Tag: foodphotography

Relish by Wild Rocket

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I had been meaning to come. After about… Let’s see now. 6 years? No, more. Trust me on this one. It’s the typical case of frequent pass-bys, a longing over-the-shoulder glance, before the trudging and shuffling of running shoes and legs. A blur of legs and beige. Every Sunday I run (well, to be fair it’s more of an extremely brisk walk) to the Botanical Gardens with my dad, and every time I pass by Cluny Court,  I get a vague image of a quaint inside, the round golden domes of speckled sesame seed buns (yes, even though I thoroughly dislike top buns, they make very moreish mental imagery) dotting each table like parasites, juicy, fat meaty bellies, little sauce curds clinging to the sides and bottom of a thick-inch patty.

The waves of desire finally crashed upon the shores when Felix announced a similar longing. Of course! I said.

Of course. Relish.

The interior is so welcoming, with large windows all round to honour the strength of the day’s rays, rimmed with white wood, taking on the old colonial fashion of interior design. Slightly Scandinavian, I thought I heard him say.

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Ram-Lee burger (ramly burger- beef patty, margarine, onions, cabbage, fried egg and Worcestershire sauce)
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open-faced soft-boned char siew burger- thick and sweet pulled pork and coleslaw on homemade focaccia

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The shine and glisten. I ordered the latter.

I actually really enjoyed this. Paired it with a 5-buck pale and fizzy Limonata, which was tart enough to cut through the rich sweetness of the hulk of meat.

If you are strange enough to enjoy the consumption of fat like me, and I mean gloopy, translucent bits of fat, you will adore this dish. I remember the virgin tug of my knife revealed a wobbly hunk of fat beneath a thick and sticky burgundy blanket. Nothing more. I was pretty sure more than 50% of the topping comprised fat and cartilage alone. The char siew itself is not exactly authentic char siew in the sense that the texture was handled differently than what you would get at your local hawker centre, but it worked nonetheless with the sweet coat of flavour. Admittedly, there was a point in time whereby the heavy richness was a little too much to bear, and the paltry side salad lacked enough acidity to accentuate the dangerous sweetness.

After a while, it became slightly one-dimensional, but bearable because the flavours were maintained at a near-explosive level. I also would have preferred a crusty, more hearty cut of bread, as the softness of the ‘homemade focaccia’ all too easily soaked up the gluey sauce, almost rapidly disintegrating into a moist, white mass of stodge. Not all too unpleasant, but a rustic flavour was needed; something more authentic and hardy rather than soft and white and weak. As I picked at his spicy, pickled onions, I also picked up the smoky smell of Worcestershire and the caramelised edges of fried egg. Untried, but I still considered it contact.

The best part?

The relishing of laughter, warmth and airy talk.

Rating: 4.4/ 5

Relish by Wild Rocket

501, Bukit Timah Road

#02-01, Cluny Court

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Group Therapy Café

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I stumbled across this hidden gem a good chunk of a while back now, back during the summer holidays, which was God knows how many weeks ago. However the last time I went, I only had a swig of bitter Ethiopian iced brew; the sort which stings a little on the tip of your tongue, before running its way down all throughout your system, jolting your nerves, almost harassing them.

This time, I went in for an actual bite. A nibble, a dig if you will. I craved the same darling nook I visited 5 weeks ago, and so Group Therapy it was. Just that this time it was solo therapy, which was just as good, and in fact probably better. The place opens at 11am, and when I arrived at 11.13, the best window seats were already occupied. I choked down my disappointment and hobbled over to the back area, where there are lovely high metal chairs which are actually rather light when you have to physically pull them out and plonk your bottom on one.

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iced Ethiopian brew; flavourful acidic notes
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piccolo latte

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Let’s talk coffee. I wasn’t so much as excited for the latte as I was for the brew, mostly because I almost never order milky coffees since they make me a tad nauseous afterward and I’m always in need for something refreshing to envelope my throat with.  But I did anyway because I live on the edge. This piccolo was done with master professionalism, despite the obvious lack of caffeine concentration. At $4.50, it was decent pay.

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sunny side ups atop two slices of grilled ham, mashed avocado and thick toast

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Apologies for the blur first shot of those beautifully cooked sunny side-ups. I was torn between this and the poached eggs and hollandaise with smoked salmon on thick toast option (gosh that’s a mouthful), but I went with this instead, because I was curious to see how they would incorporate the mashed avocado into the rest of the dish, which is practically an eggs benedict with the eggs fried and not poached, sans the creamy yellow blanket of snow on top. To my initial disappointment, I realised they did not include small chunks of avocado, or slathered moist clumps of the stuff like a rotund bed of pale moss under the eggs, but literally smoothed the mash across like peanut butter on toast. Luckily for me, the helping was generous enough to seep through the airy pockets in the thick white toast, which was bordered with a most appealing brown yet forgiving crust all the way round. That crust. The seeping made each bite a partial swarm of green, offering a light earthiness and opaque moisture to the salty ham. I only found fault with the portion size and thickness of the crust, which was at least 2 inches in width. Eating this one dish meant pulling up your sleeves and stabbing the belly multiple times before making it possible to get down to the  very bottom. which was quite an unnecessary hassle at times. They should either have thinner toast for maximum flavour impact or cut it into two for better handling. All that cutting and tugging made for a slightly inconvenient ordeal.

Overall, it was a good meal, even if that meant not finishing it. Pities of the world. It would also be nicer if the waitresses wouldn’t constantly look from a distance at the customers, standing and observing, twitching themselves whenever I moved. The coffee is not bad and the fare slightly above expectations, albeit nothing really special. They have a chilli crab tart here as well, which doesn’t look half bad. Promises lie in such hearty packages.

Rating: 4.3/ 5

Group Therapy Café

49 Duxton Road

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Chewy chocolate chip cookies

Ah. What a beautiful science.

I’d like to dedicate this recipe to my puppy Celeste!

I’m quite picky whenever it comes to things like cookies or pastries. If it’s not mind-blowingly good, I probably won’t take a second bite. I’m horrible and snooty like that, and it’s one part of myself which is quite hard to change (tragedies). These were an absolute breeze to bake, firstly because the aesthetics of the whole method was ridiculously enticing, and secondly because you don’t need any schmancy kitchen equipment. Double whammy dear.

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As you can see, these still have a bit of lift to them, but they did sink after a while as the ones shown were still warm from the oven’s belly.

Key points:

-Use crumbling, DARK brown sugar with a high percentage of molasses.

-Don’t use just baking powder; either use both powder and soda or just soda on its own. The ones here were made with just baking soda, but I think I’ll use a little of both the next time, for extra chewiness.

– If you have shortening and use it instead of butter, add extra salt to help give the flavour a boost.

– Watch those cookies. Any extra time and they’ll lose that golden density and chewiness. Once you observe a slight brown edge and almost-set middle, take them out. In this recipe, it takes about 15 minutes, for extra, extra large cookies. So if you’re looking for bite-sized ones, 8 minutes or so should do it. Then again, it all depends on the surrounding temperature and that of your oven. Did I mention this is a beautiful science.

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Monster-large, with a ridged top. I think a little undercooked in the centre is just fine, yes?

RECIPE

– 2 cups all purpose flour

– 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

– 3/4 teaspoon salt

– 3/4 cup (171g) melted, unsalted butter

– 1 cup packed, dark brown sugar

– 1/3 cup white sugar

– 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract

– 1 large egg and 1 egg yolk

– 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (or chopped up 70% cocoa chocolate bars)

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat the oven to 165 degrees C (325 degrees F). Line three cookie sheets with parchment paper or grease them (if you don’t have three just use two first, then replace after the first batch).
  2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
  3. In another medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended, or just use a wooden spoon. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy.
  4. Mix in the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough using a heaping tablespoon measure OR a quarter cup measurement at a time onto the cookie sheets. They should be about 3 inches apart. Yes. They’ll be huge. The batter will also be very soft and lightly sticky, especially if you live in the same damned sun-stricken place as me!
  5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the edges are lightly toasted and have a medium brown hue. Cool on baking sheets on a wire rack completely before removing.
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Fat Cow

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That’s the thing about personalised invitation cards. The epitome of real effort. My grandfather is still cool enough to do this sort of thing, even if, you know, he doesn’t quite know the name of the young woman beside me. Or such an example is common enough. You can’t expect the elderly to be superhuman too. Oh, but I do love him so. Charming and comely old man. Singapore’s No. 1 bowler back in the day, and with such a flying passion!

Anyways, no, this isn’t a Heston Blumenthal clone, or any cuisine of the sort. Japanese-inspired steakhouse right here.

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Japanese leek with ponzu jelly and sesame dressing
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sliced bream with black truffle

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That salad was a crisp concoction made by the Tangy Japanese Gods.

I was pretty scared to touch the carpaccio, which looked about 0.001mm thin and as delicate as my dad’s hairline. But I did anyway. It was still frightening on the tongue, as it close to evaporated once it hit the buds. Moist, a little bland, but the truffle made it boom with musk and sophistication.

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The fried zucchini flower was a light break during the rage of courses that night. The batter was airy but separated a little too easily from the flower, and its thickness merged with the flower made it seem almost incongruous. But a joy all the same.

It’s easy to talk about meat, but the steamboat here was magical. Each chopstick slip of the red, raw stuff was a ticket to the most tender slivers of melt-on-your-tongue premium beef. Boiled in a soup which starts off tasteless but ends off sweet, reduced and wondrous. I can almost feel the bubbles tickling my throat. Dip it in the pastel orange-clad shabu shabu sauce, maybe a little more in the soup, add a hint of rice and off you go and enter another mental state altogether.

Repeat.

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Porridge. I saw it on the menu and passed it as some filler idea. But then again, if it’s on this menu, it’s got to good, right?

Right. And I was.  No really I swear. It’s the best savoury porridge you will try in your lifetime. There’s writing your will and then there’s coming here to have just one bowl of this. As they say here, it truly is shiok. Nourishing, warm, glutinous. The consistency of a wilted lemon curd, with soft, popping granules throughout, and healthy dollops of tender mushroom, shallots, garlic and chives. I need to stop here because my mouth is watering. Also, because I’m rather angry at myself for having the smallest stomach in the world, so by this time during the meal I could finish a paltry fraction of that small bowl.

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I don’t like mochi on its own, but the little translucent cuboids here were paired with a sticky, gooey gula melaka to reinforce its glutinous texture. The matcha and peanut dippings helped a fair bit, too. My favourite was that yuzu, which reminded me of white angels for some reason. I receive strange and non-sequitur connections whenever I’m faced with beautiful or delicious plates of food.

Rating: 4.8/5

Fat Cow

1 Orchard Boulevard #01-01/02

Camden Medical Centre

6735 0308

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Drury Lane

I like adventures.

Personally, I like personal adventures. So I pretty much pounced on the opportunity to hop down to the newly opened café, named after a street around the Covent Garden area in London. A little burst of sunshine in the middle of Tanjong Pagar. I needed to try, and try I did.

There are so many cafés here, though not half as many as the sprawling bundles in London. I turned up at 10:43 this late morning, armed with my cam, only slightly casual garb and a stomach for eggs and caffeine. The things I do to hold on to the past.

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My heart was beating. Believe it or not, I was excited. There were stacked boxes and an ‘upstairs’. Who doesn’t like an upstairs? I think it was the red paint. Or maybe I was having another post-yoga high. The glisten of glowing pink cheeks and a clammy forehead. Don’t I sound attractive.

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Iced double espresso. These guys add a dollar to your bill if you want anything iced. Which in my opinion, is not worth it if one is forced to tolerate the harmful heat of Singapore. They should add a dollar for anything that’s not iced. This brew really was what I needed. I felt my soul awaken, my nerves tingle. There was an almost spicy aftertaste, nudging the back of my throat, after the fragrant stream of black finished lingering at the back of my tongue. Glad it was iced. So, very glad. On a side note, my table number was 17! (in other words, the best number in the world, because it blessed the world once before, around 17 years ago in the month of November).

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marmite and cheese toast soldiers with two half boiled eggs

I won’t lie, I wanted to drop to my knees and cry out in exasperation and despair when this was brought to my lone table. All alone I sat there, looking at the two pathetic blobs for five minutes. Excuse me sir, could I please have two proper half-boiled eggs please, and not this limp white spider of a once-embryo, I wanted to ask. But my mouth only quivered, because I believed in the place. Watched the awkward waiter walk back down. I tested my luck and pried one open, praying for a golden river.

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Alas, golden river it was not. It wasn’t even soft-boiled with a tad bit of runny yolk in the centre. It was soft in the middle, but otherwise a hundred percent overcooked. Nothing flowed, nothing to coat the toast. The toast itself was overly drenched in what seems to me a mixture of butter and marmite, betraying its could-be texture of crunch and fluff. Furthermore, the word ‘soldiers’ shouldn’t be used lightly here. I wanted thin soldiers, not obese and soggy white men. The edges were nicely toasted, and the cheese had the right degree of tag and sharpness. Sadly, everything else was a mess. The world could end one day if all yolks just stood still.

In fact, I wrote a poem titled ‘The Day the Yolk Stood Still.” I kid you not. It was great to just be alone for two hours, writing and drawing and thinking, just bombarded with my own thoughts and the dazzling rays shining through the shophouse windows.

Great coffee, lovely ambience… pity about my second breakfast of the day. I’m quite sure there are much nicer, more aesthetically pleasing items on the menu. I’m sure, I’m sure. It’s still new, after all.

Rating: 3/5

Drury Lane

94 Tanjong Pagar Road

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