Ban Lee Siang @ Jalan Ong Kim Wee, Malacca

I have always love holidays for the simple fact that I rarely feel guilty indulging in food round the clock. Hmmm...not that I do feel guilty even on a daily basis...but well...I digress. 

The last weekend was spent with a short road trip up north to Malacca. Which was basically a eat-and-eat trip and although I am into the Peranakan food (with lots of belacan), I made it a point to try something different this time round.

Having been to Jonker Street a few times in the past year, I vaguely recall this street vendor in his mobile cart displaying a variety of lok lok items for sale. Unfortunately, I could not muster enough courage to dip and eat by the road side.

Armed with my research, the group of six of us took a taxi to Jalan Ong Kim Wee for the acclaimed satay celup, Ban Lee Siang (which I heard is the fierce rival of the other equally, if not more well known Capitol).

Upon seated, there will be a pot of satay sauce ready to be dipped into. And judging from my observation, the pot remains the same pot throughout the night regardless of the different groups of patrons at the same table.

So rule of thumb, no double dipping!

And then you take a tray and pick up from the wide array of varieties at the fridge. There's inlards, fried tau pok, fishballs, sotong balls, prawns, otak, sausages, kang kong etc etc etc to take your pick from!

We also ordered servings of bread and cucumber to dip with the rich satay sauce.

Overall, it was a good dinner with our selected sticks of goodies dipped in its hot pipping satay sauce which is a unique experience from your typical hot pot soup. 

However, do go with a sturdy stomach (if you have) since 2 out of the 6 of us did not quite survive the after dinner experience. I did good, as usual.

 

 

Till the next holiday,

Cheers!

Bistro One Zero Three @ Pasir Panjang

Bistro One Zero Three has always been greatly raved about by a friend who proposed to his girlfriend with the help of one of the Bistro's owner. 

And so since I was at Vivo City and most of the eateries seem to have perpectually long queue, I made a short trip down to Bistro One Zero Three which is a short 5 minutes drive away.

Granted, ambience is cosy given it's 'family run' nature and service is generally impeccable. I would have enjoyed my meal at this unpretentious if not for something about the food that does not quite agree with it.

 

Amongst the four of us we had a fish and chips, a salmon dish, a chicken dish and apparently its signature pork (pardon me but I can't quite remember the dishes now).

I had the salmon and unfortunately, the sauce which I suspect was prepared mainly with balsamic vingenar, was the sourest sauce I ever had and which was far too overwhelmingwhen paried with a fish dish. I can only vaguely recall this meal as a sour one. Which was a pity really given that the salmon was pan fried to a decent tenderness and the mashed potato smooth and creamy.

 

But fret not. Maybe I was just unlucky that day. Perhaps you will have better luck with the pork neck and/or chicken thigh.

 

Do give it a try if you're looking for somehwere homely, quaint and unpretentious.

Seafood Paradise - Changi Airport Terminal 2

The Paradise Group is one of the few restaurants that seems to be able to maintain a consistent standard be it at its more high end outlet (i.e. Taste Paradise) or even a simple stopover for desserts at its many Paradise Inn outlets.

Seafood Paradise, for those who recall, is the pioneer of the group which has its roots at Defu Lane industrial estate area. Despite its humble beginnings from the somewhat famous creamy butter crab, the 'paradise' is currently widespread islandwide.

With its latest branch (or so I think) newly opened at Changi Airport Terminal 2, the location definitely makes it all more convenient to bring the family out for a nice seafood dinner instead of the usual East Coast Seafood cluster.

The restaurant is well lighted and ventilated although like your typical chinese restaurants, the service runs very tight during the dinner crowd.

For a table of 7 adults, dinner comprised of 2 appetizers, 2 crabs and 5 main course. Considering we are relatively big-eaters, all of us were stuffed (in a good way) by the end of the meal.

Anyway, here's a quick recap of the meal.

Teochew Prawn Roll ($8.80)

Crispy-fried Baby Squid ($10.80) - These baby squids fried and coated with honey bagged a good punch in terms of smell and favour and was one of the dishes that we just could not get enough off.

 

Shark's Fin with Crab Meat Soup ($15.80 per serving)

Chilli Crab ($48.00/kg) + Deep Fried Buns ($3.60) - I have always been a fan of No Signboard when it comes to chilli crabs but this is a fierce contender with its fairly spicy and thick chilli gravy with a generous amount of egg stirred into its making. Dipped with some deep fried buns, what more can one ask for?

Creamy Butter Crab ($48.00/kg) - I was initially a little hesitant about ordering this dish worrying that it may be too fushion for comfort. Surprising, the sauce with a mild mixture of butter, cream, curry leaves and fried garlic was the highlight of the meal. I can't quite describe the taste but man, do go for this the next time you are at Seafood Paradise, it was that good.

Coffee Pork Ribs ($12.00)

Prawns with Salted Egg Yoke ($16.00) - A cholestrol busting dish but a perfect compliment to plain steam rice. One bite into the succulent salted egg yoke prawn with one mouthful of rice...yum....you get the idea.

Hot Plate Spicy Squid ($14.00) - We all love how soft and easily chewable the squid was drenched with some XO chilli sauce served on a sizzling hot place lined with banana leaf to aid its fragrance.

Coral Clams with Asparagus ($16.00) - The 'vegetable' dish of the day.

Stir-fried Mee Sua ($12.00)

I am sure for easterners, there is now another alternative to a more than decent seafood :)

That is all folks! I'll try to do more regular updates if schedule permits.

Changi Airport Terminal 2
Level 3
Singapore819643
Tel: 6214 9655

Gandhi Restaurant @ Chander Road (Part II)

It's Gandhi time again...my interim comfort food!

So...I have previously wrote about how Gandhi is one of the best indian banana leaf restaurant locally and my position still maintains.

Coming during the weekdays is always a good idea when the crowd is thinner and the ambience not as hectic.

This time round, we went directly after work at say 8 plus in the evening and unfortunately the fish cutlets were already sold out. Regardless, we ordered the usual rice with flower crabs, curry fish and sambal eggs.

Oh yes, food aside, service today was exceptionally friendly and a constant (almost instantaneous) refill of the papadum. 

For the clueless (i.e. me a couple of months ago), you will first be served with banana leaf with the standard 'side dishes' of vegeable dal, cabbage, indian style sambal, rice, curry and papadum.

Next, you can either go to the food counter to choose your additional dishes or order on the spot. Since I'm unadventurous, fish curry, sambal eggs and flower crabs it is.

Now, let's turn our attention to the flower crabs. It's strange how the gravy/sauce actually makes the dish taste like a rendang or rather, flower crabs rendang. And it's addictive given it's savoury and non-spicy nature. This is a must have.

 So there you have it. A splendid meal at all but approximately $16.00 with 2 drinks.

Durians @ Balestier

Tucked along Balestier Road (between Quality Hotel and a Chinese Temple), this inconspicuous durian stall offers one of the best durian I've tried.

 

For a start, you can choose your Mao Shan Wang  and inform the boss whether you like it bittersweet or just bitter.

And so bittersweet we chose.

As you can most probably tell from the photo, the flesh is rightly firm and tender with a strong structural taste of bittersweetness. 

Not your watery and/or hald-ripe and/or tasteless nonsense.

But for S$30 a pop (which may explain the 'value-added' service of bottled water and tissue boxes readily available), this is one durian that's meant for the occasional indulgence.

Royal China @ Raffles Hotel

Royal China used to be one of my favourite dim sum place until the makeover a couple of years ago.

I know the sky blue decor is supposed to look classy, but seriously sky blue for a chinese restaurant?

But anyway, since Royal China is relatively in close vicinity to my office, I decided to give it another go. And I am glad I make the trip, for the quality of the food at least.



We ordered a couple of staple dim sum and I pretty much enjoy the consistency of the dishes and the variety offered.

The Har Kaw (Shrimp dumpling) is wrapped is a thin layer of crystal like skin with each dumpling offering a generous amount of fresh, coarsely chopped shrimps.



(And please ignore the blurry photos...am still trying my best to figure out how to operate my new camera and the very silly focal point)

Next up was the deep fried beancurd roll with shrimps. Again, this was served with a generous amount of shrimp instead of minced pork as used by some other dim sum outlets.



The seafood porridge with bits and pieces of scallop, sliced fish and prawn is definitely the comfort food of the (rainy) day.



Maybe I was half expecting these to resemble their salted egg yoke custard bun counterparts, these salted egg yoke custard layer cake was quite mild in flavour and taste.



We also ordered the glutinous lotus rice and seafood dumpling which don't quite make it on the photos.

All in all, lunch for two sums up to a reasonable $40+ taking into consideration the quality of its food. It's just a pity that service was tardy quite an almost half filled restaurant.

Prego @ Fairmont Singapore

Prego has always been one of the default restaurant on days where I am clueless on where or what to have for dinner.

The once brightly lit restaurant with clean defined furnishing aimed at executive diners has been recently revamped to a more cosy italian rustic settings. I understand from the staff that the revamp is primarily due to a change of its master chef which explains a total change of menu.


The new menu consist of a a more limited choices of its pastas, pizzas, mains and desserts. Likewise, the service crew now adopts a more causal serving approach from its 'choose-it-yourself' anti-pasti corner to the complimentary choices of bread brought around in a basket for a more personal touch.

Gone also is the 'Sparkling or Still?' the moment you are seated.

To kick start the meal, we ordered 2 variety of anti-pasti at the anti-pasti corner.

Smoked Salmon Bruschetta (S$4.00 each)

\

Seafood Salad (S$4.00 each)



The Bruschetta was nicely toasted with a parlsey and cream cheese (I guess) spread while the seafood salad, the portion of at most 3 spoonfuls, was well mixed with a right amount of olive oil and lemon dressing to whet your appetite.

Now, the mains.

We ordered a set dinner (S$55.00) and a seafood linguine (S$27.00).

The set dinner consists of a hearty bowl of chunky mushroom soup, arrabiata penne, grilled cod fish and tiramisu.

Dishes worth a mention are its wholesome mushroom soup and very tender grilled cod fish with fresh and juicy tomatoes on vines.

However, I personally feel that the penne was a tad overcooked and its tiramisu not as light and concentrated as its previous version offered before the revamp.

The arrabiata penne

 

Cod fish



Seafood Linguine



Tiramisu

 


Prego
80 Bras Basah Road
1F Fairmont Singapore
Tel: 6431 6156

Empire Cafe @ Raffles Hotel

Nestled in a quiet corner of Raffles Hotel, Empire Cafe appeared to be a welcoming venue on a Friday evening when one needs some personal space from a busy weekend crowd.



Specialising in local fare, it is (at least in my opinion) a pricy alternative to your authentic hawker food in a local hawker centre where you can find local food at its best, both in price and quality.

But well, we don't have too much of a choice when it's nearing 10 p.m. and we want to settle dinner fast and in a comfortable environment.

We ordered an iced lemon tea, a nasi goreng and a prawn mee soup. The food came in hearty portions but I guess they better do, considering the exorbitant pricing.

Here's the Nasi Goreng with ikan goreng (I had it replaced from chicken), sunny side up, prawn crackers, archar, fish floss and fish balls. (S$29.00)

I like how the archar is coated with a generous amount of peanuts and how the fish was very tender and well marinated despite it being deep fried.



And here's the prawn noodle soup (S$24.00). It was comforting to have some soupy food at this time of the night and although the soup itself somewhat lacks in favour, it redemned itself by a good offering of fresh prawn and ingredients.



Here's the shocking part. The iced lemon tea was a whopping S$14.00, no joke.

What is only comforting is that you get a 50% with a Feed at Raffles card (although the same don't apply to drinks so don't be ripped off unnecessarily).

Empire Cafe
1 Beach Road
1F Raffles Hotel
Singapore
Tel: 6412 1101

Gandhi Restaurant @ Chander Road

I first chanced upon Gandhi when my boss suggested an impromtu department lunch at what he described as one of the best of its kind in Singapore. Curiously, I followed along and was met with the hustle and bustle of activities during the lunch crowd and the colourful variety of indian dishes offered.

The dining experience intrigued a first-timer like myself.

You first find yourself a seat and a staff would follow to 'lay the table' with banana leaf, rice, curry, lentil and the likes. Thereafter, you have the option of choosing dishes you fancy before you tucked into the food with the very bare essential, your right hand (fingers to be exact).

Not long after, I made a trip back on a Sunday evening for a quick dinner. Bad decision to travel to little India on a Sunday. Full stop.

And so, after several months, I finally made it back to Gandhi again. This time round with a very satisfying dinner, no less.

Here's dinner!


And for the side dishes, we had the flower crab which was definitely the highlight of the meal.


Very savoury and well marinated Fish cutlets.


Sambal eggs.


And curry fish. The same fish curry drizzled onto my banana leaf that goes very well with the rice and papadum.


Dinner for two came up to approximately S$22.00 inclusive of drinks and the above.

Definitely worth a visit =)