Back to SG! Post 2

Singapore getting too fast-paced. I've only been away for 6 months and the basement of Bugis junction and Plaza Singapura have changed?! I'm not complaining though, only means more food stalls for me, ha!



This mochi balls were bought from Plaza Singapura B2. It's a shop selling japanese snacks and they grill this mochi ball on this takopachi-like cooker which does the cha-cha. Yes, it shakes.



It's nice, and yummy, but the filling will give your tooth the aches. I like the chestnut flavour though, and the strawberry as well.

And it's back to Chinatown again. Well, not exactly, but somewhere close. I was at Amoy Street Food Center be exact, after popping by the temple to give my prayers, and decided to try this dessert stall which was mentioned in ieat's blog ages ago. Apparently this lady here makes her own Ah ballings and her desserts are quite kick ass as well.




Verdict: I like the red bean soup, barley gingko and cheng tng but they are all too sweet. Don't take my word for it though, maybe my taste buds have tamed down living in Perth. The cheng tng ($1.50) is teeming with ingredients and I would say it's actually a very good deal for the taste and quantity.



The red bean soup was tasty as well, but couldn't beat the one at Maxwell's (where it has brown rice in it). If only the sugar level was lower, I'm pretty sure the full flavour of the red beans would come through.

What about the rice balls? Hmm, you could give me a commercially made rice ball and a home-made one and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. They are practically the same, skin or filling. But it's nice, trust me on that one. I like the small rice balls without filling though, it complements the red bean soup very, very well. And it's tangy too!




Ah-ha, finally the barley gingko. It's just too sweet, and the flavour couldn't fully come through because of that. It's really a waste, because it had the potential to be really good.

A pity as well, because what this stall is most famous for is it's nut pastes. Too bad, they were sold out when I got there, which is good for me because I can't take nuts either, Ha!

Carrot... I like!

What's your kind of carrot cake? The savoury kind with dark sauce, preserved vegetables and fried with an egg which you can find at your hawker centre or the slice of soft and moist cake filled with sultanas and walnuts and topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting that you can find at most cafes, or at my place.

Oh yeah, I'm a sucker for good carrot cakes and even though I found a place which sells damn good carrot cakes (even better or on par with Cedele's), I prefer to bake my own because I can substitute in gluten free flour and make everything edible without a consequence, at least to me.

Mmm mm! A strong dose of cinnamon, a good handful of sultanas and a chokeful of chopped walnuts is definitely enough to get me going.



Here's my recipe for my healthy carrot cake:

2 cups self raising flour
3 tspn cinnamon
3 tspn vanilla essence
1/4 tspn nutmeg
1/2 tspn salt
4 eggs
3/4 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sultanas
1 cup chopped walnuts
3 cup grated carrots

1. Mix eggs, sugar, apple sauce, oil and vanilla essence
2. Sieve flour, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg
3. Stir in 1. into 2.
4. Mix in grated carrots
5. Stir in chopped walnuts and sultanas
6. Bake in oven at 175 deg C for 50 minutes or toothpick comes out clean

Corica - Heavenly

Forget Ritz or whatever strudel you've been fooled into thinking is gastronomically divine. The stiff pastry, the overly sweet custard and the scarce display of caramelized apples. Pooh! Don't they put me off!

Let me show you something that's good. Something that'll be worth your time and money, something worth taking an hour's drive for. That's Corica's apple strudel for you.



It's pastry is soft and flaky to the fork with an abundance of adequately sweetened custard orderly lined with soft, sweetened apples. My man, this is truly to die for.

There are several things Perth is famous for and Corica's apple strudel is among those things. Famed for it's apple strudels, it also bakes a mean carrot cake which I find truly fantastic. It is, by far, the best carrot cake I have ever taste. With a subtle sweetness, softly dense and topped with cream cheese, I regret not taking a picture of it.



If you ever happen to come by Perth, I'd advise you to try the apple strudel. After all, the first apple strudel was invented in Perth and *whispers*, you wouldn't want to go back to Ritz would you?


Oh boy, don't I miss writing these stuff.

Good Morning Granny

There's only one grass jelly stall I would ever recommend to anyone and that's granny's grass jelly located at Golden Mile Food Centre. The first time I tried it I was blown away by how good it was.

I ordered the drink back then and the jelly was just so... melty, soft, squishy and smashy. Not something you can really sink your teeth in. For those who don't like the grass jelly taste (like my fussy gf), this particular drink doesn't have that taste too (or so the fussy girl claims).


This time round I ordered the jelly version which is really nothing compared to the drink. Okay, it is softer and stickier than normal but I'd rather have it chopped up and slurp it all up in the form of a drink.

Address:

Hong Dou Tang

I know I've posted about this Peanut Soup Stall in Maxwell FC before but I'll just do another one since I tried the other two items available.

I reaaaaaally only wanted to buy the red bean soup. Really. But! I saw the makansutra awards going to it's peanut soup and tau suan. So I changed my mind at the last minute (literally) and ordered all three with some tang yuan (glutinous rice balls) to go.

Seriously speaking? I still think the red bean soup rocks. It has brown rice in it which gives a very unique taste. Well, you can read on my previous post about it by clicking on here.



And I reaaaaaaally don't see what the fuss is about the other two items. Uhm, the peanut soup is very watered down and you can only taste the peanuts faintly so don't try it if you are the kind who likes thiiiiiick, riiiiiiiich, gooooooey peanut butter-style peanut soup. Oh wait, or is that peanut paste?

The tau suan is also quite normal.



Yeah... don't know what else to say about it.

But I'll still go down for my red bean soup! Oooh yummy yummy.

Address:
Maxwell Food Centre
Peanut Soup
Stall 57

Maxwell revealed!

Yes, here I am once again stripping Maxwell food centre apart bit by bit, going back again and again to slowly reveal it's well kept food secrets.

"What's on the menu this time round yummie?!". Sweet stuff of course! Savoury stuff, Hmmm, not in the agenda today.

Having read about Maxwell's famous onde onde, which incidentally ranks 2nd just behind Sgkueh.com's, I knew I had to try it out and since I had a Saturday morning all to myself, why not?



Well, I DID find a stall selling onde onde and it DOES have alot of newpaper clippings and foodie recommendations on the wall. However, I can't really read the chinese words so I don't know if it's Xing Xing's tapioca cakes. But seeing that it's the only store selling onde onde, I just went ahead and bought some.



The onde onde looked errr, a little unappetizing though. I thought onde onde were little plump balls coated with grated coconut but what greeted me was a tray of... flat balls with leaking gula melaka. Seriously! ALL the balls were sort of punctured! I still got some though.



Despite it's bad (really bad) appearance, this onde onde was actually quite good! Don't get me wrong, it still ranks behind Sgkueh's. But it's soft (but more chewy than Sgkueh's) and has a good proportion of gula melaka in it. There's also a little crunchy bit of gula melaka left in it. I feel that the dough is not flavoured though, meaning that they use little sweet potato and a high ratio of glutinous rice flour, creating just a bland dough.



i also bought their mua chee or mochi which was, unexpectedly good! I mean, it's not extraodinarily good just better than average. The skin was quite soft but what bought me over was the filling. Instead of the usual peanut and sugar filling, the filling here has been cooked in shallot oil, giving it a very fragrant taste. Not bad!



I also popped by one of our favourite stalls selling tong shui, or chinese desserts for some. This stall sells peanut soup, tau swan and red bean soup with peanuts, sago and brown rice.



We accidentally chanced upon this stall a few months back and it has been one of our favourite stalls since. Most people get the peanut soup but what we crave for is the red bean soup.



Not usual, boring red bean soup mind you! This red bean soup, with the peanuts, brown rice and sago gives the soup a very good and special taste. It's really good, trust me. and besides, you can also add in rice balls for an additional cost. Yummy!



I'm stuffed! By there's still so much more in Maxwell to unrevel! Don't worry, I'll be back again... soon.

And ending the trip to Maxwell with *drumrolls* min jiang kueh! Oh yummy!



Dear min jiang kueh,

Sometimes, I sit beside the window staring blankly into the landscape and wonder, "How can I ever, ever, live without you?"

From your greatest fan,
Sam.

Address:

Peanut soup
Maxwell food centre Stall 57

Stuffing ourselves silly

The large crowd at this steamboat house never fails to make me take notice everytime I walk pass the Bugis area. Of course, what always drew me to take another peak inside was the alluring scent of good stock cooked with loads of seafood. Besides, it's $15 per head, nett, which always make me say to Qin, "Next time must try leh!"



So when the guys decided to have steamboat one night, there was no doubt in my mind which place to have it at.



A steamboat is always a place for hungry people, like us! Just look at the amount of food we took! There are also 5 different kinds of soup stock to choose from; Chicken, preserved vegetables, pork ribs, tom yum and ma la (which is a very spicy stock). I didn't try much of the rest because all I kept having was the preserved vegetables stock. It's really good and a little sourish.



The fare at this place is pretty usual with the normal vegetables and mushrooms, fishballs etc. And of course different kind of thinly sliced meat like mutton, beef, pork etc. What sets it apart is that it had flower crabs as well. I've seen prawns in steamboats but flower crabs? First time.



And of course the huge assortment of sauces including sesame sauce, peanut sauce, and some other weird sauces.



Oh! Boy were we full!



But while we were in the vicinity of course we had to head down to Ji De Chi, the chinese dessert stall which I had mentioned in my previous post. The sesame paste which I recommended was definately a hit with everyone being delightfully smooth and well grinded. The mango in grapefruit juice was also refreshing and good.



Some of them ordered three bowls each.



Ah, what a night, stuffing ourselves silly.

All things Japanese

Ohayo! Goooooooooooooood morning to everyone! Ooo, don't those mochi balls just look so tempting? Their soft, delicate skin wrapped around sweet, savoury red bean paste waiting to melt in your mouth when you bite into them. Ummmmmm... :P



Those cute little brown marbles are mochi balls I got from Ichiban Boshi Japanese Restaurant at $3 for a packet of 6. Up till now, I consider mochi balls from Ichiban one of the best you can find in Singapore. Sure, it comes from a commercial restaurant but the the mochi really has it standards quite high! Unlike other mochi balls which are usually thick and chewy outside, these mochi balls have a very thin skin. Moreover, the skin is very well made resulting in a very soft layer which blends together with the fillings very well and almost melts in your mouth. Yes, I realise that I have a thing for food that melts in the mouth :) There is also a generous portion of filling wrapped up inside unlike some mochi which look large but only 20% of which is the filling. Oh yah, the mochi is also small-sized enough to pop into your mouth and they come in three different fillings; peanut, red bean and green tea . However, I do find that quality of the mochi differs from different branches and I have so far found that those from the Wisma branch are the most well made.



Thats not the end! After having our fill, we popped by Holland Village to check out a Japanese bread shop recommended by a friend. This shop called Provence is located just opposite Holland Village's Nasi Lemak and churns out fresh, piping hot, French-style Japanese bread and French-styled sandwiches. They also serve drinks like hot chocolate and cuppachino etc. to compliment the bread. Tables are also positioned indoors and outdoors to suit your individual prefrences. First look, the variety of bread may look normal. Look closer though, and you wil realise that Japanese ingredients are used; red bean (w/ or w/o skin), mochi, Japanese curry etc.

Brown rice Anpan w/ Skin

We went quite late so most of the bread were already sold out including their best seller Wassant; mini crossaint-like bread with chocolate or custurd fillings. We did however, try their Brown rice Anpan, Cinnamon bread, Milk bread, Chocolate scones, New York Chocolate Bread, Apple bread and mini crossaint. I wouldn't go into detailed description here because there are simply too many of them but I would recommend the Milk bread and Chocolate scones.

Heres what we had:


The milk custurd filling was simply yummy! Not too sweet and very tasty. I'm sure it'll be heavenly when eaten right out of the oven when the filling is warm and soft.



This is the first time I've tried scones and I really love it! Hard as a rock on the outside but when bitten into, it simply crumbles and melt in your mouth. The chocolate bits also add to give a nice chocolatey taste.




There are simply too many types of bread to individually recommend but please do pay the place a visit and try the pastries out yourself. I'll be definately dropping by again to catch the freshly baked bread just out of the oven!

Open sesame!

My mum lurrrves sesame paste. But in the past, everytime she offered me some, you should see my face contort in disgust! I mean, Ewww! Despite being nutritious and healthy, most places sell sesame paste that either contains too much husk, tastes too bitter, or are filled with starch. Besides, the black colouring simply adds to the mindset that my tummy will reject the sesame paste in a few ways which I can think of.

However, Qin and I were walking along Liang Seah Street on Saturday and we decided to grab some chinese desserts. I had no idea why, but I was feeling kind of adventurous and so guess what?! If you guessed that I ordered sesame paste, you got it right! Well, half right actually. I actually ordered Yuan Yang Hei Bai (yuan yang stands for coupled and hei bai means black and white) which is a blend of sesame paste and almond paste.

A bold colour and smooth texture:


Man, let me tell you. After eating that first mouth, I was a convert. The sesame paste they served was extremely smooth and lack the usual grainy texture. The taste was also sweet and carried a strong but not overly bold sesame taste. Actually, I suspect that the bitter taste found in most sesame pastes is caused by the sesame husks. This particular stall took the effort to filter away the husks, thus removing the bitterness. The paste was also thick to the right extent and it doesn't look like any starch was added. Coupled with the almond paste, which was a little more sweeter and very smooth as well, it made a really good dessert!

Blended together, you get a nice colour and a treat for your tastebuds:


For anyone who has avoided sesame paste for the same reason as mine, I strongly advice you to consider trying out this stall!

Address:
Liang Seah Street
Beside a porridge based steamboat & is Opp and NOT Ah Chew's dessert.
(There are only 2 chinese desserts stall in that lane so it should be easy to find.)

A night of sin

Albeit eating 4 pieces of min jian kueh, I still had an unsatisfied craving for sweet stuff. After picking up Qin from work, we headed down to Clarke Quay to check out the restaurants. Initially, we wanted to dine at Brewerks because I heard that the food was good from my friends. But then again, I just didn't really have the craving for western food that night. I have no idea why, but we settled for some japanese food at the basement of Liang Court. Although the price was average, I didn't really like the food, which left me feeling full but unsatisfied! Man, that is the worst combination of feelings you can ever get and it really left me in a bad mood. I was pacing around not knowing how to satisfy this feeling (so sorry baby for being sulky, haha). In the end, I decided to grab a gelato ice cream (I forgot the brand) at a shop at the same basement. It was quite good actually, but it wasn't enough! I was really yearning for a scoop of ice cream atop of some sort of cake! Alas, walking back to the carpark, guess what I saw... HAAGEN DAAZ! Just what I need! So we plomped down into two comfy seats and got a New York Brownie!

Mmm mmm:




We switched the ice cream to Summer berries and Belgian chocolate. Being a fan of chocolate, I have to say that the Belgian Chocolate definately delivers, not too sweet and it really tastes nice. The Summer Berries, however, was too sweet for my liking and it tastes slightly like medicine? Lastly, the brownie. Omg, it was so warm and soft and mixed with melted chocolate chips, it definately hit the spot. At the end of it, Haagen Daaz saved the day (although it burned a hole in my pocket).