Monthly Archives: August 2017

Happy Hour at Vigneto Wine House Sutera on 24Jul2017 (RI Bro 10pax Sutera Mall Trip 24-25Jul2017)

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vigneto wine house @ sutera

after a good coffee at doi chaang caffe, 3 of us went to sutera mall to look see look see. the rest went for massage..

we met later for a drink at vigneto wine house, just across the street from our J Hotel, at 5.30pm plus…

vigneto wine house @ sutera

this place has a nice ambience. it was still early so we were their first customer..

a great place to relax a while before going for dinner…

bottoms up @ vigneto wine house sutera

it’s happy hour, so my friends ordered a few rounds of booze…bottoms up!

bottoms up @ vigneto wine house sutera

i am happy with my ice lemon tea…

vigneto wine house

they allowed us to have our own tidbits, so a friend went to bring some groundnuts he brought…something to munch while we chat & toast..

we stayed for a while..& the guys could really finish the beers..

almost 8pm, we decided to go pekin restaurant sutera for dinner & took a short walk over.

drinks for 10pax about RM260.

c.h.e.f andy

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Vigneto Wine House @ sutera

Address:

106, Jalan Sutera Tanjung 8/3, Taman Sutera Utama, 81300 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
Contact:
+60 16-737 6230
Opening Hours:
daily
  • 3PM–2AM

Good Coffee @ Doi Chaang Caffe Sutera on 24Jul2017 (RI Bro 10pax Sutera Mall Trip 24-25Jul2017)

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doi chaang cafe

after dessert at tian yuan 甜 元, we checked in & got all our 5 rooms at J Hotel

each room gets a welcome americano at doi dchaang cafe a few shops away..

doi chang is a thai producer & distributor of specialty, single origin, high quality arabica coffee.  Doi Chaang Coffee is only grown and produced in Baan Doi Chang, Wawee district, Mae Suai, Chiang Rai.

we had 10pax with 5 free welcome americano, so we ordered 5 more coffee.

i took one of the americano was good, quite flavourful..i like it…we did not cakes etc as we just had lunch & dessert & we were having happy hour later at vigneto & then dinner.

after coffee, 7 went to have massage, 2 others & i went to sutera mall as i have not visited the mall yet…

c.h.e.f andy

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Taman Sutera Utama, 99, Jalan Sutera Tanjung 8/3, Skudai, 81300 Skudai, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Contact:
+60 7-550 4144
Opening Hours:
daily
  • 11AM–12AM

Dessert Time @ Tian Yuan 甜元 Suetra on 24Jul2017 (RI Bro 10pax Sutera Mall Trip 24-25Jul2017)

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peanut 花生糊

after a quite shiok meng meng roast duck 阿明帝皇鸭  & the best char siew lunch, we stopped by tian yuan 甜 元 to have some dessert.

peanut 花生糊 (top photo)，& almond 杏仁糊best here..👍

tian yuan 甜 元dessert

tian yuan 甜 元dessert  is a few shops from our J hotel.

ondeh ondeh

we ordered some ondeh ondeh, coconut dessert with gula melaka inside..quite ok, pretty standard…skin a bit thick though…

rojak

rojak was ok too..sauce was light, just nice, not overpowering…

black sesame 黑芝麻糊 & almond 杏仁糊

black sesame 黑芝麻糊 ok, but peanut 花生糊 (top photo)，& almond 杏仁糊best …

tau huay ginkyo nuts

bean curd with ginko nuts good…

pulut hitam

pulut hitam ok, quite standard..

dumplings in ginger soup

dumplings in ginger soup was quite good, boleh da…

ice kachang

ice kachang was mediocre, not too good actually, syrup not so tasty..

bill was RM99 for 10pax, pretty ok.

after that we checked in at J Hotel, got our 5 rooms, settle down a bit & walked over to doi chaang for free coffee – only 1 americano per room though…haha!

c.h.e.f andy

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Tian Yuan Dessert Hut

Address:

67, Jalan Sutera Tanjung 8/3, Taman Sutera Utama, 81300 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
Contact:
+60 7-559 6409
Opening Hours:
thursday – tuesday
  • 1PM–11:30PM
 wednesday closed

Delicious Roast Duck & Best Char Siew @ Meng Meng Roast Duck 阿明帝皇鸭 Taman Sutera Utama on 24Jul2017 (RI Bro 10pax Sutera Mall Trip 24-25Jul2017)

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roast duck 帝皇鸭 RM$66

not all the rooms at J Hotel were ready, but we got 2 rooms to put down our luggage.
then LKY, one organiser, led us to Meng Meng Roast Duck restaurant 阿明帝皇鸭  behind J Hotel for lunch
must say the roast duck 帝皇鸭 was excellent! and the char siew even more so… 👍 👍the other zi char dishes were ok, average….

char siew & siew yoke medium serving RM$33

char siew here was bestest!👍👍👍

we all love the slight chao tar (burnt) fatty char siew, so tasty & flavourful, we ordered a second helping…

meng meng roast duck 阿明帝皇鸭

they are famous for their roast duck 帝皇鸭.

some friends felt that ya wang 鸭王roast duck we had at jln sentosa was better (later i learnt that the stall at sentosa opposite shoon huat bakuteh was taken over by another, and the roast duck & food there are not good now)…

meng meng roast duck 阿明帝皇鸭

resturant was just behind our hotel, walked around the block, a few shops from ah hong coffee house.

meng meng famous for roast duck 帝皇鸭

the restaurant & roast duck are award winning.

meng meng roast duck 阿明帝皇鸭 menu

meng meng roast duck 阿明帝皇鸭 menu

in addition to one whole roast duck & 2 orders of char siew & siew yok, we ordered a few other zi char food.

roast duck 帝皇鸭

duck was a beauty, and very tasty. skin was crispy…

char siew & siew yoke

roast pork was competent, but char siew was the one that stood out…maybe i will try my hands again at char siew, after having such nice ones here…

lotus root soup

spinach soup

we ordered 6 bowls of soup – 3 spinach & 3 lotus roots..

the server had tried to make us to order 10, but 6 was quite enough..they were quite large servings…anyway we had no problems finishing too la…

steamed red snapper红鸡 fish head

we ordered the cai poh steamed red snapper head..

this a very small serving of 1/2 head, and quite mediocre..

my own nonya steamed fish head is better than this any time, and fresher fish head too…

steamed salted fish minced pork

the steamed salted fish minced pork 咸鱼饼 is such a simple standard dish, but they didn’t do it well here. minced pork was lean, dry, not smooth, not tasty..

this i can do better anytime la, and i will be serving this in a homecooked dinner with several JB dishes later…

sambal sotong

the sambal sotong was good.

sambal sotong

tasty, and appetizing. 🙂

a fairly standard zi char dish…

fried ikan selar

the fried ikan selar & chili were pretty good.

this a cheap fish though, and nothing special, quite easy to do at home, and is nice fried or steam, though some may find it a bit more fishy…

kang kong

chili kang kong was good.

chye sim

& the chye sim plain fired with garlic too..

tofu dish

the tofu dish was not too appealing…taste wise mediocre, a poor dish overall..

the bill = RM425 for 10pax

lunch for 10pax was RM$425=at RM$42.50pax actually not very cheap for the dishes we had in a makan place like this…

the roast duck though was impressive & the char siew was out of this world…other than those 2, the other zi char food was ok average, nothing too special..

overall, we all enjoyed the makan very much thanks to the 2 outstanding roasts.

c.h.e.f.andy

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Meng Meng Roasted Duck 阿明帝皇鸭

Address: 
Taman Sutera Utama, 81300 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia

Opening Hours: 

Open today · 10:30AM–10:30PM

Contact:
Phone: +60 7-558 9322

RI Bro 10pax Sutera Mall Trip 24-25Jul2017

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my seafood house 珍阁 at blk 130 next to JCube 

my RI bros organised a 2day 1night trip to JB sutera mall near bukit indah for overnight makan, massage, karaoke trip 👍

there were 10 of us… 🙂

we met for breakfast at the coffeeshop at  blk 130 next to J cube. this where my seafood house zi char, the one we bought food for our recent birthday bash on 11.7.2017.

the guys took the fishball noodles. i did not take any as i am expecting a whole day eating in JB. haha!

from jurong east bus interchange, we took the causeway link bus CW3/4 to second link & CIQ singapore & johore side then CW4s to sutera mall. it was a breeze at the CIQ, and only a 10mins short wait for CW4s.

one friend ouldn’t join us but he came to blk 130 just to join us for breakfast..

2 other friends were traveling, one at siantan, pontianac on a mission, and another with his son in sydney.

another friend could not join the trip but since he was letting us use his condo parking, he came down to meet us to pass us the key card access & also to join the breakfast/coffee.

we arrived at sutera, just 45mins drive from malaysian side CIQ second link. we walked over to J Hotel where our organisers booked 5 rooms for 10pax..then we went for lunch..

c.h.e.f andy

 

Quick & Fast 4pax Homecooked Lunch on 4Aug2017

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3pax homecooked lunch 

sis & bil came for lunch on 4.8.2017. ^^

chilled fish 

didn’t have mullet 乌鱼or yellow croaker 小黄鱼in the freezer, only a fish that maybe a variant of rabbit fish知县鱼.

i steamed that & chilled it, the usual teochew chilled fish preparation. it went very nicely with the taujeon 豆酱.

another fish i had in the freezer is 鲈鱼, lots of tiny bones & need to be careful when eating, do not eat together with rice in a mouthful….

i did the usual HK steam, adding 2 tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tbsp olive oil & 2 tbsp mirin, & garnished with chopped spring onions, chili padi & a lot of minced ginger, like a ginger sauce preparation….it was pretty good though not my favourite fish..

steamed egg with minced pork & light soy sauce 

i steamed 2 eggs with minced pork & my top quality light soy sauce – about 150g minced pork, 2 tbsp light soy sauce, 4 tbsp water, and osme white pepper.

it was very good, very tasty, a simple yet wonderful dish! 🙂

braised leek with taupok 

i only had leeks & leftover taupok, so i braised them like the usaul teochew muay stalls..very good too.

chye sim

spinach 

i didn’t have other vegetables in the fridge.

sis brought her own spinach & chye sim & she & bil fried the 2 vegetables….nice.

seemed like we had a lot of food, but still…no problems finishing it…haha! 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Nice 6pax Club Lunch @ Seletar Terrace, Seletar Country Club on 3Aug2017

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wadeh udang

my OPS bro bought 6pax lunch at seletar terrace, seletar country club on 3.8.2017. ^^

seletar terrace @ seletar country club

parking is free, great ambience, bright & airy & lots of greens, a cheerful place for makan…

& a great plus, food is pretty good too, and inexpensive…

swimming pool

after lunch, we walked past the butterfly gardens & swimming pool.

singapore has so many swimming pools in clubs & condos, wasting lots of water..can’t be help i guess..

honey wheatgrass drink

friend ordered honey wheatgrass drink, 4 starters & 4 mains for 6pax, too much food, quite good standard & good price about S$85, i think…

the wadeh udang (top photo) was good, crispy, appetizing..

rojak

of the 8 dishes, 2 dishes i thought less good was the rojak & chicken wings..

rojak though can’t be too bad, ingredients about same, so just the sauce a bit too thick for me. too much prawn paste, slightly wrong mix of sauce for me…

chicken wings

chicken wings were below par – dry, over-fried, not so tasty..

one of my friend here & i can easily do better..so is my home helper..

crispy trotters

the crispy trotters was good..this & the wadeh udang can order again next time…

penang char kuay teow

penang char kuay teow was good, 2 parge prawns, pretty flavourful, good enough for me, though some friend said not enough wok hae..had better char kuay teow in other clubs though..

nasi lemak

nasi lemak was competent, not the best…peanuts, ikan bilis, ikan kuning wer good. chili was a tad too sweet, some friends said not spicy enough, overall average, quite doable for me..

laksa

laksa i consider pretty good, better than what i had at (a) tangs market sungei road laksa & some katong laksa because this more savoury, not just lemak…not as good as (b) sungei road laksa at kelatan lane & (c) weiyi laksa (one friend here didn’t think weiyi laksa was very good…)

hokkien mee

hokkien mee i consider pretty good too…the stock is tasty, had lar pok, so probably had lard in the stock. overall a tasty dish. one friend preferred the penang char kuay teow more.

four seasons cendol

four seasons cendol

after lunch we drove to toa payoh lor 8 four seasons cendol.

this the 3rd day in a row i had this cendol. enjoyed it everytime haha! 🙂

this cendol though not good enough for one friend, who think the coconut milk was not enough, not thick enough, and the one he had at sutera mall better.

for myself, cocnut milk was thick & intense & so was the the gula melaka, unlike most hawker centres where they are diluted, sugary sweet but not flavourful gula melaka..

this was the best i had in singapore or anywhere else, so i am quite keen to try the one at sutera mall also..

c.h.e.f andy

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Seletar Terrace @ Seletar Country Club 

Address:

101 Seletar Club Road, Singapore 798273

Contact:

6481 4812
Opening Hours:
daily
  • 7AM–9:30PM

 

Crayfish Angel Hair Pasta on 1Aug2017

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crayfish angel hair pasta

did a teochew crayfish dish for the excellent early birthday diner for my dentist friend on 14.7.2017.

still had 4 crayfish left in the freezer. having dinner alone & decided to cook crayfish pasta this evening.

crayfish angel hair pasta 

i used angel hair as it took the shortest time, 2mins to cook.

so i had it just below al dente.

i fried cut chili padi, thai basil in olive oil, added chopped garlic (usually i browned whole garlic to flavour the olive oil.. don’t have whole garlic today), then i fried the crayfish & set aside.

then i added sotong (squid) seasoned with fish sauce & white pepper to the pan & cooked a short time (not to overcook it). then i added the angel hair pasta and tossed, and added some butter & tossed.

added sea salt to taste.

crayfish angel hair pasta

then i plated some to eat & garnished with more thai basil.

crayfish angel hair pasta 

very tasty dish.

pasta just al dente.

crayfish was sweet & fresh, and sotong also succulent & tasty.

crayfish angel hair pasta 

a simple but quite excellent tasty pasta, though i did not have stock & did not add white wine.

c.h.e.f andy

Superb Chirashi Don @ Tsukiji Sushi Takewaka Japan Food Town Wisma Atria on 1 & 2Aug2017

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chirashi don 

went to takewaka at japan food town, level 4 wisma atria for chirashi don lunch over 2 days, with my OPS bro on 1.8.2017 & the next day with my RI bro on 2.8.2017. ^^

why?

super worth it leh!

one OPS friend first to send the jpassport promotion, so i duly downloaded & saved the coupons.

then we were at japan food town @ wisma at 11am on 1.8.2017, and we were told we could install the  apps & register free as members. with that we can enter at 11am as members instead 1.30am for public, and entitled to discounts w/o need of coupons. ^^

chirashi don 

there’s this promotion at takewaka 1 for 1 for the chirashi don regular price at S$25.10++. one year anniversary, whatever…

at regular price, it was quite ok actually, so at 1 for 1 quite a steal la..

there was toro, 2 amaebi, unagi, tako, salmon, maguro, tai, katsuo (bonito), 2 tamago, pickles, ginger etc…& the sushi rice was pretty ok..

chirashi don set 

also came in a set, which just means miso soup, chawanmushi & a slice of orange.

chawanmushi

chawanmushi 

& the chawanmushi was pretty good too..

soft, sweet, tasty…this not the super tasty crab chawanmushi of course but still pretty good standard..

long queue at takewaka @ japan food town 

there was a long queue as expected, at takewaka more than the other japn food town restaurants. i think here the best deal for this time.

takewaka @ japan food town

takewaka @ japan food town

& takewaka was pretty filled up…

chirashi don set

chirashi don set 

most important still the food, and it was good quality!

chirashi don 

what to say? S$29nett for 2pax.

for my second visit on 2.8.2017, the toro was much thicker, twice the thin slice on 1.8.2017..both times it was very sweet & tasty.

supreme satisfaction la..

c.h.e.f andy

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Tsukiji Sushi Takewaka

Address:
435 Orchard Rd, Singapore 238877
Contact:
6262 3247
Opening Hours:
weekdays
  • 11:30AM–11PM
weekend
  • 11:30AM–10.30PM

2pax Lunch with Sister @ Mikuni on 31Jul2017

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teppanyaki set  

went with sis to mikuni on 31.7.2017. ^^

chilean 2014 reserve merlot

actually i had a secret agenda…my wine voucher expiring today 31.7.2017, so i wanted to claim a bottle of wine to bring home (as my sis & I both don’t drink)…haha….

i got a chilean 2014 reserve merlot to bring home…not too bad eh?

teppan & robatayaki menu 

restaurant was full. we sat at the robatayaki counter which i like as a lot of privacy.

i ordered the teppanyaki set for my sis & the robatayaki set for myself.

salad 

we had the usual prawn cracker starter.

& the salad – nice, refreshing.

robatayaki

robatayaki 

robatayaki is grilling over an open hearth. the counter is far from the chef so they serve the food in a huge oar at the traditional places.

here they do away with that.. anyway tasty food more important than ceremonial stuff for me…

cod fish & golden prawns 

the teppanyaki set is a real value for money set here.

the servings of golden prawns (like 10 large/king prawns) and cod were quite huge.

prawns & cod were excellent!

australian beef tenderloin

& just as large serving of australian beef tenderloin steak..

steak was i guess good as they went, but it’s a cheaper cut so no comparison with my kagoshima beef skewer la!

wagyu skewer 

the wagyu was superb! marbled & flavourful…

before the serving of wagyu skewer, i had a scallop grilled in butter, and also a saba & asparagus (but did not take photo)..the saba was quite ok, but of course no comparison with cod..

kurobuta skewer 

i had the kurobuta tsukune.

this one was mediocre, nothing to shout about…

nissin soba 

my last was a gohan dish, a nissin soba, with a cured mackerel…this also mediocre..

sis commented that my set not so good value as hers. i guess quite apart form the excellent wagyu, the rest were not as great as her set with cod, golden prawns & aussie tenderloin.

green tea ice cream 

we could only get 1.30pm booking as mikuni was full. & we finished quite late & so very late dessert offering – a green tea ice cream…nice but nothing great…

lunch for 2pax was S$68++=S$80nett, not bad for the food!

c.h.e.f andy

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Mikuni @ Fairmont Level 3

Address:

80 Bras Basah Rd, Fairmont Hotel 3/L, Raffles City, Singapore 189560

Contact:

6431 6156

Opening Hours:

Mon-Saturday: 12-2:30pm, 6:30-10:30pm (closed sunday)