Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts

Sunday, November 25, 2018

Happenings Every 1st Saturday of the Month @ Live Like a Local with Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel

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If you are staying over at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel over the weekends and it happens to be the 1st Saturday of the month, then you are in for a treat. The hotel has specially curated activities in accordance of cultural festivities celebrated in Singapore, to allow a fresh, hands-on experience for their guests. One could take a look at the activity schedule here. All these are offered complimentary, hence do enquire from the concierge.

Let's have a glimpse of the activities!

How to Cook like a Master Chef –1 December 2018 (Christmas)

We tried our hands at panzerotti making under the watchful guidance from Chef Mirko Vinci, Head Chef of Grissini. Panzerotti originates from Central and South Italy, and is like a mini calzone.

making panzerotti with Chef Mirko @ Grissini

Was stoked to have our own apron and Chef's hat prepared for the session. This activity is also suitable for families with children. Chef demonstrated the process of making the dough from scratch as well as mixing of the ingredients.

Chef Mirko kneading the dough
churning out the pastry sheet


getting it ready for the participants to hands-on

It was like making prawn dumplings or curry puff. Get the pastry sheet, put in the fillings, spritz it with water and fold it, before deep frying.

ready for the fryer
panzerotti


enjoying the outcome


To be a Tai Chi Master– 5 January 2019 (New Year)

It was a rainy morning when we had the session with Master Leo. First, he'd explain the benefits of Tai Chi and after which, we proceeded to watch a demonstration before eventually trying out the basic moves with him.

Tai Chi Quan (太极拳) is a form of martial arts, often practiced for self-defense and health benefits. Modern styles of Tai Chi are differentiated into five schools; Chen, Yang, Hao, Wu and Sun. The one taught by Master Leo belongs to the Yang family style; 楊氏. If you are interested to know the stances for Yang-family Tai Chi, here is a link.

Master Leo, Tai Chi Master
advanced moves
Master Leo conducts the lesson in English and he has given English names to the stances. Expect to hear things like "Grasp the bird tail", "Stork spread wings" etc. We were introduced to the first 18 out of 104 stances. At least, now I know what to do when I hear"commencement of Tai Chi".

Merlion Chocolate Carving– 6 July 2019 (Racial Harmony Day)

Chocolate carving experience was fun, and if you need glasses, do bring them along otherwise, you'd be like me, having to squint through out the session. I am presbyopic. Ooh, do wear a light cardigan or a sweater as the room will be tuned to a lower temperature in order to preserve the condition of the chocolate block.

everything that we need
Artist Wee introducing the processes

Put on the glove and we are ready to start. Handling the tools reminded me of my Biology classes. Artist Wee was friendly and we could ask him any questions when we got stuck or made a mistake during the session.

let's the fun begin!
most often used tool
outlining
I carved a (choco) Merlion today
The merlion chocolate makes a good souvenir to bring home.


Shake a Cocktail– 6 April 2019 (Easter)

We headed down to Tempo for this session. In-house mixologist, Valentyn was on-hand to guide us through.

Shake a Cocktail
ingredients all lined up

We made Singapore Sling and Daiquiri. Singapore Sling is an iconic drink that is gin-based. There were 7 ingredients for Singapore Sling, and all these were to be poured into the shaker.

ready to be shaken
shake it, don't drop it
strain it 
topped it with soda water
Singapore Sling, Grand Copthorne Waterfront style

In comparison, Daiquiri's recipe was much easier. Only 3 ingredients. The only question that I had was why the shaker was not insulated? So cold and hard to shake for long. Kudos to the mixologist and bartenders for being able to withstand the cold.

pour it in
Daiquiri, shaken not stirred

Am guessing that this activity would be pretty popular amongst guests who loves their cocktail. Remember not to miss it!

For more information on the other activities happening on the 1st Saturday of the month, please visit the hotel link.


Thank you Gilbert and team Grand Copthorne Waterfront for the experience preview. It was fun!

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Exploring Hong Lim Food Center @ Upper Cross Street

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Best to come during non-peak hours as the queue starts to form around 20 minutes before noon. By 12pm, the lunch crowd are all in. Or, anytime just right after 10am would be good for a leisurely breakfast. Nearest MRT would be Chinatown station. Along with Kris (@msginginly) and Jen (@jellylovefats), we had decided to order our foods from selected stalls at Level 2. Each of us picked one stall to order from. Jen's choice was the Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee (#02-17), Kris selected the Mee Siam from Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa (#02-66) and mine were fromTuck Kee Ipoh Sar Hor Fun (#02-40) and Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee (#02-57/58).

Be prepared to queue for about 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the popularity of the stall. On the weekday of our visit, the fried kway teow stall had the longest queue.


Outram Park Fried Kway Teow @$4.50
Fruit Juice Mee Siam with Crayfish @$6.00
Crayfish and Prawns Ipoh Sar Hor Fun @$8.00 (additional $1 for chicken shreds)
Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee @$4.50

The char kway teow was moist and carried the distinct flavour of lard. The cockles were fresh albeit a tad tiny. As usual, the char kway teow has a sweetish hint and that delightful smokey flavour.The fruit juice mee siam was refreshing and has an undiscernible taste that made one wonders which fruit(s) was used.

The strands of sar hor fun was smooth and the broth was pleasantly mild in flavour. Liked that the seafood was of a good size. Added some chicken shreds as that matches really well with the hor fun. Also liked that this plate of hor fun had some greens in it. A more balanced meal.

Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee has a comforting broth that wasn't spicy. Lots of taupok (fried beancurd skin), few pieces of fishcake and chicken breast meat. Had expected more from this bowl.
 

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Kopi Tiam 咖啡店 @ Swissôtel The Stamford

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Nearest MRT would be City Hall, and from there head on towards Raffles City. Go up to Level 2 and follow the signs to Swissôtel. You will notice Cafe Swiss first, and Kopi Tiam is just round the corner after that.


Kopi Tiam simply means coffee shop. Here it offers comfortable environment and convenience, where one could taste local fares of Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian flavours, all under one roof.

entrance
The ambiance was a bit of ecletic and some bits nostalgic.

local brand

It has been ages since the last visit to this place but I do remember what I ate then. That was before the food blogs era. Hence, for this tasting, I must taste its satay, once more. For old times sake.

menu
table for large group

For starters, we had the satay and rojak. The satay consist of a choice between chicken, beef or lamb. With a mixed plate, one gets to try all three meats all at once. Flavour was good, with the meats well marinated and most importantly, it was deliciously tender. Only lament? The meat skewers were skinny. Could have eaten two plates of these babies. Eh, we did...

beef, lamb and chicken satay @$16++
Now, the rojak. Menu states it as local Chinese salad. It has cucumber, beansprouts, turnip, water spinach, prawn paste, peanut and chili. I liked it. Well balanced and well mixed. The addition of those crispy fritters that remained crispy throughout, was a winner. This was good for sharing between 4-6 pax as appetiser.

Local Chinese Salad - Rojak @$16++

Craving for fried carrot cake and fried oyster omelette? No worries, Kopi Tiam has it. Good for sharing. If you asked, what's the difference between these and those found at the hawker centres? For one thing, the version at Kopi Tiam was less oily. The prawns used in the carrot cake was of a good size and one plate could have feed two as main course, or feed 4 as appetiser.

The oyster omelette had a good flavour going for it, loved the crispy starchy bits but I was let down by the tiniest of oysters. For this price, the expectation would be of plump juicy oysters.

(white) Fried Carrot Cake @$17++
Fried Oyster Omelette @$22++

Moving on to main courses. For noodles, one could opt for laksa or hokkien mee. Bearing the name of Signature "Kopi Tiam" Laksa, the expectation mounts. The colour was good, noodles cooked till just right and the spicy broth was rich but mild in the spice factor. The accompanying ingredients included the usual suspects of fish cake slices, tau pok (beancurd), prawns and shredded chicken. To amped up on the spice, one could request for the sambal. This versatile sambal could be enjoyed with the radish cake as well.

Signature "Kopi Tiam" Laksa @$20++
Braised Hokkien Mee “Singapore Style” @$18++

The Braised Hokkien Mee "Singapore Style" could have been great. The noodles were likeable. Its smooth  texture that glides down the throat and served hot but not burning. The serving size for this plate was rather generous and it can feed two small eaters comfortably. If the broth was infused more with those yummy seafood umami'ness, it would have been better.

If you are dining in a group, then perhaps, you might want to try the Fish Head Curry and some other small dishes to share. The fish head curry is served with pappadum and steamed rice. Its curry spiciness was of a comfortable level and perhaps might come across as mild for locals. Huge fish head with enough meat to go around for a group of 6 pax. Quite shioks to douse the rice with the curry.

Fish Head Curry @$55++

For beef eaters, try there's two styles to choose from with its own distinctive flavours.  Wok-Fried Beef with Shaoxing Wine and Soya Sauce or the Beef Rendang. The wok fried beef was of a smaller bite-sized and cubed. Surprisingly tender. Simple ingredients of New Zealand beef, rice wine and soy sauce. Yums. Give me this, a bowl of rice and I'm happy.

Wok-Fried Beef with Shaoxing Wine and Soya Sauce @$22++

For more robust flavours and beefy chunks of meat, try the beef rendang. Tasted of kaffir leaves, lemakness from coconut milk and macho beef with a bite. Wonder if they sell those yummy spicy rendang sauce in a jar.

Beef Rendang @$20++

To complete the experience, we went loco with the desserts as well. Memories of childhood surfaced with an order of hot bubur cha cha. Cubes of sweet potato, yam and tapioca jelly swimming in a bowl of milky white sweetened coconut milk. Ahhh....those were the days.

Bubur Cha Cha (hot) @$8++
For the modern Singaporean, orh nee (yam paste) seemed like a favourite. Many years ago, one of the ways to enjoy this dessert (short of making it yourself) was to wait for someone's wedding dinner and it might appear as the preferred dessert.

yam paste with gingko nuts (orh nee)

How about something that is slightly modern? The Pisang Goreng, or also known as fried banana fritters. Using pisang emas, and deep fried till golden brown. Served with a drizzle of maple syrup and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Simply lovely.

Pisang Goreng @$9++
hi there, sweetie~

Enjoyable local fares in a comfortable air-conditioned environment. If you are around that area and gotten tired from shopping, why not have a break at Kopi Tiam and try its yummy smooth (and strong) teh-tarik and sweet pisang goreng as tea-break snacks?

Special thanks to Adora, Medwin and Wendy for hosting the session and HGW for the invite.

Kopi Tiam @ Swissôtel The Stamford

Address: Level 2, Swissôtel The Stamford, 2 Stamford Road, Singapore 178882
Website: http://www.swissotel.com/hotels/singapore-stamford/dining/kopi-tiam/
Contact: +65 6431 6156
Reservations: http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/kopi_tiam_swissotel/

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

The Prata Place @ Upper Thomson Road

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This place is somewhere near Springleaf Garden at Upper Thomson Road and definitely needed a car to get there. Remember the Ultimate Hawker Food Fest that was curated by Ian, Maureen and Derrick sometime in October last year? On its 'Ultimate Ingredient' menu, The Prata Place had showcased its Prata with Poached Egg w/ Hollandaise. It's called the Blaster Plaster! But the sauce seemed to be different...

Blaster Plaster
perfectly runny yolk

The Blaster Plaster really tasted like an angmonized prata. It was more of a regular egg benny but on a crispy pancake instead. Didn't really go well with the curry though. It was like a novelty to eat this with teh tarik, but I prefer the usual pratas with strong curry. Speaking of teh tarik, it's almost customary to have it with pratas, don't you think? Or Nescafe tarik. That works too.

teh tarik less sweet

If weather is too hot, have a glass of teh-o-limau ais (iced tea with lime. That's a thirst quencher!

weather too hot? Or, if curry was too hot

The Ultimate Murtabak is on menu, so we got ourselves that. Ultimate anything, should be worth trying, right? This murtabak has tandoori chicken, mushrooms, onions and cheese. Came in a good size for sharing. Loaded with ingredients and tasted so good with the chicken or fish curry. Personal favourite was the fish curry. Yums and spicier.

Ultimate Murtabak
loaded with ingredients

For munchies that doesn't fill you up, there's pappadum. But I'd think pappadum goes better with rice that's drenched in curry sauce, and with some delicious fried chicken.

snack


Then, the latest on the menu would be Umami 50 which has chicken luncheon meat, chicken floss and mayo. Glad that we ordered this, as it was really tasty! Ate it with fish curry and the combo was just wow. Spicy, savoury and sweet at the same time. Lovely and definitely recommended. Don't forget the fish curry sauce.

Umami 50



 
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