Foodie Times @ TOBY'S The Dessert Asylum

spicy hot wings

 chicken cordon bleu

 German bratwurst and cheese sausage

 Seek asylum

D'Lover

Taste: 5 out of 5
-> Spicy hot wings (served with garden salad): 6 pcs in total, served with salad. Can choose to have the sauce on the side for your own dipping and we opted for it. Don't worry if you are not a spicy stuff lover because it ain't that spicy. The sauce felt like assam + tomato (Pardon me if it's not assam). But have it plain without any sauce, the freshly cooked/fried wings is good enough as the wings were served hot and crispy but not too oily. With the sauce, it is a new kind of taste which doesn't burnt the tongue or stomach and still give you plenty of space for your mains.

-> German bratwurst and cheese sausage (served with garden salad and choice of fries/rice or potato salad): It's hard to go wrong with this dish and their accompanying sauce brings the German bratwurst to a better level of taste. I can't really describe it. Got to eat it personally to find out.

-> Chicken cordon bleu (served with garden salad and choice of fries/rice or potato salad) - The outer crust is a bit thick but I am guessing because of the sauce, it would be better to be thick than thin or it will be too soggy as time goes by.

-> Seek asylum - Must try this! As much as I liked their sides and main, the dessert made me go WOW! Keep me going for more!! I had tried similar dessert of this but this is the first one that make you feel comfortable on the sweetness. Must be the Baileys Irish Cream (In the picture, I have not poured them so it's not visible)

-> D'Lover: Chanced upon a post in their Facebook about this durian with chocolate dessert and being a durian lover... I made sure I ordered it. This is not on their table menu but at their cake counter. This dessert would be great IF i didn't ordered the "Seek Asylum". Not advisable if you are already feeling very full from the main course because durian + chocolate combi can be very filling for some.

Service: Service is great. We were greeted even before we stepped in. The waiter explained to us on their their ongoing promotions and was very detailed in our orders. One thing to note would be their ipad has the pictures of the dishes. Would be great if we could see those pictures on the table menu. 

Anyway, despite the busy/dinner hours, they took notice of our empty cups and refilled them without us having to request them to. Will love to revisit. Keep up with the good service and good food! 

Location: It's situated in between the location of Jurong East MRT and Clementi MRT. A bus from either MRT station will get you there. 

Cost: $60+ for 2 pax. The dessert is almost the cost of a main but it's worth trying... Better bring a partner along to share cost! :D

Foodie Review: Tea Time @ TWG Tea Salon & Boutique - The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands

Taste: 5 out of 5.
-> Tea: I had the usual Earl Grey while my partner went for the 1837 Black Tea. Both tea fragrance smelled great. The tea was smooth and served at the perfect temperature that doesn't burn our tongue.

-> Muffins: I am not a muffin lover but we went for the muffins. The chocolate muffin was towards a brownie texture where the chocolate melts in my mouth. The sweetness is well-balanced. I liked it a lot!! The muffins are served with a small servings of their tea jelly and a whipped cream. I finished off the butter/vanilla muffin with the tea jelly. I would HIGHLY recommend their tea jelly! I liked it so much that I immediately purchased a bottle after my high tea. But it is indeed a pricey item (SGD $19 for a bottle)

Service: 4.5 out of 5. There is only one person who does the ushering. When seated, the waiters were very efficient.

Location: Take the Circle Line and alight at Promenade and head to the basement 2 of The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.

Cost: $36+ for 2 person. Note for tea time, it is required that each diner must order at least 1 pot of tea/drink. We went for the tea time set (1 pot of tea + 2 muffins/scones) @ $19 and top up with another pot of tea.

Foodie Times: Sushi Tei @ JEM Jurong East

Sushi Tei

Tamagoyaki (Can't remember the exact name to it)

Taste: 5 out of 5.
Tamagoyaki - This is one of the basic Japanese dish that SHOULD NEVER go wrong AND it didn't go wrong so yeah. This is nice!
Potato Coquette - This is one of the basic Japanese snacks which can hardly go wrong (unless served cold).
Chicken Don: The sweet sauce quantity was proportional to the rice and ingredients. Meat is soft and quantity is enough to cover the bowl.. (but the bowl is not very big). Tasted even better with Shichimi (7 flavor chili pepper)
Tempura Don: This was during the period where I was SOOOoo into tempura don. The portion is decent but not recommended for the big eater unless with side dishes. The sweet sauce quantity was proportional to the rice and tempura. The tempura items was enough to go with the rice. The tempura was crispy on the outside, and the thickness/meat still retain it's fragrance and of the right texture.

Service: 5 out of 5. So far, Sushi Tei had always gave a good impression for service.

Location: At the 3rd level of the shopping mall @ JEM, beside Jurong East MRT
Price: $40 for the above (for 2 person)

.

.

.

.

.

Just some blabbing..
Most of my food reviews:-

Taste grading are often given 4~5 out of 5 because of 1 main point. I can't cook better than the chef. Unless it was really awfully, below expectation, simply inedible, else the reviews will not be given anything lower than 3.5.

Service grading between 3~5 is for the average to excellent service. Anything lower than 3, it would be due to bad attitude, physical abuse (well I did got splash with a glass of watermelon juice because the waiter was a new staff who couldn't manage his tray of 5 glasses), etc etc

Foodie Times Hong Guo @ Chinatown Point

Cross Bridge Vermicelli 

Szechuan Chilli Chicken Cube

Pumpkin with salted egg york

Taste: 4.5 out of 5.
-> Cross Bridge Vermicelli: There were different sets to choose from. We opted for the one with vegetable and meat. The noodle seemed like the thick rice noodle while I was expecting the thin version. The bowl was huge and the soup was hot, but not piping hot... (I want it to be piping hot). 
It was bland with a lot of vegetables. Didn't add any condiment since our side dishes was spicy.
->Szechuan Fried Chicken Cube: Lived up to it's name. It is spicy. Compliments well with the vermicelli.
-> Pumpkin with salted egg york: It was a bit soggy when served. Not sure if it's meant to be. Can taste the pumpkin and a bit of salted egg. Portion seemed a bit too little (for me since I am a big eater)

Service: 5 out of 5. The waitress was very detail in the orders. She checked with us if we wanted the vermicelli set to be served with everything in the bowl or served as shown in the menu where we pour in the ingredients on our own.

Location: Accessible via Circle Line @ Chinatown and proceed to Chinatown Point @ Level 2.

Cost: Can't remember the exact cost but should be around $40 for the above side dishes + 2 sets of the vermicelli (around $20 per person)

Foodie Times: Korean Dessert Bingsu Bingsu Bingsu

Location: Refer to the description below the pictures

 

Mango Bingu - Chicken Up @ Jurong East MRT

Taste: 5 out of 5. Served with whipped cream, it doesn't look like what is shown in their picture. BUT, the finely shaved ice is great. Melts in the mouth and no lumpy ice. A pity it was mango with whipped cream, mango chunks and mango syrup. But for the price, what's more can I ask for.

Service: 4.5 out of 5. For this Bingsu, it was fast unlike my subsequent visit at Chicken Up. 

Location: Located at the 1st floor of Jurong East MRT station.

Cost: $3.50 @ Qoo10 discount

 

Mango Bingu - JIJIM @ Westgate Basement

Taste: 4 out of 5. Wanted to impress someone with the fine shaved ice. Had my expectation up since I tried the bingsu @ Chicken Up. However, it wasn't as good. There were still small lumps of ice and it was a bit too sweet. Apart from the shaved ice, there were a scoop of mango ice cream and a lot of mango chunks.

Service:3.5 out of 5. Preparation was quick a long wait. Not sure what went wrong on that day of my purchase but could see the lady going around many times making this. 

Location: Located at the basement of Westgate, beside Jurong East MRT

Cost: $7.90 per serving. 

Coffee Bingsu (Size = Double) - Caffebene @ Vivocity

Finally get to try this. Been to the place once but it was full house and almost gave up waiting for seats again. There are seats outdoor but it was a hot weather so we didn't want to melt ourselves (and the bingsu) with the weather. To enjoy, push in the ice cream and mixed well. Then... just dig in!

Taste: 4.5 out of 5. This is the bigger size version since there were 3 of us sharing. I found it sweet when I was almost finishing it. It reminded me of the ice-blend mocha from McCafe. I guess I am really more of a tea person than coffee. But the nuts, cereal and chocolate/coffee beans ingredients keep me going as there gave a plenty of those.

Service: 4.5 out of 5. Since there were other orders ahead of ours, so we did wait for a short while.

Location:  Level 2 of Vivocity. (We got lost even though we had been there before).

Cost: $19.90 for the Double Size

Foodie Times Tim Ho Wan @ Westgate

Location: Tim Ho Wan @ Westgate

What I ordered

Signature Char Siew Pork Bun

Braised Beancurd

Every month special: Salt and Pepper Dory Fish Fillet 

Osmanthus with Wolfberries Jelly 

Taste: 5 out of 5  (Excellent). Everything served are hot (except the dessert which is supposed to be cold). Taste just right. Serving is good for me since my dining partner is a small eater.

Service: 4.5 out of 5. The staffs are fast and their dish serving is quick. 

Location: Alight at Jurong East Mrt and proceed to the 1st level of Westgate.

Cost: Around SGD $30+ for the above.

Must know: 

1. There are many outlets apart from Westgate. Find them here.
2. They have a special menu which featured seasonal dishes which changes every month. 
3. When it first open in Singapore, the queue is terribly long. So.. Order takeaways! But the price is different from the dine in menu and not all items at the dine in menu are available for takeaways.

Earl Grey Tea Cookie Recipe

Got the ingredients from the web and I can't remember the source. If you are the owner to the recipe and wish to be credited for this, please highlight to me with your link and I will do so.

Ingredients
a. 256g all purpose flour
b. 4 tablespoons finely grounded Earl Grey tea leaves (approx 8 teabags)
c. 1/2 teaspoon salt
d. 227g unsalted butter
e. 100 g confectioner sugar
f. 1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest

Steps

1. Combine tea leaves, salt and flour in a bowl and mix well

2. In another large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar till white and fluffy. (About 3 minutes using medium beating speed)

3. Add flour mixture into the creamed mixture till well blend (using low speed) or till it formed a dough. (Mine didn't formed a perfect dough, it was towards a sticky mixture)

4. Scoop mixture cling wrap or baking paper. (Despite not forming the dough, I proceed with this step. Highly recommended to use baking paper instead as small chunk of the mixture might get stuck on the cling wrap if not properly laid)

5. Roll into a log (approx 2 1/2 inch in diameter) and twist the end of wrap.

6. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

7. Preheat oven to 180°C

8. Remove dough from cling wrap and cut into 0.4cm thick circle pieces.

9. Place on baking tray approx. 2 inch apart and bake for 12 minutes or edges are just brown.

10. Cool for 5 minutes and transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature.

My Earl Grey Cookies

Side Notes
-> Follow step 10 as cookie will break/crumble easily if remove immediately from baking tray.
-> Tea leaves should be finely grounded or it might have a bitter after-taste.
-> If the cookies spread out/flatten during baking, lightly flour the baking tray and/or chill the cut dough before baking.

Taiwanese Crepe Dan Bing 蛋餅

After my trip from Taiwan, I have been craving for this which I had at Taipei every morning when we had to hunt for breakfast. So I made my own...

Ingredients:
a. 100g flour
b. 1/2 tblsp cornflour
c. 1/2 tsp salt
d. 150ml water
e. 2 eggs
f. 1 stalk spring onion (washed and chopped)
Optional Sauce
g. Japanese sweet sauce/Mayo/Chili sauce

1. Sift flour, cornflour and salt in a mixing bowl
2. Add in water into the flour mixture and mixed well till no lumps can be found in the batter (Use whisk for fast combining)
3. In another bowl, beat eggs with chopped spring onion
4. In a non-stick flat pan, heat up lightly oil pan using low heat (oil is required for the crepe crispness).
5. Pour a scoop of the batter into the centre and quickly use the bottom of the scoop to spread out the batter in a circle motion till thin thickness.
6. On the top of the batter, pour a scoop of eggs mixture and spread the eggs mixture to cover the batter.
7. When eggs are almost cooked/when the crepe looked translucent, fold the crepe while allowing the crepe to continue cooking
8. Slice the crepe and served with the optional sauce.

Side Notes

-> After step 6, if you prefer the eggs to be more throughout cooked, then Step 6b. flipped the crepe on pan for around 10-20 seconds and follow step 7.

-> Can also add in more ingredients such as ham, bacon, hotdog, cheese etc. Either add in the ingredient in the egg mixture and proceed with the above Step 6b. However, extend the cooking time to make sure the ingredients used are cooked thoroughly. 

Almond Florentine Recipe (using Florentine Powder)

Makes around 36 pieces of square blocks (1 inch * 1 inch) with the below ingredients

Ingredients
a. 80g almond
b. 20g pumpkin seeds
c. 10g cranberries
d. 50g-70g florentine powder

Method
1. Mixed almond, pumpkin seeds and cranberries (ingredient a-c) in a bowl and stir in florentine powder a tablespoon at a time for easier mixing.

2. Preheat oven at 180C

3. Line baking tray with baking paper and spread the mixture evenly till baking tray is filled up evenly.

4. Bake at 180C till brown approx 8-10 minutes. (If it has a burnt smell before 10 minutes is up, quickly stop the baking and adjust the baking time)

5. When baking is completed, remove the baked almond florentine from baking tray and on a even surface (I used my cooking board), quickly cut the florentine into required shapes. (I cut them into squares)

Side Notes:
-> Previously I made this with the butter and sugar recipe which involved more steps. It  significantly less costly but it tedious trying to separate the almond so it would laid thinly on the baking sheets. The outcome wasn't as good as using Florentine powder too. There were part where it was too dark or burnt while some were too soft because of inconsistent thickness. Using the Florentine powder, it was almost only 5% failure from the baking and it was not because it was burnt, but because too thick and required a longer baking time.

-> Almond is highly recommended as the base ingredient. For pumpkin seeds and cranberries, apart from the texture difference, the color itself is the reason I choose them. If you are not a fan of these two ingredients, you can explore other options such as walnut, preserved cherries, pistachio, raisins etc.

-> I got the florentine powder from Phoon Huat which is a packet @ 500g around $12 (is $11.xx but can't remember actual pricing.)

-> The florentine powder will become sticky and lumped together if exposed to air after some time. Don't leave the mixture lying around for long or you can't tell if it's been mixed with the powder already

-> If you have broken pieces of the baked almond florentine, don't throw away! Consolidate them up in a bottle and bake them into a ball size style. It still look lovely for gifting and taste great too.

Almond Florentine Ball (in Baking Cases)

Steps
1. Mixed the consolidated florentine with a table spoon of florentine power.

2. Prepare mini baking cases and lay them on the baking tray individually.

3. With the mixture from 1., scoop a teaspoonful of the mixture into the mini baking cases.

4. Preheat oven at 180C
5. Bake at 180C for around 5- 6 minutes or till the powder has turned brown. If it has a burnt      
          smell before 10 minutes is up, quickly stop the baking and adjust the baking time

小財神摺紙 Chinese Mammon Origami （財神爺折紙）- Folding Fortune God with Paper

Jumped on the wagon to fold fortune god for Chinese New Year.

Many other designs can be found from here

Or watch the video directly from:

Managed to do a few but not RED.. I bought a pack of folding paper from Daiso with floral prints. Looked nice to me though. 

I pasted on my walls for the CNY 2016! Huat ah!!

Koi Fish Nian Gao Recipe 鯉鱼年糕 (年年有鱼/余)

Wanted to make the Fish Nian Gao for Chinese New Year and googled to find the recipe from this blog.

First thing I need.. is the mould! I tried to find the fish mould at Phoon Huat but can't find.  (Updated as of 5th Feb 2016: Saw Phoon Huat had a big fish mould. Think it was sold out previously)

Googled (again) and found it at Kitchen Caper at Kallang Bahru (Singapore). Finally got it @ 3 for $5.00.

Mould for small fish

Mould for big fish

Ingredients:

a. 200g glutinuous rice flour
b. 100g ungluten wheat flour ( tang mien  flour)
c. 25g rice flour
d. 160g-180g sugar (I used 170g)
e. 400ml coconut milk (used 2 small packet (200ml) easier, don't need to measure)
f. 150ml water
g. 1tbsp corn oil
h. 1 tsp orange coloring
i. Small quantity (around 10 pieces) of raisins/wolfberries/cooked red beans OR coloring

Method:
1..Sieve all the flour (ingredients a - c) together.

2.  Stir in coconut milk and mix well.

3.Boil water with sugar and mix well till the sugar dissolve and leave to cool.

4.Stir sugar syrup and oil into flour mixture and mixed well. (I used a whisk for faster and easier mixing the mixture)

5.Remove a quarter of the mixture and used the smaller portion and add in the desired coloring.

6.Greased the fish mould (Remove excess oil in the fish mould with paper towel)

7. Drip a few drops where you want the orange color to appear and steam for 3-5 minutes.

8. Half-fill the fish mould with plain batter. Drip in a few drops of the orange color and fill up with plain batter.

9. Steam for 20-30mins on high heat.

10. After remove from heat, let the nian gao cool to room temperature.

11. Remove from mould, start with removing the tail till head to prevent the tail from crack. As you have greased the mould, it will be easy to remove from mould.

12. Fish Eyes -
Either:
a. Insert the raisin/wolfberry/cooked red bean for the (big size) fish eyes
OR
b. Color it with coloring. I tried coloring for my fish nian gao eyes with the use of a toothpick.

However, the coloring smudged after a few days' time. 

Suggestion: Stick to method a. - insert one of the mentioned ingredient for the fish eyes.

Sides Notes: 
The mould: The mould is suitable for making jelly and steaming. However, the shop lady mentioned that the material of the mould is not advisable for long hours of steaming. Recommended is less than 20 minutes but I tried 30 minutes and the mould still looked fine.

Steamer: I used the tefal streamer. Turn the dial to the required timing and let it steam.

Refrigerate..or not?: If refrigerated, the nian gao would be harden (and more firm). However, it cracked (for my nian gao) after I removed it from the fridge... It cracked after a few days' time, not instantly noticeable.

Quantity made: I was able to make 4 big fishes, 6 small fishes with some remaining batter that is enough for 2 small ingots.

Color Options: For the fish nian gao, from pure orange, to semi-orange and white, to semi-red with white, or red-orange-black with white, you can play around with color varieties. For a classy feel, dust/brush it with some gold color.

Packing: ROUND container with CLEAR cover highly recommended if you have 2 fishes of the same shape. If can't find a clear cover, look for container with removable lid. If no lid, use shrink wrap instead to prevent dust or pest. Can also consider a gold color round board. Decorations piece such a gold coin or ingots or greeting words goes well too.


"Huat" time: It took around 3 days after I removed it from fridge to room temperature for the fish nian gao to "huat" (as in the black spots (mold)).

Foodie Times Tonkatsu Ma Maison

Went to try Tonkatsu Ma Maison @ Westgate by chance and after that, I just can't stopped craving for more. After my visit to the outlet at Westgate, I went on to try the outlets @ Chijmes and Mandarin Gallery.

What I ordered

Tonakatsu - Ma Maison @ Westgate - Jurong East (Highly recommended)

Taste: 5 out of 5  (Excellent). Soup served is hot and taste great. Multigrain rice or white rice to choose from (I recommend to opt for multigrain rice). Tonkatsu served is crispy on the outside with not too thick or thin meat.

Service: 5 out of 5  (Excellent). The number of staffs seemed limited but they maintained their efficiency in providing service. When my rice/soup/cabbage/tea is almost finished, they quickly came to ask if refill is needed.

Location: Alight at Jurong East Mrt and proceed to the 5th level of Westgate, it is just next to the Kids playground.

Cost: Around SGD $27 for a tonkatsu (pork loin) 160grams.

Must know: 

1. The set comes with refillable soup, rice and cabbage. 
2. If patronize during lunch time, there is lunch time special price.
3. Flexibility in ordering the portions. Choose the weight of the meat from 120grams, 160grams or 250grams.