Beach Road Prawn Mee: Order your Prawn Mee with no Tau Gay!

Jumbo Prawn Noodle $10

Well, this is the story. Beach Road Prawn Mee was the best Prawn Mee that I knew about before I started on my blogging adventure. But over the last 3 years, as I tasted the other famous prawn mees around, Beach Road Prawn Mee kept being pushed lower and lower down on my top ten list of prawn mees. They are, no doubt, the most famous prawn mee amongst the general public. But ask any of our makan kakis and most will tell you more than a handful of places where you can get a better bowl of prawn noodles.



My last few visits to Beach Road had left me a bit dissappointed. I found that the soup had lost its complexity and tasted like it had lost a few ingredients. Visually it is still very impressive, with huge jumbo prawns adorning the bowl, but it is more style over substance.

On this occasion, I was showing Penang Blogger, CK Lam around and we were at East Coast Road to eat at Geylang Lor 29 Hokkien Mee which I was confident is something that Singapore has that Penang cannot beat. With CK, it is always a competition to see which country's food reign supreme. So since we were in the area, I decided to tell her about Singapore's most famous Prawn Noodle with the caveat that there are still better ones around, so we should not use this as the Singaporean representative to fight with Penang's excellent Hokkien Prawn noodles. Guaranteed to lose since the prawns in Penang are truly exceptional.


Special Tiger Prawn broth - Seasonal

As you would expect, her first reaction to the Jumbo Prawn noodles was an expression of smugness that once again Penang had won. I had to admit defeat because the soup tasted more like the dishwater that the hawkers in Penang use to wash their bowls. (When you have tasted the Hokkien Prawn Noodles in Penang, you would appreciate what I mean. It is full bodied and tastes like the concentrated liquid version of a Prawn Crackers) Ours was like American coffee compared to their expresso.

But then salvation appeared when the owner and boss came and introduced himself to us. When he found out that we were having a Singapore - Penang food competition, he immediately went behind and came out with a bowl of specially prepared Wild Tiger Prawn soup. When CK tasted this one, she immediately said that this is what Hokkein Prawn Mee is supposed to taste like. The soup is very much more concentrated and had that wonderful umami kick that you crave for in a good prawn noodle broth. The owner went on to tell us that we should order our prawn noodles without bean sprouts next time because it is the bean sprouts that dilute the taste of the soup. OK, the first bowl was a 3.5/5, but the special Tiger prawn one is 4.5/5. Next time, I shall remember to tell them not to add bean sprouts.

Conclusion

Beach Road Prawn Mee is part of a triad comprising of three stalls which are run by different family members of the Patriach who started the original Beach Road Prawn Mee. The other two stalls are Joo Chiat Prawn Mee and Jalan Sultan Prawn Mee. Of the three, my favourite is Joo Chiat Prawn Mee. I think Beach Road Prawn Mee is still good, but you only get to taste it at its best if the person you order from can convey your special order to the people cooking your order. When the boss is there to make it, the taste can be quite phenomenal, so the quality of the stock is there. That really goes to show that nothing beats knowing that the hawker you are ordering from is still personally cooking your bowl of noodles.

Check out Penang's Prawn Noodles here.
CK blogs on www.what2seeonline.com

Beach Road Prawn Noodle House
370 East Coast Road
S428981 63457196
8am-4pm daily
Closed on Tuesdays

Please vote ieatishootipost for Best Asian Blog in the Bloggies!

It's a little late in the game, but I just caught wind of the fact that ieatishootipost was nominated for Best Asian Blog at the Bloggies Awards.

The voting closes on the 31 Jan, so you only got 3 days left to vote.

Thanks in advance for your support!

http://2010.bloggies.com/

Private Affairs: Unexpectedly Fine Dining in Joo Chiat

Vine Ripened Tomatoes, Horseradish Meringue, green pumpkin seed oil & Ginger Flower Vinaigrette.

If you are walking along Joo Chiat (Red light district) and happen to come across a place called "Private Affairs", what would be the first thing that comes to your mind?

Yeah, me too!

I don't know if it will turn out to be the most unfortunate name (like the Nissan Bluebird) or very clever marketing, but it might startle you to know that "Private Affairs" is a fine dining restaurant located smack between Four Seasons Durians and Xu Jun Sheng Teochew Porridge with Kim Choo's Bak Chang and 24 hour Mee Pok Tar just across the road.

A very unlikely place to find a fine dining restaurant for sure, but perhaps what is more surprising is how good the food really is.

For those who work and stay in the East, Private Affairs might be just the restaurant you have been waiting for. At least you don't have to go all the way into the city to enjoy a $38 executive set lunch anymore.

If you love tomatoes, you are going to love the first appetizer. When it comes to tomatoes, we have moved beyond the standard tomatoes that mom used to slice to put in our sandwiches. Nowadays, the well trained Singaporean tongue demands more than the generic tomato. We now want Italian tomatoes in our pizza. Italian not enough, they have to be Roma ie Italian plum tomatoes. Still not enough, they have to come from the San Marzano region. Then we got tired of Plum tomatoes, so they gave us Cherry tomatoes. And just Cherry tomatoes are not good enough, they need to be organic and still be attached to the vine. Better still if they were sun ripened on that vine.

OK, you get the picture.

Now get ready for the latest tomato, the caviar tomato. If you have been following the progression, you can see that the boutique tomato is getting smaller and smaller. Now we have "caviar" tomatoes which are really a misnomer (The restaurant calls them caviar tomatoes), they are more the size of blueberries and I think they should be more correctly identified as "tomberries". Whatever the case may be, I am sure the growers are still trying to shrink the tomatoes so that we will eventually get one the size of caviar. Let's just wait and see.

Anyway, this is the first time I came across these tomatoes this tiny and I imagine they must cost quite a bit (very much like bikinis, less material more expensive). Just as well that this is "fine dining" because you only get 3 tomatoes which are carefully cut into half to savour. I can imagine grabbing a couple of these and simply popping them in your mouth, in which case, 3 tomatoes isn't enough to even activate your salivary glands. What can I say except that they were great but not enough. The horseradish meringue was an interesting and unique dressing for the larger cherry tomatoes which is very unique and quite pleasant. 4/5


Duck Carpaccio, Green Granny Smith, Scallion Gel and Duck Consommé jelly

I guess fine dining is designed to force you to actually taste and appreciate the food presented before you. I say that because our next starter, the Duck Carpaccio could easily have been a piece of Roast Duck which you would dispose of together with a mouthful of rice at your favourite hawker stall. But if you did that, you would have failed to appreciate the care that Chef Paul Ng took in marinating the breast of a French Duck for 3 days before slicing it into paper thin slices and presenting it with cubes of jellied duck consomme. The Granny Smith apple and scallion gel gives balance to the very ducky duck flavour which you would love if you are a lover of duck or game in general. 4.25/5


Pan Roasted Barramundi with Spatzle and Romesco puree

Plating a dish is a talent which differentiates the good chefs from those who might win Michelin stars. I was very impressed by Chef Paul's artistic sense. For a photographer like myself, I sometimes get very frustrated taking photos at fine dining establishments because, somehow even though the chef could make great food, the arrangement doesn't make for good photographs even if it looks alright on the plate, which is why they have a special breed of people call "food stylists" who specially arrange the food for food photography. However, the food styling at Private Affairs is very well done and you really should just take some time to admire it before you eat it.


Spice Crusted Chicken with Pureed Baby Kale and Tomato Fondue

You can see from the photos just how beautiful the arrangements are. The Barramundi and chicken were ordered by my friends, but the photo was so compelling that I just had to post them. I took a cursory taste of each, so I can't really fully comment on them, but my two lunch kakis were very suitably impressed.


Wagyu Beef Cheek Parmentier with Smoked Potato Mash and port wine sauce

Me, I was slowly savouring my Wagyu Beef Cheek with Port Wine Sauce which was one of the best things I have eaten this year. Chef Paul tells me that the Wagyu Beef Cheeks have been slowly cooked at 80 degrees for 12 hours before it was shredded, molded and placed in a delightfully sticky and sweet puddle of Port Wine reduction. This one dish really made my day and got me thinking how nice it would have been if Private Affairs were around while I was still doing overnight calls at Changi General Hospital. This could well be something to keep hope alive while you are in the middle of a busy 30 hour shift. 4.75/5


Pumpkin Crepe with Caramelised Banana and black Sesame Ice Cream

The dessert was nice although I couldn't really appreciate the Pumpkin in the pumpkin crepe. But caramelized banana with black sesame ice cream is a great combination and a nice way to end your lunch. 4/5

Conclusion

I usually find it hard to write about fine dining establishments but somehow I could connect with Chef Paul's dishes. I love the way they look and the food has that level of ooomph that makes it worth writing about. The executive set lunch is $38++ for a 3 course and $48++ for four courses. You can add additional courses from their ala carte menu for $9. If you are looking for a place for that special occasion, you might try their dinner degustation menus which start from $98++.

This is a really good restaurant but my concern is that many people might find a disconnect between "Joo Chiat" and "Fine Dining" and subsequently have an impression that the menu is a bit pricey for the location. Tell us what you think!

Special for ieatishootipost readers:

Till the end of Feb, our readers get 10% off set lunches and $30 return vouchers for dinner. I am also in the midst of planning a special makan session soon!

Note: I am thinking of organizing a special degustation session for ieatishootipost readers and would like to see if you all are interested. So do write in and tell me if you are interested and the price range which you will be willing to pay for a slow and lazy Saturday degustation lunch.

Private Affairs
45 Joo Chiat Place
Singapore 427769
+65 64400601
www.privateaffairs.com.sg
You can also call Melanie at 98803269

Which Hokkien Mee is the Best in Singapore? Too Close to Call!

The fight for the Hokkien Mee crown is too close to call. We have 598 votes and Nam Sing (32.1%) is only a chopsticks breadth in front of Geylang Lor 29 (31.1%). The difference of 1% equates to only 6 votes!

OK, so what we need to do is to call for any final votes and then close the polls and work out if we have statistical significance to crown Nam Sing the winner!

So this is the last chance to support your favourite Hokkien Mee! I will run the polls till the end of the week (Sunday) after which I will work out if Nam Sing should be crowned Singapore's No. 1 Hokkien Mee. If there are any statisticians in our midst, please let me know how to work out if there is a statistical significance in a 1% difference for our sample size. (Can't remember liao!)

Online Surveys & Market Research

ieatishootipost feature in Lian He ZaoBao

It is my birthday today and I woke up not knowing that my face would appear on the front page of today's LianHe ZaoBao!

What a wonderful surprise! I really feel that it is God's surprise present for me!

Many thanks to all my friends who have SMSed, written in the facebook, forum and twitter! I guess nowadays it is not easy to try to hide your age!

As usual, I haven't read the article yet because I need a translator. So I hope someone could do me the kind favour of translating this for all our readers!



Here's the translation courtesy of Rey Chen. Thanks Rey!

When it comes to “Gourmet Migrants” , local celebrity blogger, Dr. Leslie Tay, of ieatishootipost.sg pointed out 2 strong and evident phenomenon.

According to Dr. Leslie, “The two main reasons why new migrants opened up food businesses or became chefs here stem from: 1) To earn a living 2) A love for their hometown foods. When it comes to food of foreign origins, some people may be mistaken that the most authentic & scrumptious of foreign foods can only be prepared by their own people. For instance, a Singaporean cooking Chilli Crab. In fact, locally bred professional chefs who have undergone rigorous training,too, are able to produce the same results.

Dr. Leslie Tay (aged 40) is a family doctor who went into food blogging back in 2006. He enjoys scouting around Hawker Centres and blogs about his new discoveries. Just like most Singaporeans, his favourite foods are Oyster Omelette, Char Kway Teow, Prawn Mee etc.

He raised an example to support his views on “Gourmet Migrants”, at a time when no Singaporean has ever opened eateries abroad – If this person, a typical Singaporean who has had his fair share of home-cooked and hawker foods, is overseas and introduces his/her foreign friends to our local delicacies and calls it Singaporean Food. Just imagine how tasty it’d be.

Dr. Tay noticed another trend in recent years. With the growing numbers of steamboat/hotpot restaurants sprouting everywhere on the island, to call this a hotpot wave led by the new migrants is not an exaggeration. Dr. Tay believes that these restaurants are targeting the “new migrants” in mind, and not the locals. This is reinforced by the wide use of animal innards, necks & tongues, which may not suit our locals’ tastes. In other words, when new migrants bring “flavours of their hometown” to a foreign land, it’s likely that the initial concept is to satiate the taste buds of the fellow migrants. Dr. Tay feels that the more authentic the food, the longer it will take to be accepted by unfamiliar patrons.

Reliving stories of our Forefathers from Xiao Long Bao.

“Food knows no boundaries” is something Blogger Ju of “The little Teochew” swears by. Food has the ability to unite people. Trying out different cultural food is the first step to understand different cultures.

Ban Mian is one Northern China dish introduced here 10years back and has now become a local favourite. The latest Northern China dish that’s selling like hot cakes would be the XLB.

Leslie Tay has blogged on many XLB eateries, acknowledging the fact that it’s gradually becoming a commonner fare. It’s possible to find good 10 for $5 XLB even in a food centre these days, comparable to restaurants standards.

Leslie was reminded of his granddad’s story, when he was giving an explanation on XLB at Chinatown Food Centre. This stall, which specializes in Northern China cuisine, seems to be reliving the stories of early migrants. Their aim is to earn a living here so as to support their family back home. Some of them would bring their families over when they get used to the life here.

Leslie shows admiration for these migrants as they show tenacity and perseverance as compared to our younger generations – they expect things to be done easily owing to their comfortable lifestyle.

Hungrygowhere.com spokesperson ,Huang Hong An, observed that new migrants (from restaurant owners to waitresses) have made significant impacts on our culinary scene. They are able to provide quality service, even for a $2 bowl of noodles. When they bring their foods over, they too bring along quality service which allows consumers to feel at ease.

However the one thing about the migrants (aside from food) that impressed Gourmets, is their persistence towards food culture. Through their passion and persistence, foodies are able to experience different cultures while tasting the food.

Ivory, located in Clarke Quay, was pointed out by Huang Hong An for example. This restaurant doesn’t differentiate Northern and Southern Indian Cuisine but rather, specializes in iconic Southern Indian Coastal cooking style. This way, it not only adds colours and diversity to Indian Cuisine. It broadens our knowledge to what “Authentic” really means.

When Leslie spoke on food places which left him in great appreciation, he said “They are showcasing their culture to us.” without a second thought. “They” are Ridyadh Muslim Food @ Defu Lane, Cugini @ Club St and Chako @ West Coast Hong Leong Garden.

The Chef who helmed Chako is a classic, unpretentious Japanese housewife. She enjoys cooking and believes in “good food comes with patience”, despite having to run a business. This is often heard during peak hours when the restaurant is full-house. Upon arrival of the food, she would regularly remind patrons to have their meals slowly.

On the other hand, Cugini made Leslie realize there is no such thing as thin/thick crust pizza. The originality lies with the Chef’s passion towards experimenting and also the freshness of the ingredients.

Ju of “Little Teochew” is a full-time housewife with 3 children to take care of and Blogging is her passion. She hinted that when migrants bring their food culture over, this culinary wave would definite reshape our local culinary scene. And as time goes by, all these foreign influences would eventually become part of our Singaporean food.

In recent years, more and more eateries specializing in specific cuisine have sprung up throughout the island. This is a piece of good news to foodies. On top of providing a wider variety to choose from, new migrants help in refining food cultures, pushing Singapore culinary scene to a higher level.

Xu Jun Sheng Teochew Cuisine: It doesn't get better than this!

It was a dark day indeed for Teochew Muay (Porridge) lovers when Xu Jun Sheng closed its doors 2 years ago. There are very very few Teochew Muay places where you have a selection of ready prepared dishes and are still able to order Ala Carte dishes as well.

But the good news is that they are back in business and judging from the crowds during lunchtime on a weekday, I would surmise that most of their regulars have already gotten wind of it. Our kaki, sumosumo is one of the regulars there and according to him, this is the BEST
Teochew Muay place in Singapore. Then again, I don't know how much weight you can place on the opinion of a guy who orders RICE instead of PORRIDGE when eating Teochew MUAY?

I am just kidding.

After revisiting Xu Jun Sheng again last week, I also agree with Sumo that this is definitely one of the best places where you can enjoy Teochew Muay.


White Promfret steamed Teochew Style

For us Teochews, the White or Silver Pomfret (Peh Chior) is the epitomy of the steamed fish. And it doesn't get as classic as steaming White Pomfret with sour plums. A Teochew Ah Hia like myself would learn from a young age (A Teochew Ah Di then) about the prized White Promfret. For some reason, the Teochews seem to "own" this fish much more than the other dialect groups. We were taught from young that that the Pomfret should only be steamed as it preserves the tender smooth flesh. Doing it any other way is sacrilegious. Sometimes I guess you might have to end up frying the fish because it is not fresh enough to steam. But having fish that is not fresh (Chnee) is even more sacrilegious! No true blue Teochew chef would ever dream of serving fish that is less than fresh fresh.

There is a world of difference between a White Pomfret (pampus agenteus) and a Black Pomfret (parastromateus niger). For a start, they from different genuses, so it is like comparing a Sheep with a Goat rather than a White Sheep and a Black Sheep. No self respecting Teochew would serve Steamed Black Pomfret to an honoured guest. Of course, if you feel the guest has overstayed his welcome, then an oversteamed Black Pomfret might be just the thing to serve, provided of course that your guest is also Teochew and gets the subtle hint.

White Pomfret is one fish which I actually liked when I was young because it is never fishy like Mullet. When steamed right, the sour plum lends a tang to the smooth flesh which makes you salivate and want to eat more. The taste of the steamed pomfret here is as good as it gets, though my kakis felt that the flesh could have been smoother if it were taken out of the steamer a little earlier. 4.25/5


Difference between Peh Chior and Dao Chior

For those that are really in the know, there is one type of Pomfret that is even more prized than the White Pomfret and it is what we call the "Dao Chior" (Chinese Silver Pomfret - pampus chinensis). Now this the the type of Pomfret you should serve if you are trying to impress a prospective future Mother-in-law who happens to be Teochew. The Chinese Silver Pomfret is more expensive and less readily available than the White Pomfret. The flesh is even more delicate than the White Pomfret. The easiest way to recognize this fish is to look at the ventral ( bottom) fin. The White Pomfret has a sharp tipped fin while the Chinese Silver Pomfret has a blunt fin. The Chinese Silver Pomfret also tends to be more round in shape and more of a speckly grey when compared to the White Pomfret.


Lor Bak (Braised Pork Belly)

Aside from the steamed fish, the other item which serves as a gauge for the Chef's skills must be the Lor Bak (Braised Pork). There ain't nothing more comforting than seeing the steam wafting from a cauldron of braising sauce which you suspect might contain traces of gravy from the last decade. I like the Lor Bak here. It is not overly spiced with five spice powder and its very balanced. One of the best braising sauces I have come across. 4.5/5


Homemade Fish Cakes

The fish cakes here are another gem which you must try. There is one ingredient which they add to the fish cake which you don't readily get elsewhere -- Dang Cai (preserved veg). I usually don't like Dang Cai, but somehow the combination of the Dang Cai and the Fish Cake is fantastic. It is the tastiest fish cake I have come across. 4.5/5


Prawn Rolls (Hae Zhor)

I almost went away that day without ordering the Prawn Rolls if not for one blog reader who was sitting in the other table. He came over to introduce himself and said in no uncertain terms that I would regret it if I did not order the Prawn Rolls.

Boy was he right!

There was something in the prawn rolls which made them very tasty. You don't get your big pieces of prawns here to give you that visual satisfaction, but put it into your mouth and you would be closing your eyes to try to analyse why the taste is so perfect. One of the secrets that the Teochew Ah Chek here was sharing with me is that they do use Pork Mesentary to wrap their Prawn Rolls. Apart from that, the rest is secret. 4.75/5


Tofu Prawns

Being a Cze Char as well, they do have a few dishes which are not classically Teochew but these are dishes I will always order when I come here. The Tofu Prawns is one of them. The gravy that bathes the prawns and homemade tofu is very addictive but I have to admit that it goes better with rice than with porridge. 4.5/5

Conclusion

This is now the gold standard by which all my other Teochew Porridge stalls are compared to. Somehow their dishes all resonate with me and this would be the one stall I would bring anyone who wants to eat Teochew Muay.





New Address wef 18 Apr 2011
Xu Jun Sheng Teochew Cuisine
121 Joo Chiat Road
Mon - Sat: 11am to 3.30pm, 5.30pm to 9pm
Sun 10.30am to 3.30pm
Wed closed
98472946, 90308600

That Makan Session at Cacio e Pepe!

Photos by ijeff

What a way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon! 50 ieaters enjoying a slow leisurely Italian tasting menu at Cacio e Pepe in the middle of nowhereland!

Many thanks to Chef Peter and his team who prepared a six course menu for us and even squeezed in a 7th surprise dessert at the end! Many thanks to Jackie, Bee and David for sharing with us their own stash of Italian ham, salami and prociutto!

Thanks also to Holybro for organizing the session and ijeff for the photos!

If you are looking for somewhere to go for a leisurely laid back Italian meal, do check out Cacio e Pepe!

Phew! Two makan sessions in two days! Now I need a rest!

Durian Degustation V: Burrrrppp!

Photos by Holybro

It was great to see everyone at the Durian Degustation! I am sure that everybody got their money's worth since people were packing durian home in foam boxes!

I realise that many of the people who managed to sign up for the makan session got the information through Twitter. So it might be a good time for you to sign up for Twitter so that you can get an alert once registration for the next makan session is open! Our twitter page is at www.twitter.com/ieatishootipost


For those who missed the session, just pay Ah Loon a visit, mention the blog and he will look after you! Better still, turn up in the ieat T shirt and get instant recognition!

Please give a big round of applause to Soundman for organizing the session and Holybro for being our camera man for the night! Clap, clap, clap!

Thanks for the great response and see you at the next Makan Session!

Traditional Handmade Noodles: Noodles oohh the Noodles!

Handmade Egg Noodles

There was a time when it looked as if our hawkers are becoming traders rather than Chefs. In the past, they used to make everything from scratch. From the noodles for wanton mee to carrot cake to fishballs. Then we went through a time when everything started to be outsourced like those horrible factory made paus. But of late there has been more and more hawkers who are bucking the trend and trying to differentiate themselves by going back to the good old ways.

So if you look around, there are many more people selling freshly made bean curd, fish balls and chee cheong fun. Lately, I have even come across restaurants like Tai Shek Hai making their own noodles which I felt was such a wonderful development. The making of noodles is almost a lost art which I am glad is being revived ever so slowly. Perhaps it is because we are being influenced by the growing number of freshly made La Mian, Soba, Ramen and Pasta places around. Why not celebrate our humble mee kia (egg noodle) and give it its rightful place alongside these other noodles?

I came across this traditional handmade noodle stall in Serangoon Gardens Way food centre which I thought was pretty compelling. I managed to sneek a peak at the raw noodle and noticed that it looked a slightly grey and speckly, unlike the yellow noodles which we are generally accustomed to seeing. When the noodles are cooked, they have a glassy translucent appearance which was quite interesting. The owner wasn't very receptive to an interview, but I managed to find out that they actually handmake their noodles in Malaysia. They were pretty secretive of anything else beyond that.

Anyway the noodles were a joy to eat. I would suggest the black sauce version with chilli even though I don't usually like to eat my noodle with chilli. They have two different chillies here, one which is sweeter and the other more spicy chilli padi version. The wonton were very good as well as they add in a good amount of Ti Poh (Fried Sole). The only thing holding them back from the 4.5/5 is the charsiew which is a bit dry. 4.25/5

Conclusion

The noodles were so good that I am willing to overlook the mediocre charsiew!

Traditional Handmade Noodles
Stall 35, Serangoon Gardens Way Food Centre
Open daily from 7am to 10pm

The ieatishootipost Postcards! Prizes to be won!

Here are two of the latest postcards with captions which our readers have coined.

The latest one is this photo of our kaki, SCS Butter with a pair of chopsticks which attracted over 200 captions. In case you have not visited the facebook fan page, you should go and have a read of all the zany captions our readers have written! Here's the Link.

Congrats to Allen Lim who coined the caption for this card and won a hosted dinner at SCS Butter's new restaurant, Teochew Muay at 5 Mohd Sultan Road. Print out this postcard and SCS Butter will give you a 10% discount.


Here is the previous postcard. The caption was coined by Wei Jie.

There is currently another caption competition to win $100 Kim Joo Guan vouchers. You can join in the fun here.

Extra Space Self Storage: The Singapore version of the wine cave

Advertorial


The collecting of wines has really taken off in Singapore over the last decade or so and I am sure many of us will have a few bottles lying around the house somewhere. However, there are two main problems with collecting wines in Singapore. The lack of space, as well as the hot weather.

I remember when I was a medical student doing my rural attachment, I was assigned to an Australian Doctor who had a practice in Cessnock which is a mining town right next to the Hunter Valley Wine Region. He had a huge basement cellar with thousands of bottles under his house. Every night he and his wife would have a bottle of wine to accompany their dinner. Now, if you are drinking wine because you heard that it protects your heart, may I gently remind you that the recommendation is one glass of red wine a day. It is the tannins in the red wines that are cardioprotective and one glass is enough. So don't go drinking a whole bottle of Chardonnay and think you are doing yourself good!

Not many of us living in Singapore have a cellar, so what do you do with your bottles of wine? I tell you what I used to do with my first few bottles. I did the most logical thing and put the bottles in a 9 bottle wine rack on top of the fridge! I only realised later that that was the worst thing to do because the vibration, heat and light just means that I have created the most expensive vinegar distilling factory!


Interior of each compartment

You ever read the writing on a box of cough medicine? It always tells you to store it in a cool dark place. Same thing with the wine. Traditionally they are stored in caves which keep the temperature of the wines between 7 to 18 degrees and away from light. But as far as I know, there are no caves in Singapore so the good people at Extra Space Self Storage have come up with the HDB version of the wine cave.


Not Barossa Valley, Boon Keng Alley

This purpose built wine storage facility is temperature and humidity controlled so that the wines can age optimally and there are also backup electricity generators in the event of power failure, so that you can rest easy with the knowledge that your stash will always enjoy cool aircon comfort. Besides the wine storage facilities, Extra Space have normal storage rooms which you can rent to extend your own storage space. However, their business first started off as a facility for wine storage so this is still their area of expertise.



There is 24 hour security access to the wine storage facility so that you can check on your bottle of Dom Perignon in the middle of the night should you suddenly feel that you need to cradle it in your arms. Access is by security code and every person is issued a different code so that they know who is accessing the facility. There is also a wine tasting area should you wish to share your wine collection with a couple of friends.



Extra Space Self Storage
301 Boon Keng Road
Singapore 339779
Tel: +65 6304 3202
Rental of wine lockers start from $58.36 per month
www.extraspace.com.sg

Conclusion

We live in a country where space is such a premium that some people even keep their Koi in farms where they visit only on weekends! I guess if you have a growing wine collection and you got a couple of boxes which you need to age for a couple of years, this is a great option especially when the wine fridge is running out of space.

So tell us, do you keep your wines on top of the fridge?

Durian Degustation V: Return to Cat Mountain

Registration is CLOSED!
Thanks for the great response!

Durian Degustation V is happening this Friday!

Bit of a short notice, but our Durian Supplier has just told us that the season for Pahang Durian is at its peak and we can get Durians at really good prices and the quality is great.

The variety which is in season is the Mao Shan Wang, D24 and Green Bamboo. Our supplier, Ah Loon tells us that the fruits are excellent!

Details
Date: 22 Jan 2010
Venue: East Coast Road (Opp Jago Close)
Time: 8pm
Price: $20
Kids below 6: $10.

To register: Write to ieatishootipost@gmail.com and in the title write: Durian Degustation V, in the email body write: Name, Nickname, Hp number and no. of pax.
Limit to 4 pax

Note: Please keep everything as short as possible so we don't even need to open the email to read it. You can write your greetings after the pertinent details. Thanks!

You can read about our Durian Dugustation at Ah Loon here.

Video Blog: ieat learns to Poach Eggs

I am sure you all have heard of Eggs Benedict right? No, it is not what the Pope has for breakfast. Eggs Benedict is a famous dish that was named after a New York stockbroker at the Waldorf hotel after he had ordered the combination of buttered toast, ham, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce as a cure for a hangover.

Today chef Tim shows us how to poach an egg and also to make hollandaise sauce. Once you have mastered these two things, you can make your own Eggs Benedict(ham), Eggs Florentine (spinach), Eggs Montoya (filet mignon), Eggs Royale (bacon).... heck, maybe even Eggs Toa Payoh (luncheon meat), just in time for you to impress your significant other for a Valentine's day breakfast!

Hope you enjoy the video and do let us know how your eggs benedict went!

Ah Seah Eating House: Ultimate comfort food for a Teochew Ah Hia

Teochew Porridge is the ultimate comfort food for a Teochew Ah Hia like myself. Although I would be the first to admit that though I have 100% Teochew DNA, my selection of dishes to accompany my porridge won't be able to score me a distinction if I were sitting for the entrance exams for admission into the Teochew Huay Kuan. (Association)

I grew up eating Teochew Porridge at home with the simple dishes like Chye Poh Omelette, Minced Pork Omelette, Chinese sausage omelette and the canned stuff like Fried Dace and Luncheon Meat. Unfortunately, my Dad used to love to steam the really fishy Mullet which completely threw me off steamed fish for a long time. Now what kind of Teochew Ah Hia doesn't like steamed fish? Especially Peh Dou He (Rabbit Fish) during Chinese New Year?


Braised Pork

The wonderful thing about Teochew Porridge is the fact that the porridge is just plain, hot and watery. I have always assumed that the Teochews had it watery because they were so poor that they had to add more water to their rice in order to fill their stomachs. Extra guests? No problem! Just add more water and you can have extra bowls of porridge!

The enjoyment of Teochew porridge comes from gulping down the hot porridge after you have taken a mouthful of the often salty dishes like fermented beancurd or Chye Poh Omelette (Preserved Veg). That small amount of "Kiam" (salt) is good enough for one or two mouthfuls of porridge to cleanse the palate and then you can experience the warmth of the porridge slide down your gullet. It is even better on a cold rainy day!

Anyway, word as it that Jetstar will be flying to Swatow direct this year, so a few of my other Teochew Ah Bas (Ah Ba=Dude) have already indicated to me that they would be interested to go back to seek out their Teochew roots and at the same time sample some real Teochew dishes. Anyone else interested in a Swatow Makan Session?


Braised Peanuts

Speaking of the Teochews, Hougang or more specifically Hougang Ngou Kor Jior (5 miles) is one of the Teochew enclaves in Singapore. So, if you are trying to look for Teochew Porridge, then this must be the place to find it right? If you ask any Houganger where to eat Teochew Porridge, most of them will point you to Ah Seah Eating House. This place has been established for a long time and is synonymous with Hougang.


Homemade Fishcakes

I was told that the best time to eat Teochew Porridge here is in the evening when all the steam fish would be out. I was there for lunch, so I just had my usual selection of dishes. Braised peanuts is a favorite of mine since we used to always just open a can of braised peanuts to have with our porridge . Unfortunately, I have to say that the braised peanuts here were not soft enough and it wasn't flavourful enough either. 3.5/5

The homemade fish cakes were better. They have the fish cakes and meat balls which are both almost the same. The meatball is essentially the fish cake with minced pork in it. A bit unusual as I was expecting the usual steamed minced pork with salted eggs. I love the texture of the fish cakes and the contrast between the cool and smooth fish cake with the hot porridge is excellent. 4/5



You can't eat Teochew Porridge without ordering Chye Bueh (Preserved Veg). Well, actually you can't eat Teochew Porridge without ordering Porridge as some of my kakis did, but that is another story for another post. I was never a big fan of Chye Bueh, but for some reason we always end up ordering it just because it doesn't feel like Teochew Porridge if you don't have the Chye Bueh. What can I say, most of the Chye Bueh I have eaten before tastes about the same. 4/5.

Conclusion

I was a little disappointed to tell you the truth. This place is highly recommended by a lot of people I know, so I had very high expectations for it. Perhaps I really should try them again at night to see if there is a huge difference.

Are you a fan of the place? Perhaps you can share why you love it so much!

Update:  15 August 2011

Ah Seah will relocate around the corner to 31 Teck Chye Terrace on 25 August 2011

Ah Seah Teochew Porridge
31 Tech Chye Terrace
6am to 12mn
Closed Alt Mon
6283 7409

KL Eats: Restoran Key Hiong - Lo Mai Kai you will drool over

Lo Mai Kai

The best Lo Mai Kai I have ever eaten in my life was in Petaling Jaya. That was 7 years ago when I visited my cousin in KL. It was one of those moments of epiphany which one never forgets. It is too bad that I wasn't a blogger then, so I did not take note of the address of the place. Since then, I am been searching in vain for a Lo Mai Kai in Singapore that could come close but I think the problem is that no one actually uses pork lard anymore, so I have not found anything half as shiok.

When I made a trip up the KL the last time, I really wanted to track down that killer (in more ways than one) Lo Mai Kai. I remembered the taste very well, but the memory of the place was quite vague. I just knew that it was in a coffeeshop somewhere in Petaling Jaya.

As fate would have it, I bumped into my makan kaki, Jencooks the night before while eating the KL Hokkien Mee at Petaling St, so now at least I found a kaki to accompany me on the search for the Holy Grail of Lo Mai Kai. It's funny how such things happen. I hardly ever bump into Jencooks in Singapore but yet we managed to bump into each other in KL!



It seems that even my cousin had only a vague memory of where he brought me 7 years ago, but he said that the most famous Dim Sum place in Petaling Jaya is this place called Key Hiong which is next to the Badminton Hall. When we got there, the site of steaming bamboo baskets of dim sum convinced us that the 30 min taxi ride out of KL was indeed worth it. However, the place did not even look vaguely familiar. So I wasn't sure I was at the right place.

When I finally tried the Lo Mai Kai, it confirmed that this really wasn't the place that I had the Lo Mai Kai years back. Either that, or somehow the owners had decided to go the healthy route and stopped using Pork Lard to make their Lo Mai Kai. Don't get me wrong, the Lo Mai Kai is still very good and better than most that we get here in Singapore. The rice is soft and gooey and the flavour is very good, but it just lacked that certain shiokness that I remembered.



That aside, if you are in KL and looking for a place for breakfast, I think that this place is still worth checking out. It's the whole atmosphere of sitting in the carpark surrounded by towers of steaming bamboo baskets that makes the whole experience very memorable.



Most of the items are very nice. The big pau and char siew pau are certainly worth eating. They are famous for their char siew paus, but frankly I felt that it is quite similar to some of the best ones that we get here in Singapore. There were one or two items which I don't think you should bother with though, like the porridge and the steamed polo buns.

Conclusion

Sigh! I did not find the legendary Lo Mai Kai this time round. I wonder if the Lo Mai Kai I was looking for is still in existence or if it was simply the exaggerated memory of an impressionable mind. Do you all know of a legendary Lo Mai Kai in Petaling Jaya?

Restoran Key Hiong

Taman Megah near Kelana Jaya

Petaling Jaya

Cumi Bali Indonesian: You don't get this in Bali

Chilli Belacan

My visit to Cumi Bali has re-ignited my interest in Indonesian cuisine again! Ironically, when I visited Bali last year, the food did not leave that much of an impression on me. Even the world famous Ibu Oka in Ubud did not live up to my expectations. So Indonesian food has been off the radar for awhile.


Cumi Bali (Squid) $18-22

Our kaki, Cactuskit has been on his crazy streak yet again. When our friend discovers something really good, he starts planning all these makan sessions and very soon his whole network of colleagues and friends would have tasted his new latest discovery. I was told that Cumi Bali was recommended by the same guy who also recommended Gen Shu which was one of our best finds of 2009. This mysterious guy is good, cos Cumi Bali looks like it is a contender for the "Best Find" title for 2010.


Sate Ayam Madura $4 per stick

Let me just cut the long story short and tell you that the Sate Ayam Madura is one of the best things I have tasted and it is the one dish that has re-ignited my interest in Indonesian food. Maybe it is just because I am partial to the sweet, savoury flavour of the Kichup Manis marinade. But the tender, sweet and smokey pieces of chicken just made me want to visit the restaurant again very very soon! 4.75/5


Beef Rendang $12

The Beef Rendang here is not your classic Beef Rendang. It isn't the fiery red and spicy version. Instead, the tender beef is stewed in a gravy which has a wonderful combination of spices which you probably need both hands and a few toes to count. It was very good and Cactuskit gave it a 4.75/5. My score is 4.5/5 as I felt it could have just that bit more ooomph.


Ikan Bakar $22 (ikan ayam)

The Ikan Bakar looked very promising but it was the one dish which I felt could have been much better. This is basically a whole fish that is barbequed in an Otah paste. The paste tasted too raw and grassy to me. It think it would have been better if it were grilled a bit more so that the banana leaves were charred and the oils have separated from the paste. The fish is very nice and has a nice smooth texture. I don't know the english name but they call it Ikan Ayam because the meat tastes like chicken. 3.75/5


Sup Bantut (Oxtail Soup) - $12

The Sup Buntut is very nicely flavoured although the oxtail could have been cooked a bit longer so that the meat comes off the bone easily. Somehow I feel this dish should be more kilat. But it could have been that they did not have enough time to cook the soup properly because we only ordered it when we have already finished the meal. 4/5

Conclusion

Cumi Bali has been around for 21 years and were previously at Duxton Road where it occupied a hole in the wall before moving to the Tangjong Pagar area last year. The chef owner, Fiona is another of these passionate chefs who cooks for the love of food and I am sure you will appreciate her craft. Definitely worth visiting if you are looking for your next curry meal!

Special for ieatishootipost readers

10% discount till 12 Feb 2010. (Min spend $40). Look for the chef owner Sister Fiona (ex-SGH nurse from the days they used to wear those nurses hats) and just say hi to her for me.

Cumi Bali Indonesian Restaurant
66, Tanjong Pagar Road,
Singapore 088487
62206619
www.cumibali.com.sg
Open daily for lunch and dinner except Sundays