Akanoya Robatayaki

This restaurant was a last minute decision to pre-empt an otherwise boring weekend stuck in town. We decided to splurge a little on some good Japanese food and Akanoya came to mind. Located in the Orchard Parade Hotel downtown Singapore, the restaurant was a noisy, bustling joint that seemed to have created an authentic dining experience right out of Tokyo. Even the waiters appeared to be mostly Japanese.

Food was served robatayaki style, prepared, cooked and handed to you via a long wooden paddle as you sat in front of the counter and watched the chefs at work. We ordered an array of dishes, from grilled tatami fish, vegetables to seafood, beef, pork and gingko nuts. Highlights of the meal were the jumbo prawns, wagyu beef and Hokkaido crab legs.

Only top quality ingredients could transform a simple grilled vegetable or fish into a mouthwatering feast. All this can sometimes make robatayaki a pricey indulgence that some would be unwillingly to pay for simply grilled food items.

Akanoya is located at 1 Tanglin Road, #01-01, Orchard Parade Hotel, Singapore. Tel: +65-6732-1866.

Mr&Mrs Bund for lunch

Ok, I have to admit, I can't seem to get enough of this restaurant along the Bund. Food is excellent and always innovative and not too experimental, service is very good by Shanghai standards, and to top it all off, the location is perfect for a meal out on the Bund.

Few restaurants draw me back to this part of town as often as Mr&Mrs Bund, save for M on the Bund and Jean Georges. Typically, out of habit, I would head to M on the Bund for my last supper (heheh) on my last day in town, but today I felt like trying the the lunch at Mr&Mrs Bund. I was pleased to discover that they had a reasonably priced lunch set menu, with a number of my favorite dishes on it too.

But today, I opted to try only new dishes, so I picked the grilled cold chicken breast starter, the black rod steamed in a bag and their signature dessert, Lemon and Lemon tart. The chicken starter was an unusually large serving, but tasted fantastic even when cold.

The black cod was excellent as usual, and was always my favorite comfort food here. The dessert was quite interesting, consisting of a large lemon served on a plate with a biscuit. As I broke the skin of the lemon, I found lemon cream, orange slices and sorbet inside, quite the visual treat. The waiter informed me that the candied lemon rind was edible too.

Overall, I was pleased with my lunch experience, and this will definitely be on my list of top lunch venues if I can find the time while in Shanghai.

That top-of-the-world feeling

Who would have thought that a restaurant called simply the Dining Room would be able to provide such a wonderful, sublime eating experience for me tonight? The fact that it was the second highest restaurant in the world didn't even cross my mind until I was seated by the window. Looking down 85 floors below, I could see the whole city beneath my feet. But I digress; the restaurant built it's reputation on serving one of the most exquisite meals in Shanghai and my expectations were high tonight.

A meal at the Dining Room is no trivial affair, and by Shanghai standards, prices are high in the stratosphere. But I also wanted to try as many of their signature dishes as possible, so it seemed the seasonal degustation menu was the obvious choice for the night.

The dinner started with the restaurant's signature flower crab salad with tri-color cherry tomatoes, rocket leaves and fava beans. Everything about the dish was outstanding, every ingredient was fresh and delicious. The first course whetted my appetite, and so I had high expectations for the next dish. 

Out came the foie gras done two ways, one piece seared and topped with apricot and lavender glaze, the other served as a terrine with lavender jelly and vanilla apricot topping. This second course surpassed the first by a long stretch, and I was in foie gras heaven! The use of lavender was something refreshing, fragrant with a hint of bitterness, contrasting very well with the citrus flavor of the apricot. 

The third dish consisted of another one of my favorite ingredients - roasted black cod, and this dish was served with diced octopus and basil mashed potato. The cod was perfectly cooked, I loved the tenderness of the octopus pieces but the basil flavor of the mashed potato won me over.

The next dish was pan seared beef tenderloin served with sour cream and chives over potato dauphine. The beef was definitely of a much higher grade than those served in the local restaurants. I was curious and enquired with the waiter, who informed me that the hotel had a special arrangement with a private Japanese-run boutique ranch in Australia's Ranger Valley to supply their meats. What a brilliant move. 

By the end of this course, I was hoping dessert would be something light, but I was shocked when the waiter brought a football sized chocolate ball to my table. Seeing the look of utter disbelief written on my face, he assured me that the dessert was not as big as it looked. As the hot chocolate sauce was poured over the chocolate ball, it crumbled and melted before my eyes to reveal a tiny chocolate cake at the center of the plate. The hot chocolate sauce blended well with the melted chocolate ball, creating a two-toned medley of chocolate sauces around the cake. The cake alone would have been a delight - chocolate mousse on top, chocolate ice cream at the bottom, but paired with the sauce, absolutely brilliant!

Tonight's dinner at the Dining Room certainly was out of this world, and with a glass of Malbec, it set me back about 950RMB. Sky high prices for a sky high restaurant, but it was worth every penny for the experience.

The Dining Room is located inside the Park Hyatt Shanghai Hotel, in Pudong Shanghai.

Sunday brunch at Issimo

It was a rainy Sunday morning as I headed out to town for brunch at Issimo, the Italian restaurant located inside the JIA boutique hotel in the Jing'An district of Shanghai. The entrance was at the corner of the building, with a flight of stairs leading upstairs to the dining room vi a a mirrored staircase of diamond shaped glass. Issimo was stylishly modern, and bright, with a lot of natural lighting and a nice vibe that made me feel very comfortable. I got a table by the window, and ordered a juice while waiting for my friend to show up.

The menu selection for brunch was short, but I spotted a few items that I immediately liked. They had a 4 course set menu with my favorite choices, so that was an easy decision for me to make.

For starters, I had the grilled octopus salad with long beans and grilled peppers. The octupus was a little chewy, but otherwise had a nice smokey flavor and tasted fresh. Then came the squid ink ravioli with manila clams, cherry tomatoes and a poached egg. It was an odd combination of ingredients, but nonetheless tasted quite nice. 

For my main, I had the proscuitto wrapped salmon served with a cream sauce that was well done. I was impressed by the first three courses, but the dessert was a bit of a let down, consisting of a chcoolate gelato, a cheese cake and a chocolate mousse. They were all good, but not outstanding, and gave me the impression that there was a lack of effort on the part of the kitchen team.

Overall, a very enjoyable brunch, food was delicious, service was excellent and prompt, and I loved the decor. The lounge and bar in front of the dining room were also good reasons to return for dinner someday to check out the scene.

Restaurant Martin in Shanghai

I had the day off, and decided to try something new for lunch. While digging through the local restaurant review sites, I found Restaurant Martin, the Shanghai location for three-star Michelin chef Martin Berasategui's award winning restaurant, a contemporary of Ferran Adrian. I was puzzled why none of my friends or colleagues ever mentioned this restaurant to me. Certainly a restaurant with such a reputation should have been in the news more often, or perhaps mentioned in the same breath as M on the Bund. Perhaps the food wasn't up to par, or the service was atrocious, well, there was only one way to find out.

Restaurant Martin was located in a very charming and majestic heritage mansion built in the 1920s inside Xujiahui Park. This alone should have made this a very popular establishment with the fine dining crowd. I stepped into the foyer of the restaurant slightly after noon, and was shown to my table on the upper level, inside a charming dining room with four tables. There was already a table of four Japanese women lunching as I entered.

I ordered the seasonal set lunch, which comprised of three courses and a dessert. I had high hopes for the first course, which was chilled peach gazpacho, because summer time has always been the best for the sweetest peaches. The gazpacho was served with oilve oil drizzled on top and tasted awesome, slightly chilled with a strong peach flavor that balanced well with the olive oil and tomato puree. The texture was so smooth it was like eating spoonfuls of my flavored yoghurt.

The second course was poached egg with hollandaise sauce over caviar and seasoned with truffle oil. This dish tasted light, the caviar was a very good choice, as was the touch of truffle oil. Overall, a medley of flavors that won me over right away.

My main course consisted of pan fried monkfish with steamed vegetables. It had been a long time since I had my last monkfish meal, so this was another dish I was very much looking forward to. When cooked right, monkfish can taste very much like lobster meat, and Restaurant Martin's version was cooked just right.

For dessert, I had the star anise flavored ice cream over carrot creme brulee, drizzled with olive oil. This was truly a very unique dessert, the flavors were extraordinary, simple yet delicious. I wished the portion was a bit more generous.

My overall dining experience at Restaurant Martin was amazing. Not cheap, by Shanghai standards, but considering the quality of food and excellent service, it was well worth it. Sunday brunch might be the perfect time to come back, for good food and long walks in Xujiahui Park.

Back to T8

On my way back from the Shanghai Expo, I decided to swing by Xintiandi to check out the scene. Unfortunately, I didn't see any restaurants that interested me after walking both the south and north blocks, which invariably meant I had only one decent choice for dinner that night. So I headed over to T8.

It has been at least a couple of years since I dined there, so I was expecting a lot of new items on the menu. The restaurant was very crowded when I walked in, but fortunately, they always had some seats available by the counter. 

Truffle was featured on the menu, so I picked an entree and a main for my meal. The bread was served in their signature cup holder, with butter and a dipping sauce. I was glad that some things haven't changed at T8. My entree was corn soup with ravioli and truffles over a cream sauce. A little heavy on the calories, but the soup was wonderful and the truffle flavor lifted the soup above the ordinary. 

My main course was roasted chicken wrapped in bacon, and stuffed with truffles, served over cauliflower puree and pickled cabbage. The chicken was very tender and flavors of the bacon, cabbage and the truffles blended together very well.

It was good to know that T8 has managed to maintain its high standards after the last few years, and has stayed true to its creative culinary edge. But with the new restaurants sprouting all around Shanghai over the past year, it looks like the competition is heating up with the likes of Mr&Mrs Bund and Restaurant Martin following closely behind. For me, T8 will always remain a favorite, and possibly the only reason I would return to Xintiandi.

Club Vietnam at the FCC

I came across a restaurant called Club Vietnam at the FCC while searching the internet for good Vietnamese food in Shanghai. Having been to the FCC in Siem Reap a few months ago, I thought this might be an affiliation. I only found out much later that FCC meant "Foreign Culture Club", the brainchild of a Hong Kong restaurateur. But this didn't stop me from giving Club Vietnam a try, after reading about the fine reviews from local publications.

Club Vietnam is located in an enclave of old Shanghainese houses off Julu Road. The FCC building itself houses several F&B establishments, one of which was Club Vietnam. The other, a private dining restaurant called Manchuria, was on the other side of the building together with the Wine Cellar. Club Vietnam is a white affair, white marble tables paired with white chairs and plain white walls. Not much in terms of decor, but at least it offers a modern minimalist albeit slightly boring dining environment. The menu was rather extensive, and I took a while to settle on the appetizer sampler, and the deep fried snapper with tamarind sauce. I also ordered a glass of their house sangria.

The first course arrived, and I was presented with a spread of three classic Vietnamese appetizers - grilled Vietnamese prawn cakes with homemade dipping sauce, skewered prawns and garlic, and fried spring rolls. I loved all three appetizers, they were very authentic.

My snapper arrived on a large plate smothered in tamarind sauce. The flavor was unbelievably good, so good, that I had to order a bowl of white rice to accompany it.  It actually reminded me of a similar dish I had in Chiang Mai.

Overall, the meal was excellent, and ranks up there with some of the better ones I've eaten in recent years. I never thought I'd find good Vietnamese food in Shanghai, but I guess if there's a market for excellent and authentic Thai cuisine like Simply Thai, then I guess there's a niche for a restaurant like Club Vietnam to thrive.