Uno Beef House

One day, while heading to our favourite bak chor mee store at Toa Payoh, I just wasn't in the mood for noodles, but my hubby was. It's been a long time since I've had a decent coffee-shop western food, so I gave the western food store next door a shot. The store seemed quite confident of itself, taking up almost half of the whole coffee-shop space. As I stood there, looking at the menu for their steaks, I was shocked to find out that the cheapest cut, which was a sirloin, was a whopping S$11.00.

What?? Has it been that long since I ate western at a coffee-shop? Am I that suaku? Is it inflation? Or has the stall owner gone mad? I wanted walk away, but then I thought, maybe, they are so good, that they are confident enough to charge that ridiculous price at a neighborhood coffee-shop? I was intrigued. So I ordered the beef sirloin and waited.

As I waited at my table, the staff gave me my cutlery. Haha, so nostalgic!

When my dish arrived a few minutes later, another wave of nostalgic hit me. The hot plate cow! It's been so long since I've had a steak served in a hot plate cow! Haha... But after the initial "awww...", a delicious looking steak appeared. Looks promising!

When I ordered, I noticed that they don't serve fries, which kind of bugged me. I love my fries with my steak! But then I noticed this little ball on the plate. When I cut it open, it turned out to be mash potatoes, rolled into a ball, and fried! And it was YUMMY! Ooo... I could eat a few of those!

Next comes the ultimate test, how was the meat? I ordered medium, but was skeptical that a neighbourhood stall cook could achieve that. When I cut the meat right in the middle, my skepticism was confirm. It was almost rare! A little disappointed, but I didn't expect much, so I just carried on eating from the side of the steak. But I was super impressed a few minutes later. As I was eating, the hot plate continued to cook the meat, soon, the meat became PERFECTLY cooked.

Genius! They intentionally under-cook the steak! Oh by the way the meat was quite tender, the pepper sauce was tasty, not too spicy, so it didn't overpower the beef. Other than the beans (which I didn't like), it was a very satisfying meal. Definitely worth going back again. Next time, I'll even try their more expensive steaks!

Uno Beef House
Block 51, Lorong 5 Toa Payoh,
#01-60 Singapore
Opens Daily: 11.30am – 10.30pm

Peramakan

We were at Vivo City the other day, so we headed to the Peramakan Restaurant at the Keppel Club near the area. Of course, that is if you are driving.

If you are craving for some authentic, spicy, rich, Peranakan cuisine, this place is one of the best place to go.

Ikan Garam Assam $16.00. Red snapper fillets cooked in a spicy garam assam gravy with brinjals and ladyfingers.

Spicy and sour, this dish is great with rice. Makes me salivate just thinking about it. I love to mix the gravy with their rice and gobble down with the fresh, fleshy fish. Not a great fan of lady fingers, but I love the brinjals. I do wish they would put more vegetables in the dish. My mom would put loads of other vege like onions and tomatoes. :)

Beef Rendang $14.00. Shin beef braised till tender in spicy coconut gravy. Served with serondeng (toasted spiced coconut).

OMG this is one of my utmost favourite dish, a MUST-ORDER whenever I go there. Usually, people would use a more lean meat when cooking beef rendang, but Peramakan decided to be brilliant and used the shin instead. The result? The meat would practically MELT in your mouth as the tendons in between the tender meat is cooked till jelly-like.

*quivers....*
But like all Peranakan dishes, it is very 'jelak', which means very rich and heavy. Due to all the coconut milk, oil and spices used during cooking, don't be surprised at how full you feel after the meal even though you didn't eat much.

Sambal Kangkong $10.00. Water convulus stir-fried with dry prawn sambal (Sambal Udang Kering).

Of course, we should always have a balanced meal by eating loads of vegetables! :) Since my baby girl isn't with us, we went all out and ordered a spicy vege dish too. Nothing new, but I just love the taste.

Chendol $5.00. Home-made chendol with tender kidney beans, topped with shaved ice, gula melaka and coconut milk.

Bubor Pulot Hitam $4.00. Black glutinuous rice is cooked till tender and served with gula melaka and coconut cream.

Interestingly, even though peranakan desserts are one of the most awesome, next to Thai ones, Peramakan's desserts were only so-so. The Chendol wasn't that fantastic, and so was the bubor pulot hitam that I ordered.

Peramakan
Level 3, Keppel Club
10 Bukit Chermin Road
Singapore 109918

Tel: 65 63772829
Fax: 65 62727585

Open everyday, including Sundays and public holidays for lunch and dinner.

Lunch: 11:30 am to 3:00 pm (last order: 2:30 pm)
Dinner: 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm (last order: 9:30 pm)
http://www.peramakan.com

db Bistro Moderne

Today we celebrated our 4th traditional wedding anniversary! Four year ago, we had our traditional wedding ceremony and had celebrated our union with our wedding dinner. :)

This year, we had decided to try out one of the many celebrity restaurants at Marina Bay Sands. I've been itching to try them as I watched the chefs on TV all the time, but they aren't exactly cheap, so we had to wait for a special occasion first! After some consideration, we chose Daniel Boulud's bistro,(pronounce:dan-YELL boo-LOO) db Bistro Moderne

They have a set lunch menu, but we wanted to choose our own dishes, so we ordered ala carte instead. For starters, we ordered FOIE GRAS POELE and ASSIETTE LYONNAISE.

FOIE GRAS POELE
2 slices of pan fried foie gras with figs S$38.00


OMG have I told you how much I adored pan fried foie gras? I know it's cruel to the goose, but, have you tasted anything so divine? I thank the poor goose for this sex on a plate. :) The crust is nicely pan fried, so there's a thin layer of caramelised crust. Inside, it was nutty and melts in your mouth like the finest butter ever. Each bite would render us speechless, so we could only give each other the "Oooo...it's so gooood!" look on our face.

ASSIETTE LYONNAISE
Selection of House Made Terrines & Cured Meat with Pain de Campagne Toast S$26.00


My starter wasn't as exciting, but it was really good anyway! I love the various types of cured meat and sausages. Even though some were a little salty, it was great with the grainy mustard and the toast.

For the main, I ordered the lamb while hubby ordered Daniel Boulud's famous burgers.

LAMB DUO
2 pieces of grilled lamb served with mint sauce, couscous and grilled kebab S$44.00


This was one of the best lamb chop that I have ever had. The meat was juuuuust cooked, but not raw, so it was super tender. But the little meat stick at the side was a little too salty. Also, I discovered that I don't know how to appreciate couscous. I always see it on tv, and it looks delicious, but, I don't know how to describe it, I just don't like it.

You know, the annoying thing about fancy restaurants is their nosy captains. I know they needed feedback on their food, but I really felt kind of pressured when they asked me how was the food. Well, when it's good, like the foie gras, I would be gushing my praises, but when I didn't finish my couscous, he would asked me (in a very polite way) if there was anything wrong with it. It kind of made me feel embarrassed and guilty, like a child having to explain why didn't she eat her greens. :P

I JUST DON'T LIKE IT, IT'S ME, NOT YOU...

Anyway, moving on...

THE FRENCHIE BURGER
Beef Patty Topped with Confit Pork Belly, Caramelized Onions, Morbier Cheese, Arugula, Cornichons served on a Black Pepper Bun S$26.00

The burger was delicious! The patty was meaty, nice char-grilled flavour on the outside, moist and tender on the inside. And the buns was so nice! But it was huge, felt kind of embarrassed to open my mouth SO BIG in order to give it a try. But it was yummilicious!

After the foie gras and the huge burger, hubby had to throw in the white towel and skipped dessert. But I don't have to! Yeah! Everything on the menu sounded so good! So in the end I ordered the profiteroles, which is a very frenchy term for cream puffs.

PROFITEROLES
Profiteroles with vanilla ice cream, pecan nuts, white chocolate with warm caramel sauce S$15.00



The waiter placed the dish on my table and poured warm caramel sauce on the white chocolate disc on top of the profiteroles. I didn't expect much, but when I took a bite, I wanted to cry!

IT WAS MUTHERF**KING GOOD!!!!!

I don't understand, it was such a simple dish, with such simple ingredients. Why is it so good? I pondered as I scooped, spoon after spoon of goodness. Then I realised. It's the proportions and the compatibility of all the ingredients! The puff was firm enough not to get soggy in the ice cream and they tasted great together. The ice cream was rich, creamy and delicious, and it tasted great with the pecan nuts. The melted white chocolate and the caramel was not too sweet but rich enough to compliment the ice cream and the puff. It was simply, a perfect dessert. So happy!!!

So that ends another very delightful meal. Of course, the bill was not so delightful, after adding taxes and stuff, it was about S$200 plus. And we didn't even order wine!(Hubby under medication) But it was worth EVERY cent as it was such an enjoyable experience. The bistro was beautiful but casual, so it was nice and comfortable, the service was great and most importantly, the food was excellent.

Thank you db Bistro Moderne, and happy anniversary my dear!

Arashi Shabu Shabu - 岚日式火鍋

After some grocery shopping JB's TESCO, we walked across to AEON Tebrau City Shopping Centre for some sustenance. We came across this restaurant that looked a little too posh for a simple Saturday lunch, but at closer inspection, it's actually a Japanese mini steamboat restaurant with reasonable pricing.

Hubby and I both ordered the same NZ rib eye shabu set, but I had the tom yam soup base while he took the Japanese broth soup base. The serving was so pretty!

NZ Beef Rib Eye Shabu Set - Tom Yam Soup - RM35.90


You can order from their ala carte menu too, but we were just so hungry and the NZ beef set seemed quite sufficient and valuable. Overall it was a very satisfying and comforting meal, very different from it's deco.

Let's just say we'll be back for more! :)

Arashi Shabu Shabu - 岚日式火鍋
AEON Tebrau City Shopping Centre
Lot G23, Ground Floor
Tel: 07 3582080

Chikuyotei Dining - Niku Udon

Hubby had the craving for the Wagyu Beef Sukiyaki I had the other time at Chikuyotei, so we drove all the way to Orchard just for dinner.



Me, I wanted to try something different, so I ordered their Wagyu Niku (Beef) Udon.



The serving wasn't very big, but the starchy udon can be quite filling, so that little bowl was enough for me. The Wagyu beef was, of course, very tender. Unlike the usual beef that clump up when you chew too big a piece, it melts in your mouth within a few bites. The soup was very light but tasty. Overall it was a very simple dish, just beef, leek and udon. Add a dash of Japanese mixed spiced pepper and you have a hearty meal! YUMS!

Chikuyotei Dining

It's Boxing Day. There are several Japanese restaurant at level 4 of Ngee Ann City, but we noticed that this Chikuyotei Dining was the only one without a queue. It looks cosy inside and the menu looks really good, so we gave it a try!

Turns out that their specialty was eel but they were promoting Wagyu Beef and their Hokkaido seafood specials that month, so I ordered a Wagyu Beef Sukiyaki while Cobby ordered the King Crab set meal. Both set cost $48.00. SO LUXURIOUS~! But it's Christmas! Let's enjoy!

Cobby's King Crab set, with King Crab rolls, king crab chawanmushi, king crab salad, fried king crab and steamed king crab! There's also a miso soup that tasted GREAT!



Pretty awesome, but what's even more awesome was my WAGYU BEEF Sukiyaki~!



Oh My God that must have been the BESTEST sukiyaki I've ever had. Hands down! Look at the marbling of the meat, it was pure heaven. Each slice was about the size of my face! When I put the whole slice into my mouth, I can't talk. But then again, it was SO GOOD, I really CANNOT talk. Besides, when it comes to Wagyu, the flavour would just keep on coming with every chew. So, don't gobble mindlessly! Chew slowly and enjoy~

I ate every single thing. (except the cutlery) :)

The meal definitely worth every single penny. A must try for all beef lovers!

Orchard Rd
#04-28, Ngee Ann City
S(238872)
Tel: 67388954
Fax: 67389074
Opening hours: Mon - Sun 11.45am - 2.15pm, 5.30pm - 9.45pm

Stir fry long beans with beef and mushrooms

Beef - sliced
Long beans - cut
Brown mushrooms - cut
Minced garlic
Minced ginger
Oyster sauce
Sugar

Combo A:
Oyster sauce
Corn flour
Sesame oil
Pepper

For my beef, I bought a piece of steak and put it in a clean plastic bag. Then I smack the meat till it's flat! That would tenderise it and get rid of all that stress! Haha...

Slice the beef and marinate it with combo A, the longer the better!

Stir fry the mushrooms in hot oil till it's little soft, add in the ginger and garlic.

Add in the marinated meat - add in more oil if needed. (mushrooms usually soaks up all the oil!)

Add a little water, another teaspoon of oyster sauce, 2 teaspoons of sugar and long beans.

Mix well and cover up to let the long bean cook.

After about 2 minutes, thicken the sauce with a splash of corn flour mix with water.

Turn of the fire and serve! :)

Cheese Burger Pasta

The original recipe was from the Rachel Ray's Show, but I used the twisted pasta (I don't know what's the name) instead of macaroni and those Kraft sandwich cheese instead of Cheddar and Parmesan cheese. Well, basically I just used what I have, and that's the beauty of home cooking isn't it? But more importantly, it's that it really tasted like cheese burger and it's yummy! Definitely will do it again. :)

Let some minced beef and chopped onion brown in a frying pan while you boil some pasta according to the instruction on the packaging.

Hint: I always use a bowl to measure how much pasta to cook. For one serving, it's about one rice bowl of pasta.

When the meat is browned, add one tablespoon of ketchup, one teaspoon of mustard, about half a cup of chicken stock and stir fry it for awhile. When the pasta is cooked, add it onto the meat sauce and stir till incorporated.

Pour it into an oven proof dish, cover it with cheese and pop it into a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 10 mins, or till the cheese has melted and browned.

Serve with a nice crisp salad. Enjoy! :D

Steak Pasta

Cobby (My Hubby) made this dish, he was inspired by Jamie Oliver when he made those delicious looking steak sandwiches. But instead of sandwich, he used pasta, cause it's more filling for our dinner.

We used ribeye steak, added some salt, pepper and oil and pounded it flat. By pounding it, it cooks faster and it also tenderised it. Grill the steak on a VERY HOT grill, or frying pan. There's no need to add oil onto the pan as there's oil on your meat. Let it grill for about 1 and a half minutes on each side (for medium), remove from pan and let it rest.

Meanwhile, the pasta is boiling in the pot, cooking according to the packaging instructions.

While it's boiling, stir fry some anchovies with chopped onion till the onion is soft and brown. THEN you add the garlic, cause if you add too early, the garlic would be overcooked, turns brown and bitter!

Add in the cooked pasta and a little bit of the pasta water into your onion mix and add in a little chicken stock. Stir fry for awhile till there's a little bit of sauce left. (the pasta will continue to absorb in the liquid even after you dish it up)

Slice your rested steak and place it on top of the pasta, serve with a freah green salad on the side. Presto, perfect steak pasta. Enjoy.

Hog's Breath Cafe

Natural Prime Rib ($34.00) My Favourite...

Other than the steak from West End, our 2nd favourite steak house has to be Hog's Breath Cafe at CHIJMES. Well, it used to be 2nd best, but now, Cobby and I are seriously considering to promote them to become our top favourite steak! Why??

Hog's Breath's Prime Rib main boast was it's juicy and tender meat, but it always lack that wonderful aromatic smoky char-grilled flavour that West End's Tenderlion Steak have.

But in the recent months, we noticed a change in Hog's Breath's steak. Not only is the meat as juicy and tender as ever, but now the steak has an enhanced char-grill flavour to it. (we suspect a change in chefs? :D) Also, even the sauce tasted different, better - so good, you don't need any ketchup or chilli sauce!

Of course, the side dishes are just as important. We always order our steak with their famous Hog's tail fries and salad. The fries are irresistably crispy and the salad is not your average boring iceberg lettuce. Perfect complements to the steak!

So you see lah, with the enhanced version of the steak and it's sauce, the unbeatable crispy curly fries and the refreshing salad, how can we not promote Hog's Breath Natural Prime Rib to be our favourite steak!?



HOG’S BREATH CAFE CHIJMES
Chijmes,
30 Victoria Street,
Block A, #01-26/27,
Singapore 187996
Tel: (65) 6338 1387
Fax: (65) 6338 6216
Email: hbchijmes@hogsbreath.com.sg
Open Daily 11.30am - Midnight (last order 10.30pm)
Bar Snacks and appetisers available till closing time

Yi Bao (怡宝) Shredded Chicken Hor Fun

What used to be called Yee Cheong Yuen Noodle Restaurant in a coffeeshop, is now air-conditioned and renamed as Yi Bao. Cobby and I always pass by this place on the way to other eateries as we were heading go to Holland Village for dinner. Not until I saw a recommendation by another food blogger did I actually gave the place a try. Verdict? I'm so glad we did!

An affordable menu

Highly recommended: Shredded chicken hor fun

The hor fun is nice and silky, the gravy is full of flavour and the chicken is very tender! Excellent!

Alternative: Braised beef hor fun

For beef lovers, the braised beef is very tender and flavourful.

Fried baby sotong

Try out their wide variety of side dishes, like this fried baby sotong. Nice and crispy...

31 Lorong Liput
Singapore 277742

Korean Food Store at Food Republic (Wisma)

I remember my brother commenting that he loved eating bibimbab, back in the 90s when Korean food wasn't as popular as it is now. Fast foward 10 years later and the mountain tortoise (me) finally tried bibimbab at Wisma Atrium Food Republic for the first time ever. I'm hooked.

I havn't really tried this wonderful hotstone mixed rice at other Korean food outlet yet, so can I still qualify this store at Wisma Food Republic as the best? :)

I love how the sunny-side-up runny egg yolk gets mixed up with the special sauce and all the lovely vegetables.



Such a hearty meal with everything mixed into one bowl of rice...

CoCo's Roast Beef

I have never tried to make roast beef before even though I am a big fan of beef. It just looks so difficult! But on Good Friday I was suddenly inspired. So I dug out some of my cook books and surfed the web for some recipes. Turns out that roast beef is actually quite easy to make! So if you want to have a hearty meal but hate to spend hours in the kitchen, try this out.



Ingredients:
A nice piece of beef
•You can find this at most Cold Storage supermarket. The meat is already pre-bundled up in strings so you can save on buying the string and tying yourself.
•With a roast, like a butterflied leg of lamb or filet of beef, it is important to secure it with string before cooking. This makes a compact shape that cooks more evenly.
•I bought a piece that was about 500g. This is just nice for two hungry people.

Salt and crushed black pepper

Oil

That’s all! Easy right?!

Of course, you should always have a balanced meal, so you can grab some vegetables of your choice while at the supermarket. I like potatoes, so I got some spring potatoes (aka baby potatoes) and asparagus.

Step 1:
Leave the meat in room temperature 30mins before cooking. This allows the meat to have a more even temperature, thus cooking more evenly. While your meat is resting, scrub your potatoes till its nice and clean. The skin of the potatoes is a rich source of vitamins and fiber. So I scrubbed them nice and clean because I would be roasting them whole later.

Step 2:
Pre-heat your oven at 180 degrees for 10mins. Boil you potatoes to remove any excess soil and also soften them a little.

Step 3:
Ready to cook?
Sprinkle a generous amount of salt and pepper onto the baking tray and roll your meat onto it. Drain your potatoes and put them into the tray with the meat.
Drizzle oil over your meat and potatoes
For extra flavour – add a few knobs of butter into the tray before popping the tray into the oven. Roast for about 35mins.

Step 4:
While waiting, you can fry up some vegetables. No time is wasted!

Step 5:
When the meat is done, take it out and wrap the whole meat in an aluminum foil. While roasting, it releases a lot of meat juice, so wrapping it up gives it opportunity to absorb the juices back, making it oh so juicy and tender. *drool~*

Step 6:
Once again, while waiting for your meat to relax, you can dish out your potatoes and make the gravy. By now, the roasting tray would have bits of meat, some dried up meat juice, butter, salt and pepper inside. You just have to put the tray over the stove top, add some soup stock (or water) and start scrapping away.

Hey, not only will this make great gravy, it makes the tray much easier to clean too!

To thicken the sauce, mix a little corn starch with water and add little by little till you achieve the desired thickness. Always taste your food! If it’s too bland, add some salt and pepper.

Step 7:
Remove the meat from the foil and slice it to serve. Remember to remove the strings!
The foil would have collected some yummy meat juice, so just add them into the prepared sauce for some extra flavour!

Step 8:
Serve...

***Applause***