ROC Pizza: Almost like Cheese N Crackers!

With ieatjr

12 inch Pizza $8

Following up on my Hawkerpreneurs at Golden Mile Food Centre story, here is another young Hawkerpreneur that is trying to burst into the food scene by offering Cafe style food at hawker prices.

If you are hungering for your pizza fix but don't want to spend more than $8 on your meal, this might be just what you are looking for.



The pizzas here are probably the thinnest and crispiest in Singapore. It is almost like eating "Jatz" crackers with tomato and cheese. The toppings are also modest, you get your basic ham, chicken sausage, mushrooms, pineapple and seafood. None of the fancy stuff, no parma ham or freshly chopped herbs, just staightforward freshly made pizza base with your choice of topping.

I find the crispy, super thin pizza base surprisingly nice although it is not really your traditional Napoli style pizza. As I said, it is almost like eating baked water crackers with tomato and cheese. For $8 for the large 12 inch pizza, it is the kind of thing you can eat and then proceed to have an Ice Cream over at Ice Queen and spend around $10 for a lunch that might cost you closer to $20 at a cafe. 4/5

Conclusion

Cheapest way to get a pizza fix but not for those with a big appetite as the thin crust is not going to fill you up.

ROC (Relax one Corner) Pizza

Golden Mile Food Centre

#01-109

96846908

12pm to 9pm

Closed Monday except Public Holidays

Ice Queen Ice Cream: Great Homemade Ice Cream at Hawker Prices!

3 flavours of homemade gelato $3.50

Golden Mile Food Centre will soon be turned into a centre for Hawkerpreneurship.

I am amazed that the place has quite a few stalls manned by young Hawkerpreneurs trying to break into the food business. Remember the Belgian Waffles and Pasta Planet which I blogged previously? They are all here, as well as some other new stalls selling "Ang Moh" food that I will blog about later. Yes, the Hawker centres are an cost effective way for anyone to create a brand which is relatively low risk. And the irony is that when you actually sell stuff that usually belong in a shopping centre, you actually attract more media attention.

One of the latest entrant into the "Cheap and Good" category is this little Ice Cream shop in Golden Mile Food Centre called Ice Queen Ice Cream. Opened by a young lady who calls herself a "part time hawker", this is the kind of hobby stall where the emphasis is on making something that the owner is proud of, as opposed to making enough money so that one can pay the bills.

While studying in Melbourne, this "part time hawker" learnt the art of Gelato making from an Italian couple who ran a Gelato stall while letting out rooms to University students. Being a bit of a health nut herself (just a moderate health nut, I guess), she makes her Gelato with just enough cream and sugar to keep the ice cream from becoming icy. So it is low fat, low sugar and no egg which is healthier than your normal ice cream.

This Gelato (ice cream for the heartland aunties) really is "Cheap and Good" and it's every Kiasu Singaporean's dream. I was quite impressed with the Black Sesame Ice Cream 4.25/5 which was full of nutty flavour but without being too rich. The Peanut flavour was again quite excellent as is the dark and rich chocolate flavour. The ones with alchohol, viz the Rum and Raisin and Baileys were notably not "drunk" enough, but you really can't expect too much at $2 per scoop. If you prefer something a little more tart, you should try the sour plum sorbet which a lot of readers from the forum said they like.

Conclusion

Cheap and good Gelato. Where else can you get 3 scoops for $3.50? I really think that this part time hawker is really treating it as a hobby more than anything else and I suspect that after running it for a few more months, she will decide to increase the prices in order to get some money to buy some nice accessories. So better enjoy it while you can.

Ice Queen Ice Cream

Golden Mile Food Centre

#01-86

Closed on Mondays

What do do next?

Find out what the others are saying about this in the forum

Go eat the Hokkien Mee or Curry Mee before eating the ice cream

Read about the other ice cream stalls in the blog

Big D's Grill: Coffeeshop Kurobuta, Wagyu and Kobe

With Food Guru

Kurobuta Pork Chops $36

Oh yes, we are seeing more of the good stuff hitting the coffeeshops!

My latest find is this coffeeshop stall which has started selling US Kobe Beef Ribs, US Kurobuta Pork Chops and Wagyu beef done mediterranean style. Now, there are many Western food stalls which are opening up in coffeeshops so I usually have to look out for signs that a particular stall is offering more than just your run-of-the-mill Dory fish and chips, NZ steaks, chicken chops etc.


Preparing the grill with beef fat

You know how a lot of times you just get a gut feel about things? In fact, a lot of decisions in life are made based on gut feel. When it comes to people, women tend to have that special ability to size a person up in just a blink of a second. It's the same thing when men look at a BMW and know that they are looking at quality. In fact, it only takes one glance to see quality but it takes time to try to describe what actually makes a BMW look more "solid" than a Geely. (Yeah the Geely has taken over from Hyundai as the budget car)

So it is with Big D's Grill. I had a good gut feel about the stall just within the first few seconds of looking at the place. Then I started listing out the visual cues. Big Eurasian Man wearing a biker T and jeans behind the grill - TICK. Array of different restaurant style pans hanging above the stove - TICK. Big sticker declaring "Angus Beef" - TICK. The words Kobe, Wagyu and Kurobuta, TICK, TICK and TICK. Big D (Damien) oiling the grill by rubbing a piece of beef fat on it, TICK times ten plus an A*! It is quite obvious that Big D is really serious about providing good food!

Another obvious cue is the standard of the side dishes. Coleslaw and French Fries are dead giveaways for the run-of-the-mill "Hawker" western food. Thankfully, Big D's provides a wonderful selection of sides with a heavy Mediterranean influence. The Pinto beans and Spiced Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Mash were excellent and really got my tastebuds tingling. And the Kurobuta Pork Chops did not dissappoint either. They were wonderfully tender and had that charred mediterranean spice taste. The pork was flavoursome without that "porky" smell that pork can sometimes have. Now, $36 might be a little pricey for a Pork Chop but it is cheap for "Kurobuta" which are usually more than $40 in restaurants. 4.5/5


Pasta with Anchovies $17

Big D's pastas are also well worth a try. His Pasta with Anchovies is a relatively simple dish but very well executed. The pasta was perfectly Al Dente and the freshly chopped herbs are again a pleasant departure from the usual "McCormick" dried italian herb mixes that most Western Food Stalls (and even some restaurants) would use. I am not a big fan of Anchovies, so I did not appreciate this dish as much as someone who is. But judging from the way it was presented, I would be coming back to try the other pastas that they are offering. 4/5

There is a good reason why Big D's is called Big D's. That's because owner and chef, Damian D'Silva looks like the kind of Cowboy you wouldn't want to mess around with. An Ex-Aeronautical Engineer, he flew off on a whim (at age 42) to spend 2 years working in kitchens around Southern Europe in order to pursue his interest in cooking before coming back to Singapore to work at several European restaurants before he opened the now defunct Soul Kitchen at Purvis St.

I am telling you all this because it is not easy to find a chef-owner who is passionate about food that is willing to open a stall in a coffeeshop. And the best thing is that since he is in a coffeeshop, he can keep rental cost down and serve quality food at great prices. He is quite fussy about using only chilled meats and freshly chopped herbs and doing stuff from scratch, such as his steak fries which double fries himself. This is a man who really cooks rather than just another person hired to grill a piece of meat and serve it with re-heated veggies.

The only thing I am concerned about is whether he is able to churn out the food quick enough for a crowd and controlling escalating food costs since he is insistent of only using imported stuff like Spanish Anchovies. Apart from that, I think you can be assured of getting something quite special out of his kitchen.


Bonet $4

Don't miss out on Big D's homemade desserts. Bonet may be a simple homestyle Italian Chocolate Pudding with Caramel Sauce poured over it, but simple things executed well can be marvellous, just like a perfectly cooked omelette. For someone who isn't really that big on desserts, I actually enjoyed this very much. It's almost like a Chocolate version of Creme Caramel and is so smooth that it slides easily down the throat leaving a wonderful chocolate aftertaste at the back of the palate. 4.25/5

Conclusion

Big D's has that maverick Roadhouse Pub kinda of character and my first impression is that it could easily have been set up in an old shophouse somewhere in Siglap. We did not managed to try a lot of their other stuff like the Beer Battered Fish and Chips made from Snapper fillets ($8.90) or the US Kobe Cross Rib ($40 for 200gm) but judging from what I had, I'd say that Big D's Grill is well worth checking out if you are hungry for some excellent European Food cooked with character and passion without the +++.

Special Promo for ieatishootipost readers:

Mention ieatishootipost and get a free dessert (Bonet) for every $30 spent!

Big D's Grill
Blk 18 Bedok South Road
#01-87
11.30am to 9.30pm daily
Thurs 5.30pm to 9.30pm
Damian 96627040

Cafe Oliv Revisited: An ieat Team Review

Reviewed by Holydrummer with Pics from Cactuskit and Wahcow

With the additional mouths of smart, liverpool, champagne, taukwa,wahcow maiden, mr. & mrs sumosumo, jems & jemster, cactusprincess, holybro & holybunny

Have you ever fancied feasting on French escargots, Chinese 'guo-tie' and Italian pasta - all at the same time? Weird cravings, I hear you say. Or if you are tired of the run-of-the-mill chicken chop from the hawker centre stall, join the club. Question is, where can you go for exquisite western cuisine that is a cut above the rest, yet decently-priced? Look no further - At Cafe Oliv, you can have your cake and eat it too.

Executive Chef-Owner Kevin Heng presents a range of unique offerings from his rejuvenated menu that allows him to better express his culinary flair. With hints of 'Eastern' influences in his new dishes, one would ask what on earth is he really cooking - Western? East-Meets-West? Fusion?

In what was arguably the heaviest weekend degustation - a whopping 20-course - we guinea pigs gathered for a nice Saturday brunch to explore Cafe Oliv's new food experiments and to find out the answer.

First up, Salads and Appetisers:


Oliv Avocado Quail Eggs Mesclun Frisee French Dressing $10.90
Photo by Cactuskit

Presentation wise, this is a colourful beauty. Avocado by nature has a creamy & buttery texture; Combining thick slices of these together with the quail eggs, they lend weight to alternating textures between the crunchy mesclun greens and the juicy cherry tomatoes & olives, making this a full-bodied salad. 4/5

Gratin Oliv Herb Butter Yolk Cheese Monray Escargot $9.90 (half a dozen)
Photo by Cactuskit

Fans of escargot can also rejoice. The snails come conveniently de-shelled and are surprisingly quite plump and tender, packing in a bit of crunch. Served on a bed of blanched Chinese spinach, some of us found the choice of greens rather amusing initially. Mismatch? Perhaps. But I thought it provided a good contrast by cushioning the saltiness of the accompanying sauce around the escargots and added a somewhat fusion-istic presentation. Bound to be a crowd favourite, you can't go wrong with this oven-baked dish with bechemel sauce & melted cheese oozing all over. 4/5


Oliv Fusion Stuffing "Guo Tie" Streaky Pork Dumpling $7.90 (8 pieces)

Photo by Cactuskit

Drawing inspiration from his Chinese kitchen staff, this Northern Chinese staple was re-invented with an additional twist in cooking technique. Instead of just the usual pan-frying, the "Guo Tie" were then braised with stock and the pan jus was left to reduce until it was totally absorbed into the dumplings, sealing in all the flavours. The intended effect was to create a "Guo Tie" in the style of a "tang bao", a la "xiao long bao" - where there is soup within waiting to burst out. It was indeed juicy enough at first bite, though the base could be seared longer & finished with a crispier skin. 4.25/5

P.S: Before we move on, don't forget to ask for Oliv's two homemade sauces - Honey Mustard & Thai Mayonnaise to accompany your meal. They go well with anything at all, and our moderator 'sumosumo' dabbed the dumpling with the honey mustard - "Fantastic!"


Oliv Quesadilla with Seafood $11.90

Photo by Wahcow

The Quesadilla stood out with its paper-thin tortilla skin - it is like an ultra crispy thin-crust pizza packed with chokefuls of filling bursting at the seams. You can select from a choice of 5 types of ingredients. Uncle Smart especially enjoyed this dish! 4.25/5

Photo by Cactuskit

Look at that! Can't resist sinking your teeth & experiencing that 'first crunch' yeah? You'd be glad to know that Cafe Oliv also serves a variety of thin-crust pizzas including the new Wild Mushroom Anchovies Margarita Pizza @ $12.90 - good for two to three.


Chargrilled Bratwurst Snail & Spicy Italian Sausages with Rosti Potato $14.90
Photo by Wahcow

Rosti is considered the national dish of Switzerland and pairing the German Bratwurst & Italian Sausage with Swiss Rosti reflects a delightful culinary mishmash akin to the neighbouring cultures prevalent in Switzerland. In Singapore, I shall christen this "Rosti Prata".

For Oliv's "Rosti Prata" - Russet Burbank potatoes were grated & pan-fried, with bacon left to saute first then tossed in to infuse flavour into the potato prata. Succulent sausages on top of Rosti - an impeccable match and a hit with the kakis! 4.5/5

Oliv Traditional Beef Stew with Fennel, Potato & Pilaf Rice $11.90

Photo by Cactuskit

This is as good'ol hearty as beef stew can get. Chunks of tender beef shin and root vegetables are stewed for a good few hours and served with steaming hot pilaf rice. The shin contains more tendons and less fat which is ideal for stewing. This dish is my personal favourite here and I love to have this stew especially on a chilly cold rainy day. It never fails to warm not only my stomach, but my heart too. 4.5/5

If you are not a fan of beef, try Oliv's Black Pepper Pesto Chicken with Rosemary Sauce ($11.90) One whole boneless chicken thigh is marinated overnight with paprika, rosemary and french mustard - Kevin adds in a good measure of ground black pepper to spice things up. I could appreciate the crisp & charred bits outside, while leaving the meat inside still moist and tender. 4/5. If you're looking for a meaner and crunchier alternative, also excellent is the Parmesan Cheese Chicken Cutlet Coriander Dill Cream @ $11.90. 4.25/5 They may seem like simple culifare (pardon the pun), but they can satisfy the simplest of coq cravings.


Char-Grilled Honey Glazed Pork Belly Ribs with Barbeque Sauce ($16.90 for half slab, $26.90 for full slab)

Photo by Cactuskit

Saving the best for the last, this star dish here is so good, it is worth raving about one more time, even if it has been featured before here. This unique recipe combines a special technique with a secret homemade BBQ marinade to provide that melt-in-the-mouth texture:

Instead of basting, the soft-bone ribs are first steamed for 3 hours with the BBQ sauce & left to rest, absorbing & trapping all the moisture in the meat - most of the fat is also removed in the process. Then, more of that special concoction is coated onto the meat just before chargrilling it, to give it added oomph and flavour. The result? A perfectly lean and tender slab. I especially loved the charred and slightly crispy crust and don't miss out on the sides where you can really suck the flavour out of the soft bones. Heaven! All of the kakis gave their stamp of approval. 4.5/5

Conclusion

Western? East-Meets-West? Fusion? Ultimately, you define it & decide for yourself. Whatever it is, Cafe Oliv's revamped menu is bound to please any palate with its brand-new offerings while retaining the old favourites.

Besides the huge variety of starters and entrees, it even contains a 3-step DIY Pasta section where you can select from 3 types of pasta, 7 types of sauces & 11 types of ingredients.

What do all these mean? It means you will definitely be spoilt for choice!

National Day Special Promotion for ieatishootipost.sg readers only!

Good news for you all! Up till the end of August only, Cafe Oliv is pleased to offer its guests 10% discount off the total bill when you quote 'ieatishootipost.sg'. It's that simple - Just mention the blog and you will be entitled to the exclusive discount. That means NO GST and NO Service Charge!

Visit www.cafeoliv.com for more info.

Cafe Oliv
220, East Coast Road
(Near Church of the Holy Family, Katong)
6-344-3114
Open daily from 11:30am - 11pm

What to do next?

Read the previous Cafe Oliv review here

Go down the road and have a nice cup of kopi with nostalgia at Chin Mee Chin

Cross the road to satisfy your Durian craving at Ah Loon's

Cilantro Modern Asia: Wagyu Shabu Shabu $15!

Wagyu Shabu Shabu or Sukiyaki $15 (Normal Beef Shabu Shabu $7)

There are some things that sound too good to be true. Now if you are an optimist, your response to such things is to quickly go and find out if it really is true but if you are a pessimist, then you would sit back and mull over the thought that there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

So would you consider yourself an optimist or pessimist if I were to tell you that you can get a Wagyu Shabu Shabu for $15? It's no bull (pun intended), this Wagyu Shabu Shabu is going for $15, but there is one catch --- you have to eat it in a coffee shop. "Phew, that's not too bad", I think I hear you say.

Now, for the readers who are really really skeptical, I post the picture on the right for you. Hope you are convinced.

When Jacky of Cilantro (Remember $15 Foie Gras?) said she was going to do modern Japanese food at her Marine Terrace branch, I was excited. Excited because, I know that she would go all out to give the customers something of quality but at rock bottom prices.

Good Japanese food depends on good produce and sadly a lot of places that sell Japanese food in hawker centres are not giving us good quality stuff. Now, I am not talking about the top grade Otoro, but simply a place that sell Mid-Ranged Japanese food at Hawker ranged prices. That would be a great idea for a family outing wouldn't it? Thankfully after a bit of gentle prodding, Jacky caught on the idea and decided to procure some Wagyu for the launch of her stall in Marine Terrace. Now it is up to the response from the general public to decide if we are going to see more Wagyu in coffeeshops!

For $15, you get around 5 slices of beef plus a pot of either shabu shabu or sukiyaki stock. They also serve Ponsu and Goma sauce to go with it which is quite unexpected of a $15 shabu shabu! There really is not need to tell you that the Wagyu is really melt in your mouth beefy goodness is there? 4.5/5


Wagyu Don $9.80

So what else would you do if you invested in an expensive meat slicer and you have a few kg of Wagyu Sirloin in your fridge? Why, you do a Wagyu Don, that's what. Now believe me, you don't have to Argue with Wagyu. The meat is just plain tasty no matter what you do with it. It's great whether it's dipped in soup, fried in teriyaki sauce or even eaten raw. So I'd say this could be the best bowl of Gyu Don I have tasted if only they had used better rice and the teriyaki sauce was tweaked a little. Jackie assured me that they will be changing the supply of rice to match the quality of the Wagyu. Whatever it may be, you'd be hard pressed to get something with the name "Wagyu" on it for less than $10 anywhere in Singapore. 4/5


Charshu Ramen $6

The Ramen here is very commendable. The soup is tasty enough, but I thought it could be just a little smoother (ie more fats from the marrow dissolved in the soup). Amagada on the other hand said the soup was surprisingly nice. The Chashu here is really good and quite addictive. Incidentally, don't you think Chashu is a bit of a misnomer? Should be called Lor Bak instead right? 4/5


Family Feast $18

The Family Feast is designed for families with kids (like mine). How often have you gone to a Japanese Restaurant and every time you order the tempura, it comes only in a small portion for $12? What we need is a family feast type platter where you get a variety of fried favourites like Pork Tonkatsu, Breaded Prawns, Chicken Karage, Potato Croquettes, Nuggets and Chicken Wings. As mother would say, "Jia Kau Song Song" (Eat till you are satisfied). Nothing out of the ordinary, but it's a dish the kids would love and gives the adults an excuse to indulge. 4/5


Teriyaki Chicken $6

I have to include this picture because I managed to catch the drop of lemon juice falling onto the Teriyaki chicken. Ahhhh, satisfaction.

Anyway, teriyaki chicken is a staple for any Japanese eatery and although it is easy to do, (who hasn't cooked teriyaki chicken at home?), it is very hard to get that special smoky charred taste. It is highly dependent on the quality of the soy sauce used. The one here is competent but I felt still had that "Chinese" taste to it. Kids will love it, but I still haven't found.... what I'm looking for. 3.75/5


Pan Seared Tuna $9.80

For the more adventurous, Cilantro offers a few more upmarket dishes like this Pan Seared Tuna in miso sauce. It is the kind of thing that you don't readily find in most of the Japanese Chain Restaurants in Singapore. Definitely worth a try if you are tired of the standard Japanese fare. 4/5


Banana Chocolate Mousse Cake $4.90

For dessert, you have to try their Banana Chocolate Mousse Cake which will satisfy most chocoholics except for the most fastidious ones. 4.5/5. The tiramisu is also very good. 4/5

Conclusion

We need to demystify the Wagyu and bring this wonderful tasting meat to the heartlanders. I hope to see more Wagyu appearing in food courts and mid ranged Japanese restaurants which will increase the awareness and demand for this product which will in turn mean that it will become standard fare for more Japanese eateries out there. When the Ah Gong and Ah Mah start to coin their Hokkien word for Wagyu, then we know we have reached our goal. In the meantime, if you want to continue to see Wagyu in the coffeeshop, then you have to do your part to go down and support them so that they will continue to sell it!

Now apart from the Wagyu (which is great even as sashimi), the rest of the fare is competent but don't go there expecting the same standards as your favourite Japanese restaurant. The main selling point it that it is a place where you can bring the kids to eat pretty decent Japanese food and not burn a hole in your pocket.

Cilantro Modern Asia
Blk 59 Marine Terrace (Coffeeshop)
Opens 10am to 10pm daily
Disclaimer: I had an active role in planning the menu

What to do next?

Read about the $15 Foie Gras
Read about other Japanese Food
Read about other stalls in Katong and Joo Chiat
Grab a traditional cup of Kopi at the rustic Chin Mee Chin after that!

Lu Tian: It doesn't get cheaper than this!

With Cactuskit and liverpool

Chilli Crayfish (deshelled) $12

Although this blog is about great food, you all realize that the stalls that we frequent do not necessarily sell THE best food. No, there are several other factors that influence how we decide where to eat our next meal, right or not? At least for myself, the decision to eat at a particular stall is based on convenience, value, whether one if familiar with the stall owner and of course, taste.

So what makes this Cze Char one of Cactuskit's favourite haunts? He told me that he once ate here thrice in a fortnight! Well, the food here is good but it is the price that will draw anybody back again and again. Plus the fact that you will definitely find a table to sit without having to stand in front of someone with your most pathetic "hungry puppy" look to pressure them to finish their bowl of chengtng and get their butt off the chair.


Hong Shao Tofu $6

Cactuskit tells me that in its heydays at Lau Pa Sat, Lu Tian commanded a long queue and at the time the owners were quite a Food Nazi. Nowadays, the stall occupies a single hawker space in Amoy Street Food Centre and is only one of a few stalls which open at night. So you get to choose to sit at any table you like.

The food here is still pretty tasty although I would not say it is die die must try. The crayfish in chilli had an excellent texture. It was perfectly cooked so that it was still tender and moist on the inside and was not dry like a lot of other crayfish I have eaten before. The chilli sauce was quite unique and the addition of cilantro gave it a refreshing "grassy" flavour. 4/5

The Hong Shao Tofu will appeal to anyone who likes eggy "Sap Kum" hor fun. The sauce has that "really makes you want to eat more rice" quality about it. The kids loved it. For 6 bucks, I was really surprised to find that it still had quite a few mid size prawns and other seafood in it! 4/5


Jacket Fish $12

Lastly we had the jacket fish without its jacket. The sauce is similar to that of the crayfish. Not a big fan of Jacket fish and chilli, but my kakis seem to enjoy it. Cactuskit who eats this all the time gives it a 4.25/5

Conclusion

The food here is quite decent but it is the bill at the end which will make you go back again. For 5 dishes which included quite a bit of seafood, we paid less than $40. Coincidentally, SCS butter was there with a group of 8 people and they paid less than $80! So if you are after good food, excellent value and not needing to wait for someone else to finish their cheng tng before you can sit down, you'd be very happy if you visited this place.

Lu Tian
Amoy St Food Centre, 2nd Floor
(The opposite end of the POSB ATM)
Opened till 3pm for lunch and 10pm for dinner
Closed on Sundays



Remember to vote today! Click here

Cilantro: Foie Gras hits the Heartlands!

Escargot $8

When I first started the blog, I wrote about Astons and eBlackboard and how these eateries are bringing affordable western cuisines to the heartlands. I hinted then, that we will see more and more Restaurant Style Western Food stalls in our heartlands. And it came to pass that Singaporeans are now enjoying the likes of Botak Jones, Crazy Ang Moh and Astons in a coffeeshop environment.

Now we move on to the next level. Foie Gras and Escargot in our heartland coffeeshops.

Actually the development is inevitable. With the increase in rental and food prices, Singaporeans are finding it increasingly expensive to dine at restaurants and restaurants are finding the high rental prohibitive to their businesses. That was the case with Cilantro, who used to be a fine dining restaurant at Purvis Street which earned rave reviews from the media. When their landlords increased their rentals, they decided that instead of continuing to work hard to feed the landlords, they would bring fine dining cuisine to our heartlanders instead.

Notice I never said "fine dining" but rather "fine dining cuisine". This is because it is still to be seen if Singaporeans will pay higher prices to eat at coffeeshops even though the food is fine dining standards. Or put another way, is fine dining just about the food or is it also about the service and the ambiance? If we can judge from the experience of Botak Jones and Astons, I would say confidently that a large segment of Singaporeans will take to this type of cuisine at coffeeshops IF the price is right. We Singaporeans are practical and more importantly we are know a good bargain when we see one.

So what is a good bargain? How about Escargot for $8 and Foie Gras (Goose, not duck liver) at $15 without GST and service charge? I think I got your attention.

This is the 2nd time I am trying Cilantro. During my first visit 1 month ago at the Old Airport Road Food Centre, they were still undecided as to whether the heartlanders will be willing to pay a little more for fine dining. So I ended up eating their "not so fine dining" standard fare. It was good but I felt that it wasn't exciting enough to be blogged, so I encouraged them to really give Singaporeans the good stuff they used to serve at their restaurant. I really believe that Foie Gras in a coffeeshop would cause some excitement, especially with the ieatishootipost makan kakis.


Foie Gras (Goose Liver) $15 (Special promo for ieatishootipost readers $12)

So here it is! $15 Foie Gras! And they are not cutting corners. They use Goose liver which have been marinated in Szechuan peppercorn and other spices, panfried till it is crisp outside and served with an excellent brown sauce reduction flavoured with truffle oil and topped with raisins which have been soaked in Black Vinegar and sweetened with rock suger.

I am not kidding. This is the one of the best Foie Gras I have eaten and certainly the cheapest. The Foie Gras is super creamy and oh so umami. And the sweetened black raisins were an excellent complement for the savoury Foie Gras. For those of you who have not tried Foie Gras, this would be a great opportunity to be introduced to the dish. If you think that you would never like liver, just remember that Foie Gras does not taste anything like the liver you know. Trust me, it's the only liver I eat. 4.75/5

The escargot was surprisingly good. Everytime I had escargots before, I thought they tasted like a cross between a rubber band and salted fish. But this one was surprisingly tender and flavoured with a mild curried butter. Ok, I still don't really appreciate the taste of the escargots itself but I think as a whole they make for a tasty appetizer. 4/5


Lamb Rack $20

The other dish that tingled my tastebuds was the lamb rack. Lamb has a very strong flavour, so I usually like it with a sauce that is fruity and sweet. They use an excellent chilled NZ lamb rack here which has been marinated with lemon grass and other spices before grilling and served with a piquant brown sauce. Rather than causing fusion confusion, I thought the combination of Asian spices to the lamb rack was excellent. The lamb was really tender with that melt in your mouth quality about it. So good that I am still thinking about it. 4.5/5


Smoked Duck Breast Pizza $6

One thing that was really good that I remember from my first visit was the Smoked Duck Breast. They actually marinate and smoke their own Duck and it is very good. The pizzas here will be great for the kids. I like the the chewy quality of the Mozarella they use here but I think the pre-baked crust needed a bit more tweaking. With the smoked duck pizza, I reckon a BBQ sauce like those served with Peking Duck would have made a better combination. 3.5/5


King Prawn Mee Sua

The Mee Sua was a little hard to figure out at first. I had really no reference point for this dish. It didn't come across as a Western dish with an Eastern influence or vice versa. To me it tasted a little like chicken broth with noodles.



However, the one thing that I did appreciate was the Mee Sua. It wasn't powdery like the Mee Sua that I was accustomed to. Instead it had a very unique bite to it that I really grew to appreciate. It was then that I found out that they were using Japanese Mee Sua! That was a first for me and I really give it to the Japanese for being able to make Mee Sua that tasted better than all the Mee Sua that I have eaten before! If you are the sort that likes noodle soups and ramen, I think you will like this one. 4/5

Conclusion

Be a part of Singapore Culinary history and be one of the first to eat Foie Gras in a coffee shop! Whether or not Singaporeans will be willing to pay for fine dining in a coffeeshop remains to be seen. But I think that we will be seeing more fine dining in our coffeeshops in the near future.

Special Promo for ieatishootipost readers:

Go to the stall and mention the blog and pay $12 for the Foie Gras. This is the normal portion not a mini portion. But you guys Zi Dong a bit and buy some of their other stuff okay? There are limited portions of foie gras so it may be a good idea to call up first to reserve yours.

Update: 4 Sep 2008

Due to lack of supply, the Foie Gras promotion will cease on 15 Sep 2008

Update: 9 Oct 2008

They have revamped their menu, so these items are no longer available.

Cilantro Modern Asia
Blk 28, Jln Bukit Merah,
#01/4476 S(152028)
www.cilantro.com.sg
10am to 10pm
Open daily
Disclaimer: This was an invited review.
97950289

Zhen Zhen Porridge: Silky Smooth

I finally managed to eat the famous Zhen Zhen porridge!

The distinctive feature about this porridge is that they cook the grains until it has all but dissolved. Lots of people actually rave about this porridge and even they even got 6 chopsticks from Makansutra which is full marks. I was however a little ambivalent about it as I felt it was almost like eating a bowl of thickened cream soup.



Granted, for $3, you actually get a chockful of ingredients in the porridge. I ordered the mixed porridge which had pork, slice fish and century eggs. It is really value for money and the fish was very fresh. But I have to admit that I still prefer my porridge to have a few grains in it. Nonetheless it is certainly a very unique bowl of porridge which is well worth a try. 4/5

Conclusion

Good bowl of porridge but I don't think that I am all out sold on the idea of cooking the rice till it all dissolves. Too much like eating pure starch to me.

Zhen Zhen Porridge
Maxwell Road Food Centre
Stall 54
5.30am to 2.30pm
Closed Tuesdays

Delicious Boneless Chicken Rice: Best Value for Money Chicken Rice

With ieatjr

Half Chicken $13

Holydrummer has been telling me about this chicken rice since the early days of the blog but I never really got down to Katong Centre to try it. However, lately I have been going through a chicken rice phase, (you all go through phases too right?) and I really felt I needed to sink my teeth into some nice, fat and succulent chicken thigh.

Incidentally, when I say chicken thigh, do you think of the drumstick? You do realize that, anatomically speaking, the drumstick is not technically the thigh right? The drumstick is actually the part below the knee whereas the hind quarters ie the most fleshy part of the chicken is the real thigh. Don't believe me? Check out a bird's anatomy properly!

Anyway, I realize why I don't really like Kampung Chicken. In the normal chicken, the drumstick is usually fat and tender, but in a Kampung Chicken, the drumstick is really tough! So the only really succulent part of the Kampung Chicken is the thigh. Anyway, enough ranting about Kampung Chickens, if you want a well endowed chicken, this is one place where you will find some.


No such thing as Anorexia here!

The Lao Ban Niang here tells me that they use only chickens that are over two kg in weight. So you can expect chicken that you can fill your mouth with. What makes this place unique is that instead of just having the coriander over the chicken, they give this nice concoction of fried garlic, chillies, shredded carrot and radish garnish. Also every plate of chicken rice comes with a serving of their soup-of-the-day which happens to be watercress soup when I visited them. On top of that, you get a free flow serving of 2 different types of Achar. So for $4, you can a four course meal! Which is why this stall gets my vote for Best Value Chicken rice!



The only thing I would complain about here is the rice. They use yellow ginger to colour the rice, so it comes out a eerie yellow colour, as if you have just spilled highlighter ink onto your rice. The texture and flavour is not great but acceptable. If only the rice had been good, this place would have scored much higher. 4/5

Conclusion

Best value for money Chicken Rice! I had half a chicken, 2 rice, 2 plates of achar and a big bowl of watercress soup with pork bones and chicken mid joint for just $14! Mind you, half a chicken here is equivalent to a whole Kampung Chicken!

Delicious Boneless Chicken Rice
865 Mountbatten Road #B1-85/87
Katong Shopping Centre Stall 3
Katong Gourmet Centre
10am to 8pm daily
Mr Goh 97896073

Rice Bowl: Cheap and Good Tonkatsu Curry Rice

With SCS Butter


What's the big difference between Hainanese Pork Chop Curry Rice and Japanese Tonkatsu Curry Rice? Well, one costs $4 at a hawker centre and the other costs $12 at a restaurant.

Ok, there are of course differences in the taste of the curry, the seasoning of the pork and the type of rice used, but essentially they use similar raw ingredients. The point I am driving at is that there is no real reason why one should pay $12 to enjoy the Japanese version of this particular dish. Which is why I was so pleased to find this stall in the LTN coffeeshop in Siglap which sells Tonkatsu Curry Rice for $4.50.

Of course, we were skeptical at first. You really don't want to end up with something that tastes like the Hainanese version but disguised to look like a Japanese with a few whiskers of shredded seaweed.



The rice was not the top quality Japanese short grain rice, but it was acceptable. The Tonkatsu was surprisingly good. Well seasoned and crisp on the outside and not too thin that it is dry. The curry might have come out of a premix but it certainly tastes quite good. Overall, I was quite happy to come back here for my Tonkatsu fix for $4.50 and I wouldn't mind trying the other stuff on offer too! 4/5

Conclusion

Cheap and Good. There are an increasing number of hawkers selling Japanese food nowadays, any really good ones that you would recommend? In particular, is there any place that sells a good gyu don (Beef Bowl?).

Update: June 2008

One reader commented that this place has closed.

Rice Bowl
936 East Coast Road
LTN Eating House
12.30pm to 10pm
Closed on Tuesdays