Café Le Chateau, Singapore

20 August 2010

It is always good to have a great dinner on Friday to end the busy working days. I preferred a restaurant with quiet and romantic ambient. It was even better if there was a candlelight on the dining table. Folks, it is pity that I did not have a girlfriend now to dine in such a restaurant. But think about it, it is better to dine alone, because I did not need to pay dinner for my girlfriend =P. My friend, HC, recommended a restaurant to me. It is Café Le Chateau at Valley Point.

Café Le Chateau is a French restaurant and the kitchen is headed by Head Chef Foo who was the former head chef from Café De Amigo. HC told me that Chef Foo did justice to French cuisine. I needed to go there to validate his claim.

The friendly restaurant manager greeted me and leaded me to my table with the menu on his hand. I went for the executive dinner set which consisted of Oyster Florentine, Seafood Chowder Soup, Lamb Rack and Apple Pie with complimentary cup of coffee.

I love the Oyster Florentine. It was so tasty. A bed of small pieces of spinach surrounded the oyster and the cheese was covered on top of the oyster then baked in the oven. The taste of the spinach was complement to the taste of the oyster. The cheese wrapped the two ingredients so that I could enjoy the tastes of the spinach and oyster at the same time. There was nothing special about Seafood Chowder Soup, I should ask for Lobster Bisque since the fans of the French restaurant love it very much.

The lamb rack was delicious. If I tasted the meat without any sauce, the taste was very mild. But when I tasted it with the sour mint sauce, the taste of the lamb was different. I still could remember the taste now. It was so good. The flavor of the sour mint sauce brought contrast to the flavor of the lamb rack. The sauce was not overpowering. It was slightly sour but I could taste the swentness of the lamb. The lamb was quite tender too. This dish is highly recommended if anyone of you want to go to this restaurant.

The apple pie was yummy. It was soft and sweet. The sweetness and the flavour of the vanilla ice cream enhanced the taste of this desert. The ice cream also gave the contrast between cold and hot the temperature of the desert, and this made this desert very unique. This desert is also highly recommended.

Address

Valley Point Shopping Centre
491 River Valley Road #01-16
Singapore 248371
Telephone: (65) 6737 7897

Opening hours: 11:30am – 2:45pm, 6-10pm (Closed on Mondays)

Tony Roma, Singapore

30 July 2010

My good friend, BC, called me on the evening of 29 July 2010. He wanted me to teach him photography the next morning. He had bought a new Canon 550D and was eager to improve his shot. He even intended to setup a photography club in his school. I glad that more and more people were influenced by me and took up photography as their hobby. ”Ok lah, see you tomorrow morning” I said.

That day was raining like cats and dogs. Again Orchard was flooded. Could it be the blockage in the drainage system as claimed by the related authority? Could it be due to global warming? Could it be due to the Marina Barrage prevent excess rainwater to flow out to the sea? We will know soon or later.

BC and I shot in the Esplanade, and also under the Nicole Highway. We decided to pay a visit to Marina Bay Sand, the second integrated resort in Singapore. The buildings were cool looking. The three buildings of MBS were linked by the swimming pools at the highest floor of the buildings. I will definitely go there and stay a few nights if I am Mr. Rich. Too bad I am not.

BC, Mr Stingy, was a former colleague of mine. It was hard to meet him up for dinner since we were working in different location.  It was even uncommon for him to ask me out to shoot around. We needed to find a restaurant for lunch to justify this occasion. So I decided to bring Mr Stingy to Tony Roma in Suntec City since Mr Stingy was a pork lover too.

Tony Roma, an restaurant specialized in baby back ribs, is rated second in the BBQ ribs at HungryGoWhere.com. I guess Tony Roma, North Border Bar and Grill, and Chili’s Grill and Bar are the restaurants in Singapore do justice to the baby back ribs. Tony Roma, and North Border Bar and Grill barbequed their ribs and braised them in the sauces so that they are melt-in-mouth tender. Chili’s Grill and Bar cooked the ribs in another way. The cooks marinated their ribs first and then barbequed the ribs. They are dry but tasty. They are definitely not melt-in-mouth tender, but they are fall-off-the-bone tender. Which methods of cooking the ribs do you like? Your choice, folks.

The first dish we ordered was the onion loaf. The onions were hand-cut into big pieces and were deep-fried. The thousand-island sauce was placed on top the loaf. The presentation of this dish is beautiful. BC wanted to shoot the dish before it was “destroyed”. The cooks did not manipulate the taste of the onions. I could taste the natural sweetness of the onion. The dish was appetizing. High recommended!

The main dish was baby back ribs. It was tasty and was melt-in-mouth tender. It was so good. BC and I loved it very much. Extremely, highly recommended!!!

I wrote 2 reviews about baby back ribs continuously. I know I know folks. Stop complaining. I promise all of you I will not do any reviews of Baby Back Ribs for the time being and I will look for French cuisine for my next review. See ya!!!

Address

442 Orchard Road #01-04/05

Orchard Hotel Shopping Arcade

Singapore 238879
Tel: (65) 6738 8600
Fax (65) 6738 8791

Operating Hours:
11.30am to 11.00pm

3 Temasek Boulevard #B1-007
Suntec City Mall
Singapore 038983
Tel: (65) 6337 9055
Fax (65) 6337 9722

Operating Hours:
11.30am - 3.00pm (Mon - Thur)
6.00pm - 10.00pm (Mon - Thur)
11.30am - 10.00pm (Fri - Sun)

Dallas Restaurant and Bar, Singapore

5 July 2010

If my memory serves me correctly, Dallas Restaurant and Bar was selected in HungryGoWhere.com for the best BBQ pork ribs restaurant in Singapore on the 8 April 2010.  Me, a pork lover, must justify whether the restaurant does justice to the pork, so I decided to pay this restaurant a visit. For this pork cuisine eat-venture, I selected a good friend of mine, SL, who is also a pork rib lover, to join me for dinner. I did not see him for a long time and I guessed it was time to meet him up for dinner.

Dallas Restaurant and Bar is located in the Boat Quay, near to Raffles Place MRT station. The restaurant is just beside Singapore River. Of cause, I chose a table near to Singapore River so that I could admire the night scenery of the river while I enjoyed my dinner. SL and I ordered two dinner sets of the fiery baby back ribs with salad, desert and coffee with addition of nachos.

First my salad was served. When I tasted the salad, it was good but not as great as the spinning bowl salad from Lawry’s. The nachos were served after the salad. To my astonishment, my starter was a bit too much for both of us. The nachos were also different from what I ate so far.  They were served with tomato sauce, melted cheese, chicken meat, beans and other ingredients. The nachos were rich in favour and they were yummy. I enjoyed this dished very much. It is a fusion of Mexican and Italian cuisine.

The main course, fiery baby back ribs, was served. When I tasted it, it was chewy and a bit juicy. However it was not fall-off-the-bone tender. The ribs were not spicy as I thought so. It was tasty, but not as great as the ribs from Tony Roma and North Border Bar and Grill. The ribs were not for everyone.  However from the reviews from HungryGoWhere.com, I discovered that there were some people had the fall-off-the bone and melt-in-mouth tender ribs from this restaurant and there were also others who had the same experience as I did. Perhaps the “quality control” from the chefs in this restaurant was not up to expectation. So I guessed there are times the ribs are really good and tasty, so I guess. I have to return back there to justify the restaurant is number one for baby back ribs in Singapore.

The desert was the bread pudding. It was tasty and sweet but SL and I was too full and forced to give it up.

I wish to take this opportunity to thank to my friend, Denise to accompany me to Tonkichi on 8 August and she gave me a treat at Cova. Denise, thank you very much and I hope you enjoyed the tonkatsu in Tonkichi and we should go out together for eat-venture some other times.

Address: 31 Boat Quay, Boat Quay Conservation Area

Opening Hours

Mon–Thu & Sat: 10am–2.30pm, 6pm–12am 

Fri: 10am–2.30pm, 6pm–1am 

(Closed on Sun)

Taipei, Taiwan

It had been quite sometime I have not updating Allez Cuisine. Sorry folks, I was focusing on my final year report these few weeks and not focusing on my photography and food adventure. The good news is I had submitted my final report draft last week, so this month I will be back on my journey for the greatest cuisine which has done justice in the world of cuisine. I have two weeks more for me to look for cuisine in Singapore before term starts again.

21-28 June 2010

As I expected when I just reached Taipei, the commissioning was not as smooth as I thought. Folks, what can I say? This is part and parcel of an engineer’s life. Terrible life!. But if there was no engineer like me in this world, perhaps all of you are living in darkness and in the world of no AC, water heater, internet, macbook, ipod, iphone and playstation. Terrible Terrible life!! As the result there will no Allez Cuisine to introduce cuisine that do justice in the world of cuisine. Perhaps all of us are eating tasteless meal now. Terrible terrible terrible life!!! I guess I better be an engineer to served you, folks (hopefully can become a project engineer and project manager in the future), a photographer, a food critic and a good husband-in-the-future (Girls, what are you waiting for? Good husband, best husband, must get him-as-your husband).

Although I never had a chance to look around for great local dishes in Taipei, Mr Willy Huang and his junior brought me to a local stall for beef noodles. Mr Junior Huang said that the local celebrity, Chen Mei Feng, always went there for the beef noodles.  I guessed the beef noodles for the stall was probably good and I had to really find out whether it was good. Mr Junior Huang and I ordered the beef noodles, and Willy ordered beef dumplings and the braised platter, which consisted of braised pig intestines and stomach, eggs and bean curbs. This dish is similar to a dish in Singapore and Malaysia, which is called Kway Chap (Kway means broad rice sheets and Chap means soup). The difference between the two dish is the favour of the soup in Singapore was much stronger than in Taiwan and broad rice sheets was served together with the braise platter in Singapore. I preferred the Singaporean and Malaysian version braised platter even though Taiwan version was tasty too. The beef noodle was tasty and the beef was surprising tendered.

The other local dishes I tasted were the cold noodles and miso soup with pork meatballs. The noodles were served cold with chilli sauce and sesame sauce, and the noodles were appetizing The sesame sauce was fragrant and it enhanced the taste of the noodles. The miso soup with pork meatballs seemed quite ordinary because it was just miso soup with egg and pork meatballs, but great in taste. This was because the egg tied the favour of the meatball and the miso soup together and enhanced the taste. I will definitely miss the cold noodles and miso soup with pork meatball when I returned to Singapore. It is possible to recreate the miso soup with meatball in Singapore. Folks, stay tune! Mr Glutton will recreate this soup one day!

Although I never had a chance to go around Taipei for siteseeing, I will definitely return to Taipei probably next year to continue my food adventure. I will go to La Petite Cuisine Brasserie to taste Chef Quak’s artistic creation.

Miyazaki 2, Taiwan

20 June 2010

No word could describe excitement when I reached Taipei. This was my first time to reach this city with full of meimeis (pretty young lady but we call them sisters in Chinese) and tasty cuisine. Taiwan is well known for its Chinese and Japanese cuisine. This was the golden opportunity for Mr Glutton to search for great cuisine and restaurant IF HE HAD THE TIME. Again I was in Taipei to commissioned a project. Hopefully I could end my project early so that I could taste the famous cuisine in Taipei.

The host for my trip was Mr Willy Huang, the manager director of a local engineering company. He was responsible for all my accommodation and MEALS (Mr Huang, please bring me to La Petite Cuisine Brasserie to taste the dishes from famous Chef Justin Quek, pray hard…..). However his son, Mr Huang junior, told me that day was Willy’s birthday. And we would be going to the Japanese restaurant below his office, Miyazaki 2, to celebrate his 60 year-old birthday with his family.

Folks, all of you are thinking why the restaurant is called Miyazaki 2. There is a sad story behind this. This restaurant was called Miyazaki originally and the owner is Miyazaki San who was a chef in Japan. The restaurant was well decorated with luxury Japanese ornaments from Japan.  He set up a restaurant in Taipei where rents are the highest in Taiwan. Mrs Huang, who was also known as Dong Niang (Mrs CEO in Chinese) told me that the Japanese cuisine from this chef was marvelous. Even his restaurant was well received by the diners, the earnings was not sufficient to pay the monthly rent and installment to the banks. At the end Miyazaki San was stressful and he chose to end his life in his apartment. There was a Taiwanese diner who was a great fan of Miyazaki San thought that it was a waste to close down Miyazaki since the restaurant was gaining reputation for Japanese cuisine in Taipei. So he decided to buy over Miyazaki 2, in memorial to Miyazaki San. This young fine gentleman will continue the legacy of serving original and tasty Japanese cuisine from Miyazaki San.

The Japanese dishes from Miyazaki’s apprentices were marvelous. All the ingredients were fresh. I could taste the natural sweetness from sushi and sashimi. There were so great and appetizing. The fried fish was sprinkled a bit of salty but it enhanced the sweetness and the freshness of the fish. The fish stew was full of flavor too. The bonito broth and the fish were prefect for the stew. The broth was absorbed by the golden needle mushrooms enhanced the taste of the mushroom. The fish was melt-in-mouth tender. I guessed the fish stew showed me Miyazaki San taught his students well. I thought Miyazaki San was specialized in authentic Japanese cuisine, but there was two dishes show me that I am wrong. There were sushis wrapped with lettuce. I thought the dish was a fusion of South East Asia and Japanese cuisine. The sushi wrapped with lettuce reminded me home because my mother love to wrap grilled prawns with lettuce and tomato sauce and she just love the taste. The sushi tasted good but I thought if some sauces added to the sushi and lettuce, the dish would taste great. Since this dish was a fusion of South East Asia and Japanese cuisine, I suggested mayonnaise (replaced soya sauce) and mustard (replaced wasabi) should be added in the dish. And we called it “When East meets West”. How do you think, folks?

The Miyazaki beef fillet was awesome. The fillet was tender and the taste was great. From the picture you can see that the arrangement of the ingredient is more to French. I guess Miyazaki San is extremely creative and skillful.

Mr Huang’s birthday reminded me that the following day was Mrs Broke-her-promise’s birthday. I almost forgot about it. Thanks to Mr Huang for reminded me my mother’s birthday.

Folks, visit Miyazaki 2 you have a chance to go to Taipei. Show the your support!

Address:

Miyazaki

Taipei City Zhong Shan North Road Yi Duan Number 57-3

Tel: +886-02-2563-8711

Miyazaki 2

Taipei City Fu Xing North Road Number 170

Tel: +886-02-2713-0822