ToTT (Tools of The Trade's) @ Dunearn Road, Bukit Timah

Had always passed by ToTT everytime I'm in bus #67 on my way to somewhere else. Hence, was pretty excited to be invited there for their launch of a new cookbook, "Best Brunch Ever" and also their brand new e-commerce site ToTTstore.com.

If taking cab, then tell the taxi uncle that it's Sime Darby building at Dunearn Road. Had a bit of time before the event starts, so went nosying around inside ToTT. They have cookware, cook's tools, bakeware, appliances, tableware, bar, food, homekeeping, cooking studios etc. There's even a Jason's Supermarket to do groceries shopping.

purple themed

looking for cook, bake or hosting stuffs?

items for catering, party hosting, everything

While it's possible to wander around for hours looking at the various items, the event was scheduled to start at 1130am, so off to the cooking studio!

invited chefs to demo recipes from "Best Brunch Ever" cookbook

for media friends

The cookbook showcases brunch ideas from 8 chefs, covering cuisines like American, Australian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Singaporean, Spanish, Italian and French. For that morning, we were treated to recipes by Chef Antonio Facchinette (Prego Restaurant, Fairmont Singapore), Chef Nicolas Joanny (Nicolas Le Restaurant), Chef Dan Segall (The Big Idea) and Chef Chi Quang Trinh (Addictions Café and Remedy Bar).

The demo session started with Chef Antonio, who did Spaghetti Piccanti, an aglio olio kind of dish with a twist.

ready when you are

two screens to show the happenings

adding breadcrumbs

The smell of food was so appetizing and the hungries got even hungrier. Can't wait to try our first brunch dish.

Chef Antonio's Spaghetti Piccanti

spaghetti with calamari, anchovies, some chilies, garlic, breadcrumbs and fennel

It's a dry aglio olio and you won't find oil pooling at the bottom of the plate. Am confident that this can be easily replicated at home.

Chef Nicolas Joanny was up next. He showed us how to make eggs 'a la coque'. This recipe required the top of the egg shell to be sliced off. Then separate the egg whites out and put the yolk back into the 'topless' shell. Ok, sounds like it requires a certain amount of skill.

Chef Nicolas and his assistant

eggs with top shell  and most whites removed, ready to be steamed for 2 minutes

frying the 'popiah' (brick pastry)

prawn encased in feuille de brick and deep fried till golden brown

Steamed egg with abit of cream and drizzled with sherry vinegar plus one prawn in pastry skin deep fried? Nice! First time having eggs with sherry vinegar, and it was rather nice too. Yummy.

Chef Nicolas - eggs 'a la coque'

runny yolk, perfect~

Chef Dan Segall, is how shall I put it? Loud? He's humorous, expressive and basically has a louder voice!

Chef Dan, extolling the virtues of Hotmix Pro

He's making us cornbread wedges with bacon jam. The Hotmix Pro made the process of making bacon jam, seemed rather easy.

ingredients going into the Hotmix Pro

just a tiny pinch to keep it subtle

personally plating the cornbread wedges with bacon jam for the guests

The cornbread colour was bright and chirpy (just the right tone for brunch!) and the bacon jam, we'd definitely like some more of that sweet savoury bacon jam please!

loved the bacon jam to bits!

Chef Chi Quang Trinh, shared with us the food that he misses the most when he's back in Australia, bánh cuốn or steamed rice rolls. Chef Chi was a rather soft-spoken person.

sauteeing the fillings for the rice rolls

very very important to use a non-stick frying pan

eat the steamed rice rolls with dipping sauce and lots of herbs

Was gravely mistaken about the steamed rice rolls. Thought it would be rather bland but it was actually healthy tasting and quite yummy at that! The fillings of minced pork, onions, black fungus were well seasoned and the dipping sauce made of fish sauce, water, sugar, chilies, garlic and lime all worked wonderfully. The super crunchy shallots was a good contrast to the soft chewy skin of the rice rolls.

Chef Chi - steamed rice rolls (bánh cuốn)

like eating chee cheong fun with savoury fillings but minus all the thick black sauce

It was a memorable brunch event! Thank you ToTT and our friendly and charming chefs.

Chef Nicolas, Chef Dan, Chef Chi and Cheft Antonio - thank you!

ToTT is having their Christmas sale now till 25 Dec 2013, so this might be a good time to check out the items that you were planning to get! As my friend puts it this way, "Am sure I always have things to buy from TOTT!"

Thank you Nicholas and team from Foodnews for the invite, and ToTT for hosting us. Best wishes!

Foodpanda - Food Delivery in Singapore [Contest Available: Read on and Win Foodpanda Discounts!]

Feeling lazy on a weekend? Doesn't feel like going out? Sick of instant noodles?

How about calling for delivery? Can't remember which number belongs to which shop? Well, luckily the good folks at foodpanda.sg had done the job of consolidating participating restaurants that offers delivery so that we can just refer to Foodpanda site to do the ordering.

Sounds easy? It is. Because I've tried it.

Before that, you might want to create an account first and setup delivery address and such.

start here

Step 1: Location to deliver to

Key in your delivery postcode, ie. postcode for home or office etc. Then click on 'Find food now!' button. The site will only show all the restaurants that offer delivery to the abovementioned location.

filter to narrow down the choices

Step 2: Choose a restaurant

The rating tool was useful since there are alot of restaurants that I've not tried before. Picked one that has high rating and also high number of ratings received. Also chose one that offers free delivery. Do look out for deals from the various restaurants before deciding.

decided to order Indian Cuisine

Another useful information, is the estimated time it takes to deliver. If it takes 120 minutes and you're very hungry, then it might be better to just pick one that delivers within 60 minutes.


Step 3 and 4: Payment and delivery

Payment can be done via cash on delivery or via paypal. If one chooses cash on delivery, then the customer need to specify how much change is required.

Once the order is confirmed by the restaurant, there will be an acknowledgement via sms. This takes about 10 minutes. In the sms, the estimated delivery arrival time is made known. For mine, it was stated as 80 minutes but the delivery arrived within 60 minutes.

order submitted at  6.50pm, food delivered by 8pm

neatly packed, there's a free can of coke light too~

Ordered Butter Chicken and Omar Shariff Briyani from Omar Shariff Restaurant, located at Sixth Avenue, Bukit Timah.

Omar Shariff Briyani (@$17.80+)

briyani rice packed with boneless mutton, boneless chicken and cubed cheese, served with raita

The pappadum was somewhat smashed up but still crispy. The briyani could be shared amongst 2 pax of small eaters. The mutton cubes were tender and plenty of it to go around. The chicken pieces were rather tasteless though. Rice was fragrant but not overpowering. There's an hard boiled fried egg too. The raita gave this a sourish tang.

butter chicken (@$17.70+)

The butter chicken came in a small container. Felt rather pricey for such a portion. Taste wise, it was nicely sweet and just mildly spiced. Lots of gravy for the rice.

delivery dinner for 2 pax

Foodpanda has an app that one could download from Google Play or App store. Convenient to order for delivery while one is on the way home from the office!

foodpanda app for mobile

To all supporters of Purple Taste, good news! Foodpanda has kindly sponsored 4 discount codes worth $5* each to be given away. Interested readers, do email me asap! Contest closes on Friday 29 Nov 2013, or while stocks last.

Once again, thank you Marguerite and Foodpanda for the opportunity to try this service.


*Condition: min. order of $10, valid till 20 Nov 2014 and for one time use only

Ramen Champion @ Great World City

Ramen Champion Great World City (GWC) opened in early November 2013. This is its 3rd outlet after Bugis+ and T3 Changi airport. Was recently invited to try the ramen from the four contenders of Ramen Champion GWC.

entrance

They are Bishamon Zero, Tonkotsu Itto, Miyamoto and Butaou.

who's going to be Ramen Champion?

nice colourful backdrop

huge lantern inside the restaurant

My first time trying all four brands so was anticipating for the first sip of soup, texture of the noodles, flavours of its ramen egg as well as how its chashiu is going to be like.

First up, Bishamon Zero. Not new to the ramen scene in Singapore. Originated from Sapporo, Hokkaido but interestingly, it has a China-born chef, the boyish Chef Wang Hu Rong. He has undergone intensive training with Mr Koji Tashiro of the Menya Koji Group.

stall front

Bishamon Zero sent out its Sapporo Miso Special Ramen. Soup was flavourful due to its meat (chicken and pork) based broth and miso taste was evident. Not too salty and warms the belly. If the corn had been sweeter, it would've been perfect!

Noodles were springy and cha shu was tender with good ratio of fats and lean. Liked the thickness. The eggs were good, with both the whites and yolk well-flavoured. Yummy. The spicy beanpaste (豆瓣醤) added some kick to the ramen.

Bishamon Zero's beautiful bowl of Sapporo Miso Special Ramen (@$14.80++)

springy curly noodles

For the hungries, one can try the side-dishes too if that bowl of ramen wasn't able to fill you up. Chicken karaage was pretty good. Looked abit flat but its meat was tender enough. Batter tasted very familiar ;)

tori karaage (@$4.80++)

mentaiko gyoza (5 small pieces @$5.80++)

Okonomiyaki Gyoza with bonito flakes (5 small pieces @$5.80++)

snow pear juice is available

Chef Wang made a special appearance, so here's a snapshot of him.

Chef Wang Hu Rong

Next up, sampled the Special Tonkotsu Ramen from Tonkotsu Itto. This brand originated from Tokyo and helmed by Chef Yukihiko Sakamoto. This is his first outlet  outside of Japan, and serves Hakata-style ramen.

Singaporeans are very familiar with tonkotsu (豚骨) broth, boiled for several hours from pork bones resulting in a rich tasting broth.

Tonkotsu Itto's - Special Tonkotsu Ramen (@$16.50++)

cha shu overflowed as it was served in a rather shallow bowl with thin straight noodles

Liked the robust tasty soup full of pork-bones goodness but there was too little of it! Noodles were rather thin and abit soft. Cha shu was good, firm to the bite and not too lean. The wood fungus added some crunch when eaten together with the noodles. The ajitsuke tamago has good flavours in its yolk but the egg whites portion were rather bland.

After this elegant, dainty looking bowl of ramen from Tonkotsu Itto, next was a rather masculine looking one! The Pork and Vegetable Ramen from Miyamoto. Helmed by Chef Ryutaro Miyamoto, this brand was voted as 2012 Narita City Most Popular Ramen, and runner-up in 2013.

Miyamoto - Pork and Vegetable Ramen (@$16++)

Loaded with lots of bean sprouts and cabbage, and had a small mound of chopped garlic. Noodles were of the thick variant kind (similar to mee hoon kueh texture but in noodles form). It's a huge bowl. Generous servings of thick cha shu slices too. Cabbage taste is prominent in the soup. Best amount of vegetables amongst all the contenders. Frankly, this bowl of ramen is not much of a looker but it tasted good. If you fancy thicker noodles and wants more vegetables in your diet yet able to have enough meat, then Miyamoto Pork and Vegetable ramen can fulfill these.

best flavoured yolk!

Finally, it's Butao's turn. Originated from Saitama Prefecture in Tokyo, and was awarded Outstanding Ramen Rookie Award at Hong Kong's The Ultimate Ramen Champion competition. Doesn't that makes you eager to know how well it'll fare in Singapore?

Butao - Special Sukiyaki Ramen (@$16++)

Chef Toshikazu Yoneda had indeed created something special. Poached egg? Sukiyaki soup base for ramen? Ok, a first for me. Soup was sweet as expected of a sukiyaki broth cooked with pork bones and vegetables. Light tasting with sweetness. Break the poached egg, stir well into the soup. Quite yummy. Didn't like the pork slices though as they were a bit tough.

soup slurped up in no time!

Also tried a personal favourite of Malcolm. Butao's fried chicken wings. One pax can easily polish off a plate of these. Beer food, or children's favourite?

sprinkle with lots of chili powder, add a squeeze of lemon

Don't forget to vote for your favourite ramen contender to become the Ramen Champion!

whom has captivated your tummy?

Special thanks to Malcolm, Komars Group for the invite. Ramen Champion, ごちそうさまでした!

Morgan's Christmas Platter 2013 @ Morganfield's Star Vista

Christmas came early at Morganfield's! For the month of November and December, one can try the ala-carte Christmas Cranberry Sticky Bones, Christmas Thyme Sticky Bones, or Morgan’s Christmas Platter (for 4 pax). There are festive drinks too. Fancy a Red Christmas Cooler, White Christmas Sangria and Santa's Big Mug. Sounds very xmas'sy, ya?

Thanks you Morganfield's for giving us the opportunity  to try the Morgan's Christmas Platter, Festive Dessert Platter and Christmas drinks. Warning: Only meatatarians shall proceed! (seriously)

Morgan's Christmas Platter (for 4 pax @$149.90++)

The Christmas Platter needs to be reserved 5 days in advance, and delivery islandwide is available too with an additional charge of $25 per delivery location. Party at the office? At home? woOOooHoOo!

The restaurant was bustling with customers, and seems like the Christmas Platter is already becoming quite popular as I saw other tables also had this too!

It needs about 15 minutes for them to prepare prior to serving, so we had sauteed mushrooms with parmesan. This was one tasty dish, albeit a tad heavy on salt. Good as beer food. Definitely need a drink when eating this.

sauteed king mushrooms with merlot garlic butter, sprinkled liberally with chopped spring onions and parmesan cheese

Red Christmas Cooler (@$8.90++)

Red Christmas Cooler tasted primarily of watermelon, cranberry juice and a touch of lemon with some raspberries thrown in. A refreshing drink but was patiently awaiting the alcoholic ones. Keke.

xmassy deco

Had expected quite a bit of food, but yet, was still awed when the platter arrived.

Morgan's Christmas Platter 2013 (for 4 pax, and some more)

There were 2 humongous turkey drumsticks, a couple of thick slices of ham, good amount of boiled broccoli, roasted pumpkin and potatoes, many sausages (6), one half-slab each of cranberry and thyme ribs, and 3 muffins.

dinner guests couldn't help but to snap a few shots of that huge platter

Essentially, it did look like 4 main courses all plated together but between the four of us, we couldn't finish everything. So, this one is good for 5 pax, unless your group consists of very very hungry people and those that can eat alot type!

let's dig in!

The ham looked abit dry but it was good. Thicker slices of good ham always worked. For the ribs, personal preference was the Christmas Thyme Sticky Bones but my friends mostly preferred the Christmas Cranberry Sticky Bones. They felt that the sweetness found in cranberry ribs was more natural than thyme ribs. Hmm, salty sweet for Christmas Thyme Sticky Bones!

The Italian sausage was pretty spicy, so it served as a counter-balance for all the sweetness from cranberries coated turkey and ribs.

hey there, cheese sausage *nom nom nom*

White Christmas Sangria (@$12.90++)

White Christmas Sangria is a mix of Sauvignon Blanc, peach puree, diced green apples and oranges. Tasted fruity. Maybe a 10% increase of the alcohol ratio would be good to make this a slightly more 'adult' drink.

Serving turkey drumsticks, would be a first for Morganfield's. Don't think I've ever come across any other restaurants that does the same. Have you? Turkey, to me is one tough chick. Breast meat cooked fine, would come across as a little dryer than chicken meat. How about turkey drumsticks? First time having 'em at Morganfield's!

do engage the men, in carving the meat out of the turkey drumsticks

Was informed that preparation of the drumsticks prior to cooking required some tedious effort from the kitchen staff in de-veining it. Hence, we ate it with appreciative hearts. Thanks. That said, do use the ribs knife to cut the meat, exercise some patience as there are still some tough bits (think it was some finer bones) in it or best, ask somebody else to cut it for you. Flavour wise, it tasted sweet because of the cranberry sauce coating its skin and its meat was denser than chicken's. Turkey always gave a xmas'sy feel~

For (thirsty) guys, you may want to drink this. Santa's Big Mug, a 1-litre mix of american craft stout beer and Kronenbourg Blanc! It's a man's drink! Looking like a lager, some bitterness but not very stout-tasting and pretty smooth.

Santa's Big Mug (@$21.90++)

Then, it was time for desserts. Top up $10++ with each order of Christmas Platter to get the Festive Dessert Platter. Yep, our stomachs were already bursting at its seams but we grew another one for desserts.

long, long plate of Festive Dessert Platter

Festive Dessert Platter consists of bread and butter pudding, Christmas pudding, brownie and 2 scoops of vanilla ice-cream.

Christmas Pudding to get all the xmas'sy feels, brownie to give a solid down-to-earth familiarity while bread and butter pudding was winner! Bread and butter pudding was yums (but very sweet!)

Christmas pudding tasted like fruit cake but with less 'cake'

very sweet, good alcohol buzz from the sauce and pudding'gy texture that's just right

Thank you Morganfield's for the invitation. Your team of dedicated staff who's proud of what they do, translated into guests receiving good service while dining at the restaurant. However, on the night of visit saw a busy restaurant and at times guests had to wait that bit longer for their bill.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone! Now you know there's a Morganfield's option for your party~

J's @ Purvis Street, Bugis

Located at 7 Purvis Street, which is at the street full of shops opposite of Bugis Junction, near NLB. This restaurant serves halal latin american food, mostly mexican food. It has vegetarian menu too. Its dinner opening time is 630pm, so if you're there earlier than that timing, then you'll have to wait outside.

Was told that lamb shank is one of their best-seller, so ordered one to try.

braised lamb shank with heirloom vegetables @$32++

Lamb was tender and enjoyable. Quite filling, with the mash potatoes and mushrooms.

colleague's 'catch of the day' (cod fish @30++)

Didn't try the fish but colleague said it was yummy. Waited quite a while for the fish though. Paella was the fastest amongst the mains to arrive, followed by lamb shank and lastly the cod fish.

For desserts, we had churros and flourless chocolate cake with ice-cream. Churros was good but, just two sticks?? Where got enough! The flourless cake tasted better with the gelato.

churros with banana and mangoes @$10++

bochas negras (flourless chocolate cake with choco gelato) @12++

Iced water is available. The restaurant is not that big, so the tables are placed pretty near each other. Service was friendly and approachable.

There's a section of the menu catering to vegetarian. A few appetisers and main courses.

Price is slightly on the high side.