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29 Apr 2014

The Public Izakaya by Hachi - Over Fusion??


The interior was furnished so beautifully that it felt so surreal! Am I still in Singapore? The streets along
Tanjong Pagar where offices are located in almost every building? The dim lanterns hanging across the
ceilings emitted an orangey glow that made the entire restaurant felt so homely. Too bad my friends and I
had to dine outdoors due to the peak lunch period and the clash with the office crowd.
(Picture taken after the meal.) 

There were free flow of appetizers, mainly salad that were not worth the mention since they were either
soggy or badly marinated. It could be a wise move since office people are getting rather health conscious

nowadays. Health is wealth!

Certain food like this serving of deep fried chicken cutlets with wedges found in the lunch menu totally 
contradicts the Japanese style. Could it be a fusion that was overtaken by the western part? With the
ketchup bottles as a backdrop, no one could tell this dish was from a Japanese restaurant. Tender juicy 
chicken but the ratio to the crispy batter was imbalance. Let's not talk about the processed wedges
since I decided to skip them.

My friend received a wrong order but he decided to take it anyway. I think due to the really huge pieces of
ribs that were too eye-catching and difficult to resist. My stares could not be turned away due to the
tantalizing gravy that drenched the rice. Gosh, I want to eat from that yummy bowl right now!  

I had the pork belly set which looked less appealing as compared to my friend's ribs. It was simple, tender
and mildly salty, perfect combination with plain rice. Thankfully I had other dishes to whet up my appetite.

ARH....Finally the most Japanese-like food that arrived at our table! A light bodied clear
soup with certain unknown Japanese ingredients in it! Hard boiled egg, taro, fishcake
filled with sticky flour and another spongy fishcake. Such enjoyable and real comfort food
I would say. By the end of our catching up meal, the entire place was empty as people

went back to their monotonous work life. How I wished I had more freedom and be
stress-free!

28 Apr 2014

The Corner Place Korean BBQ Buffet - In general, I would want to avoid in future

I don't usually fancy going for a BBQ or a Steamboat buffet meal since I knew that the quality of those frozen/raw food usually sucks. I am referring to those standard $20 - $30 range of buffets which I had tried that has been listed on the side column of this blog.
You may question why I go for yet another BBQ buffet then?

Such buffets are mainly for gathering purposes, be it for a huge group of friends or with a
bff/buddy who got lots of catching up to do over a meal. Since my friend wanted to indulge
a bit on those scary quantity of over marinated meat, I just have to agree. Partly because I
was too lazy to decide where else to dine around Marina Square. 

These were the cooked food available while waiting for our meat to sizzle till cooked. Glass noodles were
thick and tasted decent, egg custard had that turn-me-off eggy stench and we did not touch the korean rice
cakes. I loved the Korean spicy-sweet marinated drumlets so much that I gobbled down 10 pieces of

them. Being in a buffet also means that you need to learn to be selective of the food you consume! Just
pick your favorite + what you think is worthwhile! 

Our 'BBQ pit' was constantly filled with various types of meat, especially those tender slices of beef! We
kept complaining about using those Korean flat metal chopsticks that were kind of a nuisance since they
were made without considering the ergonomics factor. The service was also prompt as the staffs would
change the foil once it turned semi black.

Not meaning to turn you off but looking at the amount of excess oil/waste dripping out through the internal
sewage system, we can't help but to imagine those waste being deposited into our stomachs. Gosh, what
did we just fed ourselves with?    

9 Apr 2014

Orh Nee Roll - My Rendition of Orh Nee

Decided to do up a post before going to dreamland to recharge my energy for a crazy day of work tomorrow! It is FHA week and the morning crowd is so CRAZY! Too bad my off days are after FHA and I could not go although I had complementary ticket from my chef. (Gave away the ticket already...) I posted about my last day of school and my presentation previously (click here to view) and below is the dessert I created. The recipe I used included if anyone want to try making it?  


(Picture taken from my school instructor's album.) Nicely taken from his DSLR! 


A summarized version of my report (modified)

Orh Nee Roll is my rendition of the popular Teochew dessert that goes a long way back.
Orh Nee in Teochew means Taro Paste and memories of this dish come from attending
wedding banquets, where it is almost customary for it to be served as the last course in resturants.
The main ingredient used is yam, which is one of the oldest food plants known. It is also a common plant found around the rustic and rural kampung environment in the past. Yams are a good source of potassium, manganese, copper, vitamin C, dietary fiber, and vitamin B6.
The other secondary ingredients used are coconut cream, pandan leaves, shallots and pumpkin seed (to replace the actual pumpkin flesh).   
Since the past, coconut cream is added to Orh Nee to enhance the flavor, giving it a creamier texture. As for shallots, when fried, they produce a fragrant aroma which would mask the undesirable smell of the yam. Pandan leaves are used as additional flavoring for the skin.

To further depict the kampong style, I choose to present my Orh Nee rolled up in light pandan fragrance snowskin, looking like a piece of home made traditional kueh. It is also to break the monotonous habit of serving Orh Nee in a bowl, looking like a pile of unappetizing dull looking gooey mess. The spongy texture of the snow skin with fried shallots and pumpkin seed provide a slight contrast to the rich creamy texture of the yam paste itself. This sweet as well as savory dessert is made from scratch, just like from the kampung days.


Dessert name: Orh Nee Roll (About 100 pcs)
(Adjust oil and coconut cream base on your desired consistency.)

Ingredient List

Yam Paste 

Fresh Yam        1200g
Caster Sugar        200g
Peanut Oil            300g
Shallots             15 no.s
Coconut Cream    600g
Salt                    A pinch

Snow Skin

Fried Glutinous Rice Flour (Kou Fien)          600g + (100g for dusting)
Icing Sugar                                                   750g
Shortening                                                    180g
Water (Cold)                                                 600ml
Green Colouring                                            Few drops
Pandan Leaves                                              100g


Method

1)      Peel taro and cut into thin slices. Arrange on a dish/tray and steam for 20-30 min until soft.
2)      Once the taro slices are out of the steamer, mash them up with the back of a fork, adding caster sugar at the same time. Taste and add more caster sugar if required. Tweak the level of sweetness to personal preference. Cover with clingfilm.
3)      Peel shallots and finely slice them.
4)      In a wok or wide saucepan, add oil and sliced shallots. Gently stir-fry on medium low heat until the shallot discs begin to brown and crisp up. Strain the shallots from the oil.
5)      Return oil back to the wok, turn down the flame to low. Add mashed taro paste and mix until well amalgamated. Taste again and add more sugar if required. Also, if coconut milk is used, it can be added at this point with a pinch of salt. Cut back the oil by half if so and add accordingly until the desired texture is achieved.
6)      Allow the taro paste to cool down considerably. Transfer into a food blender and blitz until smooth. Chill the mixture till firm.
7)      Sift the flour and mix with icing sugar and add into a bowl
8)      Blend the pandan leaves for its juice, add into the cold water with a few drops of colouring.
9)      Add shortening and water to the flour mixture, mix together to form a smooth dough and keep aside for 30 minutes.
10)   Roll out the dough into a rectangular flat surface, spread the taro paste across it and roll it up like a swiss roll.
11)  Chill before slicing into portion and serve. 


(I had my reference from http://travelling-foodies.com)

2 Apr 2014

Graduated from At-Sunrice! Spice Odyssey 2014

This 18 months was like a whirlwind to me. I enrolled into At-sunrice and started my course almost 4 months after my army days. Even the pictures I am about to post felt like an aftermath of the whirlwind since I am at a loss of what sequence should I start my story line with!  

Every story have a starting as well as an ending. I shall begin mine with the layout of my group's given
presentation theme - Survival and Preservation. I further modified the concept to Kampong Survival and
Preservation of our Heritage so that it would make things easier. I present to you our layout that day of our
presentation! (Not the full layout actually)

My team that comprises of 3 pastry and 3 culinary students. With kampung theme, we dress kampung style! 

Another group shot sitting on the floor like kids! I wore singlet that day although I know I do not have a perfect body.
Who cares? I am known to dress anyhow as long as I am comfortable with. Note: For hygiene purpose, I
did shave my armpit hair the day before.  

A selfie playing with a paper kite that day. Although badly taken but no choice as this was the
only picture my friend sent to me....

My Orh Nee Roll which is my own rendition of the popular Teochew dessert. Shall post the recipe next
time. Really survival looking right?

We had to pack some door gifts for our guests and we bought some of these really old school toys and
candies! Remember these? We also bought some other toys like five stones, paper balls and chapteh to
play with during our presentation (not shown here). We wanted our guests to walk down the memory lane
and re-experience the past. 

I know it looked quite cheapo in plastic bags but it is Kampung style! Each group was only given $100 to
spend on whatever props and stuffs we need for our presentation.

We had to present our concept and food 3 times to different batches of guests. We were only allowed
one invite each. Taken a photo with one of my close friend's wife when she visited my group for food
tasting.

My classmates! We all dressed accordingly to our theme that day. My dressing is definitely the most
'CUI'! LOL! 

My close cliquey of friends! 

Guys only shot! One of them went for smoke break I think...

Back at Sats, thank you chef for loaning me some of the equipment for my presentation! 

This is just a brief post and I did not have time to try my friends' food or to take pictures of other teams' layout/food. We all knew we did what we could and to happily graduate from our course, no matter whether we would want to continue this profession in future.