Thursday, May 27, 2010

Esquire Kitchen @Subang

I thought that it would hard to find a good place for Chinese food in this Muslim country, but strangely enough, there is one in a mall near my place, and I found it within the first week. =)

Esquire Kitchen - Sze Chuan & Shanghai style dishes

The menu.

Ambience & Setting
I find it quite normal. No specials done up to create any particular mood. Wooden furniture, and some hanging lamps.

The array of circular hanging lamps reminds me of the ramen restaurant, O-An in Singapore.

The general setting of furniture.

It's quite a large restaurant for me, because I seldom see places of this scale anymore is land scarce Singapore. The greatest contrast is that none of the eateries in Malaysia can be packed till you see a snaking queue outside. Not even during meal times. But the restaurants still earn enough to survive.

In Singapore, if the food is not good enough or if nobody knows about the place, and it doesn't get queues at meal times, that eatery can say byebye in a month's time.

Table setting. Can see that it's strangely quite bright at dinner time.

I am still not very used to having ultra long days here. The sky starts to bright at 8am, but remains like noon is never going to come. It is still cold and feels of early morning at 10am (the hottest in Singapore), feels warm at 12pm, and sun peaks at 2pm. The sun doesn't goes down until 8pm.


Service
To be honest, I am not sure if there is over here... ... I am okay with no smiling, plate banging etc. But food coming slowly is something my partner and I are really trying to get used to. I think the standards in general are quite equal on both sides of the causeway. It's the speed of food being ready that is quite different.

Our drinks.

This is how drinks and the sauces were served at first. Tea, hot or cold, is free flow.

Food

Mapo Tofu

I think this mapo tofu is okay. I was expecting it to be spicier since it's Sze Chuan style, and I also know mapo tofu dishes in Singapore to be on the chili hot side.

Huge plate.

I think it tastes pretty good and balance, but it is almost exactly like the sauce my mum uses for mapo tofu at home, those bottled ones from Lee Kum Kee etc. So if you are there to try food, not eat things you like, this is not something that needs to be looked out for.


Rating: 4/5
I make it a point to have some tofu now and then for my meals, and I like mapo sauce, so this is something I would normally call for.

Sze Chuan Sour & Spicy Soup


This totally looks like fish maw soup or shark fin's soup right??? hahahaha. And I can tell you it tastes the same too! LOL. But for those who do not take sour stuff, this is not for you. It is on the vinegary side, but is too my liking.

That's some hei mu er inside, which I like. =)

Rating: 4/5
It is well-balanced, with good texture.

Eggplant Sze Chuan Style


This is my favourite dish of all! I think this is a must try. It tastes sweet and salty at the same times, like a good plate of char kway teow, Singaporean style.

The eggplants are cooked to squishy soft, easy to eat and doesn't feels or taste like eggplants at all.

Rating: 5/5


Shanghai Mee


This is basically fried mee as we know it. It is not as sweet as the eggplant, but basically char kway teow as well. Pretty okay and Singaporean style.

Rating: 4/5

Dong Bo Rou


This is the star of the day that we really came for. =) Both partner and I walked round and round and round the mall trying to find the Sze Chuan restaurant that his colleagues brought him to on Day 1 here, just for this Dong Bo Rou.

And indeed, it is very nice as my partner told me.

The sauce is sweet salty kind, but not the same as that for the eggplant. The meat is so well cooked together with the fats in between (this is pork belly), that melts in your mouth.

Rating: 5/5
This is worth the trip!

Xiao Long Bao


Xiao Long Baos are one of my favourite Chinese snacks, and I'd try it as long as I see it on the menu. But this one is really disappointing. The skin breaks very easily, and is still sticky, as if not cooked well. The minced meat does not tastes too good either.

Rating: 2.5/5
I wouldn't order it again even if I were dying for xiao long bao.

Tau Fu Hwar


I am still in the Singapore mode, and reading ieatishootipost's post on tau huay all the time is really making me crave it every now and then. I have eaten two tau huays in Subang so far, and none of them are close to what we have in Singapore. I think the people here just don't go for the same tastes, are not as food crazy, do not demand so high standards, and face weaker competition too (like I said, if an eatery does not have business in Singapore, it closes, if an eatery does not have business in M'sia, they can still scrape by).

Anyway, this tau huay does have the bean taste and is smooth, but it is firm till it feels more like pudding or jelly, rather than the creamy or dissolvable ones I have back home.

Rating: 4/5
It would do for a tau huay crave.

Overall food rating: 9.4/10
The eggplant and dong bo rou are must-tries. The other dishes are generally nice and above average as well, and very Singaporean style, so this place is a good one to satisfy some Chinese taste craving.

I have also subsequently tried a number of their takeaway dian xin, and they are very nice! Do buy the char siew bao and walnut cookie! Read more "Esquire Kitchen @Subang..."

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

French Toast & Lemon Tea @ OTWC

So it's another day of better internet connection at Old Town White Coffee across the street... ...

The decor here.

I like the view and feel of the 2nd floor. Reminds me of the kiddie days at standalone MacDonalds. Ah, that was when there was still enough land in Singapore to have standalone two storey buildings.

Love, love the feel. 古色古香.

Today, I decided to try yet another thing on the menu that I haven't eaten, and those are French Toast and Fresh Lemon Tea.

French Toast

Enticing.

Yuuuuummmm, wow, this must be the nicest French Toast I've had so far. It looks delicious, cuts down like Tofu, eats like crispy tofu, and is very well, not overly salted. Makes me want to take one bite, after another, and another.

It is also very soft white bread. And I like the way the serving is always rather generous at Old Town.

Tofu-like soft white bread soaked in egg and milk probably, like the usual French Toast recipe.

Between the slices, hides fragrant peanut butter, which is really a tasty surprise. And it gets even better when I cut towards the center, where the honey and butter is.

Surprise and delicious peanut butter.

Altogether, this makes for a nutritious and balanced breakfast, with a good amount of carbohydrates, some fats to kick start the fat metabolism, and honey to top it off. Some times, there is wisdom in traditional breakfast.

Rating: 5/5

Fresh Lemon Tea

wow.

I was actually a little doubtful if they'd really give me fresh lemon tea, and not from the canned drinks... ... But yes, it is real unsugared, unmilked tea with a fresh slice of lemon floating . Truly just my cup of tea.

Very nice balance there again. Now, I think, apart from the White Coffee, this has to be my other favourite drink. Much healthier than the Rose Float. haha, I felt so guilty with that one.

Rating: 5/5
This comes in cold one too.

Overall rating: 10/10
These two things are absolutely the kind of breakfast that will get you licking off the fork and knife, and teacup. :PPP

PS: Having tried the other breads from Old Town, I would say, just skip them if you don't dine here often. Go straight for this French Toast. Get your value and money's worth. =) Read more "French Toast & Lemon Tea @ OTWC..."

Monday, May 17, 2010

Ben & Nick's Diner @ Subang

haha, I actually managed to find good food on the first day here! Thanks to the introduction from my SO who has been here about two weeks.

We had tealight dinner at a bar called Ben & Nick's Diner, which is super convenient, and just under the building we live at. Pretty lucky that good food is at a stone's throw away!

B & N

I like the motto "Love Food, Hate Waste". Hard to disagree with it. =)


Settings

This place is quite the bar, with outdoors sitting, tealights, half pulled down blinds, romantic for a good date. =) It's also quiet enough for a small business talk, friend meetup, anything.

It also has well-set tables.

The standard Western cutlery setting.

Rating: 4.5/5

Mango Juice

Niceee! =)

This is thick, and felt like real juice, even though I think they still do add sugar. Definitely the drink if you like mango as much as we do.

Rating: 4.25/5

Fish 'N' Chips

Love it.

I was delighted though not exceedingly surprised to find good Fish 'n' Chips here, because I know that this dish generally tastes better in Malaysia (have no idea why).

The fish is crispy, and has a tasty batter, unlike the many plain and normally soggy ones in Singapore. The fish is also soft and yummy.

The fries are really well-cooked, but not salty at all. (It does seems that Malaysians do not salt their fries.) But I am fine with it, since I am not that fond of overly salted ones in kopitiams back home. If any flavoured is wanted, all you have to do is dip it in the tartar sauce, which is the standard tartar sauce taste.

I really like the fish a lot. Definitely better than Fish & Co., of which, I have not eaten a second time after I failed it on the first try. (I only recommend the Swordfish there... ..., and Sharkie Freeze.)

Rating: 4.5/5
At RM 13.90, this is one of the cheaper items on the menu of B & N. The pricing is Singapore standard.

Lamb Shank, ~RM 40... ...

My hp is not doing justice to the lamb shank.

This is yummy, this is a must try. My SO loves it so much. And true enough, when I tasted it, it was wow, since I know that lamb meat is not easy to cook deliciously.

The meat of this tears off really well, is soft yet cooked, and tasty without the fishy smell that lamb meat normally has.

This lamb shank also comes with homemade mashed potato, which I really like. The potato still has small cubes of potato inside the mashed bits, and tastes purely of potato with some butter. Good!

In fact, this tastes exactly like what my mum taught me to make. Basically, just boil the potatoes, peel it, mash it with a fork/spoon etc, then add butter/magarine, add some salt, pepper, cheese accordingly to suit your taste, mix well, and tadaa! Tasty and real mashed potatoes, not from powder like 7-eleven's or KFC, or perhaps, even Popeyes'. =)

Homemade. I don't really like powder mash potatoes. So this is good.

Rating: 5/5
This is a must try, and easily the star of B&N.


Overall rating: 9.25/10
Visit for good ambience and good food if you're in the area! Read more "Ben & Nick's Diner @ Subang..."

Old Town White Coffee @ Subang Jaya

I was so excited to learn that there is not only Carrefour, but also the familiar Old Town White Coffee just a short walk from my temporary stay place in KL, Malaysia.

It is always heart-warming to be eating and buying from a name that sounds closer to home, i.e. Singapore.

I thought it'd be nice to start my food blogging in Subang with a very simple task of comparing the OTWC chain across the two countries. And I am really glad to say that standards are the same!

Everything from the decor, the waiters' uniform, the ordering system, the utensils, cup, and food are the same! Much to my relief. haha.

I have eaten quite a lot from the menu, and today, I decided to try the Javanese Mee, Plain Thick Toast and Organic Spirlina Orange Juice.

Javanese Mee, RM 6.80



The display of this mee reminds me of Cold Ramen from Kado Man. It consists of dry mee served on a large round plate, in Javanese mee style sweet mee goreng-like sauce, with toppings of half an egg, crispy you tiao, baked potato cubes, chopped peanuts, green onions, spring onions, with a lime to enhance.

I especially like the taste of slightly sour lime juice mixed into the sweet sauce. It coats the noodles very well, and really made me feel like this is a well-round balanced bowl of ramen. hahaha, I still can't get out of the ramen life.

The baked potato cubes also tasted delightful, with slightly crispy, on-the-verge-of-burnt feel, yet bites in as rather soft. However, it tasted a bit bland, although I am fine with this, since I feel eating pure food is healthier than soaking in butter etc.

The crispy you tiao are no so to my liking though. It may taste good to people who like crispy toast bread and biscuit like food. But for me, I prefer you tiao to still be dough soft on the inside.

The chopped peanuts are also self-cooked, probably either roasted or fried till fragrant. Very nutty and adds dimension to the mee.

The mee is not bad, but nothing too special.

Rating: 4/5
I think the best main course from OTWC is still Ipoh Hor Fun.

Organic Spirulina Orange Juice, RM 5.20

I like this!! It has just the right intensity of sourness, yet retains the tea feeling. I think so far, all the beverages from OTWC are really good, apart from Si Mut Milk Tea and Nanyang Kopi 'C', which are strange to me.


Rating: 4.5/5

Plain Thick Toast, RM 1.50
As with the normal toast bread, I don't really like this. I feel that the skin though toasted to the right level of crisp, is bitter. I much rather prefer the moisturized inner portions of the bread.

Rating: 3.5/5

Overall rating: 8/10
I still like this place as much as ever. haha. It is affordable in Singapore and really cheap in Malaysia. I think my favourite cold drink here is the Organic Spirulina Orange Juice!! Why hadn't I tried that earlier? I like the Rose Float, Black Currant Yoghurt Smoothie, and Organic Wheat Grass Honey too. Not to mention OTWC original, Hazelnut White Coffee and Iced Mocha White Coffee.

There are two outlets in Subang, both are within walking distance (~15 min):

Subang Avenue
Lot SG-08, Subang Avenue, SS16,
47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor.
Tel: 603-5636 8988
Fax: 603-5636 8788
(On sight of Carrefour, walk/drive further down, OTWC is the middle of 3 block of condos, ground floor, easily spotted.)

Subang Jaya SS15
No. 92 Jalan SS15/4,
47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor.
Tel: 603-5621 0092
Fax: 603-5621 0092

(From Carrefour, cross the overhead bridge, walk till the end corner, turn left, walk straight up the slight slope, OTWC is easily spotted along the shophouses on your left, with the brown canopy and Old Taste printed on it.)

PS: They have free wifi here with really good connection and speed. Makes it real good to blog their food. =)

P/S/S: I totally hate addresses. Seriously, how many of you can spot places using plainly addresses? At most times, the place is right in front of you, and you're still looking for that door number!! LOL. Landmarks and walking directions are definitely easier. Much easier still if you're driving, since one can't possibly crawl in the car at one foot per second! All websites need to do is show some pictures of landmarks around or describe the landmarks. Read more "Old Town White Coffee @ Subang Jaya..."

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Waffle Pancake (Chinese) @ Prima Deli Jurong Point Branch: Why the queue? Is it better than famous NTU's?

It really intrigues me to see the long queues everyday at the Jurong Point branch of Prima Deli. I have not spotted similar queues at any other Prima Deli branches.

I know that Prima Deli's waffles are good because I myself really like the one at Tampines Mart's branch, besides KFC. It's soft, tastes of a lot of egg whites, and superbly tasty. But the big drawback is that that one is never going to be crispy because the formula of the batter isn't tailored for crisp, and I still prefer skin crispy waffles no matter what. So it's like 美中不足 (it's beautiful, but not perfect).

Having only eaten from that one Prima Deli, I was inclined to think that all branches have the same recipe. But as you would soon find out in my review, this is absolutely not true.

Waffle Pancake (Chinese) @ Prima Deli Jurong Point Branch


Available: Prima Deli at Jurong Point

Volume: Bigger than both NTU's and Prima Deli Tampines Mart

Star Properties: Totally white batter

Looks
This is the best waffle pancake look that I've ever come across. Waffle makers are basically standard, and anyone can get them. Most people would get the smallest size one, but with big squares, like NTU's. Even Prima Deli Tampines Mart is using a mould with larger squares than this. So you see, there is already a difference in the waffle maker between two polar branches at opposite ends of the island.

Plus, this looks really clean because of the all white/cream colour batter versus the standard pandan flavoured ones around. Nice, and extremely even browning, and slight crisp on the edges.

Rating: 5/5

Pancake Taste
This does not have any pandan at all, neither the fragrance nor the taste. It's just sweet, but it's not flatly sweet. There is a nice feel of well-balanced butter etc.

However, being very used to having pandan in waffle pancakes, I was quite sad that this one has chosen to skip it altogether.

Rating: 4.8/5

Spreads
I ordered Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Original. All the spreads are great!! The chocolate, though not artisan's chocolate or Belgium chocolate or Cadbury, etc, is real chocolate, not Nutella! The peanut butter is the chunky one, with obvious crunches in between bites. So that's very nice to chew, since the waffle is soft.

Rating: 5/5

Amount of Spread
Okay, it's still half the waffle... In this case, the strength of the spread taste is not very strong, so I'd like them to put more spread. And they actually do state that add spread costs something like $0.20 more??

Rating: 3.5/5

Crisp
It is really crispy when hot. But too bad, it goes totally nua/chui/soft very quickly, while NTU's one still has its crispy skin.

Rating: 4.5/5

Don't think there is much secret here, as the buckets are not kept in the refrigerator. It's just a matter of getting the mix right, and cooking for the right time at the correct temperature. =)

Overall Rating: 8.7/10
There are many pancake machines, so the wait is not as long as it looks. Buy if you are in the area! =) I'd definitely prefer it to be pandan flavoured though.

PS: I think the Tampines Mart one is a lot better, and a match for NTU's. Just that it's tofu soft. =) Read more "Waffle Pancake (Chinese) @ Prima Deli Jurong Point Branch: Why the queue? Is it better than famous NTU's?..."

Friday, May 07, 2010

Waffle Pancake (Chinese) @ NTU Canteen 2 - Worth Your Trip In!

This is a day of mixed feelings for me. It's the kind of time that you feel so happy to be leaving and looking forward to the next phase in life, yet so sad to leave because you've spent time and effort at some place, thus find it maddening hard to say goodbye. Alas, we are all too familiar with it!

So for the 3rd time in my life, I made my way over to Canteen 2, one of the oldest, and arguably the most famous canteen on campus, if not most popular, due to its inconvenient location after the school expanded decades ago. My exam hall was just a stone's throw away, kind of opposite from Can 2, as we affectionately know our canteens as.

So what's so great about Can 2? Why did I make a special "last day" trip there?

All the simplest things in life. =)

Canteen 2. I can never understand why canteens bother to give names in school. We still know them by numbers and alphabets no matter what pattern they come out with.

Every freshmen would hear of the legendary waffles, half-boiled egg breakfast, Western and Beef Ball Noodles. And having eaten them all before, except for beef balls, since I don't eat beef, I can vouch that they do live up to the accolade, other than the Western, which is supposedly from Old Airport Road.

Here is my parting meal, in toast to the school, the friends, the professors, the greenery, the bus drivers. That's all! haha, I am NOT going to say the "and finally, thank you EVERYBODY" Star Award speech. hahaha.

Waffle Pancake

Deliciously green, nicely browned and crispy sides.

Flavours: peanut butter, kaya, chocolate, blueberry, cheese, lemon, orange, and many more!

Price: flavoured ones are all $1.50. Ice cream ones is up to $3.70 for 3 scoops (the scoops are huge).

Other popular order from aunty: Hotdog bun, Ice Cream Waffle

Looks
If you watch Aunty making this, you would already be drawn in by the mint green colour of her batter. A lot of pandan and a lot of egg whites.

When you see her taking your waffle out of the pan, you will WOW! at how hard it looks, because of the way she handles it with the food thongs. This waffle can't even bend and close up properly when just cooked.

And then you sit down, open up the white paper bag in anticipation, and there is what you see. =) Green, nicely 50% browned large squares with ultra crispy edges.


Rating: 5/5

Taste
Depending on what flavour you buy, you may or may not like yours. But so far, I've tried plain, peanut butter, cheese, blueberry, strawberry, chocolate and orange. The lemon was sold out at tea time, so I guess that should be quite the best seller.

While the cheese is just a slice of cheese from the packet kind, the chocolate is real chocolate and not Nutella, the orange, blueberry and strawberry are all well-flavoured spreads that do not taste like your normal supermarket jam. (Nutella is not chocolate as it only has a relatively small amount of cocoa powder by mass, and its heaviest weight component is none other than the hazelnut spread.)

Also, the waffle plain is already very nice, because of the thin crisp on the skin, and strong pandan flavour. It is slightly oily, but just a bit. Without oil, a lot of taste would be gone.

Orange spread, and notice that ultra crispy edge at the end?

Amount
I actually don't like the way hawkers scrimp on the spreads nowadays by only applying them on one side. =( They didn't use to do that a few years ago. But oh well, policemen wore trousers in the past... Times really have changed.

However, this compensated well for the less than desirable amount because it is still tasty enough. And we should have a healthier lifestyle. haha.

Rating: 4.5/5

Crisp
This is the ONE thing that I believe Singaporeans are looking out for. It's kind of strange how we became so fussy about crisp in everything from the charred edges of char siew to the golden brown of roast pork, the caramelized skin of roast duck, Belgium waffles, French Fries, traditional toast (till the point of biscuit), burger bun bread... ... (Does this list ever ends??? haha.)

And yes, the reason why I put this waffle on pedestal, almost worship status (nah, I wouldn't worship a waffle. Just maybe my holy grail waffle... lol.), is because of the unbeatable crisp. I hardly think something this good can be found outside, where the commercialized world is, and hawkers are about how many pieces of waffles at the lowest costs rather than good tasting food.

Rating: 5/5
Can I give 6?

The thing about this waffle, is that Aunty herself knows it's hugely popular! She was asking me why no queue today. As she normally sees the snaking queue coming in after the exams, when people just want to eat. At night, slightly after dinner time, you really have to wait looong looong for this. It's like the "I can't pass by Can 2 without buying that, or else it's wasted walk all the way here" kind of mentality.

Such is the status of this waffle, that it gets invited to our on-campus carnivals/fairs. And if you advertise your event with complimentary Canteen 2 waffles, you can bet people will turn up. =)

The Secret
To honestly tell, this is no secret. All decent bakers or cooking-lovers would have somehow heard of the hot-cold and/or cold-hot transition that always seems to be the key to an extra *bling* to your delicacy. All you have to do for a crispier waffle, is to mix your batter with cold water if you need to add water, then refrigerate it.

What I saw Aunty did was to leave two tubs of batter outside, one for scooping, the other, just leave it. She doesn't finishes her batter. When she has used it to half-full, she refilled it with the batter from the 2nd tub. Then she opens the refrigerator, sitting inside are another handful of tubs, she takes a cold one out. From this cold one, she refilled the 2nd tub. Now, this 3rd tub would only be left with half. Then from the 1st now-full tub, she refilled the 3rd cold tub. She left the 1st and 2nd tub aside, mix the batter of the 3rd cold tub well, and she now scoops from that 3rd tub!

2nd stall on the left of the entrance.

Of course this is not the entire secret. It still has got to do with the ingredients ratio, and all, since hers is superbly generously tasty. I just thought that the sight I describe above is like a wonderful confirmation of the open secret I have long heard of.

Overall rating: 10/10
When I first ate this, I know there is not going to be something else that will beat it... It's that kind of feeling of when you found a Holy Grail skincare product or foundation, and you just know you will stick to it for years and years.

West-side foodies should definitely make a trip in. It's not that difficult if you go to Jurong Point enough. Just a bus in, plus the cheaper meals on campus too...

In fact, I think waffles are like the pandan cakes of Gen-Y. We seriously are obsessed about waffles. There is cafe restaurant that actually sells waffles and waffles alone! It's waffles buffet some more. And waffles are so easy to make they have become a standard fixture at your neighbourhood bakery. Everybody is buying one, they even sell the single pan at Harvey Norman for home use. But to make a good waffles, that's really few and far between. One can only make good food if one cares and has the heart to.

******

I didn't buy the Western, as I tried the also-famous fish and chips once, really no good. My friend says the beef balls are normal only as well. I'd recommend non-students who go in for food, to ride the shuttle bus up to North Spine, MacDonald's air-con canteen for Inodnesian BBQ or Japanese Eel Don, or Tom Yum Ban Mian, or Chicken Chop rice. The Indo BBQ is THE one. The rest are about 4/5 with my ratings.

If you take the bus alllll the way down to Canteen B/Business School Canteen, the chicken rice and yong tau foo are the good ones by canteen standards. The single steamboat meal is also hot hot favourite amongst the students. We like to celebrate good days with a filling meal in a self-cook Seoul Garden style, except that this is steamboat. You could always get a cup of good soymilk from Mr Bean there too. Don't forget sugarcane juice if you go early. This sells like hotcakes, always out of stock too. (It's just sugarcane, but you can't really get sugarcane nowadays unless you live around old old markets like Bedok Interchange.)

Wow, so I managed a good 2 paragraphs on what to eat in school!

Will continue with 1-minute reviews on the rest of the food today:

Chicken Rice + Char Siew


The chicken is really soft, and has no trace of blood. This alone scores very well with me, even though it's bland on the inside. The rice is on the whole tasty, but not the absolutely chicken oil coated and fragrance kind. The char siew is not bad, has a good balanced sweet taste, but isn't crispy, and has quite a lot of fats as well. The chili is spicy, but too sour.

Close up to look at the rice. Non-yellow = will not be so nice. But you can see the glistening char siew.

Rating: 6/10

Next up, is my obsession with cheesecake, the tendency to buy no matter how bad I feel it will be... Not really. This one looks really good, and the texture IS good.

Bailey's Cheesecake $3


Amazingly nice cheesecake from school. The other two, at Nanyang Auditorium cafe, and Executive's Cafe are horrible. Very good tofu texture, with spongey look but feels very smooth, with enough chew. However, the cheese taste is close to zero, with a hue of Bailey's... Well, I guess, I really can't expect that guy to pour a shot of Bailey's inside a $3 cake! haha.  But I wouldn't buy this again.

Rating: 3/5

Double Chocolate Muffin


I am not a fan of muffins, as I find that always too buttery, and bland in flavour. This is not buttery, but only looks very black, without much chocolate taste. There are a few chocolate chips here and there, which feels good when you find them. Other than that, it was a disappointment, because it really looked so brownie and chocolate-y. =(

Rating: 2.5/5
It would pass as a food. Read more "Waffle Pancake (Chinese) @ NTU Canteen 2 - Worth Your Trip In!..."

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

CK Tangs Mdm Cynthia's Pandan Chiffon Cake - Trip to find THE one

After a rave by one of ieat's readers about a hidden not-for-sale heavenly Pandan Chiffon Cake, I just had to check it out. The tip-off says that cooking tips are guaranteed, with the sweet bonus that THE cake is free.

 Cynthia a bit paiseh (shy) when I first asked if I could take photos. haha.

Pouring the batter  for Banana Marble Swirl Chiffon Cake into the chiffon cake mold.

Making paper thin egg omelette with anionized Super-B pot, while we waited for the cake to be ready.

Yay! Cutting the cake.

I adore the mold to bits. It has those waves, so you get a jelly shape. Look at how smooth and nicely-brown the skin is. Not to mention the marble pattern she created with chocolate.

Plump and standing tall.

PS: I lost my last photo of the cake slice I took. Sigh. My handphone is a little cranky.

But the cake is to die for! I have no idea how it compares to ieat's one (only him and family would know...). All I can say is that, on my side, I feel that her cake is everything I want of a chiffon.

As you can see, it looks so good. It has a thin layer of crispy skin, with spongy looking, beautifully and naturally coloured inside, and mashes into a cream texture the moment you bite and chew. It has the toughness to give you a slight kick when biting, unlike Bengawan Solo's, that basically breaks with a touch and crumbles into nothingness in your mouth, only to leave the boring taste of plain sugar.

It is a little bit oily, but definitely still on the safe side, since it's homemade. And sweet, but not diabetic. I know that it might be mild and perhaps even tasteless for older people, who somehow prefer heavy tastes. But for modern Singaporeans, who are getting more health conscious, one really can't fault this cake. Moreover, if you home make your own, you are free to adjust the sweetness. This is just a demo for the pots.

Rating: 5/5
Try it while she is still there making cakes and demos. She also gives tips along the way, like to sort of carry/hug it in two forearms, and swirl it to release the bubbles, then tap gently a few times if you really think there are bubbles still, instead of knocking the tin hard. I guess you could still knock the tin hard, but for her jelly mold, you did dent the jelly shape badly!! Doesn't matters for those flat top ones we normally see on the market. haha.

******
At the end of it all, I did make a purchase, as I need a set of cooking wares quite soon. Thought no harm getting it now, since it was supposedly on promotion for Mother's Day. LOL, promos... :P

I also like the way this cake would only take 15 min to cook in that pot, while Cynthia said that you'd have to set your oven to 180 deg C for 45 min if you want to use an oven.


(Please note that business is still business, and Mdm Cynthia and assistants are honestly making a decent living, so please be kind enough not to go everyday for free cakes without buying. Although, she does gives them out to fellow workers/friends at Tangs, out of goodwill. I stood there for the whole time the cake was cooking, so I was a little pressurized to buy, as one of the assistants kept asking if I intended to get anything. Suggest you take a walk and return if you feel you really will not be interested at all, but still want a taste of the cake. Don't say I say one. hahahaha.

On another note, practically all the viewers who stood a good while bought! Quite amazing. We were all impressed by the cake, and popcorn. The popcorn is good too, if you are not for diabetic ones from the likes of GV. Her cutey mould can be used for oven too, so no worries if you don't want that pot. I just like the jelly shape... haha. Pardon me.) Read more "CK Tangs Mdm Cynthia's Pandan Chiffon Cake - Trip to find THE one..."

Sunday, May 02, 2010

Ippudo - The Restaurant That Does & The Ramen That Doesn't - Part I: Ramen

I went back a second time to try another flavour of ramen, to eat the gyoza that was sold out on my first visit, to fan off opinions that my marking for Ippudo is strict and unfair, and to reaffirm myself that I had not made the wrong judgment on the first time.


My mission is to answer the burning question, as the queue gets longer and the hype gets larger by the day, does Ippudo deserves the snaking queue every night and every weekend?

The answer, as in title is simple, and really fair enough, the restaurant does, and the ramen does not. Here's why:

Ambience & Setting
The moment I step under the draping Japanese style "curtains" at the doorway,  I felt quite overwhelmed, as the place is really dim, with a huge but definitely mesmerizing chandelier hanging down the middle of the ceiling to light up the entire area. Only a place as large as Ippudo can balance the mass of light so grand (in interior designing terms).


Only the word "chi-chi" (rich wife) is befitting of the atmosphere.

I decided to take a larger picture of this table, as I find it rather cute that so many strangers would be sharing a long table. haha. Not a bad idea. And really very good if you're organizing a gathering for lots of people.

Rating: 4.75/5
Bringing in my sense of hearing, the place was in reality rather noisy due to the full house on my first night. I did not quite enjoy it as I personally prefer a more peaceful dining setting. I do not think the noise level is suitable for first dates or romance, so this is not so the place for couples, anniversaries etc, unless two people just want to go for ramen testing, and have known each other for very long.

It is also not very kid-friendly because of the chi-chi-ness, as with feedback from a couple of forumers.

Full-house on Fri and weekend nights!

This would be the place for colleagues to gather after work and reward themselves as part of  T.G.I.F though. A lot of freedom for loud voices and chit-chat, sharing grouses and happiness.

Hence my point deduction.

The kitchen, noodle-cooking portion where the main chefs probably are. This is right in front of the bar-counter seats.

Service
Service was pretty different on both times because of the crowd.

On the first time, when I started queuing at around 8.30pm, and left only when the shop close at past 10pm, service was not satisfactory, as they were a little short-staffed to take care of a full house. There were so many other customers blocking me that it was a challenge to signal a waiter.

However, when they do come and serve you, the attentiveness is wonderful. The same standard of attentiveness, politeness, smiles and thank-yous was delivered on my second visit, even though I could tell that many are rather young and inexperienced in this line. So good one. =)

Nevertheless, they do have a decent SOP, which says that the table should be done this way:

First time.

Second time. LOL. I am not trying to be funny. Just wanted to show the table setting. And I thought I should take it slanting this time. :PPP

Rating: 4.5/5
There are a number of Japanese or Chinese who are not very familiar with English, so if you do come across someone who doesn't understands you, try to signal for a Singaporean.

Shiromara Classic

I ordered this on my first trip because it is the classic.


Looks
I guess you can tell from the photo. Not very impressive if I were to compare with many others, as the pork is for some reason covered under the broth. But since Ippudo was really my first, this presentation still struck me as acceptable, clean, neat and nice, in reality. So yup, at that time, I was eager to dig in actually. =)

Rating: 4/5

Pork
So I lifted the spoon and gave it a slight stir, to pick out a slice of chashu. This one looks good, and tastes really nice too! Now that I've tasted a handful of other bowls of ramen, I can safely say the pork here is really one of the best-cooked around.

It is soft, tasteful, non-fatty, non-oily. Very good balance in that piece of meat.


The disappointment came when I found it so nice, and put back my spoon to look for more. I stirred and stirred, and it ended up that there were only 1 and a half piece (s??) of chashu. So I set my spoon down in defeat and decided not to eat the bowl of noodles altogether. =( Great pity that this bowl is really not generous enough for the price.

After all the ramen eating thus far, I think 3 is a great number to put in a bowl of noodles, as this will provide the right amount of fats in a meal, not over for ladies, looks good, and also signifies "a great amount". In the Chinese tradition (unfortunately I do not know if Japanese believe in numbers and their meanings), 3 and multiples of 3 means "a lot". Using 72 rounds of battle as with Monkey God in Journey to the West, of 72 years etc, is really a lot, hence you'd always hear of 民国七十二周年. There is no other reason why people celebrate the 72nd year from the birth of a nation other than the meaning of "a lot" and "long" etc.

Rating: 4.75/5
Really a great piece of pork to savour.

Soup
The soup looks oily as with all ramen soups, but tastes rather light to my delight. It also tastes clear and well-filtered though it doesn't looks so. Very flavourful yet balanced one. I think this will not offend any, but failed to catch my tummy though. It's good and nice but there are more addictive ones around. It did get me to eat quite a lot more noodles than I had planned to. (Didn't want to eat or drink too much soup because I know I had ordered a lot even though I was alone.)

Rating: 4/5
On the scale, I like this as much as Santouka's broth, even though they fall into different catergories, one being so strong, and one being so delicate. Both I like.

Noodles
On my first visit, I had wanted to fail the noodles as they really are not Q. I do not think that you will ever get a bowl of Q noodles there. So if you are like me, who prefer a mild chew, you will not be 100% satisfied.

However, on second thought after my second visit, I've decided that Ippudo cooks the noodles very well! They use the type that is extremely straight and smooth, and oil it just right so that you can slurp, and slurp, and slurp, and slurp. Yes, that's the word.

If I am not wrong, a lot of ramen houses are what young Singaporeans would call dingy, as they really are houses of the owners, as you might have seen in movies like Handsome Suit and Ramen Girl. So ramen is like the gong zai mian you find in Hong Kong cafes, basically meant for workers. And by imagination (quite like Bangladeshi in Singapore when they eat), the workers just sort of want to eat to fill their tummy, and will slurp up the noodles one mouthful after another without stopping much, and drink the soup if light enough.

Nevertheless, in my first bowl, I got undercooked noodles (which are actually authentically Japanese, but doesn't goes well with Singaporeans) that didn't quite agree with my tummy. Quite hard.

So for this bowl, my rating is not so good.

Rating: 3.8/5
You might like to make it a point to ask for cooked noodles when ordering, just in case the chef decides to do it authentic Japanese style. Unless of course, you'd like to try undercooked noodles, and prefer it this way.

Overall rating: 8.2/10
One of the better ones around. I feel that there is still a lot of room for better ramen in Singapore.

Spicy Ramen
I didn't want to give Ippudo another chance, at least not in the short term. But I caved in when I saw the spicy ramen that has nuts on it. (My tummy almost died on me in Beijing because there is very little chili there. Really can't live without chili.)


Looks
Hmmm, I guess what's wrong with Ippudo's ramen is that the pork always gets pitifully covered up. Don't you think so?

Spicy ramen looks a little bit nicer than Shiomaru, but gave me an overly oily feeling.

Rating: 4/5

Pork
I didn't like the pork this time. I though chashu means that round piece as seen in Shiomaru above... But this time I got what Chinese call san ceng rou (3-layered pork/roast pork as in roast pork rice). This is probably the belly part, and is extremely fat. The most tasty if you use it for bak kwa (use the buttocks for mid-fat mid-tough bak kwa.)

This is okay... ...

So yucks, I don't like it. If you're a fan of zhu jiao cu (Hakka Vingarized Pork Leg), pork skin or kway chup, I think you will appreciate the "chashu" I got a lot better.

Also, I have the firm belief that chi-chi restaurants should give more meat and weed out the fats. Fats are junk (other than omega 3 and 6), when it comes to food. You only need minimal amount of good fats to maintain good skin, build lipoproteins, coat certain cell components and line your heart, so on and so forth. Moreover, all nutrients, be it carbohydrates or proteins eventually gets converted into fats if you don't need them, so you actually have a lot, a lot of fat sources without eating much fats. I shall not nag about the cholesterol, blocked arteries etc.

This is really not okay.

In any case, apart from health reasons, the "chashu" this time was really too fat to maintain the texture balance in your mouth. So yup, taste-wise, this wasn't too good.

Rating: 3/5

Soup
Okay. I don't know how else to talk about this, because it is neither nice nor not nice. All I can say is that this is not spicy at all. So don't waste your calories if you are looking for chili, like I was on that day.

I honestly can't taste the presence of secret in this soup, unlike in the Shiomaru. At least I could tell it wasn't that simple.

Rating: 3/5
Really okay lorz.

Noodles
The noodles here are like that at Tampopo's. Basically, they break extremely cleanly, with little strength, upon a light bite. Like I have described for the Shiomaru, every strand breaks together in one mouthful, and the rest all falls back into the soup. Clean.


Just to add on, the noodles from Ippudo take up the sauce rather well, so they are fragrant and tasty. But I just do not have the habit of biting and slurping noodles so quickly as if I haven't eaten in 10 years, hence the penchant for a bit chewy/QQ ones that would last a wee bit longer in my mouth. Perhaps I should revise Tampopo's rating for noodles... They are good if you do not ask for chewiness.

Rating: 4/5
I only came to appreciate Ippudo's noodles a bit more because this time, they gave me cooked ones instead of undercooked. Thus the slightly higher rating.

Egg
I ordered the egg this time.


As can be seen in the photo below, it's not bad, as the uncooked portion takes up some 30% of the egg's volume, so I could still slurp out the "juice", which would consist of some uncooked white and some just cooked but still creamy yolk.


However, this is not the best I've tasted as the taste of the "braised-ness" is lacking, so it wouldn't be full marks.

Rating: 4/5
Suddenly decided that it was not all that good as I see lots of fingerprints on my egg, and quite badly cracked. Taste-wise, I had wanted to type 4.25.


Overall Ramen Rating: 7.5/10
This type of marks means it's good, but not all that good as hyped or advertised etc.

It's really not worth your time queuing. Try to catch weekdays if you need to go at night, otherwise, go between lunch and 7pm.

I spent about 1 hour on the first time... ... Read more "Ippudo - The Restaurant That Does & The Ramen That Doesn't - Part I: Ramen..."
 

Positively Nice - My Beauty Blog

Latest and most honest reviews of the efficacy of beauty products, skincare, cosmetics, and my take on fashion, plus lots of my tips that will make people compliment! =)))

Beauty can be affordable, only at Positively Nice.

Positively Nice
Powered By Blogger

Blog Tricks

Powered By Blogger

Proud Member of Nuffnang






Powered By Blogger

Great Morning ©  Copyright by Sweetly Nice - Singa 坡 の Makan | Template by Blogger Templates | Blog Trick at Blog-HowToTricks