E'spuma Lab @ PoMo - Premium Dishes at Affordable Prices

E'spuma Lab sounds rather clinical, like a nice name for an aesthetic clinic.  Well, it is actually a new dining option (opened in 21 March 2014) located at the newly renovated PoMo shopping mall that focus on two main cooking techniques in its dishes - Espuma and Sous Vide at pocket-friendly prices!  

I have not been to PoMo for almost 5 years!  The last time I came here was with my hubby to celebrate his birthday at Ju Ju Hokkaido Hotpot (closed) way back in 2009!  This is the new look of the PoMo building.

E'spuma Lab is located near to the entrance to the mall at level 1.  It has a very clean look and the machine and equipments for sous vide and espuma are clearly visible at the shopfront.  The dining outlet has just been awarded an "A" grade for food hygiene and cleanliness by NEA. 

Espuma means foam or froth in Spanish.  It is a culinary technique where by an espuma siphon is used to infuse air into the food to create an airily light mouthfeel, giving it a lighter texture.

We were introduced to the team behind E'spuma. 

Afterwhich, Mr Andrew Koh, the marketing and Communications Director at E'spuma Lab Pte Ltd gave us an opening speech.

Before the start of the food tasting session, Chef Teo Yeow Siang gave us a live E'spuma Culinary Demonstration.

He demonstrated to us the use of E'spuma onto this dish which I got to try later.

 Canister equipped with air cartridges.

Used cartridges from the canisters which you can pick from the counter as a souvenir if you want.

How about Sous Vide?  This should be a more familiar term to many of us.  For this cooking technique, the meat is vacuum-packed and cooked at a constant temperature using a thermal circulator that you see here.  It will help to control the "doneness" of the meat, especially for thicker or uneven cuts of meats which are difficult to ensure consistency.  This technique also helps to ensure better cooked eggs without the need to use kitchen timer.

 

  This was one of my favourite dishes: - 

(All-Day Breakfast)

Sous Vide Eggs with Smoked Norwegian Salmon 

(Topped with Crispy Salmon Skin and Ginger Soyu ($3.80)

It was surprising how the different textures of the runny eggs, crispy salmon skin and smoked salmon could blend so well together, and it definitely left me craving for more!  I have always liked the traditional soft-boiled eggs and toast for breakfast but I think it is good to have a change once in a while.  New breakfast idea?  Mini french baguettes can be requested to be served with this for an additional dollar.

 Sauteed Mushrooms with E'spuma Potato Foam, served with mini french baguettes ($6.80)

Generous servings of mushroom chunks were served with the E'spuma potato foam.  The potato foam is like a lighter version of mashed potato and it is very smooth too. Although the dish was a bit salty to eat on its own but I think it will go very well with the mini french baguettes that will be served with it.  We were not served with baguette during the tasting session as we had other main courses to try and we didn't want to fill up our stomach so fast!

Sam tried their Curry Chicken with E'spuma Potato Foam.  In their menu, you can find fusion dishes such as our local delight curry chicken, beef rendang served with variations of E'spuma sauce.

Sam also had Fragrant Rice Served with Cajun Chicken Leg and E'spuma Curry Sauce.

For me, I ordered Fragrant Rice Served with Pan Seared Sou Vide Chicken Breast and E'spuma Pesto Sauce.  The chicken breast was really very evenly cooked as a result of sou vide cooking method and was pan seared to give a slight crispy.  On first look, I thought the rice looked like nasi briyani with raisins but it actually tasted like our fragrant chicken rice.

Very smooth texture of the chicken breast meat as you can see here.  Yummy!

Pauline had a tasting portion of Spaghetti with Swedish Meatballs (Beef) and E'spuma Caramelized Onion Sauce.  The actual portion is much bigger at an affordable price of ($6.80).  The sauce is served at the side so it is up to individual customer to decide how much sauce they want to mix in their food.

For snacks, we tried the recommended E'spuma Batter D24 Durian Fritters ($3.80 for 5 pieces).  Below shows the tasting portion.  It had an inner texture that seems like "Goreng Pisang" (Banana Fritters) and the batter was light with a slight crispy.  The E'spuma battered fritters were non-greasy and so you can have them take-away conveniently too!

Menu

Their main course is available at a very affordable price and prices stated on the menu are Nett price ie no GST and Service Charge!  I think students from nearby SMU and SOTA are in for a treat!

Thanks E'spuma Lab and Mileage Communications for this food tasting session.  It was fun and we got to learn more about the culinary techniques using Espuma and Sous Vide!

E'spuma Lab
1 Selegie Road, #01-20/21, PoMo Mall
Singapore 188306
Opening Hours:
Mon to Sat: 11am to 9pm, closed on Sun
Tel: 8222 1113

OpenRice Food Tasting @ Brewbaker's Kitchen & Bar, Anchorvale CC

I attended my first OpenRice Food Tasting session at Brewbaker's Kitchen & Bar (managed by JP Pepperdine), together with my friend, Sam.  Brewbaker's Kitchen & Bar had just revamped their whole menu, incorporating both Western and Japanese dishes.  Residents nearby can now get to enjoy Japanese cuisine at this location, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  

How to get here by public transport?  Recommended Route:

- From Sengkang MRT Station, transfer to Sengkang LRT Line.

- Board the Sengkang West Loop LRT and alight at Farmway Station.

- Take a 5 minutes’ walk over to Anchorvale Community Club

We walked down a flight of steep staircase to the basement, nearer to the sports complex side, and saw the restaurant at the end corner.

Exterior of the restaurant.

You may dine alfresco or in their main dining room indoor.  For us, we tried both!  Read on to find out more!  :)

We were seated near to the entrance of the restaurant and on our table:  The OpenRice signature smiley fan, a notepad, tissue pack, pen and a feedback form.

We introduced ourselves and this was our host - Calvin (on far right), from OpenRice doing some introduction and standing next to him, is the chef for the restaurant.

Sashimi Caesar Salad 

($12.80)

Tossed assorted lettuce with caesar dressing, topped with garlic-herb croutons and raw fish.  Wasabi sauce was served in a small dipping bowl and you pour the amount of sauce according to your liking.  This was quite a refreshing appetizer with all the crunchy lettuce, blended with the raw fish cubes and wasabi sauce.  

Atsuage Tofu

($5.50) 

Grilled Japanese home-made Tofu topped with fish flakes. The tofu could taste quite bland when eaten on its own. The chef recommended us to dip it with soya sauce and sprinkled some chili flakes on it to give it more flavour.

Carbonara Udon 

($12.60)

The chef explained to us that this was a fusion dish.  The home-made udon was also very different from the thick ones that we normally have.  Their vesion of udon was long and much thinner, but still maintained the springy texture.  Served in a rich creamy sauce with crispy ham bits and an onsen egg, this was really "oishii"!

Kinoko Pizza

Japanese Styled Mushroom Pizza

($12.60)

The pizza texture was like that of soft bread. Eating this pizza, was like eating a piece of bread topped with mushroom, mayo and fish flakes. Would give this a miss the next time.

Unagi Roll 

(3 pieces for $12.80)

My friend, Sam requested for unagi roll as during the tasting session, there were a number of beef dishes she couldn't take.  I didn't try this but Sam said it was very good.  Could tell from the presentation, it looked quite tasty with thick slice of unagi wrapped over avocado/ crabstick and omelette sushi.

N.Z Beef Rib

($21.00)

I think this dish should be meant for those with huge appetite.  The beef rib was huge and I took a small slice, it was quite tender but the taste was a bit overwhelmed by the sweet BBQ sauce.

Beef Shabu Shabu (2 paxs) 

($28.60)

This was one of my favourite dishes for the night.  I love to swish the meat back and forth in the boiling broth.  Do not throw the meat inside the soup for too long otherwise it would become tough and spoil the taste.  I took 2 pieces of the sliced beef and cooked them just right, very juicy!

Matsu Sushi Moriawase

6 types of sushi ($31)

I tried a salmon roe sushi and a sweet shrimp sushi. The sushi were fresh.

After we were done with the above main courses, we proceeded to the outdoor seating for Yakiniku!  Why outdoor?  The main reason was to prevent the restaurant interior from having the smokey smell and also, to enjoy better ambience doing our grilling outside.  We all had fun "BBQ"ing alfesco in the cooling weather.

Pork Belly Yakiniku - Pork belly on Charcoal grill 

($12.80 for 1 pax)

Our table got a plate of sliced pork belly.  They were thinly sliced and would get overcooked quite easily.  I took a few slices of the pork belly and they were rather tough.  We were worried that the pork slices were not cooked totally and grilled them for too long and sometimes, we were busy taking photos and forgot to flip them over. 

Ribeye Yakiniku (BBQ) ($32.80)

The other table had a plate of beef slices and I took one cooked slice from them to try. It was quite a thick slice but the meat was tender and juicy. I would recommend this!

Marble Cheesecake in a chocolate cup - Served with mixed fresh fruits and chocolate sauce 

($6.50)

The cheesecake was uniquely presented inside a chocolate cup and it was wiped off by the four of us very fast.  The texture of the cheesecake was soft and not too dense.  I tried to break the chocolate cup with my fork and spoon but failed.  It was very hard and thus, we didn't eat the chocolate cup.  I suppose it was meant to just hold the cheesecake inside nicely.

Thank you OpenRice for the invitation and looking forward to more food tasting sessions with them in future!

Brewbaker's Kitchen & Bar
Address: Anchorvale Community Club,

59 Anchorvale Road #01-06
Phone: 6886 1811

Website:  http://brewbakers.com.sg/

Opening Hours:
Mon to Thu: 1100 - 1530, 1730 - 2230
Fri - Sat & eve of PH: 1100 - 0000
Sun & PH: 0730 - 2200

Street 50 Restaurant and Bar @ Bay Hotel

Bay Hotel is situated at a convenient location just opposite Vivocity.  If you are looking for a decent meal around this area but dread the expected horrendous queues that you will get from almost every restaurants at Vivocity during peak hours, do consider checking out Bay Hotel's restaurant - 50 Street Restaurant and Bar.      

I was here for a food tasting session at "50 Street" together with 2 other food bloggers.  Street 50 is a newly-established global  flavours restaurant that brings you diverse flavours from Italian, French and American to Asian flavours from Vietnam, Indonesia and Singaporean with interesting twists.  As such, the array of dishes that they are offering in their menu is really extensive.    

The restaurant has an intimate, quiet and cosy setting, suitable for couples going on date.  

Soda Gembira - Syrup + Condensed Milk + Soda

Bread basket with olive oil

Caprese ($12)

Vineyard tomatoes were wrapped in parma ham and it was really a delight to my taste-bud with the sweet tomatoes and parma ham blending together in my mouth.  I don't really know how to appreciate the buffalo mozzarella though.

Smoked Duck and Citrus Fruit ($11)

Orange and Grapefruit with Orange Vincotto dressing is used for this dish, giving it a refreshing and natural sweet touch to this appetizer. 

Hazelnut Escargot

Half Dozen - $14

One Dozen - $22

These slow-baked burgundy snails were stuffed with hazelnut butter and flambed with brandy.  This was the first time I saw escargots being flambed to enhance the flavour.  Personally, I like escargots with loads of herbs and garlic butter.  The escargot that I tried at 50 Street didn't disappoint, it was baked just right without being too "rubbery".  I guess even without the flambe, the escargots would have tasted as good.  Of course, I don't mind the "gimmick", adding an extra aesthetic feast to the eyes.

We had hotpot during the tasting session too!  Don't you adore these 2 uniquely designed pots, which come in royal blue and royal yellow with dragon designs?

Price – Hot Pot Sets:

Set A (for 2 pax): S$ 32++

Set B (for 2 pax): S$ 48++

Set C (for 4 pax): S$ 108++

The hotpots come with a selection of 2 types of broth and can be served individually or to a group.

The presentation of the meat here can be improved  though.

Left:  Imperial Chicken broth made rich by simmering chicken for hours in a cauldron.

Right:  Siamese Luck, a Tom Yam broth if you need some kick!

I prefer the tom yam broth.  Also, there are also at least 10 different types of condiments such as sesame paste, coriander chilli, sa cha sauce  for you to dip your food with.

Duck Pot Pie ($22)

I love pastry crust and I don't mind eating the buttery crust on its own!

Cutting open the crust, you will find chunks of duck meat which was braised with wine sauce, which added on to another twist to the usual chicken pie.  Personally, I am not a fan of duck meat and thus, for me, I was happy to just eat the crust soaked in the gravy.

I think this dish is good for sharing.  To finish it on your own can be quite a challenge.  

Salmon Cutlet ($22)

Salmon was freshly grilled but not really an outstanding dish.

Roulade of Pork Loin with Wild Rice ($20)

It was interesting to see the pork loin in roll, wrapping the wild rice within.

Orient BBQ ($18)

Don't shun away from this pizza by just looking by the amount of mozzarella cheese that you see on the pizza.  The other ingredients used here were smoked duck, enoki mushroom (which I found a bit unusual to be served on pizza) and spring onions with a generous spread of hoisin sauce on a thin crust.  The hoisin sauce was a bit too overwhelming but it helped to cover the taste of the cheese, which is good if you don't like cheese.

Lamb Rendang ($24)

Again, strong evidence of a fusion dish.  Lamb shank was slow-braised with rendang paste and the meat was really tender.  Jasmine rice was served together as side.  I like the lamb rendang but I think it might be a bit too heavy if you eat it with the rice.   

Durian Pengat in Crepe ($8)

I was rather surprised that the durian pengat was being served this manner.  Normally, I would scoop the pengat in a small bowl when I had it at hotel buffet.  Of course, this one scored better in terms of presentation.

Apple Strudel with Coconut Ice-Cream  ($8)

As I had mentioned earlier, I love pastry crust, so this apple strudel was definitely one of my favourite desserts.  

I would like to thank Dennis from Craft Communications for this great food-tasting session.  

STREET 50 Restaurant & Bar

Bay Hotel Singapore

50 Telok Blangah Road

Singapore 098828

Tel +65 6818 6681

Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/STREET50

Pinterest Page: www.pinterest.com/STREET50resto