Guest Masterchefs Karl and Rudolf Obauer @ Dolce Vita, Mandarin Oriental Singapore

Are you a 'fan' of the Mandarin Oriental?

Once you have stayed in one of their properties, you somehow get addicted to their impeccable service and quality of their rooms and restaurants. My wife and I were converts when we had our wedding at Mandarin Oriental Singapore and saw what they could provide to our guests during the dinner. We were also impressed with the rooms and restaurants we dined during our stay. Since then, we have stayed in a few other MO properties. We wished we could stay in more, but it really is beyond our budget at this junction of life, we need to save up.

Are you a fan of great chefs? Are you are a fan of Austrian food? Are you are a fan of the Obauer brothers? If you are, you are in for a treat.



From 30 October to 2 November 2014, there will be Special Lunch and Dinner Menu featuring the works of the Chefs Karl and Rudolf Obauer here at the Mandarin Oriental. I was privileged to have tasted the lunch menu yesterday.

There are 2 lunch menus and 2 dinner menus, and you can view them here.



Lunch started with a baskets of different rolls and crisps and it was served with this interesting saucer of green dip. After we tasted it, we wanted to know what is in it! The chef was happy to tell us the ingredients: Crème fraîche, Quark, Wasabi and Steinklee. Steinklee are Alpine mountain herbs and they brought in the dried powdered version to make this.


Amuse Bouche:



It was an interesting start of 5 little tidbits. We had chickpea purée in the spoon, veal tartare, and a shot glass of zucchini yoghurt. My favourite of it all is the shot glass of zucchini yoghurt made from zucchini cream and yoghurt with pumpkin seed oil in it.



There's also this little cube of Parmesan „QimiQ“ jelly. To put in names that we in Singapore would understand, it has the texture of marshmallows. I just searched about QimiQ to find out what it is! There is also the lamb sausage.


Course 1: Cauliflower Jelly



Cauliflower jelly is something we don't usually see in menus here. I have seen it in some restaurants and this is the first time I tasted it. I think I will eat more cauliflower if it's served to me this way! It's light tasting, there were small pieces of soft cauliflower in a firm jelly. It rested on bell pepper purée which gave it a nice slightly sweet and piquant flavours.

There's also the aged smoked beef from Salzburg and eggplant chutney. A very nice texture and taste to complement the cauliflower jelly. I was hesitant to finish all the goose liver though. The reason being, it raw goose liver. If you don't tell me what it is, I will have finished it up because it was delicious when I had some of it with the grains of green tea salt and alpine herbs. Blame it on the service staff for explaining what it was. Haha! My head said don't finish it, when the mouth wanted to eat it up.


Course 2: Lake Char Lasagna



This very interesting dish is made up layers of pasta sheets, Arctic Char and reduced tomato slices. It's covered with big basil leaves. The sauce is made from reduced seafood stock with Grüner Veltliner (a variety of white white grape grown in the Alpine region).

Not the usual soft mushy lasagna, but al dante pasta sheets layered between the ingredients. The sauce is something I enjoyed too.



Since we were talking about Grüner Veltliner, we were treated to some Grüner Veltliner that MO Singapore carries in their collection. The sommelier said only 2 MOs around the world carry this.


Course 3: Celery-Saffron Soup



Something to warm up our tummies mid meal. Steamed Pike in a simple celery saffron soup. It's always nice to elegantly punctuate the meal with a bowl of warm light soup.


Course 4: Saddle of Lamb



Mary would have cried because it's lamb they are serving. I would cry too for a different reason. It's so delicious. I wasn't listen to what the service staff was talking when he was explaining the dish because I was mesmerized by the looks and the aroma of the lamb.

It was two medium rare piece, so tender and not much of a gamey smell I thought I was having beef. Oh yes, I am a parsley lover, so this dish just resonated with me. You know I am normally not a lamb person, but this was good.



The lamb was served with a mix of horse radish, sour cream and a dash of balsamic v. It goes very well with the lamb. In fact, it was nice just to nibble bits of this by itself.


Course 5: Apple Strudel and Cottage Cheese.



The last course, the desserts. This apple strudel deserves a photo of it by itself because of the work that has gone into it. Apple that has been reduced with coconut and also with rum and raisin. Let your imagination brings out the flavour for you.



Many of us loved the ice cream. It's chamomile ice cream that's so refreshing. Another flavour that I should try to make with my ice cream machine one of these days. I don't know how to appreciate the cottage cheese curd though. I am not a very cheese nor curd person. It just tasted good to me that's all and a nice clean end to the meal.

We also had some petit fours from Dolce Vita's pastry chefs with coffee and tea.

If you are thinking of bringing that someone special to a special Austrian meal, get a reservation here. Chefs Karl and Rudolf Obauer have a long list of awards under the belt. They are been Chefs of the Year in Austria, named Chefs of the Decade by Gault Millau Austria, and also they have rave reviews by acclaimed food critics. You just need to search their names to read about them. They will be here in Singapore from 30 October to 2 November 2014.


The pricing:
Four-course lunch at SGD 88 per person.
Five-course lunch at SGD 128 per person.
Five-course dinner at SGD 128 per person.
Seven-course dinner at SGD 188 per person.
View the menu here.


I have been a fan of Mandarin Oriental and this lunch was on invitation by Mandarin Oriental Singapore. Thanks!


Guest Masterchefs Karl and Rudolf Obauer
Dolce Vita
Mandarin Oriental Singapore
5 Raffles Avenue
Marina Square
Singapore 039797

Tel: +65 6885 3500.
Email: mosin-dining@mohg.com

Fishball Story @ Golden Mile Food Centre

Not too long ago, the wife and I were invited to 'take over' HungryGoWhere's Instagram account for a day. Did you catch us that day? We were on a 'things handmade' trail. It was a fun day, taking a day off work to 'pretend' to be hungry tourists going around Singapore in search of food that's made fresh in Singapore.

Are there really a long list of places that made food from scratch and not machine produced in some factories? Yes, there are many places and we had a whole long list. We could not try it all because it's all over the island and it's tiring to go around.

We started by having breakfast at Bukit Timah Food Centre. We had Fried Carrot Cake that's been made from scratch at the stall. If you frequently buy from them, you can see the giant steamer with trays and trays of steamed carrot cake, ready to be fried.

We also had curry puffs at Toa Payoh that's made freshly by the aunties and then fried and sold immediately. Very good ones with fillings inside that's worth your money. We had hand made paus that makes you wanna cry. It's so different from the ones that are resting in steamers in kopitiams and kiosks all around the island. Pan mee that people are willing to wait hours just to taste it. Ice cream that people are willing to pay for. The dish that the wife enjoyed the most was the fishball noodles from this stall.



The stall, Fishball Story is managed by the 'young' hawkers, young folks who decided that they want to cook real food and food that is fast losing their authentic taste in Singapore. Mr Douglas Ng decided to set up shop at Golden Mile Food Centre using his grandma's recipe.

Their fishballs and fishcakes are really satisfying when you eat them. The texture and taste when you eat it will make you want to order more. It's something that you have to taste and see to understand. That's what happened to us. We decided to order more and eat.



The fishballs and fishcakes are made from scratch early in the morning and its made with yellowtail fish and they don't use any flour in the process. Their chilli blend in the noodles also has the correct balance that makes you slurp up your noodles and break sweat a little with the spiciness.

This was what I had. I like meepok, so I ordered the meepok version. This costs $3.50.



The wife prefers 'lao shu fen' and she always orders 'lao shu fen' when it's available. It might look simple, but you need to just bite into one fishball to fall in love with it. This was also $3.50.



Yup, we ordered another bowl without the noodles. So satisfying we wanted the 3rd bowl. A bowl of fishball soup without noodles also costs $3.50. They give you more fishballs and fishcakes.

If you want to find out more about the places we went and see photos of them, you can continue to read them at the HungryGoWhere website: http://www.hungrygowhere.com/gallery/6-hawkers-who-use-handmade-ingredients-*gid-08493101/photos/


Fishball Story
Golden Mile Food Centre
Stall #01-85
505 Beach Rd
Singapore 199583

Salt Grill and Sky Bar by Luke Mangan @ ION Orchard

Restaurant Week 2014 started last Saturday and we made 2 bookings at 2 very different places to indulge a bit. I didn't book any restaurants last year, partly because when I realised the booking was opened, the places that I wanted to try had all been fully booked. 

Sis has been quite busy, so I thought it would be a nice treat for her. Managed to snag a booking for Salt Grill and Sky Bar on a Saturday. I managed to get booking this time thanks to the reminder email that American Express sent about having priority bookings 1 week earlier for AMEX Card Members. One of the perks that I finally got to use this year. 
 

We started our meal with taking photographs of the view! Ya, we happened to be seated right next to the tall glass windows. After a while, these warm breads were served with olive oil and dukkah. The breads went very well with the dukkah and I think it might be sis' next project. I suspect she might be making dukkah for Christmas gifts this year.

Here's what we had:


'Glass' Sydney Crab omelette. 

Sis saw the menu online and already wanted to order this. It's Luke Mangan's signature dish and it's a very comforting dish. Soft and creamy omelette with a very appetite stimulating miso mustard broth.

By the way, if you want to replicate this at home, Luke's website has the recipe! I recommend coming here for the dish at least once so that you know what it's suppose to taste like. (Making me miss the meals at Glass Brasserie in Sydney!)


Tuna Sashimi 

Sis said order something else, so we get to try other things in the Restaurant Week menu. So I had the Tuna Sashimi with ponzu sauce, smoked enoki and puffed rice. These few weeks, I have been tasting food with puffed rice. Makes me want to plate something at home with puffed rice too!

The smoked enoki has quite an intense flavour and it does gives the tuna a nice accompanying flavour.


Cape Grim Striploin

You will expect the Aussie restaurant to use Aussie beef. Sis asked for medium and said later, she should have asked for medium rare. It was a nice cut of meat and nicely prepared. Served with caramelized endive and swirls of eggplant and salsa verde.

Sis also had Dijon Mustard and Wasabi Mustard. The wasabi mustard is something you should try if you like wasabi. To me, it goes well with the beef. If only the beef was a bigger piece, we know it's a lunch menu only.


Mushrooms

There was an extra menu that was presented to us at the start. If we would like additional sides to go with the Restaurant Week set lunch, we could order. So I ordered the mushrooms for $15.

It was a nice addition to our meal. Sis is not a fanatic mushroom lover (ie don't really eat mushrooms), but she said it was 'ok', so it means it is nice. I also order mushroom dishes to try at certain places to see how it comes out and to remember the taste. This is so that the wife who loves mushrooms can get to taste it when she says 'cook some mushrooms please' at home.


Grilled Snapper

I had the Grilled Snapper with Israeli cous cous served in a tomato and dill broth. A piece of fish that was nicely grilled, still so tender as I broke it with my fork and had a nice crispy skin. Ya, our conversation at the table turned to Masterchef Australia that we are catching on TV now. We said, on TV they will always have the skin crisp up between trays separately, here they still have it intact, quite good skill ya. (Things we talk about....)

It's the biggest cous cous that I have seen. I have to say, the first taste, I didn't like it. As I had the my second mouth and more, it grew on me and I finished it all.


Raspberry Cheese Cake

Sis' favourite part of any meal. Desserts. She already said, we are going to order both on the menu when we sat down. A very beautiful and mesmerizing dessert. For the ladies who loves the slight sourish / tart taste of raspberry. Raspberry cheesecake with raspberry sorbet with a piece of freeze dried raspberry.

Just like how they always say on Masterchef Australia, just one word: Yums!


Banana Parfait with Peanut Brittle

The other dessert on the menu. Banana parfait which has a nice ripe banana taste with pieces of the addictive peanut brittle on it. The 'skid marks' chocolate mousse goes well with the banana parfait, loving the taste of the dark chocolate used.  Oh yes, a 'spoonful' (the shape) of salted caramel sauce to go with it too.

After the meal, we went around the viewing deck. Looking at how beautiful the city is and how much it has been changing over the years (and maybe months and days too!)


Salt Grill and Sky Bar
2 Orchard Turn
ION Orchard
#55-01 / #56-01
Singapore 238801


p/s:

Since I started by telling you that I got the booking early because of the Amex Platinum card I had, might as well, tell you more. People have been asking me where to go and eat and you want it affordable as well. Get the American Express Platinum Credit Card that now comes with free membership to two dining programmes, the Classic Far Card membership and PALATE programme.

I remember a long time ago, it was FAR only, then it became PALATE only. Now it's both and the sweeter deal is that for 1st year it's free membership now.

With these 2 programmes combined, you have a few months to try different restaurants, if you try one a week. It's best for couples as you get 50% off. There's also the Platinum Private Deals that you can look forward too.