Note: This post was supposed to be up last Sunday so the timeline would be a little off!

Despite my feeble attempts to feed this blog due to numerous commitments this week, my insatiable palate was pretty much pampered throughout the week, which pretty much sums up why my weighing scales have resorted to brutal honesty.

You will not believe the amount of debts I have clocked this week. Blog debt. Sleep debt. Being-a-mum debt. House chores debt. Me-time debt. Reading debt. News-reading debt. Even pole debt as I missed my pole practices for 2 consecutive weeks.

Thankfully, the hectic yet fulfilling week would be wrapped up nicely with this post (have since cleared all other debts!), as it was kicked into momentum with an amazing, hearty meal at the Tiffin Club.

23 August 2010 – Monday

It certainly came as a surprise, when an unsuspecting me was called to join Siren, Vandalin and TK for lunch on Monday afternoon, clutching my wallet, half-expecting to walk to Maxwell market, and mentally running through my lunch-options for the day.

I followed Cheyenne and Edmund across the road from the office, and was pretty impressed with their choice of eatery for lunch when we arrived at the cosy, charming restaurant, tucked mysteriously in a corner of  a row of shophouses.

With a penchant of trying out the quaint, lovely eateries around Singapore (I actually have a document file saved on my computer with notes on the places I would like to check out), I was quick to make a mental note of what I saw, as I didn’t expect to find such a refreshing place in the midst of all the buzz around the area.

Little did I realise that I was about to step into palette heaven.

And little did I realise that in the wake of all the hooha about food tasting and food reviews, I was going to be one of the “three friends” TK brought with him for a food tasting session. Don’t judge me! Laughs.

But it was indeed a pleasant surprise that when I was all prepared for a quick meal at the hawker centre, I was then seated comfortably in a cosy corner, shielded from the mad lunch crowd.

So, that marked my very first food tasting session, and my virgin food review on this space of mine.

We had arrived earlier and was promptly served with refreshing Iced Mint Tea to cool us down from the scorching heat out there on a sunny Monday noon.

The service was hospitable, and the chef was quick to greet us when we were all seated.

I have to admit that I am a pretty big skeptic when it comes to food, and when I saw the menu, I wasn’t sure what to order, but that was safely taken care of as the chef informed us that he would have a few dishes whipped up for us to sample.

What I saw on the menu was plenty of fusion food, which is a “genre” of food I seldom venture into due to pretty bad past experiences, when many restaurants tried too hard to be quirky with their menu, and put too much twists into the food we are familiar with.

I honestly did not know what to expect.

Food sampling? I was half expecting that we would have to fight spoons against forks for the miserable tiny canape portions shared amongst all.  I definitely expect okay food that would probably make go “not too bad!”, but what turned out was plenty of orgasmic moans filling the entire restaurant, and ceaseless exclamations of “OH MY GOOOOOODDDD!“s.

The very first starter that got us all a little curious was the Otah Salad, which was served exquisitely like my favourite starter – the Italian beef Carpaccio.

We were surprised that the dishes were served in actual portions with elaborated presentation, and was busy admiring its artistry before we picked up the cutlery.

The twist to the carpaccio was that it was infused with local flavour, and yet did not come across as intrusive. I thought it was pretty maverick of Chef Latiff Iskandar to replace the usual raw meat with a burst of local flavours we are so familiar with, and the freshness of the silky smooth otah with a slight tinge of spice to it, was just delightful to the palette. The And as I tucked into the first bite of the smooth, silky texture of the otah, which literally melts onto your tongue. THAT, was the moment I was jolted into full-on anticipation for rest of the dishes to come.

Instead of regular parmesan cheese used to complement the taste of raw beef, a milder, and more textural parmesan chips are used to put more emphasis on the taste of the otah, yet bring more sensuality to the mouth with the combination of soft (otah) and hard (parmesan chips).

Served together with the otah salad was a platter of pleasure in the form of Chicken Satay.

The beauty of this platter lies in every single element of the platter. I believe the attention to the details by the chef was the precise reason why it was such a satiating experience for the palette.

The peanut sauce was chunky, and even after we had polished off everything from the platter, we were still dipping our spoons into the sauce to lick the last bit from it.

The onions were such a treat to the tastebuds, and though I prefer my rice cubes a tad sticky in texture, these rice cubes are dryer which give them a decisive bite which doesn’t stick to the teeth, and they were so fresh and non-starchy!

I took a massive bite into the thick, juicy satay which was oh-so tender, and as we exclaimed over it, Chef Iskandar explained to us that the satays are only made from whole, thigh meat where the meat is more tender.

Absolutely yums!

We were raring to go when the mains were served because the starters really got our attention focused!

So what do we really think of the mains? Did they disappoint after the starters brought our expectations higher, or did they exceed our expectations far beyond?

When Chef Iskandar served the braised beef ribs, he did the narrations like he did with every other dish with ample passion and concentration. I shoveled my fork into the mashed potato while listening to him thoughtlessly, and then I sat up straight. I immediately interrupted everyone and insisted that everyone HAS TO TRY THE MASHED POTATO!

No kidding. And this is coming from someone who never finishes her mashed because I am not that much of a fan of potatoes unless they are deep fried or something.

I believe they didn’t expect how fluffy, light and foamy the mashed potato is, and it didn’t feel heavily starched AT ALL.

Cross my heart, it was the BEST mashed potato I ever had.

The rest quickly knew what I was talking about when they scooped into the delectable frothy cloud of heaven and just couldn’t find the right words to describe it except with plenty of “Ummm!! OMG! HOW DID YOU DO IT?“.

We all couldn’t hide the excitement and prodded the chef to share his secret.

Apparently this is potato puree, and he would puree it 3 times to get that dainty, almost weightless texture. And despite its texture, it comes with this subtle taste which I really liked, and found it so addictive that I couldn’t stop indulging in the potato puree. I had to keep myself in check so I wouldn’t selfishly polished all the puree before the others had their share.

Remember how I said it was Chef Iskandar’s attention to details that really impressed? We were already cooing even before we tucked into the braised beef ribs.

But when my fork sunk into the cushion of meat, sans bones, it immediately slid apart effortlessly and I didn’t even need to put it into my mouth to know how soft and tender the meat was. And to think it is actually beef ribs!

It melted in my mouth delicately and quickly brought forth the deep, tasty flavours etched in the juicy meat.

You see the thick sauce the beef ribs was drenched in? Flawless in my opinion.

So far, you can see most of Chef Iskandar’s creation is big on balancing out the taste and there is always an extreme to bring balance to another extreme. In this case, the weightless puree was a perfect partner for the thick, lovely ribs.

Me and my fellow meat-lovers were spoiled silly when it was another meat dish served up next – the 2 way Pork that comes with 2 different cuts of pork, decked out in different style.

The Pork Belly was charcoal grilled and was flanked by rolled up strips of pork loin with spinach tucked in between, draped in scallop sauce.

We unanimously fell in love with the pork loin, and were trying to figure out the familiarity of it all before we found the taste akin to home-cooked food, but like Vandalin puts it, “It’s mommy’s cooking, 5 star style. It’s flavour that we’re all familiar with, refined, made sexy.”

I really like the pork loin and the creativity of the combination that makes the diners think hard to try to recall that sense of familiarity, bringing forth a sense of intimacy between the food and us.

We were lucky to have Chef Iskandar to share his thoughts with us, that it was as if that an artist was explaining his passion and creations with pride, and it makes you realise that it takes pure talent and dedication from someone to do that.

We were almost stuffed and sharing our thoughts on individual dish when this was set down on the table.

You don’t understand.

And you probably won’t until you try it for yourself.

Grilled Graffeo Tenderloin. This was the highlight of my lunch.

Get this. The tenderloin was aged with a coat of grounded coffee bean, and I took a deep whiff of it before impatiently popping it into my mouth.

I couldn’t even talk after I had it. Simply. Orgasmic.

It took me a while before I found myself again to talk, and even then, I mused how the taste of the tenderloin with that smokey, aromatic woodiness from the coffee was  still lingering after you had long ingested the piece of delight.

The asparagus that accompanied the tenderloin were soaked in chilli oil and the sharp, acidity taste would immediately clear the taste bud of the muskiness, the sauce was for the potato to tap on its sweetness, and the tenderloin was so good, it simply did not lack anything.

There was no sauce to accompany it, because it didn’t need any, period.

I like my meat medium rare, and to me, it was done the way I like it.

As my palate was cleared with the spiced asparagus, I tried the meat by itself without its woody coat, just to find out if the burst of flavour was aided from its layer of coffee skin.

It wasn’t. The meat itself was juicy, richly flavoured right to its core.

And recalling about it suddenly triggered a surge of saliva ro my mouth right at this moment.

Awesomeness.

We rained praise for the humble chef for his sheer genius. How is it possible that his talent had went unnoticed? I have no idea.

Alas, when the dessert came, TK had to rush for an appointment and had to miss it.

I was in a rush to head back to office, but I was reluctant to give the desserts a miss.

Thank goodness I didn’t.

First up was the chocolate pear tart, followed by the panna cotta.

If you know me well enough, you would know how crazily obsessed I am with chocolate desserts, and it was no wonder that I was the one who really went all out to ravage the tart.

All the more so because the rich chocolate was like this brand of chocolate melts I adore, rich, thick, and hard when you cut into it, but it smooths out like velvet the moment it hits your tongue. Fan of dark chocolate like me? This is where you will find palate ecstasy.

And the vanilla ice-cream on the side? I had to ask if the chef had made it, because I had never had such smooth and delicious ice-cream before! Chef Iskandar shared with us that every element of the dishes we had that day was all made from scratched, even the ice-cream. The ice-cream was really, really delicious.

I am one who believes that to make a simple dish impressionable is a true test of skills. Chef Iskandar definitely did it for me with the mashed potato and the vanilla ice-cream.

I was lucky cos TK was not around to fight over the chocolate tart with me, and Siren and Vandalin were both just too busy with the panna cotta. Honestly to me, the tart and the panna cotta is yet another impeccable pairing.

Cheyenne and Ed had to stop me in my chocolate indulgence because they just wanted me to try the panna cotta to share the raves. They were not wrong. It was as if we couldn’t finish complimenting one dish, we have yet another one to swoon over.

The panna cotta is utter pleasure with its texture, that as it melts on your tongue, it releases a refreshing, exciting tinge of lemongrass, perking you up instantly.

I certainly wouldn’t know such a gem hidden in town if not from TK’s generosity with the invitation, and I am extremely grateful for the satiating experience. The food was definitely overwhelming and exceeded my expectations by leaps and bounds.

And it was a surprise that I was shoved into my first food tasting session without expecting it.

And thank you, Chef Iskandar, for really opening my eyes to the great minds behind good food, and your patience to all our incessant questions. The revelation to all your thoughtfulness brought an added intimacy to the food we tasted.

(Oh oh! I digress. I absolutely love the comfortable dress from H & M, a gift when a friend returned from UK. Love it! Somemore very cheap )

Of course, I sometimes realise that with elaborated food tasting and prior preparation would mean that the food standards might vary, and I certainly hope it isn’t the case here. I believe with Chef Iskandar’s talent and creativity spurred by passion, such experience should be shared by foodies all over. And I hope the supreme standard of food will not be wavered for walk-in crowds.

I think the ambiance is ideal for a cosy date-night out,  and for all you guys who are tempted to give this little treasure a visit, there is a VERY good news for you!

Tiffin Club is extending a 15% discount on the Ala Carte menu when you guys quote a password!

And that is an exclusive offer only off our blogs! So, just quote the password to redeem your 15% discount!

The password is: Sinning at Tiffin

If you can’t get it round your tongue smoothly and too shy, just key into your handphone and show it, I guess that works too

If you guys check the place out, do share your feedback with me too!

The Tiffin Club
16 Jiak Chuan Road
Singapore 089267
Reservation: 6323 3189
Opening Hours: Mon to Sat – 8.30am to 11:00pm
Closed on Sunday
Website: http://www.thetiffinclub.com/