A Walk in the Park = Holland Park & Covent Gardens on 25Mar2016

Posted on April 6, 2016 by chefquak

granary square @ king’s cross

after a great brunch at sunday, wife decided to go walk in holland park as there is a japanese garden, maybe we could catch some sakura? ^^

we walked past granary square to king’s cross station. there is a huge multi-billion redevelopment of king’s cross. granary square fronts central st martin university of the arts london.

granary square @ king’s cross

and cross the regent canal.

i had a nice walk along regent’s canal to camden market & to regent park & primrose hill. that was aug2014.

9 3/4 harry potter’s platform

& no one gets tired of taking a photo at the 9 3/4platform in harry potter’s realm.

road to holland park

we took the circle line & exited at nottinghill gate station & walked along holland park ave.

road to holland park

nice trees overcast sky, a mysterious, magical appearance.

road to holland park

we turned into holland park road.

holland park

it’s a good size park, 22 hectares, about the size of st james park & larger than green park.

by comparison hyde park though is 143hectares & kensington gardens 111 hectares.

holland park

there wasn’t much to see in holland park

holland park

we came here though to look at kyoto gardens.

nice flowers

spotted some nice flowers for a good composition.

japanese garden @ holland park

found kyoto garden. very limited though.

peacock

took a photo of the peacock.

squirrel

& there was a squirrel.

squirrel

nifty fella which made a reappearance later.

japanese garden @ holland park

a water feature.

japanese garden @ holland park

peace & calm.

solitary sakura @ japanese gardens

nothing to show for sakura, just one solitary plant.

solitary sakura @ japanese gardens

that’s all we got.

japanese garden @ holland park

kyoto gardens were constructed in 1991 with funding from japanese conglomerates.

but didn’t look particularly well maintained.

squirrel

this fella came back.

squirrel

quite a show-off

squirrel

strutting around. 🙂

gelato mio

exiting holland park, we found a gelato place down the road & stopped to have some ice cream didn’t think much of it.

covent gardens

daughter & i were going to watch a musical this evening at prince of wales theatre, & son & wife were going to have their own tete a tete.

so we decided to go & walk around covent gardens, then have early dinner at burger & lobster.

covent gardens

we exited at leicester square station & walked to covent gardens.

there were the usual street baskers. this guy was standing on air & he could flipped 90deg to horizontal….probably had some metal platform & braces in the boots & uniform. 🙂

covent gardens

it’s quite fun living in these places. the street scenes just like in movies.

covent gardens

we walked through the building.

covent gardens

the jamie oliver outlet union jacks.

covent gardens

& the apple market.

covent gardens

then to the piazza.

covent gardens

not too busy.

covent gardens

quite a number of tourists.

children did some shopping, daughter bought a dress at zara.

we then walked to burger & lobster at dean street for early dinner beofre 2 of us went to theatre.

c.h.e.f andy

Great Lunch @ Sunday Restaurant London on 25Mar2016

Posted on April 6, 2016 by chefquak

baked eggs, crab, toasted cornbread

had a great 4pax family brunch at sunday cafe & restaurant the next day on 25.3.2016. ^^

it’s a place that gets my daughter excited, brunch, bread etc…

sunday restaurant london

we slept late to recover from the jetlag the day before, but was early to arrive at sunday at 10.30am. the location at Hemingford Rd is just a 10mins walk form my son’s apartment. 🙂

this a chill place, obviously popular.

queue at sunday

by the time we left 1130am -ish, there was a long queue outside.

baked eggs, crab, toasted cornbread

we ordered a plate each.

baked eggs, crab, toasted cornbread was pretty nice.

corn fritters

& a corn fritters to share.

corn fritters

the plates were all nicely presented. corn fritters was ok.

courgette fritters, lots of avocado

daughter had a courgette fritters.

courgette fritters, lots of avocado

decent, nothing special, too much avocado.

crispy spiced lamb, flat bread

for me the crispy fried minced lamb was the best.

crispy spiced lamb, flat bread

i am the meat person, & not much excited about all day breakfast & brunches really.

smoked chicken, black beans

wife had a smoked chicken, pretty good too, too much black beans.

smoked chicken, black beans

i didn’t mind the smoked chicken.

flat white

we finished off with a cuppa.

not quite my kind of food, but i am learning to enjoy it with my children, and they were not bad really & none too expensive. i guess the london folks voted with their feet too.

c.h.e.f andy

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

Sunday Cafe & Restaurant

Address: 169 Hemingford Rd, London N1 1DA, United Kingdom

Phone:+44 20 7607 3868

Enjoyable Indian Food @ Dishoom on 24Mar2016

Posted on April 5, 2016 by chefquak

dishoom bar area

our first meal in london was early dinner at dishoom on 24.3.2016.

this a hugely popular place, and top in many reviews, and rightfully so.

the last time we were here on 15.5.2015 our queue was 1.5hrs.

cocktail

this time we went early at 530pm. still the queue was 45mins. but it was quite ok since they have a bar area which is a rather pleasant watering hole.

my family not short of drinkers just that i am not one.

cocktail

wife & son enjoyed their cocktail.

mocktail

i had some non alcoholic. i didn’t remember what it was, but it was ok. the environment of dim lighting & high ambient noise didn’t encourage me to try to read the menu nor hear what the server said.

still, while i won’t go myself for a drink it was quite pleasant in the company of wife & son. daughter had not arrived yet, & son went to fetch her at king’s cross after our dinner.

dishoom

noce place really.

dishoom dining area

i was just mentioning to my son that we had past the 45mins waiting when a server came to inform us the table was ready so we went to level 2.

egg plant, calamari, prawns

we ordered 3 appetisers – deepfried egg plants, calamari, & chilli prawns.

a server came to inform us that as they made us waited a bit longer, all the appertiser were on them.

such excellent service philosophy! the 45mins was just an estimaet & we probably waited 5mins longer. very wonderful of them indeed!

egg plants

egg plants were very good, their popular dish.

calamari

calamari were pretty good, but i had better. prawns ok.

rack of lamb

the rack of lamb was excellent, another popular dish, very tender & flavourful not so lamby…

chicken curry

the curry was very good. the chicken dices were not that great this time, not so tender.

chicken bryanni

we had lamb bryanni last time. this time we had chicken bryanni. the rice was very good, and the chicken were moist & tender.

the last time i said tops. this time i think not as good but still a very nice bryanni.

garlic naan

& garlic naan was good especially to mop up the curry.

we had a very good dinner. i was a bit less wowed than the first time, but still it was very good food for the palate, very enjoyable & more so because they did not charge the 3 appetisers. so a wonderful gesture.

c.h.e.f andy

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

Dishoom @ King’s Cross

5 Stable Street, London N1C 4AB
Tel: 020 7420 9321

OPENING HOURS

Monday to Wednesday: 8am to 11pm
Thursday to Friday: 8am to midnight
Saturday: 9am to midnight
Sunday: 9am to 11pm

Bank Holidays: Open as usual
Christmas Eve: Closed from 4pm
Christmas & Boxing Day, January 1st & 2nd: Closed

SQ Lounge Food & Onflight Food 24Mar2016

Posted on April 5, 2016 by chefquak

laksa

we planned a family holiday, visiting son in london then traveling together to lisbon & porto 24mar-4apr2016. ^^

wife & i left on morning 9am flight to london on 24.3.2016. daughter travelled on a later flight.

SQ 1st class lounge

i have not been to SQ 1st class lounge for a very long time.

for long flights i usually redeem business class using my credit card miles. & generally i used the asia treasure lounge which is smaller, quieter & more private.

SQ 1st class lounge

the food at the 1st class lounge was very good though.

the laksa, other than not having cockles, was the standard of any good laksa, very tasty.

jui kueh

jui kueh was pretty good too.

jui kueh

not the chinatown jui kueh standard, but pretty good.

roti prata

& roti prata was very good.

dimsum

dimsum was competent, ok.

pancake

i also tried the pancake. ok but normally i would skip dimsum & pancake, this time just to try.

expresso

coffee & the twg tea bags always good la. 🙂

breakfast

on board business class, i order a beef burger for the light meal & a chilean seabass for lunch.

croissant

i picked a croissant off the bread basket, it was pretty good. there were other rolls & bread, only so much you can eat.

fruits

a plate of fruits.

fruit yogurt

after that there was a choice of cereal etc i picked the fruit yogurt.

beef burger

the beef burger was very good. i am not a burger guy so i don’t take many but this one would rate very high up, the patty, bun, salad, all good.

chilean seabass

chilean seabass my favoruite fish for western preparation.

chilean seabass

this was good, firm, tasty. on par with good restaurant standard.

chilean seabass

mussels were good too.

cheese & fruits

after the main, there was cheese & fruits.

i guess overall, the onflight food on SQ biz class was a pretty good dining experience.

lobster thermidor – return flight 4apr2016

on the return flight on 4.4.2016, for book the cook i picked lobster thermidor.

lobster thermidor – return flight 4apr2016

they served a whole lobster, i think a whole 1 & 1/4 pounder 680g typewith the meat + 2 pincers on the 1/2 shell.

lobster thermidor – return flight 4apr2016

meat was fresh & tasty, sauce was good, just right.

lobster thermidor – return flight 4apr2016

the dish was competent, no wow (like the chilean seabass on my onward flight). can’t expect too much on board so i guess that was pretty good already.

mango jelly – return flight 4apr2016

didn’t want ice cream. tried the mango jelly…very so-so.

pakthai – return flight 4apr2016

pakthai was ok, again competent. anyway pakthai not my favourite, & i only picked it on return flight as the other options were the western food which i had more than fair share over the almost 2weeks travel.

c.h.e.f andy

Claypot Rice (my first time) on 17Mar2016

Posted on March 20, 2016 by chefquak

claypot rice (my first time)

this the first time i did a claypot rice!

this was inspired by the new lucky claypot rice my RI friend bought me at holland drive food centre recently.

claypot rice (my first time)

& so i did my first claypot rice for a 4pax lunch with my OPS (Outram Primary School) classmates on 17.3.30216.

& it was jolly good.

claypot rice

this evening i did the claypot rice again for my wife, daughter & her friend, on 20.3.2016. ^^

frying ginger, garlic, salted fish

fried 2cups rice & added water

of course i searched internet for a recipe. it did not look too difficult.

i fried some chicken fat (veg oil do just as well) in a large claypot, added cut ginger pieces & salted fish & some chopped garlic, fried for short while to get the aroma.

then i removed the salted fish & set aside, added 2 cups of rice & fried.

i then added just less than 2 cups water (to provide for liquid in the marinated chicken so rice would not be wet & soggy), boiled & simmered.

i had some cut chicken (i used 1/2 chicken) marinated with 3 tsp fish sauce, 2 tsp oyster sauce, 2 tsp sesami oil, 1 tsp dark sauce, 2 tsp corn flour for about 2hrs. also sliced 1 pork sausage & 1 liver sausage, and 5 chinese mushrooms.

i set timer for 8 mins, then added the the chicken + sausage to the rice, simmered at low fire.

i reset timer for another 15mins.

lastly i added the shanghai greens + salted fish

1/2 chicken deboned & seasoned

chicken was nicely seasoned. 🙂

claypot rice

& it came out beautifully, so very tender.

claypot rice

& rice so very fragrant & tasty, the fragrant & smoky aroma wafting in the air, especially as i removed the cover.

and i had good quality pork & liver sausages.

claypot rice

such a beauty. 🙂

claypot rice

for my first time on 17.3.2016, the rice could be just a tag drier, but it was pretty ok as it were.

for this evening on 19.3.2016, the rice was quite perfect.

claypot rice (my first time)

we thoroughly enjoyed the claypot rice, and we finished just about everything.

we were saying it must be like 10 to 15yrs since we last had claypot rice (until my freind brought me to new lucky claypot rice one plus week ago on 11.3.2016). we used to go to the stall at chinatown food centre level 2 when the children were very young.

it was quite perfect actually!

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

1/2 chicken (i deboned it)
1 sliced salted fish
3cm cut ginger
2 cloves chopped garlic
3 tbsp oil
1 pork sausage sliced
1 liver sausage sliced
5 chinese mushrooms (softened & sliced)
2 bunch shanghai greens
2 cups rice
1.8 cups water

seasoning for chicken:

3 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp oyster sauce
2 tsp sesami oil
1 tsp dark sauce
2 tsp corn flour

Directions:

i fried some chicken fat (veg oil do just as well) in a large claypot, added cut ginger pieces & salted fish & some chopped garlic, fried for short while to get the aroma.
then i removed the salted fish & set aside, added 2 cups of rice & fried.
i then added just less than 2 cups water (to provide for liquid in the marinated chicken so rice would not be wet & soggy), boiled & simmered.
i had some cut chicken (i used 1/2 chicken) marinated with 3 tsp fish sauce, 2 tsp oyster sauce, 2 tsp sesami oil, 1 tsp dark sauce, 2 tsp corn flour for about 2hrs. also sliced 1 pork sausage & 1 liver sausage, and 5 chinese mushrooms.
i set timer for 8 mins, then added the the chicken + sausage to the rice, simmered at low fire.
i reset timer for another 15mins.
lastly i added the shanghai greens + salted fish

Coffee & Cake @ Assembly Coffee on 17Mar2016

Posted on March 19, 2016 by chefquak

coffee + apple crumble with ice cream

3 OPS (Outram Primary School) classmates came over to my place & we had a nice, enjoyable homecooked lunch on 17.3.2016. ^^

after a great lunch, dessert, chit chat, we decided to go out for a cuppa.

one friend had to leave so 3 of us went to assembly coffee at evans road in 1 car. 🙂

we ordered cappuccino, flat white, hot chocolate + one apple crumble to share.

last time i came here was with family on 28.12.2014. that time the latte art was good & lemon meringue was very good!

apple crumble with ice cream

lemon meringue ran out this time.

my friend ordered an apple crumble to share.

it was pretty good actually. apple was not too sweet, nicely done, texture & taste. crumle top was great & the pie base was good too.

maybe i can make this cake. i make an ok jam crumb cake. & before that i made a pretty good apple pie too. so maybe can combine the 2 together.

flat white

i had my usual flat white. no much latte art today. barista not around?

coffee is good here though not really standout vs say chye seng huat at tyrewhitt road & dutch colony at pasarbella @ grandstand or carpenters & cook.

it was great spending time with old friends from primary school. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Thai Curry Vegetables with Belly Pork – 8th Teban Gardens Community Breakfast on 18Mar2016

Posted on March 18, 2016 by chefquak

this morning i made a thai curry vegetables with belly pork.

this my 8th friday breakfast community meal at teban gardens community service centre (CSC).

i first started doing a community meal dish for teban gardens CSC on 8.1.2016.

the centre was started in 2002 after much effort & challenge by our RI friend who is a pastor of pasir panjang hill brethren church (pphbc) which owns & runs the CSC.

it was though a very rushed last minute thai curry veg with belly pork.

(too rushed for any photos)

wasn’t too bad in the end the folks still liked it & mostly finished.

++++++++++

woke up late so a in a dead rush. my belly pork was not properly prepared.

so i had to improvise last minute & boiled/simmered the belly pork in water for 20mins while i cooked the curry veg. that was easy enough since i was just using the “dancing chef” thai curry paste premix.

when the belly pork texture was ok, i cooled them in running water & cut them in thin slices.

i did not have time though to fry the belly pork slices separately coating them in curry sauce, so it would be less tasty than if i did that.

in the end just added the sliced pork to the curry veg, tasted the curry & then transferred the dish in the usual aluminium tray & transported to teban gardens.

c.h.e.f andy

Wonderful 4pax Homecooked Lunch for my Outram Primary School Classmates on 17Mar2016

Posted on March 18, 2016 by chefquak

5 dishes-claypot rice, bakuteh, steamed 桂鱼,tau jeon eggplants, cabbage with taupok

3 OPS (Outram Primary School) classmates came to my place for lunch yesterday on 17.3.2016.

i did 5 dishes –

bakuteh
claypot rice
港蒸桂鱼
eggplant with tau jeon
cabbage with tau pok (fried beancurd puff)
lotus ginkyo nut cheng chow 莲子白果凉粉

quite excellent food & company! ^^

#1 bakuteh singapore style with tau pok

bakuteh is an easy dish to make, tasty dish which i did for my RI friends recently on 14.3.2016, reminiscence of our trip the week before to JB.

the only variation was i added tau pok, in place of tau kee (bean curd skin) they added in shoon huat 顺发JB.

i used back the hara fried beancurd puff, which made the tasty soup even tastier! 🙂

i used the same frozen prime ribs from sheng shiong, S$10.95/kg. it was meaty, fatty, and so much tastier than the less marbled pork ribs. i generally boil them for 45mins, so that pork ribs are tender but not falling apart, even after 1 or 2 reheats. just the texture, the way i like it. 🙂

#2 claypot rice (my first time)

this the first time i did a claypot rice!

this was inspired by the new lucky claypot rice my RI friend bought me at holland drive food centre recently.

of course i searched internet for a recipe. it did not look too difficult.

i fried some chicken fat (veg oil do just as well), added cut ginger pieces & salted fish & some chopped garlic, fried for short while to get the aroma.

then i removed the salted fish & set aside, added 2 cups of rice & fried.

i then added just less than 2 cups water (to provide for liquid in the marinated chicken so rice would not be wet & soggy), boiled & simmered.

i had some cut chicken (i used 1/2 chicken + 1 thigh deboned) marinated with 2 tsp fish sauce, 1 tsp oyster sauce, 1 tsp sesami sauce, 1 tsp dark sauce, 2 tsp corn flour for about 2hrs. also sliced 1 pork sausage & 1 liver sausage.

i set my timer to 10 minutes but water was boiling off by 5 mins, so i added the the chicken + sausage at 5 mins.

i reset for 10mins but stopped at 8 mins as i was preparing the claypot rice 2 hrs earlier & would be reheating another 5mins plus when my guests arrived.

lastly i added the shanghai greens + salted fish

#2 claypot rice (my first time)

it was my very first time, and unlike other dishes you cannot really taste & adjust as you go, so the arhgak-logy (estimation) had to be like first time right almost.

and i did adjust it/improvise as i went along.

anyway, the results were wonderful, and you could tell as the rice was cooking. i could smell the smoky, wonderful aroma. & my friends too, when i removed the claypot cover.

smelled wonderful, and tasted super la!

#2 claypot rice (my first time)

the rice could be just a tag drier, but it was pretty ok as it were.

chicken were very tender, not overcooked (maybe i could increase a bit the fish sauce & sesami sauce marinade), and i had good quality pork & liver sausages.

it was quite perfect actually!

#3 港蒸 HK steamed 桂鱼

the lunch also came about because one friend brought me 2 桂鱼 mandarin fish airflown from shanghai the last time he came to my place after CNY.

the 2 fish were in my freezer for 1month liao, i took out 1 of them. it was very fresh, totally fresh!

i did the usual 港蒸 HK steamed style with a slight variation, 2 tbsp light soy sauce (& i used 2 tbsp olive oil + 1 tbsp mirin).

when all the friends were here, i put it in the steam oven (any steamer will do) for 10mins, just right for a 500g fish. 🙂

#3 港蒸 HK steamed 桂鱼

fish was very fresh, tender, texture a bit finer than red garoupa but firmer than the yellow croaker. a very nice fish, personally speaking, i still prefer the red garoupa though. 🙂

#4 tau jeon egg plant

i tried out tau jeon 豆酱 for the egg plant this time. it was very nice, better than what i had previously for my 9pax teochew muay lunch. ^^

1 friend commented how the egg plant was not mushy, and this an important consideration, to make it soft but not mushy, stock much reduced almost dry so more tasty, intense, favourful.

i think it was a very good egg plant dish, quite excellent!

#5 cabbage with tau pok

my cabbage with tau pok was also a variation of my usual cabbage for teochew muay.

this time it was a lot tastier even, because i reduced the stock more & also the hara fried beancurd puff added a very pleasant, sweet taste.

a great improvement even compared with the cabbage everyone liked on 28.10.2015!

#5 fried ikan bilis

i had the idea of adding ikan bilis.

i got that from the nice ikan bilis bee hoon we had last time at ayer rajah food centre afte the indian rojak.

it went very well with the cabbage dish actually, but you can’t have too much of it so i just added 1/2 portion of what i made.

#6 dessert = lotus ginkyo nut cheng chow + durian pudding

i made my usual lotus ginkyo nut cheng chow 莲子白果凉粉, modeled after hoe kee in hong kong.

& my friend brought durian pudding, made with XO durians.

#6 lotus ginkyo nut cheng chow 莲子白果凉粉

a very simple dessert, just boiled lotus seeds & ginkyo nuts in 5 tbsp brown sugar for about 2hrs. then added to ready made cheng chow from sheng shiong. very nice & refreshing.

#6 durian pudding

durian pudding/custard was very nice, very good durian flavours, not too sweet. i was eating it just now, left from yesterday, enjoying it.

after lunch we chatted for another hr plus, then decided to go out for coffee. i had to leave so 3 of us went to assembly coffee at evans road for a cuppa. 🙂

great lunch, company, chit chat & coffee afterwards. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Teochew Chilled Mullet on 16.3.2016

Posted on March 16, 2016 by chefquak