St. Regis Singapore: An Afternoon Tea with celebrity French Master Patissier Eric Lanlard.

It seems that I only seem to blog about Celebrity Chefs coming to Singapore. A bit too tired after work to write and playing with the little one is more fun than writing!

What am I writing about today?

If you have a minor obsession like me, in minor I mean:
- watching too much food shows online and also on cable,
- love 'stalking' certain celebrity chefs when they are in town,
- buy too many physical cookbooks from Kinokuniya, Book Depository, Amazon,
- have an equally big collection of cookbooks on the Kindle....

I have a good news for fellow fans of French Master Pâtissier Éric Lanlard!
He will be here in Singapore at the St. Regis from 3 - 8 January 2017!

This stalker did take quite a few photos of him, but not with him. There was too many people at 'that' event the other time. Maybe this time I'll take a photo with him.



If you have Éric Lanlard's latest book that came out this year, "Afternoon Tea", you are in for a treat.
Here's my Kindle version of it.


(I am contemplating buying a hard-copy just for him to autograph it when he's here)


The reason I said you are in for a treat is because the recipes and photos in the book will become tangible and edible right before your eyes! Our dear Éric and the pastry chefs at St Regis Singapore will prepare it and you will get to taste it. The regular St. Regis Singapore's Grand Astor Afternoon Tea at Brasserie Les Saveurs will serve things in his latest book!

I did get a peek at their menu for that week, I compared it and hey, almost everything on the menu is in the book!

Here's a tentative menu that I got to see:

On the 3-tiered stand:
Top Tier: Pistachio and Rose Financiers, Tartelettes aux Fruits, Raspberry Choux Craqueline Buns
Middle Tier: Tartes Flambées, Brie and Onion Marmalade Gruyère Eclairs
Bottom Tier: Cacao Beef on Pain Perdu, Egg Florentine Roulade, Lemon Macarons with Smoked Salmon.
Accompanied by Spicy Crab Filo Tartlets

Savouries:
Mini Salmon Mousse and Nigella Seed Paris-Brest, Herb-marinated Boston Lobster Rolls (in the book it's Herby Lobster Rolls), Paprika Chicken Ciabattas, Pickled Veggie Bundles

Scones:
Lemon Scones, Orange Blossom and Bee Pollen Scones, Raw Cacao and Raspberry Scones, Wholemeal Scones, Cheese Scones. (The regular arvo tea here is known for the scones, but it's gonna be equally good with Eric's Scones.)


(screen shot of the Orange Blossom and Bee Pollen Scones recipe)

Desserts:
Gluten-free Chocolate Cake and 17 other desserts. I wonder if they will serve all or selections of it daily. I am thinking of the Clementine and Pomegranate Cake, Scandinavian Apple Cake, Salted Butter Caramel Brownies, Saffron Crème Pâtissiere, Îles Flottantes etc....

The savouries, scones and desserts should be a buffet like their regular Grand Astor Afternoon Tea Buffet.

Price:
$58++ per person from 3 - 6 January (Tuesday to Friday)
$68++ per person from 7 - 8 January (Saturday and Sunday)

If you have your SPG Membership, there's additional discounts and you get Starpoints too!


Photo above from his "Afternoon Tea" book.

For those who don't know Master Pâtissier Éric Lanlard, he's a two time winner of the British Baking Awards' esteemed Continental Pâtissier of the Year prize. His fans who love his food includes Elizabeth Hurley, David and Victoria Beckham and of course the Queen Mother. He has published 8 books, appeared on many TV series and he runs Cake Boy - his cafe, cake emporium and cooking school in London.

Who is excited?

An Afternoon Tea with celebrity French Master Pâtissier Éric Lanlard. 
St. Regis Singapore
29 Tanglin Road
Singapore 247911

Reservations:
Tel: +65 6506 6860
Email: bls@stregis.com
Web: brasserielessaveurs.com

MasterChef Dining & Bar in Singapore @ Ash & Elm, InterContinental Singapore.

If you are a fan of the MasterChef series, you must.. must.. must.. have heard of the MasterChef Dining. The wife and I were strolling in Sydney way back in 2011 and we saw a huge MasterChef Pop-up at the St Mary's Cathedral Forecourt. We managed to take a photo with Adam Liaw, but sadly it was a sold out event so we could not dine there.

(Photo of Marco courtesy of MasterChef Dining / Saffron Comms)

MasterChef Dining and Bar is coming to Singapore from 25 November till 9 December 2016!

Chef Marco Pierre White is coming to Singapore and a few other MasterChef personalities from around Australia, Asia and United States of America will be coming to town. It is the first time Marco will helm the MasterChef Dining and Bar Pop Up.

Oh yes, the MasterChef Dessert Guy, Reynold Poernomo (left, photo courtesy of MasterChef Dining) from MasterChef Australia Season 7, will be here too. I love watching him plate Desserts. He reminds me of Marcus Low from MasterChef Asia. I wonder if Marcus is coming too. Marcus and Lennardy were two of my favourites! I read that Reynold has opened KOI Dessert Bar in Sydney. Reviews vary, but when he's here, I am sure it will be top notch as he will be here in person!

For the MasterChef Dinng and Bar Pop up in Singapore, Ash & Elm, at the InterContinental Singapore would be hosting it. It will be in an open-kitchen restaurant setting so we will get to interact with the Chefs.

The ticketing details:

20 October at all Sistic outlets.

Early bird pricing for purchase of tickets between 20 October - 27 October
$138+ (Lunch) / $248+ (Dinner)

28 October onwards:
$168+ (lunch) / $288+ (dinner)

Daily lunch sessions will feature a 4-course menu while daily dinner will be a 6-course affair. There are only over 200 seats available for the 15 day pop up event. (I read the pop up in London was sold out in 4 days when it was first launched in London).


For IHG Rewards Club / InterContinental Ambassador Level members:

You would have received the non stop announcement pop up (every 2 minutes) on your phone app! I did! You would also have received an email about it.




If you are a fan of Marco, you have 48 hours earlier (i.e. 18-19 October) access to buy the tickets.
The early access code is in your IHG App notification / Email.
The code also allows you 20% off the normal price even if you missed the early bird. 

(I bought mine tickets first (yes, I paid for it), before I blog about it. I am nowadays only blogging about things that interest me a lot!) 


Update (26 Oct):
3 More MasteChefs will be at the Pop Up!
Audra Morrice, Luca Manfe and Woo Wai Leong!

All MasterChef talents would be here for the entire event with the exception of Audra Morrice [25 Nov - 3 Dec] and Reynold Poernomo [4 - 9 Dec].



For latest updates:
Visit their website at: www.masterchefdining.sg
Official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/masterchefdiningsg

Staycation Ideas with Delicious Food and Great View: The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore.

If you are a last minute planner or your partner is suddenly available during this coming National Day holiday, you can consider the "Celebrate with the Nation" or "Explore Singapore" room packages that is valid from 29 to 31 July and 8 to 10 August 2016.

These two packages are offered by The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore and the rooms offered are the Premier Rooms / Club Rooms.

We had the privilege to join The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore folks for a half-day experience of the "Explore Singapore" guided tour and dinner at Colony.



The photo above was taken from the Premier Room.  It will be exciting to witness the fireworks that will light up the sky above and over the Singapore National Stadium where the National Day Parade will be held this year, in the comfort of a luxurious room where you can enjoy a bottle of Moët & Chandon and a variety of snacks.

Below are details of the two packages:

"Celebrate with the Nation" - SGD740

• Overnight accommodation in a Premier Room
• Daily buffet breakfast for two persons
• One bottle of Moët & Chandon champagne per stay
• SGD50 in-room dining credit.

(If you want to snack while watching the fireworks, you can order the Celebratory Snack Platter on 9 August from SGD80 that includes steamed seafood siew mai, California maki and gula melaka cupcakes.)


"Explore Singapore" - SGD1800

• Overnight accommodation in a Club room including exclusive Club privileges
• A three-hour private guided tour by an accredited local guide conducted in English, inclusive of limousine transfers per stay
• Dinner for two person at Colony per stay
• A bottle of Moët & Chandon champagne per stay

Here are some photos of the "Explore Singapore" tour. We joined a local tour where we visited Haji Lane, Kampung Gelam and Chinatown.  The tour guide was engaging and we didn't even realised we had walked for 3 hours!



It's been some time since we last went to Haji Lane. The artistic murals are the centre of attraction.  Our tour guide told us that this area was previously a sea shore and Muslims would start their pilgrimage to Mecca by boarding the boat here.




While we were intrigued by the interesting shops, cafes and bakeries along the way, we noticed many people taking selfies /wefies 'instagram' worthy photos. 


Our tour guide gave us a crash course in the history behind Kampong Gelam.  He pointed us to the "Gelam" tree which Kampung Gelam is named after and also captivated us with the history on the Sultan Mosque, Sri Mariamman Temple and also the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum.

After the tour, we made our way to Colony for dinner.



It was a fully booked night. We have dined here privately on several occasions and noticed the menu is always slightly different depending on the season so we are assured of the freshness of the ingredients.

If you are interested to view photos of what Colony offers, you can follow the hashtag #DiningAtColony on Instagram.



The "Tomahawk" Roast that was the feature "Roast" of that night.  We once had the "Iberico Roast Piglet" during one of our previous visit. I have to refer to the photos in my phone for other visits. It was always changing.



This photo was taken from an iPhone so don't worry if you do not own a DSLR to be able to capture the fireworks.



Here are snippets of the outing.  Sorry for the jerky video as it was taken using a tiny hand-held camera. Enjoy the video.


The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore
7 Raffles Avenue
Singapore 039799

For reservations and enquiry:
Tel: (65) 6434 5111
Email: rc.sinrz.reservations@ritzcarlton.com

Seasonal Taste @ The Westin Singapore, The Great Thai Feast.

It has been some time since the wife and I dined here. We first dine here when we saw the opening specials of Westin Singapore and booked a room for a short staycation. (Time passes so quickly as they are now 3 years old!)

We wondered into Seasonal Taste because there was nothing really opened at Asia Square at that time. During the weekends the restaurants at Asia Square were all closed then. We decided to have the a la carte items during lunch and they were good. All the Westins around the world has this healthy menu. Healthy yet tasty menu.

For dinner, we had dinner one night at Cook and Brew and another night at Seasonal Taste. We had their buffet then and somehow we never came back. If you watched enough restaurants reality TV, you know why you shouldn't come during the early days of opening. LOL.

We are back this time and this was an invite from the hotel and was also an unhosted tasting. You just dine like a regular guest, they foot the bill. If we liked it, we write about it. We were seated near a table of 4 hungry ladies, a couple on a date and a table of 8 businessmen on company dinner.

For 2 weeks till 31 July, they are having The Great Thai Feast.



If you are a SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest, not Sarong Party Girl lah...) member (which is free by the way, and I have it since 2003), you get a discount of 20% plus Starpoints for future hotel stay redemption.



One of the highlights of the Thai Feast is the Kor Moo Yang (Marinated Grilled Pork Neck). Yes, it's the fatty and muscled meat part of the oink oink animal and is used in Thai and Chinese cooking for melt in the mouth dishes. I am sure if you have been to Thailand, you have bought them to snack like me.

The dipping sauce Jim Jaew is an addictive sauce accompanies this dish. I drizzled it for most of the things I ate!



Another highlight of the Thai Feast is the Tom Yum Gung. Prepare to "cough /choke" on your first mouth. Recover from it and you will want more. I know my stomach, so I shared a bowl with the Mrs. If I have more of it, the body will tell me!

The table next to us really loved it from their chatter.  It's sometimes a joy to watch other people eat right? "Eavesdropping" on people who talk loudly and enjoying and laughing silently with and also at them. 



Marry a partner who peels prawns, and she will dish a bowl to share and then peel it for you as well.



Papaya salad - the 'live' station that has the chef pound your salad in the Clay Kruk mortar and wooden pestle. Do you think the clay mortar bruise the Som Tams and Nam Priks gentler so they are better flavoured?

It's recommended to eat it with the Grilled Pork Neck, fresh prawns and/or salted egg.



Pad Thai! There was once when a few of us visited Bangkok, we were on a Pad Thai discovery. We ordered and tasted Pad Thai from so many places, from streets carts and small eateries, chain restaurants and higher end establishments. We discovered that where the locals eat, the noodles are QQ / al dente. If it's a place where tourists go, it's soft like how we normally get in Thai restaurants here. I wonder if my observation was correct.

Well, this Thai Chef prepares it the QQ way here. Your parents might say it's undercook haha! A good thing about a buffet is you can add as much peanuts or chilli flakes or lime on it.

Many people will avoid the raw bean spouts and chives right?



I had many rounds from this station. Skewered meats, chicken wings and roast chicken with that dipping sauce that is addictive. 



I have a confession. I mostly skipped this station. Too much veggies for a pig out night.
I only took the Nam Prik for the veggies and used it for some rounds of cold seafood and meats.



Not Oysters Kilpatrick, but grilled oysters with Red Curry and Green Curry. 
I think they have this for those who don't like freshly shucked oysters! Somehow they tasted so good. 



The main staples of the Seasonal Taste buffet - Canadian Lobsters, freshly shucked oysters. (also mussels, prawns, scallops). For the Thai Feast, they have in addition to the usual dips and sauces, Thai sauces and dips.

This was the Mrs. She always love her lobsters and oysters.



This is my plate. I prefer Lobsters and Prawns. I had them with Jim Jaew.

Oh, if you like Pork Skin/Rind, they have a bag at the salad table and it disappears quickly. If you see it when you walk past, grab some and then top it with the spicy spreads. That's why there is pork rind on my seafood.



They have a quite a few Thai based desserts too. The colourful Khanom Luk Chup, it's mung bean filling inside the colourful outer layer. Like Ang Ku Kueh! 

They also have some Thai Pumpkin Custard which disappeared quite quickly! When I wanted to taste it, it's gone!



I had Khao Niew Ma Muang (Mango Sticky Rice), I know many people love this, but I am one who don't appreciate it. I like my Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce eaten with a scoop of Dark Chocolate Gelato, so good. I had a few more scoops of blood orange sorbet, mango sorbet and avocado gelato.

A photo posted by Philip Lim (@keropokman) on Jul 27, 2016 at 5:38am PDT

I had 6 helping of this addictive Cha Yen (Thai Milk Tea), made from black tea infused with condensed milk. The hungry ladies beside us, they were also thirsty! Instead of these small mugs that is placed at the dessert table, they used their big iced water glasses from their table to fill it up! That good! I think I haven't had anything with condensed milk for a long time that's why!
(Warning, very sweet! Thai style sweet, which I think some people can't take it.)

If you consider this for dinner this week if you are planning for some Thai food. On a Wednesday night, it was quite filled up.


Seasonal Taste
The Westin Singapore
Level 32,
12 Marina View,
Asia Square Tower 2
Singapore 018961

Tel: +65 6922 6968
Email: seasonaltastes.singapore@westin.com
Web: www.thewestinsingapore.com/seasonaltastes

Michelin Guide 2016 - Bib Gourmand awarded to 34 eating places in Singapore.

I have ordered my personal copy of Singapore Michelin Guide 2016 and waiting for it to arrive. I know some people says isn't it silly to order when the information will be available online? Well, I have the early versions of Makan Sutra Guide, Miele Guide and why not at least a copy of Michelin Guide too? I love reading from paper is my answer.

It's one week before the official launch of the Singapore version of the Guide and they have released the names of restaurants and street food outlets in Singapore that has been awarded the "Bib Gourmand". It's what the 'Michelin Inspectors' have regarded as very good and the price range is lower than the restaurants that have the 'stars'. In Singapore the price is below $45. (In Hong Kong, it's below HKD300, or London below £28). I certainly hope the prices of the food won't reach $45 for a bowl of Bak Kut Teh!!

The press release has the following listing:

Restaurants
Alaturka	Bussorah Street
Hjh Maimunah	Jln Pisang
Ka Soh	College Rd
Kok Sen	Keong Saik Rd
Lagnaa	Upper Dickson Rd
New Ubin Seafood	Sin Ming Road
Peony Jade	Bukit Chermin Road
Shish Mahal	Albert St
Song Fa Bak Kut Teh	New Bridge Road
328 Katong Laksa	East Coast Rd
True Blue Cuisine	Armenian St
Whole Earth	Peck Seah St
Yhingthai Palace	Purvis St
Zaffron Kitchen	East Coast Rd
Other Street Food Establishments
Bismillah Biryani	Dunlop Street
JB Ah Meng Kitchen	Geylang Road
Sin Huat Eating House	Geylang Road
Hawker Stalls
Claypot Laksa	Alexandra Village Food Centre
A Noodle Story	Amoy Street Food Centre
Famous Crispy Curry Puff	Amoy Street Food Centre
Hong Kee Beef Noodle	Amoy Street Food Centre
Hoo Kee Rice Dumpling	Amoy Street Food Centre
Wedang	Golden Mile Food Centre
Famous Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa	Hong Lim Market and Food Centre
Na Na Curry	115 Bukit Merah View Market and Food Centre
Chey Sua Carrot Cake	Toa Payoh Block 127 Food Centre
Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice	Maxwell Food Centre
Shi Hui Yuan	Mei Ling Food Centre
Alliance Seafood	Newton Food Centre
The Fishball Story	Have since relocated to NUS University Town and Timbre+
Tiong Bahru Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice	Tiong Bahru Market
Hong Heng Fried Sotong Prawn Mee	Tiong Bahru Market
Balestier Road Hoover Rojak	Whampoa Market Place
Liang Zhao Ji	Whampoa Market Place

I have not tried all of it, never heard of some of it as well. Some deserve it as they food has been really good and my family and I enjoy eating there. Some eating places have moved away more than 5 km from where we stay and we stopped going there. Maybe it's time to try the food at Ka Soh again!

Some listing.... I wonder why..... I really wonder!!! There are more who deserve the listing. Before anyone say why isn't more deserving ones listed? It's just like any other guide or listing, online or on paper.  It's just someone's view. Just like you might not totally agree with what I write.


Here are 2 photos of our recent eats at an establishment that has been awarded the Bib Gourmand. The Crab Porridge and Crab Garlic Baked Style at New Ubin Seafood. When we dined there, they said they had one-for-one offer, so we had loads of crabs.

Also some places the prices are not really $45 or less. Maybe a dish maybe. So we don't really know their criteria or who the inspectors are....

A photo posted by Philip Lim (@keropokman) on Jul 11, 2016 at 9:36pm PDT

A photo posted by Philip Lim (@keropokman) on Jul 13, 2016 at 10:46pm PDT

 I am also secretly quite happy the Food Centre near my home hasn't got any listings. Prices have been going up by 10-20% for many stalls. One aunty told me, we haven't raised our prices for 8 years, which is fair enough. At least I know the stalls in the Food Centre won't be suddenly going up by a lot so soon.

Happy Eating!

Breakfast at Gemmills Singapore.

Here's a hidden (or not quite busy yet) place to get breakfast if you happen to work in the Amoy Street or Telok Ayer area. The address of the place is officially 110 Amoy Street, but the entrance to the place is by the back door.

If you are one of those early risers and take the MRT to work, you can exit before 7:45 am and take a short walk to Gemmills from Telok Ayer (Downtown Line) MRT Station. Telok Ayer Station happens to be one of the 18 designated stations that you can get off for free if you exit before 7:45 am. Just cross one street and a half and you are at Gemmills. Your mobile phone map can show you the route.

Money saved on your ride and be used to get some food and coffee here. The prices here are reasonable too. Scroll to the end for a photo of the prices.

A photo posted by Philip Lim (@keropokman) on Jul 11, 2016 at 12:40am PDT

Here's the entrance that is accessible from Gemmill Lane.

This place morphs depending on the time of the day. From 8 am in the morning till afternoon, it's a cafe, in the evening it becomes a pub. This place is a licensed bottle shop that has a wide selection of sparkling, reds and whites from around the world plus a selection of craft beers too.



Was here to have sampling of the breakfast that is served, courtesy of Gemmills.

There is a coveted seat here but most people will not get it unless you happen to be there at the right time. It has a view of the circular 'fire escape' staircase that is common in older buildings. Very Instagram-able just like the food here.

Decent enough table for your food and drink and 13 inch macbook air. Sorry, no wifi available as yet.



The priciest food here is only $8 for this bowl of Granola with Fruit and Yoghurt.
The granola is pretty good and it had a good mix of nuts and oats and has a nice toasty aroma.

It sure taste much better than my recent breakfast which has been Weet-bix. Ya, I am on strange diets sometimes and it has been Weet-bix the gluten free ones recently.  This granola made me think, why am I eating WB!! 
 This was Catherine's coffee, I was having Tea. 



This was the sourdough toast with jam that I had. Breads and pastry are all made in house as they have a baker that makes them there. Nicely toasted with a generous amount of butter and house-made blackberry jam, it was something simple and good.



The bakes for the morning. If you want a bigger selection, go around 10 or so and everything will be out on display. It will then remind you of the Cafes that are in Melbourne.

In fact, one of the co-owner of the place calls Melbourne his permanent home.



A capture of the pricing if you want to know.



For those in the area and have missed Stamping Ground Coffee House who have moved to the East Coast area, in the month of August, Gemmills and Stamping Ground are collaborating to have 2 unique blends of cold brew just to beat the heat.


Gemmills Singapore
110 Amoy Street, #01-02
Singapore 069930

Tel: +65 6221 5564
Opens from 8 am to midnight everyday except Sundays.

Social media links: 
facebook.com/gemmillssingapore
instagram.com/gemmillssingapore

Salted Egg Lava Croissant @ Antoinette

The lure of croissants. I do have a slight weakness for it and dragged the wife to go around Paris to taste it. You probably have watched Gordon Ramsay's YouTube where he went to Arnaud Delmontel to learn how to make the perfect croissant. That was one of the early YouTube that made me go around tasting Croissants. Arnaud do have one of the nicer croissants in Paris.

The lure of croissants also made us choose Melbourne as a destination for our family trip. Last November, in the cold winter of Melbourne, with the wife and baby in tow, we queued for Melbourne's ultimate place for croissant at Lune Croissanterie. This place really has one of the better croissants around in the southern hemisphere! (I mentioned slight weakness so I won't list out all the places and silly things I do.)

For croissants in Singapore, Antoinette has one of Singapore's better croissants. I don't use the word best because I haven't found one. (Mua ha ha ha....) On 1 February, Antoinette joined the hype of having Salted Egg Lava Croissant. (Hurray!)



This is Chef Pang Kok Keong's Salted Egg Lava Croissant. The browning of the dough is just perfect. (This was indoors taken without flash, so there's a tinge of warmness in the photo, this is as real as you can get when you dine there)  You can see the layerings and this was taken out fresh from the oven, so as you bite into it, it layers shatters as it should.

We were told it's made from French butter and it has been laminated and shaped in a controlled environment at 12 degrees Celsius. That is why we should leave the making of croissants to the experts. My sis and cousin have been planning to make their own and planning how to get the kitchen really cold and surface cold etc... So much planning.

If you wonder about the size, this is one huge croissant. It is served one croissant on a plate!
(For those who play the piano, it's about 1 octave plus around 2 white keys in width)



This silly boy wanted to take a photo in natural light to show you the colour of the croissant, so he sneaked out the bakery/restaurant with his plate.  Here you go, the colour from the Maillard reaction of the dough. Such nice browning. The layers too. This was 'sawn' using a serrated knife that's why it is so nicely cut. (Chef is not telling the temperature and time he took to bake it.)

The croissant filling that is 'lava-ly' (you can pronounced it as lovely too), is made from real natural egg yolks, sugar and milk. The colour is this because it is made from natural egg yolks. Most places that mass produced lots of 'liu sar' products will use egg yolk powder as it is easier and less time consuming.

If you have to take photo, you got less than a minute to do it if you want the lava to flow out. It will harden up as it turns cold!

Talking about time consuming, the salted egg yolk lava is hand-sieved to give it a smooth texture. If you have been watching lots of cooking show, you know those who wow-ed the judges always hand-sieved their mash potatoes etc.



Here you go, another shot to show you the 'lava' and also the air pockets in the croissants.
For those who love both croissant and anything salted egg yolk, you can try this.


The Salted Yolk Lava Croissant is made fresh daily in limited quantities (couple of hundreds at the moment). The croissant is priced at $6.50++ for dine-in and $6.50+ for take-away. I recommend you dine-in. You need to eat it warm so it's flaky and the filling still oozes!

Available at:
- Antoinette's Penhas outlet from 1st February at 11 am daily.
- Antoinette's Mandarin Gallery and Softel So Singapore outlets from 10th February at 1 pm daily.

Website: www.antoinette.com.sg
Facebook: www.facebook.com/antoinette.sg
Instagram: antoinette_sg

Antoinette Penhas Road
30 Penhas Road (off Lavender Street)
Singapore 208188
Tel: +65 6293 3121

Antoinette Mandarin Gallery 
333A Orchard Road
Mandarin Gallery
#02-33/34
Singapore 238897
Tel: +65 6836 9527

Antoinette Softel So Singapore
Lobby Level 
35 Robinson Road
Singapore 068876 
Tel: +65 6701 6868

What to eat at Beauty World Station, Downtown Line, Singapore.

(Photo of Beauty World Station during the Open House)

The Downtown Line 2 has opened and people are all stopping at Beauty World (DT5) station to have their meals.

We the residents living around Beauty World welcome you to have a meal or two here. Please take the train here, as the parking attendants are quite active here and you don't want your meal to cost much more than it should. You have already been warned.

There are a few listings you can follow that has been published by fellow food bloggers I know personally. The local residents welcome these lists because those are places we don't go often. Hehe... Come and help our local restaurants and cafes.

Some people have asked me, and it's too much to tell or write. I have rounded them up into 8 clusters or areas you can visit to have your meals here.

The main eating clusters of eateries at DT5 Beauty World Station are:
Exit A / B:
1) Bukit Timah Shopping Centre
2) Beauty World Centre
3) Bukit Timah Plaza
4) Cheong Chin Nam Road food outlets.
5) Lorong Kilat

Exit C:
6) Bukit Timah Market and Food Centre.
7) Toh Yi Estate Coffeeshops
8) Eng Kong Terrace

The most popular cluster:
The most popular place to eat would be the Bukit Timah Food Centre. However be warned that many hawkers don't open everyday, especially the popular ones. They open 4 or 5 out of 7 days. Recently in the newspaper we have a hawker that was featured having their satay recipe passed down from generations. The stall has been in the same family for more than 70 years. Be warned also that different family member / employees cooked in the same stall. The father might cook in the day and the son at night, so there's a different in taste and quality! So we only order certain food when certain people are cooking.


(The local residents are very proud of this station. Many woke up at 5am in the morning to catch the first train that arrives at this station.)

Some other interesting facts:

The Malay food stalls never seem to survive at the Hawker Centre, the stalls always close down. You know why? Everyone goes to the Indian Muslim stalls at Cheong Chin Nam Road. There are 2 very famous shops. It's like everyone has their own favourites. You go and try and pick your side! One has recently been renovated and one is like so old school stuck in 80s mamak but inside a shop.

Chicken seems to be the most popular meat as there are quite a few places that sells chicken here. One of them does the most delicious fried chicken ever. When you order it, they will unwrap a packet of 'salt baked chicken' and deep fry it. It's so addicitive! You can try your luck at finding where that place is. They have like probably 15 or so chicken a day only from our observation. So it's a secret for now. Hints are in my instagram account.

There used to be 12 ice cream places within a 2 km radius, but most of them have closed down. A neighbour who lives in the same block as me has an ice cream shop actually opens his ice cream shop all the way in the East because he said the rent in this area is too high. We found out we were neighbours when I ate ice cream in the east!

We also have many Korean restaurants in the area. There are 5-6 of them and 3 of them have been around for some time. We have a community of Koreans living in this area. We even have a 'chap chai peng' style Korean stall! (The 'point point' this and that style of food)

Talking about Cafes, there's a whole long list of it too. Not all are popular though to tell the truth. We need more people to come fill up the places.



(A recreation of what Beauty World Town looked like long ago. This was at the Bukit Timah Community Club recently.)

More interesting non food related facts:

People always say folks staying here are 'atas'. We beg to differ. They probably forgot this area has the most 'atas' (highest) pile of earth in Singapore, Bukit Timah Hill. Residents in this area can see Swissôtel The Stamford, Marina Bay Sands from our flats.

Beauty World is also the name of a Singapore Musical! It's a musical that tells of a story of a young Malaysian girl from Batu Pahat to the 1960s Singapore in search of her father.

Our local MP is quite popular with the residents because she lives in the area! The older folks in the area watched her grow up. We have seen her do her own groceries in the local supermarket before too. While friends say their MP never visit, our MP does and she does it at least 2 times a year. We avoid being at home because we are shy, our photos might end up on her Facebook page. LOL!

It's a Beautiful World out here with lots of food. Welcome to Beauty World MRT Station. Maybe when I am free, I will list out the 100 over places to eat here and our personal favourites. For now, just walk around the 8 areas listed above and you will find a place or two to have a nice meal.

Here's the first train that arrived at Beauty World Station at 5:57 am!

First 'open to public' train that arrived at Beauty World station.

A video posted by Philip Lim (@keropokman) on Dec 26, 2015 at 2:00pm PST

Power your day with Quaker @ Brunches Cafe

Recently after coming back from a short holiday, we were invited to try a menu that's made from the different products by Quaker Singapore at Brunches Cafe. I had wondered how would it would taste. From the way I prepare Quaker Oats, I just use hot water and stir and eat it. It's one of the ways to stay healthy.

I was pleasantly surprised that that the food prepared with Quaker products at Brunches Cafe is so tasty, it's a little addictive that I wanted to order another portion. Even not because of coming to try oats, Brunches Cafe is a very cosy place with lots of furniture and fixtures that have been reused. Someone said it's a very 'instagrammable' place! The food I heard is quite good too. I'll be back to try other food another day.



A good cup of coffee pleases the wife and she gave a nod of approval of the coffee here.
Other than the coffee here, the staff here is also very friendly to kids!



From now till the end of the year, if you like me want to try how the different Quaker products can be made tasty and not boring like how I prepare them at home, you can visit Brunches Cafe and order from the "Power Your Day With Quaker" menu.



If you all have been shopping in the supermarket, you might have been given the 'Quaker Oat for Rice', you can prepare risotto with it! My colleague at work brought the 'Quaker Oat for Rice' to work and ask if anyone want it because he doesn't cook.



We wanted to go to 'Brunch' for brunch at around 11 am, but because of the little girl messing up our schedule, we only went there at 3 pm or so. So sad that the dessert was sold out by then!



The Creamy Chicken Risotto was really creamy and had lots of chicken chunks. Probably the first time I had 'oats' that is savoury. It was almost like the 'usual' risotto just a bit healthier with the carrots and cucumber cut into tiny bits that gave it a slight crunch. Taste wise, it's something that I could keep putting it into my mouth.



Quaker Sweet Corn Oatmeal Porridge.
This second dish is more like the usual cooked oatmeal porridge that people will prepare at home except it has some sweet corn. Slightly sweet when compared to the risotto that is savoury. This is a vegetarian option and they have replaced meat with some delicious mushroom. Love that the sunny side egg is so nicely done and the egg yolk does goes well when mixed with the sweet corn oatmeal.

You can try and get idea about how you can prepare Quaker products in a different way.


Brunches Cafe
96 Rangoon Road
Singapore  218381

Tel: + 65 8685 8488

Quaker Oats Chocolate Cake

Have you eaten or bake a cake made with oats before?

If you haven’t, it is one way to add variety to what you eat. It might be a way to easily add in more fiber to your diet. Studies have shown oats has a cholesterol-lowering properties for some people. You can do an online search for “Health Benefits of Oats” and you can read all the articles there are out there.

There are also those that do not believe the benefits of oats, but they want to eat tasty cake. Do you think a cake that has instant oats will be tasty? I hope this recipe might change your mind.

This is not a light and fluffy cake, but a dense chocolatey cake. No, it also doesn’t take like oats or paper, it taste like real chocolate cake.

Try and bake it or ask something to bake it for you. This is a mix of different recipes that I have experimented and probably the least sweet version you can find. Those who are sweet-tooth might not find it sweet. You can ‘sweeten’ it by having a scoop of ice cream on top of the slice of cake when you serve it.


Quaker Oats Chocolate Cake



Ingredients:

Set A:
100 gm Quaker Instant Oats
400 ml boiling water

Set B:
150 gm brown sugar
150 gm butter
2 eggs

Set C (to be sifted together):
200 gm flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoon cocoa powder

Set D (others):
1/2 teaspoon salt
150 + 50 gm chocolate chips

Method:

1.    Preheat oven at 170C.
2.    Prepare a cake pan. I use a square one. (20 cm x 20 cm x 5 cm)
3.    Cream the butter and sugar (from Set B ingredients) in a mixer.
4.    When you have a nice creamy mix, add in the eggs and mix it to a nice creamy mix again.



5.    Add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda (Set C ingredients) plus the salt into the mixture.



6.    Mix the Quaker Instant Oats with the hot water (Set A ingredients) for around 2-3 minutes.



7.    Add the Quaker Instant Oats that has been soaked into a paste into the other ingredients. Careful, it is hot.



8.    Add in 150 gm of chocolate chips and give it a good stir. Do it quickly one or two stirs as the chocolate chips will melt quickly.
9.    Pour the mixture into a cake pan.
10.  Sprinkle the 50 gm of chocolate chips over the cake.



11.    Bake for 30-40 minutes. You can test the cake your favourite way. Some people insert a metal skewer or toothpick. I bake it to around 95-98C in the centre to have a moist cake.



Enjoy the cake, let me know if you like this recipe.





Thanks to Quaker, I have a giveaway!

There are 3 sets of $50 hamper of Quaker products that winner will get. To win it, you just need to do 3 simple things:
1) Like Quaker’s Facebook page
2) Like Keropokman.com’s Facebook page
3) Share this blog post on Facebook.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

This post is brought to you by Quaker. Follow them on Facebook at QuakerSingapore for more interesting and fun ways to enjoy your daily dose of oatmeal.