It’s a love-hate relationship with Dempsey; you either rave about the place, or you hate it being overcrowded, over hyped, and over priced. I used to be the latter, but that was before I paid a visit to Dempsey, and you ought to admit, despite the crowds there, there’s still plenty of places to check out, and who could resist the lush atmosphere?

The first dish is always of utmost importance; how the meal will eventually turn out – depends on this humble appetiser. You may think its not a big deal, but according to scientific researches done by Dr. Bradley, the first dish will usually dictates the mood for the upcoming dishes; humans are emotional creatures. Almost everybody else felt that the Rock shrimp tempura ($15) was ordinary, but I on the other hand, totally love it! It was a shrimp rendition of my favourite sweet & sour pork, and I wiped the whole plate clean since everybody was saving their stomach for the rest of the food.

Without further ado, let me introduce to the one-that-you-have-been-waiting-for, Sashimi of course, Mango sashimi ($29) to be precise. There was mango, avocado wrapped together with three kinds of fish in thin rice paper.

The Carpaccio ($25) was delicious. Thinly sliced, laid in the pool of savoury yuzu sauce; it was squeaky-fresh – it seemed to be swimming in the plate.

When we dine out, people usually want to try out some of the restaurant’s signature dishes. And the Tuna pizza ($22) was one of them at Zento. If skinny pizzas are your kind of thing, then this would be it. Raw fresh tuna on top of the oh-so-thin dough, crunch, crunch, the pizzas were gone!

I always have a thing for prawns, especially deep-fried ones. Naturally, I like the Volcano ($25) pretty much, with the focus in the middle of the futomaki. But some didn’t take quite well to it as they felt that the freshness was gone after the deep-frying process. Alongside the shrimp tempura, there was smoked salmon, avocado and crabstick too.

The combination of seven skewers ($48) was the perfect showcase of the different ingredients, and of course, it’s for sharing! Most of them were pretty decent, but if I were to choose one, I’ll go for the separate tasty foie gras ($15) instead.

The sushi rolls had fascinating names like fantasy, rainbow, and even monkey roll. But we had the Green river ($30) instead. Toro, eel, avocado and plum paste, with seaweed powder on the outside.

After the rounds of appetisers, yes, all the food you saw were just starters to warm us up. The first main course was the Roasted marinated duck breast ($48), and it was indisputably the best. The first impression of the duck was from a conversation when we saw the photo of it in the menu.

“Ah! they served char siew rice here too!”

The photo of the duck in the menu looked exactly like char siew rice! Anyway not many places serve duck, and do it well; the duck meat was done just nice, retaining the tinge of pink beneath the charred skin.

I love prawns, baby! Big, big prawny prawns. The Jumbo shrimp tempura ($42) was dazzled with the sweet and slightly sour pineapple sauce, and there was wasabi fried rice alongside too. Jumbo in size, great in taste, and a huge hole in the pocket too!

We weren’t expecting any surprises from the chicken since it’s a done-to-death item. And the Roasted spring chicken ($38) turned out to be what we expected, just chicken.

Besides the duck breast, I also enjoyed the Chilean seabass ($45). The miso-infused flavour was subtle, bordering on bland, but it actually enabled us to taste the sweetness of the fish.

I could almost hear the cat say, “purrfect!”

Every main course at Zento is paired with different types of rice, the same goes for the Rack of lamb ($45) which comes with almond raisin rice. Lets just put it this way, for the price, we’ve had better elsewhere.

We pointed to “the most expensive main course” on the menu, the Wagyu stripped loin ($75). We had it done medium, but it came slightly more at medium rare.

“Do you have stomach for more?”

It was towards the end that this simple question was posed to us,  Well we were glad that we did, otherwise we would have miss out on the amazing Crunchy spicy tuna handroll ($12). It was O-M-G. Instead of the typical seaweed roll, they used soy paper as a substitute, maybe we shouldn’t call it a substitute because it’s definitely a better option than seaweed. The soy paper simply dissolved when it touched our mouth; every bite was so good!

Most of the folks were stuffed by now, but how can we say no to desserts? So another dessert-holic and me tried most of the ones available; we started with the Coffee parfait ($12). It was frozen custard made with cream, with ice-cream texture minus the melting part.

We lamented about the quality of the chocolate within the Chocolate lava cake ($16). It could/should have been better. Nonetheless, you can’t go wrong when there’s icy cold vanilla ice cream together with the warm chocolate lava.

Dyana, the co-owner of Zento advised us against ordering the Green tea creme brulee ($12) but we decided to try it anyway. The taste was, forgettable, which explained why I couldn’t recall how it tasted like.

There was a period of time long long ago where the fried ice cream at the old Tiong Bahru food centre was in the rage. They called it the Tri colour fuzzes bomb ($14) here. and rightfully so. Underneath the crispy fried skin was cold ice cream. I was fascinated by the fact that the ice cream didn’t melt during the frying process.

* * *

Zento was quite unlike any other Japanese restaurants that I went to before, stepping inside you probably won’t know it’s a Japanese restaurant until you see the menu. Contemporary and chic design, with bold and innovative creations in their menu. My appreciation to Hungrygowhere.com for the invitation to the food tasting session, and Dyana for her warm hospitality.

Zento Asian Global cuisine & Sushi Bar
18B Dempsey road
Tel: 6474 0378

Slumdog millionaire made an big impact on me; millions of people living in poverty while here we are, fretting about the hot weather, how long the bus took to arrive. I, want to learn more about their culture. I, want to visit the Taj Mahal. I, want to experience their food; their cuisine which has stood against the test of time.

With a glass of mango lassi, we toasted to the world, to good health, and to the glorious food. The sea. The sea. Facing the calm and still of the blue, we feasted. We ate, and ate; a feast for the king.

And so, my adventure with Indian cuisine started. The first to arrive was the Lamb Kakori Malai kebab ($20). And frankly speaking, it looked more like otah to me – but it tasted much better than that. The sensational melt-in-the-mouth-lamb was enough for me to dig several times.

It’s all about prawn, prawn, prawn, daddy-o. You like prawn? You’ll love the Prawns with garlic butter ($24). The distinct garlic butter taste, the teppanyaki style, oh my. But it was slightly salty, more lemon would have solve the problem. But then again, the tone-down version wouldn’t be the real deal, so I say, keep it that way!

And besides the prawn, we have a fish as well. If there was a dish which piped my curiosity, it ought to be the Fish three pepper ($22). With its unique name, and the exotic Indian herbs & spices, I enjoyed every bite, it was good.

Street-food. Read: what the locals eat. Crisp papris topped with chopped potatoes, the crust was awesome; crunch, crunch. One of my favourite, Aloo Papri Delhi Chat ($10).

Slightly sourish, with Indian spices filled within the semolina baked cups. I preferred the Aloo Papri Delhi Chat to the Raj Kachori Chat ($10). , but I enjoyed using my spoon to break down the potato crust; destroyed the wall, and the Indian prince conquered the city!

And how can we not have biryani when eating Indian food; rice is a staple for us Asians after all. We had two different types of biryani, the dum biryani lamb and the Hyderabadi chicken biryani ($18). The chunks of chicken bites were good, but to shelve out eighteen bucks for a bowl of rice? I don’t think so.

Tangy, creamy coconut sauce, with crab patties. Massala crab cake ($24)

The Indian bread, Garlic Nann ($7). It was my first time trying it of course, and the nann was good to go with almost all the dishes; a bite of nann, a mouth of meat. Or simply dipped the nann into the curries!

This was another of my favourite! Compared with the lamb Kakori Malai kebab, the Lagan Ke lamb ($14) was better seasoned with the spices; which resulted in a less gamy taste.

The Lalla Mussa Dal ($18) was Black lentil, speciality of the house. But it wasn’t my type; I’m just not that into you.

By and large I couldn’t remember the Dum Methi prawn ($24) much. It was prawns tossed wth methi, cashew nut onion paste. But somehow after I noticed its presense on our elongated table, there wasn’t a single prawn in sight. Everybody finished it – without even leaving a prawn for me!

As much as I appreciated that the restaurant provided some sweets to complete the meal, but the Tutti Frutti ($10) didn’t pretty much fit into what I had in mind for Indian desserts.

Neither was the Hot chocolate brownie ($8), which was not made in-house.

But luckily there was the Kulfis ($10) – traditional pistachio Indian ice cream to save the day! There’s always a first time for everything, and it’s my first time trying Indian ice cream. The texture was very different; solid and dense – it took forever to melt.

It was, oh-my-god, so sweet. I did not bother to ask what is it; it is enough, to taste it. But I wasn’t about to let Cinderella leave without asking for her name, just before the clock struck twelve, Garam Gulab Jamun ($8).

* * *

I’ll like to thank Hungrygowhere.com for inviting me to the food tasting session. I always wanted to try other cuisines other than the-usual-western-Jap-Chinese-food. Having taken the first step out of my comfort zone, it’s time to try more exotic food, and this meal has certainly aroused me to try some of the other Indian places that I’ve heard so much of.

Go India
1 Harbourfront Walk
#01-152 Vivocity
Tel: 63769644

The-sight-of-it is enough to excite me. The flowing chocolate – like water plunging down from a magnificent waterfall: wonderful, sweet. The cute white marshmallows beckon to me. The puffs – baked for the sole reunion with the delicious chocolate. The big juicy strawberries, oh my. What’s there not to like about a chocolate fondue? I love it!

Now, I don’t really like buffets. When I see food laying out, exposed, I think they are not exactly very tasteful. The food left out in the open air becomes unprotected from the passing fancies of everybody. BUT, but, the current Citibank credit card 50% promotion for 10 @ Claymore is simply too good a deal to miss, so I decided to go for it after all.

How does $29++ for buffet lunch sounds? On top of it with a 1-for-1 promotion, and we are talking about Pan Pacific Hotel, not some dubious twenties-odd range buffet (you-know-where-I-am-referring-to). Given, the variety here cannot compare with other international buffets who have more spread, but what I like about 10 @ Claymore is the focus.

Instead of giving a lot items to choose from, they decided to give just enough. For those who inherited our Singapore-kiasu-genes, my apologies. But this is one buffet where I actually don’t feel guilty trying to gorge myself silly. I ate a bit of everything, and rushed to have my desserts.

Chicken & Seabass in lemon sauce

Lamb & Beef

Seafood Saffron

The chocolate truffle was terrific – sweet, smooth, refined, yet unbelievably simple. I had mutiple helpings of it, until my stomach decided to do a red-shirt-alike-protest to me.

I love the chocolate tarts too; each nicely craft and so delicate. One bite, it’s gone.

Total bill was $34 for 2 person after the citibank credit card promotion. The current good deal last until 30 April, 2 person are entitled to a 50% discount. For $17 bucks per person, buffet lunch at a classy environment, enough said! And oh yes, I forgot to mention that the service was top-notch; the staffs were attentive and always happy to help out when you need anything.

10 @ Claymore
10 Claymore road
2F Pan Pacfic Orchard
Tel: 6831 6686

Alighting at EW XV, red dot was at the rear, and I passed by amoy. Stanley, Stanley where were you? I looked high, I searched far. Lo & behold, there you are. I hold you dear in my heart, Sweet Indulgence a year ago.

Gone were the white, in came the yellow. With a touch of blue, everything lingers fondly deep inside. Memories. This is the stuff that life is made of. I want to hold onto this moment forever.

The hot and the fury. What was supposed to be a routine simple appetiser ended up in the fast lane instead. We were too ambitious, and nodded when the manager smiled at us and asked innocently, extra spicy? Boy. This, was one hot chick. Only for the daredevil, Chicken wing in spicy sauce ($9.50).

A bit of everything from Nature’s best, garlic, basil, pesto with a variety of mushrooms. The result, a delicious comfort food. Sauté mushrooms ($9.50)

The Seafood platter ($19.50) was an assembly of seafood sauté in a white wine herb reduction, which came on the recommendation of the manager.

The problem, with not reading the fine print of the menu, meant that we were surprised when the platter arrived, completely opposite of the usual Fish & Co style. Overcoming our initial reaction, we dug in and found ourselves with mussel, scallop, clam, fish, squid and prawns.

Skinny seems to be the In-thing at the moment. 10 inch thin crust Siciliana pizza ($22). Home-made with a spicy element. With bratwurst sausages, roasted capsicum, onions and semi-dried tomatoes. Personally I felt that it wasn’t cheesy enough, but it garnered enough support from my mates to overrule me.

Call me ignorant, but I did not remember seeing crayfish served with pasta very often. It was usually the limelight of its more popular cousin, lobster instead. Much as I was tempted to go with the salmon pasta which I always have, a adventure was on the cards. And hence the pick, Crayfish linguine ($25) I liked the fact that everything was executed very nicely. The flavours were delicate and did not overwhelm.

We did not want to have everything from the land, so it was a tough fight between the baked salmon fillet, and the Pan-fried seabass ($26.50). The latter won of course. On paper, a pan-fried seabass served with mashed potato, daily vegetables was as safe as anything could be. But it was not to be. The fish was slightly over-aged, and I wouldn’t exactly use fresh to describe it. It wasn’t all over, the unique taste of orange based salsa was the saving grace.

The most expensive item on the menu, the lamb rack ($40.50). With portobello mushroom, daily vegetables, mashed potatoes and the beautifully grilled rack of lamb certainly looked enticing. But there was a snag. The proportion of fats to meat was equally balanced, which did not go well with the ladies.

The portobello mushroom made its second appearance with the Beef Tenderloin ($37.50). It was another tough decision to choose between the pork rack or the steak, but we were glad to have this. The roasted baby potatoes were snapped up in two seconds, the steak was the best among the three mains we had.

Desserts were done in-house by the chef, and we had the New York Cheesecake ($11). For such a hefty price tag, we were expecting a lot more, but sad to say it wasn’t good enough. The dessert lacked the dense and creamy aspect and somehow was sticky and crumbled easily.

The Warm Chocolate Lava Indulgence ($13) made up for the previous mistake.  Like all warm chocolate pudding, the melted dark chocolate oozed out and this sight never fails to excite me. Also impressive was the use of vanilla bean ice cream. My dining mates found it too light, but anything with warm chocolate and cold ice cream couldn’t possibly go wrong with my sweet tooth. We agreed it was slightly better than Bakerzin’s rendition.

I had a sweet memory of the tiramisu I had a year ago. At this very place, Sweet Indulgence’s tiramisu ($13). The coffee and liquer taste was very subtle, but that was exactly what I liked about you. The dessert was very smoothing to the palate, and if you do not think of it as a tiramisu, it is actually very good. But if you are expecting a typical strong coffee & liquer rendition, then you are just not that into her.

***

Photographs are the best memories keepers, and I have added more sweet memories with this. I’ll like to thank Chris for inviting me for this food-tasting session. There was some hits and misses, but Sweet Indulgence remains a nice place for couples to have a romantic dinner without any disturbance. I did find the prices to be rather steep, there is a current promotion of 1 free dessert with any 2 main courses or pastas.

Read my previous visit here

Sweet Indulgence
2 Stanley Street
Tel: 6223 7707

They have been away for a long time now; the feel, touch, sight, smell were always in their mind, but its gradually fading away with each day passed. How they wished they could be back, but reality often gets the better of man. He missed the food, while she yearned for the familiar environment.

It struck them after entering the place, the comfortable and cozy environment, just like home. Jia Wei restaurant. How apt.

To have Christmas without the festive turkey and ham (both sets), it’ll be like to have the Mid-autumn festival without the mooncakes, or going through Halloween without pumpkins. He found the meat was too tough and dry, while there was the wasabi sauce, it was insufficient and wasabi didn’t exactly compliment the turkey meat well. Luckily there was the fresh fruits salad to save the day.

The highlight of the menu will definitely be Jia Wei Superior Shark’s Fin soup (Festive cheers menu) in hot stone pot. Thick and generous portions are discovered, the excitement just like discovering a treasure cove. The hot stone pot played a vital role in keeping the rich stock base warm and nice, a notable fact after they tried the other shark’s fin soup which wasn’t served in the stone pot. This bowl of treasure will most likely cost you a bomb if you have it elsewhere, but at Jia Wei, they do it cheap and good, its available on their a la carte menu too. Eating a Chinese delicacy for a frosty Christmas, the thought of home seem so far away.

While the superior shark’s fin soup with Conpoy (Christmas glow menu) offered the same ingredients as the previous one in hotpot, but the differential in price obviously meant that the higher priced festive cheers menu had slightly more shark’s fin. This one was lukewarm by the time they started eating, while the hot stone pot one remained piping hot. The dumpling-wannabe actually had water chestnut, vegetarian mushrooms and crab rob.

The layer of fats aroused her inner feelings. There was a struggle to ignore the calories and enjoyed the bliss. The grilled special rack of lamb (Festive cheers menu) made her succumb to temptation. If they were not to mention anything, you’ll never know the use of Chinese wine, together with a bit of Japanese Sake created a wonderful sauce which covered the usual strong lamb/mutton smell. Without the fats, the rack of lamb wouldn’t be as good, since they largely contributed the tenderness to the overall taste. And, the sweetness of the meat was actually extracted by chewing and sucking the bones. Sinful, yet so good!

One of the dish which he missed a lot from home was pork. The pan-fried fillet of pork spare-rib (Christmas glow menu) was exactly what he needed to satisfy his needs and homesickness. The special seasoning was very peculiar, the inital guess of fruits were proven wrong. Done in Japanese style, the sauce was slightly sweet and sour, which provided a tangy robust taste. The pork was pan-fried that the crispy layer was just right for the meat. It was very delicious. The downside? Portions were dainty considering it’s the main course.

While the braised bai ling mushroom with broccoli (Festive cheers menu) was what his mother used to prepare, he didn’t quite enjoyed the dish since the overall taste was a tad too subtle for his liking. Yes, although this vegetables dish was supposed to be light since the previous few dishes were rather strong in flavour, so i guess its more of different taste buds.

The similar dish on the Christmas glow menu, braised dry scallop with sea cucumber and bamboo piths. The vegetables were fresh, but being neither a fan of scallop nor sea cucumber, they didn’t know how to appreciate it.

There’s reasons for relatives to look alike. Was it baby lobster? Or is it crayfish? Gosh, wait a minute, it does rather looks like a big prawn instead! The home-made noodles were springy and smooth to the palate. The big prawns were fresh and succulent. But, there’s always the big BUT to look out for. Having used stock base for the Shark’s fin, the vegetables dish, and now the noodles. They couldn’t finish the home-made noodles with prawn (both sets) because the excess usage of stock base did seem a bit too much.

The simple, yet refreshing chilled lemon jelly (Festive cheers menu) was definitely a welcoming dessert. With the robust lemon sorbet, and the light lemon jelly, the all-lemon combination provided a sweet ending to the Christmas feast.

On the other hand, there’s the chilled mango pudding (Christmas glow menu) which wasn’t as good as it lacked the bouncy and chewy texture that a good pudding should have.The whole mango flavour was also not very strong, but you’ve to give credits to them for making the mango pudding so pretty.

The oriental Christmas feast at Jia Wei brought them closer to home, and the whole meal took 3 half hours to complete.

Christmas Glow ($78++)
Festive turkey, ham and fresh fruits salad
Superior Shark’s fins soup with conpoy
Pan-fried fillet of pork spare-rib with special sauce
Braised dry scallop with sea cucumber and bamboo piths
Homemade noodles with prawn and conpoy
Chilled mango pudding

Festive Cheers ($98++)
Festive turkey, ham and fresh fruits salad
Jia Wei superior Shark’s fin soup in hot stone pot
Grilled special rack of lamb with Chinese wine
Braised bai ling mushroom with broccoli
Homemade noodles with prawn and conpoy
Chilled lemon jelly

Enjoy a 30% discount on the Christmas feast from Monday to Thursday, except on 24, 25, 31 Dec 2008 & 1 Jan 2009. This was an invited food tasting session, I’ll like to thank Keane and Shu Ling representing Grand Mercure Roxy hotel for being a wonderful host. I’ll also like to take the chance to praise Jia Wei’s assistance manager, Jessica who was very professional and knowledgeable about the cuisines. And also to my dining companion for being a good company (you know who you are).

Read Camemberu review on the Christmas feast here
Hisfoodblog review here
and my previous visit to Feast @ East

Jia Wei Chinese restaurant
Level 2 Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel
50 East Coast road, Roxy Square
(Opp parkway parade)
Tel: 6340 5678