Wan Hao @ Marriott Hotel

There's always stories behind the food that I post, but today's post has no occasion or reasons to eat at a high class hotel. The only reason is that parents-in-law got some Marriott Dining vouchers and they want to use them before they expire.

If you are wondering how to get the vouchers, transfer money between bank accounts and keep it there and do it again probably next year. Almost all the banks don't appreciate loyalty if you already know.  Marketing dept of the banks are usually loaded and all they care are new customers. That's how you get vouchers. The instrument is a very conservative instrument by the way. Fixed Deposits.

Now back to the food.



Five Spice Beef Shank

This appetizer was a little small, but it was a very delicious cold beef appetizer.
Very well marinated and it has been chilled and sliced thinly. It has a slight but not too beefy smell to it. Doesn't it already look tempting?



Wok-fried string beans, roasted pork.

It's a dish that it seems that the FIL and I share a common love for.
The Wan Hao version has roasted pork cut into strips to look similar to the string beans. Generous amount of roast pork too. The roast pork in Wan Hao is already delicious, with an additional stir fry makes it even more fragrant.

A homey dish that my mum also prepares at home since young. Mum's version is bigger chunks of roasted pork but less pieces. Wan Hao's look more elegant. Home cooks, copy the cooking style!




Deep Fried Spare Ribs, Almond Seeds and Orange Sauce.

Pork rib fans and if you love citrus flavours to your food, order this. Spare Ribs here were boneless, making it really easy to eat. Deep frying gave it a nice crunchy outside, but the inside was surprisingly so tender.  The chef probably bashed it before cooking? It does not taste as if it has been tenderised with tenderiser.

Love the sticky caramel like orange sauce over it with almonds.



Claypot Braised Sliced Duck Meat with Sea Cucumber and Chestnuts.

This dish came out smelling so good! Yes, food that has been braising and cooking in claypots till the pot is dark above smells so good! Taste wise, the duck was tender and usual marinates used for sea cucumber. We wished there were more sea cucumber though, that's us being a little greedy.



Braised Sliced Monk Abalone, Ling Zhi Mushrooms and Seasonal Greens.

There were 2 vegetables section in their menu. We ordered this from the Vegetarian section. The wait staff was looking at us saying this is a vegetarian dish, just in case you don't know? (I think she was looking at our dishes of all meat above). We found that amusing and we know she's being helpful.

The two different kinds of mushrooms were nice. A little starchy as expected, but that goes well with the rice.



8 Treasures Hashima

Parents shared that, we call it high class chng tng. It is, isn't it?
They loved it though. We took a sip, ok probably a few sips of it too.



Chilled Lemongrass Jelly served with Lemon Sherbet and Fresh Fruits

We had this the last time and remembered the sourness of the lemon sherbet so we ordered it again. The lemon sherbet that gives you the shiokness.



Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant
Singapore Marriott Hotel
320 Orchard Road
3rd Floor
Singapore 238865

Tel: +65 6831 4605

Hours:
Lunch - 11.00am to 3.00pm, Daily
Dinner - 6.00pm to 10.00pm, Sundays to Thursdays / 6.00pm to 11.00pm, Fridays & Saturdays

Wan Hao @ Singapore Marriott

It's one of the whatsapp discussion on where to have dinner. I am sure many of us have many whatsapp groups. This was the in-laws group where it was the MIL's birthday dinner. It was a few days of messaging and in the end, we decided Wan Hao.

Wan Hao because MIL loves the Peking Duck there. It's going to be a birthday treat and we thought we will go to somewhere she loves.


Roast Peking Duck served with Traditional Chinese Crepe

It was only 4 of us, and the lady in charge says half is enough. ;-)



Who doesn't like Peking Duck? What a nice arrangement they have plated it.

The wife's favourite place for Peking Duck like her mum. Both of them have similar taste. I prefer the Impertial Treasure Super Peking Duck! 



A peep into what's inside. Dough Skin, Duck Skin, Hoisin Sauce, Julienned Scallions and Cucumbers. So simple yet so satisfying.

KopiKosongGirl and I will always remember that we flew off to Beijing and stayed on China soil for only 48 hours. Spending Valentine's Day having Peking Ducks at 2 different restaurants. We love the 8-12 kinds of condiments that goes with the duck there!


Spanish Iberico Pork Char Siu

If you want to try one of the finest Char Siu in town, it's probably here. Char Siu made from Spanish Iberico Pork. The texture is not the usual char siu you get. It has a nice crunchy texture and Iberico pork does not need any more flavouring to make it better.

The portions are not huge. The price of this meat itself is expensive. I am salivating looking at the picture now. I can remember the taste coming back, just can't describe it fully! hehe...

(This used to be only sold during CNY, but Wan Hao has made them available daily now. )


Pan-fried Beef Tenderloin with Japanese wasabi accompanied by chilled fresh pear marinated with sour plum

I can't remember if they stated how many grams of tenderloin in the menu, but it was very delicious. No need to cut up your steak and just pick the beef chunks up using your chopsticks and nibble them. Great with rice.

The pear that was marinated with sour plum was nice though. Not a person who really likes sour plum stuff, but it was a nice crunchy fruit to eat with the beef. The 2 ladies love them, so did FIL.


Braised Chinese Cabbage with Conpoy

Lovely vegetable dish. If you have not slurp up your rice, this sauce over the rice will make you polish it all off!


Stir Fried E-Fu Noodles with Duck

We had the rest of the duck cooked with noodles. We were quite surprised, we had so much duck meat in the noodles! Delicious stuff!

Birthday noodles! We all love E-Fu noodles and with the duck it was an additional bonus to it.


Chilled Lemongrass Jelly served with Lemon Sherbet and Fresh Fruits

We were full, but mouth still wanting to have things to bite, so we ordered 2 desserts to share.
The Chilled Lemongrass Jelly served with Lemon Sherbet and Fresh Fruits had very contrasting flavours in 1 bowl. Sweetness from the lemongrass jelly and the super sour lemon sherbet.

We really like how sour the lemon sherbet was!
(Yes, we realise both my family and wife's family drink lemon juice without sugar to keep 'healthy' !)


Crispy Red Bean Pancake

The other dessert we shared, the Crispy Red Bean Pancake. We had to wait a while, but it was worth the wait. Nice, fragrant and hot pancake.

It was a nice and enjoyable birthday dinner we had. If you are one of those who likes good service, the wait staff ratio here is still good. You get attended to quickly.  You should have a reservation if you are coming. It's quite popular!


Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant
Singapore Marriott Hotel
320 Orchard Road
3rd Floor
Singapore 238865

Tel: +65 6831 4605

Hours:
Lunch - 11.00am to 3.00pm, Daily
Dinner - 6.00pm to 10.00pm, Sundays to Thursdays / 6.00pm to 11.00pm, Fridays & Saturdays

Spirit of Beijing @ Marriott Cafe, Singapore

A few months ago, KopiKosongGirl and I went to Beijing for a holiday which coincidentally was on Valentine's Day. We spent V Day feasting on Peking Ducks! We had 2 ducks that day, lunch at Quan Ju De and dinner at Da Dong.

So when Marriott Cafe sent an invitation to a hands-on session with Chef George Gong from JW Marriott Hotel Beijing that is visiting Marriott Singapore, I was tempted.

Chef Gong who has been with JW Marriott Beijing since 2008 will be in Singapore to take helm of the restaurant's newly created live cooking station with his menu available at Marriott Cafe till 17 June 2012. Beijing favourites like Beijing Noodles in Black Bean Sauce, Beijing Hot Pot, Fried Chinese Pot Sticker and of course Peking Duck will be available here.

Here's the hands-on session I had with the chefs from Marriott Cafe.


This is Chef George Gong from JW Marriott Beijing.
In front of him, the duck! Since it's a short session, we don't get to see the duck being roasted.


Hello Mr Ducky! Before my trip to Beijing I read quite a bit about the ducks because I knew I would be devouring them. They are to be of certain species and according to Chef Gong, he said the ducks are to be slaughtered around 48 days. The ducks are roasted between 45-50 minutes to achieve the crispy skin.

I tried to ask where they sourced the duck from, but was told it's sourced locally from suppliers that has farms that breeds the duck according to the Peking Duck specifications.


Chef cutting the duck up.

In Beijing which I had the ducks, both restaurants had the option to ask if you want skin only or skin with some meat on.  Chef Gong was cutting it up with some meat on for us.


I wrapped these myself after being taught by Chef to a group of bloggers and journalists there.
Put the meat this way. Duck meat, spring onions and cucumbers with the skin. The bottom flap upwards and the sides folded in. The top is to be 'open ended'.

It's Peking Duck, don't wrap it like you are eating popiah. Most of the time in Singapore, the service staff wraps it for us. In Beijing, it's mostly DIY.


Flip it over and that's it.

When I was in Beijing, I noticed we had around 8 - 12 different condiments to go with our duck. I thought it was interesting because when in Singapore we don't see 8 - 12 condiments to wrap the ducks!

I asked Chef and he replied that there are many styles of serving in Beijing. The ones served to us is the more traditional style. The hoisin sauce was their own special recipe, served with thinly julienned cucumbers and spring onions.


They tasted nice. But now that I have tasted the 8-12 condiments style, I am tempting to visit Beijing again for their ducks!

The other hands on was to make Fried Chinese Pot Stickers (Guo Tie).
Chef said the origin of this dish was that the Imperial kitchen pan fried left over Jiao Zi and the Empress had a whiff of the aroma and after tasting it became one of her favourite.


Dough made from scratched! Yes, I was more busy taking photos than making it.


Portioning it out to be rolled. When I was doing it, I had trouble getting nice round flattened dough with the rolling pin.

A chef from Marriott Singapore who was looking at how mine turned out, squirmed and decided to help me. He made it looks so effortless! Literally in seconds, he rolled out nice round dough skins!


Slap on some meat, for my version I slapped up quite an amount of it.


Pinch the top part only. Leave the ends exposed.


This plate was my creation. If you notice a thin slice of cucumber at the last piece, well that's my marking to say that was made by me. It was sent to the kitchen to be cooked.


Have a bite!


Other specialty I tried was the homemade Beijing Noodles in Black Bean Sauce. (Zha Jiang Mian).


This was spicy minced meat with vermicelli. Something very spicy and appetizing.


I quite like the Wok-Fried Lamb with Chinese Leek. True to Beijing cooking style, it was a little oily and salty. I liked it though and it did not had a strong gamey smell. The bowl of soup was something I could not appreciate though.  It was thin slices of dough and the few of us thought of it as mee hoon kueh.

If you are planning of what to eat the next few days, you can try out the lunch or dinner Spirit of Beijing buffet. Hurry, it's on till 17 June 2012.

Lunch buffet - 12.00 pm to 2.30 pm
Mondays to Fridays | SGD46++ per adult, SGD25++ per child
Saturdays | SGD50++ per adult, SGD30++ per child
Sundays | SGD55++ per adult, SGD30++ per child

Dinner buffet - 6.30 pm to 10.00 pm
Sundays to Thursdays | SGD62++ per adult, SGD30++ per child
Fridays and Saturdays | SGD70++ per adult, SGD32++ per child



Marriott Cafe
Marriott Hotel Singapore
320 Orchard Road
Singapore 238865

Tel: 6831 4605

Lobby Lounge @ Marriott Hotel Singapore

It was a totally impromptu meet-up. I was having lunch at Ion Orchard and I twitted the food I had. I got a reply from Calvin Timo that he was a few floors below where I was. I had a very full 8 course Chinese New Year lunch thanks to Dell. Calvin had a big lunch too, but we always have space for some desserts. Leongraphy was with Calvin, so he joined us briefly before leaving for his appointment.

The idea of having afternoon tea comes from the ladies of our recent cruise. After the cruise, we saw on Facebook that they have been having lots of tai-tai sessions out. They will be enjoying themselves sipping tea/coffee and nibbling and gossiping away and we could salivating looking at their photos. The guys can't be bothered or rather don't have the luxury of time.

Since it is rare that we even meet up, the 3 guys pretended to be male version of tai tais. We pretended to be  'shao ye', having tea and cakes. Since Royal Copenhagen has closed, we can't go there to play pretend Shao Ye. We went to Marriott's Lobby Lounge instead.




Calvin had Tea with honey.
Hmm when we saw the honey, we thought of someone. Some of you may know who we are thinking of.




I had the The Iced Raspberry Tea. Cool and refreshing.




We shared two pieces of cakes. This was the Chocolate Pop Tart Cake ($5).
It looks interesting right? It is quite good too.




The Rich Chocolate Cake ($6.50) was such a delight. Chocolate fans should try this.
Dark and milk chocolate mousse with hints of alcohol in it. Topped with a chocolate macaron, a piece of chocolate cookie like chocolate  and a piece of flat reddish chocolate.

If ladies meet up, they gossip. With guys, guess what?

There was 3 or 4 cameras, an iPad, 5 mobile phones between us. The 3 guys sitting on the couch were holding their phones, texting, checking facebook, tweeting, checking and replying emails. But wait there's more. They were also instagraming, whatapp-ing and downloading of new apps!


Lobby Lounge
Singapore Marriott Hotel
320 Orchard Road
Singapore 238865

Christmas Log Cake from Marriott Hotel

Tonight, we met up with our mates from Melbourne - a group of Malaysians/Singaporeans who studied together for Year 12/Foundation Studies and went around holidaying, cooking, hunting for food together for 3-4 years and eventually all settled here in Singapore.

Sis and I could not make it to the last two monthly makan sessions we still have. So it was good that we could meet up for the December outing. We met at the Choo's this month.

After dinner we had log cakes. Yup, plural. Not one but two of them!

The first was a cake the Wongs bought from Marriott.



Look! Choo Junior is telling his mummy he wants that cake!



The cake's quite nice. Moist and chocolaty.



The next photo is the piece I ate.

Looking at the cake, sis and I suddenly remembered our hostel desserts while staying in Melbourne. We suddenly thought of Choksi, the chef that prepared our weekday food at the University Residences that we stayed in. He made wonderful cakes and desserts.

Choksi was a chef at Hilton (he told us that, we did not verify it. hahaha) before he joined the Catering services company that provided our meals at the residences. His mains were mostly so so, but his cakes and desserts is 95% good! One of the cakes we particularly like was the Black Forest cake that he made. The amount of cherries or berries that he had in the cake sure was generous! (compared to the one in the photo. lol)



Singapore Marriott Hotel
320 Orchard Road
Singapore 238865