High Spirits Tea Party @ Tarte by Cheryl Koh

After the beautiful experience of Sensory Indulgence II, I’m all set for what’s next to come from The Other Me, and so here I am at Tarte by Cheryl Koh for High Spirits Tea Party!

Specially crafted tarts and curated spirits make one’s day beautiful!

Tomato Bruschetta Tart is definitely my favourite of the day. The tomato cubes are so juicy and refreshing in taste. The olive oil and balsamic vinegar render the taste of tart more exotic, unique, complex and flavourful. This cements my impression that the savoury tarts here are the best!

Gruyere Mushroom Tart is a nice mellow earthy treat with good texture due to the mushrooms.

Salmon Trout Roe Macaron is another savoury goodness that is full of different kinds of sweetness. The macaron is of perfect texture, being slightly chewy with a good bite.

Strawberry Tart with Vanilla Cream is the classic good crowd pleaser with good balance of flavours and textures.

Tiramisu Tart is creamy and surprisingly balanced in the taste of coffee.

Banana Pint Nut Tart has the aroma of nuts and good texture from the soft crunchiness of the pine nuts.

Gin from Celestial Spirits excites the palates with spicy bitterness.

Lovely wines from FABB Wines & Spirits to go pefectly with the tarts.

Thoughts: Fantastic Experience 💖

Sensory Indulgence @ Tarts by Cheryl Koh

One awesome thing leads to another awesome thing. After attending a wonderful event, it brings me to another one: Sensory Indulgence II, where I indulge in the unique combination of exclusively crafted desserts and premium whiskies from Old Moon Spirits. It is a palates opening experience where I get to try delectable unique tarts (foie gras tart, anyone?) and explore how awesome and varied whiskies can be.

The service here is awesome. The staff is friendly and prompt to topping up the ice and nuts.

It’s so good that I definitely look forward to Sensory Indulgence III.

Lemon Pomegranate Tart features perfectly balanced flavours and textures. It’s so amazingly good and unique. The tart taste of lemon, the tangy sweetness of pomegranate and the light sweetness of the pastry shell plus custard, all work so well together. The slightly crunchy, bouncy texture of pomegranate is chef’s kiss. It is so versatile in taste that it goes well with lots of whiskies.

Amazing curated Japanese whiskies that redefine the old world vibe of whiskies. Not a whisky fan initially, I find myself, surprisingly, enjoying these drinks. All have different taste profiles and character, making it exciting to try them.

Vanilla Pastry Cream with Fresh Strawberries is like old school favourite that will please most palates. Very good balance of flavours too.

Foie Gras Cream and Raspberry Jam Choux is my-oh-my amazingly good. Tempered with cream and raspberry, the rich savoury umami of foie gras is so perfectly balanced and realised in this dessert. My favourite for the day. I want to buy a dozen of this if there is option to.

Onion Comte with Apple Jelly Tartlet is another savoury surprise that I also love. The lovely pungency of onion comte is nicely softened by the apply jelly to be truly delightful dessert.

And it is perfection when paired with the whisky to bring out the core sweetness of the tart.

Thoughts: Love the one-of-a-kind delicious tarts ❤️

1 Scotts Road #02-05

Shaw Centre

Sanpoutei Ramen - Interesting Dishes

What got me to patronise Sanpoutei Ramen is the menu of interesting dishes not commonly seen in other dishes. And one of them I got to try is Aburi Chashu Onigirazu. A bit different from sushi since the rice is not seasoned with vinegar, but the quality rice used in this is delicious, carrying its own flavours that it still tastes great without vinegar. The chashu of course does a lot to add more striking taste to this creation. A wholesome treat.

Prawn and Avocado with Mango Sauce is another interesting dish. The avocado balls coated with crispy yet soúffle tempura batter and slathered with zesty mango sauce are rich in taste and yummy. The prawns are very plump and meaty, its umami accentuated by the mango sauce.

Despite the huge variety of ramen available, I decide to be adventurous and order Shoyu Ramen with Egg instead. The stock base is interestingly made from sardines instead of the usual pork bone soup. The soup is pretty nice and full of flavours, considering that I don't like sardines. However, this does not turn me into a sardine fan. The typical bitterness of sardines, which I don't like, is evident in the soup. So while I'm impressed they can make a pretty good soup out of sardines, I can't like it.

But the noodles is very good though. I like it that these freshly handmade noodles are springy and slightly flatter in shape, creating a different sensation in eating ramen. The chashu and wild spinach are very good too since both easy to bite. Maybe with these ingredients and tonkotsu soup, I may actually find a gem of ramen?

Update: I finally tried the ramen with Tonkotsu soup base here!

Super rich and flavorful soup paired with super springy ramen, this is the exact ramen I want.

The place is a slightly upmarket ramen shop with nice, wide plush seats, wooden craving panels at the tables and lattice wooden roof. The service is decent and efficient. I do like to come back again and try other interesting dishes here and the ramen with tonkotsu soup base. I'm really curious about the tonkotsu soup.

Thoughts: Interesting

350 Orchard Road

#B1-04/05 In Shaw House

Nearest MRT: Orchard

Bistro Du Vin - Rustic yet Impressive

Chanced upon Les Amis street, you know, where the entire row of restaurants are under Les Amis group, when hanging around Shaw Centre and decided to try the food at one of the restaurants. Since I had not tried the food at Bistro du Vin and Mui Kee only, my choice is obvious.

Complimentary warm fluffy bread is delicious when paired with the creamy butter. Would be even better if the rind is crispy. And wine is interestingly served in a flask.

Pan seared Foie Gras, strawberries,  dragées, aged balsamic gets the thumbs up from me. The foie gras is juicy, smooth and custard-like in texture when biting into it. And the light sweetness of strawberries and chocolate add an interesting kick to the overall taste. The nutty flavour of the dragées enhances the unique, rich taste of foie gras.

Chilled Leek & Potato soup is light yet creamy and full of flavours. Soup served chilled is pretty interesting, and it works in this case.

Seafood Fricassee with cream & baby carrots, pilaf rice should be called Salmon Fricassee with cream & pilaf rice. Yes, the light fluffy rice grains taste so delicious, soaked with the goodness of cream and herbs. But I was expecting seafood such as prawns or clams, not chucks of salmon and nothing else. Okay, there is one piece of octopus to make it non-salmon exclusive.

And there is a top-up of $8 for this dish! If I know the seafood here is consisted of 80% salmon, I will not even take one look at it. I actually dislike cooked salmon, but thank goodness that the salmon here is decent due to the rich sauce it is drenched in. Yes, my fault too for assuming that since the dish needs top-up, it must be filled with prawns, clams or scallops.

This dish is delicious but I don’t think salmon is worth the top-up price.

Snapper “en papillote” fennel tomatoes potatoes is a very hearty meal. The snapper flesh is fresh, juicy and pliable, enhanced in taste by the zest from the lemons. The tomatoes are sweet. Highly recommend.

Vanuatu vanilla créme brulèe is full of pure authentic vanilla goodness and the burnt sugar at top introduces a hint of bitterness for complexity in taste. The brittle nature of the burnt sugar also enhances the smoothness of the vanilla custard below. A well-executed dessert.

Venezuela 72% dark chocolate mousse is definitely for chocolate lovers. Very intense in taste.

The place is like an authentic French bistro full of French posters hanging over the walls. The mood is definitely there. A great place to enjoy an idyllic mealtime while watching the world passes by through the full-panel windows lining the entire side of the wall facing Claymore Hill Road. Thr service is very good and professional.

This place is almost perfect for a relaxing time to enjoy good food. I definitely love to go back, but I will take note not to order Salmon Seafood Fricassee again.

Thought: Awesome!

1 Scotts Road

#01-14

Nearest car park: Shaw Centre’s car park

Nearest MRT: Orchard

Shabu Shabu Gen - Very delicate Steamboat

Unlike the usual hearty steamboats with lots of ingredients added to yield an intensely flavoured soup, the steamboat here is very delicate in preparation, ingredients and taste. We ordered the beautifully marbled Spanish Iberico pork which was superb in texture and taste, having minimum of the porky taste, almost melt-in-your-mouth texture, going excellently well with condiments given. Yes, even the condiments are in a class of their own; packing a punch in taste that will delight or wake up one's taste buds.

What I like about the vegetables here is that they imparted an extra sweet taste to the soup, enhancing it (The soup tasted quite bland and a bit weird at first, even after putting in the pork, but got a lot better after the vegetables were added. Though the soup is still not really flavourful, so no point in drinking it.), yet they did not have that slight bitter taste that a lot of boiled vegetables have. The dessert were very delicate also, love the red bean paste and sesame cake, imbued with intense milk flavour, going perfectly with the complimentary genmai tea.

The service is friendly and helpful, and what I like best about the service is that the staffs have no airs at all, making us feel very comfortable. The place is spacious and zen, with comfortable plush chairs.

Recommended for indulgence in shabu shabu, if in the mood to spend. May try the don set with shabu set next time (instead of 2 shabu shabu sets) for more wallet friendly option.

My Thoughts: Superb!

Nearest car park: Shaw Centre's car park

Nearest MRT: Orchard

1 Scotts Road
#02-13 Shaw Centre
Singapore
Contact No: 68365155

Les Amis - Epitome of Fine Dining

If thou seek for the great service in dining, Les Amis is the one to go to. 100% meticulous and formal, it is hard not to feel like a prince or princess when dining in there. Of course, the place must exude an air of splendour and grandeur to define Les Amis's position as the "Queen of Fine Dining".

As for the food, there are many hits and very few misses, from the simple but delicious amuse bouche of salmon, to the divine sour cream ice cream.

The Gillardeau Oysters are must try, being exceedingly fresh, plump, fleshy, juicy and creamy, with a light taste of unami. The foie gras is literally melt in your mouth quality, enhanced by the light grill taste at the surface. The ingredients used in scallop carpaccio works in harmony with the delicate taste of fresh scallops.

Chargrilled pork is stronger in taste, yet not overpowering, the grilled meat taste without the porky smell, is extremely pleasing to the palates. The Grape dessert is a beautiful dessert where the milky, not too sour yoghurt goes perfectly well with the refreshing grape granite, one of the best desserts I had in restaurants.

Though Les Amis did not scatter the impression I have about fish dishes of European cuisine: they are not as good as those of Japanese, Chinese and North Indian Cuisine. I found the fish meat to be bland and a tad fishy in taste.

I appreciate the chef's sense of creativity in presenting the dishes in bold and different forms, completed with very subtle and light taste of herbs, fresh ingredients, not seen in any other menu elsewhere, yet retaining the traditional nature. The desserts are sublime—the chef used rarely seen combinations of ingredients to create something that tastes so different, complex and blissful.

I will love to come back here again!

Note: This review with updates, was written based on dining experiences when chef Armin Leitgeb was still in charge of the restaurant.

The standard of Les Amis had changed. However, since this post was made for my collection of great memories, it is going to stay as it is to mark the enjoyable dining experience I had there, without including the current state of things.

My Thoughts: Remarkable!

Nearest car park: Shaw Centre's car park

Nearest MRT: Orchard

1 Scott Road
#02-16 Shaw Centre
Singapore
Contact No: 67332225

Aoki - Good enough to Impress

Take a look at the menu, and one will find that it is unlike your typical menu seen in most local Japanese restaurants. It does not have the usually seen Tori Karage, Potato or even Salmon! Quite a number of the stuff inside consist of set meals (seasonal items are on another menu) without much details, like sushi set meals of different grades, chirashi set meals of different grades and sashimi meals fo different grades.  Meaning that one will not have much choice on what to order when it comes to the raw seafood, the chef decides for you.

It definitely hurts the wallet to dine here, and for that price, one will get fresh raw seafood, serene ambience due to the minimalist, yet authentic Japanese decor and good service here. The best part of the set meals is that the desserts served are not the typical slice of watermelon, but plum jelly, custard, green tea pudding, tofu ice cream or peach blossom ice cream which give a sweet ending to the meal!

The downside is that I do not like the appetizer of mashed cooked tuna that tastes way too fishy. And I have to admit that after dining at Shinji, the sushi in Aoki that used to wow me, no longer do now. Though the set lunch here is way more affordable.

Service is okay though I have issues with the two slots timing thing (first time to encounter this in a Japanese restaurant).

A great place for a not-so-typical local Japanese dining experience (and provided one has a fat wallet) and if there is no craving for salmon!

My Thoughts: Pretty Good

Nearest car park: Shaw Centre's car park

Nearest MRT: Orchard

1 Scott Road #02-17
Shaw Centre
Singapore
Contact No: 63338015

Annam - Simple yet Luxurious Vietnamese food

Closed

The ambience and food in Annam are simple and humble, yet classic and exotic.

The menu looks quite unassuming with only some appetizers, mains, desserts, noodles and rice stated in it.  The descriptions hardly induce mouthing watering images of the food.  However, I was amazed by the multitude of harmonious, strong flavours present in the food.  Extremely simulating in taste and filled to the brim with quality ingredients such as prawns and real crab meat.  In fact, we felt that there was more crab meat than rice in the Fried Rice.  Grilled Pork with Vermicelli was especially sinful due to combination of the nicely grilled and aromatic pork slices, prawn roll, yummy crackers and the refreshing vermicelli.  

The flawless service is friendly and professional, prompt to requests and responses.  They also make the effort to greet and bid farewell to the patrons, which is a nice touch.  

It is a huge shame that this restaurant will cease operations soon.  At least, I got to check out this quaint restaurant before that happens (still lamenting about why I did not try out the place earlier when passing by it several times).  Will be going back again very soon before the last day of operation.

My Thoughts: Very Nice!

Note: This restaurant is no longer in operation.