#10 | The Potluck Checks Out: Miznon, Hearty Chicken Pies & Christmas Feast
The Potluck - A food newsletter on what's buzzing in the dining world in Singapore
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The Potluck Checks Out: Miznon
Israel is known as the biblical ‘Land flowing with Milk and Honey’, and you can add pitas too - judging how warmly Miznon has been embraced by diners here since it opened about a month ago on Stanley Street.
The casual contemporary Israeli restaurant chain by renowned Israeli chef, Eyal Shani, makes its Asian debut in Singapore - where there is no lack of Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean eateries, but no eatery that quite specializes in food from Israel.
Pita Party: Pitas are the star of the show and there’re 11 of them. Each bulging pita belly is chockfull of sunshiney colours and flavours, with herbs, greens, sauces and garnishes bursting at the seams. Definitely one of the heftier (but also pricier) pita pockets that I have held. Each pita pocket is a substantial meal on its own - even for a ravenous NS boy after field camp.
I Bread Your Pardon: One stand-out factor of Miznon lies in its pita - something that I haven’t tasted in other eateries here. The pita is soft and especially bouncy. It’s slightly chewy and fuller-bodied texture is reminiscent of min chiang kueh . This makes the pita bread more substantial than most renditions - which tend to more crumbly and filled with more air pockets.
The magic of the pita pillow lies in its dough, which is concocted from a proprietary mix of different flours. The dough is so special that it has even clocked in air miles from Israel. Ditto for the pita’s faithful companion, tahini, which is imported from a small town in the country’s mountainous region. The silky tahini has an intoxicating nuttiness and earthiness, which offsets the bright and acidic flavours of the dishes.
Pita lowdown: Miznon serves what is essentially fast street-side staple food back in Israel, which can be easily chowed down as quickly as it is assembled. From opening outlets in cities like Paris, Vienna, New York and Melbourne, Chef Shani has poured in a melting pot of cultures into the pockets of pita. I opted for the meatiest of the lot - the Abu Kebab ($24) (above), which has orbs of medium-rare grilled beef and lamb meatballs tantalizingly peeking out of the pita.
The X-factor of Miznon’s pitas lines in the combination of flavours and textures that are densely packed in a pita. Each mouthful yields charred smokiness from the grilled meatballs, acidity from the pickles, zinginess from the zhug (or green chilli and parsley dressing) and sweetness from the crunchy onions, nuttiness from the tahini, and freshness from the greens. The alchemy of flavours is what makes the pitas stand out.
Want something different from the typical falafel balls, there is a chicken liver pita ($18), which has morsels of the creamy and moreish chicken liver smeared with onion schmear, and the best-seller Steak & Egg ($21), which has slender folded sirloin steak with a fried egg. If you are vegetarian, there is the Ratatouille ($17), which has baked vegetables deeply stuffed inside the pita pocket and garnished with chopped hard-boiled egg.
Outside planet pita: Miznon’s more than pitas too - It is allegedly the birthplace of the roasted cauliflower trend that has taken the world by storm. Forget roses, hand me a bouquet of roasted baby cauliflower ($16) instead. The sweetness of the cauliflower shines amidst simple ingredients such as two palms-full of olive oil (that’s precise) and a sprinkling of salt - before it is beautifully charred. Sink your spoons into the dish and scoop it up like mashed cauliflower. For a hearty touch, sip on the Hraime ($26), which has chunks of Barramundi fillet braised in tomatoes and sweet paprika, served with tahini to mop up with more pita.
Also look out for: A pita that pays homage to Singapore flavours is in the works - just like what’s being done at outlets in other cities. Arak also line the walls of the restaurant, which promises a tipple happy night in a tight, convivial space that is enlivened up with Hebrew pop music and enthusiastic clapping from chef Or Hakmimi, who heads the kitchen team here.
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Eat of the week: Chicken Pies from York Hotel Singapore
The menu read ‘mini chicken pie’, so imagine my shock and delight when I opened my box of chicken pies from York Hotel Singapore, which were anything but mini. Instead, they were tall, voluptuous and capped off with puffy hats.
The chicken pie resembled a drier version of chicken pot pie - a cream-based filling loaded with the chunkiest pieces of tender white chicken stuffed into a pie. Some of the slices are as big as the ones you see on a plate of chicken rice. Hands down the heartiest chicken pies that would make afternoon tea more lovely. A box of 4 pies costs $15.
A Marmalade Pantry Christmas
It’s December and its time to deck the dining tables with hunks of turkey, trunks of ham and logs of cake or multiple dinner parties of 5.
Classic favourites from The Marmalade Pantry include a Traditional Whole Roast Turkey that is perfumed with rosemary, thyme and butter before the bird is popped into the oven. Besides the usual suspects of roast chicken and Gammon ham, there’s the Moroccan Lamb Rack, which is spiced up with cumin, chilli powder, paprika and cinnamon and roasted to medium doneness.
New this year is the Pandan Gula Melaka Logcake. My favourite bits are the gula melaka-soaked coconut flakes, which has a minced and crisp texture that stands out against the light buttercream slathered on the cheerfully green pandan sponge.
And that is a (kebab) wrap for this week. Stay hungry for the next round of The Potluck by subscribing the newsletter below:
Follow me on Instagram (@kenneats). Got news? Get in touch at kennethgohsz@gmail.com. Tuck into previous editions of The Potluck here.