Sunday 15 July 2012

Singapore Food Festival 2012 @ Waterfront Promenade, Marina Bay

This year's Singapore Food Festival 2012 kicked off last Friday, 13 July 2012 at the Waterfront Promenade, Marina Bay(map) instead of at the Clarke Quay Read Bridge like the previous years. With a larger space at the new venue, this is also the first time Singapore Food Festival (SFF) Village extended its' operation hours from 11.00am to 11.30pm daily from 13 - 22 July 2012, offering a total of 120 hours of glorious food.

During the ten days (13 July to 22 July) of glorious seafood, you will be able to sample delicious dishes from about 50 vendors under one roof at the SFF Food Village. And this year with more seating area up to 1,500 sitting capacity, I am sure everyone will gets the chance to try out their desire dishes.

Photo credited to Singapore Food Festival 2012
Since one of the mode of payment is using NETS FlashPay Card, you are encourage to purchase the limited edition SFF 2012 NETS FlashPay Cards available for sale at the SFF Village. It is priced at S$12.00 with a stored value of S$7.00 and the special NETS FlashPay card also entitles a 20% discount for all purchased at the SFF Food Village.

One of the highlight for this year SFF 2012 Official Opening of the SFF 2012 was a live cooking demonstration of Chilli Crab by SFF Food Consultant, Chef Eric Teo. GUEST OF HONOR (GOH), Mr Teo Ser Luck, Minister of State for Trade And Industry also join in together with Chef Eric to complete the cooking of this authentic Singapore signature dish.

Chilli Crab cooked by Chef Eric during the demonstration cooking


GUEST OF HONOR (GOH), Mr Teo Ser Luck, dines at the Food Village together with the Launch party members, Chef Eric and etc.

Above are some of the participating food stalls of this year Singapore Food Festival 2012. And there are about 50 stalls featuring international and local favourite like Chilli Crab, Black Pepper Crab, Prawn Noodles, Italian Seafood Cuisines, Cze Char and etc.

Here, you can excite your palate with the launch of the first Singapore Food Festival Seafood Platter which is presented by Seafood Paradise (under Paradise Group). This seafood platter offers five varieties of seafood dishes, such as their popular Chilli Crab or Signature Creamy Butter Crab, Stir-fried Live Geoduck with Asparagus in XO Sauce, Crisp-fried Prawns tossed with Salted Egg Yolk, Deep-fried Coral Trout in Nyonya Style and Supreme Seafood Fried Rice.

This is how the Seafood Platter will be served upon purchased and you get to choose from either Chilli Crab or Signature Creamy Butter Crab to go with the rest of the 4 items. I love the taste and texture of the fried rice which is enhanced with the added fish roes. The salted egg yolk prawns are tasty too as well as the nyonya style sauce which used to coat the coral trout.

Price: S$36.90 per set
(*Note: only available at SFF Village from 13 - 22 July 2012, while stocks last)

In line with the Festival's seafood theme, Neo Garden has introduced Mussels to the well loved, thick Laksa gravy and coined the name "Signature Laksa's Mussel March" as the mussels are standing upright in marching stance. Apart from Laksa Mussel, their famous Curry ChickenHome-style Sin Chow Mee Hoo, Original and Buffalo-style Drumlets are also available at their stall in the SFF Food Village.

The Founder's Prawn Fritters from Neo Garden is a "must try" if you love this delicious homemade delicacy. Because of Mr Neo Kah Kiat's (founder and CEO of Neo Group Limited) love for this humble snacks, he had actually perfect this Prawn Fritters and make it into their signature dish which you cannot stop munching after one. The texture is so light and crispy plus the prawns are fresh juicy when bite.

To join in the waves of this year SFF 2012, Covelli Italian Bistro and Wine Bar also present their first ever Seafood Dessert which is known as "Squid Ink Meringue with Sea Urchin-Mango Cheese Mousse".  It is a very special dessert whereby you can taste two different distinctive flavour in one. I personally love the taste of the Sea Urchin Mango Cheese Mousse which gives it a light and refreshing after taste.

An interesting Baked Eggs snack from Ming Lang where they have other items such as Fish and Meatball Soup, Xiao Long Bao, Teppanyaki Squid, Takoyaki and etc.

Teppanyaki Squid


Singapore Food Festival Village will be held at its new venue (Waterfront Promenade @ Marina Bay) from:-

Date: 13 July - 22 July 2012
Time: 11.00am - 11.00pm (daily)
Admission: FREE
Payment Mode: CASH and NETS *FlashPay
(*Note: 20% discount for payment made using NETS FlashPay card)


To Get There:-
Nearest MRT Station:
Bayfront Station (Exit A), Raffles Place Station (Exit I)

Nearest Bus Stop:
Bayfront Avenue, Marina Bay Sands (B03511)
Buses: NR1, NR6, 97, 97E, 106, 133, 133M

Bayfront Avenue, Opp Marina Bay Sands (B03519)
Buses: 97, 97E, 106, 133, 133M, 502, 502A, 518



CULINARY ADVENTURES ON DEMAND


Photo credited to Singapore Food Festival 2012
Take some time off and for a leisure cruise ride and enjoy spectacular view of the Singapore skyline down the Singapore Rive together with a fresh seafood meal served in a classic tiffin carrier which you get to keep after the ride.

Date: On Demand
Duration: 1 hour
Embarkation: Marina Bay Jetty
Disembarkation: Marina Bay Jetty


Admission: S$68+ (subject to minimum booking of 20 pax per ride)
*Note: cruise ticket includes fresh seafood meal served in a complimentary tiffin carrier shown above)
Booking: visit www.singaporefoodfestival.com.sg; or call 6796 9331


Photo credited to Singapore Food Festival 2012
Learn how to choose the freshet catch in a wet market as a chef take you on a tour through the Jurong Fishery Port at the break of dawn! There you will fine0tune your skills in choosing superior seafood based on it's colour, texture and smell.

Date: On Demand
Time: 5.00am - 9.00am
Venue: Jurong Fishery Port (pick-up point at Boon Lay MRT Station)
Admission: S$150.00+ (subject to minimum booking of 20 pax per session)
Booking: visit www.singaporefoodfestival.com.sg; or call 6796 9331



Friday 13 July 2012

Bollywood Veggies @ Kranji Countryside

Bollywood Veggies is locate in the rustic environment of the northwest Kranji Countryside where many farms are open to the public for touring. This countryside concept provides visitors with opportunities to learn and enrich themselves in the natural environment. So for weekend family getaway from the shopping malls or etc, you might want to consider to bring your family or loved ones to explore some of the beautiful natural agriculture farms in Kranji area.

In this post I would be sharing our recent visit to Bollywood Veggies and it's Bistro known as Poison Ivy. These photos are taken with my iPhone and more photos related to this post can be found in Cuisine Paradise Facebook Page HERE.

Although this is not our first visit to Bollywood Veggies but it indeed it was our first dining experience at their bistro. And upon getting our seats, we notice a colourful menu chalkboard at one end of the entrance displaying their daily special.

Since it was a rainy afternoon, we decided to settle for some hot beverage. Here we had fragrant Fig Tea (back) which had a similar taste to "red bean soup" plus refreshing Lemon Grass Tea (front) which both are their recommended beverages (served in either Hot or Cold). Personally I would prefer Lemon Grass Tea over Fig for it's lovely natural taste and aroma.
Price: S$2.00 each


Moringa Tempura is a signature dish from Poison Ivy Bistro which you must try at least "once" during your visit. These crispy veggies tempura is made with Moringa leaves which are an excellent source of calcium that contain 4 times the amount of calcium in milk and seven times the amount of vitamin C in carrot.

These will be great to served as afternoon tea snack or appetiser before meal. And even though these are fried stuffs, they are not grease to handle as finger food. Just love to munch them and it's quiet additive too! For your information the Moringa Tempura will be served with kacang manis (dark sweet sauce) and some pickled vegetables to enhance the taste of the tempura.
Price: S$4.00 per plate


Their Nasi Lemak was piled with lots of sides dishes but the portion was rather small for it's price. But for small eater or those who wants more varieties of the side dishes, this is something that you can try.

Price: S$6.00 per plate


As I was curious to try their items in smaller portion, I decided to get "The Poor Mans' Platter - For 1" which consist of 3 items + 1 side. From the photo above(top down), this platter comes with:-

~ Warrior's Chicken Curry taste great with tint of spiciness and great aroma of the spices used.

~ Stir-fry Long Bean with Banana is a very appetizing dish to go with even just steamed white rice.

~ Bolly Banana Curry was definitely something interesting to us because of the "banana" in curry. However these banana slices doesn't taste anything like the normal "soft bananas" that we used to eat it taste more like sweet potato or yam(taro).

~ Plus some Crispy Banana Chips at the side. These crispy chips are very addictive which makes you keep popping them one after another. And if you like it, you can also purchased some home at their counter which comes in a 2 sizes packing.

Price: S$10.00 per person (3 items + 1 side)


Just a note on dining at Poison Ivy Bistro, since there is "NO Service charge or GST" included in the total bill, they only accept "CASH" for payment. No credit cards or NETS.

At one corner of the Alfresco area, there is a push cart selling organic products such as Fig, Banana, cooking spices, potted plants and herbs as well as their well-known Banana Cake.

As the rain had stopped after our meal, we decided to take a slow walk and explore around the Garden. Below are a few photos showing some of the plants and herbs in the Bollywood Veggies garden. 

Common herbs such as mint, drill and oregano that we have spotted. And we also surprised to find Wheat Field during our last visit too.


BOLLYWOOD VEGGIES
100 Neo Tiew Road,
Singapore 719026 (Kranji)
Telephone: (65) 6898 5001
Website: http://www.bollywoodveggies.com/

Opening Hours:-
Wednesday to Sunday And Public Holidays; 9.00am to 6.30pm
CLOSED ON: Monday And Tuesday(except Public Holidays)

Note: Dinner is not available as they close at 6.30pm

Payment: CASH ONLY

How To Get There:
- By Driving, click HERE
- By Shuttle Bus, Click HERE

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Homemade Fan Choy (饭菜) aka Steamed Rice


Fan Choy (饭菜) is a common breakfast or tea time item which can be found from those stalls selling steamed bao (包) and dim sum. It is a one dish meal which consists of rice that steamed together with char siew (barbecued meat) and hard-boiled egg or sometime with other ingredients such as stewed mushrooms.

From the photos in this post you can see that our homemade Fan Choy is loaded with lots of ingredients as compared to those selling from store bought. This makes it a plus point for homecook dishes whereby we are assured that fresh ingredients are being used as well as we can load it with more stuffing of our choice. So here is my mum's version of easy homemade Fan Choy which she had taught me. It is so easy that it can be done within 30 minutes with 3 key ingredients such as cooked rice, char siew and hard-boiled egg.


FAN CHOY
饭菜



When compare Fan Choy with Lor Mai Gai (糯米鸡), I still prefer Fan Choy because of it's fragrant char siew sauce and hard-boiled egg. So for my very own homemade Fan Choy, I have added extra portion of char siew and egg as compared to those store bought.


(Make: 6 (4" round)   |  Preparation: 10 minutes  |  Cooking: 20 minutes)

Ingredients:
2 Cup Uncooked Rice
3 Hardboiled Egg, shelled and halved
200g Char Siew, sliced
1/2 Cup Char Siew Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Hot Water
Some Stewed Shiitake Mushroom, optional
1/4 Cube Chicken Stock Cubes, optional
1 Knot Of Pandan Leaves, optional

Method:-
1. Rinse and cook the rice in rice cooker as per normal by adding in optional pandan leaves and chicken stock cubes for flavour and taste.

2. Mix about 2 tablespoons of hot water with the char siew sauce(obtain from the stall where you buy the char siew) and dark soy sauce to dilute it and set aside.

3. Meanwhile distribute the ingredients (char siew, egg and mushrooms [if using]) evenly in each aluminum foil cases together with 1 - 2 teaspoons of dilute char siew sauce while waiting for the rice to be cooked.

4. When the rice is done, remove the pandan leaves, fluff it with a fork and slowly drizzle in the char siew sauce, mix well according to your preference. (you might not need all the sauce)

5. Divide the rice equally among the prepared aluminum foil cases, steam it on a steamer rack for 5 - 8 minutes on medium heat and served hot/warm.

6. You can keep the fan choy(without steaming) in an air-tight container in the fridge for 2 - 3 days. To eat, just reheat it in the microwave oven or steam it for 5 minutes before eating.

NOTE:-
~ The key to make delicious "fan choy" lies on the char siew and char siew sauce used. So try to grab some decent char siew (a little fat makes it taste better) from your favourite stall and also request for some of the special char siew sauce to enhance the colour and flavour of your fan choy.


For those who have emailed me asking for the Fan Choy recipe, I hope this quick and easy version will enable you to prepare your favourite Fan Choy especially for those are staying overseas. If Char Siew is not available at your area, perhaps you can try making some from "Rasamalaysia"(recipe) or "Maameemoomoo"(recipe) and use them for making Fan Choy.




COME AND JOIN US @ #CookForFamily


Recently Daniel from Daniel’s Food Diary has started a little bloggers’ initiative called #CookForFamily. The purpose of #CookForFamily is to encourage family member(s) to get together to prepare any simple homecook dishes in the month of July to promote goodness of healthy home cook food as well as create family bonding time whereby everyone gets to eat together.

If you are keen in joining us for this #CookForFamily, you can refer to Daniel's post over at this link HERE or HERE for more details. Hope to see you onboard soon!

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