Braise - Annual Foodie Gathering

Instead of a foodblogger dinner, this year, it was a rather impromptu gathering of foodies, bloggers and non, at Braise, a lovely and modern restaurant located at Palawan Beach on Sentosa Island. That was my first meal there and I loved the glass house look that allowed natural light into the restaurant. Besides, I also had the luxury of enjoying a seaview over lunch so that made my meal extra nice.

A soft and warm bread roll with butter was a good start before my cold pasta of capellini with seared hokkaido scallop distracted me for a moment.

A long wait for the main course saw me eating more bread to stave off the hunger. I enjoyed the tasmanian trout that was served half-raw so it was moist and juicy. The zucchini fritter was a suprise to me because instead of cheese that I was expecting, it was stuffed with cooked salmon.

Dessert was a lovely crispy tart of pear and vanilla ice-cream. I enjoyed a similar version with at sister restaurant Ember.

The food was good but nothing too exciting. The company was great though. Nothing beats having a bunch of like-minded foodies who believes in not settling for anything less than the best. Of course, the added bonus was that in the room full of discerning tastebuds, I was nowhere near "picky". : )

Thanks to all the new friends and old, you made my afternoon a really great one.

Guest Chef Philippe Etchebest at Harbour Grill

Two Michelin star Chef Philippe Etchebest was in town recently, hosted at the Harbour Grill at Hilton Hotel. It was with great anticipation that I looked forward to the meal after I decided to just go for it and indulge a little.

The four-course meal gave me an rough idea of Chef Etchebest's cooking, which is all about contrast - texture, taste, colors, etc.

The amuse bouche was freshly picked crab with tomato foam. The sweet and salty foam paired well with the sweet and salty crab.


For the appetizer, I chose the Cod fish brandade, asparagus royal, pink pepper, balsamic and olive oil. It was a rather bland and light dish and I didn't particularly enjoy the asparagus pudding's soft, mushy texture. I was rather disappointed by this to be honest.

The second course was soup. Fresh and raw oysters and scallops topped with a dollop of tartar sauce and parmesan shavings were placed in a shallow dish. It would be mildly cooked by the heat from the pumpkin velouté as the latter was slowly poured into the dish by the server in front of me. I rather enjoyed that short display of showmanship before tucking into the food. The soup was sooo good. It had a smooth and thick texture. It coated the luscious bits of oysters and scallops and the sweetness of the pumpkin paired most wonderfully with the briney seafood and salty parmesan. I could have another serving easily.

But there was the main course to be had. It was fresh sardines, with a crust created by a piece of flattened white bread fried to a crisp. I thought that was rather clever. The most interesting side was this grilled red bellpepper stuffed with grapefruit. It was quite unusual but the sour grapefruit did freshen up the tastebuds as the sardines had a strong flavour. Other sides comprised of olive tapanade and a quinoa salad.

Dessert was a more familiar sight but nonetheless, of very high quality and well executed. I enjoyed the “mille-feuille” of raspberries and a really delicious vanilla cream in between the thinnest layers of buttery biscuits that reminded me of gingersnaps.

It was a good meal but I wished I could be blown away. Anyway, Chef Etchebest is the executive director at the Hostellerie de Plaisance in Saint Emilion, about 35km away from Bordeaux. I'll love to try his food there one day and perhaps with homeground advantage, I could be more impressed.

Raw Kitchen Bar

This is a new restaurant located within the defunct firestation in Upper Bukit Timah. I was lost for a while because I had drove past the non-discriptive building seeing no sight of life from the main road. So if you are driving, watch out for a building labeled "Spectra" to the right hand side, at the junction where you would turn into Bukit Batok on the left. There is parking available and the restaurant is actually nestled within, out of immediate view.


Raw Kitchen Bar is really a cool-looking old-fashioned house. The menu is really small as you can see from the picture above. I'm not sure if the idea is to keep it small but the above is still only a softlaunch menu. The cuisine is a mix with a bit of everything, so the food did seemed all over the place. Since we were all there for the first time, we asked the friendly hostess for recommendations.

We ordered a margherita pizza ($14) to share because "it is fun to eat", as we were told. It possessed a great biscuit-thin crust with reasonable amount of cheese but somewhat the taste was rather flat. I wished there were more slivers of basil, because I love the minty flavour that I could barely detect here.

Ahi mango poke with japanese cucumbers and a sesame dressing with fried wonton chips ($15) was a take on the whole "salsa and chips" thing. I found the dressing just a wee bit salty but balanced with the sweet mango, it was not too bad. Though the large sheets of wonton crisps tasted mildly stale, I loved the crunch of the chips against the softer-textured tuna and mango.

I would recommend ordering and sharing the starters, because the portions could become monotonous for one person.

The nori-wrapped salmon with wasabi mash ($22) was a bit of a misnomer as the nori appeared nowhere other than a thin band of it down the middle of the salmon. The fish was fresh but unfortunately cooked thoroughly to the core so the salmon was tough. I love salmon that is still pink/raw in the middle. I admit I should have remembered to inform the waiter in the beginning. The serving was really generous though and I really enjoyed the wasabi mash in particular because the amount of wasabi was just nice without being overwhelming. The sauteed portabellos on the side were also very appetising because of the sourish tinge from the basalmic vinegar. There were bits of basil sauteed together with the mushrooms and that added a nice fragrance. It was rather oily though.

The girlfriend ordered the crispy duck confit with butter mash ($24). Look, it was not a duck leg, but duck legs. The duck legs were not crispy though, but seemed to be braised. We joked that they looked and smelled like "lor arh" (Chinese braised duck) actually. Hahaha.

The other friend had the lamb chops that were too fatty according to him. The chops were accompanied by some really lovely and sweet grilled vegetables and an equally delicious sweet potato (or pumpkin?) mash. I had to stop myself from stealing more bites.

After all that food, we were too stuffed for desserts. The two desserts available, warm chocolate cake and basil pannacotta, didn't particularly appeal either. The food is really reasonably priced and decent enough that I would not hesitate to come back if I had the wheels. I simply love the old-school and retro-looking building.

Raw Kitchen Bar
276 Upper Bukit Timah Road
Tel: : 6467 3987
Open hours: 5:30pm to 12 midnight
(Closed Mondays)

Cugini Ristorante & Bar

Feeling a bit jaded with our current pool of Italian establishments, I am say I am pretty stoked at stumbling upon this Italian restaurant because their specialty is South Italian/Sicilian cuisine so the menu boasts dishes less commonly seen. The two chefs are cousins, hence "Cugini" which means "Cousins" in Italiano.

The Zuppetta di pesce alla Siracusana (S$17) was a Sicilian seafood soup that was most definitely prepared ala minute given the long wait for the dish to appear. It was worth the wait though, as the soup was really tasty and hearty. In it were plenty of fresh seafood such as squid, shrimp, tuna and clam. The soup was rather thick and had bits of olives, capers and whole cherry tomatoes. I found myself thinking it could be a watered down puttanesca pasta sauce.

I found out that the popular Ravioli al tartufo e patate con burro alle noci e grana was served mainly to satisfy the truffle-obsessed Singaporeans. My friend was such a person so we had a starter portion to try (S$15). It had a good enough thin skin and although the filling was supposed to be a mixture of mash potato and truffle with walnut butter and parmigiano, I could not taste much else beyond the mash honestly. Eventually I found the dish borderline heavy and not very enjoyable.


My main did much better and in fact, I had no complains. The Maltagliati with cream, mushroom and Parmigiano cheese ($21) was an unevenly cut pasta dish simply tossed with a cream sauce infused with the flavours imparted by the sauteed porcini mushrooms. The noodles were al dente and together with the coarse gratings of parmigiano, the flavours were enhanced enormously. I am so going to come back to try the other interesting pastas (beetroot pasta, anyone?)


To round up the meal, I chose the tiramisu since the choices were less interest. It was just okay. The sponge were slightly too wet, but lacked alcohol. It was not too sweet because there was some caramel sauce that one could accompany the tiramisu with as well.

It was too bad the restaurant lacked much publicity. If you are looking for a refreshed take on Italian food, Cugini could be your answer.

Cugini Ristorante & Bar
11 Unity Street #01-27
Tel: 6836 9541

Cova Pasticceria

Chocolate Cake with Chestnuts, originally uploaded by Skinny Epicurean.

One particularly hot afternoon led a rather unusual but delicious choice of lunch - fluffy macademia nut pancakes with earl grey and fig icecream at Cedele.

For desserts, we were trying to find a place instead of the fail-safe Canele. So when one of the girls suggested Cova Pasticceria at the Paragon, we unanimously agreed since we have all not been there before.

The chiller counter displayed cakes of all sorts, tempting to the eyes and stomach. I love chestnuts of all sorts so it was not surprising I took little time to decide on the chestnut chocolate torte (S$9++; sorry, I can't remember its sexy Italian equivalent).

Service was very prompt starting with drinks.

"Sparkling or still for you, m'am?" the lady captain in white asked. She was good, made it sound like those were the only options available. But worry not, tap water is available as well, for free.

The cake was served shortly after. I was very disappointed to say the least. Don't order this ever, ok? For details why, read on.

For one, the cake was dense and much too dry. There was not much chocolate other than looking like one. Second, the white whipped cream in the middle was actually buttercream, which I personally find quite nasty. I tried to scrap out as much as possible, but it was tough because there were bits of chopped chestnuts which I wanted to salvage. Thirdly, the chestnut mousse on top of the cake was rather thin and a little dry as well. Trust me, the fresh whipped cream on the side came of good use -- to add moisture! Lastly, the candied chestnuts lining the outer rim of the cakes would give you diabetes! Okay, rant over.

Hmm, I know it's just one dessert and I should be more objective but it is just that I expected much more of this place, which is really suppose to be a luxurious tea time cafe. Well, never try, never know.

Cova Pasticceria
Paragon Shopping Centre
#01-20A
Tel: 6773 0777
Sun-Fri: 8am-10pm
Sat: 8am-11pm