Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Appetizer Exploration ::: Coca-Cola Simmered Drumlets

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*Coca-Cola Drumlets

Prep work to remove little fats and most important is to remove blood.
1 Big Bowl of Filtered Water
350g Drumlets
Take the Filtered Water to a Boil then blench the Drumlets for 2-3mins. Drain well.

Gather the following ingredients:::
1 tablespoon of Cooking Oil
Blenched Drumlets
1/4 inch thick x 1 inch wide Chopped Ginger
1 Cloves of Chopped Garlic
200ml of Coca-Cola
3/4 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
3/4 tablespoon Dark Soy Sauce
5 Dash of White Pepper

It’s Cooking Time!

Heat the Cooking Oil in a Pan. Saute The Chopped Ginger & Chopped Garlic until fragrant. Add in Drumlets and sauté until like lightly brown. Pour in Coca-Cola, Light Soy Sauce, Dark Soy Sauce, Dash the White Pepper. Bring it to a boil and continue to simmer it until the Drumblets are carmeralized, it will take about 30mins to 45mins. Remember to frequently turn the Drumlets over to have a more balance flavored & carmeralized Drumlets.

I continue simmering until the sauce in the pan was extremely thick and about to burn then turn off the fire and dish out to serve. The sauce in the Pot can be poured on the arranged nicely drumlets for more flavor.

Remember that Coca-cola has a lot of sugar in it so Do Not add any Sugar.

Results: Addictive flavorful sweet carmeralized Drumlets best to serve at parties, football match snacks, dinner…

Enjoy!

Click here for our blog page Cooking Classes for more recipes. Hope you will be inspired~

Monday, August 22, 2011

Unlimited seafood ala-carte lunch from SGD23.80 - abalone included!

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Unlimited, all you can eat seafood, poultry and beef. Choose from 40 dishes and keep ordering until your stomach bursts, and all from SGD23.80. Sound too good to be true?

We thought so too, so we decided to go try it out! It's at the Seafood International Market & Restaurant over at Big Splash over at the East Coast Park. There are a total of 40 dishes on offer and it's on an unlimited ala-carte style - i.e., your portions are only cooked after you place your order. We only managed to try 13 dishes before our stomachs gave way though ... here are the pictures!









Conclusions? The food is overall, just "okay." None of the dishes we tried were particularly delicious or outstanding ... so it's pretty standard for a buffet - quantity over quality! It's still definitely worth a trip once in a while, though, if for nothing else than to quaff cheap sharks fin, scallops, prawns and abalone! Shark fin could be 'vegetarian' version though ... if you know what I mean ;)

Side note: Of the forty dishes, 12 of them can only be ordered once per table. Check out the full list of dishes available on their PDF menu/brochure:


Lunch is SGD23.80 on weekdays and SGD25.80 on weekends. Probably easiest to just take a taxi here as there's very limited bus service.

Sandwiches Exploration ::: Cheddar Cheese Toast

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Yums……………this is for those who are crazy over CHEESE!!!!!!!!! Like me…!?!?

*Cheddar Cheese Toast 1

All you need is
2 slice of White Toast to make each sandwich
Cheddar “flakes”.
Butter

Step 1: Heat Non-stick Pan to Low heat.
Step 2: Melt Butter.
Step 3: Toast in 2 slice of white bread for 30seconds to heat the bread.
Step 4: Turn 1 around only and generously put the Cheddar “flakes” in the middle and spread them around slightly so you can bite cheddar in every bites of this toast.
Step 5: Place the other toasted side of the other slice of white bread on top of the Cheddar “flakes”. This is so the heat will melt the Cheese…. Yumss…. Almost there!
Step 6: Melt a little more butter on the empty side of the pan, then flip to toast the untoasted side. Sprinkle some cheddar on top, for the crisps. Turn it over and continue letting it toast for 1min. Sprinkle some Cheddar flakes while waiting.
Step 7: Flip over and toast for another 1min.
Step 8: Sliced the sandwich in triangle half shape & serve hot.

I particularly love this sandwich… will share more of the crazy cheese toast and other sandwiches I made when I was a kid with all of you some day.

For now explore our Recipe Page Tabs for easier search for recipe! Don’t need to worry how the dish will look like there are mini thumbnails placed there for you, with the Recipe Name to see and click which will directly brings you to our blog post.

Have fun….

*Cheddar Cheese Toast 2

Click here for our blog page Breakfast, Desserts, & Snacks Ideas for more recipes. Hope you will be inspired~

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Experience life as a "prisoner" in the Fremantle Prison!

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Our next blogpost is up on the IMasTravel and Yahoo! website! Join us as we share our experiences touring the Fremantle Prison in Perth!



Monday, August 15, 2011

Sublime desserts til 2am ... at the 2am Dessert Bar (Holland V)!

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Show me a man who doesn't enjoy desserts, and you show me a man who doesn't enjoy life. I made that up, I think. Honestly though I haven't met anyone who doesn't like desserts. Yes, we all have different preferences in dessert - some of us like it hot, some sweet, some savory. My theory is that they appeal to the little kid inside of us - you know, back 20 or 30 years ago when desserts were the 'reward' for finishing your vegetables.

So when the darling found out about this dessert place serving only desserts, wah, of course must try! The joint is called 2 am Dessert Bar (they open til 2am), it's at Holland V, and is the brainchild of Chef Janice Wong. Who's got an impressive resume. The restaurant is very dim and cozy and perfect for a pak toh session. Just remember to call ahead to make reservations for the couch so you can cuddle :)

Anyways, we start with sharing a Hot Chocolate (SGD10.00) with home-made churros. Churros are kind of a light fluffy sugared Spanish donut. Hot chocolate was nice, thick and creamy, although it might be a bit of an acquired taste for some.


No such qualms for the Twix (peanut crumble, caramel mousse, chocolate ice cream, SGD16.00) which is a perfect blend of textures and tastes. Heavenly!


I'd also use the same word to describe the Tiramisu (SGD16.00) which comes with kahlua jelly and expresso ice cream, had just the right sogginess level. Adding on the kahlua makes it even better, although sadly it does also make it non-halal.


Overall, very, very nice place to come chill out and chat after dinner. Prices are somewhat high and yet reasonable - after all the desserts are fine-dining-level stuff. Each one even comes with a suggested wine pairing on the menu!

In Holland V, it's at the end of the road towards the carpark / hawker centre, nestled in a corner on the 2nd floor. They're open 6pm-2am every day except Sunday. Do call ahead at +65 6291 9727 otherwise you don't get the nice comfy sofa and have to sit at the bar instead.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Steaks, Lamb, Burgers and more at Mad Jack Cafe (Bedok)

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Pictures first! Starting with a couple of juices - Complexion Enhancer (guava, orange, cucumber) and Sports Energy Booster (lemon, orange, pineapple, apple) - SGD4.50 each.


MJ Carnivore - SGD21.90 for a trio of chicken, fish, and rib-eye steak with black pepper sauce:


Grilled Lamb (SGD12.90) with brown sauce, also available with black pepper sauce:


The most confusing thing about Mad Jack Cafe is the amount of people eating there. The restaurant had easily 20-30 tables occupied when we were there. Confusing, because the food was bad. Juices were very diluted and might as well have been 'flavored water.' Despite ordering 'medium,' our steak and lamb came very, very well done. As in the entire slabs of meat were grey and dry, and hence also tough and tasteless. Service is rather non-existent (they make you order at the counter, semi fast-food style) and the place is loud and noisy.

So why do so many people come here? Maybe the burgers are good. Or the pasta (which we didn't try). In any case though, this one meal was enough for us to actually feel cheated, so we'll never come back.

Mad Jack has five locations throughout Singapore - Bukit Timah, Jalan Kayu, Simpang Bedok, White Sands and nex. Check out their website for the full addresses.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Noodles Exploration ::: Dry Tossed Wan Ton Mee with Shredded Chicken 鸡丝乾撈雲吞麵

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I remember way back a few post ago, while sharing my other recipe of Chicken Filled Dumplings... I promised that I would share this recipe! I mean long long ago approx 1 month ago... **sorry**

Chicken Wan Ton Mee

Ingredients:::
Blenched Baby Bok Choy 小白菜
Shredded Chicken
1 ball Hong Kong Egg Noodles
3 bowls of Filtered Water

Mix this up as Sauce for the Wan Ton Mee!
1.5 tablespoon of Shallot Oil
1.5 tablespoon of Chicken Oil or Pork Oil
1.5 tablespoon of Light Soy Sauce
1.5 tablespoon of Caramel Sauce
1 tablespoon of Oyster Sauce
1 teasoiin of Castor Sugar
dash of White Pepper

Bring the filter water to a boil & cook the egg noodles in a pot for 15secs. Here is the tricky part, where I learnt from my chef sifu back in my Melbourne waitress days. The noodles cannot be over cooked, 10-15secs depending on your egg noodles. Immediately after that rinse in a post of cold water to have the egg noodles left springy. It's not done yet! Put it back in the boiling water again for another 10-15secs.

Drain and mix well with the Wan Ton Mee Sauce as above! Toss it till it's even out. Dish it on a plate, place the blenched Baby Bak Choy then Shredded Chicken. Sprinkle some Spring Onion to make it look pretty & serve

This is one person's serving, multiply if you're doing for more!


Sides to match with this!
Steamboat Project
Pork Filled Dumplings / 水餃 / Shuigao
Deep Fried Shuigao
Deep-Fried Dumplings / 水餃 / Shuigao
Chicken Filled Dumplings - 5
Chicken Filled Dumplings / 水餃 / Shuigao
*Blanch Baby Bok Choy 小白菜
Crispy Baby Bok Choy 小白菜 with Fried Onions


Click here for our blog page Cooking Classes for more recipes. Hope you will be inspired~


Wednesday, August 10, 2011

A night to remember (forever) at the French Kitchen by Jean-Charles Dubois

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In all my 30-odd years of life, I've never had a French meal. Probably because the price of a proper French place in Kay-El is prohibitively expensive. The relative strength of the SGD means that eating out (and eating fancy) is within grasp though, so that's how we find ourselves seated at The French Kitchen by Jean-Charles Dubois.

Prices are, in my opinion, very reasonable. Perhaps because there is no à la carte menu - you have a choice of three five-course dinner menus. The darling goes for the Degustation Menu (SGD88), and I go for the Traditional Dubois Degustation Menu (SGD78). Having taken our orders, the waiter skips off to the kitchen and brings a selection of bread with butter and salmon spread.


(For sake of brevity, I'll always put the course for the Traditional Dubois Degustation Menu first).

My first course is introduced by the waiter as the amuse bouche. But the waiter is mistaken; a dish that's on the menu doesn't qualify as an amuse bouche. Nevertheless, this pre-starter of an Organic hen's egg en cocotte with truffles and cauliflower coulis was delicious. Perfectly fluffy and light egg went remarkably well with the crispiness and saltiness of the cheese 'cracker.'


The darling's pre-starter was sort of like crab wrapped in a light pasta. You'll notice that this isn't the proper name of the dish - we sort of forgot to take down the name of the dish from the menu. Oops!


No such problems with the Traditional lobster bisque with tiger prawn beignet and leek custard, which is every bit as delicious as it sounds. Perfectly balanced frothy lobster bisque that went well with the fresh tiger prawn beignet (sort of like a tempura). The subtle flavors of the leek custard also provided an excellent riposte to the saltiness of the soup.

Did you understand the above paragraph? Cos I didn't. Was just attempting to put on an FPF (Fake Pretentious Foodie) mask, ha ha! In all seriousness though, the lobster bisque was awesome!


The Degustation menu normally has fresh oysters for its' starter, but seeing as neither of us eat oyster, we both had the bisque.

Moving on, to cleanse the palate, is the third course of Lychee granite, which is basically frozen grated lychees.


For the main course, I had a kurobuta pork rib with rocket salad, potatoes and eggplant caviar. I love kurobuta pork in general, and I love this pork rib even more! Juicy and delicious, with a finger-licking-good sauce. I cleared the entire plate, and would have even licked it clean if we were in a hawker centre instead of a classy restaurant :)


The darling's Pan seared Atlantic sea scallop with glazed organic spaghetti and summer truffle was equally delicious. Scallops were huge and fresh ... although they did taste like they might have been frozen instead of fresh. And needless to say, truffle goes well with anything!


And for the last course of the night - the desserts! I had the Traditional Dubois warm chocolate fondant with caramelized banana ice-cream ...


... and the darling had the Gratinated champagne sabayon with pear marmalade. Looks pretty delicious, doesn't it?


But WAIT, there's something in the dessert that looks out of place! Pushing aside the crackers reveals something hard and inedible and that most definitely doesn't belong in any food creation!


:)

She said Yes - Yay!!

The downside, however, was that the ice creams for both desserts had completely melted by the time we started on the desserts, so they were perhaps a little bit underwhelming. OH, and did I mention we were the only table in the entire restaurant - cos I booked the entire place! Romantic leh!


(OK I lied ... we were the only table there by co-incidence)

Overall, a perfect end to an almost-perfect dinner. Food was great, ambience was great. About the only sore point I had was that the waiters were ... untrained. They were friendly and certainly tried their best, but their lack of knowledge of the items on the menu and overall 'fine-dining' waitressing was pretty obvious. Having said that though, I'll gladly overlook imperfect service for reasonable prices.

The restaurant also does suffer somewhat from having a rather poor location. It's located in Central Mall, which is very near to but not to be confused with The Central, which is that big mall right above the Clarke Quay MRT station. I found that out the hard way, took half an hour to find the place.


The third dinner choice available is the Menu du Jour for $68. Do give Jean-Charles a call at +65 6438 1823 to make reservations and to check on the restaurant's opening and closing days!

Jaywalking in Perth - Our post on the IMasTravel and Yahoo! Travel page!

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If you were to ask all your mates about Perth, some of them might tell you: "Perth is boring."

You should ignore them.

You should also click here to go to our first post about jaywalking in the city of Perth on the IMasTravel in conjunction with Yahoo! Travel!


Let us know what you think of the story!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Blanching Exploration ::: Crispy Baby Bok Choy 小白菜 with Fried Onions

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*Blanch Baby Bok Choy 小白菜

Crispy Baby Bok Choy 小白菜 with Fried Onions Recipe
Ingredients:::
2 handful of Baby Bok Choy 小白菜
1 of tablespoons of Oyster Sauce
3 tablespoons of Onion Oil
1 tablespoon of Fried Onions
Dash of Garlic Powder
Filter Water
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of cooking oil

1. Wash the Baby Bok Choy and soak it in filtered water for 15mins. As taught by elders this is to freshen up the vegetables.
2. Boil half a pot of Filter Water. Add in Salt & Cooking Oil.
3. Put in the Baby Bok Choy and let it blanch till it all turns bright green then should be immediately scoop it out and drain.
4. It can be immediately placed in a dishing plate, add Oyster Sauce and Onion Oil to mix well add more according to your taste buds.
5. Sprinkle all the Fried Onions on top and dash some magic powder...(Garlic Powder)! It's ready to be serve!

It's very similar to this Blanching that i done previously.
The magical Fried Onions & Onion Oil it's in this post too!
Blanch You Mak with Fried Onions
Blanch You Mak with Fried Onions
& probably this can also match with this recipe.
Bak Kut Teh
Check out here for the Bak Kut Teh Recipe!

Click here for our blog page Cooking Classes for more recipes. Hope you will be inspired~

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Awesome Buffet Spread at Atrium, Intercontinental Perth Burswood

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Oh wow it's been almost three weeks since we posted our last food review. Three weeks! That's probably something like a full year in blog age. Better late than never though! During our trip to Perth we visited the Burswood Entertainment Complex, which has a casino, stadium, theatre, and almost a dozen restaurants, including an awesome buffet place named Atrium!


Atrium is located in the InterContinental Perth Burswood Hotel. The seating area is wide, spacious and airy, and the restaurant has got a very modern, chic decor.


For the kaki botol's among you, there's a fully loaded bar to satisfy all your alcohol needs. Naturally these drinks aren't included in the buffet price, though.


Onwards to the most important stuff, though - the food! There's a selection of smoked salmon and cod and some pre-mixed salad/pasta-type dishes, and you can also mix up your own caesar salad with as much cheese, bacon bits, and anchovies as your heart desires.


If you're more of a seafood lover, I imagine you'd head directly over to the seafood bar and help yourself to as much shrimp/prawns, oysters, and crabs as you can stomach.


There are two separate hot dishes spreads. The first 'Western'-style area has some pretty good Beef Stroganoff, among other dishes. There's also a pasta station (that we didn't try), and some roasted meats - pork, chicken and roast beef.


The 'Asian'-style spread mixes a few Indian curries and Chinese dishes - including Peking Duck!


Having eaten our quota of food, we turn our attention to the huge variety of delicious-looking desserts on offer!



My favorite was this ... cake. Mounds of ice cream loaded with tons of toppings like M&Ms, various nuts and berries, and finished off with a generous amount of chocolate sauce - yummy!


Overall we end up pretty satisfied! Dinner for AUD59 nett per person was, in our opinion, reasonable for a spread of this quality and quantity. Typical of most buffets the dishes are solid but not outstanding - perfect if you're in the mood for trying lots of variety.