Took the man out to Candlenut to celebrate his 43rd birthday. We've not visited the restaurant since it moved out of Chinatown and to Dempsey Hill. While we’re familiar with Chef Malcolm Lee’s style, this menu is all new to us. Do not judge Candlenut as though it might be a Peranakan restaurant hor. It’s not. Service for our table was excellent.
The kueh pie tee and chap chye were delicious. A pity the whole squid grilled with fresh yellow turmeric sambal wasn’t available tonight, so we took the other more boring but still tasty option of baby squid in squid ink and tamarind. The ayam buah keluak was outstanding. Thick, pungent and all.
The man enjoyed the bakwan kepiting, I didn’t. We were completely unimpressed by the blue swimmer crab curry. It was an anomaly. It tasted more like a Thai-inspired dish than anything else, not quite hitting the right balance of lemak, spices, and tangy-ness. Good to have the option of brown rice to accompany the meal. We paid S$2 for 20 grams of sambal belachan. 🙄 The restaurant’s version tonight wasn’t better than what I periodically churn out and stock in the fridge. But it’s a proper sambal belachan, and I do appreciate the work behind it, so there were no regrets in ordering that.
We got to dessert. Skipped the buah keluak and chocolate ice-cream. We know Candlenut’s signature dessert very well. While the man is not a fan of durian (I’m not either), he will eat some once in a while. He happily quaffed the mao shan wang ice-cream and the durian puree. Ha! We had the chendol too, but that was wayyy too sweet for me. The man ate it all. The restaurant was nice to offer two little cubes of kueh bingka along with the birthday candle. Oof.
Happy Birthday, my love. Although 43 ain’t The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, it’s still awesome to celebrate another year of existence. (And you should have found that Answer when you swung by 42 and pondered over it for a year.)
The kueh pie tee and chap chye were delicious. A pity the whole squid grilled with fresh yellow turmeric sambal wasn’t available tonight, so we took the other more boring but still tasty option of baby squid in squid ink and tamarind. The ayam buah keluak was outstanding. Thick, pungent and all.
The man enjoyed the bakwan kepiting, I didn’t. We were completely unimpressed by the blue swimmer crab curry. It was an anomaly. It tasted more like a Thai-inspired dish than anything else, not quite hitting the right balance of lemak, spices, and tangy-ness. Good to have the option of brown rice to accompany the meal. We paid S$2 for 20 grams of sambal belachan. 🙄 The restaurant’s version tonight wasn’t better than what I periodically churn out and stock in the fridge. But it’s a proper sambal belachan, and I do appreciate the work behind it, so there were no regrets in ordering that.
We got to dessert. Skipped the buah keluak and chocolate ice-cream. We know Candlenut’s signature dessert very well. While the man is not a fan of durian (I’m not either), he will eat some once in a while. He happily quaffed the mao shan wang ice-cream and the durian puree. Ha! We had the chendol too, but that was wayyy too sweet for me. The man ate it all. The restaurant was nice to offer two little cubes of kueh bingka along with the birthday candle. Oof.
Happy Birthday, my love. Although 43 ain’t The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, it’s still awesome to celebrate another year of existence. (And you should have found that Answer when you swung by 42 and pondered over it for a year.)
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