Rakuichi @ Dempsey

I brought the kids to the Botanic Gardens for a morning outing... and DH joined us for lunch and we decided to go to Dempsey.

Cutie adjourned to Go-Go Bambini's for playtime, and DH, Sweetie and I went to eat some lunch. We decided to try Rakuichi. It seemed a bit pricey but it was Dempsey after all... everything is a little pricey.

Oh, but the lunch sets were actually quite affordable. I think our sets were about $30 to $40 each.


We started with some skewers: pork belly and beef tongue. Both were so good! The pork belly was savoury, sweet, slightly smokey, very tender (and fatty!). It wasn't cheap but it was so good, I am still salivating at the thought of this one. The beef tongue was sliced thickly, unlike most other places. This was unusual, but still tasted good because it was cooked just right. The texture of the meat was still slightly chewy. I loved these.


DH took the sashimi and sushi set, which he shared with me. All were quite nice, but nothing particularly memorable.


My set was the grilled set - with soft shell crab, unagi and hamachi cheek. All were good and I think my set was nicer than DH's... and cheaper too.

DH liked the hamachi cheek best of everything we tried that day. I liked the pork belly best. Portions were substantial enough to satisfy us both.


We were eached served sesame ice cream as our dessert. It was lovely, one of the nicest I have ever tried. It was delicious, not too sweet, fragrant and nutty.


We brought Sweetie with us to the restaurant. Sweetie didn't eat anything, but she sure brightened up the whole restaurant with her megawatt smile! :)

Weekend Eatings

Seafood International Market and Restaurant @ East Coast Park

Playground @ Big Splash is very child friendly with lots of kiddy things to do, like ride on motorised scooters for SGD2 (5 minutes).

This restaurant faces the open area where the kids ride, so it was ideal for us, while Cutie spent our hard earned SGD10 on a 3o min ride.

Fried Rice - SGD 16 - this was fried with crab meat. It was ok. Cute shape, but otherwise unremarkable.

Peking Duck - SGD48 - We waited a really long time for this, can you imagine? They asked us how we wanted our duck meat to be served and as there is a 10 surchargfe if they cooked it with noodles, we said, just cut it up and serve it. After a 20 min wait, they served the Peking duck all chopped up like at any roast duck stall in Marine Parade.. We're like: "??!!" where is the peking duck skin? If I wanted to eat roast duck I could go anywhere and eat it for SGD20 what? So we sent it back. Another 20 min later, our duck arrived, correct this time, but we were ravenous! They served the skin with pastry made with egg, it was yellow in colour and a bit tough. We like the steamed round white pastry things better.

All in all, nothing fantastic, but maybe we didn't order the right things, this is a Seafood restaurant after all.

La Forketta @ Dempsey Road

We came here on a Sunday afternoon so that Cutie could play at Go Go Bambini's... he hadn't been there for some time so we decided to give him a little treat. This was before our trip to Tasmania, and before the HFMD thing proliferated. We haven't been near this place since the HFMD epidemic started.

Generally the food was ok, but a bit heavy. The wait staff were however, very clueless about service. I asked for a table, and she said yes there is a table available but please wait as we set it up. See, the thing is, their maitre'd counter is set up OUTSIDE the restaurant, where it is hot and sweltering. There were some seats inside the restaurant, obviously meant for waiting customers, BUT instead of ushering us inside to wait, she stood there like a statue, blocking our way in. Finally, in exasperation, I asked whether she minded if we waited inside, since it was in the prime heat of the afternoon sun and I had a baby with me. I can't imagine why I would need to tell her this. Basic service standards are lacking here!

Appetiser Platter

Pretty generous selection, and I liked pretty much everything.

I ordered the canonnelli. The cream sauce was too rich for a hot day. So, not really enjoyable.

The pizza that DH ordered. We always order the parma / proscuitto with rucola (wild rocket) but that is getting boring, so we tried this one, with olives and artichokes. Interesting vegetable, the artichoke. I understand only the heart is edible, thereby making it so expensive. This was pickled, and tasted quite nice.

I can't remember how much this meal cost, but I do remember it being very hot, even when seated inside. Maybe because the place had lots of glass windows, causing a greenhouse effect.

Lunch at Culina, Dempsy and Dinner at Home

This weekend, we went to Dempsey Hill for lunch because we promised Cutie that we'd bring him to play balls at Go Go Bambini's (SGD6, unlimited play for kids aged under 2, SGD16, 2 hours for kids aged over 2). He had been looking forward to it all week. We went there just as they were closing up last week, and his disappointment was palpable!

Lunch at Culina Dempsey Hill

So we settled Cutie in the ballpark / playground and ended up at Culina, Grocers and Cafe which was just next door. They sell all sorts of very high-end stuff, which one doesn't normally get at Cold Storage of Jason's.

DH and I shared the antipasto platter (SGD15).

From left: marinated olives, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted artichokes and tomatoes, smoked eel.

In order of preference, go from right to left. I liked the smoked eel best. It had a nice smokey flavour and was not too salty. Very nice. It also had an interesting chewy, yet slightly yielding texture. The other appetisers were fine but not that interesting. The sun-dried tomatoes were sweet, while I was expecting sour / tart. The roasted artichokes and tomatoes were a good balance of mildly sour and sweet. The marinated olives were way too salty. We ordered a basket of ciabatta cos the olives was too salty to eat on its own.

DH ordered the grilled venison (SGD3o), a daily special. The daily specials are written an a blackboard next to the bar. It was quite substantial, but the venison tasted distinctly sour. Was it cos of the marinade or was it bad? We couldn't be sure if meat actually turned sour when it went bad so we didnt send it back. Anyway, by the time I tasted it and pronounced it sour, DH had only 2 slices left on the plate.

I ordered the duck confit (SGD24), on the usual menu. It was also a substantial portion. The meat was a tad salty, and could have been a little more moist. But the skin was very nice and crispy.

We then ordered a brownie to share (SGD12). Originally I didnt intend to put up a photo of it cos it turned out all blurry. I don't know why some of my photos turn out like that these days, with a swirly imprint. But, here it is anyway. Maybe some of you can tell me why this photo turned out like this.

DH ordered a decaf cappucinno (SGD7) that came with a cute little heart.

We had to wait quite a bit for our food to arrive, from starters to bread to mains and the coffee arrived at least 15 min after our dessert arrived (which DH doesn't like cos he enjoys his dessert with his coffee).

The fastest thing to arrive at our table that day was the bill (SGD121) -_-".

Cutie monkeying around at the ball park / playground. He is getting too adorable.

We did some shopping at Culina, it really did have lots of interesting things like foie gras, and parma ham and kobe beef (not wagyu mind you, marbling grade 8). Since they were all favourites of DH, we got some to cook for dinner that night.

Above, is the kobe beef (shrinkwrapped in portions of between 200 g to 300 g), at a whopping SGD230 per kg.

Dinner at Home

This was our dinner menu:

1. cold starter - parma ham with musk melon and wild arugula (rocket leaves)

2. warm starter - seared foie gras with caramelised apple

3. main - kobe ribeye, roasted baby potatoes, mesclun salad

4. no space for dessert - literally.

Preparations for Dinner

Foie Gras

I had to put flour on the foie gras so that it would fry better, and not disintegrate upon contact with the pan.

Kobe beef

This was the first time I was handling something so expensive, I was really worried. On this plate is SGD113. I marinated the beef in a red wine and garlic marinade. On hindsight, I should used salt and pepper so that we could taste the beefy flavour? Ribeye has a ball of fat in the centre. Making this kobe ribeye a double whammy in terms of being a contributing factor to coronary disease.

I scrubbed and boiled the baby potatoes, then seasoned with salt and pepper and put them in the oven to roast.

I sliced 1 green apple very thinly and added sugar and cooked over slow heat. I should have sliced them less thinly so that there was some bite. It was a little mushy.

The foie gras really oozes a lot of oil... just look at this!



I cooked the foie gras just before serving, so, DH who had just gobbled up his parma ham starter, had time to take this pic.
DINNER!


Cold Starter: Parma ham with musk melon and wild aragula

Really easy to assemble. I put this in the fridge to chill before dinner was served. The parma ham, shaved thinly, went really well with the musk melon which was very sweet. I am glad I decided to go for the expensive musk melon instead of rock melon or honeydew. It was well worth it because the sweetness of the melon complemented the parma ham perfectly. I tossed the aragula leaves in balsamic vinaigrette. Nice.

Cost: SGD14.50 for 2: parma ham - SGD8.50 (100 g), musk melon - SGD5.95 (1 fruit), aragula and vinaigrette (negligible).

Warm Starter - Seared Foie Gras with Caramelised Apple

I felt that there was no point in cooking the foie gras early and leaving it to cool, especially since it cooked very quickly so I only seared these just before serving. I did it in 3 batches.

I am glad I put flour on the foie gras, it made the foie gras crispy on the outside and oozingly melt in the mouth on the inside.

First batch was good, but not salty cos i forgot to sprinkle salt.

2nd batch was great, but could be a tad saltier.

Third batch - above - was fantastic. Just the right amount of salt, a crispy crust and a tender melting interior. Paired with sweet caramelised apple, this was fantastic!

Cost: SGD40.60 for 2: Foie Gras - SGD40 (actually, half a frozen goose liver, good for 8 servings), Green Apple - 60 cents.

Main - Kobe Ribeye with Roasted Baby Potatoes and Mesclun Salad

This is DH's ribeye - 260 g.

This is mine - a more manageable 221 g.

They were fantastic. Tender, melt in the mouth. Simply divine. The potatoes were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, with just the right amount of salt and pepper.

Cost: SGD113 for 2 - Kobe Ribeye (SGD59 and SGD52), potatoes and mesclun negligible.

I am so proud of myself!

So there you are, above is the most expensive home-cooked meal I have ever had!

Prime Society @ Dempsey Road

DS and DBiL's Wedding

Cutie was a page boy for his Yee Yee's wedding.

He was tasked to carry the wedding bears up the aisle.

Doesn't he look handsome in his suit?

He did his job so well! He ran into the auditorium, fearless and brave... even though the church auditorium was filled to the brim with unfamiliar faces.

Then he strolled down the aisle with ease. Isn't he just the cutest?

Wedding Dinner

The place was beautifully decorated and the food was excellent. DS' and DBiL's thank you speech was prepared with much thought and effort, and was so touching that everyone at my table was a little teary.

Cutie had lots of fun that evening. He ran up and down the aisle, danced on the stage, and generally enjoyed himself a lot.

Prime Society @ Dempsey Road

DS and DBiL didn't just prepare a touching thank you speech. They prepared gifts for everyone in the family, including DH and I. One of the vouchers that they gave us was for Prime Society (10 Dempsey Road #01-20 Singapore 247700, tel 6474 7427), a place that specialises in meat.

They take their meat very seriously here. The cutlery was in an envelope called the "Inauguration Kit". The placemat featured a picture of a cow with all the edible parts labelled.

My steak sarnie (SGD20) from the brunch menu was excellent. The beef was tender and sliced nicely. (They did forget to put the camembert cheese, but all was forgiven when I asked and they brought the missing slices to my table). And the fries, the fries was magnifique! Crispy and hot and salted just right. They were perfect with tomato ketchup (although they also provided a lime mayo dip).


DH's ribeye (SGD34) was from the Christmas menu, and it was very substantial. The baby potatoes were just right, crispy skin, tender potato.

Close up of the hunk of meat. I think it is seared not grilled, which to me makes it a little oilier?

We also ordered a salt and pepper calamari starter (SGD16) with lime mayo. It was nice but a very small serving for that price.

Ben and Jerry's @ Dempsey Road

We then brought Cutie to Go Go Bambini's where he could play in this 3 storey play gym with a ball pit. He had lots of fun... We didn't stay long, just half an hour. He liked it so much he kept asking to go back.


We went next door to Ben and Jerry's for ice cream. DH and I shared a waffle with whipped cream, chocolate syrup and ice cream (SGD9.50).

Cutie was more interested in driving the Ben and Jerry's ice cream van outside.

See how pleased he looks!

XMAS DINNER AT TUNG LOK SEAFOOD GALLERY AT EAST COAST

We brought DH's mom to dinner at this restaurant. Lots of nice food. But no pics cos I was too busy trying to feed Cutie.

We later went downstairs to the kiddy rides where Cutie decided to drive a bus...

He was having so much fun, it was hard to get him to leave.

Here, he told us that we could leave first. Bye Bye.