Welcoming 2011; Le Meurice; Anne's

Just realized I haven't updated for awhile. Well, the previous week was rather unexciting - some of you might know why - save for a movie date to 'The King's Speech' as well as a great day out to the Tuileries Garden with Tasha & Anne. I shall, therefore, post some backdated events that took place at the end of last year (finally after much procrastinating).

On the eve of new yr's eve, we lunched at a 3 Michelin-starred restaurant. Had a high expectation prior to the visit because of the good reviews from friends and the internet. Unfortunately, we weren't the least bit impressed by the food, except for their amuse-bouche. Somewhat disappointing really. Felt that there was a lack of creativity and little/no toying around with the taste buds. In other words, average food that could well be served at another decent French restaurant (with or without star). That said, I guess there are 2 other aspects of this restaurant that significantly add to their 3 stars achievement: OTT décor and service. You can see just how magnificent it looks from the photos below. No doubt the most ott dining room I've been to so far. As for service, the waiters/waitresses (1 for each person) have to serve or remove your plate at exactly the same time and always from your right. There are many other small protocols that the service crew has to follow.. interesting to observe!

After this meal, both of us are even more convinced of our theory that the number of Michelin stars does not reflect the gastronomic experience. Yes you can throw in ambiance, decor, service and all but what matters most to us is the food. We won't lose heart though and will continue to source out good food regardless of the stars!

Name: Le Meurice

Location: 228 rue de Rivoli 75001 Paris, France

Expenditure: 302€ incl. wine & evian (lunch menu costs 78€ pp)

Later that night, we watched a 'French League All Star Game' at Parc de Bercy. It became a little boring towards the end cos the French, as usual, got thrashed by the foreign team. Nonetheless, the break time entertainment was fun & interesting and I enjoyed the 3-point shoot-out and slam dunk contest. Here's a short video on one of the dunks. More info about this match can be found here.

On new yr's eve itself, we had a fabulous party/countdown at Anne's place together with 2 of their lovely friends. Roger prepared a scrumptious dinner for all of us.. sweet :) Needless to say, we got pretty smashed (in a good way) by the end of it as evident from photos taken that night. Don't know if you can tell from those I uploaded but I obviously had to self-censor some!

It was an awesome and unforgettable one..

S' Birthday; L'Ogre

Had fun celebrating S' birthday last weekend. When the clock struck 12 midnight, I surprised her with a brownie birthday cake that I had baked (for the very first time) from scratch. Was tempted to use those premix but thought that wasn't very sincere. Heh. Followed a recipe on allrecipes.com titled "Brooke's Best Bombshell Brownies" but made some adjustments to cater to S' taste. I cut the sugar by more than a third, used normal bar chocolate w pecan nuts (cut up into small pieces to replace the chocolate chips) and added pistachio nuts. Turned out really good except that the pecan nuts from the bar choc sorta disappeared and the pistachios weren't substantial enough. Will add lots more nuts the next time round. I also added a personal touch by writing on the cake using edible glitter glue. :)

On her birthday itself, we went to Chinatown for lunch and checked out the CNY atmosphere. Didn't expect much but were pleasantly surprised to find that lion dance performances actually took to the streets! Totally lifted my spirits. And we found a gem restaurant by luck. Superb dry fried beef guo tiao, salt & pepper crab, roasted duck and red bean dessert drink. Extremely satisfying meal!

Name: Hao Hao (好好) Restaurant

Location: 23 Avenue de Choisy, 75013 Paris

Expenditure: 40€ (incl. 2 bottles of tsing tao beer)

Later that night, we had a fabulous dinner at a nearby restaurant. I arranged a little surprise for her by making a prior visit to the restaurant in the day and instructing the crew to serve 2 glasses of champagne when we arrived. The champagne would be served in personalized engraved flutes which I had ordered online. BUT they made a mistake and presented the 2 flutes as presents on the table instead. What a spoiler. Nevertheless, S said she was happy and surprised enough to have been welcomed with presents ;) Commenced with their complimentary starter - salami w herbed butter.

The entrées were really good. Bamboo clams with a tasty sauce (almost chinese-style) and a huge bone marrow. First time trying bone marrow so didn't expect it to taste SO MUCH like fats. I was so worried I didn't dare finish the entire thing. However, I had bone marrow again just yesterday at another average restaurant and voilà, by comparison, the one at this place tasted wayyyy better! Now I crave for it and will definitely head back again. Main dishes - nothing as wow as the entrées. Pork with crispy skin wasn't well done, 1 piece was too tough and the other was too soft. Risotto with scallops & black truffles was not bad but could do better considering its price tag of 35€.

Here's the eiffel view from our table and a very happy us!

Name: L'Ogre

Location: 1 Avenue de Versailles, 75016 Paris

Expenditure: 200€ (incl. 1 bottle of excellent wine @ 120€)

Chinese New Year (CNY) 2011

Happy Lunar New Year! It was 初一 (1st day of the lunar month) yesterday so I video-called home to see how everyone's doing. Skyped briefly over the internet with my family and relatives while they were at my uncle's place. It made me miss the CNY atmosphere so much and I really wished I was right there with them! What with all the big feasts and CNY goodies and gambling and dolling up and catching up. My aunt actually asked me to promise I'll return to Singapore for CNY next yr. Sweet.

Something I find even sweeter is on the morning of 除夕, I woke up to an email notification and was greeted by this:

祝妳们：HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

   红包 for you: $388

sent by dad! Touché....

Nonetheless, all was not lost because of our 2 great friends in Paris - Anne & Roger, without whom we wouldn't have had such a fabulous & cozy reunion dinner! We had 盆菜 (pot of braised food bearing auspicious meaning) for starter, steamboat for mains, and almond jelly with lychee (instead of longan) for desserts. Yums. Not forgetting the 4 bottles of wine - 2 champagne 2 red - we emptied. Felt just like how a reunion dinner should be :)

Anyway, the 盆菜 was something we brought back from Singapore in Dec. The brand is 'Skylight' and it comes in a big can. Ingredients include 8 small abalones, mushrooms, fish collagen, bamboo shoots and dried scallops. Just nice for 4 persons as a starter and it tasted really good. Easy preparation as well. Boil the mixture (w/o abalones) & you're good to go. For a price of S$70, I highly recommend it.

The other can of premium mexico abalone was meant for the steamboat. I absolutely love it. Mum knows I love abalone so she always stuffs me with a few cans every time I'm back. ~S$80 Try it if you're in Singapore; I think she gets them from NTUC. Other ingredients we prepared for the steamboat include beef & pork slices, salmon, liver, shitake mushrooms, golden mushrooms, radish, cabbage and egg. Perhaps could do better with prawns, scallops and fishballs?

The meal would have been more complete with 鱼生 though. Anne if you're reading this, 鱼生 (yu sheng) is a dish we eat many times throughout the 15 days of celebration. It's sort of a huge vegetable salad with raw fish slices or abalone as the only meat. Every ingredient in this dish has a special auspicious meaning. Before eating, everyone at the table will grab their chopsticks, tuck into the platter, and raise the food as high as they can. That's a prosperous gesture too and all the ingredients get mixed at the same time!

Left: 鱼生 for last year's reunion dinner. That's my mum and grandma :)
Right: Random photo of random people I took from the internet to show you how it's done

[source:http://www.pbase.com/victor_chowloon/image/39747204]

Maybe next time!