Blank Doll heads east.

I was told that certain cuisines cannot be replicated in Singapore due to its climes and as a result, we are only ever sampling an approximation of them. A sort of gastronomic precis, something to entice us to search for the real thing.

Korean food is apparently one of these cuisines where even kimchi cannot be replicated convincingly since the cabbage used should be harvested in winter and the Singaporean variety pales in comparison. Eating at Su Cuisine at Far East Plaza, hardly the glammest of places, the food was emphatically average. The seafood pancake was exceedingly greasy and the service sketchy at best. The marinated beef proved a saving grace and pickled lotus root was quite refreshing. Nothing to write back home about but which I dutifully report here.

Hong Kong style dimsum is something that can be done in Singapore and which is regularly done quite well. At the Cathay Restaurant, order the custard buns by the dozen and wolf them down like the glutton you are. Savoury and sweet, the molten custard oozes out of steaming buns faintly perfumed with milk and yeast. The crispy yam puffs are like clouds of greaseless fried dough and will blow you away. Equally good are the barbequed pork buns, delicate and without the slightest trace of fat, and rice rolls with shards of dough fritters. Ask for the sauteed scallops with egg white and truffle oil.

Locals adore the elusive food bargain and are masochists in their need for long queues in humid surroundings where food is served with lacklustre service. Let it not be said that I do not know a no-frills bargain when I see one. Sashimi at Sakuraya is one such place where fresh slivers of fish are selected from a daily range and cut to your preference. Without needing to be said, the toro was fresh and not overpriced like toro is wont to be here. Slices of tai, swordfish and hamachi were perfect for a hot night and thin sheathes of scallops ended the meal nicely. Ask for the fried yellowtail collar, eaten with chopped daikon and lemon. If only they served grated horseradish, ponzu to go with the hamachi and better service. The open space kitchen concept only works if your sashimi chefs are silent masters hard at work and not hollering across the restaurant. Definitely no-frills.

Sick of the skinny tie already (fashionable for all of two weeks last year), perhaps a pared down cravat style should come back in style. Meanwhile, for the New Year, eschew showy brands (Versace, etc) or the commonplace (Zara, etc) and instead, get yourself a tailor. Singapore abounds with les petits mains who will make you a good shirt and pants for a very good price. The trick is to pay attention to the fabric (silk, dress wool, two ply Egyptian cotton, no synthetics) and then work very closely with your tailor. You're going to wear it in the end but let his experience guide you on what's done and what's not.

A good rule is that whatever looks good in Tokyo does not translate well in Singapore.

C'est tout.

Blank Doll thinks - Food for Thought.

Two friends and someone else sent me to Food for Thought, opposite National Library, for lunch. After much searching, a bad sense of direction and faulty directions from friends can do that to you, the little cafe was located.

The service was untrained but good. Refreshing would be the word, the place staffed with young people. We ordered a platter for two which got us two soups, a salad and a selection of three fillings accompanied by bread.

I did not like the shitake soup, watery and lacking in body. It might have been virtuous (the entire place reeks of good intentions, actually) but some porcini or chanterelle might have upped the amp. The sage, carrot and pumpkin delights ladies who lunch and strangely, me. The sage could have been stronger though.

I did not quite like the Chinese Chicken Caesar, cute though it was with the little ikan bilis as anchovy surrogates a quirky touch. East-West fusions, heavy with irony, tend not to impress and the overcooked chicken did nothing for the salad. The use of sesame oil in the dressing was commendable, the dark soy sauce less so.

The sandwich fillings were quite promising. The bread was decent, chewy with the faint whiff of yeast, but lacked the robust flavour of artisan bread. Good though since they offer you as much bread as you want. You will not want for bread however since the dishes on offer were hardly overwhelming in proportions. The pulled pork, as recommended by friends, was a winner. The thyme steak would have been one were it not for the irrelevant canned corn and I did not like the grilled vegetables. Otherwise, get the cuban ham and pork sandwich which bursts with porcine character.

Desserts were quite gratifying. A weakness of mine but the chocolate maltesers banana cake struck a chord. The red velvet cake might have succeeded but the icing exceeded the cake.

A nice place to take lunch with some friends but hardly an experience. For something more uplifting, Tea Cafe nearby offers the right combination of solace and urban centrality. Right opposite Raffles Hotel on Seah Street, it is a cliche oasis that turns out to be rather nice.

Go ahead and order the cucumber iced tea which is a refreshing blend of cucumber, calamansi and soda. The tempo of the service, the personality of the proprietor and the serving of little pastries and cakes can really sooth the nerves. I took offense at the hastily reheated pineapple tarts, a reminder of the need for speed even when searching for time past.

Also, Prada gave us the boy-kini and hunks in tutus, launching a million budding fashionistos into esctastic fits. These people obviously missed the Gaultier boat. Maier gave a rather embarrassing take on workman's clothes at Botega and veered towards hypocrisy in concept. Watch out for more to come, the uber-luxe printed crocodile and gilt stamped calf of last season will soon be replaced by less in your face fabrics.

In the meantime, make yourself a skinny bitch. One part Grey Goose to one part soda, lots of lime. For a tough bitch, two parts Grey Goose to one part soda and lots of lime. Cheers.

C'est tout.

Blank Doll pours the vodka.

Singapore, for all its vaunted ambition to be a world class city, lacks a proper Jewish restaurant. We also do not have enough Greek eateries and we have, disturbingly, too many pseudo Hong Kong cafes selling pseudo Hong Kong pseudo original cuisine. Kimchi Girl at Urban even wrote about it if you will.

Apple Brandy Sorbet turned out to be quite a success in the end. As anticipated, the addition of alcohol impedes the formation of ice crystals and results in a far smoother sorbet. The addition of sugar does this as well but I prefer my ices to be less saccharine and more bursting with flavour so the alcohol method works better. I had initially added too much alcohol which then called for the draining of the mixture. This resulted in an applesauce byproduct that I promptly made into apple ravioli. I made the dough out of some random measures and was surprised to find that it worked rather well. Pastas and pizzas are almost certain to follow this latest experiment.

Nigella Lawson's Welsh Cakes are quite simply amazing and they shall be served tomorrow with sauteed strawberries in vodka. On a side note, I think the combination of balsamic vinegar and fruit is divine. Look out for moutard des fruits, rare but almost certainly sublime if served with pasta, hazelnuts, sauteed dates and spices.

In the interim, get ready for men's fashion spring. We can only hope the season does not disappoint as last season did. The skinny tie came (hah!) and went. The climate renders shawls slightly impractical but Singapore is the air-conditioned nation so there. Leave the bad hankerchief jokes to Urban, check out the Singapore Shawl for cool raw silk shawls and handpainted floral shawls on woven silk.

C'est tout.

Blank Doll tastes @ Bakerzin.

Well now, in recent months, friends have been raving about the macarons at Bakerzin with some going so far as to suggest that they were better than those at Cannele. Bemused by such a claim (Canele may be far from Gerard Mulot but it is one of the better purveyors of desserts around, even when you factor in the inevitable hype that goes with the Les Amis branding machine), I actually bothered to go to the Bakerzin at Paragon to try a few.

Firstly, I have to say that a restaurant, that until a few years ago dedicated to modern French food kept simple, which serves something as blatantly gimmicky as otah bruschetta has got to be kidding. So purists will level the accusation that Au Jardin dares to serve lemongrass souffle and nobody complains but really, otah? Bruschetta? Gee.

Anyway, I ordered a plate of four. Their flavours are rather limited I think and ripping Isaphan straight from Pierre Hermes tries too hard though the fanboy in me could not resist the urge to order one though it was unfortunately not on the menu. I took a chocolate raspberry, a foret noire, a hazelnut and a rose.

People who like the macarons at Bakerzin have not eaten a proper macaron before, at least, not the way they do it at Laduree where the shell is not overinflated with air to the point of brittleness. I found the flavours insipid though the hazelnut was quite promising. The rose, arguably, is better than the one at Cannele although the chocolate raspberry was confused and the foret noire lacked the taste of kirsch.

In general, I'm not sure I really liked the macarons at Bakerzin although this does not, in any way, endorse those at Cannele since they have, of late, disappointed far more often than they have delighted.

If you should like macarons, I think there are actually some online bakers in Singapore who make rather good stuff. Here's Mad Baker .

C'est tout.

Blank Doll asks but does not reply.

This blog is not dead.

Happy New Year. Will be back in 2008.

C'est tout.