Monday 18 July 2011

Singapore 1st 3G Family Centric Foodcourt by Foodfare

Last weekend after our Bukit Timah Railway tracking, we decided to settle our dinner somewhere in Clementi Mall. To our surprised the Foodfare located at level 4 has a new 3G(three generation) dining concept whereby everyone in the family from grandparents to young toddlers can enjoy a wonderful mealtime and bonding together.

Upon entering the foodcourt you will see a lot of cute Bento boxes special cater for kids' portion of meal appears on each individual stalls. And at one back corner of the foodcourt there is a stage design area with toddlers friendly furniture such as low table and broad seats.

But that evening when we are there those seats are all taken by a few groups of "in-considerate Young Adults/Teens" due to the crowded dinner timing. And even though they have finished their meal, they are still stuck on their seats chit chatting leaving parents with young kids standing nearby waiting for seats which suppose to be cater for young kids. Perhaps the foodcourt management should do something about the toddlers seats area.

For your information, there will be a kids' menu on each table showing all kinds of kids' bento meal packed with local dishes such as fish soup noodles, western food, chicken rice and etc. Each set of bento comes in smaller portion of food in order to prevent food wastage for kids compared to the adult serving but the price was not really budget too. The Nugget and Fries set that we ordered cost S$3.00 with some soggy fries and cold nuggets which I was not really happy about it.

And happen that if you kids like any of the 4 design bento box you have to purchase with another extra S$3.00 on top of the kids' meal price.The Bento box purchased will be given separately for the kids to bring home while their meal will be served from the bento box provided from the stalls.


Sunday 17 July 2011

Season 2 of Family Cook Off Sponsor by FairPrice And HPB

"FairPrice Family Cook Off", a Singapore version of family cooking competition, returns for a second season on Asian Food Channel and E City airing on Starhub TV from 25 October 2011 to 06 December 2011. Same as last year the show will be bought to you by NTUC FairPrice and produced by Brand New Media. But this year there will be a partnership with Health Promotion Board (HPB) to increase the awareness of using healthier ingredients in cooking.


The second season of Family Cook Off will be hosted by celebrity couple Evelyn Tan and Darren Lim, who are both household names in local English and Chinese television circles. Whereas the Judge will be Fay Khoo, author and television host for various Malaysian food guides and television programmes.  She is also the founding partner of her own brand spices "Miss Khoo's Asian Deli" and currently food editor and columnist for TIME OUT KL and Esquire.

Filming of FairPrice Family Cook Off Season 2 will take place at the Marina Bay Golf Club, with the first episode scheduled to air on 25 October 2011 on the Asian Food Channel and E City. Subsequent episodes will be broadcasted on both channels every Tuesday thereafter at 8pm. Recipes from each episode will also be available at selected NTUC FairPrice stores or on http://cookoff.com.sg/ and http://www.hpb.gov.sg/

Similar to previous year, the FairPrice Family Cook Off follows a knock-off competition format. Each week, two families will go head-to-head in three 20 minutes cook off challenges using mandatory ingredients provided to create their dish. The breakdowns of their tasks include:-

~ A Family's Signature Dish;

~ A recipe makeover challenge that requires the cooks to put a health spin on a Popular Singapore Dish (example: Laksa); and

~ A mystery ingredient challenge by using four ingredients and five minutes to plan and cook up a creative dish.

Registrationis opens to public from 15 July 2011 to 05 August 2011 via their official website at http://cookoff.com.sg/. Participants will be picked through a process that includes interviews, and tests on their skills and ability to work as a team. In addition to winning the grand prize of an "all-expense paid trip" to a mystery location, the winning family will receive S$1,000 of FairPrice gift vouchers too.


Cooking Demonstration by
Winner of FairPrice Family Cook Off 2010
COTTON BLEU FAMILY


The Cotton Family, winner of FairPrice Family Cook Off Season 1 shares they experiences and thoughts about last year event. Father, Herve says that they didn't expect to win the Family Cook Off Championship but they really enjoy whole process of bonding and fun time shared as a family during the cooking event.

Above shows a live cooking demo on their finale signature dessert done during Family Cook Off Season 1 which is known as Floating Iceberg. According to Herve this a family recipe pass to him from his mum and it is actually poached egg white served with custard, fruit and caramel sauce.

And fresh from their win last year, they also opened a French-style family restaurant known as "Cotton Bleu" at 205 Upper Thomson Road with range of choices from Appetizer, Main Course to Dessert. Will share more on their menu on the next post.

In order to participate in this year Season 2 Family Cook Off. Click on their official site at http://cookoff.com.sg/registration-form for more more detail and registration form. Good Luck.


Saturday 16 July 2011

Singapore Food Festival 2011 - Official Opening 15 July 2011

Although it was a raining evening, it did not reduce the number of visitors gathering around Clarke Quay Read Bridge to discover the journey of this year Singapore Food Festival 2011(SFF11) "CURRIES AND SPICES" theme during its Official Opening on Friday, 15 July 2011.

Introducing different types of ground spices for making curries and cuisines near the main entrance.

From the name "SPICE IT UP!" you are able to discover Singapore ethnic curries and cuisines using different kinds of whole or ground spices found in their cuisine which they will showcase it on most of the participating stalls. Example: These are the spices and ingredients used for making Chinese Herbal Mutton Soup from one of the stalls.)

As compared to last year(read more HERE) statistic of 30,000 visitors, this year we have over 35,000 visitors crowding at the stalls on the Clarke Quay Read Bridge during yesterday night official opening.

Before the Guest of Honor arrival at the Singapore Food Festival Village, there is a short 5 minutes band performance where the drummers dressed in chef outfits accompany by two dancers to SPICE up the HEAT for the event.

This year Singapore Food Festival logo is given an updated look to reflect to the theme of SFF11 after 17 years. The brand new logo is a colourful amalgamation of Singapore’s Best-loved Spices in a traditional mortar and pestle. Every member of the launch party will be given a piece of a puzzle to fit onto the “Spice Backdrop”. These 5 pieces of puzzle will form the new SFF Logo when pieced together and at the same time officially launching SFF11.

The order of the pieces of puzzle are:-

~ 1st Piece: Cinnamon Stick (by Ms Le Thi Thanh Thao)
~ 2nd Piece: Chilli (by Chef Milind Sovani & Mr Shanmugam)
~ 3rd Piece: Ginger (by Mr Ng Yong Hwee)
~ 4th Piece: Cardamom (by Ms Melissa Ow)
~ 5th Piece: Coriander Leaf and Star Anise (by Minister S.Iswaran)

After Minster S.Iswaran and the rest of the launch party finished touring the "Curry and Spice Street", they headed to the cooking demonstration area to observe SFF Consultant Chef Milind Sovani prepares a Fish Head Curry dish.

Zalina's Specialties has a good range of local Malay Cuisines where you will indulge with the sambal chilli, rendang, chili prawns and etc. Our set meal consists of :- Turmeric Rice, Rendang Chicken, Sambal Prawns and Egg which cost S$6.50


Local favourite Ngoh Hiang that you can have it anytime of the day with a accompany spicy dipping sauce with hint of crashed peanuts.

Spice Sutra offers a range of North Indian food such as Butter Chicken, Assorted Skewers, Mutton Curry and etc.

Other than spicy curries you can also try the Chili Crab from Jumbo Seafood, Claypot Fish Head Curry from Chng Kee, and Fried Carrot Cake from Lim Hai Sheng. But if you keen in trying some Indian food, look up for the stalls occupy by the Indian Restaurants Association Singapore(IRAS) where they offers array of Indian cuisines.

For those who love Ice-Cream there is an Gelato stall that sells a few types of "spiced ice-creams" such as Wasabi, Vanilla Saffron and Chocolate Chilly(where you will get to see real red chili in it) for a single scoop at S$4.00 per cup.

If you are someone who love SPICES and SPICY food, do come down to the Singapore Food Festival Village and experience your journey with all the different types of curries and cuisines are you can find there.

SINGAPORE FOOD FESTIVAL VILLAGE
Date: 15 - 24 July 2011
Time: 4.00pm - 11.00pm(weekdays) / 12.00pm - 11.00pm(weekends)
Venue:Clarke Quay Read Bridge And Along Central River Promenade
Admission: FREE (Pricing of the food starts from S$2.00 onwards)
Website and Details HERE.


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