Montaillac Cuvée Vin De Pay Merlot 2011

Montaillac Cuvée Vin De Pay Merlot 2011, 12% vol.

When you host, pay attention or even test out the wine that restaurants offered to package into your dinner. Avoid the bad luck of helping to clear their cart of lousy wine.

The bottle here is especially base. Probably my worst so far, and it says product of France - you could booze this like a fish and suffered an absolute plain aftertaste, devoid of vine grapes.

I gulped down my glass and got a little woozy while my partner returned his. We had rather have tea.

Restoran Loon Sing, 隆盛佛跳墙酒搂

Does one dream of holding one's wedding banquet in Johor Bahru? Their renowned good food; made affordable by ringgit exchange rates and significantly improved restaurant decor these days, it might just be worth considering the hassle of ferrying all your friends and relatives over the causeway for the big day...

Especially after today's smooth traffic across the immigration offices in our chartered buses, and delectable lunch banquet at Restoran Loon Sing (adjacent to AEON Bukit Indah & McDonalds); any of our resolve begin to waver - we wiped off clean every dishes; everyone enjoyed ourselves and left home feeling well fed.

Menu for the day is especially impressive with lobster salad, abalone soup, roasted suckling pig, steamed fish, baked prawns and braised fish maw! We are quite sure such listing fetches more than S$1K/ per table in Singapore?

This is about RM$1500, include all taxes. Now start thinking about it!

Lobster Salad Combination Platter

"Buddha Jumps Over The Wall" with Abalone, Mushroom, Shark fins, Scallop, Sea Cucumber and Chicken. 

Roasted Golden Suckling Piglet

Steamed Marble Goby with Fine Soy Sauce

Wok Baked Sea Prawns in Twins Style (Sesame sauce/ Salted egg yolk)

Braised Fish Maw Dry Scallop & Mushroom Greens

Emperor Waxed Meats Rice with Eight Treasures

Home Made Snow Ice, Mango flavor

A Less Than Awfully Chocolate

1/4 cut of All Chocolate ($34, 6" dia.) 

6 years, was how long we last seen Awfully.

Today, it stands much lesser awful and lesser chocolaty than how we had love to remember. Of course, the famous recipe never change; we are built greedy and it just maybe time to try their Super Stacked Chocolate Cake ($7.90, per 100g) - a thicker, richer version of the All Chocolate cake with more bite.

Nevertheless, the pudding-like chocolate cake is moist and utterly light, faintly sweet with hint of bitterness - we could like, eat this forever until the chocolaty gets us.

No Signboard Seafood, since 1981

Sri Lanka Crab, White Pepper ($70++/kg; approx. $80++)

No Signboard Seafood is a place for crab-eaters with fat wallets - Sri Lanka crab is their cheapest offering at seasonal price while the Australia Snow crab ($130/kg), Tasmania King Crab and Alaska King Crab goes up to $180/kg!

The must try would be their much celebrated white pepper recipe - crab stir-fried in thick white pepper sauce and generously garnished with stalks of spring onion. It is not bad indeed; the same could be said about their chili crab too, delectable sauce.

That being said, standard cooking recipe of a mud crab doesn't warrant a visit to an expensive restaurant to savor the freshness of the seafood. It is something you would better enjoy in a laid back setting; eating with bare hands.

Sri Lanka Crab, Chili ($70++/kg; approx. $80++) with mini fried buns ($0.50 each)

Sri Lanka Crab, Butter ($70++/kg; approx. $80++)

Notwithstanding, No Signboard could certainly boost of having a group of accomplished chefs behind them; capable of churning out several delectable dishes, other than just crabs - meaty prawns in herbal claypot; nicely charred Soon Hock fish and sauteed chicken which we mistake for richer pork ribs.

It is a pleasant surprise that No Signboard is serious of being an all-rounder.

Drunken Prawns ($48++)

 

Hong Kong Style Steamed Soon Hock/ Marble Goby fish ($70++/ kg; $80++)

Saute Chicken with Superior Honey Sauce ($20++)

Healthy Tuna Sandwich

After hundred years of preparing tuna sandwiches - learned during my cafe's apprentice days, i'm finally doing a healthier version of it by omitting the mayonnaise that goes into the entire tub. Omission of the liquid also better extends shelf life (4 days in refrigeration) of the sandwich with its wet cuts of celery, onions and peppermint leaves. A generous dash of pepper helps too.

After spreading the tuna on bread, mustard sauce, nonfat salad dressings, salsa or nonfat mayonnaise was used as condiment, sparingly - just a few drops for taste.

Still too dry a sandwich for you? Heap up with slices of juicy tomatoes or green lettuces. Now eat.

Godiva Chocolatier - Sea Salt with Cacao

Godiva 50% Cacao Sea Salt, Godiva 72% Cacao Almond

And i almost forgot Godiva chocolate, dismissing them simply as bars of cocoa without creativity; until Nic bought these from his America trip - bitter chocolate with tiny bits of sea salt crystals. We love it!

Now that i better appreciate; it maybe anytime a decent Godiva than the fancier Royce.

天天到, Hokkien Fried Noodles

"Everyday you report!" Such auspicious name for a stall; direct translation from its Chinese signboard.

As an unspoken rule - you go to any hawker centre; you saw the longest queue; you join the queue at the stall; and you should get to savour some of the tastiest, right? Haaaa... Wrong! When you are at Ang Mo Kio, Chong Boon Market and Food Centre.

Hokkien Sotong Mee ($3.50)

Our smallest serving from the stall to share when Ric saw their lesser than desirable cooking as he nears the front of the queue, and decides to downsize our order. Haaaa... we couldn't understand the long queue given the mediocre standard of the Hokkien noodle.

Give the girl a BMX, and she would gladly cycle over to nearby Teck Ghee Square for some truly scrumptious Eng Ho Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee.

My Fried Rice Don't Stick to the Wok!

How do you do that? And with lesser cooking oil!

You see, fried rice tastes good when you add eggs to it; but often eggs cause the sticking of the wok. The gist of it would be "when" you add the eggs. Never do it after heating up the rice, do it way before.

Crack the no. of eggs you like onto the cooked rice, mixing them well. Let it sit for at least 10 mins - for the eggs to dry up a little. Following this, you need just add enough oil to grease the wok. Heat it up before adding in the rice that's coated with eggs - this way, the rice just wouldn't stick to the wok as the fried eggs layer gave it a dried, hardened crust.

Continue frying the rice, then proceed to add in your usual pepper, salt/ light soya sauce, ingredients and every other things. Just 2 mins before dishing up, turn up the fire to give it a final char, and serve.

Peranakan Buffet at Hotel Grand Pacific

Prawn & Fish Crackers, Deep Fried Squids, Fried Fish, Fried Ngoh Hiang (with sauce and sambal chili)

Within a span of 1 month, i actually came back to Hotel Grand Pacific (Sun's Cafe) twice, with different group of my family members for their Peranakan themed buffet. Prices were so affordable with Groupon, we didn't have to over-eat to make the money worth, and fare was palatable and exciting enough for the gathering.

On both occasions, i noticed that food almost never run out at this generously replenished buffet where we left with satisfied burps and rounded bellies. If you think varieties (shown here) weren't enough, don't worry, i missed out half their cooked food section - mostly seafood, and desserts - fruits, warm sweet soup and Swensen's ice-cream!

Fresh Salad, Nonya Achar, Chilled Boiled Streaky Pork with Cincalok

Fruit Rojak (Pineapple, Green Mango, Green Apple, Guava, Cucumber, Turnip) & Kueh Pie Tee Corner

Claypot Corner 

Claypot Corner - Babi Pongteh, Curry Chicken, Itik Sioh (duck), Beef Rendang

Cuttlefish Congee, Laksa, Fish Maw with minced Pork Ball Soup, Udang Lemak Nenas (Prawns with pineapples in coconut curry)

 Roasted Pork/ Roasted Duck

Assorted Nonya Kueh

Kate's Catering Services

High Tea Bento Box

A taste of Kate's Catering when the seminar includes tea break from them.

We have their BBQ pizza bread, shell potato curry puff, Vietnamese yam spring roll, egg nori rolls and mochi sweets. Just the other day, we tried their fried bee hoon with vegetables, five spice chicken ngoh hiang, steamed crystal skin soon kuey and yam cake with chocolate eclair. And i especially enjoyed their mochi, soon kuey, yam cake and chocolate eclair.

Judging from their high tea offering, i believe they are capable of running a satisfactory buffet line - unique dishes and good pricing; taking a look on their website.

玉发, Yu Fa Claypot Delight

梅菜扣肉, Pork Belly with Pickled Mustard Greens ($3.50)

胡椒猪肚汤, Pig's Stomach Pepper Soup ($3.50)

Ang Mo Kio is blessed with at least 6 hawker centres when most of Singapore housing estates have only 1-2! Tonight is our first visit at their lesser known Chong Boon Market and Food Centre - with a unique claypot cuisine stall.

Food quality is generally good and cheap, albeit the smaller serving; so next time we shall order more dishes. Tender pig's stomach in steaming, peppery soup warms our belly and the savory mustard greens go really well with rice. Good find!