It’s been a while. Am neither inspired to study, nor motivated to start my MEng project. I don’t want this year to end though, because the thought of finally entering the workforce is extremely unenticing (think bills, sucking up, moving out, more bills).
But one thing still cheers me up – the fact that awesome NYC is only 4 hours away. I firmly believe that NYC is one of the major food capitals in the world, and I think I will miss her awesome restaurants when I go back Singapore for good. Here are pictures from Le Bernardin to prove my point:
From top to bottom:
1)Stuffed Zucchini Flowers with Peekytoe Crab with Black Truffle sauce
2) Baked Striped Bass with Langoustine with Bouillabaisse Consomme and Curry Emulsion
3) Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta, Texas Red Grapefruit, Basil Seeds, Avocado, Vanilla infused olive oil
4) Yuzu Parfait, Meringue, Green Tea biscuit and ice cream
Of course I took all these names from the website. What did you think?
I respect that Le Bernardin has some of the most well-executed dishes I ever had. The striped bass looked a little dry to me but was surprisingly moist and tender. I think it would be awesome if it was Chilean sea bass but Le Bernardin makes it a point not to serve endangered seafood. One thing I didn’t like was that I felt a little out of place there. I was easily the youngest and it probably didn’t help that I went in a brown sports jacket when everyone was dressed in a suit. Also, the food photo-whoring probably didn’t help my case, no matter how discreet I was. So I guess I don’t like eating at establishments where you feel a compelling need to behave, no matter how good the food is. A meal is supposed to be relaxing and how can you be when you’re not at ease? Maybe I’ll think differently when I’m rolling in the moolah and develop a permanent uppity attitude. But after all that is said, Le Bernardin is still worthy of the hype.
Scene from a culinary demonstration by my favourite Iron Chef – Masaharu Morimoto
He was pretty entertaining I guess. No real cooking insight from him, but then again, what can one expect? I loved his food in Philly, so I’m a huge fan of his. Morimoto was the first restaurant where I splurged to indulge myself gastronomically. I might not find his food that amazing anymore, but you know what they say about first times. The first time is always the sweetest.
To reminisce:
Sigh. Morimoto. Those were the good times.
And I need a better digital camera.
L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon. Sigh. Just the mention sends me into wistful happy memories. Every once in a long long while, you get to taste a little bit of perfection which startles and excites your taste buds in ways you never thought possible. I dare not say I know everything there is to food, and while we’re at it, neither am I qualified to make any critical assesments. But goddamnit, this is a blog and I can say whatever I want and for now, L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon in Las Vegas is my idea of heaven.
It’s like eating works of art.
Due to my procrastination, L’atelier de Joel Robuchon has changed their menu so I can’t get the actual names. So I’ll just describe it best I can.
Pic 1 (top left clockwise): cumcumber yogurt something, tuna with guacomole, scallops with caulliflower couscous (I have fond memories of this one!), lobster cream soup (and this!)
Pic 2 (top left clockwise): asparagus cappuccino with parmesan cheese, fried cod with squid, beef cheek (is it?) with mashed potatoes, squab/quail with truffled mashed potatoes
Pic 3: Screw it. I give up. All I remember is that the green thing has a pistachio theme.
I’m especially inspired by the asparagus cappuccino with parmesan. I never knew the cheese and asparagus soup were such great complements. Joel Robuchon is especially famous for his mashed potatoes and I know you are probably thinking, ” Mashed potatoes?? Any kid knows how to make mashed potatoes. OMG, what a n00b. lolz,” but this is one special dish. It’s so buttery and smooth that it just slides around in your mouth and down your throat (cue a “That’s what she said” joke). It’s just a whole new texture and flavour and don’t get me started on the truffled mashed potatoes. Truffles will give the dish a whole new dimension in taste. Love the scallops and the lobster soup since the scallops gave me an idea how to cook cauliflowers differently. Wasn’t too crazy about the desserts but they were still good.
I’m not going to do a rating anymore, because I just get tired trying to compare it with other places I’ve eaten. How do you compare such a meal with say, Tian Tian chicken rice at Maxwell Market when they are obviously in different leagues of their own? Also, I got a suspicion that food is so subjective that my aged grandmother will probably declare loudly that this angmoh food is quite inedible. So, there is no way I can come up with an impartial rating system and I’ll just leave it at that. Just take it that L’atelier de Joel Robuchon is one hella dining experience, albeit way over my budget, but definitely worth it in my book.
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I miss Las Vegas already. I lost money at the blackjack tables, which has convinced me that I’m not fated to do any form of gambling. Cirque du Soleil Ka was amazing, and so was the Hard Rock hotel. The weather was crazy hot though, but then again, no one goes Vegas for the weather, do they?
Or color (depending on where you were schooled). My trip to Paris brought me to this awesomely little French restaurant recommended by Frommers – Le Coupe Chou
From top down: Duck Terrine with Foie Gras, Beef Tartare, Salad with Bacon, Duck Confit with Potatoes. Now note, I have never ever taken any French class and my only exposures to the French language are Luc Besson shows so I’ll be the first to admit the translations are a little lacking. But still, food knows no language barriers. I was a little worried eating raw beef like sashimi but thankfully I didn’t have any stomach upsets. The salad is the most amazing one I had in a long time. And how can anyone not like foie gras? Yea, you can give me that “poor animals” argument but have you ever tasted foie gras? I almost saw angels that night.
Food: 1.6/2 thumbs
Service: 1.6/2 thumbs
Value: 1.6/2 thumbs
A nice 1.6 thumbs up! No one cooks like the French. Oh and Le Coupe Chou is located in a small cobbled alley between two buildings, giving a really quaint feeling. It was definitely the best meal I had in Europe. All for a very affordable 18 euros.
I had been to London when I was young, but even then, I remembered being freaked out by all the stories about Jack the Ripper. Stories about a crazy English man carving young English girls for kicks did not bode well for me. Though I was (and still am) neither English nor female, I was apprehensive of meeting an insane English man who might have a morbid fascination with Chinese boys. Suffice to say, London was not my favourite city at that time.
Not anymore. London is now my kind of city. Screw Jack the crazy, this is the city of Austin Powers and the Beatles, and I can see why. It is a city with such a rich history, and yet, its long past doesn’t hinder its progress, but adds to its appeal. The city has a vibrant soul, and there’s a little bit of something for everyone.
First thing on the itinery after I touched down at 8.30pm : Head down to Baywater for some long-awaited kickass roast duck. I’ve heard of the famous roast duck from Four Seasons for a long time, and some regard it as one of the best in the world. When we reached the restaurant (which is pretty easy to find once you exit the tube station), we were greeted by an efficient curt waitress by the name of Sandie. Apparently, she’s the door bitch of this establishment and she made us wait for an entire hour before we got a table. Not that it was her fault, the queue was just crazy long. Of course, I was a little miffed that a group of 6 jumped ahead of the queue because they knew her, but I guess you gotta hate the game, not the player. Besides Babbo, I never had to queue that long to get into a restaurant so every passing minute raise my expectations just that little bit higher. It was sheer torture to see people tucking into their duck.
Four Seasons Roast Duck
Egg Foo Yong
Our duck finally arrived (though we needed to remind them twice), and we attacked it with gusto. It was delicious, but it was a little cold. And though the duck meat was tender and the skin crispy, it was a little salty near the bones. Also, I was not sure if the duck was worth waiting one hour for. I could easily get that quality of roast duck at Johnson Duck opposite Beauty World in Singapore, assuming of course, quality hasn’t dropped since the last time I went there which was 1 year ago. Bottom line, it was good, but not one-hour-wait good. I liked the Egg Foo Yong better though, because they had these huge prawns on steroids instead of the Mini-Me prawns that I was used to. And they used real crab on the veggie dish we had so thumbs up for that. Anyway, FYI, they had stopped selling the duck takeaway. You can only get it if you dine in the restaurant. And I think the best time to go is either early (6 pm?) or really late (10 pm) to avoid the long ass queues if you didn’t make reservations.
Four Seasons Restaurant
83 Queensway, Bayswater, London W2 3RL
020-7229-4320noon to 11:15 pm (Mon-Sat), noon to 10:45 pm (Sundays)
And the final is:
Service: 0.8/2 thumbs
Food: 1.3/2 thumbs
Value: 1.4/ 2 thumbs
Overall: 1.2/2 thumbs
The next day: Westminster Abbey. I have to admit, I was a little hesitant on entering Westmister Abbey at first. All the churches in Germany I’ve been to were boring. It was the same thing over and over again: high ceilings, images/sculptures of the cross/Jesus, altar etc. Plus, I had to pay 9 pounds to get in and the currency converter in my head was ringing alarm bells. But the sight that greeted me when I entered took my breath away. The place was filled with all sorts of statues remembering famous figures in English history. It was like a walk through the pages of a history textbook. From what I gathered, famous important figures, such as the monarchs were buried here in the Abbey. According to Frommers, the most hallowed spot in the Abbey is where Edward the Confessor was buried and there is restricted access to that area. You can get in only on private visits. One thing cool about the Abbey is that they also recognized other non-royal figures in English history such as Charles Darwin, Shakespeare and the RAF during WW2. And since the Abbey was and is used for coronation purposes for a looonng time, you can really tell this is an important place. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed so that’s the only bad thing about it. It’s still a must-see though.
Big Ben
Gothic buildings around Westminster
Palace of Westminster
Lunch at Borough Market is DA BOMB! I don’t understand how Frommers can miss this place out. There are loads of interesting food stalls selling all sorts of mouth-watering dishes that I can spend hours wandering around. There’s ostrich meat, home-made pasta, and of course, fish and chips. The fish and chips were so good because they actually used real fish (with skin!) and not some cheap ass white meat that most people try to pass off as fish.
Fish&Chips
The chocolates are really good. We picked out a few flavours but our lousy palate can only recognize the chocolates with ginger in it.
Scallops from the Shellseekers. For 4.5 pounds, you get 3 scallops grilled and served with bean sprouts and bacon. Super.
Filed under: Food, New York City | Tags: babbo, Food, joe's shanghai, New York City
As fans of Iron Chef America, we decided to head down to NYC for a day just to try Mario Batali’s Babbo. That has to be one of the craziest things we have done in a moment of rashness, since we were banking on faith that Babbo would be worth the 4 hours drive there and back and braving NYC’s crazy traffic.
We 4 foodies travelled down on the Saturday in the middle of exam period. Kudos to Ku (haha, rhymes eh?) since he had a crazy amount of finals the next week but he still gave up a Saturday to join Chris, Junch and I on our food adventure. Our first stop was lunch at Joe’s Shanghai, nestled in one of those messy lanes in NYC’s Chinatown.
The staple food everyone has to order at Joe’s Shanghai is the Xiao Long Bao (Soup Dumplings). It’s not the best I had, but it’s cheap, really filling and so all in all, really value for money. Get the Xiao Long Bao with crab roe, but be sure to share it because it can get uncomfortable after 3 or 4 of those babies. I’m not sure how dinner is like, but lunchtime can be really busy so you have to get there early to get a table. Oh, and be prepared to share tables with strangers since the waiters will rush your group to a huge round table meant for 10 and plonked you right next to someone you don’t know. So with a few awkward glances and nods, we sat down with strangers and attacked our food with gusto. It was immensely satisfying. And the waiters are extremely curt and efficient. The moment we finish our Xiao Long Bao, our waiter swooped down and gathered the basket, leaving us almost no time to attack the Nappa leaves at the bottom. And did I mention the late Ong Teng Cheong visited Joe’s Shanghai before?
And so, here’s the final on Joe’s Shanghai:
Food: 1.3 thumbs/2 thumbs
Service: 1 thumbs/2 thumbs
Value for Money: 1.5 thumbs/2 thumbs
Overall: 1.3 thumbs/2 thumbs
After walking off lunch around NYC, it was with great expectations and excitment when we finally went to Babbo.
Rumor has it that Babbo is constantly packed and has only 6 tables and 10 bar seats for walk-ins daily. We decided to play it safe and started queuing at 4 pm when the restaurant opens at 5.30 pm. But to our surprise, we weren’t the first and we were beaten by these 2 old ladies. That only served to raise my expectations because I have never queued for a restaurant for one and a half hours. Ku and I spent the time trying to memorize the tasting menu in Italian, much to the embarrassment of Junch and Chris.
Fortunately, queuing so early was a good idea. There was a long queue when the restaurant finally opened and we managed to get a table. I would hate to be eating at the bar. Guess those rumors aren’t unfounded. When we finally got to our table, we were greeted by this really curt Asian waiter who seems displeased to serve us. Boo. Thumbs down for service. I’m expecting to be treated like a god, but I feel like someone who doesn’t deserve to dine at Babbo. So anyway, we decided to try the tasting menu as Junch pointed out there’s where a restaurant makes its name. And since I had such an awesome experience at Morimoto in Phily where I had the tasting menu too (which I will blog about once I get my hands on the food photos, but believe me, it was VERY VERY VERY good), I figured we can’t go wrong with that.
The food was good. I thought the pork was interesting since they used a risotto made of barley (called a barlotto), but it had a slight smell that was a bit of a turn off. The pork had an excellent texture though. The pappardelle with porcini and thyme was a show-stealer but I thought the duck tortelli tasted like lamb which was weird. I liked the prosciutto dish but I felt that it didn’t say much about the chefs’ skills since it was a dish that relied mainly on the quality of the ingredients. Desserts were awesome and wowed us more than the salty dishes.
Since we were paying $75 per pax, it was only fair that we were expecting something of high quality. Babbo met the expectations but did not exceed it as I was hoping it would. I’m blaming it on expectations raised too high. Here’s the final on Babbo:
Food: 1.5 thumbs/2 thumbs
Service: 1.3 thumbs/2 thumbs
Value for Money: 1.4 thumbs/2 thumbs
Overall: 1.4 thumbs/2 thumbs
The next time I’m going Babbo, I’m ording a la carte because that menu sounds so much more appetizing and exciting.
I’m still waiting for photos from Grad Night @ Olivia’s so until then, I can’t blog about it. I promise that will be the first thing I’ll put up once I get my hands on them. It was a fun time though, with a smashing after-party at 909 where we christened one of our fellow seniors Mr. Puke. More on that later.
Though this has been a while, I still think The Heights Cafe & Grill is one of Ithaca’s gems. I had this with C last Valentine’s Day and it was one of the better restaurants I had in Ithaca so far.
Beautiful appetizers. I can’t remember what it is though, but it was really really good. Oh hell, who cares if I can’t remember what it is. Don’t the pictures say it all?
I think this is a roasted half ducking but I can’t be sure. According to C, the thigh was overcooked, but the other half was just nice. But the skin was crispy and that burst of duck oil is just to die for.
I love my veal porterhouse with sea scallops and beggars purse. The beggars purse was a bit too rich with the meaty veal, but I liked how the scallops balances out the richness. The veal was cooked nicely, and really, what else could you complain about a perfectly-cooked huge chunk of veal?
So all in all, a nice 1.4 thumbs/2 thumbs up.
