Food For Thought, Revisited!

15th May 2010, Written By Mu Yao.

A meetup with my JC classmates saw us hanging out at this lovely place for about 3 hours (much to the dismay of the staff, haha, since they were facing seating problems for other customers). The very homely atmosphere just didn't want us to leave I guess - and we just kept on talking and talking over food and drinks.

Since we arrived early, we started off with some tea, so I ordered a Red Velvet Cake ($6) and a Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Trifle ($7). Both were quite fantastic, especially the famed Red Velvet Cake - quite different from the one I had at the North Bridge Road outlet. This time, it came with this strawberry (?) syrup that complemented the cake quite well. The cream cheese icing was of course, smooth and sweet as I remembered it, and complemented the cocoa/vanilla base quite well (yes, its cocoa, the red color is caused by the reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk with the cocoa). It's one of those lusciously decadent cakes that you have on lazy, relaxing saturday afternoons with a book in your hand. Full of Southern (american) bliss.

The Peanut Butter, Chocolate and Banana Trifle was exactly how I imagined it would taste like. Utterly sinful, thick and indulgent. I was pretty much so immersed in pigging my face out that I missed quite a bit of conversation that was going on between my dining counterparts. The cushy-soft, not-too-sweet (thankfully, or else it would taste too gelak) brownies, (semi-melted?) bananas and the nice saltiness of the peanut butter could make just about anyone turn into a glutton for a day. The explosion of flavours will linger in your mouth for pretty long. Thankfully I had a pretty light and refreshing Peppermint Tea (Twinnings, of course) to complement my slightly overwhelmed tastebuds. And of course, the readings on the wall seemed reassuring (see first picture).

Soon, after an hour of small talk, it was time for dinner, after the last person of our group arrived. 2 of us had the Basil Almond Pesto With Chicken Linguine ($13), another had a Shitake and Button Mushroom Risotto ($15), another had a Calamari Seafood Risotto ($18) while I had the Crispy Curry Chicken with Spicy Chilli Fries ($18).

I shan't review the Basil Almond Pesto Pasta here, for I did so the last time. Sorry, I'm lazy!

First up was the Mushroom Risotto. Like most mushroom risottos I've had so far, this one was quite salty, but the taste and smell of the mushrooms was equally strong and fragrant, so the overall taste of this dish was more savoury then over-seasoned. The consistency of the risotto rice was quite pleasant, with a pretty good viscosity (not sure if that's the word) between the rice grains. I liked this dish quite a bit.

I tried the Seafood Risotto, which didn't fare so well -it had that faint fishy seafood smell which I didn't like. However, it was still bearable and I still quite liked the overall taste of this dish - I think the salmon was a good complement with the texture of the risotto. The good thing about this was that both risottos were not too creamy/sticky, which causes you to feel sian after eating it for awhile, and it was adequately peppered with correct amounts of seasonings and herbs to mask the otherwise overtly strong flavours of either mushroom or fish. Overall, I still wouldn't mind recommending the risottos to anyone - because they are fundamentally good and well executed. :) Portions may seem small, but according to my friends, they were "quite filling".

Last up was my Crispy Curry Chicken. Served with Buttered Corn Salad and a Mayo (?)-based dipping sauce, it was quite a highlight of this meal. The portion was firstly, really huge - I think I almost had a problem finishing it (and that's saying something coming from an army boy). The chicken was fried to a pleasant consistency - not oily at all, which I appreciated very much, delicate crispiness and the chicken meat inside was still moist. All pointed to characteristics of good fried chicken. However, I couldn't really taste the "curry" in the curry chicken. Which may or may not be good - good because it made the dish taste lighter, not overwhelming; bad because it just felt like good fried chicken (which isn't really anything wrong). The dipping sauce was a good complement to the fried items though, if not I think I'll keep downing water every 2 seconds due to the dryness of fried items in general. A thing about the fries though - yes, they have this lovely crispness on the outside, but the soft potato inside makes your throat dry after eating just a few fries. Not that I'm blaming them or anything, (its usually the case for bistro food), but I prefer less thick fries. Shoestrings are my favourite, in particular. Well, that's personal preference I guess. Oh and yes, the salad. The corn was nicely sweet (loved it) and accented the dish well. Overall, this was a solid dish (totally worth the 18 bucks).

In all, our bill came up to about $93.10 for 5 people, which was pretty decent 'cos we were stuffed to our brims when we walked out, a whole 3 plus hours later. Would definitely come back to this establishment again - its one of my favourite hangouts now. Now that Chef David's back ;)

TECHNICAL INFORMATION:

Address: 8 Queen Street (Beside Singapore Art Museum's 8Q)

Contact No.: 6338 9887

Website: http://foodforthought.com.sg/Food_For_Thought.html

Operating Hours: 9AM - 10PM daily