Grover Eats Gourmet (at times) too

The way I like to treat myself to my favourite dishes after a dreadful week at work, I spared no expense for my dog's 3rd birthday. Surely a dog will appreciate some gourmet food and not object to this nice, unexpected change from his usual diet of dry kibbles.

So I went out and got him a very delicious sounding "Venison Holiday Stew". Grover had a bad case of schnauzer bumps last time and generally he has pretty sensitive skin, so this limits the kind of things we can feed him with. Venison is one source of protein he can eat and even then, I wasn't quite expecting the huge chunks of venison swimming in the thick gravy.

The stew was polished off within seconds. And Grover looked at me with the most grateful expression ever.

Hmmm, I believe we have yet again grown closer through our common love for good food.

Canele. For the umpteenth time.

For the uninitiated, Canele is the Patisserie/Chocolatier by Les Amis Group. There used to be only one branch at Robertson Walk (very out of the way!) but thankfully now, we can now find their heavenly cakes in the basement of Paragon (opposite Starbucks) and at Esprit Cafe in Centrepoint.

I usually go to Canele with my gym and foodie Khaki, Dennis (also known as my "Son"). Ironically, we usually have Canele after gym. Hahah.. well, I remember the first time we went to Canele. It was after gym on a Sunday and we had gone in search of the one and only branch at Robertson Walk. Being not too familiar with the area (abit of confusion between Robertson Quay & Robertson Walk), we actually walked in circles under the hot, sweltering sun for a good 30-40 minutes..
As fate has it, were just about to give up when we chanced upon it.

Damn. It was good! That first bite of Le Royale was mindblowing. We've never looked back since. I've since been to Canele for like umpteenth times and tried almost everything on offer. For a first visit, you can opt to try these 3 favourites of mine:

1) Le Royale (pictured on far left)
2) Matcha (not pictured)
3) Black Forest 2007 (second in picture)

One notable mention is recently I gave their hot food a go and tried one of their savoury chicken crepes. It was delicious! So if you haven't tried Canele yet, please do go.. you won't regret it.

Kazu Sumiyaki. My favourite.

Kazu comes up with lovely presentations...



Went back for the 5th time and yes, Kazu RocCCCcKS!

This time, we went with JF, a fren of CK's, who unfortunately or rather, fortunately left it to us to decide on the choice of dinner venue. So we made a pronto reservation at Kazu.

One thing that is special about Kazu is that it's menu is extensively stocked with both regular and seasonal items. My heart always skips a beat as I prowl the menu for nice seasonal items that catch my eye (and tastebuds)

Ok here's what we ordered that day..

Appetizers:
1) Mountain Vegetable Tempura. A seasonal item on the menu, fresh as it was there was a surprising bitter aftertaste which made it kinda unpleasant.
2) Simmered Wagyu Beef in Red Wine Sauce. Definitely one of our favourite dishes.


"Star" performers for Yakitori that night among the many other sticks we ordered:
1) Mini Hamburger
2) Shishamo
3) Chicken Knee Cartilage
4) Marbled pork with apple
5) Minced chicken stuffed in lotus root
6) Pork with white leek
7) Beef with cheese
8) Quail eggs wrapped with pork belly (I didn't have this but both CK and JF tot it was excellent)
9) Pork belly with enoki mushroom
10) Foie Gras
Plus many many more.... Despite Kazu's extensive menu, we had the waitress tell us (for the second time) that we literally finished eveything off the menu!

Oh yes, and to end off the meal before dessert, we usually get a carbo "filler" which is always the Garlic Fried Rice with Miso soup. The one that day was absolutely delicious. The rice was almost 'al-dente'... fragrant with a strong charred garlicky taste. The rice grains were also expertly prepared so they did not stick together. I was like wow!

CK was tempted to order the grilled squid at the end but resisted. Someone else's order did look very good on the grill! But we'll definitely be back again so no worries.

Now time for the dessert. We ordered 3 items:
1) A Sekaiichi apple.
2) BBQ (!) Tiramisu
3) Snow drop with black sesame ice cream

I believe this is the first time Kazu's desserts fell really short of expectations. First off, the apple which was highly recommended by me was neither crunchy or sweet. Dammit! I used to promote these apples during one of my school hol jobs and have tasted practically all the Japanese varieties sold in Singapore. My conclusion was that Sekaiichi was the best. It was suppose to be super crunchy and super sweet but today here, it was neither. We really regretted not taking the Musk Melon.

On to the BBQ tiramisu. This was good with a surprising bit of mango sorbet in the middle. Quite a nice twist but alas, did not send me over the moon.

Snow drop came beautifully decorated with a golden weave of sugar placed on top of it. This version was nice but ithe version with the nice pumpkin mousse was way way better.

All in all, we had a wonderful time despite some misses in the desserts department this time. And I am already looking forward to my next visit.

New foodie adventures. A brief summary

Ok this is some kinda catchup summary of what I ate over the past few months. Overall I must say it's been good :)

New places discovered, noted, tested and left the biggest impressions:
1. Kaisan Japanese Cuisine @ Raffles Hotel
2. Zanotti Fine Italian Restaurant, Silom, Bangkok
3. Mike's Hamburger, Chiangmai, Thailand
4. Huen Phen, Chiangmai, Thailand
5. Buko Nero
6. Ayam Penyet Ria, Lucky Plaza
7. Aburiya


Notable stuff eaten:
1. Pierre Herme Macarons
2. Steak sandwiches from Morton's Martini Bar
3. Krispy Kreme Donuts
4. Maisen Tonkatsu Sandwiches
5. Pringles from Japan - Sea salt and pepper flavor
6. Beef (not Pork) Ribs from Brewerkz


Updates coming soon!

Who is Pierre Herme?

To anyone who actually read this dusty blog of mine, first off, apologies for not me not bothering to update.
In fact, I actually ate quite a bit of nice things over the past few months. I went to Thailand twice (to Chiangmai and then to Bangkok), discovered some new places and went back to some of my favourite ol' ones.

And now, for this far in-between post, I have decided to start with something pretty special. Recently, I got my hands on something I have always wanted to eat since I first read about them: Pierre Herme Macarons.

So who is Pierre Herme? Apparently according to Jeffery Steingarten, author of The Man who ate everything, Pierre Herme is widely regarded as one of the greatest French pastry chefs of all time. What he is very famous for are his macarons.

A friend of mine went to Tokyo recently and I was very fortunate enough to have her bring me back a box of the above. (isn't it the prettiest packaging?) Well, the first macoron I ate from the box was the chocolate flavour which alas wasn't as mind blowing as I had expected. However, when I popped the rose-flavoured macaron into my mouth, I realised what the fuss was all about. The macorons seemed to be infused with a wonderful, hypnotic scent of rose perfume. It was unique and quite unlike even the rose macarons from Canele. It was definitely way better. Now I see why some call them the best cookies on earth. Suffice to say it did not hit me in that manner, I may prolly change my mind if I get to eat them fresh at his patissier or if I get to savour some of the famous foie gras flavoured ones.