Saturday, October 31, 2009

People and Places: Berchtesgaden

Bavaria in the southern part of Germany is filled with noteworthy towns and villages, many of which are popular tourist attractions in themselves aside from being bases for both summer and winter sports.

Take Berchtesgaden, for example. Despite being in a remote location, the town and nearby Schoenau am Königsee possess world class sport facilities and is popular with the locals as well as sportsmen from nearby Austria.

Even if you are not there for the sports, you will find many architectural gems within the small township - enough to keep you occupied for a full day. In the area around the Town Square, you will find many restaurants and cellars offering authentic Bavarian cuisine and wines.  Berchtesgaden is one of those European towns which has a special appeal to me so far so that I have visited it more than once.

 








Food for Thought: Ah Loy Thai

Having dined at numerous Thai restaurants including some of the best in Singapore like the highly acclaimed Sabai @ Ngee Ann City, Yingthai on Purvis Street, Sukhotai @ Boat Quay and Thanying @ Amara Hotel, we have finally found our favourite Thai food in a little unpretentious eaterie located on the groundfloor of Shaw Tower, Beach Road.


Ah Loy Thai is run by a husband-and-wife team assisted by several foreign workers.  This is a no-frills establishment which means you wait around until a table is available and expect to wait at least 20-30 minutes during the peak hours.  You then complete your order form and pay up at the cashier.  The food, when ready, will be brought to your table by the foreign helpers.  If you require any extra orders, go back to the cashier.

You will find all of this inconveniences, including the long wait, to be worth the while when you have tasted the food.  They are of surprisingly high quality considering the very affordable pricing.  I don't recall anything costing more than $10 on the order form.

Darling wife and I have eaten here many times over the past 12 months.  Some of our favourite dishes include the following:

Deepfried Fish with Spicy Thai Sauce

Stir-fried Morning Glory

Minced Chicken with Basil

Crispy Mango Chicken

Thai Papaya Salad

Fried Vermicelli with Seafood

Thai Iced Cheng Tng


Aloy Thai Restaurant
100 Beach Road
#01-39/40 Shaw Tower

Ambience: 6
Service: 6
Food: 7.5
Pricing: $
Recommended dishes: All that is featured above.



Monday, October 26, 2009

Food for Thought: Pagi Sore

We were at Bayewood Collection when childhood friend, Tong Leng, felt like having something spicy for dinner.  There are several options in the area but Pagi Sore immediately came to mind.  I have eaten there many times and have never once been disappointed.

The restaurant was started in 1989 in a shop house along Duxton Road.  It is now finally settled, after moving around for a while, at 88 Telok Ayer Street, Far East Square.   20-year old Pagi Sore has received numerous awards including the Excellent Food Award in 2002 and is listed among the Top 50 Restaurants in Singapore by The Straits Times.

Its signature dishes are unmistakably the popular Cumi Bali, Petai Udang Pedas, Ikan Otah Kukus and Ayam Bali.

However, I thought we should try something different and so our parade of dishes included Rendang Sapi, Ikan Assam Pedas,  Ayam Gulai, Terung Tau Chio, and Asparagus Udang Belacan.  For dessert we had pudding lapis mangga, alpukat and sirsak sorbet.

The rendang sapi was tasty but lacked the fragrance of fried coconut.  Also, I found the beef to be a little on the rough side - perhaps the meat was too lean.  I prefer it to be stewed longer until the meat is tender and streaky.  Those who enjoy thick sauces will definitely appreciate this dish which is drowned in its own gravy.

Beef rendang

For the ikan assam pedas, red snapper was used which was a good choice since the meat of this fish has a firm texture and a sweet, nutty flavor that lends itself very well to everything from hot chili to subtle herbs.  The gravy has a combination taste of sweet, sour and hot which is how a good assam pedas should be.

Ikan Assam Pedas

To make the perfect accompaniment for the terong tau chio, the kitchen staff prepares the special sauce daily.  The main ingredients of the sauce includes preserved soya beans, diced chili and garlic. The eggplant is blanched in boiling water and very quickly taken out to prevent it from getting overcooked.  The cook succeeded in preventing the eggplant from becoming too soft and soggy or undercooked and raw, for that matter. 

Terong tau chio

Ayam Gulai is a watery version of kari ayam and normally less milky, hot and spicy.  Unlike curry which uses thick coconut milk, diluted coconut milk is used in gulai and therefore not so jelak.  The chicken was very tender yet remained as a whole piece and not disintegrated. Overall, this was a satisfying dish.

Ayam gulai

We had originally planned to order petai udang pedas but it was sold out.  So, we settled for the prawn stir-fried with asparagus in sambal belacan.  I didn't think asparagus went very well with sambal belacan and therefore did not enjoy this dish.  When ordering this dish, indicate to the waiter whether you prefer your prawns denuded.

Prawn stir-fried with asparagus in sambal belacan

As there were three of us, we decided to order one dessert each to share.  The pudding lapis mangga was pretty to look at but tasted ordinary.  My alpukat or avocado cream had a good creamy texture but that was the only good thing about it.  The gula melaka was too sweet although it looked diluted!  However the sirsak sorbet was very good.  The soursop pulp was blended very fine before chilling which made it very smooth.


Over the years (from its Duxton days right up to the present), Pagi Sore has managed to maintain consistency in standards which is why I keep going back there.  It is one of my favourite Indonesian restaurants.

Pagi Sore
88-90 Telok Ayer Street
Singapore 048470

Ambiance: 7
Service: 7.5
Food: 8
Pricing: $$
Recommendations: Ikan otah kukus, petai udang pedas, cumi bali, sirsak sorbet, ikan assam pedas, ayam bali


Saturday, October 24, 2009

Food for Thought: Nicolas Le Restaurant

Le Restaurant is the brainchild of French chef, Nicolas Joanny, who hails from the Provence in the southern part of France. His love for fine ingredients stems from growing up in a family of food lovers who grew practically every food that was laid on the table, right down to the olive oil which was home-produced.

Nicolas graduated from the renowned Culinary Institute in Burgundy, Chateau Chinon, at the age of 17. During the second year of his study, he attended training under the watchful eyes of famous chefs at two prestigious Three Michelin Star establishments.

No promising chef would miss the opportunity of working in Paris. Nicolas worked at top-notch Parisian restaurants such as the 2-Michelin star Le Vivarois and 3-Michelin star Taillevent (which I recently recommended to Chee Koon when she visited Paris). Later in his Paris career, he was chosen as personal chef to ex-French prime minister, Alain Juppe.

Before coming to Singapore, he spent 4-years in Bangkok as Executive Chef of Le Vendome which is internationally recognised as one of Asia's top French dining spots. Last year, Nicolas set up Le Restaurant in a restored house, part of the Bukit Pasoh Conservation Project.

Nicolas acknowledges that his style of cuisine is traditionally French with emphasis on the use of products from the Provence. He uses mainly natural jus and emulsion rather than cream. He understands and respects the natural flavors of each ingredient that he uses to create traditional seasonally changing French menu. His philosophy and culinary skill are best displayed in his 6-course tasting menu.

The menu for the night included several appetisers, a main course, dessert and complimentary coffee/tea with pralines.

As soon as we had finished placing our order for the main course, freshly baked bread and duck rilettes were brought to our table.

Duck rilletes 

The rilettes was raked and packed tightly with just enough oil to ensure a smooth texture, which is the mark of a good rilette. The softness and smoothness of Nicolas' duck rilettes went very well with his freshly baked breads.

Potato Soup with Parma ham

Soup was then served. Nicolas had chosen potato soup topped with a thin strip of Parma ham. At first glance, the soup resembled Louis Diat's Vichyssoise. However upon tasting, I found that it had a very light and delicate flavour without the strong overtones of leek which Diat uses in his creation. The soup dish was combined with Australian yabby done two ways. On one side of the soup dish was a filo wrap filled with yabby meat, deep-fried to a crisp golden brown. On the other, sat a yabby completely clothed in its shell and grilled to perfection.

A prawn dish followed the soup. A sizable blue prawn was denuded and grilled. This wasn't my favourite dish as I found the prawn to be a little over-done causing it to lose much of its natural juices.  It was a tad too dry for my liking.

Grilled blue prawn

My grouse with the prawn was soon forgotten when I tasted the Japanese hen egg. Infused with white trufle essence, its taste was simply sublime. A tiny slice of kurobuta pork accompanied the steamed egg.  The pork definitely added to the dish's presentation.  Did it enhance the taste of the steamed egg?  I am not so sure that it did but that didn't really matter at all.

Japanese hen egg infused with white truffle essence

Next up was North Atlantic scallop served with an ensemble of different meats including bits of shrimp and chicken.  The scallop was very lightly seared in order to retain its sashimi quality texture.  Of course, it tasted wonderfully velveteen and I voted this the best appetizer of the meal.

Seared North Atlantic scallop

For main course, I selected the slow roasted rack of lamb from Tasman fields. This is Chef Nicolas' version of the famous French favourite, Carre D'agneau.  Chef Nicolas uses only the best imported Tasmanian lamb. I ordered medium rare and true to honesty, it arrived done to my preference. It was rare but not overly bloody yet the meat was tender and had the 'melt in your mouth' texture.  Darling wife opted for the 200-day grain fed beef tenderloin.  One bite of the main courses and we were convinced that these were the creation of a Chef de Cuisine.

White Chocolate soup

Dessert was white chocolate soup (not my favourite) and Chef Nicolas was very kind to whip up a creme brulee infused with vanilla for me even though this was not offered on the tasting menu for the day.  Not quite in  the same league as the crema catalana that I have eaten in Catalonia, it was still definitely better than many others I have tried outside of Spain.  Darling wife's white chocolate soup with Belgian chocolate was interesting in its presentation.

Crema Catalana

Chef Nicolas' culinary skills and adeptness have the ability to sway one's mood and make one forget about any other inconveniences that might have been encountered.  I was told not to use flash photography hence, the rather poor quality of the photographs used here . I thought this was a rather unusual request by the management.  I have used flash photography in many of the world's top restaurants including our very own Au Jardin Les Amis and Tatsuya, and have never encountered any problem.

Despite this small inconvenience and the fact that the restaurant lacked the ambiance of a fine dining restaurant, I would still recommend it simply because the food was good.



Nicolas Le Restaurant
31 Keong Saik Road
Bukit Pasoh Conservation Project
Singapore 089138
Ph: 62242404

Ambience: 6
Food: 8.5
Service: 7
Pricing: $$$$$
Recommendation: Chef Nicolas Tasting menu