♥ Tribeca Glasgow

I feel so liberated having finished 7 nights. The thought of just being able to chill throughout the day not having to worry about getting up at 6pm, rush through a microwave dinner and be in for work at 8pm makes me = )

The night crew decided on American Breakfast Cafe, Tribeca, for our post night grub.

*Looking forward to the Huge portions of pancakes, potatos, honey, bread, sausages, eggs lots & lots of eggs !!!!





I settled on The Varick!.. My tired brain must have been confused. I went for the French toast instead. To say the least the portions were huge though: a Head of baguette and 2 thick toast soaked in "eggie" batter. The accompanying maple syrup provided much of the needed sugar I had burnt on my last night. I like how it came in a nice Ikea Glass jar. *Gimmicky but I like !





My friend had the Egg Benedicts on Toasted Seeded Bagel, topped with Smoked Salmon.
He must be hungry. I was barely halfway through my plate and he had finished his.





I got to try some of my other friend's Brooklyn. A 3 layer pancake stack with butter and syrup. She was hungry and needed a savoury fix. Hence the Bacon.


You know... I am glad there is some sort of an American Cafe around. I've grew up wondering what it was like having some American breakfast in a cafe sitting amongst a cool gang of friends. The deco (including that Yellow NY Taxi) and all provided a great American feel.
As for the food, I've got a bit of a mix feeling. It looks the part. Larger portions than usual but... the taste didn't blow me away.
*blame it on the tiredness. I think I will be back again just to give it one more shot

Tribecca Cafe
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102 Dumbarton Road
Glasgow G11 6NX
Tel: 0141 576 0122
http://www.tribecacafe.com/menus/menu/

Number 16

Cosy, quality food, friendly service and great value in a much loved neighbour were the words chosened by the owner to describe this wee humble establishment just at the bottom end of Byres road. I knew I was set for a great lunch deal snatched off www.5pm.co.uk.

The set up of this place was nice and warm with a low lying ceiling providing what was describe as a cosy atmosphere. A little too tight perhaps in some areas that might just be abit intrusive if you were considering a romantic one on one date. Nevertheless, nothing that a good meal couldn't make up for.

We were served warm seeded bread for a start with a nice dallop of butter and balsalmic olive oil on the side.

C had a oven baked mini fish pie with saffron mash. Pies are not a commonly cooked item in the flat, much less a fish pie. I can see why she decided to go for it. Great taste and a great portion for a starter. If not for the scorching temperatures, she might have wolfed it down.

We try not to order the same dishes when we go out to maximise the variety. I had a warm salad of ham hock and cornichons with poached egg, goats cheese mousse and watercress. I absolutely love this. Its was an exciting myriad of flavours. The meaty salty flavours of the hog, acidified by the gerkhin and then you get neutralising effect from the oozing poached egg, only to be awaken by the freshly blended pesto sauce. Yum yum...

My mains of a pan roast venison haunch with moroccan spices and greens was much less of an exciting and probably an overkill on the meat/salad combo. In retrospect, I wish I had ordered something else because the salad totally set the standards too high.

C completed her meal with a rainbow trout and lemon rissotto combo. Very substantial, nicely baked fish and a well seasoned and refreshing rissotto.


We were too stuffed for any dessert.

Just to remind you, this meal cost only 9.95 pounds for 2 course with a free glass of wine or soft drink. How good is that you tell me?

Number 16 Restaurant
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16 Byres Road,
Glasgow, UK
G11 5JY
0141 339 2544
www.number16.co.uk

家常便饭

First dinner at home. Nutritious corn carrot and Rib Sooup

Fish cake with eggs

Stewed can pork with chai xin

Pepper Squid.




Still Jet lagging........................................

chicken carrot winter melon soup

Pai seh .. (excuse me) I haven't been posting because I AM BACK IN SINGAPORE WOOHOO.. yeah i left cold glasgow for sunny Singapore last friday. It really is hot here: a contribution of the intense heat from the sun and the warm from family and friends. Thankfully, I got aircon now haha.

Being back home means I get pampered by mum's cooking. See you get tonic soup like chicken carrot and winter melon soup. Very nice and "cheng" (clear?)

Nice fluffy prawn egg fried in just the right amount of oil with fresh tiny prawns. Thus, you only need a touch of soy sauce or salt to enhance the flavour of the prawns.

And lastly, a very interesting fish.. called parrot fish .. Probably got its name from the shape of its mouth. What do you think? Apparently there's also monkey fish and lizard fish. Maybe more of that next time. Boiled in a soy sauce broth to add flavour to the somewhat bland taste of the delicate meat.

Stay tune folks and I hope to bring more photos to the table.

Dinner at Asian Gourmet

WY's leaving Glasgow for the weekend so being nice friends, Aa and I decided to acompany him for dinner. Poor Aa... C's just left for Singapore on a FIRST CLASS FLIGHT!!! (lucky you). Anyhow, its been a while since I have been to Asian gourmet. This restaurant is located just round the corner from Asia Style. Its quite difficult to spot because its on the basement.
When it first open, we were quite suprised to find out that they serve quite authentic Sichuan dishes and at really affordable prices of between 7 to 8 pounds per dish. I supposed with inflation, the prices have gone up but still, this dinner only cost each of us 10 pounds and we ate till we were stuffed. (10 pounds is cheap in a Chinese restaurant for 3 people when you jiao Chai)

The first dish that you see is something new for the 3 of us. I read from the menu that it is some beef dish in beef juice.. Well, I couldn't make alot out of the title and the waitress wasn't sure either but she assumed it was stir fried. To be honest, it does look extraordinary but it tasted uniquely ordinary. Confusing eh? yes.. becos it taste exactly confusing. I could taste the beefiness of it but I could not fully work out what sauce was used in it. It taste almost beefy with a hint of sourishness and a strong taste of parsley. Texture wise, it resemble sweet and sour pork but definately did not taste sweet nor as sour as it. Overall, all the guys favoured this dish.

I literally went Huh? when i saw this dish. I had ordered sha po toufu, but totally did not expect this soupy toufu dish in a claypot. Well, one title different intepretations. WY thinks this is the way the Sichuanese have their claypot toufu because they are big fans of soup. Is this dish nice? Ok only, I won't order it again because it wasn't tasty and I can probably cook a better version.

Lastly, a classic favourite for us is the La Zi Ji aka Chilli Chicken. Basically, its a KFC chicken again with a sichuan twist. Nicely deep fried with some sichuan chilli spices. Highly recommended.

Finally, there is always rice to fall back on. You literally get buckets of rice here haha and me being a typical teochew boy loves rice. I still find it difficult to feel full without having rice. Mum thinks that that is a bad habit haha Dad thinks there's nothing wrong with it. I just want to eat rice..

Stewed Soy Sauce Pork Belly

Hmm.. I love stewed pork belly and its likely because of my dad's influence.. WY likes to say we tend to have the same eating habits as our parents. In this instance, I would say its true. My previous attempts with stewed soy sauce pork belly aka Lou Bak have been somewhat of a science experiement. Mum says oh just add sugar, soya sauce garlic cinnamon and can already..... I think in my head ..."ok"... so whats the measurement??
As such, I haven't been able to get that familliar taste back home.
This time round however, I have decided to be a little research. Oh boy, what you see about has to be my most succesful pork belly. Its savoury and not overpowered by sweetness and the pork was of the right consistency. Also, I ve managed to stained the eggs a nice semi-dark brown colour. I strongly urge those of you who are interested to try out this recipe

Ingredients
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500g Pork Belly

MARINATE
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 Tbsp Oyster
1 Tbsp thick dark soy sauce (not the watery version)
1/2 Tsp Pepper
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Five spice powder
2 Tbsp Sugar


1 Whole Garlic
1 Tbsp thick dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp Sugar
Pinch of Salt
1 Cup water
Hard Boild Eggs

Cut pork into 1 inch lengths/chunks, marinate with the sauces for half an hour preferbly. I did it for only 15mins. Hardboil some eggs to go along with the pork. Fry the pork with some oil. Add in half a cup of water. Stir the pork well till the water starts to boil. add in the garlic dark soy sauce, sugar and salt. Add the remaining water and eggs. Boil over low flame for half an hour. Serve with rice.

Dinner with the Tungs

I love this dish when i was younger. Mum used to make it for me and her's still taste better even up till today.

Made a couple of mistakes with this dish today though. Firstly, I refused to use the teflon frying pan. Instead I decided to use my non-seasoned non-stick wok.. :(.. Secondly... I have forgotten to add soy sauce.. haha the girls must be wondering why it tasted bland lol. I did try to cover it up with some salt but it just never tasted the same.

Ingredients
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- 6 eggs
- 200g mince pork (chinese supermarket pork is better as it has higher fat content. of course if u are health conscious go for the English supermarket mince as they have a higher lean meat content)
- 3/4 tbsp of light soy sauce for every 2 eggs (use abit of agaration laa..)

Heat oil till hot. Drop in the egg mixture. Pan fry. Do the flip if you can. Serve hot with spring onions.

Bought this sauce from Singapore when i came back this time round. Another great product from Lee Kum kee. Most people are quite accustomed to the taste of their black bean sauce but I wanted something with an added kick.

What I like about it is the right balance of spiciness and saltiness. Taste Gooooooodd!!!...

Ingredients
- 1 Packet chicken wing (approx 8-9 wings)
- 2 table spoon LKK spicy bean sauce
- 1 table spoon oyster sauce
- drizzle of sesame seed oil
- some mince garlic

Heat the oil till hot. Stir fry the garlic. Throw in the chicken wings. Fry for a bit till its brown. Cover and simmer. (add some water if it dries up). Pour in the sauces. Stir and continue to simmer for about 10 - 15 mins.
Serve with Spring onions.


*Spring onions are fantastic for garnishing and can be quite versatile in chinese or english cooking. Keep them in a bag to prevent them from drying out.

*Throw some sliced red chilli and green chilli in for added spiciness and colour

TrioD is my lazy way of calling a dessert made up of a cake, icecream and a fruit. Its extremely easy to fix together and when presented elegantly can a classy item. Thanks to the girls for providing the victorian sponge cake and strawberries.

Ingredients
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Victorian sponge cake 3 pounds
Box of strawberries 3 pounds
Green and black organic ice cream 2 pounds
me too
Served 4 people with sufficient leftovers for 2 more helpings.