Monday, March 29, 2010

Review: Yoshimaru Ramen @ Holland Village

Had a late lunch with S yesterday before picking up baking supplies from Phoon Huat @ Holland Village. I'd been to Yoshimaru Ramen once with Kays & Mous when it first opened in early 2009 and have not been back since. Guess it's just not something top-of-mind whenever I go to HV.

This time 'round I ordered the shabu shabu beef tonkotsu ramen ($14). Yoshimaru serves all its ramen with seasame seeds in a mortar & pestle for customers to grind and sprinkle their own sesame powder, which adds an element of novelty I suppose. I also liked the fact that they served fried garlic bits that further enhances the ramen's aroma. The shabu shabu beef was tasty enough (+), but just didn't feel like it "connected" with the soup base (-). I would try the pork version next time, or just stick to the normal tonkotsu ramen, which also has a mini version. Alternatively you can pick your own toppings to add to the basic tonkotsu char siu ramen from $9 onwards. The thin Hakata-styled noodles was cooked just right (+), and the egg was perfectly semi-runny (+). My only gripe was that the soup was WAY too diluted, so much so that I left the beef to soak longer hoping to infuse the soup with more flavour (-)!

Shabu Shabu Beef Tonkotsu Ramen

I would come back again, to try out other items on their menu. I'm especially curious of their mini-burgers (odd, huh).. Oh and they have a fantastic promotion - 20% off their ala carte items during 2pm to 6pm daily (so late lunch worked for me)! 

Not on Ah Mak's Must Try List... until the soup is improved!

7 out of 10 
Yoshimaru Ramen Bar
31 Lorong Liput
Holland Village
Tel: 6463 3132

Monday, March 22, 2010

Review: Ah Mak's Must Try List - Klang Style Bak Kut Teh

As most locals would know, there are 2 main types of Bak Kut Teh. The Singaporean style usually consists of a clear peppery broth with lots of garlic, while the other is touted as a Malaysian classic which has a thicker, herbal soup base served in a claypot. While I have my favourites for the former, Kays is a purist and insists that the Klang style claypot BKT is the real thing.

My most memorable BKT experience was indeed in KL Klang valley, where there were a row of shophouses all selling the delicious herbal variety. The stall we visited then served yam rice along with the BKT, which also had enoki mushrooms, fishballs and lots of veggies! I've not been able to find something that came close in Singapore, but we do have a couple of favourites whenever we needed to get our fix.

This weekend we had the craving again, and headed to Kays' favourite stall at Alexandra Village only to find out that the entire food centre has closed for renovations! Disappointed, we drove to the Jalan Bukit Merah ABC food centre around the corner to find some other food and surprise surprise, we chanced upon the said stall relocated here! It must be fate!

Leon Kee Pork Rib Soup was easy to miss because of the lack of photos on its signboard. We found them purely because its neighbour was also selling BKT (but the peppery kind) which caught my eye. Kays then very quickly recognised one lady next door at Leon Kee as a regular staff from the old location. Thrilled, we quickly ordered and took our seats, waiting eagerly for the food. Kays was elated because we stumbled upon this place and we lapped up the soup almost immediately.

Leon Kee BKT with fried fitters, kailan with stewed mushrooms

While Kays preferred the stronger herbal taste at this Bukit Merah stall and I agree the meat is more flavourful, I personally preferred the other Leong Kee, sounds similar but I don't think they are related, at Beach Road and Geylang, which has a richer, thicker soup and the tender meat comes right off the pork ribs. Will post more about this other Leong Kee when we next visit!

So there you have it, our 2 top choices for Klang style claypot BKT!
Ah Mak's Klang Bak Kut Teh Must Try List:

8 out of 10
1. Leon Kee Pork Rib Soup, Big Prawn Noodles
Blk 6, Jalan Bukit Merah
#01-03, ABC Market 
*Heard that their claypot prawn noodles are good too!

8 out of 10
2. Leong Kee (Klang) Bak Kut Teh @ Beach Road
321 Beach Road
Kampong Glam Conservation Area

3. Leong Kee (Klang) Bak Kut Teh@ Geylang
251, Geylang Road (Beside Lor 11)
(they've moved from their previous location at Lor 21A)

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Cupcake Decorating Birthday Party for little Zelia

It's little Zelia's 3rd birthday and I'd offered to Hazen a batch of cupcakes from me as a birthday gift. After some brainstorming we'd decided to turn it into something fun for the kids to do instead - where they got to decorate their own tiny cupcakes!

After I went to the stores to get my supplies this morning, I got cracking and baked 24 chocolate cupcakes + prepared 2 sets of cream cheese frosting in pink and blue (for the boys). Given that the age of these kids ranged from 1-6, I had to keep things relatively simple and basically just let them have some hands-on fun. I was initially pretty stressed out that I wouldn't be able to manage with 6 tiny tots, but with the mummies' assisting, it all went pretty well!

It was fun to have these active kids stop and listen attentively while I did the demo of how to pipe a frosting swirl, flat frost, and just sprinkle! They each decorated 3 cupcakes, one for themselves and their parents. They held on to their finished works and took lots of pride when they tasted them. I'm happy that everyone loved the cupcakes and little SuperNat even came over to thank me on his own initiative! Aw... Little Jevan now wants to share these cupcakes with his classmates for his birthday party, but since there's limited time to decorate during school, I'd deliver finished cupcakes instead!

Works of art by the mummy + kiddy master chefs

Little Phoelia & Birthday Girl Zelia

The kids: Super-Nathaniel, Jevan, Phoelia, Zelia, Wei Wei, XuanXuan & Abigail

Review: Aerin's & Cedele @ Raffles City... and weekend shopping!

Last Saturday was an action-packed day! After toiletries shopping and breakfast, I met S to jointly attack the Pedder Warehouse Sale @ Raffles Convention Centre. To our horror there was an extremely long queue and it took us almost an hour before we could get in! The people in the line made up of local and Japanese tai-tais, young fashionistas and some of us who just didn't want to pay full price! Outside the room, everyone looked prim & proper, but once they'd reached the other side of the door, out came the claws and we got shoved/elbowed all over the place! This called for WAR and after about 2 hours we came out victorious - each armed with giant shopping bags of shoes and handbags :D...

Anyway, just out of pure fun & inspired by Jamba, I'd initiated a Biggest Loser Challenge in my office recently - 3 months, 11 people... biggest % weight loss wins $100 from the pool! (And penalty for those who put ON weight). So we each have our own preferred weight loss methods and to be honest I have not been putting in as much effort as I'd like. S, on the other hand, has recently signed up for the Cohen's Diet - a tailored diet of permitted and prohibited foods prescribed based on your blood type. This, compared to the Atkin's diet, seemed a lot more believable and something that you're less likely to feel like a torture. Importantly, it's sustainable! All one needs, is time, because there is a prescribed weight of the list of permitted foods, it's often best to weigh & prepare your own meals. In this fast paced world of ours the diet calls for immense willpower and commitment! 

S has been doing really well and after shopping together I was inspired to also follow some key rules though I didn't have my own diet... Sometimes I did well, sometimes I defected! Lunch was at Aerin's where I ordered the steak bomb and ate only the fillings of the sandwich and stayed away from the bread (+) but I mixed my proteins of beef and cheese and bacon~ (-) and had a few french fries (-)!! I consoled myself by imagining how much space that bread would have taken up in my stomach! All this while S was just watching me eat because she'd brought her own lunch!


Steak Bomb @ Aerin's

For dinner we ended up at Cedele on the 3rd floor, and this time I was more disciplined and ordered a salad of prawns & avocados - 1 protein (+) and no carbs (+)! S wasn't sure about eating out but the steak salad did seem to fit her list, main problem was having to weigh the portions. We tried our luck and asked the manager if they could do it for her, and to our delight they gladly obliged! The kitchen staff seemed curious at our request (it was an open kitchen) but they also looked like they had fun attending to it! As promised, the food arrived according to her specific request and it was yummy~

The staff at Cedele must be commended for their attentiveness and flexibility in accommodating to customer demands. Well done guys, and because of this I'm sure S and her friends who signed up for the diet will become regulars so that they don't have to prepare their own food all the time!

 


7 out of 10 
252 North Bridge Road
#B1-11/12 Raffles City Shopping Centre
Tel: 6337 2231

8 out of 10 
252 North Bridge Road
#03-28A Raffles City Shopping Centre
(Near Convention Centre)
Tel: 6337 8017

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Review: Koo Kee Yong Tow Foo Mee @ Chinatown

Kays & I made our bi-monthly pilgrimage to Chinatown to top up on cheap toiletries this morning and we'd planned to try out the "loh-mei" (braised meats) stall at the People's Park hawker centre but for the 2nd time it was closed when we got there! So, instead we headed over to a tried and tested stall - Koo Kee for their Yong Tau Foo noodles. There always seems to be a queue at this stall, which specialises in Hakka-style Yong Tau Foo. For $3.50, you get a bowl of piping hot soup of stuffed tofu accompanied by dry noodles drizzled in garlic and shallot oil and topped with minced chicken meat. Kays had the popular thin noodles while I had kway teow instead.

The soup was tasty yet light, with a hint of sweetness from the fresh fish meat. The sweet and chili dipping sauces added the right tinge of flavours to the stuffed tofu. All in all makes for a satisfying breakfast/ brunch experience! They have a couple of other branches, I think, one in Upper Thomson but this Chinatown stall is the original outlet.

 

7 out of 10 
Koo Kee Yong Tau Foo Mee 
32 New Market Road
#01-1114 People’s Park Centre