sg: saboten

i've read a lot about saboten and with yabu's launch in manila it piqued my interest. so let's see how saboten fared.


the freebie shredded cabbage. it was so thin unlike yabu's. well i enjoy eating cabbage with both the yuzu and goma (sesame) dressing regardless of the thickness. actually, in retrospect i think the slightly thicker cabbages of yabu makes the dressing adhere to it better without being too overpowering.

the famous black sesame that is grounded up and mixed with the tonkatsu sauce. honestly, i didn't notice any difference in flavor between black and white.

when i dined in saboten last june (yes, super delayed post) the montly special was cheese mentai...cod roe. not sure if it was chicken stuffed with cheese and cod roe but it was so good and suprisingly not cloying. i had a mixed set so you can see an ebi and of course tonkatsu.

what i noticed though was saboten wasn't oily at all unlike yabu. yabu should really master that, because at the right temperature the food will absorb less oil which also lessens the cloying effect. however, can you see how thin my tonkatsu was. yeah it wasn't substantive enough.

dessert, is already part of the set which is macha ice cream. love green tea ice cream. also, the hot/cold green tea are complimentary if i'm not mistaken.

if i can remember correctly my set was around SGD35. it's actually quite steep, but heck it's in singapore. will i go again? if they still have the cheese mentai i will :D otherwise, yabu is good enough to satiate my tonkatsu cravings.



saboten
parco
millenia walk, singapore

monsieur pierre herme

i guess the battle of the best french macaron is between laduree and pierre herme. i was lucky enough to try both even without having been to paris or france yet. so here's my pierre herme "presentation"

here's the casual paper bag it's a plain white paper bag with cut outs and the pierre herme is on the side. quite the opposite from the laduree.

this is the box, i like its rectangular shape.

i also like that there's a brochure inside which provides a guide for the flavors.

the box is perfect for the macarons, it holds them properly and in place. unlike laduree which all look cramped inside and had the tendency to get squished.

here they are, without any bites yet :D.  i was able to get a hold of myself and took a picture first before biting into them, yes one by one as well. i wanted to try each flavor as fresh as i could possible get them it was nearing the 3 day best before date as well.

ok, this is a shame i can't remember the flavors anymore :( . ok, it's on the website the les jardins collection is for 2012. listing them down below.

top to bottom (l-r): mint, creme brulee
                              olive oil with mandarin orange,  mosaic (pistacchio, ceylon cinnamon and cherries),
                              medelice (hazelnut and lemon)
                              salted caramel, chocolate and caramel


unlike the laduree, the pierre herme macarons have the same type of filling. they are all like a buttercream filling as you can see in the picture of them inside the box. it's less sweeter than laduree but it has a more crunchy meringue. yes, this is the reason why i wasn't impressed with pierre herme (sorry for pierre herme fans). laduree had this very thin crispy coating with a soft chewy inside, plus the variety in filling textures makes laduree more exciting to eat.

so i guess that's it. laduree wins! but then again, different strokes for different folks so you might think otherwise.


pierre herme
http://www.pierreherme.com/

kl: twg tea salon

hi-tea or tea time is basically malaysia's version of merienda, which they probably got from the brits. there used to be a raffles cafe at the pavilion which i have failed to try and was eventually replaced by twg. i really thought twg was twinings but i was mistaken, it's a tea company which originated from singapore.

here's my long overdue post on twg tea salon in kl, somehow timely since they recently opened in greenbelt 5. i dunno how many tea blends they have but it's definitely overwhelming. they have very nice packaging perfect as gifts. 

grand wedding and weekend in venice both very light the grand wedding has peach and vanilla if i'm not mistaken.

the twg salad? i forgot the name. it has a foie gras terrine the yellow square you can see on the right side, fresh succulent shrimps as evident in the picture and some smoked salmon. this was light and yet indulgent because of the terrine. we've got some brioche for the terrine if i'm not mistaken. i already forgot!

my sad eggs benedict (pardon the blurry photos i had no idea i took super crappy photos onwards). the eggs looked so ugly don't yah think? and the hollaindaise wasn't as rich as i expected.

truffle fries with genmacha or green tea powder. it was also so so, the truffle wasn't as evident as i wanted it to be. similarly, the green tea didn't have any effect on the palate.

baked salmon? it wasn't mine. i dunno how it really fared if i remember correctly is was bordering being overcooked but the sauce on the side which is some kind of reduction made this dish flavorful enough.

on another outing i had this. silver moon tea, i wanted more vanilla but the strawberry undertones of this tea was more dominant. also, i thought my tea wasn't served that hot.

madeleines with cream and jam, unfortunately daniel boulud ruined madeleines for me, i will never have a better madeleine than db bistro moderne's

the tea is a whopping RM18 a pot, yes you get to have a pot. they are color coded with black and white so if two of you are dining you'd know which is which. the salad was definitely worth it. the first meal i had was roughly RM200 that was the salad, eggs, salmon and fries plus 2 pots of tea so it's pretty steep. will i dine again? i think so, it's overly priced, i know! but the whole tea drinking experience is really fun. i love teas :).


twg tea salon
pavilion
bukit bintang

one meal wonders or not

here's a compilation of my meals from various restos that didn't really have enough material to have a post of their own. just see my comments.

hit!

lou shu fan from taiwan recipe - not your typical lou shu fan but a yummy one indeed. those taiwan sausages are really good.

assam fish from a simple life - this is a vegetarian restaurant and i love their assam fish has the right blend of sweetness, spiciness and tartness. the seaweed really gives the illusion that it's real fish plus nothing beats brown rice which i love.

roasted chicken with chicken rice at a kopi tiam in ss2 - i forgot the exact name of the place it's the same row as kfc. this is not your roasted chicken in a chicken rice shop. this is western style roasted chicken plus chicken rice. talk about east meets west. i liked this meal though.

chilli pan mee from super kitchen - this chilli pan mee is called lat jui pan mee which is basically a dry pan mee, has ground pork, soft boiled egg, ikan bilis (dried crispy anchovy) and some leafy veggie. there's two restos i frequent that serve this, both are equally good but super kitchen adds fried onions me thinks which makes the pan mee more tasty.

stewed pork, duck and intestines with pickled veggies from teo chew h&l - nothing much to say, when i'm in the mood to eat this, i go here. all meats are tender, well braised and flavorful perfect with a hot steaming cup of rice.

curry laksa from henry cook - not as thick and creamy as old town's which they stopped serving. i guess this is the reason i like it i don't feel guilty as much when i eat this. 

salmon sashimi from tokyo shokudo - nothing really extraordinary, i just wanna share the unique serving vessel. the sashimi was thick and fresh no complaints. oh yeah, this was the meal i was afraid i'd have to wash dishes because apparently i didn't have that much cash with me. luckily the entire meal was less than 50RM!

miss!

oyster mee sua from shihlin taiwan street snacks - nothing really much to stay. i am not sure if all oyster mee sua tastes like this but it's somethin you don't have to try.

dolsot bibimbap from seoul seoul - lacks flavor there's nothing much more to stay. it was a miss.

pan mee from ying ker lou - this was a dismal pan mee. it wasn't piping hot so it means it wasn't freshly made, i mean the noodles. unlike in other pan mee places they really cook the noodles fresh!


taiwan recipe
pearl point hotel
midvalley megamall

a simple life
ss2 mall


super kitchen pan mee
sri petaling

teo chew h&l
sri petaling


henry cook
ss2 mall


tokyo shokudo
midvalley megamall

shihlin taiwan street snacks
the gardens midvalley

seoul seoul
ss2

ying ker lou
the gardens midvalley

nanbentei of tokyo

i was browsing my mobile pics earlier and realized i have so much backlog. i checked my lappy and saw these photos from last year!!!

nanbentei of tokyo has been a fixture in greenbelt for God knows how long. i always wondered what food they serve. eventually i read reviews that they serve yakitori. just yakitori? and yet it has sustained business in gb3, they must be really good.

i had lunch with m and nanbentei is one of her favorites so we headed there.

freebie veggie sticks with a thick sweet and salty sauce which i dunno what.

we ordered a yakitori platter which i already forgot what. they don't come altogether. they serve  the yakitoris as soon as they get cooked so you get to eat them as fresh as they can get. if im not mistaken the ones in the picture are pork and asparagus, pork that's shaped round and i can still remember it was a tad salty and some chicken with leeks/spring onions.


not in the pictures were the chicken wings??? and my favorite which was potato wrapped in bacon. that was the best yakitori i had.

i wasn't actually impressed. maybe the meal was too dry for me. eating sticks and sticks of grilled meat pieces none of which were basted with sauce could be quite cloying. i can't remember if they had other food items aside from sushi and sashimi, if they do maybe it's better to mix them up with the meal and not just feed yourself with yakitoris.

still a must try, when you find yourself in GB3 and if i'm not mistaken they now have a branch at the fort.




nanbentei of tokyo
greenbelt 3