The BFF's 41st!

Celebrated the BFF's birthday at Chef Shen Tan's private kitchen adorably named 'Ownself Make Chef'. It has been years since the days of nasi lemak and beef rendang at Wok & Barrel on Duxton Hill. When a work project took me west often, I had the nasi lemak at the now-defunct Revolution Coffee. Shen now runs her own cooking classes and private kitchen (with communal dates and hosts private dinners). I was very pleased to taste Shen's food again.

We went with the Yin Yang menu, a pairing of more than black and white colors in the final presentation. Shen was very creative in applying savory and sweet to the combination of thick and thin sauces to the different ingredients, producing quite an eclectic flow of dishes that ended with Yuan Yang panna cotta (of yuan yang combination of tea+coffee) and a Guinness Valrhona chocolate cake with coconut ice-cream and assam gula melaka chilli sauce.

The buah keluak pasta was disappointing. The big prawn was a great touch, but the depth of flavors wasn't there, and that thick pungent taste of buah keluak didn't come through for me. Maybe I didn't understand the point of the dish, but when it's described as 'buah keluak pasta' and not 'pasta with buah keluak', it makes a difference to my expectations. Perhaps my tastebuds prefer a whole lot more buah keluak in pasta. I wasn't overly keen on the clams in kicap manis, beef short rib or the Kurobuta pork rib either, because, meat and allergies. But those were gorgeously spiced and flavored. The strand of green peppercorn (from Hong Spices) in the clams was so fragrant!

There's air-conditioning, but it isn't strong; there're some fans to take the heat away from the wet and dry kitchens. It isn't stuffy, but you will smell like food after. You can wear shoes into the flat. Yes, you can bring your own alcohol since they have glasses for wine and water. They provide water (tap or via SodaStream). But if you want something else, bring your own sparkling water and lemonade and such. Also, bring your own ice box and ice cubes. There isn't fridge or freezer space at all for drinks or ice balls.

My favorite dishes of the night were the black and white carrot cake, and the pan-fried sesame-crusted grouper that came with its own coffee fish broth. The carrot cake was delicious. Although I'm not a black carrot cake person (because, sweet), I still ate two bites before passing it on to the friends. The white carrot cake is where it's at, because it's salty, and held plenty of flavor. Along with dried mushrooms and scallops, Shen had put in damn good lupcheong and yuncheong.

Then, that fish. While I'm not enamored with the crust of sesame seeds, the small fillet of grouper (delivered from Ah Hua Kelong that day) was so fresh and sweet. The fish broth was the star of the dish for me. The broth was boiled from the fish bones and coffee. LOVELY. I was totally stuffed.

With all my love, BFF. May your forty-first year on this earth be as spicy and on-point flavorful as the sambal belachan and cilicuka at dinner.