Coolchef

Restaurant of the Nations Food Hotel Asia Culinary Challenge 2010

2010-03-21T23:18:00.001+08:00

Dear Culinary Frens,

I am please to share with everyone here on the following event:

Singapore National Culinary Team Hot Cooking Presentation:
One of the key highlights of the upcoming Food and Hotel Asia 2010 show is the prestigious international acclaim Culinary Challenge 2010 formerly known as Salon Culinaire. Many of u have seen in my biodata that I was once a team member during my formative years as a chef. For 2010, the Singapore team will be competing once again with 9 other world renown national teams including the Swiss and Norwegian teams for the Battle of the Lion, which only the top three national teams will qualify to vie for.

The SNCT will be showcasing their hot tasting menu on Sat 27th March 7.30pm at Chef’s Daniels kitchen in Iluma (opp Bugis Junction). This 3 course menu will be opened to public for sit down sampling @ $45++ per pax and Chef Daniel Koh will be throwing in the canapés as well for early birds. If you ask me, I have tasted this menu 4times already with other ex-national team members like Chefs Eric Teo, Louis Tay and much fine tuning has been done for the team members each round. In a nut shell, it is almost perfect. In this tasting menu, u will get to experience every cooking technique in classical and modern history of cooking. From slow braise to elements of molecular gastronomy, it is once in a life time experience to dine with some of the best chefs in Singapore and this menu will never be offered in any restaurant and will never be back again once over. Hence I urge all of u here to give it a shot of what that would cost at least double in most other fine dining restaurants in Singapore. I will also be on site to share experiences and knowledge on what you taste in the menu.

The menu is as follows:
 Lime Infused Confit of Norwegian Salmon, King Crab Terrine served with Watermelon Sorbet
 Roast Lamb Saddle with Tamarind-Kumquat Marmalade, Braised Lamb Neck Gateau topped with Puffed Barley, Manchego Polenta and Thyme Sauce
 Almond Biscuit with Chocolate Banana Ice Nougat and Mango “Bomb” in Passion Fruit Snow Jelly Wrap

Reservations details are in the attached brochure and limited to 90pax only

2009-01-22T22:08:00.002+08:00

Below is a an extract from www.epicurious.com with regards to the food trend for 2009. Further on is my take for the same tune but the localized version.

Epicurious Predicts Top 10 Food Trends for 2009
by James Oliver Cury

With the dawn of a new presidency, a deepening recession, and a fine-dining culinary culture that sometimes veers into the impossibly surreal, soberness is setting into the food world. Gone are the behemoth restaurants, $1,000 omelets, and ice cream made of dehydrated chile flakes. Hallmarks of 2009 will include a return to families cooking together and eating at home more than they have in decades, a premium on high-quality, seasonal ingredients that provide good value, and an emphasis on simple food for the people, by the people.

1. "Value" is the new "Sustainable"These days, the economy dictates our cooking and shopping decisions: Bargains are in, no matter where they come from.

2. The Compost Pile is the new Flower GardenGrowing your own now refers to vegetables, not just herbs, and that will in turn help feed the gardener's compost pile. Live worm garnishes, however, will not make it to the house salad.

3. Peruvian is the new Thai You thought Peruvian cuisine was all about seviche, maybe? Guess again: Peru boasts culinary influences from Spanish, Basque, African, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, French, and British immigrants. Pisco Sour, anyone?

4. Noodle Bars are the new Sushi JointsWith some seafood being suspect or overfished and raw fish prices high, noodles make complete sense. If there's no ramen, udon, or soba shop in your neck of the woods, there will be soon.

5. Ginger is the new MintMove over, mojitos. Ginger beers and ginger cocktails (like the Ginger Rogers, Gin Gin Mule, and Ginger Smash) are bubbling up at places like The Violet Hour in Chicago, the Clock Bar in San Francisco, and Matsugen in New York.

6. Smoking is the new FryingYou know how everything tastes better fried? Well, almost everything tastes better smoked, too, and that includes cocktails. Bartenders are smoking their bourbons (Eben Freeman at Tailor, for example), and chefs, recognizing the national craze for BBQ, are smoking more than just salmon and ribs: nuts, salts, even smoked steelhead roe (at Chicago's Alinea). Who says smoking's bad for you?

7. Regional Roasters are the new StarbucksIt's come full circle. What started as a local coffee phenomenon migrated to other cities and turned Americans into java junkies. Then the chain overexpanded and overreached, and the little neighborhood coffee roasters thrive again, like Stumptown (Portland, OR), Bluebottle (San Francisco), and La Colombe (Philly).

8. Portland (Maine) is the new Portland (Oregon)Abundance of great chefs, restaurants, and local foodies? Check, check, and check. Want examples? Visit Five Fifty-Five, Hugo's, and Fore Street to start.

9. Rustic Food is the new Molecular Gastronomy Wacky-weird-science cuisine that requires fancy-schmancy equipment doesn't necessarily make food taste better, and more often than not it adds needless complexity (there are exceptions). Most importantly, no one really wants to do this at home. Expect to see comfort food stage a comeback. Again.

10. "Top-Rated" is the new "Critic's Pick"Power to the people; single critics are a dying breed. Why believe what one person says when you can read and reflect on what hundreds think? Don't believe us? Feel free to comment below!

The top 10 trends for the home cook and the restaurant-goer for the average Singaporean in 2009.

By Chef Eric Low

We do not have a new incoming PM. Molecular Gastronomy in the local culinary scene is almost on the verge of biting the dust. Our local MG maverick Chef Edward Voon has quit Aurum and gone back to the kitchens of the Tower Club. There might be some possibilities of a $100 omelette featuring a “mountain” of white truffle shavings in some die hard fine dinning restaurants here. With so many new ice cream parlours touting home made, self brewed, artisan designed ice creams, we may eventually see a sambal chilli hay bee hiam flavour. Hallmarks of 2009 will include a return to families cooking together, making a huge mess in the process and leaving all the wash up to the maid forcing her to sleep only at 1am. Singaporeans will be eating at home more than they have in decades, thanks to more ERP, higher transport costs and still having to pay service charges for lousy service. Hopefully our people will also understand that there is no such thing as cheap and good when it comes to food and be expected to pay a premium on high-quality, seasonal ingredients that provide good value, and just stay focus with regards to emphasis on simple food with quality ingredients.

1. "Value" is the new "Sustainable". These days, the economy dictates our cooking and shopping decisions: Bargains are in, no matter where they come from. Same as in SG. Sheng Siong will continue to be the number one supermarket choice of most Singaporeans offering much more in variety although prices are no longer that cheap as before. Fairprice may have more outlets but everything is so limited and standard that it never offers anything new and exciting to discover.

2. The Compost Pile is the new Flower Garden. Given that about 70% of Singaporeans live in HDB, it is almost impossible to grow your own vegetables even in the balcony if u are lucky enough to have one. With Singaporeans struggling to keep their jobs in this dire economy, growing vegetables is not one of the options for recreational activities. However to be eco friendly, the government continues to encourage all citizens to drink Newwater distributed for free in grassroots, charity and lousy budgeted events.

3. Spanish is the new Italian, Pasta to make way for Paella….. Yes Spanish cuisine is trickling in, although we need much more help from AVA to allow more Spanish produce and products to come in at more decent price levels. We love to have beyond Serrano Ham, smoked paprika, chorizos, padron peppers, mojitos, calbrese cheese, manchego cheese, sherry wine, mallorca almonds……

4. Gourmet Pasta Piazzas are the new Sushi JointsWe have too much local noodles as in hawker stalls around. We already have artisan ramen, udon, or soba shops, now we badly need places where u can get pasta in your neighbourhood hawker centers cooked the real Italian way and not some modified localized version.We like it to be “Al Dente” and not drowning in too much diluted sauce. Hopefully there will be soon when more retrenched chefs turn entrepreneurs.

5. Basil and Saw Leaf is the new Mint. We have been drinking Teh Halia for donkey years, ginger is nothing new and exciting for us. But much as we are in the box, we should get out and start exploring other tropical flavour bursting herbs beyond what we already know as in coriander and spring onions. Basil is the in-coming thing for cocktails and saw leaf is added to local salads in place of coriander.

6. Smoking is the new Frying. We still like our goreng pisang and Yew Char Kway when we eat out of home. Yes, healthier choice label products should be one of our choices when we shop or eat. Call us hypocrites if u care, however at the end of the day, the message is that taste is still important and food businesses should know that by getting a healthier choice label on your product does not mean u will have the best selling product on hand. As on smoked foods, of course we love BBQ Sauce, Sausages and Bacon. We can’t smoke our foods at home but we love to try anything that is smoked as long as it is given out free in supermarkets, food shows and cooking workshops by chefs.

7. Ya Kun and Killiney are still the new Starbucks. It's come full circle. What started as a local coffee phenomenon migrated to other countries and turned their citizens into kaya junkies. With the economic crunch, people are down sizing and opting for better value options. About five bucks at Yakun or Killiney gets u two toasts, a pair of soft boiled eggs and coffee far more nutritious and value than just one medium frappucino at Starbucks.

8. Bukit Timah (Old Fire Station) is the new Bukit Timah (Greenwood Ave). Vacated post colonial properties usually end up as new business opportunities for great chefs to start new restaurants, and local foodies will continue to have an endless choice of restaurants serving the same Chilean seabass (codfish), Wagyu Beef and Kurobuta Pork Belly….usually ending with tiramisu or a molten lava chocolate cake.

9. Rustic Food is the new Molecular Gastronomy Can’t agree more on this. Who wants to eat Nasi Lemak out of a test tube? Or to have your delicious roast beef turned into a morsel of ice cream that doesn’t give the satisfaction of beefy meatiness. Most importantly, no one really wants to pay through the nose again and again for a 13 course menu sitting on a wheel chair in some operating theatre set up with a reference taken from SGH. Plus the feeling that it was some weird scientist trying to feed u instead of a chef. Expect to see chicken curry and kong bak pau stage a comeback again.

10. "Top-Rated" is the new "Critic's Pick"Power to the people; Yes we all agree on this. Why believe what one person says when you can read and reflect on what hundreds think? It is even worse when the one person who is suppose to do a professional commenting is not a qualified F&B professional in any field, no F&B job experience to relate to and does not really know what is called the interest of fairness in restaurant review. eg. Doing a write up on a new establishment within two weeks of opening or soliciting for free food based on the excuse of writing a publicity review. Trust me, we the F&B professionals know who the guilty parties are. Don't believe us? Feel free to comment below!

New Age Thai

2008-12-07T22:53:00.012+08:00

Kha@HortPark

33 Hyderabad Road

Singapore 119578
tel:+65 6476 9000

Touted as one of the most high end Thai restaurant, its location wasn’t in some swanky posh address. Rather it has to distinguish itself and also to justify the higher end prices or the more affluent crowds won’t bite. The place I am talking about is almost a year old modern Thai restaurant Kha, located at the Hort Park off Alexandria Road. Notice the word “modern” Thai as I define it to be which is what it is to distinguished itself from being just another Thai restaurant. Most purists would cringe to know that helming the kitchen is not a native Thai but a hot young blooded Aussie chef who has spent a considerable amount of time and career in the land of smiles. Maybe this is why the owners creatively conceptualize the modern Thai theme about the restaurant.
It is quite a challenge in trying to understand the cooking philosophy of the chef in this kind of concept restaurant especially when the cuisine and heritage of the chef do not match. But good honest cooking is not really defined by your culture or race. It’s about the chef’s passion for it.
Since its all about “modern Thai”, then N and I decided to pick on dishes that define it as there are also other classical Thai favourites like Tom Yum Goong, Massuman Curry and Mango with Sticky Rice for the traditional diehards. If we were to pick on these, then it would defeat the purpose of doing modern Thai.
Before I start on the food, let me comment on the two mocktails we ordered. I am not a fan of beverages in restaurants because my general sentiment is that it is a rip off in most places. I am not saying that the beverages are cheap here but rather they are not. However, I do admire the culinary art part of preparing the special mocktails and their combination of flavours. N took on a nice smoothie of blended lychees, pomelo and citrus which gave a refreshing stir of life on palate. My Basilistic mocktail came with a crush of fresh Thai basil, mango and fresh raspberries. It’s a wonderful combination of smell, colour and aromas.

Dinner started with two appetizers, one which was a pair of crab and prawn cakes on a bed of green mango salad (Thod Man Poo). The pair of crispy breaded cakes was made with a combination of grounded shrimp and crabmeat was dressed with yoghurt and a dollop of sweet chilli sauce similar to the type served with roast chicken. Crispy yet still moist in the center, the cakes were pretty tasty with just the sweet chili sauce making the yogurt seemed a bit redundant. Then as we got on to the other appetizer which came highly recommended on the Chef’s special menu, we found ourselves with the yoghurt again. Though the cut of Wagyu beef was perfectly grilled, the red curry spices did not really come through on impact. By now I kind of figure the reason for the presence of the yoghurt on the two dishes. The standard salad dressing for Thai salads is usually made with a combination of palm sugar, fish sauce, lime juice plus the spice elements. Here at Kha, it comes with rather subtle nature than that of a strong impact given the extreme pungency of fish sauce and sourness of the lime juice. Perhaps is this done to allow the natural taste of the fresh ingredients to prevail than rather allowing it to be overpowered by the dressing? The yoghurt acts as a bridge to rein in the meat and salad with the subtle dressing.
In between the courses, came the fun element, which is a complimentary puffed rice crackers with a creamy coconut flavoured dip, other wise commonly known as Khao Tang Na Tang. With the flavourful mocktails, they make wonderful small bites on the side.
Besides the usual offerings of hot and sour soups in the usual Thai restaurants, we were delighted to discover that Kha also offered a perennial Thai-Chinese favourite, the ubiquitous Fish Maw Soup with Quail Eggs and Seafood. The slightly thickened broth was quite flavourful and complimented the soft braised fish maw very well.

We took two specials for the mains as we wanted to move away from traditional recipes to new flavours and dimensions. I had a spicy Yellow Curry Braised Pork Ribs with Roasted Egg Plant and Straw Mushrooms while N chose a Grilled Filet of Salmon with a Fine Herb Salad and a savoury spicy sauce which I suspected was concocted from fermented soy beans. The salmon was a nice fresh slab that had been grilled slightly underdone like the way I preferred. It was melt in the mouth delicious although I would have preferred a slightly more pungent sauce to go with the fatty fish. The ribs were well braised and the curry was very fragrant but a tad too spicy for me.
As we were sharing a plate of Phad Thai for tradition sake, I did not ordered rice to go with the curry which I kind of regret.
The phad thai was a luxurous version of what we normally have. King size prawns, a lovely banana blossom salad on the side. I must say that the top notch ingredients used in the dishes we ordered so far made us understood what the higher prices mean in terms of a return of value.
Dessert was a teaser, we wanted to move away from mangoes and sticky rice but something made with black glutinous rice caught my eye on the menu we decided to go with that. It was a fuse of Aussie Thai ideas with the sticky date pudding given a dose of black glutinous rice in a molasses flavoured pudding. The richness was cut by a sweet sour tamarind sauce and accompanied by one of the tastiest home made mango ice creams that I haven’t tasted for a while.
For the price, the ambience (actually it was trashed by people (read: Singaporeans) who just can’t respect the sophistication of a restaurant by turning up in t-shirts and Bermudas shorts) and unique garden location, its worth a revisit for to savour the creativity of Chef David Hamilton creations as long as u avoid going in with expectations of the classics.

Changing Appetites

2008-10-05T20:53:00.002+08:00

In China, specific regions are recognised for their outstanding characteristics. For example there is a common saying that an ideal life would be to born in Suzhou, live in Hangzhou, eat in Guangzhou and to pass on in Liuzhou. Each region is famous for a certain character and Guangzhou with its Cantonese cuisine is specifically recognised as the forerunner for the evolution of Chinese Cuisine around the world. Significantly, it has become a fundamental basis for many chinese chefs to learn the culinary techniques of this cuisine. The region with its fertile plains, bountiful coastal waters and culinary expertise is indeed blessed with its unique recognition as being the culinary paradise of China.

Some restaurants in Guangzhou dates back to more than a hundred years ago and they have become the icons of the local dinning culture. Restaurants like Guangzhou Restaurant广州酒楼, Tao Tao Ju陶陶居, Lian Xiang Lou莲香楼evolve from being tea houses in the earlier days to full fledge Chinese restaurants today. The local people eat 5 meals a day. Morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and night tea. These restaurants are opened from 6am each morning and do not close till past midnight. Their total sitting capacity each boast of the the hundreds and thousands per dining session and during peak seasons, it is a non stop flow of chaos. Most people come for dian xin items and the regular chinese wedding banquets can see more than 6-8 families at times celebrating the union of bliss of their love ones. One can imagine the brigade of chefs preparing all the foods in the extensive menus can easily run into a thousand based on the rotating shifts and the number of masterchefs wielding their rolling pins, cleavers, woks and roasting skewers depending on their areas of speciality all united under the watchful eye of the grand culinary masterchef who probably has spent more time in the kitchen than anywhere else in his entire life time. Guangzhou Restaurant, founded in 1925, has itself has contributed to the birth of quite a few of the region, HK and Macau's Chinese masterchefs. Tao Tao Ju has a longer history dating back to its birth in 1880 with its dim sum touted as the best among the three while Lian Xiang Lou boasts of the best tasting Chinese pastries among the three.

By now you probably would have been reading in awe of these three restaurants and must be wondering how their food tastes? The answer is a big disappointment. Substandard fare i would say. The region of Guangzhou must have exported all her best chefs to around the world leaving the mediocore ones behind in the last hundred years teaching on the next generation substandard knowledge. I am not comparing based on the individual chefs best capibility but as in providing a general standard of dinning service and taste to the man in the street. N, myself and mum thought we would find the best experiences in the culinary paradise from these historic restaurants but we were let down by all three places. What is the problem?Are we picky? Not at all. We all scratched our heads after visiting all these three places and realised that many of these historic Chinese restaurants are still stuck in their historic outfits of taste and service standards. In other words, as chinese restaurants and their customers demand in the rest of the world modernise in decor, dinning etiquettes, menus and service standards, these restaurants were left behind with their ever faithful locals with their own clocks coming to a total standstill of the yesteryears. Comparing with traditional cantonese restaurants like Red Star and Dragon Gate in Singapore, Hong Kong Flower Lounge, Yank Sing and Fook Lam in San Francisco and Red Emperor in Melbourne, the three of them are not able to match on food just alone. And these overseas Cantonese restaurants on their own are not even considered as the best in their own respective adopted countries, but rather we were just comparing apples with apples.

As for service, don't even bother in these three restaurants. In peak dinning hours, as many as three groups of dinning guests can be seated on one big dinning table. The bosses don't get it. With smaller families in recent years, they should start having more smaller tables to accomodate the growth in this segment of dinning customers. Rather it has been accepted to the local dining culture and the whole process goes like this if u are in groups of 2-4pax. Chances are u will be seated with another group sharing the same big table and lazy susan, and should there still be an available space, they will slot in the regular lone ranger as well. It's like the table will have PAP, WP, SDP and maybe an independent candidate to add on to the chaos of the foods served. I am not against table sharing but not at the expense of maximising all available space and sacrificing the customers dining comfort. The dinning experience is totally ruined if u represent the non smoking party because the rest of them will be happily puffing away their Double Happiness cigarettes before, during and after the course of their dinners including those in the neighbouring tables.
Btw, did I mention that we were able to hear all their topics on family, party and work politics thoughout our entire meal with a shower blessing of saliva thrown in for good measure??

Big Flavours in Toa Payoh

2008-09-18T13:23:00.009+08:00

Chua Seng Huat Seafood Restaurant

No 9 Toa Payoh Industrial Park

Lorong 8 Toa Payoh

Tel 62540896

In the twenty years that I have been a chef, there is a Cze Char (dishes cook upon order) restaurant whose owner’s dishes were exceptionally memorable to me. I used to take the opportunities of enjoying his dishes for granted. The story about it is because the owner of this restaurant is a key sponsor to a few of the Teochew clans and temples associations that I belong to and hence whenever there are festive celebrations or funerals, he is sure to be the one there feeding everyone regardless of the occasion. The restaurant that I am talking about here is Chua Seng Huat located at the industrial canteen of Lorong 8 Toa Payoh and the person I refer to is Seng Chong “Chek” or uncle as we address him in Teochew. This unpretentious boss of the Cze Char has the pattern of the “chow ah chek” uncles like those u see hanging around Singapore Pools Turf Club betting outlets on the weekends. You wouldn’t even think he’s the towkay(boss) at first glance as he is often at the back of the house checking on stocks or cutting ingredients for his personally trained chef. Yes, at his age, Seng Chong “Chek” has learnt to take it easy with life. Moreover I can also say he has trained his chef well too as most of his signature dishes are able to be replicate by his chef.
Till today if u want to enjoy Seng Chong “Chek” dishes on the weekends, it is better to make reservations than having to wait for a table and watch others tuck in first. What you will get is a table laid out similar to those Chinese dinners for festive occasions in the seventies minus the soda lime glasses. Some dishes will require advance orders and this include his signature suckling pig or shark’s fin dishes.
In the years that I have been eating dishes put out by their catering team, if u are able to ignore the sometimes “aunties mafia” service attitudes or ambience factor, there is nothing else to pick about. Some of Seng Chong’s dishes that I have always enjoyed include:

Superior Sharks’ Fin Soup- Do not expect this to come in a big bowl with the fins all dispersed around the starchy stock laced with beaten egg. Instead, every time we have the fins, it is always put out in a deep serving plate with the entire comb of fins sitting on top of a mound of freshly picked flower crabmeat. The lovely slightly thickened broth is then laced over and accompanying garnishes like fresh bean sprouts, sliced ham and coriander leaves are topped over the fins. When u have it with a dash of XO Brandy, it is a fantastic synergy of flavours and classic eating cultures.

Suckling Pig- Different from Cantonese Style of having the skin crystal smooth and shiny, the Teochew version has the piglet skin on coarse and crackly. The piglet also has a touch of spiciness and a thin ratio of fat and skin. Instead of Hoi Sin sauce, it is dipped in sweet soy sauce. While the dish may look simple, the skill lies in roasting it on the open fire pitch to achieved its sensational crispiness. Definitely a hard piece of work.

Braised Duck Web- One of their key specialities, requires advance order and available around festive season. Slowly braised in soy sauce until the gelatine tenderizes, the flavourful duck web is served on lightly sautéed iceberg lettuce. Many older folks will love this dish for sure.

Prawns with White Leeks and Crispy Flat Fish- this teochew classic not to be missed, only ang ka prawns are used for this dish and they are one of the best as these prawns are caught from the wild and cannot be farmed. Hence this dish is also subject to daily availability in the markets. In the banquets, Seng Chong uses the large size ones that are nice plump and juicy. Lightly sautéed with White Chives, Shaoxing Wine and fish sauce, the finishing touch of adding crispy fried flat fish pieces gives an additional contrast in textures, toasty fragrance to the dish.

Chestnuts chicken-My utilmate favourite whereby a whole chicken is stuffed with chestnuts, carrots and mushrooms, wrapped in cellophane paper and steamed for more than 2 hours until tender and melt in the mouth softness. Usually on first bit, it is heavenly orgasmic on the palate. As all the natural jus of the chicken is also entrapped within the package, it makes the sauce very flavourful and tasty especially with rice. So good the N and I can just order this and finish it off with rice and a simple vegetable dish.

Prawn Rolls- Traditionally wrapped in pigs' caul but simplified with beancurd skin in today’s standards, the good thing about them is u get more prawns than pork in the rolls here. Also less starch is used as a binder, the taste is more delicate and not heavy.

Steamed Teochew style Pomfret- The ultimate challenge for any reputable Teochew restaurant. The way the fish is pre cut before steaming, control of fire and precision timing is extremely crucial for this dish and experience counts as u monitor these three factors for each fish that goes in to the steamer. The best part of the dish is not the fish itself but the resulting broth from the steaming process. True connoisseurs of this dish will slurp the broth first before going for the fish. By far, Seng Chong’s steamed fish has been very consistent compared to other players like Lee Gui (Ah Hoi) which unfortunately screwed up a small size grouper for me during my last visit.

Prawns with Tofu- Most restaurants/tze char uses commercially made egg tofu for this dish. Here it is different as the tofu is made in house, hence smoother, softer and tastier. This is one of N and my favourites.

Cereal prawns- Quality of prawns used deserves a mention. Large size angka prawns gives the dish a really good bite not to mention the fragrant cereals complimenting it. As the prawns are wild caught, be sure to ask before ordering as some days the sizes are not that fantastically big so u could be disappointed.

Kailan with Bean curd Puffs- Tired of just having your greens with oyster sauce, throw in the bean curd puffs and the dish is a lot more tasty with the fried notes of the puffs giving the boring dish a new dimension of aroma and flavour.

Sea Cucumber with Braised Duck- I could eat a whole pot with rice and be very happy about it. No ducky yucky smell from the meat, very tender and aromatic from the spices used and not to mentions the gelatinous bite of the sea cucumber contrasted by crunchy snow peas and the ooh la la savoury gravy to wet your rice with.

Kong Bak Pau- U may think this only for Chinese funerals, but here, families with three generations in tow will sure to order this dish and the older folks know that this one of Seng Chong’s best dish. If u take care to remove some of the excess fat (only some, not all!!) and lace the warm soft buns with enough coriander, it actually does not taste that greasy. The coriander leaves inject a fresh burst of flavour on bite and brings out the warmth of flavours from the steamed braised pork belly.

Or Nee- This is one place that serves the unadulterated versions of sweetened yam paste with only pumpkin and gingko nuts in a clear syrup, not coconut milk. The yams are very fragrant and if my guess is correct, there is a touch of shallot infused pork lard in the dessert though I do not detect it regularly. It is sinful yes, but that is also the real tradition hence this dessert is never served in big portions.

Reunion with a New Era of Cuisine

2008-07-12T16:46:00.004+08:00

Xin Cuisine Restaurant

Holiday Inn Atrium

317 Outram Road

Singapore, 169075

Tel: 67330188

There were only eleven of us on the table and quite a number of them were the who’s who in the chefs industry of Singapore. But to us, it was more of a night of reunion and supporting a fellow comrade who was settling down to a revamp of a restaurant that has been the playground of his many innovative dishes. The host of the night was Chef D K, a veteran in the culinary industry who has found new love again with the hotel that once propelled him to one of the peaks of his career. On the table were others who have in one way or another helped to shape the culinary scene of what it is today in Singapore.
But to all of us who were there, it was more of a reunion of ex colleagues working together at different times in different sets spanning three different hotels (The former Westin Stamford and Plaza, Marina Mandarin and Raffles Hotels) . All of us have made good one way or another as Executive Chefs of the respective organisations that we are in as none of us are working in a same establishment.
The restaurant we are all in together tonight is Xin Cuisine @ the Holiday Inn Atrium. Recently refurbished, the menu underwent a renovation too with Chef Daniel returning to helm the hotel’s kitchens. Always recognised as one of the trendsetting Chinese restaurants in Singapore and also for its excellent dim sum, post renovations see the revamp of platting and service from platters to individual plates and a more personalised hospitality with little extras of special pre and post tea blends, hot towels and a food friendly wine list. It helps when the F&B Director is also a professional chef by training. Food wise, Chef D worked with Xin’s resident Chinese Chef to introduce a subtle Western touch to the oriental face of Xin’s signature dishes. Why subtle? Well, to be precise, only as and where applicable and without trying too hard to fuse every dish.

We started with Suckling Pig Crackling on Yam and Pumpkin cake. The trio of crackling baby piglet pieces, each with a layer of juicy lean meat, came with a spicy tasting hoi sin sauce that look to me has been altered with some form of flavour improvement than being straight out of container. Why so? Well, besides the layer of chilli oil on the sauce, I could also pick up some notes of garlic and sesame nuttiness from within. The yam and pumpkin cake was like a carved out Swiss roesti but the lightly spiced cake also went very well with the hoi sin sauce.
Soups are one of the dishes that reflect a chef’s patience and sincerity. There are no shortcuts in making a real good soup that taste more like an essence than a broth. Chef D pampered us through each bowl of consommé clear double boiled chicken essence with a generous dose of Chinese-fan shaped cartilages of fin, complimented with flavourful thigh meat pieces and scrapings of velvety smooth young coconut flesh. So good was the soup, nobody noticed the missing traditional condiments of pepper and vinegar from the table.
Personally I am not a fan of lobster because many a time for me, it always comes about overcooked but I do appreciate the effort to get it done at the right doneness which can make it succulent and nice. Hence when biting onto a roll of Breaded Lobster with Wine Infused Rice Dumpling, this was another success story to me in a long time since I had lobster. To achieve the desired taste, the control of fire in handling this crustacean is very important and experience play a crucial role to this. The breaded lobster roll stuffed with asparagus and salted egg was crispy yet not oily nor tough. The glutinous rice coated dumpling was also extracted out of the steamer at the right moment but somehow I felt that the wine notes did not come through that impactful as I would have expected. No doubt it is still a good combination of flavours just a tweak on intensity preferred.
The palate cleanser was not a sorbet as many would have expected but a cool shot of pandan infusion with preserve plum (Suan Mei) juice. Preserved plum juice drinks in this part of the world are always thought to be a good throat relief for multiple meal courses dinners and minor throat ailments. The pandan infusion was felt as a nice background with a calm soothing effect like camomile tea.
Beef and mushrooms have always been a traditional pairing in many different cuisines around the world. Somehow the earthiness of mushrooms makes it a lovely companion to the muskiness of beef and the natural glutamates enhancing effect of the mushrooms makes the beef taste even more beefy than ever. True gourmets will always attain to this regardless the type of beef and mushrooms chosen. Hence the Wok Seared Wagyu Beef Rolls with Premium Mushroom is an inspiration cooked from classical pairings in a new culinary retrospect. With two rolls in a portion, I took one with the button mushroom puree that it was sitting on enjoying one of the best matches of ingredients and dipped the other into a more robust intense garlic soy dipping sauce. Both versions scored in my opinion, it doesn’t matter which side of the plate u are on. To fully enjoy the beef tenderness and melt in mouth sensation, the chef has cleverly left the centre core of the meat roll underdone for us.
Breaking away from classical practice, fish in modern Chinese restaurants no longer come in a complete anatomy as the traditional mindsets deem it fit. Fillets of choice breeds like grouper, marble goby and codfish seem the norm these days. We got grouper tonight. As a keen fisherman, I can tell you that the genetic nature and lifestyle of the fish does have an effect on the taste. Groupers make one of the tastiest fillets due to its sedentary nature of feeding, preferring to ambush than chase and hunt for its prey. It has a delicate sweetness and best to appreciate au natural or just to dress it with very light flavours. Hence I didn’t quite agree with Chef D serving the steamed fish smeared and gas torched with a double shot aioli (garlic mayonnaise). I am not saying that the sauce was no good; in fact it is so that it could even stand on its own, just that it was a David and Goliath pairing in terms of flavours, the fish being David this time. The beautifully pungent aioli with have been a fairer match to oily fishes like cod or salmon but for groupers, simple subtleness is the key to me to unlock their potentials.
What really captivated my senses was the Combination of Steam Rice in Bamboo Leaves. Glutinous, Thai Jasmine and US Wild Rice were cooked together, each releasing their merits into the successful synergy that was compliment by the fragrance of the fresh bamboo leaves it was served it. Glutinous rice contributed to the velvety texture on palate, Thai Jasmine gave the dish its aroma and the Wild Rice added colour contrasts with the two formers and a dimension of nuttiness toasty fragrance. The right combination sends a rice lover like me back to appreciating the taste of one of the most basic food ingredients of life unadulterated.
While most Chinese desserts are predictable, putting an element of surprise does raise the bar of expectations. The thrill came in the form of Sesame Crusted Glutinous Rice Ball on a Steamed Thousand Layer Cake. Inside each ball, was intense liquor infused chocolate piece. Upon cooking the rice ball and serving it hot, we bit into a burst of the melting chocolate and explosion of liquor sensation which simply blows you away with an unexpected Wow! Whatever that flowed out and was not captured on the palate, the sensational liquid is contained within the thousand layer cake below which also doubles as a background cushion for the sesame ball. It can be quite a heavy ending for some to the meal we had but I am not complaining about the lovely surprise that came with it.
Putting aside business rivalry, this rare opportunity of chefs gathering around good food and wines does make the eating experience a lot more intellectual and enriching. I myself, for sure will come back again to check on their much exclaimed excellent dim sum.

Desert Grub

2008-06-12T13:08:00.010+08:00

One of the things in life that brings people together is food. So right in the middle of the congress here in Dubai, one of the key highlights is their cuisine hospitality. Arab cultures defines that all guests must be welcomed with big feasts with big portions and big amount of varieties. It does not matter what type of food u have on the table, it must be presented in big portions so that the host is seen as generous with plenty to go around. Well, in the five days of arabic hospitality, we did went through quite a bit and it was also a good opportunity to revisit the world of Arabic flavours dominated by Lebanese and Iranian influences. It evoked memories of time spent in Riyadh in 2000 as well as preparing those dishes that were served to Arab royalties when I was Executive Sous Chef onboard Lady Moura. As the Emirates modernise, so do the people's taste buds and they have a growing appetite for Thai, Malaysian, Indian and Mediterranean Flavours. Below are pictures of the displays and buffet lines we had during the 4 day congress.

Different kinds of starters, Arabic mezzes, hummus tahini, salads....
Main highlight of the hot dishes was the Camel Meat Briyani which the hump was used as the center piece.

The fantastic cheese selection of imported and local Arabic cheeses....

Desserts were a mass orgy of everything from all cultures....from mousses to jellies, cakes and the ultimate muhallahbia....

Desert Adventures

2008-06-11T12:58:00.004+08:00

Well, the dust has finally settled for me since coming back from Dubai. After clearing all the backlog and recovering from a bout of severe food poisoning, I am ready to blog once again on sharing what we went through in Dubai.
Though Team Singapore did not win the WACS Presidium, nonetheless we did won much respect and a name for ourselves from the 86 other countries who saw our close fight in the the pitch against the team from Iceland. For me, the experience of wearing national colours once again in such a international prestige event has been a learning experience on public speaking, handling of media and building up new network of friendships with chefs from around the world.
Some of the main highlights on the Congress:
Congress Opening Day 1

(With Elvin, Singapore Junior Chefs Club) (Congress Main Dinning Hall)

(Arabic welcome with rotan, chanting and drums) (SG/Msian Chefs, Peter,Me, Audee and Yen (SG))

(Our Mongolian friends in WACS for the first time!) (Outgoing President F. Metz delivers his last address)

(Team Singapore making our Presidium Bid ppt.) (86 countries in attendance)
Congress Day 2:
Countries Pitching to be the host for WACS congress 2012: India, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Portugal

(S Korean team with Da Chang Jin as part of their pitch) (India Delegation making presentation)

(Anxiety before results) (South Korea wins the bid to be host for 2012)
(I was tasked to lead the congress in observing a moment of silence in respect to victims of the China Sichuan Earthquake)
Congress Day 3: We lost the bid to Iceland

(Chef Eric Teo having a light moment with our Junior Chefs) (One of the best souvenir pictures)

Chefs Anderson Ho and Tiffany Yeo representing Singapore for the Global Chefs Challenge, we pulled in the best media prize for this event!!

(On behalf of the Chinese Cuisne Association/Shanghai Chapter, I delivered their message of thanks to the Congress members with regards to their care,concern and immediate action following the Sichuan earthquake disaster.)

Coming up next.... all the desert grub we had for the 5 days!

Team Singapore Goes to Dubai!!

2008-05-10T10:23:00.005+08:00

With support and endorsements from Workforce Development Agency, Singapore Tourism Board, IE Singapore and the Singapore Chefs Association, Team Singapore will be in Dubai from 10th-15th of May contesting for the running of the next Presidium of the World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS). The writer of this blog is proud and honoured to be nominated for the post of Secretary General to this prestigious appointment and together with the team will do all we can to bring back for the first time in history the running of the biggest Chefs Association in the world to Singapore. At this moment, the team has only been featured in Lian He Zaobao (official Chinese Press Singapore)

Gut Instincts

2008-05-08T23:51:00.010+08:00

Mag's Wine Kitchen

86 Circular Road

Singapore 049086

Tel: 6438-3836

Two weeks ago, N and I resume our weekend resolution to eat in one nice place for each week. After an earlier disappointing round at Wood in Vivo City, it only reaffirmed my vibe to blog on restaurants which are reputed to be good by word of mouth and are at least six months old or more than that. Most of Singapore’s food media and blogs tend to chase after new openings to create stories while I prefer to be the one to keep those well hyped places in check for consistency and the badly thrashed ones a second chance after more than six months of operations. I have had both positive and negative experiences, some just went downhill after getting all slammed with a positive review while some badly thrashed ones actually did a reverse damage control by a major overhaul and enjoyed new successes with word of mouth publicity.
This time round our place in check was Mag's Wine Kitchen. A small cozy outfit that can fill not more than 30pax, daily menus reflect what are the best things Chef Magdelene can get from her purveyors or the markets for each day and are crafted from there. Chef Magdelene Tang, is a self taught chef whose previous experience used to be playing with numbers in the banking industry. Now she toys with fresh produce everyday in here little open concept kitchen at the rear corner of the restaurant. If u have a “textbook” mentality towards food, best not to try here. You NEED to be adventurous and trust your dinner menu completely to Mag if u want to be able to fully appreciate her culinary talents.
I started with Tian of Crabmeat which was a ring formatted tile of fresh crabmeat dressed with wasabi, mayonnaise and tobiko. The creamy mixed crabmeat contrasted well against the little bubbles of tobiko which when burst on palette, released subtle streaks of briny flavours. The micro greens of purple sisho leaves did more than just as a pretty garnish. When chewed on, they release a mint herbal fragrance that refreshed the palate very well against the seafood notes of the crabmeat and tobiko.
N chose to have the Seared Scallops as starters. The Hokkaido scallops are widely known to be one of the most flavourful varieties and are distinguished by their slightly yellowish brown colour in comparison to their creamy white cousins from US or Canada. Despite their smaller size, they have more concentrated flavours than the bigger white scallops and when seared nicely, they are absolutely wonderful to have just with a simple touched of salt and freshly grounded pepper. A small bouquet of fresh greens laced with a drizzle of balsamic dressing complimented the duo of scallops
Main courses were instant winners with us both the beef and pork. N’s Angus fillet was done right at medium rare and the home made wine laden demi glace was a not only a compliment to the lovely beef, it also synergized very well with the truffle oil flavoured mash potato. The rich demi glace was so good that I volunteered to mop the remaining sauce up with bread when N was done with her piece of meat.
My thick slab of kurobuta pork loin was equally fantastic with the meat perfectly just cooked although I know some people might still find it squeamish to have little pinkish streaks in the centre of the pork. It was so juicy on its own that I felt the sauce was kind of redundant but the petite pineapple salsa held up well against the lightly seasoned pork. Its acidity cut away some of the richness and some how I have always liked the flavour of pineapples against seafood and meats like poultry and pork. Needless to say, both main courses scored well in terms of expectations.
We made the right decision to order two portions of desserts through gut feel. Normally we would share one or have two different choices but the calling of that moment was to have two of the Chocolate Fondant with Home Made Vanilla Ice cream. While the name of the dessert may sound so familiar already, the way it tasted was still something to shout about. Yes, we waited twenty minutes for it as preempted and it was every bit worth it. The piping hot fondant came with oozing chocolate lava in the center and the little specks on the ice cream stamped on the confirmation that real natural vanilla pods were used to make the heavenly tasting dessert.
Value perception lies in the eye of the beholder but given the prices and portions we paid, I would love to come back here again soon despites the cramp but cosy ambience. Some may not like it but as a chef myself, I do appreciate the smells of cooking almost immediately when we walk in as that is the best prelude to a delicious dinner soon to come.

Village People

2008-04-23T21:42:00.005+08:00

Soon Heng Prawn Noodles

Alexandra Village Hawkers Center

#01-53

Somehow always in between haute cuisine, its always good to go back to our roots and enjoy something simple and familar in taste. With WGS and FHA on going simultaneously, a nights off from the socialising events meant I could have a break to enjoy local hawkers fare without much fuss.

One of my recent discovery was the above mentioned stall that sells Singapore Style Prawn Mee Soup. While it is no where near in terms of quality comparison with the Penang version, still it is one of the better stalls that I have come across. Using my instinct to check out hawkers that are older and long standing only at a single location, this husband and wife managed stall prove that there are still some decent prawn noodles stall by local standards. I have had their noodles at different times of the day and best time is always after seven before nine in the evening when they close. The soup by now would be much richer and the pork ribs if u like, with meat falling off the bone tender. The broth is less darker but there is a nice pleasant balance of sweetness and savoury notes with a very meaty profile. Serve in aged porcelain bowls like what many of us used to know with push cart hawkers 20-30 years again, its nostalgic and I am always happy to find places that can offer memories of my childhood makan favourites again.

Btw, the Old Punggol Satay stall next to them is also very happening. I will do a short blog on them the next round when pics are ready.

Bocuse D'Or Singapore Selection

2008-04-23T20:56:00.008+08:00

Despite being busy to the point of not being able to blog for the whole month, it has been a full month of good food experiences both eating out with N and key events happening in the local chefs industry.
The kick off started with Bocuse D’Or Singapore selection, a high profiled event in the global culinary world where representative competitors from 6 different continental zones meet in the finals at Lyons next year. The competition is held in honour to one of the world’s greatest chefs, Paul Bocuse. The Singapore winner will pitch his skills in the Asia region finals in Shanghai on May 30th with five others selected from countries within Asia. Only two competitors will be picked as representatives from Asia for the finals in Lyons 2009.
Our Singapore selection was held in the kitchens @ ITE Clementi on 15th of March. Some of the contestants include Executive Chefs Robin Ho (Marmalade Group), Edward Voon (The Cannery), Yong Bing Ngen (Majestic Restaurant), Executive Sous Chef Jeffery Siew (Merchant Court Hotel) and Sous Chef Jason Tan from Saint Julien Restaurant. The main sponsor of Bocuse D’Or is Norge who represents Norwegian seafood. Hence Norwegian Salmon was the main theme of the dishes and competitors had to cooked four main course portions from scratch within five hours. It is interesting to note that some dishes reflected the personality of the restaurants and chefs that work in them. Chef Edward Voon’s dish presented elements of molecular gastronomy with foams, gels and confit style cooking. Chef Robin showcased more on technical difficulty with alternate flavours and tastes while Chef Yong Bing Ngen stuck to his roots of interpreting Chinese classics with and modern European twist. In the end, both three won the selection and the winner was Chef Jason Tan from St Julien Restaurant.Though I wasn’t in the judging panel, I was still invited as guest to the event. Below are the other dishes that we sampled.

Newspaper Article 14th March

2008-03-23T20:58:00.005+08:00

The writer of this blog was featured in the billingual newspaper "My Paper" last week. As usual with local press, they will ask u for tonnes of information and then only publish half the story to their readers. I have it before already with Business Times and Sunday Life, now the one below is no surprise either:To my readers, here is the full story which u people will never see it published:

1. How were you being inducted as one of the omy bloggers?
Out of the blue one day two months before omy was launched, one of your colleagues got a referral about me from another referral, called me and the rest is history.

2. What is your exact occupation and where do you ply your craft?
I Cook, Host , Educate and Feed people about food professionally, ie CHEF. I started learning the craft since 16yrs old and never looked back since. I have done time in hotels, restaurants, catering, serving onboard super size megayachts and going with them around the world as well as undertaking personal chef disciplines of this profession. Currently I have spread my wings into research and development for the last five years incorporating the science of food and cooking with culinary art as a new portfolio. I practice this in the research facilities and kitchens of the world’s largest food, beverage and wellness company, N.

3. What are some of the goals you hope to achieve through your blog now that it's being read by the multitudes?
Realistically I hope to share more stories about my adventures with food and cuisines around the world as I travel regularly. Also to educate more people about how chefs look at food and the art of its appreciation from a culinary expert point of view. Well reading is not really enough, to understand things better, people also should come by to experience some of the global cuisine workshops that I conduct to introduce new ideas and ways of cooking from experiences (http://www.cookwithpassion.blogspot.com/).
Singaporeans eat to be seen but often more than half of the people I talk to have no idea what they are putting in their mouths and how things should be appreciated in the different cuisines as it is in their original culture. A good example is the appreciation of Spanish cuisine in Singapore. While many are hip and hop about celebrating Italian cuisine here because it is easy to start with pizza and pasta, but nobody can really say the same about Spanish food in Singapore. Both countries share the bounties of the Mediterranean Sea, have similar kind of cheeses, hams and vegetables as their cuisine repertoire and have a strong love for the taste of pork in different ways of preparation. But just look at how many Spanish restaurants are there in Singapore in comparison with Italian restaurants not to mention those that can be really called authentic. Pardon me, but if you can’t even find padron peppers here to start with as one of the most basic form of tapas, how far else can u go?
Unrealistically, I dream that all the people who read my blog will have the same enthusiasm about food in an educated way from media, dinning experiences and reference readings of various food related publications as I do and if that happens, the Chef profession will become the most respected occupation in Singapore. Right now I can’t even say if it has made it to top twenty yet. Singaporeans generally still prefer to be served than having to serve.

4. What is it about your blog do you think will attract layman readers who haven't got a clue about fine dining and quality cuisines?

Pictures. Along with the stories of the articles, every picture says a thousand words and is self explanatory when you look at them. Also, I try to explain the emotions, feelings evolved, and the right mindset of the dinning experiences in relation to the restaurant’s environment, chefs’ skills and the complexity of preparing such dishes in a stressful environment.

5. As a chef, what is your axiom when it comes to creating culinary delights?

Never serve food to people that you would not want to have for yourself.

6. We all know that you are an avid traveller through your blog, please tell us about a trip or two that you remember the best and what was about it that made it so memorable - the food, the people, the sights etc?

1) 1998 Atlantic Crossing. Working onboard a Monaco based super yacht, we had to cross the Atlantic Ocean to Fort Lauderdale in Florida for the annual boat show there. The trip took us across the Mediterranean Sea, encountering 7 foot waves around the Gulf of Lyon. We stop at Gibraltar for fuel and took shelter again in Tenerife, Spanish Canary Islands before making the pitch to cross the ocean. We were blessed with fantastic weather and tail currents pushing us as we cross the ocean for five an half days, reaching the US Virgin Islands of St Croix. Along the way, I saw dolphins trying to chase our yacht by swimming along side us and playing with the waves created by the propellers. I admired beautiful sunsets and sunrises over the horizon and no matter how big a boat looks in port, it’s just a tiny weenie dot on the vast ocean. There was peace in appreciating the calmness if the ocean at times and we also passed an entire US Navy Carrier Battle Group of aircraft carrier, frigates and destroyers. It was an awesome sight. In the nights, it was pitch dark on deck that you could not even see your own palm. But it was so beautiful looking at the stars on clear cloudless nights.
2) Atlantis Bahamas Integrated Resort
After the boat show in Florida, we move to Paradise Island in the Bahamas for three months when the Atlantis Integrated Resort first opened in 1999. It was the most happening place on earth then with the luxurious accommodations, casinos, a few fantastic underground aquariums and lots of food and beverage outlets to choose from. Though we did not stay in the resort rooms, we still use the facilities of the resort and full access to the attractions on it. It was a memorable three months of seeing and experiencing a brand new integrated resort way even before Singapore talked about building them.

7. What is the dish that has you wanting to go back for more all this while? Why?
Mum’s Braised Chicken Wings with Carrots and Potatoes. A simple home cooked dished of braised deep fried chicken wings with soy sauce, spices, carrots and potatoes, the wings were braised till it was almost falling off the bone the taste of it very balanced with a delcious balances in taste of savoury sweetness. I practically grew up with this dish from the day I could take rice as a toddler and thinking about it makes me salivate. It was especially memorable when I was away working in Europe and US and it’s a comfort food that makes me feel homesick sometimes.

8. If you meet a rat who can teach you how to cook a dish, what will it be?
Being born in the year of the Rat, it would be more interesting to go out and explore new dishes together.

9. Please pick a lesser known Singaporean dish that has a potential to be known internationally a la Chicken Rice, and why so?
Char Kway Teow. The best plate that I have eaten comes from the tuck-shop of the old St Anthony’s Boys School in Victoria Street. It was so good that the principal had to put a stop on members of the public from coming in to the school just to eat it. Char Kway Teow is a dish of Teochew origin. But it is found around South East Asia in many different forms. In Malaysia, Penang Char Kway Teow is the best in the country. In Thailand, Pad Thai is the Tha represented version while Cambodia, and Vietnam, Char Kway Teow is kept close to its roots as the way it’s done in Shantou China. The fried noodles are served white with slight variations of condiments like prawns and pickled radish that distinguishes them from one another. Interestingly, Singapore Char Kway Teow is fried with a sweet molasses flavoured dark soya sauce and cockles. It has been widely accepted by locals and integrated as part of our local food culture. It is being widely promoted by our tourism board as one of the icons of our local hawker dishes.

10. Many people think that preparing fine dining takes alot of time and effort. Is this true or just plain hearsay? What was the fastest time you took to create a palatable dish?

Fine dining recipes take skills and patience to prepare. Skills are required because of a greater technical difficulty. Patience is a must to combine the individually prepared components of a dish for example the marinating of meats, preparation of sauces and garnishes. Culinary Artistry is also required to assemble all these components into a dish. Actually it is easy to prepare these individual components but takes time to prepare them. It’s all about organizing your preparation work or misc-en-place as we call it in kitchen lingo and u can assemble a dish with cooking involved in 10-15 minutes. Many people do not understand that the high prices charged in fine dinning is to justify all these activities which they do not see as customers.

11. Lastly, please tell us if you would eat the things you cook or do you prefer to let others taste it instead?
It is imperative that all chefs must taste their creations before serving them to customers. We are professionals so we must take responsibilities to make sure food is good when served. We taste to make the dish is right. Customers and guests should have the pleasure of enjoying the whole dish and if they do, it’s the best compliment and satisfaction to any chef. Ironically, people who cook usually loose their appetite in the process and takes about two hours later before they feel hungry again. Till then we will see what is leftover in order to decide for ourselves whether or not to eat our own dishes.

Do U Get the MSG?(Message)

2008-03-16T20:32:00.007+08:00

As a chef, one of those things that irritates me the most when people freak out or cringe when they hear of MSG in cooking. Thanks to the media who always portray half the story of MSG in whatever articles that are published, more often than not the taste enhancer is given the bad publicity than good.

During my apprentice years, a Chinese Masterchef once told me literally "no MSG, no Masterchef". His words speak of wisdom in understanding the skill of using MSG through natural occuring ingredients or as an add on ingredient during cooking process for that taste enhancement effect of the whole dish. I emphasize strongly on the word "Taste Enhancement" because there is a need to clear the air about using MSG for the above purpose and having it as a flavour substitute. To a certain extent, chefs and cooks are also responsible for the bad publicity of MSG due to a lack of knowledge in dealing with the use of this ingredient.First of all, lets look at some facts about MSG:

1) It is not a food poison. US FDA and our AVA approves of its use as a food ingredient

2) It is flavourless and has no aroma

3) Like salt, sugar and fats (oil), anything in excess is not good for your body. So is MSG

4) It has a lower level of sodium that salt

Different people have different tresholds for all kinds of taste, from salty to sweet, sour, bitter, spicy and umami. Can i blame chili as a bad ingredient if I am the kind of person that perspires profusely when my tastebuds are exposed to very spicy cuisine?

A good chef should know the art of creating the balance of taste in culinary artistry. The glutamate properties of MSG in naturally occuring ingredients or powder are able to effect the cause of salivation or mouth watering sensation when we eat such foods. For instance, if u bite into a sun ripen tomato, do u feel the urge to take a second bite because of flavour satisfaction? This urge is caused by the high natural occurence of MSG in tomatoes and in fact they are one the known vegetables with natural high content of MSG. Many chefs and hawkers try to cut corners for profit and laziness reasons. They think that if a little goes a long way, then the more the merrier which results in negative taste perceptions of this taste enhancement ingredient. Like salt and sugar, MSG does have a "saturation" point on our taste buds. Too much of it will cause our salivary glands to secrete excessive saliva thats results us to the point of feeling thirsty, hence the often mentioned Chinese Restaurant Syndrome. Good quality ingredients should form the basis of all dishes from the stocks and sauces used. A small dosage of MSG provides the dish with the essential amount of glutamates to the point of tickling our tastebuds with a gentle perception of savouriness and mouth watering effects. That is the proper way of using MSG in cooking so that it does not exceeds the excessive amounts that turns it into a negative effect on the palate. Sadly, many chefs/hawkers have yet to understand this fact or just cannot afford to have real quality ingredients in their recipes because of cost constraints caused by other fixed costs of operations like high rentals and labour wages. For example, u are more likely to get a lousy soup stock in mall operated food courts than in a neighbourhood hawkers center due the the difference of rentals that can be as much as a few thousand dollars a month. Below is an extract of a better understanding of the fifth taste Umami and more information of MSG not commonly published in main media.

Umami: The fifth taste

By Julie Cabatit-Alegre

Thursday, February 21, 2008

If it’s not sweet or sour or bitter or salty, what else could it be? Have you heard of umami? It is believed to be the fifth primary element of taste, in addition to the four basic tastes that we were taught in grade school and are familiar with.
A “new taste sensation” is how The Wall Street Journal described it. It is a “universal taste,” says Kumiko Ninomiya, director of the Umami Information Center in Tokyo, Japan. Ninomiya was the guest speaker at the first Umami Symposium in Manila held recently at the Blue Leaf Pavilion in Fort Bonifacio.
The “new taste sensation” was, in fact, identified 100 years ago by Prof. Kikunae Ikeda at the Tokyo Imperial University from experiments he conducted in 1907. He lived for two years in Germany where there were no Japanese restaurants, and it was then he felt the longing for that distinctive taste found in Japanese food.
In his experiments, Ikeda found the distinctive taste present in broth made from kombu, a type of dried seaweed found in traditional Japanese cuisine. From the kombu broth, Ikeda succeeded in extracting crystals of glutamic acid or glutamate, an amino acid, which is the building block of protein. He found that glutamate had a distinctive taste, which was different from sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. He called it umami, the Japanese term for deliciousness.
“But umami is not the same as deliciousness, although umami is part of deliciousness,” Ninomiya explains. The tasting sessions at the symposium resulted in a lively exchange among the participants, mostly food scientists and nutritionists, university professors and researchers, as well as chefs and foodies on what exactly is umami. The participants tasted dashi, which was prepared by a Japanese chef. Dashi is a clear broth, which is essential in Japanese cooking. It uses kombu as well as dried flakes from bonito, a naturally salty-tasting deep-water type of fish. Earlier, upon entering the symposium venue, the participants also took part in a taste test where they were made to sample two small bowls of tinola soup, and rate each one according to a set of questions provided. One of the bowls was umami.
The “um” factor is how culinary specialist Nancy Reyes, of the family of the iconic Aristocrat Restaurant, referred to it in her talk. “It is found all over the Filipino menu,” she says, “in adobo, sinigang, sisig, nilaga, and, of course, tinola.”
Condiments and dipping sauces are indispensable on a Filipino table, Nancy observes, and our own fish sauce or patis has been called “umami in a bottle.” Tomato is the most common ingredient used for umami. Nancy recalled how her grandmother, the venerable Aling Asyang, used to deputize her grandchildren to pick through large baskets of ripe tomatoes, choosing the ones at the peak of ripeness to be used in ginisa or the Spanish sofrito for sautéeing meat or vegetable with garlic, onion, and tomatoes in oil. “The overripe tomatoes are even more flavorful. They require shorter cooking time for the glutamates to be released,” Nancy explains.
“Adobo tastes better a day after it is cooked, when the glutamate is released and you get a rounded flavor that is umami,” she adds.
To enhance umami in cooking, Nancy shares the following techniques: Use heat to release the glutamate; through fermentation to produce glutamate acid (e.g. buro); add acids and pickle solution (i.e. sugar, vinegar); add onion, coconut milk and tomatoes; add MSG (monosodium glutamate).
MSG is said to be one of the most extensively researched food substances. On the question of safety when used as a flavor enhancer, Dr. Josefa Eusebio, president of the Philippine Glutamate Association and professor at UP-Los Baños, has this to say: “The body does not distinguish the source of glutamate, whether natural or manufactured. It is utilized by the cells in the small intestines. It is rapidly metabolized and 90 percent is used as energy. It does not accumulate in the blood stream. It is not toxic. There is no truth to the rumor that dogs die when burglars feed them MSG.”
Glutamate is found in mother’s milk, 10 times more than in cow’s milk. It is found in all protein-containing foods. Fermented foods are also rich in glutamate. In addition to glutamate, two other substances, which are important taste elements in natural foods — inosinate from dried bonito and guanylate from dried shiitake mushrooms — have also been identified.
Umami has been described as meaty or brothy. Parmesan cheese is said to be one of the most glutamate-rich foods, while mushrooms, particularly shiitake mushrooms, contain both glutamate and guanylate. Anything alive in the ocean is high in glutamate, and this includes seafood as well as sea plants, such as seaweed. The fermentation process in making fish sauce as well as soy sauce breaks down proteins, releasing flavorful glutamate.

The umami taste eliminates the need to use salt or oil and enables us to eat healthy. Our tongue acts as a barometer for taking in necessary nutrients. “You should try to be taste-conscious,” Ninomiya remarks. “Tasting is believing.”

Monosodium Glutamate (Extract from Food Product Design)
Many experts say that MSG should be looked at carefully assuming that its use is within the acceptable parameters. In other words, the designer must be sure its use is permissible with any label or marketing claims.
As with salt, MSG derived from naturally fermented sources has been used for centuries to improve the acceptance of Asian foods. In 1908, when extracting the glutamic acid salts from sea tangle, a type of seaweed, Kikunae Ikeda, Ph.D., called the flavor contribution "umami." Still under extensive study to elucidate the sensory mechanisms, it presents an interesting sensory, product development and public relations challenge. According to Franny Hildabrand, manager of technical services, technical products for Integrated Ingredients, Bartlesville, OK, it is the combination of taste and feeling factors that contribute to the gustatory experience. (For an extensive discussion, see Umami: a Basic Taste edited by Kawamura and Kate.)
MSG has been surrounded with negative publicity linking it with a number of adverse physical effects including headaches, dizziness and chest pain, popularized as the "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome." Because of the lack of scientific consensus on these effects, in 1995 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) contracted the Life Sciences Research Office (LSRO) of the Federation of American Studies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) to analyze the safety issues related to the consumption of MSG and other food sources of glutamate based on the available scientific literature.
The Expert Panel convened by LSRO/FASEB concluded that the oral ingestion of more than 3 grams of monosodium glutamate in the absence of food can cause a sensitive subgroup of the general population to respond "generally within one hour of exposure, with manifestations of the MSG symptom complex" (their term for what has been called the "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome"). The report also indicated that certain asthmatics may experience bronchospasms, or difficulty breathing, after ingesting MSG in doses equal to or greater than 2.5 grams.
However, the Expert Panel also concluded that to date, no scientifically valid studies have been performed to confirm the existence of any of the hypothetical mechanisms that underlie adverse responses to MSG. They also stated that "no evidence exists to support the ability of orally ingested glutamate to produce neurotoxic or lesioning effects in humans." The panel could find no links to Alzheimer's or any other long-term or chronic disease. This has led the FDA to reaffirm that MSG and related substances should be considered safe ingredients "for most people when eaten at customary levels," according to an FDA position paper. FDA has also said that "we believe there is no connection between MSG and asthma."
Aileen Peters, vice president, public affairs, Ajinomoto USA, Teaneck, NJ, doesn't see the report as negative for MSG: "FDA concluded that MSG is safe for consumption for the general public. The FASEB report suggested further study because there was support for the concept that 3 grams on an empty stomach might cause some small portion of the population to have a reaction. The other question mark was a potential link between MSG and asthma Since that time the FDA has reviewed the data and come out very strongly saying they did not concur. The science on asthma is pretty conclusive."
Peters also notes that yet another study is underway at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, La Jolla, CA, that is expected to provide more evidence. She expects results of this study to be released in March.
Because the data indicate that some portion of the population may experience a reaction to MSG, the FDA has advanced notice of proposed rulemaking that may affect labeling requirements for foods containing free glutamates. It would require the labeling of foods containing more than 200 mg of glutamate per serving from any source. The reader is referred to the Federal Register, Vol. 61, No. 178, September 12, 1996 for more details. No final rules have been issued as of this writing.
Currently the FDA requires that when MSG is added to food, it must appear only in the ingredient legend. However, products labeled "no MSG" or "no added MSG" must not contain any ingredients that are considered sources of free glutamates such as hydrolyzed protein.
Peters notes that the industry is continuing consumer information programs "rather aggressively because the American public was not very well informed on what MSG was and why it was used. You avoid a problem by informing consumers in advance. You simply can't scare consumers if they know that the volume of science is behind MSG's safe use."
Monosodium glutamate is a powerful tool and, if within the agreed upon boundaries of acceptable solutions, should be considered a key test variable. However, if MSG can't be used to enhance flavor, what are the alternative choices? Product developers can turn to a variety of hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, yeast extracts, and 5' Prime nucleotides. However, the use of these ingredients may also be affected by consumer concerns regarding glutamates and FDA rulings on labeling.

City of Bohemian Crystal and Music

2008-03-05T21:21:00.012+08:00

On a recent assignment to Prague, Czech Republic, representing the Singapore Chefs Association, I was lucky enough to be given an opportunity to meet the who’s who of the chefs profession in Continental Europe. I am not talking about the Michelin starred restaurant chefs who work in big fancy restaurants, but people who have made many sacrifices of the their private time and energy to proactively promote the chefs profession beyond their normal routines of work. For the less informed, in the world of the chef’s profession, there is supposedly at least one State government recognised chefs’ association or guild in every country all over the world. Each country is represented through their own chefs’ association in the mother of all chefs’ societies known globally as the World Association of Chefs’ Societies (WACS). Like the UN, WACS brings all the chefs around the world together in its activities and its representation is classified to different continents around the globe.
I was in Prague at the invitation of the current WACS Presidium with a fellow colleague as Team Singapore making our pitch for the Lion City’s bid to the running of the next presidium. One of the hardest thing things to adjust in business travel is jetlag where your body’s routine is upset by the different time zones. Still I would like to share everyone here pictures of the opening dinner prepared by the President of the Czech Republic’s Chef Association and his team of chefs for the 30+ of us in this conference representing more than 20 countries in Europe. Dinner was hosted at the Zlata Praha Restaurant, Hotel Intercontinental , Prague.

Here are some of the items on the Menu:

Starters:

Insalata Caprese,Cesear Salad with Chicken,Cobb Salad with 1000 Island Dressing
Italian Seafood Salad with Lemon Olive Oil Dressing

Main Courses:

Roast Pork Loin with Thyme Gravy, Confit of Lamb Shanks, Pilaf Rice, Buttered Vegetables, Oven Baked Fillet of Salmon on Green Pea Mash, Roasted Potatoes

From the dessert table of assorted pastries:

Btw did I mentioned that dinner ended@ 6am SG time for me......Yawn!

Rocking Good!

2008-02-13T22:03:00.007+08:00

Wild Rocket @ Mount Emily

Hangout Hotel, 10a Upper Wilkie Road.

Singapore 228119.

Tel : 63399448

With the bulk of the festive cooking workshops finally over, N and I finally have sometime to catch a breather. We have missed one of our favourite weekend activities since last Oct due to the each other’s hectic schedule around this time of the year. We have read so many reviews of new restaurants launches in the past couple of months, some applauded, some trashed.
A firm believer to comment only on established restaurants, I seldom will want to write on a brand new establishment that is less than six months or a year old in order for them to sort out operation issues and fine tuning of menus. Hence when we could finally squeeze a Saturday evening out together, we chose to go to Chef Willin Low’s Wild Rocket @ Mount Emily which has been around for more than a year. It was our first experience but we have heard nothing but good raves about this place since its opening, both from media and friends. Stepping in after a nightmarish forty five minute jam, we still got our reserved table despite having an almost packed restaurant. A positive sign for the standard of food served is how I would perceive it as, considering the fickle minded of local customers here who seldom have loyalty to restaurants and are often spoilt for choices on where to go.
N started with a Seared Tuna on Rocket Leaves which came with soy and ginger flavoured dressing. Keeping things simple, the flavours were clean and the fish was fresh enough to stand on its own though it wasn’t the kind of sashimi yellow fin tuna. The rocket leave provided a nice cushion for the tuna and its peppery nutty taste encored the taste of the whole dish with great harmony.
I opted for something more comforting in the form of a Duck Consomme with Salted Vegetables and Duck Confit Ravioli. Basically this dish is also known locally as Kiam Chye Duck Soup in the heartlands. Chef Willin probably got the inspiration from there. The soup arrived with a meaty aroma that gave me a sensation of slow simmering for maximum flavour extraction. This was concurred by the taste profile which had rich meaty notes on the palate further enhanced by the innovative wonton skin raviolis filled with tender duck confit. The whole experience leads me to crave for a light red wine to go with the bowl of soup.
Before the main courses, we opted to share one of the Chef’s signatures which is a Laksa Pesto Linguine with Fresh Prawns. Initially visualizing it to be closer to our local hawkers’ version, it came with a direction closer to an Italian Pesto than a local one. Hence the sauce did not contain any notes of dried shrimp or coconut. The generous use of laksa leaves kept the associated colour of pesto and gave the sauce its signature aromatic fragrance. More importantly the chef got the texture of the pasta right at its al dente doneness. However the prawns could have fare slightly better for its freshness.
Being winter now in Europe, I urge N to go for the Boned Stuffed Quail with Prunes which turn out to be a great option. The bacon wrapped bird was roasted to the right doneness and went very well with the dried prune compote and gelatinous rich demi glace. Against the sweet prunes, each morsel of salty wrapped bacon quail tasted simply divine!
Hungry for carbohydrates, I opted for a Miso Braised Pork Soft Bone Risotto which was a deceivingly flat looking dish ready to explode with great flavours on the palate. The soft bones tasted more like tendons to me and their gelatinous nature enriched the dimension of complexity in this dish while complimenting the creaminess of the cooked rice grains. The miso pungency was well balanced into the overall taste of the dish and flakes of dried chilies gave it a spicy kick with the background of soft tender braised rib meat. I could relate this dish to a spicy version of Nonya Babi Pongteh and found its overall taste very comforting and homely with a subtle hint of sophistication.
Desserts found us having a Black Sesame Paste with Vanilla Ice Cream and a Kuay Bulu Tiramisu. The black sesame paste was not as smooth if its was to be compared to Cantonese Chee Ma Wu but the slight grittiness from caramel bits was a good contrast to the smooth velvety ice cream. What captivated me was the bulu tiramisu. In place of sponge fingers, were balls of coffee soaked kuay bulu interspersed with a marscapone cheese mousse flavoured with marsala wine. Yes! That's the important part of a good tiramisu in terms of authenticity. The other winning factor was the chef certainly does know the right way to serve a tiramisu.ie to have the sponge and mousse naturally portioned in a bowl and a generous dust of cocoa powder. It’s that simple but many chefs get it wrong by trying too hard with other liqueurs like Kahlua, Tia Maria or making it into a sponge cake, and worse still getting the mousse set with gelatin.
Overall the meal was enjoyable and the service was attentive but not intrusive and dose of occasional humour. We like this place and it has gone on my list of restaurants worth a return visit in the near future.

Berry Berry Good!!

2008-01-23T23:59:00.000+08:00

Strawberries that look good, are horrendously crappy in taste
N and I are spoilt rotten for the taste of real good strawberries. For a fruit that is seen as a symbol of feministic attributes, happiness and childhood cartoon fantasies, it is a shame that good strawberries can be rarely be appreciated due to its highly perishable nature and delicate structure. More often than not, what we get in Singapore as an importing country are strawberries that look good but horrendously crappy in taste.
Crappy in the sense that despite the bright colours, it is unpleasantly sour to the extent that many Singaporeans have grown to thinking that strawberries are naturally sour despite the sweet images of it painted in cartoons and media fantasies. The truth is many Singaporeans have not really had the chance to experience what is really a good strawberry.
The ones from NZ, OZ & US...
The ones that we get all year round from New Zealand, Australia and US are of export quality which in real sense is not really the best. They have to be picked before reaching to a good maturity stage so that they have a longer shelf life in their final destinations. Thus the fruit does not have enough sunshine for the natural flavours and sugars to be fully developed to an ideal ripeness giving it the deserved sweetness and aromas as often associated with in ice creams, jams, fillings and essences.
Good strawberries?
Good strawberries are hard to come by in Singapore as we are not able to grown the fruit here due to the unfriendly weather.Malaysia has tried to cultivate them in Cameron Highlands but the project has seen hardly any other economic success other than being a novelty draw to regional tourists who are there only because of their children.

Now, we get Korean & Japanese ones...
Well the situation is not really that grim as the recent years of affluence have created a demand in taste for more premium strawberries. Hence now we get shipments of Korean strawberries around this time of the year till the end of May.
Occasionally the Japanese supermarkets like Meidiya and Isetan will also ship in Japanese strawberries when in season. The strawberries from these two countries can cost twice as much than those of from regular importing countries. But as a firm believer than cost and quality are more often than not co-related, U get a lot more in taste, sweetness and aromas with these premium berries that have been harvested at their prime, carefully packed and shipped out to their final destinations in the shortest time possible between the fields and dining table. These strawberries have a much more intense aroma when u sniff at them. On taste, they yield a higher level of sweetness complimented with mild acidity. Fantasise them served simply just with crème fraiche or vanilla sugar sweetened whipped cream, it can just send one on an orgasmic culinary experience with one of the greatest food marriages made in heaven!

Premium grade ones...
Besides the Korean and Japanese strawberries, another premium grade of strawberries that I have come across during my travels are the French strawberries, found only in the farmers markets of the cities and towns of historic villages. These berries are highly seasonal, available only in the short window period of late spring to mid summer before the weather gets too hot. They are distinguished from the mainstream commercially farmed strawberries in terms of being a size smaller, rounder and having their stalks still attached on just like the premium quality durians displayed in Geylang. They are sold more by weight and packed often by the vendors who will not allow u to touch or pick them due to their highly perishable nature.

Size does matter
In terms of taste, size does matter for strawberries and the intensity of each berry is co-related with its own size. The ultimate champions are the “frais du bois” or wild bush strawberries that grown in the forests of France with a size no bigger than that of an almond nut.
These little sugar bombs as they are often known are packed with an intense aromas and sweetness so flavourful that it will totally render a gigantic US grown berry useless when challenged. The wild strawberries are native to France, though small amounts are found in UK and Spain where the right environments exists. They cannot be farmed and are handpicked with extra caution due to their extreme delicate nature which is why they must be consumed with 48 hours upon harvest.
Hence having the expectation of them being shipped anywhere else in the world is nothing but just a dream as they will not be able to survive the extended journey. In terms of flavour compatibility, strawberries have a natural affinity with spices like cinnamon, vanilla and black pepper, herbs like mint and basil and cooking condiments like aged balsamic vinegar.

Culinary Defensive Strategies

2007-12-23T21:15:00.000+08:00

The recent food hygiene scare in Singapore has sent many of us wondering just how safe is the food we eat and what kind of risk are we taking in consumption of raw, partially cooked foods. The health ministry has often urge us to cook everything thoroughly and properly before put it in our mouth or risk having to suffer from food poisoning due to contamination. While personal hygiene of the people who are preparing food cannot be compromised, there are still many other factors that can help prevent the risk of food poisoning in raw and partially cooked foods. If we have to eat everything thoroughly cooked, life would be so boring without a variety of taste and textures from different degrees of cooking. Think of a juicy pink reddish coloured roast beef at a well done stage instead of serving it medium. It would not only be an insult to the farmers who take pains to cultivate premium meat cattle, it is also as good as chewing on a piece of leather.
Before the age of refrigeration came by, chefs have known to utilize traditional methods of preservation and cooking to stabilize foods that we eat using naturally available preservatives like salt, vinegars and spices. Some of the classic dishes that we eat today have long been prepared with certain ingredients not only for taste and flavour reasons but food safety too. Some ingredients are able to help in holding prepared foods for a few days while others may allow longer periods of preservation in terms of months. Preservation with various types of ingredients can result in salty, spicy, sweet or sour taste sensations in the kind of foods we eat so it is up to the creative expertise of the chef to balance out taste on the palatte.
Salt is the number one ingredient used in kitchens all over the world. Besides seasoning food, it is also used for the preservation of ingredients that allows them to be used during off season in availability. Think of salted vegetables, eggs and meats like air dried ham or seafood like our favourite salted fish cooked with bean sprouts and baccalao (Spanish style salted cod fish).
Acidic ingredients like citrus fruits and vinegars also help to slow down bacteria growth in certain raw dishes that is a favourite of some cuisines. For example, “Ceiviche” is a popular dish in Latin American cuisine that uses high acidic citrus fruits like limes and lemons to “cooked” seafood without any heat processing at all. The acids in the fruit juices create an unfriendly environment for bacteria to grow rapidly, thereby keeping their numbers low so that the good bacteria which are natural antibodies in our digestive system have enough time to neutralize the toxicity of such foreign bacteria. This is the same when chefs serve wasabi with raw seafood and horseradish with roast beef on medium doneness. Besides having great flavour compatibility with the foods served, wasabi and horseradish roots also contain isothiocyanates that gives their characteristically similarity in flavours together with other types of mustards and have beneficial effects such as inhibiting microbe growth.
When it comes to sweet applications, many cakes and fillings can be easily contaminated if not handled properly and still result in food poisoning situations even if they don’t smell bad at all. With a desirable level of moisture in most pastry products especially cakes, chefs tend to add fruit or grain flavoured liquers not just for flavour, but also to stablise the products as these high alcohol flavoured liquers have the ability to kill bacteria. Think of a rum and marsala wine laden Tiramisu or a kirsch obsessed Bavarian Black Forest cake. Sure enough it tasted good when the pastry slid down your throat with all that nice alcoholic effect of warm sensations, but that is also an indication of the presence of alcohol that is enougn to retard and slow down any exisiting bacteria growth in the pastries being prepared.

Crackling Good

2007-11-18T23:17:00.000+08:00

I have a weakness for roasted pork of all cuisines. As chefs, we know that pork is one of the most flavourful meat in culinary and beyond meat, the pig also renders us fragrant pork lard, savoury hams (think Jin Hua, Parma and Serrano not supermarket picnic hams), breakfast bacon rashers etc…
Pork is very versatile when it comes to cooking and the different cuts of ribs, collar shoulder (wu hua rou), belly, loin and fillet are all excellent for roasting in different cuisines. Among them, a well roasted pork belly regardless of cuisine style is one of the most sinful occasional indulgence. Currently running in my Xmas workshops with the PA CCs, I share one of the few versions of roast pork belly recipes below:

Slow Roasted Pork Belly with Balsamic Soy Glaze
12 portions
Ingredients:
1 slab Pork Belly, ~2 Kg 6-8cm thick
2tsps Five Spice Powder
1tbsp Salt
Sauce:
150ml Light Soya Sauce
5tbsps Sugar
600ml Water
4pcs Star Anise
10pcs Clove
2pcs Cinnamon Stick
1tbsp Coarse Ground Black Pepper
100ml Balsamic Vinegar
6pcs Whole Garlic Cloves
Garnish:
60ml Oil for cooking

400g Fine French Beans (Kenya Beans)/Haricot Verts, trimmed
1medium Yellow Onion, sliced
Preparation Method:
1. Season pork belly with five spice powder and salt. Allow to dry in fridge uncovered for overnight. Combine sauce ingredients together and pour into a roasting tray.
2. Place pork belly onto the roasting tray with the skin side up. Roast in a preheated oven for 2 hours at 160ºc. After half an hour, score the meat with a nails spoke or fork. Add some extra water to the sauce if it dries up too quickly.
3. Drain and discard spices in the sauce, dilute out the sauce with some water to taste, adjusting with some sugar or vinegar as necessary. Thicken the sauce slightly with cornstarch if desired. Keep warm and reserve for serving. In the last 20 minutes, increase temperature to 220ºc to achieve a crackling skin. Allow pork to rest for 20 minutes before slicing.
4. Heat oil in pan, sauté beans and onions till cooked. Divide into 12 portions, arrange sliced pork belly on top and drizzle some sauce over the meat before serving.

Singapore 0 China 1

2007-10-29T23:20:00.000+08:00

Whampoa Club

4th Floor, Three on the Bund

Zhong San Dong Yi Lu

Shanghai, China

One of the most heart wrenching things that is happening right now in Singapore are the exodus of good chefs that have chosen to leave this tiny red dot on the global map for greener pastures overseas. While we should be proud that our local chefs are making their mark overseas, what Singapore has lost is what the rest of the world especially China has gained. In the last ten years, we have lost prominent culinary talents like Justin Quek, the Aw Yong brothers, Jack and Martin, Eric Chiam, Jason Ong, Eric Ong, Jereme Leung, Kidd Leong, all which are home grown talents that have chosen to move beyond our shores. As the Chinese saying goes, “Bu shi Meng Long Bu Guo Jiang” or translated literally it means “only fierce and brave dragons will cross the mighty river”, the consolation is that we have people overseas whom we can be proud of as they showcase in their daily course of work, the mighty culinary prowess of this little island on the southernmost tip of continental Asia.
On our recent trip to Shanghai, N and I had the chance to catch up with what we have missed in the past, which is a chance to savour Chef Jereme Leung’s culinary talents. Before the opening of Whampoa Club in Shanghai, Chef Jereme Leung had been the Chinese Executive Chef of Jiang Nan Chun Restaurant @ the Four Seasons Hotel in Singapore. Whampoa Club is the talented chef’s first venture into China and has become a success story after three years. Along the way, Jereme has also published his first cookbook “New Shanghainese Cuisine”, a project which he spent a lot of time researching on the history of Shanghainese Cuisine and interacting with local chefs in this city of twenty million people. Whampoa Club’s menu is a platform to showcase a few of his collection of recipes from his research, creatively modernised and upgraded to a new theatre of taste and presentation. At the time of writing this blog, Chef Jereme was away in Beijing overseeing the opening of the second Whampoa Club. However with an able lieutenant in charge to execute the culinary visions of Chef Jereme, we were still in the good hands of Executive Chef Hew Choong Yew. For those of you who have started to scratch your heads on reading this, allow me to explain that it is not uncommon for many of these celebrity chefs to leave the running of their kitchens to well trained lieutenants as they start to zip around the world in exchanging the chef’s jacket and apron for a business suit and tie.
Dinner for us was booked a week ahead and my profession made known least the staff should start to get curious on why this particular diner has an interest to snap pictures of food only. Very kindly, we were given a table that allowed us to enjoy a panoramic view of the Bund as we dine. The hairy crabs were in season and tasting menus featured dishes customised according to recent events like the hairy crab season, opening of the Beijing Whampoa Club and Formula One Grand Prix. I prefer to pick only two items from the hairy crab inspired menu and assembling the rest from the a la carte menu. As I scour through the menu, the amuse bouche arrived. It was a crispy cone of seafood and vegetables’ stuffing that was gone in two bites.
We started with a classic Shanghainese style Drunken Chicken. The name said so not because the bird was intoxicated with alcohol before slaughter but instead the gently poached free range poultry was drizzled with Yellow or Shaoxing wine before being served. It is served cold as an appetizer dish in many classic Shanghainese restaurants. Here at the Whampoa Club, Chef Jereme has given this classic dish a modern twist which should just aptly rename the dish as Drunken Chicken with Shaoxing Wine Granita. Using the idea of shaved ice desserts that is popular in South East Asia, the chef puts a combination of seasoning sauces and the fragrant wine together. It is then frozen into a block and shaved over the deboned chicken. As the ice melts, the wine seeps in between the chicken meat and the result is a super chilled chicken that tastes extra fragrant with the aromas of the wine. This is a very refreshing dish especially in the hot summer weather that Shanghai experiences from July to early September. The taste of free range poultry is most evident when it is cooked with the poaching method where its robust meaty flavour is found most in the dark meat portion of the bird. It has a slightly gamier taste which is gently tamed by the wine aromas.
Autumn is the season for Hairy Crabs those from Yang Teng Lake are reputed to be the best. Unlike the regular mud crab or Sri Lanka crab that is often appreciated for its chunky pieces of meat, these hairy crabs are highly sought after for a different aspect. While each crab does not yield as much meat as other varieties, it is the taste of its natural sweetness, extra creamy rich roe and fine textured meat that many diners go after for. Our crab oriented starter (Stir Fried Crabmeat with Edomame and Shimeji Mushrooms salad and Vinegar Pearls) came in three components. First there was a fine salad of fresh green soya beans, honshimeiji mushrooms and frisee. The crabmeat was cooked in a superior stock and came as a shot in tequila glass accompanied with a few delicate pearls of black vinegar on the side. The idea is to pour the crabmeat over the salad and add on the vinegar pearls, toss the salad gently and allow the pearls to melt in the warmth of the crabmeat. This creates a simple vinaigrette which dresses the whole salad that is greatly enhanced by the sweetness of the fine textured crabmeat. Very innovative, very seductive!

As a chef, I am a natural sucker for free range chicken. Living in a country that has to rely on imported frozen poultry or using artificial growth enhancements for locally bred birds, I have come to appreciate the taste of free range poultry. Having tasted the golden reference of a superior chicken stock made with Poulet Du Bresse in France, it has become my reference point when it comes to the tasting of free range chicken soup. I must say the version at Whampoa Club does not disappoint. The clear meaty essence with a drop or two of fragrant chicken fat made me felt that of a soup that was cooked with patience, sincerity and true to its worth. It gave warmth, elegance and a sense of well being and the ingot shape wontons would have represented its worth if they were real gold.

N’s soup was a puree of pumpkin cooked in a flavourful stock. While most “Tang Yuan” or glutinous rice balls are often served as desserts with sweet fillings, Chef Jereme has chosen to have it done the savoury way filled with delicious crabmeat extracted from the hairly crabs in season. The result is a slightly sweet pumpkin soup that was well contrasted by the burst of savoury crab filling when u bite into it. Personal, I wished for a sprinkle of crispy fried prosciutto into the soup and the salty ham would have lift the body of the soup to that with a more umami character.
Surf and Turf was the order of our first main course. It came in the form of Wasabi Prawns and a pair of Almond and Cocoa Flavoured Pork Ribs. Both recipes were featured in Jereme’s book. The plum juicy lightly battered king prawns were coated with a wasabi flavoured mayonnaise that delivered that right punch of pungency. Accompanying the prawns was a fruit kebab of dragon fruit, mango and Watermelon that cleanses the palate as you move on to the ribs. The meaty ribs were coated in a bitter sweet sauce of dark chocolate, hints of mocha and spices. Flakes of roasted almonds were sprinkle on as garnish but the nuts actually help to bridge the taste of the sauce and meat together.
With the city’s close proximity to the famous rice wine producing region of Shaoxing, traditionally many Shanghainese chefs often include this rice wine and other wine production related ingredients into the cuisine. Fermented rice is used in desserts; rice wine is used as a dash to perk up many dishes and wine lees are also used in stews and sauces. A lighter way to cook the Shanghainese favourite fish , “Gui Yu” or Mandarin Fish as it is also commonly known locally is to gentle poach it and serve with a wine lees flavoured sauce. This lovely sauce put together with black fungus and bamboo shoots, has the sweet winey notes from the use of the wine lees as a key ingredient and its gentle lightness compliments the delicate thinly sliced poached fish fillets very well. A topping of finely shredded deep fried dried scallops balanced out the sweetness of the sauce with its umami and crispy character, uplifting the dish with a touch of finesse and sophistication.
As in many traditional Chinese way of menu progression, we closed the savoury part of the menu with crispy noodles braised with fresh river shrimp and soya sauce jelly. The idea is to toss up the noodles with the soya sauce jelly allowing the fermented bean flavour of the soy sauce to be release into the noodles as the jelly melts. This prevents the loss of delicate aromas of the soya sauce which is often evaporated off by excessive heat during cooking if it were to be braised together with the noodles. The fine noodles were also a pleasurable experience on the palate as they soak up the delicious braising sauce.
N was mentioning as the service staff reset our table that they seemed to know what dessert we were going to choose and as soon as she just finished on that, a complimentary dessert tasting platter was place before us and even Chef Hew popped by to say hello. This is indeed a much needed break from traditional Chinese restaurant culture where most of the times, the chefs hide in the kitchens and are often too shy to come out to interact with customers. Well, this could also be a chef to chef kind of camaraderie since I had already made my profession known in the email booking, but is always an honour to have chefs dinning in your restaurant more so if they had come all the way from overseas. I would feel the same way too if someday when I do own a restaurant and having the support of fellow chefs from everywhere. We truly appreciate the

kind gesture of the complimentary dessert platter and all the components featured had exciting taste elements.

There was a Pear Cheese Cake that was crowned creatively with a red vinegar and ginger infused jelly. The ginger and vinegar dimensions were inspired by the similar kind of dip used as an accompaniment to the steamed hairy crabs when in season. The sour and spicy jelly cut through the richness of the cheese cake with ease and the ginger gave a nice aromatic whiff of spice to the fruit. An interesting discovery was to put the honey almonds together with the cheesecake and that really completes the picture of cheese, fruit, nuts and jelly.
The mango sorbet acted as a moderator between the cheesecake and the ice cream, giving our palates a needed pause to refresh and resetting our taste buds back to zero before embarking on the challenging chocolate curry ice cream. Yes, chocolate does have an affinity for many spices including chillies. The creamy ice cream first tasted of bitter chocolate, followed by the onset of curry spices like cumin, coriander seeds, cardamom and a few others, finally with a burst of chilli heat at the end. I like the orchestrated sequence of the flavours coming through this was a challenging yet sensual way to have your ice cream.
Because of their warm hospitality and generosity, N and I decided to it would be more worthwhile to give up one of our designated restaurants which we intend to check out and come back again before we leave Shanghai for a lunch dining experience instead. This is the best way to return the appreciation of such a wonderful host that has provided a spectacular dinner on one of the best seats of the house.

Have a Munch

2007-10-21T23:06:00.000+08:00

Da Qing Hua Manchurian Cuisine
Junction of Xie Tu Lu and Da Pu Lu
Lu Wan District, Shanghai, China

Chinese cuisine to the rest of the world is often well represented by schools of Cantonese, Sichuan, Beijing, Shanghainese and Hunan flavours. Beyond these five major schools of flavours, there are many other less discovered ethnic cuisines of China and among them, the ethnic cuisine of Manchuria. While it may not be a significant part of Chinese cuisine, it does have its own characteristics merits and specialities.
Having lost our way to the hotel, it turn out to be a blessing in disguise as N and I caught sight of this unique Manuchuria themed restaurant as we circled the neighbourhood in search of our designated accommodation location. After settling down, we walked down 2 blocks into this Qing dynasty themed decorated restaurant where service staffs are decked in royal servants attire. The menu represented the flavours of this north eastern province whose ethnic people once ruled China for more than three hundred years. Lamb is the preferred meat and is done in various ways from being simmered in a hot pot filled with spicy broth, to being braised, sautéed or even spice dusted and grilled. Hence we ordered the grilled lamb leg which is one of the house specialties.
We started with other items from the menu among which is a cold platter of Fen Pi with shredded raw vegetables with sesame sauce and oil oriented garlic soy dressing. Fen Pi is actually flat noodles made from mung bean flour and taste slippery smooth with slight suppleness. To appreciate this dish, the sesame pasted is first poured over the noodles and followed by the soy garlic dressing. Toss evenly with the finely shredded toppings of cucumbers, carrots, red cabbage, fresh coriander leaves and finely sliced soy marinated pork. We tasted the dish and the initial toss and found it to be very nice but upon N’s suggestion to drizzle some black vinegar, it really lifted the whole dish and brought it alive, perking up the flavours to a new level of deliciousness. Sometimes wife knows best.
Dumplings are a part of Manchurian cuisine and also a speciality of this restaurant which offers more than 15 combinations of fillings. We chose the chef’s recommendations of having it done imperial style that has them lightly pan fried and covered with a paper thin wafer of rice starch. The dumplings were bursting with juicy bits of shrimp and Beijing cabbage. By dipping them into the fragrant black vinegar, it enhanced the pleasure of each morsel and cuts the greasy mouth feel. The sweetness of the Beijing cabbage was a great companion to the shrimp meat and gave the dumpling fillings a nice crunchy texture.
Soon the roast lamb arrived with the meat all sliced up and re-cooked till almost dried up. It was a letdown for us as we anticipated juicy roasted leg but ended with torn shredded pieces of overcooked meat. However there were some interesting learning points of how the way it was eaten. The roast lamb was accompanied by a sauce of minced garlic, onions and pickled vegetables cooked in oil. A small side dish of whole cumin seeds mixed with chilli powder, salt and sesame seeds were also served. The idea is to take each slice of lamb meat, dip into the sauce and followed by the dry mix. Each bite releases the spicy fragrance of the toasted cumin seeds and the nuttiness aromas of roasted sesame seeds. The sauce also made up slightly for the loss of the precious meat juices giving the rubbery textured meat a small relief. I was fantasizing that if the meat had been served the way it is always appreciated in western cooking, pink and juicy, it would indeed have been heavenly.
Meat and mushrooms are a classic combination so we ordered a dish of sautéed sliced mushrooms as our final dish. The abalone textured like slices of Bai Ling Mushrooms were sautéed with a sauce that was made up with soy, ketchup and Maggi Seasoning sauces, accompanied with shoestring style strips of deep fried sweet potatoes. The lovage and soy notes of the sauce brought out the savouriness of the supple textured mushroom slices which was balance by the natural and crispiness of the deep fried sweet potatoes. We enjoyed this dish very much and appreciated the delicate balance of fungus, root vegetable and naturally fermented sauces.

Island of Chefs

2007-10-10T22:09:00.000+08:00

Would you pay for an air ticket just to eat hawker food in Penang? The answer for me is yes. Without doubt, I am willing to do so for hawker food that has fed more than three generations of families, that does not have ambitions to become a franchise multinational corporation, that believes in no shortcuts or the easy way out when it comes to preparation and ingredients, that is true to its own cooking and has maintained the standards of expectations from its loyal customers one generation after another. Here in Penang, hawker food is real culinary art seen in the form as the most basics of basics in the different dinning levels of food appreciation. The fact is the standard of the foods produced by the hawkers on this island off the coast of the mainland of peninsula Malaysia is so unmatched elsewhere that it becomes the culinary capital of the hawkers’ culture in South East Asia. There is passion, pride and dignity to prepare great tasty fare for the locals who formed the majority of their customers and are their strictest silent critics on standards of expectation. No hawker on Penang Island can survive for generations if they serve trashy food by relying on prepared sauces and spice pastes or taking the shortcuts with processed foods. The hawkers are not ambitious to offer wide varieties of foods, preferring instead to just focus a few items and perfecting the art of preparing them. Competition for customers is fierce and intense based on quality, hence the difference in standards from stall to stall is not such a wide gap like in Singapore. The winning stall scores by having an extra dollop of delicious sauce or generous toppings and garnishes that can result in an extra dimension of flavour.
Nothing beats coming to the island itself for the first hand experience. Not even the regular Penang food fairs abroad that represent only a scratch on the surface of the many wonderful dishes found on this island of hawker gastronomy. To feel its essence, it pays to know someone in the trade who can show you the best with regular updates. Yes, information in culinary guides is not 100% updated and reliable as the standards and locations of the hawkers can change all the time. When the business is passed down to the next generation, taste can change for better or worse depending on the attitude of the successor. For sure is that the taste is not necessary bad but it may no longer enjoy the tile of being the best when things get complacent. Some hawkers tend to shift locations too and many of them call it a day when they no longer need to depend on the trade for survival. Hence, the best guide is to know the person who plies the same trade among them.
Luckily since my childhood days, I happen to know one such person. This person whom I respectfully call Uncle Lee is Mr Lee Eng Huat, a family friend whom I have known for twenty years ever since we worked together at some Penang Food Fair. Uncle Lee is the undisputed “Indian chief” who puts the team of hawkers together whenever an invitation comes by from abroad. In his own capacity, Uncle Lee is the third generation of hawkers inheriting this humble ice kacang stall that was started by his grandfather along Lorong Swatow at the former New World’s Amusement Park. His daughter now helps him daily, learning the ropes of the trade as each day goes by. Uncle Lee sells ice kacang, but with different combinations of fruit, jellies and toppings that gives each individual variant its unique character. His sister compliments along by selling Penang Rojak, a unique salad of fruits and vegetables dressed in a spicy nutty pungent shrimp paste dressing. Things have change in the last few years with the street hawkers moving in to a newly constructed food court right on the former New World Park. Interestingly, a part of the wall that used to fence the former entertainment park is still retained as part of the entrance to the new food court.
With Uncle Lee and his connections, N and I get to go around various places to check out some of the best hawker stalls and at the right time to visit them. Listed below are some of the places that we have checked out ourselves as well as recommended by Uncle Lee to us recently:
Lor Bak:

Similar to Ngo Hiang like what we have in Singapore’s hawker fare, we sampled three places for this dish that is made of up different kinds of deep fried fritters eaten with a sweet chilli sauce or a starchy dip. The fritters could be anything from batter coated sweet potatoes, yam, shrimps, squid and fish fillets. Spring rolls and five spice flavoured meat rolled in beancurd skin are also part of the ensemble of this dish. Benchmarks for this dish include a great crispy batter for the fritters, fragrant chunky pieces of meat for the spiced beancurd rolls and a great chilli sauce to dip with. First location was the stall that operated in Uncle Lee’s food court. The taste was only so so. But the next two locations that were recommended by Uncle Lee had great outstanding merits. Both operated only in the mornings from 8am to 3pm. The first stall is at One Corner Café, located on Jalan Bangsar behind Lorong Swatow. This was also the stall that came down with Uncle Lee for the recent Penang food promotion @ York Hotel. But here in its original location, it was far much better in taste as the hawkers had to work with food budget restraints when they do their promotions Singapore. Hence when one is forced to compromise on quality ingredients, taste performance is also compromised. Here on its home ground, the fritters were freshly fried on order. Meat rolls were chunkier, fish fillets were plump and fresh and more varieties were also offered than what was put out at York Hotel.
The other great Lor Bak stall that we like was one standing at a corner coffee shop named Kheng Pin at the corner of Jalan Sri Bahari and Jalan Penang, opposite the Oriental Hotel. A veteran in the business, this Lor Bak stall features the usual standard items plus a variety of squid, shrimp and fish fritters, all home made and cooked on the spot. What made this stall outstanding was the batter for the fritters. It was light on taste and delivered a superb crispiness on all seafood crusted with it. The meat rolls were excellent too, very well marinated in spices and seasonings to the extent the meat comes out a little pinkish due to the brining effect of letting the meat sit long enough in the salty marinade.
Assam Laksa:
Currently I have two favourite stalls for this dish of thick rice noodles with a tamarind infused fish broth. The one that I have been patronising since coming to Penang for the first time is just opposite the Air Hitam Market along the road that leads to Penang’s most famous temple, Kek Lok Si. This stall is pretty much a one man operation and hence despite repeated invitations by Uncle Lee to join him in overseas food promotions, was never able to make it here.To me, he serves the best assam laksa in Penang and one bowl is never enough. The quality of taste has been consistent always and the final touch of prawn paste has always been generous which gives the tangy broth a pungent fragrance. The broth is made with two kinds of oily fishes, Ikan Kembong and Sardines which brings out a better body to the dish. Tamarind or assam as it is known locally provides the desired tanginess that is balanced with sweetness from palm sugar. A variety of fresh spices like shallots, blue ginger, lemongrass and garlic add aromatic dimensions and the combination of all ingredients into the pot of broth creates aromas that you can sniff out even in distances away.
For the preferred version in downtown area, at the Joo Hooi coffee shop along the middle stretch of Penang Road, there is a stall that sells a version made with mackerel meat than the other two oily fishes mentioned above. The broth is sweeter in taste but the topping of prawn paste is rather diluted than thick so hence it is neither as rich nor fragrant as the one in Air Hitam. But still the rich stock makes up for the slack in the topping and if u are in downtown and need a quick for your craving for assam laksa, this would be the place for it.

Char Koay Teow
At the same Joo Hooi coffeeshop, there is also a pretty decent Char Koay Teow Stall too. The serving which costs about the same in Singapore has extra fish cake slices and large prawns on top of the regular cockles and Chinese sausages. Penang’s version of Char Koay Teow uses entirely only the flat rice noodles instead of a mix with yellow hokkien mee. As one of the most significant icon of Penang Hawker fare, nobody will dare to sell a lousy version due to stiff competition. But if due recognition were to be given, I would prefer to accredit the best ones like the way the Oscars does for movie stars. That is to have two recognitions for this category, one each for the Best Lady CKT fryer and Best Gentleman CKT fryer. This is how good it can be in Penang.

Undisputedly, the Best Lady CKT fryer award should go to the Auntie Char Koay Teow Stall @ Lorong Selamat where customers are willing to brave the hot sun or rain for sometimes up to an hour to get enough satisfaction of their cravings. Fried in a seasoned aluminium wok over a charcoal stove, its gets so deliciously smoky that Auntie needs a pair of goggles to keep focus on what’s going on in the wok. The wait is always worth it as u get a plate of deliciously lard laden fried koay teow that taste as good as it smells. While it is sinfully rich with the lard, without it, CKT is totally spineless in taste as the other condiments are secondary. The lard delivers the fragrance and lifts the synergy of flavours from other ingredients during the cooking process. The control of fire is equally important as the right temperature creates the wok charred notes and maintains the right level of moisture between noodles and ingredients.
The Best Gentleman CKT Fryer should go to Ah Leng, formerly of Kimberly Street who now fries the noodles at a different location. Currently Ah Leng is at the Koon Hiang coffee shop at the corner between Jalan Honolulu and Jalan Dato Keramat. I have eaten char koay teow out of Ah Leng’s hands since 15 years ago Widely reputed to be the king of all char koay teow hawkers, Ah Leng doesn’t open shop unless all his ingredients are available and in place. He frequently takes breaks of a few days or even an entire week when he feels like it hence catching him on a day that he opens for business is equal to hitting a culinary jackpot. The title of king does not come as hot air as Ah Leng’s Char Kway Teow is crowned with a serving of large prawns and sweet tasting mantis prawns or “lai liu har” as the Cantonese call it. Even at RM8 a portion, it still puts our local versions to shame with its perceived value. My personal preference is that while both Ah Leng and Auntie’s Char Koay Teow are on par with each other in terms of taste, Ah Leng wins with a more affable personality.
Prawn Noodles:
The father and son team next to Uncle Lee’s stall along Lorong Swatow used to be very good until the old man kicked the bucket and somehow the son couldn’t grasp the essence of it from dad. This time round, we found two other great places with individual merits.

At Presgrave Road, this family run business starts from 5pm onwards till the wee hours of the morning. I found the stock here very good with strong meaty dimensions and fried prawn shell flavours. The way the broth of the prawn noodles are prepared defines why Singapore’s hawkers’ version can never beat their counterparts in Penang, never mind the fact that the condiments in SG’s version are more luxurious. Raw ingredients and patience play an important role in the brewing of a good stock for the noodles. The most difficult part in preparation is the blending of prawn shells with the meat stock and an initial round of simmering, followed by straining the essence back into the simmering broth. This is something that is not practised in SG which explains the inferiority in taste as compared to the Penang version. This crucial step, though time consuming allows the full flavour of the prawn shells to be extracted out to the maximum, providing the important flavours notes with a strength that defines it as a benchmark of excellence. In the other areas of preparation, dried chillies is combined with pre-soaked dried shrimp and blended into a paste, which is then cook up with the prawn shells and caramelised rock sugar as the foundation of the stock before pork bones and skin are added to provide “meatiness” to the broth. With this winning stock base, the garnishing ingredients that can range from boiled pig skin, hardboiled eggs, spare ribs and peeled prawns completes the final picture of assembly to a well executed dish. Another trade secret share was most hawkers would rather use prawns caught from the sea than farmed freshwater varieties as it is believed that the prawns from sea are tastier due to the salinity of the environment that they live in.

The other place that dishes up a mean spicy bowl of prawn noodles is at the one corner coffee shop at the Bangsar Road and a stone’s throw away from New World Food Court. This stall here serves the prawn noodles for breakfast only, launching the first bowls just before sunrise and clearing out everything before the call for midday prayers at the nearby mosque can be heard. The stock here is really spicy as compared to other places that I have tasted and at the end had to be washed down with two glasses of “Teh O Peng” or iced tea without milk as it is known locally. Compare with the Presgrave version, the prawn dimensions stood out more than the meaty notes for the broth. If u can ignore the spicy chilli notes and just focus on the other flavours, it is still very good. Given the popularity of the locals with this stall, be prepared to wait up to 45minutes for your order. Anyway if you don’t have the patience to wait, u can forget about having great hawker food in Penang.
Mee Jawa:

There are a few variations of this dish, comes in both blanched and fried versions. I have a preference for the latter as my first encounter with Mee Jawa was a plate straight out of the wok. The fried version of this noodle dish has a similar resemblance to our local Punggol Style Mee Goreng with differences in garnishes and condiments. The blanched version is done the same way as mee rebus, with the noodles first blanched in water, laced with the standard condiments and ladled over with a orange red gravy made from chillies, tomato ketchup and sweet potatoes. I preferred the more exciting wok fried version which the noodles are tossed in ketchup and a chilli paste and enriched with an egg. The standard condiments of fried dough fritters, potatoes, fresh prawns and Chinese mustard greens add on colour and texture to the noodles and when it is well cooked, has the slightly charred wok taste, moist not soggy and a perfumed with a generous amount of fried shallots.
Apom Balik:

The favourite street snack on Penang Island, these are also sometimes interpreted as the Chinese rice flour based Pancakes with bananas and sweet corn fillings. The best I have tasted so far comes from the roadside stall along the left side of Jalan Burma right on the traffic pedestrian before Hin Heang Biscuits shop. Business is so good that this affable Uncle sells hundreds of pieces a day. There isn’t a time where traffic doesn’t stop to pick up some Apom from this Uncle. Most customers would pack by the set of five pieces are will to wait in the sun for it. The secret to this winning recipe is choosing the right ingredients even though it is such a simple preparation. The batter consists of coconut milk mixed with rice flour, desiccated coconut, sugar and eggs. Choosing the ripest bananas is an important part of the recipe as they release a lot more flavour and the creamed sweet corn balances out the overall sweetness of the pancake nicely. Warning: Biting into a fresh pipping hot apom balik may not only result having a scorched tongue, it can also make one obsessively addicted to it.
Ban Chiang Kueh:

Also sometimes referred to as Apom Balik, especially by the Malays, Penang’s version of Ban Chiang Kueh comes with wafer thin crispy versions that are to die for. While the thick doughy kind is also available, it's the crispy version than sends u on an orgasmic high. Our favourite one is from the pushcart that used to be beside Uncle Lee’s stall along Lorong Swatow but has since shifted to the next adjacent street known as Jalan Hutton right after the New World Food Court Carpark. In between the folded wafer thin dough; there is a generous sprinkling of a mixture of coarse grounded toasted peanuts with sugar and sesame seeds. A generous brush of margarine gives it a touch of buttery fragrance and the dollop of creamed sweet corn does the wonderful job of balancing out the sweetness of the pancake. For the orgasmic version, ask for an egg to be added in and have a bite of it when the whites are just set and the yolk is still runny for that oozing sensation! A close competitive version can also be found at the Cecil Road Market.
Kway Teow Thng:
One of the main staples for breakfast in Penang, many hawkers do their stock for this rice noodle dish with at least two kinds of meat and bones. My vouch is for two stalls that I have tried on this trip, one in the coffee shop behind Chowrasta Market and the other at the Cecil Street Market. Both are equally happening at different times of the day. The stall at Kedai Kopi Soon Yuen which is behind Chowrasta market has a huge pot of broth made with chicken, duck and pork bones. The Kway Teow noodles are very smooth here and the broth has a meaty richness from the hours of simmering the different types of bones. Home made fish balls are part of the matching condiments together with slivers of boiled chicken meat. The key fragrance to this dish is a drizzle of freshly cooked garlic oil and a sprinkling of chopped spring onions.

The other superb kway teow thng stall is at the Cecil Street Market where the owner uses more than one hundred ducks a day for the several hundred bowls of kway teow thng that is sold daily. The broth is very tasty and the serving is very generous. The broth has been simmered for a very long time with both pork and duck bones plus ikan bilis till it turns a milky white. This indicates at least 6 hours of slow simmer to achieve such a flavourful broth which has a lingering after sweetness and very meaty dimensions.
Hokkien Char:

Very much like a cross between KL’s Dai Lok Mee and Singapore’s Fried Prawn Noodles. This version here at the Air Hitam Market is considered among to be one of the best for the obvious reasons. Each plate comes with a topping of crispy pork lard and its fragrance permeates the whole dish as u eat. Just like Char Koay Teow, this plate of Hokkien Char must be 100% lard driven recipe. The noodles are fried and braised briefly in a prawn and pork based stock. Dark soya sauc e is added and a variety of fish, squid and prawns are added in with some Chinese mustard greens. What really makes this dish outstanding here is the lip smacking kick ass sambal belachan. The chilli on its own is already very vibrant with flavours of lime, fermented shrimp and fresh coriander leaves blended in. Toss with the noodle and not only it tones down the “lardiness” of it, it stirs the entire plate of noodles alive with multiple flavour dimensions with a big “Oomph!”
Oyster Omelete:
Penang has two versions, one crispy fried and the other a moist one but both win with the large size oysters that come with it. We tried the moist version at Bee Hooi Coffee Shop in Pulau Tikus which came glistening with juicy plump oysters. It looked by did not taste greasy on the palate and each morsel of egg, starch and oyster was heavenly yummy!
The are many more interesting dishes like Nasi Kandar, Pasembor, Char Koay Kak (similar to SG’s carrot cake), Poh Piah, Warm Cuttlefish Kangkong Salad with Sweet Fermented Bean Sauce and Shrimp Paste, Wan Ton Mee etc. The list is endless and there will always be new discoveries each round.

After all the sampling and tasting of so many different recipes there are a few choices to wash down the all these lovely street grub. Besides the different permutations of local coffee and tea beverages, there are always Ice Kacang, Chendol and I always love this special drink concocted by Uncle Lee to cool down. It’s a mixture of lime juice, buah umbra or buah long long as we call it in SG, dried plums (Sng Buay) and slightly sweetened. The buah umbra gives it a slight astringency to the sweet and sour drink and its very cooling and refreshing on a hot weather day.

Taiwanese Munchies

2007-10-03T22:19:00.000+08:00

Liu San Ge

No 1 Jalan Anak Bukit

#01-09

Bukit Timah Plaza

Singapore

Tel: 64631833

N and I made an interesting discovery of a small little Taiwanese oriented eatery over the weekend. Our objective was to check out the new Fairprice Price Finest Marketplace at Bukit Timah Plaza but I ended up being more impressed with this little place than the supermarket itself which I thought was actually a Cold Storage wannabe but run with the civil servants type of corporate culture mindset. I shall blog about this later.
Liu San as the little Taiwanese place is known offers basic street delicacies which some are already familiar with local Singaporeans who have been there done that at the famous Shilin Night market. The menu isn’t very wide but who cares as long as everything comes out great and tasty. We started each with a cup of soothing homemade cold soya bean milk for me and warm rice milk for N. The soya bean milk was as define concentrated enough for me to feel its milky texture though it was not very well sieved and I could taste fine sandy bits of grounded beans around. Perhaps it was intentionally done so to validate their claim of have it home made. Despite the not so smooth texture, it has a kind of fragrance in between the distance of caramelized sugar and burnt notes that evokes the nostalgic feelings of neighbourhood wet markets in the good old days where soya bean milk was boiled before serving at the stall. The process resulted in caramelized bits of the milk leaching out the unique fragrance that I distinctly remember as part of my childhood repertoire of taste preferences.
The rice milk was a brownish slightly thickened gruel of toasted ground rice with its distinct nutty flavour. The toasty notes made the gruel rather fragrant and the slight sweetness was a welcomed balance to the whole cup of rice milk. Both beverages are suitable for vegetarians too!

There are many interesting things on the small menu and we choose a few of those who are not so familiar. We started with the Lu Rou Fan which is a topping of soy braised minced pork over steamed short grain rice topped with a soy braised egg and home made pickled cucumbers on the side. It was a simple but satisfying dish especially with the warm hard boiled egg that had a slightly undercooked yolk. The pickles provided a nice contrasting crunch to the comfort tastes of the food and it made me felt very homely with peasant warmth.
N’s share was a grilled fresh eel (unagi style) on rice, something just introduced but not printed in the menu. Modelled after the classic Japanese Unagi Don, the freshly grilled eel do not reek of any unpleasant fishy notes that we find in poor quality frozen eel packs in the supermarkets. In fact it took to the sauce very well after being grilled on the hot plate and N and I enjoyed it absolutely.
The crispy chicken roll was a delicate wrap of sliced chicken meat and lots of crunchy vegetables like local turnip (Bang Kwang) and carrots. The flavours of the bean skin imparted and nice smokey salty tinge to the rolls and each bite was a reminder of those lovely vegetarian goose pieces made by the nuns in the kitchens of a Buddhist Temple along Punggol Road which I go to regularly since young with my grandmother. The accompanying tangy sauce had fruity notes of pickled plums with a hint of a slight dose of ketchup and Mayonnaise. This contrasted well against the slightly greasy chicken rolls but nonetheless the tasty filling made up for any other slight errors.
“Tian Bu La” or literally meaning sweet not spicy refers to a small side dish of fried fish cakes smothered with a sweetish pinkish sauce similar to what we get when we order five spiced fritters (Ngo Hiang). The fish cakes were rather smooth textured and eating them with the sweet sauce was like rediscovering the thrill of childhood experiences of following my folks to the Wayang Street Hawkers Center and eating those fried fritters with the sweet pink sauce while the adults would dip into the chili flavoured one., This hawkers has long since made way for the extension of today’s Eu Tong Sen Street.

Last to arrive was a simple dish of boiled dumplings (Jiao Zi) with the usual black vinegar dip.The chive and meat flavoured filled dumplings were pretty standard but tasted home made. Each bite reveals the honest sincerity of these lovingly hand crafted dumplings made with passion.
There are still quite a few more other interesting items on the menu that N and I are keen to try in the next round and will update on this post when we have done so in the next two weeks.

The Right Detour

2007-09-22T23:12:00.000+08:00

Cafe Pralet by Creative Culinaire

Eng Hoon Mansion #01-03/04,

17 Eng Hoon Street,

Singapore 169767

Tel: 63241663

Two Saturdays ago, an extremely rare thing happened to N and I. Given that both of us are usually teaching at the most peak time of the week for us, coincidentally both of us had classes cancelled and we decided to do the normal weekend routine for most couples. Go dating!! N and I were going to stop by at another “cha chan teng” or Hong Kong style Cafe in the Tiong Bahru area for a drink and a bite before catching a movie. While searching for a lot to park, we ended up on Eng Hoon Street for a space. Getting out, I noticed that much of the heritage units have been refurbished and a new shop house apartment across the road has been completed with new tenants. One place that caught our eyes was Café Pralet. Telepathically, N and I decided to detour instead based on our gut feel. We ended up taking mum back there again on Sunday for lunch.
Café Pralet is the latest extension by Creative Culinare, a well known pastry and bakery school that provides leisure hands on baking classes and consultancy. Managed by Chef Judy Koh, a professionally trained and well traveled pastry chef, the nine year veteran on Eng Hoon Street has just recently moved across to the new Eng Hoon Mansions.
Café Pralet is the showcase for Judy’s inspirations and creative talents in pastry arts and bakery. The café has two dinning concepts, a formal area to handle the more challenging dishes on the menu and a cozy sofa decked patio for coffee, tea, pastries and nibbles. Wireless services are provided for those who live by the net and there are books to read from poetry to culinary or just simply laze and watch the world go by in old Tiong Bahru.
We like the coziness of the sofa patio that shows the feminine touch of Judy as N puts it in terms of colours and the rustic wooden shelf that carries all the reading materials.
Going through the menu, we made many happy discoveries. The menu is kept simple but offers both Western and Asian favourites which mean I could bring mum here too. There are made to order sandwiches and salads with a choice of freshly baked breads or something heartier like chops, pasta and fish and chips. The small Asian selection includes curry, Ayam Tempra, Laksa and Mee Siam. There are also snack breads with different fillings and cookies as well as festive specialties according to each incoming festival. The must try pastries includes Pralet, Judy’s signature and other wonderful items like Blackforest, Lychee Martini which was unfortunately sold out on our second visit and a tempting Summer Strawberry cake. The pastries are rotated based on whatever inspires Judy from next door. Best of all, the prices of all food and beverages are very reasonable compare to town prices for a place like this where u can hang out.
We started with fish and chips which immediately got our vote as the best for quality, portion and taste in café standards overtaking Secret Recipe and Swensens by the miles. Crusted with nice crispy buttery batter, the entire piece of white dory or Vietnamese catfish as it should be more correctly known, took up more than half of the space of the dinner plate and we had to manage it with an extra serving of tartare sauce and chili sauce. More importantly the food was serving piping hot, crucial for a dish that is deep fried and the chunky quality catfish free of any “mud taste”. Given the serving that we enjoyed, it costs less than $10 per order! An unbelievable excellent value for money item on the menu.
N loved the low calorie inspired Laksa which she had on the second visit. To meet its claim, very little or I suspect none at all was coconut milk used in the preparation of the laksa yet it still manage to achieve the right level of richness despite not having the element of coconut milk flavour. The freshly chopped laksa leaves reinforce the dish’s character despite the absence of the other key element.
All this while, mum was enjoying her Mee Siam too. The sour assam flavoured gravy was embodied with a decent pungency of fermented soya beans and enriched with the right tinge of coconut milk, giving it a nice aroma. As it is always said, with good gravy, the garnishes and condiments will never be able to steal the thunder from it.
When it comes to their pastries, the most celebrated piece would be Judy’s signature’s Pralet. Chocoholics will love this ganache layered piece of indulgence elegantly topped with a small piece of gold leaf. The base is supported by a crispy wafer crust and the ganache tastes of quality bitter chocolate with a nice gentle sweetness. It is an excellent piece to go with coffee or tea.
Still on the chocolate arena, the brownies are here are much lighter on the palate than being commonly oversweet, dense and fudgy. It is more like a combination of moist chocolate cake and fudge, specked with chunky pieces of walnuts in between. Best of all, the most ideal ice cream to top with this brownie is the home made rum and raisin flavour that will sent you on a “high” with its intense flavour impact of rum.
One of my favourite sponge cakes is the Bavarian Kirschtorte or more commonly known as Black Forest Cake. Unfortunately many local chefs distort this wonderful recipe by using non dairy pastry whip, maraschino cherries, chocolate rice and an absence of any flavoured liquor. Hence to be able to experience Judy’s creation was like rediscovering a lost heritage so badly trashed. The whipped cream, the sour cherries, the liquer soaked chocolate sponge and the chocolate shavings, everything was there in the right proportions helped to restore my confidence again that it is still possible to find a decent black forest cake in a heartlands neighbourhood.
A patisserie cannot do without a brulee hence Judy puts out a classic version for all crème brulee aficionados. The rich creamy custard is a steal for its price but it will be ridiculous to expect real vanilla for it. Nonetheless the custard is still a merit on its own for its rich silky smooth texture. It left a very pleasant and smooth aftertaste in the tongue that excites our taste bud for the next spoonful.I found the caramel crust a little too thick for my liking but that’s an issue that can be easily resolved.
Beside the cream based pastries, another house specialty is the Baked Guava Tart. Inspired by a cross between and apple pie and an Austrian Linzer, the filling was made with a nice mix of fresh guavas and spices giving it a unique identity not found in other patisseries. A lovely crust made with crushed crackers and nuts provides the perfect contrast between crust and filling. With coffee, it is a great hit!
N and I can’t wait to go back to Cafe Pralet again for another lazy weekend afternoon sometime soon after these two weeks of hectic traveling due to work and another busy week of cooking workshops ahead.

Mainland Hospitality

2007-09-21T23:29:00.000+08:00

Sea Pearl Gate City

Hai De San Dao, Hou Hai Bin Road,

Nanshan District 518054, Shenzhen

P.R. China

Have u ever seen a restaurant in a hotel that spans three entire floors with a dinning hall larger than the size of a football field? Not until N and I were hosted to a dinner by one of my uncles at a restaurant on the property of the Kempinski Hotel in Shenzhen. We took the elevator right to the 4th floor and as we walk to the private dinning room, we heard the hustle and bustle of diners coming from the main dinning hall two floors below. Filled to capacity even right on to the performing stage were about one thousand over diners tucking in to dinner as we watch in awe. It was like a culinary orgy. The general manager told us that during the last World Cup, things got crazier when the gigantic screen was broadcasting the matches live as diners ate on while watching the games. I guess China is really one huge F&B market! The restaurants could afford to have two floors of private dinning rooms each the size of an average conference room in any given office in Singapore, complete with pantry, artisan tea brewing facilities, ensuite restrooms, fully AV equipped lounge and sofa area and adjacent kitchen where the attached private chef puts the finishing touches to the food before being served. For a change, the menu was planned from the ala carte selections so with 16 of us eating, there was quite plethora of dishes to try.
For the nibbles, there were small plates of marinated boiled beef shanks and boiled peanuts. This is the one thing that always impresses me with good Chinese restaurants, that instead of putting out the usual processed salted peanuts or pickled archar which is also ridiculously charged to the bill, we get more quality home made nibbles which translates to the chefs paying attention even to small details like these.
The boiled peanuts were simply just boiled peanuts, but the way it is cooked in a salted spiced broth made the nibbling a sheer pleasure with hints of star anise in the background. The marinated beef shanks were more exciting which, to the mainlanders, it is simply beer food, those that can be picked up with toothpicks as u down glasses of TsingDao Beer. The thinly sliced beef shanks were marinated in chili oil, pickled chilies, garlic and soy giving it a spectrum of spicy, salty and a tinge of tanginess.
Free range chicken was next in order, the entire yellow skin yellow fat bird poached and chopped up, served with plenty of spring onion and coriander leaves, drizzled with a superior soy sauce dressing. The meat though is slightly less tender, is more flavourful and the fatty corners are much more aromatic than their coop reared stressed out cousins. Zhou Di Ji or literally Walking Ground Chicken refers to free range poultry that have been free to scratch for feed and workout those muscles for a more flavourful bite when cooked. This is a must have and must try especially for Chefs as we are so accustomed to cooking with steroid injected chickens that a imported back home. A word of difference is free range chickens are reared without being in stressful environment for nine months and a steroid injected bird is instead slaughtered at less than 3 months, much bulkier and fattier but in no way more flavourful.
Matching up to the cold poached chicken was an entire pork fore shank, boiled and chopped up into bite size pieces, served with a similar soy drizzle and lots of coriander leaves. Not really my kind of food but it seems that the older folks were happily munching away as I waited for something else more interesting to come by.
Next in line was a braise dish of glass noodles with fresh calamari and Chinese cabbage. I have always liked chunkier pieces of cuttlefish or squid as there is more bite provided they overcooked it. Each pieces of calamari was nicely criss crossed with a sharp knife to tenderize it further and the chef had also managed to catch the right doneness for it to pair with the noodles.
I always hate it when chefs overcooked a good piece of meat hence I am often skeptical about taking beef in China where it is always eaten well cooked. Hence when the honey and pepper basted rib cutlets arrive, I just took one piece out of courtesy and one piece became three in the end as each cut was not only well marinated, but also slightly undercooked enough to retain those precious meat juices. Understandably I was told that if u like your meat done this way in China, u must give specific instructions to the chef otherwise it will always come out well cooked never mind even if its Wagyu. They lovely riblets reminded me of some of the nice Korean dinning experiences that I had featuring such cuts of short rib with a piece of meat attached.
When u are started to get bored with the usual steamed garoupa or seabass as a fish course, sometimes switching to less prolific table fishes can give more dinning pleasure. This is what I discovered with the lightly pan fried coastal smelts that was relatively big for a size that is seldom seen in Singapore. Commonly know as “Swa Chiam”, it's a favourite fish with Teochews for its “sweeteness” and high oil content that makes it very crispy when fried. I like the accompanying fried shallot sauce that gave the pan fried smelt an extra dimension of fragrance. I could have taken on another fish if not for the other dishes that were coming on by now.
Most sharksfins’ dishes are served in some starch thicken superior broth as always expected and this was the first time I am experience the fins cooked with a sauce enriched with peanut butter. What mystifies me was the chef ability to enrich the sauce to a creamy consistency yet the aroma of peanuts was rather gentle than overwhelming given the perceived amount peanut butter used. Honestly I did not understand the point of combining sharks fin with peanuts. Not that I am not adventurous, but the peanut sauce did not make any merit out of the sharksfin. I just couldn’t find a culinary link between the two. To me it was a forgettable experience as I still like my sharks fin in clear or thickened broth with a touch of elegance.
The second attempt on creativity was slightly better as a soy glazed roasted cod fish fillet was served on toast with mayo. Though the sauces were not exciting, what was tantalizing for me was the chunky flesh of the cod fish. It represented the right size of harvest and cooked to the right doneness, allowing the fish to present a fuller flavoured flesh than the sometimes smaller sizes undeveloped ones which in fact is not really that environmentally friendly to have them on the dinner table at such a young age.
With one side of the country facing the coastline, China enjoys a bounty of seafood from tropical seas to temperate waters off the Yellow Sea. Abalones thrive in the cooler waters and are considered a symbol of wealth in Chinese cuisine. Each serving came with a pair of fresh baby abalones that had been braised in a gelatinous broth of squash and beans. This was another attempt by the chef to be more fanciful in preparing the abalone in an east west style which I think is absolutely not necessary. Just give me the great tasting super umami broth with the delicate twin pieces of abalone and forget about the rest of the accompanying ingredients who are there just as extra props.
Due to the extra long menu, we actually jump straight into desserts giving the carbohydrates a miss. First up was a platter of delicately baked durian puffs which had a fragrant tongue burning piping hot filling. They were the best that we have tasted in Shenzhen and honestly one piece per serve wouldn’t be enough in regular times had we not eaten so much earlier.
Finally to bring the menu to a close, a chilled doubled boiled papaya with snow fungus gave us a sweet ending with a cooled wash down our throats. It was simplicity at one of its best and it totally took out the heavier pastry that we just had earlier.

Beyond Steak and Chops

2007-09-08T09:05:00.000+08:00

The trend now in the kitchens of the dining industry across the globe is for chefs to use off cuts of meat that traditionally goes into mince. Challenged by the demand of more creativity, new taste sensations and rising costs of ingredients, Chefs are turning to these previously ignored cuts of meats for new inspiration and adopting new culinary techniques to make these cuts look presentable on the table, yet still taste good. For the customers, the question is are they paying more and getting less in terms of the cheaper cuts of meats used?Not really. Dealing with these "supercuts" are a new playground for chefs as we explore back to basics methods of slow cooking at lower temperatures to get the meats tenderized naturally and yet remain flavourful. That means more time and effort is spent on trimming the meats, gentle cooking that sometimes stretches more than 24hours at low temperatures similar or even lower to that like in the preparation of duck confit for example.The customer is still paying for professionalism and skill of the chef, something that is always forgotten in the percived value of a dish as it is not as visible as ingredients are on a plate. Some of these super cuts are available at local butcheries like Swiss Butcher in Greenwood Bukit Timah, Huber's @ Fairprice Finest and Esprito Santo @Great World City or Parkway Parade. Below is an interesting extract from the New York Times on this rising culinary trend:

The Way We Eat: Super Cuts
By DANIEL PATTERSON
Published: May 7, 2006

New York Times
Pig's feet at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco? It's true. Beef cheeks at the French Laundry? Absolutely. Duck testicles at Del Posto? Really? Resoundingly, yes. The best chefs tend to cook in their restaurants what they themselves like to eat, and they have discovered, much to their delight, that customers are increasingly willing to pony up for the cheap, flavorful cuts of meat they love, like short ribs and pork belly. As Suzanne Goin of Lucques in Los Angeles put it, "Chefs never order fillets." Skip to next paragraphSo if we've been persuaded to move beyond primal muscles (i.e., steaks) at restaurants, then why aren't we cooking these inexpensive bits at home? Part of the answer is availability. Ground meat, made of pieces of the animal that are pulverized until unrecognizable, is the only nod you'll find in supermarkets to the fact that there is a world beyond steaks, ribs and shoulders. Your best bet for finding these cuts is a good butcher. In San Francisco, that place is the Golden Gate Meat Company (415-983-7800), a family-owned business that specializes in naturally raised meats. I was able to order (as a civilian, not a chef) everything called for in the accompanying recipes by the next day, with no minimum. The retail prices ranged from $2.25 a pound for the pig's feet to $4.50 a pound for the beef cheeks, and they'll ship anywhere. Ethnic markets also tend to carry the tough, fatty meats that mainstream America has yet to try at home.
Another reason we tend to stick with common cuts is our culinary xenophobia. Maybe steaks are our gastronomic clean, well-lighted place, staving off reminders that our meal came from a once-living animal. The fact is that every steak we eat originally came with a head, feet and other extremities, most of which, according to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, are shipped overseas.
And then there's the yuck factor. Pig's feet come from the butcher looking like what they are: feet. It is clear that a pig was using them recently. The same might be said for tongue, which bears more than a passing resemblance to our own. But there's a reason that top chefs include them in menus filled with caviar and truffles: they are utterly, beguilingly delicious, in a way that no primal muscle can approach.
Now, I realize that there's one more impediment to cooking these things at home: venturing into the land of unfamiliar foodstuffs can be a bit nerve-racking. So by way of introduction, here are three easy-to-follow preparations for cuts that offer big flavor payoff with little financial investment.
Pig's feet are not only easy to cook, but also forgiving of most transgressions — long, slow, moist heat will bring them to perfection every time. This converts the muscles' tough connective tissue to gelatin, which, along with its higher fat content, gives the meat a luscious mouth feel and depth of flavor. Imagine a crisp breaded crust giving way to a warm gush of soft fat and tender meat, the intense pork flavor balanced by herbs and gently cooked onions and garlic. The first part is straightforward, if a little time-consuming: simmer the feet with chicken stock and salt until the meat and fat pull easily from the bone. Next comes the trickier part, but don't worry — they don't have to be perfect. Let them cool slightly, remove the bones, fill them with the herb-and-onion mixture and then wrap them tightly in plastic and refrigerate. The natural gelatin in the feet will bind the meat, so when it is cold it will be a solid cylinder. Then cut thick slices, bread them and fry them. Served with a potato salad dressed with mustard vinaigrette, it's a delicious alternative to a typical meat-and-potato dish.
For the more faint of heart, beef cheeks are simpler to cook. The only trick is in the trimming, because the fat and silvery connective tissue cling tightly to the meat they encapsulate. Your butcher should do this for you; if not, you can trim the extra fat after they cook and cool. Beef cheeks have an explosively beefy flavor and succulent texture that belie their somewhat banal appearance. And unlike steak, which requires careful monitoring, they can handle a bit of benign neglect and still deliver an impressive result — just make sure to keep the oven temperature low.
The lamb's-neck rillettes is the easiest recipe of all. The meat is seasoned a day ahead and then cooked slowly in olive oil until very tender. The lamb is cooled to room temperature, pulled from the bone and shredded, then tossed with some of the cooking oil and refrigerated. Spread on toasted country bread with a little mustard, it makes a wonderful dinner-party canapé — or in my case, a fast breakfast.

Celebrate Life! Its No Rubbish Dump (Lap Sup Tui)

2007-09-02T22:52:00.001+08:00

Last weekend, N and I manage to catch the sneaks on Ratatouille, the new Disney’s animated movie about a rat who loves to cook and aspires to be a chef despite the odds of mankind’s attitude of judgment that writes off the our little friend as nothing more but a rodent who steals food. Though the launch was targeted for the September holiday break for schools so that the kids can have something to look forward to, the movies delivers many valuable learning points of life for adults too and not just pure entertainment for children. The writer of this blog coincidentally was also born in the year of the Rat according to Chinese almanacs and had too aspired to be a chef from young just like the movie’s main character. This is what tickles N most I guess as she has never seen the formative years of my training in the professional kitchen and is always on a lookout to see how things are like, working and learning in one such an environment. What relates me to this movie so well is that Ratatouille, which in reality is a vegetable dish of summer squashes cooked in tomato sauce and Provencal herbs, is originated from Nice, the southern city of France. Its a place I called home during the five and half years of traveling around Europe and with the backdrop of the story focused on the happenings of a restaurant kitchen in Paris, the French capital, where I had spend two winters there, it brought back many familiar emotions in me. So inspired I was that I have planned for a cooking workshop menu in late September based on the theme of the movie showcasing the original dish and two other dishes synonymous with the Provencal cooking.
The first parable of the movie, “Anyone can cook” by Chef Gusteau is so true in our everyday life and if not so, the culinary world would not be where it is today if mankind of all races had not learnt to cook from primitive days. Let me just add on to it, “There is no right and wrong about cooking, only whether you like it or not.” This is my personal philosophy about cooking and is one of the first advices that are always dispensed to people who so much want to learn how to cook.
The movie also seeks to enlighten people that cooking is a form of the arts and not just a job or chore. It is culinary artistry that is not bounded by numbers and rigid scientific processes but a free spirited form of expression of oneself to transform nature’s bounties into fine master pieces using a human’s five senses of sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. Sure experience does counts but that comes in only if you have learnt how to use your senses to create a balance of taste and astatically appealing presentations. Reflections of the chef’s love hate relationships with critics and health inspectors are also shared in the movie as these two groups of people are sometimes critical to the survival of a restaurant.
Besides giving a comical insight of the adventures of cooking, the movie also seeks to educate the audience on the finer points of food appreciation irregardless to your cuisine heritage. More often than not, we are so caught up with the rat race of our daily lives that we tend to forget the simple pleasures of life which eating plays a big part. Food brings everyone to the table irregardless of the occasion, happy or sad, serious or merry. Eating not only nourishes our body, it also comforts our soul and brings a sense of balance and well being to our minds, which is again why I do not understand how is it that perfectly normal healthy people need to diet for. How many times in life do we stop to smell the flower which is the same as chewing our food slower to allow a better appreciation of taste and flavours on the palate? Just think of how in the movie where our friend Remy encourages his brother to taste fruit and cheese each on their own before combining them together in the mouth that results in a symphony of sensations on the palate. We should never put badly cooked food into our mouths but for something that has been passionately and lovingly prepared whether by chefs or simply home cooked by our own mothers, it is such a shame whenever gluttony overtakes gastronomy and this happens most of the time. Have u ever seen how some people eat at buffet lines?
Beyond culinary, “Ratatouille” also digs at the many shortcomings in the human’s nature aspect of life. Jealousy, greed, arrogance, selfishness and hypocrisy were portrayed in the characters similar to what we see in the everyday life of office/kitchen politics. We take credit for work done by others, bully the lower rank staff and are stingy to give compliments, recognition and merit for success achieved by our peers and juniors. Still however, an important point to note is that success by chance is never sustainable than it is with hard work and experience. Another important corporate lesson learnt is to constantly stay focused of your objectives and do the right things instead of getting too greedy and loosing the key identity of your success. The movie digs at Corporate America where home grown successful chefs like Wolfgang Pucks and Emeril Lagasse have traded the value of their success in culinary excellence for financial gains by endorsing and lending their names into mass production of frozen TV diner meals that do not even come out of their respective kitchens. Worse still in a world where stereotyping of your race and heritage are a fact beyond one’s control yet is an important aspect in regards to the type of foods or cuisine that you cook, having a one certain Chef Michelangelo Linguini endorsing the mass production of frozen Superior Broth Xiao Long Bao is just one big no no to many retail consumers. It's a down to earth reminder that staying focused with your strengths and resources are the best keys to success that being overly ambitious and having too much on one’s plate.
Family importance is also stressed in the storyline as nothing else comes close to having the support of your immediate loved ones during times of crisis. Our family members are often the first people we think of and activated in the line of help that is needed during times of difficulty. No matter how successful one may be in society, it's the nest that we grow up in that we often return to for familiar flavours, warmth and comfort at the end of the day.
In conclusion, the movie’s script was very well written and the essence of the story on doing the things that u enjoy doing with passion irregardless if its work or play is one of the best things in life. To understand that and embrace that value, one should find life a lot easier and happier than to fret over the most stupid things sometimes like being kiasu which is the local slang for being constantly in the fear of losing out to others in everything.

Laurels Dim Sum

2007-08-24T21:07:00.000+08:00

Dan Gui Xuan (Laurel's Restaurant)

1/F Portofino Club House

Overseas Chinese Town (Hua Qiao Cheng)

Xiang Shan Street, Nan Shan

Shenzhen, China

Tel: (0755) 2600-3218

One of the things that everyone must do when in China is to go for a Dim Sum meal. This is especially the more so if u are in the Guangdong (Canton) region where Yum Cha is a part of the dining culture. While no doubt Hong Kong made Dim Sum famous to the rest of the world, there is no deny that Dim Sum originates from the province of Guangdong. Although the variety of Dim Sum seems endless as it is always up to an individual chef’s creativity, the quality can really swing from one end of the scale to the other in various places. Hong Kong made Dim Sum famous to the world because the higher affluence and affordability compared to the rest of Guangdong, demanded Dim Sum to be made with more finesse than quantity. Now with China’s rising affluence especially in all major cities and economic zones, culinary standards are fast catching up yet prices remained much lower than that in Hong Kong. During our last two trips to Shenzhen, we made a few fantastic discoveries on great Dim Sum and were impressed on how standards have improved.

One of these great places that we visited was Laurels Restaurant in OCT(Overseas Chinese Town) Portofino Village, a new property development in the Nan Shan area of Shenzhen. Modeled after the famous landscape seaside town in Italy, it was a quiet estate by day and by dusk, all the waterfront food and beverage comes alive with the expatriate crowd, residents and young professionals. We had to wait for our table despite having made a reservation earlier and no table in the crowd seemed to be ready to leave anytime soon. Finally we were ushered to their private dinning area where it had been converted to another temporary dinning hall.
The menu spells the usual items but we also saw dishes that were new to us as they are not seen in our Dim Sum Menus here in Singapore.

Instead of the usual Cantonese Congees, Mum ordered a Corn Millet Porridge with Sweet Potatoes while I opted for a Red Rice Congee with Pickled Vegetables. My wife N, who is not a congee fan choose to have the Shark’s Fin Dumpling Soup with Whole Scallop. The corn millet porridge is a sweet porridge of blended corn cooked with millet, giving it a nice corn aroma and creamy texture. Interspersed with pieces of sweet potatoes, the porridge has a very calm and soothing effect that gives u a sense of wellness and relaxation. My congee was cooked with short grain red rice, giving it a slight starchy texture with toasted rice aromas and a nutty texture. Diced pieces of kale provided a contrast of texture and the accompanying pickle vegetables drew out the blandness of the rice, converting it into a platform that allowed the flavours of the pickle to come through with heavenly affinity. For me, eating congee is never complete without Yew Char Kway or deep fried dough crullers so we ordered extras for it. These huge crispy crullers came in a basket and I brief a sigh of relief looking at the clean oil stains on the dolly paper. Chinese kitchens are notorious for the overuse of their oils to deep fry foods without any proper control that sometimes u will find little specks of carbon residue on your deep fried snacks.
Some of my western chef colleagues simply can’t stomach the idea of me being a fan of a dish made with chicken feet. Yes, I am a sucker for “Feng Zhao” or Phoenix Claw as they call it to make it sound better when it comes to dim sum. Interestingly the version here is braised with abalone sauce instead of the usual black bean and chilies combination. The chicken feet here seems to have come from a big footed variety of poultry. They were big, plump and gelatinously tasty. Braised until tender but not to the point of breaking up, there was pretty much to nibble on, extracting every bit of the delicious abalone flavoured sauce that it had soaked up during the slow braising process. Without doubt, it also went very well with my red rice congee.
N’s sharks fin dumpling was quite generously stuffed that it burst during the steaming of the dumpling in superior broth. When it arrived the little pieces of fins were strewn around the broth with the punctured dumpling skin floating atop on the delicious broth that had turned slightly murky due to the outflow of the stuffing ingredients. Despite the messy appearance, this dish still scored with a rather big fresh whole scallop about the size of a fifty cent coin, being served alongside the dumpling. One bowl wasn’t enough to share so we ended up having to order another which also turned up the same way.
To break the routine, we ordered a platter of Chaozhou style soy braised goose meat instead of the usual Cantonese roasts. Resting on a few slabs of soft textured taukwa that had also been braised in the same sauce, the well braised tender goose meat had been expertly carved into wafer thin slices and drizzled with the marvelous lightly spiced soy braising sauce. This was one of the best soy braised goose that I have ever tasted in the many Chaozhou restaurants that I have visited in past trips to Hong Kong, Macau and Shenzhen.
While we skipped the roast meat platters, we still asked to try their Char Siew Pau or BBQ Pork Buns. Very nice, a lovely hot fluffy steamed dough encrusting chunks of sweet diced BBQ pork cooked in its own drippings. It is as good as the local Crystal Jade’s version, but winning on a merit of a more generous stuffing. For sure this is definitely one of the best Char Siew Pau that we have tasted so far in our trip.
Cheong Fun or Steamed Rice Flour Rolls are also another staple in all Dim Sum menus. Instead of having it with the usual stuffings like shrimp and char siew, we picked a wok fried version that is tossed with XO sauce. It turned out looking like our pasar malam version of fried carrot cake with sweet black sauce but tasted totally beyond expectation. The first thing to hit our palate was the wok hei, followed on by the savoury notes of soy and XO sauce which must be given due credit. The XO sauce was a house made version and u could see chunky bits of dried scallops and Jin Hua ham speckled on the glistening cheong fun. It is good to know that restaurant take pride to create house versions of key sauces used in their cooking.
Out of curiosity, I ordered a Grilled Bai Ling Mushroom to see how they would cook with it. Bailing mushrooms are huge fan shaped mushrooms with thick meaty caps and an abalone like supple texture. They are the Chinese answer to the western Portobello mushroom, huge palm size fungus that are often sliced across and used for stir fries and steamboats. What I got was a thick slice the size of my palm, drizzled with what I am very sure is, Maggi Liquid Seasoning sauce. That familiar flavour which is what that makes that seasoning sauce stands out is like a huge booster to the mushroom flavour reacting deliciously with it especially on the caramelized edges after grilling, making u salivate on the palate after the first bite.
To satisfy our taste of at least one fried item, we order a crisp skin deep fried wonton that came with a spicy sweet and sour sauce that reek of ketchup, chilies and some fruity after notes. It brought back memories of the old Mayflower restaurants where deep fried wonton’s was one of their signature dishes. While the stuffing is nothing to shout about, the fun part is to eat the extra wafers of crispy skin with the sweet and sour sauce.
No dim sum meal is really complete without really having either Har Kow (steamed shrimp dumpling) or Siu Mai (Steamed Pork Dumpling with Roe Topping) or both. To most culinary aficionados, these two items are often represented as a benchmark indication to the overall standard of the dim sum menu. Hence if they are not done well, the rest of the items need not have to talk about anymore. We chose to try their Har Kow which came in the size of a ping pong ball. Not because of the thick pastry skin thankfully, but due to the generous filling of whole shrimp pieces encased in a very thin layer of almost transparent dumpling skin that allows us to peek at the contents without biting into it. As expected, the prawns had also gone through their ritual extended shower of running tap water that gives them their crunchy texture on bite.
One interesting thing we noted was people here also have a taste for durian, but more accurately, a taste for cooked durian. While they do not enjoy the varieties we have here, they are still able to get the Thai variety of Monthong durian. Most of them use it to make it into a stuffing for a flaky pastry turnover. Though they are not as good as Malaysian durians, they still make a good filling for these little dim sums giving them the necessary identity as a Durian in Flaky Pastry or “Lau Lin Sou” in Cantonese. For desserts, Mum had a simple green bean soup which was boiled with some seaweed, similar to wakame. This gave the soup a sweet salty character that makes u think of the tau sar piah filling from the pastry shops along Balestier Road. Nonetheless, it is for nutritional and functional purposes that this simple sweet soup is served as part of their menu. My wife opted for a glass of ginger infused steam milk which was a white version of Teh Halia. My steamed milk in coconut was more interesting where the slightly curdled milk went very well with the scrapings of the young coconut flesh, complimenting each other with creamy dimensions and alternative textures of soft and springiness.
Laurel by far has become a regular on our radar each time we come over to Shenzhen and this restaurant group has two other outlets with their flagship at the LuoHu Commercial Center, next to the HK-Shenzhen border.

Marginally Good

2007-08-20T23:29:00.000+08:00

Water Margin

Shop 1205, Food Forum

Times Square

1 Matheson Street

Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

The second restaurant in the Aqua group that we check out during our day trip to HK was Water Margin or Liang Shang Buo as it is known in Chinese. Situated on the 12th floor of the Food Forum @ Times Square in Causeway Bay, this restaurant is a nostalgic feel of a “ke zhan fan dian” with the dinning hall resembling that of a travelers lodge in Chinese kungfu movies that we watch often on TV or cinema. The cuisine is focused mainly on northern Chinese cuisine along the Silk Road so flavours of Sichuan, Xi An and Beijing were dominant in the dishes.
We started with a chilled appetizer of shark lips and black fungus which are contrasting textures of crunchy wood ears and supple strips of shark lips which tasted like “compressed” konnyaku sheets. Toss with salt and sesame oil with lots of fresh coriander and spring onions, the flavours were clean and simple, crunchy and refreshing.
Next came a platter of five pieces of finely rolled Warm Radish Pastry. It should be named Hot instead as the generous filling of green and white radishes were piping hot and spilling out of the delicate flaky pastry as we bit into each piece. Washed down with a delicate brew of Long Jing Tea, this was a great tummy warmer for the main dishes to come.
Dong Po Rou or Soy Stewed Pork Belly was given a modern touch where thin pieces of streaky belly, slow cooked to a melting tenderness was served with paper thin wheat pancakes, similar to those used for wrapping Peking Duck. The gravy was deliciously rich with subtle notes of soy flavours and a slight hint of sweetness from the use of rock sugar. It was a nice change of eating style that took out the greasy after feeling.
We expected our cuttlefish to arrive in pre filleted slices but it came like a stir fry instead of grilled as mentioned in the menu. The sauce was spicy with fermented chilies but yet delicious with aromas of Shaoxing wine. After picking the first few pieces, we realized that they gave us more heads of the calamari than the succulent body so after the first piece each, we started to get bored with it and picked on the accompany veggies instead. The onions had soaked up much of the delicious sauce eating them was more of a pleasure than the calamari itself.
For greens, we chose to have Winter Melon Braised with Jin Hua Ham in Broth. The flavourful ham lends its delicious aromas to the bland melon strips and perfumes the essence of the broth with a savoury umami taste. A strong affinity for each other, there isn’t really a need to have anything else in the dish to make the taste more naturally good than it already is.
A simple dish is also one of the easiest to make mistakes as many cooks take the simplicity of preparation for granted. Hence sometimes its worth to order simple dishes that says a lot about the chef that cooks it. Our simple dish is a Fried Rice with Egg White and Spring Onion. The bench marks are on the fluffiness of the rice grains, level of greasiness, wok fragrance and eggy afternotes. The dish was not a let down. The rice was still in individual grains after the wok tossing, shining with a glistening layer of oil but that did not make it taste greasy. The egg white and spring onions bonded very well in taste and aromas, giving the plain tasting rice a heavenly lift to simple sophistication.
The dessert menu came in the form of a Chinese almanac book or tongshu as it is know in mandarin. Playing with the idea of a hot and cold dessert, we flip through the almanac where family surnames and history provide the background of the dessert menu. What caught our eyes for the chill element was an interesting Chilled Pumpkin Puree in Egg shell with Taro Cubes. The egg shells were filled with a creamy sweetened puree of sweet pumpkin with topped with egg yolk slices. The entire row was flanked with lilies as both dessert and flower sit on a nice wooden box filled with a nicely carved egg tray.
The hot dessert was a trio of deep fried egg white soufflés that each encrusted a dollop of yam ice cream. While the pastry crust was very nice, unfortunately it sat too long in the hot oil that much of the ice cream was already melted within when served. The fact that the colour of the ice cream was a purplish blue, it also tells us that it was probably just some commercial made taro ice cream that was nothing to shout about.
Water Margin and Hu Tong reflects the new generation of Chinese Restaurants that dare to break away from the traditional realms of sharks fin, bird nests and abalone. For sure it is environmentally for friendly too!

Sky Cuisine

2007-08-17T00:14:00.000+08:00

Hu Tong

28th Floor

One Peking Street

Tsim Sha Tsui

Kowloon, Hong Kong

N and I took a day trip down to HK during the week we were in Shenzhen to explore the former British colony’s most happening dinning concepts and places. I was told that the Aqua Group had some pretty decent new ideas in the last two years and friends who have visited their interesting concepts have came back raving about the food and theme. So for the trip to be worthwhile, wbooked two of their restaurants for lunch and dinner.

Lunch was done at Hu Tong, a restaurant modified after the interior decors of the hall of a Qing dynasty noble house. Perch on the penthouse unit of One Peking Street, the restaurant offers a 360°c breath taking view of Kowloon on one side and overlooking the entire Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong Island on the other. Of course it would make more sense to sit on the side facing the harbour and the entire skyscraper skyline that signifies HK’s prosperity.
Hu Tong’s dishes are dedicated to show case the regional cuisines of China. Besides the major cuisines, rural ethnic flavours from Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet are also featured.

The beverage menu has creative hot and cold concoctions that feature combinations of elements of spices with fruit and floral infusions and eye catching cocktails. N and I took a different set of infusion each. Her concoction was a rose infusion with flavours of lychee and a cinnamon stick that also doubled up as a stirrer. I settled for a more South East Asian flavor of lime, ginger and lemon grass. My concoction was rather soothing and Mum like it so much that she decided to have one herself too. We started with a radish roll that was stuffed with a whole lump of crab meat from the pincers. The entire roll was livened up with a dash of fiery piquant chili oil that was itself counter balanced with the sweetness of radish and crabmeat. A great compliment with each other in taste but I have appreciated it more if the chef had been more generous with the crabmeat. On a hot day, this was a refreshing appetizer the not also taste good but also quenches the palate.
Another thirst quencher appetizer was the Chilled Scallops with Pomelo Pulp. Lightly poached chilled scallops form the perimeter of a mound of handpicked pomelo pulp that had been meticulously separated into individual sacs. Emphasizing on natural tastes, the sweet creamy scallops were contrasted with little sacs of pomelo pulp that burst on the palate releasing little droplets of tangy citrus juices that embraced the delicate sweetness of the shellfish with natural affinity. Simple but sophisticated.
The aromas of a Shandong flavoured pork rib arrived before the actual master piece where we picked up whiffs of cumin and fennel. The ribs that have been slow roasted were coated with a dry rub of whole spices that shared their individual characteristic aromas in friendly harmony as to bring out the best of each piece of meaty rib. The ribs were well marbled with the right amount of fat in between and were cooked to enough tenderness that enable the meat to slide off the bone easily and each fragrant morsel reminded me of satay that we have back at home.
Given the issue of salted egg yolks being ban periodically recently in Singapore, we took the opportunity to savour it with some fresh king prawns, The serving was pretty generous and the sauce was no doubt rich with the combination of yolk and margarine. It coated the large and plump looking prawn very well, but the prawn itself was a let down on being too overcooked. Hence they were more chewy than crunchy. If it was any consolation, at least the prawns were not subjected to the typical Chinese restaurant’s treatment of running the de-shelled prawns under running water to artificially make them crunchier without any nutritional value.
One of Hong Kong’s most famous methods of cooking is to have seafood or meat cooked Pik Fong Tong (wind shelter) Style which is a mixture of crispy garlic, bean crumbs and dried chilies sprinkled over sautéed or deep fried seafood. This dish was created by a master chef in one of the kitchens of the famous Aberdeen floating restaurants that happened to be situated in a coastal shelter for Hong Kongs boat dwellers whenever a typhoon alert was raised. Hence it was adeptly named Pik Fong Tong. This was also how our fish dish was served. An entire garoupa had been filleted and reconstituted back to shape after cooking, sprinkled on generously with the above mentioned crispy topping. If u like Singapore style cereal prawns, u will take to this dish as a merit of Cantonese cooking.
To round off the meal, we asked for a basket of steamed twirled mantous (buns) specked with Jinhua Ham and spring onions. The fluffy buns is the best representation of the dough eating culture of Chinese cuisine in a steamed way.
Dessert was huge platter decked with toasted coconut shavings, coconut ice cream and compote of chilled snow pears and white fungus. Given the unusual combination, I found it easier to have just the ice cream with the toasted coconut flakes to avoid a taste confusion on the palate before moving on to the chilled pears and white fungus.
Prices here are slightly above average of any other typical Chinese restaurant but u get to enjoy your food in the same ambiences and our rich forefathers did. Just look at the pictures including the restrooms!!

Heritage Cuisine Part 1

2007-08-13T23:01:00.000+08:00

A Feng Hong Kong Restaurant

2nd,3rd, 4th floors,

Hua An Conifer International Hotel

No. 2001 Bao An South Road

Luo Hu District, Shenzhen, China

The above restaurant is a well known place for abalone and sharks fin. It caters to mainly to business clients and top bureaucrats of the provincial government. It has two floors of private dining rooms and another floor for the main dining hall. With multiple accolades and many awards of excellence for its culinary skills, the kitchen has more than 100 cooks and chefs and just for ushering guests, there were at least 15-20 ladies in attendance. This is the typical restaurant scene in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It makes our local Chinese restaurants look really dwarf in size. Anyway we were here at the invitation of the boss not for the high end stuff, but authentic flavours of our home town Shantou, featuring its produces and dishes that are not available in Singapore.
It was our first private dinner in a private dining room twice the size of an average 5room HDB sitting room that comes with a full audio video entertainment system. Oh yes, it also came with a private chef in attendance. Our host was the owner of this newly opened restaurant and a connoisseur for gourmet Chinese cuisine with a refined palate. We share the same dialect group and ancestral home town so this was an opportunity to taste some traditional Chaozhou recipes that we do not get to see in Singapore. Food was simple, light and the focus on ingredients grown organically and harvested in Shantou area.
Menu for the night:
On the table for each guest was a homemade fermented shrimp confit which we promptly named it “Yang Jia Jiang” or the Yang’s family special blend of sauce as it was the family name of our host.
Using small bay shrimps harvested from the coastal regions of Shantou, the shrimps were salted and left to ferment for three days before being coarsely grounded. It is then slow cooked in oil like a confit with raw sugar and spices like garlic to a delicious savoury mix similar to XO sauce. A small amount of fragrant chopped spring onions is then added to balance the fermented delicious pungent aromas of the sauce. It can be used similar to XO sauce applications and one of the best combinations I have ever tried out was to pair it with sashimi grade salmon belly on a previous trip here last year.
Organic Gourd with Homemade Cuttlefish Balls in Superior Broth
Shantou is the province in China that is blessed with the longest coast line and hence the abundance of seafood in all kinds. A specialty of Chaozhou cuisine is the making of springy balls with different kind of seafood from fish to prawns and cuttlefish. Using a traditional recipe passed down from his dad, our host had taught his personal chef the artisan method of hand making cuttlefish balls without the aid of starch and modern machinery. These lovely springy cuttlefish balls were served with organically grown autumn squash harvested from the roof top garden of our host’s penthouse unit in a superior broth made with long hours of simmering an old mother hen and dried scallops.
Braised Pigeon with Bamboo Shoots and Mushrooms Fresh young tender bamboo shoots from Shantou were the focus in this dish and not the pigeon as thought. Relatively hard to find in Singapore (we get only fresh matured bamboo shoots from Thailand), these shoots were stewed with pigeon till the sauce became a rich gelatinous milky texture with a slight gamey after notes. Mushrooms were added for umami dimensions and old ginger was used to calm the gamey notes of the stew. My wife N, who loved bamboo shoots as the only vegetable in her life left me only with the simmered bits of the bird after polishing off the crunchy flavourful shoots and mushrooms.
Daikon and Spring Onion Cakes with Fermented Shrimp Confit
Utilising the above mentioned sauce, fresh daikon were cut into cubes and simmered in chicken stock till tender. They were then drained with chopped spring onions added into. The mixture was then bind with a sweet potato starch (the kind that they used for oyster omelette or or luak as it is commonly known in Teochew) from our home town, shaped into patties and lightly pan fried. These little daikon cake are then appreciated with a little topping of the fermented shrimp confit, giving it a touch of savoury elegance and a delicious salty fragrance note of fermented pungency.
Steamed Coastal Sole on Fresh Wood Ears, Dried Citrus Peel infused Soy Broth with Red Dates
This was Mum’s favourite dish as it reminds her of her childhood. The coastal sole (Leng Ji as it is known in the dialect) is a favourite fish for steaming due to its ideal size, fine textured flesh with a delicate sweetness. We like the delicious soy broth with a touch of dried orange peel that bathe over the beautifully steamed fish and the colourful topping of wood ears, red dates, fresh coriander leaves and mushrooms.
Chaozhou Stuffed Beancurd with Asparagus on Daikon Essence
I was told that beancurd in China is still very much produced in traditional ways and the stone grinds are still available for sale even in the most modern Chinese cities. I guess making beancurd for the Chinese is like making cheese for the French. The more artisan (read: backyard production in limited quantities), the better it is. How true it was when I tasted the first bite of this dish. The tofu (taukwa) was very flavourful and the intense soybean flavour can only be achieved with handmade tofu and not via machine process. It tasted very much like vegetarian chicken (if u have eaten in any Buddhist monastery, u will know what I mean) which is actually layers of soybean skin compressed together. This is not something that u can find in Singapore. The radish essence provide a nice back drop for the tofu and supported the taste of the dish with a earthy note of humility.
Chaozhou Pan Fried Asparagus Pie
The Chinese version of an asparagus quiche, diced young asparagus were binded by potato starch, interspersed with shrimps giving it an extra dimension of umami sweetness. It is then pan fried till a crispy layer is form and the entire pie is set before being cut up into serving pieces. Thought I like this version of the asparagus pie, I was secretly fantasising what would the effect be if some diced Jinhua Ham was added to the batter mix? This would certainly notch up the overall taste of the dish by another level. I should try this on my own sometime soon!
Braised Glass Noodles with Shantou Cabbage in Chicken Consommé
Another dish showcasing the flavour and sweetness of cabbages harvested from Shantou. Braised with a meaty chicken consommé made with boiler fowl, the noodles absorb the sweetness of the vegetables through the stock and it was very flavourful despite the absence of any fancy ingredients or meat. The mung bean noodles were also very smooth and a little springy, pretty much like Korea’s Jap Chae. I could finish two bowls of noodles with battling and eyelid!
Chaozhou Shrimp and Squash Omelet (Seafood and Vegetable Or Luak)
A much healthier version than oyster omelette, the autumn squashes were pre blanched and added to a batter of sweet potato flour with some rice starch. Fried only with shrimps, egg white and a touch of Chaozhou fish sauce, this dish is a new discovery for me and it seems that locally here in Singapore, we might just be able to reproduce this with angled lufa (Kak Kuay in Teochew).
Saute Sweet Potato Shoots with Fermented Shrimp Confit Lovely tender shoots of handpicked young sweet potato leaves no more than 5cm in length, they were quickly wilted in a hot wok with oil and garlic, refreshed with chicken stock that imparted flavour to the leaves and at the same time removing any excess oil. The result was a lovely mould of wok flavour sweet potato leaves that blew me off when paired with the fermented shrimp confit.
Chaozhou Four Sweet Treasures (Huai Shan, Pumpkin, Sweet Potato and Yam)
Dessert was a simple ending of the 3 tubers and 1 squash cooked in simple syrup. It was a dish of natural flavours that tasted so good that I absolutely forgotten to snap a picture for this last item on the menu.

Culinary Pilgrimage

2007-08-10T01:04:00.000+08:00

N and I had been away for the last week with lots of exciting culinary adventures and stories to share in the up coming weeks. Family reunion dinners, gourmet adventures in HK and Shenzhen were the main programe as N and I discovered many new insight to the cuisine we take so much for granted. The posts will be put up regulary in the next few weeks as we share with all here the rediscovery of our culinary heritage.
Do stay tuned to this blog.

Beyond Bulgogi

2007-08-04T01:04:00.000+08:00

Hansang Korean Family Restaurant

#03-32-35 Square 2

Novena Square

Singapore

Being at the crossroads of different cuisine, Singaporeans are spoilt for choice when it comes to food as we get bombarded with one food fads after another. Whole most and them come and go, eventually a few of them gets absorbed as part of the mainstream selections for the locals. One such cuisine that has taken root in the dinning scene here is Korean food which in the last few years have expanded beyond bulgoggi (Korean BBQ). Thanks to two waves of Korean mania, the first being K Pop or Korean contemporary music and the other being last year’s telecast of the highly popular Korean drama series “Jewel in the Palace”. Both sparked off a riot for all things Korean especially its cuisine and this included foods that varies from snacks to street nibbles and restaurant fare. Almost every channel in our food industry began to have a Korean element in taste. Korean grocery shops sprang up in Bencoolen Street’s Burlington Square, along North Canal Road, basement of Orchard Cineplex and most recently on the 3rd floor of the newly opened Square 2 (Novena MRT), which is entirely dedicated to all things Korean, even ice cream. I must admit that N and I were also infected by the wave especially so after watching “Jewel in the Palace”. It was valuable insights on Korean cuisine and food preparation which made many of us look beyond just barbeque.
Eating around, so far some of the better Korean Places we have been to includes Hyang To Gol @ Amara Hotel, Chang @ Pasir Panjang and Auntie Kim’s @ Thomson Road. The latest and newest kid on the block Hangsan Korean Family Restaurant was another great discovery over the weekend when we popped over to Square 2. The restaurant is divided into two sections where u can choose to have the BBQ together with other dishes or if u are simply happy with a bibimbap and soup or other fully prepared dishes from the kitchen, u can opt for the “non smoking” area.
There is a nice selection of dishes to compliment the main BBQ items.

We started with a cold Jap Chae or chilled sweet potato flour noodles with a sesame soy dressing. The smooth slippery noodles are slightly thicker than your regular mung bean noodles. Toss with julienne of vegetables like carrots and bell peppers, the lovely noodles were garnished with sliced omelet and a sprinkling of sesame seeds gave it a fragrant toasty note.
We also ordered a combination appetizer platter with various deep fried egg batter dipped pieces of meat patties, zucchini slices, fresh shrimps and mushrooms served with a ponzu like dipping sauce. A refreshing change from regular starch based batters, an egg batter may not be as crispy as another one based with flour, it did however had a unique fragrance that one would associate with aromas of the crispy brown edges of a wok fried omelet. Korean dishes are perfect examples of wherby the appreciation of the taste of nature is one of its main culinary virtues. Most ingredients are seldom tampered with too many pungent spices or heavy complex seasoning sauces. Rather there is a big emphasis on the freshness of ingredients and to bring out the best natural flavours of the ingredients, seasoning and spices are often used with a subtle touch.

One the excitements of eating a Korean meal is the wide variety of small side dishes, often vegetarian by nature that accompanies the main item. From marinated beansprouts to lotus roots and pickles like kimchi, cold mashed potatoes and simple lettuce based salads, they are ideal when eaten on their own or with steamed rice. I have also discovered recently that some of these side dishes if taken as condiments with the grilled meats on lettuce leaves can be a wonderful experience of bursting flavours on the palate interspersed with hot and cold sensations.

As bulgogi was our choice for main courses, we ordered a marinated sirloin and pork collar neck (wu hua rou). The meats were lightly marinated with soy, sesame and garlic. Grilling is done with a well designed charcoal based stove supported with a shot of gas burners in case the coals were not hot enough on their own. What I liked was the well designed exhaust that had the flexibility to be adjusted for maximum suction of vapourized grease from the grilling. This minimizes the linger aromas of cooking on customers clothes so that u do not walk out of the restaurant smelling like u have been through their kitchen.

After grilling them to our preferred doneness, I place the bite size portions of meat each on a lettuce leaf with various styles of combinations with the different small side dishes. The result is an explosion of different sensations like spiciness, pungency and comforting dimensions discovered as I play with a different permutation each time.
Service by far in this restaurant is good and the staffs are knowledgeable and attentive without being intrusive. The kitchen is helm entirely by a team of Korean Chefs that helps to reinforce the authenticity of dishes served. Halfway through our meal, the lady boss Mijin also explained to us that Hangsang is also one restaurant to establish a relationship with local agricultural farmers in Lim Chu Kang area to customize the cultivation of certain vegetables essential for her to match the authentic taste of the dishes that she remembers from her native hometown. How nice to know that! That being said, it is also the first restaurant in my memory to do so too!
Hangsang has other great dishes on the menu too besides the BBQ selections. Favorites like Bibimbap, ginseng chicken and beef rib soup as well as Korean adaptations of certain Chinese dishes make up the menu that has something for everyone. I shall update this post further when we come back with some of Mijin's specials that are produced with the harvests of her partnership with local farmers.

Old Times Sake

2007-07-29T09:26:00.000+08:00

Whitebait and Kale

1 Orchard Boulevard

Camden Medical Centre

#01-01

Singapore

http://www.whitebaitandkale.com/

The other day as we fished next to Marina South Pier, N and I were reminiscing some of the earlier restaurants that we have been to during courtship days and how things have change since. Some have closed down, some have lost their shine with poor management while there were a few that have held up well against the odds of running restaurants in Singapore where many in the dinning crowds are known more for being hippy than their loyalty. One such place that survived well was Whitebait and Kale. This was one the nice places that I took N to back in 2003 when it first opened with Chef Kan Bright San at helm. The menu was pretty much Aussie inspired fare and signatures includes their Crispy Whitebait with Home Made Tartare Sauce, Snapper Pie and Linguine Pasta with Crabmeat in a White Wine Sauce.
Fast forward to the present, Chef Bright has since left, so has many of the pioneer staff but that is common in the trade. People come and go; a new chef also means a new menu. Currently with Chef Nabil Tan at helm, the menu is still characteristically Aussie with a good measure of Eastern Mediterranean elements in flavour. Daily specials are scribbled on the boards which are subjected to availability.
As N wasn’t in the mood for meats, we decided to play with starters on the menu to a Tapas like dinner. Starting with a bowl of lightly battered whitebait as nibbles, the house made tartare sauce resembled more to a thousand island dressing instead in terms of colour profile. I didn’t quite understand the part on adding a red tinge to the traditional white coloured sauce. But on the taste, it did have a resembling character to the real Mc Coy. Problem with the white bait is to nibble on it fast while it is still hot. The moment it cools down, as the heat decreases, the fishiness aroma increases and so does the perceived greasy aftertaste.
The seared tuna was kind of a let down when it arrived, not in taste but doneness. The taste elements of the lemon honey and radish salad were good but the over cooked tuna made us felt like we were eating a huge chunk of canned tuna. We believe that this could be a great dish if done right the next round.
On my side, I had chosen calamari as my starter. A whole calamari was marinated with a spicy harrisa sauce before it was grilled and sliced up into large chunks. It was supposedly to be served with tabouleh but the tabouleh turned out to a couscous salad with dried cranberries, pine nuts and mint which is not what it should be. (Real Tabouleh is a mixture of chopped parsley, tomatoes, onions and cracked bulghur wheat in lemon juice and olive oil). The name was rather misleading but to be fair, the taste of the couscous salad was still good. Personally I would have preferred the real Tabouleh that comes with stronger herb notes and zesty tanginess. This would have certainly perked up the smoky char grilled calamari to a more robust appeal.
In between the two earlier appetizers, N and I decided to pull in one of the appetizer specials on the board. We choose the deep fried mozzarella that came with tomato onion salad and a pistachio crusted avocado puree. The crispy panko coated slices of deep fried mozzarella partnered very well with the slightly tangy tomato onion salad and can actually make the pistachio crusted avocado look redundant. However I must say that the avocado puree was absolutely delicious on its own, creamy, buttery and slightly sweet. So good it was I was tempted to ask if I could have a bowl of nacho chips….
Just before the main course, N needed her fix of oysters and this couldn't be a better time to check out one of Australia’s best oysters from Coffin Bay. The name sounds eerie (it was named after somebody noble not the wooden box) but most food aficionados will know that this region produces one of the best shellfishes, scallops and oysters because of its pristine waters. The season runs from June to August so the oysters are in their prime. The entire flight was gone in less than 10 minutes and seeing N’s satisfaction, they must be pretty darn good!
Somewhere the service screwed up with the main courses so I ended up eating my duck confit alone. N had ordered crab cakes and the service captain had either heard or keyed the wrong order in when something else turned up at the table. Rather than making her wait longer, we worked on the confit first. The crispy skin duck leg was not oily at all despite being cooked in all that duck fat. The meat was not too dry and sufficiently moist and tender enough to be flakes with a fork. The fig and vincotto glaze worked beautifully with the slightly salty meat on the palate, balancing out with sweetness and some tangy sensations. Vincotto is a sweet, velvety vinegar with the subtle overtones of spices, grapes, prunes and has a similar characteristics to authentic balsamic vinegar but with different profiles. It is made from two varieties of grapes, Negroamaro and Black Malvasia grapes. The grapes are dried on the vine or over wooden frames, and then the 'must' is boiled gently until it reduces to one fifth of its initial volume. The syrup is then poured into aged oak barrels along with the mother, or starter, of the vinegar. It is aged in these barrels for four years to allow the taste to develop. A simple stew of giant white beans in tomatoes, garlic and olive oil provided the comfort element to the dish
Finally N’s crab cakes arrived after a second prompting and one of the cakes had been presented broken. The consolation was that the wreckage revealed chunks of real crabmeat, intersperse with fresh capsicum and onion dices, fresh herbs and spices. They were binded by mayonnaise and not excessive breadcrumbs so that we could still taste the real ingredients instead of being masked by the starch on bite. A small dollop of chutney that was nicely made with bush tomatoes, enhanced the overall taste of the dish with its own natural sweetness. Though the service was late and the presentation a little off key, I still enjoyed the taste of the crab cake.
For the sweet endings, I was curious to find out about the panna cotto with a muscato wine jelly on a rosemary scented cantaloupe soup. The panna cotta showed up with real specks of vanilla, a testimony of a superior product. The soft clotted cream went very well with the herb infused cantaloupe puree what had a subtle hint of rosemary. I also found that N’s profiteroles with macadamia ice cream and chocolate dip came more like an ice cream sandwich. The ice cream had been spiked with a generous amount of macadamia nuts and was presented with a modernist touch. Dipping each part of it into the bittersweet chocolate sauce was pure indulgence with freshly brewed coffee.
Well overall I am glad that WBK is still around as most restaurants in Singapore only have a shelf life of 2-3 years. Though there are some hits and misses in the menu writing, just take the inconsistencies with a pinch of salt unless u are a fussy diner. The misses did not taste anyway bad on their own after all……
PS. It was a difficult environment to take good pics without flash due to the super dim lighting so this was the best that I could manage with my digi cam without flash so as not to distract other diners with their food.

Like Father Like Son

2007-07-24T21:24:00.000+08:00

Peach Garden @Novena Gardens

273 Thomson Road

#01-06, Novena Garden

Singapore 3076444

Tel: 62543383

Peach Garden @ Thomson Plaza

301 Upper Thomson Road#01-88

Thomson PlazaSingapore, 574408

Tel: (65) 6451 3233

Peach Garden @ OCBC Centre

#33-01, 65 Chulia Street,

Tel: 6535 7833

The Chinese have two common sayings about fathers and sons. One simply translates to “Like Father like Son” and the other has a more noble meaning that means “A day as a Teacher/Mentor, A lifetime as a Father”. These two sayings are especially reflective in any craftsman’s trade where each individual will have their source mentoring whereby the master’s signature trademarks are always reflected as part of the repertoire of his prodigies.
In the chef’s profession, the same thing happens irregardless of the cuisine in focus. One of Singapore’s best known Cantonese Cuisine Masters, Chef Chan Kwok of Hua Ting Restaurant @ Orchard Hotel has mentored many unpolished gems, sculpturing them into fine talents who have gone on to experience success in their own path. One of the biggest success stories of “off spring” from Hua Ting is Peach Garden Restaurant. Widely known in the local dinning circles that the people behind it are trained in Hua Ting, Peach Garden is into their fifth year with a third outlet just opened recently on the 33rd floor of the OCBC center’s Executive Club. Veronica and Angela, whom both co owned the three Peach Garden restaurants, were successful outstanding managers and good friends at Hua Ting before the entrepreneur bug bit into them. When they both left to open up the first Peach Garden @ Novena in 2002 with one of Chef Chan’s prodigies, their initial success were met with tough times as the economy wasn’t that rosy and a SARs outbreak created a gloom in businesses across the whole region. But during those lean times, service and food quality were never compromised and customers remained supportive. Hence the expansion plans when things got better. I call that a decent expansion as many restaurant operators tend to be too greedy and ambitious when it comes to business expansion that quality is often compromised in both service and food. I am by the way a strong believer that quantity and quality does NOT go together.
I always have lower expectations when restaurants expand into chains and resources are stretched to the maximum. Mum was curious to see how different they are from Hua Ting based on some unfair comments from an ungrateful relative that we hosted recently. We decided to come to the Peach Garden outlet here @ OCBC Center on a Sunday evening as parking would be easy and getting a table is much easier than jostling with the crowds at the other two Thomson Branches. N and I liked their spacious decor and warm coziness of this new outlet and club members are discreetly separated from the dinning public for their private events. Menu reflected much of Hua Ting’s repertoire, only slightly smaller but signature dishes like Shark Bone Cartilage Soup, Roasts selections, Stew Mee Pok with XO sauce and homemade tofu dishes were there. A set menu of the signature items was also available and its promotional price has been extended to non OCBC credit card holders as well. Hence we decide to take the set menu and added on two more house specialties to supplement the night’s dinner.
The dinner kicked off with a starter that feature their signature twin roasts, complimented with a stuffed bean skin roll on green frisee. The slice of warm roasted duck breast was paired with a fruity plum sauce that helped to calm the gamey taste of duck meat which was already quite mild in my opinion in comparison with other roasted ducks that I have tasted before. Honestly to be fair, I could only comment on the duck as a part of the whole appetizer flight instead of the whole based on the portion that was served. However I take the cue that it must be good as even my mum who is a non duck lover was converted. On the other end of the flight was a pair of roast pork cubes lined with a dash of mustard in between. The siew yok or roast pork as it is commonly known was almost on par with Hua Ting’s version except the skin was a little thinner, hence less crackling and the underbelly slightly under seasoned. It was still a very good piece of work on its own compared with other versions that N and I have tasted. The centerpiece of stuffed bean skin roll was a replay of the version that we get at Hua Ting and this was an equal match. I like the underlying of the drizzle of the sweet dark sauce with the dainty dim sum than the accompanying Worcestershire sauce.
The highlight of the menu is the Shark Bone Cartilage Soup, highly popularized by Chef Chan @ Hua Ting. For this menu, it was served with a touch of superior sharks’ fins and fish maw which I was impressed on how they can justify and balance out the costs. The soup’s appearance was exactly like the Hua Ting’s version, rich, gelatinous and creamy from the hours of simmering of the bones and cartilages. On taste, it was deliciously full of warmth but I could sense a certain taste element was missing even though it was already very good. Despite trying hard to figure out what it was before I could finish my soup, I could not find the missing piece of the puzzle until the last drop when I finally realized what was missing. It was that small piece of Jin Hua Ham that gives the rich broth an extra oomph of umami characters as what we have always experienced in Hua Ting. But to be fair, given the price of the set meal, every penny is its own worth and without the ham, the soup could still stand on its own. Personally, I would be glad to trade in the sharks’ fin which is actually tasteless cartilages for that coveted piece of cured ham that would greatly enhance the deliciousness of the soup further with its strong umami character.
Before the next course of the meal, the first extra dish that came by which was Sauté Prawns with Salted Egg Yolk. This is also one dish that is synonymous with Pearl Garden that differentiates it out from Hua Ting. It had that kind of salty fermented aromas as what is termed “Kiam Pang” in Hokkien. Evolving around the same time as wasabi prawns, this dish has caught on very well with the local dinning crowd despite its perceived high cholesterol image. The plump juicy prawns had gone through the standard rinsing method with running water for a good hour to make them succulent and crunchy. Coated with a thin but very crispy batter, the prawns were tossed in chopped cooked salted egg yolks to give it a nutty buttery richness. It is sinful yet addictive, nutty rich yet with delicate flavours.
In place of a sorbet as a palate refresher, we tried the steam bai ling mushroom in Chaozhou style preparation. Thick luscious slices of bai ling mushrooms rested in tofu and were steamed with a topping of shredded salty vegetables, sour plum, chilies, mushrooms and Chinese celery and ladled with a light broth. The tangy broth was a nice palate cleanser and the supple abalone like textured mushrooms took to the flavourful stock like a fish to water.
Sea Perch is a relatively new generation of fish fillets favoured by chefs in Singapore as environmentally it is friendlier than the fast disappearing Chilean Seabass or codfish as it is commonly known. This fillet has finer flakes of meat and less fatty fish notes than codfish but with an equal sweetness. Since the first Peach Garden outlet @ Novena, this has been their signature dish, with the crispy deep fried fillet being served with plum sauce or Thai sweet chili sauce. I like their generous portion serving of the fish too!
A lovely tofu dish that I have always enjoyed from Chef Chan’s kitchen at Hua Ting is a home made tofu with a delicious crabmeat sauce and Honshimeiji mushrooms. Peach Garden’s version is just as good with the extra smooth home made tofu resting on a bed of local spinach and covered with a light yet flavourful sauce with delicate seafood sweetness and generously spiked with crabmeat. Obviously the master has taught the pupil well in being able to elevate a humble tofu dish to an elegant masterpiece of its own.
Perhaps the most satisfying dish for me is the newly discovered stewed noodle with sliced abalone in abalone sauce. “Original Jus, Original Taste” as a saying in Chinese goes, fresh Hong Kong style egg noodles were blanched and expertly rolled into a cocoon shape before being covered with a rich glistening sauce infused with abalone notes from the hours of braising dried abalones in it. The abalones are then sliced and each plate was garnish with a thicker than norm piece of the tender shellfish. Portions were decent but it was the taste that made it very memorable for me.

Desserts were supposed to be a chilled jelly Royale with julienne of coconut. But I have always been a fan of their chilled black glutinous rice with coconut ice cream so I requested to have two out of the four portions to be switched. Mum was impressed with the chilled version of the pulot hitam (black glutinous rice porridge) enriched with the not too sweet coconut ice cream while my wife N absolutely adored the cubes of jelly with fresh coconut julienne and coconut water that made it light and refreshing. For me, I am happy to have the best of both worlds.
A prodigy may outshine his master one day in the future but one must never forget the master’s merit of foundation laying for his prodigies during their formative years. For a chef, nothing can be more satisfying to see your creative works being passed on to the next generation of chefs who can make good with them, leaving your name behind as a legend.

Weekly Cooking Classes

2007-07-22T23:45:00.000+08:00

Dear Frens and Visitors of this Blog,

I have moved pics and menus of our weekly cooking workshop sessions to my the other blog, http://www.cookwithpassion.blogspot.com/

This will enable me to put more entertainment reading posts here instead. Please click on the above link to see the workshop schedules, menus and pics.

National Service (NS)

2007-07-20T22:18:00.000+08:00

The Singapore National Culinary Team is one of the most feared competitors in major culinary competitions across the globe. Over the last fifteen years, we have snagged numerous gold medals and championships in international competition events like the Culinary World Cup, Culinary Olympics, IGEHO Basel, FHA Salon Culinaire and most recently the WA Perth Oceana Fest Championships. All these achievements have helped put our small country on the world culinary map with a big presence and not only raised the profile and status of the Chef’s profession locally in this country that is currently gunning for two Integrated Resorts by the year 2010. The success stories were made possible with constant practice and rehearsals through specially organized dinners. The writer of this blog is proud to have been an ex National Team member and in the process of being recalled for “national service”, had the exclusive privilege to cover this event which was one of the biggest rehearsals that the Team has ever had.
The occasion was to be a charity gala dinner for the Independent Women’s Forum 10th Anniversary and in support of the Women's Initiative for Ageing Successfully (WINGS). The Singapore Chefs Association was invited to cook for this symbolic event and was supported with generous sponsorships from its corporate members of the food industry. Guest of Honour was MM Lee Kuan Yew and Mrs Lee. For this important occasion, the SCA fielded the best team it had on hand, ie the current National Team that won the Oceana Fest Championships recently in Perth, Australia and presented their award winning menu for the evening. In addition to the current team members and Fullerton Hotel’s banquet team, more help was rendered with the activation of core members of the SCA’s managing committee, ex National Team Members, chefs from airline catering, hotels, culinary schools, hospitals, restaurants and student apprentices from Singapore Hotel Association Tourism and Educational Centre (SHATEC). In all there were about 45 chefs and cooks behind the scenes of the successful six course dinner. As guests at the VIP table with MM Lee was SCA President Chef Eric Teo and WACS Continental Director for Asia, Chef John Sloane.
Preparations for the menu started as early as a month before with logistics and man power planning. As the team members have been assigned different responsibilities for different meal courses and worked in different organizations, the misc-en place (prep work) was split into different locations. Appetizers and entrees were prepared at Grand Corpthorne Waterfront, dumplings for the soup were made at Marina Mandarin Hotel, main course was prepared at SATS Airline Catering kitchen, and intermezzo and desserts were done in Swissotel Stamford and Orchard Hotel kitchens respectively. Final assembly was at the kitchens in Fullerton Singapore. This was also one of the biggest dinners that the Singapore National Team has cooked for and with the Ex National Team veterans combined, it was considered to be the best of the best in culinary excellence. The menu for the evening is as follows:

• Assorted Canapes
• Confit of Salmon in Lime Oil, Salmon Belly Tartare, Modern Nicoise Salad with Lemon Scented Olive Oil, Green Gazpacho Espuma & Balsamic Reduction
• Chicken Consommé scented with Basil, Prawn Dumpling
• Pan-seared King Scallops in Citrus Nage
• Intermezzo of Raspberry Sorbet and Orange Coulis on Shiso Leaves
• Roast Lamb Rump with Herb Crust and Creamy Mushroom Ragout, Braised Lamb Neck with Butternut Puree, Caramelised Apple, served with Lightly Soured Lamb Jus
• Passion Fruit Chiboust Gratin with Warm Chocolate Pudding, Red Wine Plum Sauce, Vanilla Ice cream

A few days before the event, team members and assistants started to prepare their misc-en-place in the various kitchens across the island. Vegetables like asparagus and baby carrots were trimmed; herbs and salad leaves were plucked. Seafood and meats were trimmed and marinated. Demi glaces and other reduction sauces were produced through long hours of simmering. Flavoured oils were infused with herbs and citrus fruit zests. On the sweet side, the pastry chefs were engaged in full swing for the production of sorbet, ice creams, the chocolate pudding, decorative sauces and garnishes.

On the final day, the Team with their assistants finally met up with all their prep work at the Fullerton Hotel’s kitchens after days of mugging in at their own individual locations. As time keeping was strictly enforced by Team Captain Yen Koh, this enabled everyone to be more relaxed in preparation of the slam ahead. We all found time to catch up with one another amidst setting up the various workstations as Yen went around finalising all the necessary logistics arrangements with Fullerton’s Exceutive Chef Arnaud Thulliez. By 4pm, the veterans and chefs from other organisations have started to come in and excitement was building up as we caught up with one another on good old times and recent developments.

Briefing was done by just before dinner break by SCA President Eric Teo and committee members on the importance of this event and its significance to showcase our talents to top leaders of our country. It is also a morale booster for our culinary pride to the many of us and especially so for those who have worn the national colours at one point or another in the course of our profession. After a quick dinner at 6pm, everybody went back to their respective battle stations and bit by bit, the action began.
At the frontline, Chef David Tan led the appetizer plating with the confit of salmon being topped with avocadoes and a tatare made with sashimi grade salmon belly, onions, freshly chopped dill and capers. A classical Nicoise salad with a modern twist complimented the salmon tower which was crowned with a fine herb salad that had been given a shower of citrus dressing. Just before serving, each plate was pump with an airy foam of Green Gazpacho that had been made with all fruits green like grapes, kiwi,apples and cucumbers giving the appetizer a touch of molecular gastronomy.

The vibrant spectrum of colours and light citrus notes made the appetizer a wonderful starter getting everyone into a zesty mood.
Back in the hot kitchens, Chef KK Kong was shuttling between the final preparations of the consommé and getting the entrees ready. My battle station’s responsibility was to sear up the scallops with both Chefs Peter Round, Yeow Meng from SATS as my comrades.
The scallops were to be paired up later with a citrus buttery nage and a garnish of fresh chervil spiked with lemon zests. On the other side of the kitchen, Chef Frankie Yong as his team were roasting off the lamb rumps to a perfect doneness, getting it crusted with freshly chopped herbs and putting the finishing touches to the mushroom ragout that had been cooked for four kinds of mushroom like porcinis, morels, button and shitake. The lamb necks were glazed with demi glace and gently slow cooked to tenderness while the butternut mash was fluffed up, ready to cushion the lamb neck during plating. The winning attributes of this dish was the Chefs' ability to turn off cuts of meat into delicious culinary masterpieces through innovative methods of cooking and presentation. This is a skill that most chefs are taught to acquire in order to balance out food costs at the end of the day, keep the operations profitable.
At the pastry kitchen, Chef Chai Poh Lo and Nicole Tan were putting in line the sorbets for intermezzo and doing the final checks on the components for the dessert finale. As a palate cleanser, raspberry sorbet was served on orange coulis underlined with a shiso leaf. To end the evening of gastronomy, each diner was going to get a individual platter that featured a contrast of Passion Fruit Chiboust Gratin with Warm Chocolate Pudding and Red Wine Plum Sauce bridged together with Vanilla ice cream. It was a spectacular stunning display of creativity, skill and courage to push all possibilities to the limit in a challenging environment.

At sunset, the first platters of canapés were sent out signalling the start of the fund raising evening cumulated with a cornucopia of epicurean gastronomic delights. As evening drew in, the lights at the ballroom were dimmed, aromas of freshly baked rolls filled the ballroom and wines started to flow into the glasses. The appetizer was fired when the cue from the banquet service manager was given and it was all systems go from then onwards. Like a well coordinated orchestra, a second team stood by at another station getting ready the supreme consommé into hot bowls each filled with a lovingly hand crafted shrimp dumpling and perfumed with a subtle infusion from a piece of fresh basil leaf. As the last bowl of soup left for the ballroom, the same team turned over the station to prepare for the scallop entree. Systematically each member was assigned a specific role and things moved like clockwork under the watchful eyes of Chefs Arnaud Thulliez and Ivan Yeo. Meanwhile at the location where the first courses were fired earlier, the two pastry chefs had already moved in to set up the sorbets for intermezzos assisted by the same team who plated the first course. Back of the house, Chef Frankie’s team were keeping guard over the lamb rump that was resting from having been roasted to a luscious pink core earlier.
A speech break gave the guests some time to refresh their palates with the sorbets while the various teams took the opportunity to turnover their stations again or to put final touches to the next out going courses.

As the main courses were the most complicated segment of the entire meal, it was almost all hands on deck as we got into the full swing of action. As each plate moved along the line, there was a feeling of comradeship among the chefs and cooks irregardless of race, culture, hierarchy or background. The team spirit was infectious and morale was riding high. It was a learning experience for everyone who contributed time and effort to make things happen.

When the last plate of main course was fired, all the veteran chefs moved over to help the plating of the desserts while I coordinated the shutdown of the main course lines with the remaining volunteering apprentices. The Main Team and SCA core committee members had been invited on stage for a picture with MM Lee as the veteran chefs backed up backstage on getting the desserts ready. When the sweets finally went out, it was all oohs and ahhs for the spectacular display of taste, finesse and elegance. The weeks of hard work and preparation have finally come to a grandeur ending and as the guests polished off the last bits on their plates, the chefs in Singapore have once again achieved another milestone in the culinary history of Singapore.
Unfortunately in the next day’s papers, the press media did us a culinary injustice with a measly mention of the menu and generalising the key people under one term “top chefs” who have gone through so much to put this wonderful dinning experience together. Heaven please bless those ignorant souls!

Weekly Cooking Classes 09/07/07-14/07/07

2007-07-14T22:42:00.000+08:00

This weekend we had a selection of Italian dishes cooked up with a crowd that was stirred up with to some excitement by an impromtu lucky pick of a few fortunate participants for an extra tasting portion or the coveted "business class" experiences. Below are the pics for references:

Calamari and Zucchini Fritters with Cold Tomato Sauce

Fettucine Pasta Olio Aglio with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Pine Nuts, Fresh Basil and Parmesan Cheese

Grilled Rosemary Pork Chops with Marsala Wine Sauce with

Fresh Button Mushrooms

Next week: Beef Rendang, Lemon Grass Chicken Patties with Pickle Onions, Nasi Goreng Istimewa, Tauhu Telor, Mums Curry Chicken and Punggol Mee Goreng

If u are a new visitor and keen to find out where, when and what we are cooking ahead, please email to coolchef@hotmail.com for further information.

Beauty Lies In the Taste of the Beholder

2007-07-13T22:29:00.001+08:00

The Seafood Paradise Restaurant

91 Defu Lane 10,

Swee Hin Building

Tel: 6487 2429

Open daily from 5 to 11.30pm

Mon-Fri opens for lunch too 11am-2pm

In an industrial area shared by plastic engineering, food manufacturers and automobile workshops, hunger in the workforce here is usually calmed by a quick fix at the nearest available canteen. The last thing that comes to mind is a seafood restaurant out of nowhere that serves great food at decent prices. Here I am talking about Defu Industrial estate where it seems to be a culinary desert until Seafood Paradise came along. I have read a few different articles and blogs on the restaurant and it seems to me that the taste of every individual is still very subjective and personal. It is something that I can accept out of every human. But what seems scary to me is that some opinions were expressed with the writer in the wrong state of mind to appreciate the food that was served. I could sense from the blogs that the writer was sulking from other reasons like being angry with a relative as they left for the restaurant and hence vented his frustrations by picking on every dish that was served. Others commented that the dishes ordered tasted ordinary and were not flavourful. Others complain of waiting too long for their food to arrive (half an hour in a full packed restaurant??Come on, would u rather have your seafood cooked fresh or pre prepared so that when u order its just heat and go?). Then there were some who gave thumbs up to the food citing experiences that would make u salivate as u read.
Just like all the others who commented, I have my fair share of hits and misses about this restaurant. We came here because of the food and also we needed to get something in Hougang area. From the look, it seems that the restaurant has just gone through renovation and new menus have been launched with the old favourite items still being kept on the list. The crowd was like the old Kheng Luck in Upper East Coast, making the restaurant filled to the brim with some tables spilling over to the drive way. Though we made a reservation for a table, we still had to wait for another fifteen minutes before we could have one. One grouse that I had was that the restaurant could not facilitate typical Chinese restaurant tea service and the beverages were still being served coffee shop style. In the end we settled for coconuts after seeing the opposite table having their Chinese Tea in mugs with individual tea bags.
Food wise, we ordered one or the two of the controversial dishes mentioned in other blogs and reviews and we were advised to wait at least half an hour as the kitchen was extremely busy given the size of the crowd. Fair enough given that we were informed ahead as the size of the crowd validates their advice. The wait took twenty minutes.

First to arrive was the Shanghainese Cabbage in Superior Broth. It is as described, baby Shanghainese Cabbages cooked in a slightly thickened broth with wolfberries. Being a simple dish, there was nothing special to expect, hence I do not understand what the other writers were looking for in their comments. Rather, I found merit through the superior broth which was pleasantly savoury enough without overwhelming the natural sweetness of the cabbage. I am sure there was MSG in the broth but I give credit instead of criticism that the chef is skillful enough not to abuse the image-badly tainted taste enhancer which many people treat it like some kind of food poison, thanks to the media’s over hyping on the wrong information. The wolfberries gave colour contrast to the dish and biting on each berry gave a nice slight tinge of sweet and a gentle burst of subtle sourness against the savoury stock.
One of Singapore’s classic seafood favourites is Crispy Baby Squid. These little pieces of squid are first blanched and sun dried before being puffed in hot oil to a crispy crunch. They are then tossed in a sweet and sour sauce sometimes with some dark soy added too. For the first time after having eaten this dish in many different places, we got it served nestled in a beautiful noodle basket. The sauce was just perfect enough to coat the baby squids without turning them soggy. The best way to appreciate the crispy morsels was to have them with the bouquet of coriander leaves that served not only as garnish, but a breath refresher too.
We ordered a Sichuan Cereal Tofu which sounded interestingly new and aroused my curiosity. I guess we were misled by the way it was written on the menu as there was hardly a single grain of cereal in the dish. The Homemade Tofu was deep fried and crowned with a Bolognese like sauce of minced pork except it was flavoured subtley with spicy ferment bean paste (Dou Ban Jiang) which perhaps gave it a subtle Sichuan character as describe in the writing but we could not find an explanation for the cereal part of it. Nonetheless, the home made tofu which was made from steaming soy milk with egg white till it coagulates. It is then cooled and deepfried to a nice golden brown before the mince pork sauce is ladled over it. A garnish of enoki mushrooms and tobilko (flying fish roe) made the dish livelier. Though the name was misleading, the dish does have its own merit where the smooth tofu synchronized very well with the savoury meat sauce and mushroom toppings, creating a harmonious balance of comfort, umami and visual appeal.
Another new dish that caught my eye from the table next door was the Smoked Bacon Rolls. Similar to Devils on a horseback, the smoked streaky bacon was used to wrap around a piece of cheese, deep fried and served smother with a sweet and sour lemon plum sauce. The saltiness of the bacon and cheese actually went very well with the fruity sauce but I found the amount of sauce too overwhelming for my taste. As the sauce was great on its own, I would prefer to have the bacon rolls drizzled with it that totally coated around. This would allow the flavours of the smoked bacon and cheese to come through more easily.
As crabs were their specialty, we order the one style that many people talk about. We chose to have the crab cooked with vermicelli in a superior broth. The roe filled crustacean arrived in deep dish platter covered with the slightly thicken broth resting on the bed of glass noodles braised in its own stock. The first thing that caught us was the whiff of wine aromas which was validated upon tasting the broth. It reek of the generous amount of wine used, giving it an extra oomph of wine flavours. The rich stock did not taste of much of crab flavour but had other subtle characters of dried scallop and ham notes in it that went very well with the sweetness of the crabmeat. To be fair from the point of cooking, its takes time to extract out the crab flavour from the shells of the crustacean and by then their meat would have shrink considerably which may result in complaints of poor quality crabs being served. Though I did not get a crab flavoured broth as many have expected, I am contended to get a meaty crustacean that was not overcooked and shrunk, but still succulent and sweet to go with a rich broth of other profiles that married well together. Perhaps the chef could consider buying cheaper flower crabs for stock making but there again there will always be a supply issue of these wild crustaceans that could affect the quality of the broth if it were to depend so heavily on it.
On conclusion, Seafood Paradise may possibly have a new chef now at helm since their last review while their service was reasonably good without implementing service charge as most places do. Sometimes bloggers and writers should also know what to expect and demand when evaluating certain dishes. Don’t expect abalone taste profiles when what u order is just a $6 plate of vegetables or tofu that u already know its going to be cooked with garlic and oyster sauce. It would be more reasonable to expect the “wok hei” in the dish and have something nice to work on than pick on unrealistic sky high expectations. As for prices, just remember that food costs alone is always 30% or less of the selling price that you see on the menus in order for restaurants to be profitable. They are not cooking for charity neither should they overcharge. More importantly, most reviews especially media published ones should be constantly updated for readers at least once a year like the Michelin or Zagat systems so that restaurants will keep their efforts to maintain consistency or further improve themselves.

Recipe Xtra: Spicy Seafood Salad

2007-07-12T07:25:00.000+08:00

Every time I attend Chinese style banquet dinner, items on the appetizer cold dish are so predictable that there is no excitement on what may turn up on the table when dinner finally starts. Taking an idea from the dressing that is often tossed up with jelly fish, I have adapted it into a seafood salad as a starter for a reunion dinner menu which worked out pretty well.

Cold Spiced Top Shell Salad with Pine Nuts

4 Portions
Ingredients:
80g Canned Top Shell in Brine, cut into half
100g Fresh Baby Scallops, blanch for 20 seconds, refresh with water
4pcs Large Shrimp, blanched, peeled and chilled
5g Red Chili, cut into dice
10g Chinese Celery, cut into dice
15g Spring Onion, cut into dice
60g Lily Bulb, peeled
20g Pine Nuts, toasted

Dressing:
3tbsp Garlic Oil
1tsp Fried Garlic
2tsbp Oyster Sauce/Abalone Sauce
1/2tsp Coarse Ground Black Pepper

Garnish:
Deep Fried Potato Wafers

Preparation Method:

1. Blanch lily bulb in boiling water for 20 seconds. Refresh in ice water. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat oil and fry garlic till fragrant and slightly brown. Mix in Oyster sauce and black pepper. Toss top shell with rest of ingredients and dressing.

3. Serve cold.

Weekly Cooking Classes 02/07/07- 07/07/07

2007-07-08T08:38:00.000+08:00

Here are some of the new items we cooked this week. Congratulations to the lucky few who got to eat off the plates after these pics were taken. Bon Appetit!

Asparagus Soup with Parmesan Cheese Croutons

Crispy Rosemary and Parmesan Cheese Crusted Chicken Chops with Walnut Romesco Sauce

Smoked Salmon and Leeks Risotto with Parmesan Cheese Wafer

Next week ahead: Calamari Fritters with Cold Tomato Sauce, Marsala Wine Flavoured Pork Chops, Fettucine Pasta Alio Oglio with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Pine Nuts
If u are a new visitor and keen to find out more about what, when and where we cook all these wonderful dishes, please email to coolchef@hotmail.com

Super Lunch

2007-07-07T23:49:00.000+08:00

Superfamous
67 Chulia Street

Singapore 049515
Tel: 65 6223 0038

www.superfamous.com.sg

On a rare opportunity for lunch with N in downtown Boat Quay, we hopped into a cafe that we have heard from the grapevine about their great food that is only available between 9-5 just like the office crowd and only 5 days a week. For guys like me who work out of town areas like in Jurong and have limited time for lunch breaks, it seems like we are being ostracized to check out this place. This is a not a come and go kind of cafe, it's a super cafe with the usual grub but using fine quality ingredients. The place that I am talking about here is the already famous Superfamous.
Set up by lifestyle guru, Michel Lu, this place has been packing the PME Ts (professional, managers, executives and tai tais) crowds during lunch and by evening after 5pm, is a chill out Martini Bar with a wide selection of “Happy Hour” drinks.
As the place is not air-conditioned, it could be sweltering hot under the sun. Fortunately the cafe had the shade of some trees and high powered fans provide cooling wisps of breeze in between. I was told that the signature item here is their Wagyu Burger. As N was craving for one, I decided to let her have it instead and chose a salmon for my main course. I started off with a duck breast salad that came with a blood oranges and a citrus dressing. While the duck meat was in perfect doneness, slicing it along the grain did injustice to the meat. I couldn’t understand why the chef chose to do it that way but it sure toughens up the meat instead of making it tender. The salad leaves and the citrus dressing was rather good but the blood orange segments seemed to have been around too long without their skin and made them look dull and broken instead of the glistening shine of freshly cut wedges. Nonetheless, blood oranges are always sweet by nature so it still manage to compliment the duck breast decently well. A sprinkle of cashew nuts created a nice bridge between the tangy dressing and salad leaves as the high fat content of the nuts help to tone down the slight bitterness of the mixed greens.
N had a great Blue Swimmer Crab Ceasar Salad to start off with. The chilled crispy Romaine lettuces lightly coated with a creamy anchovies based dressing, given a big dollop of fresh crabmeat, a generous inkling of fresh parmesan cheese and real bacon bits. It's a simple dish but when executed well, can produce mind blowing results especially serving it at a right temperature on a hot day. I could eat that whole salad stuffed into a freshly toasted baguette.
While waiting for our main courses, we had the privilege of peeking at a few dishes that whiz past our table. Opposite us was a table who had ordered two pastas, one a simple Olio Aglio with Sun Dried Tomatoes , Spinach and Pine Nuts and the other a creamy Tiger Prawn Linguine with Perrnod Cream. Though we did not get to taste the pastas, the aromas from each plate as the ladies toss them up was enough to almost make me change my mind about the main courses. Just on aromas only, the Olio Aglio version had whiffs of a good quality fruity olive oil with slight peppery notes interspersed with a sweet mellow sautéed garlic pungency. The other creamier pasta dish sent out anise like aromas locked in between pockets of creamy nuances that leeched out from the dash of Pernod, an anise-like liquor frequently favoured by chefs to pair with seafood and cream based sauces. Two other great looking dishes that went by just before our main courses arrived were the Pan Seared Tuna Salad and Fish and Chips.
I am a little nervous and skeptical about ordering salmon main courses in cafe especially if I feel that the cooks are not skilled enough to handle the excitingly challenging piece of fish. Most of the time the fillet comes out overcooked and dry, such a shame for paying so much for a good quality piece of fish. Thank God the nightmare did not happen this time as I had a vibe that the salmon would come out good for once. My instincts were not wrong, my salmon not only came out good, it came out great! Crispy skin, right doneness with moist juicy slightly undercooked flesh without the fishy aromas, whoever cooked this had manage to capture the true essence of preparing salmon for once and restored my hope of ordering salmon in a cafe again. The salmon sat on a bed of mash potatoes or should I say fresh whipped potatoes that tasted fresh and not freshly whipped from foodservice packs reconstituted with milk or water like most cafes do. Complimenting the two great items was a creamy tobiko oriented sauce that gave tiny bursts sensation on the palate like how one would feel bitting into a California Roll.
Honestly, I am not an advocate of using Wagyu to make burgers unless I know that really made from the trimmings that have no other better fate than to end up as a burger patty. Currently the fad among chefs in Singapore, the burger came as it would be topped with caramelized onions, a serving of greens on the side and deep fried frozen potato wedges. The patty was pretty decent, no chewy bits of sinew and there were specks of fresh herbs to be seen. I tasted thyme and figure out there could some parsley too then but anyway isn't it nice to know that the chef uses fresh herbs instead of those freeze dried ones that add nothing but dead weight? I miss some of the beefiness that is associated with a regular patty but the Waygu does taste juicier thanks to the higher density of fat marbling in between the meat fibers.
Squeezing the last fifteen minutes of allowance into deconstructing a pear tartin, N and I discovered layers of pears soaked up in a butter caramel flavours encrusted on a flaky pastry dough. Served warm, the pear tartin was flanked by a scoop of home made vanilla ice cream, yes, u can see the vanilla specks too and it melts pretty fast. It was lovely, creamy, and heavenly setting u off on dreamy mood for the afternoon ahead. Time to get on with work again……………..

Menu Pics for Private Workshop with HDB 02/07/07

2007-07-05T00:39:00.001+08:00

The week started with a customized private workshop for the organization that builds the flats for where most of us are staying in now. Here are the pics of the workshop and oh yes, we had fun and a hilarous time together too!

Tau Hu Telor with Home Made Kicap Manis

Hainanese Pork Chops

Punggol Style Seafood Mee Goreng

Posh Nosh Nibbles

2007-07-03T22:01:00.000+08:00

Lei Garden Restaurant

#01-24 Chijmes,

30 Victoria Street,

Singapore 187996

Tel : (65) 6339 3822

Lunch : 11.30am to 3pm
Dinner : 6pm to 11 pm

“Dim Sum” to many Singaporeans is about Yum Cha with side nibbles that can range from anything like minature flaky pastries with turnip or roast pork fillings to heartier items like steamed buns, glutinous rice dumplings and small plates of roasted meats. It is nothing new to many especially in countries with strong Chinese cultures. It's the thing to have when engaged in tea drinking where discussions and conversations are carried over these dainty little morsels of small bites. There are numerous places in Singapore where you can go for such activities and prices can vary from point to point. Then there are the value-for-money dim sum buffets, there are coffee shop stalls that offer on the basic items churned out by industrial machines and restaurants that offer these little fine pieces of culinary art that sometimes cost an arm and a leg.
N and I also have a weakness for Dim Sum. We do have our favourite items though they are not at the same places. Some of our favourite places include Crystal Jade (Golden Palace @ Paragon and Kitchen @J8 Bishan, Yan Palace, Hua Ting, and adding on to the list recently is Lei Garden which we have long heard of their rave reviews by word of mouth from friends.
The Hong Kong based Lei Garden Restaurant Group that runs the renowned Lei Garden Restaurant @ CHIJMES does not need much introduction as it has long been perceived as one of the better Chinese restaurants in Singapore. Of course this often so since the entire group is helm by a very passionate hands on restaurateur himself, Mr Chan Shu Kit who is also a well known gourmet. Though the Lei Gardens Restaurants are not trendsetters of modern Chinese cuisine, they have done very well in capturing the essence of traditional Cantonese classics and refining the tastes of its dishes to a new level of sophistication. Hence when we step in with mum last Sunday for Dim Sum, we do have certain expectations of what’s in store.
By prices, Lei Garden’s Dim Sum is no cheap stuff. Chef Chan Kwok from Hua Ting has once ever shared this with me on the art of appreciating Dim Sum. “Dim Sum is a part of Chinese cuisine where each piece is handcrafted with passion and pride. Finesse is the key word in understanding the taste and appreciation of such delicate morsels of culinary art.” I remembered his words and these are the elements of criteria when it comes to evaluating what’s before you. Quality and quantity does not go together in life. Ever since then, when N and I check out Dim Sum places both locally and overseas, it is no longer about the size of the steam buns or how much sharks fin are there in the dumpling, its about art and finesse. It’s about delicate thin layers of pastry, fine slivers of meat and vegetables, quality broths, flavourful sauces and simple garnishes. These attributes add up to the overall pleasure of enjoying a refined culinary art with the right tea and impeccable service.
Fortunately we now have another new place to add to our list. From the point of reservation till the end of the meal, we were well taken care of in terms of comfort level and service efficiency. Plates were changed regularly and tea refilled without having to raise a hand. Another win factor was this is one restaurant that does not shove a small plate of cheap pickles or peanuts into the customer’s face without checking if it is required in the first place, and then rip the customer off with a ridiculous price later on in the bill. Menu wise, the favourite items were on the regular order chit but beyond them were special items that are brought to the table randomly for us to pick on what we fancy.
First on the table was a trio of Egg Tarts. They come in miniature sizes which I like because I can finish them in two bites with room for other Dim Sum coming on later. The egg tarts were warm and the sweet egg custard was still a little runny but the lovely buttery crust was fragrantly addictive. It was a great way to soothe a hungry and cold tummy.

Just as we took our last bite on the egg tarts, a plate of honey glistening Char Siew (Chinese BBQ Pork) was served in chunks, not slices. Besides being very well marinated, the succulent meat was salivating delicious at the sight of it with the right amount of sweetness and fragrance from the caramelized edges. For some mysterious reason, we also ordered the BBQ Pork in Flaky Pastry (Char Siew Soh). While the taste of the flaky pastry was buttery aromatic with a light flakiness, its filling was less than our favourite Crystal Jade version.
If u love Swiss Style Roesti potatoes like they do in Marche, then u will also appreciate the Shredded Yam and Pumpkin Fritters which turn out to be even crispier that Roesti. This fritter is made up of pumpkin and yam shreds lightly fried to a golden brown crisp. Because of the pumpkin’s high level of naturally occurring sugars, it gives the fritters a slight sweetness combined with the fragrance of yam. Have it with a small dollop of sweet salty fermented bean chili sauce (the kind of chili sauce often served on the side in fine Chinese restaurants), it taste wonderfully good!
The Deep Fried Fresh Crabmeat Rolls was presented “cocoon” style where a piece of cheese and freshly cooked crabmeat are wrapped with shredded filo pastry and deep fried till crispy. A great combination of taste again this time with the savoury melted cheese complimented by the sweetness of crabmeat. Surprisingly Mum who was never a cheese fan could manage to take on these rolls. Actually she was tricked too as I did not informed her in advance about the cheese as part of the filling.
One of the items I must have in every session is Steamed Chicken Feet. I love to nibble the soften cartilages and gelatinous texture. Lei’s Garden version was paler in appearance than most of the others that I have come acrossed with. First bite was great but as I ate, I realized that there was an overdose of MSG. Though I do not react adversely to it, I am not against the use of MSG only where necessary in cooking; In fact I like it in food because it takes a little to gave the important body dimension in enhancing the taste of the dish. But I strong advocate against the abuse of it by Chefs who think of it as the more the merrier.

There were two different sets of steamed dumplings ordered. One was Shanghai Xiao Long Bao which were three pieces of hand kneaded juicy minced meat dumplings in thin wheat dough wrappers. Dipped in black vinegar and finely shredded ginger, they burst in the mouth releasing the rich meaty essence that trickles a feeling of warmth down our throats. The other set of dumplings resemble more to “Chao Shou” or Sichuan’s version of boiled dumplings toss in soy, black vinegar and sesame oil with chilies. I found the wrappers for these dumpling too thick for my liking otherwise the dressing and extra punch from the chilies were just great.

Carrot cake is a perennial favourite for many Dim Sum lovers. Technically it should be call radish cake as there are no carrots in its recipe at all. However most of the time what we are facing is a high ratio of rice flour to grated radish making it starchier than it is already needed. The one we had here was very good and we could taste the fine strips of radish and it subtle pungency delivered with a melt in mouth softness.

Other items that we had were fairly decent too but nothing to shout about. The pot stickers or Guo Tie were ok but I wished there was more fillings for more bite. Shrimp on Toast was rather good too with each piece of crispy toast accompanied by a whole prawn and sesame seeds. Spring rolls were deep fried to a nice crispiness without being oily but I felt that the filling was rather lackluster in comparison with tastier versions I have had at Yan Palace or Crystal Jade.
Mum’s and N’s favourite was the Glutinous Fried Rice, a simple rice dish that calls for skills in cooking up the sticky rice by stir frying it instead of steaming. The result is a cooked glutinous with the usual garnishes but the rice having and extra dimension of toasty fragrance like the aromas of Japanese green tea with toasted grains. Delicious as it was, we were also advised to enjoy it by the nibbles with tea in order to appreciate its taste better.
Chinese desserts are usually quite standard and boring. Still however as I was craving for a taste of durians, I took on the Durian Pudding, while N and mum shared the Almond Tea which both of them have a weakness for. We also ordered a trio of Black Sesame Stuffed Glutinous Rice Balls (Tang Yuan) rolled in sweeten milled roasted peanuts. Minus the plain Jane appearance and topless garnishing, I was appeased by digging into the pudding to discovered real chunks of fresh durian in the creamy pudding. This is a very important elements that distinguishes the character of the pudding. The Almond Paste was rather pleasing for both mum and daughter in law with its intense fragrance and thick consistency of milled almonds which are really apricot kernels instead. They are more popularly known as Chinese almonds. Filling into the last bit of space left in our tummies were three glutinous rice balls, one each for all of us. Stuffed with a paste made from milled fragrant black sesame seeds, each ball oozed out its nutty fillings with the warmth of its meaning, symbolizing reunion and family togetherness.

Epicurean Workshop Menu 3 Photos

2007-07-03T00:30:00.000+08:00

Thanks to one of our fellow workshop mates, below are pics from the recent sold out Epicurean Gourmet Class. This session will be repeated on 28th July @ Cairnhill CC. Do email me if u need brochures and more information.

Guiness Stout Pork Ribs

Tempura Prawns with XO Mayonnaise, Mango Salsa and Basil Seeds

Cooking Classes Week 24/06/07-01/-7/07

2007-07-02T01:22:00.000+08:00

We have cooked up a few fantastic recipes this week and here are the pictures for future references.

Pumpkin Soup with Ginger, Toasted Pumpkin Kernels and Sesame Croutons

Potatoes Au Gratin

Pan Fried Sirloin Steak with Mushroom Sauce

Breaded White Dory Fingers with Roasted Garlic and Fresh Tomato Dipping Sauce

Spaghetti with Chicken, Fresh Thyme and Cabbage

Banana Walnut Caramel with Vanilla Ice Cream

Next Week: Hainanese Pork Chops, Tauhu Telor, Punggol Style Mee Goreng, Rosemary and Parmesan Crusted Chicken Chop with Romesco Sauce, Asparagus Soup with Parmesan Crouton, Smoked Salmon and Leek Risotto

If u are a new Visitor and keen to experience what we have cooked in the above pictures or future workshops, please email to coolchef@hotmail.com

Undiscovered Treasures

2007-06-28T01:05:00.000+08:00

Yang Zhou Fried Prawn Noodles

Blk 40, Beo Cresent

Coffee Shop Opposite Beo Cresent Market

Hours: 3pm t0 8pm or earlier

Closed on Fridays

Mum always has this advice for me during my childhood years when dining out at hawker centers.:

Do not be attracted by long queues without knowing what's ahead.
Do not be bias by any form of media hype.
Use your own judgement on taste, (especially now that u are a professional chef.)
Experience counts, look for older hawkers who may be slow but the patience is worth it.
Look for tell tale signs of the quality of food based on the stall's outlook. If everything is catered, then u know better.
Mature estates' hawkers often have better tasting grub.

Well, mum is right most of the time. I have always kept this in mind when I go around. Beo Cresent market is one of my favourite chow destinations as I grew up around this estate in the 70's where there were fantastic stalls selling Carrot Cake, Cantonese Congee,Kueh Tutu etc till the wee hours of the morning. Most of the good hawkers are either gone or have moved away.

Lately I happen to pass by this familar stretch in the evening when my nose caught the familar whiff of pork lard cracklings and clanking of the wok spatula scrambling eggs till they foamed. It's the old uncle at helm again, frying his delicious prawn noodles away in a great broth. Mind you the last time I came by around 715pm in the evening, he was already doing the last order since opening at 3pm. This must really be one of those good life hawkers working only a couple of hours a day. A modest stall, no media hype or publicity, this almost toothless uncle fries every plate with passion and pride. No rolex, no gold chain or heavy jade to show off with, each plate of his prawn noodles is moist but not dripping wet and yet had the full flavour of a rich meaty stock. Steam from the noodles evolved a seductive lard fragrance yet they were not greasy on the palate and portions were generous. This is truly one of the best I have ever tasted and the other being at Whampoa Food Centre. The chili was fantastic fragrant with dried shrimps and reasonably nice amount of spiciness. A squeeze of lime brings every dimension into harmony. U can ask for more chili but i prefer to keep things simple.

Cooking Classes Week 18/06/07-23/06/07

2007-06-24T09:53:00.000+08:00

This week we had a few snap shots of the recipes that we cooked over the various culinary workshops as scheduled. Much appreciation to those who turn up for their support. Below are some of the dishes that everyone got to taste......Linguine Pasta with Mushrooms (Shitake,Oyster and Buna Shimeji) Sauce

and Truffle Oil

Lemon Thyme Grilled Chicken with Pickled Fennel and Tomato Concasse

Marinated Strawberries with Balsamico Vinegar and Black Pepper,

Vanilla Ice Cream

BBQ Smoked Orange Pork Ribs with Spicy Fresh Potato Wedges

Honey Mustard Dip and Real Coleslaw

Next Week: Grilled Sirloin Steak with Mushroom Sauce, Potatoes Au Gratin, Pumpkin Soup with Ginger and Sesame Croutons

If u are a new Visitor and keen to experience what we have cooked in the above pictures or future workshops, please email to coolchef@hotmail.com

Lah Kopi (Coffee Stirring)

2007-06-23T08:17:00.000+08:00

Wiener Kaffeehaus
148 Neil Road Singapore 088877

Tel: 65 6226 3148

Operating Hours 10.00am - 10.00pm
Daily

Nestled at the corner on the junction between Neil and Cantonment Roads is a coffee house that had been quietly packing in the crowds who come to appreciate their Viennese Style coffee making and brewing. Wiener Kaffeehaus is a factory, restaurant and retail shop packed into one such unit. N and I have been here several times to appreciate their various styles of coffees and traditional Austrian Sacher Torte. We love to chill out by coming here to do some reading and to enjoy its hospitality warmth and roasted coffee aromas. The cafe owner Anton Wessiman is an affable individual who mingles with and greets every table of his customers besides doing hands on in helping out with service and order taking with a sense of humour.

The coffee house deco is inspired from traditional kaffeehauses in Vienna with wall mounted lamps, crystal chandeliers and a cozy atmosphere. Art pieces sculptured by famous Austrian artist, Gustav Klimt grace the walls of the coffeehouse and some of his works have also been imprinted into the design of table lamps around. An area between the dinning room and kitchen is the playground for Anton. Here, the coffee enthusiast roast, grinds and packs his coffee beans with modern technology and traditional formulas. Besides serving it at the cafe, these freshly produced coffee powders with different blends are also available for retail. Though it's a Viennese coffeehouse by theme, the menu also features different ways of appreciating coffee with different brewing techniques and drinking cultures from around the globe. From Italian cappuccinos to Vietnamese drip coffees, there is enough variety to please most coffee aficionados.
Food wise, it’s a showcase of Austrian grubs with sausages, goulash, Cordon Bleu roast beef and Wiener Schitzel as main highlights. There are home made potato salads, deep fried Camembert Cheese and various leafy salads for lighter appetites. On the past two visits, we tried some of their items, food was consistently good although some items could be better.

The Deep Fried Camembert Cheese was oozing from its crust when served. You could choose to dip with a tartare sauce or have it smeared with a little strawberry jam. We preferred the former as the cheese was deep fried, finding the tanginess in the tartare sauce a better compliment due to the greasiness of the crust. Goulash Soup, which was a specialty of the house, came with a rather boring presentation. While the taste of the broth was still decent, the chunky character of the soup was missing with the few measly pieces of potatoes and meat. Sprinkling on the soup with dried parsely only made the soup looked more dull and tired and I wish there was also a touch of sour cream.
All the main courses that we tried fared much better. The Wiener Schiztnel (choice of pork or chicken) was one great dish of its own. Almost covering the entire plate, the breaded piece of chicken came hot, crispy and with just a squeeze of lemon or tartare sauce, N was happily engaged in deconstructing the schnitzel as I snapped pictures of the veal bratwurst. Most sausages in the pub grub and cafe menus are pretty standard and the only way to distinguish your dish is to make a rich onion gravy packed with oomph! This is what Anton just did and it made the bratwurst taste even better! I figured it must have take quite a bit of caramelized onions to achieve the robust taste of the gravy and the sweetness of the onions went very well with the salty character of such sausages.
On our second visit, we took on the Cordon Bleu and Farmers Platter. The Cordon Bleu was like a Schniztel Wrapped around a piece of ham and cheese. Needless to say, when we cut across, the aromas of melted cheese and ham simply just raised your appetite by another ten notches. The Farmers Platter was like a tasting dish on its own with smoked pork, Austrian style roast pork and a prettily cut frankfurter over the “dough” ball which is actually made from the same dough in the production of spatzle or Austrian-German noodles. Sauerkraut braised with cumin seeds and bacon forms the base on where the succulent pieces of pork rest on. The slow roasted pork collar was beautifully tender while the Smoked Cured Pork Loin tasted like premium ham. Atkin’ Dieters will love this dish for its low carbo high protein character and just the meat alone itself is already quite filling. Signature desserts here are all classic European favourites like Sachertorte, Apple Strudel and Linzer tart.

Sauchertorte is served slightly warm with whipped cream and this all dark chocolate flavoured cake with a thin coating of chocolate icing goes extremely well with any coffee on the menu. I like the Linzer Tart which is a famous raspberry jam tart from the city of Linz in Austria. Made with grounded roasted hazelnuts as its crust, the tart is criss cross with extra pastry creating diamonds of red rubies before being dusted with snow powder. The crust is all buttery and nutty with richness and simply divine. Apple strudel is made the traditional way with the stuffing of apples, raisins, cinnamon spice and crumbs wrapped in layers of phyllo pastry. This is nothing close the Aussie version that many places offer here in Singapore which, is more like a mille feuillete with custard cream.
Coffee drinking here is much more of an art and culture appreciation. U can have Vietnamese Drip coffee or the Turkish Brew with hints of Arabic Spices. Irregardless of your choice, all coffees are served traditional Austrian style on silver trays with a glass of water to rinse the palate just before you leave. N and I have tried a few variations and those with liquor are especially good like Maria Theresa. I love their Cappuccino and Latte but my favourites are still the single Kleiner and Honey Affogato.

Wolfing Down By the River

2007-06-19T23:12:00.000+08:00

Brasserie Wolf

The Pier @ Robertson

80 Mohamed Sultan Road

Singapore 239013

Tel: 68357818

Our last experience in a brasserie was in Le Nord (accredited with the legendary Master Chef Paul Bocuse) in the French city of Lyon during the month of January this year which left us with a better impression than the ones we have been to in Paris. Back home, we have heard rave reviews of a new and happening place by the river called Brasserie Wolf, which is the latest baby of the Esmirada Group. N and I decided that this would be the place to take our close friend Karen for her birthday treat since she also loves checking out new places.
While the restaurant looks new and modern from the outside, its interior is decorated with Parisian art pieces with historical ancedotes, giving it a retro feel back to the 1800s. Service staffs are decked in modern garb instead of the traditional brasserie uniforms which pulls us back to reality of the present day.
The beverage menu is dominated by regional French wines, with snippets of Spanish, Italian and New World bottles for variety sake. Traditional French fare designed by Chef Philippe Nouzillat, makes up most of the food menu with specialties from regional areas.

Each of us had our own starter with extra orders of the escargots and mussels to be shared around. There was a Duck Foie Gras with Caramelized Apples and Aged Balsamic Vinegar which made N and Karen went goo goo gaga over it. A generous piece of liver was served with slightly tart caramelized green apples which would make gourmets impressed but a cholesterol nightmare for health freaks. On the palate, the acidity from the apples and vinegar helps to cut through the richness of the foie gras. The charred corners of the duck liver released notes of burnt buttery fragrance and it was also very well complimented with the Chablis in the glasses.

N enjoyed a creamy Prawn Cocktail with Avocado where chunks of prawn meat are tossed up with diced avocados in a piquant mayonnaise based cocktail sauce. It is served filled in a half avocado shell on a bed of mesclun mix with a large prawn sitting atop as a crown to the salad. K’s hubby took on the Frisee Salad with Bacon and Poached Egg, also commonly known as Lyonaise Salad. In between the bitter greens and tangy vinaigrette, the bacon chunks and warm poached egg with oozing yolk were nice alternatives between bites and crispy croutons instilled the fun element of crunch to the salad.

The Charcuterie Platter was my choice with a smorgasbord of Proscuito, Salami, Air Dried Beef and a piece of Pate Campagne. Among the selections, the salami and Proscuito were really good while the air dried beef looked tired. The pate was a little too dry for my taste and bland.
Passing around the table were two soups, a Lobster Bisque with dices of lobster instead of crabmeat as stated and a classic French Onion Soup with Comte Cheese Crouton. Nonetheless, the lobster soup was full of shellfish flavour although the colour was a little pale compared to most other bisques that I have come across with. I prefer the more macho bodied French Onion Soup with the gratin of Comte Cheese, one of my favourite French cheeses. The cheese has a nice nutty fragrance when eaten on its own, melted down, it gives a mild sharp pungency with creamy buttery notes of fragrance and roasted hazelnut notes.
The escargots and mussels got in at the same time, the “moules” steamy hot from their bath in a fruity white wine broth enriched with olive oil, garlic and parsley. Dunking pieces of bread into the delicious broth to soak up the mussel juices, it soon got everyone hooked on it in no time. Frites or French fries made from fresh potatoes where also offered but nobody seemed to pay attention to it as we were all was busy with the bread and broth.

I like the escargots here better than the ones in Le Nord. Though they were smaller than the ones we had in Lyon, the butter-garlic-parsley sauce was more aromatic than the last round.

Most of the mains came in hearty portions. There was a veal chop, a duck leg confit, a filet of black cod, a fine cut of sirloin, a crisp up braised pork trotter and a roasted spatchcock. Veal chop was a little overcooked but was saved by the fact that we had requested medium done. It would be a culinary injustice to over do the veal chop but at medium well, it was still manageable. The wild mushroom sauce was fine but I felt that it lacked a little oomph of a forest character which would have called for hints of porcini or morel flavours. Duck leg confit came on beautifully crisp without excessive greasiness on braised potatoes. Either the kitchen had forgotten about the sauce or it was supposedly to be so good that it didn't need one. Indeed it was, not too salty and fork tender that it was like eating a duck version of “Sio Bak” or Cantonese Roast Pork. The side salad also helped the duck confit to cut through the fattiness giving it a delicate balance of rich complexity and yet tangy.
The only seafood main course on the table, my black cod was served with a sauté of artichokes and tomato confit which seemed more like sun dried tomatoes in oil. Anyway they were too sour for my liking while the artichokes were fine. The fish was very well done, nice and moist flakes with sweetness. A sauce of lobster foam which tasted like the froth up lobster bisque earlier enhanced the “seafood” character of the dish with creamy shellfish notes.
Pied de Cochon or Crispy Braised Pork Trotters was a reconstituted cake of de-boned trotter meat pan fried in its own fat till crispy, served on a bed of sautéed potatoes and mushrooms. The meat was very tender, just like pulled pork in US, literally melting in mouth with rich gelatinous notes on the mouth feel.

The cock and bull were meant for Karen’s two boys and we, the adults managed to steal a bite from their plates given the generous portions when the boys where busy with their Game Boys. The Roasted Spatchcock had notes of rosemary and was lifted by pungent raw garlic infused mayonnaise. The meat was quite juicy and at times I felt that the mayonnaise was not necessary, better to have it with the French fries instead. A 250g sirloin cooked perfectly medium was too much for an 11yr old boy and certainly I wouldn't mind sharing a piece or two. The beef was cooked to a lovely pinkish red hue which would have caused saliva dripping if one had been starving. Béarnaise, a warm fresh tarragon and butter flavoured mayonnaise like sauce long forgotten on the menus here in Singapore gave the steak a sinfully rich kiss of indulgence.
Overall I felt the tastes of the dishes were fine and aesthetics on presentation with a touch of finesse. The menu prices, comparable with Reif + James, which is just a couple of units away within the same property, did not justify with the style of presentation. Of course the quality of ingredients was undeniably good and that still matters most to me.

Desserts? We adjourned to Macaron by Les Amis.

Recipe Xtra: Braised Beef Brisket with Radishes

2007-06-18T00:27:00.000+08:00

This is one of N's favourite dishes and its comfort food that both of us grow up with. The stew gets better when kept overnight. It can also be done with beef shin which gives excellence gelatinous texture. Braising time will take longer with beef shin but the meat holds better when reheated.

Braised Beef Brisket 柱候牛腩堡

6 portions
Ingredients:

600g Beef Brisket or shin, cut into 3 cm cubes
30g Cornstarch
30g Dark Soya Sauce
100ml Oil
6cloves Peeled Garlic
15g Sliced Ginger
150g Shallots, peeled
60g Galangal
1pc Cinnamon Stick
10 pcs Cloves
4pcs Star Anise
5g Dried Orange Peel
5g Course Ground Black Pepper
3tbsps Zhu Hou 柱候Paste
2.5liters Water
300g Radish, cut into 3cm cubes
2tbsps Light Soya Sauce

Garnish:
Spring Onions, blanched in oil

Preparation Method:

Combine beef brisket, cornstarch and soya sauces. Heat oil and fry beef brisket for 1 minute.

Add fresh and dry spices, sauté till fragrant. Add the Zhu Hou paste and pour in water and simmer for two hours over slow fire till meat is tender. Add radishes after the 1st hour of simmering

Adjust seasoning and sprinkle on spring onions. Serve beef brisket with rice or noodles.