Ola-Cocina del Mar

For once, Missy is sorry for her choice of camera.  Iphone 5 is not a good equipment to take photos of the wonderful meal Missy had enjoyed with XiaoMei.   Both Xiaomei and Missy had enjoyed the simplicity of the excellent food presented by the kitchen.   With a friendly chef like Daniel, who willingly share his knowledge with the guests made the whole experience even better. 

The first experience of the excellent young olive oil with simple bread, Missy knows that she would love any items on the menu.  As nothing appealed to Xiaomei and Missy from the tapas menu, they decided to order 4 mains.  As usual, Missy was too greedy to be stopped.  Chef Daniel made the decision of half the main portion.  To make things even better, we were able to get a smaller portion of each dish. 

Simple and good are the best words to describe the food served from this kitchen.   Ola had introduced such wonderful simple Spanish food to Missy.  The desire to visit Spain who inspired such wonderful food became so much stronger.

To see photos, please go here :)

Brasserie Wolf

It is white asparagus season!! Missy likes white asparagus and had got some to try cooking them (thought it might be cheaper and more for her).  Bella gave some tips on how to blanch the asparagus and it was done perfectly, with a bite.    

Brasserie Wolf was offering a white asparagus menu and their executive chef was talking about it on his fan page.  Missy felt she should give the restaurant another try, just for her love for the white asparagus.  Poached white asparagus, poached egg and hollandaise sauce was the dish chose out of several that were offered.    Missy wished she could love the dish, but nay.  The egg was okay; the hollandaise sauce was perfect and the white asparagus SUCK big time!   Missy’s attempts to slice them broke them into strands.    It was difficult to chew or cut the asparagus into bite able sizes.  Rather disappointed that one of her favorite ingredients was done so badly.

Traditional French onion soup with Gruyere cheese & toast was done well.  The soup was flavorful with loads of onions.  The plentiful Gruyere cheese with the toast gave the soup a great touch of heartiness.  It’s hot, it’s flavorful and it’s cheesy!!! Missy loves.    Brasserie wolf’s version could easily be one of Missy’s favorite French onion soups in Singapore.

Missy read somewhere that Brasserie Wolf has this new grill, supposed to be a big hoo haa that produces excellent food.  When the menu mention Josper grilled foie gras with griottine cherry sauce, she has to try it out.  When the foie gras came, Missy felt they had served a whole liver of a young duckling.  It was such a generous portion.  Missy loves foie gras; unfortunately this really turns her off.  The foie gras piece was like a lump of gooey fat.  The outside was soft; the inside was gooey, Missy felt disgusted by it.  The taste wasn’t impressive as well.    Due to these various reasons, she chose not to finish the dish.   This was another waste of her favorite ingredients.  * Big sigh + a roll of eyeballs *

USDA Choice, Rib eye 220gm with bone marrow, bordelaise sauce and mash potato was asked to serve raw.   Missy likes her steak raw these days.  Mash potato was okay, bone marrow was fine, bordelaise sauce was so so and the steak was tasty.   She felt the steak could had seared better, it just lack so much in coloring.  If look is everything, it will be a F.

Missy was asked to leave her contact behind, as she had feedback she did not enjoy the asparagus.  For that effort from the lady manager, it was worth mentioning.  What is also worth mentioning is the executive chef wasn’t in the kitchen preparing or even supervising the dishes that were served.  He was out busy doing some off site catering.  To this, Missy wonders if she had been short changed by the restaurant, as she had actually went to try the skills of chef Claudio Sandri.

For some of the extra photos : MissyGlutton's fan page

Santi (Marina Bay Sands) - closed.

When a great tree falls in the forest, would it make any noise?   

On Feb 17 2011, Spanish chef Santi Santamaria collapsed in his kitchen at Marina Bay Sands, Missy just felt sorry for a loss of life.   The announcement of Santi’s closure on March 11 2012 hurried Missy’s steps to one of the better restaurants in Singapore.

Good things can be said, but will not replace the great loss to Singapore culinary scene.  Throughout the whole meal, Missy felt the pride of late Chef Santi Santamaria shining thru the excellent team he had put in place.

When it all ended, Missy deeply regrets her too late visit, and even more for the world losing such a great man.  

Rest in peace, Chef Santi Santamaria. 

More Pictures n descriptions of the meal

The Jackson Plan

 Missy's take on The Jackson Plan

The White Rabbit (28th Oct 2008)

Had a rather horrible morning at work... decide to go for some comfort food... Heard about this place for a while... Tot it would make a good place to spend some time to indulge in my favorite hobby :)






A basket of bread... which should I chooose... okie I went with my favorite ... Walnut.

Shallot Tart Tatin (served with parma ham and a delicate Roquefort cheese parfait.)
I think it is a very very nice dish... I had been a huge fan of bacon and oso caramlized shallots... along with the roquefort cheese parfait... *YUMMY* That's also the reason why I am posting a few more shots of this dish... cause I thought it was really good and would like to share all it's glory at all angles to u. :)

Smoked salmon waldorf... I felt really bad for not finishing this dish... not because of the guilt that I am not eating my supposed intake quanity of veggies, but it's because the service staff (at least 3 times) came and enquired the reason for me not finishing the dish... and I kept repeating :" I am not a fan of vegetables" Saying that, I still like to say the lettuces were really fish and the cucumber strips were tasted great with the slightly sourish cream.

Lamb Navarin (Braised lamb leg served with baby carrots, boiled potatoes.) I like my meat soft... something like melt in the mouth soft... nothing that need to be chewed on. This is dish is okay. I like the vegetables that came along the ride. I always prefer a heavier sauce.

Peas in Fear!!! haha but like one of my frens commented "well, if this is yours, they have nothing to fear" . But unknown to my frens, I looooooooove peas, carrots all the "winter" vegetables :D so I had hunt all of them down and ate them. wa ha ha ha I think I am slightly sicko to be having fun at the expense of some peas. *grins*

Good desserts are always appreciated deeply by most people. I am quite a picky person when it comes to desserts.

Mars Bar Souffle (Served with hazelnut creme anglaise and chocolate sorbet.)

... it definitely worth the 20 mins wait!! VERY VERY THE NICE lor!!!

With the sweetness of the dessert, I vowed to return... to this wonderful place for their dessert

Jaan (25th Oct 2008)

The view..... how precious, yet boring it is...

Was supposed to have a meal with SOME frens... but some couldn't make it. We decide to get a nice lunch and meet up with another fren after. The lunch became quite a chat about life and our life purposes...... Interesting chat indeed... not that I had decided what my life purpose is. But it's not about me... and it's about the meal...
We got very slim breadsticks... one was the parmesan cheese stick and the other one was made with squid ink. I enjoyed the salty parmesan cheese sticks... but I didn't think too much of the squid ink ones.

Then we have the bread...

Consomme de feuilles de combawa, aka Spiced Kaffir lime consomme, lightly smoked duck breast effiloche

I didn't try this... so I don't exactly know how it tasted... but I think it turned cold... after my friend waited ever so patiently for me to finish snapping the soup.

Confit de saumon a la Mediterraneanne is Mediterranean Salmon confit, warm tomato ceviche Vierge; with baby herb salad and green apple cucumber sorbet....

Nice presentation... though the food ain't nothing to shout about. I have rather neutral feelings towards it... :P

And next I had Tartare de Saint-Jacques
it was... Hokkaido sea scallop tartar, oscietra caviar accompanied with herb baked baby potato"rattle". baby vegetables "a la grecque" I thought this was enjoyable. The scallop tartar definitely tasted better with the baby potato.

Creme Brule de foie gras du Perigord (Perigord foie gras creme brulee with spice bread powder)

My friend and I agreed that we prefer a piece of foie gras, I am sure we don't mind a huge slab of it ... making foie gras into such stage... cheated us of our experiences of eating that sinful oily and delicious piece of liver, which we were looking forward to...

Gigot d'agneau braise (Braised lamb shank in it's jus with spice, wild mushroom apricot cereal)
wasn't keen on red meat... so didn't take up the offer of a pc of the lamb shank... but had stolen a few forkfuls of the delicious cereal. I had on my friend's words, the lamb shank was nicely done.... Should I trust him? hmmm...

Loup poele, risotto de courgette (Seared seabass filet on zucchini risotto, orange emulsion and fresh herb tempura )

I like!! I really like.... the tempura shiso was goood... the seabass had crispy skin and a moist and soft flesh... and the best part of it... the zucchini risotto... forget about al denta.. just do it the way i like it, slightly softer. The combination... Give me another one anytime!!! :D

Gelee de rhubarbe et fraise vanille (Vanilla scented pink rhubarb and strawberry, verbena emulsion and black current sorbet)

Nay I didn't try this... didn't really like the sound of it... don't like the looks of it.. don't like, don't like, don't like! :p

Mousse au chocolat amer (Crispy praline and chocolate mousse, Calisson; ice cream, cherry semi-confit)
It's chocolate!!! how bad can it be.... well... in this case... this was really bad....

WE were disappointed in the frist part of the meal, it was another meal saved by the main...and yet lost again with the desset... What I meant was the starters SUX, the Mains ROCK and the dessert went under without putting up a good fight!



This picture... is in honor of my fren... who had annoyingly though that this is the best "food" picture I ever take... I feel like biting his finger now! :p

Prive & Prive Bakery (Oct 24 2008)

I am just going to put these two together... Cause I actually walk over to the Bakery for the dessert because I didn't think too much of the desserts at the restaurant.... :P

I have heard lots about this Prive... be it the restaurant or the bakery... seemed like a rather popular choice for a few people. Well... I just need to try it for myself. I did surf their site several times... mainly I would like to see what they are serving... at least I have an idea what to expect. Of course, I always prefer to make reservation, mainly because I absolutely hate to sit in the middle of the restaurant, at an obvious location or even where there will be plenty of traffic.

So off I go to Prive. Got there late... I guess that's why I got a punishment. I was seated at this table (in a corner) next to the 2 doorways, one leading to the kitchen where there are service staff and the chef talking away and one leading to somewhere... whereby people are walking in and out... and what made the whole thing worse was.....

this door!!! the sun is shining brightly! GREAT! I don't want to know it is! I am having a nice lunch... without the flashs of sunshine,whenever it's opened... not that it was opened often on the day i went.

okie... enough of my complaints... out come the Bread and butter...

Pan Seared Foie Gras with granny smith salsa with toasted brioche. This is of a good size foie gras done nicely... worthy of the price paid.

Then came the main reason why I was there....
Roasted Bone Marrow Risotto with Veal Jus. I loooove bone marrow and of course risotto... but I had not have them together in a dish before... The whole dish was slightly TOO salty for my liking... I don't usually have water with my meals... this left me silently screaming for a huge glass of iced water... If you would take away the too much salt factor, I think this is a rather nice dish. I would definitely give it another go... though I would call ahead to make it's not going to be too salty... Need to think of an illness that would prevent me to have less salt... can't hurt someone's feelings... After I just saw on Ivan's blog about someone putting additional ingredients into some ice cream...

Since I am done with my main meal... it was time to satisfy my other stomach... my dessert !!

After looking thru the non inspiring dessert menu... I decided to go over the Prive Bakery... for their seemed-to-be-famous milkshakes.



and i found the best milkshake in Singapore :D

Malted Maltesers Milk shake

What's having dessert... if it's not sweet...
I had to order something sweet... for my sweet tooth.. So I got a Strawberry yogurt mousse. Well... I should had saved my calories for another milk shake!!!

a definitely to try place! :D I think the milk shake is worth it... :D