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alexis @The Gardens (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

January 22, 2014
#Noodles, @Kuala Lumpur, @Malaysia, @Mid Valley City, Duck Confit, French, Pho, Vietnamese
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In for a surprise.

imageI was on a spontaneous one-day / one-night business trip to K.L. and after our meeting the colleagues there took us out for dinner to ‘alexis’ at Mid Valley. The place looked plain, no thrills just like any other mall restaurant and had a fairly mixed and quite worrying, so called intercontinental menu.

For starters I had the ‘Duck Confit‘. Yes, that’s right, ‘Duck Confit‘ as an appetiser, probably one of the best ideas I have come across in a long time. I’m not quite sure how authentic it was, since I had this rather seldom as a main but as it was in fact wickedly awesome, I couldn’t give a lesser damn. It was super crispy crackling on the skin with the meat still moist and savory and the balsamic reduction, some arugula and the caramelized pears were a brilliant sweet-sour-bitter contra play. A-freaking-mazing.

imageAfter my fancy and unusual large french starter I followed a colleague’s recommendation and ordered the ‘Pho Bo‘ still keeping my expectations low. It turned out there was no need to be conservative for the bowl was huge and piping hot with that lovely cinnamon fragrance steaming up from the top. The noodles were the thicker kind, awesome chewy and the meat was plenty and lean. On top of that they handed loads of proper pho condiments like sprouts, basil, mint, chilli and lemon, which I miss so often. Now that’s how it’s done.

Well this place was a nice culinary surprise. With its’ unpromising facade and it’s weird all-around-the-globe-menu it nearly got me fooled and disappointed at first just to knock me off my dining shoes with some outstanding foods and heavy ‘Pinot Noir‘. A good night.

alexis – bistro wine bar
Lot f209 1st Floor
The Gardens
Mid Valley City
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Tel: +60 3 2287 2281
http://www.alexis.com.my/

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VivaVox Cafe @Icon@IBP (Singapore)

January 15, 2014
@Jurong East, @Singapore, Croque Madame/Monsieur, French, Sandwiches
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“Light & Cheesy”.

imageBack here during lunch break I felt light and cheesy and hence ordered their ‘Croque Monsieur‘ for a change. Presentation was nice, two large slices of bread, baked over with loads of cheese and creatively finished with scribblings of balsamic reduction on top. The bread was a bit flappy and the ham could have been thinner sliced but the hearty saltiness of the cheese and the touch of sourness from the balsamic made this a great new lunch option to turn to.

VivaVox Cafe
3A International Business Park
#01-10 Icon@IBP
Singapore 609935
Tel: +65 6686 3368
http://www.vivavox.com.sg/

Choupinette @Bukit Timah Road (Singapore)

November 10, 2013
#Breakfast, #Brunch, @Bukit Timah, @Singapore, Croque Madame/Monsieur, French, Sandwiches
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Little french breakfast café.

imageOn the lookout for a quick breakfast before shopping we stopped by ‘Choupinette’, the place with the radiant and colourful sign on Bukit Timah Road. I didn’t have french style breakfast for ages and couldn’t go past the ‘Croque Madame‘ which is pretty much a grilled ham and cheese sandwich topped with a sunny side up. It looked quite neat there with that perfect circled egg and the squarish thick cut double layered toast underneath and taste wise it was pretty good as well. Salty ham, saltier gruyere cheese but unfortunately greatly over-toasted which made it all super dry so that I was really glad I had made my sandwich a “madame” as the runny yolk at least added some moisture to the dish. So flavours were good, execution regrettably didn’t delivery 100% but it’s still a pretty nice place for a quiet breakfast off the Dempsey Hill crowds with very friendly service as well.

Choupinette
607 Bukit Timah Road
#01-01
Singapore 269708
Tel: +65 6466 0613

Suprette @Jalan Besar (Singapore)

August 26, 2013
@Farrer Park, @Lavender, @Little India, @Singapore, Steak, Steak & Frites, Western/International/American
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Dude, Where’s my Marrow?

imageWow, my friend was really super hungry so everything had to be decided rather quickly and be at best around the corner. From the places I had lined up close by most weren’t open so we head over to Jalan Besar to check out ‘Suprette’ in the basement of the Kam Leng Hotel I had read about. We were greeted warmly by the staff and the interior seemed nice and cosy, something similar to a small bistro.

My friend had the ‘Suprette Burger‘ and I ordered the ‘Hanger Steak & Marrow‘ which was the actual reason I had this place on my radar in the first place. When it came to the table it looked pretty tasty, all meaty with a mountain of golden fries. The hanger steak was brilliant, even though cooked slightly over medium and somewhat coldish, it had this rich beef flavor, more rustic and was completely lean which was totally my thing. The fries on the contraty were like hot sticks, crispy and so perfectly salted that I didn’t touch the salt shaker even once for the whole dinner. One thing I missed though was the bone marrow which I thought to remember from pictures of other blogs. I wasn’t quite sure so I asked the staff if it maybe was incorporated into the sauce or something which I didn’t really get a proper answer to and the sauce surely was creamy and delicious but nothing about it really reminded me of buttery marrow. After i had finished up my meal another gentlemen approached us and told me politely that I would now get a two dollars rebate as normally this dish was including half a grilled bone of marrow which they ran out of about a week ago. Usually I would have said something but I wasn’t really in the moment then and actually was quite puzzled realizing I just ate a multilated dish and only was told about it afterwards. Not cool man.

At last ‘Suprette’ really is a nice place close to home with some wicked free flow fries and great steak but honestly, this situation could have been handled so much better. I think it’s ridiculous to hold a grudge over something tiny like half a missing bone so when I’ll eventually get over this tragedy in my life I will return here to finally try a flawless and completely intact hanger steak and this time I just buy myself an extra portion of marrow for the two dollars that I saved tonight.

Suprette
383 Jalan Besar
Kam Leng Hotel Lobby
Singapore 20900
Tel: +65 6298 8962
http://www.suprette.com/

L’Entrecote @Duxton Hill (Singapore)

February 21, 2013
@Duxton, French, Steak & Frites
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Just Steak!

imageL’Entrecote on Duxton Hill is a french bistro style restaurant that makes it easy for those who can never decide what to order, like me. As main you can have steak, steak or steak, with fries to be exact. So when I feel like something meaty this is the place that I’m drawn to most often.

Having only one main on the menu made them become pretty damn good at it. The meat comes usually in two servings – one bigger, one smaller – and is cooked perfectly according to your preference. Entrecote is a premium cut from the rib area and at L’Entrecote they cover it with their special creamy mustard sauce which enhances but doesn’t overpower the meat. The fries are thinly cut and crisp and will be refilled as long as you ask for more and together with a small walnut salad all this comes for under 30 dollars ++.

imageAs starters we had the ‘Bone Marrow‘ which comes as one big split and grilled beef bone together with rock salt and toasted bread. It’s buttery texture and taste make this  such a sinful dish but I can’t get around it when I’m there.

imageAs a second starter we ordered the ‘Sardines in a Tin‘. As the name suggests they are served in an opened tin where the sardines lie in high quality vegetable oil. Spread on a piece of baguette, sprinkled with rock salt and drizzled with some lemon juice this creates a great combination of flavors with the sardines as the headliner.

Their house red is a semi dry Bordeaux which is not too heavy and goes along just fine with the food and can also be purchased for takeout.

Come early or prepare to wait as they don’t take reservations and it gets very busy in the evenings. ‘Steak & Fries‘ in perfection.

http://lentrecote.sg/

L’Enrecote – The Steak & Fries Bistro                                                                                                                36 Duxton Hill                                                                                                                                          Singapore 089614