Steak Sandwiches

We didn't intend to make steak sandwiches initially - it all started off when I saw how reasonably priced the striploin at Foodie Market Place was. One thing led to another, and we ended up buying lots of different cuts of meat to freeze for a rainy day.

We were pretty excited when we finally got down to making the steak sandwiches. First up were the portobellos, nice and large ones from NTUC fried with butter and garlic. 

 

 The 4th one only managed to fit in our pan after the initial 3 had shrunk.

Romaine lettuce on tomatoes on the side

Steaks on our new Le Creuset grill pan, marinated with worcestershire sauce and garlic.

Emmental cheese slices on the side

Steaks just done

 Out came the Emmental on top of the steaks

All set and ready to go.

Lamb Shank Pasta Reprise

I found this dehydrated pasta on sale at Foodie Market, and was really excited to see it retailing at less than $3. I had tried it some years back and found the texture to be very close to that of fresh pasta. Deciding what to cook wasn't too difficult, since the husband's favourite pasta ever had to be the lamb shank pasta.

 The pot - our new Le Creuset - bubbling with lots of amazing smells emerging.

Shrunken shank - fortunately I had bought about 5 shanks for 2 people.

 The dish was pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. 

Hinoki

How many of us foodies have had a meal that was so good that all we wanted to do was tell someone else about it? Well, Hinoki was one of those episodes - while it wasn't as mindblowing as that amazing dinner at Aoki, this definitely made it to my top 10 list of most enjoyable meals for the year. 

Grilled dried puffer fish strips - good as a starter, dipped in mayo.

Monkfish liver, or ankimo with what I thought was ponzu sauce - this wasn't as fishy as the Tenza version. I actually quite enjoyed the creaminess

Cod sperm or shirako, which I wasn't too impressed by - it was soft like tofu, and it took some persuasion for me to try...not a fan.

One entire fresh aji to ourselves. This was pretty amazing, the fish was very fresh and of course it looked really impressive.

Another view

Next up was the sashimi platter- really fresh thin slices of flounder, which we dipped into a truffle-soy dip (divine!), hamachi, one fatty piece of tuna, hotate and ama ebi. One of the best plates of sashimi I've ever had in Singapore.

Another view - this was excellent.

Grilled tuna cheek - the meat was tender and firm, but I felt there was just a bit too much mayo. Not a big problem, since the fish was so good.

The remains of the aji skeleton deep fried in batter - oh man, this was so good with the sake. 

My non-carbo-eating friend's grilled miso eggplant.

Another sashimi platter for her.

While we had sushi - can't remember what this fish was though. Their sushi pieces come in decent sizes without too much wasabi.

Followed by shima aji.

And uni - this was so so so sweet, rich and fresh. The small ones are really better.

Aburi engawa, or the dorsal fin of a flatfish seared with a blowtorch.

Dried persimmon+yuzu accompaniment to the sushi.

This was pretty amazing - seared scallops with little pieces of grilled foie gras hidden underneath as one of the best surprises ever.

Chutoro

Akagai maki

Aburi nama shako, or mantis prawn

Anago with julienned daikon and cucumber

Clear soup to end the meal

Truffle pasta with crabstick and tobiko - I had a small bite and this was quite amazing. I wished I wasn't so full, but it means there is yet another reason to return. 

Matcha cheesecake to end one of the most amazing evenings.

You gotta get past the construction work to get to the restaurant, but that's not a bad thing because it means higher chances of getting a table...heh.

22 Cross Street
#01-50/53 China Square Central
South Bridge Court, Singapore

Tel: +65 6536 7746
Opening Hours 
Mon–Sat: 12pm–3pm
6.30pm–10.30pm (Closed on Sun)

River South (Hoe Nam) Prawn Noodles

We chanced upon this stall looking for breakfast in the area, and seeing that it was packed, decided to join in the fun - after all, Singaporeans vote with their feet when it comes to food. This stall looked like it had been around for some time, judging from the number of media articles on display. Anticipation was running high.

We ordered what we felt was a standard serve of prawn and pork rib dry noodles - the best way to judge a stall, since you get to try both the mixing sauce for the noodles, as well as the soup.

This was a pretty damn good bowl of prawn mee - the soup was extremely sweet and tasty (although not as good as Wah Kee though), and the servings of ribs and prawns were very decent. The ribs were boiled long enough to be almost fall off the bone tender, and the prawns were fresh.

Their noodles were decent - no complaints there, and I loved the fact that there was a lot of pork lard oil. No lard, no taste.

They also have fish cake, which we tried. This was nice and bouncy, and it appeared that every other table had ordered it as well.

31 Tai Thong Crescent, Singapore 347859 

Some reviews say they are closed every alternate Monday - they were closed on 17 Dec 2012 for sure! 

The Cajun Kings

We discovered The Cajun Kings a few weeks ago, when our friends who lived in the area insisted on bringing us there. It's a fairly unpretentious place, but not quite as inexpensive as we would like. Their seafood is very fresh though, which is important, so at least you don't feel that you're being ripped off - just being extravagant :)

They have bibs, mallets and limes+salt for dipping. Putting on the bibs definitely added to the novelty.

We tried a serve of the pork crackling - it was hot, crispy and not too fatty.

The place was super packed on a weekday night - they seem to be doing a really good business.

We ordered a total of 3 different flavours, but it was practically impossible to photograph the food properly while it was still in plastic bags. If it wasn't so yummy, I wouldn't have been writing this post., given the lack of decent photos. We had clams+mussels in garlic butter, dungeness crab plain boiled and another dungeness crab+red sea prawns in the King's Mix which was a spicy cajun paste.

 

 

The dungeness crab in the King's Mix, although I didn't manage to photograph the prawns. The cajun spice mix was pretty good, and so was the garlic butter.

View of the crab that was plain boiled.

The damage after - no plates no cutlery, just hands on the table - after which they just wrap up the entire mess and throw it away.

We must have paid almost $70-80 per person, and while it wasn't cheap, it was a very enjoyable meal. We're likely to go back again, but only for a special occasion.

根叔美食世家 - Gen Shu Mei Shi Shi Jia

Another great discovery from Leslie Tay - this small stall in Toa Payoh is a seriously good value-for-money place. We had read so much about it that when we finally had the chance to go there for lunch, we were pretty excited and were determined to try as many dishes as we could stomach 2 hours after eating lor mee and wanton mee at Tiong Bahru.

We decided to try 3 items - the yam cake, the pork ribs with rice, and the boat style porridge.

The husband declared this as the best yam cake in Singapore. It was soft, slightly bouncy and extremely flavourful with a really tender and moist texture.

I had the boat style porridge, or tang zai zhok. The texture of the porridge was very creamy, although not quite as fine as say, Crystal Jade. But a good bowl nonetheless - it was easy to gulp down, and we didn't get the usual post-porridge MSG-induced thirst after lunch.  

This has to be the winning dish - steamed pork ribs with black bean sauce on rice. I would go back in a heartbeat for the super tender pork ribs that were not too salty, with the run-off flavouring and infusing the rice. Almost perfect.

Address: #01-03, Block 74 Toa Payoh Lorong 4