regarding the current relationship of eating and photography. Nowadays with the affordability of the digital cameras, DSLR or not, everything and anything you eat can be photographed. Read on.......

Did I just get 'clubbed' at Coffee Club, Holland?

Coffee Club, a chain coffee cafe along with TCC and Starbucks, are all competing with each other in the small Singapore.

I happened to pop into the branch at Holland Village after my class at about 4.30pm. The whole cafe is almost empty at that time. The manager greeted me and lead me to a place at the 2nd storey. Wonderful view i must say, as the cafe is located at a corner of Holland V and i am seated at a table next to the glass panel where i can see the people that are walking outside.

Since i was the only few patrons in the cafe, ordering was easy and serving was quick. I had ordered a Choc Delice and a pot of Earl Grey.

Tasty Fried Chicken.. Finger lickin good. Not KFC but Nasi Abg Mie

Located just 8 minutes walk from Renaissance Hotel, Kelantan is Nasi Abg Mie. The store may look like just some normal coffee shop stall that is selling malay rice but it takes more than looking to know that it is really good stuff that they are selling.