Showing posts with label Cuisine ~ Chinese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cuisine ~ Chinese. Show all posts

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Lunar New Year Lo Hei At Grand Park, City Hall

Chinese New Year is about less than a month from now and most of the hotels and restaurants are all coming up with lists of attractive Luna New Year Lo Hei menu catering for everyone preference and budget. And just last Saturday, I have attended a Media Lunch at Park Palace where I would share some of their highlight New Year dishes which you might be interested with.

金箔顺德黄尾鱼捞起
Golden Shunde Yu Sheng
This Spring Festival, Park Palace brings you the the art of tossing Yu Sheng where you would get a shimmering gold boost with its Golden Shunde Yu Sheng (S$88.00++).  As what shown above, their yu sheng was quite different from the usual one we had as they replaced shredded lettuces with crispy fried vermicelli. On top of it, this dish was also given the finishing touch with gold dust and gold flakes.

The Golden Shunde Yu Sheng also comes with two plates of Fresh Yellowtail rather than salmon slices.

Tossing our way "High Up (撈起)" together with a list of auspicious wishes hoping that each and everyone of it will come true soon.

Other than crispy fried vermicelli, Golden Shunde Yu Sheng also consists slices of ginger, spring onion, crunchy capsicums and finely grounded peanuts which tossed in their special combination of fragrant peanut oil and premium soya sauce.

乐宫乳猪皇
Imperial Suckling Pig (first course)
I am sure most of you love Suckling Pig especially it's thin and crispy outer skin which goes well with the steamed pancake and savory sauce. At Park Palace, the piglet used for the Imperial Suckling Pig (S$238.00++) weighs about 5kg and it was air-dried and roasted in the restaurant itself. So in order to avoid disappointment, guests are advisable to make reserve for the order at least one day in advance. 

Some of us were amazed by the thinly sliced cracking skin which we could hardly see any fats or meat on it. The skin was also flavoursome even without the accompany serving sauce and it leaves you craving for more servings too.

乐宫香茅翻烧
Imperial Suckling Pig - Oven Baked with Lemongrass (second course)
Other than the crackling skins, the left over portion (the meat) was then made into another dish by oven-baked it with lemongrass and other seasonings. Each piece of the meat was infused with lemongrass fragrance and the taste was also not too overpowering.

鱼跃龙门庆丰年
Golden Happiness Crispy Garoupa
Even though I am a fish lover, I don't really fancy this Golden Happiness Crispy Garoupa  perhaps it was a bit too dry towards my liking even though it was served together with some special sweet and sour sauce drizzling on it.

火焰乐宫团圆盆菜
Chinese New Year Flambé Pen Cai
Prosperity Flambé Pen Cai was the highlight of the day where it boasts 18 luxuriant ingredients and with a twist it was infused with Cognac, and flambéed to bring out the rich flavours and tastes of its ingredients with a tang of alcohol.

Prosperity Flambé Pen Cai is available for both à la carte and takeaway from 21 January to 24 February 2013 at:-

~ S$268++ (for six persons)
~ S$428++ (for ten persons)


As you could see from the above, this delicacy is brimming with 18 luxuriant ingredients including Sliced Abalone (鲍鱼片), Sea Cucumber (海参), Whole Conpoy (柱脯), Prawn Balls (明虾球), Scallops (带子), Roasted Duck (烧鸭), Roasted Pork Belly (火腩), Duck Web (鸭掌), Soya Chicken (油鸡), Sliced Sea Perch Fillet (鲈鱼片), Fatt Choy (发菜), Black Mushroom (北菇), Lotus Root (莲藕), Broccoli (西兰花), Radish (白萝卜), Beancurd Skin (豆筋), Gingko Nut (银杏), Black Fungus (云耳) and Tien Shin Cabbage (津白) with quality stock in a casserole pot.

The pot we had (refer to above) was actually for 6 persons serving and yet the 10 of us at the table can't even finished it! So you roughly could gauged there were indeed a lot of treasures in the pot and you might be surprised on what you could scoop out from it too!

鹅肝腊味糯米饭
Auspicious Glutinous Rice with Foie Gras And Preserved Meat
As usual the second last dish is always either noodle or rice, and on that day we had something fusion which served in individual portion that was known as Auspicious Glutinous Rice with Foie Gras and Preserved Meat.

Each glutinous rice ball was wrapped with diced preserved meat fillings, pan-fried till crispy at the base and served with a generous slice of Foie Gras on it.  The juice and fragrance from the preserved meat had definitely enhance the taste of the glutinous rice but most of us find portion of the rice was a bit too much for an individual serving.

南瓜庆团圆
Steamed Mini Pumpkin Dumpling with Green Bean Paste
Dessert was served in a bamboo steamer and when the lid was opened, everyone was in excitement because of the bright orangey pumpkin alike dumplings. These Steamed Mini Pumpkin Dumplings were made using the natural colour from the pumpkin puree and wrapped with generous amount of green bean paste which is lightly fragrance with tangerine peel or something similar.

Lastly I would like to thank Jean (Assistant Marketing Communication Manager of Grand Park City Hall) and Park Hotel Group for the warm invitation and hospitality at Park Palace.

If you are planning for family,  office gathering or business lunch this coming Chinese New Year perhaps you would like to take note of their Early Bird Special: Book now and dine in from 21 January to 07 February 2013 and enjoy 20% off Lunar New Year Set Menus and a la carte at Park Palace.

Chinese New Year Set Menus (view full menu details here)
~ $78++ per person (a maximum of two persons)
~ $288++ per person (for four persons)
~ $438++ per person (for six persons)
~ $588++ per person (for eight persons)
~ $788++ to $2388++ (# for ten persons)

*Orders to be made at least one day in advance
# Enjoy a complimentary bottle of house wine per table with booking of ten tables or more (ten pax per table)


PARK PALACE
Grand Park City Hall
Mezzanine Level (level 2)
10 Coleman Street
Singapore 179809
Telephone: (65) 6432 5543
Website: http://www.parkpalace.com.sg/

Monday 25 June 2012

Gu Ma Jia (姑妈家)

Read up a few reviews on "Gu Ma Jia (姑妈家)" which is located along 45 Tai Thong Crescent where the nearest MRT access is at Potong Pasir Station(NE10) plus about 8 - 10 minutes walking distance to the restaurant. And since we heard so much raves about their food, we decided to drop by two weeks back to try out some of their "recommended" dishes.

Indeed the place and the interior give us a "homely" family restaurant atmosphere and their staffs were pretty friendly when taking orders and etc.

Although they have quiet a range of items from their menu but this signature "Assam Fish Head (亚参鱼头)" is what we are there for. The gravy might look "spicy" from the photo above, but when taste it is just nice with good balance of spiciness and sourish taste which our family loves. And moreover the fish is very fresh with firm and juicy meat together with lovely brinjal, lady fingers, pineapple and etc which makes it perfect for 2 bowls of steamed white rice.
Price: S$25.00 per plate (half fish head)

To be honest, I ordered this "Kyoto Pork Ribs (京都排骨)" because I wanted to see the "fire" effect before the "parcel" is being reveal to show the pork ribs but sad to say instead of "fire" we were all being "smoke" by its smoky effect when the dish is being place on the table.

For us, nothing special about this pork which we find it rather a bit salty and tough. Should have try the coffee pork ribs instead.

Price: S$20.00 per plate

Special Made Tofu With Lingzhi Mushroom (灵芝菇扒豆腐盒) taste good with their silky homemade tofu which is deep-fried but yet not oily. The tofu blocks are serve with some lingzhi mushroom together with blanched broccoli.
Price:- S$12.00 per plate

Their Prawn Roll (虾卷) or also known as Hei Zho is served with the usual sweet sauce with the smaller portion of 8 pieces in a plate. Quiet similar taste to the usual hei zho we had from some cze char stalls which is wrapped with beancurd skins and deep-fried till crispy. Love the juicy filling with crunch of chestnuts bits which taste great with the dipping sauce.
Price:- S$8.00 per plate (8 pieces)

Lastly we also tried the Oyster Omelette (蚝煎蛋) which looks so good on one of the blog reviews that I have read. This oyster omelette is different from those served in the hawker center where you find more starchy content rather thane egg. Here the omelette is more fluffy with less starch and generous amount of fat and juicy oysters that service with some spicy chilli sauce on it. The dish is a bit salty on its own so it is best to eat it with some rice unless you have strong taste bubs.
Price:- S$12.00 per plate


GU MA JIA (姑妈家)
45 Tai Thong Crescent Sennett Estate
Singapore 347866
Reservation No.: 6285 2023

Website: http://gumajia.com.sg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foodpot

Opening hours: 11.00am – 10.00pm(daily)


Monday 16 January 2012

Crystal Jade Chinese New Year Specialties 2012

Chinese New Year is around the corner and I am sure everyone is busying with sending auspicious gifts and hampers to business partners, relatives, friends and etc. And last week while at the mist of our spring cleaning, I received a big surprised from Crystal Jade. I was quite shock when the deliveryman hand over a big bag to me as I was not inform before hand on this "surprised".

At first I thought the big box might be "Yu Sheng - 鱼生" since the packaging is more or less quite similar but after removing the cover we are all excited about the assorted flavour of the steamed cakes inside the "Eternal Bliss Gift Set". As you can see above, isn't it look gorgeous as a gift set for Chinese New Year!

Inside the bag there is also this Fortune Bo Lo Pineapple Tart  - 旺上旺菠箩黄梨挞 that comes in a floral design rectangle box with 2 individual sealed packets contain 8 tarts each. To be honest this is our first time trying Bo Lo Pineapple Tarts which is a signature pastry from Crystal Jade My Bread that comes with a combination inspired from the famous Hong Kong "Bo Lo Bao(菠蘿包)". Each bite you would be surprised by it's hint of sweet crispy crust on top which follows by generous amount of tasty pineapple jam fillings. Indeed our family finds it very special compared to the usual buttery taste pineapple tarts that we used to eat.

This Fortune Bo Lo Pineapple Tarts comes is 4 different packaging ranging from S$14.80 - S$30.80. The twin packet shown above is known as "Double Happiness Pack" priced at S$16.80. (more details HERE)

If you still can't decide on what to get during Chinese New Year gathering for your Potluck dishes or tea-snack to impressive your guest especially the elderly. I suggest you could consider getting this Eternal Bliss Gift Set - 五福临门(S$37.80). This set consists of both sweet(water chestnut cake, pandan aloe vera cake, glutinous rice cake) and savoury cake (carrot cake, yam cake) which represent auspicious meaning during Chinese New Year.

And if you ever tried their Dim Sum served at Crystal Jade Kitchen, I am sure you would love these delicious carrot/yam cake which is so soft, flavorsome and made with generous amount of ingredients.

Other than pastries and cakes from Crystal Jade My Bread, there are other Chinese New Year proudcts such as "Peng Cai - 盆菜", "Yu Sheng - 鱼生", "Pagoda of Eight Treasures - 开运八宝塔", "Buddha Jumps over the Wall - 佛跳墙" and etc which is available at different Crystal Jade outlet. (Detail HERE)

Above shows the "Golden Abalone Treasure Pot - 金装鲍鱼盆菜" at a promotion price of S$408.80(10 pax) or S$248.80(6 pax) available from now till 06 Feb 2012.

Glutinous Rice is another auspicious dish to have during Chinese New Year and this year Crystal Jade has come out with this NEW "Pagoda of Eight Treasures - 开运八宝塔" for S$88.80. There are 8 "treasures" arranged neatly on bamboo basket such as:- Fried Glutinous Rice, Preserved Sausage, Preserved Liver Sausage, Deep-fried Chicken Fillet, Fried Quail Egg, Marinated Octopus, Sauteed French Bean and Sauteed Shrimp with Mushroom.

All the Chinese New Year goodies are available for Promotion Price from 05 Jan - 22 January, 25 Jan - 06 February at selected Crystal Jade Outlets. More details and full promotion booklet can be found HERE.

Lastly I would like to thanks Crystal Jade and Linea Communications for the Fortune Bo Lo Pineapple Tarts and Eternal Bliss Gift Set.

Thursday 8 December 2011

Prima Taste Kitchen At Centrepoint, Ochard

Prima Taste Kitchen is a quick-service restaurant which located in Centrepoint Mall, Orchard. They serves a selection of authentic Singapore favourites such as Bak Kut Teh, Laksa, Hainanese Chicken Rice and Singapore Curry Chicken. The restaurant features a modern ambiance accented and diners can also enjoy 'live' cooking demonstrations through their showcase kitchen.

For beverage we are recommended to try their Calamansi Juice and Lychee Sensation where they used preserved sour plum in the drinks to create a unique flavour. Love their Lychee Sensation which is fizzy 7-up drinks with a few seeds of canned syrup lychee and preserved sour plum.


SIDE ORDER


First to serve is this all-time favourite local snack known as Vegetable Popiah which is richly stuffed with egg slices, turnip, vegetables, shrimp, minced pork, mushroom and etc. The crisp and refreshing sensation of the juicy fillings and intense flavour definitely leaves you longing for more. We simply love the taste of this Popiah as the ingredients are well combined without overpower taste of this dish.

Price: S$4.80 per roll

Rojak is a common local dish/appetiser which could be easily found at most hawker centres or coffee shop stalls. Prima Taste's Rojak is very flavorsome with toasted youtiao, cucumber and fresh fruits without being overpowering by it's prawn paste sauce. On top of the tasty coating sauce, we also love the generous amount of crashed peanut which they used to garish the rojak as it definitely add bonus points to this dish.

Price: S$5.90 per plate


RICE DISHES


Chicken Rice is one of the all-time local favourite which you could have it anytime of the day. I still remember vividly during my 3 years overseas stay I would always bring back at least 1/2 a dozen of these Prima Taste, Hainanese Chicken Rice sauce kit to easy our preparation on this dish.

Here at Prima Taste Kitchen, their poached chicken is very tender and juicy with a thin layer of jelly-like skin which makes you always wanted to top up for extra portion of meat. The chicken rice is very fragrant and the texture of the rice is just cooked to perfection where is it not too hard or soft too. For the chicken rice set, you could choose from either Hainanese Chicken, Soya Chicken and Crispy Chicken.

Price: S$6.50 per plate

The chicken curry for that day was a bit too thick on the gravy which makes it taste a bit powdery rather than those smooth and flowing texture.  Personally this is not my preference of curry but for those who perfect this type of Hainanese style perhaps you could give it a try. This curry set comes with a bowl of steamed rice but you could also request to change it to chicken rice instead.

Price: S$9.40 per bowl

With Prima Taste Bak Kut Teh Sauce Kit you could also cook a pot of this tasty Teochew Style peppery soup at your own convenience at home. And moreover what you required is just minimum fresh ingredients such prime/pork ribs together with their prepacked stock mix. Love the taste of the soup but it would be even better if more peppercorns are added.The texture of the prime ribs are just nice for our liking as it is not over/under cooked.

Price: S$10.70 per bowl


NOODLES


When we first taste the soup broth from this prawn mee we were kind of surprised that these actually was prepared from their Prawn Mee Sauce Kit (detail HERE). From a glance above you could see the decent amount of ingredients such as sliced pork, fresh prawns, bean sprouts, veggies and flat yellow noodles which is pretty reasonable for it's price.

Price: S$6.50 per bowl

Out of all the main dishes that we have tried, their Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle has definitely out shine the rest  of the dishes and won our heart. I love the wok taste and texture of the noodles which is just nicely cooked and fully adsorb the taste from the prawn broth. According to Vangelynn, the chef actually fried individual order plate by plate in order to maintain the standard of this dish. For your information you could use the Prawn Mee Sauce Kit to cook either Prawn Mee Soup or Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle.

And since I am in love with their Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle, I have bought a packet of the Sauce Kit from supermarket which I am going to try cooking it at home soon.

Price: S$6.50 per plate

The gravy of Prima Taste Laksa is smooth and rich which is prepared from its pre-packed laksa spice. In this way you could easily prepared your favourite laksa without much trouble on grinding your own laksa paste and enjoy a bowl of decent laksa anytime of the day.

Price: S$5.50 per bowl

Apart from the above Authentic Laksa Spice Kit, Prima Taste also has another "Singapore Laksa La Mian" which you could easily purchase from their outlet or local supermarkets. You could read more about my review on this product HERE at my recipe blog. 


DESSERTS


Vangelynn mentioned that this Glass Jelly with Longan in Gula Melaka is a new dessert on their menu. And for a light and refreshing dessert with hint of gula melaka syrup to sweeten the taste, I am sure this would come in perfect as dessert after a hearty meal.

Their Chendol dessert consist of rich coconut milk, a worm-like green jelly made from rice flour, red beans and etc served together with shaved ice and fragrance Gula Melaka(palm sugar). Although the taste is great but however we find that the shaved ice was rather rough which could have being better if it is much smoother and fine texture.

Price: S$3.50 per cup

For a lighter and smaller portion of dessert, you could order this Longan with Almond Beancurd. The beancurd is very smooth and silky with hint of almond flavour that does not overpower the taste of the whole dessert.

Price: S$2.90 per bowl


TEA-TIME PROMOTION


If you are looking for some tea-time snack during your festive shopping trip around Orchard area on weekday, perhaps Prima Taste Kitchen tea-time special would have something "local" that you prefer.

For twin sharing you might consider to get their "2 dishes + 1 drink" @ S$4.50 which I think it's just nice to fill up your tummy before the next meal.


SPICE AND SAUCE RACK


Apart from serving array of local dishes at Prima Taste Kitchen, they also have a corner selling different varieties of their cooking sauce ranging from:- Singapore favourites Sauce Kit whereby you could whip up local dishes such as prawn mee, char kway teow, mee sim and etc to Authentic Asian Sauce such as garlic chilli sauce, Sambal Belachan Paste, Premium Black Pepper Sauce and etc to prepare authentic Asian dishes at home.

For your conveniences, you could also order these sauce kits via their website HERE or through any supermarkets in Singapore. And for those regular or big users you might wish to save considerably through their party packs which only available in certain popular products such as Bak Chor Mee and Lor Mee. Cooking instructions can be easily found on the packaging and online plus they also have cooking classes for those who intend to pick up some cooking skill using their ready paste and products. You could register for their Cooking Workshops at a reasonable fees(S$20.00) via their  website HERE.   


PRIMA TASTE KITCHEN
176 Orchard Road
#01-63/64 The Centrepoint Mall
Singapore 238843
Telephone: +65 6887 3786
Website: http://primataste.com.sg/kitchen.aspx
Facebook Page HERE

Lastly I would like to thank Vangelynn and Prima Taste for the invited tasting.

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Dim Sum @ Breakthrough Cafe

Breakthrough Cafe is run by a Christian based aftercare association, which provides skills to ex-convicts who face difficulties in employment due to their criminal record. This cafe is officially launched on the 27th of October 2007 by Associate Professor Ho Peng kee (former Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and Law). At Breakthrough cafe it offers reformed drug addicts the much needed employment opportunities where they can further their skills and be better prepared in reintegrating into the society.

Other than array of dim sum, they also have homemade dishes such as curry chicken and curry fishhead served bubbling in a claypot which are very popular amongst patrons. And you could choose either bread or rice (or both) to go with it. But since our aim for that day was to try their dim sum I have to give those dishes a pass till my visit.

The four(3 adults plus 1 kid) of us ordered about 10 Dim Sum items plus Black Vinegar Pig Trotter and drinks which add up to a total of S$34.00 which was quite reasonable for it's value. The moment the Century Egg Porridge - 皮蛋粥 (S$3.00 per bowl) arrived I was quite stunned as this is my first time seeing "fishcakes" in dim sum porridge which makes it look so home cooked. We love the smooth texture of the congee which infuse with chicken stock and served with some shredded chicken, fish-cakes, century eggs, fried onions and etc.

Beside porridge we also tried their homemade fragrance "Steamed Glutinous Rice - 糯米饭" (S$2.00 per plate) that comes with generous portion of ingredients such as dried prawns and mushrooms together with their delicious Sambal chilli. Overall the texture of the steamed glutinous rice was still quite good as in not too overcooked or salty.

Similar to most Dim Sum restaurants or eateries, Breakthrough also offers different types of freshly made Chee Cheong Fun - 肠粉(S$3.00 per plate) with fillings such as Char Siew, Scallops and Prawns to meet their customers' preference. Personally I love the accompany sauce of the cheong fun which is fragrant and match with the right seasonings to bring up the taste of the steamed rice roll.

My aunty recommended us to try their Fried Dumplings - 锅贴 (S$4.20 per plate) and Steamed Yam Cake - 芋头糕 (S$1.50 per plate). Surprisingly their fried dumplings are not oily and the skin of the dumplings was crispy and definitely can taste it is made from those handmade dumpling skin. On the other hand, the steamed yam cake was rather good with hint of yam slices in between too.

Their Black Vinegar Pork Trotter - 猪脚醋 (S$6.00 per claypot with rice) is delicious which is not too sour or sweet towards our liking and it would be great to go with some rice during lunchtime as a meal. From a glance during lunch hour that day, I saw quite a number of tables ordered this Pork Trotter and Curry Chicken which I assumed are their signature dishes.

The environment of this cafe is quite comfortable even for a morning/afternoon tea session where you could order their toast and egg set and enjoy some chatting with friends. And most importantly the friendly services definitely added value to the place. To reach this cafe, you could take the North-East Line train and alight at "Chinatown" station, walk towards the exit to People's Park Centre. The cafe is at ground level facing the Singapore Subordinate Court direction.

Breakthrough Cafe
101 Upper Cross Street
#01-02C
People's Park Centre
Singapore 058358
Telephone: +65 6533 5977
Website: HERE

Opening Hours
Monday – Thursday: 7am – 7pm
Friday: 7am - 5pm; Saturday: 7am – 3pm
(Closed on Sun/PH)


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