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27 Dec 2013

Ramen Champion - Getting worse?


Before I begin typing this post, I was already questioning myself why the heck I choose to eat the same
bowl of ramen the third time? The first time I randomly tried (out of the other outlets), I fell for it. The
lovely thick and slightly flat noodles in the salty-savory broth with additional 3 huge spoonful of finely
chopped garlic was so addictive. The second time I ate, it was less satisfying but still delicious. This time, I
was utterly disappointed with this same type of ramen, but of far-fetched standard. The molten centred
eggs were still acceptable but not the broth. There was an obvious layer on the surface (definitely oil), and
the broth was rather bland and tasteless. What did I just paid for?  

My friend was searching for a bowl of ramen with spicy broth and the picture of Buta God Tonkotse
Ramen caught his attention. The flaring red broth from all that chili flakes or spices prevented me from
trying. He was thoroughly enjoying both his ramen, as well as the feeling of perspiring non-stop throughout
his meal. So not my meaning/sort of enjoyment.       

16 Dec 2013

Maccha House 抹茶館 - Back to the House


After my first round of 'house visit' to Maccha House 抹茶館 with my friend, I went
back again for some drinks to chill with mum! I just ordered an ordinary glass of matcha
with a really tiny scoop of green tea ice cream. I kept hoping the staff would be more
generous with the ice cream though. The drink itself was nothing special, only to satisfy
my craving for ice cold bitter matcha! 

My mum wanted something with azuki red beans and I got for her this drink. The first thing
she commented was why the cream looked like that?? (Looking split and ugly) Click the 'first
round' link above to have a clearer view of the cream. The drink was topped with 2 plain
chewy Japanese dumplings and a pile of sweet azuki beans that definitely did not impress
her, not one bit. My mum did not really enjoy her drink as she felt that it was too bitter and
not sweet enough for her liking. Furthermore, she was no fan of matcha products. This
shows that non-matcha fans would have a high chance of not liking this outlet due to the

bitter intensity.

10 Dec 2013

Chocolate showpiece that I did in class - Easter theme!


Just a quick update of what I did in class during my first week of term 5. Yes, finally
term 5 and I would be graduating in about 3 months time! We had to do a chocolate
showpiece in pairs and the grouping was auto assigned. Dam! Anyway, my friend
and I came up with this Easter theme design, sticking to the original colour of dark,
milk and white chocolate.

Our mistake in decorating the back as we should have just focused on the front!

My instagram picture which I had posted as I just love my hand-molded chicks! Super smooth finishing
too! 

7 Dec 2013

En Jap Grill and Bar Skewer Buffet - Grilled delicacies


To celebrate my Mum's birthday, I suggested treating her to a buffet. Despite being out of the way, I
picked En Jap Grill and Bar as the venue, which was located at UE Square. The place had a relaxing vibe
and the restaurant was conducive and easy for conversation. Picking a buffet meal to celebrate my mum's
birthday was quite a horrible choice as she hardly eat much! (My brother and I felt that we were wasting
our money...) It was my second visit and having the skewer buffet here, which made me experienced
enough to know what to order in plentiful or in minimum. Click here to read about my first visit!

The platter of fresh sashimi, average thickness, for 4 of us. (One time order only) There were no fishy smell
at all and I hoped I could have free flow of them!   

Salad with thinly sliced pork! I hoped they were more generous with the pork slices as we did not want to
order another serving of salad just for it.

Basically all the skewers were grilled on the spot and could be seen through the glass panel that
separates the diners and the cooks. I felt that the open concept kitchen definitely made the cooks more
stress! There were hits and misses and the quality were not exactly consistent. Our favourites were
obviously the grilled beef (not shown here), scallops and salmon skewers as they were simply delicious
with natural juices emitting from them.   

5 Dec 2013

Experiment : Choux with Salted Yolk Custard


Just a quick post of my choux pastry I did quite some time ago! I decided to experiment with salted egg
yolk to incorporate into my custard cream to mimic the all-time popular 'liu sa bao' found in Chinese
restaurants serving Dim Sum. Baked some really nice looking oblong shaped choux pastry to hold the
custard cream. 

The standard custard cream recipe with salted egg yolk! I actually bought 4 salted eggs but ended up using
only 2. You know why? 2 were bad, I dam 'sway' right? Visible bits of salted egg yolk in there. I should
have boiled the eggs before using the food processor to blend them into paste, prior to adding into my
custard cream. My bad.

My yummy looking eclairs with salted yolk custard cream! I may want to experiment and modify the recipe
next time when I have the time...

29 Nov 2013

Artisan Boulangerie Co. - Bread and Savoury Fix


I wasn't born to be a bread lover, often avoiding bread during breakfast, not until I was attached to the
bakery section of my internship place for 2 months with Lawrance. While learning to make bread, I felt the
distance between me and bread being pulled slightly closer and I learnt to accept and appreciate bread
now. Ryan, who taught us to make bread suggested that we try the kind-of-newly-opened Artisan
Boulangerie Co., which is a bakery led by award winning French baker, Eran Mayer. The products are
made by artisan techniques (from scratch by hand), can be said to be quite uncommon in Singapore. After
work that day, we headed over to Orchard and took a shuttle bus to Great World City.    

The outlet had great lighting for photography which food bloggers like me would look for. After being
amazed by the selections of bread and savoury products available, we spend quite some time on deciding
the suitable lucky dough that would end up in our tummy. Thankfully the pretty staffs were really patient
with us and I must compliment them for their great costumer service too! Ryan picked the Ciabatta, known
literally as the slipper bread, topped with half a capsicum, cucumber slices and a pile of  micro-greens. I
guessed the bright red colour of the bell pepper and those greens were for colour contrast against the dull
white-brown crust of the ciabatta. They act as a crunch as well as a value-adding element to the bread too.
The large piece of flat oblong shape bread had a crisp exterior and a soft doughy, slightly chewy interior.  

My first target would definitely be the quiche as I just love savoury food. Due to limited choices, I ended
up picking the Smoked Salmon & Dill Quiche. I was kind of surprised that my quiche came with salad with
sweet-sour vinaigrette dressing that could cleanse my taste buds. I was thankful that the quiche was only
lightly salted by the few small pieces of smoked salmon visible. It was slightly cheesy inside and I tried to
eat as slow as possible to savour it. (I could have easily eaten 3 pieces of quiche!) The crust was slightly
thick, resulting in the inner layer of the tart being raw (unbaked). I only noticed that halfway through my
meal as this happens when I had too much free time to admire my food in details.  

My other friend had the Tuna Stuffed Focaccia. It was a rustic piece of  'figure of 8' loaf and I guessed he
wanted something filling enough to be his dinner. Although the sesame seeds were sprinkled rather
randomly and unevenly, the perfect golden brown crust was really crispy! The interior was also light and

naturally flavorful, if you understand what I meant. It was sliced in half and stuffed generously with tuna.
This loaf was so photogenic that I had problem choosing the best 'pose'. (Sorry, can't see the tuna filling

from this angle.)  

Both Ryan and Lawrance added on coffee which emitted a lovely aroma. The barista did a great job
creating such an impressive coffee art which I would not bare to destroy if I had a cup too. (I did not order
as I did not want to risk having insomnia that night.) 

Last but not least, we shared the Cafe, Passionfruit and Cassis (black current) Eclairs (From bottom to
top)! 3 lovely stripes of colours on each eclairs depicting the flavor it contained and only the Cafe (coffee)
was easily guessed right. The choux pastry were towards the hard and dry side (more water than milk (if
any) used in the recipe?) and baked into a crisp dark brown hollow case. Our favorite was the Cafe, light
in flavor and not overly sweet. Passionfruit was fruity and tangy, same as the more unique Cassis. Overall,
the ambiance was not bad, great for a chilling out session or a romantic hi tea meal with partner. I was also
thankful that I was dining with patient people as it took me about 15 minutes to finish taking pictures!