Home-made Bento: Turkey Sloppy Joe on Wholemeal Wrap

Bento lunch tmr is turkey sloppy Joe on wholemeal wrap with a side salad of baby spinach and arugula.

Fine dining on a heady high - Jaan

Probably the best dining experience one can have in Singapore is at Jaan. This is touted as one of Asia's top 50 restaurants, an accolade well deserved. Getting a table here requires a reservation weeks/months in advance. The wait is worthwhile, and the experience is simply exceptional. French chef Julien Royer really takes a lot of care to "showcase the freshest ingredients through simple but beautiful dishes that reflect both culinary tradition and creativity" (from Jaan's website). 

In my opinion, what makes the experience at Jaan superb is firstly the visual stimulation - beautifully-plated morsels of food presented with such artistry served on various textured (from stone to wood, et al) platforms, or with dry ice and smoke. You feel such immense excitement when a dish is served and introduced to you by the waiters. Next, the smells that accompany each dish, such as the rosemary smoke contained beneath the serving globe of the 55-minute egg. Wow! And finally, the taste and texture of each individual aspect of the multiple courses. I could go on a discourse on both of these points, but I'd rather leave it to the food critics to review that - I just don't have enough words in my vocabulary to describe how awesome his dishes are. 

Chef Royer is an artist, and a meal at Jaan is akin to what one might experience when faced with a masterpiece - a truly heady smorgasbord of happy emotions!

Here is a photo sampler of our experience here in late November 2014. Please enjoy the gastronomic buffet.

Amuse-bouche Part 1

Amuse-bouche Part 2

55' Rosemary Smoked Organic Egg

Beetroot 'Collection'

Really fresh hand-dived scallop

Grilled Mangalica Pork

 

Arctic Char & Beurre Noisette

Black Truffled Brie de Meaux

Close-up of the accompanying Truffle Ice Cream
(can you see the shaved truffle??)

Kyoho grape palate cleanser

Choconuts Tart - superb dessert

Pear 'Gourmandise'

Surprise Anniversary Cake

Petit fours to end the meal

The menus we ordered from that day:

Jaan
Level 70, Equinox Complex
Swissôtel The Stamford,
2 Stamford Road,
Singapore 178882
Tel: +65 6837 3322
reservations@equinoxcomplex.com

Home-made: Christmas Lunch 2014

Christmas Lunch 2014 with the family was a combined effort! Baked halibut with basil and pesto, pumpkin soup from mother-in-law, quinoa salad with ham from sister-in-law, assorted vegetables au gratin and buttered fine beans with paprika. Rounded off with some sparkling rose! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Home-made Bento: Lean Chicken and mash avocado salad

Something simple for this busy festive season - got to eat them greens before the feasting begins! Hearty salad of romaine, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, cukes and radishes and topped with lean chicken and mashed avocado!

Chef's Insight:
Most of the time, I don't use recipes, I just try to recreate a particular taste with healthy ingredients, or just combine stuff I think would taste good together... A.K.A 'agak-agak' method... or some say, 'rojak' method.

Home-made: Christmas Cookies ("Cran-Blue Leh Cookies")

Christmas Cookies all fresh out of the oven and ready for distribution! All 220 pieces of them, baked, wrapped and packed to go!

This year, we have a new random concoction lined up - Cherry Berries! Oatmeal cookie base stuffed with lots of dried blueberries, cranberries, currants, cherries, walnuts and almonds, and flavoured with a healthy lug of cinnamon and allspice. AKA "Cran-Blue Leh Cookies"! Super Festive!!!

Home-made Bento: Chilli Con Carne & Beef Spaghetti

Chilli con carne with steamed watercress and sweet potato

Something easy for a busy weekend.
First bento is chilli con carne accompanied by steamed watercress and sweet potatoes.
Second bento is beef & bean wholemeal spaghetti (with additional zucchini and mushrooms).

Beef & bean wholemeal spaghetti

Home-made Bento: Two Japanese bento lunches!

We have two Japanese bento lunches for the week!

First variation is cold soba with sides of seared salmon and halibut, bundles of spinach goma-ae, dashi-simmered mushrooms and blanched carrots.
Second bento comprises hot soba (broth packed separately) topped with halibut, assorted vegetables and katsuo-bushi.

Home-made Bento: Beef Bibimbap-don & Assorted Mixed Bento

Bento 1

Bento Lunch Prep for the Week Done!
For the first bento we have some bibimbap-don thing of cubed/julienned beetroot, carrot, endive, baby bokchoy and yellow peppers, beef soboro and a Hawaiian sausage on black rice.

Bento two comprises more black rice, stir fried baby bokchoy and corn, sausages and a sunny side up. =3
—

Bento 2

Chef's Health Tip:
Must try to eat as wide a range of colourful fresh fruit and vegetables daily, when possible! For all their different nutritional benefits.

Home-made Bento: Seared Cod, Mini Shrimps with Baked Veggies and Purple Playdoh

Seared cod and mini shrimps, assorted baked vegetables (beetroot, cauliflower, broccoli, butternut squash, mushroom, eggplant) and Magic Awesome Purple Playdoh (mashed purple sweet potatoes)!

Diner's comment: "How can healthy food taste this good??"

Chef's suggestion on how to pan-sear cod without losing the skin to the pan:
I usually use a nonstick pan with no oil, let the pan heat up till sizzling hot, then place the thawed fish skin side down. Once I hear the skin sizzle I'll turn the heat down and let the skin crisp. I only flip the fish when it auto releases from the base of the pan by itself with just a nudge of the spatula. Usually I notice people try to flip it too soon before a nice seared crust forms, so it will stick. Technique seems to work for oily fish and most meat cuts, at least for me. 

The food prep process.

Fantastic Mangalica Pork Chop @ Wolf

Went to Wolf for Restaurant Week 2014 and had the Mangalica Pork Chop. Perfection! This is definitely the show-stealer and nothing else, not the foie gras starter nor the pear tarte dessert could outshine this main course. (What is "Mangalica Pork"? Read all about it here.)

The pork chop was a thick cut of fatty meat (bone-in) that was not at all gamey. The outside seared lightly so it was crisp; the inside medium done so it was pink, giving the succulent meat fantastic bite and texture. Each morsel was juicy and tender - sheer carnivorous joy! Go for the Apple Mustard sauce which was served on the side, and better than the Juniper Berry sauce, in my humble opinion. Love the additional wholemeal mustard topping which cut through the fat well.

Pink meat, thick with fat

If I had one complaint, it would be the pear tarte. Though taste-wise it was perfectly sweet, I had expected a flaky tarte, but it came with each layer indistinguishably stuck together, which made me wonder how long ago that tarte was made.

Tasteful interior

Wolf is tastefully decorated, with stone relief flying pigs and wolf faces as the centerpiece. Music is modulated according to crowd - it gets softer when the crowd thins out. Service was top notch, with my water topped up regularly, and my plates cleared quickly. After I had the door held open for me and a wish that I had a great night, I really did have one!

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience here, and would highly recommend other meat-lovers to come here and satisfy their carnivorous cravings.


Wolf
18 Gemmill Lane
65572224

Home-made Bento: Simple Salmon & Quinoa

Something simple on the menu this week.

Pan-fried salmon, stir-fried assorted local veggies and mushrooms, sunny-side up and some plain quinoa! I seared the salmon in a really hot, dry pan and it ended up releasing a fair bit of oils, so I used it to fry the eggs and veggies subsequently. No fuss no muss!

Home-made Bento: Baked Mini Egg Frittatas & Afternoon Lunch

Afternoon Lunch of Baked Mini Frittatas

On the menu this week - Baked Mini Egg Frittatas stuffed with a myriad of julienned veggies and turkey breast, roasted vegetables and mushrooms, including some delicious Australian asparagus, and curry spice-rubbed sweet potatoes.
Produced so much food that we ended up eating some for lunch straightaway! And used the extra egg yolks (we used only 7 yolks and 12 whites to make 12 mini frittatas) and some chopped spinach to make eggy pudding for the three doggies at home.

This is the bento.

Egg pudding for the doggies!

Home-made Bento: Chicken/Beef/Quinoa Meatballs in Marinara sauce

Kitchen is back in action! Long weekend means more time for something fancy and elaborate.
On the bento menu this week: Chicken-Beef-Quinoa Meatballs on a bed of marinara sauce, bulked up with plenty of kale, spinach and purple carrots. On the side, some local kailan panfried in butter, baked kabocha and grilled brown swiss mushrooms. And last of all, a separate container of crispy baked sweet potato fries!

Home-made Bento: Chicken Fillet en Papillote

This is actually the dish before going into the oven.

On the menu this week: Chicken Fillet en Papillote, accompanied by leeks, two tone carrots, red capsicum, black woodear fungus, tomatoes and plenty of zingy lemon! The purple carrots turned the sauce an amazing wine-red! With a simple side of roasted Japanese sweet potatoes, fast and easy! ;-3

The finished dish.

Home-made Bento: tricolour quinoa, chinese-style stirfried veggie & pan-seared beancurd

 

On the menu this week - Tricolour Quinoa, Chinese-style Stirfried Veggie Assortment, and Pan-seared Beancurd (mix of regular and black bean taukwa) topped with Stewed Eggplant, Shrimp and Mushrooms.
Curious dog is not included as part of the bento lunch...