Singapore Flavas

You know, for a blog in Singapore we don't really offer all that much local content. I think we need more restaurant reviews. Because it's all about the makan. I tried a quite chichi restaurant for the first time the other day called Whitebait and Kale, because it's on the ground floor of the Camden Medical Centre, where my doctor is. It's owned by a famous dermatologist. The service was excellent. I had the set lunch. I started with a salad with melon and grapefruit sections and pine nuts. It was fine, but I didn't think, where have the melon bits been all my salad-eating life? I had braised veal cheeks as a main course, and the texture was great, very succulent. The flavor was slightly lacking somehow, sort of boring pot-roast-ish. Steam table-ish. Hmm, I'm not exactly selling this restaurant, am I? Dessert was chosen for me; a perfectly nice cake with layers of chocolate cream and some blackberry stuff going on. Now that I reflect on it, I realize that it was only OK, and thus, overpriced (as the receptionist at my doctor's said: "$14 for fish and chips? Then how?"). I still enjoyed it because it's attractive, and I sat outside at a long white table under a tent, while a truly spectacular thunderstorm raged around. It was white-out conditions; you couldn't even see the other side of the street. Violet was very good the whole time, and I had a glass of wine; that always gives me an indolent, ladies who lunch feeling. So, you know, after you get the botox upstairs at Dr. Woffles Wu, maybe check it out. (Woffles is not my doctor, but he is a famous plastic surgeon. My doctor went to junior college with him. He's been known as Woffles "from young". I often read about him in the six-month-old copies of the Singapore Tatler at my dentist's office).

A restaurant you should definitely not check out is the wretched Windows on Club Street. I was down in Chinatown with the girls yesterday but it was still a bit early for dim sum (coz all the places open at 11:00), so we wandered around, and Zoë pointed this place out. There was a big piece of margarine wrapper in my eggs benedict, which were, additionally, not good at all. Zoë's fried eggs had gelatinous white on them, even though I asked for over medium. They were nice about the paper thing, and didn't charge me; I just sent my eggs benedict back, having lost my appetite, and then they sent two pieces of heavily-battered deep-fried fish out from the kitchen as a peace offering, but no fries? The thought was nice, but maybe they should have asked me to pick something? I mean, did they just figure they'd better send me something with equal caloric content? Service: friendly but scatterbrained (unable to bring my water, leaving us without menus for 3 minutes at the start). Never go here. Their speciality, they claim, is salt beef. Big whatevs to salt beef.

Hopefully tonight we'll do better; Tena and I are taking the girls to Geylang Serai for Hari Raya Puasa (the last day of Ramadan). Here is a very nice photo essay with film clips about the Gaylang Serai market. It really gives you a good idea of what Singapore looks like. If you're reading this, I hope your flight goes well honey!

Comments

[Jeremy Osner]

This morning I met and chatted with a Singaporean who was on vacation here in NYC, as I was walking from the train to my office -- I thought of asking him if he knew you guys but did not get around to it.

[Tom]

It looked from your photos a while back ("Zoë charmes dumpling-making aunties", I think) as though you go to the Qun Zhong Eating House on Neil Road - that's one of the finest little restaurants in Singapore, if you ask me, although maybe I shouldn't say that as the queues are already terrible.

[belle waring]

yep, tom, that's right. I was thinking of posting about it too, but I couldn't remember the name. that place is awesome.