Le Bon Funk @ 29 Club Street

It was that time of the month again. May not be what you were thinking but instead, am referring to wine nights. The chosen place for this round, was Le Bon Funk. What was that again? The Good Funk? A fun sounding name, yes? With a rather curious mind, proceeded with anticipation.

Drinking on a Tuesday? Why not. Le Bon Funk is a bar that serves natural wine and has a plethora of fine casual foods. Ivan and Elle had been sipping on wine beers when I arrived. Canned beers?

drinking (on) a Tuesday (wine beer)

open kitchen view

For starters, we had the Cedar Jam & Foie Gras. Usually, it's two on a plate so we ordered double for the 4 of us. First thought when it arrived was, "Where's the foie gras?!"

Truth be told, it looked like a dessert. White snowy top on toast. Shaved foie gras, they said. Oh, I see. On first bite, it tasted melty, creamy and sweet with a savoury aftertaste. Only a mild hint of the foie gras. Innovative, but I still liked my chunky, wobbly, creamy liver.

Cedar Jam & Foie Gras @$36

Was happy when the next dish of chips landed on our table. Thick, crispy handcut chips with a bowl of onion dip with caviar. Loved the bright green colour of the chopped onions. This was simply addictive. So good.

Chips @$35

With chips all gone and half a bowl of the delicious dip left, was contemplating on whether to order bread. Meanwhile, Chef Keirin came over and wanted to remove the dip but we stopped him. "Would you like more chips?" He asked. Why, yes of course. When the second batch of chips came, it was freshly made and still warm to touch! Enjoyed to its max. Thank you Chef Keirin!

Domaine Danjou Barnessy SuperNova @$115 per bottle

We drank the SuperNova made from muscat grape. Aromatic, slightly fruity and of a mellow yellow colour. Easy to drink and a tad milder than expected. Paired well with the chips.

Epoisses in Kataifi @$24

Epoisses is a type of raw cow cheese. Never heard of it prior and first time eating it. First observation of the Epoisses in Katafi dish, was that the ball was drenched in something sticky sweet. Was that honey? After the sweetness, and as one bites into the ball, a very strong fragrance overwhelmed the mouth. At this point in time, it was either to spit it out or to chew on. Not so bad, as the smell seemed pungent (like blue cheese) but the texture was of a likeable creaminess. The Kataifi pastry strips was of a perfect crunch to contrast against the creamy texture. Would I eat this again? Errr...no, thank you.

Next up, was a dish of sardine, served with yuzu kosho (柚子胡椒). The kosho is a type of Japanese seasoning, with paste made from chili peppers, yuzu peel and salt. Spicy indeed but refreshing taste.

Sardine @$25

Am ready for something more substantial. The Beef Tongue came in a form of a sandwich, much like a Reuben. A quarter for each of us. I felt alive after taking a bite of this! Layers of super tender tongue, and superbly toasted bread with crisp edges. Yums.

Beef Tongue @$26

tender tongue

The last main dish to arrive was the Heritage Chicken. Chicken, served whole. With legs and claws. There was a sudden urge to clip away at the sharp ends of the chicken feet. Noticed that the chicken was first baked in the oven before it was later grilled on the charcoal top. Served on top a bed of greens. Nice. We get to eat our veggies too!

Heritage Chicken @$68

Am very happy with the chicken dish. The meat was so tender and flavourful. Marinade/seasoning was on point. Lovely crunch from the vegetables too. By this time, we were feeling rather full. Nonetheless, let's order a dessert.

It was either between Ricotta Ice-Cream or Banana Oats. Glad we chose the Banana Oats. Crunchy, salty oats goes so well with the rest of the components.

Banana Oats @$10

Expect to spend about $100 per pax for food and drinks.

Thank you Elle, Ivan and Hoong An for the wonderful evening. Always a pleasure to enjoy wine with you.

Le Bon Funk

Address: 29 Club St, Singapore 069414

Website: https://www.lebonfunk.com

Contact: 6224 1490
Business Hours:

Tuesdays to Saturdays: 530pm to 12am. Closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Wine and Chef @ Keong Saik Road

This was the third visit to Wine & Chef but realized that I have not posted on it before. Hmm. Well, there was that one time when all photos were lost. Nevertheless, this would be my go-to place for reasonably priced wine by the glass and tasty food with a local twist.

reservation is recommended

menu on board

First time there, the foie gras and beef cheeks were impressive. Until the price had gone up by quite a bit. Previous menu had curry pork knuckles and hokkien mee which all of us liked. Most recent visit was in Oct 2018, and ordered the recommended dish of Salmon Risotto. Also ordered the 'Bak Chor Mee' for a taste test. The rest were appetisers such as the Chicken Little, foie gras and a Charchuterie platter.

Chicken Little @$10

Was expecting a somewhat har-jeong gai flavoured (prawn paste chicken) for the Chicken Little but the flavour was too subtle. Was a good fried chicken and the soy glazed tasted a tad marmite-ish.

a bottle of red to start

The red wine was of the sangiovese varietal. Ruby red hues, ripe and tasted of cherries and spices. Soft tannin and paired well with stronger flavours. The hams were just alright but the cheeses we enjoyed quite a bit. Loved the truffle gouda and the aged comte. So good. This platter came with some olives (unpitted), pickled onions and tiny gherkins. Served with a side of crispy toast.

Coppa Ham, Speck, Truffle Gouda and Aged Comte @$39

Foie gras price had gone up. What used to be $14 per piece, is now $16. Did we order this for old times sake?

Seared Foie Gras @$16

We were rather hungry and the appetisers did not do much to alleviate that. So happy when the salmon risotto and bak chor mee were served. The salmon risotto dish was rather pretty. The mascarpone barley risotto was so good. Loved the poppings from the ikura and the scattered pomegranate. Best eaten when it is hot!

Salmon Risotto @$20

Next carb dish was the "Bak Chor Mee", an essentially linguine with minced spicy chicken, shitake mushrooms, stir-fried zucchini ribbons, and topped with crispy lard bits. Similar to the previous "Hokkien Mee" where spaghetti was used. The flavour was strong for this one and very tasty. Definitely needed some sips of wine.

"Bak Chor Mee" @$24

To end, we have our Happy Sweet but this time round, was recommended a sparkling white version. This was similar to Moscato. Lovely ending to our meal.

FIOR D’ARANCIO 

Wine and Chef

Address: 7 Keong Saik Rd, Singapore 089115
Website: http://sgwinecellar.com/wine-chef-2/
Contact: 6221 9279
Business Hours:
Mondays to Saturdays: 12PM to 11PM
Closed on Sundays

Yi Dian Xin Hong Kong Dim Sum ( 一点心港式点心 ) @ Kovan

I love having dim sums. Dainty in bite-sized morsels (usually), easy to share plus there's variety. Ranging from steamed to deep fried and sometimes baked. A group of my friends wanted to meet up and someone suggested dim sum, so we Googled for one that is of a reasonable price. Yi Dian Xin was suggested and readily agreed.

We met on a weekend at about 11am and the coffeeshop was rather packed. Teo Seng Eating House (潮成餐室) is a smallish coffeeshop within walking distance from Kovan MRT. About 8 minutes walk.

stall front

various photos with artists / newspaper clippings

Yi Dian Xin is nearer towards the drinks stall. To order, one just need to fill up the order form and indicate if you'd be dining-in or to take-out.

order form

wait for it to buzz

As the food may not be ready at the same time, we took what we could and the rest was delivered to our table by the friendly staff. We tried carrot cake, chee cheong fun, steamed pork ribs, chicken claws, siew mai, lo mai gai (x2), porridge, fried beancurd fritters, fried you tiao with mango, fried prawn dumplings, and lava buns (x2). Lots of food for four pax for brunch.

dim sum spread

porridge (house special)

The porridge that we ordered was indicated as Chef's choice. Basically, it is somewhat like a 艇仔粥 (ting zai porridge) with the inclusion of squid strips, fish strips, pig skin strips, and peanuts. Natural tasting, so put a few drops of soy sauce if you'd like. As expected, porridge was thick, smooth and gooey.

lo mai gai 糯米雞

My favourite of the lot, was the 糯米雞 (steamed glutinous rice with chicken, char siew, and mushrooms). Perfectly dark, tasty and chockful of ingredients. Each grain of the glutinous rice was good and none of the 生米 (uncooked rice) nonsense.

The biggest surprise was in the form of the carrot cake. The version here is soft, round and steamed. The usual Hong Kong dim sum versions are those square, pan-fried versions with diced dried shrimps and chinese sausage bits.

Another must-order would be the 流沙包 (liu sha bao or lava buns). I wasn't careful the first time and it 'exploded' onto my palm. Goodness! The fragrance of the salted egg lingered on to the fingers until it was washed off. Very good lava buns.

salted egg custard lava buns 流沙包

For Kovanites, it is good to have stalls selling quality dim sums instead of the kopitiams run-of-the-mill kind, in the neighbourhood area. Just waiting for ex-Chefs of restaurants to open up more hawker stalls in neighbourhood areas. Come to West, ok?

We observed that there is another stall in the coffeeshop that seemed very popular and with long queue. The queue for First Street Teochew Fish Soup stall was never-ending from 11am to 1pm. Let me know your feedback for those that have tried!

Yi Dian Xin Hong Kong Dim Sum

Address: 012 Upper Serangoon Rd, Teo Seng Eating House, Singapore 534750
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yidianxin1kovan/
Contact: 9168 5587
Business Hours: 
Daily 7:00AM to 3:00PM. Closes on Tuesdays.