Tenshin Tempura, The Regent Hotel, Singapore

I have only eaten at a specialist tempura restaurant once. This was a few years ago in Tokyo on a joint trip with D Guy. That little restaurant only catered for three rooms a night and was located close to Tsukiji where the chef handpicked the freshest seafood daily. It was this fact coupled with their secret flour mix and their special oil that made them so good.

I had heard of a local equivalent some years ago, told myself I had to go but was reminded only recently about it again. The place is Tenshin Tempura located at The Regent Singapore. It is known to be quite pricey but going there for lunch fit in nicely with my continuing quest for good-value set lunches.

Of course, I found a willing accomplice in D Guy.

The set lunches ranged from $30 to $85 with the choice of also ordering ala carte items from the daily vegetable and seafood boards.

There is a certain point at which my stomach hits a limit for oily food. On this day, that point took quite long to reach, meaning, the food was very finely prepared (not too much oil).

The first course of prawn tempura was a little tough, but I reserved my judgement and was rewarded with perfectly cooked pumpkin (not too raw and not too overcooked), wonderfully sweet corn which they take off the cob and formed into a round cake held together only by the batter, seasonal eel (sweet and still moist inside).

Overall, a very nice meal but probably 80% of the Tsukiji tempura place whose name escapes me now. Would I go again? Yes, their Tendon set lunch looked wonderful, served in a hot steaming bowl of rice with generous lashings of their own tempura sauce.

Nogawa Restaurant, Concorde Hotel, Singapore

Mr. Nogawa is known as the man that trained some of the most successful Japanese chefs in Singapore. Ronnie of Tatsuya fame, is one of them.

After many years of hearing of Nogawa, I finally, finally, made a reservation and had the omakase sushi menu. The meal had a promising start with fresh gingko nuts lightly salted and grilled. I was pleasantly surprised by how tender and succulent the octopus starte was. I am also a fan of well-prepared pickles and these were crisp and crunchy with a little sour kick. Just the thing to whet your appetite.

When I was served the first piece of sushi (we sat at the counter), I was looking forward to a burst of freshness and flavour but became completely distracted by the rice. Sushi rice is meant to be firm but soft enough to provide a nice base to the fish on top. However, either there was not enough vinegar and mirin or the rice was a tad undercooked but the rice started to crumble the minute I put it in my mouth. Unfortunately, this rice texture continued throughout the meal and detracted from the array of fish served. Very sad.

As you can see, we were treated to beautiful Toro, Otoro and Chu Toro (?) AND very nice uni. Perhaps my palate has gotten used to Tatsuya's but the seared sushi did not even come close to Ronnie's version. It could be a case of the student surpassing the master here or I could have become brainwashed by Tatsuya's. I had stopped going for a while as they had become incredibly expensive after winning the award from the World Gourmet Summit, but after paying about $200 per person at Nogawa, I may just be dining at Tatsuya's more often now.

Nogawa has another restaurant at the Sentosa Golf & Country Club. Perhaps I should go there for comparison. It's hard to believe that I was so disappointed with the master chef. One must note that Mr. Nogawa was not there and we were served by Chef Kevin. Unfortunately, Kevin did introduce each sushi as most chefs usually do when serving pieces individually but maybe he thought we were sushi connoisseurs or we were too deep in conversation.

2am Dessert Bar, Holland Village, Singapore

As the name reflects, this dessert place is open til 2 am. It is the place for very sinful desserts if that's what rings your bell.

2am is located at the end of Lorong Liput, the street which is home to great shops like Parisilk Store (the mother of all consumer electronics shops), Provence (fantastic Japanese-French Bakery) and of course, Pet Lovers Centre (your dog's one-stop wonderland).

Left : Amadei Chili Chocolate

Below Left : Warm Chocolate Tart

Below Right : Hot Chocolate with Churros

The Amadei Chili Chocolate is very unique and actually very suited to the Singapore palate. However, for those who can't take spicy food, stay away. It actually packs quite a punch. As for the Warm Chocolate Tart, it was beautifully presented with blood orange sorbet as an accompaniment. My favorite however, was the Hot Chocolate, the highlight being the cinnamon sugar coated churros. It comes with three but you can ask for an extra order of 5 for $4 more. The five churros are well worth the money if you are a churro fan. I made the mistake of not dipping the churros into the hot chocolate which meant that I did not finish my hot chocolate. It turned out to be too thick to finish on its own and not sweet enough as it did not have the benefit of the sugar from the churros.

The ambience was simple and chic. I particularly liked the Bed Supper Club type lounge seating meaning that you can recline while enjoying your decadent desserts. How good can life get? They currently have a one-for-one Mumm's Champagne offer if you use your UOB card. Chocolate and alcohol are lethal partners, but oh, the parties you will have.

2am is available for private parties as well. This is one place to visit if you have a midnight craving for rich desserts.

21A Lorong Liput
Holland Village
Tel: +65 6291 9727

Friday Lunch At L'Olivier

This place was barely 2 days old when we decided to give it a try for our weekly Friday lunch. Expectations were a little high, based on initial biased reviews, but then again, I hadn't eaten breakfast, so any food is good food for me that day.

We arrived to a very empty restaurant in the heart of the financial district. I guess word of mouth hadn't gotten round the block yet. Which was a good thing - we were ensured a nice quiet meal. The waiter brought us to the corner of the restaurant with booth seats, a great vantage point to check out the rest of the room and the people strolling past outside.

The set lunch for S$26.00++ looked tempting, and a good deal, so we decided to give it a try, along with the house wine on promotion for the month. My squid fritters appetizer was accompanied by grilled eggplant slivers, salsa and pesto sauce, and tasted ordinary, but well prepared. The main course of pan fried seabass was also well done, with a good creamy hollandaise sauce and pomme noisette. Again, nothing out of the ordinary, but delicious nonetheless. The dessert was a plum tart that was excellent, and we also ordered a serving of profiteroles to share.The chocolate sauce was a bit sweet, could have been more bitter with some quality Valrhona chocolate add to the mix. For the price, this was a very good meal, and we had a good time. The dinner ala carte menu looked more tempting, and we'd definitely be back to give it a try soon.

L'Olivier is located at 137 Telok Ayer Street, downtown Singapore. Tel: +65-6227-6022

Edward Voon - Still Magnificent

The first blog I posted here featured Aurum, a now-defunct restaurant at Clarke Quay, helmed by Chef Edward Voon. Penang-born Voon is, in my opinion, one of the most daring chefs on our shores. I am happy to hear that he will soon become Singaporean as this may reduce the likelihood of him leaving for more receptive climes overseas AND I can selfishly continue to enjoy his beautiful and tasty creations.

Ed is now Head Chef at the Tower Club at the top of Republic Plaza and currently their best kept secret around. He tells me that he can arrange a 6-course set lunch for $40 if we call ahead. I can't believe he has not opened his own restaurant yet but I am sure he will find a willing tycoon somewhere to finance a culinary home of his own in time. I had the privilege of having a farewell dinner for a friend planned at the restaurant and luckier still that Chef Voon decided to test his new "tapas" concept menu on (lucky) us. Just be warned that unlike Tippling Club or even Fifty-three, you will not leave hungry. On this evening we had a 23-course dinner of various shapes and sizes :

1. Foire gras in port wine reduction
2. Tomato biscuit
3. Walnut sponge
4. Green olives
5. Evaporated strawberries
6. Carrot wafer
7. Parmesan cut sandwhiches
8. Crispy bread sheets with olive oil emulsion and olive oil butter
9. Daquiri
10. Beef tendon with bone marrow dip
11. Ravioli with olive oil & shrimp
12. Sangria
13. Lychee passion fruit Caviar
14. Parma ham topped with bread crumbs
15. Caprese salad, tomato soup filled with mozarella garnished with breadcrumbs, balsamic vinegar and pesto.
16. Spanish omelette with caramelised onions and potato
17. Mushroom essence spaghetti with truffle and chive
18. Poached egg (Parmesan cheese) on birds nest (liquified morel mushrooms).
19. White truffle soup with chocolate soil and mozarella
20. Salmon with mustard
21. Suckling pig
22. Yogurt mochi with berries
23. Chocolate ganache, cake, drop, parfait and purée

Pietrasanta at Portsdown

Was looking for something new to take my folks out to lunch on a Friday, and I happened to remember this new Italian restaurant right in the heart of Portsdown Road in Singapore. Not exactly the lunch crowd gathering spot, so I figured this would be a quiet place for a family meal. We reserved a table inside the cozy restaurant adorned with simple homely decorative items, which reminded me a lot of the old Cantina restaurant down the road from where we stay.

The menu was quite extensive, covering everything from appetizers and soups to entrees with pasta, seafood and main courses of meat, pizza and specials of the day. The only thing that seemed to be missing from the menu was carpaccio. Maybe there was a reason, but I didn't ask. The waitress went on and on about the specials of the day, and I lost track of what I wanted to order from the menu. We ended with most of the special dishes - burata, grilled portobello, chestnut flour crepes and the squid ink pasta with crab meat in tomato sauce.

The appetizers of burata, served with parma ham and arugula, and the grilled portebello with minced meat topping were both equally good. But it was the mains that we liked best. The chestnut crepe was filled with layers of ham, mushrooms and cheese and baked till crispy. It had a most unusual flavor and tasted amazing, My squid ink pasta dish was even better, the tomato sauce was a good tangy complement to the sweetness of the fresh crab meat. Needless to say, we cleaned up our plates and left no room for dessert. So that will have to wait another day. I'm very impressed with the quality of food at Pietrasanta, it's definitely a much better choice that Soprano's across the driveway.

Pietrasanta is located at 5B Portsdown Road, next to Klee and Soprano's.

Rocks Urban Bar & Grill, The Sail, Singapore

My search for high-quality set lunches around our fair little city-state continued with my visit to Rocks Urban Bar & Grill. Started by Emmanuel Stroobant and Roxan Villareal, Rocks has a nice and different location with what will be a good view of the new Sands resort. Currently, we were treated to mounds of brown earth where grass will be in the future.

The set lunch seemed to be a good deal at $38++ and the warm bread that they served us while we surveyed the menu made us feel very optimistic about the quality of food we were about to partake in. Of course, we had champagne to accompany our meal.

For starters, one MUST try the Kingfish Ceviche with fleur de sal, chili, lime and shallot. Tasting this took me back to the best ceviche I ever enjoyed on Isla Espiritu Santo, Mexico, where the ceviche was chilled and fresh while the beach I was on was warm and beautiful. Of course, this was served on a plate while the other one I had was served on a tostada shell out of a cooler box. Their other signature dish is the Sizzling Beef Maki served on a hot rock which the waiter assured us did not come from the wall decoration. I usually hesitate ordering oysters from new restaurants as there is very little margin for error and perhaps insufficient turnover for freshness. However, these coffin bay oysters were lovely. Even the one amongst us who usually avoids oysters, declared them the tastiest that she's ever had.

The mains did not disappoint. I had the Rocks Cheeseburger which was extremely filling and I found myself with leftovers. It did not help that it was accompanied by french fries which actually tasted very good despite my food portion exceeding my stomach space. The Seafood Skewers were grilled to perfection. Fragrant from the grill, even the squid was not rendered chewy. Wonderful. Of course, one must try the Wagyu Tenderloin, it was very well flavoured but not overwhelmingly so. The Cod Papillote Provencale with tapanade was also very nice. The flavours were subtle and blended very well with the fish.

The set lunch is an extremely good deal for the amount and quality of food that you get. The service was impeccable and they hosted our birthday celebration with efficiency and graciousness. They even offered to sing a birthday song, which we opted to do ourselves in the end. I would definitely put this place on my "Friday lunch with Friends" list.

Rocks Urban Bar & Grill
2 Marina Boulevard
The Sail . # 02 – 01/02
SINGAPORE 018987
Phone: 64384404