KeropokMan: Singapura Makan

Homemade Kaya from Rosy's Kitchen @ Surrey, UK.

2013-05-21T15:37:00.001+08:00

This is for those living in London / UK / Europe and miss having some good kaya to go with your butter and roti!

In March, I visited my relative's place and we had some very delicious home made kaya for breakfast.

Rosy has been making kaya for her own consumption and for friends who wants them. She's also set up a simple website that helps promote the kaya. She makes a few extra bottles when she's making her own supplies for others who might want to get them.

Her modest website: http://rosyskitchen.wordpress.com/

This photo of the kaya taken at Rosy's Kitchen Table in March 2013.

More about Rosy and her Rosy's Kitchen Kaya:

Based in a home kitchen in Surrey, UK, Rosy's kaya is made using organic, free-range or premium quality ingredients. For example, the eggs are free range eggs purchased drive away from where they live.

The kaya is hand stirred, not using any machine and made in small batches. It's like how mums and grandmas make them. No, she doesn't use a charcoal stove. To comply with health laws, they are bottled in brand new jars. (She has also got her kitchen certified by the health authorities.) So if you want more, she can't fill them up in your clean up jars. You got to buy a new jar.

The taste and looks test: the texture is thick, creamy and fragrant, the colour is caramel brown and not the green kind. If you are living in the UK, having the kaya with freshly toasted bread and British butter, you will not miss the Yakun or Toastbox kaya toast here in Singapore or those from old style coffee shops in Malaysia.

The recipe is from her mum. The reason she uses free range and organic produce is because they eat organic produce daily for their meals. She wants to have good kaya and not a bottle of kaya that is mass produced products and contain preservatives.

The price?
* One 180g jar of Kaya – £3.50
* Three 180g jars of Kaya – £10

Rosy does drop offs in London at times. Some folks order together and have it sent to a particular address. People do gladly pay for postage because it saves them from getting out of their house.

The day we were there, Rosy was going to the post office to post jars of kaya across the English Channel! There are people who are willing to pay for postage that costs more than the cost of the kaya in other parts of Europe!

That's it. For folks in UK, hope this post will be useful for those of you wanting to get some home made kaya!

New menu and new team @ db Bistro Moderne, Marina Bay Sands.

2013-05-20T14:39:00.001+08:00

If you have been to db Bistro Moderne recently and noticed a little change, a little difference in the menu, the promotions and events happening there, you are right. There's a new Executive Chef and new Executive Pastry Chef in charge of the kitchen now.

Things are getting exciting under the new Executive Chef Jonathan Kinsella and Executive Pastry Chef Benjamin Siwek.

Feeling a little curious about who Chef Jonathan is, I did a search on Chef Jon and he's quite amazing. He learns from his father at a young age, and his father is a certified Master Chef faculty member at the Midwest Culinary Institute. He has worked in a few places and he decided to come to Singapore this year. His previous stint was at sister restaurant Epicerie Boulud in NYC.

For Chef Benjamin, he's got an IT background. (just like me!) He decided to enrol in pastry school and have been rolling dough and making luscious and delicious bread and desserts. (Maybe I should too eh?)

This was an invited tasting by Marina Bay Sands and db Bistro Moderne, to taste the food by the kitchen team led by Executive Chef Jonathan Kinsella and Executive Pastry Chef Benjamin Siwek.

Always loving the breads here. Still looking the same and as enjoyable.

db Bistro Moderne has concocted 2 interesting drinks for the monsieur and mademoiselle when want to have a drink just before your food.

On the left is "Exit The Dragon" for the gentlemen. It's white rum infused with mandarin. Shaken with Chinese 5 spice syrup and fresh lemon juice.

The shorter glass is "Pink Floyd" for the ladies. A very interesting pomegranate-infused tequila shaken with fresh lemon juice and organic egg white!

Introducing Executive Chef Jonathan Kinsella. He's been cooking professionally since the age of 22!
Here's the tasting menu prepared for us that night.

Some of these items are available for the on-going Mondays at Daniel Boulud. The new "Mondays" menu starting from April 8 will feature the best from Chef Daniel's New York "originals". As part of their 20th anniversary of Chef Daniel's flagship Restaurant Daniel, dishes from the iconic Restaurant Daniel and also other New York restaurants will rotate on the menu here in Singapore every Monday.

Seafood and Vegetable Aioli.

A very light and quite satisfying start to your meal if you order this. A platter of poached seafood like cod, mussels and prawns with a variety of seasoned and raw vegetables.

I know if I order this for the wife, she will be very happy. She mixes this and eats similar stuff for her lunches.

I just thought this piece of vegetable is just too beautiful not to show! Isn't Romanesco broccoli / cauliflower so captivating?

This dish is available during Brunch / Lunch / Dinner time.

Boulud Sud's Mediterranean Mezze

This is a "Monday Night's Only" Classic NYC Dishes masterpiece. A combination of Herb Falafel, English Pea Hummus, Sheep's Milk Ricotta and House Made Socca Chips. I heard people really the falafel here.

A peep behind the Socca Chips, chopped olives on English pea hummus. I like the hummus and it goes well with the socca chips and falafel.

This dish is available only on Monday Nights.

Cheese Choux Pastry

For our nibbling.....

Chardonnay, Au Bon Climat, Cuvée Daniel, Santa Barbara, CA 2010

That was served with our next dish.

Seared Diver Scallops

This was the appetizer portion (main course portion available too) of a very delicious scallops. Nicely seared scallops that was served with crispy smoked bacon! Every since I was introduced to hand picked scallops picked by divers, you pretty much want it when you see it. (My sis will agree with me about hand picked scallops!)

It was nicely seared on the sides and tender and juicy inside, the picture above and below both hides the nicely done scallops. (It takes practice to do this, I have ruined lots of scallops trying to do this at home. )

A top view of it, the scallop was resting on English Pea Mousse and whole peas and surrounded by Carrots Lemon Chicken Jus. DB is American and so is the chef. Carrots and Peas are something they grew up with. I think Americans will love this. A quail egg rest on top giving it a nice pretty touch.

This dish is available during Dinner time.

Saffron Tagliolini

Chef Jonathan was saying that he tasted one of the chef's spanner crab dishes at recent Epicurean Market and was captivated by it. He thought he will use spanner crab as one of the ingredients for his dishes. This is it.

The saffron pasta is from Chef Daniel's recipe. Other ingredients includes tomatoes, chilli, Italian Parsley and Lemon and Olive Oil. I am sure you can imagine the taste profile from the ingredients listed.

We had the appetizer portion. (also available as Main Course portion). If you like pasta and one that taste a little tangy, a little hint of heat (spicy kind) with some simple seafood like spanner crab. This might be your kind of pasta. A nice alternative for those who don't like tomato based version of pasta.

(I like that plate!)

This dish is available during Lunch and Dinner time.

Herb Roasted Organic Chicken Provençal.

This was one awesome chicken that we tasted! Yes, if you remember about the French Chicken, born in French, grew up in Malaysia and cooked in Singapore in a previous post, it's the same breed of delicious chicken.

The chef brought out the chicken that has been nicely roasted for us. On the same pan were Heirloom Beans, Carrots and the herbs stuffed in the cavity of the chicken that was used to roast it.

It's not ready to be eaten, but we were already salivating when Chef brought it out for us to view for like 5 seconds before it was taken back into the kitchen.

While the chicken was cooking, we had Sancerre Rouge, Les Romains, Gitton 2008 to go with the chicken.

Chef came back with the chicken and poured the sauce made from reduction of wild mushrooms and natural chicken jus. (with other things that I can't taste haha)

This dish is something that you should try and get truly satisfied. It's good quality chicken, so no matter which part of the chicken you have, it's very enjoyable. The texture of the meat is just so tender and succulent.

The sauce which has the very flavourful chicken jus and wild mushrooms really makes you want to lick up every drop of it. I really liked the beans and carrots too. It's one of the must orders here.

This dish is available for Dinner every night.

Executive Pastry Chef Benjamin Siwek

I think this guy is bold! He's making interesting desserts and using the King and Queen of Fruits! Yes, durians and mangosteens! Not only is he using Durians, he is using Jackfruit another fruit that has a strong smell in his desserts!

Milk Chocolate Mousse Cake

It just reminds me of a scouts bonfire. No, it's not going to be flambéed. It's plays with texture and taste for chocolate lovers. Crunchy and smooth bits with different kinds of chocolates.

This dish is available during Lunch / Dinner time.

Durian "Royale" Soufflé‎

Ooops, when this was served, we were busy eating the previous dessert, we forgot the soufflé‎ will sink. Caught it in time before everything flattens. This was durian soufflé‎ from a French pastry chef! We were told by MBS PR lady, they had lots and lots of versions before they could settle with this one.

My parents would probably not have it because they will only eat their durian by the fruit and in nothing else. They always wondered why people even eat durian ice cream when you can get fresh durian. They will freeze durian if they want it cold and ice cream like.

The wife who don't eat durian might eat it if she has it with the mangosteen sorbet (on the right) together with the durian soufflé.

The durian smell is not that strong until you put it in your mouth. If you have the mangosteen sorbet, it kinds of mask the smell of durian after.

This dish is available during Brunch / Lunch / Dinner time.

Rhubarb Tart.

Sorry, but I am not a fan of rhubarb. To me, it's just not my kind of food. Rhubarb to me is tart. So it's a tart tart. I am not saying the above is not nice, it's just not for me. It's my brother's kind of food. He orders Rhubarb whatever when he sees it on a menu, something which I can't fathom!

I know there are fans of rhubarb out there just like my brother, so this is for you!

This dish is available during Lunch / Dinner time.

Jackfruit Verrine

Chef has used local ingredients we are familiar with and make them into a nice little French-Peranakan dessert! Made from Coconut Tapioca, Lime, Jackfruit and Palm Sugar Ice Cream.

French dessert techniques and local ingredients. Something that works and works well for me.

This dish is available during Lunch / Dinner time.

Signature Petit Madeleines

Always a nice little sweet touch to all meals at db Bistro Moderne.

It was a very interesting night of tasting the food of the new team at db. Some of the food we had are available on Monday nights. Others are only available for dinner. Do check out their website for more details.

Baby Sitting by Chef Benjamin Siwek
For parents who are wondering how to 'deal' with the children during the coming school holidays, here's some good news. Let Chef Benjamin Siwek baby sit them! He's conducting the db Bistro Moderne "Junior Pastry Academy". A series of specialty pastry workshops will take place at 3 PM across the five Saturdays in June. It's opened to children aged 5-12 years old! The 90 minute session will focus on different theme as follows: 1 June - Yogurt Cake, 8 June - Brownies, 15 June - Cupcakes, 22 June - Cookies, 29 June - Candy Bars.

Priced at $75 per child, this includes sweet treats and champagne for the child's accompanying parent. For more baby sitting details, contact db Bistro Moderne.

db Bistro Moderne
B1-48 Galleria Level
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands (across from the theater)
2 Bayfront Avenue
Singapore 018972

Tel: +65 6688 8525
Hours:
Lunch: Monday to Friday: Noon to 5pm
Weekend Brunch : Saturday – Sunday: 11AM – 5PM
Dinner : Sunday & Monday: 5:30pm to 10PM, Tuesday – Saturday: 5:30PM – 11PM

Skirt @ W Singapore Sentosa Cove

2013-05-18T09:27:00.001+08:00

It's our parent's anniversary, and my father in law likes steak, so the wife and I booked a dinner at Skirt to celebrate their special day. This is my 2nd time at Skirt, the first time was with the HungryGoWhere review folks to test out food which was very good, because we were invited guests.

So this second time which is about 2 months later, where we went in 'stealth mode' and we were there just to enjoy ourselves and pay from our own pockets. The service was still as good. Like the previous visit, there was a host/hostess to take care of you from start till the end of the dinner. We were served by a lady from Taiwan. She's really knowledgeable, you can ask her anything about the menu and she can tell you. In fact, she's better than the first visit there.

We did have a chat with her and found out she's being rotating amongst the different W properties around the world. She's here for a year or two and probably will go to another destination. So cool ya?

Skirt is W Hotel's first ever grill house from all their properties. If you go there, you will notice the world restaurant has the 'cow' theme. Elaborate deco like this, are inspired by the cow's udders. The hanging lights are made from cow leather. If you notice the host and hostess, they are dressed very sleek but their uniform or outfit is inspired by butchers! Quite "W" cool!

Just like the first time, the bread roll are in the shape of a flower. When you go down the steps from the lobby to the restaurant, you can peep into the open concept kitchen. You will see they have lots of these bread. The burnt marks are there because they have been heated up on the grill.

These nice warm bread are served with seaweed dip and a bottle of chorizo lard oil.
(It's like Western version of our favourite lard in oil form and spicy!)

Terra Rossa Malbec (by glass) - $18

Dad ordered a glass of wine. It was a red that was recommended after we ordered our meal. It was recommended based on the meat he ordered.

SKIRT Made Blackmore Charcuterie for 2 - $38

I had this before and thought it was really good, so I told the parents that they should try this too.
I just love food that's being served on big wooden boards. Look at the thinly mandolinned vegetables. If you are serving food at home, you can do this too. (ideas ideas!)

This bit of pulled meat with some far and crispy onions on it was delicious.

From the previous tasting, I asked what it was so I know what this is when we had it with the parents. It's meat from the leg that has been sous vide at 65 for 1 day. It's just so tender. If you are adventurous and not so health conscious, eat it with the semi soft fats.

Two kinds of cured blackmore. I remembered that I prefer one to another, but I can't remember which ones. I think one's cured and the other just air dried cold cuts. If you dine there, you can confirm with them.

Liver pate. It's way too much for me personally. Everyone liked it except me, because I am not a liver person. ;-)

The pretty and hard crusted bread that comes with it. I preferred the softer bread that was served before your meal though. I prefer soft breads.

The details of this place. They have custom made cutlery!

Do you feel like you are dining in some big huge ancient castle maybe in King Arther's time, that people used such cutlery?

If you ordered meat, you will be served this before your meal.
On the left, apple bourbon juice. I think it's a bit strong, but it cleanses your palate before you have your meat. The right, a bottle of BBQ sauce.

Blackmore Australian Full Blood 9+ Wagyu, Skirt Steak (250g) - $48

The wife ordered this. She wanted to try this signature skirt steak. It's a nice piece of steak. It was done medium, and came out nicely as what she liked. I suppose you can't do wagyu any other way. It made the wife rather happy.

Donald Russell Irish Aberdeen Angus Grass fed 21 day Dry Aged Tenderloin - $40

Dad had a hard time deciding because there was too many choices. He end up having the Irish tenderloin. We all thought he made the best choice for the night after we all took a bit of his meat.

We thought the wife's skirt steak was nice, but after tasting dry aged meat and the tenderness that comes with it, I wished I ordered this too. A good piece of meat, just grilled was just so so good. The price for this delicious meat was only $40!

Grilled Baby Barramundi - $47

Mum is more of a seafood person and she thought she will have the catch of the day. We were told they had a nice baby barra that day and mum thought it's a good choice too.

We thought it was quite an expensive fish, but it was really well done. Nicely grilled, it was nice, soft and juicy inside and we think mum did enjoy it.

Iberico Pork Skirt, Asparagus, Crackling - $40

When I ordered it, I imagined it to be a pice of "sio bak", with nice crackling skin on top by the description. I was wrong. It came as above. Yes, we laughed. It was piece of pork skirt with crackling separately on top.

It was OK. It was slightly over done, so it was a bit tough. Even with King Arthur's knife above, I had to use a bit more energy to cut it. So when I tasted Dad's dry aged beef, oh... I wanted to take over his whole plate.

We thought we would share some side dishes, so we ordered 4 different sides. Probably 2 or 3 should had been enough if you ordered the starter. You would be quite stuffed!

Grilled Pumpkin, Sprouts and Goat Cheese - $8

Nicely grilled pumpkin with leaves from probably 2 Brussels sprouts and goat cheese over it. Pumpkin had a nice aroma. You know how some people like harder pumpkin and some like soft mushy ones. This was the harder kind.

Sauteed Wild Mushrooms - $8

We are a family of mushroom lovers, so we ordered it when we saw mushrooms on the menu. We really liked this. It's a combi of different mushrooms with black fungus. We always forget about black fungus as mushrooms. Surprisingly, it goes so so well. We will be having this combo when we prepare this at home next time!

Baby Carrots, Beans and Radish - $6

A nice dish of carrots. Nice but not wowing. Yes, it's just carrots and beans and radish. Order it for beta carotene for your eyes.

Hand Cut Garlic Fries with Mayonnaise - $5

We saw the word garlic and fries and we kind of automatically order it. Frankly speaking, I can't remember now how it tasted because I did not take notes. Can't remember it was super crispy and super soft inside, but I remember we ate up all of it. No fries were spared!

Chocolate Forest Cake - $18

We ordered this dessert because dad loves black forest cake. It's more like a deconstructed black forest cake. Very interesting indeed!

Pop the 'cherry' on top and you have this thick mix of cherries. You should take a bit of everything you see on the plate and put it in your mouth. Taste it that way. You might just enjoy it.

Unless of course you think all these deconstructed thing is not your way to enjoy food. ;-)

Crepes - $15

A very alcoholic dessert! The two rolls are crepes and there's 2 different cocoa powder and granules over it. Their variation of crepes suzette.

The booze on fire has just melted all the chocolate. Enjoy!

We had a very good time. We arrived earlier before dinner and enjoyed walk around to admire the yachts there. Service staff was very good, but not very intrusive.

Total cost was $336 which includes the various taxes and 4 other drinks that we ordered.

Oh yes, if you are Points and Miles collectors for hotels, you can redeem SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) points. Yes, I gave them my SPG number.

SKIRT
W Singapore - Sentosa Cove
21 Ocean Way
Singapore 098374

Tel: 6808 7278
Hours: Tues - Sun, 7 pm - 12 midnight

Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu Four Seasons @ Bugis Village

2013-05-10T15:08:00.000+08:00

Ramen fans in Singapore rejoice. The folks from Ramen Keisuke has opened their fourth branch in Singapore. One thing about Chef Keisuke Takeda is that he does not like to do the same things.

He has many branches in Japan and now with the 4th branch in Singapore, all of his branches sells different things. The broth is made differently, the noodles are different too. Many restaurants add new stuff to their menu, to me, Keisuke adds shops to introduce new things!

This fourth branch in Singapore opens on 10 May 2013 and I can just imagine the snaking queue that will form like his other branches. This branch is called Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu Four Seasons. Four seasons to represent what Japanese are very proud of, their 4 seasons that have different festivities.

The wife and I with a few fellow foodie bloggers were there before their official opening today to try their ramen. Thanks to their PR folks for the invitation. Here's what you can expect:

This is probably their nicest branch other than the Parco branch. The kitchen here seems to be bigger than my favourite branch at Orchid Hotel.

As you enter into the restaurant, you can experience the four seasons via the drawings on the walls! Can you see which is Summer, Spring, Autumn and Winter? They have cleverly carve the restaurant into 4 different sections.

They have artist draw on the wall directly and we were told the guys just took paint and drew on it straight away without outlining things first!

Reminds me of my childhood home when Dad asked one of his artist friend to paint our outside wall! We had the 'garden of eden' with different animals just without Adam and Eve on our wall!

The brilliant guy behind it all. Keisuke Takeda. This is my first time meeting him in person after tasting food from his various branches. Trained in French cooking techniques, marrying it to make the best Japanese food.

We asked him what was special about this branch. This branch is for those who likes very thick broth. They use 1.5 times more bones when boiling the broth here. They also boil it longer too, 11 hours if my memory serves me correctly.

If you are following me on Instagram (keropokman), I posted a photo of the broth boiling for their first day of service the night before.

When we asked what bones are used for the broth, he told us he uses from four parts of the pig. He only told us 3 parts and said the 4th is a trade secret. I shall not tell you the 3 that we now know. hehe...

If you are like me wondering how the consistency will be maintained when Keisuke returns to Japan. We found the answer ourselves without him telling us. We peeped into their kitchen at the right time and saw his staff using a refractometer to measure the consistency of the broth! Even if eyes and tongues are different, the instruments gives accurate measurement.

Just like in other branches, you order your food on a piece of paper. The Japanese version of it on the other side. Looks familiar ya?

The wife and I with Camemberu and TheHungryCow tried all 5 of it amongst the 4 of us.

Something new on the menu is this Japanese Green Tea Cola! ($3.80) Keisuke like this and he has bottled it under his own brand and is selling it in this branch. It tastes a bit like 7-Up or Sprite mixed with Green Tea. I like it!

On their Facebook page, there's a promo now that says between 10 May - 31 May, if you order a bowl of ramen, you get a bottle of Japanese Green Tea Cola for free!

You can ask for an apron if you want. Big plastic ones. We declined when offered.
What is a beautiful rubber band? It's colourful bands for typing your long hair! Keisuke has long hair so he know guys or girls with long hair need them when they have ramen! So thoughtful ya?

Just like their other branches, they have free boiled eggs and free beansprouts. I love their marinated beansprouts!

If you want to make your ramen the sesame fragrance, you know what to do.

And the noodles......

Spring:
The inspiration according to Keisuke is the colours of spring! (Green and Pink). The green is the basil that goes very well with cheese. The pink is in the bright bowl with the pink spring character.

They had originally wanted to have green shiso, but it is hard to find good quality shiso all year round in Singapore in big quantity so they used basil instead.

How does it taste? It's reminds the 4 of us of having pasta! If you close your eyes and was served this, you might think you are having a bowl of pasta because of the nice parmesan aroma. The taste is nice just that our eyes is telling the brain different things.

Prices for Spring starts from $11.90

Summer:
Summer is hot and spicy! It's a blend of miso, Japanese chilli, Szechuan pepper and Cayenne pepper. It's pork minced that has been mixed with the addictive concoction. If you look and stare into the minced, you will notice small little prawns too.

If you like spicy stuff, you will find it rather addictive. You can mix it in the broth or you can have it on its own with the noodles. It's spicy enough but not killing to me. Reminds me of the fragrant chilli flakes in small bottles that you add to noodles in many Japanese restaurants, just a tad fragrant because of the szechuan pepper and cayenne.

Just make sure you have your first mouth 'correctly' (you know what I mean right, when eating chilli) or you will cough and have to drown yourself with water.

It's very difficult to explain how it tastes. It's like bak chor and yet a bit like hae bee hiam. It's complex, but I think if you try it, you might find it a tad familiar. Tell me what you think!

Prices for Summer starts from $13.90

Autumn:

Autumn's inspiration is mushrooms! They have 3 different types of mushrooms that's fried. Mushrooms if you cook shrink, so it's those small bits around in the photo below. The other inspiration is bonito flakes.

The ball of minced meat you see if a mix of bonito and minced pork. There's quite a lot of bonito in it, it gets you addicted like you know how we sometimes use our fingers to swipe up all the remaining bits in a junk food packet? That's how I can describe the dish. Very additively nice.

Mix it into your broth and it transform the already nice broth into something greater. If you ask for 'special toppings', you get the extra stir fried pork too! That's very yummy!

Prices for Autumn starts from $12.90

Winter:
If you like the version at Orchid Hotel, this is about the same there except it has been made richer and thicker!

If you like the good old Tonkotsu broth without anything additions like basil and cheese etc, you will like this. It's nice and rich, the reason many people who like me who likes thick rich version queue up at the Orchid Hotel branch.

I like to have this with the marinated bean sprouts. I wonder if I can ask for more spring onions the next time.

Prices for Winter starts from $10.90

King:

If you feel like King! This version was my favourite. It has stir fried pork with ginger on top. There's also onions fried with pork which I like. It also has black fungus.

It's like having a bowl of winter above and asking for a bowl of stir fried pork and adding into it! Rather addictive eating the pork slices.

Prices for King starts from $13.90

These are the bowls that the noodles are served on. It's beautiful isn't it?
They are Arita Porcelain bowls, specially made for Four Seasons.

They have a contest now at their Facebook Page. Take any creative photo when you are dining there and post to their Facebook page. Prizes includes tickets to Tokyo! You can also win one of the Arita porcelain bowls too.

This photo for those into porcelain. ;-)

This is probably their biggest seating capacity branch so far. They have 56 seats here.

There's always talk about noodles thickness when people talk about ramen.

Out of curiosity, we asked if they are made in house. They said the noodles are made using their own recipe in a factory in Singapore. It's the same company that made their noodles in Japan. The factory in Japan has opened a similar factory in Singapore to supply noodles to the 4 branches here!

The noodles they use in the 4 branches are different in thickness and shape. Apparently, the noodles served are based on the broth. This branch has very strong and thick broth, so they use thinner noodles here. The science of thickness of noodles so that it just soaks up enough broth to enjoy it the best. Interesting eh?
Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu Four Seasons
158 Rochor Road
Bugis Village (between KFC and Mcdonalds)
Singapore 188433

Tel: 6333 5740

Hours:
Mon - Fri: 11.30 am - 2.30 pm / 5 pm - 10.30 pm
Sat, Sun, Public Holidays: 11.30 am - 10.30 pm

Recipe: Homemade XO Sauce

2013-05-01T08:16:00.001+08:00

My mum makes her own XO sauce. Many mothers might have their own recipe too. The ladies at her Ladies Fellowship always 'demo' their recipes to each other and this is her recipe.

She decided to make XO sauce for us because she was 'clearing' our fridge when she came over. She knew the ingredients we have in the fridge have been 'around' for some time. We usually buy her the same things when we go on holidays. We have a supply of dried scallops that we bought in Hong Kong. That's the end product above!

It's a lot of preparation work if you decide to make your own. Some of you might think it's easier to buy a bottle or two from the shelves instead.

Ingredients:
1 cup of scallots
10 cloves of garlic
3 cili padi (optional)
3-4 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of soya sauce
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Pre-soak:
1 cup of dried scallops
1 cup of dried shrimps (hae bee)
10-20 stalks of dried chilli
3-4 pieces of dried mushrooms

Here's the photo journey of the whole process:

Pre-soak 1 cup of scallops, more if you want more in your XO sauce.

After that, you have to slowly peel them into strips, just like how you find in bottled XO sauce that you buy from shelves.

1 cup of scallots, 10 cloves of garlic, 2-3 cili padi. Cili padi is optional, some might not like it.

You can use a food processor to slice it or you can slowly cut it by hand. The shallots is for making shallot crisp first then use the oil to cook the XO Sauce.

A container of shallots ready for deep frying.

The garlic and the optional cili padi.

After pre-soaking the dried shrimps (hae bee), chop them into smaller pieces.

Mushrooms that has been soaked and cut into small pieces too.

The amount of dried chilli is up to you. Use between 5 to 10. Depending on your preference.

You can blend it or you can pound it like what I did.

After pounding, it's not a lot!

Method:

Step 1: Preparing the fried shallot crisps.

In a pot, fill enough oil to cover the shallots and deep fry it till it's almost golden brown.
This is around 1 1/2 cups of oil. If you use more ingredients, you might need up to 2 cups of oil.

Remember to remove the shallots when it's turning brown, after removing it, it will still cook and turn even more brown. If you don't want bitter shallot crisps, remove it when it turns golden.

Step 2: Transfer some of the remaining oil to a big pan and fry the garlic and cili padi.
Step 3: Add in the chopped dried shrimps and fry till it's fragrant.

Step 4: Add in the scallops and mushrooms. Continue to fry till it becomes very very fragrant.

Step 5: Pour in the remaining oil from frying the shallots and keep stirring it.

Mum says it's best for first timers to use medium heat. If you use high heat, you must be very careful so that you don't burn all your ingredients. You can see that the oil is bubbling so it's very very hot. Look at the photo above and below. Hot hot hot!

At home, we use a Bosch Gas Hob that has a 6 KW power level. That day when we were cooking it, we used quite a high heat, so I was constantly stirring and stirring. Back breaking! Our cooking time was shorter because we used a slightly higher heat.

Step 6: Add in the seasoning.

3-4 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of soya sauce.
1/2 teaspoon of salt.

You can adjust a tablespoon more or a bit less depending on your taste buds. Some family eat saltier food, some less salty.

The 3 sauces and oil that we used to season it.

If you wonder what's the First Draw Soy Sauce that you see above, it's what it says it is, First Draw Soy Sauce. We find it extra fragrant when you cook with it and the taste of food does taste better. It's more aromatic than the regular range. You should buy a bottle and try it and see the difference. It's more expensive than the usual soy sauce.

You can find it in super markets, but sometimes it runs out of stock. So grab it when you see it. If you want to look for it, it's usually on the bottom shelve because it's a glass bottle compared to other sauces nowadays which are plastic.

Step 7: You have to keep stirring and stirring it. I was the stirrer for the day. See the bubbles. Be extra careful. Use a super long metal spatula!

It's almost done when it's about this colour and it's very fragrant. Your nose will tell you. Mum says when it's fragrant and it's lighter colour, it's ok. Your preference.

Step 8: Add in the fried shallots and that's it! Turn off the fire and let it cool!

It's very very hot, so let it cool thoroughly.

You can leave it in the pan to cool or on a bowl if you want to take photos and instagram it!

When it's cooled, fill it up in glass bottles and store in the fridge. You need the oil to cover it so that it last longer.

Enjoy it with a simple bowl of mee suah or add a teaspoon or two of it when you stir fry vegetables.

This post is for those who have been asking me for the recipe.

Knorr Singapore Cookout Competition: Your Ingredients to Happy Family Moments / Wife's Babi Pongteh Recipe

2013-04-29T16:28:00.003+08:00

Cooking Competitions are fun, exciting yet full of pressure, even if you cook without using a pressure cooker! Some of you readers might know that my sis and I joined a cooking competition last year, and we got first and the prize is quite good! We won a total kitchen makeover! (You can look through old posts on this blog to know more about that)

This post is to let you know that if you and a family member know how to cook, you should join this Knorr Family Cookout! The total prize is worth $18,000. The first prize is $8000 worth of cash and vouchers to revamp your kitchen! Even the consolation prize is worth $1000!

It seems like it's quite an easy competition and you might just be the winner!

For more information about the Knorr Cookout Competition, you can visit their facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/KnorrSingapore

To participate, it's easy, just form a team of two with one of your family members!
Send in the following details to knorr@vmsd.com.sg between now and 12 May 2013.

Participant details, including name, date of birth, NRIC No, contact number, email and relationship of team members.
Name and photo of family recipe dish.
Story behind the family recipe dish (limited to 100 words)
The recipe and Knorr product(s) used.
Cost breakdown of dish (limited to $30)

Here's some of the Knorr products that you can use in your recipe! I am sure most of us have it your kitchen now and you can in fact cook the dish, photographed it and submit your application!

If you need help on how to take nice food photos, I have a guide here too!

Some of you have already know about this competition and might even have seen Chef Daniel Koh demonstrating at the Knorr Roadshows that is going on. You can go to the Knorr Facebook page to find out where and when is the next weekend roadshow.

A few bloggers and I had the opportunity to see Chef Daniel in action and it was only for us only. It was held at ToTT, which also happens to be where the finals of the competition is to be held on 29 May 2013.

Chef Daniel was going to teach us how to cook a very simple meal just using a few ingredients. It's so simple yet quite delicious. Try the recipe below and taste for yourself!

The dish is Stir Fry Tomyam Chicken.

Here's the recipe:

Serves 2-4 persons.

Ingredients:
1 piece - chicken breast
1 cube - Knorr Tom Yam Stock (dissolve 1 Knorr Cube in 250ml of water)
1 tbsp - Knorr Hao Chi
1/2 slice - lime
1/3 tsp - lime zest
1 stick - lemon grass cut into small pieces
1 leaf - lime leaf julienned
1 tbsp - chopped onion
2 slice - garlic
1 piece - chilli padi diced
1 stalk - basil
1 tbsp - coconut milk

Method:
1) Slice chicken breast and season with Knorr Hao Chi
2) Heat pan with oil and fry chicken for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
3) Fry onion, garlic, lemongrass, lime leaf till fragrant and add Knorr Tom Yam Stock.
4) Bring to a boil and add the rest of ingredients and the pan fried chicken breast.
5) Simmer till sauce almost dries and lace it with coconut milk. Takes around 15 minutes.
6) Plate and serve.

I know some people prefer to look at photos, so here's the photo version of the cooking process:

That's the chicken breast, slice it into the shape that you like. Can be longish or diced. It's up to you.
Then marinate it with 1 teaspoon of Knorr Hao Chi.

Chef was telling us that you marinate the chicken with Knorr Hao Chi make sure you mix it well. You want all the pieces to be coated. You do not need to use a lot of it!

If you want it to taste even better, add some oil. A teaspoon of sesame oil or vegetable oil is good. When you do that, it prevents the meat from lumping together when you stir fry it. It also gives it a nice texture when you eat it.

Remember to marinate the meat then mix in the oil, or else the oil will be a barrier that prevents the meat from being marinated.

Stir fry the chicken for 1 or 2 minutes at semi high heat. It does not need to be fully cooked. It will be cooked again later. Remove from heat and set it aside.

At the same time, boil 250 ml of water and add 1 cube of Tom Yam Cube into it. That's the smaller pot on the Bosch Induction cooker seen above.

Fry the onions, garlic, lemongrass, lime leaf till it's fragrant and add in the Knorr Tom Yam Stock that has been dissolved.

Bring to a boil, and add in the chicken and other ingredients. This will take around 15-20 minutes, depending on your liking for dryness of the dish. Cook it longer if you prefer it to be dry.

Here's the dish! It taste really good and you might be quite surprised with the taste of the Tom Yam. I have only used Knorr's Ikan Bilis cubes most of the time. I have not tried the Tom Yam cubes before! Does takes a lot of time off food preparation!

After Chef Daniel's demonstration and us finishing up his dish, the rest of us also had to cook a dish. Yes, a few of my friends were there too! We were all suppose to cook something from our own family recipe!

MissThamChiak cooked her dialect dish, Hainanese Pop Chop. SgFoodOnFoot made Golden Sands French Beans. CookSnapEatLove made 40 Cloves of Garlic Roasted Chicken. You can visit their blogs for the recipe.

My wife Serene's Peranakan and we prepared Babi Pongteh. That's the story behind the dish. When you join, write till it's 100 words to convince the judges!

If you want to prepare Babi Pongteh at home, here's my wife's recipe.
She always emphasize that true Babi Pongteh must have mushrooms and bamboo shoots.

Serene's Babi Pongteh.

Serves 4

Ingredients
500-600g Pork Belly, cut into chunky pieces
15 mushrooms
150g of bamboo shoots
15 shallots
10 garlic
2 tablespoons of fermented soy beans aka taucheo
1/2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon sugar
Oil
Water

Method
1) Marinate the pork belly with the dark soy sauce for at least half and hour
2) Chop finely or use a food processor to chop the shallots and onions.
3) Heat the oil in the pan and fry the blended shallots and garlic till fragrant.
4) Add the fermented soy beans. Stir fry till very fragrant.
5) Add in the pork belly. Stir fry for about 2 mins.
6) Add in the mushrooms.
7) Add in water to just cover the ingredients.
8) Add in the bamboo shoots.
9) Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower down the heat.
10) Add in the sugar.
11) Simmer for about an hour or when meat is tender.
12) Served with warm rice.

Here's the pictorial instructions:

Half a kilo or 600 grams of pork belly.
If you prefer to have bigger chunks, then cut them up in bigger chunks, but make sure they are all about the same size, so that it cooks evenly.

Depending on the dark soya sauce you have, it's about 1/2 tablespoon of it to coat and marinate the meat.

This determines the final colour of the dish. If you want the final outcome to look like the last photo below, make sure it looks like the photo above. Just slightly coast it and not super dark meat! This will give the dish it's 'peranakan standard colour' that grandmothers will sometimes judge the dish on.

It's going to be cooking for at least 1 hour, so you can roughly chop it about the same size. No need to be super fine, it's going to be disintegrated anyway. You only cut it in precision when a peranakan grandmother's in the kitchen.

Mushrooms should be soaked till plump and soft. Cut bigger mushrooms in half, else just leave it whole it's the size you like.

The main ingredient in making Babi Pongteh is to use the correct bean sauce!
This is the brand that Serene uses. Different Peranakan family uses different brands.

When your wife says buy this brand, then remember how the bottle looks and buy the correct one! Buy the wrong one, and the taste differs and picky peranakans will say it does not taste the same.

The red dates above the bottle makes the difference for this brand?
I don't know. I am not peranakan. Hehe....

Stir fry the onions and garlic till it's fragrant. After that, add in the TauCheo and fry it till it's very nice smelling!

After that, add in the pork pieces and cook it for 2 or 3 minutes.
Then add in mushrooms.

Add in the bamboo shoot and cover the ingredients with water till it just about covers it.
When the water boils, lower the fire to a very low heat and let it simmer.

Add in the little bit of sugar to not have the 'dead salty' taste and that's about it.
Wait for 1 hour or so for the meat to turn tender.

This is Serene's version of Babi Pongteh.

Do you have a family recipe too? Cook it, take a photograph of it and join the competition!
You might just be the $8000 First Prize winner!

Hurry, submit your entries before 12 May 2013!

Weekend Brunch @ Halia, Singapore Botanic Gardens

2013-04-25T08:07:00.000+08:00

If work has really gotten into you during the weekdays, you just want to spend your weekends resting, taking walks and perhaps a brunch to go along as well. If you are looking for a brunch where you can enjoy some natural breeze, try the weekend brunch at Halia located at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

If you don't already know, Halia means 'ginger' in Malay. Make a guess where Halia is located at the Botanic Gardens? At the Ginger Garden of course. Take a walk before or after having your brunch would certain aid in digestion.

For some folks who believe in always having hot drinks even in hot Singapore weather, order the Hot Ginger Tea. It comes with a 'shot' of honey too if you prefer to sweeten it a little.

For those like me who always prefer iced drinks. This iced ginger tea is my preferred drink on warm afternoons in Singapore. It's cold, yet it has the kick of the spicy ginger and sweetness of the added honey. Refreshing indeed!

If you choose to sit at the non air con section of the restaurant, you are right next to nature. This was just right beside me at the table I was sitting where I was dining at Halia recently.

For those who can't live without air-conditioning, there's always the air-condition part of the restaurant.

My brunch at Halia, was a hosted lunch by the PR firm FoodNews, who is engaged by Halia.
The following items are the 'recommended items' for you to try when you decide to pay them a visit.

Oysters with Bloody Mary. ($6 each)

If you are into oysters and you like the South Australian ones, they serve Coffin Bays oysters here with a shot of 'bloody mary'. They are available at $6 each.

Many people eat it differently. Some like the taste of raw fresh oyster in their mouth, so they just pop the oyster in their mouth to savour the salty oyster taste first then down it with a shot of their chef's version of Bloody Mary.

Chef's recommended way of eating we were told is to drop the oyster into the shot glass and drink it all down together! Which is your favourite way of eating oysters?

Cocktail of king prawns, spicy tomato sauce, avocado, wasabi and coriander ($22)

If you like prawns and the you also like avocado, this is a nice combination, a delicious creation by the chef here. The succulent prawns are also from South Australia, Spencer Gulf King Prawns if my memory does not fail me.

I really like this prawn cocktail. Here's an 'underview' for you to admire. Avocado all at the bottom and the little mix of wasabi and their own mix of spicy tomato sauce does makes it quite appetising. It's light, and refreshing. There's 7 prawns in there if you are curious. The perfect number of prawns!

Wood smoked salmon toastie, capers, crème cheese & dill, sunny side up fried egg ($24)

If your idea of brunch must include toast and eggs, this wood smoked salmon toastie is created for those who love smoked salmon. If you are interested to know like us where the salmon comes from and how it's smoked, it's oak wood smoked salmon from Scotland.

Smoked Salmon with creme cheese and dill combination by itself is already very tasty even without the fried egg. The photo I am showing has a portion of it eaten so that you can admire how it looks inside. I love the frisee that was around the toastie. I like it with the soft egg yolk!

Cinnamon French toast, fresh seasonal berries, white chocolate and Iranian pistachio ($18)

Doesn't that just look so gorgeous. Berries are good for you, they are rich in anti-oxidants. I guess if you don't like the slight tartness of berries, the chef has drizzled melted white chocolate all over it! Sounds good? More delicious than having condensed milk over toast right?

If you see how nice the colours of the pistachio are, it's Iranian pistachios and they cost 4 times more than the usual pistachios we normally buy. The difference, there's no floury taste that lingers like in normal pistachios.

Oh yes, the toast is egg custard brioche if you are wondering.

Poached eggs on brioche, dill hollandaise, Swiss brown mushroom, spinach and tomato. ($22), (add $4 for shave honey baked ham)
I know many ladies will just order this just because the word poached egg is there. Nicely poached eggs that guarantees a flowing egg yolk for you to instagram!

I took a photo of it top down and realise it's not so appropriate to be posted. Yes, the poached eggs comes in a pair.

Halia chilli crab spaghettini Singapore-style spicy, sweet and tangy crabmeat sauce tossed in pasta ($24)

This is the signature dish that's available at both Halia at SBG and also at Raffles Hotel. I would say this is not really chilli crab kind of chilli crab. It's their version of it. It's quite tasty, a version that goes well with spaghettini.

Don't expect chunks of Sri Lankan mud crabs. This is a refine version that has been made for easy eating with fork twirling around your pasta. ;-)

Mayura Station full blood Wagyu rump, bacon, sunny side-up hen's egg, vine cherry tomato and barbecue sauce. ($48)

Meat eaters out there, if you like beef at 11 am, order this. The chef has made special arrangements and brings in Mayura Station full blood Wagyu into his restaurants. I seem to notice they are having all things South Australia here!

If you are there for brunch, they have weekly brunch specials and the above was the special on the week I was there. (ie, not on the regular brunch a la carte menu) If you are on a non-carbo diet, this is made for you!

It looks so delicious and beautiful, I have to show you how it looks the other side as well. If you are wondering how heavy is this wagyu beef that costs $48, the week I had it, it was a 150 gm piece of wagyu rump.

Oh how I adore vine riped tomatoes and the bacon too!
A bite into this beef, and it was very good. Just serve me the wagyu and tomatoes, I will be satisfied.

Sticky Valrhona chocolate brownie, salted caramel sauce & vanilla ice-cream ($12)

For the sweet tooth, let you bask in the sweetness of the sticky chocolate brownie.
Enough said, the photo above is enough to tempt and salivate chocolate lovers ya?

Young ginger nougat frozen parfait, roasted fresh pineapple & spiced pineapple sauce ($12)

A very 'halia' dessert. Made from ginger and pineapple. It has a nice ginger 'hotness' to it. I now my wife won't take this because it has ginger. I will order this because I love ginger, yes even raw ginger that is thinly sliced.

The young ginger nougat frozen parfait. Either you love it or you detest it. ;-)

If you are wondering who's the new Executive Chef behind this new menu, it's Australian Chef Peter Rollinson. Previously from The Prime Society, that's why his meat dishes are so good. I guess he knows the Australian produce rather well, that's why he is using South Australian produce.

Halia, Singapore Botanic Gardens
1 Cluny Road
Ginger Garden
Singapore Botanic Gardens
Singapore 259569

Tel: +65 8444 1148

Wan Hao @ Marriott Hotel

2013-04-24T16:26:00.000+08:00

There's always stories behind the food that I post, but today's post has no occasion or reasons to eat at a high class hotel. The only reason is that parents-in-law got some Marriott Dining vouchers and they want to use them before they expire.

If you are wondering how to get the vouchers, transfer money between bank accounts and keep it there and do it again probably next year. Almost all the banks don't appreciate loyalty if you already know. Marketing dept of the banks are usually loaded and all they care are new customers. That's how you get vouchers. The instrument is a very conservative instrument by the way. Fixed Deposits.

Now back to the food.

Five Spice Beef Shank

This appetizer was a little small, but it was a very delicious cold beef appetizer.
Very well marinated and it has been chilled and sliced thinly. It has a slight but not too beefy smell to it. Doesn't it already look tempting?

Wok-fried string beans, roasted pork.

It's a dish that it seems that the FIL and I share a common love for.
The Wan Hao version has roasted pork cut into strips to look similar to the string beans. Generous amount of roast pork too. The roast pork in Wan Hao is already delicious, with an additional stir fry makes it even more fragrant.

A homey dish that my mum also prepares at home since young. Mum's version is bigger chunks of roasted pork but less pieces. Wan Hao's look more elegant. Home cooks, copy the cooking style!

Deep Fried Spare Ribs, Almond Seeds and Orange Sauce.

Pork rib fans and if you love citrus flavours to your food, order this. Spare Ribs here were boneless, making it really easy to eat. Deep frying gave it a nice crunchy outside, but the inside was surprisingly so tender. The chef probably bashed it before cooking? It does not taste as if it has been tenderised with tenderiser.

Love the sticky caramel like orange sauce over it with almonds.

Claypot Braised Sliced Duck Meat with Sea Cucumber and Chestnuts.

This dish came out smelling so good! Yes, food that has been braising and cooking in claypots till the pot is dark above smells so good! Taste wise, the duck was tender and usual marinates used for sea cucumber. We wished there were more sea cucumber though, that's us being a little greedy.

Braised Sliced Monk Abalone, Ling Zhi Mushrooms and Seasonal Greens.

There were 2 vegetables section in their menu. We ordered this from the Vegetarian section. The wait staff was looking at us saying this is a vegetarian dish, just in case you don't know? (I think she was looking at our dishes of all meat above). We found that amusing and we know she's being helpful.

The two different kinds of mushrooms were nice. A little starchy as expected, but that goes well with the rice.

8 Treasures Hashima

Parents shared that, we call it high class chng tng. It is, isn't it?
They loved it though. We took a sip, ok probably a few sips of it too.

Chilled Lemongrass Jelly served with Lemon Sherbet and Fresh Fruits

We had this the last time and remembered the sourness of the lemon sherbet so we ordered it again. The lemon sherbet that gives you the shiokness.

Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant
Singapore Marriott Hotel
320 Orchard Road
3rd Floor
Singapore 238865

Tel: +65 6831 4605

Hours:
Lunch - 11.00am to 3.00pm, Daily
Dinner - 6.00pm to 10.00pm, Sundays to Thursdays / 6.00pm to 11.00pm, Fridays & Saturdays

Din Tai Fung @ Junction 8, Bishan

2013-04-22T14:49:00.000+08:00

One of those nights, date night and run errands night. The 2 should not mix, but we are all in a hurry. We both know we have to get stuff, pay bills, change foreign currency (Euro and Pounds) and we were very hungry.

Thanks to the Circle Line, (both our work places are both on different parts of the Circle Line) so we said, let's go to a mall on that line! Somehow we decided on Junction 8. We got off the train and thought of a place that has a relative short queue to eat.

Some how, it ended up at Din Tai Fung, because it's quick and we like their food. Not the usual branch we visit, since it's far from home, but food was good, but they did forget to key in one of our dishes though. Food was relatively good and served rather quickly too.

The wife's favourite soup at Din Tai Fung. The Braised Beef Soup without noodles. Yes, the non-carbo soup. The beef chunks are always looking perfectly whole, yet when you bite it, it's so tender and it's as if it can dissolve in your mouth.

The Taiwanese style of Beef Soup, fragrant and a hints of spices.

A little carbo in the form of delicious prawns wontons. I ordered it because of the spicy vinegarish sauce that comes with it. Something both of us like very much.

A relatively 'safe' side dish of pickled vegetables. The 'kiam chai' has been soaked and not salty anymore but still has the nice crunch to it.

Our order that was forgotten to be keyed in and did not arrived till the end of our meal when we asked. The lady who took our orders remembered us ordering it but realised it was not entered into the order system. She was very apologetic and we said it's ok.

We always order this when we are at Din Tai Fung in any country! There's a little bit of difference we noticed. The one that has the 'Michelin' Star in HK does taste better!

We thought we would not eat Xiao Long Bao that night, but we still ordered it. Why? We have no idea, we always say we shall eat other things before we walk into the restaurant, but always still end up ordering it!

A quick Chinese Food date night meal. After a quick meal, we rushed to change money for we were going to Europe and that was the only night left that we are free before we flew off!

Din Tai Fung
9 Bishan Place
#01-41 Junction 8 Shopping Centre
Singapore 579837

Tel: +65 6356 5228

Lipton Pop-up High Tea Bar @ Plaza Singapura

2013-04-17T23:55:00.000+08:00

If you are a tea-drinker in Singapore, here's something that might just interest you. Lipton has created a world-first pop up High Tea Bar here in Singapore at Plaza Singapura.

I was there earlier tonight (at their kind invitation) and thought it was rather interesting. Why?

It was interesting because we were pairing tea with food. Different types of teas and different types of food. We all know taste is a very subjective matter, so why try it out and see if it works for you.

The poster above says keep an open mind, and really you need to do it. Dennis (Superadrianme) and Derrick (SgFoodOnFoot) and I were really playing with our taste buds and other sensory like smell and sight. We had all the different kinds of tea and food and it was like a lab experiment.

Close your eyes, smell the tea, the food, eat something then drink, drink something then eat, a big mouth of tea, a sip of tea, leave the tea bags longer, take it out for a mild brew, etc.

Yup, that's how one side of the pop-up High Tea Bar looks like. There are also bar stools and a 'garden' area!

That's a nice cuppa don't you think? Who here grew up drinking the good old Yellow Label Lipton?
Lipton has partnered with Canele and got their Executive Pastry Chef Christophe Grilo to come up with six tea sets paired with Canele Patisserie Chocolaterie's sweet and savoury items. Lipton had their Unilever Food Technologist, Miss Wong May Chee to work with Chef.

(We had a short conversation with Miss Wong, and she knows a lot about tea!)

The familiar aromatic Lipton Yellow Label Tea has been paired with Lemon Macarons specially made for the Lipton High Tea Bar.

Play time!

Try it by having some tea, then take a bite of the macaron. Try it again with both macaron and tea in your mouth. See if your taste buds tells your brains different things. Do you feel that the tea becomes smoother? The sweetness of the macarons and unsweetened tea fuses and releases a different taste?

Of course Information Technology - IT (yup, that's what I do in my day job) does makes this whole experience more fun. Without software engineers building programs, can't imagine us living in the modern world right?

The mechanics of the High Tea Set Redemption: Members of public can enjoy a complimentary Lipton High Tea set with mimimum spend of S$25 at Plaza Singapura or S$15 worth of Lipton products at the Lipton High Tea Bar.

The fun starts when you choose one of the 6 High Tea sets. There's a huge touch screen where you order.

If no one's behind you, play around with the software, I mean place your orders.
You confirm your orders all on the touch screen.

Over at the order taking side, when you confirm your order, they know what you order and give you a 'number'. Bring that to your seat and they will deliver your High Tea Set very soon.

Derrick, Dennis and I were later joined by Adrian and William. Since we were a big group, we sat at the 'garden' area. (yes, with faux grass some more and a rabbit!) Err, yes, we were imagining we were at a picnic, because we sat under a big brolly!

There are 6 Lipton High Tea sets to choose from. 3 sets are only available at the Lipton High Tea Bar. The other 3 sets, you can order them if you visit Canele.

This was the Lipton Forest Fruit Tea with Chicken Mini Burger. The tea is a blend of strawberry, raspberry, redcurrant, blackberry and cherry. Pair that with poached chicken served with tomatoes, fresh lettuce, mayo and brioche.

Now, if you are like 'Da Chang Jin', you should be able to imagine the taste in your mind. Can you?

Lemon Macarons!! Only at the High Tea Bar. I did walk to Canele to 'steal a look' and I don't see this there.

Left: Traditional Salmon and Cucumber Sandwich.
Right: Le Chocolat Croustillant.

Left: Classic Cheesecake
Right: Chestnut Cassis Sponge Cake.

Note: They are not all very big servings, let's just say it won't make you put on too much weight. The main thing is to tea and food pairing. Taste it.

Some of the tea boxes that you can purchase at the pop up store. That's the Forest Fruit that's paired with the Chicken Mini Burger. The good old Yellow Label goes well with the lemon macarons.

The Russian Earl Grey is a special collection. What do you think it should be paired with? The traditional Salmon and cucumber sandwich, Chestnut Cassis Sponge Cake, Classic Cheesecake or Le Chocolat Croustillant?

Why not try it yourself if you can't decide which tea goes with what food?

Lipton High Tea Bar
Plaza Singapura, Main Atrium
68 Orchard Road
Singapore 238839

It's only popping up from 16 to 21 April 2013.
Hours: 11 am to 9 pm daily. (Last orders at 8.30 pm)

Spend a minimum of $25 at Plaza Singapura or $15 worth of Lipton products in a single receipt is entitled to 1 Lipton High Tea Set. Redemption is only valid on day of purchase. Each customer is entitled to one redemption a day.

I say, go shopping or lunch with your friend or friends and make sure everyone has a $25 receipt or just go buy $15 worth of tea. Then each of you have a different set and play with your food, I mean taste buds! Enjoy Tea and Food Pairing!

The Singapore Memory Project #sgmemory

2013-04-13T09:44:00.002+08:00

If you are a twitter or instagram user, you would probably have seen the hashtag #sgmemory being used. Do you know what it is about?

The Singapore Memory Project (SMP) is a whole-of-nation movement which aims to capture and document memories and moments in life related to Singapore.

Many people says things are so temporary in Singapore, buildings get torn down, the school you studied is no longer there, hawkers retire from their trade. There are so many moments out there to capture and preserve. Do you want to help make those memories permanent?

You can share your memories of Singapore, just anything about Singapore by having it permanently archived at the www.singaporememory.sg portal. You can deposit your memory accounts in the form of texts, audio files, video file and images.

You would have photos of your schools that's no longer around? Videos of your Primary 5 National Day Parade outing. People don't take photos of food that they eat like they eat now, but there should be some who do!

Submit them all to the Singapore Memory Portal. Guess what? Selected memories will be developed into creative audio-visual presentation by specialists too and presented on the same portal.

For Instagram or Twitter users, you can use the hashtag #sgmemory to help create awareness of this project.

Last weekend, a group of us foodies were going around Singapore to have taste food in Singapore that has been around for a very very long time! We went around eating and tagging #sgmemory to our instragram and twitter posts. This blog post is like a recap of where we went. If you are wondering what you can do for the coming weekends, you can follow the route we did too!

So where did we go?

#1 Zam Zam, 697 North Bridge Road, Singapore 198675

Have you been to the Singapore Zam Zam? This restaurant has been around since 1908!

(So, what happened in 1908? Hmmm Singapore's first Chief Minister, David Marshall was born in 1908!)

In 1908, Encik Abdul Kadir, an enterprising Indian Muslim from Kerala in South India, started Zam Zam. Today it is run by his grandson, En Sulaiman Abdul. They only have one shop and remains so till today!

One of their famous dish is Nasi Briyani. Many Singaporeans grew up eating it, are you one of them? I wonder who has pictures of this same dish when it was served way back in the early days!

Notice the iPhone with a red cover? That's my fellow food lover. Catherine's taking photo with her mobile phone. Yes, food lovers love to document what they eat. If you take photos too, remember to hashtag it with #sgmemory when you decide to share it through twitter or instagram!

The Murtabak (roti prata that's stuffed with eggs, onion and meat). Many people says it is the best Murtabak in Singapore. Do you think it's the best around? Mutton, Chicken or Deer for you?

I want to go back again with the wife to try the Deer version. Sounds so cheesy, but I will have Deer with my Dear! LOL

The cross section of part of the murtabak. Have it with the 2 different types of curry that they serve. A comfort food for many! Murtabak Zam Zam - Singapore's version of savoury crepe that has been around since 1908!

#2 Rich and Good Cake Shop. 24 Kandahar Street, Singapore 198887

Yup, it's photo taking and hashtagging time! Remember, #sgmemory in your tweets and instagrams!
(Do I sound like a broken record repeating that over and over again?)

Run by Madam Lily Liu, this shop has been around for probably 15-20 years? I should ask them how long they have been opened the next time I go there.

I wonder how they came out with the name of this shop! So direct and straight to the point!

The most popular item in this shop is their Swiss Rolls. This green long roll is the Kaya flavour. Probably their most popular flavour too!

Best eaten cold, the texture kind of melts in your mouth when you put it in your mouth. A layer of sponge cake that is airy is spread with kaya and rolled up.

Not the usual thicker version of swiss rolls that you get elsewhere, their version here is thinner and when you cut it, it's bite size. Easy to eat! Here's the mango version of it.

What's your memory of swiss rolls? Where was the shop that you got your swiss rolls from when you were growing up?

#3 Seow Choon Hua Restaurant. 33/35 Sultan Gate, Singapore 198481.

Chope! Let's take a photo with the #sgmemory tag first! LOL

The next place we went to was to Seow Choon Hua, a 70 year old eatery. They are famous for their Red Wine Lees Chicken Mee Suah and Foo Chow Lor Mee.

Oh, I realised I forgot to mention that the agency that brought us around was Tribal DBB and Daniel Ang of DanielFoodDiary.com is our 'food guide'. No, both agency and Daniel are not that old. Got to thank them for this interesting trip!

That's the food that we all shared with other food lovers that we all know from blogosphere. Cuisineparadise, Camemberu, Melicacy, DanielFoodDiary.

If you do come here and try their food, order the Meat Wrapper know as "Yan Pi". Pork meat that had been bashed to death is then mixed with sweet potato flour and formed into a thin skin. It's then wrapped with filling. Looks like wan tan, but it's not, it's a lot of hard work gone into it and it's awesome.

Not to be missed too are the Foo Chow Rou Yan. 4 types of fish, Yellow Eel, Red Fish, Grouper and Ikan Parang and minced and kneaded into balls and stuffed with minced meat. Delicious!

Usually only for ladies during confinement, the Red Wine Lees Mee Suah is available here. I have tasted the ones meant for ladies during their confinement that's really strong, this is a milder version that's suitable for us males. Haha!

It's quite nice and the flavour grow on you as you eat it. Go try it to see if you have not tasted them.

#4 Tiong Bahru Galicier Confectionary. 55 Tiong Bahru Road, #01-39, Singapore 160055.

Started in 1975 near Killeney Road serving western confectioneries and cakes, they later moved to Tiong Bahru 12 years ago and started making Nonya Kuehs from Uncle Tan's nonya grandmother.

Some call it the 'original Tiong Bahru Bakery'.

I like how everything here were handwritten for so many things.

The old bell probably had reached the end of its useful life. It looks lopsided.
That's Huat Kueh. The way they spell it makes it really 'haute' yeah?

They have a huge range of kueh kueh and are all very well made. We tried them!

If you like Chiffon Cakes, the ones here are addictive. I bought 2 to the office for my colleague to eat and a colleague who said it looks ordinary but after tasting it, kept coming to my room for more and finished it! The orange chiffon was very addictive!

This lady, when I asked her how to 'call' her, says just call me "Aunty Jenny". What a lovely and cheerful lady! She says, let me treat you all to some cakes. Aunty happy, aunty treat you lah..

Look at the whole tray of goodies!

Lemper Udang. Nak makan tak?
Or you prefer Lemper Ayam (Chicken) on the right.

Started as a western confectionery, they still bake bread for restaurants that they don't sell in their shops. These are the milk bread that Shashlik serves. They are so soft and fluffy. Sometimes when they bake extra, you can see them on sale.

Their Kueh Dadar here is made from freshly grated coconut instead of gula melaka. It gives it a lighter and cleaner taste to it. Try it!

#5 Queenstown Libary.

After the whole eating tour, we all went to where the oldest library in Singapore.

(Stamford Road Library was the oldest, but since it has been torn down, the Queenstown is now the oldest standing libary)

If you visit any of the National Library Board's Public Library around Singapore, you will see the "My Home, My Library" Exhibition.

What you will see is a huge Tinbox!

Did your grandparents store their valuables inside tinboxes? Go ask them if you are fortunate enough to have grandparents still living with you.

Inside the Tinbox are displays of memories collected from residents in the neighbourhood.
The exhibits features stories and photos from residents of each neighbourhood split into 2 themes, My Home and My Library.

Instead of Carnation, the NLB folks have milk tins that are Collection tins. There are special postcards available and you can pen down your memories and drop it in the tin!

Go back in time and think of your memories of places and libraries in Singapore. Read about other's memories too when you are there.

If you post a picture of the exhibition on Twitter or Instagram with #sgmemory, you stand to win up to $200 in shopping vouchers in the weekly Snap & Share Contest!

I think I have photos of being little kids like that too. But not in Queenstown library.

Noticed how the Singapore Libraries have evolved with the time?

It was a very exciting afternoon we had. It was fun visiting different eating places around Singapore that has been around for some time. Makes you think of the food you had when we were still little ones.

Go check out the "My Home, My Library" exhibition at public libraries island wide from now till 29 April.

If you use Twitter or Instagram, start to tag #sgmemory with it. It doesn't have to be things 'old' or 'retro'. Just anything Singapore-related. Enjoy!

Menya Musashi @ The Star Vista

2013-04-12T22:28:00.003+08:00

It's ironic, I don't really like to eat noodles made from wheat, but I do like ramen! I prefer to have noodles made from rice flour. Which is why when I order CKT, I only order only Kway Teow and no noodles in it. If the hawker doesn't sell only Kway Teow versions, I walk away.

Back to eating ramen. Why do I like it? I think it's probably the broth made from either pork or chicken. It's the broth and not the ramen that I like, but I eat it because it goes so well together. ;-)

The wife and I met for dinner at Menya Musashi at The Star Vista the other day. If you always see queues here and wonder if there's ever a time when there's no queue, it's around 6 - 6.30 pm!

I always like my tea cold, and she likes her tea hot!

I have eaten here a few times and we started to notice that there's always specials here. I work near this area and the wife works in town. When I tell her what I ate at Menya in Star Vista, she will says there's no such options at the CityHall branch. Interesting eh?

There was once I had the Curry Ramen and it was something I really liked. This above is another special (it's 2 months ago) that was the White Miso Ramen. (Can't remember the exact dish name as I just discovered I had these photos in my SD card).

I always like miso based stuff and this was satisfying for me. The char siu was also soft and had a nice feeling in your mouth as you bite into it.

The wife had the 'Black' version of 'chicken'.
Women are sometimes fickle minded, some days they like the white, sometimes the red version, sometimes the black.

This version has the pieces of chicken that was good. Yes, I ate one piece of the meat when the wife offered if I wanted a bite.

We were bring a little greedy and wanted to order something else.
So we had the duck cha shu as well. If you like duck and something salty as you have it with your tea, it's a nice little order.

It was a quick date night.

I have been passing Menya at Star Vista quite often, I should stop and look at their specials now instead of just walking past it because there's always a queue when I pass by. Yearning for some Ramen this weekend!

Menya Musashi @ The Star Vista
1 Vista Green Exchange
#B1-08
Singapore 138617

Tel: +65 6694 2515

Win a year's supply of Fiji Water and $1000 cash.

2013-04-11T12:40:00.000+08:00

Are you going to Savour 2013 this year?

If you are going to be there this Saturday 13 April from 12 noon to 4 pm, join the Great FIJI Water Race! You stand a chance to win $1000 cash a year's supply of FIJI Water!

The race is an exciting Amazing-Race style discovery of Savour 2013.

To vie for the grand prize, contest hopefuls need to complete five tasks and three optional bonus tasks to earn the most points in the shortest amount of time, while blazing their trail through photos and captions on Instagram, with the hash tag #FIJIWaterSavour2013.

In addition, mini prizes including goodies like complimentary cooking demonstrations with Balzac Brasserie’s Chef Jean-‐Charles Dubois at Tools of the Trade and delicious cupcakes from Cake Over Heels will be awarded to the first 100 participants who complete each task.

For more details, click on to: https://www.facebook.com/FIJIWaterSG

De Burg @ Bukit Merah Lane

2013-04-10T10:04:00.000+08:00

Another burger place that you should visit if you are into burgers. We met up with some friends that we have not met for sometime for dinner. We were thinking of where to go and they finally said they felt like eating burgers and want to try De Burg.

It's a burger place that serves really good and huge burgers in a Kopitiam! The burgers that comes out of this little kitchen turns out really good and satisfying.

Just that on some warm nights, you wish it was cooler so that you can enjoy the burgers more.

Look at their tables! Wrapped as if they are picnic tables!

We were there for dinner, so only the burger shop, another western food shop and the drinks stall were opened. Heard the western food shop is really good too.

After ordering your food, you get this buzzer.

Notice that it says burgers are not fast food. It is to tell you that it will take time for the orders to be ready. It took us nearly 30 minutes for the buzzer to sound for our orders.

It's cook to order, and if there are lots of customers, you got to wait. Bring a book to read or iPad along so that you can play Candy Crush. See if the burgers come first or you can clear the tough levels first! ;-)

De Burg ($18.50)
This is their signature burger, the burger named after the place. It's quite a huge burger!

It's 200 gm of Australian Striploin Patty, BBQ Sauce, Cheese, Grilled Crispy Bacon, Grilled Portobello, Salad, Tomato Slice, Onions and Mayo.

Tell me which of the ingredients you don't like? I like all of it!
One of our friend had this.

The Richmond ($19.40)

This was my burger. It's called the Richmond and according to the menu, it's named after Don Richmond. Why? Not written there. Maybe you can ask them next time you are there.

Can you see what's the different between the first burger and this? It's basically the same thing plus a layer of Peanut Butter below! Yes, peanut butter!

Since this is the burger I was eating, I can take my time taking a couple more photos of it. The ring of mayo on the bun. So clever isn't it? Look at the photo before the above and you can see the effect on it on the burger. Looks like an extra layer doesn't it?

A zoom-in of the burger. A huge piece of portobello that was so juicy. A little crispy bacon giving it a nice crisp. I tell you, when you make your own burger at home, spread some peanut butter on it! The beef patty was also nicely done.

I should have cut it cross section to take photos, but I was already too hungry. Everyone on the table were already digging into their burgers!

The Singhjector ($17.50)

Another burger with an interesting name. On the menu, it says it's named after Sunit Singh, which is their number 1 fan. Sorry, I don't know who Sunit is.

It's a very porky burger. It's 200 grams of Australian Pork Patty, Iberico Chorizo, Grilled Crispy Bacon, Cheese, BBQ Sauce and Mayo.

As I am looking at this now, I feel like going back soon to try this. Was a bit shy to pinch other people's food when we were all so hungry after the long wait!

I can't really tell which is which for the remaining 2 burgers. On the receipt that I had, there's still the Cheeseburger ($13.50) and Mushroom Cheese ($14.90) that should be these two burgers.

I think photo right above this is the mushroom cheese. It's suppose to have a portobello on it. I remember the wife ordering the mushroom cheese and she always removes her onions, so this must be hers! The portobello must have been hidden below the salad leaf.

So, should you visit this place?

The burgers here are good. Maybe I should say it's great. Patties I have been told are just meat without fillers. The menu looks interesting. There's upgrades like adding an addition 100grams of meat to the existing 200g burger. That would be so huge! There's Wagyu upgrade as well.

For some burger like the mushroom and cheeseburgers, there's also the 100gm versions too. So for those who don't like too much meat, you can order that.

The prices of the burgers includes the side dishes. For 100gm burgers you can have 1 side. For 200gm burgers, you get to choose 2 side dishes. For all our burgers, we had chips and salad.

The heat might make you feel a little uncomfortable. We just happen to go on a very warm night. We ordered so many drinks to cool down while waiting for our burgers. When the burgers arrived, we ate and forgot about the slight discomfort.

De Burg
119 Bukit Merah Lane 1
#01-40
Singapore 151119

Hours:
Tue - Thu: 11.30 am - 3 pm, 6 pm - 9 pm
Fri - Sun: 11.30 am - 3 pm, 6.30 pm - 9 pm
Closed on Mondays and last Tuesday of the month

relish by wild rocket @ cluny court, bukit timah

2013-04-09T07:30:00.000+08:00

It was one of the cold and rainy evenings. The wife and I decided to have something homey and yet not very homey style. Food like luncheon meat with porridge, but don't want the porridge. Kong Bak Pau but don't want the Pau kind of thing.

So we though of relish. It's where both of us can easily get to after work and it's on the way home.

Probably a whole can luncheon meat that was cut to look like chips.

It's very addictive once you start. You can eat and eat and eat because it's fried till it's slightly crispy so you don't feel the oiliness of the luncheon meat.

Probably half a million of calories.

The wife had the wild rocket burger. A burger that has more meat than the bun, with a tomato-ish paste on top of it. Wife says it has good flavour and it's hearty beef with texture.

Fits into what we were thinking about. More meat without bun. She did eat the bun after all, it's kind of wasteful if we leave the buns there. :-)

I had my favourite BBQ Char Siu Pork with Soft Bones Open Burger.
It's dark and sticky and delicious. A huge chunk of pork on top of a slice of toast.

Lifting it up a bit, you can see the soft bones that has been soaked and coated through. I love how the soft bones is already so soft, even when I am 80 years old, I probably can still eat this with my dentures!

After the meal we were still caught in the rain, so we continued to order drinks while we waited for the rain to stop. We continued waiting by walking around Cold Storage because we were getting too sleepy after the meal.

Relish by Wild Rocket @ Cluny Court501 Bukit Timah Road
#02-01, Cluny Court
Singapore 259760

Tel: 6763 1547

Sunday Champagne Brunch, The Sentosa Singapore

2013-04-08T13:57:00.000+08:00

This was a Sunday Brunch that I had a few months ago that finally made it to the blog. (it's a late post because of the many many photos and I was trying to remember what I ate)

I know many people seems to be working very hard these few months. I am also mobbed with so much work in my day job, that his blogging hobby is quite slow moving. So when weekend comes, I totally drop all the work (even though I brought work home and told myself I need to finish things quick!) and totally do things that I like, eating, sleeping and doing nothing at all!

This brunch was at The Sentosa Singapore, a hotel located on Sentosa Island that is quite unique. Most hotels build upwards, but this hotel goes sideways and is located on 27 acres of lush tropical woodlands and landscaped water gardens. Already sounds like a nice place to idle your weekend away?

This brunch is available only on Sundays, 12.00pm to 3.00pm. It combines the best of the hotel's restaurant has to offer and even combine their restaurant into a huge buffet area. Priced at S$108++ per adult (top up S$44++ to enjoy free flow of champagne) / S$59.00++ per child (4 to 12 years).

The Executive Chef here is Chef Ryan Sonson, who has around 18 years of experience in hotel and restaurant industry. (To name a few, Fairmont Nile City, The Mandarin Oriental San Franciso, Four Seasons Hotel, Newport Beach.)

The buffet area has the outdoors (covered of course) and indoors seating. It does not matter where you sit because different food are served both indoors and outdoors area. You would be walking about getting your food anyway!

For the outdoor area, the freshly grilled items are served just as they are being grilled. The outdoor aroma makes you instantly hungry!

The sun and smell of the outdoor area attracted me. I walked out and I saw this huge whole Salmon! The bones have all been taken out and it's being put back together so nicely. Work of art eh? I wonder if the chef has a second career as a taxidermist!

If I remember correctly, they are called salmon steak. Each serving looks like a piece of steak.

Fancy a Sunday roast? This Wagyu beef rump is for you! Did you spot the Yorkshire pudding too?
See a microplane there? It's used to grate fresh horseradish on your roast.

Scroll to the bottom of the post later to see the things that went into my tummy, including this Wagyu Rump.

One normally don't eat chicken wings in buffets ya? I was so tempted by the smell and also the looks of it and I remember going back for seconds! Their various sausages were excellent too. If I remember correctly, they were homemade or rather made in their own kitchens.

Moving indoors, this station would be the wife's favourite. I should bring her here!
If you love oysters, they have a variety of them served.

They will be shuck right in front of you as you order it.

(The techie in me love how they have lights below the ice container! It makes the whole display so beautiful and glowy doesn't it?)

Moving along... there's the roasted meats too. Most probably the delicious roasts from their Chinese Restaurant.

(That made me smile a bit was the hanging of traffic lights colour capsicum there.)

Carbo loaders can rejoice with the Pasta station. Their gnocchi with truffle cream is very popular and you should try it! You might just pop too many gnocchi in your mouth and have no space left for other things!

The restaurant has many rooms and they have cleverly made use of it to have different rooms of delicacies. There's this what I call "Chamber of Cured Meat and Cheese."

Skip this room if you think the smell of fermented stuff is totally not for you.

I know there are some who adore the smell of cheeses and cured meats. Quite a decent selection here too. I confess I am not a huge fan of cheeses, so I skipped this section.

I love how the mirror made it easier for me to take one shot of everything here! When I walk back later to take the cured meats, oh oh, I see a tummy that's getting bigger being reflected on the mirror. It's like telling me, "Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fattest of them all?"

Within this 'Chamber' there's this cheese cupboard! If memories hasn't failed me, I remember the Exec Chef saying he made this himself, like how they have it back home!

I remember my maternal grandmama has something like this too when I was young. Not for cheese and cured meats though. It was for storing food. Those were the days when the weather was cooler and fridges were not that big.

This section, for lovers of what the chemistry of wheat, butter, yeast and an oven can produce!

Part of the Chinese restaurant, Baifuting was converted into the desserts section of the Sunday Brunch. Dessert fans would be so happy to see this!

I seem to have more photos of this section than other sections. I wonder why?
The area smells so good. Everything's presented so beautifully too. It's just so heavenly and divine.

Look! There's Gretel wondering around this "House of Sugar, Cream and all things nice".
No, the chef does not look like the evil witch does he? He's laughing though. Hmm....

Oh, I spotted Hansel too! He's discussing with Gretel, can we really eat all these? I mean ALL of it?

Behind where the Chef wearing tall chef hats are the crepe station.
Very good sweet and savoury crepes!

If you spotted missing chocolate balls, it's me! I pinched them just as I stood there before taking this photo! I love how they serve the chocolates on 'chocolate bar plates'! See that tree trunk of chocolate?!

There were lots of other food and photos that I took. I think I shall not put up more photos.
The rest are some of the food that went into the 2938 calories I had for my Sunday brunch.

Know why I love the chicken wings? They really tasted very good and tender. Don't they look equally good too? The smell of it being cooked as you walk outdoors will make you salivate.

The lamb sausages and roasted capsicums were good too!

The Wagyu Beef Rump and Yorkshire pudding.
For meat lovers, I think just having this would satisfy you!

For some people, Sunday brunch equals poached eggs.
Yes, have as many poached eggs from the stations if you want!

Oh, there's a Foie Gras station that seems to be quite hidden.
If you are a fan of it, let your nose lead you to it!

The Gnocchi that many of us found very good were made in such tiny bite size. The sizes makes you want to keep popping them in your mouth. I was suppose to share it but I ate it all!

Reminder for readers: Save your stomach for desserts and other stuff!

Need I say more other than Yum!

I think I went overboard with desserts. A slice of most things I could see!
Plus macarons and chocolate overload too!

Banana in freshly made crepes and ice cream too!
Ladies, remember, ice cream will help prevent osteoporosis when you get older!

If you opt for the free flow of Champagne, you will be having Duval Leroy.
Guess what? I was dining there with Leroy from the HungryCow! What a coincidence eh?

Oh, for kids, there's a special room where there's children cutlery, Wii games in wide screen TV, DIY pizza making session! Parents who wants to hire 'babysitters' can let the hotel staff 'babysit' their kids in the kids room!

Thanks to Marlene for the invitation to have Sunday brunch at The Sentosa Singapore.

Sunday Champagne Brunch
The Terrace Restaurant
The Sentosa, A Beauford Hotel
2 Bukit Manis Road,
Sentosa Island,
Singapore 099891

Tel: +65 6371 1414
Web: http://www.thesentosa.com

Hours: Sundays only, 12 Noon to 3 PM.
Prices: S$108++ per adult (top up S$44++ to enjoy free flow of champagne) / S$59++ per child (4 to 12 years)

Perfect Italiano Masterclass by Chef Lino Sauro

2013-04-01T10:23:00.002+08:00

Just before my recent holidays to Europe I was invited to a Masterclass by Perfect Italiano with Chef Lino Sauto from Gattopardo. I always love to learn from the 'masters', so I gladly accepted the offer for the class. It's also partly to know what's behind this brand of cheese especially the Mozzarella that our family usually buy.

Have you seen this logo? The above is captured from their website, http://perfectitaliano.com.sg/ I am sure for those of you who do cook or even occasionally cook at home, you would have walk down the aisle of supermarkets and always wondered which cheese to buy. Thanks to the choice of words in their brands, somehow our family seems to buy this brand because it's the 'perfect' choice and it's Italian.

I love walking along the various supermarket aisle, and the above was taken on 31 March. Look! It's on sale for those who want to try it!

If you are wondering, Perfect Italiano started in Australia in 1930 from Southern Italy. In 1922, Italian immigrant Natele Italiano arrived in Australia. Coming from a family that has history in cheese making, Natale started the Perfect Cheese Company.

After the class, all the participants were given these packs of a mix of Parmesan, Mozzarella and Pizza Plus to bring home and try them all.

We realised at home that we already have similar packs at home! The wife have tried to cook some dishes with it, you would already have seen me posting it on Instagram some weeks ago. Sis says she will try making desserts and cakes with it.

The masterclass was held at Palate Sensation in their wonderful kitchen. Something I love about these classes are the folks working there that prepares everything for you before you start, and cleaning up too after you finish. ;-)

Chef Lino was going to demonstrate 3 dishes that we all can easily whip up at home. Dishes with minimal cooking and preparation time and yet comes out so delicious.

1) Wonton Ravioli with Soya Marinated Prawns and Parmesan Fondue.

This first dish was very easy to make and it taste rather good too. Here's the recipe for those who are keen to try this at home.

Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:
100g Perfect Italiano Parmesan Grated Cheese
100g Anchor unsalted butter
20 pcs wonton skin (square shaped)
20g light soya sauce
30g olive oil
2 garlic cloves
100g full cream milk
1 stalk of spring onion
20g white wine
10 pcs of tiger prawns

Preparation:

Step 1. Peel and marinate prawns with soya, garlic, olive oil and spring onion.

Step 2. Make Parmesan fondue by mixing Perfect Italiano Parmesan Grated Cheese, milk, butter and white wine.

Step 3. Warm up mixture in a bain-marie (many of us call it the double boiler) till creamy and season with white pepper.

This is easy isn't it? Just melting it. You can taste the mixture and add more of the ingredients you like. It will then be your recipe!

Step 4. Fill wonton skin with prawns.

Use an egg wash to coat the entire piece of wonton. The sides where you will later fold it, you make sure there's egg on it to seal it up.

It's so simple isn't it?

Step 5. Cook it in boiling water for 3 minutes.

That is what our plate looks like. Just before we pour the cheeses fondue over it. One of our wonton broke and a prawn escaped. Well, we can always use that as a garnish!

I was partnering with Melissa from Melicacy which was also with me in the recent cooking competition.

Step 6. Pour the fondue over the wonton and topped it up with Perfect Italiano Parmesan Grated Cheese and spring onions.

Doesn't it look good? It's a mix of Oriental and Italian cuisine!

This is the version that was prepared by the Chef. If you want to make it more 'restaurant style' serving.

2) Rice Roll with Mozzarella Cheese and Salmon

This next dish is something we don't usually see put together this way! Sushi rolls with cheese in it and outside it!

Serves: 4 pax
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:
300g Perfect Italiano Mozzarella Grated Cheese
200g sushi rice
4 sheets of nori (seaweed)
150g cured/smoked salmon
100g cucumber (cut into strips)
50g rice vinegar
5g wasabi
200g mayonnaise

Chef Lino can prepare Japanese dishes too!
Maybe one day, we shall see some Italian-Japanese dish or two at Gattopardo!

Preparation:

Step 1: Place a sheet of nori on the bamboo mat.
Step 2: Spread and flatten rice on top of nori.
Step 3: Lay down salmon, cucumber and Prefect Italiano Mozzarella Grated Cheese in the middle. Step 4: Hold on to the ends of the bamboo mat and roll, making sure that the ingredients are held inside it.

Step 5: Remove bamboo mat and cut rice roll by one inch.

It's interesting isn't it? Cheese inside and ready to be put into the oven to melt!

You can be more creative and decorate it anyway you want.

I added bits of salmon and more cheese on top. I don't like it to be a whole big mess, so I had a small amount on top only.

Step 6: Warm up rice roll in an oven to melt Perfect Italiano Mozzarella Grated Cheese.
Simple isn't it?

This was my version. Served with mayonnaise that was mixed with wasabi.

Chef Lino's version. ;-)

3) Deep fried Potato with Mozzarella Cheese (served with sweet and sour sauce)

Of the 3 dishes that was demonstrated, this was my favourite.
It's very delicious and not that difficult to make. It might look complicated from the ingredients list but it's easy!

The recipe is adapted from Chef Lino's mum's recipe. He has added more spices to make it more Asian for this masterclass.

The sweet and sour sauce is not the Chinese style sweet and sour sauce we are used to. It's a tomato based and it's like a light thinner version of pasta sauce.

Serves: 4 pax
Preparation Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:
200g Perfect Italiano Mozzarella Grated Cheese
400g potatoes
50g corn starch
50g onion (chopped)
5g cinnamon
5g ground black pepper
5g curry powder
2 eggs
4 garlic cloves
30g lemongrass (minced)
20g shallots (minced)
300g Japanese breadcrumbs (panko)
Lemon zest
Oil to fry

Chef Lino half way through preparing the next dish, when suddenly someone asked him to pose for us! He gladly obliged!

Step 1: Shred potatoes in food processor and place in strainer. Sprinkle with salt, drain for 15 mins.

Step 2: Mix dry seasonings.
Step 3: Squeeze potatoes dry and place in mixing bowl.
Step 4: Add cornstarch and mix thoroughly. Add all remaining ingredients (except panko crumbs and oil) and mix well.

Step 5: Form the mixture into a ball and stuff in some Perfect Italiano Mozzarella Grated Cheese in the middle of the ball. Then coat it with panko all around.

Step 6: Heat oil in pan. Lower patties into oil and flatten patties with a spatula. Patries should be 2 inches across.
Step 7: Fry until crisp and golden on the bottom. Fry the other side.
Step 8: Drain and ready to serve.

This was Melissa and my creation. Looks good eh?
Make sure you sfuff just enough and not too much cheese in the patties. If not, it will overflow and explode while it's being fried!

This was the Chef's version. Looks like Melissa and I did quite a good job eh?
I am sure you all can replicate it at home too.

A special thanks to Perfect Italiano for the invite to the Masterclass and also giving us some supplies of Perfect Italiano cheese to try at home.

The Ritz-Carlton SuperBrunch

2013-03-14T17:12:00.000+08:00

It's "The Buffet" in Singapore that is held two times a year.

If Gardens by the Bay is like bringing the plants all around the world into 2 Glass Domes and a few theme gardens on 250 acres of land, The Ritz-Carlton SuperBrunch is bringing different kinds of food from the world and spread it over the Ritz's Greenhouse Restaurant, over the foyer to the Chihuly Lounge at the other side.

The wife and I was at the 8th installment of the bi-annual SuperBrunch on 21 October 2012.
Thanks to the invitation of the PR team of The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore, we got to enjoy this feast and also to take some photos before everyone starts eating.

This was the big team that prepared the SuperBrunch. I think probably all the F&B staff of the whole hotel were involved!

I will just let the photos do the talking!
I was particularly attracted to the lobster ice sculpture!

For those who like cold seafood, here's some of it! There were more!

The SuperBrunch must be quite special for the staff as well, as you can see them posing for photos together too!

OK, I don't know why the roast duck was there in that section. ;-)

You can see them excited and smiling! They are mostly camera shy, but I happen to capture some photos of them before the SuperBrunch started.

Not that I am saying they don't work their hearts out during the usual buffets, they are particularly proud and excited on SuperBrunch days!

I usually skip this section when there's so much other food!
Don't judge me please. ;-)

These little bowls of deliciousness were things not to be missed.

These were on the serving trays, but in the same area.

I suggest taking 1 piece and sharing it with you partner. You would not be able to try everything in the SuperBrunch!

If you got a soft spot for flowers, I think the florist in the hotel must be working doubly hard too!
Flower arrangement everywhere! So artistically and beautifully set up!

Salad area. Love the way they used the props to put the food!

Those who like sweet stuff, this will drive you totally wild!

Ahem, beautiful isn't it?
No one was seen plucking and biting into it. LOL!

If you have been following me on instagram, you probably would have seen the ones I ate.
Oh.... I can eat a lot and a lot of these!

Don't they just look so tempting?

Strawberries that looks like little tulip plants! Gorgeous aren't they?

Ice cream all ready scooped!

Happy Folks again!
All so busy! It's 5 minutes before the SuperBrunch starts!

The Greenhouse does look different ya?
They transformed the whole place!

At the foyer, the tuna was waiting....

I heard it whisper to me, eat me. You won't regret it....

Assorted sushi all ready for the huge crowd to devour!

I love these!
How many can you finish?

Cute children! Very blessed as well, to be here!

The preserved legs!

I know some of you are crazy about it!

These were my favourites that day!

Yup, I skipped this section as well. Though I was so tempted by them!

I started this post 2 weeks ago, and I am now finishing it up in Paris.
I see this everywhere and smelling so good!

For those who like noodles and soup. See, it's not only the eaters nowadays that take photos. The chefs themselves are taking photos. ;-) Maybe the chef has his own blog or instagram account!

So artistically delicious isn't it?

Are you a fan of these?

The section with the longest queue!
(Yes, they were shy and keep looking away!)

Everyone was queuing to get the various caviar!

More cured stuff and dips and mixes!

If you have never been to the SuperBrunch, it's like going to a gourmet deli but only better!
Look at how artistically and beautiful the food had been crafted to be displayed.

Not only can you admire the food, you can pick them up and try too!

It might sound expensive, but if you look at the things they serve here, you can justify it.

Come to think of it, in the various gourmet deli, you don't see them so beautifully displayed!
They are usually behind the counters. Here's you can pick them up and eat straight away!

Any of these food tempted you yet?

Look! Look! Serving food in tins!

Zooming in for you to be tempted by these sardines!

I was told there are hundreds of cheese that you can try here!

More photos of them at my Flickr feed if you are interested ;-)
Those who like cheese, probably worth paying and getting in here just for the cheese!

There's Italian, French, British, Swiss, German and Spanish cheeses.

There are different pricing, you can opt for different champagne to go with your meal.

Oh look at this piece of 24 hour roasted Australian wagyu!

This section was my favourite. It's the section that I had more than 1 serving of my favourite meats!

Look at these alien robot macarons!

Unless you totally don't take sweet stuff, this will tempt you!
Too cute beyond description! Too marvellous for words!

They come in all sizes! This huge one was eaten by someone too!
The chocolate was slowly being 'plucked' off!

Sickening sweet and tempting isn't it?
I was a happy boy in Sugar Town!

Look! Curse! Get jealous!
Or just simply reserve you seats lah......

I think this was so beautiful!
It's floating on water!

I love the florist here!
Yes, I am attracted to flowers, because mum and some aunties used to arrange flowers for church and we always look at how they were arranged.

My seat.
Courtesy of the wonderful PR Team from The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore.

If you are lazy, sitting at your place, food gets delivered to you too!
So cute right? I am talking about the food.

Soup from the invited chef from Bangkok that was served to our tables.
Delicious!

The wagyu was awesome! The seafood makes you salivate.

The other champagne that you can have.

She's got the whole world in her hands...
She's got the whole world in her hands...

Actually, she's got our food in her hands. LOL!

The caviar platter that everyone was queueing for!

Chef Jarrett Wrisley was one of the invited chef.

I will just end my long post with these pictures of the food we had...
Bon Appetite!

Desserts chef bring around stuff! So cute right? Treasure boxes!

Oh look! The chefs from DB Bistro Moderne were there too!
You can spot a lot of our local artiste there too. I saw Hossan Leong amongst others there as well.

The next (ninth) installment of the biannual SuperBrunch will be on 17 March 2013!
This coming installment will be the new Executive Chef Massimo Pasquarelli's first SuperBrunch.
I am sure as his first and also beaming with ideas, it will be a equally marvelous or better SuperBrunch.

Here's some highlights of the coming SuperBrunch.

Highlights

Miniature Plates by Chef Massimo Pasquarelli: King crab jelly tartar with purple carrot mousse & carrot confit, organic Scottish salmon with razor clams, clam jelly, fish croquette & daikon cream, organic tomatoes and micro greens with Sicilian gambero rosso & olive basil mustard vinaigrette, guinea fowl & truffle with garlic cream & taro truffle mushroom jus and spiced jelly with Nashi pear cream with Yuzu meringue & kaki Japanese mikan soup.
Canapés: Smoked salmon mille feuille, seared beef fillet, tuna mousse on Japanese cucumber, foie gras quiche with balsamic jelly, beer-battered cod fillet and lobster thermidor vol au vent.
Crustacean: Eight varieties of French, Australian & Canadian oysters, poached Atlantic lobsters, chilled tiger prawns, scallops, crab, sashimi and sushi
Salmon & Caviar: Caviar selection, Oak-smoked salmon, Hickory-smoked salmon Applewood smoked salmon, Gravalax, hot-smoked salmon, Thai-cured salmon, salmon pastrami, Teriyaki-cured salmon, smoked ocean trout, seafood terrine, salmon rillette and salmon ballotine.
Charcuterie: Foie gras terrine, pot au feu terrine, duck galantine, cured duck breast, chicken foie gras parfait with port jelly, pork trotter vinaigrette, prune Armagnac pate, apple Calvados pate, cured beef, salami, chorizo, mortadella, coppa ham and Jamon.
Carving: 24-hour roasted Australian wagyu beef saddle served with a reduction of jus, cognac and five peppers, roasted spring lamb (10 kg) on a oak wood spit marinated with lemon, mint, basil, olive oil and oregano, whole pig porchetta (30kg) from Abruzzo (Italy) seaoned with peppers, rosemary, garlic and wild fennel cooked over a wood fire, baked rare white Alaskan salmon with mushroom fricassee in a salt crust and roasted French bresse chicken served with albufera sauce.
Tapas: Iberico ham with cepes & hazelnut puree, foie gras parfait with cherry port wine jelly, Parma ham bruschetta with truffle pecorino, cod fish esqueixada, escalivida with foie gras & smoked eel, chorizo, morcilla & fennel sausage and Serrano ham & king prawn tostadas.
à la minute stations: Pan-fried foie gras with marinated plums, organic eggs as-you-like-it and pasta.
Pasta & Risottos: Lobster risotto, truffle risotto and asparagus risotto.
Mains: Scallop & monkfish crepinette, veal paupiette, kurobuta pork roll, quail & foie gras ravioli, lobster dumplings, steamed garoupa, glazed five-spice pork belly and braised abalone.
Cheese: 100 varieties of cheese from Italy, France, UK, Switzerland, Germany & Spain served with home-made fruit paste, William pear paste, quince paste, fig paste, green apple chutney, raisin chutney and wine jelly.
Desserts: Chocolate fountain, ice cream & sorbet bar, fruit gazpacho, pineapple tarts with coconut lime cream, chocolate peanut caramel brownie, cheesecake, vanilla crème brûlée, éclairs, chocolate fudge cake, apple brioche, Caribbean panna cotta, lemon basil mousse with strawberries, coffee cream with mascarpone mousse, pineapple & calamansi cream, doughnut skewers, macaroons, pralines, chocolate hazelnut tart, fresh-baked Manjari chocolate moelleux, popcorn and candy floss.
Unlimited Moët and Chandon Grand Vintage Rosé 2002 and Grand Vintage 2004. Enhancing the selection at the bar is a variety of wines, cocktails, mocktails and juices.

Prices:S$368 per adult (with unlimited Dom Perignon Vintage 2003, selected wine and cocktails)
S$218 per adult (with unlimited Moet and Chandon Vintage 2004 Brut and 2002 Rosé, selected wine and cocktails)

Available at Greenhouse and Chihuly Lounge from 12 to 3 p.m., all prices are subject to 10 percent service charge and prevailing government taxes.

For reservations, please contact Restaurant Reservations at 6434 5288 or email rc.sinrz.restaurantreservations@ritzcarlton.com

SuperBrunch
The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore
7 Raffles Avenue
Singapore 039799

Wan Hao @ Singapore Marriott

2013-03-01T16:27:00.003+08:00

It's one of the whatsapp discussion on where to have dinner. I am sure many of us have many whatsapp groups. This was the in-laws group where it was the MIL's birthday dinner. It was a few days of messaging and in the end, we decided Wan Hao.

Wan Hao because MIL loves the Peking Duck there. It's going to be a birthday treat and we thought we will go to somewhere she loves.

Roast Peking Duck served with Traditional Chinese Crepe

It was only 4 of us, and the lady in charge says half is enough. ;-)

Who doesn't like Peking Duck? What a nice arrangement they have plated it.

The wife's favourite place for Peking Duck like her mum. Both of them have similar taste. I prefer the Impertial Treasure Super Peking Duck!

A peep into what's inside. Dough Skin, Duck Skin, Hoisin Sauce, Julienned Scallions and Cucumbers. So simple yet so satisfying.

KopiKosongGirl and I will always remember that we flew off to Beijing and stayed on China soil for only 48 hours. Spending Valentine's Day having Peking Ducks at 2 different restaurants. We love the 8-12 kinds of condiments that goes with the duck there!

Spanish Iberico Pork Char Siu

If you want to try one of the finest Char Siu in town, it's probably here. Char Siu made from Spanish Iberico Pork. The texture is not the usual char siu you get. It has a nice crunchy texture and Iberico pork does not need any more flavouring to make it better.

The portions are not huge. The price of this meat itself is expensive. I am salivating looking at the picture now. I can remember the taste coming back, just can't describe it fully! hehe...

(This used to be only sold during CNY, but Wan Hao has made them available daily now. )

Pan-fried Beef Tenderloin with Japanese wasabi accompanied by chilled fresh pear marinated with sour plum

I can't remember if they stated how many grams of tenderloin in the menu, but it was very delicious. No need to cut up your steak and just pick the beef chunks up using your chopsticks and nibble them. Great with rice.

The pear that was marinated with sour plum was nice though. Not a person who really likes sour plum stuff, but it was a nice crunchy fruit to eat with the beef. The 2 ladies love them, so did FIL.

Braised Chinese Cabbage with Conpoy

Lovely vegetable dish. If you have not slurp up your rice, this sauce over the rice will make you polish it all off!

Stir Fried E-Fu Noodles with Duck

We had the rest of the duck cooked with noodles. We were quite surprised, we had so much duck meat in the noodles! Delicious stuff!

Birthday noodles! We all love E-Fu noodles and with the duck it was an additional bonus to it.

Chilled Lemongrass Jelly served with Lemon Sherbet and Fresh Fruits

We were full, but mouth still wanting to have things to bite, so we ordered 2 desserts to share.
The Chilled Lemongrass Jelly served with Lemon Sherbet and Fresh Fruits had very contrasting flavours in 1 bowl. Sweetness from the lemongrass jelly and the super sour lemon sherbet.

We really like how sour the lemon sherbet was!
(Yes, we realise both my family and wife's family drink lemon juice without sugar to keep 'healthy' !)

Crispy Red Bean Pancake

The other dessert we shared, the Crispy Red Bean Pancake. We had to wait a while, but it was worth the wait. Nice, fragrant and hot pancake.

It was a nice and enjoyable birthday dinner we had. If you are one of those who likes good service, the wait staff ratio here is still good. You get attended to quickly. You should have a reservation if you are coming. It's quite popular!

Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant
Singapore Marriott Hotel
320 Orchard Road
3rd Floor
Singapore 238865

Tel: +65 6831 4605

Hours:
Lunch - 11.00am to 3.00pm, Daily
Dinner - 6.00pm to 10.00pm, Sundays to Thursdays / 6.00pm to 11.00pm, Fridays & Saturdays

Brunch at Da Paolo BistroBar, Rochester Park

2013-02-27T17:23:00.000+08:00

The wife loves weekend brunches. Some weeks we go for brunches together, on other weeks, she meets up with her other friends from secondary school, her Bible Study girls, etc. They leave their husbands and boyfriends at home so that they have their own personal time. Sometimes to compare how *ahem* their partners are, sometimes to complain how horrible they are.

We used to complain that some friends after getting attached totally forget about their old friends. So we still meet up with old friends. Don't you all have friends that don't meet up after being attached?

This was an invited lunch. A lunch where we were left on ourselves to enjoy the brunch, but the tab picked up by the restaurant.

It was a nice cool Sunday the week we had the brunch. We finished church and off we went to have brunch.

Chef Andrea Scarpa's Da Paolo BistroBar is now offering Sunday Brunch from 11 AM to 3 PM every Sunday (but of course!).

The wife and I remembered that I nearly choked Chef Andrea with sugar in the Bosch Dream Kitchen Episode 4 that I participated a few months ago. Chef Andrea was not around that Sunday we were there though.

(you can click on the photo to view a bigger version of it)

So how does it work? The menu above, pick any options the SIMPLY BREAKFAST or MAINS section and you get to enjoy two hours of free flow champagne (Loius Roederer Premiere Brut Reims) for $70 or prosecco (Tenuta Setten DOC Treviso) for $40 and a complimentary coffee, tea or soft drink.

This was the Prosecco that we had.

Oh.. what a coincidence that we met MissTamChiak there with her partner.
We decided to double date and both sat on the same table.

Persimmon Salad ($24)

We thought we will share a salad so that we won't be too full to eat our mains.
Quite an interesting mix of greens, blanched baby leeks, manchego cheese, persimmons, pine nuts and San Daniele Parma Ham.

The wife has more ideas for her salads. She will add persimmons to her salads next time.

From the MAINS section, we had:

Grilled Wagyu Beef Burger ($31)

It's Wagyu Beef Patty that's being wrapped around by Parma Ham with Porcini Mayo, Caramelised Onions and Brie in a Foccacia Bun. I like!

Wagyu would be wasted if you cook it more than this.
Droolsome!

These potato wedges were so crispy and addictive.

Crab Tagliatelle ($28)

If you like some homemade tagliatelle, this version is with crab meat and tomato cream sauce with some thyme. The thing about home made pasta is that it absorbs the taste better.

How clever of them to put the crab shell on top. Looks pretty doesn't it?

From the SIMPLY BREAKFAST section, we had:

Baked Gorgonzola Eggs ($26)

As they serve you, a small whiff of truffle oil lingers into your nose. For some it's heaven, I know someone who absolutely love truffle oil. Presented like a flower that's blomming, it does look impressive visually.

Inside the blooming flower made of Ham are organic eggs and gorgonzola cheese above a bed of baby spinach. Topped with black truffle and dash of truffle oil.

Break the poached egg and the orange yolk goes well with the grilled bread.

Bistro Breakfast ($32)

For those who loves a hearty breakfast. Everything you wanted in a big breakfast, you have it here. I think they should put a calorie counter on the menu! Most people will ignore and calories and just go ahead and eat it!

It consists of mixed mushrooms, crispy potato stuffed with white beans, 2 poached organic eggs, pork sausages, bacon and some greens.

This was the area we were sitting. Open air area that's shaded. Behind us was lush greens.

In front of us was the main building that you see in the first photo above.
Love these old black and white houses.

There's also an area where you can just have drinks and chill during Brunch or on selected weekday evenings. Three new permanent resident DJs, Stephen Day, Aveneesh and Debbie Chia will entertain you.

A nice place with lots of greens behind!

The kitchen that all the food was prepared in a next building we could see where we were sitting.

Service was good when we arrive at around noon. As more people started streaming in, it was a tad slower in the kitchen side. It took more than half hour before our mains were served. Service staff was good though. Nowadays with the labour crunch, we got to bear with it. (or just come earlier!)

Da Paolo BistroBar
3 Rochester Park
Singapore 139214

Tel: +65 6774 5537

Hours:
Monday to Saturday, 11.30am – 2.30pm (Lunch), 5.30pm – 10.30pm (Dinner)
Sunday and Public Holidays, 11am to 3pm (Brunch), 5pm – 10pm (Dinner)

Bar Lounge Hours:
Monday to Friday: 5.30pm – 11.30pm
Saturday, Sunday, Public Holidays: 2pm – 11.30pm

Ju Shin Jung @ West Coast Highway

2013-02-26T12:32:00.000+08:00

This was a lunch outing with colleagues at Ju Shin Jung along West Coast Highway. Someone in our lunch group wanted to have Korean. That someone was actually thinking of Banchans rather than having the main meals.

We somehow thought of Ju Shin Jung that we all have not gone together as a group for some time. We all hop into a colleague's MPV and off we went for lunch.

The moment all the banchans came out, all of us, (especially the guy who was thinking of banchans) was so happy!

We were also served some pumpkin paste/mousse that was quite sweet tasting.

All of us settled for our own portions of the set lunch that's quite affordable.

Everyone thought we wanted some extra meat, so we ordered a spicy chicken on hot plate. It's spicy but very shiok to eat! What was interesting is that they had raisins on the chicken.

A few of us had the Saba Fish set.
Crispy fish on a bed of shredded cabbage. I could eat up everything because it was nice and crispy.

If you have been colleague for so long, you can actually guess what others will be eating. We all guess the Short Rib Beef Soup for 'old cat'. We were right. He ordered this and he says it used to be better but it's still good.

A few colleagues also had the dolsot bibimbap.
Prepare to sweat it out, because as you eat, you feel the heat from the stone. Our colleague eating this was sweating!

Don't put all the chilli paste in if you don't want to suffer the consequences of spiciness. It would be double heat. From the chilli paste and the hot stone.

The soup for those who did not order soup dishes. We did not like it. We prefer the beef rib soup that we 'helped ourselves' from 'old cat'. LOL

When we are with colleagues, we always behave like kids. We love to play with this.
The expandable hand tower. Add some water and it expands. The middle one had a few drops of water and it expanded.

Yup, parents with kids will save theirs to bring back and amuse their kids. I am sure we all have loving parents as colleagues who have to think of ways to entertain their kids 24x7!

Our meal ended with heart-shape watermelons.
It was a nice re-visit to Ju Shin Jung during lunch time.

The food's still good, service during lunch time was good too, still adequately staffed so you don't need to wait long for someone to get to you. Most of all, the lunch pricing of set meals less than $15 is still making us happy.

Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ
27 West Coast Highway
#01-18
Singapore 117867

Tel: 6464 0872
Web: www.jushinjung.com

MAD (Modern Asian Diner) @ The Grandstand

2013-02-25T11:48:00.000+08:00

What a name! MAD which stands for Modern Asian Diner is a collaboration between TungLok Group, Bar Stories and Dick Lee. I am guessing the name must have been suggested by Dick Lee, the flamboyant Singapore performer, composer and playwright.

This was an invited review to see what MAD has to offer and it was it is quite an interesting concept. I would not have worded it any nicer sounding than this press release by them:

"The split-levelled MAD features a bar, manned by famed mixologist Kino from Bar Stories; a charcoal-powered Josper Oven to enhance the flavour profile of meats and seafood; a specially fitted and designed Omakase-style tapas counter; and a wine cellar and tasting room by Top Wines, which boasts one of the most extensive wine lists in Singapore; and a bakery and bread boutique by Bakerzin which will serve freshly baked artisan breads."

During the day, this place is a bakery, cafe and dim sum place.
During the night, it transform into a restaurant and cocktail bar.

I heard that during the day, Dim Sum Trolleys will be going around serving Dim Sums here. For those who are nostalgic. Bring your parents or grandparents!

MAD occupies two levels. On the first level has a bakery and a cafe seating area.

(Residents of Bukit Timah on the way home at night, drop by for some bread near their closing time. I think it was 50% off. I bought some after dinner.)

As you have probably experience it, with the recent labour restrictions, more and more restaurants are deploying tablets to take over what humans can do. Everything you want to order can be done through this iPad.

Oh yes, you can preview your bill at anytime too!

(Now, they should have an app to rearrange the bill according to the diners ya? As an IT guy, I know it can be done!)

>> The Bar

During the night, you have the Bar that's manned by famed mixologist Kino from Bar Stories. They specialise in tea and coffee based cocktails. Talk to them, let the mixologist come up with something, either alcoholic or non-alcoholic that suits your 'mood' at the moment.

Here's some photo of the beautiful creations. These were what we had:

I did not note down the name of the drinks. It was just so beautiful. This last one was the cutest with a little rubber duckie on it!

>> The Restaurant

Artisanal Bread from bakery.

MAD Baby Ribs with Homemade Barbeque Sauce

You can mark this place as one of the places for delicious ribs. Well marinated and done really well. Tender meat, wonder their charcoal oven had an special powers.

I like how it was served in a wooden board. So rustic and the presentation already makes you hungry by looking at it.

Foie Gras Terrine

The terrine goes well with the bread that they serve. If you order this, don't finish up the bread when they are served. Save them for the terrine. It had a nice texture and less oily too. I know some of you only prefer your Foie Gras pan seared.

Teriyaki Glazed Mushrooms with Cuttlefish Tagliatelle

Other than the ribs, this was also my favourites for the night. That's not green pasta but cuttlefish! It's not tough cuttlefish either. It's something you will probably order seconds.

I read from Bibik Gourmand's blog that portobello mushroom has been sous-vide. No wonder they taste just nice. (now to find out the ideal temp to sous vide portobello!)

Mushroom Risotto with Poached Egg.

Beautifully done. It's tedious cooking this. It reminds me of the 'cooking' competition that I was preparing risotto everyday to perfect it and on time too.

The mushroom flavour was not too overpowering and they added a poached egg. It seems they know that many people are obsessed with poached eggs!

For the tasting portion, they poached mini quail eggs for us too! So cute eh!

Rum and Banana Tatin with Vanilla Ice Cream.

They have a dessert menu and you can satisfy your sweet tooth by ordering through the iPad. ;-)
I liked the caramelized banana with the ice cream.

For those with kids and your kids can't get enough of macarons. Order them!

The kitchen is helmed by Chef Roberto Hernandez Sevillano.
He's previously from the Esmirada Group's Tapas Bar.

If you prefer, you can dine at the Omasake-style Tapas Bar too.

>> The Retail Gallery

Other than eating, people in Singapore love to shop.
They have added a retail gallery to make some of our better halves happy.

It sells lots of quirky things that even I was tempted to buy.
I heard all of it has been selected by Dick Lee himself.

While dining, I thought the music sounds familiar and some of it seems to be from Dick Lee's musicals. I asked them who selects the songs and was told Dick Lee has selected the songs for all 365 days to be played here!

Oh snowy from Tin Tin Comics is available for sale here too!

>> The Wine Cellar

There's also the cellar and wine tasting room here by Top Wines.

It's quite an interesting concept here. First in Singapore to combine a 5-in-1.
Thanks to the PR folks of MAD for the invite.

MAD (Modern Asian Diner)
200 Turf Club Road
#01-20/21, The Grandstand
Singapore 287994

Tel: +65 64663303
Hours: Sun to Thu – 10.00am to 10.30pm / Fri to Sat – 9.00am to 12 midnight

Website: http://www.modernasiandiner.com

Nogawa Japanese Restaurant @ Concorde Hotel Orchard

2013-02-21T01:35:00.001+08:00

It was one of those very rare days that the wife and I took leave and decided to watch a movie. It was my first and last movie on the last few days of 2012! (OK, we were clearing 2012 leave) We caught Les Miserables at GV Plaza and yes, people around us were all crying and sobbing. It was the greatest movie I watched for the year because it was the only one! (yes laugh at me). After the movie, we were playing and humming all the songs for the next 1 month!

After the 9.30 am movie, it was just about lunch time. We walked around the new wing of Plaza Singapura and saw so many new eateries. Surprisingly none caught our fancy (read too long queues). We thought maybe Chef Wan's buffet, but we were not in the mood for a big meal. We decided to walk out of Plaza and search for other food.

We walked past Concorde Hotel and suddenly we remembered Nogawa upstairs at the Lobby floor. It has been a while since we both ate at Nogawa. We were so glad it was still early and it was quiet. What a pleasant change from the previous mall.

Should we omakase? During lunch time, the lunch sets are always so tempting at half the price. We gave in to the sets.

I ordered the Special Sushi Set (around $30).
Assorted fresh fish that each mouthful promises satisfaction.

The wife ordered the Chirashi with Chawanmushi.
A happy and satisfied wife gives the man a long stress free life!

No description is needed ya? You can look at the photos and you want to have it now don't you?

The marinated octopus that both of us had in our sets.
Tasting it, you would want to click 'like' on Facebook or 'double tap' on Instagram. LOL

We all had to wait a while for the chawanmushi so we assumed it must have been made to order. It was smooth and tasty as expected.

While the world rushes on around Orchard Road, we had a slow moving quiet lunch in this small Japanese restaurant. We were thinking, we should watch Jiro Dream of Sushi and maybe go have a meal in Tokyo one day too. (The thought of radiation still prevents us from going though.)

Nogawa Japanese Restaurant
Concorder Hotel Lobby
100 Orchard Road
#03-25
Singapore 238840

Tel: +65 6732 2911
Hours: 12 noon - 3 pm, 6 pm - 10.30 pm

Chinese New Year Feasting @ Summer Pavilion, The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore

2013-02-05T13:58:00.000+08:00

Where will you be having your Lunar New Year meals this year? Many of us will be having many reunion dinners or catch-up dinners. If you are married or attached, you will have at least 2 family reunion dinners. There will also be company Lunar New Year meals, catch-up meals with other friends too. Your bosses might be also be treating a meal too.

For one of the many lunches or dinners for the Lunar New Year, if you want to pamper yourself, you can head to Summer Pavilion at The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore.

I was recently invited to have Chinese New Year Luncheon tasting at the Summer Pavilion at The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore.

Summer Pavilion is currently having the Auspicious Lunch and Dinner Set Menus. Their Platinum Seven-Course Menu ($2288 for 8 guests) is quite impressive.

The Platinum Seven Course menu is as follows:

Golden Crab Roe and Sea Urchin Yu Sheng | 黄金蟹子海胆捞起
Double-boiled Lobster Soup with Chicken, Bamboo Pith and Chinese Cabbage | 菜胆竹笙浓鸡汤炖龙虾汤
Sautéed Scallop with Fresh Wild Mushrooms & Seasonal Vegetables | 美极胡椒碧绿鲜菌炒带子
Steamed Sliced Garoupa with Dried Beancurd Skin & Minced Garlic | 蒜香豆根蒸星班
Braised Whole Abalone with Chinese Mushrooms and Seasonal Vegetables | 蚝皇原只三头鲍鱼花菇时蔬
Braised Hong Kong Noodles with Crabmeat, Ginger & Spring Onions | 姜葱生拆蟹肉焖银丝面
Double-boiled Bird’s Nest with Rock Sugar served warm | 冰花炖金丝燕

There are always people asking if there are big tables, many of us have big families or a big group of friends or colleagues are meeting. They do have a table that can fit 14 people comfortably here.

We tasted something similar, a slight variation to the menu above, and here are the photos to tempt you to have a meal there too!

The Double Boiled Cartilage Soup with Fish Maw

A good Cantonese never fails to serve you the best soups around. This soup has been around here for some time and it's probably where some folks with good skin come for their delicious treatment. Collagen rich milky white goodness.

I love the taste of the heart warming soup and particularly the fish maw. You should taste this fish maw and you probably would not like those dried ones.

Yu Sheng - Golden Crab Roe with Sea Urchin

After serving us a warm soup that really whets our appetite, the service staff brought out the Yu Sheng. The dish that everyone loves in Singapore for the Lunar New Year. We Chinese simply love dishes that has ingredients that sounds auspicious, don't we?

The two bowls that most people will know what it means. Smooth and Sweetness in all things you do. The vegetables used for the Yu Sheng is quite natural, something that many of us will like.

The chefs here have created something specially for the Lunar New Year. The Golden Crab Roe with Sea Urchin. Look at how fresh it is, and quite a good portion of it too!

If you are having a-la-carte lunches here, there are a variety of Yu Sheng options available:
Golden Crab Roe with Sea Urchin | 黄金蟹子海胆捞起 (大家齐捞起) – From $110
Abalone Yu Sheng | 鲍鱼捞起 (包生意捞起) – From $75.00
Lobster Yu Sheng | 龙虾捞起 (龙马精神爽) - 市价 Subject to the market price

It was a huge table of 14 of us, comprising of food writers/journalists from different publications, food bloggers and the Ritz-Carlton staff. It's so big a group, we had 2 servings of Yu Sheng.

The only time when playing with food is allowed in any Chinese meal.
Minimal spillage on our side! I love those long chopsticks!

The Sea Urchin and Golden Crab Roe was not tossed together so as not to crush and stabbed with our long chopsticks. The service staff will portion it for us and add the prized topping on top for us.

The 'uni' here was good. Very fresh and surprisingly, it does go well with the yu sheng salad.

Braised Sliced Abalone with Dried Oyster and Black Moss in Beancurd Sheet.

This dish was excellent. Not only does it look so good on 'instagram' (haha), it's also taste so good. I love how everything goes so well together, the superior sauce that binds them together was a little magical.

Steamed Sea Perch with Fungus and Vegetables.

The sea perch was nicely done and it's firm and yet still so tender. I love all the garlic and spring onion bits that goes on top of the fish. (I usually get those bits from my wife, because she does not like it)

What was also very interesting was the 'gong cai' that the fish rested on. It has an interesting texture, a little crunchy like 'bottle chai sim', but it's longish and not salty. There's always the good service staff and PR folks that you can ask. Our dear 'aunty' service staff came back from the kitchen and told us the Chef says it's 'gong cai'. We googled and found the English name as "Mountain Jelly Vegetable".

Sorry for the deviation, the dish was very lovely indeed. Simple yet gives you a very satisfied and happy feel to it.

Braised Special Fish Noodles with Shredded Chicken, Ginger and Onions.

When we saw the menu and it says Fish Noodles, I was wondering if fish made into noodles strips. I can't remember where I had something like that before, but the above are delicious noodles that very fragrant and filled with lots of ingredients. Surprisingly, it is quite light and does not give you that bloaty feeling.

Carbo lovers delight. These braised noodles will have you wanting more after each mouth. Carbo will suddenly increases your blood sugar levels and that triggers endorphins in the brain to be released which gives you a natural high. Sounds good doesn't it?

Chilled Black Glutinous Rice Topped with Coconut Ice Cream.

A nice sweet ending to our meal. Chilled Black Glutinous Rice that's not too sweet with the Coconut Ice Cream, as usual a nice combination.

(I like how the little touches like having orchids and rose petals as part of their plating. It subliminally gives it a nice feeling while you eat. Yes, after entering a cooking competition recently, I begin noticing such things)

Other notes:

Traditional pen cai will also be available from $360 (serves four) – (three days advanced notice needed) – the 12 ingredients include fish maw, sea cucumber, Chinese mushroom, conpoy, black moss, seasonal vegetables, abalone, sea perch, roast pork and duck, goose web and scallops.

For those who wants an extra touch, Gu Zheng entertainment on CNY eve dinner at the
Chihuly Room
Lo Hei Reunion Dinner with Gu Zheng entertainment: 9 February, Saturday (6.30pm to 10.30pm)
$1264.00 per table of eight adults with two bottles of wines, unlimited juices, soft drinks and Chinese tea.

If you prefer buffets, head to the
Greenhouse
•    Lo Hei Reunion Dinner: 9 February, Saturday (6.30pm to 10.30pm)
$168.00 per adult with unlimited vintage sparkling wine, housepour red/white wine, beer, chilled juices and soft drinks
$69.00 per child (6-12 yrs)
•    Lo Hei Buffet Lunch: 11,12, 16 February, Monday, Tuesday, Saturday (12 noon to 2.30pm)
$68.00 per adult
$34.00 per child (6-12yrs)
•    Lo Hei Buffet Champagne Brunch: 10 February, Sunday (12 noon to 3.30pm)
$168.00 per adult with unlimited Möet and Chandon vintage champagne, selected cocktails/mocktails, house pour red/white wine, soft drinks and fruit flavoured sparkling mineral water
$84.00 per child (6-12 yrs)
•    Loi Hei Buffet Dinner:10 to 12 and 16 February, Sunday to Tuesday and Saturday (6.30pm to 10.30pm)
$98.00 per adult
$49.00 per child (6-12yrs)

All prices are subject to 10 percent service charge and prevailing government taxes unless otherwise stated.

Summer Pavilion
The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore
7 Raffles Avenue
Singapore 039799

Tel: 6434 5288
Email: rc.sinrz.restaurantreservations@ritzcarlton.com.

Hours: 11.30am – 2.30pm, 6.30pm – 10.30pm daily

BORNGA, Authentic Korean @ Star Vista

2013-01-31T23:30:00.000+08:00

BORNGA probably the biggest chain of Korean BBQ restaurants globally has opened in Singapore. Located at Star Vista, it is joins the 33 outlets in Korea and 12 others in China, US and Indonesia.

This was an invitation to try out their cuisine and we were hosted by their PR folks and a Korean lady in charge of BORNGA. If you have not heard, they have patented recipes here that has been created by Korean celebrity chef Jong Won Paik.

What a big long plate of veggies. You think it's a lot? You will finish it with all the delicious meat that you eat here! Read on to see how to wrap the meats and you know these veggies won't be enough!

One of the interesting banchan that you will try is this 'Water Kimchi'. It's very light kimchi and it's a little cold and quite appetising!

Both my parents and parents-in-law have been to South Korea and they were always talking about all kinds of kimchi. I can't remember if they told me they have tried this before, but this was my first time having cold kimchi soup. It's usually hot and spicy kimchi soups that I had.

Quite a selection of banchans and these were quite good too!
Some of these goes well with other dishes too. It's always good to have Koreans eating with us to tell us exactly how to eat things. We have a habit of finishing everything up don't we?

Jap Chae ($23)
For those who have a liking for chewy korean glass noodles, this has been stir fried with beef and vegetables. Nicely flavoured and fragrant. I thought of my cousin who loves korean jap chae!

It was a lunch for 5 of us that day and this was our tables and mess. The grill that you see in the middle of the table had been designed that uses gas to heat up a layer of stones inside. Interesting eh?

The heated stone radiates an even layer of heat. Wonder is it why the grilled stuff here taste so much better?

Ggot Sal (prime cut and very tender unmarinated beef, $38)

There are those who likes marinated meats and those that prefer unmarinated ones. Which do you prefer? Dining at another place and was hosted once by Koreans too, it seems that many Koreans prefer unmarinated ones.

You just need to cook it just nice and not too long. Look at the marbling. It will all melt away when you grill it. All is left will be the tender pieces of beef.

The meats are unmarinated, so if you prefer, you can dip a little of the 3 types of oils and sauces that you will get depending on your orders. The dark one is the patented signature Woo Samgyup sauce that's imported from Korea to maintain consistency.

Turn it over in a while and it's almost ready!

Just the perfect doneness. It's still a little pink inside. Taste it and you will grow to love Korean food even more. Don't over cook it or you will regret.

Woo Samgyup (thinly sliced beef with BORNGA's special sauce; $22)

Their signature dish, with their patented recipe! Everyone that goes to BORNGA around the world will order this. Prepared from nicely marbled beef 'short plate' that has been very thinly sliced, it's only seasoned slightly with BORNGA's secret marinade and ready for us to cook. You don't get dark bulgogi meats, but natural colours of the meat.

The Korean lady showed us how she cooks it. Everyone does it differently, but her family does it this way. Put the nicely stacked meats as you see above. Just let it cook for a while, when it gets a bit cooked, it's really easy to take them apart.

Since it's now easy to take them apart, just move it to the sides and grill it till is sizzles. What a brilliant idea. No need to struggle at the beginning. Just a simpler way of cooking!

How do you eat it? Remember the banchans that has leeks? Roll some leaks in between the sliced beef and dip it in the Woo Samgyup sauce. I tell you, it's so delicious! Does that tempt you?

I love the taste of leeks so this was my kind of food. I know some of you hate it, so just skip it!
Just remember to save some of this from your banchans and eat it with your meats.

Another way to make it taste better and healthier is to grab some lettuce and the other darker leave that I forgot what it was (think it was baby bock choy), some leeks, some radish kimchi and the warm grilled meat.

To eat it, grab it into a 'ball' and then stuff it in your mouth! Our petite korean lady could actually put it into her mouth! Wow! She said please no photo of her stuffing it in. LOL

It's a wonderful way of having the meats. The veggies were so fresh and crunchy. It really makes you eat your veggies! There's no hard and fast rules, just eat it the way you like it and add your banchans in.

BORNGA Naeng Myun (buckwheat noodles with cold broth, $15)

If you like cold noodles, try the ones here. The cold broth had slurpee like texture. It's so cold, it's so so refreshing.

Moving the top away to let you see the cold buckwheat noodles.

Served with cold refreshing ingredients, if you are those who enjoy cold noodles, you will like it. I can't imagine my mum liking this though. She's the hot food kind of people.

I like it. I love Cold Vietnamese Noodles, Cold Japanese Noodles, so I have found another new love. Cold Korean Noodles! This is different from my usual Vietnamese and Japanese version. This has ice in it!

Something similar to the previous cold noodles, this is the Bibim Naeng Myun (buckwheat noodles in a spicy chilli sauce, $15)

This version is less wet and has very very spicy chilli sauce. Prepare to cry! It's spicy and delicious. Something about cold and spicy noodles just makes you want to try more of it. This is very subjective. Some of you might just not like it.

Chadol Duenjang Jjigae (a traditional Korean soybean paste stew with beef, $16)

Another of their signature dishes, this is the Chadol Duenjang Jjigae. When you order this, they will cook it at a stove beside your table. It takes time to cook it. A pot with very watery soybean paste mixture and ingredients will be brought to you. It will be boiled until it becomes around half the liquid is left. A stew that's cooked in front of you.

The stew is then poured over a big bowl of rice. Yes the picture above is quite a big bowl!Another use of the banchans, the kimchi radish strips added into it makes it taste better.

The finger at the side will let you gauge how big the bowl is. ;-)
Give it a super good mix, just like how they do it in Korean dramas!

Can you already imagine the taste as you look at the photo above?
Carbo lovers will love it.

Tteokgalbi (ground rib meat patties mixed with a soy sauce seasoning and then grilled, $20)

Meat eaters, this might be something you might want to order!
I was told this is just ground beef with seasoning. No other fillers.

This thin layer of beef is so tasty! I can easily finish the whole lot!
It's soft and yet firm and have a little crisp layer because of the cooking style.

At the end of your meal, this unique tasting drink will be served. Complimentary, this is Omija. It's a 5 flavoured tea, so some might not like it at all. It's combination of taste. I thought it was weird on the first mouth, but I boldly took the 2nd and it became better. I did drink a few more mouths but did not finish it. ;-)

Note: Like all Korean BBQ places, expect to smell (good) with all the food being grilled. So do not plan to have meetings after this meal.

BORNGA
1 Vista Exchange Green
#02-24, The Star Vista
Singapore 138617

Tel: 6694 4696
Hours: 11:30am to 10pm daily