SINGAPORE: Open Door Policy

Roasted field mushrooms on toasted brioche with truffle puree

The appeal of Open Door Policy is it's location within Tiong Bahru with it's indie-style shops and cafes. It's not fantastically furnished, nor is it very spacious, but the food was a pleasant surprise. I'm crazy for anything with the word "truffle" on it - as long as I see it on a menu, everything else fades away and deep down I know, no matter what other options I may glance at, when the waiter arrives, the first words out of my mouth will be "truffle [insert dish name here], please". 

It's a hit and miss situation really. The chef may add too little truffle oil, or surrounding flavours may overpower the truffle, or a pasta's undercooked texture may distract from the truffle's aroma.  When done right, however, the truffle fuses perfectly with each ingredient's flavour, sinks into each texture and fills your senses with its fruity nuttiness with every mouthful. This is what I tasted in Open Door Policy's mushroom brioche with truffle puree. Mushrooms and spinach are a classic combination, and paired with truffle puree on fluffy soft brioche, the dish struck a delicate balance between simple and decadent. 

 

48 hour braised beef cheek with mochi potatoes, carrot puree & pea tendrils

Open Door Policy's beef cheeks flaked and melted onto the tastebuds like warm honey. I would have definitely roasted the carrots for longer though, so that they would caramelize and soften, before serving. 

One complaint would be that the cushions which pass for chairs (pictured below) shouldn't jut out past the actual wooden platform below them; it means the tables are uncomfortably far from the seat and pulling the tables nearer would make getting out of the seat a hassle. A minor detail but nonetheless makes all the difference to a dining experience. 

Other than that, ODP is the kind of place you can bring a friend to on a lazy afternoon and have coffee (and great tao sar bao) with afterwards at Forty Hands across the road. 

Open Door Policy

19 Yong Siak Street
(Yong Siak View)
Singapore 168650

Tel: +65 6221 9307

SINGAPORE: Group Therapy Cafe

You know how when you're hungry, everything tastes good? Well, I turned up absolutely starving at Group Therapy cafe and for once, my hunger did nothing to sugar coat the food quality. I had been pleasantly surprised by the warm colours and rustic-looking signs and plants that adorned the cafe and I was pleased to see that it was relatively empty at 10.30am so it was massively disappointing that each dish churned out was frustratingly mediocre. 

Some cafes thrive with carefully constructed dishes made by cooks with real passion, and some cafes simply exist to fill a demand as Singapore's cafe culture thrives. Group Therapy cafe undoubtedly belongs in the latter. Its recipes are sorely in need of an update: the avocado and smoked salmon sandwich went down like glue in my throat; the eggs benedict might have looked impressive but the hollandaise sauce was so cloying that I barely noticed the poached egg below. Though the eggs were warm, my sister commented that she'd visited Group Therapy cafe the previous afternoon and they'd served their eggs benedict with cold eggs. 

Group Therapy might have had potential with a certain charm, but atmosphere alone isn't enough to disguise the complete lack of passion or real investment in its food menu. 

BLT croissant plate 

Group Therapy's key lime crumble: a poor excuse for a dessert. 

Group Therapy Cafe

49 Duxton Road

089513

SINGAPORE: PS Cafe at Dempsey

I came back to Singapore thinking I had, in London, successfully weaned myself off dessert. How naive I was. The first chance I had to visit PS Cafe at Dempsey, I couldn't help myself from ordering my favourite Flourless Orange Cake. I love any cake that starts with "flourless". It implies "carbless" and makes me feel a little less guilty. Unfortunately, I've tried making flourless banana and chocolate cake before and what they take away in flour they put back in egg yolk so I'm not so sure it's particularly sinless.

PS Cafe's flourless orange cake melts into your senses in a burst of sweet citrus and comfortingly warm sponginess. As much as I love London, the London cafes never did know how to heat their cakes up before serving them. They were usually left out to dry on counters without any transparent lids which always irked me. On the other hand, it's always a pleasure to have your cake served warm but service at PS Cafe was slow on a Sunday afternoon and the ice cream was disappointingly melty. 

This milkshake really seemed like 5 scoops of vanilla ice cream blended together with oreos. It was so luxuriously decadent I could only manage about 4 teaspoons full before stopping. 

PS Cafe's interior is wonderfully bright and spacious; it's floor to ceiling glass panes look out to Dempsey's greenery. It's really the perfect spot for a photoshoot so I was lucky to have the opportunity to collaborate with Andrea Cheong from The Haute Heel on her latest blog post. I never get as much fun from photographing food as I do people and Andrea was a pleasure to work with - don't forget to check out her blog for your daily dose of fashion! 

Top 5 Personal Favourite Affordable Restaurants

So, I've graduated and I'm back from London for good now. Unfortunately, I am still suffering from withdrawal symptoms. I miss not being able to walk in the cool summer sunshine to get to the tube (yes, I even miss the tube - it was my last vestige of complete independence) or to waitrose to buy my favourite yogurt (the yogurt selection in Singapore is dismal). And it saddens me to think that I now no longer live 10 minutes away from a train station that could take me to Paris in three hours. I would go on but I risk spiraling into despair. 

Nevertheless, if these things could have lasted forever, I wouldn't appreciate them nearly as much as I did. This post will be my last on London and I'm going to reveal the restaurants I enjoyed most - those that my friends and I would visit after a 5 hour stint at the UCL library or just wanted something hearty and inexpensive to fill our grumbling stomachs with.

In no particular order -

1. Koya

Koya is one of the first Japanese places I visited upon landing in London and remains my favourite with consistent honest to goodness udon. Tonkotsu and Bone Daddies have since cropped up in Tottenham Court Road but the soup at Tonkotsu isn't always served scalding hot the way I prefer and Bone Daddies' ramen soup is far too salty. Go early to avoid queues, but don't worry, they aren't as long as the ones stretching out from Burger & Lobster and Bone Daddies at dinner time. 

See the blog review here!

49 Frith Street  

London W1D 4SG

2. Texture

I've only been here once but for two courses and the promise of a Michelin starred meal at 20 pounds, it's very good value for money. See the blog review here! 

34 Portman Street

London W1H 7BY

020 7224 0028

3. Naru

This (relatively) little known restaurant serves the best spicy chicken and korean green tea. Bite-sized and tender, the spicy chicken is coated in mouthwateringly succulent sauce with a zesty tang. The bimimbap rice is fluffly, light and a delightful complement to the chicken. 

I'm surprised Naru isn't always teeming with people but that's one of its charms. I wanted to keep this place to myself for as long as possible so I selfishly refrained from blogging about it, until now that is. 

230 Shaftesbury Avenue

London WC2H 8EG

02073797962

4. Gold Mine 

Gold Mine has the most succulent, tender roast duck and my personal favourite "House Special Tofu". If you're an Asian living in London, I need say no more - you've probably already been. I've probably eaten here more than 10 times. My mother brought me here when we touched down in London before I enrolled at King's; I had a friend who made it a point ALWAYS to eat here whenever he visited from Warwick [which he did regularly] and having another good friend who lives in Queensway meant we ended up at Gold Mine alot. 

102 Queensway

London W2 3RR

5. Yalla Yalla

Hummus and Baba Ganoush [from my instagram]

It doesn't seem so from the lack of Mediterranean/Lebanese food on Cafe Creatures but I actually adore Mediterranean food. I cannot get enough of hummus (I tried to make my own once but I think I'm going to stick to commercially made hummus). Yalla Yalla does the creamiest, most velvety hummus peppered with pomegranate seeds and the most flavourful Baba Ganoush that comes with piping hot pita bread. It's always a long [30 minute plus] wait for a table if you go past 7pm but, at the risk of sounding cliche, it's worth the wait. 

1 Green's Court

London W1F 0HA

020 7287 7663

For those of you lucky enough to be studying abroad in London, don't complain about the weather, don't curse at the tube and don't judge that crazy person on the bus - it'll all be gone before you know it. 

LONDON: Top 5 Personal Favourite Restaurants

I graduate on the 22nd of July. With the onslaught of parents drawing ever nearer, I've been asked by friends for recommendations on where to take them. So, I decided to compile, in no particular order, a list of my personal favourites. As you can see, I have a predilection for japanese food, but for a Chinese fine dining experience, you can't go wrong with Hakkasan. I'm sure there are plenty more restaurants that belong on this list, but these are the ones that I've actually tried (though not all were reviewed on Cafe Creatures) and come away inexplicably happy from. 

1. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal 

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park

66 Knightsbridge

London SW1X 7LA 

You can see my review here! 

2. Yashin Sushi

1A Argyll Road

High Street Kensington

W8 7DB

See my blog review here!

3. Roka 

37 Charlotte Street

London W1T 1RR

See my blog review here! 

4. Tetsu 

Fatty tuna handroll [taken from my instagram]

It took 3 months of waiting to get a reservation here, but it was entirely worth it. With only about 10 seats in the whole restaurant, each person is personally served by the chef. I don't usually like tuna sashimi, but the one prepared for me at Tetsu slid down my throat like a luxurious clotted cream. 

12 Jerusalem Passage 

London

EC1V 4JP

5. La Petite Maison

I haven't reviewed this restaurant even though I've been brought here thrice, but La Petite Maison has never failed to deliver an immensely satisfying meal. It's unpretentious, yet the food is exquisitely prepared; passion flows through the food and onto your tastebuds as smooth as a hot knife slicing through butter. 

I even bought an autographed copy of Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook (Notes from my Kitchen Table) after one lunch here. 

54 Brook's Mews

London W1K 4EG

SANTORINI: Metaxi Mas

Remember the absolute satisfaction of a truly special, no frills, home-made meal? Metaxi Mas has somehow managed to translate this feeling into every dish. One contributing factor is undoubtedly its location - tucked away in a quaint little stone cottage in Exo Gonia. Surprisingly, (or not, given its raving online reviews) every local we asked had heard of it and the taxi driver dropped us, unquestioningly, right at its doorstep. 

The best dish by far was the asparagus - roasted and embedded in a velvety cream cheese sauce flavoured with herbs and possibly a dash of white wine. Grilled octopus was a close second: glazed with thick balsamic vinegar and complemented with a side of meltingly warm fava beans, it sealed my new-found addiction to this whimsical-looking sea creature. Alas, it was no match for the grilled octopus at Anogi. But more on that in my next post. 

Pomegranate Salad
spinach, red and green leaf lettuce, spring onions, dill, orange, walnuts, parmesan, pomegranate and balsamic vinaigrette with honey

 A savoury souffle plump with the delicate flavours of cheese and spinach

Almost every restaurant in Santorini, including this one, is adoringly inhabited by fluffy cats with doleful eyes. "Some cats look for food, but this one is just looking for some love," the hostess told us, gesturing to the black cat lolling around on our bench area. 

The view from our table

The genuineness of its food and reasonable prices explains how Metaxi Mas achieved a #1 ranking out of 441 restaurants on Trip Advisor. I've come to trust Trip Advisor a lot less for restaurants after having relied on it for trips to Brighton, Athens and Croatia, but it definitely didn't go wrong with Metaxi Mas. 

The amazing thing was that every restaurant we went to, no matter how good or how famous, always had room for the 6 of us. There were never any queues or bookings required. Maybe we ate early, or maybe the tourist season just hadn't hit yet at the beginning of june, but it made our experience that much more sublime. 

Metaxi Mas

Exo Gonia Santorini

PO 84700

SANTORINI: Franco's Bar

It's been awhile since I've come back from Santorini but like a vivid dream, I still remember the glittering aquamarine seas, the tumbling white houses lodged precariously on the island's edge and of course, the sheer pleasure of freshly grilled octopus melting down your throat (but more on that in the next post). 

On one of our trips within Santorini to Fira, we discovered Franco's Bar and it quickly became one of our favourite hangouts. (We visited twice in 7 days.) Although their desserts were lacking, their chicken pie was so addictive that we ordered another, and this was all just before dinnertime. 

The refreshing thing is that with the views and central location, Franco's Bar could have afforded to succumb and serve sub-par food similar to that of its neighbours, but it didn't. We reserved the best spot, a tiny balcony hanging over the steep incline of the cliff, but it turns out we didn't have to - the place was hardly full at 9pm. 

What distinguishes Franco's Bar from all other bars I've been to is the classical music wafting throughout the restaurant that gives the place a tinge of surreal. In June, go at 8pm, when the skies are pregnant with the promise of a breath-taking sunset and the place is relatively empty; everything looks like a scene taken right out of a movie. 

Franco's Bar

Pyrgos Castle
Fira 84700
Greece

LONDON: Dior at Harrods

The Dior exhibition at Harrods was something I was adamant on squeezing into my pre-studycocoon period, especially since it closes on April 14th. This was a short, yet in-depth look into the history behind Christian Dior and his eponymous fashion house. Everything was beautifully executed, though I wish they'd showcased more of their dresses like they had at the Valentino exhibition. Fortunately, it wasn't nearly as crowded as the Valentino one (I'd gone during London Fashion Week and I did everything short of elbowing people out of my way to get through the exhibition).  

After much persuasion, I managed to tear my friend Rachel (check out her adorable blog here) from her work to come with me for the exhibition and she loved it. I don't know anybody who loves high tea as much as she does and she was delighted to discover the Dior pop-up cafe which takes inspiration from Monsieur Dior's recipe book, La Cuisine Cousu-Main. Sadly, we hadn't done our research - a table requires advance booking. The reviews are wonderful though and I suggest booking a table if you intend to visit the exhibition. We ended up at the gorgeous, and also french, Laduree instead and their sweet treats were amazing, just as you'd expect.