Coffee & Snacks @ Carpenter & Cook on 10Apr2015

Posted on April 10, 2015 by chefquak

lemon drizzle cake

an old friend from my past life called. he bought me coffee & snacks at carpenter & cook at lorong kilat on 10.4.2015.

my daughter organised a family outing here just last week on 1.4.2015.^^ we enjoyed the pastries, coffee & time together. 🙂

this time i wanted to try the lemon drizzle cake. it was nice as my daughter said, but after tasting it, i still think of it as a quite dense butter cake slight lemon flavoured & drizzled with some lemon on top. that was what i thought of it the last time. we did not try it then.

i took 1/2 & my younger friend helped me with the rest. not that i did not like it but got to watch calories etc, anyway you get the drift. haha!^^

pain au chocolat

friend ordered a pain au chocolat. i did not try. i guess it should be good but maybe also ordinary & it’s not my favourite anyway.

i still like the lemon tart & quiche we had the other day here.

flat white

i had my usual flat white & he had a iced long black.

c.h.e.f andy

Hong Wen Mutton Soup

Posted on April 10, 2015 by chefquak

mutton soup

drop by at hong wen mutton soup at bukit timah food centre on the way to meet a friend on 10.4.2015.

mutton soup

apparently the stall previously from beauty world centre has been around for decades.

closing time was 2.30pm & i was there nearer 3pm, anyway the owner served me the last bowl before shuttering the stall.

mutton soup

it should be good, unfortunately it was the worst mutton soup i had tried. will never come back again!

the soup was tasteless except for slight unnatural sweetness of herbs. usually this is balanced by the savoury & robust flavours of the mutton so the soup should be smooth, herbal & very tasty & intense, everything that this was not.

i asked for mutton & stomach. the mutton was soft. there were few for S$5, and basically tasteless even with the chilli.

currently for the chinese mutton soup i have tried, chai chuan tou chinese mutton soup 柴船头羊肉汤 is head & shoulders above the rest.

the 2 stalls at whampoa, yu ji (宇记) chinese herbal mutton soup (羊肉汤) & Herbal Mutton Soup @ Stall #01-75 Whampoa Drive Food Centre were both good.

the stall hougang jing jia mutton soup at old airport road was until today the poorest of the lot. but still better than this one!

c.h.e.f andy

Carrot Magic Cake

Posted on April 10, 2015 by chefquak

carrot magic cake

this post doesn’t qualify as a recipe.

it was a good first attempt of a carrot magic cake.

it all happened when a friend pasted epigram book’s FB post on shermay lee on my FB page. there was a link to shermay’s cooking school & the top post was chris’ intelligent cake. that got me googling & i found this carrot magic cake recipe.

i wasn’t going to do a large cake for experiment so i modified the recipe substantially.

carrot magic cake

carrot magic cake before baking

carrot magic cake baked

carrot magic cake whole

it’s interesting! i did manage to get a 3-layer cake the first time, and texture wise it was quite fine. it was a bit shallow so i will try a small size cake tin to get a deeper cake where i can see clearer separation of the 3 layers- fluffy sponge on top, custard layer in middle & dense pudding at bottom.

carrot magic cake

taste-wise, good carrot taste, overall quite tasty. i added very little sugar vs kitchen nostalgia recipe but the cake was just nice sweet enough for me.

i did not have gingerbread spice so i used cinnamon & minced ginger. will try looking for gingerbread spice, or i may try adding gingerbread biscuits (if i can find) after smashing it to powder. maybe add a little salt?

anyway below was what i did.

c.h.e.f andy

1/2cup carrot puree (I sued 1 large carrot steamed then blended)
2 eggs separated
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp water
3 tbsp sugar
1tsp vanilla essence
60g butter (1/4cup)
4 tbsp all purpose flour (1/4cup)
1 cup (240ml) milk lukewarm (20s in microwave)
1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp minced ginger – proxy for gingerbread spice (cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, cloves)

whisk 2 egg whites with 1 tsp lemon juice to stiff peaks
whisk 2 egg yokes with 1tsp vanilla essence, 1/2tbsp water & 3 tbsp sugar
add 60g melted butter (1/4cup) & whisk
add 4 tbsp all purpose flour (1/4cup) & whisk
add 1/2cup carrot puree, 1 cup (240ml) milk lukewarm, 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp minced ginger & whisk
fold in the meringue

pour into cake tin (i used 8″ but need to use smaller tin for deeper cake)

preheat oven to 165degC (or 325degF) & bake for 1 hr

Marco Polo HK @ Harbour City 3-6Apr2015

Posted on April 9, 2015 by chefquak

view from marco polo hotel room

we stayed at marco polo hong kong hotel (located at harbour city kowloon) during this trip 3-6apr2015.

there are 3 hotels at harbour city belonging to the marco polo group. there is prince hotel nearer to kowloon park & haiphong road (where we stayed last time), gateway hotel in the middle & marco polo hong kong nearer star ferry terminal.

this time son was travelling with us. singapore airlines return airfare from london to hong kong was like £50 more than return to singapore, and the timing coincided with our trip to hk, which was bad really as we would have preferred to stay in singapore with our son, but anyway we made the best of it. 🙂

hotel room

we stayed at the continental club floor, which is kind of expensive for me, but it has its privileges.^^

at the other hotels, room are small & do not accept 3pax so you end up paying for 2 rooms. here we have a 500sq ft room at the 17th floor, which is very spacious even with the extra bed.^^

and view was great. we were directly overlooking 1881, which was formerly the navy police headquarters. and the victoria harbour. 🙂

tray of nuts

& the food was amazing. there was complimentary daily breakfast, afternoon tea and evening cocktail with hors d’oeuvres.

i stayed on many a club floors in my time working for various companies. the best food i had was a family staycation at ritz carlton in singapore like 20yrs ago. the food, wine & cheese were just incredible. i cannot really remember now except that it was very good, but this marco polo club floor food, wine & cheese were just as great!^^

wine & coffee

you can order coffee (flat white, cappuccino etc) but i am now taken by nespresso so i had a restricto (10) with creamer after many a cuppa with my good friend after our weekly 10km runs. a real enjoyment, this. 🙂

there were white & red wines. i liked the chateau los boldos, a chilean red, but the australian red was just as good. 🙂

cheese, a chive dumpling, pressed foie gras cone, another cheese

the cheese were excellent! the chinese dumpling was very good. i took a second, and the chinese dimsum next morning was great too.

mushroom vegetable skewer

the skewer was very good.

classy spicy dumpling 抄手

and what a classy way to present a spicy dumpling 抄手. ^^

fruits, fish, goat cheese cherry tomatoes skewer, spicy dumpling etc

goat cheese cherry tomatoes skewer

mango scallop

vegetable skewer

fruits

the magnificent hors d’oeuvres started at 5.30pm. made life difficult for us as we had to plan around it, after all we wanted to eat out in hong kong. haha!^^

on the first day 3.4.2015, it was quite perfect though.

we arrived 12.30pm at the airport, took the airport express to elements & the complimentary bus to marco polo & checked in at the club floor. so our plan was to have dimsum at timhowan at shamshuipo at 3pm.

so the 5.30pm hors d’oeuvres came in nicely as our next was a late night dinner at budaoweng at 9.30pm. ^^

smoked salmon & parma ham

smoked salmon & parma ham

smoked salmon & parma ham

breakfast was equally scrumptious.

steak breakfast

there was a breakfast menu which include steak, egg omelette, wanton noodles etc.

on the second day we were having a heavy weekend brunch at amber so i had a light breakfast. on the last day 6.4.2015, i ordered the steak. it was good, not like super super, but good.

c.h.e.f andy

Very Good Beef Hotpot @ Budaoweng 不倒翁 iSquare on 3Apr2015

Posted on April 5, 2015 by chefquak

USDA beef

as planned on the first night, we went to budaoweng 不倒翁 hotpot at isquare near our hotel at 9.30pm on 3.4.2015. this late night discounts used to be 40% before, but now it was 20% for the entire menu including drinks.

since we had a late lunch at timhowan shamshuipo, this was rather a good arrangement, except that we also had a bit to eat at the club lounge at marco polo hk hotel. 🙂

we had the usual must-order large portion 金牌肥牛 at HK$368, which was the USDA marbled beef.

budaoweng 不倒翁 hotpot

HK$758 geoduck, bamboo clams & grouper

geoduck

bamboo clams

we decided to have geoduck sashimi. it was very expensive though at HK$48 per tael (两) 37.5g。that would make it HK$1280 about S$228/kg = really ex man!

we decided to take their promotion platter which had a portion of geoduck sashimi, grouper head & belly & roar clams. that was HK$758 before 20% discounts. this also very ex. not that much geoduck sashimi, 2 pieces of razor clams & some grouper 头腩, which is a really cheap dish in HK.

1/2 order prawn dumplings – HK&88

we had 1/2 order (4 pieces) of our favourite prawn dumplings. it had 3 huge prawns inside.

vegetable tray

& a vegetable tray.

condiments & sauces

there were very good condiments & sauces. they charged like HK$22pax.

fruit & jelly

they served a complimentary fruit & jelly.

dinner was very enjoyable, but came to be rather expensive after 20% discounts (HK$1800 for 3pax) as we also ordered an expensive sake.

the service was very good actually. servers were polite & responsive. but they tended to push things. one served poured the cane drinks 竹蔗for us. the difference now was that we said we didn’t want it & she took it back. in the past servers in HK would show you a black face. they may still do now at other places. this one was ok.

another practice both here & at lei gardens, the servers tended to hang around, the body language expecting tips. but there was already 10% service, especially when they charged for everything from soup base to condiments & for here sake was very ex too. anyway they do what they need to do, we tip when we feel we want to tip…hahaha!^^

c.h.e.f andy

Excellent Dimsum @ Timhowan Shamshuipo on 3Apr2015

Posted on April 5, 2015 by chefquak

crispy char siew bun

had excellent 4pax dimsum at timhowan at sham shui po, fuk wing street.^^

last time i dined here was in 2013. just as good this time.

son arrived HK airport 1/2hr later, and we managed to take airport express & hop onto the free bus transfer & checked in at marco polo hk at harbour city by 2.30pm.

timhowan shamshuipo

we were at timhowan at sham shui po at 3pm. there was a queue (this was good friday & we waited about 15mins).

fried carrot cake

liver fun cheong

we ordered 3 of the 4 signature dishes, namely the crispy char siew buns, the panfried carrot cake, and the liver fun cheong.^^

they were all good. somehow the crispy char siew funs were much better than singapore, very crispy & not so sweet. panfried carrot cake was kind of standard.

char siew fun cheong

both the liver & char siew fun cheong were very good, very smooth & the sauces was just great.

pork rib chicken feet rice

we loved the pork rib chicken feet rice. it was excellent! we had 2 orders to share among 4pax.

steamed pork ribs

chicken feet

we also had the steamed pork ribs & chicken feet separately. they were both very good. the chicken feet was the usual deep-fried ones & very different from the abalones sauce ones we had the next day at lei gardens which cost more & not so nice.

咸水饺

we liked the hamshuigok 咸水饺 too. nice!

har gau

& we had 3 orders of har gau. these were very good, same as what we had in crystal jade, imperial treasure & canton paradise in singapore.

we had one later at lei gardens times square & it was quite below par, really what we came to expect in HK.

shamshuipo market…lots of electronics & gadgetry

price came to HK$302 (S$54) for 4pax, higher than the usual S$8 to S$10 here because we ate a lot.^^

it was a great makan first stop for us in HK.

c.h.e.f andy

Excellent Lunch Sets @ Kuriya Dining on 25Mar2015

Posted on April 2, 2015 by chefquak

jap wagyu uni ikura don

had an excellent lunch with wife & daughter at kuriya dining, great world city on 25.3.2015.^^

sake

wife always have sake with japanese food.

jap wagyu uni ikura don

we ordered a very nice S$68 jap wagyu uni ikura don. you can also order the set which comes with ebi tempura, chawanmushi & udon for S$88. we were happy just to have the beef don.

wagyu was so marbled & flavourful. uni was very sweet & smooth.

chirashi don set

we ordered 2 sets of chirashi don.

it came with a double-decker bamboo tray like tiffin carrier.^^

chirashi don

one tray had anago (conger eel or sea eel), tam ago (egg roll), ikura, tobiko etc.

chirashi don

the other tray had uni, negi toro (minced toro), ama ebi (sweet prawns), and many fish over bed of vinegared sushi rice.

the sashimi was top quality. it was as good as the chirashi don at mikuni. it did not have the botan ebi & otoro like mikuni’s but had bigger serving of uni. there were many slices of hotate & lots of sashimi including salmon, hamachi, maguro, kajiki, tai

chawanmushi

there was chawanmushi, good quality.

black sesami ice cream, mochi+fruits

fruits & sashimi ice cream + a very poor mochi.

coffee

and coffee.

mikuni chirashi don is still my favourite at S$90 (S$45 after 50% feed at raffles discounts) & i don’t really need a set, ala carte is good enough.

however at S$62, this chirashi don had very good sashimi cuts & larger (maybe 25% more) so it was a very good match for mikuni & i will be quite happy to have this again.

c.h.e.f andy

My Favoruite Wah Kee Big Prawn Noodles on 2Apr2015

Posted on April 2, 2015 by chefquak

S$15 big prawn noodles

a friend had to go for big prawn noodles today. not sure where the sudden cravings came from. we were at first planning to go to why eat har, a very good new big prawn noodle house started by a mutual friend’s brother. but was told that he was away & the stall was closed today.

S$15 big prawn noodles

wah kee big prawn noodles

anyhow, we decided to go to wah kee big prawn noodles at pek kio food centre at cambridge road. i was there at 11.30am today, a thursday, 2.4.2015 (wah kee is closed on mondays).

this has always been my favourite big prawn noodles stall though i had not been here many years.

i queued for 30mins+ & we waited another 5 mins for noodles to be ready. the “famous” lady serving told us that the prawns today were too big for S$10, and she had to charge S$15. we decided to take her suggestion to order 2 bowls S$5 & 2 bowls S$15 for 4 of us.

2x$5 & 2x$15 prawn noodles

S$15 big prawn noodles

wah kee has always served the large prawns in a separate metal pot. looked impressive but more important of course was how good it tasted.

the prawns for S$15 were huge, probably >100g each, fresh and excellent. in my memory which was really quite many years back the S$10 prawns were also very big. anyway, it was quite ok just to try. i am not sure though i would want to pay S$15 for this if i come again.

wah kee big prawn noodles dry

S$5 prawn noodles

we asked for additional haebeehiam chilli. i added a bit to the noodles. the noodles & chilli mix was excellent, though the lady totally forgotten i ordered beehoon mee & we got 4 bowls of just mee instead.

for me, though why eat har’s chilli was also very good, wah kee’s haebeehiam chilli was really superb. we suspected that haebeehiam chilli was added which gave the large prawn soup (usual S$10 or today’s S$15) a lot more intense flavours than the S$5 soup.

the total dining experience (& by that i meant only the food visuals, flavours, texture, excluding ambience & service) was excellent, indeed the soup & large prawns are something i can think & crave for.

if i compare just the S$5 prawn noodles for wah kee, why eat har & ah hui, wah kee’s chilli was better, soup thereabout or better, so wah kee would still be tops. wah kee & ah hui had 2 prawns, whereas why eat har had 3, and ah hui’s prawns were smaller than wah kee’s. so if i want the big prawns, it’s wah kee, if i want the S$5 prawns, it’s wah kee or if want want more value than why eat har, and if i want pig’s tail together with prawns, then ah hui.

but all 3 are good for repeat visits.^^

c.h.e.f andy

Funghi Linguine

Posted on April 2, 2015 by chefquak

funghi linguine

did a fungi linguine on the second day of chinese new year on 20.2.2015.^^

my wife has a tradition of inviting our families over for homecooked dinner on CNY second day. we had 26pax.

my niece & her husband are buddhist & take vegetarian though they are not picky & will take vegetables even if they were done with meats. 🙂

in 1 of the dinners previously i made them a spanish omelette, a potatoes & onions egg omelette. this time i made them a fungi linguine.

funghi linguine

i would prefer button mushrooms but i only had shitake. still, the mushroom flavours were very intense. the linguine was al dente & just the right texture. i added about 3 tablespoons of heavy cream to about 200g pasta. it was smooth & not too creamy. pasta was quite excellent. my sister-in-law was also vegetarian, and my niece’s husband took a second helping, so it managed 4 average portions & 1 portion left shared by my nephew & wife.

recipe was straightforward, basically same as preparing fungi risotto-

mushrooms were first slightly caramelised with pinch of salt over medium heat.
then chopped onions added & softened.
linguine was done just slightly below al dente, placed in ice water to halt cooking & drained.
when serving, add browned garlic with olive oil to pan, add mushrooms & onions to pan, add white wine, add linguine & cream, off the fire & toss.
add sugar & salt if required to taste.

c.h.e.f andy

Fresh Pastries & Great Coffee @ Carpenter & Cook on 1Apr2015

Posted on April 1, 2015 by chefquak

banoffee, lemon tart, quiche

son was back from london for a very short break. 🙂

he did 10km run with me this morning with my good friend & weekly running partner.

my daughter made the arrangements & we managed to find time to go for a 4pax family coffee/snacks at carpenter & cook this afternoon on 1.4.2015.^^ excellent outing this! wonderful food & ambience. 🙂

carpenter & cook

retro display

there were price tags on the quaint collections (i spied an old typewriter at S$800!) which included some enamel floral painted plates on the wall, tables & chairs etc. hence carpenter – we were told by the proprietress shenn, who is a pastry chef who pulls the weights for the other part of the name – cook. ^^

banoffee pie

banoffee pie was excellent! there was a coffee infused top. shenn said it was rare. the toffee was freshly made, very mildly sweet & excellent flavours (different form what i learned for the internet boiling a can of condensed milk in water for 3 hrs).

well, shenn told us her bakery was just downstairs at the same premises & all the pastries were own freshly baked & not from a common supplier. ^^

my own banoffee pie was not too bad but this was of course better. 🙂

lemon tart

lemon tart was very nice also. very mildly sweet (which we liked) & nicely tangy, & a nice crisp tart base.

bacon quiche

both my daughter & i wanted to try the quiche. we picked the bacon quiche. i thought it was really savoury & nice. we all liked it. i tried a mini quiche previously, not too great, maybe i may try it again.

flat white

the flat white was smooth & silky, micro foam well blended, & great flavours.

it didn’t have the latte art of assembly coffee. well i guess no latte art at all.

taste wise, it was as good as dutch colony & assembly coffee. maybe chye seng huat was better, couldn’t really remember. it was good anyway.

c.h.e.f andy

Curry Chicken Noodles Cravings @ Ah Heng Hong Lim Food Centre on 31Mar2015

Posted on April 1, 2015 by chefquak

curry chicken noodles

was in town & went to eat curry chicken noodles again at ah heng, hong lim food centre on 31.3.2015. a losing battle with cravings. really like it! ^^

they were out of drumstick so i had the chicken thigh or 鸡尾. 🙂

last time i had this irresistible curry chicken noodles here was 19.1.2015.

i have tried heng kee which was good too, but of the 2 my preference is ah heng.

curry chicken noodles

the curry gravy was simple excellent, so tasty & savoury. the taupok was just right & well infused with the curry flavours. the chicken was among the very best of any chicken rice stalls.

my own curry chicken noodles

my own poached chicken 白斩鸡

i was enamoured enough with this to try my own curry chicken noodles (which was not so easy). my own poached chicken 白斩鸡 is certainly as good. the curry gravy though pretty good as well is still not quite comparable.

c.h.e.f andy

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Monthly Archives: April 2015

Coffee & Snacks @ Carpenter & Cook on 10Apr2015

Hong Wen Mutton Soup

Carrot Magic Cake

Marco Polo HK @ Harbour City 3-6Apr2015

Very Good Beef Hotpot @ Budaoweng 不倒翁 iSquare on 3Apr2015

Excellent Dimsum @ Timhowan Shamshuipo on 3Apr2015

Excellent Lunch Sets @ Kuriya Dining on 25Mar2015

My Favoruite Wah Kee Big Prawn Noodles on 2Apr2015

Funghi Linguine

Fresh Pastries & Great Coffee @ Carpenter & Cook on 1Apr2015

Curry Chicken Noodles Cravings @ Ah Heng Hong Lim Food Centre on 31Mar2015

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