[Tasting] Un-Yang-Kor-Dai Singapore @ The Quay Hotel, 57 South Bridge Road

Un-Yang-Kor-Dai is a restaurant located at the Quay Hotel South Bridge Road, specializing in Isan (อีสาน) cuisine, which is typical of Northeast Thailand. Isan cuisine is said to feature predominantly glutinous rice, chili peppers and fish in their food.

Un-Yang-Kor-Dai has a casual comfy vibe. Its patrons were a good mix of locals and Thais. This is also a place where you could do wine or whisky with the food, or the good 'ol Thai milk tea.

decoration inside the restaurant

restaurant interior

ready to dine

Iced Thai Milk Tea @$5, Lemongrass with Lime and Honey @$5.50, Butterfly Pea with Lime @$5.50

squeeze the lime, change the colour

5 shades of purple

For food, we tried the popular Leng Zaab, which is the prime pork and back ribs with Isaan spicy sour soup. The small portion was good for at least 3 pax as primary main course, otherwise, it was also good to be shared amongst 4 to 5 pax as a side dish.

Served in a square metal container, the pork ribs were lined and stacked up into a pile of meat mountain ready to be devoured by the hungry meatatarians. The service staff would then pour in the hot spicy soup. With a dash of rice wine and the flame from a burner, one watches as the fire licked through the top of the pile before partaking in the feast.

Leng Zaab (small) @$28

prime pork and back ribs in Isaan Spicy Sour Soup

The spicy soup will hit you at all the right spots. Its tangy-ness would whet anyone's appetite, and the spice level was a good shiok as well. However, do remember to rest the stomach and not to drink too much of it, too fast. Goes very well with the white rice.

yums

Scotch Eggs in Tamarind Sauce @$12.50

Glutinous Brown Rice (mix of black and white glutinous rice) served in kra-tips @$2

Signature Grilled Chicken (half) @$12

My favourite dish was the Red Curry with Grilled Chicken (Quarter), with lychee, tomato and sweet basil. It was a balanced wholesome flavours that worked really well together. It was tangy, savoury, sweet and fragrant spices all in one. Drizzled lots of those curry onto the glutinous rice for an uplevelling of flavours. Yummy!

Red Curry with Grilled Chicken @$16.50

Eggplant with Spicy Minced Pork Hot Basil @$14.50

white rice with spicy minced pork

If you are not feeling very hungry, then the stuffed whole squid with tom yum fried rice would be a good choice. Two huge whole squid, grilled to a right tenderness with a slight smokey flavour on its outer flesh. Its inside were stuffed full with tom yum fried rice, though I'd prefer if the spicy-ness of the fried rice could be up a notch.

Stuffed Whole Squid with Tom Yam Fried Rice @$23.90

Much like the squid, we were stuffed by the end of our meal. Food coma! Typically, if you are coming in a group of 4, I'd recommend to order the small Leng Zaab, the red curry and a plate of vegetables.

For desserts, we tried the Thai Milk Tea Pudding, the Trio Tingkat Delight, and the Rice Balls with Sweet Coconut Milk with Egg.

Milk Tea Pudding @$5.50

Trio Tingkat Delight @$12

sweet potato

banana

yam

The flavours of the dessert in the tingkat and the rice balls with coconut milk, will definitely remind you of one thing. The bobo chacha!

Rice Balls with Sweet Coconut Milk and a whole egg @$6.50

whole egg

Thank you Kris for the invite and Un-Yang-Kor-Dai for hosting the dinner. Fun times with Kris, Ivan and Hence.

If you are there for lunch on weekdays, their lunch sets are looking good too especially the beef steak set!

set lunch menu

Un-Yang-Kor-Dai Singapore

Address: 57 South Bridge Rd, #01-02, Singapore 058688
Facebok: https://www.facebook.com/uykdsg/
Contact: 6787 8575
Business Hours:
Tues to Thurs - 11.30am to 3.00pm, 6.00pm to 10.00pm
Fri to Sat - 11.30am to 3.00pm, 6.00pm to 11.00pm
Closed on Mon

[Tasting] Summer Menu @ Unagiya Ichinoji Dining

Was invited to Unagiya Ichinoji Dining to try their newly launched Summer Menu.  Unagiya Ichinoji Dining is located at Suntec City Mall's Eat At Seven restaurants cluster at Level 3.

Level 3 Suntec City Mall

signage

For starters, we had the chilled appetiser of Maguro Tartar with Yuzu Jelly and the other was the Salmon Tartar Ichinoji Style. The yuzu flavour was dominant in the maguro tartar. There was no other seasoning for the maguro except for yuzu shoyu and dashi stock.

I personally preferred the Salmon Tartar where it consists of chopped salmon, mayonnaise, deep fried Chinese wanton skin, capers, chopped avocado, sea salt, and extra virgin olive oil.

Maguro Tartar with Yuzu Jelly @$7.80++

Salmon Tartar Ichinoji Style @$7.80++

The main dishes are Ichinoji Cold Somen and the Ichinoji Summer Ocean Mixed Box. Both sets came with unagi chawanmushi.

Summer Menu

Ichinoji Cold Somen (top) and  Ichinoji Summer Ocean Mixed Box (bottom)

Let's start with a refreshing bowl of Ichinoji Cold Somen. The chilled dashi stock was light and flavourful. Yummy when slurped together with those thin strands of well cooked noodles. Slices of smoked duck, Hokkaido crab claw, shredded omelette and Unagiya Ichinoji's signature charcoal grilled unagi.

The portion of the noodles were pretty generous for one pax and this set is also paired with a mini don. A mini bowl of rice, topped with slices of air-flown salmon sashimi, crab meat and some tobiko. Simply pour in some shoyu onto the rice and then mix well. Be careful of the dollop of wasabi in there though!

Ichinoji Cold Somen @$29.80++

noodles

yummy signature charcoal grilled unagi

If you are not a noodles person and you can't get enough of those delicious unagi, then perhaps the Ichinoji Summer Ocean Mixed Box would be your preferred choice. The lacquered box is laden with shredded tamago, Hokkaido Snow Crab Claw, charcoal grilled unagi and scallops, and a few slices of maguro sashimi. Lovely.

Ichinoji Summer Ocean Mixed Box @$36.80++

Thank you Kris for the invite and Unagiya Ichinoji Dining for the food!

Unagiya Ichinoji Dining

Address: #03-307, Suntec City Mall, Singapore (038983)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unagiyaichinojidining/

Contact: 6268 8043

[Tasting] 51 Soho @ 51 Telok Ayer Street

Conveniently located just 2 minutes away from Telok Ayer MRT Station (DT18), 51 Soho is an all day dining venue that transforms itself into a drinking destination with delicious food once the sun begins to set. I was impressed by its beautiful bling bling custom built bar that spans the length of its interior.

exterior

Happy Hour

bar

Happy Hour is from 5pm to 8pm and there is a current on-going promotion where SGD28 will get you not one but two Happy Hour drinks and four charcoal BBQ skewers!

may the spirit be with you

more reasons to cheer!

The specialty drinks would be their "51 Soho Specials" menu. A clever mix of Chinese spirits and ingredients. We tried two types from this special menu; "Bamboo Dream" and the restaurant's namesake "51 Soho".

51 Soho Specials - 51 Soho and Bamboo Dreams

My favourite of the two would be the "51 Soho" which was concocted of plum wine, rose and decorated with lychee. While Bamboo Dreams was refreshing from the sweet fermented glutinous rice wine, osmanthus oolong tea, yuzu, vanilla and passionfruit, the 51 Soho would be its mature cousin with a mellow but still refreshing taste topped with the sweet lychee fragrance. As the alcohol level in these two cups were rather mild, I think one pax could easily finish 3 out of the 9 cups. Usually sold in 9s/12s @$88/$100 respectively.

Thank you Rain for preparing the drinks!

pour me a 51 Soho

Let's order some food to accompany the drinks. For skewers, we tried the chicken heart, chicken meat, padron peppers with halloumi cheese and pork meat skewers. The marinade for the skewers were similar to the Xinjiang BBQ skewers (新疆烤串) as there were cumin seeds, salt, pepper, sesame oil, and red pepper flakes.

chicken heart (@$6), chicken meat (@$7.50),padron peppers with halloumi cheese (@$8) and pork meat skewers (@$7.50)

padron peppers with halloumi cheese

The Padron Peppers with Halloumi cheese was interesting and overall, the skewers were tasty! But we were still hungry. Let's move on to the mains.

The Buffalo Pork had an interesting name and we learnt that it was because its sauce was fashioned after Buffalo Wings. There's sauteed brussels sprouts in there and it was delicious when dabbed with a bit of those blue cheese sauce.

Buffalo Pork @$25

Our Spicy Pasta @$24

The very first bite of Spicy Pasta would have revealed itself the two major components of the sauce. Tabasco and peppercorn. Such interesting combo where tangy spicy meets ma-la (麻辣). Like hello East and West! Though oily, it was delicious! Loved the spice level and the numbing ma-la. The prawns were done well too with a rather crunchy texture that's reflective of a cooked-just-right crustaceans.

Salmon & Pearl

For a dish that is comparatively lighter, that has to be the Salmon & Pearl. Aptly named because the couscous resembled small pearls with its round shiny exterior. Broth made of sour vegetables, which coated the pearl couscous with its luxurious sheen, pop buckwheat for an interesting texture, diced pickled cucumbers and those pretty little micro vegetables.

The salmon was rather good with a moist flaky flesh and crisp skin. No other seasoning beyond salt and pepper. Natural flavours of the fish that paired really well with the sour vegetable and pearl couscous. Very interesting explosion of textures that harmonizes itself in due time.

My favourite dish for the night was the Lobster Rice Stew. I could never had guessed its flavour profile just by looking at its description alone.

Lobster Stew Rice @$38

But once that first spoonful of those perfectly cooked grains was taken, one could not help to exclaim such amazing flavours that's utterly delicious! Imagine butter crab sauce that's deeply imbibed into the very soul of those mixed grains of black rice, barley and sorghum. Super yummy with its rich, creamy butter sauce that's full of umami and touched with a hint of heat from the chopped red chili padis.

The grilled mushrooms, perfectly pan-roasted half lobster and those lovely garlic stems added to the flavour landscape of this dish. This is a must-order.

Thank you Kris for the invite, 51 Soho for hosting the tasting and Eugene for feeding us. Kudos to the team and looking forward to more deliciousness to come!

51 Soho

Address: 51 Telok Ayer St, #01-01, Singapore 048441
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/51soho/
Contact: 9755 1058
Reservation: https://www.chope.co/singapore-restaurants/restaurant/51-soho
Business Hours:
Mon to Fri: 8am to 11pm
Sat:            10am to 11pm
Sun:           10am to 10pm

Come Join Michelin-Starred Chef Roland Durand @ Ginett from 18-20 June

For 3-nights only from 18-20 June, Chef Roland Durand brings classic French bistronomy to Ginett Restaurant & Wine Bar. Chef Durand who is here in Singapore for the first time, is best known as the chef-patron of Michelin-starred Le Passiflore in Paris, and holds prestigious awards including winning the Grand Prix Culinaire Internationale Auguste Escoffier and Meuilleur Ouvrier de France competitions.

Chef Roland Durand (image credit: Hotel G)

Chef Durand has created a classic French menu with subtle Asian influences that will be available a-la-carte or in a three-course set dinner (@$69++). And specially for the wine lovers, the Ginett team has collaborated with Chef Durand to curate an optional wine pairing (additional $35++) for the set dinner.

Look forward to dishes such as Ravioles D’escargots (@$21++), an update on the traditional escargot appetiser, which Chef Durand presents his in delicate handmade ravioli parcels and served in a savoury sweet fine herb broth instead of the usual butter and garlic. For cold starters, one could opt for the Tartare De Crevettes Tigrées et d’Avocat (@$25++), a tartare of tiger shrimp and avocado, served with a summery Piquant tomato coulis that is scented with coconut milk.

Ravioles D’escargots (image credit: Hotel G)

Indulge in hearty mains which features time-honoured recipes like the Cabillaud Rôti Au Chorizo (@$35++), a dish of tender Atlantic cod roasted with chorizo, paired with champignons bouquet and an oyster and seaweed emulsion, or the Carre D’agneau Rôti Au Cumin (@$40++) which is a flavourful, charcoal grilled cumin-marinated lamb rack, Ratte potato gnocchi, and finished with a punchy tamarind chutney.

Carre D’agneau Rôti Au Cumin (image credit: Hotel G)

For dessert, one could enjoy Chef Durand's signature marvelous rice pudding made with almond milk with a swirl of pumpkin marmalade, Le Merveilleux Riz Au Lait A L’angelique De Roland (@$14++) or the Sablé Aux Fraises Et À La Rhubarbe which is a strawberry and rhubarb with orange coulis (@$14++).

Sablé Aux Fraises Et À La Rhubarbe (image credit: Hotel G)

Do not miss this opportunity to try the culinary delights of Chef Durand and team Ginett. Make your reservations now via this link.

Bon Appétit~