Adrian's Mussels

If you thought this was a narcissistic post...well it is

Just to describe my inaugural attempt at cooking mussels. Having tasted these first in the UK and France a couple of years back, the concept of Belgian mussels have lingered close to my heart. Or rather my tastebuds.

Mussels and fries, or rather moules et frites is really quite something. Cooked in a iron pot, steaming in a broth of white wine, cream or even Hoegaarden and accompanied with a basket of crispy fat fries. The succulent mussels are plucked from the shells using the shell of another, rather like a tong.

One tends to think that 1 kg seems like quite a lot of mussels, but it disappears rather quickly so when ordering, go for a minimum quantity of a kilo. 500 grams will just leave you a little disappointed.

So back to my attempt. Here are the photos to prove it. 2 kg of green lipped mussels served in 2 different sauces; white wine and Hoegaarden.




I am actually quite proud of it.

Now, should I follow up with a recipe on this?

Porridge Place

This has been THE porridge place to go to when we need a good bowl of porridge. Sadly, we have not been here in a while. So it was great to be back here on a weekend morning.

It was easy to spot the stall, seeing the number of customers and cars concentrated around the corner. The place looked the same except for a more formal stall sign " Ah Chiang's Porridge" over the stall. There was even name card holders on the tables. We think that the 'younger' generation must have had something to do with this increased publicity and modernisation.

Other than that, little has changed in the way the stall looks and the work flow. Fran had her bowl of pork porridge, sans liver add one egg routine while I had my pork porridge plus liver plus egg, everything in routine. In addition, a plate of raw fish and 'you tiao' topped off the meal.

In general, the food is still how we remembered it. The porridge was smooth and tasty with little need to add soy sauce or pepper. You could if you wanted to, but it was not necessary. I vaguely remembered century egg porridge being available in the past, but it was not on the menu, neither did I see any century eggs around.

The raw fish was good. Thinly sliced fish covered in a thin layer of sesame oil and soy sauce was so good it could just slide down the throat. All of this, washed down with soy bean milk or coffee... a perfect start to a Saturday morning.

In case you wanna go there...

Ah Chiang's Porridge

Blk 65, Tiong Poh Road
#01-38
S160065

65570084

Por Kee Eating House

I had the chance to try out the food at this small, simple place in old fashioned Tiong Bahru during dinner today. The surroundings was simple but pleasant but the food was very good.

There was a total of 8 persons at the table and we ordered 6 dishes in total. The service was attentive and the food was prompt. We had:

1) Home-made Tofu
2) Garlic fried Dou Miao
3) Cereal prawns
4) Steamed Soon Hock
5) Champagne Pork ribs
6) Yam Basket
7) Yam Paste with Lotus Nuts (Orh Ni) for dessert

Notably, the steamed fish was quite outstanding. The meat was soft and tender, being extremely fresh. The gravy was spicy, a little like tom yam. What was unique was the way it was served. A bowl of soup was ladled over the fish, kept hot over a solid fuel fire, but the soup was allowed to drain back into the bowl after being heated and having absorbed the 'flavour' from the fish. The soon hock costs SGD6 per 100gm which was rather reasonable for the quality of the meat and cooking.

The champagne ribs was also good, with the meat being tender and the champagne imparting a wonderful flavour.

But I must comment on the dessert. After having tried Orh Ni on about 3 occasions over a span of 3-4 weeks, I have made it a personal effort to ensure I know what a good Orh Ni tastes like instead of just lapping up any kind of slop dished out, especially at wedding dinners. Tonight, I have found it. Fragrant with the yam taking a smooth yet mildly lumpy texture. The consistency was just right, not too watery nor too pasty.

For a superb meal in comfortable surroundings, this is a place of choice.

Por Kee Eating House
69, Seng Poh Lane
#01-02
S160069

62210582

Hooked!

After a late mass, we popped over to Rail Mall for lunch, only to find our usual haunt E.A.T crowded. So as not to queue for so long, we went hunting for another place to eat. Soon we found ourselves outside a nicely decorated place touting a wide selection of fish dishes. We went in not knowing what to expect but I must say we were pleasantly surprised.

Ambience
The ambience was fine. The placed was predominantly washed in white, making it look clean and bright. There were coloured walls with interesting, appropriately themed 'sea' motifs. Most of the seating was indoors though the option to eat al fresco was there if so desired.

Service
The crowd was pretty thin this afternoon so the service was warm, prompt and courteous. One slight glitch that marred an otherwise perfect service was the omission of one of our orders. This was however promptly rectified when brought to the attention of the staff.

Food
Here comes the thoughts of the food, which is the most important isn't it? After some consideration, due to the menu having quite a large selection of different fish done in an equally mind boggling number of ways, I settled for a Poached Salmon while Fran had a BBQ Mackeral. This was preceded by a Wasabi prawns as an appetiser. We opted for the value set which included with the entree a glass of soft drink and the soup of the day for an additional SGD 3.60.

Poached Salmon SGD 12.90
The poached salmon was good. It was soft and juicy to the point of melting it melting in your mouth. There was no hint of dryness compared to others I have tried before and the portion was large enough to satisfy my kind of appetite. This was served with boiled carrots and broccoli and a generous amount of sauteed potato chunks.

BBQ Mackerel SGD 9.80
Fran's BBQ mackerel was also beyond expectations. The portion was large too and it was a crisp brown on the outside surrounding juicy, sweet white flesh on the inside. A thin coating of sambal ensured a fiery taste to the meat and if this was not enough, an additional bowl of sambal was at hand for your to spice it up to taste. This too came with sauteed potatoes.

Wasabi Prawns SGD 6.50
This dish was nice. Lightly fried prawns mingled with a fried potato salad, smothered with a light wasabi flavoured cream. the dish tasted good however the prawns were a little disappointing considering they were supposed to be the stars of the dish. It was not the taste but rather the size and texture of the prawns. They were a little too small and not quite succulent enough.

But all in all, a very good meal and much better than expectations. Coupled with the friendly service and great setting, I think we have a winner here. It begs a return visit to further explore the wide range of dishes they have to offer.

For a visit, go to

Hooked!
390, Upper Bukit Timah Road
The Rail Mall
Tel: 67655336

Dinner tonight

I had a nice home cooked meal tonight. The spread was good and the smell coming from the kitchen after my run was enough to make my stomach rumble in anticipation.

Soup:
Cream of Mushroom

Main:
Grilled Ribeye Steak

Sides:
Baked potato
Steamed corn with butter
Steamed carrot
Sauteed mushroom

and topped of with COKE!!!

The steak was tender and just rightly medium rare... the baked potato was nice with the bacon bits and sour cream but the one that really takes the cake was the steamed carrots. Amazingly soft and sweet, just the way I like it.

My fascination with soft carrots started when I first tasted carrots in New Zealand. We signed up for a traditional Hangi during our stay in Rotorua. A Hangi is the traditional meal of the Maori with food cooked in the traditional style of shoving food in a hole in the ground heated by hot coals.

Now I have a Singaporean version... Thanks Fran

My Mum's Cuisine

Dinner tonight was at My Mum's Cuisine. This was chanced upon while scouting around the basement of Paragon for a suitable dinner spot.

What struck was the Peranakan type decor with oldne mosaic tiles lining the outlet. Another thing that caught my eye was the three chicken hanging in the display. Suddenly, pangs of hunger struck. I grabbed the wife and whisked her into the restaurant.

While humble and olden looking, the prices of the dishes was anything but humble. Though not exorbitant, it was not quite the price one would expect to pay for the fare offered. The menus showed semblances of a Peranakan menu but closer inspection revealed otherwise. There was quite a wide selection of food but I settled for a Fried Seafood Tang Hoon($8) while Fran picked the Fried Bee Hoon with Soft Shell Crab ($15). We actually wanted the Sayur Lodeh but it was unavailable so we settle for a sambal kang kong ($6) and a bowl of double boiled watercress soup ($5).

The portions served was not generous but adequate and surprisingly filling. Taste was good and therefore made the price of the meal a lot more palatable. One would be inclined to come back again but having more people would allow us to order more of the a la carte dishes.

If you are keen, here is the locale

Paragon Orchard
#B1 - 42/43
+65 6734 5990

9th March 2007 Gordon Grill

It was a long day waiting for the time when Fran was going to celebrate my special day with me. When the time came, we met at the Goodwood Park hotel car park where she had made arrangements for dinner.

I have heard of Gordon Grill before but did not suspect that she might be bringing me here to dinner. The ambience was good but the place was not large. It was rather empty when we got there with only a table of japanese diners. It was a different setting from Morton's. The place was famous for its steaks and the Wagyu beef served. This was an opportunity to try the wagyu that has so often been raved about.

I had the lobster bisque soup and we shared a platter of oysters. Main course was a nicely done wagyu beef cheek with a slab of foie gras. The beef cheek was good and aged well but I could not feel the marbling that the wagyu is famous for. It was very tender nonetheless. What really stood out was the foie gras. It was oily and putting a piece of it in the mouth, it just melted away. It was magnificent.

What was distinctive was the meat trolley that went around if diners decided to order the steak. Slabs of wagyu prime rib and angus filet mignon lay wrapped in the wooden trolley. Prices were high with a 10gm of wagyu steak costing $4.50. An average steak of 250gm would have cost $135. We hesitated to do the prime rib thing but after dinner, it was clear that we would be back to dinner here once again.

Dinner was washed down with glasses of cafe lattes and a birthday cake to commemorate the occasion.

So for if you have something special, this place would be a good place to try out

Gordon Grill
Goodwood Park Hotel
67301744 for reservations
dinner hours from 7-1030 pm

It was a very good and pleasant birthday dinner.