A friend who is based in Shanghai returned for a flying visit and we all decided on tea at House. I have never been there so it was a great opportunity to try a new place at Dempsey.
I was kind of hungry so I decided to have a pasta dish, I had the Prawn Capellini (at least I think it was called that). It was pretty good, the pasta was al dente, and the cook uses a Asian style prawn stock to infuse extra flavour into the pasta. I also asked for more spiciness and they were very accommodating to drop some chilli padi into the pasta. Overall, a good effort, and I finished all of the pasta on my plate. I would rate it 8/10.
My friends also ordered the skinny pizza. Maybe I am a pizza purist but I don't understand the concept of the skinny pizza. They had the veggie skinny pizza and it was a variety of grilled veggies on a cracker like crust. But my problem with this pizza was twofold. Not only was it vegetarian, (my friends know me as being rabidly carnivorous) but they loaded so many grilled veggies on the cracker crust, that by the time they were halfway through the pizza, the cracker crust had become very soggy and floppy. My other beef was also the liberal use of peppers. I absolutely LOATHE peppers, whether they be red, green or yellow. It looked so unappetizing, I decided to skip the skinny pizza completely.
My friend SA, wanted the Tiffin punch which is a signature cocktail at House. I normally don't do cocktails (being a beer, whiskey, champagne, wine kinda girl) but she is a very persuasive sales person, so we shared the punch which serves 4. It was surprisingly good and I would recommend it to someone who wants a refreshing afternoon or brunch cocktail to chase that hangover away.
My only grouse (besides the skinny pizza aka not a real pizza) was that I didn't see that they serve two of my favourite beers, Triple Karmeliet and Kwak, because they didn't list it on the alcoholic menu but only wrote it on the specials menu board (which I didn't see as my back was facing it).
Monday, September 6, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Lamb chops finally
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Oops I did it again
Sorry folks. We just couldn't help it. Scarfed down the sausages, scrambled eggs, and roesti before I could take a picture.
I loved the roesti as did BH. Here's the recipe (adapted from cooks illustrated) for those we want to give a try.
3-4 yukon gold or granola potatoes, peeled and grated using biggest hole on box grater
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon corn flour
1/2 teaspoon white pepper (I prefer white cos it looks less like burnt charcoal bits)
Unsalted butter
Rinse grated potatoes and drain in colander. Use a clean wash cloth and squeeze out liquid from the grated potato.
Add salt and cornflour and combine well.
If you have a tiny one-egg frying pan, you can use that and fry up 3 mini roesti cakes. Or if using a regular fry pan, just one large roesti. Heat pan over medium high heat, place 2 tbs of butter in pan, and wait for butter to stop foaming.
Even out the grated potato mix in pan till it forms a cake. Let it cook for 5min or till golden brown. Flip it onto a plate, repeat with butter on pan, and slide roesti onto pan with cooked side up. Fry for another 5 mins.
Slide out onto chopping board, cut and serve with full fat sour cream and chopped chives. Yum.
We had a great breakfast today. Hope you did too!
I loved the roesti as did BH. Here's the recipe (adapted from cooks illustrated) for those we want to give a try.
3-4 yukon gold or granola potatoes, peeled and grated using biggest hole on box grater
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon corn flour
1/2 teaspoon white pepper (I prefer white cos it looks less like burnt charcoal bits)
Unsalted butter
Rinse grated potatoes and drain in colander. Use a clean wash cloth and squeeze out liquid from the grated potato.
Add salt and cornflour and combine well.
If you have a tiny one-egg frying pan, you can use that and fry up 3 mini roesti cakes. Or if using a regular fry pan, just one large roesti. Heat pan over medium high heat, place 2 tbs of butter in pan, and wait for butter to stop foaming.
Even out the grated potato mix in pan till it forms a cake. Let it cook for 5min or till golden brown. Flip it onto a plate, repeat with butter on pan, and slide roesti onto pan with cooked side up. Fry for another 5 mins.
Slide out onto chopping board, cut and serve with full fat sour cream and chopped chives. Yum.
We had a great breakfast today. Hope you did too!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Weekend Brekkie
Since re-entering the corporate fold, I have begun to enjoy my weekends once again. And one of the luxuries of having the weekend to yourself is a delicious leisurely breakfast.
Last Saturday, BH and I woke only at 7am, lazed around in bed and only got to breakfast at about 930am. Bliss. We chowed down on Seng Kee Bak Chor Mee at 316 Changi Road. It was a good Bak Chor Mee and satisfied BH's extremely finicky palate.
We also had some kind of a crispy pork side dish, which was good but not orgasmically good. I fancied that the noodles were a little starchy (i.e. weren't rinsed in cold water sufficiently) and that there wasn't enough vinegar. On the whole, it was a decent bowl of Bak Chor Mee because of the ample pork mince, pork slices, and stewed mushrooms (which leads me to suspect that was how BH's chiam chwee was satisfied). If I had to rate it, I would rate it 8/10.
I am sure that there is a better Bak Chor Mee out there and I think BH and I will not rest till we find it.
Tomorrow, we will have breakfast at home. We are going to have a nice big artery clogging fry up. Loads of animal fat! Sausages, Homemade Bacon, Scrambled Eggs, Homemade Roesti with Sour Cream.
I will post the pictures tomorrow. Hope I don't forget to take them before we devour it.
Last Saturday, BH and I woke only at 7am, lazed around in bed and only got to breakfast at about 930am. Bliss. We chowed down on Seng Kee Bak Chor Mee at 316 Changi Road. It was a good Bak Chor Mee and satisfied BH's extremely finicky palate.
We also had some kind of a crispy pork side dish, which was good but not orgasmically good. I fancied that the noodles were a little starchy (i.e. weren't rinsed in cold water sufficiently) and that there wasn't enough vinegar. On the whole, it was a decent bowl of Bak Chor Mee because of the ample pork mince, pork slices, and stewed mushrooms (which leads me to suspect that was how BH's chiam chwee was satisfied). If I had to rate it, I would rate it 8/10.
I am sure that there is a better Bak Chor Mee out there and I think BH and I will not rest till we find it.
Tomorrow, we will have breakfast at home. We are going to have a nice big artery clogging fry up. Loads of animal fat! Sausages, Homemade Bacon, Scrambled Eggs, Homemade Roesti with Sour Cream.
I will post the pictures tomorrow. Hope I don't forget to take them before we devour it.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Lamb Shoulder Chops Recipe
I know that I should take pretty pictures of the food that I have cooked in order to make my blog attractive.
However, in this instance, the chops were so quickly eaten by BH and me, I didn't get a chance to take a nice food porn photo. Not that I could anyway with my blackberry camera. It would probably be overexposed.
Anyway, BH and I enjoyed the lamb so much, and it was so easy to make, I thought I would share the recipe.
Easy Lamb Chops
4 Lamb Shoulder Chops with bone in (should be at least 250 grammes each)
2 tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar
1 tablespoon of honey
1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon of dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
6 cloves of garlic smashed
2 tablespoons of lime juice
Mix the above in a heavy duty freezer bag and push out all air from bag. Store in fridge for at least 2 hours and flip over mid way to ensure even distribution of marinade.
Remove from fridge and allow to come to room temperature.
At this point, I whipped out my blow torch and seared those suckers good. Till I got a nice browning on the meat surface. Popped them into a broiler at 125 degrees centigrade and cooked them for 10 mins (pink) and 15 mins (well done). If you don't have a torch, then just pan fry them at very high heat on each side for a min and then pop into broiler or oven.
Serve with steamed veggies or fries or a rosti or even pasta.
A fuss free dinner for two!
However, in this instance, the chops were so quickly eaten by BH and me, I didn't get a chance to take a nice food porn photo. Not that I could anyway with my blackberry camera. It would probably be overexposed.
Anyway, BH and I enjoyed the lamb so much, and it was so easy to make, I thought I would share the recipe.
Easy Lamb Chops
4 Lamb Shoulder Chops with bone in (should be at least 250 grammes each)
2 tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar
1 tablespoon of honey
1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon of dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
6 cloves of garlic smashed
2 tablespoons of lime juice
Mix the above in a heavy duty freezer bag and push out all air from bag. Store in fridge for at least 2 hours and flip over mid way to ensure even distribution of marinade.
Remove from fridge and allow to come to room temperature.
At this point, I whipped out my blow torch and seared those suckers good. Till I got a nice browning on the meat surface. Popped them into a broiler at 125 degrees centigrade and cooked them for 10 mins (pink) and 15 mins (well done). If you don't have a torch, then just pan fry them at very high heat on each side for a min and then pop into broiler or oven.
Serve with steamed veggies or fries or a rosti or even pasta.
A fuss free dinner for two!
Nasi Lemak
And the one dish I will NOT blog about will be Nasi Lemak because I reckon I will be unduly biased. :)
Bribes!
Yes you read it right. For the first ten followers of my blog, you will get some of Madam Tan's Sambal Belachan. Email me at madamtans@gmail.com so that we can arrange for you to pick up your chilli.
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