Wonderful Matsutake Autumn Bento @ Mikuni on 20Sep2015

Posted on September 20, 2015 by chefquak

mikuni autumn matsutake bento

mikuni a favourite destination for me.

mikuni’s chirashi don is still the best in singapore for me.

matsutake lunch special bento

i wanted to try the autumn matsutake bento set, so today 3 of us came for lunch on 20.9.2015. ^^

it’s F1 race day, so many roads were closed. i googled and saw that bras basah road entrance to raffles city was open & also i could returned by beach road in the direction to middle road which was also opened.

i drove through orchard road with some traffic, but overall it was perfect. & carpark was empty.

matsutake (pine mushrooms) otoshi

it’s a pine mushroom set, so every dish had some matsutake. 🙂

matsutake (pine mushrooms) otoshi

it was ok.

excellent sashimi=chutoro, hotate, kampachi, uni

sashimi was excellent! chutoro & hotate were fantastic cuts.

excellent sashimi=chutoro, hotate, kampachi, uni

chutoro really melt in the mouth & hotate had incredible bite. kampachi were very sweet too. wish they gave more uni, haha! 🙂

tempura

tempura was lovely. chestnut really nice.

tempura

matsutake has a bit of woody? mushroom flavour. daughter didn’t like it so much.

sea bream teppanyaki & snow crab legs

teppanyaki sea bream seemed to be the dry treated type like many japanese fish including salmon & cod. you get them in japan a lot, in bentos, restaurants, supermarts.

i liked it but not so favourite for wife & daughter.

sea bream teppanyaki & snow crab legs

the snow crab legs were excellent.

kagoshima wagyu

& the kagoshima wagyu was sublime! ^^

kagoshima wagyu

there’s some mustard seeds/sauce. i put a bit of wasabi on the beef also. just so wonderful. 🙂

kagoshima wagyu

it felt like not the very chargrilled preparation. wonder if i can do this. google a bit & see.

ikura kamameshi(釜飯)

i normally don’t particularly fancy kamameshi as i used to think they tasted average until i had very good tasty kamameshi at sun with moon @ wheelock.

ikura kamameshi(釜飯)

this one here though was very average.

panna cotta

panna cotta was very good! great texture & bite.

panna cotta

daughter though was still thinking of the panna cotta at pizzeria balognett at tremezzo lake como, but i think this was very good already. 🙂

with amex FAR (feed at raffles) privileges, the 7-course set was S$60++pax, very good deal i feel!

c.h.e.f andy

6-course Early Anniversary Dinner for 4pax at Home on 28May2015

Posted on May 31, 2015 by chefquak

#3 flamed squid in spinach sauce

wanted to do an anniversary dinner for my wife & children. the logistics was such that it would be easier to do it earlier & then have dinner out with my wife on the actual day. hence 28.5.2015.

during our recent cornwall travels, we had great lunch at porthminster at st ives on 14.5.2015. we had a superb mussels & a charming roasted pineapples dessert.

also i saw the wonderful photos of a flamed squid in spinach sauce and a curry monkfish. so those were the dishes i had initially planned to do. i experimented on some dishes prior to 28.5.2015. 🙂

my mussels though did not turned up so great(blame it on the cheap local mussels from sheng shiong..haha!), so i decided on a carrot soup.

i tried a thai yellow curry for the first time, planning to replace monkfish with cod. & though the curry turned up beautifully (both looks & taste), my wife & i felt that cod was such a nice fish we should not overpower it with strong curry. so i decided to do a steamed cod instead.

#1 calamari & oyster fritters

#1 calamari & oyster fritters

as i was doing carrot soup, i decided to pair it with some oyster fritters, and since i am already at it (oil for deep fry, cornflower, egg & breadcrumb), might as well throw in some calamari.^^

i rolled the lightly seasoned oysters & calamari (squid) in corn flour, then egg, then breadcrumb. then placed them (just 4 or 5 pieces) in about 5cm hot oil a small sauce pan (to use less oil).

#1 calamari & oyster fritters

the oyster fritters were excellent, i must say, and first time i made them this way. i liked the calamari too, just cooked right nice texture, not rubbery & tough.

#2 cream of carrot soup

#2 cream of carrot soup

i have done-

cream of mushroom,

cream of cauliflower &

lobster bisque etc.

this was the very first time i did cream of carrot soup.

& it was excellent!^^ it was silky smooth & tasty, among the best soup i made.

#2 cream of carrot soup

i added a lot of sliced/cut vegetables – 1 onion, 1 stalk leek, 1 red pepper, 2 carrots (plus some leftover stems from spinach). i fried them in butter till soft, added 2 cups of chicken stock & boiled for further 20mins. then i used a blender to blend & added salt & pepper to taste.

when about to serve, i added 3 tablespoon thick cream, and i have some chopped basil from my garden.

#3 flamed squid in spinach sauce

#3 flamed squid in spinach sauce

this was the best dish of the evening, quite exquisite if i may say so, maybe alongside the soup.

the squid was done just right, excellent texture & taste, and with the bbq flamed flavours. & the sauce was exquisite. ^^

st ives porthminster chef michael smith’s flamed squid

i only saw the photos in the cookbook at porthminster. when i tried to google, there was nothing to be found, perhaps porthminster’s australian chef michael smith is not so famous. haha!

so i invented the recipe myself. practice made perfect though, so i had 1 practice some days before.

flamed octopus in spinach sauce

i cross cut (very closely) a large squid into 4 pieces (about 9cmx6cm), placed them on a pan & torched. i knew that’s was not enough to cook the squid, so fried them in butter afterwards.

#3 spinach sauce

for the sauce, again i used lots of vegetable to make it so tasty. i fried in butter 1/2 onion, 1/2 stalk leek, 1 green pepper & a bunch of spinach leafs. then i placed them in a blender & added 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil & salt & pepper to taste. such a wonderful sauce complementing the flamed squid.

#4 steamed cod with olive oil & soy sauce + wood fungus

#4 steamed cod with olive oil &soy sauce + wood fungus

there was not much to do regards the cod. i had done this once before & i know the simple olive oil with light soy sauce with chicken stock made a terrific stock base for the steamed cod.

#4 steamed cod with olive oil & soy sauce + wood fungus

the cod was really wonderful. wife & children liked it very much.

#4 steamed cod with olive oil & soy sauce + wood fungus

for me & for my youngest daughter though, we still like the equally tasty teriyaki cod better.

#4 steamed cod with olive oil & soy sauce + wood fungus

one mistake i made was with the wood fungus. first time i was doing this. apparently this was the wrong fungus. it was the crunchy type & not suitable. if i had looked more thoroughly i would have found the small ones in the shelves.

#5 pan-grilled lobster

#5 pan-grilled lobster

this was an easy dish to make. however i did not do it right this time & the lobster was overcooked & just slightly tough. wife & daughters said lobster was very tasty & flavourful but i knew meat being just right & being tough made a whole world of difference.

#5 cold storage 2x375g frozen canadian cooked lobster=S$26.95

i bought 2x375g frozen canadian cooked lobster=S$26.95 at cold storage.

#5 cold storage 2x375g frozen canadian cooked lobster=S$26.95

i cut the lobster in halves & shelled the pincers & legs. i put a lobe of butter in the pan & when it was very hot, i placed the lobster flat on the pan. then i added 2 tablespoon of brandy & flamed. the method was right, but i just did it a bit too long.

#6 roasted pineapples

#6 roasted pineapples

i tried to reproduce the roasted pineapples. this i didn’t practice, just use my imagination. unfortunately it was nothing like what we had at porthminster. haha!

#6 roasted pineapples

i torched the thick sliced pineapples. then i stewed them in lychee syrup.

#6 roasted pineapples

i served it with surprising coconut from daily scoop & lychees, and wife roasted some coconut flakes.

i guess it was immensely edible. anyway we were just eating fruit & ice cream so didn’t quite know what it was about.

st ives porthminster chef michael smith’s roasted pineapples

nothing like the experience of the real thing – st ives porthminster chef michael smith’s roasted pineapples.^^

c.h.e.f andy

Great Value Teppanyaki Lunch @ Mikuni on 4May2015

Posted on May 4, 2015 by chefquak

penna cotta

had a great teppanyaki lunch today with a friend at mikuni on 4.5.2015.^^

we were seated at the robatayaki counter as you could only order the special S$68 teppanyaki set OR S$68 robatayaki set if you are seated at either and Not at the main dining area.

the last time i came with my god-sis and my good friend’s daughter, i had the robatayaki set. today we both picked the teppanyaki set.

it was really good value for the quality of food. 🙂

prawn crackers

we had usual crackers to start.

salad

a nice salad with coma (sesame) sauce.

chawan mushi

very good chawan mush, soft, tasty, pieces of chicken, mushrooms inside.

golden prawns

golden prawns was quite a popular ala carte item here, prawns were fresh, succulent, had nice tobiko. i tried not to have too much mayonnaise. 🙂

cod

cod & golden prawns

cod was good as cod goes. 🙂

teppanyaki beef steak

& the teppan beef was pretty good too, very well charred. i love the crispy garlic & of course the tau gays.

garlic fried rice

garlic fried rice was standard. i took 1/2.

penna cotta

the penna cotta was really quite excellent.

lunch was very good value at S$34pax after 50% FAR (feed at raffles) discount.

c.h.e.f andy

Worst Meal in London @ Poppies Fish & Chip Camden on 24Aug2014

Posted on August 27, 2014 by chefquak

poppies fish & chip=cod large for GBP13.90

thought of having fish & chips since we were in london.

son went to google & found this place poppies fish & chip at camden. as we were taking a morning walk along regent canal to camden town to primrose hill, this seemed a good place to stop for lunch.

poppies fish & chip

poppies fish & chip=cod large for GBP13.90

it was however a bad choice. 😦

poppies was evidently among the top 10 fish & chips restaurants in london (the sign said voted No.1) & had quite good reviews on trip advisor. somehow it just did not agree with me or my son.

we ordered the cod large for GBP13.90. somehow, everything was wrong with this fish & chips – “cod” fish was dry, quite tasteless, even with lots of salt & vinegar, didn’t seem fresh or bouncy, batter was thick & poor, & fries were tasteless.

and the price = GBP13.90+ was doubled those on the streets…

but whatever the price it must taste good first! so this fell squarely as our worst meal in london, worse than the street fares like duck confit sandwich & crispy pork belly sandwich & even the chorizo bun at borough market, & even the GBP3.50 gyros (& the fries that came with it) we had earlier at the camden market was many times better than this. totally surprising to me but there it is! 😦

i no fan of fish & chips but old brown shoe (now closed) fish & chips was way way better than this!

c.h.e.f andy

Great Lunch @ Boon Tong Kee Balestier on 13Jun2014

Posted on June 13, 2014 by chefquak

chinese cabbage with taupok

a good friend had a S$10 boon tong kee voucher to use & invited us for a 3pax lunch at the balestier branch. this a restaurant with 31 years history. 🙂 the stall at chinatown was started by a thian boon hua in 1979. and the very first btk restaurant opened at balestier road in 1983. 🙂

my friend wanted to book btk at 1pm (as we were all watching world cup soccer opener brazil vs croatia) but it was fully booked. we decided to go early instead at 11.45am, also there were limited kampong chicken so better to be early. 🙂

there is a huge carpark just behind balestier food centre which is adjacent to btk.

we got ourselves a table. the place was aircon-ed. it was full & a queue soon formed outside. about 3 tables were reserved for tourist busload!

chicken liver & gizzard

white-cut kampong chicken

HK steamed cod with wood fungus

chinese cabbage with taupok

S$30 HK steamed cod with wood fungus

my friend ordered 4 dishes.

#1 kampong chicken was very good, though my friend the connoisseur felt it was not as good as usual. for me it was very good, smooth, sweet & not so fatty. 🙂 & the rice was very good, flavourful & not too oily. the thinly chopped ginger oil dip was excellent! 🙂

#2 the chicken liver & gizzard were ok. i am partial though to chicken intestine which was not offered at this btk branch.

#3 the bean curd with nai bai (奶白) chinese cabbage was very good too, especially the beam curd!

#4 the hk steamed cod fish with wood fungus (木耳) was excellent, the best. 🙂

the meal came to S$84 for 3pax including 3 barley drink (S$2.20 each) before using the S$10 voucher. it was not cheap but it was really a very good meal for me.

btk is more like a zi char than just a chicken rice stall. i don’t take so much chicken rice these days but this was really good relative to many good neighbourhood chicken rice stalls like the ones i had at tanglin halt & 6th avenue. i will certainly come back both for the chicken rice & also the zi char dishes.

c.h.e.f andy

Good Dinner (not Great) @ Fleur de Sel on 7May2014

Posted on May 8, 2014 by chefquak

le homard – poached lobster with lobster bisque

had a pleasant & relaxing dinner chat with a close friend at fleur de sel on 7.5.2014. he was going to do some hiking at cinque terre & could not find his walking stick so i brought mine along for him. 🙂

i heard about fleur de sel from my wife’s good friend (who bought us an excellent dinner recently at the very artisan singapore fusion restaurant started by a 29 year old investment banker, labyrinth on 30.4.2014). seemed that the whole lobster, completely shelled at S$49++ was very good here. 🙂

my wife came by 2 nights ago with the same friend and took the S$88pax 4-course set menu. she felt that the escargot was not good, and it was not the cooking but the quality of the escargot itself – not sweet, tasty. 😦 she also felt the soup was average, the cod was ok good & the rhubarb dessert was good.

i was decided on the lobster for myself. when my good friend arrived, i gave him my wife’s feedback & suggested he took the other S$108 set instead, as the dinner was a belated celebration of his recently past birthday. anyhow he decided to join me to order a lobster each. looking at the menu i was not attracted by the appetisers, so i suggested we ordered a cod (main) & a lapin (rabbit) risotto main to share before starting the lobster. my friend though wanted only the cod. i got him to order a wine so he got himself a cloudy bay (white).

semi sour dough served with butter & del (salt)

semi sour dough served with butter & sel (salt)

we were served semi sour dough with butter, and advised we could dab the sel (salt) too. the restaurant name fleur de sel means flower of salt, apparently hand harvested (haha..what a description!) by workers who scrape only the top layer of salt before it sinks to the bottom of large salt pans. 🙂

one salt was flavoured with rosemary, the other with citron & something else. good fun…lol. 🙂 we tried the salt but our palate not sophi enough & they felt non-descript. the butter was ok average so we asked for some olive oil, which was very good, very fragrant extra virgin olive oil. 🙂

crab meat – amuse bouche

the amuse bouche was some crab meat, pretty good. 🙂

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pan seared atlantic cod

the pan seared atlantic cod was pretty good, though the cod was firm but did not feel so smooth & bouncy, somewhat different from the texture of cod i was accustomed with. it was served with some sauce so more a wetter version (not knowing how to describe!).

my own Nobu miso cod

my own teriyaki cod

i guessed it was a very good cod regards this method of preparation but for me personally, the satisfaction was not at the level i had with my own nobu miso cod & teriyaki cod (whereas by comparison the teriyaki cod at mikuni & at keyaki would of course be better than mine).

le homard – poached lobster with lobster bisque

the shelled whole lobster in lobster bisque was very good (the dark photos above & top taken with my samsung s4 did not do justice to the dish). meat was fresh, sweet, tender & very tasty with the bisque. excellent dish this! 🙂

apple crumble with granitee dessert

complimentary mini birthday cake

service was very good. server knew we were celebrating my friend’s birthday so brought a small cake with 1 lit candle. 🙂 it might have been expected of a good restaurant. still it was much appreciated as an important guesture that defined good service & training for a good restaurant. 🙂

the apple crumble was very average non descript.

Chef Alexandre Lozachmeur at work

the bill was S$198 for 2pax including 1 glass cloudy bay white & dessert.

overall, with the exception of the lobster, i would consider the food just average for this level of dining & prices. of course it would be much better than a usual eat. 🙂 on the lobster while it was really good & competitively priced, many restaurants, both chinese & western, are able to & indeed does the same, equally good & inexpensively priced.

if I made a comparison with labyrinth, the latter was a lot more artisan, creative, able to reproduce the flavours from ingredients that were beautifully assembled, tasted similar but looked entirely different from the usual singaporean dishes like chilli crab etc. however, some may consider paying (say) S$90nett for whole lobster etc better deal than paying for same for labyrinth’s set, creative or not! it is a very subjective thing.

won’t be back soon, but probably will have another go a bit more time later.

c.h.e.f andy

Very Good Dinner @ Zazas Amsterdam on 14Apr2014

Posted on April 30, 2014 by chefquak

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amuse bouche

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focaccia bread

had a good dinner at zazas on my second night in amsterdam on 14.4.2014. 🙂 like beulings, we planned & booked the restaurant before the trip.

could not recall the amuse bouche but it was good tasting.

the focaccia was good, the usual.

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carpaccio – euro10.50

10155957_10152323498109494_2119524832509377819_n

smoked duck mille feuille euro 10.50

we ordered 5 appetisers including the oysters & soup. 🙂

#1 the beef carpaccio was good, sweet & came with foie gras terrine.

#2 the smoked duck mille feuille was good too. smoked duck was good & the pastry too, overall a good dish. taste wise it was not as exciting as it looked. the duck & pastry were competent, good, not special.

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cheese ravioli 1/2 portion euro 8.80

10247210_10152323499054494_7766143869966422716_n

carrot soup 1/2portion euro2.80

1798592_10152323499504494_3028973852907956548_n

3 de claire oysters euro 7.50

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creamy & sweet de claire oyster

#3 the ravioli was good. couldn’t remember what was in it, I imagine cheese? but this was better than the green pea risotto we had at the movies restaurant the next day. 🙂

#4 the carrot soup (we had 3 servings of 1/2 portion) had some cream at the bottom & was again very good, and also better than the one at the movies restaurant.

#5 the oysters were excellent, very creamy and sweet. we ordered a second helping of 3 oysters. 🙂

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black cod euro20.50

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guinea fowl euro 20.50

we ordered 2 mains to share.

#6 the cod was competent, but somehow the meat were firmer (& less oily??) than the texture i generally liked, as in my own nobu miso cod or teriyaki cod.

#7 the guinea fowl i guess was competent, just was not a dish that we particularly liked, and by comparison, the duck confit at the movies restaurant was much more enjoyable.

the service was very good – professional & friendly. there was 2 taiwanese ladies on our next table. 1 ordered a lamb but didn’t like it. she was requested to order a different main from the menu. the server took back the lamb & later explained politely & cheerfully that the chef tasted the lamb & it was fine however they would replace it with another main anyway. the lady said sorry when paying the bill & the server said they were sorry that she did not like it. all very nice & pleasant. 🙂

overall the dinner came to euro104 including 2 coffees & a glass of wine, quite good price. it was not really much more expensive than the movies restaurant. the appetisers were great but the mains were not as enjoyable for us c/w the movies restaurant. i would come back again when in amsterdam.

c.h.e.f andy

Superb Lunch Kaiseki @ Kuriya Dining on 16Nov2013

Posted on November 17, 2013 by chefquak

tokusen (特选) sashimi moriawase=chutoro, akaebi, mirugai, uni wrapped with tai

had a most enjoyable lunch kaiseki at kuriya dining @ great world city with my wife on saturday 16.11.2013. they served an excellent daily S$58 lunch kaiseki (there was also a S$48 option which has sushi instead of sashimi). 🙂

this lunch was even better than the S$138 kaiseki dinner on 4.6.2013 i had here! the only caveat is that as the menu changes monthly, some months’ menu maybe more attractive than others, so it makes sense to check the website menu. for this day everything was par excellence!

november lunch kaiseki menu

sensai (前菜)=fish liver, chestnut, pumpkin jelly, reef squid, mushroom

angler fish liver

chutoro,mirugai(geoduck) in foreground

sashimi moriawase =maguro, kampachi, sake

akaebi (red prawn) head

grilled prawn & fish with superb truffle sauce

simmered cod in plum sauce

the first course, sensai (前菜) consisted of angler fish liver, chestnut, pumpkin jelly, reef squid, mushroom. angler fish (ugliest in the world?) liver was such a fine sublime dish, simply delish! the other items – bigfin reef squid etc were all good too. 🙂

the sashimi moriawase (maguron, sake, kampachi) was very good, sweet & fresh. for 1 set we topped up S$20 for the sashimi & got an exquisite tokusen (特选) sashimi moriawase with chutoro, akaebi, mirugai, uni wrapped with tai (top photo). this was super good value upgrade. the akaebi was the size of botan ebi (or bigger for this one) but not as sweet. we asked for the head to be deepfried. it was excellent every time. perhaps next time we would ask for aburi (torched) chutoro. 🙂

the grilled prawn & fish were good if ordinary but the truffle sauce was super.

the simmered cod with plum sauce was another par excellence dish. sweet, firm cod with slight sour sauce, the best! 🙂

chirashi don set (ikura, sake, tai)

dessert=macaron,fruits & vanilla ice cream

& after so many quality dishes we got a very nice chirashi don (with loads of ikura, sake & tai) to finish off. this lunch was so gooood!

i always wonder why japanese cuisine had such a wide menu & yet almost no dessert, like only fruits & ice cream & maybe jelly…my impression is all japanese dessert are tea dessert of the red bean kind, and the best dessert in tokyo, shinjuku etc are all the western dessert which the japanese do so well, maybe better than most western places.

anyhow we had a good combination of western dessert – a macaron with vanilla ice cream (instead of jam), fruits & 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream).

this an excellent lunch menu that i would return for everytime. c/w keyaki’s weekend S$60pax brunch mini kaiseki, i would consider both the S$58pax menu & the upgrade S$78pax menu at kuriya dining a much better offering. 🙂

c.h.e.f. andy

Great Brunch Mini Kaiseki @ Keyaki (quick update) on 27Oct2013

Posted on October 31, 2013 by chefquak

teriyaki cod

(we had a superb S$58 november lunch kaiseki @ kuriya dining on 16.11.2013 & the food was much better than this).

a quick update. last had excellent brunch here on 18.8.2013. everything was good as before. the mini kaiseki brunch was truly good quality & great value. thumbs up! 🙂

kobachi 小钵 – some pickled radish

sake

sashimi moriawase

good tempura moriawase

aussie beef teppanyaki

kagoshima pork – better than beef!

maki

kuro goma ice-cream

menu items same as before. sashimi (kajiki, sake, maguro) were good quality – sweet & fresh! cahwanmushi was very good – very smooth & tasty! tempura also was among the good ones. the teriyaki cod was the best – good helping & really nice! i must try this at home! 🙂

the teppanyaki beef tenderloin rare was good, but the kagoshima pork was better! 🙂

& we had 3 pieces of maki. nice too.

we asked, & they let us changed to black sesame ice cream, but the macha ice cream was good here too! 🙂

for S$60++pax, it was really very good value for the quality of food. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Excellent Kaiseki Lunch @ Keyaki on 18Aug2013

Posted on August 20, 2013 by chefquak

teriyaki cod

Great Dinner Chat with Friend @ Jumbo Riverwalk on 3Jun2013

Posted on June 4, 2013 by chefquak

steamed cod

my daughter arranged this dinner at Jumbo Riverwalk with a good friend of mine who has been giving her guidance & good advice. 🙂

I generally like the food at Long Beach & Jumbo. I ordered a 6-course set for 4pax. we had a good chat, most enjoyable dinner & pleasant evening.

lobster with ginger & scallions 姜葱

the menu said we start with a 姜葱 lobster with ginger & scallions – this was good standard as expected & I ate a lot of the scallions too. 🙂

sambal spinach

seafood fried rice

for this night though, the restaurant served us the seafood fried rice & sambal spinach first. the menu item was asparagus but the restaurant said they ran out so we chose 蒜茸garlic spinach. when it came to the table it was sambal spinach. not ideal, but the spinach was nice – that’s what counted! 🙂 the seafood fried rice was just ok, average – too average i think for a popular restaurant

the steamed cod (top photo) was very good! 🙂 i think I must try doing it at home.

the chilli crab was decent in taste but for me it had no kick. all the foreign tourists in the crowded restaurant were dutifully ordering this and clearly relishing it, so it was good! anyway, my wife could not take too much chilli this evening so nothing lost. 🙂

ice fruit sago dessert

the ice fruit sago dessert was very refreshing, a little sweet but no sweeter than usual ice jelly at the hawker centre.

restaurants filled with tourists enjoying chilli crab

restaurants crowded with tourists enjoying chilli crab

there were lots of foreign tourists trying out chilli crab so even the mild version was quite good though I liked it to be better. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Recipe = Nobu Miso Cod

Posted on May 4, 2013 by chefquak

Nobu miso cod – the usual lovely firm, bouncy, slightly oily cod texture & full of flavours

6feb2015 update (recipe at bottom updated accordingly –

subsequently i was lazy & just roast the cod in a roasting rack in 250degC oven for 12minutes and achieved the same results.

i also reduced the sugar to 1 tsp flat & the miso to 1 tbsp heap & marinated for 2 days instead 3days…

so proud of my Nobu miso cod! 🙂 successful at the very first attempt! wow! 🙂

my prize= the usual lovely firm, bouncy, slightly oily cod texture & full of flavours! 🙂

was planning a menu to cook for my wife for Mother’s Day…I now do a good pistachio crusted rack of lamb, slow-cooked Spanish beef ribs and pan-fried wagyu. but my wife is off lamb basically; slow-cooked, braised stuff never really up her alley; and while she is ok with pan-fried wagyu, it’s not something she’s into too much..so I was thinking what main course I could do..kurobuta was one which I started to do recently, pan-fried in a similar way as wagyu. I thought miso cod could be the other!

I found the Nobu miso cod recipe in a blog TastingMenu which I followed, and though I had some confidence the dish should turn out ok, one could never be too sure, and I was really quite elated that it did turn out so nicely! 🙂

I bought some frozen cod (<600g) from mmmm during their periodic promotion at S$41/kg. I later found that you could get cod fillet at Chinatown basement wet market for about same price S$40/kg (which I presumed was also cut from frozen whole cod).

I followed the miso marinate recipe (80gml mirin, 80ml sake, 3/4 cup miso paste, 3 heap tablespoon sugar). I boiled the saké and the mirin in a medium saucepan over high heat for 20 seconds to evaporate the alcohol, turned to low and added the miso paste, stirring to dissolve the miso completely, then turned to high again and added the sugar, stirring constantly so that the bottom of the pan didn’t burn. I then cooled down the marinate mix to room temperature.

600g cod fillets in miso marinate in ziplock bag

I placed the cod fillets in a ziplock bag & poured in the cooled marinate and left it in the fridge for 3 full days. turning over once in the morning & once in the evening to ensure all sides were fully coated.

miso cod – pretty light translucent yellow colour

After 3 days I removed the cod fillets from the miso marinate, patted dry with kitchen towels & placed the cod fillets on a rack over an aluminium foil lined baking tray. The miso cod is totally coated with a pretty light translucent yellow colour. 🙂

Nobu miso cod – the usual lovely firm, bouncy, slightly oily cod texture & full of flavours

I preheated the oven to 250degC on the circulation function, and put in the miso cod for 4 minutes. I then switched to the grill function at 210degC (the maximum for my oven for grill function) and roasted the cod for 3 minutes then turned over for another 4 minutes – a total cooking time of 11 minutes.

miso soup with shimeji mushrooms & garnished with scallions

and the used miso marinate? why discard it? it was full of flavours from the cod & miso. I cut & threw in 1 packet of 200g shimeji mushrooms from China (these were selling S$0.65 at Sheng Shiong!), added some chicken stock & water to taste and cut some stalks of scallions for garnishing. nice miso soup! 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

500g cod fillet

for miso marinade-

80ml mirin
80ml sake
1 tbsp heap miso paste
1 tbsp flat sugar

Directions:

heat saké and the mirin to dissolve the miso and sugar, stirring constantly so that the bottom of the pan doesn’t burn. cool down marinade mix to room temperature.
place cod fillets in a ziplock bag & pour in the cooled marinate and leave in chiller for 2days. turning over once in the morning & once in the evening to ensure all sides are fully coated.
remove cod fillets from miso marinade & place cod fillets on a roasting rack lined with aluminium foil at the bottom.
roast cod for in 250degC oven for 12mins..

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Recipe = Nobu Miso Cod

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