The Olde Cuban - A gem along Trengganu St

At the heart of chinatown at Trengganu St, there lies a quiet and relaxing place called The Olde Cuban. Its a cigar and bar joint. They offer a wide range of premium cigars at very reasonable prices. All cigars are all kept at humidifier boxes to maintain its taste and flavor. You can even purchase cigars from them and they will store the cigars for you. They serve a wide variety of alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks. Servers are friendly and possess good product knowledge. What impresses me the most is the classic interior decor and the comfortable sofa seats. Those who does not enjoy cigars do not have to worry about the smell as they provide air purifier. However, they do not have a non-smoking area. It is a place where you can unwind and enjoy the rest of the day with your friends, your beloved or just simply by yourself.

It is located on the 2nd level of 2 Trengganu St.

Tel: 62222207

Website: http://www.oldecuban.com/

Home cooked food is the best!

After all the delicious goodies for the past few days, I decided to cook a simple meal that takes only an hour of preparation and cooking time. 1 meat, 1 vegetable and 1 soup.

5 spices spare ribs













Ingredients

500g pork spareribs
2 tbs 5 spice powder
2 ts black soya sauce
2 ts light soya sauce
half large onion-chop into bite size
2 cloves of garlic-chop finely
1 ts salt
1 pinch pepper
1 tbs honey
2 tbs water

Procedure

1) Marinade all the ingredients together in a zip lock bag for at least 2 hrs. Best if overnight. Turn the bag occasionally.
2) Place some cooking oil in a pan and stir fry with the sauce till cooked for about 10 mins. or add water and simmer in a pot for at least 2 hours till the meat is soft. (have yet to try this method)


Eggplant with minced meat











Ingredients
2 medium size eggplants - chopped to bite size
200g minced pork
1 tbs mirin
1 tbs sake
1 clove garlic - chopped finely
half tbs dark soya sauce
1 tbs light soya sauce
200ml chicken stock

Procedure

1) Place oil in pot. Saute the garlic for 1 min and add in the eggplants. Stir well.
2) Add in chicken stock and bring to boil. Once its boiling, bring down to simmer and add all the rest of the ingredient in. Pork will be added last once the eggplants are soft.
3) Add the minced pork and ready to serve when pork is cooked.
4) Mix some flour with water and add into the dish if you prefer a thicker stock.

Salmon belly tofu soup










Ingredient
200g salmon belly - sliced to small cubes
200g tofu - sliced to small cubes
500ml dashi stock
25g miso paste
10ml sake

Procedure
1) Just simply add everything together and boil. Do not over cook the salmon. Always put the salmon last and monitor it. Garnish.

Saver ideas! Bake-it-Yourself!

I feel that it is very worthwhile to learn from any cooking school and then bake it yourself as gifts for any festive occasions be it Christmas, birthdays, baby's 1st month, anniversaries and so on. It adds personal touch to the gift. Its not just any gifts that you pick out from the store. Yes, you might have squeezed all the creative juices out from your brain to pick out an appropriate gift you think its the best for the occasion, but how many times do you actually see your friends using the gift you bought? Why not try baking next time? During this economic downturn, we must be nice to our pockets and yet we must not forget our love ones. Flour, sugar and butter cost very little. You only need to invest some time and money on a 1 time class and you can make loads of pretty cupcakes, biscuits, brownies and etc. Baked too many? Let your neighbours try and build up some friendships there... I am sure your love ones will appreciate the time and effort you put in. Who does not enjoy desserts?

Chinese New year is coming! Go for classes or go online to search for the best pineapple tart!

味香园甜品 Best local desserts in town!

Ate too much log cakes, cookies, ice-creams or macarons during xmas? Why not try some local desserts instead? At least having an extra bowl of black sesame or almond paste will not cause you to have immediate weight gain, as compared to the Regent Hotel chocolate log cakes. The cakes are fantastic but I cannot effort to have more. Cakes and most western desserts have carbs such as flour, caster sugar, corn syrup and fats such as vegetable shortening and butter. However, in most Chinese desserts the only bad thing for us is sugar and I can assure you that this place puts minimum sugar so that you can taste the flavour without having sweetness overpowering the bowl of goodness.

味香园甜品 are famous for their peanut paste, almond paste, black sesame paste and yam paste. Their paste are very smooth and silky. Sweetness level is just nice and the taste is great and wholesome. They also sell Cantonese style rice dumplings, yam and carrot cake, barley bean curd, and some cold desserts such as mango ice. Prices ranging from $2-$3.50 for each item. They only have 1 outlet located at the heart of Chinatown at Temple st number 65-67. It has been almost 2 years since I last went there and their standard remains the same. I think that is why they do not open other branches so as to ensure quality. Go there and try okie? They operated everyday from 10.30am to 9pm and will extend to 10pm on Saturdays.

Creamy chicken and bacon pie

I am always very amazed by how Chefs like Jamie Oliver and Maggie Beer prepare food using puff pastry. I was at cold storage the other day and was browsing through the frozen food section. When I saw sunshine's brand puff pastry, my mind immediately flashed back to some of the food channels I have watched. After much thinking, I decided to try my hand at making creamy chicken and bacon pie using the small tart-like casing that I bought from Phoon Huat last week.

Ingredients - makes 10 small pies
250g chicken breast
110ml chicken stock
20g plain flour
3 tbsp butter
half harge onion
salt and pepper
olive oil
2 cups frozen peas and carrots
150g back bacon
Half of sunshine's puff pastry

Procedure

1. Roll out the puff pastry thinly - 2-3mm and cut out to the size of the case. 2 for each case- 1 for base and 1 for top.
2. Pre heat oven to 200 degrees.
3. Cut the chicken into small cubes. Marinade with a pinch of salt and pepper and set aside for at least 30mins.
4. Place olive oil in pan and fry the onions till soft. Cook the chicken breast till half cooked and add in the bacon, carrots and peas. Stir till cooked.
5. On a separate pan, melt the butter, and add in the flour. Stir well till straw coloured and pour in the chicken stock. The sauce should be thick but dropping consistency.
6. Add the sauce to the chicken and stir till well mixed.
7. Fill the fillings into the case and cover with the top cut out pastry. Seal properly to prevent the fillings from coming out. Glaze with egg before baking. Bake about 30-35mins and its ready!

Japanese styled fish at B2 takashimaya near cold storage

One of my favorite hangout after gym. This place sells mainly grilled fish. They have mackerel(saba), sanma, aji, salmon, cod fish(gindara), kokke and eel(unagi) fish set meals. Their set comes with pickles, miso soup, salad, rice and eggplant. Its a healthy mix of vegetables and proteins. Usually, I will eat half the rice just to cut down on the carbs. Hee. This place very small has only about 15 by the counter seats. Prices ranging from $7.50-15 nett. My favourite is kokke and aji fish. But those who prefer lesser or no fish bones can try their gindara or saba. Restaurant style food at great prices!

Brownies at Shermay's cooking school

The brownies class by Chef Chris was simply educational! I learnt alot during the class. At one point in time i thought that i was in a chemistry class. He taught us things like why we put corn syrup instead or sugar and why water needs to be added in certain recepies. He also told us that those commercially sold brownies that has a crust on top is due to alot more sugar in the pastry to allow a hard crust to form on top. So beware of additional calories on those! At the end of the class, each participants received a box of brownies in 3 flavours to bring home!

Brownies are very easy to make and can even be bake into a cake with the same recipe. It can become cheap yet wonderful christmas gifts for your friends in such economy downturn. Hehe...

Early christmas with roast chicken, pizza, risotto and profiteroles

Last Sunday, it was a cooling and cosy day as it has been raining since Saturday. Another perfect day to cook and bake for my friends. I made roast chicken, half and half pizza, prawn risotto with rocket leaves and lemon zest and my personal favourite -profiteroles! It's my first time preparing these dishes. I started with some preparations such as making the pizza dough and the tomato sauce on Saturday as I want to make sure that I am done with cooking before all my guests arrived. This time, I was so glad that I managed my time better and all the dishes were completed in time except for the profiteroles. I only started baking when they were about to finish the mains to ensure freshness of the dessert.

Roast Chicken
Ingredients

1 large chicken

pumpkins - chopped to bite size

potatoes -chopped to bite size

sausages

fresh rosemary-roughly chopped

sea salt and pepper

oregano

olive oil

butter

ready made chicken stuffing -bread crumbs infused with herbs and apricot

Procedure

1. Pre heat oven to 200 degrees.


2. Heat the bread crumbs with 20ml of water with the knob of butter and set aside for 5 mins.


3. Rub the chicken with salt, pepper and oregano. Place the stuffing into the chicken cavity and seal it.


4. Place the potatoes, pumpkins and sausages on the baking tray. Season with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place the chicken on top and sprinkle the rosemary.


5. Place the chicken in the oven. 40mins for every 1kg of the chicken. Chicken will be ready when the juice runs clear when skewered.
   

Prawn risotto with rocket leaves and lemon zest
Ingredients

200g riso rice

1l chicken stock

500g prawns de-shelled and de-veined

50g rocket leaves

60g Parmesan cheese grated

80g sour cream

salt and pepper

1 large onion chopped finely

1tbsp garlic chopped finely

30g white wine

20g olive oil


Procedure

1. Boil the chicken stock and bring it to a simmer.


2. Sweat the garlic and onions with olive oil for 5mins in medium heat. Deglaze with white wine. Pour in the rice and stir till all wine are absorbed. Add the zest.


3. Pour the chicken stock, 1 ladle at a time, till all chicken stock is absorbed then pour in another ladle till all stock is used up.


4. Just before the last ladle of stock, add the prawns.


5. After all stock are used up, pour in the cheese and sour cream. Stir till well mixed.


6. Turn off the heat and add the rocket leaves.
   

31cam by 25cm thin crust Pizza
Ingredients
Pizza dough

200g plain flour

10g yeast

135ml warm water

1 tbsp olive oil

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of sugar


Procedure

1. Place yeast with warm water and sugar and let it stand till bubbles appear on top.


2. Place flour in large bowl and mix in olive oil and salt. Add the yeast mixture and mix together.


3. Knead on a floured board till smooth. It takes about 15mins.


4. Oiled a large bowl and place the dough in. Cover with cling film and let it rise to double in size. Takes about 50mins.


5. Punch down with fist once doubled in size and rolled it out on a floured board.


6. Place baking paper on tray, followed by the rolled out dough.
   

Tomato sauce

1 can peeled plum tomato

30g onion chopped finely

1tbsp garlic chopped finely

15ml white wine

1tsp oregano

a pinch salt and pepper

olive oil

Procedure

1. Sweat onions and garlic with olive oil for 5 mins. Deglaze it with white wine.


2. Pour in the tomato and mashed it slowly.


3. Add salt, pepper and oregano and simmer till paste consistency.

Pre heat the oven to 300 degrees. Spread tomato sauce over the pizza dough and top up with the ingredients you prefer! Heat about 20mins or till crusty.

Sweet endings!!! With my favorite profiteroles with macadamia ice-cream topped with 55% valrona dark chocolate and fresh strawberries.

いしょにたべましょか。Japanese Cuisine

It's Japan Hour! During the long weekend, I invited my friends to try my japanese cuisine. I made california and unagi maki, pork katsucurry and katsudon.

I was an hour plus late and they were so hungry by then. I should give myself about 3 hours of preparation and cooking time instead of just 2 hours the next time. So, my friends, pardon me, I will do better next time. The next session will be pizzas and christmas goodies!

Oink oink!!

Looking for a delicious late night supper at a very comfortable place? Orchard hotel's Le Terrasse Teochew Muay is the place to go. For the price of $28-33+++ (50% off each for 2 pax if you have the copthrone a-la-carte card), you can enjoy a sumptuous meal that includes the famous ah-huat kong bak bao (braised pork belly with steamed buns), claypot sea cucumber, chilled prawns, crabs and many more. They have freshly cooked pork porridge and blanched vegetables too. Not forgetting the velvety smooth yam paste for desserts!

When you sink your teeth into the braised pork belly, the fats melts in your mouth. The spices is well marinaded throughout the meat and when pared with the plain steamed buns, it brings out the taste of the sauce. However, I felt that the meat can be slightly softer.

Another thing I want to compliment is their seats. Almost 70% of their seats are sofa seats which comes with cushions. The cushions allow you to hide your bulging stomach after the eating too much pork belly. Ha ha.. The sofa seats can sit about 2-6paxs, so make sure to call and reserve the sofa seats.

Operating Hours: 07:00 PM - 10:30 PM (Sunday to Thursday)

07:00 PM to 11:00 PM (Friday, Saturday and Eve of PH)

Price Guide : Adult S$28.00 Child S$16.00 (Sunday to Thursday)

Adult S$33.00 Child S$18.50 (Friday, Saturday & Eve of PH)

Call to making booking at 67396565

东坡肉dong po rou(braised pork belly) from 163 Geylang lorong 3 G7 Sinma live seafood is super super delicious!!! The best I have ever tried. The pork belly is very soft so it does not stick onto your teeth. The taste is very different with the kong bak bao above. I feel that this one will not go well with steamed buns. It is best tasted by itself. The sauce is not as flavourful but it compliments the meat very well. The sauce is just nice and thick and does not overpower the sweetness of the meat. It is so delicious that we had 2 servings!
The claypot frog leg porridge is a must to try too! They have spicy and non spicy ones. Those who cannot take chili, I suggest you to take the non spicy ones.

Call 67432201 / 68484161 for reservations. Their second level is air conditioned, so remember to ask for it if you prefer to dine more comfortably.

http://www.g7sinmaliveseafood.com/g7Index.aspx

Plain Meringues with salty caramel chocolate!!

Meringues are desserts made from egg whites and sugar. After beating them together to stiff peaks, they can be pipped into different shapes as shown in the pictures above. Then, they are baked in an 100 degrees oven for 2hrs or more depending on the size of the meringues. The thicker it is, the longer the time required. It is ready when it can be peeled off from the parchment paper easily. Its a simple but yet time consuming. Nevertheless, the time can be used for making the sauce. The salty caramel chocolate sauce is one example but it is just as nice without. The baked meringues are very crispy at the first bite and melts immediately in your mouth, turning it into a hard candy inside. Meringues are available at high-end dessert shops like Da Paolo gastronomia and Canele patisserie and costs about 2-3 dollars each. Try it for yourself and tell me how it taste to you.

I learnt baking meringues at shermay's cooking school from chef Joycelyn Shu http://brandoesq.blogspot.com/ and tried baking some for my friends. But, it did not turn out as well as Joycelyn's so, I emailed her and asked her about the problems I faced during the course of baking. I will try again next time and improve on it!

Sticky date and guinness cupcakes

Have not met my buddies, A and A for very long, so decided to make some cupcakes that I learned from Shermay's cooking school http://www.shermay.com/ at Jalan Merah Saga Rd for them. The classes are quite pricey that ranges from $90-150 but I feel that it is worth the money. Sometimes, they do have hands-on lessons and each lesson varies from 2.5hrs-3.45hrs.

The pictures above are sticky date and Guinness cupcakes topped with lemon cream cheese frosting in two colours (lime green and pink wilton's colour gels). I decorated the cuties with some silver pearls and red hearts that I bought from phoon huat bakery at the same place too http://www.phoonhuat.com/. They do have other outlets situated around Singapore. They sell everything you will need for baking and definitely cheaper than any supermarkets. Phoon Huat also provides baking lessons at very cheap prices.

Christmas is around the corner and these cuties can be wonderful gifts to your love ones and friends!

Honey spiced apple and persimmon with whipped cream

I was really delighted that friends are coming over for dinner. With starter cocktails, main courses and it was missing a dessert! The night must end with something sweet in remembrance of the wonderful night. I ransacked my 2 fridges and decided to make this. Its really easy!

Ingredients: (makes 4-6)
1 apple - skinned and chopped to small cubes
10g caster sugar
1 pinch cinnamon
10ml red wine vinegar
5ml balsamic vinegar
10ml honey
1 ripe persimmon - skinned and chopped to small cubes
150ml whipping cream
creme de cassis

Procedure:

1. Cook apple with the 2 vinegars, sugar and cinnamon in low heat until all liquid absorbed and the apple is soft. Add honey and stir. Add water to continue to cook if not soft enough. Make sure all liquid is absorbed.
2. Add in the persimmon and stir till mixed and place mixture in the fridge for 1 hour when cooled.
3. Whip the whipping cream till stiff peaks.
4. Place a dash of cassis in the glass, followed by the fruit mixture and top up with whipped cream.

note:

• ml = grams

Dee's burger

Ingredients (1):
100g fresh Minced prime beef
1 tsp mc commicks Italian herbs
1 egg
a pinch black pepper
a pinch sea salt
onions (small cubes)
1tsp olive oil

Ingredients (2):
streaky bacon
tomatoes
emmental cheese (can vary)
mini soft meal bun
mix vegetables

1. Marinade (1) for at least 2 hrs in fridge. Shape into a patty to palm size.
2. Bring patty to slightly to room temperature before grill/pan frying on med-low flame. 3.5-4mins for medium-rare, 5 mins for medium on each side.
3. Spread butter and toast bun in 200 degrees oven or toaster for 5 mins. Place the cheese immediately when its ready.
4. Top up with a slice of tomato, vegetables, beef patty and bacon!

Some recommendations:

• Caramelised onions can be added for the extra sweetness.
• Olive oil and balsamic vinegar can be mixed to the vegetables before plating.
  

ThirstyBear Brewing Co. & Spanish Cuisine (San Francisco, CA)

Another micro brewery! And its ORGANIC!
ThirstyBear is located at 661 Howard St and it is open from 11.30am to 10pm everyday. They have 9 different kinds of beer that includes Ales and Lagers. 9?! How to try all in one seating?

Do not worry. You can try all w/o getting drunk. They have sample set that is served from shooter glasses. A set of 9 different beers for only 9usd! Its really a good deal.

1. Golden Vanilla - smooth, with hints of vanilla
   
2. Brown Bear - coffee flavour
   
3. Meyer E.S.B - very smooth, malt beer. My fav.
   
4. Valencia Wheat - taste like a smoother version of hoegarden


5. Howard St IPA - hints of cinnamon, bitter aftertaste


6. Kozlov Stout - smooth, slight bittersweet


7. Seasonal Beer - can skip the seasonal beers as all tasted very bitter, abit like cigarette ash. Drinkable. Only for the courageous.


8. Seasonal Beer
   
9. Seasonal Beer

I had some Spanish Tapas. Gammas-prawns in spicy sauce (8.50usd). Flat bread with caramelised onions, rocket leaves and cheese (9usd). Good and tasty dishes to accompany the beer. Great service too! Check out their website at www.thirstybear.com. Call them at 415-974-0905 for reservations.

Taipei 豆浆油条

I was in Taipei for holiday and and was craving for authentic 豆浆油条, so I approached the concierge of Sheraton hotel (near 善祷寺 station) to enquire about the best one nearby.

永和豆浆 is situated at the 2nd road after exiting from the right of Sheraton hotel. It opens early in the morning which usually caters to working adults. It closes at 12 noon for cleaning and reopens at 1pm for the lunch crowd.

I wanted to compare between 油条大王 in Geylang (Singapore) and 永和豆浆 in Taipei, so I ordered the same food which 油条大王 serves. Their 小笼包's (steamed pork dumplings) skin is too thick and I can still taste the flour they used to make the skin, but, the minced pork inside taste very sweet and delicious. This was my 3rd 笼 of 小笼包 in taipei and I realised that it is normal that the skin is thick unlike in Singapore whereby the skin is thinner and the pork not as savoury. I still prefer my dumplings to have a slightly thinner skin as I feel that with thicker skin, it will over-power the taste of the pork, turning the main actor to a supporting role.

Next, I had 热豆浆 (hot soya milk) with 烧饼加肉松 (crispy bread with dried pork fibre). Wow! The sweetness of the soya milk is just nice. Their soya milk is made fresh in the store every morning. The soya beans is grind finely to a powder form before making to soya milk and I can still taste the soya powder when I drink it! Where else in Singapore, soya milk taste a little artifical.

The crispy bread is flaky on the outside and soft on the inside, unlike Singapore, which is much harder and thicker. At 永和, they make their crispy bread every day and they will not make extra onces it rans out. So, make sure to be there early if you want to try it. The one on the picture was the last few they had left. I was very disappointed when they told me it has ran out when I wanted another one. It was only 2pm! Arrgh!

油条 (fried dough) was made fresh for us. It was piping hot when it was served. The fried dough tasted light, fluffy and crispy. As compared to Taipei's version, Singapore's ones is harder on the outside but more tasty and flavourful. I prefer the slightly blander taste from 永和 as I feel if the fried dough is too flavourful, it will over-power the soya milk when you eat them together by dipping the fried dough to the hot soya milk.

Overall, I prefer Taipei's version. If you prefer food with more flavour, then the Singapore's version may be better for you. Both has different taste. But I would say the crispy bread at 永和win hands down. Try it and judge it for yourself.

The Beer station - Singapore (Lock Road)

The first Czceh microbrewery in Singapore is situated in 9 Lock Rd at Gillmen village along depot rd. It has been 1 of my favorite hangout place with T, because of the quiet and chill out environment with greenery all around and light breeze creeps in slowly as the night goes by. In short, I feel close to nature when I am there. But, there is just 1 comment about the whole ambiance, they should change their music to just 1 type instead of interchanging the songs with a mix of hip-hop, rnb, boyband ballads, techno, classics and retro. I feel they should just play either ballads or jazz to go with the whole atmosphere.

Tand I visited the place last night again. We ordered a jug(1.3l) of CIERNE PIVO - Black Czech Pilsner Brew and a jug of REZANE PIVO - Black & White Czech Pilsner Brew during their happy hours which is from 4-8pm(usually they will extend their happy hours to about 845pm and you can pre-order as much as you want during the happy hours and get them to serve them later even after happy hours ends). Besides that, they even serve the jugs of beer with ice buckets! Excellent service!

What I like about their beers is their light and smooth taste. I will not feel bloated after drinking because they use Singapore water(more alkali then other beers) to brew the beer. They do not use any carbon dioxide during the process. They use air! Last but not least, they use pressure instead of pumps to transfer the beer from fermenting tanks to dispensing tanks and that is why their beer is not broken up and tastes better and smoother. The mix is my favourite. It has hints of honey and lemon. Whereas the black one has hints of caramel and coffee. They do serve food like beef goulash, cheese steak, and sausages which are recipes from Slovakia & Czech Republic but I have yet to try them myself. Will update once I have tried.

Check out their website and give them a visit! http://www.beer-station.com/