Bangkok - Zanotti

Zanotti has been around for a long time for as long as I can remember - I think I first went back in 2002, and 6 years later, it's still doing a roaring business. And from the consistent excellent quality of the food, I can see why. Unfortunately, no photos in this segment, since the wait staff were instructed specifically to say no food pics, but couldn't tell us why. I was not in a difficult mood so that was that. I was more focused on enjoying the great food.

Starters:

1. the deep fried crustacean platter, which aside from the only crustacean the prawn, had fish and squiddlys. So well battered and fried to a crisp but retaining the moisture and freshness of the seafood on the inside... puts a lot of tempura to shame!

2. the beef carpaccio on a generous bed of arugula and topped with an even more generous amount of freshly peeled (yes it is bigger than grated) Parmesan. Lovely burst of flavours when you have a combo bite.. and lightly flavoured with a good extra virgin olive oil.

Mains:

1. the minced beef ravioli with white truffle oil.. so simple yet so tasty.

2. the evergreen lobster tagliatelle with thyme, and a hint of cherry tomatoes.. light, tasty with such a kick from the lobster laced sauce.

3. superb thin-crust pizza with tomatoes and Italian sausage. None of that over-salted s^%t but tasty porky goodness. Garnished with a sprinkle of chilli flakes for the extra kick. Yeah!

Desserts:

1. Classic Tiramisu - the real thing with real Mascarpone and an abundance of it.

2. a classic custard from Piemonte - Bunet Piemontese - sweet eggy heaven with a nutty border for bite.. such flavoured texture in the combination. Unusually good - I like!

You hungry yet? I can't wait till I get to Bangkok again..

Bangkok - Baan Kanitha

Back in Bangkok after such a long time, I had to get my fix of decent Thai food and so reservations were made in advance at Baan Kanitha, still one of my favourite Thai haunts. And after all this time, it is still good. And they even have frosty drinks to cool you down with - I had my Thai orange juice, ice-blended. Perfect for a humid evening.

The usual starter platter signature of Baan Kanitha was brought out. While not spectacular in taste, it definitely keeps the diners busy with loading the leaves with the variety of condiments and popping them into your mouth without spilling or making a mess - good conversation piece with tourists.

But it is really the rest of the stuff that I am here for. The tom yum soup looks fiery but is really laden with all the prawny cholesteric goodness frrm the huge prawn swimming in the bowl, with its brain mashed into the superior stock. Sounds gross but tastes heavenly..

The yellow curry squid was eggy curry goodness and surprisingly not cloying given its richness. Perfect with steamed rice, especially if you are hungry. You can easily down 2 bowls before you can say "curry".

The other star of the evening was the deep fried cotton-fish, with julienned mango dressing. The fish was aptly named since the flesh was as soft and cottony. With the fresh mango juliennes in fish sauce drizzled over, a perfect bite with the ice cold frosty.

Although desserts sounded enticing, it wasn't enticing enough since that was already a lot of food for 2. A very enjoyable meal for anyone visiting Bangkok, and looking for a nice and comfy place to enjoy a bit of local fare.

Singapore - Hachi

Yes, this is the outfit of the friendly chef who used to operate out of the now defunct Orchard Emerald. Hachi is now at Mohd Ali Lane, just off Club Street. They have taken over the premises which used to house Ikukan.

I had lunch today at Hachi and had the set lunch of Unagi and Sashimi. Nice light combi which had lightly grilled eel, basked in the barbeque sweet sauce. The sashimi was white fish topped with salmon roe, nice change from the usual. While lunch was not spectacular, it wasn't bad for the price. In any case, in an area which has pretty limited choices for Japanese cuisine, it does add to lunch options. Also, the impeccable service with offering to call us a cab to take us back to our offices and sheltering us into the cab from the pouring rain, is not service we find in abundance of these days. Savour the moment..

Hachi is best known for its Omakase - chef's surprises - and I will certainly be back to taste. It's been too long and is probably time for another review. And hopefully, as with previous good experiences, it will live up to its name.

Singapore - Marutama Ramen

The Central on Eu Tong Sen Street is just one of those malls you might give a miss and I have all this time... but the reviews of restaurants in there have made me think twice. I finally got round to going there today and it was a toss up between the famous Ramen or the Hanbaagu.. tough choice but given that it was a drippy day, the Ramen sounded more inviting and less heavy. Plus, since we were there closer to 2pm, NO QUEUE! Ramen it was!







The menus are all in Japanese but thankfully there were pictures. Also, our friendly waiter who hardly spoke English was helpful enough to recommend the favourites - the chicken soup ramen which comes with one piece of char siu. Toppings were available - he recommended and rightly so, the yummy seasoned egg, which was a good shoyu braised duck egg with a soft centre.. mmm... The ramen is thinner than the common one you would find at Ajisen or Miharu and similar to the Teochew/Chiu Chow skinny noodles but so much more springy with an al dente bite. Swimming the rich chicken broth, you really didn't need anything else.




The stewed pork belly was also a winner - soft meat easily separated from the fat so we had a good cut, without having to indulge the fat bits. But of course if you dare to take the whole thing, it does melt in your mouth.. no need to bite and chew.



Hearty goodness and in my opinion, the current (as at the date of this post) winner in the "best ramen" category for Singapore.

Singapore - Jia Wei

Stepping off a plane, I just wanted something close to the airport and nothing fancy... Flattie suggested trying a new Chinese restaurant in the East at the Grand Mercure Hotel. Hmm.. not quite the "nothing fancy" I had in mind, but they had enough home-style comfort food to satisfy.

Aged cucumber with spare ribs was the soup of the day. Pretty flavourful although it could have done with a little less salt so that the taste of the old cucumber could be more apparent.

The cod steamed with snow vegetables (Shanghainese preserved vegetables) was a tad overcooked, which is quite hard to do given the oily texture of the fish. So the overall taste suffered since snow vegetables are too light to lift the overcooked fish. Tasty enough to finish but barely so.

The poached Amarath vegetable ("heen choy") with 3 eggs were competent enough and did the job in satisfying the need for some fiber intake.

The sweet and sour pork was competent by Singapore standards but the pork had a hint of the "smelly pork" syndrome. Not overwhelming since the tart sauce masked it fairly adequately and was good enough to get me through enough of the rice in my bowl.

All in all, a good alternative dining option for the East Coast but nothing exceptional. Might be worth a second visit to check out the other specialties before casting my final vote.

Hong Kong - Shiro

Shiro is upscale conveyor belt sushi and other Japanese delicacies.. in fact, the only thing it has in common with other conveyor belt sushi joints is the conveyor belt - 2 to be exact. The rest of it is just oozing hip, trendy, fashionable with a welcoming bar. And what better location than next to Lane Crawford inside trendy Pacific Place Mall.

The menu is pretty extensive and is more than just sushi.. even drinks were 3 pages long. We had a hard time trying to keep to the time and of course stomach capacity - didn't want to be belching uncomfortably in the cinema afterwards nor falling asleep at the Red Cliff - of course, that would be hard to do with Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung..

We ordered a sampling off the conveyor belt - tuna, whitefish and octopus combi topped with cod roe - one with and one without the rice; sea urchin with raw squid; and the evergreen soft shell crab roll. All very good and fresh and none of that "I've been sitting on the conveyor belt all this time" taste.

Then, the specials off the menu streamed in..

Salmon roll topped with chopped fatty tuna and a gold leaf for good luck; then the torched mirugai claim with sweet miso sushi.

The Taraba crab claw salad topped with an "onsen" egg, when broken mixed with the sweet miso for a delicious dressing;

The spinach with sesame sauce came as twin towers densely decked with toasted sesame seeds standing tall in a bowl of sesame gravy was surprising as tasty as it looked.

Our mains of Wagyu beef cheek over a huge radish ball - a mistake which turned out ok since we were headed for the Wagyu beef cheek in a creamy omelette sauce. But the Taraba crab claw tempura saved the day! 6 lightly battered and crisp claws served with cucumbers and green tea salt.. mmm, mmm...

No room for dessert was my verdict - popcorn is another category!

Hong Kong - Hana Sakazuki revisited

I had blogged about Hana Sakazuki back in April but wanted to introduce some new goodies.



First up, Japanese greenhouse tomatoes that even a non-tomato lover would love. So prettily bright red, juicy and served with a pinch of salt makes for a fresh and delicious appetiser.

The sushi is good as ever.. still the best outside of Japan!

What was surprising good was the grilled chicken - yes, it sounds so boring but was so competently done you would not think it was just chicken. Of course we were told it was Japanese free-range chicken.. yes, it makes a difference guys! Accompanied by Japanese mayo, it was like eating tasty KFC but more juicy, succulent, and all the wholesome goodness without the grease, fat and guilt. Yums!!