Singapore: Chilli and Black Pepper Crab

You can find crabs in many parts of the world. But Chilli Crab and Black Pepper Crab? No where better to find it than in Singapore! According to Wikipedia, the chilli crab was created in 1950 in Palm Beach Seafood Restaurant. Now, I never knew that it originated from there! 9 years later, the black pepper crab was born in Long Beach seafood restaurant.

You may think that KFC's chicken is finger lickin' good. Let me tell you what finger lickin' good is. THESE CRABS ARE FINGER LICKING GOOD.

Well, chilli crab is not really spicy, more of a tomato base. It is a rather thick sauce, with ginger, rice vinegar etc added into it. It is ranked 35th out of the World's 50 most delicious foods. The first picture is a picture of a crab from a restaurant. The subsequent two may not be as appetising- home cooked!

The black pepper crab is with, surprise surprise, black pepper.

An equally good part of the meal is where you mop up the sauce with the deep fried mantou (bun). Look at the mantou seep the sauce up, coupled with the crispy exterior of the mantou.

Some good places to have crab: Basically you can comb the East Coast area. There are lots of places that sell these. But if you want to have the liberty of choosing from a wide number in the same area, you might want to go for a seafood meal after a day of fun at East Coast Park.

Long Beach

1018 East Coast Parkway
Tel: 6445 8833

Jumbo Seafood

Blk 1206 East Coast Parkway #01-07/08

East Coast Seafood Centre

Tel: 6442 3435

No Signboard Seafood

Blk 1202 East Coast Parkway #01-02

Tel: 6448 9959

Read More

Pancakes

The lack of updates is due to impending doom to such a thing called exams.

Nonetheless, here's a recipe on pancakes. I used to buy the mix from boxes, until I realised that it doesn't require much effort to make pancakes. Pancakes can be eaten as breakfast, as brunch, or as dessert. Just remember to down it with plenty of maple syrup!

Nothing speaks of happiness more than the blissful combination of fluffy pancakes and tonnes of maple syrup! (I know the pancakes are ugly. But don't judge- they taste good!)

Recipe from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  1 teaspoon salt
  1 tablespoon white sugar
  1 1/4 cups milk
  1 egg
  3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 
  

Directions

1) In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

2) Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
3) Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat.

4) Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake.

5) Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Read More

Mont Royal (Montreal)

Mont Royal in Montreal- Left my footprints there in the mud. It was raining heavily the day I was there. Armed with an umbrella which was too weak to withstand the winds. But it was a pretty quick climb, with a great view of the place, even though it was raining. Sometimes, you don't need the most perfect of views in order to get a perfect view. It's all in the mind.

The Road not Taken (Robert Frost) Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

Read More

Coolidge Corner (Boston)

They say, the grass on the other side is greener.

I say, the skies on the other side are bluer.

This is Coolidge Corner, a place that's not at all like downtown. But just so homely. Lots of eateries, shops selling random knick knacks, and just good ol' Trader Joes and all their organic food!

Read More

Jean-Talon Market (Montreal)

Here's the Jean-Talon Market in Montreal.

I vaguely remember how it was so nice to walk alone in this market which was largely quiet because it was a weekday evening. Just the fruit stalls and the flower stalls were open. So tranquil, so perfect.

This world saturated in shades of grey need to be infused with some colour.

Read More

Trattoria Lafiandra

Well, the Restaurant Week in Singapore was a bit of a letdown overall. There's always a basis for comparison. And here, I'm comparing it to the Restaurant Week in Boston, where I chomped away at a few places, including Atlantic Fish Company, probably one of the best food I've eaten, that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

If the standard of the food today I had at Trattoria Lafiandra today was anything to go by, it's still a long way to go for a Restaurant Week of world class standards. In the first place, it's so difficult to get a reservation and card holders have special priority, while the rest of us are left trying to take the leftovers of other's- eating's supposed to be an inclusive affair, no? In any case, the menu has very limited options as well- things that normally don't appear on the menu- an attempt at saving costs?

Pumpkin soup was not overly creamy and sweet.

This was the linguine with fish. I suspect the fish must have been swimming somewhere else in the Atlantic ocean, because I only ate two minute pieces of fish, and spent the rest of the time hoping that some fish would miraculously swim to me. The sauces and linguine were cooked well, but this feels like a slipshod attempt in cooking something with fish as its focal concern. In any case, the fish was soft and very ordinary.

Panna cotta was the only dessert option available. And I don't eat panna cotta because of its overwhelming sugar and milk. But that's my personal bias, so don't take my word for it.

Overall, this place has a nice atmosphere. The service wasn't as bad as what other reviewers had described, perhaps because we had different servers. But the selection and quality of the food was a letdown- better luck next time!

Trattoria Lafiandra

71 Bras Basah Road

#01-02

Singapore Art Museum

Tel: +65 6884 4035

Read More

Novus Restaurant & Bar

The lack of updates have been partly due to the amount of crap load I have on my hands now. But anyway, since it's Restaurant Week, it's about time to try some good food.

Novus is conveniently located in the National Museum, with a very cosy interior. I loved the effort put into the details of the decor of the restaurant- the black and white photographs, the mirrors, the lighting- perfect!

So, this was the three-course meal that I decided to get! Their attention to detail is impeccable. They would put these mini cards on your table so that you know the process that went into preparing the dish, as well as the ingredients.

A bread basket is served first. For me, as long as you serve bread that doesn't taste like overnight bread, with a soft and cushiony interior, I will give full marks for bread.

There was the mushroom soup, which had a dense mushroomy texture, but the picture looked a little too gross, so there, no pictures for mushroom soup.

This wasn't on the menu, but apparently is tuna with sea urchin plus a list of other things. Most importantly of all, wasabi. I do not like wasabi. Period.

This was the stuffed rolled organic chicken. I love mushrooms and this dish was a real treat for me because of the congregation of the mushrooms. However, I have to say that it was a little confusing how I should be eating this dish, plus the sauce was a little too salty. There were two pieces of chicken which was moist, apparently due to their i-do-not-know-what technology. I would have preferred mashed potatoes instead of aerated potato creme. Although I reckon that the aerated potato creme would have made the dish less dense, it didn't appear to perform that very function.

You should have seen my jaw drop when this came as dessert. Seriously, I'm supposed to swallow all of this alone? I mean, I'm a chocolate lover. But this amount of chocolate is enough to leave me in a sugar coma for quite some time.

Anyway, this was the Chocolate Test. And it's interesting how the chocolates play with your tastebuds. You're supposed to eat it from left to right, so that it gets increasingly bitter. The fun part (okay, not that fun) is that it alternates between warm, hot, cold and different textures. I'm sure lots of thought went into presenting the dessert this way.

You know how people say that the first and last always matter the most? These two, unfortunately, felt like a birthday cake full with whipped cream smashed into my face. The first had this weird taste which I have no clue what it is. And the last was dehydrated chocolate, which tasted like.. vacuum food for astronauts.

The in between were your usual chocolate suspects which was nothing out of the ordinary, but decent desserts.

Overall, $40++ is an okay deal for this restaurant week menu, although I probably wouldn't spend this kind of money on this kind of food again. Service was excellent, and they gave us each a cupcake which was in a little box, very much like the takeaway boxes in US.

Novus Restaurant & Bar

93 Stamford Road, #01-02

National Museum of Singapore
Tel: +65 6336 8770

Read More

The Purple Pig (Chicago)

Courtesy of a friend's friend, we were brought to The Purple Pig in Chicago.

Here's arguably one of the best eateries in Chicago. I'm not an adventurous eater and any kind of ingredients that sound like they shouldn't be together makes it feel like I shouldn't be eating it. But sometimes, stepping out of your comfort zone paves the way for a new eating experience.

Prosciutto Bread Balls

Pork Liver Pate

Chicken Thigh Kebabs, Fried Smashed Potatoes & Taztziki

Pork blade steak with 'Nduja and Honey.

By now, you would have realised that I didn't write any individual reviews about the food here, because all I have is a vague recollection of the food. There are just some that leave a very strong impression and some that don't. It's not that the food is not good, I distinctly remember it being very interesting and not that weird after all. In fact, I remember telling my friend about how it's been a good dining experience.

But to keep to the true spirit of the blog of being 100% honest, this is as good as it gets. Maybe it's for the pictorial thrill, or just for the sake of itching to write on my side. I wished I could remember how it tasted!

The Purple Pig

500 North Michigan Avenue

Chicago, IL 60611

Tel No: 312 464 1744

Read More

Ice Cream Galore

4 tubs of these ice cream cost around the same as 1 tub in Singapore. Is that how you control the population from being fat? Long gone are the days I could grab a B&J on sale from the freezer at USD$2.99. *sad*

Read More

River Palace Chinese Restaurant

Let me get the facts out first: 1) This place is decently priced ($28.80 for ala carte buffet). 2) There are more misses than hits. 3) I don't like the bitter gourd look on the sever's face (He incidentally recommended bittergourd.)

I know other reviews have stated that the service here is good. But on this day, I happen to get a very very bad server, who looked like we owed him $1000 for 10 years and snapped back "k" every time we told him something. Plus, he was very impatient.

Some of the dishes we ordered included (below): the seafood salad, salted prawns with garlic, chilli crab and you tiao with mayo. The seafood salad was simply CRABstick with cocktail fruits- I suppose this is their definition of seafood. The salt and garlic smelt aromatic when served, but the prawns were unfortunately rather disappointing because they weren't fresh. The crab sauce was spicy and dense, but the crabs had little meat in them. Lastly, the youtiao was not bad. Other dishes we ordered include spicy squid (which was more sweet than spicy) and the roast chicken which was not bad but a little bloody.

There are four particular dishes that can only be ordered once in your meal. The broccoli with Ihave no idea what, scallops, black chicken herbal soup and peking duck.

I almost had the wrong impression that this place had wonderful food when they first served the peking duck. Well, it was good! The roasted duck skin was crispy and there was a piece of vegetarian geese in it, a break from the norm.

I reckon the thing the thing that's on the broccoli is an abalone lookalike. Not sure what it really is though.

The scallop tastes like standard restaurant-fare scallop.

However, the desserts are totally not worth it. The chocolate cake was served in plastic plates, which totally dashed any chance of it being good quality chocolate cake. It was ordinary chocolate cake you can probably make yourself. The mango sago was diluted, with clumped up sago. That was about what I tried- I'm not sure if I wanted to waste my stomach space over bad dessert. But anyway, there was yam paste (which was apparently not bad), jelly, some ice jelly etc. Desserts is one of the restaurant's clear misses.

While I don't wish to be back again, I actually suppose that if you have big appetites and don't mind trying your luck at which are the good dishes and the bad ones, you might want to consider this place because it's really not bad priced for a buffet spread like this. But take heed, the last order is at 2 pm, so don't go too late! Maybe my experience has been smeared by a waiter with bad attitude. Better chance next time!

River Palace Chinese Restaurant
382 Havelock Road

2nd Floor River View Hotel
Tel: +65 6349 4865

Read More

The Brilliant Meteorological Station

On days like that, I just want to face palm and wish the meteorological station would come up with something better. I also can predict at 940 am that it's raining since 920 am? Plus, in Singapore, there's only rain and sun- 50% of getting it right!

Read More

Neptune Oyster (Boston)

Once upon a time in Little Italy of Boston, there was a mythical shop called the Neptune Oyster. Well-known for its lobster rolls, this place is thronged with people, partly also because the shop is pretty small. So, get your name on the reservation list before you go on exploring Little Italy, and hope for them to call you soon after.

I don't eat oysters because I've got something against raw things. But my friends ordered the oysters and they slurped it down and declared that it was fresh and juicy. The servers patiently explained what the different kinds of oysters were, so my friends ordered a few and decided to share it amongst themselves.

I agreed to go to Neptune Oyster only because everybody raves about their lobster roll. I decided to get myself the cold roll, instead of the hot buttered roll. They practically squished the roll to maximum capacity to get as much lobster as possible into that sandwich. There was a little mayo mixed with the lobster. I liked it, but not so much that I would dig deep into my pockets for a lobster roll - around USD $25. I didn't like the fries though- a little too charred for my liking. And I think I wasted a bit of fries, as I always do.

In my opinion, you'd be able to get the cold lobster roll at a slightly lower quality but at a much cheaper price elsewhere. (Maybe Quincy Market or something) But I heard that the hot butter lobster roll oozes so much happiness into your heart that you'll be hyponotised into paying for it. Then again, for those staying in Boston, there's always the option of Shaws. $12 for a whole lobster- make your own fresh lobster rolls.

Neptune Oyster

63 Salem Street

Boston MA 02113

Tel: 617 742 3474

Read More

Sandrine's (Boston)

Given a choice, I would rather be eating, reading, watching movies, listening to music, cooking and attending random exhibitions. Unfortunately, in life, you can't have your cake and eat it too. And so, here I have to be, content with occasionally looking through photos taken once upon a time. Then, I think, "Oh goodness, I must have had the appetite of a cow!"

I bought the groupon for Sandrine's and it proved to be a great choice. The thing about Groupon is that you get to try food at a much cheaper price than they usually are. (But obviously, keep your eyes peeled and read your terms and conditions- valid till when, not valid on weekends etc.)

Sandrine's was one of those places that we would never have visited if we didn't have any form of discount.

The atmosphere was marvellous. The elderly server led us to a table right at the corner of the restaurant and said cheekily along the lines of us being able to enjoy the privacy better.

Anyway, we were first given some bread which obviously was warm and crusty. As usual, I have no clue what French food is like, except what is depicted on TV. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it always exudes a particular air of delicateness, even to the point of being regal. But all that side-tracking doesn't matter. Because ultimately, it's the taste that matters.

We ordered enough to chalk up $40. We ordered a salad which was nothing out of the ordinary.

For entrees, we had the Organic Roasted Herbes de Provence Half Chicken, which is essentially chicken. The chicken was roasted well and was a rather big portion. But somehow, it was missing the delicate touch. It was like "Here's Chicken, Here's Mash Potato. Say Hi." The mash potato was buttery, and the chicken was juicy.

Our dessert was the Chocolate Kougelhopf (now, how I pronounce that?). Well, I think I would be really insulting it if I dare compare it to the Chocolate Lava Cake that I made. But just as you wouldn't pay $5 for a chocolate lava cake I made, you similarly wouldn't want to pay $9 for this cake. It was good, but all that chocolate really doesn't add up to so much.

This place is a little overpriced. You're paying for the good ambience and attentive service. The food was good, but not over-the-top good.

Sandrine's

8 Holyoke St

Cambridge, MA 02138

Tel: 617 497 5300

Read More

Johnny English Reborn

I just had to insert this post about how hilarious Johnny English Reborn was and that, if you haven't watched it and need a much needed laugh, this is the show for you!

I'm nothing like a movie critic (or any critic, for that matter). But when there are movies that will make the cinema roar in laughter, clap their hands and slap their thighs- you know you have to watch it. So even if the newspapers or professional movie critics find this show not funny, resist your instincts to trust reviews (excluding mine) and go on and watch it. You just can't believe those jaded cynics all the time.

This show is full of slapstick humour and was entertaining. To quote a friend, "This show was super funny! I felt like my IQ went to rock bottom after the show!" Yes precisely how this show is. But Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean) remains full of charm and his expressions are PRICELESS. Plus, another person to catch is the vacuum lady. She's a STAR. I can still hear her piercing laughter ringing through the air- freak factor.

At the end of day, I couldn't make sense of some of the stuff that happened in the movie. But what matters is that this show has given a run for my money.

Read More

Sweet Dynasty (糖水吧)

Initially, I thought this place offered desserts. I mean, who wouldn't? But far from it, the focus of this place isn't the desserts.

But that doesn't matter the least bit. Because the place offers good food at low prices.

Originating from Johor, Sweet Dynasty offers a whole range of food, supposedly with Cantonese origins. But at the strong recommendations of my sister, we ended up ordering the curry with bread. Although there were advertisements on the walls showing how this particularly dish has been raved by other magazines and all, but we took a peek around the place and most of the people were eating the Western dishes instead. A wide choice for every palate, there's no reason you can't find something that will suit your tastebuds here.

More about the curry and bread ($5.50). This is the first time I've ever seen bread prepared like this. Bread obviously goes well with curry. But such a thick loaf of bread? Toasted to the right consistency, with an internal fluffiness it can compete with the clouds. Furthermore, you have the option of asking them to help slice the bread. They slice it thickly, so that you have maximum enjoyment (maximum surface area) dipping into the curry sauce.

The curry had chicken and potatoes in it. The chicken was tender and everything gelled well with the curry. You might think that the sauce is not spicy, but the more you ate the spicier it got. I was okay with the level of spiciness, although it might be a little spicy for others.

For desserts, I ordered a bowl of barley gingko ($2.80). Having been nagged by my mum my whole life of not mixing cold and hot food together, I decided to give the cold desserts a miss. The beancurd sheet in the dessert was very chopped up. Really depends on whether you like that kind of consistency, or the sheet or beancurd itself.

Service was great. First, you get told by the (i assume) lady boss that the "uncle" is coming to put summons on cars. Then, another older lady came by to give you more curry sauce (on the house) because she saw two people at our table sharing the bread. Then the boss (i assume again) came to ask us whether we wanted more gravy.

Cheap prices, great food- are you really expecting anything more?

Sweet Dynasty (糖水吧)

29 Keong Saik Road

Tel: +65 6223 0955

Read More