Chinese Kitchen - Savoy Centre

Many thanks to my CCU sister for introducing me to this terrific Malaysian Cafe. There was no way I was going to discover it on my own because its in the middle of SAVOY CENTRE. This place is what I consider the Singapore equivalent of Bukit Timah plaza and Katong Shopping Centre but less "hip". Seriously, the only people who go there are the grannies and uncles who convene for their Weegie chitty chattery over lots of sugar overloaded pastries. (Ok I lied. I secretly go there for bubble tea hahaha)

I was really surprise to be greeted by a scene of mainland chinese and BBCs chowing down on what looked like wanton mee and horfun. Amongst them, the local Angmohs were seen eating the usual chicken curry chow fan and "Singaporean Fried Noodles".

My fears were only alleviated when I saw the Chinese character menu and spoke to the Malaysian waitress. I knew I was in for a treat.

Aa ordered an aromatic plate of Malaysian beef curry rice. Yes, it looks like any other curry but when you take the first bite. "Boleh la~!" "Sedap man!" I could almost start speaking Malay. It was really that good. Maybe they used a premix maybe but whatever it is, I wouldn't mind eating it again.

I obviously went for my favourite dish. Quite ironic eh to be eating Chicken rice cooked by a Malaysian. What to do, unless I open a store, God knows when will we see a restaurant here opened by a Singaporean.

By time this was served, the Lao Ban Niang (Lady boss) who spotted my "attention seeking" camera came over to say harlo. Instantly, she knew we were from Singapore. Suprise !! -__-

Soon after she started explaining to me that this store has been around for some time. She din hesitate to do abit of PR (not the kind that I get involved with at work) and kindly informed us that the kitchen is not open on Sunday and in the evenings BUT! they have a sister store on Cambridge Street which opens in the night.

Going back to the chicken rice, the star of the dish was the chilli. It was fresh, tangy and garlicky. The chicken was not the plump silky version but was good enough for me just as the rice was shiok enough for me to want another plate.

I wasn't sure if it was a lunch time offer but the main meals all come with a free drink. Not bad rite ~ ! £7.5 -8.5 for a main meal plus free drink. The drink I had was called San se cha. I couldn't make out what it was initially but when it came, it made visual sense. 三色茶 was a multi layered tea of milk tea, more milk (maybe coconut milk) and GULA melaka

Innovatively impressive.

Its been awhile since I wrote such a lengthy post but this place really does deserve a visit.

p.s: NO I DIDN't get a discount or free meal !! for this post haha

Chinese Kitchen
-------------------------------

Savoy Centre Sauchiehall St
Glasgow, G1 1
(0141) 333 0067
Open Mon to Sat till 5pm
Close Sunday.


Canton
-------------------------------
67 Cambridge St
Glasgow G3 6

The Butchershop Bar and Grill

My flat really likes the Butcher Shop.

Good Quality Beef.
Master Chef cooking
Competitive Prices
Great Atmosphere and Service
Convenient Parking



Do check out their Côte de bœuf! and Steak Frites Tuesdays


P.S: Quick break. Back to Work..

The Butchershop Bar and Grill
---------------------------------

1055 Sauchiehall Street
Glasgow G3 7UD
Tel: 0141 339 2999
http://www.butchershopglasgow.com/

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

Thai Express, Tampines One

Its been a while since I had Thai Express. Thai food is less commonly found compared to Italian, western and Jap food in SHopping malls.

I went ahead with the beef pad thai instead of my usual seafood pad thai.. It was above average. In addition to sweet and sour pork, phad thai is one of those dishes where I find mixing savoury and sweet tastes acceptable.

Mum went for the set menu which consisted of prawn Thai fried rice, a tofu side dish and a tapioca dessert. Quantity more than quality is the buzz word for this set. $8.90 only !!

Sis has beef kway teow soup. The broth was heavily loaded with 5 spice powder. Wee bit strong for my liking. I reckon this will go well with some raw greenish herbs to mask/compliment the strong 5 spice flavour.

They still do their member's privillege card which is pretty worth while for $35 dollars. 1 one for one voucher. 1 x 10 dollar voucher for your birthday month ( i think), 1 x 15 dollar voucher (for another occasion). 10% discount and free drink for signing up for the membership.

Thai Express Bistro
-------------------------------
#04-09
10 Tampines Central 1
Tampines One
Singapore 529536

Tropeiro, Brazillian BBQ

I had one of the best meals in Glasgow in the longest time on Saturday. Aa found this Brazillian restaurant in one of the Glasgow food and drink magazine. The best part was .......it was a BUFFET!!!! Wooo HOO!!!!

Turns out that this was a going to be a Churrasco buffet.... YUM YUM YUM..... Gotta love the meat!!.. At a price of 21 ++ pounds I think its a pretty awesome deal. Its about that price in Singapore as well... Besides.. unlimited grilled meat ?? hello??? where else in Glasgow can you find that..

Alrite here we go.

After a short explanation of what the green (feed me feed me) and red (stop,,.... I am exploding) cards mean, we were whisked off to the salad bar where there were at least 15 different cold and hot accompaniments to go with the BBQ meat. My fav were the marinated mushrooms, chilli potatos and the kick ass chilli sauce (tasted like nasi ayam chilli).

I din't want to overload my plate with carbs and veggies before my mains but I just couldn't resist trying a little bit of everything, sans the beet root.. YUCKS...

We were seated in front of the roasting pit where you will find the different varieties of meat slowly being rotated mechanically. I think one of the perks of seating so close is that the server sees you first and tends to offer you the meat before heading to the other dinners.

Here's our amigo !!! Meat anybody?

Look at that !!... I 'm drooling again.... NIce pinkish on the inside and aromatically charred on the outside . It may seem a little well done on the peripheries (LOL) but the meat was delicately soft .. Ooo yum yum!!

Here's my plate after the salad round... That sausage wasn't particularly nice. Reminded me too much of the sausages in hospital

Ribs !!! ... Lovely.... DOn't expect BBQ sauce. I think this was a simple marinate of salt and sugar. It sure was lovely though.. I was lucky my meat wasn't that tough..

All that meat sure made us thirsty... I don't think I was going to have just Scottish tap or the standard soft drinks.. And because I was the Ah mat of the day... I couldn't drink that much..

Fret not... Check out this Brazillian soft drink. Apparently produced only in Portugal, Brazil and Japan??.. 2nd best selling drink after Coca Cola too in Brazil. Its defiantely got a unique taste. Closely resembles the ZHONG GUO PING GUO SHUI LOLOL

For those who like their Booze. There's the Caparinha. A concoction of lime juice, sugar, sugar cane alcohol and ice all in a classic glass. Very refreshing. Almost like a mojito without the mint. You can even give it a shot of melon, strawberry or if you are adventurous BANANA.....

They were really generous with their meat. It just kept coming. This piece of chilli chicken was superb. The skin was crispy and the meat was super succulent. Wished I had another piece.

We also had roasted pork, lamb, different cuts of beef including rib, sirloin and hump (i think). The most unusual selection was chicken heart. Tasted well.. like a rubbery piece of meat.. Was half expecting it to taste like liver.

Moving on desserts. First up a citrus cheese cake. Its the soft version. Good but not mind blowing.

This passion fruit moose or moo see lol was simply excellent. The moose was well infused with the flavour of passion haha. So simple yet so yummy

I had the symphony of chocolate. well... Very uninspiring actually.. Rather dissapointing.


I must say everyone on the table felt their expectations were met. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for those who are hungry to go check it out. PARKING is widely available as well on a weekend night.

Yup... I had my fill.... *BURP

Tropeiro
---------------------------------

363 Argyle Street
Glasgow, G2 8
0141 222 2102
http://www.tropeiro.co.uk/

Daniel's Bistro

We celebrated YR's birthday at Daniel's Bistro located along the famous Edinburgh restaurant row set within the commercial quay area. The restaurant is open by Daniel Vencker as clearly stated on the signboard. The main food theme here is French Scottish.. which I normally take it as either as French food cooked by a Scot or French food done using Scottish produce.

We went for the 2 course menu at 16.85 or 3 courses for 18.86 pounds.... For starters, I decided to have the classic french soup.. I wouldn't know what an authentic one would have tasted like despite having been to France twice. My soup's flavour was pleasantly filled with onion essence but what I did not like was the level of acidity.. A wee bit too sour Wee?

One of the other appetizers on the table. Escargot. Do u like the taste of grass?

Le Cassoulet, An extremely hearty casserole consisting of mixed beans, Duck, pork shank, garlic and Toulouse Sausages. The meat combination worked out in the end and I just love the beans!!.

Daniel's celebrated hearty Beef Bourguignon Casserole, Very tender cubes of beef. I don't normally order beef stews cos they are relatively easy to cook..

Lastly, my mix grill of lamb chop and sausages accompanied by ratatouille and mash potato. I wonder what went into the potato mash. It was creamily delicious. The lamp was perfectly cooked although I wasn't too impressed by the sausages.


We din't have desserts cos we had this... ... The dessert menu looks delixciting!!!


So there we go, a French restaurant in Edinburgh for a day.

Daniel's Bistro
----------------------

88 Commercial Street
Edinburgh EH6 6LX
Tel: 0131 553 5933

Elia Greek Restaurant

I've never tried Greek food before but when you tell me Greek food i start thinking about olives, oils, fish , yogurt, herbs and the Mediterranean. If Wiki was right then I guess my dinner tonight would be a prelude to food expedition to Greek someday . Anyhow. Thanks to Big G for suggesting this place after hearing the advert on the radio. I was looking forward to it... afterall haha it was a treat from him .

Complementary food is always a nice start. I m not a super big fan of olives but haha i was so hungry that I ate 3. My taste buds are not used to the vinegarish taste.

Σαγανάκι με μύδια // Mussels saganaki

The interesting thing about Greek dishes are that the names are quite difficult to pronounce and when u look at the Greek writings ... its looks like its coded. For example this mussel dish in a tomato sauce topped with Greek cheese... How do u pronouce 4 As in a word??? Anyhow ... quite a savoury plesant dish. Definitely see the Italian influence. PLus i like how the salty cheese cuts through the acidity of the tomato so well.

Κεφαλοτύρι // Kefalotyri


As if we din't have enough cheese from the 1st starter lol.... we decided to have another slab. This time.. Glaswegian style... Deep fried in batter lol.. Very nice indeed..

Ποικοιλία ψιτόν // Mixed grill


Eating with Big G means alot of meat. Not suprising that we had a mixed grilled platter loaded with chicken, beef, pork and lamb. This dish is nice when warm and hot and fresh... The meats still very tender then but once it starts to cool down, the dryness starts to set in. Overall a nice dish to share but I don't think I'll have it on my own.

Κλέφτικο // Kleftiko

I wanted to try something really really unique to Greece and the waiter recommended this lamb dish. According to him, the Klephts were bandits who escaped to the country side away from the Ottoman oppression in Greece. As they did not have flocks of their own, they resorted to stealing from others and had to cook their meat in sealed pits to avoid the smoke being seen. Not sure if the same style of cooking was preserved in this modern kitchen but I can reassure u this dish definitely strikes a chord with me. There was this krisp like tuber that was used as garnish. No idea wat it was but it was t"uber" yummy loL!.

This restaurant is worth a try. Hope to be back someday

Akan datang...... Soon......

Elia Greek Restaurant
--------------------------------

24 George Square
Glasgow, G2 1EG
www.eliagreekrestaurant.com
Tel: 0141 221 9988

EN Dining, UE Square

Shg's the man when it comes to "atas" dining. Afterall, he's the lawyer/social animal who frequently does these sort of fine dining. I was given a choice of Jap or Italian and went with the former as I don have this habit of eating Italian back home.

He recommended En Dining which offers mainly sushi and sashimi dishes. It serves mainly food from the Okinawa prefecture which has influence from Taiwan and the US, due to its proximity to its neighbour and the US military presence in that region.

Anyhow, they were offering a 50% discount on the sushi and sashimi menu between 6pm - 8pm.

Fish anyone?? I find the calamsi quite extraordinary

My sushi platter. Fish was fresh and extremely delicate. Yum yum. The wasabi was wah... IMBa.. I think i overdosed on it.

Wafu Beef. I couldn't find anything called Wafu beef. Its not wagyu issit? The closest I got was wafu dressing which was a vinaigrette-type salad dressing based on soy sauce, rice vinegar and vegetable oil.


En Japanese Dining Bar @ River Valley
------------------------------------------------
207 River V

#01-57 UE Square

Singapore 238275

Telephone:

65 6735 2212
Opening Hours:

Sun to Thurs 6pm to 12am

Fri, Sat & Eve of PH 6pm to 3am

Crown Cavery, Leven Valley

Today..... I shall introduce you to the Crown Cavery!!!.. Yup where you get cuts of meat and an endless flow of vegetables. All for 5.25 pounds plus a drinK!!!!. Ok the foods not awesome wow wow wow but you do get alot of fibre and a nice portion of meat for the amount you pay.

Yorkshire Puddings and Stuffings.. Puddings gd Stuffings dry..

You get to choose whether u want a portion of each cut or u can have just one meat and they will give u abit more of it. Aa said he wanted a bit of everything... I thought the clever thing to say would be I want alot of everything. lol.. In the end, I decided I should mask my kiasu kiasee kiakun attitude and go for "I would like a portion of everything."

The first meat was gammon ham. This was probably the best meat of the 3 as it had a nice fat content which helped to lubricate the dryness of the over roasted meat.

Turkey BreaST was dry. End of story

Beef was not too bad. Just wish they gave a bit more

Finally, Top up your plate with as much veg as you want. YOu can even go for a refill of vegs but not the meat.

Here's my plate overloaded with veg and potatos. I went back for a second portion of veg and couldn't do it anymore after.

Its not too bad la and you can take a nice wee trip just out of Glasgow to the drumchapel area. There's a huge Sainsbury nearby for shopping if you are keen.


Leven Valley
----------------------------
7 Allerdyce Court,
Drumchapel,
Glasgow,
G15 6SA
(0141) 944 3366
http://www.crowncarveries.co.uk/

KOREAN feVer!!: Beef Rib Bulgogi

Yea man. One of those cuisines which we have not tried experimenting at home is Korean!!!.. I am quite unfamilliar with korean food other than bulgogi, bibimbap and maybe Pa Jeon. Dosen't help that there is only one Korean restaurant in the whole of Scotland. Fortunately its quite a decent one!!!.

Anyway, I've been starting to watch some korean dramas lately lol. Quite different from Jap dramas. ATM, I still prefer the Japanese language and actors better but there's just something really intriguing about the Korean drama plot. Still trying to grasp various elements of it. So in keeping with the korean drama fever, we shall have Korean food.

The great thing about staying with Aa and C is that Aa is great chef and C has this endless supply of Asian spice mix. If you thought my Ben and Jerry collection was insane, wait till you see her stock of sauce mix. Enough to feed the whole of korea la !!! lol

Asia Gourmet is one of the best brands that I have tried. The taste is definately good enough for home consumption. Very good I would say and if you use good quality beef which Aa loves, then u get a match made in heaven. All we need now is a sizzling hot plate. lol

맛있는 !!!!!

Beef Rendang

Aa made beef rendang using BEEF RIBSSS !!!!!

No wonder it was so exquisitely tender