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.
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 
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. 
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. 
Smoked Salmon and Leeks Risotto with Parmesan Cheese Wafer
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.
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. 
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……………..
“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.
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.
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. 
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. 
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.
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