Gunther's

F(oodb)loggers: A bunch of prominent names clad unfamiliar faces. You follow them, read them, feel with them... yet hold completely no idea what is behind those illustrious reviews. I'm glad i met 23 at the Annual Food Bloggers' Lunch.

Our menu for the day was intently planned to showcase Chef Gunther Hubrechsen's well-rounded skills, covering 4 courses at $45 nett.

Every formal meal begins with bread. Gunther's artisanal take is shaped like a mini baguette, nastily hard-crusted but handy to hold. Sniff its yeasty essence with your eyes shut... you'll find a gist of fresh scone lurking.

Japanese tomato

Kickstarting proper, we had an unassuming Japanese Tomato, vanilla beans & fava bean which intrigued. The vivid red wedge took charge to inject a sharp sensation, forcing the vanilla bean treasures to fade in the background. What a waste.

Cold Angel-hair pasta, caviar

Many gleed upon the appearance of Gunther's signature Cold Angel-hair pasta, caviar with a waft of truffle oil fragrance. The aldente capellini, beautifully slickened and luxuriously topped, made every strand remarkable memorable.

Poached white asparagus, Bouchot mussels

My virgin attempt of the rare white asparagus took off with his Poached white asparagus & Bouchot mussels. The soft slender stick displayed no resistance to the knife, harmoniously dabbed with a hollandaise & balsamic syrup duo. And those wine-spiked baby mussels? Simply splendid.

Grilled Cote de Boeuf, Japanese sweet-corn, sauce Bordelaise

Roasted black pig (pata negra)

While most had their Grilled Cote de Boeuf, my beef-abstinence saw a substitution of Roasted Black Pig (pata negra)- a specie hailing from Spain. Tender fillet, heavy on salt, lined with traces of intertwining fats that melts. Not a fan of red meat but this is a rewarding dish. Loved the uber sweet japanese corn!

Fine apple tart a la dragees, rum & raisin ice-cream

Dessert felt like an oriental roundup. The Fine apple tart a la dragees bore an uncanny resemblence to the Shanghainese red bean pancake, albeit tougher. Apple fillings were almost unidentifiable but the Rum & raisin icecream clearly bore its sweet characteristic.

No doubt an excellently prepared meal. But the most pleasurable thing had to be the unanimous (food)snapping throughout the table, the opportunity to dine & mingle with food passionates- who all lives to eat. That kind of feeling is unsurpassed.

Thanks to Brad & Yixiao for organizing!

Gunther's Modern French Cuisine

36 Purvis Street #01-03

6338 8955

Barracks

Meet S.Shortcake Version 2, in a mesh tin.

(Barracks: Living quarters for personnel on a military post)

I stand by this zany idea of turning the former army barracks into a spa+cafe+bar hautespot, and desserts purveyed in such camp-reminding nests. The result: groups of fancifully dressed ladies knocking for sunday brunch.

We knew not to miss House's signature Bay Prawn Capellini ($22), which contained the usual suspects of prawn aglio olio and a couple of unknown secret add-ons.

The 3-Berry Ahi Sandwich ($18) was chosen out of sheer interest, and turned out quirkily fine. Fresh marinated tuna cubes, rocket & an odd bunch of berries spilled out of heavy classic ciabatta slices. Just give those straight cut fries a miss- they smelt seriously strong of frozen origins.

First it says 'flourless & gluten free'. Then it read, 'chocolate cake coated with milk chocolate ganache and topped with candied almonds'. Believe it or not, the Guiltless Almond Chocolate Cake ($12) does taste as guiltless as it looks.. except for that sinful pricetag.

Forget about searching for the best genoise sponge-chantilly cream-fresh strawberry entrement, cause Barrack's Strawberry Shortcake ($9.50) deserves more unique attention. Soft sugar-dusted cake is alternated with layers of delicious stewed strawberry preserves & a shot of vanilla sauce by side. i'm happier skipping the cream for once.

I have to return for more House desserts.

Barracks
8D Dempsey Road
#01-01/06 Tanglin Village

My Mugging Companion...

froyo, froyo and lots of froyo!

Here's a BerryLite small original topped with pomegranate seeds, almond flakes & a messy cap of green tea powder. Just as im excitedly preparing to share my latest food adventures (& progressing out of blogging-procrastination), the second set of blocktests have to hit ): while other schoolgoers embark on their month-long vacation, im banished back into mugging mode again. Mister SLR currently takes its well-deserved break at home to create bag space for those piles of studying materials.

The downsides of day-camping in a froyo shop?

Moderation mysteriously vanishes from the dictionary. Be it Berrylite, Slurps n Scoops, Yoguru, Red Mango, WhYogurt, the Yogurt Place (maybe Yami yogurt?)... i can't get enough of anything yogurt AND frozen. yums.

& the knitted bonds of their staffs triggered envy. i miss the waitressing times at Pastamania, and all my lovely colleagues there who tripled the fun (: Alrites, time to plonk back to the notes and countdown to (the end of) my 3.5 hour paper when dawn breaks...

62-35-35-35, Pizza Hut Delivery

All thanks to Mr Fong, an unprecedented bet and our class' budding persuasion skills, we had hot pizzas delivered to college one day (HOT stickers inclusive). That very physics tutorial reshaped my impressions of Pizza Hut.

Honey Roasted Wings

No stranger to all, Hawaiian knocks on every pizza-eater's door like an old family friend. This chicken ham and pineapple chunk classic was simply, well-received.

The Orleans Chicken contained almost everything nice on a pizza- spicy chicken chunks, roasted chicken, pineapple chunks & button mushrooms. Liked this one.

BBQ Chicken Supreme, drizzled with a tang of sweetness. Once again the chicken-pineapple action 'cept with additional capsicums and BBQ sauce.

Must have been that new Viva crust, the evident improvement in ingredients, or maybe even the extra coating of stretchy cheese... but Pizza Hut have successfully departed from the greasy pie-thick pizza disasters.



congrats, Viva.

62-35-35-35

Pizza Hut Delivery~

P.S. Cafe, Palais Rennaisance

I felt like i was in a cake museum staring at monstrous exhibits. The Pineapple Meringue Tart was eye-rubbingly unbelievable in stature.

5 out of 10

would feel intimidated, eventually evade from the calorific sin.

2 out of 10

would find a friend and share the joy over cautious forkfuls.

2 out of 10

would aim to have it all alone but surrender at the 3rd quarter.

The sole dessert junkie would clean it up & burp bubbles of glee.

& there's always one girl who loves her vanilla beanies sooo much, she'll attempt to force a scoop of VB icecream on her desserts, no matter big or small.

that's me (:

No dieticians will approve of cheesecake & icecream on a plate but i'm highly magnaminous towards even the most mismatched bliss. Take for instance, the peculiar LEMON-GINGER-CHEESE coupling in PS's Lemony Ginger Cheesecake ($12.90). Fluffy cheese entwining a mist of lemon and the unpertubing root spice... gingerly secures a spot in the cheesecake-favourites!

The Vanilla Bean Icecream ($2) was just too dwarfly for my giant icecream appetite.

The serious chocolate lovers would go gaga over the massive Chocolate Crunch Doorstop Cake ($15.90), cramming caramelized nuts between C mousse & dense C cake. Because even i almost got tippled over to the (C)dark side.

What's a good cake without its complementary partner. The soothing effect of hot Chamomile Tea was indeed helpful. & now im drooling for more Sticky Lemon Florentine / GINGER pudding/ M's Carrot Cake, blah blah...

in hope of clinching the Dessert Junkie title soon.

P.S. I fancy skyhigh desserts.

with a scoop of VB icecream.

PS CAFE

390 Orchard Road

#02-09A Palais Rennaisance

G.Chicken Epidemic

Grilled Chicken Bun. wanted.

Griled Chicken Foldover. wanted wanted.

Mcdonald's Sg have abruptly ceased production of all their g.chicken items, without prior notice. i wonder why.

this is a swine flu not (g)chicken flu ):

im off to Carl's Jr.

Period.

Timbre, The Arts House

You can count on places like Timbre to prove the hey, pizza's not just about Italians! vindications. Cause a recent experience here only made my fetish (for pizzas) grow fonder.

It was an insane night. We endured curious stares from neighbouring drinkers/snackers as the two of us crammed our tiny table with bulky pizza boards instead of Timbre's alcoholic concoctions. Warning: sharing a pizza for dinner is not part my nature.

Gosh how i loved their pizzas!

Timbre's Seafood prawns, squid rings, mussels, sliced red chilli German Sausage & Peppers spicy debreziner, cheese pork sausage, herbed pork sausages, capsicums

Tandoori Chicken grilled chicken breast in tandoori spice, roma tomatoes, grilled yellow n green zucchinis, sliced yellow onions Roasted Garlic Shrimp shrimp, sliced yellow onions, roasted garlic

I present 5 concise facts about TB's pizzas & misc:

1) Half-and-Half is a smart way to go. At $19 for a considerably large size, you can savour double tastes from their 20-odd variety. being thin-crusted makes polishing off as easy as A-B-C.

2) Beware of their no-cutleries stance (prolly LittleIndia-adopted). only dessert forks come upon request, sufficient for you to salvage any fallen toppings or keep up with mum's stubborn darling,no-eating-with-your-hands-please! principle

3) Service was poor/bad/terrible. no ONE soul who works for passion detected. most are trained in forgetting your requests or not acknowledging observance at all.

4) Cheese gow gow, toppings measly. be it meat or seafood, our orders arrived relatively bald with that exception of nourishing cheese blanket.

5) Nevertheless, i laid on pizzacloud9 chewing on my few garlicky prawns & charsiew-lookalike tandoori chicken atop baked naan-y bases and cheesy mozzarella mediators. shiok.

*in M1's signature advertisement style*

... I.. LOVE IT!

(both thumbs up + head shaking inclusive)

The Grilled Chicken Kebabs ($8.90) hot off the grill was a also kickass sidekick! you've got nice meat chunks, pineapple cubes, mango salsa... & everything sweet and spicy to win another set of praises...

nah i won't continue. i'll end off with.. enough said.

Timbre

1 Old Parliament Lane

#01-04 The Arts House

6336 3386