BYOF at the Straits Wine Company (East Coast)

I love the east. I've lived in Katong, Siglap, and now Mountbatten.. It's the best area on the island, I swear - this Katong kia stands her ground!

I also love wine. (Shocker?)

So when I found out that this non-descript wine shop along East Coast Road has a second floor dining/chilling/lazing area and that we can (i) buy a bottle of wine at retail price; (ii) lounge on the nice sofas to drink the wine on-site and (iii) GET THIS - tabao food from any of the food outlets and eat there, I knew I had found a new favourite hangout.

That location is superb for BYOF-ing! There's tze char from my eat-since-young Sin Hoi Shan restaurant and Boon Tong Kee just across the road, this Beijing dumpling place down the road and SO MUCH MORE... 

In the end, we settled (no pain in that) for tze char and a lovely bottle of $60 burgundy white (I don't remember because I was too happy drinking).

I can totally see myself returning here again - hmm need to do some homework on what wine goes with chilli crab *rubs hands in glee*

They have loads of wine magazines for browsing. Impressed with the setup!

I Want to be a Domesticated Goddess (Part 4)

An occasion to cook for my family- my dear Sis' Susan's birthday! Look Ma, I can cook!

I think my mum was very proud of me tonight - it's the first time I've seen her whip out her phone to take a food picture - she took about 4 (?) from all angles :p

My dear nephews love pasta so this time, I attempted making aglio olio. Granted, it's a simple dish but hey, to do it well takes some kungfu ok.. I did intensive research on this one, combined the best of the recipes I found online and tweaked the recipe abit for more omphm.

Yes, I should never open a restaurant because I will be making losses from being  too generous with the prawns. They were fresh and sweet, but it sure wasn't a cheap dinner, this one.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS! I love you for the wonderful (dare I say nurturing) person you are, how you stood by me through my "wildchild" years, gave me a roof over my head when I first moved back home... You are the perfect sister and I will always cherish our bond.

*Sniff*

Ok, enough public display of affection. Here's the recipe:

Serves 5

Spicy shrimp:
1 kg jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 teaspoon crushed chili padi
4 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled
Coarse salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Aglio Olio:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 (100g) tin anchovy fillets
6 to 8 large cloves garlic, crushed and minced
2 teaspoon crushed chili padi
1/4 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley, a couple of handfuls
Coarse salt
500ml spaghetti, cooked to al dente

Combine shrimp with next 6 ingredients and toss to coat shrimp evenly. Heat a large, nonstick skillet over medium high heat, then add half of the shrimp. Cook shrimp 3 minutes until pink and just firm. Remove shrimp to a warm platter and repeat process with remaining shrimp.

Return pan to heat and reduce heat to medium low. Add 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil. Add anchovies, garlic, and pepper flakes to oil. Break up anchovies with a wooden spoon until they melt away into the oil and garlic mixture.

Cook spaghetti and toss in the pan with parsley and the garlic oil, then season with a little coarse salt, to your taste. Top servings of garlic and oil spaghetti with spicy shrimp.

Tim Ho Wan (HK IFC Mall)

Tim Ho Wan in Mongkok, HK, is THE cheapest 1-star michelin "restaurant" - if you can call the hole in the wall that - in the world. I have been to HK at least 20 times (yes, my 3rd home, after Singapore and Shanghai) and I am ashamed  to say I have never tried it.

I hate to queue.  Not very Singaporean, I know.

When they opened up a new outlet at IFC Mall, I was thrilled. Yay, I don't even need to travel to the "other" Kowloon side. But I was worried. Would "going commercial", so to speak, compromise the quality of the food? Surely the standards at this new outlet would fall short of the famed Mongkok outlet's?

I don't know how good the Mongkok outlet's food is but OMG the dim sum I had at the IFC outlet was damm freaking good lah. I still dream of the crispy char siew bao....*drools* Best bao I have ever had. Period. This goes on my "10 things I ate before I died" list.

The Sticky rice and chicken in lotus leaf was a winner too. I have had many lotus leaf wrapped rice before but this lotus leaf was so fragrant it surprised me. It went perfectly with the tender chicken and moist mushrooms embedded in the precious package.

The har kow was one of  the best I've had - the "skin" thinness was perfect and that was some explosion of shrimp flavour! The siew mai was a bit too starchy and  floury for my liking, we finished it anyway... and ordered more har kow!

Burp..

Super full.. For the record, we had this "tea-time snack" at 4pm, after a heavy lunch. 

It was sooooooo cheap we were tempted to order more. Check out the bill. Tell me now, who needs Maxim's and Fook Lam Moon (ok, only for the suckling pig) when you have this fantastic dim sum outlet just below the airport express station? I am so coming back for more more more!
  

Little Cravings (112 Katong)

When craving, indulge!

We were stuffed from Mother's Day lunch at Canton Paradise (which, for the record, has this century egg with wasabi mayo dim sum that's outta this world) but craving something sweet. We chanced upon Little Cravings, this small brightly lit cafe which serves kopi and nonya desserts, and decided to check it out. 

They serve nian gao! Yes, Chinese New Year came early!

I absolutely adore fried nian gao. It's super unhealthy I know but I'd hit the gym more often just to get my fix. Little cravings serves two versions: the normal fried ones my mum makes every CNY, as well as this "special" fried nian gao in popiah skin. Ever the greedy one, I proclaim to my Sis: "Let's order both!"

Very well-fried. I personally preferred the traditional version, though the crunch of the popiah skin was nice. The cafe also serves up some savoury dishes such as nonya curry and nasi lemak but we didn't try those. B also ordered the ice kachang drenched in gula melaka with mango (or you can choose avocado or durian). Not Jonker walk standard but good enough, I suppose. 

A great find in the east. Oooh that fried nian gao!

Marmalade Pantry

It's been a while since I had an "eggy" weekend brunch (we've been prowling the hawker centres a bit) and what better occasion to indulge in a leisurely chi-chi brunch than with my girlfriends Dee, Bev and Sue. It's nice to have an occasion to wear a new dress *grin*

Marmalade Pantry's been around a long time and shame on me for never checking it out. The not-so-new location at Ion is nice - open, perfect for people watching and gossiping the afternoon away.

I've read a lot of glowing reviews about the crabmeat linguine pasta and had high expectations. Dangerous. Luckily, the dish did not disappoint. I loved it! Lovely spicy tomato based sauce generously loaded with crab meat, perfect al dente pasta and pine nuts for an added crunch factor. Definitely a dish I'll return for.

The sticky date pudding held its own too. I heart the creamy vanilla ice cream - complemented the pudding perfectly. 

It's been a while since I had a girly catch-up with the girls.  Everyone's busy and with Sue in Hanoi and all, it's almost impossible to find a good timing. I'm glad we managed to. Thanks for a lovely afternoon!

I Want to be a Domesticated Goddess (Part 3)

Happy anniversary and another successful culinary experiment! As part of our austerity drive, I suggested cooking for B at home, rather than going out and splurging on a fancy dinner.

"What would you like to have?" I asked. "Vongole", he said.

Erm.. ok, new dish. So in the spirit of Bobby Fray, I went online in (re)search of the "perfect vongole" recipe and tada, this was what I cooked for my darling on this special occasion. Looks good, doesn't it, if I dare (shamelessly) say so myself?

Here's the recipe:

Serves 2

1 kg clams (we used manila clams)

1/2 Onion, Chopped

1.5 Cloves Garlic, Minced

1.5 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1/4 Cup Fish Stock (I couldn’t find clam juice)

1/2 Cup Dry White Wine

1 Cup Cherry Tomatoes

500g Chopped Dry Spicy Italian Sausage

1/4 Cup Chopped Clean Parsley

One Tablespoon Unsalted Butter

Salt & Cracked Black Pepper

1/2 chili padi finely chopped

Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet. Add the onion and sausage. Saute slowly until the sausage begins to brown and caramelize slightly on the surface, cook onion until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes (allow garlic to soften without browning).

Turn heat up slightly and add the fish stock, wine, chili and tomatoes (allow wine to simmer and deglaze the pan) and cook until reduced to about 2 cups. Season with salt and pepper. Add the clams, cover and cook for about 5 minutes or until the clams have opened. Discard any clams that do not open. Add the bits of butter and new parsley and stir well into the mixture.

Serve immediately with pasta.

Birthday at Labrador Seafood

Birthdays are great excuses to pig out and this year, turning 34, was no exception. Sure, there was that voice in the head nagging “watch it, you and your metabolism ain’t no spring chickens no more” but I hushed it. The diet can wait – I shall remain “fabulously tam chiak!” – to quote my friends.

Labrador Park is one of those places I have never been and you definitely need to drive/cab to get there. K had recommended to try Labrador Seafood so there we were, 12 of my “bear” (and extended) family. It was a bit ulu but kinda surreal, almost as if we were not in Singapore. It was a great location on a cool, breezy Friday evening – super chillax.

Many lovely photographs of the night, thanks to an excellent camera-man.

More than a few flushed faces, thanks to a pre-arranged waiver of corkage for our big group.

For starters, we ordered some cold cucumbers, topshell and grilled squid to go with our (copious bottles of ) white wine while waiting for the rest of the food to arrive.

The squid came highly recommended, B was a happy man, he liked the squid and the topshell (another order please, he said). Promising start to the meal!

We held nothing back and ended up ordering a ton of other dishes, mostly recommended by the staff. There was the signature salted egg crab “must-order” – which was very good indeed.

Being greedy, we also ordered the black pepper crab. I’m glad we did, because that was my favorite dish of the night – love the full flavor of black pepper and oh so juicy!

We indulged in garlic scallops and bamboo clams too. Hard to go wrong with  these dishes. I liked the drunken prawns most, if you do order remember  to ask them to add more Chinese wine for that added kick.

For meats, we had the grilled lamb chops. Mmb and Chong loved these, as did my carnivore boyfriend. I thought it was a bit fatty but I have a low threshold for lard – and I suppose it was necessary to give the lamb chops that nice juiciness.

No meal is complete without carbs and the punggol mee goreng hit the spot for many of my friends. I preferred the beef hor fun though – nice wok hei – eat while hot.    

A dish which surprised me was the chilli kang kong. I dare say it’s one of the better ones I’ve had. See, I’m very low maintenance right – give me a plate of well-cooked vegetables and I’m a happy girl! (B: no need to comment).

The restaurant gave us a complimentary platter of fruits, nice touch.

All in all, it was a lovely night. I feel truly blessed to have all my “families” – mum/sis, bears and let’s not forget the Shanghai family come together to celebrate my birthday. And of course, there's you, B..

Big meal with bears, home-cooked meal by Shanghai family, mummy Tan’s indulgent feast, intimate (pricey but super-memorable) Jap omakase with B – here’s to more food adventures this year!

I hope you’ll join me in eating my way through Singapore (and beyond). Thanks for reading.

Long Phung Vietnamese Restaurant

Labor day hols and we set off in search of a late lunch after sleeping off the decadence of the night before. "How about checking out Little Vietnam at Joo Chiat?" I suggested. So off we went, for some authentic Vietnamese fare and if we were lucky, some "action" on the sleazy front. 

Long Phung was packed at 3pm (No surprises, I guess the clientele keeps late night too hehehe). Besides a large proportion of Vietnamese local girls, we noticed a fair number of tables with foreigners too. A tourist attraction in itself? 

Whatever the business model, my oh my the food was fantastic! As a starter, we shared the summer spring rolls - the roll was a bit thick but the accompanying peanut/ chilli/ sweet sauce was absolutely delish. Satisfyingly spicy - tasted even better after we added asome lime juice to give it some zest.

Next came the pho. I had the special beef pho which had an egg cracked in, and B had the rare beef pho. I have to say, this is the best pho I've had in Singapore so far! Fantastic soup base, not too heavy but oh so flavorful. They didn't stinge on the beef either.

Our roving eyes landed on the steamed clams the next table were having. B unbashedly said "I want that too." Good call - the clams were succulent and the broth was fragrant and comforting.

The bill came up to less $30 for the 2 of us, including 2 coconuts and an iced viet coffee. Now, THIS, is what I call excellent value.