went with wife’s friends for a walk in the park 🙂 on 2.6.2016….

nice folks that my wife met at her yoga lessons, and they did a walk at macritchie together a short while back. 2 other couples & another of their friends joined. we were mostly around the same age group except for the younger couple – the guy is a serious tai chi exponent, teaching at an association. 🙂

weather was temperamental. what’s new?

wife & i were filling hot, humid, oppressive, and i actually put on sun screen & changed to my running attire. next minute sky was threatening to open up, actually rained quite a bit.

as it turned out, weather was quite perfect for the walk, cool & no rain so we got started.

happened that wife had some urgent stuff to attend to. she went off & joined us later for dinner. 🙂

we started from yarwood, trooped down to dunearn road, then rifle range, at some point before temasek club cut across to the trail at bukit timah nature reserve, walked under the forest canopy near to BKE then back to rifle range road then to the kampong trail to kampung chantek, then to binjai park & ending at hup choon for a very nice zi char dinner. 🙂

i started my endomondo a bit late, a bit after after we had crossed over to the trail. still it registered 6.15km & 58.5mins near hup choon, a bit surprise for me as normal slow walk about 4km/hr. i suppose we walked a bit brisk??? another lady clocked from beginning & about same distance & 8000+ steps so i guess it was quite correct.

i had been to hup choon many times in the past but mostly for coffee & bakuteh at the time eons ago, never really around dinner time for zi char.

the hostess ordered several very good dishes. this one of those zi char dinner that i really enjoyed. ^^

fish head curry (with added vegetables) was very good.

it’s different (maybe more chinese version) from my own fish head curry, just as lemak, very enjoyable for me. i guess i ate the most la… lol! 🙂

prawn paste chicken mid-wings were tasty.

i not particularly fond of prawn paste chicken, but this i count as a very good fried chicken wing.

seafood treasures pot was good.

this mainly got to do with fresh seafood.

not sure how much it was here, at uncle leong jurong east which was very good it would be S$30 for this serving size.

i think uncle leong used a good stock base, maybe this one no stock, but still a good dish.

cuttlefish kang kong“jill her eng chai” was good too, very competent.

it’s the kind of taste i am more used to than that at forture at old holland road across the other side of dunearn.

hae chor was competent too, crispy, not too oily, good filling. i guess quite good though not my favourite dish.

hor fun was also quite tasty. didn’t feel so much wok hae, maybe it was a large plate & i did not take it immediately. but it was good anyway, competent.

don’t know how much the dinner for 9pax cost. will come back again soon to try it la!

c.h.e.f andy

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Hup Choon Eating House

wife bought nice anniversary dinner at cornerhouse in botanic gardens this evening on 1.6.2016. ^^

this my first time to cornerhouse. i had been to au jardin & taken the degustation several times previously but not since cornerhouse took over.

looking at my previous post, the last time we were here was for the new year eve dinner on 12.31.2016.

the photos were not so well taken (low lighting) but reading the post again i think the food that time was even better than this evening. more of that later.

for this evening we had a 5-course degustation menu at S$188++

i don’t drink. wife always order wine.

we looked at the wine menu. a 1/2 bottle red was S$188. wife decided not to order as she said previously it was like S$80+

looking at the 2013 NYE degus dinner, our red a grand cru classe was S$85! wife had good memory la!

anyway she decided to order 1 glass white followed by 1 glass red, probably S$70 in total. both wines were good.

i asked for one of the 2 verandah tables seating looking out at the gardens.

it was really nice.

the amuse bouche comprises 3 items.

couldn’t really remember…they were all good la! this one quite unique taste.

this a prawn cracker with tobiko. great!

last a amuse bouche – bitter cucumber terrine. we enjoyed all of the them. 🙂

the first course, carabinero prawn, scarlett prawn from mediterranean, was simply awesome!

the variations of seasonal tomatoes, with basil, olive oil & another falvour were sublime.

the prawn was steamed & chilled, very sweet, tasty & firm. told wife the texture felt like lobster. & there was a tomato sorbet, basically a very flavourful gazpacho, at the top, 12 o’clock! ^^

later i saw on naked fins a nice pic. 

it was a very large prawn, and in some sites they mentioned it tasted like lobster.

second course was white asparagus with a 24mths comte cheese & ikura.

such an artistic presentation! ^^

the white asparagus (confit maybe?) was par excellence, very tender & sweet. overall while the dish was very tasty & enjoyable, it made less impression than the tomatoes (& prawns).

the 3rd course, maine lobster, was quite sublime, out of this world! ^^

lobster was firm, sweet, tasty, riso (a risotto like pasta) was great & the sauce was just fantastic! (from bottarga the salted fish roe i think?).

the 4th course, japanese toriyama wagyu was like any top jap wagyu, simply fabulous, so much better than australian or USA, & horseradish mash was excellent with the beef.

the last course, chocolate earl grey dessert, was good.

i mean the chocolates were great really, the sorbet too, among the best i guess, not exactly my favourite dessert. wife & i not particularly hot on chocolates & if chocolate i prefer the really dark intense chocolate type rather than just smooth with earl grey flavour etc….

petit four was pretty good.

they charged for coffee. i always felt coffee should be just included in a degustation & green tea too in a japanese kaiseki, a touch of class not to charge extra…anyway just my persona views..

we skipped the coffee.

dinner 2xS$188pax + 2 glasses of wine came to S$513.

it was an excellent dinner very enjoyable so money well spent. looking back at the 2013 au jardin NYE degustation, i think that offerred a bit better value not this time we had lobster. hard to compare i guess.

i still miss jaan, since that they withdrew feed @ raffles benefits, we were unwilling to pay the full fare & also the menu still looked the same after 2 rounds, andre chiang & julien royers having left…

c.h.e.f andy

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CORNER HOUSE

ADDRESS

1 Cluny Road, E J H Corner House
Singapore Botanic Gardens
(Nassim Gate Entrance)
Singapore 259569

CONTACT

T: +65 6469 1000
F: +65 6469 0136

HOURS

TUESDAYS – SATURDAYS
Lunch: 12 pm – 3 pm
(last order 2.30 pm)
Dinner: 6.30 pm – 11 pm
(last order 10 pm)

SUNDAY
Brunch: 11.30 am – 3 pm
(last order 2.30 pm)
Dinner: 6.30 pm – 11 pm
(last order 10 pm)

DRESS CODE
Smart casual
(Short & Bermudas is allowed with Shoes or Loafers. No slippers)