Coleman's Season + Shake: Tried and tested

Seeing that there was an offer Coleman's Spicemix (2 packets for 1pounds. normally 1.49 per packet -__-"), I decided I shall continue being lazy at the weekend and throw some chicken in the oven and let the spices do its magic.

Suprisingly tasty despite not having any MSG, Preservatives or Colouring. Perhaps its because there was 8g of salt in each packet.

Anyway.... highly recommended since its on offer now.

Five Star Hainanese Chicken Rice

I was back for a good 4 days !!! hahaha.
For business and a little pleasure.

Apologies to those whom I can't meet up with during this trip but fret not I will be back soon again.

Gonna miss you chicken rice...

p.s the verdict is out... BTK is the preferred choice by majority of votes

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

When you have Pandan Leaves, You make Pandan Chicken

What a find. They actually do sell pandan leaves in SeeWoo. 2 quid for a huge bunch. Considering these grow like weed in my backyard. 2 quid is actually quite expensive.
Can't helped it. these leaves took the long haul flight from Thailand to UK.


After deboning some chicken thighs and drumsticks, I simply rolled the pandan leaves over them to make little flat parcels. You could either fry, bbq or bake them. I went for the fuss free option of baking them.

Taste wise I would have prefered them pan fried or bbqed. Nevertheless, these batch turned out marvellous.

The remaining leaves were used to make Nasi Lemak. YUM YUM YUM



Check out the recipe I got off here.

Sarang, Heartbeat of Seoul

Korean food... yeah... there use to be a time where it was for the rich until seoul Garden came along and started the ecomomical BBQ concept. The scene has moved on and so have I from the table BBQ people. More and more korean restaurants are popping up just like the many many K-pop bands around nowadays.

Having not been to korean, I have no idea what authentic korean food taste like and furthermore, I hear that the taste of korean food here has been toned down to suit our taste buds. I am a person who kinda likes to go for the authentic food so it was rather odd that I wandered into Sarang but I only found out that it was modern Korean food from a razor tv video.

Anyhow I ordered the chicken bulgogi dish. I know pretty boring but it was late in the night, i was hungry and i just wanted something to satisfy myself. lolol. So .. yeah some comfort food. I had to order a rice set on top of it which came with 2 banchan.. which was really pathetic... stewed peanuts and some preserved vege (no it wasnt kimchi). sighz...

But.... we were provided with some appetisers. POPCORN?? and.... FISHBALL?? haha .. Totally Fusion. Its not ur usual popcorn. Can't tell you whether its from corn. Much harder, less crunchy and non-sugared. Fishballs... hahaha what can I say.... in a cup of soup somemore.

Yea.. it was not bad but not sure if I will be back for dinner but the lunch sets do look quite good. All in all it was made up for by the companionship and conversations.



Sarang. Heartbeat of Seoul
-------------------------------------

181 Orchard Central #07-01
Orchard Central

Singapore 298896

P.s


On a side note.... since we are on the korean track...let's have a wee chat about something else.

There used to be a time long long time ago.. well during the NS days... Used to like this group called S.H.E.

Great girl group. Started from a talent search competition. Got on to the big stage with catchy songs.. mostly about romance. They were eloquent and ubber quirky. Extremely eloquent and I think they have ventured into acting as well..

I Used to collect magazine covers of them and displayed them all over my office desk. Totally out of place but haha it sure striked up some humour... I even brought it over to Glasgow and had it on my wall for a year haha.. ... hahaha Totally uncool hahaahaha so my female peers say.

But hey.. I admire them then...


More recently,




S.N.S.D. : Girls Generation.


Haha.. if you can't fight the wave of Korean culture, you might as well explore and see what the craze is all about..

Somehow, this group stands out for me in many ways that S.H.E did.... like their singing, hosting skills and the Korean language

haha best of all...

3 x the number of the members... WooTs*



Gee....Gee..Gee..

Five Star CHicken Rice !!!

I love CHICKEN RICE !!!! NoM NOm NOM!!!

20101013-009-2, originally uploaded by jiapui.

Dinner Treat at CY's house

Really nice of the junior to cook dinner tonight. Food was fantastic with that extremely cooked at home feeling. totally unpretentious at all... Baked Chicken wings anyone??

No meal is completed without a veg... which is almost like 60% of my meals here.. sighs....(Some Movicol, Senna and Lactulose please)

How about some curry veg ???


Thanks very much for the treat.

Housewarming lunch at K's

So after all the trouble K had with his flat, his flat is finally warmed up (literally) for the much overdue house warming. Gd thing XL was up to give him a hand and we were sure in for a treat.

Satay!!!...with peanut sauce some more!!

Stir fried Long beans with prawns. Prawns were excellent man.

And a very well presented plate of vegetables with mushroooms....

20100911-016, originally uploaded by jiapui.

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

Cheap and Satisfying @ Bedok 85

Bedok is kinda my 地盤 as I spent a significant portion of my life schooling here. There's always something nostalgic about coming back to this part of the country especially at night for supper !!!... What I really like about Bedok 85 are the prices and the variety of supper snacks/dishes. The prices haven't risen as much as alot of other places and that is a good thing but I can't say so much about preservation of taste.

Bah Chor Mee comes in 2 versions in Singapore. The dry version doused in a chilli and vinegar sauce or the rich soupy version. Bedok has apparently 10 soupy Bah chor mee stalls and I know only 5 of them. Wonder where the other 5 are located. Anyway, I don know what went wrong with the uncle or auntie today. She over-boiled the noodles and it was rather soggy. At least the broth was still quite umami.

Ah BBQ Chicken Wings... OK the flavours quite standard nowadays but who cares, everyone enjoys BBQ chicken wings yea. Its great for sharing too. Good time to show your generosity ;)

Fried Carrot Cake!!!. . So simple yet so tasty. I'll say again. The carrot here is white radish not your red carrot used in English Carrot cake.

Finally... Ah ball ling... Ah You can get these glutinous dumplings in Glasgow but the peanut soup is going to be tricky lol.. The green Ah ball lings are a new addition. Its green tea flavoured glutinous skin with a green tea flavour bean paste within. Quite yummy.

I ate 80% of these (ho ho ho.. *clutch my belly) and the total cost was only $$10 inclusive of a refreshing sugar cane juice. That's like 5 pounds... In Singlish....."where to find... you tell me??"




Fengshan Market and Food Centre
------------------------------------------------
Block 85 Bedok North Street 4
Open daily: 5pm to 3am.

CRAB!!!

If you pester me hard and long enough (like 3 months), I'll probably be convinced/forced to cook crab for you lol.... Nah... Actually I was meant to do this when I went back to Glasgow 9 weeks ago but just never had time to do it with all the p4p stuff and misc. appointments. Quite relieved that I finally managed to procure some crab from See Woo and whip up this famous Singaporean dish.

There were a choice of 3 crabs namely, the canadian crabs which cost 18 pounds per kilo, the wee tiny crabs with no name and no price and the English/Scottish Crabs priced at 5 pounds per kilo. No idea why the crabs were given an identity crisis but I believe these are what Wikipedia calls Edible crab or cancer pagurus. I call it brown crab because it looks brown when cooked. We eventually got 3 crabs for a total of 12 pounds 25 pence. The uncle was kind enough to chop up the crab ladies. I would have done it but I doubt Aa will be happy with the crab blood bath later lOL!.

So we got 2 sauces. Both of which from Singapore.. NO idea what they taste like but hey .. it can't be that bad rite. 2 pounds for the black pepper sauce and 5.25 sing for the prima taste chilli crab sauce. The instructions are given on the back of the package and are pretty straightforward.

Give it a good wash in cooking oil. I was waiting for the shell to turn bright red but I found out after a while that not all crabs change colour like cooked mud crabs .

Tada !!! Cooked BROWN crabs lol.

Here's the Black pepper crab. This sauce packet is very easy to use. Just fry up some onions and then the sauce and then the crab. Taste of the pepper sauce was AWESEOME!... I wasn't a fan of black pepper crab when I first tried it in SIngapore (maybe its becos they overdose on the black pepper) but this sauce packet had the right amount of pepperiness and seafood flavour. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this sauce pack for u black pepper crab lovers or any kind of seafood or meat.

Chilli Crab!!!.. The prima taste packet had more sauces to work with but if YR can do it. I am sure u can too.. I preferred the taste of the black pepper crab to this sauce. Guess its the sweetness which I din fancy. We had mantou as well to mop up the sauces.

If you ask me about the taste of the crab meat itself. I'll say..... stick to your flower crab or mud crab. This crab ain't the most sweet and needs a bit of seasoning or sauce to bring out its flavour. Maybe I'll steam it someday and give u a better perspective of its taste.

We had spicy chinese chicken wings as well..

and mee siam which was a total failz lO!L

Arms made orange cake. Lovely orange aroma from the peel.

VERY VERY GOOD chocolate cake. From Arm as well.

YR made lychee jelly.





All in all a very nice dinner...

My Economical Rice

Man.... I was stalked by YR on Byres road today lOL!... nah... she just happened to be walking behind me and noticed I was peering into every shop on my way home.... I was hungry la!!!....and I wanted to see if there was something cheap and convenient that I could DA bao home.... Sadly no.... I wasn't willing to pay 5 quid for Chinese takeaway this evening.....

Passed by Iceland (supermarket not the volcano nation) and decided I should wonder in to find some meat.. No prizes for what I bought in the end lol...... 6 drumsticks for 2 quid and pack of mix veg for 1 quid... Total 3 Quid.... Not bad leh... lol

Din't take me long for me to whip up this chicken and vegetable dish. Half an hour maybe plus Rice... I am btw an expert chicken deboner (lOL!.... ... I no shy LOL!)))

I like this dish because if u do it well, u can extract the natural sweetness of the carrots, cauliflower and broccoli to create a nice sauce with the chicken.

For the marinate, I used sesame seed oil, light soya sauce and oyster sauce. agar urself the amount you want to use. best to marinate chicken for at least 30mins.

30 mins + 3quid

=

2 meals + 30mins cooking time from the 2nd meal + 7 quid ( (5-3.5)*2 = 7 )


SAVED!!!




Makes sense? or Cents??

YG & KrS House Warming

One of the most unique married couples that I have met in my life. They are charming, wise, intelligent and a great example of a strong - relationship for many of us. All of that and YOUTH!!!... They are only 25

It was really nice of them to invite so many of us to crash their new love nest tugged amongst the quietness of the botanical gardens last weekend.

Clockwise from Top Left: Egg with preserved radish, claypot
shaoxing wine chicken, Black pepper beef, Stir fried mushroom Beehoon


Look at all the marvelous food that they have prepared and there's still more... Sorry I was too busy eating to take more pictures.


Hope you guys din't spend too much time cleaning up.


Thanks once again and enjoy your new home !!!

Persian Food with Big G

Photo Credits: Big G

The last time I was at the west end cafe, I was chowing down on a mix grill platter of lamb, chicken and steak. Fast Forward 7 months and its changed from West End grill to West End Cafe: a Taste of Persia. Persia by the way is also the name of Iran from 600 BC until 1935

As I sat down waiting for Big G's arrival, the friendly boss came over and chatted with me. To my amusement, she said she had recognised me from before. I was hesistant to agree but I nodded away politely (afterall, all Chinese looking people look the same right lol). True enough, I was misrecognised as one of the folks from YG's social outing. HAHA its ok. It made up for a good laugh and more interesting conversations.

Turns out that this wee cafe has seen its menu undergo a transition from French to Grill to its current Persian Menu. The boss explains that the previous menus were too extensive and the kitchen was unable to manage the different combination of orders. Sure sounds like something I see in Kitchen Nightmares. Well... the current chef is from Iran and is reputed to whip up some marvellous Persian dishes. Can't wait to check it out!!!

Finally, Big G found his way. Two starving man makes for two huge appetites and we ended up with well.. you can say 4 Main dishes and an appetiser.. O_o !!!

The boss was quick to recommend to us a dish called Kashke(whey) Bademjam, an aubergine puree with walnuts, onions,mixed herbs and spices. haha my eyes literally stared at it for 2 secs while my olfactory senses savour the tantalizing aroma. We took it with some pita bread and wow.. oily goodness. It was a taste not found in my dictionary but related most to garlic oil.

She then suggested the prawn biryani. I love this. Never thought that a combination of prawn and biryani could taste so good. There was a generous portion of huge prawns but definately lacking the heat for my taste buds. Basmati rice was plentiful as we had ordered 3 more main dishes on top of the biryani.

Okra curry. This was probably my least favourite of the night. A wee bit too sour from the tomato base and the okra was overstewed. Its just my personal preference of liking slightly crunchy okra and sambal chilli that added the biasness lol.

You can't skip BBQ skewers can you when you eat persian food. So... We had a spicy joojeh (chicken marinated in Olive Oil, mustard and Lemon Juice) and tender baby lamb fillets. I must say the meat was absolutely moist. PLUS points for the chargrilled tomato. If only there was a chargrill green chilli ;)

The chef presented everything together on a plate since we were going to share the food. See that powdery mixture there. Its meant to be sprinkled over the meat and rice and adds abit of acidity to the food. Think of it like a lemon substitute. I wish I could tell you what went into it. Forest berries ?

Some Persian Tea on the boss to Finish off the meal.

West End Cafe: Taste of Persia
-----------------------------------------------
526 Great Western Road
Glasgow
G12 8EL
Tel: 0141 334 3262
http://westendcafe.net/