u m a m i

KL mini road trip Part 2

                

After hanging around the ferry terminal we returned to the car and headed back to the city. Then there were some moments of debate and discussion about the next destination. Since we failed to make it to Ipoh brother suggested we go eat Ipoh hor fun.

                

I don't remember where this coffeeshop is, the address is probably google-able, but the Ipoh hor fun is sedap! It comes with shredded chicken or prawn, but the noodles take centre-stage, slick and slippery smooth. The prawn version comes with the mandatory layer of prawn oil and the combination goes down all too easily.

Then there was some desserts of very decent dan-tan (steamed egg custards) from Zhongguo Hua Tuoguan, which I learnt about from EatingAsia too. Especially popular with the little one. We tar-powed extra portions for people at home.

Then it was off to Petaling Street to try their famous chee cheong fun. Unfortunately they were sold out. We came back two days later, even at 12 pm they had sold out. And the food guides state that they are open till 4pm. Urgh!! But Petaling Street had other consolations, like the tow foo fa stall, and for my nephew, the toy shops which sold all sorts of new and retro toys. We spent a good hour and a half picking out toys for him and the other children at home.

                

Third Sister asked us to buy something for dinner, so we went to Bangsar Baru. Sate Kajang H.J. Samuri was introduced to us by brother-in-law whose office is nearby. No need to drive all the way to Kajang, this quick fix promises to be authentic, yummy and reasonably priced.

                

Looking back at these photos bring back powerful memories of the good times shared with my family. Also, if I stare long enough at the bowl of horfun I can almost imagine myself slurping it up.....

KL mini road trip Part 1

               

On our last trip home to KL, we at first wanted to make a short makan trip to either Ipoh or Penang with my brother and father. That didn't materialise as we didn't have much time and a four year old boy travelling with us, instead we decided to explore the eats in and around our own city. 

First stop, Bah Kut Teh (BKT) at Old Klang Road. On the way there, my brother recounted the story of his friend who married a girl from this area. On his wedding day, after his male friends and himself had "stormed" the bride's house to claim the bride they then had some spare time waiting for the bride to ready herself for other ceremonies. Instead of staying with his in-laws to chit chat, the groom took his entourage to have a BKT breakfast. Because he loves the BKT here.

We circled the neighbourhood that boasted the highest concentration of BKT operators and finally settled arbitrarily on one of the corner coffeeshops. Upon stepping out of the car we were greeted with the most foul stench of burning rubber. If you have never smelled this smell before you will have to imagine something like sewage, rodent decomposition and fungating vegetables all mingled together and it will be close to it. But we were not going to turn back and look like cowards in front of the townsfolks, reasoning that our minds will habituate to the smell. While that did happen the smell continued to linger and occasionally asserted itself, but not enough to detract from the experience which was largely enjoyable but not really a highlight.

Old Klang Road BKT is of a lighter style than the KL/ Jalan Imbi version we grew up eating- less heavy on the Chinese herbs so that the soup is more of a balance between meaty and herbal. It is also traditionally cooked in a claypot. The ribs were tender and tasty enough and digging through the pot revealed succulently braised shitake mushrooms, dried beancurd sheets and melting sweet cabbage. Our stomachs warm and nearly full, we piled back into the car and planned our route to Port Klang.

               

Port Klang is not worth visiting unless you have a reason to. It is ugly and industrialised, mostly it is the cargo trains and container trucks that populate the town. But there are some ferries that take passengers and goods across to small neighbouring islands so brother can show his son some 'ships and boats'.

               

Another reason for visiting was this very old coffeeshop which I learnt about from robyn's blog EatingAsia. Husband likes mee goreng, or mee mamak as it is called here and robyn had said nice things about the rendition here so we decided on this place for lunch.   

               

But I was distracted by the neighbouring table's lunch of what appeared to be Hainanese style pork chops. They're actually chicken chops because the coffeeshop is a halal establishment. No matter, our order came with delicious crumbed chicken covered in a familiarly old-fashioned and very tasty tomato sauce and accompanied by proper fried potatoes and peas. Pork would make it perfect though....

The mee mamak was good, even Daddy said so. More pictures of the coffeeshop below. In Part 2, we drive back to KL and ate some more. 

               

               

               

               

Bosses Restaurant

                     

Like thousands of Singapore residents, we find ourselves in Vivo City more times than we care to admit. Parking is a nightmare, the directions and signboards hopelessly confusing and the crowds are particularly irksome. But we are not deterred. Because the eating here's good, and one particularly good example is Bosses Restaurant.

We noticed the name first- in Cantonese it reads as the more attention-grabbing 'hak se wui' which means the secret society, not a typical Chinese restaurant name obviously. Intrigued, we wandered over to have a gawp at the contemporary black-themed decor and couldn't see much beyond a lounge area with black patent-finish couches and a bar. Susan Hui, the manager, enthusiatically invited us to view the dining area and peruse the menu, never mind the fact that we've just had lunch. The dining room is very elegant, the black theme striking against the view of the water and Sentosa beyond. The menu looked promising, with dim sum, handmade noodles, uniquely HK style dishes, and reasonable prices to boot. 

I was curious to try out the place and decided to organise a dinner with friends. emails were exchanged, Susan was extremely accommodating to our requests, and finally we were gathered, in our mostly black outfits, at one of their two private rooms. There was a universal rumbling of discontent when we realised that they do not serve complimentary water and grudgingly ordered mini-bottles of Ice Mountain ($2) to drink with our wines. We were only mollified when the first course of a duo of dim-sum was served.

Susan explained that they do not routinely serve dim-sum for dinner but she wanted us to try some of their special items. The har-kow was exemplary, dainty in appearance, bursting with fresh prawns from its smoothly resilient skin. But it was the nondescript looking prawn ball that surprised us, within the prawn paste was embedded a nugget of what we thought were rather delicious minced fatty pork but which Susan revealed later was foie gras. Nice, understated but nice.

There followed a succession of dishes that impressed us further with their excellent cooking and judgement of flavours. A Fruit Salad with Crispy Aromatic Duck and slightly spicy XO-style dressing served its appetiser function well, our palates were more than gratified with the subsequent Pig Stomach Soup with dried beancurd skin, gingko and barley. Not too peppery, the meaty soup was rendered smoother and more silky with the addition of the barley and beancurd skin; this was husband's favourite dish.

"Yau Cham Soon Hock" was not as disgusting as its name may suggest, the soon hock was very fresh and meaty and drowned not in oil but a classic fragrant soy sauce. "Fong Sa" or Wind and Sand Chicken sounded more romantic than what it actually was, fried chicken with deep fried garlic bits; personally I felt that this was a bit weak, the chicken bland and not absorbed well of its marinade. Top shell with Braised Sea Cucumber was likewise decent but not memorable.

Iced Kai Lan was simply that, stalks of quick-boiled kai lan in a bowl of shaved ice, to be eaten with good soy sauce and wasabi, a vegetarian sashimi of sorts. Simple and a refreshing change from the usual stirfried version, and a cinch to duplicate for home dining too. Then a whole Crispy Aromatic Duck was served with a simple hoisin dip instead of crepes or scallions a la UK-Chinese restaurant; the duck was crispy and still moist in parts, and did well to accompany the wines we brought along.

                     

The best was yet to come though. La Mian with Seafood, one of their signature dish, appeared ordinary but was my favourite dish. The la-mian had a freshly pulled texture, light and springy, and porous enough to absorb well the fantastic brown sauce, rendering the seafood component rather superfluous. I could have slurped up another three of four bowlfuls.

                        

There were two desserts: one of boring Mango Sago with Fresh Pomelo, and another of Creamy and Flowy Custard Bun. The bun looks like normal fluffy dessert buns, pretty and cute, albeit with yellower complexion than its paler cousins.

                   

The paper cases tear away with much difficulty, and we had to be careful to turn the bun upside down because its inside was a liquid version of the usual custard bun filling, the molten custard buttery sweet and tempered with just the right touch of salted egg yolks. Two bites and it was gone, a final indulgent taste to mark the end of a great meal.

Bosses Restaurant

1 Harbourfront Walk

02-156 Vivo City

T: 63769740

Restaurants Update- Kuriya and House of Hunan

So the other day I was telling Andrew about how I am disatisfied with Kuriya Japanese restaurant. Well my friend Andrew is wise, he said, why don't you say so in your blog?

So here it is. Was it just five months ago that I voted it my personal favourite restaurant in Singapore? Now I have to state that I no longer like this place. From June till Oct, I have eaten at the Shaw Centre restaurant about 6 times. The food is good and I was a fan of their value-for-money ladies lunch sets but recently, the service has been noticeably slack. On our last visit one late October evening, a waitress was particularly patronising and lazy, our dishes were not cleared in a timely manner, and they even wanted to charge for the fresh wasabi which had never happened before. The meal was spoilt by such examples of poor service. A far cry from previous visits where they remembered that I prefer cold tea and the staff were just the right balance of friendly and helpful without being intrusive. Most of the older staff were not around now, I don't know whether they've been moved to newer outlets. At the end of the meal they did offer complimentary desserts but by that time I was so fed up we declined, we're not that cheap.

I do still patronise their Ichiban outlets for quick meals, but for quieter indulgences there are many other options in town. Incidentally I was not impressed with the food at their new Raffles City branch,. The fine dining standards of this group, I do feel has been quite eroded with the frantic expansion.

Another place that has gone down in my esteem is House of Hunan. We've eaten there three times since I wrote my review. On our last visit a recent Sunday, we had a most unsatisfactory lunch. Braised sharks fin came in a large bowl but the soup was mediocre in taste, reminding me of canned soup. The soup as well as a dish of pork stirfried with bamboo shoot had a distinct, dominating and terribly off-putting smell of cornflour. Braised cabbage with pork balls came with unappetising lumps of soggy overcooked glass noodles. Braised yeefoo noodles was half-heartedly stirred in a brown sauce, instead of wok hei aroma we were assailed by too much white pepper. The only good dish was of a seabass steamed with minced pickled chilli. We complained to the manager, and he took our feedback well. Like Kuriya, he offered us free desserts but we declined. Here the service was fine, it was the food that was bad. Upon questioning they revealed that one of their key chefs had been moved to their new outlet at Vivo City and concurred that standards may have slipped. Looking around, we were only one of a handful of tables in that large space on a Sunday afternoon, sure signs indeed that the rot had set in for some time.

Andrew was right. Sure my blog is hardly influential, but over the past weekend alone my sister and my friend Carrie both said to me, in separate conversations, that their friends follow my blog, even to the extent of remarking if I have been tardy in posting. Which reminds me that in my own small way I have a responsibility to report updates like this.

Yumeya Japanese Restaurant

A couple of Fridays ago husband and I were walking up and down Mohamed Sultan Road, with the vague idea of eating Japanese food for dinner. Trendy En and Yoyogi were crowded, but I was not exactly curious and gagging to go in because the bright lighting did not suit my mood. A few doors away from Yoyogi, at a corner shophouse, was Yumeya. It too, was full that night, I was disappointed as I was more ready to settle down in its warmly lit wood and tatami interior. Fortunately a couple paid up and exited even as I was moping about half-distractedly outside, so we were able to get a table eventually.

The menu covered the usual gamut from sushi to ochazuke, so we did likewise and ordered a bit of everything. Sashimis of otoro and kampachi were fine, very fresh, but it was a Friday and I was not expecting any less. The uni sushi that followed, impressively creamy, rich and highly evocative of the ocean, made me pause- it is the season for uni to be sure, but the little details like temperature, rice, methinks someone in the kitchen knows what he is doing. There followed more nibbles and bites, like chawan mushi for husband and uni chawan mushi for me- the slightly warm uni over silky custard, sensual, voluptuous textures gliding down the throat, well a girl can't wish for more to start her weekend off no? Then there were some scallops grilled in their shell with spicy mentaiko mayonnaise, very nice. Grilled mackerel, oily and salty as it should be, was quickly demolished. A few more pieces of negitoro maki, again, unimpeachable, to round up the meal. Like my friend G would say, ham-pa-lang good. We were not unhappy that we couldn't finish the last dish that husband ordered out of curiousity, a hotpot of braised tiny whitebaits braised finished with a poached egg; there was nothing wrong with the execution but we haven't got to that stage that we can appreciate its delicacy and nuances. Together with some Asahi, the bill that was presented was by no means cheap but we considered it reasonable for the high standard of cooking. Sorry, no photos, it would have been too dim for decent images in any case.

As we were leaving and husband was settling the bill at the counter, the chef, he was about to go somewhere else, so he introduced himself to me  and we chatted briefly. Lee Loon, or Loon as he prefers to be called, had in the past worked for Yoshida when it was at Lucky Plaza and then at the Devonshire offshoot. After Yoshida he drifted around the Japanese restaurant community for a bit before settling down to this restaurant. Loon apologised for the noisy ambience, he had noticed that the tables to our left and right were full of raucous drinkers, some of whom apparently came over only for the drinking. We too were initially under the impression that this place was some sort of neighbourhood izakaya joint, as the young waitresses engaged in friendly banter and kanpai sessions with the customers. Loon assured us it isn't always this noisy, though actually we didn't mind it much as the food was good and the noise did not deter us from our conversations. Also, now that I know who is in charge of the kitchen, we will definitely return, noise or no noise.

Yumeya Japanese Restaurant

22 Mohamed Sultan Road

#01-01 Singapore 238977

Tel: 6887 0282

Diandin Leluk

                   

My life these days has been reduced to these few activities:

• work- to earn money for rice, soy sauce,cooking oil and shoes.
• sewing- I have started my 7th project whilst even though there are still 4 others Work in Progress pieces. But when it is all done I'll have 4 new quilts and 1 laptop bag.
• watching charismatic China actors play emperor on DVD (Hanwu Dadi)
• jogging on the treadmill -we have a "chop card" system at home where every 12th 15 minute slot entitles us to a treat like roti prata, hamburger, ice cream and so so. Self-defeating no?
• photography, Photoshop Elements and flickr, what will I ever do without photo-editing software?
• trawling through the 400 feeds I subscribe to on Bloglines. Is this considered excessive?

So, there is no time for shopping, not the window shopping shopping, though I have to say the nice lady at Foot Fetish has analysed me down pat, she keeps shoes for me that she thinks I'll like, this past three weeks alone I have succumbed to 4 pairs and a chocolate leather handbag, even though I spend less than 20 minutes in the shop on both occasions! Me very bad, but me now have super gorgeous shoes in me closets, hah.

Like I said, no time for non-shoe shopping, no time for reading glossy magazines. So how do I keep myself current? Well, remember the 400 feeds? Turns out that reading blogs is not just a time-sucking activity, occasionally  life can even be positively enhanced by it. Take for example, last weekend. slurp met up with us to go take pictures of the NDP rehearsals fireworks. For dinner after, I decided on nearby Diandin Leluk simply because I had happened to read in The Baker Who Cook's blog how she enjoyed her meal there and remembered only good things about a dinner with my friends at the same place almost 3 years ago. Truth be told, even if there wasn't an NDP preview happening I would have dragged myself there to partake of the luscious looking crab tunghoon. The crab was sweet and succulent, but the tunghoon was to-die-for, having absorbed all their crabby essences.

                  

We had other dishes too, for instance the mango salad was unrestrainedly spicy, pure torture honestly.

                  

Thai BBQ pork was more palatable, a little like char siew but not so sticky, more aromatic with lemongrass and tamarind accents. I'll gladly order it again.

                  

Olive rice came in a claypot but it wasn't really cooked in the pot, just tipped into it for serving purposes. I would have preferred more olives but it went well with the salad and bbq pork.

We didn't have room for desserts but earlier on I had finished a young coconut before the first dish arrived on the table. Tummies full, we went home and started to plot our next crab adventure....

Majestic Restaurant

                

Saturday morning found us waking up really early (9 a.m!) to go to Tekka market. We knew we were early because we didn't feel stressed about making a detour to the cooked food section for a spot of breakfast. But not early enough to squeeze in some yoga before rushing out again to pick Ivan up from a nearby bus stop before we hit town.

Chinatown that is. Where the Palitalia trade office sits smack opposite the Cantonment Police Station, where husband and the men pondered their alcoholic booty and I caught up with Jo on important matters like oh, online shopping. Gary the owner of Palitalia was very sweet, his composure never wavered in the face of my inane remarks like "so pretty, this bottle (Tosti Asti) looks like Babycham" and "OMG ratafia, that's what genteel old ladies in literature books drink!"

There was a demi-bottle of ratafia with its lower half replaced by a jar of ratafia-soaked cherries, and another similarly packaged bottle this time of limoncello and babas shaped like toadstools. Jo thinks we should organise a ladies tea with these, and other old-worldly refreshments, I quite agree.

For lunch we decided on the Majestic Restaurant which was in a parallel side street behind. It wasn't crowded and we were seated quickly in a nice corner booth.

               

Osmanthus something tea, the colour mirrored pale gold, however the fragrance was a tad too suble but it was refreshing enough.

               

The food, hmm, let's just say we wondered what the hype was all about. The Majestic Appetiser plate ($36) was a quartet of mini sharksfin omelet lettuce wraps, braised goose, deep fried softshell crab and crunchy wasabi prawns. All very nondescript, nothing we have not tasted at countless numbers of Chinese restaurants in town, surprisingly and tellingly, the dish we liked best was the wasabi prawns, the wasabi here was as I like it, i.e. very subtle. The waitress warned us against ordering their deep fried chicken with wasabi but we went ahead anyway and found that again, they do deep frying and wasabi sauce very well. Y a w n, maybe she was right.

In between we drank soups- a beancurd broth with seafood had a savoury soya milk taste which was not unpleasant but the token fried scallop was rubbery and bland, a bamboo pith soup was again, inoffensive but not in the least stellar. I forgot to ask Ivan if his hot and sour soup was good though. There was also beancurd braised with garlic, it was so plain, so dull, so catatonic I wondered why they even bothered.

               

The obligatory carbo dish of fried meesua was well fried, i.e. not greasy, but not so well fried that wok hei was allowed to seep in. Needless to say, we were not tempted to order desserts.

Looking around, the Saturday lunchtime crowd was mostly of the low-key, well-off middle-age to elderly demographic. My friend ttc, when I was talking to him about this at supper much later, informed me that right next door is an old-school millionaires club where bankers and tycoons gather to play mahjong. Perhaps that is it, this is like the kitchen of a rich man, he wants fine food, but nothing too fancy. His scions and their hip friends come to dine, these younger set are certainly in a position to generate the buzz to make us ordinary folks curious to try it in the first place. Even though other local bloggers have already said not very complimentary things about the place, we still invest more faith in these trend setters and taste makers. Fools that we are, oh well, live and learn, live and learn.

3 August 06: Ivan finally blogged about this meal.

House of Hunan

                      

The restaurant groups Crystal Jade and Tung Lok have between them cornered the market on the local Chinese restaurant scene. Their influence pervades far and wide-outlets all over the island, from budget roast-meat-noodles operations to swanky fine dining options covering most popular regional Chinese cuisine as well as Thai and Korean options.

I prefer eating at Crystal Jade outlets, their town restaurants generally deliver on their promise of good food with reasonable prices served in pleasant surroundings and acceptable service. The goodwill dropped a bit in recent months with the perceived drop in quality when some of their staff were poached by their once-partners-now-rival Imperial Treasure but I am certain they will get back their groove.

Tung Lok, though, I have semi-boycotted for years. Two weeks ago, if I was asked how many times I've eaten at a Tung Lok establishment , my reply would have been "once or twice in the past three years". A deep contrast to the late 90's when I fervently championed them, especially Lingzhi, Kippo and later, Club Chinois. Over the years I observe their restaurants expanding and the menus becoming indistinguishable from each other, and their service, already poor as in the auntie waitresses would sort cutlery loudly right behind you all the time, decline even further until it became a reason to avoid patronising them.

Things change, as they have the habit of doing, and sometimes circumstances put these things in a different light. Where I live, at the Newton/Novena/Balestier area there are only a few good Chinese restaurants- Asia Grand which can be inconsistent and especially fails consistently in their desserts and dim sum, Peach Garden for its rather snobbish attitude, and... that's it really. There is no Crystal Jade restaurants in the vicinity, I can only speculate that this area is a UOB/ UOL stronghold and the landlords and Crystal Jade have not come up with a mutually acceptable agreement.

Which leaves the path clear for their competitor, who already have a Lao Beijing restaurant in Novena Square. Two weeks ago when I went to the building for lunch, I discovered that the premises previously occupied by Coca Steamboat has been refurnished and is now occupied by House of Hunan. I guessed immediately that it is a Tung Lok place, because the entrance is visually dominated by the same wooden carved seats that they display in Lao Beijing a floor below, and there are not many restaurants claiming to serve Hunanese food other than Tung Lok. And I was swayed in my decision by memories of how difficult it was to get tables at their Charming Garden hunanese restaurant- it was a very popular wedding bangquet venue, I remember we enquired for our wedding and being laughed in the face as they told us other couples book two years in advance for the privilege!  True enough, the staff later confirmed that they are from Charming Garden, as the hotel which housed them is slated for conversion to condominium.

                      

                     

The decor is bright in a nondescript contemporary way, as in it could be a chinese restaurant by day and a hotel coffeehouse by night way, but the five day old restaurant was humming smoothly with lots of tables occupied by office workers and at one corner a gathering of senior ladies making full advantage of their $9 per dishes promotion. The promotion is now over but most early bird diners would have been presented with cash vouchers to assure their repeat patronage.

The food was mostly as I remember from Charming Garden, favourites like Pigeon Soup in Bamboo and Crispy Bean Curd sheets reliably good after years of making it over and over again I suppose. They generally serve the bean sheets individually wrapped in steamed bun skin, but I prefer to make my own double-layer version with extra scallions which gives more of the smoky sweet crisp beancurdy taste in each bite. The soup was light, brothy and meaty without gamey overtures, and sweet from tiny chestnuts pieces mixed with the minced meat, nolstagic pleasure in each healthy spoonful.

Also new are a slew of braised dishes that would go excellently with rice, over two visits I tried a few and and found them to be mostly tasty and not just something put carelessly together with a generic brown sauce. The dishes are more robust and earthy, none of that delicate Teochew prissiness nor disciplined ingredient-driven Cantonese strictures, Hunanese food is known for its unbridled use of aromatics and peppers. Like a plate of specially imported green chillies flame-fried with a scattering of pork belly, it was weird at first to be eating green chillies like we would a dish of kai lan, but the peppers were surprisingly sweet and only a little fiery. I was recommended to try their duck braised with young ginger and chestnuts, while the duck was rather tasteless, on account of them being frozen before use possibly, the gravy was incredibly more-ish, richly flavoured without being too heavy. The service was to me at least, uncharacteristically good, as in the staff were very responsive and alert, and knew how to recommend dishes without necessarily pushing their pricier dishes and even managing a smile or two.

Yesterday, when we were stuck in busy Scotts Road on the way to Asia Grand, which was actually Plan B after we had cancelled a reservation for a restaurant along Orchard Road, on account of the heavy traffic and our growling 1.30 p.m. bellies, husband remarked that we should have gone to House of Hunan instead. This, from a man initially sceptical when I first suggested trying out that "new Tung Lok place". And with the swelling numbers of cars on the road, it may well make sense for us to walk over to this neighbourhood restaurant more often.

Hachi

Last Sunday evening we had a lovely dinner at Hachi, a tiny Japanese restaurant tucked in the unlikely location of Orchard Emerald. We heard many good things about the place at dinner the night before, so wasted no time in making a reservation for a group of six people. The place is so discreet I could not see an English language signboard, but it is the only Japanese restaurant visible on the third floor of the building.

There is no set menu, we went with the chef's suggestions. The chef's wife look after the front of the house and she is very helpful and accommodating.  The chef is, as we discovered, very versatile and talented.                       

                        

The first two courses were very light and terribly subtle, the term "temple cuisine' came immediately to mind. Visually arresting, the omelet roll of crisp vegetables and seaweed was crunchy and appetising, priming the tastebuds for more exciting things ahead.

                        

Next, home made tofu, silky like chawan mushi, served austerely in a pool of soy sauce and a peppery leaf sitting atop a micro-dab of wasabe. The garnishes, when eaten together with the tofu, added a pleasing contrasting flavour, their spiciness teasing playfully the mild sweetness of the tofu.                                 

                              

The sashimi was fine, especially the sweet and tender tuna, but I wasn't expecting much for a Sunday evening when it is not usual for fish deliveries to be made.

                              

One of the highlights: Japanese style shark's fin broth. The stock was a lot lighter than the superior stock used in Chinese cooking, here it was more briney and fresher tasting. When fresh lime juice was added, the soup seemingly came to life with more pronounced body and flavours, the best  was when I drank the the last few drops- all concentrated seafood goodness accented with zippy citrus notes.

                              

Then there was a not terribly nice grilled whole tiny sole fish which looked good but reminded me, not very pleasantly, of grilled squid. This dish was not part of the chef's menu but was an additional request by our party. The only disappointment of the night.

All was well again when the slices of roast beef were placed in front of us, the meat  incomparably tender and full of beefy juiciness, so very good I could cry.

                              

Grilled eggplant was fabulous too, not that I was surprised.

                              

The meal ended with a rice set of cooked shredded tuna atop vinegared rice, accompanied by a crab miso soup. Husband doesn't like cooked tuna and was not impressed, but I loved its simplicity.

There wasn't any desserts, they ran out. The bill came up to about $86 per person (corkage waived), which may have been lower had we not ordered the extra sole fish. The prices are neither too low nor exorbitant, if one is prepared to spend more the chef would be happy to comply too. What stood out for me was the chef's range and expertise, one can be completely assured of an exciting and pleasurable meal in his hands.

                                    

Our table drank six wines, but I was taking a break and just sipped from a glass of rose-scented moscato. Well even if I was drinking I wouldn't know what to say about them, so it is just as well. The labels are pretty though.

                              

                            

Malacca half-day trip

On our last trip back from KL, I was in half a mind to stop over in Malacca for satay celup. Good sense over-ruled that, after all we were still full from lunch. But the good sense didn't last long, and I was again gripped by the thought of the missed opportunity, so one evening, we decided that, come the weekend, we will drive up for some celup. Three hours drive each way.

Surprisingly too, when I put out the call on the makansutra forum, we managed to rope in another crazy makan fella. So it came to be that the four of us, i.e. me, husband, tiantianchi (ttc) and his wife, went to Malacca for dinner.

 

We arrived at about 3.30 pm. The historic town was quite silent, most day-trippers have left and the shops were enjoying the lull before the evening crowds. First stop, the famous popiah stall in front of Madam King's Mall on Jalan Bunga Raya. Which happened to be closed.

Never mind. Ever-resourceful, ttc asked the nearby shopkeepers who gladly recommended another stall that was just as good but not as well-known. Because his popiah comes with less pork lard but more vegetables. For the uninitiated, pork lard is a crucial ingredient in Malacca popiah.

We backtracked a bit to the road in front of the Mimosa Hotel and came across a small crowd gathered around this man's stall.

The popiah man was very friendly and didn't mind chatting to us:

ttc: Uncle, how many pieces do you sell every day?

PPM: Over 100 a day.

ttc: Are you open every day?

PPM: Yes, except Tuesday. We start at 3.30 pm and move over to the front of the Metro store at 5.30 pm.

PPM: Do you want pork lard with your popiah?

All: (resoundingly) Yes please! .... Unbelievable as it may seem, some people actually order theirs without.

Umami: Uncle, do you make the skin yourself?

PPM: No

PPM: My wife makes it in the mornings.

All: (impressed) Oh.....

ttc: Uncle, what is in that mug sitting over the radish?

PPM: Garlic oil. When we fry the lard, we use the rendered oil to fry up some minced garlic. It gives extra fragrance.

All: (Heads nodding) Indeed.....

So there you have it, my abolutest favouritest street food. The popiah skin was gratifyingly springy to bite, yielding to reveal the wondrous alchemy of turnips, bean sprouts, chopped omelet, lettuce dressed with sweet bean sauce, chilli paste and generous drizzlings of garlic oil and that beautifully crisped lard. Basic down-to-earth goodness. The memory of it is still fresh in my mind, so very good, so very satisfying. So very cheap, only RM1.50 per piece. It kills me that it is good only in Malacca. ttc have eaten a very bleah fascimile of it in Johore Bahru.

Looking around, the other eating seems to be quite good around this neighbourhood too. Since the celup place is not opened yet, we decided to have a cup of coffee at one of the coffeeshops. Accompanied by some very decent siew yoke and ban meen.

By the time we thought to try some of the yummy-looking fried lor-bak at the top of the junction, it was sold out. Never mind, the celup stall should be opened so we returned to the car.

Ban Lee Hiang Satay Celup along Jalan Ong Kim Wee is where we went to for my celup fix. My friend who lives in Malacca told me this is where the locals prefer to eat at, leaving the more famous Capitol Satay to out-of-towners. No arguments here, the last time I ate here I liked it so much I had it again the following evening.

Satay celup is, like the popiah, only good in Malacca. The idea is again, rather simple. Sticks of foods are dipped into a rich, spicy satay gravy-like sauce. Unlike conventional steamboats, here in Malacca the eating is more communal. As in the pot is not changed every time new customes sit at the table. A fine practice if double-dipping goes out of fashion, ha ha, so to avoid sharing too much of other people's saliva we were advised to go early. Being the kiasu Singaporean that we are, we made sure we were the first at our table by getting there just before 6 pm.

There isn't much variety, just the basics like pork, shrimps, liver, braised pig ears, see-hum, quail eggs, assorted fish paste balls and such, yau-char kwai, kangkung, bean-skin cakes etc. , but all were chosen for their propensity to soak up the terrific sauce. The sauce was well blended, not too spicy or hot, but with more oomph than ordinary satay gravy. The eating here is not expensive. 40 cents per stick, 50 cents for the 'premium' stuff like liver and pork. We were not too hungry otherwise I would have eaten more. Four of us managed only 34 sticks.

The sky was still light when we waddled out with our full bellies. So we jalan-jalan-ed around town. The pasar malam at Jonker Walk was very diverting. Karaoke competitions, restored pre-war buildings, tourists mingling happily with locals, the wares being sold neither too kitschy nor bland. The Jonker Dessert place served lacklustre versions of cendol and laksa, but the house itself is worth a look at for its period architectural details, crammed as it is with loads of beautiful old things.

And after Jonker Walk, there was more shopping at Tesco. Finally, at 10.30 we headed back to Singapore. In the car, I thought of the celup again. Next time we will definitely stop over.