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. My Tasting Palette .
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. In celebration of food and dining experiences . |
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Exploring and discovering new restaurants Dining and chilling out with my loved ones Baking and cooking over the weekends Sharing my love for food with others
Vanilla bean pods (one can never have enough) Valrhona Cocoa powder Valrhona chocolate Macarons from Laduree and Pierre Herme Madelines mold Pretty cake stands (I only have one and only one) YUZU from Japan! (They taste great in almost anything) A food tour to Italy and France Opportunity to study at Le Cordon Bleu |
Friday, January 25, 2008 Of recent CNY baking and tempura eating And so the class has Shermay’s has inspired me to bake. Yes I have been baking much more than I have been blogging because I have been too caught up in the recent two weeks. I’ve been baking apple crumble, pineapple galette and not forgetting my favourite black sesame cookies.
My pineapple galette I know. It's not well decorated and pretty at all. Sliced pineapple galette The spiced pineapple galette is an interesting take on the Chinese New Year old favourite- the pineapple tart. This pineapple galette ensures that the fresh pineapple are sliced in generous portions so that the flavours come through more so than its heavily sweetened cousin. The crust recipe is a sweet shortbread recipe which turned out well. This is really good to eat especially when it’s warm. However, the only bad thing about this is that it is not as ready-to-eat as compared to pineapple tarts.
Sesame cookies I love sesame I’ve also tried baking the black sesame cookies with my new cookie cutter that I bought at the class. I’m such a big fan of sesame that most of my friends can attest to that. the sesame cookie bakes really fast so one needs to be extra careful not to burn them. I wasn’t too careful during the baking of my first batch and they browned a little more than I wanted them to. Overall, this is definitely a nicely Asian styled shortbread cookie perfect for the upcoming Chinese New Year.
Among the stuff the three of my baked goodies, the most popular was actually the apple crumble. The crumble bits were really good and I used a mixture of granny smiths and Washington apples. Dad loved this one a lot and had no complaints about it at all. ***
One day I went to Inagiku (稲ぎ), Fairmount Singapore, for lunch. this is the first time I’ve been there after its renovation. It looks so much more spacious and I really like its zen-like touch to this space. We went specially to eat the tempura because they just flew in this Japanese chef for two weeks. We were ushered to a counter seat where we see the Japanese tempura chef and his assistant at work. Tempura is always seen as the poorer cousin of Japanese cuisine amongst the sushi and sashimi. When in fact, a good tempura is not all that easy to make. I've read that the art of tempura lies in the batter, the quality of the cooking oil and the freshness of the ingredients. I'm not a tempura expert and I don't know if the quality of cooking oil makes such a big difference (especially if you use fresh oil and say an average oil. What I know is that the batter needs to be light and fluffy which many places do not achieve. And people usually think that when you deep-fry something like that, freshness wouldn't matter as much because it will be mask when it is fried. I beg to differ. The freshness of the ingredients at Inagiku really makes the whole difference. Try it and you will know the difference. The special set lunch included a fresh salad in a tangy, citrus sauce, a small platter of sashimi, 2 prawn tempuras, a selection of 4 vegetable tempura which you can choose from a range of 8, 2 more tempura mains, and a small bowl of ten don and miso soup. It was a very filling lunch! My usual favourites for tempura is actually the prawn. However, my favourites from the day's lunch is the unique combination of tempura of squid stuffed with cod roe wrapped with a shiso leave. That really redefines tempura for me. The vegetable tempura were fantastic too. I've heard that they fly in the ingredients from Japan and from the counter seat, I could see that they were indeed very fresh! I can't wait to go back to Inagiku for its sashimi and sushi. I'm sushi-depraved. After my Japan trip, I realised I couldn't phantom eating at most causal Japanese restaurants because they just don't make the mark. I rather save up and splurge on good Japanese food.
 Prawn and white fish tempura Mix of vegetable tempura  My favourite! Shiso leave wrapped over squid with cod roe  Simplicity at its best- Ten don from Inagiku *** Inagiku (稲ぎ) Fairmount Singapore 80 Bras Basah Road Singapore 189560 Tel:6431 6156 Friday, January 11, 2008 Eating in Shanghai: Xin Qi Shi & Jade Garden  Sis and I outside the restaurant at 新天地After our plane landed in the afternoon, we took a ride back to the hotel to put down our luggage and did not hesitate one bit to head down to Xin Tian Di (新天地), an area that retains the Shikumen housing of old Shanghai . The insides are very different though. They are occupied by international bars, cafes, boutiques and restaurants. We knew what exactly we are heading for- Xin Qi Shi for local Shanghainese cuisine. My parents and I had fond memories of the food there. I wont go into too much detail about the food. Just going to talk about two dishes unique to Shanghai- Red dates stuffed with glutinous rice flour and Steamed lotus root with honey glazed sauce stuffed with glutinous rice. The two dishes together with the steamed man tou(steamed plain buns) served with condensed milk are hot favourites. As you can probably tell, the Shanghainese add sweets to their dinner table along with the other savoury food. I really enjoyed the red dates stuffed with the glutinous rice flour. It is almost like stuffing the tang yuan into the red dates which gives it a chewy texture and the natural sweetness from the red dates. The steamed lotus root stuffed with glutinous rice was a sheer delight too. I can't pin point which is my absolute favourite between the two actually.  Red dates with glutinous rice flour  Steamed lotus root with glutinous rice*** Xin Qi Shi 新天地 *** Another notable Shanghainese dinner that we had was at Jade Garden (苏浙浙汇). We actually waited close to 40 minutes before we got a table because the Chinese were out in full force on a Saturday evening. And this is taking into account that the restaurant is already very huge! But it was worth the wait. This was probably one of the best meals we had in Shanghai. They served seasoned prunes and jellyfish to whet our appetite. Interesting how there is both a sweet and savoury dish.  We also ordered stir-fried river shrmps. It was very lovely and somthing that we don't eat in Singapore that much. Though small, they were really sweet and the slightly spicy sauce complemented it perfectly.  Stir-fried river shrimps The next dish was deep fried fish fillets. Though it is a simple dish, I love the lightness of the batter and their sprinkling of Chili powder. I didn't feel like I was eating something unhealthy at all!  Deep-fried fish fillet We then had asparagus stir fried with dried scallops which was good but overshadowed by the goose meat that we had. The goose meat was so soft and tender and I love the strong flavours of it. The brown sauce was slightly thick and slightly sweet, sprinkled with ginger. It was easily the best dish of the evening as all of us fought to eat the meat. We ordered some other small Shanghainese dishes but it's not worth the mention after the perfect goose.  Asparagus stir fried with dried scallops  the perfect goose
*** Jade Garden Shanghai Jin Mao Da Sha 6 Floor 021 5047 7723 www.jade388.com Thursday, January 10, 2008 Eating in Shanghai: Club Shanghai  Club Shanghai, located at Shanghai Concert Hall *** Next on our list was to head to Club Shanghai, a restaurant opened by He Lili (this famous Hong Kong actress). Club Shanghai was situated at the relatively new Shanghai Concert Hall. Pretty cool place to have a restaurant I must say. And I find that the Shanghainese really have the space to build lovely and huge restaurants. They are really lavishly decorated plus they are really huge. Anyway, we were like the only one of the few people in the restaurant. I suppose the Chinese still much prefer their chinese food to French, European cuisine.  The lavish interiors of Club Shanghai We started off by having a pretty standard, however delightful amuse bouche- Smoked salmon with a douse of mayo, salmon roll with deep fried wanton skin. Then we were served a basket of breads. The basket full of bread was warm and it smelled so good. Having a variety of sweet breads, sun-dried tomatoes and olives bread stick, baguette, savory olive rolls were not too good for me because I could not decide which one to eat. I ordered the Tuna carpaccio for my starters as I didn't want to overeat. This one was as great as its presentation. Light, refreshing flavours of olives and lemon with fresh cherry tomatoes contrasting with the tangy and bitter rocket leaves and raw onions. Lovely starter. J and my parents opted for asparagus soup to warm themselves up on a cold afternoon. The soup was really lovely too. One thing I noticed about the way Shanghainese present their soup is to bring it out in a little metal bowl and serving individual portions right before your eyes.  Typical amuse bouche  A wide selection of breads. Really nice!  Starter of Tuna Carparccio  Cream of Asparagus For the mains, I was being the typical me once again. I ordered the beef tenderloin with oxtail stew with spinach and mushrooms. This one was good. Love its brown sauce. But as I was suffering from an overdose of bread, I was struggling to finish my beef tenderloin. This almost never happens, I can assure you. One thing I love about Club Shanghai is in its thoughtfulness in its presentation of food. The desserts are decorated painstakingly and they are really too beautiful a masterpiece to be eaten. Seriously. I thought that J had the best dessert. It was a deconstructed tiramisu. Lovely stuff there. Strong taste of expresso and coffee liquer. Good pairing of a chocolate sorbet with 2 bite-sized meringues with drips of pistachio and chocolate sauce. Thumbs up for this one and this tiramisu is one of the m ost interesting one I have seen to date.  Tiramisu deconstructed My sister and dad predictably ordered the dark chocolate mousse with passionfruit ice-cream and poached pears in spices decorated with a white chocolate and dark chocolate piece. So pretty huh. And I particularly like the poached pears though my sis begs to differ.  Dark Chocolate mousse with passion fruit ice-cream Another thing about Club Shanghai aside from the food is that it has one of the most lavish toilets for a restaurant. The toilets(they should really be called rest rooms) are enormous with a make up area with heavy drapes separating the rest rooms and make up area. The rest rooms are decorated in Victorian-style. My sis declares that she will have her toilets in Victoria-style when she has the money. Overall, it was a pleasant dinning experience with left me overwhelming full and satistfied. The service was personable yet not overly intrusive. Also I love to have the privacy and comfort it offered us. Only thing was the service staff, though helpful, are not great at English. Next entry will be dedicated to solely Shanghainese Chinese food. It will be awfully strange if there is not a slightest mention of them. ***
Club Shanghai 4/F Shanghai Concert Hall 523 Yan An Road East Shanghai 200021 Tel: 021 538 39989 Sunday, January 06, 2008 Eating in Shanghai  Jean Georges, ShanghaiI've spent 5 days in Shanghai after Christmas with my family and J. Though it's my second time there but I was looking forward to this trip mainly to relax, enjoy the cold weather and to experience the food in one of the fastest-paced city in China. The place that I was dying to go to was Jean Georges, a French restaurant on the Bund. Jean Georges is a three-star Michelin trained chef who started his invariably accoladed resaturant in New York. He focuses heavily on using vegetable juices and fruit essences, broths and vinaigrettes instead of the use of traditional meat stocks. He then expanded his restaurants to Shanghai, UK, and the Bahamas. Jean Georges is also the chef who was celebrated for creating the Molten Chocolate Lava Cake. Yes! He created this dessert by accident while cooking in a restaurant in New York and has since popularised this dessert in the States and many other cities including our city, Singapore. When we found the restaurant at Three on the Bund, I was really ecstatic. The restaurant was on the 4th floor of a old colonial styled building along the bund. We were ushered to a table by the window which gave us a perfect view of the bund. The restaurant was big and its decor was modernistic. We ordered the 3 course set lunch (which adds up to about S$60 per person) because it was frankly the more affordable option.  View from the restaurantMy sis had the best appetiser- the foie gras brule with dried sour cherries and candied pistachios on a bed of citrus gelatin. This was really lovely and the pairing of the ingredients just worked so magically like they were so rightfully meant for each other. Both my dad and I regretted not ordering this dish.  The best dish- Foie Gras BruleI ordered the warm mushroom ravioli which was alright but quite disappointing as the first dish to start. My parents and J ordered the wild mushroom soup which surprisingly came out as clear soup! For the mains, I couldn't resist any beef tenderloin so I had the caramelized beef tenderloin with savory onion jam, and sour cherry mustard. The presentation of the dish was really lovely. The beef tenderloin was done right; the sour cherry mustard was quite a surprising concoction but it's definitely not the best beef tenderloin that I've eaten.  Caramelized beef tenderloin with savory onion jam, and sour cherry mustard Beautifully presented dessertFor desserts, I ordered the tropical fruit, peppered-yoghurt sorbet, hibiscous. This one was really lovely. The blend of the sharp tangy and citrusy fruit with a lightly flowery taste of hibiscous for the sorbet really made my day. The rest of them ordered the espresso creme brulee with passion fruit sorbet which looked good too but I don't like creme brulee in general. After our set meal, we HAD to order the famed molten chocolate lava cake with vanilla bean ice cream. It was good but somehow I was still disappointed for I expected more from Jean Georges restaurant.  The famed Jean Georges Molten Chocolate Lava CakeService was really good. Ambience-wise- you can't really ask for more with the perfect view of the Bund and Pearl Tower. The food was good but not great. And for what you're paying, I believe that I can eat better in Singapore. Nonetheless, it satisfied by curiosity and made me determined to polish up my molten chocolate cake.
*** Jean Georges Three on the Bund No. 3 The Bund 4th Floor 3 ZhongShan Dong Yi Rd Shanghai Tel: 8621 6321 7733 www.threeonthebund.com |
