loo’s curry rice 

my busy jet-setting RI friend postponed his indonesian trip so free to buy lunch at loo’s curry today on 13.6.2016. ^^

i was here most recently on 27.5.2016. 🙂

loo’s curry eng hoon street 

loo’s curry at the other corner.

we were there at 11.30am to avoid crowd & parking. the tables were still close to being fully occupied.

hainanese pork chop

friend ordered the usual hainanese pork chop.

curry sotong 

& curry sotong. both nice!

onion eggs 

also onion eggs.

long beans with tofu 

tofu & long beans.

cabbage 

& cabbage.

we liked the hainanese pork chop & curry sotong especially. & the 3 veg items were all competent, quite ok.

lunch was S$21 for 3pax 5 items, quite ok. not so long queue maybe 10mins at this hour. nice makan & chat.

c.h.e.f andy

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Loo’s Hainanese Curry Rice

7pax dinner dishes

daughter finished an exhausting term & asked me to do a dinner for her friends after their exams on 10.6.2016. ^^

i did 5 dishes & my helper did the excellent quinoa pumpkin tofu salad, a popular dish among my friends that my wife first made after having it at marmalade.

7pax dinner dishes

we were going to let them have dinner themselves.

daughter asked us to join dinner so we had 7pax dinner. 🙂

wife’s quinoa pumpkin tofu salad  

salad was as wonderful as it looked, very refreshing. 🙂

cherry tomatoes & mesclun

i bought some perino cherry tomatoes so my helper made another salad with mesclun. 🙂

spanish omelette 

i did the usual spanish omelette, not my best, but it was quite ok la…

prawn spaghetti in pink sauce

i did the 2 pastas an hour earlier as we were planning to go out & let my daughter & friends have dinner by themselves.

spaghetti was al dente & very tasty when i prepared it. i put it in aluminium foil to keep warm but it got a bit soggy. taste was ok but texture was out so overall experience not great.

squidink pasta 

squidink was much better, still al dente & tasted great. there was a bit leftover & wife told me it was still good the next day.

pan-grilled chicken thighs

the pan-grilled chicken thighs were excellent. very tasty. i had the usual thai yellow curry dip.

additionally, i experimented on a patatas bravas sauce as a dip for the chicken, a spicy tomato based sauce. every one loved it.

it’s an excellent sauce, i will record the recipe later. daughter’s friends used the leftover sauce to add to the tomato pasta.

pan-charred grain fed black angus ribeye 

i had my usual reverse searing pan charred ribeye steak, and i did a mock kurobuta using pork collar too.

this evening though these 2 meats were ok but not the usual excellent steak i made.

c.h.e.f andy

OPS friend’s homegourmet makan

my OPS primary school mate invited 6 of us for dinner on 6.6.2016. ^^

including his family of 4, we had 10pax.

OPS friend’s homegourmet makan

i was 15mins late, last to arrive. it was raining cats & dogs & my GPS actually led me astray (strange!) & i passed the KJE exit, hesitated as google map showed the next exit. stopped by on the road shoulder to check the map. it was clearly wrong & i U-turned at mandai exit to get back.

after that was ok except that i passed micasa condo instead of turning into CCK ave3, so had to again U-turn back.

should have checked the map clearly instead of just relying on google directions w/o a mental register of the location.

friend’s fish head curry lagi shiok!

my friend made a good curry chicken. i had it twice most recently at another bigger OPS primary schoolmates makan & chill session on 21.5.2016 at another friend’s place.

just sidetrack a bit – i said in that blog post “little did we know what our friends were capable of. the food were absolutely better than eat out or catered – no question la!^^”

this first time i tried his other dishes.

the fish head curry was excellent! quite unique, some special nonya flavours, must get recipe from him la..

another friend kapo my fish eyes when i was not looking! now got competition liao…just kidding haha! 🙂

friend son’s cereal prawns

friend’s 24yr old son made cereal prawns.

it was good standard! taste was good (which is key), prawns fresh & shell crispy enough. i ate with the shell.

really not bad for a young man. i tried cooking this dish only once 2 years back, not as good as this. yet to try it since.

braised chicken

braised chicken was a good comfort food. one friend said she didn’t take thighs.

bakuteh

bakuteh was another good comfort food, and it’s also easy to make. the prime ribs were fork tender (we had a private T-rex joke 🙂 …).

i actually prefer pork ribs & pork in general to have a bit more bite myself, but most people would love it fork tender. i took a second piece. this was softer than the first so i liked the first more.

french beans to hae bee nonya style

i think this dish was french beans. & i heard something about minced haebee (dried prawns)…probably chatting other things, forgot to ask. will find out later.

french beans to hae bee nonya style

most importantly it was very tasty, also some nonya taste.

maoshanwang 猫山王 – S$15/kg

a friend brought durians for tiong bahru, like 2 maoshanwang 猫山王 – S$15/kg, 2 red prawns 红虾 – S$13/kg, and 2 D13 – S$12/kg. must have cost him S$140, so costly to eat durians in singapore nowadays.

but….everyone is buying more not less durians. maybe 1 of us should start a durian stall la, like ah seng at ghim moh…

maoshanwang 猫山王 – S$15/kg

one friend must have been waiting for durians the whole dinner, proclaiming it the highlight of the evening.

what was she thinking? not politically correct la…dinner was the highlight of the evening…haha! i sense she going to hammer me liao….

just kidding la… we lucky folks had 2 highlights in one evening. lol!!!

moral of the story = we must have more durian parties!

red prawn 红虾 – S$13/kg

for me MSW was the best.

the red prawns & D13 were very good though, and all agreed the MSW was actually not as good as some better ones we had tried. still for me, not the best MSW still better than the best red prawn & D13, so creamy & tasty.

D13 – S$12/kg

the D13 was also very good. my friend’s daughter preferred it the most, though she said the red prawns also very good after she had taken the MSW.

another friend’s konnyaku jelly

another friend brought the konnyaku jelly. she brought last time also at the bigger makan & chill on 21.5.2016.

another friend’s bachang

she also brought bachang.

one friend, mama mia, took 2 bachang before dinner (although it could be other friends teasing him & he only took 1 before dinner…don’t know who to trust these days & when it is banter & when serious…hahaha!)

he said it was better than his mother’s. don’t know what he would have said to girls when he was younger. lol!!! i learned the words “just kidding” from this friend…

another friend’s bachang

i took one. i was already really full, but it was ok.

a fun evening with good friends. all these began only end of 2015 when a primary schoolmate visited from USA. we have been spending lots of time together ever since, thanks to group whatsapp, daily chat & greetings.

i really enjoyed it!

c.h.e.f andy

S$4 bowl fish soup + S$8 for tau gua tau pok kong bak

after bathesda bedok bread of life (BOL) community lunch, 4 of us went over to bedok north food centre for lunch on 4.6.2016. ^^

last we had here the-

• teochew porridge &
• yong tau fu.

hougang lee chen cooked food fish soup

the fish soup here is good.

hougang lee chen cooked food fish soup

one friend (who bought us lunch) went to queue, the rest settled at one clean table at the centre portion which was windy.

S$4 bowl fish soup

the fish soup was quite cheap, S$4 for a large bowl with plenty of fish. fish was fresh & sweet too.

S$4 bowl fish soup

the soup was bland though.

i don’t fancy this dish much & this particular stall was so so to me, apart from the fact that it was just S$4.

for a really good fish soup, try yu mei mei shi 屿美美食at havelock food centre, expensive but real good la! 🙂

kong bak + lor nerng

the kongbak, lor neng…

tau kua & tau pok

& also the tau kua & tau pok were all quite good.

S$4 bowl fish soup

the chai buay ok too.

all 3 side dishes cost just S$8.

so lunch was S$6 per head, S$4 for the fish soup & S$2 for the side dishes.

c.h.e.f andy

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hougang Lee Chen利珍 Cooked Food 

Address

#01-54, Blk 216 Bedok North St 1 Market and Food Centre,

Blk 216 Bedok North Street 1, 460216

fish head curry lots of vege

went with wife’s friends for a walk in the park 🙂 on 2.6.2016….

nice folks that my wife met at her yoga lessons, and they did a walk at macritchie together a short while back. 2 other couples & another of their friends joined. we were mostly around the same age group except for the younger couple – the guy is a serious tai chi exponent, teaching at an association. 🙂

weather was temperamental. what’s new?

wife & i were filling hot, humid, oppressive, and i actually put on sun screen & changed to my running attire. next minute sky was threatening to open up, actually rained quite a bit.

as it turned out, weather was quite perfect for the walk, cool & no rain so we got started.

happened that wife had some urgent stuff to attend to. she went off & joined us later for dinner. 🙂

we started from yarwood, trooped down to dunearn road, then rifle range, at some point before temasek club cut across to the trail at bukit timah nature reserve, walked under the forest canopy near to BKE then back to rifle range road then to the kampong trail to kampung chantek, then to binjai park & ending at hup choon for a very nice zi char dinner. 🙂

i started my endomondo a bit late, a bit after after we had crossed over to the trail. still it registered 6.15km & 58.5mins near hup choon, a bit surprise for me as normal slow walk about 4km/hr. i suppose we walked a bit brisk??? another lady clocked from beginning & about same distance & 8000+ steps so i guess it was quite correct.

hup choon zi char

i had been to hup choon many times in the past but mostly for coffee & bakuteh at the time eons ago, never really around dinner time for zi char.

the hostess ordered several very good dishes. this one of those zi char dinner that i really enjoyed. ^^

fish head curry lots of vege

fish head curry (with added vegetables) was very good.

my own fish head curry

it’s different (maybe more chinese version) from my own fish head curry, just as lemak, very enjoyable for me. i guess i ate the most la… lol! 🙂

prawn paste chicken mid-wings

prawn paste chicken mid-wings were tasty.

prawn paste chicken mid-wings

i not particularly fond of prawn paste chicken, but this i count as a very good fried chicken wing.

seafood treasures pot

seafood treasures pot was good.

seafood treasures pot

this mainly got to do with fresh seafood.

not sure how much it was here, at uncle leong jurong east which was very good it would be S$30 for this serving size.

i think uncle leong used a good stock base, maybe this one no stock, but still a good dish.

cuttlefish kang kong

cuttlefish kang kong“jill her eng chai” was good too, very competent.

it’s the kind of taste i am more used to than that at forture at old holland road across the other side of dunearn.

hae chor

hae chor was competent too, crispy, not too oily, good filling. i guess quite good though not my favourite dish.

hor fun

hor fun was also quite tasty. didn’t feel so much wok hae, maybe it was a large plate & i did not take it immediately. but it was good anyway, competent.

don’t know how much the dinner for 9pax cost. will come back again soon to try it la!

c.h.e.f andy

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Hup Choon Eating House

baguette & walnut bread

wife bought nice anniversary dinner at cornerhouse in botanic gardens this evening on 1.6.2016. ^^

this my first time to cornerhouse. i had been to au jardin & taken the degustation several times previously but not since cornerhouse took over.

looking at my previous post, the last time we were here was for the new year eve dinner on 12.31.2016.

the photos were not so well taken (low lighting) but reading the post again i think the food that time was even better than this evening. more of that later.

Chef Jason Tan’s Menu Degustation

for this evening we had a 5-course degustation menu at S$188++

glass of white wine

i don’t drink. wife always order wine.

we looked at the wine menu. a 1/2 bottle red was S$188. wife decided not to order as she said previously it was like S$80+

looking at the 2013 NYE degus dinner, our red a grand cru classe was S$85! wife had good memory la!

anyway she decided to order 1 glass white followed by 1 glass red, probably S$70 in total. both wines were good.

looking out of the verandah

looking out of the verandah

looking out of the verandah

i asked for one of the 2 verandah tables seating looking out at the gardens.

it was really nice.

amuse bouche

amuse bouche

the amuse bouche comprises 3 items.

couldn’t really remember…they were all good la! this one quite unique taste.

amuse bouche – salty fish crackers with tobiko (flying fish roe)

amuse bouche – salty fish crackers with tobiko (flying fish roe)

this a prawn cracker with tobiko. great!

amuse bouche – bitter cucumber terrine

last a amuse bouche – bitter cucumber terrine. we enjoyed all of the them. 🙂

#1 carabinero prawn (scarlett prawn)

#1 carabinero prawn (scarlett prawn)

the first course, carabinero prawn, scarlett prawn from mediterranean, was simply awesome!

the variations of seasonal tomatoes, with basil, olive oil & another falvour were sublime.

the prawn was steamed & chilled, very sweet, tasty & firm. told wife the texture felt like lobster. & there was a tomato sorbet, basically a very flavourful gazpacho, at the top, 12 o’clock! ^^

later i saw on naked fins a nice pic. 

it was a very large prawn, and in some sites they mentioned it tasted like lobster.

#2 white asparagus with 24mths comte, ikura

#2 white asparagus with 24mths comte, ikura

second course was white asparagus with a 24mths comte cheese & ikura.

such an artistic presentation! ^^

the white asparagus (confit maybe?) was par excellence, very tender & sweet. overall while the dish was very tasty & enjoyable, it made less impression than the tomatoes (& prawns).

#3 maine lobster, riso, bottarga

#3 maine lobster, riso, bottarga

the 3rd course, maine lobster, was quite sublime, out of this world! ^^

#3 maine lobster, riso, bottarga

lobster was firm, sweet, tasty, riso (a risotto like pasta) was great & the sauce was just fantastic! (from bottarga the salted fish roe i think?).

#4 japanese toriyama wagyu, horseradish mash

#4 japanese toriyama wagyu, horseradish mash

the 4th course, japanese toriyama wagyu was like any top jap wagyu, simply fabulous, so much better than australian or USA, & horseradish mash was excellent with the beef.

#5 chocolate earl grey

#5 chocolate earl grey

the last course, chocolate earl grey dessert, was good.

i mean the chocolates were great really, the sorbet too, among the best i guess, not exactly my favourite dessert. wife & i not particularly hot on chocolates & if chocolate i prefer the really dark intense chocolate type rather than just smooth with earl grey flavour etc….

petit four

petit four – salted eggg macaron

petit four – chocolates 

petit four was pretty good.

they charged for coffee. i always felt coffee should be just included in a degustation & green tea too in a japanese kaiseki, a touch of class not to charge extra…anyway just my persona views..

we skipped the coffee.

dinner 2xS$188pax + 2 glasses of wine came to S$513.

it was an excellent dinner very enjoyable so money well spent. looking back at the 2013 au jardin NYE degustation, i think that offerred a bit better value not this time we had lobster. hard to compare i guess.

i still miss jaan, since that they withdrew feed @ raffles benefits, we were unwilling to pay the full fare & also the menu still looked the same after 2 rounds, andre chiang & julien royers having left…

c.h.e.f andy

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

CORNER HOUSE

ADDRESS

1 Cluny Road, E J H Corner House
Singapore Botanic Gardens
(Nassim Gate Entrance)
Singapore 259569

CONTACT

T: +65 6469 1000
F: +65 6469 0136

HOURS

TUESDAYS – SATURDAYS
Lunch: 12 pm – 3 pm
(last order 2.30 pm)
Dinner: 6.30 pm – 11 pm
(last order 10 pm)

SUNDAY
Brunch: 11.30 am – 3 pm
(last order 2.30 pm)
Dinner: 6.30 pm – 11 pm
(last order 10 pm)

DRESS CODE
Smart casual
(Short & Bermudas is allowed with Shoes or Loafers. No slippers)

sauce chicken豆油鸡 – S$13

my OPS primary school mate found this canto jumbo 广东珍宝 place driving by recently. we decided to go there for 6pax dinner on 31.5.2016. ^^

the coffee shop zi char joint is only 2 months old. i found only a single blog write-up on it.

sauce chicken豆油鸡 – S$13

we ordered 1/2 sauce chicken豆油鸡 S$13.

it was among the very best chicken i had, even the chicken breast were very tender, moist, tasty.

have to admit that it’s probably better than the poached 白斩鸡i made la..

spicy fried fish head金香鱼头

my friend ordered a spicy fried fish head金香鱼头(i think it is the same as干香鱼头). i think the proprietor said ang chor (golden snapper) fish head.

i have never tried this preparation before, & was not expecting much. generally i prefer steamed fish head or curry fish head.

spicy fried fish head金香鱼头

actually it was quite tasty for me, better than expected la…especially with the sauce & onions…

i think i will try to cook this, does not seem to require deep-fry, i avoid deep-fry if i can..

my friends (all 3) said the tampines 844 one is better.

well, it means i have to go try tampines 844 again la…

salted fish steamed belly pork

this was a surprise!

thought it was the usual 咸鱼饼salted fish steamed minced pork, but the server told us when we ordered that it was belly pork.

it was very nice for me. i liked the salted fish & thought the belly pork was good. my more picky friend though thought the belly pork was too tough for his high standard la…lol! 🙂

3 mushrooms tofu

3 mushrooms tofu was just ok for me. the only review i found said this was 1 of the 2 good dishes he tried, but for me any of the zi char tofu dishes at (say) kok sen etc would be better.

mushrooms for chicken pot

the chicken pot was their signature dish 招牌菜, came with tongkat ali & all manners of mushrooms.

chicken pot

was it good?

the soup was very tasty. one friend had 6 bowls (after learning that there was tongkat ali?)

chicken pot

the kampung chicken though had not much taste nor texture. it maybe that the focus was on a tasty soup & the chicken was to flavour the soup & by the way & not consequential.

samgyaetang 参鸡汤

i would think my samgyetang soup was just as good though different & my chicken was far superior.

string beans?

not sure it was string beans as it tasted like regular long beans.

dish was ok, competent, nothing special.

crispy san meen 生面 – S$8

the crispy san meen 生面 came with quite a bit of ingredients, liver, pork etc…

crispy san meen 生面 – S$8

it was ok, no stand out & becos one friend mixed up the sauce, that took away some crispiness so like eating yee meen…lol! 🙂

overall the dinner for 6pax – 6dishes + chicken was S$104.80 nett + S$13 for chicken, so less than S$20pax. quite good value (not sure how long it will stay that way) & more importantly good tasting food.

a friend paid for drinks. he also brought some salted egg croissant. we adjourned to another friend’s place to enjoy the croissant with coffee & tea.

very fun evening & time with good friends.

c.h.e.f andy

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Canto Jumbo 广东珍宝

Address-

13 Old Airport Road Singapore 390013

Contact-

HP=84262152

Opening Hours-

Mon to Sun

11am to 2.30pm

5pm to 11.30pm