Of late, gourmet hamburgers seem to be the rage in Singapore. The fad that was started off by Willin Low’s Relish (down at Cluny Court) appears to have caught on rather rapidly and there are now many alternatives to the ubiquitous McDonald’s or Burger King. At Far East Square, there’s Berg’s Burgers. At Thomson Road, there’s FatBoy’s Burger Bar. At Bt Timah, you have Burger Shack. And at Raffles City and Somerset, there’s the Handburger. I’m not exactly a big burger fan, but I do enjoy a good burger. To set the record straight, I generally like mine crisp and burnt on the outside, but juicy and medium on the inside. With the hype building up over the Handburger at Raffles City, I headed over there to try the burgers with a colleague.
The Handburger, if you haven’t already seen the place, looks much like a tuck shop / canteen. The outlet at Raffles City is made up of rows of wooden tables with square (slightly uncomfortable) chairs. This is a little bit of a minus point if you’re paying 15-18 dollars for a burger, but I digress. What’s interesting at the Handburger is the variety of the burgers they offer. From the Salmon Confit Burger to the Pulled Pork Burger, the range on offer is admittedly wide. Whether or not these burgers hold their water, is another question altogether.
On this particular visit, I tried the Works Burger, which was really a combination of a sirloin beef patty, cheddar cheese, sunny side up egg, beer battered onion rings, garlic mayo and sweet onion jam served on a caramelised onion bun.
The bun was soft and fluffy and a far sight yummier than what you would get at a regular fast food outlet. While the caramelised onion flavour didn’t feature strongly throughout the bun, I still liked eating it on it’s own as it was toasted to near perfection and the natural sweetness of the bread kept drawing me to the bun. The patty, on the other hand, was very very disappointing. Touted to be 180g of chopped sirloin, this tasted more like overcooked mystery meat, and while you could taste that it was in fact beef in the patty, the patty itself was tough, sinewy and dry. Each of the other components of the burger tried its best to push the patty along, and the bacon in particular was crisp while the sweet onion jam lent itself well to the burger. Luckily for the sirloin patty, the runny egg yolk helped to provide some “juice” to the otherwise tough patty and salvaged the dish as a whole.
Accompanying the burger was a bowl of handcut fries, served with a tomato based sauce. The tomato based sauce was decent and tasted closer to a barbeque sauce, while the fries were for me, a touch too underfried and slightly on the soggy side, especially after about 5-10 minutes on your plate. Still, I would not say that the fries were all THAT bad, but they were merely pedestrian in this meal.
My colleague had the Sirloin Tataki Burger – this was just lightly seared on the outside as tatakis are meant to be, but otherwise did not appear or taste to be particularly outstanding.
In all, I would have to say that my visit to the Handburger was slightly disappointing as the most important part of the burger was ultimately the most disappointing part as well. I guess having a tough, dry patty in the middle of a hamburger in a shop that specialises in selling hamburgers is like serving not-so-flavourful sashimi at a sashimi bar in Tsukiji market. Sadly this was the case at the Handburger and I would probably hesitate in ordering the hamburgers if and when I next visit. Perhaps I should try the pulled pork or the portobello burger next? I’ll post on this again if I do head back there.
The Handburger
252 North Bridge Road
#B1-77/78
Tel: +65 6334 4577
On our visit here, we weren’t quite in the Poon Choi mood (it wasn’t CNY ceason then) so we sampled a few of the dishes that were recommendations on the menu. First up, was the Crispy Fish Skin served with broth. I liked the crispy fried fish skin (I told myself it was my intake of omega 3 and collagen for the week, even though the skins were deepfried), but i didn’t quite understand how to use the broth. As explained to us, one was meant to dip the fish skin into the broth to maximise the flavour from the fish skins. For me, however, I liked the fish skins on their own – there didn’t seem to be a need for the broth and in truth, after the 2 baskets of fish skins were cleaned up, the broth was still left standing, virtually untouched. To avoid being wasteful, we drank up the broth like soup and it was delicious, albeit a touch too salty (perhaps as they really were meant as a dip, not a soup!).
We also ordered the Smoked Duck which had a nice semi-crisp skin on the outside, and a tasty, oaky flavour to the meat. The meat was smoked to a light pink hue, and was reminiscent of a western-style smoked duck dish. It also reminded me of a smoked ham, like one gets at Christmas – with a hint of honey at the tail end of the palate. Loved this dish and would not hesitate to order this again on my next visit!
This was really why we had come – someone had recommended this place to us for the fried crab beehoon. Well, the dish seemed to lack a little wok hei, as is really necessary for fried beehoon dishes. The crab was as expected, fresh (but nowhere near Mellben Seafood at Ang Mo Kio which serves the most delicious crabs ever, imho) but the beehoon seemed to lack a little flavour. Now I’ve been reassured that the reason why this is so, is that the restaurant was insanely crowded that night, hence the lacklustre beehoon. I guess that could be a reason for the lack of flavour, but I’d hoped for alot more from this dish, especially after what I’d heard. Nevertheless, I’m tempted to give this dish a second shot, just to be certain I’m not missing out on anything!
The mushrooms were well seasoned and the morels provided a nice depth to the dish. The arugula was a touch “old” and I didn’t quite agree with the use of the arugula in garnishing the mushrooms. Otherwise this was well executed and delicious. As for the calamari fritti, I felt this was a disappointment as the batter slid off the calamari and didn’t hold well. The tartare sauce on the other hand, was a nice mix of gherkins and capers. A pity it made little difference as the fritti was underpar.
The lamb shank had an interesting plating design involving the asparagus spears with the tomatoes (bordering on R rated), and was braised to tenderness. While the lamb was tender, it seemed to lack an oomph in the braising liquid – there just wasn’t that much depth to the flavour. The duck breast was my pick, and had crisp skin with the meat just nicely done. I would caution, however, that I do like my meat slightly rare, and some people may find the meat a touch too rare for duck meat. As for the barramundi, I liked the use of the fennel complemented the freshness of the fish. (As an aside, I always find dill and fennel to be good complements to fish dishes – let me know if you disagree!)
On balance, I would say that the food at Mietta’s was decent though unexeceptional. Without the one for one deal offered on the set lunch, I’m not sure I would visit Mietta’s as there are better value set lunches (without the promotion) available. S$45 ++ is still a little steep when places like Saint Pierre are offering set lunches at S$48++ (and that comes with a choice of coffee / tea) and the food at Mietta’s is unfortunately nowhere near the standards offered by Saint Pierre. Still, that’s not to say that the food at Mietta’s is bad. It serves up decent fare which is worthwhile while 1 for 1 offer is available. So do give Mietta’s a try during this offer period and let us know if you enjoyed the food.
The milk mousse is quite a staple on the Nadaman starter menu – I’ve had this a few times – and it really never disappoints. The texture of the mousse is like tofu, except creamier because of the milk, but less of a “bean” taste as little (or no) soya bean milk is used. The favourite part of the dish for me, is the freshly grated wasabi on the top of the tofu which just gives the tofu that little added kick.
Sashimi course (Chef’s choice)
Simmered Dish: Simmered Eggplant, Pumpkin Chicken in Yuzu Sauce
Japanese simmered dishes have a way of becoming comfort food, and this was no exception. The pumpkin chicken was a mixture of minced chicken mixed with mashed pumpkin and then shallow fried, and the pumpkin added a delicate sweetness to the minced chicken. Coupled with soft eggplant (which is one of my ultimate favourites), the chicken pieces soaked in to the tart yuzu sauce perfectly.
Rice course: Steamed Rice, Mushrooms
Dessert: Mango Mousse, Milk Sauce
By the time dessert was served, there was really no more stomach to fully savour the mango dessert. Luckily, the small servings meant the dessert did not go to waste. This was like a mango pudding topped with an evaporated milk sauce, and while not horrid, was rather pedestrian. It felt like more mango should have gone into it to make for a more robust mango flavour.
On the glass panel separating you from the hot oil, a picture of Anthony Bourdain (celebrity chef and of A Cook’s Tour fame) is pasted up, to let you know that even he has tried the oyster cake. Well if he’s tried the oyster cake, then so should you. The oyster cake comes in 2 versions: Normal (without the oyster) at S$1.50 and the Normal with Oyster at S$2. I swear by the version with the oyster, because really, what’s an oyster cake without oysters? The batter is made up of rice flour mixed in water, and stuffed inside this batter, is a mixture of minced pork, minced prawns, chinese celery and oysters (if you choose the oyster version of course). The batter is then topped with peanuts and deep fried to perfection. Each bite is filled chock full of ingredients, and the juiciness of the ingredients just oozes out with each bite.
Our main courses were also on the cautious side – I had the Skate Wings with capers and brown butter, while my partner had the Duck Confit. Interestingly, the duck confit was served with fries, which is not quite something I’d seen before. While unusual, the choice of accompaniments did not draw our attention away from the crisp duck confit that we both attacked with gusto. I personally found the duck slightly on the salty side, although I suppose this is not uncommon in a duck confit. The skate wings were interesting to see on a western menu in Singapore – skate (or if you must, the cousin of the sting ray) is hardly used in the western context in Singapore as it is often associated with Asian cooking, and in Singapore, particularly in an assam fish dish. Here, the skate wings were bathed in oil and thus had crisp edges, and the crunch from the wings balanced nicely with the delicately cooked meat. The portion was huge and I didn’t manage to finish my share of the fish. I would’ve liked more capers in the dish though, as the fish was very lightly salted and depended much on the capers to bring out the flavour. Still, I did not regret ordering this dish.
To fill our stomachs before the real food came, the amuse bouche of a rice paper roll did its job. Combining Vietnamese rice paper with a western styled filling of raw crunchy vegetables paired with some Chinese roasted duck meat, this lived up to Jing’s “modern” Chinese reputation. It wasn’t particularly outstanding, but neither was it bland or uninteresting. This held our attention for the short span of time it sat in front of us.
The button mushrooms were battered and coated with a wasabi-mayonnaise, which is today, a rather common sauce used in many Chinese restaurants. The salad leaves were standard issue mixed greens normally found in western restaurants, but to put a slight twist to the savoury salad, Chef Yong added chopped mango and strawberries for a little kick. While purists may scorn at the use of fruits in a savoury dish, I thought the use of mangoes and strawberries was an interesting touch to the dish that set it apart from a run of the mill regular wasabi mayonnaise mushroom dish you might find in a Chinese restaurant. Simple but elegant twist.
The dim sum were well executed, and each were plump with ingredients, whether it be prawns or scallops. The abalone in the abalone scallop dumpling was tiny (that’s the brown patch in the middle of each dumpling in first picture) and while you really couldn’t taste the abalone, for the price of the dumplings, I certainly wasn’t expecting an 8-head abalone!
Nice quiet places are sometimes hard to come by, and the Canopy at Aramsa is one of those places. My 2 experiences at the Canopy left me reasonably satisfied with the food, and the quietness of the surroundings provided a welcome reprieve from the busy and bustling city that is Singapore. If you happen to be in the area and are looking for a nice quiet place to spend a lazy weekend afternoon, do consider dropping by at the Canopy at Aramsa for a cup of coffee.
Even with the slightly disappointing crab beehoon, the high quality of the food (and the yummy garlic sauce) will see me back at Ming Kee. Reasonably priced food establishments serving up well executed dishes always deserve repeat visits, and Ming Kee Seafood is one of those places! In the words of Arnie the Terminator, “I’ll be back!”
the sliders were pretty good, though nothing fancy. A small slab of steak in between a nicely toasted burger bun, and slathered in a cheese sauce. the truffled fries were nice and crisp, but sadly, only the top layer seemed to have the luxury of having truffle oil sprinkled over them. When one neared the bottom of the plate, not even a whiff of the truffle aroma was to be found. The beer battered fish was surprisingly good, though again, nothing fancy. The batter fluffed up nicely, and the fish inside was as expected, tender and flakey. The mouthful of mac n cheese that i sampled equally was pretty good, although, at the back of my mind, i had expected something like that found in the white rabbit (sorry, my bad!!!). final taste of the evening were the tortilla chips – surprisingly flat, and the pork sausage dip tasted closer to tuna melt (in fact, i’d only found out that it was pork sausage when i came home to look for the menu online!) Guacamole lacked the creaminess of the avocado that i was looking for, perhaps a few not-as-ripe avocadoes in there?
followed by
Second Fish course: Grilled Hamachi Cheek
Vegetable Course: Fried Nasu with Cod Roe mayo
Without going into all the details about how each dish tasted, I think an easy way to sum up would be that the sashimi served at the Standing Sushi Bar was very very fresh. As the Japanese man seated next to us kept repeating to the chef, the fish was “uma-i”. The snails (in the first picture) were something i hadn’t seen often and had an interesting texture to the meat. The one dish that fell flat for me was the deep fried eggplant in cod roe mayo. Somehow, the cod roe mayo seemed a little overbearing on the eggplant and the creaminess of the sauce just didn’t sit well with the greasy eggplant. The hamachi cheek was tender as expected and grilled to perfection. Beef teriyaki was pedestrian, and not something i’d find myself craving for. Possibly the beef slices were too thin? Not quite sure on that front. As for the final dish, the futomaki (in the background of the sushi picture) had been pre-made and tasted like it had been sitting in the cooler for a while. The seaweed was soft to touch and required a certain amount of gnawing to tear it apart. Not quite as expected. The nigiri sushi was egged on plenty by the freshness of the fish, although i think the Standing Sushi Bar (and likewise with so many other sushi joints in Singapore) could do well to learn from the japanese style sushi – that is – more fish, less rice. Still, this was a decent effort.
The micro tomatoes caught all our attention – these were about 0.2cm in size! Very interesting take on tomatoes, although i’d expected more from the fresh tomato (not quite as sweet as tasty as expected). Basil and vanilla sauce sat well with the pickled tomato, a nice contrast between the tartness of the pickle against the sweetness of the sauce. And things get more interesting.
