Food Glossary at JTC Summit

It is not often one finds great food, reasonable prices and good people serving it. It should be easy, but it is not. When Good Morning Nanyang Cafe closed in Hong Lim, I was saddened...for Byron Shoh, who runs the outlet is a friend and he serves great food at reasonable prices in a convenient location.

When he re-opened with some partners, I was overjoyed...but on discovering that the new location is at JTC Summit, my joy was tempered. Its way out there in the West, nowhere near my habitual route, and opening hours of Mon-Fri 7am-4pm is also not convenient. But I always enjoy a chat with Byron, and always enjoy his food and kopi, so trotted over one weekday to sample his offerings.

Initially he had partnered with a friend, also an aquaintence of mine Jimmy Cheang to offer smoked meats, which also quite pulled on my heart strings...I always longed to re-live the smoked meats at Schwartz's in Montreal or those in the Texas towns. But when I arrived last week, they had closed the Western kitchen. Perhaps the taste of the local clientele, in a HDB area, JTC offices were not atuned towards smoked meats. The Local Kitchen seemed to be doing well, though. I sampled the Char Kway Teow and the Rendang Chicken with blue rice.

First the visually interesting rendang chicken.

Fragrant blue rice, with chicken rendang. The rendang was very fragrant, with chunks of tender well marinaded chicken within, and potato chunks. Full flavour. I found the rendang a tad too salty, but the taste was excellent and very fragrant. The blue rice, other than being a beautiful spectacle was also very fragrant

Topped with a fried egg, it was very nice. 

I also tried the char kway teow

The kway teow used is very wide, more like hor fun than kway teow. And fried very well. Wok hei is apparent, and the prawns were fresh, juicy and very tasty. A small but very important detail - the taugeh (bean sprouts) were fried just right, a tinge of wok hei, and still very crunchy.

Of course I had Byron's famous kaya toast and kopi for dessert

Hand made kaya, done by Byron himself, generously spread with slices of butter on crisp toast. Very nice. The kopi was nice and fragrant, though ultimately loses out in flavour and fragrance to the Hylam Street in ABC, was better than the fare served up at the big chain kopi joints like Ya Kun, Killeney, Toast Box and the ilk.

Highly recommended. I wish the location was more convenient, but even as it is, I will make my way to eat here frequently, I suspect.

Food Glossary

#02-01, The JTC Summit
8 Jurong Town Hall Road, Singapore 609434

Malaysian Food Street at Resorts World Sentosa

Today's post is a bit unusual...I have featured the food at Malaysian Food Street before. And like the Penang Char Kway Teow and KL Jalan Alor Black Hokkien Mee very much.

I attended a MasterClass where Chef Adolf Tan shared the recipes and some secrets of why these dishes taste better than other places which serve similar in Singapore.

Of course, the reference is still the dishes in the native city. I discussed this with Chef Adolf and he told me that his aim is to achieve about 80% of what can be tasted in Penang or KL. The reason is because some of the ingredients are not available in Singapore, even on special order, as some have a very short shelf life, and others have been restricted by the authorities (like fresh duck eggs which packs a wallop in Penang for their CKT)

The recipe is rather simple...and as usual, simple dishes are the best...in Penang the dish is spelled Char Koay Teow, here is the recipe:

Ingredients: serves 1

200g Koay Teow

35g Bean Sprouts

5g local chives, cut

5g chopped garlic

Chillli paste to taste

35g fresh prawns

15g Chinese sausage

1 egg

30ml pork oil

20ml premium soya sauce, or as an option a dash of fish sauce and pepper

Method:

1, Heat up pork oil in wok until hot...you can see the oil smoking on the wok. Add chopped garlic and prawns.

2. Stir fry till fragrant, and add koay teow and beansprouts. Fry for about 1 minute.

3. add chilli paste, soya sauce and stir fry untill well coated, then add Chnese sausage and chives.

4. Add egg, cook till the egg is done.

5. Garnish and serve.

The Masterclass CKT was cooked on a portable stove, but the regular CKT in MFS is cooked on a super powerful high pressure gas stove...the one which sounds like a jet engine taking off. This will provide the requisite wok hei to the dish, which is so treasured. Traditionally in Penang, the dish is also cooked in a charcoal fire, where a fan is used to stoke the ambers to very high heat. And the charcoal adds an additional depth to the dish, infusing it with smoky flavours for an even more powerful wok hei.

The next dish demonstrated was the Dai Lok Mee...or KL Black Hokkien Mee. 

The special ingredient used when you eat at MFS is the noodle. I often lament that local renditions o this very special dish lacks authenticity as most use either udon or regular mee. But in KL,  the mee is yellow noodle, but thick and has a special flavour. MFS went to the trouble to get the local Singapore noodle manufacture to make the mee in Singapore to be as close to what is obtainable in KL as possible. Chef Adolf shared with me that the manufacture of this mee is only for MFS and the manufacturer is under contract only to supply to them.

The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients: serves 1

200g Dai Lok Mee

25g Choy Sum, cut

50g Round cabbage, cut

5g chopped garlic'

30g pork oil

25g pork loin, sliced

35g fresh prawn meat

20g brown cuttlefish, cut

10g Premium soya sauce

30g Premium Dark Soya sauce

150ml chicken stock made from 250g of chicken bones and 500ml water boiled and reduced to 250ml.

Method

1. Heat up wok with pork oil and add both cut vegetables, pork slices, cuttlefish, prawn and chopped garlic

2. Fry till fragrant, add chicken stock and mee

3. Add soya sauce and dark soya sauce and simmer till sauce coats the noodles

4. Stir well and serve.

Visually, the noodles look very similar to the ones I have eaten in KL. And the fragrance is absolutely captivating. Tastewise, this is probably the closest to KL I have sampled in Singapore, big thanks to the special noodles used.

Malaysian Food Street

Resorts World Sentosa

Sentosa

Meng Kee Char Kway Teow

Good char kway teow is not easy to find. I have written about some of my favourites, and today, I reveal another.

But this stall is hardly a discovery. It is rather famous on its own right. Tucked in the corner of the coffee shop, in the morning, the owner's father does fried carrot cake, and she takes over from about 10:30am.

The char kway teow is rather interesting. Devoid of thick black, sweet sauce which characterise the Teochew style CKT in Singapore, this version is fried with black sauce, but used more sparingly, and the resultant ckt looks brownish. Lard is used to cook, and the flavour of the animal fat was aromatic, and quite flavourful. Some bits of crispy, slightly charred lard bits were found in the CKT, and this added dimension to the dish. The ingredients were fresh, the wok hei good, and I must say, this is a rather good dish!

I do recommend this CKT, and eaten with moderation is a rather nice one.

Meng Kee Char Kway Teow
Blk 22, Havelock Road
Beo Crescent
Mon to Sat 10.30am to 7pm
Sundays 10.30am to 4pm

Great Penang food in Singapore? Enter Gurney Drive Restaurants

I have often lamented the poverty of authentic, well cooked Penang hawker fare in Singapore. While understadable as Singapore is not Penang, but yet, inexplicable because of the great popularity of Penang cuisine amongs our inhabitants.

So it is with a bit of joy, that I present a restaurant which brings us one step closer...not exactly there yet, but at least all the flavours are authentic and well cooked.

I had eaten at Gurney Drive...the real street food in Penang as well as the restaurant here in Singapore. My first experience with them was a few years ago, when they first opened in Suntec City. My conclusion then was it was not ready for prime time, and thus never wrote a review. But recently, I sampled their cooking again, in Changi Airport Terminal 3, and was pleasantly surprised. So I went to re-sample, to ensure that there was indeed consistency in the cooking at the Jems outlet. And indeed was pleasantly satiated, yet again. Bravo!

The Penang Prawn Hokkien Mee, shown above was rather well presented. Two large prawns, the correct ingredients. Taste wise it was quite good, though a tad salty. The soup had a deep savoury flavour typical of those found in the better hawker stalls in Penang. This is not a crustacean flavour in the Singapore version, but a pork bone based flavour with a touch of rock sugar.

Of course the Penang Char Kway Teow is indicated...rather prescribed

This is an all time favourite of mine and apparently a lot of Penangites. One would find a CKT stall almost every other coffee shops in Penang, and there are at least 3 or perhaps 4 which can claim to be world class in their interpretation of this dish. The Gurney version is very good. With nice wok hei, beautifully fried, not too greasy...though a little grease cannot be avoided as the kway teow itself is a bit greasy and pork lard used to fry it. Very nice.

The Penang version of the Mamak Mee Goreng is also very good

A bit different from the ones offered by the mamaks in Singapore, where we tend to use a red dye,they tend to add potato bits and croutons with the slightest bit of kichap manis, and fresh lettuce. Quite authentic. Nice flavours. Again a tad salty.

Their rojak is also authentic

With very nice ingredients. Tiny, sour mango, sliced cuttlefish, jambu, cucumber, bangkuang, pineapple, croutons from yu tiao, all mixed in the fabulous hae ko based sauce, and sprinkled with crushed peanuts and sesame seeds. Very nice.

The dessert is equally nice. The classical Malaysian iced dessert of ice kachang...or ABC - air batu campur is superb:

A mountain of finely shaved ice, drizzled with a tricolour syrup, topped with sweet corn, and covering a base of red bean, jelly, attap seeds. In the Gurney version, the chef take a bit of poetic license and adds thinly sliced nutmeg and crushed peanuts. The nutmeg lifts the dish from good to quite exceptional.

and the chendol

Nicely flavoured. Reminds me of the Teochew Chendol stall in Penang Road when I visited as a youth. Alas, the last visit several years ago, the taste of the stall in Penang Road has deteriorated. But this version concocted by Gurney brings back those memories of the good times for me. The red bean was large, soft, nice aroma. The ice finely shaved. The gula melaka used to sweeten the dessert could have been a bit more aromatic and flavourful, and the coconut milk could have been fresh instead of out of a can, but this was good enough for a fascilime.

With this tasting, I can safely recommend Gurney Drive for Penang Cuisine. I had also tried the jew her eng chye and lorbak at my second tasting in T3, but still find them to lack the authenticity for a recommendation.

Gurney Drive Restaurant
04-27 JEM
Various other locations

www.gurneydrive.com.sg

George of Georgetown: new Penang restaurant in town!

A new Penang restaurant is always an interesting place to try...especially here in Singapore...

Penang has a well developed hawker cuisine. I have documented my favourites several times. And recently, a new Penang place opened up in West Coast Plaza

The menu seems extensive...almost all the interesting hawker foods from Penang is found here. From favourites like Penang Char Kway Teow, to less commonly found ones (in Singapore) like pasembur, inchicabin and jew her eng chye. Interesting.

I started with the Penang Char Kway Teow...a firm favourite

Excellent. One of the best and most authentic I have tasted in Singapore. Very authentic. Beautiful, almost charcoal wok hei...which I know is going to be difficult to get in a restaurant in a mall, so there wasn't the magnificent smoky flavour...as this was cooked in a gas stove. But one which puts out quite a lot of heat, and a cook who is able to control the wok. Very nice. Cooked with pork lard, with the crispy bits as well...so all the flavours are present and accounted for. A touch greasy, if that is my complaint...but with a taste as authentic as this, I am willing to overlook the grease...indulge infrequently.

Encouraged, we ordered the Sambal Fried Rice

Very nice too. Nice sambal with a firm flavour of the Penang belachan present. Nicely done. The prawn paste fried chicken which accompanies is also quite good.

We also tried the Penang Hokkien Prawn Mee

High scores again for taste, but not for authenticity. The soup base is not autentic. They use ground dried prawns to make the stock. Making it very savoury, and tasty, but not what is commonly served in Penang...whose best offers a clear soup, with rather clean taste.

The jew her eng chye was less successful

This is a dish made with dried cuttlefish, and a mix of julienned radish, carrots, and vegetables, eaten with lettuce and a dose of sambal belachan. The sambal is wonderful. Nice spicy, beautiful aroma. The rest of the dish is rather less nice. My mom's JHEC is much better. Verdict on this is that the dish is edible, but not great at all.

Their lorbak with prawn fritter was next

For the first time, lorbak served with lor in Singapore! Lor is a starcy, savoury dip common in lorbak from Penang...and somehow, even though many of the Penang restaurants do offer lorbak in Singapore, none I have seen served with lor...

And the lor in this case was rather nice and authentic. So was the lorbak. Very nice. Crisp skin, and nice meaty inside. The prawn fritters was not as good. Not crispy enough, a bit too heavy on the batter.

And for dessert, chendol

With a scoop of jackfruit ice cream. The ice cream is a bit pedestrian. The chendol...the green jelly like stuff, is authentic...looks hand made. Nice texture. Mix up the shaved ice, and within, the red beans within complete the chendol. With the very nice gula melaka...very nice. My only wish for this dish...a bit of attap seeds, and touch more gula melaka. A winning dish.

Promising restaurant. Very good CKT. Nice chendol. Good lorbak. Will be back to try out other dishes. Want to try the inchicabin, Penang Assam Laksa. And more of the fabulous CKT.

George of Georgetown
154 West Coast Road
#02-25/26
67779747

More Eats in Penang: Best lorbak and others

Last installment this Penang trip...covering the same 3 basic Penang Hawker essentials...Char Kway Teow, Hokkien Mee and Lorbak.

Today's main feature is the lor bak. We have come to the best that Penang has to offer...IMHO.

Perhaps not the healthiest dish...heck, none of the dishes I featured in this Penang route is healthy...all deep fried, with strong, powerful stock. But tastewise, these are the best on offer.

The essentials are the lor bak...literally translated from Hokkkien as gravy meat. It usually features a sliver of fillet pork, with spices...wrapped in a bean curd skin, deep fried. The best, like this one here have the pork still succulent, juicy, tasty, and the wrapping light and crisp. Yes, I did say light, despite the deep frying, the best lorbak somehow manages to give the impression of being relatively grease free.

Then there is the prawn fritters

Prawns, often with the shells still on, encased in a airy batter. The batter is special, rendered super crispy, but yet still manages to stay light and airy...a bit like tempura in this respect, but altogether different in all others. The flavour of the prawns permeate. And dipped in the gravy...the lor...and a little chilli...is quite heavenly.

This is for me the best lorbak in Penang. The gold standard.

The coffeeshop which houses this lorbak also sells the standard hawker staples...the Hokkien Prawn mee

Quite good. The broth is deep with prawn flavour, slightly sweet through the use of rock sugar. The tiny prawns which garnish the bowl with the deep fried shallots are powerpacked with flavour. The tinge of chilli completes the taste.

And the char kway teow

Not the best, when compared to Ah Leng or Google Lady, but still holds the flag high. Nice flavours, good wok hei. Fresh ingredients.

Another rather interesting aspect is that although the star of these shops are the various food offerings, almost always the shops are owned by the coffee vendor. Here, still plying the coffee trade the traditional way.

Certainly highly recommeded to stop here for the lorbak and prawn fritters. Best of breed.

Kafe Kheng Pin
Corner of Penang Road and Sri Bahari Road
Penang

More eats in Penang...Padang Brown

Padang Brown in Penang is an institution for foodies. A must visit place, for local Penangites or vistors alike. The place come alive from about 2pm in the afternoon, and for most of the stores featured here, the action is over by 4pm. Come early for your afternoon snack.

I used to live just a stone throw's away when I was a wee kid...and some of the hawkers doing their stuff there have been there since then...from about 40 years ago! I start with one of my favourite Penang dishes...char kway teow...variously spelled as char kueh teow.

The CKT is quite good...

Freshly fried each plate on its own...the noodle is flat rice noodles...kway teow...but the variant in Penang is somewhat thinner, more delicate in physical structure, but altogether a bit more robust in taste than the variety we get in Singapore. Fried without any sweet black sauce, but with seafood. Lovely. Not the best in Penang, but will best any Penang style CKT in Singapore. The wok hei is wonderfully fragrant, the ingredients super fresh...the prawns were sweet and crunchy. Lovely.

I normally would order a plate of Pasembur...a Chinese rojak, but that afternoon when we arrived, they had finished their stock and called it a day.

But one of our favourite popiah was still available

Seafood popiah like you never seen in Singapore

Vigrous, full flavoured. Breath of the sea. Appropriate words to describe this dish. But the special from this stall, not even found in other Penang popiah stalls is the super good, savoury gravy they pour over the popiah. And the skin of the popiah is so delicate, yet resistant to tear, even when soaked in the gravy. Within, fresh crab meat, prawns and divers vegetables. Excellent, and highly recommended.

One of my mom's favourites is the ohr kueh

This is a steamed yam cake, with bits of dried shrimp and deep fried shallots as garnishing...

Within is found huge chunks of very light, almost airy yam. The flour which holds it together is also light and delicate...imparting little flavour of its own, but rather letting the yam speak. The garnishing complements the yam...as does the rich, chilli sauce. Again highly recommended.

A must visit for the visitor...and indeed a regular haunt of locals looking for that afternoon snack.

Padang Brown
Penang Island

Malaysian Food Street in Sentosa

The Malaysian Food Street at Resorts World Sentosa is one of the interesting places to visit, especially when one is in the Sentosa. Touting hawkers from famous stalls around Malaysia, it promises to be an interesting meal. For a limited time only, from Aug 27 to Sept 9, Auntie Mooi from Penang will be in residence to prepare and serve her Penang Laksa.

This post is brought forward from Monday Sept 3, as the Laksa being featured is here for a limited run from Aug 21 to Sept 9.

The interior is designed to have the feel and look of 1970s Malaysia..with details of the painstakingly done on the stalls and facade.

With a stall at KOMTAR, Auntie Mooi is present to prepare the Laksa herself

So is the laksa special? Well, it is prepared with 3 different fish meats, prepared with traditional ingredients like chillis, galangal, lemongrass, ginger flower, tamarind, and topped with finily spliced vegetables, mint leaves, shredded red onions and served with a spoonful of hae ko (prawn paste).

As the dish was served, the aroma hits one's nose...wonderful. A gentle stirring to mix the ingredients looks promising...the noodles were a bit thinner than expected....on tasting the texture is quite good, but not exactly the same as those found in Penang. Auntie Mooi later revealed that they have to make do with these noodles, as she is not able to bring in the ones she normally use in her stall in Penang. The broth is robust, full flavoured. The hae ko gives the savoury broth a punch, and tempered with a touch of chilli...is quite nice. I would rate this as rather authentic, but with Mooi's own variation thrown in for good measure.

Since we were there, we also sampled some other dishes, that the Food Street was famous for...first off...my favourte when in Penang...the Penang Char Kway Teow

A bit pale. Again, the noodles were not the correct type used in Penang. Those used here had a bit more bite. The wok hei was not as powerful as the best in Penang...the Goggle Lady at Lorong Selamat or Ah Leng. I am slightly disappointed because my expectation was higher, but I would rank this about par with the best Singapore version of Penang Char Kway Teow.

Another dish with I anticipated highly is the KL Black Hokkien Mee

Not bad wok hei. Correct black sauce. Nice thick, slippery noodles. Aroma and crispy bits of lard. All right ticks...but ultimately lacking the best on offer in the streets of KL. But close enough. A tad salty though, but this dish will keep me coming back to satisfy cravings.

Their satay is supposed to be very good too..selling some 1800 sticks a day!

I found the beef a bit too sinewy. The sauce was nice but a bit too creamy. I would prefer a bit or crunch from broken bits of peanut. But overall, enjoyable...the chicken (not pictured) being nicer than the beef.

Curious, we also sampled the kampung chicken with rice balls

Interesting note: Malaysia style kampung chicken has the characteristic yellow skin not found in the so called kampung chicken we get in our wet markets. Typically these are a bit more gamey. But this version, the chicken was almost perfect. The done-ness was perfect...just a tinge raw at the bones. The sauce beautiful and very tasty. The rice could have had a bit more chicken fat to provide some lux mouthfeel.

And finally the chendol...famous in its own right, serving some 1000 servings a day

Doesn't look like much...as this is a photograph taken in-situ, no lighting, no food stylist to dress up the dish. But the taste is quite excellent. Smooth, rich, creamy coconut milk, wonderful aroma of the gula melaka. I wished for more beans, perhaps a few attap seeds, but this was very good chendol. Even the ice was finely shaven and served almost melting...Nice.

The Malaysian Food Street at Sentosa is certainly worth a visit...especially for those who long for Malaysian street food. I will revisit to savour my favourites.

This is an invited review. Thanks to Tania Heng at Resorts World Sentosa and Wendy Toh at Weber Shandwick for the invitation and excellent hospitality.

Malaysian Food Street
Resorts World Sentosa
Mon, Tue, Thurs 11am - 10pm
Wed Closed
Fri, Sat 9am - 11pm
Sun 9am - 10pm

Heartstopper: Char kway teow

Just two pics today...apologies as I am busy preparing for a photographic assignment.

Char Kway Teow at Yong Huat...truly a heart stopping dish...One of my favourites, but cannot indulge too often...perhaps once every 6 months?

And char bee hoon

Food Centers: where cheap meals means good meals: Bukit Timah Food Center

Some of you, dear readers, have sent me some emails. Yes, I like those...emails and comments. Please do continue to send and make suggestions.

And there have been numerous requests for simple, hearty food. I do agree...Man does not live by Michelin stars alone. And especially in Singapore (and Malaysia, Hong Kong) cheap food does not mean poor quality or bad tasting. Sometimes the opposite is true. The least expensive hawker stalls are the best.

First off, the incredible meatball soup...typical Teochew home made style

Truly superb. The meatballs are hand made..and two varieties are included in the soup...one deep fried and another steamed. The broth is very nicely made. Very savoury. And the meatballs are to die for. Typical home made style, and it is evident that they were made by hand. Large, irregular. But very tasty. A real treat.

I had meant to write about the 133 Penang Authentic for a while. The char kway teow is rather authentic

The uncle fries them plate by plate, meticulously doing each. The look is rather authentic as you would get in most markets in Penang. Indeed, I have heard the cook speak to his assistants in Penang Hokkien (actually a different accent, some find to be more melodious than the one we speak here in Singapore). Taste wise, it passes the grade for me, but does not rival the best in Penang. Would have preferred a bit more wok hei.

They serve a rather authentic Penang Hokkien Prawn mee too, but as we already had some soup that day, we did not order it. I have eaten the Hokkien mee before, and find it rather good as well.

And we also sampled some pure and simple chee cheong fun

These days, the Hong Kong style Chee Cheong Fun is more common...those which are stuffed with either char siew, or prawns or scallops. But some of us who are older long for the traditional CCF...the type where most in Singapore/Malaysia were too poor to afford stuffings...CCF was just a well made rice noodle concoction, with just sauce and sesame seeds.

This CCF brings back memories. Rolls uncut. Drizzled with sweet sauce and chilli. And sprinkled with sesame seeds. Simple, inexpensive, but divine.

Da Zhong Delicious Yong Tau Fu for the meatball soup. 02-196

183 Chee Cheong Fun, 02-183

133 Penang Authentic for char kway teow, 02-193

Bukit Timah Market & Food Centre

116 Upper Bukit Timah Road