Bread at a Comfort Level

Just when we thought bread talk, Ya Kun, Ah Mei and Four Leaves have gotten the local market's love for bread covered, Bread Talk creates, Toast Box.

Ok I know what you are thinking, I'm seriously back-dated! Toast Box has been around and making that serious cup of coffee and thick toast bread for the longest of time! I should be keeping up with the program!
Well, I probably won't have considered tea and toast part of my weekend agenda. But since a toast box sprouted within the neighbourhood, we thought, what's the harm in having a nice lazy afternoon tea for a change?

Damage done - addiction to fattening, oily french toast for a good 5 days.


Being the greedy family we are, we ordered a variety of trio - peanut butter, french toast and otah. To wash it all down, G had the coffee and I, my good old-fashion favourite Horlicks.

Over-dose would be an under-statement. The killer was probably the thick toast. Though soft and freshly-baked, the slices were alittle too thick for our finishing.
The french toast was crisply fried with the slight aroma of egg and a slab of butter as the complimentary finishing touch. The peanut butter toast was thick in the peanut butter spread and thick in the toast certainly satisfying any peanut butter cravings. As for the Otah variation, not much to comment, nothing above average.


I guess once in a while, it is good to slow down and take detours from the routine.
Toast to that!!!

Confessions of a Repressed Unworthy Foodie

What the hell?

I started this blog to capture memories and experiences. Fearfully protective of my real privacy and ironically paranoid about virtual security, I started the blog for keepsake, a remembrance of good, sad and sentimental times.

After 6 months, the sheer outnumbering 80% of posts that reminisce about food, shows, I can't beat them, can't refute them, join them then.

Why the sudden confession? Maybe cos I found myself excited to blog about a food huant when hubby and I went to get our stereo system on Junior fixed. Such simple pleasures in life that don't really warrant the label of a memory that I bordered on the above epiphany.

Tucked away in the bustling Alexander village, we chanced upon this corner stall in a quiet coffee shop that proudly displayed several signs of hand-made traditional Teochew Kuey. We probably wouldn't have paid much attention if the stall hadn't displayed an even clearly sign of "F-A-M-O-U-S" at eleven o'clock on a Saturday morning - a snaking and consistently growing queue.

As confessed, unworthy foodie, I am most certainly not one prepared to queue for my food - ever. But since we had an hour to kill while waiting for Junior to be done and there wasn't really much to do around the area, I decided to join the queue. Out came the mobile phone, true Singaporean fashion to call mum, and mum-in-law to determine how many boxes to buy.

The Soon Kuey was indeed good, soft thin skin, freshly grated radish and fragrant chives and thick and strong sauces and chilli.

The Ang Ku Gui is indeed a misnomer, considering the come in more colour then red and more flavours then green bean. We tried the basics, plus, the coconut, yam and durian. Apart from the skin being a little too thick, there wasn't really much complains.

Isn't it fascinating how we derive contentment in the knowledge that the queues were worth it?

Poh Cheu - Handmade Soon Kueh

Block 127 #01-230 Bukit Merah Lane 1

8am - 6pm, closed on Sundays and public holidays

We Live in Singapura - By Hossan Leong

As the dust settles on National day and the sea washes away the ashes of our taxpayers money from the fireworks displays, it's time to enjoy a little patriotic humor...

Hong Kong - Yung Kee Famous Roast Goose

Ironically, when we had our chance with the famous bird of the orient, we were too tired do it justice and have it at the restaurant. Nevertheless, fatigue won hands down and we decided to pack half a goose back to eat in the comfort of our PJs and TV. Naturally, variety being our middle names, we had to have other complimenting supplements. Hence we stopped by a fairly crowded dessert shop and the nearby 7-11 before we finally collapsed back in the Hotel.

20 minutes later, squeaky clean and comfortable, we settled down to the much anticipated dinner. The goose was still warm after 3 hours and the smell of roasted meat made our half a goose look insufficient. One word to describe the succulent bird - euphoria...

After all the artery-bursting action and finger licking, we had some traditional Hong Kong desserts. G ordered the red bean soup which came with sago and a twist of orange peel. It tasted pretty queer to me, not used to the strange addition of orange although that's suppose to be how its made in HK. I enjoyed my strawberry sago, refreshing and just enough sour from the berries to end the oily earlier massacre.


From the bottom left: Red Bean soup, Strawberry sago and Glutinous rice balls with peanut and sesame

Yung Kee

32-40 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong

(852) 2522 1624

http://www.yungkee.com.hk

Random Musings of a Donut

It's been 4 years since my virgin Krispy Kreme experience.

I still remember the smells of the freshly fried rolling out.

That magical sight of icing glazing each work of art perfectly.

That first bite that rocked my world.

It's not a donut, not a bread, not a cake.

It's... Perfect.

The unexpected chance encounter - it's exactly what I remembered.

Sigh, now I got started again, I miss you already.

Eating Hong Kong one BNET & RGD at a time

On the left: Birds' Nest Egg Tart (BNET) from Seranade Garden
On the right: Birds' Nest Egg Tart (BNET) from GuangZhou Garden

Sunday saw a bright and early start. The sun rises as early as 530am during the summer time here! By 8, we were getting a tan in bed and decided to go for an early brunch.
This time fully prepared with an exact address, good reviews and as always, empty growling stomachs, we hopped on the MTR down to Seranade Garden at the Hong Kong Cultural Center.

Most of the reviews rated this restaurant as one of the top choices for inexpensive dim sum with a panoramic view of the Victoria harbour. When we got there, we were treated to a table with a truly scenic view. Apart from a spattering of early patrons, the restaurant was fairly empty, making their service prompt and efficient. The dim sum, also left nothing much to be desired.

Since we are creatures of habit, it's always back to the usual classics. No complaints here, the siew mai, chicken feet and char siew pau were all good. But my absolute favourites had to be the birds' nest egg tarts and baked sago dessert - I was born with a sweet tooth after all. They were indeed generous with the birds nest and the subtle sweetness of the delicacy balanced the egg custard and crispy flakes of the tart.

The first time I tried this baked custard with sago and pumpkin was in Melbourne while studying there and I simply fell in love with this, clearly fattening, but sooooooo yummy dessert. The crystallized caramel was sweet but did not overpower the smooth and fragrant custard studded with the sago and pumpkin chunks. Oh, so heavy, but absolute heaven.

Breakfast was gratifying and lunch time felt so dispensable by the end of the morning. But around 3pm, we were starting to feel unbelievably hungry again. Since we were quite exhausted from a whole morning of walking and fruit-less shopping, we decided to eat somewhere near the hotel. We missed the last serving the day before at Guangzhou garden and decided to give it another shot. This time, we made it, and were we contended.

Apart from the dim sum, we also ordered a roast goose drumstick (RGD). Slightly varied from this morning's selection, the carrot cake and black bean pork ribs reminded us a little of home.

The goose liver meat balls and roasted goose meat, reminded us this was Hong Kong. The roast goose meat was without a hint of a "goose smell" that puts one off eating fowl and had such a crispy fragrant skin. This is probably where most roast meats in Singapore fail. Paired with traditional plum sauce, the resulting combination, an explosion of sweet, juicy and crispy tasty meat. Drooling already....

All in all, it was a very good day. A very stomach-bursting and contented good day. Now I can't wait to try the famous roast goose in Hong Kong. If regular goose served in a normal dim sum restaurant tastes so good, what more the lauded bird at Yung Kee. Oh Yum!

Seranade Garden

Hong Kong Cultural Center Level 1 Restaurant Block, Salisbury Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui
tel. 852/2722 0932.
Mon-Fri 11am-4:30pm, Sat-Sun and holidays 9am-4:30pm

GuangZhou Garden
LangHam Place Mall Level 3
Mong Kok

Numb Nymph in Hong Kong

Finally have some time to catch my breathe and update on my trip to Hong Kong.
It's been exactly a decade since I ventured in mono to the Pearl of the Orient and frankly, aside from the sprouting of a few big, fancy skyscrapers and departmental malls, most of the hidden small alleys, road traffic and MTR stayed the same.

Fortunately, that's not the only thing that stayed the same. Dim Sum by the trolleys and steamers, roasted juicy meats and the simple wanton noodles were just as I remembered them, fabulous.


We stayed at the Lang Ham Place Hotel in MongKok. Amazing hotel, ample space, LCD TV with cable and DVD player if you happen to bring DVDs when you travel, and a luxurious toilet for the regular voyeurs.

So off the plane we were at a tired and hungry 2:45pm. Most of the tea houses and dim sum restaurants were closed to prepare for the dinner shift and we were both getting grouchy from the futile search for food and tired from the scorching sun. At our wits end, we hopped into a cab and headed to 'Luk Yu Tea House' - a place we were actually saving for brunch the next day.

Within 20 mins, the cab pulled along the narrow hidden treasure cove of famous cafes and food alleys. The tea house was sleepy, with only a few patrons leisurely finishing their dim sum and afternoon newspaper.

This tea house is one of Hong Kong's oldest tea houses and judging by the decor furnishings and wait-staff, so are they.

Our lazy afternoon was accompanied with a very strong brew of a tea. Served in a no-fuss silver teapot, the tea leaves were generous and the tea was very strong. A little bitter for my liking but it did the job, cleansing the palate and whetting our appetite.

For our first HK dim sum experience, this was a disappointment. Maybe it was the hunger, or the expectations, or the fact that half the menu was not available..even the classics - char siew pau and siew mai were only mediocre. I liked the pork ribs though, but the hubs didn't really take to them. The egg tarts - a must in my HK-to-eat-list were fresh, most definitely. The egg custard was smooth, rich and fragrant, unfortunately the tart base was a little soggy and quite clearly left out in the open for too long, they were losing their crispy flake.

Ok, we blame it on the bad timing in the afternoon when lethargy is prevalent, especially when the weather is hot. So since we had already blew like $40 on cab fare to Hong Kong island, we decided to try a few other recommendations within the vicinity.

Our next stop was just steps away on the adjacent Wellington Street - Tsim Chai Kee - a kooky little noodle shop serving up a total of 3 variations of their noodle soup. They had choices from beef, wanton and fish mince ball or a combination of all 3. Needless to say, we both shared the combo. The soup was subtle but distinct with flavour. The noodles were really springy and tasted so fresh. The shrimp wantons are gigantic, though I didn't get to try them, G tells me in between bites that they are very fresh.

With the 'eating' part of "shopping and eating" visit-Hong Kong jingle satisfied, it was off to shopping! H & M just opened along central and suddenly it feels like we are back in Spain. After a few streets, it was evident that most of the shops along Central were pretty high end. I was totally blown away by the variety of International brands available -On pedder, Marc Jacobs, Juicy Couture, Stella Mc Cartney, Jill Sander etc. If felt like Paris, Spain and the U.S all within one street.

Didn't buy anything, but I must say, it was quite an experience.

Luk Yu Tea House

24 Stanley Street - Hong Kong

Tsim Chai Kee

98 Wellington Street - Hong Kong