Where did the week go?

The week flew by in a snap.

Monday. Had dinner with friends at Miss U Cafe again. Finally got to try their Ham and Mushroom pizza... nice.

Tuesday. Tried Waraku at East Coast Park on Kerj's recommendation - not bad for the budget, worth going back to. Rained pots and pans.

Went to satisfy J's Awfully Chocolate craving: One pint of dark chocolate ice cream and half a kilogram of original chocolate cake. The Awfully Chocolate outlet at Joo Chiat was replaced by the one within Katong Mall.

Wednesday. Got hauled off to Ten-shin at Regent Hotel for dinner - hole-in-the-pocket pricy, serving refined (high-class) tempura. Great quality, great service, great big bill too - good thing I wasn't paying for it! Personally though, I still prefer Tsunahachi's (in Tokyo) no-nonsense approach to tempura, fantastic value there, pity about the need to fly. :(

Thursday. Mad logistics scramble at the office; had to step in to organize events for overseas visitors on short notice. Grabbed a quick bite at Mac's before dropping by to visit ducky's daughter who's down with pneumonia. Agonized over possibly having to cater for both vegetarian and no-seafood options for Friday's dinner with visitors. Worn out.

Friday. Meetings and more logistics scrambling. Roped Mozz and gang in to help with arranging the get-well delivery, and to think up dinner options. Finally found the chance to enquire about dietary requirements, just to discover that my vegetarian worries were completely unfounded. Settled on a Thai restaurant near the office for transport convenience. Realized too late that the dinner set didn't cater well for the no-seafood guest; had to make a special separate order. Note to self #1: ordering for twelve means way too much food for twelve. Note to self #2: Thai food, especially tom yum soup, is too spicy even for the Koreans. Completely knackered.

Saturday. Slept in late despite promising to try waking up for breakfast. Spent the rest of the day paying my rest debt buildup over the last two days.

I need a holiday.

Not that I'm going to get one any time soon. Especially not now.

Good service at Cold Storage, Katong Mall

Tammy, our cashier at the Katong Mall Cold Storage today, warned us that the mop head and handle shaft that we wanted to purchase might not fit properly. She then tried to assemble the mop, and sure enough, it wouldn't fit together - the screw threads didn't match up.

So I went back to the household row and picked up another mop head which looked like it had the right type of screw thread, and was ready to pay for it, when Tammy pointed out that this one might not fit either - and it didn't. There weren't any other alternatives left, so we gave up.

Thanks for saving us from the hassle of having to come back and return the item.

Dim sum and chocolate ice-cream

Okay, so it's not your typical combination of foods. It's also probably a good thing that we didn't try to consume them together. Anyway.

Dim sum: Victor's Kitchen
J was craving for dim sum, so we went to try Victor's Kitchen at Sunshine Plaza for lunch. Located inside the building on the ground floor, the place isn't very big at all. We had to wait for one of the tables lining the corridor outside the shop.

The oyster sauce char siew pau was filled with a pretty decent portion of chunky meat, only downside is that you get two buns per order (instead of three at most dim sum places).

I liked the lor mai kai (one per order), and the carrot cake was particularly good. Didn't really think much of the har gao and siew mai, but then again, I'm not a huge fan of those either. Didn't order the custard bun recommended by ChubbyHubby.

Overall a good first impression, marred only by the kids at the next table who almost knocked our table over and didn't bother to apologize. Brats. And what's the point in parents telling their kids to say sorry and then not following up when they don't?

Chocolate ice-cream: Awfully Chocolate
Took rien's suggestion and dropped by the Awfully Chocolate outlet in Katong Mall to try out one scoop of their chocolate ice-cream.

It's served in a small, kitschy-but-cute pseudo-chinese-takeout paper bucket. The chocolate taste is intense; rien called it "orgasmic". Very good stuff - J was sorely tempted to get another scoop. Heard good things about their chocolate cakes too, so we'll come back to check it out another time.

Koyasu no to

koyasu no to, originally uploaded by varf.

Another shot from the Japan trip in May (original).

This pagoda dedicated to the Koyasu Kannon is located within the sprawling grounds of Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺) in Kyoto. Women visit this pagoda in the hopes of having easy childbirth (not sure if that covers conception).

Father and son

This one's for Euch.

Wedding by the waterside

Attended a wedding at Raffles Marina on Friday evening.



Never thought that I'd get to shoot a sunset-in-the-sea type photo in Singapore, since I don't really see much of the western edge of the island.

It was an outdoor wedding facing the sea, with round guest tables set up on the lawn, and buffet lines set up discreetly on both ends. The moored yachts doubled reluctantly as a quiet backdrop. A "main event" tent up front and center served as the stage for the evening, housing the solemnization ceremony and the entertainment that followed after.

The bride arrived in style..



..and so the celebrations commenced.

The biggest downer that night was the weather; the wind clamped its bellows shut and refused to cooperate, forcing sleeves to be rolled up and collars loosened. Throughout dinner, many retreated into the clubhouse for reprieve from the heat. Tough luck, but at least it didn't rain.

Parting shot of the marina (yes I don't get many chances to shoot this kind of thing so bear with me):



More photos from the event here. Didn't take too many pics this time.

Menotti revisited

Had lunch today at Menotti with some friends. In contrast to the favourable reaction exactly three months ago, today's experience was downright disappointing.

Food-wise, my lasagne (the only thing I ordered) felt like an assembly-line dish, lacking punch and personality. Very quickly jelak. Service-wise, the waitress that serv^H^H^H^H attended to our table today was stormy-faced and impatient to the point of being rude. A request to delay the decision on choice of dessert for the set lunch was met with a grunt of disgruntled acceptance, accompanied by a disapproving frown-and-shake-of-the-head. Give us a break. Do we owe you a living?

Quite suddenly, I'm not so inclined to pay $19.90 for their set lunch anymore. One bad service experience is one too many for the price.

Buko Nero: Dinner

The second hardest part of going to Buko Nero for dinner is deciding between the mouth-watering specials. The hardest part, by far, is having to wait out that one month or so from the time of securing the reservation to actually getting to eat there.

We've been visiting Buko Nero regularly since the restaurant's early days, and the Pasinatos have never failed to impress. I remember that during one of my first visits, they served up a zany citrus-flavoured pre-meal "refresher" drink in clear test tubes, all lined up on a shiny wireframe rack that could have come straight out of a science lab!

Before dinner there on Wednesday night we asked if I could take photos, and the reply was along the lines of "as long as you only shoot the stuff on your table, and absolutely no shots of the kitchen". Well, that's perfectly fine by me!

So here goes - this is what we had for dinner on Wednesday:

Mozzarella and tomato crostino topped with parma ham. I was totally blown away by the first bite - this innocent-looking bite packs a huge juicy punch that's literally bursting with flavour. Wow.

Porcini mushroom soup, laced with white truffle oil, and one of our all-time BN favourites. J was tempted to ask for an extra take-home serving.

The Tau Kwa Tower - Buko Nero's ever-popular signature appetizer is Mom's favourite regular starter.

My starter for the night: crab meat and fresh orange salad, with lemon dressing, and laced with tobikko - a very striking combination of flavour and texture. Unfortunately, towards the last few mouthfuls the citrus flavour became a bit overpowering. I probably shouldn't have tried to scoop up the last bits of tobikko floating around in the remaining dressing.

The beef ravioli in wanton skin that I'd raved about previously was available again as a special that night, and J jumped at the chance (with just a little nudge from Tracy). Yumm-y!

Spicy crusted cod with red miso dressing, another one of the specials available that night. Aunt S. had this one, and I forgot to try a sample. Doh!

Beef tenderloin wrapped with bacon and topped with a porcini ragu. I had a hard time deciding between this and the cod above, and eventually decided on the beef, medium rare. Which turned out to be very nice indeed; it was almost as if the bacon had been grafted onto the circumference of the tenderloin, keeping all of the juicy flavour sealed within. Fabulous!

"Like a tart, but with a cake-like texture," said Tracy about the banana budino. "It's topped with banana chips. Non-alcoholic." How could I resist? It had a moderately light cake-like texture, was sinfully sweet (but banana's good for you isn't it? so it's OK :P) and the banana chips added that crunchy bite (bordering a little on the hard side). Good stuff.

This, excuse the pun, took the cake. The rich chocolate panforte with vanilla coulis was scrawled on the whiteboard as part of the set dinner menu, but that didn't stop J from ordering it. And what a pleasant surprise that turned out to be - a dense slice of intensely chocolatey cake packed with nuts, complemented nicely by the rich vanilla sauce. An absolute winner!


There's a one-month booking window from the current date, but it's often filled up quickly by regulars, parties and events. It's probably easiest just to ask when the next available slot is, book it, then adjust your schedule (and guest list) to fit.

Buko Nero
126 Tanjong Pagar Road
Singapore 088534
Tel: 6324 6225

Snap me if you can

snap me if you can, originally uploaded by varf.

Finally got around to pushing more photos from the Japan trip up onto flickr.

This one was a fun shot - the kid kept flashing quick poses at the camera as if daring me to catch one.. so I did. :)

Pepper lunch and birthday dinner

and

La Braceria

First impressions last.

And our first encounter with La Braceria's profitterol in July was so impressive that we were looking forward to enjoying it again during last night's dinner.

Finding the place is a mite tough the first time around, as it's tucked away in a small two-row shophouse enclave nestled deep inside the Greenleaf residential estate. By car, it would probably be easiest to turn into Maryland Drive from Holland Road, or work your way through Ming Teck Park from Sixth Avenue. Maryland Drive flows straight into Greenleaf Road; the entrance to the carpark appears soon after the downhill on the right-hand side. It's actually fairly difficult to spot the place until you're almost upon it, so go slow.

J and I were the first customers to arrive at the restaurant yesterday, just past 7:30pm (they open for dinner from 6pm). Mom and Dad had called to say that they were stuck in a traffic jam and would be late. Shortly after we arrived, we watched as an unlucky couple without a reservation was turned away, after being presented with the restaurant's business card and some advice to call ahead for their next visit.

Like Buko Nero, La Braceria is fully packed every night, with just five or six tables available. Thankfully, unlike Buko Nero, we didn't have to book a month in advance - we called just two days before.



(I'm not very good with remembering names of dishes due to lack of familiarity, especially Italian dishes, so please excuse me if I get them wrong or leave them out in favour of ingredient names.)

On our last visit we tried the eggplant, the homemade sausages and the stuffed portabello mushrooms for starters, polished off a spaghetti vongole (Dad's regular Italian restaurant order) and a great wood-fired pizza (forgot which) and maybe one other main, and ended off with the absolutely amazing profitterol on the waiter's recommendation.

This time around, we went for the Antipasto Braceria and a baby spinach salad as appetizers; rosemary lamb chops, fillet of beef tenderloin and a spaghetti vongole (no prizes for guessing whose order that was) for mains; and followed up with profitterol and a lava cake for dessert.

The Antipasto Braceria. Oven-baked scamorza cheese, topped with mushrooms. The cheese was like mozzarella but milder, chewy and soft. I liked the edge parts where the cheese was a little more cooked and brown.

J's baby spinach salad, which came with extra bits of avocado by special request. Topped with sliced almonds, cherry tomatoes, bacon and a light dressing.

Mom's lamb chops - she had them done medium. Juicy and succulent, with unhealthy chunks of fat attached to each rack. Very nicely done. Highly recommended by the waiter.

270 grams of mouthwatering tenderloin steak, done medium rare, and all mine! Well, most of it was. Also highly recommended by the waiter. The photo doesn't do the steak justice; it was fabulously done. Even J caved in and took some, despite the meat being fairly red (yum!).

Dad's spaghetti vongole. The quality of the pasta was amazing - the spaghetti held a beautifully firm texture without being hard, the gravy thick and intense, and the clams cooked just nice. Wow.

The lava cake took a short while to come as it baked in the oven. In the middle of the icing-sprinkled confection is a reservoir of sticky, gooey chocolate... mmmm. Great with a coffee.

What we'd been looking forward to - the profitterol. Four pieces of puff pastry stuffed with thick, rich cream, and topped with melted chocolate - heavenly! Unfortunately the first impression had stuck; it didn't feel quite as nice as before, perhaps because the chocolate wasn't warm and oozing like the first time. But still delish!

Cost-wise: the lamb chops and tenderloin were $32 each, starters are in the range of $16-18 and the pizzas go for $20-22-ish. But hey, you get what you pay for - excellent quality Italian food, and a good wine selection (taking Dad's word for it).


Cheers!

Service-wise: staff are friendly and helpful, and overall service is generally of a high standard. However, our empty water glasses went unnoticed for some time, and required some prompting for refills.

Second impressions either confirm first impressions, or shatter them. And our second experience with La Braceria was still as impressive as the first. It's a great place for a nice, upmarket meal.

La Braceria Pizza & Grill
70 Greenleaf Road
Ban Guan Park
Singapore 279356
Tel: 6465 5918
Open Monday to Sunday
Lunch 12pm to 2pm
Dinner 6pm to 10:30pm