The Ultimate Guide

Your bible to fine eateries in Singapore, but be patient, I am a student.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

TAO'S

This post is dated November 29.
Uploaded for the sake of Portfolio.
Click "older post" below for most recent.

I am always out there to satisfy my curious taste bud with the appropriate budget. I am glad to announce that Tao's Restaurant is the only eatery out there that can stuff me with a six course meal at a price of 20 SGD. Fusion was on the to eat list this weekend, going fusion is the ability to mix cuisines up at the wok and not embarrass each other at the table. Origins are best not debated I guess.



Serve up in a little hot pan is the bacon and mushroom gratin with a crispy thick toast as its crunchy companion. Whipped up the sticky gratin with your tea spoon and spread it across the toast and enjoy. You do not expect something so cheesy with bacon and mushroom lingering around your taste buds as a starter, right? At first course, this is sinfully great. With the lightly burnt top of the bread, you wont miss the brilliant fuse of fragrance of the cheese, bacon, mushroom and toast.



Fruit salad has cubes of apples, peaches, and corns compacted tightly, then topped with a generous amount of crab meat. The zesty apple was brilliant, goes very well with the occasional bites of sweet peach and the sprinkles of sauces on the plate for a spoonful of fruity adventure. Not forgetting the sandy crab meat that gives the extra punch for variety.



This is a story about a teapot with a cute teacup. But you should know this story was never about the tea. Actually, this is fish soup. There is a more chim name, but I really don't remember.



Fill the little cup up with the crystal clear fish soup, then slowly sip this savory tea from its rough tip. This is one great tea, the not overpowering fishy flavor paved way for the sweet taste of carrot and mushroom. All ingredient presence was definitely strong, this was truly enjoyable.



Then the award winning slow cooked ribs came. The best ribs I had was in Tony Romas and Astons, and those are dished with no awards. In Tony Romas, we enjoyed the the ribs by helding it in our hands and pinching the remaining meats from the bone with our teeth. But at Tao's, the only weapon is the knife. The easily detachable meat from the bone dipped with the garlic dominating sauce will impress you. This is really soft pork meat with a little effort of chewing with delightful plastered all over. The usual pork smell was present, but the sauce succesfully extinguishes it. It was a generous slab, and my capacity meter was in red zone.



Most people could not tell what this was, according to their food blog. But I shall stubbornly assume that I have decoded it, it is mashed sweet potatoes. Kfc have its lousy mash potatoes, while Tao's serves its innovative mashed sweet potatoes. It is a unique blend of butter fragrance and natural sweetness.





Cold apple rose tea, with real apple and rose okay. The usual bitterness of tea was absent, while the apple did all the sweet talking. I have to admit that I am still clueless about the rose. The art of infusing tea with fruits achieved natural sweetness for the health concious.



Creme brulee is a dessert I never tried before, the first I heard about it was in high school musical. Its a vanilla custard in a cup with a lightly torched surface. The crust was not fragile, letting every spoon of custard having a mini piece of crispy sugar crust to go with it. Let the crust and custard work it out, you will not regret choosing this over the other fancy dessert on the list. It did not has the eggy taste nor the vanilla's bitterness. Creme brulee was perfectly crafted, the right way for a six course meal's curtain call.

Its was very affordable for a flawless meal. No holes burnt, no taste buds disappoint.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Canister Number 1

Almost everyday of the year begins with an unwilling rise from bed and a meaningless chase after the bus. It then ends with an empty elevator ride and a glaring computer screen that puts me to sleep. These generic days without lasting memories in between come and go and usually does not embed an impact on us. We have these days in our life to get through an unexciting 365 days cycle, but some selected days have us in them instead to give us an impact for the course of our life.

That day was 12th June 2010, it was a Saturday.

We possibly had the most expensive salad of our life, accompanied by foie gras and toasted brioche. Not forgetting the two pots of tea and the cakes that stuffed us in the end. Followed by a sweet victory of a successful attempt on buying Plum Choya from the supermarket. Last but not least my unreliable photographic memory which led us to a long detour at Novena Square. "Yes, I am sorry for my self!"

The day did start and end like any other usual day, but the lasting memories in between left a different impact on me. Days like this are rare, and what it had done to me in the end is indeed rare too.

That day made me smile :)

Saturday, June 5, 2010

the first steep

June 5th 2010, its written a Saturday on the calander, and also a time of the week where I am extra sensitive to boredom. The least of changes in the routine has been obvious to me not all day long but all year long.

Up in the morning, walk to the bakery, back to the macbook.

To the hawker centre for a takeaway lunch and back to the macbook.

And repeat as above but with dinner instead.

I try dining out for great meals once in a while, but you cant buy happiness through sea bass and foie gras. Although you walk out from the eatery with a smile of satisfaction that will not last as long as happiness does, which is a life time. But lets not forget about the right to brag that is ever lasting. 

I am scratching my thoughts on how to make my weekend more eventful. Since that I am financially stretched to not patronize a french kitchen every weekend, I will create my own french kitchen. Go to the nearby supermart and grab a steak,  and head to Culina at dempsey for Tetsuya's truffle salsa for an indulging DIY truffle butter.  A block of truffle butter on top of of a slab sizzling steak could have been the fix, and the time spend cooking could burnt the mundane saturday night more effectively. Instead of lying on my bed typing about cooking up a storm, I rather do the real deal and put my macbook aside.

Hopefully happiness will be more accessible. 

Friday, June 4, 2010

I have no tea bags left.

Maybe I should start doodling virtually again, I can treat this blog as a person, like an unresponsive human.


I am here to not rant about my doubts, but I can't help it.

"Can I?" Oops, I guess you know how the interface of blogger looks like and wanted to sneak a peak, I would not have mind but this is about you.

Its been 4 years, 1 month and 17 days since I had someone who can lean on my shoulder and it tells that we are not friends. Its been 4 years, 3 months and 22 days since I last ask a girl out, or the ancient term, "couple". And its 6 months ever since I gotten mature enough to not consider the girlfriend I had 4 years, 3 months and 22 days ago that lasted for 2 months and 22 days the real deal.

But 4 months and 19 days ago, I started talking to you. Me knowing how you do not approach people just made you even more unapproachable to me. But I notice the baby blue flask that you always carry around with you, and that tea bag label assured me that you are a tea lover. In that instance I knew that was a reliable conversation starter.

And its been 4 months and 19 days, I am doing quite badly.

Still counting.