Gunther's @ 36 Purvis Street

The foodblogger community had a lunch here not too long ago. Being stuck in Australia meant that I wasnt able to attend.

Nevertheless, a trip here was necessary seeing how well-reviewed the cold angelhair pasta with oscietra caviar was.

The complimentary amuse bouche of prawn tempura.


So, we came here and ordered the pasta as a starter to share ($60).

It was very fragrant, dressed in an obviously very good quality olive oil, and topped with a generous mound of caviar. This caviar (well it's only the 2nd time I
have tried it) is very different from say, ebiko (flying fish roe). It's not fishy and it doesn't "pop" in your mouth. The taste is rich yet very subtle, very smooth.




Then we shared a roasted rack of black pig (2 person serving at $75pp). It was tender, so melt in your mouth tender. It also had a richness to the meat. And, funnily enough, there were different parts to the meat, one side was more "white" meat, and the other side was more "dark" meat. Sort of like chicken where there is breast and thigh portions, but in the same piece of meat. I know the description sounds odd and probably not very appetising, but it was good!


Complimentary petit fours, which were generous and delicious too.


And a pic of Sweetie.


She's really grown up huh?


Playing hide and seek, and she is always so thrilled when she is found. haha.


And here is Cutie, being well, cute.


Yep, Cute.

Inagiku Japanese Restaurant @ Raffles City Shopping Centre (again!)

Christmas time! Love Christmas time! So does Cutie. He likes the Christmas tree at home.

We visited the refurbished Inagiku at Fairmount Hotel (previously known as Raffles the Plaza)recently.

The new place is definitely more sleek and cool, with lots of dark wood and warm lighting.
The food is also more innovative.

Unfortunately I haven't had a very good appetite. So I didn't order much.

This is my unagi baked in cheese and gingko nuts (SGD25). A bit odd on the palate really. fish and cheese is a very funny combination.

DH ordered the Inagiku set.

The starter arrived in a laquer basket and looked really pretty. He said it was quite nice.

His sashimi was fresh.

His fish and mushroom soup which I didn't try.

His 3 slices of wagyu beef cooked on a leaf over a hot flame. I stole one slice, and it was very tender and tasty. The miso paste was a little salty though.

His lobster tasted a little too robust for me, but he seemed to like it, judging by the swiftness with which it was demolished.

Cutie came too. He had a chawanmushi, and then ran off to play with a new friend. He's trying to say "cheese" - japanese style.

Keyaki @ Pan Pacific Hotel

We ate at Pan Pacific Hotel again! Hee hee.

DH generously took me, Cutie, Por Por, Kong Kong, Yee Yee and Jiu Jiu (ie my whole family save for DBiL who had something on) to Keyaki Japanese Restaurant (4th floor, Pan Pacific Hotel).

After perusing the menu, we all opted for the 7-course kaiseki set meal (SGD90 per pax) with several choices for each course. We all sat around the L-shaped sushi bar, which was great fun! The sushi bar is an intimate seating area away from the main hall, so we took up the entire area. Haha.

All in all, I loved the dinner tonight, surrounded by my closest and dearest, having a great time sharing our choices, and reviewing each item. Hmmm, I think it would have been a better idea to come for the lunch buffet though. It's more value for money (SGD58 ala carte buffet).

Sashimi
My sashimi choice - Hamachi (yellowtail). It was fresh but not as thick as I would have liked. These days, my palate has been spoilt by excessively good Japanese food. So I am much more discerning (and fussy!). It was otherwise very good, and I liked how they served fresh wasabi, and the various condiments (shiso leaf, purple petals, green petals dunno what they are called but it's so elegant right, and they do smell nice when you add them to the soya sauce).

DH's choice of amaebi (sweet prawn) was very very good. Better than mine in fact. Good prawn sashimi isn't dependent on the chef's slicing technique only on the quality and freshness of the prawn. No complaints here on that score.

Appetiser

My choice of grilled konnyaku (yam jelly) with miso paste was the best of the lot. DB (ie Jiu Jiu) ordered some grated mountain yam with tuna dish (which came with a raw quail's egg on top) which he could hardly eat! It was just a tad too slimy!

DH and DS both ordered this seasoned black squid starter. DH liked it and helped to finish DS' share as well. I think it's an acquired taste. DH has ordered this before and really likes it. I don't really care for it though.

Yakimono - Grilled item

Again, I was very pleased with my choice of grilled pacific saury (pike mackerel). It was the best value option ok! It was a whole fish, and it was huge enough for everyone to try some. The flesh was oily and tender and quite sweet and delicate. I added just a little squeeze of lemon and gobbled this whole thing down very quickly. I almost chose the grilled beef skewers (2 skewers per serving) but luckily DH encouraged me to try this instead. I think DS had the beef, and it was not bad also.

DH's choice of grilled teriyaki cod - slightly sweet, crispy on the outside, tender flakey flesh on the inside. Good (but I still prefer my pacific saury!).

My choice of stuffed crabmeat in crabshell was interesting. Minced crabmeat which was lightly crumbed, then fried. Quite nice, but a bit disappointing cos of the small portion.

DH's choice of tempura moriwase - was a great choice, both in terms of visual appeal and in terms of value. So many items - mushroom, prawn, fish etc - and all were very good.

We had a choice of steamed dishes next - but most of us took chawanmushi. Didn't take a photo of that, since we all know what chawanmushi looks like. I had it the last time I was here anyway.

Our chef, Sato-san, busy at work plating all of our sushi choices. I think he really liked having Cutie around. Cutie tried to mimic Sato-san when Sato-san clapped his hands twice, it meant that the sushi was ready and that the waiters should come and collect. So Cutie kept clapping his hands and saying "Auntie, food ready!".

My sushi selection. I liked the salmon best. Followed by the ika. Can't remember what the other 2 were.

After sushi, we had a choice of either fruit or ice-cream (I had macha ice cream of course). Lovely!

Cutie likes coming here because of the friendly waiters, and the fact that they decorate the place with raccoons. He'd say: "Raccoon where? See raccoon? Big raccoon? Please?" To be honest though, I am not even sure if this animal is really a raccoon. Haha.

Hai Tien Lo @ Pan Pacific Hotel

Hai Tien Lo (63rd floor, Pan Pacific Hotel) has a great view and a great selection of dim sum and dishes in its weekend ala carte buffet (SGD58 per person).


We started with the soup - either braised sharks' fin soup or buddha jump over the wall (one order only).

My Buddha jump over the wall came in a dark-coloured, clear (as opposed to starchy) soup which tasted strongly of mushrooms and chicken. Ingredients were quite generous, as you can see. Combs of sharks' fin, dried scallop, lingzhi, mushroom, chicken.

DH's sharks' fin soup was much nicer. It wasn't too starchy, and had a very hearty, yummy aroma.

There were also generous combs of sharks' fin and scallop in his soup. I want!!





We then had wasabi mayo prawns - such a popular dish these days. Even zi char places do it nowadays. This dish was well done, crunchy, sweet, not too cloying, not too pungent. The addition of some fruit provided some tartness and sweetness, a very interesting and welcome contrast.


Fried calamari - Nice. Crispy and chewy squid, very easy to eat and very easy to like.
Steamed cod with scallions - DH likes fish when it is cooked like this - HK style. It was very nice. We ordered a 2nd portion with sea perch.


DH ordered some century egg porridge. It was smooth and fragrant. MIL ordered some ee fu noodles.

Cutie entertained himself by calling people using his daddy's handphone - "Por Por, where you? Come here, come quick. Eat fish and noodles! I'm a good boy". It was hilarious because he was carrying on this scintillating conversation with his imaginary friends. We didn't really let him call Por Por, obviously.
Steamed pomfret with bean sauce - A little too heavy on the sauce for me. I don't really like sauces to overpower my fish. However, the fish was steamed just right so I still managed to scoff it all up.

The best value dish, in my opinion, were the Steamed Live Prawns - This was a half portion, btw. We dug in as soon as the prawns arrived and I forgot to take any pictures until we were halfway through. The prawns were definitely live prawns. Not the frozen ones, with a wooden taste. These were sweet, succulent, lively, fresh. Wow. I really loved them.

So much so, we also ordered a portion of Live prawns in Herbal soup - This was even better, as the herbal soup was divine. It had a heady aroma redolent of herbs like dang shen, and we could taste the delicious chinese rice wine in it. OOh. So good, I ordered another portion of this.

Funny thing is, when DH first ordered it, DH ordered a portion for 3 persons and so, 6 prawns came. Then when I ordered it again, I specifically said I wanted only a portion for 1, as DH and MIL had already surrendered. And another plate, containing 6 live prawns came. (!!!) I was expecting 2 prawns right?

DH said, maybe the waitress figured, that 1 portion for me is equivalent to 3 portions for normal people. -_-

Well, the prawns really were very good. Look at how many I ate! I can feel my cholesterol levels shooting waayy up.

Then just another plate of braised sea cucumber with beancurd to round off the meal. A little bit spicy, but very nice. I wish they could have put less beancurd.

There was also a buffet spread of desserts - fresh fruit (rock melon, honeydew, watermelon, strawberries and a local crunchy fruit that's red on the outside and white on the inside I forgot the name!), chng tng, nyonya kueh, cakes.

Next to it was a small spread of appetisers like braised duck wings, japanese baby octopus, etc. And I ate a lot of braised duck tongues! It's like eating braised duck wings, but slightly chewier! Oooh. It's a delicacy in HK, I believe. Haha, I can see people out there shuddering. Well, all I can say is... sign me up for Fear Factor!

Marina Square Shopping Centre - Lego Shop

Walked around Marina Square a bit... DH was looking for a new carry-on luggage bag (he did succeed in getting one, but I won't tell you how it cost... but let me just share with you my shock and amazement that luggage can actually cost so much... I was half-expecting the bag to fold open into a small studio apartment or something, considering its price tag!)

We ended up on the Lego shop next to Traveller's Planet, where Cutie parked himself on the lego motorbike, and had a really good time.

I think we spent a good 15 minutes just waiting for Cutie to play and get tired of this.

Cutie: Vroom Vroom! I am speeding down the highway!

Cutie hugged the lego penguin before he left, saying: "Bye Bye Penguin!" Awww.

Global Kitchen @ Pan Pacific Hotel

DH and I have the Pan Pacific dining privileges card, which is about to expire. So, we had to maximise our use of this card by coming to Pan Pacific to eat all weekend. Haha.







When we arrived at Global Kitchen (3rd Floor, Pan Pacific Hotel), we had exactly 40 dining dollars left on the card. Which means we have to eat exactly 80 dollars worth of food to maximise our discount. We could use the dining dollars to redeem up to 50% of our total bill you see.







Don't be misled by the name, this restaurant is not a little kitchen where food is cheap or plentiful. This is one of those very chi-chi, haute cuisine, fine-dining type of restaurant where everything is served on crisp linen, fine porcelain and by very well-dressed, eloquent waiters.











Lobster cappucino with blue spinner crab tortellini (SGD11.50) - This was a half portion. DH and I decided to share this soup starter because we weren't very hungry. We both had a huge buffet lunch earlier that day. The waitstaff thoughtfully separated the soup into 2 beautiful bowls, which was already a very substantive portion. The soup was very robust and flavourful. It had depth of flavour, such that with each mouthful I savoured, I found myself appreciating the soup more and more. The tortellini was smooth and filled to bursting with tender crab meat. They also added some pungent herb to the crabmeat (I think it was either coriander or parsley), which I didn't really enjoy but DH did. I must add, I just find the name a little pretentious though. Cappucino?!

My main of herb-crusted lamb cutlets with mashed potato and baby bok choy (SGD27.50) - I was actually tempted by something else on the menu, pan-seared scallops with truffle risotto which was a dish by a celebrity chef (as opposed to the local chef), but that cost SGD36, and I thought this was more value for money. It was a good choice. The lamb was tender and crusted with something crispy (like oats actually... you know, the oatmeal prawns we have in zi char restaurants?). The mash was flavourful. All in all, a good, solid meal.

DH's main of poached wagyu beef on a bed of azuki beans and some veg (SGD45) - now, this dish was presented by a celebrity chef, and as you can tell, the ingredients are more classy too. I was a bit skeptical - poached wagyu? This fatty beef should be seared or grilled to bring out the fattiness, add some smokiness. Well, it was very nice nevertheless. Very very tender of course, and flavourful. DH cut me a slice, and I gobbled it up in half a second.

Cutie said: Take Knife. Cut bread for Mommy. Mommy Eat?

Cutie joined us at the table, of course. He has been to more fine dining restaurants at the age of 22 months than his mother has been. The waitstaff kindly provided Cutie with his own set of cutlery, and a slice of homemade herb bread, which Cutie promptly dissected.

Cutie: Clap Clap. Daddy, clap! Clap for me! Well Done!

We always praise Cutie when he does something clever. I just believe in encouraging him, and using positive reinforcement to teach him. So, we said Cutie was clever when he managed to sit with us at the table, and when he successfully cut the bread himself. Cutie was so pleased, can you tell? Cutie genuinely responds better to praise. He will look around the table and call out to the person who is not clapping, and specifically tell that person to clap for him.

When we tallied the bill, I was pleasantly surprised to see that we managed to total up exactly SGD84, which was very close to our targetted amount. I expressed my delight to DH, who replied drily: "It would have been better if we ate 4 dollars less." -_-