Balukoo Wantons from Black Nut – buah keluak flesh, finely diced prawn, spring onion, ginger, garlic and homemade sambal chilli dip. The ever so slightly bitter, earthy and dry wantons craved for the black nuts which arrogantly stayed safely in their sac, but the shrimpy, spicy Nasi Lemak-esque chilli made…
Ayam Bakar Burger from Black Nut – juicy chicken leg spiced with lemongrass, blue ginger, lime leaves, assam, black pepper, and glazed with sweet kecap manis and homemade rumpah spice paste. A grand pity the supernova of Asian flavours did not penetrate to the core of the resultantly dry patty,…
Nori Tsukudani Spaghettini with King Prawn from Wild Rocket. Essentially an unexpectedly tantalising outcome of a torrid affair between aquatic flora and a passionate feisty fruit, with the firm pasta being the wavy vessel for the back and forth drama to play out. Elsewhere, the royal crustacean had a suitably…
Chilli Crab Bao from Bao Makers. The sweet chilli involved is a grower not a shower in terms of firepower, whilst the few crab pieces that managed to squeeze onto the fried mantou carriage are nicely plump. Essentially what hipster foodie tourists should have for a minimalist, mod and smelly-finger…
Baked Mangalitsa Kimchi Rice from Joo Bar – grilled Mangalitsa belly, chopped house-made kimchi, onion, mozzarella, pecorino, parmesan, bechamel sauce. It smothers you, douses you and beats you over the head with the fragrance-inclined tail of its cheesetastic agenda, but fan or not of cheese, it’s unequivocally the best pick…
“Pasta X Chicken X Green Curry = ??” from Som Tam – pan-seared pasta with sweet and savoury Thai green curry. Essentially a most scintillating extra-marital jungle romp between instant noodle curry powder, mee rebus and green curry…if you request for it to be more spicy. The picture on the…
Wagyu beef char siew with pickled papaya and cherry tomato from Ding Dong. The honey-sweet char siew skin was a delight, whilst the soft, fatty core had the tight wobble of the sickest dubstep tune. 3.9/5 This was a hosted meal, courtesy of Ding Dong. Ding Dong 23 Ann Siang…
Apple Tortilla Tower from KINS Restaurant – deep fried tortilla skin towered with cinnamon apple and crumble, served with mixed fruits and vanilla ice cream. Essentially your usual apple crumble dessert, only deconstructed and reconstructed. The tortilla was like a cross between curry puff and Chinese baked pastry, and elsewhere…
Seafood aglio olio from Kins Restaurant – tiger prawns, sea scallop, fresh squid, Japanese konbu and spaghetti with crustacean oil. Immediately one of my favourite aglio olios around, without a smidgen of chilli flake or padi in sight – the sophisticatedly aromatic crustacean oil carries the pasta formidably. (I wonder…