Ami Patisserie

Why should pastry be relegated to breakfast, tea or dessert?

At Ami Patisserie, chef Makoto Arami serves a six-course Chef’s Table Discovery Experience ($118++ a person) that shows how pastry can be had anytime, all the time, whenever. Or, in Japanese, the concept of tsudo.

The 35-year-old, whose father and grandfather ran sweets businesses, had operated Ami as an online business, making a name for himself with his choux puffs, tarts and cakes. Now, he has an elegant space, modelled on a kyo machiya or Kyoto-style wooden townhouse, in which to flex.

The chef’s table is an eight-seat counter in the patisserie’s Tsudoi Dining Room. The word is Japanese for “a friendly gathering”, and this is where diners have a chance to see chef Arami putting the finishing touches on each course.

If you have only had his choux puffs delivered to your home, you will appreciate what a huge difference it makes when you have it just a minute or two after it has been filled.

The craquelin on the Signature Choux crackles just so when you bite into it – there is no time for the creme fraiche and caviar topping to soften it. The filling is made with luxe Mangetsu Noukou eggs. It is a highlight of the tasting menu.

Also part of the tasting menu are things the chef has never sold at Ami. His sourdough bread, the starter made with Aomori apple skin, is not as tart as I like my sourdough bread to be. But I love the crust, which shatters satisfyingly when I bite into it. The snail-shaped nori buns are an umami bomb.

The tasting menu also gives chef Arami the chance to showcase Japanese vegetables. Amela tomatoes from Shizuoka prefecture top a crisp parmesan cookie; eggplant from Kochi prefecture features in a creme brulee that gets zing from kinome leaves.

And because he is, after all, trained in the art of dessert, the tasting menu features two – one featuring coffee and chocolate; the other, all sweetness and light, showcasing strawberries and mint.

How, you ask, can pastry make a meal? Yes, it can. I need a coffee to stop myself slipping into a food coma.

Ami also has a 12-seat patisserie cafe, where diners can have savouries and sweets with coffee or tea. The selection includes his signature choux, such as Pecan Banana ($13++) and Tahitian Vanilla ($11++). For the first time, Ami is also offering Japanese fruit parfaits, including Strawberry ($35++).

Oh, and his excellent croissants, made with Lescure butter from France, are priced at $5.80++ each. Half the price of that other one. Just so you know.

Where: 27 Scotts Road
MRT: Newton
Tel: 8907-6146
Open: Patisserie cafe – 11.30am to 6pm (Tuesdays to Fridays), 11am to 6pm (Saturdays and Sundays), Tsudoi Dining Room – noon to 3pm, 7 to 9pm (Wednesdays to Saturdays), noon to 6pm (Sundays), closed on Mondays and Tuesdays

Wildfire Burgers

Nine years is a long time to survive in Singapore’s competitive food scene and Wildfire Burgers is hitting that milestone with a revamp. There is now just one 40-seat restaurant – at Robertson Walk – and a recharged menu featuring new patties, buns and sauces.

The new beef patties are made with Stone Axe Wagyu from Australia. They get smoky in the restaurant’s Inka charcoal oven and are stuffed perfectly medium-rare into the Classic 101 Cheeseburger ($16) and Triple Bacon ($19), among other burgers.

But what I zoom in on are the non-beef burgers.

I love the Ottoman Lamb ($19), the juicy patty made with White Pyrenees grain-fed lamb and then layered with eggplant caviar and hummus. Supplying tang and tartness are fennel tzatziki and crumbled feta, and crunch comes from sliced raw onions.

The new Black Halibut ($18) burger features a thick filet of Norwegian black halibut encased in a crisp beer batter. It is nothing like a fast-food fish burger and that is a very good thing. I really just want less sauce – dill tartar is good, but I want to taste the fish.

Another good one is Hot Honey Butter Chicken ($18), a tall, substantial burger stuffed with a juicy deep-fried chicken thigh. As if that is not enough, there are crisp strips of bacon too. I want the whipped sriracha honey butter to just be spicier.

On a night when you cannot tackle a big burger, get Steak Frites. The 250g Portoro striploin ($38) from Australia is cooked in the Inka and served with Bordelaise sauce, fries and a salad. If I had the space, I would buy myself an Inka. It does wonders for meat, and the steak is juicy and smoky.

For obligatory fibre, get the Wedge Salad ($13) which, I assure you, is not health food by any stretch of the imagination. Wedges of sweet, crisp iceberg lettuce are drizzled with a creamy parmesan dressing and topped with crispy bacon, cherry tomatoes, walnuts, onions and – best of all – crumbled blue cheese.

Where: 01-12 Robertson Walk, 11 Unity Street
MRT: Fort Canning
Open: 4 to 11pm daily
Info: wildfireburgers.com

Home Flavours

Have you noticed the proliferation of house brand products in supermarkets? If you have, you will also know the offerings can be hit-and-miss.

What has been a hit for me is some of FairPrice’s new Home Flavours pork dishes, which debuted in time for Chinese New Year. The frozen packs are portioned to serve two; can be reheated in the microwave, oven or air-fryer, depending on the dish; and are mostly priced below $10.

My favourite is Braised Pork Belly With Preserved Vegetables ($10). It tastes pretty homemade, even though I know it is made in huge quantities in a factory. But the slices of pork belly are luscious and tender, and great with the mei cai. The gravy is a tad salty, so have it with porridge.

Braised Soft Bone Pork ($8.98) is another excellent dish from the range.

I also recommend Honey Coffee Pork Chop ($8.98). I love the sauce, punchy from coffee and what tastes like shallots. I suggest reducing it stovetop – just let the sauce boil until it becomes a little syrupy so it coats the pork better.

Hakka Fried Fermented Beancurd Pork ($8.98) is good as a snack with beer. While I love pork belly char siew, the Premium Pork Char Siew ($11) is a tad fatty for me. And if you get the Roasted Pork Belly ($11), leave it in the oven five to eight minutes longer than the recommended time to get the skin more crisp.

Where: FairPrice stores and fairprice.com.sg