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/

359. Jakarta - Sop Betawi @Mangga Dua

Sop Betawi

If you visit Indonesia, you will be able to see sop betawi at almost every eating place. It is a very common food. I had sop betawi for a few of my meals in Jakarta. Looked like soup kambing but not exactly the same taste. Instead, it contained beef, with chopped cabbages and chunks of tomatoes, garnished with big spoonful of fried shallots. The soup itself has a rich taste of beef, cumin, cloves and other spices. I felt the cumin content was slightly overpowering. The sweetness of beef in the soup coupled with the cumin content made the soup a tad heavy for the Chinese taste in my own opinion.

The chili sauce had diced cucumber and tomatoes added to it. It was sour, not so much of spicy. The locals have the sop betawi with rice which I think the later really complemented it well. Else, they have the emping (aka melinjo nut crackers) with the sop betawi. The emping is by nature with a bitter taste.

For your info, Mangga Dua is a wholesale complex, full of clothes and accessories and yet in between the messiness, you will find small stalls that sell the local delicacies, like sop betawi and all the kueh kueh.

358. Jakarta - The Cream & Fudge Factory

We were at Grand Indonesia, one of the big shopping malls in Jakarta. The highest levels, level 4 and 5, house the food restaurants. The interior decoration made me feel as if I was in Genting with the palace like lightings, indoor amusement park and tiled flooring. We chose The Cream & Fudge Factory over Haagen Daz, Gelatissimo and others which could be found in Singapore.

Green Apple topped with M&N chocolate @RP 30000 (SGD 4.60)

The green apple taste wasn't very evident. The milk powder taste was stronger. The ice cream texture was a tad too chewy i thought. If it is what the name suggested, then I think it fit perfectly.

Strawberry Shortcake double scoop @RP58000 (SGD 8.90)

Strawberry shortcake was mixed into the vanilla ice cream and topped with strawberry fudge. Too sweet. With the addition of the strawberry shortcake and the chewiness of the ice cream, somehow, I felt the ice cream don't taste cold at all. I didn't like it as much as Haagen Daz. I was attracted to the waffle bowl instead. Similarly, it was with a tad of chewiness but would work perfectly fine with any ice cream, I felt.

The Cream & Fudge Factory

Grand Indonesia, Jakarta

357. Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ

The Sa-Jang-Nim (Supervisor) showed us to our table and the waitress laid the pan-chan. My friend who is having Korean food for the first time widened his eyes. Variety over quantity.
The mustard gluey bowl was pumpkin soup. Sweet and thick. Red bean paste was added. Could well be a dessert rather than an opening.

Honeycomb Herb Pork Belly @$28

We had the marinated chicken ($22) as well. I realised pork and beef taste best for any Korean BBQ. Chicken on the other hand loses out a fair bit. I felt it is because of the lack of fat components in the meat. The fats for chicken is mostly on the underneath layer of the skin whereas pork and beef has fats laid in between their meat, like pork belly and marbled beef.

Seafood Pancake @$20

Capsium was added. I seldom see capsium in seafood pancakes. It's always just leeks. I wouldn't rate the pancake very nice because it was greasy and when I picked up a piece, it was filmsy. Only the sides were with a tad of crispiness.

Ginseng Chicken Soup @$22

A tad bland, not too sure if it was supposed to be so. The soup base was cloudy, a result of the glutinous rice that was stuffed into the chicken. Multi-grains were added which made the soup seemed nutritious.

Total bill worked out to be $114+ for 3 pax. We didn't manage to finish all the food because there were too much food. Food was decent. Because of the BBQ, the indoor air wasn't very well-ventilated. Air-con seemed to be not working or not functioning at appropriate temperature. We could feel the difference when we stepped out of the restaurant. Saw a friend who was in queue and understand from her that even though a reservation was made earlier, they did not have a table for her when she arrived. She ended up waiting for 20 mins, equivalent to not making any reservations.

Ju Shin Jung
27 West Coast Highway

#01-18/19

Singapore 117867