Tatsuya, Goodwood Park Hotel, Singapore

Nothing evokes the promise of the weekend like a well-planned Friday lunch.  With the right food and the right company, the rest of the weekend offers, at that moment, seemingly endless delight.  

On this day I had all three, a wonderful Aburi Sushi lunch, the company of my family and the promise of a weeklong Bali holiday starting with my day off this particular Friday.  I love Friday lunches!

Slow food for a slow day

We woke up this morning to very wet and cold weather in the city. Not the best of days to be out, but since this is Sunday after all, and we have our usual brunch ritual to maintain, we dragged our asses to the neighborhood cafe for some hot grub. Unfortunately, the line outside Mission Beach was massive as usual, and parking was non-existent for the next 3 blocks around the Mission area. So we decided to head farther afield to try our luck.

Soon, we found ourselves around the Potrero Ave and Mariposa St junction, and walked into Slow Club just as the rain started to fall again. While waiting for our table, I searched for restaurant reviews online and found out they were famous for the turkey sausage hash. And that would be my meal this morning.

Slow Club's famous turkey sausage hash uses fresh organic ingredients from local producers - butternut squash, garnet yams, apples, yukon gold potatoes, caramelized onions, baby arugula, two poached eggs with cheddar cheese, and served with a side of fresh artisan grilled bread from Acme bakery. I've always had a soft spot for butternut squash and caramelized onions so this dish certainly hit the spot for me. I loved the poached eggs that oozed onto the hash as I dug my fork into it. The sweetness of the yam and onions combined with the yolk and turkey sausage to make a very tasty mouthful of organic orgasm. Definitely worth coming back for seconds, but I also miss the scrambles over at Mission Beach Cafe terribly and couldn't help thinking of next Sunday's brunch venue already.

Slow Club is at 2501 Mariposa St, San Francisco, CA94110, 415-241-9390

Return to Maverick

I like this place a lot. And it's in the neighborhood. Matthew the co-owner and manager always seems to be in a funny mood to entertain us. Tonight we were talking about the art installation he had in the main dining area of the restaurant. It consisted of old wooden speaker boxes refurbished as light boxes with parts of the map of the USA embedded in it. It was certainly something unique and different, but that's what makes Maverick such a maverick. Anyway, I have digressed from my original intention for this entry, and that's about the food.

Tonight, I decided I needed comfort food, and nothing says comfort louder than Southern fried chicken, all dipped in buttermilk and deep fried with cornflour to perfection, with a side of kale, grits and gravy. My southern Florida roots are showing again. I also ordered the orange cauliflower soup for starters, and it was one of the best cauliflower soup I've ever had. Maybe that's the reason why I keep coming back to Maverick, they serve such simple dishes with ease and yet amazing in taste. And they always seem to be a regular mention in the local monthly San Francisco magazine (which is where I usually get my leads for the next big thing to eat in this city). We ended the meal with profiteroles and olive oil ice cream. It was a perfect meal for a wet weekend in San Francisco.

I didn't think crab porridge could taste this good

For Mom's birthday this year, we selected Matsugawa for a Japanese feast. My brother knew the chef well, and had already put in a request for his special king crab porridge. We arrived with hungry stomachs and excited about the meal being prepared. First up was grilled scallops with spicy cod roe. The scallops were gigantic and the spicy roe sauce complimented the sweetness of the scallops perfectly.

My brother thought the spicy roe was a tad too salty, but I felt it washed down well with an Asahi. Next up was a selection of fresh sashimi, followed by crispy fried baby river shrimp. Then there was the giant clam broth, very sweet and delicious. After another round of Asahi came the fried butterfish, so crispy that you could eat the entire fish, bones and all. The dishes were not particularly big, but for small eaters like us, it was the right proportion. And they all went down well with beer.

Finally, our last dish was the king crab porridge. It was served with a few pieces of fried tofu and chopped spring onion on top, while the slight yellow tinge of the broth hinting at the amount of crab roe that had gone into the dish. The crab flavor was very evident, this was a very hearty and satisfying dish, and best of all, there was enough for seconds. My Mom was very pleased, and that was the whole point.

Matsugawa is located at The Pines Club, 30 Stevens Road, Singapore. Tel: +65-6731-5776

The hippest Kitchen in town

Had lunch with a friend at The Kitchen in the W Hotel, Hong Kong. The buffet spread was in the "kitchen" of the restaurant, making the dining experience a little amusing. Add the LCD panels substituting as paintings that moved, and you get a very hip dining experience with top notch service complete with handsome waiters in smart suits. The food was excellent, very high quality and well prepared - loved the salad and cold dish spreads at one end of the kitchen.The customized-to-order tempura was a nice touch as well, but save room for the desserts. All the pastries look decadent and yummy.

I love the tongue firmly in cheek humor injected into the restaurant decor, from the books used as place mats, white poultry pieces and the stacked bowls in the display cabinets all lend a cool factor to The Kitchen, but then again, that's the signature W touch across all their hotels around the globe.

Hog crazy over Hog Island Oysters

A visit to Hog Island Oyster Co used to be my weekly Fri afternoon ritual when I was living in the bay area. I'd drag a friend over to the Ferry Building where the bistro is located and feast on freshly shucked oysters and clams and downing a glass of bubbly. Life used to be so simple, and tasty.

Now that I'm back in town for a week, I had to make the trip out here to resurrect the old habit. This is still one of the freshest spots for local oysters, delivered fresh daily from Tomales Bay just half an hour north of San Francisco. They also serve one mean manila clam chowder, probably the best I've had, and usually eaten with the accompanying rustic sourdough bread and steamer clams.

Room with a Vue

I recently came to the realization that the hotel where I usually stayed at when in Shanghai had an excellent bar and grill on the top floor of the building. Situated on the 30th floor of Hyatt On The Bund, Vue commands a stunning panoramic vista of the Bund and the Pudong financial district with the new IFC building taking centerstage. It was a company team dinner, so my dinner table companions weren't the exact type I'd want to be dining with when partaking in a new dining experience.

I love everything about Vue's decor, you can spot a good design when you see it, and this one says Super Potato all over. Their signature style was everywhere, from the porcelain in the foyer to the dining area murals and walled cabinets and the overall warmth of the furniture and lighting.

We were here for steak and we were presented with a list of various fine cuts for our selection. I changed my mind at the last minute and opted for pork chops instead, and we all ordered side dishes to share. The pork chops were very tasty and well marinated, and as side dishes go, the roasted forest mushrooms, creamed spinach and glazed carrots were some of the best I've had in steakhouses.

If it wasn't for the fact that my company uses this hotel extensively for our travels, I'd come back for steak more often. I like to escape when I come into Shanghai and get lost in this old world-new world charm, and I'd hate to ruin the experience by meeting a coworker dining in the same restaurant and inevitably get into a conversation about work yet again.

Vue is at 199 Huangpu Lu, Hyatt On The Bund, Shanghai, China.