Melbourne Series: Vue De Monde

N and I recently returned from a week long holiday to Melbourne where I did my Podiatry degree. Despite the fact that I've come back several times over the years, it was N's first time and I was excited to show him around and let him experience the amazing food culture of this vibrant city.

The highlight of the trip was our visit to Vue De Monde, which we booked a few weeks in advance with the intention to celebrate our anniversary (we will probably celebrate again in October).

Located on the 55th floor of the Rialto Building, the view from our table was spectacular. N said that it reminded him of his Salt Grill days, which is located on the top of Ion Orchard Singapore.

The service was impeccable and the wait staff was more than happy to answer whatever questions we had regarding the food and restaurant. There was none of the snobbery one might expect from a fine dining restaurant. We even spotted a gentleman at another table wearing bermuda shorts and runners.

What can I say about he food except "wow! wow! wow!" We ordered the chef's menu which set us back about $300/head, excluding the cocktails we each ordered for ourselves. Was the money worth it though? Every damn penny. The menu showcased the wide variety of local produce and native ingredients, some of which we both have never even come across. With every dish that came along, it was like we were having our mini expedition into the bushlands and along the Australian coastline. Presentation was spot-on. Towards the end, we even had a small campfire brought to our table for some toasted marshmallows with a frozen chocolate core.

It will be difficult to go into detail every dish that was served to us. So I will leave now with pictures that will absolutely do no justice to the wonderful food that we had. To top it all off, we got a goodie bag with a little homemade brioche loaf, strawberry jam, tea and granola to take home. We finished the bread over the course of the remainder of the trip and it certainly was as spectacular as expected, even on its own.

Tasmanian sea urchin with cavier and bunya bunya

Mud crab snags with kohlrabi and tarragon

Mud crab with native pesto and koji

Western Australian marron “curry”

Homemade flat bread with butter made from a cheese culture

Sea parsley sorbet with herbs and flowers

Flinders Island lamb with sweetbreads, pine mushroom and seaweed

Local cheese, homemade lavish and preserves and honey

Chocolate soufflé with espresso ice cream

The whole celeriac with grapefruit and finger lime

Australian biscuits : anzac biscuits, tim tams and iced vovos

Authentic Mun Chee Kee King of Pig's Organ Soup

Jalan Besar is one of those areas in Singapore that hosts a diversity of tenants ranging from seedy bars and massage parlours, a crossfit box, late night street food stalls and my weightlifting gym. It is a playground that comes to life once the sun sets. Never having lived near this district, I've only begun to explore and discover her little hidden gems after I started training at my current gym.

One of the frequent haunts of my fellow gym members seeking a protein-rich post-workout meal is the Authentic Mun Chee Kee King of Pig's Organ Soup, which is but a 10 minute walk away. I've already gone a few times myself, because the standard of food is consistently good every time. The only drawback of this is that a number of other Singaporeans seem to agree with me, and there have been times where I'd walk away in disappointment, deterred by the snaking queue outside the stall.

Their signature dish is obviously the pig's organ soup, which costs an affordable $4 for a small bowl or $6 for a larger portion. The menu also features dishes like vinegar pig's trotter, lu rou fan (braised pork belly with rice), preserved vegetable amongst many other traditional Chinese dishes.

I usually order the $6 soup without pig's liver. The generous portion of organ and meat is served in a clear soup. The soup is rich with sweet porky flavour and can be refilled at the front of the stall if you would like more.

Besides the soup, I've also recently tried the vinegar pig's trotter which costs $7. This dish came with a generous serving of gelatinous and fatty meat in a dark sauce. The sauce is not as acidic as I would like. Instead, it is more a sweet gravy with a mild fragrance of vinegar.

I might give the other dishes a go in the future. For now, the pig's organ soup is the one thing I crave strongly enough to even brave the Singapore heat and guzzle it after a draining workout. Especially since I found out that you could request for an $8 bowl of soup instead of the $6!

Visit to Outerspace

N and I rarely travel beyond the West side of Singapore without a good enough reason. You see, it's hard enough to match our personal schedules, and the last thing we want to do when we eventually meet is spend half our time together commuting from place to place. For this reason, we usually make the most of any opportunity where we might be in a "foreign" part of Singapore, usually for the occasional social obligation (e.g. house warming or wedding), to explore the food there.

One of these opportunities came in the form of the fact that we went to Punggol for N's powerlifting coach's house party. N wanted to try the Punggol Nasi Lemak in Upper Serangoon Road, which is touted to be one of the most renowned stalls in the area.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of Singapore's national breakfast dish. There's something about coconut rice that doesn't sit well with me. I haven't been able to identify the exact reason why I abhor it so, but I suspect the smell of the rice/coconut pairing could be the main culprit. I've made many attempts over the years to revisit the dish, praying that the feeling of disgust at the smell of the rice is only a figment of my imagination. However, every attempt has proven to be yet another failure.

We arrived late in the evening to a bustling crowd of hungry locals (and a smattering of tourists) queueing for nasi lemak. The queue moved quickly and N manage to procure a serving of the dish after about a 10 minute wait. Not being a fan of the dish, I can't say I'm too familiar with the usual fix-ins that come with the dish. This version came with the lontong vegetables, otah, fried chicken wing, fried ngoh hiang and ikan bilis with peanuts.

To my surprise, the rice did not trigger my gag reflex and I managed to consume small mouthfuls of it together with the individual accompaniments. All the elements of the dish were fresh and fared well on the flavour front. I felt an acidic element like achar (is this traditionally eaten with nasi lemak?) would have cut through the richness of the oil and grease and balanced out the dish quite nicely. Even the thin sliver of cucumber served nothing more than being a mere decoration.

Also on our agenda that evening was the korean fried chicken, recommended by N's head chef. He said that that there isn't any KFC outside of Korea that is as good as the one next to the Nasi Lemak stall. With such high praises sung of the fried chicken there, N and I looked past the fact that there weren't any Korean chefs cooking (or even serving for that matter) and the fact that the stall was hidden in the shadier part of the coffee shop.

The a la minute chicken took a while to be prepared. It arrived at our table piping hot, crunchy and coated with a thin layer of sweet/spicy glaze. The chicken pieces were meaty and moist, and the portion served was generous. Never again will I waste pennies at commercialised establishments like Four Fingers or even Oven and Fried Chicken for measly pieces of anorexic chicken, coated in more batter than there is chicken, and then glazed with liquified sugar.

With tummies (and hearts) full from our delightful meal, we went home, completely ignoring the fact that we had once again failed to stick to our re-established diet resolutions.