Fusion of this and that.

Parmesan custard | Bonito egg yolk

Tapas-sized portion, this was delicately presented on a wooden board. We were wowed at the first sight. The charcoal-coloured cuboid is made out of potato - not think chunky potato but somewhat like a hash brown/ mushy textured potato. As I tried slicing it with my knife, I thought I saw rosti-like potato strips. Sitting atop the charcoal toast is a generous portion of melted parmesan custard and thin bonito flakes. The colour contrast was appealing to the eyes, the tastebuds and yes, it tasted as amazing as it looks.Must-order!

Kombu cream| Spicy garlic miso| Furikake

WOW. This blew us off! My non-veggie sister was extremely pleased that there’s no any ‘veggie taste’ in the well seasoned veggie. Each floret was grilled thoroughly, with black, charred prints on the underside. Well.. on this, some might feel that it’s a cancer risk. The charred aroma (if you appreciate such flavour) made this dish seem like a cauliflower chip. The Kombu cream and spicy garlic miso further elevated the simple veggie dish with much umami. The creaminess of the puree-like mix of saltiness and spice brought a welcoming mix of texture to the crunchy cauliflower, and definitely an out-of-the-ordinary taste to the otherwise ordinary cauliflower.

Duck confit, Japanese cucumber and chives wrapped in crepe served with balsamic glaze, truffle and argula salad

I was swoon over by arteas-tiq (pun intended) presentation of the peking duck roll. My first thought: hooray to a fuss-free, mess-free version of the peking duck! It’s all rolled up and nicely and sliced into bite size versions- no need to get your hands dirty at all! The best part? I’m probably paying a fraction of the price I otherwise would have if I had to order a full peking duck to satisfy any peking duck cravings. Taking in the first bit, I could taste the hoisin sauce and crisp cucumber. It was refreshing, yet and umami. I like how the egg crepe was done perfect - nothing like rubbery tapes or prata that’s been left out for long in the open. The disappointment tho - was that there isn’t any crispy peking duck skin (too much to expect for something at this price point I guess!) and the shredded duck was a tad too salty for my liking. Would I order this again? Probably not, tho it’s an overall well executed dish and probably one of the less common items from a typical cafe fare

Market greens, Wasabi chimichurri, Black garlic

At the recommendation of the staff, my husband decided on this main (as part of the set lunch menu). I was initially skeptical of the item (compared to duck confit, this seemed to much ‘simpler’) and by virtue of that, not as ‘worth it’. I guess I cannot be any more wrong. The pork jowl arrived - sliced in the right thickness, not too thin and not too thick. It was tenderlicious and well flavoured with wasabi chimuchurri and black garlic.

Scallop tartare, Truffle, Ikura & Avruga caviar

A lover of noods, seafood and truffle, this literally was really screaming out to my husband in the list of appetisers from the set lunch menu. The angel hair that was served cold was a welcoming touch to the lips. Cooked al-dente, the springyness brought much satisfaction with each bite. The scallops were jelly-ish, most likely cooked sous-vide. The scallops tasted fresh, sweet and along with the truffle, ikura and avruga caviar, each bite was simply a burst of luxurious flavour. This could have been sold as a main!

We’re so glad to have chances upon Ju95 - the fusion of Japanese, Chinese and Italian elements were well harmonists in the execution of their dishes.

A hole-in-a-hut kinda asian fusion cafe in the west! The google ratings were high and we’ve seen plenty of praises for their food going around on social media. We were naive to think that the queue would be manageable (or in fact, no queue) given how ‘ulu’ the place is. We arrived at 7+ pm and were greeted by a queue - we ended up having to leave our number on the waitlist. It was a 45mins wait before it was our turn!

The chilli crab pasta was not part of the regular menu. It’s found on the seasonal/ specials menu located at the order counter. The husband went for this, and thought that this was pretty decent. Nothing wow but a comfort for chilli crab and noods lovers. I took a mouthful - the chilli crab sauce was a lil’ too tomato-ish for me but that’s kinda a biased opinion as I’m not the greatest fan of of tomato based pasta. It was great that the pasta base was adequately spiced with chilli - the spiciness that cut through the tomato taste made the base a lot more palatable (to me). At this price point, the crab meat served was decent in portion - shredded in flakes, it was easy to consume. Of course, nothing like savouring a chill crab right from its flesh

A hidden find somewhere in the west! The google ratings were high and we’ve seen plenty of praises for their food going around on social media. We were naive to think that the queue would be manageable (or in fact, no queue) given how ‘ulu’ the place is. We arrived at 7+ pm and were greeted by a queue - we ended up having to leave our number on the waitlist. It was a 45mins wait before it was our turn!

I went for the charsiew don which interestingly came served with Italian spiced rice. I couldn’t quite identify the spices used in their special homemade blend (secret blend that’s closely safeguarded I guess!) in the rice - every grain was nicely infused with the aroma of the spices. It wasn’t thyme, oregano or anything close to the spices you’d find in pastas. It was subtle, and not exactly herbaceous. I’m clearly not a spice connoisseur and I can’t quite pin point to any, except that it’s perhaps sth yellowish that gave the spiced rice a light yellow hint. It was rather addictive and I polished off all my rice! My husband who’s used to finishing my leftover carbs was actually quite impressed!

The Italian-asian fusion turned out surprisingly well. The poached egg was more ‘done’ than I’d expected. It wasn’t onsen; wasn’t at all slowly-gooey-runny and perhaps it was intentionally done so to avoid clashing in taste with the Italian spiced rice (?) That’s just a wild guess on my part.

I also loved the charsiew - clearly a signature item on their menu. At the time of order placement, the staff had to do a quick run to the kitchen to confirm that there’s still charsiew leftover. Apparently, it’s one of the cafe’s signature item! While some may complain of the charsiew being sliced too thinly, I think they’re in the right thickness in this Italian-Asian fusion (it’s fusion! Not your typical HK char chaan teng kinda charred, shiny, thick cuts with generous sweet marinate doused over it!) Think of it like a kurobuta pork don - it’s the same concept here, except it’s char siew!

This has got to be the brightest-coloured dish on the menu. And it indeed was as bright as it looks. The bright orange and red hues definitely lit up the face of the hubs, who's a great fan of Asian and Seafood. The tiger prawns were grilled to perfection; was juicy and tender. The pasta was cooked to al-dente, mixed with belacan mentaiko mix which oddly went all. The mentaiko paste/gravy did not taste artificial (ie. something out of a supermarket tube) nor was it overly salty. It was a heartilicious asian fusion pasta!

So… this is how your Burpple lunch set will look like! 2 bowls of noodles (featured here’s the braised pork noodles), 2 servings of dumplings and 2 drinks! As awesome as I remembered it to be - with generous food portions and creative concoctions of tea. We finally got to try the smoked duck dumpling this time and my, it was yumms! Also, we had to order the pierogi once more because it left an impression the previous round 😂 Ohhh, they also provide a complimentary side of Korean sprouts!!

Finally got to try the smoked duck dumplings! Had missed this in the last visit and was glad to be able to try it this time! It’s a pretty uncommon flavour - usually it’s pork/chicken/veggie. This came as part of the lunch set, the duck dumplings were plump & generously filled! Duck meat was moist and flavourful, pretty sure it’s not unwanted duck parts or fats that went into the dumplings 😂 I love how the dumplings are crispy on the sides, with perfect thickness (or rather thinness) to the skin. Served with onions and some greens as garnish which I thought were necessary but definitely adds on to the aesthetic of the dish 😂

The small-ish looking serving size was packed rich with mentaiko, tobiko roe and chunks of salmon. Spaghetti was al-dente but I’d prefer for it to be more well cooked. Softer pasta blends better with the creamy mentaiko base ... in my opinion. The generous amount of mentaiko is a double edged sword tho. The dish inevitable gets cloying after a while!

It’s basically garlic fried rice Asian-style, with dark soy sauce, topped with some spring onions and sesame. Nicely seared beef cooked to medium. Not exactly a huge wow factor because I’d expected more on the ‘scorched’ bits, somewhat like that of the precious charred bits at the sides claypot rice. Nevertheless, this was a decent meal and definitely one of the better (& value!) option for lunch - esp if you’ve Burpple 1-1!