Saturday 31 March 2012

Cockles that one can try, should try, must try....

No more long winded stories and I'm going straight into the main topic of this post. I love noodles and I love spicy food and if you have the same passion as I do, you can try, should try, must try the following dish...

Here comes...
a spicy plate of 'Fried Kway Teow'.
Hey, but what's so great about this plate of 'Fried Kway Teow'? The looks of
it is pretty much similar to all the other stores out there.

Here are my explanation. Firstly, not all the 'Fried Kway Teow' stores are
cooking their cockles thoroughly. I have tried 'Fried Kway Teow' at many
different places and this is one of the better ones as all the cockles were
prepared properly and it doesn't comes with the raw taste. Secondly, when
you ask for more chilli to be added to a plate of 'Fried Kway Teow', you
will get a plate of 'Fried Kway Teow' with a lump of chilli sitting on top
of it. Which is wrong. As for this plate of 'Fried Kway Teow', the chilli
were added and fried together with all the other ingredients of this dish.
By going for this extra step, the chilli will blend into the taste of
'Fried Kway Teow' and at the same time makes it even much more tasty and
spicier. Last but not least, the way they are handling each and every plate of
'Fried Kway Teow'. Each and every plate isn't over cooked, isn't too soupy
and it taste heavenly. So what are you waiting for make a trip down tomorrow lah.

Oops, but where can you get this?

The name of this stall would be 'Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee'.
It is located on level 2 of 'Hong Lim Market Food Centre'.

Notes:
  • Finding seats at 'Hong Lim Market Food Centre' during lunch hours can be a challenge./li>
  • The queue leading out of this stall can be quite hectic, but queues moves very fast. I only queued for 5 minutes only and I got this delicious looking Fried Kway Teow.
  • The store is closed on Sundays and Public Holidays and if I'm not mistaken, the normal operating hours are from 6am to 4.30pm daily.
* Click here for the map of 'Hong Lim Market Food Centre'. ^ Click here to find out what other delicacies can be found in 'Hong Lim Market Food Centre'

Craying for a fish for lunch?

'Hor Fun', is a type of noodle made from rice. It can be found in delicacies like 'Hor Fun', Ipoh 'Hor Fun', etc. Just for the dish 'Hor Fun' alone, there were different ways in preparing it. In the past, you can only get 'Hor Fun' that comes with vegetables, seafood and clear soup. However, as time goes by you can get 'Stirred fried Hor Fun', 'Beef Hor Fun', 'Slice Fish Hor Fun', etc... One of my favourite would be 'Stirred fried Sambal Hor Fun'. :P As for today let me introduce to you a different kind of 'Hor Fun' that you can only get during lunch hours.

Introducing...

'Crayfish Ipoh Sah Hor Fun' with regular Crayfish.
If I'm not mistaken, you can get a plate of 'Ipoh Sah Hor Fun' that comes with
different sizes of crayfish. If you are there pretty early or if you are
lucky enough, there will be chances that you can get a plate of 'Ipoh Hor Fun'
with the biggest crayfish. For the crayfish, it would most likely be a contest
of the survival of the weakest, as for us, this would be a contest of the
survival of the fittest... :P

Taste wise, I don't really like the 'Hor Fun' of this store. The taste
of the 'Hor Fun', prawns and the vegetables were pretty normal but the
Crayfish is fantastic. (Probably the stall owner is trying to use a
normal plate of 'Ipoh Sah Hor Fun' as a decoy to make the Crayfish
stand out even much more. Or am I thinking too much? :P)
Either way, the crayfish is of a high standard and I personally felt
that the taste and the texture of the Crayfish is much better than some
of the reputable restaurants in Singapore. On top of the points listed
in the above, I'm not sure how did they prepare the crayfish but its
pretty easy to pull out the flesh of the crayfish using a spoon and a
pair of chopsticks and for the price (S$6.50) that I have paid for this,
it's definitely worth going back again. XD
(Too bad they don't serve dishes that comes with the crayfish only...
Else I would only go for the crayfish only. :P)

So where is the stall located?
The name of the stall would be 'Tuck Kee (Ipoh)' Sah Hor Fun.
It is located on level 2 of 'Hong Lim Market Food Centre'.

Notes:
  • Finding seats at 'Hong Lim Market Food Centre' during lunch hours can be a challenge.
  • The queue leading out of this stall can be quite hectic. (Survival of the fittest rule applies here, if you are not fast enough you might ended up queueing for more than 20 minutes for the regular crayfish...)
  • The store is closed on Sundays and if I'm not mistaken, the normal operating hours are from 11am to 3pm daily.
* Click here for the map of 'Hong Lim Market Food Centre'.
^ Click here to find out what other delicacies can be found in 'Hong Lim Market Food Centre'

Thursday 29 March 2012

Hawker Centres Upgrading Programme

I was cycling from East Coast Park all the way to Changi Village, looking forward to the desserts that I can get there. After cycling for more than an hour or so... we finally ended up at Changi Village... Yahoo~~~~~!!! Nooooooooooo!!!!! Starting from March 2012, Changi Village have been undergoing some major upgrading works.... omg... I was doing some googling and I finally managed to find the website for the 'Hawker Centres Upgrading Programme'. Through the website, one could easily get the latest information on the list of Hawker Centres that are going to be upgraded and the projected completion date for the list of Hawker Centres that are currently undergoing some upgrading works.


* Click here to find out more about the 'Hawker Centres Upgrading Programme'.
* Click here for the list of Hawker Centres that are currently undergoing some
  upgrading works.

Monday 26 March 2012

Tonkatsu

If I want to eat 'Tonkatsu', but I don't want to have it with rice, will that be possible? The answer to the question would be 'Yes'. In fact, in Singapore, besides for 'Tonkatsu' sets that comes with rice, you can also get dishes like 'Tonkatsu' sandwiches, 'Tonkatsu' Ramen, 'Tonkatsu' Soba... etc.
Therefore, the main topic this week would be 'Tonkatsu' sandwiches. :D

The following are photos of 'Tonkatsu Sandwiches'.
'Tonkatsu Sandwiches'
The concept behind this 'Tonkatsu Sandwiches' is more or less similar to
the 'Ham sandwiches' that some of us have been eating daily. However,
as compared to the thin slices of 'Ham' that we are getting, the 'Tonkatsu'
are more more thicker, the taste are much more heavier and more delicious.
And on top of the points listed in the above, the crunchy touch of the
'Tonkatsu' is something that the thin slices of 'Ham' would never have.:D
(However, the portion that I'm getting can't satisfy my hunger.
Probably only the normal 'Tonkatsu' set can satisfy my hunger.)

SO where can you get this 'Tonkatsu' Sandwiches?
The photos in the above are taken outside the shop. The name of the shop
would be 'Ginza Bairin' and they have a branch located at basement 4 of
'ION Orchard' shopping centre.

* Click here to find out more about Singapore's 'Ginza Bairin'.
^ Click here to find out more about 'Ginza Bairin'. (In Japanese)
# Click here to find out more about 'ION Orchard'.

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Going with Indian Food....

I miss the days that I used to pop by 'Little India' for most of my Lunch and Dinner. Even on the weekends, I would take a 'stroll' from the outskirts of 'Little Indian' and slowly move towards the heart of 'Little Indian'. (Trust me, there's actually another reason why I'm doing this. You wouldn't want to hop onto a bus and go through or even go near 'Little India' on a weekend...) Anyway, I miss those days back then and too bad 'Little India' isn't within walking distance from my current workplace. :(

Here comes the main topic of this post...

We were having dinner at this place and all of us ended up ordering the
same item on the menu. =="" And each set comes with a bowl of curry and
'Raita', which is a bowl of white yogurt that comes with cucumbers and
onions most of the time. Depending on the chef, ingredients like Tomato
might also be added to 'Raita' too. I still can remember the days that
I used to set all the 'Raita' aside... But as time goes by, I'm currently
used to the taste of the it. (Pretty amazed with myself too. :D)


The set meal also comes with Papadam, this is similar to a giant cracker.
Or I think I cam put it this way. Most of the Indian set meals in Singapore
comes with a 'Papadam', regardless of whether it's a rice set meal or a biryani
set meal, most of these set meals will come with a 'Papadam'.
Note: Dhosal, prata, etc are not considered as set meals.

And here comes the main dish of the day...

Dum Country Chicken Biryani...
Most of the time, I will just go ahead with normal Dum Chicken Biryani.
But once in a while, a change is needed. :) Oh the looks of this reminds me
of the older days that I used to scoop out the rice and the ingredients slowly...
Recently, I tend to place my plate on top of the bowl and flip it around.
And it will becomes...


this. :D
Note: If you have ordered Dum Biryani, the metal bowl would tend to be
pretty hot. This is because the biryani rice and the meat or vegetables
are meant to be cooked together so that the taste and fragrance of the
ingredients can blend together nicely. Therefore you can either scoop
out the biryani rice and the ingredients slowly or wait for a while
before giving my method a try. :D


Taste wise... I think that the taste of the rice and the chicken haven't
really blend together. Please do not be mistaken, the taste of the biryani
was pretty good but if the chef have spend a few more minutes cooking,
the taste of the biryani will taste much more better.

By the way, if you cannot tolerate the taste of the spicy curry, you can
also try the method of having a bite of biryani rice and curry followed
with a bite of 'Raita' and then back to a bite of biryani rice.. and so
on and so forth. :D


The name of this place would be 'Anjappar'. In terms of the popularity,
'Anjappar' seems to be one of the famous Indian restaurant in Singapore.
In fact, they have a chain of outlets around Singapore but I'm not sure
why did they list out only 2 outlets on their website.
(Either it's due to the fact that they haven't been updating their website
or maybe 2 outlets that were mentioned on the website were the better ones...?)

* Click here for the 'Anjappar' website.
^ Click here for the location of the 'Anjappar' outlet that I have shown in this post.

Singapore's AKB48 Official Shop & Cafe

Currently, 'AKB48' would most likely be one of the most famous female idol groups in Japan. As per today, there have up to 57 formal members, which is the total number of people in team A, team K, team B and team 4. On top of the number of formal members that the group currently has, they also have a number of aspiring members, known as the 'Kenkyuusei' or trainees. Therefore, with the number of members that the group currently has, I personally felt that it is absolutely impossible for an average person to memorise the names of all the members of 'AKB48'. However, one would probably have heard of the names of some of the members before. Ex: Atsuko Maeda, Yuuko Ooshiima... etc. (In fact, I could only memorise the names of 2 members only... :P)

The photos in the above were taken outside the 'AKB48' Official shop.
One could easily find all sorts of products that comes with various kinds
of 'AKB48' design. Ex: T-shirts, Posters, mug, etc...
(Just as I expected, all the posters of 'Atsuko Maeda' and 'Yuuko Ooshiima'
were out of stock. They were indeed the infamous members of 'AKB48'.)

'AKB48' Official shop is located on the 2nd floor of '*scape' shopping mall.
and...

'AKB48' Cafe is located on the 3rd floor.

The above shows the interior of 'AKB48' Cafe.
Besides for the continuous broadcasting of 'AKB48' performances,
the glass panels and walls were decorated with photos of 'AKB48'.
This is indeed a cafe specially built for 'AKB48' fans.

The following would be my interests... food~~~!!!

The above would be 'Shouga Yaki Set', which is also known as
'Fried Pork with Ginger Sauce' set.
In fact, this is my first encounter with a set meal that comes with
'Fried Pork' and 'Ginger Sauce'. Looks pretty interesting... Don't you agree?
Note: that the taste of the Ginger sauce is pretty strong, so take my advice,
pour the sauce onto the fried pieces of pork slowly otherwise, please be
mentally prepared to bear the consequences.

The above would be the 'AKB48 Ice Cream Set'.
The flavours of the ice cream that were given here are
'Strawberry', 'Matcha' and 'Ocean'.
I love the taste of the 'Ocean' ice cream very much. :D
In fact, the colours used in this Ice Cream set were pretty
much similar to the team colours of 'AKB48'.
The team colour of 'Team A' would be 'Pink' (Strawberry Ice Cream),
The team colour of 'Team K' would be 'Green' (Matcha Ice Cream),
The team colour of 'Team B' would be 'Blue' (Ocean Ice Cream) and
The team colour of 'Team 4' would be 'Yellow' (Banana slices).
Besides for the beautiful colours that you are getting,
the Ice Cream set was pretty delicious.
Note: Based on the texture and the taste of the Ice Cream, there is
a possibility that the chef might have made the Ice Cream himself.

* Click here for 'AKB48' Singapore's website.
^ Click here for the website of 'AKB48' cafe.
# Click here to find out more about 'AKB48'.
! Click here to find out more about '*Scape'.

Friday 16 March 2012

Gold-ing for the extra mile

Rather than taking or switching between different modes of transportation, we decided to walk from 'Mustafa' to 'Golden Mile' to savour good 'Thai' food. :D I guess it has been close to a decade since my last visit to 'Golden Mile'.

Let us proceed our journey through 'Thai' food. :D Here comes our menu for dinner. ;).

Thai Mango Salad
Conclusion.... this is S.C.A.R.... Spicy, Crunchy and Refreshing.
Most of the salads that I have tasted so far are mainly a mountain filled
with vegetables and/or fruits covered with a layer of dressing. This is
slightly different. You get to sea a mountain of sliced mango and buried
beneath it are small red spicy chillies that works like a dynamite if you
unintentionally put it inside your mouth. :P


Long beans fried with Sambal Chilli
I like the way the chef are handling this dish. The vegetables are not soggy
and the long beans still have the crunchy touch when you are biting it.
Best of all, the sambal chilli that was used in frying this dish was perfect.
On top of the spicy taste, both ingredients blend perfectly together. :D


Thai Green Chicken Curry
As for the main reason why I went there for dinner? That would be due to my
hunger for the green chicken curry. Initially, I always thought that curry
will only come in either orange colour. But when I saw this dish during the
first time in my life, my jaws were dropping. Green coloured curry... =="""".
But ever since the first bite out of it, it have completely changed my opinion
for it. This dish was tasty and similar to any other curry that you have eaten
before, covering and eating a bowl of rice with this green curry just makes your
appetite bigger and better. By the way, this green curry isn't as spicy as
McDonalds chilli garlic sauce and it's definitely a Thai dish that is worth trying.


Pineapple fried rice.
Probably they were trying to give me a bigger impression that they are using real
pineapples to create a plate of pineapple fried rice, therefore, it was served
in a cutout pineapple. Although the taste was pretty normal, the portion of this
dish isn't that great. The waitress was mentioning that 2 can share a plate of
Pineapple fried rice, but I think I can finish 2 plates of Pineapple fried rice
myself. Hmmm.... is it me that is getting abnormal or is it...?


Here comes the soup of the day - Seafood Tom Yum Soup.
This would be one of the best example how a Tom Yum soup should look like.
Unlike some of the Tom Yum soup out there that comes with a layer of
Tom Yum seasoning/salt, this place is serving clear Tom Yum soup. I have
always loved the unique taste of the Tom Yum soup but I hate Tom Yum soup
that comes with a layer of Tom Yum seasoning or salt. Especially when I'm
the kind that will finish the whole bowl of soup till the very last drop,
I hate the part when the seasoning sticks onto my tongue and doesn't goes
away. This, this is something much much better. This is most likely to be
the most spiciest dish/soup of this place and on top of the spicy taste, the
seafood ingredients were pretty tasty too.


Katong Khong or Pastry cups with prawn paste
Initially, we thought that this dish would be served before the Tom Yum soup
but it ended up to be the slowest dish to appear. Rather than becoming a side
dish, it has ended up to be a dessert. At the bottom of each cup was a layer
of shrimp paste, followed by a layer of vegetables. Taste wise, it was pretty
normal and portion wise... this is pretty small for a side dish.

So what's the name of the place?
The name of this restaurant would be "Diandin Leluk".
This is most likely the biggest Thai restaurant
that was located on level 1 of Golden Mile Complex.

* Click here for the website of 'Diandin Leluk' restaurant.
^ Click here for the location of "Golden Mile Complex".

Sunday 11 March 2012

Meal at night = Dinner

When it comes to your daily meals, what would be your favourite choice of food? For the Japanese, it would most likely be 'Washoku' or Japanese Set Meals. The Japanese Set Meal will comes with a Main dish and a few side dishes. As for the main dish, it would most likely be a Meat dish, or a dish that comes with a heavy taste. Depending on the restaurant, the side dishes can be dishes like tempura, bean curd, gyoza... etc. There the topic of this post would be 'Japanese Set Meals'.

Well, time to move on...

The above would be my dinner a few days ago, Chicken Nanban & Ebi Fry Set Meal
or Fried Chicken & prawns topped with tartar sauce set meals.


Most of the Pan-fried dumplings out there in the market are using
Pork as the main ingredient.
Therefore, the minute I saw this Prawn Pan-fried Dumplings on their
menu, without giving it a second thought, I immediately place an order for it.
This is slightly softer than normal Pan-Fried Dumplings and it
doesn't taste as strong as normal Dumplings... I like it... :P


Side dish - Cold Japanese Bean Curd.
I like all these Japanese Cold Bean Curd.
However, there isn't anything special about this and the taste is pretty normal.


Main dish - Chicken Nanban & Ebi Fry
When it comes to Tartar sauce, the first item that will think of will most
likely be Fried fish or fish fillets.
However, when I'm having it with the fried chicken and prawn, it isn't a
very strange move and it's delicious.
Surprisingly, rather than becoming soggy, the meat is firm yet tender... Nice!!!

On top of the above, you don't need to worry about amount of rice that was given.
You can also top up the rice and the pickles for free... Which is nice~~~
(I don't really like to eat rice, but due to the fact that there are delicious
dishes laying in front of me, I managed to finish 3 bowls of rice. :P)


Some other photos that was taken in the restaurant.


The name of the restaurant would be 'Yayoi Ken' and this is their first branch
in Singapore. And it is located in 'Liang Court'.
Note: 'Yayoi Ken' is currently one of the biggest chain of restaurants in Japan.

* Click here for the website of 'Yayoi Ken' restaurant in Singapore
^ Click here for the website of 'Yayou Ken' restaurant in Japan. (In Japanese only.)
# Click here to find out more about 'Liang Court'.

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Something new everyday... Fish Dum Biryani

I have tried a few kinds of Biryani before. Ranging from Chicken Biryani, Mutton Biryani, Egg Biryani and all sorts of Dum Biryani. But Fish Biryani... erm... I have never tried it before therefore once I knew that I can get Fish Dum Biryani from one of the restaurants in Singapore, I decided to GO 4 IT....

Here comes...
Fish Dum Biryani.
This would be my first encounter with Fish Dum Biryani. So what is included?
One big portion of Biryani Rice cooked with Fried Boneless Fish. This would be
slightly different from Chicken and Mutton Biryani especially when it doesn't
comes with a hard boiled egg. The texture of the Fried Fish would be pretty
similar to the fried fish that you can it in a coffee shop, but what makes it
slightly different would be the taste. The flash of the fish was white in colour
and it's as soft as a fish fillet and taste much much better than a fish fillet.
On top of that, Dum Biryani were famous in cooking the Biryani rice and the
ingredient together. Therefore, every single spoonful of Biryani rice wouldn't
be giving you the taste of the rice only, you can also smell the nice fragrance
of the fried fish and taste it. THe sad part about Dum Biryani would be the fact
that you cannot top up the rice for free, but that at the same time will make
you to cherish every single grain of Biryani rice that you will be having.

The above would be the Chicken Dum Biryani of this place.
You can get 3 different kinds of Dum Biryani at this place. They are
Chicken Dum Biryani, Chicken Tikka Dum Biryani (Boneless Chicken Biryani)
and Countryside Chicken Dum Biryani(I think). The taste of the Chicken Biryani
isn't as good as the Fish Biryani or probably I'm just being bias especially
when not a lot of places offer Fish Biryani... Either ways, a hard boiled egg
was given and the fragrance of the Chicken had covered the Biryani rice
thoroughly, which makes it delicious and unforgettable.


A photo showing the table setting. Free flow of water and serviettes
were given. (So you don't need to worry about the spicy curry gravy.)

As for the name of this place, that would be...

Ponnusamy Authentic Chettinad Restaurant. It is located near one of the
entrance/exit of Mustafa along 'Syed Alwi Road', a few steps away from
'Anjappar' restaurant.

* Click here for the exact location of 'Ponnusamy' restaurant.