[Media Invite] Restaurant HOME 家 @ 27 Cosford Road

An almost kampung-styled idyllic, rustic dining environment. Located next to a long stretch of quiet road, a large signage beckoning patrons to its indoor air-conditioned dining area. "Restaurant HOME & Bar", the signboard says. Turning in, one sees 27 Cosford Road on a wooden plank resting on the tall coconut tree.

you have arrived

entrance to Restaurant HOME compound

HOME signage

Walk on in, and you'll come face-to-face with the long nose of a tank bunker. Ok, now one might wonder if this is an army camp or a restaurant.

bunker

Soldier on, and one will be greeted by cement floor, small drain, patches of grass, a shed, a swing and a garden at the back for herbs and vegetables. When we were there, its dill plants have grown pretty tall!

Stop by to admire boards of media coverage for Chef Tan Yong Hua and Restaurant HOME before one gets to the restaurant door. Friendly staff greets and welcomes the diner to their table. Celebrity Chef Tan has an armory of accolades and it included one Gold and two Silver Medals in the World Championship of Chinese Cuisine back in 2008. He is also the first Singaporean to have beaten the Iron Chef Thailand.

At Restaurant HOME, city diners could drop by and temporarily slow down their hectic lifestyle, to stop and smell the flowers (or herbs!). At HOME, Chef Tan prepares the dishes with heart and where his diners could gather for a good tasty meal with their loved ones.

HOME compound

garden at the back

There is a swing in the compound too! Just like some of our homes during the kampong days. How nice it is to be on the swing with your favourite person in the cooler evenings?

swing

Indoor, there are round tables for communal and large group dining, as well as square tables for cosy, intimate dining for the couples. Private dining areas are available as well.

To usher in a Bountiful Year of the Earth Dog, Restaurant HOME has prepared auspicious tasty dishes to celebrate. New year dishes such as Braised Green Wrasse with Roast Pork, Leek and Flower Mushrooms (年年有余), Pan-Fried King Prawn with Superior Soy Sauce (喜哈大笑) and Fragrant Rice with Dried Scallop and Preserved Meat wrapped in Lotus Leaf (五谷丰收) and these are specially prepared in the 8-course CNY Prosperous Menu E (福星高照新春特备套餐).

communal dining

Say cheers to the new year, with hot tea. Pu-er was served and if you like alcohol, one could also do sake, beer, wines or whisky. They have a good range of sake which included my favourite Junmai Daiginjyo.

treasure trove

Of course, hot Chinese tea works for all! Hmm, I spied Chef has his own collection of Pu-er discs in the restaurant.

hot pu-er (普尔) for us, cheers!

For Lunar New Year, of course one must have Yu Sheng. So, for first course, we had the Yu Sheng with Norwegian Salmon (遍地黄金).

Yu Sheng with Norwegian Salmon (遍地黄金)

striking gold with the salmon slices

The friendly staff will start with the auspicious sayings as she places each of the ingredients together. Once ready, all chopsticks on hand and everyone participates in the joy of tossing the salad as high as possible (with minimal spills too).

tossing for prosperity

always happy to get a slice of yu sheng!

Next course, one gets a bowl of nutritious double-boiled Amidori Abalone with Chicken and Night Blooming Cereus soup. It's a heart and tummy warming bowl of goodness.

Double-boiled Amidori Abalone with Chicken and Night Blooming Cereus Soup - 万事胜意 (霸王花鲍鱼炖鸡汤) 

Amidori Abalone

Soup was deliciously flavourful yet light at the same time. The abalone was nicely tender. The night blooming cereus is the flower of the dragonfruit and it offers a cooling effect. For me, I thought its texture was similar to lily bulb.

Next, a signature dish of Chef Tan and Restaurant HOME, the Barbecued Duck with Lychee Wood. Thin, crisp skin and flavourful tender duck. If you are looking for strong herbal flavours, this is not it. Instead, the meat takes centerstage which the mild flavours allows the natural taste of the duck to shine through. Lovely.

Barbecued Duck with Lychee Wood - 福甲天下(火炭烧荔枝木烤鸭)
handmodel: foodinsing

delicious barbecued duck with sweet plum sauce

New year is also a time where the best meats are offered for dining when the whole family had gathered around. Fish is a must and at Restaurant HOME, there's Braised Green Wrasse with Roast Pork, Leek and Flower Mushrooms. Robust, homely flavours suitable for the young and old. Nice to drizzle the sauce onto white steamed rice.

Braised Green Wrasse with Roast Pork, Leek and Flower Mushrooms - 年年有余 (红烧蒜子火腩扒海青依)

By now, one would have lost count of the dishes that had arrived and been devoured by the table. Pork ribs and prawns were the fifth and sixth items. The duet of pork ribs has was sweet caramelized goodness where firm meat was lovingly encased in caramelized sweet sauce and sprinkled with tiny bits of untoasted sesame. The combo with greens is a good idea and kai lan was crunchy good.

Duet of Pork Ribs with Barbecued sauce and Stir-Fried Kai Lan with Preserved Meat - 心想事成 （烧汁排骨 拼腊肠芥兰)

Pan-fried King Prawn with Superior Soy Sauce - 喜哈大笑 （干煎明虾皇)

If I was at home, I would have licked the sauce off the prawn shells but alas, at HOME, it was still a public setting so settled to just coating the king prawn with those sauce as much as I could. The prawn flesh was firm and sweet. It was good. Fingers were kept clean as western cutlery (of knife and fork) was provided.

For the carbohydrate finale, which Chef Tan has a fondness of, is the Fragrant Rice with Dried Scallop and Preserved Meat wrapped in Lotus Leaf. This is an authentic Cantonese dish and it came out nicely dark and moist. The preserved meat is made in-house and unlike store bought, it had a rather fresh sweet taste as opposed to heavily seasoned ones.

Fragrant Rice with Dried Scallop and Preserved Meat wrapped in Lotus Leaf - 五谷丰收 (瑶柱腊味荷叶饭)

For dessert, we had the Black Sesame Glutinous Rice Ball in Longan Red Dates Tea. Sweet endings, and 发 ah!

Black Sesame Glutinous Rice Ball in Longan Red Dates Tea 

Thank you Hence for the invitation to the tasting, special thanks to Chef Tan and Restaurant HOME for hosting us.

The above were from the Prosperous Menu E 福星高照新春特备套餐, priced at $558+ for 8 pax or $688+ for 10 pax. For reservations, please call 6465 1698 or email: reservations@restauranthome.com.sg

Restairant HOME website: http://www.restauranthome.com.sg/

[Media Invite] Curry Times 咖喱食堂 @ Novena Square

Curry Times originated from Old Chang Kee, and as they say, its roots began from a puff. Curry puff that is. This a Singapore brand and one that we are all proud of. How many times have we walked past the white and yellow kiosks, and bought home some snacks like sotong head, fishball or a curry-o? Too many times, at least for me.

Curry Times at Novena Square is one of the popular lunch destinations for people working nearby. Usually, I'd go for the daily set meal as it comes with small side dish (usually vegetable) and a drink. There is usually a queue during peak hours between 12 to 1pm. 

mural in the restaurant

good for groups

Was invited to a recent tasting and got to taste items from Old Chang Kee as well as Curry Times. If you like spicy, then you are in for a treat!

on your mark, get set, go!

From Old Chang Kee, we had Sambal Ikan Bilis Beehoon and Sambal Seafood O Curry Puff. The beehoon is available at the kiosks that sells breakfast. The Sambal Seafood O Curry Puff was rather spicy! Be careful when biting into these spicy packages.

Sambal Ikan Bilis Beehoon @$2.50

Sambal Seafood Curry Puff @$3.50 (for 2)

Next, we sampled the Sambal Sotong Nasi Lemak. A plate of fragrant coconut milk rice, topped with a heart-shaped sunny side-up, and lined with fishcake, peanuts and achar. The sambal sotong is actually similar to sotong heads that's coated with spicy sambal.

Sambal Sotong Nasi Lemak @$10.90 (with free buah longlong drink)

Buah LongLong drink (free with Sambal Sotong Nasi Lemak)

The 'buah long long' drink was too thin a version, unfortunately. Its regular drinks like bandung with basil seeds fared better.

Bandung/Winter Melon with basil seeds @$3 each

If you're dining in groups of 4 to 6, then one could order dishes to share. Let's start with fish maw soup. The soup has fishballs, chicken meat balls and lots of fish maw. Tasty.

Fish Maw Soup @$11.90

For vegetables, we tried the stinky beans (petai). Yes, they have it! Now you know where to go to satisfy that petai cravings. This is one of those that you either love or hate. The rendition at Curry Times was enjoyable.

Sambal Petai @$7.90

Another highly enjoyable dish was the simple steamed tofu with chye poh. The chye poh (菜脯) or preserved turnips' taste was not so pronounced in this dish. Nevertheless, it was sweet savoury and goes well with the tofu.

Steamed tofu with chye poh @$7.50

Now, we seem to have vegetables, tofu and of course, there are meaty dishes on the menu. How about beef rendang? This dish is good for sharing. Chunky beef pieces cooked with rempah that resulted in flavourful meat. Just use the fork to push them into smaller pieces, scoop up some of those aromatic rempah and paired with a spoonful of rice. Yums.

Beef Rendang (rice) @$11.90

Don't take beef? No problem. There's seafood too on the menu. Curry prawn fritter, curry fish or seaweed fish? You choose. The curry prawn fritters would be one of those items that can be enjoyed by the young and old.

Curry prawn firtters (foreground) @$12.90 and Curry Fish Fillet (background) @$9.90

In terms of fish, I liked the seaweed one better. The sauce, while it didn't taste much of the seaweed, it had a somewhat familiar, homecooked taste.

Seaweed Sauce Fish Fillet (rice) @$8.90

Most of the items in Curry Times cater to the individual, yet there's nothing to stop us from sharing. Eating together with family in a round table communal style setting, is what we grew up with. Ok, my home table is not rounded but a square but you get what I mean, right? Hence, for me some of the dishes when eaten communal style, managed to evoke a hint of nostalgia.

Good for a group of 8 pax - let's eat!

And, of course, there are dessert at the end of the meal. Curry Times Coffee Chendol would satisfy both your coffee and chendol cravings, at the same time! Good, order once satisfy both!

Coffee Chendol @$4

If you prefer something warm, there's bubur cha cha. Colourful tapioca jellies, floating in a bowl of off-white coconut milk.

Bubur Cha Cha (warm) @$5

Thank you Jennifer for the invite and Curry Times for hosting the tasting. Local food that gives the feeling of warmth and comfort.

VENUE By Sebastian @ Downtown Gallery

Heard that the food was good, so went to experience it with a few friends. The food served was described as European with selective Asian influences and tapas-portioned. Reservation is necessary especially on Fridays.

Its menu was printed on a single-paged A4 sized paper so there wasn't any difficulty in choosing our plates. To start, we had the burnt toast. This was ordered more out of curiosity but I think this will be useful to mop up the sauce for other dishes such as the Chilean Seabass.

For a group of 4 pax, it is recommended to get at least one pasta and two main courses, with one or two sides and two desserts.

The service staff has informed that the food will be served as soon as they are ready. Burnt toast was as its namesake. Toasted bread it was.

Burnt Toast @$3

The lamb riblet was just a stick of lamb satay. Hmm, I wouldn't order this again. The whitebait with chili salt was nice and we can't stop eating it. Thus far, all these were like bar-food.

Lamb Riblet @$5 per stick

Whitebait with chili salt @$9

And of course, we had our drinks to go along with the food. Guess which of the drink below was my order.

Yuzu Uijin @$15

C.O.T.M (Check Out These Melons) @$17

Fair Lady @$16

Was delighted with mine, the Fair Lady which was a refreshing cocktail concocted out of tequila, st germaine, cucumber syrup (didn't know this was a thing!) and apple tea. Tasted like apple tea infused with cucumber but has an alcoholic punch to it. It tasted like a thirst quencher but that would probably knock me out thereafter!

Next up was yet another appetiser. The tofu and the octopus. Oh boy, the flavours from the tofu and foie gras mirin were superb. But just two pieces, definitely not enough! Those iced lettuce were genius as well.

Homemade tofu, foie gras mirin sauce and iced lettuce @$12

Grilled octopus, bean puree, capers, burnt butter @$27

Grilled octopus was expectantly tender and enjoyable. Good with the drinks. But we were still hungry. Thus, a pasta dish (or two) is an absolute necessity. Unless you're only there for drinks.

The handcut pasta with duck ragout was an explosion of strong flavours. That pasta texture was unforgettable. Best texture I've tasted from a pasta dish! It surpassed all our expectations and is a must-order. Totally recommended. Will gladly have this again but won't be willing to share! Ok, maybe I'll share it if you have the Chilean Seabass.

Handcut pasta, duck ragout, parmigiano reggiano @$21

Chilean Seabass. mushroom-bacon ragout, truffle yuzu butter sauce @$36

It is of little wonder that the Chilean Seabass is a signature dish at VENUE. Everything on that plate was on-point. Fish was cooked perfectly and the golden top was like a crowning glory. That mushroom-bacon ragout was just so tasty and the yuzu butter sauce, that we made sure it coated every side of the fish. Even contemplated on whether to order another set of burnt toast to mop up those delicious sauce with!

Having had those two outstanding plates, it widened the contrast gap when we tried the duck confit. The duck confit was good with crisp skin and tender meat but it paled in comparison with the handcut pasta and chilean seabass.

36 hours duck confit, truffle emulsion, mesclun, lemon-mustard vinaigrette @$19

By now, our tummies were feeling slightly full and our last main course made its appearance. The fennel crusted lamb belly. Oh my gosh. This was another pleasant surprise. Lamb lovers, please order this plate. It is definitely a must-have! Had a bite of those lamb belly and I went straight up to belly heaven. Seriously good. Those yellow things on that plate which I don't know what it was, we just lapped it up. Very very tasty and wished we had more bread which we would, if we weren't feeling full already by then.

Fennel crusted lamb belly spicy breadcrumbs, romesco @$18

But, we could not leave without first trying their dessert. So we had not just one but two dessert! We had the tiramisu and the financier.

Tiramisu, kahlua, wild cherry in kirsch @$12

The kahlua in the tiramisu was rather mild, and the tiramisu was so light, I could have eaten it all by myself. Ok, I admit. I ate half of it! Those crunchy choco balls on top gave that much needed contrast in texture. But where was the wild cherry?

digging right in

Did not expect the financier to be of such a big rounded piece. The pistachio sauce was the highlight on that plate. So good that most will clamour for it to be bottled so that we could take it home. The financier itself was sweet as expected and rich tasting. Good with a cup of black coffee. I wondered what would be the difference between 'hand-squeezed' coconut versus a machine squeezed one. Fancy.

Pistachio financier, hand-squeezed coconut sorbet, raspberry yoghurt @$14

pistachio financier

Would highly recommend the handcut pasta with duck ragout, the chilean seabass and the fennel crusted lamb belly.

Expect to spend about $75 per pax (inclusive of an alcoholic drink). Happy eating!