Otto (Again)

I had mentioned in earlier posts how cheated I felt at Forlino the previous week, and how happy I had been with Otto. I was at Otto again earlier this week for an old friend's birthday dinner. We all ordered the degustation menu ($88), and 2 of us had a glass of chianti as well (the birthday girl remained dry all evening...good on you babes!)

Unlike Forlino, the nice Italian waiter came over and took the time to go through the menu to explain what was on offer. He ran through the wine list with us and made a few recommendations. He even agreed to swop certain dishes on the degustation menu with other items on the a la carte menu. This is the sort of service I expect when you are paying this much for your grub.

The amuse bouche was portobello mushroom with parmesan. Pleasant, but nothing very exciting.

The friendly waiter with the selection of breads: onion, olive, walnut and sourdough.

Bread heaven. The olive oil they serve is not bad too.

First course: Wagyu beef carpaccio with parmesan cheese and mushroom salad. The rocket leaves (tucked under the beef) went well with the beef. It was pleasant, although ordinary.

Second course: Deep fried live prawn with japanese cucumber salad and chilled tomato soup. The prawns were fresh, and the tomato soup was very light and pleasant. Again, this was quite ordinary but it was a nice dish.

Course 3: Homemade squid ink tagliolini with dungeness crab and rosemary. The pasta had a great firm and chewy texture to it (the classy word to use would be al dente) but the crab was a bit dry. I was probably expecting the creamy Valentino version, so I was a bit disappointed. Overall I would still give this dish a pass.

Course 4: My friends both had the tenderloin (taken off the a la carte menu)....

...while I had the slow braised veal cheek with truffle mashed potatoes.

Now THIS is what I call a real truffles....in comparison with the (recycled) cardboard I ate at Forlino.

The veal was beautifully braised until it was melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Course 5: dessert. My friend had the cheese platter (off the a la carte menu)...

...while I had the warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. This was ordinary....

...but otherwise pleasant and enjoyable.

I have always been partial towards Otto, but there was one thing about the service that irked me. It was only after we finished our desserts that we remembered that coffee and tea were part of the set menu, and we had to call a waiter over to make our orders. I would have expected it to be an automatic question upon putting down our dessert plates. So that's a big minus. Food-wise, I didn't see Giacomo (the original chef). So maybe that explains why the food wasn't jump-over-the-moon exciting as it wa previously. But nonetheless, a pleasant and filling meal.

Sushi Yoshida

Earlier this week, I went to Sushi Yoshida for lunch with some colleagues.


It's located near the SPC petrol station, and set back a bit from the main road. Look for the landscaped garden.

The interior is not very large, with a sushi counter seating maybe around 12-14 people, and tables for probably a maximum of 20 more.

The set lunches are mostly around $38 nett (ie. taxes and other charges all included) for the sashimi and sushi sets. They also have tempura sets ($27 nett) and unagi sets ($35).

All the set lunches come with a starter of semi-cooked egg, which is served in a mixture of soy sauce and dashi with a bit of yuzu zest on top. It came with wasabi too - I picked out about half, and stirred the rest in.

The egg was beautiful, particularly with the yolk soft and runny.

All of us ordered the chirashi sushi. The box is larger than it looks in the picture.

The slices of raw seafood (including 0toro, hotate, tako, sake, and a few other slices of fish with names that elude me now) were very substantial. The ikura was absolutely wonderful, as it was very very fresh. I don't usually like ikura, but I've really never tasted such fresh ikura, not even in Hokkaido.

The sets came with a miso soup that had been cooked with fish stock. It was so tasty that I finished every last drop of the soup.

The chrysanthemum and the other flower buds (anyone know the name?) were used to perfume the soy sauce.

The otoro was overwhelmingly melt-in-your-mouth good. The other slices of fish were really fresh as well. With large thick slices of fish that were really fresh, it was really really value for money. $38 may be expensive for 1 box, but considering the freshness and quantity, I would happily pay $38 again for this. I've heard that Sushi Yoshida is pretty expensive for dinner, so am just sticking to lunch for now.
The rice also came with tamago yaki, pickled daikon, ginger, as well as seasoned mushrooms and renkon. We were absolutely stuffed by the time we were done.


Sushi Yoshida

10 Devonshire Road

Open for lunch everyday from 12-3pm (last order 2.30pm)

Dinner on Mon, Tues, Wed, Sat: 6-11pm (last order 10.30pm)

Dinner on Thurs & Fri: 6pm-12mn (last order 11.30pm)

Dinner on Sun: 6-10pm (last order 9.30pm)
Tel: 6735 5014

Sunday Night Dinner

After the gluttonous lunch at Zion Rd Nasi Padang, the husband and I were not in the mood for anything heavy. So we went to our favourite Japanese restaurant at Roberston Quay (which shall remain unnamed for a while longer) and had noodles. He had the nabeyaki udon ($13). The udon is reliably good, with a firm texture, and they are also fairly generous.


I had the hiyashi ramen, or cold ramen. Again, this restaurant is pretty generous with their servings. The accompanying cucumber, fishcake, pork slices, crab sticks and omelette were more than sufficient to go with the ramen.

The ramen noodles had a great texture...firm and chewy.

After dinner, we went home and had peaches lovingly hand-carried and air-flown from Tokyo thanks to my wonderful brother in law.

Why can't local fruit taste like Japanese fruit? The peaches were absolutely sweet and succulent, with freshness in every bite.

Burb...it was a good weekend.

Zion Road Nasi Padang

We went to Zion Rd Nasi Padang on Sunday for lunch after church. The place was packed at 1pm....I queued for about 20 mins before I managed to order.

The system is very basic and simple. You queue until you reach the counter, and one of the 5 or so ladies behind the counter will acknowledge your presence. After you point out what you want, and for how many people, she'll get the stuff together and chop it up.


Too many choices, too little space in the tummy.

It's all self-service: If it doesn't fit on one tray, come back again!

Sayur lodeh

Sambal sotong

ayam goreng

curry chicken (my favourite curry chicken out of all the nasi padang shops)

tempeh

beef rendang (the husband's favourite)

lady's fingers

potato cakes (anyone know how to spell bergerdil?)

Zion Road Nasi Padang

55 Zion Road

Open for lunch and dinner everyday except Monday

Tel: 6734 3383

Lu Tian Seafood

I just got back from lunch today and was so excited I had to publish this immediately back at my desk. I had a great plate of seafood hor fun at Amoy St Food Centre from Lu Tian Seafood at Stall 02-119.

The serving cost $3.50, and consisted of squid, prawns, fish slices and veggies on top of the horfun.

The horfun was great...it was tasty with a chewy texture, and came with the wok hei aroma.

Our friendly serving lady posing for the camera. Best thing about this shop is that they actually bring the food to your table so you can sit down and wait instead of waste your lunch hour standing in line.

Lu Tian Seafood

Stall 02-119 Amoy Street Food Centre

Open until after lunch

Saturday afternoon eating

The husband and I spent the whole of Saturday afternoon eating. Our first stop was Margaret Drive hawker centre. It's a bit strange to go to Queenstown now, especially with the former town centre being so quiet and having lots of open spaces around, but it has a great laid-back feel. If only parking wasn't so difficult. We went there because (A), we wanted a cheap lunch; (B) we were in the area anyway and (C) I was craving chicken rice. The husband initially wanted to go to Holland V. I managed to talk him out of it, having just left the area with no less than 5 cars waiting for my parking lot at 10.30am.

I love the chicken rice shop on the second storey at stall no. 02-548. It's always crowded on weekends.

Practically everyone else sitting around us ordered the steamed chicken. Being too smart for my own good, I decided to order the roast chicken. This set cost me $4.50.

The roast chicken meat was good, but slightly dry. I should have gone for the steamed chicken instead.

The rice was really good. Soft, fluffy, and tasty, and not too oily.

The poor husband decided to deviate from the plan, and went to order beef brisket hor fun from a nearby shop (which shall remain unnamed). The beef was good, but the rice noodles were pathetically limp and tasteless. It was like eating flour strips.
After that, it was off to Sushi Tei at the old Big Splash to join my sister and her family for their lunch. We had a few more things to eat....the niece had a california hand roll.

The nephew had a sukiyaki set, which he ate about a third of. The husband and I helped to polish off the rest.

The husband ordered edamame. Would have been better with beer instead of tea.

The niece had tempura and dobin mushi (not pictured).

The husband and I shared a sashimi salad. I love Sushi Tei's sashimi salad. The raw seafood (consisting of sake, maguro, ika, tako and akagai) is always fresh, and they're generous with it too.

A closer look at all the sashimi off cuts.

Salmon skin. Goes with mayonnaise and lemon.

We mucked around for an hour playing minigolf, after which it was time for dessert. The nephew ordered a mango mochi.

The husband and I shared this durian with gula melaka dessert...it came on top of shaved ice....

...And we also shared an almond cream.

I didn't manage to take pictures at the family dinner we had soon after with my inlaws, consisting of braised duck, char siew, roast pork, steamed chicken, beef rendang, mee siam, mee goreng, with potong ice cream after.