Ban Leong Wah Hoe Seafood: Good or no Good?

Har Cheong Gai $8

Once in a while I find myself doubting my own tastebuds.  This happens when I visit a stall that is highly recommended by many people but come away feeling that I must have gone on a day when the chef has decided to take the day off.

I have waitied for a very long time to eat at Ban Leong Wah Hoe Seafood.  I have been warned that this place can get so crowded that you have to wait for a while before being able to get a seat. This place is also very highly recommended by our facebook fans and word has it that their Har Cheong Gai (prawn paste chicken) is one of the best around. 

Gen Shu and Chef Ip's Polo Bun Recipe

Do you like Charsiew Polo Buns?  I do and I wanted to try baking some myself so I casually asked our favourite Hong Kong Masterchef, Gen Shu if he would be willing to share his recipe with us.  Not only was he willing, but he even volunteered his friend Chef Ip to come over to my place to personally show us how to make the buns! Chef Ip, as you may have read in my earlier post is the other Hong Kong Chef that we know who actually make these buns at his J.H.K restaurant in Pasir Ris. 

The real secret with the buns lie in the charsiew filling.  To get that moist charsiew filling, you have to make a special jelly to which the charsiew is added.  Get that right and you have a charsiew bun that tastes like the real thing. The crumbly topping is optional.  You can simply glaze it with sugar syrup to make the normal baked charsiew buns or add the topping to make it into a charsiew Polo Bun. 

Rui Xing Kopi: Long Queue.... Long Long Queue

Kopi Si 70 cents

Where in the world can you find a great cup of Coffee at 5am in the morning for 70 cents?  Well, in Singapore all you have to do is to walk into a market and food centre and you will probably be able to find one. I guess that is one of those romantic things about living in Singapore and even romanticer if you happen to live in an HDB block that is just next to a market and food centre.

Geylang Lor 20 Banana Fritters: Oh Man! I just rediscovered Goreng Pisang!

Ok, I haven't written much about Goreng Pisang because, well, its deep fried food you know, and so it has always been something I eat once in a long while.

But this "while" has been a little too long. I have neglected to write about Goreng Pisang which is also part a of the fabric of our hawker culture.  Goreng Pisang (its really Pisang Goreng in Malay)  means "Deep Fried Bananas" and is Malay or Indonesian in origin.  When you eat Pisang Goreng from a Malay stall, it is often made with a gigantic banana, properly called a plantain.  Plantains are less sweet than the banana that we are familiar with and so it makes sense that the Indonesians/Malay choose to fry it in batter in order to make it palatable.  Then along come the Chinese who took on the Malay idea but instead of using plantain, they use the Pisang Raja instead and changed the name from Pisang Goreng to Goreng Pisang.  Why they did not call it a Chinese name I do not know.

ieatishootipost Tshirts: Place your orders now!

Photo by Holybro

Since we are going to be printing T shirts for our upcoming Sandakan Trip, I thought it would be a good time to print it for our readers as well!  The T shirts are modelled after the New Zealand All Black Rugby jersey and will be made of a good quality black dri-fit material so that it is comfortable to wear at a hawker centre and resistent to chilli crab stains.

Pek Sin Choon Tea Merchants: Chinese Tea 101

Various Chinese Teas from 10 o'clock White tea and moving clockwise to green, yellow, Oolong and Black Teas

If I asked you what is the most expensive beverage in the world, most people would probably think of a bottle of vintage wine or brandy.  But from what I hear from our Tea Merchant from Peh Sin Choon, I reckon the most expensive beverage in the world might just be Chinese Tea.

Legend has it that the mother of a Ming Dynasty Emperor was cured of an illness by drinking tea from 4 particular bushes in the Wuyi mountains of Fujian province.  As a result, the Emperor sent four red robes to honour the tea bushes and thus the legend of Da Hong Pao Tea was born.  Three of these bushes are still existing today and produce just a handful of the original Da Hong Pao tea each year.  The price of the tea has reportedly reached millions of dollars per kg.  The tea is so valuable that when Richard Nixon visited China, Chairman Mao presented him with 50g of this Tea as a gift.  Richard Nixon as apparently insulted with what he considered was a small gift until it was pointed out to him that the gift represented half of the year's Da Hong Pao harvest!

Who will be insing's Hawker Foodie?

Which of these guys will be the Hawker Foodie?

Very soon will will know who will be selected to proceed into the final round of insing's search for their Hawker Food Lover.  Then from the finalists, one person will win a 6 month writing contract as well as a Canon EOS 550D!

In the first round, 20 participants were selected from almost 500 entries to attend a workshop where I shared my experience writing food reviews and tips on taking food photos.  Then they were set the task of writing a review of the dim sum they had that day.

ieatishootipost on Channel 8 News, 22 August 2010

Many thanks to Sen for the video upload!

Welcome to all Channel 8 viewers! The roti prata recipe and video featured in the news is found here.

Yong Kee Seafood Restaurant: Chao Tar Bee Hoon!

Actually Bee Hoon is quite nice when it is fried to a crisp don't you think?  I remember as a kid my Dad would fry Bee Hoon at home.  But it wasn't the first round of Bee Hoon that was the best but the leftover Bee Hoon which has to be refried the next day.  That was when we would fry it with Tomato Ketchup and make sure that as many strands of the Bee Hoon get to that crispy brown stage.

Bee Hoon has that special quality of being able to absorb flavours much better than noodles. Lately I have been thinking that Fried Hokkien Mee should rightly be called Fried Hokkien Bee Hoon Mee because the Bee Hoon actually plays a very big role in the overall taste of the dish.  I am of course referring to the type of Hokkien Mee that uses thin noodles.  Most of the hawkers actually put the bee hoon in while it is still dry so that it will absorb the prawn stock, then they fry it till it is dry and some of it is crisp!  Nothing quite like the sticky crispy bits that were stuck to the wok!



Chao Tar Bee Hoon (Burnt Bee Hoon) is something that is widely acknowledged to have originated from JB.  You can imagine just how the original chef thought up the dish right?  He probably loved to eat crispy bee hoon stuck to the bottom of the wok and probably came up with the idea to maximise the amount of crust he can get on a handful of Bee Hoon.


I have eaten this style of Bee Hoon in JB before and I can say that the one served at this restaurant is comparable, although I wasn't quite bowled over by the one in JB either.  The crispy bits are enjoyable but I have always felt that this dish could be so much more tasty if the Bee Hoon was infused with a tastier seafood stock.  4.25/5



I don't know about you, but when I visit any Cze Char place, the first thing I would do is to walk around the tables to see what people are ordering and sometimes I would actually ask them if a certain dish was worth eating.  That certainly beats randomly picking dishes and hoping they would turn out good.  The man at the table beside us recommeneded the Seafood Tofu so we ordered one to try.

The homemade tofu was indeed very good, the seafood was fresh and the stock was tasty.  Now the best thing to do is to soak the crispy Bee Hoon into the gravy!  4.25/5

Conclusion

If you are looking for Chao Tar Bee Hoon, here is one place you might like to visit. This is another one of those places that you can put at the back of your mind when it is 12 midnight and you are feeling hungry.

Yong Kee Seafood Restaurant
Boon Hwa Food Centre
43 Jalan Besar (Opp Sim Lim Tower)
5pm to 3am
Closed on first Wed of every month


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ieat on Channel News Asia's Singapore Heartbeat

In case you missed the episode of Singapore Heartbeat, here it is!
Many Thanks to Sen for the upload:


Part I


Part II


Part III

Lian Kee Duck Rice: How good can braised duck get?

Braised Duck, Tauhu, Taupok and Rice $5.50

Being a Teochew Ah Hia (Teochew guy), another dish which I am supposed to like is braised duck.  It is one of the few dishes that requires more than 3 ingredients which my own father takes the trouble to make.  Most of his other dishes just require two ingredients -- Fish and Tau Cheo, three if you include the steam.

Anyway, one of the dishes that I remember seeing him try to do when I was a kid was braised duck.  It was just about the only dish which he took the trouble to cook.  (Mom cooks at home)  Braised duck was something which my Teochew grandmother also cooked as well as my Teochew Aunts. So it must be something a Teochew should do.  But sadly, I haven't actually tried to make braised duck myself.  Perhaps the time has come.....

But you see, when I get started on any dish, I usually have a gold standard with which to aim for.  So far I have yet to really find a braised duck which was so good that I find myself wanting to master it.  I have always wondered if this was because I just haven't found the right braised duck, or perhaps whatever I have eaten before is as good as a braised duck can get.



One of the things that we never used to do though, was braised rice.  When you eat braised duck, some stalls serve white rice, some have yam rice and some, like this stall serve rice that has been cooked in braising sauce.  At home, we used to just bathe our white rice in the braising sauce. I don't know about you, but I think the braising rice is more visual appeal than flavour because I still find myself having to pour braising sauce over it.

The duck was good, but again as I alluded earlier, I am not sure if this is as good as braised duck gets.  I am not sure if I would ever find a braised duck which I would give a 4.75.  This braised duck at this stall is however quite popular amongst our facebook community.  Most of them commented that it is the porridge that you should go for.  I will make sure to order porridge instead the next time.  4.25/5



The Braised Duck-man here is a 2nd generation Teochew hawker who has been working there since he was a kid when the stall first opened in 1976.  He claims that his braising sauce is made from 13 herbs and spices and the recipe has not changed for the last 35 years.  Everything about his Braised Duck revolved around the cauldron of braising sauce.  It is used to flavour everything from the duck to the porridge to the bean curd.  So in a sense, when eating Braised Duck, lose-win (soo ya) is the sauce.  Agree?

Conclusion

OK, now I am determined to find the best Braised Duck in Singapore and then to find the best recipe for making it.  Any suggestions?

Update 30 August 2011

With the closure of Hin Hollywood Canteen, this stall will relocate to 49 Sims Place, Sims Vista Market and Food Centre, S380049,  #01-73 wef 19th Sept.

Lian Kee Braised Duck
Hin Hollywood Canteen
Haig Road
10am to 8.30pm daily


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Durian Degustation VII: Watch it on Channel News Asia!

Photos by Cactuskit and Holybro - Thanks guys!

You will notice that there is something a little different about Durian Degustation VII.  Ah yes, Channel News Asia were there to film the event for this Thursday's episode of Singapore Heartbeat which will be shown at 8.30pm.  It is going to be about how food is part of the Singapore identity and will be featuring myself and other foodie kakis waxing lyrical about food, so do remember to tune in.

Once again, thanks to Ah Loon and Ah Teck for working so hard to provide us with the best Durian deal in town!  Thanks to Ping, Pong, Holybro, Soundman, Cactuskit and Lovejade for helping me organize the event.

Durian season will run till the end of the month, so you all have two more weeks to go down to Ah Loon's place which is opposite Jago close along East Coast Road for Durians before this season ends.  You will not get the same $20 deal but Ah Loon will look after you if you remember to mention ieatishootipost.

Lim Hai Sheng Carrot Cake: Its good to be Hao Lian (proud) when it comes to food

I think it has been some time since I was reminded that Teochew people are really "Hao Lian" (proud).  Well, at least they are really proud of their food.  We Teochews call such people "Hao Lian Bah" (proud male).  Ah Bah in Teochew is the equivalent of "dude" whilest the "dudet" is call "Ah Niah".  Interestingly, I have only ever heard of a "Hao Lian Bah" but never a "Hao Lian Niah".  So perhaps it is only Teochew men who are "Hao Lian".

Why am I telling you all this?  Well, if you have never met a "Hao Lian Bah" then you can find one right here at this stall.  Actually, before he turned up, his wife was modestly telling us about their Chai Tow Kueh, about howut how they actually steam their own carrot cake in a small factory and how they supply these freshly made carrot cake to other hawkers.

But when the Teochew Ah Hia turned up, he brought it to a whole new level. The way he extolled his carrot cake was so good that both soundman and I found ourselves sitting in Bedok food centre at 7am in the morning just a few days later!

Jokes aside, the carrot cake here is indeed very good, and if the boss would have us believe it, even better when he is welding the wok ladle.  Aside from the fact that they make their own carrot cake, they also employ an interesting method of spraying fish sauce over the carrot cake during the frying process to ensure that every bit of the carrot cake is coated with savoury goodness.  4.5/5

Conclusion

It was Gordon Gecko that said that Greed is Good, an axiom which is seldom used in Wall Street nowadays.  Well, I might say that in this case, Pride is good.  pride in your craft, pride in the freshness of the ingredients, pride in the way things should be done. Pride doesn't stop at good, it doesn't even stop at very good. Pride only stops at the best.  After all, you do need something to brag about when you are a recalcitrant Hao Lian Bah.

Lim Hai Sheng Cooked Food
Blk 724 Ang Mo Kio Ave 6
#01-09
Singapore 560724
(The uncle can be found at their other stall at Bedok Blk 216 food centre in the mornings)


Thanks to Sen for the link!

Feature on iWeekly:

Feature on iweekly supplement No.667 12 Aug 2010





Thanks to Ping for the translation.  (She is the pretty girl in the photo)

The good food SWAT team

As long as it tastes good, high-class restaurants or cheap local eats matter not for food bloggers. No good food escapes the inevitable test of their difficult-to-please taste buds. Time to activate the radar for good food!

The foodie doctor: Leslie Tay

The fame of the foodie doctor is widely recognised in the world of food bloggers. His registry of good food that locals check out regularly has also become a must-read website for tourists vacationing in Singapore.

Video Blog: ieat learns to make Kaya!

You might have read in the Sunday Times recently that our friend Liverpool's Good Morning Nanyang Cafe was voted Best Kaya Toast in Singapore and a lot of it has to do with Liverpool's freshly made kaya.  Liverpool has very generously agreed to share his recipe with us and especially those who are living overseas who might miss having Kaya Toast!  Thanks Liverpool!

Coffee Hut: Aiya what should I eat? Toast, Buns or Baguette?

Crispy Kaya Toast 2 slices $1.70

Ahh, Kopi and Kaya Toast.  Singapore's answer to Devonshire Tea.

The ideal afternoon tea for me is crispy kaya toast with a cup of Teh Si (Milk Tea) and best of all the whole meal costs less than a cup of cappuccino at some fancy cafe. 

The Hainanese invented the Kaya Toast because they wanted to serve the local population something similar to what the Colonial British were eating but at a fraction of the price.  The same idea is still very much alive today, except that Kopi and Kaya Toast is no longer just trying to emulate something else, it quite confidently holds its own place in our little gourmet paradise.

Toasted Bun $1

I caught up with the kakis over at Jalan Bersih Food Centre for lunch and we subsequently adjourned for dessert over at Coffee Hut which I blogged back in 2007.  At the time, the story was about SCS Butter devouring 8 cups of Kopi because it was so good.  Well, the Kopi hasn't changed.  It is just as good as before as attested by some professional looking chaps who caught me taking photos that day.  It turned out that they were coffee connoisseurs who would go to the extent of roasting their own beans, not to mention pulling their own espresso by hand.

So what were these professional Kopi Gui (coffee addicts) with cuff links doing in a food centre drinking Kopi?  Well, the Kopi is good and the Toast is crispy and it is all for less than $3.  Yes, there is a time for a cup of espresso but sometimes nothing beats a cup of Kopi Si with Kaya Toast. 

Toasted Baguette $1.60

There are many stalls now serving Kopi and Kaya Toast and you can find it virtually in every shopping centre.  This is a wonderful development and I like the convenience of being able to sit down for my cup of Kopi or Teh Si at around almost every corner.  However, to get that Kopi and Kaya Toast with that extra special touch, you still need to look for a personal Kopi Tau Chiew. (barista)  You all already know about liverpool from Good Morning Nanyang Cafe, so today let me introduce you to Roland from Coffee Hut.

This is the kind of place where you rock up and make a big entrance as if you are like an old friend.  If he is busy, all you have to do is to give him a nod and wink and he'll get your order ready.  Owner operators like Roland and Liverpool really put in the effort to get you that perfect Kopi and Toast which is what makes their joints special.

This time round at Coffee Hut, I rediscovered just how good their toast, buns and baguette actually are.  The toast is light and crispy, the buns are soft and chewy and the baguette has a wonderful crusty crust which shatters when you bite into it. 4.5/5 Roland tells me that he actually picks up the baguette every morning on his way to the stall. 

Conclusion

You can get Kopi and Kaya Toast almost anyway nowadays but as Kopi lovers know, its the long term relationship with a Kopi man who takes pride in their craft that makes it special.  If you can't decide on what to try here, may I suggest you go for the baguette because it is not something that you can readily find elsewhere.

Coffee Hut
Stall 43, Jalan Bersih Food Centre
7am to 3pm
Closed Alt Saturday or Sunday
90108311 Roland

ieatishootipost Beef Appreciation class: Now here's the Beef on Beef!

Sorry registration is closed!

Now this is a makan session that I have been working on for a while and I am glad to announce that it is finally here!

If you love beef but always wonder which cut of beef to buy when you are at the butcher's, this class is for you!  If you eat steaks at the restaurant because you didn't know that you can make a better steak at home, this class is for you. If you want to know what is the difference in taste between grassfed, grainfed, Wagyu and Dry Aged beef, this class is for you!

In this class, Chef Mervyn will take us through cow anatomy and show you where the different cuts come from.  He will also be showing us how to cook a steak properly as well as making a simple steak sauce such that you would think twice about paying big bucks eating at a restaurant next time. 

This class is made possible through the generous support of greengrocer.com.sg and cookyn-with-mervyn.com and all proceeds will go to supporting the work of the next ieatishootipost community project with Goducate.org in Batam.

Canon-ieat Food Photography Workshop: Tetsu Japanese Restaurant

Photos by Cliff Lim and ieat

Many thanks to all 47 participants who turned up for our Food Photography workshop at Tetsu Japanese Restaurant! We had a great afternoon shooting and eating some wonderful Japanese dishes which was specially created for us by Chef Tetsuya Yoshida. Many thanks to the management of Tetsu restaurant who so graciously hosted our workshop.

So here are the winners.  Drumroll..........

Dong Ji Fried Kway Teow: Not classic Char Kway Teow but I like it!

I have often lamented that there was a lack of really good Char Kway Teow nowadays.  So when some of our kakis started talking about this less well known Char Kway Teow stall over at Old Airport Road Food Centre, it did not take me long to organize a makan session there to find out what the fuss was all about.

Now, I am sure that the first thing you would say when you see this plate of CKT would be, "Ay? How come this plate of Char Kway Teow got prawns one?"  Ah, how very observant.  Not only was there prawns in the Char Kway Teow, there was squid as well as the obligatory cockles.

So one might argue that this really isn't a typical plate of Char Kway Teow and I would agree with you wholeheartedly.  No, this plate of Char Kway Teow seems to be more like a fusion between Penang and Singapore style Char Kway Teow.  Now, if you are a big fan of Penang Char Kway Teow, then you might suddenly sit up in your chair and take notice.
 


As with most food, your eventual level of enjoyment really depends a lot on your initial expectations. If you are expecting a plate of Char Kway Teow that tastes like Hillstreet CKT or Hai Kee CKT, then you are going to be a little disappointed.  On the other hand, if you like how the Penang Hawkers fry the prawns first to infuse the lard with crustacean flavour before adding in the Kway Teow, then you are going to be in for a pleasant surprise.   But the real beauty is that you really do get the best of both worlds, because after frying the Kway Teow, the Uncle will still had in the cockle juice to bring the flavour back towards Singapore.

One of the big differences between Penang CKT and Singapore CKT is the level of sweetness.  Our style is usually sweeter because of the liberal use of sweet black sauce, whilest the Penang style is more savoury.  This stall is somewhere in between, which explains why some of our kakis really love it and others who think it was good but not that great.

Me, well, I had actually stood at the stall to see the Uncle, pour all of his 40 plus years of frying experience over a hot wok and I saw how he fried the fresh prawns in the oil before adding the Kway Teow.  Honestly, I thought the plate of CKT was pretty darn good.  The kway teow was lively and I like the way it sort of sticks momentarily to your lips as it leaps off the chopsticks into your mouth. I was tempted to give it 4.5/5, but my other kakis only thought it was a 4, so my final rating is 4.25/5.

Conclusion

I like this Char Kway Teow.  It is a little different from your usual CKT, but if you take it as what it is, I think you are going to really enjoy it.

Dong Ji Fried Kway Teow
Old Airport Road Food Centre
#01-138
Opens daily
8am till 2pm

First Ieat Overseas Volunteer cum Makan Trip!: Sandakan here we come!

Thanks to the generous donations from our ieat community and the $ for $ matching from MHCAsia, we have managed to raise $22,125 for the ieat van project in Sandakan!  So we are planning our very first Volunteer cum overseas Makan trip!

Macpherson Bak Chor Mee: Gout inducing Soup!

Bak Chor Mee Soup $3.50

While I was on my Ramen Rampage, I couldn't help but think that Ramen is after all a bowl of noodle soup and that there must be a local version of the noodle soup that can give you the same shiokness but for a fraction of the price.  So I have been on the lookout for a Bak Chor Mee place where the soup is really tokkong.

It so happened that I was exploring the area around Jackson Centre when I came across this Bak Chor Mee that was situated in an old coffeeshop.  I don't know why, but somehow you always expect to find something great in these old coffeeshops.  It's an even better sign when almost all the people in the coffeeshop are eating a bowl of noodles from the same stall!

Kedai Makan Kee Kim Huat: I wanna be a Food Nazi!

Claypot Rice for three persons RM27

Actually it isn't too difficult to have lunch in JB.  All you need is about 2 hours to get across the causeway, have lunch and get back to Singapore.  This was exactly what I did one Friday afternoon after my morning clinic. There are many great eats just waiting to be found if you don't mind filling up the white cards and looking at a map.

Durian Degustation VII: How we love Liu Lian!

Registration Closed!

Notice is hereby given that registration for Durian Degustation VII is now opened!

I know quite a few people were dissappointed that they couldn't get a seat at our last degustation session, so we are planning another one for those who missed out on the last one!

Details
Date: 13th Aug 2010
Venue: East Coast Road (Opp Jago Close)
Time: 9 pm
Price: $20
Kids below 6: $10

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

Limit to 4 pax per registrant

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.

Xi Xiang Feng Yong Tau Foo: The sauce! It's the sauce!

Our forum kaki, Sen posted a youtube video about this Yong Tau Foo stall in the forum which got all our kakis really excited.  This stall was again mentioned repeatedly when I asked our facebook readers for their pick of where to find a great Yong Tau Foo!  This stall sounds like a die die must try kind of place, so we rounded up the ieat brigade and headed to Ang Mo Kio Central to try out this Yong Tau Foo stall which is reputed to have a perpetual queue throughout the day.

Sure enough, there was a queue outside the stall of more than 10 persons who have very obediently picked their Yong Tau Foo and are now waiting patiently in line for their lunch to be cooked.  While Soundman was lining up for our food, I took the opportunity to speak with the Lao Ban Niang who tells me that they have been at the food centre since it first opened more than 30 years ago.  She tells me that Yong Tau Foo is all about freshness of ingredients and here at the stall, they use fresh tau foo which are specially made without preservatives so that they last only a day before going sour.  The bee hoon here is also specially delivered fresh everyday as opposed to the dehydrated ones in packets.

There are two things that are seriously good about this stall.  That's not to say the rest are mediocre, but the two things that are really outstanding are the bee hoon and the sweet sauce.  Both are very different from the ones you get from your run-of-the-mill YTF stall and are the most memorable bits for me.  The fresh bee hoon has a wonderfully chewy texture and excellent fragrance.  The sweet sauce here is spiked with lots of sesame seed flavour and is very addictive.  4.5/5

Aside from the bee hoon, this stall also sells chee cheong fun to go with your bowl of Yong Tau Foo soup. This is the first time I have seen any stall do this and when I asked the Lao Ban Niang why they serve Chee Cheong Fun with their Yong Tau Foo, she simply said that Chee Cheong Fun is nice to eat!

Now this Yong Tau Foo is filled with fish paste only but they do have a few items with minced pork, notably the minced pork balls.  Personally, the YTF was good but the difference in quality of the usual items as compared with your normal food court stall is not as stark as the bee hoon and sweet sauce.

Conclusion

So the bottomline is: Would I queue for 20 minutes to get my Yong Tau Foo fix here?  Oh yes!  But it has to come with a bowl of bee hoon bathed in sweet sauce.

Xi Xiang Feng Yong Tau Foo
Ang Mo Kio Blk 724
#01-23
Open from 7am to 7pm daily
Sunday closed 
96353203


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