NY eve dinner

We're lucky there's a chef in the family so celebrations are generally done at home. We didn't make any plans for Dec 31st so it was a last minute "let's go to Sheng Shiong & see what's there" menu planning.

The seafood there is always fresh but you never know what is available. Pity they don't deliver cos to my surprise, they have quite a good selection of wine.

Here's our New Year's eve dinner

Lobsters in butter garlic sauce

Pepper shrimps

Clams in white wine sauce

We love our seafood

& fresh seafood is so easy to prepare

Moon cakes

I am so behind on my blog posts if I'm talking about mooncakes in October ! Oops

When it comes to moon cakes, I prefer them traditional. None of those fancy varieties that are everywhere. I get a headache just looking at them. If you are into those, where do you even start ?

This year I didn't buy ours from Tai Chong Kok but as you can see, their Chinatown branch was doing a roaring business.

I bought from Tai Tong & instead of my usual 2 egg yolks, decided to go for the extreme cholesterol experience of 4 egg yolks

Look at these babies

The first moon cake of the year/season is always the best.

Then diminishing return sets in.

There is one exception tho

Snow skin moon cake with champagne truffle

from Raffles Hotel

I can pop a few of these without feeling guilty

Lorong 9 Geylang

X is constantly amaze at the eating habits of Singaporeans. The latest being their ability to eat at roadside stalls but more importantly, how Singaporeans of all walks of life would do so. One day they could be dining at a high end French restaurant & the next day they would be eating at Geylang. You would never see this in France. Mostly because French are snobbish when it comes to food (& I mean this in a good way) & more so because they are finicky about hygiene.

No matter how good the food is, I would NEVER bring his folks to Geylang. I can't imagine them sitting by the road or drain, using utensils that are washed in a pail of water & a table that has been wiped with a cloth that has seen better days.

Judging from the crowds of people there, these are obviously not a concern with a majority of Singaporeans. As long as the food is good, we'll be there.

Pictures taken from my iphone leave much to be desired

but I'm going to post it anyway so indulge me

The famous Lorong 9 Frog leg claypot

Across the street for the Beef Horfun

Tender slices of beef with horfun

Still delicious after all these years

Oyster omelette

One of the best I've had

You can taste more of the egg & less of the starchy flour

We ordered one with ginger & spring onions

but much preferred the spicy ma la flavor

Meal at Little India

We were recently at Little India & chatting (rather animatedly I suppose) about going to Komala Villas when the assistant in the shop we had just past, stopped us & said we should try New Madras Woodlands instead. Every single one in the shop bobbed their head in agreement so that was how we found ourselves trying out a new restaurant one Saturday morning.

These steel trays may look sterile & prison like but I like it. What's an Indian meal in a restaurant without these trays. That's the idly set, by the way.

Forgot what these doughnut things are called

but we loved them so much, we had seconds & thirds

Cheese thosai

Mango lassi, yum

Playing with food ?

The entire meal for 4 adults & 2 children with drinks came up to $34.

Good & inexpensive

Chiu Chow food in HK

When I'm in Hong Kong, my friends know not to bring me to chi chi restaurants. Actually more specifically no Western food. I love my wanton noodles, beef brisket noodles, claypot rice, century egg porridge.....& chiu chow (teochew) food.

In HK, they call them "chiu chow da lang" restaurants - the usual braised goose but these are my favorites

Minced pork & oyster porridge

(my all time favorite supper food)

I will never forget one supper in an unnamed da lang restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui where the next table was occupied by some mafia characters. And how would I know ? Well one minute they were having supper, then they left only to return half an hour later with blood drenched shirts to continue their meal. I kid you not. I almost freaked out.

Cold crabs !

I'm addicted to Bak Chor Mee

I've talked often about my love for noodles. Char Kway Teow, Mee Siam, Soba, Pho, Ramen, Wanton Mee but strangely enough for the first 20 something years of my life, that list didn't include Bak Chor Mee.

But since I moved back, I cannot seem to get enough of them. By far, one of my favorite is located in Hong Lim Food Centre # 02-16 rated 3 chopsticks - a die die must try stall by Makansutra. Thankfully this is near my office so I go there at least once a week.

The line at lunch time is always very long but it is well worth the wait.

So what is it so special about this bowl of Bak Chor Mee ? It's the vinegar. The perfectly cooked noodles. The slivers of liver & meat. The wontons & meat balls. My personal favorite, the piece of dried fish.

Our favorite Japanese restaurant

In a city where Japanese restaurants abound, everybody will have their own favorite.

Ours is Akashi. We have been going to them at Tanglin Shopping Centre for years. Even though they now have several branches, the original outlet is still our favorite.

Since moving back, we actually haven't been there at all. So imagine our surprise when we found the original branch closed & that they are now in swanky new location at Orchard Parade Hotel (does anyone still call it the old Ming Court Hotel ?)

The chefs & the servers are still the same. The food is still good.
What are our favorites ? Sushi/sashimi, Spider maki, salmon skin hand roll, grilled eggplant, chazuke, cha soba, tonkatsu...in fact there is nothing on the menu that we don't like.

Akashi
1 Tanglin Road
#01-01A Orchard Parade Hotel

La Villa Tartary Revistied

For reason I can only attribute to fluke, when you do a search on La Villa Tartary on google, my blog entry in Feb 09 is the first entry just above the restaurant's official website.

With all that good food churned out by X's mum & family, we don't need to eat out. In fact this meal was only one of 2 that we did.

I managed to get more pictures of the outdoor area since we went there for lunch. The ambience is still as before, modern & friendly. Sylvie is full of smiles & ever the accommodating hostess. The food is even better than what I remembered it to be. No wonder the restaurant was packed for a Thursday lunch. Not bad for a 26 Euro menu.

Pieds et Jarrets de Porc Panés, Crème aux Herbes, Salades Mêlées.

This was my favorite item on the menu the last time & was glad to see that they have brought it back again. Breaded pork feet & shoulder (well here's the proof when I said it looks better than it sounds)

Flan de Fenouil, Pomme de Terre, Chair de Crabes, Emulsion aux Olives
Flan of fennel with sliced potatoes & crab meat

This was the favorite of the table
Entre Terre et Mer, embeurée de Choux vert au lard.
"Between Land & Sea"
It's a delicious combination of mushrooms & seafood
Well seasoned, well paired ingredients
Absolutely delicious

X had this as his main course
Cabillaud, Bouillon Crémeux, Encornets et Morilles
Cod in a cream sauce with mushroom

Sablé, Poires, Sauce Caramel aux Noix, Sorbet Citron

The Girl had her ice cream

Pots de Crème à la Châtaigne, Badiane, Sésame

If you do make it to Ardeche one day, please drop by & say hi to Sylvie & Francke and taste their delicious food.

By the River

One of my favorite places to eat @ Robertson Quay is Aburiya. It's in my opinion, one of the best places in town for Japanese/Korean BBQ. Any BBQ lover will tell you that it's all about the meats & they do theirs the old fashioned way with charcoal. Hmm I love table BBQ.

You can order your meats marinated in several ways - pepper, tare (sweet sauce) or miso. The wagyu rib eye is reason enough to go there.

Shoju
Korean rice wine

Wagyu rib eye
Meat that melts in your mouth

Pork Belly with black pepper

I didn't take a picture but The Girl loves beef tongue & so do I

On top of the meats, we would also order a platter of vegetables - corn, green pepper, mushrooms & onions. Kim Chee soup. Bibimbap.

Foie Gras

Onigiri
What it's burnt ?!....well that's the best part
Yummy burnt rice

We enjoy taking a stroll after dinner

or make another stop at Wine Connection

for wine & cheese

There is a very good selection of cheeses

& gourmet food items