Far East Plaza: Chicken Rice

This is a Hainanese Chicken Rice institution and it has been at the same premises since my days at school. I remember my friend Aaron brought me here. I always try to eat here. The chicken is tender, never dry and the chilli sauce is quite hot. Perfect rice in my view, probably one of the best - almost as good as mine! :)

hokkien prawn mee

i did not get a chance to try the hokkien prawn mee but it does look yummy and authentic - i will have to try next june when i am back

rojak, hokkien prawn mee and curry chicken noodles

Far East Plaza is a blast from the past. I remember the days when I was at Catholic Junior College, and I would skip classes and sneak off to have a prawn burger at Wendy downstairs. In my blue school uniform, I would in the fast food outlet and try to do my homework. Some things don't change as I see students in Singapore are still doing the same thing 25 years later.

Far East Plaza also has a little gem of a coffee shop called Cahaya on the 5th floor where you can get Rojak, Hokkien Prawn Mee, Mee Goreng and Curry Chicken noodles. The main attraction is William's Rojak. I have been eating rojak from this stall since I was a student. It is a husband and wife team - husband makes rojak, wife does fresh fruit and juice. I asked to take a photograph of the stall. Wife says "please don't take mine since my mother just passed away recently go ahead and take a photograph of my husband." So i did.


I remember trying William's rojak so many years ago. He makes quite a light sauce, not too much prawn paste and nice touch of lime. The special ingredient is the fragrant punchy banana flower - he has a technique for shredding - which he has done for years. The flavours are well combined - the art is in the mixing, and lots of finely crushed peanuts, mixed with mooli (mang kwang), cucumber, crispy fried you tiao and slices of green mango. A plate of fresh salad in a fragrant prawn paste sauce. Who says chinese don't do salads?

I am thinking of ordering the Hokkien prawn mee after demolishing my rojak. There are two ladies in their sixties next to me, who ordered both rojak and hokkien mee. They remind me of my mum, speaking in Teochew, sharing tit-bits about their family and commenting about the food their eating.

It is getting very busy now. So i get up to go to allow the real punters to have their lunch.

old friends hokkien food

I had lunch today with some old friends and ex-colleagues at Microsoft. I must be 100% predictable since they chose my favorite hokkien restaurant to whet my appetite. During lunch, I told them of some of the places i ate during the past 2 weeks - bak chor mee at Hong Lim food court, Nasi Lemak at Adam Rd, White Pepper Crab at No Signboard Geylang, etc. It was also quite predictable. Hmmm

You know what is coming - braised belly pork. I eat pork every so often, but it is not the meat i would miss if i had to turn vegetarian. The two exceptions to the rule are (1) roasted crackling of pork whether chinese "siew yoke" style or western sunday brunch style and (2) braised belly of pork. There is no point in trying to deny that the braised belly of pork in a dark delicious yummy syrupy soy sauce and a fluffy bun to fill it, is to die for. Being hokkien myself, it is very hard to resist. My lunch partners in crime however appeared to have grown a large conscience about "kong bak" (as it is aptly described in hokkien). I ate 3 fluffy buns filled with "kong bak". And yet we still had leftovers! I promised to run another 4 km this evening at Fitness First to rid myself of the fatty tissue. I ended up sitting like a couch potato writing this blog. Over the past 2 week, i have added 2 kg to my waistline. Over lunch today, another 1 kg was added but I don't care.

The hokkien noodles was covered with a gravy sauce and served with dark vinegar was yummy. The oyster omelette ("or chien") was crispy and the oysters were flavorful and plentiful. The piece de resistance is the "oni" - a sticky gooey sweet yam paste made with hokkien love, mixed with gingko seeds and pumpkin. I am not crazy about most chinese desserts but this one is a cross between sticky date pudding and mashed up nonya kuehs. It is delicious! The only other asian dessert which comes close is braised tapioca served with coconut sauce or mango and sticky rice pudding.


Besides all this talk of food, the company was delightful as usual. Kathy was very animated with lots of stories to share. Rebecca was perfect company with her super memory. Millie was the gracious host ordering all the right dishes. And jonathan sang a cantonese song in the middle of dinner. What else can you ask for in life, except lunch with good old friends and hokkien food? Not much else apparently, since the food is still sitting in my stomach at 1am in the morning...!

Centerpoint

Traveling back in time to Monday, I met with Mum and Dad for lunch. Last time we went to the nonya place downstairs in the basement. Their Teochew Popiah is rather good. I don't remember the other dishes we ordered last time, but I do recall Mum and Dad liked the place. I remember my Dad going to the toilet and on his way back, he forgot where we were. I spotted him wandering in the Soup Restaurant opposite looking for us. Now I know where I get my excellent sense of direction.

What did we order for lunch, you might be saying? The claypot fish head was quite a dish at SGD$26.00 - it was a huge fish head, fried until very crispy, with lots of meat and lovely skin. The sauce is a combination of mange tout, carrots, chinese lettuce, yam and mushrooms in an eggy corn flour sauce. There were too many vegetables in the claypot and adding yam does not add to the dish. It is a shame, and the dish was over-priced.

The chicken steamed with herbs and brocolli was well-executed. The chicken was moist and tender with lots of flavour. The wolfberries were sweet and the white fungus was a nice texture. At SGD$16.00, it was good value for money.

We did order the appetizer - a selection of kueh pie tie, "lor mie fan" and savoury nonya kuehs (yam, carrot cake, etc) served with red chilli sauce and black sweet sauce with sesame seeds. A good appetizer at SGD$13.80 which I would order again if I returned. I think that the restaurant can reduce prices to attract more customers. It was practically empty and I suspect this would not be much different in the evening.

My mum is such a typical Aquarian. Almost immediately after finishing lunch, she pointed to the Samsui Chicken offered by the Soup Restaurant and indicated she would have liked to try it. It is an old habit of the chinese - not to say what they really want, and once the moment has passed, to admit to something else that took their fancy. I have been guilty of this myself - it is like instinct. It is counter-intuitive to say what we want - why is that?

Bangawan Solo

This photo was taken yesterday at Changi airport. I remember the first outlet of Bangawan Solo being opened in Marine Terrace - who doesn't love nonya cakes? I can't help but stop and stare at the cakes. My favorites are pandan sponge cake, kueh lapis, kueh ketayap and onde onde. Why do I always buy the same ones? Maybe I will stuff my face with new kuehs before I fly back to London this Friday... :)

Another perfect Thai dish

We are all creatures of habit. My habit in departing from the wonderful land of smiles is one last stop at S&P restaurant at the airport. Some of you might be aghast at the thought of airport food, and 99% of the time, I would thoroughly agree. In Bangkok however, S&P restaurant is an oasis among bad airport food. The singular dish I always order is Fried shrimp with garlic and bird's eye chillies with boiled rice and a fried egg on top. The dish is deceptively simple. I think this is how it is done. Cloves of garlic are split in two and they are blanched in hot water. The half-cloves of garlic are stir-fried quickly with freshest mini-shrimp and the freshest bird-eyes chili. The juice from the frying pan and the ingredients are poured over rice, and topped with a fried egg.

It's that simple but deceptively difficult to execute well. I have tried to cook this dish at home. S&P always does a better job! I am glad they do, since I will always order this dish at the airport. Also, the dish goes really well with Thai Iced Tea - health warning: Thai Iced Tea is so very sweet your enamel starts to break down as you drink it. Really I am not joking. It goes so well with the bird's eye chili. And by the way, if you can eat more than 6 bird's eyes chili from this dish, I will kowtow you personally. The fresh bird's eye chillies are more hot for some reason! (PS. S&P restaurant in the city offers a wholly different menu compared to the airport. It is so much better, believe you me.)

simple food done well

A recurring theme is simple food, done well. No frills food - executed well, seasoned well and combined in a simple yet effective way. A fried egg. The freshest cucumber, tomatoes and spring onion garnish. A dash of lime to finish off the dish.

One of my favorite Thai dishes is chicken fried with thai basil, served with boiled rice and a fried egg on top, with cucumber, tomatoes and bird's eye fish sauce condiment. It is a perfect dish. And yet, if you order the same dish in London or Singapore, the chicken is too oily, the fried egg over-cooked and the side salad totally ignored (i.e. watery cucumber, tasteless tomatoes).

Pad thai is another example. When you order the dish in Bangkok, the noodles are lightly fried and never greasy, the condiments of prawns and tofu are stir-fried quickly never over-done, and the coriander and bean sprouts are freshly integrated into the dish. Pad thai ordered in Thailand is invariably more like a salad
rather than the greasy chinese fried noodles you get in chinatown. The sweetness from the tamarind is light-handed and fragrant.

The other mainstay dish is Thai fish cakes. What you get in Thailand is plump fish cakes with flecks of chilli and thai basil. What you get elsewhere is more cornflour than fish paste. The condiment of cucumber, vineger and peanuts with the fish cakes should not work, but it really does. Nutty meets spicy and fishy.

The rest of the world should take a leaf out of the book of Thai cooks and chefs. Respect the ingredients.

best ice cream????

if you have not tried this ice cream, you should...! mmmmmmm

ice cream blended with dark chocolate bits, caramel and fudge, with banana slices and added with bits of mars bars - it is like a banoffi pie with ice cream and Mars bar thrown in - very indulgent! this can be found at the basement of Siam Paragon, the largest shopping mall in Bangkok at the ice cream parlour called Cream & Fudge - what an appropriate name





After eating the ice cream, we felt in need of a stroll. You can walk continuously from Siam Paragon, to Siam Center, to Siam Discovery (up 2 escalators onto the Skybridge to the BTS i.e. skytrain) and to MBK (or Mah Boon Krong). At MBK center, you can find pretty much everything for sale - some real but mostly fake products. We saw a "mini-iPhone" with 2 sim cards. We saw TV-iPhone (with a long antenna, presumably for better TV reception). Thousands of fake Apple products, from iPhones, iPods, iTouch, Shuffle, etc. Apple product design and trademark was clearly the most counterfeited at MBK, including cables, peripherals, accessories and third party products (e.g. Paul Frank iPhone cases). Sigh!

Why the photos taken on the skybridge in front of MBK? Well you certainly don't want to take photos inside MBK otherwise you might draw some unwanted attention from the traders in fake products... :)

Food and Foot

These are two of my favourite things in Bangkok - sampling street food, and having foot massage. Is there a connection here?

Oddly enough, the BBQ meat on the streets of Bangkok elicit responses from me in very similar ways. After eating the skewers of BBQ sticks of meat, my mouth is in need of a nice fizzy drink. Same effect after an hour long of foot massage thai style (with what looks like a chopstick), my mouth yearns for a fizzy drink. Pszzzt! Ahhhh!

Thailand: Naj in convent rd, bangkok

Slight digression away from food:

I almost did not arrive in Thailand. The plan was Bangkok last weekend. With the state of emergency and the red shirt protests in Thailand, we had no choice but to cancel the trip. The state of emergency was lifted this week. Happily, we booked our flight with AirAsia online. When i arrived at the AirAsia check-in counter on Friday, I was told that I could not travel. Because my passport was due to expire in 5 months and 27 days. AirAsia would not allow me on the plane. I said I was prepared to take the risk. I did not believe Thai immigration would turn me back after 2 weeks of non-existent tourism. AirAsia claimed that if they allowed me to travel, and i was refused entry, the airline (said their rep) would be fined SGD$1,000, would pay the costs of flying me back to Singapore and the AirAsia rep who checked me in would have their pay docked (for an unknown sum). And the clincher - I had to forfeit my ticket as well. I made the reservation online, and this involved the collection of the expiry date. AirAsia processed the reservation, took my money despite the expiry date violation. I should have read the terms and conditions, they said. I asked whether the supervisor has read their terms and conditions? In the end, the supervisor decided to call the Thai immigration. After some muted discussions on the phone with Thai immigration, the AirAsia rep agreed to let me on the plane. No conditions. No fuss. (Why not make the call in the first place?) When I arrived, the immigration officer in Bangkok did not even look at the expiry date on my passport.

Back to food:

Friday night at Naj restaurant, located on convent rd (off silom rd) was very enjoyable. Thai food catered to western palates is not necessarily a bad thing. The cuisine is more refined and the flavors more distinct. The som tam set of papaya salad was piquant and slightly spicy with deep fried sticky rice, which was a fitting combination. The chicken wrapped in pandan leafs was tender and flavorful. The sweet tamarind sauce was icky sticky and complemented the savoury chicken. If you mix gula melaka with meat, this is what it should taste like! The krispy mee krob is always a delight. I had a coconut freeze for drinks (not coconutty enough) and the amuse bouche was a traditional thai appetizer that i cannot never remember its name. It is pieces of lime, ginger, nuts and bergamot (I think) wrapped in a savoury herb leaf. At Naj, it was presented in a small vodka shot glass perched on a cocktair stick. Nice touch.

For main courses, we ordered - stir fried morning glory (or chinese watercress), deep fried thai blue prawns in a tamarind sauce, steamed sea bass in fish sauce, garlic and lime juice, green curry chicken with aubergines grapes and cherry tomatoes and soft shelled crab fried in crispy oatmeal style.

Overall, the meal hit the spot and it was a perfect celebration from my almost not getting into Bangkok. At 3,800 thai baht as the final bill, this was a meal well worth the exasperation and stress I had to endure several hours ago. Amazing Thailand indeed!

Nasi Padang, Arab Street (part 2)

I had to add these photos - the spicy terung is very prominent in the first shot. Sambal terung is a mainstay in nasi padang - basically, braised eggplant (or aubergines or brinjal) in a spicy chili and sambal mixture. The flesh of the brinjal is soft but not mushy, the sambal chili is a fine balance of spicy, sweet and fragrant, and the color is red red red. This is the true test of a good nasi padang. I know many people rate a nasi padang stall by its beef rendang but for me, it is always the sambal terung.

The most difficult dish to execute well is beef lung - sounds horrid, and when it is badly executed (which is the case at lunch today), it does taste horrible. It should be soft, not chewy, like extra-tender beef jerky. In itself, the taste is good but it's flavour is enhanced by sambal chili - this is known as dendeng paru in Indonesia. I hope I will get to try the authentic version in Jakarta next week (assuming I get to Jakarta).

The other dishes we ordered were Sayor Lodeh (vegetables in a light curry broth), chicken curry and ikan bilis fried with peanuts and tempeh. The red and green chili side dish was not spicy. Overall, the food looked great but the taste was unremarkable and not memorable.

All that being said, my friend William and I are still enjoyed our lunch. :)

Nasi Padang, Arab Street

Lunch time today was reserved for trying out nasi padang in arab st - i have been to arab st previously, tried a few places and to be honest, it did not make a huge impression on me. There are too many nasi padang stalls, shops and restaurants in Singapore, and to be honest, they are all fairly good and as a result, unexceptional. Compared to nasi padang in Malaysia which ranges from Kelantan style cuisine to East Malaysia varieties, the choices and style of dishes is fairly homogenous in Singapore.

The nasi padang this lunch time was great for photographs. In reality, the taste was fairly mediocre. I will have to go to my favourite in Zion Rd next week...

today's lunch - Cricket Club

i love the ambience of the cricket club - it is old-world (no mobile phones allow) in its decor and service style, but also in its menu - i had traditional chicken and egg curry, with steamed rice and achar - my host is a long time friend, colleague and partner at the IP law firm ATMD Bird & Bird


Sheena and I go back to Catholic Junior College when she was 1 year my senior - Sheena had the western set lunch with fish as a main component - the dish was nice presented - my chicken curry was just as i had expected it, the boiled egg was nice and soft in texture (i.e. freshly boiled) and the achar was nutty, slightly spicy and crunchy. Sheena enjoyed her fish too. Overall, it was a good lunch.

for drinks, i had a Gunner which was nice but not reminiscent of the Gunners in Hong Kong - sigh!

yesterday's lunch

i had lunch with my former Regional Director who happened to be in Singapore same time as me, even though i live in london and he lives in Paris, we happened to meet in Singapore half way around the world - talk about synchronicity! the last time i saw him was more than 6 years ago when i was working in the same office as him based in singapore

we had lunch at Pierside Kitchen on the promenade next to Clifford Pier - the food is consistently good - last time i had lunch at this restaurant was over a year ago - Christophe had the seared tuna loin with ratatouille which he appeared to enjoy, and i had thin spagetti in a creamy sauce with thinly sliced cod fish on top - perfectly cooked and seasoned well (mine was perhaps a touch too salty) - the service is always good but not too cloying - a thoroughly enjoyable lunch to catch-up on the old, the present and the new - and by the way, it was fully booked on tues lunch

as for the weather, it was bloody hot even though we were sat inside - pierside needs to do something about the air-conditioning

casinos by night

proof i can take a reasonably decent night photograph
no food in sight in case you missed the point....
(ps. i can't wait to review the restaurants in the casinos apparently opening at the end of 2009)

Real time report: Give this one a miss

This evening, we were heading to try out the Lor Mee at Beach Rd hawker center. We forgot that the hawker center was closed on Mon nights - silly! I won't point fingers but the local Singaporean did not know the hawker center was closed. It was me! :)


Walking back towards the city, we came across Shanghai Xiao Long (Bao) - the bao is in brackets because the english sign does not have the words "Bao", only the chinese. Very odd and perhaps an important sign to give this restaurant a miss. We didn't notice.

We ordered Xiao Long Bao (Shanghai steamed dumplings), rice cakes fried in mushrooms and chinese cabbage, dou miao (veg), minced pork la mian (dry version), mushroom and walnut appetizer, and a hot and sour soup also as an appetizer. Total price S$51.

The best dish on the table is the la mian - it was hot (temperature wise and tasty with springy and nicely textured noodles - the rest was mediocre, especially the xiao long bao. If your restaurant is named after the signature dish, you would think that the signature dish should be excellent and mindblowing, not mediocre.

If you are thinking why we still look so happy with a mediocre meal costing S$51 bucks? Well we always look like that lah... :)

Crab-crazy

Time traveling back to a week ago on Saturday. I arrived on the day before (Friday). Our friends Rai and Halena invited us to dinner at No Signboard at the Esplanade. It was lovely to see their boys Donovan and Kieran, all grown up and so big lah! (oh no - i used the cliche observation made by elderly folks when they see other people's kids). Our friend Sunny from Hong Kong also joined us (taking the photo) - he was on holiday in Singapore.

No Signboard is one of my favourite places to eat because of the white pepper crabs dish - the white pepper combination with spring onions and meaty sri lanka crabs is quite scrumptious. Rai ordered the frog legs in herbal broth which was surprisingly good (albeit the broth was a bit too salty) and it is a nice contrast to the pepper crabs. The chili crab is quite different from Jumbo or Red House - it has more curry powder and not much egg white (if at all). The man tou is bite-sized and has a thin crispy skin but soft on the inside - combines well with the chili/curry taste of the sauce.

Despite the hot and humid evening (or perhaps it was me, having just arrived from London), the evening was really enjoyable and there was an acapella group performing on the edge of the waterfront of the Esplanade. Kieran loved the performance. I didn't put him off when i sang along to the acapella rendition of a Janet Jackson song (forget the name of the song - old age...!)

If you like the crab roe, then the white pepper and spring onion is a perfect recipe to enhance the flavor of crab roe. Choose a fairly large crab (1.5kg at least) with lots of roe and ask them not to overcook it.

At the branch in Geylang, you are able to choose your own crab. We went to the Geylang branch with my mum and dad on the weds after. The crabs were huge! We ordered a male crab for the chili style (2kg) and a female crab with lots of roe for the white pepper style. The chili sauce was spicy, tangy and had lots of curry flavor. My mum and dad loved it. We had our friends William and Paul join us for dinner. Unfortunately, i didn't take photos of the dishes we had so you will have to try yourself! Oddly enough, the restaurant was fairly empty even though we arrived at 6.30pm. By the time we finished at 9pm, the place was still not full. Sign of the current credit crunch condition or just a slow Weds night? I would like to think the latter. From what I can see in Singapore, the food places are still doing a reasonable trade despite the credit crisis.

I must eat more crabs while I am in Singapore. Must have. Simply forget about crabs in London, Europe or USA. For me, the pepper crab sauce at Eng Seng in Joo Chiat is simply the best. The sauce is the right consistency and texture to coat the crabs and get into the crevices. The peppery taste is distinct and the sauce has the right combination of sweetness, heat and not too much corn starch. By contrast, the pepper sauces used at Jumbo and Red House is overdone with corn starch. But I don't want to queue or sit in the coffee shop, sweating and eating. I will have to find someone who lives locally near Joo Chiat and persuade them to host dinner and takeaway from Eng Seng.... Will I be able to do it? watch this space

Sugimoto - best kept secret in Kiara Rd

shhh...please keep it a secret ok? my favorite japanese sushi and sashimi restaurant is Sugimoto in Kiara Rd (i will be vague on purpose)

it is so good, i did not take any photos of what i ate on friday night

hamachi was really fresh, salmon and scallops too, ootoro was marbled and light as a feather, uni sushi was melt in the mouth yummy - i could go on and on but i won't

thanks julian and jennifer for a lovely evening yet again at the best kept secret in kiara

you want to know? hahaha