Revolver has to be one of the best new restaurants that have opened this year, in the midst of the pandemic no less. You have to admit that they are bold, just like their fiery wood-fired, grill and tandoori offerings made with fresh seasonal ingredients and based on Indian cooking sensibilities. But the boldness works and it's already one of the hardest restaurants to get a booking at.

I was lucky to score a weekend lunch table and had a taste of Chef Saurabh’s revolving menu. While grill houses are commonplace these days, it's rare to find an Indian one like Revolver. 

To complement our 6-course affair ($99), we added a 3-glass wine pairing ($65) for a not too indulgent day-drinking experience.

First, the stuffed courgette flower, filled with a creamy spicy potato mash is first kissed by the fire, and then painted with lemon pickles. The flower maintained its delicate nature and eased us into the meal.

The fresh paneer with coriander pesto has to be the best paneer i've had. The cottage cheese is flown fresh from New Delhi daily and boy that firm tofu texture was kept even though it's finished in the tandoori. I'm not a coriander fan but i mopped up that pesto.

We couldn't help ourselves but to order the Kurobuta pork belly Vindaloo (+$20). Marinated in 5 spices and then grilled and glazed with tamarind pickles, the meat leaned on the sweet side with char siew flavors to it. We expected some heat in the Vindaloo curry sauce to balance the dish but it wasn't spicy at all. Nevertheless, this was very enjoyable.

We enjoyed it more than the Red Snapper with Gunpowder salsa (mix of Indian spices), which was a tad too blackened. Someone needs to watch the fire more closely here.

We thought the Chicken Scotch eggs were a tad out of place on the menu but it was tasty nonetheless. The soft egg was wrapped in a juicy chicken mince and nestled on a crispy nest of fried thin potato strips. The aioli and chili oil definitely helped to spice things up a notch.

Another of our favorite was the Spiced chickpeas with Parmesan Kulchette. Surprisingly, this was the spiciest dish on the menu and the heat was very manageable. Loved the texture and the umami cheesy note to this dish.

To end, the Kulfi Gelato with cardamom spices. It's not as cloying as the traditional dessert but I guess you either like it or you don't.

Come dinner, there are 3 tasting menus to pick from- Discovery Menu ($139), Experience Menu ($199) and Vegetarian Menu ($129). I can't imagine eating more though. Is Revolver worth the hype? It definitely warrants a repeat visit, if i could get a table.

Revolver

56 Tras Street, Singapore 078997

Tue-Sun : 12 - 2.30pm, 6 - 11pm

Tel: +65 6223 2812

Ovenbird is a family-owned, home-style SG-Japanese fusion restaurant helmed by self-taught Chef Jeffrey Yeo. The one-man show started 2 years ago from his Yishun flat before opening in Mar 2021 at City Gate Bugis and Chef Jeffrey continued to run everything on his own, sometimes with the help of his wife. A seasonal Omakase menu ($130 nett) is served here and Chef Jeffrey calls it 'Ah Beng style Japanese food'. 

 

Since there's only 1 chef/waiter, the courses are served to all diners at once. So please be punctual. While waiting, we started with a Japanese Dasi Ale which Chef recommended. This is definitely a first that we had beer with omakase but it was actually good with our courses. The Chawanmushi with Sake Sujiko, Matsutake trimmings and Shoyuzuke, was first served. The egg custard was deliberately kept plain to go with the creamy marinated salmon roe. 

Then the generous Ah Beng started serving us a whole lot of fish, starting with the Katsuo Tatami- fresh line-caught (bonito). Autumn is the perfect season for bonito as the fish is super fatty. The grated daikon with chili pepper and lemon ponzu helped to cut the richness of the fish. 

If you're following me on IG (@msskinnyfat), you'd know that Jr and I recently travelled to Germany on the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) on a whim. Before i get down to sharing more details of our trip and the highlights, here's a quick overview of our self-drive trip. This plan was put together and finalized in -drumrolls- 3 nights. We wavered between taking the train and driving and thus our itinerary actually changed 3 times. Anyhow, we eventually decided on driving, which gave us more flexibility in terms of our schedule and Autumn is a good time to enjoy the great German autobahns and scenery. 

Day 1

Flight to Frankfurt, Germany

Stay- Niu Charly near the Frankfurt Main train station (the breakfast spread was surprisingly good)

Day 2

Pick up car

Heidelberg

Baden Baden

Stay- Holiday Inn Express Baden Baden

Day 3

Baden Baden

Drive through Schwarzwaldhochstrasse Motorway for the Black Forest experience

Mummelsee Lake

Strasbourg, France

Freiburg

Stay- Freiburg, Busses Guesthouse

Day 4

Freiburg

Triberg Waterfalls (Go to the waterfalls only if you have time for a 1 hour hike if not it's a waste of time). 

Füssen

Stay- Hotel Sonne Füssen (highly recommended!) 

Day 5

Füssen- Hohenschwangau Castle and Neuschwanstein Castle (this will practically take the whole day). 

Oberammergau- We wanted to do the Alpine Coaster but we missed the season by 1 day. This is not available during winter. Ettal Abbey for their liquor distillery (we skipped this as we were tired from the day of touring the castles).

Stay- Quartier, GaPa

Day 6

GaPa- Partnachklamm hike (failed because it's closed for works). We did half a loop from the top of Eckbauer and almost killed ourselves on the steep icy paths. It would be best to ski down if there were snow. This took us about 1.5h. 

Mittenwald (can skip)

Stay- Quartier, GaPa

Day 7

Lake Eibsee- this is a 2h walk around and fyi there is no food around. You could take the cable car up to Zugspitz (Germany highest peak) but it's probably not worth it. We would if we were skiing.

Munich

Stay- Schwan Locke, Theresienwiese

Day 8

Took a BMW M2 and drove out of Munich for the day.

Ingolstadt Village- outlet shopping and Laduree

Nuremberg- Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds

Stay- Schwan Locke, Theresienwiese

Day 9

Took pre-departure ART test. 21dx.de near the Residence has short queues and was very fast.

Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site (English tours are at 11am and 1pm and is at least 2.5h. It was really cold when we went and it would be colder in winter. 

Stay- Schwan Locke, Theresienwiese

Day 10

Explore Munich

Flight to SG

More details on recommendations in a fuller post hopefully soon but this should give you an idea on the key stops if you were to drive from Frankfurt to Munich!

XOXO,

Travelerintransit

When we celebrated our 3rd anniversary last month, we "travelled" to Japan through Omakase @ Stevens new autumn menu, since we thought we wouldn't be travelling till next year. Chef Shusuke Kubota managed to bring autumn to us through the 11-course dinner omakase ($280/pax), using the freshest seasonal ingredients from one of our favorite countries. 

We stepped into my favorite season with a pretty delicate bowl of Gomadofu that resembled Koyo (autumn leaves). Under the warm orange Bafun uni and fresh Hokkaido Ikura lies the mochi-like homemade sesame beancurd with 'ago dashi jelly' which was slightly chewy and incredibly fragrant.

In the Hassun (snacks), the seasonal Pacific Saury made an appearance on top of a homemade brioche, dressed with garlic oil. Other snacks included the pan-seared Anglerfish liver on crispy Monaka pastry and topped with persimmon (almost foie gras-like); and the deep-fried yam with Wagyu Prosciutto.

The Hay-smoked Katsuo has been a fixture on the Chef's menu. The interesting use of Fourme d'Ambert sauce helped to tone down the fishiness, together with the sherry balsamic and walnut oil. 

This was followed by a cold Kagawa Somen tossed in a sauce made of abalone liver and rock seaweed, topped with sliced Chiba abalone and more uni. You know it's love when you get more of your favorite uni from your other half (i gave him more abalone). 

While i've had Shirako before, this was the first time i had it served hot in a broth. The heat gave the cod sperm an even creamier and milky texture. Chef Shu cooked this in his special chicken scallop broth and it does have a strong taste despite the chili oil. 

One of our favorite dishes was the fried tilefish with edible scales. Even though the fish was fried to a crisp, it was not oily at all and the fish remained crispy in the Matsutake dashi that was finished with some shaved Kabosu citrus. 

The maim event is also a staple on the menu- a charcoal-grilled Kagoshima Wagyu served with the seasonal lily bulb with Okahijiki and a sauce made with port and red wine and Sansho pepper. 

Even though we were stuffed, we couldn't help but add on Chef's special donabe. There were several toppings to pick from and we went with the Sakoshi Bay oysters on maitake dashi rice (since we didn't have it on the dinner menu) and boy were they huge! Jr was very pleased with this. 

For desserts, there's the choice of a boozy sake one with seasonal Nagano grapes on a sake jelly covered with sake kasu mousse and crushed sherbet, topped with crispy rice puffs and sake foam. The deconstructed Mont Blanc was truly a special one that is inspired by Chef Shu's childhood and his grandmother and resembles the snowcapped mountains in Nagano. 

If you're hoping to experience Japan (before any VTL happens), Omakase @ Stevens would deliver with their dinner plates and exceptional service. 

Omakase @ Stevens

30 Stevens Rd, #01-03, Singapore 257840

Tel: +65 6735 8282

Mon- Sat: 5.30 - 10.30pm

It feels so good to be able to travel again during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite all the changing border and testing requirements. I feel it especially since i helped to launch some of the Vaccinated Travel Lanes and then i benefited from it during my recent trip to Germany (more of that soon). The Singapore-Republic of Korea (ROK) VTL is probably the most exciting travel arrangements for Singaporeans since it's probably the most exciting Asian destination (was glad that my team pulled it off). While i'm not in a hurry to fly to ROK now given that the demand is really high, here's sharing what we did when we travelled before all COVID hell broke loose.

On my first trip to ROK, i did a lot of the cultural stuff like visit palaces and museums. I even did a walking tour of Changdeokgung before and this is not something you'd wanna endure in winter or summer for that matter. 

You could easily do the Gyeongbokgung + Changdeokgung+ Bukchon Hanok Village together. The Seoul Tower could be skipped imo. The best part of this area to me was the Tosokchon Samgyetang. Seriously please make a stop here for my sake. Best Samgyetang of my life. I ate some famous but lousy one on my first trip and it ruined the dish for me. My life was forever changed at Tosokchon. You could also give palace cuisine a try at Korea House, though i wasn't very impressed with the food when i tried it years back.

Another thing i loved doing was strolling along the Cheongyecheon. You could easily have food delivered to where you are for a picnic.  

Insadong-gil is a nice area to visit, for tea houses and art, and more food!). I tried a Hotteok for the first time in my life and woah this is sooooo gooood. Just look for the longest queue. You will only regret not buying more. For more sweets, head to one of to O'sulloc tea cafes. Their matcha drinks and desserts were still as good as i remembered. P.s. order the tiramisu.

Visited the Common Ground because #pretentioushipsters but really there's nothing much to do here. 

 

Instead, head to to Yeonnam area, which is a slightly more sophisticated Hongdae with cafes and boutique stores. Great coffee at Coffee Libre, and San Francisco bagels at SF Bagels! Also you can get really good breakfast rosti and pancakes at Cafe Travel Maker nearby!

Other non-eating activities include VR games which were all the rage then. The trend hasn't really caught on in SG yet. Here's one of me in a snowball fight.

We also visited the Noryangjin Seafood Market for fresh seafood and live octopus. Pick your seafood first and then have it cooked at one of the numerous restaurants! We went a little overboard. :) I didn't dare to try the live octopus in Hokkaido before but Jr convinced me to try it this time round. If you're squirmy, dip the tentacles into the sesame oil-salt dip and wait it out. It's really fresh!

       

Get your shopping fix at Dongdaemun, Myeongdong, Gangnam or Hongdae, depending on what kind of shopper you are. For me, i went crazy over the Tom's Farm nuts. 

Also my Dongdaemun experience this time round was searching for Sunji Haejunguk, an oxtail hangover soup with cow blood and Napa cabbage. The place i went to was 진짜해장국 Jinjja Haejang Guk Daehwajeong (Main Branch). I read about this in an article and it's a hole in the wall visited by locals. 

Ok who am i kidding, this is a food post disguising as a travel post LOL. Obviously the main itinerary is eating. Like A LOT. Koreans have this amazing stomach capacity. Have you seen their Mukbangs? I don't even know how! Here are the other eats that we enjoyed!

 

Michelin Bib Gourmand Myeongdong Kyoja. They are known for their cut noodles and dumplings and we enjoyed the thin skins and plump filling. The handmade kalguksu was simple but comforting and we also had the cold bibim chewy noodles. Delicious and super fast service.

We also went to Michelin 2 star Mingles, also #10 on the Asia's 50 Best. Their lunches are super decently priced!

My biggest regret was not having Jokbal (pig trotters) at the Jangchung-dong Jokbal Alley is one of the many must-visit alleyways in Seoul. Instead we had Chimaek (several times). There are plenty of brands to choose from and i can't decide what's my favorite. This was at 678 Chicken CDO and i enjoyed the crunchy spiced cheese flavor.

Do not miss the street food. I tried my first egg bread in Hongdae and to this day i'm still craving for it. Also grilled skewers are always a good idea, especially when it's cold, along with tteokboki and fishcake.

Honestly prior to this trip, i wasn't a fan of ROK and their food. But with all the K-dramas, i think our tummies have been conditioned to enjoy Korean food more these days. If you're not convinced, please go watch Let's Eat and i guarantee you'll start craving for Korean food. 

Ok since this is a pretend travel post, here are some links to refer to for your SIN-ROK VTL travel. 

Requirements for entry into ROK and requirements for entry into Singapore via the VTL. Hopefully in the near future, these testing requirements would all be scrapped and life can return to normal. Till then.

XOXO

Travelerintransit