Majestic Restaurant - 3rd August 2012

After hearing about the Fat Duck, and following our excellent beef yakiniku meal at Yakinikutei Ao Chan, Jon was inspired to consider bringing us to the Fat Cow! However, upon reading some reviews, he chickened out and decided on a fall back plan and re-packaged it as a “introducing our new member Erap II to all the past presidential lunches”. 

So he decided on Majestic Restaurant…. Wrong choice Jon!

We arrived rather punctually since Dann decided to sponsor the cab fare rather than bring out his E250. 

The overall ambience of the restaurant was unique I would say, and where we sat, there was a large glass hole above head which was actually the floor of a shallow pool which allowed light to stream in.

We quickly got down to ordering our food as Dann (usual standard pattern) pointed out to us that he needed to rush back for a 2 pm meeting. Jon perused the set menu and decided that it was probably better to go for ala carte. We ordered the majestic platter for starters, the peking duck, the white asparagus, the pan seared ribeye in sesame sauce, the soup of the day which was chicken soup, and a chicken rice in claypot which was the special for the day that was not included in the menu.

We were first served our soup, which for the daily soup was quite decent. It was clear and tasty with strong chicken flavour, and Dann pointed out that he could taste the conpoy as well. I was not so sure though. There was something else added, which added another dimension to the chicken flavour, and I think it was a dried herb rather than conpoy. In any case, this was a good soup of the day.

Next up was the peking duck. Whilst ordering, businessman already gave it the thumbs down claiming that the peking duck at this joint was below standard. For the rest of us (save Erap II), we were also not expecting much considering that we have already eaten peking duck in many other establishments including Lei Garden, Royal China, and not forgetting the BML gold standard Peking Duck at Paradise Pavilion for which I shall henceforth provide an acronym of PPPD for this fabulous dish. 

The peking duck we were served was consumable, but really meets peking duck standards by the barest of margins. The duck skin was just slightly crispy, and the wrap was cold by the time my plate was served. The flavour of the duck skin was ok. Overall it would be ok for someone eating peking duck for the first time. But unfortunately not so for the party, and we gave this a slight thumbs down.

We were then served the house specialty starter, the majestic platter. The platter included roast pork, wasabi prawn, softshell crab and their signature sautéed crabmeat, egg and sprouts. The roast pork was average, crispy but not as delicate as what you find in say Lei Garden or ImperialTreasure or even possibly crystal jade kitchen. The wasabi prawn was well cooked; the prawn was large and crunchy. Overall it had good texture and the wasabi sauce that coated the prawn stickily was tasty. The prawn itself however was bland, and I suppose the prawn in such a set-up is really to provide the texture and crunchiness to the dish as a good accompaniment to the sauce. The soft shell crab was really average. No need for further descriptions here, and finally the crabmeat, egg and sprouts served on a lettuce leaf. At least the taste of this concoction is better than its presentation. The egg was just cooked and was very soft. This was mixed with the crabmeat which gave the egg a rich smooth flavour. The sprouts added some crunchiness to the otherwise soft paste like egg. Overall, this dish is so-so.

We were then served the white asparagus cooked in an XO sauce. Jon did not like this dish (guess he expected it to be green!), but I found it quite good. The asparagus was very crunchy and yet was not at all fibrous. White asparagus also has a milder taste than the green variety, and so it was good that it was not stir fried with too much sauce which would have overpowered the flavour of the asparagus. Overall I thought this was one of the better dishes.

Following this was the pan seared ribeye. Boy were we disappointed with this one especially after having what was a fabulously wonderful beef heavy yakiniku lunch theprevious week.  The quality of the ribeye left a lot to be desired and the beef was cut too thinly that it was overcooked. It begs the question that was it possibly cut so thinly and fried because the meat quality was poor? My understanding when I see the word seared is that the meat is browned just enough on the outside, yet leaving the inside of the meat undercooked. In this case, it was really just fried sliced beef. They could’ve used rump for that since the seasoning was quite strong, which blocked out much of the flavour of the beef.

We were then served the residual duck meat from our peking duck that was cooked with bean sprouts. Standard fare - nothing special, no complaints.

Finally we were served the chicken rice in claypot. The dish was served in a magnificent large claypot, with the steamed chicken sitting on top in the centre and surrounded by a perimeter of chopped spring onions. The looks phase was however where the romance with this dish ended. Upon eating the chicken rice, there was a palpable sense of disappointment all round, and we all agreed that this was like chicken rice cooked sloppily and served in a claypot. The chicken meat was nothing to shout about, and the rice was also so-so. If I were blind, I wouldn’t have guessed that the dish came out of a claypot. Put in another way, if our BML chicken rice gold standard SKCR were given a score of 10, this would be a 3.75. Most of us had a bowl each and refused any additional helpings, which was a clear sign of real displeasure at the quality from the party. Only Jon had a second helping I think. As there was more than half the pot leftover, someone suggested to Jon to doggie bag the lot and feed it to his doggie.

Overall, the quality of this establishment has definitely gone down from the time we had our CNY lunch here with the club back in 2010. Back then, we still felt this was a possible contender with some of the more renowned chinese restaurants in Singapore. This however is not to be, and even the paymaster sheepishly agreed that this is a “Not to be returned to” establishment.

The damage for the meal came to S$366 after a 15% card discount. A real rip off for the quality that was delivered. Definitely a thumbs down.

Upon leaving the place, Dann as usual said he did not have his wallet and requested for us to pay for the cab ride back first as he had to leave for his appointment. As there were 5 of us, we split into 2 cabs, for which Collin and me paid S$5.40 and S$5 respectively. As usual, Dann conveniently forgot about paying us back, and only after we remembered and reminded him that he agreed to pay us back on Monday. But just like all debtors of poor creditworthiness, he did not turn up for work on Monday, and absconded to Thailand, returning to work only on Wednesday, hoping that we would’ve forgotten by then again.

Ha! No way Dann, we made sure that his bad debts were made clear to him and for all to see so as to encourage him to become a better man!

By Club Scribe

Punjab Grill - 17th August 2012

After hearing rave reviews (apparently one of the best if not the best Indian restaurant in Singapore) from some of his Indian acquaintances, Erap II decided to take the plunge on their advice to bring us to Punjab Grill for BML.

The restaurant is located at the extreme western end of the shopping area at MBS, and I unfortunately alighted from my taxi somewhere in between. MBS is a bit like a strip mall, and by my calculation, an end to end walk is probably in the region of 0.8km. So by the time I arrived at the restaurant I was real hungry.

Businessman excused himself from this lunch as he claimed he was pre-occupied. We think it was mainly because we were having Indian food that he decided not to come. So we proceeded to order 4 sets of the non-veg set lunch + 1 set of the veg lunch set for Dann. That’s right folks, Dann had gone vegetarian thanks to his good wife clearly reminding him the very morning that as part of his Buddhist high beliefs and philosophies, that the 17^th of August is to be a vegetarian day failing which all manner of ill fortune may befall him. Dann was not pleased, mumbling that he regretted his wife not exercising selective amnesia.

In addition to the lunch sets, we also ordered a Raan Hari Singh Nalwa, which is the pot roasted leg of kid (a house specialty) and the palak paneer.

We were first served our starters which were the battered fried fish, yoghurt marinated chicken cooked in a tandoor and a lamb kofte. For Dann, it was a large wedge of broccoli, roasted potato stuffed with cauliflower, and a kebab of yoghurt blended with some spices. The starters were presented in a European style dining setting (long white plate), which I personally find unappealing (don’t ask me why). I’ve started to tire of every restaurant (chinese, indian, European etc) starting to adopt such a mode of presentation whenever its purported to be fine dining. In any case, the fried fish was so-so, it was lightly fried and the batter was crispy and not oily, but somehow the flavour of the fish seemed a tad bland. It’s like a good tiny piece of fish from a decent fish and chip shop. I reckon it was partly because of the choice of using sole as the fish, which I think is not a good choice as it is too thin and delicate in flavour and frying it this way may not be ideal. The yoghurt marinated chicken was tender and juicy with a tinge of yoghurt flavour. As for the lamb stuffed with cheese, this was a real tasty morsel, the meat was rich in flavour (for those who like lamb), and the sauce was cheesy and rich. My only complaint here is the texture of the meat, which was minced up so finely that it was almost bordering on being pasty.

For the vegetarian starters, the broccoli was cooked just right. It was cooked right through yet still crunchy. Dann claimed that he could tell it was an Australian originated broccoli as opposed to a chinese one. According to him, the more luscious head and higher head to stalk ratio was indicative of the species (we’ll have to check). As for the potato cake and yoghurt kebab, I would say that they were tasty, but I cannot make much of a comparison since I haven’t had anything similar to this before.

We were then served the roasted leg of kid. My my, this was surely one wonderful looking dish. It came on a metal serving dish, a whole leg covered in marinade and spice. The photo here does not do justice to what it looked like when it was served. The meat was really tender and the marinade soaked right through. It was hearty and delicious, although someone commented that it was a tad on the salty side. I suppose this should be eaten together with some naans or white rice, but somehow the starch had yet to arrive in this instance. The waiters probably weren’t expecting the lot of us to simply gobble down whatever was portioned out on our individual plates before the rice was to be served.

Just before the mains we were served with a mango sorbet as a palate cleanser, which was nothing out of the ordinary.

Next up were the mains, which were the chicken tikka masala (apparently one of the UK’s favourite national dishes), the river sole cooked in a plum and tomato gravy and a 5 lentil combination, which was cooked into thick gravy like broth.

We were also served the rice, naan and roti together with the mains. The naan was cooked just right with crispy edges yet un-burnt throughout, and unlike some naan’s there were no chewy uncooked bits in the centre. 

The roti was also done well and had just the right amount of crispiness to it.

The chicken tikka was excellent. The meat was tender and the masala was not too spicy and full of flavour. It was an excellent accompaniment to the lovely rice.

But the river sole cooked in a plum and tomato gravy was my favourite dish here. It was cooked perfectly. The chunky pieces of fish meat were still moist when I took a bite, and the gravy it was cooked in was excellent. It was creamy and tasty but not overpowering. My only complaint was that there was not enough fish to go around.

The 5 lentil broth was also tasty and is perfect for eating with the roti. It was rich and filling. In fact it was too much that we couldn’t finish.

We were also served our palak paneer, which was very well done. The spinach was fresh and there was no use of any artificial colouring that you sometimes find in other palak paneers. It was thick, almost like a marinade paste, whereas you get it more gravy like in some other establishments. It also had just the right amount of saltiness, with a good proportion of cottage cheese. This is one of the better palak paneer’s you can find in Singapore.

As for the 2 other vegetarian mains, namely the button mushroom with corn, and the bell peppers with cottage cheese in tomato gravy, I suppose they were ok as they did not elicit any particular reaction from our reluctant one-day vegetarian.

Finally we were served our desserts. This was a trio of (left to right) apple and walnut kheer, gulab jamun, and a mango saffron crème brulee. I thought all 3 desserts were wonderful, in particular the apple and walnut kheer and the mango saffron crème brulee. However Jon and Erap II were not in agreement with the kheer. As for the gulab, jon also gave it a thumbs down. My personal view was that the kheer was fantastic. What everyone felt tasted like rice grains were the finely chopped apple pieces, but owing to the rich sweetened cream sauce, you could not really taste the apple. I figure this was more to provide texture to the dessert. The sweet milky sauce was a real treat, and I readily lapped up Erap’s surrendered portion whilst Collin lapped up Jon’s.

As for the gulab jamun, I suppose you could say that the round ball (jamun) of dough made with milk solids was a little stodgy and the sweet syrup (gulab) that it was wallowing in may not be to everyone’s liking. But I think having such a massively heavy lunch may have worked against it. I thought it was not bad.

But the real star of the dessert show was the mango saffron crème brulee. Everyone around the table voted it best dessert. It was cooked to perfection with a crispy caramelized top and a soft pudding like interior. The taste was also exquisite, with a not overpowering mango taste and a tinge of saffron. Dann commented that he’d rather have this anytime over a standard crème brulee, and I’d say I’ll probably agree with that.

Overall, this was one massive meal in terms of calories, but somehow despite the quality and standard of the food, we were unable to finish all that was served. After a 3 second investigation, we realised that Jon who is the usual wolf with a voracious appetite had somehow turned into a sick puppy. Was it illness, the food, the ambience or the company???? Alas, it was the overhang of work related angst which manifested into his poor performance at the Punjab grill. Poor Jon…. But we do hope you keep it up ol’boy, so that the rest of us can continue to have more to eat at our next outing!

The total damage for the meal came to S$326. We came to the conclusion that most of the gravy based dishes here were probably better than at the Song of India but that the grilled dishes (leg of Kid) were actually tastier at the Song of India. So if it is grilled Indian dishes you are looking for, please go to Song of India, but if it is the gravy based ones, do head down straight for the Punjab grill!

By Club Scribe

Yakinikutei AO-Chan 27th July 2012

This is my first time I have taken over the reins from the official club scribe in view that it was “Veg” Choi turn to buy.  The restaurant under review today is Yakinikutei Ao-Chan which is situated at Level 2, Concorde hotel (formely known as Hotel Meridien & Shopping Centre).  I was personally looking forward to this venue as I had never previously ate at any other Japanese eateries other than the usual sushi and ramen joints.

Once we reached, veg did the ordering as he has personally eaten here a number of times and had mentioned that this place was better than Gyu-Kaku despite the fact that I have never eaten at either one of these places. Anyway, back to the food!!!!!!!. As most of the items on the menu are raw, the food came pretty quickly.

This is a snapshot of what we ordered and how I felt about each dish.

Dann being the buddahigh he is, ordered the non beef set, which basically came with the following items, prawns, scallop, pork harami and lamb. I was fortunate enough to sample everything and was quite impressed with the set. The food was pretty good. Fresh and juicy.

The raw beef sashimi served with raw egg yolk brought back memories as the last time I ate this was when I was in university in Oz. The beef was juicy and well marinated. Definitely a must try !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Veg ordered two different sorts of ox tongue which he mentioned was really good. Initially, I was a bit skeptica with regards to eating tongue but both the marinated ox tongue as well as the shoi negi (salted) ox tongue turned out better than expected. 

The texture of the meat was comparable to bacon minus the fats. Once dipped with a bit of home made Ao chan sauce, it tasted even better.

The beefs were next, we ordered belly prime beef cubes, wagyu harami and the belly prime set. 

The belly prime cubes were fantastic. It had the right amount of fat and really melts in your mouth. 

The wagyu harami were well marinated and once served was snapped up within minutes. 

The belly prime set was basically thinly sliced beef which had great marbling and tasted really good.

Despite Yakinikutei Ao-Chan being infamous for its beef, its pork belly and pork harami turned out to be great as well. Businessman felt that the pork belly and pork harami were even better than the beef that we ordered.

The mushrooms that we ordered and the salad that came with Dann set were ordinary. But overall I give this place a thumbs up and another commendable effort from veg for choosing this place.

The total damage came up to S$348.50.  However, judging from the faces of the members it was well worth it.

By: Ass Club Scribe aka "Erap II"

Brasserie Les Saveurs - 20th July 2012

This is the second of our 2 part lunch series brought to us by the exit of Maigai.

His selection of Brasserie Les Saveurs was looked forward to as none of us had heard any personal reviews on this establishment. But before diving into our lunch date, it came to my mind that since this will probably be the last piece on MG, I must do justice to recap some of our fond lunch memories together.

Among the highs were his fantastic treats at Imperial Treasure Nan Bei, where we ate our hearts content on fabulous dishes (all large/extra-large portions), with no member contemplating even a mouthful of the post lunch Kaya toast with coffee to top up whatever residual hunger. This was probably followed by his further generosity (unintended) at Imperial Treasure Cantonese Cuisine, which saw another sumptuous meal for the club members. But the meal that brought him his definitive status as club VP was the “Buddha” engagement we were all enlightened with at Dragon Phoenix restaurant.

But as MG was no living Buddha, he also had his fair share of lows (possibly more than his fair share actually). Amongst these was the legendary “FACES of DEATH” meal we had at Long Beach Seafood. Our first class seats (at no extra charge) right in front of a fish tank full of live fish morbidly acting strange and then followed by what looked like fish gasping for air coupled with some odd looking swimming styles and somersaults and after about 15 mins of action, a dozen or so fish floating belly up in the tank, definitely made everything we ate that day feel and taste bland.

And then there were further lows as exemplified by his horrific unsteady behaviour of our club’s VP at Osvaldo, which saw our club institute immediate rectification to the club’s constitution in order to prevent a recurrence of MG’s “I’d rather pay the restaurant extra than top up for the next meal” actions.

And then there were even further lows into the pits, brought about by his near fatal decision on his choice of Chef Daniel’s at Illuma. A double blow for MG during this BML due to the poor quality coupled with the almost impossibility of meeting the minimum spend despite ordering every dish in the menu. This experience and establishment has now become the club’s benchmark for which a samolah is judged against.

Like it or not, MG’s past choices and actions have added to our club lexicon such that when a good soup is served, we compare it against the best, which is whether we’ve got a Buddha high. And when a meal is bad, and we are deciding on a samolah, we always ask, “is it as bad as chef daniel’s?”.

So, back to Brasserie Les Saveurs, we were ordered to order the 3 course set lunch by MG (without the wine pairing), and since there were only 2 choices each for starters, mains and dessert, we collectively ordered everything except the lobster bisque.

Just before starters, we were served what I thing I remember as an amuse-bouche of diced beet root, some diced fruit topped in a cheese cream sauce. The overall flavour was somewhat savoury, with a good texture, but taste wise nothing out of the ordinary. 

Following this, we were served bread and butter. The bread was warm and whilst not exceptionally special in taste, it was a good partner to the fantastic unsalted French butter which we were served. It was creamy butter at its best.

We were then served our foie gras terrine, which came topped with a thin crispy toast, and accompanied by shredded salad leaves sat on a bed of cooked figs plus a fried slice of bread. Upon being served, I suddenly felt like Spiderman, as my spider senses gave me a 2 second head start on what I was sure I was going to experience 2 seconds later. Without fail and as my spidey senses had expected, Jon (mark my words, he will never make it as a food connoisseur) started off by stating that the foie gras starters that we had at St Pierre and Cocotte was much better than this. Having a 2 second head start to formulate my response, I immediately retorted that this was a terrine, and that was a pan fried version. For Jon, the only version for which foie gras can be served in any decent version is the pan fried version, just like he cannot drink or appreciate soups that are not hot (gazpacho’s are not edible or drinkable in his view).

In any case, the terrine was great, and since there was a lot of it, you could really spread it out thickly on the bread and top it up with the figs which sort of cut away at the richness and oiliness of the terrine. It was a lovely starter, but definitely an artery blocker. Some wine would have actually done wonders with this dish.

Next up were the mains. The pan seared fish was cooked perfectly, but bass tends to be a bit bland on flavour relative to the oilier fishes like salmon, cod, or even parts of tuna. So, the accompanying lobster sauce and cooked vegetables was a good match with the bass. The vegetables were cooked through but still crunchy.

The beef, which most of the party chose was however a major let down. The accompaniments were unusual and did not seem to pair well with the beef. But the real problem was the beef itself. 

It was cooked a little over what I consider medium, but beyond that, the meat seemed dry, even for a slightly more than medium done piece. It was also not as flavourful as one would have expected. I could get a medium done tenderloin at a lower price at Jack’s place, which might taste as good or even better than this.

Finally came the desserts. CC bravely stood out singularly to choose the cheese platter, whilst the rest of us chose from the dessert tray. The cheese platter was as with all cheese platters, a standard fare of mild, medium and strong cheese. Whilst not a cheese expert, I thought that the overall quality was quite decent or at least in line with other cheese platters I’ve had (although I must confess it’s not that many).

As for the choices from the dessert tray, we did try almost everything. They were almost all good, and definitely beautiful to look at. They were fresh, creamy and rich, and well made. But if you must select 2, I would choose the strawberry tart and the lemon tart. 

The strawberry tart was infused with strawberry cream. It was a bit like a strawberry fondant topped with a strawberry flavoured macaroon.  

The lemon tart was also excellent with lemony cream topped with a meringue and sat on a crumbly pastry. It was slightly tart and sweet at the same time with a rich lemon flavour. 

The cherry cake and the blueberry tart were also good. 

For the éclair, macaroons and cheese cake, I would say that they were good, but nothing out of the ordinary, and considering the number of specialty confectioners in Singapore that make such desserts with greater excellence, these should definitely not be your top choices when dining here.

Overall, the best dishes were probably the terrine and dessert. But the poor standard of the main course really let us down, especially considering the cost of the set lunch. 

The total damage came to S$406 after a 15% discount on businessman’s HSBC infinite card. The meal did however come with 1 free complimentary parking, which businessman took, but was originally intended for Erap II, but was blackmailed away from MG by businessman. (He refused to get his HSBC card from his car in the carpark unless he got something in return…. How mercenary!)

So with this, we say adios to our dear amigo Maigai. Whilst his exit lunches did not bring us another Buddha high, we do hope that he will grace us with his presence as a special guest in future, possibly at our next presidential challenge session. So to MG, despite all your past failures (planned or not), you have been a worthy contributor to the colour of our club and we will miss u MG!

By Club Scribe