Chey Sua Carrot Cake @ Toa Payoh Lorong 1 Blk 127

One of my favourite hawker dishes is Carrot Cake. In fact when I used to live in Sydney I missed Carrot Cake so much I called long distance to get the recipe from my mother, and made it from scratch. I grated radish, squeezed it dry, then mixed in rice flour, water and steamed it. I made a pan of the Carrot Cake, cut it up and then fried it up with the thick caramelly dark sauce, light soy sauce and chilli. It was the perfect comfort food for two Singapore Girls (My cousin J and I) missing home in the midst of winter.

So besides trying to find the best bak chor mee, my other culinary mission is to find the best Carrot Cake in Singapore. Since this particular dish is high in carbs and fat, and has no real nutritional value, I wanted to start at the top and work my way down the list. Chey Sua Carrot Cake had been rated 3 pairs of chopsticks by Makansutra and when we got to the market, the auntie told me that there was a 30 min wait. Naturally, we agreed to the wait and I did my usual walkabout to see what else delicious was to be eaten at the market.

There was a long queue in front a stall which had two shopfronts, Teochew Handmade Bao. From what I could see, the baos were being made and steamed on the spot. I got a selection of Tau Sar Bao, Lianrong Bao, and of course Char Siu Bao for my darling pork star BH. I also got the Char Siu Rice.

I made it back to the table just in time for the arrival of the Carrot Cake, so that meant the Carrot Cake got my full attention and I didn't try any of the Baos. BH sampled all three and said that they weren't all that. The lianrong bao was not very good and tasted more of green bean. And the skin wasn't that thin. I tried the Char Siu rice and I found it way too sweet. I was puzzled as there was a really long queue for these baos......can anyone enlighten me as to why? My theory is that it's cos the baos only cost 50 cents. What was worse was that BH got really sick in the afternoon. And the only difference was that BH ate the baos and I didn't, which means that one of the baos were contaminated. I would rate it a very dismal 4/10.

By the time I attacked the Carrot Cake, I was really hungry. And I am not sure if it's a case of expectations that were too high due to the Makansutra rating or if I am really a Food Nazi (BH's pet name for me). The carrot cake was crispy and eggy, and the auntie had really made the effort to coat each segment of the carrot cake in this crispy eggy mixture and fried it at a high enough heat to create a batter-like coating that kept the carrot cake moist. However, besides this feature, the carrot cake was quite pedestrian. I suspect that the chilli is not made by the auntie and bought wholesale from some supplier as it was very bland and had only one flavour profile - sweet. It was spread over the fried carrot cake in a random haphazard pattern which resulted in bits of the carrot cake being sweet and others being completely tasteless. There was no savoury element to the carrot cake and no other flavour besides the sweetness from the chilli. I was sorely disappointed with this carrot cake and can only give it a 6/10. I will not be returning for anymore of this carrot cake.

Hawker Food at Newton Circus Food Centre

My friend J hijacked her friend S from Sydney who was on holiday in Hong Kong to spend some time in Singapore. S who had been to Singapore before wanted to have some sambal stingray which she remembered fondly from her last trip.

J and I were trying to figure out where good sambal stingray was to be had at a location which was close to S's hotel which was at Robertson Quay. We settled for Newton Circus as it seemed to be the most likely place to have sambal stingray and was close to Robertson Quay.

I did not want to have to drink the tasteless beer on offer, so I packed a cooler of my lovely Belgians. Although I got teased by my friends and BH for being a snob, I was able to enjoy the beer I wanted to drink.

Petrus

BH and I got there early ( as always, we are always early or on time) and "choped" a seat. Immediately we had someone trying to push seafood onto us and the drinks auntie trying to get us to order a drink. As I had a cooler of beer, I didn't need to order any drinks, so I had to send her away without an order.

I had also done a little research and discovered that the Oyster Omelette from Hup Kee is supposed to very good, so I made a beeline for that and ordered some pork satay from the neighbouring stall to satisfy my porkasauras BH.

Oyster Omelette from Hup Kee

Pork Satay from R&B Stall

The Oyster Omelette was good but not as good as the one that I had had at Old Airport Road. The starchy bits were a little gluey and did not have the pleasant crunch from Old Airport Road. However, besides the Pork Satay, this was still the best dish on the table. I would rate it a 7/10. The pork satay was juicy and tender and we finished all of them. A worthy effort and rated at 7/10.

J ordered a load of seafood from a stall: BBQ Sambal Stingray, Crispy Squid, Clams in Chilli, Sambal Kang Kong. And with the exception of the Crispy Squid, it was all VERY bad. The sambal stingray was tasteless and limp. The Clams were overcooked and remarkably bland. The Kang Kong was ok.....but then again, how do you screw up Kang Kong? I would rate it a very dismal 4.5/10.

The carrot cake was unspectacular and scored only a 5/10 with me. The chicken wings were easily the worst dish we had. It did not have a crispy skin, nor any flavour. It was so bland, I had to wonder if they had even marinated the chicken wings. I would rate it a 3/10.

So this leads me to the question......what is happening in our hawker centres? Have the cost of operating become so prohibitive that only sub standard renditions of our hawker favourites can be served? Are hawkers cutting corners because that is the only way they can afford to stay in business? Singapore is being touted as the next food capital of Asia, but J and I were frankly embarrassed by the food at Newton Circus last night. It was not representative of the excellent hawker food that we have come to love and enjoy in Singapore. What makes me concerned is that Newton Circus is marketed to tourists as the place to go for good hawker food. And in my opinion, that was not the case.

Tonkatsu at Saboten Parco Marina

For the past 4 days, I was running an event at Suntec. Which meant that my notions of eating healthy went out of the window. However, I refused to eat the crappy boxed lunches that were catered and went foraging for better food options in the Marina Square area.

I love pork and when it is breaded and fried......need I say more? I traditionally get my Tonkatsu fix at Tonkichi but I remember reading that Saboten did a mean tonkatsu, so I headed there during a lunch break for some fried pork.

What I loved about Saboten was that the attention to detail. They have the usual stuff that comes with Tonkatsu but each item is slightly different and you could tell that the chef had thought about how each individual item would complement each other to deliver a meal that is outstanding. Instead of the regular toasted sesame seeds, you had a mixed batch of black and white sesame seeds. Visually it looked a lot nicer and of course tasted smokier.

The soup was amazing.....it had kelp, little cubes of tofu and get this....pork fat. The pork stock was rich and restorative. I finished mine. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of this soup.

The cabbage was a green cabbage instead of the regular white. Finely shredded, it was crunchy and came with 2 different dressings which I did not use. I feel that the green cabbage is actually sweeter and has more flavour. It went very well with the fried pork.

Finally we have the main star of the meal.....the fried pork. At other tonkatu places, the pork cutlet is dredged in flour and egg and then breaded with panko. However, at Saboten, they varied this by using a batter. This batter encased a nice cut of pork loin that had a layer of fat. The batter kept the meat moist and tender while lending a savoury crunch. I would rate this 8.5/10. BH is demanding that we have our next Tonkatsu dinner there.

Burgers, Ribs, Pizza and Chocolate Guiness Cake

I was entertaining some friends on Saturday night and designed a menu that would satisfy everyone, including BH. The result was the above. Of course I only managed to get pictures of food that was not made a la minute....i.e. the ribs and the cake, but not the burgers and pizza.

The Chocolate Cake was divine, very moist and extremely chocolatey.....but for the life of me, I can't remember where I got the recipe from!? So forgive me if I do not attribute the source. I think however, it might have been better to bake the cake in a spring form cake tin lined with wax paper. My guests brought ice cream and they finished the cake and the ice cream. A big hit with the kids too! I also added a tablespoon of instant coffee to the mix...which really enhanced the chocolate flavour (Valrhona).

RIBS!!!!

Burger Buns

Guinness Chocolate Cake - TO ARTHUR!

Traditionally I would follow a brioche recipe for the burger buns but following complaints that it was too rich, I turned to a recipe for potato bread. It worked really well, was soft but provided enough structure to the bread (i.e. it didn't fall apart with the juices of the burger and onions).

The ribs were marinated for 24 hours and then slow cooked in the broiler for 3 hours at a low temperature. They were the first to go! Excellent with the fine selection of Belgian Beers from The Drinking Partners.

Adam Road Prawn Noodles @ Zion Riverside Food Centre

My colleague and I finished our meeting around lunch time and I wanted to have some oily lard laden char kway teow so we headed to Zion Road Food Centre. Unfortunately, we were too early and the uncle wasn't open. We had to settle for something else instead. We both decided to have the prawn noodles, though my colleague who is from Malaysia wanted her prawn noodles dry instead of with the soup.

Prawn Noodle Soup for me

Prawn Noodle Dry for M my colleague

I like the stock of the prawn noodle soup, it was rich and porky enough for me. But whilst it was satisfying, it was missing the final umami element in his stock. I am not sure what it was, maybe the lack of some secret spice that would have taken it to the next level.

M, my colleague commented that the stock was good and better than anything she had had in Johor Bahru. So we both enjoyed our meal!

I would rate it a 6.5/10. It was good but not orgasmically good.

Fried Minced Pork @ Home with Cantik and Sooky

The one thing I love about working so close to home is that I get to go home for lunch. Not only do I get to eat healthily (sort of), I also get to play with my pussies.

There are days when I really have a really healthy meal of steamed fish, steamed eggs, steamed veggies and brown rice. But today, I went home and cooked up a batch of minced pork. It was a hmmmm-what-is-the fridge-kind of dish but that didn't make it any less tasty.

Minced Pork @ Home

Instead of vegetable oil, I fried the garlic, chili and tau cheo in lard (for those who think my cholesterol is sky high, it isn't.). I then added the minced pork, cranked up the heat and then added kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce and lime juice. I had this with leftover popiah filling (fibre and tasty!) and white rice and sambal belachan. The kaffir lime leaves and chilli gave this rich porky dish some zing while the fish sauce, garlic and tau cheo layered flavours in.

After that most satisfying meal, I played with Sooky, Handsome and Cantik. Handsome as usual was camera shy.

Sooky guarding my shoes

Cantik grooming Sooky, a rare moment

Cantik wanting to be sayanged

Aburiya @ Robertson Quay

BH and I had not caught up with our friend J for quite some time and as it was going to be her birthday next week, we decided to catch up over beers and dinner. I was having a hellishly busy day so I left the choice of restaurants to J.

She suggested that we try out Belle Pizza but for some strange reason, we both could not find it! BH was busy on the phone, so J and I made an executive decision and decided to have charcoal grilled meats at Aburiya, You can't go wrong with meat, fire and beer!

As you can tell from the pictures, I still have not worked out how to use my fancy camera in low lighting yet, so please forgive the blurry pictures. But I wanted to blog about Aburiya because I really love the food here.

Grilled Mushrooms

We ordered the mushrooms, wagyu beef rib, tontoro (pig cheeks) with a ponzu dipping sauce, kurobuta rib eye and lamb rib eye. While the Wagyu was good, the real stars were the lamb rib eye, tontoro and kurobuta pork. The fat crunchy pork cheeks were especially tasty after being dipped in the ponzu sauce. A great place for meat and I would rate it a 8/10.

Wagyu Beef Rib

Lao Fu Zi Char Kway Teow and Oyster Omelette @ Old Airport Road

As I was having lunch with my old friend C who lives in Tokyo on Saturday, BH and I gave our weekly hawker brekkie a miss. C, who loves his nosh as much as I do, is severely deprived of his hawker favourites and specifically requested that we eat local.

We headed to Old Airport Road Hawker Centre which has a great collection of hawker favourites, ranging from Kway Chap, Goreng Pisang, Wanton Mee, Char Kway Teow and etc. I had planned for being a total pig at lunch and had a relatively healthy breakfast of home made granola with greek yoghurt while C, had already indulged in a heavy hawker food breakfast. He made complaining noises when I returned with the oyster omelette, char kway teow and prawn noodles but actually happily tucked into the two most fattening dishes.

Albert Court Prawn Noodle Soup

Oyster Omelette

Lao Fu Zi Char Kway Teow

The Char Kway Teow was from the famous Lao Fu Zi. I have to say I was disappointed. There was little wok hei and very little flavour in the CKT. It was extremely plain and almost tasted like the fried noodles that you would get at your neighbourhood beehoon and noodle stall at $1 per plate (with luncheon meat and fishball). I love my CKT and since it is a high fat and carb dish, if it doesn't taste good, I won't bother finishing it. It is not even close to being in the same league of Zion Road nor Hill Street CKT. I would only rate it a 5.5/10.

The surprise find for me was the Oyster Omelette. This is a notoriously difficult dish to pull off and the guy did a decent job. The starchy bits were crispy enough and well flavoured and stood up to the strong flavours of the oysters. Often times, I would search out the oysters and leave the gray starchy bits behind. But not in this case, both C and I wiped the platter clean! The chilli was a delightful mix of spiciness and tartness. When you dipped the rich eggy oysters morsels into the dipping sauce, you got to experienced the whole gamut of textures and flavours. I thought it deserved a 7.5/10. Alas I didn't take note of the stall number or name.....but it is located next to the famous wanton mee stalls in the front of the hawker centre.

The Albert Court Prawn Noodles  were a HUGE disappointment. The stock was just sweet, as in dessert sweet, with little prawn or pork flavours infused into the stock. The prawns however were fresh and quite substantial for a $5 portion. However, it was rather tasteless, and I would traded the large prawns for a richer soup base. I would also only rate it a 5.5/10.