Curate your tastebuds

Sensual Italian food

2011-08-04T06:27:00.001-07:00

I had a lovely time having my sumptuous repast at gattopardo and it was highly memorable. I had amberjack belly tartare with yuzu sauce, roasted suckling pig pizza with mortadella cheese and divine angel hair pasta with grey mullet bottarga roe and sea urchin!

- Curate Your Tasteb
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Location:Gattopardo

Apom Berkuah

2010-05-26T01:31:00.000-07:00

24 May: Ah... this dish is so rare, it's hardly found at Peranakan restaurants. However, Peramakan at Keppel Club serves up this well-forgotten dish. It is basically steamed flour pancakes made with coconut that's dipped into a rich, creamy banana sauce. The blue streaks on the pancakes come from the natural blue dye of the Bunga Telang (a wild, crepper plant with blue flowers). Yummy!

Babi Pong Tay

2010-05-26T01:19:00.000-07:00

24 May: Babi Pong Tay. Have you tried it? It's a defacto dish of discerning Peranakan cuisine. Ladies of yore would slave to create this dish. The taste test would be performed by their insufferable mothers or mother-in-laws, who would critique the dish Nazi-style. Essentially, Babi Pong Tay served at Peramakan offers leaner cuts of pork with sliced bamboo shoots and Chinese mushrooms in a gravy made from fermented soya beans. Garnished with crunchy, green chillies, a bite of this sends you on cloud nine.

Peramakan Restaurant

2010-05-26T01:11:00.000-07:00

24 May: A client brought me to this relatively obscure restaurant dishing out delectable Peranakan cuisine. He claims the chef and owner cooks with a good heart and is honest about preparation and flavours. Located at Keppel Club, I was startled to see waiters attending to a buzzing lunch crowd as I entered Peramakan Restaurant. Here, the food is wholesome, replete with ingredients that can make any bona fide Peranakan nod with approval. Case in point: the Ayam Buah Keluak - a heady, flavourful creation brimming with earthy, nutty flavour thanks to the 'buah keluak'. Stewed in special spices and cooked with chicken parts, it makes for an indulgent lunch.

Prawns to-die-for!

2010-05-26T01:06:00.000-07:00

22 May: So you thought you can handle chilli? Si Chuan Dou Hua's peppery, chill-based creation with plump, deep-fried, de-veined prawns is so blindingly potent, it should be approached with caution. Chilli-lovers will relish this tasty dish that's good to the last mouthful. The fresh, green peppercorns and a medley of potent, capaicin-packed ingredients are sure to get you coming back for more! Two thumbs up!

Blazing hot

2010-05-26T01:00:00.000-07:00

22 May 2010: Si Chuan Dou Hua located at Plaza Hotel along Beach Road will reward chilli-junkies with a meal that stings their taste buds while providing oodles of flavour. Case in point: the chilled chicken with "Ma La" sauce, literally translated to "Ma" (numb) and "La" (hot/spicy). This textural wonder filled with lovely chilli bits, seasame seeds, zuchini and tender, chilled chicken is the perfect foil for the sensational, toe-curling "Ma La" sauce. Yum!

Divine chempadak

2009-07-13T03:56:00.000-07:00

The innocuous, almost cognac-y smell of the chempadak can literally send some people fleeing. Its smell has been described as rotten feet, or even fart. While I'm opposed to eating — another foul-smelling fruit, the durian — I, however, devour the chempadak passionately like dogs to bacon. Here is a bundle that cost me $9 from Pasir Ris market, a princely sum for some but the jewels inside are enough to heighten my senses and get me excited in every way — taste, sense and smell. Just cutting this fruit will permeate the room with a divine fragrance that makes me toe-curl with pleasure. I have them fresh or pack them in boxes for refrigeration and later transform them into chempadak ice-cream, which is another equally delectable dessert that is sheer ambrosia!

Home cooked Beef Kway Teow

2009-07-13T03:42:00.000-07:00

12 July - It was a Sunday evening filled with friendship, laughter and good food. I volunteered to cook one of my favourite noodles — stir-fried beef kway teow — at my friend's place. I truly believe in a deliriously savoury marinade that brims with the goodness of tao see (fermented black beans), oyster sauce, dash of white pepper, dash of sesame oil, diced bird's eye red chilli, 1 clove crushed garlic. It's this combination that gives the beef a real kick. Trump the meal with luscious leaves of baby chye sim and let the stock simmer to cook the ingredients. The end result is a meal fit for a king... indulgent, brothy, sumptuous and lip-smacking.

Mouth-watering Deal!

2009-05-21T02:15:00.001-07:00

At Chinatown Plaza, Mouth Restaurant's $49.60 1-for-1 deal lured me in. Its five-course set lunch was hearty and satiating. If you don't have the time to dissect and analyse the a la carte menu, this set lunch offer will come in handy. I like the deep-fried chicken cutlets paired with a tangy, Asian sauce. It had small cubes of mango served with a sweet-sour sauce, complemented by a small swathe of lettuce and garnishing. The crunchy deep-fried skin revealed a succulent, tasty, well-seasoned meat inside. Totally scrumptious!

Don't Duck this Duck!

2009-05-19T00:34:00.000-07:00

Braised duck rice — there are the bad ones and the good ones that make you sit up. A plate of such ambrosia can be found at Zion Road hawker centre. The meat is succulent and tender and with the right balance of spices. Braised duck needs to be steeped and cooked well in its dark soya sauce seasoning and complementing condiments. It requires effort and uncanny approach to getting the seasoning balanced. Why the uncanny approach? It's like asking mom about Chinese cooking — one can never be too precise with quantities, it's a 'feeling' kind of thing, it's more than suspicious guesstimates. And bakers from the old days will let you know that they can't tell you when kneaded bread will pull away from the bowl, it's a 'feeling' kind of thing. You just know it, and it comes from years of experience. So back to my braised duck, this dish deserves seconds. The rice is fragrant and the chilli paste blends well with the poultry. Of course, I ordered boiled egg and intestines. Visceral goodness never tasted so divine! Top off the dish with the hearty soup — a herbal-y invigorating broth — and you'll have a meal you should never duck!

Tasty Venison

2009-05-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

Paramount Hotel's a la carte buffet still lures in the crowds, but sad to say, its standard has dipped. I'm disappointed. My biggest rant is NEVER to sit in the rooms at the ground level. It is a popular venue for big families and when the karaoke kicks in, I swear you wish you had an AK47. Never mind if the family croons like larks, it's the volume level that marrs the meal — it's utterly jarring. My fateful day had to be 17 May when we celebrated my dad's 77th birthday. Everything went fine until the karaoke session kicked in. There were family members who sang like they were moaning, and pleading to be shot point blank. It made you want to scratch the paint of the walls. I was on the verge of bursting my jugular vein. It was nerve-wrecking, it was ridiculously loud. Luckily, we booked a room and the closed door was our saviour! Some dishes also became our respite, case in point: the scrumptious venison with spring onions. The crunchy spring onions became the perfect foil for the tender, savoury, slivers of venison that literally slithered down your throat. Mmm... moments of goodness as the cacophony outside rained down.

Porky Perks

2009-05-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Pig trotters are to some a squeamish dish. To me, it's highly delicious if it's cooked and steeped in good quality soya sauce and the right balance of Chinese spices (cloves, star anise, garlic, etc), then paired with fluffy, steamed rice and red cut chilli with dark soya sauce. Sounds like bak kut teh, but it's not. This appetiser that I chanced upon comes from Paramount Hotel's a la carte buffet, priced at $33.80++ per person. It is actually sliced pork trotter with jelly fish. The slices are tender and slide easily into the mouth. Combined with the jellyfish and 'sng nee' (a Teochew garlic and vinegar sauce), it makes for an unctuous treat.

Wonton Goodness

2009-05-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

At a point in my life, my eating habits were defined by a good bowl of wonton noodles. I could have the delectable noodles at any time of the day. Even till this day, it's pure comfort food with sheer simplicity. I make a mean one too at home, offering lashings of homemade chilli paste, good oyster sauce, good dark soya sauce, irresistible pork lard oil and sesame oil. However, at Kallang Bahru's hawker centre, Sheng Kee cooked food #01-2795, is my bowl of paradise. Its taste is toe-curling heavenly, it's crunch and texture tongue-pampering. The noodles are springy and not too oily. The owner cooks her own char siew and makes her own sauce from scratch. The noodles are complemented by chye sim (a popular Chinese brassica varietal) and homemade wontons that are packed with fragrant white pepper, sesame oil and good quality light soya sauce. The soup is equally divine as it is made from good stock, courtesy of Teochew 'ti poe' (or dried flounder/sole fish). A $3 bowl isn't enough for me, I need more, I crave for it at times, and I can crave for it so greatly that I'll brave all cataclysmic events if it was the end of the world and wonton noodles had to be my last supper. Be warned — lunch draws a crowd and don't forget to try the shredded chicken noodles with stewed mushroom, now that's another story altogether! Just writing this makes me want to head down to Sheng Kee.

Food Republic

2009-05-16T07:06:00.001-07:00

Food courts - I give them the wide berth
My good friends know that I hate food courts. Nevermind if they are clean, have air-con and modern amenities. I'll stick to my principle of avoiding food courts simply because they make a killing for a living. I don't blame the hawkers because the rental is high. But the repercussion leads to hawkers cutting corners and using poor quality ingredients and shortened cooking techniques. It disenchants and disgusts foodies everywhere. Such hawkers jettison the sincerity of preparing good food. My biggest rant is the measly-portioned dishes with eye-popping price tags. Worse of all, they don't taste like the original. These so-called traditional hawker dishes will make my grandmother churn in her grave. For example, a $4.50 bowl of beef noodles at Food Republic is all noodles with 7 thin slivers of beef! Sorry guys, you can't fool me. I'd rather head to my favourite hawker centres at Whampoa, Balestier, Toa Payoh, East Coast Park, Bukit Timah, and more. You won't have my money! Adios.

Squid Ink Pasta

2009-05-15T22:59:00.001-07:00

Scrumptious squid ink pasta
16 May - I decided to cook a dish for mom and dad. Lunch food was on my mind and squid ink pasta was the first dish I thought of. The recipe is pretty simple: you'll need fresh tomatoes roughly chopped, Italian dried herbs, crushed black pepper, three small chillies, chopped garlic, olive oil and sea salt. I use 'Fleur de sel' or aptly called harvested sea salt. It packs a punch and is more elegant in taste than the synthetic salt (ugh!). You'll need about 5 tablespoons of olive oil into a hot pan, stir-fry the garlic, chillies, black pepper and Italian herbs for about 1 minute till fragrant. Then add in the roughly chopped tomatoes (around 4 plump, ripe ones if you're cooking for 2 persons). Next, add in the squid, deshelled prawns and clams. Cook on high heat for about 2 minutes and let it simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes. Once done, take it off the hob. Of course, you'll have to cook your squid ink pasta slightly ahead. Next, plate the pasta and add the pasta ingredient sauce and stir well. Add fresh sweet basil and garnish. Viola! Simply heart-warming.

Don't judge food, if you don't know how to cook!!!

2009-05-15T18:36:00.001-07:00

The vitriolic food critique
We've read their columns, it's humorous and engaging, but sometimes borders on a lack of knowledge. It's easy to criticize about food, but do you actually know the entire process churning out the dish? While it's easy to spot balance of flavours, texture and taste, it's harder to judge the cooking technique. Some people have the audacity to say a sorbet is too sour, but it's a lime sorbet for crying out loud! Certain dishes are characterised by a stronger slant to a specific taste. Say, chinchalok (the preserved krill with cognac, rice and salt), is uniquely salty but offers a hint of the ocean. One has to pair this prawn relish with sublime foods such as boiled three-layer pork, fried tau kua (beancurd) or crunchy cucumber slices. I have been wrong as a foodie too. At one time, I told an Indian friend that her bittergourd stir-fried with garlic, chillies, small prawns and spices, was a bitter pill to swallow (pun intended!). But that's how it is served to the Indians. Its most distinctive top note is the bitterness, followed by the spiciness. It's sheer enjoyment paired with steamed, fluffy rice.

A Gargantuan Steak

2009-05-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

Don't bite more than you can chew
That adage holds true. In this instance, it was tackling a mean, huge steak served at the Milan Furniture Fair 2009. It costs 25 euros but it was worth every mouthful. As you can see, it is a thick cut but the meat was superbly tender. Paired with the pan-fried, slightly crispy baby potatoes and rocket leaves, it was a meal worth its size and quality. The beef was marinated very simply with pepper and salt, and that's it! Nonetheless, it took me 25 minutes to finish this meal.

Idyllic Living

2009-05-15T18:01:00.001-07:00

This is Turi Beach (www.turibeach.com)
Infinity pools, seaside gazebos, coconut trees, bananaboat rides, pier walks, BBQ dinners by the sea, clean and contemporary rooms kitted with aircon, minibar, TV, massage service, kidney-shape pool with sunken bar in the older wing, sunshine all around, half hour boat ride from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal... need I say more? :)

Turi Beach's Nasi Goreng

2009-05-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

Return to wholesomeness

I love Indonesian food - its variety, its array of ingredients, its spiciness, and the way it's served rustically. It was a Saturday at Turi Beach resort (www.turibeach.com). Just me and my BFC (Best Friend Colleague) tucking into wholesome Indonesian Nasi Goreng. This version is utterly sinful, but you only live once! You just gotta try it! The rice was fluffy and fragrant with just the right touch of spiciness. The wonderfully marinated meat balls were deep fried, with each bite an explosion of savoury goodness. The dish is complemented by a sunny side-up egg, two sticks of grilled satay, deep fried chicken and crunchy garnishing (carrots and cucumber). It's all put together and laid on a banana leaf and then placed on a dish. The rice is fragrant and slightly spicy -- a perfect lunch to awaken your tastebuds! For about S$13, it's worth it.

Iconic Laksa - Mom's recipe

2009-05-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

Seductively Rustic!
It was a Saturday. Mom decided to cook traditional Peranakan Laksa - the one with NO cockles, NO gross chicken meat, NO gross boiled egg. This is truly an iconic, if not, classic dish pertaining to the Peranakans. Mom's version, which is unadultered, consists of thick bee hoon, cucumber curls, fish cake cut in thin strips, lots of beansprouts and lovely boiled prawns. The basis of the 'rempah' is a combination of a few gingers, tumeric powder, candle nuts, belachan, hae bee (dried shrimp), and coconut milk. The end result is a silky, smooth, wonderfully indulgent dish that never lets me down. One can actually taste the different gingers imparting their sublime aromas. The crunch of the beansprouts and cucumber curls add divine texture to each mouthful. It's insane, it's simple, it's my kind of Saturday lunch at home.