Buah keluak pasta from Chef Shen Tan’s pop-up at Joan Bowen Cafe – buah keluak cooked with turmeric, blue ginger, garlic and shallots, minced pork and prawns, twice cooked pork belly. Every inch of well-lubricated pasta is positively slathered with the glorious black paste, which is simultaneously nuanced and forthcoming…
Omi Gyu from Boruto’s Hidden Gems of Kansai menu – omi wagyu from Shiga, smoked & chopped with scallions, shio konbu in tataki style. The luxuriously smooth and chewy wagyu had the glorious, unbridled fattiness of a BMT Eagle Company recruit, with the tarty avocado mayo serving as an appealing,…
Prawn & Hae Bi Hiam Pasta from Redpan – tagliatelle tossed with housemade spicy shrimp paste, sakura ebi and sautéed prawns. The hae bi hiam aroma at play is irresistible, while elsewhere the introverted sakura ebi is overshadowed by the busyness of the proceedings and is best savoured directly on…
Udon from Hyogo braised with squid ink stock, topped with firefly squid and yuzu molecules from Boruto’s Hidden Gems of Kansai menu. The squid ink udon plays like a slinky pasta but retains udon’s slurp suction qualities while elsewhere the dish feels like a tribute to explosive squirts, with the…
Coconut from Cheek by Jowl – laksa leaf ice cream, pomelo, green chilli. Essentially what you get if bubur cha cha, laksa and vanilla had a head-spinningly scorching ménage à trois on a cushion of roasty nuts. 4/5 This was part of an existing $38 3-course lunch menu, and is…
Chilli Crab Txangurro from Catalunya – 120 grams of shredded Alaskan snow crab cooked in spicy tomato sofrito and topped with toasted bread crumbs. Essentially an indulgent chilli crab bonanza in a pot – pure, unadulterated chilli crab goodness sans any distracting pincer, shell or mantou nonsense. The succulent crab…
Aged carnaroli risotto rice, fermented coconut, Thai inspired salad from Bacchanalia’s vegan and vegetarian course menu. Despite possessing not a smidgen of meat, the coconutty and wetly muifan-like risotto had a rich and robust seafood-esque flavour, with an urgent sourness and a piquant gingerly slant. 4.2/5 This was a hosted…
Confit duck leg with five spice caramel, cucumber and waffles from Cheek by Jowl. The decidedly Body Combat-esque and delectably charred duck leg shredded with a most effortless poise, the vivacious and refreshing greens tarted things up Vietnamese-style and the earnestly understated, crispy and buttery waffles launched a warning salvo…
White snapper milanese with salmon roe gribiche, brussels sprouts with tamarind and bacon from Kilo. The breaded fish and egg mayo seemed content to be fluffy cushions for the smoky brussels sprouts and the bacon, so scene-stealingly soft, salty and pork-juicy that it probably committed an offence under Section 378…