北京美食之旅 – 大碗居

Hoping to move away from the spicy and oily dishes in Beijing, we headed to 大碗居 for some simple home-cooked fare, as what the Chinese term 家常菜. 大碗居 is popular with the locals for its reasonably priced and good quality 家常菜.

虫草花自制酿粉

We started off with a cold appetizer of 虫草花自制酿粉 (clear noodles with Chinese caterpillar fungus, 20RMB). We’ve got to admit that the black, flat and fat glass noodles, with the worm look-alike meat strips, didn’t look quite appetizing. But this time round, looks are indeed deceiving. The flat noodles were al-dente, chewy and very smooth. It had adequately absorbed the gravy, and hence on its own, it was moist and savoury. As it was served cold, it tasted refreshing and very appetizing. There was a touch of vinegar in the dish, adding that little sour tanginess, making this a great starter.

野蓝莓淮山糕

The 野蓝莓淮山糕 (wild cream, 32 RMB) has got to be the most interesting and unique dish we have tried in Beijing. When this dish was brought to the table, we were slightly baffled. In no way could we even imagine what the dish would look and taste like. It seemed to be a dessert, yet could also be an appetizer. It looked like whipped cream which for a moment, stumped us. The mystery was unveiled when we took a spoonful of it. Looks wise, it looked every bit like cream. However, it was much richer, heavier and denser compared to whipped cream. In fact, it was likened more to the consistency of mashed potatoes. Just that in this case, it was mashed Chinese yam. Every mouth was pure mashed Chinese yam, it wasn’t enhanced with starch. The Chinese yam exuded a subtle taste of herbs, not too strong in flavour. But the drizzle of blueberries added a sour-sweet burst to it. The stone-like features beside the yam were actually chocolates. Interesting and sophisticated dish.

酱爆桃仁鸡

Main course of the day was the 酱爆桃仁鸡 (sauteed chicken with walnut, 38 RMB). This was seemingly the only chicken dish we tried in Beijing. In Beijing, chicken dishes are not as popular compared to mutton and beef. But that doesn’t mean they can’t do a good job about it. The 酱爆桃仁鸡 was well-caramelized, giving the chicken a slightly sweet and sticky outer layer. The walnuts were very crunchy and fresh and with the caramelization plus sesame seeds, the walnuts tasted like candied walnuts.

大碗居 – 体育馆店
东城区法华寺街(近体育馆西路路口)

北京美食之旅 – 干锅居

Another restaurant chain commonly visited by locals is 干锅居, which specializes in 贵州菜.

干锅居

And their specialty:

苗家干锅鸡

The 苗家干锅鸡 (griddle cooked chicken with pepper, 59 RMB) was served in a wok, atop a lighted stove. The chicken has already been cooked, but it was the 腐竹 (dried tofu strips) and 酸笋 (bamboo shoots) which were still hard and crunchy. Hence, this dish was finished on the table, where the waitress would periodically walk over to stir fry and finish up this dish. The chicken chunks were very well-flavoured and tender. It wasn’t overly spicy, though it started to get a little oily towards the end.

茶树菇双腊

The 茶树菇双腊 (sauteed preserved meat with agrocybe aegerila, 39 RMB) was a mediocre stir fry dish. The mushrooms were a tad under-flavoured and the preserved meat was so fatty that we totally avoided it. This dish could do with a little more spiciness.

蛋黄南瓜

The 蛋黄南瓜 (deep-fried pumpkin with yolk, 19 RMB) wasn’t too oily; the pumpkin slices were coated in a thin egg yolk batter and deep fried to create that crunchy outer crust while still retaining the soft pumpkin flesh. One downside was that we figured that the pumpkin was coated in an egg yolk batter which was added with salt, instead of using a salted egg yolk batter. This resulted in the pumpkin exuding a very monotonous, heavy, dense and one-dimensional saltiness. A salted egg yolk batter would have better elevated the saltiness and fragrance of this dish.

天麻煲排骨

The 天麻煲排骨 (braised spare ribs with rhizoma gastrodiae in casserole, 39 RMB) was a very rich pork-ribs based soup. In fact, for those who are sensitive towards the taste of pork, this soup is a definite no-no. The richness, flavour and aroma of the pork came out very strongly in this soup. It was also rather salty, not the kind of light, refreshing soup to end a rich meal.

干锅居 – 五道口店
海淀区中关村东路1号
(清华东门外搜狐网络大厦二层)

La Barra

La Barra – one of Singapore’s rare Colombian restaurants.

We had no prior experience trying Colombian food, and had absolutely little idea what Colombian food was going to be like. But with an open heart and empty stomach, we stepped into authentically Colombian La Barra.

Arepa – Reina

Arepa is a dish made of ground corn dough or cooked flour, or simply known as corn cakes. It is highly popular in South American countries like Colombia and Venezuela. We choose Reina – which is chicken and creamy avocado.

The Reina consisted of shredded chicken dressed with cold creamy, thick avocado sauce. The chicken appeared to be somewhat just lightly broiled, not richly seasoned. The entire chicken and avocado combination was quite light, healthy and refreshing, not too overwhelming for the palate. However, we didn’t really quite enjoy the corn bread, which was heavy with the taste of corn. The bread seemed too dense and heavy, and rather starchy as well. The charred taste released a subtle bitterness, and the corn bread just seemed to add too much weight to the light chicken avocado.

La Barra
#02-21, The Star Vista
1 Vista Exchange Green

The Lawn Grill and Salad Cafe – Meat your Greens!

Riding on the notion of healthier eating habits, salad cafes and bars have been popping out all over Singapore, particularly in the region with the highest density of office workers – with the aim of targeting the busy lunch crowd where office workers are more than happy to grab a simple quick lunch, not to mention a healthier and less palate-heavy alternative.

The Lawn

Nestled in the research town of Singapore aka Biopolis, is 15-months-old The Lawn. The Lawn prides itself on its unique and home-made from scratch using fresh ingredients dressings. In addition, to cater to the meat lovers while still advocating a green diet, The Lawn combines their fresh mesclun with tantalizing premium grills!

The Lawn

The Lawn currently offers only 1 serving size at $9.90, consisting of the basic mesclun salad (Romaine lettuce, arugula, cabbage and spinach), 5 toppings, 1 grill item and salad dressing of your choice.

Toppings

The selection of 20+ toppings included nuts (almonds, walnuts, cashew nuts, crushed peanuts), cheese (parmesan and cheddar), raisins, corns, olives, fusilli pasta and other vegetables like carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, celery and alfafa sprouts. Once you have made your 5 choices, you move on to the grill!

The Grill!

At the grill, you can choose your protein selection – prawns, chicken, fish, duck, beef or mushrooms, marinated in different ways. And finally, you get to decide on your salad dressing!

Salad Dressings (left to right, from top left corner: wasahonie, beachy peachy, manly mango, red island, me so spicy, citrus, maple peanut, honey ball and sesame ginger)

9 different salad dressings! All concocted from scratch using fresh ingredients! Unique flavours for everyone! And finally, we have our customized salad bowl!

Customized Salad Bowl!

Our 5 toppings consisted of almonds, cashews, cheddar, raisins and croutons. The nuts and croutons provided the extra crunch and fragrance. The raisins were pockets of sweetness and the cheddar cheese added that lingering savouriness to the salad. As this was an invited food review, we had the opportunity to try all 9 different sauces.

Our top favourites were the me so spicy, wasahonie, maple peanut, honey ball and citrus. Our number one choice was the me so spicy. The dressing won us over with its spicy and sour tom-yum like flavour. It was also comparatively more viscous than the rest of the dressings. Thick, rich and savoury – it added considerable flavours to the otherwise bland mesclun. The wasahonie was a fusion between wasabi, honey and a tinge of mayo. The honey brought down the pungent spiciness from the wasabi, making it more acceptable to the palate. We enjoyed that little swing between sweetness and the characteristic spicy kick from wasabi. The maple peanut and honey ball were suitable for those with the sweet tooth. The maple peanut, in particular, exuded the fragrance and saltiness evident of peanut butter – a definite hit for nut lovers. On the other hand, the citrus was a lighter and more refreshing dressing, with a sour and mouth watering flavour.

Typically, each salad bowl came with 1 grill serving. But we had the lucky opportunity to try 5 of their grill offerings!

MOJO Chicken

Portobello Mushroom

Grilled Chicken breast with Maple infusion

Char-grilled Garlic Prawns

Butter Seared Pacific Dory with Parsley Rub

*Note: As this was an invited food review, the portions of the grilled items may differ slightly from typical orders.

The MOJO Chicken was marinated with Italian herbs and cumin powder, exuding a faint herb fragrance. The chicken meat was tender and succulent, nicely grilled. The Grilled Chicken breast with Maple infusion was slightly sweeter. Both grilled chicken items weren’t overly impressive, but were still decently prepared to satisfaction.

The Char-grilled Garlic Prawns was the one that won us over! The prawns were fresh, juicy, crunchy and very thoroughly seasoned. It was the most flavourful and savoury grilled item that we tried. The strong tasting prawns were simply addictive.

The Butter Seared Pacific Dory with Parsley Rub was very fresh and flaky. The grilling created the slightly charred and crispy outer crust on the fish, which was a good contrast to the inner soft and flaky fillet. Nicely rubbed with black pepper and parsley, this fillet was also another of our favourites.

Finally, the non-meat grilled item was the Portobello Mushrooms. The juicy mushrooms were stuffed with minced garlic, which kinda covered up the earthly taste of the mushrooms. This would definitely hit a sweet spot with garlic lovers as the taste of garlic was quite overwhelmingly rich.

Cream of Mushroom

Besides salads, The Lawn offers soups as well. And the Friday soup of the day was the Cream of Mushroom. The Cream of Mushroom was very rich, thick and had a grainy texture that we enjoyed. It was a slight downside as we felt that the milky taste was a tad too much. But it was still a decent Cream of Mushroom – fresh and not from the can!

On the whole, we were quite impressed with The Lawn’s offerings, in particular the freshly made dressings and the grilled items. The serving size was also very value for money. Who says salads are only for herbivores? The Lawn’s unique pairing of grill and salad is just the right thing for the carnivore in you.

*Note this is an invited food review.

The Lawn Grill and Salad Cafe
#01-07, Nanos
31 Biopolis Way

Laurent Bernard Chocolatier

To celebrate Easter, Laurent Bernard Chocolatier is introducing a Chocolate Menu Set, made available from 15th March to 10th April. This $50 three course meal pushes the creative culinary boundaries and infuses chocolate into savoury delights. We were invited for a food tasting sessions, complimentary of the owner/chocolate artisan Laurent Bernard and his hospitable crew.

Owner/Chocolate Artisan Laurent Bernard

Owner/Chocolate Artisan Laurent Bernard took time off to explain the origin of his artisan chocolates and educate us on the way to differentiate good praline and ganache from ordinary ones. Laurent Bernard Chocolatier emphasizes on the use of only the best quality produce, mostly imported from France, which explains why some of the chocolates and ice cream flavours here are seasonal and produced only in small batches.

Seared Scallop with Cocoa Nibs, Fennel Foam

The three course meal kicked start with the appetizer – Seared Scallop with Cocoa Nibs, Fennel Foam. The scallops were slightly smaller than expected, but nevertheless fresh and seared to perfection with a chewy mouthful texture. The cocoa and pistachio bits sprinkled on top of the scallops exuded a bitter, nutty fragrance and complemented the seared scallop very well. The foam tasted like vigorously beaten hot chocolate or milo which had transformed into a bubbly airy form. This appetizer is best consumed fast before the foam loses its form and becomes a soupy sauce.

Peruvian Chicken

Peruvian Chicken – Chicken thigh in a chocolate mole sauce, served with mashed potatoes and French beans. There is a Mexican take to this dish with the use of the mole sauce. The mole sauce was very chunky and thick, likened to a concentrated red bean paste. The infusion of chocolate added some bitter sweetness to the tangy bean paste. The mole sauce also left a mild spicy aftertaste. The complex flavours of the mole sauce were well coordinated and it went especially well with the smooth mashed potatoes which was light with no suggestion of butter or salt. Chicken thigh was used in this dish. It had either been grilled or oven baked to give the skin with a slight crisp. The juices were retained within the chicken meat and it was very tender. The flavours from the spices added during the preparation process were locked within the chicken meat, making them tasty on their own even without the mole sauce. We were very pleased with the generous and satisfying serving of Peruvian Chicken presented to us. Also available as a main course is the Grilled Rib Eye Steak with Cocoa Orange Sauce.

Banana and Chocolate Cake

Banana and Chocolate Cake – The name sounds simple and straightforward, but on first glance and subsequent tasting, we knew that there was much greater depth in this dessert. The layers are as follows – starting with a meringue sponge based, hazelnut feuilletine, caramelized bananas with passion fruit juice, ginger flavoured whipped ganache and finished with a top glaze made up of milk chocolate with chopped nuts. The meringue gave the sponge base an added airiness and crunch. It felt like a macaroon base. The hazelnut feuilletine was made from scratch in house. The sour passion fruit juice, though not obvious to the taste buds, had been added to soften the sweetness of the caramelized bananas. The whipped ganache tasted much softer, smoother and had a melt in the mouth texture. The ginger flavours were not apparent though. Coupled with the layer of milk chocolate, these two layers formed the bulk of the chocolate flavours, which we wished could have been stronger. Nevertheless, we were very satisfied with this sinful, heavenly chocolate treat, which spelled of a gradual transition of texture from the soft and smooth chocolate layers, chunky and mouthful caramelized bananas, crunchy and crispy feuilletine to the airy meringue sponge base. If only some peanut butter saltiness could be added to the feuilletine layer, it would complete the spectrum of flavours. The banana chocolate cake and chocolate tart would definitely keep us going back to Laurent for a good chocolatey treat.

Laurent Bernard Chocolates

Laurent Bernard Chocolates

Laurent Bernard Chocolatier generously offered each of us a door gift of his very own artisan creation. Each piece of praline had a slightly harder chocolate coating followed by ganache which tasted smooth in the mouth. These fine sweet treats left a long lasting cocoa taste.

Laurent Bernard Chocolatier
#01-02, 5B Portsdown Road

Charco’s – The Flaming Chicken

1/2 Portuguese Chicken

Charco’s Portuguese Chicken sure packs a spicy punch! The Portuguese Chicken was pretty spicy and had a mild Malay/Indian spices taste. The entire chicken skin was well-grilled and well-flavoured. In fact, it was the skin which was spicy and flavourful, not the interior chicken meat. We enjoyed the thigh meat more as it was very tender, unlike the tougher and drier breast meat. The chicken was rather small and a group of four could easily finish a whole chicken. Prices start at $7.00 for a quarter chicken, $10.00 for 1/2 chicken and $19.00 for a whole chicken.

Charco’s – The Flaming Chicken
Marine Parade Central Block 89
Multi-storey Carpark Food Court

Soup Restaurant 三盅两件

Soup Restaurant has been around for quite a number of years and has at least 10 outlets island wide. Our first venture into Soup Restaurant was at its slightly less known outlet at Seah Street.

Steamed Hand Chopped Minced Pork 马蹄蒸手剁肉饼

Steamed Hand Chopped Minced Pork 马蹄蒸手剁肉饼 ($8.50) -Though it was claimed that only 30 servings are made each day, we couldn’t really appreciate any uniqueness about this dish. On first glace, our initial impression was that it would be rather salty. But it turned out otherwise. Flavours wise, it wasn’t all that strong and as expected, the addition of water chestnuts into the minced pork provided the extra crunchiness.

Poached Baby Spinach with Conpoy in Century and Salted Egg Stock 瑶柱金银蛋苋菜苗

Poached Baby Spinach with Conpoy in Century and Salted Egg Stock 瑶柱金银蛋苋菜苗 ($12.90) – A rather mediocre dish. Nothing too mind blowing.

Samsui Ginger Chicken 三水姜茸鸡

Soup Restaurant’s specialty is their Samsui Ginger Chicken 三水姜茸鸡 ($15.90). The chicken was served boneless, which made consumption convenient. The meat was tender, without much seasoning. The ginger garlic sauce was very refreshing and was a good compliment to the slightly bland chicken meat. It wasn’t all too overpowering with ginger or garlic taste, yet still being fragrant and tasty. This does remind us of the typical chicken rice found in hawker centres, but this was less oily and seemingly healthier.

Soup Restaurant 三盅两件
39 Seah Street

Teahouse – The Asian Kitchen

We were expecting fried rice, noodles, dumplings and 小笼包 when we visited Teahouse – The Asian Kitchen but were surprised to find that it was actually very different from the Asian Kitchen La Mian Xiao Long Bao branches. Teahouse was geared more towards the Crystal Jade Kitchen kind of restaurant despite the smaller variety of food served. We ordered the Seafood Toufu Soup ($8.00), Chicken Mushroom Pot ($8.70) and Mala Crispy Duck ($12.70).

Seafood Tofu Soup

The Seafood Tofu Soup had more mini tofu cubes than seafood. The broth was thick but the thickness was largely due to the starch flour. It was mildly flavourful but did not manage to capture much of the seafood essence.

Chicken Mushroom Pot

The Chicken Mushroom Pot was served in a claypot. Piping hot food served in a claypot always tended to taste better. Besides a rather generous portion of chicken meat and around three pieces of mushroom, there were also numerous whole garlic pieces and ginger slices which heightened the flavours of the gravy. One commendable thing about the dish was that the ingredients had thoroughly absorbed the essence of the gravy. However, the chicken meat wasn’t tender and tasted rather chunky.

Mala Crispy Duck

The Crispy Duck came in four flavours: Original, Sour Plum, Herbal and Mala. Craving for something spicy and salty, we opted for the Mala, also the most expensive of all. However, we were very disappointed to realise that the only difference between the Mala and Original flavours was that Szechuan chilli flakes and oil were added on top of the roasted duck for the former. The Mala chilli wasn’t exactly authentically mala as well, like what we would usually find in Szechuan cuisine. Apart from that, the roasted duck was tasty and acceptable, though not the best around. We concluded that ordering the Original Crispy Duck should suffice. Just like Crystal Jade and Dian Xiao Er, the Teahouse Asian Kitchen is not too bad and is a rather affordable place to settle a quick Chinese lunch/dinner in a comfortable air-con environment.

Teahouse – The Asian Kitchen
#B1-15, Raffles Shopping Centre
252 North Bridge Road

Casa Latina

We haven’t been to any Mexican restaurants. The closest one we’ve been to would be Chili’s, though technically speaking, Chili’s can hardly be classified as an authentic Mexican restaurant. That makes Casa Latina our first attempt at authentic Mexican cuisine!

Pollo Divorciado (Divorced Chicken)

Corn Tortillas

Pollo Divorciado (Divorced Chicken) $28 – Chicken thigh is cooked in two types of Mole – Pipian Verde and Poblano and served with Mexican rice, beans and corn tortillas. Mole is a generic name for the sauces used in Mexican cuisine. For the Divorced Chicken, a single chicken thigh was served with the green and red mole. Pipian Verde refers to the thick green mole and is essentially made from pumpkin seeds, green tomatoes, lettuce leaves and fresh herbs. The Poblano is the brown-red sauce made from various chilies and surprisingly, dark chocolate. Both sauces are rather thick and strong in flavours. The red Poblano is the spicier of the two. Well, we couldn’t detect any chocolate taste in the Poblano though. Both sauces were pretty good and in our opinion, win Chili’s hands down.

The accompaniments include mashed beans, Mexican rice and corn tortillas. The taste of the mashed beans are similar to those beans you can find in ice kachang and chendol. The Mexican rice can be a little bit on the salty side. The corn tortillas tasted very similar to corn chips/nachos. The flavours of the corn was almost too overpowering.

Enchiladas Cheese

Enchiladas ($20) – Tortillas filled with your choice of chicken or cheese or vegetables, and seasoned with either red sauce or green sauce, and served with beans, cheese and Mexican rice. The Enchiladas came with red and green sauces as well. However, the red sauce was different from that found in the Divorced Chicken. It was noticeably less viscous and less spicy. There were bits of solid cheese and melted cheese atop the tortillas. The tortillas were similar to those accompanying the Divorced Chicken. But having been soaked in the sauce, it was akin to soggy drenched nachos. The tortillas were filled with a generous amount of cheese as well.

Casa Latina
42 Waterloo Street

Cocotte | Communal – Restaurant – Bar

Chocolate Royal

Cocotte – hidden in a little boutique hotel at the corner  of Dickson Road. We headed there specially to try their signature Poulet Roti. But since it required a preperation/waiting time of 45 minutes, we kicked start our meal with Chocolate Royal.

Chocolate Royal – Valrhona Araguani mousse on layers of crispy praline and almond sponge with crème Anglaise. It was a rich, bitter chocolate praline-mousse coupled with the typical hazelnut flavoured cake base, with cocoa powder sprinkled on top. The broken candied nut slab was crispy and intensely sweet, with the candied bits sticking stubbornly to the teeth with every bite. This was something similar to what we could get at Betty’s in UK. The white sauce drizzled around the cake was akin to melted vanilla ice cream. It tasted rather sweet on its own. However, the bitter chocolaty flavour of the cake was more overpowering and the taste of the white sauce became non-existent when one dipped the cake into it. The cake, priced at $16, was on the expensive side considering the size. No doubt that it did not disappoint, but we could easily get the same quality and satisfaction elsewhere at a more reasonable rate.

Complimentary Bread

Warm complimentary bread was served. Not exactly sure what went into the making of the bread, but it sure tasted more fragrant than other typical baguettes. What made it better was that it was freshly baked and the crispy crust and warm softer inner bread was excellent with the butter provided.

Poulet Roti

Poulet Roti

Poulet Roti – Whole hormone free chicken, marinated for 2 days and roasted with fresh herb butter; served with Madiera gravy, roast baby potatoes and spring vegetables. The vegetables were soaked in margarine or butter, which made it a tad too oily. Lightly salted broiled vegetables seemed more suitable as an accompaniment for the meaty meal. The Madiera gravy was supposed to contain red wine, but there wasn’t really any strong alcoholic taste. Even though the chicken was said to be marinated for 2 days, we felt that it was still rather bland and not salty enough without the sauce. The breast meat was tough, while the thigh meat was tender – typical of other normal chickens we have had. We weren’t blown away by the chicken. It wasn’t fantastically great as well.

Dessert Platter

Dessert Platter - (clockwise from top left) Chocolate Royal; Lavender Creme Brulee; Chocolate Basque; Raspberry and Lemon Sorbet

We were rather satiated after the Poulet Roti hence we ordered the Dessert Platter so that we could try a small bit of a few dessert selections. Once again, a small slice of Chocolate Royal was part of the platter. The Creme Brulee had a tinge of lavender flavour, the custard was pretty smooth and soothing. The Chocolate Basque was very unique – it was a layer of chocolate fudge sandwiched by 2 layers of sweet sponge. The back of the basque had some crushed biscuit like texture, which added crunchiness to the cake. The Raspberry and Lemon Sorbet was on the sour side, and very refreshing. It was very thick and flavourful. In general, the Dessert Platter would be good for sharing with a couple of friends and also enables everyone to try a selection of desserts, without stuffing yourselves too much.

Cocotte
No. 2 Dickson Road
Ground floor of Wanderlust Hotel