Some restaurants, when they first open, need time to mature. Too often, restaurants open before they’re actually ready for public scrutiny. The food disappoints. The service is slow and inefficient. Sometimes, even the decor isn’t properly finished. But when an experienced, successful and talented restaurateur decides to open a new signature restaurant, chances are high that he will make darned sure that before his first paying customer ever steps foot into his new place, every single detail would be perfect.

Such is the case with Forlino, the new stunning Italian restaurant opened by Beppe de Vito and Chef Osvaldo Forlino. My always hungry wife S and I had the great pleasure of dining at Forlino on opening night and, well, quite simply, we were blown away. Forlino is stunning. It is easily one of the sexiest and chicest looking restaurants in Singapore. The floors are clad in a classic, polished black and white diamond-shaped pattern. The wood-panelled and ornately decorated walls are a warm bluish-grey. The furniture is rich and elegant. The overall space exudes power, sensuality and elegance, a rare thing for restaurants here today.

The food is equally stunning. When Chef Osvaldo cooked at Il Lido, S and I were fans. But we always felt that he wasn’t quite the right chef for what was being positioned as a very modern and contemporary Italian restaurant. Here, surrounded by his family and cooking the food his own way, i.e. more traditionally, he’s finally proving why and how his family restaurant in Northern Italy was able to earn a Michelin star. The food at Forlino is traditional Italian fine-dining. And it is beautiful.

S and I enjoyed a fabulous meal. We started with a cornmeal cake with 36 months aged parmesan, topped with egg confit, and shaved summer truffles. The second course was both S’s and my favourite dish of the night: Piedmontese veal ravioli with shank ragu (and of course, topped with some more summer truffles). This dish was sensational. You could taste the hand chopped veal inside each savory and delicate raviolo. Our main course was grilled rack of milk-fed goat with Spring vegetables and a small portion of risotto. To round off our meal, we had two desserts. The first was Volpedo white peaches in moscato gelee. The second was a gorgeous Renette apple tarte with barolo chinato gelato. Everything was delicious. Considering that the restaurant had been open for only a few hours, we were truly and deeply astounded.

As mentioned, helping Chef Osvaldo run this very impressive restaurant is his family. His whole family. Having closed their family restaurant in Tortina, the Forlino clan has moved en masse to Singapore. Chef Osvaldo’s mother is in the kitchen, baking bread daily. His wife Patrizia is chef de cuisine. His daughter Serena is also working in the kitchen. His sister Laura and another daughter Gaia — a trained sommelier — are in charge of wine. Cousin Simone is the restaurant’s manager and Simone’s wife is also cooking in the kitchen.

I have no doubt that Forlino, situated on the second floor of the 1 Fullerton building and perched overlooking Marina Bay, will be a success. It may even become Singapore’s very best Italian restaurant — it certainly is the sexiest.

Forlino
One Fullerton #02-06
1 Fullerton Road, Singapore 049213
Tel: +65 6877 6996
Three-course set lunch $45
Four-course traditional menu $100
a la carte available

(Sorry about the crappy quality of the photos. Forlino’s is very dimly lit, which while sexy as all heck, is hell for taking pictures.)

Ever since returning from Barcelona, I have been slightly obsessed with peta zeta, or as we say in English, pop rocks. It’s Oriol Balaguer’s fault. When we were in Spain, one of the must-visit places on my wife S’s itinerary was Balaguer’s boutique. She’s been slightly obsessed with this genius chocolatier ever since a pastry chef friend gave her Balaguer’s cookbook as a present some years back. Balaguer’s Barcelona boutique is a very small, chic corner space, located in the middle of a wealthy residential neighborhood. (It is also just around the corner from the showroom of Tresserra, an amazing Spanish furniture brand I am currently in love with but cannot afford — and probably won’t be able to for decades to come.)

As you can imagine, we tried many of Balaguer’s chocolates and even some of his pastries. Everything was delicious, but one thing in particular blew me away — his pop rock filled chocolate truffles. These were simply fabulous, not just because they were made with the very best chocolate but because they were fun. Really fun. I hadn’t eaten pop rocks in years. In fact, I wasn’t even aware that these effervescent candies were still being made.

Pop rocks, for those of you who have never had them (and I was amazed to discover that one of my colleagues and a close friend were among those unfortunate few), is a carbonated candy that releases carbon dioxide when popped into one’s mouth. The candy pops and sizzles on the tongue, which makes your whole mouth tingle in the most delightful way. One of the most amusing facts about this candy is that for some strange reason, back when it was really popular, some freaks started spreading a rumour that if you ate pop rocks and drank Coke at the same time, your stomach would explode. Obviously, this isn’t true, but countless kids did try and test the theory for themselves.

The Balaguer peta zeta truffles were so outstanding that the day before departing Barcelona, S and I went back to the boutique in order to purchase several boxes, for ourselves and a few friends. Of course, these lasted only a week or two. Since then, I have been sporadically doing research of how we home-chefs can play with pop rocks in our own desserts.

The first thing I had to do, of course, was get my hands on some pop rocks. Thank the gods for eBay. A couple clicks and within a week, a carton of 36 packets of pop rocks (half of them strawberry flavoured and the other half watermelon) was delivered to my door. As you might imagine, there aren’t a whole lot of interesting recipes out there. Most of them were the “sprinkle your pop rocks on your finished dessert” variety, which to me seems like a bit of a culinary cop-out. Then I found Heston Blumenthal’s “popping-candy chocolate cake”, a chocolate mousse cake built over a hazlenut and pop rock base. The recipe seemed promising and relatively easy to make.

The pop rocks are mixed into melted milk chocolate. This in turn is mixed into a hazelnut paste and pressed into the bottom of a ring mould (Heston suggests making one cake using a 12cm ring mould but S and I used 9cm moulds and discovered that his recipe provides enough to make 3 smaller cakes). This becomes the base of the cake. From the pictures, you can tell that we really should have made the base quite a bit thinner (but hey, this was our first attempt).

The mousse was rich and tasty. Very delicious in fact. But when chilled, it became dense and a little too heavy for our tastes. S and I have decided that if and when we make another popping-candy cake, we’ll use a light gelatin-based mousse a la Hidemi Sugino (i.e. a Japanese style mousse cake).

That said, the cake was fun to make and even more fun to eat. We ate one, gave one to our colleagues, and another to a friend (the one who had never had pop rocks before). I have 26 packets of pop rocks left so I plan on experimenting a little more. Here’s the recipe in case some of you can get your hands on some pop rocks and want to try the recipe also.

Heston Blumenthal’s popping-candy chocolate cake

For the popping-candy base
85g whole hazelnuts
40g milk chocolate
2 tsp mixed spice
100g popping candy

For the chocolate mousse
350g dark chocolate
400ml double cream
Pinch of salt

For the chocolate glaze
20g chocolate (same type as for the mousse)
120ml water
8 whole coffee beans
Couple of pinches of salt
30g cocoa powder
70g unrefined golden caster sugar

To make the base, preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/Gas Mark 4 and roast the hazelnuts for about 10 minutes until lightly coloured. Blend to a paste in a food processor, then set aside. Melt the milk chocolate in a bain-marie (a large basin over a saucepan of simmering shallow water take care that the water does not touch the basin) and stir in the ginger spice and popping candy. Next, fold in the hazelnut pure. Place the 12 cm ring mould on a serving dish and gently press in the base mixture to a depth of about 1cm. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until hard.

To make the mousse, chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a metal bowl. Bring 150ml of the cream to the boil in a small saucepan. Pour it over the chopped chocolate and stir extremely gently until all the chocolate has melted, watching carefully to ensure it doesnt take on a granular texture. Add the salt to taste. Once the chocolate cream has cooled to room temperature, lightly whip the remaining 250ml cream to soft peaks, but do not overwhip. Fold into the chocolate mix. Pour over the base in the ring mould and place in the fridge to set for two hours.

To make the glaze, chop up the chocolate and set aside. Place the water, coffee beans and salt in a pan, whisk in the cocoa powder, then set over a medium heat and simmer for about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, put the sugar in a small pan and melt over a medium heat. Unrefined sugar will caramelise quickly, so keep an eye on it; when it does, pour over the coffee and cocoa mix stand back, as it will bubble and spit. Beat in the chopped chocolate and, when melted, pass through a fine sieve. When cool, but still liquid, pour over the mousse to your preferred depth and return the cake to the fridge to set.

To serve, run a hot knife around the inside of the ring before removing the cake. When slicing it, again make sure the blade of the knife is nice and hot.

S and I both love good restaurants. We love all aspects that contribute to a great place to dine, including delicious food, top-notch service, well thought-out menu and collateral designs, chic uniforms, gorgeous interiors, a good wine list and an equally yummy cocktail list, a sexy and soothing soundtrack, smart lighting, a great and unique location, and a chic and attractive clientele. Of course, not all restaurants are able to offer all of the above. Some succeed by being outstanding in just a couple areas, like having a super-sexy crowd and awesome cocktails for example. Some can even get by with amazing food and nothing else. But when all the elements come together, that’s restaurant magic.

For the past few years, S and I have had the enormous pleasure of helping clients create new restaurants. Our latest project, The White Rabbit, opens this week. The White Rabbit, owned by the very cool cats behind Loof, is situated in the very beautiful, old Ebenezer Chapel on Harding Road, in the very trendy Dempsey Road area in Singapore. The chapel has been gorgeously restored. A new roof has been put in (to replace the old asbestos roof that was threatening to cave in); a large wooden deck has been built out back; new stained glass windows have been commissioned for the space; and new grass has been put down around the building.

Super-cool architects Takenouchi Webb have really done a marvelous job designing the interiors of the restaurant. It’s classy, sexy, cool, hip, retro and yet also excitingly modern. It’s the kind of space that works equally well for a hot date, a boisterous birthday party, a fun family meal, and even a very cool client dinner. I especially love the banquette tables along the wall. They’re perfect for people-watching while maintaining a certain amount of privacy.

The main dining hall seats around 90 diners plus another 20-30 at the indoor bar. In addition, there is a lovely, air-conditioned, sunlit, all white room off the main hall. We’ve taken to calling it the “Sunday Room”. I’m predicting that it will soon become a fan favourite. We’ve already had one gorgeous gal book the room for a baby shower. Out back (past the Sunday Room) is a wooden deck that houses the outdoor bar. Dubbed “The Rabbit Hole”, this cool space can seat another 40 persons comfortably.

The food is very good. The White Rabbit’s Executive Chef is Daniel Sia. Chef Sia was most recently working with Chef Justin Quek at Le Platane in Shanghai. Before that he ran the kitchens at the restaurant in Harvey Nichols in Hong Kong. Previous to that, he was one of the two head chefs that opened Marmalade and was in charge of Marmalade Pantry when it first opened. Chef Sia has also trained briefly under England’s original badboy celebrity chef, Marco-Pierre White. The food, like the restaurant’s interior, is cool and classic. The menu is a goldmine of classic European comfort foods, plus some slightly fancier fare. Some of the standout dishes on the menu include Oysters (Rockefeller, Au Gratin or Natural); Steak Tartare; Chicken and Duck Liver Parfait; Chef Sia’s Salad Printemps (served with mangoes, asparagus, and black truffles); Slightly Spiced Prawn Bisque (topped with a coconut and laksa souffle); Chicken a la King; Oxtail Stew; Lobster Thermidor; Tournedos Rossini; and The White Rabbit Mac and Cheese (served with black truffles and a truffle sauce). The desserts are also pretty nifty. I really like Chef Sia’s Mars Bar Souffle, Strawberries Romanoff, and Baked Alaska. The White Rabbit Black Forest Cake is really fun too; it is a deconstructed and totally modern take on the classic dessert.

One of the things we’re really hoping to encourage at The White Rabbit is the idea of pre-dinner and post-dinner drinks. Our bartenders have worked with a consultant to create a pretty great cocktail menu. We will be offering a good selection of classic drinks, made traditionally and properly, plus a selection of brand new, totally modern creations inspired by these famous drinks.

The White Rabbit officially opens 25 June 2008. That said, a small number of tables are being made available over the next few days (please call for a reservation if you want to come in during this preview period). Drop by, have a drink and enjoy a good meal. Please remember that every good restaurant takes a bit of time to hit its stride. So, have a bit of patience and please give our managers your honest feedback. We’re going to try our best to make The White Rabbit a great restaurant. But all great things take a bit of time.

See you at The White Rabbit.

The White Rabbit
39C Harding Road
Singapore
Tel: +65 6473 9965
Open Tuesday - Sunday lunch and dinner

My greedy but gorgeous wife S and I have wanted to try El Bulli for almost a decade. We first heard about this exciting Spanish restaurant in the late 90s/early naughties. In 2001, at Tasting Australia, we were lucky enough to attend an incredible two-hour long private demonstration during which Ferran Adria showed off some of his more innovative cooking techniques to a room full of journalists. Later that day, we were given a few minutes to interview this revolutionary artist-philosopher-cook.

While theoretically we’ve wanted to dine at El Bulli, I have to admit we never really did anything about it. We never tried making reservations or tried planning a trip. We just assumed that we’d get around to it one day. Of course, as the years passed by and booking a table went from hard-to-get to almost impossible, we started to wonder if maybe we’d been waiting too long. So, when a good friend — a restaurateur who is friends with Ferran — called me two months ago and said, “Hey, I’ve decided to swing by El Bulli on the way to the States in May. I have a table for 6 and am calling you first. Do you want to go? But…um… I need to know right now,” S and I jumped at it. And even though we had just decided to postpone a trip to Italy that we had been planning for September 08 to sometime in 2009 because we weren’t sure we could afford it, we said, “what the halibut” and have put ourselves into even greater credit card debt than we already are.

We totally lucked out. The day we visited El Bulli was gorgeous. It had been sunny and warm all day. Our friends, who had gotten the table for us, drove into Roses that morning. Six of us (we had been travelling in Catalonia with two other friends) had a wonderful, lazy seafood lunch at a local tapas restaurant in town and then spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out. Two more friends arrived in the afternoon. They had flown in from Geneva just for dinner. We were able to increase the table to 8 for them; our dinner date just happened to fall on their 13th wedding anniversary.

El Bulli is beautifully situated. It rests on at the end of a lonely road, across beautiful, green hills and right by the water. The building itself is rustic, charming and casual. Not the kind of place that you’d expect to find the world’s most innovative cuisine. After meeting Ferran Adria and Juli Soler, we sat in the restaurant’s courtyard for a while, enjoying Yuzu-sake-tonic cocktails chased with a bottle of Comtesse Marie de France 1998 by Paul Bara and some really exciting nibbles. We enjoyed cream filled nori snacks, shiso jellies, an edible “passion orchid”, tomato biscuits, pinenut and chocolate bon bons, and “Pekin crepes”.

We then moved to our table in the main dining room and had what can only be described as one of the most unique dining experiences of my life. We had 24 more courses, not counting a quartet of post-dessert items called “Morphings”. Below is the menu (as written by El Bulli) with some short comments on some of the dishes: Mint leaf with coconut - this came in two bites. Beetroot coral. Black sesame sponge cake with miso. Gorgonzola moshi — I assume they meant “mochi”; this was a version of Adria’s liquid ravioli.

Grilled strawberry. LYO-Cream — this was a combination of a cream puff served with a spoon of carbonara cream. Razor clam / Laurencia — this was a gorgeously cooked bamboo clam served with an “El Bulli clam” of ponzu jelly. Haricot bean with Joselito’s Iberian pork fat — this was my favourite course of the whole dinner; the super delicious and savoury bean explodes in your mouth.

Mandarine flower/pumpkin oil with mandarine seeds (my photo of this really stunk so I left it out). Almond jellies with cocktail of fresh almonds “Umeboshi”. Mushroom canape. Black garlic ravioli. Lychee — this was a light dashi broth with daikon carved to look like lychees. Water lily — this was a cold tea soup that S loved. Game meat canape. Peas 2008 — the peas on the right are real peas; the ones on the left are Adria’s liquid raviolis filled with pea soup. Asparagus with miso.

Gnocchi of polenta with coffee and safran yuba — these gnocchi also explode in your mouths; yum! “Negrito” 2008 — this was a lovely seared local fish covered with a sweet foam. Abalone. Hare juise with apple-jelly with black currant marinated — I have to admit, this dish was not my favourite.

Pistachio honey — this was beautiful. “Trufitas” — amazing chocolate truffles. Bubble — in the middle of the mound of bubbles was a chocolate ganache. There were four different petit fours, or “Morphings”. With dinner, we had three great white wines: Weingut A Christmann VDP Riesling Konigsbacher Idig 2002; Rafael Palacios As Sortes 2005; and Chateau Smith Haut-Lafite 2001.

This dinner was definitely one of the most amazing I have ever enjoyed. It was less “out of the box” than I expected and much more Japanese-influenced than I had imagined. The food, while amazingly innovative was also witty and I think that more than anything else made the meal great fun, for me and for all of my dining companions. I am sure some of you want to ask if I think El Bulli deserves to be called the world’s number one restaurant. I am actually not going to answer that. I will say that I think Ferran Adria is a genius and I think there is no other restaurant in the world that offers the kind of experience that El Bulli provides. Some dishes you will love. Some will puzzle you. And some you won’t like. But the space is great - homey and brilliant at the same time. And the service is perfect. This is certainly one meal I will not forget anytime soon.

One of the things that friends (and even strangers) often ask me and my wife S about is if we get jaded or bored when dining out. I guess the assumption here is that since we’ve eaten so widely and so well, there has to be some point at which we would become disenchanted with food and cooking. And some times, we do. Especially when we go to a dozen restaurants over the course of the month or two and see the same 3 or 4 items on every single menu. It’s even worse when one of those items is a molten chocolate cake and the others all have some element of espuma in them.

But the truth is, because we’re able to travel, and because we make a point to save up for gourmet-centric holidays, we’re able to continuously re-awaken our love for great food, be it simple or spectacular. Trips to places like Japan or France can easily cancel out any sense of culinary ennui. Simply said, eating abroad is the best possible way to press “reset”.

What is especially wonderful is visiting a place that has fantastic extremes of cooking. This recent visit to Catalonia, for example, has really renewed our love for and outlook on food. It’s been really quite amazing to experience the extremes that make Spain one of the world’s top culinary destinations. What we loved most about this trip (which I will cover in-depth in a couple of up-coming posts) was witnessing the respect and appreciation for traditional classic cuisine (and tasting these dishes of course) contrasted with the extraordinary innovations in cooking that are pushing the boundaries of gastronomy.

(Of course, many of you who follow the food world know about the storm now brewing between Santi Santamaria and Ferran Adria. But I think these two different — I hate to use the term “opposing” — perspectives on food are what make Spain, for an outsider like me, particularly exciting.)

Eating here the past week has been amazing. Tasting freshly grilled, sweet, succulent prawns in Costa Brava; slurping down a hot plate of fried eggs topped with baby squid in La Boqueria in Barcelona; tucking into an addictively delicious (and my first ever) fideua negro; tasting a truly artistic dessert inspired by a perfume at El Celler de Can Roca; and the entire meal at El Bulli were all things that I won’t forget anytime soon. All were experiences I wouldn’t want to give up and wouldn’t have missed for the world. Individually, they were all superb. Together, they have helped renew my love for food and have, perhaps more importantly, also opened my eyes to new ways to look at this thing I love so much.