jiaLARD

falling into the 'duck' side

2011-12-30T21:36:00.013+08:00

After a very long (unintended) hiatus, we are back again………… finally!

Having travelled to Beijing recently, I was given the imperial treatment by my bro and his wife. In my short four day stay, I enjoyed three Peking duck dinners and was asked to give my opinion on which was the best overall Peking duck experience in Beijing.

The first restaurant we dined at was “Made in China”, located at the 5-star Hyatt Hotel in downtown Beijing. The open kitchen concept was similar to that of mezza9 at Hyatt, Singapore. The pre-ordered bird arrived shortly and as the chef carved the bird, we were first served the cut of the skin from the breast of the duck. The first taste of Peking duck in Beijing itself was nothing short of fantastic - the skin was light and crisp and the accompanying sweet bean sauce added a lot to the sensation of that first bite. The duck meat which was served was flavourful, though it should have been a bit juicier. But this was probably one of the better Peking ducks I’ve had for some time.

The next night, we travelled to Duck de Chine, which is the favourite restaurant for my bro and wife. The restaurant was nestled in space which housed an art studio and a few other restaurants, giving it an impeccable ambience. The red lanterns added a touch of chinoiserie to the restaurant. The appetiser of chilled black fungus, bitter gourd, lily bulbs and celery, accompanied with a dash of vinegar and sesame oil helped to perk up my expectation for the piece de resistance, which arrived at our table with much fanfare. The sweet bean paste was served from a jar of homemade hoisin sauce, artistically wedded with some peanut sauce and chopped garlic. A waiter signalled the arrival of the bird with the sounding of a gong. The chef carved the bird before us, all of which heightened the experience of dining at Duck de Chine. The immediate question then was, “Is the duck better than last night’s?” Well, my opinion was that “Made in China’s” skin was a little crispier, but Duck de Chine’s duck was definitely juicier and flavourful. It was hard to come to a conclusion just yet……

While traveling in the cabs, we had asked the cab drivers, where would they go for Peking duck and out of the two drivers we asked, both listed Quan Ju De as their first choice. Bro and his wife, had suggested Da Dong but they asked me to decide on the third place on the third night. I chose Quan Ju De, which was also be a first experience for my hosts who have been in Beijing for some 5 months. QJD perhaps does not match the ambience of the first two dining experience; if Duck de Chine and Made in China is likened to Club Chinoise, then perhaps QJD may be likened to Noble House. But what QJD does not compare in ambience, it made up in the area of culinary expertise. There had been some chatter about the grease level at QJD but for us that evening, it was an exquisite balance of crisp and flavour.

So what is the best Peking duck dining experience for me? Bearing in mind that I did not have the time to venture out to check out Da Dong, I guess I will cast my vote to Duck de Chine for the overall experience - the ambience, the pomp and pageantry, the presentation, the aroma and the taste. It’s not easy to match but where just the duck is concerned, I guess I would say that QJD comes a close second. It was an experience that I will remember for a long time, where indeed fair is fowl and fowl is more than just fair!

Ancient Kingdoms

2008-12-31T01:04:00.038+08:00

I have been missing for a while, but here i am back with pictures of a "recent" trip i have been. I know many will debate about the definition of recent, but time is relative right? These were pictures from Vietnam (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh), Cambodia (Phnom Penh, Siam Reap), Thailand (Bangkok). Unfortunately, descriptions will be kept to a minimal due to the large amount of pictures =P.

Hanoi Grilled Fish. Really Oily Fish.

Hanoi Fire Sauce - Tabasco?

Ice Cream

Meat balls with BBQ sauce, Curry Chicken, Mango Stir Fried Fish

Amok Fish i believe that is what they call it.

premium pasta at pasar prices

2008-11-26T13:57:00.007+08:00

It has often been said the east of Singapore is where all the good food is and to a certain extent there is some truth there. With this latest discovery, the West is now one up. Bukit Timah Market and Food Centre is well known for its carrot cake (chai tow kuay) and a few other hawker centre comfort food. But recently, it is the location for another gem of a find. Affordable western cuisines have been popping up in various locations all across Singapore and this latest addition is perhaps the only hawker centre pasta find where one is able to enjoy a sophisticated truffle-scented carbonara at hawker centre prices…. Read it again, it’s truffle-scented carbonara!

Le Pasta is a recently opened place for pasta and helmed by a chef who had previously worked at the kitchen of a very popular and chic restaurant (which shall be left unnamed). He whips up a selection of classic favourites such as bolognese, vongole, arrabiata to the classier frutti de mare (seafood), amatricianna and even the ‘exotic’ puttanesca (with olives and anchovies). And you have a choice of pastas as well - linguini, spaghetti and penne. Le Pasta is pasta that you will get from swanky Italian restaurants that charge between $15 to $25, which you get a fraction of the price without any discounts on the taste or the quality or the freshness of the ingredients.

As the truffle-scented carbonara was not available on the day we went, we settled for the creamy al funghi, the amatricianna and the aglio olio. The al funghi was good, with a creamy sauce that well executed and well balanced. The tomato-based amatricianna was generously sprinkled with onions and chopped crispy bacon which added ‘oomph’ to the pasta. But perhaps what wowed me most was the aglio olio.

I have always believed that the true test of a pasta restaurant is in the execution of the simplest aglio olio. The one served here has a generous amount of sliced garlic and a sprinkling of chopped chilies to kick up the taste a few notches. The garlic was sufficiently pan fried such that the garlicky scent is evident without the bitter aftertaste of overdone garlic. It was a simple pasta dish excellently executed. The great thing about the pasta here is that if you need to kick up your dish a few notches, you have the option of adding various other toppings to your pasta, such as tiger prawns, bacon and even seafood.

The mushroom soup also deserves a mention. It is NOT your typical canned mushroom soup served with some freshly chopped mushrooms. Rather is it a sophisticated mushroom soup that is served with freshly blended button and shitake mushrooms.

I returned 2 days later (with another of my friends) and ordered another two pastas, the truffle-scented carbonara and the pesto. I did not have my camera with me and cannot tempt you with the pictures. But like the aglio olio, both these pastas wowed me over yet again.

di, who's friends with the chef, has also eaten here and he added that the Frutti de Mare is also excellent choice. Pasta at a pasar….. well, make a trip to Le Pasta and be bowled over yourself! It’s premium Italian pasta at pasar prices!

Rating: 4 byps

Le Pasta

#02-158, Bukit Timah Road Market
Bukit Timah Road

peace for di.... always

2008-09-10T12:29:00.013+08:00

It’s always a difficult decision when it comes to planning a birthday dinner for di. We’ve eaten at quite a number of places, as evidenced by the blog entries here and it probably takes a lot of thinking to surprise di. So when he’s birthday came around, I was down to two choices. The first, a western cuisine and the second a recent food find in Macpherson. I finally opted for the Cantonese eatery since di has had another birthday celebration at Garibaldi’s. Guess I will leave the other option to sometime towards the end of the year…. hehe.

In some ways the place bears a similar Chinese name to that famous hotel in Shanghai, Peace Hotel and the food they serve is definitely comfort food. Wo Peng Eatery is opened by Chef Julian Tam Kwok Fai, who was the former executive Chef of The Furama Palace, in Chinatown. Wo Peng is famed for their double boiled soups as well as their seafood dishes.

As we arrived a little later than the usual dinner time, we were a little disappointed that di was not able to have his double boiled shark bone soup as they were sold out by then. In place, di had another herbal soup which was double boiled with a few root looking like herbs and with pork. The soup tasted pretty flavourful for one (like me) who’s uninitiated in Chinese herbal soups.

We ordered also the specialty here at Wo Peng which is fried fish skin served with a rich broth. The skin was so crisp, it was much like the crackers (koropo) that we are familiar with in this part of the world. We were told that we could either eat the fish skin separately or to dip it in the soup before eating it. It’s one of those dished where one is able to enjoy not only the sight and taste but also the sound of the dish as the crispy fish skin crackles as it is dipped into the soup. A thoroughly enjoyable appetizer.

The next dish to arrive was the venison with a particular kind of mushroom what had the texture of chicken ham. It was a good combination of meat with fungi/vegetables. The mushroom had a chewy texture which well complimented the tenderness of the venison.

The dish to complete the dinner was the famed lobster noodles. Being the typical traditional person, no birthday dinner is complete without eating some kind of noodles and Wo Peng serves up an awesome lobster noodles. The stock for the noodles is well-scented with the use of ginger slices and spring onions and the chef was generous with the pieces of plump and juicy lobster.

The good thing about Wo Peng is that it is restaurant food served at tze-char prices, well maybe a little more than your typical HDB tze-char places but definitely value for money. A great place to have that typical Chinese birthday dinners for a couple of tables. It was a great place for dinner with di. We were quite stuffed and decided against desserts since we were headed to a café to round off the celebrations.

Good food with family. I am at peace……and praying too that peace will not only prevail here but also for di as he celebrates another birthday.

Rating: 3.5 byps

Wo Peng Eatery
476 Macpherson Road
Tel 67479892

teacher's day dinner...'imperial' pleasures

2008-09-01T22:46:00.010+08:00

It’s becoming a sort of a tradition when di invited me to dinner this year to commemorate Teacher’s Day. I was his pastoral care tutor while I was in ACS and that has been about a decade ago. We eat together quite a bit but this was no less a heart tugging affair for me.

We arrived at Huang Ting, which was a place we had wanted to try having seen it at Central. But the fact that it’s tucked away in some obscure corner probably is not helpful, especially since we seem to be the only diners there that evening; di joked that it was because he had made reservations for the entire place that evening! But the lack of diners should not be attributed to the quality of the food at Huang Ting. The dishes we ordered were very good.

Knowing that Peking duck is one of favourites, we ordered half a duck. The skin was exceptionally crisp. The only grumble I have was that it was served in egg crepes rather than the typical wheat dough, which is a more authentic version. But egg crepes are perhaps more typical of a Cantonese interpretation of this Beijing delicacy. Each bite however, was packed with a crunch and balanced with a flavourful sweet bean sauce.

We tried two different soups. I chose the hot and sour soup while di had the ‘Tam Kar’ seafood broth which was perhaps a better choice, given that this is a Cantonese restaurant. The soup was chockfull of seafood and is a typical comfort food.

So it was with the tofu dish. di ordered the tofu with spinach and assorted mushrooms. It was a simple dish but very well executed as the flavours exploded with each mouthful of the tofu.

The roast chicken is perhaps one of the most impressive dishes in Huang Ting. The crispness of the skin contrasted with the tender juiciness of the chicken meat, a typical Hong Kong specialty.

Huang Ting serves a buffet dinner too and for $38+++ one can basically try all the chef’s specialties on the buffet’s ala carte menu. We were initially tempted to check that out but were told that it was only available for a minimum of four diners. Given the total number of people in that restaurant that evening, perhaps the manager could have made a concession for these two diners who could have passed as four!

It was an enjoyable dinner made much more memorable because it was di’s way of celebrating teacher’s day for me. It was a meal that made me feel as like royalty and yet celebrated the loyalty we share as brothers. Writing this blog entry, I cannot help but be thankful for that opportunity to make a brief yet nonetheless significant impact on some of the students at ACS. And in the same token, my life has been so much more enriched. Thanks di!

Rating: 3.5 byps

Huang Ting Restaurant

6 Eu Tong Sen Street

The Central #04-63

Tel: 6410-9750

http://www.huang.com.sg

mango madness......

2008-07-27T23:05:00.008+08:00

This is loooong overdue….. but perhaps this is well worth the wait especially if you are traveling to the other food haven of South East Asia, Bangkok. i was in Bangkok with ah di sometime in July this year and we were visiting with couz in Central Thailand.

While in Bangkok, ah di and i came across this gem of a dessert place smack in the middle of Siam Square, just opposite the Siam Paragon, the seeming favourite hangout of Singapore tourists in Bangkok. Mango Tango is fronted by an entire counter of fresh sweet thai mangoes.

di and i had already had a scrumptious lunch at another popular Thai restaurant at Siam Square, called SomTam. We hence decided to order a sampling of the different mango desserts available here. We ordered the khao niao ma muang, the mango with sago and a mango ska, sort of a mango slush, which is one of the popular items in Mango Tango.

Both the ska as well as the mango with sago were fulfilling for a mango junkie like me but di and i agree that the khao niao ma muang (mango sticky rice) is definitely one of the best that we ever had. Ripe chunks of succulent mango that is accompanied with a serving of sticky rice, drizzled with rich coconut milk and sprinkled with a generous touch of fried mung beans. The crispy mung beans added a completely different texture to the whole traditional Thai dessert. The mango sherbet on the side was an equally refreshing addition to the dessert.

So the next time you are in Bangkok, make a point to come to Mango Tango. And it seems that this dessert place has won numerous accolades in Japanese travel magazines. Mango Tango is a gem of a find and one which will leave a tingling in your tummy and a tingling in your feet, as you tango your way home.

Rating: 4 byps

Address:
Mango Tango Cafe
318 Siam Square
Soi 4, Rama 1 Rd
Bangkok
Thailand

paradise revisited

2008-05-04T21:25:00.011+08:00

When couz came back on another one of his visa runs, we decided to return to Paradise again, more accurately Seafood Paradise@Flyer since our last visit at the seemingly remote location at Defu Lane had been memorable. It was a reunion of sorts for couz, di and i since we have had not eaten together for some time. The stylishly designed interior of this latest restaurant of the Paradise Group was a visual hors d’oeuvres. The food….. well, almost celestial! They don’t call it paradise for nothing!

We ordered a seafood tofu soup which came piping hot in a coconut! It was a stroke of culinary ingenuity as the flavor of the fresh coconut was infused into the soup though the steaming process.

The prawn bacons rolls enrobed in a tangy barbeque sauce was another treat! I guess you can only let your eyes do the feasting…..

We also ordered the coffee ribs, which was very well executed, with a great balance of the contrasting flavours of soy and coffee. Definitely for the caffeine addicts!

Couz’s favourite fish is cod and no dinner is complete without an order of cod. The baked cod in teriyaki sauce was delicately exquisite and served with French flair. The melt-in-the-mouth smoothness of the cod was well marinated and baked to perfection.

No visit to Seafood Paradise is complete without an order of their crab dish. Of all the different permutations of preparing crabs, we highly recommend the crab in superior stock (which comes with tang hoon or vermicelli) AND their signature butter crab.

The crab with superior stock is simply a dish in a class of its own. It’s a dish that both couz and di has had at the other Seafood Paradise at Defu Lane. This was my first and i can finally understand the well deserved accolades.

The butter crab came in a pool of butter cream stock, sprinkled with a brown toasted ‘crunchies’ which we later found out was deep fried coconut bits. Yet again it demonstrated the chef’s creativity. The blend of textures and flavours added to the buttery goodness. Deep fried mantous only added to the indulgence.

For the calorie-conscious, there is little need to be overly concerned since this is, after all, Paradise.

Rating: 4 byps

Address:
Seafood Paradise@Flyer
30 Raffles Avenue 01-01
Singapore Flyer
Tel: 63365101

duh! It's D'bun!

2008-05-04T21:24:00.007+08:00

It’s a ritual for me on a weekly basis, standing in front of this little shopfront after church, waiting for the bus to take me to town to get another bus home. Yes, I am one of those who have to rely on public transport. And on one of those extended waits, I ventured into this little haven. I had often wondered why so many inconsiderate drivers would park their vehicles in the bus bay for that mandatory stop to pick up some ‘paus’. It finally dawned on me why they would risk the honking of the frustrated bus driver and the dirty looks of the irritated passengers waiting to board the bus…. here was one special ‘pau’ shop - duh!

I was introduced to the shop’s latest innovation, the ‘shao rou cha siew pau’, the ubiquitous char siew pau with a piece of juicy tender roast pork, ‘shao rou’ encased in the sticky super savoury cha siew. I had to buy a couple for my family - my mum and ah di, who felt that the roast pork kicked the taste up a few notches.

For me, not being a great fan of roast pork, just the char siew alone makes my day. But perhaps the bigger gem of a find (for me), was this somewhat ‘normal’ looking ngoh hiang. But this too is also an innovation of the lady owner of D’bun. It is a tofu ngoh hiang, mixing tofu with minced pork and prawns to achieve a blend of flavours and texture that makes it this one of the best ngoh hiang I have had ever. Crispy on the outside, with a tofu and meat filling that is simply scrumptious. Little wonder that i have no complains each time i have to wait for the bus at this stop.

D’bun has other goodies as well, as is evident on their web site: www.dbun.com.sg. And I now know better whenever cars park at the bus stop to make a rush into the shop. Duh… they’re going to D’bun!

Rating: 4 byps

Address:
D'Bun
358 Joo Chiat Road
Singapore 427603
Tel 63448110

Culinary Delights of Chinatown X - final one in the series

2008-02-03T17:57:00.004+08:00

Apologies that this post is so long overdue... As evidenced by the posts, there is seemingly one author for this blog right now and the author has been busy with lots of things and on top of all the busyness, the laptop decided to take a permanent ‘holiday’ - it crashed! Sigh. In any case, this is the last of the very long drawn series on the culinary finds in Chinatown. There are a lot more culinary discoveries in Chinatown to be introduced but we decided that we should begin with these ten. And for this last post, di and I have been vacillating if we should write about this last culinary find. It may not be too much of a secret for those who are familiar with Chinatown but it is a ‘secret’ that we had hoped to keep to ourselves for fear that the marauding hordes will cause an increase in price. But for all the faithful readers of this blog, we decided that this warrants the final coveted spot of culinary discoveries in Chinatown.

This is di’s favourite chicken noodle or you ji mian (油鸡面 ) stall and when he first brought me here, I was wowed by the tender chicken breast meat and the springy texture of the noodles. The sauce used to braise the chicken seems to be some secret family recipe as evidenced by the fact that a few shops down the road, there is a similar chicken noodle stall that bears almost the same name albeit different by just an ‘i’ - Chiew Kee. It might have been some family squabble but I guess we’ll leave that to some culinary reporters who seem to relish in digging out the stories behind feuding foodie families. The important thing here is that the readers of this blog will go to the right you ji mian stall. Perhaps you might want to be adventurous and venture to discover the difference between this and the other one down the road. And if you do, please do keep us informed.

The chili which is stored in the ubiquitous plastic squirt containers also deserves a mention. It goes so very well with the chicken pieces adding a zing to it. The you ji mian itself is already fantastic, the chili sauce kicks it up another few notches. And if you are eating with friends, you’ll have to place an order for the prawn dumpling soup (shui jiao tang, 水饺汤) as well. The freshness of the ingredients and the flavours in those dumplings swimming in a bowl of soup that came from many hours of braising the chicken and other soup stock adds to the overall experience of eating at a simple street shop in Chinatown.

Need I continue? You’ll just have to head down to Upper Cross Street to check this out for yourself. Perhaps then you will understand our hesitation in letting this discovery out.

Address:
Chew Kee Eating House
8 Upper Cross Street
Singapore 058327
Tel 62220507

Culinary Delights of Chinatown IX

2008-01-20T01:25:00.004+08:00

With Chinese New Year just around the corner, i figure that this post should be timely. This is probably one tid-bit that every household will buy in celebrating the Spring season and it's definitely one of my favourite CNY delicacies. It's a must have for all 'carnivores' - i am referring to the ubiquitous 'bak kwa' (barbeque sliced pork).

Of late there has been news about the spike in prices of barbeque pork and the extremely long lines in Chinatown as the New Year approaches. As i post this entry, it is going at an almost ridiculous price of $50 per kilogramme! And the wait is for at least 3-5 hours! I am referring to the name that is synonymous with 'bak kwa' in Chinatown - Lim Chee Guan.

i figure that they do not need this publicity, there is already a huge following as evident by the crazy long snaking queues. Thanks to di, i get to enjoy Lim Chee Guan all year round and also during the CNY. There is something inexplicable about the bak kwa from LCG, but it's definitely an enjoyable experience each and every bite.

But there is more than Lim Chee Guan in Chinatown. di's mum also bought me bak kwa from another famed Chinatown shop and since i've eaten from this other place, i have actually come to like it as much as LCG. The slices of bak kwa is not made from minced meat but whole slices and looks a little desiccated but the real test is in the taste. The bak kwa is unbelievably tender and the blend of spices that went in the marinate makes it the CNY equivalent for potato chips - there is no stopping at only one piece! Priced at $45 a kilo and where one does not need to spend hours in a line waiting to buy it, i strongly recommend this if you prefer not to stand in line, an extremely long line at that! Incidentally, i am referring to Kim Hock Guan which is also in Chinatown.

Kim Hock Guan does not look as 'glitzy' as the recently made-over Lim Chee Guan. The signboard looks very much like the usual shops in Chinatown that has not been exposed to the artwork of urban advertising professionals and there is still an air of tradition in it. So before the stock runs out and before the crowd gathers, it's time to get down to Chinatown to soak in some of the Chinese New Year festive atmosphere and get yourself and your loved ones a packet (or two, er... make that three... erm... four) of the snack of choice for Chinese New Year!

And before we forget, we (di, couz and myself) here at jialard wish you all a blessed and prosperous Chinese New Year! Huat ah!!!

Address:
Lim Chee Guan
203 New Bridge Road
Singapore 059429

Kim Hock Guan
150 South Bridge Road
#01-02 Fook Hai Building
Singapore 058727

thai kingdom come

2008-01-09T21:48:00.001+08:00

This is the first post of 2008 and I figured I should share a great culinary find to begin the year. I was introduced to this restaurant by a Thai friend of mine, Boat. i have known Boat for more than a decade and if a Thai tells you that this is his favourite Thai restaurant in Singapore, i don’t think i have the audacity to disagree. i could not withhold such good news from ah di and so we found ourselves coming to E-Sarn for dinner a week after Boat bought me lunch there and I ordered the exact same dishes that Boat had ordered too!

E-Sarn presents a selection of Thai food from the northeast region of Thailand and one of the more prominent E-sarn dishes is the grilled pork (kor mu yang). The grilled pork was sliced into strips and served with some raw vegetables and a piquant chili sauce which is an infusion all the flavours that are synonymous with Thai cuisine.

Instead of the usual tom yum soup, I was introduced to another alternative tom sab, which is a spicy soup that is somewhat different from the ubiquitous tom yum goong. It seems that there is more of a sweet and yet tangy flavour to the soup that is derived from tomatoes. While we had ordered this soup with chicken, we were served the soup with pork instead. It was a very minor hiccup but the we still enjoyed the soup nonetheless.

We also ordered a dish of beef with basil (nuer pad kra pao). While more often the meat cooked with basil is of the minced variety, E-Sarn’s interpretation was to serve thinly sliced beef strips with basil in a great tasting sauce. This is perhaps a simple and typical Thai dish, yet the E-sarn’s dish more than outstrips many other Thai restaurants.

Boat mentioned that his favourite dish at E-Sarn is kung ob woon sen, which is prawns with tang hoon (vermicelli). Served piping hot in a clay pot, the vermicelli had absorbed all the rich flavour of the stock used to cook this dish and further infused with the whole stems of coriander and cloves of garlic. While other reviews had raised questions about the freshness of the prawns, i have had no such similar complaints on both my visits to E-Sarn. The prawns were relatively large and went very well with the vermicelli. ah di and i enjoyed this dish a great deal too.

To round off the meal, di and i shared an order of khao neow ma muang, mango with glutinous rice and a serving of coconut ice cream with nuts and nata de coco. The sweetness of thai mangoes are just unbelievable. And we came to the conclusion that the Thais must have watered their fruit trees with sugared water to make most Thai fruits so unbelievably sweet. The glutinous rice that was served with the incredibly sweet mangoes exuded a fragrance which pointed perhaps to the use of coconut milk. The coconut ice cream I ordered was also out of this world. The peanuts and the nata de coco added much to the ice cream in terms of texture. But the ice cream would have been a winner on its own too. The richness of the coconut milk used in the ice cream was simply amazing.

Compared with the most other Thai restaurants, we do concur with Boat’s assessment that E-Sarn is easily one of the best reasonably priced Thai restaurants in Singapore. Enjoy the best of the Thai northeast, right here in Singapore!

Rating: 4 byps

Address:
E-Sarn Thai Cuisine
20 Sixth Avenue
Singapore 276479
Tel 64625608

palatial pickings

2007-12-16T21:00:00.005+08:00

It seemed almost only yesterday that couz returned to Singapore and now he’s going to head back to Thailand again as he resumes his ministry there. Determined that he should not head back before having a taste of Chinese cuisine from a legendary location, we headed to the recently re-modelled Shang Palace.

Unlike the clean white lines of the other restaurants in Shangr-la, Shang Palace was tastefully resplendent in a hue of ‘chiina-tong-sua’ red. It was reminiscent of the opulence of the imperial courts. One of the first things that were placed on our table was a container with a dazzling selection of exotic and exquisite Chinese teas from which we were to make our decision.

couz chose the ‘eight treasures tea’ which was a colourful combination of eight flowers, fruits and tea leaves, such as chrysanthemums, rose buds, dates and wolfberries.

I opted for an special long-jing (dragon’s well green tea) which had a clean crisp taste enough to send ripples of joy down the throat of any tea lover. It was an equally visual experience to see the ‘dance’ of the tea leaves in the cup.

As usual, no Chinese dinner with couz is complete with an order of Peking duck and true to its tradition, the Peking duck at Shang Palace brought back fond memories of dinners of yesteryears. The crackling and crispy duck skin contrasted with the soft smooth white flour dough which was enlivened by the fragrant sauce.

We ordered different soups so that we can have a sampling. Couz opted for the ‘monkeyhead’ meatball soup (I think that’s what it’s named) while i opted for the perennial safer choice of thickened toufu seafood broth, both of which was well-balanced and tasty.

Our next order is another favourite of couz’s, ‘gong bao ji ding’, diced chicken with chillies. Apparently, the ‘palace’ served another version using a more exquisite chilli pepper which was priced somewhat differently too. And not wanting to be that adventurous where our wallets were concerned, we opted for the mundane rather than palatial version of ‘gong bao ji ding’. It was good but I guess there are some tze char places that can whip up something similar at perhaps a fraction of what is charged at this palace. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable dish.

Next were the orders of beef steak with a fruit sauce and lamb chop with black pepper sauce. The wok-fried steak was rested on a crispy onion ring while the tangy sweet sauce added a lot of satisfaction to this dish. As I had previously mentioned, lamb had become couz’s favourite meat of choice since our trip to New Zealand and the version served at this palace, very much made couz a happy man, as he enjoyed each bite of the tender meat well accentuated with the tasty peppery sauce.

The Peking duck made a second ‘appearance’ in our order of fried noodles. As I write this review, it seemed that we had not ordered very much this time round, which is quite unlike us. Though the noodles had not retained the crispiness but it was nonetheless a tasty round-up for dinner.

For desserts, couz opted for the Shang’s version of mango-pomelo dessert with grass jelly. It is to the chef’s credit that the dessert was a visual as well as a culinary treat. The grass jelly well complemented the mango cubes and pomelo bits. It was a simple dessert but spoke voluminous of the chef’s ingenuity and creativity.

The food at the Palace is good, though it is a little pricey. But i guess this is a 'palace' after all and we did enjoy dinner here. The end of dinner meant also a certain parting of ways, and I guess it will be some time before couz and i will dine together again. He will be leaving to return to his ministry. But for a short time, we were distracted from emotional farewells by the palatial pickings at this palace. Perhaps there will come a time when we will write about some of the culinary delights of a different palace in a not so faraway place called Nakhon Sawan.

For good food, great times and the best of brothers, thanks couz! Wishing you God’s best in your ministry.

Rating: 4 byps

Address:

Shang Palace

Shangri-La Hotel

Orange Grove Road

Singapore 258350

tzi char gem

2007-12-16T21:00:00.002+08:00

If i were to tell you that there is a gastronomic haven in Thomson, would you believe me? This is one gem of a find and it’s all thanks to ah di again. He is the one who is able to sniff out all these great places that are tucked away at some obscure corner of various parts of

Singapore

. We arrived at this coffee shop at the corner of a HDB block across from Thomson Hospital. The tired coffee shop looked like it was very much in need of some urgent repainting but still most of the tables there were occupied (which is actually a good sign).

We managed to sit ourselves down and ordered a couple of dishes. ah di had told me that the ‘har cheong kai’ (prawn paste chicken) at this tze char has had numerous rave reviews. Hence I placed an order for the much talked about chicken. When it first arrived at our table, it looked pretty normal, as if there was nothing spectacular. The aroma, however was a prelude to all the ethereal sensations that we derived from this “pretty normal” looking dish. The flavours exploded with each bite into the chicken, the contrasting texture of the crisp skin and batter, with the juicy, succulent and tender chicken was sufficient to convince me that this has to be the best 'har cheong kai' I have ever tasted!

Another dish that sent me up a few levels up from seventh heaven was the braised bean curd in claypot. The picture is a little blurry perhaps because i was shaking with excitement at the taste of this dish. The chef literally put all other Chinese restaurant chefs to shame with this particular dish. The flavourful gravy enveloping each rectangular piece of bean curd and topped with a selection of seafood such as squid, fish and pork slices, made this a truly delectable dish for me. I could have many bowls of rice along with just this one dish! It’s that good!

We also ordered a deep fried sea bass which is another of the specialties of this tze char place. It’s done in the typical Cantonese style - deep fried and served with soy sauce gravy and a generous amount of fried shallots. The fish which had swum in the sea all its life is now made to swim in a generous amount of oil (as evidenced in the picture). Yet again, looks are deceiving. While it looked like the sea bass had been ‘swimming’ in boiling oil for too long a time, the freshness is indisputable. One can taste it with each bite - the crunch, the aroma, the taste, all of which made this another fantastic dish.

We ordered only these three dishes but all three demonstrated the simple fact that oftentimes looks are deceiving. While each of the dishes looked rather normal, all of them provided in themselves a heavenly dining experience. This is easily one of the best tze char places both ah di and i have been to and di had to tell me that the beef hor fun they serve here is also one of their specialities AFTER dinner. Looks like we will be coming back here again sometime very soon and i sure do look forward eagerly to a return to heaven!

Rating: 4 byps

Address:
Bee Kia Restaurant
326 Block 1 Balestier Hill Shopping Centre
Thomson Road

Singapore

300001
Tel 62548490

the reunion

2007-12-16T20:58:00.000+08:00

When couz came back for a short holiday in early December, di and i managed to meet up with him at one of Singapore’s latest additions with regards to Chinese cuisine, JuChun Yuan. Accordingly, JuChun Yuan stands for the finest in Fuzhou cuisine and the restaurant was very tastefully furnished with traditional Chinese interior décor. The little courtyard leading to the dining area is reminiscent of the traditional Chinese architecture and added a sense of expectancy to the dining experience.

It has been some time since we sat down for a good Chinese dinner with couz and we decided on some of the typical Fuzhou specialties. The appetizer which was served was no surprise - it was a Fuzhou fishball, the kind what has a minced-pork stuffing. It was delicious except for the fact that it should have been served piping hot.

We ordered the set menu which included three starters, all of which are typical Min delicacies; cuttlefish ‘salad, pickled celery and lemon flavoured pickled radish. It was a refreshing start to what was to come.

Next we were served the pumpkin and fish maw thick soup. It was a delicately flavoured thick soup with fish maw which added a texture to the taste. However, not much of the pumpkin was detected in soup though.

The next two dishes served were the highlights of the Min cuisine in this set meal. The wok-fried "live" Ming prawns infused with fuzhou chinese tea was a rather unique dish and interestingly the taste of tea was evident, providing balance to the turgidity of the fresh prawns.

Another Fuzhou specialty has to the be wok-fried chicken with light red vinasse, which is really a more upscale version of ‘hong zhao ji’. ‘Hong zhao’ or vinasse is the by-product of the fermentation process of rice wines and is a favourite ingredient for the Fuzhuo people in their cooking. The flavourful chicken strips were rested on a bed of crunchy snow peas which was visually as well as gastronomically well contrasted.

The next dish served was the baked fuzhou scallop with black pepper. It was a good dish but perhaps not as unique as the other two dishes served before. And since couz had come to acquire a love for lamb since our New Zealand trip, we had an extra order of fired lamb chops served with garlic.

Unlike most lamb dishes, the chef had prepared this very much in the traditional Chinese deep fried method. The golden-fried garlic bits greatly accentuated the taste of the lamb.

We had a serving of braised Fuzhou noodles before we were served the finale, yam paste. The paste was of such an incredible smooth texture and is purported made from young yams imported directly from Fuzhou. It was as though we were served a Fuzhuo version of yam ice cream, except for temperature disparity. This dessert comes highly recommended and no meal at JuChun Yuan is complete without it.

It was a good dinner but perhaps what made the fellowship much sweeter was for a brief moment, all three of the jialard blog contributors were back together again, savouring good food and enjoying the warmth that such a fellowship affords. Welcome back couz!

Rating: 3.5 byps

Address:
Spring JuChun Yuan

130 Amoy Street #01-01
Far East Square
Singapore 049959

crustacean cravings....

2007-10-18T18:54:00.000+08:00

This post is long overdue….. andreas, di and i visited this ‘tze cha’ place having read the posts by one prominent blogger, raving about this place’s lobster noodles and the crab tang hoon. With childlike trust and a hearty appetite, we headed down to this infamous part of Singapore to check out this ‘cze cha’.

I think a point of clarification is in place. If you are expecting the regular kind of ‘tze cha’ place, this is not the place. Chef Jason operates a stall that sells duck rice, zhu zha as well as some shanghai noodles and dumplings. He whips up some other dishes and I guess if you are one of those ‘privileged’ few, he will come up with some specialties for you. I did try to call the chef Jason to make an advance order for the lobster noodles but since i had made the call a little late, we weren’t able to get the Boston lobsters and had to settle for the crab beehoon.

Chef Jason was also kind enough to oblige us with an order of his version of hot and sour soup. It is not the usual kind that one gets at those restaurants and more of an 'impromptu' dish but the szechuan vegetables he used gave the soup a sour kick which was rather refreshing.

We also ordered a deep fried doufu dish which tasted like any other deep fried doufu. We also had the mild curry fired chicken wings, which was like fried chicken wings with a dash of curry powder. Well, again, there was nothing to shout about here. The dish we were expecting came finally, the crab tang hoon (glass vermicelli).

The tang hoon was not the normal kind but the thicker Korean version which had absorbed all the stock of the soup used to cook the dish. The springy-ness of the tang hoon is perhaps the reason why Chef Jason chose to use it. The “kou gan” was great. The crabs were also very fresh. My only grouse was that soup stock was probably similar to that used for the ‘zhu zha tang’. i tend to be very sensitive to that, which is heavenly to some but perhaps not for me. andreas and di probably enjoyed the dish much more, though I think our votes still go to the other seafood tze cha a few streets away, if price was not a concern. Nonetheless, this is another option, especially in view of the fact that the chef here is so much more affable and willing to cook up a dish or two to satisfy your cravings.

Rating: 3 byps

Address:
Ya Kwang Dai Pai Dong
709 Geylang Road (Lor 37)
11am to 11pm daily
Tel: 98170006

KKK - krispy kreme kravings

2007-10-17T00:00:00.000+08:00

i presume this post will make some green with envy..... but i managed to get my hands on two dozen of these from a friend who was returning from Hong Kong, which i shared with my friends back here in Singapore.

I know that this statement will probably drive many people up the wall but honestly, i do not understand why people bother to stand in long lines at Raffles City waiting for a box of baked/fried flour topped with an inordinate amount of sugar and chocolate. I guess it a fad, just like bubble tea, the coffee confectionery (roti boy) and the likes......and of late there has been a growing number of doughnut shops sprouting up all over Singapore, clamouring for a piece of the earnings. I guess it won't be long before that bubble burst.

But till then, i don't think that there are any doughnuts that can outdo the regular sugar glazed krispy kreme.

Besides Sydney, there are also outlets in Seoul (Korea), Hong Kong and nearby Jakarta (Indonesia). Unfortunately, we here in Singapore will not get our krispy kreme kravings satiated for some time and we may have to look outside Singapore for our sugar fix.

pho good times like these......

2007-10-14T23:27:00.001+08:00

My colleagues returned from a fortnight of work in Vietnam in May this year and recently had been rather excited when they heard about Pho 24’s arrival in Singapore. They have eaten at the outlets over in Vietnam and have been eager to check out this new outlet in Singapore. Apparently, Pho 24 means 24 ingredients and 24 hours of preparing the choicest beef to produce a soup that maintains its full and rich flavor.

Well, I made a trip recently with di and we were there about 15 minutes before closing time. The décor was simple and we looked forward to the set which included pho nam (which is beef flank), a summer roll, Vietnamese coffee and a dessert. The menu listed a slightly wider selection which included the slightly more expensive beef cut of fillet. But we figured that the set was more value for money.

The bowl of pho arrived promptly, interestingly before the summer rolls which is normally served as an appetizer. The broth looked rather bland but I guess the test is in the taste. On first taste, the broth was flavourful which immediately raised our suspicion that it had been ‘chemically’ enhanced, ie one of the 24 ingredients must surely include monosodium glutamate. As di and i enjoyed the pho, we were also thinking that perhaps we might have to down a couple of cups of water after the meal. There was also a good amount of beef flank which proved rather tasty as well and overall, it was a good bowl of pho.

The summer roll with prawn filling was freshly prepared, though i was a little disappointed with the dip that came along with it. i vaguely remember having had a tastier version at the other Vietnamese pho restaurant in Holland village.

We did enjoy the Vietnamese coffee which came in a drip and would have forgotten completely about our desserts had it not been for di’s reminder. The dessert was rather disappointing in that it was a chilled version of ‘bo bo cha cha’. We had expected something more Vietnamese but perhaps the Vietnamese also do enjoy ‘bo bo cha cha’. The coconut milk perhaps did help alleviate the CRS (Chinese restaurant syndrome) commonly associated with the use of MSG and we did not feel that thirsty after the meal. Overall, we enjoyed the bowl of pho and would heartily recommend Pho 24. It may not be Vietnam but at least momentarily, it does bring back memories that one would associate with things Vietnamese.

Rating: 3.5 byps

Address:
Pho 24

9 Raffles Boulevard

#01-26 Millenia Walk

Singapore 039596

over the moon...

2007-09-02T00:37:00.000+08:00

The eight month of the lunar calendar is always a time to satiate the sweet cravings of one and all, as Chinese all over the world celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival with the mooncakes. Shaped like the full moon and filled with sweet lotus paste, it has in recent years undergone a transformation with various differents sweet fillings such as custard paste, green tea paste, yam paste, champagne ganache and a whole list of mind boggling and imagination stretching fillings. But perhaps it's another 'lunatic' excuse for commercialisation as increasing number of hotels and confectionary shops rush in to vie for a piece of the 'mooncake' pie.

As usual, we received quite a few boxes of mooncakes from family friends and most of them were either 'shuang huang' (double yolk) or 'si huang' (four yolks). These make traditionally better gifts. My family, however, prefer those without the yolks. Thankfully bro-willy and di remembered about our peculiar preference. Bro-willy bought us a box of snow skin mooncakes from Inter-Continental Hotel, with custard and black sesame fillings. Unfortunately we had wolfed them down so quickly before i remembered to take any pictures of those heavenly creations.

di bought a box for my mum and a box for me. He gets the mooncakes yearly from a favourite hotel of ours. One box was the traditional lotus paste with macadamia nuts. The lotus paste was of a very delicate and silky quality which was enobled with a crunch from the generous amount of buttery macadamia nuts. The other box was more unique.

These were the special creation of the hotel chef. It was a savoury kind of mooncake with dried scallop filling. The pastry is of a buttery and crumbly texture like those great CNY pineapple tarts. It was different from those sugar-laden traditional mooncakes and each bite was sufficient to send one over the moon.

I also received a mooncake from an Indonesian friend. Accordingly, this is the traditional kind of mooncake that has been sold in Jakarta for more than 50 over years. The filling was much like a fruit and nut based kind of paste and tasted really good too. Well, if any of you readers do get to Jakarta over the mooncake season next year, make sure you get yourselves a few of these.

The above mooncakes sure make this mid Autumn Festival so much more unforgetable... it basically sent me over the moon. Because more than just a simple exchange of these sweet confectionaries, it was the fact that we can share these moments as friends and families that added a great deal more depth to observing this Chinese tradition.

Culinary Delights of Chinatown VIII

2007-08-19T23:55:00.000+08:00

I finally got to eat the world renowned chicken rice from Tian Tian Hainanese chicken rice at Maxwell Road Food Centre with ah di. Popular foodie Seetoh of Makansutra insists that the chicken rice at Tian Tian is ‘die die must try’ and numerous other food bloggers have also raved about it. Even world renowned chef Tetsuya Wakuda [from Downunder] is supposedly besotted with the chilli sauce from Tian Tian, so much so that I just had to take a picture of it. The chilli sauce is a blend of fresh chillies, ginger, lime juice and perhaps some other secret ingredients and it sure does have a quite a kick to it when eaten with the chicken.

We ordered the ‘healthy’ version, which means that the chicken breast is de-skinned, and yes, both of us prefer the leaner cuts of the chicken, which may not be the preference for most Singaporeans. The lady boss stirred a concoction of soy sauce which was accentuated with a chicken stock and sesame oil, hence making the sauce a few notches above the ubiquitous soy sauce sprinkled over the chicken meat for most chicken rice. The chicken breast meat at Tian Tian is unbelievably tender and also succulent, well accented with the flavourful sauce. But perhaps what is most commendable is the rice. The rice was fragrant and fluffy and each individual grain was packed with flavour being cooked in a rich chicken stock.

We figured that there are quite a few chicken rice stalls that can come up with great ‘pak chum kai’ but perhaps what makes Tian Tian outstanding, among the many stalls in Singapore selling chicken rice, is the deliciously flavourful rice as well as the unique sauces (the soy sauce concoction as well as the chilli sauce). And those are secrets that will make eating chicken rice a pleasure everyday (tian tian).

Address:
Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice
#01-10
Maxwell Road Food Market
Singapore 069110

Culinary Delights of Chinatown VII

2007-08-11T22:19:00.000+08:00

This was a little eating place that served Beijing food, particularly xiao long bao (小龙包), jiaozi (饺子, dumplings), guo tie (锅贴, pan fried dumplings), ja jiang noodles and golden pancake, which was like a scallion pastry (葱油饼) but with meat fillings.

Some have commented that the xiao long bao here is much better than those from the other over-priced restaurants (particularly that one at the basement of Paragon). You will have to decide on that for yourselves. We did enjoy the xiao long bao and found it to be pretty good value for money. Each of the dumplings is infused with soupy meat filing that explodes upon each bite, sending ripples of ‘shiokness’ which is almost indescribable.

The golden pancake also comes highly recommended. The minced pork filling was very flavourful. A word of advice: make sure you eat the pancake quick to enjoy the crispy crust of the pancake because the juicy meat filling will seep and soak through the bottom layer of the crust.

The guo tie here is perhaps one of the best that we have had. As is evidenced in the photo, we were enjoying them so much that we almost forgot to take a picture. The juicy meat filling well complemented the crispy outer crust. If there is one dish that you must order, it has to be this.

And finally to round off the meal, we also ordered the red bean pancake which ended our meal on a sweet and satisfied note. We would strongly recommend this place, but be warned that there’s always a queue. But the reward for the patience makes this another notable culinary discovery in Chinatown.

Address:
Qun Zhong Eating House
21 Neil Road
Singapore 088814

Tasty Fragrance of the Night

2007-07-30T22:45:00.000+08:00

The food center at Margaret Drive is famed for such as chicken rice, clay pot rice char kway teow as well as the teochew fishball noodles. But one evening, ah di decided to surprise me again with a chicken cutlet recommendation from a rather non-descript and Spartan looking stall. Tasty barbeque charcoal grill or “ye lai xiang”, as the Chinese name goes, is helmed by two brothers. While the stall itself looks very much in need of a immediate makeover, the food that these brothers serve will instead bowl you over.

ah di ordered the pork chops while I ordered the chicken chop. One of the brothers told us that we will have to wait for about 15 minutes. We were at the stall at about a couple of minutes after 6.30pm and apparently there was already a few orders before us. While one does not need to stand in a line for the food, the waiting can be quite a test of patience… but the reward for those who are patient, the wait is gastronomically rewarding. Unfortunately we did not bring the camera along and so the following pictures were taken on our return trip a week later.

My order of chicken chop was a treat to the eyes as well as packing a punch, taste wise. The rather huge portion of chicken even had some parts which were browned to a slight crisp adding a very welcome texture which contrasted with the rest of the tender well marinated chicken. The cutlet rested on a bed of mixed chopped corn, carrots and peas that added sweetness as well as the fibre requirements for the meal.

ah di and i were so ‘wowed’ by this gem of a place that we went back again a week later to have our yearning for chicken cutlet satiated and again we left impressed. The cutlet was served with baked beans, fries and a piece of bread. The breaded cutlet was evenly deep fried and the crunch on the outside well complemented the succulence and flavour of the chicken. This was sufficient to send anyone to culinary heaven.

“Ye Lai Xiang” also serves beef steak which are dished out on those hot plates ala Jack’s Place. The chicken and pork cutlets and chops are value for money at $5.50 and perhaps this also explains the reason for the long wait. But there’s always other great dishes to check out while one waits for the order…. the famous Margaret Dr char kway teow is but a few stalls away. So what are you waiting for….. it’s time for the fragrance of the night to come… ye lai xiang, here we come!

Rating: 3.5 byps

Address:
Tasty Barbeque Charcoal Grill
Commonwealth Ave Food Centre, #01-560
Blk 40A Commonwealth Ave
Singapore 140040
Operating hours: 6.30pm to 10.30pm, Mon to Thurs

savouring sibu

2007-06-26T22:02:00.000+08:00

I found myself in Sibu in June at a conference attended by a good number of like-minded people. Sibu proved to be an interesting place and in between the times of the conferencing we found ourselves tucking into the various culinary delights that are unique to Sibu. Of course the one dish that we could not have enough of was the noodles that have become synonymous with Sarawak. In Singapore, the Sarawak ‘kolo mee’ has gained a steady following but I guess the Sibu variety outstrips all those we have in Singapore.

We tried a few different stalls and found that though there is a little slight variation in the taste, generally, the noodles were of the same great texture and there were really no stall that served up any substandard mee kampua. The consistency among the different stalls is almost unbelievable!

There is an indescribably springiness to the noodles and according to the locals, mee kampua (as it is known in Sibu) is usually eaten without chili sauce. There is an original version which is without dark sauce. The version below is served with beef instead of the usual insipid-looking but otherwise good-tasting charsiew. The beef version is my favourite mee kampua in Sibu.

There was also a couple of stalls and hawkers that served one of the Foochow delights such as deep fried oysters cakes, not unlike the famous stall in Maxwell market.

One of our local contacts in Sibu directed us to a little shophouse that could have easily gone unnoticed for the culinary uninitiated. Apparently the owner had been serving “ding bian hu” for a good number of years, this being a business that had been handed down from his forefathers. Interestingly the owner has a automated flour mill that grounded the rice into paste which he used to make the “ding bian hu”.

“Ding bian hu” is rice flour served up like kway chap in a soup broth with locally made fish balls and black fungus. It was perhaps a curious local version of “ban mian” except that the noodles in this case were rice flour cooked into ‘hor fun’ like pieces and the fish balls were anything but round. But taste wise, it was great. The soup stock was flavourful.

On another occasion, a few of us visited a restaurant in search of ‘beling’ which is a local vegetable dish. ‘Beling’ is the tip of a local variety of fern and we had it cooked with garlic. The crunch that accompanied each bite is somewhat similar to that of dou miao and for a ‘particularist’ (read ‘fussy eater’) like me, ‘beling’ can easily be one of those favourite vegetable dishes that I will order, if they had this in Singapore. It was a simple yet very likeable dish.

Of course being in a city where the Foochows dominate, we also had ‘hong zhao’ chicken, a dish unique to the Foochows. Tender pieces of chicken were marinated in red wine lees (hong zhao), a paste that is derived from the fermentation process of Chinese red wine. It was perhaps one of the better ‘hong zhao’ chicken I have ever had.

In our few days in Sibu, we were pleasantly surprised by the culinary finds we managed to uncover. We heard that the next conference will be held in Taiwan, and in some ways, I am looking forward to that, though it will have to be a five-years wait!

tua kong fishballs

2007-06-20T23:49:00.000+08:00

di brought me over to this coffee shop along Jalan Tua Kong, just off Siglap Road to savour the noodles at this coffee shop stall. He knows that this is another one of those hawker delights that is like a comfort food to me and I probably need it then, since we had just sent couz off on his flight to Bangkok. This had been a place that he had wanted to bring me for some time and on the previous two occasions the place was either closed for business or closed for renovations. But finally I got to enjoy fishball noodles that di had been telling me about for some time.

di made the orders and the noodles arrived promptly. It looked just like any decent fishball noodles, but the true test was in the taste. And tastewise, it did more than matched our expectations. Besides, the fishballs seem almost ping pong round and just like ping pong balls, the fishballs were so bouncy, I guess one can perhaps play table tennis with them. But no way was I giving them up. The bouncy texture is simply incredible.

The fresh de-shelled prawns were also a welcome addition to the dish. Besides, the noodles were also cooked just right such that the “springyness” further upped the overall enjoyment of this dish. The other place that has the distinction of good fishball noodles is along Joo Seng Road, but with this recommendation, I guess we now know which of the fishball noodles is more “tua kong”!

Rating: 4 byps

Address:
Ah Lin Noodles
1 Jalan Tua Kong
Singapore 457200

First (and so far only) homecooked meal in Lopburi

2007-06-15T23:35:00.000+08:00

This will be a really short post. While the taste is not anything to rave about, I am still proud to share with readers of this blog my first (and so far only) homecooked meal in Lopburi! After arriving in Lopburi not long, I set out enthusiastically to buy all my condiments, sauces, etc but sadly this remains my only homecooked meal so far. Buying food back or eating out just seems so much more convenient. However, I am determined to put the condiments and sauces to good use before I leave Lopburi, so I will be cooking some more!

This was a simple chicken dish I fried with onions and garlic. Probably a little too salty for most people but it was tasty enough.

I don't normally show pictures of vegetables, but this is the only other dish I cooked. As with the chicken, the vegetables were stir-fried with garlic (an essential in Chinese cooking) and onions and some oyster sauce. I would have liked to add a little Chinese wine but could not find it for sale in the shops here. Nevertheless, I do have my own bottle of Hua Tiao Chiew (Chinese rice wine for cooking) now, brought up here by Singaporean friends. All the more reason to cook!

Simple meal...now if only I did not have to wash up....

give us this day our "Daily Scoop"...

2007-06-06T13:13:00.001+08:00

This blog entry should rightly follow the Warung Nasir post, because di drove us there for an ice cream fix right after we had lunch. Incidentally, this is not the first time we have been to The Daily Scoop. Since I live in this part of Singapore, besides Haato, the Daily Scoop’s close proximity makes it very convenient to drop by for an ice cream fix.

Perhaps what makes The Daily Scoop special is that one not only get to savour the different flavours but also gets the opportunity to see how the ice cream is made right on the spot. Each batch of the ice cream is made by their unique hand-churning method that results in a flavourful and rich ice cream. While we were there, we got to see them preparing chendol ice cream, which was quite a visual treat as well.

There are as many flavours here at the Daily Scoop when compared with Ice Cream Gallery or Haato and perhaps to ask for a comparison in order to rate the better of these ice cream palours just doesn’t do them justice. The fact is that each of these ice cream places have a few flavours that are their speciality. And you will have to check out the flavours to discover your own favourites at the Daily Scoop. Since I have an aversion to anything chocolate, I guess I am not the person to speak for the chocolate concoctions here at the Daily Scoop. But on each of my visits there, I have had quite a few of the flavours, such as rum & raisin, chendol, mango magic, cempedak, unusually apple, sunny strawberry and honey vanilla. I am also not into alcoholic flavours but i was told that Kahlua Krunch here has a kick to it.

As we were still rather full from lunch, we settled for just one scoop each. di’s favourite is rum & raisin, which he enjoyed with much relish. As for me the one flavour that i like most here, is the lychee martini. As i mentioned before that I am not into alcoholic drinks and I probably am not a good gauge when it comes to alcohols but what works for me in the lychee martini is perhaps that the sweetness of the lychee is somewhat counterbalanced by the mild martini flavour, resulting in a fragrant and yet not overly sweet ice cream flavour. Another little surprise which Daily Scoop affords are the chilled bowls that the ice cream are served in, which is a small detail the owners are careful not to overlook.

Another piece of good news is that the Daily Scoop does deliveries too! And for orders $50 and above, the delivery is FREE on Tuesdays! Perhaps it’s time to order a few tubs, just to check out the many different flavours here….. and to add pleasure to the prayer, “give us this day our ‘daily scoop’”!

Rating: 3.5 butterballs

Address:
The Daily Scoop Ice Cream Cafe
41 Sunset Way #01-04
Clementi Arcade
S597071
Tel 6463 3365

can't go wrong at Warung

2007-05-29T10:33:00.000+08:00

di and i had always wanted to try the nasi padang at this place for some time now and well, we finally got to come to this place along Kiliney Road. Warung Nasir is located in a little shop house and is very simply and yet tastefully decorated. Right at the front is a selection of kueh kueh, which one can order after a meal or for takeaways.

We managed to get a table because we arrived just a little after the lunch time crowd. And since di left the ordering to me, i ordered just four dishes and two lime juice which provided a welcome refreshment, stirring up the appetite for the meal that was being served.

i ordered tahu telor, sambal long beans with tau kwa and tempe (fermented soy beans), chicken curry and the famous beef rendang. The piquant thick sauce which blanketed the tahu telor was excellent, and was further accentuated with the contrasting texture of the grounded peanuts. If Sanur’s or Tambuah Mas’ tahu telor is great, then I guess this beats the others because the price is much more economical!

di enjoyed the long beans a lot while I liked the tau kwa. The sambal and the tempe kicked it up a few notches in terms of our enjoyment of this simple and yet tasty dish. As i mentioned before that i love curries and it has undone many of my diets, especially the curry from “Bai Xuan”. i can easily down two large bowls of rice with just the curry gravy alone! As for the curry here, well, let’s just put it this way: i had to practice RESTRAINT so as not to order more rice!

As you probably can tell, i am leaving the best for the last. Do not let the picture below deceive you. Yes, the beef rendang here does not look that great and if you were to rate food by observation alone, the beef rendang at Warung Nasi is probably not going to score well at all, looking like a dark ‘mess’ of fibrous looking meat cuts. But let’s just say, never judge beef rendang by its appearance!

As you take a first bite, the teeth simply sink in and the tender meat sort of separates and the beefy flavour explodes in the mouth. There is a sweetness to the rendang marinate is also infused with a savoury spice blend, yet with just a hint of chili peppers. This has to be one of the best beef rendang di and i have ever had. And if there be only one item that you order when you are at Warung Nasir, it will have to be beef rendang, what else?

Washing the meal down with the lemon juice further heightened our experience, bringing a totally different perspective to the word ‘refreshment’. Warung Nasir also serves a selection of traditional Indonesian desserts and kueh kueh. But i guess, that will have to be for another day.

Rating: 4 byps

Address:
Warung M Nasir
69 Kiliney Road
Singapore 239526
Tel 6734 6228

brilliant briyani

2007-05-24T09:57:00.000+08:00

I love curries, all kinds of curries, be it green, red, orange or yellow. And when I had one of those cravings recently, di suggested that we have briyani for lunch. The briyani at this place comes highly recommended and it was quite obvious when we arrived at the Tekka Food Centre (also known as Zhujiao Centre).

Tekka has many stalls that sell briyani but there is only one stall that has a constant queue which meanders around the tables. While there is a queue, however the service is prompt and efficient and the patience is well rewarded. Even at mid afternoon, there seems to be a perpetual line of people waiting to savour the aromatic goodness of the rice and the melt-in-the-mouth tender meat chunks of mutton.

di ordered chicken briyani for both of us as well as an extra serving of mutton which we shared. The chicken rested on a luscious plate of golden basmati rice that was aromatic and bathed in rich curry gravy. The side of cucumbers added a crunch which enlivened this gastronomic experience.

Though mutton has a stronger flavour and often tends towards being the tougher in texture among the meat choices, the mutton at Allauddin’s is melt-in-the-mouth goodness. The tenderness and the flavour is indescribable and the mutton curry packs a spicier punch than the chicken curry. But what makes this stall a ‘must try’ is most definitely the value for money. For $3.50, for either the chicken or mutton briyani, there perhaps are not many other briyanis that can match Allauddin’s. And located at Tekka Food Centre, a trip to Allauddin’s is very much a trip into the sounds, the colours and the aromas, which is typical of Singapore’s very own Little India.

Rating: 4 byps

Address:
Allauddin’s Briyani
Tekka Market, #01-297
665 Buffalo Road
Singapore 210665
Operating hours: 10.30am to 6pm

Swinging Saeng Sawang

2007-05-08T17:27:00.000+08:00

This is my second post from Lopburi, Thailand and this meal took place on the same day as meal I wrote about in my first post

So as W and M were driving me home, we decided to get some dinner first. So they introduced me to this well known restaurant called Saeng Sawang near the Lopburi Zoo. I'm not sure if I have quite figured out what the name means but I think it means something like light.

So naturally I left the ordering to them since they were more familiar with the menu. We had kay phat kap met mamuang, which is stir fried chicken with cashew nuts - one of my favourite dishes in Thailand. The Singaporean equivalent will probably be 'kung bao ji ding' but it's slightly different here. We also had tom yam goong, which is tom yam with prawns. Two more dishes would complete our meal. One was a fried fish dish with a tangy, sweet sour sauce and one was stir fried morning glory. Can't remember what they were called in Thai.

kay phat kap met mamuang

This was very good. Bite sized pieces of chicken stir fried with chillis and cashew nuts. There seems to be slight variations of this dish at different restaurants. For this restaurant, the chicken was lightly stir fried. The colour was mostly white with just a tinge of brown. The chillis gave a kick to the taste which was well complemented by the cashew nuts. I think it might work well with macadamia or maybe pine nuts as well. Anyone wants to give that a try?

tom yam goong

Tom yam is such a basic Thai dish that almost all restaurants and roadside stalls can do decent version. The prawns were rather fresh, and the broth was an adequate mix of tangy, hot and spicy. Went very well with the rice I must say.

This was a sauce for the fried fish which we ordered. Strips of unripe mango provided a tanginess and firm texture and the taste of the sauce went really well with the fried fish. In fact, I think it would go well with anything fried for that matter. However, I felt that the fish could have been a little fresher. That was not 'fishy' smell but the flesh just wasn't as firm as I would have liked it to be.

Of course there was the stir fried morning glory of which I shall not bore you with its picture here. It was decent tasting.

So I had tasted a few good dishes at this restaurant. There are other good dishes which I will have to come back another day for. It is a decent restaurant which is not too pricey. Will come back to it once I've made my rounds in Lopburi.

Will write in the address once I figure it out. Till then, here's my rating.

Culinary Delights of Chinatown VI

2007-04-29T02:24:00.000+08:00

This sixth culinary discovery is located at the temporary food centre at Outram Park. I was first introduced to this super savoury glutinous rice by ah di. Interestingly, there is both the salty version as well as the sweet version of this very popular breakfast delight among the Chinatowners.

I made a trip to the food centre one Saturday morning and arrived at about 11 am. There were a few people who stood before me in the queue and as the stall owner looked at line forming behind me, he motioned for the others behind me to not wait anymore. Apparently, he had only enough for the 2 packets that I am ordering. Can you imagine my relief? I was the last in the queue to be able to savour the fragrant and flavourful glutinous rice that is so carefully dished out by the two uncles who run the business. They must have been in the business of satisfying the breakfast cravings of many with their seemingly simple yet amazingly delicious 糯米饭.

The rice was well cooked with lots of peanuts and heaped with a generous portion of fried shallots that added a crunch as well as a punch. What made it even better was that each pack costs a dollar! It’s a steal considering that each mouthful of this breakfast is so laden with the history and tradition that is synonymous with Chinatown. Just make sure that you get to the stall early!

Address:
Niu Che Shui Famous Glutinous Rice
#01-155
Chinatown Complex Temporary
Market & Food Centre at Outram

Homemade food in Lopburi

2007-04-25T22:06:00.000+08:00

I've been in Lopburi, Thailand for about three weeks now and this is my first post. It's not going to be long though because even though my internet is supposed to be 'broadband', it seems more like a faster version of dialup.

The second Saturday that I was here, W and M invited me and S over to their place for some pancakes and sausages. Seems like a brunch thing but it was my lunch as I had already taken breakfast. And by the time we settled down to eat, it was about right for lunch! W is an American married to M, a Taiwanese, and they both have a thing for food too--which is great!

They did not realise that they had run out of honey or maple syrup for the pancakes, so S and I drove over to Tesco Lotus nearby to get it. S was well prepared with a huge super soaker in his truck cos it was the Songkraan festival, or the Thai/Buddhist new year. It is the biggest holiday in Thailand and everyone(almost) goes out onto the streets to play water. Anyone and everyone is fair game and no one gets mad or angry about being wet. And S is a Swiss, so he's an even more attractive target since he is obviously foreign and not local. Sure enough, we got shot at when S wound down the window to get the ticket from the parking attendant. We shot back later on though when we were leaving. Ha. It was fun.

The food was simple and nice. Bacon, scrambled eggs, some sausages and pancakes. What made it special was the fellowship we shared over the meal. And for me being new to the community at Lopburi, it was wonderful to be invited and to share in the fellowship of my ever expanding 'family'. We had a good time just chatting and getting to know one another better. Here's some pictures of the food.

Glorious golden brown pancakes

Good old scrambled eggs!

Bacon strips and sausages.

Thanks W and M for the lovely and heartwarming meal. In fact, we spent the afternoon watching a really good Thai comedy called Luk Tung FM about Thai country music and it was about dinner time when the movie ended and W offered to drive me back. Guess what, he did drive me back....but only after we had dinner at a restaurant! Ha...that's coming up in the next entry.

enjoying summer with couz

2007-03-20T23:30:00.000+08:00

Where could i bring couz for his birthday as well as for a farewell dinner? That was the question that lingered on my mind for some time. It was to be a celebration and yet it was also a last dinner together in a way for some time as couz prepared to leave Singapore. He will begin a new chapter as he embarks on a new season in his life, learning the language and the culture of a people he will be working with. This was to be a bitter sweet dinner for the both of us. Getting over my vacillation, I finally decided on what is perhaps in our opinions the best Chinese restaurant in Singapore, Summer Pavilion at the Ritz Carlton.

Summer Pavilion is a relatively small restaurant at Ritz and it may well be intentional so as not to clutter the chic restaurant as though it was another typical Cantonese yum-cha place. It may well be that it is smaller than most other restaurants so that they can afford to be more attentive to the diners, which is why the welcome at the restaurant more than made up for the physical size, which boasts of attentive service. Immediately after we placed our orders, a tofu appetizer was served as a prelude to each of the other dishes, each serving up a succession of crescendos, one after the other. The deep fried tofu cubes were enlivened with a savoury sweet miso paste and sprinkled with some black sesame. It signalled the start of a great dinner.

Couz and I have had quite a number of Peking ducks from various Chinese restaurants and except for the egg crepes, Summer Pavilion’s Peking duck also deserves a very high rating. The pieces of crispy skin complemented the crunchy cucumber slices, the taste of which was further heightened by the fragrant and yet not overly sweet ‘hoi sin’ sauce that held it together.

I opted for the clear chicken broth with mushrooms while I ordered the double boiled shark’s cartilage soup for couz. It was the first time couz has had the cartilage soup and it was great that he enjoyed it very much. There is a richness to the soup which is almost indescribable and the added shark’s fins further accentuated the flavour of the soup.

The next dish is most definitely couz’s all time favourite. If there be any dish that will bring a smile on his face, it will have to be Summer Pavilion’s champagne baked cod! The buttery succulent texture of the cod which is baked to perfection is bathed in a luscious champagne sauce that ups one’s ecstatic enjoyment, bringing it up a few notches. No dinner is complete at Summer Pavilion without the champagne baked cod!

The next dish speaks volumes of the chef’s ingenuity. It’s a variation of one of Singapore’s most well known dishes, the chilli crab. This was a deep fried soft shelled crab served with freshly baked 'mantou' sitting in a small pool of piquant chilli crab sauce. The crispy texture of the deep fried soft shell crab was well paired with the tasty sauce; the textures and the fiery flavours made this a thoroughly enjoyable dish.

Another one of couz’s all time favourite dishes is lamb cutlet and the one served here at Summer Pavilion did not disappoint. The ubiquitous black pepper sauce that enrobed the lamb was anything but ordinary. The lamb was served on a bed of onions; the meat was tender and juicy.

I ordered the wok fried beef, just so that we can have variety in our meat dishes. The beef was sliced thin and one could taste the ‘wok hei’, which is testament to the culinary skills of the chef.

No birthday dinner would be complete without any noodles (this sounds familiar...) and since we had the Peking duck, we ordered the ee-fu noodles to be cooked with the duck meat. It’s a dish that highlighted the different textures of noodles, bean sprouts, sliced capsicums and duck meat and yet credit again must be given to the chef for making a simple dish so outstanding.

Desserts came in the form of cream of mango for couz and a mango pudding for me. The desserts were again delectable, perhaps there is only one restaurant that serves a better mango pudding…….. but that’s for another post.

I also got a cake for couz from Canele, but there simply wasn’t any space left. It just leaves for me to wish couz a very blessed birthday….. we have had many meals together and we probably will get to eat together in a couple of months as couz also prepares to leave for new chapter in his life in another country. He will hopefully be able to post more culinary delights from that country….. i will leave you guessing for now.

Couz and I have had enjoyed a lot of good food together and have since learnt that what makes food good are fresh ingredients under the skilful hands of great chefs (greatness must not be confused with fame!). But what makes a meal great is ultimately a meal that is shared among friends and family. Food, faith, family and fellowship….wishing you a blessed birthday couz as you begin a new chapter.

Rating: 4.9 byps

Address:
Summer Pavilion
Ritz Carlton Millenia
7 Raffles Avenue
Singapore 039799
Telephone: 6434 5288

Dining Downunder

2007-03-10T13:17:00.001+08:00

This is another long-overdue post - di and i went Downunder in December, visiting XD and family, some friends and doing touristy things like checking out the good places to eat. XD is familly to me and he and his family has made di and my stay in Sydney a very enjoyable one. This post is a consolidated photo review of the places we ate at (though not in a day), while we were visiting Sydney and Melbourne.

Breakfast @ Bills
XD brought us to this swanky place for breakfast. It seems that Bills at Darlinghurst, a Sydney suburb, is very popular with locals and tourists alike and is the place to be for scrambled eggs and other breakfast/brunch items. Each order of the eggs comes with a serving of freshly baked bread.

The prices at Bills are not that cheap partly because the eggs served here are all organic eggs. Prices aside, the bacon and mushrooms that di and i added to our orders, went very well with the fluffy and scrumptious scrambled eggs.

Other than the eggs, the coffee served at Bills is also presented as a work of art, with the 'fleur' artwork on the latte. Breakfast or brunch here definitely adds to the experience of a relaxing Aussie holiday.

Yum Cha Lunch @ Zilver
XD brought us to this place for a yum-cha lunch before we headed back to Singapore. Zilver is located in Sydney's Chinatown area and it seems like a Aussie-version of Tung Lok. In fact, the Chinese name is also Tong Le; though i think it is likely that this restaurant has nothing to do with those under the Tung Lok group in Singapore. I must also be quick to add that the dim sum at Zilver tasted truer to its Hong Kong roots.

The bean curd skin dumplings (both the fried and steamed versions) were plump with the meat fillings and tasted really great. What really got me excited was the cheong fun which is wrapped with yu-tiao.

The contrasting textures of smooth cheong fun and the crisp yu-tiao was excellently prepared, making this simple dish truly commendable and one of the best cheong fun that we have ever had.

The har-kau at Zilver is also one notch above the others I had before. Each was packed with fresh succulent prawns making each bite truly memorable. Much more could be said of Zilvers but perhaps the true test is in the eating. And so if you are making a trip to Sydney, make sure that you drop by Zilvers for a truly satisfying dim sum lunch.

Late Lunch @ Grill’d
Where in the world would one be able to find burger places, which would “use the finest ingredients, the burgers would taste great and all the patties would be super low in fat”? Apparently in Melbourne, there is a burger place called Grill’d which serves super lean burger patties on freshly baked bread and topped with garden-fresh vegetables. We were introduced to this burger find by Shawn, who was studying in Melbourne.

Di had the “Hot Mama” which is a beef burger with “grilled 100% lean beef patty, roasted peppers, dill pickles, tasty cheese, tzatziki and salad”. It is pretty amazing as the beefy juicy goodness simply explodes in your mouth with each bite of the burger.
I ordered the Moroccan Lamb burger, which is a grilled lean lamb burger with roasted peppers, tzatziki, salad and relish. Much like Di’s burger, this one was also juicy and full of the flavour of perfectly grilled lamb patty which was given another kick with the added tzakziki sauce. Who needs burgers at uber-ridiculous prices when there is Grill’d. One can only wish that somehow this will make its way to Singapore. Else, guess we’ll just have to make a pit stop here each time we visit Melbourne.

Afternoon Coffee break @ Campos
For the coffee lovers, a visit to Sydney is not complete if one does not have a cuppa over at Campos at Newtown. It’s not too often that a cafe has a top barista but here at Campos, there are actually three top-class baristas! The following photos are courtesy of XD.

The coffee here is truly commendable and Campos is an oasis for the true coffee aficionado. Another friend, Derek, highly recommended the affogato, which is undoubtedly one of the most impressive item on their menu. It is a cup of quality ice-cream topped with a shot of expresso. The strong and thick expresso is to be savoured slowly blending it with the smooth velvety texture of the rich ice cream.

Once again, Sydney surprised us with this gem of a find, which provided the necessary caffeine kick to keep us going, in our food finds downunder.

Dinner @ Mojo’s Pizza
I have an Aussie friend Sean, who has been checking out practically ALL the pizza places in a 5 km radius around his place in Sydney. He talked about how crazy the pizzas were at Mojo’s Weird Pizza in Melbourne, in particular, a Jacky Chan Pizza, which had siew mais and other dim sum items as toppings for the pizza. And so when we were headed to Melbourne, he suggested that we should go check this place out. Mojo’s Weird Pizza has a good selection of standard classic pizzas and another list of delightfully intriguing combinations such as Jackie Chan, Prickly Pear, Ali Baba, Chicken Run…. check out the menu.

We just had to order the Jackie Chan as suggested by Sean. Instead of a tomato base, Jackie Chan has ketchup manis as a base instead; talk about being zany and weird. It did taste alright, though we found it to be a little on the salty side.

The other ‘weird’ pizza was the Woodsman which was more like a meat lover’s pizza. We ordered another two classic pizzas which were really good too. So if you do make a trip to Melbourne, and are in a zany adventurous mood, make sure you make a trip to Mojo’s

I guess di and i had a few other dining experiences.... we were wowed by the cakes and pastries available such as these in Melbourne.

But we figured that the above would have been sufficient to whet your appetites and make you want to check out these places when you do get to visit Australia ....good'ay mate!

Addresses
Bills
433 Liverpool Street
Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Australia

Zilver Restaurant
Level 1, 477 Pitt Street
Haymarket NSW 2000
Australia

Grill’d
83 Acland Street
St Kilda VIC 3182
Australia

Campos Coffee
193 Missenden Road
Newtown NSW 2042
Australia

Mojo’s Pizza
177 Bay Street
Port Melbourne
Australia

festive feastings

2007-03-10T13:15:00.000+08:00

My birthday fell within the Chinese New Year celebrations and it was another excuse to enjoy a good meal with ah di, twinbro and couz…… make that two dinners and a lunch!

Ah di never fails to surprise me by bringing me to a restaurant that I have never been to and for dinner we were at Azhang along Mohamed Sultan Road. It seemed a little difficult to classify the kind of cuisine served here. I guess it’s probably more western with a touch of eastern influence and according to the chef Patrick, he calls it ‘happy cuisine’. We were served some bread which was alright, nothing really to clamour about, especially if one has had bread from Ember, Morton’s or Garibaldi. Since ah di had also made the order for the main dish which was also a surprise, he proceeded to order a salad and a soup.

The corn salad was a refreshing start to the dinner; well grilled corn kernels sitting on a bed of onions, tomatoes and baby lettuce, drizzled with an asian salad dressing. I am not a huge fan of corn, but this was truly “a-maizing”. Corniness aside, this was really a great tasting salad.

The beef soup was served next. This was a hearty beef stew with generous chunks of beef. It was one soup which both di and i thoroughly enjoyed as well. Next was the surprise that di had arranged with the chef. We were served one whole kg of cod - one whole kilogramme!!! Simply marinated with salt and some honey, the cod was grilled over a bed of aubergines, onion, tomatoes and sliced lemons, topped with sage and rosemary. I didn’t really bother with the vegetables, they were the distractions from focus of the main course, as for the cod, it did not disappoint, it was melt-in-the-mouth great!

Apparently ah di had called and made an order for this main dish which we both enjoyed a great deal. Full of surprises, this dinner at Azhang will be remembered for a long time, not simply for the good food but more importantly for the great fellowship we shared, and yes also that one kg of cod!

For lunch on my birthday, I met with twinbro for lunch at Sun & Moon Dining at Wheelock Place. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures there. Next was dinner with couz at a Chinese restaurant which was new to both of us. We had arranged to celebrate at the recently opened Cathay Restaurant.

Differing from other restaurants which offer peanuts, either roasted or stewed as starters, Cathay Restaurant offers honey roasted walnuts, which was a refreshing and much welcome change. And since it was the Chinese New Year period, we started with an order of “lo-hei”, which we both devoured before realising that we had not taken any pictures of it…. opps, too late.

The next dish that was served was the pan-fried venison with fresh button mushrooms. The tender venison and fresh button mushrooms were smothered in a luxurious flavourful sauce. We highly recommend this dish.

Next, we were served the home-made beancurd with fresh crabmeat and spinach. The beancurd was smooth and definitely one of the more commendable ones we have tasted. Our only grouse is that perhaps we could have had more of the fresh crab meat instead of the few slivers.

The pan-fried perch with plum sauce was impeccable. The crispy outer layer of the perch well contrasted with the soft inner texture. The crisp onion and sweet and sour plum sauce further heightened the taste of this dish.

The highlight of any birthday meal for Chinese, is perhaps the noodle dish (signifying longevity) and so it was without any hesitation that couz would order the stewed noodles with baby lobster to complete the dinner. I guess the picture says it all….. it was perhaps the most exquisite (and expensive) plate of noodles I have had in my life. And you can only imagine the gastronomic pleasure I derive from this seemingly simple and exquisitely delicious serving of noodles.

Dessert came in the form of a pancake with a winter melon paste. It ended the meal on a sweet note, but once again it was a dinner that one can not easily forget. It was a great dinner, made all the more memorable because of fellowship over the dinner.

di and couz, all I can say is THANKS again for making the day special for me. The food was great but ultimately it’s family that makes the day for me. Thanks for being family to me.

Addresses:
Azhang

6 Mohamed Sultan Road

Singapore 238956
Telephone: 6836 3436

Cathay Restaurant
2 Handy Road, #02-01, The Cathay
Singapore 229233
Telephone: 6732 6623

Wishing all a “Humless” Lunar New Year

2007-02-25T08:06:00.000+08:00

Bai Xuan, the epitome of all cozy homely fare holds an annual gathering every Chinese New Year. Strictly by invitation only, guests will be offered an immense serving of very luscious laksa concocted by executive Chef Yang of Bai Xuan with heaps of tender loving care. When the chef has to wake up at six in the morning to start preparing the gravy and the innumerable selection of ingredients for each and every bowl of laksa, I can only say that I am extremely appreciative for the invite and needless to say I enjoyed every last bit of the laksa.

Every bowl is meticulously tailored to individual preferences. Unfortunately for some guests who were anticipating for some “hum” (cockles), there were none that day but there were still an incredible amount of ingredients to choose from ala buffet style. Yong tau foo, scallops, shredded chicken, eggs, prawns and many others which stand in stark distinction to other certain pathetic versions commonly served elsewhere. Although there were no lobsters to emulate Justin Quek’s ultra extravagant version, the ever-enticing aroma gave a prelude to the rich flavorful luscious gravy which I would aptly describe as “lemak bagus!” Heart clogging goodness indeed!

For the waistline conscious, take heart that Bai Xuan uses low fat evaporated milk with coconut milk. Much credit has to be given to the chef for preserving the depth of flavour in the aromatic broth, offering divine satisfaction while conscious of the calorie count. Please be warned that the following picture might induce severe salivation.

Yes, that was the size of one serving. Ask for another if you like, there are no limits while dining at Bai Xuan, guest satisfaction is top priority. If you think it is impossible to have additional servings, may I direct you to Mr I who has once again shown his valor by finishing two full bowls of laksa. For those who missed the event this year, I am sorry that you have to wait for the next one which will duly be announced when confirmed. If you think you have seen the best of Chef Yang, watch out for those carrot cakes.

Simply put, Bai Xuan is where excellent simple fare with heart clogging goodness is served with load of tender loving care, where nothing else comes closer to your heart.

NB: This post was written by Bottomless Pit and because Bai Xuan is a special dining experience which is by invitation only, we apologise that its location cannot be divulged.

你有得过奖吗?

2007-02-21T14:55:00.001+08:00

I was studying in the US when I caught an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s “A Cook’s Tour” when he featured a rather non-descript looking kopi-tiam seafood restaurant in Singapore. He was brought around our little island in search of the best food that Singapore can offer and for dinner, his local Singapore host, Seetoh (of Makansutra fame) brought him to a corner shophouse along one of the roads of Singapore’s notorious red-light district, Geylang. I figured that this has to be one of the better places for seafood since the makan guru himself and Anthony Bourdain speak so highly of it. Since my return to Singapore and our little endeavour at blogging, this kopi-tiam seafood has repeatedly been highlighted, be it negatively or positively. And hence the three of us, decided to make a trip and check this place out for ourselves.

Sin Huat is an open-air restaurant on Geylang Road that seems in urgent need of renovation. There was no air conditioning, no menus and no listed prices. But there was chef Danny Lee who came by to our table when the three of us got our seats. The first thing he asked quite nonchalantly was “Crab bee hoon?” to which I replied almost instantaneously with an affirmative. When Couz asked if there were any meat dishes to recommend, his eyes widened and reminded us that we were at a seafood restaurant, (meaning “No, we don’t serve anything else except seafood!”) He then recommended that we try his version of bullfrog (田鸡) with chicken essence. Couz asked if we could have 宫保田鸡 (stir-fried frogs with dried chili), to which his almost immediate response was “我这个有得过奖的, 不卖这个我卖什么?“ ("I have won awards for this dish, if I don't sell this dish, what should I sell?") It was a recipe that had won him fame, as did his crab beehoon. Lastly, he recommended that we have a dish of vegetable as well.

We were left wondering what kind of a seafood restaurant is this that does not even serve the ubiquitous sweet and sour pork or pork ribs. And concluded that this is perhaps one of the few seafood restaurants which are exceptionally focussed in what they serve. If its seafood you are looking for, then this is the right place.

After a couple of minutes, we were served our first dish which is steamed scallops with black bean sauce. I guess the picture does not do the dish justice but it must be said that the scallops were very fresh and the thick black bean sauce well complemented the soft springy texture of the scallops.

Next, we were served the award winning frog with chicken essence. The chicken essence was poured onto the stainless steel plate at our table and allowed to simmer for a bit. Honestly I am not a huge fan of chicken essence but I was won over by this dish: ‘chicken’ (田鸡) in chicken essence. The smooth texture of frog legs simmering in a flavourful chicken essence broth topped with fresh garlic and ginger. We were only just beginning to appreciate the genius of this almost cocky and confident chef.

The plain looking vegetables were served next. But as we tucked into the dish, we could not help but taste the ‘magic’ of this seemingly mundane looking plate of vegetables. And I guess we can attribute the ‘magic’ to the stock the chef had used. Being the most picky of the three diners, it was important for me that vegetables are not overcooked; they must still have the ‘crunch’ factor and this vegetable dish more than passed the prerequisites of my presumably most picky palate.

Next, we were served steamed prawns with freshly chopped garlic and scallions. I guess the freshness of the prawns is highlighted by the fact that this seafood restaurant chef does not believe in refrigeration. Danny’s seafood are stored in various different tanks and the seafood is fished from the tanks directly and cooked immediately by himself. Hence freshness is perhaps never an issue for this chef, though the wait may be for the occasional impatient diner.

Lastly, we were served his (other) award-winning crab beehoon, which was the pièce de résistance. It was simply stunning, both in size and flavour. I guess it was after eating this dish that we can better comprehend what all the hype is about and we would highly recommend this dish. The succulent freshness of the crab, served with vermicelli that has absorbed the flavours of the crab and the stock used for this dish, was sufficient to ‘wow’ us over.

We would also highly recommend this place except for the fact that the prices do seem a little astronomical and also somewhat incongruent with the ambience that a kopi tiam at the corner of road along Geylang affords. There are many forummers who have reservations about going to Sin Huat and being subjected to the attitude of the chef. On the steep pricing, chef Danny said: “You pay for quality, not quantity. If you feel the price is too high, don't patronise my place. Regular customers and crab lovers will know my price is reasonable.” It perhaps is an issue of perspective; some see it as being haughty, others see it as confidence. Recently Sin Huat was in the news (again) for charging a $800 plus tab for a group of five. Sin Huat love it or hate it…. You either swear at it or swear by it.

But for the freshness of the seafood, for the flavours of the food and for the focus that is synonymous with chef Danny Lee, we would still recommend that this is a place where you “die, die must try”, even though if it may only be once in your lifetime (just make sure that you are not the one paying though)!

Rating: 4.5 byps

Address:
Sin Huat Seafood Restaurant
659/661 Geylang Lorong 35
Singapore 389589
Telephone: 6744 9755

heart to Haato

2007-02-16T02:29:00.000+08:00

Growing up, I have always looked forward to going to Liang Court and to date, I still remember the jingle which goes:
“I have only one destination, a wonderful shopping sensation,
it’s a delight, you’ll agree, once you get there, you’ll see:
It’s Liang Court…. Liang Court, it is.”

And for me, one of those draws that Liang Court affords, has to be the ice cream outlet at basement one of the former Daimaru, now Meidi-Ya. This gelato outlet, Gelato Di Crema, is perhaps one of the first places in Singapore to offer gelato, long before the likes of such as Gelare or Gelatissimo or Venezia was introduced. The gelato at this outlet was a HUGE draw to many of us because of the numerous interesting flavours and its Japanese twist to the Italian frozen dessert. But more importantly, it was the smooth velvety texture and use of fresh fruits and ingredients which made the gelato here a treasured treat. Despite the increased competition, this gelato joint has tenaciously held on to this success formula and continues to produce that same smooth velvety and great tasting gelato.

More recently, the owners of Gelato Di Crema has spawned a few more branches and have also adopted the name Haato, which in Japanese means “heart”. And true to the name, each mouthful of Haato’s gelato desserts creates a special moment for the heart.

I visited the branch at Ridgewood Close and found the place tastefully decorated and is a cosy place to hang out with a couple of friends for the afternoon or for desserts after a dinner. More importantly, this Haato branch also serves warm meals, such as spaghetti as well as Japanese curry rice. I would have tucked in to the meals if not for the fact that we already had lunch before we came over for the gelato. In any case, I got to know that there are new flavours in the pipeline and was able to sample a couple of the experimental flavours, which I must add, tasted great and speaks of the creative genius and enterprise of the Haato owners. Watch out for what's coming soon.....

Since its flagship outlet in Liang Court, I have always loved the Mango, Rock Melon and Green Tea flavours. The Green Tea has a luxuriant macha flavour that truly stands Haato out as a Japanese gelato. On this occasion, I sampled a few other flavours and two were particularly outstanding: white sesame and the banana. Haato’s white sesame is a fresh interpretation of an ubiquitous dessert, Goma (black sesame) ice cream, served at numerous Japanese restaurants. The richness of white sesame comes out in a soothing creamy refreshing white dessert.

What intrigued me more was perhaps the banana. Haato’s banana gelato uses only fresh and sweet bananas blended with the milk. There is NOT one hint of artificial banana essence which is typically employed in most other banana ice creams, the result of which is a truly outstanding flavour. I enjoyed both the samples of white sesame and banana so much so that we ordered a scoop of each on a waffle. The creamy goodness of the freshly prepared white sesame and banana, complemented the warm, crisp, buttery waffle and did their job of creating a heartfelt ‘Haato’ moment!

So if you are near Liang Court, in the vicinity of Ridgewood condominium, around Serangoon Garden or shopping at Wheelock Place, and find yourself in need of a cool dessert, follow your heart and drop by Haato. It’s the place where cool desserts warm the heart!

Rating: 4 butterballs

Address:
Haato
Outlets:
Unit B1-50, Meidi-Ya, Liang Court Shopping Centre
Unit G1, 3 Ridgewood Close
Unit 01-02, Serangoon Garden Village
Unit 02-18A, Wheelock Place

'Moo'ton's of Chicago

2007-02-10T12:38:00.000+08:00

This post is long overdue but nevertheless needs to be written. For the month of November 2006, Couz and I decided to break away from our tradition of eating at Chinese restaurants and to go for steak instead. It wasn't difficult to decide on which steakhouse to try, having heard so much about Morton's of Chicago at the Oriental. As an aside, I think Oriental Hotel really has got a selection of good restaurants, from Cherry Garden (Chinese) to Wasabi Bistro (Japanese) to Morton's (Western/Steak) and not forgetting Melt (International Buffet). Of course we have also heard how expensive the steak at Morton's was but it was known as THE place to go to for steak. So it was our once-in-a-lifetime tryout of the restaurant.

The thick, classic dark wood door of the restaurant opened to reveal a warmly lit interior with more of the classic dark wood furniture typical of steakhouses. We sat down, waiting to be shown the menu so we could place our orders. Turns out that we had a 'live' menu. Each table at the restaurant has a designated server for each night and the server would push out a tray with the offerings of that evening. Each server has the menu memorised in his or her head, along with whatever seasonal specials the restaurant had. It was impressive to hear our server rattle off the whole menu by heart and she did it most naturally with seemingly little effort.

There was a huge black lobster about the size of a hp deskjet 450 printer (sorry, am looking around for something of comparable size around the room and this is what I can find!) sitting on the tray and I was quite surprised when it started to move about when the server picked it up to introduce the seasonal special. Silly me had somehow not expected it to be alive!

Not to be sidetracked by these 'peripherals', Couz and I set out to order what we had come here for--beef. It was really quite pricey by our standards. A slab of their US prime rib costs over $90. Couz settled for a double cut fillet mignon (medium) while I went for the rib eye (medium well). We shared a starter of sauteed mushrooms and also placed our individual orders for the desserts.

This was the onion loaf that was served at the start and it was delicious! Full of freshly baked softness and fragrance, we almost wanted to ask for another one but stopped ourselves just in time. We did not want to miss the forest for the trees.

This was the sauteed mushrooms we ordered as starters. It was ordinary, nothing to exclaim about.

The rib eye (medium well)

Double cut fillet mignon (medium)

Well, what can we say about the beef except that it was really good. That it was easy to slice through despite their thickness testifies to their tenderness. Both steaks were succulent and juicy, oozing with goodness. We thoroughly enjoyed the steaks. They also filled our tummies so much that I was beginning to doubt if I had room for dessert. (We had ordered our desserts at the start since some preparation time was involved).

Warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream

Upside down apple pie

Of course, as some of you may already have guessed, room in my tummy was automatically found when the desserts appeared on our table. While nothing to shout about, the desserts were reasonably good and can hold their own against the usual likes of Bakerzin or Menotti.

It was a satisfyingly full meal (you know how sometimes one can be full but not satisfied right) with a not so satisfying high price tag. The food was good but our final conclusion was that it was still overpriced. It is good to try it once in your life though. Will we be back again? Probably not. I do remember that it took quite a while for our ice water to be refilled the night we were there, though the situation could possibly change if you decide to order some wine instead.

Morton's of Chicago
4th floor, Oriental Singapore
5 Raffles Avenue
Singapore 039797
Tel: 6339 3740
Dinner only, from 5pm

Piggy at Iggy's

2007-01-31T14:34:00.001+08:00

“Expired”. The only word I feel appropriate enough to describe this post. Nonetheless, good things are worth waiting for and this post is definitely worth the wait. Last year, (yes this post is still backdated to year 2006) I was treated to a lunch at Iggy’s. I figured that if one fine day, you have decided to go to Iggy’s, money should not be of a concern, so there would be no discussion of prices throughout this post. Fine and exquisite meals come with a price, or at least sometimes.

In 2006, Restaurant magazine named Iggy's as the world's 98th best eatery. Being the only

Singapore

restaurant that was mentioned, the rating systems were highly eurocentric. With so many other great restaurants (especially Chinese) and even hawkers serving cheap but nonetheless outstanding food, I cannot help but find the ratings awfully biased. Anyway, these should be meant for another post and food shall remain our primary focus here at jialard.

Situated at The Reagent Hotel, I was at Iggy’s for my birthday lunch. The eradication of the ala carte menu at Iggy’s meant that diners were restricted to options only from the degustation menus. The only objection I have with degustation menu is there will certainly be items not desired and that leaves you with very restricted choices at times.

Kor opted for the three course menu and being the birthday boy, I had the privilege to savour the more expensive five course menu. Prices aside, this is probably the most creative (and the best) lunch I ever had so far.

Sesame Toufu with Pumpkin Puree

Mille-feuille of smoked Petuna ocean trout and savoy cabbage, tomato vinaigrette

The lunch began on a cool and colourful note, when we were served a shot glass of a yellow sesame toufu with pumpkin puree to start off the lunch. It was a pairing which which complemented the smoothness of the sesame toufu with the sunny colour of pumpkin puree. It served as the prelude with more surprises to come. Next, I was served the ocean trout which had everything that an appetizer should possess. The trout was extremely fresh and the tomato vinaigrette was very complementing as well.

Carpaccio of Maguro with truffle mayonnaise

Kor being the avid maguro fan, had the Carpaccio of Maguro with truffle mayonnaise and Reggiano Parmiggiano (whatever cheese that is). He liked it a lot, I wonder why.

Truffle risotto with foie gras

Foie Gras with black truffle risotto. This was my first experience with truffle and it was quite simply put superb. I finally began to understand why truffles are so sought after and there are actually certain people who might swap their diamonds for some truffles. Maybe they just have too many diamonds, but anyway the truffles reminded me of a truffle slicer that I came across at Takashimaya the other day. IMAGINE the amount of truffles at your disposal to justify the use of a truffle slicer. Maybe they use it for pizzas on some days when there are too much of it, at least I know of people who do that. Anyway, kor seldom eats foie gras but he was ok with the version here at Iggy’s but I thought the foie gras here was prepared to the right texture. I enjoyed every bit of it and if you were wondering about the risotto, every grain of it was meticulously infused with truffle aroma that I was begging for more. Definitely more truffles for me but I prefer to keep my diamonds.

Steamed prawn mousse with shiso consommé

This was excellent! I have never imagined a shiso consommé but it was so simple yet extremely ingenious. Shiso are the leaves which come with sashimi and have a really strong flavour which I usually describe the aftertaste to be similar to “a walk in a forest”. For such a strong tasting herb I would have imagined the consommé to be really pungent but the consommé was light yet nonetheless flavourful, which I thoroughly enjoyed with the prawn mousse. I was very impressed.

If you have realized from my earlier paragraph my poor dining partner is having a three course, so while I was savoring the very outstanding prawn mousse, he had this pitiable look which earned him a complementary tomato soup. He said it was very good which I can vouch for because I also shamelessly had a few sips. (He had some of my prawn mousse too ok?)

Croquette of lamb loin with Japanese herbs, soy-tarragon butter

Wagyu beef burger with white truffle sabayon

Next up is the croquette of lamb fillet. I was 'ok' with this dish, though i thought that the lamb was overcooked and way too tough. The soy-tarragon butter did not have enough kick to lift the dish to my expectations. I certainly was not impressed but maybe because my expectations were raised from previous exceptional courses. I would very much rather exchange for kor’s Iggy’s Burger which was a home made wagyu beef burger with white truffle sabayon (a foamy mixture sauce). Juicy and flavorful but seriously lacking in the size department, it was Iggy’s answer to the R.I.P Uberburger (but I heard it will be coming back again). The burger was also subtly impressive. Yes yes I had a few bites even though it was a small burger but I was the birthday boy ok?

Tiramisu and iced cappuccino

Bellini: Champagne jelly and sorbet with fresh peach, elderflower foam

What better way to end a fantastic meal other than having delectable desserts. I had a complementary chocolate molten cake because it was my special day and I chose tiramisu while kor had the bellini which was essentially champagne jelly and sorbet with fresh peach, elderflower foam. The chocolate cake was enjoyable as most of them are but nothing that I could wow about because I have had better ones. The tiramisu was one of the better ones around but nothing beats the one kor does of course. (he paid for the meal remember?) The bellini was quite special, really simple, light and refreshing which in contrast ended the meal on an extraordinary note.

Baked chocolate molten cake with Java vanilla ice-cream

The prices might be a little intimidating but a really special place for special occasions. Although I was really disappointed with the lamb, “Still, it was an achievement to have just one bad dish out of so many.”(quoted from a renowned local food critique) This was an incredible and unique experience which I will relish for countless years to come. Thanks kor.

Rating: 4.5 byps

Address:
Iggy's
Level 3, Regent Hotel
1 Cuscaden Road
Singapore 249715
Tel: 6733 8888

Who's the Boss?

2007-01-31T13:32:00.002+08:00

It was not long before Couz and I decided to check out the dark ‘underworld’ restaurant at Vivo, whose Chinese name ingeniously plays on the pun of the HK triads, since Vivo has become one of our frequent hangouts since it is nearer to where we live. We have heard differing reviews of this restaurant and decided to taste and see for ourselves. But before dinner with Couz, my twinbro had warned me of the atrocious service at Bosses. We were duly warned but nonetheless we did try to be impartial.

The décor of Bosses is much more commendable compared with another restaurant at Vivo. Putting the menu in a drawer at every table was an ingenious idea. Being called Bosses (黑社会), perhaps they could have carried this theme a step further by greeting the diners as 老大 or 老板. It would have lent a touch of mafia mania to the theme.

Looking through the menu, we were deciding on some of the dim sum items as well as some of the specialties, when we were asked for our selection of tea. Bosses does serve an interesting array of different tea leaves but the difference here is that the tea is served in glass pots which we were told was meant to as individual servings, as if they do not intend to add more hot water when we have finished our first pot. We hence ordered two different pots of tea. When we had decided on what to order, having picked from some of the dim sum selections and some of the chef’s specialties, it was then we were informed that the dim sum selections are not available for dinner. Why did they not tell us before hand if indeed we were the ‘bosses’? We had wanted to try the ‘xiao long bao’ which was also in the dim sum selection but was told erroneously that they were not available. We hence decided on ja jiang mian, shredded beef with a pastry wrap (which we were later told that since the pastry was part of dim sum which is served during lunch, the pastry is unavailable!!!), deep fried tofu, paper wrapped chicken and cod with ginger.

The ja jiang mian was served in an interesting twin bowl, with a serving of soup. The noodles were springy and the savoury sauce complemented the noodles very well. This was perhaps one of the better tasting ja jian mian we had and we do recommend this dish.

The shredded beef arrived without the pastry. This is a dish served in northern China, but to serve this dish without the pastry is to me somewhat unforgivable; it’s as good as serving fish ball noodles without the fish balls! If the restaurant decides to serve the dish (which is NOT on the dim sum menu) then it should at least ensure that the pastry accompanying the dish is also served! If not, then why bother to include it in the main menu, by all means then leave it as a specialty only for lunch! But if they do insist on serving it without the pastry, at least then charge less since the pastry is not served even though it is reflected in the menu! The shredded beef was not out of this world, it was alright, though a tad too sweet but I can still not get over the fact (as you can see) that they did not serve it with the pastry!

The deep fried bean curd was garnished with bonito flakes which seemed like a version of agedashi tofu, except that it tasted just like deep fried tofu. There was nothing spectacular or interesting (taste-wise) of this dish. So too was the paper wrapped chicken. The taste was alright but it lacked the ‘wow’ factor for both of us.

The second redeeming dish has to be the deep fried cod served with ginger which was also fried to a crisp. The texture of the cod was crispy on the outside and yet oozed a soft buttery texture within, complementing extremely well with the crispy ginger shreds. But then again, it may well be that it’s a cod dish after all, which according to Couz, “you can’t go very wrong with cod!”

At this time, I noticed that other tables around us had been served square bamboo containers with what seemed like ‘xiao long bao’ to me. I asked Couz about it since we were told that dim sum (for which the ‘xiao long baos’ was placed under the same section) were not available for dinner. We asked the waitress to seek clarification and were told that though the xiao long baos are placed under the section of dim sums, unlike the rest, xiao long baos are served throughout the day. Talk about consistency! And this somewhat increased our indignation with the standard of service at Bosses.

I guess the food is good and I think we would still go back to try the dim sum and have another bowl of ja jiang mian but they are still in need of improving their service, a point which twinbro had belaboured. They perhaps also do need to reprint the menus in ensuring that diners know that xiao long baos are served throughout the day and that shredded beef with pastry is served without the pastry for dinner and still charged at the same price. They need to make the diners feel as though we are the bosses. Or is it because they want us to know exactly who are the Bosses?

Rating: 3 byps

Address:
Bosses Restaurant
1 Harbourfront Walk, #02-156, Vivo City
Singapore 098585
Telephone: 6376 9740

Culinary Delights of Chinatown V

2007-01-31T13:32:00.001+08:00

We’re back to posting after the holidays and for the first post of the year, we thought we will continue with the fifth posting on the Culinary Delights of Chinatown. It is that time of the year again when Chinatown is bustling with festive activities to usher in another year of pigging out (pun intended). If you do head down to Chinatown to soak in the festive celebrations or perhaps to stand in (the ridiculously long) line for the bak kwa (barbeque pork) at Lim Chee Guan, you really do have to check out this little shop at the corner of The Majestic, near the entrance/exit to the Chinatown MRT stop.

The shop is called Good Morning Nanyang Café (早安南洋) and it features the usual beverages such as coffee, tea, milo accompanied with the kaya toasts and half boiled eggs. Who needs a cup of coffee from the overpriced American chain coffee shops when there’s Nanyang Café and others such as Ah Mei or Ya Kun? While the prices here may be a tad more expensive than at your neighbourhood kopi-tiam, they are still much, much more affordable that a cuppa at the other coffee chains that feature what tastes more like caffeinated ‘long-kang zui’. But perhaps the attraction of Good Morning Nanyang Café is the orange ciabatta toast. This is ciabatta served with a generous spread of butter, kaya and a special orange marmalade-kind of spread. It is toasted thereby bringing out the rich buttery, pandan kaya and fruity orange aroma. Each bite of the orange ciabatta toast is like the freshness of a sunny morning, slowly bringing light and warmth to the day. And it doesn’t really matter that you are having the ciabatta toast in the afternoon or the evening, it’s an experience that will enliven the rest of your day.

Here’s a toast for all of you, for the day and also for the year too, as Jialard embarks on another year of culinary discoveries.

Address:
Good Morning Nanyang Cafe
Corner of level 1, The Majestic
80 Eu Tong Sen Street
Singapore 059810

Last Post of 2006

2006-12-31T23:50:00.000+08:00

Well, we have come to the end of another year and i guess we have been a little quiet in the past month as there were many things to get done over the Christmas and New Year holidays. Honestly, we were a little disappointed with the fact that NO ONE was brave enough to attempt the anniversary contest. We would have awarded the prizes even if the answers were not all correct. But in any case, we will still plod on and continue to blog about the good makan places in Singapore and beyond.

Before the Chinese New Year, we hope to put up what we think are the top 10 Chinese restaurants in Singapore. Your inputs are of course welcome. So look out for it. But for now, here's a 'toast' to you all, accompanied with a foie gras dumpling....

And we want to wish you all a very Happy New Year and a good time 'pigging' out as we welcome the Chinese New Year in a couple of weeks.

First Anniversary 'Celebrations'

2006-11-16T00:54:00.000+08:00

Wow, time just seems to zip by and it is this blog's first anniversary at the end of this month. We posted our first article on the 30th November last year. We contemplated on how we should 'celebrate' this milestone and being in the spirit of Christmas, we decided that we will have a contest which will be posted sometime next week. The first three correct and complete response (via the comments section) will receive prizes which will also be announced together with the contest questions. So..... come back and check on this blog and be part of our 'celebrations'.

Culinary Delights of Chinatown IV

2006-11-13T18:17:00.000+08:00

This fourth culinary discovery is also located in Hong Lim Food Centre. It probably is among the more well known of the food finds in the Chinatown area. The long queues which meander around this corner of the food centre is testament to the popularity of this stall.

If you are hoping to savour the fresh and tasty goodness of crayfish together with the soft slippery rice noodles, make sure that you get to the queue before 1pm latest. The stall opens for business at 11am and more often than not, the supply of crayfish runs out even before the stall is opened for an hour! Di and I had to learn this lesson as we only got there at about 1pm and found out that there was no more crayfish; we were served with more of the fresh medium sized prawns instead. That’s how popular this stall is. But what’s more unbelievable is the tasty sauce which smothered the ribbons of rice noodles, topped with shredded chicken and a side of vegetables. The sauce was distinctively fragrant and incredibly flavourful, the secret of which perhaps lies in the use of the prawn and crayfish shell in making the stock for the sauce.

Words just are inadequate to describe the experience of tucking into a fantastically flavourful plate of ipoh hor fun. Savouring it makes one forget the many minutes that one has to wait in line for it. The experience itself is perhaps reflective of life: oftentimes the great times in life is well worth the wait!

Address:
Tuck Kee (Ipoh) Sah Ho Fun
Blk 531A Upper Cross Street, #02-41
Hong Lim Food Centre
Singapore 050538
Open from 11am to 3pm (closed on Sundays)

Culinary Delights of Chinatown III

2006-11-04T23:07:00.000+08:00

If you think that Chinatown is all about good Chinese food, then I hope that this post will correct your misconception. Perhaps the statement should be more accurately revised to 'Chinatown is all about good food.' This post is easier to write as this restaurant has already received a fair amount of publicity. Thus it is not such a 'heartache' to reveal. This post was originally titled 'Emberlicious' by Bottomless Pit but since it did not materialise, I shall write based upon the memories of my recent visit with J.

Have you already guessed which restaurant I'm blogging about? The title 'Emberlicious' is a giveaway. Nestled in the corner of Hotel 1929 is this inconspicuous, understated, chic little restaurant known as Ember. It serves up western fare in its own uniquely delightful interpretation. This is where J and I visited for the month of October. Keeping in tradition with the 'secrets of Chinatown' posting, I shall try to keep this short. Let's get to the visuals.

This is the soft shell crab with wasabi mayo.

This is the half dozen fried oysters which came with six different dips sitting prettily in a row. The dips range from wasabi mayo to mango chutney to thai chilli sauce. The oysters were for J since I do not fancy oysters. However, they looked so good deep fried and accompanied by the pretty sauces that I didn't need much persuasion from J to try some.

This was the Chilean sea bass that J had.

This was the rack of lamb which I ordered. It was amazingly tender.

This was the warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. Preparation time: 20 minutes.

This was the apple tart with cinnamon sticks, also served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Preparation time: 30 mins.

This is definitely a place worth checking out if you are into Western/European food.

Address:
Restaurant Ember (Hotel 1929)
50 Keong Saik Road
Tel: 6347 1928
Website: http://hotel1929.com/dining/ember.htm

Culinary Delights of Chinatown II

2006-10-29T01:06:00.000+08:00

It has been a struggle coming up with these posts on good food found at Chinatown - it is a struggle because we fear that it will be even a longer wait the next time we crave for a serving of these delicacies because more people would have known about these places. Yet in the spirit of sharing, we cannot but let you in on some of these finds, though it is also very likely that these are perhaps no ‘secrets’.

Our second culinary recommendation is a char kway teow (fried rice noodles with cockles) stall located at the far end of Hong Lim Food Centre. Hong Lim Food Centre thankfully has yet to come under the upgrading plan of the town council and still retains that old Chinatown charm, that’s seemingly indescribable. And perhaps for the fact that it has not been upgraded, it is still one of the few places that you can get a GREAT plate of char kway teow at the 1980/90s price of $2.

Not unlike a certain Lee who made the slip of the year with his version of “mee siam mai hum”, I ordered a similar version of char kway teow mai hum (without cockles) since i do not like the taste of cockles. I guess for those of you who are into the bloody red slimy cholesterol laden and yet divine (in your opinion) pieces of shellfish, the lack of it in any char kway teow dish is perhaps a sacrilege. Different people have differing preferences when it come to char kway teow; some prefer a ‘wetter’ version, some like to have “lap cheong” (dried Chinese sausages) while others prefer not to have dark sauce, that is the Penang version. Be that as it may, the chef at this stall has perfected the art of a great plate of rice noodles, of the slightly ‘wetter’ variety. With a touch of dark sweet sauce, the rice noodles are soft, slippery and smooth and stands in contrast with the crunch of the bean sprouts, garlic bits and more importantly the small little pieces of ba you po (pork fat), which explodes with heart stopping goodness with each mouthful. I’ll let the picture speak for the rating.

There seems to be a steady number of people ordering the char kway teow but the orders are served rather promptly. For those of you who relish a ‘hum-ful’ plate of heart-clogging tasty char kway teow that is reminiscent of days of yore, do head down to Hong Lim Food Centre, where many other culinary discoveries await you. And make it quick before the authorities turn their attention on this food centre after they have successfully desecrated the charm of the other food centre at Chinatown with their upgrading plans, which incidentally also effectively upgrades the rental, thereby making a $2-a-plate char kway teow go the same way as the dodo.

Address:
Outram Road Fried Kway Teow Mee
Blk 538 Upper Cross Street, #02-18
Hong Lim Food Centre
Singapore 050538

a postmodern dining experience...

2006-10-24T22:17:00.000+08:00

It's unbelievable that we beat Wong Ah Yoke to this restaurant!

One particular food directory had given Imperial Herbal Restaurant, the same rating as Summer Pavilion of Ritz Carlton and hence for a long time, we have been wanting to check out the food. To jostle with the typical Singapore crowds at a recently opened mall, and the reputation of Singapore’s largest mall at that, was not something we were both particularly excited about. Nonetheless, we made the trip which perhaps ended as a somewhat bizarre dining experience for couz and i.

As we were ushered to our seats, we were surprised by the wacky and also tacky décor. Apparently we were seated at the café section where the seats came in the form of footballs, basketballs and psychedelic hands making the ‘okay’ sign. All this stood in stark contrast with what we had expected of a Chinese herbal restaurant. The counter section had a wall of cabinets similar to those in the old Chinese medical shops which better fit the theme. Noticing that there was a section which seemed more like the main part of the restaurant, I requested for a change of seats, only to be asked by the waitress if I could speak to her in mandarin as she could not understand English. Explaining that the main restaurant area, are for tables with 8 or more diners, we somewhat quietly (and also grudgingly) accepted the arrangement to sit atop two huge psychedelic palms, which was rather disconcerting. Another waitress came by and to take our orders and when we spoke to her in Mandarin, she told us that she was Filipino and could not understand us. If this was the restaurateur’s idea of contrast and contradiction, I guess he had achieved it to significant extent.

Thankfully the food was less controversial. We ordered spicy chicken, the chef’s special pan-fried tofu, crispy duck, cod in rice wine sauce, black pepper rack of lamb and stewed seafood eefu noodles. The spicy chicken was served first by a waiter who did not see the need to remove the empty plate (for the peanuts) in the middle of the small square table and placed the dish on the side and walked away, much to our bewilderment.

The dish however, helped assuaged our shock. It was a well executed dish that balanced the spice and yet ensured that the chicken was tender and juicy. The honey glazed walnuts added crunch and was a surprisingly creative addition to the dish.

The tofu dish was tasty, as the chef had masterfully used dried orange peel in the sauce which added a fragrant touch to an otherwise typical tofu dish.

The crispy duck lived up to the expectations, it was crispy. Couz mentioned that it was a good replacement for the Peking duck which we usually order at Chinese restaurants. It would have been better if there was an accompanying dip for the duck which would have added even more to the enjoyment of this great dish.

Perhaps the best dish, the one we would highly recommend, if you do overcome the incongruity of the décor, is the steamed cod in rice wine sauce. The fresh cod slice is drowned in a rice wine sauce that reflects again the expertise of the chef. It did seemed to us that the sauces (for the various dishes) which the chef so creatively prepared in this restaurant is a worthy parallel of the sauces common in French cuisine.

The black pepper rack of lamb was also well prepared, though it seemed a tad well-done for me. The herbal element did not come through in this dish however, though there was an attempt to employ wolfberries in the marinate as well as the presentation. Our last dish was the seafood eefu noodles, which was cooked in a flavourful stock and topped with a generous amount of seafood. The simple dish speaks well of the culinary expertise of the chef.

For desserts, couz had the aloe vera with sea coconut while I ordered the double-boiled stuffed Chinese pear. We also shared a small bowl of menthol herbal jelly. The desserts were refreshing and added a light touch to end the meal.

We did wonder why Imperial Herbal was given the same rating as Summer Pavilion, which would probably be given a higher byp rating by couz, myself and di. Overall, the food at Imperial Herbal is palatable (3 byp), perhaps laudable (4 byps) but we did not think that it matched some of the restaurants we have reviewed in this blog. Furthermore, the somewhat 'postmodern' schizophrenic décor which ill-fits the focus of the restaurant - Chinese herbs - just does not sit well with us (pun intended). It will have to take a total refurbishment of the restaurant or for someone to foot the dining bill to help us overcome the ‘trauma’ of a return visit.

Rating: 3 byps

Address:
Imperial Herbal and Sinchi Tcafe
1 Harbourfront Walk, #03-08, Vivo City
Singapore 098585
Telephone: 6337 0491

"Vele the CAN'

2006-10-22T22:54:00.000+08:00

This post has been long overdue. I had been back to this patisserie on at least two other occasions since the pictures for this particular post were taken. All this is also partly due to the fact that the ‘selfish’ part of me is a little unwilling to share this ‘secret’. But in any case, a place with great food, in this case, great pastries and desserts, needs to be highlighted.

Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie is helmed by a local ‘maestro’ pastry chef, Pang Kok Keong, whose magical creations are both a visual as well as a gastronomic treat. Despite having won several international accolades, Chef Pang comes across as a disarmingly friendly executive chef whose artistry and mastery in pastry creations is clearly evident.

Couz and I, together with some friends decided on Canelé to celebrate a birthday. Their choice of cakes highlighted the fact that I was in the dangerous company of die-hard chocoholics. Couz had the Le Royale, which is a creation comprising 64% dark chocolate mousse, chocolate genoise with rum sandwiched in hazelnut feullitine.

The tiramisu came as a stylish square of melt-in-the-mouth-goodness infused with a perfect blend marsala mascarpone mousse and finger sponge soaked in coffee, white rum and brandy. Another signature pastry at Canelé is the Gateau chocolat, which is a creation of dark chocolate mousse with flourless chocolate sponge and decorated with triple chocolate shards. A definite must try for those chocoholics with a discerning preference for dark chocolate.

The birthday person decided on the Caraibe, which is another dark chocolate creation comprising dark chocolate cream 66%, dark chocolate cake 66%, hazelnut nougatine and an almond chocolate glaze. All of them shared the different pastry creations which were ordered and all gave excellent ratings.

One would wonder why someone who’s allergic to chocolate would visit a chocolaterie…. Thankfully, in his magical creations, Chef Pang has taken into consideration people like me. I would have opted for the Matcha, a delicate green tea mouse with chestnut cremeux layered between green tea biscuit and almond crumble, had it not been for the fact that the group in front of us took the last piece. I settled for the tarte griotte which is a baked Morello cherry crumble tart with tender almond cream filling, and was not at all disappointed. The sourness of the Morello cherry pared excellently with the delightful almond cream filling. One can only wish that the walls of heaven were similarly composed of such.

The prices of the pastries are definitely not that of other bake shops such as Bengawan Solo or Polar Café. But it is not an exorbitant price to pay, given the exquisite and fresh ingredients, the artistry of Chef Pang and the lingering foretaste of heaven. It is perhaps a fair price to pay for what is truly a slice of ‘heaven’. Canelé also serves ice-cream creations on Thursdays to Saturdays and have constantly added various new items such as a selection of jams and jellies, snow balls (Mexican cookies) and ice cream by the pints. Chef Pang continues to do us proud and being Singaporeans, all we can say is that this Canele place is ‘vele the CAN’!

Rating: 4.5 butterballs

Address:
Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie
11 Unity Street #01-09, Robertson Walk
Singapore 237995
Telephone: 6738 8145

Culinary Delights of Chinatown I

2006-10-16T22:37:00.000+08:00

This begins a series of ten great finds in the Chinatown area. Gastronomically speaking, it is well-known that Chinatown is place where there are “crouching tigers and hidden dragons”, hence this little ‘tour’ will seek to uncover some of these ‘treasures’. These delicacies may be well known to di as well as those who live around that area but for many, these will be a gem of a find. We will highlight a couple of notable restaurants but definitely more of the hawker centre fare that has clogged up our hearts. We will also not rate these ‘finds’ since in our opinion, they would have garnered no less that 4 bayoupos (byps), to be accorded as culinary delights of Chinatown.

The first stop is a stall at the Chinatown hawker centre that sells a selection of dim sum and other pastries, Toh Kee (in Mandarin) also known as Chop Hean Kuan. Toh Kee also has a stall that sells roast meats (char siew and roast duck) which is also extremely good. At the dim sum stall, the list includes eggs tarts, ma lai gao (malay cake), charsiew sou (chasiew pastry), fried chicken wings, pork buns, yam pastries and a few other selections. I would heartily recommend all of the items they have at the stall and I believe that they would add a lot in terms of gastronomic satisfaction for all the guests if you were buying them for an afternoon tea party at home.

Two items deserve special mention; firstly the wu kok (fried yam balls). The tasty char siew filling is enrobed in rich mashed yam coat and deep fried to perfection. The crispy outer shell provides a fantastic contrast to the flavourful tender meat filling. The filling explodes in the mouth, sending waves of ecstatic pleasure with each bite of the wu kok. Each piece is priced at a ridiculous $0.80, which is more than value for money. Can you just stop at one piece? It simply is not possible…..

If the yam balls are great, you will have to get a tua pau (big pork pau) because it will simply send you to the moon…….despite the fact that the mooncake festival is over. It really is that fantastically and scrumptiously good. Little wonder that this is di’s favourite pau. It wins all others by leaps and bounds, yes even those from Crystal Jade or Imperial Treasure. And it took a lot of convincing di, for me to be able to share this on this blog.

The pau dough is ridiculously soft and yet has a ‘springyness’ or ‘Qness’ to it. Encased in the dough is a pork filling that is chockfull of favour. The moistness of the meat filling adds a lot more to the simple yet flavourful marinated pork filling. I managed to catch a photo of one of the chefs working on the pau, pretty cool shades huh?

With so divine a pau, why would anyone need big breakfast from the golden arches (think ‘M’)? One or perhaps two of the paus will be a breakfast good enough for any royalty, for even Empress Cixi herself would break out in smiles simply biting into one of these.

So our suggestion for you: plan a tea party this weekend. Take out your best oolong or jasmine tea and head on down to the food centre at New Market Road to get a selection of these divine dim sum and pastries. Have a blast of a time enjoying the wu kok and the tua pau and more importantly sharing it among friends and family.

Address:
Chop Hean Kuan
Blk 32 New Market Road, #01-1018
Singapore 050032
[closed on Mondays]

Ryan's waSHIOKu

2006-10-14T02:17:00.000+08:00

This entry took almost as long as the time taken for us to travel down to the restaurant itself….. Situated at Changi Village, the almost forgotten end of Singapore, Ryan’s Washoku is a ‘gem’ hidden in Changi Village Hotel, the former Changi Meridien. Now where in the world is that? This isolated hotel sitting on Netheravon Road was certainly very, very, very far away for those of us who do not live in the eastern part of Singapore. I am sure most of you people reading this now did not even know of its existence. In contrast to the location, Change Village was vibrant and robust as throngs of people congregated there at dinner time, thereby making it difficult for us to find a parking spot.

The cosmopolitan hotel appeared inviting and added a sophisticated touch to the adjacent low rise coffee shops. If you are a Japanese cuisine foodie, trust me, making a trip to very distant sounding Changi Village is well worth the effort.

The service staff quickly settled us into our seats and was exceptionally friendly, recommending us the first few dishes we had.

Starting with classic sake (salmon) and maguro (tuna) sashimi, it was freshness till the very last morsel. I did not even need shoyu or wasabi of any sort for the sashimi served here, absolutely light and exquisitely juicy. What was most worthy of mention was ei hire, the dish which highlighted the excessive creativity of executive chef Chi Pin Han, formerly from Keyaki of Pan Pacific (NB: Chef Chi has since left Ryan's for another Japanese restaurant). Grilled stingray fins marinated in sweet rice wine (also known as mirin) was in my opinion the most luxurious and perfect accompaniment especially when watching a great soccer match. Resembling much to the texture of squid but very much softer, the stingray fins were surprisingly refreshing and sweet. I really loved this. A definite must try.

ei hire, Stingray fins which were excellent!

Losing count of the number of dishes we ordered, we were next served the gyu tataki and saba shioyaki. Gyu tataki is a dish of thinly sliced raw beef paired with ponzu sauce. This was a really elegant dish; the fresh beef was faultless when dipped in the ponzu sauce and is very possibly one of the best dishes there, among the many other highly commendable ones. The chef’s knife skills was demonstrated perfectly in this dish where the beef was evenly and thinly sliced, giving a texture with just the right resistance to satisfy.

gyu tataki - do you like pink?

Next came was saba shioyaki which was good as usual but it was not any much different from other Japanese restaurant so we should promptly proceed to the main courses which I am more excited about.

We ordered toufu steak and gyu niku foie gras teriyaki. The toufu steak had a generous portion of pan fried tofu submerged in teriyaki sauce topped with young Japanese yam. This was served in a hot plate which kept the dish warm while savoring it. The toufu was simply delicate but provided a crispy outer skin which had a pleasant contrasting texture to the mashed yam. This was not my favourite of the day but it was delicious nonetheless and perhaps more suited for those who are not carnivores. The gyu niku foie gras teriyaki was a STEAL at $25. Generous strips of beef tenderloin seared to perfection and topped with a generous piece of heart stopping moist foie gras, this dish was simply extravagant. At a mere $25, I wonder which person would bear not to order this dish. Nothing more I should say about this….you need to try it.

gyu niku foie gras teriyaki

Finding something amiss, we decided to order some carbs. Tempura soba was our choice and it did not disappoint. The batter provided the right crisp to the bite and the fresh ingredients used for the tempura is the exemplar for all Japanese restaurants. The soba was great but what was more commendable was the broth used which I thought had a nice subtle taste which provided a pleasant contrast to the previous ‘carnivorous’ dishes. Feeling full and satisfied we then went on to decide on desserts but was further encouraged by warm and friendly Alfred (the brother of the owner) to try the famous udon that they serve. We also went ahead to place another order of gyu niku sansho yaki.

Tempura soba

As you can guess, gyu niku is once again beef, but this was really divine. Being the carnivore that we are, this was THE dish for us. It was beef tenderloin seared with sansho (a mild hot Japanese seasoning made from the aromatic berries of the prickly ash tree, which is then dried and grounded into a powder. Also the same spice used by the Chinese called Szechuan pepper). The gigantic amount of beef tenderloin aspires to satisfy anybody’s meat cravings (if bottomless pit is satisfied, I am sure most of you out there will be). Grilled to the perfect consistency and texture, every piece elevated you a few steps closer towards gastronomical heaven. Simply Divine!

gyu niku sansho yaki. period.

Next came the udon which we (already feeling a little bloated by now) initially was really not very excited since we were already full. But (this is the operative word here... but) the udon did not disappoint, in fact it was exceptional. The udon appearance itself was already extraordinary. The smooth glass like noodles was immersed in the soup, yelling “slurp me” continuously. We were told that this special udon was freshly imported from the Akita Prefecture in Japan. Also known as Inaniwa Udon, the udon noodles were made from premium rice, individually crafted, strand by strand, in the hands of master ‘artisans’ chefs. The udon noodles offered a completely new taste sensation, smooth and slippery, it simply slides down the gastronomical and maybe even the intestinal tract. Resembling more like soba than udon, these noodles were simply amazing, it was also the first time I had udon that was simply unforgettable. If there was something to come back for at Ryan’s Washoku, the udon definitely topped the list. Both kor and I thoroughly enjoyed it and was glad we did not miss out on such an experience. Kudos to Alfred and the chef for such an exceptional surprise.

Silky slippery smooth Inaniwa Udon!!

If there was anything to be improved, it has to be the desserts at Ryan’s, which contrasted with the other dishes. We had the kuro goma (black sesame) and matcha ice cream. Not that the desserts were really bad but it just did not matched the standards of the preceding impressive appetizers and main courses. Nonetheless, the other marvelous dishes helped to make up for it and it was certainly a very pleasant experience at Ryan’s.

kuro goma and matcha ice cream

Generous portions, fresh ingredients, an extensive wine cellar, Keyaki fare at a fraction of the price and one of the few places in Singapore to serve Inaniwa Udon (the other being Aoki of Les Amis Group), Ryan’s Washoku is the place to be for anyone who craves nihon ryori. As we came to the end of dinner, somehow it didn’t matter that we have driven so very far to Changi Village, somehow it didn’t matter that finding a parking lot at Changi Village at dinner time was atrociously difficult, all that mattered was the great food, the warm service and the good value for money. Come to Ryan’s and it will “WahShiokYoU!”.

Rating: 4 BYPs

(excluding desserts)

Address:
Ryan's Washoku
Changi Village Hotel, 1 Netheravon Road, #01-03
Tel: 6542 6881

simply sPEACHless

2006-09-27T08:22:00.000+08:00

It has been some time since I have put up an entry, though I must say that I have certainly not stopped exploring food places in the meantime! Though the food I've eaten at some places was really good, it was not really inspirational, if you know what I mean. I have to agree with Couz's remark that it will take something really special to impress us these days.

And so I did not set my expectations too high when we set off for Peach Garden at Novena, for fear of disappointment. We knew of its existence for a while but have not heard too many reviews about it and besides, there were always other restaurants that captured our attention. Little did we know what we had been missing all this while.

Peach garden is famous for its two friendly lady bosses - Veronica Tan and Angela Loh, who make sure you are well looked after regardless who you are. If I observed correctly, they try to personally give their recommendations and take down the orders for each table. That is impressive.

Couz and I were a little disappointed when we picked up the menu and saw that Peking duck only came in the whole duck and not half. Though both of us had polished off one whole Peking duck before, we did not feel up to it that night. Not to be deterred, we ventured to ask the lady boss (not sure which one she was) if we could only order half a Peking duck. To our delight, she said yes! Ask and it shall be given.

I'm not sure if the photo does justice to the Peking duck. It was delightfully crunchy and crispy, one of the best Peking ducks we have tried so far (and we have tried quite a lot!). The only imperfection we felt was the use of egg crepes as wraps. Couz and I prefer the wraps made from white flour. However, the wonderful duck skin more than made up for this and it left us in eager anticipation of our next dish.

What appeared next on our table was one of Peach Garden's signature dishes - Wasabi Prawns. This was an impressive display of culinary finesse - from the presentation right down to the taste. The prawns came sitting in what I think is a nice white vermicelli basket, their deep fried golden brown peeking out from fresh looking wasabi green, topped with orange prawn roe. The kaleidoscope of colours proved a visual treat that was equal to the treat for the taste buds. The prawns were deep fried to just the right extent and coated with enough wasabi cream to give a mild kick up the nostrils when placed in the mouth.

The next dish to arrive was part of our effort to have a balanced diet and at the same time give our veggie friends something more up their alley. This was the tofu dish which came served on some spinach and egg white which came adorned with small, fresh pieces of crab meat as well. The tofu was very fresh, smooth as silk. It would have been great if the outside was fried to a crisp as well. It was reminiscent of the tofu we once ate at the Tung Lok Restaurant at Liang Court some years back. That was really the best tofu as far as I can remember.

Hot on the heels of the tofu was a dish that seldom goes wrong - baked sea perch. The accompaniment you see on the side of the dish was strips of honeydew with some salad dressing. The outside of the perch was baked almost to a crisp, as can be seen from the inviting golden brown colour. Once again there was a sprinkling of prawn roe. The perch was firm and succulent, making every bite absolutely delectable. The strips of honeydew provided a refreshing balance to rich-tasting and flavourful perch.

After the perch came one order of spare rib and one order of tenderloin steak. While the spare rib had the right proportion of fat, it was still a little too dry for our liking. We would have preferred a bit more sauce to go with the rib. However, the tenderloin was absolutely wonderful. It certainly lived up to its name (tender)! Cooked to a medium, the flavour of the beef was retained and complimented by the sauteed onions and pepper sauce that came with it. Here are the pictures.

As you can see, the spare rib came with blotches of prawn roe as well. I thought they really overdid themselves with the prawn roe. It appeared in a whopping three dishes already!

We had our second dish for the Peking duck next. By this time we were getting full. Thankfully this was the last dish. Before dessert, that is.

Both Couz and I think we must have a separate compartment in our stomachs for desserts. So while our main compartments were full, our dessert compartments were still empty. For the sweet endings, we each had a coconut. Sounds boring? It's not any ordinary coconut. Check it out.

I had the young coconut with pulot hitam and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I have tried a different variations of this dessert at Lei Garden which was cold pulot hitam with ice cream and grass jelly. This combination at Peach Garden is a tad better I feel, especially when served with the delicious coconut flesh. The little Q balls also added a different dimension to the taste which made it a wonderful end to a wonderful meal. Couz had the young coconut with mango puree and pomelo. The mango puree tasted normal meaning it's good but not too different from other restaurants. However, eating it with the coconut flesh gave it a unique flavour which is unavailable at other restaurants. It reminds me of the ice cream in coconut I had during my recent visit to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Now I know of two places in Singapore that serves yummy desserts in coconut. Don't have to fly to Cambodia for it.

We shared a custard bun too which was really good according to Couz. Not that I didn't find it good, but I'm not that big a fan of custard. You can see the custard oozing out from the bun in the picture. There is another branch of Peach Garden at Thomson Plaza if I'm not wrong. You can google for it. I'm sure it's up on the web somewhere. There you go, another nice place to have a meal with company that you enjoy.

Rating: 4 byps

Address
Peach Garden Restaurant
273 Thomson Road
#01-06 Novena Garden
Singapore 3076444
Tel: 62543383

one of the coolest 'gallery' around....

2006-09-18T02:46:00.000+08:00

There has been a steady increase in the number of ice cream shops in Singapore, that have an equally bewildering range of ice cream flavours, from such as the exotically intoxicating lychee martini (at The Daily Scoop) to the adventurously innovative kung bao cashew (at The Island Creamery). There was a time where the familiar bell of the ice cream man on his motorcycle provided a welcome cooling relief in the hot and humid climate that is Singapore. Those were the times when we only had brands of ice cream such as Walls, Magnolia, Meadow Gold and King’s to contend with. The later introduction of ‘designer labels’ such as Swensen’s and Haagen Daz evidently showed that there was an increasing market for the ice cream industry, which further spawned others such as Gelare and more recently various other gelato outlets such as Venezia, Bravassimo, Estivo, Gelatissimo.

Of late there have also been a corresponding dizzy number of ice cream shops which feature home-made ice cream, such as Tom’s Palette, Icekimo, Sweet Stix, Wild Hibiscus as well as the aforementioned Daily Scoop and Island Creamery, not forgetting also the ice cream creations from Canele and Sun and Moon Dining. I don’t intend for this to be a historical survey of ice cream in Singapore (though that would make an interesting write-up) but suffice to say that we are partial especially towards Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and the ice cream from Ice Cream Gallery.

We visited their branch at Valley Point recently where couz indulged in a rum and raisin ice cream milkshake. A word of caution for the teetotallers, for the rum and raisin ice cream at the Gallery boasts of plump raisins infused with a generous amount of robust and heart-warming rum. Definitely not for the faint hearted.

For one who’s aversed to alcohol, I opted for a twin scoop of chempedak and avocado with gula melaka, both of which were sinfully rich. The aroma and flavour of the chempedak ice cream was not at all compromised and was rather like eating a softer and milkier version of the real fruit. Though I am not much of an avocado fan, the avocado with gula melaka, attests to the genius of the owner of Ice Cream Gallery, Ann Yik, who is always looking to add new and creative flavours which pander to the picky palettes of Singaporeans. And here is a ‘wickedly’ indulgent treat which not only has a rich smooth, buttery texture but also the potential double ‘evil’ of expanding the waist and clogging the heart (for the overindulgent). But some assurance is in place, since it must also be clarified that the ice cream here is produced with a reduced level of fat as well as sugar.

As you will notice from the picture, our other friends also had a scoop of strawberry ice cream while the other two scoops were rum and raisin as well as chocolate. While the chocolate at Awfully Chocolate, called ‘hei’ (as in ‘black’ and yes, they serve ice cream too!) is definitely better (according to couz), the other flavours at this gallery is definitely worth a visit. I remember that it was di, who drove me all the way to their first shop over at Eastwood (all the way in the east) and have since got me hooked to this gallery which boasts of a new kind of art. Perhaps this gallery should be featured in the next Biennale. Then again, once you get hooked, visiting this gallery probably wouldn’t be an affair that occurs once in two years, probably more like twice a week!

Note: We figured that it is not right to rate desserts shops with the same bayoupos (lard pieces) as with the restaurants and hence in line with the emphasis of this blog, we figured that butter balls have the same effect as the heart clogging goodness of lard. And butter is a necessary ingredient in most great tasting desserts and confectionery, hence we will rate desserts and confectionery using the same scale except instead of bayoupos, we are using butterballs. We are not pleased with the graphic for the butterballs and so if there's any one out there with an artistic talent to design an icon for butterballs, please do email it to us. Thanks and here it is.......

Rating: 3.5 butterballs

Address:
Ice Cream Gallery
491 River Valley Road
#01-20 Valley Point
Singapore 248371
Tel: 6235 0870

and

20 Eastwood Road
Eastwood Centre, #01-13
Singapore 486442
Tel: 6246 2926

teacher's 'lei' lunch

2006-09-02T00:23:00.000+08:00

I worked for a year at ACS (Independent) as a counsellor and during that time, I was assigned as a pastoral care tutor of a class. That one year fuelled my love for teaching and helped me develop a more profound respect for teachers and the teaching ministry. I got to know quite a few of the students and till today am still in contact with a good number of them; some of them have become more than just students to me and di is testament to that legacy in ACS.

September 1st commemorates Teachers’ Day and di planned a lunch for me. I was told to meet at Chijmes as he kept the venue very much under wraps. It was a pleasant surprise when he brought me over to Lei Garden since it has been more than a year ago since I last dined there with couz. As the number of Chinese restaurants has increased, it is easy to forget that Lei Garden has been (and still is) one of the bastions of fine Cantonese cuisine in Singapore. It is synonymous with double boiled soups and great dim sum. So it is not at all surprising that di would order a selection of dim sum, half a peking duck, wok fried striploin steak, baked cod and ‘yeung yang’ noodles.

The ‘zhu chang fen’ (traditional steamed rice flour rolls) with prawn was a delight as the silky smooth ‘chang fen’ complimented the turgidly crisp prawns with each bite. Another dim sum item, the ‘fu bi juan’ (deep fried prawns stuffed in bean curd skin) has been always an all time favourite and was very well prepared. Each piece of the crispy bean curd skin which enveloped the fresh pieces of prawn was fried to perfection and each bite provided a succulent sampling of the different textures encased in a simple dim sum dish such as this. Such is the culinary skill of the chefs at Lei Garden; they are able to transform simple traditional breakfast fare to food fit for nobility.

Given the standard of such a restaurant, the peking duck did not disappoint, though I would still prefer flour dough rather than egg crepes to go with the crispy skin of the duck. We waited a bit for the baked cod to arrive but were told later that the kitchen had run out of cod fish. While that somewhat dampened our heightened expectations, the wok-fried striploin steak proved to be a saving grace.

The beef was very tender and well-marinated, and each bite was a melt-in-the-mouth experience of enchantment and ecstasy. On the one hand, one wonders why do we need to bother with other seemingly better cuts of beef when we have this dish but on the other hand, one can only marvel at what the chef will be able to do with other quality beef such as wagyu or Kobe!

The last dish was ‘yeung yang’ noodles. It is so named because the dish uses two different kinds of noodles, glass vermicelli and rice vermicelli, cleverly united by a piquant XO sauce. The different ‘Q’ness of the noodles speaks eloquently of the genius of the chef in this culinary union.

The desserts selection at Lei Garden is also commendable. Di decided on the almond cream with egg white while I decided on the ubiquitous ‘gui ling gao’ (herbal jelly). Both were great and they provided a fitting finale to an enjoyable lunch.

Lei Garden has once again emerged as a trend setter amongst the culinary competition. But I will remember my lunch there with added fondness because it’s where di celebrated Teacher’s Day for me. The food was great but the fellowship we celebrated speaks of the triple cords which are shared between teacher and student, between friends and between brothers….. this is as close to the heart as it can get. Thanks, di!

Rating: 4 byp

Address:
Lei Garden Restaurant
30 Victoria St #01-24, Chijmes
Singapore 187996
Tel: 6339 3822

a scrumptious tour of china's jiangnan

2006-08-25T03:20:00.000+08:00

It’s been a constant wish to visit China, to see the Summer Palace, to walk on the only man-made structure that is visible even from the moon, to enjoy Peking duck in Beijing, to see the ancient capital of Xian where missionaries established the first Christian presence during the Tang Dynasty, to tour the West lakes, to salivate over Sichuan ‘kou shui’ chicken, to be spellbound by the beauty of Jiu Zhai Kou….. I guess you get the idea. But since that is not possible, di and i settled for a two-hour culinary tour of China instead at the recently refurbished Crystal Jade Jiang Nan Cuisine.

The restaurant was formerly known as Hu Cui, featuring Shanghai cuisine and has been one our earlier culinary ‘conquests’ [couz and i]. Rather than being limited to Shanghainese flavours, the new restaurant now features a more extensive geographical reach and expansive culinary selection of cuisine from regions south of the Yangtze, from which it derives its name, Jiang Nan. Hence other than some typically Cantonese cooking, Crystal Jade Jiang Nan also features five provincial cuisines from the region, namely, Shanghai, Huai Yang, Si Chuan, Guang Dong and Shun De. The menu itself is impressive in design and colourful prints help to highlight the specialities from the various regions.

Having tasted ‘tang chu pai ku’ (sweetened vinegar pork ribs) on my last visit to Shanghai, i had expected it to be featured but alas, one can only imagine the disappointment when the waiter informed us that the dish was not on the menu. Shanghai cuisine without tang chu pai ku is perhaps like cha kway teow without ba you po - no punch, no kick, no good! We settled for the following dishes instead which in many ways helped redeemed the initial setback.

Sichuan ‘kou shui’ chicken
Thick beancurd broth
Peking duck in two ways, meat served with lettuce
Deep fried lotus root with meat/prawn filling
Fried yellow fish
Shredded bean curd with chicken and ham

The Sichuan ‘kou shui’ chicken provided both a cool and fiery start to the dinner. It is served chilled and yet the spicy and numbing taste of the Sichuan chillies and peppers helped kick-start the meal on a feisty and fiery note.

As with the peking ducks served at most Crystal Jade restaurants, the bird here did not disappoint. The sweetened bean paste that accompanied the duck was well balanced and added a lot more to the satisfaction derived from the cacophony of textures that was so well blended together with this all important sauce. The duck meat was diced and stir fried with other ingredients and emerged as a separate dish served in leaf of crispy lettuce which was also very commendable.

One of the Shun De specialties was the lotus root with meat/prawn filling, which was a simple enough dish to replicate at home. The flavourful meat and prawn filling sandwiched between two crisp slices of lotus root and then deep fried is a recipe that cannot go terribly wrong. We did find it a tad too salty but nonetheless, we enjoyed this dish very much.

From the region of Huai Yang, we picked the perennial favourite of small yellow fish, which is common to these parts of China. The fish was fried to perfection with a crisp golden skin over silvery soft meat, which did not have any hint of a slightly muddy aftertaste, typical of most freshwater fish. The dish pointed to the simplicity and yet incredible taste of Chinese cuisine from these regions south of the Yangtze. This is further verified by the next dish, shredded bean curd with chicken and ham in light broth. While it looks amazingly simple and perhaps almost to the point of being bland, this dish is immensely flavourful and wonderfully refreshing. As you will probably have noticed, i am not one to easily forget the grouses i have with restaurants for which my expectations have been heightened, but perhaps for this dish, I am willing to forgo my disappointment with the tang chu pai ku, or the lack thereof of this delicacy. Perhaps if there are any of you who might know of a restaurant which serves it, please feel free to email me to keep me informed…. thanks in advance.

Other than (my) grouse with the vinegared pork rib, the dessert selections stood in stark contrast with the rest of the menu. It simply did not do justice to such an extensive region of Jiang Nan to have such a limited selection of desserts. If there is one thing Jiang Nan can improve (other than having the pork rib) it will have to be expanding the desserts menu. We picked the egg white souffle with red bean paste among the limited selection and ended up pleased and satisfied with a dessert which was simple and wonderfully executed, which perhaps made up for the lack of choice. So for those of you who are longing for a tour of China but do not have the time or money to tour the sights of the regions south of the Yangtze, perhaps the cheaper alternative is to make a culinary trip instead and be dazzled by the colours, the fragrance and the taste of Jiang Nan and all in a matter of about 2-3 hours. It’s a treat which will leave you longing for more.

Rating: 3.5 byps

Address:
Crystal Jade Jiang Nan Cuisine
391 Orchard Road #02-12 Ngee Ann City, Singapore 238872
Tel: 62381011

smart "alex"

2006-08-25T03:18:00.000+08:00

Having heard so much about a certain char siew stall along Beach Road, we just had to make a trip there to check out the goodies…… char siew, roast pork, roast ribs and roast duck. The double boiled watercress soup also came highly recommended for this ravenous group of eight. The roast duck was good, though it should not be surprising that we were not primarily here for the duck. As for the roast pork, the crackling skin provided the crunch as well as the punch. The char siew was the primary reason we were here and we were not at all disappointed despite the increased and heigntened expectations. The char siew was not the radioactive red version that one finds at the some nondescript wonton noodles stalls but of a deeper colour which exuded a delectable fragrance. The charred bits of caramelised char siew did a great deal to enhance the rich flavours of a well marinated and well roasted piece of pork.

It was so good that I returned a couple of days later to buy some home for my mum as well as to check out the char siew wonton noodles. And the verdict again proved a certain food critic WRONG! The noodles were springy, the accompanying sauce was tasty, the chilli added a certain kick, the shrimps in the wonton were fresh and turgid and the char siew…… indescribable! Did someone say that “the wonton mee scene in Singapore is dire” and that she could not find ten good wonton noodles stalls in Singapore to write about?

I returned again the next day to buy some char siew for di when he came over for dinner. Three trips in about ten days…… is the char siew good? Do humans need oxygen to breathe? The answer’s the same….. but you judge for yourselves. Be smart and make that trip to the Alex’s eating house.

Rating:

Address:
Alex’s Eating House
87 Beach Rd #01-01
Singapore 189695

of "ba yu po" and more....

2006-08-19T11:16:00.000+08:00

In line with the theme of this blog, I managed to get a friend, who is in design work, to come up with a graphic on the ubiquitous ‘ba yu po’ or ‘byp’ in short. Having discussed with couz and di, we decided that in our future posts, we will be rating the restaurants/ hawker stalls we dine at, not with the usual stars or chopsticks but with our very own byps! This is perhaps the suggested rating system:

= regrettable

=forgettable

= palatable

= laudable

= life changeable

Of course the system will also allow for half ratings of byps, as in 3.5 byps, where just having the round number does not do justice to the rating. And perhaps, in time to come, we might just come up with a byp tee-shirt with the adapted tagline ala Emeril Lagasse, ‘jiaLARD - pork fat rules’!

A word needs to be said of the frequency of the posts though - unlike other bloggers who eat out almost every meal, couz, di and i have the luxury of having our meals at home and hence choose not to post about every single meal, cognizant that nothing beats a home-cooked meal that is infused with the nurturing love and care of the hands and heart of the one(s) who prepared the meal; a meal that’s of heart-clogging goodness as well as heart-tugging warmth. So please be patient with us as we continue blogging about the other good food places in Singapore and beyond and we will try to have at least one post a week. In the meantime, keep enjoying the food and more importantly keep enjoying the warmth and the love that only family and friends can give.

sound the 'gong'

2006-08-10T00:36:00.000+08:00

I finally got my first pay cheque again, having been a student for quite some time. Hence it was a major decision in selecting a place for dinner for couz, di and i. There aren’t many places in Singapore that one gets to savour Chinese imperial cuisine and so when I got to know of Beijing Gong, I was not going to let this opportunity for palatial dining pass. It was also going to be first time that couz, di and myself, the three contributors to jiaLARD, was going to dine together, most definitely the beginning of many other memorable dinners to come.

Beijing Gong is located at a shophouse along Kreta Ayer Road, a location that somewhat befits the purposes for which the owner and general manager, Derek Leong, intended for it. The walls were suitably adorned with the artistic paintings of the owner’s mother as well as the calligraphy of other important family friends who have eaten at their other branches in Beijing!

We had the undivided attention of Derek that evening as he introduced to us the intricacies of imperial cuisine as served to the Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty. Accordingly, the head chef of this ‘palace’ is related to a family of imperial chefs; his grandfather worked in the royal palace kitchens of Cixi herself. Qing imperial cuisine resulted from the inspiration of the chefs that sought to present the different flavours of the numerous provinces of China. Hence given the wide array of different and distinctive culinary styles and flavours across China, it was no mean feat for the chefs at Beijing Gong to select what they thought might suit the Singapore palate. Derek and his chefs will go to great lengths to ensure that the dining at Beijing Gong is both a close time of family togetherness and yet nothing short of an imperial palatial experience. He will discuss your culinary preferences before a suggested menu is faxed to you. This was the menu for our dinner:

A quartet of appetizers
Shark’s fin soup with fish lips
Soft fried scallops
Steam pork belly with fermented bean curd - heavenly pork
Steam dumplings
Braised beef
Garlic stir-fried vegetables
Imperial yoghurt

While it was indicated as a quartet of appetizers, Derek apparently ensured that we had double the selection of appetizers. We had shredded carrot, pickled cucumbers, smoked beef, Chinese ham, shredded winter melon, mustard-infused white cabbage and fermented green bean. (clockwise from top right). The pickled cucumbers were unbelievably crisp and crunchy and the bits of chilli helped kicked it up a few notches. What seemed to us like a thicker than normal ‘tang hoon’ appetizer turned out to be winter melon. The texture and taste of this unbelievably ‘simple’ dish undeniably highlighted the knife skills and culinary skills of the chef.

The mustard-infused white cabbage is best described as ‘wasabi kimchi’, since the mustard had the same effect as wasabi, immediately clearing the nasal passages with each bite. The cabbage was also unbelievably crunchy. Derek was most enthusiastic with this particular appetizer as well as the fermented green bean which looked rather non-descript but was itself a delight, once you overcome to inertia to tuck in and give it a try. As you will noticed I have not even started on the main course…..

The shark’s fin soup was heavenly….. I usually have dark vinegar and pepper with shark’s fin soup but we really did not need any that evening. The broth was delicious, delectable and divine. Adding to the long lists of ‘wow’ for the three of us that evening was the heavenly pork. It was pork belly that was steamed with fermented bean curd. The process of steaming had taken more than three hours to the extent that all the fat had been ‘melted’ away and what was left was ‘collagen’, which is supposedly good for the complexion! Served with Beijing pancakes (which is similar to roti prata), this was a dish par excellence and was as its name suggests, heavenly. It takes ‘jialard’ to a different level all together!

Though I had called that morning to replace the beef for a lamb dish seeing how couz had been ‘converted’ since the trip to New Zealand, both lamb as well as beef was served to us that evening. It really is the best of both worlds. If the shark’s fin was divine, the pork, heavenly, the beef did little to bring us back down to earth. It had been braised, deep-fried and stir fried - so much effort had gone in to just one dish and it was of that kind of melt-in-the-mouth goodness that gave one a feel of ecstasy. Beijing Gong is proof that you don’t need drugs to give you that feeling of being transported into another realm, the food here can do it for you!

Before I conclude with the desserts, a word must also be mentioned of the dumplings. If you are one of those who rave about DTF’s xiao long bao, wait till you take a bite of the dumplings served at this ‘palace’. Paired with minced garlic, it is one of the better dumplings we’ve eaten; juicy, tender, flavourful…. I don’t think I want to make you salivate on your keyboard, but I guess you get the idea.

As for the desserts, it should be known that though the dessert selection is very limited, you CAN NOT go wrong with imperial yoghurt. The original imperial recipe required breast milk and in that respect, it was not possible to replicate it, since our three portions would have needed quite a substantial amount of it. In any case, cow's milk is good enough for us, as the dessert appropriately brought our dinner to a close on a note of comfort and a touch of class. This is not the supermarket variety of yoghurt and it seemed like a cross between good yoghurt and quality dou hua, both of the finest quality. Words are just inadequate to fully describe this glorious union which bought the meal to a very fitting close.

Palatial service, imperial cuisine and bonded brothers - if this is a foretaste of heaven, sound the Gong and give me heaven……now!

Address:
Beijing Gong Restaurant
41 Kreta Ayer Road, Singapore 089003
Tel: 63233206 [call for reservations]

oodles of noodles

2006-08-02T20:38:00.000+08:00

I have said it many times and I am saying it again…. I hate farewells. I was at the airport sending bro off for a two-year work stint in London. Thankfully, di came by to drive me home. I wasn’t in the mood to talk nor was I in a mood for food. But di suggested that we have something to eat at one of our favourite supper places, East Coast food centre. There can only be two possibilities of what we were going to eat at the food centre and evidently it was Hwa Kee barbeque pork noodles. In our opinion this is MOST definitely one of the top five wanton noodles stores in Singapore, which interestingly did not make it into the top five list (not to mention the top ten!!!) of a certain food critic. I know that taste is highly subjective, but there is a consensus among friends that this stall should have been mentioned. Apparently the food critic could not even find ten good wonton noodles stalls to make the list. But then again perhaps she was checking out for ‘wonton mee’ stalls and not barbeque pork noodles, I guess it may be just a case of semantics that prevented her for making this discovery.

Please forgive the ranting, not that Hwa Kee needs this publicity and I am actually content to keep this culinary discovery a ‘secret’, seeing how people tend to flock ravenously and multitudinously to a stall/restaurant after a review appears in the newspaper, which ultimately leads to a price increase, or a decrease in the amount of food, or even a decline in culinary standards to pander to the masses, or all three! I just needed to provide an alternative voice to the opinion of that particular food critic.

Hwa Kee’s barbeque noodles (read, ‘wonton mee’) scores not only on the al dente texture of the noodles but also the well roasted char siew and most importantly the savoury sweet gravy that’s drenched on both the meat and the noodles. Some of the charred bits of the barbequed pork (char siew) added to the oodles of satisfaction that is to be derived from the noodles. As for the wontons, one could either ask for the ones cooked in the soup or the fried ones which are ever so crispy, giving that crunch with each bite, providing the contrast in the textures with each mouthful of the noodles. I cannot overstate our (the contributors of JiaLARD) opinion that it is one of the top five wonton mee stalls in Singapore.

But for me that evening, great as the noodles were, it was however, not able to assuage that feeling of sadness in sending off a brother, a part of my family. Nonetheless, this is still a sort of comfort food and will always remind me of another very close member of the family, who first shared this culinary discovery with me.

Address:
Hwa Kee Barbeque Pork Noodle
Stall No 45, East Coast Park Food Centre
East Coast Parkway
Opening hours : 7pm to around 12.30am (closed on Wednesdays)

Journey on the Silk Road

2006-08-02T00:03:00.000+08:00

Ever since the Amara Hotel had undergone renovations, I am suitably impressed by both the new interior and the new standards of restaurants there. While many of the old restaurants are still in place, the buffet restaurant Element underwent a revamp and emerged as the vanguard of the current trend of 'uberhip' buffet restaurants, though more recently it may have been eclipsed by such as Shangri La’s The Line. In view of the somewhat more expansive (and expensive) spreads at the other buffets, however, Element has stood its ground and is perhaps understated since it offers a pretty good buffet selection at a much more affordable price. Maybe it is my distaste with buffets nowadays; none of the buffet restaurants seem to impress me nowadays, maybe except for one particular one (and no! It’s not The Line).

Keeping the focus on this culinary journey, the Silk Road Restaurant showcases the renowned fare of the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi, Liaoning and Beijing. Tucked away in the furthest corner away from the lift lobby, the restaurant’s ambience and décor defined unique dignified elegance through the use of neutral colours, trickling with a contemporary feel. Soothing dim lights and warm instrumental tunes infused tranquility amongst the fiery spices used in the restaurant. This was indeed one exciting dinner because the dishes on the menu sounded really appetizing. It was truly a ‘stimulating’ dinner in all sense of the word.

Much to the ~~horror~~ ~~disgust~~ ~~bewilderment~~ ~~shock~~ ~~repulsion~~ envy of our dining neighbors, this was what we ordered for the night during ‘dipper’ (dinner + supper):

Appetizer

Seafood with beancurd

Mains

Mapo toufu
Peking roasted duck
La Zi Ji (Spicy chicken)
Duck noodles
Mince meat noodles

Desserts

Aloe Vera with lily buds
Gui Ling Gao

A picture speaks a thousand words.....

Generally the food was very good but our two favourite dishes had to be the mapo toufu and La Zi Ji. Silky-smooth bean curd was whirled in generous amounts of chili oil and black Sichuan peppercorn which I believed was the mastermind of the mind games it was playing on my tongue. Most other mapo toufu I have tried are spicier more than it being “ma”, but this version was the real authentic stuff that does not kill your taste buds by making it extremely spicy. A simple dish, but top notch satisfaction

Just look at the colour of this dish....
Looks like small little pieces of BaYou Po doesn't it?

La Zi Ji as its name suggests is indeed very spicy and a tad too salty.Crispy fried chicken cubes are sautéed with dried red chili and the familiar black Sichuan peppercorn which gives the chicken its exclusive taste. The aromatic oil from the red chili and peppercorns seems to have permeated the crunchy crust that embodies the succulent chicken flesh. My brain does not seem to register any of such previous resemblance. Savor de novo!

Peking duck was pleasant but it seemingly is of the more authentic Beijing version where the meat is also served, not merely the crispy skin. Perhaps well weaned on the crispy version, this dish somewhat paled in terms of what kor and i are more accustomed to.Yet, nonetheless, it still did win us over with its keeping to the authenticity of its Beijing origins.

Having a tough time to clear up all the previous dishes, our sizeable bowls of noodles arrived under the scrutiny of our dismayed dining neighbors. The handmade noodles with duck I ordered, possessed all the qualities of what I would classify as a bowl of fine noodles. Sweet tasting duck broth coupled with springy handmade noodles…yum…the other table just did not know what they were missing out! Kor’s minced meat noodles was equally tasty. Though we were already kinda full by the time the noodles arrived, the fact that we finished the noodles is testament of not only the ‘Qness’ (or springy texture) but more evidently of the superb quality of the soup noodles.

Kor's minced beef noodles....

My duck noodles....

Frankly speaking, I did not have high expectations for the desserts served but I was surprised by the standards of desserts here. My order of aloe vera with lily buds and wolfberries was exceptionally refreshing after a tongue numbing episode and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Did I mention that this dessert witnessed a harmonious marriage of pure white lily buds with luscious tender aloe vera? The lily buds were crunchy to the very last inch, reminds me of the same feel you get eating fresh onions. Coupled together with the spongy aloe vera, the lily buds endowed a delightful contrast of consistency. A truly brilliant combination.

I have to mention that service was excellent. The waitresses were attentive and tirelessly refilled our glasses with cold water. There is also currently a promotion for osmanthus white tea going at three dollars free flow, and it was one of the most fragrant teas I have had so far.

I would definitely recommend the more adventurous to give this restaurant a try but be prepared to be treated to a myriad of flavors by feisty spices at Silk Road. The sheer diversity of the menu will be alarming initially but it grows on you and keeps you coming back for more. Just remember to have a fire extinguisher on hand or call a fire engine along, especially for those who are not into authentic fiery and numbing Sichuan cuisine. Nonetheless it is the signature spice trade for which the Silk Road is renowned. To be curbed by the fear of fiery spices is to miss out on one of the most tongue numbing, perspiration flowing and altogether heart warming experiences of Chinese cuisine.

Address:
SILK ROAD RESTAURANT
The Amara Singapore, Level 2, 165 Tanjong Pagar Road
Singapore 088539 Tel: 62273848

The Second Summer

2006-07-23T17:49:00.000+08:00

Since there are only five months left til the end of the year, I decided that I had to bring J to some of the best restaurants around while the year lasted. So we settled on one restaurant for each month, just like what Couz and I do.

She had already tasted the food at Summer Pavilion, thus the time was ripe to introduce the second summer--Summer Palace--at the Regent. My stomach was growling by the time we arrived at the Regent. We were ready. Met by a very enthusiastic captain/manager, we were soon seated and deliberating over the menu. From snatches of cantonese conversation that drifted over from the neighbouring table, I learnt that the manager was new, about two months on the job.

Here's what we ordered:
Hot and sour soup for J
Minced beef soup with chives and egg white for me
Steamed cod with garlic and soya sauce
Tenderloin beef cubes with black pepper
Soft-shelled crab with oats
Steamed chye sim
For desserts:
Almond cream with glutinous rice dumpling for J
Black glutinous rice with coconut ice cream for me

It slipped my mind for just a moment as I was ordering that I was not ordering for Couz and I, but for J and I, so quite expectedly the manager had to politely inform me that I had ordered quite enough for the both of us. He warned us that the small portion of the soft-shelled crabs was not small at all, and when I added the order for the beef, he kindly suggested to half our portion of soft-shelled crabs. I agreed doubtfully.

Now let's get to the pictures!

My guess was that the chef may have been distracted by a pretty girl when he was adding the pepper for the hot and sour soup. It was way too peppery. However, the minced beef soup with egg white and chives was excellent. The consistency was just right, not too thick and not too watery. The chives provided a nice balance to the taste.

The beef cubes in black pepper was one of the chef's specialities, and it did not disappoint. The naturally tender meat offered no resistance to the eager teeth sinking into it. The natural flavour of the beef oozed out with every bite. This was coupled by the fragrance of the small, chopped pieces of garlic stir fried to a delicious golden brown. Heavenly.

The fish came soon after the beef. Steamed cod sitting prettily in a shallow pool of superior soya sauce, topped with minced garlic--the most versatile of Chinese garnishes. My apologies for this picture which does not tell the full story. I was too 'cod' up with feeding the fish into my mouth that this was all that was left by the time I remembered to take the photo. J was even faster than me and had finished all of hers. But she 'helpfully' contributed her piece of parsley to my plate. Thanks friend! Need I say more about the cod?

This was the soft-shelled crabs with cereal and oats. I must apologise that the picture was not as well taken as I had hoped. The fault is not with the camera but with the photographer--me. I still find my Canon powershot A95 more than adequate for taking lovely pictures of food (Read: sponsorship from Canon is welcome!) The crabs were good, though I must say not exceptionally so. The parts that should be crispy were crispy--and we had no complaints. We now saw for ourselves that this was half the original portion listed on the menu, and now I was thankful that I had followed the manager's advice, for both our stomachs were filling up fast.

Fortunately, there was only the steamed chye sim remaining. It was done very well and a soothing end to the meal, before we ordered the desserts of course. I hope my food priorities are not too obvious by the absence of any photos of the chye sim.

Let's get to the sweet endings.

On top was the almond cream with glutinous rice dumpling which J ordered. She was crestfallen to find only one dumpling inside! We propped it up with the elegant Narumi spoon for the shot. I didn't get to try the dumpling but the almond cream was good.

The black glutinous rice with coconut ice cream was good too, but having tasted the one at Bai Xuan, I have to say that Bai's version is one standard higher. I felt vanilla ice cream would have been a better choice.

The bill was not too hefty, thanks to a generous twenty percent discount with UOB card. Parking is redeemable too. Really makes you want to come back doesn't it? Good food, good service, good company. One down, four to go.

Not so “dan” after all

2006-07-10T10:41:00.000+08:00

“So, where are we going to eat?” The perennial question on everybody’s mind, even more so for the three contributors of this blog. It was one evening when it smacked us again. We went around the vicinity scavenging for food but encountered turbulence along the way. We went to check out Post Express Deli for some hearty sandwiches but were not available so late into the day. We had not much other choices but kor suggested going down to Purvis street to check out the Sichuan fare that he found quite interesting previously. The restaurant has unfortunately shared the same fate as Crustacean by Fosters. Though I have never tried the Sichuan restaurant there before, I was slightly disappointed.

Many other alternatives came to mind…amongst those were Menotti, Prego, Marina Square Food Court, Sichuan Dou Hua Restaurant and so finally we settled on more affordable subsidiary of Sichuan Court that is located on Raffles the Plaza level 3, just beside Inagiku. Not only are the prices more affordable, Sichuan Court serves ice water without any surcharge unlike other restaurants which offers entrees at a much higher cost. In fact they also offer free flow of herbal tea which we ordered at a more than reasonable cost considering that my dining partner was a guzzler aka camel.All time favourite Ming Xiao Jiao (Deep Fried Prawn Dumpling) with salad cream
The most disappointing dish of the day. Notice the difference in Picture Size.

There was a wide range of Dim Sums, noodles and congee. I found the menu layout extremely down to earth like your normal neighborhood yum cha kind of menu. We ordered a hot and spicy noodles (Suan la mian), Sichuan dan dan mian, hong yu chao shou (I think most of us are more familiar with wantons in chilli oil), prawn dumpling (har gao), deep fried prawn dumpling (ming xia jiao) and deep fried bean curd skin with cheese.

Both the Sichuan dan dan mian and the hot and spicy noodles were good but I thought the dan dan mian just edges out. Maybe it was due to the lack of sampling size for dan dan mian, I found the noodles were quite excellently done with the subtle tasting sauce which did not too overpower the original taste of the white noodles. The suan la mian was perhaps a little too normal for it being worthy to have much said about it. The wantons with chilli oil were average though the accompanying chili oil was very well executed. It was something I would describe as a heart clogging concoction.

Dim sum was really quite good (I would just show the pictures instead). The prawns were very fresh and it was really done quite nicely. I would give it 8/10 for the turgid prawns served but the bean curd skin with cheese was
extremely disappointing. The bean curd skin was covered with another layer of batter which I thought was a little weird for deep fried bean curd skin. Furthermore, Kor said he did not taste anything like cheese in it and I would have to totally agree with him. It cost $5 plus for a dish of three and it was definitely not worth the money. Perhaps I should not be too judgmental because the prawns used in the bean curd skin was indeed very fresh, but I think the chef was too occupied at 9 pm that night that he forgot to include the cheese before deep frying the bean curd skin. The other dim sums were rather pleasant and it’s a nice place to visit for a nice little tea break, especially if you do not want to be paying for iced tap water.

Somethings just don't change.

2006-07-04T00:49:00.000+08:00

1st July is SAF day. For all who have been through 2 and a half years (or 2 years which is more common now) of national service i am sure you know what is this day all about. Parade...parade and more parade. We reaffirm our loyalty to the country and pledge our lives to protect the dotdotdot dotdotdot dotdotdot and it goes on. What was most interesting was that i formed part of the ONE AND ONLY NSMEN platoon that was participating in the parade. Ok enough of my personal complaints since this is a food blog.

Nonetheless i am glad i already have my pink IC with me. I got out of camp after my reservist and had my first lunch out of camp since we outprocessed from Nee Soon Camp. Kor met me for lunch and we went down to Sushi Tei after learning that they have an ongoing unagi promotion. It takes little to know that kor was inevitably excited as he ordered the unagi don which was loaded with a hefty amount of unagi (all 220g worth of unagi). I got to try some of the unagi from his order and the unagi tasted right to perfection with a firm and spongy texture amidst the dark and appetising sweet sauce. More often than not, restaurants serving unagi use sauces that are too sweet which fail to accentuate the subtle freshness of the unagi that lies beneath it. Kor being a regular at Sushi Tei is fond of the delicate balance between the fresh unagi and the sweet sauce that embodies the whole unagi fillet. This is one particular dish that never fails to brighten up Kor's day and as he always says....."can die a happy man" after meals like these.

I, on the other hand, had the Una Tama Don which was a little disappointing but was definately within acceptable standards. I guess the runny eggs made the unagi more flaccid and was definately not comparable to the neighbouring solid unagi don just across the table. Kor being the adventurous one (unusally) ordered a sushi moriwase making up an assortment of six different sushis. Claiming that he was being adventurous for me, i had to singlehandedly finish the sushi moriwase because kor was the more picky one when it came to certain "rawness". I started on the hamachi (yellow tail) sushi and it was quite refreshing i should say. Crunchy to the bite and the freshness of the raw fish came alive when placed into the mouth. Not too bad for a start i must say. Next came the tuna belly which lived up to its name gave a really "fatful" feel to its texture, might just be the fish equivalent of wagyu marbled beef. It really gets closer to your heart doesn't it?

(Sorry but the hamachi is missing because i ate it up already!)

The others, however were easily forgettable. That included the sea bass sushi, salmon sushi and the hotate (scallop) sushi. Did you realise that the sixth one is missing from the list? well, the last blow was probably the deadliest. It was the renowned UNI sushi. Yes those black spikey things that you cannot miss when one goes snorkelling in Krabi. I think they call them sea urchins. The yellow mashy, mushy appearance seems to have captivated the hearts of many "true die hard" fans of Japanese cuisine. Maybe to appreciate something so exotic and unique that is almost to the extent of being grotesque truly demands the courageous spirit of a "true" connoisseur. I am definately not one. Weird as it might taste with the initial contact of uni on your taste buds, the yellowish, seemingly harmless substance, packs a blow, full of sting after it has settled down on your taste buds. It definitely gets to you and for me, this expereince seemed more like i was being filmed for a segment for Extreme Gourmet. It's hard to fathom why people even eat stuff like that. Perhaps one day, (many years later, when i have long forgotten about this culinary experience) i might learn to appreciate that stuff....but then again, the probability seems pretty obscure.

I presume the highlight of the day was the Japanese cold noodles that we had. Springy and full of texture, the noodles came smoothered in a light soy-based sauce with a generous serving of sliced ham and cruchy cucumbers. It was difficult to distinguish the ingredients that went into preparing the sauce but it definately had that one magic ingredient that does wonders to all food, sesame oil. The noodles were cooked to perfection with what i would call that "QQ" feel to it. Coupled with the sauce, it was easily one of the best dish we had that day other than the unagi don.

It was a day where we eradicated our old grudge against cold noodles (especially Korean ones) but at the same time erected some barriers to certain extremes of Japanese cuisine. I guess somethings just don't change.

Eye bigger than stomach

2006-06-30T15:45:00.000+08:00

This was the second dinner we had in June (to make up for the one we missed in May). We decided to give Seafood Paradise a try after our pleasant experience at it's sister restaurant--Taste Paradise.

Tucked away in the industrial estate of Defu Lane, we were surprised by the relatively large crowd on a Wednesday night. The restaurant/coffee shop/building offers free car parking for about twenty cars or so. The car park, quite unlike our stomachs, was almost filled up when we finally reached the place after enduring the CTE rush hour jam.

Without much ado, we proceeded to order our seafood. The waitress was quick to point out which were their specialities listed on the large (A3 sized) menu. It must be said that this is not the first time waitresses had to stop us from ordering more when they realised after looking around that nobody else was joining our table, and all the food was only to be consumed by Couz and I. Our eyes are really bigger than our stomachs.

I cannot for the life of me remember the exact names of the items we ordered, so let me give a pictorial instead.

This was one of their specialities--pork ribs in honey and pepper sauce. It came wrapped in aluminium foil which did little to contain the fragrant aroma emanating from within. The ribs were marinated and cooked to perfection. Sweet taste of honey balanced by a zesty taste of black pepper that was not overpowering. Parts of the ribs charred to a delicious crisp. This dish alone was enough to make ten minutes of the traffic jam worthwhile.

Next up was the golden butter lobster. Firm, succulent and juicy, we just couldn't have enough of the lobster. Not sure what the golden strips were, but they sure tasted really good! The lobster made the rest of the time we spent stuck in the traffic jam worth it!

We try to be fair and will usually order a non-meat dish. Their homemade beancurd in a wok was another recommendation which proved to be excellent.

What is seafood without fish? (Actually, crab, lobster and prawn too!) We had to find a worthy replacement for cod since it was unavailable. This steamed soon hock with 'chye por' swam to our rescue. Yet another good recommendation. The taste of the 'chye por' (Not sure what it is called in english, think it's dried radish? Anyway it is the stuff you find on 'chwee kueh') sits very well with the fresh soon hock, coupled with the superior soya sauce. To eat the soon hock in any other way will be an insult to the fish.

The last dish to arrive was the black pepper crab with vermicelli. This was our own choice and it proved to be the only imperfection for the night. While the crab was extremely fresh, the black pepper sauce was disappointingly lacking in terms of taste. It was too sweet for our liking and lacked the 'oomph' of black pepper. Still, we managed to finish it up as the crab meat was really very fresh .

It has been a while since I had more than one bowl of rice during dinner. Given the delicious spread tonight, I had finished my first bowl of rice by the second dish. Couz and I shared another bowl of rice and this is a testament to the quality of the food. We were also very, very full by the time we finished the last piece of crab, which was just as well that the menu did not offer any dessert items.

Perhaps a note can be said about the toilets. Going to the toilet of Seafood Paradise, one enters a different world altogether. The setup and design of the toilet is the same as Taste Paradise--very elegant and 'zen-like'. This was a stark contrast to the noisy, oily, smoky environment of the usual coffeshop setting just centimetres away.

Another place explored with two satisfied customers.

krabi cravings

2006-06-29T17:45:00.000+08:00

Couz went on a trip to Cambodia while di and i left for a short trip to Krabi, enjoying the sun, sea and sand. The crystalline blue waters around the various islands, such as Phi Phi, were teaming with fish and got us really excited. The evenings at the beaches were equally stunning as evident in the shot taken by di when we were having our scrumptious seafood dinner.

We enjoyed the evenings, walking around the little town, tucking into the local version of the prata which is called simply, roti. There is a dazzling array of roti available - banana roti, choc roti. But we opted for the simplest of the roti, which is cooked to a crisp, drizzled over with condensed milk and sprinkled over with some sugar. It is surely every diabetic’s nightmare, but the texture, the taste is tremendously tantalising, evident by the fact that we went back on both the evenings for the roti.

Such are the simple pleasures of life. Against the painted backdrop of God’s creative handiwork, ‘breaking bread’ (actually squares of crispy roti) with family, Krabi, like Trang, will always be etched in the inner recesses of my head and my heart.

a grand affair

2006-06-11T22:30:00.000+08:00

Somehow couz and i did not get to meet up for our usual once a month makan session in May. Guess that’s a good enough reason to meet twice then in June. These are times that we set aside to keep each other updated on the things that are happening in our lives, over a good meal. The monthly makan meeting is over and above the usual other after-Sunday-service makan times or the other times we meet for a swim or for a movie. And it seems that we may be running out of good Chinese restaurants since we have been revisiting a few of the better ones. Hence it was a little tough deciding on where to go in view of the expected crowds over the Fathers’ Day weekend. We finally ended up at a ‘retro’ restaurant reminiscent of the days where Tsui Hang Village reigned among the restaurants which were touted as authentic Cantonese dining experience.

Tucked away in a hotel, not unlike the apartment blocks at Potong Pasir, which is perhaps in need of upgrading, Asia Grand is however like a gem of a find. And perhaps even more so when we found that the Peking duck was on half price for a whole duck! At such a price, we were not going to be picky about the fact that they served the duck with egg crepes rather than the white flour dough. But by the time we wolfed down the last pieces of the Peking duck, we did wish that di was with us since it meant we had less space for the other dishes that we had ordered.

Next, we had minced beef in a thick soup that matched the standards of most other Chinese restaurants which served the soup. The beefy goodness complemented the rich stock used to make the thick soup. We were then served the home-made doufu which came highly recommended. Like the soup, the doufu was good and well complemented with juicy mushrooms and spinach in a thickened gravy.

But the soup and the doufu were just a little ‘distraction’ of what was to be served next - Mongolian lamb, roast lamb with black pepper sauce and baked cod in teriyaki sauce. Delicious, delectable and delightful are just some of the words which may be used to describe the cod. It was quite a good size portion that was baked to perfection, with a creamy melt-in-the mouth texture that was exquisite.

The lamb did not disappoint too. Couz had the lamb with black pepper sauce while I had the Mongolian lamb which was baked in a strip of luscious bacon with accompanying mint jelly. The black pepper sauce on the lamb was carefully prepared so that it did not overpower the flavour of the lamb, which was served on a small bed of sautéed onions, adding a certain crunch to the dish. As for the Mongolian lamb, the aromatic flavours of the lamb were well encased in the bacon strip. The mint jelly added to the enjoyment of the lamb, getting nods of approval from both couz and I.

As usual, it was a case of “the eyes being bigger than the stomach” when we placed our orders. We had an order of crispy ‘san mee’, which was topped with all kinds of fresh seafood - scallops, big prawns, but there was not much space left in out already stretched stomachs. We had one small serving each and had to pack the rest.

But we managed to find some space for desserts since desserts fill a completely different section of the stomachs anyway. I decided on the chilled hasma while couz had the ‘orh nee’, yam paste. It was a little surprising to find a typical Teochew dessert in a Cantonese restaurant but we aren’t complaining. The desserts were as good and provided a fitting sweet ending for our meal.

It is easy to miss the charm of Asia Grand because it is understated. Perhaps it is because of the staunch and steady clientele that it seeks to serve, and serve well, that it does not need the publicity. And where there seems to be an inverse relationship between increased popularity and palatability, somewhat selfishly, we wished that Asia Grand will continue to be ‘hidden’ from the ravenous public. Understated as it is in terms of popularity, the food served was however a ‘Grand’ affair for couz and i.

uberdisappointing uberburger

2006-06-08T10:54:00.000+08:00

With all the hype about Uberburger, it was not too long before we fell into the temptation, brought about more evidently by the advertising rather than by the culinary expertise of the restaurant. “Uber” according to Wikipedia, comes from the German language and is a cognate of the Latin for “super” and the Greek for “hyper”, meaning “super”. Hence it is not surprising that it is at Uberburger that one finds the superburger, evidently “uber” in terms of the price and quality of the ingredients used, more than anything else. We have heard and read about the 101 wagyu beef burger but since we were not doctors or “bankers who drove sports cars” [who seemingly were the main people responsible for ordering the 101 burgers] it never did crossed our minds to order it anyway. This probably will not be the place to sample a wagyu beef burger since there’s an equivalent wagyu beef burger which has 20 more grams of waygu beef and about twice the amount of foie gras for about a little more than half the price at a hotel restaurant.

Uberburger is touted as the first gourmet burger restaurant in Singapore and possibly in Asia. The design of the restaurant literally shouts out in teenage angst, not only artistically through the black vinyl booth seats which are well contrasted with bright red table tops and chairs, but also aurally through the MTVs blaring over the flat screen televisions hung from the ceiling of the restaurant.

The four of us found the menu somewhat uberdifficult to read because of the uberconfusing use of words and numerals. Perhaps this is what adds to a supposedly uberexciting dining experience. Nonetheless we settled for different burgers because we would then be able to sample at least four different burgers. We ordered a not-that-colossal ‘beef sirloin a colossal 200g’, lamb burger, double d chicken breast and the ubmonster colossal 250g chopped sirloin (which came with a small bucket of fries). And for starters we had a serving of ubertower onion rings with two sauces and mini uberballs (meatballs drenched with an Italian tomato sauce and topped with parmesan cheese).

The onion rings were not at all in any way unique and I would gladly have the onion loaf or bloomin’ onion from other steak restaurants, though I would add that the two sauces did help a little. As for the other side dish, we all agreed that the Ikea meatballs would have given the uberballs a good fight, while couz did not find the somewhat zesty tomato sauce to his liking.

As for the sirloin burgers, we had no quarrels with the thick patty but both of us who had the beef burgers found the meat somewhat dry and also a little bland. There was no juicy beefy goodness that one would normally associate with a medium cooked thick patty of beef. And here was I dishing out some of the tomato sauce from the uberballs to add flavour to the beef patty. Guess i don't need to belabour the point about the blandness.....

As for the chicken burger which di ordered, it was also 'beyond' his expectations. The description on the menu read: “big bird burger with chili, ginger + pepper marinated for twenty-four hours then chopped and cut until it’s a big bird burger, tomatoes, chili sauce and crispy salad.” One would think that a piece of meat marinated for “twenty4” hours will be flavourful but whatever marinate the chef used was hardly distinguishable; the result of which is an uberbland chicken burger which is embedded with quite a few cloves of garlic (not mentioned in the menu). Likewise di was trying to add more flavour to his burger patty by adding more ketchup to the chicken. Speaks volumes about how "tasty" this big bird is!

Perhaps the burger that we had the least complaints with, was couz’s order of the lamb burger with a yoghurt dressing. Guess as couz put it, “you can’t go very wrong with lamb” but it’s surprising that things did not turn out as well with the rest of the burgers.

We didn’t have time to ‘check out’ the ubersweets but by then, we were perhaps not that bowled over as with some others, of this supposedly uberhip restaurant. Perhaps it’s uberhyped. If the owners’ desire was to create a place that blended good food with great entertainment, I am afraid that, in my (our?) opinion, our experience at uberburger has been uberdisappointing in both respects.

Opps did i mention that uberburger has a one Michelin Star rated chef behind it?

new toast on the block

2006-06-04T00:37:00.000+08:00

It’s about time that local coffee shops give all the overpriced coffee places such as Starbucks, Coffee Club, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaves and the like, a run for their money. Not surprisingly, there has been a recent surge in the number of such coffee places that serves not only the good ‘ole cuppa of great local brew but also the accompanying kaya toasts, of which the more prominent ones include Ya Kun Kaya Toast, Killiney Café, Wang Jiao and Ah Mei (Banquet). I’d rather have a cup of iced kopi ‘O’ at any of these places rather than one which is about three times the price and yet a fraction of the flavour of local coffee.

While on our way from gym, di noticed that there was a latest addition to the kopi and ‘toasties’ phenomenon named the Toast Box, just across the street from China Square. Well, it was not long before we found ourselves sitting on one of their stools enjoying coffee and toasts. On top of the usual sweet endings like kaya toast, this place also has a heart-clogging milo toast, for which a generous amount of milo is dumped on toasted bread and drizzled over with condensed milk. Don’t think something like that can taste bad and I would have ordered the milo toast for di had it not been that we just had lunch a little earlier and so we settled for their other specialty, the ‘hae bi hiam’ toast, a ‘kopi peng’ for di and the usual ‘kopi o peng’ for me. I am positive that we will be back to check out the other toasts, but for now, the ‘hae bi hiam’ toast should suffice.

The drinks were not that bad but considering that there is THE Teh Tarik stall around the corner at Far East Square for which Makansutra has awarded 6 chopsticks, I guess it is an unfair comparison. In any case, Toast Box is a welcomed addition to the many kopi joints and our wish is that the bubble will not burst on the toasts phenomenon as it did with the bubble tea joints not too long ago.

a majestic obsession

2006-05-31T23:08:00.000+08:00

Di bought me dinner tonight and he decided to keep the dinner venue a secret the days before the dinner itself. It added to the excitement for me in discovering where we will be headed for dinner. As we turned into Bukit Pasoh, it was not difficult to guess that dinner will be at the Majestic Restaurant at the Majestic Hotel. Much has been written about the restaurant and the Chef Yong Bing Ngen who has been with other notable restaurants such as Hai Tian Lo, Jiang Nan Chun as well as Jade at Fullerton and I had looked forward to dinner here since he is known for his fusion touches to his typically Cantonese style of cooking.

Though I must admit we were a little tempted by the peking duck on the ala carte menu, we finally decided on the degustation menu . As he made the order, di quietly pointed to the waiter, adding another surprise dish, which gave hint to the fact that this kid brother of mine had come to this place, well informed, having done extensive ‘research’ prior to our dinner at this restaurant.

The first course, a starter, came in a cocktail glass that sat on a mountain of shaved ice. In the glass were three large chunks of Mexican abalone bathed in a sweet vinegar dressing, accompanied by several pieces of crispy crunchy cucumber. The ice mountain presentation further accentuated the fact that this dish was indeed cool as cucumber. Abalones are not my favourites, hence I am often regarded as the ‘dumb kid’ in the family, but this starter may well have gotten me started on a new appreciation for this shellfish. The sweet vinegar dressing was well paired with the turgidly fresh abalone and coolly crisp cucumber juliennes.

The next course was the surprise that di had in store for me, it was deep fried soft shell crab enrobed in a creamy milk and lime sauce. The lime added a couple of kicks to the sauce, bringing the milk sauce to new heights of culinary delight. As for the soft shell crab, one could have easily mistaken it as Sri Lankan version of soft shell crab, because each bite burst with a juiciness of plump meaty texture, which triggered gastronomic amnesia - I cannot recall soft shell crab of this texture in any of my previous indulgences. This was majestic obsession number one.

The third course was crab meat and shark’s fin soup served in a majestic bowl. I remarked to di that the bowl was of a size which i can adequately enjoy. None of that four to five spoonfuls kind of bowl but this was a earthenware bowl which was deep and yet large enough for di and I to enjoy the flavourful broth that was swimming with loads of shark’s fins and crab meat. This bought majestic obsession to a new level.

The fourth course is perhaps one of the signature dishes of Chef Yong. It was a serving of a voluptuous crab claw coupled with a salacious piece of peking duck and pan fried foie gras. The wasabi mayo flavoured crab claw was cleverly paired with a coin of watermelon and topped with some mango, adding a subtle hint of cool refreshment. The sweet bean paste dressing on the skin of the peking duck blended with the sinfully rich buttery texture of the pan-seared foie gras. This was ‘heart stopping’ indulgence. Please pardon the sensuality of the description of this course, but it is easily understandable how this course alone could easily titillate one to gastronomic orgasm.

The next course served was steamed perch with shredded pork and ginger. As couz has said previously, not much can go wrong with either perch or cod. And presumably this course highlighted the heights of Cantonese cuisine in the preparation of seafood of the freshest quality, by steaming the perch and sitting it in simple and skilfully prepared soy sauce, garnished with shredded pork and ginger. I could have asked for a bowl of plain rice to go with the sauce and would have emerged from the dinner satisfied.

The chef surprised us (well, at least surprised me, since di has already read about this dish) with the grilled lamb with sweet honey sauce and XO sauce fried carrot cake. I had thought that the lamb was paired with some pieces of potato salad but it was actually carrot cake (chai tao kuay) in XO sauce! The lamb was grilled to perfection; the meat was tender and juicy, while the pairing with the carrot cake was a stroke of genius on the part of the chef. Both di and i were speechless, words seemed inadequate to describe the satisfaction of a course so well executed.

The seventh and last course was a choice of desserts for which di picked three; deep fried durian ice cream, ice cream trio and almond cream with papaya. The durian ice cream was served in a deep fried crust which sat in a pool of mango puree. The contrasting temperature and complementing textures corroborated the chic culinary competence of the chef. The ice cream trio of strawberry, macha and vanilla, was served in a deep Japanese bowl which hinted of some influence from Ikebana, the art of Japanese floral arrangement. The additional toppings of diced fresh strawberries on the strawberry ice cream, red beans on the macha ice cream and jellied marmalade with shredded lychee and pomelo pulp topped with a gold dusted black berry on the vanilla did much to enliven the delicate creamy goodness of the ice cream. As for the almond cream, this was served in a cup and saucer which were dusted with gold, adding a touch of class and finesse to traditional dessert.

As we savoured the last bits of the desserts, i must say that this was a dinner which I was thoroughly enthralled. I have never eaten so much abalone or foie gras in one dinner sitting since both are not exactly high up on my favourites list but I guess di has helped changed that a little. Majestic has been a restaurant which i had long wanted to savour but have been somewhat hesitant, for whatever seemingly insignificant reasons. But it’s just like di to read me so well. It’s not difficult to make the prediction that I will be back here again sometime soon, hopefully with couz and with di again. Good food and even greater fellowship, little wonder that this is a majestic obsession.