Nan Shan Soya Milk November 17, 2009

A soy bean milk store is as ubiquitous as the neighborhood kopitiam in most parts of Singapore. In fact, chains have sprouted ala Starbucks during those years I’ve been away. Just like the kopi-o one orders, the quality varies wildly for soy bean milk. I am most disappointed when anticipating a full-bodied drink and instead getting a cup of chalk colored sugar-water or worse, an unappetizing bitter drink from burnt beans. Most days I make do and gird myself for disappointment, but when the craving strikes and only the best will do, I take the long stroll over to Maxwell food market and order a cup of soy bean milk from Nam san. The drink is thicker than your usual soymilk, with a creamy consistency, and sticks to my top lip ala those “got milk?” campaign advertisements. The taste is aromatic and mildly nutty,the malty taste courtesy of its secret ingredient, horlicks. The drink is sweetened by the caramel flavor of a deep brown syrup. Mmm…

Maxwell Road Food Center

2 Murray St #01-04

Lek Seafood November 15, 2009

P and I were in Bangkok for my birthday. He had intended to treat me to dinner at most chi-chi restaurant in that city, replete with views of the Chao Phraya and coddling service. Instead, I requested for dinner at Lek Seafood, figuring that we should be eating authentic Thai when in Thailand, and fancy French can wait. Lek is as unpretentious as restaurants come, an unassuming neighborhood joint that boasted of 2 rooms filled with some linoleum lined tables surrounded by plastic seats. The spillover crowd sits in the short alleyway. There is no decor to speak of, and the only view is that of the unadorned walls (indoors) and sweaty chefs frying, barbequeing, plating (outdoors).

We enthusiastically over-ordered,  4 full sized dishes for the 2 of us. The tom yum gung was simply awesome, the fully-flavored stock redolent of the scent of lemongrass, chock-ful of fresh prawns and tender bamboo shoots. We doused the soup over rice to reduce the heat. There was a plate of boiled sea snails whose chewy meat had to be pried out with some effort, but the sweetness and juiciness of the ocean slug worth the workout. We had expected a whole fish in our catfish salad, but were instead served a plate of flaked fish with the consistency of canned tuna. No matter, because despite the ungainly appearance the fish was extremely tasty, the spice from bright-red chilis and tang from lots of fresh limes penetrating fully into every bit of meat. The sizzling hotplate piled with a mountain of beansprouts and crispy oyster omelette was somewhat disappointing due to the small size of the oysters, but the crunchy batter, when dipped in addictive sweet chili was still very tasty. The damage with a liter of beer was a mere $10 singapore dollars each. A steal even in cost effective Bangkok. Credit is to be given to the ever trusty chowhound website that directed us to this gem. There would have been no other reason for us to visit the Chong Nonsi BTS station, a distance away from any worthwhile tourist destination. Thankfully Lek Seafood is, as we found out,  worth the detour from the well worn touristy paths for inexpensive, fresh and flavorful seafood dishes.

Whampoa Keng Teochew Steamboat November 1, 2009

Nothing beats sleeping through a thunder-filled rainstorm, but when one is already out and about, the second best option, as my folks and I found, was to search for hot soup to warm our insides. We  found our soupy fix in Balestier, taking the form of Teochew fish steamboat, served in an old-fashion coal brazier. You can pick the type of fish you want from a list of about 4 to 5 choices, be it fleshy chunks of pomfret or thick slices of firm grouper, the skin bright red, making it easy to pick it out from a bubbly cauldron of soup. Either way, the meat is extremely fresh with nary a fishy smell. The soup itself has a rich and distinctive flavor, a result of unidentified herbs that provides a slightly medicinal yet not overpowering taste. Lots of cabbage, tang-orh and chunks of yam that disintegrates into the soup over time complete the dish, making it a highly nutritious one pot meal, be it for a solo-diner or a family of ten.

The restaurant is a steamboat specialist, but these days no one is satisfied eating just one meal right? The rest of the dishes may not be as memorable, but the kitchen manages to dish out very decent renditions of classic tze-char dishes from a range of dialect groups, as Cantonese styled pork and deep fried shrimp graced the same page as old-school Hokkien prawn rolls. These are worth eating, but make no mistake, the steamboat takes top billing.

Whampoa Keng

556 Balestier Road

http://www.whampoakeng.com.sg/aboutus.php

Xiyan October 24, 2009

This was my second trip to Xiyan, a boutique Chinese restaurant helmed by HK celebrity chef Jacky Yu. Started in Hong Kong, it popularized the private dining concept, making humble regional dishes high-brow yet still comforting at the same time. Both times I ate there at the behest of Peishan, who after our first wine tasting dinner thought so favorably of the restaurant that she would gather 12 of us this time to fill up an entire table, amongst them Jeff who was visiting and many of the wine-sipping folk from DGS. Ironically, the wines we picked were at best undistinguished and even worse corked (though the waitress changed immediately with apologies), but the conversation was definitely interesting and got more raucous as the night went on.

We went through a gut-busting 12 courses that evening. If I were to ever visit Xiyan again, I would prefer not to repeat that, for 12 courses were just too much food to bear, even with a few champion eaters in the house (ww, i’m looking at you).  

Momo-tomato

I would be more selective, and save the bulk of my stomach for their specialties which I could and would order over and over again, for each of the three star dishes did not disappoint. An appetizer of gorgeously sweet and ripe momotaro tomatoes slick with liquid sesame and wasabi cream was gone in no time whilst we settled down and sipped our first bottle of wine.

Salivating Chicken

While the name of salivating chicken course was inelegant, there was definitely no false advertising since we were definitely salivating over the punchy flavors of the fermented bean paste and chili oil that forms a sludgy sea around a whole poached chicken. The dish is further supplemented by ingenious addition of century eggs to provide added earthier flavors and konnyaku noodle threads to mop up the addictive sauce in place of rice.

Fish with Pomelo Salad

The last no-fail signature dish is a whole fried seabass perched on a thai style pomelo salad. The flesh is just cooked through even though the shrimp-paste coated skin and fins were fried to such crispiness that we in fact treated them like chips. The pomelo salad’s sweet and tart flavors added flavor to the otherwise unseasoned fish, the pearly pulp contrasting with the silken quality of the fish.

Carnivores can eat really well at Xiyan, for while the other meat dishes were not as satisfying as the three signatures, each dish was quite tasty on their own.

grilled thai pork cheek with thai style dressing

There’s a plate of grilled por served with a fish-sauce and lime juice based dip resembling Vientamese nuoc nam. The thinly sliced pork is sweet like char siew with a nice char, the level of tastiness elevated with the tiny dice of fresh lime, which when popped into the mouth with the pork and a swish of sauce provided additional pops of tang and savoriness.

Drunken prawns in Shanghainese marinade

A big plate of cold prawns, steamed then steeped into a wine marinade was highly addictive. We tore into the flavorful prawns,  sucking at the shell and head, our tongues growing numb from the lethal szechuan peppercorns that are invariably thrown into the marinade. A basin filled with beef was another good dish, texturally perfect with the efforts of slow braising evident in the moist chunks of meat and slippery soft tendons. Flavorwise it boasted the spicy and heavy profile similar to the chicken, and the spicing of the prawn, unfortunately leading a flavor fatigue. Perhaps a different treatment, a sweeter soy-based sauce ala cantonese stewed beef would fare better.

Tofu in golden yolk sauce

Vegetarians however are somewhat out of luck at Xiyan, most of the vegetable focused dish clunkers. The best in the mix was a dish of cubed silken tofu in a yellow-tinged sauce, the color derived from undoubtedly more than a healthy number of salted-egg yolk, the broth taking on a chowder-like consistency. Simple, but very original. Then there were the medley of very blah dishes, the DIY lettuce wrap with stir fried vegetables with dried oysters reminded me of a skinless popiah, the stir fried spinach there for the sole fact of providing vitamin a and c into our diet, and the intermezzo of simply pickled green mangoes, while a welcome palate cleanser after a series of heavy dishes, could hardly qualify as a dish. Perhaps some more thought could be applied towards creating more inventive food for herbivores.

rice dumplings

Our epic dinner ended with a bowl of multi-colored rice dumplings in sweet ginger soup, the filling not your typical peanut or black sesame but an intriguing mix of ingredients not usually linked with tang yuan. Its both sweet and savory, largely tasty and most definitely quirky, not unlike the personality of Xiyan the restaurant. Try guessing what’s inside. And no, I’m not telling! 

Xiyan

38A Craig Rd

http://www.xiyan.com.sg/

Ember October 19, 2009

 Peishan has been raving about ember for a while, so on her third trip to this restaurant, I made it a point to tag along, with dawn as a late substitute for ww.
It is just as well that dawn’s there because I’ve been meaning to treat her to foie gras for her birthday, and amber has not one, or two, but 4 different versions on their menu, all pan seared as per my preferences too. The two versions we ended up ordering were devoured in no time, the high quality liver, creamy without any grainy-ness of mediocre foie melting soft, the organ’s unctuousness tempered by the stewed apples and chutnied and spiced pears.

oyster poppers

Of course, one shouldn’t, even if one could, make a meal solely out of foie gras, so we also ordered oyster poppers for an aquatic source of cholesterol, fat oysters lighted battered and tempura-ed, their juices squirting outwards as we bit into them. A series of sauces accompany the oysters but I prefer them naked, with a hint of lemon. The standout appetizer turned out not to be the foie gras, but a spicy pasta dish littered with sakura ebi shrimp, its taste an uncanny proxy for hae bee hiam, many times more refined.

Chilean Seabass

Peishan is a consummate saleswoman, convincing both peirui and dawn to order her favorite main course, the chilean sea bass. Environmentalists would probably throw a fit on the inclusion of this endangered by overfishing species on Ember’s menu. But we are weak, and choose not to confront the moral dilemma but instead just fully enjoy the fish, its pristine white flesh that simply melts in the mouth (a rather unusual sensation when talking about fish), the creamy bacon infused mushroom ragout providing an added savory dimension to the dish. Bacon appears again tucked amongst a bed of lentils on which my slab of duck confit laid. The duck was cooked a point, a crisped but grease-less exterior that gives with the slightest pressure of the knife to reveal flavorful, juicy meat. A little salty, but very correct, very french.

Rack of lamb

As yummy as my dish was, it suffered after a while from monotony, after which I turned my attentions to P’s lamb chops. P almost always orders lamb when he has the opportunity to, thus it is with good authority that he declares it to be very delicious, particularly when that view was validated by our entire dinner party. What makes it special was the south east asian spices that encrusted the generous portion of pink lamb, imparting a thai inspired flavor and would be what I consider fusion done well. And I just kept swiping the sides off his plate whenever P was not looking, enamored with the caramelized eggplant (only my favorite vegetable) and the more traditional potato gratin, a delicious and sinful side even though it did not necessarily add anything to the dish on a whole.
Compared to the fireworks encountered for the mains, dessert was comparably tame though uniformly executed. The apple tartin and banana tart both possessed buttery and crisp shells, and the lavender ice cream that accompanied the banana tart successfully imparted a restrained note of lavender without tasting like potpourri. It’s possibly the only version of lavender flavored food that I’ve ever tried and actually liked. Last dessert of the night was the ubiquitous molten chocolate cake with a candle for dawn to blow out for her day.
All that, along with a bottle of cab Sauvignon named “no regrets” (and not memorable) set us each about $75 poorer, our dinner partially subsidised by a Citibank discount. Not a bad price for a solid meal, and like peishan – shall be returning to Ember soon.

Restaurant Ember

50 Keong Saik Road (inside Hotel 1929)

Kazu October 8, 2009

Within the realm of skewered and grilled things, pakshun favors cartilage. It is fortunate that Kazu’s grilled sticks of cartilage passes his exacting standard, not only to provide a satisfying crunch but also taste like smoky, juicy meat, not half burnt plastic.

For everyone else whose tastes lie towards the more conventional (or whose teeth are not what they once were), Kazu, one of the best known yakitori joints in town can furnish you with a meal of chewy gizzards, tender meatballs and even super-luxe foie gras and wagyu on sticks. I appreciate that unlike lesser joints, the meat is flavorful without being oversauced by cloyingly sweet teriyaki. Feeling less carnivorous? A page full of grilled vegetables, albeit overpriced and not quite as delicious as the meats, awaits you. The best vegetable dish happens to be complimentary, a dish of fresh green cabbage with an addictive miso-based dip on the side, the savoriness taking the raw edge off the vegetable without masking its sweet crunch.  And when you get sick of smoke and char, the rest of the menu is expansive, and the quality uniformly good even when they are not the restaurant’s specialties. The servers, experienced Singaporean ladies who whilst a little lacking in Japanese grace and elegance, steer us well. A martini bowl of home made yuba skin had the quality of velvet on the tongue, and the housemade tofu, served cold and chawan mushi style possessed a concentrated taste of the sea, no doubt a result of the bonito stock. Sashimi was also pristine and fresh, surprising for its non sushiya status.

Dinner was of course followed by dessert, and even in the dessert arena did Kazu try to overwhelm us with choices. In the end, we settled for a marvellously ripe peach, its $18 price tag justified, if not by its juicy nectar then by the elaborate design it was displayed to us in. Ice cream then consume, me making a foolhardy choice away from the stalwart black sesame and green tea to opt for tiramisu, the combination of savory cheese, tart mango and salty bits of rice crackers a little too left-base, even for me. Next time, it is cartilage to start, green tea ice cream to finish.

Kazu, with its yakitori specialist title and  generalist ambitions is trying to cater to all tastes, and by and large, it succeeds.

Kazu Sumiyaki Restaurant

5 Koek Road (Cuppage Plaza), #04-05

Tel: +65 6734 2492

Guan Hoe Soon September 29, 2009

My family has been eating nonya food at Guan Hoe Soon for as long as I can remember. In fact, my parents eat and cater from them so regularly that my uncle, only half in jest, wondered aloud if we had signed a contract to eat there a certain number of times each year. Guan Hoe Soon has been our fall back for occasions like birthdays, housewarming parties and the like that when Ruoyi wanted to treat the extended family before she left again for San Diego, it was an obvious choice to revisit the restaurant.

Our family get-togethers are more about the company than the food. But with a family of discerning (some say picky) eaters the grub must still be better than decent. Hence it is extremely convenient that we know the menu at Guan Hoe Soon like the back of our hand and can in a twinkling of an eye check our favorites off the list, allowing us to focus on the conversation. Of course, all chatter ceases once the food arrives when we pay full attention only in planning our gorging strategy.

A meal at Guan Hoe Soon invariably starts with small saucers of pickled achar, Guan Hoe Soon’s version particularly tart and peppered with chicken liver and gizzards for additional flavor and texture. Then we drink soup, often a sourish but oily itek tim, that’s flavored with duck and pickled vegetables, or bakwan kepeting, a clear soup filled with bouncy meatballs and fish maw. The soup is often the only non-spicy dish for the entire night, before it gives way to hefty discs of steamed otak, spiced and fragrant; or golden, deep-fried rolls of hay chor, mistakenly called prawn balls but consisting more of pork and beancurd. Next, the entrees are often a toss-up between the rich, aromatic stew of ayam buah keluak, the inky black betel nuts hollowed and filled with an almost olive-flavored meat paste;  deep-red sambal prawns; a coconuty rendang strikes us as the weakest link, creamy but not aromatic, nor is the beef tender enough. We pooh pooh vegetables on such festive and meat laden occasions, but in the name of a healthy diet, also order the chap chye, a traditional melange of vegetables, tang hoon and dried bean curd skin bound by a salty and earthy fermented bean paste enriched gravy.  All this just whet our appetite for the piece de resistance, the ikan assam pedas, a huge pomfret, its sweet and firm flesh steamed and then bathed in a tangy and spicy assam broth. The sourish tang is further accentuated with big hunks of fresh pineapples and tomatoes that enrich the broth alongside okra and eggplant. Absolutely divine and worthy of extra carbs just to have more rice to sop up the soup.

By this time, we are stuffed and bursting at the seams. But this time like always, we leave room for dessert. Even the men in the household cannot resist the lure of molten gula melaka, fragrant and caramelly, drizzled on bowls of shaved ice and coconut cream. Or bowls of burbur chacha generously laden with yam, sweet potatos and red rubies. A sweet end to a good meal, and Guan Hoe Soon delivers as always.

Guan Hoe Soon

214 Joo Chiat Road

http://www.guanhoesoon.com/

Dinner along Tanjong Katong Road September 22, 2009

It used to be that dinner in the neighborhood invariably meant a choice of either steamed or roasted chicken rice from Wo Lai Ye, but my neighborhood has grown up while I’ve been away. Since I’ve moved back to the street I grew up on, I’ve found the old grocery stores and less savory karaoke lounges gone, to be replaced by some pretty decent eating places.

Two I’ve frequented recently are Full House and Foo’s House, sitting right next to each other on a stretch of Tanjong Katong Rd not too far from my street. I’m not sure if the matching names were intentional, but thank God the menu options are different.

When I am in need of spicy soups and pungent kimchi, I head over to Full House, an authentic eatery that caters to homesick Korean expats and Singaporeans who’ve developed, along with an obsession for Korean drama, a healthy appetite for homestyle Korean fare. Incidentally, the owner is also a kdrama fanatic. Why else would she name her restaurant after one and stick pictures of Rain (the male protagonist of said show) all over the walls? My family really enjoyed the hearty kimchi jun-geol, a huge pot of stew served on top of a portable gas burner bubbling merrily away, the soup thickening as the flavors of the individual ingredients (kimchi, mushrooms, kimchi, vegetables and pork) meld together into the soup. On days that I crave vegetables, I go for the stone bibimbap topped with a runny egg and lots of spicy gochujang and immediately feel more virtuous. And kiasu Singaporeans that we are, my bf and I cannot resist the siren call of the $1 appetizer buffet. Yes, some of you may be offended by the notion that one has to pay for banchan, usually served gratis, here. But if you saw how much we polish off the buffet, filled with the regular and sometimes more interesting options of ikan bilis, stewed egg custard and chewy fishcake, you would want to charge us too. Of course there are missteps in the expansive menu, for example the doughy seafood pancake and an insipidly sweet bulgogi. But we take our chances, since Full House provides an easy out for our Korean cravings.

Foo’s House on the other hand serves solid Hainanese inflected pub grub by chef Foo, formerly of the Grand Hyatt Hotel. The decor is what I would describe as a stripped down English pub-kopitiam look with football jerseys, pictures of famous Brits (the Beatles and Princess D among others) pinned the walls. The music is vintage 1980s and 1990s, replete with some cringeworthy bands like MLTR on the soundtrack. All that does not detract from the food however. Tonight Pak’s lamb chops, while thin were juicy and flavorful especially with yogurt mint sauce on the side. He however totally had plate envy when my fish and chips arrived, three hefty pieces of fresh and flaky sea bass fillets in a light, almost spongy batter yet inexplicably completely crispy at the same time. The fish came with its requisite lemon wedge and tartare sauce, but more importantly, the chips came with a side of malt-vinegar to complete the Anglo-bent. Yum yum yum. My cousins also swear by the Hainanese pork chop and barbequed pork ribs that apparently fall straight of the bones. Unfortunately desserts are not Foo’s House’s strong suit if our soggy apple crumble was any indication, so I am likely to skip sweets next time. The meal, at between $12-20 for an average entree is not cheap when compared to alternatives like Aston’s but UOB card holders can do pretty well there with a 15% discount on the tab (Same goes for Full House).

Full House

336 Tanjong Katong Rd

http://www.dogcafe.com.sg/index.html (although they have completely abandoned the cafe concept)

Foo’s House

338 Tanjong Katong Rd

Ice Cream Chefs September 10, 2009

Its good being 10. There’s lots of playmates, cartoons in the afternoons and school holidays. There’s also no recrimination whenever you want to have dessert, no fear of added pounds or acne.  Also, when you’re ten, Daddy is most obliging and willing to drive out 15 minutes for a cup of oreos and cream ice cream.

Well, I’m far from being 10 years old, but it so happens my neighbour cum cousin is and we were able to wheedle a ride out of my uncle to ice cream chefs, a boutique ice cream parlor on east coast road, not too far from home. Its a cozy place with a display and some seats on the side for those who desire to eat in. On this sticky, steamy Tuesday night, the crowds were however a little too daunting so we elected for take-out. On less busy evenings, samples are freely given and one can choose from a multitude of flavors, ranging from the classic chocolate and vanilla to the very localized tastes of kaya and horlicks, not to mention the now ubiquitous durian. One can order their ice cream naked and enjoy the pure flavor of the home made ice cream, which while lacking in some degree of creaminess due to lower milk-fat content that what I am used to in the States taste very rich and true. For the proponents of mixing things into the ice cream by smooshing them all on a cold marble slab ala cold stone creamery, one can also choose to go that route, particularly on Tuesdays with the first mix-in is free.  Of course, Ruoyi, Chloe and Shan did just that, savoring their fanciful concoctions involving strawberry and milo, oreos and malteasers and a tamer chocolate and marshmallow concoction. And as for me? A solo scoop of creme brulee with a rich custardy taste mingled with a faint hint of burnt caramel, my spoon and cup licked clean on car ride home. Bliss!

Ice Cream Chefs

520 East Coast Rd (Ocean Park Building) #01-06

http://www.icecreamchefs.com/index.html

The Marmalade Pantry and Cork Cellar September 1, 2009

3 o’clock in the afternoon equals tea break on the desk. And its just my luck that I share an aisle with food fanatics who not just know where to get the best nosh, but also happen to be extremely generous, bringing back not only their share of snacks but 10 other portions, for everyone on the desk and then some. Today’s tea is supplied by marmalade pantry courtesy of thomas and involves a bounty of cookies and cupcakes. I chose the lemon flavored one, pleasantly surprised by the moist yellow cake and the tangy buttercream frost rich with citrus flavor. Only after consumption did I trawl through the world wide web to find that marmalade pantry has a reputation for baking some of the island’s finest cupcakes and that mine had a name, the limonata. A sweet break, sweeten by the neighborly gesture.
As an aside, marmalade pantry also supplies my company’s pantry with sandwiches and other savories, and so far the sandwiches I bought there have been unobjectionable if not distinguished. Still double the price of a bowl of noodles, but godsend on rainy days where the urge to stay dry and indoors trump everything else. This location also sells bottled wines, great for those times when you can’t go somewhere empty handed.
The Marmalade Pantry and Cork Cellar
#01-08 Capital Tower
168 Robinson Rd
http://www.marmaladegroup.com/