[Invited Tasting] T.K Kitchen 小厨 @ 710 荣发 (Rong Fa) Coffeeshop Clementi

We ventured to this place nestled amongst the HDB flats in the Clementi West Street 2 neighbourhood area. Went passed quite a few coffeeshop before coming to this one. T.K Kitchen is one of the stall in this coffeeshop. Its main outlet is at Blk 37, Teban Gardens #01-302, S600037.

T.K Kitchen

menu

Left it to the Chef to introduce the shop's specialty. Because we were just a group of 4, we had small portions for most of the dishes.

are we having steamboat?

There was a small portable gas stove on our table, so I was wondering if we were going to have hotpot/steamboat. Indeed. One of the specialty that is only available at this outlet, is the Chicken Soup Set which uses half a kampung chicken and it even has pig's stomach. Came with a side of vegetables, which we can cook in the soup ala hotpot style.

Chicken Soup Set @$22 (half-chicken) 

The pepper taste was pleasantly good and not overpowering. The free-range chicken (kampung chicken) and pig's stomach combo with red dates resulted in delicious soup . It was ready to drink from the onset with lots of flavour but setting it to a boil with the rest of the vegetables gave it a deeper flavour.

kampung chicken and pig's stomach soup

My impression of kampung chicken was that it would be tough. The version that we had were surprisingly tender but yet flavourful. This was one of those dishes that one could enjoy with the young and old in the family. 

Since this chicken soup can also be the soup base for hotpot, simply order up additional plates of vege, meats (pork and chicken), seafood (prawns, squid or lala/clams) or fish. The price ranged from $1.80 to $7.80.

vegetables going into the soup

Assam fish is typically what one could find, but here, they have assam prawns instead. A tangy dish that whets the appetite for more.

If you have kids, then you might want to get the Cai Pu Beancurd. For me, I loved the soft egg tofu that was not overly eggy but yet smooth and silky. The toppings were caramelized with sugar hence, it has that sugary crunchy bite. The taste of cai poh was not apparent.

Assam Prawns @$15

Homemade Cai Pu Beancurd (菜脯豆腐) @$8

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Sambal kang kung (morning glory) or sweet potato leaves, these are the two favourite choice of diners. If you want to have both of them but don't want to pay for two plates of vegetable, well one could just ask for a mix of these two on one plate.

sambal kangkung and sweet potato leaves @$6

One of the popular dishes from its Teban Gardens main outlet is the Thousand Island Fish (千岛鱼). I think my dad would like this. For those who love creamy sauces like mayo, and something that's leaning towards the sweet side/

Thousand Island Fish @$10

Also had a chance to try White Pepper Crab and Salted Egg Crab (Fried). The former was stir-fried with lots of spring onions. Savoury and strong flavours. Fingers-licking good! The crab was meaty and sweet. White Pepper Crab with beer would make a good pair.

Salted Egg Crab @$40 (one crab)

White Pepper Crab @$40

This place is convenient, especially for those that are staying nearby at 710 Clementi West Street 2. Just come on down the block and voila, there's food! My favourites were the Chicken Hotpot and the White Pepper Crab.

[Media Invite] KANPAI! The Day of Sake 2018 日本酒の日 KANPAI!イベント2018

1 October is also known as 'World Sake Day' or 'Sake Day'. This is an annual event held in the celebration of sake (酒), a well-beloved alcoholic beverage. One of my favourite in fact. Was invited by the good folks at Grand Copthorne Waterfront to join in the KANPAI! event in celebration of Sake Day.

Had fun tasting the sake and shochu from the different breweries and prefectures, and of course, enjoyed the delicious food available from Grissini. This year's food theme for the KANPAI event was local favourites. There were buffet style small plates of chicken rice, roast pork, Singapore laksa, rojak, satay and various kuehs such as ang ku kueh (紅龜粿) and kueh dadar.

The first sake tasted was the Daiginjo Tokugawa Ieyasu (named after the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and one of the three unifiers of Japan). The Tokugawa clan crest is printed on the box.

Tokugawa Ieyasu Daiginjo (Maruishi Jozo) - 徳川 家康 大吟醸

Daiginjo Tokugawa Ieyasu

The taste was a balanced sweet with a smooth mouthfeel. Lovely!

sake set

Next up, was Apple Chan. Cute, right? I believe this was the first time am trying a Nama Sake (生酒) which is said to be the freshest sake because it did not underwent any pasteurization. A Tokubetsu Junmai (特別純米) is a high quality sake. Apple Chan (Ringochan) tasted light, dry and slightly fruity. It was almost as if the sake was imbued with the fragrance of green apple.

AZAKURA RINGOCHAN TOKUBETSUJUNMAI NAMA (秋田酒こまち) and DAINA TOKUBETSU JUNMAI 13 GENSHU (山田錦)

Let's move away a little while from the delicious sake to sample the food from Grissini's kitchen. There were live stations for Singapore Laksa, Satay and Chicken Rice.

Singapore Laksa - one for you and one for me

Satay

Steamed Chicken Rice with Roast Pork

Peking Duck

With food in the belly, it was then time to sample more drinks! This time round, shochu. Shochu is distilled while sake is fermented. Shochu can be distilled from rice, sweet potato, buckwheat (soba) or brown sugar. I've tried all except the ones distilled from soba.

Shochu (焼酎)

Be forewarned that shochu has higher alcoholic content than sake and wine but weaker than whisky. One could have it neat, on the rocks, with water or mixed with oolong tea or fruit juice or mixed with soda and other flavours such as yuzu/ume.

these two were pretty potent (the one on the left strongest!)

can't resist

so many to try

And at the appointed hour, everyone raised their glasses to toast for a bountiful year ahead! Kanpai!

乾杯

Thank you Gilbert for the invite and Grand Copthorne Waterfront for hosting the event. It was enjoyable and educational as well. Learnt more about sake (and shochu) and still discovering the characteristics of the different types and specialty of the breweries.

[Bandung] Strawberry Farm and Saung Gawir Restaurant

First visit to a strawberry farm. Yay to easy peasy activities! It was a peaceful bus ride to the farm. Weather was good and hopefully, there'll be enough strawberries for us bus load of people to pick!

scenery on the way to strawberry farm 

The strawberries are planted onto its own container and these containers are arranged in neat rows. So many of these sections all over the farm. Some are newly planted hence, either they are still green or very small in size. Walk around to scout for those ripe and bigger ones. Some say those nearer to the huts has bigger strawberries.

a section

select wisely

There are those straw hats that one could wear when picking the strawberries because you'd likely be spending about half hour bending over and selecting those that you like. A small scissor and a small basket will also be provided. Once done, just head over to the weighing counter to see how much it'll cost. Mine came up to about SGD4.80.

my pickings

There is a cafe next to the farm and one could get strawberry juice or strawberry milkshake from there as well. It has clean washroom plus resting area.

working hard for the next harvest

Nearby (about 5 to 10 minutes bus ride away), there is a restaurant called Saung Gawir so one could have lunch there.

interior of the Saung Gawir

Before lunch, one could take a stroll as this place has nice surroundings. It overlooks the hill and there are many interesting plants around it.

hill top dining

otak otak

Our lunch at Saung Gawir was Nasi Liwet. The rice was served in a separate steel pot and in it, there are some chilies. Our guide said that there are some coconut milk cooked in the rice as well. Oh, then it is similar to nasi lemak except that it doesn't have a strong coconut milk taste in it.

Nasi Liwet Set (to feed 4 pax)

The dishes for the rice was served altogether on a tray with banana leave. It has grilled chicken, lalapan (fresh lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes), fried beancurd skin, tofu and crackers. Its center was a dish of sambal.

On the side, there was an extra plate of fried indomie and one small whole fish ikan asin (salted fish).

fried noodles

salted fish

Communal dining with delicious dishes at Saung Gawir. This was our second most delicious meal after the one at Boemi Mitoha.

my plate

Saung Gawir Restaurant

Address: Jl. Raya Ciwidey - Rancabali KM.6, Alamendah, Rancabali, Bandung, Jawa Barat 40973, Indonesia
Contact: +62 22 85920675
Business Hours:
Daily: 9am to 5pm, Sat and Sun closes at 7pm

[Bandung] Kawah Ratu and Wilujeng Sumping Balibu RM. Khas Sunda

It rained in the morning and just before our excursion to Kawah Ratu. Kawah Ratu or also known as 'Queen's Crater' is located at Tangkuban Perahu. A trip to the volcano!

Our tour guide described it as an easy trek. It was quite tedious actually. Slippery paths due to the early rainfall, made it all harder.

interesting looking cooking cyclinder, so cute

It was quite a long bus ride to the mountain top.

a hotel in the middle of nowhere

going higher and higher

ok, this was where we left our comfy bus seats

ticket for shuttle bus to bring us up somemore

on higher grounds

anyone wants a pony ride?

he's so gentle

The pony was really gentle. Such soft silky fur on its body too. It only cost Rp50,000 to ride one. The handler will hold the reins and lead the pony around the area and for the last lap, the pony will break into a faster trot. Final burst for the finale! Hahaha!

mountain view

time to get down there

bubbling hot

The whole trip was us trekking down on a jungle trail with a guide, and towards the crater. Just need to watch where you're stepping otherwise, it was easy to fall on one's butt. Probably an hour to get down and once you're down there, it was basically relaxing and soaking the feet into one of those hot spring. The temperature of the hot springs in Kawah Domas varies. Some hot, and some not so hot. Mine was the not so hot ones, and hence, lesser people was at that area. Egg is sold and your guide will likely ask if you want some. If yes, he can help you to get some from the vendor and put it to boil in one of the boiling hot springs. The guide would also offer his service to help you massage your tired calves with mud.

After resting for about 30 minutes, it was time to trek back up again. Yes, what goes down must come up again. If you are too tired, there are people who would fetch you back to the bus parking lot area on a motorcycle/scooter. Yes, the transport service is available for a fee. It'll cost about Rp10,000 for a short trip.

saw this guy on the way back

The trek downwards started around 10.30am and we were back up on our bus at 1.30pm. All, in all, we walked for about 2.5 hours.

It was then time for lunch and we were hungry after all the strenuous exercise. The sulfur hard boiled egg did help to stave of some of the hunger pangs.

restaurant

lunch time

The food at Balibu consist of mostly fried items. By this time, I realized that for every meal, there will be lalapan which is essentially a plate of Sundanese raw vegetable salad served with sambal. Usually there'd be lettuce, sliced tomatoes and cucumber. The sambal chili is usually pretty powerful. Loved the vegetables in Bandung as they are so fresh!

The fried chicken and fish at Balibu were dryer than the first meal that we had. I liked the beancurd skin item. Satay was eaten with a bit of fear as on the way to the restaurant, our tour guide said that the people in that area loved to eat monitor lizard satay. Eeek..

Kawah Ratu

Address: Jl. Gn. Tangkuban Perahu, Cicadas, Sagalaherang, Kabupaten Subang, Jawa Barat 41282, Indonesia
Business Hours: Daily 8am to 5pm

Wilujeng Sumping Balibu RM. Khas Sunda

Address: Jalan Raya Tangkuban Perahu 423A, Lembang Bandung – 40391 Jawa Barat
Website: http://www.rmbalibu.com/
Contact: (022) 2789582