362. Fou De Fa Fa

Jay's Pizza @$28

A little cafe tucked away at a corner of Capital Tower. I have always mistaken it to be Hibiscus, only to realise much later that Hibiscus actually belonged to the floral shop next to it. Have seen people having the skinny pizza alike pizza and it looked like I needed to find time to try it. And one fine day, I did. After much deliberation, two of us chose Jay's pizza despite that there were just 4 choices to choose from. We had no idea what is nice.

Finding seats is a challenge, especially during lunch time and there are always people who refused to move their butts even though they are done with their lunch. We didn't wait for long before the pizza arrived. So much greens.....no...I should say so leafy. A flaky biscuit crust topped with generous chicken strips, turkey ham, sliced hard boiled egg and chili flakes. It was like having keropok with chicken strips, very much different in taste to our 'dial-a-pizza'. The later comes with more evident taste while the flaky pizza at Fou De Fa Fa is what-you-see is what-you-get. Back to the origins.

A point to note. Never underestimate that piece of flaky biscuit. Find more kakis to share the food.

Smart & Sexy @$13

That's a tacky name for a salad. Taste it and you will love it as much as you would feel like it. A mixture of greens. It looked like some plain Jane but always learn not to judge by appearance. The dressing was very compatible and it makes a good starter to whip up your appetite for the main. Ladies, you are smart & sexy!

Fou De Fa Fa

Capital Tower

168 Robinson Road

#01-05

360. Krish

Krish is located in one of the few English Colonial style alike houses in the West part of Singapore, Rochester Park, a short walk from the Buona Vista MRT station. The restaurant is illuminated with refracted light from the interesting downright hanging bottles of various shapes. Who says it must be chandelier?

Chapati Chips

The first hint of the type of cuisine Krish is offering. It was nice and definitely a great snack for the hungry waiting for food to be served.

Appetizer - Roasted Onion & Garlic Soup

Warm and comforting thick soup. I tasted a spoonful and the taste of parmesan was rather evident. It looked like lentil soup. The onion, garlic and parmesan gave the soup a unique taste.

Appetizer - Seared Foie Gras

Please give me another portion. I loved the seared foie gras, aka the 'fat liver'. It was very nice, the flavour and texture was virtually hard to describe. I can imagine the sizzling sound of the foie gras as some of the fats got purged out by the heat on the pan. It was so delicate and it simply melted in my mouth.

The naan underneath was coated with a generous spread of home made peanut butter, I tasted the crunchy bits of the peanut. The slightly sourish onions strips (probably with lime/lemon added) and the sweet pureed diced strawberries relieved the over richness of the foie gras. Must-TRY!

Appetizer - Hamachi Tartar

The greenish patch is pressed avocado. A light appetizer. You are seeing naan again. I'm sure by now, you would have guessed correctly the type of cuisine Krish is offering. It is contemporary European dishes with South Asian accent.

Naan, the flatbread, is one of the popular varieties in South Asian breads.

Seared U.S. Diver Scallops

Braised Oxtail, truffled lentils and parsley yoghurt

It was delicious. The sweetness and juice of the seared scallops concealed. What more can I say?

Herb Crusted Korabuta Pork Chop

The portion was big. Look at the thick cut of the pork chop. The herb crusted pork exuded a nice fragrance. Despite the desiccant look, the meat contained a fair bit of moisture. I wondered if the other fair bit got lost in the midst of cooking. And I also wondered if it was due to the thickness of the pork, somewhat the meat lacked the oomph! factor.

The tamarind risotto and the unattractive eggplant contributed the oomph! to the dish. The sourish tamarind enticed the taste buds and you wouldn't mind having more of the tamarind risotto. The mint emulsion served more of a decorative purpose to me.

Malleable Chocolate Ganache

Spice Port Granita and chocolate chip. Something different to end your dessert craving. I thought it was quite creative but is one that not many can appreciate.

Blackcurrant Parfait

I was expecting a tall glass, a parfait that was ice-cream layered with pudding, yogurt, fruits and drizzled with sinful syrup but no, it wasn't. Nonetheless, the cardamon-coconut ice cream was very nice. The purple domes made of blackcurrant appeared frozen but it was just chilled. I thought the ice-cream complemented the blackcurrant domes well. Interesting presentation, I thought.

If you are thinking of holding a party, be it your engagement or birthday party, Krish has a nice and cosy place for you to hold the parties.

Thanks to Krish for hosting the wondering dining experience.

Krish

9 Rochester Park

Check out their promotions @ http://www.krish.com.sg/

200. Braise

* Picture with courtesy from Braise

The tall white pillared ceilings and glass window panes gave the interior a bright furnish.

A group of us were at Braise today for the lunch organised by Hinata Diaries. I felt it was pretty strange when the event was promoted on other food bloggers' blog, Gastronomic Ruminations and The Hungry Cow when the organiser herself has a blog. The organiser has been locked out of her food blog because she has forgotten her password. Oh gosh....I think it will take some time before she can login to her food blog. This happened to me sometimes.

Braise occupies the upper deck of the old monorail station above The Silk Road, overseeing the beautiful and idyllic Palawan Beach. Walked up the wooden stairs, I arrived at the door. Faced with a huge metallic door which had a sign 'PUSH' but nobody was there to usher. I did ponder for a second if I was at the right entrance.

Each of us were given a 20% discount voucher and a CD-Rom which is a press kit for media, containing the pictures of the interior and the food which Braise served. It was a nice gesture of them. The majority who turned up are food bloggers equipped with cameras.

The lunch menu which was $38++ per pax came as a great deal. It was different from the usual set lunch offered to the public. The header on the menu took me by surprise- The Singapore Food Bloggers Association Annual Lunch. Official or non-official?

Herb bun was served warm; freshly baked. I personally like the addition of the wolfberries sun-dried tomatoes which gave the bun the nice red colour and a hint of sweetness.

Entree - Capellini with Seared Hokkaido Scallops, Parmesan Veloute

I tasted a few strands of the capellini. It seemed like a generous lash of black pepper was added but it wasn't a presumptuous guest. The scallop wasn't thoroughly cooked. The uncooked tinge of pink in the middle gave the soft texture. I didn't taste the scallop; comments reserved.

Entree - Pressed Foie Gras with Sauternes and Camomile Jelly, Vegetable a la Greque

A thin slice of toasted sweetbread was served with this entree. Frankly speaking, I wasn't very much attracted to the foie gras when I did my registration to attend this event. I'm not a connoisseur when it comes to foie gras neither am I big on it. Not here nor there. I was more keen on the camomile jelly. I was expecting it to be light in taste but it wasn't. I felt it was a tad too sweet and the fragrance essence a tad too strong.

The foie gras by nature has a rich buttery taste. Prepared with sauternes, the foie gras was with a hint of sweetness. I felt the pressed foie gras would have taste better if it was slightly pan-fried. The molded slice of foie gras was slightly too much with the given thin slice of sweet bread.

Main - Pork Three Ways (Confit Cheek of Pig, Pan Roasted Pork Belly and Pig Tail Roulade with Spice Port Wine Sauce)

I thought this was going to be the lauded dish from the name of it but it wasn't. I find the pork a tad too dry and the pig stench was very strong. Even the pan roasted pork belly didn't look and taste appetizing.

Main - Roasted Fillet of Beef with Savoy Cabbage, Beef Cheeks and its own Braising Sauce

The roasted beef was pretty well-marinated at the edge. To lock the taste and juice of the beef, a chef has to first cook the edge. However, the taste of the middle part of the fillet wasn't as significant as the edge. If I'm not wrong, the mashed potato had cheese added to it. I didn't like the taste of it.

I was told by the waitress someone at our table opened a bottle of wine, Riesling. I thought it tasted more like pinot noir chardonnay.

Dessert - Green Tea Cream Brulee with Margarita Sorbet

My vote goes to this! I think the green tea cream brulee was quite a good one. The green tea wasn't too overpowering. The marscapone cream was of the right texture and vanilla-rich. A lot of the black vanilla pods resided at the bottom of the cup.

I felt the margarita sorbet was a pretty good palate cleanser after the cream brulee. A little bittersweet and sour. It's so refreshing!

Dessert - Chocolate Lava Cake with Coffee Ice-cream

Some of us had a collapsed chocolate lava cake. No surprise for them. Anyway, there wasn't any surprise. It wasn't so much of a chocolate lava cake, more of a chocolate fudge cake. The molten chocolate in the interior was too dense. The crust was quite thin though. Coffee ice-cream was average. The chocolate wasn't too sweet so it was overall a pretty decent piece of dessert.

Braise
60 Palawan Beach Walk
Level 2
Tel: 6271 1929

http://www.braise.com.sg/