Adventure #75: db Bistro Moderne (Marina Bay Sands)

One of my cousins was getting married in Singapore on May 18. As it is also the older one's birthday, the whole extended family decided to meet in Singapore to celebrate.  One of the meals we had in Singapore was at db Bistro Moderne at Marina Bay Sands.  G was there a couple of days earlier and thought that the food and service was excellent, so we booked a table for the whole extended family for Saturday.

db Bistro Moderne is said to be Chef Daniel Boulud's renowned re-interpretation of the Parisian classic. Among his many achievements, Chef Boulud is credited with elevating the simple burger into an art form--a new sophisticated take on an old classic. Sadly none of us felt like having burger that night. Actually we were all rather full from the very long wedding lunch.

Still, amongst us, we sampled the following dishes.

Starter - Heirloom tomato salad was well presented, tomato fresh, didn't quite like the mozzarella which was mouse-like

Starter - Lobster salad was much better with large chunks of lobster and fresh greens

Starter - Grilled foie gras was very good

Main - Veal hanger steak with foie gras, creamy spinach and fries was from the daily special. G had it a few days ago and highly recommended it. However, this one did not turn out as good. The beef was not as soft and the fries not fully cooked.

Main - Hanger steak from the dinner menu.  Tasted good but a little too cooked for our liking (despite asking for medium rare).

Main - New Zealand Scorpion Fish En Papillotte cooked in clam chowder with bacon and celery was also from the daily special.  It was certainly different. It was baked and came wrapped in some baking sheets.  It was very tasty, however the creamy taste became a little overpowering after a while with little carbs to neutralize it.

Main - Squid ink tagliolini with clams and mussels looked very appetising.  Mum liked this best as perhaps she is not used to too much salad and meat.

Dessert - Clafoutis Tout Chocolat or warm flourless chocolate cake with chocolate and vanilla ice cream.  Very good but no surprises.

Dessert - Vacherin made up of vanilla chantilly, hibiscus meringue and yogurt-rhubarb sorbet.  Now this was different and very very good.

And finally to compensate for the below expected service level, they gave us warm madeleines to share which by the way was very nice.

We were there on a Sat evening and the place was almost full when we left. We felt that although the food was good, it was not Daniel Boulud level and the service left a lot to be desired. G was there a few days earlier on a week day and had a completely different experience. So, I guess if you are in the area on a weekday night, this would be a good dinner choice.

db Bistro Morderne
B1-48, Galleria Level
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
Tel: +65 6688 8525
Lunch
Monday - Friday: Noon to 5PM
Weekend Brunch
Saturday - Sunday: 11AM - 5PM
Dinner
Sunday & Monday: 5:30pm to 10PM
Tuesday - Saturday: 5:30PM - 11PM

Adventure #74: 怡寶

It has been a while since the Malaysian road trip and the older one is missing her Ipoh ho fan.  And lucky for her, I just happened to read that a new restaurant has opened in Wanchai called 怡寶.  According to the magazine, the chef is a returning Hong Konger and had worked in Malaysia for 4 years.  Amongst it specialties (it claims) are Ipoh ho fun and bean sprout chicken!

Even if I know it will never stand up to the food we recently had, for the older one, we had to give it a try.  We here we were at Labour day.



The Ipoh ho fun looked good.  The soup was tasty (very close to the real thing) and the chicken soft.  Unfortunately and understandably the chef didn't use ho fun from Ipoh for this dish.......so, a poor imitation, only good for those really home sick days



I wish they would just called it chicken rice.  The rice is well cooked and the chicken soft. Once again this dish cannot be made without bean sprout from Ipoh!

Call me picky but once again this restaurant is for locals who have not been to Ipoh.  The specialties from Ipoh are its ho fun and bean sprouts which are both of superior quality.  To use anything else is just an insult to the taste buds.

怡寶
G/F, Kwong Ah Building
197 Johnston Road
Hong Kong
Tel: 2892-1386

Adventure #73: Lily and Bloom

We have been back in Hong Kong for 2 weeks now, managed to burn off most of the weight gained on the road trip. So, G and I felt that we were ready to pamper ourselves a bit this weekend.  G suggested dinner at Lily and Bloom.

Lily and Bloom is a new-ish bar/restaurant at LKF Tower.  Lily is the bar and one floor down is Bloom the restaurant.

Very cozy decor. And service pretty good as the staff to guests ratio was pretty high that evening.

I read that the restaurant's restroom is worth a trip, so a visit before dinner arrived.  The restroom is unisex and has a great big fountain in the middle which acts as a wash basin.  Definitely very unique!

First came the bread which was served like a take away mini loaf - nice and warm

For starters, we had roasted bone marrow.  Never had bone marrow before.........

This dish needed a bit of assembling - spread bone marrow (I expect bone marrow to be the colour of blood but instead it looked kinda like cooked fat) on toast, top with grape pickle and shredded apple and then sprinkle with salt. 

It was definitely an interesting dish to have!

The onion soup was a good companion to the roasted bone marrow

My main course - the Alaskan black cod was very juicy



G's main course - lamb shank - a lot of flavour and very big!



We were already very full after the mains but cannot resist the dessert.  I am glad we did not pass as the pear and blueberry cobbler was very light and a great end to a great meal.

Lily and Bloom

6/F, LKF Tower
33 Wyndham Street

Lan Kwai Fong, Central

Hong Kong

Tel: 2810-6166

Adventure #72: Bonheur

Today I had afarewell dinner at Bonheur. Haven't been there for a long long time but remembered the food to be of very good quality.


Started with some warm bread - very fresh and delicious!

  

I started with baked crabmeat with white asparagus - out of this world!



Next came fish soup with tomatoes. I expected it to be a bit more tangy but was disappointed not to taste the tomatoes.

One of the 2 reds served for the night

The lamb main course was good but nothing spectacular

The seasonal trifle in mascarpone creme however was a great delight - despite my already very full tummy

Quality of food still very good although the price had gone up quite a bit.  Wonder if lunch is still good value.......

Bonheur
6/F, The Pemberton
22-26 Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan
Hong Kong
Tel: 2544-6333

Adventure #71: Restoran Nice Soup Gang (Selayang)

After a week on the road, I am ready to let my tummy rest for a bit.  Mum suggested a soup restaurant. So here we are at Restaurant Nice Soup Gang! Hahaha, what a name!



Filled with shark fins (not sure if they are real) as decorations



Mum ordered a couple of soups and some dishes for dinner.


Black chicken and ginseng soup - a bit bitter for my taste but full of flavour




I preferred this soup - made from shark's bone




Dad order this 田七 soup for himself




Mum saw neighbouring table eating this, so she ordered one - looked much better than it tasted!




Meat with salted fish - a good dish to have rice with but this one was a little too salty




Deep friend prawns in batter and served with some mayo-ish sauce - turned out to the best dish of the day!




Finally, a steam fish to finish off the meal

 We ordered some dessert after the meal but they were horrible.  Note - a restaurant which can make good soup does not mean they can also make good Chinese dessert 糖水!

Adventure #70: Pun Chun Chicken Biscuit & Restaurant (Bidor)

On the way from KL to Ipoh, there is a little town called Bidor which is famous for its chicken biscults.  The town's most famous restaurant is called Pun Chun 品珍 which is well known for its chicken biscuits 雞仔餅 as well as duck thigh noodle 鴨腿麵.

We didn't manage to stop by Bidor on our way to Ipoh.  After a night in Cameron Highlands with no good food and a horrible "English" breakfast at our Tudor-style hotel (hotel was great, the food was not), we decided this was not the way we wanted to end our food trip. So, we made Bidor our last stop!



G prefers the soup one



The older one and I prefer the dry one

 


The soup that came with the dry noodle - so full of flavour - of the duck and the Chinese herbs

I must admit, stopping by Bidor was definitely a good idea.  The duck noodle was excellent!

Pun Chun Chicken Biscuit & Restaurant
40 Main Road
Bidor, Malaysia
Tel: +605-434-1554
5:00am-10:00pm

Adventure #69: New Lane (Penang)

Our last evening in Penang, we got to sample all that we had not yet had!  New Lane is a side street with 40-odd stalls on both sides serving all of Penang's most popular gastronomic offering. And since there are only 2 of us (the kids may or may not necessary share our taste in food), we had to be careful what we ordered so as to maximise our selection.....

You can order from any stall, just tell them where you sit and the food will be delivered to you.

G started with pig-inards porridge



which he thought was really delicious



I chose prawn noodle 蝦麵 which is also known as Hokkien noodle 福建麵 in Penang



Small but full of flavour

Next we went for fried oyster 蠔煎



Yummy....

The older one missed Ipoh ho fun a lot and asked us to order her a dry ho fun.  This plate of ho fun actually tasted (according to the older one) much better than it looked

Satay and ....



fried chicken for the little one



We would have liked to have ordered more but already full, so compromised with a light dessert - apong

This is actually a much, much better place to sample Penang's food than Gurney Drive which is more for the tourists.  The quality of the food here is much better. We will be back next time to try the rest of the food on offer.

New Lane
Penang, Malaysia
1:00pm till late
Most stalls close on Wednesday