Miscellaneous Food: New Zealand, Part 1

The end of the year is always the annual high point, not just because it brings year-end bonuses, and presents, but also because it means holidays, and holidays mean vacations, and vacations mean getting the chance to try food in other countries.

This year, we decided to go to New Zealand, which, thanks to commercials for Anlene milk powder, is famous for having "more cows than people". With produce in such quantities, good food can't be hard to find. Our holiday was limited to the North Island; specifically, it was to be a driving holiday, setting off from Auckland, the biggest city in New Zealand and - according to The Economist - one of the best places to live, before heading down to Waitomo to spelunk and black water raft in some glow-worm caves, and then off to touristy Rotorua , with its sulphurous geothermal pools and historic architecture. After some wine-tasting in beautiful Napier, and trout fishing in lovely Lake Taupo, we're back in Auckland and ready to head home.

Although I had no hand in planning that exuberant itinerary, I did take responsibility for planning where we were going to be eating at each stop. I discovered that, despite the amazing abundance and quality of fresh produce, New Zealand cuisine has still not yet come into its own in the same way Australian food has, and there was only a handful of restaurants to choose from off TripAdvisor or Chowhound. In addition, I was surprised to learn that food in New Zealand is, on average, actually more expensive than food here. Of course there are no superstars like Guy Savoy who will charge you your right leg for dinner, but we were generally spending between $75 to $100 per person on dinner (1 NZD = 1 SGD), and even breakfasts were around $20.

Still, one mustn't complain about the cost of a holiday when they come by so rarely, and it makes much more sense to write reviews of the restaurants we went to.

Day 1: Auckland

Dinner

Our first meal was dinner in Auckland, and I thought we ought to start on a high note, by dining at one of Auckland's best restaurants, the French Cafe. Located at the end of a very long Symonds Street (we rather foolishly began at the wrong end and spent the next half an hour trudging down the interminable road), the restaurant is quite a swish affair, with dark leather seats and a well-heeled clientele. Reservations are absolutely necessary, especially on weekends, and we were forced to move to the bar to have our dessert as we had made a fairly last-minute reservation, and had to relinquish the table quickly.


The food definitely displays a classical background, but with updated techniques and interpretation. My starter of gazpacho jelly, for instance, was layered with imagination: feta cream at the bottom, with a chilled, lightly-gelled soup of fresh, clear, concentrated tomato essence on top, in which slivers of red bell peppers and sliced green beans hung in suspension, and finally a ruddy, ice-cold tomato sorbet, into which a thin olive wafer had been inserted. Amazingly refreshing on a summer's evening, with a melange of flavours and textures, I thought this was easily one of the best dishes of the entire trip.


S also enjoyed her starter of seared scallops, topped with some smoked bacon and drizzled with a cauliflower cheese and basil sauce, served in a beautiful scallop shell. Rich, tasty, succulent scallops are always a treat, and I was feeling quite pleased with choosing the French Cafe as our first culinary stop.


S's crispy roast duckling, however, was a little bit of a let down, as it seemed that the kitchen had decided to take the familiar "duck a l'orange" and give it an excessively Asian influence. As a result, the sauce was spiked with mandarin orange juice, a solitary, overcooked bak choy lay bedraggled and limp on the plate, and the entire dish was infused with a rather cloying sweetness. This was our first encounter with New Zealand cuisine's strange penchant for "orientalising" their food, a practice that I find detracts from the flavour and integrity of the dish. The duckling, having less fat than a full-grown duck, was also less moist and a little tougher than roast duck. The sweet potato mash, at least, was good.


Fortunately, my main course of pink roasted lamb, served with roasted artichoke hearts, wild mushrooms, truffle butter, spinach and rosemary rose to the occasion (although I was not sure where the spinach featured) - sweet, tender lamb, served with a rich, buttery sauce, offset by the taste of the soft, delicate artichoke hearts.


Dessert was also magnificent, notwithstanding our having to move to the bar to have it. A small but decadent chocolate souffle tart, served with a cream ice cream and a slice of orange to cut through the sinfulness, was a lovely way to end off the meal, and the perfect welcome to New Zealand.

The French Cafe deserves its reputation as one of New Zealand's finest restaurants, and a trip to Auckland is not complete without a visit.

The French Cafe
210 Symonds Street
Eden Terrace
Auckland
Tel: +64 09 377 1911
Website
(Closed on Mondays)

Day 2: Waitomo

I had originally planned for us to have dinner at HUHU Cafe, a stylishly modern restaurant that has garnered rave reviews on TripAdvisor, but sadly I discovered that the restaurant was completely booked for a private event on the one night we were going to be in Waitomo, so we had to make do with dinner at a neighbouring town, where the food was uninspiringly poor, and best not put into writing.

HUHU Cafe
10 Waitomo Caves Road
Waitomo Caves 3942
Tel: +64 07 878 6674
Website
(Closed on Mondays)

Review: The University Club

You know food is taken seriously in a country when even schools play host to excellent restaurants. When I was in university, a good dinner was when the dining hall hadn't burned the potatoes, but with The University Club, the students at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have no excuse for not impressing their dates on Valentine's Day.


Located in the gleaming Shaw Foundation Alumni House, on Kent Ridge Drive, the restaurant can be a little difficult to get to if you don't drive, although there is a fairly extensive bus network within NUS itself.


The University Club is run by the owners of the Prive Group, so it's not surprising that the restaurant looks fantastic: an expanse of wood panelling greets you as you step out of the elevators, and when you enter the restaurant proper you realise that it's really quite a large, spacious set up.


Cleverly, however, diners are ushered into a smaller, more intimate antechamber where a large window affords a great view of the kitchen, and floor to ceiling glass windows allow a generous amount of light to come through, brightening up the dining room and ensuring that the decor is shown off to its best advantage.


The complimentary amuse-bouche was a little cherry tomato that had been hollowed out and filled with some beef carpaccio. Not bad as an introduction, though the tomato understandably lacked sweetness and juiciness.


The soup course was unusual: I do not believe I've ever had a mushroom consomme before. This was made mainly with shiitake mushrooms, which I think was unfortunate, as it gave the dish a distinctly oriental flavour, almost as if it were a herbal chicken soup. Perhaps something more earthy and robust, like cremini or portabello mushrooms, would have been a better choice.


My main course was a seafood risotto, which is an unusual choice for me since I generally prefer meats, but I'm glad I ordered it - topped with a generous helping of mixed shellfish and molluscs, the dish succeeded because of the rich stock used to cook the risotto. It was like getting two dishes in one: a starchy, filling risotto, and a piquant, fragrant bisque.


The University Club also does a credible slice (more a slab, really) of roasted pork, with a generous amount of crackling. While it looked delicious, it might be too heavy for delicate feminine appetites.


Dessert was a flourless chocolate cake, which was decadent, but rather too rich (someone once told me that that's because eggs and butter replace whatever flour used to be in the cake, which, as Wikipedia explains, is not so different from molten chocolate cake). Replacing the coffee ice cream with something tart might have helped to balance it all out.

Overall, The University Club scores fairly well above average across almost all categories: food is interesting, though perhaps not yet truly exceptional; service is prompt, efficient and friendly; and prices are fairly reasonable. Perhaps it's not too late to be a student again.

The University Club
Shaw Foundation Alumni House, Level 4
11 Kent Ridge Drive
Tel: +65 6779 8919

Opening hours: Noon to 2.30pm, 6.30pm to 10.30pm (Mon to Sat)

Review: Where to Eat in Singapore (2010 edition)

What's odd about this post is that I'm only writing it now, it really should have occured to me that with Singapore's tourism rate growing at 20% and the integrated resorts doing a brisk trade, it would only be a matter of time before I had friends planning end of year trips to Singapore and asking for food recommendations. One of the key attractions of Singapore, apart from the Universal Studios, the Zoo and Night Safari, the monolithic new gaming floors and the property market, must surely be the food. Food here is very varied, both in type and along the price range, so it really depends on what you are looking for.

The Hottest in Town: Andre, 53, Le Bistrot Sommelier

This category might be a bit irrelevant, as you can't exactly swan in without a reservation. In fact, if you're into hip and hot, then you'd better pick up the phone and book now because these places are solidly booked two weeks in advance. 53 is a clean-lined shophouse (think: wishbone chairs in oak) helmed by an unknown upstart Michael Han, a law-student-turned-Fat-Duck protege who markets a nice blend of molecular and substantive. Although I truly enjoyed my meals there, I have to say that lunch was better value than dinner, one does need to upsize the main portion (you pay $5 more) and he's barely changed the menu since the restaurant started.

Andre is the new 53, a schmancy hotelier-melded shophouse of rococo Paris and Danish naked glass lights to feature Andre Chiang (formally from Jaan)'s nouveau cuisine. His meals are marvellous but probably still best described by my mother as "a bit, a bob and lots of flair on the side", expect to pay up to $280 for dinner and $120 for lunch. Le Bistrot Sommelier is the rustic project of Patrick Heuberger, who left Au Petit Salut to start his own intepretation of a Parisian bistro. A little hot under the collar and a little too white in clientele but it's fully booked all-night on a Tuesday and every other night for that matter.

What these restaurants all have in common is that they are helmed by a cute chef, have gorgeous, or at least, authentic-to-some interiors and to be fair, have consistently good food. Why do people go there? Probably becuase they like eating with yuppies and they know they are in for a Really Good Meal. If you can't get in, you can pay more to try the brand names in the integrated resorts, or try Valentino's, a rustic residential area eatery opened by an Italian family of chefs, Osvaldo, a rustic banking area eatery opened by another Italian cooking family, Au Petit Salut, a beautiful house serving traditional European classics in a forested area of old barracks, The White Rabbit, a beautiful garrison church serving modern European classics in a forested area of old barracks, Bistro Soori, a beautiful shophouse serving modern European classics in old Chinatown, Bedrock, a beautiful steakhouse den boasting a mesquite grill and Imperial Treasure's Super Peking Duck, serves gorgeous thin-skinned Peking Duck, truffled egg white and sauteed Sharks Fin with clear consomme in the shopping district in town.

Good for the Soul: PS Cafe Dempsey, Candlenut Kitchen, Akashi

This category is for those who are here with family and don't want to blow a huge amount on food, just have a quality meal or an enjoyable ambience. I don't know a single local who hasn't gone to Candlenut Kitchen and loved it but given the Singaporean bias for imported chefs, this local eatery seems to be flying under the radar. Chef Malcolm won the Miele Guide scholarship for up and rising chefs and his rendition of Peranakan favourites is as clean and refined as they come. I think it's brilliant cooking and you get enormous returns on your dollar. A hearty meal here seldom stretches over $30 a person, save room too for their creative and delicious dessert.

Akashi is the cheap and cheerful Japanese eatery for all those who aren't having a serious sashimi craving and their quick turnaround and sake-d chefs assure you of a fresh and loud meal. Try the outlet at Orchard Parade Hotel for classic broad-brushed Japanese decor and excellent rolls and sets. If you are craving something more raw, go to Yoshida Sushi (but only sit at the bar) or Tetsuya's.

PS Cafe Dempsey, if I were being honest, would probably not be in here if we were just talking about food. There is little to choose from between House and PS Cafe in Dempsey, both are beautifully outfitted restaurants that are a hip treat for the eyes. When the food comes though, stick to staples like the good Caesar salad and gorgeous truffle fries. PS Cafe wins out for their backlit, tropical setting, nestled within the raintrees and their hunky, warm suite of desserts.

Rich, Full and On the Street: Tiong Bahru FC, Ghim Moh FC, Sammy's Curry, Ming Kee Live Seafood

Singapore food centers are our pride and joy, these are not air-conditioned food courts (which are sub-par because they are in the basement of shopping centers), rather, these are in the heartlands of Singapore, usually squared between a housing development board flat and a wet market. Stalls selling roast meats, laksa, chicken rice, ipoh hor fun noodles, satay, spicy otah fishcake, local desserts like the ice kachang and warm ginko nut soup, these institutions are always buzzing with local flavour and great, cheap meals. Where else can you feed a family for less than $15?

I've chosen the two, Tiong Bahru and Ghim Moh which are not quite so heartland and therefore a cheaper cab ride to get to, although personally, I do actually think they've got some of the best food. Be adventurous when you go and if you really aren't that adventurous, then the best food court is in the ION shopping center in Orchard Road, try the wonderful fishball noodles and fried hokkien mee but know that you're missing out on the Real Deal.

Sammy's Curry is also an institution and to be honest, I am not entirely sure it is the best. Most times that I've eaten there, my ears are ringing too loudly for me to tell that the taste is good but I'm told that it is, so who am I to argue? Personally I prefer the pay-what-you-will, volunteer-staffed Annalakshmi or the Chindian Copper Chimney but my family does love the fishhead curry at Sammy's.

There must be as many Live Seafood places in Singapore as there are...I don't know, government campaigns. Most, similarly, are well-publicised but may or may not be all they are cracked up to be (Jumbo or Long Beach Seafood at East Coast being an exception). If you have already done the East Coast trek or are looking for something less touristy, try Ming Kee Live Seafood at Macpherson Road. Apart from its very authentic atmosphere and toilets, it has excellent crab bee hoon with giant crab pinchers and other specialties like coffee-guiness roasted pork ribs and steamed neck clams and garoupa.

Best for a romantic meal:: Andre, Bistro Soori, Au Petit Salut, Le Bistrot Sommelier

Best for a meal with the family/mother-in-law: Candlenut Kitchen and Imperial Treasure Super Beijing Duck if your parents only eat Asian, PS Cafe Dempsey if you have kids but want to maintin your cool factor, Au Petit Salut if your mother-in-law is posh, Le Bistrot Sommelier if your mother-in-law is fun

Best for teatime or souvenir shopping: Black or Papa Pelheta's for coffee, Truffs for local chocolate, Chin Mee Chin for sugee cake, Killiney Kopitiam for local coffee and kaya toast, ETA Artisan Sweets for cupcakes and macarons, TWG and Prima Cafe for copycat historical tea and DIY Singapore food mixes.

Miscellaneous Food: New York 13

In this last month, it feels like I've been away to the moon and back. After weeks in New York, Paris, Beijing and Australia, I've finally slowly dealing with the build-up of jet lag. So now that I have nothing better to do than sit in bed, listen to my neighbours pad around upstairs, while eating corn pops and thinking about how I really should be going for a run, I'm instead running through the "I ate" list.

I thought about doing comprehensive write-ups about each place but you know, I hate bringing my camera to restaurants when I travel. Sometimes I just like to eat in peace, eat to recoup after a hard day's work, eat to be inspired, eat to enjoy the company of friends. There was a lot of that over the trips, so I feel very blessed.

I didn't have that many days in New York because the time was punctuated by short trips out of the city. We had also been there not a year ago, when we had a magnificent meal at 11 Madison Park (possibly my favourite in New York) and stopped in at City Bakery, Morimoto and Jean Gorges. So this time, I wanted to try places that we hadn't been to. Of course, on the first day, I broke my own rule, we went to brunch at Balthazar. Only because as I told myself, I was nostalgic for my old neighbourhood. We really should have tried our luck instead at Lombardi's in Little Italy, New York's most famed and mile-long busy pizzeria.

Balthazar was same-same, crowded-crowded, even on an off-peak hour, sourdough bread, eggs benedict, cuppuccino, like a post-flight shot to the heart. Filled to the brim with Birkin-toters and with the cafe noise reflecting off the mosiac and mirrored surfaces. The food at this Keith McNally institution is also really consistent, which is what has kept it in stylish business since 1997. We wandered down Spring Street and found this ridiculously good designer closeout and consignment store called Roundabout (two stores in Soho and the UES) for Blair Waldorf-type clothes. Shoppig at that store was possibly the best meal of the day.

We also walked into Kee's Chocolates, opened by Malaysian Kee Ling Tong when I last lived in NYC. Unfortunately, the place seems to have become a little run-down over this time, boasting a small cold box with a few sparse small pieces of truffles. The cocoa was fine-grained but light on taste, disappointing and not worth the extravagant $2.50 a piece.

This being Friday, we wandered over to the Union Square Farmers Market, which offers Hudson Valley duck, beautiful local-produce like short ribs and steaks, vegetables, honey, lavender and stalls upon stalls of fresh fruit, juices and hot cider. It was a lovely place to walk around and while away a happy hour. The market was surprisingly small, with more produce than cooked food, so afterward, we walked toward Chelsea and Mario Batali's new foodmarket, Eataly.

I'd read a New York Times article about how Eataly offers Italy by the pound and it was just that, exclusive, exquisitely presented and expensive. Eataly is actually a collection of a ambitiously-large, high-end grocery and small food counters serving up cheeses and Italian cold cuts and larger food stalls with dining areas for hot food.

The place has been opened only a few months and is packed to the brim, I think it's a unique proposition and despite the inflated prices, will continue to be popular and profitable, it has the buzz and je nai se quoi of consumer happiness. After stocking up on some lobster mushrooms, pear mustard jam and Ronnybrook chocolate milk, we continued uptown toward Madison Square Park for the always-hits-the-spot Shake Shack burger. Sitting in the sun and having one of these has to be a to-do stop in New York sightseeing.

Before our trip, I stalked the Momofuku sites and booked us dinner at Ko and Bo Saam. I went in with low expectations, having read that "David Chang is a chef made by an internet" and Z. is notoriously anti any food place that he deems too "pretentiously artistic". The Momofuku Ko experience was a knock-out, it transported me back to days when cooking was aspirational (which for me, is a big compliment). We sat on a single bar counter and watched the magic as the three chefs wove their way through about 10 dishes, each well-balanced, well-proportioned and just over the edge enough to be curious.

My favourite dish was an appetizer, lychee with a riesling gelee, topped with pork-floss-like shavings of foie gras torchon. Who knew all those tastes would go together? It was like a flavour explosion, the supple lychee, the slippery jelly and fluffy pile of savoury goodness. It was such an excellent experience that Z. and I were silent all the way through the eating but talked about the meal all night and all-trip.

Unfortunately, the experience was slightly marred by the surly service and dining environment. We were sandwiched between a bronzed, old Californian couple who kept up a stream of constant, basic questions and for whom every dish was pronounced "Jus Wunnerful!" and another group of truly obnoxious New York twenty-somethings whose selfish, literally screaming American laughter and conversation was interrupted only by their flashing phone camera photos of their respective housemate's "walks of shame". Between the two, I felt more poorly for the sweet grandparently couple, who were ignored and sometimes humiliated by the snarky, adolescently-monosyllabic replies of the chefs:

"What are these mushrooms, you said, in the soup?"
"Wood-ear"
"Where are they from?"
"China"

and later "How is the lunch here different?"
"Its just Different"
"But what is different about it?"
"It's a totally different menu"
(sidenote: Lunch is 16 courses and can take up to 3 hours)

and still later when the chefs had started prepping dishes for the next day
"is that salt you're putting on the pork"
"exasperated look. if I put THIS much salt on, it would be, UNEDIBLE"
(he was dusting a flour coating before searing the pork ribs)

If there was one bad taste in your mouth after Ko, that would be it. Even so, I wholeheartedly recommend jumping through all their internet booking hoops to get seats if you're in NYC. It was very worth the trouble.

The following Monday, we wandered into the Hasidic Jewish community in Williamsburg (Jewish mysticism, ah, New York, you still surprise me) and the Baxter and Leibchen vintage Danish furniture warehouse in Jay Street while on our way to the old institution that is Peter Lugur's Steakhouse. Stepping across the old creaky floorboards in this 1887 brick-walled Bavarian beer hall, you get the feeling that this place is for Rudy Guliani-like mob bosses and grumpy German waiters, which is pretty much how it is.

The steak served is a USDA prime dry-aged porterhouse, with creamed spinach, thick murky sauce in a gravy bowl and fried potatoes. Of course, New York loves restaurants that specialise in one thing, so a decent-hour-dinner reservation has to made ages in advance. We'd come for lunch, a really heavy, sleep-inducing lunch. We had fried bacon (really thick-cut ham), which was excellent and beef was very good, thick yet flavourful, crispy on the outside and moist, pink and juicy on the inside. Was it the best steak I'd ever had- well, maybe not, it was a little too rough for me but Z. felt it was the best, particularly for flavour.

In a case of bad timing, we were booked that same night for Ssam Bar, which is Chang's Korean-inspired 8 to 12 people share one pork butt made into lettuce wraps eatery. Again, I didn't have huge expectations and we had a group of just 5 people. There's not much point blogging photos of the famously huge pork butt because it's been done to death (here) but suffice to say, the pork was juicy, deep and oily-savoury sweet, paired with the cold oysters, sticky rice and soft lettuce, it was quite gorgeous and definitely something to try at home cum Christmas. Please don't go with less than 8 people, as we discovered, that only leads to wasted food and I was sad we couldn't try any of the yummy sounding side dishes, like soft shell crab, cold tofu and uni.

For me, the Ssam Bar menu was a bit like Solociccio in Panzano, unabashedly overdosing on meat but David Chang's restaurants in general were all very on-trend and honestly, very clever. Pork butt for example, is a premium pork cut but its a relatively cheap meat, Bo Ssam, as a dish, is widely available and known (there's even a Martha Stewart recipe for it, though I suspect that was more in response) but it took his concept restaurants to popularise the idea and to package it in this formula that draws in big groups and lots of high-margin boozing through pre-sold internet reservations. Compare the $17 you would pay for a 10 pound pork shoulder, to the $200 that he charges and you'll quickly realize that David Chang is a brilliant businessman and chef, hugely deserving of his burgeouning food empire.

After dinner, we went next door to the Milk Bar, I had heard lots of good things about the ice creams, cookies (but then it's quite common to hear raving about dessert) but most of all the Crack Pie, so named for its addictive, brown sugar and creamed egg filling. We bought one and ate it the next morning on the way to the airport, it really was deliciously salty and sweet. In case you want to make some Momofuku magic yourself, Bo Ssam is a great party dish, here is a perfect example of some restaurant-turned-home-cooking from the Sydney food bloggers picnic. In fact, there are so many devotees to David Chang's Momofuku franchise that I found many blogs that have done the Julia Julie here and here for the crack pie recipe.

On our remaining day, we walked to H&H Bagels at their Midtown location for a steaming hot lox and smoked salmon poppy seed-sesame bagel and the uptown Cafe Boulud for lunch. I had debated Boulud, Boulud Bakery and finally we just decided on the very good value seasonal set lunch at Cafe Boulud, priced at $35 for 3 courses ($28 for 2). We had a simple clear mushroom, barley and root vegetable consomme, a seared seabass (although their duck confit looked excellent) and porcini mushroom risotto.

The cooking at Cafe Boulud is flawless, even good value (I later read that the chef is a James Beard Rising Star award winner) and the other dishes that I saw on the menu, like the braised beef cheeks, braised short ribs, roasted fig with cheesecake cream and port reduction, warm apple brioche with cinnamon anglais and salted caramel ice cream sounded like our meal tasted, heavy and chock-full of French goodness.

If there is one criticism, it's that the menu and the plates were not particularly creative and the environment was a bit stifling, rather like a business lounge with dark oak brown light shades and carpeting. The clientele was white and well-heeled but all seemed to be there for the very reasonable prix fixe and many new each other, with lots of none-too-discreet back-slapping going on. Still, I was impressed with the level of food and the friendly initiative of the waitstaff. If we had more time in NYC, I would have preferred to go to Boulud itself, or Boulud Bakery. Still, compared to what DB Moderne is going to cost in the casino in Singapore, I guess it was good to eat on the Boulud franchise for just $35.

For dinner, we stayed on the UES (which was near where we were staying) and went to Sushi of Gari. This little sushi place is a tiny bar and appendix set-up and has a very comprehensive menu. The appetizers like the hijiki salad and ankimo (monkfish liver) were well-done and the mains were fairly well-sized. They are particularly known for their creative sushi pairings and toppings but the sushi slices are not that generous. Still, after a week without Asian food, it really hit the spot and it is well-known, although I was told we would have been better of at Sushi Yasuda.

On our last day, we decided to go to the High Line entrance on West 18th in Chelsea, this is a 1.45-mile (2.33 km) New York City park built on a section of the former elevated freight railroad spur called the West Side Line, which runs from West 12th-20th, and which has been redesigned and planted as an aerial greenway. On our way there, we walked past a sidewalk cafe and saw the loveliest brunch plates with mounds of crispy bacon. So after we were done walking, we hightailed back to Westville, Chelsea.

This cafe is the bomb, they advertise themselves as simple, high-quality ingredients in fresh, eclectic American cuisine and I was impressed by the freshness and unpretentiousness of the decor and food. The cafe was dominated by a high blondewood bar and tables, transparent hung lighting and heavy glassware.

We ordered a scrambled eggs with crispy bacon, fried tomatoes and portugese muffin, with a second dish of asparagus with parmesan reggiano and a poached egg, washed down with a frothy-smooth cuppucino. The dishes were served with a side of salad and crispy, floured-and-fried fries that were an incredible taste revelation. I wished we could have had the meal space for their battered codfish and the char-grilled Newport steak and if you're in town, I'd definitely recommend a post-flight pick-me-up at this charming place.

Balthazar
80 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 965-1785

Lombardi's
32 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012-4173
(212) 941-7994

Kee's Chocolates
80 Thompson St
New York, 10012
(212) 334-3284

Eataly
200 5th Ave
New York, NY 10010
(646) 398-5100

Shake Shack (multiple locations)
Southeast corner of Madison Square Park,
near Madison Ave. and East 23rd St.
Phone: 212.889.6600

Momofuku Ko
163 1st Avenue @ E.10th Street
(212) 500-0831

Momofuku Ssam Bar
207 2nd Avenue @ E. 13th Street
New York, NY 10003
(212) 254-3500

Peter Lugur Steakhouse
178 Broadway
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 387-7400

H&H Midtown Bagels
1551 2nd Avenue @ E. 80th Street
New York, NY 10028-3902
(212) 734-7441

Cafe Boulud
20 East 76th Street @ Madison Ave
New York, NY 10021
(212) 772-2600

Sushi of Gari (multiple locations)
402 East 78th Street @ 1st Ave
(212) 517-5340

Westville Chelsea
246 W 18th St @ 8th Ave
New York, NY 10011
(212) 924-2223

Review: Jade

Disclaimer: This meal was generously sponsored, but the content of the following review is entirely my own.


Despite the Fullerton Hotel being one of my favourite hotels, I must confess that I have very rarely dined there, and so I was thrilled to have been invited to a special Peking duck food tasting at Jade, a classy Chinese restaurant located on the second floor of the hotel, and one of the 10 restaurants featured in TimeOut's inaugural Dine Out Tasting Event.


As it was a Sunday night, we had the restaurant virtually to ourselves, and we were able to drink in the beautiful setting: the delicately restored finishings of what used to be the old colonial Post Office; the carefully embroidered, virgin white tablecloth; and the tasteful use of verdant bamboo shoots all contributed to serene surroundings. It felt as if I was having dinner on the opulent set of the movie The Banquet.


Our meal commenced with an amuse-bouche of chicken mousse, which was a small pyramid of chicken pate that had been slightly browned, served atop a slice of celery, which had been blanched and refreshed to preserve its emerald green hue. The celery was therefore fresh and crunchy, with the unmistakable tang providing a good counterfoil to the rich chicken mousse.


Our first course was a roasted Peking duck with marinated orange peel, hoisin sauce and cucumber wrapped in a Chinese pancake. Clearly an attempt to combine both such Oriental and Occidental classics as Peking duck and canard a l'orange in one dish, I felt this was let down by the dryness of the Chinese pancake, which tasted floury and chalky, rather than the smooth and elegant wrapping Peking duck is famous for. The zestiness of the orange, however, was an interesting tough, which worked better than I thought it would, cutting through the sweetness of the hoisin sauce and giving the dish an added complexity.


The next course was a luxurious silky chawanmushi with diced duck meat, wild mushrooms and black truffle slices. Sadly, Chinese truffles were used, so there wasn't the same sort of aromatic pungency, but the chawanmushi was excellent. It is always a great pleasure to eat a chawanmushi so smooth it feels like you're drinking a liquid rather than eating a solid, especially when it's flavoured with a rich, tasty duck stock and packed with cubes of wild mushrooms.


Our soup course was a duck bone consomme with duck meat dumplings, lemongrass, chilli, coriander and fresh porcini mushrooms. I was very impressed that Jade uses fresh porcini mushrooms, as these are extremely difficult to find in this part of the world. The consomme would have been better, I think, if the chef had not attempted to inject a Thai influence - drinking a spicy soup that was reminiscent of tom yam was somewhat disconcerting in a Chinese restaurant, and I didn't think the combination was successful. Nonetheless, the dumplings were exceptionally good, for they were full of meat, and the skin was so delicate and supple that it was a wonder they didn't simply disintegrate in the soup.


An intermezzo followed, in the form of a black sesame lemon sorbet. Clearly, the kitchen in Jade enjoys using exotic or unusual ingredients in surprising combinations, for this is one of the very few occasions I have seen sweet granadilla used as an ingredient. The fruit, which is closely related to the passionfruit, resembles frogspawn, but is mellow and sweet (though less so than passionfruit), and a little crunchy. The sweetness complimented the earthy nuttiness of the black sesame very well, while the hint of lemon, and the icy coolness of the sorbet, did much to cleanse the palate, in preparation for the next dish.


Sauteed Peking duck with pan-seared foie gras, roasted garlic and green asparagus was artfully cooked and presented, with a crispy, inverted basket adorning the dish. Pairing duck with foie gras is perhaps a bit rich, but I suppose that is not really a relevant consideration when eating a six course dinner.


I was by this time rather full, but managed to find some space for the pineapple fried rice with diced duck meat, crab meat and nyonya chilli served in a crispy money bag. Here again, I felt that the creativity of the chefs had not been put to its best use: the strong taste of the nyonya chilli was not appropriate for the fried rice, which was otherwise extremely appetising, for crabmeat had been supplied in abundance, and the sweet fragrance of the pineapple had permeated the rice grains.


Dessert did not, unsurprisingly, feature any more duck. Instead, we were treated to a bowl of shaved coconut ice with fresh strawberries and mango cream. I always enjoy the heady scent of coconut, and when it is made into cream (or better yet, ice cream) without losing any of its allure that is even more remarkable. The strawberries were a little too tart for my tastes, but the mango sauce was satisfyingly sweet.

Overall, Jade's Peking Duck menu was not perfect, but at $58 per person, it is very reasonable for the generous amount of food you get, and one can't help but admire the chef's attempts to reinterpret some classic dishes. If duck is not your thing, Jade also offers a host of other set menus, with prices ranging from $48 to $98 per person, as well as a la carte dishes that are fairly affordably priced.

Jade
Fullerton Hotel
1 Fullerton Square
Tel: +65 6877 8188
Email