Garuda Padang Cuisine @ ViVo City

There are not that many good nasi padangs around here. Nasi Padang, as locals know, are just Malay rice with condiments, something like the Chinese zi char mixed rice. However, this is where the misconception starts. Nasi Padang actually originates from Indonesia, hence it is not Malay, but Indonesian. Just like white sparkling wine can only be called Champagne when it originates from that region of France, similarly, nasi padang is so called only when it originates from Padang in Indonesia.

Last night, I met a friend and we went to Garuda Padang Cuisine at the basement of ViVo City for dinner. I have long wanted to try this rather famous Indonesian restaurant. When we went there, we realise that it is kind of a buffet style where we go to the counter with a variety of dishes, and pick and choose which ones we like.

In the end, we ended up with four dishes - Rendang Sapi (beef rendang), Ikan Asin Pakang (my favourite crispy thin-sliced lightly salted fish), Gulai Singkong (Tapioca leaves), Ikan Ghembong Belado (Khembong fish with belado sauce), with rice and free-flow of lime juice.

After all the hype about the restaurant, I must say I am a tad disappointed. It is not that the food is not delicious, the food is good, but I kind of expected more, perhaps the food could taste better, be more extraordinary? Somehow it tastes about the same as any other Indonesian restaurants around.

But then again, I was having a sore throat so maybe my taste buds were a tad off. In any case, the beef rendang is of the right colour, but not of the right taste. Somehow I expected the beef rendang to be sweeter, but the one we ate seemed a bit bland.

The gulai singkong is good - tapioca leaves steeped in creamy juice, and just the right texture. The ikan ghembong is spicy (I kind of thought it would be sour) and the best is the ikan asin pakang - crispy, just the right amount of saltiness, and chewy in the mouth. That was the best dish by far!

The service is a bit slow though. It was supposed to be free-flow of lime juice but no one served us even after calling the waiter twice. Finally he came and refilled our juice. I asked for another glass of warm water but it never came, until we had to go to the counter and asked it ourselves.

Still, besides all these, it was a fun night! This will be in my re-visit list for sure!

Food : 3.5 out of 5
Service : 2 out of 5
Price : Not sure as I did not pay for it

Above And Beyond - A Collection Of Recipes From Singapore Airlines International Culinary Panel

It is here! Finally! The Singapore Airlines cookbook, written by is panel of celebrity chefs. I had it ordered online at its Kris Shop, and it came in a UPS sealed envelope, in mint condition! That is the efficiency of SIA!

While looking through this, I notice that there are lots of interesting recipes - some are straight forward, some not so straight forward. The recipes and pictures are so delicious that I felt like eating them there and then!

But the first question that went through my mind was that : are these recipes and food actually served on airplanes?

Personally, in all my years of taking airplanes, I have never come across food that is so beautifully prepared and presented. The airplane food I have partaken all come in a box, like the Japanese bento set, or else would be a normal kind of set meal. I have never eaten such beautiful and delicious creations as in the book!

I cannot wait to go back and try out the recipes in there! Hopefully my concoctions will not be disastrous!

50 Things I Want In My Kitchen

1. Two-door multi-compartment refrigerator with an external ice-dispenser

2. Microwave oven and a conventional oven with compartments that can bake a cake and roast a turkey, as well as baking cookies, brownies, muffins and whatnots

3. Dishwasher

4. Stove with heat absorber

5. Cake Mixer with inter-changeable whisks

6. Cake moulds (round, square, chiffon, sandwich, loaf)

7. Cookie, cupcakes and Muffin moulds, pans and trays

8. Souffle and panna cotta dish

9. Tart and Pie pans

10. Pizza pans

11. Brownie moulds

12. Chocolate moulds

13. Chocolate Fondue Set

14. Cheese Fondue Set

15. Spatula

16. Rolling Pin

17. Measuring Cup

18. Measuring Spoons

19. Small Measuring Cups

20. Marzipan Tools

21. Creme Brulee Set

22. Big Pots, Medium Pots, Small Pots and Pans

23. Ice-Cream Maker

24. Cookbook Holder

25. Saucepans

26. Food Blender / Processor

27. Pasta Maker

28. Knife Sets

29. Chopping Board

30. Stemware (champagne glass, wine glass, beer mug, sherry glasses)

31. Coffee and Tea sets (teapot, cups and saucers, sugar bowl, milk jug, strainer)

32. Hot Pots

33. Drinking glasses

34. Plates

35. Bowls

36. Spoons (soup, dessert)

37. Forks (salad, appetiser, main course, dessert)

38. Knives

39. Coasters and Mats

40. Serving forks / spoons / ladles

41. Corkscrew

42. Wine-opener / can-opener

43. Salt and Pepper Mill

44. Coffee Grinders / Breakfast Maker

45. Waffle Maker

46. Barbecue Grills

47. Yoghurt Maker

48. Bread Maker

49. Multislicer with Portable Scale

50. Wine Chiller / Cellar

So who can I get to sponsor me my dream kitchen?? :-p

Where Can I Find This?

I saw this multipurpose kitchen equipment / breakfast maker and fell in love with it!

Just imagine the non-hassle of making coffee, toast, eggs and sausage all together instead of separately. And the washing of everything in one instead of different pots and pans. Whoever who invented this is a genius!

Where, oh where, can I find one like this??

Ice Cream Frenzy @ West Coast

Ice-cream cafes are getting very popular in recent years. There is Island Creamery, Cold Rock Creamery, Once Upon A Milkshake, The Ice Cream Gallery, The Daily Scoop, and the more recent ones like UDDERS.

Today we went to a newly-opened ice cream cafe called Ice Cream Frenzy. Tucked away under a housing block in a little western corner, this new ice cream cafe is opened by a retired civil servant and all the ice cream is home-made. There is a variety of flavours like Tiger Beer, Avocado with Attap Chee to name a few.

There is also waffles with ice cream, with maple syrup. The ice cream is soft, gelato-like, with low sugar and fat, so one can eat it without a worry of putting on more ounces. The ice cream melts in the mouth, with just the right consistency, yet it is not too rich.

In short, it is one of the most perfect ice-cream I have ever partaken! The owner of the shop made it a point to come mingle with us, his customers. He even said they do delivery and children's parties. He says we can buy our food and eat in his shop, stay as long as we like. How nice!

If distance is not a problem, I will sure love to go there again!

The Perfect Teapot

I am so happy to be able to win this darling teapot and warmer set!

Add a tealight into the warmer, put in tea bag / tea leaves and water, and put the teapot on the warmer. Start boiling. A cup of tea is ready in a few minutes!

Actually, what would make it even better if it comes with a set of teacups, sauces, spoons, sugar bowls and milk jars. That would make it a complete set!

Beppu Menkan 别府 @ Tiong Bahru Plaza

I always feel the best ramen I have ever taken is in Japan. The local ramen tastes more like instant noodles than anything else. Still, there are some places which serve quite good ramen of a reasonable standard.

One such place is Beppu Makan, which surprisingly, serves pretty good ramen. I was having lunch earlier with some friends and I ordered the chicken ramen. The spiciness index comes in two chillis, four chillis, eight chillis or the fiery sixteen chillis!

The customer service is pretty good, considering all of us have diverse taste. Some do not like onions, some do not like corn, onions and peas, some prefer more chilli, some prefer no chilli at all. The service staff wrote everything down and got all our orders right!

I ordered mine with four chillis, and it is not as spicy as I thought it would be. The ramen came in a big bowl with a big spoon, typical style of a Japanese ramen. The ingredients consist of corn, chicken, peas and spring onions.

For a local-made ramen, it is one of the rare good ones I have taken. If it tastes this good here, I wonder how much better it would taste in Beppu itself? I hope to be able to go again and see if I can take an even spicier one!

Food : 3.5 out of 5
Service : 4 out of 5
Price : 3.5 out of 5

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My Favourite Childhood Snack

I cannot believe I actually found this!

This has been my favourite childhood snack of all times! But ever since my teenage years and adulthood, lesser and lesser provision shops have been stocking this. In the past, whenever I managed to find this, I would buy in bulk - at least twenty packets! They were so cheap, about ten or twenty cents per packet!

Unfortunately, for the past few years, I have not been able to find any of this. I was thinking perhaps it is finally out of stock everywhere, and moaned about the loss of my favourite childhood snack.

Then today, I came across this old provision shop in that neighbourhood. Suddenly, I saw a small display case with this snacks! Without thinking, I wiped out the entire stock! Finally I found my favourite childhood snack!

Through Emerald Hill

I have long heard about Emerald Hill but have not been there. I know it used to be a place for social escorts, then the stretch of shophouses was developed into pubs, lounges and restaurants.

I know Emerald Hill is near to the Mount Elizabeth stretch but I never know the exact position until last night when I realise it is situated at Emerald Hill Road at the former Peranakan Place.

Last night was my first time at a chill-out joint at Emerald Hill. We went to Ice-Cold Beer for drinks where there was an offer for Margaritas at S$10.00 each. We had three Margaritas and an Erdinger Beer, plus chicken wings. We happened to be sitting next to the pool table so we played two rounds of pool too!

Because this is World Cup season, there were many people around watching the match so the place was packed! We were already lucky enough to find a small table for us.

Besides the noise of people cheering and the loud music being played, this place seems a pretty cosy place to just chill-out. I will not mind going again! Maybe the next time round we will go pub-hopping along the stretch too!

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The Concept Of Communal Dining

Recently, I got introduced to the concept of Communal Dining. I have known about casual dining, fine dining, comfort food, bistro, individually-plated, but it is the first time I heard of Communal Dining.

I did some research and found out that Communal Dining is a new concept slowly gaining popularity in the West and here. However, even though Communal Dining itself is a relatively new concept, it has already been practiced by Asians.

You know those table dinners where there are a few dishes and everyone helps himself to the dish? One dish feeds several people. Just like for Chinese, when we eat, we use chopsticks to take the fish, the vegetables and scoop the soup. The whole family eats from the same few dishes instead of individual servings.

That is Communal Dining. It sems that we have been practising that all these while but never really thought of that in this context.

Communal Dining is not the same as those dinners we see on television where the dish is passed around and everyone takes just a scoop. It means a sharing of the dishes where everyone eats from the same dishes.

Seems that what we practise here is slowly gaining popularity in the West when all these while, it had been the Western influence on our culture and habits. Times have changed indeed!

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Candlenut Kitchen @ Chinatown

I have heard of this restaurant recently and thought of trying out because it serves Peranakan cuisine for one, which relates more to the locals. Finally I went there yesterday because some of us were going for a karaoke session near Chinatown and this restaurant at Neil Road is just five minutes walk away.

When I first went in, I thought the interior is pretty small, but the place is crowded. Thank goodness I reserved seats, otherwise we might not have been able to get places. When we went in, the waitress served us water and crackers while waiting for the others to arrive. The table setting is made of dark wood, with neat napkins and utensils.

The table setting

Crackers

When everyone has arrived, we proceeded to order. Because it is a communal dining concept, we ordered a few dishes for everyone to share. First we started off with soup. Each soup came in an individual serving, so we ordered three bowls of soup to share amongst all three of us. The soup is salted vegetables with pork belly, but unfortunately, I forgot the Peranakan name for this.

Soup... glorious soup

The next few dishes were Yeye's Curry, a kind of white chicken curry, Ayam Goreng (barbecued chicken wings) and a vegetable dish (which I cannot remember the name as well). All in all, the servings are just right for six of us and the food was not too bad too.

Yeye's Curry

Ayam Goreng (Barbecued Chicken Wings)

Salted Vegetable dish

Each of us had an individual serving of rice to go with the dishes. The rice was free flow, hence one of the guys ordered another plate of rice. We had dessert after that. Each of us ordered a different dessert, ranging from sago gula melaka to vanilla ice-cream to banana a la pudding.

The sago gula melaka came in a round dish which is of a different serving than I am used to. And it was a tad too sweet.

Sago Gula Melaka

The vanilla ice-cream looks like.. erh.. a vanilla ice-cream.

Vanilla Ice-Cream

The most interesting dish was the banana a la pudding. Vanilla ice-cream on one side, a round mash of what looked like mashed potato on the other side, but it was actually banana. Wow.. I did not know that banana could be made until like this! I must try to see if I can replicate that!

Banana a la pudding

This place is more worth it if you go in a bigger group, say five to six people. The dishes are the same servings, hence if you order the same number of dishes as I did, the bill when split amongst six comes up to a pretty reasonable price of S$15.00. I think the next time round I would want to bring my parents along too!

Food : 3 out of 5
Ambience : 3.5 out of 5
Service : 3.5 out of 5
Price : 3.5 out of 5