Back at the Burj

In the time my husband and I have been together, we have moved to eight countries in four continents and now, after almost four years in Singapore, we are moving once again.  This time, it's back to a place we lived for two years and a half in the early 2000s when our son was a few months old.

Dubai was already a bustling desert city then with the Burj Al Arab as its' iconic super structure.  Today, numerous skyscrapers dot the skyline with the world's tallest building (the Burj Khalifa at 828 m), the world's tallest hotel (the JW Marriott Marquis at 355m) and the world's tallest residential building (the Princess Tower at 413m) all located in Dubai.  After several despedidas (farewell parties) and tearful goodbyes, we left Singapore yesterday and are now in our new home in Dubai.

What better way to spend our first day back than to go back to the year-old Burj Al Arab Terrace - a 10,000 square meter structure painstakingly built in Finland and shipped to Dubai in its' entirety to create a stunning restaurant, pool, beach and cabaña space abutting the hotel with uninterrupted views of the Arabian Gulf.

We began with lunch at Scape with it's seafood-centric California fusion menu - a perfect on this sunny 39C day.  From the Crudo bar, we ordered two raw dishes: the Hamachi crudo with Ponzu, pistachio, olives and capers and the Corvina carpaccio with scallion, nori, ginger and truffle yuzu which we had with some salads; arugula, quinoa, pumpkin seed, Feta salad and the endive, grape, Gorgonzola, pecan as our starters.  We then shared the wild mushroom pizza with goat's cheese and the Baja style tacos.  After our light and mostly cold lunch, we headed out to some sun loungers on the beach and enjoyed the cool saltwater infinity pool where I finally took the chance to take it easy and just relax after the hectic months of packing and moving.  It was warm but not unbearable and armed with 50 SPF Sun Bum,  my new Armani sunnies (which I got online from Smart Buy Glasses), and a stack of magazines, I happily spent the afternoon sitting in the shade catching up on my reading and just taking in the view. And what a view it was!  Happy to be home at last.

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The Terrace at the Burj Al Arab

Scape at the Burj Al Arab

Flashback Friday: PUBLICUS

Healthy and delicious food is sometimes contradictory.  So many places promote wellness and health and actually don't know how to make whole foods taste good.  Publicus in downtown Las Vegas is one of those places that gets healthy and delicious right.  Their daily changing specials and whatever they have on the counter (it could be a quinoa and roasted vegetable salad or an open faced toasted sourdough with cherry tomatoes cheese) is always fresh and flavorful.  It has become a regular weekend place for us in Vegas that when we do go, the manager already knows what the kids want to eat.  I've had a delicious spicy black rice and poached egg bowl with pickled ginger, a simple sourdough and avocado toast and filling brunch plates on the weekends.

Coffee is fantastic (none of those cappuccinos being served in gigantic cups that then makes the ratio of espresso and milk all wrong).  Plus, Publicus is a really nice place to hang out and get a bite or a coffee during the day, be surrounded by mostly locals and feel so far away from the lights, bling and tourists of the Strip.  When you're done, head over to the newish Downtown Container Park - a complex of restaurants and shops made of colorfully painted shipping containers with a large playground deck in the middle for the kids to run around in.

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Publicus

1126 Fremont Street, Las Vegas Nevada 89101

Tel: +1 702 331 5500

Open daily from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Flashback Friday: WILDFLOUR CAFE + BAKERY

On the rare occasions that I fly back home for a visit, I make sure to go to restaurants I haven't been.  It's so easy to go back to my favorites again and again but it's also fun to eat  at the new restaurants that have opened up in Manila recently.

Wildflour actually isn't new, they opened their first cafe and bakery in Bonifacio Global City in 2012.  It's new to me though since I had heard so much about it but had never been.    I finally got my chance when my cool designer friend TC took me there for lunch.  I was so pleasantly surprised and impressed that I went there twice more in the short week that I was home.

What's great about Wildflour is that aside from their massive selection of fresh-baked breads, pastries and cakes, they also have a full all-day dining menu serving breakfasts, soups, sandwiches, salads, pastas and a few main courses. (The menu might be different in each outlet, I have only bent the one in Legaspi Village) For lunch, I've had the moules frites and a chocolate tart.  The next time I went for breakfast and had the bagel and lox with a pot of filter coffee and another time, I stopped by for merienda (snack) of a sticky bun and a  latte.  I always think a place has made it when it becomes my go-to restaurant and Wildflour is just that - a cafe and bakery that is perfect for any time of the day.  You'll know what I mean when you go.

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Wildflour Cafe + Bakery

L.P. Leviste Street, Salcedo Village, Makati
Phone:+63 2 808 7072
Hours: Monday to Saturday 7AM–10PM

Frabelle Business Center 111 Rada St, Legaspi Village, Makati
Phone:+63 2 833 9799
Hours: Monday to Saturday 7AM–10PM, Sunday 8AM–4PM

Ortigas The Podium, 12 ADB Avenue Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City
Phone:+63 2 571 8588
Hours: Daily 7AM–10PM

Ground floor, Net Lima building, 26th St, Taguig (Bonifacio Global City)
Phone:+63 2 856 7600
Hours: Monday to Saturday 7AM–10PM, Sunday 8AM-4PM

Flashback Friday: CAFE CONSTANT

It's been raining almost every day for a week here in Singapore and the dark, dreary weather reminds me of Paris in the winter, without the cold of course.  This type of weather makes me feel like having hearty simple food that feeds the hunger and warms the body.  Flashback then to a simple dinner we had in Paris at Cafe Constant - the casual neighborhood bistro on rue Saint Dominique, a mostly residential area in the 7th arrondissement.  One of the restaurants owned by ex-Crillon chef Christian Constant and the most casual of the five.

Cafe Constant has a zinc-topped bar, mosaic floor, rickety wooden chairs and tables set elbow to elbow which makes for a typical Parisian dinner.  There's a selection of wines by the glass, a blackboard prix-fixe and a separate la carte menu of bistro classics which are all reasonably-priced and served with a smile.  Convivial, cozy and delicious - the kind of place I wish we had here but seems to only work in Paris.

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Cafe Constant

139 rue Saint Dominique, 75007 Paris

Tel: +33 1 47 53 73 54

No reservations.  Open daily for breakfast 7-11 a.m., non-stop service from 12h -23h

Flashback Friday: MINI PALAIS

For all the bistros and scuffed tiles in the numerous bistros and cafes in Paris, therehas been a proliferation of non-hotel restaurants still serving bistro classics but in much more sophisticated setting yet still offering prix-fixe menus.  One of these is the beautiful high-ceiling dining room of the Mini Palais, located in the back corner of the Grand Palais right smack in the middle of the famed triangle d'or (golden triangle) of the 8th arrondissement.  Helmed by chef Eric Frechon (from the 3-star Michelin Hotel Bristol), the food is faultless, the atmosphere refined, the service unobtrusive and the crowd more bourgeois than bohemian.

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Mini Palais

Grand Palais,  Avenue Winston Churchill  75008 Paris

Tel : +33 1 42 56 42 42

Flashback Friday: CLOVER

On a cold rainy autumn evening in late November, we met up with friends for a drink at La Societe, St. Germain's sleek Liaigre-designed Costes-managed bar, while we waited out our reservation at Jean Francois Piege's year-old farm to table restaurant Clover.  

Located in a back alley off boulevard St. Germain, where the Parisian brunch institution Coffee Parisien used to be, Clover is filled with several rustic wooden tables set with just a crisp white linen napkin and a knife.  The elongated space seats about 40 diners elbow-to-elbow making it feel like one large communal table.  The previous bar area has been transformed into a sleek modern open kitchen with a glass-fronted fridge filled with local produce.  At the time we went, there was a beautiful display of large succulent-like green savoy cabbages and tiny dark brussels sprouts.

Clover has a daily prix-fixe menu, for lunch ( three-course €35 or five-course €43) and a more elaborate one for dinner (five-course €60 or six-course  €73) with a supplement charge of €8 for a plate of cheese served before dessert.  The restaurant showcases produce from the all over France like special quail  from Dombes in the southeast or ratte potatoes from Touquet in the north.  Most ingredients indicate their origins and the cooking is simple but sophisticated.  The food is served family-style so dishes areplaced in the middle of the table and shared between two keeping it all very casual.

That evening, we started out with some St. Jean de Luz tuna, smoked butternut squash, crispy crackers and horseradish - an interesting mix of cold tuna tataki-style offset by the spicy horseradish and warm creamy squash.  Next up was the chef's signature dish of Saint-Jacques cuite sur le pavé parisien - literally one large scallop in a half-shell placed on top of a sizzling hot Parisian cobblestone - a playful Parisian take on hot-stone cooking and gave the super sweet scallop just a tiny sear.  This was followed by cabbage, smoked herring foam, preserved lemon and chestnut chips which were the flavors of autumn on a plate - warm melted cabbage leaves with tangy bits of lemon rind and crispy chestnut chips for texture.  Main courses came next - the ladies had the fish which was a sautéed lieu jaune (pollock), topped with salsifis wildflower (goatsbeard), radicchio leaves and covered with an emulsion of bay leaves - the delicate white fleshed fish complemented by the bitter chicory and herb-infused foam while the gentlemen ordered the heartier roasted Dombes quail, trompettes de la mort (horn of plenty mushrooms), caramelized onions and mango vinegar.

We skipped the cheese course and went straight for dessert - chunks of dark chocolate fudge cake, milk chocolate ice cream, tiny sweet raspberries, cranberries and grilled pecans.  Espressos were ordered and the coffee shots were accompanied by a large gooey chocolate chip cookie which we all broke into and finished.  Dining at Clover is fine dining without the formality, like a fun meal with friends at their kitchen table sharing good food and wine.  In other words, Clover feels like home, except there's a Michelin-starred chef who's in charge of the kitchen.

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CLOVER

5, rue Perronet, 75007 Paris

Telephone: +33 1 7550 0005

Email:contact@clover-paris.com

Open Tuesday to Saturday

Lunch from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., Dinner from 7:30 to 10:00 p.m.

YAKINIKU JUMBO

On our last evening in Tokyo, we ventured out to Shirokane in the southern end of Minato for an early dinner at Yakiniku Jumbo.  This yakiniku (grilled meat) restaurant only serves A5 Black Wagyu which is the highest quality of Japanese beef.  The place is simply decorated with wooden booths and tables with a built-in grill in the center.  Reservations are recommended as the place fills up quickly as soon as they open at 5:00 p.m. and tables are allocated every two hours so we were gently ushered out at 6:30 so they could reset for the next batch of diners.

Different cuts are available on the menu from traditional cuts like short-plate kalbi and the loin to higher-priced prime cuts like shoulder and rib-eye plus sirloin which is only served in extra thin sukiyaki slices and served with a raw egg dip.  There's also a large selection of offal: beef tongue, intestine and stomach as well as pork womb (not really sure what that is) along with the more usual pork cheek and pork loin.  Specialties include Korean-style beef tartare and raw beef heart sashimi.  A few salads, kimchi and some vegetables (pumpkin, squash, sweet potato, mushroom, onion, carrot and shishito pepper) to be cooked on the grill is all there is for vegetarians.  Aside from steamed rice in small (individual), to medium or large (family-size) portions, they have two special rice dishes cooked in hot stone bowl: the traditional bibimbap topped with vegetables and a raw egg or the unusual Wagyu garlic rice version which is topped with a mound hand-chopped raw Wagyu beef and raw garlic which is mixed into the hot rice and continues to cook in the super hot stone bowl sort of like an instant extra-delicious premium fried rice.  Desserts are limited to Hokkaido soft-serve milk flavored ice cream or sherbet.

We  ordered both beef and pork, a green salad of lettuce in a sesame soy dressing, assorted vegetables and both the bibimbap and the Wagyu garlic rice.  The meat was melt-in-the-mouth tender with the marbled fat making every mouthful a pleasure.  The kids enjoyed it as well as we did and we ended up ordering more meat as the first plates went by way quicker than we expected.  Our server was a friendly California-raised Japanese surfer dude, making it the only meal we had in Tokyo where we could communicate easily with the person assigned to our table.  After a fantastic meal, we skipped dessert and instead took a short walk along the pedestrian street of the quiet residential area of Shirokane before heading back to the hotel.  Out of all our meals in Japan, yakiniku was the one that appealed to the whole family even if they only served one type of food: meat on the grill.  My Argentine husband got his meat fix and the kids and I all enjoyed the simple dinner of quality grilled meat and rice.  Looks like they have a partner restaurant in Singapore Yakiniku Yazawa which we are now eager to try for our Sunday family dinner out.

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Yakiniku Jumbo

Dai-ichi Azabu Bldg. 1F, 3-1-1 Shirokane, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Tel. 03-5795-4129

Open daily 5:00 p.m. to midnight (Closed 31 December to 2 January)

GINZA BAIRIN

Ginza Bairin is one of Japan's most well-known tonkatsu specialty restaurants with five branches in Japan and almost a dozen overseas locations in Shanghai, Seoul, Singapore, Manila and even in Hawaii.  When we showed the taxi driver the address for the Ginza branch, he smiled and said "Oh, you'll be having good tonkatsu tonight.".

Ginza Bairin does one thing only and that is tonkatsu -  Kurobuta (Berkshire pig) plus prawn cutlets and extra-large prawns coated in panko and deep-fried to perfection.  The menus consist of tonkatsu sets that come with unlimited steamed rice, cabbage salad, pickled vegetables and miso soup.  The place is like a Japanese diner with a long wooden counter running the length of the restaurant plus a few small tables at the back.  Tables are set with just chopsticks, the laminated menu and a small tray of homemade tonkatsu sauce in sweet and spicy versions, extra spicy Japanese mustard and chili flakes. 

Ginza Bairin opens all-day every day (except for new year's day) from 11:30 a.m. till just 8:45 p.m. so you need to get there early for dinner.  The restaurant facade is unobtrusive with no English sign and is located just off Ginza's main drag.  If not for the ubiquitous window display of plastic tonkatsu food variations right by the entrance, we would have missed it.  It showcases tonkatsu sandwiches (crispy deep-fried pork cutlet sandwiched on soft white crustless bread) to curry katsu (tonkatsu covered in a gravy like Japanese curry sauce) along with the other versions of tonkatsu meals. 

We all chose the tonkatsu set -crisp and not oily panko-coated kurobuta pork loin plus a side order of prawn katsu to share. The only thing we didn't realize was that the restaurant only takes cash so after dinner, my husband and son rushed  off to a nearby ATM while my daughter and I waited for them to get back.  (My daughter didn't mind the wait as she had her first encounter with a pink dialing pay phone and I had to explain to her how it worked).  Dinner was a hit as the kids love tonkatsu and even if that was the only thing Ginza Bairin served, they do such  good job that we enjoyed it thoroughly.  Our taxi driver was absolutely right.

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Ginza Bairin

7-8-1, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0061
Daily 11:30 am till 8:45 pm (except January 1st)
Cash payment only
Contact: t.ohyabu@ginzabairin.co.jp

BAREBURGER

I know, I know - we're in Tokyo so why are we eating hamburgers?  Well, like I mentioned in the previous post, Japanese restaurants have a tendency to serve one thing and one thing only and after several days where everyone had to agree to one-dish meals, I started googling burgers in Tokyo and found Bareburger Ginza which had just opened the day before (31 March 2016) at the brand-spanking new Tokyo Plaza Ginza department store which was conveniently located a few minutes walk from our hotel in Shiodome.

Bareburger Organic opened its first outlet in 2009 in Astoria, Queens and now has 28 locations mostly in New York but with a few scattered in Connecticut, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Ohio, Washington DC.  Its' first overseas franchise was in Tokyo with Dubai and Frankfurt opening soon.   Voted by Zagat as New York's best burger and Michelin-recommended for four years in a row (2011-2014), Bareburger has a lot to live up for since they use only free-range, pasture-grazed, humanely raised and antibiotic, gluten and hormone-free beef and chicken.  Even the beverages are organic and the french fries are cooked in non-GMO Canola oil.

The menu has Bare "burgers and wiches", from¥1380/US$13 for the Buttermilk Buffalo Chicken Sandwich to ¥2980/US$28 for the Tomorrow Burger - a limited Tokyo special of Ozaki (Wagyu) beef tenderloin burger .  For vegetarians, there's The Shroom, a wild mushroom patty with alfalfa and balsamic mayo wrapped in kale.  There are also Greens (salads) and Bare shares which have side or share portions of french fries, sweet fries (sweet potato), onion rings and buttermilk chicken bites plus a couple of sliders.  They have a kid's menu called Cubby Fare (¥880/ US$8.50) - a choice of Panda (buttermilk chicken bites and buttermilk ranch dip) or a Grizzly (burger with Egmont cheese on a brioche) served with fries, dessert and organic juices (orange and apple) or organic milk.  They also have house-made natural soda, lemonade, iced tea and creamy milkshakes and a large selection on organic wines and spirits, organic craft beers and cocktails.  Desserts are ice cream sundaes: either the banana foster or the choco-peanut butter. 

On both visits, once for dinner and another to indulge the C's Grizzly craving, we enjoyed the food and the atmosphere plus the super friendly service and English-speaking (a challenge in Japan) staff.  We enjoyed the Buck Wild - burger with pimento, fried egg, crispy onions, dill pickles on a brioche bun) and the Supreme - burger with Egmont cheese, country bacon, green-leaf, chopped fried, special sauce on a birch bun topped with house-made onion rings.  We shared the fries and rings combo and the buttermilk chicken bites with classic lemonades and a creamy chocolate milkshake served in tall ice-cold aluminum cup.  The experience was all-American and guilt-free because of the organic and non-GMO ingredients they use making it one of our best meals in Tokyo.  Wonder when they'll open one in Singapore?  Soon, I hope.

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Bareburger

Tokyo Plaza Ginza 10-B (10th floor), 5-2-1 Ginza, Chuo-Ku, Tokyo 104-0061

Telephone: +81 3 3572 5315

Open daily, 11:00AM to 11:00PM (Last Order 10:00PM)

SHABUSEN

One of the best things about dining in Japan is that restaurants are so specialized that they serve only one type of food which is done perfectly.  One of the worst things about dining in Japan is that restaurants are so specialized that they serve only one type of food and so everyone has to agree to eat the same thing.  On one of our first evenings in Tokyo, we decided to do just that at a traditional shabu-shabu restaurant.  It took a while to convince our youngest, C, to commit to just shabu-shabu and not have tempura or tonkatsu (her favorite Japanese food).

There are two Shabusen restaurants at the Ginza Core building - one on B2 and another on the 2nd floor.  Both serve the same shabu-shabu except that upstairs, there are operate tables where diners can sit together and share the shbau-shabu per table, while the basement outlet has three u-shaped counters where each seat has it's own shabu-shabu pot so it's good for those dining alone or those who'd rather not share their dinner.

We went to the one in the basement and sat alongside each other in the middle counter.  Each place setting had a pot right in front of the seat.  The menu is limited with sets including beef, pork, a combination of beef and pork, Wagyu beef, or special pork from Hokkaido.  They also serve sukiyaki which is similar to shabu-shabu except that the meat, vegetables and noodles are already cooked in a sweeter and saltier broth which then takes the fun out of the full-on shabu-shabu cooking experience.

 Two servers are in-charge of around 20 diners per counter.  They do everything from pouring tea and serving drinks to setting the plates of thinly-sliced meat with a side portion of vegetables (Chinese cabbage, mushrooms,  tofu and some bean thread noodles) and two sauces: goma and ponzu.  They also check that the broth isn't bubbling over or that the sauce bottles are still full of ponzu or goma.  

We started out with a cold egg custard topped with mayonnaise, cucumber and asparagus.  Soon after, the meat was served and it's D.I.Y. cooking from there.  The very thin slices of meat are dipped quickly in the light kombu-based broth then fished it out and dipped again in either the citrusy soy-sauce ponzu or  the creamier sesame-mayonnaise goma alternating between slices of meat and vegetable and mouthfuls of steamed rice.  You can personalize your dipping sauces by adding what you like from the trays set on the counter: spring onions, garlic and chili oil.    They say that the name shabu-shabu comes from the swishing sound of the meat stirred into the bubbling broth. Once you've finished the meat and vegetables, the servers come around and add noodles to the now flavorful bubbling broth and serve you a small bowl of ramen to finish of your meal.  Simple, satisfying and light.  Just remember that if you have big appetite, you might have to order an extra portion of meat (like my son did).

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Shabusen Ginza

〒104-0061 Tokyo, Chuo, Ginza, 5 Chome−8−20 (Ginza Core Building)
Phone:+81 3 3571 1717 (B2) or  +81 3 3572 3806 (2F)
Open daily,  11:30AM–2:30PM and 5:30–10PM

GIN KHAO BISTRO

Sunday evenings are when we have our family dinner out and since Sentosa Cove's Quayside Isle  is much more pleasant than the overcrowded Resorts World complex, we end up heading there for an early dinner al fresco overlooking the marina.  Since Quayside Isle opened in December 2012, there have been several changes in the restaurant offerings - the space right beside the popular Blue Lotus used to be a Japanese restaurant, then an oyster bar and now is the space where the Thai restaurant Gin Khao is located.

Gin Khao Bistro serves simple Thai dishes at very reasonable prices. I might be mistaken but it seems like they have the cheapest food in the strip of restaurants of the usually overpriced Quayside Isle (not counting the Panini at the newly opened Joe & the Juice).   We usually order the same dishes from their menu which features Thai street food:  Po Pia Tod - prawn spring rolls, green mango and prawn relish with rice crackers and Tom Yum chicken wings plus by their larb moo - warm minced pork and mint salad or the spicy green papaya salad to start.  They do a decent seafood pad thai and have a good selection of grilled seafood (mackerel or squid) or meat (chicken or pork belly) served with the addicting nah jim (green chili and lime dip). There are several types of fried rice on the menu from the spicy green curry to the salty black olive rice to the sweet pineapple and the unusual watermelon rice.  Service is always courteous and efficient and best of all, the food is hot, spicy and inexpensive, the way Thai street food should be.

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Gin Khao Bistro

31 Ocean Way #01-12 Quayside Isle, Singapore 098375

Tel: (65) 6570 2208

Email: feedback@ginkhao.com.sg

Mon to Thurs: 12:00pm to 3:00pm, 5:30pm to 10:00pm
Fri: 12:00pm to 12:00am
Sat/Eve: 11:00am - 12:00am
Sun/PH: 11:00am - 10:00pm
Last Order: 30 mins before closing

*10% off for Sentosa Cove Residents

*Takeaway available

THE POPULUS COFFEE & FOOD CO.

The Populus Coffee & Food Co (the name's a mouthful) opened around six months ago in a shophouse along Neil road.   The long narrow space has been carefully redesigned using a lot of wood, from the ceiling and wall tiles to the counter, complemented by modern metal accents like the industrial lighting and iron shelving.  The tables look like textured grey fabric, a nice design touch that makes it seem as if there's a table cloth.  Their tableware (plates, bowls, cups, sugar containers) have also been carefully chosen with a minimalistic touch making the space a beautifully-designed spot to hang out and have a coffee.

As soon as you step inside the Populus, you know what they specialize in from the wonderful aroma of roasted coffee beans which come from 2 Degrees North Coffee Co.  Several types of coffee are available - from the usual espresso, cappuccino, latte with both full cream, low fat or soy milk and flavoring, plus bottles of single origin cold drip and a white brew using their three in-house blends: Monolith (comforting & reassuring), Caldera (uplifting & refreshing) and the Duxton Vice (cheeky & adventurous).  Filter coffee is also served with six types to choose from.  For those not so much into coffee, they serve a rich Valrhona chocolate, iced or hot, and a selection of smoothies, fresh juices and botanical soft drinks from Fentiman's.

For a small cafe, the menu is quite large.  I prefer the weekday menu which has a selection of breakfast specials along with healthy grain bowls and donburi plus a few pastas and sandwiches.  There are three ice cream sundaes and a buttermilk waffle for dessert.  The weekend menu has more egg dishes and less of the main courses and since they're usually packed from early morning, some dishes are sold out by early evening.

On my first mid-morning visit, I had their fluffy scrambled eggs with a perfect piccolo latte and a large fresh orange juice.  For lunch recently, I had the teriyaki salmon donburi, a petite portion of teriyaki-glazed salmon served on seasoned Japanese rice, furikake, nanban vegetables and an onsen egg. On another weekend evening, my husband & I shared their avocado superfood green platter (kale, broccoli, avocado and spinach with feta and cottage cheese) and the Portobello mushroom grain bowl with furikake baby corn, red cabbage & apple slaw, roasted zucchini, roasted butternut squash, sautéed cherry tomatoes, L&P mixed mushrooms.   It's a good place for healthy eaters since there's quite a few dishes that are just vegetables and/or grains.  I'm looking forward to my next meal at the Populus since there's still a lot on the menu I haven't tried plus a few several coffee concoctions I'd like to sample.

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The Populus Coffee & Food Co.

146 Neil Road, Singapore
Telephone: +65 6635 8420
email: hello@thepopuluscafe.com

Mon & Wed 09:00 - 19:00
Thu & Fri     09:00 - 22:30
Sat                 09:30 - 22:30
Sun                09:30 - 19:00

BIRD BIRD

Bird Bird is the newest restaurant of Singapore's bad boy chef, Bjorn Shen.  Fans of his popular Middle Eastern restaurant Artichoke, are in for another cheeky surprise with this casual Thai street food restaurant just like those found in the back streets of Bangkok.  The place is simply but thoughtfully designed with mismatched plastic stools, simple wooden tables, multi-colored soft drinks crates stacked up by the bar and colorfully decorated walls with their cheeky slogan "Bird Bird Satisfy You Long Time" to the stenciled red rooster painted with the line "This is the S#*t".

I went with a group of friends recently and we all had the set lunch menu ($13) which comes with your choice of a main course and a drink: soft drink, Thai soda water or soy milk. If you top up a few dollars more, you can have one of their signature slushies (we had the Thai iced milk tea or Thai milk coffee blended with lots of ice to make a refreshing drink which was sweet enough to combat the spice).

We had the Khao Soi (spicy chicken curry soup topped with fried noodles) and the chili basil minced duck Gra Pow which came with steamed rice and the usual fried egg.  We added a few other dishes to share - the som tum (spicy green papaya salad) and a big plate of their famous Gai Tod (southern-style fried chicken wings with chili jam), the bird-bird from which the restaurant got its' name.  For dessert, six of us shared their homemade ice cream Neh-Neh pops (another of Chef Shen's creations) - we had sneekers (just like a chocolate covered ice cream dipped in crushed pretzels and marshmallows), a cherry cheesecake (cherry flavored ice cream dipped in graham cracker crumbs) and the Thai flavored Mango sticky rice (mango ice cream dipped in white chocolate and rolled in crispy rice).  The food was good, the place was fun, the service was friendly and the price was right - what more can one ask for?  We'll be back for sure.

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Bird Bird

18 Ann Siang Road, #01-01, Singapore 069698

LUNCH
Tuesday - Saturday | 1130am - 230pm

DINNER
Tuesday - Thursday | 630pm - 10pm
Friday & Saturday | 630pm - 11pm

CLOSED ON SUNDAY & MONDAY

Walk-ins only for groups of 5 or less.
Email hello@birdbirdsg.com for reservations for groups of 6 and more. A minimum spend of S$45++/pax is required for all reservations. Your reservation is only confirmed after we've sent you a confirmation reply.

Flashback Friday: RONIN

"Walk down the alley to a row of nondescript buildings and watch out for the unmarked grey one with a wooden door".  Those were the instructions a friend gave me when she told me about Ronin a few months after they opened in 2013.  Finding Ronin is part of the fun, and the start of what would be an adventurous evening of fine (sea)food and drink. 

Opened by the same young restaurateurs that manage the always packed yakitori temple Yardbird and the more casual fried chicken and sandwich place Sunday's Grocery, Ronin is a sleek dining bar that focuses on modern Japanese cuisine served with a large selection of Japanese scotch, sake (rice wine), shochu (sake-based liqueur), umeshu (ume fruit based liqueur) and Japanese craft beers.

Ronin features a daily changing menu on a single sheet of paper where seafood is the star. T and I opted for the 12-course tasting menu to get a feel of their food.  The first half of the menu features raw seafood which we had with some cold sake.  We started off with a cold raw Shigoku oyster lightly seasoned with red shiso vinegar followed by the sashimi selection: shima aji, kintokidai red bigeye snapper, hotate scallop and ojisan goatfish, all simply served on a bowl of crushed ice.  The third course was delicious flower crabmeat chunks tossed with uni slivers and put back in the  shell.  The last of the raw seafood courses was a yuzu baby yellowtail sashimi sliced so thinly that you could see the black plate through the fish. The fifth raw course was skinless wedges of extra-sweet fruit tomato with just salt and pepper.

The second part of the menu were the cooked dishes starting off with grilled tilefish, daikon, white ponzu and crispy fish scales - crunchy, hot, creamy and salty in one bite.  The seventh was their signature KFC a.k.a. korean fried crab deep-fried soft shell crablets with chili sauce - just like crab popcorn and a fine dining version of their other uber-popular Yardbird KFC (Korean fried cauliflower).  Next up was the white ale battered hirame, yuzu mayo along with a small glass of very cold white ale.  The most interesting flavor combination of the evening was the ninth course of fried triggerfish in honey, Kyoto shichimi sauce and crispy chestnut slivers (which looked just like garlic) that they suggested we have with a Japanese Hakushu single malt scotch and soda water.  Not being a usual Scotch drinker, I was surprised at how the hot-crispy-sweet-salty fish paired so well with the refreshing highball.  The next two courses: wild tiger prawns, bamboo fennel, tomato confit served in a stone pot like a seafood stew and the deep fried quail, orange zest, sansho pepper were a blur and we just tasted  bit of each.  The final course:unagi, kinome, chirashi was another stunner and this one, we finished up to the last grain of rice.  We were pleasantly stuffed at this point, and all we had space for was a couple of sips each of the dessert-like digestifs cocoa nib shochu and coffee shochu.

Two and a half hours later as we stumbled up the stairs onto the street, we happily realized that evenings like the one we just had at Ronin are few and far between, and should be repeated more often. I'm already planning my next trip to Hong Kong.

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Ronin

8 On Wo Lane, Central, Hong Kong

Tel: +852 2547 5263

Reservations: seats@roninhk.com

No tables, only 12 bar seats that can be reserved two weeks in advance, Walk-ins welcome at the stand-up counter

Dinner only: 6 pm to midnight, Monday to Saturday

NATIONAL KITCHEN by Violet Oon

One of the landmark events of 2015 to celebrate Singapore's 50th birthday was the November opening of the National Gallery of Singapore, an architectural restoration that joined two national monuments, the former Supreme Court and City Hall, to display the largest public collection of modern art in Singapore and Southeast Asia.  

In the same building, several restaurants have opened.  There's the high-end modern French Odette, classic Italian Aura spread out on three floors, sophisticated Cantonese Yan, rooftop bar with a view Smoke and Mirrors, innovative Indian Saha, casual cafe and retail shop Gallery & Co and heritage cuisine by celebrated local chef Violet Oon at the National Kitchen by Violet Oon.  National Kitchen was designed none other than the chef's daughter, and she has created a cozy yet elegant space with dramatic chandeliers, black leather booths, mirrors throughout and assorted antique tiles to showcase Singapore's Peranakan heritage.

The lunch and dinner menu is extensive and lists a few Singaporean specialties which may not necessarily be Peranakan like the iconic Singapore Chili Crab and Hainanese Chicken Rice.  There is also a light bites menu served at the Veranda which is open in the evenings.

I enjoyed two lunches there recently and had some decent Peranakan dishes: ngoh hiang -  deep fried beancurd skin filled with prawn, crab and chicken, grilled chicken satay with grated pineapple topped chunky peanut sauce and served with cucumbers and rice cakes, Kuay Pie Tee -bamboo shoot and turnip filled crispy cups and the sambal kimchiam dang -a spicy salad of lily buds with starfruit and prawns, the mixed vegetables and tempeh Sayur Lodeh and the deep-fried sambal eggplant.  The beef rendang and butter floss prawns were exceptionally good but it was the modern versions of traditional Peranakan fare that really impressed me -the refined  cod in creamy laksa sauce and the spicy dry laksa noodles are both dishes that you should not miss at the National Kitchen.

Dessert selections were limited to five classics, of which we've had four: the crepe-like roti jala with gala melaka was lacking in filling, the delicious rice cake kueh being ka, the warm black glutinous rice pulot hitam with coconut ice cream was too soupy, and the yummy pineapple upside-down cake.  Last on the list to try is the kueh dah dah a pandan-infused crepe filled with grated coconut which looked much more interesting than the roti jala we ordered.  I'm looking forward to see what dinner is like and maybe even drinks and snacks at the Veranda.  When you do decide to go, make sure to reserve as the place is usually packed both at lunch and dinner.

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National Kitchen by Violet Oon

1 St. Andrew’s Road
#02–01, National Gallery Singapore
(City Hall Wing)
Singapore 178957

Email: eat@violetoon.com
Call: +65 9834 9935

Private room dining is available by reservation only.

Enter via Coleman Street entrance

Open daily for Lunch from noon to 3 pm, Dinner from 6-11 pm, last order at 9:30 pm

Veranda is open from 5:30 to 11 p.m - last order at 10 pm