u m a m i

Qimin Organic Hot Pot Marketplace (Reel, Shanghai)

We were rained-out in Shanghai one day and decided to seek refuge in a random mall, which turned out to be Reel. Having not made any plans for dinner, we decided to try QiMin (you can't really miss their huge banner) and were very happily surprised. Till today, husband is still reminiscing about his meal, and if they open in Singapore, we will go in a heartbeat. Some reasons why:

1. Quality ingredients. Besides the rather huge menu, there is an attached marketplace for you to buy produce and cook at your table (or bring home), the range is wide and exotic, super-fresh, seasonal and mostly organic. Some items can even be harvested before you cook it yourself, e.g. sprouts, greens and mushrooms on a tree bark, so emphasizing its "farm-to-table" concept. I loved the grass-fed Mongolian beef, which was superlean, cooks up in a flash to deeply flavourful bites. Some ingredients, e.g. the live river prawns, run out fast, which means the turnover is high, which is a good thing. 
2. Delicious stocks, ranging from light vegetable broths to robust spicy ones. Soups are available in individual portions. 
3. DIY condiment bar that is always kept well-stocked. Because when I eat hot pot, I also eat mountains of scallions and coriander. 
4. The setting is modern, with flattering yet functional lighting, not too noisy either. Service was very attentive. All these makes for a convivial atmosphere for get-togethers and relaxation. The restaurant even runs mini-games during service, winners get free beers and more food. In picture above,the three girls look delighted to have won a seafood bowl. 
5. It's not too expensive for what it is. Certainly it was cheaper than what we fork out for Hai Di Lao in Singapore. 

I think the company is Taiwanese, so if you are in Taiwan you can try it too. 

QiMin Organic HotPot Marketplace

4/F, Reel Mall, 1601 Nanjing Xi Lu 
6258 8777
11am-2pm, 5-9pm

ISSTH – Book 1 – Chapter 6 – Wuxiaworld

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Chapter 6: The Delights of the Copper Mirror

After Elder Sister Xu lent him her Immortal’s Cave, it had a fear-inspiring effect on everyone, allowing Meng Hao to leave the square with the Spirit Stone and Spirit Condensation pills. Everyone watched him as he left.

via www.wuxiaworld.com

The last thing I was expecting... hahahaha

Benson Salted Duck

I have been curious about Benson Salted Duck for some time, but have not had a chance to try it out yet.A few mornings ago, Husband and I found ourselves a little pocket of time for a lunch date so we headed to Toa Payoh. Benson Salted Duck is a stall in a coffeshop in Blk 168, Toa Payoh Lor 1. MsTamchiak and other food writers have written about his innovative new dish that is salted duck, please refer to them for more information. We just wanted to know if it was delicious. 

The default option is Salted Duck Rice ($3), I added braised tau-kwa to my order. The rice, a lighter version of chicken rice, was delicious and loose-grained, good to eat on its own.

The duck meat was a revelation. I got breast meat, which was drier than I expected, but it was nicely chewy and flavourful in a surprisingly subtle way. We have been used to the strong, ducky or gamey tastes that is accentuated with roasting and braising, this was a welcome innovation. The salt is not too forward either, you know it's salted, but it is not salty. The best thing though, had to the skin. The cooking process had seemed to firm up the fats under the skin, so that it was jelly like, similar to dongbo-rou, i.e. impossible to resist; to me, it was the best part. 

I also love the julienned cucumber that the meat sits on. Some hawker stalls have stopped serving chicken rice or roast meat rice with sliced cucumber, Benson have gone the opposite way and I really appreciate the extra effort, it completes the dish for me. The chilli sauce was sour, spicy and garlicky, in perfect equilibrium, still, not advisable to eat the sauce if you have an important meeting after, the garlic was added in reckless quantities. 

The signboard. You can't miss it, the stall is smack in the middle of the shop. 

The meat portion was adequate, but I wanted more, so I ordered a drumstick. Ooo, it is much better than the breast, more juicy, more ideal balance of fats and meat. In my younger days, I would always choose dark meat over breast meat, but these days I prefer breast meat which seems to me have a cleaner taste profile, so I was pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong. 

Husband had the pig organ soup with fish maws. This was $5. See how much piggy parts and fish maw are inside? Bargain. 

Benson Salted Duck

Blk 168 Toa Payoh Lorong 1 #01-1040

Singapore

 

Sunny Hills Paletas

The basement carpark of Takashimaya S.C. was already full by 11.30 a.m. Sunday. Husband considered himself lucky to secure a lot after circling the place once, even though it was at the far end of our usual preferred place. Upon getting off the escalator at Level B2, he spotted the new Sunny Hills store, which has moved from Raffles Hotel as the hotel is undergoing renovations. 

Small and discreet, the store can be easily missed if you approach it from certain directions. There is a small table for a sip of tea. They don't give out complimentary pineapple cakes for every visitor anymore, but we got one when we purchased a box. They are also selling paletas ($4), which are fruity ice lollies, made with Sunny Hills own pineapple juice by a local maker. V and I loved he Pineapple Lychee that we tried, the lollies tasted like they blended a can of lychees with pineapple juice, not too watery so it didn't melt quickly, and not too sugary that you get sticky juice everywhere. A burst of refreshing treat just right for the hot weather. 

Open Taste

This is a quick shoutout for online grocer  Open Taste. I saw their advertisement on Facebook and decided to try them out about a year ago and we now love it, and make an order about every 7-10 days. Their website informs that they work directly with farmers, cutting out the middlemen, which means we get the products quickly and they can pass on savings to customers.

Their range of produce is reasonably wide, mostly fruits and vegetables, with a small but good selection of dairy and meat items. Produce comes mainly from Japan, Australia and USA. Not everything is organic, but we get some sense of security from knowing the names of the farms and producers. I mostly ignore the items that come from Malaysia as we are able to find that in our wet markets. I've been able to score thick, fat bunches of organic celery for $5 a couple of times, as well as apples, cucumbers, cauliflowers and kales. Some items are available by bulk, once I bought 3 bunches of organic  California- grown kale for $16.50 and was surprised to see that each bunch was as big as a Valentine bouquet. I had to share some with my upstairs neighbour. From Japan, we have enjoyed the most delicious persimmons when in season, also tiny little-finger-sized Okinawan okras that were tender and sweet after just a brief scald, and pumpkins that roasts into tender, honeyed pillows. Occasionally there are treats, like full-cream Browne's milk from WA for about $0.01 per per litre. Yep, 1 cent milk! I bought some today.  

Delivery is free for orders above $40. Easy target to hit. However, if you add any Bulk item to your order, the total order has to be above $150, which can be frustrating. At checkout, they will compute how much you save; this always thrills me, the savings can run from 37%-50+%. Delivery is usually within 2 days. The final amount is charged only after they pack, because sometimes they run of items.

Another thing to watch out for is they pack all the items in a green insulated bag, but this bag is chargeable at $4.99 if you don't return within 30 days. Everyone at home is well-trained to immediately return the bag to the delivery man. 

 

The Coconut Club

 

It's six months after The Coconut Club opened, and we ventured to try it out. The hype has not abated as evidenced by the long lines waiting to get in last Saturday afternoon. Like them, we were sucked in by the force of their PR spin, even though I am sure some eyeballs must have rolled after reading about single origin coconuts and aged rice. We live in FOMO so we decided to try in case it is really as good as it claims. 

Inside, the decor is yawningly hipster: exposed brick walls, suspended industrial lights, tiny tables, under-utilised but space-hogging central table, enamel kitchenware accessories. It was very noisy from all the hard surfaces and background music turned on to full-blast. The menu is brief,- essentially nasi lemak and cendol. We ordered the nasi lemak with fixings ($12.80), shared a piece of otak ($8.50) and a bowl of cendol ($3.80). Service staff were a bit frazzled but very responsive. 

The cendol came first. The coconut milk and gula melaka mixture was rich and fragrant, and not too sweet. The cendol strips were delicious, it's not the luminous green plastic-icky jelly type but the genuine article made from rice flour jelly. Unfortunately, because the chendol was probably hand-made and therefore "precious", they put only a tiny bit in the bowl. I am sure I received less than 20 strands, which was pretty anti-climactic. 

Let's break down the nasi lemak:

Nasi: Grains separate and loose, check. Fragrant, yes, not the typical aroma that assails your senses (not that that is a bad thing, it's just different) but a subtler scent with a long finish. Pretty good. Unfortunately there wasn't much of it, not enough for husband, so he asked for more. They didn't charge him for the extra rice, am not sure if they overlooked it. Alas, the second batch had distinct clumps of raw rice. Raw rice, in my books, it's unforgiveable. 

Peanuts: well-fried and salted judiciously. 

Ikan Bilis: Fail. The portion is generous, too bad the quality is poor. The fish were very hard and salty, really no better than snacks that bars serve with alcoholic drinks. 

Fried egg: Greasy from its turn in oil that is probably a bit too cold. Nasi lemak fried eggs really need to have curly brown edges, these were quite forlorn. They placed my egg off- centre, so when I moved it to cover my rice, the yolk burst. Don't you hate that when it happens?

Sambal: I liked it, perfectly balanced between heat and sweetness. 

Cucumber: Sweet and crunchy. 

Chicken: The ginger bits  were delicious and gave off a pleasant warmth. The chicken comes in two big  pieces, very juicy. Did they brine it too? I think it's too much meat, I couldn't finish the chicken, but ate up the skin and crusty ginger bits.  

Otak- Otak: The texture was appealingly soft and they used a good firm fish. Tasty.  

Overall, we were quite underwhelmed, there were definitely no "wow" moments. They may have taken care to source some special ingredients but it didn't quite make up for the other deficiencies. The problems are not insurmountable, just plenty of room for improvement. 

As for the price, I don't find it objectionable. Singaporeans happily pay $20 for ramen and $35 for pizzas so $12.80 is not outrageous for the nasi lemak here. With a higher than usual price tag though, expectations are built in for a proportionately better experience, which they have clearly failed to deliver. 

 

 

The Coconut Club

6 Ann Siang Hill
Singapore 069787

Tel : +65 6635 2999
Email : [email protected]

closed on Mondays

 

Granola is super easy to make.

Whenever I see $20 plastic packs of granola in the shops, my heart weeps a little. They are so expensive and yet the contents are probably quite dusty and stale. It is super easy to make, even my husband and daughter can do it. 

 

We started with a recipe from Joy of Baking. There's even a video tutorial. Over the years we have made it so often it is the only recipe that is permanently posted on the fridge door in the kitchen. 

This was the second version, the first had to be discarded because the ink faded. 

This is the third and latest iteration, because husband didn't like the imprecise instructions of the second version. 

Husband likes to use Silpat. Our helper uses a cookie sheet. She oils the pan a little before pouring out the mix.

Everything in the recipe is customisable. We prefer our nuts chopped up so every bite has a bit of everything. Over the years we have experimented with different sweetening agents and fats, our favourite is still ricebran oil with maple syrup as the glue that holds it all together. Agave syrup was sweet but lacked the toasty notes of maple. Honey burnt easily. Chopped gula melaka was nice but a bit hard to control, and it is not as sweet as maple. Dried fruit is optional, I like raisins but am the only one who does, so more often than not, it gets left out. As we always have goji berries in the fridge, sometimes those get tossed in too. Most of the time, we don't add fruits. Coconut flakes and chocolate are also good additions but my peculiar family prefers not to have them. 

It is delicious eaten out of hand, or as a topping for porridge, yoghurt, ice creams, fruit salads etc. We like to carry them on our travels, it ensures we have something healthy for breakfast. They make excellent gifts, although for older relatives you can anticipate their refrain of "it's a bit sweet" so we cut the syrup down by at least 30%. Joy says they last a month, we never had to test this limit. 

I buy my dried nuts and seeds from Ah Pau Chop in the Victoria Wholesale Centre, which is now located in Kallang. They also freeze well so you can buy more than you need and make small batches. Maple syrup is expensive, can't really skimp on them, but sometimes Cold Storage or NTUC Finest may have a bit of discount. You can choose to use organic oats if you like, they are not that much dearer than non-organic versions. Even if you use all-organic ingredients, you will still save money over the commercial versions. So there is no reason to ever buy commercial granola anymore, ok? xoxo

(A totally incoherent post) about Ten Miles of Peach Blossom.

Since we are a food blog, I will use some food words, but this is mostly gushing fan talk. 

(Image taken from DramaFever)

I am in the middle of binge-ing on this epic C-drama and am so in love with the show. In case you don't know, and it's conceivable that you don't, because it is a mainland Chinese drama and you can only watch the English sub-titled version on DramaFever which is not available in Singapore.  I can't speak more than survival Mandarin and dramas like these have long complicated dialogue so I was waiting a long time for it to to be available on my Viki subscription, but it doesn't seem likely now. Finally, I turned to PPTV and reconciled each episode with  its corresponding online re-caps. You know a drama is really popular when fans blog the episodes on an episode-by-episode basis. It was also how I managed to watch other epic series like Nirvana in Fire and The Disguiser during the early days of their release. 

Eternal Love, also known as Ten Miles of Peach Blossom, adapted from a book "Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossom" -some also call it 3310 because of the book title- is a highly popular, as in a mind -boggling 35 bil views online (apparently), TV series in China. There's also a movie but I have not seen it. The wiki page has more information. 

Why do I love this so much?

1. The storyline. It's got star-crossed lovers that you can root for. The main couple is so ship-able. "ship", in case you don't know, is slang for rooting for couples. There are some secondary couples who deserves some shipping too, especially between Yan Zhi and Zi Lan, quite heartbreaking. 
2. The plot is crazy. We have been conditioned by years of K-drama to expect twists and turns, but this is the ultimate rollercoaster ride. The lead actor plays 2 characters, the lead actress takes care of 3! The genre is fantasy ne plus, it's set in the celestial world of gods and fairies who are strong, invincible, gifted with amazing powers, yet they have human failings, so relatable. 
3. The lead actor, Mark Chao, is swoon-worthy. He is very tall, with impossibly straight and long noseline and noble face. His character is classic hero, brooding with intense screen presence and superb timing. He only has one great love, whom he pursues with persistence, perseverance and sacrifice. I can imagine viewers drinking in the way he looks at his lover, it's terribly romantic. Be still, my beating heart. 
4. The lead actress,Yang Mi, she is very likeable too. Certainly she is beautiful, with fine features and eyes as big as swimming pools, and because she plays 3 characters, she has 3 chances of clicking with viewers. I like all 3 of her characters, but Susu was a bit bland comparatively. She rocks as Bai Qian though, a woman who knows how to take charge. 
5. The production quality is tops. Every scene is meticulously designed, the props and setting are on-point, down to the minutest of details, even the weights that holds down the corners of rugs in the rooms have a tactile, organic feel. I remember getting hooked on Nirvana in Fire because in the first couple of episodes, there was an outdoor scene; the pavements looked like real ancient bamboo trails and the stones of the wall had the most perfect moss and grime, that was when I told husband that the series was worth watching. The palace sets for Ye Hua, Su Jin, Dong Hua and Susu are all different and very lavish. The peach blossom garden is not that realistic, but it's dead romantic anyway. I love how the characters save time when travelling by disappearing or appearing in puffs of smoke. 
6. The costumes are dreamy. Mark Chao changes into at least 10 costumes, all black, all gorgeous. Every character is dressed beautifully, even the villains and minor characters. They must have used up yards and yards of fabric for just the serving girls alone. It's a never-ending feast for the eyes, all the pale silks, the muted shades of brocade, the drape of heavy silks, extravagant accessories. 
7. Many funny moments. No chance to be bored, the plot moves along at a good pace. 
8. Bai Qian character is 140,000 years old, while  Ye Hua character is 90,000 years younger. Bai Qian, as Queen of the Fox faction, is a "shang-sen" literally High Goddess, i.e. she is the same rank and class as Ye Hua. She can kick ass just like him. A heroine character that is not helpless or baby, or need to marry up, very modern. I love the scene where she put Su Jin in her place, so fierce and yet so classy. 
9. There's not much food in the stories, fairies don't need to eat, but there is a lotus hand. Mark Chao apparently got teased online for that. We can always feast our eyes on his character Ye Hua instead. 

(Image taken from Drama Fever)

Quality Collagen

Ever wondered how much collagen is in those so-called "beauty hotpots"?  A few years ago, we were invited to try out collagen hotpot before they launched it into the local market. I was very curious about the composition of the collagen stock, and asked the Japanese owner directly. He was quite unprepared for my question, but he admitted, after a bit of hmm-ing and haw-ing, that the great big yellow wobbly blob is made up mostly of chicken fat. Which makes sense if we think about it, because if you take a whole chicken, the amount of collagen or even cartilaginous tissues is negligible in proportion to the other tissues such as muscle, fat and bone. After that first pot, I never had another. I prefer to eat my collagen in its purer forms, like chicken feet, duck webs, goose webs and my all-time favourite, duck tongues. The best duck tongue dishes can be found in Hangzhou, it is the most prized part of the animal, followed by the neck and feet. But, we digress. 

I meant to talk about sea cucumber. Sea cucumber is packed with collagen, I think it is pure collagen but don't take my word for it. Sea cucumber is also a rather strange food. It is available in the fresh or dried form. I prefer the dried form, but am not any good at preparing it. It is one of those foods that is full of archaic rules, for example, avoid contact with any oils or grease, it needs countless cycles of boil and rinse etc, and all these steps are just to reconstitute from the dried form. To make it edible, it has to be cooked further, the commonest way being braised. Braised cucumbers are delicious, that is why it is always included in a formal Chinese banquet. 

Do you know what is more delicious than braised sea cucumber? The answer would be Charcoal Grilled Sea Cucumber ($22 before ++). This dish is served at the Teochew restaurant Chui Huay Lim Club.  Sea cucumber is braised in some proprietary sauce that turns it from a tasteless brick into soft and trembly delicious blobs. Then the blob is torched, or charcoal grilled- I am not sure of the exact method- to make the surface dry, blister and crackle, all the more to absorb the final layer of sauce. See picture below. 

The  shiny brown sauce is abalone sauce. Abalone sauce is a super condiment, basically a concentrate of abalone jus distillate, packed with umami. The restaurant version is probably fortified with ham or chicken stock, so they have a more complex and rounded finish than the bottled stuff. Everytime I eat a dish made with abalone sauce, I am tempted to lick it all up, it's maddeningly delicious by itself. So in this serving, we get a generously sized blob, a mid-sized piece of decent quality shitake mushroom (good meaty texture but not that fragrant), and some greens for garnish. 

This is a dish to be savoured slowly, to appreciate the soft jellylike honeycomb textures and the contrast with the blistered surfaces. All the while raking the cut pieces over the sauce to catch as much as possible. First -timers usually close their eyes in bliss. It's magic. Ladies will probably agree that this is way better than dodgy collagen hotpots too. 

 

 

Dry Curry Rice at Curry Times

Old Chang Kee is another well-known local brand, having been around since 1956. Their best-selling product is their curry puff and one can find their snack counters are everywhere, testing our resistance against deep fried treats. Sometimes I cave and get their chicken wings, which is done in a straight-up style without add-on flavours like shrimp paste, Korean seasonings etc, or a skewer of sotong balls which I would then smother with Maggi chilli sauce. 

In 2012, they launched Curry Times, serving local dishes. One of the first outlets opened at my neighbourhood Velocity Mall with little fanfare but is now quite settled in. The food is average at best, but I find myself returning for one dish.  

 

Item #002 . Dry curry chicken, i.e. without any gravy, is served with steamed rice. 8.50++ for a single portion. Curry Times claims the curry does not contain coconut milk. For a healthy curry, it is delicious! It tastes like the stuffing of their famous puff, fragrant and warm without much heat, the main difference being the chicken to potato ratio is inversed so you get more chicken than potatoes. The chicken pieces are bite-sized but still chunky, with some skin on. 

They probably mass-cook the curry in a central kitchen and just heat up upon receiving orders, but the quality is consistent and it is satisfying to eat. Available for dine-in customers, but it's not on their Deliveroo or FoodPanda menu.