A perfect choice for lunch

I figured it was time again to do a Friday lunch with the folks. Today, I thought we'd do some French, and Les Amis seemed like the perfect place for some indulgence. Mom and I had set lunches, which consisted of wild mushroom consomme scented with summer truffles, and grilled mussels on the half shell.

Mom had the grilled duck breast and I had the seared salmon with pasta. Dad decided to stick with the special of the day, which was a hefty Matzukaya beef steak.


As meals at Les Amis go, it turned into a three hour affair and I had to rush back to work after dropping both of them off. Love this place, and their fantastically-priced set lunches. One reason I love lunches in this city where we get so spoilt for choice. I wonder if the economy had something to do with the great prices we're seeing lately in restaurants.

Tatsuya, Goodwood Park Hotel, Singapore

Living behind Orchard Road has its perks. One of my favorites is an evening stroll over to the Crown Prince Hotel to have a simple Chirashi dinner at Tatsuya's. When the Crown Prince Hotel shut down for renovations, I thought that spelled the end of my twilight enjoyment. However, favour shines on the lucky (that's me) and their new premises are now at Goodwood Park. This makes it even more convenient than before.

My colleague who is Japanese commented that the fish here is very good. In one of his later trips to Singapore, he hosted one of our Japanese clients to this resaurant during their visit. High praise indeed!

Mr. Tulk Cafe, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne

Two of my biggest passions are food and books. When you bring both of these together, it is a wining recipe that will get me there everytime.

The State Library of Victoria in Melbourne has a little cafe called Mr. Tulk Cafe. It is named after Augustus Tulk, the library's first chief librarian. It was my childhood dream to become a librarian but I very soon realised that librarians don't really get to spend all day reading books they like.

The calamari was yummy especially to the hungry but the mussells in tomato sauce were a little too salty. I had to finish the generous serving of bread that came along with it to dilute the very strong taste. I took care of that by finishing with an affogato - my favorite dessert cum after meal drink.

The place is good if you are already at the library but it would not really merit a special trip to dine there as I did.

Mr. Tulk Cafe

328 Swanston Street

+61 3 8660 5700

A little placed called Buko Nero

My brother had booked a table for 2 at Buko Nero a couple of months in advance and I had completely forgotten about it until he reminded me last night. This was one of the most hard-to-secure reservations in town, not only because the cuisine is amazing, but the fact that there restaurant is so small it only had space for half a dozen or so tables. I had heard a lot about the husband and wife team that ran the bistro, their food philosophy and their dedication to their craft by using only the freshest ingredients procured personally each morning from the local markets. Needless to say my expectations were cranked up a couple of notches higher than usual.

We started with Pappardelle with meat sauce, a simple dish full of flavor and pasta cooked al dente, and a tasty monkfish crostino. We were then served a plum and peach sorbet cleanser before our mains arrived - a crusted cod with saffron reduction and a kurobota pork sausage with balsamic reduction. Absolutely fabulous. This was the kind of food one would come to expect from more expensive fine dining establishments with exorbitant prices to match, but Buko Nero stands out as a very affordable gem in this part of town. I'd certainly make another reservation for dinner sometime soon, but with my erratic travel schedule, I'm not sure if I'll end up giving away my reservation again.


Buko Nero is at 129A Tanjong Pagar Road. Reservations are highly, highly recommended a couple of months in advance.

I Must Have Died And Gone To Croissant Heaven

It's Monday morning 8:30AM, I had a couple of hours to spare before my flight. Monday's can be hard sometimes, they hit you like a sledgehammer on the head and leave you spinning till noon. I wasn't too hungry, but a light breakfast would be perfect to cushion the start of the day. A walk around the block brought me to Tartine bakery, one of the better known pastry institutions in San Francisco. It's sister establishment, which I raved about last year over a weekend brunch, serves most of its breads and cakes from Tartine Bakery. The reason why the line snaked around the block of this corner cafe would soon be obvious to me. I ordered the vegetable quiche and an almond croissant to go with my latte. I've had many croissants in the past few years, in fact it's one of my favorite breakfast pastries despite the amount of butter that is used in the baking, but the almond croissant holds a special place in my heart because of the richness of the almond flavored filling, the toasted almond flakes on top sprinkled with icing powder and toasted to perfection. When I sank my teeth into Tartine's version, which on first impression looked a little bit on the burnt side, I knew this was a significant moment in my quest for the perfect pastry. Not too oily, very crunchy on the outside, and moist on the inside, just the right sweetness, with almond flakes drizzled with syrup and toasted around its edges. Unbelievably delicious, and well worth the $3.75.

I would have ordered a second had I not already ordered the quiche, which turned out to be equally delicious, wonderfully smooth and flavorful. French pastries and cafe fodder tend to be on the heavy side, but Tartine's versions were simply deceptively light, something which I thought was not possible until now. Obviously, this goes against my diet rules, but since I was going to embark on a 14hr trans-pacific flight in a matter of hours, this was the perfect excuse to mitigate the airplane food I was going to have to put up with. More about the airplane food later, if I have time. I'm not quite looking forward to it, but United's new menu should be a big improvement over their poor showing in the past few years I've flown with them.

By 9:00AM, the crowds started strolling in and a line was forming all the way out the door. Young families, couples on vacation, businessmen on the way to work picking up a quick fix, the neighborhood came alive with a buzz and fervent activity at the pastry counter as the bakery staff stepped up their pace to keep the patrons happy. What I scene, I felt I was sitting in a movie set watching the day's drama unfold before my eyes. I loved this city, but it was time to go.
Tartine Bakery is located at 600 Guerrero St, San Francisco, CA 94110. Tel: (415) 487-2600

My first Passover dinner experience

I've been meaning to try Firefly for the past 3 years, but was never quite made it there, for many reasons. So tonight must have been my lucky night, I was able to secure a table for 8:30PM at the last minute. I had heard many good things about Firefly and so my expectations were a little high when I arrived at the door. Above the main entrance sat a very large metal firefly sculpture with a blinking electric bulb affixed to its body. Quirky, but interesting. We were shown to a small table overlooking the main entrance, with a good view of the kitchen and the diners in the adjacent dining area. Kind of romantic, but I was there for the food, not romance.

This being Easter week, Firefly presented a special Passover menu featuring a number of traditional Jewish dishes, and some Californian fare. I have to admit this was the first time I've had a Passover meal, so this in itself was an adventure for me. I ordered gefilte fish with a two colored horseradish sauce, which was essentially cold fish dumpling meat served with a side of horseradish. Not how I would usually eat fish dumpling, but the flavor was very well balanced and delicious despite being cold. Perhaps a warm version of this would have tasted much better, over broth, but that's just the Cantonese in me talking. My main course was the beef brisket over sweet potato mash and warm gravy. The beef brisket melted in my mouth, and the sweet potato mash was an excellent complement as was the gravy. For dessert, I ordered the grapefruit sorbet with honey mousse and sliced fruit. The sorbet was very refreshing, not too sour or sweet, and the honey mousse was light as whipped cream with a delicate honey flavor. I can see why Firefly has remained so popular throughout the years, with amazing homestyle dishes that are affordable and very good value for money.
Firefly is located at 4288 24th St. San Francisco, CA 94114. Tel: (415) 821-7652

Eating French On Easter Sunday

There's a quiet French cafe located by the side of a small park in historic South Park in San Francisco with an unusually English name. Called The Butler and The Chef, this little French bistro overlooked the small park surrounded by older turn-of-the-century houses in this cul-de-sac, and as I strolled up the old lane to the cafe, I remembered the mornings I spent walking around the Montmartre quarter in Paris years ago.
The bistro was very brightly colored and cheery on the inside, fresh flowers adorning the counters, and the scent of fresh pastires wafting through the air. It seemed we were not the only early birds, the bistro was already half full. We managed to get a table at the front by the window, and were greeted by a friendly Japanese waitress, and there and then my French illusion shattered. This was San Francisco after all, and very rightly so, because all the items on the menu were organic and grown from sustainable farming methods in the neighboring farms.

Only in San Francisco. I couldn't resist ordering the Belgian waffle with blueberry preserves, bananas and fresh organic whipped cream, eggs benedict with Niman Ranch ham on the side, and an almond croissant to share. The lattes came first, followed by the croissant and the main dishes minutes later. There is something to be said about organic food, you can really taste the difference, the flavors seem more vibrant, natural and just delicious.

I'm always excited about trying new restaurants in the bay area, mostly because of the indelibly strong influence the sustainable farming and slowfood movement has on the local community. Most restaurants in the city have embraced this philosophy and has helped create a renewed awareness in healthy flavorful eating.
The Butler and The Chef is located at 155 S Park St, San Francisco, CA 94107. Tel: (415) 896-2075