For more photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/zaffron-kitchen-east-coast-road

Q: Did Zac Efron open Zaffron Kitchen?
A: No, he didn’t but he might as well have. The restaurant is as pretty as him.

When I stepped in, I was taken aback at how gorgeous the decor is. It has a very Parisian feel to it, with French jazz playing in the background. The modern chic decor is very similar to the French restaurant, Cocotte, except Zaffron uses more colors (orange, grey, brown) boldly. It’s contemporary Indian food in a Parisian setting – why hasn’t anyone think of it earlier?? The decor allows friends to gather at the communal table; lovers in cosy corners and families–there is a play area for children. The decor is classy without being pretentious.

Unlike Zac Efron, Zaffron has looks and substance.

For starters, we had some papadum ($4) and Papdi Chaat (pictured above, $6). My tall, dark, handsome and RICH–most important factor according to Chiobu–date preferred the non-oily papadum, which comes with two delicious dips (mint and mango chutney) and also comes in two flavors, normal and with black pepper. The black pepper one was fiery, man. However, I preferred the more complex papdi chaat, a North Indian street food, with a potato-chip-like base topped with murukku, sweet yoghurt, mint and tamarind. So it was crispy and soft, sweet and sour and tart. Super appetizing! I felt like I could eat 10 million papdi chaat.

Mains: The dum chicken briyani ($11) was extremely exciting. The dish of spiced chicken thigh and hard boiled egg with basmati rice is sealed by a thin layer of prata. Merry Christmas! Unwrap your present. At the side is yogurt and curry underneath the papadum.

This dish was both visually and orally pleasing. The chicken thigh was so tender. Drizzle the fierce curry over the rice – all the spices burst in the mouth!

To add some protein to our meal, we had the tandoori mixed grill ($25) consisting of (in order of the photo) chicken tikka, chicken malai tikka, fish tikka and seekh mutton kebab, good for 4 persons to share. Each tasted distinctly from the other in a wonderful way but it was mixed feelings for us. The two types of chicken were very tender. We both enjoyed the chicken tikka which really had the punch of the gingery tumeric and hot paprika. But my favorite had to be the malai tikka, which my hot date disliked. Malai tikka is marinated with cottage cheese, coriander and yoghurt, giving it a very earthy and charcoal-ly taste. It’s like eating very good BBQ chicken wings, the kind that slightly chars at the edges. AWESOME right?? The fish tikka was too light in spices for me but my date liked it. We both didn’t take to the unique taste of seekh mutton kebab–it was overwhelming for us.

Kadhai Jhinga ($15), shrimps in onion tomato masala, was too salty for us but the Khatti Meethi Gobi ($8.50), cauliflower cooked with about 10 million spices, was fabulous. (Note the trend here? I only like intricate, complicated food with million spices.. like my love life.) It tasted almost like mashed potato with spiced tomato sauce on it, slightly sweet, slightly tomatoy-sour. I’m salivating as I am typing this.

We ordered two naans to go with the above dishes. The selection of naans is innovative. Aside from the plain, butter, garlic, cheese naans, there are masala kulcha (with vegetables and carrots), keema (a thin layer of mutton inside the naan), and kashmiri. We had the cheese naan ($5), made of mozzarella cheese!, so it’s like the Indian version of pizza. We also tried the kashmiri ($6.50), which is the Indian version of nut and raisin bread. Very tasty, I ate it on its own.My philosophy is no meal is complete without desserts. Moong Dal Halwa ($9). Shan, the manager, told us that the dessert is made from moong dal lentil, a variety of lentil. I heard “moon-dial.” So romantic right?

Does anyone know what lentil is? I don’t. Sorry, very suaku. Wikipedia says it’s a legume family, so it’s pea-like? Moong dal halwa is cooked with milk, sugar and butter. To me, it tasted like fried fish skin but to my RICH date, it tasted like coconut bits soaked in milk.

The honesty of the restaurant is very endearing. Unlike other eateries that dish out lies and manufactured ice cream pretending that they made their own ice cream, Zaffron’s menu clearly states that moong dal halwa is served with Ben & Jerry ice cream. How refreshing is that! Not only is Zaffron Kitchen honest, the chef from India tries to make the ice cream his own–like a rendition of an American Idol song–by sprinkling some unprocessed lentil (I think it’s lentil) on the ice cream and the cooked lentil. Full marks for effort and thoughtfulness.

Speaking of thoughfulness, the concept of the restaurant pays so much attention to details. On the napkins and the aprons of the servers, there are slogans like “the devil wears prata,” “your food is cumin,” “thyme for curry,” and “I clove Indian food.”

The service was good too, especially by our knowledgable manager, Shan. And when I wanted something, I just looked in the eyes of another female server, and waved. Eye contact is so important for service.

Vegetarian options and wine and beer available. A Malay couple sat next to us, so I think it should be halal too.

Last words: I think Indian food will never be the same again after Zaffron Kitchen. There is authentic Indian food here but there is also contemporary Indian food that tries to surprise the customers. Lots of thought is put in. And bringing delicious and very affordable Indian food in such a chic restaurant–that’s just brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that?! I wish more places could put in more effort like Zaffron.

For more photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/coco-ichibanya-313-somerset/

Coco Ichibanya is known as King of Curry, with the most number of Japanese curry outlets in the world. wu ngia bo? I met yumyumformytumtum for lunner (late lunch/early dinner) to investigate. (this is Yumyum’s second time there!)

How to order: (1) You pick the curry dish first (2) customize the level of spiciness from 0 to 5 (there is also vegetables-based kids curry), (3) pick the amount of rice, (4) add toppings if you want.

For starters, we had sausage salad ($7) and salmon cream croquette ($4). The sausage salad came with soy dressing, which tasted like concentrated vitasoy! It brought out the child in me. The croquette was very creamy and smooth potato puree with just a slight hint of salmon-ness in it. Good stuff!Yumyum’s Pork Cutlet with cheese ($14): The pork cutlet didn’t suit me because the batter was thick and the meat wasn’t tender. But the good thing is it was oil-free.

However, my Creamed Mushroom Omelet Curry ($13) was da bomb! You can’t adjust the level of spiciness and the amount of rice because the flavors needed to go together. On first bite, the molten egg, the cream, the sweet Japanese curry and the rice combined to give me a very sweet wine taste! I kid you not. It brought out the ooomph in me, like I was in some Taiwanese cook show. I wanted to say to my new friend, YumYum, “I don’t want to chat anymore. I want to concentrate on savoring the food.”

But because you know, I’m a carnivore, I added a topping of fried chicken ($4) which looked like popcorn chicken. A little tough for me. I think in general, the restaurant isn’t very good with deep fried meats, an area they need to improve on.

We also tried Hashed beef curry ($13) with a topping of mushroom (+$3). Another awesome dish! It wasn’t as spicy and had more tomato in it, making this a dish that you can keep eating without feeling excess or in Singlish, you can eat until siao but don’t feel jerlak.

Desserts: we shared three scoops of Italian ice cream ($7): vanilla, chocolate and strawberry sorbet. The vanilla was very rich; and I like the chocolate which was intense and bitter like my love.

Given the yoshinoya-alike decor, and given that there are some negative reviews, I was very pleasantly surprised that the food turned out to be fantastic and value-for-money. Where else in Orchard can you find such a deal? $13 for curry rice?? Even cai fan these days cost $8 (at Bugis Junction)! No wonder the queue is endless during lunches and dinners. Too bad it doesn’t take reservations. Is Coco Ichibanya the King of Curry? Ya Ichiban!

For more awesome photos, please visit: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/rakuzen-tampines/

Decor: Light wood is a material that I detest because it looks cheap BUT this restaurant, predominantly in light wood with dim lights, looks elegant and sleek – a Japanese interior designer crafted it. Design is so important. That’s why lah, clean-cut and classy. There are private rooms available with a minimum spending of $200 for lunch and $300 for dinner.

Many ingredients are flown directly from Japan twice a week, bypassing the middlemen or women, so the fresh food can be sold to us at a relatively low price. Special mention: brown rice is flown in and is milled into white rice at Rakuzen so they can control the quality. (Interesting fact: there are only 4 milling machines in Singapore. The other three are owned by Isetan, another Japanese establishment!) You know lah, I’m very hiao, need to watch my hourglass figure, so I always order brown rice wherever it is available. I tasted so many varieties of brown rice but Rakuzen’s was totally different from other places. It felt very clean and had a bite. One of the best brown rice I had.

We had a few appetizers including himatsubishi (fried burdock root, $5), Ehire (grilled stingray fin $8), grilled corn with butter ($5), and Mame Aji Tsumami (fried small horse mackerel (pictured), $8). The ladies seemed to be taken by the grilled stingray fin with mayo, quite unique and chewy like dried cuttlefish, while I preferred the fried small horse mackerel – got meat lah, tasted like shishamo (pregnant fish) without the roe. While they were addictive and go very well with beer, my advice is skip the appetizers. Save your stomach for the awesome mains!!You see now why I titled this “May the force be with you!!” It’s a Jedi’s lightsaber! The raw Fire Mackerel ($16) is marinated in rice wine vinegar and wrapped in seaweed for at least two hours. The searing, done at the table, melts the fats and gives the skin a crisp. Because it’s soaked in vinegar, it has a sourish tangy. Dip it in ponzu (a citrus soya sauce), it’s fruity sour-salty VS vinegar sour with the sweetness of the fish. Very shiok and appetizing. I thought this can definitely be an appetizer. However, perhaps the lightsaber was too powderful, and the flesh was cooked. I’d prefer a rawer and caveman-ish taste.Return of the Jedi. I LOVE THIS! The moeyo beef roll ($18) has seared tenderloin on the outside, and fresh avocado and tempura batter bits inside. This is contemporary Japanese food at its best. The crunchy sweet tempura bits, the creamy avocado and the textured beef – awesome combination. There were 5 of us, 6 pieces—and I secretly took the extra piece. HEE HEE HEE. I was so smooth, like a thief in the night.

Okonomiyaki ($10), or Japanese pizza. I never like okonomiyaki much because it is often too starchy and heavy but this one was marvelous! You can taste the egg in the mixture. There are japanese yam, cabbage, carrots and mushroom in the mixture so each mouth is sweet, crunchy and savory. It is topped with mayo, okonomiyaki sauce and sakuri ebi or better known as hae bee (dried shirmps). Mouthwatering delicious.

For a long time I avoided eating sushi in Singapore because honestly, the chefs aren’t preparing sushi in the right way. The correct way is that the sushi itself should already be balanced–it should already have soy sauce and wasabi WITHIN the sushi so the customers don’t dip it in sauce or wasabi; the customers just eat it straight. So I was VERY, VERY impressed with the sushi. All the four sushi (ranging from $4-$8 per piece) actually came in a balance–you don’t have to dip it in any sauce or wasabi. The seared tuna belly (first in the photo), for example, had grains of salt on it, and wasabi beneath it, and with the vinegary rice—ready to eat! The Japanese chef–yes, he’s from Japan–is bringing balance to the force! The sushi, good as they were, need some tweaking to really bring out the flavors. But I was already astounded to find such quality sushi. So yes, the sushi at Rakuzen is awesome, without a doubt. I’ll come back for more.

Vegetarian set meal available.

Verdict: I came with very low expectations–neighborhood restaurants can be nice meh? Some more, it’s so affordable. But all the main courses were outstanding and blew me away. Tampinites – you’re in luck! Can go gym already, then come over to feast. Highly recommended.

For more photos, please visit: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/white-rabbit-dempsey/

Every Christmas eve, Chiobu and I gather a few friends to dine at a chichi restaurant to celebrate another year of friendship. When White Rabbit invited us to check out their festive menus starting from an affordable $48 (available throughout December, including Xmas Menu and New Year Menu), we jumped at the opportunity faster than 31 year-old Edison Chen pouncing on his next 16 year-old school-uniformed girl.

We were knocked over by the gorgeous decor, an old church converted into a restaurant, retaining some of the ecclesial decor, such as the stained glass church windows and the pulpit is changed into a bar counter. There is a residue grandeur and reverence to the restaurant. Chiobu observed that unlike other chichi restaurants in Singapore which are usually small and exclusive, White Rabbit is more Gordon Ramsey style, huge open space. However, the booth chairs ensure a degree of privacy. This place is suitable for a group of friends or for lovers. The ambience was electrifying. I said to Chiobu, “Come on! This is such an amazing place to celebrate Christmas! Dining on Christmas in a church! And we can get to make new friends here in such an open space.”

ree: seared scallop; foie gras parfait on brioche; Iberico ham & fig.

I started with the fresh fig wrapped in ham with parmesan cheese and rocket. I said to Chiobu, “It’s a very smart combination lor.” Very smart because it had a bit of everything, sweet fig, salty ham, bitter rocket, and milky cheese. But I wondered if it was too glib and polished.

The scallop was seasoned in a very Chinese style, and was overly salty. So the right way to eat is to wrap the scallop with the salad (which had chrysanthemum petals), so the salad could lessen the salt and provide a textual contrast.

I tried the foie gras parfait on brioche last because I tried it at other restaurants before and at other restaurants, I thought it was disappointing, such a waste of foie gras. But Chiobu said, “WOW, you must try it!!! It’s so good!!” I rolled my eyes…how good can it be? OMG. It was happiness! Love at first bite! It didn’t have the iron-y taste of liver, it wasn’t smelly, it was dense and extremely smooth and creamy, which complimented the brioche–one of the best brioches I’ve tasted. The brioche tasted almost like a sweet but soft Khong Guan square cracker. This was the elusive WOW-ness I was searching for!Second Course: Champagne Poached Seabass in Mushroom Broth. Chiobu said that this could have been perfect if the fish was fresher and less fishy. But I LOVE IT. This was again a very Chinese dish, almost like Chinese steamed fish at wedding dinner. There was a slight bitter aftertaste coming from the champagne and the broth had a herbal tinge, adding dimensions to the sweetness of the fish. My only complaint was why so little broth??? Chiobu and I can drink a whole pot of it! So yummy! We used the complimentary bread to soak up all the soup. Not a drop left on the bowl, drier than the Sahara desert. I wanted to lick my bowl.

Roulade of Turkey with stuffing of chestnut, smoked oyster, cornbread, sage and cranberry sauce. You’d think that the detailed description would include–I tasted this in the mix–bacon, which provided a slight saltiness.

Chichi restaurants don’t serve food hot because they don’t want to get into law suits of scalding the customers. Because the food isn’t hot, there usually isn’t fragrance coming from the food. Let it be said that this is the FIRST time that there was such a great scent. I almost forgot to take photo first!

Chiobu dislikes main courses to be sweet. Looking at the ingredients, you can tell they are most sweet: chestnut, cornbread, turkey, cranberry sauce. But after a while, she said, “The chestnut is very soft!”

I replied, “Mine is ok only. And my stuffing is a bit hard and dry.”

“No! Mine is so soft and moist!” So perhaps she got the good parts of the stuffing.

I ate a roulade–just meat rolled up–recently at Magma, and my preconceived notion was, “This is going to suck. Roulades are hard.” But when I sank my teeth into it, I felt like I was in one of those commercials: slow motion, zoom in on the sexy way a sexy woman bites into the food. I turned to Chiobu and said, “OMG, the turkey defies physics! It’s bouncy, like a grape, but when your teeth break into the meat, the meat is completely tender. We have to come here for Christmas!”

For the second time, even though the sticky date pudding wasn’t hot, there was such a delicious baked fragrance coming from it. Naturally, covered in caramel sauce, this dessert was saccharine sweet. Chiobu exclaimed, “OMG!!! This has to be the best dessert ever!”

“What do you mean ‘ever’? Like in the entire Singapore?”

“YES!!”

I do think the dessert was very, very outstanding. A scoop of the extremely rich vanilla ice cream with a bit of pudding and a piece of berry – quite divine. But Judging on its taste alone, it gets 9.5/10. Judging on creativity, the Dining Room @ Tanjong Beach Club wins.

Chiobu said that she felt so snug and intimate with the service. It felt like she was living in Singapore again, not China! Haha. The service was indeed top-notched. They always serve the ladies first. When Chiobu had tea, the waitress moved the milk jug so that the handle faced Chiobu, easier for her to take. Guests at other tables were in the bathroom, and the servers covered the food for them. Very considerate and efficient and polite.

Chiobu and I seldom agree on food. This is one of the rare instances that we actually like the place. I think we found our restaurant to host Xmas Eve dinner! (PS: if you need a copy of the Festive Menu and pricing, you can email me and I’ll forward you the Menu.)

It is named after a New York city; sells eclectic art from Africa, Asia and Europe; conducts cooking classes; offers catering services; and serves Peranakan, Western, and cze-char food. Confuse yet? Though eccentric and a tad disorientating, the decor shows the kaleidoscopic personalities of the owners–and it can safely be said that they are not hipsters. This place has character.

The food was cooked using traditional recipes without MSG. Like any homecooked meal, the portions were huge and there were some hits and misses. The food, not very spicy, is suited for children and families.

Definitely order the beef rendang ($15) and ayam buah keluak ($13). The portions were monstrous and both were extremely tender, meat that fell off the bone and they went very well with rice. I thought the sauce for the ayam buah keluak could be stronger but I was being picky.

While this eatery tries to be many things at once, it offers a value-for-money meal for families living in the East, who want to eat Peranakan food.

For full review and more photos, please visit http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/brooklyn-art-gallery-cafe-singapore/