No Menu

We're big fans of Osvaldo Forlino, and when we found out about No Menu back at the beginning of the year, we knew we had to try it. It's probably been written about to death by now, but when we went there in March for a belated Valentine's Day dinner, it was still really new and we had to book 2 weeks in advance.

The system works with a degustation menu where the chef cooks whatever he manages to get fresh from the market or off the plane that day, and serves 14-15 small portions of the different dishes. There are a la carte pasta dishes, but we though we would try the degustation menu, which was the highlight of the place anyway.

The restaurant was packed - it had a nice cosy feel at the first storey of the shophouse.

The amuse bouche - some sort of mortadella on crostini

Course 1: Cold cuts. I loved the salami but wasn't so sure about the lard. I ate it anyway.

This was another cured meat with potato salad.

And parma ham on rockmelon. Lovely!

Followed by bruschetta

And buffalo mozzarella on tomatoes - we loved this.

We ordered a half bottle of Chianti to share - our standard tipple

The hotter dishes started arriving. We had prawns cooked with a bit of garlic

And porcini risotto. This was pretty amazing.

Especially with parmesan cheese

Followed by sea urchin spaghetti. I'm not quite an uni fan, but this was very interesting.

And I loved loved loved the veal ravioli with a beefy buttery stock. Osvaldo Forlino's pastas have always been wonderful - and still are.

The meats came - the husband had the sea bass, which I wasn't too thrilled about

And I had the beef on mash potato. This was fairly normal, nothing mind blowing.

Dessert was this amazing gianduja chocolate thing with some cake - I only remember the gianduja. It was very smooth and was choc-full (excuse the pun) of flavour

Up close

And some meringue-like drops to seal the deal with coffee : )

Apart from the food, what I love about Osvaldo Forlino is that he can still take the time to walk around the room and speak personally to the diners. Better service can never be bad for business. We were also pleasantly surprised to find the chef's mother (or mother in law?), daughter, and niece were serving food and at the same time, taking the time to chat with patrons. Left us with a really good feeling about the place, and a "I should come back soon" thought in our heads.

The degustation menu cost $98 per person, and the bottle of wine set us back $50, making it a total of $289 for 2 persons. The wife paid. Hmph.

23 Boon Tat Street

Tel: 6224 0091

Website: http://www.nomenusingapore.com/

Itacho Sushi at Ion Orchard

We had a late lunch at Itacho Sushi one Sunday. The husband had a bento, and I ordered a few pieces of sushi. It was surprisingly fresh and I was happy to be able to choose just 1 piece of what I wanted - aburi scallop, ika, hotate, can't remember and salmon.

I think this was either hamachi or hirame - somehow I really struggle with remembering the white fish! The dash of yuzu paste was very interesting.

The chawan mushi was really yummy too, with a crab meat mixture on top.

Spruce

I like the Spruce burger - it's got a meaty thick patty that's full of meat with just enough fat, and comes with fat hot wedges. Fantastic with lots of mustard and ketchup.

L'Entrecote

A greedy former colleague - a partner in crime and a true friend - left the establishment last week, and to celebrate her liberation we went to a place near the office that we had wanted to try, separately, but had never had the opportunity to. We knew that L'Entrecote didn't take reservations and so I tried my best to walk out early (at my current workplace, that means while there's still light).

It was still pretty empty and we managed to get seats fairly easily.

They were handing out a mixture of blackcurrant and white wine called ikr - or so I was told. It tasted like very flat sweet champagne.

We each had a glass of the house 2008 Bordeaux. Not very impressive - I've quit drinking alcohol except for very special occasions, and the wine was too thin with insufficient body to warrant breaking my fast.

We shared a couple of starters - the escargot in herbed butter was lovely

The foie gras terrine was to die for. Very yummy especially with the picked onions.

They only have 1 main, which is steak with fries and salad. The only difference is how well the steak is done. The salad with walnuts was enjoyable.

And the steak, which I had medium well, was not too bad. It came with a mustard butter sauce, which I felt overpowered the flavours of the meat. The steak was decent, but I think that Les Bouchon gives a better steak frites experience. The fries, however, were super - thin and crispy and hot.

For dessert, we shared the crepes suzette and meringues with hazelnut and vanilla ice cream. These were pretty decent too.

Overall, it was a pretty pleasant experience. I'd go there again if the occasion called for it, although if I was the one calling the shots, I would go to Les Bouchon over L'Entrecote. The steak is better because you get a better beef flavour, the house wine is better, and the parking is easier.

Tajimaya at Vivocity

I went with a bunch of my greediest university friends to this yakiniku buffet that the largest and greediest of them all had been raving about for the longest time. The weekend brunch for $39.90 is pretty good value for money, I must say. There's a free flow of sashimi, and all sorts of meats - while you don't get wagyu, they do serve karubi which is good enough for me.

Dipping sauces - the sweet, the sour and the savoury.


The first of many rounds of beef - karubi, i think it was, and rosu

Cooking on the grill

Mushrooms galore

One of the many many plates of sashimi we demolished that day

Another of the many plates of beef we had

The karubi was really good - tender with just the right amount of fat

We weren't that big on prawns, but ordered a few for variety. The prawns were pretty fresh too.

This place is really good value for money if you're a yakiniku fan - the same at a normal restaurant would have set us back $80 or so per head for about 2/3 the same amount, without counting in the sashimi.

Website: www.tajimaya.com.sg
Tel: 6377 0070
Unit 01-102/103 at Vivocity

Open on weekdays from 12-3pm and 6-10pm, and on weekends from 12-10pm.

Kko Kko Nara

There's a Korean fried chicken restaurant near the office that serves really yummy hot spicy chicken wings, as well as an amazing ddeokbokkie (spelling?) steamboat. One lunchtime a couple of friends and I headed down because one was craving the steamboat - chock full of rice cake and veggies in a spicy and slightly sweet sauce.

Their bi mim bap is pretty good too

Hot spicy and yummy steamboat - the perfect pick me up in the middle of a long workday.

It get seriously crowded at night, so reservations are essential.

57 Tras Street
Tel: 62248186
Open daily from 11am to 4am (yes, this isn't a typo)