Showing posts with label Beef. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beef. Show all posts

Thursday 27 December 2012

BORNGA (본가 - 本家) At Star Vista

For Korean BBQ lovers who stay around West side of Singapore, BORNGA (본가 - 本家) is a Korea’s leading chain of authentic BBQ restaurants which newly open at The Star Vista (beside Buona Vista MRT Station, EW21/CC22). And the grand launch of BORNGA also marks renowned celebrity Chef Jong Won Paik first chain restaurant in Singapore and the 13th in addition to its worldwide outlets out of Korea.

Overall BORNGA offers an authentic Korean dining experience with taste of home which makes it a nice place for a cozy meal together with family and friends. Moreover their servings are big enough to share among 3 - 4 person ranging from S$18.00(pork belly) to their most expensive item (beef ribs for barbecuing) at S$45.00. (just a note, you have to order at least a minimum of two portion from their BBQ meat range; example:- Samgyupsal (S$18) + WooSamGyup (S$22))

While settling down, I was quite shock when the serving staff place the Ssamcheban (assorted vegetables platter) on our table as I have not seen such a varieties of greens being served from other Korean BBQ restaurants in Singapore. Their Ssamcheban consists very fresh and generous amount of  greens such as assorted lettuces, cabbages, spinach, carrot sticks and a few large green chilies which comes in handy to wrap with the BBQ meat.

On top of the Ssamcheban, we also tried some of their Banchan (Korean side dishes) such as Cucumber with Mushroom, Korean Spicy Beansprouts, Lettuce Salad, Shredded Leeks, Cabbage Kimchi, Water Kimichi and Radish Kimchi. Personally my pick from the banchan would be their Radish Kimchi which was a cross between sweet, sour and spicy making it so addicting as compared to the Cabbage Kimichi as it was a bit too spicy for my liking.

From the 3 types of Kimchi that we tried, my least favourite would be the Water Kimchi which I find it a bit too bland and also not as tasty as compared to the other two which has a stronger taste and flavour.

To pair with their BBQ meat, there are three types of dipping sauces which you might like to try. The special WooSamGyup Sauce goes well with the WooSamGyup meat where you dip on it and wrap with some lettuce and shredded leeks or kimchi for better crunch and taste. Whereas for the rest like Garlic Slices, Korean Bean Pasta Sauce an Sesame Oil flavored with salt and pepper would goes well with other meat choices like pork belly and beef too.

Ggotsal (S$38.00) a thicker cut of unmarinated beef for guests who loves beef and to enjoy its deep beef flavour. The cut is also evenly marbled and goes well with dip like sesame oil flavoured with salt and pepper.

For myself, I would prefer WooSamGyup that this Ggotsal perhaps due to its cuts.

{MUST TRY} WooSamGyup (S$22.00) is their signature BBQ choice which is a thinly sliced beef brisket with beautiful marbling that makes it often mistaken as pork belly at a glance. This meat is marinated in a unique BORNGA dressing that retains its natural colour while enhancing the traditional "bulgogi" taste.

There are many ways you could enjoy this beautiful meat such as eating it on it's own, dip it with the special WooSamGyup sauce or wrap it with some shredded leeks together with lettuces to enhance the flavour. I am sure there is a way which you enjoy but for me I would prefer to have it with some lettuce wrap and radish kimchi.

{MUST TRY} Tteokgalbi (S$20.00) is made with ground rib meat together with soy sauce and seasonings into a thin meat patties before grilling. The outlook and taste of the Tteokgalbi is quite similar to our Chinese New Year BBQ Pork (bak kwa) with a very flavousome fragrance and taste which makes you go for second and third helpings.

{MUST TRY} The Chadol Duenjang Jigae (S$16.00) is a Korean beef stew which made with rich soybean paste, sliced beef and vegetables. The stew is being reduced over the table top stove before pouring into the rice mixture which served like a bibimbap.

As you can see, when the stew is reduced and slightly thicken the serving staff would spoon it over to the rice and vegetable mixture and mix everything like a bibimbap. Also for extra flavoure, you could add in some radish kimchi while mixing the rice like what our host, LeRoy does to enhance the taste of this dish.

After the rice stew, we tried BORNGA Naeng Myun (S$15.00) which was their handmade buckwheat noodles served in an icy broth with shredded vegetables, pear, hard-boiled egg and sliced meat. It has a very refreshing taste and it is definitely a good choice for hot summer meal. You can eat it on it's own or follow the Korean, squeeze in some mustard sauce, splash of white vinegar mix well and enjoy. Personally I prefer eating it on it's own because I am not a fan of vinegar stuffs.

At the end of the meal, all guests were served with a complimentary drink known as Omija (오미자) or  五味茶 (five flavour tea) which reminds us of drinks made with Roselle (洛神果) and it has a similar sourish sweet taste like hawthorn (山楂) too. We all agreed that despite of it's sourish after taste, it is indeed a very refreshing and addicting drink to clean the palate after all the BBQ meats and dishes. Moreover Omija is also a popular drinks among women in Korean for it's beauty purpose too.

Thanks to BORNGA and LeRoy from Foodnews for the invite tasting.



BORNGA (본가 - 本家)
1 Vista Exchange Green
#02-24 The Star Vista
Singapore 138617
Reservation: (65) 6694 4696
Website: www.bornga.co.kr

Opening Hours: 11:30am – 10:00pm (Daily)


Friday 21 September 2012

King Pot Steamboat @ Big Splash

King Pot Steamboat which is located at Big Splash (East Coast Park) offers an unique casual atmosphere with fine dining experience when you set foot into the restaurant that makes you feel like King and Queen. Overall I find their service is good with attentive serving staffs who are quick and skillful in placing and arranging the platters of food on our table and also they are very observant in taking care of each individual needs such as making sure my boy could enjoy his food and hotpot under safety precaution too.

The photo shows the setup of the steamboat table at KingPot where we each has our personal "hotpot" that cooks using modern gas stove. The cutlers and plates used are quiet similar to those for fine dining which makes you feel so different when compared to those traditional steamboat which we had at home or coffee shop where we used those metal net scoop to hold and cook the food.

King Pot has range of soup broth that cater for each individual preference from the lightest Clear Wild Mushroom broth to thick and spicy Laksa broth. Overall we have tried their Mushroom, Herbal, Bak Kut Teh, Laksa, Minestrone and Szechuan Ma Lai broth.

Out of the broths that we tried, most of us agreed that Bak Kut Teh, Minestrone and Laksa are the "Must Try" whereas for lighter broth you could ask for Wild Mushroom or for strong and spicy taste, try the Ma Lai broth which a few of us find it too spicy.

My choice of Bak Kut Teh broth is very flavoursome and taste good with their complimentary rice. And to our surprised it is not normal steamed white rice but rather a bowl of very fragrant and delicious "chicken rice" to accompany the steamboat items.  Other than soup broth and rice, each set meal also comes with some vegetables (mushroom, black fungus, vegetables and etc), cellophane noodles (dong fen) and a dipping sauce of your choice.

Basically there are 4 types of dipping sauce available on their menu which are:- KingPot Signature Sauce, KingPot Specialty Sauce, Specialty Sauce and Satay Sauce. For chef recommendation, we tried their KingPot Signature Sauce (back) and KingPot Specialty Sauce (front, with sesame seeds topping).

Before using the KingPot Specialty Sauce, you have to use the chopstick or spoon to break up the ball (which resemble a ball of ice-cream) and mix it well with the sauce and overall it taste quiet like Japanese sesame dipping sauce but just with a hint of saltiness. And this goes well with meat, especially lamb.

There were also a few core set menus to choose from such as Meat lover Set (S$28.80++; UP S$39.90++), Seafood Lover Set (S$28.80++; UP S$36.80++), Vegetarian Pot (S$32.80++; UP S$42.80++), Combi Platter With Seafood And Meat (S$36.80++; UP S$46.80++) and Kids Meal (S$9.80++; UP S$12.80++) with the option to top up on individual items.

Above shows the Combi Platter With Seafood and Meat that range from Angus Beef Ribeye, Pork, Lamb, Fresh Black Prawn, Red Grouper, meat balls, Bitter Gourd Fish Paste Yong Tau Foo and etc.

The Seafood Lover Set comes with prawns, squid, fish, meatballs and accompany Yong Tau Foo items. The selections are fresh except they freeze the fresh fish slices and thaw before serving which I personally feel it would be even better if they used fresh daily supply instead of freeze and thaw.

{Ala Carte Order} This is one of the KINGPOT Special Roll which is known as Boneless Lamb Rack - French Cut (S$22.00/plate). If you look carefully from the photo above, you could see it is specially roll with two "cylinder hole" that enable chopsticks to pick up the cut and swirl in the steamboat  for quick cooking.

Accordingly to the chef, this lamb rack must go with their "Specialty Sauce" which covers 80% of the lamb odor. And the few of us did do a test on eating the lamb with and without the dipping sauce and it did proof on what their chef has recommended.

The set meal has a complimentary beverage of either Coffee/Tea together with cake (depend on what they have on that day) at the end of the meal. Although they might be be specialize on cake but their Tiramisu still taste quiet decent. 

Other than the complimentary coffee/tea that served from the set menu ordered, there are also some other beverages such as juices, sparking water, wine and etc on their beverage menu too.


King Pot Steamboat
902 East Coast Parkway Block B
#01-05 Big Splash
Singapore 449874
Reservation: (65) 6348 7997
Website: http://www.kingpot.com.sg

Opening Hours:
Monday – Thursday: 6.00pm – 10:30pm
Friday – Sunday: 11.00am – 2:30pm and 6.00pm – 10:30pm


Lastly I would like to thank Adrian from KingPot for arranging this tasting as well as all the friendly serving staffs who served and attended to us during the tasting.

Friday 13 April 2012

Japchae - 잡채


Japchae(잡채) is a Korean dish cook with cellophane noodles(glass noodles) which is made from sweet potato starch(dangmyeon) mixed with sesame oil, soy sauce and a variety of vegetables or like the above with some meat such as "beef". In the past, this noodle is usually served at special occasions like weddings, birthdays and parties but now it is often served as a side dish(also known as "banchan") at some Korean restaurants.

Friendly speaking I am not a fan of Japchae/Glass Noodles and I remember I did not even pay much attention to it my Korea trip. But lately this Korean-style noodles kept flashing in my mind even since I watched the Korean drama known as "City Hunter(시티헌터 )" cast by Lee Min Ho(李民浩 ) and Park Min Young(樸敏英) where both of them loves to eat this dish in some of the scenes shown.


JAPCHAE
(잡채)


Indeed this Korean Stir-fry Glass Noodles is quite similar to our Asian Stir-fry Cellophane noodles(炒东粉) but in a while Korean noodles are a bit thin in texture compared to ours. Personally I love their  sweet and fragrant Japchae sauce which is mainly consists of light soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and minced garlic.


(Serves: 2-3 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 10 minutes)

Ingredients:
1 Packet CJ Brand Japchae(韩式炒粉丝)
100g Beef Fillet, cut into 2" long sticks
1 Medium Brown Onion, thinly sliced
1 Medium Carrot, shred into 2" long
4 Medium Fresh Shiitake Mushroom, sliced
2 Stalks Spring Onion, cut into section
2 Garlic Cloves(minced), optional
1/2 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
1 Teaspoon Roasted Sesame Seeds
Some Chopped Spring Onion
100g Spinach(optional), cut into sections

Method:-
1. Boil glass noodle in boiling water for about 3 minutes, till soften. Rinse with water, drained well and put in a large bowl.

2. Heat sesame oil in a frying pan, saute minced garlic, brown onion and spring onion till fragrant, stir in shiitake mushrooms and marinated beef strips with 1 Tablespoon of Japache sauce (mix 1 teaspoon of roasted sesame seeds with the pre-mixed Japache sauce included in the pack) and give it a quick toss.

3. Next add in the shredded carrot, cooked noodles and Japache sauce into the pan and cook on low heat, stirring frequently until all the sauce is mixed well.

4. Drizzle some extra sesame oil and mix well before serving.


For those who can't get hold of this CJ Brand Japchae(韩式炒粉丝) that comes with pre-mixed Japchae sauce, you can use any other brand of Glass Noodle/Dangmyeon (about 30 - 35g) for this recipe. And as for sauce you can use this mixture shown below:-

Ingredients:
2.5 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Tablespoons Sesame oil
2 Teaspoon Minced Garlic
1.5 Teaspoons Roasted Sesame Seeds

Method:-
1. Mix all the ingredients together until sugar dissolved.


KOREAN RICE CAKES WITH RAMEN NOODLES
Rabokki(라볶이)


Stay tune for my next Korean dish which is known as "Rabokki(라볶이)", or "Korean Rice Cakes with Ramen Noodles". Kamsahamnida(감사합니다, 좋은 주말 되세요)!

Wednesday 5 October 2011

{Guest Post} Gulai Cancang (Beef Curry) by Lia, Bentolicious

Today I have invited Lia from  Bentolicious whom is a very talented mummy of 2. She has never failed to excite her readers with her beautiful and creative bento(s)(read more HERE) which reflects her love and passion for her kids. Each time whenever I visit her blog I will be amazed with her ideas and skills in assembling those gorgeous bento.


I get to know Lia since a few years back while leaving comments in some of our favourite bento sites. And recently Lia has started "Bloglicious" where she shared her homecook dishes, bakes as well as some food reviews. For this Guest Post, I am so happy that Lia is here to share with us one of her Indonesia curry dish known as "Gulai Cancang". Without delay, let's take a look at this delicious dish and it's recipe.



GULAI CANCANG



I am a reader of Cuisine Paradise for quite sometimes now. I always admire Ellena’s cooking and baking skills, showed on her delicious blog. She is one of the passionate foodie bloggers from Singapore. She also prepares bento for her son, perhaps that the reason we knew each other in the blogging world. Last week, she asked me whether I could make a guest post for her blog. I was excited and nervous at the same time. After reviewing some choices about Indonesian foods that I wanted to post, I chose ‘Gulai Cancang’ or Beef Curry from West Sumatra. I believe that some of you from the South East Asia region, especially from Singapore and Malaysia are familiar with Padangnese foods. Indonesia is very rich with its culinary heritage, each region has its different culinary that sometimes I don’t know or never taste it before.

Padangnese foods are one of my favorite because they are so tasty that surely will make you eat more than 1 portion of rice. Gulai Cancang usually uses beef or lamb. But since I don’t eat lamb, I choose beef to cook this curry.

Ingredients:-
1kg Beef Brisket
1.5 Litres – 2 Litres water
400ml Thick Coconut Milk / 150ml Coconut Cream
2 Star Anise
1 Teaspoon White Peppercorn
1 Tablespoon Curry Powder
2 Asam Kandis
2 Stalks Lemongrass, bruised
4 Indonesian Bay Leaves
3 Kaffir Lime Leaves
1 Turmeric Leave, knotted
2 Teaspoon Salt or to taste
3 Tablespoons Cooking Oil

Spices Paste:
75 gr Shallot
40 gr Garlic
40 gr Ginger
40 gr Galangal
120 gr Big Red Chilli

Directions:-
1. Boil the water in a pot and cook the beef brisket until tender. I use electric press cooker to speed up the process.

2. Meanwhile, grind shallot, garlic, ginger, galangal and chilli to fine paste with mortar & pestle or electric blender.

3. When the meat is already tender, remove it from the pot, but leave the beef stock inside the pot.

4. Diced the beef brisket about 2 x 2cm.

5. Heat cooking oil in a large pan.

6. Stir fry the spices paste, star anise, white peppercorn, curry powder, asam kandis, lemongrass, Indonesian bay leave, kaffir lime leave, and turmeric leave until aromatic over medium heat.

7. Add 1.5L beef stock. Add salt.

8. Stir well together for few minutes.

9. Add the diced beef brisket. Add coconut milk / coconut cream, keep stiring.

10. Cook until the liquid become slightly thicken. Serve it warm with rice.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, thanks Lia for this wonderful Guest Post and if you wish to find out more about Lia's  Bento creations/tips or her homecooked dishes. Do head over to her blog at Bentolicious. (p/s: photos and recipe shown here all copyright and credited to Bentolicious)


Monday 16 May 2011

[$20 Budget Meal] Winter Melon Soup, Steamed Silken Tofu with Salmon And Sweetcorn Plus Steamed Beef Steak with Onion

For this set of Budget Meal it will be slightly a bit more expensive than those I prepared previously due to the higher cost of Salmon and Beef. Here we spent a total of roughly S$18.60 for Winter Melon Soup, Steamed Tofu with Salmon and Steamed Beef Steak. And to your surprise this is also my very first time sharing a “beef” dish in this blog too.

Sometime cooking is way of art and mental planning too. For example this Soup of the Day is rather similar to my previous “Winter Melon, Woodear And Pork Ribs Soup” but I replaced the woodear with sweetcorn and carrot for a more refreshing taste.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
300g Pork Ribs
250g Winter Melon, skin removed cut into wedges
1 Sweetcorn, cut into sections
1 Medium Carrot, cut into thick slices
6 Red Dates

Method:-
1. Blanched pork ribs in boiling water for 2 - 3 minutes, remove and rinse with tap water. Set aside.

2. Bring 1.5 litres of water to boil in a soup pot.

3. Add in all the ingredients when the mixture comes to boil again, lower the heat and simmer for about 30 - 40 minutes.

4. Lastly season it with salt to taste according to own preference.

Total cost for this dish is about S$5.80 with breakdown shown below:-
Cost of Ingredients:
~ Pork Ribs = S$3.00
~ Fresh Winter melon, Carrot and Sweetcorn= S$2.80


This is the second time I have used “salmon” fillet in preparing steamed dish. The first one was about a year ago where I steamed the salmon fillet together with Dang Gui to create a Chinese New Year dish (recipe). In this post, I combined this month Budget Meal specific ingredients – “Tofu” together with salmon to prepare this “Steamed Silken Tofu with Salmon And Sweetcorn” where you get to enjoy 3 different textures in one dish.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
1 Box of Silken Tofu
150g Salmon Fillet
1/2 Sweetcorn, remove kernels from cob
5 Slices of Ginger, julienne

Seasoning:
1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1/4 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Pinch of Salt

The bland tofu blends well with the sweet and fragrant taste from the corn kernels as well as with a contrast between crunchy and smooth texture that makes you crave for more scoop. The adding of salmon increase the Omega 3 and Proteins of this dish, which makes it, perfect for everyone at home especially the growing up kids.

Method:-
1. Cut the tofu into slices of equal thickness, drained well and place it onto steaming plate.

2. Cut the Salmon fillet into cubes and scatter it together with the fresh corn kernels evenly on top and around the sides of the tofu.(refer to the photo above)

3. Next top with julienne ginger and spoon the seasoning(mix all the ingredients together)over the prepared tofu.

4. Cover the tofu plate with cling wrap tightly leaving just a little ventilation hole.

5. Steam it on high heat in a steamer/wok (with boiling water in it)  for about 10 minutes. Remove and serve.

Total cost for this dish is about S$5.90 with breakdown shown below:-
Cost of Ingredients:
~ Salmon = S$3.90
~ Silken Tofu and Sweetcorn= S$2.00


If you have being following most of my blog posts, you will notice that this seems to be my very 1st "Beef" dish recipe from those hundreds of recipes that I have. Friendly speaking using "beef" as one of the main ingredients is something that I always phobia of because to me you can either ruin or perfect it in just a few seconds of cooking time.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
200g Beef Steak, whole/slices
1 Medium Red Onion, thinly slices
2 Stalks Spring Onion, cut into sections
Red Chili, slices
3 Garlic Coves, lightly pound

Seasoning:
10g Butter
1 Teaspoon Fresh Milk
1 Teaspoon Black Peppercorns, crashed

Initially I was still quite worry about the taste and texture while preparing this dish but when it is out from the steamer I was totally surprised with the outcome. The texture of the beef slices is still quite good and tender despite of the steaming method. And the beef stock sauce was great with a hint of black pepper and onion taste too. Indeed this is a great chance on preparing steak on it's usual char-grilled or stew methods. (if you don't consumed beef, you can also replaced it with Pork Fillet(梅肉/腰肉) which is more tender in texture).

Method:-
1. Using paper kitchen towel lightly pat dry the beef steak. Set aside.

2. As I want the sauce and seasoning to infuse the steak in a faster way, I have cut the steak into slices before arranging them on steaming plate. (you can leave it as whole and serve as individual main course too)

3. Next arrange all the ingredients and seasonings on top of the beef steak.

4. Wrap the plate with cling wrap steam it over high heat for about 8 - 10 minutes depend on your preference.

5. Remove and serve with steamed rice or as individual main course with mashed/baked potato.

Total cost for this dish is about S$6.90 with breakdown shown below:-
Cost of Ingredients:
~ Beef Steak = S$5.40
~ Spring onion, garlic, chili and onion = S$1.50




CLOSING DATE For [May $20 Budget Meal] Event:
~ Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 2359 hours and all entries will be compiled and posted on 31st May 2011.

If you loves to whipped some quick and budget healthy dishes for your family. I would like to invite you to join us in our May Budget Meal event to share your homecook dishes with us(more detail HERE).

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