295. Lai Lai Family Restaurant

It was a lazy weekday afternoon, it so happened that a friend is free from work so we went out for a grab and did some grocery shopping. Went Lai Lai, another outlet at Jurong Point. My friend had the mee-sua, tofu with minced meat and a glass of pearl milk tea. Looking at her mee-sua made me reminisce of Taiwan's A-zong mee-sua at Xi Men Ding. The patrons hold the hot bowl of starchy mee-sua in their hands and eat it whilst standing. I did not try Lai Lai's so I have no idea if it was on par to A-zong's.


Chef Salad

Eating at a timing after lunch and before dinner, what is this meal called? A few days ago, I saw a review on tea. And it was mentioned that Singaporeans usually call this meal HIGH-TEA but it was wrong!

HIGH-TEA - A meal eaten in the late afternoon, probably after 6pm.
The correct answer should be AFTERNOON TEA.

And so...I decided a salad seemed to be the best option. Lai Lai's 2-5pm special deal. I had the chef salad along with a side dish and a fruit freeze at $6.90. The salad was good, a mixture of red, green and yellow capsium, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red cabbage and roasted melon seeds. But I didn't like the vinegrette dressing. A tad too sour.

Fried Century Egg Wedges

It didn't look appealing with the coated skin. Taste was just so-so. Nothing special in particular, just probably another way of presenting the century egg.

Banana Freeze w/ konnyaku Jelly

I had the banana freeze. Banana is good. Aids digestion. With the colourful cubes of konnyaku jelly, the drink is made interesting. Also, those cubes gave the freeze texture.

I think the 2-5pm special deal at $6.90, available only for the weekdays, is worthed the money. Unfortunately, most of us are unable to enjoy this deal because we are occupied with work. Well, you can, if you are 'free'.

See previous entry here.

Lai Lai Family Restaurant
Jurong Point
Basement1

294. Hokkaido Fair 2009

The Isetan Hokkaido fair is here again. It will be at Tampines Mall from 3 - 12 Jul 2009. A total of 3 shopping centres surrounding the Tampines MRT station makes Tampines alive. N years ago, people would rather not live in Tampines but now, the opposite. Urban Development does makes a difference. I went to the fair just now and it was crowded, very crowded.



Crab Cream Croquette @$4

I caught sight of crab cream croquette and bought it without hesitation. Yummylicious! Creamy rich crab cream oozed out and filled my mouth. When I had it, it was already cold. I can't imagine what would it be like when it was just taken out from the deep fryer. Jeez.

Tarabagani King Crab @$128/pc

Your eyes are not playing a trick on you. It's a 3-digit priced crab. I had the impulse to get the seafood bento which had a small piece of the King crab's meat,prices of the bento ranged from $24 to $30+. On a second thought, I decided to go for the ramen which is only available for these 2-3 days throughout the whole fair.

Kelp/kombu. Wanted to get the kombu, the hard type, usually used for boiling soups. BUT, they were all sold! Any more stocks coming in? I asked. NO was the reply. The lady told me all of the kombu were snapped up by the aunties the moment the fair started in the morning. Wow...economic recession, huh?

Ichigo Daifuku Mochi @$2.30

Didn't really like it. The texture came a tad harder and drier than the dango.

Herb Dango @$2.30

Dango, Japanese rice dumplings made from michiko, rice flour. For some, they used potato flour. I guessed potato flour has a higher content of starch? The herb flavour was not strong, covered by the azuki (red bean paste). The rice cakes were very tangy.

Mitarashi Dango @$2.30

This is something unique. Its presentation has already captured the notice of many. Looks oiishi (delicious). Then, it was the taste that raised my eyebrows. It's savoury and sweet! I tasted shoyu (soy sauce) and when I searched for its recipe online, hah! I was right! Shoyu, starch and sugar was combined to make the syrup brushed on the dango. The taste reminded me of my Japan trip N years ago. It was the taste similar to the rice stick, where rice was pounded and made into a stick like the paddlepop. Then, they BBQ-ed it with repeated brushes of the syrup.

Hokkaido Melon Soft Ice-cream @$4.50

The melon ice-cream was delicious! Soft and it was not very sweet. I liked the mild melon taste. Thanks to the kind lady who held it for me so that I can take a shot of it.

Hokuyu - Butter Manju.

This was the stall with a long queue. Butter Manju cakes from Sapporo City, selling at $1.30 per piece & $12 for 10 pieces. Only my eyes managed to feast on the manju cakes and the Japanese young man working on them. It was way too crowded.

Hokkaido Char Siew Ramen (thick noodles) @$15

I was famished. A choice of seafood miso ramen @$16 or the char siew ramen. I chose the later because of the thick noodles. Wanted to try what it is like with the thick noodles. Well, I think the usual ramen (the thin noodles) we had was better. I felt the char siew ramen was too oily. I clicked with the auntie beside me. She was there the second time for their seafood ramen. She also agreed that the char siew ramen was too oily. And the auntie opposite us said the ramen was not authentic. What can I say?

The char siew slices were with a thick layer of fats which I didn't like. The soup became oil-laden but was very flavourful. Char siew was well-marinated too. They sliced the char siew a tad too thick. I think thinly sliced char siew would have been better.

The thick noodles, looked like our Chinese noodles, don't they? A tad different in taste though. It was tangy and I felt the noodles were with less lye or maybe not even added. Our Chinese noodles were lye-treated, that's why when we cooked the noodles in soup, the soup turned yellowish. My instinct tells me the seafood miso ramen tastes better! Argh.

The Isetan Hokkaido Fair will be held at Isetan Scotts from 19-29 Jun 2009. If you can't make it to the fair at Tampines Mall, be prepared for the one at Isetan Scotts. The fresh seafood like scallops, salmon, roe bla bla bla....came much cheaper than having to fly to Hokkaido to get them. There were many others which I did not try, the scrambled cheese cake, steamed squids, grilled scallops and etc so I will most probably go to the fair at Isetan Scotts. Till next fair, then!

293. Germany's Erhmann Yogurt

German consortium Ehrmann, a family-owned cremery, is a famous yogurt producer in Germany and across Russia. I suppose not many in Singapore have come across this brand of Yogurt.

Yoginos Classic, 2 for $3.80, raspberry and cherry flavours

It is a heat-treated fermented milk dessert with 3.5% fat in the milk content. Extra light and was more diluted than our common yogurt. Preservatives-free. Small content but rich and indulgent flavour with health properties. Slightly pricier but still not a bad choice for a dessert replacement.

I got the yogurt from a shop which sells mainly organic foods, Sunny Choice. Time to slip in a healthy dessert to your menu?

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Sunny Choice

The Rail Mall

Tel: 6892 2383

292. Bachelor's Banquet

Bachelor's Banquet – a 213-page local cookbook appealing to young and progressive individuals, containing more than 80 recipes from appetizers to entrees within the book. Recipes which are easy to prepare, tasty and are beautiful to look at.

Meet the authors:

Nicholas (Singaporean)
- attended the French Culinary Institute’s Advanced Culinary Program upon graduation.
- a marketing consultant and photographer for Martha Steward's living magazine.

Max (Indonesian)
- attended the French Culinary Institute after deciding against graduate school and worked at Restaurant Asiate, Mandarin Oriental, under Chef Nori Sugie.
- a chef de partie at the Michelin 2-star restaurant Gordon Ramsay at the London hotel, New York under the guidance of Chef Josh Emmett.

Nicholas is very nice and generous to provide me with a few recipes. I picked two to share. One is easy to make (Salmon Sashimi with Tobiko) and the other, Asian’s favourite (Asian Bouillabaisse). Singaporeans like Tom Yam, am I right? I have cropped out the recipes, see below.

Salmon Sashimi with Tobiko
I love salmon and when I looked at the recipe, it's easy to make. I think it will make a great recipe for the working class. Ladies, learn this. This is especially convenient for anyone, no cooking is required for this dish.

Asian Bouillabaisse
A dish inspired by Tom Yam. I liked the lemongrass smell. I felt this dish will look great when you invite a few friends over for a meal or party.

Early Bird Grabs!
From now till Aug 15, they are offering you readers a 15% discount if you pre-order from their website http://www.bachelorsbanquet.com/. Each pre-ordered copy will be signed and hard copies are limited to 500 signed and numbered copies. Pre-ordered books will reach you before Sept 4, the date the books hit the stores. If you like the cookbook, why not act now?

291. Chang Korean Charcoal BBQ Restaurant

It's a beautiful Sunday. A visit to the Dempsey area would be nice.

We had wanted a Korean meal since 2 weeks ago but never managed to go in the end. Something cropped up everything. We finally did today.

I like reading Korean World (available at sol-mart; free), a magazine for Koreans living in Singapore which introduces mostly on dining and most of the time, Korean food and restaurants. I came across Chang BBQ in one of the issues.

It's very spacious. Even for the traditional seating, a big space is used. They have private rooms too.

I think many non-Koreans get annoyed with their heavy stainless steel utensils because it made us appear clumsy with them. The flat chopsticks are hard to use but practice makes perfect.

One of the reasons I liked Korean cuisine is because of their pan-chan (side-dishes). In a Korean restuarant, bowls of pan-chan which the restaurants have made themselves will be served. And every restaurant serves different pan-chan besides the classic kimchi. Not like Chinese, peanuts or pickles. Well, I felt at least diners are kept occupied with the pan-chan while waiting for the mains.

More pan-chan.

Beef Brisket @$35 and Pork Ribs @$25

Beef brisket was with a thick layer of fat but after BBQ-ed, the fats was gone and it was very nice. The marinated pork ribs was very well-flavoured. Don't worry about getting your hands dirty, the waiter/waitress will do the job of BBQ-ing the meat.

A bowl of onions for eating with the BBQ-ed meat. This is good, minused the grease. The sam-jang (chili miso paste) was very good. Add the sam-jang, onions, BBQ-ed meat, kimchi onto the lettuce and wrap it up. Chomp Chomp Chomp, yum yum.

Ginseng Chicken Soup (Sam Ke Tang) @$25

A small chicken stuffed with glutinous rice and boiled in ginseng soup. The ginseng taste wasn't very strong. Soup became slight starchy because of the glutinous rice. It would have been nice on cold days. Still, I felt it lacked the punch.


Beef Broth Arrowroot Cold Noodles (Mul Nangmyeon) @$16

I liked the noodles. It's so tangy. There were sliced radish, half a boiled egg, sliced cucumbers and a slice of pear. The waitress said to add vinegar and or sesame paste and I was fooled. It wasn't sesame paste. It was miso with wasabi or mustard. It was choking.

The other Korean BBQ restaurant I have been to was Jang Shou @Esplanade. Doing a comparison, I think Jang Shou's BBQ was much tastier.

As for Nangmyeon, I felt Chang BBQ was better compared to Dae Jang Gum. Dae Jang Gum's was a tad too sweet. Chang BBQ's was light and refreshing.

Speaking of charcoal BBQ, it may be a little misleading. I have thought that they only used charcoal for the BBQ but it wasn't. Below the charcoal was a gas stove. They have used gas stove to burn the charcoal which I felt wasn't healthy.

The total bill worked out to be about $122 for 4 pax. Well, I think for Korean cuisine, it is usually at least a minimum spending of $30 per pax. Food was good, service was prompt and good.

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Chang Korean Charcoal BBQ Restaurant

Blk 18C Dempsey Road

Singapore 249677

Tel: 64739005