Lickin' at Momofuku Milk Bar

David Chang is a genius when it comes to softserve flavors. Donut, Gingerbread, Red Velvet Cake....he's tried all the yummy dessert inspirations, even breakfast.

Down at the Midtown West store, i experienced love at first taste with one of them.

My Favorite-st: Cereal Milk Softserve TM

You have to agree this idea is brilliant. Just as Milk flavor is flooding the softserve scene, he adds a breakfast touch & made it magical. Like a wand sending gold dust all over. Amidst the creamy milk base inhibits a million tiny cereal crunchies so harmoniously blended in... the smooth finishing is remarkable. I can have this for breakfast too.

Hits-and-misses still occur. What didn't go well was the Salty Pistachio Caramel. It's warned you.

If the flavor doesn't already sound overwhelming, take a lick. Your brain will freeze in its attempt to process piercing saltiness+ uncontrolled caramel+ pistachio oils (hardly discernible). Then compute o_v_e_r_w_h_e_l_m_i_n_g. Maybe they had a bad-mixture day. Or maybe my tastebuds went faulty for a moment, but i certainly won't approve this havoc love triangle. Mid-cup was surrender point.

Go to Milk Bar, and go Cereal Milk it is.

Icecreams not your thing? Chew on one of this:

Momofuku Milk Bar

15W 56th Street

Midtown, NYC

www.momofuku.com/milkbar

Kith Cafe

the tiny tot.

Kith is a tiny hole-in-the-wall cafe.

Kith's menu is small,

but breakfast foods are always mighty.

Kith serves 4 flavours of icecreams daily.

The French Vanilla Icecream is authenticated by vanilla beans, which never fails to put a smile on my face (: Only the Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshake was less indulgent than it sounds. Perhaps because i like my milkshakes gao gao, this was slushy but lacked the full-bodied creaminess i wanted.

Kith is a hideout; cosy & likable anytime.

I'm having a thing for cafes like these!

Kith Cafe

7 Rodyk Street

#01-33 Watermark @ Robertson Quay

Aoki: My Sushi Haven

Aoki is perfection. Aoki is love.

Lunch at Aoki was sooooo good that i almost refused to leave my seat. Fine excellence aptly defines Chef Aoki's masterly finesse and it would be a total misdeed not to extol their virtues.

"tofu" otoshi

Superb sashimi and sushi wasn't the only coup; all that little thoughtful notches and details made them a clear cut above the rest. How nice to have individually unique tea cups and shoyu jars!

Lunch kick-started with a dainty gelatinous otoshi bearing a starchy aftertaste, subsequently washed off by salad greens.

salad with soy vinaigrette

Mazechirashi ($35)

If there is one dish a fervent japfoodie would eat and instantaneously nail as his prospective last meal, this stupendous Mazechirashi could be it. Sushi rice entirely buried under hordes of fresh toppings simply too many to count. There's an assortment of cubed raw fish, delicious castella tamago, lots of ikura, nibs of sweet uni (YUM) and miscellaneous minuscules scented with endearing yuzu touches. At the end of it, you've flown to Chirashi heaven~

Nigiri Sushi Jyo-sen ($30)

Nigiri execution was equally pristine. My eyes lit upon first bite... Soft supple sashimi draped over a clump of sweet vinegared rice. Precisely sliced. Meticulously molded. Ideal rice-to-fish ratio. Utterly complying. Pop one in & you're yearning for another.

I enjoyed chutoro & hamachi and doubly loved the lustrous hon maguro along with rubs of wasabi heat. Also swooped on those tamagoyaki darlings so neatly stuffed & strapped up in seaweed belts. Everyone should know by now tamagoyaki is a testament to the kitchen's skills and i dare say Aoki's sweet delicate omelette reigns over all the countless reels i've consumed. Simply top-notch!

One amazement level down was ikura gunkan, classic tekka & kappa makis which can't go wrong at Aoki-standard; followed by ika and one unduly cooked shrimp both too tough to chew.

my 2 favorites from the platter, tamago so loved.

Pair those premiums with a briney prawnhead-bobbing miso soup, especially crunchy pickles and Aoki-san's freshly grated wasabi and you completely win me over. You just did.

Dessert Trio

Dessert trio shows how an ardent kitchen would travel the extra mile to impress. No watermelons! My lovely tray comprised of a tiny sakura icecream, crystal clear ume wine jelly and a pleasing milk pudding laced with brown sugar syrup. Nothing too huge to feel queasy about.

Off food, i was engaged in Chef Aoki's dexterous slicing and assembling performance a mere armlength away. Highly captivating.

I'm convinced i just had my best japanese meal ever.

Aoki Restaurant

1 Scotts Road

#02-17 Shaw Centre

6333 8015

Umami: Nouvelle Japanese Cuisine

You put something in your mouth & it disintegrates into mystical air. The flavor is extremely palatable, magical & out of your senses. Nothing like bitter, sweet, salty or sour. Definitely more obscure than that. It hovers around pungent, savoury, meaty.... But when you rummage your wordbank for a word, you realize it is empty.

Umami.

That elusive "fifth taste" undefined.

*

Word aside, on birthday eve a friend took me to Liang Court for nouvelle Japanese cuisine opened by the Social House.

Stepping into Umami was like entering a posh bar lounge by mistake. It takes time before anyone can register the lavishly dressed environment with Japanese food. Intimidating at first, but you'll soon warm up in their swanky plush booths & affordable lunch sets ranging from $12 to $25++.

ika, maguro & salmon sashimi

Both of us picked the Assorted Sashimi Umami Style to start off our $25 Premium sets. Out of three seasonal varieties i particularly fancied the tender Maguro for its well-defined grains & fluently gliding layers.

Tamagoyaki, truffle oil & black truffle pieces ($8)



We couldn't resist ordering the Rolled Omelette with Truffle Oil from dinner menu cos i.so.love.tamagoyaki & i.so.love.truffle.oil, so how can the two not unite haha.

The idea was brilliant. I mean, if drizzling truffle oil on scrambled egg can be so agreeable, why not on tamagoyaki? Although Umami's loosely conforming layers were not traits of my ideal TMGY (i loooove sweet fluffy spongy ones), the earthy essences of truffle made it extremely bewitching. It lingered on for a few good hours...

I had Grilled Sanma for main. Check out the lovely presentation... beautiful streaks of fish protruding from an encircled deepfried body. The flesh mushy and oh so fatty~ Comes with rice & a teacup of miso soup.

If you're pining to be filled, go for the Umami Chicken Ramen & Negi Don set. Noodles+rice is the solution for any hungry man. Anyhow this ain't any plain & boring carbs- the ramen broth was milky (porkbone-effect) and rice nicely flavored.

I liked their homemade custard pudding! A dainty pot of caramelly-glazed cream as dreamy light & smooth as you would desire it to be.

Then came thunder-vs-cloud comparison when my impression of Cheese Mousse turned out unexpected yucky. Or maybe Mousse was a misleading word to use... Pudding sounds a whole world closer.

Ta-dah! Here's the elaborate dessert platter Chef Mizushima prepared for my birthday, with 2 extra scoops of icecream & 2 lovely ladies surrounding me with a zealous birthday song... really nice of them! Rum Raisin & Mango icecream icy mediocre if you ask me, but THANK YOU chef for the surprise!

Their personable service made my exit a smiling one (=

Umami Dining Lounge

177 River Valley Road

#01-26 Liang Court Shopping Centre

6333 1166

Les Artistes Bistrot

French cuisine is scaling my charts. Even without Italian's itch-hooking charms, I take jollies in dismantling those precise elements and witnessing how they click into masterpieces. The French have perfectionism in their blood, hard not to idolize.

One of dad's latest gesture was to date me for lunch at arty modern Les Artistes Bistrot, which sat mere metres away from its parent Nicholas Le Restaurant. A 3-course set lunch at $34++ offered upstanding seafood & meat options accounting for value.

Was this an amuse bouche? Well if it was.... then i certainly would have expected more complexity. Little Sesame & Parmesan puffs are too cute and tacky for credit.

Their bread belonged to the rustic bracket; slightly caramel-hued slices hinting of rye and sourdough origins.

Menu read Lobster Bisque & blue prawn ravioli. One ungarnished, bubble-crowned mug first arrived... conquered by dad before i could even say l-o-b-s-t-e-r-b-i-s-q-u-e.

"So how was the ravioli?"

"huh?"

"the blue prawn raviolis... nice?"

"huh? there's nothing inside."

Great. Dad swallowed an entire bowl of Lobster Bisque without raviolis, and had to start all over again when a replacement arrived lol. Thankfully (or not) their soup was considerably watered down, more like lobster broth than a cream-stiffened bisque. No crustacean chunks unearthed from it either.

Lesson learnt: Always check for raviolis your soup before you zoom.

My appetizer was a Marinated Tasmanian Ocean Trout "Gravelax', lemon, kaffir lime and coriander, crispy crouton. Frankly speaking none of those bling blings came through. The trout was civilly natured- smooth and sparing on sodium, with three dill cream lashes forming the solitary flavor.

The Cod Fish 'Cote D'Azur style' on the other hand, was discernibly tasty. A well-seasoned medallion seared on both sides to form darling golden surfaces, placed over milky saffron froth. It worked great with the fish.

Should any of your prime choices be unavailable, the kitchen would offer alternative suggestions. Dad took on the Seared Beef Tenderloin with simple jus & fresh rosemary to make up for his coveted Kurobuta Pork Cheeks.

Our sides came in mini cast-iron pots, logically useful for heat conservation. One was fine tagliolini tossed with bacon and seductive butter action. The other a baffling ratatouille doused in strong indian spices.... completely unanticipated of french execution.

If not for Apple Tarte's hideous mono-color palette, she's one glitter babe. They cropped the apple into half & no more than that to prevent withering, then paired it with cinnamon cream and a saccharine pool.

I'm usually in favor of ending the meal with citrus acidity so i picked the Lemon Sorbet, sesame langue de chats. Man they went a little sugar overboard. The 2 lemony balls needed better sugar:acid balance.

I had two virtuous dishes of oily fish yay. Lunch on the whole wasn't disgruntling but didn't rock any mania. Do hope the kitchen is more mindful after that accidental ravioli carelessness...

Les Artistes Bistrot

13 Keong Saik Road

6224 1505

Gusttimo Di Roma

Saying gusttimo winds myself to hum Ti Amo...

but it's no love declaration for their gelatos.

Not that they're any short of L-O-V-E. Binding the gelateria chain together is a riveting love tale between two Korean food-passionists, their affinity in culinary school, a gelato-making course & 230 ideas.


They have a couple of inconceivable flavours like can-you-believe-it?! rice, white wine, masala chai tea, cereal milk chocolate, panna cotta, vanilla cake... yada yada. Almost one cup too many. You'll probably take more time thinking of what goes into your cup than the speed it empties!

Here's my no-nonsense triple scoop cup ($5.90) capped with a cute mini cone. I could lap up easygoing yogurt anytime, bear with the slightly awkward walnut, but i refuse to swallow all of vapid kiwi bleah.

Gusto= eating with gusto, Ottimo = savouring the ultimate flavour. When food doesn't fully satisfy (ie. i did not eat with gusto lol), at least they have pretty interiors to dwell under...and plenty of flavours to ponder about.

Like um, what's next?

Gusttimo di Roma

2 Orchard Road

#01-15 ION Orchard

Ice Edge Cafe: Frosted in Kovan

The icecreams are creeping nearer and nearer...

I discovered a budding Ice3-mimick narrowly five minutes from my place! Marvelling on the proximity, i swung by twice within 3 days to get some first-hand icecream coverage.

Expect to find waffles, affogatos, finger food & a sustainable range of Y-gen flavours here. I'm definitely more into their milky concoctions than icy sorbets. The vitasoy-resembling Soyabean Milk is prolly smoothest among the lot & had whole almonds thrown in to curtail it's oppressive sweetness. Mango-Passion & Plain Yogurt were closely decent but the Raspberry Yogurt & Green Tea failed to arouse me .

Regular gelato cups are priced at $3.20 each & $4.80 for premium flavours (think Mao Shan Wang). Convenience aside, i felt they had scoopfuls of rough edges to fine-tune, particularly on the unflattering texture. But looks like little needs to be done... cos anything hip+icecream+chillout will automatically plot an ascending graph wouldn't it? The Y-crowd was already fervently rolling in.

The Serangoonians have Ice3, we Kovanians have our Ice Edge (: Good to have a new chillout haunt but it takes a formidable monster to beat that Ice3 fanaticism out of me. Maybe too formidable to exist lol.

Ice Edge Cafe

2 Kovan Road

#01-10 Simon Plaza
Opens 12noon-12am daily

Tetsu

This young local-born is a gem.

For those who haven't already knew, Tetsu is an authentic kushi-style Tempura and Tonkatsu restaurant burrowed in a corner of upscale Tanglin Mall. I had a go at their newly expanded menu and was taken in by the pleasant intricacy executed. Eating is believing.

Pufferfish for my first time ever. I found myself hooked to the Fugu Mirin Boshi ($10)- dried puffer fish strips 100% safe for consumption. Akin to a softer, classier bahkwa minus the fats and grease (im big on bah kwa you see..).

The Kani Tofu ($8) surprised me with its affablity. Im not a century-egg eater but this crabmeat in tofu, smeared with harmless century egg spread, more century egg bits & ebikko studs displayed some plausible innovation.

Sashimi Moriawase ($55) was a luxurious showdown. A tasteful selection of sake (salmon), maguro (tuna), hamachi (yellowtail), tako (octopus), ikura (salmon roe), shrimps, and paper-thin tai usutsukuri (red snapper) served with ponzu sauce. Stunning presentation. The ikura was ultra sweet, maguro tender... but salmon could have been better more obese.

Tetsu's Tempura Moriawase ($15) however, did not quite shine. Crispy yes. Fresh shrimps yes. Just the slightly starchy batter impairing its goodness. Their Gindara Saikyotsuke ($18.50)- miso codfish, came with beautifully charred edges that spells g-o-o-d... except too lean for its breed (oh no i think my threshold for slippery fats is dangerously soaring!)

Ahh i enjoyed the richness of Ebi Mentaiko ($6.80 under promotion). The prawn benefitted much from its creamy codroe blanket and grilled to a melty shiokness.

Only one of us had the pleasure of tasting Yaki Niku ($18.50). Beef tenderloin soaked in sauce- the restaurant's recommendation for beef lovers. That one fortunate beef-ivore.

Sake & Ikura Don ($22). The familiar salmon and delectable (sweet!) salmon roe spread over sushi rice. Miso soup included.

Tetsu's signature Katsu Curry Rice ($16.50) featured a sizeably thick pork loin cutlet swarmed in warm japanese curry. Smooth, comforting curry that's far less overwhelming than the indian forerunners.

Rachael mentioned about customers revisting specially for this Hiyashi Udon ($6.80). Don't expect your regular noodles here. The cold udon is one-of-a-kind, noticeably less opaque and bore a chewy resistive bite.

Our tasting rounded up with some of their bestselling icecreams. Jiakasei Goma icecream ($4) fragrant with black sesame seeds and biteable bits of them indeed! Maccha icecream with azuki & shiratama ($4.80) milky and reeeaaally sweet. Liked the Yuzu icecream on Strawberry Sherbet best... a subtle fruit pairing to refresh the tastebuds. Yuzu works for any after-meal occasion.

*

Enjoyed my dinner greatly. Now given a choice between Sushi Tei and all other comparables, my vote goes to Tetsu for their chef's sincere pursuit of refinement. Commendable service as well.

My special thanks to Rachael from B.E.A.M Consultant, Tetsu & Alex for the invitation and making this tasting possible.

Tetsu
163 Tanglin Road
#03-18 Tanglin Mall
6836 3112