Best Restaurant in Singapore - Andre- A dream come true

 I am still floating on cloud when i wrote this post.  Finally, I had a chance to try Andre's cooking.  I first got to know him when he turned Jaan from just another restaurant into the #39 in the prestigious World World’s 50 Best Restaurants.  I never make it to Jaan, and he left Jaan to set up his own restaurant.  He said in an interview that he has always wanted his own small place where he can push the boundaries of his creative mind and to reach out to all who are curious about his creations.

I was extremely excited when I saw the news that his new restaurant would be open on 10 Oct 2010.  However, as much as he said that the price will not be crazy, I hesitated to pay $288++ per person (without wine pairing) for dinner.  I need a special reason, i told myself.

GT made my dream come true.  When he knew that Andre was the place that I always wanted to go, he made reservation for dinner to celebrate my birthday.  I look forward in anticipation for my birthday to come.  Celebrate birthday with your love one in your dream restaurant & chef, what else can i ask for?

Andre is located in Bukit Pasoh, at the New Majestic Hotel.  Bukit Pasoh house Absinthe and Otto, and with Andre, it will be the new favourite place for foodie.  We are welcome by a lady in black, and shown to the sofa at the level one of the shop house.  However, it was not a good start, as they took our reservation wrongly, they thought that we were booked for a table of 3.  Nonetheless, they were apologetic, and said that they would change the table setting.  We were shown to our table at level 2 of the shop house within 5 minutes.

A small place indeed, maximum capacity would be around 30.  It does not give you the fine dining, intimidating feel, it felt like you are at home with Chef.

There was no alacarte menu.  It was a set 8 courses menu that  Chef Andre has prepared.  Actually if you add the starter and the dessert, it was actually a 10 courses meal!  We also chose to have the wine pairing menu, a good idea if you are a good drinker.

We started with the Amuse Bouche, 3 items in total:  Chicken skin Masala, some popcorn spread and onion truffle tart.  There was no photo of the Chicken Skin Masala as it did not turn out too well due to the dim lights.
My favourite was the Onion Truffle Tart.  Crispy and fragrant.  The popcorn felt a bit strange, the texture was smooth like eating popcorn cream.

Alright, now that our palate were clear, we were ready for the main!
First main was Pure
As the name suggested, there were no seasoning used.  All the flavours were the natural flavour from the ingredients.

The next dish:  Salt

The black thing to your left was actually oyster.   It was mixed with seaweed to form a jelly like thing.  It was

the first time that I had oyster in such a way.  No more tabasco sauce, no more lime.  A total refreshing way to eat oyster.  I am not a big oyster fan, but I would not mind a second one.

Next was South, with Risotto on the bottom, fish and juicy prawn on top.  If i remembered correctly, Southern France was where Chef Andre spent much of his time.  The photo below showed some white foam, which was actually crab foam.  I have informed them while choosing our wine that I was allergic to crabs, therefore i did not have the foam.

The next dish was Texture- Squid ink risotto and cauliflower puree

Since I could not have squid, I had this as my replacement.  A mixture of fish and garnished with some baby baked potatoes.

Next, Memory.  This was my favourite dish of the night.  Served in a large glass, it looked like chawamushi.  But it was actually foie gras with black truffle sauce.  It did not have the greasy feel of your usual foie gras, and the black truffle enhanced the taste!  Master piece, it was chef Andre creation since 1998.

This was GT's favourite dish, Terroir.  The main was milk fed lamb from Wales, the most tender lamb that we had ever tasted.

Close up on the lamb:

After all these, we were served a cheese platter with condiments such as prunes and apricot.  Dessert was my second favourite of the night.  The chocolate sponge was the most heavenly sponge that I have ever tasted.  I wonder if I could request for take away?  I had a pleasant surprise from the Chef, a complimentary birthday cake and a signed card!! Icing on the cake was a photo with Chef Andre when he was doing his rounds to thank the diners.  He was such a humble man, his first statement was "Hope it was ok"

My only gripe was that no flash was allowed in the restaurant, thus most of the photo did not turn out as good as I wanted them to be.  But well, we do not live in a perfect world.  The food experience was once a life time experience, and to share it with your loved one, it is definitely a blessing.  Thank you GT for this wonderful birthday present.

Restaurant Andre

Address: 41 Bukit Pasoh Road, Singapore

Tel: +65 6534 8880

Lao Ban Bean Curd 老伴豆花 @Maxwell Hawker Centre

Banana has been talking about this wonderful beancurd that was recently opened in Maxwell market.  I only knew about Tian Tian chicken rice, and I was very intrigued by this mysterious beancurd.  Is it better than Rochor & Selegie beancurd?  How good can a beancurd be?

I decided to go to Maxwell for lunch as my meeting ended early.  I arrived at Maxwell hawker centre at quarter past eleven, and I could see queue started to form at the famous porridge stall and the Tian Tian chicken rice.  I walked around to search for Lao Ban Beancurd, thinking that it was 老板.  I finally saw it at the unit #01-91, but it was shut! The coffee stall lady was very nice to tell me that they only open around noon.  Alright, since I was already there, I shall patiently wait for it.

I had my chicken rice and patiently waited for the stall to open.  I ordered coffee and chatted with the lady boss.  She asked me how many i was buying, I said "6".  "only 6!?!"  "The first customer yesterday bought 50, the day before the guy bought 20!"

The boss of 老伴豆花 finally appeared at 1150amm and suddenly I could see people appeared from nowhere started to surround the stall!  Gosh!  I could heard the lady boss told the boss of 老伴豆花 that I was the first customer to arrive and she even walked up to me to tell me to start to queue even i have told the 老伴豆花boss my order.

After much effort, i finally got my 6 cans of 老伴豆花. 

It is kind of different from the usual Rochor & Selegie beancurd.  Not much sugar syrup, and it is not that sweet.  The most amazing part was the texture, it was silky smooth, so smooth that it just slipped down your throat.  I just felt that the bottom was a bit powdery.  Is it worth the wait?  For $1.50 per can, it was.

The secretaries went to buy it at 130pm and it was all sold out...such is the popularity of the beancurd. I will be back.  This time, I will buy more.

老伴豆花
Maxwell Hawker center
#01-91
Open: Noon til finish (which could be 1pm)

L'Angolo Ristorante Italiano

I had not met P for a long time, thought it will be good to catch up over some good food.  I chose L'Angolo, which was the same location as Osvaldo Ristorante at Maxwell House.  I passed by there often but never got the chance to try Osvaldo.  It has now shut and was taken over by L'Angolo.

We did not make any reservation, and the place looked rather empty on a weekend dinner.  Perhaps it was still early at 715pm, and we saw crowd streaming in at about 8pm. 

We jumped straight into the mains as we wanted to save some space for desserts.

Squid Ink Pasta

Guess what this is?  It is rabbit meat wrapped with Parma Ham.  Rabbit meat taste like chicken, but i thought this dish was over powered by the parma ham, too salty.  I wonder if the cute rabbits would attack me if they know that I ate one of their friend.

Chocolate Souffle with ice cream.

Nice size, but i found it too sweet.  I like desserts that are not sweet.

What is a Italian dinner without Tiramisu.  Of course we had to order Tiramisu.   This is the soft type without the biscuits base.  Overall is good, but i think that they did not add enough liquor. 

Service was efficient and friendly, and we were pleasantly surprise when the manager gave us a bottle of preserved peaches!  One funny incident was that when I went to the Ladies, the chef stepped out and gave me a shock.  He said that he needed the toilet urgently and there was someone in the Gents.  Haha

Will i be back?  Maybe, to try the pasta. 

 L'Angolo Ristorante Italiano
32 Maxwell Road, #01-03 Maxwell Chambers, Singapore
+65 6224 0978



Dim Sum @ Lei Garden Chijmes Singapore

Dim Sum, one of my favourite food (among the long list of others).  Each time I asked someone where is the best Dim Sum in Singapore, I will get different respond.  To me, the top 2 are still Lei Garden & Royal China in Raffles Hotel.  Lei Garden wins in the authenticity of the Dim Sum, and Royal Garden wins in enhancing the traditional Dim Sum will new ideas.  

The Egg Tarts.  I had to make reservation for them, because there was once I went, and it was sold out.  Dim Sum lunch just did not feel completed without egg tarts.  So from then on, I make sure I reserved.  Typical Singaporean behaviour.

Roast meat.  This small little square cost $12! Actually i think those at the Crystal Jade Palace in Takashimaya was crisper.

Siew Mai.  One of the 3 Musketeers for Dim Sum- Har Kaw, Siew Mai & Char Siew Bao.

Fried Bean Curd Skin with prawns.  Crispy and can taste the freshness of the prawns, however, I think Royal China's version has chunky prawns.

Haw Kar.  This beats other places hands down.  Thin skin wrapped the big and juicy prawns. Haw Kar to the perfection.

Gou Bu Li Buns

I like this.  Stir fried Geo Duck!  Geo Duck taste a bit like abalone, but crunchier.  If you like it more tender, go for Geo Duck Sashimi!  

Xiao Long Bao. 

Stir Fried Beef.  Forget about the Geylang Lorong 9 beer Hor Fun.  The stir fried beef here is Cantonese Stir Fried Dishes cooked to perfection.  Beef is tender and fragnant.  Maybe a bit oily for those who like their dishes light.

Lastly, they are having a crab promotion. 

Lei Garden Restaurant Chijmes

30 Victoria Street, #01-24 Chijmes, Singapore

+65 6339 3822

Todai- Best Buffet in Singapore?

Another buffet!  I am not a big buffet fan, but many of my friends like it.  Since I am not the organiser, I will go with the flow.  I read about the review before heading, it seems like Todai is a heaven for seafood lover, the irony is that I cannot eat seafood!  Well, I am sure I can find something to eat.

Todai is huge, and divided into many sections.   I did not finish all the food, but I counted there were at least 8 sections:
1.  Sushi
2.  Fresh Seafood & Sashimi
3.  Hot Food Japanese
4.  Hot Food Western
5.  Italian
6.  Korean
7.  BBQ - Beef, chicken, Sweet potatoes (amazing good, though a bit dumb to eat sweet potatoes in a buffet)
8.  Japanese Live Station - Udon etc
9.  Chinese
10.  Dessert
11.  Free flow drinks

I started my dinner with the Sushi section.  Lots of selection, and they looked beautiful!

 I then made my way to the most popular section of the restaurant where Singaporeans were fighting for the seafood.  There were fresh oysters, crabs, octopus, prawns, mussels..I think half the ocean creatures were there.  I could not eat, so I could not judge, but they did look very fresh and tasty.

I could eat mussels, cooked in lime and wine.

Escargots!  Baked in cheese, yummy.

Korean Corner:

Selection of desserts was amazing.  I could not remember their names, but I did sample most of them.

Todai also has this practice of a free cake and a polaroid photo for your table.  Not as classic as Morton's but it was good gesture.  They also had a Chilli Eating Competition.  The contestants had to wolf down bowls of spicy noodles to win tickets to Rain concert.  Many of them were in tears and red eye as they ate the noodles. 

Complimentary cake

At $58+++ per person, may not be the cheapest dinner.  But if you are a big eater, and enjoy seafood, it is definitely worth the visit, especially in big groups where you can stay and eat as long as you want. 

But do not expect Michellin Chef standard.

Todai Marina Bay Sands

10 Bayfront Ave, #B2-01 http://www.hungrygowhere.com/search_results.php?f_name=The Shoppes @ Marina Bay Sands&searchby=Keyword&country=147&searchcat=building, Singapore

Disappointing Lunch @ Iggy's

I had the rare opportunity to try Iggy's, thanks to my generous boss who was promoted, and also because of another colleague who was leaving.  So he agreed to combine the promotion celebration and the farewell.

Booking was a bit of a hassle.  We had 7 people, and they insisted that we backed our booking with a credit card. 

May- June 2011 Lunch Menu at $85++

Starter:
A) Salmon- Savoy Cabbage, basil seeds
B) Foie Gras - Figs, tarragon, cassis
 
Free appertizer.  Fresh tomatoes with salt and ice and cheese bits!  Your usual tomatoes, though they were sweeter and juicier.  The ice shaving felt like you were eating ice kachang, though it was with cheese bits and no red beans.

Foie Gras.  Pan fried.   I think I am not a big fan of foie gras, could not finish it, found it too oily and I was reminded of the poor goose.  I think i will avoid foie gras next time, maybe i can save a few geese.

First Main:
A) Spaghettoni - Lamb ragout, fava beans, rhyme
B) Cappellini - Sakura Ebi, konbu, scampi oil

I had the cappellini.  The Sakura Ebi was salty and crunchy, gave the noodles the texture.  I think this was my favourite dish in the whole lunch.

Main:
A) Market Fish - Fennel, caper berries, pernod
B) Duck - Carrot, sesame, natural jus

My colleague did not like the duck, she thought was very tough, and the smell was too strong?!  Of course duck has duck smell!  Haha

I chose the fish as my main.  It was deboned so need not to worry about been choked on the bones.  It was fresh and tender, well seasoned but nothing special.

Dessert:
A) Rhubarb - Salted sable, vanilla beans, blood orange
B) Apricot - Moroccan spices, argan, almond, rose
C) Guinness- Salted peanuts, milo, potato, marshmallow

A weird dessert.  A combination of extreme, extremely sour and extremely sweet.  My taste buds were very confused after the dessert.  One disappointing thing was Iggy's does not include coffee/tea in their set lunch.  I thought that ay $85++, they would have easily cover the cost of a cup of coffee, so why so greedy for the extra few dollars?
My verdict?  Over rated.  Maybe they won the award for their dinner and not the lunch.