See my full reviews 7 photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/06/22/excellent-italian-food-follia-on-20jun2015/.

daughter arranged a father’s day dinner at follia on 20.6.2015.^^

this the 3rd father’s day. wife arranged a 2pax father’s day lunch at kuriya diningearlier, and then a family father’s day dinner at valentino, as wife & youngest daughter were away during father’s day.

we started with pane pizza all’ aglio, just S$4.80. it was good as any pizza minus the toppings.

the lobster bisque was good, flavourful, and came with mussels, clams, prawn & flower crab. most important the bisque tasted great!

flower crab had no meat, the ingredients looked good, but not really important. i was curious that 2 reviewers – one said dislike the mussels the other said they had a bad taste. the mussels were ok for me though.

the special crayfish squid ink risotto was very good. really like the flavours of the risotto with good shellfish stock, smooth & creamy. the proprietor told us later though it was butter & no cream. it was especially good with the tomato sauce for the crayfish mixed into the risotto. there were 2 halves crayfish & 2 large prawns.

S$35 not really overly expensive for the dish. however i don’t really need to pay for crayfish. i can do my own very well bought from chinatown, at times just S$12/kg. the squidink pasta dish on their menu is good enough for me.^^

i liked the frutti di mare a lot too. it was really an excellent flavoured tomato sauce. the ingredients were also very good. i will definitely take this again.

we arrived at 7pm & the place was empty. but by 8pm, it was full left 1 table. a simple but pleasant place & a very friendly proprietor who took photos with us later.

i ordered the osso bucco alla milanese as it was the only dish featured on their homepage. & i was not disappointed. it was the same saffron osso bucco dish i had at a riverside restaurant along milan’s navigli district, just as good!

the osso bucco was very well done, fork tender, tasty & not sinewy. braised meats are never my favourites though, nothing to do with the dish itself. & the saffron risotto was excellent, and very nice garlic toast too.

i do very good pastas (like squid-ink spaghetti and lobster angel hair pasta) & also an excellent seafood risotto myself, but the pastas & risottos here were really good i will come back for more.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/06/10/excellent-chirashi-don-set-kuriya-dining-on-9jun2015/
wife bought me an excellent chirashi sushi zen set at lunch at kuriya dining on 9.6.2015.^^ it was for early father’s day.

we had a mother’s day lunch at gurnard’s head on 10.5.2015 and a mother’s day dinner at mackerel sky at newlyn, cornwall.

set started with a salad with goma (sesame) dressing. there was a lot of salad, a bit little dressing. we asked for more. of course to be added in moderation. it was good.

the chawanmushi was excellent, especially with the very tasty snow crab sauce, though i felt the sauce was a bit starchy.

this was an excellent chirashi don for S$62++. i still cannot decide if this is better or mikuni’s better. i guess overall i still favour mikuni’s chirashi don but this was really really good too. anyway, i like them both.

you have in one bamboo holder uni, negi toro, salmon, tai, maguro, hotate, hamachi, amaebi on a bed of cubed salmon & maguro (like in barachisrashi don). on the other there was anago, ikura, tobiko, tamago on sushi rice.

a most wonderful, satisfying lunch.

there was dessert & coffee too. dessert was strawberry mousse, black sesame ice cream, and fruits. it’s actually kind of huge set for lunch, but on some days we are permitted to spoil ourselves.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/06/16/nice-lunch-chat-with-old-friends-happy-duck-bukit-merah-view-fc-on-16jun2015/
went out lunch with some good friends today on 16.6.2015. we had wanted to take my favourite chai chuan tou chinese mutton soup 柴船头羊肉汤 at bukit merah view market & food centre. however the stall was closed & seemed that only reopen on 1.8.2015. that’s a long time to close shop!

so we settled on happy duck!^^ price was reasonable. we had 1/2 braised duck for S$18. also added the kueh chap including 4 items = pigs ear, intestines, pig skin & kong bak for S$10.

the duck was pretty good for me. duck was tender, good flavour & chilli was great too. 1 friend thought it was average, quite fine. another thought the one next to hoover rojak at whampoa market, liang zhao ji duck rice, was better – that’s my memory too, but i had not eaten at that duck stall for umpteen years. i know what i don’t like though – the one previously at south buona vista with the gluey sauce, lim seng lee boneless duck. taste is personal, haha!

my own favourite braised duck is at imperial treasure teochew, & it’s not expensive either just S$28 for 1/2 duck (of course that’s a bit more than S$18 here.

another friend’s favourite was 店小二’s roast duck but that is another story. unfortunately we seemed to run out of places to find goose, braised or roast.

we had 2 rice & 2 kueh. that added another S$2, my kueh was ok, average. the rice did not seem to be yam rice, maybe just sauce. another it was just S$2 for 4. so it was S$30, and it was quite enough for 5pax (1 friend came slightly late & added his own kueh).

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/06/13/still-good-but-far-too-pricey-valentino-on-11jun2015/
had an early father’s day family dinner at valentino on 11.6.2015. i had not been to valentino for many years. my impression had been that food is good here, but just too pricey & not justifying the quality of food. this evening was no exception, nothing to change my mind.
we had a complimentary focaccia. it was warm, & good!

we had a bottle of amarone. we were told S$145, but when the bill came it was S$168. anyway it was father’s day dinner & wine was good. we just paid up.
i remembered the burrata was a very good dish here. & it was! ^^very light & went well with the palate. i thought there was prosciutto accompanying the dish, but there wasn’t. later i found on my earlier post that senso indeed served it with parma ham, however my memory had been that valentino’s was still better! we added a beef carpaccio. it was good too. sweet, tasty cut.& just great with the parmesan cheese & rockets. & i always love the crab squid-ink linguine in pink sauce.it was still very good, and i guess i still liked it. it was very creamy, a lot of crab meat, and linguine was done well, al dente!
but for me it has lost a bit, or maybe most of the wow factor. my daughter, who is rather discerning with food & has a better palate than i, though liked this quite a lot. goes to show taste is a very individual preference. that it was a very good pasta & the price was quite ok is not disputed.

the carbonara – my first taste was that it was good. but then immediately, i agreed with my youngest daugher that it did not taste like the usual carbonara.yes, valentino’s was a good pasta, the dry creamy kind & tasty maybe from the cheese. but i think i like the alfresco gusto version of carbonara with an egg much better.

i liked the parma ham porcini cheese pizza – good! nothing so special but just a good pizza.

what was a very pleasant surprise was the pan-fried veal with parma ham, about S$37. it w2as the best dish of the evening, and we ordered a second.^^

for me, the pistachio penna cotta was a complete flop. we all said it tasted like a poor chinese almond jelly. & it cost S$15.50. i was not expecting lake como’s pizzeria balognett standard, but this was just plain poor dessert.

overall we paid like S$528nett for 5pax. the wine alone cost like S$195, so about S$325nett for the food for 5pax.
we asked the price of every dish that was the special not on the menu. the prices of specials though like S$258 for 1kg T-bone steak & S$168 bisteca florentine steak were just not on for me leh! ….al borgo used to serve the florentine steak at S$60, maybe it is S$80 now?? there was no lobster pasta this evening & the special was king prawns at S$58. i guess i woud order it if i have faith in the restaurant where transparent pricing & price matching the food is concerned. well, i didn’t. i guess i will call it just my personal lack of faith.

see my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/06/10/wonderful-evening-good-friend-sumptuous-dinner-me-oue-on-9jun2015/
had a wonderful dinner with a close friend at me@oue on 9.6.2015. ^^
we were booked for 6.30pm, so great views of MBS & marina bay before nightfall. we had a great table right by the window. anyway, you can just walk outside to the terrace, and marina bay front opens up before you!^^
we started with warm squid ink brioche. i had mine broken into bite size pieces before i remembered & assembled them for the photo. haha!there was a soothing table decor.
we decided to order japanese ohmi wagyu A4 striploin to share & a red lobster each. so was picking an appetiser to share.
i already had the tuna tartare the last time here. we settled on a scallop carpaccio served on some veloute topped with caviar.
must say the scallop carpaccio was top grade sashimi, very sweet & tasty. there were 5 slices. the veloute was good too.
the red lobster, which was done chilli crab style arrived, together with deep-fried man tou.
surprised, i pointed out to the server that the last time i had the red lobster here, it was a full lobster & not 1/2 lobster.
he replied that indeed it was a full lobster & he had it split for us so that each of use was served a 1/2 lobster on individual plate instead of sharing it with 1 man tou.
so the server misunderstood our order, quite understandably. we were very pleased with the excellent service.
likewise he split for us the ohmi A4 wagyu striploin, done the recommended medium rare. ^^
wagyu was 200g, so after split, it was still a sizeable portion, served separately with sides (jalapeño chilli, leek, king oyster mushroom, cherry tomato) & 4 dip sauces. excellent food, superb service!
ohmi is among the top 3 japanese wagyu, the other 2 being matsuzaka & kobe.
it was very nicely marbled & flavourful, excellent grilling & medium rare. most enjoyable!
we wondered about ordering a second red lobster as initially intended.
lobster was nice, still chilli crab style was not my favourite & it was a large lobster (maybe 650g), so 1/2 was a big enough portion & the “mistake” suited us well, probably wouldn’t want a second order.
we picked through the menu with the very helpful & professional server, and decided on the lobster risotto.
the risotto was excellently al dente. the crustacean stock was very tasty & intense but a tad too salty.
for myself, i prefer the crustacean stock to be tempered with vegetable stock to give much more balanced sweet flavours.
lobster was plentiful. i believe they did use a full lobster & split into 1/2 & served individually to us.
we had a great time watching the laser display & music by MBS & the great views from the terrace.
dinner was S$195 after 50% amex palate discounts for 2, for such an excellent meal with 2 lobsters, ohmi wagyu & scallops carpaccio in wonderful company. be back for more!^^