Great Lunch Kaiseki @ Hokkaido Sushi on 4Oct2013

Posted on October 5, 2013 by chefquak

kagoshima wagyu 3 small pieces

hokkaido sushi at M Hotel had a wagyu kaiseki groupon promotion. i always like hokkaido sushi but it is kind of ex w/o promotions. 🙂

they had the S$46.50 for 7-Course kagoshima wagyu sirloin kaiseki & a S$62.80 5-course kagoshima & ohmi wagyu set. there were 6 of us & we arranged to have the S$46.50 lunch. they charged S$1 for refillable tea & S$0.50 water, quite fair. 🙂

pitan tofu with tobiko

sashimi moriawase

ebi & fish tempura

ginkarei shioyaki

kagoshima wagyu

bara chirashi don

the 7 courses included a pitan tofu with tobiko (flying fish roe), and it was very well done here, as always. next was a sashimi moriawase. this time there was no botan ebi, being replaced by a small truffle kampichi item. the other sashimi – salmon, hamachi, tai & maguro were all good, very fresh & sweet. 🙂

the fish + 2 ebi tempura were good, nothing special. the ginkarei shioyaki was very good, and a good helping too. the kagoshima wagyu (star of the show) was very good, but a very small helping just 3 pieces. the bara chirashi don with salmon, tai & ikura toppings was good too, though not special. it was really 6 course & not 7 (they just count the soup as 1 course). 🙂

i thought it was very good value, though a smaller set c/w with previous offers & having kagoshima wagyu replaced a bigger portion of australian wagyu.

truffle kampachi

kagoshima wagyu & ohmi wagyu

wagyu fried rice

i had earlier gone for a lunch with my family & 2 of us took the $62.80 set. the truffle kampachi was ok but i thought the cheaper set sashimi moriawase which then included 1 botan ebi was far better. when it came to wagyu though, there were both kagoshima wagyu & the more ex & fatty ohmi wagyu sirloin & a good portion (100g) & they were just fabulous. when the promotion is back i will certainly do it again especially the ohmi wagyu set. it is best paired with the cheaper 7-course set to share among 2pax. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Protected: Homecooked 10pax Dinner for Friends @ 28Aug2013

Posted on September 26, 2013 by chefquak

Relaxed Dining @ Senso on 13Jul2013

Posted on July 16, 2013 by chefquak

burrata cheese with St Daniele prosciutto – S$26

i am thinking of stopping my amex palate privileges which offer 1pax off discounts for ala carte orders at a number of outlets i mostly not motivated to frequent. anyway before the card expires, might as well use it. 🙂 we decided to go to Senso. it is a restaurant i used to go for business lunches when i was working in that area years ago, but have not visited for many years.

ala carte prices at this kind of restaurants are usually on the high side unless you are doing business entertainment, so i was not attracted to frequent. with palate privileges 50% off for 2pax, it would still be more costly than set lunches, but since we were doing dinner, we thought we would revisit the place. 🙂

Senso is located at a Club Street conservation terrace so it has great relaxed ambience with an enclosed outdoor courtyard. still we opted for air-con indoor seating. 🙂 you could see that the waiting staff were well-trained & efficient.

bread basket

warm bread basket was good. you could ask for butter. i just do the usual olive oil & balsamic.

my wife ordered a prosecco & a red.

amuse bouche

we had an amuse bouche, a lime cured tuna with avocado puree – good not great. 🙂

wagyu carpaccio with rockets & parmesan – S$28

we ordered a wagyu carpaccio with rockets & shaved parmesan (above photo) & a burrata cheese with Saint Daniele prosciutto (top photo). the carpaccio was served the natural sweetness way w/o any seasoning. it was sweet but we kind of preferred those with dash of balsamic cream, olive oil & sea salt. i liked the burrata (though so far i think Valentino’s the best & Capri’s also better than this, but they cost a lot more!) and also the Saint Daniel prosciutto. 🙂

we had a pasta & a main to share. we ordered the lobster taglierini (S$34). they split for us so the photo above was a 1/2 portion. 🙂 this was good, though we forgot to order the squid ink version which was usually more flavourful and the waiter did not ask us for the choice.

pan-fried venison rare – S$48

we had wanted to order the veal rack (we had a very good one at spizzico) but this was breaded & pan-fried so we gave up the idea. the waiter recommended venison medallion (tenderloin) rare. this was a superb choice – very tasty & tender & the dauphine pommes (crisp potato puffs) were excellent! 🙂

we were both not dessert persons. excluding the wine, the bill was S$68++ for 2 appetizers & 2 mains after 50% discount, which explains why i had not been there like forever w/o the discounts. it was still more ex than set lunches but this was dinner & this price was quite fine really (there was no discount for wine which added another 50% to the total bill).

c.h.e.f andy

10pax Homegourmet 9-course Dinner on 1Jul2013

Posted on July 8, 2013 by chefquak

had a wonderful dinner get-together with friends on 1.7.2013. 🙂

got the usual faithful to come over to try out a few new dishes like Nobu miso cod, simmered crispy skin salmon & kurobuta steak. 🙂 few other dishes like Jap chashu belly pork, funghi risotto, pistachio lamb etc, some have tried before but many have not.

10pax Homegourmet 9-course Dinner Menu

i did a 9-course dinner – the first 4 were served as tapas for sharing, followed by baked funghi risotto & spicy seafood alio olio with white wine, and then 2 main courses Nobu miso cod & Spanish slow-braised beef ribs OR pistachio crusted rack of lamb, and finish off with the usual chocolate lava cake. 🙂

as i had learned earlier, everything was about planning, so planning what could be precooked & the cooking/reheating. serving sequence was the key. the kurobuta steak & wagyu of course had to pan-fry on the spot when all the diners arrived. likewise tossing of the mesclun salad with olive oil, balsamic vinegar & sea salt only when about to serve. the best that could be done for risotto was to precook (mine was a baked version in oven) but still needed to add stock & cream, reheat & reduce w/o overcooking the rice. for the seafood alio olio, the prawn & squid & spaghetti were pre-cooked but the wine, reduction etc & tossing was best done on reheating, again to keep the pasta al dente w/o overcooking. 🙂 likewise the rack of lamb took 22mins in the oven, and i had to start that while reheating the risotto, so that the lamb could be served not too long after the spaghetti which came after the risotto. the beef ribs was precooked but needed reheating and the miso cod which took 11 mins had to be done after the lamb. 🙂

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first 2 tapas were pan roasted brined chicken breast & thigh (i used to serve only breast but seemed like many preferred thigh) and a sampling of pan-fried kurobuta steak & Japanese chashu oven slow-braised belly pork in mirin, sake, sugar & light soy sauce. these served together with mesclun salad. 🙂 after resting the meats & cutting, i saw that the kurobuta was slightly pink so i decided to re-fry 2 of the 3 pieces. that delayed the start of the dinner a bit, but seemed that many friends actually did not mind the less well done piece, so i think would be better to serve it just slightly pink (about medium well) next time. 🙂

next up was pan-fried MBS 4/5 wagyu steak. the above left photo showed the kurobuta steak which looked more marbled than the wagyu. i did the wagyu medium rare at the centre, so it was a bit well at the ends. i think i would do it rare the next time. 🙂

ebi miso yaki

as WL did not take beef (everytime he had to repeat the story, this time to Oonch), i did ebi miso yaki (the medium prawns were marinated in miso for 3 days & stored in the chiller) for him from the miso i made to use for Nobu miso cod. 🙂

i did 2 fillet of salmon first simmered 8 mins skin-up in mirin, sake, sugar, then pan-fried to get the crispy skin. this dish was quite easily done & just needed to heat up before serving. i cut the 2 fillet into 10 bite-size pieces & served in a white bowl & just poured the slightly sweet tasty sauce over it. the salmon did look nice & tasted quite ok, but i think it was kind of a “nothing” dish that just looked good but could do with or without. 🙂

everyone liked the baked funghi risotto which had nice, intense mushroom flavour from button mushrooms & shimeji. this time the rice (i used a cheaper USA sushi rice & not real stuff – italian arborio rice) was al dente. JK felt it was too wet. that was because i did not estimate well the stock + cream to add on reheating but had to leave it wet as it would overcook before i could make it drier. 🙂

next, spicy seafood spaghetti alio olio. so far this had turned out quite well in taste everytime & visuals too. 🙂

then we had a choice the pistachio crusted rack of lamb (i cooked only 1 rack of 8ribs to serve 4) OR Spanish slow-braised beef ribs (which had 2x3ribs to serve 6). 🙂

the Spanish ribs were inspired by a lunch last year at La Cicala with my son. my son preferred La Cicala’s beefy brown sauce. i decided though to pick up an internet recipe with a sweet vegetable ratatouille to balance the beefy ribs. i used carrots, celery, yellow onions, & red pepper, i did not get chorizo so substituted with chinese sausage & also used tumeric for the colour in place of expensive saffron. 🙂

Nobu miso cod

the last main course was Nobu miso cod. like the rack of lamb, kurobuta, & wagyu, i got the cod from mmmm at West Coast Plaza. the key was to marinate in miso for 3days or more. the result was a very “jit bee” 入味 tasty cod. the cod was firm, tasty & quite tender. my personal preference is a firm & springy (& oily) fish, so i like cod but i like chilean seabass a bit better, though it is not so environmentally correct to consume them. 🙂

chocolate lava cakes with cherries, strawberries & grapes

the last up was chocolate lava cake. this took just 3mins 40secs in the oven so anything could go wrong. this time it was my phone timer (phone was in silent mode! OMT!) so i thought the first batch might turned out to be brownies. but it turned out to be ok with quite a bit of lava. the second batch though had lots of lava.

c.h.e.f andy

Pan-fried Kurobuta Steak

Posted on June 28, 2013 by chefquak

pan-fried kurobuta steak

just realised that i did not put up the recipe for pan-fried kurobuta steak.

i was looking for a main course item to add to Nobu Miso Cod to cook for my wife for the Mother’s Day 6-course Homegourmet Dinner. 🙂

the technique is largely what I use for pan-fried angus or wagyu steak in tagliata di manzo – a good dry steak at room temperature seasoned with sea salt & coarse black pepper, and a very hot pan, & voila! the only difference being that for a beef steak, i mostly do it medium rare whereas for kurobuta (i use either iberico or yorkshire black pig bought from mmmm) i do it well done.

pan-fried kurobuta steak

my understanding of pan-fried steak (or say scallops) is basically one of temperature. once you get the temperature right not much can go wrong & you just have to get the doneness right. So the pan has to be very hot (& well greased with olive oil & butter), and the meat has to be dry (air dry in fridge or pat dry with kitchen towels) and at room temperature, so that the steak can be seared quickly to seal in the juices, and to achieve maillard reaction. if the meat is wet, the pan temperature drop sharply & you will be poaching instead of searing. the only other thing to remember is to let the steak rest for 5-10mins to redistribute the juices, before you cut it. 🙂

we find the kurobuta from mmmm to be excellent in some way equal or better than angus striploin, but of course not comparable with the wagyu MBS 4/5 striploin. of course these things are very much a matter of personal taste preference. 🙂

it seems to me that anyone can cook an excellent steak at home with a good piece of meat. so i don’t do steaks out often these days unless it is at a very good restaurant. it is surprising though that many restaurants sometimes deliver a mediocre or poor steak when they get the temperature wrong, which is something they should never do!

c.h.e.f andy

Directions:

remove kurobuta (1/2in to 3/4in think cuts) from fridge & leave at room temperature for 1/2hr. pat dry & season with sea salt & coarse black pepper on both sides.
heat a non-stick skillet. add 1 tablespoon olive oil & add 10g butter. when the pan is very hot & just begins to smoke. add the steak (say 2 pieces) w/o crowding the pan. making sure the places where the steaks are sitting are well greased. turn heat to medium after 1 min. when the steak is cooked 1/2 way up on the side, turn heat to high & flip over and turn down to medium after 1 min.
remove meat from pan to cutting board & rest for 5mins before serving.

Pork Shabu Shabu Dinner at Azmaya & Coffee Chocolates at Laurent on 18Jun2013

Posted on June 19, 2013 by chefquak

had a wonderful evening out with a few great friends. 🙂

we were going to do Indian but the restaurant we decided to try, Balle Balle Cafe, was closed on Tuesday! (odd!), so we picked Azmaya. It was a great choice!

I had the A5 Japanese wagyu shabu shabu at Azmaya previously so I did not take photos this time. 🙂 we took the pork shabu shabu 2hrs 放题 (all you can eat) which was S$12pax after 50% discount (promotion extended till end Jun2013). the same for A5 Japanese wagyu + pork which was S$45pax after 50%, till end Jun2013. 🙂 there is 1 catch – you have to order 1 drink, which starts at $5. that was fine really, our dinner came to $173nett for 7pax inclusive of 9 drinks (2 beers, 1 red wine + 6 non alcoholic drinks), and ice water was free. 🙂

the pork came in 2 very thin machine cuts (we could see the machine slicing away on the countertop near the kitchen) – a belly cut & a (I am guessing) collar cut. they were very good really. we had 2 refills of meat as well as vegetable basket which included leek, golden mushrooms, Jap glass noodles, chinese cabbage, bean sprouts etc. there was no room left for udon which was also included but we did not order. 🙂

after dinner, one of us introduce the group to Laurent (pronounced lor-hon) Cafe & Chocolate Bar. they had a tiny aircon area that just about squeezed in 4 small tables, 3 of which were occupied; but there was a persistent one amongst us & we managed to pounce on it the moment a second table was vacated & put the tables together to sit the 7 of us. 🙂 we didn’t want to breathe the 108PSI air at the alfresco area. 🙂

we ordered the favourites – a pure chocolate which was “heavenly sinful”, a chocolate tart which had an excellent texture combination, & 2 others. they went very well with coffee though some of us had hot chocolate & ice creams etc. the bill came to S$90nett for 7pax.

& we had wonderful conversation hahaha.. 🙂 from Loire Valley misty chateaus to Cinque Terre to San Sabastian to Amalfi Coast (the last a friend’s very selective 3 bucket list items-all completed), capital & inheritance tax considerations when buying foreign properties & living in Kowloon or Discovery Bay, walking the trail from Wan Chai to mid-levels, dental surgeon (NOT one of us) & probiotics, being educated by our all-round sportsman on the difference between complete & finish (not to be repeated!). all in all, an evening to remember & savour. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

A5 Wagyu Shabu Shabu @ Azmaya (东屋) on 30Apr2013

Posted on May 2, 2013 by chefquak

A5 wagyu shabu shabu beef

went to try out Azmaya (东屋), a new Japanese shabu shabu place at Robertson Quay on 30apr2013.

there was a huge crowd and many Japanese, which meant 1 or all of the followings-

(1) it should be good

(2) Singaporeans (& I guess Japanese living here) love a new eatery

(3) its a izakaya (居酒屋) drinking joint (so many Japanese) and there is still not enough casual （aka lower price) places serving Japanese wagyu.

Azmaya opened in late mar 2013, so was still offering 50% opening discount for 2 ala carte buffets – pork at S$24 and A5 wagyu beef+pork at $90 (website said till end may 2013). I guess at 50% off the pork shabu shabu ala carte buffet was a steal, but we came of course to try the A5 wagyu beef. In any case the 50% discount did not apply on public holiday (PH) or eves.

The A5 wagyu shabu shabu sets started with S$40. I think there was a S$50 and another S$70 sets probably for better cuts. We saw they had course sets at S$49 and S$59 (but it was in Japanese only on the website) so we thought we gave it a try and ordered 2xS$59 w/o knowing the content.

That proved to be a mistake! 1 plate of A5 wagyu came (in top photo) to be shared by both of us. We had asked specifically before ordering whether the course sets included the same A5 wagyu beef & quality in the S$40 set and was told it did (I guess a case of “lost in translation”). Though we still didn’t know what was the difference the S$49 and S$59 course sets, we decided to order the S$59 set anyway. So we asked the server was there another plate of wagyu on the way or we were expected to share the plate. He said that was all the wagyu in the course set & it was because we had other items like pork & adegashi tofu etc. Obviously we were not thrilled as we came specifically to try the A5 wagyu & in choosing a S$59 course set we ended up having 1/2 the wagyu c/w the S$40 set & the compensation was to have some pork & adegashi tofu (& probably something else). So we requested to change the order to the S$40 set.

Initially the server came back saying the order could not be changed or we would have to pay 50% penalty for cancelling the order (I guess you could try that but it would not work with Singapore diners la!). He went back to try again after we told him that there was no english course menu & we asked if it had the same A5 wagyu & quality as in the S$40 set & we had no clue what was included in the course set but was prepared to pay additional S$19 above the S$40 set for whatever additional items they provided. most importantly we came for the A5 wagyu & could not be paying more & getting less A5 wagyu. back the server went (all these took quite long because they were really busy but we were relaxed and not really in a hurry but would certainly refuse to take the S$59 course set). anyway we were allowed to change to the S$40 set so problem solved & no harm done. 🙂

One word about the service & attitude. I thought the service attitude was superb really! 🙂 especially because of the difficulty in communicating, the server was actually very professional, attentive, well-mannered, serious in giving his best to do a good job. that said, I am not sure if the service could be graded excellent if important information were not communicated whether due to language or otherwise. 🙂

now the A5 wagyu beef. It was good beef, tasty with the fragrant taste of marbling (“pang”). It was certainly better than the ala carte buffet beef served at En Japanese Dining & their sister restaurant Zen which were australian MBS4 wagyu, and at Himawari. 🙂 and the S$40 set price was not cheap but I guess quite ok. 🙂

but for our expectation of Japanese A5 wagyu, I thought it was quite far off. The kagoshima wagyu konabe at Mikuni would be far superior to this (& that was S$24 with Feed@Raffles discounts for 2pax). We also had very good wagyu sukiyaki set at Chinya at Asakusa in Tokyo for 3500yen & again far better than this, & they were all not the top grade A5 (I think the 3500yen beef at Chinya was just 国产牛 and not even kuroge wagyu 黑毛和牛 so no A grading to talk about).

big tub of udon for 2pax shabu shabu set

Still, comparisons aside, it was good beef and a very nice dinner. For S$40, its ok though I won’t do it often. I was thinking of going back while may2013 promotion was still on for the S$90 (S$45 after 50% discount) A5 wagyu beef & pork shabu shabu ala carte buffet. just to go back to the point on service, I guess if nothing needed to be communicated eg a straight forward order of the S$90 ala carte buffet, then service was indeed excellent! 🙂

the set also included the usual udon & vegetables.

P.S. (1)I subsequently went back with a group of friends on 18.6.2013 for pork shabu shabu 2hrs 放题 (all you can eat) which was S$12pax after 50% discount (promotion extended till end Jul2013). It was awesome! (2) See here for Restaurant Promotions update

c.h.e.f andy

Majestic’s Excellent 8-course WGS (World Gourmet Summit) dinner on 19Apr2013

Posted on April 21, 2013 by chefquak

black turffle on hokkaido scallop with gourd

black truffle on hokkaido scallop with gourd

looked at Majestic’s 8-course WGS (World Gourmet Summit) dinner menu on its website & decided to go for this dinner. 🙂 WGS dinners have been around for many years. was never quite motivated to try them as I always believe (& still do) that good food begins with taste, and presentation & creativity (including fusion & molecular discoveries & adventures) are superlative to good taste & superfluous to bad ones; and have always felt it is paying lots of $ to get average (or poor) food & service..

Majestic’s excellent 8-course WGS (World Gourmet Summit) menu ending 26apr2013

Majestic is our favourite Chinese fine dining restaurant so we are confident with the quality of its cooking (not to say bias..haha..). this 8-course WGS dinner menu is S$99++pax c/w several hundred $ for other WGS dinners & there is a 10% Citibank credit card discount, so it looked reasonable to give it a try & we were happy we did. 🙂

The lobster soup with a yasai (veg) tempura was a great start. The lobster meat were plump, sweet & tender. The soup was very smooth & tasty – the intense hae mee (prawn noodle) type stock, not the foam cappuccino bisque served at most western fine dining. the tempura batter was good.

the braised abalone and lotus roots with a minced oyster filling in batter & brocoli in brown sauce was a superb dish. 🙂 Chinese dried abalones in brown sauce are always soooo good. the abalone was smaller than the 5-head ones at Xin Cuisine, probably 8 or 10-heads but still good size. the lotus root with minced oyster though was par excellence, very good indeed! 🙂 next item on the menu (top photo) was plump, sweet,nicely seared hokkaido scallop sitting on a marrow gourd with a sprinkling of tobiko (flying fish roe), and it had an amazingly large black truffle topping it! I love the fragrance truffle & truffle oil add to dishes (especially cold Japanese noodle topped with caviar & some truffle oil at Gordon Grill) but never believe in paying stratospheric prices for them.

the 4th dish was 1 of the best caramelised (I think honey vinegared) pork rib I had. you can the glaze, glistening..not sure how it is done – whether baked or deep (or shallow) fried & braised. the plating was good with the green tea powder donning some chinese character (京?). 🙂

teochew steamed promfet topped with pigskin

next was the teochew steamed promfet – as good as any good teochew restaurant, not sure the plating & pigskin topping (odd choice) was an effort in fine dining presentation? whatever – the taste still a good robust steamed teochew promfet dish. 🙂

we were expecting panfried wagyu MBS6 – I guess maybe that was too much of an expectation for the price? haha. 🙂 what we got was panfried wagyu guotie (锅贴)..when reading menu I was thinking a panfried wagyu + a pot sticker yum yum..it was not to be..the minced wagyu was very tasty & the dough was good..not quite the same but well can’t have the best of everything, 🙂

the 2 desserts were I guess another effort at creativity & fine dining.. don’t know what to make of the cherry pie thingy..the puff pastry was excellent, lovely swans too, the filling a bit sweet & not my thing, like a sticky date pudding? maybe.

the ice dessert I consider a 败笔 (point of failure) of an otherwise outstanding menu..the usual aloe vera sorbet at Majestic is so good no need the trouble to invent something fancy..not that it was bad really, but it was much ado about nothing – an ice jelly in a hawker centre would be more shiok!

overall it was an outstanding & enjoyable dinner. the WGS menu promotion is until 26apr2013. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Asahi Sushi Shinjuku Sumitomo 50F Course Dinner on 9Apr2013

Posted on April 14, 2013 by chefquak

Kinki – a fatty Japanese delicacy

arrived Tokyo on 9apr2013.

had dinner arranged with my daughter & JH. they were already travelling Japan. decided to book a course dinner in a comfortable environment & easy to locate place, so booked Asahi Sushi at 50F, Shinjuku Sumitomo Building. They had a few course menu promotions for the month & great views up there. 🙂

JH & I had the 7-course with kuroge wagyu beef dinner. My daughter had a 10-item sushi moriwase set.

for the course dinner, we also had a small veg salad with mayo otoshi. The 7 courses were-

hokkaido crab claw with unagi & vinegared pickles (below photo left)
maguro & tai sashimi (above photo middle)
chawanmushi (above photo right)
kinki (japanese delicacy & chef’s favourite here)
kuroge wagyu grilled
8-item sushi moriwase
miso soup

the veg salad, chawanmushi & miso soup were non-events. the crab & unagi vinegared dish was very tasty. the sashimi were very average even for Singapore.

the kinki was fabulous. this very sweet tasting fatty fish is like between a cod (not as fatty) & chilean seabass (the latter is my perennial favourite). super! 🙂

kuroge wagyu (黑毛和牛) rare

the kuroge wagyu was good I guess but kind of underwhelming. I always felt Japanese wagyu were so good they were best eaten teppanyaki or yakiniku style rather than western fine dining style. When Andre Chiang was at Jaan years back, we use to frequent there a bit more. he had this kagoshima wagyu done in this Gordon Ramsay style similar to what’s done here in the above photo. It was good of course but I would much rather have it sizzling hot & with the freshly seared aburi marbling flavour. 🙂

10-piece sushi platter

my daughter was not too impressed with her sushi platter (above photo). It had anago, 2 pieces maki, hamachi? (not sure), ikura (these were small & I much preferred the large ones so maybe it was not ikura), tai, aji, prawn, hotate, maguro uni & akamai (lean toro). after I later tried the very good quality sushi at Daikokuya 大黑屋 kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi, I had to agree with her that you could get equal or better quality sushi at much lower price but of course ambience and view was a world apart. 🙂

her set also included the vinegared crab dish & miso soup.

8-items sushi moriwase

for the course dinner, we had a 8-item sushi platter-maguro, saba, akamai, hotate, amaebi, uni, ikura (small ones) & anago. It was good but same observations as my daughter. 🙂

was the dinner worth it? my daughter’s set cost 2730yen=S$30++. good kaiten sushi not withstanding, S$30++ for a plump, succulent, sweet hokkaido crab claw + 10 piece sushi including akamai, uni, anago, ikura, hotate would really be nothing to complain about in Singapore.

the 7-course dinner cost 6090yen=S$67++. here with kinki & kuroge wagyu thrown in, I would say it was still a very good set c/w say Kuriya Dining which offer very good monthly S$88++ set but my usual eat at Mikuni would beat this hands down in terms of overall satisfaction if not value of ingredients. 🙂

& that was before factoring in the free view of Shinjuku night skyline, privacy & quiet ambience.

c.h.e.f andy

Great Kuroge Wagyu @ Shinjuku Korin Yakiniku (光琳) on 11Apr2013

Posted on April 14, 2013 by chefquak

Kuroge wagyu (黑毛和牛) flank 1180yen for 100g

returned from another long journey again, this time to Enoshima & Kamakura and another 6 hrs+ walking. usually I would skip lunch to optimise the time for the tour. 🙂 this time I had 20minutes at Fujiwara station waiting to board the Odakyu train back to Shinjuku, and so helped myself with a bowl of 400yen nikusoba. good stuff! 🙂

still I was feeling like treating myself to a good meal. I already had 1 expensive course dinner at Asahi Sushi @ 50F Shinjuku Sumitomo building, a very good tokusen (特选) sashimi moriwase also at Asahi Sushi 8F Mylord Shinjuku South Exit, and a cheap food tour including soba, thick cut gyu don, and kaiten sushi. So I thought go try out an average yakiniku place. 🙂

I found this yakiniku restaurant Korin (光琳) near Shinjuku 1-chome. It had this very powerful suction chute-not only it rid the place of smoke & smell but the flame rose up when you placed the meat on the metal grill & actually seared & barbeque the meat extremely well – whatever maillard reaction you needed you could not get better than this. 🙂

special taster set of 5 meats (3 kuroge wagyu) for 1980yen

They have english & picture menu as in most eats in Japan. Not knowing how the meat standard was relative to the price, I elected to have the special taster set which included 3 types of kuroge wagyu for 1980yen.

all the meats were good & I enjoyed all of them, especially the 2 very marbled wagyu at the bottom of the above photo. 🙂 I think high temperature flaming (aburi) whether it was on marbled meat or on oily fish sushi or sashimi (like aburi toro) made a superlative improvement to the already great marbled taste.

being greedy I asked the waiting staff which menu item this was, & I made another order of this kuroge flank 1180yen for 100g (which you see in the photo at the top of the page). This really was fabulous. 🙂

So my dinner added up to 3160yen nett. you could also order beef tongue, scallop/prawn/seafood & bibimbap here as well as a set of 4 kimchi.

I am one very satisfied customer! 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Japanese Dinner @ Mikuni at Fairmont Hotel on 24Mar2013

Posted on March 25, 2013 by chefquak

truffle kampachi sashimi

Note – see also update = FAR Card 50% for up to 5pax. 🙂

I go to Mikuni a lot as my wife & I really enjoy the food there, and with Feed@Raffles discounts (50% discount for 2pax), that is the best value eat we can get anywhere. 🙂

We always order ala carte so we pick only dishes we like and also it is much better value than ordering the Seasons Menu or the Grand Tour Tasting Menu. We explore the menu quite a bit & zero in on the dishes we like. In fact, we have now taken the same few dishes so many times that I can almost call it a “Andy Kaiseki Menu”..haha…just kidding. 🙂 It is just 5 course, but while it may not have like 10 courses to be a full kaiseki menu, every dish is very substantial when compared with individual course of a kaiseki or mini kaiseki.

My selected courses (shared by 2pax) as follows-

truffle kampachi (S$28)
botan ebi sashimi (3 large prawns for S$35)
united nations futomaki (9 ingredients 6 pieces maki S$28)
sous vide then deep-fried octopus (S$30)
2xkagoshima wagyu sukiyaki konabe (individual hotpot at S$48 each)
1 plain rice to share – they will split for you (S$5)

As you see, the price comes to S$222, and at 50% discount, it is S$111 or S$55.50++pax. 🙂

Now to the dishes.

The first dish, a truffle kampachi is a wonderful, wonderful dish, and as you can see in the top picture, it is so pretty. It is in a small way a fusion sashimi dish by the Korean Chef with kampachi sashimi fanned out in probably tsuyu sauce as the sauce is not so salty, and a dash of truffle oil – so very fragrant, fresh, sweet & tasty! 🙂

botan ebi sashimi

botan rbi heads deep-fried

The second dish is botan ebi sashimi – you get 3 prawns for sashimi & 2 if you order sushi. These are large (3x the size of regular ama ebi), plump & sweet prawns with the same pleasant slightly sticky to the bite texture as regular ama ebi.

and they deep fry the large prawn heads. We eat up almost the entire crispy deep-fried prawn heads every time so no need to elaborate la…haha. 🙂

united nations futomaki

Next the united nation futomaki. The name sounds like a disaster but there are 9 ingredients (I can see there are unagi, ebi, tamago, avogado, different fish roes, maybe crabstick etc) & it is good – may not be the best as there are many specialist maki in many restaurants these days, but it is good!

Then we have the tako (octopus) sous vide & deep-fried in light batter. This is really very good as the meat is totally tender & consistent throughout because of sous vide (vacuum low temperature slow-cooking). it goes very well with just a little wasabi mayo (provided) – we always add more wasabi on our own.

kagoshima wagyu sukiyaki konabe (小钵)

& the the finale – kagoshima wagyu sukiyaki konabe (小钵).

It is very, very good! there are 3 pieces of wagyu, and you can see from the photos that they are large & thick pieces – I reckon the 3 pieces to be at least 80g, probably 100g! these are Jap wagyu NOT australian wagyu, & they are so, so tasty, the sukiyaki also comes with the usual vegetables, thick Japanese glass noodles & mushroom, and oh such great flavours! you can add the soup to the rice afterwards (and remember to add wasabi to it as well).

c.h.e.f andy

Homegourmet 8-Course Lunch @ 14Mar2013

Posted on March 24, 2013 by chefquak

I had another homegourmet 9pax lunch with friends recently.

I had quite some success on the pan-roasted brined chicken breast recipe, and was raring to try it on duck. 🙂 I wanted to test it once before I dumped the dish on my friends. I did this using both the pan-roasted chicken quick-roast method & the prime rib slow-roast method successfully, the slow-roast method producing an even more tender meat.

The slow-roast pork belly was still a work-in-progress. It turned up very well for my daughter’s 14pax friends lunch on CNY 3rd Day, but I felt it was still mostly touch & go. I would not have time to do on 14Mar if it turned up poorly so I did it in the evening of 13Mar & as it was passable if not great so I kept it in the fridge to warm up & serve the next day.

For the soup. I had been doing a “kick-ass” …self-praise haha…Basque seafood soup using prawn shells but was a bit tired of doing the same soup every time. I looked up some creamy mushroom soup recipe and thought it could not go too far wrong and was worth a gamble, since I had on hand willing devoted risk-taker volunteers high on faith. 🙂

skin-on pan-roasted brined duck breast

We started off with 4 tapas – (a) pan-roasted brined chicken breast (b)slow-roast brined duck breast (c)slow-roast pork belly & (d) Margaret River wagyu MBS6/7+angus striploin.

I think all were happy with the brined chicken breast & duck breast (except that I was rushing a little & destroyed the crispy skin of the chicken quite badly, I relaxed and did it right for the duck). They were moist, tender & tasty! 🙂 The belly pork was a bit iffy. This was a rather fatty piece & though the fat & meat were quite soft, the skin was still a tad tough to the bite, so the “mouth feel” 口感 wasn’t quite right. Fortunately, the natural jus was quite tasty & the Spanish spicy mustard sauce was a very good dip to go together with.

I thought the wagyu was below par. I had better marbling for MBS4/5 striploin from the same supplier mmmm previously for the “Best of” dinner on 28Jan2013 (of course my friends would say its the bad carpenter..haha). The rockets were also not good. I forgot to buy on 13Mar & there was no time to get it on 14Mar so went at 1am the night before to Sheng Shiong’s 24hr mart at Ghim Moh & the only ones there were quite old & not fresh. 😦

I had a separate portion of 3 pan-seared Hokkaido scallops for WL as he does not take beef. It should be quite ok now that I learned the simple technique=very hot pan +very dry scallop (scallops & fish etc contain a lot of water & if not bone dry, pan temperature will drop sharply & you will be steaming/poaching & will not have a hardened seared layer so it will stick to the pan). 🙂

pan-seared Hokkaido scallops

After the tapas, we had a pasta item, which was my seafood alio olio spaghetti with white wine. I was quite confident on the taste department as this dish mostly turned up quite well but I thought the texture was not enough al dente this time. 😦

seafood alio olio spaghetti with white wine

Next came my very first attempt at creamy mushroom soup, and gratefully it turned up very well indeed – really quite smooth in texture and tasty – though from the photo below, I could see the caramelised mushrooms but NOT few drops of extra virgin olive oil.

creamy mushroom soup

The pistachio rusted rack of lamb was also my very first attempt, and this was quite an excitement for me actually. The lamb rack looked fabulous & tasted great! although I found it slightly overdone as I would prefer medium rare. It was moist, tender and did not have much of the strong lamb gamey taste. 🙂

pistachio crusted rack of lamb

The 8-ribs lamb rack was good for 4 serving, and being my first attempt it was actually a stand-in for my more “established” Spanish 2-hr slow-braised beef ribs. This had been very good the few times I served previously, but the taste was a bit off this time, & we were at a lost to explain (other than bad carpenter). The vegetable base ratatouille (celery, carrots, yellow onions) should be sweet & balancing the beefy taste, the Chinese sausage added some sweetness & the chorizo (though may not be everyone’s favourite) had combined very well previously. I thought that it could be the chuck rib itself, though I bought it from Giant the day before, but I could not be sure how long it was on their shelves. Photo below still looked ok but looks deceived 😦

Spanish 2-hr slow-braised beef ribs

We had the usual chocolate lava cake. I was getting a bit bored though, hoping to try out a new soufle recipe next time.

WL brought very nice tarts and CH his usual strawberries & this time it was especially sweet. All the leftover tarts were polished off by my daughters soon enough. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

“Best Of” Dinner on 28Jan2013

Posted on March 23, 2013 by chefquak

Gathered my gung-ho friends for a meal at my most recent homecooked dinner on 28Jan2013.

“Best Of” refers to the different dishes (French, Spanish, Italian, fusion) I was trying out in the MENU above, NOT that I was best in any of them..lol..I had 3 pan-seared Hokkaido scallops made for a friend who couldn’t take wagyu, & mercifully they turned up very well after I learned of the very simple technique from chef John of foodwishes.com (just make sure the scallops are bone dry at room temperature & the non stick pan is very hot – scallops & fish etc tend to have lots of water & if not dry, then pan temperature will drop instantly and you end up steaming & NOT searing the meat!).

This was also the first time I tried my skin-on pan-roasted chicken breast on my friends and they all loved it. The slow roast belly pork was still very much a work-in-progress BUT the saving grace was the spicy, sour Spanish mustard sauce. 🙂 This, together with the original sauce from the belly pork made very lovely dips.

Skin-on pan-roasted brined chicken breast

The Margaret River wagyu striploin with marbling score 4/5 (while pale in comparison with Japanese wagyu), was 1 of the dinner highlights & garnered many supporters. 🙂 I did it the GR (Gordon Ramsay) way – leave steak at room temperature for 1/2 hr, greased non-stick pan with fat from striploin, very high heat, turnover once & add butter, then rest for 5minutes before cutting.

Margaret River wagyu MBS 4/5

The garlic jumbo prawns (these are 130g size – 10 prawns=1.3 kg) is one of my regular dishes, done with just minced garlic & chilli padi in a dry wok in very high heat, and only adding fish sauce at the very end before removing & serve.

Garlic jumbo prawns 130g each

I also had a very smooth & sweet tasting Basque seafood soup using stock from prawn shells + chicken stock + leek, carrot & onions strained, adding poached prawn, sotong (squid) and mussels when serving.

Next up were the 2 pastas. The seafood alio olio spaghetti with white wine is my usual fare, and this time I added a fusion pasta using a chilli crab sauce I prepared from the prawn shell stock.

The main course was a Spanish 2hr slow-cooked beef ribs with chorizos, celery, carrots, red peppers, yellow onions & using just a dash of tumeric for the colour. They all loved this very tender & tasty dish.

Spansh slow-cooked beef ribs with chorizos

And after all that, we still had room for a very nice chocolate lava cake (my usual fare) to round out the evening.

Chocolate lava cake oozing lava served with strawberries

c.h.e.f andy

Restaurant Week $35nett Lunch @ Kumo Kaiseki Restaurant on 19Mar2013

Posted on March 19, 2013 by chefquak

Menu-Restaurant Week $35nett set lunch at Kumo Kaiseki Restaurant

A friend bought lunch today. We had great time chatting about the charity he was actively leading last 25years, travel & food.

As it was DiningCity Restaurant Week (18-24mar2013), I suggested the $35nett lunch set at Kumo Kaiseki Restaurant. There was just a little confusion as many restaurants were awarded DiningCity Star (and Kumo Kaiseki was 1 of them), and this meant they charged additional S$15 & S$20 respectively on top of the standardised S$25++ lunches & S$35++ dinners. Most if not all ‘Star’ restaurants would simply indicate lunches as S$40++ & dinners as S$55++ to avoid confusion but Kumo did not. So we called up to make sure that we would be paying S$35nett and NOT S$50++ & that was indeed the case (good to be certain than have wrong expectations and be disappointed..haha..). 🙂

I have stopped going for Restaurant Week these days as there is nothing much on offer. S$40 lunches & S$55 dinners at the ‘Star’ restaurants like Oso, Gaia, Absinthe etc are not cheap and also usually restrictive on the menu items especially mains c/w their daily lunches. Last year for example, UOB had very good 1 for 1 Young Chef Creation Menu in many restaurants and you get a 4-course S$68 1 for 1 menu at Gaia vs a S$40 3-course Restaurant Week menu at the same restaurant! Even at La Cicala Gastrobar (which has no Star), the usual S$25 set lunch menu is to me better than the same-priced Restaurant Week menu.

This Kumo S$35nett menu looks good though.

I had a kaiseki dinner only once at Kumo using a $50 Kitchen Language (which owns Kumo, Salta, Ochre, Saltwater cafe) voucher. Kumo’s food is good but not great for the price c/w say Hachi, and if you are not overly enameled with kaiseki presentation, I think Kuriya Dining’s monthly sets offer better value. For me, none of them can compare with Mikuni using the Feed@Raffles card with 50% discount for 2pax, so I usually frequent Mikuni, but it is good to have a change once a while.

The first course, tai (sea bream) sashimi topped with ikura (salmon roe), was truly delightful in all departments – taste, colour, presentation! the jelly (can’t remember what it is) went really well with the tai sashimi. every item (broadbean, petals & all) was edible. This dish was very impressive even for a full course kaiseki! 🙂

tai sashimi topped with ikura – so pretty (every item edible!)

The lotus & prawn dumpling were ok & tasty, nothing to wow about. the bonito soup was also ok with a nice after taste.

lotus & prawn dumpling in bonito soup

The main course comprised a braised saga wagyu shank & some vegetable items in batter & the usual gohan set of rice, pickles & miso soup. This really was quite so-so, very average taste wise. As a braised item, one could not tell much between wagyu (& Japanese wagyu at that!) & normal beef.

braised saga wagyu shank & yasai furai

also done this way it is more commonly served as an appertiser item (eg Dozo serves a japanese braised beef as an appertiser item in their 6-course lunches which maybe tastes same or better), and is no comparison with the modern european braised lamb shanks served in many restaurants here.

braised saga wagyu shank in miso

The yasai (野菜) furai (not a tempura batter) was a good complement to the braised beef.

yasai furai

Well at S$35nett (S$30++ just for comparison though Kumo actually does not charge 10% service) for such a lunch, I guess there was little to complain about except for the parking costing S$10 at neighbouring Amara Hotel. 🙂

sakura mochi with Japanese strawberries

The dessert was a nice red bean mochi which I liked & 1/2 a strawberry.

Overall, it was a very pleasant meal and also nice way of keeping up with a friend.

c.h.e.f andy

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Tag Archives: wagyu

Great Lunch Kaiseki @ Hokkaido Sushi on 4Oct2013

Protected: Homecooked 10pax Dinner for Friends @ 28Aug2013

Relaxed Dining @ Senso on 13Jul2013

10pax Homegourmet 9-course Dinner on 1Jul2013

Pan-fried Kurobuta Steak

Pork Shabu Shabu Dinner at Azmaya & Coffee Chocolates at Laurent on 18Jun2013

A5 Wagyu Shabu Shabu @ Azmaya (东屋) on 30Apr2013

Majestic’s Excellent 8-course WGS (World Gourmet Summit) dinner on 19Apr2013

Asahi Sushi Shinjuku Sumitomo 50F Course Dinner on 9Apr2013

Great Kuroge Wagyu @ Shinjuku Korin Yakiniku (光琳) on 11Apr2013

Japanese Dinner @ Mikuni at Fairmont Hotel on 24Mar2013

Homegourmet 8-Course Lunch @ 14Mar2013

“Best Of” Dinner on 28Jan2013

Restaurant Week $35nett Lunch @ Kumo Kaiseki Restaurant on 19Mar2013

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