baguette & olive oil

my RI friend bought an exquisite lunch at la ventana @ dempsey today on 12jan2017. ^^

this friend not easy to meet up. i enjoyed his company & looked forward to the lunch.

the outside looked a bit untended outside. inside ambience was great. 🙂

breadstick & hummus

there was the crispy breadstick & hummus.

& they also served the warm bread basket – some baguette & olive oil. baguette was good.

tapas – anchovy bruschetta, croquette, a marinated panfried mackarel etc

my friend recommended the S$48 3-course set lunch.

for appetizer, there was a gaspacho, tapas & something else i cannot remember.

friend recommended tapas & we both ordered that.

it was very good! ^^

nice anchovy bruschetta, a marinated pangrilled mackarel??, a nice croquette (or both were croquette?), a potato dish? & grilled jalapeno pepper.

one thing about the service – for a place like this, strange that the server did not explain the dishes they served.

iberico pork & crayfish

for the main course we both had iberico pork & crayfish. i think there was a salmon main option.

this was a really delectable dish. the iberico steak was served slightly pink which i liked.

my friend cannot take pork medium rare, so the restaurant took back & made it well done & served to him nicely presented again. that was good, commendable!

iberico pork & crayfish

i enjoyed this dish! as i did the tapas appetizer.

the inerico pork steak was excellent & not as fatty as the iberico collar that i do.

the crayfish was quite a fair size helping. it was not overwhelming but was more than competent, so overall it was quite a great pairing.

cheesecake tart with strawberry sorbet

server recommended creme brulee, said it’s most popular.

creme caramel stuff really not my preferred dessert. if it was a good pannacotta i meight take.

friend recommended cheese cake, and it was very good. it was done the japanese cheese cake way – very light cheese. it was good!

fruit sorbet

my friend took the fruit sorbet. so nice! i am sure great too, refreshing.

we had a wonderful time, nice food & conversation, great company. something to look back & reminiscence.

my car was in the garage for maintenance, and my friend did not have a car at his disposal last minute so he cabbed to my place to fetch me for lunch. after lunch we cabbed back.

c.h.e.f andy

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La Ventana @ Dempsey

roast london duck – S$25 

went with my OPs friend to royal london duck @ manadarin gallery for 4pax dinner this evening on 10.1.2017. ^^

it was also my OPS friend who bought dinner last time & introduced me to this place on 4.10.2016.

some dishes 

the 4 of us were meeting to discuss our upcoming trip to hong kong.

we already booked our airtickets & looking to confirm the hotel & the location to book. 🙂

roast london duck – S$25

for the dinner, i ordered the roast london duck, must order item.

didn’t disappoint, good as before, though my friend thought duck has shrunk, not as ig serving as the previous time.

haha! it is the “duck of the draw” la…^^

duck was as good as ya wang in JB

& maybe better than canton paradise,

but having tried it second time, clearly it was NOT as good as Tunglok signatures at orchade parade hotel.

crispy charcoal pepper duck meat buns 

the crispy charcoal pepper duck buns we did not tried before.

it’s like crispy char siew pao is a new take on char siew pao, and this one added charcoal & pepper duck to the inventiveness.

crispy charcoal pepper duck meat buns 

& this was very good! banyak bagus la! 🙂

pepper duck filling very tasty & crispy bun was great as texture enhancement to the dish.

char siew – S$16.80

my friends thought the char siew NOT so great this time.

not flavourful, some parts no charring, overall just didn’t taste that great.

& the pricing is totally out of whack! most places would serve char siew like S$9-S$12.

so we refused to order the siew yoke – roast pork because of the price.

& at this price, i won’t order this again if i come back.

xo carrot cake – S$5.80

the xo carrot cake was competent, not my favourite but ok. 🙂

kek tai (innards) porridge 状元及第粥 – S$8.80

the kek tai (innards) porridge 状元及第粥 ok. price ok too.

the porridge not as smooth & tasty as i expected, since the last time the plain porridge was very tasty.

also like quite small bowl although ingredients were quite ok, maybe that’s what counted.

hk poached kailan – S$9.80

took the hk poached kailan.

already knew that poached treatment don’t have wok hae like the simple garlic fried, but it can be very nice, crunchy, tasty.

this time it was quite mediocre, which i guess means poor. my helper can do this dish a lot better la…

dinner 4pax was S$95. other than the char siew price & the mediocre kailan, nothing much to compain actually.

D13 durians from sin kian choon 

a friend bought D13 durians from sin kian choon @ tiong bahru at S$12/kg.

so after dinner we went to bukit merah view food centre & eat durians.

D13 durians from sin kian choon 

it was quite good, but not anywhere near the best D13 i had previously, mostly bought by this friend from sin kian choon, and couple times from ah seng.

had a great time with close friends this evening.

c.h.e.f andy

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