3D Harmony

We had to keep our eyes peeled for the restaurant after turning onto Mayo Street. In fact we missed the street initially due to a lack of prominent sign.

In any case, we reached the restaurant without too much trouble, to find it practically empty save for a lone African diner who had finished his meal. With no one around, we wondered if we should just sit and wait, but decided to check at the counter first.

We found a guy (owner?) who seemed surprised at seeing us as we were at seeing him. I had to ask if the restaurant was open for dinner just to make sure, then made our way to a cozy corner while he followed with the menus.

After placing our order, sounds of cooking (especially pounding!) started to drift from the kitchen and we waited with much anticipation.

First to arrive was the chicken plantain ($15). Plantains are similar to bananas but are firmer and mostly eaten cooked rather than raw. The fruits are also a major food staple in equatorial Africa.

The signature dish was tremendously enjoyable, which disappeared into our tummies fast and furious as we were hungry. The ingredients gelled so well together, creating an amalgam of flavors that were at once exciting and delish that we literally had a party in our mouths. The chicken was tender and slightly spicy, coupled with sweet plantains, tangy tomatoes and salty cheese, the dish was unlike any that we’d tasted before.

The egusi with fish (big $22) took a lot longer to prepare, and we had it with pounded yam ($10).

Egusi is actually a kind of melon seed which can be ground to thicken soups and is popular in West Africa. Such soups typically include vegetables and seasonings like chilies, onions and iru. Meats are also added.

A common accompaniment to egusi soup is the fufu, which is made by boiling starchy root vegetables such as cassava, yam, plantain or rice, then pounding them into a glutinous mass, usually in a mortar and pestle.

Our fish turned out to be a dried fish (fermented?), its chewiness was interesting at first but we got tired of the numerous bones soon. However, we couldn’t stop scooping the rich gravy, which was loaded with spinach, and slathering it over the pounded yam. It’s very savory, tinged with spiciness and fragrant. As strange as it might sound, the taste reminded us of “hei bi hiam”.

Customers trickled in as we ate, but they were Caucasians with backpacks (checking in/out?) and a couple of African families who stayed to eat. Now that’s a really big change of scenery!

Needless to say, we had a wonderful and enlightening meal. The restaurant was small with a homely feel, and the staff were friendly. We even had a big jug of iced water!

Note: Prices are nett.

It was a weekday evening that our gang of 6 went to try this restuarant which we saw through HGW website. We would like to experiment a different range of food that day.

The restuarant was situated just below a backpackers lodge and the owner of the restuarant seems to be same person running the lodge. It should be a family run restaurant where the lady was the only person managing which include being the cook as well. The entrance and ambience is definitely not appealing and I doubt anyone who did not heard of this restaurant will want to walk into it. Throughout the evening, there was only another African lady who patronised the restaurant other than our group.

The lady was friendly and recommended us a few dishes which we was later satisfied. First, we had the Fish Egusi with Pounded Rice. It was some African curry and dried fish and I found it quite tasty. It mixes very well with the pounded Yam. Next, we had the Plaintain chicken. There was a good serving of chicken, tomato, cheese,, banana and herbs. A very unique dish which I don't think most will ever taste before.

Then came the Jallof rice with seafood. There was 2 small clayfish which I thought taste fresh but a bit too small. The sauce and herbs used to fried the rice is quite special too. We finally ordered the Lamb Pepper Soup. This dish seems difficult to cook and they took nearly half an hour to whip up this dish alone. Unfortunately, I think it was quite salty and pepperly which I think do not suit our Asian taste. Overall, I enjoyed the new experience.

If there are to be more people coming to the restaurant in future, I doubt one cook alone is able to manage it well.

Hubby and I went to 3D Harmony for our monthly "Try a restaurant" experience. Since its my month for September, I chose this restaurant out of curiosity =D

We took a pretty complicated route to this place, went through the streets of Little India before turning up at 3D Harmony. It is actually situated in one of the streets opposite Lasalle SIA College of the Arts, just next to a mosque. Upon entering, I found out that we were the only locals there! (Was pretty prepared since reading the previous reviewer's post =D) Interesting deco, plenty of zebra/leopard prints to depict the African culture. Even the table cloth was pretty, too =)

I guess the place is very much different since the time the previous reviewer wrote his post. Not only there was no alcohol (I foolishly asked for a beer & was told that it is now a Halal restaurant), the menu now isnt as thick. I believe that it is now only 2 pages =D Ordered a Jaloff Chicken, Beef Pepper Soup and Chicken Plaintain.

Jaloff Chicken

As recommended by the chef, Jaloff rice is tastiest with chicken. Other options to choose from were beef, seafood and lamb. Couldn't recall how much it costs though, should be around the $14-$17 range. Jaloff rice is basically tomato rice (or something that tastes/looks like it) with 2 drumsticks with it. Pretty nice and interestingly flavoured.

Beef Pepper Soup

Be prepared to have at least a bottle of cold mineral water with you cos it burnsss!!! Hahaha, the chef was kind enough to inform us that it was darn spicy, but hey, it didnt stop us from trying out the famous African Beef Pepper Soup! It looks like any ordinary beef soup, but it was delicious! The beef was tender and soft, easy to chew =) Well flavoured, and of course, the Bird's Eye Chilli (Cili Padi) was intense man! Sweaty, teary yet lovely experience.

Chicken Plaintain

OMG, this is a MUST TRY dish!!!!!! Gosh it was so damn nice that eventhough I couldnt finish it up (Cos I was too full), I thick-skinnedly asked for a Ta-Pao (Wrap-Up). It was a mix of pieces of Flavoured Chicken, slices of bananas (plaintains, they call it), cubes of cheese (Cheddar, I guess), cubes of tomatoes and some leaves for the aroma. Oh, it was the tastiest dish I ever had in a long time. The dairy flavour of cheese + sweetness of the plaintains + juiciness of Chicken was NOTHING like I've ever tasted before in my life. Alien on my tastebuds, but I fell in love instantly. $15.00 was peanuts compared to the awesome experience. Love it!

Must try out this restaurant! African cuisine is pretty rare to find, so get a try when its still there!

Jogging back home from office (as I do everyday), a little detour off Jalan Besar led me to the location of 3D Harmony as part of my mini-adventure to explore new cultures without having to fly to the country itself.

Currently, 3D Harmony is managed by 2 guys, an Indian waiter who does speak English and a Nepalese chef who does the cooking.

The first time round, I was there close to 9pm, venturing in, enjoying the heat (do note that there is no aircon and it's generally much cooler sitting on the outside of the restaurant) and enjoying the conversation in the background on how Singapore was like from the eyes of foreigners. (I was too busy savouring the food to join in the conversation itself)

I had Suji and dried fish. Cost wise, $12 I think, but the Suji portions are large enough to feed THREE people. (On it's own Suji goes for $8) the dried fish, locally bought is cooked with a thick spicy sauce that really matches well with the flavour of the fish. The dried fish does have quite a bit of bones so this dish is not for someone in a hurry. Overall, it's not a dish that should be tackled alone (unless you're in the mood to put on a kg or 2) But the experience of eating Suji (that's really quite nice) and having dried fish done differently, really was an experience in itself. 

While taking time to enjoy the dish (they do give a free bottle of mineral water to go with the meal) I noticed a lady in front of me, exclaiming from time to time that what she was eating was really spicy.

Finding out that she was a Malay lady and that being that I do have utmost respect for the Malay community in withstanding and enjoying spicy food, I had to try it the next time round.

Next time round:

I went for the Beef Pepper soup. When I looked at it, I was like, ok, here goes nothing...the spicy-ness of the soup numbs your taste buds. A quick look at the menu said "Bird's Eye chili" a quick wiki revealed that it was simply - Chili Padi. Yup, Chili Padi soup, probably quite similar to a hot tom yum. (Wonder how does that still compare with the chicken wings of sunset grill) But overall, I couldn't finish the soup as it was really chili padi hot, but the beef cubes, while some were a little chewy, the rest were pretty savoury, just wished that I had some Suji to go with it, but I wasn't going to fork out $8 for it. There seems to be a ground yam dish as well, which is catching my interest, but I think I might just head off to C.L.E African food next, seems like their prices appaer to be more decent.   

Ever the adventurous duo (me and MN), we just hava check out this new African joint after I noted its existence from a feature in the papers. However only upon reaching the entrance, then we started to have panic attacks. As we braved ourselves to enter, we realised that we were the only locals. All customers (drinking outdoors and eating indoors) as well as the owners were Africans. I think we are just not used to it. But well, we 'survived' the adventure and here I am penning this review. :P

Its a tiny enclave of dining area decorated with a mish-mash of decor and paintings from various cultures. Only a certain hint of somewhat African influence from the beaded curtains and the gold/red shiny streamers (i think) hanging from one part of the wall. The tables were covered with red cloth. The side of our table that is near the wall where mn sat, is a sofa covered with a gold cloth.

We were given only 1 menu to share and the menu is THICK! The thickness can fight with the thickness of an encyclopedia. As we pored through the menu, we realised that the wordings were not very friendly in terms of describing the food and its starting to get very alien to us. The wait staff very kindly provided food photos but the photos were not labelled with the menu item names. So we did the next best thing, ASK. Oh man, it was really really tough. Understanding of English Language is really erm...haiz..and obviously we can't speak any African languages. On hindsight, I forgot to try French (After all, french is spoken in some parts of Africa). Hmm. Anyway, we interpreted a lot of things on our own from the bits and pieces of the conversation before finally deciding on what to order.

The menu actually covers a wide spectrum of cuisines (chinese, filipino, indian and western), esp western food with breakfast sets. I believe its primarily to cater to the multitude of backpackers staying in the area. The drinks menu was also pretty extensive (wines, cocktails, hard liquor, imported beers, etc) but in actual fact, its limited la. I tried ordering a Corona Extra but they don't have that at all. I went to the fridge and I only saw Heineken and some others that I don't recognise.

Since we were there for the African cuisine, we naturally only ordered the African food items (not a lot btw).

Jaloff (if I remembered the spelling right) Rice with Chicken

Its essentially a form of fried rice with peas, corn and diced carrots. Chicken is deep fried chix fillet placed on top of the rice with some very salty paste like sauce on top. Can scrape away the sauce though. :) Surprisingly the chix was really nice. Well-seasoned and tender and juicy. Leading me to think that the western food items may be good. The rice was alright and normal fried rice.

Warning: Portion of the rice is GIANT. Can easily feed 2 to 3 pax. It was lucky that we were erring on the side of caution to only order 1 serving first to check out the portion size.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

Quite a yummy dish, though a tad peppery. Chicken cubes were tender and well-seasoned.

Beef Peppery Soup

This is a super duper peppery soup with huge dollops of some African condiments/herbs. Any blocked nose will be cleared. Beef cubes were ok only, I find. Some were a tad hard to chew. Overall, the soup was too peppery for my liking but at least I tried. :)

Here, no proper printed receipt but written on paper. No GST nor service charge. All nett prices only. For the giant rice item above is only $14.90. I don't remember the exact pricing for the other 2 items but the total damage for this meal is only $35, inclusive of 2 cans of sprite.

I think its an interesting adventure really, despite the initial panic attack. Eating amidst all African diners with non-English background music (I have no idea what language but got the occasional English pop) is somewhat surreal. Though, after a while, mn and I are just back to our usual self, chatting away incessantly, oblivious to the world. :P

Side note: Would like to thank the few whom MN and I msged to standby. :)