at the new hip part of town.

Jones the Grocer
9 Dempsey Road
#01-12 Tanglin Village
Tel: 6475 2005
Opening Hours: 10.30am - 10.30pm, daily
Website: http://www.jonesthegrocer.com/


Culina Quality Food & Beverage
8 Dempsey Road
#01-13 Tanglin Village
Tel: 6474 7338
Opening Hours: 9am to 8pm, Mon - Sat; 9am - 6pm, Sun & PH
Website: http://www.culina.com.sg/index.htm


Dropped by the much talked about Tanglin Village yesterday just to pop in on the food speciality shops. The first thing that striked me when I was there was that it almost didn't feel like I was in Singapore. The only thing that still made it Singaporean was the sweltering heat. Speaking of that, did anyone realise that the heat has been unbearable lately?!

Anyways, the reason why I felt like I was out of town was cos the population that was hanging around and sipping their cups of tea were mostly Caucasians; at least that was the case on the Saturday afternoon when I visited. Of course there was a flaming red Ferrari in the backdrop too. Not that it really matters but just wanted to give an idea of the crowd there.

Now the main point here is that I've always liked shopping around in supermarkets and food speciality stores and I did enjoy myself quite a bit when I visited the newly opened grocer from Down Under, Jones the Grocer; and the new outlet for Culina. There were stark contrasts between both stores. Jones the Grocer had a very 'clean' feel; typically Aussie whereas Culina had a rustic aire.

I left Jones the Grocer empty handed but did a little shopping at Culina and ended up at home with this.














Funny how this was sold in Culina and not at Jones the Grocer? Beats me too. Anyhow, there's no need now to lug those precious and pretty bottles of Oyster or Salad Vinaigrettes back home from Sydney; you can get them at Culina. I don't know about the difference in prices but this bottle set me back by $29. Bro had bought this when he was at Tetsuya's and he told me that it was amazing when he made a mushroom pasta and added a little bit of the salsa on top. I bought this when he promised me he'd make it for me too.

A lot of suggestions were given by the friendly guy at the store as to how else we could use the truffle salsa. One of it was to cook some soft-boiled eggs, sprinkle some salt and pepper and top it with a little spoon of the salsa. I couldn't wait for breakfast the following morning so I tried that the moment I got home. It was absolutely delicious although a little rich for a small afternoon snack.















You could of course use this as a finishing on a pasta as mentioned earlier or mix it with a little bit of butter to use as a bread spread or just simply have it on toast for breakfast too. You could also top the bottle with more olive oil after using some of the salsa to get a truffle-infused olive oil to use in salads or pastas. Whichever way, it'd turn out wonderful.

Aaahh... looks like things at home will never be the same again.