Gordon Grill

Gordon was more than i thought.

Entering Gordon Grill clueless, expectation-less & assumption-less got me leaving positively pleased.

With 3 other food passionates, i embarked on the 3-course UOB Chef's Creation Series Lunch at $68++ for 2. Two knotty choices offered per course.

If you're cynical to why restaurants would serve a stuffing truck of bread, Gordon will enlighten you. Cos you definitely need a truckload to get enough of their bakehouse's virtues... one FULL truckload of it.

Among onion rolls, olive foccacia & brown bread slices, the first two were amazing breads to boot.

Onions & foccacia form my perfect configuration. But even when they're not merged as one, Gordon manages to form 2 impressive equations...

onion + roll = fragrant goodness

olive + foccacia = cushiony goodness

There's no reason to resist Gordon's toasted onion rolls with nice clingy innards and prevalent delightful fragrance. Then sink into an olive foccacia... whooooo i was totally wowed by its incredibly soft & fine nature! Only olive bits to view, no olive pungency to kill. Excellent stuffs worth every pre-meal calorie.

onion seconds!

Cold japanese pasta, salmon confit, caviar & white truffle oil

Hokkaido scallops, pork belly & black truffle vinaigrette

See why i say knotty?

The appetizer choices got me jammed in see-saw midpoint... One's salmon, one's scallops. One's white truffle, one's black truffle. I'm stuck.

After a long mental fight, i tippled towards Hokkaido Scallops. No regrets. A tender cushy pair, sheltered by black truffle leaves and moreish apple puree nulled the salmon-loss. The only component i couldn't link was the pork belly carpet.

Roasted turkey supreme w chestnut ballotine

Mains was a straight-forward leap. Roasted Turkey for me.

Unfortunately, glitters vanished this round. The three meagre turkey slices served with mandatories of winter vegetables, brown giblet gravy & cranberry jam performed normal at best. And i cringed at that whammy chestnut ballotine.

Grilled beef tenderloin & braised cheek

Contrastingly, the beefers fell head-over-heels for their Grilled Beef Tenderloin. This is indeed a door-stopper. It's got one thick tenderloin steak AND braised beef cheek beautifully cooked & generously capped with bordeleise sauce.

For a lunch dish, the portion is unbelievably generous.

Chestnut Creme Brulee

Luck was with them as their swooning stretched over to the Chestnut Creme Brulee. Bearing festive notes of eggy custard, chestnut chunks and an OMG kickass whisky vanilla icecream dotted with strawberry cubes, this dessert spelt c-e-l-e-b-r-a-t-i-o-n.

Rhubarb trifle & vanilla sugar donut

But nothing compares to berry-magnificence in my eyes.

My feminine Rhubarb Trifle featured 3 tiers of delight; a slightly tart yogurt-ish cream, chunky strawberry mousse and strawberry jelly base. Shovel them all with the icy strawberry granite shavings and devour.... Berriliciously delish with no hint of artificiality!

Just close an eye about that dry sugar-coated donut ball and this becomes a bullseye dessert, especially for the ladies.

Lovely company and a lovely lunch. Gordon is an elegant hunk.

Gordon Grill

22 Scotts Road

Goodwood Park Hotel

6730 1744

Rakuzen

Sometime before the exams, i joined Sistafood, myfoodsirens & J2k3 for a lunch at Rakuzen. Its always nice meeting new faces (:

welcome a new Canon EOS user!

Rakuzen is another middling japanese restaurant under the Sushi Tei group. The menu embraced full Sushi Tei aura, except slightly more inventive and pricey.

Salmon Sashimi ($10)

The first salmon sashimi slice i hoisted was especially thick, more like a wedge than slice. Beautiful radiant color, lacklustre substance.. it just fell short of the creamy content i yearned.

Atsuyaki Tamago ($6)

Without qualms i called for Atsuyaki Tamago as though Cupid was lurking... am falling prey to his flirtatious winks all the time! Mr. Rakuzen Tamagoyaki bore a likable puffy body but was desperately in need of a flavor boost.

Stamina Roll ($8)

Spider Roll ($8)

From a list of hilariously-named sushi rolls (think Dai-Dai), the sisters picked the Stamina Roll (eel & avocado maki) and Spider Roll (soft-shell crab maki) as our mains. Both were prosaic but if you ask me, i'll say go for Unagi.

Renkon Natto ($8)

Once acridly bitten at Hokkaido, twice shy, i thought i would shun natto permanently. It's characteristic smell and stringy spiderweb consistency is love-it-or-hate-it.... Until surprisingly, Rakuzen's Renkon Natto ($8) got me shovelling once more! The fermented soybeans are piled over simmered lotus root and conducively mild in taste.

Wanna try natto? Start here.

Maguro Yukke ($18)

Maguro Yukke clinched the heartthrob title that afternoon. The stack begins with creamy avocado, chopped tuna sashimi and bits of black beans topped with demi-glace and sesame seeds. A raw quail egg obediently binds the assemble together. They loved it. Value wise, i found $18++ too much to ask for those unfresh tuna.

It's been a hectic exam week and my congested CompactFlash is waiting to be emptied. Freedom is drawing near.. 9 more days to go woohoo!

Rakuzen

9 Raffles Boulevard

#02-14/19 Millenia Walk

Canele Dessert Outing: A Pictorial

Blackforest

Chocolate genoise with kirsch, layered with 66% dark chocolate mousse, chocolate crumble, kirsch chantilly and dark cherry

Sometime back, a group of us headed to Canele and filled our table solely with entremets. Chef Pang's 2009 Collection divulged a couple of new surprises so copious of his ingenius creativity. I've held no qualms about his talent since day one.

Barcelona

Almond chocolate sponge layered with orange caramel mousse, dark chocolate orange mousse and feullietine. Decorated with chocolate macaron and blood orange jelly

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake

Walnut chocolate fudge cake, chocolate chip cheese cake and dark chocolate chantily

Raspberry Cheesecake

Chocolate fudge cake, velvety smooth vanilla cheesecake glazed with raspberry jelly and rosemary-infused creme chantilly

The ten of us picked 9 cakes to engage in our very own dessert merry-go-round. Though mostly familiar to me, it was a virgin experience having sooo many of them to savour at one go! My favourites stood out almost immediately... loved the chocolate takeover in Blackforest, brilliant citrus shot in Barcelona, rich harmony in Triple Chocolate Cheesecake & the uplifting rosemaryness of the Raspberry Cheesecake.

Tiramisu

The Italian classic, made with marsala mascarpone mousse, finger sponge soaked in coffee, white rum and brandy

(clockwise from top left)

Jupiter

Parfait Manjari, exotic caramel and pecan nut nougatine on a flourless chocolate sponge with exotic coulis

Macha

Delicate green tea mousse and chestnut cremeux layered with green tea biscuit and almond crumble

Gateaux Chocolat

Dark chocolate cream, flourless chocolate sponge decorated with triple chocolate shards

Tarte Citron

Almond tart filled with lemon cream, torched Italian meringue and candied lemon peel

Canele has it all to hit bull's eye for any dessert softspots... my stand is strong on this. Had wonderful company and sweets that afternoon, thankyou all for the great time spent!

Canele Patisserie & Restaurant

252 North Bridge Road

#B1-81/82 Raffles City Shopping Centre

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