Jacques Reymond - The last of the 3 hatted degustation menus

Following Reymond's retirement announcement, the husband was anxious to get to Jacques Reymond before the end of the year to try the master's last degustation menu. We chose to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary there, and what a night it was - it was everything that we that we had dreamed of, in terms of the attention to detail, the successful execution in combining the most diverse of flavours, and the unobtrusive yet attentive service. We went for the full degustation without wine pairing at $185 per head, with a bottle of Yering Station Shiraz Viognier alongside - not that we normally share a bottle, but with the bottle at $60odd and a glass at $20odd, the maths worked out better (the resultant headache was quite a separate story).

  

The amuse bouche was a very light cheese choux pastry, which was served to our plates warm. It was a good start to the evening. 

Super light and tasty 

The shiraz voignier was a good call by the husband - it was sufficiently full-bodied yet not overwhelming, and went well even with the seafood - although some might argue a chardonnay would have gone better with most of the dishes. But anything from Yering Station is always excellent. 

Bread rolls and butter. 

First up - a clear shitake broth, with lemon and clams. This looked slightly odd, with one single clam and a chicken tenderloin on the plate. But the shitake broth was strong and clean tasting.

Next up was a slice of yellowfin tuna with smoked salmon mousse, a spice nougatine (whatever that was), tagarashi and lemon caviar.

The flavours and textures were interesting - hard and sweet versus soft and savoury. 

Followed by a pan-grilled King George Whiting with Japanese pickles and yuzu. 

The fish was cooked to perfection - seared lightly on the outside, yet moist and flavourful on the inside. 

At this juncture, I was starting to wonder if I had signed up for French food or Japanese food, since there appeared to be nothing significantly French about anything we had eaten so far. And then the next course of cuttlefish, pork, and crispy chicken skin confused me further, with strong Thai overtones.  It was super tasty, with fish sauce, lime leaves and coriander leaves featuring strongly in the drippings. 

The cuttlefish was delightfully tender, contrasting very well with the sauce which we both slurped up happily. The crispy chicken skin was a rare indulgence, and added a different textural dimension.

The pork was beautifully soft, adding to the variety in textures.

The palate cleanser was a slice of pancetta on a bed of parmesan custard, green peas, macerated grapes and an apple and wasabi granita. Again, it was a beautiful combination of flavours and textures. 

Next up was a Flinders island lamb, smoked scallop and scampi. The lamb was melt-in-the-mouth tender. It was amazing. 

Another shot of the best lamb ever. 

Followed by a wagyu a la plancha, burnt onion and coffee. It was difficult to top the lamb, and yet this somehow was inexplicably even better.

The first dessert was apricot and sencha sorbet on a bed of rice

Followed by a chocolate and chestnut mont blanc, with a smoking bay leaf and cassis scented pack nearby to add to the sensory explosion.

There was nothing edible in the straw-wrapped package, but the smells were incredible

I loved the subtlety of the chestnut 

Petit fours - the perfect ending to a brilliant meal. We were so glad we had the chance to try the master's final degustation menu, which will be remembered for a long time to come.

78 Williams Rd, Prahran VIC 3181
Tel: 03 - 9525 2178
http://www.jacquesreymond.com.au/

Punggol Choon Seng Seafood Restaurant

I've had extremely fond memories of eating seafood at Punggol with my family since I can remember - I know my grandparents used to like to patronise the restaurant closest to the water towards the right of the roundabout.  After the restaurants were kicked out, we found Choon Seng at one of the marinas close to Matilda House (if my memory hasn't let me down), but we only went there once because the aluminium roof didn't insulate the eating area below and it was stinking hot. They moved again a few times, and recently my trusty and reliable foodie gang organised dinner at their latest location at Changi Village. I was overjoyed :)

Their mee goreng was as good as I remember- not too sweet, with enough chilli, and with the noodles having enough bite. They were generous with the seafood too. 

The salted egg crab was pretty yummy too, and finger licking good. 

I can't recall whether these were coffee or Guinness pork ribs - these were just calling out for a bowl of steamed rice. Moist, delicious and tender. 

The foodies who were in the know ordered a crispy duck - here's the duck being cut up faster than the speed of light. 

Cutting the duck into fine shreds

Ready to eat! 

Served with peking duck condiments

The duck was crispy, soft and really delicious. I also heard that another greedy friend can eat one duck by himself in one sitting, plus a plate of mee goreng. Needless to say that the mention of that greedy friend's name made the waitress exclaim, and claim affinity like we were all ka ki lang. 

The. best. ever. pepper. crab in Singapore. Ok, I think I'm biased. Objectively speaking, for pure pepper crab, I think Jumbo's is pretty hard to beat. But I grew up eating pepper crab cooked with garlic and blue ginger, and I was pretty damn happy to be able to eat it again. 

I spooned it all up. 

The hae pia was pretty yummy too - crispy with a chewy inside. 

 What the filling looks like

I included these photos just for fun - we capped off the night with a visit to the durian stall near the infamous hawker centre in Bedok (which looked pretty clean to me anyways), where previously mentioned reliable foodie friend had already called to chope 7 mao shan wang durians. And thankfully she did, because there were vultures around eyeing those durians.  

I would kill for those durians now, especially since I can't get them.

The damage by the end of the evening. 

Punggol Choon Seng Seafood Restaurant
Add: 23A Turnhouse Road
Tel: 65465251

Bistro du Vin - The best set lunch ever

The Bistro du Vin set lunch is something that is such brilliant value that you don't want more people than necessary to know about it. $30 gets you 3 courses of very very good quality food, plus coffee, which is so difficult to beat, and is available even on Saturday. Since I'm no longer in Singapore, I'm happy to just post this so that hopefully it can be kept alive until I move back home. 

I was there about 3 months ago, and went back again last month. We tried to order a few different things, but one's heart is always torn when something you've tried gives you such good memories yet you know there are other good things on the menu. 

This was the Iberico ham tartine. The meat was on the salty side, but no complaints there. 

The foie gras ravioli with a creamy sauce and pine nuts was absolutely sinful, decadent and brilliant. Lapped up every last drop of the sauce. And like all good French restaurants, they were very generous with the bread.

Close-up of the ravioli filling - tasty, creamy and super rich. 

Angus ribeye, which cost a supplement of $10. Loved loved loved this. One damn good steak. 

Lamb rack with baby peas - the lamb was fall-off-the-bone tender. Had this again on my second visit, as a main. 

Madeleines with chocolate - soft on the inside, slightly crisp on the outside. Perfect. 

I am of the opinion that this walnut tart has to be the best dessert along Orchard Rd, with a thick caramel taste. 

Next visit - this was the ratatouille with a fried croquette that my dining companion ordered....it was all right, and I'm not a real fan of ratatouille in general.

I went for a second round of the foie gras ravioli. As good as I remembered.

I had the duck confit this time, and it was really brilliant - as good as what I've had in France. 

The pineapple tart dessert was also very very enjoyable, lusciously sweet and tender. 

With tea/coffee, their set lunches are so hard to beat in terms of value for money. Reservations essential. 

https://www.facebook.com/bistroduvin

Teo Heng Teochew Porridge at Hong Lim

Usually when I like eating something, there will be a major obsessive phase where I'm there as often as I can. That was what it was like with beef noodles at Scotts Food Court in secondary school, and it was the same with Teo Heng Teochew Porridge at Hong Lim Food Centre. I have no idea why it took me so long to discover this amazing stall, and once I did, I was there almost every week before work. 

It's tucked away in the back corner behind Tiong Bahru Pao and the famous curry noodle shop at the 1st storey, and what an amazing treasure trove of plain simple good food. The range of stuff to go with the porridge is very decent, and almost everything is super delicious. 

The presentation isn't fancy, but when everything is laid out there, it's attractive enough to make you want to order everything on display. 

It's a really good selection of braised stuff versus other things -and one of the more interesting things in front was the stuffed tau pok. 

This was taken from my first visit there where I didn't get to order -the person who brought me there did the ordering, and I'm really glad he did, since there was so much stuff that I got to try. 

 

In my opinion, one of the most fascinating dishes served with Teochew muay is chye buay, or salted vegetables. In this place, it comes in a hot steaming vat. 

 Their braised duck and streaky pork is awesome

 And their muay somehow is perfect - the right consistency of rice grains versus liquid. 

 

They do their lou ng in a style similar to the onsen tamago used for ramen - soft and slightly runny on the inside.

Nice and lean and tender braised duck 

The stuffed tau pok is like the tau kwa pau from Joo Chiat, only that tau pok and not tau kwa is used. Interesting combo of braised stuff, cucumber and fishcake all chopped up. 

Their fishcake and squid was not too bad either. Plain, but tender. 

The most amazing chye buay in the world. We found a couple of fish eyes and realised that they cook their fish in the chye buay vat, which totally explained the super rich and sweet flavour. 

Fish cake - great with their chilli dip

The braised eggs on a softer better day - and their braised tau pok is also not too salty. 

The best meal you can get for 5 bucks (sans fish) - makes me almost want to be teochew. Leslie Tay has a great write up here. 

Teo Heng Porridge Stall
#01-25 Hong Lim Food Centre
Opens from early in the morning until lunch time. Go as early as you can, because when I arrived there at 1.30pm once, they were out of muay. 

The Sushi Bar, Far East Plaza

Good quality sushi at a good price - no reservations, and cash only. The chirashi below was $30-odd dollars and it was extremely enjoyable. 

Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thesushibar.sg