more of them morsels please

there are many bistros in singapore. there are also many bistros that try to pretend that they're like your local thrift shop that happens to sell food. industrial-like interior with naked bulbs hanging from the ceiling, mismatched cushions and chairs, unfinished wooden tables, clipboard type-written menus et al. this can be very trying, because they're distracting you from what you're really there for - that is, to eat.

at morsels, however, it's the food that distracts you - not the furniture (although the furniture is pretty, and yes, industrial-chic-y).

hokkaido scallop ceviche with homemade tortilla chips

for starts, the hokkaido scallop ceviche with homemade tortilla chips was a nice refreshing welcome. i did feel, however, that the compressed seasonal fruit (which happened to be plums and what i think was watermelon) masked the taste of the scallop, so it was more like a fruit salad than a seafood dish. thumbs up though, for the chips.

ume-sake braised short rib, okinawan sweet potato, nai bai, ume koji wasabi

as for mains, we relied on the recommendation of the staff to try their grilled mangalica pork (it's apparently hungarian and they only had 6 portions to dish out for the evening, so of course i had to try), and their ume-sake braised short rib (seriously, how can anyone skip over beef drenched in sake). 

grilled mangalica pork with mash

both were quite profound.

the pork was simply grilled without dressing, so the tenderness of the meat spoke for itself. 

the combination of the slightly bitter sake-d short-rib, sweet potato and wasabi was gasp-worthy. i was really impressed by this.

as for dessert, we chose the milo tiramisu over the almond panna cotta. it came in a pretty jar (like a very atas version of ilo dinosaur) which pleased the aesthetics-loving part of me. eating milo powder out of a jar was also quite a thrill - i don't know about you, but my mother never allowed me to scoop milo powder out of the can and into my mouth directly. Taste-wise, it was really alcoholic, and not enough mascarpone, so it got pretty soggy and wet after a while. nevertheless, i would still recommend at least trying this once.

milo tiramisu

rating:
 - mouth watering over.

details:

morsels

35 mayo street | 6396 6302 | closed sundays and mondays

Love in a Bowl

Our Michelin Bowl

There is nothing like bak chor mee. Oh, no, wait. There is nothing like Tai Hwa Bak Chor Mee at Crawford Lane. THIS is our Michelin Bowl. This is our 5/5 stars. The kickass combination of chilli, vinegar and al dente noodles, coupled with pink and tender half-cooked slices of pork liver and the murky soup a la pork essence. 

I don't even need to rate this.

Oh be still my beating heart. 

details:

Tai Hwa Pork Noodles 

#01-12 Tai Hwa Eating House, 466 Crawford Lane | 62927477 | closed on 1st and 3rd mondays of the month

Jaan

It was a combined birthday celebration for my mom and myself at Jaan and it didn't disappoint. We've never tried it when it was helmed by Chef Andre Chiang, but there are still traces of him there. The crockery, presentation of food and perhaps style. We requested for a window seat, which they kindly arranged - though the scenery was somewhat spoilt by dirty windows :(

The amuse bouche was tantalising but what took my breath away was the first course - a mushroom confit and Jaan's signature smoked egg.

Amuse Bouche

the rosemary smoked egg which was absolutely delish

everything was art and nothing hurt

chef royer's hummus

a pot of dessert

Jaan is understated. Food is delicious and Chef Royer delivers. However, I guess being 1 out of the 3 'restaurants' at the Equinox mars its opportunity to stand out from the rest.

rating:
 - the involuntary drool is getting embarassing.

homey italian done right

25 people waiting for a seat outside a restaurant along the quieter stretch of tanjong katong road is a sight. especially when the total seating capacity of the restaurant is 50.

but bruno's is worth the wait. it's a convivial no-frills, no-fuss, no uppity-nose turning trattoria, good for couples, small families, big families, single diners. the "just-eat-and-go" type.

a quick glance on the menu tells you that they've got the usual bases covered - the caprese di buffala, the linguine al granchio, the penne arrabiata, the spaghetti pescatora, the zuppe, the pesce, the carne... you get the drift. if you like the familiar, the menu is more than sufficient to entertain.

look around on their saffron-coloured walls, however, and you'll see that their daily specials (covering all categories) hastily scribbled on chalkboards are also worth exploring.

being my second time there last evening, i decided to go for a "specials" menu. we chose the parma ham platter to start, and the hokkaido scallops ravioli (a house speciality), and a roasted crayfish and shrimp spaghetti with a tomato base as our mains for sharing. 

the ravioli was a real treat. a large scallop encased in firm pasta skin and generously served with olive oil and saffron cream sauce? see above. this dish turned several heads before while making its way to our table and into our mouths.

the spaghetti was also good, but got overshadowed by the ravioli unfortunately. the sauce was distinctively bisque-y, and they gave a generous helping of seafood (which generally makes us all happy, right?).

the service is warm, friendly, and fast (our mains came within 8 mins of our order). reservations from fridays to sundays are completely essential. even then, the reservation doesn't guarantee that you'll be shown a seat the moment you arrive. 

if you're in the east and looking for homey italian goodness to fill your stomach, consider bruno's on your food radar. they do takeaways as well.

rating:
 - mouth watering over.

details:
bruno's pizzeria and grill | 338 tanjong katong road s437110 | 6440 4525 | 1200 - 1430hrs; 1800-2030hrs (closed Mon)

t

the rating system

so since my sis, j, has finished with the introductions, it behooves me to explain how the ratings system works.

this being the lau-nua diaries, we will adopt a salivate-o-meter to tell you what's worth your drool over, and what's not.

therefore:

 -   why am i wasting my saliva over this?! next.

 -  worth one lick of the tongue.

 - mouth watering over.

 - the involuntary drool is getting embarrassing.

 - LAU NUA LIAO!

(i.e. the more droplets of saliva you see, the better.)

of course, we will try to avoid featuring  level food because that would mean that we've already ingested the food ourselves and wasted all that precious calories. nevertheless, if our personal integrity calls for it, we will.

t

the inspiration

I wouldn't say that it's been a long time coming, in fact, it was rather spontaneous. I was looking for a nice wallpaper for the new year and discovered a whole throve of food photos which have been (sadly) sitting in my iPhoto. I decided that I should put them into good use. My instagram is 80% food, 19% travels, 1% rubbish, but 100% me. I love food. I'm not kidding.

the lau-nua diaries (TLD, for short) hopes to be as honest as possible, like your regular kopitiam tar mee pok, and certainly not as pretentious as our Singaporean coffee culture (or the lack thereof). It's all about food that makes us happy, food that makes our mouth water, and food that makes us lau-nua. As a start, Michelin stars do not work our rating system - it's a level playing field out there. Each man is good in his craft, like how we would gladly give Tai Hwa Bak Chor Mee 10 Michelin Stars... but no.

We are not sure where this blog will take us or how far we'll journey on this new blogging adventure but hoping for the best! (ie. some invites to soft-launches would be great) Thanks to my sis, T, who gamely responded to be my co-author of this food diary. And to my parents too, who helped us coin the name and rating system.

thanks!
j