11 posts tagged “food”
At Regina's suggestion, the girls treated me to dinner at Alaturka Restaurant. It's a cosy little place between Bugis and Lavender, that sells Turkish and Mediterranean food. Truth be told, though I really loved my trip to Turkey more than 15 years ago, it was my first winter travel then. And back then, Turkey wasn't very developed for touring. While the sights were unforgettable, we spent alot of other time trying not to feel too miserable about the cold, hence I don't really recall much about the food, except the pumpkin pie, the kebabs and the butter rice. So I was really looking forward to this dinner.
It wasn't really difficult to find, and it was nestled right in the midst of several intimate little eateries. I like that area very much, there's so much to explore there!!! The first thing that struck me about the decor was of course all the blue mosaic, that's so typical.
Ultra Magnus gave me an early birthday treat at Sun With Moon at Wheelock Place. It's only the 2nd time I'd been there, the 1st with Saresha years back. The restaurant had some birthday discount of 20% plus a free cake, so might as well lor... heh!
His order was Hokkaido Ramen and Annkake Chicken:
There was deep fried chicken, fried fish and even pork in the ramen soup! I liked the fish. :)
My order was Tonkatsu Tamago Toji and Tofu Salad:
I loved the miso and peanut paste used for the salad. It was very very yummy, though I shouldn't be eating peanuts...
We also ordered a chawanmushi to share:
The chawanmushi was silky smooth and soft - oishii!!!
This was my free chocolate mousse cake:
Which I forgot to eat after I brought it home... :p And I couldn't resist ordering one of the desserts... because they all sounded so interesting on the menu! So we ordered a Sweet Potato Plate:
It was really very delicious! They had 4 different ways of presenting the sweet potato. I'd actually fallen in love with Japanese sweet potato now. :) Anyway, we also decided to be decadent. So after our dinner, we went to the NYDC downstairs to share a.... TIRAMISU MUDPIE!!!
I couldn't really taste any tiramisu... but the ice-cream layers were really great. Haha!! What a great way to end a great power catch-up session with an old friend, especially since he always told me some good news. Thanks for the wonderful dinner and all the best, pal! :)
We celebrated Saresha's birthday at this gem of a place in China Square. The restaurant's recommended on this site and TimeOut. We found it with little difficulty, but it was a rather terrible walk from Chinatown MRT because of the sweltering heat. Usually we would order warm water when we go to restaurants but it was so bloody freaking hot that day, we both ordered iced water, which was a very welcome respite!
Anyway, the restaurant had set lunches for only $20++! All set lunches started with 3 types of appetisers & a salad:
From left: Seaweed with slices of mushroom delicately seasoned in some (I-don't-know-what) sauce, chawanmushi and battered Japanese fish cake. The chawanmushi was so silky smooth, it was almost creamy. I liked that they put edamame in the egg too. It was a really great way to start the meal. The fish cake was very delicious too, I liked the soft texture and the light taste.
The salad was good too, I always rather enjoy Japanese salads - well, those that don't use Thousand Island as dressing anyway. The mashed potato was yummy, as was the dressing they used - very nice!
We ordered different main courses. I decided to go for Saba Shioyaki:
The mackerel was grilled to perfection. The skin was very lightly crisped and melted in my mouth while the meat was still juicy and tender. It must be the first time I've ever eaten such a fabulously prepared mackerel. I liked that the husband-wife team were thoughtful enough not to give patrons too much rice in the set meal. :)
Saresha had Saba Misoni, or better known as mackerel in miso sauce:
Perhaps she can comment on her meal later. :)
Anyway, besides our set lunches, we ordered Yaki-Gyoza and Hotate Guratan (scallop gratin) as sides.
While the gyoza was nothing really out of the ordinary, it was still well prepared. We were impressed with the size of the scallops and that they gave us 4 whole ones - so, so, so yummy! *slurp*
And to round up the meal, they gave us homemade Peach Sorbet. While it was quite nice, I rather felt as if I was eating crushed peach-flavoured ice. Heh!
And we weren't totally satisfied with just that, so we also ordered Daigaku Imo (sweet potato in sweet sauce). It was really a highlight of the meal and the best way to end it.
Of course, to end off the post, I'd usually declare that I must go back to the restaurant because of such a wonderful first experience and such delicious food. Unfortunately, the day we went was also the last day of busins for the restaurant. It was with a tinge of regret when we stepped out, knowing there'd never be a chance for us to return. But I guess, some of the best things is life can only be experienced once, so that we can savour that experience over and over again in our memories. So, through my little blog, I jot down these little details for posterity. I wish the owners all the best for their future endeavours.
Met up with the girls for dinner on Friday. R and I discovered a mutual liking for Indian food so she introduced me to Shahi Maharani at Raffles City. My usual haunt's Kinara but I'm always willing to try new restaurants. And yes, I only like North Indian food, sorry... Anyway, we managed to convince SH to go along, so off we went...
They served crackers, like at Kinara. It was more herb-ish and spicy though, and they didn't provide marmalade. :-\ Instead, they provided pickled onions and chilli.
We were a little adventurous that night, so we ordered:
A) Paneer Pakoras:
Found under the "Regal Hor D'Oeuvres" section, it's basically spicy mint with cottage cheese and deep fried. I'm not sure if cottage cheese is suppose to have any chees-y taste or not, but when we bit into it, it tasted more like tofu than cheese. Nevertheless, I still like its crispy-on-the-outside and soft-on-the-inside texture.
We also ordered 2 very different types of meats and its respective curries. On the far end was Chicken Korma and the one at the forefront was Mutton Vindaloo. We also ordered Plain naan and Cheesy Naan. SH wondered if we'd all go into collective coma after eating the Chicken Korma... -_-" Sometimes I wonder at my friends... ;p
The Chicken Korma was really delicious! It's basically tender strips of chicken cooked in a delicate korma sauce made from nuts and crushed cottage cheese. The curry was more sweet than spicy, and I love the meshing of the crushed nuts with the chicken strips. Sedap!!! I departed from tradition again and ordered Mutton Vindaloo instead of my usual Rogan Josh. There was already a warning in the menu that it'd be ultra spicy and R even asked me if I really wanted to order that. But there's always room to try out new foods. Hence, we all got our tongues burned rather severely by the curry. We also had to change from drinking warm water to ice water to cool the fire in our mouths. I must admit that while the mutton was quite tasty, the spiciness of the curry took much of the original taste of the meat away. I think I still very much prefer my Rogan Josh afterall. The naans were fantastic though. SH loved the Cheesy Naan a great deal, but then again, she's a cheese lover, so... it reminded me of cheese prata though.
And there's a trio that performed at 8pm and they were really good!!! I wouldn't mind going back again just to eat and listen to them, they were rather delightful.
The trio performs nightly except on Tuesdays, by the way. :)
I've not been fulfilling my resolution to blog more often. So I shall do so by blogging about food, something I really enjoy. Hee!!! Plus I love taking photos of food. :p
For mum's birthday, we went to Man Fu Yuan at Hotel InterContinental.
The restaurant's really nice. The interior deco is such that it allows
for plenty of privacy for patrons. The service was pretty good and the
food was rather delicious. I quite liked the dim sum.
This is a place I'd definitely consider going again. For a hotel, the dim sum's very reasonably priced. The service was good and the ambience conducive for intimate get-togethers. The other place in the hotel I really want to try out is the buffet at Olive Tree. Soon! :)
Finally met up with Saresha and JA for our super belated Xmas meal. We went to Shimbashi Soba at Paragon. The restaurant is part of Kuriya and specialises in soba. This is part of what Saresha ordered:
Quail egg with sashimi: Quite delicious and sinful. :p
I ordered one of the set meals (forgot the proper Japanese name for it). But it had fried chicken, salmon and swordfish sashimi & tempura. I ordered the set only for the swordfish sashimi, which I recently have been very much in love with. :p:p
The fried chicken was very delicious! Some of the fried chicken I'd eaten in Japanese restaurants tend to be too dry and over-fried. But this was just nice. I love love love the mushroom tempura too. Heh! The mushroom was light, soft and yet had a full cotton-y 口感 to it. Yums! The highlight was of course the chilled soba. It was very good too - when I bit into the strands, the "springy-ness" was just nice. *Slurp*
JA loves Japanese desserts so after dinner, she ordered this to share:
There were fruits, soba balls (very nice to bite into!), and ice-cream. All in all, a very lovely meal.
We proceeded to Canele for tea and desserts after dinner. I had been craving macaroons for the past week and NOTHING was going to stop me from having them. Haha!!! So we ordered 1 violet (Saresha), 1 Chocolate (JA) and 1 hazelnut (me) for ourselves, with a pot of tea (different flavours, of course). Oh and on top of that, we ordered a slice of Caraibe to share. Super sinful right? But who cares? Hahaha!!! It was so empty (huge surprise!) when we reached there, so we almost had personalised service. And we sat there for nearly 2 hours, and the crowd was very small too. Perhaps people really started cutting back on such indulgences the moment the bell tolled on 1 Jan 09?
The macaroons were super delicious, as usual - thanks to Saresha for her rec! I love it when the cream inside have tiny little specks of chopped nuts. The caraibe was simply amazing!!! The amount of chocolate and nuts - awwww... I went into ecstasy after my 1st mouthful. Haha!! All in all, a simply amazing and delicious dinner. That diet and cutting back of financials and calories? That can wait till Monday. Hiak Hiak!!!
Met up with Reg and SH at Suntec's Tang Dian Wang (汤点王) for our gathering for X'mas. I've not been to Suntec for ages, and everything's changed...
The restaurant's deco was rather special. These lamps hung from the ceiling, and they just reminded me so much of pumpkins & Halloween:
The menu was also rather interesting. The signature dishes were their soups, of course. We ordered the Golden Crisp Salted Fish & Minced Pork Pancake. It was like deep fried pork cutlet actually, but saltier and slightly less dry.
Our mains were:
A) Ginseng with Bamboo Shoots & Chicken Soup:
B) Glutinous Rice Siew Mai Dumplings:
C) Signature Stir Fried Bee Hoon with Preserved Meat:
(No photo, cos forget to take. Plus it wasn't remarkable visually - it looked like any normal plate of economical beehoon. Haha!!)
I loved the glutinous rice siew mai dumplings - very special. I especially like the very thin wrapping they used - a must-try! The soup was simply amazing! It was very very sweet and yummy. We were in soup heaven after drinking it. :) Ahhhh.... This is a restaurant I'm definitely going back again. :)
I'd been staring at this blog for the past year, before I finally plucked up the courage to make some orders. So I ordered 2 dozen cupcakes for the folks in office. The lady lives in YCK, it was really a stretch going all the way there, but I made it nonetheless. :)
And the cupcakes were great!!! Let the pictures do the talking:
The lady was really nice. Besides giving me an additional cupcake, due to packing arrangements, at no extra charge, she also gave me a box of super yummy macaroons, 3 nicely wrapped muffins & 3 huge cookies with pretty icing. Some of the very nice freebies:
Since I won't be around for X'mas, I'll just take the opportunity to wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
One of my favourite festivals and activities of the year - making dumplings (汤圆)! :)
This year, mum wanted me to make extra so that she could bring some to the columbarium to pay respects to my paternal grandparents. As I sat there at 7am, rolling the little balls of dough between my hands, the most ironic thought crossed my mind. The one and only time in my life I ever made food for my grandparents was after their lives were over. A friend in JC once described me as a person who lived life without regrets and till today I still try to live by that motto. But I find that as I grow older, more and more regrets just pile on my shoulders...
Nevertheless... this is not going to turn into a regretful post.
汤圆，汤圆，团团圆圆：
This is also the first year I did almost everything myself. Usually sis and I will take charge of rolling the dough into little balls (cos it's just so fun!) and mum or the maid will boil the soup. This time, I made the soup too. :p
And now, my little balls of unity are ready:
Jade wishes everyone a very happy 冬至 (winter solstice)!
You know you've reached Auntie-hood when it seems perfectly normal to meet a girlfriend or 2 for lunch, go shopping then end up in a supermarket buying groceries.
Saresha and I spent nearly 3 hours trying to shop at Isetan and Metro today (ok she tried, not me). We ended up at the Paragon Market Place - its gourmet supermarket and I ended up with this:
It's an amazing supermarket with absolutely super fresh sashimi. The baby octopuses - my favourite - and chuka wakame (seaweed), etc also looked extremely fresh and well-prepared. It's amazing how therapeutic shopping for groceries can be... :)
