Wendy's @ GV Yishun 10

Em... if you are just given this photo to guess where are these baked potato from, can you score bingo for it? I am sure for those who always love to venture new food are bond to recognised some of the signature items from each restaurants at a glance. I have posted a similar photo at the Facebook Fan page and surprisingly all the 5 person who comments guess it correctly(click HERE to view). These baked potatoes are indeed from the new fast food restaurant known as “Wendy’s”.

Last Saturday, Joyce and I decided to drop by Wendy’s that is located in Golden Village Yishun 10. This newly opened outlet has replaced the Burger King that had being an icon fast food outlet there for more than 10 years I guess.

The queue at Wendy’s is pretty long during weekend evenings and I have to queue for about 30 minutes before I can get my orders done. To survive in these fast food industries, Wendy’s indeed has a wide range of items from different varieties of burgers to deep-fried chicken pieces, assorted baked potatoes, chili and array flavour of frosty. So after running through their menu, these are what Joyce and I settle with.

1/4 Pound Single Combo which comes with a 1/4 Pound Burger, small fries and drinks of your choice. You can also choose to upsize your side and drink with additional 50cents or S$1.00 for medium or large. Each bite of this 1/4 pound burger, you will get to taste the delicious patty that is grilled to juicy perfection and it is served with fresh toppings such as tomato and pickle. For a combo set like this with regular fries and drink it cost S$6.85 per set.

Next we get a set of their Fried Chicken Combo at S$7.40 each because we are curious to try out how different it taste compare to other fast food restaurants that serves fried chicken too. The outer layer is very crispy and the meat inside is surprisingly not dry or tough but tender. But if compare to other fried chicken, this taste rather mild without the usual herbs and spices taste.

My choice of "Broccoli & Cheese Baked Potato" @ S$3.30 each which is a huge serving that can be shared between two person. The piping-hot baked potato that is straight from the oven is topped with tender pieces of broccoli and a creamy cheese sauce. For me as a cheese lover, the cheese sauce taste rather a bit mild but in another way it will be less greasy and great for those non-cheese lovers to pick up this choice.

Joyce pick wants something less cheesy so she settle with this "Sour Cream & Chives Potato" that cost S$2.90 each. The sour cream topping goes well with the blend baked potato and makes it a rather healthy choice among the 5 toppings that are available. Although this taste great, but we thought if they have some extra fried bacon bits on top of the sour cream it would be perfection for this dish.

Wendy’s offer 4 different types of “Frosty” which are Original Frosty, Frosty Float, Frosty Shake and Twisted Frosty. Here we order one of their “Original Chocolate Frosty” that taste cool, creamy and refreshing. The texture is very smooth and it does not taste too sweet for those without sweet tooth. I am sure a small cup of this will satisfies your palate after hearty meal.

Other than burgers, fried chicken, baked potatoes and etc. Wendy's also have Breakfast Sets, Garden Salads, Chili, Kids' Meal (comes with a toy) and etc. Perhaps we will drop by another day to try out their breakfast set again.

There are a few Wendy's outlet around Singapore from the main branch at Lau Pa Sat and the rest locating at Jurong Point, Holland village, Liat Towers and Yishun 10. According to them, there will be another two NEW outlets coming up soon at Plaza by the Park and NEX Mall.

Double-Boiled Durian Chicken Soup - 榴莲炖鸡汤

Durian is known as the "King of all Fruits" and in Singapore we can have Durian almost throughout the whole year. And among all the varieties of durian in the stalls, I am sure most of the people will go for either "Cat Mountain King - 猫山王" or "Red Prawn - 红虾" which are bonds to make people crave for more. In recent years there are so many special and delicious products that are made from fresh durian flesh available in the market such as: durian moon cake, ice-cream, muffins, and etc.

Today I am not going to use durian to make any cakes or dessert but rather I will like to share with you on how to make a pot of simple and delicious Durian Soup. From what I have read up, in Thailand many woman or confinement ladies will make this soup to strengthen their body as Durian is consider to be one of the best ingredient. There are different method on making this soup, some of them will use the durian shell, soft white flesh inside the shell or the durian meat itself. But here, I will choose to use the durian flesh together with the seed.

Since you can always find all sort of varieties of Durian at the local Durian Stalls or some supermarket. If you wish, do pick up some and try out this double-boiled durian chicken soup which will surprised you and your family. This soup has many therapeutic effects, including circulating of the blood and qi in your body, nourishing yin and it is also suitable for everyone to consume. For those who loves durian, this soup gives a little hint of durian aroma and sweetness but if you prefer something stronger taste, you can always mixed the soup with the flesh to make it more tastier and creamy texture.

Durian is also rich in protein and contain good source of nutrition in the fruit category. It has a special aroma, which are appetizers to promote the effect of appetite, including dietary fiber which can promote bowel movement. But you should not over consume it because of its rich nutrition that your stomach might not be able to fully absorbed it. And if you eat durian, you can always have a few mangosteen which is the "Queen of Fruit" to cool down your body from eating too much of durian.

Now let's take a look at today's ingredients which only consists of 4 items: -

Ingredients: (serves 2)
6 seeds of Durian Fruit
1 Chicken Drumbstick
2 - 3 Pieces of Pork Ribs
800 ml Chicken broth or Soup stock

Tips:

~ When getting the durian, try to choose those flash that is dry and not too ripe that it can be kept whole throughout the cooking.
~ You can also add in 2 slices of ginger to enhance the flavour of the soup.
~ The natural sweetness and taste of the soup is good enough to consume without any extra seasonings.

If you don't have slow cooker, you can always double-boiled it in another pot over the stove on low heat too.

Method:
1. Trim and cut the chicken drumpstick into pieces, then bring a pot of water to boil.
2. Blanced the chicken and ribs in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, removed, rinse and set aside.
3. Next arrange the Durian neatly into the bottom of the double-boiler pot, then top with chicken and ribs on it and place the pot into the inner pot of the slow cooker.
4. Pour the chicken stock into a small soup pot, bring it to boil then slowly add into the durian ingredient pot.
5. Remember to use boiling water for the inner pot of the slow cooker to double-boiled the soup.
6. Set the slow cooker to AUTO and cook for about 1.5 hours and serve it warm.

After looking at this interesting Durian Chicken Soup recipe, if you are interested in reading more on other related durian recipes such as: Durian Fried Rice, Durian Chocolate Chiffon Cake, Durian Tiramisu, Durian Cheesecake with Chocolate Fudge and etc. Click here (HERE) for more recipe articles.




p/s: If you will like to read more on the chinese version of this recipe, do hop over to my blog at Omy HERE.

Fish Slice & Bitter Gourd Porridge

In Singapore do you know where to eat the best fish soup or fish porridge? I believe for those who loves fish soup, you must have tried those stalls located at Amoy Street (厦门街) food centre, level 2 such as "Piao Ji Fish Porridge - 標記鱼粥" and "Han Kee Fish Porridge - 漢記鱼粥". But have you thought of cooking your very own version of Fish Soup with your desire ingredients. Today let's take a look on how easy we can prepared a homecook fish soup within 30 minutes by using some bitter gourd and fresh fish slices to cook teochew style fish porridge.

Bitter gourd clearing and refreshing which helps nourishing Qi, kidney and spleen, liver and improve eyesight effectiveness. It also has certain treatment effect on sores, heat stroke, fever, and other diseases. On the other hand, bitter gourd has high content of vitamin C, with prevention of scurvy, protect cell membrane and prevent atherosclerosis, improve stress ability such as the role to protect the heart. You can even use this as beauty products to achieve fairer skin with its moisture, calm and moisturizing the skin, especially in hot summer, apply it icy cold bitter gourd slices on the face can immediately lift the skin irritation.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
250g of Fresh Fish Slices
100g of Bitter Gourd, cut into thin slices
2 rice bowl of cooked rice
1 Tomato, cut into wedge
2 stalks of Spring Onion, cut into section
2 slices of Ginger
4 Stalks of Lettuce
800ml Water
Salt or Chicken cube for seasonings
Chopped Spring Onion and Parsley, garnish
Dry Shallot and Shallot Oil

Tips:

• You can use any kind of fish slices that are suitable for making soup such as: sheng yu, grouper, red snapper, mackerel and etc.
• If you buying the fish in the wet market you can also seek advice from the stall helper to get some good choice.
• f you are hesitated to eat bitter gourd due to it taste, you can rubbed some salt on the cut slices give is some squeeze, rinse it in water so as to reduce the bitterness taste.

From the steps below, you will notice that this is a very simple and nutritious soup which can be easily done in less than 30 minutes. And if you have time, you can prepared a pot of fish stock using fish bone and anchovies as main ingredients which will gives the stock an even more flavorful taste.

Method:
1. Prepared all the ingredients, preheat the soup pot with 1 teaspoon of oil, add spring onions and ginger and saute it until fragrant then add in bitter gourd and continue to fry for another 10 seconds, pour in 800ml of water.
2. Bring the mixture to boil again, add in fish slices and tomato cook for another 1 minute on medium high heat.
3. Turn off the heat, season with salt to taste.
4. Place each bowl of rice in a big soup bowl, scoop the hot soup mixture over the rice.
5. To serve garnish with some spring onion, coriander, shallot oil for extra flavour.

But if you prefer to have the soup and rice separately like normal fish soup with rice, you can always go ahead without adding the rice into the soup. For more information if you wish to read the Chinese version of the fish soup recipe, please click here. (Click HERE for recipe)