BORNGA (본가 - 本家) At Star Vista

For Korean BBQ lovers who stay around West side of Singapore, BORNGA (본가 - 本家) is a Korea’s leading chain of authentic BBQ restaurants which newly open at The Star Vista (beside Buona Vista MRT Station, EW21/CC22). And the grand launch of BORNGA also marks renowned celebrity Chef Jong Won Paik first chain restaurant in Singapore and the 13th in addition to its worldwide outlets out of Korea.

Overall BORNGA offers an authentic Korean dining experience with taste of home which makes it a nice place for a cozy meal together with family and friends. Moreover their servings are big enough to share among 3 - 4 person ranging from S$18.00(pork belly) to their most expensive item (beef ribs for barbecuing) at S$45.00. (just a note, you have to order at least a minimum of two portion from their BBQ meat range; example:- Samgyupsal (S$18) + WooSamGyup (S$22))

While settling down, I was quite shock when the serving staff place the Ssamcheban (assorted vegetables platter) on our table as I have not seen such a varieties of greens being served from other Korean BBQ restaurants in Singapore. Their Ssamcheban consists very fresh and generous amount of  greens such as assorted lettuces, cabbages, spinach, carrot sticks and a few large green chilies which comes in handy to wrap with the BBQ meat.

On top of the Ssamcheban, we also tried some of their Banchan (Korean side dishes) such as Cucumber with Mushroom, Korean Spicy Beansprouts, Lettuce Salad, Shredded Leeks, Cabbage Kimchi, Water Kimichi and Radish Kimchi. Personally my pick from the banchan would be their Radish Kimchi which was a cross between sweet, sour and spicy making it so addicting as compared to the Cabbage Kimichi as it was a bit too spicy for my liking.

From the 3 types of Kimchi that we tried, my least favourite would be the Water Kimchi which I find it a bit too bland and also not as tasty as compared to the other two which has a stronger taste and flavour.

To pair with their BBQ meat, there are three types of dipping sauces which you might like to try. The special WooSamGyup Sauce goes well with the WooSamGyup meat where you dip on it and wrap with some lettuce and shredded leeks or kimchi for better crunch and taste. Whereas for the rest like Garlic Slices, Korean Bean Pasta Sauce an Sesame Oil flavored with salt and pepper would goes well with other meat choices like pork belly and beef too.

Ggotsal (S$38.00) a thicker cut of unmarinated beef for guests who loves beef and to enjoy its deep beef flavour. The cut is also evenly marbled and goes well with dip like sesame oil flavoured with salt and pepper.

For myself, I would prefer WooSamGyup that this Ggotsal perhaps due to its cuts.

{MUST TRY} WooSamGyup (S$22.00) is their signature BBQ choice which is a thinly sliced beef brisket with beautiful marbling that makes it often mistaken as pork belly at a glance. This meat is marinated in a unique BORNGA dressing that retains its natural colour while enhancing the traditional "bulgogi" taste.

There are many ways you could enjoy this beautiful meat such as eating it on it's own, dip it with the special WooSamGyup sauce or wrap it with some shredded leeks together with lettuces to enhance the flavour. I am sure there is a way which you enjoy but for me I would prefer to have it with some lettuce wrap and radish kimchi.

{MUST TRY} Tteokgalbi (S$20.00) is made with ground rib meat together with soy sauce and seasonings into a thin meat patties before grilling. The outlook and taste of the Tteokgalbi is quite similar to our Chinese New Year BBQ Pork (bak kwa) with a very flavousome fragrance and taste which makes you go for second and third helpings.

{MUST TRY} The Chadol Duenjang Jigae (S$16.00) is a Korean beef stew which made with rich soybean paste, sliced beef and vegetables. The stew is being reduced over the table top stove before pouring into the rice mixture which served like a bibimbap.

As you can see, when the stew is reduced and slightly thicken the serving staff would spoon it over to the rice and vegetable mixture and mix everything like a bibimbap. Also for extra flavoure, you could add in some radish kimchi while mixing the rice like what our host, LeRoy does to enhance the taste of this dish.

After the rice stew, we tried BORNGA Naeng Myun (S$15.00) which was their handmade buckwheat noodles served in an icy broth with shredded vegetables, pear, hard-boiled egg and sliced meat. It has a very refreshing taste and it is definitely a good choice for hot summer meal. You can eat it on it's own or follow the Korean, squeeze in some mustard sauce, splash of white vinegar mix well and enjoy. Personally I prefer eating it on it's own because I am not a fan of vinegar stuffs.

At the end of the meal, all guests were served with a complimentary drink known as Omija (오미자) or  五味茶 (five flavour tea) which reminds us of drinks made with Roselle (洛神果) and it has a similar sourish sweet taste like hawthorn (山楂) too. We all agreed that despite of it's sourish after taste, it is indeed a very refreshing and addicting drink to clean the palate after all the BBQ meats and dishes. Moreover Omija is also a popular drinks among women in Korean for it's beauty purpose too.

Thanks to BORNGA and LeRoy from Foodnews for the invite tasting.

BORNGA (본가 - 本家)
1 Vista Exchange Green
#02-24 The Star Vista
Singapore 138617
Reservation: (65) 6694 4696
Website: www.bornga.co.kr

Opening Hours: 11:30am – 10:00pm (Daily)

{Fishy Dinner} Chinese Baked Fish Fillet And Baked Cheesy Salmon With Wasabi

Festive season is a great time to feast together with family and friends plus a bit of catch up and updates on each others progress. This Christmas season other than festive bakes I also have some quick dishes which you might be interested with.

In this post I am sharing two different "fish" dishes which you could cater for everyone in the family such as Chinese Baked Fish Fillet with oyster sauce and Baked Cheesy Salmon using Japanese mayonnaise and wasabi.

CHINESE BAKED FISH FILLET

For something more Asian taste, this Chinese Baked Fish Fillet would be something easy that you could prepare and get ready in less than 30 minutes for an evening dinner to impress your guests. For the fillet you can use any firm white fish such as cod, haddock, or grouper which work well on this recipe.

(Serves: 1 | Preparation: 5 minutes | Cooking: 15 - 20 minutes)

Ingredients:

• 1 Piece Grouper Fish Fillet (200g), skin intact
• 1/2 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1 Teaspoon Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1/4 Teaspoon Sugar
• 1/4 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
• 2 Slices Ginger, thinly sliced
• 1 Stalk of Spring Onion, cut into sections
• 1 Red Chilli(optional), sliced
• Served with Steamed Rice and Asian Greens

Method:-
1. Preheat oven to 200 °C (degree Celsius). Arrange spring onion and some julienne ginger on a disposal baking tray and top with fish fillet.

2. Combine oyster sauce, cooking wine, sugar and sesame oil in a bowl and mix well.

3. Spoon sauce mixture over fish fillet, top with remaining ginger and chilli, cover with foil and bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until fish is just cooked through.

4. Sprinkle some extra chopped spring onion and serve hot with steamed rice and Asian green.

Note:
~ Stir-fry baby bok choy and fresh shiitake mushrooms with some garlic and ginger then lightly season it with salt.

BAKED CHEESY SALMON WITH WASABI

Whereas for a western treat, you might wish to consider this Baked Cheesy Salmon with Wasabi. For me, I am a salmon lover and I love to eat it either raw, grilled or baked. And my favourite way of cooking salmon is to top it with lots of shredded cheese and Japanese mayonnaise because after baking it would have a tasty cheesy crust on top plus a moist and juicy fillet below.

(Serves: 1  | Preparation: 5 minutes   | Cooking: 15 - 20 minutes)

Ingredients:

• 1 Salmon Fillet (200g), bones removed
• 2 Tablespoons Japanese Mayonnaise
• 1/2 Teaspoon Wasabi Paste
• Rind of 1 Lemon
• 1/4 Cup of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• Some Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• Serve with French Beans and Cherry Tomato

Method:-
1. Preheat oven to 200 °C (degree Celsius). Arrange salmon on a disposal baking tray, top with generous amount of mayonnaise mixture (combine Japanese mayonnaise, wasabi and lemon rind till well-mixed).

2. Evenly top it with shredded mozzarella cheese and sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper on it.

3. Bake prepared salmon in an preheated oven for 15 - 20 minutes or till salmon is cooked to your preference.

4. Serve hot with some french bean, cherry tomato and steamed rice.

With dishes like this you can play around with the ingredients and side dishes to cater for everyone's preference and the best thing is you can bake these two dishes together in the oven but just keep an easy on the salmon as you don't wish to over baked it. And as for the sides, you could add in some Cream Soup (recipes) or Salad (recipes) to make it a complete meal too.

Christmas Tree Tuna Sandwich

Good Morning! Merry Christmas to all my friends, readers and supporters out there.  Thank you so much for all your kind comments, supports and frequent visits to Cuisine Paradise website and Facebook page. I am so blessed to know some of you in person as well as those silent readers/supporters who are always there.

In coming 2013 I would continue to share more recipes ideas, review new products and etc which I hope it would inspired you to cook or bake more for your family or loved ones.

CHRISTMAS TREE TUNA SANDWICH

As today is Christmas, I would like to share with you this 10 minutes breakfast ideas which you could easily find the ingredients in your kitchen pantry. I am sure this Christmas Tree alike tuna sandwich would be a hit for your kid(s) or party guests today. It's so easy to prepare and yet too adorable to be consumed.

(Serves: 2 | Preparation: 10 minutes )

Ingredients:

• 4 Slices of Thick Toast
• 1 Can of Tuna Chunk/Flake in Olive Oil
• 4 Slices of Sandwich Cheese
• 1 Japanese Cucumber, thinly sliced and havled
• 1 Medium Tomato, sliced
• 2 Shallots, thinly sliced
• 1 Tablespoon of Japanese Mayonnaise
• Some freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Christmas Tree Shaped Pancake Ring Mould

Method:-
1. Drain the tuna chunk, place it in a bowl together with shallot, mayonnaise and pepper. Mix well and set aside.

2. Next using a Christmas Tree shaped cutter, cutout the shape from the bread and repeat the same procedure using sandwich cheese.

3. Put a slice of the cutout sandwich cheese on top of each Christmas Tree cutout before spreading a layer of tuna mixture on it.

4. Arrange the halved cucumber slices to resemble tree leaves and you can add on extra "Stars" cheese and tomato slices to decorate the trees.

Furthermore, other than the Christmas Tree alike sandwiches I also include this Rocky Road Granola with Milk for our breakfast. This is a super yummy treat made by Sherie from Maameemoomoo. I really loves this great combination and I am always craving for it even before bedtime.

Here you go, these are the lovely granola packaging from Maameemoomoo's Christmas collection which is known as Rocky Road Granola (RRG). Each packet has generous amount of chocolate coated rolled oats, roasted almond, cranberries, 46% milk chocolate sticks and fluffy marshmallows. You can find out more about Sherie's homemade Granola at this link HERE which connected to her Granola posts. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! Have a blessed and fruitful festive season.............

Christmas Lunch At Parkroyal Beach Road, Plaza Brasserie

Last week of the year is always full of feasting, gathering and exchanging of gifts due to Christmas and New Year seasons.This year our family Christmas lunch is at Plaza Brasserie which is located at Beach Road near Golden Mile Food Centre and Golden Mile Complex.

We decided to have festive lunch instead of dinner so that we could take the time to enjoy the food and family bonding/chatting plus after which we could still go for last minute Christmas shopping or enjoy the beautiful Christmas lighting.

The Perfect Interfusion At Sushi Tei

From November till 09 January 2013, all the 15 Sushi Tei outlets (here) island-wide will be having a new promotional menu know as "The Perfect Interfusion" which centred around warm and hearty rustic far with a contemporary twist.

Furthermore, all Sashimi fans will be thrilled by their new selection of premium sashimi-based dons at irresistible prices such as the Otoro, Kanpachi, Ika and Salmon Don for S$22.00 each. Below are some of the dishes from we had tried from their The Perfect Interfusion menu.

For appetizer we have Mentai Potato Salad (S$6.80) which is the one of my favourite starter whenever we visit Japanese restaurant. The fluffy mashed potato balls (with lovely bits of carrot and cucumber) is topped with generous portion of cod roe to enhance the flavour when compared to the usual Japanese potato salad.

{Must Try} Spicy Ban Ban Ji Ramen (S$10.00) is a very refreshing cold noodle dishes created by Sushi Tei, 112 Katong which is listed in their top six "Supreme Chef Challenge Creations" in The Perfect Interfusion Menu beside from those cold soba varieties in their usual menu.

The springy ramen taste great with the accompany spicy sesame sauce which gives it a nutty flavour and it pairs well with the crunchy cucumber and tender poached chicken too.

Yakiniku Cheese Roll (S$12.00) is created by Sushi Tei, Holland Village which is a whimsical re-interpretation of the cheeseburger. The sushi roll is wrapped with a layer of beef and cheese together with some sweet sauce which makes it resemble hamburger rice patty.

{Must Try} Instead of Chicken Katsu, we tried the Tori Nanban (S$10.00) that is created by Sushi Tei, 112 Katong. The deep-fried chicken is served together with the homemade Taru Taru sauce which is made of mayonnaise, shallots and parsley. I am sure this pipping hot crispy chicken cutlet will be a great choice in your ordering list.

Mango Avocado Roll (S$12.00) created by Sushi Tei, Thomson Plaza make use of both Mango and Avocado for this dish together with wafu dressing. For me who always love their Dragon Roll and Golden Roll, this new Mango Avocado Roll is sure a good catch to satisfy my fruity sushi craving.

Ikameshi (S$12.00) is a char-grilled squid stuffed with flavoured squid rice. Although it might look like a simple dish but the savory rice add extra touch to Hokkaido squid which brings out it's natural sweetness. Alternatively you could also try their Ika Sugata Shio/Teriyaki (S$9.00) which is grilled squid with salt or teriyaki sauce.

Ikameshi (S$12.00), Grilled squid stuffed with flavoured squid rice

Ikasumi Pasta (S$13.00) is one of the reason for my visit because I was tempted to this dish from one of the photos that I spotted on instagram a few weeks back .

The al dente spaghetti is tossed in a luscious squid ink sauce and topped with tender slices of squid and crispy fried garlic which you must eat together with the spaghetti to bring out it's flavour. But overall only the paste itself  is lightly flavored with the squid ink which makes it a bit plain and flat on the taste.

Matsutake Sukiyaki (Beef - S$26.00; Chicken - S$22.00) featured the seasonal Matsutake pine mushrooms which comes with a choice of either Beef or Chicken. This pot consists of glass noodles, tofu, leeks, carrots and enoki mushrooms in sukiyaki soup which is Refillable.

U.S.D.A Beef Tenderloin for the Matsutake Sukiyaki

After the main dishes, we decided to go for some desserts and since there are four of us in the group we could actually order different varieties to share among ourselves. Above are  Yuzu Sherbet (S$3.40), Nama Chocolate Ice Cream (S$4.80) and Matcha Nama Ice Cream (S$4.80)

Shiratama Azuki with Matcha Ice Cream (S$6.00) served in a pretty clam shell waffle which filled with Glutinous rice dumplings, Azuki beans and Matcha ice cream. Love the combination texture of chewy rice dumplings with crispy waffle shell together with the matcha ice cream.

Out of the four desserts that we had, my most favourite is still the Matcha Nama Ice Cream. I just simply love the intends flavour of the matcha ice cream flooding in my mouth which makes it so irresistible to stop at one. But if you are a chocolate lover, go for the Nama Chocolate Ice Cream instead!

Thanks to Sushi Tei and Veronica from Sixth Sense Communications for the invite tasting.

Sushi Tei @ Ngee Ann City
391 Orchard Road #05-30/31
Podium Block Ngee Ann City
Singapore 238873
Reservation: (65) 6737 8878
Website: http://www.sushitei.com/index.php

Orange Marmalade Bread Pudding

There are so many festive bakes to make during Christmas season like Gingerbread Man, Classic Chocolate Brownie, Yule Chocolate Log and etc. Here is another quick festive dessert follow by the Pancakemisu which I have shared two weeks back.

I am sure most of you have tried Bread and Butter Pudding which is one of those classic English recipes that everyone loves. With the addition of marmalade with the egg custard, it gives the bread pudding a zingy orangey taste which makes the whole thing superb.

ORANGE MARMALADE BREAD PUDDING
(using Frezfruta Orange Marmalade)

This dessert is so yummy with layers of soft custard insides that contrasts with the crispiness of the buttery danish bread and nutty almond flakes on top. And it is also very easy to prepare just by whisking together the custard ingredients, pour it over on the bread, bake till custard is set and top is golden brown in colour. 

(Serves: 4  | Preparation: 10 minutes  |   Cooking: 30 minutes)

Ingredients:

• 5 Slices Of Danish Bread
• 1/4 Cup Frezfruta Orange Marmalade
• 3 Egg (55g each)
• 200ml Milk
• 100ml Thicken Cream
• Zest of 1/2 Orange
• 1 Tablespoon Caster Sugar, optional
• Some Julienned Orange Zest, optional

Method:-
1. Preheat oven to 180°C (degree Celsius). Lightly grease the base of two 12 x 12 x 8cm square baking dish and set aside.

2. Spread each pieces of Danish bread with Frezfruta Orange Marmalade, cut it into 8 small pieces and layer them into the two prepared baking dish.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together egg, milk, cream and orange zest for 1 minute till smooth. Carefully pour the egg mixture over the bread and leave it to soak for 5 minutes.

4. Cover baking dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes, remove the foil and continue to bake for another 5 minutes or until top is golden and the custard is set.

5. Remove the pudding from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately with a cup of Gold Kili Instant Double White Milk Tea.

Tip:
~ For extra flavour, you could sprinkler some castor sugar and julienned orange zest on the bread before baking..

During baking the bread pudding will puff quite a lot which resemble soufflé but it will deflate once it is out of the oven so remember to use a deep baking dish instead of shallow one for this recipe. And with this easy recipe you could prepare a quick festive dessert to impress your guests together with  some Floral or Milk Tea which is perfect beverage to go with bread pudding.