Malaysian Food Street @ Resort World Sentosa

The Malaysian food street located within the Resort World Sentosa is actually a Malaysia-themed food court.

I’m not sure if it’s representative of the real stuff sold in Malaysia but it sure is so much pricier than the real deal.

Having only heard of the chicken rice ball but never tasted one before, the Supportive Spouse got me a plate of 5 balls accompanied by deboned chicken.
The portion was really small and I didn’t even bother asking the Supportive Spouse the amount he paid.

It tasted….like how chicken rice is supposed to taste. Nothing special really.

I think I’ll rather pay more to dine in the restaurants at Resort World Sentosa.

Pan Pacific Hotel 海天樓 @ 37th Floor

This is my first visit to 海天樓 in the Pan Pacific Hotel located on it's 37th floor. It will be closed after 15th April 2012 and will be relocated to the 3rd floor of the hotel, so this would be an absolute must go before it shifts out of it's current location and missing the great view!

There's a choice to have an ala carte buffet from it's lunch menu which contains about 60 odd dishes, some of which each table is only allowed to order 2 and some of which each patron is only allowed to order once, otherwise, everything else is unlimited as long as you are still hungry!

Very high quality food and absolutely worth the money!

Ah Ling's Birthday

This was the second birthday celebration in our group of four this year. And somehow, starting from 2012, our birthday celebratory budget just got bigger!

On this very special day for Missy Ling, we invited her for lunch at the Jumbo Seafood Restaurant @ Riverside Point.

Besides the compulsory Sri Lanka chilli crab accompanied by buns (albeit steam buns this time as a healthier option), we also ordered scallop in yam rings, stir-fried broccoli in oyster sauce and chicken/salted fish fried rice.

The chilli crab was Fresh. Spicy. Big. The gravy, however, was a bit too thick and gluey. And since when did they changed their presentation to be in the form of a wok? I still prefer the simple plastic plate.

The scallop in yam ring was Nice. Normally, for this dish, I would expect to see a large deep-fried yam ring filled with a combination of stir-fried cube-diced vegetables, seafood and cashew nuts.

After the nice luncheon, we decided to resume the customary birthday cake cutting ceremony by presenting Ah Ling with a salted caramel chocolate panna cotta from Starbucks.

Happy Birthday Ah Ling!

Streets Café @ Raffles City Shopping Centre

This is one of the many Hong Kong cafés that has been sprouting all over the island in recent years. Despite so, the restaurant still manages to attract it's fair share of customers during mealtimes.

I, for one, am quite a fan of such Hong Kong cafés. I simply love the slightly bitter milk tea which is somewhat unique to them as well as the thick toasts with it's crispy bread skin and soft inner layer.
For a fuller meal, I would normally order from the Nissin noodle list. My two favourite selections would be the so-call 'original' Nissin noodle soup accompanied by a sunny-side up and some luncheon meat slices or simply the Nissin noodle soup topped with a thick slab of tender pork chop. Although this is a common noodle item in all Hong Kong cafés, it can be quite a challenge to find one that cooks the instant noodles to the right springy consistency coupled with the right soup base and the nicely cooked toppings. The Streets Café in this instance, is not one where I would recommend the ordering of any such noodles. :[

So on my recent visit, I proceeded to order rice with sweet & sour pork which comes with a sunny-side up as well. The meat was not in the typical sweet & sour pork form if you know what I mean. Instead, it's in the form of a meat ball. Nonetheless, it tasted like what it's supposed to taste - all thanks to the sauce - and there's not much to compliment or complain about.
In addition, the restaurant has also incorporated some dim sum dishes in it's menu and this made the place ever more cantonese-like.

Curry Hor Fun @ OldTown White Coffee

Besides knowing that OldTown White Coffee originated from Malaysia and that local host cum comedian, Mark Lee, introduced it to Singapore, I pretty much know next to nothing about this growing franchise restaurant.

The last day of June 2010 marked the first time I stepped into the restaurant at Toa Payoh Central. What welcomed me was a wave of warm air and no sign of any waiters or waitresses. If not for my determination and curiosity to locate just one serving staff, I would have walked out of the restaurant instead of venturing further in. Upon reaching the counter, I realised that there's an adjacent part of the restaurant hidden from view at the entrance where it's so much cooler and alas, the 'hidding' place for the serving staffs. :)

The restaurant was relatively empty at 6.30pm in the evening and it was no problem finding myself a comfortable seat at a round table under a revolving ceiling fan - which sort of reminded me of the settings in a typical coffeeshop in the 80s, albeit more hygienic now.

The menu is typically made up of the usual Malaysian fanfare of noodles, rice, nasi lemak, toast breads, drinks and almost certainly, a great selection of white coffee.

I ordered the Curry Mee which is one of the recommended dishes in the menu but proceeded to change the noodle to hor fun instead in my attempt to have a less fattening meal.

My order was served to me promptly within 10 minutes and the redness of the curry gravy raised an alarm of the spiciness which I might not be ready for. The hor fun was submerged in a sea of red with two juicy, floating tau poks on the surface. It was only after digging at the base of the bowl with chopsticks that I uncovered some chicken shreds, beansprouts and a few pieces of curry leaves amidst the lump of hor fun.
The curry gravy is definitely potent in both look and taste so I'll advise full attention and concentration while eating rather than making small talks in between mouthfuls. It tastes like curry noodles no doubt but it doesn't differentiate from curry noodles sold in food markets elsewhere.

However, I can see myself coming back for the thick toast bread just for the sake of comparing it to those sold at the numerous Hong Kong cafés in Singapore.

Year of the Roaring Tiger (虎虎生威)

In a blink of an eye, another year has passed and in place of the somewhat depressive Year of the Ox is the much anticipated Year of the Tiger.

Throughout the years, the custom of preparing the house to welcome the Chinese New Year has not changed a bit. There are the usual new year goodies laid out nicely to tempt the guests, the auspicious Yu Sheng (鱼生) which some believed to have originated from China but with it's contemporary version definitely created and popularised in Singapore and the two most important and popular vegetarian dishes in my family which have somehow became a family tradition for lunch just before noon on the first day of Chinese New Year (年初一)!

I am simply glad that my entire family is gathered on this very special occasion and with each progressing year, the dining table is getting more and more crowded with new additions to the family. :)

Happy New Year to All! 祝大家新年快乐！

Project Soon Kueh

Soon Kueh is a traditional Teochew snack and being a 100% "pure-bred" Teochew, I decided to give it a go.

The recipe seems relatively easy but requires the cook to have both the frying and pastry making skills. While I am better at kneading doughs, I can't say the same with my wok frying skills. Hence, the Mother was recruited in this Project Soon Kueh.

Soon Kueh - 笋粿

Ingredients - Filling:

garlic (chopped)

shallots (chopped)

dried prawns (soaked and diced)

mushrooms (soaked and sliced)

yam bean (peeled and thinly sliced)

black soya sauce

oyster sauce

chicken cube

pepper

water (needs plenty as the yambean absorbs alot of water while simmering)

oil

Ingredients - Skin:

300g water

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbs fried shallot oil (may add more directly to the dough if it is sticking to the palm)

200g soon kueh flour (can be replaced with rice & tapioca flour in a 1:3/4 ratio)

Method (Filling):

(1) Heat up the oil in the wok and stir-fry garlic, shallot and dried prawns till golden brown

(2) Add in the mushrooms and stir-fry till fragrant

(3) Add the sliced yambeans, stir-fry well

(4) Add the black soy sauce, oyster sauce, chicken cube, pepper amd water. Stir well and leave to simmer over low fire till water is fully absorbed and yambeans are tender.

(5) Dish out and leave the fillings to cool before assembling with the skin

Method (Skin):

(1) Pour the flour into a mixing bowl

(2) Add the water, salt and shallot oil into a pot and bring to the boil

(3) Pour the boiling liquid into the mixing bowl and mix well with the flour. Do not pour the liquid all at once but knead and pour the liquid portion-by-portion till a smooth dough is achieved. Let the dough stand for 10 minutes.

(4) Turn the dough out from the mixing bowl and divide into 10 equal portions

(5) Roll the skin into thin sheets and cut into rounds

Method (Assembling):

(1) Wrap the fillings and seal the side to form a semi-circle

(2) Place the soon kuehs on a greased tray and steam for ~15 minutes over high heat

(3) Once cooked, remove from the steaming tray and brush with any remaining shallot oil (or just oil)

Verdict:

(+) The quantities for the filling ingredients are purposely left out as there's alot of room for flexibilities! For a lighter coloured filling, less black soy sauce should be added. If you relish a more salty filling, more chicken cubes could be added or alternatively, more oyster sauce.

(-) While rolling the skin, it should not be too thin as it tears easily during assembling.

(-) Try not to be too greedy with the fillings and leave some space for folding the skin over the edges

(=) With help from the Mother, the project became an obvious success! Received the thumbs-up from the Father!

(=) And not forgetting, it's quite a joy to be whipping up something delectable with your loved ones. :)

Fried Carrot Cake - 菜头粿

Fried carrot cake, more popularly known as "Cai Tao Kueh" (菜头粿) in dialect, is one of the speciality from Singapore. There are two versions to it - Black and White. I like both versions but would definitely give the determining vote to the white version. :)

Been craving for this dish for the past couple of days. So I decided to search for the recipe online and to my dismay, there were not that many available and amongst those that I found, the recipes were quite alike but with very different quantity ratios for the ingredients to be used.

So for my first attempt, I opted for what I thought was the simplest recipe. And the result was.... disastrous! Apparently, there was too much water used in the recipe and even after cooling the steamed carrot cake overnight, it was still soft and soggy. So naturally when I tried to stubbornly fry it, the result was like mua-chee. :(



Afterwards, I even tried to 'debug' the error which I might have made during my first attempt - the wrong flour used? too much water? the wrong method? too short steaming duration?

And with whatever information and new findings I could gather, I ventured on to my second attempt. This time round, I chose a recipe which requires lesser water and the steamed carrot cake was standing on it's own after I sliced it! Bravo! However, the next step of frying it proved to be quite a challenge for me. The recipe stated that the wok must be very hot...and the fried carrot cake should be slightly browned on the outside. But as I stood frying the carrot cakes, all I got was the carrot cakes sticking to whichever side of the wok it was in contact with. And I ended up with a browned wok but white-as-snow carrot cakes. And the longer I fried it, the softer it became. So eventually, I scooped everything out and sprinkled a little chives on it before serving.


Well, it was definitely edible but it's like eating a big lump of porridge grain...probably more suitable for the toothless grannies.

Anyone out there who have a reliable, tried and tested recipe to share?

Stir-fry Pork Cubes

Stir-fry Pork Cubes

Ingredients:

garlic (finely diced)

pork cubes

light soy sauce

oyster sauce

carrot strips

green peas

corn flour

Method:
(1) Dissolve corn flour in water and set aside

(2) Fry garlic in heated oil

(3) Add pork cubes

(4) Add light soy sauce and oyster sauce to taste

(5) Add carrot strips and green peas

(6) Add corn flour paste

(7) Fry till pork cubes are cooked and serve immediately


Verdict:
(+) This is an easy and nutritious dish to serve with rice.

A1 Hong Kong Porridge @ Upper Thomson Road

A simple dinner of HK Porridges and dishes "香港粥"

Scallop & Gingko Nut Porridge "白果干貝粥"

Mixed Pork Porridge "豬雜粥"

HK Style Ting Zai Porridge "艇仔粥"

Rice with Braised Gravy "卤味饭"

Mushroom Braised Chicken "香菇焖鸡"

Raw Fish Slices "生鱼片"

Fatty Pork with Preserved Veggies "梅菜扣肉"

Fatty Pork with Preserved Veggies "梅菜扣肉"

Location: A1 Hong Kong Porridge @ Jalan Todak (off Upper Thomson Road)

All the porridges were boiled with dried scallops, giving it a natural sweetness. These traditional HK style porridges are cooked using broken rice to give them it's thick creamy consistency, different from the Taiwanese or Teochew Porridge where the rice grains are still whole and intact. Each has it's own merits and offers nice variations to this simple fare. Each claypot of porridge makes a nice single portion.

The meat dishes were decent and gave the porridges a nice boost of saltiness, which I liked. However, all the dishes come as a set, which includes a small dish of veggie and a bowl of rice. Maybe the restaurant can offer the dishes on their own instead of a set, this might encourage more customers to order them and not having to worry about not being able to finish the extra rice. I know I would had ordered more dishes if not for the consideration of that rice.

The price was decent and definitely worth the fare. I like this place in contrast to the over-priced Taiwanese porridge along another stretch of Upper Thomson Road.

Happy 牛 Year - Reunion Dinner 2009

I realised something interesting during reunion dinner this year. While we are having increasing family members gathered around the dining table each year, there's ironically lesser varieties spread across the table.

But I'm not complaining as long as my favourite fish haw soup, fishballs, scallops, ngoh hiam and mango sago makes their usual appearances. :)

祝大家身体健康，笑口常开！