My Little Spanish Place

My Little Spanish Place has been open for just about a year at Bukit Timah, and although we've eaten there a few times since, we've always thought it was all right. Not bad, not mindblowing, but all right, nice, and pleasant in a very neutral way.

Then we noticed things started picking up. Tables started getting fuller and fuller. They were starting to turn away customers without reservations on Fri and Sat nights. Something was definitely happening, and on our subsequent visit we realised that while the food was good before, it was now amazingly delicious. There was something special about the very same dishes which were probably cooked with the same recipe but with small adjustments here and there. It was very difficult to decipher what had changed, but perhaps it was just a matter of having things settle down and improved over time.

The croquettes - lovely crispy crust with creamy inside


Meatballs with tomato sauce - juicy, tasty and bread-moppingly yummy


Grilled squid - I felt this could have been grilled a bit longer, but I guess that's just me preferring a more burnt taste


Garlic prawns - fresh and savoury


Tortilla - great with the garlic mayo/aioli


I'm a bigger fan of risotto, so it's hard for me to be objective about paella in general. But the squid ink paella was just that wee bit more exciting than the normal house paella, and in my opinion, tastier too.

Anchovies on toast

The cold cuts platter was really good - I loved the cheese and cured meats, although I had no idea what I was eating

The grilled capsicum was lovely, with the natural sugars all flowing out of the peppers. I don't normally eat capsicum but this warranted an exception.

The grilled mushrooms were lovely - they were flavourful and moist.

The artichokes with bacon bits were surprisingly good too.

We also had the suckling pig, which had to be ordered a few days in advance. Well worth the wait - the skin was absolutely crispy, and the meat so tender it was to-die-for. One of the best roast pigs ever.

Jamon Bellota - there simply wasn't enough of this to go around! I initially thought this was plain old Iberico (hah!), but it turns out that this is supposed to be the highest grade Iberico Jamon, from free-range pigs that roam around oak forests on the Spanish-Portugese border and eat only acorns. It was surprisingly not salty at all, and simply collapsed in an amazing medley of flavours on my tongue. They don't have this listed on the menu so you might need to call up and ask beforehand.

Orange cream under all that cream - great with coffee

Churros with chocolate - lovely at the end of a long meal.

This comes up as a worthy competitor to Don Quijote, and I daresay, probably it's even better. They stock an extensive range of Spanish wines that are excellent with the food. However, the place is not cheap - the tapas are on average $10 per serve, so the budget would be about $50 per person for a normal meal, which could get more expensive with drinks.

619 Bukit Timah Road (just after Coronation Plaza)

Tel: 6463 2810

Open for lunch Sat and Sun from 12-4pm, and dinner Tues-Sun from 6.30pm-12am. Closed Mondays.

www.wix.com/winestudio/mylittlespanishplace

French Cooking - at Home

The couple that got married in France invited us to their place for dinner. Thankfully for the wife who hardly steps into the kitchen, the husband is a really good cook who takes his food very seriously - especially his cheeses. When we arrived, he had the fire going (figuratively, because he uses an electric oven, which no self-respecting Asian cook would even consider) with a carrot and leek combo.

Scallops cooking in butter

1 man, 2 pans, 3 spectators

The entree of panfried scallops on a bed of carrot and leek - with freshly grated pepper. This was lovely : )

The main course was a classic French homey casserole of cabbage, minced beef, minced pork, bacon, onions and carrots, layered and baked in the oven for 2 hours.

We enjoyed this very much - the home kitchen taste was a refreshing change from the high-end French meals that we had been having.

Lovely food, lovely wine and lovely friends : )

Bonta at UE Square

The husband and I had heard about Bonta for some time, but had no special occasion to visit the place until our wedding anniversary came along - about half a year ago :p I can't really remember what all the dishes were like, but there were some really good ones that we thoroughly enjoyed.

First, the bread. We absolutely loved this. It came to us nice and warm.

And when I broke it open, I found ricotta cheese inside. Lovely with the olive dip.

We ordered the degustation menu and some other a la carte dishes so that we could get a good sample of everything. This was the salmon/trout (??) from the degustation menu. Not very memorable.

The pan seared scallops were really good - fresh, sweet and cooked just long enough.

I had to order the foie gras. This was lovely, but not as brilliant as the one I had in Reims.

Hiding under all the grass is a liver somewhere.

The angel hair pasta with lobster was part of the degustation menu. This was one of their 招牌菜, and although we enjoyed it, we expected more from it. The pasta was cooked just a bit too long, and the sauce was rather salty.

We had the risotto with porcini mushroom, which was absolutely beauiful. The rice was very well flavoured, with a fantastic aroma of porcini. We licked up every last morsel.

There was a tenderloin that the husband ate most of. Somehow I felt it looked way too complicated for a steak, with the yam/sweet potato(?) shavings, and all the seasonings in the sauce.

The pappardelle with wild boar ragout was another winner. We loved the texture of the home made pasta.
Warm chocolate fondant for dessert, which was pretty good. The husband had most of this.

I was craving cheese quite badly, and the cheese platter did not disappoint. The platter had Parmigiano Reggiano, Taleggio, Pecorino Romano, Gorgonzola and Mascarpone cheese with sun-dried figs, jams and grapes. Absolutely brilliant.

This was one of those meals where the person taking our orders looked at us incredulously and asked "are you sure you both can finish so much?" followed by "are you sure?" when we put in order after order : )

207 River Valley Road, #01-61 UE Square River Wing

Tel: (65) 6333 8875

Operating Hours: 12.00pm to 2.30pm daily for lunch (closed for lunch on Sat) 6.30pm to 11.00pm daily for dinner

Cooking for Chinese New Year

I decided to be a bit more ambitious this year and actually cook something for my family for CNY dinner. I was craving for roast pork, and tried to combine 2 recipes I found on the internet to get the best of both. One recipe recommended marinating the pork slab in a lor bak sauce (or dark soya sauce+star anise+cinnamon+gula melaka) overnight, and the other recommended roasting the pork straight but dousing the pork with vinegar every 15 mins. The pork skin didn't turn out as well as I hoped, since marinating the meat overnight in the fridge resulted in the skin getting wet once it was out of the fridge, but the meat was very tender and it tasted really good. So this is one recipe that needs a lot of working on.

Still looking good, despite the parts of the skin not being crispy enough

It was surprisingly difficult to chop neatly. Probably because the skin wasn't crispy enough.

But the meat was really nice and tender and tasty.

The fruits of my labour

Mum's yusheng - my absolute favourite. Everything is freshly made - none of that bright green/bright red oversweet preserved store bought nonsense. She is one serious yusheng maker - with something like 10 ingredients in the sauce, including brandy.

Even her crispy bits are home made - fried bee hoon, friend wonton skins and keropok.

I made Sichuan hot and sour soup for the first time. It actually turned out pretty well, with the right amount of vinegar, and the colour and texture was perfect.

I also tried cooking spinach with salted and preserved eggs, wolfberries and anchovy stock. I think it turned out quite well too : )

Experimenting with all these dishes has made me a bit more confident, and once CNY is properly over I should have the time to do a bit more cooking : )

Ipoh Sar Hor Fun 怡保沙河粉

A new Ipoh hor fun stall opened at Amoy St Food Centre about half a year ago, and has been packing in the crowds ever since. It's right next to the wait-long-long Tai Seng wanton noodles, and opposite the oh-no-there's-no-more-space-to-queue-on-this-floor Han Kee fish noodles. The average wait is about 15 minutes, which is just about the maximum amount of time I would queue during lunch hour. Piao Ji Fish Soup 2 sections away, with an average queuing time of 30 minutes, is an entirely different story altogether.
A regular $3 serving gets you shredded chicken, mushrooms and veggies. They also have prawns, which you can order with crayfish. The crayfish noodles start at $5 for 2 miniscule crayfish and mushrooms.
I love the texture of the noodles - they are soft but don't fall apart, and they go really well with the sauce. I've seen Chinese herbs used in the sauce pot, so there's a lot more flavour than just soy.
They have fish dumplings at $3 for 6, which are fat, springy and crispy. They go brilliantly with the salad cream and sambal chilli sauce.

They're at stall 02-122, Amoy St Food Centre and open only for lunch on weekdays.

PS Cafe at Ann Siang Hill

I went with a bunch of colleagues to PS Cafe at ASH for lunch, and it's lovely to see how they've restored and refurbished the shophouse. A very clever use of space, with the entrance from the park side and the dining area actually extending into the second floor of the neighbouring unit.

We shared the truffle shoestring fries ($15). Although they were very yummy, considering the price, I was very tempted to go to MacDonalds and bring my own truffle oil.

The burger ($28) was a pretty good choice. It was a nice meaty patty, done perfectly and very tasty.

The place isn't cheap, and I'm not sure that I'd call it value for money. But it's a nice place nonetheless.

45 Ann Siang Road
#02-02
Tel: 65349381

Haneda Airport

I've finally come to the end of the Japan food posts, and will conclude them with the largest greediest and cheapest (ie. free) meal we had all week - at Haneda Airport. With the opening of the new international terminal in Oct 2010, somehow travelling to Tokyo has become a lot less intimidating (30mins compared to 2hrs from Narita via the airport limousine bus) and less expensive (around 1500Yen per person - inclusive of a taxi ride to Hamamatsucho station - compared to 3000Y per person). And the terminal was lovely.


They had an Edo theme for the 4th floor of the terminal, which we browsed through after checking in. The replica of the Japanese shophouse - if you can call it that - was kitschy, but quite nicely done!
Plenty of shops and restaurants - some with queues too.


This one had quite a long line of people waiting outside

They had a youth/pop culture theme for the 5th floor - with burger joints, street fashion shops and an arcade as well.

Plus a Hello Kitty shop selling practically every item under the sun

Chocolates, candy, biscuits, yes. But Hello Kitty dried cuttlefish? Incredible.

They also have an outdoor roof garden where you can see the planes land and take off

After walking around outside, we decided to clear customs and go to the ANA Lounge for dinner. It was the nicest Star Alliance lounge I had ever been to - much better even than the Krisflyer Gold Lounge at Changi.

There was a lot of food on offer - sushi and other nibbly things in this corner.

Plus hot food - quite a good spread too.

What I got:

Broiled fish, pork and tofu from the hot selection, and a variety of different types of sushi.

Pickled burdock root and daikon with rice

Miso soup

The salad bar

Part of the light bites area - fruit, yogurt and sandwiches

They even had a noodle bar, with a selection of soba and udon

I tried the sansai udon - the noodles were pretty springy.

A drink dispenser with all types of soft drinks on tap. We didn't check out the different types of alcohol available in detail, but there was Asahi beer on tap, various wines and whiskies for the taking. They also had other canned soft drinks, including Pocari.

Clam chowder soup - they even had the salted crackers at the side

Curry rice

Dessert, which we had with our coffees
Each time I go to an airport lounge I'm painfully aware that my Krisflyer Gold status is going to expire this year with very little hope of retention...unfortunately that night I think I overcompensated for the impending loss - we were so stuffed we couldn't even manage lunch the following day. And that's it for Japan, over and out.