Cail Bruich - Market Menu

Merry Xmas one and all. Its great to be back blogging again. I do miss it but work does take over the better half of my time.

Met up with some year mates at Cail Bruich one weekeday evening to try out the market menu.
17.95 quid for 3 courses
14.95 for 2 courses.

Whiskey Cured Oak Salmon with Lemon CApers, creme Fraiche and Herbs. Nice plated and not looking like it was ready to fill you up even before the main course.

Venison liver Parfait, apricot, pear & saffron chutney, toasted sourdough bread. Didn't realise that parfait is also known as pate... Good thing the chutney did well to mask the gamey taste of the pate. still a nice dish though

Hake, ratte potatos, sprouting broccoli, Seville Orange Hollandaise. Greatly pan fried fish, fresh veggies, and creamy potatos. The seville orange hollandaise sauce provided a nice tangy kick to the fresh fish.

Braised Pork Cheeks, Pureed Potatos, baby onions, Lardon, mushrooms, parsley.

A very competent brownie. Simple pleasures. mAximUm Satisfaction.

Cail Bruich West
----------------------------
725, Great Western Rd,
Glasgow,
Lanarkshire
http://www.cailbruich.co.uk/


G12 8QX

Cail Bruich West End

Cail Bruich West is located in the bohemian district of the city's west end, adjacent the hinterland of the Glasgow Botanical Gardens.

Under the guidance of chef patron Chris Charalambous we offer a sumptuous menu adhering to our principled aim of seasonality and freshness. Our respect for Scottish food and a passion for evoking that special dining experience for our customers mark our uniqueness in our industry.

We have a range of menu's that will cater for all occasions from classic brunch dishes through to our seasonal a la carte.

The warmth of our family owned and operated restaurant permeates into the dining room ensuring our diners an intimate culinary affair. Our wine list is carefully from small suppliers around the world crafted to create the perfect partnership for our menu.

~~ Quoted from the Website ~~

This post is way way way over due. It was my birthday dinner treat from C. hahah how nice eh

I can barely remember what these dishes were called but this one certainly looked like a terrine of some sort.

Here is my pea soup with a nice poach egg. Its one of the best soups I've ever tasted. Very velvety in texture. Very posh indeed

Scabster Hake, Ratte Potatoes, Samphire and hollandaise. C had this.
Ever heard of Samphire?? I love it!!

I went with pork belly. The pork was good, moist but lack the crispy skin. As for the corizio chick pea side, I din;t feel that it was a good pairing. just seem abit too dry and overwhleming in taste?

Lastly a vanilla rice pudding and.................. a chocolate moose?




Thanks C

Cail Bruich West
----------------------------
725, Great Western Rd,
Glasgow,
Lanarkshire
http://www.cailbruich.co.uk/


G12 8QX

Fresh from the WHoleSale Market

Many many years ago (actually only 3) I remembered watching this cooking video on youtube about this chef who was trying to make Jamaican food in Glasgow. One of the dishes required the use of Mangoes and for some reason, he actually had to go to a wholesale market in Glasgow to get it.

Somehow or rather shopping in Costco where things are huge and excessive has stirred up my curiosity for seeking out this food heaven.

The motivation was so strong I actually woke up at 6am to drive to the market. Thankfully its not that far away from my place; quite near the Royal Infirmary in fact.

Turns out the market wasn't the food heaven I was hoping for. Bustling vendors, throngs of traders,s piles, basket, crates of vegetables and meat produce... none of which was to be seen. Sighz... At one point my heart almost sank because the seafood wholesale market that I wanted to explore was not to be find. One of the lads pointed out to me I was in fact in the wrong section of the compound.... I had to drive up the hill.... -__-"

And as I arrive at the top , seagulls and the familliar smell of the seafood reignited some hope. I had indeed found the seafood mecca in Glasgow. There were only 3 stores that were operating. I in particularly had loads and loads of styrofoam boxes filled with all sorts of fish laid out over his shop. My instinct told me that had to be the store to buy from.

John Vallance was the name of the store. The man himself wasn't Mr Vallance but the 3rd or 4th generation of fish mongers. No prices were available here, everything was by word of mouth. I take it the more you buy the cheaper it becomes.

My intentions really were to get some langoustines. The experience in Lochleven really left me craving for more. The going rate was 15 pds/kg. With little to reference from, I had to ask him how many pieces I would get with each kilo. 10 - 12 medium - large crustaceans apparently. The last time I ate at Macullums, it was like 6 pieces for 15 pounds. Unhesitatingly, I scooped up all the langoustines he had that day. 2 huge kilos of it. To top it off, I got another kilo of clams from him.

All the prep for the seafood feast was done in an hour that I got home but it wont be until 10pm that night before I'll get to eat them. Thanks to Aa who was on call...

Here's what we had.......





1 Giant plate of chilled langoustines with homemade garlic mayo and warmed smoked salmon lemon vinaigrette salad. It was really satisfying having so many of them to eat. Though the taste wasn't as intense as the ones from Lochleven, these ones will do for now. Personally, 8 out of 10.





The tails were not small at all. None of that shrimpy business. Its the big boys we are talking about here.

The clams were soaked for almost a day in salted water to get rid of the sand. I decided to make a spagh vongole out of them to supplement our crustacean starter.

Here's our massive spaghetti ala vongole for 3. A little salty and alittle less garlicky than I would like. The next time I'll nail !!!

All in all, it was a worthwhile trip. Perhaps some lobsters next time ? hahaha

20110730-197, originally uploaded by jiapui.

Paradise Inn, Marina Bay Link Shopping Mall

I feel like a tourist every time I return to Singapore. A testimony to the ever changing landscape of Singapore? HOw many of you know where Marina Bay LInk Shopping Mall is ?? I had one friend telling me its at Marina Bay Sands and another saying that its an extension of Raffles City Link mall. O_o ?? *Confusion much.

Unsurprisingly, I found the dinner place located somewhere near 1 Raffles Quey. 1 Raffles Quey? Familliar? no? OK.. how about Lao Pah Sat? PLease see website

The place is very new and lots of the shops are still doing opening promotions. Cafes and restaurants are plentiful with favourites like Ding Tai Fung, Toast Box and Ichiban Boshi counting among its tenants.

Ok Enough of my blabbering and on to the food.

We went to Paradise Inn, one of the many establishments under the Paradise Group of Restaurants. I was told by a fellow hamster that in the grand Hierarchy of ATASness, it is ranked lowest amongst its group's restaurants but you can be reassured that food is of a quality standards.

The selection of food is mainly of cantonese influence and looking at what was offered, there would be few that you would be unfamiliar with.

It took almost an hour before the entire crew was present for the food to be order. The 3 early birds really were Boi Ta Han ; not even the braised peanuts were sufficient to sustain us. We found our hunger answers in Kung Bah pow. Well executed with good flavours and fatty meatiness. At 2 dollars per pop its not too bad when you compare it with a hamburger. KPB anytime man.

There were quite a few artisan drinks like lemon grass and passion fruit tea, rose and lychee tea as well as apple and cucumber tea. Not too bad la but 4 dollars per glass ??? OK.. I forgot we are paying for rental space and creativity fees as well haha.

How about some special house tofu and mince meat sauce. haha Can't get more boring than this rite haha.. but old favourites always work up a good appetite so we had to order this.





Since I am in Singapore, i better eat more vegetables were its slightly cheaper than the UK. We had this 3 assorted mushroom with broccoli. The mushrooms were great, especially the texture.





MInce pork with salted egg. hmm... Ok only la... and I m sure you can get this elsewhere without paying exorbitant prices. Its quite pretty looking don't you think?





Ha Cheong Kai !!!.. I have been eating too many chicken wings since I came back. Fried grill braised boiled.. This one ... shioK!!!.. Crispy, aromatic and very juicy. ...

My favourite for the night was wasabi mayo prawns. Don't be turned off by the freakishly green sauce. It was super duper nice la. Actually we do have a similar dish wasabi sauce dish in Glasgow but instead of prawns they use red garoupa meat.

Coffee spareribs was the last item. Its not bad but I don't think i would normally order this if i were dining on my own. Rather than taste like coffee, the sauce carried fumes of coffee aroma but tasted of gooey sweetnes and marmite.


If you are in the area, take a monent to explore the urban landscape above, truly mesmerizing. Wish I had my camera equipment with me..

Paradise Inn
-----------------------
8A Marina Boulevard,
#B2-20 Marina Bay Link Mall
Singapore
Daily: 11.30am – 9.30pm

Hyang-To-GOl Korean Restaurant, Amara Hotel, Singapore

Finally! I got to eat some made in Singapore Korean cuisine. Its not going to be as authentic as the real stuff in Korea but you know its going to be good when you see local Koreans and sho nu dining here. Of course don't be fooled by the Korean looking, greet in korean waitresses as most of them are our PRC friends from U know where la.

4 of us dining means we could have more to share and I think that's the best way to enjoy Korean food. I wasn't expecting to gorge myself with lotsa tonic soup and galbi. For that, I'll have to go for Seoul Garden. (haven't been there in years)

Any respectable Korean restaurant will serve you some Banchan to start off the meal. I could count at least 9 dishes. Many of which I do not know their names but I could roughly make out what type of ingredient it was. Not meant to be filling but certainly provided something to curb our hunger.... For the kiasu folks, Yes its refillable. haha

Dokbokki , Korean Rice cakes marinated in a sweet spicy tangy sauce.

Marinated Pork Rib Bulgogi. OO yum yum yum. There were many other grades and cuts of meet. From the 2 digit to the 3 digit platters you name it, they have it. Can't wait to come back and try the 3 digit platter someday . 마시는 !!!

OK.. the plate of meat really shrunk after cooking. The waitress offered a helping hand in grilling the meat so you can concentrate on eating the other dishes. Vegetables are not included so please order them if you fancy. We weren't sure what to do with the green chilli. Unfortunately none of us were big fans of chowing down the whole thing.

Finally, A nice hearty pot of korean seafood stew. wah shiok to the max man. The prices range from S$30 to S$50 depending on what type of ingredients you prefer. The large pot was more than enough for the 4 of us.

To finish off, some complimentary red bean ice cream. Very nice very pang (fragrant).

Overall an extremely enjoyable experience with some close sec sch friends. Being set in a hotel, I had expected the standard of food to be quite high and it did meet my expectations. Somehow, my gut feeling tells me that the quality of food can be replicated elsewhere in the suburbs/heartlands at more wallet friendly prices haha. I certainly won't mind coming back here again but will probably have to psycho someone of higher financial capabilities like my lao peh to bring us hahaha.



Hyang-to-gol
----------------------
165 Tanjong Pagar Road,
Level 2, Amara Hotel,
(S) 088539
Tel: 6220 7160

Happy Valentine's Day my Beloved Chicken Rice

Ok... this is getting boring for you guys hahaha... BUT I REALLY want to say I REAALLY REALLLY REALLY LIKE CHICKEN RICE!!!!!!.

Ironically... haha my first time eating Boon Tong Kee... It used to be so overly priced that I much prefer settling for the humble chicken rice store uncle. Not alot of difference also lor.... Sometimes even more tasty (*ok.. Singlish not lost haha)

I did like the chicken, found the rice abit dry but very fragrant and the chilli a tad too spicy for my pleasure

The rest of the dishes were pretty good. Crispy skin tofu FTW.

Can't believe I ordered S&SP haha. NO regrets. Meaty, Good amount of flour, right amount of tang and none of that Vinegarish stuff from Glasgow.. opps hahaha

Lastly, spinach with 3 eggs. Simply delicious

A's Takeaway special

Hey Hey. its the time for the year again where my Takeaway store opens haha for one day only hahaha..

Photo courtesy of Krs


Actually it was quite a whirlwind effort. Hopefully it tasted alrite haha. my taste buds were abit skewed after my heavily salted lunch.




P.s Heading back to Singapore tomorrow!!!!..Hooray!!!... camera is down sigh..

10 East Leaving do.. well.. One of many leaving Dos....

Team Night out with JM the hostess showing us what she uses to shower everyday. Comes in a pretty pink too.

The options for the night were Shepard's pie and Fish Pie.

I have to say I love the FIsh pie the most. The potato crust was nicely crisped. The seafood flavour was formidable and the variety of ingredients used was impressive too.

JM, its amazing how you became such a good cook in a year.. Well done!!

Tesco Finest Sausage Feast

These may look like cheapo 90% reprocessed meat sausages but I reassure you I got them out of a Tesco Finest Packet. We had three flavours: Leek, Bramley Apples and Red pepper. Bramley apples led the race with 2 votes followed closely behind by red pepper haha....not a very exciting poll ... really.. haha

To complete it off, we had some sauerkraut, gherkins, cherry tomatos and fried potato cubes.

Selamat Datang Wau Cafe

The prospect of a new Asian cafe in Glasgow always stirs up a huge appetite for my flatmates and I. I was stunned when AS told me that there's a new Malaysia cafe in Yorkhill. Unexpectedly, it turns out to be a full fledged Malay Malaysian cafe. WoOTs~~! *btw AS claims to have been visiting this place on a daily basis. O _ O ~!!!!

The flat turned up in full force one weekday evening, with hunger and anticipation building up over the course of our less than great days at work. Surprisingly, no one was in the cafe but I wonder if that's because the place is newly open.

The opening conversation immediately brought a sense of familiarity that set the expectation of this place. Authenticity.

We started off with a trio of appetisers that included curry puffs, satay and soup kambing. The satay was well seasoned with galangal and tumeric spices and complimented really well with the peanut sauce. Satay was abit dry (deep fried or grilled?) but was salvaged by the ketuput that helped moisten things up. Kambing soup was great for a cold evening. The Curry puff however was mediocre. I would definitely go for the potatos over the sardine.

Moving on to the main course, Aa and I decided to whack 2 mains. i know we were being greedy but we were also uber hungry. I had the nasi goreng with chicken curry. haha I totally didn't expect my nasi goreng to be what it looked like and what was more bizarre was that it tasted like char kway teow haha.. I was very amused and nevertheless wolfed down the whole plate. Next up was my mee goreng haha. Certainly quite different from the version at rumours and the verson at the malay food store in LPS.

C and Aa went for the wau cafe nasi lemak set. There was a choice of beef rendang or ayam goreng with nasi lemak, egg, 2 satays and really solid sambal. I ll give good marks for the rice and sambal. I just wished the sambal had alittle more fire in it.

Aa had mee bandung as his seconds. I din't learn about mee bandung until really recently. I had a taste of it and was rather intrigue.

THe meal wouldn't have been completed without desserts. I don't think these were bought from a factory or anything. They look good enough to be home made and I would say was the best course of the meal. THe irony is that I wouldnt normally buy Malay dessert in SIngapore but because I m here in Glasgow where every Asian food is more difficult to find, I couldn't resist sampling them . Taste Good!!

Overall, we had a great time there at the cafe. The food was nice but unfortunately was not mind blowing. The portions could be bigger and its chilli have a higher level of spiciness. Having said that, the culinary skills showcased remains a niche market that is bound to attract lots of SEA students. I believe with time, we can expect more great tasting malaysian cuisines from them.

Wau Cafe, Glasgow
-------------------------
27 Old Dumbarton Road
Glasgow G3 8RD

Opening hours
Tue - Thurs 1130- 2130
Fri 1400 - 2100
Sat 1130 - 2130
Sun 1130 - 1730
Mon Closed

http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Wau-Cafe/141718059215932

Christmas Dinner 2010

Time of the year again.. to celebrate Christmas.. What did you guys get up to ??? Besides chiling out in this cold . Did anyone do anything more interesting?

Aa was bent on creating his special meat feast Christmas dinner once again . I m really sick of beef having eaten it for 3 consecutive days...but it was so good though..

and here's what why....

C started prepping the dessert first. A personal favourite of hers... Pear Crumble..

Make sure u layer your pears. Patience !!!

Pour your crumble over the pears and leave it to set in the fridge

Make sure u include some of your five a day.

The first main course.. 2kg of sirloin with roasted potatoes.. bathe in olive oil....

Gammon ham.... 3kg? .... hmm..

Ever since the superb creation from last year, Aa was looking very forward to making it again .
After boiling it in a huge of water with cloves and spices. The ham was taken out to be poked with cloves.

Mix up your favourite glazing. The one used here is a mixture of mustard and honey.
Once glazed.. Give it a good roast..

TADA!!!!!.. HOney Roasted GAmmon Ham.

Roast Beef all done.. Potatos looking a little chao tar!! lolol

Brussel sprouts and carrots...

Where's my food.....

Yummy smoked salmon appetisers.

C getting the table all set up .. Cheapo crackers from Tesco.. 10p ONLY!!!

Another Aa favourite. Clam chowder with oysters... emm.... er... Yummy? (haha I don't like oysters you see..)

I had 2 slices.

And another 2 slices of these.

Hmm.... YUM YUM

Pear Crumble + B and J to finish off..






Very satisfying meal. Thanks Aa.


P.s Was Christmas meaningful for you ?

20101225-108, originally uploaded by jiapui.