Keng Eng Kee Seafood

For this year Singapore Food Festival, if you want to have a more fulfilling and enriching event, perhaps you can consider to attend some cooking classes from the "Makansutra SFF Culinary Master Classes". In this classes you will be able to learn the best-kept secrets from some well-known Singaporean Chinese Dialects dishes and as well on how to prepare and cook those dishes.

The Master Classes also give you an insight into the culinary culture of some of these mulit-award winners, which inlcude the Makansutra Street Food Masters and Legends Awards. You can at the same time discover interesting cooking tips from choosing the right ingredients to whipping up a delectable Singapore Chinese Dialect dish.

Yesterday evening I am so excited to visit one of the Chef, Mr Liew Choy who is one of the 4 chefs conducting the "Hands-On Master Classes" for the Mankansutra SFF Culinary Master Classes event. During this Hands-On session, the participants will be visiting a local wet market to learn on how to pick out the right and fresh ingredients to be used in Chef Liew’s class. And the dishes that will be featured in his class are:- Ming Zhu Roll, Marmite Crab, Steam Kampung Chicken with Ginger Sauce. In this reivew, I will be sharing their signature dish, “Ming Zhu Roll - 明珠卷” too.

Chef Liew has being working in the line for about 38 years since his Father-in-law generation and I noticed that he always put on a very genuine and friendly smile when the customers or his staffs approached him. And from our conversation, he reveal to me that out of all the dishes that he has concoct over the past years, his favourite dish is actually something simple and yet full of addicting flavour, “Cuttlefish with KangKong - 鱿鱼应菜”.

Since "Cuttlefish With Kangkong - 鱿鱼应菜" is one of Chef Liew's favourite dish, we definitely give this a try. Just like what he told us, the sauce is kind of sweet and spicy (but not really hot) and infused with crushed peanuts and sesame fragrant. Honestly, this is a delicious dish with that crunch and "Q" texture of fresh cuttlefish which goes pretty well with steam rice or even blanch bee hoon.

From Jiamin, Chef Liew's daughter, "Prawn Roll (Hay Chor) - 虾枣" is one of their hot selling items too. And we are so in time to witness the staffs preparing, rolling and steaming their special homemade Prawn Roll, which is an extra knowledge for me. Their Prawn Roll consists of ingredients such as:- minced meat, prawn, water chestnut, carrot and etc that wrap with beancurd skin. It is steamed till cooked before deep-fried with coated batter. There is a special sweet and fragrant taste in it, do give it a shot for small plate @ S$8.00 for about 10 – 12 pieces.

月光河粉 or translated as Moonlight Hor Fun..... is such a lovely name for this "Fried Hor Fun" dish. The speciality of this dish is customer has to stir the raw egg into the fried rice noodles mixture while served in order to use the heat of the noodle dish to cook the raw egg. According to Jiamin by mixing the raw egg into the fried noodle, it actually give this dish a smooth and delicious taste. Readers, if you do try this dish, bewared that there are actually deep-fried pork lard in it to give this dish it's unique traditional taste. But if you prefer something healthier, you can always ask the chef to omit the pork lard on special request too.

After the 3 appetisers mentioned above let us start off with today's food sampling items. First to be served is their signature dish “Claypot Pig Liver - 姜葱炒猪肝”. In order to maintain the taste and texture of the pork liver in this dish, the chef must be able to control the heat well as claypot tends to get the pork liver cooked faster in its high temperature.

When this "Claypot Pig Liver - 姜葱炒猪肝" is served, the waitress will give the mixture a quick stir in front of the customer in order to prevent the pork liver for being over cooked or certain portion being stuck at the bottom of the pot. I was so delighted to be able to sample this dish because it has always being one of my favourite childhood dishes since young. Although this dish does not have those strong cooking wine taste compared to some other Cze Cha stalls, but it the traditional claypot cooking method definitely brings out another type of fragrant and taste in it.

Finally, here comes the long waiting "Ming Zhu Roll - 明珠卷" dish that is going to be featured in SFF 2010 Makansutra hands-on Master Class on Sunday, 18 July 2010. (Click HERE for more details) Chef Liew's wife shared with me that they actually prepared this Ming Zhu Roll a day ahead, keep in the fridge to further developed the taste before deep-frying it when customer request the order. The name “Ming Zhu Roll - 明珠卷” comes from actually the colour of the salted egg yolk, which reflects like moonlight on the shredded shittake mushroom. As you can see from the photo, there are other ingredients such as Prawn, Salted Egg Yolk, Ham, Parsley that are stuffed in the Beancurd bag (Tau Pok) and wrapped tightly using beancurd sheet.

This dish is sure to be their top "Signature" dish that is full of multi color, ingredients and flavour. Imagine biting into a mouthful of this crispy outer skin, which burst out that juicy and sweet inner filling with combination of ham, fruit, vegetable and seafood in it. A small serving of this dish comes with 6 individual pieces at S$9.00 which is just nice for 4 person to share with.

Chef Liew runs Keng Eng Kee Seafood Restaurant together with his family members, which make it a family business. Currently the main chef handling the kitchen will be his second son while Chef Liew will help out during most weekends or festive season where they are crowds. Keng Eng Kee occupied almost the entire coffee shop area at Block 124 and with another air-condition space directly opposite the shop which can act as a mini function room for private function. This area can hold about 48 - 60 people with 6 big round tables. This restaurant is always packed with people during Friday to weekends so is best to give them a call to make a reservation or dine during weekday to avoid the weekend crowds.

Keng Eng Kee Seafood Restuarant
Block 124, #01-136
Bukit Merah Lane 1 (Alexandra Village)
Singapore 150124
Telphone: 6272 1038
Handphone: 9748 7054


There are 4 Hands-On Master Classes which are availbe at Restaurant Assocation of Singapore (RAS) Kitchen on these timing:-

Sunday,18 July 2010
Time: 10:00am - 13:30pm, (Chef Liew's from Keng Eng Kee featuring Ming Zhu Roll and etc)
15:00pm - 18:30pm

Friday, 23 July 2010
Time: 18:00pm - 21:30pm

Sunday, 25 July 2010
Time: 10:00am 13:30pm

For more information and pricing on the classes above, please click HERE to direct to the SFF 2010 official website.

Gim Tim Restaurant - Traditional Hokkien Dishes

Gim Tim Pte Ltd (Restaurants) or well known as “锦珍” started from a small HDB area restaurant in a corner located at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4. Gim Tim has grown into a group of 3 restaurants, serving exquisite cuisine with Hokkien, Szechuan and Cantonese dishes. And I believed most of us have a deep-impression of their mobile kitchen where Gim Tim has a mobile fleet that is specially fitted to cater for outdoor functions.

Same as Lim Hai Sheng’s Carrot Cake (Click HERE), Gim Tim is also one of the featured restaurants in Clarke Quay Food Street as well as the Singapore Chinese Dialect Heritage Feast too. And out of the 3 restaurants that Gim Tim has in Singapore, only the branch that located at Ang Mio Kio Ave 4 served authentic Hokkien Heritage Dishes.

Before we start off with today’s Hokkien dishes, let’s take a look at who is behind the kitchen whipping out all these fabulous Dialect Heritage Cuisines. Chef Lai Yong Meng - 赖泳鸣大厨 is the Master Chef of this restaurant who leads his team of chefs and helpers in preparing these delicious cuisines that will be featured during this Friday 16 July – 25 July 2010 Food Street event.

Chef Lai has a very friendly personality and we really enjoy chatting with him during the food sampling session. Through the conversation we can sense his passion towards his customers and food that he prepares with his professional skill. He has spent more than 30 years of his life working as a chef in major Chinese Restaurants in Singapore and Malaysia. Chef Lai also holds a position as the Second Vice President of Society of Chinese Cuisine Chefs (Singapore).

Before I came to this food sampling event, I don't really familiar with what are the commonly traditional dishes that most Hokkien people loves to cook or order during their eat out. What I have in mind was only their famous Kong Bak Pau or Hokkien Mee. But today after the conversation with Chef Lai I actually learnt a lot through him from this event. Now let’s us take a look at the first Hokkien Heritage Cuisine which is “Fish Maw Soup - 福建鱼鳔羹”.

Take a closer look at the ingredients; it is really full of Fish Maw chunks, julienned carrots, mushroom and etc. The soup tasate more or less like shark's fin soup texture but without adding shark’s fin in it. I have tried a few Fish Maw soup in different restaurants previously and I find the one served at this restaurant really brings out it’s full flavour and some how or rather you might really think that you are eating the real shark’s fin. You can grab a bowl of this to sample it tasate at the coming Clarke Quay Food Street at affordable pricing too.

Here comes today’s “Special” Hokkien cuisine which is known as “Fried Tapioca Roll - 福建大茨粉”. Accordingly to Chef Lai, this is a very old traditional Hokkien cuisine that is hardly found in most of the Hokkien Restaurants these day. This dish is fried with some handmade Tapioca roll that is cut into roughly 0.5” by 2” long strips. At first glance you might think that it look quite similar to the Hakka Abacus Seeds but with rather long strips instead of seeds. Although this cuisine might not look appetizing due to it’s colour (seems black) but I can assure you that if you love spicy food, you will love this. The dish is fixed with Chef Lai self-made Chilli paste that taste similar like “Hae Bee Hiam” (consists of crispy-fried pounded dried shrimp, spices and chilli) and it definitely brings out the bland taste of the tapioca strips.

I am sure you are familiar with this black sauce "Hokkien Mee - 福建面" where you can get it from some of the Cze Cha Stalls in Singapore. Eating this dish at a restaurant and having it at the Cze Cha stall seems a bit different perhaps due to psychology thinking. The noodle used here is those flat yellow type of noodle, which is different from the usual yellow noodle that is found in other stalls.

This is a complimentary dish from Chef Lai, “Hokkien Hei Zor - 福建虾枣” which is also one of the featured dish that will be available at the Clarke Quay Food Street. Look at the display, this is my first time seeing "Hei Zor" served with Achar as side dish, interesting combination right!

Look at the inner section of the Hei Zor, this really taste different from our Teochew Ngoh Hiang. They used more on prawn, water chestnut and fatty pork as the main ingredients. You must not give this a missed during the food fair. According to Chef Lai, they might be selling this for S$1.50 a roll during the food street fair. So keep an eye on this....

Lastly I must thanks Mr Desmond Liap and his crews for their warm services during this food tasting session despite that they were all very busy with the on-going banquet during our visit. Thanks for making everything so smooth during the interview and food sampling too.

Gim Tim Restaurant at Ang Mo Kio Ave 4 has both indoor and outdoor dining area to smooth the crowds during weekends and festive seasons. If you are interested to try these Hokkien Dishes from Gim Tim, do drop by their stall at counter #21/22 at the Clarke Quay Food Street and Singapore Chinese Dialect Heritage Feast from 16 July - 25 July 2010. More information can be found HERE.

Gim Tim Restarant - 锦珍
Block 157, Ang Mo Kio Ave 4
#01-546
Singapore 560157
Telephone: 6459 7766

Lim Hai Sheng - Fried Carrot Cake

As part of this year Singapore Food Festival (SFF) 2010 outreach to the blogging community, there is an interesting new event known as "Food In Translation", where local well-known food bloggers are invited to sample and blog about some of these popular Singapore Chinese Dialect dishes that will be featured during the SFF on the 16 - 25 July 2010.

I was so excited and honor to be invited as one of the bloggers to cover this event by "Word Of Mouth Communications Pte Ltd". At this Food In Translation event, we can choose to visit either one or 5 of the mentioned restaurants/eateries in the list. On this event, I took up 3 places to venture on and I will keep you people updated on the fabulous dishes before the Official Opening of the Singapore Food Festival on 16 July 2010.

First Stop on my list is “Lim Hai Sheng Cooked Food - 林海盛熟食” which is located at Block 724, Ang Mo Kio Ave 6. I am sure those who stays around Ang Mo Kio area would have either tried or heard about this stall that is always pack with queues.

Accordingly to the stall owner, Jenny, they have being operating this stall for more than 30 years starting from her father’s generation. And they only focus on selling the "White" Fried Carrot Cake instead of black and white like some other stalls.

The texture of the carrot cake is soft and fragrant with generous amount of beaten egg and salted turnip (cai po - 菜脯) that lift up the overall taste of this simple dish. Accordingly to some of my readers who frequent this stall, they suggested that next round when I pop-by this stall again, I can actually request them to fried the Carrot Cake longer in order to achieve nore crispy outer layer. So if you prefer more crispy texture, you must send in your request while making your order.

For those who are more health conscious, Jenny told me that she actually used vegetable oil to fried the carrot cake instead of follow the traditional method of using “pork lard - 豬油”. And they also have a very special homemade chilli paste to go with the fried carrot cake if you prefer something more spicy too.

I was there around 11:00am on Sunday morning and from the time I arrive till I left at around 12:00pm their queue was very consistent and Jenny has to rush in and out of the stall to cook and at the same time answer some of my interview questions. According to Jenny during weekdays, she is alone to cook, pack and serve the customers all by herself.

Jenny works only on the morning shift from 8:30am till the carrot cake sold out at about roughly 1:00pm or so, if you are interested to try their delicious Teochew Fried Carrot Cake, remember to drop by earlier to avoid disappointment. Or you can visit their stall at the Clarke Quay Food Street on 16 - 25 July 2010 Singapore Food Festive.

Lim Hai Sheng Cooked Food - 林海盛熟食
Block 724, Ang Mo Kio Ave 5
#01-09
Singapore 560151
In-Charge: Jenny Lim

Opearting Hours:
Mon - Fri: 8.30am - 2:00pm, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Sat/Sun/PH: 7:00am - 8:00pm


Hai Sheng Carrot Cake - 海盛菜頭粿
(Bedok Branch: Run by Jenny's Husband)
Block 216, Bedok North Street 1
#01-49

Operating Hours:
6:00am - 1:00pm

Flavour Fiesta @ AMK Hub

For those who stay around Ang Mo Kio area or frequent passes-by of AMK Hub via the Bus Interchange I am sure you will have notice this “Flavour Fiesta @ AMK Hub” which starts from 05 July – 18 July 2010 at the basement 1, Exhibition Hall.

This Flavour Fiesta Food Fair enables you to enjoy various dialect delights from the participating stalls and at the same time catch up with some experienced chefs from Society of Chinese Cuisine Chefs (Singapore) in action. These chefs will also demonstrate various dialect cuisine right in front of your sight and you are also given a chance to try the end products before trying them out at home with the recipes.

Yesterday, I was happened to be around that area to another Food Festival event and I am glad to be able to catch up some cooking tips with Chef James Aw Ah Lee (Executive Chef, National University of Singapore Society) who is whipping up these delicious Cantonese Cuisines. The two dishes that Chef James shared were "Tenderloin Beef Cubes with Black Pepper Sauce" and "Crispy Stuffed Chempulak with Scallop". I will be trying out the above dishes thought the given recipe soon and will share it on my recipe blog too. So stay till for it if you are interested to know more....