Just for fun - Cooking Curry Day Singapore

Just for the fun of it, we had curry tonight for dinner.

We don't really care about how 'the incident' about how it came about after we found out that it happened more than 6 or 7 years ago! Cheh!

We are just curry lovers!



The Sakura Chicken Curry.

I used a curry ready to cook wet premix instead of making it from scratch. But added extra ingredients to make it better. (chinese celery roots, 1 tomato, curry leaves and 1 onion.) I used Sakura chicken because it has less fat to remove when you cut it up. It also taste nicer.

I added only half the amount of coconut milk that's required and substituted it with milk.





Curry Vegetables

The wife made curry vegetables. She also used a ready to cook wet premix. Added brinjals, long beans, okra (lady's fingers), tomato, cabbage, curry leaves. We forgot to put in carrots! Realised it only half way.

Portioned it into two portions. We cooked like 1 kg of vegetables! The second portion will be for tomorrow!




Halibut Green Curry with mushroom

Aunt cooked halibut green curry and brought it over in a thermal pot. Two families cooking and bringing food together is more fun and there's more variety. Aunt cooked it from a green curry paste that her friend brought back from Thailand.


We had it with hot steaming rice and a baguette from Delifrance (from the petrol station down the road).
We finished off with cupcakes, tea and ice cream for dessert.

Happy Curry Day!

Jade Garden @ Chevrons Club

The Chevrons. Other than chalets and "eMart" that most people associate it with, do you know there's a nice elegant Chinese Restaurant called Jade Garden located on the 3rd floor?

Jade Garden's opened by a brother and sister team, Chris and Jenny Eng. Jenny has 20 over years of experience in managing restaurant operations and Chris Eng also with 21 years of kitchen experience is the Executive Chef. Together they have come together to come out with a nice team serving good food with good service.



It's not the usual dull Chinese restaurant, Jade Garden joins the club of classy elegant Chiense restaurants. Looks like a place to have business lunches or a cosy family meal. As the restaurant is in the main clubhouse building with a ball room next door, the ceilings here are high and feels airy and welcoming.

They have a no pork and no lard policy here.

Momo and I were here together with Camemberu, hosted by FoodNews, the PR company for Jade Garden. Here's what we ate and what we thought about it:



Deep-Fried Yam Stuffed with Minced Chicken ($3.80 for 3 pieces)
We are used to have the this dish with minced pork, but the minced chicken version was quite good too! I did not know it was not pork until later when I was told.

Fluffy, crispy and light on the outside, and the yam-my sticky and moist texture of the yam with minced chicken filling inside. Can you imagine the crispy sound as you bite into it?




Siew Mai ($4.20 for 4 pieces)

These Siew Mai were also made without pork! The Siew Mais seems to have more prawn bits with some chicken meat. It had the chewy/QQ feel to it, when I like.




Chef Special Combination Platter ($12/pax)
If you like stylist and modern plating of Chinese food, Chef Chris does it beautifully.
This combination platter served was so beautiful. 

One look and we thought that the strip on the plate was balsamic vinegar, but no. It's something more oriental. It's Teriyaki sauce!




The Chilled Crab Salad was the centre of attraction.
It's a refreshing dish to start your meal here. Inside the tomato cavity was chilled crab with some very light dressing. If you like tomatoes, eat it up like I did. If not, I guess you could leave it.




Drunken Chicken.
Momo thinks it's not strong enough for her. She likes her drunken chicken drunken stupor. (I think I married an alcoholic!)

You know 'white chicken' in Singapore has many styles, some have HK hint, some Malaysia hint and some Singapore hint to it. This one taste more Malaysian. (Very hard to describe lah, I think you all know what I mean).

The ginger and scallion sauce and a single wolfberry was used as a garnish. There was jelly fish below too.



Wasabi prawns.
Nicely fried crispy prawns coated with wasabi mayo with a few black sesame seeds.
The mango cubes below gives it a nice slight sweetish and sour taste. Nice combi.




The next dish, a soup was served in this huge big UFO like platter. It was the Braised Shark's Fin with Crabmeat & Dried Scallop in Pumpkin Soup ($18/pax; $45 [small], $68 [medium], $90 [large]) The centre is rather deep, so you get quite a bit of it.



If you do take Sharks Fin, this dish will be interesting to you. Instead of gooey starch that's the usual method of preparation, Chef Chris serves it in a light pumpkin soup! It has the gooey feel, but not as starchy. This east meets west rendition comes out rather well.

I like the pumpkin soup! I wonder for anti-shark people, they can prepare it without the shark for you to try! It's lovely!




Braised Sliced Abalone, Dried Scallop and Vegetables in Tan Jia Sauce ($18/pax)
This dish was interesting too. Abalone that's braised just nice and topped with Tan Jia Sauce. What sauce, I imagine you asking in your head?

Tan Jia is supposedly invented in the time of the ancient emperors. It uses the essence of duck, old hens and dried scallops as its base. Interesting eh?




Cod Fish Baked with Miso and Sauteed Edamame ($14/pax)
We really liked the cod fish baked with miso as it was really soft and tasty. It crumbles into soft sections as you cut through it with your knife. It's cod fish well prepared!

When the food was served, I thought the red thing was minced tuna.
No, it's watermelon that had a hollow cavity, filled with mayo.




Fresh Crab Claw with Japanese Somen ($12/pax)
If you want to wow your guests, order this dish for everyone. It was really tasty and Momo still thinks about this dish and says we should go back and try this again.

It's steamed egg white with ginger, a nice succulent crab claw with silky smooth somen (thin noodles made from wheat flour). The base of the plate is steamed egg that's a similar to chawanmushi but softer. The noodles are nice and the broth that covers it was so addictive.

It no one's around, I would have picked the bowl and poured all the broth into my spoon and not waste a bit of it!





Combination Dessert Platter ($12)
Before we were served this, we saw a table ordering it. We then saw other tables asking the serving staff what the name of the dish? Before you know it, we saw the few tables around us all having it!

You can share if you want, but we know everyone has a hidden stomach somewhere that can fill in desserts. Order one each if your budget allows.



In the 3 shotglass: Mango Pudding, Cold Lemongrass Jelly with Sherbet and Pumpkin Sago with Vanilla Ice Cream. Mixture of sweets with sourish hints.

We tasted the ala carte items above. If you want something planned out for you, set lunches are available from $38++/pax for 6 courses. An Executive Set Lunch for 4 pax is available at $88++ for 6 courses.



Jade Garden
48 Boon Lay Way
The Chevrons
#03-06
Singapore 609961

Tel: + 65 6862 4931

Hosted on the Patio @ Alexandra Road

It has to be one of the funniest farewell lunch ever for a colleague!

1. It was 4 weeks late.
2. We already had a farewell for him.
3. The 'treater' was too busy few weeks ago and was giving a belated treat but did not want to have a 2 person lunch with the 'treatee'. So the treater asked a few of us were asked to join in as well.
4. The day before, everything had been arranged and we were to meet the 'treatee' at the lunch venue.
5. We waited, text, called the ex-colleague mobile when he did not appear half an hour after the agreed time.
6. We decided to order anyway because we were too hungry!
7. When our food arrived, a phone call also arrived, our ex-colleague was sick and he just woke up!
8. So we had a farewell treat for this ex-colleague without him being present!


Anyway, the farewell lunch was at Hosted on the Patio.
A quiet place hidden amongst the business of Alexandra Road / Telok Belangah.



It's located at the former ITE just across the new and upcoming Alexandra Retail Centre / PSA Buildling.

They have great set lunches at around $20 plus, but most of us did not really want to have such a big meal. So only 1 person which also happened to be the 'treater' ordered the  meal and the rest of us had the a-la-carte items.





This was the smoked Salmon Salad that came with the set meal.
It's part of the set, so it's smaller, but  we shared it as well. It was a very light and fresh salad. Mango julienne with smoked salmon and rockets does taste quite good!





This was the Warm Mushroom Salad that we shared. We all loved this salad. Assorted mushrooms that has been stir fried with some cherry tomatoes and topped on fresh salad. Very appetizing. That little bits of crunch on top gave it a nice touch too!




One colleague had Teriyaki Chicken Burger.
It smelled very good.  Look at this rustic burger. A decent size piece of chicken, with a ring of pineapple too!




If you have read this blog long enough, you would know we have a colleague who likes tofu!
She saw this Tofu and Portobello sandwich and ordered it.




My colleague told me that the tofu has been mixed with spinach. The patty was fried so it's soft and get a little springy. She loved the portobello mushroom the best. She said it was so tasty. The mushroom has been so well prepared, when you bite it, it comes off easily and not tough. It was also full of flavor she said. Makes me want to try it too!



I am the 'ribs person', so I ordered the Honey Bourbon Ribs. OK, some of you might say it's because of the word bourbon that you ordered it ya? Partly true.

When it arrived, we all got a shock! It was one big rib!



I feel like Fred Flinstone! It's as if I am a carnivore! Eating meat like that!
Well, I like the marinade. The parts that had the marinade that has been thickened into some paste was lovely. (OK, you can say it's reduced bourbon essence? haha)



One part of it the other side was soft, but this side, you can see it's a bit dry though.
Or maybe it's the cow! Big cows that have big ribs have tougher meat?



Another colleague had the pork cutlet burger.
It was served in a baguette!





The "treater" had the set meal. She had the chicken option.
I think it's OK lah. :-)



Oh oh... The burgers and the rib all came with a basket of fries.

We all liked the fries! It's very addictive! No, I am not sure if it's double fried but we just could not stop eating though we were all full. We finished 3 and a half baskets of it!




The dessert that came with the set meal.
The 'treator' said when she came previously they had chocolate fondant. But the menu has changed so we did not get chocolate cake with molten chocolate flow out this time.

The profiteroles was ok. We were by now too full to enjoy desserts. So don't order too much when you are here!

It's so funny that we had a free treat from this 'Prof' and the farewell person was not there. We are still laughing over it! Oh, their website has the price of the food, if you are interested to know how much it costs.


Hosted on the Patio
991B Alexandra Road
#01-10,
Singapore 119970

Tel: 6276-7337
Website:  http://www.hosted.sg

Kit Kat Ice Cream @ Udders Ice Cream

Have a break! Have a Kit Kat!

Now, look at this scoop of ice cream! Can you guess the flavour?
It's chocolately, a litte chewy, has some wafer bits.



You can have it on its own, in a bowl or a cone.



Or you could have that ball of ice cream with freshly made warm waffle!




If you are Kit Kat fan, and also an ice cream fan, you would be glad to know that Udders Ice Cream now has the Udders Chocolately Kit Kat Ice Cream!

Do you want to know how you can redeem a scoop of the Kit Kat ice cream?


From 28 July to 24 August 2011, head down to any Watsons Store  and grab 3 bar of Kit Kat Chunky. Keep the receipt from Watsons and exchange it for Kit Kat ice cream at any Udders Ice Cream branches.


To find the nearest Udders branch near you, click on to: http://udders.com.sg


Note:

• I was at Watson recently and saw that the price of each bar was $1.70


• If you are like me and picky about where the Kit Kat comes from because there are subtle differences, the Kit Kat Chunky currently sold here is made in the UK.

Fiji Water - Drink and win a trip to the Fiji Islands.

Are all bottled water the same?

Do you know that there are bottled tap water, well water, distilled water, mineral water, sparkling water, well water, artesian water, etc? All of them taste different.

Fiji Water is an example of bottled Artesian Aquifer water. Water that has been filtered through volcanic rock that is rich in many kinds of minerals over hundreds of years. The water lies deep within earth and the is pumped to the surface from ancient artesian aquifer.




Have you tasted Fiji water before?
It's definitely different from usual tap water. Try it and find out.

From 20 July to 31 August 2011, when you buy 2 bottles or more in Singapore, you can win yourself a trip to the Fiji Islands.



First Prize: Return air tickets for two to Fiji, including five days, four nights at the luxurious Shangri-La Resort

Second Prize: A two-day, one-night getaway at the Amara Sanctuary Resort at Palawan Beach, Singapore.

Third Prize: A two-day, one-night weekend stay at the Rasa Sentosa Resort, Singapore’s only beachfront resort.

Simply buy at least two bottles of FIJI Water on a single receipt and SMS the following information to phone no. 9111 2000:

< FIJI > space < name > space < NRIC > space < last 4 digits of receipt number > space < email > space < postal code >

You can get your Fiji water from these participating outlets:
Carrefour, Cold Storage, The Market@Central, Unity, 7-Eleven and Four Seasons.

I hope I get to fly to Fiji!

Goldleaf New Taiwan Porridge @ Thomson Plaza

There are now so many online deals that allows you to buy coupons and eat at a discounted rate. Some places that's offering the discount are places that you have not been for a very long time. The wife has been buying coupons of places her parents used to go and we pass it to her parents. We recently got them 2 coupons for this porridge place that they used to go until it became quite expensive to go.

My new in laws have been telling me stories about the wife. They told me Momo used to like to come here when she was a little girl and named her favourite dishes. (The dishes are no longer sold! haha) They said in those time, it was considered a treat to eat out, plus all related stories comes rolling out. They tell you everything, no holds barred!

Since the dad-in-law is Baba, he sometimes speaks his Baba Malay that only the mother-in-law and I understands. The wife is a half nyonya but she does not understand even the most simple peranakan malay! It was all so fun, until Momo and I get back to our own home! Oops.




The Goldleaf that they used to go was at Neil Road. That place does not exist anymore.
The now more modern branch that we visited was at Thomson Plaza.





Diners get the option of free flow of porridge or rice.
We all had porridge and all of us had 2 bowls of it each.




Our favourite dish of the night. It's a very little bowl of cold bloody fresh cockles that was so so delicious!

I know many people would not even touch it. If you like cockles order this here. The best thing is that you don't need to open the shells to dig it out!





The cockles was served with this dipping sauce that's salty and spicy.
The cockles with this sauce was quite addictive that we wanted to order another portion of it!




The beansprouts stir fried with salted fish.

We thought this was quite nice too. The fragrance from the salted fish was so hypnotizing. You can smell it as it approaches your table. Eat in moderation lah. Salted fish is not really good for health. ;-)




The "Mei Cai Kou Rou". (Braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens)
The 4 of us did not really like it. It has the smell of other innards, but it's not in this dish.
The innards were probably braised together with the pork belly, which gave it a rather strong smell.

Giving it a facebook 'unlike' or a google+ 'minus 1'.




The fried egg omelet was OK only. Nothing really special.
You get the I can do it better at home kind of feeling. ;-)




I forgot the name of this dish. It's the small fish, yet it looks more like giant ikan bilis that's deep fried till crispy and covered with black sauce.

We all loved this. It's the kind of fish that goes with porridge. You will nibble it non stop!




The San Bei Ji here was quite good. Taste was not overly marinated till it's too salty.
A crowd pleaser. If the portions were a bit bigger, it would be better. ;-)


It's a pricey place for porridge. It was around $70 plus for the meal. With the coupons that we purchased, the total was around $50 plus. We particularly like the fresh cold cockles.


Goldleaf New Taiwan Porridge
301 Upper Thomson Road,
#01-112 Thomson Plaza,
Singapore 574408

Hours: 10 am - 10 pm
Tel:  6459 9180

Cold Stone Creamery @ Orchard Central

Do you like ice cream? I do! Anyday (even rainy days) are good days for ice cream in Singapore!

2 Fridays ago, Momo,  Camemberu and I did something crazy and ate lots and lots of ice cream on a Friday night for supper! Friday night's happens to be super busy nights at Cold Stone Creamery, so you can see a super long snaking queue! The next time you are at Orchard Central, gravitate towards it! Join the queue, you won't regret it!




Cold Stone Creamery, from Arizona, USA arrived in Singapore on 12 March 2011 and has recently opened the 2nd branch at Far East Square.

Their ice cream here is made fresh daily in each store with their ingredients imported from the USA. You can take a peek at how they make ice cream in their open concept kitchen!

Out of curiosity, I asked where where the milk is from. I was told it's all in the 'secret' mix that is all imported from USA. Their toppings too are all imported and not sourced and replaced with local alternatives.




Oh the flavours to choose from!
Do you know 8 out of 10 times, I don't taste the flavours of the ice cream that I picked?
I 'taste' using my eyes!




Toppings. If you are a fan of ice cream toppings, they have many kinds of toppings!

Oh, the concept here is that you pick your ice cream, choose your toppings/fillings and they will perform a show of mixing the ice cream in front of you!



On a super cold surface, the (I will call them) 'ice cream magicians' will perform magic in front of your eyes! The juggle your ice cream, treat it like a voodoo doll and stab it with all their might, then suddenly gently 'sayang' it as if it's their child.

Are these people trained to perform I wonder. Oh yes! I was told these 'magicians' as I call them,  attend classes at graduated from the Cold Stone University (yes, there's such a uni!)




Didn't I tell you they have all kinds of toppings? Look!



Oh by the way, these merry bunch here does all sorts of silly things.
Yup, I got special permission to visit this store and stand behind the counter too!




Adults can view the 'magic' show when they stand in front of the glass counter.
But children are not left out here! Look! A kids viewing area!




What are kids doing at 10 plus on a Friday night in Orchard Road? They should be sleeping!




An ice cream 'bomb' landed in front of me when I was busy taking photos in this ice cream parlour. ;-)

How on earth did it land in front of me? Do you know you can 'catch' your own ice cream here? After the mixing of the ice cream and toppings and fillings, you can hold the cup and 'catch' the ice cream that is flipped into the air by the 'magician'. Try it if you confident when you visit!

The Ice Cream - Choose Your Own

This was what I ordered from the glass freezer display. I chose the 'blue' cotton candy and also orange and had gummy bears and rainbow sprinkles as toppings. I was given a weird look!

They were awesome flavours, but I was told the combination I chose would not go well together if they do the mixing of the flavours. LOL

So the only magic was the gummy bears and rainbow sprinkles were mixed and the cotton candy flavour on top of it. I think both the cotton candy and orange flavours were awesome! I mixed them up myself in my bowl and it tasted great. It does taste like cotton candy with orange flavour!

The Ice Cream - Choose from the Signature Creations

 

If you can't decide on what flavours to have, choose the Signature Creations! ($5.50, 4 oz size)
Additional $1 for freshly-made waffle bowl; $1.50 for chocolate-dipped waffle bowl.



Those of you who follow me on Instagram / Tweeter would have seen this.
This was the German-Chökolätekäke (Chocolate Ice Cream, Pecans, Brownie, Coconut, Caramel).

Yup, the German way of saying and spelling Chocolate Cake! (Like how the spell Mercedes Kompressor haha)

I like this combination! Looking at the ingredients as I type this now just made my stomach growl!





This was the Banana Caramel Crunch (French Vanilla Ice Cream, Roasted Almonds, Banana, Caramel).

The girls preferred this while I like the previous one! This one melts too fast too!




This was Apple Pie A La Cold Stone (French Vanilla Ice Cream, Cinnamon, Graham Cracker Pie Crust, Apple Pie Filling & Caramel)

Interesting I would say.  If you like Apple Pies, try this combination!
The Apple pie fillings are from the USA too, yup, I asked.




The Berry Berry Berry Good (Sweet Cream Ice Cream, Raspberries, Strawberries, Blueberries).
It's sourish because of the different kind of berries. Momo loved this. She likes sour stuff. She was licking this off!

Signature shakes

If you happen to be alone on Orchard Road and you feel hungry but you don't want to sit down but prefer walking slowly along Orchard Road, I recommend ordering one of their signature shakes.

It's quite filling and super delicous! Carry your shake and drink it slowly while strolling along Orchard Road.



We tried the PB&C! Peanut Butter with Chocolate Ice Cream and Milk! Ooo.. the thick slurry milkshake!

Have you tried Reese Peanut Butter Cups? It's a bit like drinking liquid Reese! $8.50 for 16oz of wicked stuff! I like!

Ice Cream Cakes

They have ice cream cakes too.

Their version of ice cream cake has some real cake inside, so that it's easier to cut. So it's perfect if you are celebrating it outside and don't have access to samurai swords / choppers from your home kitchen.





Note:
The ice cream was paid for by the PR Folks of Cold Stone Creamery Singapore, who also answered my queries on how the ice cream is made and ingredients too.


Cold Stone Creamery
181 Orchard Road,
Orchard Central #01-09/10,
Singapore 238896

Hours: 11am – 11pm Daily
Tel: 6238 9060

Their other branch:
49 Pekin Street
#01-01 Far East Square
Singapore 048779


Hours:  Mon–Fri: 10am – 9pm,  Sat: 10am – 8pm (Closed on Sun)
Tel:  6557 2979


Website: http://www.coldstonecreamery.com.sg/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/coldstonecreamerysg