It gives me great and immense pleasure to be finally able to write about Iggy's.
SO MUCH have been said about this restaurant. Top 100 in the world, a personal favourite of Chubbyhubby (the food blogger) and ranked No. 1 in Singapore. Les Amis and My Humble House used to be in the top 100 for last year too. And we tried Les Amis in 2007 and some dishes are still unforgettable. The head chef for Les Amis has since changed and went on to open his own restaurant in Purvis Street (stay tuned for that!!! :D )
Back to Iggy's. Even its name looks great by itself!
That's the entrance of the resturant and even its name in bold, strong and golden letters are showing you a glimpse of the gastronomical heaven that you will go into.
I've read countless reviews about this place. It seems that the counter seats are highly coveted for and by sitting at the counter, you can see the chefs themselves in action, creating your lovely food. For more privacy, we sat at the proper tables and chairs area instead where we were in a separate section with about 4 or 5 tables which were spaced at a very comfortable distance apart. There were even built in book shelves which hold plenty of food books like "Fast Food Nation", a book by Gordon Ramsey and food guides for countries like Japan etc. This section exudes a very homely feel and you'll feel relaxed, comfortable and happy to be served with their food.
Their complimentary bread was the best I ever ate. When it arrived, it was warm and when you spread butter on it, the butter will melt and lovingly cover the bread. The crust was done very well and according to some foreign expert reviewer, their bread is as good as some excellent fine dining French restaurants.
Lunch at Iggy's is a very affordable affair. It's $55++ for a three course meal and $75++ for a four course meal. If you choose to have wagyu striploin, it will be $95++ and $110++ respectively.
Their appetisers are crazy. Every single one sounds so good. We tried the following:
1. QUAIL (Galantine of quail and foie gras with frisee salad and fig coulis)
- Foie gras will never be wrong! Average dish.
2. GNOCCHI (Home- made potato gnocchi with truffle salsa and soft-boiled eggs)
- The egg yolk sitting in the middle of the gnocchi looks so ready to erupt. The dish was kind of salty though. But interesting.
3. RISOTTO (Squid ink risotto with charcoal- grilled baby octopus)
4. PAPPARDELLE (Pappardelle with mushrooms and Kurobuta pork cheek)
Its tough to exactly describe the taste of every appetiser because each one brings a totally different flavour to it. Each one was a totally exciting sight to behold but the best out of the four was the Risotto. The risotto (rice) was fantabulous and just wait till you place the baby octopus into your mouth and sink your teeth into it. Oooh... The char-grilled flavour comes out immediately and the meat is just tender enough. Just thinking of this dish makes me go ahhhhhh.
The pappardelle with the Kurobuta pork cheek (the equivalent of kobe beef on the pork hierarchy) was savoury and nicely done. Pappardelle is a type of pasta. The pork meat was very flavourful and the combination of the pappardelle with the pasta is very well done.
Moving on to the acclaimed and most famous dish at Iggy's. Every table ordered at least one for main course. It's the Iggy's burger!! (I am not posting the photo because its best to let your imagination run wild) I love the wagyu beef patty! The beef is minced and some people may not like that, but I think its great. I'm not very sure on how to describe the most delicious beef patty I've tried. Juicy, it is. Flavoursome, it is too. Even at the very least, this burger is above average. Its damn good to me though. Its a mini burger so don't expect it to be huge or anything.
Dessert time, we had GRAND MARNIER (Grand marnier souffle with home-made Java vanilla ice cream) and CHEESE CAKE (Cheese cake with berry compote and strawberry shortcake).
Cheese cake was ok but I didn't think the base was good enough. The strawberry shortcake was smooth and yogurt-y. Doesn't seem sinful to me which is good!
The souffle was not exactly all puff and nothing great. But this was the only second time I tried souffle and I have no experience in judging how good it really is. I'd say its good and there were some custard. I like it better when I put a bit of vanilla ice cream onto my spoon of souffle and eat it like that.
Overall, it was a wonderful journey into the world of Iggy's. Lunch moved at a relax pace of about 1.5 hours for a four course meal and I'd like to go back again =)
Iggy's
The Regent Singapore
Level 3, 1 Cuscaden Road
Singapore 249715
Tel: 6732 2234
Opening hours: LUNCH: Mon - Fri (12pm to 2pm), DINNER: Mon - Sun (7pm to 930)
Bukit Timah has lots of swanky joints. Relish is an outlet opened by the same people behind Wild Rocket at Mt Emily (Have not been there though) and focuses on burgers.
Their most reviewed and talked about burger is undisputedly the Wild Rocket burger. The beef patty is described as thick and juicy. Check it out below.
The burger is tall and one will wonder which is the best way to eat it - with hands or with the fork and knife? Nonetheless, when you cut into the beef patty, its scrumptious juice will ooze out. The beef patty looks so thick and yummy that I can still vividly see it in my mind. According to Chubbyhubby, this is the next best burger after his no. 1, which is Iggy's wagyu beef burger. Anyhow, the fries are pretty good and if you think that the burger will not fill up your stomach, the fries will. Oh yeah, ask for their mustard sauce. There's no other better way to eat the fries than dipping it in mustard. $15 only.
We tried their Seafood Burger with Lemon Mayo. What's in the seafood package? Crab, squid, fish and prawn. I particularly like their lemon mayo which is another great pairing with the seafood burger. The seafood patty is great. I could see bits and pieces of the 4 kinds of seafood in it when I bite into it.
What I like about Relish is that visually, their patties are thick, wholesome and juicy. I will definitely be back if I ever want to have burgers. This costs $19.
They serve all their burgers with specially selected beers. And from the way the burgers turn out, they should definitely know what they are they doing and I bet the beers will indeed be excellently paired up.
Relish
501 Bukit Timah Road
#02-01 Cluny Court
Singapore 259760
Tel: 67631547
http://www.wildrocket.com.sg/relish.htm
Opening hours: Mon - Fri: Noon - 3pm, 6pm - 11pm, Weekends: Noon - 11pm
Adam Road Hawker Centre is most famous for their nasi lemak, but today we're not gonna talk about that. Since nasi lemak can be quite subjective and I don't eat nasi lemak.
There is a prawn noodles stall there which is quite prominent. Crabs filled with a salivating amount of orange and yellow roe and big, fat and juicy prawns stare out at you from within the stall display. They serve pork ribs prawn noodles too, but I have not thought of it till now, but maybe you can order pork ribs prawn noodles with crab! I bet that will be the most expensive bowl of noodles you will ever buy at a hawker centre. It sounds like a dream combination though ;)
Their soup is the clear kind and while there is prawn flavour to the soup, its not strong enough for me. The kuay teow that I ordered with the prawn noodles is at the bottom and its the thinner kind. Having such big prawns are a major plus factor for me and I will say that this dish is above average. I would say the prawn noodles stall at Lavender Food Centre has the best soup. Just mentioning it is enough to make me want a bowl now.
The crab version is the same. Just no prawns inside the soup that is cooked with prawns. The treasure you are looking for is underneath its shell. You should go discover it yourself. It will burst any cholesterol meter. But it will not hurt once in a while. Haha. It costs something along $8 to $10 for a bowl with half crab. One full crab will be almost twice the price.
There is another stall which is quite good. It only specialises in Mee soto and mee siam! This is a Malay stall and it has a red sign board. For me, this is the best mee soto in Singapore. The soup is damn tasty and satisfying. The chicken meat soft and tender enough. Extremely good for rainy days or when you are looking for some savoury soup.
Alternatively, you can just order the chicken and soup without the noodles and that will be fantastic too.
Chen Fu Ji is an old establishment since the time when Chinatown was still real and not a psuedo cultural tourist trap. Can't remember when was that? More than fifty years ago. Many things have since changed.
From the start, their fried rice have been extremely well received. And in those days, mostly middle-lower and blue collared workers patronised the stall.
What exactly is so special about this fried rice which costs about $18 for a two person serving? According to their website:
1. The four treasures in cooking - shallots, garlic, ginger and spring onion
2. Rice that is carefuly selected for its grain size, texture and mositure content
3. Rice which is cooked and conditioned prior frying
4. Each grain of rice is fused with egg, giving it a smooth texture and golden hue
5. A distinctive aroma when served
6. Heap of unique egg floss and freshly peeled crab meat
7. No hint of oil
And I'd say I agree with all that. Every rice grain is really "golden" from the egg used. The crab meat was everywhere, the egg floss was really delicious AND there was no hint of oil. The dish was served in a black claypot like pot. When the lid was uncovered, it looked good perhaps with the contrast of golden against the black pot.
Is it worth the $18? Yes. For a first novelty try to find out what the fuss is about anyway. Will I eat it again? Maybe once every few years. But its not because it is lousy, but because I am not a huge fan of rice and my mother can whip up a plate of above average fried rice which is almost similar to theirs. And I can add in my own crab meat! Maybe I'll bite off one huge chunk of crab pincer and go along with my mum's fried rice instead.
Chen Fu Ji
3 outlets at Riverside Point, Suntec City and Changi Airport Terminal 2
http://www.chenfuji.com.sg/eng/
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